Daily Update: Sonnen to Bellator, T-Wood vs. Wonderboy at MSG, ROH Reloaded (2024)

Daily Update: Sonnen to Bellator, T-Wood vs. Wonderboy at MSG, ROH Reloaded (1)

THE ROUND-UP

The Latest from the F4W Staff

Second annual Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic set for NXT– Just in time to move some tag teams up to the main roster.

– Check out what RFred, Gramps Fontaine, and Peach plan to do with their winnings.

Chael Sonnen signs multi-fight deal with Bellator MMA– The bad guy is back and he wants to fight Wanderlei Silva.

WWE Main Event results: Jason Jordan vs. Aiden English; Kane vs. Fandango– As always, Kevin Timothy makes reading about Kane matches awesome!

– The one and only granny returns to break down the CWC with Bryan and Vinny.

NXT TV taping spoilers: Sanity debuts; Samoa Joe wreaks havoc– Find out what the Samoan submission machine has planned to get back his title.

WOL: Cruiserweight Classic, Dave Meltzer talks CM Punk, tons more! 9/15– Dave Meltzer is on the showto discuss the CWC finale and the dismantling of CM Punk.

TNA Impact Wrestling results: Senor Benjamin, Aron Rex, empty arena match– Total Non-stop Action returns with more craziness.

WEEKEND SHOWS & TELEVISION SCHEDULE

FRIDAY

BELLATOR 1616TONIGHTFROM THE H-E-B CENTER IN AUSTIN, TX LIVE ON SPIKE AT9 P.M.EASTERN

Anastasia Yankova (131) vs. Veta Arteaga (130.4)
Derek Campos (155.1) vs. Djamil Chan (156)
Joe Warren (135.4) vs. Sirwan Kakai (135.8)
Cheick Kongo (237.5) vs. Tony Johnson (264)

CMLL FROM ARENA MEXICO WITH THE NIGHT OF LEGENDS AT9:30 P.M.EASTERN

SATURDAY

UFC FIGHT NIGHT: POIRIER VS. JOHNSON,FROM HIDALGO, TX

Fight Pass at7 p.m.Eastern time

Maximo Blanco (12-7-1) vs. Chas Skelly (15-2)
Randy Brown (7-0) vs. Erick Montano (7-3)

FS 1 at8 p.m.Eastern

Joey Gomez (6-1) vs. Jose Alberto Quinonez (4-2)
Evan Dunham (17-6) vs. Rick Glenn (18-3-1)
Antonio Carlos Jr. (5-2) vs. Leonardo Guimares (11-2)
Augusto Montano (15-2) vs. Belal Muhammad (9-1)
Gabriel Benitez (18-5) vs Sam Sicilia (15-6)
Islam Mackhachev (12-1) vs. Chris Wade (11-2)
Roan Carneiro (20-10) vs. Kenny Robertson (15-4)
Albert Morales (6-0) vs. Alejandro Perez (17-6)
Derek Brunson (15-3) vs. Uriah Hall (12-6)
Michael Johnson (16-10) vs. Dustin Poirier (20-4)

We’ll be looking for reports on these shows:NewsTips@WrestlingObserver.com

WWE Raw in Evansville (all the main stars of the brand headlined by Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Rusev, New Day, Gallows & Anderson, Sami Zayn, Charlotte and Bayley)
WWE Smackdown in Springfield, MO (all the main stars of the brand but no John Cena, with A.J. Styles, Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt, The Miz, Becky Lynch, Natalya, and Dean Ambrose as headliners)
NXT in Omaha (headlined by Shinsuke Nakamura, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode and Asuka)
NXT in Tampa (headlined by Andrade Cien Almas, Buddy Murphy and Wesley Blake)
ROH in Lockport, NY (Honor Rumble, winner gets a title shot on 10/22 in Lakeland, FL, plus Colt Cabana & Dalton Castle vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe, Christopher Daniels vs. Chris Sabin vs. Matt Jackson, Frankie Kazarian vs. Alex Shelly vs. Nick Jackson, Kenny King & Rhett Titus & Caprice Coleman vs. ACH & Jay White & Lio Rush, Kamaitachi vs. Jonathan Gresham, Deonna Purrazzo & Mandy Leon vs. Taeler Hendrix & Jessicka Havok)
House of Hardcore in Philadelphia at the 2300 Arena (Tommy Dreamer with Terry Funk in his corner vs. Matt Hardy with Senor Benjamin in his corner, Ricochet vs. Sami Callihan, Chris Hero vs. Tony Nese plus Brian Myers and more).

SUNDAY

We’ll be looking for reports on these shows:NewsTips@WrestlingObserver.com

WWE Raw in Huntsville, AL (all the main stars of the brand headlined by Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Rusev, New Day, Gallows & Anderson, Sami Zayn, Charlotte and Bayley)
WWE Smackdown in North Little Rock, AR (headlined by A.J. Styles, Dean Ambrose, Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt, The Miz, Becky Lynch and Natalya)
NXT in Minneapolis (headlined by Shinsuke Nakamura, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode and Asuka)

MONDAY

Raw will beMondaynight in Memphis.It will be the go-home show for Clash of Champions.Chris Jericho is added to the roster with the other stars on the tour.Cesaro vs Sheamus in match number sixof their best-of-seven serieswill be on the show.

Smackdown will have aMondaynight house show in Tupelo, MS, with A.J. Styles, Randy Orton, Dean Ambrose, The Miz, Becky Lynch and Natalya.

TUESDAY

Smackdown and Main Event will beon Tuesdaynight from Birmingham, AL.John Cena is scheduled for his only show of the weekon Tuesday.

Figure Four Weekly,9/12/2016: More on the Last Battle of Atlanta, wrestling Holy grails, and WWE’s video library–The release of the Last Battle of Atlanta on WWE Network, discussed here last week in advance of it dropping, was met with mixed reaction online. The namesake match itself, Tommy Rich vs. Buzz Sawyer in a cage (with a roof on top for the first time in wrestling history) had become legendary more due to magazine hype and the lack of available footage than anything else…Subscribers click hereto continue reading.

F4W YouTubePage: Tonsof clips andfull free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure yousubscribe today!

Wrestling Observer Newsletter,September 19, 2016:CM Punk loses UFC debut, TJ Perkins wins Cruiserweight Classic, Backlash review, tons more–The two-year odyssey, odd being the key part of the word, of C.M. Punk to the UFC octagon saw the door shut and the clock strike midnight, not Eastern time, but Cinderella time.

In the end it was simple reality. Starting out at 36 with very limited training past some Jiu Jitsu classes from Rener Gracie, no great athletic gifts and a body beaten up by 15 years of pro wrestling was not going to be able to train for two years and be able to compete in the UFC.

Subscribers click hereto continue reading.

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If youare a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can choose one free classic issue,ortwo free classic issues with a 40-issue subscription.

WON Back Issue,August 23, 1999:WCW Road Wild review, NJPW G1 Climax results, plus tons more–Steve Austin has become the subject of a lot of talk in the past week, with his various injuries, his probable, maybe almost assured dropping of the WWF title at SummerSlam and stories regarding him becoming harder to deal with…Subscribers click hereto continue reading.

FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE

Chael Sonnen and Scott co*ker had a press conference today to announce Sonnen’ssigning with Bellator.Sonnen said that he thought he had signed a three-year deal for six fights, and co*ker said that was pretty close.He mentioned he would fight any weight class asked and brought up potential fights with Rory MacDonald at 185, Tito Ortiz and Liam McGeary at 205 and Fedor Emelianenko at heavyweight.He also brought up the idea of finally facing Wanderlei Silva.Sonnen said that he had figured he would return to UFC (he was released from his UFC contract a few years ago after a number of test violations) but that the idea of Bellator came to him and in three phone calls over the last few days they had a deal finalized.He will continue with bothWSOF as a television announcer and ESPN covering MMA, and will be with Jonathan Coachman on ESPN for a segment very soon covering his signing.He claimed if he fails a drug test he would be fined 100 percent of his purse plus another $500,000 based on the contract he signed.Sonnen was pushing the idea that he’d be fighting first in California in November, which would in theory be the San Jose show that features Michael Chandler vs. Benson Henderson for the lightweight title.

As of last night the plan was forKatsuyori Shibata to still face Bobby Fishtomorrowfor the Never Openweight title at Destruction in Tokyo, even though he is still injured.Shibata missed two shows this weekand at first the injury was thought to put him out for a while, but he isstill planning on doing the match.

Tyron Woodley announced that he would be facing Stephen Wonderboy Thompson in a welterweight title defense on 11/12 in Madison Square Garden,today on the UFC weigh-in show.Woodley previously had turned down Thompson saying he’d rather fight Georges St-Pierre or Nick Diaz, because he’d make more money on those fights.

For WWE this weekend, as noted from the lineups, there are separate Raw and Smackdown brand house shows for the first time since the split.Even though they are working injury angles on television, both Shinsuke Nakamura (NXT) and Chad Gable (Smackdown) are booked all weekend.Randy Orton is also booked to headline the Smackdown shows.John Cena is only workingTuesdaynight in Birmingham.

This story is aboutthe plight of fighters today, specificallyJoe Warren who is in the semi-main event of Bellator 161 tonight, andis a former two-time champion, but still couldn’t get any sponsors.

WWE

The movie “Killing Hasselhoff” will open the San Diego International Film Festival on 9/28.That’s a WWE Films release.
An interview with TJ Perkins after winning the cruiserweight title is here.
A story aboutJack Gallagher headingto WWE is here. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)
More on the death of Jonah Snyder, 20, who suffered an apparent heart attack while training at Seth Rollins’ wrestling school.(thanks to Joel Kolsrud)

VARIETY

TONIGHT– Ring ofHonor: Reloaded Tour; Pittsburgh, PA, Stage AE, 7:30 pm. Tickets.

A ton of big names will be at the Icons of Wrestling and Comic Book Collectors conventiontomorrowstarting at9 a.m.at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia including Sting, Abdullah the Butcher, Bret Hart, Ted DiBiase, Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer, Rick Steiner, the Nasty Boys, Matt Hardy, Raven, Perry Saturn, Ricochet, Ryback, Vickie Guerrero, Santino Marella, Cameron, Booker T, Stevie Ray, Tully Blanchard, Tatanka, Tod Gordon, Bill Alfonso, Kevin Sullivan, Shane Douglas, Joey Styles, Tammy Sytch, Raven, Justin Credible, Bobby Fulton, Charlie Haas, Nikolai Volkoff, Boris Zhukov, Blue Meanie, Sonjay Dutt, FBI and Bill Apter.
TMZ has reported that Brandi Runnels has signed with TNA.It’s known that Cody Rhodes & wife Brandi were looking to work in TNA against Mike Bennett & Maria Kanellis.
Bleacher report sent out an unfortunate tweet in plugging that great story mentioned in yesterday’s update on Chyna, forwhich they have apologized to Sean Waltman.The story is a must read.
Linda McMahon will co-host a PBS seres called “Women in America.”It will be five 30 minute shows talking about women’s achievements and challenges McMahon will co-host the show with Burt Wolf.
There is a live Lucha Libre show at8 p.m.tonightin Watsonville, CA at the Appleton Grill.
Return to Chaos on 9/24 in Brampton, ONT at the Royal Canadian Legion.
Absolute Intense Wrestling has the Johnny Gargano farewell on 9/23 at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Cleveland with Gargano’s last indie appearance in his home city.Gargano vs. fiance Candice LaRae will headline the show, plus Tracy Smothers vs. Swoggle, Tracy Williams vs. Shigehiro Irie and more.
A.J. McKee vs. Emanuel Sanchez has been announced for a Bellator show on 12/2 in Thackerville, OK

Daily Pro Wrestling History (09/16):Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle for the WWE title

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