July 2020 – Page 14

Season 2 follows the women of GLOW as they become local celebrities, confronting the good, the bad, and the ugly realities of their newfound fame. As Ruth and Debbie settle into the day-to-day of making a season of TV together, they confront lingering issues at the heart of their friendship. Sam is still Sam, but now he has a teenage daughter living with him and twenty episodes to churn out. The wrestling is harder, the stakes are higher, and the hair is even bigger.

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ABOUT GLOW
Showrunners: Liz Flahive, Carly Mensch

Executive Producers: Liz Flahive, Carly Mensch, Tara Hermann, & Jenji Kohan
Launch Date: June 29, 2018
Format: Comedy; 10 x 30-minute episodes

Cast – Regulars: Alison Brie, Betty Gilpin , Marc Maron, Sydelle Noel, Britney Young, Britt Baron, Kate Nash, Jackie Tohn, Gayle Rankin, Kia Stevens
Cast – Recurring: Sunita Mani, Rebekka Johnson, Kimmy Gatewood, Ellen Wong, Marianna Palka, Chris Lowell, Shakira Barrera, Bashir Salahuddin, Rich Sommer

Inspired by the short-lived but beloved show from the 80s, GLOW tells the fictional story of Ruth Wilder (Alison Brie), an out-of-work, struggling actress in 1980s Los Angeles who finds one last chance for stardom when she’s thrust into the glitter and spandex world of women’s wrestling. In addition to working with 12 Hollywood misfits, Ruth also has to compete with Debbie Eagan (Betty Gilpin ) a former soap actress who left the business to have a baby, only to be sucked back into work when her picture perfect life is not what it seems. And at the wheel is Sam Sylvia (Marc Maron), a washed-up, B-movie director who now must lead this group of women on the journey to wrestling stardom.

Cast & Characters:
Alison Brie / “Ruth Wilder”
Betty Gilpin / “Debbie Eagan”
Marc Maron / “Sam Silvia”
Kate Nash / “Rhonda Richardson”
Gayle Rankin / “Sheila the She-Wolf”
Sydelle Noel / “Cherry Bang”
Britney Young / “Carmen Wade”
Britt Baron / “Justine Biagi”
Kia Stevens / “Tamme Dawson”
Jackie Tohn / “Melanie Rosen”
Ellen Wong / “Jenny Chen”
Sunita Mani / “Arthie Premkumar”
Chris Lowell / “Bash Howard”
Marianna Palka / “Reggie Walsh”
Kimmy Gatewood / “Stacey Beswick”
Rebekka Johnson / “Dawn Rivecca”
Shakira Barrera / “Yolanda”
Bashir Salahuddin / “Keith Bang”
Rich Sommer / “Mark Eagan”

By Brian Hoops, WrestlingObserver.com

1959

Guadalajara, Mexico:

– Rey Mendoza defeated Dory Dixon for the EMLL NWA Light Heavyweight Title

1965

Minneapolis, Minnesota (5018 attendance):

– AWA Champion The Crusher beat Larry Hennig
– Harley Race beat Tex McKenzie
– Chris Markoff beat Santiago Acosta
– Reggie Parks beat Guy Taylor

1967

Fort Worth, Texas:

– Fritz & Waldo Von Erich defeated Brute Bernard & Mike Paidousis to win the NWA American Tag Team Title

1968

Duluth, Minnesota:

– The Crusher beat Dr X in a Saloon Match
– Larry Hennig & Harley Race beat Luke Brown & Bill Watts
– Chris Markoff beat Mike Boyer
– Billy Red Lyons beat Blackjack Daniels

1969

Kansas City, Kansas:
– The Viking defeated Masao Komura
– Joe Scarpello defeated Jack Armstrong
– K.O. Cox defeated Ronnie Paul
– Stan the Mad Russian defeated Big Luke via DQ
– Tarzan Tyler defeated Dick the Bruiser in three falls

1973

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
– Professor Toru Tanaka & Mr. Fuji defeated Tony Garea & Haystacks Calhoun for the WWWF World Tag Team Title

Honolulu, Hawaii:

– The Crusher beat Superstar Billy Graham
– Ed Francis beat Sam Steamboat to win Hawaiian Title
– Neff Maiava & Tosh Togo beat Tony Borne & Ripper Collins
– Nick Bockwinkel beat Ken Patera

1975

Kansas City, Kansas:
– Prince Tapu & Don Wayt defeated Dan Burdick & Jesse Ventura
– Jerry Oates fought Terry Funk to a no contest
– Central States Heavyweight Champion Ed Wiskowski (Colonel DeBeers) fought Dick the Bruiser to a double-DQ in three falls

1976

Greenville, North Carolina:
– Wahoo McDaniel defeated Ric Flair to win the NWA Mid Atlantic Heavyweight Title

1977

Orlando, Florida:
Dusty Rhodes & Don Muraco defeated WWWF World Champion Superstar Billy Graham & Ivan Koloff

1981

Denver, Colorado:
– AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel ddq Tito Santana
– Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell by countout
– Greg Gagne & Buck Zumhofe beat Ray Stevens & Bobby Heenan
– Adrian Adonis beat Ed Boulder (Ed Leslie/Brutus Beefcake)

1988

Greensboro, North Carolina:
– Sting defeated NWA US Champion Barry Windham by dq
– NWA World & U.S. Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane) defeated The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers)
– Lex Luger defeated NWA World Champion Ric Flair by dq

1990

Dayton, Ohio:
– NWA US Tag Team Champions Rick & Scott Steiner defeated the Samoan Swat Team.
– Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane) defeated Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk.
– NWA World Champion Sting pinned Ric Flair.

1992

Chicago, Illinois:
– Brad Armstrong pinned Brian Pillman
– WCW World TV Champion Ricky Steamboat defeated Steve Austin.
– Sting & Nikita Koloff defeated Jake Roberts & the Super Invader.
– WCW World Champion Ron Simmons defeated WCW U.S. Champion Rick Rude.

1993

Morristown, Tennessee:
– Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson defeated SMW Tag Team Champions the Bruise Brothers to win the titles

1995

Memphis, Tennessee:
– Brian Christopher defeated Billy Jack Haynes for the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title

1997

Louisville, Kentucky:
– Tracy Smothers defeated Bull Pain for the IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Title.

1997

Wrestlefest – 50 Years Of Funk – a card put together by Terry Funk in Amarillo, Texas to celebrate fifty years of the Funk family wrestling in Texas, was held at the Amarillo Fairgrounds Coliseum, drawing almost
4,000 fans.

– WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart defeated Terry Funk in the main event.
– ECW World Television Champion Taz defeated Chris Candido
– ECW World Heavyweight Champion Shane Douglas defeated Tommy Dreamer.
– Dory Funk Jr. defeated Rob Van Dam

2004

Elizabeth, New Jersey:
– Bryan Danielson defeated Alex Shelley
– ROH champion Samoa Joe pinned Doug Williams

2005

– Austin Aries defeated Roderick Strong
– AJ Styles defeated Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe to win the TNA X Division Title.

2010

New York City:
– Colt Cabana & El Generico defeated Steve Corino & Kevin Steen in a double chain match
– ROH Tag Team champions The Kings of Wrestling defeated Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin
– ROH TV champion Eddie Edwards defeated Shawn Daivari
– Christopher Daniels defeated Austin Aries
– Roderick Strong defeated Tyler Black to win the ROH championship

2011

Orlando, Florida:
– Winter defeated Mickie James to win the TNA Knockouts Title
– Austin Aries defeated Brian Kendrick to win the TNA X Division Title
– Matt Morgan defeated Samoa Joe
– Kurt Angle defeated Sting and Mr. Anderson to retain the TNA World Title

2014

Winter Park, Florida:
– Kalisto and Sin Cara defeated Konnor and Viktor for the NXT Tag Team Titles
– Charlotte defeated Bayley to retain the NXT Womens’ Title
– Adrian Neville defeated Tyler Breeze, Tyson Kidd and Sami Zayn to retain the NXT Title

By Brian Hoops, WrestlingObserver.com

1966

– Baron Mikel Scicluna & Slasher Sloan defeated Johnny Valentine & Antonio Pugliese to win the United States Tag Team Title

1970

Greensboro, North Carolina

– Paul Jones & Nelson Royal defeated Gene & Ole Anderson to win the NWA Atlantic Coast Tag Team Title

1972

Denver, Colorado:

– The Crusher & Dr X beat AWA Tag Team Champions Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens on a 3rd fall dq

-Wahoo McDaniel beat Dusty Rhodes

1979

Rockford, Illinois:

– Greg Gagne & Mad Dog Vachon beat Super Destroyer Mark II & Bobby Duncum

– Billy Robinson no contest Super Destroyer Mark III

– Jesse Ventura beat Paul Ellering

– Steve Olsonoski drew Adrian Adonis

1980

Madison Square Garden:

– Ken Patera defeated Rene Goulet

– Larry Zbyszko defeated Tony Garea via disqualification

– Andre The Giant defeated Hulk Hogan

– WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund defeated NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race via disqualification

1983

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada:

– Hulk Hogan beat David Shults & Mr. Saito dq

– AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Brad Rheingans by countout

– AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Dino Bravo & Rick Martel

– Blackjack Lanza beat Bobby Heenan by countout

– Jim Brunzell beat Sheik Adnan

1984

Milwaukee, Wisconsin:

– AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Nick Bockwinkel

– AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Curt Hennig & Tom Zenk (sub Steve Olsonoski)

– Fabulous Ones beat Mr. Saito & Billy Robinson (sub for Bobby Heenan)

– Tony Atlas beat Steve Regal

– Larry Zbyszko drew Brad Rheingans

Miami, Florida:

– Billy Jack Haynes & Mike Graham battled Dory Funk Jr. & Jesse Barr to a double disqualification

– The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express beat The Koloffs

– NWA World Champion Ric Flair beat Dusty Rhodes via countout

1995

Nagoya, Japan:

– Gran Hamada defeated Koji Kanemoto for the UWA World Welterweight Title

Click Here: Atalanta Soccer jerseys

1996

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

– Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith defeated WWF World Tag Team Champions The Smoking Gunns to win the championship

– WWF World Champion Shawn Michaels defeated Mankind via disqualification

2000

Vicksburg, Mississippi

– Spanky (Brian Kendrick) defeated American Dragon (Bryan Danielson) to win the Memphis Championship Wrestling Light Heavyweight Title

2002

Los Angeles, California:

– Trish Stratus defeated Molly Holly to win the WWE Women’s Title

– Chris Jericho defeated Ric Flair to retain the Intercontinental Title

– Chris Benoit defeated Kurt Angle

– WWE Champion Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker ended in a double DQ

We’re looking for reports on tonight’s WWE show in Trenton, NJ (John Cena vs. Seth Rollins), NXT in Nashville and TNA in Beckley, WV (Ethan Carter III vs. Drew Galloway for the TNA title, Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong for the Knockouts title, Matt Hardy vs. Eric Young, Bobby Roode vs. Eli Drake for the King of the Mountain title, Wolves vs. Trevor Lee & Andrew Everett for TNA tag titles) and Ken Anderson vs. Jessie Godderz) at [email protected]

This weekend we’ll be doing polls for UFC 192, WWE in Madison Square Garden, TNA Bound for Glory and AAA Heroes Inmortales, so a huge weekend of big events.

New Japan World Pro Wrestling Returns at 9 p.m. Eastern on AXS TV

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi & Togi Makabe & La Sombra vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi

Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows vs. Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata in finals of the 2014 tag team tournament

CMLL from Arena Mexico live at 9:30 p.m. Eastern at www.ClaroSports.com

First round of the Universal Champion of Champions tournament, a one-night eight man tournament with Angel de Oro, Dragon Lee, Barbaro Cavernario, Dragon Rojo Jr., Luciferno, Rey Bucanero, Shocker and Ultimo Guerrero

Atlantis & Super Parka & Volador Jr. vs. Marco Corleone & Rush & La Sombra

Shine iPPV tonight at www.WWNLive.com

Santana vs. Evie for Shine championship

Allysin Kay vs. Sweet Saraya Knight anything goes

Jessicka Havok vs. Kay Lee Ray

Madison Eagles vs. Su Yung

Leah Von Dutch vs. Malia Hosaka

Kimber Lee vs. Taylor Made

Leva Bates (Blue Pants) & Mia Yim (Jade) vs. Rhia O’Reilly & Sammi Baynz

Ivelisse vs. Thunderkitty

Jayme Jameson vs. Shazza McKenzie vs. Kellyanne vs. Liberty

Saturday we’re looking for reports from WWE in Bangor, ME (Ryback, Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Wyatt Family), TNA in Salem, VA (Ethan Carter III vs. Drew Galloway for the TNA title, Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong for Knockouts title, Kurt Angle vs Eric Young, Bobby Roode vs. Andrew Everett for King of the Mountain title, Wolves vs. Eli Drake & Jessie Godderz for tag title, Ken Anderson vs Tyrus and Earl Hebner Hall of Fame Ceremony) and land NXT with a Noon show in Louisville at the Louder than Life Music and Food Festival at Champions Park.

UFC 192 from the Toyota Center in Houston

Fight Pass at 6:30 p.m.

Sage Northcutt vs. Francisco Trevino

Derrick Lewis vs. Viktor Pesta

Chris Cariaso vs. Sergio Pettis

FS 1 at 8 p.m.

Islam Makhachev vs. Adriano Martins

Alan Jouban vs. Albert Tumenov

Angela Hill vs. Rose Namajunas

Daniel Hooker vs. Yair Rodriguez

PPV at 10 p.m.

Joseph Benavidez vs. Ali Bagautinov

Jessica Eye vs. Julianna Pena

Ruslan Magomedov vs. Shawn Jordan

Rashad Evans vs. Ryan Bader

Daniel Cormier vs. Alexander Gustafsson for UFC light heavyweight title

WWE on WWE Network live from Madison Square Garden at 8 p.m. Eastern time

Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show

John Cena vs. Seth Rollins in a cage match

New Day vs. Dudleys for tag titles

Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho for IC title

Randy Orton vs. Sheamus

Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev

We’ll be looking for reports on Sunday from the WWE house shows in Worcester, MA (John Cena vs. Seth Rollins, Rusev vs. Dolph Ziggler, New Day vs. Dudleys) and Portland, ME (Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Ryback, The Wyatt Family), plus NXT with another Noon show in Louisville at the Louder than Life Music and Food Festival at Champions Park.

TNA Bound for Glory PPV on Sunday at 8 p.m. from Concord, NC

EC 3 vs. Matt Hardy vs. Drew Galloway for the TNA title with Jeff Hardy as ref

Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards vs. Trevor Lee & Brian Meyers for the TNA tag tilters

Abyss, Aiden O’Shea, Chris Melendez, Jesse Godderz, Ken Anderson, Mahabili Shera, Tyrus, Eli Drake and Robbie E in a Gauntlet for a title shot

Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong for Knockouts title

Tigre Uno puts up X title in an Ultimate X match

Bobby Roode vs. Bobby Lashley for King of the Mountain title

Kurt Angle vs Eric Young

AAA Heroes Inmortales iPPV at 7 p.m. Eastern time at www.internetvluchalibreaaa.com from San Luis Potosi

Alberto El Patron vs. Johnny Mundo for AAA Mega heavyweight title

Rey Mysterio Jr. & Psycho Clown & ? vs. El Hijo del Fantasma & El Texano Jr. & Myzteziz

Antonio Pena Cup tournament: Aero Star, Blue Demon Jr., Nino Hamburguesa, La Parka, Averno, Chessman, Cibernetico, Electroshock, El Hijo del Pirata Morgan & ?

Joe Lider & Pentagon Jr. defend AAA tag titles against Jack Evans & Angelico and Steve Pain & Daga

Taya Valkyrie defends Queen or Queens title against Goya Kong, Hiedra and two mystery women

Raw is Monday night at the TD Garden in Boston. Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman are at the show along with the usual cast of characters. No Undertaker advertised.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

If you saw the JBL interview with Eric Bischoff, or even if you didn’t, we have what is already one of the most talked about and praised issues of the Wrestling Observer this year up on the site right now. The main theme is fact vs. fiction, covering both the WWE historical view of the Monday Night Wars and the Eric Bischoff version, going through every point and cutting through things like outright B.S., faulty memories and interesting truths.

The new double issue also covers SummerSlam in Brooklyn, the real story behind the UFC announcing a show in Madison Square Garden, Jon Jones’ legal punishment and future, coverage of both of the New Japan PPV shows this past week as well as a look at their direction as they build toward King of Pro Wrestling and later, the Tokyo Dome show, UFC in Japan and a look at that business, the retirement of Rich Franklin, a Hall of Famer running for Mayor, the retirement show of Genichiro Tenryu, more concerning drug testing questions, SummerSlam PPV numbers and what we can learn from them, as well as the death of German legend Axel Dieter Sr.

The latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: October 6, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Analysis of Bischoff Network interview, Jones plea and tons more.

You can also order the print Observer right now and get it delivered to your door via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date [email protected]” target=”_blank”>[email protected]

You can also order print issues at www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected]

Rates are:

For the United States, it is $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52. In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to [email protected] For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52.

If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.

The Wrestling Observer ranges weekly from 35,000 to 50,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA internationally. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sties and has the most complete look at the pro wrestling and MMA business anywhere, plus history pieces available nowhere else.

We look at Eric Bischoff and his role, both good and bad, in what the pro wrestling industry has turned into. We look at the WCW boom, the creation of Nitro, the early war, the NWO era, the peak and the fall of WCW.

We look at the mistakes made, the fall of WCW, the emergence of Bill Goldberg, the real origination of the streak idea, We look at the rapid decline of the company and why. We look at how and when things went down, as well as why, how history shows the merger excuse doesn’t hold water, the complete b.s. of the WWE’s Monday Night War narrative. We look at the dying days of WCW and Eric Bischoff’s plan he never got a chance to implement.

We look at Eric Bischoff’s background, how he got into wrestling, his first meeting with Verne Gagne, his WWF tryout as an announcer, his connection with Japan, the unique case of Sonny Onoo, and the death of the AWA.

We look at the sale of Georgia Championship Wrestling, Vince McMahon’s one-year run on TBS and problems with Ted Turner, where Bill Watts fit into the scene then, and the scene prior to the launch of Nitro.

We look at WCW before Bischoff got power, what really happened with Jim Ross and WCW, , moves by Bill Watts, . We look at the first Nitro, the real story behind Lex Luger, what Lex Luger really got, what really happened in WCW with HHH and Mick Foley, Foley getting into WWF, the story behind Bischoff’s firing of Steve Austin, the cruiserweight division and its double-edge sword, what was the point of no return, the Montreal screw job and why so many, even in wrestling, missed key points in that story, Mike Tyson at WrestleMania, Kevin Nash as a booker, DX invades Nitro and the Bischoff vs. McMahon challenge to a fist fight and the story behind the PPV that went 30 minutes over.

In the UFC Madison Square Garden announcement, we look at the thought process behind the strategy.

FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW CLICK HERE

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Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

FRIDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

We’ve got a lot more on John Cena’s soon to be absence from WWE and Johny Hendricks missing tomorrow’s show after being hospitalized with a kidney stone and intestinal blockage on an audio update that we just cut. Wrestling Observer Radio 10/2: John Cena taking time off, Johny Hendricks off UFC 192

WWE News: John Cena off European tour, taking time off for personal reasons

Breaking UFC News: Hendricks vs. Woodley off UFC 192 card, new title contender named (updated)

New Japan World will be doing a free week tryout from 10/4 to 10/11.
Kevin Kelly and Matt Striker will be in Japan doing English language commentary live for King of Pro Wrestling on 10/12 at Sumo Hall. Very interesting they are doing this considering Mauro Ranallo nor Jim Ross were contacted and both have expressed interest in doing live New Japan big show play-by-play.
WWE just announced a Germany tour for February, headlined by John Cena and featuring Ric Flair as the Guest General Manager. Dates are

2/10 in Bremen

2/11 in Cologne

2/12 in Mannheim

2/13 in Mageburg

Daniel Bryan had been advertised yesterday for some shows on the WWE European tour after John Cena was pulled, but now he’s been pulled from the listings.
Weigh-ins for UFC will be up on the site starting at about 5 p.m. Eastern time.

UFC 192: Cormier vs. Gustafsson weigh-in results and live video

UFC 192 Preview: 5 storylines to watch, betting odds & predictions
A judge ruled in favor of Hulk Hogan that the complete contents of his sex tape should remained sealed. AP had attempted to get the contents.
Paul Heyman talks returning to Madison Square Garden, where he grew up as a photographer and hung out with the Grand Wizard, Lou Albano and Fred Blassie as a teenager
And more Paul Heyman promotion of tomorrow night’s MSG show with Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show
Jim Ross interviews Ethan Carter III
WWE with new marketing ideas for Rock and John Cena
Jeff Hardy has released a new album. It’s interesting that GFW is promoting the release.
There is a Legends of the Ring convention tomorrow in Monroe, NJ with Don Muraco, George Steele, Sgt. Slaughter, Jerry Brisco, Barry Windham, Mike Rotunda Howard Finkel, Paul Orndorff, Shelton Benjamin, Bob Orton Jr., Dean Malenko, Jerry Lawler, Johnny Mundo, Taz, Chyna, Vickie Guerrero and Carlito among those appearing.
Finn Balor, in Nashville today to headline the NXT show tonight, put on Twitter a photo of him at TNA headquarters giving them a crotch chop.
Johnny Gargano challenged Ethan Page to a match on 10/17’s Evolve show in Queens, NY saying that if he doesn’t win, he’ll leave Evolve forever. There has obviously been WWE interest in him since he’s been on NXT television already.
Marvelous Puroresu on Sunday at the Elks Lodge in Elmhurst, NY will feature the U.S singing debut of Chigusa Nagayo, the most popular woman pro wrestler of all-time. The show is at 5 p.m. Davey Boy Smith Jr., Patrick Clark, Amazing Red, Takaaki Watanabe, and Cheeseburger all appear.
ROH has added television on Saturday at 10 p.m. Central time on the MyNetwork TV station, WTVO-DTV 2 in Rockford, IL. (thanks to Jacob Burnett)
The Fight Network will be airing UFC 182 and UFC 187 back-to-back tomorrow prior to the start of the PPV show (thanks to Paul Fontaine)
I Believe in Wrestling tomorrow night in Orlando at the Team Vision Dojo with Santana Garrett vs. Saraya Knight for the NWA & Shine titles.
Alpha 1 Wrestling on 11/15 in Hamilton, ONT featuring a taping of a Colt Cabana podcast.
Glory kickboxing runs 10/9 in Denver and 11/6 in Milan, Italy (Robin van Roosmalen vs Sittichai for lightweight title) on Spike. They also have a 12/4 show in Amsterdam, Holland.
Terry Funk is headed to Cleveland on 10/16 for Absolute Intense Wrestling at Our Lady of Mount Carmel School.
Pro Wrestling Zombie Lucha on 10/10 in Moosic, PA at the Youth Center.
Combat Zone Wrestling on 10/10 in Voorhees, NJ at Flyers Skate Zone for an iPPV has added AR Fox vs. Joey Gacy and Tim Donst vs. Joey Janela.
Legacy Fighting Championships on AXS run on 10/16, live from Center Stage in Atlanta.
NFC 79 on 10/23 in Kennesaw, GA at the Electric Cowboy. Attendance is limited to those 18 and over. Frank Shamrock will be a special guest at the event and will also be doing a free training seminar. at 11 a.m. on 10/24 at Georgia Fitness in Duluth, GA. There is also a dinner with Frank Shamrock special at 6 p.m at Hooters in Kennesaw, GA for $50 per person with all you can eat wings and soft drinks.
Road Warrior Animal appears for a Q&A for Mecca Pro Wrestling on 10/24 at 6 p.m. at Nativity Bowling.
ECWA Super 8 Womens’ tournament has announced Tessa Blanchard, last year’s winner, along with Brittany Blake, Jewells Malone and Miranda Vionette as the first participants for the show on 10/17 in Woodbury Heights, NJ. The winner becomes the ECWA women’s champion.
Empire State Wrestling tomorrow in North Tonawanda, NY at the St. Johnsburg Fire Hall featuring Jinder Mahal, Matt Taven, Ethan Page, Dalton Castle and more.

ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY INTERNATIONAL (thanks to Graeme Cameron)

1974 – Jumbo Miyamoto & Junko Sasaki beat Jackie West & Jane Sherrill in Takamatsu to win the WWWA tag titles

1976 – Jerry & Ted Oates beat Great Kojika (who is still wrestling) & Motoshi Okuma in Tokyo to win the All-Asia tag titles

1979 – Ryuma Go beat Tatsumi Fujinami in Osaka to win the WWF jr. heavyweight title

1990 – Kyoko Inoue beat Takako Inoue in Yamagata to win the Japanese jr. title

Hulk Hogan’s Beach, a restaurant adjacent to the Best Western Hotel Bay Harbor in Tampa, will be undergoing a name change.

Reports that the restaurant has closed are incorrect, as it was open for business tonight and is still using the name “Hogan’s Beach.” But owner Ben Mallah confirmed the name change was forthcoming, stating the entire property was in the process of being sold, although the sale wasn’t complete.

Hulk Hogan’s name was being used for the restaurant based on a licensing agreement.

The “Hogan’s Beach” sign in front of the restaurant has been taken down and replaced by a sign that reads, “Bay Harbor Hotel and restaurant.”

Employees were told that the restaurant was going to remain open but be rebranded.

Here is the Bay 9 News story

By Chris Harrington of IndeedWrestling and Wrestlenomics, Special to Wrestling Observer

(Editor’s note: subscribers can listen to Chris talk about today’s call on today’s Wrestling Observer Live.)

WWE announced their Q3 2015 earnings Thursday morning of $0.14 per share, beating Capital IQ Consensus of $0.08 per share. During the period of July 2015 to September 2015, WWE brought in $166.2 million in revenue while third quarter operating income was $17.9 million and adjusted OIBDA was $23.4 million.

Compared to the financial turbulence of 2014, this was a successful quarter with the highest adjusted OIBDA on record since Q2 of 2012. However, this good news wasn’t reflected in the WWE share price which hdropped more than 10% since the market opened Thursday morning.

The key drivers for WWE growth have been the recognition of the escalating television rights which WWE negotiated in 2014 and the evolution of the WWE Network subscription model.

Television Rights

WWE has secured large growth from a bundle of key TV contracts (United States, United Kingdom, India, Thailand, Canada, Mexico and United Arab Emirates). Combined, these agreements were worth almost three-quarters of WWE’s total 2014 television rights revenue ($176M). In the latest earnings release, WWE finally provided an outline of the annual escalation expected for these contracts for 2015 & 2016.

Already, WWE has earned $175.5M year-to-date on television rights fees in 2015 compared to a nine-month number of $126.3M in 2014. While 39% annual growth is impressive, it’s worth noting that the plunge in WWE stock value last year was tied to WWE underdelivering against investor expectations for renegotiating their major US deal with NBC Universal. In fact, some investors felt so misled that lawsuits were filed.

Nevertheless, television rights remain the economic engine for WWE’s year-round growth. While some divisions have seasonal fluctuations (live events during the WrestleMania quarter, WWE Shop in December, licensing in Q1), WWE’s television rights contracts are structured so they continue to grow each quarter through the deal. Quarterly variations are largely driven by the scheduling of supplemental programming such as WWE’s reality shows Total Divas and Tough Enough, both which aired in Q3 of ’15. While these additional programs bring in additional money and possible new audience/demographics, it was noted during today’s conference call that the cost of production for reality shows was much higher than the “in-ring” entertainment.

One topic that was not addressed during today’s call is the ongoing dispute between WWE and their new television partner in Thailand, CTH, which owes several million to WWE.

Recently, live WWE ratings have been their lowest levels since 1997.

Yet, WWE’s television rights agreements are not tied to weekly ratings. Still, there are several reasons that ratings still remain a relevant component in evaluating the WWE business model.

First of all, NBC Universal does care about their television ratings. They’ve earmarked hundreds of millions of the dollars to pay WWE with a relationship largely built on the history that WWE can deliver large weekly audiences and in turn, a boosting of value for cable channels such as USA Network and SyFy Network. Indeed, NBCU is planning to move WWE’s SmackDown from SyFy to the USA during Q1 of ’16. If Raw stops being able to deliver the eyeballs, the WWE’s value to NBCU’s portfolio may greatly diminish.

Second, advertisers care about ratings. One of the interesting elements in today’s Q3 press release was a note that “37 new advertisers were secured for WWE programming following NBCUniversal’s upfront”. Largely, this advertising money would not be going directly to WWE, but rather NBCU. In some cases, WWE may directly benefit as advertisers may decide to integrate the advertising into the WWE programming (such as sponsorship of PPVs or in-program ads). Either way, the ability of WWE to combat the negative profile and low advertising revenue that professional wrestling has historically garnered is one of WWE’s key initiatives. WWE’s decision to pursue “PG” programming and go after blue-chip sponsors such as General Mills and Kraft is built around improving their image among advertisers.

Lastly, in order to gain and retain subscribers for the WWE Network, WWE needs to create new fans, create new superstars, and monetize their audience. Declining ratings demonstrate diminishing interest in the WWE.

Live Monday night Raw viewership was under 4,000,000 hourly viewers throughout July-September 2015. This was a significant drop in July (-11%) and September (-14%). WWE’s own numbers don’t fully reflect this, likely because WWE is including delayed +3/+7 day viewing and DVR consumption. When questioned about the drooping ratings during the conference call, Chief Strategy & Financial Officer George Barrios brushed off the concern, stating that the company looks at the totality instead of just one metric, reaffirming that WWE feels they are bigger and engaging with their audience globally more than ever before.

For the time being, WWE is locked in lucrative television rights deals which will continue to pay out generously for several more years. The true test will be come when it’s time for WWE to negotiate their centamillion dollar contracts. Has the “live events” rights bubble burst? Is cord cutting taking its toll? What will the media ecosystem (to borrow one of Barrios’ new favorite terms) look like in 2018-19 when WWE is looking for television partners? Obviously, no one really knows.

WWE Network

As of September 30, 2015, the WWE Network had 1,233,000 paid subscribers. This number was up 6.6% from last quarter’s ending total of 1,156,100 paid subscribers. This actually exceeded the guidance WWE provided during last quarter’s press release of 1.2 million paid subscribers as of 9/30, growing 3-5% above 6/30 levels.

Over Q3 ’15, WWE averaged 1,173,000 paid subscribers, down 3.4% from Q2’15 average of 1,215,170 paid subscribers.

Overall, the WWE Network revenue for the third quarter of 2015 was about the same as the second quarter of 2015 at $36M. About one-third of the growth in subscribers came from international subscribers (+26,200, +12%). There were 50,700 additional domestic subscribers though the rate of growth in the United States which was only about 5%.

Since the launch of the WWE Network, there is a general subscription trend emerging. The peak for interest and acquiring new subscribers is during the first quarter in the Royal Rumble to WrestleMania season. Then, the remainder of the year is a gentle curve with slight variations which, thus far, have depended mostly on the external factors such as bringing online new external marketplaces.

In the past week, WWE has announced three new launches for the WWE Network: India (November 2015), Japan (January 2016), and Germany (January 2016).

WWE Network will go live in the Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, and Afghanistan) on November 2. The service will cost $9.99 USD and pay-per-view events will be blacked-out for 24 hours before being available on the WWE Network. While Barrios is clearly excited about the prospect (he spoke of “long tailwind” in India), it’s questionable how many new subscribers the service will attract considering the PPV-restrictions, the relevant high cost and broadband reliance (as opposed to specific mobile solutions that other streaming companies have adopted in that marketplace).

The announcement of the WWE Network launches in Germany and Japan for January 2016 fill in noticeable gaps in WWE Network coverage across developed nations. However, even Barrios admitted during the conference call that the consumption and ARPU (average revenue per user) of pay-TV in Germany was much lower than other countries such as the United States and United Kingdom. Likewise, Japan has historically been a weak pay-per-view marketplace. Even the native New Japan World over-the-top streaming service has only a small foothold in the country.

International markets certainly represent an important piece to growing the WWE Network. Still, about 80% of subscribers are have registered domestic accounts and it’s clear that the key marketplace for the WWE Network is still North America.

In the conference call, WWE did affirm that they are refocusing their efforts in China. Barrios noted that WWE has been investing in growing their business in China since 2007 through distributing content on local TV stations to build audiences. He also mentioned that WWE is reshaping their strategy in China to recognize the rapid changes in the “media ecosystem” in that country, and the emphasis in China’s new five-year plan towards investing in sport & entertainment. They’re planning to expand their Shanghai office. As always, WWE teased that they’re exploring launching the WWE Network in China somewhere down the line without getting into any specifics.

Quarterly, WWE Network churn remains large. In Q3 ’15, the WWE Network lost 376,000 subscribers (2nd highest quarter yet) and gained 453,000 subscribers (3rd highest quarter). Regarding churn, Barrios said that the plan was making great original content and improving the user experience and user interface. It will also be interesting to see what impact new programs such as selling pre-paid three-month gift cards at Walmart has on WWE Network subscription numbers and churn.

Other

The WWE Home Entertainment division continues to profitably limp onwards with $3.0M in quarterly sales and $1.3M in quarterly OIBDA for Q3 ’15. While Home Entertainment sales have been sliding downwards for the past several years, WWE did flood the marketplace in recent months in the bargain bins with discount $3/$5 discs such as 2012’s “Rock vs. Cena Once in a Lifetime” which is the second-highest selling title of 2015 thus far behind WrestleMania 31.

Live event attendance remains flat for North America (5,100/event, same as Q3’14) while Q3 ’15 had stronger international results (8,900 for 6 international events). However, “adverse changes in foreign exchange” offset most of the expected revenue increase.

Licensing continues to be a strong performer in 2015. A large contributor has been video game revenue, especially from WWE SuperCard downloadable content and the WWE Immortals mobile video game.

An interesting note that WWE’s Night of Champions, with Sting challenging Seth Rollins for the WWE title, was up almost 60% in total PPV buys versus last September’s event that featured John Cena vs Brock Lesnar.

However, the true lesson on WWE pay-per-views is that there is still 31,000 domestic households that are buying full price PPVs each month though the majority of buys are from international customers.

As always, WWE brags about their Digital Media footprint (VOD presence and Social Media Followers) on every call. As Barrios loves to say, “we’re going to get our unfair share of that viewership.” He believes that where the eyeballs go, the money will follow. Digital media for Q3 ’15 was $5.8M, buoyed by higher advertising revenues. It’s clear that the company views digital media as an integral part of their engagement strategy with primarily short-form video content being available on Facebook and YouTube. WWE is certain a superstar at making things trend on Twitter, but they’ve got a long way to go before they will be seriously monetizing this medium.

Looking Forward

The remaining quarter (Q4 ’15) will include about 90 hours of new original content (compared to 85 hours in Q3’15). New programs will include the recent premiere of Breaking Ground, NXT Takeover: London from Wembley Arena, new episodes of WWE 24 and new episodes of the popular Stone Cold Podcast. Some analysts questioned whether WWE should be spending so much money on creating new content, but WWE officers defended the strategy, stating that they believed this content had a long tail effect and generated a lot of interest.

WWE did provide an estimate for Q4 ’15 WWE Network paid subscriptions (approximately flat to Q3’15 at 1.2 million), and were surprisingly cagey about putting out predictions for WWE Network in 2016.

To quote the press release, “Regarding WWE Network, given the inherent uncertainty of this nascent and growing business, management will not provide guidance for 2016 subscriber levels. However, the Company has evaluated other successful subscription businesses and observed a wide range of subscriber growth rates in the early stages of their development.”

However, WWE then went on to point out that Netflix grew at an annual rate of 22% in their early days and that growing 20-25% for the WWE Network would be “very strong performance”. Surprisingly, many analysts on the conference call actually challenged WWE’s numbers as being too conservative since WWE Network is a worldwide service while Netflix was originally only a domestic service. While the Q1 peak for the WWE Network next year will likely be higher than Q1 ’15 (1.327M paid), it seems ambitious to assume that WWE would be able to average a full 1,500,000 paid subscribers throughout the entirety of 2016.

Even WWE confirmed internal expectations that 80% of the growth in the coming year would still be domestic and in light of flat live event numbers and sagging ratings, WWE Network’s crystal ball remains very opaque.

Overall, the state of the WWE is solid. They have escalating television rights, a profitable WWE Network service, and a growing digital media footprint. However, the fundamentals for interest (ratings, attendance) still seem stuck in a general malaise. The company has rebounded from a tough 2014 and transformed from pay-per-view to over-the-top. Next year, we’ll see the continued roll-out of the WWE Network, the re-launch of the joint venture TapouT brand, an enormous WrestleMania 32, and the continued rise of the NXT brand. It should be interesting.

This past weekend saw televised MMA shows from both of the big 2 companies in North America.

The higher profile show was UFC Fight Night 77 from Sao Paulo Brazil on FS 1 Saturday night, which averaged 757,000 for the six-fight main card and 609,000 viewers for the four-fight prelims show, which also aired on FS 1. The show was up against huge sports competition in the form of college football on CBS, ABC, FOX, and ESPN which did numbers varying from 1.5 million all the way up to 11 million — all airing directly against the UFC show. An episode of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Donald Trump, did that show’s highest ratings in three years and aired against the second half of this show.

The show was down about 17.5% from the year to date average of 917,625 viewers on FS 1. The prelims show was actually up 4.4% from the year to date average of 583,083 viewers for previous Fight Night prelim shows on FS 1.

The five most recent FS 1 Fight Nights prior to Saturday had averaged 821,000 viewers and the most recent prelims shows had averaged 525,800 viewers. This would seem to indicate that the hardcore fan base that will watch any fights is actually increasing but that casual fans weren’t terribly interested in this card.

This was the lowest number for an FS 1 show since the 508,000 viewers on July 18th but that show aired in the afternoon from Scotland. The last time a prime time show did this low was the TUF 21 Finale on July 12th that did 691,000 viewers for a show headlined by Stephen Thompson vs Jake Ellenberger and the final matches of the TUF 21 show (which for the first time ever was not a tournament).

An FS 1 show one year ago this weekend, Fight Night 56, headlined by Ovince St. Preux vs Shogun Rua, did 699,000 viewers with the prelims show (airing on FS 2) doing 176,000 viewers. Again, that seems to line up with the general trend of UFC viewership being up in 2015.

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Saturday’s show was headlined by Dan Henderson vs Vitor Belfort, who had fought once before on an FS 1 show also from Brazil and also on the same weekend (Nov 9, 2013). That show did 722,000 viewers, so this was up from that time with a similar level of undercard.

*****

The other show this past weekend was Bellator 145: With a Vengeance, which aired Friday night on Spike TV. This was the final tentpole event of the year for Bellator and did an audience of 814,000 viewers, headlined by featherweight champion Pitbull Friere vs Daniel Straus. Lightweight titleholder Will Brooks vs. Marcin Held and featured fights featuring Bobby Lashley and former lightweight champion Michael Chandler were also on the show.

This number was slightly up from the most recent big special for Bellator, headlined by Tito Ortiz vs. light heavyweight champion Liam McGeary, a four-man light heavyweight tournament, and two Glory kickboxing fights. That September 19th event did 800,000 viewers. The average for the five Bellator tentpole events is now 1,061,400 viewers, so this show was about 23% below that average.

Bellator has averaged 759,286 viewers per show in 2015, so this number was up 7% from that average. This is the first time that Bellator has built one of these shows around main event fighters who were essentially homegrown so in that sense it was more like a regular show. It was also in the traditional Friday night time slot while the three higher rated events took place on a Saturday.

The Bellator per show average is up 8.1% from 2014, which averaged 702,227 viewers.

Bellator’s first tentpole show featured Ortiz vs Stephan Bonnar in a heavily promoted grudge match. That show set a Bellator record of 1,241,000 viewers on Nov 15, 2014, which has since been broken by Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock earlier this year.

A former French intelligence agent facing treason charges was reportedly ensnared by a Chinese “honeytrap” when he began an affair with an interpreter in Beijing, it emerged on Sunday.

The retired spy, named as Henri M., 71, and another former operative, Pierre-Marie H., 66, are being held in prisons near Paris, accused of passing “information detrimental to fundamental national interests” to a foreign power.

According to a report in the Journal du Dimanche newspaper, Henri M. fell for a woman who worked as an interpreter for the French ambassador in Beijing after he was posted there in 1997 as station chief for France’s DGSE foreign intelligence service, the equivalent of Britain’s MI6. Security sources confirmed the report.

Henri M.’s wife stayed in France when he moved to Beijing, leaving him vulnerable to the charms of the interpreter, who has not been named. She was reportedly suspected of being a Chinese intelligence agent or informant.

The ambassador, Pierre Morel, became concerned about the relationship and asked for Henri M. to be recalled to France in 1998.

Henri M. then left the intelligence service and started a business importing Chinese furniture. He was divorced and returned to Beijing in 2003, where he married the former interpreter at the French embassy the following year.

The couple moved to Hainan Island off China’s southern coast, which serves as its main nuclear submarine base, and Henri M. opened a restaurant.

Many questions remain about why he and Pierre-Marie H. were only arrested two decades after Henri M. first came under suspicion.

Franck Renaud, a Journal du Dimanche reporter and the author of a 2010 book that alluded to the scandal at the Beijing embassy, said: “Did the DGSE want to avoid a crisis and at the same time let Chinese intelligence believe that Henri M. might be a double agent feeding them false information?”

Florence Parly, the French defence minister, confirmed the charges against the two former agents but declined to specify whether the foreign power involved was China.

By Bob Magee

Combat Zone Wrestling returned to the Flyers Skate Zone last night live, and on iPPV for Night of Infamy 2015, its go-home show leading up to the annual Cage of Death:

The pre-show opened with Dave Crist and the remaining members of OI4K cutting a promo on behalf of Jake Crist .

* Xavier defeated Aaron Williams

* Post-match Neiko Sozio came out with a kendo stick directed at OI4K….This segued into Sozio vs. Dave Crist. Crist defeated Sozio after repeated interference by OI4K, including a somersault plancha off the top rope to knock Sozio out. Post-match, apaprently just for fun, Dave Crist super kicked one of the CZW security stafft.

Night of Infamy

* Bad Boy Joey Janela defeated Lio Rush to successfully defend his CZW Wired Television Title after caught him with an inside pinfall out of nowhere.

* Greg Excellent (with Chrissy Rivera) submitted “Wrench” Conor Claxton. with a double leg submission.

* TV Ready (Pepper Parks/Blk Jeez with Cherry Bomb with her arm in a sling at ringside) defeated Nation of Intoxication’s Lucky 13 and Devon Moore, as Parks got the pinfall after a BLK Jeez top rope double stomp.

* Chainsaw Joe Gacy and Tim Donst went to a no-contest after an out of control brawl. The crowd didn’t seem happy with a match being thrown out in CZW. Joe Gacy says he wants another match with Donst at Cage of Death on December 12…an I quit match.

* AR Fox defeated Nation of Intoxication’s Danny Havoc by pinfall

* Bill Carr and Dan Barry of Team Tremendous successfully defended their CZW World Tag Team Titles over IWA Mid South’s The Hooligans (Devin Cutter and Mason Cutter).

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Post match, Cherry Bomb ballshotted Dick Justice, then TV Ready jumped Team Tremendous and challenged them for the CZW Tag Team Titles next month at Cage of Death.

* MASADA defeated Drew Gulak (with Rory Gulak) with a knockout after several knee strikes by MASADA

* The main event saw a Squared Circle of Sacrifice match with Bulldozer Matt Tremont successful defended his CZW World Heavyweight Title against DJ Hyde after a Death Valley Driver on a barbed wire board. A Squared Circle of Sacrifice match turned out to be two sides of the ring with barbed wire ropes, two sides exposed with chairs and barbed wire boards, not to mention staple guns, cinder blocks, glass panels, and light tubes in or around the ring.

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A giant panda made a surprise visit to Wenchuan county in southwest China’s Sichuan Province on Thursday, wandering around the village.

China’s state broadcaster CCTV showed the panda roaming through the village and exploring a vegetable garden before finding its way into the woods.

Researchers at the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda told CCTV that the panda was 11-year-old female Zhenzhen, who was born in 2007 at the San Diego Zoo in the US and was returned to China in 2010.

She had been raised in captivity since then and was recently released into the wild on March 5 as part of a special breeding project.

Researchers hoped that Zhenzhen could mate with wild pandas – a major mission of the breeding project, according to the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda.

After hours of exploration in the village, Zhenzhen was captured and taken back to the research centre.

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The Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling Are Back In Town

On this day in pro wrestling history: Wahoo beats Flair for NWA gold, Funk Wrestlefest, Roddy Strong wins ROH title