Daily Update: Invicta, UFC Rotterdam, passing of Kato Kung Lee & Billy Wicks

We’re looking for reports on today’s WWE shows in Rapid City (A.J. Styles, Roman Reigns, Sheamus, Sami Zayn, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro, Baron Corbin, Miz, Charlotte, Natalya), Las Cruces, NM (Big Show, Kane, Erick Rowan, Dean Ambrose, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks, New Day, Rusev, Alberto Del Rio, Kalisto) plus NXT shows in Tulsa and Orlando.

EVOLVE IPPV LIVE FROM QUEENS, NY AT LA BOOM AT 6:30 P.M. AT www.wwnlive.com and on the Fite App
Ethan Page vs. Chris Dickinson
Bravado Brothers vs. Milk Chocolate
Matt Riddle vs. Lio Rush
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Marty Scurll
TJ Perkins vs. Fred Yehi – WWE cruiserweight tournament qualifier
Drew Gulak vs. Tracy Williams – WWE cruiserweight tournament qualifier
Drew Galloway vs. Johnny Gargano
INVICTA LIVE ON UFC FIGHT PASS AT 9 P.M. TONIGHT FROM COSTA MESA, CALIFORNIA
Alexa Conners vs. Laura Howarth
Ariel Beck vs. Rachael Ostovich
Shannon Sinn vs. Christine Stanley
Megan Anderson vs. Amanda Bell
Kaline Medeiros vs. Alline Serio
Charmain Tweet vs. Latoya Walker
Livia Renata Souza vs. Angela Hill
Tonya Evinger vs. Colleen Schneider for bantamweight title

Sunday has WWE shows in Sioux Falls, SD (A.J. Styles, Sheamus, Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn, Cesaro, Dolph Ziggler, Miz, Charlotte, Natalya) and Rio Rancho, NM (Big Show, Kane, Dean Ambrose, Rusev, Alberto Del Rio, New Day, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch).

UFC ON SUNDAY MORNING FROM ROTTERDAM, HOLLAND

Fight Pass at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time

Flyweight Ulka Sasaki (125) vs. Willie Gates (125)
Welterweight Leon Edwards (169.5) vs. Dominic Waters (170)
Flyweight Kyoji Horiguchi (125) vs. Neil Seery (126)
Lightweight Yan Cabral (156) vs. Reza Madadi (155)
Lightweight Josh Emmett (156) vs. Jon Tuck (156)
Middleweight Magnus Cedenblad (185) vs. Garreth McLellan (184)
Lightweight Rustam Khabilov (155) vs. Chris Wade (155)
Women’s Strawweight Karolina Kowalkiewicz (115) vs. Heather Jo Clark (116)
Light Heavyweight Nikita Krylov (205) vs. Francimar Barroso (204)
Women’s Bantamweight Germaine de Randamie (135) vs. Anna Elmose (135)
Welterweight Albert Tumenov (170) vs. Gunnar Nelson (170)
Heavyweight Antônio Silva (266) vs. Stefan Struve (265)
Heavyweight Alistair Overeem (244) vs. Andrei Arlovski (248)

ROH WAR OF THE WORLDS PPV AT 8 P.M. EASTERN FROM THE FRONTIER FIELDHOUSE IN CHICAGO

Crazy Mary Dobson vs. Kelly Klein (dark match)
Jushin Liger & Cheeseburger vs. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian
Roderick Strong vs. Dalton Castle vs. Adam Page for No. 1 contender for TV title
Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin & Kushida & Matt Sydal vs. Young Bucks & Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
Tetsuya Naito vs. Kyle O’Reilly non-title
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin vs. Kazuchika Okada & Moose
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Bobby Fish for TV title
War Machine vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe for ROH tag title
Jay Lethal vs. Colt Cabana for ROH title

Monday has Raw in Omaha and ROH in Dearborn, MI (Jay Lethal & Tetsuya Naito vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly, Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin vs. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian, War Machine vs. Kazuchika Okada & Gedo non-title, Tomohiro Ishii vs. Moose non-title, Kushida vs. Dalton Castle non-title, Jushin Liger vs. Roderick Strong, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin vs. Rhett Titus & Kenny King, Matt Sydal & ACH vs. Silas Young & Beer City Bruiser.

Smackdown and Main Event will be taped on Tuesday in Des Moines, IA.

ROH will be taking television on Wednesday in Toronto at the Ted Reeve Arena (Jay Lethal vs. Donovan Dijak, Matt Sydal vs. Kazuchika Okada, Young Bucks & Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin & Yoshitatsu, Kushida vs. Kyle O’Reilly, Tetsuya Naito vs. Moose, Tomohiro Ishii vs. Will Ferrara).

Invicta FC 17

For those interested in women’s MMA, there is a terrific card tonight live on UFC Fight Pass starting at 9pm est. The main event of Tonya Evinger vs. Colleen Schneider for the bantamweight title could be an awesome fight. Evinger is on an eight fight win streak and her opponent, Schneider, is on a four fight win streak of her own. Both ladies are game every time they enter the cage. The co-main event is for the strawweight title. Former UFC fighter Angela Hill whose only losses have come at the hands of Rose Namajunas and Tecia Torres, faces champion Livia Renata Souza who looks to make her win streak into a perfect 10-0 if she can get it done tonight. 

Johnny Lezcano/Kato Kung Lee passes away at 69
ROH TV results: Briscoes vs. Anderson & Gallows from Honor Rising
NXT Oklahoma City, OK, live results: Finn Balor & Nakamura vs. Tye Dillinger & Samoa Joe 
NXT’s Kenneth Crawford suffers potential serious injury 
UFC Fight Night 87 DFS Playbook: value picks, who to avoid


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Figure Four Weekly 5/2/2016: Hulk Hogan suing Gawker – Hulk Hogan is suing Gawker a second time, this time for leaking the contents of sealed documents to the tabloids. Find out all the details in this weeks issue of Figure Four Weekly.


Wrestling Observer Newsletter

READ IT HERE: May 9, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWE Payback review, Hulk Hogan suing Gawker, tons more 

The claimed new era with Shane and Stephanie McMahon on Raw, fallout of Payback, lineup for Extreme Rules and current WWE situation is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer. There is also a detailed story on Hulk Hogan’s latest lawsuit and his claims of how the sex tape went from Bubba the Love Sponge to the National Enquirer, including details of Hogan being blackmailed by people with the tape and the FBI sting operation regarding the tape and why it didn’t end there.  

Next there is a detailed look at Ryback’s situation with WWE, New Japan’s Dontaku show and the Super Juniors tournament, the economic value of Ronda Rousey and Conor McGregor to a show, and plans for a new PPV show next month.
 
The lead story updates the status of Shane McMahon, the story behind Payback and how it leads to Extreme rules, the injury to Enzo Amore, the booking that gets almost nobody over and the match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.
 
As it regards the Hogan story, this issue examines all the players involved, his latest lawsuit and more details on the FBI sting operation regarding the sex tape.
 
Ryback’s complaints about WWE, how things went down in his meeting with Vince McMahon, notes about WWE contracts, how wrestlers are paid in WWE and why that isn’t the case anywhere else, his philosophy about everyone being paid the same and more, all in the latest Observer issue.
 
Finally, more on the Adam Rose situation, changes to the WWE Network, notes on a WWE network survey, notes on Camp WWE, how the show changed and why, notes on some WWE firings this past week, as well as new hirings, update on WrestleMania 2018, Paul Heyman reality show update, Bruno Sammartino honored, notes on contract situation with different talent, DVD plans for the next 18 months, injury updates and returns, fallout of Ric Flair TMZ as well as notes regarding his podcast and other future Flair projects, notes on the next Takeover lineup, update on Bryan Danielson, More on the cruiserweight tournament, lots of WWE business updates and a former giant Olympian talks about his WWE offer and plans of eventually going there. All this and much more in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

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Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

All the news from the ESPN coverage of the drug deaths in professional wrestling, and more will be in the latest back issue. Check out the latest online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: March 29, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: ESPN program on drug deaths in the pro wrestling industry, ECW Living Dangerously review, more. There is also a full break down of ECW’s Living Dangerously PPV, plus tons of news and notes.

SATURDAY UPDATE

Sad news, Johnny Lezcano / Kato Kung Lee passed away today at 69 of a heart attack. He was part of Los Fantasticos in a trio with Kung Fu and Blackman who made their name in the later part of the 80’s and early 90’s. We will have more on this story on the weekend edition of Wrestling Observer radio, which will be tomorrow after the UFC Rotterdam show. 

More sad news to report. Billy Wicks, a wrestling star and renowned tough guy and Catch wrestler, has also passed away. Les Thatcher talked a lot about him on Wrestling Weekly this week and we will have more to come.

No update yet on Kenneth Crawford of NXT, who may have suffered a very serious injury last night on a springboard spot gone wrong. Our story from yesterday has most of the details, but we most likely won’t have an official update until Monday.

If you are someone who listens to almost all of the audio on the site and have any audio editing skills, drop Bryan a line at [email protected] for a potential project.

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WWE & Pro Wrestling

John Cena will be the guest host on the Today Show at 9 AM on Monday, Tuesday and Friday this coming week.
WWE’s Cameron issued a statement on Twitlonger about how she was going to release a statement later regarding her release
Add Eli Drake to the list of those signed to new contracts by TNA.
Angelico, who blew his elbow out on a dive at the Lucha Underground tapings last week, will probably be out two more months.  Thanks to Kris Zellner.
Here are the Evolve 60 results from Friday night in Joppa, MD: Lio Rush def Caleb Konley with a frog splash; Bravado Bros def Devastation Corporation; Matt Riddle def Tony Nese with an armbar; Johnny Gargano def Marty Scurll with the Gargano Escape; Drew Galloway def Ethan Page with the future shock DDT; Drew Gulak and Tracy Williams def Fred Yehi and TJ Perkins with Stokely Hathaway; Chris Hero def Zack Sabre Jr with a piledriver. (Thx Chris GST)
Ric Flair will be at Montreal ComicCon in mid-July this year, joining Scott Hall as the only announced wrestling personalities thus far. (thanks to Patrick Laprade)
Liverpool FC and England international footballer player Daniel Sturridge says he grew up wanting to be a WWE Superstar.

UFC & Fighting

Arlovski says he’s going to be all business when he gets into the cage on Sunday. “It’s straight business for me here,” Arlovski said, yesterday after weighing in to compete in the main event of UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Arlovski. Arlovski actually weighed in at 248, four pounds heavier than Overeem. The Reem at one point needed to cut weight to make the 265 pound heavyweight limit. 
UFC announced a Fight Night coming to Hamburg, Germany on September 3rd in the 16,000-seat Barclaycard Arena.
Here’s an article about American Top Team’s newest success story, Kyoji Horiguchi. Horiguchi fights Neil Seery tomorrow at UFC Rotterdam, and as of this writing is a -600 favorite. 
Neil Seery thinks he’s the hardest hitter at flyweight, and he may be right, but will he be able to catch Horiguchi. “I guarantee that I’m the hardest hitter at flyweight. There aren’t many people who throw as hard as I do, and that’s not me blowing smoke up your arse…”
Here’s an article on the Tyrone Woodley vs. Robbie Lawler title match booked for UFC 201 in Atlanta.
One half of tonight’s Invicta FC 17 co-main event, Livia Renata Souza says, “I Am Gangsta.” Better watch your step tonight, Angela Hill. Souza vs. Hill is for the Invicta Strawweight Championship.

Miscellaneous & Events

This week on 6:05 Superpodcast, David Bixenspan and Brian Last are finally joined by the one and only Marc Gullen, best known as the leader of the House of Gullen in Memphis as well as one half of the Beauty and the Beast tag team with  Terry Garvin Simms. Gullen tells the most amazing Sid Vicious story you’ll ever hear and that doesn’t even scratch the surface. Also: The final part of the Bobby Simmons interview, which covers GCW’s Ohio tours and Jim Wilson among other topics, as well as Brian’s memories of Harry White, the Dennis of the Week, and more!
X-Pac, Michael Elgin, and more work for NWA Smoky Mountain in Kingsport, TN, tonight for their Collision Course event.
Here’s a talk with Tommy Dreamer prior to the next House of Hardcore event where Eric Young vs. Bobby Roode is headlining. He basically says both guys have signed with WWE.
NECW is tonight in Wakefield, MA, with Mike McCarthy vs. Chris Escobar, Slyk Wagner Brown, and more.
Orlando Pro Wrestling at the Central Florida Fairgrounds from Friday: Jody Kristofferson b Josh Parker, Matt Palmer b Chasyn Rance, JD Amazing b Bobby Venom, Rance & Nova Girl b Palmer & MJ Knight, Kristofferson b Amazing, Parker b Venom, Nova Girl b Rance, Rance b Alex Todd, Amazing b Parker, Rance b Siniestro (Thx Al Haft)
Great North Wrestling results from the Earl Armstrong Arena in Ottawa before 475 fans: Hannibal retained the Canadian Title over Nathan Banner, Jeremy Prophet & The Messiah beat Demolition Ax & Smash, Soa Amin beat the Spoiler, Lady Yasmine beat Vanessa Kraven via countout, Darko beat MVP, Preston Perry beaut Jacques Lamoreux, Freak Nation over Big Daddy D Roy & Jarred Kennedy, The Bruiser and Blade Beat The Assassins, Colin Oliver won a 3 way match. The promotion runs in Kingston Saturday with Demolition.
Here’s a promo from Demolition for the aforementioned GNW shows.
Here’s a VICE piece on, of all people, Classy Freddie Blassie.
Destiny Wrestling is on June 5th in Mississauga, Canada with Jeff Jarrett, Kongo Kong, Moose, Santino Marella, and more.

Today in professional wrestling history: Ric Flair defeats Ricky Steamboat for the NWA World Title; Hayes win NWA US Title

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