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NEW JAPAN WRESTLING DONTAKU TOMORROW MORNING AT 5 A.M. EASTERN FROM FUKUOKA ON NEW JAPAN WORLD

Tomoaki Honma & Shota Umino & Ren Narita vs. Toa Henare & Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura

Yoshi-Hashi & Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Minoru Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Desperado & Taka Michinoku

Togi Makabe & Toru Yano & Will Ospreay vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa & Hikuleo

Rocky Romero & Sho & Yoh vs. Tetsuya Naito & Bushi & Shingo Takagi

Hirooki Goto & Juice Robinson & Mikey Nicholls vs. Jay White & Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens

Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Seiya Sanada & Evil

Jeff Cobb vs. Taichi for Never Open weight title

Dragon Lee vs. Taiji Ishimori for IWGP jr. title

F4W NEWSLETTER: Figure Four Weekly: Looking at AEW's build to Cody vs. Dustin Rhodes

A brother vs. brother match will be one of the key pieces of All Elite Wrestling's Double or Nothing card.

After weeks of teases, Dustin Rhodes was confirmed as his brother Cody's opponent for Double or Nothing at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, May 25. Dustin issued a statement about his status with WWE after the announcement was made, revealing that he had requested his release from WWE and was granted it. Dustin also posted a video where he said goodbye to his Goldust character.

WON NEWSLETTER: May 6, 2019 Observer Newsletter: WWE earnings report, Brock Lesnar, more

One of the biggest news issues of the year, a double issue, leads off with a basic state of the industry right now. Read about how WWE business fell in the first quarter, what is and isn't the long-term prognostication, usage of fake stats in business that history shows are meaningless to growth, WWE injuries, WWE getting behind new talent, changes in October, and more.

Read a lot more on Brock Lesnar staying with WWE and not returning to WWE, such as how the ESPN deal has changed things for top stars in UFC, when Lesnar can command so much money, what has happened over the last year with Lesnar, UFC and WWE and more.

Read the update on Money in the Bank and Double or Nothing and the ticket demand for both.

Look at the front runner for 2021 WrestleMania, notes on 2020 WrestleMania plans including what match is off the books, Dean Ambrose becomes Jon Moxley and what that means, update on situation with Luke Harper, The Revival, Gallows & Anderson and others.

Read rundowns on the UFC and Bellator shows this past week, with business notes, how much the fighters got paid and match-by-match rundowns of both events.

Read more on the Japanese legacy of The Destroyer, listing all of his championship matches in Japan, as well as his biggest wins and his infrequent losses in All Japan in the 70s and 80s.

ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to dave@wrestlingobserver.com or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

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THURSDAY NEWS UPDATE

The expectation is that the next Takeover show will be 6/1 in Bridgeport, CT at the Webster Bank Arena. Last night at the NXT TV tapings they announced the date, but not the location. But that was the city going around.

Dwayne Johnson was born 47 years ago in Hayward, CA.

PWInsider reported that Rich Swann has signed a new two-year deal with Impact.

Impact announced a show called Code Red at 8 p.m. Eastern on Sunday on Impact+ from the NYC Arena in Queens, NY.

Johnny Impact & Taya Valkyrie vs. Eddie & Alisha Edwards

Michael Elgin vs. Willie Mack

LAX vs. Dave & Jake Crist vs. Smoothe Blackmon & Chris Seaton

Rich Swann vs. Ace Austin vs. Trey Miguel vs. Smiley vs. Evander James vs. Mantequilla

Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz vs. Ethan Page & Josh Alexander*

Tessa Blanchard & Violotte vs. Scarlett Bordeaux & Sonya Strong

Moose vs. Ken Broadway.

WWE

Rey Mysterio and Kalisto appear on EstrellaTV's game show "100 Latino Dijeron" tomorrow at 6 p.m. Eastern and 3 p.m. Pacific. The show is similar to the U.S. show Family Feud. They are competing for Make-A-Wish and Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

The specific term listed in the WWE injury report for Daniel Bryan when he was out was "unlisted."

In the current Observer with the discussion of the Lio Rush situation, the interview that he did yesterday that was covered in the story was by Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com.

BetOnline has these odds for MITB Becky Lynch -200 Charlotte Flair +150 Becky Lynch -500 Lacey Evans +300 Seth Rollins -400 A.J. Styles +250 Kofi Kingston -160 Kevin Owens +120 Drew McIntyre +150 Andrade +200 Braun Strowman +800 Ricochet +600 Ali +700 Baron Corbin +1,000 Finn Balor +1,000 Randy Orton +1,000 Ember Moon +200 Bayley +300 Alexa Bliss +500 Naomi +500 Mandy Rose +600 Carmella +800 Dana Brooke +1,000 Natalya +1,000 Roman Reigns -420 Elias +260 The Miz -340 Shane McMahon +220

Charlotte Flair will be the honorary pace car driver for the 5/26 Coca Cola 600 race.

UFC

Tickets for the 6/29 show at the Target Center in Minneapolis go on sale to the public tomorrow at 10 a.m. The top fights are Tyron Woodley vs. Robbie Lawler, Joseph Benavidez vs. Jussier Formiga and Demian Maia vs. Anthony Rocco Martin.

Tickets for the 6/22 show in Greenville, SC at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena also go on sale tomorrow. Top bouts announced are Chan Sung Jung, the Korean Zombie vs. Renato Moicano, Andrea Lee vs. Montana De La Rosa and Randy Brown vs. Bryan Roberson.

Brandon Fitzgerald and Michael Bisping will be the announcers for Saturday's UFC show from Ottawa. The entire show airs live on ESPN+.

MISCELLANEOUS

A story on Chris Jericho and Brian Blair helping Kamala save his house. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)

A story on the late Chet Coppock, comparing him with Ric Flair. (thanks to David Kaplan)

Legacy Fighting tomorrow night from Vail, CO on AXS TV has Brandon Royval vs. Joby Sanchez in the main event.

Jungle Boy vs. David Arquette was announced for the 5/8 Bar Wrestling show in Los Angeles. Arquette and Jungle Boy's father, Luke Perry, were good friends. Arquette even appeared in a 1992 episode of 90210. Also on the show is Joey Ryan vs. KC Spinelli of Impact, Jake Atlas & Heather Monroe vs Peter Avalon & Ray Rosas, Taya Valkyrie & Daga & Zokre & Phoenix Star vs. Watts & Yuma & BHK & Ryan Taylor. (thanks to Shannon Walsh and wrestlingwithdemons.net)

Showtime has announced a Brendan Schaub comedy special airing on 5/17 at 10 p.m. Schaub, a former UFC star and ex-boyfriend of Ronda Rousey, has been doing stand up as well as podcasts.

Welterweight Wrestling on 6/2 in Rushville, IN with Trey Miguel, Dylan Bostic, Ace Austin, Colby Corino, Ace Perry and many more.

Jimmy Jacobs started a podcast called "Jimmy Jacobs Doesn't Know" which debuted yesterday and his first guest was Bryan Danielson.

Combate Americas announced its debut in South America with a show on 5/31 in Lima, Peru airing live on Univision, Univision Deportes and DAZN. Rolando Bedoya (11-1) of Lima, Peru faces Daniel Zellhubner (6-0) of Mexico City in the main event.

Joey Ryan has been announced for World Series Wrestling in Australia for their June tour.

The Viceland Dark Side of the Ring series will air in Australia on SBS Viceland On Demand starting on 5/8 and will air on TV on SBS Viceland starting on 6/3. (thanks to Kevin Chiat)

AAW has the world premiere of the film David Starr: MASTRMIND tonight at 7 pm. at Marz Brewery at 3630 S. Iron St. in Chicago. It will also be out on Youtube.

AAW runs 5/11 in Chicago at the Logan Square Auditorium with Sami Callihan vs. David Starr for the AAW title, Jessicka Havok vs. Thunder Rosa for the women's title, MJF vs. Mance Warner for the Heritage title, LAX vs. Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett for the tag titles, Josh Alexander vs Adam Brooks and TJP vs. Myron Reed. They also run 5/31 in Austin, TX at Blue Genie Art Bazaar with Warner vs. Eddie Kingston and Vega & Fitchett vs. Penta 0M & Rey Fenix.

MLW TV on Saturday night will air L.A. Park vs. Pentagon Jr., Low Ki vs. Daga and El Hijo de L.A. Park vs. Gringo Loco.

Robert Dreissker of Germany heads to MLW and looks to be groomed for a match with Tom Lawlor.

Salina de la Renta of MLW was on Univision's sports show this week promoting Saturday's episode of MLW Fusion.

Burt Watson's MMA Live comes to the Hard Rock Event Center at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, FL on 6/15 at 7 p.m. The main event of his first show has Jose Caceres (14-8-1) vs. Fred Moncaoio (6-3) at welterweight. Caceres is the only fighter ever to have beaten UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, and he is the brother of UFC star Alex "Bruce Leroy" Caceres.

Combate Americas announced a 6/7 show in Tucson, AZ at Casino del Sol on Univision headlined by Jose Alday (12-4-1) vs. Irwin Rivera (7-4).

Tickets for an ROH TV taping on 7/20 in New York at the Hammerstein Ballroom and for 7/21 in Lowell, MA at the Memorial Arena go on sale tomorrow.

C.M. Punk and A.J. Mendez will be appearing at the Children's Mental Health Gala on Saturday in Chicago.

Shane Douglas will wrestle for UnderGround Wrestling Lupus Mania 2 fund raiser on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Santangelo's Party Center in Massillon,OH.

After 3 shows of buildup, Austin Aries and Eddie Edwards face off for the final time at Warrior Wrestling 5 on Sunday, May 12th in Chicago in a steel cage match.

Daily Pro Wrestling History: Curt Hennig wins AWA World title

F4W Empire Convention Info:

Ed in San Antonio presents PODER~! at the FSW arena on Friday 5/24 - Showtime is at noon - Main event: Bryan Alvarez vs. Logan Stunt

Empire dinner on Friday 5/24 at 8:30 p.m. at Texas de Brazil - Price is $82 - All you can eat meat and salad, sodas, tea, and coffee, plus dessert included

Empire suite party on Friday 5/24 for those who were not able to get the Q&A package - Price is $25

Purchase tickets here.

CONTACT INFORMATION