Various: Indies, NJPW Power Struggle, WrestleMania 35, Les Thatcher, More

WWE News & Notes

Detroit’s Sports Commission recently denied reports of the city being a heavy favorite to host Wrestlemania 35 after stating they never filed an official bid for the event. The Commission mentioned they did place official bids to host 2017’s and 2018’s Wrestlemania but failed with both bids.

WWE is currently rumored to be considering more roster releases starting as early as this week, according to PWInsider. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson stated there have been talks within WWE for more releases to be made within the next few weeks, and those not picked to travel for this week’s European tour are among those who could be released.

Legendary wrestler, trainer, and Smokey Mountain Wrestling announcer Les Thatcher announced he is this week’s guest trainer for WWE’s Performance Center.

Website WrestlingDVDNetwork.com reported WWE will be releasing a “Best of RAW and Smackdown 2017” DVD set on February 27, 2018 featuring Charly Caruso as the host and over 8 hours worth of content. WWE will also be releasing a “Best Pay-Per-View Matches of 2017” 3-disc DVD set on January 2, 2018 with Renee Young as the host.

Indie and Japan Wrestling News & Notes

All American Wrestling announced NJPW’s Tetsuya Naito will be facing off against Sami Callihan for their February 17th show at the Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago, Illinois.

ESPN reported Keith Lee will be defending his WWN Championship against Walter for the main event of EVOLVE’s December 9th show in Queens, New York. This will be Lee’s first title defense since winning the championship at EVOLVE 94 on October 14th.

New Japan Pro Wrestling recently revealed this year’s total attendance has surpassed last year’s total with two months remaining.

Big Japan recently became the newest wrestling company to launch their own Network-like service. Their service is called BJW Core with the launch library only having events going back to 2016 with more past shows expected to be added soon. In terms of costs, monthly subscriptions are roughly $7.79 per month (¥888).

Current Card for This Sunday’s NJPW Power Struggle Event

NJPW announced another match has been added to the card for this Sunday’s Power Struggle pay-per-view event. The new match was revealed to be Kenny Omega defending his IWGP United States championship against Trent Barreta. This will be Omega’s third title defense since winning the championship at the G1 Special in July and Barreta’s highest profile singles match to date in NJPW.

The updated card for Power Struggle 2017:
* IWGP Intercontinental Championship – Kota Ibushi versus champion Hiroshi Tanahashi.
* IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship – Trent Barreta versus champion Kenny Omega.
* IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship – Marty Scurll versus champion Will Ospreay.
* NEVER Openwweight Championship Bullrope Match – Toru Yank versus champion Minoru Suzuki.
* Finals of Super Junior Tag Team Tournament – Sho & Yoh versus Ryusuke Taguchi & ACH
* Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, & Gedo versus Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, BUSHI, & Hiromu Takahashi
* Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, & Satoshi Kojima versus Cody, Yujiro Takahashi, & Chase Owens
* Juice Robinson, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask IV, KUSHIDA, & Hirai Kawato versus Zack Sabre Jr, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Taichi, El Desperado, & Taka Michinoku
* The Young Bucks versus Dragon Lee & Titan
* David Finlay versus Katsuya Kitamura