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Wrestling Observer Notes

* Right now the plan is for Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch to headline WrestleMania. After the injury to Lynch on 11/12, the next day, both Vince McMahon and Rousey decided that the best course of action was to do the match at WrestleMania. * The HHH vs. Batista match is very much in question given HHH’s surgery for a torn pec. Brock Lesnar will be at Mania, and there is a direction in place, but it is not certain whether he’ll be champion or not. Roman Reign's match (which was likely to be against Dean Ambrose or Drew McIntyre) was previously scheduled to headline WrestleMania. With Roman out Vince is putting more faith into Ronda as a marquee attraction. * The most dangerous and most reckless move on Raw was not Nia Jax accidentally potato'ing Lynch but both of Lesnar’s German suplexes on Sunil Singh. Singh somehow didn’t get hurt badly on either. Dave says talent have expressed frustration that Lesnar is pretty much bullet proof and if he does hurt someone Vince won't bat an eye over it. * The Daniel Bryan in turn was in part a request from Bryan. * WWE was thinking about a Daniel Bryan vs. Shane McMahon match at WrestleMania but Meltzer has heard that is no longer the plan. * Dave was told at one point after Lesnar won the title that Strowman was a direction but not the big direction and something else would be happening at WrestleMania for Brock. Meltzer said Brock vs Braun is likely to happen at the Royal Rumble, but WWE might change their minds and do the match somewhere else. * Shane McMahon almost bought UFC in the late 90s but Vince cancelled the deal. * New Japan - There are a lot of changes going on. Since last week, the situation with AXS has changed again. Jim Ross and Josh Barnett will be gone after the next set of tapings. Barnett is at this point out for good. The situation with Ross isn’t clear but based on tweets by both Ross and Adam Swift of AXS, where Swift thanked Ross, it looks like he won’t be returning in April. * Cody Rhodes wants to work more dates w/ New Japan in 2019. He hasn't re-signed with ROH and Dave speculates Cody will sign exclusively with NJPW soon and doesn't expect him in WWE. * The new management in NJPW might forbid talent from working elsewhere, which would mean Omega, Young Bucks, etc would no longer be able to work indies in the U.S. market. Dave thinks a story could be developing here. * Kenny Omega vs. Fenix, a battle of the IWGP champion and the AAA heavyweight champion, on 11/9 in Poughkeepsie topped a $100,000 gate with 2,700 fans at the Mid Hudson Civic Center. * With the news that Taka Michinoku has had an affair for the past eight years going public, K-Dojo, his own promotion, announced that he was removed from the Board of Directors and would be forced to work without pay for one year. * Major League Wrestling set its record for attendance on 11/8 in Chicago at Cicero Stadium. Dave never got a number but said it was a sellout and the biggest gate in MLW history. * Dalip Singh (The Great Khali) and his Continental Wrestling Entertainment group has drawn crowds of 30,000 to 50,000 at shows in India. Usually the shows let people in for free and get sponsors to pay the costs. * NWA Champion Nick Aldis will defend the title against Billy Gunn in an upcoming show in Puerto Rico. * IMPACT - The TV contract with Pop TV ends on 12/31, but Impact will still by on Pop at least in early 2019. There was still an Arolucha commercial that played during Impact saying Arolucha was coming in 2019 but again not specifying where. * NXT U.K. will be a part of WrestleMania weekend.