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  • Daily Update: UFC Fight Night 88, plus the returns of John Cena, Sasha Banks, & Eric Bischoff

    Unless John Cena’s drawing power makes a huge difference in ratings for his return, Raw on Monday will be doing an all-time seasonal low number given the competition of game seven of the Warriors vs. Oklahoma City Thunder game and the San Jose Sharks vs. Pittsburgh Penguins game one of the Stanley Cup finals. The Warriors game won’t start until 9 p.m. but traditionally over Memorial Day weekend, because of the holiday, the audience comes late and a lot miss the first hour of Raw. Also, because of the holiday, the ratings will likely be delayed. They should set up the final man in Money in the Bank and start working on the undercard, plus they’ll probably hype to death Smackdown going live and the brand split.

    We’re looking for reports on WWE shows in Madison, WI (Roman Reigns, Sheamus, Kevin Owens, Dudleys, Enzo, Cass, Sami Zayn, Charlotte, Natalya) and LaCrosse, WI (Big Show, Kane, Erick Rowan, Braun Strowman, Dean Ambrose, New Day, Rusev, Kalisto, Alberto Del Rio, Paige, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks).  newstips@wrestlingobserver.com

    UFC FROM THE MANDALAY BAY EVENTS CENTER IN LAS VEGAS ON SUNDAY –  CLICK HERE FOR LIVE COVERAGE

    Fight Pass bouts at 6 p.m. Eastern

    • Adam Milstead vs. Chris De La Rosa
    • Bryan Caraway vs. Aljamain Sterling

    FS 1 at 7 p.m. Eastern

    • Shane Campbell vs. Erik Koch
    • Jake Collier vs. Alberto Pereira Uda
    • Abel Trujillo vs. Jordan Rinaldi
    • Sara McMann vs. Jessica Eye
    • Josh Burkman vs. Paul Felder
    • Jorge Masvidal vs. Lorenz Larkin
    • Chris Camozzi vs Vitor Miranda
    • Tarec Saffiedine vs. Rick Story
    • Jeremy Stephens vs. Renan Barao
    • Cody Garbrandt vs. Thomas Almeida

    NEW JAPAN BEST OF THE SUPER JUNIORS FROM TOTTORI ON MONDAY (taped for New Japan World available later in the day)

    • Trent Baretta vs. Chase Owens
    • Tiger Mask vs. Will Ospreay
    • Bobby Fish vs. Volador Jr.
    • Jushin Liger vs. Ricochet

    Raw is Monday from Green Bay featuring the return of John Cena plus a Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin match.

    NEW JAPAN BEST OF THE SUPER JUNIORS FROM HIROSHIMA ON TUESDAY (taped for New Japan World available later in the day)

    • Bushi vs. David Finlay
    • Matt Sydal vs. Rocky Romero
    • Kushida vs. Gedo
    • Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kyle O’Reilly

    Smackdown and Main Event will be taped on Tuesday in Rockford, IL.

      THE ROUND-UP

      If you’ve ever wanted to WATCH our radio shows here on the site, check out our Youtube page! No full video shows, but lots of video clips, full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!

      Figure Four Weekly 5/23/2016: More strange developments in WWE’s concussion lawsuit deposition – Last week we talked a bit about both Evan Singleton’s deposition in the WWE concussion lawsuit as well as a video of a concussion presentation held in developmental during Singleton’s time under contact. Among other topics, there’s been a bit more movement on that front.

      Wrestling Observer Newsletter

      READ IT HERE: May 30, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Return of Seth Rollins and the WWE brand split, plus tons of news

      With two of the biggest news stories of the year, the WWE brand split and the UFC sale both in play, we’ve got a new issue of the Observer packed with news.

      Our lead story looks at the brand split, with what we do know, what has and hasn’t been decided and the background of how it went down. There’s also more info on the UFC sale talks.  Plus there is coverage of the return of Seth Rollins, the build to Money in the Bank and have coverage of Extreme Rules, the negotiations for a Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz fight and look more at the Floyd Mayweather vs. McGregor rumors. Take an in-depth look at the departure of Cody Runnels (Rhodes) from WWE and his future prospects, plus look at his complaints regarding people in the company. All this plus a look at the New Japan Super Juniors tournament, the funding of the Hulk Hogan lawsuit, the World Cup trios tournament coming up and a feature on the last PWG show.

      The lead story looks at every aspect of the brand split.  It looks at the original goals and reasons for it and what did and didn’t work, plus how it’ll be different this time, how the touring will work, and an examination of what talent knows and tentative plans in place.  Vince McMahon’ reaction is a big part of this, and this issue explains how the deal went down, the story behind the story and other aspects to be considered. There’s also a look at Smackdown going live, the affect on the fan base, the affect on TNA and why it was important to get Smackdown away from Thursday.

      Another big story in this issues is Extreme Rules, the decision to make Seth Rollins a heel and current plans for Money in the Bank, and also match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.

      Details about what’s going on with Conor McGregor, including Colin Cowherd’s claim that Mayweather vs. McGregor is happening, as well as a look at the Nate Diaz negotiations last week and what McGregor has said publicly.

      Finally, this issue looks at Cody Runnels leaving WWE, what he said was the reason why, and a look into those reasons, and a look at the realities of WWE business decisions and his background.

      CLICK HERE FOR A FULL PREVIEW.

      Current subscribers click here to continue reading.

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      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.

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      Check out the latest online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: April 19, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Davey Boy Smith hospitalized with spinal infection, WCW Spring Stampede. The health situations involving both Davey Boy Smith and Japanese woman wrestler Emiko Kado took turns for the worst this past week.

      SUNDAY NEWS

      Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer radio covering the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, today’s UFC, the brand split and taking your questions that you can send to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com

      Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and Paul Levesque will all be deposed in the Evan Singleton and Vito LaGrasso concussion lawsuit. Vince was deposed on Friday actually and Levesque on Tuesday. Dr. Joseph Maroon was deposed as well, and the plaintiffs want him deposed again.

      There have been teases of a “Hatch” on Raw tomorrow night. I don’t know if that has to do with the impending return to television of the Wyatt family (aside from Luke Harper, who still has several months before he’ll be able to wrestle).

      Sasha Banks returned to action last night in Winnipeg after her head injury suffered two weeks ago. They had a unique deal last night as Chris Jericho worked as the face and Dean Ambrose as the heel in the main event since Jericho grew up in Winnipeg.    

      Eric Bischoff is now looking for indie books for appearances, seminars, conventions and Q&A’s through Bill Behrens at showbis@aol.com. WWE will be releasing an Eric Bischoff DVD a week from Tuesday and the WWE Network will air a special on that at 5 p.m. on Thursday so his name will be back in the news. Other names available for bookings include Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Sean Waltman, Drew Galloway, Matt Sydal, Al Snow, Tommy Dreamer, Mike Posey, Jimmy Rave, Diamond Dallas Page, Moose, Nunzio, Tony Mamaluke, Kenn Doane, Blue Meanie, Stevie Richards, Shane Helms and more. He is also booking a number of ROH’s top stars including champions Jay Lethal, Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian for dates only outside the U.S. and Ontario.

      WWE & Pro Wrestling

      • Thanks to Alex Yohkna, Josh Anderson, Allan Albert, Rohan Unrao, Geoff Melnechuk, and Josh Hammerstein for the reports from the WWE shows last night.
      • After Raw tomorrow, they are airing a special called “Seth Rollins: Redesign, Rebuild, Reclaim” about his training to return. Yes, they produced a sympathetic show for a guy who turned back heel last week. I’d have expected that from WCW in 1998 or 1999.   
      • Corey Graves has been teasing a move to Smackdown, which would be a good decision. If that’s the case, he’d take the slot held by Byron Saxton, who would be exclusive to Raw.
      • Rolling Stone did an article on A.J. Styles.
      • An interview with Bayley regarding the UK tour is here.
      • Here is Mike Mooneyham on the WWE brand split.
      • Tons of discussion going around about Friday’s Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet match. We’ll talk more about it tonight. There is a story from Australia on the match. 
      • Today’s New Japan show in Osaka was one of the better shows of the year. No matches of the year, but so much good wrestling up and down the show. 
      • The Lucha Libre World Cup on Friday and Sunday will officially be on iPPV for $19 combined. There is no separate show ordering.  
      • Dixie Carter talks TNA.
      • A note on the Mike Johnson interview with Pop TV’s Brad Schwartz earlier in the week. The interview was set up with Johnson and Pop TV and not through TNA. According to Johnson, TNA was not even aware of the interview being done until after it was completed.

      UFC

      • UFC Fight Pass this past week debuted a “Where Are They Now?” series looking at memorable cast members of the early seasons of The Ultimate Fighter including Bobby Southworth, Luke Cummo, Noah Inhofer, Tait Fletcher, Shonie Carter and Din Thomas. I hope to god that Noah at least is still with that girl he walked off the show for because he missed her so much.
      • UFC Bad Blood airs on Tuesday at 9 p.m. Eastern on FS 1 as a build up for this coming Saturday’s Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber bantamweight title match.
      • Make sure to read this great story on Kevin Randleman.

      MISCELLANEOUS

      • There is a ton of pressure on J Robinson to resign as the University of Minnesota wrestling coach.
      • Jim Ross is doing a Fund Raiser for Headlock for Hunger with a new “Good Gawd Almighty” T-shirt to raise funds.
      • My friend Dave Doyle is raising money for Hire Heroes.
      • So on Friday my daughter asked me how come she sees her friends at school every day but all my friends live so far away. And I asked her what does she mean, and she goes, your friends in the Pink video. That’s when I discovered this.
      • Resurrection Fighting Alliance runs 6/3 at The Hangar at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, Ca with Thiago Moise vs. Jamall Emmers for the lightweight title as the main event. The show will air at 10 p.m. on Friday night after the two hours of New Japan on AXS.
      • It should be noted that this past week’s New Japan show was only one hour because the kickboxing show started at 9 p.m. instead of 10 p.m. There will be both one hour shows and two hour shows depending on the week through 7/10.
      • The death of Tacoma, WA sports personality Stan Naccataro, who passed away at 88 on Wednesday, is notable because he lost his broadcasting job eight years ago for comments made on MMA. While primarily a baseball guy in town, he was also a well-known boxing announcer. “They put on two ounce gloves and exchange punches for a few seconds, then fall onto the mat while one guy tries to put a strangle-hold on the other guy. There’s no art to it, no strategy. Somebody’s gonna get killed one of these days. It ought to be banned. The kids love it through. There’s nothing like a good fight. I love the sport (boxing). It just breaks my heart that the next generation of boxing fans would rather watch this martial arts garbage.”
      • The Venator Fighting championships show from Milan, Italy, that features Mayhem Miller and Rousimar Palhares last week did 105,000 streaming viewers on MMA.TV according to the promotion. It was also on Fox Sports Italy and did 110,000 viewers, which is less than ICW does in the same market.
      • Insane Championship Wrestling has added a Canadian television deal on The Fight Network. It will air on late Thursday nights at 1 a.m.after the CMLL & AAA shows on Thursday nights.
      • NWA Cajun Heat on 7/2 in Morgan City, LA with two cage matches plus an appearance by Kevin Nash. 
      • Netflix will be airing “The Resurrection of Jake Roberts” starting on Wednesday. (thanks to Michael Bargas)
      • ROH tickets went on sale on Friday for a 10/22 show in Lakeland, FL.
      • Evolve on 6/10 in Ybor City, FL on iPPV that night:
      • Timothy Thatcher vs. Chris Hero for the Evolve title
      • Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams vs. Bravado Brothers for the tag titles
      • Johnny Gargano & TJP vs. Drew Galloway & Ethan Carter III
      • Matt Riddle vs. Cedric Alexander
      • Anthony Nese vs Fred Yehi
      • Ethan Page vs. Darby Allin   
      • Dynamo Pro Wrestling from last night in St. Louis: Makaze b Ozzie Gallagher-DQ, Keon Option & Justin D’Air won three-way over Rocket Mapache & Jackal and Danny Adams and Paco Gonzalez, Brandon Aarons won three-way over Kevin Lee Davidson and Evan Morris, Brandon Espinosa b CJ Shine, Outtkast b Ricky Cruz, Jake Dirden b Brandon Aarons (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
      • Wildkat Sports, which is Luke Hawx’s promotion in Louisiana, starts on the New Orleans affiliate Ch. 54 in September. Teddy Long will be working with the group as the TV General Manager.
      • Victory Commonwealth Wrestling on 6/30 in Toronto at the Super Wonder Gallery
      • Jim Cornette and Danny Davis talk about OVW as a developmental territory for WWE and how it fell apart.

      Today in Professional Wrestling History: Crusher vs. Harley Race; Charlotte wins NXT Women’s Title

    • Daily Pro Wrestling History (05/29): Crusher vs. Harley Race; Charlotte wins NXT Women’s Title

      1962 

      Minneapolis, Minnesota:
      – Pat O’Connor beat AWA Champion Mr. M via dq 
      – Doug Gilbert went to a draw with Bob Geigel
      – Thor Hagen beat Tiny Mills 
      – Joe Scarpello drew Stan Kowalski 

      1965 

      St. Paul, Minnesota:
      – The Crusher beat Harley Race in 2 out of 3 falls 
      – Rene Goulet beat Kurt Von Brauner
      – Reggie Parks beat Pampero Firpo dq
      – Chris Markoff beat Tiny Mills

      1968

      St. Paul, Minnesota:
      – AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Luke Brown
      – Harley Race beat Bill Watts by dq
      – Larry Hennig beat Rene Goulet 
      – Dutch Savage beat Rock Rogowski (Ole Anderson)

      1977 

      Houston, Texas:
      – Terry Funk went to a draw with AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel (sub Harley Race, Race was to defend the NWA World Title but wrestled a double shot that afternoon and was not at the building in time to wrestle, so Bockwinkel wrestled Funk in his place)
      – Fritz Von Erich drew with Bruiser Brody
      – Bruno Sammartino beat Mike York
      – Jose Lothario went to a draw with AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel
      – Cyclone Negro beat Chavo Guerrero
      – Fabulous Moolah beat Susan Green
      – Big John Studd beat Gino Hernandez
      – Jimmy Snuka beat Muhammad Farouk

      1983 

      Toronto, Ontario, Canada:
      – Leo Burke defeated North American Champion Johnny Weaver to win the title
      – WWF Intercontinental Champion Don Muraco defeated Rocky Johnson 
      – NWA World Champion Ric Flair pinned NWA U.S. Champion Greg Valentine

      1984

      Night of the Champions: East Rutherford, New Jersey:
      – National TV Champion Ron Garvin pinned Jake Roberts
      – Invader #1 pinned the Great Kabuki
      – NWA Jr. Heavyweight Champion Les Thornton defeated El Gran Apollo by count-out
      – Dusty Rhodes pinned the Assassin (Jesse Barr) 
      – NWA Tag Team Champions Ivan Koloff & Don Kernodle defeated Pez Whatley & Mark Youngblood
      – Wahoo McDaniel fought All Japan PWF Champion Stan Hansen to a double disqualification
      – NWA National Tag Team Champions the Road Warriors defeated Jimmy Valiant & King Kong Bundy when Road Warrior Hawk pinned Bundy
      – WWC Universal Heavyweight Champion Carlos Colon pinned NWA TV Champion Tully Blanchard
      – NWA World Champion Ric Flair pinned NWA US Champion Ricky Steamboat 

      1988 

      Memphis, Tennessee:
      – AWA Champion Jerry Lawler beat Dutch Mantel
      – Jeff Jarrett & Great Senshi beat Robert Fuller & Jimmy Golden by count out
      – CWA Champion Brickhouse Brown beat Bill Dundee via dq
      – Scott Steiner & Billy Travis beat Cuban Choir Boys to win Southern Tag Titles
      – AWA Tag Team Champions Badd Company (Pat Tanaka & Paul Diamond) beat Gary Young & Don Bass
      – Tommy Gilbert beat Tom Brandi

      1995 

      Memphis, Tennessee:
      – Brian Christopher defeated Doug Gilbert for the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title 

      2000

      Salt Lake City, Utah:
      – Jeff Jarrett defeated WCW World Champion Ric Flair to win the WCW World Title 

      Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada:
      – Too Cool defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Edge & Christian to win the titles

      2014 

      NXT Takeover: Winter Park, Florida:
      – Bayley defeated Sasha Banks by disqualification
      – Adam Rose defeated Camacho
      – The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) defeated El Local and Kalisto to retain the NXT Tag Team Championship
      – Tyler Breeze defeated Sami Zayn to determine the #1 contender to the NXT Championship
      – Charlotte (with Ric Flair) defeated Natalya (with Bret Hart) to win the NXT Women’s Championship    
      – Adrian Neville defeated Tyson Kidd to retain the NXT Championship

    • WWE Main Event results: Xavier Woods channels the power of the singlet

      Xavier “Mini E” Woods

      Big E and Kofi Kingston emerge from the back for an in-ring promo, sheepishly trailed by a rather embarrassed looking, singlet wearing, Xavier Woods. The New Day explain that Woods’ travel bag was stolen, thus prompting their largest member to come to his rescue with clothing from his limited wardrobe. Kofi, in his stupidly dated Dr. Evil voice, proclaims Xavier the New Day’s “Mini E”, which doesn’t help the trombonist’s fears that he may not be in possession of a “singlet body”.

      The Social Outcasts then interrupt, mimicking the New Day’s entrance with the Bo Dallas line: “Prepare to have a blast and give it up for the Social Outcasts!”. To the surprise of no-one, the Outcasts have Woods’ bag in tow. They raid its contents, which include some red underwear and a ‘My Little Pony’, the latter of which leads Curtis Axel to dub Xavier a “j-brony”.

      The Outcasts promise to return the bag if the New Day can defeat them in a match, a challenge that the tag champs eventually accept after a super-serious huddle. They are aware that they squashed these geeks in, like, two minutes on RAW the previous night, right?

      The New Day def. Social Outcasts by pinfall

      This was much longer than the RAW match, with eight minutes aired and a commercial break in the middle. There was a lot of stalling at the beginning, with both teams wiggling their butts at each other and exchanging Bo/New Day Trains for what seemed like a very long time. Even Lawler was forced to exclaim “we already saw that” after the New Day saw fit to engage in a second train.

      The highlight of the match was Woods trying to channel the “power of the singlet” by borrowing moves from Big E’s arsenal, including attempting an early bearhug on Axel that looked completely ridiculous. Later, Woods got the hot tag after the Outcasts got the heat on Kofi for a while, hitting Big E’s running splash on Heath Slater, before playing the big man’s part in the Midnight Hour for the win.

      Paige def. Summer Rae by pinfall

      A nothing match here, that was enlivened by Jerry Lawler successfully cracking Tom Phillips up with jokes about how much his parents hate him: “Your mother says you’re not her favourite, but you’re an only child!”. After an awkwardly worked, five minute encounter, Paige blocked a spin kick, hit a fallaway slam and the Rampaige to pick up the victory.

      Baron Corbin def. Jack Swagger by pinfall w/ Dolph Ziggler on commentary

      As much as I usually find Dolph’s misplaced confidence to be highly irritating, his over-exuberant commentary was admittedly very enjoyable here; think the verbal equivalent of Shawn Michaels selling for Hulk Hogan.  Although, suggesting that Lawler’s shirt sported “Flava Flav’s chain” is an equally antiquated reference to the one Kofi made earlier.

      Corbin’s pre-match inset promo tells us that Swagger is apparently another “technical wrestler” trying to achieve his dreams, while the quickly balding Baron is only here to “hurt people and make money”.

      Catty commentary keeps me entertained as Corbin’s resthold-heavy heat runs the risk of boring me to tears. Dolph: “I’ve been kicked by the boot of Swagger and it’s had way more effect on me!”. Lawler responds by mentioning the ten elbows/heart attack debacle. Get over it, folks!

      The finish sees Corbin make the ropes to counter the Patriot Lock, before kicking Swagger in the throat while the referee is trying to “create separation”. Corbin then pulls his opponent onto the ropes neck first, before following up with the End of Days and staring at Ziggler after the three count.

      Ziggler hypothesises that Corbin might be staring at Lawler, meaning that the final line we hear before the show goes off the air is: “Don’t let him drop an elbow!”. Meow.

      Final Thoughts

      Considering that the “comedy” on this show is usually the dirt worst, Xavier Woods’ Big E tribute was a pleasant surprise. Save for the announcing however, the second half of the show was a hard slog. Although I like Corbin’s vanilla midget antagonist character, he is far from ready to work long singles matches yet, despite his significant in-ring improvements over the last year.

    • WWE Peoria, IL, live results: Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles

      By Alex Yohkna

      – Enzo and Cass vs. The Dudley Boys

      Dudleys got a lot of heat ripping up signs and yelling at kids. Cass wrestled most of the match, but Enzo did quite a bit as well. Right away, Enzo took a double team back body drop/neckbreaker which definitely shows that he’s fully cleared, I would assume. He took a bunch of head hits and hard clotheslines, so I’d assume he’s fully ready to go. E&C won when Cass takes the hot tag and cleans house, tagging Enzo back in to hit their double finisher pinning Bubba. Decent match. Crowd was INSANELY LOUD for Enzo and Cass. I’d say biggest pop of the night, honestly.

      – Viktor vs Titus

      Crowd really got behind Titus. Nothing big here. Just a bunch of hard chest slaps to Viktor to get the crowd cheering. Titus wins with his spinebuster and poses with the little fans on his way back.

      – Tyler Breeze vs Goldust

      Not really much reaction for either person. Match was pretty slow up until Fandango ran out to help Breeze which quickly brought R-Truth’s music and him running out for the save. Goldust picked up the win and R-Truth and Goldust danced in the ring for what seemed like 20 minutes.

      – Gallows and Anderson vs The Hype Bros

      Mojo spent about 75% of the match in the ring. Ryder hits the Broski Boot on Anderson, but was quickly attacked by Gallows drawing the double team finish. Gallows and Anderson pick up the win here. Side note–Anderson’s trunks looked very similar to all of the Balor Club logos.

      – Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens

      Owens got a huge crowd reaction. Zayn did as well, but not as big as Kevin’s. Really good match. Zayn went over completely clean. Hits Owens with the Helluva kick after countering the pop-up powerbomb. Pinned him 1-2-3. No false finishes in this match. Was really good.

      – Sheamus vs Apollo Crews

      Sheamus cuts a promo apologizing for his actions on Raw then immediately attacks Crews once Crews gets into the ring. Really fun match between the two of them. Looking forward to seeing them work a program together. Sheamus hit a beautiful chokeslam/powerbomb, but Crews gets the win with a classic school boy roll up.

      – Natty vs. WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte

      Natty, by far, had the second loudest crowd reaction of the night. Not surprising as every time she’s in Peoria, the crowd loves her. This match was 10x better than the Extreme Rules match. Charlotte retains with a roll up while putting her legs on the second rope for leverage. It got the heat she needed and still puts Natty over as she can’t beat her clean. Very good match. Natty also hit a wonderful Batista Bomb on Charlotte.

      – WWE Champion Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles

      Almost identical to the match at Extreme Rules, and that was just fine! Great match! Roman looked extremely strong and AJ looked like a threat to pull away a victory the whole match. Roman went for the Superman Punch and AJ countered with the shoulderblock into Roman’s leg like at ER. Roman sold the leg injury for most of the match. AJ rolled him up into the calf crusher and had it broken up once Roman grabbed the ropes. The crowd was really into the match the whole time. 

      AJ never hits a finisher, but Roman wins after dodging the Phenomenal Forearm and turning it into a spear — the same ending as the Payback match — for the clean win. Both looked absolutely amazing. Those two work so well together. Crowd loved AJ and was very indifferent to Roman. The last two years Roman has loudest cheers, this visit was equal in boos and cheers.

      Overall wonderful show, they never disappoint in Peoria.

    • WWE Winnipeg, MB, live results: Chris Jericho vs. Dean Ambrose street fight

      Submitted by Rohan Unrau

      Byron Saxton was our host/ ring announcer.

      – Big Show def. Erick Rowan

      The Vintner came to the ring accompanied by Braun Strowman. Roughly 5 minutes of clumsy power spots with interference from Stroman backfiring, leading to the knockout punch on Rowan for the pin.  Show chokeslammed Stroman after.  Basically a squash with some quick heat spots.

      – Epico def. Sin Cara

      Both Colons came out and did some old-school local city trash talking, saying how great Puerto Rico is. Another quick match, Sin Cara botched a rana within the first 20 seconds, but no one seemed to care. Epico won with a distraction roll-up. A bit more entertaining than the opener.

      – Cesaro def. Baron Corbin 

      Uppercuts, swing, sharpshooter.  Not much else to this.

      – WWE Tag Champions The New Day def. The Vaudevillians

      New Day was the 2nd most over act of the night after Jericho. This match was almost an exact duplicate of the Extreme Rules match.

      – During intermission, Saxton plugs Money In The Bank on the Network, and didn’t mention $9.99 since in Canada, it’s $11.99.

      – Paige, Becky Lynch & Sasha Banks vs. Dana Brooke, Lana and Summer Rae 

      Babyfaces win when Sasha tapped out Summer with the Bank Statement.

      – U.S. Champion Rusev vs. Kalisto vs. Alberto Del Rio

      ADR was quite over and got the “Ci” chant going a few times. ADR hits the Tree Of Woe stomp on Kalisto, Rusev throws ADR out of the ring and instantly slaps on the Accolade and torques back for the immediate tap.  My favorite match of the night. Both Lucha Dragons lost, leading to a “Loser Dragons” chant.  Get that t-shirt ready.

      – Street Fight: Chris Jericho vs. Dean Ambrose

      Jericho comes out first to a huge pop, and was a total babyface the whole match. He got on the mike immediately and put over Winnipeg, talked about growing up here, gave a backhanded compliment to Winnipeg’s old crappy arena that was torn down years ago.  He told the story of the origins of “I’m from Winnipeg You idiot.”  In the middle of his catchphrase, Ambrose’s music hit.  He has a great heel run in him as he embraced the heel role. 

      They did a few kendo stick and chair spots. That’s about as hardcore as it got. They had about 15 minutes, and Jericho won with a chair-assisted codebreaker.  After, he got back on the mike and finished his ‘neeeever eeeeeever’ catchphrase.

      Pretty entertaining, albeit predictable show. I estimate the house was probably around 6000 people, about 60-65% were children, so of course, all the babyfaces were super over.

    • UFC Fight Night 88 DFS Playbook: value picks, who to avoid

      One of the traditional events on the UFC calendar is Memorial Day Weekend in Las Vegas. While not a pay-per-view event like usual, the Octagon is back this weekend, on Sunday this time, for UFC Fight Night 88 on FOX Sports 1. The event is headlined by undefeated bantamweights Thomas Almeida and Cody Garbrandt. Below are our studs, value plays and fighters to avoid when making your fantasy rosters for Sunday’s event.

      STUDS

      Abel Trujillo ($11,200)

      Abel Trujillo has the highest salary of the fighters competing on the UFC Fight Night 88 card, and it shouldn’t be a surprise for many reasons. Most of the bouts are evenly matched, but Trujillo will have an advantage as he fights a replacement fighter taking the fight on short notice making his UFC debut in Jordan Rinaldi. Trujillo has put up a solid 5-2 UFC record (with one no contest, though one of his wins was actually a loss that was overturned), with his only official losses coming to Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson, both of whom are top-five ranked fighters. All of his official UFC wins have come by stoppage, and he is a dangerous and powerful fighter. Rinaldi has a solid 12-4 record, but he gets a tall order in making his UFC debut. Trujillo is a very good bet to score a finish and he is our top play for the card.

      Aljamain Sterling ($11,000)

      Aljamain Sterling enters Sunday night with an undefeated record, a new contract with the UFC, title shot aspirations, and the fight he wanted as he takes on Bryan Caraway. Sterling is a huge favorite in the bout, and with good reason as he is a perfect 13-0 with nine finishes, and three of his four UFC wins have been finishes. Caraway is a tough and durable fighter, but has garnered a reputation of late of turning down fights in what people seem to see as him trying to maintain his positioning in the division. If Caraway wants to fight for a title, he can’t turn down fighting Sterling. That may be a mistake for him. Sterling is young and hungry, and the 135-pound division is thriving with talent. He may be the most talented prospect, though the main event fighters on Sunday have something to say about that. He is just too talented for Caraway, and I expect Sterling to have an impressive showing on Sunday. He’s an excellent play.

      VALUE PLAYS

      Jeremy Stephens ($9,300)

      With so many close match-ups on this card, it is hard to find a lot of value as I see the true underdogs having trouble picking up wins. That is why I’m going with Jeremy Stephens as a value play despite the fact he is fighting former bantamweight champion Renan Barao. Barao is moving up to 145 pounds as he is now going to have trouble making 135 pounds with the IV ban, and he is someone who has looked different in recent fights. Make of that what you will, but there have been noticeable changes in a lot of fighters, and Barao is one of those. Stephens has just a .500 record in the UFC, but he has been around a long time and is capable of making a solid run in the division. He has the knockout power and is known for exciting fights, and Barao has been taking beatings lately and not looked himself. Stephens is a sneaky play to score an upset and has some solid value.

      Chris Camozzi ($8,900)

      Chris Camozzi is another good value fighter as he looks to score his third straight win. He takes on Vitor Miranda, who has won three straight, but Camozzi is the toughest opponent he has fought in the UFC. Miranda is also getting older, but he is coming off an impressive win. Camozzi is also coming off an impressive win, and a rather quick one. This fight should be closer in the betting odds, but the longer odds make Camozzi’s salary a very good one to look at. Both men are very good kickboxers, but Miranda is a big middleweight, and he fades late. That could open the door for Camozzi to attack late. Camozzi has dangerous muay Thai and is very underrated despite his lackluster UFC record. Both men are on solid streaks, and Camozzi has a very solid chance at getting the upset. He is worth looking at for some value.

      FIGHTERS TO AVOID

      Jorge Masvidal ($9,600)

      Jorge Masvidal is a very good fighter, somewhat underrated by a lot. He took former lightweight champion Benson Henderson to the wire but came up short in his last fight. He has a 6-3 record in the UFC, but he is a fighter you should avoid for a simple reason- he isn’t much of a finisher. He has 16 wins by decision out of his 29 career wins, and he has only scored two stoppage wins in the last six-plus years. He is also facing a very dangerous opponent in Lorenz Larkin, who is better on the feet in a pure kickboxing term. Masvidal is more well-rounded, but he tends to abandon his solid takedown game to get into a battle on the feet. That will cost him against Larkin. I like Larkin in this fight, and I don’t see anything but a decision happening. I would avoid Masvidal at his salary. If his salary was lower, he’d have good value, though.

      Jake Collier ($9,100)

      Jake Collier is 1-2 in the UFC and is on the chopping block coming into Sunday’s card. He has to get a win. That might be a challenge against the debuting Alberto Uda, who is 9-0 with eight finishes in his career. Uda is a crafty striker, and a dangerous one at that, and has very good submissions. Collier eats a lot of punches, and that cost him in his last fight, which was a knockout loss to Dongi Yang. Collier is solid but unspectacular, and he hasn’t shown that he has what it takes to compete at the UFC level right now. Perhaps with a few more fights under his belt, and a loss here would send him back to the regional circuit. His prior UFC bouts make it hard for him to be trusted on a fantasy roster, much less against a dangerous foe. He is a solid pass in my eyes.

      OUR LINE-UPS

      RYAN FREDERICK- Aljamain Sterling ($11,000), Alberto Uda ($10,300), Thomas Almeida ($10,200), Jessica Eye ($9,500), Chris Camozzi ($8,900)

      I’m starting my roster off with Aljamain Sterling. I think he is a future champion at 135 pounds, and he is getting the big push this week. I expect him to finish Bryan Caraway and to be impressive in doing so. Alberto Uda is making his UFC debut, but with eight finishes in nine career wins, an undefeated record, and a struggling opponent, I see him getting a finish. Thomas Almeida is in his first main event, and he does have a tough opponent in Cody Garbrandt. I see him finishing Garbrandt, and even if it goes five rounds, that’s a lot of points that can be scored. Jessica Eye is also on my roster. She is hungry and is better on the feet than her opponent, Sara McMann, who hasn’t shown much in the UFC. I like Eye to get the win. Last on my team is Chris Camozzi, who I see landing a barrage of knees in the clinch on Vitor Miranda and getting a stoppage win.

      PAUL FONTAINE- Abel Trujillo ($11,200), Paul Felder ($10,800), Renan Barao ($10,100), Cody Garbrandt ($9,200), Bryan Caraway ($8,400)

      Many of these matches are very close and extremely tough to call and the main event is one of those. I’m taking a chance but I needed two underdogs to fit some guys on the team that I really like. Both guys are finishers and both have faced a similar level of UFC competition. Both are 24 years old. It’s really almost a pick ’em in my eyes so I’m getting a bit of a break on the price for Garbrandt in that sense. I’m much more confident about Barao. He probably should’ve been fighting at 145 all along but didn’t want to be in the same weight class as Jose Aldo, who was the champion and his training partner. He shouldn’t lose any of his speed and may have even better cardio as a result of not having such a drastic weight cut. And Jeremy Stephens is not getting any younger. I really like Paul Felder in his fight over Josh Burkman and feel like this is a glorified enhancement match for Felder, who had lost two in a row last year before rebounding with a submission win in his last fight. Trujillo is the biggest lock on the card, in my opinion and his price showed it. He has just two losses in the last 5 years and they’ve been to Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov. He’s facing a debuting fighter with 4 losses in the same time period to people who literally aren’t in the same league. My last pick is Bryan Caraway who is a big underdog in his fight against Aljamain Sterling. I see Caraway frustrating Sterling with his wrestling and maybe sneaking in a submission win or a decision.

      PEACH MACHINE- Aljamain Sterling ($11,000), Renan Barao ($10,100), Lorenz Larkin ($9,800), Tarec Saffiedine ($9,700), Cody Garbrandt ($9,200)

      Barao hasn’t fought in a while which is good. He needed to take some time off after two decimations by Dillashaw. I think he’ll be back in old form and destroy Stephens. I’m taking Sterling because I hate Caraway. I also feel like Sterling is gonna be a star soon. Larkin is in top shape at 170 and I’m not sure how Masvidal is going to fare moving up. He’s done so before, but I’m leery. Saffiedine is facing Rick Story who has been out action for a while. He hasn’t fought since 2014. Saffiedine dispatched of Ellenberger, who I consider a better version of Rick Story, so I’m taking Tarec. Garbrandt is my “make him fit” pick because I don’t like anyone else. I like Garbrandt more than Almeida so I’m fine with it. Let’s go Ascension!

    • New Japan on AXS report: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi, more from G1 ’15

      As we’re heading into the middle of this year’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament, we’re also going back and taking a look at last year’s G1 tournament. We start off on action in Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center from July 20, 2015.

      Tetsuya Naito vs. Bad Luck Fale

      Solid match. Fale usually performs pretty well with great performers and this was one of those matches. Naito won with a roll up. Not much more to say about it other than Naito starting the Los Ingobernables phase seems way longer than just a year ago. I don’t know if it’s just time coming to a standstill or I just watch way too much New Japan.

      AJ Styles vs. Katsuyori Shibata

      Really good. Not out of this world awesome but a great 13 minute match. Good back and forth match with Styles winning after the Styles Clash. What a difference a year makes – AJ’s still the same performer that he was here in the WWE. I really think going to Japan gave him the confidence to be a true main event headliner, like TNA tried to do with him but there were always start and stop pushes that prevented him from really becoming a star. It’s all about the lay of the land.

      Hiroshi Tanahashi talked about his match with Kota Ibushi. He said he felt insecure going into the match, mentioning his battles with Nakamura and Okada and wondered what he could do. Eventually, the last day before the match, he decided all he could do was be himself.

      Kota Ibushi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

      It’s so weird the career trajectory path Ibushi chose. He’s here having a match with one of the best babyfaces in world and in one of the biggest promotions, and now he’s in the IGF and wrestling blow up dolls. Sure, he might be in the Cruiserweight Classic tournament coming up but he’s really fallen off the radar with his weird side projects. This was really built up well. Crowd was hot, and it lead to some great near falls. Ibushi as a performer is just stellar- facials, mannerisms, everything. Ibushi isn’t as flashy as Ricochet or Will Ospreay but does enough crazy stuff as a heavyweight that he still stands out. Tanahashi got the win with the high fly flow.

      Tanahashi promised to win the G1 in a post match interview. Backstage, Kota Ibushi says he accepted today’s loss as Tanahashi is an amazing performer. Tanahashi says Ibushi is ambitious, and as long as Ibushi is here the future is bright. Oops.

      Tanahashi says he was impressed by Ibushi during the match. He was injured during the match, and mentioned his neck injury. The match wasn’t fun, but was interesting. When asked if he would want to face Ibushi again, he said absolutely, as he is looking forward to Ibushi coming back soon. Don’t think he is, unfortunately!

      A fun show this week. Main event is great. I guess the underlying theme of the show is that a lot can happen in a year.

    • Wrestling Weekly: Cody Rhodes Quits, AJ Styles Dilemma, WWE Brand Split

      From Cody Rhodes to Extreme Rules to the build to Money in the Bank to the WWE brand split, it’s been an incredibly eventful week and Les and Vic return to talk about it all!  We’ll start with Cody and the statement he released that didn’t do him any favors at WWE Headquarters, how many guys feel the way he does, and having a lot of respect for him being willing to walk away from a good amount of money if the money doesn’t come with the opportunity he’s seeking.  Vic was live in the building for Extreme Rules last Sunday and he’ll talk about a feeling he couldn’t shake while watching AJ Styles vs Roman Reigns (18:41) and just how far (and for what reasons) AJ Styles is willing to go to have a great match.  Also, is that willingness doing him any good within the company at this point?  No discussion would be complete this week without touching on the brand split (47:10) and the announcement that Smackdown is moving to Tuesdays and going live in July.  We’ll talk the idea of 2 champions as opposed to 1 and something that might be missing from the product today that will be essential to the brand split being a successful one this time around.  We hope you have a happy and healthy holiday (in the USA) weekend and thanks for listening~!

      Right click save

    • NJPW Best of The Super Juniors live results: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Matt Sydal; Kushida vs. Taguchi

      The Best of the Super Juniors tournament continues with A block matches in Osaka.

      After the foreigners took center stage on Friday in Tokyo with the Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet match everyone is talking about, it’s the Japanese in the main event tonight with Kushida (1-2) facing Ryusuke Taguchi (3-0).  In addition, we’ve got Matt Sydal (2-1) vs. Kyle O’Reilly (3-0) in what should be a great match, plus Gedo (1-2) vs. David Finlay (0-3) and Rocky Romero (2-1) taking on Los Ingobernables de Japon member Bushi (0-3).

      Given the records, you can probably figure out the results but we’ll see how they get there.

      WILL OSPREAY & TRENT BARETTA & TOMOHIRO ISHII VS. HIROYOSHI TENZAN & VOLADOR JR. & MICHAEL ELGIN

      Heated crowd tonight.  Very good opener but usual rush job with all this talent.  Tenzan had one of his better nights.  Ospreay and Volador stole the show with some great spots.  Ospreay has started to just take over and knows he’s the big deal now and the crowd already treats it like he’s something special when he tags in.  The finish saw Elgin pin Baretta.  Baretta went for a codebreaker but Elgin blocked it and power bombed him. 

      JUSHIN LIGER & TIGER MASK &. MANABU NAKANISHI & YUJI NAGATA VS. KATSUYORI SHIBATA & JAY WHITE & BOBBY FISH & JUICE ROBINSON

      Another very good match.  Nagata and Shibata are going to tear the house down when they come back for their singles match in Osaka on the 19th.  They were super hard hitting and solid with everything they did.  Nakanishi actually came off the top rope twice in this match and worked surprisingly well with Robinson, who is more animiated.  But it was another rush job.  Nakanishi and Nagata double-teamed White with a chop off the top by Nakanish and enzuigiri by Nagata at the same time and Nagata put him way with the bridging back suplex.

      DAVID FINLAY VS. GEDO

      Another good match, very physical.  Gedo was on fire here doing all the little things that most don’t do as far as bringing intensity and selling Finlay’s stretch muffler.  Early on he used the ring bell hammer, a chair and and rammed Finlay’s head into the table a few times.  Finlay’s work and comebacks were solid all the way across.  Finlay got a cradle and a big crowd pop for the upset.

      ROCKY ROMERO VS. BUSHI

      Better match than you’d think largely due to Romero.  Again solid wrestling with strong heat.  Bushi did a good tope and most of his spots.  Good counters and near falls at the end.  Bushi blew green mist when the ref was distracted and then came off the top rope with a codebreaker and got the pin.

      INTERMISSION

      SATOSHI KOJIMA & YOSHITATSU & CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN & RICOCHET VS. BAD LUCK FALE & KENNY OMEGA & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI & CHASE OWENS

      Another match better than you’d think largely due to Ricochet, Kojima and Omega and even Captain.  Omega was the star of the match.  Ricochet worked great spots with him including doing a twisting dive over the top.  In the end, Captain came in and got great near falls on Omega that the crowd bought including a uranage and frotn rolling cradle.  But Fale squashed Captain in the corner and Omega used Hiroshi Tanahashi’s big moves, the sling blade and high fly flow for the pin.  After the match Omega hit Captain over the head hard with a garbage can.  Even with an object that gives they can lay off the hard head shots.

      KAZUCHIKA OKADA & HIROOKI GOTO & YOSHI-HASHI VS. TETSUYA NAITO & SEIYA SANADA & EVIL

      Great match.  Real wild with super heat, paricularly Okada vs. Nito and and Yoshi-Hashi vs. Sanada.  Crowd is really into the latter feud.  The finish saw hard hitting action with Goto and Evil and Goto scoring the clean pin after a guillotine ino a final cut.  Naito threw the belt i the air again.  Naito grabbed Milano Collection A.T. after.  Okada stomped the hell out of Evil.  Goto wanted a singles match with Evil.  Yoshi-Hashi and Sanada brawled some after the match. 

      MATT SYDAL VS. KYLE O’REILLY

      This is quite the show.  Another great match here showcasing two of the best wrstelers in the world right now.  Hard hitting solid, some great moves by Sydal and great submission set ups by O’Reilly.  Sydal won when he knocked O’Reilly off the top with a head-butt from superplex position and hit a double kneedrop off the top and followed with the shooting star press. 

      KUSHIDA VS. RYUSUKE TAGUCHI

      Excellent match.  I can’t even remember the last time Taguchi was in something this good.  He hung wih Kushida for 16 minutes and both were drenched when it was over.  What’s interesing is that the super juniors usually means a lot of high flying but this year it’s more solid wrestling  for most guys and the high flying was left to Ospreay, Volador and Ricochet.  Lots of near fall and submissions.  Kushida once did a divoce court off the apron and a running flip dive.  Kushdia kicked out of the Dodon and Taguchi escaped the hoverboard lock.  The finish was a series of reversals and Kushida went for an armbar but Taguchi cradled him.  But Kushida then got the armbar again and Taguchi had to tap out.  Kushdia did an interview after.

      Overall one of the better shows of the year.  Everyone worked hard and the key matches they were building for Dominion all hot had a lot of intensity.

    • Cody Runnels returns!

      Cody Runnels has sent a tease that he will be available to work in just under three months. On Twitter, with him using the name Cody Rhodes, a point of contention since he started using that name in WWE, but it had been the family wrestling name for almost 50 years, he sent out a tweet earlier today listing the 8/19 date with the words “After 8/19.” 

      Runnels also listed almost a bucket list of opponents he was interested in working with. The names on the list were Adam Cole, Dalton Castle, Kurt Angle, Chris Hero, The Miracle (Mike Bennett), Moose, Pat Buck, Young Bucks, Trevor Lee, Katsuyori Shibata and Roderick Strong.

      Also listed on his list of things to check off were BOLA (the PWG Battle of Los Angeles tournament in late August), “the streamers thing” which likely means ROH (or some minor Japanese groups)  and “Personal ring announcer,” which could be construed as travelling with his wife, who is a ring announcer.