Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today amidst some technical difficulties to talk all the news in wrestling and mixed martial arts — WWE Road Block, TNA up for sale, the newest edition of the SUPER J CUP, and more, plus Dave Meltzer appears to talk the top stories in the Observer! A fun show as always so check it out~!
With UFC 196 emanating from Las McGregor, Nevada, this weekend, Josh Nason’s Punch-Out heads back out to the desert to chat with someone who is a familiar face to UFC hardcore fans with his usual cageside seat and youthful good looks: Las Vegas Sun assistant sports editor Case Keefer!
Josh and Case talked for 45 minutes about a variety of topics including:
– How he got to the Las Vegas Sun
– How his various other sports beats have helped his UFC coverage
– How someone covers sports gambling as a beat
– The important role Sister Act has played in his life
– Thoughts on Anderson Silva vs. Michael Bisping and how Silva feels more buzzworthy afterward than Bisping
– Bellator’s signing of Wanderlei Silva
– A deep dive into the main event and co-main event of UFC 196 and Case’s observations from the open workouts
– What we think UFC 200 could look like…and more!
Subscribers can click below to listen or right click to save the file.
Photo: Sherdog.com
Even with an injury taking out a main eventer, Saturday’s UFC 196 has no shortage of buzz around it, thanks to the new main event of featherweight champion Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz at welterweight.
The two had a memorable kickoff press conference to announce the fight, made when lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos had to bow out due to a broken foot, in which McGregor was accused of taking steroids and Diaz was accused of making gang signs with one hand and balloon animals in the other. Yes, that happened. The UFC Embedded series has also had its share of memorable moments, notably Nick Diaz’s brother commenting on McGregor’s movment coach Ido Portal.
Today’s 4 PM EST press conference will feature McGregor, Diaz, women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm, and Miesha Tate. Sadly, our “Filthy” Tom Lawlor will not be in attendance as he continues to hatch out a secret plan to defeat Corey Anderson on the PPV main card Saturday.
Enjoy the show!
1922
Wichita, Kansas:
– Ed “Strangler” Lewis won the World Heavyweight Title by defeating Stanislaus Zbyszko in 2 out of 3 falls
1938
Toronto, Ontario, Canada:
– Vic Christy defeated Yvon Robert for the Montreal and Toronto World Heavyweight Titles
1949
Toronto, Ontario, Canada:
– Fred Atkins defeated Whipper Billy Watson to win the Toronto NWA British Empire Heavyweight Title
1953
Albuquerque, New Mexico:
– Fred Blassie and Miguel Lopez defeated Ali Bey and Danny Plechas for the Rocky Mountain Tag Team Titles
1964
Tampa, Florida:
– Bob Ellis defeated Bob Orton to win the Florida NWA Southern Heavyweight Title
1966
Portland, Oregon:
– Paul Jones defeated Stan Stasiak for the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title
1970
Tampa, Florida:
– Bob Orton defeated The Missouri Mauler for the Florida NWA Southern Heavyweight Title
– Jack Brisco defeated Dale Lewis
– Chris Markoff & Bronko Lubich defeated Sam Steamboat & Thunderbolt Patterson
– Bob Roop & Sailor Art Thomas & Dan Miller beat Mr. Saito & Hiro Matsuda & Duke Keomuka-DQ
– Jose Lothario defeated Karl Krauser
– Al Valesco defeated Aldo Bogni-DQ
1973
Winston-Salem, North Carolina:
– Gene and Ole Anderson defeated Art Nielson and Johnny Weaver to win the NWA Atlantic Coast Tag Team Titles
– Jerry Brisco won the NWA Eastern States Heavyweight Title
Osaka, Japan:
– Great Kojika and Gentetsu Matsuoka defeated Killer Karl Krupp and Kurt Von Steiger to win the JWA All Asia Tag Team Titles
1975
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada:
– Ormand Malumba and Guy Mitchell defeated Gene Kiniski and Mr. Saito to win the Vancouver NWA Canadian Tag Team Titles
Orlando, Florida:
– Harley Race defeated Bob Armstrong
– Mask Match: Mike Graham & The Great Malenko defeated The Patriots
– Johnny Weaver defeated Jim Dillon
– Roger Kirby defeated Tony Parisi
1976
– Rocky Johnson and Jose Lothario defeated Killer Tim Brooks and Stan Hansen for the NWA Texas Tag Team Titles
1979
San Francisco, California:
– Ron Starr defeated Roddy Piper for the vacant San Francisco NWA United States Heavyweight Title
1980
West Palm Beach, Florida:
– Steve Keirn defeated Bugsy McGraw to win the NWA Florida Television Title
Tulsa, Oklahoma:
– Eddie and Tommy Gilbert defeated Steve Lawler and Siegfried Steinke for the Tri-State NWA United States Tag Team Titles
1983
Kansas City, Kansas:
– Kim Duk and Yasu Fuji defeated Bob Brown and Buzz Tyler for the NWA Central States Tag Team Titles
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada:
– AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Hulk Hogan dq
– Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke
– Wahoo McDaniel no contest Ken Patera
– Jesse Ventura beat Brad Rheingans
– Rick Martel beat Bobby Heenan COR
– John Tolos beat Buck Zumhofe
Cuernavaca, Mexico:
– Espectro, Jr. defeated Lizmark to win Mexican National Middleweight Title
1984
Milwaukee, Wisconsin:
– Mr. Saito & Jesse Ventura beat The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke
– Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell dq
– Genichiro Tenryu & Jumbo Tsuruta beat Billy Robinson & Ronnie Garvin
– Blackjack Lanza & Blackjack Mulligan beat Stan Hansen & Nick Bockwinkel
– Steve Regal & Kevin Kelly beat Brad Rheingans & Tom Stone
– Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts beat Buck Zumhofe & Steve O
1986
Birmingham, Alabama:
– Tom Prichard defeated Tim Horner for the Southeast NWA United States Junior Heavyweight Title
Memphis, Tennessee:
– Abdul Khadafy (Danny Miller) defeated Rick Casey (Wendell Cooley) to win the AWA International Heavyweight Title
Bradford, England:
– Kung Fu defeated Rocky Morton for the British Heavy Middleweight Title
1987
Croydon, England:
– Fuji Yamada (Jushin Liger) defeated Mark Rocco for the World Heavy Middleweight Title
1989
Fort Worth, Texas:
– Beauty and The Beast (The Beast and Terrence Garvin) defeated Chris Adams and Jeff Jarrett in a tournament final for the vacant USWA
Texas Tag Team Titles
1991
Toronto, Ontario, Canada:
– Hulk Hogan defeated Earthquake in a stretcher match
Naucalpan, Mexico:
– Pegasus Kid (Chris Benoit) defeated Villano III to win the WWF World Light Heavyweight Title
Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico:
– Scott Hall defeated Miguel Perez, Jr. for the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Title
1995
Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania:
– Greg Valentine defeated Tito Santana for the International World Class Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Title
Hiroshima, Japan:
– Silver King and El Texano defeat the Headhunters to win the IWA Japan World Tag Team Titles
1997
Berlin, Germany:
– In a tournament final, WWF Tag Team Champion The British Bulldog pinned WWF Tag Team Champion Owen Hart to become the first WWF European Champion
2001
Carolina, Puerto Rico:
– El Bronco defeated Jerry Flynn for the WWC Universal Heavyweight Title
– Rico Suave and Eddie Watts defeated Thunder and Lightning to win the WWC World Tag Team Titles
2002
Tokyo, Japan:
– Milano Collection A.T. defeated Masato Yoshino in the finals of the Toryumon 2000 Project Strongest League to become the first NWA International Light Heavyweight Champion
2011
Fayetteville, North Carolina:
– Sting defeated Jeff Hardy to win the TNA World Title
– Beer Money defeated Gunner & Murphy to retain the TNA World Tag Team Titles
– Scott Steiner defeated Rob Terry
On this week’s edition of Smackdown that aired in Canada Wednesday and in the U.S. Thursday, WWE announced that Brock Lesnar will wrestle Bray Wyatt at the Network exclusive special on March 12th, emanating from Toronto, ON.
This was discussed in recent Wrestling Observer Newsletters and on Wednesday’s Wrestling Observer Radio.
This match was originally scheduled for this year’s WrestleMania, but Dean Ambrose was moved into the Wyatt spot prior to the Fastlane PPV. Wyatt does not have a WrestleMania opponent as of yet, but it’s expected that he and the rest of the Wyatt Family will compete in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
This follows an announcement Tuesday that Triple H will defend the WWE title in the main event of Roadblock. In addition, NXT Tag Team Champions The Revival (Dash Wilder/Scott Dawson) will defend those titles against Enzo Amore and Colin Cassidy in a match made official on Wednesday’s NXT broadcast.
Lesnar has been a fixture of these Network specials, competing against Kofi Kingston and Big Show on recent shows.
The biggest UFC show thus far in the year 2016 comes our way on Saturday night with UFC 196 taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada. Headlining the event is the biggest star in the sport, UFC Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor, as he moves up two weight classes to take on Nate Diaz in a short-notice situation. Also on the card is UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm defending her championship for the first time against Miesha Tate. Below are our studs, value plays and fighters to avoid when making your daily fantasy line-ups for Saturday night’s event.
STUDS
Conor McGregor ($11,000)
Conor McGregor is the biggest star in the sport of MMA right now and he is the top play this weekend in fantasy MMA. He has won 15 straight fights, and all but one of his seven wins inside the Octagon have come by finish. He won’t have the distraction of a big weight cut this week, and he is fighting a short-notice replacement. Nate Diaz is good, but he hasn’t had a camp. McGregor has shown amazing skills, and due to his mouth and how he presents himself, there are a lot of cases where fans just don’t wanna give him the credit he deserves. This fight is a style fight that is great for him as Diaz is a slow volume striker. McGregor is light on his feet, has great footwork, is an excellent counterpuncher, and is a power striker. He says he is finishing Diaz inside the first round, and it is hard to argue against him with his track record. He is the top play this week. Use him in your line-ups.
Brandon Thatch ($10,900)
Brandon Thatch has struggled recently, dropping his last two fights. However, those losses came to Benson Henderson and Gunnar Nelson, who are top fighters. Before that, Thatch had won eleven of his twelve professional fights, and was a rising prospect. Now, he fights with his potential UFC future on the line. He gets a step back in fighting Siyar Bahadurzada, who is 1-2 inside the Octagon and hasn’t fought since December 2013. Bahadurzada is a tough opponent, but he hasn’t shown much that can convince me he will be a tough challenge for Thatch, and that is without factoring in the long layoff. Thatch has scored all of his wins by stoppage, and all in the first round. He is a big favorite and has a high salary, but he is an excellent play on Saturday night.
VALUE PLAYS
Gian Villante ($9,200)
Gian Villante is looking to score his second straight win after a brutal knockout win over Anthony Perosh in November. He definitely goes all out in his fights and the knockout is always prevelant in his bouts, whether he is on the winning or losing end. Villante has struggled to get a solid run going since coming over to the UFC, but he has a favorable bout in his hands on Saturday night. He is taking on Ilir Latifi, who is a knockout artist himself. However, Latifi struggles with heavy hitters, which is what Villante is. Latifi also fought just six weeks ago, so this is a quick turnaround even though he won in just 28 seconds. Villante is worth a look at his salary and a knockout win is always in the cards when he steps inside the Octagon.
Tom Lawlor ($8,800)
Tom Lawlor fights for the second time since making the move back up to 205 pounds when he takes on Corey Anderson, and it is a real mystery why he is such a big underdog, which makes his salary an interesting one for this card. Lawlor has won three of his last four fights, with the three wins coming by stoppage, and the loss to Francis Carmont was a fight that should have gone in his favor. Anderson has scored some good wins in the UFC, but hasn’t had a finish in his last three wins, and Lawlor is the best fighter he has fought so far in the UFC. Lawlor has a strong wrestling game, good submissions and showed off his underrated knockout power in his finish of Gian Villante in his last fight. Best of all, he is cheap, and he is the best bet for an underdog win on Saturday. He has extremely solid value.
FIGHTERS TO AVOID
Valentina Shevchenko ($9,500)
Valentina Shevchenko had an impressive UFC debut, defeating Sarah Kaufman by split decision on very short notice. She is 12-1 in her MMA career and had a 56-2 record in her kickboxing career. However, she gets a huge step up in competition when she takes on Amanda Nunes on Saturday night. It may be too early in her UFC career for Shevchenko to be taking on a top-five opponent, and Nunes has shown to be a finisher. All of her wins have come by finish, but she has been finished in three of her four losses. Shevchenko is a live underdog, but it is going to be a tough match-up for her. I don’t think she wins, which makes her a fighter to avoid on Saturday night.
Darren Elkins ($9,300)
Darren Elkins has been rotating wins-and-losses in his last six UFC bouts, a far cry from when he was on the brink of title contention having a five-fight win streak. History says he is set for a loss on Saturday night when he takes on Chas Skelly. Skelly himself is a quality fighter, with a 15-1 record in his career. Elkins is also known as a grinding fighter, preferring to take opponents down and smother them. He will have trouble doing that with Skelly, who is a strong wrestler himself. Elkins has also scored just one true stoppage in the UFC, and that was three years ago. His history makes him an easy fighter to avoid and he will have all sorts of trouble getting the win on Saturday.
OUR LINE-UPS
RYAN FREDERICK- Conor McGregor ($11,000), Brandon Thatch ($10,900), Amanda Nunes ($9,900), Gian Villante ($9,200), Tom Lawlor ($8,800)
Everyone I have on my team has been mentioned in some form above. It is hard to bet against proven track records with finishers, and I feel all five of these fighters are going to score big finishes on Saturday. Conor McGregor has been nothing short of amazing in his UFC career, and the fight against Nate Diaz is favorable for him. Brandon Thatch has won all of his professional fights by finish in the first round, and his opponent hasn’t fought in over two years. Amanda Nunes has also won all of her fights by stoppage, and she is on quite a tear inside the Octagon. Gian Villante and Tom Lawlor are big punches with exciting fights, and they fight opponents who have been finished in the past. I see all of them scoring stoppage wins on Saturday night in what should be a fun event.
PAUL FONTAINE- Julian Erosa ($10,500), Erick Silva ($10,300), Ilir Latifi ($10,200), Jim Miller ($10,000), Tom Lawlor ($8,800)
Erick Silva fights are usually quick and violent so the question is whether Silva will be the one to go down or the one to put someone out. I’m betting on the latter. Ilir Latifi is one of the strongest guys in his division outside of Rumble Johnson and I like him to put away Gian Villante early. Julian Erosa looked impressive on the most recent season of the The Ultimate Fighter and even better in his official UFC debut in December. He should continue that here. My lineup wouldn’t be complete without our very own Tom Lawlor who I think is a steal at $8,800. My final pick is Jim Miller. His opponent Diego Sanchez, is tough to put away but will take a lot of shot from the tenacious Miller, earning me a lot of points.
PEACH MACHINE- Conor McGregor ($11,000), Brandon Thatch ($10,900), Gian Villante ($9,200), Tom Lawlor ($8,800), Miesha Tate ($8,600)
McGregor will murder Diaz. We will see the first Octagon death… I don’t understand why everyone is favoring Holm wildly. I expect a long match with a lot of ground work where Tate comes out on top… Villante looked great before getting unexpectedly KO’d by Filthy Tom. I don’t think ol stubby arms Latifi can snatch a win, or a purse (lol), from the hands of big Gian… I like Lawlor. I haven’t been impressed by Anderson. He wins, but Lawlor fights FILTHY!… Thatch is going to rebound from his loss to Gunnar Nelson. He’s on a two fight skid, but I’m predicting his turn around here.
The stream started with the announcements that New Japan promised earlier in the week. The first was something called “Lion’s Gate Trial”. From what it sounds like, it’s the initiative to find new young lions no matter
Takaaki Kidani then announced that Michael Elgin has officially signed a two year deal with New Japan Pro Wrestling. He comes to the ring wearing the lion mark t-shirt. He says that he had two goals growing up – one was to be the very best, and the second was to wrestle in NJPW. He has accomplished the latter, but since NJPW has the best wrestlers, he still needs to accomplish the former.
The third announcement involved Katsuyori Shibata. He’s officially signed with New Japan Pro Wrestling. He’d been a freelancer since making his return in 2012. He officially signed his contract in the ring.
The next announcement was that the Super J Cup would be coming back for the first time since 2009. Promotions from all around the world would be involved, including NJPW, CMLL, ROH, Kaientai Dojo, NOAH, Zero One, Dragon Gate, Suzuki-Gun (they do hold their own shows every now and then) and Ryuku Dragon. KUSHIDA, Naomichi Marufuji and Taka Michinoku came to the ring and said a few words. Very interesting as the Global Cruiserweight tournament is scheduled around the same time.
Following that, Kidani announced that the Tiger Mask anime would be revived. It featured an image of Okada staring down Tiger Mask.
Aside from the tag match, All matches tonight are the opening round of the New Japan Cup.
This didn’t last long. Yujiro jumped him at the bell and beat him up with a steel chair on the outside. The referee was counting as Yujiro posed. As the referee approached 18, Yano got up, low blowed him, and entered right at 20 to win by count out. Clever finish.
Good little match while it lasted. Hard hitting and basically what you would expect from these two. Elgin took control of the match. Tenzan cut him off, hit a uranage and went for the anaconda vise but Elgin escaped. Tenzan went for a moonsault, but Elgin grabbed him and gave him a buckle bomb, then pinned him with a spiral powerbomb.
Tonga came out wearing new gear, which included a chest protector and camo pants. Tonga jumped Makabe at the bell, but Makabe started no selling his offense and made a comeback. He missed the king kong knee drop and Tonga took advantage. He cut off Makabe with a gun stun then pinned him with his waistlock DDT in a big surprise. Match itself was solid but nothing special.
This was a really good match. They had a back and forth stiff kind of match as you’d expect. The finish was really good as Honma does a great job of making you believe he’s about to get the big win, only for something to stop him right before he can get it. Kojima did his comeback and even DDT’d Honma on the apron outside. Honma got up rather quickly from that and teased a double count out spot.
Kojima went for the lariat but Honma kokeshi’d this arm. Honma followed with two more, then went for his top rope kokeshi finish but Kojima rolled out of the way. Honma tried for a sitout piledriver but Kojima blocked it and hit a lariat, but Honma kicked out. He hit one more and got the win.
This was pretty good while it lasted. They all did different things, and felt like there was a different dynamic with Kushida being in here as he doesn’t do heavyweight tags all that often. Shibata and Okada worked together, while Sakuraba and Kushida grappled on the mat. Kushida and Okada had some fun interactions near the end. Okada eventually got the win with the Rainmaker.
Okada grabbed a mic after the match and talked about the new member of Chaos they had been hyping for a while. They showed a video of Will Ospreay, who said he was the newest member of Chaos. He officially challenged Kushida for the IWGP Jr. title at Invasion Attack. He promised to be the first champion from the United Kingdom and also said he would defend the title all over the world. That should be one hell of a match.
Pretty good match. They worked stiff and the dynamic of Goto’s new edge worked well here. The last few minutes were pretty good. Goto came out wearing all white, which I guess is the next step in whatever direction he’s taking. Goto was working a more subtle heel style as he’s been doing a bit more recently. People were totally behind Nagata. They pelted each other with a lot of kicks. Nagata got him in the white eyes armbar but Goto escaped. Nagata nailed Goto with a high kick to the head and Goto sold it like he was nearly knocked out. Nagata missed an enziguri which allowed Goto to grab him and roll him up in a unique way to win the match.
Very good match. Yoshi-Hashi is one of the more underrated guys on the roster and he and Naito had a good back and forth contest. Yoshi-Hashi shows a lot of fire as a babyface.They brawled around the ring, then eventually found themselves back in the ring as they had a decent back and forth contest. YH at one point gave Naito a clothesline that sent him to the floor. Naito made a comeback and hit some high impact moves but YH kicked out of them.
YH waffled him with a clothesline and hit a tombstone and a powerbomb into a bridge but Naito kicked out of all of that. He went for the swanton bomb but Naito moved. Yoshi Hashi and Naito traded some great back and forth slaps and YH even had Naito in a new submission. Naito cut him off with a big spinebuster then hit the Destino for the win.
Really good match, the last few minutes are great. They brawled around and out of the ring to start. Evil got the heat by grabbing a steel chair, placing it on Ishii’s head then smacking him with a steel chair shot, sending the other chair flying in a cool spot. This is Evil’s first big time singles match and looked really good. He has a ton of potential with matches like these.
He scored a nearfall with a nice looking clothesline from the top rope. He went for the STO but Ishii headbutted him. Ishii actually hit and STO of his own and smacked Evil with a lariat but he kicked out. Ishii hit a Dragon suplex and another lariat but Evil still kicked out. Ishii followed that with the brainbuster and that’s it.
Pretty solid match as Tanahashi did a great job in carrying Fale and worked a pretty good match with him. They worked this match like you would expect – Fale dominated early while Tanahashi sold and tried to rally a comeback. Big time high fly flow from the top rope to the floor. Fale came back with a big splash and tried for the grenade but Tanahashi blocked it and gave him a big time German suplex. Fale came back and tried for the Bad Luck Fall but Tanahashi countered.
He went to charge at him in the corner but Tanahashi countered. Tanahashi went for a high fly flow but Fale grabbed him in mid air and hit the grenade, then followed that with the Bad Luck Fall and won the match in a upset, though they push him strong every year in this tournament so it’s not a gigantic surprise.
Fale takes a mic and says the Bullet Club is still here, and this is a new era.
Matches for the next round are Fale vs. Elgin, Tama Tonga vs. Hirooki Goto, Satoshi Kojima vs. Toru Yano, and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito.
In an effort to compete with WWE, New Japan owner Takaaki Kidani announced Thursday that the company will be bringing back the Super J Cup this year, a one-night junior heavyweight tournament that is clearly the company’s shot at WWE’s cruiserweight tournament on the WWE Network.
The Super J Cup, which has occurred five times previously, the most recent being in 2009, will take place on 8/21 at the Ariake Coliseum. New Japan, Ring of Honor, CMLL, Pro Wrestling NOAH, Dragon Gate, Suzuki-Gun, Zero-One and K-Dojo all will participate.
At today’s New Japan show at the Ota Ward Gym, NOAH president Naomichi Marufuji and K-Dojo’s Taka Michinoku appeared to say wrestlers from their companies would be competing.
They also announced the revival of the Tiger Mask television cartoon, which was a famous series in Japan during the 1970s. New Japan wrestlers will be characters in the new series which the company hopes will open up their audience more to kids. When making the annoucement, Kidani even made a remark that this is something WWE won’t be able to do.
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back tonight to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA! WWE Road Block, Smackdown spoilers, Lucha Underground report, ratings from Monday, Bellator and Wanderlei Silva, tons of mailbag questions and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
On tonight’s episode of NXT on WWE Network, it was announced that NXT Tag Team Champions The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder) will defend their titles against Enzo Amore & Big Cass on Saturday, March 12th at the Roadblock Network show from Toronto, Canada.
The match had been rumored for a few weeks, and would be the main roster major show debut for both teams. (Enzo and Cass have been appearing on WWE house shows recently.)
The two teams have wrestled numerous times and done a number of angles with the latest being a parking lot attack by Dash & Dawson that aired last week on NXT television. Dash and Dawson have held the titles since October when they beat the Vaudevillians to become the company’s eighth tag team champions.
The Roadblock show will be headlined by WWE Champion HHH vs. Dean Ambrose, and will be the company’s final major show before Wrestlemania weekend which also features a big Friday night NXT Takeover show in Dallas, TX.