Filthy Four Daily with Bryan Alvarez and Tom Lawlor is back today with A PLAN: To discuss UFC Fight Night Dillashaw vs. Cruz, and yes, for those keeping track, TWO WEEKS NOW it’s the TNA Impact Wrestling on POP TV review! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Last Monday’s average viewership of 3.23 million viewers was the lowest for RAW in the month of January since the Monday Night Wars era. Viewers were down 14.48% from a year ago this week (January 12, 2015), which also went up against the NCAA college football national title title game. That particular edition of RAW averaged 3.89 million viewers, which, in itself, was down 11.67% from the same week in 2014.
The rating for the 2016 show was a 2.36, down 12.92% from the same week in 2015, and also the lowest January rating since before the Monday Night Wars.
The 2015 rating was a 2.71, down 12.86% from the previous year. It’s important to note that 2015 was the first year that of the current format of the NCAA college football playoffs, meaning that the championship game was later than it had been in previous years and had never gone up against RAW prior to that.
The average for the month of January is now 3.451 million viewers, well down from January 2015’s 4.035 million.
If this trend continues, it would be the 14th straight month that RAW viewership has dropped year-over-year with most of those months seeing a decline of more than 10%. Similarily, the combined rating so far in January is 2.43, down 17.8% from last year’s 2.95 rating in January.
While pro and/or college football has a clear effect on RAW’s ratings, that doesn’t tell the full story.
Every year, without exception, RAW’s viewership numbers drop generally about 5-10% as soon as the NFL season starts. After the season ends, the numbers generally return to slightly above the level they were prior to the football season, partially due to the “Road To Wrestlemania” season of January-March. This year, the decline was much worse than usual and the numbers were nearing record lows to begin with. The numbers will almost certainly rise now with the end of football on Monday nights, but it would take a drastic turnaround to get even close to 2015 totals. After Mania, when the viewerships traditionally drops again, it’s very likely that RAW will return to doing non-holiday record lows every week.
What about this week?
With nothing major promoted for last week’s show (Brock Lesnar appearing on the show wasn’t announced until later in the week), there is no reason to expect any increase to the Monday, January 18th rating other than the typical non-football bump. One year ago today, RAW did an average of 4.09 million viewers. The last 10 weeks, RAW has been averaging about 11% less than the previous year’s number, so the estimated numbers are 3.65 million viewers and a 2.65 rating.
Anything higher than could be a sign that WWE is slowly turning things around and something’s clicking. If the number is lower than that, the slide is getting worse. If they score anything around 3.5 to 3.8 million viewers, that’s a good sign things may be stabilizing.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today to talk tons of news including the death of Iron Mike Sharpe, Raw tonight with the go-home angles for Royal Rumble, tons of calls and texts and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
The Big Takeaway:
There was an old baseball saying with the Boston Red Sox in the 1940s when they had two decent pitchers in Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain. It went “Spah, Sain and pray for rain.” That’s the depth-challenged WWE right now. It’s Lesnar-Reigns and pray for Kane. The end of the go-home show for the Royal Rumble had Lesnar laying prone after being left for dead by the Wyatt Family, who have been stuck in the midcard since Thanksgiving. Reigns will be the #1 entrant in the Royal Rumble, which was determined in a segment that will live on through Botchamania. Vince McMahon, he of the bulging biceps at 70, failed to open two plastic balls on live television. Basically, the segment wanted you to believe the Authority rigged the drawing to make sure Reigns would draw the first spot. In other words, this was the WWE version of the 1985 NBA Draft lottery.
Show Recap:
Roman Reigns came out first to say he was going to be the first man ever to defend the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the Royal Rumble, but he was only concerned with Brock Lesnar tonight. He wanted Lesnar to come out. Chris Jericho walked down and said Lesnar was already booked for the Highlight Reel tonight and asked Reigns to join him. Reigns agreed. Then the League of Nations came out, with Alberto Del Rio back with the U.S. Championship around his waist. Sheamus objected to everyone assuming the Royal Rumble will just come down to Reigns vs. Lesnar. Sheamus said the WWE Championship would come home to him. Sheamus wanted to be on the Highlight Reel, but Jericho shot him down. Del Rio objected to Jerichio’s smarky remarks and bragged about how he won the Royal Rumble, unlike Jericho. Jericho declined both of their invitations. Rusev then launched into a diatribe about how hard is was to grow up in Bulgaria. Jericho quizzed Reigns about how he won the Royal Rumble last year, and Reigns recalled he threw out Rusev to win. Jericho got off a line about how Lana can attest how Rusev always comes up short in the big moments. Reigns wanted to face Rusev, and Jericho announced he would be special referee.
Roman Reigns defeated Rusev (13:53)
Match built to a spot where Sheamus pulled Reigns out of the ring and threw him into the ringpost. Even though he was distracted by King Barrett, Jericho sensed what happened and forced Sheamus away from ringside. Then Barrett protested and Jericho ordered him to the back. Jericho turned cartwheels, danced and appeared to blow himself up in the process. Del Rio protested and he also was ejected. Rusev tried to hit Jericho from behind but Reigns intercepted that with a Superman’s punch and the pin.
In the back, Stephanie McMahon (wearing the highest heels possible so she can appear almost as tall as Jericho) confronted Jericho about making himslef special referee. She said because Reigns is now part of the Highlight Reel, she would have to renegotiate with Paul Heyman and give Lesnar more money. She said if Jericho ever did anything without her approval, she would make sure Jericho would never be the same again.
Natalya defeated Brie Bella via submission (1:28)
Natalya won with the sharpshooter. Natalya was accompanied by Paige. Wasn’t it Paige who jumped Natalya in December, causing her to miss months of action? Paige just walked out like they were best friends. Announcers just talked how this match was a preview for the season debut of Total Divas.
Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan defeated The Dudley Boyz and Ryback (6:32)
Braun Strowman distracted Ryabck, which allowed Bray Wyatt to clothesline him from behind on the floor. Bubba Ray Dudley called for the 3-D, and it was sad. Crowd was so dead it couldn’t get a pop. Luke Harper pinned Bubba Ray with a clothesline. Everybody involved in this feels like they’re going nowhere. JBL and Michael Cole mentioned the death of Iron Mike Sharpe during the match.
There will be a drawing later tonight to determine the number one slot in the Royal Rumble. I thought when the Big Show entered himself in the Rumble he made himself number one, but apparently that was a screwup on his point.
The Big Show defeated Heath Slater (:55)
Show pinned Heath Slater with the Knockout punch. They took an overhead shot of the arena as Slater got in the ring, and you could see people headed to the bathrooms or concession stands. Afterwards, fellow Social Outcasts members Curtis Axel and Adam Rose got knocked out. Bo Dallas ran in the ring and ducked a punch, then started to take a victory lap around the ring thinking he got away. As he finished his lap, Show decked him as well. Byron Saxton said Big Show was “A favorite to win the Rumble.” Services for Mr. Saxton’s credibility will be held Friday at 9 AM.
Stephanie met with the League of Nations backstage. She wanted to know why they let Jericho scare them into leaving ringside back when this show had momentum…I mean during the first match. Sheamus said they weren’t scared of Jericho. She told them to prove it.
Stephanie and Vince McMahon came out to draw the numbers for the number one position in the Royal Rumble. Since it was a lottery, a representative from the Philadelphia 76ers showed up. Stephanie mentioned how her father won the Royal Rumble was the 1999 Royal Rumble champion. Vince pulled out the first plastic ball…and couldn’t open it. So he threw it back and picked up another one out of the tub, revealing the name of Reigns. So Vince wanted to make sure the drawing was legit and drew another ball. He couldn’t open that one. Keep in mind, moments earlier Stephanie had talked about what a great physical specimen her father was. Stephanie dropped in a “McMahon’s Millions” reference, at this point. So Vince pulled out a ball, which again had “Reigns” in there. They drew a third number, basically to tell the audience that the Authority had rigged the drawing to make sure Reigns would get #1, and again Reigns’ name was in there. Vince mentioned that Reigns would be the number one man on Sunday, but not after the Royal Rumble.
Becky Lynch defeated Tamina via submission (4:06)
Becky Lynch won with the Disarm-her off the top rope. Afterwards, Lynch wanted to hear from Charlotte’s mouth that they would meet on Sunday at the Royal Rumble. Charlotte said she had already beaten Lynch twice and there wouldn’t be a third match. Lynch said she only won because of Flair and said Flair never backed down from a challenge in his career. She tought Charlotte would be the same way, but perhaps the apple fell too far from the tree. Flair took the mic, called Charlotte the best of all time and said this Sunday, the third time would be the charm when Charlotte beats Lynch again. She accepted. Charlotte didn’t look happy about that.
Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio defeated Dean Ambrose and Kalisto (13:14)
Final minutes were good. Kevin Owens was on commentary, trying to make himself babyface by constantly telling Saxton to shut up. Kalisto hit Salida del Sol on Sheamus, but Del Rio hit a Superkick for the save. Dean Ambrose brawled with Del Rio at ringside, but was distracted by Owens. Del Rio hit Ambrose with an enzuigiri. In the ring, Kalisto tried another Salida del Sol on Sheamus, who threw Kalisto off and hit the Brogue Kick. In the comeback, Kalisto attempted a Tornado DDT on Sheamus that got fouled up, and it appeared Sheamus landed on his face. It’s a Last Man Standing match with Ambrose vs. Owens for the I-C title on Sunday, which could steal the show.
They showed pictures of the weekend tour from India, the company’s first tour there since 2002. Isn’t it amazing they never toured there when the Great Khali was on the roster?
The New Day had a funeral service for Franchesca the trombone, which was destroyed by Jericho last week. Big E. presided over the service and started to quote Jay Z’s “99 Problems” when Xaiver Woods stopped him. Kofi Kingston said they would buy him a new trombone. Woods said he never got a chance to say goodbye. Woods said Franchesca would want Big E. to fight Big E. and they started clapping and chanting “Fran-Ches-Ca.” JBL was clapping, as well.
They had a By the Numbers segment about the Royal Rumbles. In the 28 lifetime Royal Rumbles, 811 competitors have been eliminated, a record 42 by Kane. 46 WWE Hall of Famers have entered the Royal Rumble, but only 8 have won it, including Steve Austin 3 times. Rey Mysterio’s 82:12 is the longest single stint ever in the Rumble.
Big E. defeated Jey Uso (9:32)
Big E. won with the Big Ending after Woods provided another distraction. Jimmy Uso dove on Kingston at ringside. Kingston pushed Woods out of the way, and Woods distracted Jey as he went for a splash. Cole said Uso tweaked his knee on the landing. Pretty good match where Uso hit a tope. Big E. bumped all over the place, including missing a big splash on the apron and falling to the floor after missing a charge. Woods
R-Truth, Titus O’Neal, and Mark Henry talked about one of them winning the Royal Rumble this Sunday. Neville joined in the handshake and they all yelled “Keep the Dream Alive.”
The League of Nations talked backstage. The announcers teased they would get involved in the Highlight Reel.
Titus O’Neal, Mark Henry, Neville and R-Truth defeated the Ascension, Tyler Breeze and Stardust (6:11)
Finishing sequence was supposed to be O’Neal tossing Tyler Breeze over his head to an awaiting Henry, who would deliver the World’s Strongest Slam. Apparently, Henry lost Breeze in the lights because he dropped him. Then Breeze had to take the bump again, and it ended with Neville hitting the Red Arrow. Match really dragged until Neville and Breeze got in. The second they got in, they fell into their old rhythm like they were Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. It’s incredible how far Breeze’s stock has fallen since he defeated Dolph Ziggler at Survivor Series. Yes, that was only 7 weeks ago.
Jericho was out for the Highlight Reel when Heyman interrupted him. Jericho accused Heyman of failing his client, Lesnar, when he failed to get him out of the Royal Rumble last week. Jericho asked Heyman if he tried to get Lesnar out of the Rumble because he didn’t feel he could win. Heyman, in a very long-winded way, denied that and said Lesnar would turn the Rumble into his own Suplex City. Jericho asked what would happen if it came down to only Jericho and Lesnar at the end of the Rumble on Sunday, and what would happen if Jericho threw Lesnar out to become a 7-time World Champion. Really wasn’t much of a reaction to that line because it’s been so long since Jericho has been a champion and a regular.
This finally brought out Lesnar to a very tepid reaction. Reigns walked out after Lesnar got to ringside. Lesnar took a lap around the ring to buildup a showdown with Reigns. Once Lesnar got in the ring, Reigns immediately speared him. The League of Nations ran down to jump Reigns. Jericho vanished at this point. Lesnar gave Rusev a German Suplex. Del Rio and Sheamus ran after Lesnar. Boy did Del Rio and Lesnar have a confrontation that looked awkward. It appeared like Del Rio wanted to get a little offense in, and Lesnar wasn’t willing. Lesnar ultimately gave Del Rio another German Suplex and Sheamus the F-5. At that point, Reigns got up and hit another spear on Lesnar, which got a few boos.
Then the Wyatts came down to ringside, with Harper giving Reigns a clothesline. Wyatt gave Reigns Sister Abigail. At that point, Lesnar got up, and Harper gave him a big boot. Erick Rowan followed with a spin kick, Strowman hit Lesnar with a clothesline. Wyatt finished off Lesnar with another Sister Abigail. And that was it. No Lesnar comeback. No Reigns comeback.
SUMMARY:
The entire show was built around the main event. Certainly it was strange to see the Wyatt Family, who have been on the backburner ever since the Undertaker/Kane feud at the Survivor Series, finish off the go-home show to the Royal Rumble standing over the company’s top babyface. But beggers can’t be choosy at this point. Not when the WWE needs top heels. Since they’re unwilling to take chances on people like Breeze, they turn back to the Wyatts, though it seems like that well has run dry. It remains to be seen if the company can make Owens a money-drawing heel, or if they position him that way. It was another dead crowd tonight and a lackluster show overall.
Michael “Mike” Sharpe (born October 28, 1951 – January 17, 2016) better known as “Iron” Mike Sharpe, passed away over the weekend at his apartment in Hamilton, ONT, at the age of 64.
Billed as “Canada’s greatest athlete,” Sharpe was a perrenial job guy in the 80’s and 90’s for WWF. He had his last televised match on June 6, 1995 losing in a tag team match to The Smoking Guns. After retiring from the ring, Sharpe made his living as a professional wrestling trainer, at his own school, Mike Sharpe’s School of Pro-Wrestling.
PW Insider first reported the death of Sharpe, a second generation wrestler, whose father and uncle were one of the greatest tag teams in pro wrestling history in the 50s, and are best known for legendary matches in Japan with Rikidozan & Masahiko Kimura.
Sharpe was raised in a wrestling family. His father and uncle tagged together in the 1950’s. At age 25, Mike decided to follow his father’s footsteps and was trained by Dewey Robertson, and began working for Gene Kiniski’s NWA All-Star Wrestling in the 70’s.
Like his father, Sharpe Jr., took the ring name Iron Mike Sharpe. He started wrestling in 1976 in Canada, and worked smaller territories for several years, including runs in Stampede Wrestling. At close to 6-foot-4 and 275 pounds, Sharpe was a big powerhouse who was known as a tough guy because of his amateur boxing background. But he was missing the element that would make one a big star, when it came to the charisma.
He did decently well in territories like Mid South and Georgia in the early 80s, but was beat known for is run in the WWF from 1982 to 1989 as a lower card regular.
He started out getting a push, with Lou Albano as his manager, and having a loaded forearm brace, built for matches with champion Bob Backlund. But he never got a shot in Madison Square Garden (he did work with Backlund in some other cities) and his push ended, but he had a long tenure with the company as a reliable enhancement wrestler. He was treated as a job guy with some credibility, nicknamed “Canada’s Greatest Athlete,” which was the nickname that Gene Kiniski used in the 50s, 60s and 70s.
Within wrestling Sharpe was known for being obsessively clean, and for always perfectly folding his clothes. He would be constantly washing his hands while at shows and taking showers, and was known as Mr. Clean. He was also compulsive when it came to training, and was known as a very well conditioned big man.
But in a cruel fate, with all that training, his health started to want over the past decade. For years he was largely confined to a wheelchair and had lost one of his legs, and had been suffering from constant health problems.
1) AJ Styles said goodbye but had the show stolen from under him.
Making good use of his freelance status, AJ Styles has been a frequent visitor to the UK in recent times, and was enough of a (big show) regular for Revolution Pro-Wrestling that it didn’t seem weird when he won their Undisputed British Heavyweight championship last summer. With his impending signing for WWE, this weekend’s High Stakes had something of an air of a farewell, and what better way to do it than pass the torch to Zack Sabre Jr, who became the new champion in a great main event.
While many of the tickets were sold on that main event, the show was stolen, however, by Will Ospreay and Marty Scurll, who closed the first half of the show with an almost thirty-minute classic, underlining their growing statuses and continuing the theme of 2015 – that British wrestlers are outshining the imports. Mike “Speedball” Bailey made his UK debut on the show, going down to Big Damo after dominating much of the match, and Pete Dunne retained the Undisputed British Cruiserweight title he won two weeks ago, again against “Flash” Morgan Webster. RevPro announced a return to York Hall in the summer, and another shot in Reading in April. The year is only two weeks old and RevPro have already set the standard!
2) It Was Acceptable In The 80s.
ATTACK! Pro-Wrestling had a pretty good 2015, which included teaming with Chikara-Pro on the latter’s UK tour, and sending a team over to the King of Trios tournament as well as promoting a series of super-fun, sold-out shows. They started 2016 in the same fashion with It Was Acceptable In The 80s at the Catheys Centre in Cardiff where the gimmick of furthering their storylines and dressing up for the night’s theme continued. Not everyone dressed up, although noted killjoys the Anti-Fun Police did team with a homemade RoboCop, but Mark Andrews (Marty McFly), Martin Kirby (Skeletor), Eddie Dennis (Terminator), Robbie X (a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle) and others all made the effort.
The main event saw Dennis successfully defend his ATTACK! 24/7 title against Wild Boar before Pete Dunne took advantage of the title’s constant availability by challenging and beating Dennis afterwards. The undercard featured Andrews downing Travis Banks, Mike Bird winning a four-way over Kirby, X, and “Flash” Morgan” Webster, and appearances from Nixon Newell, Chris Brookes, Sebastian Radclaw, and Love Making Demon. ATTACK! is not for everyone – as one fella in the crowd loudly made known – but it is the most fun you can have on a Sunday night in Wales, a fact probably enshrined in law.
3) Grado proved he’s more than a comedy turn (again).
On a recent TNA PPV, Grado was challenged by The Pope to prove he’s more than just a comedy wrestler, and did so by engaging Abyss in a Monster’s Ball match, whatever one of those is. For those of us on these shores, however, he has NOTHING to prove. That was evident again this week when he responded to a promo cut by Chris Renshaw at Insane Championship Wrestling’s Friday Night Fight Club tapings last week with a stunning direct-to-camera promo of his own.
Renshaw, quoting the cover of Fighting Spirit Monthly (which listed Grado as a “TNA star” and claimed he “led ICW to record breaking heights”), claimed ICW wasn’t about one man, it was about everyone there, and that they deserved the plaudits coming Grado’s way. Grado, although he could have rightly pointed out that he did have a huge part in selling out the SECC for Fear & Loathing, went on the attack, pointing out that, yes, he did work around the world and not just in ICW, but he did that for ICW. Renshaw laid the foundations but Grado knocked it out of the park. The exchange can be seen on ICW’s YouTube page.
4) Promoting wrestling shows isn’t easy.
With British wrestling very much entering a boom period, there are going to be those who seek to take advantage of that for their own ends. As an independent games developer, the people behind 5* Wrestling decided to promote a three-date tour to publicise their upcoming game, and secured the rights of Rey Mysterio Jr to not only be in the game (their previous games featured thinly-veiled parody characters) but also to lead the tour. They also booked AJ Styles, ROH champion Jay Lethal, former WWE stars John Morrison and Carlito, and a host of the top British stars.
Unfortunately, they either overestimated the drawing power of such an ensemble or underpromoted the shows, and were rewarded with sub-1000 crowds in halls set up for four times that. While that would be a very good turnout for most British promotions, they can only have lost a ton of money which you’d hope they’ll at least make back on the game when it is released. The shows themselves ran late and were strangely booked, but at least showcased some of our top guys to audiences who may have been unfamiliar with them.
5) There were some pretty fun shows.
IPW:UK and WrestleForce teamed up to stage Harlow Invasion in, erm, Harlow, headlined by a TLC match between IPW tag team champions DnD and the London Riots which turned into a wild brawl, including an imploding ladder, an unbreakable table, and Riot Rob Lynch smacking a drink out of the hand of an unruly punter. The rest of the show included an All-England title defense from Sammy Smooth (beating an understandably masked Exodus), a Women’s championship match (of sorts) between champion Tennessee Honey and challenger Nightshade, the Swords of Essex, and the UK debut of Donovan Dijak, who beat Big Damo. Launching a new era for Shropshire wrestling, VII-Pro presented the first of the Underground shows in Shrewsbury on Friday, headlined by “Flash” Morgan Webster versus Nixon Newell (who wrestles men more than she does women, and rightly so), which turned into a tag match when Webster challenged her to find a partner because he’d brought Australian doughnut-lover (not a euphemism!) Toni Storm with him. Newell was joined by Mark Andrews, and it was ON. Also on the show were the Dunne brothers, Tyler Bate, Wild Boar, and Mike Bird, and they return in February with Chuck Taylor.
Down in London, in the very weird world of the RetroFutureVerse, Freddie Mercurio became a two-time Lucha Britannia champion, downing Cassius in the main event of a show which also featured Marduk Malik continuing his unbeaten streak against Pure Britannico, Diablesa Rosa turning away the challenge of Zombie Janey, and unfrozen Viking Nordico Fuego becoming King Of Lucha Chaos. They’re back on January 29th at the Resistance Gallery once more. Finally for a weekend short on quantity (if not quality), Futureshock opened their doors for the first time in 2016 for Uproar 86, a stacked show which saw The Models reunite to take down The Fallen. Joey Hayes & Danny Hope haven’t teamed for some time so the fans in attendance were quite surprised. Another surprise was the return of Cyanide, who stormed the ring to help Damon Leigh beat down Sonar Dursen after the latter had won their match. Also on the card were Zack Gibson, T-Bone, Mikey Whiplash, Ashton Smith, and Xander Cooper, and 2016 looks like being another solid year for Futureshock.
(Thanks to Garry Vanderhorne for his help with this week’s column).
1940
Kansas City, Kansas:
– World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Bruns beat Orville Brown in 2 out of 3 falls
1944
Nashville, Tennessee:
– Herb Welch defeated The Yellow Scorpion for the Tennessee World Junior Heavyweight Title
1957
– Kurt Von Poppenheim defeated Red Bastien to win the Pacific Coast Junior Heavyweight Title
1961
Honolulu, Hawaii:
– Dick Hutton defeated Al Lolotai for the NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Title
1962
Toronto, Ontario, Canada:
– Bill Soloweyko and Whipper Billy Watson defeated Chris and John Tolos to win the Toronto NWA International Tag Team Titles
– Raphael Halpern beat Bulldog Brower by decision
– Jim Hady beat Doc Gallagher via disqualification
– Billy Red Lyons beat Marquis de Paree
1963
Calgary, Alberta, Canada:
– Dominic Bravo and Ron Etchison defeateded Mike Sharpe and Jim Wright for the Stampede International Tag Team Titles
1966
Nashville, Tennessee
– Alex Perez defeated Rocky Smith for the NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Title
1967
Manchester, England:
– Billy Robinson defeated Billy Joyce to win the British Heavyweight Title
Denver, Colorado:
– AWA Tag Team Champions Larry Hennig & Harley Race beat Dick The Bruiser & Mighty Igor Vodik in 2 out of 3 falls
– Verne Gagne beat Killer Kowalski dq
– Wilbur Snyder beat The Alaskan
– Terry Funk (sub Dory Funk Jr) drew Chris Markoff
1969
Detroit, Michigan:
– Ben Justice and Rocky Johnson defeated The Hell’s Angels (Paul and Ron Dupree) to win the Detroit NWA World Tag Team Titles
Chattanooga, Tennessee:
– Dennis Hall and Ken Lucas won the Mid-America NWA Southern Tag Team Title, defeating The Mighty Yankees
1970
Fukuoka, Japan:
– Monster Rousimoff (Andre the Giant) and Michael Nader defeated Great Kusatsu and Thunder Sugiyama to win the vacant International Pro Wrestling World Tag Team Titles
Toronto, Ontario, Canada:
– NWA World heavyweight champion Dory Funk Jr. defeated Gene Kinski
– The Sheik defeated Dewey Robertson by dq
– Whipper Billy Watson and Bulldog Bower beat The Fabulous Kangaroos, Al Costello and Ray Kent, in a 2 out of 3 falls match
– Chris and John Tolos took 2 of 3 falls from Haystack Calhoun and Gino Brito
– The Love Brothers, Reginald and Hartford beat The Mighty Iggor and Murray Cummings
1971
New York City:
– Ivan Koloff pinned WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino to win the title
1973
Hattiesburg, Mississippi:
– The Mysterious Medic defeated Bob Kelly for the NWA Mississippi Heavyweight Title
Kansas City, Kansas:
– Mike Boyette & Mickey Doyle defeated Omar Atlas & The Viking
– Roger Kirby defeated Stan Pulaski in three falls
– World Heavyweight Champion Dory Funk, Jr. fought Harley Race to a draw in three falls (60 minutes)
1974
Atlanta, Georgia:
– Ron and Terry Garvin defeated Bob Armstrong and Robert Fuller to win the vacant NWA Georgia Tag Team Titles
– Black Gordman and Goliath defeated Raul Mata and Victor Rivera for the NWA Americas Tag Team Titles
1980
Houston, Texas:
– Superstar Billy Graham won the NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Title from Mark Lewin
Shreveport, Louisiana:
– Ernie Ladd defeated Mike Sharpe for the Mid-South Louisiana Heavyweight Title
1981
Monterrey, Mexico:
– Tony Salazar defeated Sangre Chicana to win the NWA World Middleweight Title
1982
Memphis, Tennessee:
– Jerry Lawler won the AWA Southern Heavyweight Title, defeating Dutch Mantel
1983
Tampa, Florida:
– Terry Allen and Scott McGhee defeated The Fabulous Kangaroos (Johnny Heffernan and Don Kent) to win the NWA Florida Global Tag Team Titles
– Rufus Jones defeated Angelo Mosca by dq
– Mike Graham defeated Jim Garvin by dq
– Leroy Brown defeated Ron Bass
– The Midnight Rider & Barry Windham defeated Kevin Sullivan & Jake Roberts
1985
Denver, Colorado:
– Lights Out match: Jerry Blackwell beat Masked Superstar (sub King Kong Brody)
– AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin dq
– AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig (subs for Fabulous Ones)
– Baron Von Raschke beat Billy Robinson
– Jim Brunzell drew Nick Bockwinkel
– Brad Rheingans beat Steve Regal
1986
Albuquerque, New Mexico:
– Scott Hall and Curt Hennig defeated Jimmy Garvin and Steve Regal for the AWA World Tag Team Titles
San Juan, Puerto Rico:
– Invader III defeated Eric Embry for the WWC World Junior Heavyweight Title
1987
Green Bay, Wisconsin:
– Cage Match: Midnight Rockers beat Doug Somers & Buddy Rose
– No DQ Match: Jimmy Snuka beat Colonel DeBeers
– Super Ninja beat AWA World Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq
– AWA Ladies Champion Sherri Martel beat Candi Divine
– Scott Hall beat Buddy Wolff dq
– Mr. Saito beat Buck Zumhofe
1988
Memphis, Tennessee:
– Hennig’s Title vs Lawler’s Ring: AWA Champion Curt Hennig beat Jerry Lawler
– No dq Match: AWA Tag Team Champions Midnight Rockers beat Ken Wayne & Scott Hall
– Jeff Jarrett & Manny Fernandez beat Teijo Kahn & Jimmy Jack Funk dq
– Bill Dundee beat Terry Taylor
– Loser Leaves town: Billy Travis & Rikki Nelson beat Rock & Roll RPMs
Takuyama, Japan:
– Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura defeated Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Kazuo Yamazaki to win the IWGP World Tag Team Titles
1992
Portland, Oregon:
– Ron Harris defeated Demolition Crush to win the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title
1994
Saitama, Japan:
– Big Titan (Rick Bogner) and The Gladiator (Mike Awesome) defeated Katsutoshi Niiyama and Atsushi Onita to become the first FMW World Brass Knuckles Tag Team Champions
1996
Tijuana, Mexico:
– Ultraman 2000 defeated Psicosis for the Mexican National Welterweight Title
1998
San Jose, California:
– Steve Austin wins the Royal Rumble
– The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) defeated WWF Tag Team Champions The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn) by disqualification
– WWF Champion Shawn Michaels defeated The Undertaker in a Casket match to retain the title
2003
San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico:
– Chicky Starr defeated Carly Colon to win the WWC Universal Heavyweight Title
Wilmington, Delaware:
– Christopher Daniels defeated champion Mike Kruel, The Amazing Red, Low Ki, American Dragon and Amazing Red to win the ECWA Heavyweight Title
2004
Osaka, Japan:
– Kaz Hayashi and Satoshi Kojima defeated Arashi and Keiji Muto to win the AJPW Unified World Tag Team Title
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer returns today to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA including tons of thoughts on UFC Cruz vs. Dillashaw, Raw on Monday with the final build for Royal Rumble, Jim Ross and New Japan, Bob Leonard passes away, tons of questions and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
WWE has announced that Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman’s role for Raw tomorrow night in Columbus, OH will be as guests on The Highlight Reel with Chris Jericho.
That is the only thing announced for Raw other than the show will be the go-home show for the Rumble.
They are also expected to do an angle to set up a Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch Divas title rematch for the Rumble. Becky challenged Charlotte to a title match on Smackdown this week and Charlotte said she would answer the challenge on Raw.
When Raw ended last week the announcers were openly speculating that Lesnar’s post-match destruction following the main event was an indication that he had decided to be in the Royal Rumble. Jericho in his first interview back also stated that his plan was to win the Royal Rumble and go on to WrestleMania to win the WWE World Heavyweight title.