These matches were taped for this coming Tuesday night’s Impact episode as well as for future One Night Only shows:
– Impact opened with EC 3 out. Jeff Hardy came out and said he was cleared to wrestle and wanted a title match. EC 3 told him he had to start from the bottom.
– Jeff Hardy beat Shynron. Shynron looked good in the short match, as did Hardy.
– Jade & Awesome Kong beat Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne in a street fight. All kinds of weapons. Jade pinned Rayne with a piledriver.
– Eric Young beat Bobby Roode to win the King Of The Mountain title after hitting a piledriver. Bram and James Storm were both involved interfering. Segment started when Beer Money was in the ring when Young and Bram came out. Young wanted a shot at the title.
– Ken Anderson debuted a new interview segment called “Huh.” Matt Hardy, Reby Hardy and Maxel Hardy were the guests. It seemed to build up Anderson vs. Hardy.
– Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards & Tigre Uno beat Jessie Godderz & Eli Drake & DJ Zema Ion. Godderz & Drake wouldn’t work with Ion. Ion superkicked Godderz and Godderz was pinned.
– Kurt Angle beat Drew Galloway in the main event. Great match. The finish was Angle winning clean with the Angle slam off the middle rope.
– The show ended with Matt Hardy asking for one more title shot and if that if he doesn’t win that title, he will leave TNA forever. This led to the announcement of next week’s main event, which is likely taped tonight, with EC 3 vs. Hardy as a last man standing match, title vs. loser leaves town.
Not for Impact:
Rockstar Spud & Grado beat Mahabili Shera & Aiden O’Shea: This may air on the PPV on Friday in highlight form since Shera and O’Shea broke up as a team and they are wrestling on Friday night live. Either that or they just shot the angle for the people in Bethlehem.
Minneapolis, Minnesota: – Jess Westergaard defeated Henry Ordemann for the American Heavyweight Title in 2 out of 3 falls (Frank Gotch referee) – Danny Larkin beat Crowley
1941
San Francisco, California: – Ivan Rasputin defeated Bobby Managoff to win the Pacific Coast Heavyweight Title
1953
Vancouver, British Columbia: – Carl Engstrom and Frank Stojack defeated Johnny Cretorian and Kurt Von Poppenheim for the Big Time Wrestling Northwest Tag Team Title
1954
Toronto, Ontario, Canada: – Hombre Montana and Whipper Billy Watson defeated Al and Tiny Mills to win the NWA Canadian Open Tag Team Title
1958
Dallas, Texas: – Casey and Danny McShain won a tournament for the vacant NWA Texas Tag Team Title
1961
Omaha, Nebraska: – Don Leo Jonathan defeated Dr. X (Bill Miller) to win the Omaha version of the World Heavyweight Title
1965
Honolulu, Hawaii: – Mr. Fujiwara and Curtis Iaukea defeated Lord James Blears and Neff Maivia for the NWA Hawaii Tag Team Title
1966
St. Louis, Missouri: – Gene Kiniski defeated Lou Thesz for the NWA World Heavyweight Title
St. Joseph, Missouri: – Bob Geigel won the NWA Central States Heavyweight Title from Sonny Meyers
1974 Nigata, Japan: – Sharon Lee and Jackie West defeated Mariko Akagi and Peggy Kuroda to win the WWWA World Tag Team Title
1976
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: – Greg Valentine and Bill Watts defeated The Hollywood Blonds (Jerry Brown and Buddy Roberts) to win the vacant Tri-State version of the NWA United States Tag Team Title
1977
Chicago, Illinois: – AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Ernie Ladd – Bill Francis & the Crusher beat Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke – Greg Gagne beat Moose Morowski – Chris Taylor beat Bounty Hunter II
1978
Kansas City, Kansas: – Ted DiBiase won the NWA Central States Heavyweight Title by defeating Bob Brown
1979
Chattanooga, Tennessee: – Terry Gordy and Michael Hayes defeated Bobby Eaton and George Gulas to win the NWA Mid-America Tag Team Title
1980
Memphis, Tennessee: – The Assassins (Jody Hamilton and Tom Renesto) defeated Ricky and Robert Gibson for the AWA Southern Tag Team Titles
1982
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: – Cage match: AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura – Sheik Adnan beat Mad Dog Vachon – Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell – Brad Rheingans beat Ken Patera dq – Baron Von Raschke beat Rene Goulet – Bobby Duncum beat Rick Hunter
1984
Indianapolis, Indiana: – Spike Huber defeated Bobby Colt to win the World Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title – Dick the Bruiser and Jeff Van Kamp defeated Abdullah the Great and Jerry Valiant for the WWA World Tag Team Title
1985
Fort Worth, Texas: – Billy Haynes defeated Gino Hernandez (subbing for an absent Chris Adams) for World Class Television Title
1987
Portland, Oregon: – Coco Samoa and Ricky Santana defeated Abbuda Dein and Mike Miller for the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Title
1989
Portland, Oregon: – The Southern Rockers (Steve Doll and Scott Peterson) defeated Abbuda Dein and The Grappler to win the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Title
Las Vegas, Nevada: – Cage Match: Manny Fernandez beat Wahoo McDaniel – Greg Gagne & Brad Rheingans beat Iron Sheik & Mike Enos dq – AWA Tag Team Champions Badd Company Pat Tanaka & Paul Diamond beat Chavo Guerrero & Mando Guerrero – AWA Women’s Champion Wendi Richter beat Magnificent Mimi – Brad Rheingans beat Iron Sheik – Jay Strongbow Jr beat Mike Enos
1991
Memphis, Tennessee: – The Fabulous Ones (Steve Keirn and Stan Lane) defeated Tony Anthony and Doug Gilbert for the USWA Tag Team Titles
1993
Tokyo, Japan: – Masayoshi Motegi defeated Ray Gonzalez to win the WWC World Junior Heavyweight Title
1995
Dallas, Texas: – Kevin Von Erich defeated Greg Valentine to win the NWA North American Heavyweight Title.
1996
San Germain, Puerto Rico: – Mabel defeated Carlos Colon for the WWC Universal Heavyweight Title
1999
Kochi, Japan: – Jun Akiyama and Kenta Kobashi won the AJPW Unified World Tag Team Title from Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue
Glen Burnie, Maryland: – Romeo Valentino defeated King Kong Bundy for the Maryland Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Title
2001
New York City: – The Sandman defeated ECW World Heavyweight Champion Steve Corino and Justin Credible in a Tables, Ladders, Chairs and Canes match to win the title – ECW World Television Champion Rhino pinned ECW World Heavyweight Champion The Sandman to win the World Heavyweight Title
Mayaguez, Puerto Rico: – One Man Gang defeated champion Carlos Colon and Abdullah the Butcher in a three-way match to win the WWC Hardcore Title
2002
New York City: – Spike Dudley and Tazz defeated WWF Tag Team Champions The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley) to win the title – WWF Intercontinental Champion Edge pinned Lance Storm – Steve Austin and The Rock defeated Big Bossman and Booker T
2004
Nashville, Tennessee: – Chris Sabin defeated champion Michael Shane, Christopher Daniels and Low Ki in an Ultimate X match to win the TNA X Division Title
Louisville, Kentucky: – Nick Dinsmore defeated Johnny Jeter for the vacant OVW Heavyweight Title
2006
Rahway, New Jersey: – Rhino defeated JAPW Heavyweight Champion Jay Lethal to win the title – Teddy Hart defeated JAPW Light Heavyweight Champion Azrieal in the finals of a Gauntlet match to win the title
2007
Tokyo, Japan: – The Briscoe Brothers (Jay and Mark Briscoe) defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Takashi Sugiura to win the Pro Wrestling NOAH GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title – Gedo and Jado defeated Don Fujii and Masaaki Mochizuki for the Dragon Gate I-J Heavyweight Tag Team Title
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back today to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA, and there is tons of it, including John Cena’s latest injury, WWE’s training system at the Performance Center and whether it needs to be re-evaluated, Raw and Impact ratings plus Dave’s Impact thoughts, Shinsuke Nakamura talks going to WWE, New Japan Dash, Dana White talks potential fights, questions including more on the status of Daniel Bryan, and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
– Air Date: January 7, 2015 (Jan 6 in Canada) – Location: Laredo Energy Arena in Laredo, TX
The Big News:
Charlotte and Dean Ambrose are still champions and Smackdown is the same as it ever was.
Show Recap:
The show started with a recap from Raw, including a zoom-in on Sad Roman. Smackdown has the same crappy theme music as before and the intro, for now, includes John Cena. Byron Saxton welcomed everyone to Smackdown and Jerry Lawler plugged the two title matches. Lawler introduced the TV audience to Mauro Ranallo who called this a dream come true.
John Cena came out and welcomed everyone to the first Smackdown of 2016. Cena also plugged the two title matches but said we were missing our “U.S.A” champion. He said it was a new year and new network, so he thought Alberto Del Rio deserved a fresh start. Cena called out Del Rio, giving him out hell of an introduction.
Del Rio told Cena to save it because he knew that “Juan” was trying to weasel his way into a title shot that he doesn’t deserve. Cena tried to get the Laredo crowd to goad Del Rio into defending the title but he told Cena to shut up in Spanish and said he would not defend the title. Del Rio challenged anyone besides Cena to a non-title match.
Cena said someone in particular deserved a chance, and he called out Kalisto. Kalisto grabbed the mic from Del Rio and said he would beat him right now. Kalisto sent him out of the ring and a referee jumped in to start the match.
Non-Title: Kalisto (w/John Cena) beat U.S. Champion Alberto Del Rio via pinfall
Lawler made sure to point out that Del Rio had to bend over to hit a clothesline on Kalisto. After Kalisto spilled to the outside, Del Rio went after him and did the “you can’t see me” gesture to Cena. Cena was offended and took off his shirt. This resulted in dueling Cena chants.
Del Rio got ready for the armbar but distracted himself by taunting Cena. Del Rio eventually went for the armbar but Kalisto reversed into a hurricanrana for the sudden pinfall win. Considering the location, I don’t think this got the reaction they wanted. Although, the crowd was quiet most of the show. John Cena’s last appearance on WWE TV for a long while will be as a cheerleader for Kalisto.
Backstage, Becky Lynch told Jo-Jo that Charlotte was not her best friend anymore. She doesn’t want an explanation for what Charlotte did, she just wants vindication and will take the title from her.
Up next was an awful segment. The Miz hosted MizTV and reminded everyone that the WWE Title will be defended in the Royal Rumble match. New Day interrupted. People usually pop when Big E does the introduction but they didn’t here. Xavier Woods accused Chris Jericho of stealing his light-up jacket idea and said The New Day party like it’s 2016, not 1999.
Dolph Ziggler, with straight hair, came out next. Before he could really say anything, he was interrupted by Goldust, who threatened to give them all golden globes. Neville came out next and said Miz could borrow his accent or Slammy if he wants, as long as he promises to cancel MizTV and never talk again.
R-Truth came out and said if anyone was going to accept Del Rio’s open challenge it would be him. Miz corrected him and Truth said “my bad.” Miz made a bad joke and New Day laughed. Truth punched Miz with the mic and the other good guys sent Kingston and Big E out of the ring. Woods was left alone so Neville kicked him out of the ring too. It’s hard to describe just how bad this segment was. Even worse, it was designed to push the Rumble, which has its highest stakes in years, but was just a joke.
8-Man Tag Match: Dolph Ziggler, Neville, Goldust & R-Truth beat The Miz & New Day via pinfall
The heels worked over Neville until he tagged in Ziggler, who ran wild on Miz and hit a Fameasser. Kingston broke up the cover, so Goldust gave him a powerslam, Truth sent Big E out of the ring, and Neville took out the entire New Day with a dive. This left Miz alone, so Goldust and Truth tossed him into Ziggler who hit a superkick for the win. Nothing match.
Immediately afterwards, Ziggler superkicked Truth and tossed Goldust over the top. This wasn’t a heel turn. Ziggler told Goldust “sorry,” it’s every man for himself at the Rumble. As this was all happening, Neville just sorta slunk away. This was all bad.
Backstage, Ric Flair told Jo-Jo that Lynch was leeching off Charlotte. Charlotte said her and her father act like champions, and Lynch has never been champion. Flair said woo.
Lawler told Ranallo that he name was hard to pronounce and asked if he could call him “M.R.” like he did with J.R. Ranallo seemed fine with this. Lawler then cackled when he realized that Byron Saxton was “B.S.” That part was pretty funny.
WWE Divas Championship: Charlotte (w/Ric Flair) beat Becky Lynch via pinfall
Ranallo said he has called big fights and this one has a big fight feel. He also mentioned calling Lynch’s matches in British Columbia when she was 18 years old. Lawler dismissed her pre-WWE experience. Lynch had control early on and went after Charlotte outside the ring. However, Flair got in her way to act as a shield, allowing Charlotte to nail her with a sloppy big boot. The referee watched this all happen and didn’t do anything about it.
The crowd rallied behind Lynch as Charlotte took control. Lynch came back with a clothesline, leg lariat, forearm and Exploder suplex for two. Charlotte responded with a neckbreaker and chops but Lynch ducked a big boot and hit another Exploder. Charlotte hit a spear and went for a Figure Eight, but Lynch countered into a small package for a near fall.
Lynch applied the Disarmer but Flair put Charlotte’s feet on the rope. Charlotte tapped but it didn’t matter. As Lynch complained to the ref, Charlotte rolled her up with her feet on the rope for the win. Lynch was livid afterwards and the referee looked like an idiot. This match was alright. Went about 11-12 minutes. The crowd was quiet all show but they liked Becky Lynch.
Backstage, Renee Young asked Kevin Owens for a minute of his time. Owens said she had a minute and made her hold up her watch so he could keep an eye on the time during the entire interview. Owens said Ambrose might be a cockroach, but he’s had to kill a lot of cockroaches in a lot of the terrible places he’s stayed at on his road to the top. Owens said he would take his title back tonight.
They plugged that a Raw replay would air after a commercial break. Yes, Smackdown is still the B-show. The replay was 4 minutes long.
They showed an interview with Roman Reigns from after Raw, where he said the McMahons were trying to burn him down, but they were just firing him up, and at the Rumble he would be the last man standing.
Backstage, Dean Ambrose told Renee that Owens has put him through tables and into steel, but he’s adjusted just fine and was ready for fight.
Intercontinental Championship: Dean Ambrose DCO Kevin Owens
They went to commercial a minute into the match as Owens called Ranallo a moron. They fought to the outside and Ambrose tossed Owens into the barricade twice and did a Russian leg sweep into the barricade. Owens responded with a draping DDT back in the ring and they went to commercial again. During the break, Owens nailed a running cannonball into the barricade.
Owens missed a senton and yelled “Shut up, new guy!” at Ranallo as he slowly got up. Ambrose made his comeback but Owens kicked out after a bulldog. Owens hit a German suplex but Ambrose responded with a tornado DDT off the ropes. Owens knocked Ambrose off the top and hit another cannonball for two. Ambrose countered a pop-up powerbomb into a hurricanrana, and hit a rebound clothesline after an Owens superkick for two. Ambrose hit a suicide dive and Owens went flying over the announce table.
They did a spot where Ambrose was supposed to back body drop Owens into the crowd, but Owens recognized that fans were standing way too close, so he countered and they tried again – this time Ambrose just whipped Owens over the barricade. Ambrose went after him in the crowd and the referee called for a double countout.
They fought all the way to the stage and Ambrose sent Owens face-first into the giant WWE logo. Owens attacked Ambrose with a laptop and tried for a powerbomb but Ambrose did a back body drop on top some equipment boxes. They kept brawling, ending with Ambrose sending both men through a table. The referees checked on them as the show went off the air. I enjoyed the match but the finish was obviously a let down. The brawl was… fine.
Final Thoughts:
I wouldn’t call this show a disappointment because I wasn’t expecting much. It became clear leading up to this show that they’d already given up on trying to push Smackdown much more than usual. John Cena’s appearance was relatively insignificant and they announced two title matches knowing neither belt would change hands.
Also, I don’t think Lawler is turning heel, but he was sort of in the JBL role tonight. He called Kalisto lucky for beating Del Rio, dismissed Lynch’s previous wrestling experience outside of WWE, and sided with McMahon in the Reigns storyline. If they want him to say stuff like that then go ahead and make him a full-fledged heel.
Mauro Ranallo was good but he might suffocate in this environment.
Tokyo Sports reported this evening that New Japan Pro Wrestling star Shinsuke Nakamura will be leaving the promotion at the end of the month, according to translations done by Chris Charlton. In their report, Toyko Sports mentioned that they learned of Nakamura’s quick departure intentions the day prior, which would be January 6 given time zone differences.
Although Monday afternoon’s Wrestling Observer Radio reported that Nakamura had already given his notice to New Japan on January 4, the thought was that he would remain for the promotion for a while before departing. This made sense as he is the current Intercontinental champion. In fact, it was strongly pushed at the recent New Year’s Dash event on January 5 that a program between him and Kenny Omega over the title was imminent, but that may be up in the air at this point. If Nakamura does leave at the end of January, it seems likely he may be WWE bound, though nothing has been officially confirmed.
New Japan has yet to comment on this latest report.
Former WWE Champion John Cena will have shoulder surgery and will miss this year’s Wrestlemania according to a members-only report by PWInsider’s Mike Johnson. Via Twitter, Cena confirmed he’ll be having the surgery in Birmingham, AL, assumed to be with the famed Dr. James Andrews.
The injury is believed to be a torn labrum, putting Cena out of action for 6-9 months. Cena didn’t add any details other than “shoulder surgery”.
The 38-year-old Cena’s injury is just the latest in a string of injuries to top WWE stars (Seth Rollins, Randy Orton) and mid-level talents like Cesaro in recent months, thinning out the roster and leaving WWE to focus on talents like WWE Champion Roman Reigns, Sheamus, Dean Ambrose, The New Day, and Kevin Owens to help carry things. Brock Lesnar returns this Monday on RAW and Chris Jericho just returned Monday to help add some part-time depth.
Cena just returned from a short absence off TV as he was filming a reality series for FOX. He was expected to continue his feud with U.S. Champion Alberto Del Rio, but didn’t appear on this week’s RAW.
We’ll add more details on this story as we get it and will discuss it more on tonight’s Wrestling Observer Radio with Dave and Bryan.
For a comparison, during November on Destination America (in 57 million homes as compared to POP TV’s 72 million), the show averaged 244,000 for the first run episodes and 84,000 for the replay for shows taped months earlier as opposed to the same day with promises of a new start and the ending of a several month long World title tournament.
TNA has always gotten hurt whenever it has switched days, even though it’s technically the third straight week on Pop on a Tuesday. The previous two shows did 111,000 and 136,000 viewers and were “best of” shows with little publicity.
In the first semifinal match last night, EC3 advanced by defeating Bobby Lashley while in the second semifinal, Matt Hardy beat Eric Young. EC3 beat Hardy in the main event of the show to win back the TNA World title. Kurt Angle was also on the show, doing a promo about his farewell tour that led to an announcement of a match with Drew Galloway on next week’s show.
It’s a soft launch, but if you’ve ever wanted to WATCH a radio show here on the site, check out our new 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!
More information on Gawker’s motion to dismiss Hulk Hogan’s sex tape lawsuit, tons more.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
We have our annual business year in review as the lead of the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter this week. We cover our awards balloting year from 12/1/14 to 11/30/15 looking at the biggest events and biggest draws, with the year’s biggest crowds, records set in several different companies, Cena compared to those in similar positions on the all-time list, the year’s PPV buys for every wrestling, MMA and boxing show, how this year compared with other years.
Dwayne Johnson returning for WrestleMania, different ideas of where he may fit in, and his recent track record of WrestleMania matches.
The history of New Japan on January 4th at the Tokyo Dome. The first New Japan Tokyo Dome show and its main event, what drew the first house, what Lou Thesz said to Antonio Inoki after the show and why Thesz thought the result was a good thing and why it ended up being a waste. We look at how this year’s show will differ from last year as well as a match-by-match rundown and a look at the history of the New Japan big four, Tanahashi, Okada, A.J. Styles and Nakamura, with all of their previous Tokyo Dome matches.
Jonathan Coachman on HGH usage in WWE, why usage is so prevalent in certain types of sports and entertainment.
WWE injury coverage, why WWE stars are doing more NBC media, how movies with Sting are doing at the box office, how the WWE’s head of medical came across in the movie “Concussion” plus a concussion expert on Daniel Bryan situation. Update on Nikki Bella, NXT sellouts, Brock Lesnar’s next match, Cena facing a surprise opponent, Chris Jericho on future, Royal Rumble, Sin Cara injury update, NXT in Dallas, the go-home show for WrestleMania, two international stars about to start with WWE and the Bayley character on the main roster.
The holiday show in Madison Square Garden coverage, Ben Askren talks about One’s possibly revolutionary weight cutting regulations that could be the catalyst for changing MMA. We look at the first Rizin show, the sad spectacle of Sakuraba, the pro wrestlers on the show, the mentality behind why certain people were on the show and match-by-match coverage.
You can also order the print Observer right now and get it delivered to your door via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to Dave Meltzer
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Monday’s RAW ratings continue their disappointing trend. Details here.Some additional RAW ratings notes from our Paul Fontaine: “January 2015 was down 10% overall from January 2014. December 2015 was the 13th consecutive month that RAW ratings were down from the same month the previous year and they are well on their way to making it 14 months in a row. This is the longest streak like this since October 2006-June 2008, when they dropped 21 consecutive months. For the record, they were averaging between 3.15 and 3.95 ratings points at that time, about 35% higher than the current rating average.”
MMA Fighting has a big article about Mickey Gall, the man who may end up fighting CM Punk in his UFC debut. This guy has got a lot to say, which means he’s a perfect opponent (1-0 as a pro with 2 amateur wins). Gall will be on the latest UFC/Dana White Looking For A Fight reality show that debuts on YouTube on January 11th.
Muscle and Fitness has an article about Vince McMahon’s workout, complete with photographic proof of how jacked he is at 70. If you saw Raw, no more proof is necessary.
The show will be hammered on Monday, particularly since they did absolutely nothing to promote anything on the show other than announcing that Brock Lesnar was going to show up.
The UFC 195 prelims did 1,023,000 viewers Saturday on FS 1 — a much higher number than would’ve been expected given interest in the PPV and the marquee value (or lack thereof) of fighters on that portion of the show. No show that did 1 million viewers plus for the prelims has done less than 325,000 buys in the FS 1 era. That would be a higher than expected buyrate for this show.
Martin Kampmann, a UFC welterweight who has headlined five smaller shows for UFC in the past, announced his retirement today at the age of 33. In an interview with UFC.com, he stated that he will probably remain around the sport in a coaching or advisory capacity, but won’t fight again. He last fought in August 2013, losing via 4th round KO to Carlos Condit.
UFC announced two fights today for cards in February. At UFC 196, Misha Cirkunov (10-2), who had an impressive debut at UFC Saskatoon, will take on the debuting Alex Nicholson (6-1) in a Light Heavyweight bout. Sam Alvey is injured and had to pull out of his middleweight fight against Daniel Sarafian (9-5). Replacing him will be Oluwale Bamgbose (5-1), who lost to Uriah Hall in his UFC debut last August.
Josh Koscheck is out of Bellator 148 due to injury, originally slated to be his promotional debut. The Paul Daley vs. Andy Uhrich fight has been moved to the main event slot of that show. With no other even moderate stars on the undercard, this show is going to struggle to do any kind of rating. This also might put off the eventual Koscheck/Daley fight, but Bellator might just do it anyway assuming Daley wins.
Bloody Elbow has a detailed article about legal and other issues plaguing Titan FC.
Here’s the MMA Hour 2015 Awards with Ariel Helwani. Helwani is also a guest on Jim Ross’ podcast this week too.
MISC
Interestingly, not only is TNA doing a LIVE PPV on Friday night, which seems like madness since they had exactly one TV show with which to promote it, but they are also apparently only charging $14.95 for it. At least, that’s the price on the Flipps app. You can buy it on traditional PPV as well.
New Japan announced last night that Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka will be finishing up at the end of the month to go to CMLL for their learning excursion, with the Fantasticamania tours serving as their farwell. Like with most young lion excursions, they will most likely remain in CMLL for the next couple of years before being brought back to NJPW. They start in CMLL on 1/31 as Fujin (Komatsu) and Rajin (Tanaka) which are names based on wind and thunder gods, respectively.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today with tons to talk about including TNA’s debut on POP TV, Smackdown tapings for the supposed new A-show on USA Network, The New Japan Four, your calls, texts, emails and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
With access to traditional television shows thin on the ground for UK promotions, they’ve had to think outside the box for solutions. In last week’s column, I gave a rundown of the different options available if you want to watch British wrestling (apart from the always-preferable live option), and this week Revolution-Pro held another of their popular “TV” tapings at the Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone, London. The Cockpit is more used to hosting fringe theatre but is a perfect venue for a television taping, harking back to the studio shows of old with its tight seating arrangement perfectly fitting around the squared circle in the centre. RevPro held three tapings at the Cockpit last year, for their YouTube TV show, and on Sunday they came back with a stacked card for a new run of shows for 2016.
Despite ENDVR taking place at the same time just 3 miles across London (more of which later), the show still attracted a good crowd, and they were treated to a mini-tournament for the Undisputed British Cruiserweight title, with Pete Dunne overcoming “Flash” Morgan Webster in the final – el Ligero & Josh Bodom being eliminated in the semi-finals. Jimmy Havoc continued his feud with the Revolutionists, bringing a mystery partner to face the Undisputed British Tag-Team champions, Sha Samuels & James Castle, and it turned out to be T-Bone.
Thanks to shenanigans, the champions kept their titles but Havoc has promised to bring back T-Bone and a third man to take on the tag champs and Bodom at High Stakes on January 16th. Main-eventing a card that also featured Big Damo, Mark Haskins, Marty Scurll, and Martin Kirby, was a bout between Will Ospreay and ACH, who made his return to RevPro after October’s Uprising. The two tore the house down and the match will be available to watch – for free – on RevPro’s YouTube channel very soon.
2) PROGRESS take their big guns to Brixton.
In last week’s column I trailed HUGE news from PROGRESS, and speculated what it could be. Well, speculate no more, because on January 1st they announced that September’s show – chapter 36 – will be held at the legendary Brixton Academy, in south London. It won’t be the company’s first trip south of the river – their ProJo wrestling school is situated round the corner from the Academy, and they’ve held trainee shows at the Bedford, in nearby Balham, before – but it will be the first time they’ve played a hall bigger than their usual 700 seats at the Electric Ballroom. The Academy will be set up for 2000 seats, and while that is dwarfed by ICW’s planned show at the Hydro in Glasgow, it will be the biggest crowd to see a British wrestling show in London for a good thirty years.
PROGRESS have always resisted temptation to move to a bigger building before, simply stating that the Electric Ballroom treat them very well and they would be afraid to lose that special atmosphere created at the sold-out shows, so this is a step into the unknown for the company. However, they’re doing it in conjunction with LiveNation, the company that handled NXT’s UK tour, and the logistics shouldn’t be too high a hurdle. Whether they can sell almost 3 times the amount of tickets they usually do in London is another thing, but UK wrestling is VERY hot right now, and with a 9-month lead they have every chance. Progress indeed!
3) A Sex Pest won a rap battle.
It’s impossible to sum up an entire show, especially one featuring so many different characters as an ENDVR show, in one pithy line, but – yes – a sex pest did win a rap battle at ENDVR’s first show of the year on Sunday. Anyone who follows ENDVR (and the PROGRESS shows as of the last London chapter) will know that the sex pest is Jack Sexsmith, and the rap battle was a precursor to his showdown with “Body Guy” Roy Johnson on Sunday’s show at the Garage in Islington. You’ll be reassured to know that “Mr Cocko” made his customary appearance, and those of you who don’t know anything about Jack Sexsmith will no doubt be very confused by now.
Also on the show, Pollyanna and Livvi won women’s matches, Damon Moser (a favourite for this year’s Natural Progression tournament) won a four-way over Pastor Bill Eaver, Earl Black Jr, and TK Cooper, and ProJo head trainer Darrell Allen beat Chuck Mambo in a “traditional British rules” match (which, unusually for such contests, didn’t suck). Some of the more established PROGRESS stars made an appearance (and a whole load of them were across London at the RevPro TV taping!), with Wild Boar teaming with PROGRESS-debutant Mike Bird (a mainstay of the south-west scene, and Mark Andrews’s trainer) taking a DQ win over Paul Robinson & trainee Shen Woo, and Eddie Dennis and Dave Mastiff colliding in a hard-hitting main event. The consequences of that fight will be felt long after the conclusion of Sunday’s show, with Dennis earning a tag-team title shot for himself and Mark Andrews, and Mastiff earning the ire of PROGRESS management with a sustained beating on a prone Dennis after the match.
4) Big shows aren’t just channel changers on the USA Network.
As well as PROGRESS planning their big outing to Brixton in September, several other promotions have already announced big shows of their own for 2016. New Generation Wrestling have already announced their mid-year spectacular, Ultimate Showdown, in Hull in late May, Southside have their annual Speed King tournament inked in for April, and – of course – everything that Insane Championship Wrestling does this year is leading up to their bigger-than-big-it’s-huge show at the 11,000-capacity Hydro in October.
But even bigger than that show, in relative terms, is Pro-Wrestling Chaos’s April 8th show in Bristol, with The Young Bucks flown in as a special attraction. Why is that so big? Because Chaos, a Bristol-based promotion formed in 2013 for former grappler Dave Mercy, usually run a 200-seater hall and they’ve booked a 3000-seater for this show, which they’ve promised to stack. As gambles go it’s a pretty big one, but with the Bucks only doing one other UK show (in faraway Edinburgh) it’s a risk that could pay off.
5) Friday Night’s Alright For Fight Club
In order to bring fresh and exclusive footage to their ICW OnDemand service, the promotion held another Friday Night Fight Club taping at the Garage nightclub, in Glasgow, last weekend. Like RevPro’s taping, they stacked the card with all their usual regulars, plus semi-regular import Tommy End, for a show which saw a title change, an ICW Heavyweight title defence, and a huge 8-man main event, featuring Grado, Davey Blaze, Noam Dar, and Kenny Williams against the New Age Kliq. They have another taping scheduled for this coming Sunday – the only show anywhere in the UK, as far as I can work out – with everything leading up to their big Square Go! show on January 24th.
Other than a few holiday camp shows (including one where the ATTACK! boys played to over 1000 people), the only other show over the last week was WrestleForce’s return to Rayleigh, in Essex, which featured their usual cast of characters.
