The 3/30 ESPN “Outside the Lines” television show one hour piece on the pro wrestling industry has become something very much talked about within an industry that seemingly only sees reporting as black and white. Either pieces are favorable, or in most cases, they are considered negative. I suspect the ESPN piece will be fair and the best of its kind.
1957
Toronto, Ontario, Canada:
– Gene Kiniski beat Pat O’Connor to capture the British Empire Heavyweight title
– John Barend and Jack Pasek drew
– Art Nelson beat Sandor Kovacs
– Prince Maivia beat Lee Henning
1963
Kansas City, Kansas:
– World Tag Team Champions The Medics defeated Luther Lindsay & Joe Scarpello in three falls
– Central States Heavyweight Champion Sonny Myers defeated Rock Hunter via DQ in three falls
– Steve Bolus fought Ray Gordon to a draw
– United States Heavyweight Champion Bob Geigel defeated Pat O’Connor via DQ in three falls
– Steve Kovacs defeated Lee Henning via DQ
1964
Omaha, Nebraska:
– Mad Dog Vachon won the AWA World title from Verne Gagne
– Bill Miller beat Reggie Parks
– Mongolian Stomper beat Harley Race
– George Drake beat Frisco Montana
1981
Oakland, California:
– AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Jerry Blackwell
– Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Nick Bockwinkel & Bobby Heenan
– The Crusher beat Jesse Ventura
– Ray Stevens beat Adrian Adonis
– Baron Von Raschke beat John Studd
– Tito Santana beat Guy Lambert
– Pepper Gomez beat Jerry Monti
1982
Atlanta, Georgia:
– Buzz Sawyer defeated Tommy Rich for the Georgia National Heavyweight Title
1983
Beckley, West Virginia:
– Tony Atlas defeated NWA World Champion Ric Flair via disqualification
1987
San Francisco, California:
– Curt Hennig defeated Nick Bockwinkel for the AWA World Heavyweight Title (Larry Zbyszko handed Hennig a roll of quarters to knock Bockwinkel out. Belt held up for one week as Hennig mulled an offer to go to the WWF. When Hennig agreed to stay in The AWA, the AWA said the title did change hands)
– Russ Francis & Jimmy Snuka beat The Terrorist & The Mercenary
– Jerry Blackwell beat Boris Zhukov
– Midnight Rockers & Ray Stevens beat Buddy Wolff (sub Buddy Rose) & Doug Somers & Kevin Kelly
– AWA Women’s Champion Sherri Martel beat Madusa Meceli
– DJ Peterson drew Super Ninja
– Sheik Adnan beat Buck Zumhofe
Chicago, Illinois:
– WWF Intercontinental champion Ricky Steamboat defeated Randy Savage in a steel cage match
Boston, Massachusetts:
– WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Harley Race
1994
Atlanta, Georgia:
– Larry Zbyszko defeated Lord Steven Regal for the WCW Television Title
– Marcus Alexander Bagwell defeated Shanghai Pierce
– WCW U.S. Champion Steve Austin defeated Marcus Alexander Bagwell
– Lord Steven Regal defeated Brad Armstrong
– WCW U.S. Champion Steve Austin defeated Brian Armstrong
– Ricky Steamboat defeated Bobby Eaton
– Alex Wright defeated Tanaka-san (Pat Tanaka)
– Dustin Rhodes & Johnny B. Badd defeated Pretty Wonderful, Paul Roma & Paul Orndorff
Harriman, Tennessee:
– Jake Roberts defeated Dirty White Boy Tony Anthony for the Smoky Mountain Wrestling Heavyweight Title
– SMW Beat the Champ TV Champion Kendo the Samurai defeated the Dirty White Boy via count-out
– Ricky Morton (w/ Robert Gibson) defeated SMW Tag Team Champion Chris Candido (w/ Tammy Fytch & SMW Tag Team Champion Brian Lee) via disqualification
Memphis, Tennessee:
– Doug Gilbert defeated Brian Christopher for the USWA Southern Heavyweight Wrestling Title
– Brian Christopher teamed with Eddie Gilbert, to lose the USWA Tag Team Title to The Eliminators
1996
Orlando, Florida:
– Dean Malenko defeated Shinjiro Ohtani to capture the WCW Cruiserweight championship
1998
Charleston, South Carolina:
– Chris Benoit defeated Booker T for the WCW Television Title
2000
Richmond, Virginia:
– Chris Jericho defeated Chris Benoit for the WWF Intercontinental Title
2002
NJPW 30th Anniversary: Tokyo, Japan:
– Kintaro Kanemura defeated Daisuke Sekimoto
– Katsuyori Shibata defeated Wataru Inoue
– Tiger Mask 3 (Koji Kanemoto) & Tiger Mask 4 ( of Michinoku Pro) defeated Black Tiger & El Samurai
– Kaoru Ito & Momoe Nakanishi defeated Manami Toyota & Yumiko Hotta
– Jushin Liger & Minoru Tanaka defeated Jado & Gedo to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title
– Shinya Hashimoto (Zero-One) & Naoya Ogawa (UFO) defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Scott Norton
– Bas Rutten defeated Manabu Nakanishi
– Don Frye defeated Tadao Yasuda
– The Steiner Brothers defeated Kensuke Sasaki & Hiroshi Tanakashi
– Yuji Nagata defeated Yoshihiro Takayama (Noah) to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Title
– Masahiro Chono vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (Noah) ended in a thirty minute time limit draw
Lord Humongous/Jeff Van Camp photo by Karl Stern
On this week’s show, Karl takes a few questions from the mailbag dealing with a wide range of topics including Survivor Series, Sid Vicious, and a couple off-topic questions. Then, Karl tackles the last episode of NWA Southeastern Championship Wrestling in June 1985 as he watches his favorite promotion be put to rest.
Other topics:
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back tonight to talk tons of topics: WWE Payback, all the matches and angles from the show, Lucha Underground from last week, AAA running another PPV, Bellator fighter Jordan Parsons update, tons of mailbag questions and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Eric “Enzo Amore” Arndt suffered a severe concussion according to those close to him.
Arndt was injured in the early moments of the Enzo & Cass vs. Vaudevillains tag team match. He was sliding under the bottom rope but he got caught in the ropes with his head hitting the middle rope and the back of his head hit the mat near the apron. He rolled to the floor. Simon Gotch grabbed him when he shouldn’t have but the match was quickly stopped and he was carried to the back on a stretcher and rushed to a local hospital where he underwent a CAT Scan.
He was able to remember everything before the match and able to move his extremeties.
He was discharged from the hospital before the show was over.
It is not clear how long he will be out of action but WWE doesn’t allow wrestlers diagnosed with a concussion to return until passing testing.
The Bryan & Vinny Show is back today with our complete recap and analysis of the WWE Payback PPV, the first post-WrestleMania show and, yes, THE START OF A DAMN NEW ERA. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Submitted by James Brown
– Taeler Hendrix defeated Sumie Sakai
– Dalton Castle (with The Boys who weren’t the real Boys) defeated Kongo with a bridging German Suplex.
– Donovan Dijak (with Prince Nana) defeated Jay “Diesel” Daddiego (with Taeler Hendrix) with Feast Your Eyes. Solid performance by Dijak. Hendrix got on the apron and tried to get involved at the finish. With Dijak distracted, Diesel tried to attack him but he accidentally punched Hendrix to the floor.
– Lio Rush defeated Christopher Daniels by dq. A fan ringside was jawing with Daniels that got his attention during this bout. Kazarian ran out as Rush climbed to the top rope for the DQ. The Addiction continued to assault Rush, before Moose made the save. This led to…
– Moose (with Stokely Hathaway) & Lio Rush defeated The Addiction. Moose is a star and the crowd loved chanting “MOOSE” repeatedly, especially during his punch sequence. Moose hit the spear followed by a Rush frog splash for the win. Good tag team match. Post-match, Addiction attacked Rush & Moose and hit their new Meltzer Driver. This brought out the Young Bucks to make the save as Daniels and Kaz fled. Bucks pop was gigantic.
– ROH World Champion Jay Lethal (with Taeler Hendrix) defeated Vinny Marseglia with the Lethal Injection. Lethal was good, but no one believed Vinny had a chance. Rightfully so. Vinny is tattooed with a physique similar to one CM Punk. Of course, the crowd realized the similarities which caused those annoying Punk chants. Post-match activities again with House of Truth teeing off on Marseglia until Dijak ran down and made a statement. Dijak ended up hitting Feast Your Eyes on Lethal to a massive pop, before standing over his nemesis and posing with the ROH World Title. Great segment!
Intermission
– Veda Scott defeated Mandy Leon and Jenny Rose. Veda looked impressive with Mandy coming along quite nicely.
– Silas Young defeated Delirious with his version of the TKO. Delirious was an unexpected surprise as was his verbal developments. Silas cut a very good promo before the match, running down the booking, Delirious, and Cheeseburger. Along the way, Delirious while on the outside went under the ring only to re-appear as Cheeseburger with a mask. Crowd loved that.
– The Young Bucks defeated The All Night Express with the Meltzer Driver. Match of the night. The Bucks looked great as did their broom they brought to ringside. Superkick Party led to the finish. Post-match, The Addiction hit the ring and double teamed The Bucks with ANX. Moose made the save, joined the Superkick Party, cleaned house, ending with him and The Bucks super kicking Kazarian.
– ACH defeated Kamaitachi with the 450 splash. I may sound greedy, but I expected a little more out of this. Nonetheless, this was a very good match. Kamaitachi hit his top rope senton to the outside on a standing ACH, along with another high risk spot that I could not quite see. Appeared to be a double foot stomp, but I could be wrong.
– The Briscoes defeated Motor City Machine Guns and reDRagon in a three-way. Briscoes with the win set up their chance to regain the Tag Titles vs War Machine (absent from this show as they were overseas). Sabin looked good.
ROH returns to New England Friday 9/30 for the All Star Extravaganza PPV and 10/1 for TV tapings featuring New Japan! These shows will run approximately 90 minutes north of West Warwick, RI at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today with a packed show! WWE Payback preview, Vince McMahon, the Illuminati and the End of the World. What could be better? A fun show as always so check it out~!
WWE’s first big event since Wrestlemania plays out Sunday night with Payback where an Internet fan favorite battles an Internet scourge for what was once the biggest prize in the business in the main event. Five titles will be on the line tonight at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL, outside Chicago. This is the fourth Payback event in company history, and Reigns has been in the main event for the last three.
Pre-Show:
Corbin took most of the match, had Ziggler up for a power bomb but flipped him backwards instead into the post. Corbin then started stalling and celebrating and they were totally teasing the idea that Corbin was taking it for granted. Corbin got in the ring and Ziggler pinned him with a schoolboy. It was fine for a preshow match.
They went really fast and did a lot of near falls ending with Ryback missing a splash off the top rope and Kalisto pinned him with Salida del Sol. A few botched spots but it was okay. Kalisto did a tope and some spinning moves.
New Day did an interview saying they were going to be at ringside for the tag team tournament final later tonight.
Main Card:
There was a legit injury a few minutes into the match. Simon Gotch threw Enzo Amore out of the ring. Amore’s left arm caught the middle rope as he was sliding and his head hit the middle rope and then the back of Enzo’s head hit the apron and he fell to the floor. Ref Dan Engler immediately put up an “X” and they stopped the match. It was legit as the cameras quickly went to the announcers while medical personnel were working on Enzo and he was carried out. No announcement was made and JBL and Byron Saxton looked pretty concerned.
They said that Enzo can move his extremities and is talking and was rushed to the hospital.
Excellent match. Owens, who a bloody nose, won clean with a superkick and the pop up power bomb. Owens stepped on him after the match. Owens slapped him in he face and threw him out of the ring when it was over. They worked this more like a Japanese match than a WWE match with the pacing and Zayn popping up from moves as opposed to long term selling. The crowd was going pretty nuts in spots, particularly the usual Zayn dive from the floor into and out of the ring with the DDT on the floor. Owens did a cool frog splash.
Owens wanted Byron Saxton to come in the ring. Owens teased opening the ropes for him but then didn’t. Saxton asked if the rivalry was over. Owens said he beat Zayn. Owens said he finally put to rest the question after 14 years, he’s the better man. Now he wants the IC title back. Saxton noted the match was next. Owens said he didn’t know the match was next but he’s staying to do commentary in the match.
The match was good. It was a set up for a four-way program for the title with Owens and Zayn. Zayn ran down to ringside during the match. Zayn attacked Owens. They were fighting. In the ring Cesaro used a giant swing and had the crossface on. Miz was tapping but ref John Cone was distracted by breaking up Zayn and Owens. Cesaro let go of the move and knocked both Zayn and Owens off the apron and Miz schoolboyed him for the pin to keep the title.
After the match, Cesaro laid out Miz with the neutralizer. Owens superkicked Cesaro. Owens also power bombed Zayn again and went to power bomb Miz, but Maryse pulled Miz out of the ring to safety. Owens grabbed the belt.
They announced Enzo was in the hospital and able to communicate with the medical staff and move his arms and legs. He was knocked out at one point before waking up backstage before they rushed him to the hospital.
Another excellent match. Ambrose did a tope and may have hit Jericho head first because he came up bleeding from the nose. Jericho also hit the back of his head on the German table. Ambrose won clean with Dirty Deeds after Jericho went for the quebrada but Ambrose got his knees up and threw a seris of knees to set up the finish. This was more Americanzied than Zayn vs. Owens. There were several spots coming off the Walls of Jericho used.
Mauro Ranallo interviewed A.J. Styles, and he asked about Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. He said it’s one-on-one tonight.
They showed Shane McMahon talking to Sasha Banks.
The match was going well when they redid the 1997 Survivoir Series finish. Charlotte put Natalya in the sharpshooter and ref Charles Robinson called for the bell even though Natalya didn’t submit After the match, Bret Hart knocked down Ric Flair, Charles Robinson ran off, Natalya put Charlotte in the sharpshooter and Flair and Charlotte both tapped. Natalya was doing a great job of selling the knee most of the way refusing to submit to the figure four. The match was designed to build a rematch more than be a great match building to a conclusion. Not sure if there weren’t better ways to get where they were going but that’s the way they know.
Vince McMahon called out Stephanie and Shane. Will update later as we had technical issues on the site but the end result was Vince chose that both would have to get along and run Raw together and it starts a new era. Obviously they needed a shock and change to Raw with the ratings the way they were, but more McMahons isn’t new but the same thing they’ve been doing for two decades. Stephanie did a big speech about all she accomplished. Shane had newspaper clippings claiming he was doing a great job and Vince said he didn’t care what the media thought or anyone thought.
– Enzo had a concussion but all other tests have come back negative. He is believed to be out of the hospital right now.
The match was designed to get over Stephanie and Shane. Fans hated Reigns of course with “Roman sucks” chants. After Reigns got to the ropes after the calf crusher, he was out of the ring. Styles did the springboard forearm to the floor and they all went through one of the announcers tables. It was an amazing spot, particularly in slow motion. Styles barely got up, tried to get Reigns in the ring but Styles couldn’t get him in, jumped in himself and won via count out.
Shane came out and restarted the match as a no count out match. They went about two minutes and Styles came off the top rope into a punch by Reigns which was low. The ref DQ’d Reigns so again Styles won but didn’t win the title. Of course, Stephanie came out and restarted the match.
The third match had some cool stuff. Styles kicked out of a Superman punch. Reigns hit a second Superman punch and Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson ran in and pulled Styles out of the ring. They double teamed and laid out Reigns with the boot of doom since this was a no DQ match. Then they left. Styles hit the springboard forearm but Reigns got his foot on the ropes. The Usos came out to fight Anderson and Gallows. Styles went to the top rope but Reigns shoved him off and Styles flew to the floor but landed on everyone. Reigns then did a running dive over the top. The match continued and Styles hit a springboard 450 but Reigns kicked out. Styles went for the Styles Clash, but Reigns backdropped him over the top rope. Reigns went for a Superman punch but Styles snapped his neck on the top rope. Reigns then speared Styles and pinned him. The announcers put over how Reigns earned the win.
It felt more like a TNA main event with all the overbooked stuff at the end. Styles was excellent in his timing. When it was over, the stars were the McMahons who were all together and Vince said the match was great, asked Stephanie & Shane if Styles deserved a rematch, they both said he did, and it’s an Extreme Rules match in three weeks on the Extreme Rules PPV.
1969
Kansas City, Kansas:
– NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dory Funk, Jr. wrestled Dick Murdoch to a time limit draw
1976
Indianapolis, Indiana:
– Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher beat Ox Baker & Chuck O’Connor to win the WWA Tag Team Title in a steel cage match
– The Strangler beat Pepper Gomez to win the WWA title
– AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Art Thomas
– Art Thomas won a 16 man battle royal
– Bounty Hunters beat Steve Regal (sub Bob Kelly) & Bobby Bold Eagle
– Wilbur Snyder beat Blackjack Heddon (sub Baron Von Krupp)
– Johnny Starr beat Raoul Guzman
– Moose Cholak beat Emile Zapata
– Paul Christy beat Cashbox Jim Kent
1980
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada:
– AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat the Crusher dq
– Dino Bravo no contest Jerry Blackwell
– Greg Gagne beat Super Destroyer Mark II
– Super Destroyer Mark III beat Bobby Heenan
– Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura beat Mad Dog Vachon & Steve Olsonoski
– Little Bruiser & Lone Eagle beat Billy the Kid & Tom Thumb
1981
Gainesville, Georgia:
– Harley Race defeated Tommy Rich for the NWA World Heavyweight Title
Richmond, Virginia:
– Gene & Ole Anderson defeated Paul Jones & Masked Superstar for the NWA World Tag Team Title
Mexico City, Mexico;
– Bob Backlund defended the WWF title against NWF World champion Antonio Inoki, wrestling to a draw in a 2 out of 3 falls match
Denver, Colorado:
– Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura in a non-title Cage Match
– The Crusher and Jerry Blackwell went to a double disqualification
– Nick Bockwinkel beat Tito Santana
– Baron Von Raschke beat Big John Studd
– Ray Stevens beat Buck Zumhofe
1983
Atlanta, Georgia:
– Tommy Rich & Paul Orndorff defeated Larry Zbyszko & Killer Brooks a
– Tony Atlas defeated NWA World Champion Ric Flair via disqualification
– Bob Roop defeated Joe Lightfoot
– Ray Candy defeated Chick Donovan
– Arn Anderson & Matt Borne (w/ Paul Ellering) defeated Brian Blair & Tito Santana
– Ron Garvin defeated the Iron Sheik (w/ Paul Ellering)
– Dick Murdoch defeated Buzz Sawyer via count-out
Greensboro, North Carolina:
– Greg Valentine defeated NWA U.S. Champion Roddy Piper to win the title
– NWA World Tag Team Champions Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood defeated Sgt. Slaughter & Don Kernodle
– Keith larsen defeated Ken Timbs
– Jos LeDuc defeated Rick Harris
– Bugsy McGraw defeated the One Man Gang
– Jake Roberts defeated Mike Graham
– Dick Slater defeated Sweet Brown Sugar
– Jack & Jerry Brisco defeated Angelo Mosca & Gene Anderson
– Jimmy Valiant defeated the Great Kabuki in a New York Street fight
1987
Euguene, Oregon:
– AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel drew Curt Hennig
– AWA Tag Team Champions Midnight Rockers beat Mike Miller & Rip Oliver
– Jimmy Snuka beat Larry Zbyszko dq
– Assassin & Ricky Santana beat Kevin Kelly & Doug Somers
– Art Crews beat Scott Peterson
– Joey Jackson drew Coco Samoa
– George Skaaland drew Buddy Wolff
– Mark Young beat Mighty Sputnik
– Sherri Martel beat Madusa Meceli
Atlanta, Georgia:
– The New Breed, Chris Champion & Sean Royal defeated Jeff Sampson & Jeff Belk
– Baron Von Raschke defeated Thunderfoot #1
– Vladimir Pietrov defeated Jimmy Valiant
– The Midnight Express, Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane defeated Bob & Brad Armstrong
– Barry Windham defeated Lex Luger via disqualification
– Arn Anderson & NWA World TV Champion Tully Blanchard defeated Ole Anderson & Tim Horner
– NWA U.S. Champion Nikita Koloff defeated Ivan Koloff in a Russian chain match
– NWA World Champion Ric Flair defeated Jimmy Garvin in a lumberjack match
1988
Indianapolis, Indiana:
– Jimmy Garvin defeated Kevin Sullivan
– Brad Armstrong & Tim Horner defeated Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane
– Steve Williams defeated NWA World Tag Team Champion Arn Anderson
– The Road Warriors defeated the Powers of Pain
– Lex Luger & Nikita Koloff defeated the Sheepherders
– Dusty Rhodes fought NWA World Tag Team Champion Tully Blanchard to a double countout when both men began fighting on the floor
– NWA World Champion Ric Flair pinned Sting
1993
Memphis, Tennessee:
– Brian Christopher defeated Jeff Jarrett for the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title
1994
Tokyo, Japan:
– Shinya Hashimoto defeated Tatsumi Fujinami for the IWGP Heavyweight Title
1995
Memphis, Tennessee:
– Jerry Lawler defeated Razor Ramon for the USWA Unified Heavyweight Title
– PG-13 defeated Brickhouse Brown & The Gambler for the USWA Tag Team Title
1998
Greenville, South Carolina:
– Booker T defeated Chris Benoit for the WCW World Television Title
Tokyo, Japan:
– Satoru Asako defeated Yoshinobu Kanemura
– Manukea Mossman (Tayyo Kea) defeated Daisuke Ikeda
– Jumbo Tsuruta, Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota defeated Masa Fuchi, Haruka Eigan & Tsuyoshi Kikichi
– The Headhunters defeated Tamon Honda & Shigeo Okumura
– Johnny Smith & Wolf Hawkfield (Jim Steele) defeated Gedo & Jado
– Akira Taue, Takao Omori & Masao Inoue defeated Mike Awesome, Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Hideki Hosaka
– Steve Williams & Gary Albright defeated Masahito Kakihara & Yoshihiro Takayama
– Giant Baba, Kentaro Shiga & Hayabusa defeated Hakushi, Jun Izumida & Giant Kamala II
– Jun Akiyama defeated Hiroshi Hase
– Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace defeated Vader & Stan Hansen
– Toshiaki Kawada defeated Mitsuharu Misawa to win the All Japan Triple Crown
2005
WWE Backlash | Manchester, New Hampshire:
– Tyson Tomko defeated Val Venis
– Shelton Benjamin defeated Chris Jericho to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship
– The Hurricane and Rosey defeated Tajiri and William Regal, The Heart Throbs (Antonio and Romeo), Simon Dean and Maven, and La Résistance (Robért Conway and Sylvain Grenier) in a Tag Team Turmoil match to win the World Tag Team Championship
– Edge defeated Chris Benoit in a Last Man Standing match
– Kane (with Lita) defeated Viscera (with Trish Stratus)
– Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels defeated Muhammad Hassan and Daivari
– Batista defeated Triple H (with Ric Flair) to retain the World Heavyweight Championship
2011
WWE Extreme Rules | Tampa, Florida:
– Kofi Kingston defeated Sheamus to win the US Title in a Tables Match
– Christian won the World title in a ladder Match defeating Alberto del Rio
– John Cena won the WWE title in a three-way cage match defeating The Miz and John Morrison