The Bryan & Vinny Show is back tonight with tons to talk about! We’ve got our now-weekly VINNY V WWE HISTORY QUIZ, plus new songs and our usual contest, ROH on Sinclair and NWA World Championship Wrestling from this week in 1986! A fun show as always so check it out~!
It took all of 70 seconds for the Ric Flair-Hulk Hogan double turn to take place at the WCW Uncensored PPV show on 3/14 at Freedom Hall in Louisville, and by the end of the match, Hogan had been screwed so many times by bad officiating that the turn was complete, even with the stipulation of Flair having to retire should he lose.
Here’s some news, notes, and results from the NXT weekend shows in Florida that got a bit overlooked with everything big that was happening up North.
– Patrick Clark beat Murphy
– Selmani & Dhinsa – The Authors Of Pain – beat Gabriel & Uriel Ealy who are the large twin security guards who usually man the doors at events. Selmani & Dhinsa have scary masks now, similar to what SANADA wore to the ring recently in Japan. These four are huge. The Authors of Pain have even been getting a lot of angry foreigner heat for their promos when I’ve seen them.
– Adrien Reese beat Daria. They’re still allowing Reese to use the top rope in to a stunner finish that she used on the indies which always gets a huge reaction. Daria works as an MMA fighter: leg kicks, holds, quiet intensity.
– No Way Jose beat Josh Woods. This was said to be a lot of fun with Woods playing the straight man to Jose’s fiesta antics.
– Sawyer Fulton & Alexander beat Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls. TMDK were said to be smooth and great in the ring. People may not have known who they were, yet it was the match of the night by the finish.
– Alex Reyes interviewed Cezar in the ring. He’s from Brazil and was the positive face, happy to be in NXT.
– Tino Sabbatelli beat Angelo Dawkins. Good match, Tino has been improving greatly, and carries himself like a star. The match got derailed because Tino was busted open. They even had to change the apron or the mat after the match!
– Aliyah & Liv Morgan beat Mandy Rose & Nikki Storm. Good reaction for the debuting Nikki. Morgan hit her standing moonsault on Storm for the win.
– Alex Riley beat Tye Dillinger in the main event. Riley also got busted open, causing them to halt the match.
– Adrien Reese & Sara Lee beat Aliyah & Mandy Rose
– Patrick Clark beat Kishan Raftaar from India, making his Florida NXT debut. He worked the Arnold Classic and those WWE events in his home country.
– Dylan Miley beat Noah
– Angelo Dawkins beat Tino Sabbatelli
– Alex Riley beat Murphy
– Liv Morgan beat Daria
– Alex Reyes interviewed Mada from Tough Enough.
– Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste beat Alexander Wolfe & Sawyer Fulton. Like in Tampa, this was also said to be the match of the night.
– No Way Jose beat Tye Dillinger in the main event. There was a dance off that even included referee Drake Wuertz. Jose won with the big wind-up pitch punch.
This week’s show was our final look at Dominon, held last July at Osaka Jo Hall.
Okada is this week’s interview subject. The interviewer mentions how this is the first wrestling card in over 20 years. Okada says he should be thanked for that, but it also felt good to see the arena packed. As far as AJ goes, he wanted his title back. He’s a great wrestler. It was tough, no doubt about it.
I loved the early parts of this match with the interference. Now, Bullet Club freely interferes on many occasions; this is hardly news. But this felt like the culmination of every other time they ever interfered because this time, Red Shoes had enough of their shenanigans. He told the Bullet Club to suck it, then told AJ to suck it. It’s a little detail in this match, but I thought it was a nice touch.
As for the match itself, it was awesome. It was just two guys who know how to have a great match going out there and giving it everything. Once the Bullet Club was ejected the workrate was high, and they totally delivered. The last few minutes were excellent with Styles and Okada trading some high profile offense until Okada hit his second or third Rainmaker for the win. Another nice touch was that even though Okada laid out Styles with multiple rainmakers, he didn’t pin Styles until he knew he had him beat. In an era where finishers are spammed to death, it’s nice to know New Japan protects them for when it’s most important.
It kinda hit me while watching this match that as good as AJ Styles was in New Japan, he’s never going to be that good in WWE. Not that he won’t have good matches, he’s already proven that in spades. But even if WWE gives someone like AJ enough time to have a PPV quality match, he’s bound to a bunch of road agents who are commanded to tell people how to work a certain way. AJ came to his own in New Japan as a ring general and flourished. In WWE, that ain’t happening. It’s a shame, but this match proved just how much AJ upped his profile within a years’ time in New Japan.
Gedo cuts his usual promo after the match, saying Okada’s at a whole other level and that the future of pro wrestling is in his hands. Okada has three things to say. His first two points is as champion, he’ll definitely compete and win in the G1. The third point…well, he doesn’t have a third point. He promises that it’ll rain money all over New Japan as a big confetti celebration starts
AJ didn’t have anything to say backstage. Okada said it was a great fight, and seeing so many people live was awesome. He was happy to get the result he wanted, and hopes NJPW can do it every year. They have a toast with some beer, with Okada jokingly noting that Gedo is really washing it down.
He was nervous going into the match, but was happy with the result. AJ was a tough person to beat, and was also happy to do it in front of so many people. A lot of wrestlers watch his matches, so he is grateful he faced such a great wrestler as it brought up his caliber.
Great show this week. Check it out if you haven’t seen this match before.
Angelico from AAA appeared to be injured today at the Lucha Underground tapings.
Those at the building reported that he landed badly doing a springboard move and appeared to suffer an elbow injury.
The referee called for an “X” and the other wrestlers worked to the finish and he was taken to the back.
This was the second injury suffered at the weekend tapings, with Matanza being injured last night at the tapings. Matanza, played by Jeff Cobb, suffered an arm injury that saw him rushed to the hospital after punching through a glass window, similar to what nearly ended the career of Bill Goldberg and put him out of action for months. The injury ended up not being as serious as it appeared, although there was a ton of blood involved. Cobb is expected to be back wrestilng next week.
We will update later with more details and check the next Wrestling Observer out for more details.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns to wrap up a very busy weekend of news! WWE Raw, Payback, UFC 197, Conor McGregor, Global Cruiserweight tournament, calls, emails and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
By Eoin Chyene
Thanks also to Innes McVey
Cesaro beat Stardust in the opening contest. Stardust hissed at a kid in the audience. Cesaro mocked Stardust’s thinking pose. 25-26 rotations of
the Swing, which they had teased a couple times beforehand. Cesaro applied the sharpshooter after that for the win.
Zack Ryder and Darren Young beat Social Outcasts (Heath Slater and Bo Dallas). Pre match promo from Social Outcasts about how lucky we were to be in their presence. Slater was great when he was on the outside recovering. He told us he was going in to make the save before he did it, and surprised a kid by actually following through with a high five. Rough Ryder for the win in this one.
Rusev beat Swagger with the Accolade. Eye poke to gain the advantage, kick to the head and done. Both guys had flags. All American American Jack Swagger had… The Scottish saltire flag. “We The People” was an over chant whenever he went for it.
New Day beat Dudleys and Usos in a match for the tag titles. Big Ending for the win. Running joke in this match was Xavier getting his back slapped all the time. First one was by an Uso, and Xavier oversold it for a while. Big E was telling him not to cry. Usos then slapped Xavier in tandem. Xavier is upset and dejectedly walks over to his corner to tag in Big E. Usos and Big E then accidentally slap Xavier on the apron. He decided to leave, Bubba chased him on the ramp, slapped his back and returned him to the ring. Great match, crowd loved it.
After intermission, Sin Cara beat Tyler Breeze. Lucha chant was very popular. Senton from the top rope for the win.
Charlotte beat Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch for the women’s championship. All three of these women were total stars. My last live event was in 2012, and the difference in class between those ladies compared to the 2016 trio is ridiculous. Super fun match, Ric Flair removed Sasha from the ring and Charlotte rolled up Becky for the win. Feet were on the ropes too. Charlotte asked Charles Robinson “what am I paying you for?” After a kickout earlier in the match, that got a few laughs ringside.
Main event was Roman Reigns vs Sheamus. Not much more exciting than it sounds on paper. Reigns’ merch was fairly popular so I was expecting heavy cheers. Honestly, it was probably nearer 50/50. The boos were quite loud in my area despite being surrounded by Reigns gloves and t-shirts. He had more fan signs than anyone else too. Sheamus got on the mic before the match and said Scotland was the weaker, more immature brother of Ireland and mocked us for voting against our own independence. He said he’s been told many times that he looks stupid, but that we were the ones who really looked stupid after that. Worth noting that Glasgow was one of the areas that voted yes to independence. Reigns won with the spear and had previously kicked out after a Brogue Kick.
Some general notes: New Day were probably the most represented in terms of merch at the show, followed by Reigns, Ambrose and Cena. Cesaro shirts were his old ones, signed by the man himself. They only had large sizes of them left for this show. Some really long lines at the various merch stands, even after the show had finished. The only thing they had a surplus of before I left were the empty New Day BootyOs boxes. Horns had sold out.
Jojo and Greg Hamilton co-hosted, and told us that WWE was coming back in November… For Smackdown. Promo video said tickets went on sale at 9pm, which is when the intermission was due to end. They’d actually went on sale at 9am. They waited until before the main event to announce that RAW was also coming to Glasgow, and played it out like that was a shocking new announcement. Considering most tickets are gone for that one, probably not a surprise to the people in attendance.
1947
Kansas City, Kansas:
– MWA Title: Orville Brown beat Vic Christy 2 falls to 1
– Ralph Garibaldi beat Dan O’Connor
– Warren Bockwinkel beat Ed White
1967
– John & Chris Tolos defeated Don Leo Jonathan & Rocky Johnson to win the NWA Canadian Tag Team Titles
1969
Kansas City, Kansas:
– Dick Murdoch defeated the Viking in a 2 out of 3 falls match
1978
Madison Square Garden:
– WWWF World Champion Bob Backlund defeated Superstar Graham in a steel cage match
– WWWF Tag Team Champions Dino Bravo & Dominic DeNucci defeated Stan Stasiak & Johnny Rodz
1979
Raleigh, North Carolina:
– Ricky Steamboat beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq
– Ernie Ladd beat Jimmy Snuka
– Gene Anderson & Moose Morowski beat Leo Burke & Jay Youngblood
– Herb Gallant beat Len Denton
– Don Kernodle beat David Patterson
1982
Chicago, Illinois:
– AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Hulk Hogan dq
– AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell drew Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan
– Bobby Duncum beat Baron Von Raschke
– Ken Patera beat Spike Huber
– Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan
– Brad Rheingans beat Dr X
– Tito Santana drew Rene Goulet
1983
AWA Super Sunday: St. Paul, Minnesota:
– AWA World Champion Nick Bockwinkel defeated Hulk Hogan by DQ
– Verne Gagne & Mad Dog Vachon beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan
– Ken Patera & Jesse Ventura & Blackjack Lanza beat Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell & Rick Martel
– Jerry Lawler beat John Tolos
– Wahoo McDaniel beat Ed Boulder
– Brad Rheingans beat Tom Stone
– Joyce Grable & Wendi Richter beat Judy Martin & Velvet McIntrye
1985
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada:
– AWA World Champion Rick Martel defeated Mr. Saito
– steel cage match: Greg Gagne, Jim Brunzell and Jerry Blackwell defeated The Road Warriors and Paul Ellering
1989
Super Powers Clash: Tokyo, Japan:
– Big Van Vader defeated Shinya Hashimoto to win the IWGP Title tournament (Lou Thesz special referee)
– Shota Chochyashvili defeated Antonio Inoki to win the New Japan Martial Arts Title
– Naoki Sano defeated Hiro Saito to win the Young Lions League
– IWGP Tag Team Champions Super Strong Machine & George Takano defeated Hiro Hase & Shiro Koshinaka
– Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Kuniaki Kobayashi.
– Salman Hashimikov defeated Bam Bam Bigelow
– Wahka Eveleov defeated Masa Saito
1991
WWF UK Rampage: London, England
– Jim Neidhart defeated The Warlord
– Greg Valentine defeated Haku
– Ted DiBiase defeated Kerry Von Erich via countout
– The Rockers defeated The Orient Express
– Jimmy Snuka defeated The Barbarian
– Davey Boy Smith defeated The Bezerker
– Earthquake defeated Jake Roberts via countout
– WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Sgt. Slaughter
1994
Atlanta, Georgia:
– Ric Flair defeated Ricky Steamboat to win back the WCW World Title (title was held up)
2001
– Steve Corino defeated Mike Rapada to win the NWA title
2004
Chicago, Illinois:
– Colt Cabana & CM Punk defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe to win the Ring Of Honor Tag Team Titles
2005
TNA Lockdown: Orlando, Florida:
– 3 Live Kru (Konnan and Ron Killings) defeated David Young and Lex Lovett and The Naturals (Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens) (with Chris Candido)
– Apolo and Sonny Siaki defeated Chris Candido and Lance Hoyt in a Six Sides of Steel Cage match
– Dustin Rhodes defeated Bobby Roode (with A-1 and Coach D’Amore)
– Shocker defeated Chris Sabin, Michael Shane (with Trinity) and Sonjay Dutt1 ina Four Man Xscape match
– Jeff Hardy defeated Raven in a Six Sides of Steel Tables match
– America’s Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm) defeated Team Canada (Eric Young and Petey Williams) (with A-1) in a Six Sides of Steel Strap match for the NWA World Tag Team Championship
– Christopher Daniels defeated Elix Skipper to retain the TNA X Division Championship
– Team Nash (B.G. James, Diamond Dallas Page and Sean Waltman) defeated Team Jarrett (Jeff Jarrett, Monty Brown and The Outlaw) in a Lethal Lockdown match
– A.J. Styles defeated Abyss to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship match
Submitted by Kyle Litke from the Mid-Hudson Civic Center
Building was full. It wasn’t exactly Madison Square Garden, but the intimacy of the venue was great. Tom Phillips noted WWE’s history in that building in the mid 80s during the show.
– Chris Girard beat Mojo Rawley
Mojo came out acting like a face, but jumped Girard while he was interacting with the fans and got booed. Short, perfectly fine match to get the crowd going. Girard won with a Blockbuster.
– Carmella & Bayley beat Dana Brooke & Peyton Royce
Big pop for Carmella and an even bigger pop for Bayley. Brooke was great here on the outside during the entrances, shouting at the fans and really playing it up. Standard, solid tag match with Bayley getting the win with a Bayley to Belly.
– Manny Andrade beat Tomasso Ciampa
Manny got zero reaction coming out as no one knew him. This was a really good match with some great near falls. The crowd got way into it and was chanting for Manny by the end. Manny got the pin with double knees to the corner.
– Nakamura beat “The Drifter” Elias Samson
Samson came out first and tried to sing a song but it was impossible to hear over the booing from the crowd. Nakamura’s music hit to an enormous pop. Samson kept bailing to the corner to kiss his guitar, which drew an exasperated reaction from Nakamura. Nakamura followed it up by playing air guitar, then tossing the air guitar to the ref. The ref tossed it back to him and he broke it over his knee, which angered Samson. A great example of Nakamura doing things to connect with the crowd regardless of what his first language is. Nakamura got the win with the Kinshasa.
> Intermission
– NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha beat the Revival in a 2/3 falls match
Another really good match. American Alpha took the first fall with Grand Amplitude. The Revival managed to take the second fall by hitting a Shatter Machine while the ref was distracted keeping Jordan out of the ring. The third fall started with Dash and Dawson destroying Gable for an extended period of time, including a great spot with the ref distracted and not seeing Gable tagging in Jordan. Huge heat for that. Jordan finally got the hot tag. Jordan and Gable ended up winning with dual ankle locks, with both Dash and Dawson tapping.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka beat Alexa Bliss by submission
Asuka got a big pop. Alexa got a surprising amount of offense on Asuka. Strange crowd reactions as a big “Let’s Go Asuka, Let’s go Bliss” chant started, with a lot of people chanting for Bliss. Asuka won with the Asuka Lock.
– NXT Champion Samoa Joe beat Finn Balor and Austin Aries in a triple threat
Joe bailed to the outside immediately and spent a few minutes tripping Balor every time he came near the ropes. Really good ending with Balor going up top for the Coup de Grace on Joe. Aries intercepted him, then hit a 450 splash on Joe. He went for the pin, but Joe turned it into a Coquina Clutch. Balor then came off the top with the Coup de Grace on both guys. He hit 1916 on Aries, but Joe threw Balor out of the ring and stole the pin.
Post match, Balor teased coming to Raw (the crowd chanted “See you Monday” and he held up a finger to shush them while winking). He then said he had bad news for Joe, he wasn’t going anywhere and was staying in NXT. He then ended the show with finger guns and “Too Sweet” hand gestures, so take that for what it’s worth.
They traded some cool spots and boston crab submissions. Standard, solid fare from these two.
Good action, especially when RPG Vice were in the ring. Romero’s totally underrated in terms of knowing what to do in order to get a match over. Yoshi-Hashi got the win for his team with a submission over, why yes, Captian New Japan. How did you know?
Much like how Shibata’s been kicking Nagata in the face all these weeks leading to their big match, Nagata returned the favor during this bout. Shibata responded by laying in some ugly sounding kicks. Pretty good match. Shibata scored the win for his team, pinning Nakanishi with the penalty kick.
Shibata kicked Nagata in the face again after the match and put him to sleep. Interestingly, Liger and Kushida brawled into the stands. I thought they were friends? I guess they aren’t anymore.
Fun match that the crowd was hyped for. Sanada looked great in his offense as he was the main focus here, working over Okada. He and Gedo went at it for a bit, but eventually Gedo fell to Sanada’s new waistlock dragon sleeper.
Today, Okada got the red mist instead of the usual green after the match for his troubles.
Crowd was really hot for this match and were all over it. Some high profile moves from Ishii, including a big time superplex to the floor. Crowd ate up the last few minutes. Goto hit the neckbreaker on the knee and Ishii hit the sliding D for a nearfall. Ishii then blasted Evil with a lariat for another nearfall, then got the win after a brainbuster. This was one of the better matches of the weekend, mostly thanks to the awesome crowd though the work was great here as well.
Another good match to cap off the show, about the same par as last nights show. They worked the first ten minutes with no eliminations, then went full force with them. Tanga Roa is the first one eliminated when Makabe punches him as he was jumping off the apron. Makabe gets dumped not too long after that. Honma and Tonga end up on the apron. Fale went for a lariat but hit Tonga, eliminating him. Honma tried to fight back, but was taken out with a grenade by Fale. Tanahashi battled him next and did the skin the cat spot. He went for it a second time but Omega distracted him, allowing Fale to dump him. Elgin immediately eliminated Fale.
The four remaining guys battle it out until Yujiro’s eliminated by a Elgin bomb. Elgin has the upper hand on Omega, but the rest of Bullet Club freely interfere and he’s eliminated after Omega uses his hair spray on Elgin, dumping him to the floor. Last two guys are Yoshitatsu and Omega. They have great chemistry with one another. Yoshitatsu manages to use the hairspray to his advantage, but Omega takes him out with a knee strike and pins him with the One Winged Angel.