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.
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.
January 4th’s edition of WWE Monday Night Raw did what has to be considered a disappointing number given it was the first week since September that they were without any NFL competition.
The show did 3.57 million viewers, even with the advertising of Roman Reigns defending the WWE title against Sheamus with Vince McMahon as referee. Worse, even with no football to blame, the second and third hours dropped from the second strongest first hour since April. The number is lower than what the show had been doing in the summer.
The rating is almost identical to last week when Raw went against the highest rated NFL game of the season, and it’s usually normal to expect a 10 percent increase just based on no NFL competition alone. It is up from the football season average, but given the ratings the first two McMahon appearances drew, it was down from the first and the same as the second without the competition.
Raw was the highest rated show on cable for the night, however, slightly ahead of The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News.
Minneapolis, Minnesota: – George Gordienko beat Dave Levin – Buddy Rogers beat Ben Morgan
1967
Minneapolis, Minnesota: – “Pretty Boy” Larry Hennig & “Handsome” Harley Race regained the AWA world tag team titles from Dick the Bruiser & The Crusher – Killer Kowalski beat Verne Gagne dq – Reggie Parks beat the Alaskan – Jack Lanza beat Big K – Chris Markoff beat Doug Gilbert
1970
Tampa, Florida: – Brass Knuckles Title: Danny Miller defeated Missouri Mauler to win the title – Florida Tag Titles: Cyclon Negro & Jack Brisco defeated Chris Markoff & Bronko Lubich to win the titles – Mr. Saito defeated Bob Orton by dq – Mephisto & Dante drew Sam Steamboat & Thunderbolt Patterson – Bob Roop defeated Aldo Bogni – Bobo Johnson defeated Buddy Colt
1973
Minneapolis, Minnesota: – Ray Stevens & Nick Bockwinkel regained the AWA tag titles from Verne Gagne & Billy Robinson – The Crusher beat Dusty Rhodes dq – Superstar Billy Graham beat Wahoo McDaniel – Ivan Koloff beat Reggie Parks – Bob Bruggers beat Big K dq – Ric Flair beat Johnny Heidman – Jim Brunzell drew Tinker Todd
1975
West Palm Beach, Florida: – NWA Title: Jack Brisco defeated Dory Funk, Jr. by dq – Texas Bullrope Match: Dusty Rhodes defeated The Mongolian Stomper – Jos LeDuc defeated “Cowboy” Bill Watts
1976
Tampa, Florida: – NWA Title: Terry Funk draw Billy Robinson – Texas Tornado Match: Bob Roop & King Curtis defeated Big Bad John & Dusty Rhodes – Florida Tag Titles: Eddie & Mike Graham defeated Karl Von Steiger & Bob Orton, Jr to retain titles – Thunderbolt Patterson defeated Frank Goodish – Rocky Johnson defeated Mike York – Jerry Brisco defeated Killer Kowalski – Dino Bravo defeated Rip Hawk
1977
– Ed Wiskowski drew with Pat O’Conner – Harley Race downed Mitsuo Hata – Central States title match: Bob Slaughter (Sgt. Slaughter) beat Mike George to retain title – NWA World title match: Champion Terry Funk took 2 out of 3 falls from Bulldog Bob Brown to retain title
1983
San Juan, Puerto Rico: – Title Unification Match: Carlos Colon, the WWC world heavyweight title defeated Ric Flair, the NWA Champions. (Title change was not recognized and Flair returned to the United States as NWA champion)
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: – Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan beat Mad Dog Vachon & Jim Brunzell – Hulk Hogan beat Ken Patera dq – Wahoo McDaniel beat Rene Goulet – Rick Martel beat Bobby Duncum – Buck Zumhofe beat Bobby Heenan – Baron Von Raschke beat Tom Lintz
1984
St. Louis, Missouri: – NWA Champion Ric Flair beat King Kong Brody dq – Harley Race beat David Von Erich to win the Missouri State Title – AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Dick the Bruiser & Gene Kiniski (sub Ted DiBiase) – Dory Funk Jr drew Bob Orton Jr – Ron Ritchie beat 666 (sub Buddy Landell) – Tully Blanchard (sub Buck Robley) beat Buzz Tyler – King Cobra & Tiger Mask beat Roger Kirby & Scott Farris
1985
Greensboro, North Carolina: – Magnum T.A. won the 20-man battle royal – NWA Champion Ric Flair beat Harley Race – Lights Out match: Don Kernodle beat Ivan Koloff – NWA Tag Team Champions Dusty Rhodes & Manny Fernandez beat AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors – non title match: Magnum TA beat US Champion Wahoo McDaniel – Tully Blanchard beat Dick Slater – Charlie Brown & Assassin I & Buzz Tyler beat Superstar Billy Graham & Ron Bass & JJ Dillon
Orlando, Florida: – Florida Title: Brian Blair defeated Jesse Barr to win the title – Sweet Brown Sugar defeated Jack Hart – “Pistol” Pez Whatley defeated Mike Golden – PYT defeated Pez Whatley & Scott McGhee – Texas Tornado Match: Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts defeated Jim Neidhart & Krusher Kruschev – Lumberjack Match: Dutch Mantell defeated The Saint
1987
Tampa, Florida: – Southern Title: Bad News Allen defeated Lex Luger to win the title – Kendall Windham & Vic Steamboat defeated The Sheepherders – Ron Simmons defeated Ed “The Bull” Gantner dq – Stan Lane & Dewey Forte defeated Sean Royal & Chris Champion dq
1992
Miami, Florida: – Kerry Von Erich defeated Hercules – WWF Intercontinental Champion Bret Hart defeated the Mountie – IRS defeated the Big Bossman – Hulk Hogan defeated Ric Flair via countout
2003
Phoenix, Arizona: – Lance Storm & William Regal defeated WWE Raw Tag Team Champions Booker T & Goldust to win the tag team titles
2008
Orlando, Florida: – TNA Tag Team champions AJ Styles & Tomko defeated Samoa Joe & Kevin Nash to retain the titles – TNA champion Kurt Angle defeated Christian Cage to retain the title
Smackdown spoilers from tonight in Laredo for the first show on the USA Network Thursday night:
The announcing team was Mauro Ranallo, Jerry Lawler and Byron Saxton.
John Cena came out and issued a challenge to Alberto Del Rio for the U.S. title, coming off the finish of their Raw match last week. Del Rio refused to give Cena another title match.
Kalisto pinned Del Rio in a non-title match. Said to be really good.
The Miz had a Miz TV segment. The New Day came out and they started complaining about Chris Jericho. Dolph Ziggler then came out and was backed up by Goldust, R-Truth and Neville.
This led to an eight-man tag where Ziggler & Goldust & R-Truth & Neville beat The New Day & Miz.
Charlotte beat Becky Lynch to retain the Divas title due to outside help from her father.
Dean Ambrose went to a double count out to retain the IC title in a match with Kevin Owens.
Nearly one year after their debut on Destination America, TNA Impact Wrestling debuts on Pop TV and is live from Bethlehem, PA, Tuesday night. The show is rumored to feature some possible returns of major stars and debuts of new talent. Already announced for tonight is the conclusion of the World Title Series with Lashley taking on Ethan Carter III and Matt Hardy vs. Eric Young in the semifinals. The winners will meet in the finals to crown a new TNA World Champion.
Also, Bobby Roode defends his King Of The Mountain Title and The Beautiful People take on The Dollhouse. Plus, the character behind the “Miracle” vignettes should be revealed tonight.
All this and more on Tonight’s TNA Impact debut on Pop TV at 9pm.
*****
We start off with a good video package, and a quick preview of the World Title Series and the four participants in the semi-finals.
Impact’s Pop TV debut features a new opening video package and theme song written and performed by Billy Corgan and The Smashing Pumpkins. Of course, Corgan isn’t just a rock star, but is also TNA’s Senior Producer of Creative and Talent Development. It’s a pretty sweet beat and nice opening.
Josh Matthews and The Pope welcome us to the show. They’re ringside tonight and not at Impact Central. Josh calls Pope the most entertaining color commentator.
Dixie Carter in the ring. She said “they chose” Pop TV for many reasons and gets some “Thank You Dixie” chants. She says wrestling is a vital part of pop culture and that a vital part of wrestling is the World belt. Cue the most annoyingly catchy music in wrestling: “Trouble, Trouble, Trouble”. EC3 and Tyrus cut her off. He gets booed but it turns into “EC3” chants. EC3 says he’s not champion because of Dixie. Please don’t let this end with Dixie getting arrested. Matt Hardy comes out. They recap the TNA World Title situation since Bound For Glory. This seems to imply it’s going to be Hardy vs. EC3 in the finals. Eric Young jumps Hardy and gets tripled teamed by Young, EC3 and Tyrus. Lashley finally hits the ring for the save. Hardy hits a sick dive off the top rope taking out EC3, Tyrus and Lashley.
– During the commercial, Young beats down Hardy.
TNA World Title Tourney Semifinal Match 1: EC3 vs. Lashley
Josh runs down all the hashtags and Twitter handles we should follow. Lashley and EC3 go back and forth. Lashley hits his spear but EC3 rolls to the outside. Dueling chants for EC3 and Lashley. Tyrus slams Lashley on the outside. Pope is very mad that Tyrus interfered and is sick of it. Josh plugs Schitt’s Creek starring Eugene Levy. It’s a pretty good show. Tyrus distracts Lashley and EC3 rolls him up for the win. EC3 advances to the finals.
– Backstage, Kurt Angle is walking to the ring.
– Bobby Roode walks into the arena earlier in the day. He talks about his King of the Mountain match and that the challenge is open to anyone.
Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle walks to the ring. Angle gets emotional from the crowd response. Kurt mentions that he is retiring. The crowd chants, “One More Match.” Kurt names guys he’s had great matches with like Rock, Austin, HHH, Undertaker and AJ Styles (which gets the biggest pop out of all the names). Kurt announces a farewell tour and wonders whom he should face. He names Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards. He handpicked his opponent for next week’s Farewell Tour. Is the whole Tour happening in one night? His opponent is going be Drew Galloway who comes out. Drew is honored that Kurt chose him.
They get interrupted by Jesse Godderz. He takes a selfie (I think I’ve seen that before). Eli Drake interrupts. Eli says that Jesse is really popular with 13-year-old girls and calls Angle a dinosaur. They’re both mad that Angle didn’t mention them as part of the future. This all leads to a Kurt and Drew brawl with Jesse and Eli.
– Backstage, Young cuts a promo. He says Hardy isn’t showing up and wants him counted out. Hardy comes out.
TNA World Title Tourney Semifinal Match 2: Matt Hardy vs. Eric Young
They brawl on the outside. Hardy is currently showing no signs of injury from earlier in the night. Eric Young is in control of the early part of the match. Hardy gains the advantage. Eric Young hits the piledriver on the outside of the exposed floor. There’s a light “holy shit” chant. Jeff comes out to check on Matt but EY takes out Jeff with a sliding dropkick. Matt scores with the twist of fate out of nowhere for the win. The final match will be Matt Hardy vs. EC3 (although they kind of gave that away in the opening segment).
– Backstage, somebody in a hoodie is shown walking but his face isn’t visable. Josh wonders who it could be.
– Back from commercial, EY is mad that he lost the semifinal.
– EC3 approaches Jeff and says that Matt has lived in Jeff’s shadow. Jeff denies that Matt lived in his shadow.
– Roode comes out for his KOTM match. Bram accepts the open challenge. Bram says that “2006” will be his year.
King Of The Mountain Champion Bobby Roode vs. Bram
Bram dominates Roode, and gets a two count with a roll up holding the tights. Josh says Bobby has promised to have a great “2015″. Does anyone in TNA know what year it is? Roode hits the Roode bomb and gets the win, retaining the title. They then accidentally played the start of Beer Money’s music, giving away the upcoming surprise.
EY hits the ring and attacks Roode. Bram and EY double-team Roode which leads to James Storm making his return to TNA who came through the crowd for the save. Pope and Josh wonder if he works for TNA. Turns out the rumors about his return are true. Storm is upset that TNA gave him the “Biggest Disappointment” Slammy…er… Impact Award. Storm says that he and Roode drank a lot of beer and made a lot of money together. They’re teasing a Beer Money reunion. Storm offers Roode a beer. Crowd encourages him to drink the beer. It’s a really big deal to Josh. They have a beer together and the crowd loves it.
– JB is with the Beautiful People backstage. Angelina is 7 months pregnant, so the Beautiful People get to pick Angelina’s replacement tonight.
– Back from commercial, Beer Money challenges Bram and EY to a match to this Friday’s PPV (which is the first mention of the PPV this whole show.)
The Beautiful People vs. The Dollhouse
Angelina’s replacement is Knockouts Champion Gail Kim. Josh promotes the Knockouts Calendar. Pope claims he bought so many they’re might not be any left. All the Knockouts are in the ring brawling. The crowd is a bit flat. Gail rolls up Jade for the win. The Dollhouse attacks Gail and The Beautiful People after the match. Awesome Kong comes out for the save. The Dollhouse is scared but they don’t leave the ring. Kong turns heel and attacks The Beautiful People! Kong takes out Kim. The Dollhouse and Awesome Kong pose over the fallen body of Gail Kim.
– Josh promos The Miracle vignettes. The Miracle is coming up next.
– Back from commercial, Josh and Pope start talking but they’re cut off.
The lights go out in the arena and the First Lady of Wrestling Maria Kanellis appears on the stage. She says that fans have been praying and hoping for the person who will save wrestling. The crowd pops for that. She introduces “Miracle” Mike Bennett. Maria looks great and Mike’s wearing a sweet looking hat. He calls himself a superhero, a bad mo’fo and “your pro wrestling Jesus.” He cut a really good intense promo and came across like a big star.
– The camera seceretly catches Matt Hardy with his family backstage. He promises to win the title for his family.
TNA World Title Final: Matt Hardy vs. EC3
After the ring intros, Matt and EC3 send Jeff and Tyrus to the back. EC3 has the advantage on Hardy. Pope points out that Matt Hardy and EC3 is how the title controversy began. Hardy goes for the Side Effect on the ring steps but they botched the spot bad and both fell awkwardly off the steel steps. The crowd is solidly behind Matt. Hardy hits a series of Side Effects but still can’t put EC3 away. EC3 hits two TKOs in a row. Pope says they’re having a “Match of The Year” candidate. They both kick out of each other’s finishers. EC3 hits the One Percenter off the tope rope for the win! EC3 is the new TNA World Champion.
Josh points out that EC3 won the title without the help of Tyrus.
Hardy walks pass his wife and child on the ramp. They stop on top of the stage. Matt’s wife seemed to scream something in his ear. Hardy walks off. She then looks back and the camera zoomed in on her face. The show ends with EC3 posing with the world title.
Final Thoughts:
Not a bad debut for Impact on Pop TV tonight but also nothing really spectacular of note. “Miracle” Mike Bennett and Maria’s debut was done well. The main event was a good match that the crowd was into. Also, the new theme song is kind of fun.
