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After a two-week break, Josh Nason’s Punch-Out rages back with a special episode featuring MMA Fighting’s Marc Raimondi!
In their 30+ minute talk, Marc and Nason hit on a variety of news and notes:
– The Vitor Belfort news story, the major problems with it, why mainstream sports media isn’t covering it, and the implications for the future
– What Josh and Marc felt went wrong and what went right at Saturday’s Bellator Dynamite show
– A quick-hit look at UFC Japan, the stakes for Josh Barnett and Roy Nelson with a win or loss, Marc’s dark horse pic for the fight to watch on the show, and thoughts on Gegard Mousasi vs. Uriah Hall
You also get Josh’s Opening Round on why ESPN doesn’t care about MMA, his beer and TV picks of the week, his rundown of other MMA news, and more.
UFC Fight Night: Barnett vs. Nelson airs live from Saitama Japan:
Main Card on Fox Sports 1 at 10:00 p.m. ET Josh Barnett (239) vs. Roy Nelson (261) in the five round main event Gegard Mousasi (186) vs. Uriah Hall (186) Kyoji Horiguchi (126) vs. Chico Camus (126) Takeya Mizugaki (136) vs. George Roop (135) Katsunori Kikuno (145) vs. Diego Brandao (146) Mizuto Hirota (146) vs. Teruto Ishihara (146)
Prelims on Fox Sports 2 at 8:00 p.m. ET: Keita Nakamura (170) vs. Li Jingliang (171) Nick Hein (155) vs. Yusuke Kasuya (156) Naoyuki Kotani (156) vs. Kajan Johnson (156) Shinsho Anzai (170) vs. Roger Zapata (171)
No Fight Pass Prelim due to the cancellation of Kid Yamamoto vs. Matt Hobar bumping up Kikuno vs. Brandao to the main card and Anzai vs. Zapata to Fox Sports 2.
While the main card is fun on paper, this feels like a noticeable step from the other recent Japan cards, even last year’s “Fight Pass Mania.” The lack of fighters like Mark Hunt, Takanori Gomi, Yoshihiro Akiyama, and now Kid Yamamoto make it feel like less of a special event.
New Japan Destruction in Kobe airs live tonight at 3:00 a.m. ET on New Japan World Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu vs. Jay White & David Finlay Yuji Nagata & Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Captain New Japan & Juice Robinson Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma & Ryusuke Taguchi & Mascara Dorada vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi & Rocky Romero & Baretta Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Matt Sydal vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows & Kenny Omega Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tetsuya Naito Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. A.J. Styles & Tama Tonga & Cody Hall Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish vs. Alex Shelley & Kushida for IWGP jr. tag titles Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale for the Tokyo Dome title sho Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the IC title
Sunday has WWE in Syracuse, NY (John Cena vs. Seth Rollins; Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens) and Erie PA (Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt; Randy Orton vs. Sheamus).
Shooto Brazil airs live on UFC Fight Pass Sunday night at 6 p.m. Eastern time
Raw will be live from Buffalo on Monday night. Brock Lesnar has not been advertised for the show even with th MSG special being next week.
Our lead story covers the Sting injury, the Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar Hell in a Cell match and the interesting back story and questions it brings up, lots of long-term looking at where WWE is headed as well as full coverage of the Night of Champions show. We also cover the second season news for Lucha Underground, the Atlantis vs. La Sombra mask vs. mask match, Akira Hokuto’s announcement about her breast cancer, Bellator’s Dynamite show and what went right and wrong, New Japan’s Destruction in Okayama, ROH’s All-Star Extravaganza, the Pro Wrestling NOAH angle where they tease the end of the company, USADA responds to Thomas Hauser, Josh Gross’ story on the Vitor Belfort drug test and why it’s not nearly as simple as people are making it out to be, AAA’s next major show and record low ratings.
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The Wrestling Observer ranges weekly from 35,000 to 50,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA internationally. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sties and has the most complete look at the pro wrestling and MMA business anywhere, plus history pieces available nowhere else
Our lead story covers the WWE weekend, notably the Sting injury and Undertaker-Lesnar announcement.
We go through the injury, including Sting’s interview comments after the fact and his description of Seth Rollins and the injury, as well as his current thoughts on if he will wrestle again. We also talk about what he does and doesn’t know, what he’s said publicly about the injury, why the match wasn’t stopped, and what we can learn from it.
We also look at how the Lesnar vs. Undertaker Hell in a Cell match changes WrestleMania, and look at those potential changes. We look at the different directions they can go with the key talent for next year’s show. We also look at the rest of Hell in a Cell as far as what is on the books and what name isn’t listed yet in the top matches. We look at the problem in the arena at the end of Night of Champions.
We’ve got complete Night of Champions coverage, with records, business, poll results, match-by-match coverage and star ratings.
If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can get one free classic issue of your choice sent to you today. With a 40 issue subscription, you can get two free classic issues sent to you today.
New subscribers ordering 24 or 40 issues have to let us know what major stories of the past 11 years you are most interested in and we’ll send the issue with the best coverage of that story. We’ve got coverage of every major PPV event and world wide spectacular, every major star switching promotions, histories of companies like FMW, Rings and New Japan, retirement and obit issues of every major star who fits into those descriptions over the past 11 years, as well as our biggest issue every year, the annual awards issue, and our most controversial issue of every year, the Hall of Fame issue.
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Saturday Daily Update
— Hulk Hogan dodged a bullet yesterday as Judge Pamela Campbell, who’s presiding over his lawsuit against Gawker, denied a third party motion from the Associated Press and other news organizations to unseal the contents of his FBI case file. Gawker had successfully sued the FBI for the release of the case file, but Judge Campbell immediately sealed it all when they filed everything in the Hogan case. The motion had been filed just a day earlier and the ruling wasn’t a surprise given Cambell’s history in the case.
— WWE and 2K Sports have released a trailer for the overhauled My Career mode in WWE 2K16. My Career will only be available in the Playstation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game, which coms out on October 27th and available for pre-order now.
— Two Cold Scorpio has been added to tomorrow LuchaTo card in Whitby, Ontario.
— Preston City Wrestling results for last night from Keith Harris: Bubblegum retained the PCW Cruiserweight title over Xander Cooper, Dean Allmark & Ashton Smith. Ashton growing in confidence. Dean and Bubblegum great as usual. Iestyn Rees pinned Charlie “Good News” Garrett with a powerbomb. T-Bone pinned Dave Rayne with a suplex dropped into a Tombstone piledriver. Quick squash. El Ligero pinned Tomasso Ciampa with a tornado DDT. Sha Samuels choked out Lionheart with a scarf in a no-DQ match. Joey Hayes & Martin Kirby beat The Wards. Joey stole the pin. Drew Galloway pinned Noam Dar after an eye poke and two Tornado DDTs. Wild brawl all over the club before the bell rung. Pull apart brawl after the match. PCW Heavyweight Champion Dave Mastiff pinned Bobby Lashley clean with a cannonball in the corner. After the match, Team Single and Lashley beat down Mastiff. Martin Kirby attempted to cash in his Money In The Bank briefcase, but was stopped by Joey Hayes. In the end, Kirby, Hayes & Mastiff ran off the heels. Show wasn’t sold out, unlike many PCW events. Crowd laughed when Joanna Rose called Lashly a former TNA champio
— The Blu-Ray version of WWE’s “Owen: Hart of Gold” Owen Hart DVD set is now available for pre-order, joining the DVD aftr it had been listed on its own for a week or so. The most recent release is SummerSlam 2015, which came out on Tuesday on DVD and Blu-Ray. The next archival/specialized release is Sting: Into the Light, which comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray on October 13th. They also have a special collectible “coffin edition” of “Undertaker: The Streak” coming out on November 17th.
WWE World Champion Seth Rollins joined the Chad Dukes Wrestling Show this week to discuss “Night of Champions,” facing both Sting and John Cena in one night, his CrossFit regimen, winning the WWE Championship, reconnecting with The Shield and more.
On working CrossFit into his workout:
“I mean it’s the one thing that I do really that nobody else does and I’m doing a lot of things in the ring that nobody else does,so for me I feel like those two things kind of go hand in hand. I couldn’t do traditional bodybuilding and keep this schedule, it just wouldn’t work for me, I don’t think it works really for our generation of guys. More and more you’re seeing guys transfer over into functional fitness as opposed to training for aesthetics. The side effect of training functionally with high intensity, which is what CrossFit is that you also happen to look pretty decent as well. For me it serves two purposes, I get the job done in the ring, I look the part, and I stay super healthy all the time.”
On The Shield:
“We get to fire up the band in other incarnations. We always laugh about it now when we do these tag matches and six mans and I’m on the other side of the ring and they’re like partnered up with Randy Orton or something like that. It’s just funny because you can put the components in all the different places, but it’s still comes out gold every time. The two of those guys, myself, I feel like paved the way for a different kind of work ethic than what we had been seeing in WWE over the past five years, maybe before that. That’s something I know the three of us are real proud of and every time we go out there we’re going out there to have the best match and steal the show weather working against each other, with each other it doesn’t matter, and that’s just kind of the attitude we came in with and we stuck to our guns this entire time and it’s cool to be able to share that with two other guys. The time we had with The Shield, who knows if it will ever come back around but if it doesn’t no one will ever be able to take that run away from us either.”
On Joey Mercury:
“Joey is responsible for first of all getting me signed in WWE, second of all he was responsible for getting Ambrose signed, he played a huge hand in training Roman Reigns from the ground up. You look at those three things but it’s more than that, I mean Joey as a performer is one of the best ever as far as just in the ring, the smoothness with which he moves inside the ring is pretty unparalleled and his mind for the industry is really incredible. He’s a guy that I love to death, someone I consider a mentor, a brother, and honestly the WWE you see today wouldn’t exist without him. He’s such a huge cog in the machine in the back. he’s responsible for helping us out, putting matches together, booking the live events, he’s got a lot on his plate, and he does an incredible job.”
Welcome to WrestlingObserver.com’s live coverage of UFC Fight Night 75: Barnett vs. Nelson from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The event is headlined by former UFC Heavyweight Champion Josh Barnett returning from a long layoff to take on Roy Nelson. In the co-main event slot, it will be Gegard Mousasi taking on Uriah Hall in middleweight action. The action kicks off with preliminary card fights at 8 PM eastern time on FOX Sports 2. The action moves over to FOX Sports 1 at 10 PM eastern time for the main card. Enjoy the fights all.
First round: Zapata tried a kick to the head. Anzai working for a takedown. Now throwing punches as he borke. He went for another takedown. Anzai again working for a takedown. Anzai got him down. Anzai keeping him down but doing no damage. Anzai tried a takedown, Zapata held the cage to block but the ref missed it. Anzai again working for a takedown. Anzai 10-9.
Second round: Zapata kicked the body. Zapata with punches but Anzai again working for a takedown. Anzai landed a punch, Zapata landed several back and Anzai took him down but Zapata right back up. Anzai took him down again even with Zapata grabbing the cage. Anzai got his back now. Zapata got back up and trying for a takedown himself. Anzai 20-18.
Third round: Anzai with a nice right. They called a time out. Zapata hurt his finger. He didn’t want the doctor to look at it. You’re not supposed to stop the fight due to an injury for a time out. The ref realized it and he had to stop the fight since he can’t call a time out.
LIGHTWEIGHTS- NAOYUKI KOTANI VS. KAJAN JOHNSON
First round: Johnson landed a right. Johnson landed a left. High kick by Johnson. Johnson hurt him with a right and a high kick. Kotani went for a takedown but couldn’t get it. Spin kick by Johnson. Johnson 10-9.
Second round: Kotani with a body kick. Body kick by Johnson. Johnson dropped him with a right. Johnson landing punches from the top. He’s landing several good shots from the top. Kotani got back to his feet. Crowd popped for that. Knee by Johnson dropped Kotani. Johnson on top landing punches and elbows. Kotani in real trouble. Kotani back up. Johnson staggered him again. Johnson, I’d go 10-8, because he had him in trouble twice, so 20-17.
Third round: Left by Johnson. Kotani took him down. Johnson went for the leg from the bottom. Kotani on top but doing no damage. Kotani with punches and working for a leglock but Johnson out of it. Kotani shooting for a takedown but didn’t get it. Hard right by Johnson at the horn. Kotani’s round, but Johnson should win 29-27.
Scores: Johnson 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27. No 10-8s in round two.
Johnson said that he wanted to fight later this year on the South Korea debut.
LIGHTWEIGHTS- NICK HEIN VS. YUSUKE KASUYA
First round: Kasuya threw him down and landed a high kick when Hein got up. Hein kneed him hard in the groin. Kasuya is hurt. Kazuya is laying on his back while it was stopped. He looks really hurt. Kasuya finally got up after three plus minutes. Hein only got a warning. Left by Hein. High kick by Kasuya. Hein landing punches. Hard left by Kasuya. Kasuya shot for a takedown but didn’t get it. Close round, Hein 10-9.
Second round: Both throwing punches. Left by Hein. Hein landed another left. Kasuya with a left and a high kick. Left by Hein. Right by Hein. Kasuya is the one moving forward by Hein is landing more. Hein 20-18.
Third round: Left by Hein. Right by Kasuya. Left and right by Hein. Hein with a low kick. Takedown by Kasuya and Hein reversed and got back up. Hein got his eye poked. Rigth by Hein but a body kick by Kasuya. Hein 30-27 but I actually could see a home town decision with a close first and third round.
Scores: 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 for Hein
WELTERWEIGHTS- KEITA NAKAMURA VS. LI JINGLIANG
First round: Both throwing punches. Nakamura dropped him with a left. Jingliang working for a triangle from the bottom. Nakamura landing hammer fists on the ground. Totally boring round. If we weren’t in Japan people would be booing like crazy. A stand-up was ordered. Nakamura landed a right and a knee. Jingliang back with punches. Nakamura 10-9.
Second round: Both throwing. Left by Jingliang. Hard right by Jingliang. Jingliang landing more. Jingliang landing a lot more. Nakamura just standing there. Right by Jingliang. Nakamura with a bloody nose. Jingliang hurting himn with punches and dropped him. Jigliant working to finish him. Jingliang with punches on the ground. Trading punches. Jingliang’s round so 19-19 going into the third.
Third round: Jingliang still landing. Nakamura went for a takedown and not even close. Left by Nakamura. Jingliang took him down. Nakamura working for a takedown and didn’t get it. Nakamura got his back. Crowd going nuts and finished him with a choke. Great come from behind win for Nakamura.
MAIN CARD (FOX SPORTS 1- 10 PM ET/7 PM PT):
UFC: ROAD TO JAPAN FEATHERWEIGHT FINALS- MIZUTO HIROTA VS. TERUTO ISHIHARA
First round: This is the final of the Road to UFC Japan tournament on Japanese television. Winner gets a six figure contract, which doesn’t really mean that much these days. Hard body kick by Ishihara which was a cheap shot since he went to shake hands it seemed. Left by Ishihara. Ishihara landed low kicks. Good left by Ishihara. Left by Ishihara. High kick by Hirota. Right by Hirota. Hirota has him pinned against the fence. Good left by Ishihara. Left by Hirota. Nice right by Hirota. Hard left by Ishihara. Ishihara dropped him at the end of the round. 10-9 Ishihara.
Second round: Ishihara with a left. Now low kicks by Ishihara. Ishihara dropped him with a left. Good left by Ishihara. Hirota landing. Hirota connected with a right. Left by Ishihara. Hirota took him down. Ishihara back up with no damage. Spinning punch to the stomach by Ishihara. Left by Ishihara. Hirota landed several punches. This is the best fight so far tonight. Both landing punches now. Ishihara 20-18.
Third round: Ishihara dropped him again with a left. Knee by Hirota. Hirota landing punches now. Hirota hurt him with a right. Knee by Hirota. Punches by Hirota and took him down. Hirota has his back. Ishihara back up. Hirota took him down but Ishihara back up. Knee by Hirota. Both throwing and Hirota landed a solid punch. Hirota is working for a takedown. He gave it up. Crowd really hot right now as both are swinging. Hirota’s round, 29-28 for Ishihara.
FEATHERWEIGHTS- KATSUNORI KIKUNO VS. DIEGO BRANDAO
First round: Brandao dropped him with a right and pounding on him. He threw him down and a few more punches and it was over. :28
BANTAMWEIGHTS- TAKEYA MIZUGAKI VS. GEORGE ROOP
First round: Both trading punches. Mizugaki with a knee from close range. Body shot and right cross. Roop back with punches. Both trading punches. Mizugaki with a right. Mizugaki starting to land. Good round. 10-9 Mizugaki.
Second round: Mizugaki landing two solid punches. Roop pressing him against the fence. Roop with knees. Mizugaki with punches and a knee and Roop pushed him against the fence. Roop bleeding from the nose. 20-18 Mizugaki.
Third round: Roop landed a right. Roop took him down but Mizugaki immediately back to his feet. Mizugaki landed a left. Knee by Mizugaki. Close round. Mizugaki 29-28.
Scores: All three have it 29-28 for Mizugaki.
They have just announced that both Hirota and Ishihara have gotten six figure contracts so they are co-winners of the Road to Japan.
FLYWEIGHTS- KYOJI HORIGUCHI VS. CHICO CAMUS
First round: Body kick by Horiguchi. Punches and a kick by Horiguchi. Camus got behind him on a missed spin kick. Body kick by Horiguchi. Horiguchi with a body kick. Horiguchi 10-9.
Second round: Horiguchi came out fast landing a lot of punches and tried to get his back but Camus out of trouble. Camus cut under the right eye. Horiguchi continues to land. Another flurry by Horiguchi. Both landing and a body kick by Horiguchi. Camus landed and Horiguchi bleeding from the nose. Right by Horiguchi. Horiguchi 20-18.
Third round: Body kick by Horiguchi. Horiguchi landed a series of punches. Horiguchi got his back standing for a second. Body kick by Horiguchi. Knee by Horiguchi. Body kick by Horiguchi. Head kick by Horiguchi Horiguchi trying to finish but Camus back with several punches that landed. 30-27 Horiguchi
Scores: All three have it 30-27 for Horiguchi.
MIDDLEWEIGHTS- GEGARD MOUSASI VS. URIAH HALL
First round: Takedown by Mousasi. Crowd is into Mousasi. Mousasi working from the top. He’s working for an arm triangle. He’s got full mount. Hall trying or a leglock but has nothing. Mousasi moved to side control. Hall has a Kimura. Mousasi pulled out of it. Mousasi has his back and throwing punches. Mousasi working for a choke but doesn’t have it. Crowd liked this round. 10-9 Mousasi.
Second round: Great spin kick landed right to the face on Mousasi and a hard knee. He’s landing punches and Mousasi is in a lot of trouble. Hall landing punches and Mousasi is in a lot of trouble. Hall with a ton of punches and it was stopped. Big upset. Crowd going nuts.
HEAVYWEIGHTS- JOSH BARNETT VS. ROY NELSON
First round: Barnett got a big pop. Barnett landed a kick. Nelson took Barnett down. Ref Steve Perceval ordered a standup. Barnett with a knee. Barnett with more knees. Nelson landed to the body. Anohter knee by Barnett. Nelson didn’t get a takedown. Barnett landing to the body. Barnet landing from the clinch. Nelson got a second takedown. Nelson landed a few punches from the top. 10-9 Nelson.
Second round: Nelson landed the right. Nelson started to land. Low kick by Barnett but two uppercuts by Nelson. Barnett landed a right and an uppercut. Both traded punches. Knee by Barnett. Barnett landing big punches and a knee. Barnett landed several punches and a knee. Elbows by Barnett. Barnett with several knees. Hard knee by Barnett. Uppercut and knees by Barnett. Elbow and knee by Barnett. Great head kick by Nelson. Barnett back with punches. More punches by Barnett. Knees and uppercuts by Barnett. Barnett stomping on his foot. Barnett’s round 19-19.
Round three: Uppercut by Barnett. Nelson trying for a bodylock takedown. Nelson throwing knees to the thigh. Ref ordered a break. Barnett moved in and landed but both ended up by the fence. Barnett with uppercuts,. Barnett with knees. Barnett landing. Nelson landed and trying for a takedown and Barnett defending it. Nelson tried for a takedown but Barnett blocked it. The ref broke them up again. Body kick and knee by Barnett, Nelson with a body shot. Very close round. Barnett 29-28.
Round four: Elbow by Barnett. Knees by Barnett and a punch. Nelson got him down but Barnett right up. Elbow by Barnett. Knee and punches by Barnett. Barnett with a lot of punches, knees and elbows. Nelson seems in trouble. Nelson is taking them. Hard elbow by Barnett. Knee by Barnett. Hard elbow by Barnett. Elbow and backfist by Nelson with a takedown and Nelson has his back. Barnett back up. Another break called. Barnett landing punches and knees. These two aer exhausted. Knee to the body by Barnett. Barnett 39-37.
Fifth round: Barnett with spinning back kick. Body kick by Nelson. Barnett moved and landed more punches. Knee by Barnett. Barnett landing all kinds of punches. Elbow by Barnett. Knee by Barnett. Elbow by Barnett. Elbow by Nelson. Knee by Barnett. Taekdown by Nelson. Nelson punching the body. Barnett back up. Uppercut by Barnett. The ref ordered a break. Nelson with a body shot and punch. Barnett kicked the body. Nelson landed punches. Barnett with a body kick. Very close round. Nelson’s round so I’ve got 48-47 Barnett. Could go the other way easily.
Scores: 48-47, 48-47 and 50-45 Barnett.
Barnett said it proves pro wrestling is strong. He said his clinch work wasn’t good enough, nothing he did was good enough but it was a good staring point. Barnett did his interview in Japanese. He said he loves this country. He called Nelson over. He put over Roy Nelson. He said Roy fights like a warrior and he gave Roy everything he had and Roy took it.
This past week saw more noteworthy news out of the cage than in it, lowlighted by the revelation that the UFC may have been a little less than aggressive when investigating Vitor Belfort’s testosterone levels prior to his light heavyweight title fight against Jon Jones at UFC 152 two years ago, as well as the continued fallout from the Nevada Athletic Commission’s 5-year ban of Nick Diaz just over a week ago.
While the MMA faithful are bothered by what’s going on, you don’t feel like these wrongs and issues are being addressed by those in power. Why? Because the most powerful sports media entity in the world — ESPN — frankly doesn’t give a damn about MMA.
With similar scandals involving the NFL or Major League Baseball (like anything with the word ‘gate’ attached to it), we hear about it non-stop which creates a public outcry to get resolution. As of Saturday morning, we still haven’t heard anything from the UFC on the Belfort situation.
Why haven’t we? Because they don’t feel the need to answer the call of MMA media that doesn’t collectively carry the stroke that ESPN does. Because when ESPN makes something important, especially a scandal, and when sponsors that are indirectly involved to a scandal feel the heat, the public gets the answers they both want and need.
And part of that is something that we all know deep down in our hearts: that the business of fighting isn’t the most reputable one in the world. There’s lying and corruption and dollars being made off the back of people making dimes, but that’s how it’s been since long before we were all around. Fighting is a spectacle and while many great people have done their part in covering MMA like a true sport deserves, it’s ESPN that really matters. That’s why Dana White appears on SportsCenter, not MMAFighting.com, to make a big announcement. The casual sports fan matters, not the lot of us excited to see Josh Barnett vs. Roy Nelson on Saturday.
If a potential cover-up doesn’t get ESPN excited, nothing will. Then again, perhaps if Deadspin has published the Josh Gross story in the summer when football season wasn’t in full swing or found a way to tie Vitor Belfort into SpyGate, maybe ESPN then would have taken a look.
– Jack Encarnacao (84-33 | .714) Sherdog Rewind host, The Lapsed Fan podcast co-chair, Steve Austin impersonator – Steve Juon (78-39| .660) AngryMarks founder, MMA Mania writer – John Pollock (75-42 | .633) Fight Network personality, Live Audio Wrestling co-host, The MMA Report host – Mike Sempervive (75-42 | .633) Wrestling Observer Live co-host | Big Audio Nightmare – Front Row Brian (74-43 | .625) MMA newsbreaker, Twitter personality, podcast host – David Bixenspan (73-44 | .616) Figure Four Weekly writer, Observer Daily Update writer, podcast host – Dave Meltzer (70-47 | .589) Wrestling Observer founder & writer, smoke dectector battery expert – Mike Sawyer (69-48 | .589) Tough Talk MMA, 2014 picks panel champion – Josh Nason (68-49 | .571) Wrestling Observer digital media and content guy, WON Twitter enabler
*****
Josh Barnett (33-7) vs. Roy Nelson (20-11) Heavyweights
I wish that Barnett fought more often, but as I mentioned on this week’s JNPO, he’s got so many outside interests that fighting is just one part of the Wheel O’Barnett. This bout makes it into ‘Interesting Fight’ territory given the location and opponent. Barnett last laced ‘em up in December 2013 where he lost in 60 seconds to Travis Browne’s elbow, snapping a two-fight win streak. I doubt he’ll ever get another crack at the UFC heavyweight title, but in the current landscape of the division, he could get a shot at UFC 200 — it’s that tumultuous.
The 39-year-old Nelson has really hit the career skids, dropping four of his last five. Three of those losses were decisions, and there’s no doubting his ability to take punishment. However, there is a lot of doubt in his ability to get a ‘W’ against anyone of note.
Gegard Mousasi (37-5-2) vs. Uriah Hall (11-5) Middleweights
This is an interesting fight as Hall replaces the injured Roan Carneiro. After a listless defeat to Jacare Souza a year ago, the emotionally listless Mousasi has back-to-back victories over Dan Henderson and Costas Phillipou. If he can pick up another two or three wins, he should find himself in line for a title shot at this time next year. Sometimes listless, sometimes violent, but always head scratching to watch, Hall is coming off a first round destruction of Oluwale Bamgbose. If there was ever a time for Hall to unleash the potential, it’s tonight.
The 25-year-old Horiguchi got a title shot against Demetrious Johnson way too soon in his career and managed to last nearly 25 minutes before submitting with just one second remaining in the fight. That loss snapped a nine-fight win streak and a 4-0 mark in the Octagon. The always game Camus is a tough fight, but is just 2-3-0-1 since 2013. He’s coming off a close decision loss to Henry Cejudo in June.
Takeya Mizugaki (20-9-2) vs. George Roop (15-11-1) Bantamweights
The 33-year-old Roop has been on the shelf for more than a year, but he wasn’t lighting the world on fire before that, going 3-2 in his return to bantamweight. His last three defeats have all come the way of T/KO, so he’s showing an increased propensity for seeing the lights at the end of the fight. After a nice five fight win streak, the 31-year-old Mizugaki has suffered back to back defeats at the hands of Dominick Cruz and Aljamain Sterling.
Katsunori Kikuno (23-7-2) vs. Diego Brandao (19-10) Featherweights
The 33-year-old Kikuno is 2-2 in the UFC, and has been knocked out in the first round in both of his defeats. The 28-year-old Brandao’s career hasn’t taken off like many thought following his TUF 14 season victory. He’s 5-3 in the Octagon and has lost two of his last three. He is coming off a first round TKO (doctor’s stoppage) win over Jimy Hettes in April, so maybe there’s hope for him yet. His last KO win came in 2011, so I think Kikuno is safe…for now.
Tonight’s matches are from November 8, 2014 in the Bodymaker Colosseum from the Power Struggle PPV.
The first match to air was the NEVER championship match with champion Tomohiro Ishii taking on Hirooki Goto. This was an excellent match live as they just beat the crap out of each other for about 17 minutes and the crowd were into this ass kicking the entire time. Some people don’t like the brutality, and I can see why; during commentary Ranallo specifically mentioned the Frye/Takayama comparisons in this bout, and neither match is for the weak of heart. But it was an amazing bout to witness live. This was clipped due to time constraints, but the highlights were great. Watch this on New Japan World…if you dare.
Fun fact: the NEVER title is actually an acronym for “New Blood”, “Evolution”, “Valiantly”, “Eternal”, and “Radical”. Okay! It’s also a openweight title that Makabe thinks Ishii is a joke and will punch him out. Ishii says that he’ll show him the true style of pro wrestling. Apparently a year later they’re still feuding over this title. The more things change, the more they stay the same…
Next up we have a tag team match pitting the two WrestleKingdom 9 participants in a tag match as Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi take on Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi. This was a good, solid tag team match, but nothing that would stand out in the grand scheme of things. This was pretty much a build towards WrestleKingdom since they’re the two headliners. Ibushi pinned Yoshi-Hashi after a phoenix splash. Tanahashi and Okada had a staredown after the match.
Nakamura is interviewed about his match against Katsuyori Shibata, who headlines tonight’s card. He felt like he had to get him back after Shibata beat him during the G1. He forgot what it was like to fight him. His goal was to try and fight against his strengths, as his Tokyo Dome aspirations would crumble without coming up with some plan to retain his title.
The match aired. I gave this ***¾ when reviewing it for Voices of Wrestling last year. Really, really good match, but not to that level of being a stupendous match or a match of the year. They had a good back and forth match. There were stiff shots, but not like you’d see in a normal Shibata match, and it was nothing like the NEVER title match where they just destroyed one another forever. They went seventeen minutes here and had a good main event by New Japan standards. I’m kind of surprised they didn’t protect Shibata’s GTS more. That looks like a move that has to finish an opponent, especially with someone known as being stiff like Shibata. Nakamura kicked out of that, blocked a penalty kick attempt, and fired off two boma yes for the win.
Kota Ibushi immediately runs in once Nakamura starts cutting a victory promo and gives him a snap German suplex. I never thought that was a suplex that could be snapped. He gets a mic and says he wants to be the one to boil his excitement. Nakamura gets up, and after asking the crowd what they think, Nakamura says of course and says yeaoh.
Backstage, he says the Shibata rivalry is over- it started in Osaka, and ended there as well. Nakamura says Shibata might be looking for change, but he isn’t interested in change. He says Ibushi is crazy, and it’ll be a crazy match.
Looking back, Nakamura says he had no plans entering the G1. But for his matches in November, he had to adapt, or something similar to adapting. When it comes to Ibushi running in and giving him a snap German, he just credits it as something crazy Kota Ibushi did to get his energy up, which it did.
Fun episode this week. I wish the opener was shown in full as that was the highlight of Power Struggle last year. But these shows have a format, and the IC title match was the main event, so it all makes sense.
Xavier Woods and Big E def. PTP when Kofi interfered and hit trouble in Paradise on Titus.
Braun Strowman def Damien Sandow in a squash. Sandow has new music
Curtis Axel and El Torito def. Los Matadores. It started as a handicap match as Axel Vs Matadores but then El Torito came out to “Bad To The Bone” and became Axel’s partner.
Chris Jericho def Luke Harper with the codebreaker.
Ryback def. Kevin Owens by dq when Owens raked the eyes. Ryback hit shell shock after the match
Ambrose def. Bray Wyatt. No holds barred match, Harper came out and attacked Ambrose and set up a table, then the Dudley’s put Harper through the table. Strowman came and beat up the Dudley’s and then ryback came out and beat up Strowman with Ambrose. Ambrose hit dirty deeds for the win. Wyatt tripped taking the move so it looked soft
Charlotte and Becky def. The Bella’s with Alicia fox at ringside.
Big Show def. Cesaro with a chokeslam. Crowd was chanting for Show to retire, so he took the mic and said “no”.
Cena def. Rollins to retain US title with an AA off the top. Pretty much the same match as their NOC match except the finish.
