St. Louis, Missouri: – Cowboy Bob Ellis defeatd Lou Thesz by dq (Thesz was last minute sub for NWA Champ Buddy Rogers, who was injured in a brawl with Bill Miller & Karl Gotch in Columbus, Ohio dressing room) – Johnny Valentine & Bill Dromo beat Rip Hawk & Wladek (Killer) Kowalski – Red Bastien vs Buddy Austin went to a time limit draw – Joe Tangaro beat Hiro Matsuda dq – Rock Hunter beat Tom Phillips – Ray Collins defeatd Thor Hagen
1963
Kansas City, Kansas: – Mongolian Stomper beat Rock Hunter dq – Larry Hamilton and Jack Allen beat John Kace and Harley Race 2 falls to 0 – Enrique Torres beat Bulldog Plechas
1970
Boston, Massachusetts: – WWWF World Champion Bruno Sammartino defeated Crusher Verdi in a Texas Death match
Minneapolis, Minnesota (attendance was 5,319): – AWA Tag Team Champions Mad Dog Vachon & Butcher Vachon beat Larry Hennig & Lars Anderson in 2 out of 3 falls – Blackjack Lanza beat Edouard Carpentier – Mighty Igor Vodik beat Dave Cox – Paul Diamond drew Big K – Billy Howard beat Frank Hickey
1979
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: – AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Greg Gagne by countout – Mad Dog Vachon beat Stan Hansen – Handicap match: Billy Robinson beat Super Destroyer Mark II & Lord Alfred Hayes – Steve Olsonoski & Paul Ellering beat Bobby Duncum & Jesse Ventura – Peter Sandor Szabo beat Fred Peloquin – Ron Ritchie beat George Gadaski
1982
– Sgt. Slaughter & Don Kernodle defeated Giant Baba & Antonio Inoki in a fictitious tournament final for the NWA World Tag Team Titles.
1988
– The Samoan Swat Team (Fatu & Samu) defeated John Tatum & Jimmy Jack Funk (Jesse Barr) to win the World Class Championship Wrestling Texas Tag Team Titles.
1989
Columbia, South Carolina: – At the Clash of Champions, NWA World Tag Team Champions The Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes) defeated Rick & Scott Steiner – United States Champion Lex Luger defeated Tommy Rich – Sting & Ric Flair defeated Dick Slater & The Great Muta via disqualification
1999
Winston-Salem, North Carolina: – At WCW Fall Brawl, Harlem Heat defeated Barry & Kendall Windham to win the WCW World Tag Team Title – Sid Vicious defeated Chris Benoit to win the United States Title – Sting defeated Hulk Hogan to win the WCW World Heavyweight Title.
2003
– Takashi Sugiara defeated Michael Modest in Tokyo, Japan to win the Pro Wrestling Noah Junior Heavyweight Title.
2004
Portland, Oregon: – Triple H defeated Randy Orton to win the Raw World Title at the Vengeance PPV – Chris Benoit & William Regal defeated Ric Flair & Batista – Chris Jericho defeated Christian in a Ladder Match to win the vacant Intercontinental Title
2013
– AJ Styles defeated Austin Aries – Brutus Magnus defeated Bobby Roode – Bully Ray defeated Mr. Anderson in a Last Man Standing match to retain the TNA Title. – AJ Styles defeated Brutus Magnus in a Bound for Glory Series final.
Pre show match: Father Time (legally blind and like 65 years old) def Owens Travers with the Master Lock. He keeps on rocking him back and forth saying ‘tic toc’. Travers passed out.
– Bobby Fish def Will Ferra
– Moose defeats Samson Walker after the spear
– Kyle O’Reilly def Silas Young with the armbar
– Roderick Strong def Adam Cole with the End Of Heartache
– Jay Briscoe def Watanabe with the jay driller
– Matt Sydal def ACH with the shooting star press
– Four way Elimination match: ROH World & TV Champion Jay Lethal def Cedric Alexander/ Dalton Castle/ Mark Briscoe. Order of elimination was Cedric Alexander, Mark Briscoe, Dalton Castle pinned last
No Rules Match: Young Bucks def reDRagon after the Kingdom initially was announced as not being at the show. Post-match, the Kingdom came out and attacked ReDRagon, but the YB superkicked the Kingdom to end the show.
Dallas opened the show trashing the city, Truth came out to a decent response and won a back and forth match with lots of stalling from Bo.
– Damian Sandow / Curtis Axel def Ascension
Sandow was over big. Nobody cared about the Ascension. Axel got the pin.
– Natalya def Alicia Fox
Divas match was good. Natalya is top notch, Albertan crowd was obviously into the Sharpshooter.
– Chris Jericho def Kevin Owens
Owens came out, said it was his first time in Edmonton and he was disappointed. Almost left when Jericho came out and demanded a match. The two went back and forth on the mics for a while before starting to fight. MOTN and Jericho was by far the most over all night. Good match with the regular spots, Chris got the pin after a Codebreaker.
Intermission
– Cesaro def Luke Harper
Cesaro (with taped ribs) beat Harper after the intermission but got laid out afterwards. Really solid match, fairly stiff work. Also, at one point Cesaro put Harper in a crossface. Lots of the crowd popped big, even heard a ‘Chris Benoit’ chant from some guys nearby. That was weird. Probably the wrong city to do that move in, even if it’s one he’s using regulatory now.
– WWE Tag Team Champion New Day def Prime Time Players to retain their titles
New Day successfully defended against the PTP. More “sucks” than “rocks” chants, but crowd seemed into them regardless. No sign of Kofi – Woods and Big E worked the match. Darren Young was impressive, really hustling, and crowd was into Titus when he came in with the hot tag. They got cheered up the ramp after losing.
– WWE Champion/U.S. Champion Seth Rollins def Roman Reigns in a street fight
Main event was okay. Rollins got on the mic a lot during the match to build heat. Crowd really wanted a table spot, mostly unsatisfied with the chair and kendo stick. Eventually Roman speared him through a table, Bray Wyatt attacked and Rollins got called the winner even though there was no pin and it was a street fight. Whatever. Braun Strowman or whatever his name is came out and beat up Reigns too. Sandoval and Axel tried to make the save but got destroyed, then Cesaro came and he and Reigns took the big man out. Reigns then speared Wyatt to close the show.
Notes:
– The arena seemed empty. Nobody in the second bowl, where as a Smackdown taping two years ago was a near sell-out.
– Lots of kids in Cena merch probably bummed he wasn’t there. Crowd liked Reigns but wanted Ambrose too, Jericho was the only guy cheered like a big star. Lots of solid matches, but the tame, small crowd and lacking star power hurt the show. No Cena, Orton, Sheamus, Ziggler, Rusev, Ryback, Ambrose or Big Show, and none of the Diva’s Revolution.
Tonight’s show is the main event of King of Pro Wrestling, held on October 13, 2014 at Sumo Hall in Japan.
We’re going right to the main event as Hiroshi Tanahashi is interviewed. He was after the belt and nothing but the belt, that was his goal going into the match. In regards to AJ Styles, he has great moves and his his body is well built, so he knew he was a wrestler that the fans liked. He also knew going into the match that it wasn’t going to be a one sided match in his favor.
The match itself was really great. Seeing Jeff Jarrett at ringside annoyed me, but I get why they did it, and it built to a cool moment later anyway. Slow build, but really well worked with both guys looking like the best in the business, which at this point they very well are. They way they built up to the false finish was great, with Jarrett pulling out right as AJ was being pinned after two high fly flows. Very rarely does anyone kick out of two consecutive high fly flows so this was awesome, at least when looking back at it roughly a year later. I bet that pissed off a lot of people when it aired live, but hey, everything happened in this match for a reason. Jarrett’s role in the match was to come out and wield the guitar, which he did, and was about to strike Tanahashi with it when who should come out but Yoshitatsu, fresh off a WWE run and making his return to New Japan after a six year absence. Crowd liked this one once they knew who it was. With the interference out of the way, they scored some hot near falls.
This was a more americanized match they usually do. Some people hated the Bullet Club stuff, and I see why, but this made it feel different than their other matches. If you do ONE americanized kind of match on a show like this, I think it works well and could even add to a match with the right circumstances. This was a good example of that. It was a well worked match throughout, with Jarrett coming into the equation just once so they could build the return of Yoshitatsu. Once that was over with, it was a fun of great near fall spots until Hiroshi Tanahashi caught AJ with a high fly flow in the standing position then finished him off with another. I wouldn’t say it was an excellent match, but it was a very good New Japan main event by those standards.
After watching this show live, I was kind of bummed that they went with Tanahashi winning the title back. To me, the story of 2014 seemed to be Okada getting his revenge against the Bullet Club by beating AJ Styles at WrestleKingdom. But they went ahead with Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada again as a main event. But as much as I didn’t understand it in 2014, I get why they did it after watching this match again. The story that they’ve been building isn’t so much AJ versus Okada – it’s Okada vs. Tanahashi, which of course in ring wise (and probably promo wise considering the post match stuff) has been one of the best feuds of the decade. Think about it – when Okada loses at the Tokyo Dome show, he leaves the ring crying his eyes out. The second opportunity he has to beat Tanahashi at the Tokyo Dome was blown, so of course he’d be sad. Small things like this tell me that all this will culminate at the Tokyo Dome when Okada finally gets his win against Tanahashi. Of course, this could all change, but this seems like the story they’re going towards, and it makes the most sense.
Yoshitatsu is interviewed. He didn’t come here to save Tanahashi but his body moved when he arrived here in the arena to help him out. Most of all, he feels that this was the place to return to in the end.
Okada and Gedo came out to confront Tanahashi. Gedo says it’s funny, he thinks the belt has been looking for you. But that won’t work against the Rainmaker. The Rainmaker will make sure of one thing at the Toyko Dome…he will bury you. Well, as long as it’s not Stephanie McMahon. Okada complimented him on the great work, but said a dull sun like him won’t light up New Japan. As the bright golden sun, he will, and he will light up the entire industry…it’s time for him to go down.
Tanahashi says he isn’t tired. He says Okada, maybe you can make money rain, but you can’t be the sun because I exist. They had a brief posedown before Okada make his exit. Tanahashi did his usual thanks, then in a post match interview gets a beer bath by Captain New Japan and the timesplitters. He says that He’ll answer expectations much more now that he’s champion.
Looking back at the match, he said that he stayed focus on his path back to the title. He says in regards to winning the title for the seventh time, a record, he says that he is emotional whenever he has the belt and he feels the connection the crowd has with the belt and himself. He also says that he remembers seeing Yoshitatsu wrestle in the FCW arena when he was working for TNA, so he is happy to see him back since it is the best timing for him. In regards to winning the 2014 MVP, he felt this match was the deciding factor; as far as 2014 goes, this was definitely his most important match.
A really great stuff. Between the main event, and the post fight promos, this was a well done show.
Dr. Wagner Jr. is off tonight’s Arena Mexico show, as well as next week’s anniversary show, meaning that both big outside attractions who have greatly picked up attendance, Wagner and L.A. Park, are gone after two shows.
Marco Corleone will replace Wagner Jr. at next Friday’s anniversary show.
CMLL claims that Wagner Jr. called the office and said that next week’s show “didn’t suit his interests.” CMLL then told him not to bother coming.
Wagner Jr. and Park were there to be back in the spotlight for a few weeks, feud with each other, and continue that feud on independent shows forever. With Park being fired last week, Wagner Jr. figured there was nothing to build his future business staying.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA including thoughts on Hulk Hogan’s new gig, WWE trainees and Twitter, TNA updates and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
We’re looking for reports on tonight’s WWE show in Edmonton (Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt vs. Roman Reigns plus Sheamus and Kevin Owens) and ROH show in Dearborn, MI (Jay Lethal vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Dalton Castle vs. Cedric Alexander, Matt Taven & Michael Bennett vs. Young Bucks, ACH vs. Matt Sydal, Jay Briscoe vs. Takaaki Watanabe, Kyle O’Reilly vs. Silas Young) at Dave Meltzerdave@wrestlingobserver.com”>
Invicta FC live on UFC Fight Pass tomorrow at 8 p.m. Eastern time
Amanda Cooper vs. Aspen Ladd
J.J. Aldrich vs. Daniela Kortmann
Jinh Yu Frey vs. Liz McCarthy
Sharon Jacobson vs. Jamie Moyle
Cindy Dandois vs. Megan Anderson
Andrea Lee vs. Rachel Ostovich
Roxanne Modafferi vs. Mariana Morais
DeAnna Bennett vs. Katja Kankaanpaa
Tonya Evinger vs. Pannie Kianzad for the bantamweight title
Angel de Oro & Blue Panther & Rey Cometa vs. Dragon Rojo & Polvora & Virus
La Mascara & Stuka Jr. & Titan vs. Barbaro Cavernario & Negro Casas & Rey Hechicero
Super Parka & Valiente & Volador Jr. vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. & Rush & Marco Corleone
Atlantis & Euforia & Ultimo Guerrero vs. La Sombra & Rey Escorpion & Thunder
New Japan on AXS at 9 p.m.
A.J. Styles vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi from last year’s Seibu Dome show
Legacy Fighting Championships at 10 p.m. on AXS
Emmanuel Rivera vs. Wes Sharp
Kathian Catron vs. Kaline Medeiros
Canaan Grigsby vs. Bilal Williams
Derrick Adkins vs. Jesse Chaffin
Caio Rocha vs. James Warren
J.C. Cottrell vs Ed Cline
We’re looking for reports on WWE shows Saturday in Calgary (Rollins vs. Ambrose, Wyatt vs. Reigns, Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens) and Huntsville, AL (Randy Orton vs. Sheamus, Ryback vs. Big Show plus Dolph Ziggler and Neville), NXT in Gainesville, FL and ROH in Chicago (Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Young Bucks, Roderick Strong vs. Bobby Fish, Jay Briscoe vs. Cedric Alexander, Dalton Castle vs. Beer City Bruiser, Mark Briscoe vs. Adam Page, ACH vs,. Matt Sydal).
Sunday has WWE in Jonesboro, AR (Rollins vs. Ambrose, Wyatt vs. Reigns) and Tupelo, MS (Orton vs. Sheamus, Ryback vs. Show).
The World wrestling championship finals from Las Vegas will be airing Sunday at 8:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN 2.
Raw will be live on Monday from Memphis
Smackdown and Main Event will be taped Tuesday in Little Rock.
A look at next weekend, which is one of the biggest weekends of the year with Bellator and CMLL having their biggest shows, plus a WWE PPV show and an ROH PPV, is one of the lead stories in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. We also have a look at the 2015 Hall of Fame ballot, tons more on the Jimmy Snuka case, An update on TNA and the future of Kurt Angle, a letter UFC sent to all its fighters about unionization, plus full coverage of UFC 191 and Battle of Los Angeles, and thoughts behind Raw & Smackdown doing record low numbers.
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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.
We look at next week’s big shows, including a preview of CMLL’s main event, why L.A. Park is already gone from the promotion, and a preview of both Raw and Night of Champions.
We’ve got more on the Jimmy Snuka case, with a background of WWE in 1983, Vince McMahon purchasing the company from his father, what was and wasn’t known in wrestling at the time, the first Snuka arrest, the decision made on Hulk Hogan being the face of the company’s expansion, the role Snuka’s autobiography played in his indictment, the corner saying why he felt there was no indictment and his quotes on the subject, new evidence, Buddy Rogers before his death talks about the subject, another coroner weighs in, a lawyer who investigated the case in 1983 weighs in, how Snuka handled his finances fro that point on, Snuka’s run in New Japan, the famous Brody & Snuka walking out on the tag tournament finals, what Vince McMahon was doing to protect Snuka, key Allentown officials talk cover-up rumors, WWE talks those rumors and more.
We also update the Kurt Angle TNA situation and why Angle said he was leaving the company when his contract expires in January. We look at the situation with Destination America, what talent knows and how WWE fits into all this right now.
We look at the letter sent by UFC to all of its fighters regarding unionization and our thoughts on the subject.
We’ve got a look at the 2005 Hall of Fame ballot, a look at the new candidates and their credentials, candidates for the future, understanding of the process, as well as how everyone on this year’s ballot fared last year.
We also look back at research into the biggest draws of all-time on the ballot, as well how the candidates have done in various awards, in drawing power for their era, as well as match quality, how difficult it is to be voted in, and notes on a lot of this year’s modern candidates.
We have an update on Ronda Rousey and WrestleMania, an upcoming WWE wedding, John Cena injury notes, WWE asks fans about PPV start times and thoughts, update on Amanda from Tough Enough and what appears to be her new deal, WWE pulling out all stops for next months tour of Mexico and why, Dean Ambrose talks acting, Nikki Bella as Divas champion, Eric Bischoff appearing on WWE Network, Undertaker’s future, the signing of Kana and she talks coming to WWE, Zahra Schreiber talks her firing, some NXT matches, a WWE wrestler on a sabbatical, as well as the WWE business notes from the past week and highlights from all the house hows.
We also look at Hulk Hogan’s overseas talk shows, the death of Tommy Rogers of The Fantastics, Dave Brown retires from WMC TV and how it was celebrated locally, Axl Rotten’s future goals, CHIKARA King of Trios, Jeff Jarrett TV talks and the final GFW ballpark shows of the year and what is left on the schedule, Bob Backlund’s autobiography, update on Batista, the death of Jerry Prater, an instrumental figure in Florida wrestling in the 70s and the heyday of wrestling programs and magazines, the Carlos Maynez tribute show this past week featuring legends from the past, a Roddy Piper movie not released and the Darrell Dawkins connection with pro wrestling.
We also update things on Lucha Underground.
We look at next week’s ROH matches.
We look at a TNA wedding, lineups for the upcoming TNA shows, U.K. TNA ratings and updating Impact.
We also have Conor McGregor talking his future, McGregor vs. Faber and why it didn’t happen, key UFC announcements over the pat week including new shows, new main events and new title matches, the retirement of Sam Stout, Rousey doing “Road House,” next UFC TV events, update on Charles Oliveira, UFC’s most popular markets, how much Rousey and McGregor are carrying things right now and former UFC star buys $2.75 million mansion from a rock star.
We also look at Alexander Shlemenko’s attempt to get his steroid punishment over turned and his arguments, plus a new Bellator show was announced.
We also update Fedor Emelianenko and his situation, as well as a former WWE star debuts this week as an MMA announcer and top pro wrestling stars attending. We also look at the results of the latest medical study on injuries suffered in boxing vs. MMA and where each is more and less dangerous than the other.
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FRIDAY’S NEWS UPDATE
Somewhat quiet weekend with no major PPV shows, although next week more than makes up for it. The biggest event is the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Andre Berto fight, which Mayweather is claiming is his retirement fight, but nobody is buying it. Right now, things aren’t looking good as there were more than 2,000 tickets unsold, all the closed-circuit airings in Las Vegas were quietly canceled and there is a lot of question regarding how the PPV will do.
For what it’s worth, I was doing an economics class this morning at Kansas State University and when instructor Daniel Kuester asked the class, and this is not a sports class at all, how many people saw Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, about half the class raised their hand. When he asked how many people are watching Mayweather vs. Berto tomorrow, not one person raised their hand. He also asked how many people knew who Conor McGregor was and about one-third raised their hand.
PW Insider is reporting that Monday’s Randy Orton angle was not for him to be on the Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose team at Night of Champions, but it was to write him off for a few weeks with an injury. For what that is worth, Orton is advertised as the top star on one of the weekend tours, as well as for both Raw on Monday and Smackdown on Tuesday. It’s not like WWE doesn’t regularly change its minds, nor that its advertising isn’t always accurate either, however WWE did officially tell us that Orton would be working the weekend shows and the Memphis and Little Rock tapings Monday and Tuesday. It is possible he could only be working dark matches.
The public ticket sale for UFC 194, the Conor McGregor vs. Jose Aldo, Chris Weidman vs. Luke Rockhold, Yoel Romero vs. Jacare Souza, Max Holloway vs. Jeremy Stephens,. Urijah Faber vs. Frankie Saenz, Demian Maia vs. Gunner Nelson, Tecia Torres vs. Michelle Waterson and more show in Las Vegas started today. Most of the tickets were already sold in pre-sale. Tickets are priced at $178, $278, $403, $603, $853 and $1.253, so they are looking for another gate record out of this.
FanPicks.com, a Fantasy League sports site, has signed an endorsement deal with Hulk Hogan to be the site’s official spokesperson and Brand Ambassador. The site said, “We all make mistakes and deserve second chances. Hulk Hogan is an admired athlete and Global Icon. For 3-plus decade, he has been inspiring fans around the world. He spends a good amount of his time doing so much for numerous charities and causes. He’s a perfect partner for us and together we will be making contributions to the Make-A-Wish Foundation on behalf of Hulk Hogan.”
For NXT Takeover on 10/7, after last night’s show, they put tickets on sale to the fans in the building, and with only 400 seats, most were sold in a line that was about two hours long. the remaining tickets were put on the Internet and sold out in six minutes. The TV tapings the next night are also sold out.
Spike will be airing two shows tonight building next Saturday’s Belllator show. Spike airs PBC boxing in prime time. After boxing, at about 11:15 p.m., they will air “Road to Dynamite.” It’s possible I’ll be on that show because I spent an afternoon filming with Scott Coker a few weeks back going through his history. At 12:15 a.m., they will air a Tito Ortiz special showing his training for his fight with Liam McGeary.
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown starts its very limited theatrical release this weekend. I saw the trailer and Dean Ambrose came across real good. looked
So this is scary. The ESPN poll for the greatest female athlete of all-time is coming down to Ronda Rousey vs. Serena Williams. Williams in the bracketing of fan voting beat Cheryl Miller (86-14), Kerri Walsh & Misty May-Treanor (74-26), Babe Didrikson (67-33) and Steffi Graf (63-37). Rousey beat Missy Franklin (63-37), Jackie JoyneKersee (53-47), Diana Taurasi (55-45) and Florence Griffith Joyner (57-43).
Andrei Arlovski told Submission radio today that his right hand was not broken in Saturday’s fight with Frank Mir, only bruised. He said he would be ready to fight again in December or January.
Coming to the Evolve shows on 10/17 and 10/18 in New York are Rocky Romero, Willie Mack and Peter Kassa. Romero will be teaming with Trent Baretta as Roppongi Vice. Also on the shows are Timothy Thatcher, Caleb Konley, Tony Nese, Drew Gulak, Tracy Williams, TJ Perkins, Trevor Lee, Andrew Everett, Ethan Page and Matt Cage.
Northeast Wrestling announced that its show scheduled for tomorrow at Susquehanna Bank Park in Williamsport, PA has been moveed to 9/27 at 4 p.m. due to weather issues. The meet and greet has been moved to 4 p.m. For more info you can go to NortheastWrestling.com
John Cena will be appearing as a guset host on the Today Show on Wednesday for the third time in recent weeks.
Grand Slam Wrestling on Saturday night in Moosic, PA at the Youth Center.
Bellator announced that Kimbo Slice will be coming to Saturday’s show. Slice will be at the SAP Center at 3 p.m. for autographs and photos.
Aggression Wrestling tonight in Lenoir, NC at the Caldwell County Fairgrounds with Mikal Judas, Washington Bullets, Slim J and more.
My friend Jeff Bukantz related to me that he loved Bob Backlund’s autobiography. He said it was great to relive the history of his title run in exact order, and it was interesting to read his constant paranoia over being double-crossed in the ring when it never happened and was never going to happen.
CMLL on Tuesday night in Guadalajara: Jocker & Sadico b Frezzer & Nautilus, Omar Brunetti & Magnus & Molotov b Arkangel de la Muerte & El Hijo del Signo & Metalico, Dark Angel & Marcela & Silueta b Amapola & Dallys & Zeuxis, Angel de Oro & Blue Panther & Brazo de Plata b Euforia & Gran Guerrero & Niebla Roja, Negro Casas & Shocker & Ultimo Guerrero b Atlantis & La Mascara & Volador Jr., Marco Corleone b Mr. Niebla
AAA talent on Tuesday night in Pachuca: Diosa Atenea & Zuzu Divine b Princesa Mohicana & Xena, Bart & Homero Simpson (yes, really) b Los Minion Morada I & II, Gotita de Plata & Nino Hamburguesa & Goya Kong b Concord & Machine Rocker & Taya Valkyrie-DQ, Psycho Circus b Electroshock & El Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Parka Negra, Averno & Pentagon Jr. b Fenix & Myzteziz. Myzteziz turned on Fenix and hit him with a chair shot to cause him to get pinned for the finish.
Elegido & Laredo Kid vs. Difunto I & Psicosis headlines 10/8 in Laredo at the Coliseum.
Lucha Libre VIP on Sunday in Pico Rivera, CA at the Sports Arena with Dragon Lee & Valiente & Zokre vs. Dr. Maldad & Misterioso Jr. & Shumu Jr. (thanks to Kris Zellner)
What is billed as Blue Demon Jr’s 30th anniversary match, and didn’t they just do that at TripleMania, takes place on Wednesday night at Arena Lopez Mateos in Tlalnepantla with Demon Jr. & Canek vs. Pirata Morgan & Villano IV.
All Pro Wrestling tonight in Daly City, CA at the Bayshore Community Center at 450 Martin St. (right near the Cow Palace) has JR Kratos vs. Chris Masters for the Universal title, Boyce LeGrande vs. Will Cuevas for the TV title, Reno Scum vs. The Freaks for the tag title, MVP vs. Dylan Drake, Timothy Thatcher vs Gangrel, Joey Ryan vs. Marcus Lewis vs. Juventud Guerrera, Idris Jackson vs. Sione Finau and more including Jeff Cobb and Joey Kristofferson.
Big West Wrestling tomorrow night at the Lake City Cowling & Billiards in Kelowna, BC.
All Star Wrestling on 9/25 in Surrey, BC at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds with Gangrel vs. Adam Ryder as the main event.
Maryland Championship Wrestling tonight in White Marsh, MD with Fan Appreciation tonight at Della Rose’s Avenue Tavern with The Bruiser & Jim Duggan & Patrick Clark (from Tough Enough) & Lio Rush vs. Ryan McBride & Ken Dixon & Dixon Line Security, plus Mickie James defends the MCW womens’ title against Amber Rodriguez.
Jake Roberts vs. Steve Casey is the new match on today’s NWAClassics.com web site, with Jim Ross and Paul Boesch doing the announcing.
On Saturday, September 12th, Floyd Mayweather Jr. engages in what he is claiming will be the final fight of his career when he faces Andre Berto at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The problem is that almost no one believes Mayweather will retire. And almost no one cares.
Mayweather’s selection of Berto as an opponent has proven to be a misfire. I’m in Las Vegas for the fight (I’ve been here since before UFC 191 on Saturday) and there is no feeling of hype or excitement in town. Articles published on a variety of web sites earlier this week noted that there were more than 2,100 seats still available.
On StubHub, a secondary marketplace owned by eBay for ticket resellers, tickets for the fight could be had for as little as $166 as of Thursday night. That is down from over $300 for tickets in the cheap seats a week ago.
MGM Grand also apparently isn’t showing the fight on closed circuit due to the amount of disinterest in the fight. I’ve been keep tabs on the Facebook pages of popular sports bars on the Las Vegas Strip to see if any of them are having viewing parties. Again, as of Thursday night I haven’t come across a single bar that is advertising a Mayweather viewing party (although there are nightclubs advertising after parties, which isn’t the same thing). Most are advertising NFL parties instead.
I talked to lots of different UFC fans over the weekend that came to Vegas for UFC 191. Many of the people I talked to were boxing fans from the UK and Europe. I think a disproportionate amount of foreigners go to the UFC press events to try and snap photos with fighters because if you’re going to travel that far for the UFC, you may as well get your money’s worth. But even these admitted boxing fans weren’t sticking around for the Mayweather fight, with the feeling it was an afterthought.
Promotion for the bout has been strange. Months ago Floyd told the press that the two frontrunners for the honour of being trounced by him in September were Karim Mayfield and Andre Berto. People thought he was joking. He wasn’t.
Mayfield is a 34-year-old journeyman with a 19-2-1 record. The highest title he ever earned was the WBO NABO Welterweight title. He had lost two of his last three fights and hadn’t fought since November.
Berto, 32, has a career record of 30-3 with 23 knockouts. He is a former WBC and IBF Welterweight champion and currently holds the interim WBA Welterweight title (which is about as meaningless as a title belt can get in boxing these days). But he has lost three of his last six bouts, with his two recent wins coming over unknown fighters Josesito Lopez and Steve Upsher Chambers. In 2012, Berto tested positive for norandrosterone.
Most people will say that the reason Berto was selected as the opponent for Mayweather’s 49th professional fight was to give Mayweather the easy win to tie Rocky Marciano’s record. Apparently among Mayweather’s people there was also the belief that Berto is an action fighter and they didn’t want a repeat of the criticism that Mayweather endured for the Pacquiao fight being so boring.
The reaction of the general public to the quality of the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight was interesting. A lot of people watching that fight probably had never seen boxing before, except maybe in a Stallone movie. When the pay per view broadcast showed the graphic that the majority of fans thought Pacquiao would win the fight, it became obvious there was a tremendous amount of super casual fans watching the bout. Insiders with knowledge of both fighters had Mayweather as a heavy favourite.
Many fans turned on the bout, due to the enormous retail price of $100 and how dull the fight was. It was the most expensive fight in history, but the price didn’t deter people from buying it. I would have priced the fight the same way if I was Al Haymon or whoever it was that made that decision, because the fight grew into something more than just a fight and became a cultural event that people had to see no matter the cost. No one wanted to be left out when it came to saying that you saw the biggest fight of all time.
But that meant all of the extra people that ordered the fight were people that never watch boxing. People who don’t watch boxing expect boxing to be a fistfight, which it isn’t. I think if you polled many of the viewers of Mayweather-Pacquiao and asked them to name a famous a boxer, probably most would say Mike Tyson or Rocky Balboa. Some might say Muhammad Ali, but have probably never seen an Ali fight.
Of course, this is all speculation on my part, but based on poll results on who would win between Mayweather and Pacquiao and the public reaction to the fight afterwards, my speculation is probably true.
Mayweather-Pacquiao wasn’t a boring fight. It was a typical Mayweather fight. I watch boxing every weekend and I see far duller fights regularly. It was boring if you weren’t a boxing fan, though, and most of the people that bought that pay per view weren’t boxing fans.
So, I think the idea to bring in an action fighter like Berto to face Mayweather was an overreaction to public criticism of the Pacquiao fight.
I don’t necessarily think that Mayweather needs to face a top young opponent at this point in his career. I expect Mayweather to only do things at this point that protect his legacy. But Berto has no name value. His last fight was in March on the debut PBC on Spike show as the co-main event against Lopez. There was no talk at the time of Berto facing Mayweather after Pacquiao. Such talk would have been unbelievable.
If Mayweather were to put someone over on the way out, the choice would probably be Keith Thurman, although Danny Garcia and Amir Khan would also be discussed. He could also do a rematch with Canelo Alvarez, but politically that wouldn’t happen with Mayweather in Haymon’s camp and Alvarez signed to Golden Boy. But again, I only expect Mayweather to do things to protect his own legacy and not create a new star on the way out (like De La Hoya did in losing both to him and also to Pacquiao).
With that in mind, the opponent I would have selected for Mayweather is Shawn Porter. Porter is the anti-Mayweather in a lot of ways. Porter is a devout Christian, a seemingly honest fighter with a clean personal history. His father Kenny is his trainer and is also a devout Christian. Porter has a nice smile, has done colour commentary for PBC, and although he lacks charisma he speaks well and is likeable. A few weeks ago I wrote an article comparing Porter to Ricky Steamboat or Christy Mathewson, the latter being a baseball pitcher who played for the New York Giants from 1900-1916 who was known as “The Christian Gentleman”.
Porter is an ultra babyface, bland but likeable. Mayweather is charismatic and unlikeable. Mayweather is the greatest drawing heel in history. The only people that like Mayweather seem to be people obsessed with his lavish lifestyle and who adorn themselves in “TMT” brand clothing. Mayweather was on a recent All Access show shadowboxing with a huge wad of money in his hand. He calls himself “TBE” and constantly talks about Muhammad Ali and why Ali doesn’t stack up. He has a criminal record for domestic violence, which is a whole other ball of wax.
Mayweather versus Porter would have been a great face-heel matchup. Porter could be sold to a wider audience as a young upstart with wholesome values who is going to get a chance to fight the cocky self-proclaimed best ever.
It’s not a great fight, but it has selling points that are stronger than a fight against Berto. I think Mayweather would beat Porter, but I think Porter is a more lucrative opponent than Berto (who will also lose to Mayweather).
There are two main selling points to the fight against Berto and both are weak. First, Mayweather selecting Berto as an opponent is like a promise that this fight will be more action-oriented than the Pacquiao bout. That’s a weird stance. Imagine going to a restaurant and to get you to return the waiter promises your next meal won’t suck so much and will be less expensive.
What was even weirder was the way this fight was being hyped by Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas during the ESPN broadcast of the Santa Cruz-Mares fight a couple weeks back. Tessitore actually said that the Santa Cruz fight was a makeup bout for all the people who bought the Mayweather-Pacquiao and weren’t happy with that fight. That blew my mind. This was WCW level stupidity. This would be like WCW doing a Ric Flair-Hulk Hogan pay per view in 1998 and then doing Rey Mysterio vs. Ultimo Dragon on Nitro six months later and Tony Schiavone saying that the Nitro match was there to make up for all the people who thought the Hogan-Flair match was awful. And they do this just a week before Hogan is wrestling Kevin Nash or someone on pay per view.
It is incredible that a PBC broadcast team would actually admit that Mayweather’s last fight was terrible just a couple of weeks before Mayweather was scheduled to fight again on pay per view.
The second point is that Mayweather will retire after this fight. I also have a pro wrestling analogy using Hogan and Flair to illustrate why the second selling point of Mayweather-Berto doesn’t work. No one believes it. It is a pro wrestling retirement stipulation. This is once again like WCW in 1994 when they would say that Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair (or both) were retiring after their bout and no one believed that the retirement stipulation would be adhered to.
Pacquiao will be ready to fight next year and a rematch between him and Mayweather will draw money based on the idea that Pacquiao will be fighting injury free. It won’t draw as well as the first one, but will draw better than anything boxing can sell otherwise in 2016.
Also, Las Vegas Arena is set to open next summer. Dana White claims he is getting the first date for a sports event with UFC 200, but who knows. If I owned the new arena, I would want to open it with Mayweather-Pacquiao II.
Mayweather stands to make a ton of money fighting again next year. Does anyone actually believe he will pass all that money up? I mean, the guy’s nickname is actually “Money”. How can you get any more obvious?
There is also the matter of breaking the Marciano record by hitting 50-0, which is a nice fat number to retire on. I don’t know how much that means to Mayweather, but it’s there as a selling point for another fight next year.
I don’t know how to estimate a buy rate for this fight. Will it beat Ronda’s buy rate from August? If it doesn’t, that will certainly give Ronda another talking point in the media about how she outdrew Floyd Mayweather. If that’s the case, I can’t imagine that would please Mayweather and might motivate him to try to milk the box office for one more fight with Pacquiao.
I think there is also some degree of burnout by the general public on Mayweather, in a way that it doesn’t really matter who Mayweather faces. I get the sense that maybe the public is tired of him. The public seemed to think (for whatever reason) that Pacquiao was the man to beat Mayweather, and when Mayweather beat him handily, the public might feel that no one will ever beat Mayweather, or that Mayweather has so much power in picking his opponents that he will never face someone who stands a chance of winning.
What I find especially bizarre is PBC’s poor use of their network television slots to create an opponent for Mayweather. One would think that PBC would have Berto fight on NBC instead of on Spike in order to get as many people familiarized with his name as possible. It is obvious that when Berto fought on Spike earlier this year that no one was counting on him as even a possible opponent for Mayweather after the Pacquiao fight. Another advantage to having Porter fight Mayweather is that Porter earned a high profile win over Adrian Broner on NBC a couple of months ago.
Errors like this make PBC look like such a waste of money. They have a massive amount of television time they can use to create new stars and build pay per views and they are completely squandering it. The whole thing with PBC is to use network and cable TV time to build new stars and then have these stars fight on pay per view. But they didn’t even build a new star for Mayweather’s opponent in September, which would have been so easy to do given how many millions of people watch PBC.
If this is the best PBC can do, there is a problem.
All I can say is that the fight will likely draw poorly on pay per view, but what constitutes poorly for Mayweather after the Pacquiao fight is anyone’s guess.
Besides the negative press regarding the fight being a box office bomb at the MGM Grand, there has also been the matter of the Thomas Hauser article published by SB Nation (http://www.sbnation.com/longform/2015/9/9/9271811/can-boxing-trust-usada) regarding the USADA and how Floyd gets preferential treatment. Hauser writes with great clarity, which is probably the nicest thing someone can say about a writer. In his article both Floyd and the USADA come off terribly and if there is ever a BALCO type investigation into the USADA and Mayweather, then Floyd’s image could be irreparably damaged even years after his retirement.
No matter what happens in the next eighteen months or so, even if the Berto fight draws poorly, Floyd is the greatest drawing heel in history. But unless a federal investigation into the USADA or something of that sort happens and tarnishes Mayweather’s image, years from now I think the general public’s attitude towards both Floyd and the Pacquiao fight will change.
History is kind to people and fights that the public decide are legendary. Here’s a pair of examples. Mayweather was convicted of domestic violence and served time in jail. He’s a reprehensible human being and plays that role up as much as possible in order to build hype for his fights. Years from now, unless the general public are smacked in the face with evidence of doping (as in the case of Lance Armstrong), he will be loved, not because he’s a good guy, but because he’s a legend.
Few people care about Mayweather’s history battering women. Mike Tyson is a convicted rapist and now he has a cartoon. Tyson was a bigger draw after he got out of prison than he was before, even though it is generally agreed that Tyson was already past his prime before he went to jail. Tyson is a household name. People don’t mind that he is probably a psychopath.
What could damage Floyd’s image isn’t beating up women, but the general public finding out he beat up women while on steroids. It seems to make no sense, but these are the priorities of the general public. If I were Mayweather’s people and I could dictate to the USADA how drug testing works, I would want to make sure any frozen samples from Mayweather were destroyed. It’s obviously unethical, but based on what Hauser published about Mayweather and the USADA, what they are doing is obviously unethical anyway. Being caught cheating is the main thing that will destroy Mayweather’s career and get people to go from paying to see get beat up to just wanting to see him go away, like Lance Armstrong or half of the people that played baseball in the ‘90s.
I also think history will be kind to the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. The Ali-Inoki fight in Japan was a debacle when it occurred, but subsequent history in Japan treats it like the first real major mixed fight in history. Even if you ask American fans about that match, the people who are aware of it wouldn’t be able to accurately describe what happened, but would probably talk about it in terms of being a legendary match.
History tends to be kind to fights that people don’t actually have to watch, but just have to hear about how legendary they were. Mayweather-Pacquiao is like that and it will be interesting to see how history treats both Mayweather and that fight.
What history won’t treat well is Mayweather’s forgettable bout this Saturday against Andre Berto. We’ll see if the box office treats it any better.
Jeremy Wall can be contacted at jeremywall1984@gmail.com and followed on Twitter @jeremydalewall.
Former Bellator lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez officially confirmed on Twitter Friday that his rumored fight with Anthony Pettis is a go, and will be taking place in Boston.
While not announced officially, the belief is that the fight will be on the UFC Fox Sports 1 show set for January 17th at Boston’s TD GArden, headlined by Bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw vs. Dominick Cruz.
One can make the case that with just those two fights alone, it is the biggest show the company has put on FS1 in their history.
