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  • SAT UPDATE: Stephen Amell video, NXT Kids, Floyd Mayweather on Ronda Rousey

    by David Bixenspan | davidbix@wrestlingobserver.com | Follow @davidbix

    Tonight:

    The last day of NJPW’s 25th annual G1 Climax airs live on NJPW World at 2:00 a.m. from Ryogoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan:

    Jushin Liger & Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Mascara Dorada & David Finlay
    Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Captain New Japan vs. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Jay White
    Yoshi-Hashi vs. Michael Elgin
    Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi & Tama Tonga
    Tomoaki Honma & Tetsuya Naito & Togi Makabe vs. Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata & Kota Ibushi
    IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles: The Young Bucks (c) vs. reDRagon
    IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title: Kushida (c) vs. Ricochet
    Kazuchika Okada & Michael Bennett & Matt Taven vs. A.J. Styles & Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows
    Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the G-1 Climax and a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom.

    Evolve has an iPPV tonight at 6:00 p.m. ET live on WWNLive.com from La Boom in Woodside, NY:

    Timothy Thatcher vs. Zack Sabre Jr. for the Evolve title
    Johnny Gargano vs. Ethan Page
    Rich Swann vs. Drew Gulak
    Chris Hero vs. Mike Bailey
    Trent Baretta vs. Rey Hours
    Biff Busick vs. Tracy Williams

    WWE has three shows tonight: Sioux Falls, SD (Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt), Detroit, Michigan (Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose for WWE title, Kevin Owens vs. Cesaro plus  Chris Jericho), and Coral Springs, FL (NXT).

    Evolve has an iPPV tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET live on WWNLive.com from the Sportatorium in Deer Park, NY:

    Timothy Thatcher vs. Biff Busick
    Chris Hero vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
    Trent Baretta vs. Caleb Konley
    Johnny Gargano vs. TBA
    Ethan Page vs. Rich Swann
    Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams vs. Mike Bailey & Rey Hours

    WWE has two shows on Sunday: Fargo, ND (Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt) and Bemidji, MN (Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose for WWE title, Kevin Owens vs Cesaro).

    The go-home Raw for SummerSlam is this Monday night at the Target Center in Minneapolis.  John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Undertaker and literally everyone else will be there.

    SmackDown and Main Event will be taped Tuesday night in Green Bay, WI.

    **** 

    The new issue of Figure Four Weekly is now up for subscribers (subscribe to th site here and get access to Figure Four, the Observer, tons of audio, and more) featuring a chat with Konnan about the state of AAA heading into TripleMania XXIII. We discuss the company’s improvements in production, advantages over WWE and differences in philosophy, how to listen to fans, and much more. Plus, as always, we have  all of the usual reviews and international news, including Dr. Lucha’s TripleMania preview.

    Last week’s FREEFigure Four Weekly is still up with a look at the crazy story of why Gawker thinks the FBI may have helped Hulk Hogan cover up his racist and homophobic comments. A judge has ordered the FBI to turn over the records of their investigation, and what Gawker is saying in court about what has and hasn’t been turned over paints a very interesting picture. 

    Also, now available for the first time on Kindle (meaning Kindle devices and anything with the Kindle app) is Fall Guys, the seminal 1937 book that has been described as being like the 1930s version of the Wrestling Observer. It was surprisingly not on Kindle already, so we put together a nice version with a full table of contents w/ chapter marks, proper formatting on everything, etc. Right now it’s available from the American, Canadian, and Australian Amazon/Kindle stores OR you can also buy it from anywhere in the world on PayHip, who will provide you with both Kindle and ePub (every other e-reader) format files, and you can either sideload them to your device or have them email it to your Kindle. 

    **** 

    A look at the WWE shows next week in Brooklyn is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer.  We also have full coverage of the G-1 Climax tournament and how it all builds for the Tokyo Dome and the fall season, as well as coverage of all the G-1 matches this past week.  We also have a look at the Teamsters attempting to unionize UFC fighters, the UFC’s letter sent to fighters and morale issues.  We also have a look at the AAA TripleMania PPV show, UFC ratings increases, the brawl at the WSOF show, UFC suing Wanderlei Silva and Layla retiring.

    The issue is on the site right now at August 17, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Summerslam build, Unions courting UFC fighters

    Web site subscriptions, which include access to both current and older newsletters as well as every audio show in the history of the site are at  Sign up here for as low as $9.99 per month!

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    If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.

    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 the WWE events in Brooklyn with three straight full houses and look historically at the only other promotion that has been able to do it historically and the record, as well as updates on the NXT and SummerSlam shows and more details on the NXT card as well as the probable main event stipulation and ticket demand.

    We have a complete look at the G-1 Climax tournament, including updates on the last few days, the standings, the Sumo Hall preview and coverage of all the shows this past week with star ratings.

    We’ve got a look at the attempts to unionize UFC fighters, the real story behind the attempt, the letter sent by UFC to all of its fighters and why they probably could have written it better, and a look at UFC business.

    We also look at the wealth of Vince McMahon, Rosa Mendes being pregnant, WWE injury updates, lawsuits, weird match, Tough Enough, new names, insider trading, Raw advance, Diva search news plus notes on all the weekend WWE & NXT events. 

    We look at TripleMania, all the problems with the show, what happened with the Spanish language broadcast, mistakes made in booking, how the card had to change from its original plans, the letter AAA sent out after, the retirements and Hall of Fame ceremony, plus match-by-match coverage with star ratings.

    We also have coverage of this past week’s UFC show, with business notes, the Johnson-Dariush scoring, and match by match coverage with bonuses.

    We also look at the brawl at the WSOF show with The Diaz Brothers and Khabib Nurmagomedov, as well as the problems in the Jake Shields vs.  Rousimar Palhares fight.

    We’ve also got notes on the retirement of Layla from WWE and highlights of her career.

    We also look at the lawsuit WWE has filed against Wanderlei Silva for alleging the company fixes fights.

    We look at the CMLL Anniversary show, an injury to the best older wrestler in the business, a New Japan star comes to Mexico and a rundown on the main events the past two weeks at Arena Mexico.

    We also look at another Rey Mysterio match, as well as the next major Dragon  Gate show lineup and highlights from the past week.

    We also look at New Japan stars heading to NOAH.

    We also look at the beginning of talks for an international group to return to PPV, as well as a look at the Fire Festival, one of Genichiro Tenryu’s last matches and a set up for an angle with one of the biggest stars of the 80s vs. one of the biggest stars of the 90s.

    We’ve got notes on the funeral of Roddy Piper, more on the Hulk Hogan tapes story, Hogan’s first public appearance, two Roddy Piper moves that haven’t come out, one of the biggest stars of the last ten years suffering a major health issue, a former star gets his number retired, a U.K. star returns after cancer, a retirement that probably isn’t a retirement, a Japanese promotion running in October in California, a wrestler having his first match in 20 years, the second oldest living wrestler and his background, big shows in Puerto Rico and news no two different wrestling Halls of Fame.

    We also have an update on the status of Lucha Underground, what changes have to be made, the audience watching the show, what to look out for, notes on the contracts the performers have, update on Vampiro and coverage of both weeks of Ultima Lucha.

    We also look at the ROH show in Brooklyn, TNA Hall of fame ceremony, and upcoming TNA house shows.

    We also look at McGregor vs. Aldo, a big show vs. normal show, Las Vegas vs. Cowboys Stadium, Rousey vs. Cyborg update, Lawler vs. McGregor, UFC financials, how much it costs them every year just in interest on their bond, what kind of profits they are making, lots of ratings into, Rousey business notes, the Aldo drug testing fiasco, Overeem vs. Dos Santos, Punk vs. Pendred, fighter already talking about coming out of retirement, and lots of new UFC fights.

    We also have notes on Josh Thomson and Bellator, Bellator’s next major show, Josh Koscheck blasts UFC and more Bellator fights.

    We have an update on Chris Leben after his arrest, new WSOF shows, a crime fighter returns to MMA and notes on weight cutting.

    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.

    The Observer is the world’s most detailed weekly pro wrestling publication, in its 32nd year of publication, and is read by the biggest names in the pro wrestling, industry, MMA industry, sports world and on Wall Street.

    We also have our regular features such as the most complete look at ratings, plus results of the major house show events each week in pro wrestling and MMA, and complete inside rundowns of all the TV shows.

    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.

    Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

    Also check out this deal:  History of SummerSlam: Observer back issue collection of the first 15 years including 2002 Hall of Fame issue

    ****

    Saturday Daily Update

    • Stephen Amell has a Facebook video about his weightlifting injury. He doesn’t exactly look good, but he seems upbeat enough that it doesn’t seem like his SummerSlam match is in jeopardy.
    • In case you missed it, a WWE production freelancer posted the pilot for “NXT Kids” on his Vimeo channel (which doubled as his portfolio) last month and it was discovered this week. No idea if he meant for his channel to be private or what, but there are now no videos on it. The show was a cross between Saturday Morning Slam (with original matches shot recently, as Jessie McKay was on the show) and NXT with actual children joining Corey Graves on commentary and conducting interviews. It was really well-done and fun to watch, but WWE is agressively pulling any mirrors of it on YouTube. Hopefully this didn’t get in that production guy in too much trouble.
    • Floyd Mayweather has nothing but positivity for Ronda Rousey. Well, it’s not like he has any other options publicly at this point.
    • NJPW G1 Climax Tournament 8-15 live results: Okada vs. Nakamura; B block winner to be decided
    • Lineup for tonight’s Sumo Hall card and G-1 finals
    • On this day in pro wrestling history: IWGP champ wins G-1 in 1995, Orton beats Benoit
    • UFC put up Frank Mir vs. Tim Sylvia as a free fight to hype UFC 191. This is the famous fight where, thanks to wearing a steel cup (yes, really), Mir broke Sylvia’s forearm with an armbar to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
    • WWE Battleground 2015 comes out on DVD this Tuesday for whichever of you still buy WWE pay-per-view shows on DVD. The newest compilation release is Best of WCW Monday Nitro Vol. 3, which came out on DVD and Blu-Ray this past Tuesday. The next release is Monday Night War Vol. 2: Know Your Role, which comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray on September 8th.
    • Global Force Wrestling house show report 8-14 Winston-Salem
    • Great North Wreslting results from Agust 14th 2015 at the Brockville Memorial Centre before nearly 1000 fans: The Honky Tonk Man, Jeremy Prophet, Grapecrusher and Bryan Briggs with Jinxie beat Steve Levac, Soa Amin, Sexy Eddy and High Roller Rosenbury in an 8 man elimination match with Honky Tonk Man and Jeremy Prophet as the final survivors, The Black Dragon Defeated Patrick Shenzy, Harley Davison Beat JC Mason, Hannibal defeated the Giant Darko to retain the GNW Canadian Championship when guest referee WWE Hall of Famer Road Warrior Animal made the pin.  Pan Am Games gold medalist Dori Yeats defeated Aniko Potoczky, Jessika Black Defeated Stacy Thibault, Kid Canuck defeated Pepper Jack, Freak Nation defeated Pereston Perry and Majic Mario, Myzery Barbarian defeated Shooter Storm.
    • GFW will be in Harrisburg, PA at Metro Bank Park (Harrisburg Senators/Double A affiliate/Washington Nationals) on Aug. 28: Dirty Money v Pat Buck, Kevin Matthews v Pepper Parks, Kimber Lee v Cherry Bomb, Brian Myers (formerly Curt Hawkins) v Chris Mordetzky (formerly Chris Masters), BLK Jeez v Sonjay Dutt, The Bullet Club v Seiya Sanada and Ali Akbar. Meet and Greet before the show (starts at 5:30pm) with Kevin Nash; $40 VIP tickets include meet and greet.
    • CROSSFIRE Wrestling August 22nd in Ridgeville Ontario, 4pm at Bissell’s Hideaway 205 Metler Road: World heavyweight champion Jeremy Elliot defends  against winner of 10 man battle royal, Women’s World champion THE ANTI DIVA KAITLIN DIEMOND vs Skylar Rose, THE ITALIANO’S W/ GARY GAMBINO vs  THE ROCHESTER WRECKING CREW,  RAGE vs MATTICK, and The Night Train – Justin Sane will now be facing Tomer Shalom.

  • History of SummerSlam: Observer back issue collection of the first 15 years including 2002 Hall of Fame issue

    SummerSlam Special
    Yes! Yes! Yes!
    Valid until the PPV

    $74.95* USD for Canada destinations
    $79.95** USD for USA destinations
    $119.95*** USD for International destinations
    (paypal orders Canada/USA please add $4 for paypal fees)
    (paypal orders Intl please add $7 for paypal fees)

    paypal payments can be made to grantsindex@nexicom.net

    The 15 issues included in this special are the ones covering the first 15 Summer Slam events, which are:

    September 12’88, September 3’89, September 3’90 September 6’91, September 8’92, September 6’93, September 5’94, September 4’95,
    August 26’96, August 11’97, September 7’98, August 30’99,
    September 4’00, August 27’01, September 2’02

    **Check out my Wrestling, UFC/MMA ebay auctions and more. Seller name is grantsindex
    Some great vintage programs up right now including vintage Calgary Stampede Wrestling classics!

    *Regular selling price for Canada $82.50, a $7.50 savings.
    **Regular selling price for USA $90, a $10 savings.
    ***Regular selling price for International $135, a $15 savings.

    Includes airmail shipping.

    All payments can be made by money order in US Funds (US Postal money
    Orders MUST BE PEACH international ones) and mailed to
    Grant Zwarych
    151 Hart Ave
    Peterborough, Ont
    K9J 5C5
    Canada
    Or paid via paypal to grantsindex@nexicom.net

    Sept. 12 (10)        Update on the Turner purchase of Crockett promotions
    1988            Hisashi Shinma back in New Japan
                WWF Summer Slam ’88 8/29 card coverage
                Giant Baba Brody memorial show 8/29
        Tommy Rich turns heel in Georgia

    Sept. 3 (8)            WWF  Summerslam 8/28 card coverage
    1989            Ultimate Warrior wins Intercontinental title from Ric Rude
                Art Barr arrested on rape charge
                Cactus Jack Manson returning home to heal       
    Lots of rumors from the NWA talent front

    Sept. 3 (10)        WWF Summer Slam ‘90 8/27 card coverage
    1990            NWA Meadowlands 8/24 card coverage
                Herb Abrams & UWF hold press conference
                Mean Mark gives NWA notice, he is WWF bound
                Sid Vicious status up in the air
    Legal action going on between Snowman & USWA re title situation

    Sept 6 (10)            Ultimate Warrior suspended
    1991            Summer Slam 8/26 card coverage
                Steroid update
                Vivian Vachon passes away
                No movement on Superstar Graham lawsuit
                Flair’s lawyers contact Jack Petrick demanding retraction of Jim Herd comment
                Sting wins US title over Steve Austin
        Cien Caras wins EMLL title from Conan

    Sept 8 (20)**        Summer Slam 8/29 card coverage- Bulldog wins IC title from Bret Hart
    Double issue price        Multi Channel News publishes article on decline of wrestling PPV buys
    1992            Best matches of the 90’s
                Looking at the Tokyo wrestling scene 92-8/10-8/23 card coverages

    Sept 6 (10)            AAA threatens to be biggest promotion in North America       
    1993            Summer Slam ‘93 8/30 card coverage
                AAA 8/28 card coverage
                Mitsuhiro Matsunaga jumps from W*ING to FMW
                Feud between Sandy Barr & Oregon commissioner Bruce Anderson continues
                Dustin Rhodes wins US title from Ric Rude

    Sept 5 (12)            Records set at Clash of Champions XXVIII – 8/24 card coverage
    1994            Summer Slam 8/29 card coverage – Razor Ramone wins IC title from Diesel
                ECW double crosses NWA via Shane Douglas win
                All Japan women 8/24 card coverage- Manami Toyota wins All Pacific belt
                Jim Ross through with WWF

    Sept 4 (12)            UWFI & New Japan to combine show at Tokyo Dome 10/9
    1995            Summerslam 8/27 card coverage
                Paul Heyman announced ECW is declaring war on WCW
                Broadcasting & Cable + Multichannel News run stories on Monday Nitro
                Konan spends time in jail for brawl in stands

    Aug 26 (12)        WWF considering weekly Saturday Night PPV
    1996            Summer Slam 8/18 card coverage
    Clash of the Champions XXXIII 8/15 card coverage
    Health update on Ahmed Johnson & Great Sasuke
    King of Pancrase 8/16 PPV review
    Giant Baba says AJPW will never do interpromotional matches       
    UWFI Tokyo Jingu Baseball Satadium 8/17 card a major flop-card review

    Aug 11 (12)        Steve Austin hospitalized after winning IC title from Owen Hart
    1997            Summerslam ‘97 8/3 card coverage -Hart wins WWF title from Undertaker-
                Lex Luger wins WCW title from Hogan 8/4-Nitro now three hours
                Kensuke Sasaki wins NJPW G-1 tournament-Riki Choshu hospitalized
                Carlos Maynes kidnapped in Mexico after card
                Steven Regal status in WCW questionable after airline disturbance
                Psycho Sid to undergo neck surgery

    Sept 7 (16)            Ric Flair believed to be returning to WCW
    1998            Summer Slam 8/30 card coverage-HHH wins IC belt from The Rock
                    New Age Outlaws win WWF belts from Mankind
                Decision of Catholic Youth Centre to not rent to WWF may be warning sign   
                1998 Match quality ratings
                Make up of UFC PPV continues to change due to financial cutbacks

    Aug 30 (18)        WWF Summer Slam 8/22 card coverage-Mankind wins WWF title
    1999            WCW morale worse over botched up powerplay attempt by Eric Bischoff
                1st ever singles match between Hogan and Bret Hart anticlimactic
                A look to the new TV season
                Ann Laverne & Walter Johnson pass away

    Sept 4 (18)            Summerslam 8/27 card coverage-Chyna wins IC title
    2000            Pride 8/27 card review -Kazushi Sakuraba beats Renzo Gracie
                Pro wrestling Olympians
                ECW puts on 2 of best shows in company history at Hammerstein Ballroom
                Andy Hug passes away
                Fox News runs feature on backyard wrestling
                Fishman loses mask to La Parka

    Aug 27 (18)        Summerslam 8/19 card coverage-Edge wins IC, Rock wins WCW title
    2001            New Japan’s Kazuyuki Fujita loses in 0:49 to Mirco Cro Cop in shoot
                Brian Johnston suffers stroke
                G-1 Climax an example of what New Japan does right
                Reviews of “Faded Glory” & “No Holds Barred: Evolution”
                Appears WWF will not air PPV on DirecTV
                Savio Vega announces retirement
                WOW magazine in grave danger

    Sept 2 (18)            Hall of Fame issue-Kobashi, Toyota & McDaniel voted in
    2002            Summerslam 8/28 card coverage-Brock Lesnar becomes youngest champ,
                Shawn Michaels the show stealer again, RVD wins IC title
                WWE finance review
                Tiger Ali Singh files lawsuit vs WWE
                Jacques Rougeau 8/24 card will feature the return of Bret Hart to Montreal

  • On this day in pro wrestling history: IWGP champ wins G-1 in 1995, Orton beats Benoit

    by Brian Hoops

    1940 – In Kansas City, Kansas; Orville Brown beat Bobby Bruns in 2 of 3 falls, Don McIntyre beat Andy Mexiner and Jack Hader beat Leo Jensen 

    1942 – Steve Casey defeated the French Angel for the AWA (Boston
    version) World Heavyweight Title in Boston, Massachusetts.

    1961 – In Minneapolis, Minnesota; AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Hard Boiled Haggerty dq, AWA US Champion Gene Kiniski beat Roy McClarty, Mr. M (Big Bill Miller) beat Bob Rassmussen and Dale Lewis beat Tiny Mills

    1970 – Bobby Shane defeated Nick Bockwinkel to win the Georgia TV Title
    in Atlanta, Georgia.

    1972 – In Tampa, Florida at the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory; Eddie Graham beat Redbeard, Mr Wrestling Tim Woods beat Paul Jones, Bob Orton & Hiro Matsuda beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens to win Florida Tag Titles and Bob Orton beat Bob Roop

    1974 – In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada;AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel, The Crusher & Ivan Putski beat Baron Von Raschke & Superstar Billy Graham in 2 of 3 falls; Larry Hennig no contest Geoff Portz, Ray Stevens beat Billy Robinson and Jim Brunzell & Bull Bullinski beat Big K & Buddy Wolff

    1979 – In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Stan Hansen & Bobby Duncum beat Verne Gagne & Mad Dog Vachon to win AWA Tag Team Titles (title change not acknowledged in United States), Greg Gagne dcor AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel, Paul Ellering beat Jesse Ventura, Super Destroyer Mark II beat Billy Robinson, Steve Olsonoski beat Ron Ritchie and Buddy Wolff beat Peter Sandor Szabo Attendance was 5,000

    1981 – In Rockford, Illinois; AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura, Tito Santana beat Sheik Adnan dq, In a Handicap Match; Hulk Hogan beat Eddie Boulder & Chris Curtis & Tony Leone,  Brad Rheingans beat Ben DeLeon and George Gadaski beat Nacho Barrera

    1981 – Wahoo McDaniel and Terry Funk defeated Tully Blanchard and Gino
    Hernandez for the Southwest Tag Team Title in San Antonio, Texas.

    1988 – Memphis, TN at Mid South Coliseum; In a 90 minute time limit, AWA Champion Jerry Lawler beat Kerry Von Erich, 
    RPMs beat Scott Steiner & Billy Travis to win Southern tag title, Jeff Jarrett & Bill Dundee beat Jimmy Golden & Mongolian Stomper,
    Brickhouse Brown beat Gary Young dq, CWA Champion Phil Hickerson beat Ray Odyssey and 
    World Class Light Heavyweight Champion Eric Embry beat Shawn Baxter

    1994 – Dante & The Great Mephisto defeated PG-13 for the USWA Tag Team
    Title in Memphis, Tennessee.

    1995 – Keiji Mutoh defeated Shinya Hashimoto to win New Japan Pro
    Wrestling’s 5th Annual G1-Climax Tournament.

    2004 – Randy Orton defeated Chris Benoit to win the Raw World Title at SummerSlam in
    Toronto, Canada. Also, Edge defeated Chris Jericho and Batista to retain the Intercontinental Title. 

    2010 – At SummerSlam, Melina defeated Alicia Fox to win the Divas Title. 

  • Global Force Wrestling house show report 8-14 Winston-Salem

    by Randy Perkins

    – Singles match: PJ Black (Justin Gabriel) beat Sonjay Dutt.

    – Six-man tag team match: Vordell Walker, Peter Kassa and Brad Attitude beat Cliff Compton, Jason Kincaid and Ali Akbar.

    – Singles match: Tessa Blanchard beat Lei’D Tapa. Post-match, Tapa beat down Blanchard.

    – Jeff Jarrett walked down to the ring to thank the fans for coming out. Jarrett plugged his appearance at WrestleCade this November in Winston-Salem. Matt Hardy appeared on the big screen to challenge to Jarrett for the main event of WrestleCade. Jarrett accepted.

    – Tag team match: The Bravado Brothers beat The Washington Bullets

    – OMEGA Heavyweight Championship match: Trevor Lee © beat Andrew Everett.

    – Jeff Hardy walked down to the ring and praised both Lee and Everett in a promo.

    – Singles match: Nick Aldis (Magnus) beat Lance Hoyt.

  • Lineup for tonight’s Sumo Hall card and G-1 finals

    This is tonight’s lineup for the G-1 Climax finals at Sumo Hall in Tokyo.  The show begins at 2 a.m. Eastern time and 11 p.m. Pacific time on New Japan World:

    Jushin Liger & Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Mascara Dorada & David Finlay

    Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Captain New Japan vs. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Jay White

    Yoshi-Hashi vs. Michael Elgin

    Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi & Tama Tonga

    Tomoaki Honma & Tetsuya Naito & Togi Makabe vs. Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata & Kota Ibushi

    IWGP jr. tag  titles:  Young Bucks vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly

    IWGP jr. title:  Kushida vs. Ricochet

    Kazuchika Okada & Michael Bennett & Matt Taven vs. A.J. Styles & Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows

    Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the G-1 championship

  • NJPW G1 Climax Tournament 8-15 live results: Okada vs. Nakamura; B block winner to be decided

    by Bryan Rose, WrestlingObserver.com

    Welcome to this morning’s coverage of the last G1 Climax show before the finals late tonight/Sunday morning. Hiroshi Tanahashi won the A block, beating AJ Styles in a great main event last night, but tonight there are several variables that will either allow Shinsuke Nakamura, Karl Anderson or Kazuchika Okada to advance.

    Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly

    Didn’t last long, but this was pretty good and heated while it lasted. Typical match where Tanaka and Komatsu would get the occasional offense, but reDragon would cut them off. They laid out Komatsu then pinned Tanaka with the Chasing the Dragon.

    The Young Bucks immediately ran in after the bell rant and laid out their challengers tomorrow with the titles. David Finlay and Jay White ran in, and their match immediately started.

    Young Bucks vs. Jay White & David Finlay

    Also a solid, short match. White and Finaly were on offense for a while and looked pretty good. At one point both Bucks missed Stinger splashes and did Sting’s mannerisms and everything. Matt pinned White after hitting the Indytaker.

    Toru Yano & Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi & Michael Bennett & Matt Taven vs. A.J. Styles & Doc Gallows & Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga & Cody Hall

    Another solid tag match. The Kingdom worked a lot of this match. AJ Styles and Sakuraba were in at one point and AJ had him in the calf killer but Sakuraba transitioned into an armbar before it was broken up. After Toru Yano distracted Tama Tonga, taking him out Benett hit a twist of fate on Hall and Yoshi Hashi hit the swanton bomb for the win.  

    Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Katsuyori Shibata & Kushida vs. Tetsuya Naito & Kota Ibushi & Manabu Nakanishi & Captain New Japan & Ricochet

    Solid match. It was basic, but it was fun and again Ricochet and Kushida were the highlights of the match. They also had Ibushi pair off with Makabe as that seems to be the NEVER title fall program. Naito also antagonized Shibata on the apron early in the match, perhaps a tease of a feud between these two as well. He took him out again towards the end as everyone exchanged offense again. Tanahashi, who was not in the match much at all, took out NCJ with the sling blade then pinned him with the high fly flow.

    Shibata and Naito had a confrontation after the match, with Shibata putting him in a sleeper. Shibata enters the ring and goads Naito on but he bails. Seems like this is a match for tomorrow or for next month. 

    Yujiro Takahashi vs. Tomoaki Honma

    Good match. A lot of the story was based on if Honma could get another win to start a streak. He got in a lot of offense and hit many kokeshis. Good back and forth stuff between the two throughout. Honma kicked out of a fisherman’s suplex at one and tried for a Bernard driver but Yujiro low blowed him and hit the Miami Shine for the win. I thought that was Toru Yano’s thing? 

    Tomohiro Ishii vs. Michael Elgin

    This was a completely insane match and without a doubt one of the best matches of the year. Think of all the insane matches Tomohiro Ishii has had over the last few years and double it and you have this match. Just insane in terms of brutality and stiffness. Some people won’t like this match because of that but this was better than Honma/Ishii from this year and Ishii/Goto from last year. Just some insane spots here and the place went crazy towards the end. Elgin gave Ishii a death valley driver on the apron then gave him a running powerbomb into the guardrail. He followed that up with the deadlift falcon arrow superplex but Ishii mounted a comeback. He blasted him with a lariat and a sliding D but Elgin kicked out. He kept kicking out of everything Ishii gave him, including another lariat. Elgin deadlifted him with a powerbomb but Ishii fought back and gave him a massive headbutt, another lariat (which Elgin kicked out of) then pinned him with a brainbuster. Have I said this match was insane? 

    Hirooki Goto vs Yuji Nagata

    Good match. Started off slow, but told a nice story and became pretty good towards the end. Story of this match was Goto completely dominating Nagata for most of the bout, dishing out offense and working on Nagata’s ribs, which has been a problem for him throughout the tournament. Nagata finally made a comeback by sinking in the white eyes armbar out of nowhere. Goto didn’t tap out and from here it became more of an even contest. They traded forearms but Goto cut him off. Nagata came back with a spinning heel kick and pinned him with the back drop hold. This puts Goto out of the tournament.

    Karl Anderson vs. Satoshi Kojima

    This was fine, but nothing special. Good heat towards the end. Kojima laid him out during the match with a DDT on the apron. Anderson made the comeback and hit a cutter off the top rope. Kojima came back with one of his own. He went for the lariat (Anderson had worked on his arm earlier and sold it before going for it) but Anderson went for the Gun Stun. Kojima blocked it and hit the lariat to pin him and eliminate him from the tournament. From here, whoever wins in the main event advances to the finals. 

    Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kazuchika Okada for the B block championship

    This was awesome. I think it was close to their finals match from last year, if not a bit better. Just a different feeling for this one from the get go. Okada took over early by giving Nakamura a huge dropkick through the barricade then gave him a draping DDT from the barricade onto the mat. Good, solid back and forth. Okada’s playing the somewhat subtle heel by mocking Nakamura here and there. Nakamura hits the boma ye but misses another and Okada takes it to the outside where he tombstones Nakamura on the floor. Nakamura came back but Okada kicked out of another boma ye and a death valley driver. He charged for another but Okada hit a huge dropkick. Nakamura avoided the rainmaker once but Okada backslided him and hit the rainmaker. He gave him the tombstone but Nakamura avoided the rainmaker and transitioned into the armbar. He shifted to a gogoplata, then flattened him on his back and continued to wrench on the arm until Okada submitted. The last few minutes were incredible with the counters and the heat from the audience.

    So that makes it Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for tomorrow’s G1 championship match.

    FINAL STANDINGS

    Block A:

    Hiroshi Tanahashi- 14

    AJ Styles- 12

    Tetsuya Naito- 10

    Bad Luck Fale- 10

    Katsuyori Shibata- 8

    Togi Makabe- 8

    Kota Ibushi- 8

    Toru Yano- 8

    Hiroyoshi Tenzan- 6

    Doc Gallows- 6

    Block B:

    Shinsuke Nakamura- 14

    Kazuchika Okada- 14

    Karl Anderson- 12

    Hirooki Goto- 12

    Tomohiro Ishii- 10

    Michael Elgin- 8

    Yujiro Takahashi- 6

    Satoshi Kojima- 6

    Yuji Nagata- 6

    Tomoaki Honma- 2

  • PBC on Spike report: Tarver vs. Cunningham

    By Jeremy Wall

    Antonio “Magic Man” Tarver (31-6-1, 22 KOs) fought Steve “USS” Cunningham (28-7-1, 13 KOs) to a split draw after twelve rounds in the main event of Spike’s PBC show on Friday, August 14th in front of 5,843 at the Prudential Center in Newark. It was Tarver’s first televised fight in years, although he has remained somewhat active on small shows. The show was promoted by Lou DiBella and aired on Spike from 9pm ET to just after 11pm ET.

    The real story, though, was Krzysztof Glowacki (25-0, 16 KOs) defeating Marco Huck (38-3-1, 2 KOs) to win the WBO Cruiserweight title by eleventh round knockout in a fight of the year candidate. If Huck had defeated Glowacki, Huck would have broken the record for most consecutive Cruiserweight title defenses at fourteen. It was a great fight that elevated Glowacki from a nobody to a minor star.

    The main event between Tarver and Cunningham was clearly put together as a showcase fight for the 46-year-old Tarver, with Tarver doing promos before the fight talking about how it is his destiny to win a heavyweight title. As unlikely as that is, Tarver fought as well against Cunningham as one could expect from a 46-year-old who averages about one fight a year. Tarver will also become a grandfather for the first time next month.

    Tarver looked fleshy weighing in at 217 pounds for the bout, with a noticeable spare tire. He was actually down in weight compared to the heaviest he had ever been, which was against Johnathan Banks last December where Tarver came in at 225 pounds and knocked Banks out in the seventh round. Tarver’s flabbiness didn’t seem to create an issue with cardio, however, as Tarver is a plodding fighter who throws punches at a measured pace, allowing him to go the full twelve rounds without gassing.

    The last time Tarver was seen on American television was when he went to a split draw defending the IBO Cruiserweight title against Lateef Kayode on June 2nd, 2012 in Carson. The fight aired on Showtime. Tarver ended up testing positive for Drostalolone in his pre-fight urinalysis and the fight was subsequently ruled a no-contest. Tarver’s career looked finished after the bout, fighting only twice more moving up to heavyweight, once in 2013 where he stopped Mike Sheppard in the fourth round and then the win over Banks in 2014.

    Fortunately for Tarver, Al Haymon and PBC came along with their bloated fight schedule and they need fighters with a bit of star power. Tarver had been working as a colour commentator for PBC on Spike.

    “Antonio is a true champion behind the microphone and inside the ring,” said Jon Slusser, senior VP of Spike Sports, in a press release announcing the fight back in July. “It’s only fitting that Spike televise this great event between Tarver and Cunningham. We’re looking forward to an exciting night of boxing.”

    “This is a big fight for me. PBC was designed for the new, young stars but I’m thankful they’ll let an old guy like me steal the spotlight on Friday night,” said Tarver at a pre-fight presser in New York.

    For Friday’s broadcast Tarver was replaced on commentary by Shawn Porter. Porter’s father Kenny was also interviewed by host Dana Jacobson. Shawn did a good job, not great, but he’s got a future in broadcasting if he wants one. Porter is a super babyface, however. He doesn’t have a ton of charisma, but what charisma he does have comes off as similar to Christy Mathewson or Ricky Steamboat, to pull out a couple of obtuse references. He has somewhat the opposite charisma of Floyd Mayweather Jr in many ways and would have been my choice for Floyd’s opponent on September 12th.

    Anyway, back to Tarver. Tarver is really most famous for two things and not much else. First, he was the guy who finally defeated Roy Jones Jr when Jones was in his prime. They had three fights. First was a November 8th, 2003 bout that Jones won by majority decision. They did a rematch on May 15th, 2004, where Tarver stopped Jones in the second round, which was the beginning of the end of Jones as a top fighter, although like Tarver, Jones continues to fight weak opponent on smaller shows to this day, including a bout on Sunday. They had a third match on October 1st, 2005, which Tarver handily won by unanimous decision. Jones was actually in the audience at the Prudential Center for Friday night’s fight, as he was scouting Marco Huck, who he wanted to fight for Huck’s cruiserweight title.

    Tarver went on to lose his Light-Heavyweight title to Bernard Hopkins by unanimous decision in 2006. Tarver later suffered back to back losses to Chad Dawson in 2008 and 2009.

    The second thing that made Tarver famous was playing Mason “The Line” Dixon in Rocky Balboa, which was Sylvester Stallone’s major comeback movie of sorts a few years ago. It was the sixth Rocky film and probably the best since the first one about thirty years earlier. That film role probably introduced Tarver to a wider audience than would have known him from the Roy Jones fights, and probably extended his career by giving him a boost in name value to the point where in 2015 at 46 years old he could headline a PBC show on Spike.

    Cunningham, 39, came into the fight off a unanimous decision loss to Vyacheslav Glazkov in March and had only won four of his last nine fights dating back to 2011. He was a former IBF Cruiserweight champion and had fought many of the top cruiserweights, including a twelfth round TKO win over Huck on December 29th, 2007, but also losses to Yoan Pablo Hernandez (twice), Tomasz Adamek, and Krzysztof Wlodarczyk. Cunningham spent the best years of his career fighting in Europe where the Cruiserweight titles are most popular.

    “I fought in Europe so much, fighting this close to home is a little scary,” said Cunningham, who comes from Philadelphia, in a pre-fight presser. “There are a lot of eyes on you. But that’s what we do. We handle pressure and do what we do. If a fighter doesn’t have nerves they’re either lying or don’t have it in them.”

    He moved up heavyweight in 2012 with mixed results, including another loss to Adamek and a seventh round knockout loss to Tyson Fury.

    Cunningham was a good opponent for Tarver if PBC’s goal was to showcase that Tarver’s still got it at 46. Cunningham is well past his prime and much smaller than Tarver, coming in at 204 pounds. He has a much longer reach and is slightly taller, but Tarver at 46 is probably at least as good as Cunningham at 39.

    It was a dull fight, but it had to follow the Huck-Glowacki bout that might be a fight of the year candidate. Tarver’s offense was slow and he kept the fight at a measured pace until the fourth round when he caught Cunningham with a right cross. Cunningham’s legs were rubbery, but he didn’t go down. Cunningham’s eyes ended up swollen by the end of the bout. It was a close fight, though, that easily could have been judged either way fairly, with neither guy looking particularly like a winner.

    The scorecards were 115-113 Cunningham, 115-114 Tarver and 114-114. Spike’s unofficial scorer Steve Farhood had Tarver winning by two points. A draw was fair. Tarver landed 141 of 450 punches for 31-percent and Cunningham landed 154 of 678 punches for 23-percent. The punch stats look more in favour of Tarver than what the fight looks like when you actually watch it round by round.

    Tarver and Cunningham each earned $250,000 for the fight, respectively.

    The goal was to give Tarver a showcase fight on cable and despite the draw PBC probably achieved that goal. Tarver could have looked much worse at 46 years old against a somewhat younger and lighter opponent. He didn’t look great and I don’t think anyone is excited for another Tarver bout, but he looked as good as he reasonably could for his age.

    Tarver wasn’t pleased with the decision though.

    “He didn’t hurt me and couldn’t get to my body. I did what I had to do but didn’t get the win. We got a draw and I’m not satisfied with it at all,” Tarver said after the fight.

    Cunningham felt better about the draw. “I have nothing to be ashamed of and I’ll get together with my team and family and talk about what we do next,” he said.

    Tarver is talking about fighting Wladimir Klitschko for Klitschko’s belts, which is unlikely since Tarver is a PBC guy and Klitschko is HBO.

    “I want to face Wilder and Klitschko. I ain’t got nothing else to prove man,” Tarver said in a conference call in July. “I’m going to prove it August 14. They know who I am. I’ve got five championships to my name. I don’t have to prove nothing. They know who I am and they know when I’m ready to fight, I’m going to tough out for anybody.”

    Boxing purists will hate the idea, but the next fight to make is Deontay Wilder vs Tarver. PBC isn’t for boxing purists anyway, as they are trying to capture a new audience using mostly showcase fights to build star power in select boxers.

    The reason the Wilder fight ought to be the next fight for Tarver is that they can do the fight on NBC and Tarver’s name will bring a bit of added viewership from the type of people who don’t regularly watch boxing, but watch the Rocky movies. Wilder would easily defeat Tarver. The whole thing with Wilder is that he is clearly the PBC fighter most likely to breakthrough and become a major star with an audience that will only watch boxing when major stars are involved. That audience is the difference between a somewhat profitable boxing match and a tremendously profitable boxing match. The whole deal with Wilder right now is to build him, fight by fight, into the kind of fighter who attracts that crossover mainstream audience.

    A solid win over Tarver would be one more fight that helps getting Wilder to PBC’s goal of creating a mainstream star to follow Floyd Mayweather once Mayweather retires. It’s not that beating a middle-aged Tarver would turn Wilder from a popular fighter with boxing fans to a mainstream star. But it is one more brick in the wall towards building Wilder into a legit star.

    In the co-main, Krzysztof Glowacki (25-0, 16 KOs) knocked out Marco Huck (38-3-1, 26 KOs) in a thrilling eleventh round upset to capture the WBO Cruiserweight title. It was both one of the biggest upsets and one of the best fights of the year. Huck (pronounced “Hook”, so that his nickname is “Captain Hook”) was considered the best cruiserweight boxer in the world and was looking to break the record for most consecutive successful cruiserweight title defenses at fourteen. Huck is now stalled at thirteen defenses, tying him with Johnny Nelson of England.

    Glowacki took quite a bit of punishment throughout the early rounds of the fight, but dished the punishment back. There were a lot of headshots delivered by both fighters. In the sixth round, Huck dropped Glowacki with a left hook to the head. Glowacki tried desperately to stay on his feet, but his legs gave out and he was knocked down. The fight slowed a bit after that knockdown with Glowacki nervous to engage in obvious fear of being knocked down again.

    Glowacki came back in the eleventh round, though, hitting Huck with a left-right combo to the head that dropped the champion. Huck struggled back to his feet, but was clearly dazed and Glowacki went in for the kill, pummeling Huck against the ropes until referee David Fields stepped in and called the fight at 2:39 of the eleventh.

    Huck landed 127 of 395 punches for 32-percent. Glowacki landed 147 of 436 punches for 34-percent. Glowacki landed 42 of 169 jabs for 25-percent compared to Huck’s lowly 10 of 130 jabs for 8-percent. Huck connected with slightly more power punches with 117 of 265 for 44-percent compared to Glowacki’s 105 of 267 for 39-percent. Glowacki’s jabbing and his tremendous chin were what largely made the difference in this fight.

    Huck was leading on all three scorecards at the time of the stoppage, with two cards 96-93 for Huck and the third 95-94.

    Huck split with long-time trainer Ulli Wegner before the bout and was training with Don House for the first time. Huck’s last loss was coincidentally against Cunningham, by twelfth round TKO on December 29th, 2007. After the fight both Huck and Glowacki were taken to Rutgers University Hospital for observation.

    “The US market is now open to me, and fans around the world are going to have to respect the cruiserweight division now,” said Glowacki after the fight.

    “I mean Glowacki-Huck has to be fight of the year,” Lou DiBella told The Ring after the fight. “Glowacki is the Undertaker. He came back from the dead. How he got up from the sixth round I have no idea.”

    Glowacki earned $60,000 for the fight. Huck earned $350,000 and was the highest paid fighter on the card.

    During the broadcast Jimmy Smith pointed out that both Glowacki and Huck are power fighters with a fan friendly style similar to Sergey Kovalev or Gennady Golovkin. I think that’s about right. Glowacki and Huck definitely displayed that fan friendly power punching style against one another.

    ““When I was knocked down in the sixth round I didn’t know where I was and it took me a whole round to regain myself,” said Glowacki after the fight. ”I still cannot hear well. I was listening to my corner though and when I heard that there was only one minute left in the eleventh round I knew I had to come on strong.”

    The Prudential Center was filled with Polish fans, though. Many fans had flown in from Poland as the card was loaded with Polish fighters. Besides Glowacki, on the undercard there was also major heavyweight prospect Artur Szpilka (20-1, 15 KOs, 26 years old), undefeated featherweight Kamil Laszczyk (21-0, 8 KOs, 24 years old), and undefeated middleweight Maciej Sulecki (21-0, 6 KOs, 26 years old).

    All four Polish fighters won their bouts. Of the four bouts featuring Poles, only the Glowacki fight aired on Spike. Despite that, the extra hot Polish crowd gave Glowacki’s win a “fight of the year” atmosphere that it otherwise wouldn’t have had without all the Polish fans in attendance, with loud chants of “Glowacki” throughout the fight.

    Prior to facing Huck in New Jersey, Glowacki had fought all twenty-four bouts of his pro career in his native Poland. Although coming into the fight with a great record, he was largely an unknown to the point where The Ring didn’t have him listed in their top ten cruiserweights.

    Huck was also making his US debut after fighting all of his previous 41 professional fights in Germany. He was born Serbia, but lives in Germany.

    “When I eventually go back up to heavyweight I want to fight the top guys right away. Maybe I’ll go fight Deontay Wilder, that is definitely an interesting option,” Huck said at a pre-fight presser.

    It was somewhat of a big deal that PBC signed Huck earlier this year to bring him over to the US, since most of the best cruiserweight fights take place in Europe. Huck is German and Germany is one of the boxing hotbeds in Europe.

    PBC has signed a number of European stars, both from the UK and from continental Europe, which makes me think that the company may have long-term plans for hosting fights in Europe. I don’t think running shows in Europe is a good idea for a company that makes its money from American television due to the time zone differences, but PBC is tremendously ambitious, so nothing would surprise me.

    There are a few possible fights for Glowacki. First would be a rematch with Huck, because of how exciting the first bout was and because Huck might still be favoured to win again and is a major star that PBC could headline wtih in Germany if PBC ever decided to cross the Atlantic. PBC is paying Huck well and the best way to utilize him would be in a rematch, and considering how exciting the first fight was, pretty much everyone who saw it would want to see a rematch. If booked, a rematch ought to take place on network television instead of cable, so that as many eyeballs are watching it as possible.

    Second would be a bout with Roy Jones Jr, who was ringside watching the fight in order to scout Huck, who Jones has been trying to get a fight with. Huck had talked about fighting Jones in America before he was defeating by Glowacki. I think PBC needs to utilize more older stars to try and put over their younger fighters with star potential. Jones would fit that mold. The problem is that Jones is a colour commentator for HBO and although it doesn’t seem like he has an exclusive to fight only with HBO since Jones fights regularly on small shows around the world, HBO probably wouldn’t like him fighting for the competition.

    Third would be a bout with Beibut Shumenov or BJ Flores. Shumenov beat Flores for PBC on NBC Sportsnet a few weeks back. Shumenov didn’t look that good, though, and his win over Flores was a close, yet dull fight. This would be the weakest of the three major options for Glowacki’s next bout, but is still possible because both Shumenov and Glowacki are cruiserweight PBC fighters who garnered major wins on cable.

  • Lashley announced for Bellator’s last big show of the year

    Bellator has announced that its final major show of 2015 will take place on 11/6 in St. Louis at the Scottrade Center.

    Bobby Lashley of TNA will be fighting on the show, which will be headlined by Patricio Pitbull Freire vs. Daniel Straus for the featherwieight title.  

  • New Japan on AXS results 8-14-15: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kushida for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title

    by Bryan Rose, WrestlingObserver.com

    Tonight’s show are highlights from Destruction in Kobe, which took place on September 20, 2014 in Kobe World Hall.

    First up on the docket we have Takahasi Iizuka and Minoru Suzuki taking on Kazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano. These guys feuded for months, and this was not a feud that needed to go beyond one month. However, it was all a setup for Sakuraba to face Minoru Suzuki at WrestleKingdom 9. Not much to talk about here as it was mostly just Sakuraba/Suzuki and Yano/Iizuka brawling and using weapons both inside and outside of the ring. Iizuka hit Yano with a chair but he came back with a low blow while Iizuka was getting the iron fingers and rolled him up in a half nelson cradle for the win. Not very good at all.

    Sakuraba says he wanted to battle more in the ring. Suzuki just gave a look then smirked, not even addressing the camera. He was so awesome in doing that and was better than the entire match.

    Another tag match followed, as Tama Tonga and AJ Styles of Bullet Club teamed up to take on Kota Ibushi & Tetsuya Naito. It seemed like they were grooming Ibushi and Naito as a team, but that was quickly dropped for whatever reason. This was also Kota Ibushi’s return after being absent from the G1 due to a major concussion. He looked great here, and spent a lot of the match working with AJ Styles. Turned out to be a great match due to everyone involved. Tama Tonga is one of those guys who is really good, and can probably thrive well if given the opportunity but really hasn’t thus far in this latest run and that’s kind of disappointing. He was isolated as Kota Ibushi hit the phoenix splash and pinned him.

    Ryusuke Taguchi talks about Kushida and how he verbally attacked him, calling him sleazy. That fired up Ryusuke, and that got him motivated. He started using the ankle lock again because of Kushida’s new hoverboard lock; he figured since he targets the arm, he should target the leg, it just makes sense. Kushida made him the person he is today, and he thanks him for that. He muses that he probably should have given him a end of the year gift.

    Their match aired. I really liked this match, it was one of the better junior heavyweight matches from last year. Taguchi’s gimmick I find completely annoying, and there’s just something about him that lacks the charisma needed to be a top star, but his work here in this match was good. Kushida’s run as champion here was kind of disappointing as he didn’t last long as champion, but his work here was great as well, and together they had a fantastic match. The leg work from Taguchi on Kushida was great and played well into the match, which was a good back and forth encounter between the two. Taguchi trapped him in the ankle lock but Kushida wouldn’t tap. So Taguchi laid him out with the dodon and put the ankle lock again, and that’s what caused him to tap.

    After the match, Kushida begrudgingly showed comradery by shaking hands with Taguchi. But the good times didn’t last as El Desperado, Taichi and Taka Michinoku ran in and put the beatdown on both of them. Alex Shelley tried to run in but he was taken down as well.

    El Desperado does a backstage interview. He and the rest of Suzuki-gun promise that he’ll become the next double crown champion. Taguchi in his interview says that he’s very upset over Suzuki-gun interrupting his victory celebration. But as for Kushida, he says that he brought out something people have never seen before, he brought out everything in him. He kept saying “Oh my and garfunkel”.

    In his reflective interview, Taguchi reiterates about the words that Kushida said about him before the match. He sees himself as a guy who likes to joke around, so thats what he sees as his character now, and he hopes people enjoy that. He says that since he is the 69th IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion, and it took him 6 years and 9 months to win the championship, the numbers might have something to do with his luck. He was able to me himself and establish his style as champion, and feels free to be himself.

    Overall, a pretty good edition of the show this week. Could have done without the opener, but then again it’s building up to a big match at WrestleKingdom, so that’s fine. I’ve noticed a lot more build up towards future events on these shows, so hopefully they will be more episodic now that NJPW has a long term deal with AXS TV.

  • WWE News: Amell injured in training

    Stephen Amell, who is scheduled for a tag team match at SummerSlam, was injured in doing a weight workout this morning.

    According to a video he posted, Amell was doing a snatch, which is a lift where you take the bar from the floor to overhead without pausing at the shoulders (which would be a clean and jerk or clean and press).  When doing the lift, he ended up smashing the bar into his jaw.

    He suffered a cracked jaw, his molars were indented into his tongue and his tongue was swollen.  No word on how this may or may not affect his match next week.