Category: News

By Jeremy Wall

Glory 23 took place Saturday, August 7th at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. It was the promotion’s debut in Vegas. The show was headlined by Nieky Holzken defeating Raymond Daniels in the third round by TKO due to a cut to win the vacant Glory Welterweight title. The show also featured a one-night, four-man middleweight tournament won by former UFC fighter Dustin Jacoby, who knocked out Ariel Sepulveda in 2:59 in the semi-finals and then stopped Casey Greene by TKO at 1:19 of the second round in the tournament finals. The show aired on Spike TV.

The main event between Holzken and Daniels was an exciting match. It was a rematch of the finals of a welterweight tournament at Glory 19 in February, which Daniels lost by TKO. This time Daniels looked much improved, particularly his boxing skill. The first two rounds saw Holzken back Daniels into corners, but Daniels would box his way out. Daniels is a 35-year-old karateka with some incredible spinning offense, but that he was able to improve his boxing to a level where he was competitive with Holzken, who is known as a good boxer, was impressive.

Daniels looked like he was winning the fight when he ate a hard knee above the eye, which opened up a disgusting cut. Referee John McCarthy stopped the fight immediately once he saw the cut. It was too bad because it was a good fight that might have led to a win by Daniels, a flashy American who, although a bit old, has charisma. I would think the obvious thing to do here would be to do a rematch once Daniels is ready, although that might be hard to justify since Daniels already has two losses to Holzken.

With the tournament victory, Holzken won the Glory Welterweight title. The title was previous held by Joseph Valtellini, who had to vacate due to lingering post-concussion syndrome. Valtellini was at the event as a backstage interviewer and participated in commentary for the tournament finals. He hasn’t officially retired, though, so he might be back if his concussion problems subside.

Valtellini would make a natural challenger for Holzken’s title. Holzken already holds a win in Glory over Valtellini via third-round TKO at Glory 13 in Tokyo on December 21st, 2013. Valtellini could also face Daniels again at some point. Valtellini beat Daniels by knockout on that same card in Tokyo. Valtellini’s last fight was a win over Marc de Bonte at Glory 17 in Los Angeles on June 21st, 2014, which was the failed Glory pay per view.

In the co-main, Jacoby beat Greene by TKO in the second round in a middleweight tournament finals. Jacoby is a former UFC, WSOF, and Bellator veteran with a 10-5 MMA record. He had losses in both his UFC fights to Clifford Starks and Chris Camozzi, lost to David Branch in WSOF, and lost to Mo Lawal and John Salter in Bellator. He is 6-5 in kickboxing, but actually had a losing record going into the Glory 23 tournament. He has exciting fights, but is definitely not in the upper tier of skilled fighters either in MMA or kickboxing. He is 3-5 in Glory.

He beat Ariel Sepulveda in the first round of the Glory 23 tournament to meet Greene in the finals. Greene beat Quinton O’Brien by unanimous decision in the first round. Even though Jacoby is not one of the better kickboxers at middleweight, Greene had a hard time with Jacoby, and was nearly knocked out in the first round. In the second, Jacoby continued to pummel Greene until the fight was stopped with Greene taking tremendous damage.

By winning the tournament, Jacoby earns a spot in yet another tournament to determine the number one contender to the Glory Middleweight title. Tournament booking is beyond lazy matchmaking. Tournaments only work when they are used sparingly, like the early Pride Grand Prix tournaments. Those early Pride tournaments were fantastic because the idea that Pride had at the time was for the Grand Prix to be like an Olympic event that only came around once every few years and featured the best. The later Pride Grand Prix tournaments meant a lot less because they were held so frequently, and thus the appeal was diminished.

The problem with so many tournaments is that people forget who was in the tournament and who won which tournament. I also think the “wrong guy” wins more often in a tournament. If you have four fighters and you have one guy that is the preferred tournament winner because he is the most marketable, if he wins his first fight, but gets injured, or his cardio is weak, or gets roughed up and fights poorly in the finals, then he ends up losing and you’ve damaged his marketability. I think it is better for Glory to just do single fights with an eye on matchmaking to try and create new stars.

Also on the show, Xavier Vigney beat Daniel Sam by split-decision at heavyweight. The split-decision was a bad call because Vigney dominated the entire fight. Vigney won a heavyweight qualifier tournament at Glory 21 in San Diego back in May and that tournament win hasn’t really gone anywhere. I don’t think Glory really runs enough events to hold tournaments for guys to win places in better tournaments, anyway. Vigney looked good, but not great, in this fight, although he will make a competitive challenger against Glory Heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven if Glory chooses to make that match.

Production was good. The Hard Rock Hotel came across as such a small venue on television, but that is typical for many of the Glory shows that take place in the US. Even with the smaller venues, I think it is better for Glory to take place in the US and preferably air live if they are going to become a successful television product for Spike. Mauro Ranallo and Stephen Quadros provided commentary, and were as good as they have ever been. Bill Goldberg appeared to hype the Dynamite show as a brand ambassador for Glory. If they could get Goldberg to fight in a superfight or something at heavyweight that would probably do a strong rating, as Bellator has done well with the freak show stuff (although that won’t last).

Georges St-Pierre, of all people, also participated in a bit of the hype for this show, although he wasn’t featured on the broadcast. He was in Las Vegas the week of the fights to promote a new kickboxing glove being marketed by Hayabusa, who is one of GSP’s sponsors. Hayabusa also sponsors Glory and Nieky Holzken. Holzken and GSP sparred. It would have been cool if during the Spike broadcast Glory aired a clip of Holzken sparring with GSP, with GSP talking about how great Glory is. I don’t know GSP’s contract status with UFC, but maybe because of that Glory couldn’t do it.

The show aired on Spike from 11pm ET to 1am ET. Perhaps that the event took place out west was the reason for the late start time, but it is hard to imagine ratings being strong for such a late showing. After the broadcast Spike also aired a hype show for the Antonio Tarver-Steve Cunningham PBC fight that takes place this Friday. The hype show aired from 1am ET to 2am. I don’t understand the point of putting shoulder programming on so late, since the idea with that kind of content is to get as many eyeballs on it as possible in order to build hype for the actual fight. Airing shoulder programming at 1am feels a bit pointless. Friday during prime time, Spike aired a marathon of Cops episodes.

Glory has aired outside of prime time for a couple of shows now, which isn’t a positive. Glory 22 took place June 5th from France and aired at 4pm ET on Spike. It only drew 152,000 viewers, the poorest Glory has drawn on Spike. The afternoon broadcast didn’t work. Maybe a late night broadcast will work better. Prior to Glory 22, Spike has aired eleven Glory events that have averaged 462,818 viewers per show.

The problem with airing Glory in the afternoon or late at night is that in the United States, people are used to seeing kickboxing as filler material on secondary sports channels. Kickboxing also isn’t a native sport in the US, as it is realistically a foreign sport with similarities to boxing, its more popular American cousin. Comparing kickboxing to boxing in terms of American popularity is a bit similar to comparing rugby to football or cricket to baseball in the US. It’s not exactly the same, but the point is that because kickboxing is a foreign sport that has been used as time filler in the US, Glory has to overcome the negative perception associated with kickboxing in the US in order to become a box office draw.

Airing outside of prime time does not help overcome that negative perception. Glory needs to air in prime time on Spike in order for the audience to become accustomed to the idea that kickboxing is a prime time sport and not something that airs at funny times in the afternoon or late at night. Glory has been on Spike since 2013 and Spike has broadcast numerous Glory events in prime time. Maybe 462,818 viewers per show isn’t cutting it for Spike on prime time. If that is the case, then Spike has a problem with their “Friday Night Lights Out” combat sports series, because although Bellator draws better, PBC boxing isn’t drawing much better than Glory.

Glory is back for the Dynamite event on September 19th at the SAP Center in San Jose that is being co-promoted by Glory & Bellator in a throwback to the old mega events in Japan. The idea here is to obviously take what would have otherwise been one of the major tent pole Bellator shows that draw well and add some Glory fights in order to increase Glory’s exposure. If that’s the case, then Spike should not have been airing Glory outside of prime time for the last couple of events. That feels like throwing in the towel too early on Glory, because if the Dynamite event succeeds by increasing Glory’s popularity, then Spike needs to continue airing Glory in prime time, otherwise Glory’s increased popularity will fade quickly.

Dynamite is headlined by Tito Ortiz challenging Liam McGeary for the Bellator Light-Heavyweight title. Ortiz is shot, but McGeary hasn’t faced someone with as big of a name on such an important show as this, so it will be an interesting test for him. On the Glory side, there are four fights. First is Saulo Cavalari vs. Zach Mwekassa for the Glory Light-Heavyweight title that was stripped off Gokhan Saki due to a contract dispute with Glory. Second is Gabriel Varga making his first defense of the Glory Featherweight title against Sergey Adamchuk. Third is Paul Daley against an opponent TBA, although Holzken has challenged Daley and they could make that for the Glory Welterweight title now that Holzken is champion. Last is a women’s flyweight match between Keri Anne Taylor-Melendez and an opponent TBA. Melendez is the spouse of Gilbert Melendez. Joe Schilling was also supposed to be on the show, but had to withdraw due to injury.

Glory has made some odd choices here. This is meant to showcase the best of Glory, since this event will surely get more viewers than Glory has ever had for a show in the US. But the company isn’t even highlighting their best fighters. I have no idea why they are having a women’s fight here when Glory has never aired women’s kickboxing on Spike before. Melendez signed with Bellator a few weeks ago, so maybe they feel she has star potential and want to give her a push by putting her in a showcase fight on the Glory side of this event. But Bellator doesn’t even have a proper women’s division, let alone a proper women’s flyweight division, and neither does Glory, so that makes zero sense.

I like the idea of Daley challenging Holzken for the Welterweight title, if that is what happens. It would give Holzken a chance to beat an MMA fighter with somewhat of a name in a high profile fight and maybe in turn increase Holzken’s profile. The two other title fights are okay, although I would have gone with a different title matches than the Light-Heavyweight and Featherweight titles, particularly since the fighters involved in those matches don’t have tremendous star potential. It would have been better if Glory had booked a heavyweight title match with champion Rico Verhoeven and maybe a middleweight title match with champion Artem Levin, with the idea of the middleweight title match being that it could build to a title defense against Joe Schilling on a later show. If Artem Levin retained his middleweight title, he would thus face Schilling in a rubber match, as they each hold one win over the other.

This is Glory’s best chance to get their product across to a wider audience and I think they are squandering it. Since it will mostly be MMA fans watching Dynamite, I think a better theme for Glory’s portion of the show would have been four Kickboxing vs. MMA fights, with four fighters from Glory facing four MMA stars under kickboxing rules. Glory could get fighters from Bellator, such as Daley, or use former UFC guys that also do kickboxing, like Jacoby or Pat Barry. The idea is that the MMA names would generate broader audience interest and most of the fights would be won by Glory guys, since they would be competing under kickboxing rules. It would be a chance to put over Glory kickboxers who otherwise wouldn’t have as much of a chance to get over with a wider audience.

Also, if Glory was ever going to do a kickboxing match featuring Bill Goldberg, the Dynamite event was obviously the time.

The truth is that Glory hasn’t been able to create a major new star, or even find a potential major new star, that they can use to headline an important show like Dynamite. Everything in combat sports is based on star creation. It is hard to create new stars. I have yet to see a single fighter on a Glory event that has major breakout star potential, but isn’t quite there yet. The closest would be Joe Schilling, but I don’t think he quite has the skill level to hang with the best and win regularly in order to maintain his star status. Tyrone Spong also has potential, but hasn’t fought for Glory in ages.

That’s what Dynamite would be good for, showcasing a fighter who Glory believes has the ability to carry the promotion to a higher level of popularity. Bellator has a few guys with potential. PBC has Deontay Wilder and possibly Keith Thurman, and a few others. I don’t know if Glory really has anyone. They have many great fighters, but being a great fighter is not the same thing as being a star (although typically a star needs to be a great fighter, too). Glory needs that one charismatic star that can draw interest from people who would not otherwise watch a Glory show, and right now I don’t know who that star could be.

Jeremy Wall can be contacted at jeremywall1984@gmail.com and found on Twitter @jeremydalewall.

By Dave Meltzer

We’re looking for reports on the WWE’s show tomorrow in Melbourne, Australia as well as tonight’s NXT show in Starke, FL at Dave Meltzerdave@wrestlingobserver.com”>

For this weekend, our polls will be on the AAA PPV show and the Saturday & Sunday G-1 Climax shows.

Smackdown tonight on Syfy:

Mark Henry & Prime Time Players vs. New Day

Charlotte vs. Naomi

Charlotte & Becky Lynch vs. Naomi & Sasha Banks

Zack Ryder vs. Stardust

Roman Reigns vs. Rusev

        It’s a weak show because much of the crew had to leave Monday night after Raw for today’s show in Brisbane, Australia. 

The life and times of Roddy Piper is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.  We also have coverage of WWE financials and why the stock is going through the roof, the rise of Ronda Rousey and UFC 190 numbers, the G-1 Climax tournament update and the full story behind the 2002 pitch made to WWE about a gay asskicking wrestler.  

The latest Wrestling Observer: August 10, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Roddy Piper passes away, WWE Q2 results & analysis

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The Wrestling Observer ranges weekly from 35,000 to 50,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA internationally. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sties and has the most complete look at the pro wrestling and MMA business anywhere, plus history pieces available nowhere else.

Our lead story is an extensive look at the career of Roddy Piper.  We start by looking at the cause of death, and Piper’s role in the national expansion of WWF and the first WrestleMania.  We look at how Piper differed from almost every wrestler in WWF when he came in, why Piper didn’t work certain shows, Piper working outside WWF while under contract, how he flopped in his first WWF run, his runs in California, Oregon, Georgia and the Carolinas before WWF, the feud with Jimmy Snuka, the Hogan-Piper program, The War to Settle the Score, the original WrestleMania and how it changed the history of wrestling, his period in WCW, his relationship with Mad Dog Vachon, his issues with Kevin Nash, how he got started in pro wrestling, the story behind his babyface turns and the loss at WrestleMania to Bret Hart.

We also look at WWE business, why stock is up, what aspect of business looked deceptively good, a look in depth at the network numbers, how many people dropped and picked up subscriptions this past quarter as well as how all the other aspects of WWE business are doing.

We look at UFC 190 and the storyline that led to Ronda Rousey setting her highest PPV mark.  We look at how things have changed for Rousey since February, the interest level of her fight,  Rousey vs. Cyborg, ratings in Brazil and the U.S. and match-by-match coverage.

We also go in-depth on the G-1 Climax tournament with the updated schedule, standings and match-by-match coverage.

We also have an update on John Cena, more on the injury and surgery, Cena actually going to a show this weekend but fans didn’t see him, Shawn Michaels return, will fans respect Cena more, update on the SummerSlam card and matches being built, Cena vs. Rollins future, WrestleMania note, note on Daniel Bryan’s book, Update on Ryback, Update on a 2002 angle proposed for a gay wrestler and funny story behind it, Bryan’s plan for the IC title, more on womens’ division, Eva Marie note, Tough Enough notes, Ultimate Warrior book, Cesaro section notes, WWE lawsuit notes, Pat Patterson book, sister of current WWE star gets a tryout and Owen Hart DVD news.  We also have coverage of the NXT and WWE shows over the weekend and business notes on the shows. 

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.

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THURSDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

• Paramount is working with AAA on TripleMania.  There will be major cross-promotion and elements of Mission Impossible Rouge Nation during Sunday’s PPV show.
• Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. A.J. Styles will be the main event of tomorrow night’s New Japan show on AXS.  It will be their match from the Seibu Dome one year ago.
• The USA Network was No. 4 this past week averaging 1,557,000 viewers in prime time, so Tough Enough is barely doing half the station average.  Syfy was No. 13, Spike was No. 18, and ESPN was No. 20.  The three hours of Raw were No. 6, 7 and 8 for the week. 
• The Tough Enough cast yesterday had to demonstrate storytelling and selling in a match in front of the entire NXT roster.
• Fozzy is playing Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in Hamilton, ONT at the free Festival of Friends music festival just outside Hamilton, ONT at the Ancaster Fairgrounds.  So Chris Jericho won’t be on tour with WWE this weekend.
• The Billy Jack Haynes lawsuit has been consolidated into all the other lawsuits  in Connecticut regarding pro wrestlers and concussions.
• TMZ picked up on the Submission Sorority being a porn series.  So expect a name change.  That caught WWE with its pants down.
• WWE will be airing a taped episode of its new Table for 3 series with Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff and Gene Okerlund at 10 p.m. tonight.  They are also airing shows all day that featured Piper.
• The Teamsters Local 986 and Culinary Workers Union Local 228 have announced they are looking to unionize UFC fighters.  While unionization would be good for fighters, getting in bed with the Culinary Workers Union of Las Vegas that has been the key group keeping them out of New York is quite the irony.
• Blame & Murphy vs. The Vaudevillains for the tag titles has been added to the 8/22 NXT show in Brooklyn, which is very close to sold out and will have in excess of 12,000 fans.  Also on the show will be the television debut of Apollo Crews, the former Uhaa Nation.  
• Not sure the situation but Sheamus was replaced by King Barrett in his scheduled match with Randy Orton on today’s WWE show in Brisbane.
• Adam Cole vs. Christopher Daniels was announced for the ROH show on 8/22 in Brooklyn at MCU Field.  Hirooki Goto is also on that show.
• TNA announced new live dates on 9/18 in Elmira, NY and 9/19 in Belle Garden, PA at the Rostraver Ice Arena.  Jeff Hardy, Ethan Carter III, Gail Kim and Rockstar Spud are advertised on those shows.
• WWE stock declined to $21.92 per share from its $23.01 closing yesterday. The new issue talks about the rise in stock price. 
• Grand Slam Wrestling on 8/8 in Moosic, PA at the Moosic Youth Center.
• Legacy Wrestling on 8/22 in Palmyra, PA at In The Net Sports with Matt Cross and AR Fox.
• Evolve on 8/15 in Queens, NY
• Timothy Thatcher vs. Zack Sabre Jr. for the Evolve title
• Johnny Gargano vs. Ethan Page anything goes
• Rich Swann vs. Drew Gulak
• Chris Hero vs. Speedball Mike Bailey
• Trent Baretta vs. Rey Hours
• Biff Busick vs. Tracy Williams
• Anthony Nese & Caleb Konley issue an open challenge
• Evolve on 8/16 in  Deer Park, NY
• Timothy Thatcher vs. Biff Busick no holds barred
• Chris Hero vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
• Johnny Garagno vs. mystery opponent
• Ethan Page vs. Rich Swann
• Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams vs. Mike Bailey & Rey Hours
• CZW has an iPPV on Saturday night from Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ headlined by Jake Crist vs. Danny Havoc and Dave Crist vs. Conor Claxton.
• Pro Wrestling Phoenix from Friday night in Council Bluffs, IA:  Abu Colossus & Branden Juarez b Arik Cannon & Darren Russell, Purple b Pat Powers, Killer City Kings b American bulldogs, Zac James b L-Ray-DQ, Mark Sterling b Dalton Lee Roth, Tony Cortez b Joey Daniels, Hype Gotti b Jeremy Wyatt.   Next show is 8/29 at the National Guard Armory in Council Bluffs.
• Rey Hours vs. Mortiz vs. Dinamic Black headlines a Saturday night show at Centro de la Raza in San Diego.
• Rush & La Sombra vs. L.A. Park & El Hijo del L.A. Park headlines a Saturday night show in Tijuana at Auditorio Municipal (thanks to Kris Zellner)
• Empire Wrestling Federation on Friday night in Covina, CA at the Father Maguire Council.
• StocktonCon runs this weekend starting at 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Stockton Arena.  Among those appearing are Jerry Lawler, Jim Duggan, Honky Tonk Man, Koko B Ware, Lisa Marie Varon and Ken Shamrock.  There will also be Pro Wrestling Bushido shows at 2 p.m. both days.  Two day passes are only $15.
• Superkick’d Bad for Business on 8/22 at the Great Hall in Toronto.
• Steel City Pro Wrestling on 8/23 at 2 p.m. in Hamilton ONT at 242 James St.
• Johnny Devine headlines for CWE on an Alberta tour with shows on 8/26 in Camrose, 8/27 in Sherwood Park, 8/28 in Red Deer and 8/29 in Calgary.
• Paul O’Brien has signed a deal with Skyhorse Publishing in New York for his “Blood Red Turns Dollar Green” trilogy.  They are looking at March for the Volume 1 release and August for Volume 2.  Volume 1 will have more content added from the initial release.
• Gangrel headlines for All Star Wrestling on 9/25 in Cloverdale, BC at the Fairgrounds.
• ESPN radio yesterday had a poll on who would you rather watch on PPV, Ronda Rousey’s next fight or Floyd Mayweather’s next fight.  Rousey won 75% to 25%.  Cris Carter said that UFC 190 was the first time he had spent money to watch a Rousey fight and it was well worth it, saying the undercard was amazing.  Jemele Hill said that Mayweather is a great boxer, but his fights are boring. (thanks to Jeff Bradley)
• Fringe Pro Wrestling on 8/8 in Hamilton, ONT at the City Music Hall Pier 4 Park.
• Smash Wrestling on 8/23 at 4 p.m. in Toronto at the Franklin Horner Community Centre with Matt Cross.
• AAW on Sunday at 3 p.m. in Merrionette Park, IL at 115 Bourbon Street headlined by Eddie Kingston & Shane Hollister vs. Matt Cage & Tyson Dux, plus Louis Lyndon, Matt Sydal, Johnny Gargano, Silas Young, Tommaso Ciampa, ACH, DJZ, Zero Gravity, Candice LaRae and more.
• There is Roller Derby on Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in San Jose.  It will be an 80th anniversary celebration of the 1935 birth of Roller Derby and there is likely to be a George Hase tribute. 
• Anthony Hamilton vs. Derrick Lewis has been added to the 10/3 UFC show in Houston at the Toyota Center.
• Crime fighter Phoenix Jones is back in action on the 9/18 World Series of Fighting show in Phoenix, facing Roberto Yong at 160 pounds.
• Gilbert Burns vs. Rashid Magomedov will be on the UFC’s 11/7 show in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
• CNN article on Roddy Piper
• Video story on C.M. Punk talking his wife April and his move to Milwaukee
• An episode of World of Hurt Wrestling with Roddy Piper
• Sinclair Broadcasting’s earning call
• Brian Fritz talks to Chelsea Green about being eliminated from Tough Enough
• Brian Fritz also talks to Rey Mysterio about Sunday’s AAA PPV
• More on Roddy Piper from the Huffington Post

ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY INTERNATIONAL (thanks to Graeme Cameron)

1963 – Ali Bey beat Gori Guerrero in El Paso to win the NWA light heavyweight title

1964 – Steve Rickard beat John DaSilva in Wellington, New Zealand to win the New Zealand heavyweight title

1965 – Spyros Arion beat Killer Kowalski in Sydney to win the IWA title

1966 – Brute Bernard & Skull Murphy beat Mark Lewin & Bearcat Wright in Melbourne to win the IWA tag title

1995 – La Parka beat Jerry Estrada in Monterrey to win the Mexican national light heavyweight title

1996 – Riki Choshu beat Masahiro Chono in Tokyo to win the G-1 Climax tournament