WWE Intercontinental Champion Ryan “Ryback” Reeves, out of action since a staph infection he suffered three weeks ago, posted a photo on Instagram this morning showing that his bad right leg is still badly swollen.
He wrote about the photo saying, “And this is the best it has looked and felt. Wouldn’t wish this upon anyone, but it will be overcome. Staying upbeat and positive even in frustration.”
Jimmy Snuka, one of Roddy Piper’s most famous adversaries, just returned home on Friday after surgery after being diagnosed with stomach cancer. Snuka had surgery to remove part of his stomach and his lymph nodes and they believe they were able to remove all of the cancer.
Bill Apter spoke to Carole Snuka both about Jimmy’s condition and Jimmy’s thoughts on Roddy Piper.
Submitted by Pat Hamilton
Chaotic Wrestling Champion Chase DelMonte vs. Mike Webb
These guys pretty much had an “Indy match” as you would say. Chaotic Wrestling is a small indy promotion out of Lowell, but many regulars were in the crowd, so Chase was over enough for the crowd to enjoy it. Mike Webb was ROH’s top prospect tournament last year. Webb is usually solid, and Chase can put on a good match when its needed. Nothing too memorable, some chain wrestling, and a few dives. There was a botched spot where Chase went to leapfrog Webb with Webb coming off of the ropes behind him but he ended up landing on him. They recovered smoothly though and Chase went for a pin without hesitating. Webb went for a cross body, but chase caught him with an “RKO outta no where” (cutter is one of his finishers) that was well executed, and got the win off of it. Good finish, short match, and was a decent opener that did what it needed to do.
Stamos Syndicate and Jake Manning vs Team Frendship and The Cam-An Connection
This was a match geared towards the kids, and it was successful in that. The Stamos Syndicate is a 3 man heel stable from Northeast Wrestling with two large Samoan looking men, and some short guy. Jake Manning played a cub scout leader who would refer to his guidebook before executing a move, only to have the baby face foil his plans. Imagine Sargent slaughter as a cub scout. Team friendship is a hilarious team with Mark Shurman who is a muscular handsome baby face, but is a little dumb and over excited, and his short partner, who tries to calm him down and gets frustrated when his partners mental capacity comes up short. The Cam-An connection are an ambiguously gay babyface team who come out to the backstreet boys, and wrestle solid matches considering how young they are.
The babyfaces controlled the early going. At one point, both members of the Can-Am Connection go for dives outside of the ring, and each of them miss and land on their backs A fun spot where Shurman hip tosses one of the heels then jumps up and down in excitement, then the next one steps in line and the process repeats. Then, caught up in his excitement, goes to hip toss the ref, but the distraction is enough for the heels to gain some heat and take control. Although this didn’t last long as the baby faces shineed, and team friendship got the pin in a finish. Nothing special, the match was a little sloppy, but the characters got the kids involved, and that’s all this was really intended to do.
Brian Anthony v Caleb Konley
This was basically a Smackdown match. Nothing memorable, but by no means sloppy or bad. It was fine, but the crowd was kin of stale for this one (not that it was a hot crowd really anyways) Brian Anthony is a heel who goes in through the crowd? I’m not sure what purpose is served, but he carries with him what I think is a mini hockey stick with black and green electrical tape on like half of it to match his ring gear. Also he came out to Disturbed in a trench coat. He would be “Generic heel #3” in a wrestling video game. Caleb was the babyface. They had “a match”, the ref took a bump and Anthony hit Konley with a Hockey stick or something for the win, because nobody in Northeast Wrestling could find any baseball bats on a minor league baseball tour.
Alexxis vs. Mickie James
From a “wrestling” perspective, this was ok, but from an entertainment perspective, this was awesome! Mickie came out (to her wwe music which was weird to hear) and got a decent pop, and then just sat there while Alexxis came out and played awesome heel for about 10 minutes. She was arguing with kids in the front row, which the crowd really reacted to. After every move she would brag about how great she was, but she did it in a way that wasn’t generic, and generated a lot of heat. Crowd loved this. Alexxis maintained the upper hand, keeping Mickie out of the ring until she snuck under the ring and popped out to get her first offense of the match. This caused Alexxis to pout loudly, much to the enjoyment of the kids at ringside. The match went back and fourth, with Mickie teasing Stratusfaction, but ultimately settling on a chick kick for the win. This match may have been the most over.
Next up is Mick Foley to thank the crowd for supporting the show and the wrestlers. Warbeard Hanson (half of War Machine in ROH) with a manager to interrupt and talk about how he’s old and washed up and has a grey beard. Foley “My beard may be grey, but when I wake up in the morning, and put in some just for men, I’ll look good as new (something like that), but when you wake up in the morning, you’ll still absolutely suck.” Foley would love to kick Hanson’s ass, but his ass kicking days are over. However he has someone to do it for him, so out comes Samoa Joe.
Samoa Joe vs Warbeard Hanson
Joe is the most over performer so far. Very loud Joe’s gonna kill you chants. This match was fine. Warbeard came out of the previously mentioned Chaotic wrestling, so most people knew him, and the place went nuts for Joe. They basically wrestled a solidhitting big guy vs big guy match with the you cant knock me down standing in the ring spot. The each did their spots, Joe did the kick to Warbead when he was in the corner and the running senton, warbeard did the cartwheel and the kick. Joe locked in the sleeper hold, then locked in the hooks for the rear naked choke and the victory.
Donavan Dijak vs Flip Gordon
This was suppose to be Dijak vs Jimmy Preston, another local guy. Flip Gordon is a local guy who just started wrestling a few months ago, but boy does he live up to his name. Dijak is a monster compared to him as flip is about average person height. Flip is basically A.J. Styles during his X division days of 10 years ago, but with more flips. This match was fun. Flip does the Paul London entrance right into a stare down with Dijak. They Lock up, and Dijak tries to shove him across the ring, but he does a backwards roll into a backflip to land on his feet. Dijak whips him into the corner, but he does a backflip off of the turnbuckle over Dijak to land behind him. (imagine what Daniel Bryan does during his comeback, but set up to Christopher Daniels BME.). Right off of this, Dijak mimics him and does a backflip of his own.
Dijak charges but Flip pulls the rope down and Dijak spills to the outside. Flip hits a perfect flip dive. Back inside and Flip is hitting Dijak with some brutal stiff kicks in the corner. the ref backs him up, and then Flip charges right into a big boot. Dijak hits some stiff kicks of his own as they trade offense. The crowd is into this by now. Dijak goes for his finisher (It’s like a fireman’s carry into a nickbreaker, but the opponent is facing up instead, and the landing is more like a gts than a regular neck or backbreaker) but flip lands on his feet and kicks Dijak down. Flip goes for a shooting star press, but Dijak rolls out of the way and hits his finish for the win. Great match. It was short enough for Dijak to still look strong, but Flip got in enough offense to benefit equally from the match.
The Young Bucks vs The Kingdom
I’m sorry in advance, but I cannot tell the Bucks apart in the ring, never mind remember from a live show. Matt Taven is from a town about 15 min from Lowell, so he’s treated as the hometown hero returning home after reaching success. The Bucks were I think suppose to be the heels, but its hard to tell from the language they wrestle in. (I cant remember if that’s Bryan or Vinnie’s term) The bucks come out with their normal entrance. The Kingdom come out and are in full Babyface mode. Bennett and Taven each go on top of a dugout and run across it high fiving and pumping up the crowd. this was awesome, and the crowd was way into this. The Bucks and The Kingdom trade trade many-a-kicks and crotch chops, with the Bucks yelling it high pitched voices during each move. The Bucks get thrown out of the ring, and say screw this and start to walk to the back. The kingdom come to stop them, only to have the bucks turn around and nail two perfectly timed beautiful super kicks, as well as some crotch chops.
The best moment of the night came when the bucks have Taven outside the ring and Bennett down in the ring. the ring is on home plate with the infield clear of any crowd. So one of the bucks grabs a mic, and starts insulting the Red Sox. He say’s he’ll show us how to hit a home run. So one of them pretends to throw a pitch, and the other pretends to swing a bat. Then the one who swings the bat proceeds to leave the ring, hop the guardrail, and run the bases, celebrating as if he hit a home run. he nears home plate, and dives over the guardrail into Taven. So then they proceed to switch places and do the exact spot AGAIN. This is SO awesome. As he runs down the third base line, Taven hops the guard rail, and superkicks this particular Buck, and leaves both men down on the third base line. The place went nuts for this.
At the end of the match, the Bucks to a million spots and kicks that make them so good at what they do, but the kingdom fights back, and cuts the ring off to one buck. Then the kingdom tease a Meltzer Driver, but instead hit a similar looking spike piledriver for the clean win over the Bucks. Post match, Taven cuts a promo thanking the fans, and northeast wrestling, and says he’s happy to show everyone where he’s started what he’s been able to accomplish with The Kingdom.
Rey Mysterio vs Alberto El Patron vs Matt Hardy
Everyone comes out, with Hardy getting booed as most of us expected him to work as a heel, and Patron got a loud reaction from most of the older demographic. Rey comes out to a sea of cheers and kids in Mysterio masks, who were really the focus of this match. Patron grabs a mic and asks the crowd to cheer for Hardy, then him, and then Rey. He says he’s sick of everyone cheering for Rey over him, because he’s a 4 time world champ, and should be treated as such. He says he’s gonna kick Rey’s ass, and says that Hardy should be equally mad over all of these Americas rooting for a foreigner over him. The match starts, and Hardy acts indecisive at first, but eventually turns on Rey.
This match wasn’t about being a 5-star match as this wasn’t really the place for that. This was a family show at a baseball park, and the match was built around Rey overcoming the odds to win, despite his size. To us this is a little overplayed, but given that this is an indy show in a ball park, and not ROH final battle 2015, this was the perfect main event. Eventually Rey hits the double 619, and the frog splash on Hardy for the win.
By Dave Meltzer
We’re looking for reports on tonight’s WWE shows in Stockton and Fresno as well as the Northeast Wrestling shows this weekend in Wappingers Falls, NY and Lowell, MA at Dave Meltzerdave@wrestlingobserver.com”>
We’re also looking for your thoughts on UFC 190, G-1 in Osaka and G-1 in Nagoya, with a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to Dave Meltzer
WWE on Sunday has house shows in Fresno (Chris Jericho vs.. Kevin Owens) and Stockton, CA (Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton vs. Sheamus) and NEW has a show in Lowell, MA (Rey Mysterio vs. Alberto el Patron vs. Matt Hardy).
Raw will be Monday night in San Jose with Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman returning for the show.
Smackdown will be taped on Tuesday night in Sacramento.
****
FREE THIS WEEK: The newest issue of Figure Four Weekly (subscribe to th site here and get access to Figure Four, the Observer, tons of audio, and our) is 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. Plus, as always, we have all of the usual reviews and international news.
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.
****
The Latest Wrestling Observer: August 3, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Hulk Hogan fired by WWE over leaked hate speech, Daniel Bryan update
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!
You can also order the print Observer right now and get it delivered to your door via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to Dave Meltzer
You can also order at paypal.com directing funds to dave@wrestlingobserver.com
Rates are:
For the United States, it is $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52. In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to moonsault@mediaplusint.com For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52.
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.
The ups and downs of Hulk Hogan is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. We look at his rise to fame, steroids in pro wrestling, Hogan as a fan, the Zahorian trial and why Hogan wasn’t involved, the first time Vince McMahon sent Hulk Hogan away, the McMahon trial, and his career post-wrestling. We look at Hogan Knows Best and how that plays into his latest problems, Bubba the Love Sponge, when Hogan’s racist rant was first reported and how three years ago, the story behind the tapes, what was said, , Hogan’s apology, the Gawker threat and how it plays into his lawsuit, WWE’s reaction and how this is different from his other historical issues. We look at how fiction vs. reality is Hogan’s friend, fan reaction, and more. This is the most detailed look at not just Hogan’s latest situation, but life after wrestling over 25 plus years.
We also look at Daniel Bryan’s current situation, his concussion issues, his wanting to wrestle again and WWE not clearing him, his wife’s reaction to his wrestling again, how his neck is holding up, what could have gotten him to TNA and his different views of the 2014 and 2015 Royal Rumble.
We also look at the HBO Real Sports story on domestic violence issues with fighters, including War Machine, Josh Grispi, Rumble Johnson and Chris Leben.
We also look at the injuries to John Cena and Alicia Fox, lots of notes on SummerSlam, updates on Sting, New WWF considerations for the network, Movie box office with WWE stars, the original gay wrestler idea from 2002 and who it was talked about for, Chael Sonnen and WWE, Celebrity in WWE programming going forward, WWE lawsuit news, Tough Enough notes, new WWE movie and a look at a new developmental star who just debuted.
We also have notes on all the WWE & NXT live events over the weekend, business notes and highlights.
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.
SUNDAY’S NEWS UPDATE
Sunday
4. Gina Carano 20,000
Saturday
1. Ronda Rousey 5 million
4. Danny Garcia 50,000
Friday
1. Ronda Rousey 1 million
3. Roddy Piper 1 million
Thursday
3. UFC 190 200,000
8. Bethe Correia 100,000
Roddy Piper’s acting career in Entertainment Weekly
Jim Ross writes about Roddy Piper
New York Times on Roddy Piper
Coverage of Roddy Piper on The National
Roddy Piper promo from the Bloodstained Memories DVD
ESPN on Roddy Piper’s death
A story on Madusa and Monster trucks
Richard O’Sullivan noted the symbolism of Ronda Rousey knocking out Bethe Correia with a punch to the left ear, the same left ear that was the center of the 1983 Roddy Piper vs. Greg Valentine angle that led to their dog collar match at Starrcade 83.
ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY INTERNATIONAL (thanks to Graeme Cameron)
1975 – Moose Morowski beat George Guliovas in Melbourne to win the Austra Asian title on the same show Rocky Romero (a Melbourne based jobber no relation to the current star of the same name) beat Great Mephisto to win the Brass Knux title.
1978 – Mal Sanders beat Mick McManus in Huddersfield to win the European middleweight title
1996 – In the quarterfinals of the J Crown (eight different lighter weight champions all putting up their titles) at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Great Sasuke beat Masayoshi Motegi, El Samurai beat Gran Hamada, Ultimo Dragon beat Jushin Liger and Shinjiro Otani beat Negro Casas
1998 – Shinya Hashimoto beat Kazuo Yamazaki to win the G-1 Climax tournament
1998 – Kyoko Inoue beat Lioness Asuka to win the TWWF title
2002 – Felino beat Black Tiger (Silver King) in Mexico City to win the CMLL Leyenda de Plata tournament
All of our interviews and our show we do throughout the year are also available on iTunes, Play.it, and http://chaddukeswrestlingshow.com/
Thank you and have a great day!
——-
Jay Lethal on being the face of ROH:
“I feel like I won the lottery because what a perfect time to be the world champion of Ring of Honor with all the momentum from Sinclair and everything and now the acquisition of being on Destination America and with the inevitable downfall of the other company who assumed the number two slot, because we are the number two wrestling company in the world right now. But yeah it’s an exciting time I feel like I won the lottery.”
Jay Lethal on wrestling a 60-minute draw:
“I don’t believe there’s any way to prepare for that. It’s like, ‘Oh, I’m a runner. So I’m going to go practice in the gym on the treadmill and on the elliptical.’ I have actually run on the treadmill and I’ve run on elliptical and then I decided to run through my park at home and let me tell you there’s no substitute for really running. When there’s something that you need to get done there’s no substitute other than actually doing it. So there was really no preparing to have a sixty-minute match, it was tough.”
“It’s one of those moments where you have to dig down deep and pull everything that you have and I swear by the end of that match I had nothing left. There was nothing left in the tank, so to speak.”
Dalton Castle on the creative freedom within ROH:
“It’s great. I love being a part of Ring of Honor. I love wrestling. I’m very good at it and I will continue to do it, and to be able to do it here at Ring of Honor and to share the ring with so many amazing talents while getting to be myself at the same time without anybody trying to censor me or hold me down is a great feeling. I spent years working in other places whether it be wrestling or my other radio gig I used to do years ago being told, “Tone it down a little bit baby doll.” And I get to come here in Ring of Honor they’re like, “Hey what you are is what you are and we love it so be that.” I don’t think a lot of people in their field of employment get to do that.”
Moose on re-signing with ROH:
“Ring of Honor gave me my very first chance. They helped create the brand ‘Moose.’ So I mean it was an easy decision, they told me that they were going to stick by me with whatever decision I made and I just felt like I’m a real loyal guy, so they helped me get get me to where I’m at now so I’m going to return the favor.”
Moose on the pressures of living up to prior former football playing wrestlers and cutting ties with football:
“There’s the goods and there’s the bads. You’ve got Goldberg, Wahoo [McDaniel], Ernie Ladd, greats. So there was the pressure of can I be as good as those guys and then you have some of the guys who wasn’t so good that came in from the football world. There was also the pressure of, “Man what if I suck as bad as those guys.” So I mean it’s big pressure, the best thing to do is just work my ass off, work as hard as I can, so that I can be up there with the Wahoos, the Ernie Ladds and the Goldbergs and other guys.”
“When I left football I decided I want to leave that behind me. I don’t want to have any teases about going back even though I knew there wasn’t going to be one but I didn’t want to have that maybe so I shut the door completely. I don’t follow it, which sucks because I have a lot of friends in the football world and I don’t get the watch their stuff because I’m scared of my watch it and go, “Oh man I miss football I want to go back and play.” So I kind of like shut the door.”
Submission Radio spoke with Jake Shields post-fight after his controversial fight with Rousimar Palhares at WSOF 22.
Shields who had to deal with alleged eye gouging from Palhares explained his frustrations “Man I was just really pissed. The guy [Palhares] just gouged my eyes over and over, you know? I haven’t watched the fight yet, I’m not sure if it’s evident on TV, but this guy kept catching his thumb and digging it in my eyes and it’s 100 percent, absolutely deliberate. I’ve never in 40 fights and maybe 100 submission matches been gouged once. This guy did it over and over at least eight times. I kept telling Mazzagatti who was completely ignoring it and he just allowed this guy to blatantly cheat. And then on top of that, you know, he cranked the submission after I tapped. So it was just…..it was just really irritating.” Jake was able to confirm to Submission Radio if the eye gouging had a significant impact on his performance at WSOF 22 “Yeah, I mean that’s why I was more mad about that than the late submission because I thought it affected my fight. It’s hard to say for sure. I hate being the guy making excuses, it’s not the way I am, but I mean I was winning the fight, and I go in the third round not being able to see good, and I just felt like I also let it get to me mentally, the fact that – I mean that’s my fault for letting it get to me mentally – but the fact that the ref was completely ignoring it. I’d tell him over and over and he did not care.”
One of the big discussion points of the fight was referee Steve Mazzagatti’s choice not to deduct a point from Rousimar during the fight for repeated eye gouging. When asked if he thought a point should have been taken Jake responded “Man I was absolutely astonished that he didn’t take a point. Honestly, I’ve never really taken an interest in Steve Mazzagatti. I know he has a terrible reputation as a ref but I’ve never like really paid attention to be honest. I didn’t know if it was deserved or not. But after today, I think the guy’s a joke and I’ll refuse to have him ref me again, especially ’cause I had some words with him at the end. There’s no way I’ll let the guy ref me. If you blatantly let a guy – a guy who’s known as a cheater – I mean I’ve never seen him gouge eyes before but he blatantly let a guy just put his thumbs in my eyes over and over. It wasn’t the kind if eye-gouge that you see when guys are throwing punches, he was taking hands and trying gouge me eyes out.”
Although it seems like a rematch is likely Jake was adamant that he’d like to take the fight to Palhares in the streets instead “Yeah man, I want to fight the guy in the streets to be honest, ’cause I want to gouge his eyes back, I want to bite him, I want to kick him in the balls. I like actually wanna fight the guy. If I see him tonight I’m coming after him. Like I don’t like the guy. They’ve got rules and he’s not following the rules. I don’t know. I mean I’ll fight him again in a cage, but maybe I’ll stoop to his level if I have a shitty ref.”
For now the question remains, what should WSOF do with Rousimar Palhares after another questionable fight? According to Jake, suspension is the way to go “Yeah, you know, I think it was blatant. I think he should probably be suspended. Especially with his track record. I mean it’s not my place to say, that’s between the athletic commission and them. I don’t know, but I know if I was in charge I’d definitely suspend him.”
Full interview: http://youtu.be/Zu6x8uQy0VE
Transcript
What was going through Jake’s mind after the submission when he stood up
“Man I was just really pissed. The guy [Palhares] just gouged my eyes over and over, you know? I haven’t watched the fight yet, I’m not sure if it’s evident on TV, but this guy kept catching his thumb and digging it in my eyes and it’s 100 percent, absolutely deliberate. I’ve never in 40 fights and maybe 100 submission matches been gouged once. This guy did it over and over at least eight times. I kept telling Mazzagatti who was completely ignoring it and he just allowed this guy to blatantly cheat. And then on top of that, you know, he cranked the submission after I tapped. So it was just…..it was just really irritating.”
On how badly the eye gouges affected Jake’s performance
“Yeah, I mean that’s why I was more mad about that than the late submission because I thought it affected my fight. It’s hard to say for sure. I hate being the guy making excuses, it’s not the way I am, but I mean I was winning the fight, and I go in the third round not being able to see good, and I just felt like I also let it get to me mentally, the fact that – I mean that’s my fault for letting it get to me mentally – but the fact that the ref was completely ignoring it. I’d tell him over and over and he did not care.”
On if he’s surprised that Mazzagatti didn’t take a point for the eye gouges, and his thoughts on his refereeing as a whole
“Man I was absolutely astonished that he didn’t take a point. Honestly, I’ve never really taken an interest in Steve Mazzagatti. I know he has a terrible reputation as a ref but I’ve never like really paid attention to be honest. I didn’t know if it was deserved or not. But after today, I think the guy’s a joke and I’ll refuse to have him ref me again, especially ’cause I had some words with him at the end. There’s no way I’ll let the guy ref me. If you blatantly let a guy – a guy who’s known as a cheater – I mean I’ve never seen him gouge eyes before but he blatantly let a guy just put his thumbs in my eyes over and over. It wasn’t the kind if eye-gouge that you see when guys are throwing punches, he was taking hands and trying gouge me eyes out.”
On Jake’s shoulder after Rousimar’s kimura
“Yeah I mean it’s really sore and It’s hard to say. It’s hard to tell with a shoulder – a shoulder and elbow – like how serious it is. I’m thinking I’ll be ok, but hopefully I’ll know in the next couple of days.”
“I’m a lot more irritated about the eye pokes but it’s still ridiculous that he clearly held a submission too long after I tapped.”
On if he spoke to Ray Sefo or Ali Abdel-Aziz about the situation
“Yeah they say they blatantly saw the eye pokes as well. I mean they didn’t say what they were going to do, but they definitely were not happy. They were aware that he was cheating and they seemed very not happy. I mean I don’t blame them, they’re in a tricky situation. It’s their champ, you know, like what do you do? Do you strip him or not? I mean I don’t know. Personally, I probably would, but that’s…..you know, I respect both of them. That’s a decision they’re going to have to make.”
On if Rousimar should be punished
“Yeah, you know, I think it was blatant. I think he should probably be suspended. Especially with his track record. I mean it’s not my place to say, that’s between the athletic commission and them. I don’t know, but I know if I was in charge I’d definitely suspend him.”
On if Jake Shields wants an immediate rematch
“Yeah man, I want to fight the guy in the streets to be honest, ’cause I want to gouge his eyes back, I want to bite him, I want to kick him in the balls. I like actually wanna fight the guy. If I see him tonight I’m coming after him. Like I don’t like the guy. They’ve got rules and he’s not following the rules. I don’t know. I mean I’ll fight him again in a cage, but maybe I’ll stoop to his level if I have a shitty ref.”
Best regards,
Denis Shkuratov
Head Producer
Submission Radio Australia
SB Nation
W submissionradio.com
E submissionradioaus@gmail.com
M +61 0405339337
By Jeremy Wall
Danny Garcia (31-0-0, 18 KOs) stopped Paulie Malignaggi (33-7, 7 KOs) in the ninth round of the main event of the second PBC on ESPN card Saturday, August 1st. The show, which included an opening fight where Daniel Jacobs (30-1, 27 KOs) beat Sergio Mora (28-4, 9 KOs) in the second round when Mora injured his right ankle, took place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and went up against UFC 190 on pay per view from Brazil with the UFC prelims airing on Fox Sports 1. Local promotion for PBC was handled by Lou DiBella.
It was the second straight UFC pay per view that PBC on ESPN has gone up against. PBC debuted on ESPN on July 11th with a show featuring Keith Thurman, replacing the long-tenured Friday Night Fights on ESPN2. I thought it was a mistake for PBC to debut on ESPN going up against UFC 189 with the Conor McGregor title fight.
I also thought it was a mistake for ESPN to air its second PBC card this weekend against a UFC pay per view headlined by Ronda Rousey. Although the UFC show took place at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro and UFC pay per views in foreign countries are typically expected to draw weaker buy rates, I think that Ronda has become such a box office draw that holding her fight in Rio won’t do too much damage to the show’s pay per view buy rate. Also, the timing of “Rowdy” Roddy Piper’s death meant a swell of media attention for his namesake “Rowdy” Ronda. Smartly, Ronda dedicated her fight to the late Rowdy one.
The debut of PBC on ESPN on July 11th drew a flat rating of 799,000 viewers against the Conor McGregor title fight. It was outdrawn by the UFC prelims on Fox Sports 1 the same night, as well as being outdrawn by previous live event programming ESPN has aired on Saturday nights. If I am correct in assuming that Ronda’s drawing power will overcome the disadvantage of UFC holding a pay per view in Brazil instead of state-side, then I expect a second flat rating for PBC on ESPN.
Besides the UFC pay per view, PBC on ESPN also went up against a strong WSOF show on NBC Sportsnetwork, although I doubt the WSOF will have much of an impact if any impact at all on either PBC or UFC.
PBC returns to ESPN on August 29th for a show headlined by undefeated Leo Santa Cruz against Abner Mares at featherweight. Santa Cruz was last seen fighting on the pay per view undercard of the Mayweather-Pacquiao extravaganza. The August 29th show is again being used as counter-programming against a pay per view, but instead of a UFC show this time it is a pay per view featuring Shane Mosley vs. Ricardo Mayorga. That show is being promoted by Mosley and takes place in Inglewood. Mosley claims that he will need a minimum of 40,000 buys on pay per view for the show to break even. With PBC airing on ESPN opposite Mosley’s card, it will make it more challenging for Mosley to hit that magic number.
Saturday night’s PBC main event on ESPN featured Danny Garcia’s debut at welterweight (147 pounds). Garcia came in at 146 3/4 pounds, the heaviest he has ever been for a fight. Garcia last appeared on his PBC debut on April 11th, barely squeaking by Lamont Peterson with a majority decision victory fought at a catchweight of 143 pounds. Garcia is the former WBA Super Super Lightweight and WBC Super Lightweight champion, holding wins over notables like Peterson, Rod Salka, Mauricio Herrera, Lucas Matthysse, Zab Judah, Erik Morales (twice), and Amir Khan, among others. He has been criticized of late, however, for taking fights against handpicked opponents. Garcia has vacated one belt and is expected to vacate the other soon with his move up to welterweight.
Garcia, 27, was one of the many names in the rumour mill for Floyd Mayweather’s supposed final fight on September 12th, which supposedly has gone to Andre Berto although nothing has been officially announced. Instead, Garcia was used to headline the second PBC on ESPN show and given Malignaggi, an opponent who has a bit of a name as both a fighter and broadcaster and would give Garcia an interesting bout, but would have virtually no chance of beating Garcia.
Malignaggi, 33, hadn’t fought since a fourth-round TKO loss against Shawn Porter on April 19th, 2014. He was widely considered a disappointing challenger for Garcia’s welterweight debut. Before the Garcia fight, Malignaggi had lost two of his last three fights, with the other loss against Adrian Broner by split-decision on June 22, 2013, and the win coming against Zab Judah by unanimous decision on December 7th, 2013. Malignaggi was the former WBA Welterweight and IBF Super Lightweight champion, having lost the Welterweight title to Broner. Malignaggi also had a few notable loses earlier in his career, to Amir Khan via eleventh round TKO on May 15th, 2010; Ricky Hatton also via eleventh round TKO on November 22nd, 2008; and, Miguel Cotto via unanimous decision on June 10th, 2006.
Attendance was announced at 7,237. Malignaggi is from Brooklyn and was the hometown favourite against Garcia, although Garcia had his supporters, too, which made for a hot crowd. Garcia is from Philadelphia, but his last three fights including the Malignaggi bout have been at the Barclays Center and Garcia has fought at the venue a total of five times during his career, so it is his home away from home.
After the fight, Malignaggi was talking retirement. “I’m probably not fighting again,” he said. It was not exactly a retirement speech, but Malignaggi is one of the better colour commentators in boxing, working for PBC, so he has another job to fall back on, which is a job that doesn’t require taking more physical damage.
Garcia earned $1.25 million for the bout compared to $550,000 for Malignaggi.
Garcia connected 121 of 485 punches for 25-percent. Malignaggi connected on 77 of 335 punches for 23-percent. Even though the punch stats appear close, Garcia handily won every round (although ESPN colour analyst Teddy Atlas did give one early round to Malignaggi). Malignaggi’s offense was weak and Garcia appeared unblemished after the bout. Malignaggi, on the other hand, suffered a bad cut over his right eye. The cut was opened in the third round. The right eye kept getting worse and worse until the bout was stopped in the ninth with Garcia battering Malignaggi against the ropes. Garcia was leading on all three scorecards when the fight was stopped with 79-73, 79-73 and 78-74.
After the fight, Garcia raised Malignaggi’s hand, which received an ovation from Malignaggi’s hometown crowd. It was nearly an identical scene to what was going on far away in Rio de Janeiro when Stefan Struve raised Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira’s hand after beating Nogueira in front of Nogueira’s hometown crowd.
Since beating Malignaggi, Garcia talked about facing either Keith Thurman or Shawn Porter, both fighters coming off wins on key PBC broadcasts. “Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter are great fighters in this division. If they want, we can make it happen,” said Garcia.
Either would be a great fight. If I were PBC, I would be looking to put Garcia-Porter or Garcia-Thurman (or Thurman-Porter, for that matter) on pay per view, with the idea that their wins on free television built their names and subsequent PBC broadcasts can be used to build hype for their pay per view fights.
In the opening fight on ESPN, Daniel Jacobs, 28, beat Sergio Mora, 34, when Mora collapsed in the second-round due to a right ankle injury. The fight looked exciting, as both Mora and Jacobs scored respective knockdowns in the first round. In the second round, both fighters showed flash until Mora’s injury.
Jacobs earned $500,000 and Mora earned $225,000 for the fight.
The bout was put together clearly to give Jacobs a showcase win. It was Jacobs’s second fight on PBC after beating Caleb Truax on Spike TV on April 24th. There is talk about Jacobs facing Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin. Quillin fights September 6th against an opponent yet to be named. A proposed bouth between Jacobs and Quillin would take place after that date.
“I want Peter Quillin next. It’s a fight the fans deserve,” said Jacobs. “Brooklyn always supports both of us and it would be a great way to close out the year.”
PBC also had a show scheduled for Bounce TV on Sunday, August 2nd at Full Sail University featuring Juan Carlos Payano (16-0, 8 KOs) against Rau’shee Warren (13-0, 4 KOs) for the WBA Super Bantamweight title held by Payano, whose nickname is “Baby Pacquiao”. It is PBC’s debut on Bounce. Bounce is a competitor for BET for African-American cable television viewership. A few weeks ago BET aired a timebuy that featured the return of Andre Ward. That fight was promoted by Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, a competitor of PBC (Jay-Z and Haymon have a long history in the music industry and have a grudge against one another).
The way matchmaking has worked in the main events of the first two PBC on ESPN cards is to take a great fighter in his prime who has star potential and put him against an opponent that allows that great fighter to showcase his skills and hopefully get over with a new audience. With the first PBC on ESPN show, that star was Keith Thurman, who was in his second PBC fight after being on the debut PBC on NBC broadcast in March. Garcia also fought on NBC earlier this year for PBC, and was the star fighter on the second PBC on ESPN card. The next star that PBC is pushing in the main event of its third ESPN card later this month is Santa Cruz.
The question then becomes whether the fighter that PBC is trying to push got over. I think both Thurman and Garcia did. The wins for both fighters on ESPN were good, although Thurman was admittedly a tad shaky early in his ESPN fight. The problem is that ESPN is putting PBC boxing against UFC and later this month against the Mosley pay per view. I believe that when you counter-program against stiff competition, you have to come out with an exceptional card that will make fans skip the expensive pay per view to watch the better card on free television. Counter-programming using star building fights against enhancement talent doesn’t work.
Fortunately, I cover boxing for a pro wrestling site, which means I can break out a dated pro wrestling reference to illustrate my point. Let me take you back to March 27th, 1988. I have no clue what was going on in boxing that night, but in the pro wrestling world WrestleMania IV was taking place at the Trump Plaza in Atlantic City and airing on pay per view and CCTV. The show featured a one-night tournament for the WWF title headlined by a tournament bout that rematched Hulk Hogan against Andre the Giant from their famous WrestleMania III bout a year earlier.
Elsewhere in the United States, Crockett Promotions aired the first Clash of the Champions the very same night, broadcasting on TBS with a headline of the young upstart Sting challenging Ric Flair for the NWA title. The card also featured an NWA Tag title match and a bout that teamed the Road Warriors with Dusty Rhodes.
It drew a 5.8 rating and a 13 share against WrestleMania, which were the best numbers for wrestling on TBS in many years. The 7.8 peak quarter hour for the Sting-Flair main event was the highest quarter hour in the history of wrestling on TBS, also making it the most watched wrestling match in the history of cable television up to that point in time. Importantly, WrestleMania also drew well on pay per view, as two strong shows going up against one another created a new audience rather than splitting the audience if they had both aired weaker shows with less hype.
The idea of the first Clash was to air on free television against the WWF pay per view. It was revenge for WWF debuting the Survivor Series on November 26th, 1987, up against Starrcade the same night, as well as WWF airing the Royal Rumble for free on the USA Network on January 24th, 1988, against the Bunkhouse Stampede, the latter of which aired on pay per view. The Rumble did an 8.2 rating, the largest rating for pro wrestling on the USA Network up to that point in time.
The point I am attempting to make by bringing up these three old examples is that when you counter-program against a competitor’s pay per view by broadcasting a free TV fight on the same night, you have to come in with a great card and not a card that is focused on building new stars. WWF created both the Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble with gimmick matches that became long-term draws of their own accord. WWF put those matches against Crockett’s Starrcade and Bunkhouse Stampede. Much later WWF also ran loaded house shows the night before WCW shows in the same market in order to damage WCW’s drawing power, which is funny because that is somewhat similar to the tactics Al Haymon has been accused of in running shows in California.
The idea with the Survivor Series, which aired on pay per view, was to bump the Starrcade pay per view from as many systems as possibly as the WWF gave cable systems an ultimatum of which show to broadcast, one or the other, and most went with the WWF show since it was the proven brand and because WWF also said that any system that aired the Crockett show also wouldn’t get the next WrestleMania, which was a cash cow. The Royal Rumble was created because cable systems wouldn’t let WWF give that ultimatum again, so WWF just aired the Rumble on free television instead. Crockett struck back by airing the first Clash on free TV against the WWF’s flagship event, WrestleMania.
In the latter two circumstances, the Rumble against Bunkhouse Stampede and Clash against WrestleMania, fans were able to watch a free television show that was as good as or better than the wrestling show airing on pay per view. The Rumble was a gimmick match much like the Stampede gimmick match, but was free. Clash had much better matches than WrestleMania IV. In these circumstances, both the WWF and Crockett Promotions didn’t counter-program with matches building new stars, but put on the best possible cards to try and deflate the pay per view buy rate of their competition.
Yes, Sting became a star by going to a draw with NWA Champion Ric Flair, but that would be more akin to PBC counter-programming against UFC by having Garcia or Thurman fight Floyd Mayweather on free television. The Crockett equivalent of what PBC is doing on ESPN is to counter-program a WWF pay per view by having Sting face enhancement talent instead of facing Ric Flair. Obviously the Crockett show would not draw as well without Flair’s star power going against WrestleMania.
If you’re going to go on free television up against the major pay per view of a competitor, you have to bring tremendous hype and tremendous star power or forget about it.
This is where the PBC on ESPN shows aren’t working. The first show drew flat ratings going against Conor McGregor on pay per view. Yeah, the show pushed Thurman as a star, just like this past Saturday’s show pushed Garcia as a star. But people aren’t going to skip a WrestleMania-level pay per view headlined by Conor or by Ronda to watch a rising boxing star fight enhancement talent.
The better idea for PBC on ESPN is to put PBC on Saturday nights where there isn’t much competition. Or, to skip Saturdays altogether and aim for Friday or even Sunday night fights. You need as many people to tune in as possible in order to create a new star. If your television ratings are stifled because you went up against a much bigger and better show from your competition, then fewer people are watching your new star. You want as many people watching your guys being pushed as new stars as possible, which means putting these fighters on nights with less competition. If PBC wants to go up against UFC, PBC needs to come in with a strong main event and a good card overall, not a card built around a new star fighting enhancement talent.
I think the boxing world is full of hubris when it comes to the UFC. Stephen Espinoza, an executive with Showtime Sports, was on Twitter Saturday night after the UFC show claiming that Showtime is responsible for making Ronda Rousey into a star. “UFC can’t claim to father RR after saying females would never fight in UFC. RR succeeded despite UFC, not because of them,” tweeted Espinoza, who also tweeted, “As if Ronda has never been on SHO. We built her.”
He’s delusional. All the talk of the last twenty-four hours of Ronda Rousey possibly being “TBE” is due to UFC’s careful and exceptional marketing of Ronda’s star power. She’s a great fighter and is becoming more exceptional with every fight. But no one took UFC seriously when they decided to headline a pay per view with Ronda’s UFC debut against Liz Carmouche. A couple of years later and people think Ronda is the greatest fighter ever. That has nothing whatsoever to do with Showtime and everything to do with exceptional star creation by the UFC.
Showtime is, of course, one of the major boxing broadcasters, along with HBO and the PBC family of shows. They once aired Strikeforce MMA, where Ronda got her initial break. Showtime actually works largely with Al Haymon since the launch of PBC earlier this year, although they do air lesser boxing cards handled by other promoters.
I think many of the executives in boxing don’t take the UFC seriously, nor do they understand why UFC draws as well as it does. I think the so-called comeback of boxing in 2015 due to the debut of the PBC and the Mayweather-Pacquiao hype has filled those who run boxing with an arrogance about boxing’s drawing power and their ability to create new stars. Boxing does have drawing power and it does have the ability to create new stars, without question. But boxing doesn’t have so much drawing power and such strong ability to create new stars that it eclipses whatever the UFC is doing, to the point where people in boxing can claim to have created UFC’s biggest star and to the point where PBC can air mediocre boxing cards on ESPN against strong UFC pay per views and expect to do well in the ratings.
The other problem with PBC is that even if they can create new stars with a wider audience than the people who typically watch boxing, they haven’t shown an ability to follow up on creating those stars by putting those stars in interesting fights that garner significant public interest. Yes, Mayweather-Pacquiao was brilliantly hyped and led to record setting business. But that was a once in a lifetime fight. PBC has indeed created a little collection of star fighters, but they haven’t done anything with the newfound star power of these fighters.
I still can’t comprehend PBC’s business model. When they debuted in March with time buys across a multitude of networks and cable stations (adding more and more stations as the year rolled on), it looked like the idea with the PBC was to turn the time buys into a situation where the networks paid PBC for their shows. To do that, PBC would have to draw strong ratings to convince network executives that their fights are worth paying for. Alternatively, if PBC wasn’t looking to get paid for their shows, but wanted to continue with a time buy or some kind of hybrid time buy business model, they would have to sell enough advertising to sponsors in order to overcome the costs of paying to air on network television and turn a profit. The final way which PBC could make money would be using the network time buys to create new stars, eating the losses on the time buys, and then playing these new stars off one another on pay per view, turning a profit by having the time buys hype the pay per views enough to create profitable buy rates.
PBC has done none of this. They have sold advertising, with a much wider variety of sponsors now in August compared to when they started in March. But since PBC isn’t a public company, it is difficult to ascertain whether the sponsorship money is generating enough revenue to overcome the costs of airing on network television. My guess would be probably not, considering the expensive productions associated with PBC (although I believe the networks are eating some of those costs).
But PBC hasn’t turned their time buys into a situation where they are getting paid to sell fights, at least not that anyone is aware of (although I suspect Spike TV has been paying them since day one, although that’s merely conjecture on my part). And boxing has a full slate of pay per views from now until Christmas. Yet, oddly enough, only one of those pay per views is promoted by the PBC people, which is the Floyd Mayweather-Andre Berto fight at the MGM Grand on September 12th. And even that fight was rumoured to be airing on CBS instead of pay per view. Mayweather-Berto is also the weakest pay per view fight on tap in boxing, with the others being Cotto-Canelo and Golovkin-Lemieux, with both being broadcast on pay per view by HBO.
The obvious business model for PBC would be to use time buys on network and cable television in key dates and timeslots to create new stars, and then to put those stars against one another on pay per view and draw strong enough revenue on pay per view to offset the expense of the time buys and turn a profit. This is similar to what the WWF did in the 80s and what UFC did in 2005. In both cases, it worked. But PBC just keeps airing star-making fights on a variety of networks, without any clear direction to what these fights are meant to lead to.
The business model I would be looking at if I ran the company would be to use time buys to build new stars, selling advertising on those time buys to offset their cost, and then put those new stars against one another on pay per view and use the time buys on network and cable TV to hype the pay per views, and subsequently turn a profit on pay per view and also foreign broadcast rights.
Quite frankly, however, PBC makes absolutely no sense. I’m curious as to how much money they have spent since starting in March, because even if they get to the point where they turn a profit, my guess is that the start-up costs were so incredibly high that they would have to turn a profit for a long while in order for the venture to have actually made money for its hedge fund investors.
The hype for the September 12th Mayweather-Berto fight hasn’t even begun and that show barely more than a month away. I think part of the reason Mayweather-Pacquiao drew so well on pay per view was the additional advertising of that fight during PBC broadcasts. PBC needs time to hype Mayweather-Berto in order for it to draw well, especially considering people think of the fight as something of a joke.
After September 12th and Mayweather-Berto are behind us, we can start to watch what PBC is doing for its future. If PBC doesn’t start putting on more pay per views, or turn time buys into pay situations, then there is going to be a problem. On the other hand, if PBC is able to take one of its fresh new stars, put them on pay per view, and draw a profitable buy rate, then the future is looking promising.
Jeremy Wall can be contacted at jeremywall1984@gmail.com and found on Twitter @jeremydalewall.
By Brian Hoops, WrestlingObserver.com
1968 – In Milwaukee; Dr. X beat Dick the Bruiser, The Crusher beat Mitsu Arakawa and Bill Watts beat Dutch Savage
1969 – In Milwaukee; AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Billy Red Lyons, In a No dq match, AWA Tag Team Champions Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher beat Mad Dog Vachon & Butcher Vachon, Red Bastien beat Dr. X and Bill Watts beat Angelo Poffo. Attendance was, 8,709.
1972 – In Miami, Florida; In a match where the winner would meet NWA Champion Dory Funk Jr, Zodiac beat Mr Wrestling Tim Woods, Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Hiro Matsuda & Ron Fuller and Buddy Colt beat Louie Tillet dq (sub Johnny Walker)
1975 – Jose Rivera & Ciclon defeated Pierre & Michael Martel in Caguas, Puerto Rico for the WWC North American Tag Team Title
1978 – In Honolulu, Hawaii at Blaisdell Center Arena; In a No dq 60:00 Time Limit match, AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel defeated Tor Kamata, In World Light Heavyweight Title Match, Chavo Guerrero (c) wrestleed Tony Rocco, Hawaiian Tag Team Champions Steve Strong & John Tolos vs Mr Fuji & Mystery Partner and John Studd vs Don Muraco
1980 – In Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Nick Bockwinkel beat Dino Bravo dq, The Crusher no contest Jerry Blackwell, Jesse Ventura beat Greg Gagne, John Studd beat Steve Olsonoski and Tito Santana drew Adrian Adonis. Attendance was 4,137
1985 – Harley Race defeated Jerry Blackwell in St. Louis, Missouri for the NWA Missouri Heavyweight Title; In Denver, Colorado; In a Boot Camp match, Sgt Slaughter & Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel & Larry Zbyszko, Terry Gordy & Michael Hayes & Ray Stevens beat Blackjack Lanza & Dick The Bruiser & The Crusher, Brad Rheingans beat Boris Zhukov and Bill Irwin beat Steve O
1992 – Ron Simmons defeated Big Van Vader in Baltimore, Maryland to win the WCW World Heavyweight Title.
1993 – Luna Vachon defeated Miss Texas (Jacqueline) in Memphis, Tennessee for the USWA Heavyweight Title,
1999 – D Lo Brown defeated Jeff Jarrett for the WWF Intercontinental Title.
UFC 190
Thumbs Up! Went to the same bar where I always watch UFC events. The place was packed, more than in any other UFC fight. At first I thought that it was due to the Danny Garcia Boxing match but to my surprise most people there weren’t paying attention to it. After the boxing everyone look at the tv for the UFC event and started asking when the Ronda fight was coming. Most of them didn’t even know her name, they just new that “the women” was fighting. Some went desperate because of the so many matches on the card, most lost interest in the undercard macthes but once the main event came everyone was watching. The match was short but nobody complaint, they just praised Ronda. First time that that ever happened on the place for a UFC event. Not a GSP, Silva, or even the recent McGregor match was ever been able to “outdraw” boxing. Ronda did it.
For what I saw, from the Big Foot fight going on…
Best Fight: First match of the TUF final
Worst Fight: The second TUF final
Leonardo II Mendez
San Sebastian, PR
UFC 190
Thumbs up. Another very consistent card. Better in reality than on paper.
Best fight: Vieira vs. Lopes, L Nog vs. Shogun
Worst fight: B Nog vs. Struve
Best performance: gonna say Maia considering degree of dominance and quality of opposition
Worst performance: Hester
KO: Ronda
Sub: Maia
Guido Canetti takes a very close 29-28 UD over Hugo Viana in what was essentially a guy fighting himself in the mirror. Credit to the judges for an anti-hometown decision. Could have gone either way. Surprisingly easy win for Vitor Miranda over Clint Hester, finishing with giftwrap G&P in the 2nd.
In an interesting fight, Iuri Alcantara’s excellent standup and decent grappling too much for Leandro Issa’s poor standup and excellent grappling. Issa takes the 1st but Alcantara takes the last two wide, one or both possible 10-8s. I would say 29-26. Judges go 29-28,28,27. Much better performance than last time from Warlley Alves, frustrating the more technical Nordine Taleb with his athletic advantages, then capitalizing on a slightly telegraphed shot with a Guillotine for the tap in the 2nd. Extremely talented, would like to see a rematch of the hometown decision over Jouban. Pat Cummings drubs and wears out Rafael Feijao, finishing early in the 3rd with his 9th TD and a series of elbows, but fight was made dramatic by Feijao doing visible damage with every one of the few shots he landed. I thought it was time for Neil Magny, but Demian Maia just takes him to school, controlling every second of the fight till Magny gives up his back and finishing with body tri/leg grapevine & RNC midway through the 2nd. Completely onesided.
Claudia Gadelha just wrecks the much smaller Jessica Aguilar for two rounds, ragdolls her, breaks her nose and busts her up. Probably at least some 8agon jits as Aguilar comes back well in the 3rd but it’s still a hometown 30-27 X 3. No question Gadelha won but Aguilar certainly seemed to win the 3rd. Gadelha cuts a good bilingual promo and earns a rematch of the disputed loss to JJ, this time for the title.
Soa Palelei never lands the big one but Bigfoot Silva does early in the 2nd and doesn’t let Soa off the hook, finishing with a series of knees and uppercuts.
Basically Big Nog walks in for three rounds, Stefan Struve hits him about 10 times, Nog hits him back about 2 times, lather rinse. Fight looks like it’s taking place underwater, it’s so slow. Struve wins the correct 30-27 UD and Nog fortunately retires.
In by far the most spirited fight of the night so far, Reginalso Vieira and Dileno Lopes go 3 at a ridiculous pace for the TUF BR BW title, just going for everything. Vieira takes the UD with two 30-27s. It was way closer than the score.
Gleiso Franca (btw Buffer, Rogan, Goldberg,the ‘c’ is soft, don’t you guys even listen to the Brazilians?), looking at least 3 divisions bigger, dominates Fernando Bruno and finishes just inside the distance with RNC for the TUF BR LW title. Apparently he’s the brother of former UFC fighter Hermes Franca (they couldn’t say it then either)—they look nothing alike.
Shogun Rua and Little Nog both look surprisingly good going the distance. Nobody gasses. The last half of the 1st round was a back and forth war like their first fight in PRIDE 10 years ago. Very close fight. I think Nog edged it. So does a lot of the audience (he’s the local). The judges all think otherwise, 29-28. Shogun repeats the previous decision win.
My sympathy to anyone who conned themself into thinking Bethe the Bithe had a chance. Ronda takes a whole 34 seconds to knock her cold standing.
Crimson Mask
Thumbs down
Best fight: Vieira vs. Lopes
Bad show and way too long. I understand they were kind of stuck with the two TUF Brazil fights and didn’t want to put them on FS1 but they really dragged down the show despite Vieira/Lopes being fight of the night.
Both Noguieras, Struve, and Shogun looked like they shouldn’t be fighting so it was just kind of a sad night.
Ronda continues to impress and is dominant beyond words. She’s the UFC’s only true crossover star and I don’t think she should ever be in the #2 fight on any card, no matter how big.
I loved how they referred to her as UFC Bantamweight Champion, not Women’s Bantamweight Champion. I hope Stephanie McMahon was truly paying attention to how Rousey is promoted.
Mike Hiscoe
by Bryan Rose, WrestlingObserver.com
Welcome to tonight’s coverage of Day 9 of the G1 Climax tournament, held today in Aichi, at the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium. This is a multi-camera set up with no commentary.
It was announced before the matches started today that Tiger Mask is out today due to a neck injury. The eight man that was scheduled to start the show will now be a six man.
Satoshi Kojima, KUSHIDA, Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Tomoaki Honma, Mascara Dorada & David Finlay Jr.
This was a backdrop to Kojima vs. Honma as they’re due to square off soon in the G1 tournament. Crowd was super into them interacting with their back and forth. The few moments Dorada was in there, he looked great. Kushida isolates Finlay and submits him with the hoverboard lock.
Kojima and Honma had a pull apart after the match that had to be stopped by their teammates.
Michael Elgin & Jay White vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall
The lone star of this match was Elgin who continues to get himself over big time here in New Japan, doing all of his great offense, including a Harlem hangover off the middle rope. Beyond Elgin, this was a boring tag match with zero heat whenever the heels came in and worked their offense. Yujiro won after landing the Tokyo Pimps on White.