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  • SUN UPDATE: Flair to Chicago, Nash movie, Miz close call, Rollins on Tough Enough

    By dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>Dave Meltzer

    We’re looking for your thoughts on today’s New Japan Dominion show and yesterday’s WWE Best from the East shot, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>dave@wrestlingobserver.com

    We’re also looking for reports on today’s WWE show in Rockford, IL.

    Raw will be Monday in Chicago.  Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, Randy Orton, HHH & Stephanie McMahon are all scheduled to return on Monday.  Guess which two were pushed on USA network ads last night?

    Smackdown and Main Event will be taped on Tuesday night in Milwaukee.  No John Cena advertised, so the top stars advertised are Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Randy Orton.

    The story behind UFC losing perhaps its biggest fight of the year with Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor, update on WrestleMania and the match that isn’t in the plans right now, the TNA-GFW situation and how it happened, and how many expect big changes in UFC very soon, multiple WWE related lawsuits, Tough Enough and the WWE & TNA monthly business rundowns are the lead stories in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

    The new issue is up on the site at July 6, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Jose Aldo injury fallout, TNA/GFW mystery

    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.

    Our lead story looks at the injury to Conor McGregor, what UFC attempted to do to save the fight, why the fight didn’t happen, McGregor building up a later fight, how much does this change hurt, the positives of Mendes in the spot and the mentality of the PPV buyer.  We look at the key issues involved in the fight not happening.

    We also look at why the TNA/GFW alliance took place, why TNA made the call to Jeff Jarrett, plans or non-plans going on, why this is beneficial to both, departures from TNA, where that talent would go next and more.

    We look at why Saturday’s UFC show in Hollywood, FL was the end of an era on several accounts, both from the uniform standpoint, as well as drug detection and weight cutting standpoints.  We also make a suggestion of something that is already done in other sports that UFC should implement, although it will never happen, as well as an example of why weight-cutting is done the way it is.

    We also look at a lawsuit against WWE for making allegedly misleading claims that led to the stock price going way up, and then falling.  We look at a unique thing that came up regarding the key witness, stories changing, and if stories were legit to begin with.

    We also look at the death of the bill to legalize MMA in New York, and how it went down.

    We also have early notes on next year’s WrestleMania, an update on Sting, how the main event planned is unique because it’s out of WWE’s control if it happens, more on Reign vs. Wyatt, the Japanese tour, ideas for the network in 2016, Japanese pro wrestler tryouts, Dolph Ziggler on his contractual situation, The Rock at the house show in Boston, Rock movie news, update on Tyson Kidd, update on WWE network, update on lawsuits against WWE, and notes on the new season of Total Divas.

    We also look at awards WWE is nominated for, Randy Orton, WWE announcing, and notes on the weekend NXT and WWE house shows and business notes and highlights from all of the shows.

    We’ve got coverage of the UFC show in Hollywood, FL, how the card fell apart beforehand, business notes on the show, and what should happen next for Yoel Romero.  We also look at TNA Slammiversary.

    We’ve got a story on the new season of Tough Enough, what has and hasn’t worked so far, notes on the ratings, notes on the competitors, who are said to be the favorites, what on the show is misleading and more on what is involved.

    We also have our monthly business review for WWE & TNA, looking at monthly business in a number of categories.  We look at what categories are up, how far down are the ones down, and what one category with WWE that is significantly up and one that is collapsing.

    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.

    Also in this week’s issue:

    –New promotion that has had success dumps its two biggest stars

    –A look at the All Elite show in Mexico City with several American stars brought in and others scheduled who had to pull out

    –CMLL announces its next major big show main event

    –Updates on reaction to the Busca de un Idolo tournament

    –Notes on the last shows at Arena Mexico

    –Notes on this year’s TripleMania and why it is taking place so late in the year

    –Some major injuries to Lucha Underground stars

    –AAA signs a longtime CMLL star

    –Rey Mysterio Jr. headlines for AAA’s last TV tapings

    –Why the Great Muta U.S. tour fell through

    –An international promotion having money problems and having to cut back and losing wrestles in the process

    –Notes on Dragon Gate’s next major show including some U.S. tours appearing

    –Notes on the NOAH upcoming junior heavyweight tournament

    –Updates on New Japan business

    –New Japan World G-1 notes

    –Notes on New Japan’s biggest main event of the week

    –Notes on the New Japan U.S. television show

    –Update on the original tiger Mask

    –Genichiro Tenryu’s final match

    –Hiroshi Tanahashi appears on DDT major show

    –Update on Bruno Sammartino

    –Dave Bautista likely to land another major movie role

    –Notes on this past week’s PWG show including celebrities and four-star matches

    –Notes on the next two PWG shows

    –Young Bucks face Mysterio for the first time and notes no the show

    –More talent appearing for Jarrett on shows

    –Lots of news regarding the new NWA streaming service and Houston wrestling tape collection

    –Another major streaming service announced

    –Former WWE star set for a new E! reality show

    –Another former WWE performer gets  into legal trouble

    –Notes on pro wrestling books

    –Update on former WWE star Nick “Eugene” Dinsmore

    –Update on the WWC’s last major show

    –Former pro wrestler competing in high level bodybuilding contest

    –One of the most reviled men of the last 50 years in wrestling is coming out of retirement once again

    –Latest on Lucha Underground

    –Notes on the ROH stadium show in Brooklyn

    –Complete lineup for ROH’s next iPPV show

    –Notes on the next ROH show in Las Vegas

    –Updates on TNA titles after this set of tapings

    –Everything on TNA television through mid-August

    –Update on problems with production people

    –Update on health of Kurt Angle

    –Update on Jeff hardy

    –Former WWE star working for TNA behind the scenes

    –Controversy over Anderson Silva drug test result

    –Ronda Rousey ESPY award nominations

    –Crazy UFC schedule over an eight day period

    –Official UFC 187 numbers

    –Update on C.M. Punk training

    –UFC’s return to Ireland announced

    –Update Daniel Cormier vs. Alexander Gustafsson

    –Lots of new UFC fights

    –Aftermath of Ken Shamrock vs. Kimbo Slice

    –Ken Shamrock talks about a fight with Frank shamrock

    –More on Alexander Shlemenko suspension

    –Foamer Pride star sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison

    –An August battle of MMA legends falls through.

    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.

    SUNDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

    • Mike Sempervive and I just did a new Wrestling Observer Sin Limite show with more than an hour of questions answered, plus a review of the New Japan Dominion show and more on McGregor vs. Mendes.
    • Countdown to McGregor vs. Mendes is on FS 1 tonight at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time.
    • Nothing today among top 50 searches on Google.  Well, there are 50 things, just nothing related to wrestling, boxing or MMA.
    • On Twitter, the biggest stuff as of this writing was:

    New Japan Dominion 25,800

    Beast in the East 10,100

    UFC Embedded 685

    • I watched the last 20 minutes of Ultimate Fighter.  It was amazing on many different levels.  If I say more it’ll spoil it for those who haven’t seen it.  But I’ll talk about it with Bryan tomorrow night.
    • WWE Network and New Japan World were amazing values for your dollar this week.  Especially with the yen so weak.
    • A week from Wednesday there’s not only the usual assortment of pro wrestling, but five hours of UFC from San Diego.
    • Ric Flair is coming to Raw tomorrow, although that could be just appearing on the live Dusty Rhodes special that takes place on the network after the show.
    • Seth Rollins will be a special guest on Tough Enough on Tuesday.
    • How about that TNA Alumni main event last night.
    • C.M. Punk will be running the 5K this week in Las Vegas in conjunction with International Fight Week.  Dana White and a lot of other UFC people are as well.  
    • The Miz wrote that at 3:30 a.m. last night, he and his wife (Maryse) were driving to the airport and a car almost clipped them going 100 miles per hour, and then swerved all over the road and hit another car.    
    • M-1 results from Astana, Kazakhstan: 

    Sergey Morozov b Andy Young with a spinning back fist 3:50 second round

    Shavkat Rakhonov b Mchal Wieneck via guillotine in :49

    Luigi Fiorvanti b Sergey Kovalev via choke 1:56 second round

    Zaur Hajibabayev b David Trallero via punches at 4:30 of the second round

    Sergei Kharitonopv b Kenny Garner 4:11 via punches

    • The Crash Promotions from Friday night in Tijuana:  Star Dragon won Torneo Cibernetico over Black Boy, Destroyer, Enigma, Mirage and Mosco Negro, Daga & Flamita b Australian Suicide & Rey Hours, Aero Star & Fenix b B-Boy & Famous B, Proximo won tournament of death over Zarco (who lost his hair), Tony Casanova, Bufalo Ayala, Mr. Maldito, Genio del Aire, Angel Metalico and Jonathan, Pentagon Jr. won over Bestia 666, ACH and Extreme Tiger (TNA’s Tiger Uno) in a four-way, La Parka & Psycho Clown b Parka Negra & Zorro (thanks to Kris Zellner)
    • Magic Mike XXL with Kevin Nash grossed an estimated $11.6 million this weekend , putting it in fourth place in its opening weekend.  San Andreas grossed $3.03 million in week six, putting it in eighth place.
    • GOUGE from yesterday in Raleigh:  Waylon Maze b Chance LeBeaux, Roni Nicole b Jennifer Blaze, Chief Crazy Horse b Johnny Fulls, Otto Schwanz b Priest, No Direection b Krazy Killer Klowns, Juan Jeremi b Micky Gambino, Seymour Snott b Alex Kai, Timmy Lou Retton b Jimmy Jack funk Jr.  Next show is 7/;11 at  The Maywood in Raleigh.
    • Lucha Xtreme from TV last night in Fresno:  Kevin el Devino b Mike Dalite, Mike Rayne b Aki Sol, JR Kratos b Clutch.  Next TV taping is 7/18 in Hanford, CA at the Hanford Longfield Center. (thanks to Jon Southerland)
    • Ron Simmons talks Dusty Rhodes, winning the WCW World title, the roots of the Damn phrase and his days in the CFL.
    • Simmons, Road Warrior Animal and 2 Cold Scorpio were at the Montreal Comic Con this weekend.  Scorpio now lives in Montreal with his girlfriend.
    • Ronda Rousey on TSN’s Off the Record
    • A look at the movie The Princess Bride
    • An article on Natalya

    TODAY’S PRO WRESTLING VIDEOS (thanks to Thomas Rude)

    INDY TV SHOWS

    Powerbomb Championship Wrestling TV (Episode 32)

    6/12/15 Future Stars Of Wrestling “High Octane” TV

    6/19/15 Future Stars Of Wrestling “High Octane” TV

    7/4/15 Southern States Wrestling TV

    MISC. STUFF

    Top 35 Moves Of Mike Awesome

    7/3/15 CHIKARA Event Center

    America’s Most Like Wrestling “Insider” With Chris Lea (Episode 5)

    West Virginia Championship Wrestling “Spotlight” (Episode 122)

    WWE

    7/2/15 Top 10 Smackdown Moments

    TNA

    Introducing Your Chance To #AskRobbie-Check It Out!

  • On this day in pro wrestling history: Stecher wins world title, Lawler vs. Owen Hart for unified title, Santo vs. Sasuke, Steiners vs. Gordy & Doc

    By Brian Hoops

    > 1915 – Joe Stecher defeated Charlie Cutler for the World Heavyweight
    > Title in Omaha, Nebraska.
    >
    > 1940 – In Des Moines, Iowa; World Heavyweight Champion Orville Brown beat Karol Zbyszko
    >
    > 1956 – Kay Bell defeated Buddy Rogers to win the NWA Texas Heavyweight
    > Title in Houston, Texas
    >
    > 1962 – Buddy Rogers and Johnny Barend defeated Johnny Valentine and Bob
    > Ellis for the Northeast version of the NWA United States Tag Team Title
    > (which would soon become the WWWF United States Tag Team Title) in
    > Washington, DC.
    >
    > 1962 – Hans Schmidt defeated Pat O’Connor in Greensboro, North Carolina
    > to win the NWA United States Heavyweight Title.
    >
    > 1968 – Ramon and Alberto Torres defeated El Mongol and Tarzan Tyler in a
    > one-night tournament final in Atlanta, Georgia to become the first NWA
    > Georgia Tag Team Champions.
    >
    > 1969 – In Chicago; AWA Tag Team Champions Dick the Bruiser & the Crusher no contest Chain Gang Frank Dillinger & Jack Dillinger,
    > Bill Watts beat Larry Hennig and Wilbur Snyder beat Angelo Poffo
    >
    > 1969 – Johnny Walker and Bearcat Brown defeated The Great Mephisto and
    > Dante to become NWA World Tag Team Champions (Mid-America version) in
    > Chattanooga, Tennessee
    >
    > 1971 – Steven Little Bear and Dean Higuchi defeated The Skull Brothers
    > in Vancouver, British Columbia, to win the Vancouver version of the NWA
    > Canadian Tag Team Title
    >
    > 1971 – At John O’Donnell Stadium in Davenport, Iowa; AWA Tag Team Champions Red Bastien & Hercules Cortez beat Larry Hennig & Lars Anderson, Bull Bullinski beat Joe Turco and Billy Robinson beat Big K
    >
    > 1972 – Hiro Matsuda and Tim Woods defeated The Zodiac (Bob Orton) and
    > Taurus (Dennis Hall) for the NWA Florida Tag Team Title in Miami, Florida.
    >
    > 1973 – In Kansas City, Kansas; In an Elimination Match: Togo the Great & Tokyo Joe & Jim Dalton & Percy Pringle (Paul Bearer) vs. Jim Brunzell & Steve Bolus & Rufus R. Jones & Mike George, Roger Kirby & Lord Alfred Hayes vs. Danny Little Bear & Hillbilly Vic
    > and Bob Brown vs. Bob Geigel.
    >
    > 1973 – In Winnipeg before 4,832 fans; The Crusher & Wahoo McDaniel beat AWA Tag Team Champions Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens for the belts (decision later overturned), Superstar Billy Graham beat Billy Robinson dq and Larry Heiniemi beat Ken Patera
    >
    > 1974 – Buddy Colt defeated Mr. Wrestling II to win the NWA Georgia
    > Heavyweight Title in Atlanta, Georgia,
    >
    > 1975 – The Sheik defeated Bobo Brazil in Detroit, Michigan for the
    > Detroit version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Title
    >
    > 1982 – Kevin and Kerry Von Erich defeated King Kong Bundy and Bugsy
    > McGraw to win the World Class American Tag Team Title in Fort Worth, Texas.
    >
    > 1982 – Stan Lane and Ron Bass defeated The Midnight Express (Dennis
    > Condrey and Norvell Austin) for the AWA Southern Tag Team Title in
    > Memphis, Tennessee
    >
    > 1985 – Iceman Parsons defeated Chris Adams for the World Class American
    > Heavyweight Title in Dallas, Texas
    >
    > 1985 – Scott Armstrong defeated Bill Ash to win the Southeast version of
    > the NWA United States Junior Heavyweight Title in Montgomery, Alabama
    >
    > 1985 – Al Madril and Chavo Guerrero defeated American Force (Paul
    > Diamond and Nick Kiniski) for the Texas All-Star Wrestling Texas Tag
    > Team Title in San Antonio, Texas.
    >
    > 1992 – At the Omni in Atlanta, Georgia; Brad Armstrong pinned Scotty
    > Flamingo  (Raven) to win the WCW Light Heavyweight Title. Also, Terry
    > Gordy and Steve Williams defeated The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott)
    > to win the WCW World Tag Team Title
    >
    > 1992 – Canek defeated Dos Caras for the UWA World Heavyweight Title in
    > Naucalpan, Mexico
    >
    > 1993 – Jerry Lawler defeated Owen Hart to win the USWA Unified World
    > Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee. Also, CW Bergstrom & Melvin
    > Penrod Jr. defeated USWA Tag Team Champions New Jack & Home Boy to win
    > the titles.
    >
    > 1994 – Chris Candido defeated Scott Studd to win the vacant SMW
    > Television Title in Warrensville, North Carolina.
    >
    > 1996 – Mexico National Middleweight Champion El Hijo del Santo defeated
    > The Great Sasuke to win CMLL’s annual Gran Prix Tournament in Mexico
    > City, Mexico.
    >
    > 1998 – Magnum Tokyo defeated El Hijo del Gladiador in Naucalpan, Mexico,
    > to win the IWRG Intercontinental Middleweight Title.
    >
    > 2000 – Val Venis defeated Rikishi at a SmackDown! taping in Fort
    > Lauderdale, Florida to win the WWF Intercontinental Title

  • Paragon Pro Wrestling TV debut report

    By Name withheld






    They opened the show with highlights of how Jesse Sorenson was the PPW title from the former champion, Caleb Konely.   First Sorensen had to beat Konely within 10 a ten minute time limit, but when Sorensen was going for the pin with time running out, Lisa Maria (formerly Victoria in the WWE) pulled the referee’s foot breaking up the count,  thus the time ran out.  Rematch was a lumberjack match and Sorenson pinned Konley for the title

    1) Battle Royal to determine the number one contender to the PPW Title was the opening match.  They only gave a few guys entrances like Caleb Konely,  Gangrel, Joey Ryan, Alexander Hammerstone and Tyshaun Prince.  The rest did not get introduced and they came off like no name jobbers.  Early story of the match was Tyshaun playing the monster role and eliminated guys quickly. Tyshaun seems to have a lot of potential.   A surprise early was Alexander Hammerstone being eliminated first after being “knocked out” after one punch by Tyshaun.  Considering Hammerstone looks like a guy to build around, this was horrible.  Eliminations were happening fast and furious so this Battle Royal was quickly meaning nothing. Gangrel finally eliminated Tyshaun Prince which came of anti-climatic.  Final two was Caleb Konely and Ethan HD.  It only lasted 20 seconds when Caleb Konely eliminated Ethan HD.  A waste.  If Konley just lost his title, shouldn’t the he get the first rematch anyways?  

    2) Darin Corbin pinned Crash Test Cody with a ace crusher.  The match was okay, but my biggest complaint  was that your first regular match was between two guys who look like they work on a local low rent indy. First impression is very important in pro wrestling.  You don’t have to have your first match feature huge muscle guys, but at least have wrestlers who look like athletes.   Corbin has personality, but his heel work was very cheesy and goofy.   Crash Test Cody is blind in his right eye, but the commentators paid no attention to that.  

    Jesse Sorenson promo followed.  He talked about breaking his neck in 2012 and now winning this title means the world to him.  Promo was very robotic and though he has a nice baby face story, I feel he would be better as a heel. 

    Joey Ryan promo followed.  He was in the locker room talking to himself in the mirror.  Basically, Joey Ryan is in love with himself.  

    3) Espiritu pinned Mercurio Jr by using the ropes.  Commentators said this was a long time program between these two.  So sounds like these two worked together a lot and that explains why the match looked very canned.    Both seem talented, but I would love to see them work with others to see if they are truly any good.  During the match the sound was off, so you could hear the moves coming up and even worse, the finish before it happened.   
    Seemed like PPW put this match on the first episode to get a “high flying match” on the first show. 

    4) Kevin Kross w/ Lisa Marie pinned Sugar Brown with a back duplex.  The fans recognize Lisa Maria from her WWE days thus react to her like a star, but in her promo she quickly gets some heel heat.  Kevin Kross has a great look, and Sugar Brown who does a boxer gimmick and has a lot of personality.  Brown would do himself a lot of favors by shredding up because he has potential.  Kevin Kross gimmick is a psycho and he plays it off well.  Good match building up Kross as a future contender to challenge Sorenson.  This match should have been the opener because Kross looked like somebody and the match was good. 

    Vignette of the tag team the Whirlwind Gentlemen played.  They talked about them debuting in the two weeks, yet they were two of the nameless jobbers in the Battle Royal earlier in the show.  I have not seen them work, but they come off like a fun mid-card baby face tag team. 

    5) PPW Champion Jesse Sorenson defeats Graves by a reverse decision.  There was a referee bump, Graves used his wrist tape to wrap it around Sorenson’s neck while applying a rear naked choke hold.  Referee recovers and Sorenson is choked out, but second referee saw it all and the decision was reversed.   Graves is Joe Graves in Arizona and in Premier in Gilroy, CA.   He is a high level grappler, but here he wrestles like everyone else on the card.  Big mistake by PPW as his grappling is what makes him stand out from the rest of the roster.  They have him doing a Undertaker like gimmick.    Sorenson looked good, but still feel he would be much better as a heel then a baby face. 

    I was disappointed in the debut of PPW.  They have a nice set up at Sam’s Town in Las Vegas, but put on another basic wrestling show we can all see on Monday, Wednesday and Thursdays.  When I tuned in, I was hoping to see something different.   The editing was poorly done and I hope that improves over the next few episodes.  PPW is an obvious time buy as there was no commercial breaks during the show.  That being said, PPV did nothing to promote future TV tapings or even merchandise.  

  • WWE house show report 7-4 Winnipeg Rollins vs. Ambrose

    By Neil Fishman

    Here is the results from the July 4th, 2015 WWE Live House Show from Winnipeg, MB, Canada

    The show started with the Canadian National Anthem. 

    (1) The Prime Time Players def. The Ascension to retain the WWE tag team titles.

    Titus O’Neil got the pin in the match.  Not much to it.  A lot of rest holds and a bit too long but a good opener for the crowd.

    (2) Fandango def. Adam Rose

    Adam Rose came out and started heckling the live crowd, talking about Rosa not being with him so she could look after the new puppy he got her.  Fandango came out and won with a rollup in a short match.

    (3) Curtis Axel & Damien Sandow def. Brad Maddox & Heath Slater.

    Brad Maddox came out first.  He said he was going to bring out a special tag team partner who he was going to team up with the first time and become the best tag team in WWE History.  Heath Slater came out and they hugged on the ramp.  Out came the Mega Powers to a huge pop!  Axel won the match with a leg drop on Maddox.  A pretty good comedy match.

    (4) Roman Reigns def. Bray Wyatt

    Great match back and forth.  Bray is really over here, much more than Roman Reigns to the live crowd.  Roman won when Bray went for the Sister Abigail but Reigns got out of it and hit the spear off the ropes for the win. 

    Intermission
    They had a crowd vote for the Diva’s match coming up after the break.  We could vote for either a singles match or tag match.  Kind of a weird crowd vote for a diva’s match but I digress.

    (5) Natalya & Alicia Fox def. Summer Rae & Cameron.

    After intermission, they announced that the crowd chose the Tag match with Emma being the special guest referee.
    Match was fairly slow especially when Cameron was in.  Match ended when Summer Rae was yelling at Emma for a slow 2 count when Emma pushed Summer Rae into Natalya and Natalya hit the sharpshooter for the win.

    (6) Ryback def. Big Show & The Miz in a triple threat match to retain the I.C. title

    The match started with The Miz trying to convince Ryback to team up and take out Big Show.  When Ryback said no, The Miz went to Big Show and tried to convince him to team up to take out Ryback which they did for only a short period of time.  Nice spot in the match when The Miz did a sunset flip on Big Show but he couldn’t pull him over for the pin so Ryback grabbed Miz’s legs and flipped him up into Big Show’s groin.  Got a good laugh from the crowd.  Finish came with Miz on the outside of the ring, Ryback gave Big Show the Shell Shock, Miz came in the for save.  Ryback then gave Miz the Shell Shock right after and won the match.  

    (7) Seth Rollins def. Dean Ambrose to retain the WWE world title in a Winnipeg Street Fight. 

    Definitely the match of the night.  They fought in and out of the ring but didn’t enter the crowd the entire match.  Crowd chanting heavy for tables.  Match finished with a nice sequence.  They teased a table spot for a little bit until Rollins hit Ambrose with a powerbomb into a leaned up table against the turnbuckles.  2 count.  Ambrose got back up and hit a dirty deeds for 2.  Ambrose than grabbed another table, set it up, hit a top rope elbow onto Rollins through the table when Bray Wyatt came out, broke up the pin and hit a Sister Abigail for the DQ.  With Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt double teaming Ambrose,  Roman Reigns came out and cleared the ring.  Ambrose and Reigns celebrated with the crowd and that ended the night.

    Overall it was a great show with Rollins and Ambrose definitely having the best match.  Hopefully when they come back next time, they can come with a few different wrestlers as it was essentially the same crew as the December 2014 show they brought.  Great time as always and the crowd was hot the whole night for the show.

    Biggest Pops:

    Dean Ambrose
    Ryback
    Bray Wyatt
    Natalya
    The Mega Powers
    Roman Reigns (for the most part)

    Biggest Heat:

    Seth Rollins
    Adam Rose
    The Miz

    By S Carson

    Matches, in order:

    PTP vs Ascencion for tag team championships, Titus pins Konnor after ragdolling him (15 mins)

    Adam Rose vs Fandango, Fandango wins (8 minutes)

    Axelmania / Macho Mandow vs Brad Maddox and Heath Slater, Axel pins Maddox after leg drop (10 minutes)

    Roman Reigns vs Bray Wyatt, Reigns pins Wyatt after one spear (18 minutes, very good match)

    Natalya / Alicia Fox vs Summer Rae / Cameron (special guest referee Emma), Natalya pins Cameron after 8 boring minutes

    Ryback vs Big Show vs Miz for Intercontinental Championship, Ryback pins Miz with shellshock (15 minutes, good match)

    Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins (street fight) for WWE WHC, Rollins pins Ambrose after Bray Wyatt interferes and hits Sister Abigail on Ambrose. Reigns comes out after the match to spear Wyatt (30 mins, too many rest spots but otherwise a good match)

  • New Japan Dominion live coverage from Osaka Jo Hall – Styles vs. Okada for IWGP title, Nakamura vs. Goto for IC title and notes on biggest event since the Tokyo Dome, plus all G-1 main events

    Welcome to our live coverage of New Japan Dominion from the Osaka Jo Hall in the company’s biggest event in seven months.

    We’re looking for your thoughts on his show, as well as the WWE’s Beast from the East show yesterday so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match for each show to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

    YOHEI KOMATSU & TIGER MASK & JUSHIN LIGER & SATOSHI KOJIMA & HIROYOSHI TENZAN VS. YUJI NAGATA & MANABU NAKANISHI & RYUSUKE TAGUCHI & MASCARA DORADA & SHO TANAKA

    Hot opener. Crowd was hotter for the opener than usual, even for Osaka  Everyone looked good except Nakanishi who is setting records for being slow and his stuff with Tenzan looked out of place with everyone else.  Everyone worked basic good stuff that got over, but no spectacular stuff.  Best action was Liger vs. Tanaka, Kojima vs Nagata and Dorada vs. Komatsu at the end.  Dorada pinned Komatsu with the Dorada screwdriver after a moonsault.

    They are showing the pre-show video showing build for all the matches.  Crowd reacted well to most matches but were quiet for the Gallows & Anderson vs. Taven & Bennett.  The top three matches got the biggest reactons.  The reaction was pretty much even to all three. 

    I hope people could see how cool a building this is from the outside.

    YOUNG BUCKS DEFEND IWGP JR. TAG TITLES AGAINST ROCKY ROMERO & BARETTA AND BOBBY FISH & KYLE O’REILLY

    Bucks retained with More Bang For Your Buck on Romero.  A lot more heel comedy than usual by the Bucks.  A million moves but more toned down than these guys have been in the past.  There was a spot where Fish had a heel hook on Romero and O’Reilly had the guillotine on Baretta but the Bucks broke it up with 450’s on Fish & O’Reilly. 

    BAD LUCK FALE & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI VS. TETSUYA NAITO & TOMOAKI HONMA

    Interesting match because Naito is clearly turning heel and most of the way didn’t help Honma.  He just watched at the beginning when they doubled on Honma.  He wouldn’t tag in the first few times Honma tried and the crowd turned on him.  But then he helped out Honma with a missile dropkick on Yujiro.  Honma then went wild and actually hit the diving head-butt on Yujiro to score the upset win.  Then afer the match, Naito just walked off.  Honma was really over and he’s a good guy for Naito to turn on, people expected it, it was teased but didn’t fully happen.  People were surprised at the finish.

    KAZUSHI SAKURABA VS. KATSUYORI SHIBATA

    Great match.  Very different even for these guys with lots of simple legit looking stuff and people bought into it and liked it a lot  Shibata killed him with the stiff offense but Sakuraba used a lot of submissions and both used hard kicks.  Once when Sakuraba had a double armbar Shibata had to make the ropes with his mouth.  At another point, Sakuraba did his ankle choke which was really over.  They traded chokes at the end.   Shibata had him just about out, let it go, and used the penalty kick for the pin.

    KENNY OMEGA VS. KUSHIDA FOR IWGP JR. TITLE

    This was the best match so far on this card and also beat anything on the WWE show.  Just super.  Kushida is one of the best wrestlers in the world today.  Omega worked his knee for a long time.  The match built well.  Kushida did his usual flip dive.  Omega did sick jumping knees.  Omega did a new form of superplex and a one arm power bomb.  Kushida did both a moonsault and midnight express for near falls.  The finish saw Omega go for his one winged angel but Kushida from that position grabbed the hoverboard lock (Kimura), and got the submission to win the title.  So we’ve got Kushida vs. Ricochet coming soon.  Ricochet wasn’t here.

    TOGI MAKABE VS. TOMOHIRO ISHII FOR THE NEVER OPEN WEIGHT TITLE

    This was super physical.  Ishii’s selling was out of this world but it was not like a pro wrestling match selling.  He went for a flip plancha in the first minute, Makabe didn’t catch him well, just barely breaking his fall but Ishii landed right on the shoulder he separated in the Davey Boy Smith Jr. match last year.  Ishii was selling like his shoudler was out.  The doctor came out and threatened to stop it a few times.  A lot of stuff was mistimed.  But they beat the hell out of each other  Ishii kept doing this out of this world sell job that may have been partially real.  They did all the stiff stuff, German and dragon suplexes and toned nothing down. There were miscommunication spots that gave the sense that Ishii was hurting and shouldn’t continue but he kept going.  Makabe finally won with a German superplex and kneedrop to the back of the head.

    Time for the G-1 announcement.

    A block:

    Makabe, Tenzan,Yano, Gallows, Fale, Naito, Shibata, Ibushi, Tanahashi, Styles

    B block

    Goto, Kojima, Nagata, Honma, Elgin, Anderson, Takahashi, Ishii, Nakamura, Okada

    Biggest pops for the big four.

    7/20 Sapporo

    Shibata vs. Styles, Tanahashi vs. Ibushi

    7/23 Shizuoka

    Okada vs. Elgin, Nakamura vs. vs. Anderson

    7/24 Kyoto

    Tanahashi vs. Tenzan, Shibata vs. Naito

    7/25 Takamatsu

    Nagata vs. Nakamura, Honma vs. Okada

    7/26 Hiroshima

    Styles vs. Ibushi, Tanahshi vs. Naito

    7/28 Beppu

    Goto vs. Honma, Okada vs Kojima

    7/29 Fukuoka

    Styles vs. Naito, Shibata vs. Ibushi

    8/1 Osaka

    Goto vs. Okada

    Nakamura vs. Ishii huge pop

    8/2 Nagoya

    Tenzan vs. Ibushi, Tanahashi vs. Yano

    8/4 Sendai

    Nagata vs. Ishii, Goto vs Nakamura

    8/5 Morioka

    Styles vs. Makabe, Naito s Ibushi

    8/7 Hamamatsu

    Nakamura vs. Takahashi, Okada vs. Ishii

    8/8 Yokohama’

    Styles vs. Tenzan, Tanahashi vs. Shibata

    ‘8/9 Korakuen Hall

    Goto vs. Ishii, Honma vs Nakamura

    8/11 Korakuen Hall

    Styles vs Fale, Tanahashi vs. Makabe

    8/12 Korakuen Hall

    Okada vs Nagata, Honma vs Ishii

    8/14 Sumo Hall

    Makabe vs. Ibushi, Tanahashi vs, Styles big pop’

    8/15 Sumo Hall

    Nagata vs Goto, Nakamura vs Okada  big pop

    8/16 Sumo Hall

    A block winner vs. B block winner

    No intermission as this show is looking to be going well over four hours

    MICHAEL BENNETT & MATT TAVEN VS. KARL ANDERSON & DOC GALLOWS FOR IWGP TAG TITLES

    Anderson & Gallows regained the title.  This was more Americanized heat with the women, Maria Kanellis and Amber Gallows being a focal point.  Gallows went to deck aria who ducked and Maria gave him a low blow.  The finish saw Gallows superkick Maria and then Anderson gave Bennett a gunstun on the apron.  This left Taven alone and he got a 3-D and a magic killer for the pin.  Bennett had to carry Maria out.  After Gallows superkicked Maria, Bennett go all fired up and was just killing Gallows until Anderson laid him out.  This was better than their last match and it’s different from everthing else on the show but I’m not sure it clicks that big with the crowd.

    HIROSHI TANAHASHI VS. TORU YANO

    Tanahashi won clean with the sling blade and high fly flow after Yano did all of his stuff on him, several times sending him head first into the exposed metal, chair shots, a low blow and cradle.  Tanahashi tried the high fly flow earlier but Yano protected himself with a chair.  This wasn’t your typical Tanahashi good wrestling match and more a longer version of a Yano match.  Crowd was very into it and Tanahashi did look good and the match told a story coming off finishes from this entire feud.  Most matches on this show have been better.

    HIROOKI GOTO VS. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA FOR THE IC TITLE

    Nakamura is wearing a super cool red ninja outfit.  Even though Nakamura is the star, Goto came out second because he’s the champion.  Super match ending with Goto retaining the title with the shoten kai.  It started slow.  The crowd was really into it and it had the fight feel more than anything on the show, because Ishii vs. Makabe was more Ishii selling.  Nakamura power bombed him out of the corner and did a bom a ye off the middle rope for a near fall and a sliding bom a ye for another near fall.  The big move was Nakamura going for a bom a ye and Goto at the last second grabbed his knee to block it and picked him up for neckbreaker over the knee.  Nakamura punched him in the face, and the Japanese punch to the face so rare it’s a big deal  But Goto came back with two head-butts to set up the shoten kai.  These two have a real sense of drama that nobody else has reached so far.

    A.J. STYLES VS. KAZUCHIKA OKADA FOR THE IWGP TITLE

    There have been a lot of great matches in the last 30 hours or so, but this was in a completely different league.  This was two of the three best wrestlers in the world beyond the top of their game.  Okada won the title with a second rainmaker, a German suplex and a third rainmaker at about 26:00 and it was excellent from start to finish.  He hit the first rainmaker seconds earlier but Styles ducked the second and hit the Pele kick and went for the Styles clash but Okada got out of both that and the Bloody Sunday DDT.  It’s really amazing how good these two are, plus there is an art to a world title match and they hit it perfect.  They did everything they could including Okada using a Death Valley Bomb off the top rope onto the apron near the finish.  Lots of Bullet Club interference early but Red Shoes not only booted them out but crotch chopped then and told then to suck it which was poetic justice on the Young Bucks.  Okada and Gedo did mic work but with G-1 coming up there’s no challenges after.  Looks like Okada against either AJ, Nakamura or Tanahashi at the Dome.  

    Really a fantastic show, about 4 1/2 hours in total with no intermission and I can’t say it went too long and I’m wide awake at 4:15 a.m. 

  • WWE July 4 Winnipeg house show results: Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose street fight

    From Winnipeg, Canda:

    – Prime Time Players b The Asension to keep the tag titles

    – Fandango b Adam Rose

    – Macho Mandow & Axel Mania b Heath Slater & Brad Maddox

    – Roman Reigns b Bray Wyatt

    – Natlaya & Alicia Fox b Summer Rae & Cameron when Natalya made Summer submit to the sharpshooter

    – I-C Champion Ryback over The Miz and Big Show to retain the title

    – WWE Champion Seth Rollins b Dean Ambrose in a street fight to keep the world title due to interference from Bray Wyatt

  • SAT UPDATE: 4th of July in history, Sin Limite, Lesnar and others on Raw, Ronda Rousey, IV bag update, more

    By Bryan Alvarez | bryan@wrestlingobserver.com | @bryanalvarez

    For this weekend, we’ll be doing polls on the WWE show in Tokyo and the New Japan Dominion show late tonight in Osaka at dave@wrestlingobserver.com

    NEW JAPAN DOMINION AT 3 A.M. EARLY SUNDAY MORNING FROM OSAKA JO HALL

    Yohei Komatsu & Tiger Mask & Jushin Liger & Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Ryusuke Taguchi & Mascara Dorada & Sho Tanaka

    Young Bucks vs. Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish vs. Rocky Romero & Baretta for the IWGP jr. tag titles

    Tetsuya Naito & Tomoaki Honma vs. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi

    Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Katsuyori Shibata

    Kenny Omega vs. Kushida for IWGP jr. title

    Togi Makabe vs. Tomohiro Ishii for Never Open weight title

    Michael Bennett & Matt Taven vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows for IWGP tag title

    Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano

    Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for IC title

    A.J. Styles vs. Kazuchika Okada for IWGP heavyweight title

    Saturday also has a WWE show in Winnipeg (Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt vs. Roman Reigns, Ryback vs. Big Show)

    Sunday has a WWE show in Rockford.

    Raw will be Monday in Chicago. Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, Randy Orton, HHH & Stephanie McMahon are all scheduled to return on Monday. Guess which two were pushed on USA network ads last night?

    Smackdown and Main Event will be taped on Tuesday night in Milwaukee. No John Cena advertised, so the top stars advertised are Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Randy Orton.

    The story behind UFC losing perhaps its biggest fight of the year with Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor, update on WrestleMania and the match that isn’t in the plans right now, the TNA-GFW situation and how it happened, and how many expect big changes in UFC very soon, multiple WWE related lawsuits, Tough Enough and the WWE & TNA monthly business rundowns are the lead stories in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

    The new issue is up on the site at July 6, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Jose Aldo injury fallout, TNA/GFW mystery

    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@wrestlingobserver.com

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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.

    Today’s News, Notes and Links

    — Hope everyone had a fun and safe July 4th!

    — Dave and Mike have a show up right now talking the WWE Beast in the East show from Japan and will be doing another Sunday morning talking the New Japan Dominion Show. I’ll be back with Wrestling Observer Live, a Bryan & Vinny Show and After Dark Radio also on Sunday.

    — After Dark live at 9 PT/12 ET Sunday night will be largely news and open lines with no guests, so if you’ve got good stories or anything you’ve wanted to call about for awhile, this will be your chance.

    — Brock Lesnar is scheduled to be on Raw Monday. Ric Flair will be there but there’s no guarantee he’ll be on television. They may use him to promote the Dusty Rhodes special that airs on the WWE Network after Raw goes off the air. Flair on his podcast said he underwent WWE’s medical testing and had no issues whatsoever. He would do probably anything to wrestle again but Vince isn’t going to allow it.

    — Triple H on Finn Balor’s NXT Title win: A prince returned home and became a champion. Congratulations to @wwebalor on winning the @WWENXT title. #WWETokyo

    — Chicago has slapped a 9% amusement tax on streaming/cloud services, meaning if you are in Chicago and subscribe to Netflix, you will soon be paying 9% more since Netflix will be passing the charge on to consumers. This will probably end up applying to the WWE Network and a number of other services as well.

    — Dave has a story on Ronda Rousey’s Jimmy Kimmel appearance here, which includes some video from the show.

    — Travis Tygart noted that UFC’s ban on IVs will not going into effect until October, so anyone who has a fight scheduled will still be able to use them to make weight. After that, 50ml is the most anyone will be allowed to rehydrate, so the expectation is that a lot of guys are going to be moving up a weight class.

    — Kurt Angle’s update on the tumor in his neck: To update all of you that have asked and commented about my neck: The tumor is benign and my surgery is next week. I will be out of action for about a month and I’ll be coming back better than ever! Thank you all for your incredible support. Your comments have kept my spirits high throughout this trying time. Much Love, Kurt.

    — Chris Guinty of Drug Free Sport issued the following statement regarding the Jose Aldo urine test debacle from a few weeks ago: In early June 2015, Drug Free Sport was engaged by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (“NSAC”) to conduct a single urine test for an athlete in Brazil. Drug Free Sport’s preparation and execution of the testing event in Brazil complied with ethical best practices in anti-doping collections. Proper work visa applications detailing Drug Free Sport’s job functions were submitted to the Brazilian Consulate in Chicago, Illinois on June 18, 2012, and a ten year work visa was issued by the Consulate and relied upon by the Drug Free Sport collector in subsequent testing events. Drug Free Sport does not comment on client program specifics related to any collection event, but the NSAC, the UFC and Drug Free Sport were diligent in their effort to ensure a fair and ethical collection event in Brazil.Aldo’s sample was thrown out after the individual who showed up to take the sample was determined to now have a work visa. Another tester then showed up the next day and took another sample. There was a great deal of debate about how all of this went down, plus the fact that Aldo wasn’t asked to take a blood test.

    — A link to the Off the Record interview with Ronda Rousey is up here.

    — Some cool pics from Kane’s Hawaiian vacation are up here.

    — It’s DAMN hard being Ron Simmons.

    — Seth Rollins is the special guest on Tough Enough this week.

    — BCW MEDIA UPDATE! Tomorrow at 5pm on the Milwaukee Summerfest SportsZone, history will be made as 8 of the top wrestlers in Brew City Wrestling enter into a tournament to become the 1st ever Brew City Wrestling Summerfest Champion. Plus, Insane Evil defend their BCW Tag Team Championship against the Moretti Agency, Jarrod “8 Pack” Jaxx and “A List” Justin Dredd. And for the Brew City Wrestling Ladies Championship, Stacy Shadows defends her title against newcomer, Sierra. There will 8 FAN-demonium matches in all so come on down and BE A PART OF HISTORY! The show is FREE with paid admission into Summerfest.

    — For the second time in less than eight months, Russian striker Sergei “Paratrooper” Kharitonov defeated former M-1 Challenge champion Kenny Garnerin a Heavyweight SuperFight, stopping the dangerous American in the opening round this past Friday night in M-1 Challenge 59: Battle of Nomads 5 main event in Astana, Kazakhstan. Kharitonov (23-5-0, 13 KO/TKO, 9 SUB) defeated Garner at the 4:11 mark of the first round via punches, setting the stage for a potential showdown with M-1 Challenge heavyweight Marcin Tybura.

    — Today in History with Brian Hoops:

    1922 – In Wichita, Kansas; World Heavyweight Champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis beat Alan Eustace in 2 out of 3 falls.

    1963 – In Kansas City; In a Hair vs Masks match, Pat O’Connor and Tiny Mills beat Masked Medic #1 (Pedro Godoy) and Masked Medic #2 (Sir Nelson Royal). Also, Rock Hunter beat Steve Kovacs 2 falls to 1.

    1964 – In St Paul, Minnesota at Met Stadium (where the Minnesota Twins and Vikings played in 1964 and now the home of the Mall of America); AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Dick the Bruiser (sub Crusher) in 2 out of 3 falls. Also, Mad Dog Vachon beat Doug Gilbert, Wilbur Snyder & Sailor Art Thomas & Dale Lewis beat Larry Hennig & Hans Schmidt & Mitsu Arakawa and Bob Geigel beat Rene Goulet

    1966 – Don Leo Jonathan & Haystacks Calhoun defeated John Tolos & Tony Borne to win the NWA Canadian Tag Team Title.

    1971 – In Robbinsdale, Minnesota; Larry Hennig & Lars Anderson beat Hercules Cortez & Bull Bullinski dq, Big K beat Bill Christy and Billy Robinson beat Dave Cox

    1972 – In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Billy Robinson & George Gordienko beat Ivan Koloff & Big K (Stan Kowalski), Wahoo McDaniel beat Dusty Rhodes dq and Don Muraco beat Larry Hennig

    1974 – Ric Flair & Rip Hawk defeated Paul Jones & Bob Bruggers in Greensboro, North Carolina to win the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Title.

    1974 – In Winnipeg; AWA Tag Team Champions Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Verne Gagne & Billy Robinson, Ivan Putski beat Baron Von Raschke dq and Billy Graham beat Wahoo McDaniel.

    1981 – In Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel wrestled Bret Hart, Dynamite Kid vs Bruce Hart, David Shultz vs Randy Tyler and Duke Myers & Kerry Brown vs Bill Irwin & Duffy O’Rourke.

    1982 – In San Antonio, Texas at HemisFair Arena; Bruiser Brody won a two ring, 22 man Battle Royal, Scott Casey beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel via dq, Southwest Champion Dick Slater beat Alexis Smirnoff and Tully Blanchard & Gino Hernandez beat Terry Funk & Tito Santana

    1982 – In the Atlanta Omni WWF champion Bob Backlund went to a double countout against NWA World champion Ric Flair.

    1983 – David Von Erich defeated Jimmy Garvin to win the vacant World Class Texas Heavyweight Title. Also, The Von Erichs (Kerry, Kevin & David) defeated The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts) in a three falls match in Fort Worth, Texas.

    1984 – in Fort Worth, Texas The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts) defeated The Von Erichs (Kerry, Kevin & Mike) to win the World Class Six-Man Tag Team Title when Hayes pinned Kevin. Also, Iceman King Parsons defeated Bill Irwin in a singles match to win the World Class American Tag Team Title. Parsons chose Buck Zumhoffe as his partner.

    1986 – In Fort Worth, Texas Buzz Sawyer defeated Brian Adidas to win the World Class Texas Heavyweight Title.

    1987 – The War Games match debuted in Atlanta’s Omni. The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard & Lex Luger) & manager JJ Dillon lost to the team of Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, The Road Warriors & manager Paul Ellering.

    1990 – John Tatum defeated Bill Dundee in Dallas, Texas to win the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title

    1993 – In an angle to make Lex Luger an All American babyface, Lex Luger arrived via helicopter on the deck of the U.S.S Intrepid in New York City and bodyslammed WWF champion Yokozuna.

    2013 – Chris Sabin defeated Manic and Austin Aires to win the TNA X Division Title.

    2015 – Finn Balor defeated Kevin Owens to win the NXT Title.

  • VIDEO: UFC Embedded 3 with Conor McGregor and Chad Mendes

  • WWE Beast from the East feedback

    Thumbs Up

    It kind of bums me out to think that all wrestling crowds will one day react the same way due to the internet. I really like how Japanese crowds are quiet and respectful, but this crowd seemed determined to act like western crowds with chants like “this is awesome”.

    Cole did a pretty poor job of announcing, mispronouncing the names of both Bull Nakano and Tatsumi Fujinami. Saxton is starting to feel like a lost cause. Everything he says is witless and comes off phony.

    The opener was really good. Poor Neville is as good as anyone could be at certain things, but it just feels like there’s no real spot for him in the big picture as anything substantial.

    Finn vs. Owens was very good. The announcers seemed quite disoriented by the massive pile of streamers. It was odd to see Owens engaging the crowd so much. From what I understand, the WWE doesn’t want that kind of pandering on their shows. Maybe he did it because this was more of a house show? Don’t get me wrong, I thought he was fantastic, I just was kind of taken aback.

    I didn’t care at all about the main event. It was quite odd to see the fans doing the dual Cena chants without any fervor behind it. Cena was the most over guy on the show by far, though. Much more than Balor.

    Overall, a very fun show. I hope the WWE does more of this kind of thing.

    Sean

    Thumbs Up
    Best Match: Balor v Owens
    Worst Match: Divas

    An entertaining event with a different feel. Still dont get the tag match going last over the NXT title match (or Lesnar) as it was a little tough to get through after the big matches. Hoping Owens beats Cena at Battleground because now he has two high profile losses in proximity to each other. Kofi was great as a bump machine for Brock. Atmosphere for Balor Owens was electric in terms of the pagentry and traditions of Japanese wrestling and Balors past. Great heeling by Owens w the bouquet. Was so odd to hear the announcers talking about Dragon Gate, IWGP etc but lets get more of it!  Happy fourth!

    Michael O’Brien

    I tried staying up all the way to 5:30am, but fell aleep by 3am, luckoly my alarm got me up at 5:20am, so I could catch the show live.

    I had not been to a house show since the late 80s, so I liked the look and feel of the atmosphere, not the polished RAW or any other tv show set up. Reminded me of days gone by.

    One major thing I noticed, someone kidnapped Michael Cole and replaced him with a look a like that could actually announce a match correctly, not the RAW or Smackdown BS. Guess Vince did  not make the trip.

    The opening match was great, Neville and Jericho did a great job warming up the “tv” audience (finding out later there were mstches before they went on air), they worked great together, and got the crowd into it.

    The Divas 3-way I dozed on and off through, just not the NXT style women’s match that is exciting, send the Divas down to train for 3 months, take them in shifts if need be.

    Kofi was the sheep being led to slaughter, and Brock delivered. He was not selling the knee or leg injury from the RAW beatdown they replayed. Poor Kofi that one suplexed looked like it hurt like hell, landing on the back of his head and neck, the guy is tough, he came back to keep getting thrown around, after he finally defeated Kofi he dispensed the rest of New Day with ease when they arrived, they kept him as an unstoppable monster, that was good.

    Owens vs Balor, loved that the crowd reacted to the entrance just like they do at Full Sail, even had NXT chants break out. They put on a good, not great, match I do not know if it was time of day here, or just knowing their spots, really did not get into it til towards the end, loved that Finn won the title, it was a huge deal to win his first (of many) WWE championship back where he became a huge star and really honed his craft, and the WWE Hall of Famer coming out to congratulate him. O thought it was cool that Owens did not shake Fin’s hand, looked so much like he wanted go, but he knew it would make him look like a hypocrit after blasting Cena about doing it.

    And in a main event anywhere in the world, Cena and Ziggler vs Kane and Wade Barret, brother had 2 observations (1) Ziggler is looking a lot like Pillman dress wise and (b) he wondered if they pulled names out of a hat to make this match. It was an ok match, an ok house show main event, Cena got a lot of action early instead of being a “star” and letting Ziggler take the bulk of the match. Cena team wins sending the live audience home happy.

    BEST MATCH: Owens vs Balor
    BEST SQUASH: Brock vs Kofi
    WORST MATCH: Diva 3way
    OVERALL ALL give the show a B- on house show scale

    Daniel Beling
    From Baltimore

  • On this day in pro wrestling history (July 4): WWF champion Bob Backlund vs. NWA champion Ric Flair, first WarGames match, infamous Lex Luger/Yokozuna angle

    By Brian Hoops, WrestlingObserver.com

    1922 – In Wichita, Kansas; World Heavyweight Champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis beat Alan Eustace in 2 out of 3 falls.

    1963 – In Kansas City; In a Hair vs Masks match, Pat O’Connor and Tiny Mills beat Masked Medic #1 (Pedro Godoy) and Masked Medic #2 (Sir Nelson Royal). Also, Rock Hunter beat Steve Kovacs 2 falls to 1.

    1964 – In St Paul, Minnesota at Met Stadium (where the Minnesota Twins and Vikings played in 1964 and now the home of the Mall of America); AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Dick the Bruiser (sub Crusher) in 2 out of 3 falls. Also, Mad Dog Vachon beat Doug Gilbert, Wilbur Snyder & Sailor Art Thomas & Dale Lewis beat Larry Hennig & Hans Schmidt & Mitsu Arakawa and Bob Geigel beat Rene Goulet

    1966 – Don Leo Jonathan & Haystacks Calhoun defeated John Tolos & Tony Borne to win the NWA Canadian Tag Team Title.

    1971 – In Robbinsdale, Minnesota; Larry Hennig & Lars Anderson beat Hercules Cortez & Bull Bullinski dq, Big K beat Bill Christy and Billy Robinson beat Dave Cox

    1972 – In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Billy Robinson & George Gordienko beat Ivan Koloff & Big K (Stan Kowalski), Wahoo McDaniel beat Dusty Rhodes dq and Don Muraco beat Larry Hennig

    1974 – Ric Flair & Rip Hawk defeated Paul Jones & Bob Bruggers in Greensboro, North Carolina to win the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Title; In Winnipeg, AWA Tag Team Champions Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Verne Gagne & Billy Robinson, Ivan Putski beat Baron Von Raschke dq and Billy Graham beat Wahoo McDaniel.

    1981 – In Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel wrestled Bret Hart, Dynamite Kid vs Bruce Hart, David Shultz vs Randy Tyler and Duke Myers & Kerry Brown vs Bill Irwin & Duffy O’Rourke.

    1982 – In San Antonio, Texas at HemisFair Arena; Bruiser Brody won a two ring, 22 man Battle Royal, Scott Casey beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel via dq, Southwest Champion Dick Slater beat Alexis Smirnoff and Tully Blanchard & Gino Hernandez beat Terry Funk & Tito Santana; In the Atlanta Omni, WWF champion Bob Backlund went to a double countout against NWA World champion Ric Flair.

    1983 – David Von Erich defeated Jimmy Garvin to win the vacant World Class Texas Heavyweight Title. Also, The Von Erichs (Kerry, Kevin & David) defeated The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts) in a three falls match in Fort Worth, Texas.

    1984 – in Fort Worth, Texas The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts) defeated The Von Erichs (Kerry, Kevin & Mike) to win the World Class Six-Man Tag Team Title when Hayes pinned Kevin. Also, Iceman King Parsons defeated Bill Irwin in a singles match to win the World Class American Tag Team Title. Parsons chose Buck Zumhoffe as his partner.

    1986 – In Fort Worth, Texas Buzz Sawyer defeated Brian Adidas to win the World Class Texas Heavyweight Title.

    1987 – The War Games match debuted in Atlanta’s Omni. The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard & Lex Luger) & manager JJ Dillon lost to the team of Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, The Road Warriors & manager Paul Ellering.

    1990 – John Tatum defeated Bill Dundee in Dallas, Texas to win the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title

    1993 – In an angle to make Lex Luger an All American babyface, Lex Luger arrived via helicopter on the deck of the U.S.S Intrepid in New York City and bodyslammed WWF champion Yokozuna.

    2013 – Chris Sabin defeated Manic and Austin Aires to win the TNA X Division Title.

    2015 – Finn Balor defeated Kevin Owens to win the NXT Title.