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  • Boxing: Amir Khan vs. Chris Algieri from the Barclays Center, sets up Mayweather fight

    By Jeremy Wall

    Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) defeated Chris Algieri (20-2, 8 KOs) by unanimous decision Friday, May 29th at the Barclays Center in New York. Scores were 115-113 and 117-111 twice. The fight aired on Spike TV.

    Khan has been rumoured as Floyd Mayweather’s opponent for Mayweather’s final fight on his contract with Showtime, which will take place on or around September 12th. Khan, however, needed to get past Algieri in New York in order to make the fight with Mayweather possible. Khan did just that and then called Mayweather out after the bout.

    “We all know what we want next, a fight with Floyd Mayweather. I’m now the number one WBC [contender], and he’s the champion. Let’s make it happen,” Khan said in his post-fight interview.

    There were no knockdowns, although at one point Khan tripped over the referee, who was badly out of position. Khan won most of the rounds by slipping punches past Algieri’s guard, but Algieri’s boundless energy made the fight interesting. Khan controlled the first few rounds, although Algieri was landing enough to make the rounds close enough that some of them could have been judged either way.

    Algieri, however, was much more aggressive than he has been in past high-profile fights against Ruslan Provodnikov and Manny Pacquiao. Algieri’s aggressiveness threw Khan off his game a bit and allowed Algieri to score and earn a few rounds.

    The crowd was split between the two, which was surprising because Algieri is from New York and Khan is of Pakistani descent and grew up in England. There were strong chants of “Algieri” and “USA”, but a lot of people in the audience came to the fight with Pakistani flags to show support for Khan.

    Late in the fight Khan began scoring more. Algeri, who has a master’s degree in sport nutrition and is a fitness freak who mentioned before the fight that his purse will bring him close to paying off his student loan, still had a ton of cardio late in the fight, but wasn’t able to use that edge to his advantage as he was outboxed by Khan late in the bout. It was Khan’s first fight in New York since defeating Paulie Malignaggi at the Madison Square Garden Theater in 2010.

    Khan, 28, landed 218 of 609 punches for 36-percent, and Algieri, 31, landed 199 of 703 for 28-percent.

    “A few mistakes I made. Obviously, I didn’t think Algieri would come forward,” Khan said. “I figured he would be on the back foot. Virgil [Hunter] gave me a game plan, and it worked for me.”

    “The judges seemed to like Khan being cagey and spinning off even though I thought I landed the cleaner shots and hurt him several times, especially to the body,” said Algieri.

    Khan has incredible hand speed and great conditioning, but has high profile losses to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia, the latter by fourth round TKO. He also looked vulnerable enough against Algieri, who isn’t considered an elite boxer, that Khan might not pose too much of a challenge against Mayweather, who will be looking to keep his undefeated record intact as he attempts to match the 49-0 record of Rocky Marciano.

    “Yes, that’d be a good fight for him,” Floyd Mayweather Sr said a few weeks ago regarding Khan. “My son would beat him. It would be easier than Pacquiao. Khan has a pretty decent jab but all the technical things, he can’t do.”

    The possibility of a fight with Mayweather was mentioned by Spike play-by-play broadcaster Scott Hanson during Khan’s introduction at the beginning of the bout against Algieri. Jeremy Piven of Entourage was also interviewed at ringside during the bout. Piven is a friend of Khan’s and mentioned that Khan was hoping to fight Mayweather in September.

    “I spoke to Len Ellerbe, his manager, I saw him in the media room and he came over to say ‘[Floyd’s] ready when you are.’” said Khan, claiming that he spoke with Ellerbe at the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight on May 2nd. “Where does Floyd go? If he doesn’t fight me once I get past this fight [with Algieri], who else is there for him? If he wants to have an audience from around the world … there’s not a lot of fighters who can bring that drawing power. I know I’m not at the scale of Manny Pacquiao, but it’d still be a big fight.”

    Khan seems to be the strongest of possible available names to face Mayweather. Khan doesn’t have a ton of name value in the US, but he could bring valuable television rights fees from his native Britain. The other logical opponent for Mayweather would be Keith Thurman, but Thurman is fighting in the main event of PBC’s debut on ESPN on July 11th. Thurman looks to be the future of boxing’s welterweight division and may have been a tougher opponent for Mayweather compared to Khan.

    I thought Thurman would have been a more logical opponent than Khan for a few reasons. First, Thurman is American and Khan isn’t and Mayweather’s opponent in September is somewhat about creating a new star. Mayweather isn’t going to put anyone over on his way into retirement, though, which may be the reason why Thurman didn’t get picked.

    Second, Thurman had a high profile win over Robert Guerrero, a former Mayweather opponent, in the debut of PBC on NBC back in March that was one of the most watched boxing matches in many years. Executives for NBC have publicly talked about trying to create a new star on NBC to face Mayweather. Al Haymon, the de facto promoter of PBC, is currently in a complex time buy with NBC and if the long-term goal is to convert the time buy into a situation where he is getting paid to sell audiences to NBC, then appeasing the NBC executives would be high on Haymon’s to-do list.

    Third, Thurman’s high profile win over Guerrero on NBC was certainly watched by more people than Khan’s win over Algieri on Spike. When PBC announced a few weeks ago that Khan vs Algieri would headline a Spike broadcast, I thought it was a strange choice because Khan was already being discussed as Mayweather’s opponent for September and I thought it would make more sense to get Khan fighting in prime time on NBC to give him as much exposure as possible leading into the fight with Mayweather in September. That made me think that Thurman was Mayweather’s likely September opponent until Thurman was announced for PBC’s July debut on ESPN, replacing the recently canceled Friday Night Fights.

    Khan is a devout Muslim and observes Ramadan from June 18th until July 17th. Ramadan requires daily fasting and means Khan would be unavailable to fight around that time. He said, though, that he would be available to fight Floyd Mayweather on a tentative date of September 12th, although he has previously said he wouldn’t be available to fight in September.

    “It’s possible I could fight in September, yeah,” Khan said. “Ramadan is going to be a little bit earlier this year, so obviously it helps, gives me enough time to get the training done and everything. It can happen in September.”

    Two other possible opponents for Mayweather in September are Kell Brook and Danny Garcia. Brook faces Frankie Gavin on Saturday night in England, a fight Brook is expected to win. Brook is a star in England and like Khan would bring in heavy television revenue from England, but also like Khan would not mean as much as other possible Mayweather opponents in the US. Garcia is coming off a high-profile win for PBC on NBC. If Brook were to be the fighter to face Mayweather in September, it is possible that Garcia could be put against Khan in a rematch on PBC.

    Regarding a rematch with Danny Garcia, Khan said, “I love that fight. That fight is something in the future that could happen for sure. I mean I’m a lot more comfortable at this weight whereas before I was killing myself to make 140. But this is a good weight for me and I’m very excited for what the future will hold for me once I get past this fight.”

    “I could have fought Kell Brook in the UK but I only wanted to fight in May,” said Khan. “I didn’t want to go into June with Ramadan coming up. I don’t want to be going into Ramadan tired, straight after a fight. It’s too much for my body to take, I need to look after it.”

    Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing claims that Khan was avoiding Brook because Algieri was the easier opponent and Khan didn’t want to lose and risk his showdown with Mayweather.

    “Khan is petrified about him, because if Khan gets beat by a Mayweather or a Pacquiao, he can still fight Kell Brook in his mind,” said Hearn. “His value is going down, but if he fights Kell Brook first and gets beat, then that’s probably the end of Amir Khan – and frankly we are a huge odds-on favourite for that fight.”

    “He should be fighting the big names of boxing like I’m doing,” said Khan regarding Brook. “The only way Kell Brook’s name gets pushed to me is because he has a title, if he doesn’t, I don’t think his name means anything to me or boxing.”

    Kell Brook said of Mayweather vacating all of his titles, “It’s a bit strange but Al Haymon has probably advised him to do that so all of his fighters can pick up the vacant titles. I was hoping that Mayweather would keep the belts and unify the entire division against me in his last fight. After all, an American versus a Brit is always a huge event on both sides of the Atlantic.”

    Commentary for the Spike broadcast was provided by Scott Hanson, Jimmy Smith of Bellator, and Antonio Tarver. Dana Jacobson acted as host and Michael Williams, also of Bellator, was the ring announcer. Of all the broadcasters that have worked with PBC, Spike has been the most consistent with their broadcast team.

    This was the third airing of Premier Boxing on Spike. The first show on March 13th drew 869,000 viewers on average. The return show in April was down 34.5%, drawing 569,000 viewers on average. The show also aired on SiriusXM satellite radio. It went up against the NHL playoffs, MLB baseball, as well as minor league boxing on CBS Sports Network.

    The decline in viewership from the first airing of PBC on Spike to the second has been the sharpest decline in viewership of PBC broadcasts on a single station thus far. Viewership on NBC and CBS have held up much better. My guess is that Spike skews towards the male 18-34 demographic and boxing isn’t a strong draw in that demo, causing a greater decline in viewership on Spike compared to viewership on NBC or CBS, both of which have a stronger cross-section of demographics among their viewers compared to Spike.

    Spike airs PBC as part of their “Friday Night Lights Out” brand of combat sports that includes Bellator and Glory kickboxing. Bellator ratings have been markedly down this year as the promotion has failed to create new stars to capitalize on the ratings success of Tito Ortiz vs Stephan Bonnar from last November. Glory’s ratings have been modest, but steady.

    Last week’s PBC on NBC drew a 0.85 overnight rating on a Saturday afternoon. The show started at 4pm ET and had James DeGale beating Andre Dirrell. It is down slightly from the 0.9 PBC drew for its second Saturday afternoon show and the 1.1 it draw for its debut Saturday afternoon show, both on CBS.

    Glory returns next week with a show from France that airs live at 4pm ET. That is just a terrible time slot, as most people will still be at work. Also, kickboxing is a hard sell in the United States. Airing Glory on a weekday afternoon is similar to when ESPN would air Cung Le san shou fights or K-1 fights as time filler on weekday afternoons, which trained audiences to believe that kickboxing is unimportant. Having Glory air during the afternoon gets people back into that way of thinking about kickboxing, which is exactly the opposite of how Glory ought to be presented on Spike. They may as well just go with a tape delay airing later on Friday. What would be best for Glory and Spike, though, would be if Glory decided whether they are American-based or Euro-based because to become a real draw in the US, they need their fights to take place on this side of the Atlantic and air live in prime time.

    In the prelim bout on Spike, Javier Fortuna (28-0-1, 20 KO) beat Bryan Vasquez (34-2, 18 KO) via unanimous decision to win the vacant WBA Superfeatherweight title. Scores were 116-112, 117-111, and 117-111. It was a rough brawl with both fighters taunting each other throughout the bout. Fortuna, 25, is a slick fighter with great speed, but also has natural heel charisma and is someone with star potential. He’ll need to eventually move up in weight class as he gets older, though, in order to get the opportunity to face bigger name opponents.

  • NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 5-30 Korakuen Hall report: Kushida vs. Bobby Fish

    by Bryan Rose, WrestlingObserver.com

    Day 7 of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament takes place live this morning at Korakuen Hall. Updated rankings will be available after the show.

    Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu vs. Tomoaki Honma and David Finlay

    Honma and Finlay played the heels here, working over Tanaka and Komatsu whenever possible. A lot of mat wrestling early. Komatsu made a hot comeback and hit a senton on a standing Finlay for a nearfall. He tried for the half crab but Finlay escaped. Honma makes a comeback but misses the kokeshi headbutt. Tanaka makes a comeback and goes for the half crab but Tanaka won’t give up as both of the young lions apply half crabs, but they’re both broken up. Tanaka hits a great deadlift German suplex for a nearfall. Tanaka hits the ropes but walks into a torpedo kokeshi, then Honma hits the top rope kokeshi for the pinfall. A fantastic opener and easily the best match of the tour thus far.

    Tiger Mask IV and Jay White vs. Barbaro Cavernario and Chase Owens

    There was comedy early as White complained that Cavernario smelled after locking up. Cavernario then proceeded to do gross out humor such as grabbing his armpit then wanting to tag in Owens. Tiger Mask made the hot tag for his team and took out Cavernario with the tiger driver. Owens made the comeback for his team as Cavernario hit a huge dive and Owens hit the package piledriver on White for the pinfall. These guys worked together better than you’d think and this ended up being a good match.

    Kazuchika Okada and Roppongi Vice vs. Cody Hall, Yujiro Takahashi and Nick Jackson

    After the usual feeling out process, the babyfaces made fun of Nick after Okada did the “suck it” sign and injured his foot kicking the announce table. Yujiro made the comeback for his team and worked on Romero. He tags in Okada, but he gets cut off after Cody Hall is tagged in. Soon breaks out into a melee after Okada hits a back body drop on Hall, with bodies flying everywhere. When the dust settles, it’s Hall and Okada, and the latter soon takes out Hall, does the rainmaker pose, then hits the rainmaker on Hall for the win. Good match. 

    Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazushi Sakuraba, Yoshi Hashi, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Togi Makabe, Captain New Japan and Katsuyori Shibata

    This started off like every ten man tag NJPW does- everyone paired off based on who they were feuding with. Ishii and Makabe went at it and Makabe was alid out. He was worked on until he finally was tag to tag in Goto, who ran wild. Sakuraba and Shibata go at it for a while, with Sakuraba throwing in some stiff offense. Tanahashi is tagged in, and eventually gets his hands on Yano. He makes a tag to Captain New Japan who, despite doing a fine comeback, falls to a low blow by Yano after Yano pulls his costume over his head. Your usual New Japan ten man tag, but it was good.

    Shibata and Sakuraba, as well as Ishii and Makabe, went at it after the match before they were eventually seperated. 

    Gedo vs. Jushin Thunder Liger

    These two worked a slower match than usual. Gedo took control of the match early and after some work on the outside, took Liger back in and worked on a leglock for a good while. Liger eventually reverses. Good back and forth action from here. Liger does the Thesz press and the palm strike for near falls, then hooks Gedo’s legs with his own and pins him. Different than the usual matches we’ve seen thus far, but I liked this.

    Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kyle O’Reilly

    This turned out to be pretty good. O’Reilly dominated the first half, but eventually it became a back and forth match. Taguchi made a comeback with the hip attacks and landed the three amigo suplexes. O’Rilley made a comeback including hitting a cool back bridge suplex for a nerfall. Tauchi catches him in an ankle lock but O’Rilley reverses into a sharpshooter. Taguchi hits the dodon for a nearfall then comes back to the ankle lock, which gets him the win. Really good back and forth match.

    Bobby Fish vs. Kushida

    Fish worked on Kushida’s leg early on in the bout and that became part of the match. Great back and forth match. Fish hit a giant Michinoku driver off the top rope for a great nearfall that people popped huge for when Kushida kicked out. Kushida went for a sliced bread #2 to honor Shelley but Fish tried to counter, only for him to get locked into the hoverboard lock. Fish tries desperately to escape, but eventually has to tap.

    Kushida cut a promo after the match, thanking the fans.

    Overall a really great show. the opener and the main event delivered, plus everything else was pretty good.

    Current Standings:

    Block A:

    Kyle O’Reilly (6)

    Ryusuke Taguchi (6)

    Babaro Cavernario (4)

    Gedo (4)

    Beretta (4)

    Chase Owens (4)

    Jushin Thunder Liger (4)

    Yohei Komatsu (0)

    Block B:

    Kushida (8)

    Mascara Dorada (6)

    Tiger Mask IV (6)

    Nick Jackson (6)

    Rocky Romero (6)

    Bobby Fish (4)

    Alex Shelley (2) (Out of tournament due to injury)

    David Finlay (0)

    And here are recaps of the previous shows for quick reference:

    Day 1: Gedo vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

    Day 2: Kushida vs. Nick Jackson

    Day 3: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Kyle O’Reilly

    Day 4: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Beretta

    Day 5: Chase Owens vs. Jushin Thunder Liger

    Day 6: Rocky Romero vs. Tiger Mask IV

  • NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 5-29 Tochigi report: Rocky Romero vs. Tiger Mask IV

    by Bryan Rose, WrestlingObserver.com

    Day 6 of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament took place early Friday morning. Results, and updated ranking, are as follows.

    Yohei Komatsu vs. Chase Owens

    Basic match, nothing much, nothing more. Owens dominated from the start. Komatsu made some nice comebacks and did his usual shine spots, including getting Owens in the half boston crab. He escapes, makes a back, then hits the throwback followed by a cradle piledriver for the pinfall.

    Nick Jackson vs. David Finlay

    Jackson took the advantage early, crotch chopping Finlay at every opportunity. He took him to the outside with a great missile dropkick. Finlay counter with a ropes assisted hurricanrana on the outside. Jackson tries for a senton but Finlay gets the knees up and makes a fun comeback. Jackson, however, derails him with a superkick and follows soon after with a 450 for the win. This was fine, but the crowd was absolutely dead for it.

    Barbaro Cavernario vs. Beretta

    Beretta was in control early despite Cavernario biting his fingers early in the match. Beretta fell out to the floor and Cavernario responded with a huge springboard crossbody to the floor, then soon followed that with a waistlock northern lights suplex. Never seen that before. Beretta came back with a tornado DDT. Cavernario cut him off and hit an amazing splash to the floor. Beretta cuts him off again, hits a flying knee strike then follows with the Omori driver for the win. One of the better matches of the tournament thus far that even woke up this crowd to an extent.

    Tiger Mask vs. Rocky Romero

    Romero came out wearing his Black Tiger mask. He taunted Tiger Mask with a replica masked, then jumped him out the outside. He unmasked and started work on Tiger Mask by posting him on the guardrail. Romero was on offense until Tiger Mask hit him with a kick and landed a butterfly suplex from the top rope. Romero made a comeback, including draping Tiger Mask on the top rope and following with a dropkick, also from the top rope, then followed with a tombstone for the win. It was fine, but nothing out of this world.

    Current Standings:

    Block A:

    Kyle O’Reilly (6)

    Babaro Cavernario (4)

    Gedo (4)

    Ryusuke Taguchi (4)

    Beretta (4)

    Chase Owens (4)

    Jushin Thunder Liger (2)

    Yohei Komatsu (0)

    Block B:

    Tiger Mask IV (6)

    Kushida (6)

    Mascara Dorada (6)

    Bobby Fish (6)

    Nick Jackson (6)

    Rocky Romero (6)

    Alex Shelley (2) (Out of tournament due to injury)

    David Finlay (0)

    And here are recaps of the previous shows for quick reference:

    Day 1: Gedo vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

    Day 2: Kushida vs. Nick Jackson

    Day 3: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Kyle O’Reilly

    Day 4: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Beretta

    Day 5: Chase Owens vs. Jushin Thunder Liger

  • NJPW Best of the Super Juniors Report 5-29 Tochigi report: Rocky Romero vs. Tiger Mask IV

    by Bryan Rose, WrestlingObserver.com

    Day 6 of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament took place early Friday morning. Results, and updated ranking, are as follows.

    Yohei Komatsu vs. Chase Owens

    Basic match, nothing much, nothing more. Owens dominated from the start. Komatsu made some nice comebacks and did his usual shine spots, including getting Owens in the half boston crab. He escapes, makes a back, then hits the throwback followed by a cradle piledriver for the pinfall.

    Nick Jackson vs. David Finlay

    Jackson took the advantage early, crotch chopping Finlay at every opportunity. He took him to the outside with a great missile dropkick. Finlay counter with a ropes assisted hurricanrana on the outside. Jackson tries for a senton but Finlay gets the knees up and makes a fun comeback. Jackson, however, derails him with a superkick and follows soon after with a 450 for the win. This was fine, but the crowd was absolutely dead for it.

    Barbaro Cavernario vs. Beretta

    Beretta was in control early despite Cavernario biting his fingers early in the match. Beretta fell out to the floor and Cavernario responded with a huge springboard crossbody to the floor, then soon followed that with a waistlock northern lights suplex. Never seen that before. Beretta came back with a tornado DDT. Cavernario cut him off and hit an amazing splash to the floor. Beretta cuts him off again, hits a flying knee strike then follows with the Omori driver for the win. One of the better matches of the tournament thus far that even woke up this crowd to an extent.

    Tiger Mask vs. Rocky Romero

    Romero came out wearing his Black Tiger mask. He taunted Tiger Mask with a replica masked, then jumped him out the outside. He unmasked and started work on Tiger Mask by posting him on the guardrail. Romero was on offense until Tiger Mask hit him with a kick and landed a butterfly suplex from the top rope. Romero made a comeback, including draping Tiger Mask on the top rope and following with a dropkick, also from the top rope, then followed with a tombstone for the win. It was fine, but nothing out of this world.

    Current Standings:

    Block A:

    Kyle O’Reilly (6)

    Babaro Cavernario (4)

    Gedo (4)

    Ryusuke Taguchi (4)

    Beretta (4)

    Chase Owens (4)

    Jushin Thunder Liger (2)

    Yohei Komatsu (0)

    Block B:

    Tiger Mask IV (6)

    Kushida (6)

    Mascara Dorada (6)

    Bobby Fish (6)

    Nick Jackson (6)

    Rocky Romero (6)

    Alex Shelley (2) (Out of tournament due to injury)

    David Finlay (0)

    And here are recaps of the previous shows for quick reference:

    Day 1: Gedo vs. Ryusuke Taguchi

    Day 2: Kushida vs. Nick Jackson

    Day 3: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Kyle O’Reilly

    Day 4: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Beretta

    Day 5: Chase Owens vs. Jushin Thunder Liger

  • WWE house show report 5-29 Raleigh – Cena vs. Kane cage match

    By Craig Green
    Lots of kids in the audience. This is my first house show in years so I’m impressed with the steel cage hanging over the ring. 

    King Barrett is out first to good heel heat and demands the crowd to “hail King Barrett” and gets ill when they don’t. He delivers the “bad news” line when asking if Raleigh wants to see him get beat up. He issues an open challenge which Neville accepted.

    Neville pinned King Barrett in about 12 minutes after Red Arrow.  Good back and forth match that the crowd enjoyed. Nicely done.

    After the match Kane attacked Neville on the entrance stage. He announced Rusev’s injury to the audience and said he would take his place in the main event cage match.

    Tyler Breeze was out next with Summer Rae(?). They cut heel promos and berated the crowd for not being good looking. Damien Sandow was out next as himself to new music.

    Damien Sandow beat Tyler Breeze in 2 minutes by DQ when Heath Slater interfered.

    Axelmania comes out for the save, challenges Breeze and Slater to a 2-on-1 handicap match. Yes, they accepted.
    About 7 minutes into the match and with Breeze and Axel down, Macho Mandow makes the save, clears Breeze from the ring and Axelmania hits the big leg on Slater.

    The Meta Powers beat Tyler Breeze and Heath Slater in 9 total minutes.

    A Warrior Award/Connor the Crusher video aired to a good pop. Classy stuff by WWE.

    New Day was out to a decent pop. Nobody here knows they’re heels as a majority of the crowd was clapping with them at first, then Xavier Woods heeled them out by leading them in an instructional clapping session.  Tyson Kidd and Cesaro were out next. Cesaro pimps Elimination Chamber and the tag title match but forgets he’s actually in one tonight. Harper and Rowan make their entrance. The ring announcer says this is an elimination match for the straps.

    Tyson Kidd pinned Erick Rowan in about 17 minutes with a rollup. Rowan and Harper eliminated, but takes cheap shots at Kidd and Big E afterwards before heading to the back.

    New Day wins the elimination tag match in about 23 minutes after Kofi rolls up Cesaro. Xavier Woods cheap-shotted Cesaro with the referee’s back turned. Kidd and Cesaro deliver two giant swing/dropkick combos on New Day after the match sends us to intermission.

    Naomi is out first after intermission to no heat, followed by her opponent Paige to a good response.

    Paige pins Naomi in about 9 minutes with Rampaige. OK match, nothing to write home about.

    Bo Dallas out next. Zack Ryder makes his entrance.
    Bo acknowledged the Entourage stuff with Ryder from Raw, as well as his loss to Cena. According to Bo, all Ryder needs to do is Bo-lieve.

    Zack Ryder pins Bo Dallas in 8 minutes. Bo missed the Bo-Dog and takes a Rough Ryder. Nicely worked match.

    Brief intermission to set up the cage.

    US Champion John Cena beat Kane by escaping the cage in 13 minutes.

    Double ref bump 10 minutes in. Kane accidentally kicked the cage door into one ref’s face while the ref inside the cage took a weak bump from Kane’s foot while Cena was attempting an AA. Cena eventually climbed over the top of the cage to send the crowd home happy while Kane was trying to escape through the door.

    MATCH OF THE NIGHT: King Barrett vs. Neville

    WORST WORKED MATCH OF THE NIGHT: Meta Powers vs. Slater/Breeze

    BIGGEST POPS
    1. Cena by a mile
    2. Axelmania saving Sandow from Slater and Breeze
    3. Kidd/Cesaro
    4. Neville hitting Red Arrow
    5. Paige/New Day’s entrance (tie)

    MOST HEAT
    1. King Barrett
    2. Kane attacking Neville after his match
    3. Xavier Woods and New Day heeling out the crowd after they initially cheered them
    4. Bo Dallas
    5. Kane

  • NJPW on AXS report 5-29-15: Ricochet vs. Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight championship

    (Photo credit New Japan Pro Wrestling/TV Asahi)

    By Bryan Rose, WrestlingObserver.com

    Last week, we saw Dragon Gate wrestler Ricochet defeat Kushida in the finals of the Best of the Super Junior tournament to become the 21st winner of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament. Now we move on to Dominion, New Japan’s annual June PPV in which Ricochet challenges Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight championship. Will Ricochet win once again, or will Kota Ibushi prove that he’s the best junior heavyweight in New Japan?

    This event took place June 21, 2014 at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, or the Bodymaker Colosseum.

    Mauro Ranallo on commentary points out that this is the first of three episodes to cover the 2014 Dominion event.

    Young Bucks versus Timesplitters first took place, and man what a match. From start to finish, this was an explosive 16 minute tag team match. I believe a few minutes were cut since it went to commercial around the 11 minute mark, but regardless this was a hell of a match. What struck me the most is the great tandem work by both teams. Everything just clicked here and it turned out to be a hell of a match. Kushida ended up picking up the win for his team, getting the hoverlock submission on one of the Young Bucks.

    Kushida thanks Shelley for being his tag partner, then says that he won’t let anyone talk about the Super Junior tournament lightly. He promises that the Super Juniors won’t be a supporting role in New Japan.

    Takashi Iizuka and Minoru Suzuki took on Toru Yano and Kazushi Sakuraba. These teams faced off countless times in 2014, so much I don’t remember individual matches. At least it makes sense in the face that Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka have a beef, and Suzuki and Sakuraba were starting to build their match at the Tokyo Dome with this never ending tag series. Match was about what you’d expect- Suzuki and Iizuka would do their worked shoot style when in the ring and Iizuka and Yano would use weapons and brawl on the outside. This was a lot better than I remembered, with Yano being laid out with a chair, Iizuka’s iron fingers of death, then the Gotch piledriver by Suzuki for the win.

    Suzuki promised he’d fight Yano and Sakuraba if they wanted to again, then called the press underlings. I’m very glad I can see Suzuki’s promos translated because they’re awesome.

    Ibushi is interviewed. He said when he saw Ricochet he saw him as bigger and stronger, and that he had a similar moveset to him. He felt a bit threatened after seeing him in the finals. He felt more scared than excited before the match took place. He was imagining what the match would be like with fear in his mind.

    The Junior Heavyweight championship match took place. This was as great as I remember it being. What stood out on a second watch is the performance of Ricochet. If anyone made the BOTSJ tournament mean something last year, it was him. He outshone Kota Ibushi here, and it’s amazing as Ibushi so far is in the running for many Observer awards this year if he has a great a year as he has in the first six months of this year. Ricochet was amazing, hitting a somersault tope through the ring post to the floor, one of the most amazing moves of 2014 anywhere, and landed on his feet after Ibushi hit a super hurricanrana off the top rope. Ibushi, however, pins him with a phoenix suplex, trapping him in a pinning position. Just a hell of a match and something that

    Ricochet says he was the better man today, but he wants a rematch. Ibushi said he was truly amazing in his technique and learned a lot about him. Back to the post match interview, he says Ricochet’s resilience was abnormal- he’s like an animal. He was afraid during the match, but after words he realized he had fun. He used the phoenix suplex because it can’t be dodged, and that’s why he chose it. He saw it in a magazine where Kent Kobashi did a powerbomb with a jackknife hold. He got the names mixed up for a while and though he threw his opponent backwards, so he did it that way for a while and started to use it.

    Overall, a fantastic show with two great matches, highly recommended viewing. New Japan Pro Wrestling on AXS TV might have dated footage, but in terms of storytelling and match quality, there’s few wrestling shows in 2015 that’s able to match it on a weekly basis.

  • After Dark Radio for tonight — Chris Savia of the Anomalist talks all manner of topics!

    After Dark Radio with Bryan Alvarez returns tonight streaming LIVE AND FREE from the After Dark Radio Show website on the Dark Matter Radio Network. You can also now stream the show through the front page of this website using the link on the right-hand side of the front page!

    The show airs at 2 AM ET/11 PM Pacific for two hours!

    Tonight we will be joined by special guest Chris Savia of anomalist.com to talk mystery horns, OBEs, the bicameral brain and more! We will also be taking your open lines phone calls on any topic imaginable! Check the website for NEW call-in numbers/email addresses in addition to our normal toll-free line.

    We will also be discussing tons of news, both from our website, afterdarkradioshow.com, our Facebook page, and, of course, Artbell.com, plus taking your phone calls, emails and Twitter questions!

    All of the phone numbers are available at afterdarkradioshow.com. You can send in emails on any topic to bryan@wrestlingobserver.com, and make sure you put “AFTER DARK” in the subject line. Remember, this show survives on your participation, so please send those emails or be prepared to call!

  • TNA Impact 5-29-15 – May Mayhem TV Report with EY-Angle I Quit Match

    By Jeremy Peeples, WrestlingObserver.com

    Last week, Destination America aired last year’s Slammiversary show instead of Impact. The week before that, Eric Young beat Kurt Angle in a Hardcore War tag team match and then choked him with Chris Melendez’s artificial leg. Tonight, during May Mayhem (because every show MUST have a title to indiciate how special it is), EY battles Kurt in an I Quit match. The Dollhouse vs. Gail Kim rivalry continues with Gail facing Taryn in a cage match, and the best of five series between The Wolves and the Dirty Heels continues with the second match. The Wolves won, so the Heels will be looking to win by any means necessary to even things up.

    The show begins with EY in his car with a multi-camera shoot until he gets to the building and brawls with Kurt. They go back and forth between cameras way too quickly and get separated while EY yells about breaking Kurt’s damn neck and just yells. Josh says that tonight anarchy rules…but since I guess WWE owns that name, tonight is May Mayhem. The Knockouts promo airs and we start off with the first match – Gail Kim vs. Taryn Terrell in a cage. Al Snow and his jacket are with Josh in the closet. Al describes the Dollhouse as hot, but creepy.

    Match 1 – Gail Kim vs. Taryn Terrell – Six Sides of Steel

    Gail jumps Taryn on the floor, but the goons try to get involved. Stinger splash in the corner to the challenger. Gail gets 2 off a flapjack. Gail smashes her into the cage and thankfully Al doesn’t compare it to a cheese grater so Josh could correct him. As expected, the camera hole in the cage is used for interference. Gail takes an awesome bump off the cage. Jade and Marti tie Gail’s hair into the cage. Taryn smashes Gail’s hand into the cage to either break her ring hand or take her wedding ring off. A kick to the stomach sets up a flipping neckbreaker and a suplex for 2. Gail bowls over the champion before hitting a stunner to the knee in the corner. The goons prevent Gail from escaping while Jade gets the Maria Cam treatment. The Cutter hits and gets the win.

    Josh says in 19 days, Taryn will break Gail’s streak as KOs champion. Taryn hits a lariat to Earl and closes the catch…but doesn’t latch it up, and Kong comes out while Taryn yells “lookit lookit lookit!” They lock the cage and Taryn has the key in the corner with her while the goons attack Gail. Taryn tells Gail that she’s nothing compared to her while Kong attacks the cage with a chair. Taryn takes Gail’s ring off, licks it, and smashes her hand against the mat and stomps it while Josh talks about Taryn’s past mental problems. Taryn plays with Gail’s ring using her teeth and we go to a break. This was a far better use of 13 minutes to start a show than Raw usually is.

    After the break, we see Al and Josh full-screen as they recap Gail’s broken finger. A quick recap of the EY-Angle brawl from earlier leads to a Storm-Magnus-Mickie recap. Josh says that the great thing about TNA is that they have “really adult stuff” and aren’t PG. Josh asks why Al has a suitcase and says it’s because they’re moving to Wednesday. Mickie says she’s coming back for one more match and recaps the Storm-Magnus problems and why it’s so hard for her. Storm comes down and she says she wants to talk to him about Magnus not calling him and apologizing for the guitar shot.

    He says she doesn’t need to apologize to him and he’d have done what Magnus did if he was in his shoes. Mickie tells James that Magnus is just trying to protect her from Bram, and Storm says he’s not a bad guy – he holds the door open for ladies, and if that makes him bad, then he’s a bad, bad guy. The crowd chants “you’re a bad guy” and he says “naw”. Storm really needs to be a babyface. Storm talks about getting a guitar for her, a blanket for Donovan, and even bought Magnus his gladiator helmet back. The crowd chants “that was funny” and he talks about getting Mickie a meeting with big country music people – even Dale Oliver and Billy Corgan. One of these is not like the other, one of these things just doesn’t belong. Josh, who is apparently now an idiot, says that Storm just might be trustworthy while Al points out that he isn’t. We get an X Division gauntlet next and get a graphic with a billion guys on-screen. Kenny is defending his title tonight in this and wants to keep the title to get a World title shot.

    Josh says that EY and Kurt have been locked into rooms, and EY breaks his window while showing his Twitter feed. We get a new X division hype video that will presumably air before every division match like the Knockouts one.

    Match Two – Manik vs. Spud vs. DJZ vs. Tigre Uno vs. Argos vs. Crazzy Steve vs. Kenny King – X Division Title Gauntlet

    Manik is out first, while Spud draws the second spot. They brawl in the corner and Spud goes to toss him over. Spud goes for an outside-in DDT, but gets faceplanted. DJZ is out and they talk about him having nowhere to go with the demise of the BroMans. Spud and DJZ attack Manik. Mandrews comes out to no reaction and ranas Manik after being tossed up by DJZ. Faces team up on Manik while Spud tries to eliminate him, but he comes back in. Argos comes out, also to no reaction. Running headscissors to Manik. He misses a corner charge, but gets a springboard rana to Manik. Manik avoids a Mandrews SSP, but can’t get rid of Mandrews until he smashes his head into the post. Crazzy Steve is out for an ad break.

    Uno is eliminated during the break while Al says he thought that was Argos. Kenny King is out last. Kenny runs wild before Spud attacks him. Kenny fights back and capture suplexes DJZ. Steve gets an over the top inverted triangle over the ropes, which leads to his elimination. Argos is tossed out by King. Kenny hits the Royal Flush and Josh says Spud hit the canvas at 150 MPH. DJZ gets a face buster onto King, but King reverses a whip and sends him out. Manik wants a truce with King and attacks Spud. Kenny tries to toss Spud out, and as he looks, Manik hits the pop-up Codebreaker. Manik gets tossed, so it’s down to Spud vs. Kenny King. Kenny lands a slew of mounted punches to Spud.

    Josh says that Spud has to win by pinfall or submission, while Kenny can just be DQed. Spud gets a small package out of the Royal Flush and Spud wins! He gets his second X Division title win, so that win sure did a lot of good for King. At least it gave Spud the motivation for his best promo of the year. We get a graphic for EY vs. Kurt and find out that it’s a title match, while Heels-Wolves match two is up next. Back in the booth, Josh runs down that they’ll be changing to Wednesday nights next week and Al says he’ll have an amazing jacket for the PPV. The Dirty Heels come out first, followed by The Wolves.

    Match Three – The Wolves vs. The Dirty Heels in Match Two of the Best of Five Series

    Aries jumps the gun and Roode leapfrogs Davey mid-ring leading to a Davey dive to Aries on the floor! Eddie gets a schoolboy for 2. Davey and Eddie kick and chop away at Roode. Roode gets an atomic drop leading to a move from Aries setting up a Perfect necksnap from Roode for 2. Davey bonks Austin’s head into Eddie’s and Aries comes back with corner punches in his corner. Roode comes in and chops him down while Aries gets the tope con hilo for 2.

    Roode nuns wild on Eddie before tagging Aries in and Davey makes a save. Eddie avoids a double team with a pair of kicks and throws Aries into Roode before tagging Davey in. Double team drop toehold>kneedrop by the Wolves to Aries and a corner head bonk for Roode. Inverted figure four/Indian deathlock by Davey to Roode – nice. Roode reversed the hold and gets the rope. German suplex with a double team jackknife cover gets 2 for the Wolves. Roode coes back from some double teams with a big lariat and a kick before making the tag.

    Corner elbow and punch exchange with Davey. Aries gets a missile dropkick to one Wolf and gets a flipping German to Davey alongside the Last Chancery while Roode gets the crossface on Eddie. Davey knees out of a brainbuster, but eats a roaring elbow. Falcon Arrow>high kick from the Wolves leads to a 2.9! Roode spinebusters Eddie leading to a 450 by Aries for 2.9! Big chops by Aries, but the Wolves double team to get ahead. Aries avoids the powerbomb>backstabber and Aries flips through into a Chancery, but Davey double stomps him! Powerbomb>backstabber hits and the Wolves are up 2-0. Holy crap was this great – it might’ve been the best traditional tag team match on TV all year.

    Angelina is startled by a camera guy and says she’ll address Velvet next. But first, Kenny King calls MVP, who he calls “Montel Vontaveous Porter” and is pissed off at because he’s not here. Angelina talks to Velvet, who is now in the crowd. Angelina yells for her friends to come out by just yelling “friends!”, which is great. She has her own personal security team who will haul her out if she touches Angelina. She calls her a fired freak while Velvet stares stone-faced. Angelina goes to leave, but Velvet jumps her from behind. Al points out that since Velvet doesn’t work her, every single thing Velvet does should result in an assault charge. Angelina calls her a freak and an idiot some more. Angelina’s mic work throughout this entire thing was really annoying. Anderson is backstage in a pink-lit looking both old and jacked. Ken introduces the new cage he’ll have Tyrus stuck in tonight when he faces EC3 next.

    Josh says that one thing he loves about TNA is that he can say what he wants and he feels that EC3 should be World champion. Al says that EC3 deserves a shot, but not the title. EC3 says that despite his rage, Tyrus will not be a rat in the cage – I love EC3’s act so much. And then Ken Anderson came out and said his name twice. Well, said it once and yelled it the second time. Al says that Tyrus is over 400 pounds now. Despite Tyrus not being in the cage, the bell rings.

    Match Four – Ken Anderson vs. EC3 with Tyrus Locked in a Cage

    Ken starts things off by jumping Tyrus and trying to get him in the cage, but EC3 attacks Ken. EC3 bashes him into the cage, which I guess is legal in this match. Snap suplex by EC3 gets 2 as Josh plugs Hillbilly Blood and BBQ Pitmasters. Al and Josh talk about being afraid of Dixie and Janice while Josh says he has EC3’s signs made for him. So is Josh officially a heel announcer now? Josh says that EC3 was planning to arm wrestle, and was shocked by the street fight. Ken attacks Tyrus and hits his hands with a chair, then his gut and back. Tyrus goes into the cage to avoid more chairshots and Ken locks the cage. Why not do that before the match and not break up the match?

    Ken runs wild with clotheslines, so EC3 rakes the eyes. Ken gets a powerslam for 2. Back and forth whips into the buckle lead to Ken getting 1 off a backdrop. Ken goes up top, but gets crotched. Inverted superplex gets 2.9! EC3 gets a Stinger splash, but Ken counters the One Percenter with a Finlay roll and a swanton for 2. EC3 counters the Mic Check, but lands it and only gets 2! Ken repositions himself, goes for it again, and EC3 counters it into his finisher for the win. This was pretty fun, honestly – not a great match, but it served its purpose. EC3 and Ken shake hands afterwards since Ken was beaten fairly…kinda

    Destination America has made an ad to hype up Awesome Kong. We go backstage to Spud saying that the first time he won the title, it could be a fluke, but now, he’s legit. He puts over Joe, AJ, and Jerry Lynn while the camera man talks about Option C. Spud said he didn’t even know Destination X was so close – well, we still don’t know. Al and Josh talk and say that next week, we’ll get match three in the best of five series. Josh says that on the TNA site, EY has been counting own this I Quit match. Somehow, EY getting a tattoo months ago is due to this match. He’s flanked by security, as is Kurt.

    Main Event – Kurt Angle vs. Eric Young – I Quit Match

    EY jumps Kurt during the big match intro – good, it would be ridiculous to not do that. Kurt gets a takedown and some mounted punches. They fight to the floor and EY gets a cheapshot and some chops. They exchange punches mid-ring before EY gets an eye rake. Kurt gets a German, then another, a third hits, now a fourth, and a fifth leads to Kurt releasing it so the ref can ask if he quits. EY says no, so Kurt suplexes him some more. EY doesn’t give up again for an ad break.

    After the break, Kurt dominates in the corner until EY hits him with the brace and gets the figure four. Kurt reverses the pressure, but EY won’t give up. EY gets the Angle slam and the ankle lock, but Kurt won’t quit. Kurt counters even with the grapevine on and gets a wonky figure four. EY misses a missile dropkick and Kurt gets a figure four. Before, Kurt did this as an homage to Dick Beyer, but while EY taps out, he didn’t say he quit. Kurt releases the hold, and eats a low blow. I like that – Kurt got the win in theory with an implied submission, but didn’t get the win here. Piledriver hits hard, and Kurt weakly responds with a no when asked to quit before telling EY to kiss his ass.

    EY goes for a Gotch piledriver, but Kurt flips out and gets an ankle lock and EY quits after the grapevine. Al says that since Kurt’s a master, it makes sense for EY to give up so quickly from that move. They really pushed the move to Wednesday hard here – so while the move has bee promoted poorly before tonight, they tried to make up for it here. We get highlights of tonight’s show to set up next week, which is far better than them spoiling the show with clips. This was a pretty good show with one absolute must-watch match in the Heels vs. Wolves match, and the rest of it was at least fun.

    To see every screen for tonight’s show, just click here.

  • FRI. UPDATE: Great matches on TV, Stephanie raising cash, Johnson movie debuts, UFC commercial, Cormier on Rollins

    By dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>Dave Meltzer

    We’re looking for reports on tonights’ WWE show in Raleigh, NC (John Cena vs. Kane, New Day vs. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro), ROH in Amarillo (Roderick Strong vs. Adam Cole, Matt Taven & Michael Bennett vs. War Machine, Dalton Castle vs Romantic Touch, ACH vs. Michael Elgin) and NXT in Citrus Springs, FL at dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>dave@wrestlingobserver.com

    Big night of television tonight as New Japan on AXS has a must-see main event with Kota Ibushi vs. Ricochet.

    New Japan World Pro Wrestling at 9 p.m. Eastern on AXS

    Alex Shelley & Kushida vs .Young Bucks

    Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano

    Kota Ibushi vs. Ricochet for IWGP jr. title

    TNA Impact tonight at 9 p.m. on Destination America

    Kenny King vs. Rockstar Spud vs. Manik vs. Mandrews vs. DJ Zema Ion vs. Tigre Uno vs. Argos vs.Crazzy Steve in a Rumble match for the X title

    Taryn Terrell vs. Gail Kim in a cage match for Knockouts title

    Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards vs. Bobby Roode & Austin Aries in match No. 2 of the best-of-five

    Kurt Angle vs. Eric Young for TNA title in an I Quit match

    New Japan tomorrow morning live at 5:30 a.m. Eastern and 2:30 a.m. Pacific on New Japan World from Korakuen Hall

    David Finlay & Tomoaki Honma vs. Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu

    Jay White & Tiger Mask vs. Chase Owens & Cavernario Barbaro

    Kazuchika Okada & Rocky Romero & Baretta vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall & Nick Jackson

    Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto & Togi Makabe & Katsuyori Shibata & Captain New Japan vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Toro Yano & Tomohiro Ishii & Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi

    Jushin Liger vs. Gedo

    Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kyle O’Reilly

    Kushida vs. Bobby Fish

    Saturday we’re looking for reports from WWE in Greensboro (John Cena vs. Kane, New Day vs. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro), WWE in Laredo (Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt, Sheamus), ROH in Oklahoma City (Jay Brisco defends ROH title against winner of B.J. Whitmer vs. Hanson vs. Michael Bennett earlier in the show, Jay Lethal defends TV title against winner of Mark Briscoe vs Matt Taven vs. Raymond Rowe, ACH vs. Adam Cole, Michael Elgin vs Dalton Castle) and NXT in Venice, FL

    UFC Fight Night from Goiania, Brazil

    Fight Pass at 7 p.m. Eastern

    Luiz Dutra (170) vs. Tom Breese (171)

    Juliana Lima (115) vs. Ericka Almeida (116)

    FS 1 at 8 p.m. Eastern

    Lucas Martins (145) vs. Mirsad Bektic (146)

    Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (171) vs. Nicolas Dalby (171)

    Jussier Formiga (126) vs. Wilson Reis (126)

    Rony Jason (146) vs. Damon Jackson (145)

    Wendell Oliveira (170) vs. Darren Till (171)

    Francisco Trinaldo (156) vs. Norman Parke (156)

    Francimar Barroso (205) vs. Ryan Jimmo (206)

    K.J. Noons (170) vs. Alex Oliveira (170)

    Nik Lentz (146) vs Charles Oliveira (144)

    Carlos Condit (170) vs. Thiago Alves (170)

    Evolve 43 iPPV from Saturday night at 6 p.m. from Queens, NY at www.WWNLive.com

    Anthony Nese vs. Rey Hours

    TJ Perkins vs. Mike Bailey

    Chris Hero vs. Trevor Lee

    Davey Richards vs. Caleb Konley

    Johnny Gargano & Rich Swann vs. Drew Gulak & ? for Dragon Gate USA tag titles

    Drew Galloway vs. Biff Busick for Dragon Gate USA titles

    WWE Elimination Chamber at 8 p.m. Eastern from Corpus Christi on the WWE Network

    Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose for WWE title

    John Cena vs. Kevin Owens

    IC title Chamber match:  Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. ? (formerly Rusev, no official announcement has been made) vs. R-Truth vs. Ryback vs. King Barrett

    Tag title Chamber match:  New Day vs. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro vs. Lucha Dragons vs. The Ascension vs. Prime Time Players vs. Los Matadores

    Neville vs. Bo Dallas

    Nikki Bella vs. Paige vs. Naomi for Divas title

    Evolve 44 i PPV Sunday night at 8 p.m. at www.WWNLive.com

    Rey Hours vs. ?

    Biff Busick vs. Mike Bailey

    Rich Swann vs. Trevor Lee

    Anthony Nese vs. TJ Perkins

    Drew Gulak vs. Davey Richards

    Johnny Gargano vs Ethan Page – If Gargano wins, Page leaves the promotion, if Page wins, Gargano must shake his hand

    Drew Galloway vs. Roderick Strong for Evolve title

    Raw is Monday night in San Antonio.

    Smackdown and Main Event will be taped on Tuesday night in Houston.

    The breakdown of the ROH deal on Destination America, how this affects TNA, the time frame of both company’s deals with the station and why this went down is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.  We also look at Daniel Cormier winning the world championship and questions arising, full coverage of UFC 187, Full coverage of Samoa Joe to NXT and the last special, the AAA World Cup coverage, Bischoff sues TNA and the UFC hall of Fame.

    The new issue is up on the site at June 1, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: ROH to Destination America, Bischoff sues TNA, UFC Hall of Fame

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    *March 24, 2003 (history of the WWWF title, inside behind the Sammartino, Backlund and Backlund era)

    *April 21, 2003 (history of WWF continues with the expansion nationally, the death of the regional territories and the rise of Hulk Hogan)

    *May 12, 2003 (The life and death of Elizabeth and the rise of fall of Lex Luger)

    *June 9, 2003 (Part 1 of history of WWF vs. WCW wars and what many say was the greatest year in U.S. wrestling; plus a look at Fred Blassie)

    *June 16, 2003 (Freddie Blassie through the eyes of his biggest rivals and friends)

    *July 28, 2003 (Part 2 of the history of the WWF vs. WCW war and the plans to make new superstars in the early 90s, what happened, and the night where the three biggest wrestling companies in the world combined for a joint show and what happened)

    *August 25, 2003 (2003 Hall of Fame issue with huge profiles on the controversial career of Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit as well as historical features on Earl Caddock and Francisco Flores)

    *September 22, 2003 (Part 3 of the history of the WWF vs WCW war with the seeds that caused the collapse of the industry in the 90s, Zahorian trial, Gulf War controversy, Flair leaves WCW while holding world title and much more)

    *October 27, 2003 (The fascinating life of Stu Hart plus the story of Road Warrior Hawk)

    *January 19, 2004 (2003 Awards issue)

    *February 2, 2004 (History of Toronto wrestling, Jack Tunney life story, Royal Rumble and Battle Royal history)

    *February 23, 2004 (History of Guerrero family with Eddy’s win over Brock Lesnar)

    *March 1, 2004 (History of WWF continues with the period that brought the company down in early 1992, the mistakes, the real stories and how the business changed)

    *March 8, 2004 (History of Wrestlemania, its greatest matches and best and worst shows as voted both by wrestlers and non-wrestlers and Wrestlemania history books)

    *July 5, 2004 (A look behind the scenes and Ric Flair’s book and his background with Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan)

    *July 12, 2004 (A look at more on Ric Flair’s book and his comments on Bruno Sammartino, Bret Hart and Mick Foley)

    *August 16, 2004 (History of the Olympians in pro wrestling)

    *August 23, 2004 (2004 Hall of Fame issue and biggest issue of the year with huge profiles on Kazushi Sakuraba, Undertaker, Bob Backlund, Masahiro Chono, Ultimo Dragon, Kurt Angle and Tarzan Lopez–this counts as one issue if you are asking for a free issue, but ordered separately, due to size, is $6 in North America and $7 overseas)

    *October 4, 2004 (the life and times of Big Bossman; as well as details of the life and times of one of the most influential men world wide in pro wrestling history, Jim Barnett)

    *November 15, 2004 (the full story of what happened between Kurt Angle and Daniel Puder, plus coverage of the most important week in the history of TNA)

    *January 24, 2005 (2004 Awards issue, Rock and WWE part company)

    *March 14, 2005 (the 50 biggest money players in the history of WWF and a look at their Hall of Fame)

    *May 9, 2005 (the life and times of Chris Candido)

    *June 20, 2005 (The full story behind Paul Heyman and the death of ECW, as well as coverage of One Night Stand, Hardcore Homecoming and behind the scenes of both shows)

    *July 18, 2005 (death of Shinya Hashimoto and his records with a look at the fall of New Japan, the Matt Hardy angle, tons of WWE firings, Cornette firing in detail as well as problems of a WWE developmental territory in our biggest news issue of the year which is a double-sized issue and would be $6 on its own and $7 overseas)

    *August 24, 2005 (2005 Hall of Fame issue with career profiles of Paul Heyman, HHH and Freebirds plus debut of MMA Hall of Fame)

    *September 12, 2005 (History of Mid South Wrestling)

    *October 10, 2005 (Life and Times of the Ultimate Warrior)

    *November 21, 2005 (Life and Times of Eddy Guerrero and Crusher, double issue $6 on its own and $7 overseas)

    *December 5, 2005 (The Eddy Guerrero special issue, double issue $6 on its own, $7 overseas)

    *January 9, 2006 (The life and times of Superstar Billy Graham, plus New Year’s Eve 2005 coverage)

    *January 16, 2006 (2005 Awards double issue, $6 or $7 overseas)

    *April 3, 2006 (Story of Ann Calvello and the history of Roller Derby–many called this the best issue of the Observer ever)

    *April 10, 2006 (Behind the scenes at the 2006 Wrestlemania/Hall of Fame week)

    *July 24, 2006 (The History of the Von Erichs and World Class Championship Wrestling–the most unreal story ever in wrestling)

    *September 4, 2006 (The Rise and Fall of Kurt Angle; 2006 Hall of Fame inductions of Eddie Guerrero, Paul Bowser, Masakatsu Funaki, Aja Kong and Hiroshi Hase including tons of wrestling history around the world from the 20s through the 60s, the evolution of working to not working in Japan, and a look at Guerrero in hindsight, double issue $6 or $7 overseas)

    *October 9, 2006 (A look back nine years later at the life and legacy of Brian Pillman with tons of inside information about what made him tick as his real objectives)

    *November 15, 2006 (History of WCW part one, Eric Bischoff’s book and how the industry was changed forever)

    *November 20, 2006 (History of WCW part two, Why Jim Ross left WCW, How Bischoff changed the company, signing of Hulk Hogan, Beginning of Nitro, Jesse Ventura, Brian Pillman, Chris Jericho and signing Wrestlemania planned celebrity away)

    *November 27, 2006 (History of WCW part three, When Bischoff challenged McMahon to fight; Truth and fiction around Bret Hart signing with WCW and why it didn’t click)

    *December 6, 2006 (details behind Pride’s offers to sell promotion and Part four of History of WCW part four, Hogan-Goldberg match and why there was no rematch, WCW loses NBC network deal in 1999 and the real reasons the company fell apart)

    *January 22, 2007 (2006 Awards issue, double issue $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *February 14, 2007 (Life and Times of Bam Bigelow)

    *March 5, 2007 (WWE begins plans that will change the business)

    *March 12, 2007 (Life and Times of Mike Awesome)

    *March 19, 2007 (Life and Times of Ernie Ladd)

    *April 4, 2007 (Life and Times of Badnews Allen Coage–which many are calling one of the best issues in history)

    *July 2, 2007 (Part one of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 5, 2007 (Part two of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 10, 2007 (Part three of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 19, 2007 (Part four of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 23, 2007 (Part five of Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 25, 2007 (Part six of Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *August 15, 2007 (The legend of the God of Japanese wrestling and his influence on MMA, Karl Gotch)

    *October 15 (2007 Hall of Fame double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas including inductions of The Rock, Tom Packs and the original Strangler Lewis)

    *November 12, 2007 (Life and times of Fabulous Moolah and history of U.S. women’s wrestling) .

    *December 31, 2007 (History of Ric Flair and the heyday of wrestling at the Greensboro Coliseum)

    *January 21, 2008 (2007 Awards issue, double issue $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *March 17, 2008 (Life and times of Johnny Weaver)

    *March 24, 2008 (Life and times of Gary Hart)

    *April 10, 2008 (Farewell to Ric Flair; My thoughts, Shawn Michaels talks of Flair’s meaning to him; Hall of Fame; Wrestlemania double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *August 11, 2008 (Ric Flair leaves WWE; Updated history of pro wrestlers and MMA fighters who went to the Olympics)

    * September 8, 2008 (2008 Hall of Fame double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas; part one of Killer Kowalski bio)

    * September 15, 2008 (Life and Times of Evan Tanner)

    * September 22, 2008 (The amazing career of Killer Kowalski, one of our most in-depth bios)

    You can also order any of these issues on their own for $4 in North America or $5 overseas.

    We now have available personally autographed copies of Tributes II, our latest book, as well as a DVD that comes with it talking more about the subjects in the book. The book covers the life stories of Lou Thesz, Wahoo McDaniel, Elizabeth, Fred Blassie, Road Warrior Hawk, Andre the Giant, Curt Hennig, Johnny Valentine, Davey Boy Smith, Terry Gordy, Owen Hart, Stu Hart, Gorilla Monsoon, The Sheik and Tim Woods..

    To get all of those biographies as back issues of the Observer would be a $60 value today. This is a collection of some of the best Observer articles of the past several years in a hardcover, full-color format that is 239 pages. There is also a foreword by Bret Hart. The book price is $12.95 plus $3.50 for shipping costs in the U.S., $20 for shipping costs to Canada and $25 for shipping costs outside North America. You can order the book the same way you order the newsletter.

    FRIDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

    • Stephanie McMahon filed papers on Wednesday to start selling up to 609,733 shares of WWE stock from her trust fund starting on 8/10 provided the stock price is above a certain unlisted level.  That stock would be worth today about $8.7 million.
    • The Dwayne Johnson movie “San Andreas” opens at the theaters tonight. 
    • As noted earlier, Kevin Owens has signed a new deal for the main roster.  He starts next weekend at the house shows if he’s not on this weekend.  But he’s advertised starting next weekend.  It should be noted that they’ve got communications issues because he’s being advertised on NXT shows on the same night as a few of his WWE house show dates.  We’re told he’ll be doing very few more NXT shows past TVs.  He will be a regular on Raw & Smackdown going forward, so it’s not just this week and done.  He’s taking a lot of the Rusev bookings.  Rusev has been pulled from all shows for a few months, which makes his working Sunday questionable, but the listed schedule still has him.
    • UFC spent a ton of money on this commercial and you’ll be seeing it everywhere for the six weeks
    • Daniel Cormier from Levi’s Stadium at the moment Seth Rollins won the WWE title
    • Former speaker of the house Dennis Hastert, who was heavily pushed for his success among the wrestling community because of being a former wrestler, is in hot water here
    • Add the 7/13 Raw to Brock Lesnar’s schedule.
    • Sheamus has a role as “Rocksteady” in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 movie.
    • WWE sent Eva Marie to walk the red carpet for the “San Andreas” premiere yesterday.
    • WWE stock closed today at $14.30 per share, the same as yesterday.
    • This is scary.  Ericka Almeida, who weighed in at 116 today, said she had to lose 35 pounds when she got the call a few weeks ago to make weight for her fight tomorrow with Juliana Lima.
    • Battlewar 27 on 7/26 in Montreal at Les Foufounes Electriqeus
    • There will be the annual Fitness Expo in San Jose on 6/13 and 6/14 at the Convention Center.  There are all kinds of activities including a Jiu Jitsu tournament, a strongman challenge, a wrestling tournament, a powerlifting tournament and appearances by Phil Heath and Jay Cutler of Mr. Olympia fame.  In past years, a lot of MMA stars have appeared as well.
    • The Owen Hart DVD is called “Hart of Gold” and is scheduled for an October release.
    • This is Scott Steiner so if you choose to believe it or not, it is presented for purely entertainment fashion:  “I’ve never failed a drug test in my life.  When WWE told me to take one, I told them to have HHH pick me up in a limo, then we could go test together.  They never asked again.” 
    • IHWE on 6/6 in Crowley, TX featuring Lance Hoyt (Archer).  They also have a legends of the Sportatorium Q&A on 6/7 at 3 p.lm. with Marc Lowrance, Black Bart and James Beard.  They also have a secondshow that night at 6 p.m.
    • Great North Wrestling tonight in Smiths Falls, ONT at he Memorial Center with Brutus Beefcake and Hannibal.
    • An interview with Nora Greenwald and Lisa Moretti, who were Molly Holly and Ivory in WWE years back
    • Dolph Ziggler on stage with Britney Spears
    • Jeff Jarrett, Lance Archer and Jim Duggan promoting Global Force Wrestling last night on CBS Sports Network
    • Photos up here
    • A preview of Sunday’s WWE show

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

    1970 – Giant Baba beat Don Leo Jonathan in Tokyo to win the World League

    1977 – Solar (who just wrestled on Sunday in the World Cup) beat Villano III to win the UWA welterweight title

    1984 – Marty Jones beat David Finlay in Dartford to win the World mid heavyweight title

    1988 – El Hijo del Santo beat El Espanto Jr. in Naucalpan to win the UWA lightweight title

    1990 – Richie Brooks beat Danny Collins via DQ in Croydon to win the British heavy middleweight title

    1991 – Atsushi Onita beat Gregori Veritchev in Tokyo to win the WWA Martial Arts title and Ricky Fuji beat Jimmy Backlund (who later became Jimmy Del Rey) to win the light heavyweight title

    1992 – Universo 2000 beat Mascara Sagrada in Veracruz to win the Mexican national light heavyweight title

    2014 – Atsushi Aoki beat Ultimo Dragon in Tokyo to win the All Japan jr. title

    TODAY’S WRESTLING VIDEOS (thanks to Thomas Rude)

    MISC. STUFF

    Joe Malenko On “The Apter Chat”

    Ring Of Honor’s COO Joe Kaff On ‘The Apter Chat”

    “Dad You Don’t Work, You Wrestle” (Episode 121)

    The Queen’s Court (Episode 5)

    Ringside Collectibles’ “Ringside Or Riot” (Season 4, Episode 27)

    POWW “Between The Ropes” (Episode 12)

    Top 40 Moves Of Luke Harper

    New England Championship Wrestling “Online” (Episode 5)

    WWE

    Top 10 WWE RAW Moments:  May 25, 2015

    5 Things-5 Superstars Who Defeated Brock Lesnar

    Kevin Owens Discusses His Issues With “John Cena Land”:  WWE.com Exclusive, May 27, 2015

    Paige Dissects Her Rivalry With Naomi:  May 27, 2015

    NXT Superstars’ Advice For WWE Tough Enough Applicants:  WWE Inbox

    NXT BreakDown Featuring Emma And Dana Brooke

    INDY TV SHOWS

    Pro Wrestling Syndicate TV (Episode 21)

    Smash Wrestling TV (Episode 53)

    Reality Of Wrestling TV (Episode 56)

    5/8/15 Future Stars Of Wrestling “High Octane” TV

    Monster Factory TV (Episode 6)

    CWF MId-Atlantic Wrestling Worldwide TV (Episode 2)

    TNA

    Eric Young’s New Tattoo Has Deep Meaning Heading Into Friday’s Title Match

    Drew Galloway On Periscope:  Drew Tours The Office, Answers The Main Phone

    Drew Galloway On Periscope :  Drew Gets A Meeting And Has More Coffee…

    Mr. Anderson On Facing EC3 And Making Sure Tyrus Is Out Of The Picture

    The Politics Behind The Match Between Mr. Anderson And EC3 This Friday

    Eric Young Tells What He Will Show The World This Friday…

    A Look At The Drama Between The Dollhouse And Gail Kim

    Rockstar Spud Talks About The Gauntlet Match For The X Title This Friday…

    What Does EC3 Say About Facing Mr. Anderson Without Tyrus?

    Kenny King Speaks His True Thoughts On Rockstar Spud And His X Title Chances…

    TOMORROW’S WWE NETWORK SCHEDULE (thanks to Bert Duckwall)

    12:00 AM ET
    WWE BEYOND THE RING A look inside the life and career of CM Punk from his early success in ECW to the top of the WWE.

    2:00 AM ET
    WWE NXT The future is here. Witness the entertainers, the leading men and women, the Superstars of tomorrow — this is NXT!

    3:00 AM ET
    WWE SUPERSTARS WWE Superstars features the best of the best, in matches you’ll have to see to believe. You never know what to expect, so expect everything.

    4:00 AM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Eva’s sexy bachelorette in Curacao gets heated when TJ destroy’s Nattie’s hopes of rekindling their marriage.

    5:00 AM ET
    WCW MONDAY NITRO ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage battles ‘Nature Boy’ Ric Flair. WCW Tag Team Champions, Harlem Heat, face Sting and Lex Luger.

    6:00 AM ET
    WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER 2013 For the first time in over a decade The Rock is WWE Champion. A determined CM Punk is set on regaining the WWE Title.

    9:00 AM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Eva’s sexy bachelorette in Curacao gets heated when TJ destroy’s Nattie’s hopes of rekindling their marriage.

    10:00 AM ET
    WWE BEYOND THE RING A look inside the life and career of CM Punk from his early success in ECW to the top of the WWE.

    12:00 PM ET
    TOUGH ENOUGH The Miz gives the contestants a taste of what life as a WWE Superstar means outside the ring. Back in the gym, the competition heats up.

    1:00 PM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Biggest Crybabies of all time!

    2:00 PM ET
    THIS WEEK IN WWE Get caught up on all the highlights from Raw and SmackDown with This Week in WWE.

    2:30 PM ET
    FIRST LOOK A First Look to watch exclusive content from WWE Home Video’s latest release, Daniel Bryan – Just Say Yes! Yes! Yes!

    3:00 PM ET
    SATURDAY NIGHTS MAIN EVENT The Ultimate Warrior defends the WWE Title against ‘Ravishing’ Rick Rude. Demolition defend their WWE Tag Team Titles against The Rockers.

    4:30 PM ET
    WWE BEYOND THE RING Relive D-Generation X’s last chapter as the team reunites to present their final run from late 2009 and 2010!

    6:00 PM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Biggest Crybabies of all time!

    7:00 PM ET
    MONDAY NIGHT WAR It takes an army to win a war, and both WCW and WWE were developing a deep roster in order to emerge victorious.

    8:00 PM ET
    SATURDAY NIGHTS MAIN EVENT The Ultimate Warrior defends the WWE Title against ‘Ravishing’ Rick Rude. Demolition defend their WWE Tag Team Titles against The Rockers.

    9:30 PM ET
    WWE BEYOND THE RING Relive D-Generation X’s last chapter as the team reunites to present their final run from late 2009 and 2010!

    11:00 PM ET
    SATURDAY NIGHTS MAIN EVENT The Ultimate Warrior defends the WWE Title against ‘Ravishing’ Rick Rude. Demolition defend their WWE Tag Team Titles against The Rockers.

  • On this day in pro wrestling history (May 29): Terry Funk and Nick Bockwinkel go to a draw, Jarrett beats Flair for WCW title, Charlotte wins NXT gold

    By Brian Hoops, WrestlingObserver.com

    1962 – In Minneapolis, Minnesota; Pat O’Connor beat AWA Champion Mr. M via dq and Doug Gilbert went to a draw with Bob Geigel.

    1965 – At the Armory in St. Paul, Minnesota; The Crusher beat Harley Race in 2 out of 3 falls and Rene Goulet beat Kurt Von Brauner

    1968 – In St. Paul, Minnesota; AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Luke Brown, Harley Race beat Bill Watts by dq, Larry Hennig beat Rene Goulet and Dutch Savage beat Rock Rogowski (Ole Anderson).

    1977 – In Houston, Texas at the Summit; Terry Funk went to a draw with AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel (sub Harley Race), Fritz Von Erich drew with Bruiser Brody, Bruno Sammartino beat Mike York and Jose Lothario went to a draw with AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel. Race was to defend the NWA World Title but wrestled a double shot that afternoon and was not at the building in time to wrestle, so Bockwinkel wrestled Funk in his place.

    1983 – At the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada; Leo Burke defeated North American Champion Johnny Weaver to win the title,
    WWF Intercontinental Champion Don Muraco defeated Rocky Johnson and NWA World Champion Ric Flair pinned NWA U.S. Champion Greg Valentine.

    1988 – At the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee; AWA Champion Jerry Lawler beat Dutch Mantel, Jeff Jarrett & Great Senshi beat Robert Fuller & Jimmy Golden by count out, CWA Champion Brickhouse Brown beat Bill Dundee via dq, Scott Steiner & Billy Travis beat Cuban Choir Boys to win Southern Tag Title and AWA Tag Team Champions Badd Company (Pat Tanaka & Paul Diamond) beat Gary Young & Don Bass.

    1995 – Brian Christopher defeated Doug Gilbert for the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee

    2000 – Jeff Jarrett defeated WCW World Champion Ric Flair to win the WCW World Title in Salt Lake City, Utah; Too Cool defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Edge & Christian to win the titles in Vancouver, British Columbia.

    2014 – At NXT Takeover in Winter Park, Florida; Charlotte defeated Natalya to win the NXT Women’s Title.