A fight with light heavyweight contenders Ovince Saint Preux vs. Glover Teixeira was announced on UFC Tonight as being the five-round headliner at UFC Fight Night 74 on August 8th in Nashville, TN.
OSP (18-6) has won two straight by first round T/KO and has victories in seven of his last eight. After winning 20 straight, Teixeira (22-4) has lost his last two.
After it went off air, the crowd chanted “Thank you Stef” at Stephanie McMahon, who was in the back near the sound controls. She hid behind Mick Foley, who was by her side with his son. So the crowd chanted “Foley! Foley!”
Joe took the mic and here’s some of the stuff he said.
I’ve been talking to people and they told me that if you wanna do this, be with the most violent and best wrestlers in the world, well you gotta come to NXT. Joe is happy and Joe is here.
I am Samoa Joe. I am pro wrestling. And I am now here, at NXT.
People were, of course, going nuts!!
Thanks to Pat Laprade
By Steve Khan, WrestlingObserver.com
– Air Date: May 21, 2015 (May 20 in Canada)
– Location: Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, VA
News:
Dean Ambrose pinned Bray Wyatt.
Show Recap:
Roman Reigns said he didn’t win at Payback but he did have a good time. He punched Seth Rollins in the face, reunited with The Shield (which includes Seth) to blow the roof off the building, and went toe-to-toe with his bro Dean Ambrose. Reigns was moving on and entered himself in the Money in the Bank ladder match. Crowd popped.
Dean Ambrose came out and said he loves the idea of bodies crashing onto steel but he won’t have to reach for an opportunity to become champion, because by Money in the Bank, he’ll be the champion. This got almost no reaction.
Reigns thought Ambrose’s plan to get a title shot was clever, but for once, he should think of an exit strategy. Before he could explain what that meant, Kane interrupted.
Kane said Reigns is not in the MITB ladder match because he lost at WrestleMania and lost at Payback and is at the back of the line. Ambrose called Kane the Authority’s lapdog so Kane put him in a rematch with Bray Wyatt, which is exactly what Ambrose wanted anyway.
Kane said Reigns had the night off, basically telling him to sit in a corner and think about what he’s done. Reigns said he would enjoy his time in catering (Ambrose confirmed they had cheesecake), watching the show and making sure Kane was really doing what’s best for business. Ambrose and Reigns were both over-written here, so this wasn’t very good.
Lucha Dragons beat The Ascension, Los Matadores and Kidd & Cesaro via pinfall
They congratulated Titus O’Neil on being named celebrity dad of the year. O’Neil and Darren Young then danced with a young fan in the entrance way before depositing him back into the audience.
With four teams in the match and O’Neil and Xavier Woods commentary, a million things were going on here at once. (So a little less than an ROH multi-man match.) Kalisto picked up the win after a hurricanrana into a pinfall. The crowd really liked Cesaro, and somewhat liked the Lucha Dragons. Lots of action in a short amount of time.
Rusev, on the website, said he would rip off Dolph Ziggler’s arm and eat his American heart. Elsewhere, Ziggler told Renee that he’s had quite a week — he tried to get revenge on Sheamus but got stitches instead, was added to the Chamber, was kissed by Lana, attacked by Rusev, and now has to face King Barrett.
Lana showed up and told Dolph she’ll be watching his match. Ziggler knows she just wants to make Rusev jealous, but he’s okay with that. He told Lana that she’s not a bad kisser.
Dolph Ziggler beat King Barrett via pinfall
Ziggler won with a superkick and Zig Zag. This was the fourth singles match between these two in the last month. After the match, Lana was on the stage clapping for Dolph. She wasn’t wearing her usual thick red lipstick.
Paige came out for a promo. She reminded us that she won a number one contender’s battle royal in her hometown but was attacked afterwards by Naomi, and showed the replay. Why would you show a replay of yourself getting beat up?
Paige said Naomi finally became relevant that night and even admired her for taking what she wanted. Paige made jokes about Tamina looking like a man, calling her Naomi’s boyfriend and saying she was in the wrong division. Paige might admire Naomi taking what she wants, but what she wants belongs to Paige.
Naomi came out with Tamina. Naomi said Paige showed up and recieved a title shot on day one, a shot she didn’t earn. Paige mocked Naomi like a child for complaining. Naomi said Paige likes to call this her house, but Naomi and Tamina were going to clean house. They attacked Paige, but Nikki Bella ran out for the save.
Naomi and Tamina bailed, so Nikki went after them. Nikki actually tripped out of the ring and tried to save face by falling into Tamina with a “clothesline.” I can’t believe they left that in. Nikki knocked out Tamina with a forearm. Paige tried Ram-Paige on Naomi, but Nikki gave her a forearm and Rack Attack. Nikki was the only one left standing after this horrific segment.
Naomi was really good but rest of this was awful. I appreciate trying to give the women some promo time, but Paige was no good and she had some bad material to work with. They tried to write her like they do every other babyface, and she’s anything but.
They announced a three-way between Nikki, Paige and Naomi at Elimination Chamber for the Divas title.
Bray Wyatt promo. He said Ambrose has demons but they march to Bray’s demand. If Ambrose wanted to know why Bray was going after him now, it’s because Ambrose is in his way. Hmm, I could swear it’s because Kane booked them in a match.
R-Truth beat Stardust via pinfall
Stardust worked over Truth for a while. Truth tossed Cody’s glove in the air as a distraction and hit a reverse STO for the win. Lawler said Truth using a smart move like that could win him the Chamber match. Ok. This was the seventh match between this two in the last 4-5 weeks, if you include the secondary TV shows. Fourth time in four weeks if you only count the main shows.
Backstage, Ryback told Renee he was a lion and the other five guys in the Chamber were antelope. That’s what he said. Renee said she’s thinking of becoming a vegan and didn’t want to think about it. Ryback said Feed Me More. He left, then came back to tell Renee he had great high-protein vegan recipes and is a great cook. Renee didn’t care. Bad.
They aired a video package recapping the Kevin Owens-John Cena angle from Raw, which was the most compelling thing on SmackDown so far.
Macho Mandow & Curtis Axel beat Heath Slater & Adam Rose w/Rosa Mendes via pinfall
Slater and Rose worked over Mandow. Axel made the hot tag, hit clotheslines, a big boot and leg drop on Slater for the win.
Backstage, Bo Dallas told Renee he once helped an injured bird fly again. He can help Neville do the same if he Bolieves. Another stupid interview. Immediately after this was that cool Network commercial with The Rock talking about how intense and fantastic wrestling is. Not tonight.
Dean Ambrose beat Bray Wyatt via pinfall
Ambrose hit a dive early but Bray tossed him into the steps to take over. Bray had Ambrose draped over the middle rope while standing outside the ring, but Ambrose countered with a tornado DDT. Back in the ring, Ambrose hit jabs, chops, a flying clothesline and running dropkick. Bray followed with a rock bottom for a near fall.
Bray tried a running avalanche but Ambrose kicked his leg out of his leg and went to the top rope. J&J Security ran out as a distraction but Ambrose countered a Sister Abigail into a school boy for a near fall.
Seth Rollins came out to his music, so Roman Reigns entered immediately after. I guess Reigns was waiting around on the concourse and somehow his music started. Reigns chased away the heels, hit Bray with a superman punch and Ambrose followed with Dirty Deeds for the win. Good match. Very rare TV loss for Bray.
Final Thoughts:
Worse than usual SmackDown. Pretty much a complete waste of time until the last 10 minutes.
Match Results:
Lucha Dragons beat The Ascension, Los Matadores and Kidd & Cesaro via pinfall
Dolph Ziggler beat King Barrett via pinfall
R-Truth beat Stardust via pinfall
Curtis Axel & Macho Mandow beat Heath Slater & Adam Rose via pinfall
Dean Ambrose beat Bray Wyatt via pinfall
UFC announced tonight on UFC Tonight that Jeff Blatnick and the Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg fight from 2005 will be honored at the company’s Hall of Fame ceremony this year.
The ceremony takes place on 7/11 in Las Vegas, the afternoon before the UFC 189 PPV show.
Blatnick was honored as a contributor. He was UFC commissioner from 1998 to 2001 and announced for the promotion from 1994 to 2001. He also named the sport mixed martial arts and helped write the original rule book, which is very similar to the current rules.
There will be two more Hall of Fame announcements between now and the end of the week, with a Pioneer fighter (career beginning before 2001) and Modern Era fighter (career beginning 2001 or later).
My complete story on the Hall of Fame is at
By Jeremy Peeples, WrestlingObserver.com
Last week, Jack Evans debuted and lost to Aerostar. Ryck threatened The Mack with a beating since they didn’t win the Trios tag titles. A crazy seven-way match happened, and Johnny Mundo turned heel tossing Alberto through Dario’s office window. This shocked Dario so much that he continued to make his drink, and then was clearly impressed afterwards once he finished. Fenix was also threatened by Katrina and her new squad of ghostly luchadors. Cueto also announced that the Trios champions he despises will defend the titles – and since Ivelisse’s foot is broken, it will be a ladder match.
This week’s show begins with a recap of Marty the Moth annoying Cueto, and Hernandez’s path of destruction so far. The Daivari-Texano issue is shown, as is the final Trios tag title tournament match. Cueto threatening The Crew with his brother the monster closes out the video package. A band leads us in while Striker and Vamp, in a bright white shirt, welcome us to the show. Striker says the first match tonight will feature Prince Puma. Marty “The Moth” Martinez first hovers around Melissa Santos creepily, and then starts flapping his arms like Koko B. Ware – so this should be hilarious. Puma comes down with Konnan.
Match One – Prince Puma vs. Marty “The Moth” Martinez
Striker puts over how big Lucha Underground is in the wrestling and sports media. Konnan tells Puma to treat him like a joke, and Marty hugs him and suckers him into a lariat. Marty nails a big dropkick, nips up, and poses. Corner leaping forearm by Marty leas to a giant smile. Puma sends down with a big shot and blasts away in the corner before hitting him with a kneeling calf kick to the head for 2. Corner European uppercut by Puma, but he misses a second corner shot and eats a lariat. Marty flaps, but misses a moonsault and eats a big kick. Spinning Blue Thunder bomb hits and Konnan tells him to go up op. 630 hits and the champ gets a win.
They did an excellent job here giving the champion more credibility and turning Marty the Moth into a job guy with a bit of an edge to him. Hernandez comes down and Konnan calls him a sorry son of a bitch who makes lambs look dangerous. Konnan tells “baby nuts” to get in the ring now so the champ can beat him now. Konnan is still excellent on the mic. Hernandez comes halfway down the steps and then leaves – he’ll fight on his terms. Striker hypes up tonight’s title match and says that next, we’ll hear from Mundo in an interview with Vamp explaining why he attacked Alberto. Well, that’s simple – Alberto was a prick to him, he lost to the guy, and snapped.
Vamp meets with Mundo and says the window behind them is boarded up because Mundo smashed Alberto’s face through it. They show the attack and he asks why he did it. Mundo says he came here to prove he’s the best, and he says he’s proved it – it’s simple. Vamp says he digs the confidence, but he’s not answering the question. Mundo says he’s known Alberto a long time, so he did this to make him realize how good he was. Vamp says he’s seen everyone everywhere, and once Alberto came in, Mundo got stepped over. He tells him to not get pissed, but he’s just the messenger – is he jealous? Mundo tells him Alberto is overrated and overconfident. Mundo says Alberto’s done now – and he’s some guy in catering that Alberto can slap around. He doesn’t care about Alberto’s family or what he did before LU – Mundo is the biggest star in Lucha Underground and it’s his world. This was easily the best thing that Mundo has ever done that involved talking.
Dario Cueto talked to The Crew about human sacrifices, and tonight, he’ll give them a chance for immortality. If they can’t beat the champions, it will anger him and the gods, and they don’t want that. Dario Cueto is easily the best heel owner since Bischoff, and it really helps that he’s a regular actor who happens to be on a wrestling show because he delivers every line with an air of sincerity.
The band plays and the fans dance while Melissa Santos introduces the next match. Delavar Daivari is in the corner sipping his drink preparing to do battle with Texano, who is now a babyface and put over as the longest-reigning AAA Mega champion.
Match Two – Delavar Daivari vs. Texano
Texano clotheslines him down instantly and punches him down in the corner. Striker puts over Texano’s work ethic while running down Daivari having everything handed to him. Texano misses a corner charge and eats a single-arm DDT as well as some shoulder charges that get 2. Kneeling hammerlock by Daivari leads to a Kimura. Texano boots him out of the corner, but gets taken down quickly. Daivari goes up, but is met with punches and eats a superplex. Texano wins a punch exchange and a leg lariat for 2. Daivari gets rolling German suplexex, but Texano goes for his own. Daivari escapes, but eats a Codebreaker for 2. Daivari elbows Texano, and Big Ryck comes down and clotheslines Texano. Striker says that Ryck fights for money, and Daivari has a lot of it. They put Texano up top and slug away before Daivari lands a rana. Daivari grabs his drink and makes a cocky cover, but he has Ryck force the ref to count to 3 anyway. I like this – it’s a bit like Bundy’s 5 count, but different and far more cocky than it is dominant.
Cueto is poked by Katrina in his office before she distracts hi with her cleavage and tells him that Mil Muertes will deliver him a sacrifice if he wants. She wants Muertes to kill Fenix, and she demands a death match before disappearing. We see the Black Lotus leaving her training area and roamng the tracks on the way to the Temple to kill Dario’s brother. Chavo tells her trainer that if he wants Lotus to leave, he needs his help. Chavo has really been an unsung hero of this show by being a good veteran name, and hopefully, he improves his acting chops if he’s going to have a more serious role.
The moon greets us to a new setting – Chavo tells the trainer that the Guerreros and Cuetos have been at war for generations. Chavo offers to protect Black Lotus, and the trainer will clear Chavo’s debt to Mexico if he protects Lotus. Their drink ends and we go back to the Temple. Ladders surround the ring, so tonight’s main event is coming up. The Crew comes out and we go to an ad break before the final bout of the evening. Next week, we get the Fenix-Muertes deathmatch and Hernandez in some new gear against Puma for the title. The champs come down and Ivie’s got crutches.
Main Event – The Crew vs. Angelico, Ivelisse, and Son of Havoc – Trios Title Ladder Match
Ivie is taken down in the attack and a crowd brawl breaks out between the healthy team members. Ivie gets a big chant and hops down the steps, thankfully using the railing to come down. Havoc chops Castro in the corner, but Bael punches Ivie down on the floor. Striker says we shouldn’t feel bad for he – why? She’s undersized not even considering her gender, and she can’t walk. Angelico dives onto Castro and Bael while they’re holding a ladder in yet another fantastic dive for his resume. Castro brings a smaller ladder in, but Angelico hops in and knees his face off!
Angelico takes off his top and climbs up, but Bael meets him. Corner shots hit Angelico from all sides. They put the top of the ladder against Angelico’s crotch in the corner and chairshot it right into the groin. Well, that’s new and rather painful to look at. Cisco chokes him on the floor as Bael sets up a table. Son of Havoc eats a beating from all three guys, but he comes back with a drop toehold on the ladder in the corner and a series of moves to get a brief edge. Nice double stomp/DDT combo off the ladder by The Crew to Havoc, but Angelico comes back in to save him.
Angelico gets smacked into the boards and Cueto is on the phone. Angelico gets placed onto one of two tables, but tips Cisco off of a ladder THROUGH THE WINDOW and into the office! That was fantastic. Angelico puts a man on a table and climbs the ladder to the top of the office and then goes for the dive again, but Castro canes him. Bael’s powerbomb to Havoc is avoided, but Cisco dives out of the window onto him!
Havoc gets a flying back double elbow and prevents Castro from climbing up. Havoc’s ladder is tipped over, so he moonsaults onto them off the rope! Cisco prevents an SSP from Havoc, who headbutts him down and hits the SSP on the table – but the table doesn’t break! Cisco is sent to the floor as Castro is mid-ring with the ladder. ANGELICO DIVES OFF THE OFFICE AND MISSILE DROPKICKS HIM OFF THE LADDER! The crowd chants “holy shit” as Cueto is just gobsmacked. Angelico grabs the ladder to balance it for Ivie as she climbs up and bites Cisco’s hand to send him down and she pulls a belt down to win! This was an insane match and well-worth going out of your way to see.
Cueto is shocked in his office as the champions celebrate. This show ruled. Lucha Underground is such a treat to watch, and matches like this serve as constant reminders of why it’s so fun to be a wrestling fan and have alternative products to enjoy. Hopefully, there’s a deal coming up where they put this show on Netflix or Hulu to expand its casual audience. Given how beautiful the show is, a Blu-Ray release would be great – but due to the sheer size of that set, is unlikely.
To see every screen for the show, just click here.
– Airdate: Jan. 31,1985
– Run time: 44:35
– Stars of the show: Pre-Monday Night War signs, Heenan’s humor, Ken Patera and Big John Studd’s Andre beat-down
Bobby Heenan’s a comedic genius. Magnificent Muraco is the fattest surfer ever. SD Jones is a pussy(cat). These truths were self-evident on the 21st episode of Tuesday Night Titans. We also were treated to a lovely embrace between Hulk Hogan and Hillbilly Jim. Sadly, it fell a little short of the emotion conveyed in the meeting of the “Madness” and the “Mania.”
The show opened with a very bloated-looking Magnificent Muraco and his manager Mr. Fuji as TNT guests. Let’s just get this out of the way: Muraco looks more like a whale than and surfer. Back watching TNT as a kid in 1985, Muraco’s body always perplexed me. He was clearly a strong guy, but he looked like he ate too many carbs and loathed the job. It was always hard for me to take him seriously when he was constantly pulling up his tights over his spare tire.
McMahon pecks at him about the “beach bum” moniker that followed him throughout his career. It’s used as a derogatory term, but not quite sure why. Maybe the idea was that Muraco spent more time at the beach than the gym, but shouldn’t a surfer a character be a relaxed beach guy, and not resemble a greasy-looking mortician who looks like he wears a size-48 pair of jeans?
McMahon shows us some footage of a guy who appears to be Muraco surfing 12-foot waves in Hawaii. He clearly knows what he is doing, but it’s hard to imagine the WWE trying to get CM Punk over by showing him skateboarding on the streets of Chicago to show that he cares more about counter-culture than professional wrestling.
To counteract the lazy surf gimmick, Muraco tells McMahon that he hired the “sick soul” Mr. Fuji to manage his career. To demonstrate Muraco’s torture tendencies, we go to a match with Muraco against Classic Jobber Mario Mancini.
Speaking of, why isn’t there a WWE Hall of Fame Classic Jobber wing? We would all rather see Mario Mancini in the WWE Hall of Fame than Arnold Schwarzenegger. Fans are smart enough to know that enhancement talent is a valuable part of wrestling. In fact, we need more jobbers in the modern product, rather than having mid-card guys serve as both jobbers and stars and then wonder why a guy like Dolph Ziggler can’t get over.
Muraco won with a tombstone piledriver that color commentator Jesse “The Body” Ventura called a “double shoulder-breaker.”
Who knew the moved was quietly banned back then? Actually, Ventura just didn’t know what to call it. On the replay he corrected himself and called it a “reverse piledriver.” Back on the couch, Fuji tells us that he is teaching Muraco to be “vicious” and “sadistic” to make his opponents “scream for mercy.” Muraco says that Fuji is teaching him that “oriental discipline.”
Next we have to sit through the worst part of McMahon — his puzzling penchant for ridiculous stereotypes. It’s Granny Kim and her bloodhounds in a Kentucky barn, along with McMahon and Lord Alfred Hayes, sitting on haystacks. Kim is apparently Hillbilly Jim’s grandma, but is now so over that she can appear in her own segment. Kim spent most of the time petting her bloodhounds and talking about how big and strong they are, just like Hillbilly Jim.
“I am so proud of that boy,” she said “He’s got a good heart and anything he does he puts his whole heart in it. My heart will break if anything happens to him.” To illustrate her point of how tough Jim is, she said one time she was driving her pickup truck and got a flat tire. Jim just lifted the car, and she pulled the tire off. That’s how strong Jim, and apparently his granny, are.
We go to the ring to see Hillbilly Jim’s debut. Hulk Hogan has been training him for the last few weeks, taking him from country bumpkin’ to country bumpkin-with-a-push. Hogan is at ringside as Jim takes on Classic Jobber Terry Gibbs. Gibbs does a lot of Ric Flair bumping — running into the bigger man and then falling to the ground. Gibbs got in a few right hands, but Jim eventually squeezed him into submission with a bear hug.
Hogan runs into the ring like this is some huge moment in wresting history and gives Jim a big hug. “It’s the meeting of the Hillbilly and the Hulkster.” Not really.
We all remember what happened to Hillbilly Jim and Granny’s push. Actually we don’t other than it went nowhere. At least Jim got a doll and bit part in a Saturday morning cartoon out of it. Granny went on to date Mark Henry.
Next up we are treated to the entire Andre The Giant hair-gate that we only saw clips of last week. Big John Studd and Ken Patera were part of Bobby Heenan’s stable, and you know something was up before this match started. Andre never used to wrestle on TV. And when he did, he didn’t team with a pussy(cat) like SD Jones, who literally disappears half-way through the match to allow the 8th Wonder of the World to get shamed on national TV.
McMahon lets us know “this is going to be an extraordinary match-up.” Jones starts the match and then makes the hot tag to Andre who proceeds to demolish Ken Patera in the corner with his butt.
Eventually, Studd and Patera decided to go Shield on Andre and just straight-up cheat and double-team him. They get disqualified, but not before Jones vanishes and Patera and Studd together body slam Andre. This was impressive. Studd and Patera could probably both slam Andre without any help, but together, it really shows that these guys were doing their best to put him over.
Then it happened. Studd when to Heenan who pulled out a pair of scissors from his pocket and handed it Studd.
He wasted no time to cutting Andre’s hair as Patera held him up. McMahon loves the following phrase: “They are raping the dignity of Andre The Giant.” I lost count of how many times he said some version of this phrase. The crowd didn’t like it either. We saw some pre-Hogan-joins-the-NWO crowd reaction, with people throwing cups into the ring.
McMahon screams, “this is a nightmare, a total nightmare!” He must have talking about Patera’s bad dye job. Patera held up locks of Andre’s hair like they were one of the many championship belts in the WWF that Patera never won.
After witnessing the horror, Heenan joins us on the TNT couch to put it all into perspective. “The guy looks like he could use a haircut,” Heenan says. “He was disgusting the way he was.” Heenan then explained his logic behind the attack. He said for years Andre has bullied his opponents, using his size to push people around. It was time, Heenan said, “to set this guy straight.”
“He’s encouraging people to call me weasel?” Heenan said. “We’re going to have to set him straight. The only mistake we made is that we should have permanently finished him off.”
Heenan then says he did it to send everyone a message: “Every wrestler who thinks they can push us around can get the message,” Heenan says. “Don’t mess with Studd, Patera and myself or you are going to look like a fool.”
Heenan played the role of privileged rich man perfectly. McMahon brought up last week’s TNT haircut of a volunteer, where Studd and Patera massacred some dweeb’s hair and beard, forcing him to run off the set. Was Heenan apologetic? No. He said that should teach the guy to never volunteer for anything. Heenan says he did the guy a favor.
“He can probably be on the ‘Love Connection’ next week with Chuck Woolery,” Heenan said. “The guy doesn’t have to look at girly magazines anymore. Now he can go get a date.”
The show wraps up with Classy Freddie Blassie as a guest, where he’s apparently the older version of Heenan.
Blassie flashes his “16-karat diamond ring” before going to a match with his wrestlers The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff, facing Classic Jobbers Mancini and Steve Lombardi.
Volkoff starts off with the Russian National Anthem. Volkoff is way less intimidating that Rusev, but damn did that national anthem really enrage the fans. In their own version of the New Age Outlaws shtick, Sheik grabs the mic after Volkoff’s singing and yells,” “Now you people shut up! Iran No. 1. Russia No. 1!
The fans carried some great signs — signs that you could not show on modern television, mostly because they were culturally and racially insensitive.
Volkoff pins Mancini with a side backbreaker. Back in the TNT studios, Blassie calls them “the greatest tag team ever.” The show wraps up with Blassie and McMahon foreshadowing most episodes Monday Night Raw for most of 2014 and 2015: “There’s no telling who we will have here next week,” McMahon says.
He also reminds everyone to watch primetime wrestling on Tuesday Nights, TNT on Fridays, and All-American wrestling on Sunday Mornings.
All of this TV exposure is about to pay off for the WWF leading up to Wrestlemania. This was a great show, with good pacing. Thank God for Bobby Heenan and his dark humor and McMahon’s genius for somehow pulling it all together. The TV time works to get the wrestlers over. Mid-carders are stars. Jobbers do their job. And Hulk Hogan hugs Hillbilly Jim.
Only on Tuesday Night Titans (on Friday nights).
UFC will make some Hall of Fame announcements tonight during UFC Tonight.
The show airs at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
The actual inductions will take place on Saturday, July 11, in an afternoon ceremony as part of the UFC Expo in Las Vegas.
There will be four inductions this year, one in each of these categories:
*Contributors – This would be non-fighters who have made lasting contributions to the sport.
*Fight – This is for a legendary fight that has to have taken place before December 31, 2010.
*Pioneer – This would be for a fighter whose career began prior to 2001.
*Modern Fight – This would be for a fighter who is at least 35 years old and whose career started in 2001 or later.
The story behind the Elimination Chamber as a network special, why and how it came about, as well as a look at the next two WWE major shows, Payback and Elimination Chamber and NXT Takeover, is the lead story in this week’s Observer. We also have a look at the injury situation with Daniel Bryan, Sami Zayn and Hideo Itami. We also look at the Mayweather-Pacquiao business, New Japan & ROH working together for big shows, a detailed story on Global Force Wrestling including talent and television outlets and the TV scene, a lawsuit that has nothing to do with WWE & UFC, but where the result will be very important to both, Tough Enough, has NOAH turned the corner, as well as the monthly business rundowns for WWE & TNA.
The new issue is up on the site at http://www.f4wonline.com/component/content/article/110-wrestling-observer-newsletter/42526-may-18-2015-wrestling-observer-newsletter-last-minute-elimination-chamber-special-mayweather-vs-pacquiao-destroys-ppv-records-and-more
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The Wrestling Observer ranges weekly from 35,000 to 50,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA internationally. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sties and has the most complete look at the pro wrestling and MMA business anywhere, plus history pieces available nowhere else.
The lead story looks at the addition of the Elimination Chamber show, why this is being done, plans for the future and how this relates to it, the Elimination Chamber card as well as notes on the Chamber matches. We also look at Daniel Bryan and the poor job of pushing his appearance and how they are pushing the Payback main event.
We also look at the Mayweather-Pacquiao business, and how it breaks down, live event business, Vegas closed circuit, bar business, how much Mayweather and Pacquiao figure to earn, Mayweather talks rematch, why the fight was so big, and the state of PPV in 2015.
We also look at a big question as to how this relates to UFC going forward.
We look at the historical implications of Ronda Rousey on the Sports Illustrated cover.
We also have a rundown of ROH and New Japan working together in Philadelphia.
We’ve got a major piece on Global Force Wrestling. We look at the talent list, notes on the schedule for different talent, notes on the taping schedule, different TV stations they are talking with, Spike talks about getting into wrestling, the business ideas behind all this, as well as thoughts on the talent and both who is surprisingly not listed.
We also look at the new season of Tough Enough including the nature of the contract to the winner, Steve Austin talks WrestleMania 32, the Owen Hart DVD controversy, new movie projects with Dwayne Johnson and Dave Bautista, a night Raw is going to have to be special show next year, WWE injury notes, Fourth generation wrestler gets a WWE tryout, WWE angle news, When they had ideas for Justin Bieber at SummerSlam, Jerry Lawler day, Sheamus talks his career, WWE raising ticket prices for premium seats, WWE tryout notes, most popular shows on WWE Network, WWE Japan tour notes, why Jericho vs. Balor was put on the Japan show, Lesnar story involving the brother of a famous actor and notes and business of all the arena events from the past week.
We look at last week’s UFC show in Australia, the heavyweight title picture, the Mark Hunt stoppage and match-by-match coverage.
We also look at the latest Pro Wrestling NOAH major show, which included appearances by Kenta Kobashi and Yuji Nagata, as well as NOAH’s Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial tour coming up next month.
We also have a business rundown for WWE & TNA and where things stand in the different categories.
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:
–Wrestler fired once from major promotion, doesn’t last long on his return
–The Santo Memorial tournament for 2015
–Notes on the format of the AAA World Cup tournament
–Who is now heading two promotions at the same time and why the move was made
–Update on Dragon Gate’s King of Gate tournament
–Minoru Suzuki promoting a show
–New Japan lineups for all the big shows in June as well as the Dominion PPV in July
–Notes on this year’s Best of the Super Junior tournament
–Hall of Famer and health issues noted
–Shinya Hashimoto Memorial show
–Fujinami vs. Funaki Battle of Hall of Famers for the first time
–Notes from the AGON promotions and main event pay
–Notes on a promotion which claimed a TV deal and it falling apart
–Details on all TNA television through mid-June, with matches, angles and destinations
–A look at TNA’s Slammiversary show
–Notes on TNA’s prospects on PPV
–Update on Jeff Hardy
–Notes on the best of five series between the Wolves vs. Aries & Roode
–Update on TNA money issues
–Update on TNA creative team
–A look at those who returned to TV this past week and who is long and short-term
–Who turned down an offer to come in
–TNA announcing situation
–Notes on TNA’s relationship with AAA
–What happened with TNA and Wrestle-1
–Can TNA talent work for GFW
–Best stuff at the TNA tapings
–Updates on UFC PPV numbers
–Managers meeting and why
–Dana White’s reaction regarding complaints about the Reebok deal
–An interesting legal question stemming from the deal
–UFC schedule notes
–Anthony Pettis injury notes
–Josh Barnett vs. Ryron Gracie
–Metamoris news
–Fight Pass promotion
–New Fight Pass deals made
–Rousey talks coaching vs. Cyborg
–Lots of new UFC fights
–Active UFC fighter sort of does a pro wrestling match
–Huge Bellator signing of Olympian
–This week’s Bellator show
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.
Our most requested issues in our history are:
*November 17, 1997 (full details of everything leading to the most famous wrestling match finish of modern times at the Survivor Series plus a history of in-ring double-crosses)
*December 21, 1998 (the complete Vince McMahon-Bret Hart conversation right before the Survivor Series match so you’ll know exactly what was said–the conversation played in edited form both on the inaugural broadcast of Confidential as well as in Wrestling with Shadows, but everything that was said between the two about the match that was going to take place that same night)
*August 1, 1994 (the most detailed coverage anywhere of the Vince McMahon steroid trial, an issue praised in numerous newspaper article and Sex, Lies and Headlocks)
*March 26, 2001 (death of WCW and history of pro wrestling on the Turner networks)a
*October 22, 2001 (why the adult audience has left pro wrestling in such great numbers and what needed to have been done to save them)
*July 8, 1991 (Ric Flair leaves WCW as world champion/Zahorian steroid trial)
*February 8, 1993 (the life and times of Andre the Giant)
*May 13, 2002 (the life story of the most incredible pro wrestling career ever, a look at Lou Thesz, in one of the largest issues of our history)
*January 27, 2003 (part one of the two-part series covering the career and life of The Sheik)
*February 3, 2003 (Part two on The Sheik including thoughts from people who worked with him and where he stands historically)
*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.
MONDAY’S NEWS UPDATE
–Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw and the latest MMA and pro wrestling news. You can send questions to tonight’s show to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com
–A judge ruled today in District Court in Nevada two things regarding the Wanderlei Silva vs. Nevada State Athletic Commission case:
*The commission had the right to test and punish Silva even though he was not a licensed competitor in the state
*The punishment of a lifetime ban and a $70,000 fine was too harsh (Nevada had no actual rules in place regarding treatment of someone who refused to take a test past it counts as a positive, but first positive isn’t a lifetime ban).
The judge ordered a new hearing regarding punishment for Silva. The Nevada announcement on Friday of specific penalties for offenses will close that loophole going forward. Silva would likely have to be suspended at the same level as fighters who had failed drug tests for the first time.
Silva’s lawyer, Ross Goodman, said they are looking at appealing the ruling based on the idea that Silva should not have been tested since he was not a licensed fighter in Nevada.
–WWE was the No. 7 most searched thing yesterday on Google with 100,000. That’s much lower than usual, as most B shows get to 200,000, but it kills a Demetrious Johnson UFC show. Billboard Music Awards were No. 1. The only sports term that beat it was the Los Angeles Clippers with 200,000.
–Adam Rose on twitter wrote “Rosebuds are done! Party over.” I guess we’ll see at TV what that means. But the entire entourage ring entrance looks to be history.
–Paul Levesque will be doing a media conference call tomorrow to promote Wednesday night’s NXT Takeover special. Still no word on what is going on with Hideo Itami, who has a shoulder injury. They are still promoting Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn hard as the main event. There was no weekend talk one way or the other on him.
–Jessica Aguilar, the WSOF strawweight champion, who many thought was the best in the world in that division, has gotten her release from the organization. The expectation is that she’s moving to UFC. WSOF sent out a press release stating that she was being released. “We sat down with Jessica and her manager and we all agreed that she needs to move on to a place where she can compete against the best 115 pound women in the world,” said Ray Sefo, the WSOF President.
–NBC Sports Network will be airing Thursday’s Beat the Streets wrestling show from Times Square via tape delay at midnight.
–AXS starts its new season of New Japan Pro Wrestling at 9 p.m. on Friday night with the semifinals and finals of last year’s Best of the Super Junior tournament, featuring Ricochet.
ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY INTERNATIONAL (thanks to Graeme Cameron)
1969 – Toyonobori & Shozo Kobayashi beat Michael Nador & Ivan Strongoff in Paris to win the IWE tag team titles
1974 – Bobby Ryan beat Jim Breaks in Hanley to win the British lightweight title
1986 – Gran Cochisse beat Chamaco Velaquez to win the NWA middleweight title
2013 – Zack Sabre Jr. beat Sha Samuels in Swanley to win the IPW UK All England title
–Shinsuke Nakamura got himself photographed in front of the Rocky statue when in Philadelphia this past week.
–Smash Wrestling from yesterday in Toronto: Rip Impact & Space Monkey b Dan O’Hare & Plunkett, Tournament for a title shot: Matt Cross (replacing Gregory Iron) b Tarik, Biff Busick b Scotty O’Shea, Tyson Dux b Drew Gulak, Candice LaRae b Brent Banks, Trevor Lee b Rich Swann, John Greed & Scott Hunter b Kirk Warmack & Shane Sabre, Johnny Gargano b Chris Hero to retain Smash title, Candice LaRae won five-way over Matt Cross, Biff Busick Trevor Lee, Tyson Dux and Matt Cross to become No. 1 contender. (thanks to Dave Musgrave)
–One Championships has an iPPV on 5/22 from the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore headlined by Shinya Aoki defending the lightweight title against Koji Ando.
–EWF from Saturday night in Rialto, CA: RJ Ruiz b Eddie Mattson, Archnmedes b Wolftanus, Brandon Gatson b Brute Daddy, Uptown Andy Brown b Tommy Wilson-DQ (thanks to Frank Mott)
–World Series of Fighting announced a 6/5 show from Edmonton on NBC Sports headlined by Lance Palmer (9-1) defending the featherweight title against Chris Horodecki (21-5-1) and Smealinho Rama (9-1) putting the heavyweight title up against Blagoi Ivanov (11-1). The show will start on 9 p.m. Eastern.
–The movie Pitch Perfect 2, where Lana has a small role, was No. 1 at the box office this weekend in its opening week with $70.3 million estimated. Mad Max: Fury Road, which former WWE wrestler Nathan Jones has a role in, was No. 2 at $44.40 million. Furious 7, in week 7, was estimated at $3.6 million and in sixth place. In Australia, one and two were reversed, but Pitch Perfect 2 was already released there last week so that explains it. Furious 7 was No. 6 (thanks to James Stanios)
–Axl Rotten is doing a Gofundme campaign as he needs two spinal surgeries on his cervical vertebrae and to walk again at http://www.gofundme.com/axlrotten
–Steven Borden Jr., the son of Sting, is at a three-day rookie mini-camp right now with the Kansas City Chiefs. He’s a long shot to make the team. Borden played last season with the University of Kentucky and is the last son of Sting who is still active playing football. (thanks to Alex Marvez, Mike Gunter, Kevin Witt and many others)
–It appears from close odds and lack of late movement in significant new directions that smart money did not come in on Payback.
–RFA runs on 6/5 from Broomfield, CO live on AXS TV with Ben Smith vs. Gilbert Smith for the welterweight title and Thiago Alves (not the UFC fighter of the same name) vs. Marcus Edwards as the co-main event.
–Booker T talks Comipalooza this coming weekend in Houston, as well as Tough Enough, who from NXT has the most potential and his own promotion at
http://redcarpetcrash.com/interview-wrestling-legend-booker-t-talks-comicpalooza-in-houston-and-the-next-big-wwe-superstars/ (thanks to Mark Harris)
WWE NETWORK SCHEDULE FOR TOMORROW (thanks to Bert Duckwall)
12:00 AM ET
WWE COUNTDOWN Countdown Greatest High Flyers counts down the top ten greatest high flying superstars of all time!
1:00 AM ET
TOTAL DIVAS Trinity’s inability to have sex frustrates Jon, and Bryan and Nikki shock Brie when they team up to stage an intervention.
2:06 AM ET
WWE NETWORK EXCLUSIVE The action continues live after Raw!
2:11 AM ET
FIRST LOOK First Look: It’s Good To Be King
2:41 AM ET
CULTURE SHOCK WITH COREY GRAVES Corey Graves gets a culture shock immersing himself within the fascinating world of Marvel Comics, from their headquarters in New York City!
3:00 AM ET
WCW STARRCADE 1988 Ric Flair defends the NWA World Title against Lex Luger. The Road Warriors vs. Sting and Dusty Rhodes for the NWA Tag Team Titles.
6:00 AM ET
WWE COUNTDOWN Countdown Greatest High Flyers counts down the top ten greatest high flying superstars of all time!
7:00 AM ET
WWE BEYOND THE RING The story of the one of the most distinctive and storied championships in the world of sports entertainment and the men who held it.
8:00 AM ET
TOTAL DIVAS Trinity’s inability to have sex frustrates Jon, and Bryan and Nikki shock Brie when they team up to stage an intervention.
9:00 AM ET
WWE COUNTDOWN Countdown Greatest High Flyers counts down the top ten greatest high flying superstars of all time!
10:00 AM ET
WWE BEYOND THE RING The story of the one of the most distinctive and storied championships in the world of sports entertainment and the men who held it.
11:00 AM ET
TOTAL DIVAS Trinity’s inability to have sex frustrates Jon, and Bryan and Nikki shock Brie when they team up to stage an intervention.
12:00 PM ET
WWE COUNTDOWN Countdown Greatest High Flyers counts down the top ten greatest high flying superstars of all time!
1:00 PM ET
WWE BEYOND THE RING The story of the one of the most distinctive and storied championships in the world of sports entertainment and the men who held it.
2:00 PM ET
TOUGH ENOUGH Stone Cold Steve Austin enlists the help of four sexy WWE Divas and THQ video games to teach the remaining contestants all about creativity.
3:00 PM ET
TOUGH ENOUGH Legendary WWE Superstar The Rock and ‘Psych’ star James Roday give the remaining five contestants a lesson in charisma.
4:00 PM ET
MONDAY NIGHT WAR In an era of shifting loyalties, WWE and WCW would each build a cornerstone in order to achieve stability.
5:00 PM ET
WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the top ten most stylish ring attire ever worn by a WWE Superstar.
6:00 PM ET
FIRST LOOK First Look: It’s Good To Be King
6:30 PM ET
WWE BEYOND THE RING Batista embodies his nickname ‘The Animal’. Relive Batista’s storied career with this biography of his life both inside the ring and out.
8:00 PM ET
TOUGH ENOUGH Legendary WWE Superstar The Rock and ‘Psych’ star James Roday give the remaining five contestants a lesson in charisma.
9:00 PM ET
WWE UNFILTERED WITH RENEE YOUNG In the premiere of Unfiltered, Renee Young hangs out with WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins for a fun and revealing conversation!
9:07 PM ET
MONDAY NIGHT WAR In an era of shifting loyalties, WWE and WCW would each build a cornerstone in order to achieve stability.
10:01 PM ET
WWE NXT The future is here. Witness the entertainers, the leading men and women, the Superstars of tomorrow — this is NXT!
11:00 PM ET
TOUGH ENOUGH Legendary WWE Superstar The Rock and ‘Psych’ star James Roday give the remaining five contestants a lesson in charisma.
by David Bixenspan | davidbix@wrestlingobserver.com | Follow @davidbix
TV/show notes:
WWE has NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable live on WWE Network at 8:00 p.m. ET with:
* Kevin Owens (c) vs. Sami Zayn for the NXT Championship
* Sasha Banks (c) vs. Becky Lynch for the NXT Women’s Championship
* Blake and Murphy (c) vs. Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady for NXT Tag Team Championship
* Finn Bálor vs. Tyler Breeze vs. Not Hideo Itami (Itami’s out for months, but he will be “represented” per yesterday’s conference call) to determine the number one contender to the NXT Championship
* Baron Corbin vs. Rhyno
* Bayley and Charlotte vs. Dana Brooke and Emma
Lucha Underground on El Rey at 8:00 p.m. ET. Official preview from El Rey: The Trios Titles are not done yet – tonight they will be defended in a match that is bound to be colossal. The winner who comes out on top will win the titles for their team. Meanwhile, Johnny Mundo has some explaining to do when Vampiro confronts him about his actions.”Shoots and Ladders” premieres on Wednesday, May 20th at 8:00PM ET/PT on El Rey Network.
On Fox Sports 1, there’s a new UFC Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET, last week’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter at 9:00 p.m. ET, and a new episode of The Ultimate Fighter titled “Battle Wounds” at 10:00 p.m. ET. Official description: One fighter has trouble coping with the devastation of his most recent loss and begins to let it affect him, while two fighters who have a history inside the octagon are looking forward to a rematch to unleash the bad blood between them. Remember to add at least 20 minutes of DVR padding if you want to catch the “TUF Talk” segment that opens Fox Sports Live immediately following the show.
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The newest issue of Figure Four Weekly is up on the site for subscribers (subscribe here) and being the first week of May, features an extensive article demystifying what Sweeps mean for ratings and how it affects the wrestling business in 2015:
— What do Sweeps periods actually measure?
— Do Sweeps matter for cable at all?
— What wrestling companies are they relevant to these days?
— What was their past significance?
— And more.
Plus, as always, we have all of the usual reviews and international news.
Also, now available for the first time on Kindle (meaning Kindle devices and anything with the Kindle app) is Fall Guys, the seminal 1937 book that has been described as being like the 1930s version of the Wrestling Observer. It was surprisingly not on Kindle already, so we put together a nice version with a full table of contents w/ chapter marks, proper formatting on everything, etc. Right now it’s available from the American, Canadian, and Australian Amazon/Kindle stores OR you can also buy it from anywhere in the world on PayHip, who will provide you with both Kindle and ePub (every other e-reader) format files, and you can either sideload them to your device or have them email it to your Kindle.
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The story behind the Elimination Chamber as a network special, why and how it came about, as well as a look at the next two WWE major shows, Payback and Elimination Chamber and NXT Takeover, is the lead story in this week’s Observer. We also have a look at the injury situation with Daniel Bryan, Sami Zayn and Hideo Itami. We also look at the Mayweather-Pacquiao business, New Japan & ROH working together for big shows, a detailed story on Global Force Wrestling including talent and television outlets and the TV scene, a lawsuit that has nothing to do with WWE & UFC, but where the result will be very important to both, Tough Enough, has NOAH turned the corner, as well as the monthly business rundowns for WWE & TNA.
The latest Wrestling Observer: May 18, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Last minute Elimination Chamber special, Mayweather vs. Pacquiao destroys PPV records
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The Wrestling Observer ranges weekly from 35,000 to 50,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA internationally. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sties and has the most complete look at the pro wrestling and MMA business anywhere, plus history pieces available nowhere else.
The lead story looks at the addition of the Elimination Chamber show, why this is being done, plans for the future and how this relates to it, the Elimination Chamber card as well as notes on the Chamber matches. We also look at Daniel Bryan and the poor job of pushing his appearance and how they are pushing the Payback main event.
We also look at the Mayweather-Pacquiao business, and how it breaks down, live event business, Vegas closed circuit, bar business, how much Mayweather and Pacquiao figure to earn, Mayweather talks rematch, why the fight was so big, and the state of PPV in 2015.
We also look at a big question as to how this relates to UFC going forward.
We look at the historical implications of Ronda Rousey on the Sports Illustrated cover.
We also have a rundown of ROH and New Japan working together in Philadelphia.
We’ve got a major piece on Global Force Wrestling. We look at the talent list, notes on the schedule for different talent, notes on the taping schedule, different TV stations they are talking with, Spike talks about getting into wrestling, the business ideas behind all this, as well as thoughts on the talent and both who is surprisingly not listed.
We also look at the new season of Tough Enough including the nature of the contract to the winner, Steve Austin talks WrestleMania 32, the Owen Hart DVD controversy, new movie projects with Dwayne Johnson and Dave Bautista, a night Raw is going to have to be special show next year, WWE injury notes, Fourth generation wrestler gets a WWE tryout, WWE angle news, When they had ideas for Justin Bieber at SummerSlam, Jerry Lawler day, Sheamus talks his career, WWE raising ticket prices for premium seats, WWE tryout notes, most popular shows on WWE Network, WWE Japan tour notes, why Jericho vs. Balor was put on the Japan show, Lesnar story involving the brother of a famous actor and notes and business of all the arena events from the past week.
We look at last week’s UFC show in Australia, the heavyweight title picture, the Mark Hunt stoppage and match-by-match coverage.
We also look at the latest Pro Wrestling NOAH major show, which included appearances by Kenta Kobashi and Yuji Nagata, as well as NOAH’s Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial tour coming up next month.
We also have a business rundown for WWE & TNA and where things stand in the different categories.
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:
–Wrestler fired once from major promotion, doesn’t last long on his return
–The Santo Memorial tournament for 2015
–Notes on the format of the AAA World Cup tournament
–Who is now heading two promotions at the same time and why the move was made
–Update on Dragon Gate’s King of Gate tournament
–Minoru Suzuki promoting a show
–New Japan lineups for all the big shows in June as well as the Dominion PPV in July
–Notes on this year’s Best of the Super Junior tournament
–Hall of Famer and health issues noted
–Shinya Hashimoto Memorial show
–Fujinami vs. Funaki Battle of Hall of Famers for the first time
–Notes from the AGON promotions and main event pay
–Notes on a promotion which claimed a TV deal and it falling apart
–Details on all TNA television through mid-June, with matches, angles and destinations
–A look at TNA’s Slammiversary show
–Notes on TNA’s prospects on PPV
–Update on Jeff Hardy
–Notes on the best of five series between the Wolves vs. Aries & Roode
–Update on TNA money issues
–Update on TNA creative team
–A look at those who returned to TV this past week and who is long and short-term
–Who turned down an offer to come in
–TNA announcing situation
–Notes on TNA’s relationship with AAA
–What happened with TNA and Wrestle-1
–Can TNA talent work for GFW
–Best stuff at the TNA tapings
–Updates on UFC PPV numbers
–Managers meeting and why
–Dana White’s reaction regarding complaints about the Reebok deal
–An interesting legal question stemming from the deal
–UFC schedule notes
–Anthony Pettis injury notes
–Josh Barnett vs. Ryron Gracie
–Metamoris news
–Fight Pass promotion
–New Fight Pass deals made
–Rousey talks coaching vs. Cyborg
–Lots of new UFC fights
–Active UFC fighter sort of does a pro wrestling match
–Huge Bellator signing of Olympian
–This week’s Bellator show
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.
Our most requested issues in our history are:
*November 17, 1997 (full details of everything leading to the most famous wrestling match finish of modern times at the Survivor Series plus a history of in-ring double-crosses)
*December 21, 1998 (the complete Vince McMahon-Bret Hart conversation right before the Survivor Series match so you’ll know exactly what was said–the conversation played in edited form both on the inaugural broadcast of Confidential as well as in Wrestling with Shadows, but everything that was said between the two about the match that was going to take place that same night)
*August 1, 1994 (the most detailed coverage anywhere of the Vince McMahon steroid trial, an issue praised in numerous newspaper article and Sex, Lies and Headlocks)
*March 26, 2001 (death of WCW and history of pro wrestling on the Turner networks)a
*October 22, 2001 (why the adult audience has left pro wrestling in such great numbers and what needed to have been done to save them)
*July 8, 1991 (Ric Flair leaves WCW as world champion/Zahorian steroid trial)
*February 8, 1993 (the life and times of Andre the Giant)
*May 13, 2002 (the life story of the most incredible pro wrestling career ever, a look at Lou Thesz, in one of the largest issues of our history)
*January 27, 2003 (part one of the two-part series covering the career and life of The Sheik)
*February 3, 2003 (Part two on The Sheik including thoughts from people who worked with him and where he stands historically)
*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.
****
Wednesday Daily Update
— This is different. Tampa Bay Online is reporting that Gawker has sued the FBI for the records of their investigation into the leak of the Hulk Hogan/Heather Clem sex tape. Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker is still ongoing, and Gawker filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for more than 1,100 pages of records of the investigaton to help defend the Hogan lawsuit. The FOIA request was denied on privacy grounds, so Gawker resubmitted it. Then it was denied because the records involved a “pending or prospective” investigation. A Justice Department appeal was denied, so now Gawker is suing the FBI, arguing that there’s no such investigation.
— Being that David Letterman bids television adieu tonight, what better way to commemerate the occasion here than linking the famous Jerry Lawler/Andy Kaufman segment, which frequently places on “greatest TV moments” lists? This specific YouTube video is the best version you’ll find, as includes everything relevant from the credits and the monologue as well as the complete interview with the uncensored version of Kaufman’s rant towards Lawler.
Also make sure to check out:
* Kaufman’s appearance introducing Freddie Blassie as his new manager while promoting “My Breakfast with Blassie” and the wrestling-themed Broadway play “Teaneck Tanzi,” which closed after two nights.
* Killer Kowalski’s appearance during Letterman’s first year (Part 1, Part 2)
* Vince McMahon’s appearance on Letterman’s New Year’s Eve 1985 special, where he serves as the show’s special correspondent to report on the first baby born in Nw York City in 1986. Vince doesn’t exactly do well or fit in, but it’s still a great skit.
Letterman would bring up pro wrestling fairly regularly over the years, usually talking about watching Dick the Bruiser in Indianapolis. There’s also a great segment that I can’t find online where Debbie Harry (on the show to plug “Videodrome“) talks about how she and Chris Stein had gotten into watching both the WWF and Georgia Championship Wrestling on TV, but they preferred the Georgia wrestling because it was “funkier.”
— RollingStone.com interviewed The Young Bucks. Great, long interview covering a ton of topics, including burning out on being their own bosses on the indie scene, hustling to sell merchandise, how they got booked into NJPW, the rise of the Bullet Club, and much more. Maybe the most notable quote sees Matt Jackson talking about working full-time for a single promotion: “We’re waiting for the right offer. When we do settle down, it’s going to be for the right dollar amount. We’re thinking of our families, so it’ll be what’s best for our families, ’cause we’ll be able to maximize our time at home while still being wrestlers.”
— There are at least 32 lawsuits from across the U.S. regarding the idea that Manny Pacquiao’s secret shoulder injury amounted to defrauding customers. One lawsuit in Texas alleges racketeering. It looks like a panel of federal judges will have to determine which of these go on, which are consolidated, which are class action, and so on.
— Some notes from Kris Zellner in his latest edition of The Lucha Report:
CMLL pulled both Rush & Shocker from all of their bookings this week, Rush likely due to the public allegations that he attacked an Arena Mexico security guard and Shocker most likely due to personal issues.
They also got the Atlantis vs. Octagon match pulled from the June 21st Chilanga Mask show on 6/21, as it looks like they’ll be working with each ther on the All Elite (outside promoter booking CMLL’s Arena Mexico) show the previous week.
— Finn Balor talks to MTV UK about (briefly) meeting Vince McMahon for the first time as well as being able to catch up with the NJPW crew last week in Philadelphia.
— UFC 187 Embedded Episode 2 features Donald Cerrone going scuba diving as well as both Daniel Cormier and Chris Weidman saying goodbye to their families before heading to the airport. Not the best episode aside from the scenery in the Cerrone segment.
— Inside MMA returns to AXS TV after a few weeks off this Friday night at 12;30 a.m. ET (or whenever the Lion Fight Muay Thai card ends) with a show that includes interviews with Dana White, Donald Cerrone, and Dolph Lundgren. They have a preview of the Cerrone interview on the AXS TV Fights YouTube channel. That’s the same night as the premiere of the second cyle of New Japan Pro Wrestling shows (at 9:00 p.m. ET and 1:30 p.m. ET), and they’re also rerunning Michael Schiavello’s sit-down interview with Steve Austin at 8:00 p.m. ET.
— The Fight Network’s Canadian and Turkish branches will be airing this Friday’s ONE Championship card at 8:30 a.m. ET. American subscribers (either on cable or omline) are presumably out of luck.
— Jerry Lawler appeared on Cerrito Live on WHBQ radio in Memphis to promote his new Blu-Ray/DVD set that was released yesterday. Topics covered include how involved he was in the production of the set, including his dealings with WWE for Memphis footage.
— ESPN talked to Bill Goldberg while he was at Citi Field promoting the Legends of Wrestling event that’s being held there on June 7th.
— I have a new podcast up talking to wrestling memorabilia collector/historian Josh Watko about all sorts of collectibls from toys to trading cards to autographs to advertising items to records and everything in between. Really fun show if you’ve ever been into any of this stuff.
— WUNC radio talked to former wrestling newsletter writer John Hitchcock about “Front Row Section D,” his new book about Carolinas wrestling.
— RVA Magazine in Richmond reviewed this past Monday’s Raw as a live show.
— Former WWE writer Kevin Eck reviewed Jim Ross’s one man show in Baltimore on his blog.
TOMORROW’S WWE NETWORK SCHEDULE (thanks to Bert Duckwall)
1:00 AM ET
CULTURE SHOCK WITH COREY GRAVES Corey Graves heads down to one of his favorite tattoo shops in the heart of New York City!
1:10 AM ET
WWE UNFILTERED WITH RENEE YOUNG In the premiere of Unfiltered, Renee Young hangs out with WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins for a fun and revealing conversation!
1:30 AM ET
FIRST LOOK First Look: It’s Good To Be King
2:00 AM ET
WWE BEYOND THE RING Batista embodies his nickname ‘The Animal’. Relive Batista’s storied career with this biography of his life both inside the ring and out.
3:30 AM ET
WWE QUICK HITS WWE Quick Hits 3 brings you some of the most unique, entertaining, and sometimes outrageous clips, unearthed from the depths of WWE Network.
4:00 AM ET
RAW FLASHBACK WWE Champion Sycho Sid gives a special in-ring interview. Plus, Bret Hart, Rocky Maivia, and many more in action!
5:00 AM ET
RAW FLASHBACK Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart come face-to-face in a highly volatile interview. Plus, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Goldust, and more in action!
6:00 AM ET
PRIME TIME WRESTLING On this Prime Time Wrestling, Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan tries to find himself. Plus, Iron Mike Sharpe, Macho Man Randy Savage, and more!
8:00 AM ET
WWE KING OF THE RING 1995 Eight men including The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, and Yokozuna compete for the crown in the annual King of the Ring Tournament and more.
11:00 AM ET
SMACKDOWN FLASHBACK Mankind faces Big Show in the main event with Triple H suspended 15 feet above the ring. The Rock vs. Al Snow in a steel cage and more.
12:30 PM ET
FIRST LOOK First Look: It’s Good To Be King
1:00 PM ET
CLASH OF THE CHAMPIONS Clash of the Champions XXI; Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas take on Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes for the Unified World Tag Team Titles.
3:00 PM ET
WCW MONDAY NITRO On this episode of WCW Monday Nitro Lex Luger puts his career on the line against Randy Savage. Hulk Hogan looks to confront The Giant.
4:00 PM ET
RAW FLASHBACK The 1-2-3 Kid once again shows Razor Ramon his determination to win. Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler unveils a surprise for Bret Hart.
5:00 PM ET
WCW WRESTLEWAR 1990 Ric Flair defends the NWA World Title against Lex Luger. Arn and Ole Anderson face The Steiner Brothers for the NWA Tag Team Titles.
8:00 PM ET
WCW MONDAY NITRO On this episode of WCW Monday Nitro Lex Luger puts his career on the line against Randy Savage. Hulk Hogan looks to confront The Giant.
9:00 PM ET
RAW FLASHBACK The 1-2-3 Kid once again shows Razor Ramon his determination to win. Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler unveils a surprise for Bret Hart.
10:00 PM ET
FIRST LOOK First Look: It’s Good To Be King
10:30 PM ET
CULTURE SHOCK WITH COREY GRAVES Corey Graves heads down to one of his favorite tattoo shops in the heart of New York City!
11:00 PM ET
WCW MONDAY NITRO On this episode of WCW Monday Nitro Lex Luger puts his career on the line against Randy Savage. Hulk Hogan looks to confront The Giant.
By Brian Hoops, WrestlingObserver.com
1964 – In Minneapolis, MN; AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Wilbur Snyder.
1971 – At Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas; Danny Little Bear & The Viking defeated Buddy Austin & Bob Orton and Harley Race defeated The Stomper in three falls.
1974 – Bruno Sammartino defeated Killer Kowalski in the main event of a Texas Death Match in Madison Square Garden to retain the WWWF title.
1976 – In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Larry Hennig & Jos Leduc went to a no contest with Baron Von Raschke & Mad Dog Vachon and
Nick Bockwinkel & Blackjack Lanza & Bobby Duncum beat Russ Francis & Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell in 2 out of 3 falls.
1983 – NWA World champion Ric Flair defeated Dewey Robertson in St. Joseph, Missouri.
1986 – In Rock HIll, SC; Wahoo McDaniel defeated NWA National Heavyweight Champion Tully Blanchard via disqualification and Dusty Rhodes & NWA U.S. Champion Magnum TA defeated NWA Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express in a Best 2 out of 3 falls match via disqualification.
1987 – In Portland Oregon; Randy Savage pinned Tito Santana and WWF Tag Team Champions Hart Foundation defeated British Bulldogs in a steel cage match.
1988 – In Norfolk, Virginia; NWA TV Champion Mike Rotundo pinned Jimmy Garvin and Dusty Rhodes, Lex Luger, Sting, & Nikita Koloff defeated NWA World Champion Ric Flair, NWA US Champion Barry Windham, NWA Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard via disqualification.
1989 – In Philadelphia, PA; Rick Martel pinned Tito Santana; WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition defeated the Big Bossman & Akeem via disqualification and WWF champion Hulk Hogan pinned Randy Savage; In Greensburg, PA; AWA Champion Larry Zbyszko beat Wahoo McDaniel and Tommy Jammer & Ken Patera beat Badd Company Pat Tanaka & Paul Diamond.
1992 – At Fort Irwin, California; WCW Light Heavyweight Champion Brian Pillman pinned Scotty Flamingo; WCW World Tag Team Champions Rick & Scott Steiner defeated Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko; WCW U.S. Champion Rick Rude defeated Ricky Steamboat; and WCW World Champion Sting pinned Steve Austin.
1993 – Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue defeated Terry Gordy & Steve Williams for the All Japan World Tag Team Title in Sapporo, Japan.
1994 – Smoky Mountain Wrestling ran Knoxville, Tennessee and its Volunteer Slam event. The Thrillseekers, Chris Jericho & Lance Storm defeated Well Dunn; SMW Tag Team Champions Brian Lee & Chris Candido (with Tammy Fytch) defeated The Rock N’ Roll Express, Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson in a No DQ, no time limit match and Bruiser Bedlam (with Jim Cornette) pinned Randy Savage (with Bob Armstrong).
2001 – At the Judgement Day PPV in Sacramento, CA; Kane defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley in a chain match to win the IC Title.
2007 – At the Judgement Day PPV; MVP defeated Chris Benoit in 2 straight falls to capture the United States Championship.
2013 – Christian defeated Cody Rhodes to win the Intercontinental Title at the Over the Limit PPV.