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Category: News

  • WWE News: New match added to the Elimination Chamber show

    Nikki Bella will defend the Divas title in a three-way against Naomi and Paige on the 5/31 Elimination Chamber show from Corpus Christi.

  • Guest Column: 20 ways to improve pro wrestling

    Photo: WWE.com

    Submitted By Steve Helwagen of 247Sports.com

    If anybody here follows college basketball, you know they sought rules changes this year to improve the game. It looks like they will change their shot clock from 35 to 30 seconds to hopefully boost the tempo of the game. As I follow wrestling and understand how much it has changed in the last 30 years, I continue to hear learned columnists and commentators complain how this angle or this match or this interview or this gimmick just falls flat.

    It’s unfortunate that the first decade of TNA was largely a lost decade. Now that they seem intent on producing what most would believe is a quality product, they are on a low-power cable outlet and nobody really seems to still care. That’s sad because this has been some of Kurt Angle’s best work, even if it may be his swan song.

    ROH is as hot as it’s ever been. They have locked up their young stars and are building from within. Sinclair may be a frugal owner but I’d say they are just being prudent given the many millions of dollars TNA’s owners have lost. 

    WWE is in a state of transition, going from pay-per-views to the WWE Network format for its big shows. This transition is a marathon, not a sprint. When you factor in that WWE had to give the cable/dish companies a sizable percentage of its PPV revenue, this was a daring move to cut the cord.

    My feeling is we will come back in four or five years and will find that the WWE Network has provided the company with a steady stream of huge revenue. As for the quality of the WWE product, yes, there isn’t as much heat as we all saw watching the product growing up. It seems like they take two steps forward and then three steps back.

    It’s interesting to me that the cable/dish companies haven’t gone to ROH and/or TNA and offered monthly slots at discount prices to get them up and running as PPV vehicles. At any rate, they can’t change the shot clock in pro wrestling. But there are a lot of things that can be done to jump start the industry with WWE taking a leading role in doing that.

    Here are 20 of my outside-the-box thoughts on ways the WWE and wrestling can be improved:

    1 — Staleness Of Talent: John Cena, Randy Orton Jr., The Big Show and Kane have all been at or near the top of the cards in WWE for the last decade or even beyond in some cases. Jim Cornette on a recent podcast said something that struck me hard: “We can’t miss you if you never leave.”

    Yes, the territories are dead and gone and they’re never coming back. In the 1970s and early 1980s, guys were largely transient. They could spend eight months to a year in the Carolinas, then do the same at WWF, spend time in Georgia, go to the AWA and down to Florida or the Mid-South.

    That allowed the great personalities to get around to all of the major circuits and maximize their earning power. Once their time in one spot was done, they would start appearing in TV squashes in other territories before arriving to go fulltime at the house shows. But Cena, for instance, has only left WWE due to injuries a handful times in the last 10 years. It’s no wonder that fans boo his very appearance on the TitanTron.

    This is probably my biggest suggestion … but here goes: The WWE needs to reach out to TNA, ROH, New Japan, All Japan and whoever else makes sense to work with.

    They need to schedule and send their stars to work for those promotions. Cena doesn’t need to go to TNA and do televised jobs, by any mean. But I think it would freshen his character and allow guys like James Storm, Bobby Roode, Ethan Carter III and others to move up to WWE for a cup of coffee now and then. Then you bring back Cena as a surprise for the Royal Rumble or to save a fellow face during a key beatdown.

    A perfect example is Bray Wyatt. He outlived his usefulness in WWE the moment he lost to The Undertaker (if not months before when he was losing to Cena on every PPV). Send him away for a year and bring him back when the time is right as a killer again.

    Just conjure the possibilities if they re-opened the trading of talent with other promotions. One big issue would be pay. WWE can’t pay all of these guys top dollar just to have them on retainer. That’s an issue that would have to be worked through so everybody can flourish and survive. (Again: Think outside the box.)

    2 — WWE Must Invest In Other Promotions: One reason why WWE would or should be inclined to work with other promotions is they should all be in some sort of business together. WWE could become a minority partner with those groups. They could provide revenue streams for TNA and ROH though use of their archives on WWE Network and merchandising on WWE.com.

    WWE benefits because TNA and ROH are encouraged to build stars for the WWE to use and then move on after eight months or a year. The same applies for Japan. Do you think Cena or Daniel Bryan (if healthy) would be a great draw against the top Japanese stars?

    3 — Guest Appearances: You bring in some of the TNA and ROH guys for random shots on Raw in quasi-squash matches to get them over to the larger audience. Occasionally, you book crossover matches, maybe even double world title matches at some point.

    These guest appearances would help keep the TV shows fresh. You can also shoot angles to lead to those visiting stars to appear on the next PPV, etc. You also send WWE guys to those other shows for one-offs and to do interviews promoting WWE big events. Who wouldn’t want to see, say, Neville vs. A.J. Styles or Jay Briscoe on ROH? Or Chris Jericho vs. Bobby Roode on TNA?

    4 — Put Arena Shows on WWE Network: I know what I hear when this comes up: If you put the house show at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., online, who in their right mind would risk their life by going down there to see the live show? (Believe me, I covered the NCAA Tournament in Newark … if they ever put it there again somebody should be fired. Nice arena, terrible and dangerous downtown.)

    OK, WWE is partnered with the MLB Network on its web site. I am a Cincinnati Reds fan. Sitting here 100 miles away from Cincinnati, I can’t access any Reds games on MLB.com. I am blacked out due to my zip code or location of my internet connection, I presume.

    If their partner can black out live baseball games to local audiences and syphon people toward the live TV coverage on the regional sports networks, they can certainly help WWE black out, say, the New York metropolitan area for a house show in Newark. (Good luck getting in and out unharmed.)

    I would call it the Arena Series on WWE Network. You don’t have to worry about extra TV lights and big production values. Do it like the old days at MSG with a two- or three-camera shoot. Keep it simple. Have one announcer.

    You archive all of these shows for viewing on the web site maybe after a month or two. By taping them, you can bring some of the neat highlights to the TV shows. Heck, you can do title changes on house shows again.

    I think fans sitting at home on a Friday or Saturday night in, say, Cleveland, would love to see the local house show from San Diego or Phoenix if given the chance. This is hours of more live programming without any major expense. (Again, keep the production as simple as possible … that helps give it that “arena feel” like the old days.)

    Hey, if nobody tunes in and it isn’t worth it, you can always quietly stop doing it. Just gives Network viewers more value each week.

    5 — Develop Some Raw/Smackdown Synergy: How many times did Miz and Mizdow seemingly break up on Raw only to be back tagging on Smackdown in the same week? Please, for the love of God, once Smackdown is back on USA somebody needs to be in charge of storyline control.

    6 — Bring Back Squash Matches: Once or twice a show, it’s OK to have a guy you are trying to rebuild or get over or somebody new to the territory or visiting come out, make a personal appearance with a 90-second squash and cut a quick promo. These matches differentiate the special matches you build the show around.

    7 — Put The Big Matches On at 9 and 10 p.m.: This is an obvious one to deter a viewer to switch to another station at the top of the hour. They do this from time to time already.

    8 — Bring Back Time Limits and Draws: This is a no-brainer. Put a clock in the corner of the screen and build the excitement. It also gives you many more match endings.

    Most TV matches between lower level guys or squashes would be 10-minute time limit. They hit that 10-minute Broadway and you bring them back next week with a 15- or 20-minute time limit. You also have time limits of 30-, 45- and 60-minutes as needed. I’d say 30 minutes would stretch the bounds of what you’d want to show on TV. Once or twice a year, book an hourlong Iron Man Match. Those were fairly dramatic in their day.

    At house shows, you send guys out to do a good 20-minute Broadway on every show. Solves one match finish (not that a lot of thought goes into arena finishes right now).

    9 — Do Away With Distraction Finishes: The NFL has had instant replay for 20 years. Why can’t the WWE use replay after a commercial break to reverse a distraction finish or re-start a match?  Again, this gives you many more creative ways to end a match.

    10 — Bring Back Bob Backlund Booking: I was a big fan of the monthly MSG shows on USA Network. They usually put 8 or 9 MSG shows a year and 1 or 2 Capital Centre shows per year on USA.

    The Backlund (and Bruno Sammartino before him) Formula was simple. The heel of the month/No. 1 contender would come into MSG usually early in his WWE run. The first match would usually be a schmozz of some sort with a time limit draw, double DQ, single DQ, count-out or excessive blood finish. They might bring it back the second month and have another schmozz or decide that Backlund would finish the heel  off in two months. The third month was usually the blow-off, typically in a Texas Death Match or once a year in a steel cage match.

    He had some series with great heels like Pat Patterson, Jimmy Snuka and Superstar Graham that went four matches before the blow-off because they were doing turnaway business for all the lead-up matches. Some guys like Ivan Koloff, the Iron Sheik, Don Muraco and Greg Valentine were all cycled through twice – but their appearances were usually no sooner than two years apart. That made the “rematches” almost seem fresh (and for many newbies in the audience they were!)

    You schedule the schmozzes and blow-offs carefully. On a PPV or special event, there should only be one schmozz. If it’s in the title match, you can’t really have one otherwise than maybe a time limit draw. Let’s say Dean Ambrose is the champion. In two years, he can cycle through the likes of Abyss, Roman Reigns, Bobby Roode, Jay Briscoe, Go Shiozaki, Rusev, Ryback, Wyatt, Oron, Shinsuke Nakamura, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Bram, EC3, Bobby Lashley and on and on and on.

    The legend is that Vince McMahon met with Superstar Graham in 1976 and already knew he wanted him to beat Bruno in April 1977 and lose to Backlund in February 1978. Along the way he had MSG defenses against Bruno, Dusty Rhodes and Mil Mascaras. Just think about the business they did with that. The losers move on to one of the other circuits for six months or a year and then they come back.

    11 — Embrace Your History: WWE has thousands of hours of televised matches in its archives. Why can’t they do a WWE Network minute on Raw and Smackdown and show some of that great stuff maybe on anniversary dates. (Like on this day in 1980, Michael Hayes blinded Junkyard Dog at Atlanta’s Omni. It led to this match where JYD and Ted DiBiase got their revenge … You can see video like this and much more on the WWE Network.)

    12 — Institute An Onscreen Crawl: ESPN has a constant crawl across the bottom with scores and news headlines. Why can’t WWE and its partners do the same to promote live events and PPV/special events? You can scroll contender rankings for each belt, what’s coming up in this show, the house show schedule for the next month with ticket info and wrestling news from both inside and outside the WWE.

    13 — Keep NXT Coming: They are starting to see some real returns from NXT. Just keep that machine humming and watch the new stars come out. Just please protect them better than Neville’s run to start his WWE TV career.

    14 — Keep The Extra Titles Important: They are making strides with the U.S. and IC titles. There are so many great tag teams out there now that those belts should also be meaningful. Do a Light Heavyweight and a TV belt too if you want for my angles, opportunities.

    15 — Treat It Like A Real Sport: Call it wrestling, pro wrestling, sports entertainment … but above all else try and treat the competitions as sporting events.

    16 — Keep Raw Fresh: To do 3 fresh hours every week and over 150 hours a year on Raw, plus 2 hours a week and 100 hours a year on Smackdown, they will need to find a way to keep the shows fresh. This involves quality control, rotating the available talent and keeping track of matches and angles so things aren’t repeated too often.

    17 — More Renee Young: Whatever the other side of competent is, that’s Renee Young. She’s better than the women ESPN uses on its live events in many cases.

    18 — Book Upsets: It’s OK for the favorite to lose. It happens in UFC all the time. For wrestling to be as realistic as it can be, the underdog has to win clean every now and then. I’m not saying Zayn or Neville needed to beat Cena first month in. No reason why Rusev has not taken a clean win in their program, however. No reason at all.

    19 — Make It Fun: Not goofy like the music video crap they did with heels and faces singing together in 1985. But make most of the show fun … and when it needs to be serious make it serious.

    20 — Personality Interviews: The show when they were snowed in was a great change of pace. I would suggest that for a go-home Smackdown every once in a while. You don’t always need a live arena show. Take those two hours and run some match clips, some feature packages, some historical features on the event coming up that weekend and interviews with the big stars for that weekend’s shows.

    Steve Helwagen is an award-winning writer for 247Sports.com, where he is the Big Ten senior writer. He also covers Ohio State athletics for Bucknuts.com.

  • WWE 5-21-15 Smackdown spoilers: Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt

    Notes from tonight’s show:

    – Roman Reigns came out to talk about the Payback main event. He said he had fun with The Shield reunion and that he is entering Money in the Bank this year. Dean Ambrose came out and said that he was going to be champion before Money in the Bank, because he’s winning it at Elimination Chamber. Kane then came out and said Reigns would not be in Money in the Bank beacuse he lost two different title shots already at WrestleMania and Payback, and told Reigns he had the rest of the night off, while Ambrose would have a rematch with Bray Wyatt.

    – The Lucha Dragons over Tyson Kidd & Cesaro, Los Matadores, and The Ascension.  Both the Prime Time Players and New Day were on commentary.

    – Dolph Ziggler and Lana are together on an interview, leading to Dolph Ziggler beating King Barrett in a good match.

    – Paige did an interview and said she earned the No. 1 contendership in the Battle Royal and wants her title shot. Naomi and Tamina Snuka got in her face and attacked her. Nikki Bella made the save.

    – Ryback said he was winning the IC title at Elimination Chamber

    – R-Truth b Stardust

    – Axel Mania & Macho Mandow are not dead, as they beat Adam Rose & Heath Slater

    – Bo Dallas did an interview

    – Dean Ambrose b Bray Wyatt in a match that had interference by J&J Security, WWE Champion Seth Rollins and a Roman Reigns save.

  • On this day in pro wrestling history (May 19): Undertaker beats Hogan, Gagne’s first retirement match

    By Brian Hoops, Wrestling Observer.com

    1905 – Tom Jenkins defeated Frank Gotch to retain the American Heavyweight Championship in Madison Square Garden in New York City.

    1961 – In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; AWA Tag Team Champions Hard Boiled Haggerty & Gene Kiniski beat Whipper Billy Watson & Wilbur Snyder and AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Stan Kowalski.

    1963 – The Destroyer (Dick Beyer) defeated Rikidozan in Osaka, Japan,

    1966 – In Kansas City, Kansas; Pat O’Connor defeated The Butcher via DQ and Bob Ellis & The Mongolian Stomper defeated Bob Geigel & Bob Brown in three falls.

    1973 – In Peoria, Illinois; Dusty Rhodes won a 10 man battle royal by eliminating The Crusher; The Crusher beat Dusty Rhodes; Reggie Parks beat Dick Murdoch via DQ; Ken Patera beat Vic Rossitani; Ric Flair went to a time limit draw with Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell beat Khosrow Vaziri.

    1977 – Bruno Sammartino defeated Larry Zbyszko in the main event of a WWWF event in Worcester, MA.

    1980- In Madison Square Garden, Larry Zbyszko won a 16-man $15,000 battle royal; WWF World Champion Bob Backlund pinned WWF IC Champion Ken Patera in a Texas Death Match and Tony Atlas, Ivan Putski, & Pat Patterson defeated Peter Maivia & WWF Tag Team Champions the Wild Samoans in a Best 2 out of 3 falls match.

    1981 – It was officially announced by the American Wrestling Association that, due to Verne Gagne retiring and vacating the AWA World Heavyweight Title, Nick Bockwinkel, the former champion and current number one contender, was being awarded the belt.

    1981 – In Omaha, Nebraska; AWA Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura beat Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell and Baron Von Raschke beat John Studd.

    1986 – In Fayetteville, NC; NWA World Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express, Bobby Eaton & Dennis Condrey defeated Dusty Rhodes & NWA U.S. Champion Magnum TA.

    1990 – In Washington, DC; The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane) defeated Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk to win the U.S. Tag Team Title and Doom (Ron Simmons & Butch Reed) defeated Rick & Scott Steiner to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship.

    1991 – In St. Petersburg, FL at the SuperBrawl PPV; The Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin) defeated Tracey Smothers & Steve Armstrong to win the vacant United States Tag Team Title, Bobby Eaton defeated Arn Anderson to win the WCW Television Title and WCW World Champion Ric Flair defeated Tatsumi Fujinami to capture the NWA World Title.

    1995 – Razor Ramon defeated Jeff Jarrett in Montreal, Quebec to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship in a Ladder match.

    1996 – In Madison Square Garden, Henry & Phinneas Godwinn defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Skip & Zip to win the titles.

    2002 – In Nashville, Tennessee; the Undertaker defeated Hulk Hogan to capture the WWE Undisputed World Title and Rikishi & Rico beat Billy & Chuck to capture the WWE World Tag Titles.

    2011 – Abyss defeated Frankie Kazarian to win the TNA X Division Title.

    2013 – At the Extreme Rules PPV; Dean Ambrose defeated Kofi Kingston to win the United States Title and The Shield defeated Bryan Danielson & Kane to win the WWE Tag Team Titles. Also, Brock Lesnar defeated Triple H in a steel cage match.

  • WWE Raw TV ratings: May 18, 2015

    The day after WWE Payback combined with the lack of NBA competition saw Raw get out of its season record low trend, drawing 3.98 million viewers Monday night, up from 3.68 million last week.

    The good news is that the usual level of third hour drop didn’t take place, which means the audience found something more compelling than usual during the show.

    The three hours were:

    • 8 p.m. 4.00 million viewers
    • 9 p.m. 4.00 million viewers
    • 10 p.m. 3.96 million viewers

  • TUES. UPDATE: Triple H conference call, Scotland establishes national concussion guidelines, and more

    by David Bixenspan | davidbix@wrestlingobserver.com | Follow @davidbix

    TV/show notes:

    Fox Sports 1 has a block of UFC programming tonight designed to push this Saturday’s UFC 187 pay-per-view card:

    8:30 p.m. ET – UFC From All Angles: Daniel Cormier (sit-down interview from a year ago)

    9:00 p.m. ET: UFC Countdown: UFC 187 (The hype show for Saturday, which premiered Sunday night)

    10:00 p.m. ET: UFC Fight Flashback: Weidman vs. Machida (Documentary style look back at the fight)

    10:30 p.m. ET: UFC Fight Flashback: Silva vs. Weidman I

    Plus as always we need SmackDown/Main Event spoiler reports, which you should email to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.

    **** 

    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. 

    **** 

    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 

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    *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.

    ****

    Tuesday Daily Update

    — The quarterly Triple H pre-NXT special conference call was ongoing as I wrote this (and we’ll have audio up for subscribers), and he mentioned a few newsworthy things:

    – Matt “Jason Albert” Bloom and Sara Amato have been promoted to Head Coach and Assistant Head Coach, respectively. at the WWE Performance Center. Bloom had been the Interim Head Coach since the departure of Bill DeMott.

    – Sami Zayn has been cleared to wrestle at tomorrow night’s NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable live special on WWE Network.  Hideo Itami isn’t, but that’s no surprise.

    – The official word on Samoa Joe for now: He was at the Performance Center a month ag, but”whether or not we do business together, I don’t know.”

    – There are plans to do what everyone expected with NXT house shows, which is the TV talent on tour and the greener talent on B-shows in Florida, but it’s probably not happening until 2016.

    — Per the BBC, Scotland has become the first country to introduce national guidelines for dealing with concussions in all sports. There’s no sport-specific guidance, but there are clear guidelines on how to recognize and deal with concussions. Should be interesting to see how much publicity this gets and what governments follow suit.

    — You may have seen this by now, but Kevin Owens’ wife posted an Instagram video of their son (Owen, who was named after Owen Hart, and in turn Kevin took “Owens” on as his WWE name) reacting to his dad’s Raw debut. It’s pretty much the most adorable thing you’ll see all day.

    — Also, RollingStone.com has an interview with Owens. Of note, he mentions that Terry Taylor is his main trainer, which, if the timing had been different, probably would have been a hint since Taylor is used to put the finishing touches on talent considered ready for the main roster. Anyway, interesting quote from Owens on adapting himself to WWE: “So there were little tweaks, maybe clean up the language a little, but besides that I think I’ve been pretty true to myself. And I think that’s a big part of what helps me be successful. I’m genuine, and I think people can see that when they watch. I’m just gonna keep going that way and see where that takes me.”

    — ROH issued a press release announcing that Quinn “Moose” Ojinnaka has signed a new contract, meaning that the former Atlanta Falcons offensive lineman won’t be going to WWE or Global Force Wrestling’s TV tapings any time soon. He’s still working the GFW baseball park house shows because those aren’t restricted by ROH contracts.

    — Global Force Wrestling removed Scott Hall from their website’s roster page after he was thrown out of a show this past weekend for showing up intoxicated and not even taking the time he was given to try to dry out.

    — Part 1 of the UFC Embedded documentary videos for this weekend’s UFC 187 PPV went up today. The highlight is absolutely Vitor Belfort going to a barber shop for maintenence on his mowhawk with the crosses on the sides of his head. He looks smaller than the last time he fought off testosterone replacement therapy (the Anderson Silva fight four years ago) but leaner and in better overall shape.

    — Really nice article about a boy from Princeton, Indiana whose love of WWE helps him cope with a number of serious medial problems stemming from a birth defect.

    — Under the Mat Radio talked to Jim Ross at his Baltimore one-man show.

     — Jim Ross will be doing a show on Aug. 19, the Wednesday before SummerSlam, at the DC Improv in Washington, DC. Tickets go on sale this Friday at the venue’s website.

    — AAA EVP Dorian Roldan and Court Bauer talk about the Lucha World Cup, AAA’s expansion, Lucha Underground’s future as well as Rey Mysterio and dealing with Japanese companies on today’s MLW Radio podcast at MLWRadio.com.

    — Dave has two articles at MMAFighting.com from the past few days:

    – A look at if Mayweather-Pacquiao will hurt UFC 187 PPV buys.

    – The usual Fortunes Changed for Five postmortem for this past weekend’s card.

    — This is not new, but I had never seen nor heard of it before that I can recall: In 2008, Thomas Golianopoulos wrote an article about Hardbody Harrison’s wrestling and criminal careers for KING Magazine, and he added it to his website last year. Fascinating stuff, well worth going out of your way to read. For those not aware of what exactly happened with him, he was a WCW Power Plant trainee turned WCW job guy who was one of the plaintiffs who got a big settlement in the racial discrimination lawsuit against the company. Meanwhile, he was running an elaborate pimping/sexual slavery operation, and eventually, in 2005, he got busted.

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

    Wednesday, May 20

    12:00 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!

    12:07 AM ET
    MONDAY NIGHT WAR    In an era of shifting loyalties, WWE and WCW would each build a cornerstone in order to achieve stability.

    1:01 AM ET
    WWE NXT    The future is here. Witness the entertainers, the leading men and women, the Superstars of tomorrow — this is NXT!

    2:00 AM ET
    TUESDAY NIGHT TITANS    Vince McMahon hosts Tuesday Night Titans with Lord Alfred Hayes. Guests include Roddy Piper, Greg Valentine and Wendi Richter.

    4:00 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!

    6:00 AM ET
    TOUGH ENOUGH     Legendary WWE Superstar The Rock and ‘Psych’ star James Roday give the remaining five contestants a lesson in charisma.

    7:00 AM ET
    MONDAY NIGHT WAR   In an era of shifting loyalties, WWE and WCW would each build a cornerstone in order to achieve stability.

    8:00 AM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN    Counting down the top ten most stylish ring attire ever worn by a WWE Superstar.

    9:00 AM ET
    TOUGH ENOUGH    Legendary WWE Superstar The Rock and ‘Psych’ star James Roday give the remaining five contestants a lesson in charisma.

    10:00 AM ET
    MONDAY NIGHT WAR   In an era of shifting loyalties, WWE and WCW would each build a cornerstone in order to achieve stability.

    11:00 AM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN    Counting down the top ten most stylish ring attire ever worn by a WWE Superstar.

    12:00 PM ET
    TOUGH ENOUGH    Legendary WWE Superstar The Rock and ‘Psych’ star James Roday give the remaining five contestants a lesson in charisma.

    1:00 PM ET
    MONDAY NIGHT WAR    In an era of shifting loyalties, WWE and WCW would each build a cornerstone in order to achieve stability.

    2:00 PM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN    Counting down the top ten most stylish ring attire ever worn by a WWE Superstar.

    3:00 PM ET
    WWE NXT    The future is here. Witness the entertainers, the leading men and women, the Superstars of tomorrow — this is NXT!

    4:00 PM 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.

    5:00 PM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS    Ariane’s mother calles with a desperate plea for help, and Eva is shocked when Jonathan makes a dangerous decision without her consent.

    6:00 PM ET
    WWE BEYOND THE RING    An in-depth look at some of the most well-known, colorful managers wrestling has ever seen including Bobby Heenan, Paul Bearer, and more.

    7:30 PM ET
    NXT TAKEOVER UNSTOPPABLE    The NXT TakeOver Unstoppable Pre-Show hosted by Renee Young, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton.

    8:00 PM ET
    NXT TAKEOVER UNSTOPPABLE    Sami Zayn looks to end the title reign of his former best friend, NXT Champion Kevin Owens at NXT TakeOver Unstoppable.

    10:00 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!

    10:10 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!

    10:30 PM ET
    NXT TAKEOVER UNSTOPPABLE    The NXT TakeOver Unstoppable Pre-Show hosted by Renee Young, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton.

    11:00 PM ET
    NXT TAKEOVER UNSTOPPABLE   Sami Zayn looks to end the title reign of his former best friend, NXT Champion Kevin Owens at NXT TakeOver Unstoppable.

  • WWE NXT Press Release: Matt Bloom, Sara (Del Rey) Amato promoted

    STAMFORD, Conn., May 19, 2015 – WWE (NYSE: WWE) today announced that Matt Bloom has been promoted to Head Coach of WWE’s developmental system, NXT®and Sara Amato has been promoted to NXT’s Assistant Head Coach. Bloom previously held the position of Interim Head Coach and Amato was previously an Assistant Coach.

    Bloom, a former WWE Superstar and Intercontinental Champion, made his WWE debut in 1999 as Prince Albert. After an eight-year stint in Japan, Bloom returned to WWE in 2012 as WWE Superstar Tensai. Bloom retired from in-ring action in 2014 and was named an NXT Assistant Coach, working at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, where he also spent time as a color commentator for NXT programming on WWE Network. He was named NXT’s Interim Head Coach in March 2015.

    Amato joined WWE in 2012 as Sara Del Rey after spending more than a decade working on the independent circuit. Since then, she has been responsible for training, creating and developing some of the most athletic, charismatic and confident Divas, including current WWE Divas Paige, Summer Rae and Emma, as well as NXT Divas Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Alexa Bliss, Becky Lynch and Carmella. In addition to coaching at the WWE Performance Center, Amato will also work with WWE Superstars and Divas on the main roster as both a producer and agent.

    “I have the utmost confidence in Matt and Sara’s ability to train and lead the next generation of Superstars and Divas at the WWE Performance Center,” said Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events & Creative. “With each having more than 15 years of experience in the business, Matt and Sara will continue to be invaluable resources to our developmental system. The trust and respect that they have gained throughout the years by both our talent and training staff puts NXT in a great position for future success.”

    “It is truly an honor to be named the Head Coach of NXT and play a key role in creating and developing the WWE Superstars and Divas of the future,” said Bloom. “I look forward to continuing my role in training and coaching the incredibly talented roster we have at the WWE Performance Center.”

    “This is a dream come true for me,” said Amato. “I’m so proud to be given the opportunity to train and lead the aspiring talent at the WWE Performance Center as we continue to expand the NXT brand globally.”

    NXT Superstars and Divas train out of the state-of-the-art WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. The 26,000 square-foot facility offers a full training experience with real time feedback from WWE coaches, trainers and doctors, giving performers the resources they need to develop their talent both athletically and creatively. 

  • WWE NXT News: Key notes from HHH conference call

    By Dave Meltzer, WrestlingObserver.com

    Here’s a few key notes from today’s NXT related conference call from Paul “HHH” Levesque.

    The basic gist when it comes to the long term plan for NXT seems to be a year of trial and error, experimenting with live shows in different types of venues and seeing what works best. The goal is to do three shows a week as a touring brand around the world, similar to the tours WWE already does, but with a goal for talent to get them to the main roster.

    Ultimately, and this may be down the line, the goal is for two NXT events per night on the weekend: one for the bigger stars and TV angles and the other working small venues in Florida with the younger talent that is less experienced.

    The only major news related to tomorrow’s Takeover show is the acknolwedgment that Hideo Itami is injured. Paul Levesque said he would be represented on tomorrow’s show, but the indication was he wouldn’t wrestle. Sami Zayn has been medically cleared and will perform in the main event against NXT Champion Kevin Owens in the main event.

  • WWE notes: Zayn injury update, coaching update

    HHH noted on today’s conference call that Sami Zayn has been cleared and will face Kevin Owens tomorrow night at the NXT Takeover show.

    Matt Bloom has been promoted to be the official head coach (which had been known in the sense  he was already working in that role) and Sara Amato will be the No. 2 trainer as assistant coach, as well as working as an agent and producer.

  • Moose signs new ROH deal

    Quinn “Moose” Ojinnaka was announced today as having signed a new deal with Ring of Honor.  His contract expired next month and he was in high demand from almost every direction.  ROH reported that he signed his new contract in Toronto.