Kansas City, Missouri: – Bob Geigel & Bob Brown defeated The Mongolian Stomper & Jerry Kozak in a 2 out of 3 falls match
1967
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: – AWA World Tag Team Champions Harley Race and Larry Hennig defeated Verne Gagne and Don Leo Jonathon in a 2 out of 3 falls match to retain the titles – Mad Dog Vachon beat Doug Gilbert – Danny Hodge drew Bob Boyer – Ernie Ladd beat The Alaskan – Stan The Moose Mykatowich beat Bob Tuck
1973
Tokyo, Japan: – Giant Baba defeated Mark Lewin in the finals of the first ever All Japan Pro Wrestling Champion Carnival tournament
1975
Tulsa, Oklahoma: – Ken Mantell beat Scandor Akbar – Bill Watts beat Cyclone Negro – AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Jerry Miller – Dick Murdoch beat Grizzly Smith – Pork Chop Cash drew Buck Robley – Ted Heath beat Mitsu Hata – Stan Hansen & Frank Goodish beat Johnny Eagle & Jay Clayton
1979
New Orleans, Louisiana: – Mike George defeated Jerry Stubbs in for the Mid-South Wrestling Louisiana Heavyweight Title
1980
Madison Square Garden, New York City: – Ken Patera defeated Pat Patterson for the WWF Intercontinental Title
1984
Greensboro, North Carolina: – Ricky Steamboat defeated Dick Slater for the United States Heavyweight Title
1985
AWA Starrcage: St. Paul, Minnesota: – Cage match: Sgt. Slaughter & Jerry Blackwell beat Sheik Adnan & King Tonga & Masked Superstar – AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig dq – Verne Gagne & Greg Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito – Bob Backlund & Brad Rheingans beat Larry Zbyszko & Butch Reed – Baron Von Raschke & Buck Zumhofe beat Jim Garvin & Steve Regal – Jim Brunzell & Tonga Kid beat Billy Robinson & Bobby Duncum – Steve Olsonoski & Tom Zenk beat The Alaskans
2002
WWE Backlash: Kansas City, Missouri: – Big Show defeated Steven Richards – Tajiri (with Torrie Wilson) defeated Billy Kidman to win the WWF Cruiserweight Championship – Scott Hall (with X-Pac) defeated Bradshaw – Jazz defeated Trish Stratus to win retain the WWF Women’s Championship – Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) defeated Jeff Hardy – Kurt Angle defeated Edge – The Undertaker defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin – Billy and Chuck (with Rico) defeated Maven and Al Snow to retain the WWF Tag Team Championship – Hulk Hogan defeated Triple H to capture the Undisputed WWF World Heavyweight Title – Eddie Guerrero defeated Rob Van Dam to win the Intercontinental Title
2008
Greenville, South Carolina: – William Regal defeated CM Punk to win the King of the Ring
Joshua Michael Burgess, known to the wrestling world as Christian Able passed away Wednesday, April 13, 2016.
Christian Able was known for his charismatic presence, emotional promos, and in-ring strength. Josh was born January 11, 1985 in Berrien Center, Michigan. A life-long entertainer after graduating Coloma High School in 2004, Burgess attended Disney University in Orlando, FL, where he went on to perform as Pluto at various Disney parks.
Josh began professional wrestling training in 2006 at Dan Severn’s Price of Glory Wrestling School in Coldwater, MI under Jimmy Jacobs and Josh Raymond. Burgess started his career working for various Midwest independent companies in a tag team with childhood friend Caden Ames under the team name Absolute Answer. Burgess later branched out to become a solo act for Ian Rotten’s IWA Mid-South and Detroit’s XICW. In 2008, Burgess continued training at the House of Truth Wrestling School under Truth Martini and the Can-Am Wrestling School under Scott D’Amore. Burgess’ most notable success was as a tag team with Josh Raymond managed by Truth Martini, under the team name the House of Truth.
The team first stood out in Chicago independent company AAW and Scott D’Amore’s Can-Am Wrestling before debuting at Ring of Honor in 2009. The team was featured on Ring of Honor’s ROH on HDNet television show. The House of Truth had notable matches against the Briscoes, the Young Bucks, and Kevin Steen and El Generico. Roderick Strong was later added to the House of Truth in 2010. Burgess and Raymond would go on to assist Roderick Strong in winning the ROH World Title from Tyler Black on September 11, 2010 in the duo’s last appearance for ROH.
Later that month, Burgess teamed with Josh Raymond to face Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black in Chicago in what would be Tyler Black’s final independent wrestling match before going to WWE to become Seth Rollins. Burgess continued to perform on and off for his remaining years, having his final match on April 2, 2016 in a dog collar match against his former tag team partner Caden Ames.
Josh passed away unexpectedly in Michigan on April 13, 2016. He is survived by his parents Lynda (nne Burgess) and Kevin Smith, his brother Kyle Smith, as well family, friends, and brothers in professional wrestling. A tribute and ten bell salute was dedicated to Burgess on April 17 in Detroit, MI at XICW.
According to TMZ, UFC is refusing to put Conor McGregor back on the UFC 200 show after his Facebook post today where he made it very clear he still wanted to be on the show and was not retiring.
Given that UFC has not announced a new main event and thus started promoting a new fight, it makes no sense at this point not to put McGregor back on, unless the dispute was something very different than has been portrayed or if McGregor would not do the necessary promotional work such as appear on the promo commercial.
McGregor’s earlier post was a public statement that he wanted to be on the show, but it was posturing for him to not be blamed for any issues that led to the fight falling apart. It is still unknown what the real behind-the-scenes issues are that are keeping the fight from taking place.
But it is also still in everyone’s best economic interest for UFC 200 to be as big as possible, which can only happen if the fight ends up happening.
This season, both the women’s strawweight division and the men’s light heavyweight division will be competing. At the end of the season if both Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Claudia Gadelha, they’ll be fighting on the TUF 23 Finale LIVE with Joanna Champion defending her strawweight title. First up though are the qualifying fights for the teams on TUF 23. Let’s do this!
115 pounds: Mellony Geugjes (0-1) vs. Amanda Cooper (1-1)
Geugjes is in the red trunks and Cooper the black. Geugjes claimed in her pre-fight interview that she got into MMA because people refused to fight her any more in kickboxing. Cooper certainly didn’t refuse. Geugjes jumps into her guard after tripping her 23 seconds in and it was a big mistake – Cooper quickly trapped an arm and rolled and tapped Geugjes at the one minute mark.
GEUGJES ADVANCES TO THE HOUSE VIA SUBMISSION.
205 pounds: Eric Spicely (8-0) vs. Kenneth Bergh (3-0)
Spicely is in the red trunks and Bergh the black. Other than his face there doesn’t seem to be an inch of Bergh’s body from the knees up that isn’t tattooed. Spicely quickly double legs him to the ground and takes his back – tapping Bergh out to a rear naked choke in 33 seconds.
SPICELY ADVANCES TO THE HOUSE VIA SUBMISSION.
115 pounds: Ashley Cummins (3-3) vs. Lanchana Green (2-1)
Cummins is in the red and is an Invicta veteran. Green is in the black and runs her own gym with her boyfriend in England. Cummins secures a takedown to side control and Green tries and fails to back her off, eating elbows to the face as they spin. Green tries to grab a leg and sweep but ends up eating left hands to the head. Cummins takes the back with hooks in at2:47 then winds up on top again in half guard. Green keeps surviving but she’s eating lots of rights and elbows. Cummins gets a full mount at 4:18 then takes the back again. Green survives the RNC because the horn saves her.
Green survives two takedown attempts and suddenly Cummins starts getting creamed with knees when she doesn’t break away cleanly from the fence. The ref warns her multiple times to fight back and finally steps in to save Cummins. It’s pretty much the story of Cummins career in a fight that doesn’t even officially count on her record. She always looks good until she makes a mistake – and then “Smashley” gets smashed.
GREEN ADVANCES TO THE HOUSE VIA TKO.
205 pounds: Khalil Rountree (4-0) vs. Muhammed Dereese (5-0)
Rountree has white trunks and Dereese is in the black. Dereese credits his Islamic background for why he’s a fighter instead of in jail. Rountree says MMA is what gave him direction and got him in shape. Dereese gets a takedown 12 seconds in and Rountree gets a warning for shots to the back of the head. Dereese hits a leg trip, takes the back, gets the back and Rountree escapes the submission. Dereese goes for the takedown again and Rountree is lighting him up. Wild action in round one.
Rountree lands a nasty head kick and pours it on with kicks to the body on the ground until the referee steps in and saves Dereese.
ROUNTREE ADVANCES TO THE HOUSE VIA TKO.
115 pounds: Alyssa Krahn (3-1) vs. Jamie Moyle (3-1)
Moyle is the second straight Team Syndicate fighter competing on the show (Rountree was the first). Krahn wants to represent women’s MMA in Canada. Krahn is in the red trunks, Moyle the black. Krahn outwrestles her early on but gives up her back late and gets taped out to a rear naked choke at 4:10.
MOYLE ADVANCES TO THE HOUSE VIA SUBMISSION.
205 pounds: Myron Dennis (12-4) vs. Jamelle Jones (6-2)
Dennis is in the red trunks and Jones the black. Dennis says he’s light-skinned dynamite. Jones says he was a three time collegiate All-American. Dennis lights Jones up standing until the ref stepped in to save him – which was the right call since Jones seemed uncertain where he was. Dennis tells Dana White to get his checkbook out because he’s not a cheap date!
DENNIS ADVANCES TO THE HOUSE VIA TKO.
115 pounds: Ashley Yoder (4-1) vs. Jodie Esquibel (5-1)
Yoder is a Team Quest fighter with Dan Henderson who discovered fighting after her brother passed away in an accident. Esquibel has been friends with Holly Holm for 16 years and her fiancee is former UFC star Keith Jardine – she’s also another Invicta FC veteran. Yoder is in the red trunks and Esquibel the black. Esquibel is landing big kicks and right hands and you can see her striking skill, but Yoder is getting advice from Hendo who tells her to get a single leg – and she does. She’s unable to get the RNC before the horn. After an action packed second round Dana White believes it’s going to a third, but “Big” John McCarthy says it’s over.
YODER ADVANCES VIA SPLIT DECISION – DANA AND THE COACHES ARE APPALLED.
205 pounds: Norman Paraisy (13-4-2) vs. Elias Urbina IV (3-0)
Paraisy was a competitor on season 11 of TUF who quit between rounds of his fight with James Hammortree. He says that mistake made him a better man and now he’s back to prove he can do better. He’s in the white trunks. His brother Hector is in UFC with a record of 17-9-1 (1-1 in two UFC bouts). This fight is cut down to highlights. Dana scores the first round for Paraisy, says the second round both guys were gassed, but Urbina did enough to get it to the third – and ultimately to the judges.
URBINA ADVANCES TO THE HOUSE VIA DECISION.
115 pounds: JJ Aldrich (2-1) vs. Kristi Lopez (2-0)
This is cut down to highlights of Aldrich (who is a training partner of Rose Namajunas) beating the snot out of Lopez over the course of two rounds.
ALDRICH ADVANCES TO THE HOUSE VIA DECISION.
205 pounds: Abdel Medjedoub (3-0) vs. John Paul Elias (3-0)
Elias’ wife is Carly Lauren – Miss October 2013 in Playboy. This one is also cut down to highlights. Dana White says Medjedoub took Elias down and smothered him for the entire fight. The judges agree.
MEDJEDOUB ADVANCES TO THE HOUSE VIA DECISION.
115 pounds: Tatiana Suarez (3-0) vs. Chel-C Bailey (2-0)
Suarez is a cancer survivor. She’s in the red trunks. Bailey is friends with Bryan Caraway and Miesha Tate, who are there to offer her advice and support for the fight. Bailey has black trunks. Grappling is the story of round one, allowing Suarez to control position and attack effectively. Even Tate seems pretty clear Bailey didn’t win the first round. Suarez is relentless with the takedowns in R2, and she’s got a full mount with some nasty strikes in the last ten seconds. The winner seems clear.
SUAREZ ADVANCES TO THE HOUSE VIA DECISION.
205 pounds: Phillip Hawes (3-0) vs. Andrew Sanchez (7-2)
Hawes is a training partner for Jon Jones. Sanchez was a four time All-American and apparently can play ukelele judging by the pre-fight clip. Even though the hype was on Hawes, Sanchez was able to outwork him over two rounds.
SANCHEZ ADVANCES TO THE HOUSE VIA DECISION.
115 pounds: Irene Cabello Rivera (6-2) vs. Kate Jackson (7-2-1)
JACKSON ADVANCES TO THE HOUSE VIA TKO.
206 pounds: Cory Hendricks (3-0) vs. Marcel Fortuna (8-1)
Hendricks is a WSOF veteran in the red trunks. Fortuna is the only Brazilian among the men and he’s in the black trunks. Hendricks stuffed almost all of the takedowns in the first round and landed a lot of hard leg kicks. The judges decide Fortuna did enough with takedowns in the second round for there to be a third.
HENDRICKS ADVANCES VIA DECISION – THEY DON’T SAY IF IT WAS SPLIT OR NOT.
115 pounds: Amy Montenegro (7-2) vs. Helen Harper (4-1)
Montenegro is in the red trunks and Harper the black. Harper says she learned martial arts as a survivor of domestic abuse. She goes for Montenegro’s back and trips her to the ground. Montenegro gets back to her feet and delivers a nice elbow to the face, then goes for a single leg of her own. She loses it and Harper gets the back with both hooks in. She goes hard for a sub, Montenegro gets on top and tries to power bomb her way out of it but is ultimately forced to tap.
HARPER ADVANCES TO THE HOUSE VIA SUBMISSION.
205 pounds: Josh Stansbury (7-2) vs. Trever Carlson (10-2)
Stansbury has been here once before but lost a TUF 19 elimination fight when he broke his leg. He’s in the red trunks. Carlson is in the black and works in a gold mine. Stansbury ends up on top pounding the heck out of Carlson 40 seconds into the fight, Carlson tries to roll to save himself as Herb Dean warns him about shots to the back of the head, Stansbury moves to side control and traps the head, but Carlson keesps on surviving. Eventually though he sinks in the americana and Carlson taps.
First fight: Jedrzejczyk picks Rountree vs. Hendricks. Hendricks has a foot injury though and may not be able to compete. Interesting that the two Syndicate MMA guys have to face each other right off the bat next week.
Updated with additional thoughts by Dave Meltzer below
Conor McGregor was removed from UFC 200 earlier this week and “retired” on Twitter, events that have taken the MMA world by storm this week. After hearing from Dana White several times, fans and media have been waiting for a response from the featherweight champion on his future and what is going on.
One finally came on Thursday on Facebook.
McGregor stated his desire to still compete at the year’s biggest event while doing less promotional work as he wants to focus more attention to training for his rematch against Nate Diaz.
He ended his statement emphatically, saying that he is not retired.
Other key quotes:
– “It is time to go back and live the life that got me this life. Sitting in a car on the way to some dump in Conneticut or somewhere, to speak to Tim and Suzie on the nobody gives a f*ck morning show did not get me this life.”
– “I feel the $400 million I have generated for the company in my last three events, all inside 8 months, is enough to get me this slight leeway.”
– “There had been 10 million dollars allocated for the promotion of this event is what they told me. So as a gesture of good will, I went and not only saved that 10 million dollars in promotion money, I then went and tripled it for them. And all with one tweet. Keep that 10 mill to promote the other bums that need it. My shows are good.”
– “For USADA and for the UFC and my contract stipulations – I AM NOT RETIRED.”
The full statement is below:
Additional thoughts from Dave Meltzer
The game continues, and make no mistake about it, that is what this is.
Conor McGregor put up a Facebook post today clearly designed to get him back in the main event at UFC 200 without being the one to back down, particularly when a lot of the court of public opinion wasn’t favorable to him since Dana White had done the media to get his side of the story over. McGregor made it clear he’s not retired and still wants the fight with Nate Diaz on 7/9. What he said was a calculated move to get back into that match without being the one to back down.
He claimed that he was paid to fight and not paid to promote, which explains his rationale and what the fight about getting him to come to the U.S. this week was.
His argument is that with the simple use of social media, he was able to garner tons of publicity without coming in to do press conferences and commercials this week, and what appears to be his concession is that he will do the New York press conference. But the key is the television commercial which UFC is spending $1 million on producing for the show, not the New York press conference.
Part of the real story here goes back to last year when McGregor had great resentment that he was promoting both Jose Aldo fights so much harder than Aldo was. The rationale from the UFC side was that McGregor was far more effective than Aldo at promoting, but McGregor felt Aldo not having to do as much tiring promotional work that would keep him from gym time was an advantage. While McGregor won the fight, it was not a secret he wasn’t happy with Aldo not having anywhere near the media obligations he had, and that Aldo was benefitting by not wanting to promote.
Then, there was a big UFC press conference with all the fighters, where McGregor stole the show, but midway through, Aldo left to fly back to Brazil to attend a wedding. McGregor had made it clear he’d missed many social occasions to help promote his fights and this was the big press conference event of the year and Aldo, for his biggest fight, was given permission to leave early.
McGregor made it clear he wasn’t retiring, just two days after he said he was and after his coach said he was, and after having photos taken by friends clearly pointing him out as a retired fighter. By making it clear he’s not retiring, it means he won’t be stripped of his featherweight title, which UFC threatened when he claimed to be retired.
From both sides, they are playing a game to the public but the end result is that it is of great financial benefit to both sides for the Nate Diaz fight to take place as scheduled on 7/9. Both obviously had a dispute, both dug in their heels, McGregor said he wasn’t coming to the U.S. this week and issued a retirement Tweet as his strategy. UFC and Dana White called his bluff by going everywhere and saying he was pulled from the show as their strategy.
This Facebook post was a way to get the public to believe he’s ready to fight and make UFC the bad guys for not giving the fans a fight they want to see. And in offering to go to New York, he’s offering a compromise, but clearly by not coming to Las Vegas for the commercial, it’s a small concession.
The issue is within UFC there is a mentality that they’ve given in to McGregor over and over, and at some point, you have to say no.
But from a business standpoint, when it comes to the show and the short-term (and almost all promoters think short-term), the best thing is to give the public the fight that will make the most money.
But UFC is in the game long-term, and they are well aware of it. Essentially the ball is back in their court, and the fight is getting a ton of mainstream publicity that it wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.
Good show overall. Nothing groundbreaking, but solid wrestling from start to finish. Quiet enough crowd, but it always is. Lots of young kids in the crowd.
Cesaro vs Stardust- good match. Cesaro won after a swing and made him submit to the Sharpshooter.
Ryder and Young vs Social Outcasts (Slater and Bo) Outcasts cut a promo calling the town garbage, the usual. Crowd was very into Ryder, who pinned Slater with the Rough Ryder.
Rusev vs Swagger. Okay, quite long. Rusev made Swagger tap to the Accolade.
New Day vs Dudleys vs Usos. Crowd was super into the Usos. No Kofi, heard Xavier say he had to go home. Very good match, Xavier pinned Bubba after blind tagging an Uso who had hit him with the Superfly splash.
Sin Cara vs Tyler Breeze. My second favourite match on the card. The Lucha chant was over, and the crowd got into the match, which i enjoyed. Sin Cara won with the Senton.
Charlotte vs Becky vs Sasha. This was match of the night. Crowd loved Sasha and Becky. Ric was over and Charlotte was over as a heel, even though they woo’ed when she woo’ed. Woo will never be a heel thing to do. Anyway, Ric with shenanigans, pulled Sasha out of the ring while she was in the Disarm-her, Charlotte rolled up Becky with feet on the ropes.
Reigns vs Sheamus. Sheamus talked about Northern Ireland and Ireland being different countries and insulted us for being British. Reaction to Roman wasn’t as bad as i thought it’d be, but there were a lot of kids there. Back and forth match, decent action. Crowd popped huge when Roman won.
Joanie “Chyna” Laurer, a major part of the WWF/E in the late 90, was found dead in her home today at the age of 45. At this time, no further details are available as to the cause.
Laurer was a bodybuilder/fitness competitor who trained under Killer Kowalski, using the name Joanie Lee when she was introduced as HHH’s bodyguard after WCW had expressed interest in her but Kowalski pushed her to WWF/E.
She was instrumental in helping HHH, who had struggled getting over despite a major push, become a major star. The two became a couple which was both a blessing to her career and, eventually, a curse.
When HHH garnered power, Laurer was heavily protected and booked to go evenly with guys. There were very differing opinions on that as many of the male wrestlers didn’t like selling for her or that she was being pushed heavily. A day before she was to face Jeff Jarrett for the Intercontinental title at 1999’s No Mercy, Jarrett’s contract expired which enabled him to use leverage and hold WWF up for a significant amount of money (believed to be in the $200,000 range) to get him to do the job. He did and Chyna won the belt.
She was a popular star of the era at a time when the mainstream popularity of pro wrestling was at its high point, even posing in a best selling issue of Playboy.
After HHH and Chyna broke up, her political protection was gone which led to issues. She wanted to continue wrestling men, but those in power in WWF made the decision that they had made a mistake in allowing it in the first place and would only allow her to wrestle women.
In 2001, when her contract expired, she was let go. Those in WWE at the time claimed she was asking for money at the level of Steve Austin and Dwayne Johnson, and that she also wanted a lighter schedule to pursue acting. But it was probably a combination of being uncomfortable with her around. She claimed she met with Vince McMahon about Stephanie dating HHH, and from that point on, WWE stopped using her. There was a directive from the top not to sign her when the contract expired.
From there, her life and career largely went downhill. She had problems with drug addiction, which she vehemently denied. Her credibility in interviews was bad, even by wrestling standpoints, making claims that everyone in pro wrestling but herself was doing steroids, and made claims against former boyfriend Sean “X-Pac” Waltman which led to him to threaten legal action.
New Japan brought her in to do the role of beating men. Antonio Inoki pushed her hard as an attraction, and she even was given a win over a young Hiroshi Tanahashi, but she didn’t get over and the run ended.
She popped in and out of wrestling over the years, but never returned to WWE. She did a sex tape with Waltman and then started appearing in a number of porn films. She want to Japan for several years and taught English, and claimed that a multitude of people had asked to marry her. She returned to the U.S. and seemed to want to get back with WWE in some capacity, but the company steered clear of her.
We get a recap of the Trios tournament so far along with a recap of Matanza’s reign of terror. Short, sweet, and effective. In his office, Dario tells Fenix he’s lucky he survived his encounter with Matanza. Fenix is the man of endless lives, and Dario is the man of endless opportunities – and he wants to make Aerostar, Drago, and Fenix a team in this year’s Trios tournament as well. But they lost last year, so instead, he will team with PJ Black and Jack Evans. Drago and Aerostar will instead fight over a Gift of the Gods medallion in our opener. Striker and Vamp welcome us to the show, with Vamp in a vintage-style LU shirt and run down the card.
Aerostar vs. Drago
The match begins with a dueling chant, while Drago starts with a half crab and it gets turned into a wacky lucha submission by Aerostar. Quick cradle gets 2 for Aerostar, who goes for a handspring something or other, but eats a flying kick. Aerostar gets tossed into the buckle and hits a corkscrew dive. Drago misses a shoulder charge, while Aerostar missed a dive and smacks the steps. Drago tosses him into the ringside gate, while Vamp says that as a luchador, you need to accept that you could die.
Aerostar hits a flip dive, and Drago responds with a corkscrew dive to the floor. Aero sends Drago back a moment, but misses a springboard dive in the ring. Drago lifts him for a draping DDT and gets 2. Aerostar drops him in the corner and runs around and hops before hitting a corner dropkick. Aerostar goes for his corner-to-corner ropewalk rana, but gets tossed off the top and lands on his feet – only to eat a missile dropkick. A basement dropkick and senton attempt are missed, so they fight on their knees with forearm strikes. Aerostar hits a springboard codebreaker and a springboard saluting splash for the win. This was a blast!
Johnny and Taya are in their room, while Johnny works out and Taya asks if he looks better than he did yesterday. She says she has news from Dario – Mundo wants a medallion, but Dario just won’t give him one. Next week, he’ll have to work for a medallion in a match with Cage. No word on whether or not Cage is a machine, but it’s probably a safe bet. Mundo gets scared when he is told that it will be a cage match – Cage in a Cage. This was amusing. Striker says it’s 4/20 – so see how high we can get in this match.
Jack Evans, PJ Black, and Fenix vs. The Disciples of Death
PJ starts off with the silver-clad Trece. PJ cartwheels into an armdrag and goes for a tag to Jack – but Jack says no, you’re doing too well, keep going. PJ lands a superkick for 2. Fenix hits a rana to send another Disciple out of the ring. Fenix goes for a corkscrew dive off the second rope, and catches his leg in a scary moment – luckily, he was almost able to finish the move without falling too short. PJ has Trese in an abdominal stretch while Jack talks smack, and gets crotched by Sinestro.
The purple-clad Sinestro tags in and attacks in the corner. The gold-clad Barrio Negro tags in for a chop, and then tags Trece back in. PJ tags Fenix in and he lands some kicks and a standing moonsault to the back. C4 armdrag hits for 2. Sinestro charges in and eats a thrust kick before nailing a basement dropkick. Sinestro lands a spike DDT for 2. Jack tags in and avoids things with flips before busting out some kung fu fighting. Vamp says that he wants some of whatever Jack smokes. Fenix comes in and lands a pop-up double dropkick. Barrio Negro eats a rana for 2. Fenix hits a big pop-up rana before PJ’s springboard 450 gets 2. They toss one disciple onto the other on the floor while arguing and PJ hits a flip dive while Fenix tags himself in. Jack jumps in in and then hits a variety of flip dives, but Fenix wins with a dive off his own. Striker hypes up the win and says that Mil Muertes vs. Matanza is next.
Dario talks to Havoc, Ivelisse, and Angelico about how much they’ve grown in a year. Dario tells them that this tournament isn’t for a title shot – it’s for their titles. As champions, they have a bye to the finals and will have a match against three teams next week. They run through team names before Dario tells them to leave. In the locker room, the Disciples of Death materialize out of lightning and Catrina tells them they failed. Moreover, Fenix got the win and she is even more pissed at that. She wants a reason to not destroy them – so Sinestro pulls out the beating hearts of his partners as lightning went off around them. So yeah, Sinestro just ripped out the electrified hearts of his former partners. This was awesome!
Lucha Underground Champion Mil Muertes vs. Matanza Cueto
Vamp hypes this up as a monster vs. monster match and asks about the significance of the key. Dario yells words of encouragement to Matanza and Vamp translates them to mean that if he doesn’t win tonight, it’s over for them. Mil starts off strong by whooping him and beating him to his belly. Mil goes to toss him out, but it’s reversed and he is tossed into the ropes and eats a Clothesline from Hell. Mil hits a snap powerslam and lands some mounted punches.
Matanza grabs him in a double-arm choke and does some corner shoulder charges, but Mil lands a kick and some punches. Mil Biels him into the buckle and lands 10 straight lariats! Mil runs into the boot a few times – stop doing that, you moron. Wrath of the Gods gutwrenches land, but Mil avoids a rope lariat and sends Matanza over the top with a sick hiptoss. A suicide dive gives Mil a huge edge as he throttles Dario. Matanza saves his brother, who takes a big bump on the floor.
They fight on the announce table, and Catrina hits Matanza with the stone. Matanza throttles her, but Mil chairshots him on the back. They fight over a post shot, and Matanza wins that war. Steel can to the head and back of Matanza. Matanza grabs it and beats him with it. They fight to the office ceiling and Mil tries to toss him off. Dario looks like he’s in absolute shock, as do the fans. FLATLINER THROUGH THE OFFICE CEILING gets a holy shit chant. Dario needs to hire contractors that don’t cut perfectly-shaped holes into his ceiling.
Sleazy ’70s porno music plays and takes us to the precinct, where we don’t see Officer Meehan – but do see a deceased poster for Bael and a new character is introduced. A councilman comes in and tells Marie it’s a good idea to drop the case against Dario so they can focus on someone more powerful. It’s just friendly advice though, and not a threat in any way. This was a good start to a new chapter in the “cops are after Dario” story, so presumably, he has friends in high places, and unlike Dixie Carter’s character, probably won’t lose a case with a judge in his back pocket. Very fun episode of the show, and I’m looking forward to seeing where all this cop stuff goes.
To see every screenshot for the show, just click here.
– Air Date: April 21, 2016 (Apr 20 in Canada) – Location: The O2 Arena in London, England
– The Big News:
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson will face The Usos on Monday Night Raw.
– Show Recap:
They aired a Raw video package recapping the angle between Roman Reigns, AJ Styles and his two friends. They made sure to squeeze in Reigns’ catchphrase again.
Maryse and The Miz were in the ring for MizTV. Maryse introduced Miz as the biggest American movie star in the world. Miz wanted answers and introduced AJ Styles. Miz talked about Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson running roughshod in Japan in 2014.
Styles said yeah, they had five titles between the three of them. Styles also reminded Miz he knocked his teeth out the last time they were in the ring together. Miz flatout asked if he had Gallows and Anderson do his dirty work, but Styles reiterated that he had nothing to do with it.
Miz said Styles never *not* told them to attack Reigns, and his inaction spoke louder than words. Styles said he’s not in charge of them. He wished they hadn’t done it and doesn’t need anyone’s help to beat Reigns.
Miz said Styles can claim to be the better “‘rassler,” but Reigns was bigger and stronger. Miz called Reigns “the guy” (crowd booed) and Styles would need the help. Styles stood up but Miz kept talking and started doing movie lines again, this time Will Smith from Concussion saying “Tell the truth! Tell the truth!”
Maryse was turned on and they made out. Miz was about to start talking again but Styles attacked him and left him laying. After a break, they announced Miz vs. Styles. This wasn’t great, but it did set up what was to come later. Miz is pretty good in this role, but he was overwhelming Styles.
Non-title: Ryback beat US Champion Kalisto via pinfall
Ryback missed his cue during his entrance where he always says “more” in “feed me more” on the stage. The announcers explained that Ryback wanted a WrestleMania rematch to prove Kalisto’s win was a fluke. They also made sure to never mention whether or not this was a title match.
Ryback dominated from the beginning and they went to commercial less than 2 minutes into the match even though nothing else had happened since the last break. After the break, Ryback did a nice delayed vertical suplex off the middle rope. Kalisto came back with a leg drop, front dropkick and corkscrew elbow. He did the spike-rana, but it looked terrible and they didn’t bother editing it.
Ryback followed with a meat-hook clothesline, but Kalisto countered a Shellshock into a DDT for a near fall. Ryback then countered a Salida Del Sol into a Shellshock for the win. Ryback posed with the US Title afterwards. Basic match that went about 9 minutes. The finishing sequence was good.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin
The match never happened. As Ziggler made his entrance, Corbin attacked him from behind and tossed him around ringside. Somebody yelled “You suck!” at him, but it was just a kid so Corbin did not yell back like he did on Raw. Corbin finished off Ziggler with End of Days. Rich Brennan appeared on the stage to ask Corbin why he did that and he responded, “Because I can.”
Non-title: AJ Styles beat IC Champion The Miz via pinfall
As Styles appeared to be gaining control, Miz ran away and used Maryse as a shield. Styles tried to go around but Miz punched him and launched him a couple of times into the barricade.
Miz had the heat for a while until Styles came back with a fireman’s carry neckbreaker. Miz caught Styles with an atomic drop and applied the Figure Four. Styles turned it over to escape and followed by applying the Calf Crusher, but Miz got to the rope.
Styles hit the Pele kick and got ready for the springboard forearm, but Miz left the ring. As Miz went up the aisle to escape, he stopped upon seeing Gallows and Anderson making their way down. Miz turned back toward the ring and Styles nailed him with a springboard flying forearm. He followed that immediately with the Phenomenal Forearm in the ring for the win.
Gallows and Anderson remained outside the ring as Styles looked on. Good match that went about 17 minutes. The finish fit perfectly with the story.
Rich Brennan interviewed Dean Ambrose and Sami Zayn backstage about their upcoming tag match against Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens. Ambrose said they would leave their opponents looking like “leftover spotted dick” and Zayn said it was time to put an end to this.
Zayn wanted a cool tag team name but Ambrose wouldn’t listen to him. Zayn suggested “Sambrose,” among others. They also mentioned “Beefeaters” but Zayn doesn’t like gin. Ambrose wanted “Roughriders” but Zayn thought that was too sexual and suggestive. After comedy time expired, Ambrose told Zayn to take off his hat so they could go beat up Jericho and Owens.
Later, Rich Brennan caught up to Gallows and Anderson. Gallows said Styles doesn’t need their help, they were just looking to make an impact. Anderson announced they would make an impact on Raw when they make their in-ring debut against the Usos. Gallows concluded, “We have arrived.”
Natalya & Paige beat Naomi & Tamina via submission
Unlike on Raw, Paige got to come out last here in England, and they didn’t play an ad through her entrance. Mauro Ranallo talked about Bret Hart and British Bulldog at SummerSlam 1992. Jerry Lawler said he knows from experience that Bret Hart is a cheater, that he cheated to become WWE Champion and, “he even cheated when Bret screwed Bret.”
Paige made the hot tag and hit Ram-Paige on Naomi (and her Harley Quinn hair), but Tamina broke up the cover. Natalya put Tamina in the sharpshooter and Paige put Naomi in the PTO and they both tapped. One women’s match on a split-crew show and they got 5 minutes.
R-Truth beat Fandango via pinfall (special referee: Goldust)
Fandango didn’t get an entrance in the only place in the world that cares about his entrance. I don’t blame them. Goldust wore his full gear along with a gold and black referee shirt. This was all “comedy.” As Fandango and Truth were having a dance-off or whatever, Truth caught him with a flatliner for the win. Goldust and Truth danced briefly afterwards even though Goldust is always a dick to Truth.
Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady came out to a huge reaction from an otherwise dead crowd. In fact, this might’ve been the biggest reaction on the show. Enzo did his usual promo, but they were interrupted by the Vaudevillains.
Aiden English said everyone was tired of Enzo and Cass, and said Enzo looks like a rodent with mange. Enzo didn’t know what he meant but said the Vaudevillains can keep reading books while he and Cass will be writing them, and the Vaudevillains couldn’t hit him if they were standing in the phone booth.
Simon Gotch said they were going to learn a harsh lesson. English called this a man’s world and they were real men. Gotch said when they win at Payback they’ll be the ones to ask, politely, “How are you doing?” Cass said they’d win at Payback and called the Vaudevillains soft. They really need to give Cass better material. Also, are the Vaudevillains time travellers?
As they were about to cut to commercial, Jericho and Owens walked backstage toward Gorilla. There were two random guys holding cups with popcorn. Jericho knocked the cup out of one guy’s hands. Owens grabbed the other guy’s cup and started eating. He offered some to Jericho, who declined.
Promo for Primo and Epico. They also plugged Raw in Hartford. Byron Saxton wondered aloud if Shane McMahon would be in charge again.
Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens beat Sami Zayn & Dean Ambrose via pinfall
Owens and Zayn were in the ring to start, but Owens immediately tagged out. The crowd chanted “Ole” and Jericho told them to shut up. They went to commercial two minutes into the match. Ranallo referred to Owens as “truculent” and Lawler didn’t know what that meant.
As Zayn made a comeback on Jericho, Owens made a blind tag, pulled Zayn out of the ring, and tossed him into the barricade to regain control. Jericho slapped Zayn a couple times, so Zayn responded with a blue thunder bomb. Ambrose made the hot tag and ran wild on Owens, nailing a suicide dive.
Ambrose also clotheslined Jericho, but caught a superkick from Owens in the ring. Ambrose got Owens with Dirty Deeds but Jericho broke up the cover. Zayn booted Jericho out of the ring, but as Ambrose went to the top rope, Jericho crotched him and Owens covered him for a three count.
Terribly weak finish. Zayn had just kicked Jericho out of the ring, but then disappeared when Jericho quickly covered to interfere. The finish made Ambrose look like a complete loser, and it negated his win over Owens on Raw. I’m really not sure what the point of this was.
After the match, Owens jumped on Jericho for a hug (which somehow didn’t kill Jericho). Owens yelled toward the ring, “I beat you! Chris helped, but I beat you!” Jericho assured Owens that he did it on his own, so Owens bragged some more. These two belong together.
– Final Thoughts:
This wasn’t a terrible show, but it was the least noteworthy Smackdown show in a long while. They often do a good job of masking the fact that it’s a split-crew, but that wasn’t the case tonight. You can safely skip this show if you have literally anything else you’d rather be doing.
Match 1- Ziggler vs Miz ( with Maryse) for the IC Title.
Both were over huge, with Ziggler getting a lot of chants. Miz is so good at heeling it up in front of a crowd and Maryse only help that fact. Miz won in 10 minutes after Maryse got involved, but Ziggler hit a ZigZag after to get his own back.
Match 2- Del Rio vs Sandow
A squash with Del Rio winning in 3 minutes with a Armbreaker. Poor Sandow
Afterwards, Del Rio got on the mic and said that ge hated Newcastle and challeneged anyone in the back to a match.
Match 3- Del Rio vs Fandango
A strange match. I don’t think anyone thought Fandango would come out to accept. Del Rio taunted the fans for liking Fandango. Fandango ending up winning with a roll up in about 1 minute.
Match 4- Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens Wwe Newcastle- Robert Coll
A great match with Sami getting alot of ” OLE” chants and Owens getting on the mic to say he is going to leave if they continue. A lot of great heel work from Owens, attacking Zayn before the bell and trying to walkout for the count out. Zayn won with the Helluva kick in about 10 min. A good match as expected
Match 5- Divas 8 man tag.
Me and my brother went to get a beer at this point but we came back to see Paige pin Tamina with a rampaige in about 12 minutes. Paige got a great reaction when she came out and i will say that Eva Marie is stunning in person. I can see why Vince may want to push her as the face of the divison, despite her flaws.
Match 6- Jericho vs Styles
Jericho came out to a good pop, before getting boos for slagging of the city and the Aj Styles chants. Aj came out to the biggest reaction of the evening untill the main event. I was surprised bby how many kids loved him. They kept doing his poses so he is over as babyface for sure.
Great match, Styles is smooth in his wrestling and Jericho is so good at the little things. Styles won with a Styles clash in 15 minutes.
Intermission
Match 7- Axel vs Goldust
We came back to see Axel and Viktor cutting a promo, with Axel saying that Viktor is now a member of the Social Outcast
A basic match with Goldust winning in 5 minutes. The outcasts attacked after, before R-Truth ran out for the save and a dance.
Match 8- Kalisto vs Ryback for the Us Title.
The Lucha chants were very over, and i saw a lot of kids with Kalisto mask so it seems Kalisto has some upper traction.
A basic match, not to different form their Mania match ( Although this properly has a bigger crowd) With Kalisto winning in 8 minutes.
Match 9- Big Show and Kane vs The Wyatts
This.was.boring. I was happy to see Kane and Big show live as they were two of my favourite from when i was a kid, but this match was so slow. The crowd kept themselves entertained with Enzo and New Day chants and i can’t blame them .It went 15 minutes which was too long. Big Show and Kane won with a double chokeslam on Rowan in 15 minutes.
Match 10- Triple H vs Dean Ambrose
Triple H came out to a great reaction but Ambrose was pop of the night. The kids near me were going crazy when he came out. A basic, safe match but good none the less. The best spot was Ambrose doing his dive on to Triple H and ending up going into the crowd, which didn’t look planned. Ambrose won in 15 minutes after hitting a low blow and dirty deeds.
