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Category: News

  • WWE NXT results: Samoa Joe vs Apollo Crews; American Alpha: No Way Jose

    The Big News: I paid my F4WOnline bills, so this NXT report is not 51% owned by Ron & Don Harris.

    The Medium News: Samoa Joe sent Apollo Crews packing to Raw with a submission loss

    The Little Beaver Sized News: No Way Jose debuted!

    ****************

    It is our second week at WrestleMania Axxess. I do think it’s funny that they acknowledge that they are at Axxess, but do commentary like it’s live.

    ****************

    NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha defeated Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady

    We kick things off with the new NXT Tag Team Champions going 2 on 2 with the men who may be the next #1 Contender’s to the WWE Tag Team Championship. This match was set up last week when both teams noted they never faced off and this was their only chance to sports entertain with Enzo and Cass on Raw.

    The fans were more excited for this than almost anything last week, chanting “This is awesome” before the bell even sounded. The champs schooled Enzo and had no problem tossing the little guy around, however they had a harder time when it came to Big Cass.

    They didn’t show Colin in the ring at first. He tagged in, they went to commercial and then Enzo tagged back in within 5 seconds of coming back. Not sure if something got messed up or if it’s just one of those things. Enzo and Colin were the heels of the match, getting the heat on Gable. Gable, in case I haven’t said it in the last 3 weeks, is an excellent baby face in peril and Jordan makes a terrific comeback, which makes this team as great as they are.

    Jordan got the hot tag and man oh man, Matty, can Jason Jordan throw Enzo Amore around. If you told me Enzo didn’t have to help out much, I would believe you. Anyhoo the champs won with Grand Amplitude.

    ****************

    Apollo Crews doesn’t like bullies and will beat up Samoa Joe tonight.

    ****************

    No Way Jose pinned Alexander Wolfe

    This is the NXT tv debut of both No Way Jose and Alexander Wolfe. Wolfe was one of the people in the Dusty Rhodes Classic whose match never aired on tv. No Way Jose is already popular with the people, even if he has a really weird name.

    This match was fun to watch. Jose used an Airplane Spin that just went on and on and on. The fans, despite not knowing the man, sang the Ole song, but sang Jose instead of Ole. Jose won with a punch to the face that he wound up like he was a pitcher throwing a fastball.

    ****************

    Austin Aries said he doesn’t believe in luck, but Baron Corbin is entitled to his opinion about why he lost. Aries doesn’t need luck, he has skill. Aries challenged him and everyone in the NXT locker room.

    ****************

    Elias Sampson was tuning his guitar when William Regal walked up and said he’s here to offer Elias an opportunity. Next week he’ll go one on one with Shinsuke Nakamura. He didn’t seem pleased.

    ****************

    Nia Jax squashed Deonna Purrazzo

    Please change Deonna Purrazzo’s name. It helps that seemingly every time she wrestles she gets killed, so I don’t have to spend too much time writing her name.

    This was all Nia and she won very quickly with a leg drop. Seriously Deonna’s only attempted offense saw her be swatted away like a fly.

    ****************

    Bayley was asked about the Eva Marie-Asuka match next week. I am shocked Eva was able to survive and make it to WrestleMania. Anyway she did analysis previewing the match and said she will be watching since she wants her belt back.

    ****************

    Samoa Joe submitted Apollo Crews

    Main event time! They keep mentioning Joe and Finn Balor, so I guess that feud is still going on. Finn is now the longest reigning NXT Champion of all time, surpassing Adrian Neville. Not putting anything past Apollo Crews, but it’s weird that he’s the one on the main roster and Samoa Joe is still in developmental.

    This was a good match, nothing great, but good. Honestly this is a match you’d expect the two of them to have at a house show, which, by the way, is still better than a lot of people. Joe kicked out of the Standing Moonsault and Crews kicked out of a power slam. Honestly the only time I ever remember Joe winning with the power slam is Slammiversary 2006 against Scott Steiner.

    Joe blocked the spinning power bomb and dropped Crews with the corner uranage before choking Crews out with the Coquina Clutch.

    So it’s a quick show this week, ending at 8:49 (as opposed to 8:55), but what is next for the NXT superstars? Only one way to find out, until next week make sure to say your vitamins and take your prayers!

  • Adam Rose responds to drug suspension from WWE

    Ray Leppan, better known as WWE’s Adam Rose, released the first of what he said is a two part response to his 60 drug suspension announced by WWE this past week.

    Leppan’s statement is that he believes his response is tantamount to career suicide, but made it anyway. He claimed he didn’t do anything knowingly wrong, and the substance he was using was prescribed medication. The statement below is word-for-word with no changes:

    “I was not going to respond to my suspension but I feel I have to. I have two sons that will one day read that news about there daddy and a sister that died from complications related to a life long battle with heroin.

    So I feel the absolute need and right to respond and let the truth be known.

    I am pretty sure this response will meet nowhere near the publicity that my suspension did and that this response is tantamount to career suicide.

    But I feel for my sons my sister and rest of my family… you the Wwe universe have the right to the know the truth over my suspension and what it was for.

    I will also quote my Dr in my response as he was as shocked and appalled by this suspension.

    I can say right now I did not do anything knowingly wrong and was taking prescribed medication that my Dr and I followed all the correct protocol on.

    My actual response and Doctors response will be coming soon. So before you judge, know the facts.

    My family and I are still collecting ourselves from this blow. I have zero anger or animosity against the WWE. But feel the administrators over the WWE Welnness policy were just simply not right in taking this action.

    But I feel facts are the facts and my family and I will will be the ones putting our lives back together after this mess.

    My response will be up soon along with my Doctors.”

  • Daily pro wrestling history (04/20): AWA Wrestlerock; Hollywood Hogan wins WCW World Title

    1895

    Chicago, Illinois:
    – Martin “Farmer” Burns defeated Evan “Strangler” Lewis for the American Heavyweight Title 

    1960 

    Mobile, Alabama:
    – The Great Bolo and Joe McCarthy defeated Bobby and Don Fields for both the Gulf Coast and Mid-America NWA Southern Tag Team Titles

    1968

    Nagoya, Japan:
    – Rusher Kimura and Thunder Sugiyama defeated Tank Morgan and Stan Stasiak to win the TWWA World Tag Team Titles

    1970

    Orlando, Florida:
    – Argentina Apollo and José Lothario defeated Dale Lewis and The Missouri Mauler for the NWA Florida Tag Team Titles

    St. Joseph, Missouri:
    – K.O. Kox and Killer defeated Bob Geigel and The Stomper to win the Central States NWA North American Tag Team Titles

    1971

    Tampa, Florida:
    – Jack Brisco defeated Terry Funk to win the NWA Florida Television Title  

    1972

    Kansas City, Kansas:
    – The Stomper defeated Bob Orton
    – Rufus R. Jones defeated Blackjack Black
    – Danny Little Bear defeated Benny Ramirez
    – Terry Martin fought Billy Howard to a draw
    – Omar Atlas defeated Frank Diamond
    – Elimination Match: The Stomper & Danny Little Bear & Rufus R. Jones & Omar Atlas defeated Blackjack Black & Bob Orton & Benny Ramirez & Frank Diamond
    – North American Tag Team Champions Chati Yokouchi & Yasu Fuji defeated Harley Race & Black Angus (w/ Percival A. Friend) via DQ in three falls (referee: The Viking)

    1980

    Dallas, Texas:
    – Toru Tanaka defeated Kevin Von Erich for the NWA American Heavyweight Title 

    1985

    Cleveland, Ohio:
    – AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Brett Sawyer & Buzz Sawyer
    – Loser Leaves town: Pez Whatley beat Rip Rogers
    – Ronnie Garvin beat Bob Roop
    – Lumberjack match: Thunderbolt Patterson beat Kareem Muhammad
    – Italian Stallion beat Ron Starr
    – Joel Deaton beat Paul Diamond
    – Bill Irwin beat Ben Alexander

    1986 

    AWA WrestleRock: Minneapolis, Minnesota:
    – Cage Match: Road Warriors beat Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin
    – Cage Match: Verne Gagne beat Sheik Adnan
    – Greg Gagne & Jimmy Snuka beat King Kong Brody & Nord the Barbarian
    – Nick Bockwinkel beat AWA Champion Stan Hansen dq
    – Scott LeDeoux beat Larry Zbyszko dq
    – AWA Tag Team Champions Curt Hennig & Scott Hall beat Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin
    – Sherri Martel won a 10 woman Battle Royal
    – Rick Martel no contest Harley Race
    – Shohei Baba beat Bulldog Bob Brown
    – Barry Windham & Mike Rotundo beat Fabulous Ones
    – Tiger Mask (Misawa) beat Buck Zumhofe
    – Buddy Rose & Doug Somers beat Midnight Rockers
    – Colonel DeBeers beat Wahoo McDaniel dq
    – Brad Rheingans beat Boris Zhukov

    1987

    Memphis, Tennessee:
    – Chick Donovan defeated Soul Train Jones (Virgil/Vincent) for the CWA International Heavyweight Title
    – Jerry Lawler defeated Austin Idol in a chain match to win the AWA Southern Heavyweight Title
    – The Mercenaries were also awarded the CWA International Tag Team Title vacated by Jimmy Snuka and J.T. Southern

    1988

    Jacksonville, Florida: 
    – Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard defeated Lex Luger and Barry Windham for the NWA World Tag Team Titles

    1989

    Osaka, Japan:
    – Mitsuo Momota defeated Shinichi Nakano to win the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Title 

    1991

    Bayamón, Puerto Rico:
    – King Kong defeated TNT (Savio Vega) for the WWC Television Championship 
    – Super Medic III won the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Title from Scott Hall 
    – Ricky Santana won the WWC World Junior Heavyweight Title by defeating Mr. Pogo 

    1996 

    Tokyo, Japan:
    – Akira Taue defeated Steve Williams to win the annual AJPW Champion’s Carnival tournament

    Memphis, Tennessee:
    – Jeff Jarrett defeated Jerry Lawler to win the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Title 

    Caguas, Puerto Rico:
    – Jim Steele defeated Ricky Santana for the WWC Television Title 
    – Carlos Colón won the WWC Universal Heavyweight Title from El Bronco

    ECW Hostile City Showdown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
    – The Dudley Boyz (Buh-Buh Ray and D-Von (with Big Dick and Sign Guy Dudley)) fought The Pitbulls (#1 and #2 (with Francine)) to a no-contest 
    – Taz (with Bill Alfonso) defeated Devon Storm by countout 
    – Axl Rotten pinned Little Guido (with J.T. Smith) 
    – The Sandman (with Missy Hyatt) and ECW World Television Champion 2 Cold Scorpio defeated The Bruise Brothers (Ron and Don)
    – Brian Lee pinned Tommy Dreamer 
    – Sabu pinned Rob Van Dam 
    – ECW World Heavyweight Champion Raven (with The Blue Meanie and Stevie Richards) pinned Shane Douglas (with Kimona Wanalaya) to retain the title

    1997

    WWF Revenge of the Taker: Rochester, New York:
    – The Legion of Doom (Animal and Hawk) defeated WWF Tag Team Champions The British Bulldog and Owen Hart by disqualification 
    – Savio Vega (with Crush) defeated WWF Intercontinental Champion Rocky Maivia by countout 
    – “Double J” Jesse James pinned Rockabilly (with The Honky Tonk Man) 
    – WWF Champion The Undertaker pinned Mankind (with Paul Bearer) to retain the title
    – Steve Austin defeated Bret Hart by disqualification 
    – Doug Furnas and Philip LaFon defeated The Godwinns (Henry and Phineas)
    – Hunter Hearst Helmsley pinned Goldust

    1998

    WCW Monday Nitro: Colorado Springs, Colorado:
    – Konnan (with Vincent) defeated Chris Adams
    – The Barbarian (with Jimmy Hart) defeated Wayne Bloom
    – WCW Cruiserweight Champion Chris Jericho defeated Juventud Guerrera to retain the title
    – Goldberg defeated WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Raven to win the title
    – La Parka defeated Ultimo Dragon
    – Chris Benoit defeated Curt Hennig (with Rick Rude) by disqualification
    – Hammer and Saturn fought to a double-countout
    – Buff Bagwell and Scott Steiner defeated Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock)
    – WCW World Television Champion Booker T defeated Psychosis to retain the title
    – Lex Luger defeated Brian Adams (with Vincent)
    – Hollywood Hulk Hogan defeated WCW World Heavyweight Champion Randy Savage to win the title

    2003 

    Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico:
    – Shane the Glamour Boy won the IWA World Hardcore Title from Ricky Banderas 
    – Banderas won the title back later from Shane
    – Anarchy defeats Super Crazy for the IWA Intercontinental Heavyweight Title

    2004 

    Tokyo, Japan:
    – Keiji Muto defeated Kensuke Sasaki to win the annual AJPW Champion’s Carnival tournament

    British Columbia, Canada:
    – Charlie Haas and Rico defeated WWE Tag Team Champions Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty to win the titles

  • White on McGregor: “It’s not a money issue.  That’s false.”

    Dana White denied today that money had anything to do with the situation with Conor McGregor and UFC 200, but also admitted that the McGregor vs. Nate Diaz fight could still be saved and said he believed McGregor would fight for the UFC again within the next year.

    White appeared this afternoon on the Colin Cowherd show on FS 1 and said, “It’s not a money issue.  That’s false.  That’s the problem with the Internet.  Never ever was this about money.  Conor makes a lot of money and he’s very happy with the money he makes.”

    He said McGregor has never come back after agreeing to a deal and looked for more money.

    White claimed the entire issue is that McGregor refused to come to Las Vegas this weekend for promotional purposes.  White said they were going to shoot the television commercial and have press conferences in three cities, starting in Las Vegas, and then he’d be able to return to Iceland and train for the fight, noting it’s not like they were asking him three weeks before the fight to break camp.

    White claimed that in a conversation with McGregor’s manager, he was asked to move this to May and White said that they were spending $10 million promoting the show and the money is in motion.

    “It never got combative,” said White.  “I was talking to his manager. They were asking, `Let’s move all this to May.’  You can’t move it.  This stuff is in motion.”

    “I’m not mad, even a little bit,” said White to Cowherd, who said that White didn’t appear to be mad yesterday when they were together.  “You were with me yesterday, did I seem mad?  It’s UFC 200.  It’s a massive fight.  Believe me, when Conor went out, ten other people called asking to come in.”

    “Obviously Conor made a decision and made a choice to not want to fight on this card. And that’s how he gets paid.  That’s on him.  The show will go on.”

    White said that McGregor does have to clear up the retirement talk, noting that if McGregor says he’s retired, then the UFC 200 fight with Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar would be for the featherweight title and not, as it stands right now, the interim title.

  • Total Divastation: recapping the WWE Total Divas season 5 finale

    Submitted by Kevin LaRose

    The Season Finale

    Paris, France – a small country located in, what is commonly and locally known as the European Union, or more simply, the EU. A black van pulls up to the curb, and out walks four women in black dresses. The Bellas, Eva Marie, and Natalya are finally at the restaurant from Something’s Gotta Give. The girls propose a toast, to the four originals. A beautiful French man hits on them and quickly walks away. And just as fast as they entered the restaurant, they are out of the restaurant. I have to admit I am pretty bummed that we didn’t even get to finish watching them drink at least one glass of that French wine. 

    The girls walk over to the Eiffel Tower. They seem to be under the spell of some sort of pagan superstition and believe that if one makes a wish upon the Eiffel Tower at night then the wish will come true. The girls are amazed at the site of the Eiffel Tower again, and Nikki makes her wish. “I wish John Cena will marry me.” The American dream. 

    Nattie then makes her wish. She wishes TJ to be there with her. Eva Marie wishes something about love and Jonathan. Brie wishes for Bryan to be cleared because she believes in his dreams. Nikki tells everyone that John Cena wants to marry her, but he still doesn’t want to have kids. 

    It’s the daytime now, and Paige, Fox, and Mandy are talking about last night. Mandy has a hat that says, “Paris.” I’d buy that hat, too. She’s still so pissed that Eva Marie went to dinner with the Bellas. Mandy is the ultimate third wheel.

    Rosa and her fiancé decide to celebrate their impending nuptials by sight-seeing around Paris. Rosa wants to go to some kind of arch. Her fiancé, his name is Bobby, thinks she is talking about Noah’s Ark. If only there were some sort of famous triumphant Arch in Paris that would be easy for Rosa to look up on her phone. Rosa asks when the wedding will be. Bobby redirects the question. Rosa says six months. Bobby says six months from when the baby is born. Rosa says get married by a minister. Bobby says he wants Brad to perform the ceremony. They start to argue and then decide to not talk about it anymore. 

    A beautiful French man takes a picture with Paige and tells her she is crazy. Fox decides to plan an impromptu party at the hottest party venue in the world, Moulin Rouge. She has a fantasy that the other Divas will dress up in French fashion, and she will be the photographer. Fox overhears Nattie telling Mandy that the fashion photo shoot is stupid. Fox is so pissed. She goes into Rosa’s room to complain about Nattie. Fox cancels the photo shoot. All the Divas argue in the living room. They work out their issues. The photo shoot is back on. Thank god. They decide to drink that French wine. 

    Eva Marie apologizes to Mandy in her room. Mandy speaks her mind. She is mega-butthurt. Eva Marie acts pretty classy. But Mandy doesn’t really think Eva Marie is being real, so she responds by lying and telling her they are friends again. Whelp, sorry Mandy, we won’t get to see how this plays out because you won’t be returning next season.

    Rosa is so happy to go out with all the girls. They are at a really nice, really fancy French restaurant. Fox gives a speech. Fox loves giving speeches, it’s obvious. All the girls go over to the Moulin Rouge, and they are all super impressed and mega excited. They are so amazed, and they keep saying the word amazed. Nattie tells us how much she loves all the girls, and how important this trip has been. 

    Back in the states, and keeping with the French theme, the WWE is in New Orleans. Rosa shows Big Show her ring, and Big Show shows Rosa warmth and compassion. She can’t wait to give birth to Baby Jordan. Rosa interviews Dolph Ziggler. Dolph brings this season full circle, as he wasn’t man enough in his attempt to steal Nikki away from Cena. They all eat cake.

    TWO MONTHS LATER

    Tampa, FL

    In Nikki and John’s house, Nikki chases around her cute dog, Winston. Winston is adorable. Nikki’s mom is in town to babysit the dog if Nikki has to have surgery. Nikki tells her mom that she feels like shit every day. She gets an MRI.

    Pittsburgh, PA

    Rosa is having cramping, she’s in a ton of pain. She and Bobby go to the hospital. Rosa decides to leave her Rolex at Bobby’s parents’ house. After the commercial, Rosa has had her baby. The baby is cute. Rosa feels so emotional. Rosa wishes her mom was there. Rosa and her mom are at odds due to Bobby’s atheism. 

    Back in Tampa, Nikki tells her mom that her back is getting worse. Everything is worse than they originally thought. She has to have surgery. She doesn’t want to retire from wrestling. She is in so much pain all the time. She is so frustrated. 

    In Pittsburgh, Rosa feeds her baby. Bobby is so excited and completely anxious. Rosa hasn’t heard from her mom in two months. Rosa says she could move to Pittsburgh. Bobby tells her that while she can’t go down the street and get a kale juice, but she can go down the street and milk a cow. Rosa said she’d rather just feed the baby. They get in a car and Rosa sees a frozen lake. She is amazed. Rosa’s mom told her to tell her baby that she is going to burn in hell. Bobby is so pissed at Rosa’s mom. 

    Columbus, OH

    Nikki has a meeting with Carrano. John calls her from Tampa. Cena is hanging out with Nikki’s mom, and he tells her not to worry about Carrano. He apologizes for not being there, but he just had surgery himself. 

    Back in Pittsburgh, Bobby and Rosa look at baby Jordan. Rosa wants to move to Pittsburgh. She is happy there. I’m not worried about them, they are going to be OK as a family.

    Back in Columbus, it’s time for the meeting with Carrano. They make jokes about business casual dress codes. Then things get serious. They don’t know what the future looks like. Is Nikki done? Could this be it for her? Nikki asks, “What is Nikki Bella without wrestling?” She answers, “There is no Nikki Bella.” It’s a race for survival, if she can’t wrestle again, then not only will she be forced to retire, but it seems as though Nikki Bella will cease to exist all together.

    As if…

  • WWE Manchester, England, live results: November tour dates announced

    Submitted by Stephen Lyon from Manchester, UK’s Manchester Arena

    – Cesaro beat Stardust

    Cesaro won, following 10 giant swings & making him submit in the sharpshooter. Fun 10 minute opener.

    – Zack Ryder & Darren Young beat Heath Slater & Bo Dallas

    Finish saw Ryder pin Dallas with the Rough Ryder. Exactly what you’d think it would be.

    – Rusev beat Jack Swagger

    Swagger came out with the Union Jack flag. Rusev won with the Accolade submission win. Average match.

    – WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day beat Usos & Dudleys

    Fun match, one of the best on the show. Dudleys came out with a Liverpool FC flag in Manchester to get heat (soccer rivals, plus Bubba is a Liverpool fan). New Day’s house show act is great. All sorts of wackiness from the trio, mostly weird dance moves.

    – Sin Cara beat Tyler Breeze

    SC won after hitting the swanton bomb. Average match.

    – Divas Champion Charlotte beat Sasha Banks & Becky Lynch

    Ric Flair was in Charlotte’s corner. Fun match. Charlotte pinned Becky with both feet on the ropes.

    – WWE Champion Roman Reigns beat Sheamus

    Sheamus came out and did a promo based on the Liverpool/Manchester soccer rivalry, and even sang the Liverpool FC club anthem (“You’ll Never Walk Alone”) to major heat. Reigns still came out to boos, I’d say 60/40 cheers in his favour. Standard match, Reigns won after a spear.

    Notes:

    It was a by the numbers house show with nothing spectacular. Obviously, there were less stars than usual due to the Smackdown tapings going on at the same time in London. But still, we got the World, Tag & Women’s champions so it wasn’t that bad. Lots of kids in attendance. Reigns got 60-40 cheers. Booing him is definitely becoming the cool thing to do, even for the kids/families that Reigns claimed he was being targeted to.

    In other news, the U.K. dates for the November 2016 tour have been announced: 

    • 4th November – London (Wembley Arena)
    • 5th November – Manchester
    • 6th November – Newcastle & Leeds
    • 7th November – Glasgow – Raw TV
    • 8th November – Glasgow – Smackdown TV
    • 9th November – Birmingham
    • 10th November – Cardiff

    Tickets are on sale starting Friday, May 6.

    The notable things here are that they are doing TV from Glasgow, Scotland for the first time ever, at the Hydro Arena. This is really interesting because they’re running the Hydro Arena building less than 2 weeks before ICW is running the biggest show in their history at the same arena, which simply can’t be a coincidence. 

  • Dana White: Conor McGregor is off UFC 200; search for new main event underway

    One of the biggest news stories in MMA history continues to evolve as UFC president Dana White announced on ESPN Tuesday night that featherweight champion Conor McGregor is off UFC 200, and that they will soon announce a new main event.

    White appeared on ESPNews after hours of silence by UFC in the wake of McGregor’s apparent retirement tweet earlier in the day, and said that McGregor was taken off the card for refusing to come to Las Vegas, NV, for a press conference to promote the show. Obviously, there is far more to that since McGregor was the key to the show.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIK1RN7ZH5g

    White claimed that the company and McGregor have a good relationship but “you can’t decide not to show up to these things.  You have to do it.”

    White described it as that McGregor was training in Iceland and didn’t want to break his preparation for the fight to come to Las Vegas, but regarding whether McGregor has really retired, White said that only McGregor knows for sure.

    White said that he would be discussing a new opponent for Diaz on Tuesday, which, given the lay of the land and the show itself, would logically have to be lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos. It will be a huge drop in quality and will badly hurt the aura of UFC 200 as the biggest show in history, but it would still be a show with three title matches if that was the case.

    Dos Anjos vs. Eddie Alvarez had been announced a few days earlier for a Fight Pass headlining title fight on July 7 in Las Vegas, two days before the UFC 200 July 9 date at the new T Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

    Obviously McGregor is playing it close to the vest and there is a story behind the story, which is already getting the obvious speculation about the sides playing a game of who holds the cards when it comes to a deal.

    Both sides would be out millions of dollars if the fight doesn’t happen. UFC can obviously survive the loss, but McGregor has tremendous leverage because the increases in UFC business over the past year are largely due to he and Ronda Rousey. Now, the future of both are speculative.

    It is always possible that McGregor will retire, but historically in these circumstances, that isn’t the case. McGregor was live at the show last week where Joao Calvalho passed away, but he had resumed training for the Diaz rematch in Iceland.

    Following McGregor’s tweet,  John Kavanagh, McGregor’s trainer, as well as other close to the situation, tweeted that McGregor has indeed retired from fighting, shortly before a fight that he had asked for and one that would have garnered him the biggest payday of his career.

  • WWE Smackdown London spoilers: Shane McMahon mixes it up with Miz

    Notes from today’s Smackdown tapings in London:

    – They opened with Miz TV with A.J. Styles. They showed the clips of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson attacking Roman Reigns. Maryse came out and got heat by speaking in French. Miz brought up that Styles, Gallows and Anderson were all friends from Japan and told Styles to admit to the fact he set up the attack on Reigns. Styles denied it. Miz then asked why he did nothing to stop them if he didn’t set it up. Styles said that he was upset with them and doesn’t need their help to beat Reigns. Miz continued to push the idea that Styles thought he needed help against Reigns. Miz kept pushing Styles to tell the truth. Miz and Maryse got heat again by making out. Eventually, Styles attacked Miz.

    – Ryback beat U.S. Champion Kalisto in a non-title match after hitting the Shellshock.

    – Dolph Ziggler came out for a match and was attacked by Baron Corbin. He got laid out again with the End of Days.

    – A.J. Styles beat The Miz. Miz was taking the worst of it and tried to walk out. Anderson and Gallows came out and blocked him from leaving. Styles threw Miz back in the ring and pinned him after the Phenomenal Forearm.

    – Sami Zayn and Dean Ambrose were interviewed. They said Chris Jericho and Dean Ambrose were the best in the world at sneaking up from behind.  Zayn & Ambrose then tried to do a comedy bit where they’d come up with a name for their new tag team.

    – The Miz did a promo and said what happened earlier was proof Styles, Anderson, and Gallows were all working together. He demanded an investigation and refused to leave the ring until it was done. Shane McMahon then came out. Miz yelled at Shane and put his finger in his chest repeatedly until Shane laid in some punches and a flying back elbow before clotheslining Miz to the outside. This may have been just for the live crowd to give them something since Undertaker wasn’t there as advertised. 

    Here’s a video of the segment for as long as it stays up:

    – Anderson & Gallows did an interview.  They were asked if they are aligned with Styles and they said they weren’t.  They also said they would be wrestling on Raw Monday night against the Usos.

    – Paige & Natalya beat Naomi & Tamina with a double submission win.

    – R-Truth pinned Fandango with Goldust as referee.  R-Truth and Goldust danced after the match.

    – Enzo and Cass came out. The crowd was big time into them. The Vaudevillains then did a promo making fun of Enzo. Good segment building up their match on Raw next week to determine the top contenders for the tag titles.

    – Kevin Owens & Chris Jericho beat Sami Zayn & Dean Ambrose. Ambrose was on the top rope and Jericho shoved him off. Ambrose sold it like he had injured his knee and Owens pinned him, which was retribution for Ambrose pinning Owens on Raw.

  • Conor McGregor possibly teases retirement

    A cryptic tweet out of nowhere by Conor McGregor has shaken up the MMA world.

    McGregor earlier today wrote:

    “I have decided to retire young.

    Thanks for the cheese.

    Catch ya’s later.”

    There was nothing more said, no doubt by design.

    With Ronda Rousey out of action, McGregor is the key draw for UFC business going into its planned biggest week in history in July when he was the headline UFC 200 against Nate Diaz.

    McGregor has been unavailable to media and UFC has not said anything.

    Whether this is a negotiating ploy, a legitimate retirement or just his own practical joke that will be explained that he’s always said he doesn’t want to fight a long time is unknown.

    McGregor is a big spender, and he was likely to get his biggest paycheck to date for UFC 200.  He had talked in the last year about a number of different business plans for the next few years but all of them involved building his name up bigger and continuing to fight.

    There will no doubt be more on this as the day progresses.

  • WWE RAW breaks record low rating

    Going against the NBA playoffs and with a taped show, Raw last night broke a new record for the least watched episode on its regular night outside of football season with 3.32 million viewers.

    The show fell victim to a big third hour drop which led to it falling below the previous low mark set on 2/1 at 3.37 million viewers.

    Dancing with the Stars, featuring UFC’s Paige VanZant, also had a big drop to 10.95 million viewers.

    There were a number of shows during football season last year, as well as the 1/11 show against the college football championship game, that did lower numbers than Raw.

    Raw was still the second highest rated show on cable, beating the NBA game on TBS that went head-to-head and did 3.21 million viewers, but falling behind the Warriors-Rockets late game that did 4.42 million viewers.

    Keep in mind that the actual viewers of both games would be significantly higher if you included the local market broadcasts of each game.

    The seasonal pattern of people tuning in late that comes after Daylight Savings time was in effect, but the pattern that the third hour doesn’t drop as much during that season was not.  The first two hours were in the same range as last week, so the record low was entirely due to the big third hour drop.

    The three hours were:

    8 p.m. 3.49 million viewers
    9 p.m. 3.54 million viewers
    10 p.m. 2.98 million viewers