We can confirm that Jonathan Rechner, known better to the wrestling world as Balls Mahoney, has passed away at the age of just 44 years old. Cause of death is unknown as of this time, but he just celebrated his birthday on Monday.
Social media began talking about the news Tuesday night with many of Rechner’s former co-workers and compatriots paying tribute.
After a run in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (Boo Bradley) and even an infamous appearance in the WWF as the evil Xanta Klaus, Rechner came to prominence as Mahoney — known for using weapons like his beloved steel chair, brawls, and teaming/feuding with similar ilk like Axl Rotten, Masato Tanaka, the Dudley Boys, and others. While never a singles titleholder in ECW, he did win the tag titles three times.
He was part of the ECW revival by WWE, making infrequent appearances and feuding with Big Daddy V, Snitsky, and Matt Striker. He even “dated” Kelly Kelly in a very strange pairing. Rechner had competed frequently on the indies since getting cut by WWE in 2008.
He leaves behind a young son, Christopher.
We’ll have more on this story as details become available.
There were early reports that Kalisto’s injury was real but the incident on last night’s WWE RAW involving Kalisto and the Dudleys was storyline.
During Raw, Kalisto took a bump on his face outside the ring and was clotheslined by Devon and was acting as though he was injured, to leave Sin Cara on his own, to end up with the Lucha Dragons losing to the Dudleys in the tag team tournament.
That was a scripted part of the show and Kalisto is not going to be missing any action.
While Kalisto stayed down, they used a local extra and not a regular trainer as the person who attended to him, and never did an “X” symbol, although they did play it up as if he was hurt.
Nobody backstage was talking about it if as anything had gone wrong the rest of the night.
WWE officials have informed us that Undertaker will be doing two shows next week on the European tour.
Undertaker is scheduled to appear on 4/19 in London, which are the Smackdown tapings, and will be doing a 4/20 house show in Newcastle.
Yesterday we had been told that he would be off the tour, but it was explained that there was a misunderstanding and he is off most of the tour, with Kane replacing him in all the other cities that he was originally advertised.
Undertaker was originally going to work the entire tour doing tag team matches in most cities. Last week he was pulled from advertising on most of the shows, but not all of them. As of yesterday, he was being advertised for three dates on the tour.
Originally, the European Tour was scheduled to be headlined by Undertaker on one side and Daniel Bryan appearances on the other, so had Undertaker pulled out of the entire tour they would have lost both of its headline acts.
WWE Raw last night fell back to the expected normal numbers the week after WrestleMania with 3.52 million viewers.
Last week’s show did 4.08 million viewers, but the day after WrestleMania is usually very strong. The drop would be expected.
The number is along the lines of what the show has been doing since football season ended. Of the 12 previous shows this year that didn’t go against football, last night’s show beat out five of them and was below seven of them.
There was a different ratings pattern as the show started with a low first hour, but had a good second hour before dropping somewhat in the third hour.
Raw was the highest rated show on cable last night, with The O’Reilly Factor on FOX News in second place at 3.04 million viewers.
Dancing With The Stars, which featured UFC’s Paige VanZant, was the most-watched show on television last night with 12.51 million viewers.
Mexico City, Mexico: – Tarzan López defeated Black Guzmán to win the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Title
1948
Mexico City, Mexico: – Mike Kelly defeated Gory Guerrero for the NWA World Middleweight Title
1950
Des Moines, Iowa: – Leo Nomellini beat Earl Wampler – Verne Gagne beat K.O. Hall – Joe Savoldi beat “Cowboy” Orville Carlson
1955
Minneapolis, Minnesota: – Verne Gagne drew Pat O’Connor – Paul Baillargeon beat Dick the Bruiser (as Bruiser Afflis) – Joe Pazandak beat Red Bastien
1958
Chicago, Illinois: – Verne Gagne defeated Dick the Bruiser to win the Chicago/Detroit NWA United States Heavyweight Title
1961
Mobile, Alabama: – The Mysterious Medics defeated Bobby and Don Fields for the Gulf Coast NWA Southern Tag Team Titles
1963
Calgary, Alberta, Canada: – Karl Von Schober and Ricky Waldo defeated The Masked Destroyer and Jim Wright for the Stampede International Tag Team Titles
1967
Los Angeles, California: – Ricky Romero defeated Stan Pulaski to win the California Heavyweight Title
1968
Atlanta, Georgia: – Mr. Wrestling defeated El Mongol to win the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Title
1969
Portland, Oregon: – Moondog Mayne defeated Luther Lindsay for the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title
1970
Tulsa, Oklahoma: – Bill Watts defeated The Spoiler to win the Tri-State NWA North American Heavyweight Title
1972
Mobile, Alabama: – Bob Kelly defeated Don Fargo for the NWA Gulf Coast Heavyweight Title – Gorgeous George, Jr. defeated Bill White for the City of Mobile Heavyweight Title
1973
Hattiesburg, Mississippi: – The Wrestling Pro defeated Bob Kelly to win the NWA Mississippi Heavyweight Title
Kansas City, Kansas: – Abe Jacobs fought Mike George to a draw – L.D. Lewis defeated Jim Dalton via DQ – Danny Little Bear defeated The Viking – Togo the Great & Tokyo Joe defeated Argentina Zuma & Omar Atlas – Bob Brown fought Rufus R. Jones to a draw – Central States Heavyweight Champion Roger Kirby defeated Terry Funk
1975
St. Paul, Minnesota: – Superstar Billy Graham & Dusty Rhodes & Andre the Giant beat Baron Von Raschke & Horst Hoffman & Boris Breznikoff 2 out of 3 falls – Nick Bockwinkel beat Billy Robinson dq – Chris Taylor beat Geoff Portz – Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Kenny Jay & George Gadaski – Khosrow Vaziri beat Rock Riddle
1976
Vancouver, British Columbia: – Don Leo Jonathan and Jimmy Snuka defeated Gene Kiniski and Siegfried Steinke to win the Vancouver NWA Canadian Tag Team Titles
1977
Dallas, Texas: – Fritz Von Erich defeated Bruiser Brody to win the NWA American Heavyweight Title
1980 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: – The Wild Samoans (Afa and Sika) defeated Ivan Putski and Tito Santana for the WWF World Tag Team Titles
Knoxville, Tennessee: – Bob Orton, Jr. and Tony Peters defeated Terry Gibbs and Bob Roop to win the International Championship Wrestling Southeastern Tag Team Titles
1982
Memphis, Tennessee: – Bill Dundee and Steve Keirn won the AWA Southern Tag Team Titles from Bobby Eaton and Sweet Brown Sugar
1983
Matsuyama, Japan: – Ron Bass and Stan Hansen defeated Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta for the NWA International Tag Team Titles
1984
Wheeling, West Virginia: – The Spoiler defeated Brad Armstrong to win the NWA National Heavyweight Title
Kansas City, Kansas: – The Grapplers (Len Denton and Tony Anthony) defeated Jerry and Ted Oates to win the NWA Central States Tag Team Titles
1985
Mexico City, Mexico: – Cien Caras and Sangre Chicana defeated Cachorro and Ringo Mendoza for the Mexican National Tag Team Titles
1986
Portland, Oregon: – Billy Jack Haynes defeated Bobby Jaggers to win the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title
1987
Atlanta, Georgia: – Rick Steiner and Sting defeated Chris Adams and Terry Taylor to win the UWF World Tag Team Titles
1988
San Juan, Puerto Rico: – Kendo Nagasaki and Mr. Pogo defeated Chris and Mark Youngblood for the WWC World Tag Team Titles
1990
Tampa, Florida: – Robert Fuller and Kendall Windham defeated Brian Knobbs and Hurricane Walker (subbing for Jerry Sags) to win the NWA Florida Tag Team Titles
Fridley, Minnesota: – The Lightning Kid (Sean Waltman) defeated Matt Derringer to win the Pro Wrestling America Light Heavyweight Title
1991
Dallas, Texas: – Eric Embry defeated Bill Dundee for the USWA Texas Heavyweight Title – Jeff Jarrett defeated Tom Prichard to win the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title
1993
Memphis, Tennessee: – Simply Devine (Steve Doll and Rex King) won the USWA Tag Team Titles from the Moondogs
1997
New Japan Battle Formation: Tokyo, Japan: – Riki Choshu and Kensuke Sasaki defeated IWGP Tag Team Champions Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura to win the titles – Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Manabu Nakanishi – El Samurai pinned Shinjiro Otani – Chris Benoit pinned Kevin Sullivan – Junji Hirata and Satoshi Kojima defeated Osamu Kido and Kazuo Yamazaki – Shiro Koshinaka pinned Takashi Ishikawa – J-Crown Champion Jushin Liger pinned The Great Sasuke to retain the titles – Antonio Inoki defeated Tiger King – Keiji Muto pinned Masahiro Chono – Naoya Ogawa defeated IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto by TKO
NWA New Jersey Eddie Gilbert Memorial Brawl: Cherry Hill, New Jersey: – The Beach Bullies (The Inferno Kid and Ray Odyssey) defeated NWA United States Tag Team Champions Downward Spiral (Adrian Hall and Twiggy Ramirez) to win the title – Mr. Puerto Rico defeated Steve Corino – Tommy Gilbert defeated Ian Rotten. – King Kong Bundy defeated Don Montoya – Lance Diamond defeats Cheetah Master and NWA North American Heavyweight Champion Reckless Youth in a triangle match to win the title – Marty Jannetty defeated Harley Lewis – NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dan Severn fought Dory Funk, Jr. to a double-countout to retain the title – Doug Gilbert defeated Buddy Landell – Flash Funk defeated Ace Darling – Goldust defeated Derrick Domino
Memphis, Tennessee: – The Shooting Stars (Jerry Faith and Troy Haste) defeated Flash Flanagan and Billy Travis for the USWA Tag Team Titles – King Reginald (Reggie B. Fine) defeated Jerry Lawler
2000
Waegwan, South Korea: – The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton) defeated Steven Dunn and Jackie Fulton (subbing for Reno Riggins) for the NWA World Tag Team Titles
Jeffersonville, Indiana: – Chris Michaels defeated Sean Casey to win the OVW Light Heavyweight Title
2003
All Japan Pro Wrestling Champion’s Carnival tour: Tokyo, Japan: – Gran Hamada pinned Gran Naniwa – Gigantes and George Hines beat Hiroshi Hase and Masayuki Kono – Kaz Hayashi and Jimmy Yang beat Omega Griffon and NWA International Junior Heavyweight Champion Low Ki – AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Champion Kendo Kashin defeated Carl Contini by submission to retain the title – Shinjiro Otani and Masato Tanaka defeated Hideki Hosaka and Shigeo Okumura – AJPW All Asia Tag Team Champion Nobutaka Araya, Nobukazu Hirai and Genichiro Tenryu defeated Tomohiko Hashimoto, Tomoaki Honma and Kazushi Miyamoto – Keiji Muto and AJPW Unified World Tag Team Champion Satoshi Kojima defeated Masa Fuchi and Toshiaki Kawada – AJPW Triple Crown Champion Shinya Hashimoto defeated AJPW All Asia Tag Team Champion Arashi by TKO to retain his title
The WWE announced today a new group of signings to developmental deals with the company.
Babatunde Alyegbusi – Alyegbusi got some publicity as something of a gimmick signing of the Minnesota Vikings last year as a 6-foot-9, 350 pound football player from Poland. He didn’t make the team, but his size got pub. The Observer had already reported his recent tryout.
Bianca Blair – Blair is a Crossfit competitor who was an All-American at the hurdles at the University of Tennessee and has been featured in a number of women’s fitness magazines.
Nikola Bogojevic – Bogojevic was a bronze medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2014 Pan American Games and was training with the Olympic wrestling team.
Carolyn Dunning – Dunning is a bikini contest competitor within the bodybuilding bikini world.
Macey Estrella – A woman wrestler who trained with American Premier Wrestling who a Marine Corps SWAT team background.
Nicola Glencross – Better known as Nikki Storm, she has wrestled all over the world including with top women’s groups like Stardom and Shine, as well as many of the U.K. based promotions.
Terrance Jean-Jacques – A 6-foot-3, 265 pound All-American wrestler from the University of Iowa and University of Rhode Island.
Deniella Kamela – Kamela was on-air talent working for Fox Sports Arizona and trained under Rikishi and Gangrel at the Knoxx Pro Wrestling School in Southern California and was a cheerleader for the Arizona Cardinals and dance team member of the Phoenix Suns.
Michael Nicholls – The Australian-based Mikey Nicholls, who agreed to the deal last year but just started at the Performance Center recently.
Shane Veryzer – Better known as Shane Haste, he and Nicholls were a tag team in Pro Wrestling NOAH and the pair have extensive experience, including winning the Tag Team of the Year award in Japan in 2013.
TNA Wrestling, effective immediately, will no longer air a Tuesday night replay on Pop TV.
The only airing of the show tomorrow will be at 9 p.m. Eastern and 6 p.m. Pacific time.
Impact will have a second airing on Pop TV on Saturday mornings at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time.
But any change of time slots isn’t the best thing right now when they are in negotiations to sell a stake in the company and it’s most valuable asset was nationwide prime time coverage, and the new time slots aren’t strong for the West Coast.
TNA has no house shows scheduled at this point and it’s next TV tapings are 4/21 to 4/24 in Orlando at Universal.
It’s the first Raw after WrestleMania season tonight in Los Angeles, but it promises to be an intriguing show on several levels. With the debut of Enzo Amore and Big Cass, Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin, along with the return of Cesaro, how will their second week be handled? Specifically, can the debut of Enzo and Cass be sustained, or was it a one-week sensation in front of the world’s largest gathering of insider fans in Dallas last week? Tonight’s show will also start the build towards Roman Reigns vs. A.J. Styles for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. In particular, how Styles will be treated as a will be interesting. Will he be the latest person to have his weaknesses exploited by the company? Or will he built as a worthy challenger? The Miz, after retaining the Intercontinental Championship against Zack Ryder on SmackDown, will also appear, along with the returning Maryse.
Our coverage begins at 8 ET. Please join us.
The Big News: 2nd straight show that was very good. With the best workrate roster the WWE has had in years, they focused on having good wrestling matches and delivered Sami Zayn vs. A.J. Styles & Cesaro vs. Kevin Owens, both of which were 4 stars or better. While Roman Reigns was booed once again, they did have creative booking for an intriguing main event for Bray Wyatt teamed with Reigns to defeat the League of Nations’ team of Alberto del Rio and Sheamus. Also, Karl Anderson and Drew Gallows made their debut with a run-in to attack the Usos. There’s a tag team tournament to crown the number one contenders to face the New Day at Payback, which included the Usos and the Dudley Boyz advancing tonight. They’re already teasing the Dudleys vs. Enzo and Big Cass in the semifinals.
Show Recap:
The show was dedicated to Blackjack Mulligan.
Shane McMahon came out and was given control for last night’s show because of increased social media activity. He sounded odd like he was nursing an injured jaw or some sort of intestinal injury. He announced Natalya would face Charlotte for the WWE Women’s Championship, there would be a tournament for a new #1 contender to face the WWE World Tag Team Championship, and he congratulated A.J. Styles on winning the Fatal Fourway last way to face Roman Reigns. But Shane said Sami Zayn didn’t get a chance to fight in the fourway, so Zayn would wrestle Styles tonight. If Zayn wins, then the Styles vs. Reigns match would become a Three Way Championship match.
This brought out Kevin Owens, who said if Shane thinks Zayn deserves that opportunity, he must have knocked a few screws loose jumping off of the Hell in a Cell. Shane said Owens has had opportunities and lost them, like when he lost the Intercontinental Championship to Zack Ryder. Owens complained about not getting a rematch for the Intercontinental Championship and demanded it right now. Shane said Owens had to earn that shot against Cesaro, and the winner gets the Miz for the I-C belt.
Cesaro defeated Kevin Owens to become the new #1 contender for the Intercontinental Championship (14:47)
Excellent match where Cesaro pinned Owens with a Neutralizer. Owens hit a frog splash for a two count. Cesaro’s left shoulder was taped, and the match revolved around Owens’ offense onto that arm. Later, Cesaro tried the Cesaro Swing, but could only do three rotations because of the injured shoulder. Owens tried the Pop-Up Power Bomb, but Cesaro escaped over Owens, rolled him into a Sunset Flip into the finish. Cesaro’s ring entrance is now a takeoff of James Bond, where he comes out in a three-piece suit with target hairs following up in the background, then he strips off the suit to reveal his wrestling trunks. Really good opener.
Charlotte talked to Ric Flair backstage upset she was having to defend her title tonight against Natalya. Flair said it was all Shane’s fault. It led to Dr. Phil making his first apperance. The crowd booed Dr. Phil, who told Charlotte he was disgusted that she had to rely on her father’s cheating in order to win and to stand on her own two feet. Charlotte didn’t want to hear that and walked off. Flair acted incredulous and started to shout “Whooo!” into Phil’s face. But Phil screamed “Whoo” at Flair, stunning the Nature Boy. This was so well scripted, fans were with Phil by the end.
Owens confronted Shane backstage and threatened to go after Zayn again. Shane said Owens would be escorted out of the building by security in order to keep it from happening again.
The New Day came out. Xavier Woods said the WWE tag team division was on fire like a game of NBA Jam. Big E. said the tag team tournament would be sponsored by Booty-Os.
The Dudley Boyz defeated Lucha Dragons to advance int he WWE Tag Team #1 Contenders Tournament (3:15)
Bubba Ray Dudley pinned Sin Cara after a 3-D. Kalisto got injured legitimately when he took a terrible bump over the top rope and appeared to injure his shoulder. Trainers were by his side the whole way. It looked like one of those bad roller derby bumps from the 70s when a skater didn’t catch themselves going over the rail.
Enzo and Big Cass came out to confront the Dudleys. Good response for Enzo and Cass as the fans knew who they were, but it wasn’t nearly on the level of last week. Devon Dudley told them they owed their creation to the Dudley boyz. Enzo shot back they owed their creation when his mother and father got it on. Cass gave the Saft catchphrase.
Owens was shown being escorted out of the building by security.
Reigns came out to a big-time negative reception. He got mostly cheered in San Diego in December, but this crowd was nowhere near as generous. He let the boos sink in for awhile and gave the exact same line about being “The guy” he gave last week. Reigns mention of Styles got cheered. Regins said he had respect for Styles and Zayn, but neither one of them had ever won THE championship.
The League of Nations came out. Sheamus wondered how confident Reigns would be if he had to face a member of the League of Nations at Payback. Sheamus talked about being stronger than ever after they kicked King Barrett out of the League of Nations, and they weren’t happy about being left out of the number one contender’s match last week. Rusev said he was better looking than Reigns and he should be the face of the WWE. Reigns said Rusev just proved he was the ass of the WWE. Alberto Del Rio started talking and cheered. Reigns challenged them to all come down and get their asses kicked.
The heels all jumped on Reigns, but the Wyatt Family appeared. Bray Wyatt, Erick Roawn and Braun Strowman cleared the ring quickly. Reigns looked uncertain to see the Wyatts in the ring. Shane came out and ordered a match between two members of the League of Nations against Wyatt and Reigns in a tag team match.
Another vignette from Primo and Epico, or whatever they will be named underr this new gimmick. They sniffed hibiscus, the official flower of Puerto Rico. They said you can’t grow flowers like hibiscus anywhere in America, so come visit Puerto Rico. From Los Boricuas to Los Matadores to Carlito and Santino Morella, failing to get Puerto Rico tag teams over has been a time-honored WWE tradition for 20 years now. And the next chapter is before us.
Natalya defeated Charlotte (C) by DQ, so Charlotte retains the WWE Women’s Championship (10:55)
Dr. Phil was at ringside. Another good match with Charlotte that had heat. Fans want to see her lose, which means her father’s lessons of being a heat-magnet heel for 40 years is rubbing off. Natalya nearly made Charlotte tap out with a Sharpshooter, but Flair pulled the referee out of the ring, just as Charlotte was tapping. The referee disqualified Charlotte. Earlier, Charlotte put Natalya into the sharpshooter, leading to a rope break. Phil was interviewed by Byron Saxton afterwards, saying he was disappointed that Charlotte had to rely on her father again to retain the championship. He tried putting over the women’s division, but it was clear he was just reeling off lines that were fed to him beforehand as he couldn’t name one other women’s wrestler on the roster aside from the one he was involved in the skit with.
Zayn did a promo with Renee Young. He got in that lame “Underdog from the Underground” line again. He said he’s been trying to get to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship all his career and he didn’t come this far to lose. Styles walked in. He looked four inches shorter than Zayn. Styles told Zayn he’s the only number one contender and he plans on keeping it that way.
The Usos defeated Social Outcasts to advance in the WWE Tag Team #1 Contenders Tournament (4:16)
Jimmy Uso pinned Curtis Axel after a schoolboy cradle after Axel started doing the Bo Train with Heath Slater, Bo Dallas and Adam Rose.
Postmatch, Karl Anderson and Luke (not Doc) Gallows ran out of the crowd and gave Jimmy Uso the Magic Killer. They threw Jimmy Uso around
Maryse dressed down a stage manager who gave her and the Miz a bowl of M&Ms. Miz’s contract called for no blue M&Ms. That’s a takeoff of the old Van Halen backstage tale about having a contract that included a clause about not being served brown M&Ms before or after concerts. David Lee Roth once said he included that clause in the contact just to see if anyone read those contracts. Maryse also scolded the manager for included domestic bottled water instead of French water. Meanwhile, Miz was sitting back with cucumber slices on his eyes. Jojo came in to ask Miz about a possible rematch with Ryder. Miz said he drives to work in an Audi 5000 while Ryder goes on the Long Island subway on his father’s pass. As for Cesaro, he said he had the Swiss Superman’s Kryptonite. He tried that line in a deeper voice twice, with Maryse reeling off the take numbers. Then Cesaro showed up and said he would roll out the red carpet for all the uppercuts he would throw on the Miz at Payback. Miz and Maryse are really a great tandem.
A.J. Styles defeated Sami Zayn to keep the main event at Payback a singles match (16:44)
Another terrific match. Styles won with the Phenonemal Forearm after Zayn failed to hit the Helluva Kick. Zayn hit the Blue Thunder bomb for a near fall that got the crowd involved after a bit of a lull. Fans did dueling chants as they exchanged the early holds. Styles clamped on the calf crusher but Zayn made the ropes. I guess the mindset here was to get Styles strong for the main event at Payback. Zayn had so much offense he wasn’t hurt doing the job.
WWE regular Seth Green was at ringside.
Styles and Zayn talked backstage when Shane walked in putting over both men for the previous match. Styles and Zayn slapped hands.
Chris Jericho hosted the latest edition of the Highlight Reel. Jericho said his guest tonight was the biggest star in WWE history…it was him. Fans would learn more about Jericho than they would ever had before. He started interviewing himself about how he became so successful. He offered fans the Gift of Jericho and offered them a chance to drink it in. He posed with his arms open. Jericho talked about being the first undisputed world champion after beating the Rock and Steve Austin in one night. Jericho’s reply mentioned beating Styles at WrestleMania, and said there was no one on the roster who could touch him right now.
Dean Ambrose interrupted him and came out with a potted plant and looked for a place to put it. Ambrose said it was his show now. Jericho didn’t know what he was talking about, but Ambrose pulled out a memo from Shane. Jericho said it was a speeding ticket. Ambrose took the paper back and handed him another memo. Jericho read the Highlight Reel has been cancelled and replaced by the Ambrose Asylum. Ambrose put on a clip-on tie, hung a posterboard sign over the Jeritron 5000 and introduced Jericho. Ambrose wanted to know what was up with Jericho’s scarf. Jericho got into his Javier Bardem voice, said the scarf cost $750 and said he doesn’t play by anybody’s rules but his own. Jericho said Ambrose should be smart or he would bury him. Jericho told Ambrose to get out of his ring. Ambrose said “So you aren’t going to tell us about the scarf?” Jericho slapped the microphone out of Ambrose’s hands. Ambrose gave Jericho Dirty Deeds. So the postponed Jericho-Ambrose program is on. Hopefully it will have a point, because in retrospect I have no clue what the point of the Ambrose-Brock Lesnar feud was.
It was announced that Goldust and R-Truth would team together for the resumption of the tag team tournament on Smackdown. Goldust confronted Truth saying Truth told him that were going to Los Angeles for an audition. Truth explained the tag team tournament was the audition. Goldust said they weren’t a tag team. Truth said he took someone’s advice, then looked over to Dr. Phil, who stated to say something. But Goldust’s outfit left him speechless and he just walked away.
Apollo Crews defeated Adam Rose (3:30)
Apollo Crews pinned Rose after a Spin Out Power Bomb. Crews really needs a good promo or else he’ll be another smiling babyface.
Another promo from the Puerto Rico boys, the Shining Star of the Carribbean appears to be the tag team name.
Wyatt did a promo saying that even though he despises everything that Reigns stands for, they appear to have an unbreakable bond. Wyatt, with a eerie smile, said Reigns could trust him.
Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt defeated Alberto del Rio and Sheamus (11:05)
Wyatt pinned Del Rio with Sister Abigail. It was clear the fans in L.A. wanted to turn Del Rio face. They also cheered whenever the heels got offense on Reigns. Fans were really into Wyatt as a babyface, who got the comeback after Reigns sold the majority of the match. When Reigns was setting up for the hot tag, Wyatt did a great tease of turning on Reigns, only to stick his hand out for the tag. Rowan and Strowman came out to brawl with Rusev near the end. Fans had no idea how to react to Rowan and Strowman at all. With Wyatt’s pending face turn, it appears Strowman has gone from being a potential Undertaker opponent to being the dancing hillbilly everyone thought he would eventually become. An interesting match from a booking standpoint and another good one.
Reigns and Wyatt engaged in a staredown as the screen faded to black as Wyatt grinned and Reigns looked concerned.
SUMMARY:
A strong show. Best top-to-bottom match quality show in quite sometime. It’s odd that the least over person on the roster holds the World Championship. The good news is the company’s depth has improved drastically since the start of the year, and it’s truly apparent now with Styles, Zayn, Cesaro, Crews, Owens and enough good tag teams to make up a tournament to face the New Day.
Kansas City, Kansas: – MWA World Heavyweight Champion John Pesek and Everette Marshall drew 1 -1 – Wladek Zbyszko beat Sol Slagel
1934
St. Louis, Missouri: – World Heavyweight Champion Jim Londos beat Dick Shikat – Ray Steele beat Pete Schuh – Orville Brown beat George Zaharias – Charley Strack beat Milo Steinborn
1945
San Jose, California: – Earl McCready defeated Dean Detton for the San Francisco Pacific Coast Heavyweight Title
1955
Tulsa, Oklahoma: – Ed Francis defeated Baron Michele Leone to win the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title
1956
Regina, Saskatchewan: – George Gordienko defeated Lou Newman to win the Calgary NWA Canadian Heavyweight Title
1957
Amarillo, Texas: – Don Curtis and Dizzy Davis defeated Great Bolo and Kurt Von Poppenheim for the Amarillo NWA North American Tag Team Title
1963
Washington, D.C.: – Buddy Rogers is officially presented the WWWF World Heavyweight Title belt
1967
Baton Rouge, Louisiana: – Frank and Jack Dalton defeated Danny Little Bear and Bobby Fields to win the Gulf Coast NWA United States Tag Team Titles
Savannah, Georgia: – Enrique and Ramon Torres defeated Gene and Lars Anderson for the Georgia NWA Southern Tag Team Title
1969
Los Angeles, California: – Alfonso Dantés and Mil Máscaras defeated The Black Angels for the NWA Americas Tag Team Titles
Mexico City, Mexico: – Raul Mata defeated Dr. Wagner to win the vacant Mexican National Light Heavyweight Title
1970
Jacksonville, Florida: – Dale Lewis defeated Bob Orton for the Florida NWA Southern Heavyweight Title
1973
Knoxville, Tennessee: – Don and Ron Wright defeated The Fabulous Kangaroos (Al Costello and Don Kent) to win the Mid-America NWA World Tag Team Titles
1974
Kansas City, Missouri: – Tokyo Joe defeated Frank Valois – The Interns (w/ Dr. Ken Ramey) defeated Bull Bullinski & Mike George – Don Fargo defeated The Viking – Chris Taylor & Pat O’Connor defeated Bob Brown & Karl Steiger – Terry Funk defeated Bob Orton – Andre the Giant & Reggie Parks defeated Lord Alfred Hayes & Roger Kirby – Omar Atlas & Bobby Whitlock defeated Billy Howard & Percy Pringle – Chris Taylor and Bob Brown were co-winners of a 22-man Battle Royal
1976
Guadalajara, Mexico: – Dr. Wagner defeated Alfonso Dantés for the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Title
1977
Memphis, Tennessee: – Jerry Lawler defeated Rocky Johnson to win the Mid-America NWA Southern Heavyweight Title
Hiroshima, Japan: – Shinobu Aso and Yumi Ikeshita defeated The Beauty Pair (Jackie Sato and Maki Ueda) to win the WWWA World Tag Team Titles
1979
Mexico City, Mexico: – Perro Aguayo defeated Gran Hamada for the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Title
1981
– Jay Youngblood won the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title
1982
Guadalajara, Mexico: – Sangre Chicana defeated Atsushi Onita for the NWA International Junior Heavyweight Title
Orlando, Florida: – Bruce Reed and Sweet Brown Sugar defeated Dory Funk, Jr. and David Von Erich to win the Florida NWA North American Tag Team Titles
Dallas, Texas: – King Kong Bundy and Bugsy McGraw defeated Kerry Von Erich and Al Madril for the World Class American Tag Team Titles
1983
Birmingham, Alabama: – Bob Armstrong defeated Ken Lucas for the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Title
Memphis, Tennessee: – No Referee in the Ring: Jerry Lawler beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq – Southern Tag Team Champions The Moondogs beat Fabulous Ones dq – Southern Champion Bill Dundee dcor Dutch Mantel – Handicap Match, Hair vs Hair: Stagger Lee & Terry Taylor beat Plowboy Frazier & Jimmy Hart & Bobby Eaton (Frazier lost his hair) – Masks at Stake, Texas Tornado Match: The Galaxians beat Rock & Roll Express – Duke Myers beat Bobby Fulton – Bruise Brothers beat Steve O & Carl Fergie
1987
Kansas City, Kansas – AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Bulldog Bob Brown – Pork Chop Cash & Ken Timbs beat Rick McCord & Bart Batten to win Central States tag title – Lumberjack match: Warlord beat Earthquake Ferris – Rip Rogers beat Joe Lightfoot – Stoney Burke beat Karl Kovac – Debbie Combs beat Penny Mitchell
1995
Dallas, Texas: – The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express defeated Dick Murdoch and Randy Rhodes to win the vacant NWA World Tag Team Title in a tournament final
1999
WCW Spring Stampede: Tacoma, Washington: – Scott Steiner pinned Booker T to win the vacant WCW United States Heavyweight Title in the finals of a tournament – Diamond Dallas Page defeated WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan and Sting in a Fatal Four-Way match, to win the title – Goldberg pinned Kevin Nash – Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko (with Arn Anderson) defeated Raven and Saturn
2003
OVW Spring Breakout: Louisville, Kentucky: – Chris Cage and Mark Jindrak defeated Orlando Jordan and Mark Magnus – Nova pinned Christopher Nowinski – OVW Southern Tag Team Champions A.P.A. (Bradshaw and Ron Simmons) defeated Lance Cade and René Duprée to retain the title – WWE World Tag Team Champion Kane pinned Matt Morgan – Chris Benoit, Nick Dinsmore and Johnny Jeter defeated Rob Conway, The Damaja and OVW Heavyweight Champion Doug Basham in a 30-minute Iron Man match, 2 falls to 1
2013
– Chavo Guerrero & Hernandez defeated Austin Aires and Bobby Roode in a 2 out of 3 falls match for the TNA World Tag Team Titles – Taryn Terrell defeated Gail Kim – TNA World Title/Full Metal Mayhem Match: Bully Ray defeated Jeff Hardy
New Japan just announced lineups for its next two major shows, coming off angles earlier today at the Invasion Attack show.
The first show will be on 4/29 in Kumamoto which will be a 4 a.m. Eastern and 1 a.m Pacific show on a late Thursday night/early Friday morning from Kumamoto Grand Messe.
Kenny Omega vs. Michael Elgin for the IWGP IC title will headline, plus a grudge match with Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale, Katsuyori Shibata vs. Yuji Nagata for the Never Open wight title and Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta defend the IWGP jr. tag title against Ricochet & Matt Sydal.
New IWGP heavyweight champion Tetsuya Naito and former champion Kazuchika Okada are in an eight-man with Los Ingobernables de Japon of Naito & Evil & Bushi & Seiya Sanada vs. Chaos of Okada & Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto & Will Ospreay.
The annual Wrestling Dontaku show is 5/3 at the Fukuoka Convention Center, which is a downsize for the usual International Center that they drew poorly in for G-1. Matches announced so far are Kushida vs. Jushin Liger for the IWGP jr. title, Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa defend the IWGP tag titles against former champions Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma, Goto vs Evil, Okada vs. Sanada and Naito vs. Ishii for the IWGP heavyweight title.
