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Category: WWE News

  • WWE increases subscribers overall but domestic down

    WWE just announced that there were 1,824,000 subscribers to the network as of today, the day after WrestleMania.

    That number sounds fantastic on the surface, and isn’t necessarily negative, but of that, 370,000 ordered the month for free and all growth from last year was from adding new international markets, as the number of paid domestic subscribers was actually slightly down from the day after WrestleMania last year.

    The real key will be the retention rate from those 370,000 free subscribers and comparison with last year.

    They expect that with the free subscribers expiring and turning into paid subscribers at the same rate as usual, that the free month will lead to an average of 1,480,000 to 1,550,000 subscribers during the second quarter, an increase of from 1,233,000 last year.

    George Barrios in the conference call noted that because of the free offer, that comparisons of paid vs. unpaid would be misleading and the difference after how many of this group transforms into paid after the one month trial.

    They also said that overall, they are expecting first quarter OIBDA of $19 million this year and talked about a $70 million to $75 million range for this year.  That figure would get profitability back in the range of where it was before the network was launched.

    Paid subscribers as of today are 1,109,000 listed in the U.S., down from 1,123,000 listed in the U.S. last year.  Keep in mind that the difference is a lot of outside the U.S. subscribers in foreign countries were listed as U.S. last year, so true U.S. numbers are likely up.

    International paid went from 192,000 to 345,000.

    Of the free subscribers, 281,000 are listed as U.S and 89,000 are listed as outside the U.S.

    The WWE averaged 1.29 million paid subscribers in the first quarter of 2016, up from 927,000 last year, so there is significant year-over-year growth, but because of the ease of getting Mania free, the paid growth for day after Mania isn’t as significant.

    Had they not offered WrestleMania free, no doubt paid would be significantly higher, but the question is where paid is one month from now before you can evaluate whether this was a success or not.

  • WWE WrestleMania 32 Fan Feedback

    Hey Dave,

    Thumbs: Down

    Best: Sasha/Becky/Charlotte

    Worst: Triple H/Reigns

    Well, where do I start? Six hours is definitely way too long for a WWE show – even if some of the questionable, odds-defying booking choices were ignored. Zack Ryder new IC champ after years of being forgotten? Charlotte retaining when they’re rebranding the Womens’ division? Building up a historic angle for WrestleMania, to end with… Undertaker winning and not even a hint of “what happens next”?

    The main event was interminable – this show did not need to be five hours long (well, seven if you count the pre-show). So many questionable booking decisions, and countless examples of the company damn near killing their full time guys at the expense of a pop for the returning stars. As good as Austin, Foley, Rock and Michaels are, they’re not going to be full-time again, and WWE badly hurt a good chunk of their roster to get “WrestleMania Moments”.

    Thank God this show was only $9.99 on the Network – if I’d paid anything close to standard PPV prices, I’d be angry and tired, as opposed to just tired right now.

    How can this be the same company that produced a blow-away show like NXT on Friday night? It’s almost like the people in charge of the main show are stuck in a timewarp, and are hell bent on alienating their hardcore fan base. 101,763 of them (by their count) are very likely to be counting themselves amongst the newly-alienated, going by the reactions to that main event.

    I’m not going to go overboard and say “Cancel WWE Network” or anything like that, but for a company that was able to give themselves a shot in the arm tonight, they’ve just ensured that their course remains set for the toilet.

    Ian Hamilton

    Thumbs up

    Best match: Charlotte/Sasha/Becky

    Worst match: Battle Royal

    Random comments: It amazes me that even with the non-existent hype and occasionally insultingly stupid storylines that WWE can almost always pull it together at WrestleMania time and put together a great show. I watched the entire 6+ hours and never got bored… I could see a case being made for match of the night for the Woman’s Title match, IC ladder match, Ambrose/Lesnar and even the Hell in a Cell match… Only big criticism: HHH/Reigns shouldn’t have gone on last. It was a flat end to an otherwise very entertaining show.

    Nick Randall
    Online subscriber

    Thumbs down.

    Best Match: Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch

    Worst Match: Diva’s 10 Woman Tag

    An okay wrestling show marred by horrible booking decisions up and down the card. The show started off great, with an excellent ladder match, a callback to Steen vs. Generico that we all wanted to see, and a legitimate feel good moment in Ryder winning, then it fell off a cliff like no show ever has before. We’ve all been saying for years how they need to start pushing new people and freshening up the product as a whole, and there was a real opportunity to do just that tonight, and it was squandered at an almost embarrassing level. 

    A.J. Styles was not helped, The New Day and Wyatt Family were arguably buried, and what should have been a star making performance for Dean Ambrose was a complete dud. Not letting Sasha Banks run with the ball when it is clear how incredibly over she was is also nothing short of baffling.

    By far the most disappointing thing on the entire show was the Ambrose vs. Brock match. Not only did Dean not win, but the match was a completely bland, and came off to me as nothing but a glorified squash. Considering who was in this match and the stage that it was contested on, I was expecting much more. More big spots, a more competitive battle, and more violence. What a waste of both guys. 

    And the Reigns winning clean need not be commented on. Everything that can and should be said has already been. I also have to say, the six and a half hour runtime for this show was absolutely brutal. It was an experiment that shouldn’t be tried again. 

    So basically what the show boils down to is that nobody got over and nothing changes. At least we’ll always have the Shane McMahon dive. 

    -Ryan Niepagen

    Bloomington, IL

    Thumbs way down

    Best Match: Women’s Three Way
    Worst Match: Reigns vs HHH

    A terrible show that went on forever. Andre Battle Royal was boring. Shane vs Taker was bad and boring with one spot of note that went for thirty minutes. Ambrose vs Lesnar was a huge disappointment.

    Zack Ryder winning was the emotional high point, I guess? The Rock vs Erick Rowan might have been the fourth best match on the show.

    Fred Morlan

    Good:

    -the women’s title match: they feel like the only thing from this show besides Baron Corbin, Zack Ryder, and Sami Zayn that were elevated in a positive way, Match of the Night definitely

    -the ladder match: spotfests for the sake of spotfests are not my thing, but they did it well; Zayn and Owens both felt like the 2 biggest stars in the match, Ryder winning the match is a shock in a nice way but feels 4 years too late. Does WWE feel so bad about him tag teaming with Mojo Rawley in NXT they gave him this?

    Bad:

    -Styles-Jericho: the match just wasn’t that awesome thing. I don’t get Jericho winning if he’s leaving in a couple months like he always does unless he’s going to be in a title match with Reigns pre-Summerslam . The finish from the camera angle just looked botched like Jericho never even touched Styles as he came off the top rope.

    -New Day-League of Nations: dead crowd, was hard to care

    -Battle Royal: not really bad, just it’s a battle royal, it’s late in the show, and 2 of your last 4 guys are Darren Young and Bo Dallas it’s hard to feel excited; Shaq was a neat surprise; I guess Fandango and Damien Sandow are getting future endeavored soon, nice to see the match buildup a new guy at least in Corbin

    Ugly:

    -Lesnar-Ambrose: one wrestler in this match used only his hands, power, and technique to wrestle, refusing to ever use any of the weapons laying around. The other wrestler could only do offense with the aid of weapons and cheap tricks, including trying a chainsaw to attempt dismemberment I guess. So, which one was the babyface? This match was so psychologically screwed up. Lesnar was the babyface from how they booked it. Ambrose is down in the midcard now, or maybe a Jericho feud.

    -Undertaker-Shane: the Undertaker match at Mania has become a cliche, and this match reviled in them. Shane’s “come at me” hands is a ripoff of Michaels’ throatslash on his knees. The match itself was bad pre-Huge Spot. Shane’s decent for what he is but he shouldn’t be in one of the top 2 matches at Wrestlemania. But his offense his bad, him putting Undertaker in trouble or kickout of major spots was laughable considering Undertaker’s past matches and the opponents he fought. The Huge Spot was just scary. Didn’t Vince tell Mick Foley once he never wanted to see that again?

    -Reigns-Hunter: first, was this match no DQ or not? Roman is kind of mechanically clumsy as John Cena is, but he doesn’t have close to Cena’s charisma to compensate; match was just plodding although not near as bad as Undertaker and Shane, but just felt draining the longer they went after 11pm, highlight of the match was Stephanie getting speared; hey, WWE has their champ, good luck with him on top…

    Ryan Day

    Thumbs down
    Best match: Triple threat for the women’s title
    Worst match: Shane McMahon v. The Undertaker

    About three or four pretty good wrestling matches in a four plus hour event isn’t quite enough.  I don’t think there is a single classic match or promo on this show.  The table stunt in the Hell in a Cell match will be remembered for a long time, but I don’t think that I will forget the 29 minutes of awful wrestling that surrounded it.  This would have been a very good B-ppv or network event, but only the nostalgia appearances made it feel like Wrestlemania.

    Casey Goldman

    Thumbs Down

    Best Match – None

    Worst Match – Reigns vs. HHH

    Dave,

         There was a time when I would get angry with a show like this, but I’m so used to the WWE way of booking now that I laugh.  AJ Styles losing makes no sense.  Zach Ryder winning the IC title came out of nowhere, yet again makes no sense.  The old guys destroying League of Nations makes your current guys look terrible, and the cheap nostalgia pop isn’t needed on this show.  And Shane didn’t need to take that bump off the cage for any reason whatsoever, it will be forgotten about no matter how cool it looked.
        The main event?  Well, the match itself was OK.  We all knew who was going to win, regardless of the early shocking outcomes tonight.  The muting of the boos and piping in of cheers comes across so poorly, and it was really obvious.  I’m sure more people will go more in depth, but I’m tired after this marathon show!  Let’s see what Raw brings tomorrow, but it looks to be more of the same old, same old.

    Mike Barton
    White Sulphur Springs, NY

    Thumbs Down

    Best Match: Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte

    Worst Match: Andre The Giant Battle Royal

    This was going to be a thumbs in the middle until the main event. WrestleMania used to feel the place where huge storylines ended and we got satisfying payoffs. Not this year. Apart from the women’s title match and possibly the IC title match, no match tonight felt like it was special, like it was a career highlight to them. Most of the feuds tonight either had a middle chapter that will continue it for weeks or months to come, or an unsatisfying finish. All the legends and celebrities appearances were perfunctory and served no real purpose. You could argue that the two people who left this PPV with the most momentum were Shane McMahon and Zack Ryder. Think about that.

    – The ladder match was pretty darn good, Zayn and Owens were the highlights. Ryder winning was a nice moment that came years too late.

    – AJ vs. Jericho was good, but I don’t even know if it was “very good”. Jericho and AJ just do not click together. Jericho has lost a half a step in terms of pace, but he continues to work like he hasn’t. There was some sloppiness and a stunning lack of reaction at times. Jericho is leeching the heat AJ brought with him to WWE, and the fact that their WrestleMania match ended with them just trading back a win for the fourth time is infuriating. End this feud.

    – New Day vs. The League of Nations was fine. The entrance was good. The legends post match was the most pointless waste of legends I’ve seen in quite awhile. If this was supposed to be a “big” segment, I no longer want to see big segments.

    – Lesnar vs. Ambrose was fine, but ended just when it felt like it was getting interesting. Brock doing almost nothing but german suplexes was once fantastically entertaining, but the more often he does it, the less novel it gets. Ambrose comes off like a complete chump, who even when he is allowed to use all the weapons he wants, as was his plan, is still beaten relatively easy.

    – Women’s three way was easily the best match of the night. A little sloppy and obviously heavily scripted, it was still the one match that felt like it was special to the wrestlers, Sasha in particular was bumping crazily and working 100 miles an hour. WWE did a good job of making it feel like a big deal with the new title, the entrances and the fireworks. The biggest disappointment was Sasha losing, as you could hear the crowd’s disappointment. Tonight was meant to be her night.

    – Undertaker vs. Shane was every gimmick match ever. Not very good but then Shane does an insane bump and everyone leaves not remembering anything else. This needed way more smoke and mirrors and way less trading of submissions and horrible Shane punches.

    – Battle Royal went way too long for a show that went this long. If this leads to a Corbin/Kane feud, help me God.

    – Rock/Cena segment was just there, we’ve seen Rock do his thing a hundred times. It serves no real point, and like Lesnar, the novelty is wearing off.

    – Main event was horrible. The fact that HHH worked a near 30 minute match after six hours of wrestling, after Shane’s bump, the Rock and the return of Cena, and against an opponent he had to know was going to get booed out of the building, shows his hubris. There might have been a good 15 minute match in here, I don’t want to try and find it. 

    This was the weirdest WrestleMania of all time. Only IX comes close.

    Trevor Dame

    Thumbs down

    Best Match: Women’s Title Match

    Worst Match: Andre the Giant Battle Royal

    This show reminded me a lot of the late 90s WCW shows. Good undercard, but main events that failed to deliver. When you include the pre-show matches it was a nearly 6 hour show and it became tedious to watch at the end. It also felt like the wrong person won almost every match. There were a few bright spots, but in the end there weren’t many feel good moments. 

    Mike Ritschel

    Somerset, NJ

    Thumbs way down for Wrestlemania. Can’t remember a show this out of touch in awhile.

    Opener was Kalisto v. Ryback. Nothing RAW match. *

    Naomi & Lana & Tamina & Summer Rae & Emma v. Paige & Natalya & Brie Bella & Eva Marie & Alicia Fox. A lot less missed spots than the women’s title match, although they only had four minutes. Emma looked really nervous, Lana’s outfit was the only highlight.  1/2* The entire build was centered around Lana and Brie but they ignored it because they forgot I guess or they just wanted to bury someone they don’t like? I don’t know which is worse.

    Usos v. Dudleys. Not sure which act is staler. The constant praise of Mark LoMonaco has got to end. He’s a midcard heel who can’t work. Match was worse than. a RAW match. 1/2*

    Kevin Owens v. Sami Zayn v. Dolph Ziggler v. Stardust v. Miz v. Sin Cara. A few decent spots, the best of which was a half-nelson suplex on a ladder. Match was disjointed and we’ve seen it all before and it was nothing more than a car wreck then. Nothing special and the finish was three years late. ** Burying Zayn with two losses makes him the new Tyler Breeze I guess.

    A.J. Styles v. Chris Jericho. Match was actively bad like all their other matches. Jericho was never smooth in the ring but he’s a shell of himself and Styles seemed content to let him call the match. I hope Styles’ salary is worth this. A ton of missed spots and confusion, nothing looked sharp at all. Jericho looks like a retired rock star, which I guess he is minus the star. Dan Henderson has more life left in him than Jericho’s act. *3/4 They had something with the team of these two, and that RAW match with the New Day was the best thing in the storyline by far. Maybe they’ll go back to Y2AJ so Jericho can stand on the apron, something he can feasibly do at this point in his career.

    Kofi Kingston & Big E & Xavier Woods v. Sheamus & Rusev & Alberto Del Rio. Match had Woods going the whole way and he’s helpless in the ring. It was all just build up for the spot with Foley, Austin and Michaels which made absolutely no sense and wouldn’t Austin have been better in the Wyatt segment? This was proof there’s still heat between Austin and the people in charge. * We’re hours into the show and it’s all been awful to this point.

    Brock Lesnar v. Dean Ambrose. This was bad for a brawl and there was no wrestling at all to speak of. Lesnar did less than Scott Steiner during his WWE run. I actually was wishing Lesnar had gotten Wyatt instead. Ambrose should just move on with his life and frankly his goofy facials and average physique aren’t star material anyway. He’s a second rate Brian Pillman, and how many world titles did that guy win? DUD If they aren’t going to do anything with Lesnar, would he consider fighting Conor McGregor?

    Charlotte v. Sasha Banks v. Becky Lynch. I mean, it’s nice that some people are pretending this wasn’t a trainwreck with a million blown moves, but the worst part of this was the psychology. Two babyfaces lost to one heel, and by the way every single heel went over on the main card of this show except for Zack Ryder and who cares about him?  Sasha botched tons of stuff and almost killed herself doing a space flying tiger drop. Becky’s work is so sloppy, and the personalities of these three don’t mesh at all. ** Go back to Natalya as challenger.

    Undertaker v. Shane McMahon. Laughable and dull most of the way. Crowd barely got into the stunt show. It could have been worse, I suppose, but this deserved a lot more smoke and mirrors. Something so sad and depressing about this. -** Hopefully this is the swan song for everyone involved in this turgid angle.

    Battle Royal was terrible, too bad they couldn’t get Shaq to train as a wrestler.

    Rock segment was a mess. The material was so dated. He seemed like a sad old cursed albino man until it picked up with the Bray impression. Way too self-indulgent and it set up nothing for the future.

    HHH v. Roman Reigns. It was the best match of the night, although that’s not saying much. Don’t understand not doing an angle here of any kind. Just felt really flat, although the humorous Steph intro was probably the highlight of this awful show. *** I don’t know what you do with Reigns except months of Brock Lesnar matches, and that already feels like a dead pairing given it was a Mania main event not too long ago.

    They made a million different signings of talent recently and not one was on this show. They made no new stars at all here, and the show itself was wretched. Worst Wrestlemania since XI.
    Alex Carnevale

    Thumbs down.

    Best match: Women’s title.

    Worst match: HHH vs. Roman Reigns.

    This show merely showed that no matter how much good stuff is on a PPV, it can be destroyed by excess.

    There was no reason for the main show to go nearly five hours. No reason for the main event to go 27 minutes. No reason for Shane McMahon to risk himself with that jump from the top of the cage. And, as much as it pains me to say it, no reason for Rock to do a segment that really helped no one. 

    Much of the show was good. The IC match was a fun spot fest. The women’s match was strong. A.J.-Jericho was good, if the booking was dumbfounding.

    Brock Lesnar and Ambrose had a good match, but Ambrose was treated like a joke the whole feud, only to lose, clean, to Brock. I don’t see how he can be a top guy after losing so much.

    The UT-Shane cage match was an exercise in removal of disbelief, including, but not limited to, Shane’s jump. The spot, the whole match, and the feud, seemed unnecessary. Especially for a 46-year old man who’s not even a part timer.

    And the HHH-Reigns was just too long. It wasn’t horrible, but it dragged, with a result few wanted. This is the third time I remember HHH closing the show at WM and just hoping his match would end.

    Again, if the show was 3 1/2 hours, it’d be solid. But at 5 hours it was just too much.

    Keep up the great work.

    Zach Baker

    Thumbs down

    Best Match: Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks

    Worst Match: Andre Battle Royale

    One of the worst Wrestlemanias of all time. This was like a mid 90s WCW PPV with great undercard matches killed by terrible finishes, old part timers making the young full time guys look like geeks and a guy who everyone hates going over in the main event. The only thing that had a Wrestlemania type feel was the women’s triple threat and that got ruined by the wrong person winning. Nothing came close to even the 4th best match on the Takeover show. And no show should ever go almost 7 hours long.

    Josh Hayes

    Thumbs in the middle
    Best: Women’s championship match
    Worst: Battle Royal

    Much like many Cowboys games in AT&T Stadium, Wrestlemania faltered in the fourth quarter and turned a great show into an average one.

    I don’t understand how they have 30 writers on staff, and they come up with straightforward matches for Hell in the Cell (that was ripe for run-ins like the Sting match last year) and the main event (which sorely needed some juice).

    This show was cooking along nicely through the women’s match (albeit some questionable results — Ryder, Charlotte…JERICHO??), but the plodding pace of the Cell match hurt things, along with an anticlimactic finish.  WWE spent the last month saying their product sucked and Shane would make it better. Instead, it will continue to suck.

    We need something more in Rock appearances too besides “promo, heel interrupts, Rock mocks them and beats them up.”  The Cena part was new, but figured he had to show up at some point.

    I don’t know what the battle royal was supposed to be.  Good for Corbin to win it, but that should’ve been done last year with Itami when they actually had a good story to tell in his winning.

    What can you say about the main event, except Vince does what he wants and HHH now has 3 flat Mania main events on his resume.

    This show was just way too long for what was presented.  I put this on par with Mania 29, where it seems like they were more interested in putting on a “show” instead of a memorable wrestling card.  Hopefully things get back on track for Orlando next year.

    – Chris Hughes

    Hi Dave,

    My Mania review. Really did not enjoy the show after last years awesome Mania exceeded all expectations. Was tediously long and had a weird pace and pretty bad uneventful booking overall that set up no new storylines. The commentary – even though I should be used to it by now – was so terrible amd added nothing to any of the matches and often took them down a notch.

    Thumbs Down
    MOTN: Ladder Match
    Worst: Usos vs Dudleys

    – US Title is a joke now. Poor Cena, he built it up so well.

    – 10 Women Tag was a nice surprise. WWE is always good at doing 10 person matches as everyone comes in quick to their trademark spots.

    – Dudley’s vs. Uso’s was terrible, but only because they were only given such a short amount of time. Why were Dudley’s faces today though?

    – IC Ladder Match was the best match, but had a ridiculous winner who’s been on TV twice in last year. Vince will be bored of Ryder in 2 weeks and he’ll be losing to L.O.N. in non-title matches.

    – AJ vs. Jericho was underwhelming. They seemed out of sync and never got a consistent flow. I knew Vince wasn’t putting over a TNA guy at Mania if he wouldn’t even put over Sting.

    – L.O.N. vs. New Day was a glorified Smackdown match, and after getting the win and JBL rambling about the 4 Horsemen comparison, they immediately get beat up by retired Attitude Era stars. Austin is my favorite wrestler of all-time, but all I could think was thank God the Brock match never happened.

    – Brock vs. Dean also underperformed. It wasn’t bad, but felt like an afterthought and could have been much more than it was.

    – The Women’s match was OK. People are giving it more credit than it deserves because it wasn’t a “Divas” match, but it was still pretty sloppy and telegraphed after watching Asuka on Friday.

    – HIAC was terrible. Shane’s offense was so horrendous (as expected). 5 minutes in all I could think was “thank God this isn’t on last.” The whole match was just filling time to get to the one pointless huge bump for the PG-era fans who have never had their own “Foley bump” moment. I was glad Taker won though, it would have been a joke him losing to Shane and I’m a proponent of not further devaluing The Streak. I think retiring with one loss is perfect, but I don’t want his Mania legacy turning into an Anderson Silva one.

    – Battle Royal was terrible as usual. I did like having Shaq though. Reminded me of Mania 2 Battle Royal with the football players. Good spot to mix some celebrities like that.

    – Thought The Rock segment was awful. Blah blah blah… fake attendance. Then he “breaks” Bundy’s record over SD Jones? Umm… OK? Are we supposed to care? Then once again have The Wyatt’s get beat up after they don’t even have a match.

    – Main Event… I was so tired and uninvested by this point. Decent match in other circumstances, but crowd didn’t care, everyone was too tired, heel/face roles were reversed, and just did not have a “biggest” Mania main event feel. Vince sacrificed his daughter and have male on female violence to try and get Roman over, but guess what? He’s still getting boo’d tomorrow and has NO heels to work with going forward.

    – Tim Dudley

    Overall: Thumbs in the middle. This was mixed bag of an event in the purest sense. The first 2 plus hours were very good. The Taker/Shane match was beyond a mess. It seems the live crowd was more forgiving than the captive audience at home. From my perspective it came across really poor.  Both of the legend segments were the far and away highlights of the show.  Triple H and Roman Reigns wrestled the wrong type of match for the temperature of their feud and the scenario at hand. Hard to argue; this show was way too long.

    Best Match; Out of everything, I enjoyed the opening ladder match the most.

    Worst Match; Shane and Taker was painful to watch.

    A. US Title Match: Kalisto vs. Ryback. Poor guys. With the troubles at the entrance gates, these guys wrestled in a 100,000 man stadium with less than 20,000 people in the building. As expected, they told the time tested David vs. Goliath story. The action was good and the story was told sufficiently. Decent opener. **

    B. Team BAD and Blond vs. The Total Divas. Longer than expected and certainly not offensive by any means. Enjoyable match with a solid finish. **

    C. The Dudley Boys vs. The Usos. The match did not have much to it. Felt like a third hour RAW match. Even the post match table spot got a lukewarm reaction. *1/2

    Opening video package was epic. Ties the past to the present like only WWE can.

    1. IC Title Ladder Match: Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Stardust vs. Zack Ryder vs. The Miz vs. Sin Cara.  Perhaps the best stunt show ladder match I have seen in some time. Innovative spots, a prevailing story thread, and a surprising victor. Awesome start to WM 32 and an incredible moment for Zack Ryder. ***1/2

    2. Chris Jericho vs. AJ Styles. A few timing issues and a subdued crowd aside, they won the crowd over with a number of awesome sequences leading toward another surprising finish.  Not a great, but a very good match. Disappointing that AJ did not get a better response. ***

    3. The New Day vs. The League of Nations.  Action was more hit than miss, but the match was not as interactive and “fun” as I expected. **

    and then… perhaps I was dreaming, or the access Pizza carbs sent me into a yeast induced state of euphoria. Did I really see this. HBK! Mick Foley! and by god, Stone Cold Steve Austin !! Un-be-lievable!!!!

    4. Street Fight: Brock Lesnar vs. Dean Ambrose. A new level of physical and intense. Essentially, this was the Punk/Lesnar story told at Summerslam three years back. Ambrose’s craziness added a unique element, but I do not know if it reached the level of Punk/Lesnar. Still a match that bordered on greatness. Props to Ambrose and Lesnar for not succumbing to the trend of multiple finisher/kickouts. People expect it too much at WM ***1/2

    5. WWE Women’s Title Match: Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte. With the new belt, the position on the card, and the time allocation, they really did give a platform for the women to shine. They wrestled a very ambitious match. In many spots it felt too rushed, too choreographed, and very rickety. The ladies looked nervous.  The effort shined through in the end, but I think the performance fell short of what they wanted it to be***

    6. Hell in a Cell: Shane McMahon vs. Undertaker. Way too slow and way too deliberate, and that is excusing an array of mistimed spots, terrible strikes, and senseless finisher kickouts. I wish they would have just rushed into the massive high spot and got it over with. With the exception of 2 or 3 highlights, this was a complete mess. With a payoff of this caliber, this has too be one of the worst WWE WM storyline and culminations in my memory.  The live crowd was way more forgiving then me. *

    7. Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. The obligatory battle royal buffer between main events. It was a little but of fun and a whole lot of lame. Corbin winning was a pleasant surprise. *

    The Rock/ Wyatt family segment.  What started as a hype segment, evolved to a verbal joust, became a quick singles match and transformed into a babyface celebration and crowd pleasing jubilee.  People will question the segment, but the show needed a shot in the arm. This was a shot of cocaine laced epinephrine.

    8. WWE World Title Match: Triple H vs. Roman Reigns.  Methodical match that tried to mimic the title matches of yesteryear and fell well short. Unlike Taker/Shane, the work was believable, but after 7 hours of wrestling,  a match that never sped past second gear did not come across well to the live crowd. Roman is not the babyface he needs to be. The crowd appeared apathetic for the majority of the match, but they did come alive for the finish. This was the wrong main event for a show of this length. ***

    Derek Hubbard

    Overall: BIG THUMBS DOWN

    Best match: Charlotte vs. Banks vs. Bayley for Women’s title

    Worst match: Undertaker vs. Shane McMahon

    Not since Mania 16 has a Wrestlemania done so little to blow off any feuds or give the fans any sense of joy. Not since Mania 11 has there been such a terrible show overall. I guess the women’s match might have been 4 stars (the fuck finish was very lackluster), but other than that every match would have been lucky to crack 3 stars. The idea that the Reigns vs. The Authority angle must continue when the fan reaction and ratings make it INCREDIBLY clear that no one cares or enjoys it is just sad. I know the old stereotype of “he’s going to watch it no matter how much he complains” but I truly watch less WWE than I have in years. When I actually do watch Raw I skim through it in a bout 5-10 minutes. Vince McMahon is the George Lucas of wrestling and it’s long past time for him to pass the torch to someone else. Anyone else. 

    -Matthew Burrill @mattb425

    THUMBS UP for execution, though not planning.

    I mean, it is a $10 show, and a good one, but a failure in this respect: I do not want to tune in Monday to see what is going to happen now (assuming I was a casual fan).  WM should be a hook to draw lost fans back in, and the show seems to be a failure in that respect.

    It was, in many ways, a non-sequitur-Mania, with various entertaining nostalgia spots (Rocky promo, seeing Stone Cold deliver a stunner in some kind of sweat pants, an ill-advised re-dux of the off-the-top-of-the-HIC spot, a great entrance by Sasha Banks, Stephanie taking a spear like a champ!) but no angles were paid off, and no new ones were started (I mean, how far can Sasha’s beef with Ric Flair go?).  Shaq’s appearance was a surprise, and interesting, but it just has nowhere to go.

    I liked Baron Corbin’s win, and Zach Ryder’s win (which were nods to NXT on the big show); Brock Lesnar’s match felt pointless, which is not a good use of a talent like him.

    BEST MATCH: For me it was Jericho-Styles.  It reminded me of Steamboat-Savage, in that two excellent technicians were putting on a show down on the card, that managed to have some emotional resonance.

    WORST MATCH: Taker-Shane.  In one way, I think Shane is a believable opponent for Taker, in that a win was not unexpected.  But the match was not credible, and I would have preferred that Foley was the only person ever to come off the top of the Cell.  Another streak was broken in this match, and this one to me even more regrettable.

    A WORD ON THE TITLE MATCH: Looking at the nostalgia acts we saw tonight, all had 1 thing in common: they could TALK, which Roman cannot.  Circumstances being what they are, he can still get over as a heel, but they won’t let him.

    And why did fireworks go off after Roman won?  Shouldn’t the authority be mad?

    This was a decent match, but like a lot of the booking on this show, it left A LOT to be desired.  A very flat finish, and the Referee basically ignoring the sledge hammer was also ridiculous.

    Richard Orloski

  • The casual fan’s guide to Wrestlemania 32

    By Ryan Pike for WrestlingObserver.com

    WrestleMania is the Super Bowl of wrestling, a one-day menagerie of the best and brightest (of those not injured) from this great sport. Because of its prominence, it’s also a time of year where people that never watch wrestling wander back and have no idea what’s going on. In an effort to help out those casual fans that gravitate back to wrestling every spring, here’s a quick and dirty primer for this weekend’s big event.

    WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match: Hunter Hearst Helmsley (WWE Champion; 46; 9-10 at WrestleMania) vs. Roman Reigns (30; 2-1 at WrestleMania)

    Helmsley better known as Triple H, is appearing in his 20th WrestleMania (9-10) and has risen through the ranks from getting beaten by the Ultimate Warrior in 90 seconds at WrestleMania XII to the point where he’s a real-life WWE executive and the on-screen leader of a villainous corporate stable called The Authority. Reigns is the latest good-guy character to run afoul of The Authority – following Daniel Bryan and John Cena – and was twice briefly WWE Champion last year before the Authority stacked the deck against him and Triple H won the championship from him in the Royal Rumble match.

    Despite the Authority’s enmity towards him, he was able to earn another title match. They haven’t really established why either guy wants to be the champion, and the grudge between these two men seems to come from Triple H offering Reigns a spot in the Authority several months back (after Seth Rollin’s knee injury) and Reigns answering by attacking him without provocation. To the shock of few, Triple H is getting more cheers than Reigns is.

    Hell in a Cell for Control of RAW: The Undertaker (51; 22-1 at WrestleMania) vs. Shane McMahon (46; 2-0 at WrestleMania)

    The Undertaker is the longest-tenured member of the WWE roster, having debuted at the 1990 Survivor Series as a a spooky mortician. He’s gradually evolved into a less cartoonish character, but still retained some of the bad-ass mysticism of his character. He was undefeated at WrestleMania until two years ago, when Brock Lesnar beat him. He’s facing Shane McMahon, Vince’s son, for control of Monday Night RAW (the television show). Shane wrestled a bit as a special attraction throughout chunks of the late ’90s and mid ’00s, and was actually decent for somebody with no real training.

    Why the Undertaker was roped into this match-up has never really been explained on-camera, besides “The Authority told him to.” If Shane wins and gains control of RAW, the Undertaker won’t be allowed to compete at WrestleMania ever again. Based on the tepid fan response so far, it’s unclear if the audience really buys that either of the match’s stipulations will be followed. After all, The Authority were banished forever last year and it lasted for just a few weeks.

    No Holds Barred Street Fight: Dean Ambrose (30; 2-1 at WrestleMania) vs. Brock Lesnar (38; 2-3 at WrestleMania)

    This match has arguably the simplest build-up on the show. Both of these guys were in a match with Roman Reigns last month for a WWE Title shot. Ambrose cost Lesnar the match, and both guys are mad at each other for blocking their path to the WWE Championship and wish to fight to prove who is the best. Lesnar is a former UFC champion and legitimately one of the toughest men in WWE history, while Ambrose has developed a “loose cannon” character since debuting as part of The Shield a few years back, and the build for this match has been around how Ambrose is too crazy to be appropriately scared of a terrifying human being like Lesnar.

    Grudge Match: Chris Jericho (45; 4-7 at WrestleMania) vs. AJ Styles (38; WrestleMania debut)

    Chris Jericho debuted in WWE in 1999 as the hottest free agent in pro wrestling and earned many chants and much adoration from fans. AJ Styles debuted in WWE in early 2016 as the hottest free agent in wrestling and earned many chants and much adoration from fans. These men have had a “mutual respect” feud dating back to Styles’ debut in late January and after three matches this feud has turned into full-on hatred.

    Much of the build for the match has revolved around Jericho being jealous that the fans are chanting for Styles instead of him, but if you ignore how lame that sounds the feud is basically about an insecure character worried that the wrestling world is passing him by. Oh, and both guys are great in the ring so this could be the best match of the night from a technical perspective.

    WWE Divas Championship Triple Threat Match: Charlotte (Divas Champion; 29; WrestleMania debut) vs. Sasha Banks (24; WrestleMania debut) vs. Becky Lynch (29; WrestleMania debut)

    Charlotte is Ric Flair’s daughter, Banks is Snoop Dogg’s cousin and Lynch was trained by NXT champion Finn Balor. All three came up through NXT and had awesome matches. All three of these women debuted in July as part of the “Divas Revolution,” which changed the way women’s wrestling was perceived largely by showcasing the same women in short matches on RAW without finishes. (The concept was largely abandoned by September.) The women’s division was initially three teams which broke apart, and eventually the storytelling focused on Banks and Lynch facing off against Charlotte after she won the title and became a heel back in the fall.

    Fun Fact: This is the first triple threat match with all three competitors making their WrestleMania debuts since WrestleMania 2000 (where Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle faced off).

    Handicap Tag Team Match: The New Day [WWE Tag Team Champions Xavier Woods (29; WrestleMania debut), Kofi Kingston (34; 1-4 at WrestleMania) and Big E (30; 0-2 at WrestleMania)] vs. The League of Nations [Alberto del Rio (38; 1-2 at WrestleMania), King Barrett (35; 0-2 at WrestleMania), Sheamus (38; 1-3 at WrestleMania) and Rusev (30; 0-1 at WrestleMania)]

    The New Day describe themselves as “unicorns,” which is a weird way of describing them. They’re a trio of positive wrestlers who are over the top with their enthusiasm, which has led to them gradually becoming fan favourites because they’re so ridiculous that it’s tough to hate them. The League of Nations are four bad-guy wrestlers from foreign countries, with all three men lacking direction with their characters beyond being tough and mean and foreign. The New Day have been tag team champions for much of the last year, though the titles are not on the line.

    Fun Fact: This is the first handicap tag team match at WrestleMania since WrestleMania XX’s Evolution vs. Rock & Sock Connection 3-on-2 match.

    WWE Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match: Kevin Owens (Intercontinental Champion; 31; WrestleMania debut) vs. Sami Zayn (31; WrestleMania debut) vs. Sin Cara (38; WrestleMania debut) vs. The Miz (35; 3-1 at WrestleMania) vs. Stardust (30; 1-4 at WrestleMania) vs. Dolph Ziggler (35; 1-5 at WrestleMania) vs. Zack Ryder (30; 0-2 at WrestleMania)

    The primary recent feuds for the Intercontinental Title have been between Owens and his old NXT (and independent circuit) rival Zayn, and him and Ziggler (who has been perpetually in the mix for the Intercontinental and United States Titles). Literally everybody else was thrown into this match at the last minute, after Stephanie McMahon (a heel) berated Owens (a heel) for trying to engineer an easy title defense at WrestleMania. The winner is the first person to climb a ladder and retrieve the title belt.

    Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

    Announced participants include Health Slater (32), Curtis Axel (36), Adam Rose (36), Bo Dallas (25), The Big Show (44), Kane (48), Tyler Breeze (28), Goldust (46), R-Truth (44), Darren Young (32), Mark Henry (44), Konnor (36), Viktor (35), Jack Swagger (34), Fandango (34) and Damien Sandow (33) in a 20-man over-the-top-rope battle royal. The last man standing gets the Andre the Giant trophy, which is basically a statue of the Hall of Fame wrestler who was renowned for his success in battle royals. It helps that he was quite large and really hard to move. Cesaro and The Big Show have won the last two battle royals and it hasn’t done their careers much good, sadly.

  • NXT TV tapings results & notes: Nakamura, Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, Asuka

    Here’s some notes from today’s NXT tapings as part of Fan Axxess. Three weeks worth of tapings were held in a different part of the Bailey Kay Hutchison Center as the show the night before. It’s clear that a lot of stuff will be added between backstage and probably a lot of videos from the TakeOver shows as they didn’t tease much in the way of future directions.

    4/6 show

    – Asuka beat Eva Marie.  This was to set up Asuka vs. Nia Jax as a title program as they had a staredown.

    – Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson beat two wrestlers who weren’t named, possibly Scott Matthews & Scott Parker from Quebec.

    – Zack Ryder & Mojo Rawley beat Blake & Murphy.  No Alexa Bliss with Blake & Murphy. Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson jumped The Hype Bros after the match so that looks to be a new program.

    – Carmella beat Aliyah

    – Shinsuke Nakamura beat Elias Samson

    4/13 show

    – Jason Jordan & Chad Gable beat Enzo Amore & Big Cass.  There’s been talk of Enzo & Cass coming up to the main roster.

    – Nia Jax b Deonna Purrazzo

    – No Way Jose, whose debut has been pushed for the last few weeks on NXT, debuts on this show over Alexander Wolfe

    – Samoa Joe beat Apollo Crews via choke.

    – Austin Aries beat Angelo Dawkins.

    4/20 show

    – Alexa Bliss beat Tessa Blanchard

    Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa (who have signed NXT contracts but not developmental contracts, believed to be similar to the deal Austin Aries has, to where they can still work indies) beat The Vaudevillains.  So looks like they are now in for a push.

    – Baron Corbin pinned Tucker Knight in a basic squash

    – Bayley beat Liv Morgan.  Bayley cut a generic promo about it doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down, it’s how many you get back up.  She never mentioned Asuka’s name.

    – Nakamura beat Tye Dillinger.  Nakamura was great at connecting with the crowd.

  • At last, the WWE women will have their chance at Wrestlemania 32

    This Sunday at Wrestlemania, WWE Divas Champion Charlotte will face Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks in a three-way title match that would have served as the logical narrative bookend to the concept that was the Divas Revolution. The payoff of these three facing off against one another on the biggest stage in professional wrestling, having climbed from humble beginnings and overcome negative stigmatization in a male-dominated industry to achieve at the highest level imaginable, would have been both the ultimate testament to the success of the Divas Revolution as a long-term storyline and the proper punctuation on the statement that WWE had reached a new era in the presentation of its female talent.

    Or at least it would have been were it not for the countless fatal decisions made along the way that ultimately lead to its failure. Had WWE’s faith in branding and hashtagging been enough to sustain through incomprehensible storytelling, numerous dreadful on-screen segments (including no fewer than two disastrous episodes of Miz TV), far too many unexplained and illogical changes in the heel-face dynamic, an overwhelming sense of purposelessness, and the tasteless invoking of Reid Fliehr’s name for the sole purpose of cheap heat, the Divas Revolution concept may very well have survived to see Wrestlemania.

    But because so many mistakes made it revolting more often than revolutionary, and because WWE’s commitment to the concept seemed to run only as deep as seeing a buzzword trend worldwide on Twitter a few nights a week, the #DivasRevolution is long dead.

    When Charlotte, Sasha, and Becky step into the ring on Sunday, they will represent all that remains of that misbegotten, in-name-only revolution. Fortunately, they were the only components of it that ever mattered at all.

    The title match at Wrestlemania this Sunday is not at all about the Divas Revolution, despite any possible attempts from WWE commentators to inform the audience otherwise. Rather, it will be above all else the crowning moment for three of the major players of the very real sea change that has been going on for far longer than a hashtag-revolution. It will be a career-defining highlight for Charlotte, Sasha, and Becky, whose work in NXT between 2013-2015 with each other and the likes of Bayley, Natalya, Paige, and Emma was a major catalyst for an actual change in that audience’s perception of women’s wrestling.

    Given their immense collective and individual potential, this should be far from the last big moment these three women will experience at a Wrestlemania.

    What this match could ultimately prove to be is one that may help direct the course of women’s wrestling in WWE for years to come, and one that could help pave the way for other women to enjoy their own much-deserved moments in the spotlight at that level. Someone like Bayley, for example, who has a very real potential to become one of the company’s top money-makers, full stop. The response of the live crowd, and the social response of the worldwide viewing audience, could create enough tangible evidence to convince those who may still believe otherwise that the future of WWE’s female performers is in emphasizing in-ring prowess and performance over aesthetics and sex appeal.

    If rumors of a new WWE Women’s Championship being revealed on the Raw following Wrestlemania prove true and result in the long overdue abandonment of the obnoxious “Divas” brand, then the match between Charlotte, Becky, and Sasha may just be the final, decisive nail in a coffin that they have all worked so hard to seal.

    Or, perhaps, it won’t prove to be that at all. Perhaps the notion of sweeping change in WWE’s philosophy regarding women taking place in just eight months’ time is as ill-fated as thinking that CM Punk’s 434-day championship reign or Daniel Bryan’s Wrestlemania triumph would turn back decades of big-man fetishism. Even today, with Charlotte, Sasha, and Becky on the precipice of taking their well-earned Wrestlemania moments, the company still seems adamant to draw blood from the stone that is Eva Marie, someone who epitomizes what WWE thinks of when it uses the malapropos term “Diva.”

    The fact that the expectation was that she would be cheered when she appeared on Raw (in Brooklyn, of all places) reinforces the idea of a considerable disconnect between WWE’s beliefs and reality. Slotting Eva in as the surprise 10th participant in the pre-show tag match doesn’t quite portend that she would one day be given a run with the championship (though her reemergence on the main roster certainly makes it seem no less plausible), but it also doesn’t dissuade from the idea that there are still those in the company who see a woman’s primary contribution to the product as being her ability to look good in as little clothing as possible.

    Regardless of what the match means or doesn’t mean for the big picture of WWE today and moving forward, it can be said with a fair degree of certainty what it means to the three performers involved: quite simply, everything.

    Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks will be culmination of years of tireless effort and struggle; in one instant, together in front of the largest audience WWE has ever drawn, everything that they have sacrificed along the way will have been worth it. For as much as the concept of the Wrestlemania moment has become another in WWE’s arsenal of trite branding terms, it will be just that for the three, and it will be a moment well deserved.

    Perhaps given the uncertainty of seemingly all things creative in WWE at present, it is simply the best course of action to not worry about whether this match can atone for the failures of the Divas Revolution or set the table for the future of the women’s division. It is unlikely that Charlotte, Sasha, or Becky will be thinking in such lofty terms this Sunday or in the days leading up to it. They will probably not be concerning themselves with starting a movement, causing a revolution, or sparking long-term change.

    Instead, they are much more likely to be focused on a single moment. On appreciating it, and on seizing it. On doing their utmost to steal the show, just as they have in NXT so many times before. With their talent and drive, there is no reason to believe that they cannot deliver on that promise once again, despite the amplified lens. Given their history of pulling off show-stealing performances, it is unlikely that most fans will leave their seats until the finish if only so that they, too, can share in that moment with them. That, in and of itself, speaks to the level of change they have helped affect.

    Before the #DivasRevolution hashtag, there was #GiveDivasAChance. It sprung directly from indignation at women being given so little to work with compared to their male counterparts, rooted in the idea that female wrestlers deserve, at the least, an equal opportunity to show the world what they could do in the ring. This Sunday at Wrestlemania, Charlotte, Sasha Banks, and Becky will presumably be empowered and enabled to go out in front of 85,000 fans — many of whom will be invested in the match to at least some extent – and tell a story.

    They should, and likely will, be given every tool available to put on a blow-away match in front of millions of people around the globe. It is fair to say that, despite WWE doing seemingly everything it could to get in its way, women’s wrestling is being given its chance at long last. It would be more appropriate, however, to say that it is an opportunity well earned. 

  • The Rock has arrived in Dallas

    Dwayne Johnson arrived late last night in Dallas to start preparation for WrestleMania.

    Johnson’s role on the show has not been announced and on Twitter he noted that last night at 2 a.m. he was in the stadium still working on what he was doing on the show.

    Johnson wrote on twitter: “2 a.m. and still working on the show.  Tomorrow night this stadium will be filled with 100,000 strong.  what a night we have planned.”

    Johnson has been working on the “Baywatch” movie but committed to the show publicly months ago.  For insurance reasons, he wasn’t able to wrestle a match on the show as he and HHH one year ago was scheduled to be one of the main events.

    At one point it looked like it was going to be difficult to even be a part of the show due to the filming of “Baywatch,” but he was able to make that happen.

    It was noted to us a few weeks ago when most of the plans for the show were being formulated that Johnson was going to do what he wanted to do, and at the time he hadn’t told the company yet exactly what his plans were.

  • WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony 2016 live coverage

    WWE’s annual hall of fame ceremony is upon us, with a mix of all-time greats, memorable acts, celebrities, and the debut of the Legacy Award. This year sees Sting and the Fabulous Freebird act as headliners, while Stan Hansen adds credibility, The Big Bossman finally joins the hall of fame, while The Godfather adds levity, Jacqueline provides the female entrant, and Snoop Dogg enters the celebrity wing. Something called the Legacy Award will also make its debut here, while Joan Lunden will be honored with the Warrior Award for her fight with breast cancer. The pre-show features a slew of interviews, and concluded with a touching tribute to Dusty Rhodes before the end of it. Byron also wore a ridiculous suit. Booker T is a smart man and says that his wife makes him wish that every night was a hall of fame night.

    The hall of fame broadcast begins with a video package recapping how all-time greats are in the hall of fame…and also Jacqueline and Godfather. Jerry Lawler is the emcee, and says that this is favorite night of the year – and he truly means it. Like he does when that’s used for WrestleMania, or Tribute to the Troops. Godfather is the opening act, and he was now “a conductor of a train”. We see Godfather’s IC Title win and Ice T intro to show the heights that the character reached. The APA induct The Godfather and put him over as one of the toughest guys in history. JBL says that Godfather had to dumb his character down for TV and they say they still have the munchies from riding with him. They do an amusing  bit where they can’t tell their whole stories on a family show, and then tell their wives that they actually don’t know him and are making this up on the fly. Godfather comes out looking trim and brings out one more ho train. Godfather gives a shout-out to his kids and has his grandson get a round of applause. Godfather says he’s not really a pimp…but he ran Cheetah’s, so he’ll leave that alone. Godfather tells the young guys to have fun, enjoy the time you have now, and go visit him and “chop it up”. I’m sure he’s just a really big salad fan.

    Stan Hansen follows up Godfather, and we finally get to see his full hall of fame video recapping his career. Seeing Stan with bleach blonde hair in the ’70s is bizarre. Paul Heyman tells us that as a kid, he didn’t fear Godzilla or the boogeyman – he feared Stan Hansen for breaking Bruno’s neck. Stan’s highlight reel is amazing – even focusing just on his mannerisms and promos. Vader comes out and says he met Stan in a “small regional company called the AWA” – well, it was certainly down from its peak, but it wasn’t small in ’86. Vader admires Stan Hansen almost as much as Mr. T loves his mama. Vader talks about Stan breaking his nose before the match with Stan where his eye came out. After what might have been several decades, Stan comes out after Vader puts on googly eye glasses.

    Stan looks pretty much the same as he ever did, but with grey hair instead of brunette. Stan thanks God for giving him a strong set of legs, and forgives him for getting shortchanged when it came to looks. He thanks JBL for keeping his name alive in the modern era and talks about Brody telling him if you have two ugly guys like them, if you find pretty ladies that love you, you’ve got it made. He’s proud of his kids for paving their own way in life, and thanks Terry Funk for breaking him into wrestling. Hansen puts over Bob Backlund as the best athlete in wreslting history, and talks about how they each had to sleep in their cars at times. Stan puts over Red Bastien and Frtz Von Erich for helping him out a lot in Texas. He enjoyed working against Rick Martel a lot as well and shares a memory of Rick Martel beating him in 9 seconds – and then gets in a little jab at himself for that being proof he’s done a few jobs. Stan talks about how much he admires Bruno for that rivalry and gets a big grin on his face.

    Stan says he got caught in the middle of a wrestling war and left New Japan for All Japan – but worked for 26 years for Baba in All Japan on a handshake deal. He loved hooking up with Brody, and says that no one could keep up with them. He assures us he isn’t bragging, but hey, maybe he is with a bit of a wink. He loved working Jumbo and Tenryu, as well as the younger guys like Kobashi and Misawa. Stan thanks “the carpenters” in pro wrestling who built a foundation for him to stand on a main eventer. He thanks Texas and lets out one big “YOU!” with the horns. Stan’s speech was outstanding, even if Vader’s did drag on. Taker-Shane video package serves as an ad break.

    Jacqueline is up next, and we get a career retrospective of her winning in the USWA, and then being a “trailblazer” in WCW by having a match with Disco. She joined WWE in ’98 and became the first African-American women’s champion. She is put over more in the video as being a pioneer and someone who opened doors for future generations. Bubba and Devon come out to induct her and Bubba says that they were excited to induct her because it was her choice and she chose them immediately. Bubba and Devon have one of the best parts of the show so far, with Devon starting to talk and Bubba saying “nah, just say testify” and Devon telling him to get his own damn tables. Devon talks about how Jackie would feign falling asleep to avoid a toll, and then “forgetting her wallet” when it came to pay her share of the rental car. Devon told a great story about Jackie “dabbing”, failing, but accepting a bet to do that tonight. She does it while coming out just to get it over with. The thanks Skandar Akbar for training her, talks briefly about going in the USWA, skips over WCW, and runs down her WWE career in Wikipedia-like fashion. She thanks Lita, Trish, Sable, and Terri – we see Nidia for a second here when Lita was shown.

    The legacy award members of the hall of fame are introduced. Pat O’Connor, Frank Gotch, George Hackenschmidt, Mildred Burke, “Sailor” Art Thomas, Ed “The Strangler” Lewis, and Lou Thesz each get a video package showcasing some beautiful photos of each person’s career. It’s a shame that at least Gotch, Thesz, and O’Connor couldn’t go into the hall of fame formally – but at least they’re in somewhat, and it adds a small amount of on-paper credibility to things. The Fabulous Freebirds Hall of Fame video airs, and shows a slew of Von Erich stuff alongside “Freebird” playing. WWE did right by actually paying for the song, and the clips they showed allowed you to see how big a deal they were. New Day comes out in some amazing suits.

    They get in some amazing lines about the Freebirds being a well-oiled machine working as a unit, while Big E talks about his unit being oiled while Woods loves blowing on his girl Franchesca II. Big E talks about the Freebirds paint showing that they were big…fans of the USA!  In a perfect move once again, we get “Freebird” once again playing the Birds out to a sold-out arena in Texas. Hayes and Garvin come out looking ridiculous in a glorious way. Garvin is out looking like a high school chemistry teacher dancing to “Freebird” while Michael is out in a glittery pimp suit , a white and red “Badstreet USA” shirt, and a fanny pack while also sporting his Freebirds-era beard. Hayes is slightly blown up, while Garvin joked about needing oxygen and may in fact need it because he cannot say three words without breathing hard.

    Garvin thanks Chief Jay Strongbow for training him, and then talks about drinking moonshine with Hayes and Tommy Rich at a barbecue. Garvin says that the attendance records will be smashed tomorrow, and Hayes says that “speaking of smashed, Buddy, Terry, Jimmy and I got an apartment…”. They can’t find the key, so Terry just kicks it down and they all just prop the door up and party. Terry tosses a table up through the ceiling, and then they got pissed at Buddy because they always did – so he took a big bump through it and said “well, we never drank coffee anyway”. Michael brings out Ray Gordy and Buddy Roberts Jr. Ray says he always joked that as a kid, his favorite wrestler was always Kevin Von Erich. He thanks WWE for this honor. Buddy Jr. thanks WWE for this and Ray says he’d sure love to hear more Freebirds stories. Garvin says it’s a family show, so they’re a bit restricted – but they’ll push the limit because the worst that can happen is Hayes getting fired. Jimmy Garvin says he was taking a shower and was given a golden shower by Buddy Jack. Hayes talks about getting some good advice on a strip club, but he knows that him going to a strip club wouldn’t be a good idea to avoid getting in trouble. David, Kerry, and Terry force him to go into the club. It’s not your average strip club – it’s a place where you’ll hear “Here’s Aunt Rosie after her third kid!”.

    Michael Hayes was just minding his business playing Pac-Man before a biker talks smack to Michael, so Terry smacks him and they beat him up. Terry tells him “Michael…he’s got a wodden leg”, and Michael says he doesn’t care about that, he’s more concerned with leaving without getting stabbed. They try to make a deal with the bikers, but as one gets up, they see him reaching into his vest and they haul ass – but get to a back door that is locked. They go to the front door and the guy shoots, but luckily they got a head start since the guy’s got a wodden leg. He missed them and Terry laughs. Michael asks what the hell he was laughing at and he says “CUZ HE MISSED!” This got a huge roar of approval from the crowd and was eaily the best part of the show so far.

    Garvin talks about renting an apartment to the rest of them and Percy, and Percy almost burning it down by throwing a fire-lit chair into the pool. Garvin talks about loving being valet for the day for Kevin, then facing Chris Adams and loving Patty – his wife of 47 years. Garvin thanks her, their kids, and grandkids. He says he was honored to be a Freebird before officially being in it, and without them, he wouldn’t have had the ability to be what he was in wrestling. Or be able to party with Michael, Buddy, and Terry – and he’ll cherish those memories forever. Hayes makes sure that the WCCW roster gets some love, with Garvin being shown in his WCW getup during this portion. Hayes thanks his mom, even though when he was a kid, he was trying to mack on a girl and she killed it by asking for dungarees in the husky department. “Hollywood” John Tatum gets a pop, and a caemo while Hayes thanks the writers of WWE – who get huge boos. Hayes says he was disgusted when he first heard “smiles on faces”, but he went to a house show, and realized just how true it was. Hayes says to prove how crazy he is, he thanks his ex-wives. Claire believed in him, while Lory gave him some of the craziest times he could’ve ever had. Michael thanks the McMahons for helping him out in dark times, and says that Linda is the only one who isn’t crazy – but she did only let him sing one song at Hunter and Steph’s wedding, and almost accidentally peed on her on a plane. Hayes says that if you don’t believe in yourself, you should because he never thought he’d be standing on-stage as a WWE hall of famer. Michael gives a tribute to his dog Jojo, who he lost two years ago. Hayes talks about being told years ago that you should cherish the time you have, and not worry about the time you’ve wasted.

    He brings Kevin Von Erich out and says that the Freebirds were brothers because they loved each other, but calls New Day the “New Gay Guys” in an amusing little bit. He talks about loving and missing his brothers. He now has his sons Marshall and Ross, and after they got a chance to steal the show at Slammiversary, they get a nice cameo at the Hall of Fame too. He said they had a lot of fun beating each other up, it made for great TV, and God bless Texas. Hayes gives a shoutout to Badstreet USA and we hear that classic theme one more time on WWE TV before Hayes dances and then sings the song. Oh my God, this is glorious. Hayes is out to steal the show and keep his job at the same time. WWE gave Hayes 15 more minutes of fame tonight, and he took 90 – God bless him.

    The Big Bossman hall of fame video features some great clips of him in the WWF while Miz talks about how fans in the Attitude era paid to see his hardcore matches. And I guess that Austin fella helped a bit too. Slick rattled off a slew of cliches about Bossman and said that his pockets are full of green thanks to him. He says that while his family lost a father and husband, heaven gained a Guardian Angel. Bossman’s theme hits and his family comes out to accept the award in his honor. One of his daughters says that it was a bit tough watching him wrestle when he was getting beaten up by Rikishi and having his face shoved into his backside. Al Snow gets a brief shoutout as “some dude” – which seems like the punchline to a Mick Foley standup joke. Angela, Ray’s wife shows the night stick and says that Ray loved his family before tearing up. She gets in a great line with “When you have Rick Steiner as your roommate for a few years, you learn a lot!”

    Snoop Dogg highlight video sets up him going into the hall of fame. John Cena comes out to induct Snoop and gets a chorus of boos. He says that saying hi to Snoop doesn’t always mean hello. Cena says that Snoop’s WWE career began two years than his did, and he made more WM appearances than 10 of the wrestlers tomorrow. Cena says that WWE is Snoop’s home, which means that there could be some interesting results for tomorrow’s drug tests. He talks about calling himself the Doctor of Thuganomics years ago, and Snoop invited him into his studio and he got to make music with him. Snoop come sout looking amazing and saying he’s got to keep it hood and get a selfie with the crowd. Snoop says that “WWE is the number one sport in the world – not just America, but the world!” and puts over Cena for letting him live the WWE life when he visits. Snoop gives his cousin Sasha Banks a nice shoutout. He took her to WrestleMania in 2008 and she lit up. I bet he did too. Snoop was overjoyed to see her face on the side of AT&T Stadium. Her journey is something else, and he grew up seeing Gorilla and Andre live, and tells the crowd to give themselves a round of applause for being fans. Tony Atlas was an inspiration for Snoop, as were Rocky Johnson, JYD, Dusty Rhodes, and Ric Flair. Snoops raps about the hall of fame while reading lyrics off of his iPhone.

    D

    We get a rundown of Joan Lunden’s broadcasting career and battle with cancer, alongside her current role as a breast cancer advocate. Dana Warrior talks about how much she’s learned about life since losing Warrior two years ago. She cuts a great promo in this speech on how Real Housewives just copied WWE with table-flipping. Joan is put over as a mother, grandmother, and ultimate badass fighter for beating cancer and going into “Warrior Mode” to beat cancer. Joan says that due to cancer, she learned about how to become a warrior and overcome odds. She says that “there are no fans like the WWE fans”, which I’m sure was meant as a compliment, but could be misconstrued. Ditto “there is no other company like WWE!” She says that WWE has its Rock, but she has hers – it isn’t Don Muraco, but her husband.

    Sting’s TV hall of fame video is shown again for the show – kind of a shame it wasn’t expanded upon for the full show since he is the main eventer on it. Ric pays tribute to Roddy Piper and Dusty Rhodes before tearing up, then composing himself to get Dusty’s wife to stand up. Ric puts over Charlotte as carrying the family tradition, and chats about Sting for a bit too before cutting a promo on Stan Hansen for losing to Rick Martel in 9 seconds, but he wouldn’t even sell for him – and Brody wouldn’t either! Flair told Sting to go to WWE years ago and rattles off his Sting-Flair formula. When he was asked to change it up, he said why – it works, and it sure did. It was a great formula for Flair and Bobby Roode replicated it perfectly in TNA. He puts over HHH as being one of the best ever, and loves HBK for carrying him at WrestleMania XXIV – and gets in a little dig at HBK for saying “just shut up and listen to me” for his WWE retirement match. Ric talks about Steamboat and says they’re each 0-4 for marriages, while DDP is only 0-2. He’s glad Sting finally got a chance to come to WWE because it’s the place to be. Ric says that he was sure Sting would get blown up at WrestleMania last year, but he didn’t – but HHH beat him then too.

    Sting says he made his WWE debut on Raw in this very building, and how he didn’t know anything about wrestling until he saw Big John Studd, Andre the Giant, the British Bulldogs, and it was pandemonium when he saw them. Sting talks about not knowing what Waffle House was when he was just getting in, and Warrior having a crazy breakfast with tons of stuff just on top of other things. They pretty much lived in his ’83 T-bird and he promised God that he’d give back if he was able to make it in pro wrestling. Sting says that at one time, over 400 companies were making products with his likeness on there. He wonders if anyone still has a Sting air freshener. I bet a Snoop air freshener would sell quickly. He talks about the Seth match and Seth apologizing to him, but Sting telling them to let him talk – and he told him that he dressed as Sting for Halloween and “he had a shootin’ look on his face too!”. He rattles off some great lines. “One of the highlights of my career was teaming with Robocop and Leon, remember the White Castle of Fear – boy this WWE Network has a lot of good stuff on me…” He shares a tale of an NWO beating resulting in Kevin Nash spooning with him. He talks about Surfer Sting, Crow Sting, and asks if he should mention Joker Sting and does. Sting says that he was a chameleon, and it hurt him because he didn’t stand for anything and would fall for anything.

    He made bad choices, and while people saw the Sting persona at its peak, in his real life, everything slipped through his fingers. In August of 1998, he was pinned by God. Since that point, his life has been back in order and he’s now with the fans, his wife, kids, mother, and daughter. He says he got bragging rights by appearing at WrestleMania and facing a great like HHH. He is proud to be a WWE Hall of Famer and thanks Jim Hellwig. A “one more match” chant breaks out and then an even louder “Undertaker” one happens. He thanks 2K for some advice, and thanks his trainers for getting him in shape for both WrestleMania and Night of Champions. He thanks Jim Ross for his advice over the year, and Michael Hayes.

    Sting shows us his family, including his parents, who look fantastic for their age. He thanks his children and stepson for becoming the young men and women they’ve become. Sting says that without the fans, there wouldn’t be a Sting, Stone Cold, or Bruno. He enjoyed entertaining the fans for all the years he has. He announces his official retirement from wrestling tonight – and while it was something that was expected since September, it was still sad. He at least went out in the ring giving everything he had, and main eventing a WWE pay-per-view that wound up doing very well. He puts on some shades, grabs his bat and says “it’s not goodbye – just see you later”. Sting’s speech was excellent, and one of the better ones on the show. It’s a shame he didn’t mention Lex Luger in his speech – and a little surprising. Whle Michael Hayes stole the show, Sting’s speech felt genuine and was something to be remembered. Ditto for Stan Hansen’s. Snoop’s speech could be edited for a Sasha Banks video and make her a star in one night on Raw – it was that good.

    To see all the screens for the show, just click here.

  • Dave Meltzer’s WWE WrestleMania Diary: TakeOver fallout, ROH, Sami Zayn

    I just would like to personally thank everyone I came in contact with the past few days here, particularly those at our banquet yesterday at the Texas de Brazil steakhouse. All the nice things said are really appreciated and to be able to meet people from all over the world. I want to mention that this website, the newsletters, and the audio aren’t just a product of us, but also of everyone. If you see shows or great matches from around the world, we’re always up for reports and links. 

    Again, it was just wonderful to see so many people who share a common passion and just how nice everyone was. I will be heading home today because for my job, WrestleMania really has to be viewed on TV. But for everyone I met at the banquet, thanks so much.  e all work so hard and it’s days like the last two that really make it feel like it’s worth it.

    To the news and notes:

    – NXT was a great show last night. Bobby Roode and Kota Ibushi were surprise announcements and in both cases, they makes sense. When Ibushi announced he wasn’t staying with DDT and New Japan, WWE made sense as the next step, particularly with cruiserweight tournament. For Roode, once he left TNA, it made sense for both sides for him to be in WWE.  It looks like NXT, and they can use a veteran in the ring.

    – The big questions coming out of last night’s TakeOver show is what’s next for Nakamura, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe. We already know what’s next for Sami Zayn. It wouldn’t shock me at all to see him win the title tomorrow although WWE has a ton of different ways to go. But Zayn and Kevin Owens seem like the only logical picks. Zayn could use the big boost and the story of Owens complaining that he lost the title, how Zayn never beat him and how he hurt Zayn before makes sense. But there are really a lot of directions because A.J. Styles needs to be in a top program. I could see a big blow off with Chris Jericho in a month or so, at that point there are new things needed for both.

    – I have to watch the NXT show when I get back to get the feel of it from a TV perspective.  Live, it was a great show, well placed. I didn’t leave thinking it was the greatest show of the year or anything like that, but I know people who saw it did. Nakamura and Joe should be main roster main eventers. Joe should be in the mix with people like Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. In watching the match last night, and the aura he had, it really felt like Lesnar vs. Joe should have been built for nine months for Mania this year more than the original plans for Bray Wyatt or Dean Ambrose. 

    – We only saw some of ROH with the big news at the show being Colt Cabana’s return to face Jay Lethal. All the key shows were packed.

    – Evolve’s business was through the roof as compared to their normal standards or last year’s Mania. They were expecting close to 1,500 for the noon show today with Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet. I didn’t see Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr. from yesterday but last night there were people who saw that and Zayn vs. Nakamura and said the former was better. But aside from NXT, that match as the talk of the weekend so far.

    – The dark matches at NXT last night were Manny Andrade over Chris Girard which was said to be good but short, and Apollo Crews over Elias Sampson, which was originally scheduled for the special.  They are taping TV at Fan Axxess from 1-5 p.m.

    – Last night I was at the Kaiju Big Battel show. Not a lot of say about it.  A show ending at 3 a.m. would be the second latest time I think I’ve ever been to a wrestling show at.  Kota Ibushi wrestled a stuffed animal.  It was actually pretty impressive how he did it.  He made an entertaining spectacle, out of it and did some cool things without taking any actual risks. 

    – Regarding the UFC situation with Daniel Cormier pulling out of the title match with Jon Jones, the real question is how badly hurt is Cormier.  If he’s hurt enough that he would need surgery, it’s one thing.  If he can go by July, and be healthy at that point, they should take their lumps on 4/23 and it’ll just make UFC 200 even bigger with that fight added.

    If he can’t, things get tricky.

    Rumble Johnson would be the obvious replacement, and is also the most dangerous fighter as far as an opponent for Jones because he’s got the most power.  Jones has been training for an entirely different type of fighter and if he were to pull out or just say he wants to wait until June or July for Rumble, I can understand it.  At the same time, it may be the best thing for Jones to face Rumble in a short notice fight because he’ll be facing his most dangerous foe when not at his best.  Really, if he were to lose to Jones on a short notice fight and Jones ends up as champion, he’s got far more at risk.  Jones is going to be a superstar either way.  For Rumble,  the Jones match, when it happens, is a career and life changer for him if he wins, and a loss, even though he won’t be at his peak conditioning wise and people should know it, it will hurt him.

  • NXT TakeOver Dallas live results: Nakamura debuts; Finn Balor & Bayley defend their gold

    Friday’s NXT TakeOver: Dallas show on the WWE Network is one of the biggest the brand has produced up to this point with three big main events that sound great on paper, and should be great in execution.

    If given time, the top three matches have a chance of being some of the best matches this weekend will provide:

    – Reigning champion Finn Balor will defend the NXT title against Samoa Joe, a rematch from TakeOver: London event.

    – Women’s champion Bayley defends against Asuka, who has a ton of momentum since debuting.

    – Sami Zayn, who is making what will most likely be his last appearance on the NXT brand, will square off against a debuting Shinsuke Nakamura, who stunned the world by signing a WWE contract a few months ago after having a great run in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

    – Austin Aries will take on the man who attacked him in his debut, Baron Corbin

    – Apollo Crews faces off against “The Drifter” Elias Sampson

    – NXT Tag Team Champions The Revival (Dash and Dawson) defend against American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan).

    Join us at 10 PM EST for our coverage!

    Apparently, the Apollo Crews/Drifer match was bumped to dark match status. Apollo won in what was said to not be a very good match.

    In case you were wondering, no, we didn’t have Triple H open this broadcast.

    NXT Tag Team Championship: The Revival (Dash and Dawson) (c) vs. American Alpha (Jason Jordan and Chad Gable)

    Crowd was really hot for this. Gable worked a lot of the match, and was the one being worked on as Jordan was waiting for a tag. They worked on him forever, though there were a few clever spots like Dash going through the ring and taking out Jordan just as Gable was going for a tag. They completely messed up a spot where the Revival were going for a powerbomb/clothesline off the top rope combo but didn’t get Gable up all the way and it looked really bad, and on top of that Dash went for a cover when he wasn’t the legal man and they just stood there for a few seconds, lost. “Botchamania” chants after that one. It picked right back up after that as Jordan was tagged and they went for a bunch of fun near falls that the crowd ate up. Gable had a bunch of clever nearfalls, he’s such a terrific athlete. They did a phantom tag as Gable had Dawson in the corner. Jordan surprised him with a spear, Gable tagged back in and hit their drop/suplex bridge finisher to win the titles. Good match despite the botch with some great heat.

    Jim Ross, Michelle Beadle, Funaki and, most interestingly, Kota Ibushi were shown in the crowd. Announcers specifically mentioned the cruiserweight tournament when talking about Ibushi.

    Baron Corbin vs. Austin Aries

    Corbin has a cool new jacket. I know Aries is on the small side anyway but Corbin absolutely dwarfed him in comparison. Aries started off hot but Corbin cut him off and got the heat on him. He’s really found himself in terms of agressiveness which I think he didn’t have even going back a few months ago, he continue to improve well. Aries made a comeback but Corbin laid him out with the deep six (spinning side slam) on the outside. He went for the End of Days but Aries countered with a roll up into a bridge and got the win. Right finish as it protected Corbin and Aries got the needed win in his debut. Pretty good match.

    Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

    Crowd went ballistic the minute Nakamura came out. Song, entrance, everything fit him and was instantly over. Crowd is SUPER into this, far beyond anything else on this card so far. Good back and forth between both throughout. Nakamura was extremely comfortable doing his own thing and did all of his trademark spots. He’s one of the best in the world in terms of charisma and presence and it was completely represented here Zayn did the big running senton to the floor. Great back and forth sequence. Nakamura’s nose was busted open. “We want strong style” chant. More back and forth until Nakamura hit the spinning clothesline, like from the G1 final from a few years ago. He transisitoned into a triangle. Zayn tried to counter but Nakamura escaped. Zayn got in the koji clutch but Nakamura countered out of it. Zayn went for the helluva kick but Nakamura  escaped and hit the reverse exploder and went for the boma ye but Zayn countered. Just great back and forth and the heat was incredible. Nakamura hit the knee strike to the back of the head then pinned Zayn with a high knee strike to the face for the win. Absolutely incredible match that is a surefire match of the year candidate. I think Nakamura’s going to be just fine in WWE.

    Nakamura and Zayn shook hands after the match. Zayn stood in the ring as people were chanting “Ole” and “Thank You Sami”. He left to his own music to a big reaction. 

     NXT Women’s Championship: Bayley (c) vs. Asuka

    Both women worked really well with one another and everything looked right on the money. A lot of back and forth. Asuka went for a kick but Bayley immediately latched on a kneebar in a cool submission. She worked on both Asuka’s knees. Asuka came back with the flying armbar and went into the seated position but Bayley countered with a roll up. Asuka latched on the Asuka lock, taking her to the floor. Bayley fought and fought, but eventually passed out and Asuka got the win, becoming the new Women’s champion. Crowd was stunned by this but ultimately cheered Asuka. Tough to follow the previous match but this was really good.

    Bayley looked dejected after the match. Asuka left the ring, stared at Bayley, then headed up the ramp, posing with the title.

    They showed Bobby Roode in the audience, so at the very least he’s on the radar.

    NXT Championship: Finn Balor (c) vs. Samoa Joe

    Balor came out with a chainsaw, I guess since it’s in Texas. Maybe he borrowed it from Dean Ambrose and will give it back after the match. Balor did a flying senton to the floor and Joe’s eye was immediately busted open big time, blood everywhere. It was actually from a headbutt sequence at the start of the match. Joe did a sick suicide dive to the outside. They had to stop the match several times as Joe’s eye was still bleeding, which the crowd didn’t like, chanting “Bulls***” and “F*** PG”. I don’t think it’s a PG issue but rather a a medical/commission issue. Some good back and forth once that was all cleared up. Balor went for the coupe de grace but Joe cut him off and hit the muscle buster for a nearfall.  Balor got back up and hit the coupe de grace then tried to follow with the Bloody Sunday DDT but Joe came back with the kokina clutch. They did the Piper/Bret finish from Wrestlemania 8 where Balor used the turnbuckle as leverage and bridged himself over Joe on the floor, pinning him. Heat and intensity was there, and it wasn’t bad but the constant stoppages hurt it from being really great.

    Joe looked both stunned and angry after the match, and simply left with Balor celebrating in the ring as the show ended. Another great NXT Takeover event, watch the Zayn/Nakamura match above everything else but each match was good to great in it’s own right.

  • Daily pro wrestling history (04/1): Ultimate Warrior beat Hulk Hogan in memorable Mania match

    1913

    Kansas City, Kansas:
    – World Heavyweight champion Frank Gotch beat George Lurich 2 falls to 0

    1924

    St. Louis, Missouri:
    – World Heavyweight Champion Ed “Strangler” Lewis beat Jim Londos 2 falls to 1

    1961

    St. Paul, Minnesota:
    – Gene Kiniski beat Wilbur Snyder to win AWA US Title
    – Hard Boiled Haggerty beat Stan Kowalski
    – Jim Hady beat Tony Nero
    – Joe Scarpello beat Bill Green

    1965

    Kansas City, Kansas:
    – NWA World Champion Lou Thesz beat Bob Geigel by dq in 2 out of 3 falls
    – Dick the Bruiser and Art Neilson beat Doug Gilbert and Ron Reed 
    – Missouri Mauler beat Dutch Savage 
    – Steve Bolus beat Great Hercules 
    – Bob Brown beat Bobby Shane 

    1972

    St. Paul, Minnesota:
    – AWA Tag Team Champions Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Bill Watts & Dr X in 2 out of 3 falls
    – Billy Robinson beat Big K 
    – Dusty Rhodes ddq Don Muraco 
    – Larry Hennig beat Bull Bullinski 
    – Ramon Torres drew Chris Markoff 
    – Dennis Stamp beat Rick Ferrera

    1984

    Chicago, Illinois:
    – Mr. Saito & Jesse Ventura beat The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke dq
    – Nick Bockwinkel beat Billy Robinson dq
    – Dick The Bruiser & Blackjack Mulligan & Blackjack Lanza beat Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan
    – Fabulous Ones beat Larry Zbyszko & Roger Kirby
    – Road Warriors beat Steve O & Buck Zumhofe
    – Greg Gagne beat Steve Regal
    – Brad Rheingans beat Kevin Kelly

    1989 

    Memphis, Tennessee:
    – Master Of Pain defeated Jerry Lawler for the USWA Unified Heavyweight Title 

    1990

    Wrestlemania VI:Toronto, Canada:
    – Demolition defeated the Colossal Connection (Andre the Giant and Haku) to win the WWF Tag Team championship
    – WWF Intercontinental champion The Ultimate Warrior pinned WWF champion Hulk Hogan to win the WWF World Title
    – Brutus Beefcake pinned Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig 
    – The Hart Foundation defeated The Bolsheviks 
    – Rick Martel submitted Koko B. Ware
    – Roddy Piper fought Bad News Brown to a double countout
    – The Barbarian pinned Tito Santana 
    – Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire defeated Randy Savage and Sherri Martel
    – The Orient Express, Pat Tanaka and Akio Sato defeated The Rockers by countout 
    – The Earthquake pinned Hercules Hernandez 
    – Hacksaw Duggan pinned Dino Bravo 
    – Ted DiBiase defeated Jake Roberts to regain possession of his “Million Dollar Belt” 
    – Big Bossman defeated Akeem 
    – Rick Rude pinned Jimmy Snuka 

    1994 

    Pikeville, Kentucky:
    – The Rock N’ Roll Express defeated the Heavenly Bodies (Tom Pritchard & Jimmy Del Ray) for the SMW Tag Team Titles 

    1996

    San Bernadino, California:
    – Goldust defeated Savio Vega to win the WWF Intercontinental Title

    2001

    Wrestlemania 17: Houston, Texas:
    – Kane beat Raven and Big Show to win the WWF Hardcore championship
    – Eddie Guerrero pinned Test to win the WWF European championship
    – Chyna pinned Ivory to win the WWF Women’s championship 
    – Steve Austin pinned The Rock in a No DQ match to win the WWF World Title
    – The APA & Tazz defeated The RTC (Bull Buchanan & The Goodfather & Val Venis) 
    – Kurt Angle pinned Chris Benoit
    – Shane McMahon pinned Vince McMahon in a Streetfight 
    – Edge & Christian defeated The Dudley Boyz and The Hardy Boyz in a TLC match to win the WWF Tag Team championship.
    – The Undertaker pinned Triple H

    2007 

    Wrestlemania 23: Detroit, Michigan:
    – The Undertaker defeated Batista to win the World Title
    – Ken Anderson won Money in the Bank Ladder match
    – US Champion Chris Benoit defeated MVP
    – The Great Kahli defeated Kane
    – ECW Originals (The Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, Sabu & Rob Van Dam) defeated New Breed (Elijah Burke, Kevin Thorn, Marcus Cor Von & Matt Striker)
    – ECW Champion Bobby Lashley, with Donald Trump, defeated Intercontinental Champion Umaga, with Armando Alejandro Estrada & Vince McMahon in a hair vs. hair match. Steve Austin will be the special referee 
    – WWE Women’s Champion Melina defeated Ashley in a Lumber Jill Match
    – WWE Champion John Cena defeated Shawn Michaels

    2011 

    ROH Honor Takes Center Stage Night: Atlanta, Georgia:
    – Charlie Hass and Shelton Benjamin defeated the Kings of Wrestling to win the ROH World Tag Team Titles
    – Michael Elgin beat El Generico
    – In a Four Corner Survival match,  Homicide defeated Tommaso Ciampa, Colt Cabana and Caleb Konley
    – Jay & Mark Briscoe vs Kyle O’Reilly & Adam Cole
    – Roderick Strong defeated Davey Richards 
    – ROH World Title Match: Eddie Edwards defeated Christopher Daniels to retain the title

    2012 

    Wrestlemania 28: Miami, Florida:
    – Sheamus defeated Daniel Bryan to win the World Title 
    – Big Show defeated Cody Rhodes to win the Intercontinental Title
    – Kane defeated Randy Orton
    – Hell In A Cell: Undertaker defeated Triple H (Shawn Michaels was special referee)
    – WWE Title Match: CM Punk defeated Chris Jericho to retain the title
    – The Rock defeated John Cena