Michael “Mike” Sharpe (born October 28, 1951 – January 17, 2016) better known as “Iron” Mike Sharpe, passed away over the weekend at his apartment in Hamilton, ONT, at the age of 64.
Billed as “Canada’s greatest athlete,” Sharpe was a perrenial job guy in the 80’s and 90’s for WWF. He had his last televised match on June 6, 1995 losing in a tag team match to The Smoking Guns. After retiring from the ring, Sharpe made his living as a professional wrestling trainer, at his own school, Mike Sharpe’s School of Pro-Wrestling.
PW Insider first reported the death of Sharpe, a second generation wrestler, whose father and uncle were one of the greatest tag teams in pro wrestling history in the 50s, and are best known for legendary matches in Japan with Rikidozan & Masahiko Kimura.
Sharpe was raised in a wrestling family. His father and uncle tagged together in the 1950’s. At age 25, Mike decided to follow his father’s footsteps and was trained by Dewey Robertson, and began working for Gene Kiniski’s NWA All-Star Wrestling in the 70’s.
Like his father, Sharpe Jr., took the ring name Iron Mike Sharpe. He started wrestling in 1976 in Canada, and worked smaller territories for several years, including runs in Stampede Wrestling. At close to 6-foot-4 and 275 pounds, Sharpe was a big powerhouse who was known as a tough guy because of his amateur boxing background. But he was missing the element that would make one a big star, when it came to the charisma.
He did decently well in territories like Mid South and Georgia in the early 80s, but was beat known for is run in the WWF from 1982 to 1989 as a lower card regular.
He started out getting a push, with Lou Albano as his manager, and having a loaded forearm brace, built for matches with champion Bob Backlund. But he never got a shot in Madison Square Garden (he did work with Backlund in some other cities) and his push ended, but he had a long tenure with the company as a reliable enhancement wrestler. He was treated as a job guy with some credibility, nicknamed “Canada’s Greatest Athlete,” which was the nickname that Gene Kiniski used in the 50s, 60s and 70s.
Within wrestling Sharpe was known for being obsessively clean, and for always perfectly folding his clothes. He would be constantly washing his hands while at shows and taking showers, and was known as Mr. Clean. He was also compulsive when it came to training, and was known as a very well conditioned big man.
But in a cruel fate, with all that training, his health started to want over the past decade. For years he was largely confined to a wheelchair and had lost one of his legs, and had been suffering from constant health problems.
1) AJ Styles said goodbye but had the show stolen from under him.
Making good use of his freelance status, AJ Styles has been a frequent visitor to the UK in recent times, and was enough of a (big show) regular for Revolution Pro-Wrestling that it didn’t seem weird when he won their Undisputed British Heavyweight championship last summer. With his impending signing for WWE, this weekend’s High Stakes had something of an air of a farewell, and what better way to do it than pass the torch to Zack Sabre Jr, who became the new champion in a great main event.
While many of the tickets were sold on that main event, the show was stolen, however, by Will Ospreay and Marty Scurll, who closed the first half of the show with an almost thirty-minute classic, underlining their growing statuses and continuing the theme of 2015 – that British wrestlers are outshining the imports. Mike “Speedball” Bailey made his UK debut on the show, going down to Big Damo after dominating much of the match, and Pete Dunne retained the Undisputed British Cruiserweight title he won two weeks ago, again against “Flash” Morgan Webster. RevPro announced a return to York Hall in the summer, and another shot in Reading in April. The year is only two weeks old and RevPro have already set the standard!
2) It Was Acceptable In The 80s.
ATTACK! Pro-Wrestling had a pretty good 2015, which included teaming with Chikara-Pro on the latter’s UK tour, and sending a team over to the King of Trios tournament as well as promoting a series of super-fun, sold-out shows. They started 2016 in the same fashion with It Was Acceptable In The 80s at the Catheys Centre in Cardiff where the gimmick of furthering their storylines and dressing up for the night’s theme continued. Not everyone dressed up, although noted killjoys the Anti-Fun Police did team with a homemade RoboCop, but Mark Andrews (Marty McFly), Martin Kirby (Skeletor), Eddie Dennis (Terminator), Robbie X (a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle) and others all made the effort.
The main event saw Dennis successfully defend his ATTACK! 24/7 title against Wild Boar before Pete Dunne took advantage of the title’s constant availability by challenging and beating Dennis afterwards. The undercard featured Andrews downing Travis Banks, Mike Bird winning a four-way over Kirby, X, and “Flash” Morgan” Webster, and appearances from Nixon Newell, Chris Brookes, Sebastian Radclaw, and Love Making Demon. ATTACK! is not for everyone – as one fella in the crowd loudly made known – but it is the most fun you can have on a Sunday night in Wales, a fact probably enshrined in law.
3) Grado proved he’s more than a comedy turn (again).
On a recent TNA PPV, Grado was challenged by The Pope to prove he’s more than just a comedy wrestler, and did so by engaging Abyss in a Monster’s Ball match, whatever one of those is. For those of us on these shores, however, he has NOTHING to prove. That was evident again this week when he responded to a promo cut by Chris Renshaw at Insane Championship Wrestling’s Friday Night Fight Club tapings last week with a stunning direct-to-camera promo of his own.
Renshaw, quoting the cover of Fighting Spirit Monthly (which listed Grado as a “TNA star” and claimed he “led ICW to record breaking heights”), claimed ICW wasn’t about one man, it was about everyone there, and that they deserved the plaudits coming Grado’s way. Grado, although he could have rightly pointed out that he did have a huge part in selling out the SECC for Fear & Loathing, went on the attack, pointing out that, yes, he did work around the world and not just in ICW, but he did that for ICW. Renshaw laid the foundations but Grado knocked it out of the park. The exchange can be seen on ICW’s YouTube page.
4) Promoting wrestling shows isn’t easy.
With British wrestling very much entering a boom period, there are going to be those who seek to take advantage of that for their own ends. As an independent games developer, the people behind 5* Wrestling decided to promote a three-date tour to publicise their upcoming game, and secured the rights of Rey Mysterio Jr to not only be in the game (their previous games featured thinly-veiled parody characters) but also to lead the tour. They also booked AJ Styles, ROH champion Jay Lethal, former WWE stars John Morrison and Carlito, and a host of the top British stars.
Unfortunately, they either overestimated the drawing power of such an ensemble or underpromoted the shows, and were rewarded with sub-1000 crowds in halls set up for four times that. While that would be a very good turnout for most British promotions, they can only have lost a ton of money which you’d hope they’ll at least make back on the game when it is released. The shows themselves ran late and were strangely booked, but at least showcased some of our top guys to audiences who may have been unfamiliar with them.
5) There were some pretty fun shows.
IPW:UK and WrestleForce teamed up to stage Harlow Invasion in, erm, Harlow, headlined by a TLC match between IPW tag team champions DnD and the London Riots which turned into a wild brawl, including an imploding ladder, an unbreakable table, and Riot Rob Lynch smacking a drink out of the hand of an unruly punter. The rest of the show included an All-England title defense from Sammy Smooth (beating an understandably masked Exodus), a Women’s championship match (of sorts) between champion Tennessee Honey and challenger Nightshade, the Swords of Essex, and the UK debut of Donovan Dijak, who beat Big Damo. Launching a new era for Shropshire wrestling, VII-Pro presented the first of the Underground shows in Shrewsbury on Friday, headlined by “Flash” Morgan Webster versus Nixon Newell (who wrestles men more than she does women, and rightly so), which turned into a tag match when Webster challenged her to find a partner because he’d brought Australian doughnut-lover (not a euphemism!) Toni Storm with him. Newell was joined by Mark Andrews, and it was ON. Also on the show were the Dunne brothers, Tyler Bate, Wild Boar, and Mike Bird, and they return in February with Chuck Taylor.
Down in London, in the very weird world of the RetroFutureVerse, Freddie Mercurio became a two-time Lucha Britannia champion, downing Cassius in the main event of a show which also featured Marduk Malik continuing his unbeaten streak against Pure Britannico, Diablesa Rosa turning away the challenge of Zombie Janey, and unfrozen Viking Nordico Fuego becoming King Of Lucha Chaos. They’re back on January 29th at the Resistance Gallery once more. Finally for a weekend short on quantity (if not quality), Futureshock opened their doors for the first time in 2016 for Uproar 86, a stacked show which saw The Models reunite to take down The Fallen. Joey Hayes & Danny Hope haven’t teamed for some time so the fans in attendance were quite surprised. Another surprise was the return of Cyanide, who stormed the ring to help Damon Leigh beat down Sonar Dursen after the latter had won their match. Also on the card were Zack Gibson, T-Bone, Mikey Whiplash, Ashton Smith, and Xander Cooper, and 2016 looks like being another solid year for Futureshock.
(Thanks to Garry Vanderhorne for his help with this week’s column).
Kansas City, Kansas: – World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Bruns beat Orville Brown in 2 out of 3 falls
1944
Nashville, Tennessee: – Herb Welch defeated The Yellow Scorpion for the Tennessee World Junior Heavyweight Title
1957
– Kurt Von Poppenheim defeated Red Bastien to win the Pacific Coast Junior Heavyweight Title
1961
Honolulu, Hawaii: – Dick Hutton defeated Al Lolotai for the NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Title
1962
Toronto, Ontario, Canada: – Bill Soloweyko and Whipper Billy Watson defeated Chris and John Tolos to win the Toronto NWA International Tag Team Titles – Raphael Halpern beat Bulldog Brower by decision – Jim Hady beat Doc Gallagher via disqualification – Billy Red Lyons beat Marquis de Paree
1963
Calgary, Alberta, Canada: – Dominic Bravo and Ron Etchison defeateded Mike Sharpe and Jim Wright for the Stampede International Tag Team Titles
1966
Nashville, Tennessee – Alex Perez defeated Rocky Smith for the NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Title
1967
Manchester, England: – Billy Robinson defeated Billy Joyce to win the British Heavyweight Title
Denver, Colorado: – AWA Tag Team Champions Larry Hennig & Harley Race beat Dick The Bruiser & Mighty Igor Vodik in 2 out of 3 falls – Verne Gagne beat Killer Kowalski dq – Wilbur Snyder beat The Alaskan – Terry Funk (sub Dory Funk Jr) drew Chris Markoff
1969
Detroit, Michigan: – Ben Justice and Rocky Johnson defeated The Hell’s Angels (Paul and Ron Dupree) to win the Detroit NWA World Tag Team Titles
Chattanooga, Tennessee: – Dennis Hall and Ken Lucas won the Mid-America NWA Southern Tag Team Title, defeating The Mighty Yankees
1970
Fukuoka, Japan: – Monster Rousimoff (Andre the Giant) and Michael Nader defeated Great Kusatsu and Thunder Sugiyama to win the vacant International Pro Wrestling World Tag Team Titles
Toronto, Ontario, Canada: – NWA World heavyweight champion Dory Funk Jr. defeated Gene Kinski – The Sheik defeated Dewey Robertson by dq – Whipper Billy Watson and Bulldog Bower beat The Fabulous Kangaroos, Al Costello and Ray Kent, in a 2 out of 3 falls match – Chris and John Tolos took 2 of 3 falls from Haystack Calhoun and Gino Brito – The Love Brothers, Reginald and Hartford beat The Mighty Iggor and Murray Cummings
1971
New York City: – Ivan Koloff pinned WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino to win the title
1973
Hattiesburg, Mississippi: – The Mysterious Medic defeated Bob Kelly for the NWA Mississippi Heavyweight Title
Kansas City, Kansas: – Mike Boyette & Mickey Doyle defeated Omar Atlas & The Viking – Roger Kirby defeated Stan Pulaski in three falls – World Heavyweight Champion Dory Funk, Jr. fought Harley Race to a draw in three falls (60 minutes)
1974
Atlanta, Georgia: – Ron and Terry Garvin defeated Bob Armstrong and Robert Fuller to win the vacant NWA Georgia Tag Team Titles
– Black Gordman and Goliath defeated Raul Mata and Victor Rivera for the NWA Americas Tag Team Titles
1980
Houston, Texas: – Superstar Billy Graham won the NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Title from Mark Lewin
Shreveport, Louisiana: – Ernie Ladd defeated Mike Sharpe for the Mid-South Louisiana Heavyweight Title
1981
Monterrey, Mexico: – Tony Salazar defeated Sangre Chicana to win the NWA World Middleweight Title
1982
Memphis, Tennessee: – Jerry Lawler won the AWA Southern Heavyweight Title, defeating Dutch Mantel
1983
Tampa, Florida: – Terry Allen and Scott McGhee defeated The Fabulous Kangaroos (Johnny Heffernan and Don Kent) to win the NWA Florida Global Tag Team Titles – Rufus Jones defeated Angelo Mosca by dq – Mike Graham defeated Jim Garvin by dq – Leroy Brown defeated Ron Bass – The Midnight Rider & Barry Windham defeated Kevin Sullivan & Jake Roberts
1985
Denver, Colorado: – Lights Out match: Jerry Blackwell beat Masked Superstar (sub King Kong Brody) – AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Jim Garvin dq – AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors beat Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig (subs for Fabulous Ones) – Baron Von Raschke beat Billy Robinson – Jim Brunzell drew Nick Bockwinkel – Brad Rheingans beat Steve Regal
1986
Albuquerque, New Mexico: – Scott Hall and Curt Hennig defeated Jimmy Garvin and Steve Regal for the AWA World Tag Team Titles
San Juan, Puerto Rico: – Invader III defeated Eric Embry for the WWC World Junior Heavyweight Title
1987
Green Bay, Wisconsin: – Cage Match: Midnight Rockers beat Doug Somers & Buddy Rose – No DQ Match: Jimmy Snuka beat Colonel DeBeers – Super Ninja beat AWA World Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq – AWA Ladies Champion Sherri Martel beat Candi Divine – Scott Hall beat Buddy Wolff dq – Mr. Saito beat Buck Zumhofe
1988
Memphis, Tennessee: – Hennig’s Title vs Lawler’s Ring: AWA Champion Curt Hennig beat Jerry Lawler – No dq Match: AWA Tag Team Champions Midnight Rockers beat Ken Wayne & Scott Hall – Jeff Jarrett & Manny Fernandez beat Teijo Kahn & Jimmy Jack Funk dq – Bill Dundee beat Terry Taylor – Loser Leaves town: Billy Travis & Rikki Nelson beat Rock & Roll RPMs
Takuyama, Japan: – Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura defeated Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Kazuo Yamazaki to win the IWGP World Tag Team Titles
1992
Portland, Oregon: – Ron Harris defeated Demolition Crush to win the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title
1994
Saitama, Japan: – Big Titan (Rick Bogner) and The Gladiator (Mike Awesome) defeated Katsutoshi Niiyama and Atsushi Onita to become the first FMW World Brass Knuckles Tag Team Champions
1996
Tijuana, Mexico: – Ultraman 2000 defeated Psicosis for the Mexican National Welterweight Title
1998
San Jose, California: – Steve Austin wins the Royal Rumble – The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) defeated WWF Tag Team Champions The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn) by disqualification – WWF Champion Shawn Michaels defeated The Undertaker in a Casket match to retain the title
2003
San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico: – Chicky Starr defeated Carly Colon to win the WWC Universal Heavyweight Title
Wilmington, Delaware: – Christopher Daniels defeated champion Mike Kruel, The Amazing Red, Low Ki, American Dragon and Amazing Red to win the ECWA Heavyweight Title
2004
Osaka, Japan: – Kaz Hayashi and Satoshi Kojima defeated Arashi and Keiji Muto to win the AJPW Unified World Tag Team Title
WWE has announced that Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman’s role for Raw tomorrow night in Columbus, OH will be as guests on The Highlight Reel with Chris Jericho.
That is the only thing announced for Raw other than the show will be the go-home show for the Rumble.
They are also expected to do an angle to set up a Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch Divas title rematch for the Rumble. Becky challenged Charlotte to a title match on Smackdown this week and Charlotte said she would answer the challenge on Raw.
When Raw ended last week the announcers were openly speculating that Lesnar’s post-match destruction following the main event was an indication that he had decided to be in the Royal Rumble. Jericho in his first interview back also stated that his plan was to win the Royal Rumble and go on to WrestleMania to win the WWE World Heavyweight title.
UFC announced on tonight’s show in Boston that the new season of The Ultimate Fighter will be coached by Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Claudia Gadelha, which will build up to a strawweight championship fight between the two of them on July 8th in Las Vegas.
The title fight will be the main event of the TUF finale, which takes place the night before UFC 200, also in Las Vegas.
The season, billed as Team Joanna vs. Team Claudia, debuts on 4/20 with a two hour special featuring 32 fighters fighting to get into the house. The season will feature male light heavyweights and women strawweights.
The two fought at the end of 2014, with Jedrzejczyk winning via split decision to earn her title shot, which she won, against Carla Esparza. Many had Gadelha winning that fight.
Regarding the scorecards for the top two fights tonight:
For Eddie Alvarez vs. Anthony Pettis:
Judge Douglas Crosby gave rounds one and three to Alvarez.
Judge Bryan Miner gave rounds one and three to Alvarez.
Judge Ryan Shea gave rounds one and two to Pettis.
For TJ Dillashaw vs. Dominick Cruz
Judge Dave Ginsberg gave the first three rounds to Cruz and last two to Dillashaw.
Judge Tony Weeks gave the first round to Dillashaw and rounds two through five to Cruz, which is really weird.
Judge Sal D’Amato gave Dillashaw rounds one, three, four and five.
Submitted by Tim Taylor. Thanks also to Brittany Sanders.
– About 90% full in a venue that holds 5000 or so.
– WWE Champion Roman Reigns was announced as not being there and refunds were offered for 20 minutes. Of course, Kevin Owens came out to cut a promo, which brought out Dean Ambrose, who brawled with Owens in hopes no one asked for refunds.
– Strowman, Rowan, and Harper over Tommy Dreamer and the Dudley Boyz in a tables match. Rowan and Harper put Dreamer through the table for the win.
– Neville over the Miz. Miz didn’t cut a promo but had JoJo read his promo heeling on the Cleveland sports teams. Miz’s dad was in attendance.
– Becky Lynch over Tamina w/Naomi. The BAD girls worked over Lynch after the match but Natayla made the save, putting Tamina in the sharpshooter. Good pop for Lynch, but crowd wasn’t as into the match.
– R-Truth over Stardust. Crowd loved Truth.
– US Champion Alberto Del Rio over Kalisto to retain. Del Rio got a standing ovation from the production crew with the exception of agent Fit Finlay. This had to be a rib as Del Rio nearly cracked up seeing that. Guys worked hard and it was a good match.
– Social Outcasts over The Ascension and Los Matadores. Crowd didn’t know who to cheer at first, the Outcasts were the faces, and fans never got too into the match until the end. Los Matadores didn’t seem overly interested in being there. In the pre-match promo, Axel referred to them as the Social Outlaws.
– Sheamus over Jack Swagger. Sheamus with a pre-match promo. Solid match.
– WWE IC Champion Dean Ambrose beat Kevin Owens to retain. Started off with the heat and a good majority of the match was Ambrose being beat down and making small comebacks. Ambrose kicked out of the pop up power bomb and won soon after with Dirty Deeds. Ambrose was clearly the biggest star of the show in the eyes of the crowd getting the biggest pop and having the biggest chunk of merchandise sold.
Not an especially great opener. Both guys are still inexperienced & hadn’t previously wrestled on one of the big York Hall shows. Was by no means bad, but wasn’t the best opener.
Big Damo vs. Speedball Mike Bailey
I’ve see Bailey a few times & had really enjoyed what I’d seen. Was curious here as to how he’d gel with Damo & they really delivered. Damo sold Bailey’s kicks well throughout & helped in Bailey getting over in front of a crowd who weren’t overly familiar with him. Damo won with an inverted Bloody Sunday DDT. Bailey took a lot of punishment throughout. Post match both guys shook hands in a show of respect.
Colt Cabana vs. Doug Williams
Really fun match here working mostly British style. Both guys seemed to really enjoy the fact that they had the crowd when using British style. A fun back & forth match with flashes of comedy thrown in at points. Both guys exchanged various pin fall attempts & Cabana got the three. Post match Cabana cut a promo about his history in the company & claimed he wanted the British Heavyweight belt again. I’m assuming he & Zack will work a title match using British style down the road at some point. At this point Cabana was attacked by Lord Gideon Grey who was wearing the Mat Classic mask. Grey cut an awesome, angry promo on Cabana to set up a match between them next month.
Marty Scurll vs. Will Ospreay
This is where the show went into absolute overdrive. The stipulation was that the match was for the number 1 contendership for the British Heavyweight belt. All I can say is that these guys made the belt come across as one of the most valuable in the world with the way they worked this match. It was wrestled & put over as a big match & they used several tropes seen in major WWE/New Japan matches. We had the back & forth punches with the ‘yay’ & ‘boo’ chants, we had lots of fighting spirit, headsets, guys kicking out of & reversing signature moves & we even had Ospreay putting Scurll in his very own Chicken Wing. The match was crazy & ran for almost half hour. It ended when Marty used the Bryan Danielson elbows that he always used as ROH champ & then put Ospreay into the Chicken Wing which he passed out in.
I’ve attended every major Rev Pro show for over two years now & this was by some distance the most invested I’ve ever seen the crowd in a match. What made this even better was the fact it was two Brits that managed to put the crowd at fever pitch. I’ve been to a lot of live shows & I can honestly say this is the best match I’ve seen in the UK since Bryan Danielson vs Nigel McGuinnes at the first ROH Liverpool show in 2006.
Jay Lethal vs. Mark Haskins
Lethal wasn’t that over & he didn’t come across as a major star in the way outsiders often do. It was announced that it was for the ROH Title but that made no difference & the fans hardly reacted as if this was a big deal. The match absolutely fine, but I feel they suffered going on after Marty & Ospreay. The crowd was still very much calming down making the match hard to follow at points. I really think this would have benefited from opening the show. Lethal won with the Lethal Injection.
Sha Samuels, James Castle & Josh Bodom vs. Jimmy Havoc, Tyson T-Bone & Bram
This was exactly what it needed to be. An all around the venue brawl with lots of weapons & big spots. Havoc is super over based on his Progress work which helps his Rev Pro match’s. He’s done little in Rev Pro but most fans who attend the shows follow both promotions. Bram turned up as a surprise. He got a much bigger reaction than expected on his entrance, but once the match started this died down. Some solid comedy spots with the heels almost doing slapstick comedy at points. Havoc got the pinball on Bodom.
AJ Styles vs. Zack Sabre Jr
This was a very good match. It was very different to Marty vs Osprey in terms of pacing & style using a less is more approach. AJ very much wrestled Zack’s style of match here & really hung in there with him. Very technical throughout. Zack worked over AJ’s arm which he sold to great effect throughout. AJ looked very tired. I’m assuming the gruelling week he’s had wrestling was taking effect on him. The finishing sequence wasn’t quite as epic as I thought it was going to be. Zack did kick out of a one armed Styles Clash as well as a Bloody Sunday DDT. The match ended with Zack making AJ submit after trapping his arm.
*****
I’m sure you’ve seen AJ’s post match speech but it was a great way for him to leave the UK after a year of performing in Rev Pro. The AJ goodbye needed to close the show, but ideally the entire show would have benefited from Marty vs Ospreay going on last. Post show all anyone was talking about was just how great that match was. Again, I encourage you to check out Marty vs Ospreay!
A great show with variety throughout & booked at a pace that used that variety to mostly positive effect. Scurll vs Osprey was on another level. Quite simply myself & 1200 other fans where blown away by their efforts.
TNA President Dixie Carter announced today that Will Ospreay, Jimmy Havoc and Big Damo would all by on the Maximum Impact tour at the end of the month.
TNA had put up the three names for a poll, although most figured that all three once they were named would participate. She said that the voting was so close that management decided to use all three on the tour, which consists of Impact tapings on 1/29 in Manchester, 1/30 in London and 1/31 in Birmingham.
Ospreay is coming off some incredible matches over the past year in a number of U.K. promotions, as well as PWG in the U.S., and people were talking of his match last night in London against Marty Scurll as a match of the year candidate.
Damo, who is in the Japanese television commercial, had a big match a few months ago against Shinsuke Nakamura.
Havoc has worked in the U.S. in the past as well, and is a former Progress Wrestling champion.
We’re looking for reports from today’s WWE show in Canton, OH (Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens, Alberto Del Rio vs. Kalisto, Tommy Dreamer & Dudleys vs. Wyatt Family) as well as all three NXT shows from the last three nights in Winter Haven, Cocoa Beach and Fort Pierce to Dave Meltzer
T.J. Dillashaw vs. Dominick Cruz for the bantamweight title
Raw will be live on Monday night in Columbus, OH. Brock Lesnar will be appearing on the show.
NEW JAPAN FANTASTICA MANIA DAY TWO ON TUESDAY IN KYOTO (not on New Japan World)
Ryusuke Taguchi & Fuego vs. Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka
The Panther vs. Okumura
Guerrero Maya Jr. vs. Bobby Z
Dragon Lee & Jushin Liger & David Finlay & Titan vs. Barbaro Cavernario & Yoshi-Hashi & Virus & Hechicero
Stuka Jr. & Mascara Dorada & Atlantis vs. Tetsuya Naito & Evil & Bushi
Mistico & Kushida vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Gedo
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Volador Jr. & Juice Robinson vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Kazuchika Okada & Mephisto
Smackdown and Main Event will be taped on Tuesday night in Dayton, OH.
If you’ve ever wanted to WATCH our radio shows here on the site, check out our new Youtube page! No full video shows, but lots of video clips, full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today! We have two new quick video clips up on our Youtube page, so check it out and subscribe today for more!
An update on Shinsuke Nakamura, WWE and New Japan Pro Wrestling is the lead story of the new issue of the Wrestling Observer. His departure, not losing the IC title in the ring, the decision making surrounding it, Nakamura’s final matches in Japan and his start in the U.S., New Japan’s next two PPV shows, and the future of the IC title.
Nick Diaz’s updated suspension, Diaz vs. Robbie Lawler, and the welterweight division title situation. UFC 197 through 200 with talk about what is next for Ronda Rousey, Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier, MMA in New York, what huge publicity coup UFC had that fell apart, is UFC too confident about high ticket prices, and a number of future main events. The plans for C.M. Punk’s debut.
Lots of WrestleMania updates, including what is on the books and other key matches. We’ve got more on John Cena’s surgery, updates on a number of WWE injuries, a look at the first Smackdown on USA, more on brain injuries to fighters and wrestlers, Notes on the next NXT tapings, new WWE camps, double standards, Linda McMahon update, NXT weekend, and football background of two NXT stars.
Rundowns of all the WWE & NXT house shows over the weekend and business notes. Updates on Royal Rumble.
A feature on Sting and his career, from growing up through Memphis, through WCW and TNA and his final run in WWE. How he got started, his first break, the Ric Flair match that made him a star, when he was originally going to win the NWA title and why it was delayed, what happened when he was champion, the Hogan vs. Sting disaster, how he ended up in TNA.
Full coverage of TNA’s tapings and PPV, contract issues, the Matt Hardy situation and what is the short-term future for television.
Yoel Romero and his potential test failure and how this changes the middleweight division. Romero’s background, fighter reactions to his test failure.
The future of the AAA Mega championship and the current plans for Guerra de Titanes, the first major show of 2016 in AAA.
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TNA announced today that Kurt Angle’s last match in the company will be 1/31 in Birmingham, England for a TV taping against Bobby Lashley.
California independent wrestler, Darren Dean (real name Mike Dean) passed away in the last few days. He had done some ROH shows in the past, worked overseas, and traveled at times with Davey Richards and Tony Kozina. He was 25. (thanks to Scott Winter)
According to many, yesterday’s Revolution Pro Wrestling match with Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll was a match of the year candidate. Steve Rice said it was close to **** with great character, work, psychology and a big match feel. Scurll got the win. He also said the A.J. Styles vs. Zack Sabre Jr. main event was easily four stars. Speedball Mike Bailey was also on the show against Big Damo, while Mark Haskins faced Jay Lethal with Lethal retaining the ROH tile. Bram was also on the show, as was Colt Cabana.
Danny Miller is hospitalized with an undisclosed illness. Danny is the younger brother of Big Bill Miller, who was a major star in the 50s and 60s and into the early 70s. He later worked for Championship Wrestling from Florida in the office during its glory years.
The video of Willie Pep done by Lee Wylie that Kenny Florian got suspended by Fox Sports for plagiarizing in his article on tonight’s Dominick Cruz vs. T.J. Dillashaw fight
WWE
The new season of Total Divas debuts Tuesday night at 9 p.m. on E! The main storyline is Nikki Bella wondering if she should tell John Cena about how ex-boyfriend Dolph Ziggler is trying to get back together with her, while Paige thinks about whether she should break off her engagement and Brie Bella tries to get Bryan Danielson on a new career path.
WWE is teasing the idea of a confrontation next weekend with Stephen Amell of Arrow and Stardust, continuing their angle from the summer. If it happens, it would be at the Heroes and Villains Fan Fest in Secaucus, NJ on 1/23, since the Rumble is the net day.
After Raw on Monday night will be a John Layfield interview with Brian “Road Dogg” James.
UFC/MMA
Miesha Tate revealed on Inside MMA on Friday that she was in a minor car accident earlier in the day but it won’t affect the 3/5 fight with Holly Holm.
It should be noted that the guy who is fighting Mickey Gall on the 2/6 show in Las Vegas named Michael Jackson is Michael “The Truth” Jackson and not Michael “Blackjack” Jackson. If Gall wins, he faces C.M. Punk in June, or at least that was the target date as of this week.
After last night’s Invicta show, president Shannon Knapp announced the next show would be 3/11 in Las Vegas on Fight Pass.
MISCELLANEOUS
Mauro Ranallo, broadcasting last night’s boxing heavyweight title fight where Deontay Wilder beat Artur Szpilka at the Barclays Center, got a few Royal Rumble mentions during the broadcast.
There was also an angle last night as when Wilder was doing his post-match interview, Tyson Fury hit the ring and started singing and then went nose-to-nose with Wilder.
Today is the 74th birthday of Muhammad Ali.
AAW Chaos Theory from Friday night in Merrionette Park, IL: Drew Gulak b Louis Lyndon, Kongo Kong won three-way over Dan O’Hare and Wheeler Utah, Heidi Lovelace & Kimber Lee b Allysin Kay & Brittany Blake, Hooligans b Zero Gravity to retain the tag title, Sami Callihan b Chris Hero (an incredible match live), Shane Hollister & Mat Fitchett & Markus Crane b Bucky Collinswood & Eddie Machete & Connor Braxton, Ryan Boz b Abyss, AR Fox b Davey Vega to retain the Heritage title, Eddie Kingston b Trevor Lee to retain the AAW title. Next show is 2/19 at 115 Bourbon Street with Eddie Kingston vs. Sami Callihan for the title and Abyss & Kongo Kong vs. Ryan Boz & Russ Jones in a Monster’s Ball match.
Crooked Sword Comedy brings Jake Roberts to Waterloo, ONT on 2/19 for a one man show talking about his career at 8 p.m. with a VIP meet and greet at 6 p.m.
Joe Buck has a talk show called Undeniable on Audience TV. The guest this week was former coach and current TV analyst Jimmy Johnson, who grew up in Port Arthur, TX. During the show, Johnson talked about growing up as a wrestling fan, saying, that he would wrestle his brother, who would play bad guy as Wild Bull Curry and he’s be the good guy, as Ricki, but he couldn’t remember the last name (most likely Ricki Starr).
GOUGE from yesterday in Fuquay Varina, NC: Damien Wayne won Redneck Rumble, No Direction b Leo Ryker & Wallabee Joe, Seymount Snott b Court Montgomery, Mickey Gambino b Waylon Maze, Juan Jeremi b Jimmy Jack Funk Jr. via DQ, Timmy Lou Retton b Damien Wayne via DQ
AAA from Wednesday night in San Luis Potosi before 3,000 fans: Aero Fly & Efecto & Vagabundo b Conde Bartock & Mr. Marca & Mini Maniaco, Goya Kong & Pimpinela Escarlata b Taya & Black Mamba, Drago & Electroshock b El Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Joe Lider-DQ, El Hijo de Fantasma & El Texano Jr. & Pentagon Jr. b Psycho Circus, Chessman & Mesias & Taurus b Dr. Wagner Jr. & Fenix & La Parka when Mesias pinned Wagner after ripping off his mask (thanks to Kris Zellner)
I Believe in Wrestling from last night at the Team Vision Dojo in Orlando: Los Ben Dejos b Ace Andres & Rex Bacchus, Hercules Gomez b Josh Parker, Braydon Knight b Tyranus-DQ, Lince Dorado b Desmond Xavier, Brandon Scherer won three-way over Chico Adams and Gabriel Black, Mike Reed b Aaron Epic, Santana Garrett b Barbi Hayden via DQ to retain her Stardom title and Japanese tour. Next show is 1/30 with Giddins vs. Mark Silva and Garrett vs. Hayden no DQ. (thanks to Al Haft)
Kevin Nash will appear for In Your Face Wrestling on 3/12 in Albany, NY at the Polish Community Center to manage a team as well as do an autograph signing at a pre-event convention with Bob Holly and Scott Norton.
NSPW from last night in Quebec City before 407 fans: Dru Onyx b Brad Alekxis, Alex Price & Dead End b Surfer Mitch &,Joe Kovick & Tony Tremblay, Pee Wee & Judas b 3.0, Heavy Metal Chaos b The Best, Marko Estrada b Matt Angel, Kickin n Stompin b BattleCruisers, Franky the Mobster & Travis Toxic b Giovanni & Michael Style. Next show is 2/6 with Marko Estrada vs. Davey Richards (thanks to Patric Laprade)
Absolute Intense Wrestling on 3/5 at Tequila Jax in Lake, OH with all seats $20 and Little Guido appearing, plus 3/18 in Cleveland at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, headlined by Michael Elgin.
Ronin Wrestling on 1/30 at the Broward College South Gym here is a local story on the show. (thanks to Paul Kacprzak)
Here’s an article from the Salina Journal about a group of former backyard wrestlers that now run indie shows (thanks to Chris Aiken)
