Tommy Gilbert, a mainstay in Tennessee wrestling during the 60s, 70s and 80s, passed away earlier today at the age of 75.
Gilbert and Eddie Marlin were a regular babyface tag team in the 60s, battling the top heel teams of the era like The Interns and the Von Brauners. He also formed championship tag teams with Bearcat Brown, Ricky Gibson, Sputnik Monroe, Tojo Yamamoto, Ron Wright and did a father-and-son tag team with son Eddie Gilbert.
Gilbert’s father, Arlie was a pro wrestler and his sons, Thomas Jr. (Eddie), who passed away in 1993, and Doug, who still wrestles, were wellknown wrestlers.
He worked most of his career for promoters Nick Gulas and Jerry Jarrett in Tennessee and Alabama, as well as Puerto Rico. He also used the name Johnny Starr while wrestling in Texas in the 70s. His son Doug wrote, “Earlier this morning, my dad Tommh Gilbert left us and is now home in heaven with Eddie. Prayers during this difficult time are appreciated.”
-Just a fun reminder to check out the Wrestling Outsiders Podcast and our interview with Dave Meltzer, which is live right now at http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/139049
The Big News: Despite WWE Corporate stacking the deck in Eva Marie’s favor, Bayley retained her championship in a fun, well booked main event.
The Medium News: Sami Zayn returns soon!
The Little Beaver-sized News: Michael Cole is in charge with Mr. Regal recovering from surgery
-Michael Cole is in the ring to oversee the contract signing for the Finn Balor-Samoa Joe title match at NXT Takeover. Cole is booed until he mentions that Mr. Regal has undergone successful surgery. Cole was booed again when he mentioned he was put in charge.
Cole says that Mr. Regal ixnayed the Bayley-Eva Marie match, but WWE Corporate overruled Mr. Regal and that match will happen tonight.
With that Finn Balor and Samoa Joe came to the ring for their signing. Balor came out first, took the mic and told Joe he is not entitled to the NXT Title and plans on sticking his foot down Joe’s throat.
Joe stormed to the ring, signed the contract and immediately walked away without saying a word. Balor was calling him a coward and tried to get Joe to stick around, but Joe was having nothing of it.
Finn walked away, but when he got to the top of the ramp Joe attacked him, ran him to the ring and threw him in there. After a brief flurry of punches by both men Joe locked on the Coquina Clutch and choked out Finn.
1.) NXT Tag Team Champions Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson defeated The Vaudevillians
It is a tag team championship rematch. Just two weeks ago The Vaudevillians dropped the belts to Dash & Dawson and now they are looking to reclaim the belts.
The champs got the heat on English by dropping him with a single arm DDT. It didn’t last long as Gotch got tagged in and went all manly on their foes until Dawson knocked his head off with a clothesline. Both teams went for their finish, but it got reversed both times. However, at the end of the day Dash blind tagged himself in, the champs hit their move and retained the championship.
As the champs celebrated we saw the return of Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady! The fans exploded as Enzo and Cass lay a hurting on the champions. Dash and Dawson are sent packing and it looks like their future foes have been decided.
-Eva Marie was sitting on William Regal’s desk. When Tom Phillips asked her why, she simply said that it is because she needs more space to get ready. Eva then went on to say that Bayley is a swell girl, but we need a real woman to be champion. She says she is happy to have the support of the entire WWE Universe, before showing a bunch of gifts left for her.
Eva then introduced her new friend, Nia Jax, and said nothing beats friendship.
-A video aired with a bearded man playing guitar. I bet he’s coming to NXT. All we saw was his beard and his clothes, with the video in black and white.
2.) The match between Asuka and Dana Brooke never started
On October 7 Asuka debuted at NXT Takeover by beating Dana Brooke all over the arena. Well Dana did not learn her lesson and here we are for a rematch.
Dana cut a promo while walking to the ring when Emma attacked Asuka from behind! Asuka took care of her quickly, but when Asuka turned her attention back to Dana, Emma attacked again and put her in the Emma Lock. The heel duo walked off together with no match.
As she got back to her feet, Asuka smiled. Someone is going to die.
-Bayley cut a promo saying that Eva Marie is pretty and has WWE Corporate on her side, but the difference is Bayley is a wrestler and tonight she will show Eva why she is the Women’s Champion.
-Sami Zayn returns soon. That’s good.
3.) Apollo Crews pinned Jesse Sorensen
Apollo is three weeks away from going one on one with Baron Corbin at NXT Takeover. Tonight he does battle with the man most famous for breaking his neck on a live TNA ppv. He has been on the show at least twice already, but the announcers acted like this was new.
The highlight of the match was Apollo holding Jesse up for a suplex for 21 seconds before dropping him. Sorensen got just enough offense so it wasn’t a total squash, but Crews won with a sit out power bomb.
After the match Crews officially accepted Baron’s challenge. I actually thought he did that last week. Oh well.
-Baron Corbin immediately replied with a promo saying Apollo is going to be the answer to a trivia question because no one will remember him.
-Charles Robinson walked to the ring before the main event and was added as a second referee. Robinson is here to ensure there will not be controversy in the match.
Next week: Samoa Joe vs Tommaso Ciampa
4.) NXT Women’s Champion Bayley pinned Eva Marie (Thank God)
This is not the first time these two wrestled. Last year they tried to re-debut Eva Marie and she had an atrocious match with Bayley that she was taken off tv for a year and it finished 5th in the Worst Match of the Year in the Observer last year. Eva Marie had Nia Jax for immoral support and Bayley had 300 screaming fans. They are really pushing the idea of WWE Corporate trying to set up Eva Marie winning here.
When they dimmed the lights for the introductions Eva Marie posed like a model while Bayley stood there and shook her head at the challenger. Eva was doing everything well, but was doing it a step slowly. At least nothing got botched. Anyway Eva hit a suplex, Bayley got up and hit the Belly to Bayley Suplex, but Nia Jax pulled the referee out, injuring him.
Charles Robinson took over as Nia jumped up on the apron and laid out Bayley with a headbutt behind Charles’ back, but Eva only got a 2 count. Eva used some more of her slow offense until the champ took her head off with a clothesline. Bayley went for a corner charge, but Charles stepped in front of her, claiming Eva was in the ropes.
Eva hit The Kendrick NOOO! YES! Bayley kicked out. Eva went for The Kendrick a second time, but Bayley pushed her into Charles, knocking him out of the ring. Nia interfered yet again, but Bayley yanked her off the apron, laying her out. After that Bayley hit a Belly to Bayley Suplex from the middle rope for the win!
That was a fun match. They kept it simple and threw in a lot of smoke and mirrors to cover up for Eva’s shortcomings.
After the match Nia laid out Bayley before dropping the championship on her prone body.
-That does it for this week. Thank you for reading and I wish my American readers a very Happy Thanksgiving. Until next week, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
Kansas City, Kansas: – Ed “Strangler” Lewis defeated Orville Brown for the Midwest Wrestling Association version of World Heavyweight Title
1960
– Al Costello & Roy Heffernan defeated Johnny Valentine & Chief Big Heart for the United States Tag Team Title (later became WWWF World Tag Team Titles)
1964 Thanksgiving Night
Minneapolis, Minnesota: – Verne Gagne beat AWA Champion Mad Dog Vachon dq – Larry Hennig & Harley Race beat Rene Goulet & Reggie Parks – Igor Vodik beat Klondike Bill – Bob Boyer drew Eddie Sharkey – Ivan Kalmikoff beat George Drake
Kansas City, Kansas: – Sonny Myers defeated Bob Brown – Danny Plechas defeated The Lawman – Moose Evans defeated Tiny Mills via DQ – Rocky Hamilton fought Sailor Art Thomas to a double count out – Pat O’Connor fought Mike DiBiase to a draw – Ron Reed defeated The Mongolian Stomper – Mike DiBiase won an 11-man Battle Royal
1981 Thanksgiving Night
St. Paul, Minnesota: – AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Sheik Adnan – Arm Wrestling: Hulk Hogan beat Jesse Ventura – Billy Robinson & Tito Santana & Jim Brunzell beat Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum & Jerry Blackwell – Adrian Adonis drew Buck Zumhofe – Evan Johnson beat Kenny Jay
1986
Minneapolis, Minnesota: – Greg Gagne beat AWA Champion Curt Hennig (AWA belt held up) – Adrian Adonis beat Tommy Rich – Nord The Barbarian beat Soldat Ustinov – Madusa Maceli beat Bambi – JT Southern & Mitch Snow beat AWA Tag Team Champions Original Midnight Express dq – DJ Peterson beat Kevin Kelly – Nick Kiniski beat Alan West dq
1987 Thanksgiving Night
Chicago, Illinois: – Dusty Rhodes defeated Lex Luger in a Steel Cage match to win the NWA United States Title – Ric Flair defeated Ronnie Garvin in a Steel Cage match to win the NWA World Heavyweight Title – NWA World Television Champion Nikita Koloff defeated UWF Television Champion Terry Taylor to unify the titles
Dallas, Texas: – Shaun Simpson defeated Eric Embry to win the World Class Light Heavyweight Title – Kevin Von Erich defeated Al Perez in a Texas Death Match – Kerry Von Erich defeated Brian Adias
Richfield, Ohio: – Randy Savage (w/ Miss Elizabeth), Jim Duggan, Jake Roberts, Ricky Steamboat, & Brutus Beefcake defeated WWF IC Champion the Honkytonk Man (w/ Jimmy Hart), King Harley Race (w/ Bobby Heenan), Danny Davis, Hercules, & Ron Bass – Andre the Giant (w/ Bobby Heenan), Rick Rude, King Kong Bundy, Butch Reed (w/ Slick), & the One Man Gang defeated WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan, Bam Bam Bigelow (w/ Sir Oliver Humperdink), Paul Orndorff, Ken Patera, & Don Muraco
1988
Minneapolis, Minnesota: – AWA Champion Jerry Lawler beat Wahoo McDaniel dq – Greg Gagne & Robert Gibson beat AWA Tag Team Champions Badd Company Pat Tanaka & Paul Diamond (No title change. Wrong man pinned) – Sgt. Slaughter beat Iron Sheik dq – Michael Hayes no contest King Parsons – Jimmy Jack Funk beat Derrick Dukes – Wendi Richter beat Madusa Meceli to win AWA Women’s Title – Larry Cameron beat Bert Timmons – Del Wilkes beat Mike Enos
1994
Madison Square Garden: – Bob Backlund lost the WWF World Title to Diesel (Kevin Nash)
1995
Norfolk, Virginia: – Lex Luger defeated Randy Savage – Sting defeated Ric Flair – Randy Savage won the 60-man, three ring World War 3 Battle Royal
2000
Milwaukee, Wisconsin: – Scott Steiner defeated Booker T in a Straight Jacket Steel Cage match to win the WCW World Heavyweight Title – General Rection defeated Lance Storm to win the WCW United States Title – Kevin Nash & Diamond Dallas Page defeated Chuck Palumbo & Shawn Stasiak to win the WCW World Tag Team Titles
TNA will be announcing shortly that the scheduled 12/2 to 12/4 tour of India has been canceled.
Talent that had been booked on the tour were contacted more than two hours ago stating the tour is now off. TNA had planned the semifinals of its world title tournament as well as a live PPV in India during the three nights.
TNA claimed to talent the tour was being postponed to 2016.
Talent was told the tour was canceled due to safety concerns. They were scheduled to leave this weekend. Everyone is scrambling now to find bookings for this weekend on short notice.
The tour was being promoted by TNA’s broadcast partners, Sony Six, and TNA had already done advanced work for the tour as well as spent months pushing Mahabili Shera for its partners.
The big pro wrestling news of the day is AAA cancelling Guerra de Titanes for no adequately-explained reason. They now have no TV tapings scheduled with just two weeks of TV in the can. The speculation is that perhaps Rey Mysterio, who was one half of the main event versus Johnny Mundo for the vacant AAA Mega Title (Alberto Del Rio last champion), was unavailable, and thus the show is going to be postponed rather than canceled. This would not be the first time AAA has stated a show was canceled when it was actually only postponed to a different date.
TV Tonight:
NXT at 8:00 p.m. ET on WWE Network has Bayley (c) vs. Eva Marie for the NXT Women’s Championship, Apollo Crews vs. Jesse Sorensen, Asuka vs. Dana Brooke, Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder vs. The Vaudevillains for the NXT Tag Team Championship, and the contract signing for Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe
UFC Tonight airs at 8:00 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1, but it’s a “Before They Were Champs” special for Thanksgiving Eve instead of the usual news/talk show.
The Ultimate Fighter at 9:00 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1 is a rerun of last week’s episode.
Impact Wrestling at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on Destination America is the latest edition of the World Title Series.
The Ultimate Fighter at 10:00 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1 is a new episode titled “Nice and Flowy.” Summary from Fox: Due to a twist in the competition, one fighter shows heavy emotion after being eliminated from the competition. Even though he won his fight, his shot at getting into the UFC is put on hold. After a sudden turn of events that brings another fighter back into the competition, Dana White has a big surprise for the fighters that will help them relax before the quarterfinals begin. In the first two quarterfinal fights, a European powerhouse sharpens his unorthodox style by planning to use an open stance and unpredictable angles to take down his heavy-chinned opponent. In the second quarterfinal fight, one fighter must work on extreme technical defense and polish his ground game if he has any hope of defeating his opponent.
We have one of the biggest issues of the year, with such a huge news week this past week. We look at exactly what went into Holly Holm’s victory over Ronda Rousey, a story on the life and times of Nick Bockwinkel, the Reid Flair angle and build to Survivor Series, Destination America dropping wrestling, and the 104-year-old attendance record being broken, as well as the story behind the firing of Billy Gunn, an update on The Rock at WrestleMania, La Sombra to WWE, the AAA world title gets decided and a lot more are headline stories in the new double issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter which is on the site right now.
If you have an interest in history, this is a huge issue, as well as a perspective on what happened in the most talked about UFC fight in history.
We look at the fight, the background of Holly Holm, what is going on in Rousey’s life, what led to the upset, thoughts on a rematch, what it means for business, the early business notes on the fight including where PPV may come in, previous fights like this, and what happened after the fight. We look at UFC’s biggest upsets, the gambling perspective, rematch odds, business notes and match-by-match coverage with poll results.
The life and times of Nick Bockwinkel is one of the best bios we’ve done, with comments from people whose careers he has touched, my own personal thoughts on Bockwinkel, what current WWE superstar had his career path changed greatly because of a suggestion by Bockwinkel to an independent promoter, a look at his life, his career, some of his most famous matches, his career title history, the controversy over Hulk Hogan not getting the AWA title, his place in the business when it changed and life after wrestling.
We also look at the Reid Fliehr angle, how it was set up, comments by Ric Flair, how ESPN got exposed in its wrestling coverage, the Owen Hart DVD and more.
You can also order the print Observer right now and get it delivered to your door via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to dave@wrestlingobserver.com” target=”_blank”>dave@wrestlingobserver.com
For the United States, it is $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52. In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to moonsault@mediaplusint.com For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.
If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can get one free classic issue of your choice sent to you today. With a 40 issue subscription, you can get two free classic issues sent to you today. We’ve got coverage of every major PPV event and world wide spectacular, every major star switching promotions, histories of companies like FMW, Rings and New Japan, retirement and obit issues of every major star who fits into those descriptions over the past 11 years, as well as our biggest issue every year, the annual awards issue, and our most controversial issue of every year, the Hall of Fame issue.
Really the biggest surprise of this story is that it took so long: WWE released Brad Maddox today. He had just appeared on The Tonight Show as The Undertaker’s victim in an appearance to promote Survivor Series.
The former La Sombra did an interview for Medio Tiempo talking his WWE career. He said it had always been his dream to come to WWE and he’s been taking one-on-one English lessons three days a week as his main focus right now. He seemed to indicate that there is no rush to get him going in terms of choosing a character, a new name, a TV start date, etc.
Dave Meltzer is a guest on the Ross Report with Jim Ross, up right now at Podcast One.
Not a pro wrestling story per se, but Frank Gifford’s family issued a press release announcing that a postmortem exam revealed he was suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. One major point being argued in the WWE concussion lawsuits of late is Konstantine Kyros (the wrestlers’ attorney) pointing out that WWE is now a major donor of the Concussion Legacy Foundation with Paul Levesque on their board, but WWE seemingly hasn’t been: 1. Pushing wrestlers to pledge their brains or 2. Asking the families to do the same postmortem. Basically, the question is that if they’re supporting the research financially, why aren’t they supporting it in other ways?
WWE has begun uploading episodes of the old NWA World Championship Wrestling program on the WWE Network, years ranging from 1985 to 1987. It’s been a gradual process over the last day or so, but already around 30 episodes have been added.
If you want to hear the man who was shot outside of the WWE Performance Center explain his side of of the story (he said he was just trying to get laughs), you can do so here.
Impact Wrestling TV taping tickets for January 5-9 in Bethlehem, PA, are on sale here and you can use the code SANDS2016 for a discount.
Matt has a WWE Youtube observation: “Just thought I’d point something out from the WWE’s YouTube account, since that’s how I catch up on anything Raw related these days: They uploaded exactly zero seconds of Sheamus speaking from Raw. Plenty of Triple H, Stephanie and Roman Reigns from that promo, but nothing from the guy who actually won the company’s top title. Guess they figured we weren’t interested in what he has to say, which I guess is accurate, given the rating the show got. Not only have they not learned from the last two people they’ve done the cash in-Authority puppet trope with (Orton, Rollins), but they seem to be doubling down. Interesting.”
Congratulations to Carmyn and Troy for winning the Bryan & Vinny & Craig Show Ode to Vinny song contest last night! Both will receive brand new copies of WWE 2K16. We do contest for subscribers all the time, and what better time to become a subscriber than right now with our $3.99 Black Friday Special!
Other Wrestling:
Use promo code CZWONROKU to get one-month FREE on CZWstudios.com – if watching on Roku, in your web browser, and other devices. Visit the CZW Roku channel store to get the channel for your Roku.
Fire Pro Podcast reviews the Tenryu retirement show as well as a Survivor Series preview (taped Sunday morning, so listen to us talk about every possible situation that could have happened besides what they actually did) here.
MMA
USADA officially suspended Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic from UFC competition for two years today. He could have gotten four years for “aggravating circumstances” but his admission of guilt (for using human growth hormone) was swift enough that USADA was fine with sticking to two years. It’s not clear yet if USADA was able to get a positive test result or if this was based entirely on his admission.
Cathal Pendred announced his retirement today via Twitter. He claimed that his heart just isn’t in competing anymore although he does hope to stay involved in the sport in some way. Pendred competed on season 19 of The Ultimate Fighter and retires with a 17-4-1 record, including 4-2 in UFC. Pendred was perhaps best known as a training partner of Conor McGregor and is hugely popular in his native Ireland. He had lost his last two fights, including a first round KO at the hands of Tom Breese last month in Dublin.
Invicta is working on a fight between Cyborg and Cindy Dandois that presumably would be at a catchweight of 140 lbs. It’s set to be the co-main event of Invicta FC 15, which will take place in Los Angeles, with a Strawweight title bout headlining the card.
Minneapolis, Minnesota: – World Champion, Sandor Szabo beat Dick Raines – Buddy Rogers beat Dave Levin – Ken Fenelon drew Gino Vagnone
1965
Minneapolis, Minnesota: – AWA Champion Mad Dog Vachon beat The Crusher dq – Larry Hennig & Harley Race beat Larry Heiniemi & Mighty Igor Vodik – Steve Druk beat Ivan Kalmikoff – Chris Markoff beat Gene Anderson – Kenny Jay beat Mike Loren
1967 St. Paul, Minnesota: – AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Harley Race – Rock Rogowski & Bill Watts beat Mitsu Arakawa & Dr. Moto – Victor the Bear beat Dr X dq – Mighty Igor Vodik beat Blackjack Daniels – Big K beat Jack Pesek
1969
Los Angeles, California: – AWA Tag Team Champions Butcher Vachon & Mad Dog Vachon beat Flying Redheads Red Bastien & Billy Red Lyons 2 out of 3 falls – AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Crazy Luke Graham dq – Edouard Carpentier beat Johnny Vander – Pepper Gomez beat Larry Hennig – Hard Boiled Haggerty beat El Magnifico
1972
Minneapolis, Minnesota: – Nick Bockwinkel beat AWA Champion Verne Gagne dq – Dusty Rhodes & Dick Murdoch beat Billy Robinson & Joe Scarpello – Superstar Billy Graham beat Don Muraco – George Scott beat Ivan Koloff dq – Reggie Parks beat Big K
1978
Chicago, Illinois: – AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Dick The Bruiser dq – Non Title: Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Pat Patterson & Ray Stevens – Bobo Brazil beat Super Destroyer Mark II dq – Billy Robinson beat Iron Sheik – Wilbur Snyder & Pepper Gomez beat Jimmy Valiant & Johnny Valiant – King Kong Brody beat Pat O’Connor – Moose Cholak beat Guy Mitchell dq – Spike Huber drew Paul Christy
1981
Minneapolis, Minnesota: – Retirement Match: Verne Gagne beat Adrian Adonis – AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Ken Patera & Bobby Duncum – AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Billy Robinson – Bodyslam challenge: Hulk Hogan beat Jerry Blackwell – Pat Kelly & Mike Kelly beat Dick the Bruiser & Wilbur Snyder – Tito Santana beat Ed Boulder
1982 Thanksgiving Night
New Orleans, Louisiana: – Stagger Lee (Junkyard Dog under a mask) defeated Ted DiBiase to win the Mid South Wrestling North American Title – Mid South Wrestling Tag Team Champions Ted DiBiase & Matt Borne defeated Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts – Tony Atlas defeated Mid South Wrestling Louisiana Champion Hacksaw Duggan via countout
1983
St. Louis, Missouri: – NWA Champion Ric Flair beat David Von Erich – AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Dick the Bruiser & Bulldog Bob Brown – Austin Idol beat Denny Brown – Iceman Parsons beat Blackjack Lanza – Paul Orndorff beat Steve Olsonoski (sub Rick Martel) – Tiger Mask (sub Buck Robley) beat Angelo Mosca Jr
1985
Madison Square Garden: – Fabulous Moolah defeated Wendi Richter to win the WWF Women’s Title (this was a double cross as Richter was not aware of title change before hand)
1988
Dallas, Texas: – Cage match: Kerry Von Erich beat Jerry Lawler – Samoan Swat Team beat Michael Hayes & Jeff Jarrett – Cage Match: Eric Embry beat King Parsons dq – Steve Cox beat Jimmy Jack Funk dq – Eric Embry ddq Botswana Beast
1991
Memphis, Tennessee: – Kamala defeated Jerry Lawler for the USWA Unified Heavyweight Title – Robert Fuller & Mike Mitchell defeated Doug Masters & Bart Sawyer for the USWA Tag Team Title
You may have missed it (and judging from the ratings, a lot of people did) but last Friday, World Series of Fighting ran a one-night tournament for a shot at Justin Gaethje’s lightweight belt. This piece isn’t about the quality of the fights that, for the most part, were very good. This is about the absurdity of running a one night tournament in 2015 and the absolutely terrible job the promotion did in putting it on. Everything from the presentation to the commentary to the decisions made in regards to the tournament were lacking and made the promotion come off as anything but major league.
For starters, the show was built around eight guys in a tournament who were all fighting their opening round fights at WSOF.com where almost no one watches. For the viewers watching only on television, they had no idea who was fighting: a recipe for ratings disaster. They also ran into an issue where the bigger names in the tournament wouldn’t make it onto the televised show which happened with former UFC TUF prospect Mike Ricci, the most familiar name to casual fans, who won his first round fight but was unable to continue in the tourney.
Bellator MMA just tried a version of a tourney in September with similar results. The show did very poorly in the ratings and they were forced to scramble after King Mo was injured in his opening round win and was unable to continue. In that case, as with this tournament, they had a reserve bout. Francis Carmont, the winner of the reserve bout, took Mo’s place in the tourney. In the WSOF case, Ramil Mustapayev, a Russian prospect on a four-fight win streak, won his fight and looked very impressive. Despite two people being injured in their opening round fights (Islam Mamedov was the other), Mustapayev didn’t advance. This despite the fact that commentator Chael Sonnen spent the whole fight talking about how everyone in the back was worried about having to face this guy later on.
As an aside, in the reserve fight, Sonnen was going over the rules of the fight and said that it would be two rounds and that there were no elbows allowed. He didn’t say anything about foot stomps. When the second round ended, I assumed they would go to the judges but there was a third round, and the refs were warning people all night about foot stomps. Sonnen openly criticized them about that at one point. No explanation was given as to what would happen if the two rounds ended up tied though it never came into play.
So, Mamedov and Ricci didn’t advance despite winning because they were too injured to continue. The rules of the tournament stated that if the winner couldn’t advance, the loser would take his place. Mamedov had beaten Jorge Patino, so Patino was allowed back in the tourney. Ricci’s opponent, Joe Condon, couldn’t continue either as he was knocked out. No explanation was given as to why reserve bout winner Mustapayev wasn’t put into the tourney instead of Foster, who also lost his first round fight. He was submitted by Joao Zeferino and then went on to face him again in the finals of the tourney. Foster submitted Zeferino to win the tourney and earn the future title shot.
For viewers who spent three hours watching the prelims online, their most loyal and hardcore fans, as late as 10 minutes before the start of the broadcast on NBC Sports Network, there were graphics on the screen advertising semifinal matches of Ricci vs. Patino and Zeferino vs Luis Palomino. Seemingly the fighters themselves had been preparing for these fights as well. They even had a reporter talking to Ricci after his fight in the back, and he said he was medically cleared and good to go for the next round. Yet, at some point, this all changed and when the broadcast version of the show started, Patino was in there against Zeferino, rather than Ricci. Later in the broadcast, Ray Sefo, the face of the company, was beaming about this development, saying anything can happen in a tournament.
This brings me to something that may have bothered me more than anything on this show and speaks volumes about the overall professionalism of everyone in this company. After the opening round of the tournament was completed, they ran a couple of non-tournament matches to fill out the time before the main card started and these were also broadcast on NBCSN. The final fight was a bantamweight bout between Joe Barajas (11-1 going into this fight) and Erik Villalobos (4-4). The booking of a fight with two guys with such differing records is questionable and was even more apparent when the fight started and Barajas completely dominated his overmatched opponent.
Except that’s not what the commentators were telling us.
Bear in mind that the walkouts were aired, complete with graphics for each guy. The ring announcer introduced both fighters and identified them correctly. There was a graphic on the screen identifying each fighter by glove color. Both fighters had previously fought in the World Series of Fighting so there seemingly was tape on both of them for the commentators to study prior to the broadcast.
There were four commentators for this fight for some reason; Todd Harris, Mike Corey, Sonnen and WSOF Middleweight and Light Heavyweight Champion David Branch. All four fighters commentated at various points of the first round and all identified Villalobos as dominating the fight. They talked about how surprising it was that he was dominating a guy with only one loss. Even between rounds, as the cornermen were talking to the fighters, they were saying that Barajas was going to have to regroup despite his corner (correctly) telling him he was doing great and to keep it up.
About a minute into the second round, Sonnen interrupted either Harris or Corey mid-sentence and said something to the effect of “Guys, I have to stop you here. We’ve got these guys mixed up and Barajas is actually the one who’s winning”. He went on to admit that he’d never seen either guy and didn’t know alot about them, despite earlier in the fight going on and on about both of them (clearly reading notes that someone else had written).
But that’s not all. At the start of the third, after Barajas was dominating to the point that it was obvious the ref could stop the fight at any time, Harris said, “So do you think that Barajas should continue this pace or try to save energy for later on in the tournament”.
There was a long pause. Sonnen then said, “What the hell are you talking about?” and started laughing. He then explained to the viewers (who I’m sure were quite aware) that Branch was mistaken and this was not a tournament match. They were not even in the same weight class as the fighters in the tournament. He went on to call a waitress and ask if he could some of whatever Branch was drinking.
I’m usually not this harsh on MMA broadcasts. As a fan of the sport, I especially like to watch these minor promotions to try and keep an eye out for future stars. As such, I’ve watched several minor promotions with nowhere near the exposure that an organization like WSOF has and certainly not the broadcast platform. Everyone involved with the production of this show should be embarrassed. Everyone, I should say, but the fighters themselves who gave it their all and put on for the most part a very entertaining show, especially the main card. I only wish the executives and commentators put as much effort into their jobs as the fighters did.
Here are quick results for the 11/24 World Tag League show held in Ishikawa, Japan:
The Addiction vs. Tama Tonga and Bad Luck Fale
Mostly back and forth. Fale took it into the crowd at one point for a brawl. Addiction worked as the babyfaces and looked great; they have great timing as a tag team. Fale tried to splash Kazarian and Daniels but they moved out of the way and he splashed Tama Tonga. The Addiction then hit Celebrity Rehab and got the win.
The Kingdom vs. Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson
They had a good match. Same Maria spots you’ve seen in every other encounter they’ve had this year- she went into the ring at one point, Anderson danced, Maria danced, and Anderson walked right into a superkick. Gallows and Anderson eliminated Bennett, however, and Taven walked into a Doc Gallows superkick, eventually leading to their win after a Magic Killer.
Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi vs. Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata
Decent match. Nagata and Okada were in first and they had a nice exchange. Nakanishi was in there a lot, more than you would think given his limitations. At one point Nakanishi had Okada in the torture rack and Nagata put Yoshi-Hashi in the armbar but both managed to escape. I wish that would be a finish for once, that’d give that spot some credibility. Okada eventually pinned Nakanishi with the rainmaker.
– Show opened with Roman Reigns out for a promo, pusing his TLC title match with WWE Champion Sheamus. Sheamus came out and called Reigns a walking, talking Adele song. They almost went at it.
– The Dudleys beat Erick Rowan & Braun Strowman via DQ when Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper interfered and put Bubba through a table.
– Paige pinned Becky Lynch.
– They did a Thanksgiving comedy segment. It was a Thanksgiving dinner party with The New Day, Heath Slater, Adam Rose and The Ascension. The Gobbledy Gooker showed up. It was revealed he was Xavier Woods.
Jack Swagger beat WWE U.S. Champion Alberto Del Rio via DQ for using a chair. Swagger made his own comeback on Del Rio after.
– The Usos came up with a plan that was revealed later.
– Lucha Dragons beat WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Big E) in a non-title match when the Gobbledy Gooker turned on New Day. It turned out it was Jey Uso in the costume. It later came out the Usos beat up Woods and stole his costume. Then Jimmy brought out Woods, all tied up, and Jey splashed him off the top.
– Dean Ambrose won a three-way over Dolph Ziggler and Tyler Breeze to earn a WWE Intercontinental title shot when Ambrose pinned Breeze with Dirty Deeds.
