Fun opening match, Davidson hit a monster clothesline and a Finlay roll early. Ali hit a powerbomb and got the pin with a frogsplash.
Cedric Alexander def. Will Ferrara via pinfall
Alexander came out minus Veda Scott, which was kind of a bummer. Alexander hit some big spots early landing a huge knee and a backwards enziguri. Ferrara gained some momentum and performed an impressive DDT of the turnbuckle for a near fall. The two trashed talked and Alexander literally blew his nose on Ferrara before a lumbar check to get the win.
An ROH staff member took the mic in the ring and announced that while Roderick Strong won his match in night 1 of Survival Of The Fittest, he would not be wrestling tonight as he sustained a concussion in his win. Roderick then came out mentioning how he would wrestle injured, but for safety he needs to be cleared first. He went on to say upon his return he would be taking challengers from all over the world for the TV title.
Dalton Castle def. Adam Page via pinfall
Match went outside almost immediately, fans were fanning the very over Castle. Match made its way back into the ring. Blows are traded and Page builds some momentum. BJ Whitmer comes out and in the distraction, castle hits a Bang-A-Rang and gets the pin.
Mark Briscoe def. Frankie Kazarian via pinfall
Match starts with Kazarian hitting Briscoe during the handshake. Briscoe gets angry and beats on Kazarian. Kazarian rakes the eyes and almost pins Briscoe. Kazarian is arguing with the ref about the two count and almost gets rolled up. Briscoe got strung up on the ropes and kicked the the outside. Kazarian beat on Briscoe to a near count out. After Kazarian hit a diamond cutter, he attempted a flux capacitor. Briscoe reversed and hit an elbow drop off the top for the pin.
Adam Cole, Michael Bennett and Matt Taven defeated Moose, Raymond Rowe and Hanson via pinfall
Match started with Taven and Rowe in the ring. Rowe no sold an impressive looking dropkick from Taven. The two had a staredown and Taven spit on Rowe before tagging in Hanson and Bennett. The two were in a very short time before Moose and Cole were tagged in. Moose gets thrown out and all of the partners followed in a huge brawl. Moose got back in the ring and dazed Cole, Bennett, and Taven in a row in time with the “Moose” chant before getting superkicked by all three. Hanson has a few cool spots in which he stacks three men on a turnbuckle before starting his 10 punch count, hits a splash of the top rope, and then does a suicide dive. Moose hit a powerbomb off the top rope before the ring getting cleared out and Adam Cole hitting an assisted piledriver on Rowe.
Joey Daddiego def. Cheeseburger via pinfall
Match after the intermission. Not a very good one at that.
Young Bucks def. All Night Express via pinfall
Match started with the Young Bucks superkicking the All Night Express to the outside in tandem. They followed up with tandem dives to the outside. Back in the ring Matt gets beat up pretty good by the Express before the hot tag. Nick cleans house, gives the crotchchop and lands a facebuster on Titus. The ref gets superkicked and is out cold. The Express regain command of the match and pinned Matt but the ref was out cold. Young Bucks turned it around and hit a Meltzer driver before waking the ref up and getting the pin.
AJ Styles def. Matt Sydal
Match started methodically with the two grappling and trading holds. The pace picked up after Sydal landed a couple of huracanranas. The match turned in Styles favor after getting his knees up before Sydal connected on a standing moonsault. Styles delivered a spinning backbreaker as well as brainbuster. Sydal mounted a comeback before Styles reversed a powerbomb with a hurricanrana into a near fall pin. Styles pinned Sydal after landing a Styles clash.
Kyle O’ Reilly and Bobby Fish def. Jay Lethal and Donovan Dijak
Lethal began the match by stalling outside with Truth Martini. Lots of crowd interaction with the wrestlers going back and forth with louder fans. O’Reilly and Fish pummeled Dijak for ahwile after knocking Lethal outside. Lethal breaks up an armbar on Dijak from O’Reilly. They gain some momentum and Dijak performs a brutal chokeslam into a backbreaker on Fish from Lethal’s shoulders. O’Reilly raises some hell and Lethal gets thrown out of the ring before O’Reilly and Fish hit a 3-D-like combo move and O’Reilly pins Dijak.
Michael Elgin defeated Jay Briscoe, ACH, Silas Young and Christopher Daniels in a 45-minute main event
ACH pinned Silas Young with a german suplex.
Christopher Daniels pinned ACH after a low blow followed by standing moonsault.
Jay Briscoe pinned Christopher Daniels after a Jay Driller.
MIchael Elgin pinned Jay Briscoe after a Burning Hammer.
Daniels and Silas seemed to have an alliance at the beginning and often broke holds on the other throughout the match. They start beating on Briscoe until he hits a double clothesline on them. Elgin German suplexes all four of his opponents and fighting moves outside. ACH dove on all four from the ring. Christopher Daniels put Elgin with Briscoe on his shoulders through a table from the apron. The match rules get changed to a “tornado style match due to the chaos”. Elgin dominated this match including a fallaway slam/Samoa drop combo with Daniels on his chest and Briscoe on his back.
– Vampiro opened up the show giving us an update after the conclusion of season one: Dario Cueto’s whereabouts are unknown, and Katrina is in charge of the Temple
– There is a throne where the live music was last season, and champion Mil Muertes sits stoically the whole show watching on.
Trios match
– Drago & Bengala & Famous B vs. Cage & Cortez Castro & Cisco
Drago & Bengala & Famous B win when Drago pinned Castro. Cage then turned on Castro and Cisco and played to the crowd.
Fenix vs. King Cuerno for the Gift of the Gods Championship
Cuerno pinned Fenix with a package piledriver. Good Match.
Ivelisse vs. Angelico vs. Son of Havok for shot at the Lucha Underground title
Ivelisse pinned Angelico with roll up.
– Muertes left his perch and a match quickly commenced between him and Ivelisse. Angelico and Son of Havoc are cheering her on and The Disciples clean house and leave Mil Muertes to demolish Ivelisse. There was an armbar spot that put Mil in danger but Mil recovered and shortly afterwards pins her. Katrina comes in to do her lick spot but does not do it; she then commands Mil to finish the job. He is about to kill Ivelisse when Prince Puma runs in, grabs her and runs off. As Puma is talking crap to Mil, Pentagon Jr runs out to a huge pop, does a lung blower, sets up the arm break spot, and “breaks” Muertes’ arm. Pentagon was super over.
Day Twp —
Killshot vs. Johnny Mundo
Great match. Mundo nutshot followed by the end of world moonsault. There were two ref bumps prior to the finish.
Mundo cut a promo about Alberto El Patron not coming back after the beating he gave him at Ultima Lucha and how he had the best match at Ultima Lucha and deserves a shot at the title. Cage interrupted him and talked about his match and how it was better and how he wants a chance at Mil Muertes. They shoot barbs back and forth and Johhny plays to the crowd. He was a heel so the crowd renamed him Johnny Puto.
Mack vs. PJ Black
This was PJ’d debut. Good all-around match although PJ botched one spot as he slipped on the rope. Mack wins with the RKO out of nowhere.
Handicap Match: Disciples of Death vs. Pentagon and Puma
Pentagon pinned Purple Disciple after Puma lands a his 450 splash Pentagon and Puma didn’t get along, after the match they teased Pentagon breaking Puma’s arm but it didn’t happen.
One of the UFC’s top stars and draws was a massive favorite going into her fight at UFC 193 Saturday night, but got outclassed and dominated. Ronda Rousey is no longer undefeated and is no longer the women’s bantamweight champion, beaten soundly by Holly Holm via 2nd round TKO in Australia.
The 28-year-old Rousey (12-1) didn’t look like the fighter that had become a mainstream media star over the past few years, chasing Holm, getting outstruck and bloodied in the first round by Holm who looked composed and in the moment. The end came in the second round when Holm further bloodied Rousey with punches, and landed a kick that landed on Rousey’s neck dropping the champion cold. Holm then landed a few ground and pound shots, Rousey was unconscious, and ref Herb Dean had no choice but to call the fight. Rousey didn’t speak to Joe Rogan after the fight.
The 34-year-old Holm (10-0) now finds herself on top of the mountain of MMA history as the first woman to beat Ronda Rousey. Forget Cyborg Santos: your UFC 200 main event or co-main event might have just been booked.
Dave Meltzer & Bryan Alvarez will have more on this outcome and the entire UFC 193 show on tonight’s Wrestling Observer Radio.
On a day like this it is difficult to find the words, so I will keep this short. A lot of innocent people in Paris lost their lives to senseless acts of violence. They didn’t deserve it. It is hard to fathom why this happened.
All of us at F4WOnline.com send our condolences, prayers and positive thoughts to those who were effected by this tragedy in Paris.
Joint statement from UFC and Etihad Stadium, the location of tonight’s UFC Rousey vs. Holm event tonight:
Etihad Stadium and UFC jointly send their thoughts and sympathy to those impacted by the terrible incidents which occurred in France.
Regarding tomorrow’s scheduled UFC 193 card at Etihad Stadium, officials from Etihad Stadium, UFC, and Victoria Police have come together to review all major safety protocols and procedures prior to this major event. This risk assessment and planning process takes place before all events held at Etihad Stadium, and the venue, promoter and police will remain diligent in this process in light of today’s tragedies in France.
We have been advised by Victoria Police there is nothing to suggest that tomorrow’s event will in any way be impacted by the events in France, it is important to note that precautions are being taken to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for all in attendance.
We’re looking for reports on today’s WWE show in Nottingham, England, NXT in Orlando, ROH in Milwaukee (A.J. Styles & Young Bucks vs. Jay Lethal & Donovan Dijak & Joey Daddiego, Michael Bennett & Matt Taven vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly for tag titles plus Survivor of the Fittest matches with Mark Briscoe vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Hanson vs. Kenny King, Jay Briscoe vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Ray Rowe vs. Rhett Titus, Adam Cole vs. Michael Elgin vs. Moose, Dalton Castle vs. Silas Young vs. Adam Page and Roderick Strong vs. Cedric Alexander), NXT in Orlando and House of Hardcore in Philadelphia shows.
******
We’re also looking for reports on yesterday’s WWE shows in Newcastle, England and Bologna, Italy, yesterday’s NXT in Winter Haven, FL and Wednesday’s show in Rome at Dave Meltzer
We’ll be doing polls this weekend on both UFC 194 and the Tenryu retirement show.
UFC SATURDAY NIGHT FROM ETIHAD STADIUM IN MELBOURNE, AUSTRAILA
Fight Pass at 6:15 p.m. Eastern time
Ryan Benoit vs. Ben Nguyen
Steven Kennedy vs. Richard Walsh
Steve Montgomery vs. Daniel Kelly
James Moontasri vs. Brendan O’Reilly
FS 1 at 8 p.m. Eastern
Richie Vacuik vs. Danny Martinez
Anthony Perosh vs. Gian Villante
Kyle Noke vs. Pete Sobotta
Jake Matthews vs.
PPV AT 10 p.m. Eastern
Jared Rosholt vs. Stefan Struve
Uriah Hall vs. Robert Whittaker
Mark Hunt vs. Antonio Bigfoot Silva
Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Valerie Letourneau for strawweight title
Ronda Rousey vs. Holly Holm for bantamweight title
TENRYU RETIREMENT SHOW FROM SUMO HALL IN TOKYO AT 1 A.M. EASTERN LATE SATURDAY/10 P.M. PACIFIC TIME
Suwama & Yuji Okabayashi vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazuyuki Fujita
Genichiro Tenryu vs. Kazuchika Okada
This show features world champions from three different offices, Big Japan (Okabayashi), NOAH (Suzuki) and New Japan (Okada).
Sunday has Insane Championship Wrestling in Glasgow, Scotland with Drew Galloway vs. Grado in what will be the most attended show from a UK based promotion in 33 years, as well as the second day of the Lucha Underground tapings in Boyle Heights, CA.
Raw will be live Monday night from Greenville, SC. The show will feature the quarterfinals of the WWE championship tournament. The quarterfinals have Roman Reigns vs. Cesaro Alberto Del Rio vs. Kalisto, Kevin Owens vs. Neville and Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler. It’s possible all of these matches will be on Raw, or that some may be taped for Smackdown.
Exclusive news on WrestleMania, how SummerSlam has changed due to the Seth Rollins injury, updates on Rollins, notes on the WWE title tournament and what key stars besides Rollins and Randy Orton are now unlikely to wrestle at WrestleMania is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
We also look at the different potential finishes of the WWE title tournament, how it looks to be progressing, a look at the Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock fight and look back 20 years to their two previous fights, lots of notes on the fight, and the back story.
We also look at WrestleMania tickets, the Wayne Rooney angle, Dwayne Johnson and Dave Bautista update, More on Alberto Del Rio’s outside business and his angle in Puerto Rico, Undertaker week, WWE make more network predictions, notes from the next Madison Square Garden show, notes on Raw this week, Ronda Rousey talks WWE Divas division, what WWE star is ready to return from surgery, plus notes on all the WWE & NXT arena events of the past week and business note.
We also have our monthly business rundown of WWE and TNA, to see how both groups are doing as compared to the same period last year, as well as a breakdown on how every different WWE main event is drawing over the past month.
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
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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.
The Bellas were in Paris yesterday. The were within 6km of some of the attacks. They posted on their twitter and instagram.
Fusion has an article blaming WWE for the political rise of Donald Trump. Trump hosted two different WrestleMania events in the 1980s and also appeared as a cornerman for a Bobby Lashley vs. Umaga match which, at the time, was the biggest-money WrestleMania event in history. Trump had his hair on the line against the hair of Vince McMahon, which, of course, led to Vince being shaved bald.
Danny in the UK wrote in to talk about the “WHO ARE YOU?” chants at the Raw and Smackdown shows for guys like Braun Strowman and Tyler Breeze. “We do not use this chant because we don’t actually know who he is, it’s more of an insult for someone who is new or rather insignificant. It has been popularised at football matches here for example if a big club such as Manchester United played a smaller club such as Doncaster Rovers, everyone here knows who Doncaster are and where they are located but they would use the chant as an insult towards the smaller club. The NXT show will be awesome when it comes to the UK and the crowd will be on fire.”
Information on the next WWE Performance Center All Access weekend in January is up on the WWE.com website.
Here’s a column on Hulk Hogan speaking about the potential of John Cena someday turning heel.
Steve Austin got a mention in this WSJ article about podcasting. (Thanks to Nick DeLeon)
Smackdown was up slightly this week to 2.3 million viewers from the 2.1 million last week.
UFC/MMA
Dana White tweeted the reverse angle of the Ronda Rousey-Holly Holm weigh-in staredown/confrontation.
Here’s the entire thing complete with Ronda’s fiery promo after their altercation at the weigh-ins.
Ronda Rousey was announced as the cover athlete for EA Sports UFC 2 in an extensive trailer talking about how she grew up loving EA Sports games and now gets to be on the cover of one. EA Sports’ site has a list of the new features in the game, while Shaun Al-Shatti at MMAFighting has an interview with game director Brian Hayes.
Ronda on Thursday said that Miesha Tate’s best bet for a title shot was to just wait around for her to retire. She’s been talking retirement a lot lately, and she claimed she had more miles on her body than Miesha did with all of the surgeries and arthritis she said she was battling. She said if Miesha just waited around, she probably could face Holly at some point in a title match. As far as Holm getting the title shot and not Miesha, she noted she’d already beaten Miesha’s ass twice.
A couple of fights recently announced for upcoming UFC cards – For UFC 195 in Vegas on January 2nd, unbeaten Brian Ortega takes on Diego Brandao in a Featherweight bout. For Fight Night 81 in Boston, the loaded FS 1 show headlined by the Dillashaw/Cruz Bantamweight title fight, Lightweight prospects Beneil Dariush and Mairbek Taisumov square off.
Ray Sefo of the World Series of Fighting announced Jake Shields vs. Jon Fitch for the vacant WSOF Welterweight Title on April 1st. The last champion, Rousimar Palhares, was stripped of the title following the fight with Shields earlier this year where he held onto a Kimura too long and allegedly raked Shields’ eyes. Shields was so upset after the fight that he punched Palhares, which ended up with him being disciplined as well.
Other Wrestling
Rey Mysterio called into Busted Open Radio Friday on the anniversary of Eddie Guerrero’s death. On being ready to be World Champion at the time he got the title, Mysterio said, “No, especially not under those circumstances. I guess my career was heading in a different direction. We had just finished our feud with my son, Dominic, and the great story that Eddie put together and how much passion he threw behind that, that character that he was. He was ready to move on with Batista and I really don’t know where I was going, but that changed direction completely for, I believe, for everyone. So I really wasn’t ready at the time, but of course you’ve got to make the best out of it. This was a big opportunity for me and the people knew. The people knew that it was going down for Eddie. I was put on the spot, but I was there representing Eddie.”
Remember Glacier? He did an interview talking about Dusty Rhodes, Lou Thesz, his WCW run, and more.
Pete Gas joins the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast. On Shane McMahon returning to WWE: “I think it’s one of those things where you don’t want to live in your Dad’s shadow. To be honest with you the only person who can truly answer that is Shane. It will always be in his blood to be in the business, whether or not he ever comes back. I don’t know, I couldn’t tell you. But he’s one of those guys that truly loves the business, he loved everything about it but maybe it was something he had to prove to himself.”
The ESPN 30-for-30 documentary Prince Of Pennsylvania that focuses on the Schultz brothers is now available on Netflix.
Maryland Championship Wrestling results (11/13) in Waldorf, MD: G-Fed and The Hell Cats defeated The Kings, Oakley Woods w/Colonel Calihan defeated Rayo, Tessa Blanchard defeated Renee Michelle, MCW Rage TV Champion Brandon Scott defeated Money Green, The Bruiser defeated Paul Jordane, Kimber Lee w/ The Dixon Line defeated Mickie James for the MCW Woman’s Championship after Amber Rodriquez interfered, Lio Rush defeated Eric Chapel w/ Kevin Eck in a no DQ, falls count anywhere match, MCW Champion King McBride defeated Sonjay Dutt to retain. Ric Flair appeared on the show as well. MCW runs Saturday with Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, JJ Dillon, Baby Doll & Tessa Blanchard on the show.
SDW returns to the Richfield American Legion with a Holiday Spectacular on Saturday, December 19.
St. Louis, Missouri: Attendance was 7,534 – Jim Londos beat Leo Numa – Abe Coleman beat Jack League – George Tragos defeated Ellis Bashara
1938
Atlanta, Georgia: – Jack McAdams defeated Eddie Williams to win the Southern Light Heavyweight Title
1957
Toronto, Ontario, Canada: – Dick Hutton defeated Lou Thesz to win the NWA World Title
1963
– Killer Kowalski & Gorilla Monsoon defeated Skull Murphy & Brute Bernard to win the United States (WWWF version) tag team championship
Kansas City, Kansas: – Mongolian Stomper beat Moose Cholak 2 falls to 1 – Larry Hamilton and Enrique Torres beat Rock Hunter and Bulldog Plechas by dq
1972
Tampa, Florida: – Lights Out Match: Jack Brisco beat Paul Jones – Southern Champion Buddy Colt beat Eddie Graham dq – Bobby Shane beat Boris Malenko – AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Ronnie Garvin – Sputnik Monroe & Norvell Austin beat Frank Hester & Bearcat Wright – Mr Wrestling Tim Woods beat The Professsional – Robert Fuller beat Mike Webster
Macon, Georgia: – Tommy Seigler & Argentina Apollo defeated Rocket Monroe & Skandar Akbar to win the Macon Tag Team Titles
1973
Honolulu, Hawaii: – AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Ed Francis – AWA Tag Team Champions Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens drew Neff Maiava & Sam Steamboat – Ripper Collins beat Tosh Togo by countout – Ken Patera beat Masked Executioner – Greg Valentine beat Rick Drasin – Bill Francis beat Betto Castro
Hamburg, Pennsylvania: – Tony Garea & Dean Ho defeated Toru Tanaka & Mr. Fuji to win the WWWF World Tag Team Title
1980
Denver, Colorado: – Greg Gagne & Tito Santana beat AWA Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura by dq – Mad Dog Vachon beat Nick Bockwinkel by dq – John Studd beat Dino Bravo – Handicap Match: Jerry Blackwell beat Buck Zumhofe & Juan Valez
1985
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: Attendance was 6,012 – Cage Match: AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Boris Zhukov – Curt Hennig & Scott Hall beat AWA Tag Team Champions Jim Garvin & Steve Regal – Nick Bockwinkel beat Larry Zbyszko by dq – Jerry Blackwell & Kelly Kiniski beat Buddy Roberts & Ray Stevens by dq – Stan Hansen beat Kevin Kelly – Ray Stevens beat Buddy Lane
1986
Kansas City, Kansas: – Mod Squad beat George South & Rocky King – Dave Peterson & Todd Champion beat Thunderfoots – Mod Squad ddq Rufus Jones & Rocky King – Sam Houston beat Bulldog Brown
1988
Memphis, Tennessee: – AWA Champion Jerry Lawler beat Botswana Beast – Brian Lee no contest Phil Hickerson; CWA Title held up – Jeff Jarrett beat World Class Light Heavyweight Champion Eric Embry by dq – Football Match: Gary Young & Cactus Jack beat Robert Fuller & Jimmy Golden – Sid Vicious beat Bill Dundee – Brian Adams beat The Executioner – Scott Steiner beat Tommy Lane – Mike Davis beat Brickhouse Brown
1999
Detroit, Michigan: – Big Show (subbing for Steve Austin) defeated Triple H and The Rock in a Triple Threat match to win the WWF World Title
2004
Cleveland, Ohio: – Shelton Benjamin defeated Christian to retain the Intercontinental Title – JBL defeated Booker T to retain the WWE World Title
The Big Takeaway – Not your typical ROH show at all. Only two wrestling matches, neither of which were particularly good, surrounded by a bunch of skits involving Silas Young and the Boys and a memorable in-ring interview with Steve Corino.
The opening is a taped skit in a parking lot with Silas Young teaching the Boys how to be men. It starts with him teaching them how to change a tire, complete with cleaning each other off with spit, rather than hand sanitizer. Then he teaches them how to drive a stick shift.
Nigel is still on commentary but promises an announcement later tonight in regards to the future of Steve Corino. Silas Young and the Beer City Bruiser are coming out to the ring with Bruiser carrying a beer keg and the Boys struggling to carry another one.
Silas Young/Beer City Bruiser w/The Boys vs War Machine (Hanson/Rowe)
No adherence to the Code of Honor and Kevin Kelly is pushing a #FreeTheBoys movement on Twitter. War Machine dominates early and when Bruiser gets thrown out of the ring, the Boys try valiantly to lift him to his feet but after a couple minutes, they’re still struggling to do so. Bruiser finally does get into the ring and intercepts a charge from Rowe with a shoulder block. Young and Bruiser get a bit of offence in at this point, cutting off the ring.
Bruiser hits a frog splash from the top that nearly gets a three right before a break. Rowe gets the hot tag after a Urinage and Hanson is a house of fire. He’s about to do a suicide dive but the Boys interfere by grabbing his feet. Rowe sets them up on the turnbuckles. Young tries to save them and he gets put on top of the boys. Rowe then chops all off them off the top, one by one. Bruiser again makes the save but ends up eating a head and arm suplex from Rowe. Young has time to recover and hits a Stan Hansen lariat. The Boys grab Rowe outside the ring and Bruiser tries to do a cannonball dive onto him but Rowe gets out of the way and Bruiser takes out the boys.
Back in the ring, Rowe takes out Bruiser with a superman punch and War Machine hits the fallout on him for the win.
WINNERS – WAR MACHINE by pinfall.
Nigel reminds us that War Machine will have a tag team title shot at Final Battle. Young and Bruiser take out their frustrations over the loss by beating on the boys as we go to a pretaped package going over the Decade/Corino storyline. Corino stopped an attack by BJ Whitmer on Jay Briscoe after a no-DQ match with Adam Page and laid him out by hitting him with a role of quarters.
After a break, Steve Corino comes down to the ring for a meeting with matchmaker Nigel. He reminds Corino that he had been brought back with a zero-tolerance policy about touching wrestlers and he knew that and still put his hands on Whitmer. He tells him that he cannot reinstate him as a commentator but he can reinstate him as a wrestler. He then announces Corino vs Whitmer in a Fight Without Honor at Final Battle. Corino takes the mic and says it felt great when he hit BJ and he got that rush of being a pro wrestler again. He said that he has had numbness in his neck and arm for the last few months. He needs neck surgery and his in-ring career is over. He says it’s not goodbye because pro wrestlers never retire until their last breath. He thanks ROH for keeping him around when they didn’t have to. He puts over a ton of guys by name, including Adam Pearce, Jimmy Jacobs and Kevin Steen, who are all with WWE now.
The fans chant “Thank you Steve” and he says “No, thank you” and then says “My name is Steve Corino and I will always be an evil man”. He puts down the mic, shakes Nigel’s hand and walks out of the ring, stopping to huge Kelly and Bobby Cruise before heading to the back.
After a break, it’s another skit with Young and Boys. He is teaching them how to use the bathroom. They first want to go to the women’s bathroom and he makes them go to the men’s. When one of them sees a urinal, he tries to squat in it and tells them they need to stand up and one of the Boys gives a confused look at the camera as the skit ends.
Story Time with Adam Cole is back. He’s mad because he’s not on Nigel’s list of World title contenders. He’s made that Kyle O’Reilly is on the list and he’s not. He says that “just like Roderick” he needs to whine and complain to get a title shot, as Strong just was granted a TV title shot and we get a replay of that angle from a couple weeks ago. Cole tells us that this match will happen next week on ROH TV. He then reminds us of the World title match at Final Battle between Jay Lethal and AJ Styles. Because he’s not a contender for either title, he’s now focused on removing Kyle O’Reilly from Ring of Honor forever.
Another skit in the bathroom. Young is coming out of a stall and the boys are waving their hands in front of their noses as we hear a flush. Young emerges with a plunger and says “It’s all yours Boys, take care of it”
“Unbreakable” Michael Elgin vs Kevin Lee Davidson
Davidson looks like a slightly taller, slightly fatter Samoa Joe. Kelly and Nigel are still talking about Corino’s speech. The “Match” consists of a clothesline from Elgin and a pin.
WINNER – MICHAEL ELGIN by pinfall
Elgin’s got a mic. He says that after competing in the G1, he remembers why he does this and what’s important and that’s the ROH title. Unfortunately for Jay Lethal, that gold is around his waist and it’s not a matter of it, but when, they step in the ring for the ROH title and when they do, the gold is coming back to him. Solid no-nonsense promo from Elgin.
Highlights of the Kingdom winning the Tag titles at All-Star Extravaganza air next.
ROH World Tag Team Title Match – Champions The Kingdom (Michael Bennett/Matt Taven) with Maria Kanellis-Bennett vs The Addiction (“Heavy Metal Rebel” Frankie Kazarian/”Almighty” Christopher Daniels) w/Chris Sabin
The Champs are very pink today and judging by Maria’s shirt, it’s a breast cancer awareness thing as this was likely taped in October. Both teams use interference early in an attempt to get the advantage as Nigel says this may be a question of which team will cheat more. They end up with all four guys squaring off in the ring as we go to break.
Back in and the ref’s got it down to two men, Taven and Bennett. Neither team really able to get the advantage as both get flurries of offence broken up by quick tags on both sides. Fans are relatively lukewarm as they don’t particularly want to cheer for either team. Daniels makes some sort of comment that wasn’t really caught on camera and this fired up Bennett. They end up outside the ring brawling and take each other out with a double clothesline. In the ring both Kazarian and Taven have title belts and they both do the Eddie Guerrero drop to the mat with the belts beside them spot when the ref is about to come into the ring. Fans actually liked that spot.
Maria and Sabin outside the ring and both blaming the other team for the belshots. Ref makes a count on both guys but they both get to their feet arguing. They both attempt to do running clotheslines but get tripped up by Maria and Sabin from the outside. That’s enough for the ref as he throws them both out as we go another break.
After break, everyone’s brawling outside and Daniels hits a BME from the apron on Bennett and then Taven does a flying dive on the other three guys to take everyone out. Fans are pretty into it now, chanting ROH. All four guys end up in the ring and again, it’s neither team really getting a sustained advantage. Everyone’s coming in and out without tags and it’s a bit of a cluster. Bennett went for a spear on Kazarian but he moved out of the way and Bennett out the ref.
All four guys end up down and this brings Maria out from the back. Daniels gets his hands on Maria and goes for The Angel’s Wings. Bennett makes the save but ends up getting laid out by an STO from Daniels. As he’s celebrating, Maria kicks him square in the nuts and then lays him out with a Superkick. Kazarian grabs her from behind but Taven makes the save. He tries for a Lionsault on Kazarian but Kazarian gets his knees up. A guy in a red mask comes down to the ring and hits Kazarian with a superkick as Kelly says “Is that Sabin”. Bennett then hits Kazarian with a spear for the pin.
WINNERS – THE KINGDOM by pinfall
It seems fairly obvious that the third guy with the KRD mask is Adam Cole but we’ll see if that’s where they’re going. War Machine come out for a staredown with the champs as the show ends.
In case you missed it, UFC lightweight Michael Chiesa dropped by the set of Josh Nason’s Punch-Out this week to help analyze UFC 193, talk about his December fight against Jim Miller, and shoot the breeze in general. It’s free for everyone, so give it a listen here and tell your damn friends.
Our panel:
– Jack Encarnacao (95-37 | .719): Sherdog Rewind host, The Lapsed Fan podcast co-chair
Lots of alliteration going on for this main event, eh? Assuming Rousey decimates Holm, the only fight that makes sense is Lady Cyborg. That’s it, that’s all. No other women in the division is going to test Rousey like Cyborg could in July, and ultimately, that’s what we need. She’s the equivalent of Anthony Davis sent back to the 1945 version of the NBA — so far ahead of her time that no one can stop her.
How the public will take to this fight is interesting. Holm has done nothing to promote other than get a fist up in Rousey’s face during Friday’s weigh-ins that Rousey sold like she was training for another WWE appearance. Legit or showmanship? Given the buzz this week, you can figure that out just as well as I can.
Will the mainstream/casual Rousey fan plunk down the money to watch or will they just wait to hopefully see the fight on Instagram like many got conditioned to do this year? The UFC is worried about that, proactively sending out a notice to media members about not sharing any GIFs or videos of the event, missing that it’s the general social media loving DGAF public that should be the focus of their proactive approach.
I’m more excited for what happens after the fight than the battle itself which I think will wrap up in less than a round. Holm is unbeaten and a former boxing champion in an era long ago, but she’s getting the shot due to a lack of options rather than a truly earned opportunity.
To say the weigh-ins for these two was awkward to watch Friday is an understatement. Seeing nearly emaciated 115-pound women step on the scales isn’t my idea of a fun time.
To the fight itself, Letourneau represents a speed bump on the way to Double J’s eventual title defense with Claudia Gadelha. After two straight decision to open her UFC ledger, Jędrzejczyk has two straight wins by T/KO, two straight bonuses, and a piece of shiny metal and leather around her waist. How the 28-year-old resonates with the mainstream Rousey crowd will be something to watch in the months ahead.
The 32-year-old Letourneau has won all three of her UFC fights by decision, and with all three of her career losses comes against more well-known fighters (Sarah Kaufman, Gadelha, Alexis Davis). She can’t see the image of Jessica Penne’s bloodied face before she steps in the cage, even though the oddsmakers seem to think a similar fate awaits the Canadian.
> Mark Hunt (10-10-1) vs. Bigfoot Silva (19-7-1) II Heavyweights
Rematches of classics rarely, if ever, live up to the hype of the predecessor. With heavyweights, there’s a little more of a chance because if someone gets knocked out, you at least have that to point to. Can Hunt and Silva give us anything close to what they had on that night 2 years and one month ago? Doubtful.
The 41-year-old Hunt is just 1-3-1 since a four-fight win streak brought him to Junior dos Santos’ violent doorstep in 2013. In all three losses, he’s been knocked out by JDS, now-heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum, and Stipe Miocic. Any fight could be his last and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Hunt hangs them up after tonight.
Strangely, Silva is also 1-3-1 in his last four after a two-fight win streak brought him to a title shot against then-champion Cain Velasquez. We all know what happened there. In his losses, he was also knocked out all three times (Velasquez, Frank Mir, Andrei Arlovski). He could also retire at any time. What time to be a UFC heavyweight!
> Robert Whittaker (14-4) vs. Uriah Hall (12-5) Middleweights
The fight that Mike Chiesa is looking forward to this most is an interesting scrap between two middleweight prospects. Hall is fresh off his short-notice fill-in fight against Gegard Mousasi, one he won in, ahem, SPECTACULAR FASHION. We all still want to understand what Hall we have now (vicious striker vs. passive decision-maker), and if he wins via a T/KO finish for the third straight time, we might have our answer.
This is already the eighth UFC fight for the 24-year-old Whittaker and since he decided to stop cutting to 170, he’s won two in a row by T/KO and three straight overall. Brad Tavares was his last victim, knocked out in just 44 seconds earlier this year.
> Stefan Struve (26-7) vs. Jared Rosholt (13-2) Heavyweights
Struve kept his UFC career alive with a decision win over the now-retired Rodrigo Nogueira in August. Before a heart issue and a two-fight losing streak (Mark Hunt, Alistair Overeem) derailed Struve, Double-S had won four straight in 2011-12 and was moving into title contender category. He’s still just 27 which is truly insane.
This is the biggest fight of the 29-year-old Rosholt’s career. A winner in five of his six Octagon tilts, his biggest enemy has been apathy over those wins due to bland, wrestling-filled decisions. This is an interesting fight for both guys as Struve hasn’t fought a wrestler like Rosholt in years, if ever.
An injury has forced another change to the UFC’s upcoming debut in South Korea, this time affecting the headline bout.
A rib injury has forced former welterweight title challenger Thiago Alves (21-10, 13-7 UFC) out of his scheduled five-round main event bout against Benson Henderson (22-5, 10-3 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 79 in Seoul. Henderson, the former UFC Lightweight Champion, will now take on Jorge Masvidal (29-9, 6-2 UFC) in the new headliner. MMAFighting.com first reported Masvidal as the replacement after Twitter user @TalkMMA reported the injury to Alves.
The change in the main event comes just days following the cancellation of the co-main event between Mirko Cro Cop and Anthony Hamilton. That bout was scrapped after Cro Cop was pulled from the fight due to a potential drug test failure and subsequent retirement. Masvidal was originally slated to meet Dong Hyun Kim in the new co-main event, but was selected as the replacement for Alves. There has yet to be an announcement on Kim’s status for the event.
Henderson and Masvidal were scheduled to meet earlier this year at UFC Fight Night 63 in April when both were competing in the lightweight division. Henderson then took a short-notice bout at welterweight against Brandon Thatch at UFC Fight Night 60 in February, which he won by fourth-round submission. Henderson hasn’t fought since then. Masvidal went on to fight Al Iaqunta at the April event, but lost by close split decision. However, he is coming off a win over Cezar Ferreira at The Ultimate Fighter 21 Finale in July, his welterweight debut in the UFC.
UFC Fight Night 79 will air on UFC Fight Pass on November 28, with a main card start time of 8 AM eastern time, and a preliminary card start time of 4:45 AM eastern time. Also on the card is the return of Yoshihiro Akiyama, who takes on Alberto Mina.
With WrestleKingdom 9 coverage now over, it’s time to move on to the next big card of early 2015, New Beginning! Seems like we’ll have a multi-part look at this event as well since there were two shows, one in Osaka and the other in Sendai. Today’s matches are from the Osaka show, held in the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium on February 11, 2015.
First up is an IWGP tag team title rematch as the former champions Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson take on new champions Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata. This was okay but nothing I’d call interesting until the finishing stretch. There were many stun guns from Anderson, a good comeback from Goto and Shibata then the finish as Shibata was laid out with another gun stun and pinned after the Magic Killer. Aside from a feud with the Kingdom and Maria, they really did nothing with these belts all year so I’m not sure why they did such a sudden switch here. I felt like there was way more juice with Goto and Shibata as champions than Guns and Gallows, but I guess that’s just me.
Anderson said every time we step into Osaka we win, and that’s why we’re the best tag team champions walking on planet Earth.
Taguchi in his sit down interview talked about how champions can ask for rematches and said he wanted another shot as he felt he could win.
The IWGP Jr. title rematch aired. It’s funny because this was the match where Taguchi solidified himself as a midcard opening act by doing all of this new comedy throughout involving his butt. But even with his new gimmick, the work he does in the ring is just kind of bland. There’s nothing wrong with what he does, and there are matches where he’s really good, but he’s never been consistently good like many other juniors in New Japan. This match was fine, but the WrestleKingdom match was much better. A lot of the start of the match was all ass based, believe it or not, because Omega took the Bullet Club flag and, well, tried to penetrate Taguchi. It backfired and resulted in many hip attacks, which are now a staple in just about every Taguchi match now. Eventually it became an okay back and forth with Taguchi being pinned after Omega hit the One Winged Angel. It was fine.
They showed the angle after the match where the Young Bucks attacked Taguchi, with Mascara Dorada and Alex Shelley making the save. Dorada challenged Omega after the match, so we’ll probably see that match in the pipeline.
Omega says in a post match interview that he knows nothing about lucha, but if Dorada wants to take him on, then he will, and he’ll put the title on the line.
Taguchi says he couldn’t get the belt in the end, but it was about how he could improve as the former 69th champion. It’s better to fight freely than to act as a champion. He can do his best when he fights freely, and thinking positively has led him this far. When asked about going for other titles as the 69th champion (he has an affinity for that number, I guess because he’s wacky), he mentions the heavyweight tag team titles, but he doesn’t have a partner.
More big title matches next week as AJ Styles challenges Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight title!
