After John Cena pretty much made it clear on Tough Enough, WWE has announced on its web site that the Seth Rollins vs. John Cena match at SummerSlam on 8/23 is official.
The angle for the match likely leading to title vs. title will be done on Monday’s Raw in Minneapolis.
By Brian Hoops, WrestlingObserver.com
1942 – In Des Moines, Iowa at Riverview Park, Orville Brown beat Wladek Zbyszko 2 falls to 0. It was reported that Zbyszko was unable to continue for the second fall after suffering a left knee injury. Tom Zaharias beat Gene Bowman in 2 out of 3 falls and Hans Schultz beat Johnny Seals.
1953 – At the fairgrounds in Avoca, Iowa; Joe Dusek vs. Sonny Myers and Hans Byers vs. Ronnie Etchison.
1965 – At Memorial Hall in Kansas City; Bob Geigel and Bob Brown beat Ronnie Etchison and Mongolian Stomper 2 falls to 1, Pat O’Connor beat The Raider and The Ox (Ox Baker) beat Frank Hickey
1967 – In Omaha, Nebraska; AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Bob Orton by countout, Midwest Tag Team Champions Doug Gilbert & Reggie Parks beat Mistu Arakawa & Dale Lewis, Princess Little Cloud beat Laverne Bottoms and Reggie Parks beat Mitsu Arakawa
1972 – In St. Petersburg, Florida at Bayfront Center, Florida Champion Paul Jones beat NWA Champion Dory Funk Jr, Mr. Wrestling Tim Woods beat Zodiac in overtime to win Southern Title and unmasked him as Bob Orton Sr. Also, Jack Brisco beat Buddy Colt dq, Florida Tag Team Champions Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Ron & Robert Fuller, Bob Griffin beat Taurus and Mike George beat George McCreary. Attendance was 6,641; The “Super Bowl of Wrestling” was held in Cleveland, Ohio at Municipal Stadium. NWF World Tag Team Champions The Fargo Brothers defeated Wahoo McDaniel & Chief White Owl, United States Champion Bobo Brazil defeated Killer Tim Brooks, Ernie Ladd vs. Abdullah the Butcher ended in a double disqualification and NWF North American Champion Johnny Powers defeated Johnny Valentine.
1975 – Eddie Graham defeated Bob Orton Jr to win the US Jr. Heavyweight Title in Macon, Georgia.
1976 – In Kansas City; The Super Intern wrestled Baron Von Raschke, there was an 8-man Battle Royal and World Tag Team Champions Black Gordman & Great Goliath wrestled Harley Race & Mike George
1977 – In Denver, Colorado; AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Pedro Morales, Angelo Mosca beat Larry Hennig dq, Super Destroyer beat Billy Robinson by countout, Greg Gagne beat Bobby Heenan and Jim Brunzell drew Roger Kirby. Attendance was 4,316
1977 – In St. Louis, Missouri, Dick Slater defeated Missouri State Champion Jack Brisco to win the title. Also on the card, WWWF champion Superstar Graham defeated Jimmy Valiant and NWA World champion Harley Race fought Dory Funk Jr. to a draw.
1982 – In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Rick Martel & Dino Bravo by countout, Jesse Ventura & Bobby Duncum & Ken Patera beat Baron Von Raschke & Otto Wanz & Larry Hennig, Ray Stevens & Pat Patterson beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan by dq and Brad Rheingans & Buck Zumhofe beat Sgt Jacques Goulet & Bobby Heenan. Attendance was 8,848
1983 – In Denver, Colorado; AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke, AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Brad Rheingans, Jim Brunzell beat Sheik Adnan, Rick Martel beat Mr. Saito by dq and David Shults beat Buck Zumhofe
1986 – In Asbury Park, New Jersey; AWA Tag Team Champions Buddy Rose & Doug Somers beat Midnight Rockers, In a Non Title match, Larry Zbyszko beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel, Colonel DeBeers beat Scott Hall by dq and Jimmy Snuka beat Boris Zhukov
1991 – Jerry Lawler defeated Awesome Kong (the man) in Memphis, Tennessee to win the USWA Unified Heavyweight Title
1992 – Johnny Hot Body defeated Larry Winters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to become the first ECW Television Champion; Masahiro Chono defeated Rick Rude in the finals of New Japan’s G1 Climax tournament at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Chono also won the NWA World Heavyweight Title in the match. Also on the card, IWGP Tag Team Champions Rick & Scott Steiner defeated the Great Muta & Kensuke Sasaki and The Pegasus Kid (Chris Benoit) pinned Jushin Liger.
1997 – Chris Jericho defeated Alex Wright for the WCW Cruiserweight Title in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
2007 – At the Hardcore Justice PPV, Kurt Angle defeated Samoa Joe to win the TNA X Division and Tag Team Titles and the Steiner Brothers defeated Team 3-D.
2010 – Angelina Love defeated Madison Rayne to win the TNA Knockouts Title and in a non title match, Kurt Angle defeated TV Champion AJ Styles.
2012 – At the TNA Hardcore Justice PPV; Madison Rayne defeated Miss Tessmacher to win the Knockouts title. Also, Kenny King retained the TNA X Division Title over Zema Ion and Austin Aires defeated Bobby Roode to retain the TNA World Title.
By Bryan Rose, WrestlingObserver.com
Welcome to tonight’s New Japan G1 coverage, live from Korakuen Hall for the third day in a row. This card looks stronger than the other two, with Tomohiro Ishii and Tomoaki Honma headlining. They have already had a match of the year candidate earlier this year, so it’ll be very interesting to see what kind of match they’ll have in this venue in the main event.
Jushin Thunder Liger, David Finlay Jr. & Jay White vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka
This is Sho Tanaka’s first match back since working the NOAH Jr. tournament earlier this month. Solid tag team match that was fine, but nothing special. All the young lions looked good, so was Liger and Taguchi, the latter of whom worked a lot of the match. He pinned White with the dodon.
Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga
They were teasing interactions with Bad Luck Fale and Toru Yano. I have a morbid curiosity to see that match when it goes down. Just a match. Yano made a comeback by undoing the turnbuckle and dodged when Tonga went for a splash. Heels made a comeback but Yano low blowed Fale, shoved him into Tonga then schoolboyed up Tonga for the win.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Togi Makabe & KUSHIDA vs. Tetsuya Naito, Kota Ibushi & Mascara Dorada
Naito and Tenzan went at it since they’re facing off soon. Naito spit on Tenzan which didn’t like that one bit. This was better than the other two matches, just seemed like there was more, and everyone worked well together. Dorada again was impressive, doing a huge dive on the outside, a ropewalk crossbody and a super hurricanrana off the top rope on Kushida. He went for his cool springboard into a forward roll but Kushida reversed it and got the win.
Naito and Tenzan brawled after the match. Naito re-entered the ring and took off his Los Ingobernables t-shirt and waved it to like as if he were a real live bull. They had to be separated, as well as Makabe and ibushi.
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata & Captain New Japan vs. AJ Styles, Doc Gallows & Cody Hall
Another just there match, though the crowd was into it towards the end. Tanahashi and AJ had their showdown, as well as Gallows and Shibata. Captain New Japan was worked on for a lot of the match, and it worked out for Bullet Club as he was the one pinned after a Gallows Poll.
Karl Anderson vs. Yujiro Takahashi
All the Bullet Club came out together all buddy buddy. But like last night, there was tension as Anderson was way too interested in Yujiro’s scantily clad lady which Yujiro didn’t like. They had some back and forth for a minute then Yujiro wanted to give him the wolfpac sign, but Anderson bit him instead. From there they had an okay back and forth match. The crowd was mostly dead for it though there were a few good spots. Anderson won with the stun gun. All the Bullet Club made up afterwards. This was virtually identical to the angle they did the day before with Fale and AJ.
Hirooki Goto vs. Michael Elgin
Great match. Elgin was super over in that Korakuen went crazy whenever he did his power spots and it added a ton to the bout. He was the most over guy in the building up to this point in the show. He controlled a lot of the match. Goto made a comeback but Elgin continued to have a back and forth with him until Goto tripped him down and used a interesting roll up maneuver for the win.
Satoshi Kojima vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Another great match. Crowd wasn’t totally into this at first, but were totally into it by the end. This was a story of two guys going back and forth for the entire match trading near falls. Nakamura hit two boma yes at one point and also did the spinning armbar but Kojima kicked out each time. He went for his lariat, but Nakamura hit him with the boma ye again and pinned him.
Kazuchika Okada vs. Yuji Nagata
Awesome match, probably the second best of the show so far. Nagata, who’s been ok to good on this tour, looked awesome here in being the old babyface veteran who was showing the new kid that he still had it. Just a awesome match in terms of heat and storytelling.The best part of this match early on was the starting back and forth between the two. If you’ve seen the opening video for each of these shows you see Nagata limboing in a goofy outfit to prepare for the G1. It seemed silly, yes, but when Okada went for a clothesline Nagata, in fact, dodged it as if he were limboing and the crowd popped huge for it and chanted his name, which was funny because the crowd immediately sided with Okada early on. Nagata pelted Okada with kicks early. Okada made his comeback and did the rainmaker pose but Nagata took him down and got the white eyes armbar in. Okada escaped but Nagata hit the backdrop driver for a great near fall. Nagata avoided the tombstone with a gutwrench suplex but Okada hit him with the dropkick, tombstone, then pinned him with the rainmaker.
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tomoaki Honma
Another great match. Not as good as their Febuary match, I don’t think, but still great. Crowd, of course, was behind Honma. They slapped each other’s chest a TON of times. They had a great, stiff back and forth match. Ishii’s selling is either incredible or he destroys himself every time he’s in the ring. Probably both. Honma kicked out of two sliding d’s and got a nearfall with a brainbuster. Honma hit 3 kokeshis in a row but Ishii still kicked out. Two more followed, then he hit the big one off the top rope and pinned Ishii. So the storyline that had been building for close to two years came to it’s apex here as Honma finally scored a win in the G1 tournament. Crowd popped huge for this and chanted his name after the match. Great moment.
Current Standings
Block A:
AJ Styles- 12
Tetsuya Naito- 10
Hiroshi Tanahashi- 10
Bad Luck Fale- 10
Katsuyori Shibata- 8
Kota Ibushi- 6
Togi Makabe- 6
Toru Yano- 6
Hiroyoshi Tenzan- 4
Doc Gallows- 4
Block B:
Kazuchika Okada- 14
Karl Anderson- 12
Hirooki Goto- 12
Shinsuke Nakamura- 12
Tomohiro Ishii- 8
Michael Elgin- 8
Yujiro Takahashi- 4
Satoshi Kojima- 4
Yuji Nagata- 4
Tomoaki Honma- 2
Taped tonight in Portland:
Seth Rollins came out for an inteview saying he’s the best pro wrestler, and is on a level with Michael Jordan and Babe Ruth. He brought up John Cena on Tough Enough and said he wants Cena to come to Raw and accept his challenge. Neville came otu and he asked for a title shot. Cesaro then came out to ask for a shot but Kevin Owens attacked him while Rollins beat down Neville to set up the main event.
Charlotte b Naomi by submission with the figure eight.
They did a package building up the Stephen Amell and Stardust angle.
Ryback did an interview. They showed clips from Raw. He talked about his match at SummerSlam. Bo Dallas came out and Dallas wanted to be added to the match. Ryback laid him out.
Luke Harper & Bray Wyatt did an interview.
Roman Reigns b Luke Harper via DQ when Wyatt interfered.
Prime Time Players b New Day.
Seth Rolins & Kevin Owens b Cesaro & Neville when Rollins pinned Cesaro holdnig the trunks.
Brad Maddox worked a dark match using the name Joshua Kingsley earlier in the show.
Season 4, Episode 6
Recap by Ryan Pike (@RyanNPike)
–Bryan’s Injured (Again): The big happening this week was Bryan leaving the European tour, which we deal with after a time-warp so we’re back to the United States. Basically, he’s got an unspecified injury and they go out of their way to avoid talking about what the injury is, instead focusing on how Nikki’s worried that Brie isn’t more worried about the injury. Bryan and Brie have a chat with Nikki that amounts to “Hey, we’re worried, but freaking out won’t fix anything,” and she calms down a bit.
–Nattie Lies A Lot: In other news, Nattie and TJ are moving while fixing up their old house so they can sell it. Nattie lies a lot throughout this episode to TJ – notably downgrading the amount it’ll cost to fix up their house by three or four times, and insisting that her sister is visiting them for a few days rather than moving in to take care of their cats while they’re on the road. TJ confronts her about her lies, and after the Bellas insist that she needs to be truthful, she gathers the family and unloads all her lies on them – including hating her sister’s birthday present and her wedding ring. Everyone forgives her and then shove her into the pool as penance.
–Naomi Goes Heel: Vince McMahon decides it’s time for Naomi to become a bad guy, so the bulk of this segment involves her fretting about being mean to people since she’s always wanted to be a good role model. Everyone tries to help her out – including Alicia Fox throwing a drink on her, prompting her to freak out at her – but finally Naomi makes her debut as a heel at Extreme Rules and really has fun with it and does a good job.
John Cena is mentioned but not seen, while Eva Marie is neither mentioned or seen. But Renee Young is on the show quite a bit, so that balances it out nicely.
By Kenneth Nida wrestlingobserver.com
Last week’s Tough Enough saw the judges’ second of three saves used by Paige on Gigi. This meant Chelsea, who came second to Sara Lee in the voting, and the last competitor left who has any wrestling experience, was eliminated from the show. This week John Cena will make an appearance on the live portion of the show, and the competitors will have to put together a match as their challenge.
We start with each of the judges giving the contestants a word of advice on what they want to see. We go back to last week after the elimination. Chris Jericho is in the kitchen with pizzas. He prods at Amanda about her survival through the voting. We get the dreaded “What is your favorite match?” question. Gigi says Trish Stratus vs. Lita, ZZ says HHH vs. Brock Lesnar in a cage match, Sara Lee says Brock Lesnar vs. the Undertaker. Jericho reinforces that storytelling is vital to pro wrestling.
The contestants drink through the night with Jericho, and some have trouble waking up in the morning. Jericho joins the contestants to run drills. The first contest is for the contestants to tell a story in the ring. They get an hour to come up with how they are going to choose their stories. The coaches meet with each of them to offer advice. The NXT Superstars are the audience for the matches. The first match is Josh vs. ZZ who are telling the classic big man vs. small man story. The NXT Superstars get one loud “Truffle Shuffle” chant in at the beginning of the match. Josh wins, and they put together a pretty good match. The second match is Sara Lee vs. Amanda. Sara Lee wins, with Amanda getting high praise from the trainers. Booker gets really upset with Sara Lee smiling during the match, cutting a promo on her. The third match is Tanner vs. Gigi. Tanner wins, but their story gets muddled. Josh wins the challenge, with Sara Lee being the worst.
Tanner and Josh talk about the challenge while playing pool. Amanda, Sara Lee, and Gigi read mean tweets and laugh at them. John Cena is introduced. He offers a bit of advice, praising them for being brave for putting it all on the line. Cena asks Daniel Bryan if he looks like he should compete at Summerslam and Bryan offers a hearty “Yes!” The judges grill the contestants, with Miz saying Tanner is too robotic, Paige asking ZZ and Sara Lee if they feel safe in the bottom 3 because of their fans, and Daniel Bryan pointing out that Gigi was booed in her match with Tanner because of her attitude. For the bottom 3 Miz chooses Tanner, Paige chooses Sara Lee, and Daniel Bryan chooses Gigi. Each contestant gets 30 seconds to plead their case. Jericho asks the contestants who they think should go home, with ZZ and Josh saying Tanner, and Amanda saying Sara Lee. Daniel Bryan declines to use his save.
Sara Lee gets 43% of the vote, Tanner gets 35% of the vote, and Gigi gets 22% of the vote, eliminating her from the competition.
Two female and three male contestants remain. It will be interesting to see what they do next week when it comes to eliminations. They can’t nominate any of the women because we’d have a female winner early. Instead it would make sense if the bottom 3 are automatically ZZ, Josh, and Tanner. They are, seemingly, all well-liked by the fans, though we’ve only seen Josh in the bottom 3 one time. The week we saw him in the bottom, they showed him talking to his daughter, which I could see them doing again next week to build a bit of sympathy.
by David Bixenspan | davidbix@wrestlingobserver.com | Follow @davidbix
TV/show notes for tonight:
Tough Enough airs on USA Network at 8:00 p.m. ET with John Cena’s first post-nose breaking appearance.
Total Divas airs on E! at 9;00 p.m. ET with Nattie inviting her sister to move in with her and T.J. for some reason, only for shenanigans to ensue, plus Daniel Bryan injury drama and Trinity/Naomi “embracing her inner bad girl.”
NJPW G1 Climax Day 16 airs live at 5:30 a.m. ET tonight/tomorrow morning on NJPW World:
Non-Tournament Matches
Tiger Mask IV, David Finlay Jr. & Jay White vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka
Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Togi Makabe & KUSHIDA vs. Tetsuya Naito, Kota Ibushi & Mascara Dorada
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata & Captain New Japan vs. AJ Styles, Doc Gallows & Cody Hall
G1 Climax B Block League Matches
Karl Anderson vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Hirooki Goto vs. Michael Elgin
Satoshi Kojima vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Kazuchika Okada vs. Yuji Nagata
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tomoaki Honma
SmackDown is taped tonight in Portland, OR, so if you’re attending and are interested in writing up a spoiler report, please send it to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com.
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The new issue of Figure Four Weekly is now up for subscribers (subscribe to th site here and get access to Figure Four, the Observer, tons of audio, and more) featuring a chat with Konnan about the state of AAA heading into TripleMania XXIII. We discuss the company’s improvements in production, advantages over WWE and differences in philosophy, how to listen to fans, and much more. Plus, as always, we have all of the usual reviews and international news, including Dr. Lucha’s TripleMania preview.
Last week’s FREEFigure Four Weekly is still up with a look at the crazy story of why Gawker thinks the FBI may have helped Hulk Hogan cover up his racist and homophobic comments. A judge has ordered the FBI to turn over the records of their investigation, and what Gawker is saying in court about what has and hasn’t been turned over paints a very interesting picture.
Also, now available for the first time on Kindle (meaning Kindle devices and anything with the Kindle app) is Fall Guys, the seminal 1937 book that has been described as being like the 1930s version of the Wrestling Observer. It was surprisingly not on Kindle already, so we put together a nice version with a full table of contents w/ chapter marks, proper formatting on everything, etc. Right now it’s available from the American, Canadian, and Australian Amazon/Kindle stores OR you can also buy it from anywhere in the world on PayHip, who will provide you with both Kindle and ePub (every other e-reader) format files, and you can either sideload them to your device or have them email it to your Kindle.
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The latest Wrestling Observer: August 10, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Roddy Piper passes away, WWE Q2 results & analysis
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The Wrestling Observer ranges weekly from 35,000 to 50,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA internationally. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sties and has the most complete look at the pro wrestling and MMA business anywhere, plus history pieces available nowhere else.
Our lead story is an extensive look at the career of Roddy Piper. We start by looking at the cause of death, and Piper’s role in the national expansion of WWF and the first WrestleMania. We look at how Piper differed from almost every wrestler in WWF when he came in, why Piper didn’t work certain shows, Piper working outside WWF while under contract, how he flopped in his first WWF run, his runs in California, Oregon, Georgia and the Carolinas before WWF, the feud with Jimmy Snuka, the Hogan-Piper program, The War to Settle the Score, the original WrestleMania and how it changed the history of wrestling, his period in WCW, his relationship with Mad Dog Vachon, his issues with Kevin Nash, how he got started in pro wrestling, the story behind his babyface turns and the loss at WrestleMania to Bret Hart.
We also look at WWE business, why stock is up, what aspect of business looked deceptively good, a look in depth at the network numbers, how many people dropped and picked up subscriptions this past quarter as well as how all the other aspects of WWE business are doing.
We look at UFC 190 and the storyline that led to Ronda Rousey setting her highest PPV mark. We look at how things have changed for Rousey since February, the interest level of her fight, Rousey vs. Cyborg, ratings in Brazil and the U.S. and match-by-match coverage.
We also go in-depth on the G-1 Climax tournament with the updated schedule, standings and match-by-match coverage.
We also have an update on John Cena, more on the injury and surgery, Cena actually going to a show this weekend but fans didn’t see him, Shawn Michaels return, will fans respect Cena more, update on the SummerSlam card and matches being built, Cena vs. Rollins future, WrestleMania note, note on Daniel Bryan’s book, Update on Ryback, Update on a 2002 angle proposed for a gay wrestler and funny story behind it, Bryan’s plan for the IC title, more on womens’ division, Eva Marie note, Tough Enough notes, Ultimate Warrior book, Cesaro section notes, WWE lawsuit notes, Pat Patterson book, sister of current WWE star gets a tryout and Owen Hart DVD news. We also have coverage of the NXT and WWE shows over the weekend and business notes on the shows.
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Tuesday Daily Update
— Last night’s Raw averaged 3.838 million viewers, up over 130,000 from last week.
— Ronda Rousey yesterday in her Reddit Ask Me Anything session when asked if she’d be returning to WWE: “Definitely. I loved being in Wrestlemania and will find a way to get back in the squared circle I just have no clue when. And any real wrestling fan would want to be surprised anyway.”
— The Nevada State Athletic Commission released the full drug testing results (PDF) for UFC 189, which includes (on pages 32-35) a statement from Ben Mosier of Drug Free Sport about the Jose Aldo specimen that had to be discarded when he was still booked in the main event. The story had been that when Mosier went to Brazil to collect the sample, he had the wrong visa, but it turns on that was not true and any potenital immigration issues wer resolved quickly. It looks like a Brazillian federal policeman who happens to train at the gym as a pro MMA fighter basically got Mosier detained for no good reason. Even a week later, Andre Pederneiras, Aldo’s coach and manager, was claiming that Mosier had the wrong visa. Aldo, Pederneiras, and his Nova Uniao gym all come off terribly here.
— Nick Diaz’s Nevada State Athletic Commission hearing was delayed. Again. Remember, this is for a post-fight drug test from January.
— Rick Story is injured, so Neil Magny is stepping in as a late replacement against rick Silva in the semi-main event of next Sunday’s UFC Fight Night card in Sasaktoon that airs opposite SummerSlam.
— Scott Coker told Bloody Elbow that he thinks the Ali Act should be expanded to protect MMA fighters. One f many potential consequences would be major changes to World Series of Fighting, RFA, and a number of other smaller promoters, as the Ali Act bars managers from acting as promoters and matchmakers. WSOF has Ali Abdelaziz as its matchmaker(though president Ray Sefo is listed as such on their Nevada State Athletic Commission paperwork), while RFA is promoted by Ed Soares, both of whom are high profile MMA managers.
— Men’s Journal has a behind the scenes tour of the WWE Performance Center. Interesting stuff. Seeing Enzo Amore out of character is…strange. Sasha Banks is mostly in character, talking about defending her title. Most notably, there’s some wellness insight: In addition to showing off the phsyical therapy room and new wrestlers learning how to bump with helmets and pads, Matt Bloom went into detail on drug testing. “At last once a month, sometimes twice a month, we have random drug testing here. […] We test about 25 people each time…” Men’s Journal also has a listicle of WWE’s 18 fittest stars.
— Volume 3 of WWE’s Best of WCW Monday Nitro series is out today on DVD and Blu-Ray.
— Dave’s “Fortunes Changed for Five” postmortem for Saturday’s UFC card is up at MMAFighting.com.
Bellator just announced the signing of Josh Thomson, as has been rumored all day.
There were reports that UFC had declined to sign him with the expiration of his contract, but Thomson claims they had been tryign to get him to sign a new deal prior to his last two fights and he wanted to let his contract expire and test free agency.
Thomson was one of the building blocks of Strikeforce under Scott Coker, who now runs Bellator. He claimed he went where the money was and the money was with Bellator.
Since a win over Nate Diaz two years ago, Thomson has dropped his last three fights in UFC.
Last night’s Raw did 3.84 million viewers, up four percent from last week. It was the most viewers since June 15, which was the show immediately after the death of Dusty Rhodes.
It was the second highest rated show for the night, behind Major Crimes on TNT.
The three hours were:
8 p.m. 3.79 million viewers
9 p.m. 3.95 million viewers
10 p.m. 3.78 million viewers
By Brian Hoops, WrestlingObserver.com
1935 – In Waterloo, Iowa; Otto Kuss beat Earl Wampler by countout, George (Rube) Harben beat Bobby Stewart by dq and Louis Thesz drew with Whitey Hewitt.
1966 – Lester Welch defeated Sputnik Monroe in a tournament final in Tampa, Florida to win the NWA Florida Heavyweight Title.
1967 – Mr. Wrestling defeated El Mongol for the Georgia Heavyweight Title in Atlanta; In Chicago, Illinois at the International Amphitheatre, AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Lou Thesz, Devils Duo Angelo Poffo & Chris Markoff beat AWA Tag Team Champions Larry Hennig & Harley Race dq, Dick the Bruiser beat Johnny Valentine, Wilbur Snyder beat Blackjack Lanza dq and The Destroyer beat Eddie Sharkey
1972 – In Denver, Colorado; Wahoo McDaniel & Don Muraco beat Larry Hennig & Dusty Rhodes, Billy Robinson beat Ivan Koloff, Rene Goulet beat Bull Bullinski and Ramon Torres beat Big K; in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; NWA Champion Dory Funk Jr. vs Florida Champion Paul Jones, Southern Champion Unmasked Zodiac vs Ron Fuller, Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens vs Hiro Matsuda & Robert Fuller, Tony Garea vs Taurus and Corsica Jean vs Scott Casey
1973 – In Chicago, Illinois at the International Amphitheatre, The Crusher no contest Superstar Billy Graham, Wahoo McDaniel beat Ivan Koloff, Ernie Ladd beat Moose Cholak, Sailor Art Thomas beat Ric Flair, Jimmy Valiant & Baron Von Raschke beat Bob Ellis & Reggie Parks and Greg Gagne beat Bobby Heenan
1980 – Bill Irwin defeated Bill Dundee in Memphis, Tennessee for the AWA Southern Heavyweight Title
1985 – In St. Paul, Minnesota at the Civic Center; AWA Tag Team Champions Road Warriors no contest (The Long Riders) Bill Irwin & Scott Irwin, Curt Hennig & Rick Martel beat Fabulous Freebirds Michael Hayes & Terry Gordy, Nick Bockwinkel beat Greg Gagne, Sgt Slaughter beat Larry Zbyszko and Tom Zenk beat Rick Renslow
1986 – Steve Simpson defeated Buzz Sawyer in Ft. Worth, Texas to win the World Class Television Title.
1987 – In Memphis, Tennessee at the Mid South Coliseum; AWA Champion Curt Hennig beat Jerry Lawler, AWA Tag Team Champions Boris Zhukov & Soldat Ustinov beat Wahoo McDaniel & DJ Peterson, Jeff Jarrett & Billy Travis beat Pat Tanaka & Paul Diamond dq, Rocky Johnson beat Black Prince via forfeit, Kevin Kelly beat Mitch Snow and International Champion Bill Dundee beat George Barnes
1989 – Jeff Jarrett & Matt Bourne defeated Cactus Jack & Sheik Braddock for the USWA Tag Team Title in Dallas, Texas.
1990 – D.J. Peterson & The Trooper (Del Wilkes) defeated Wayne Bloom & Mike Enos for the AWA World Tag Team Title in Rochester, Minnesota. Peterson & Trooper would be the final AWA Tag Champions. Also on the card, AWA Champion Larry Zbyszko beat Harley Race dq, Buck Zumhofe beat Jonnie Stewart to win AWA Light Heavyweight Title and Jake Milliman won a battle royal to give Larry’s Legends the victory in the AWA Team Challenge Series for $100,000; Brian Lee & Don Harris defeated Rex King & Joey Maggs for the USWA Tag Team Title in Memphis, Tennessee.
1991 – Masahiro Chono defeated Keiji Mutoh to win the first ever G-1 (Grade One) tournament in Tokyo, Japan.