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  • WWE house show report 8-9-15 Vancouver, BC Reigns vs. Wyatt

    By Jeff Zanatta

    Before the show started, there was a film crew in the arena filming scenes for the new WWE film “6:42”. Dolph Ziggler filmed a few scenes where he was walking through the crowd to his seat. There were a few fans in the crowd trying to get pictures with him, but for the most part they stayed clear as it was obvious they were filming. The camera was facing opposite the ring, so I doubt Ziggler will be attending a wrestling show at any point in the movie. 

    Show started with the same Piper tribute package we saw on Raw, and a 10 bell salute. Crowd loved Piper. 

    1. New Day defeated Lucha Dragons, Ascension, Heath Slater and Brad Maddox, Curtis Axel and Damian Sandow in battle royal to determine who faces the Prime Time Players for the titles later in the show. Kofi and Woods worked the match for the New Day. Biggest reaction came from Big E on the outside getting the crowd worked up. 

    2. Stardust defeated Zach Ryder with the crossroads. After the match Stardust grabbed a planted #AmellGetsRaw sign and ripped it up in the ring. No Amell appearance tonight though. 

    3. Miz defeated Jimmy Uso with a roll up when he got his feet on the ropes. Pre-match Miz went on about how Vancouver should thank him for providing so many jobs to the city, because of all the WWE studios movies he’s filmed there. Post match he made fun of the Big Show, who came out to a massive pop, and gave Miz the choke slam. Show helped Jimmy to the back and played to the crowd, so i suppose he’s a face again, at least on the house shows. 

    4. Prime Time Players defeated New Day to retain the tag titles when Titus hit clash of the Titus on Woods. Big E and Woods were in the ring for New Day. This was given quite a bit of time, crowd loved to boo the New Day and were into basically everything Titus did.

    Intermission

    5. Paige, Charlotte, and Becky Lynch defeated Team Bad when Paige tapped Naomi with the PTO. Crowd was really into Paige, much more so than the recent NXT call ups. Notable that the face trio came out to Charlotte’s music though. 

    Rusev and Summer Rae were then introduced, and Rusev got the mic to run down Vancouver, Lana, and then Ziggler. Lana came out and brawled with Summer, and then Ziggler came out, to no music, and fought with Rusev. Segment ended with Ziggler hitting the zig zag on Rusev, and he and Lana celebrated with the crowd. Crowd was hot for the whole segment, especially when Lana came out. 

    6. Roman Reigns defeated Bray Wyatt with the spear in a street fight. Loudest pop of the night was for Reigns’ entrance. Long main event that the crowd loved, including a few “this is awesome” chants. Wyatt put Reigns through a table with that standing rock bottom slam he does, Reigns later power bombed Wyatt through a table. Reigns countered the sister Abigail to hit the spear. Crowd was 80% behind Reigns, but there were a few audible boos. Crowd was into Wyatt as well, everyone had their phones out for his entrance. 

    Overall a fun show with a fairly hot crowd for the majority of the time. Typical house show crowd that cheered all the faces and boo’d most of the heels, although Wyatt got a lot of cheers as well. 

  • Weekend show feedback

    Thumbs down
    Best Match : Myzteziz vs Rey Misterio Jr
    Worst Match : Villanos vs Psycho Circus

    That was my first AAA event ever, and I ordered it on a whim. Did not expect such horrendous wrestling and production hiccups. It was worth it for all the laughs I got out of it, especially on that last Myzteziz botch on the tope in the very end, and the fact that there was still action in the ring and a story being told while the credits rolled. Definitely glad I got to be a part of this, but seriously, never paying money for something like this again.
    Yuriy Bortnik

    : Thumbs Up

    : Best Match – Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Myzteziz

    : Worst Match – Los Villanos III, IV, V vs. The Psycho Circus

    This was a last minute decision to order the PPV and I figured for $20 what the heck. Overall despite the audio problems which weren’t really that bad I still enjoyed the show. The opening two matches did nothing for me as I’ve never been a fan of mixed tag matches and the Los Villanos vs. The Psycho Circus match was dreadful. It looked like something from a kids television show with three purple Barney the dinosaurs lumbering around the ring. Everything else outside of that I liked and the Mysterio Jr. vs. Myzteziz match I thought was really good although Myzteziz timing on some moves seem off since his Sin Cara days in the WWE. The post match attack on both guys seemed pointless with Myzteziz turning heel anyways. I was entertained enough that I will give the October show a shot providing it will air in Canada.

    -Ed Ludwig

    Burnaby, BC

    AAA TripleMania 25

    thumbs down
    best Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Myzteziz
    worst Los Villanos III & IV & V vs. The Psycho Circus (has to be the worst match in the last 10 years or so….what was that finish were they were really hitting each other. 

    wow i don’t even know what to say about that…the production was an all time low…the commentary from what you could hear of it when the sound was buzzing in and out or when they were running production test was awful they kept talking over each other all night. the last match was fine actually it was pretty good but nothing else was worth going out of your way to see. the only thing you can take pride in is the fact that you probably saw one of the all time worst ppv train wrecks. 

    g1
    thumbs up 
    best Hirooki Goto vs. Tomohiro Ishii (really good everything this week has been good. lord im done complaining about the g1 after tonight it looks like the best stuff on earth compared to the triple a show tonight.
    john juett 


    Hi guys:

    Wanted to write you about my ordering experience with TripleMania 23 tonight. That name is appropriate because if you Triple the number 23 you get the number of ways in which this was a fail for me.

    So on Friday I ordered the show in advance because being someone with a visual impairment I need someone to navigate the on-screen menus for me. I mention the visual impairment because it is kind of important later.

    Anyway, the preview show starts at 5:30 with no problem. The show starts at 6 and my friends and I are treated to the same technical issues that plagued everyone else.

    Then after the Villanos match, right as they were making preparations for the Trios title match the PPV feed cut off and we were taken back to the menu screen. We waited a few minutes to see what was happening, thinking that things with the show had just gotten worse. Well after seeing people still tweeting about the show I figured maybe it wasn’t a problem with the show so I rang up my cable company.

    Generally, I like my cable company and think they have great customer service. I even like that they charge the same amount for HD as they do for SD, so the HD feed of this show was only $19.99. Anyway, I called and told them that we were watching the show and that it had just stopped.

    Tonight, the guy was helpful but had to put me on hold several times. Once was because they couldn’t find a listing for this anywhere. Eventually, they did and decided that what they were going to do is reset my box and order the show for me again. So that’s what they did.

    When the box came back online they directed me away from channel 808 where we were watching the show to channel 807. I told them that it was showing, the guy asked if Mysterio had wrestled yet and then we ended the call. Then I realized that we were now watching the Spanish feed of the show which explained why they asked me to change the channel.

    The Spanish version of the feed was miles ahead of the English version even though my friends now were watching an SD picture. Being visually impaired, I rely on commentary for a lot of information but given the quality of the first two matches commentary wise I think I also may have been better off listening in Spanish.

    But this is where it gets really weird. I tweeted about how my cable company ordered the wrong version of the show. They replied asking for my account info which I sent via direct message. They messaged me back and said that they apologized but they had to order me the Spanish feed because according to their schedule the next English broadcast wasn’t until tomorrow morning. Keep in mind that this is during the Hair vs. Hair match.

    The happy ending is that they credited me for $15 on my account. So unless I get double charged for this show which they said they would reverse if it happened, I’m going to get it for $5. That may still be too much.

    Strange times all around.

    Casey Trowbridge
    Huron, SD.

    –Thumbs Down
    Best match: Mysterio vs Myzteziz
    Worst Match: Los Villanos vs Psycho Circus

    There is no way I can recommend the English version of this show. I don’t have anything against Matt Striker but he and Hugo were terrible, they didn’t work with each other and constantly flubbed things that should not be a problem for either of them (like Rey winning with La Mistica). I wish I could make a crack about the technical problems being an improvement but the horrible buzzing and scratching noises they produced had me changing the volume constantly. It was a struggle watching this live. As soon as it seemed they righted the ship they some screwed up worse by cutting away in the middle of the big show ending angle. They completely missed Konan’s promo at the end and came back to the show with no explanation of what was going on and why it was such a big deal. On the plus side the two main events were very good. Cage wearing a Donald Trump shirt was great heel stuff, he and Alberto put on a fun brawl. Mysterio and Myzteziz were excellent but I felt the match itself might have been too short. The undercard was unremarkable with the cage match being a total let down. Watch this show in Spanish if you must, otherwise don’t bother.
    Jack Wofford

    Thumbs down
    Best match Rey Jr vs Mysteziz
    Worst match Los Villanos vs Psyco Circus

    The rare thumbs down show that i didnt regret paying for at all. I highly enjoyed both main events especially Rey vs Mistico even if the postmatch stuff was something else. Albero vs Brian Cage was fun and I enjoyed myself and in the opening match I fell in love with Goya Kong.

    Everything else on the show was something else with the constant technical difficulties and when there werent any difficulties Matt Striker was so grating that I was wishing for more technical difficilties. The Villanos match will also go down in my book as one of the worat matches I have ever witnessed…enough so that I expect I will watch it multiple times just to see if it was really as bad as I remember it.

    Wade Haugen

    Thumbs DOWN!

    Best Match: Rey vs Myzteziz
    Worst Match: Villanos vs Psycho Circus

    I paid $19 dollars for this putrid, sorry excuse, for a PPV.  I took a chance knowing this would happen seeing as they had issues with the Trios World Cup show but I honest to God thought they would get it right this time.  Nope, I was a fool!

    Good luck ever getting another chance like this AAA because I doubt Cable companies are going to want to continue airing your PPV’s in the United States after this debacle.

    Anyone who paid for this show needs to get a refund ASAP in order to send AAA a message.

    David Penton
    San Antonio, TX

    Hey Dave,

    Overall: thumbs down show.
    Best Match; Rey vs. Myzteziz
    Worst Match; The Villanos vs. Clown posse rivals the Rosa Mendes singles match for worst match in recent memory.

    Thoughts:

    I have never been much more than a casual fan of authentic lucha libre wrestling. The only time I really watched AAA or CMLL consistently is when I first started to train to wrestle in 2003. Back then, I watched Sunday morning Lucha Libre in an attempt to learn new moves and transitions.  Needless to say, I did not have the skills needed to execute such complicated maneuvers. On many occasions I have heard other people, both wrestlers and wrestling fans, state they did not understand the psychology behind Lucha Libre. I share similar sentiments.  In other words, forgive my ethnic bias. Triplemania is Mexico’s biggest Lucha Libre Event. A lot can be said for watching an event and being able to feel the culture and vibrant energy through the television screen.  I believe this is why the World Cup and other live sporting events generate such buzz and viewership from casual fans. People want to feel the event. I wanted to get the feeling of authentic lucha libre through the viewing experience.

    Obviously, the audio difficulties were a source of frustration and distraction for the majority of the show. The multiple distractions severely hurt the experience. It is hard to judge the show based on the merits of the in ring action when everything built to enhance the presentation failed.  To make matters worse, out of befuddlement, Striker resorted to his sarcastic super smark comments.  I feel Hugo’s role was to fill in the backstory to place each event and match into a context. Without Hugo’s commentary, I was unaware of the essential relationships and stakes that make each match important.  The continuity between the camera work, live audio, timing, and commentary was off all night.  As a viewing experience, it was unique, but not in a good way. Unlike Wrestle Kingdom 9, this did not leave me wanting more or urge me to direct more attention to AAA.

    1. Drago & Goya Kong & Dinastia & Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Daga & Sexy Star & Mini Psycho Clown & Mamba. Good variety, notable diversity, and a lot of high energy. The match had some good sequences and an abundance of confusion. I was entertained yet perplexed.  The momentum of the match did not flow or build into the finish.
    2. Los Villanos III & IV & V vs. The Psycho Circus. Some like to lean on the card of cultural relativity. I am not going to be one of those people. This was a cluster fuck of the worst kind. The audio feed made the action worse. Got to love Matt Striker. He took chicken shit and compiled it into a chicken shit septic tank. Awful.
    3. Cibernetico & Chessman & Averno defend the trios titles against Jack Evans & Fenix & Angelico and El Hijo del Fantasma & El Texano Jr. & Pentagon Jr. Another match ruined by audio distractions and camera mis cues. The top of the cage cam actually subtracted from the effect and impact of many of the moves. It was supposed to be a train wreck match up. It was a train wreck, just a train wreck I could easily bypass without second thought.
    4. Blue Demon Jr. & La Parka vs. Mesias & Electroshock. I attempted to tune out the audio, and enjoyed some of the action. If Blue Demon was two steps faster, he would be quite amazing. Striker was able to relay enough commentary to portray the historic importance of Blue Demon.
    5. Alberto El Patron vs. Brian Cage. This was an American style heel/face match. It was fine.  Alberto did not showcase anything we have not seen from him in WWE. When Cage is not hitting spots, he shows an abundance of amateur tendencies.  The ref bump was perhaps the silliest part of the entire match. Matt Striker telling the American wrestling fans that the American flag is a symbol of ethnocentrism in Mexico was great.
    6. Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Myzteziz. This match had a story I could follow. I dream match built on respect devolved into a grudge match. For the most part, the action was solid. Mysterio is still capable of performing his trademark maneuvers in a quick and believable way. Myzteziz played the aggressive role better than I expected. All in all, it was good but fell short of hype and expectation. The after match shenanigans were a booking disaster that made WWE run in finishes appear to be sacrament like in execution.

    Thanks,
    Derrick Hubbard from Utah

    Hi Dave and Brian 

    All I can say about the show was “ugh”! It was pretty bad from start to finish. Mysterios match was the best on a show that was horrible. Aside from the audio and technical problems Hugo was horrible as well. Striker was ok. Thumbs down.

    Peter Leong

    Dave,

    Hope you had a better weekend than that show. I only wish I had more hands, so I could give TripleMania four thumbs down. What a total disaster. One of the 4 or 5 worst PPVs I’ve ever watched, and I stayed to the bitter end of WCW. 

    Rey vs. Myzteziz was, but FAR, the best match. You could draw the rest out of a hat for worst match, but if I had to pick one, I guess it’s the Villanos-Psycho Circus debacle. I think Vince Russo booked that swerve fest mess at the end of the show. 

    Even without the gaffs in production, this show was beyond awful. Striker makes doing wrestling commentary seem like rocket science, like it’s the hardest thing in the world to figure out. How can anyone be as bad and unprepared as he was tonight? My favorite was him asking Hugo what Myzteziz translated to. What a dolt. Hugo wasn’t much better, either. 

    Why is it that 30-40 years ago, there were dozens of promoters and bookers that could put out a quality product around the world and today, whew, only a small, small handful. 

    AAA has a long way to go before I plop down $30 for one of their shows again. 

    All the best,
    Sammy Eanes

    Thumbs in the middle
    Best match: Mysterio/Myzteziz
    Worst match: Villanos/Psycho Circus

    Well…it wasn’t When Worlds Collide but I had fun watching this show with a friend. The opener was fine, exactly what I expected. The Villanos match was bad, like worst match of the year bad. Cage match was a blast even with the technical problems. Hated the Blue Demon Jr. match and that Cage/Alberto match was horrendous. The Perro tribute was my favorite thing on the show. I’m glad they did as good of a job with that as they did. The main event was excellent as well. On the whole, I felt like I spent $30 reasonably well. I had fun if nothing else and I’m looking forward to seeing heel Myzteziz vs. Rey in a mask match.

    Ricky Schmidt

    G1 night 8/8/15

    Thumbs in the middle

    Most of the card wasn’t great and would probably be thumbs down but the Tanahashi match elevated it beyond that.  Though even Tanahashi playing to the crowd didn’t seem as great as it normally is, probably because of the crowd.  It was noticable how few people were left when the camera pulled away as Tanahashi was walking back up.  Naito and Ibushi continue to be the other standouts in the A Block.

    Best Match – Tanahashi vs. Shibata

    Worst Match – Opening 6 man (mainly because it is the same as all the other 6 man tag matches that have taken place on this tour)

    G1 night 9/8/15

    Thumbs up

    Much better than previous day, it is amazing how much of a difference having commentary makes to the presentation, even though I basically understand nothing they say. The crowd also seemed much more into it tonight. All the tournament matches tonight were really good. A lot of Bullet Club interference as well but not to the point that it was too much. Elgin and Anderson had a great match, much better than I thought it was going to be.

    Best Match – Goto vs. Ishii

    Worst Match – Tonga & Fale vs Finlay & White

    Looking forward to the last few nights of tournament, it should really start to pick up from now on.

    Lee Dunn

    GLORY 23

    Decent. MMA defector Dustin Jacoby, showing improvement, wins a 4 man tourney MW tourney which allows him to enter the next 4 man MW tourney for (I think) a title shot. HW Xavier Vigney does a 3R paint job on Daniel Sam but has to settle for an incomprehensible split decision. Nieky Holzken repeats his previous stoppage of Raymond Daniels, this time for the WW title left vacant by Joe Valetillini’s medical suspension. Holzken avoided all Daniels’ movie kicks and picked his shots, and in the 3rd cornered Daniels, landed a flurry, and then backed away, talking to ref BJM, who took one look at the cut over Daniels’ eye, caused by a legal knee, and waved it off. The cut was horrible.

    UFC FN 73

    Thumbs middle. Too many mismatches.
    Best fight: Glover-OSP
    Worst fight: Rosholt-T. Johnson
    Best performance: Glover, Nunes
    Worst performance: yet again, the judges
    KO: Wilson
    Sub: Vera

    Onesided UFC debut win for Scott Holtzman over Anthony Christodoulou, who still needs to drop at least one division, dominating standup completely then finishing with RNC in the 3rd. Chito Vera, probably behind, taps Ramon Salazar with a triangle/arm bar in the 2nd and then screams and yells a lot. Quick UFC debut KO for Raymond Wilson over the badly outsized Chris Dempsey, who has no business at 205.

    Frankie Saenz gets a dubious 30-27 x 2, 28-29 SD over Sirwan Kakai. Very close fight. Onesided 3rdR G&P TKO for Distin Ortiz over late sub Willie Gates. Onesided, tedious UD for Chris Camozzi over Tom Watson. Quick win for Uriah Hall catching a kick and spilling way overmatched late sub indy phenom Oluwale Bamgbose and bombing him out with G&P. 

    Onesided but fast paced and sorta entertaining FlyW grapple-fucking card sweep UD for Ray Borg over UFC debuting Geane Herrera.

    Amanda Nunes comes through, stuffing Sara McMann’s TDs, dropping her with a combo capped with a right, and not letting her off the hook, taking back, pounding and opening up the RNC for the tap.

    Jared Rosholt barely survives the 3rd but has plopped and schmopped his way to a 29-28 HW porkfest UD over Tim Johnson. Dreadful.

    Derek Brunson batters Smilin Sam Alvey on the fance till he goes down and Yamasaki jumps in prematurely. Eh.

    Beniel Dariush gets an EXTREMELY dubious 29-28 SD over Michael Johnson, who certainly seemed to win at least the 1st and 2nd.

    Best performance in a couple years from Glover Teixeira. After a back and forth 1st, takes over completely scoring TDs at will and puts OSP to sleep with RNC early in the 3rd. OSP’s TD defense was nonexistent.
    Crimson Mask

    Here are my tournament thoughts on a thumbs up show. The best match of the night was Shibata vs Tanahashi. The worst match was Naito vs Yano.

    Night 13 

    Ibushi vs Fale

    Fale is using his size to beat down Ibushi. They do a good job of giving Ibushi hope spots only for Fale’s size to be too much. This even makes more sense this late in the tourney. They tease a Razor’s Edge on the floor, but Ibushi escapes and delivers an Asai Moonsault. It looks like Ibushi is about to make a run, but Fale cuts him off with a Samoan Drop. Some more and eventually it builds to a finish. From a story this was pretty basic, and honestly they needed it to be.  2 3/4*

    Naito vs Yano

    Some comedy early. Naito kicking Yano’s ass. Some Yano shennanigans. 1 1/2*

    Styles vs Tenzan

    AJ with some fun hair pulling. AJ is working another smart match. Tenzan has now busted his mouth. AJ selling the Koppo kick big. Nasty kick in the corner by AJ. Styles working the leg. Calf Slicer!!!!! Followed up by a Figure 4. Tenzan comeback after AJ mocking him. I bought Tenzan’s nearfall. I like how the story went back to Tenzan’s leg. I bit again on AJ’s close call. Yes and I loved that the leg work was paid off. I can’t wait to see AJ next month. He can go so many different ways in a match and tell so many different stories. He’s a lot like Billy Robinson in that regard. 4*

    Gallows vs Makabe

    Hoss fight. Gallows choking Makabe with his own chain. Now he’s punching him with it. Big sternum bump into the guard rail by Makabe. Gallows smashes a guard rail and chairs on Makabe. I guess the ref is giving him leeway. Makabe comeback. Gallows bumping good for him. A cursing battle to boot. Gotta give Makabe credit, he’s taking an ass kicking, and his strikes seem on point. A fun match. 3*

    Tanahashi vs Shibata

    Liking the mat work to start. The battles for positioning is really cool. Very old school build with a modern update. Tanahashi’s ankle pick was  sweet. Tanahashi doesn’t give Shibata a clean break. A nice piece of history in the match. Shibata transitions into an Abdominal Stretch into a Figure 4. I’m really liking the chess build here. Shibata beating Tanahashi down. Tanahashi tricks him and gives a low level drop kick. Dragon Screw by Tanahashi. Tanahashi presses his advantage on the floor. Shibata does a fighting spirit comeback, but at least it’s after 2 Tanahashi pussy elbow strikes. Shibata with some nasty work in the corner. A modified Octopus by Shibata. A kick stops Shibata cold. Tanahashi going back to the leg was awesome. This feels epic and a total battle. Super hot finishing sequence. What a match. The finish was perfect NWA champion. 4 1/2*

    Pete Schirmacher
    @titansowrestlin

  • After Dark Radio for tonight — Steven Streufert talks new Patterson/Gimlin video plus open lines and news!

    After Dark Radio with Bryan Alvarez returns tonight streaming LIVE AND FREE from the After Dark Radio Show website on the Dark Matter Radio Network. You can also now stream the show through the front page of this website using the link on the right-hand side of the front page!

    The show airs at MIDNIGHT ET/9 PM Pacific for two hours!

    Tonight we will be joined by special guest STEVEN STREUFERT of the Bluff Creek Projectfor an awesome discussion! We will also be taking your open lines phone calls on any topic imaginable! Check the website for NEW call-in numbers/email addresses in addition to our normal toll-free line.

    We will also be discussing tons of news, both from our website, afterdarkradioshow.com, our Facebook page, and, of course, Artbell.com, plus taking your phone calls, emails and Twitter questions!

    All of the phone numbers are available at afterdarkradioshow.com. You can send in emails on any topic to bryan@afterdarkradioshow.com. Remember, this show survives on your participation, so please send those emails or be prepared to call!

  • AAA TripleMania live coverage from Arena Ciudad in Mexico City – Mysterio vs. Myzteziz, Alberto vs. Cage hair match

    The first AAA PPV in the U.S. in 21 years is today’s TripleMania 23 from Arena Ciudad in Mexico City.

    We’re looking for your thoughts on today’s show, as well as today and yesterday’s G-1 shows from Japan, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

    We’re opening the show with audio difficulties.

    MINI PSYCHO CLOWN & MAMBA & DAGA & SEXY STAR VS. DINASTIA & PIMPINELA ESCARLATA & GOYA KONG & DRAGO

    Goya Kong is Porky’s daughter and looks just like him.  The finish saw Pimpinela make Sexy submit to version of a backbreaker.  The guys and minis were really good, he women not so good more comedy and the exoticos were what they were.  Some of the wrestling was really bad and the flying was tremendous.  Everyone but Kong did dives and there were multiple dives.  Pimpinela was kissing Matt Striker in the cheek after the match.

    They are now honoring Tropicasas, the father of Negro Casas who is retiring as a referee at the age of 82. 

    The announcers are really struggling. 

    So Striker compared Tropicasas with Terry Funk.  Because both wear a headband.

    Marisela Pena was almost in tears as Tropicasas came out.  He’ll be doing his final match tonight.

    They are doing a photo spread of Los Villanos, including showing Ray Mendoza, their father, who was one of the biggest stars in Lucha Libre history and a major star in California as well.

    LOS VILLANOS III & IV & V VS. THE PSYCHO CIRCUS

    The Villanos came out wearing their masks.  Two of them have to take their mask off after the match per commission regulations.

    Holy shit.  Think of the worst match that you ever saw.  That would be a fantastic match compared to this.  One of the Villanos used a low blow to pin one of the clowns.  Psycho Clown had Villano III pinned a couple of times but he refused to pin him because it was Villano III’s last match.  The announcing was hilarious as Matt Striker even said when they were throwing punches that they aren’t slapping their legs.  Hugo Savinovich’s mic was off so Striker was having a conversation with someone we couldn’t hear.  Between the technical problems, the wrestling and the announcing I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anything worse.  I knew this would be bad, but it was at a different level.

    At least the post match was touching.  The clowns are hugging Tropicasas.  The two Vilanos, Vilanos III and Villano V unmasked with some of the younger members of te Villano family in the ring.   Joaquin Roldan was thanking Villano III.

    Villano III and Tropiecasas were thanking the fans on the way out.   The Psycho Circus led chants for Villanos after.

    CAGE MATCH WITH THE BELTS HANGING ABOVE THE RING FOR AAA TRIOS TITLES.  CHESSMAN & CIBERNETICO & AVERNO DEFENDING AGAINST JACK EVANS & ANGELICO & FENIX AND PENTAGON JR. & EL HIJO DEL FANTASMA & EL TEXANO JR.

    Yes, we have the best flyers in the world and they are in a cage match.  We will be having all sorts of dives off the cage here no doubt.

    This was awful due to the production.  The cage kept the flyers from doing their thing past Fenix doing a moonsault block on Penataon and Evans did a flip off the thing over the ring, like a scaffolding made of metal.  Evans and Angelico ere both knocked off the cage to the floor.  It ended up with Averno, Fantasma and Angelico were on the scaffolding.  Angelico was knocked off the scaffolding into the ring.  Averno gave Fantasma a low blow and he fell into the ring.  Averno then grabbed the belt to win.  Cibernetico speared Texano through a  table in the ring and Chessman was knocked off the cage by Fantasma off the cage onto two tables that didn’t really break at all.

    This match made the least use of some talented guys and poor Matt Striker trying to announce this travesty.  By the end, we did get Hugo Savinovich back.

    BLUE DEMON JR. & LA PARKA VS. MESIAS & ELECTROSHOCK

    Demon Jr. made Electroshock submit with a combination scorpion and armlock after Parka had hit Mesias with a tope.  Some of this was pretty bad and other parts were okay.  Demon wasn’t bad considering his age and Parka tried given how beat up he is.

    Striker just said we may never see a wrestler have such a great career for as long a period of time as Blue Demon Jr.  Did anyone tell Matt that it’s not his father in the match.

    Next is the tribute to Perro Aguayo Jr. & Hector Garza.  They are both being inducted into the Hall of Fame tonight.

    Joaquin Roldan was out and Hugo was translating, except we couldn’t hear his translations.  The Garza family is out.  They are having wrestlers talk about Garza.  Lots of clis of Perro Jr. & Garza.  Perro is now talking.  

    His father Humberto accepted the plaque.  His brother and kids were out.  The Aguayo family is out and the fans are chanting.  The family has the urn.  Perro Agauyo Sr. isn’t there.  They are now showing a Perro video.   They showed him as a baby with Andre the Giant and Abdullah the Butcher.  They had his mother being interviewed.  They showed his father on the screen saying he was the best son you could ever have. 

    They are now playing his music.  They are showing lots of fans with Perros Del Mal shirts.  This was the best thing on the show.

    ALBERTO EL PATRON VS. BRIAN CAGE IN A HAIR VS. HAIR MATCH

    Alberto won with the armbar a low blow and throwing Cage into a chair in the corner.  This was more the idea that Cage, Fantasma and heel ref Tirantes were conspiring against Alberto.  Cage wore a Trump for President tank top.  It was more of a brawl with lots of chair shots to the head, although not severe, and table breaks.  It looked like Cage blew out his right knee during the match so he was doing the match with one leg.  He did every spot planned and went several minutes.  It looked like the knee went out on a missed moonsault.   Alberto juiced early on.  Fantasma and Fenix got involved until Cage threw Fenix into Fantasma who backdropped him on the ramp.  Alberto ended up giving El Hijo del Tirantes a spinning backbreaker and superkick.  Rafael el Maya came out as the new ref after Cage power bombed Alberto off the middle rope through a table but Alberto kicked out.  They are shaving Cage’s head. Alberto used a step up enzuigiri and a short power bomb and buried Cage under the Mexican flag since this started with Cage burying Alberto under the American flag.  Alberto kissed Marisela Pena when it’s over.

    REY MYSTERIO JR. VS. MYZTEZIZ

    This was a really good match.  Mysterio won with Myzteziz’s own La Mistica finish by tap out  The announcers didn’t know it was Myzteziz’s move.  Tons of near falls with the slow counts.  Myzteziz used the 619 and frog splash to Rey but Rey kicked out.  There were table breaks and all kinds of cradles for near falls.  Mysterio did a Thesz press on him over the post.  Myzteziz bled from being rammed into the post several times which he immediately recovered from.  Averno, Pentagon and Joe Lider all atacked Myteziz after the match while Rey is hanging out with Marisela Pena.  Rey ran in to clean house but they are beating him down.  Lider used the staple gun on Rey.  Looked like first they were pushing Pentagon  Lider vs. Myteziz & Rey for the tag title.  Averno went for the mask of Myzteziz.  They are all beating on Rey as he hung upside in the coner.  The doctor is with Myzteziz in one corner.  Rey & Myzteziz cleaned house together.  They used a double 619 on Pentagon and Lider.  Myzteziz got the staple gun and stapled Lider in the head, chest shoulders and arms.  Mysterio gave Averno a head scissors and went for the 619 n Averno but Averno ran off.  Myzteziz went for a tope on Averno but missed.  Averno started attacking him until Mysterio used a spinning head scissors on Averno on the floor.

    They announced another show on October 4th from San Luis Potosi.

    Rey talked to Myzteziz after but Myzteziz blew something in his face and cut a heel promo on him and called the fans dogs  He asked for a rematch with Mysterio in an anything goes match with no referee in front of these people and I want to embarrass you as the idol you claim to be.  He wanted a a mask vs. mask match and power bombed Mysterio through a table again.  That should only happen at TripleMania.  Mysteziz press slammed him into a codebreaker.  They rolled the credits while Konnan turned on Rey and the announcers were calling it as the show credits rolled.  Konnan was inviting Myzteziz to join La Sociedad as the show went off the air.

    This was something else.

  • WWE News: Possible surprise at WWE house show tonight

    We’ve been told that Stephan Amell of Arrow fame who will be on Raw tomorrow night, is backstage at today’s WWE house show in Vancouver.

    –Thanks to Michael Curson

  • SUN UPDATE: TripleMania, G-1, Sheamus injury, Smackdown womens tag, John Cena, UFC fighters get letter

    By Dave Meltzer

    We’re looking for your thoughts on today’s TripleMania show, as well as today’s G-1 show from Tokyo and yesterday’s G-1 show from Nagoya, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to Dave Meltzerdave@wrestlingobserver.com”>

    We’re also looking for reports on the WWE shows yesterday in Sydney, Australia and Victoria, BC, today’s show in Vancouver, and the NXT shows in Starke, FL on Thursday ad Orlando on Friday.

    AAA TripleMania 25 from Arena Ciudad in Mexico City on regular PPV at 7 p.m. Eastern

    Drago & Goya Kong & Dinastia & Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Daga & Sexy Star & Mini Psycho Clown & Mamba

    Cibernetico & Chessman & Averno defend the trios titles against Jack Evans & Fenix & Angelico and El Hijo del Fantasma & El Texano Jr. & Pentagon Jr.

    Blue Demon Jr. & La Parka vs. Mesias & Electroshock

    Los Villanos III & IV & V vs. The Psycho Circus

    Alberto El Patron vs. Brian Cage hair vs.. hair

    Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Myzteziz

    There will also be a Hall of Fame induction ceremony for both Perro Aguayo Jr. and Hector Garza.

    Raw will be Monday night in Everett, WA. Stephen Amell of the TV show Arrow will be a guest doing an angle with Stardust.  No Brock Lesnar or Paul Heyman advertised this week, nor John Cena.

    G-1 Climax on Tuesday morning at 5:30 a.m. Eastern from Tokyo Korakuen Hall

    Jay White & Mascara Dorada vs. Cody Hall & Yujiro Takahashi

    Kushida & Captain New Japan vs. Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga

    Hirooki Goto & Yohei Komatsu vs. Michael Elgin & David Finlay

    Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata & Tomoaki Honma & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi

    Tetsuya Naito vs. Doc Gallows

    Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Katsuyori Shibata

    Kota Ibushi vs. Toru Yano

    A.J. Styles vs. Bad Luck Fale

    Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Togi Makabe

    Smackdown will be Tuesday night in Portland, OR.

    The life and times of Roddy Piper is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.  We also have coverage of WWE financials and why the stock is going through the roof, the rise of Ronda Rousey and UFC 190 numbers, the G-1 Climax tournament update and the full story behind the 2002 pitch made to WWE about a gay asskicking wrestler.  

    The latest Wrestling Observer: August 10, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Roddy Piper passes away, WWE Q2 results & analysis

    Web site subscriptions, which include access to both current and older newsletters as well as every audio show in the history of the site are at  Sign up here for as low as $9.99 per month!

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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.

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    SUNDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

    • Bryan and I will be back tonight covering G-1 and the TripleMania PPV as well as taking your e-mail questions to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com
    • From last night’s show in talking about the women’s match on Smackdown, the commentary was done live.  Bryan watched and thought it may have been done after the fact, but that wasn’t the case.
    • Sheamus was off the weekend house shows due to either a diagnosed or fear of a concussion from the Raw main event on Monday.  
    • Great Hirooki Goto vs. Tomohiro Ishii main event on today’s G-1 show from Korakuen Hall.
    • Twitter numbers for today were Glover Teixeira at 11,400, and Roman Reigns at 40,600 stemming from the fan throwing a briefcase at last night’s show in Victoria, BC and nailing him in the back of the head.
    • Apparently the fan who threw the briefcase at Reigns was getting the wrestlers on the undercard to sign it first.
    • Regarding the controversial second round judging of the Michael Johnson vs. Beneil Dariush fight, apparently every media member on MMA Decisions gave the round to Johnson, which ended up as the swing round of the fight.  Two judges gave it to Dariush.  Johnson out landed Dariush 35-22 during the round and his punches were also harder and more impactful.  He also stopped every takedown attempt.  There have been worse decisions, but this was pretty bad. 
    • Michael Hayes and Kevin Von Erich are teasing one last match.  Kevin asked for a six-man tag where he would team with his sons against Hayes and two partners of his choosing.  Hayes claimed that before he came to Texas, nobody had ever heard of the Sportatorium or the Von Erichs.
    • John Cena is scheduled for Tough Enough on Tuesday.  He was not advertised for Raw on Monday, but it would be weird for him to be on Tough Enough if he’s not on Raw.
    • I will be appearing tomorrow at 1 p.m. on the MMA hour with Ariel Helwani at www.mmafighting.com
    • There is an NXT taping on Thursday night this week. The first hour taped will be the go-home show for Takeover.  The next three hours will be airing after Takeover.
    • UFC Chief Legal Officer Kirk Hendricks sent a letter to the fighters regarding the attempts by The Teamsters and the Culinary Workers Union to unionize UFC fighters.  As you can imagine, they weren’t encouraging them to join.  FrontRowBrian on his twitter has a copy of the letter. 
    • The UFC took out a huge ad in the Los Angeles Times promoting Ronda Rousey for her success, calling her the company’s biggest PPV draw as well as listing social media numbers.  A copy of the ad is on twitter
    • An article on Rey Mysterio promoting tonight’s AAA PPV
    • The Boston Globe has an editorial piece on Ronda Rousey
    • Regarding the story of Babe Ruth as a wrestling referee, in the movie, The Babe Ruth Story, starring William Bendix, there was a brief scene of Ruth as a referee of a women’s wrestling match (thanks to Irv Muchnick)
    • Preston City Wrestling from Friday in Preston, England:  El Ligero won over Ashton Smith, Dean Allmark, Charlie Garrett, Luther Ward and Ophidian, T-Bone & Rampage Brown b Josh Bodom & Ryan Hendricks, Iestyn Rees b Dave Rayne, Noam Dar b Drew Galloway, Dave Mastiff won over Bubblegum and Chris Masters to keep the PCW title, Lionheart b Rockstar Spud, Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish b Joey Hayes & Martin Kirby, Sha Samuels b Kris Travis, Dave Mastiff DDQ Samoa Joe.  Masters said farewell, being fired by General Manager Joanna Rose and turning face on the way out.  O’Reilly & Fish are set to face T-Bone & Rampage at the Supershow of Honor 2 card in November.  Travis had his first match back after cancer.  Next show is 8/29 which is the Bank Holiday Bash which is a free outdoor show in  Blackpool, England with Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards, Ken Anderson, Brian Christopher, Scotty 2 Hotty, Nick Aldis and Mickie James.  On 9/25 they have Tommaso Ciampa vs. El Ligero.  On 10/31 they have two shows with Ricky Steamboat and Jeff Jarrett.  Supershow of Honor 2 is 11/27 to 11/29 with Roderick Strong, Silas Young, Dalton Castle, Cedric Alexander, Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish, Adam Cole, Michael Elgin, Delirious, Hanson, Ray Rowe and Doug Williams (thanks to Jan Buxton)
    • Acclaim Pro Wrestling on 9/12 in Ottawa at 379 Waverly Street
    • Pro Wrestling from Cleveland on Friday night that has no name:  Bobby Beverly b Andrew Palace, N8 Mattson b Joey Vengeance, Bryan Bowers b Nikki Valentino, Rickey Shane Page b Matt Cross, Dylan Bostic & Derek Direction b Idris Abraham & Aiden Prince, Jimmy Nutts b Jock Samson, Johnny Gargano b Tyson Dux (thanks to Jeff Gorman)
    • Jim Crockett’s granddaughter has just launched a non-profit organization helping veterans.  They have already donated $180,000 in 2015.  They are also posting tons of exclusive photos from Jim Crockett’s days as a wrestling promoter that have never been seen before at www.crockettfoundation.com
    • Dynamo Pro Wrestling from last night in Fenton, MO:  Keon Option b The Snitch, Rocket Mapache & Jackal b Brandon Aarons & Evan Morris, Brandon Espinosa b Paco Gonzalez, Justin D-Air b Jayden Fenix, Jack Gamble & Jon Webb b Michael Magnuson & Dave DeLorean-DQ, Mike Outlaw b Elvis Aliaga, Jake Dirden b Shorty Biggs (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
    • Combat Zone Wrestling iPPV last night in Voorhees, NJ:  Sozio b Ryan Galleone, Sozio b Trooper Audubon, JT Dunn b Joey Janela, Penelope Ford & Takumi Iroha b Sumie Sakai & Brittany Blake, Greg Excellent NC Dick Justice, Chigusa Nagayo (the biggest woman’s pro wrestling star ever in Japan) & Takaaki Watanabe b Nate Carter & Dave McCall, Tim Donst b Frankie Pickard to keep CZW Wired title, Jake Crist b Danny Havoc in a barbed wire match, Dave Crust b Conor Claxton, Matt Tremont b Pepper Parks in a street fight, Matt  Tremont b BLK Jeez to win the CZW title.  Next show is 9/12 with AR Fox vs. Mike Bailey in a Chris Cash Memorial Ladder match (thanks to Bob Magee)
    • Destiny World Wrestling on 10/2 in Mississauaga, ONT at the Don Kolov Arena features Rey Mysterio Jr. and PJ Black and the show will be a TV taping.
    • Chris Dickinson vs. Ethan Page headlines 8/22 in Toronto at The Great Hall.
    • Lucha Xtreme TV from last night in Fresno:  Jesse Poole b Mike Strong, Brandon Pinion b Johnny Plinko, Brian Tannen b Mike Rayne (thanks to Jon Southerland)
    • Terry Crews, the actor, sent a positive message to Apollo Crews, the former Uhaa Nation, who took his name from him saying “Love the new name.  Represent it well.”
    • The WWE Network will be adding the April 6, 1998 and September 26, 1997 episodes of Nitro on Thursday.  
    • During a Northeast Wrestling show last night in Bethany, CT, a fan brought a coconut to the ring and asked Donovan Dijak to hit Matt Taven with it.  But it wasn’t a whole coconut, but a shredded coconut that you would buy for baking.  After the match, a Texas death match that Taven won, Taven poured it all over Dijak’s face when Dijak was on the ground selling the loss.  Dalton Castle also hit the deadlift German suplex on Warbeard Hanson at the show.  (thanks to Troy Cummings)
    • Robbie E this weekend appeared at Geekfest, a comic con in Newport, South Wales.
    • Ring Warriors has two shows on 8/15, with a 1 p.m. and a 7 p.m. show at the Tampa Letter Carriers Hall, both TV tapings.  Announced for the tapings are Bruce Santee, Monster Tarver, Sonjay Dutt, Wes Brisco, Lince Dorado, Santana Garrett, Chase Stevens, The Almighty Sheik, Mister Saint Laurent, Jessy Sorensen, Mr. 450, Maxwell Chicago and more.
    • On the ESPN.com web site, if you click on the “Mike and Mike” Big Mess video, there is a commercial for Werner ladders featuring Rey Mysterio and Alicia Fox. (thanks to Neal Hager)
    • ACE Wrestling from last night in Wallington, NJ:  EC Negro b CK Cross, Sonny Kiss b Azrieal and Lou Torres, Chris Raze b Astro Morales, Mike Donovan & Ricky Richards b Absolute Alvin & Mike Orlando, Maya & Black Zemis b William Wyeth & Tiny Johnson, Stockade b Chris Romano, Vince Steele b TJ Marconi-DQ, Ethan Carter III b Ricky Reyes.  Next show is 8/29 at the Morgan Jr. Arena.

    ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY INTERNATIONAL (thanks to Graeme Cameron)

    1969 – Michiaki Yoshimura & Antonio Inoki beat The Crusher & Art Mahalik in Nagoya to win the All-Asia tag titles

    1978 – The Queen Angels (Lucy Kayama & Tomi Aoyami) beat Nancy Kumi & Victoria Fujimi to win the WWWA tag titles and Maki Ueda beat Chabela Romero to win the All-Pacific title.  

    1991 – Akira Nogami beat Jushin Liger in Tokyo to win the IWGP jr. title

  • WWE RAW News: Another name backstage, scheduled matches

    – Former WWE Champion Daniel Bryan, who grew up in the Seattle area, is backstage at Raw. He’ll do a Miz TV segment, likely promoting his book.

    – The Bellas & Alicia Fox vs. Team BAD of Sasha Banks & Naomi & Tamina Snuka has also been announced for the show.

  • Fights To Make Following UFC Fight Night 73

    By Ryan Frederick, WrestlingObserver.com

    Glover Teixeira snapped a two-fight losing streak in the main event of UFC Fight Night 73 from Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday night, scoring a big third-round submission win over Ovince Saint Preux. It was a chance to for a fresh contender to be made in the light heavyweight division, but Teixeira let it be known he is still a threat at 205 pounds, looking solid in the process.

    It was a night with some solid finishes, solid action, upset winners and a big controversial decision. With UFC Fight Night 73 now in the past, it is time to look into the future and play the role of Joe Silva and Sean Shelby and come up with some fights to make next for some of the competitors from Saturday night’s event.

    Glover Teixeira vs. Anthony Johnson-Jimi Manuwa winner

    Glover Teixeira got back into the win column with a solid victory over Ovince Saint Preux in the main event of Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night 73 event. It snapped a two-fight losing skid for Teixeira and showed he can still contend in the light heavyweight division. He looked as good as he did before his title loss to Jon Jones in April 2014, and with Daniel Cormier now the king of the division while Jones is away, there will need to be new challenges for him whether or not contenders have fought for the title in the past. Teixeira should look to fight again before the end of the year, and a title eliminator contest between the winner of the fight between Anthony Johnson and Jimi Manuwa at UFC 191 next month seems like a logical next step for Teixeira.

    Beneil Dariush vs. Tony Ferguson

    Beneil Dariush got a controversial decision win in the co-main event over Michael Johnson, extending his win streak to five straight. While it was a close fight, many thought Johnson had done more to win the fight, and the result was very surprising. Dariush even thought he might have lost the fight, but nonetheless, he was the one who had his hand raised. He has quietly rised the rankings in the lightweight division, and another win puts him on the step to knocking on the title shot door. He is going to get another high-ranked opponent for his next fight, and I thought Al Iaquinta may be a good opponent, but he is out for a while due to knee surgery, and Dariush likely gets back into action quickly. A fight against Tony Ferguson, who has won six straight, makes some good sense.

    Amanda Nunes vs. Alexis Davis

    Amanda Nunes scored her biggest win inside the Octagon to date when she finished former title challenger Sara McMann in the first round. McMann showed good striking but was knocked down from a right hand by Nunes, who then jumped to the back of McMann and locked in a fight-ending rear-naked choke. It was the second straight win for Nunes and showed she will be a threat in the women’s bantamweight division. She should get a top-ranked opponent next, and Alexis Davis fits the bill there. Davis has won six of her last seven and is coming off an impressive win and doesn’t have a fight lined up. There is history there too- Davis defeated Nunes in a bout in Strikeforce in 2011.

    Derek Brunson vs. Rafael Natal

    Derek Brunson scored a very good win over Sam Alvey on Saturday night in a fight that produced a lot of striking. It may have been dangerous for Brunson to slug on the feet with Alvey as Brunson is a solid wrestler, but his power was shown when he scored the TKO win in the first against a tough Alvey. Brunson broke into the rankings after a win in his last fight and now has won three straight fights. The middleweight division is tough and there are a lot of solid fights that could be made with guys ranked ahead of him. I prefer to match Brunson with another fighter on a three-fight win streak in Rafael Natal, who, while he is below Brunson in the rankings, he would give him a solid opponent.

    Ray Borg vs. Ali Bagautinov

    Ray Borg showed why he is a rising prospect in the UFC’s flyweight division when he scored an impressive win over Geane Herrera on Saturday night. His stock continues to rise, and he gave a warning to UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson that he is making his way towards him. While Borg is on a three-fight win streak, he has yet to fight a ranked opponent. That should be what is coming to him next, and I like him to fight a former title challenger in Ali Bagautinov next. Bagautinov should be ready to return from a suspension any time now, and while he is coming off a loss to Johnson, he would be someone that Borg would need to defeat to show he is ready to contend. It is time to throw Borg to the wolves.

    Ovince Saint Preux vs. Fabio Maldonado

    Ovince Saint Preux went into the headline bout of UFC Fight Night 73 on Saturday as the favorite, both in the betting odds and in front of his home state crowd. There was a lot of pressure on him, and he admitted it got to him, and he was unable to stop the takedowns of Glover Teixeira and ended up being choked out in the third round. It was disappointing for Saint Preux, who was looking for his third straight win and a top-five position in the rankings. It’s time to go back to the drawing board for Saint Preux, and a bounce back fight against Fabio Maldonado may be the perfect chance for him to get back in the win column.

    Michael Johnson vs. Anthony Pettis

    Michael Johnson lost a close decision in the co-main event on Saturday night, a bout most thought he won over Beneil Dariush. It ended the four-fight win streak for Johnson and knocked him out of the title hunt for the time being. While it was controversial and a fight he probably should have won, it will leave a sour taste in the mouth for a while for Johnson. He is still a top fighter in the lightweight division and still has the chance to bounce back into contention. He still deserves a big fight in his next bout, and a fight against the former UFC Lightweight Champion, Anthony Pettis, seems like it would be a good direction. A lot of fighters want to fight Pettis, but he is coming off a loss and an opponent also coming off a loss seems likely. Johnson now fits that bill.

  • Konnan talks Kevin Sullivan, Filthy Animals, Lucha Underground

    By Marc Madison

    Lucha Underground’s, Konnan recently took some time to participate in an interview with Marc Madison of The News Hub. Konnan reveals his work with Kevin Sullivan, the faction that he felt was that was the most under rated in WCW, his role in Mexico and what he looks forward to with Lucha Underground. Check out excerpts of the interview below and the complete interview here:
    https://www.the-newshub.com/other-sport/lucha-undergrounds-konnan-discusses-his-time-with-the-us-navy-working-with-kevin-sullivan-and-his-experience-with-lucha-underground

    Working with Kevin Sullivan:

    It was excellent because Kevin was the one that had originally called me because Woman (Nancy Sullivan) was working at the time which you remember was his wife at the time. I think that she was the one that told him, ‘look, this Konnan’s I believe you can do something with him especially since you don’t have any Latino’s’. He called me and when I got there he really helped me out a lot. I was actually going to do a program with Hogan at one point for Mexico and the United States. I think what happened and I’m not sure, I have ask him about this and it is something that I want to ask him the next time I see him is, this is what I really think happened.

    I got there and they really had big plans for me but I don’t think they thought I didn’t know how to wrestle the American style which Paul E made that same mistake. When I went in there, he put me in there with some American guy and we had some terrible match and I told Paul E, I don’t know how to wrestle American style. They think just because you speak English, that you could also wrestle the style and I think the same thing happened with Kevin. So I had to be deprogrammed. I had to learn how to wrestle American style. By the time, I learned I think my stock fell in their eyes. But Kevin was always like a mentor to me there.

    About the most under rated faction he was a part of in WCW:

    I think the one that comes to mind is the Filthy Animals. Imagine this in the same faction. You had Torrie Wilson, Billy Kidman, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Disco Inferno, Konnan and then for a while there we had Juventud (Guererra). So there is a lot of talent right there and they just didn’t do anything with us. The problem with WCW was and we all know and it’s been well documented and I know this is going to sound redundant but you had an owner that was a mark for the stars and the stars dictated what they wanted and they made sure that none of us got through. So none of us did, a lot of these guys had there to go to WWE. I give Vince credit for that.

    Chris Jericho and Rey and (Chris) Benoit and Eddie had to leave WCW to become stars, would never had happened had they stayed. The funny thing about that group was I’ll tell you how it was formed. I had actually gone to Vince Russo who had just taken over and I said, ‘look, they’ve been burying us since before you got here and I don’t know if you have any plans to do anything with us but let me get a bunch of my friends, put us together and let us have fun and if you want bury us then at least we’ll be together and we’ll get buried together’. So I basically got a bunch of my friends which were the people I just named. Torrie was actually going out with Billy so we just brought her into the fold. That’s basically how the group came about. We did some angle where we buried Ric Flair in the desert, somewhere in Vegas I believe and nothing ever happened after that. We just knew they weren’t going to do anything but at least we were having fun being together.

  • On this day in pro wrestling history: Bruno vs. Zbyszko at Shea, Flair beats Dusty for NWA title, Hogan beats Luger for WCW title

    By Brian Hoops

    1936 – In Waterloo, Iowa; for the Iowa Heavyweight title, Earl Wampler (champion) wrestled Alphonse Bisignano to a no contest, 
    Bull Martin beat Frank (Bull) Topas and Hal Rumberg drew with Albert Mills. 

    1969 – In Chicago, Illinois;  AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Jack Dillinger, 
    Mad Dog Vachon & Butcher Vachon beat Flying Redheads Red Bastien & Billy Red Lyons, Wilbur Snyder beat Frank Dillinger, 
    Dr X beat Moose Cholak and Bill Watts beat Big K

    1972 -In Miami, Florida; NWA Champion Dory Funk Jr beat Bob Orton, Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Jack Brisco & Ron Fuller,
    Buddy Colt beat Louie Tillet and Mike Graham beat Taurus

    1973 – In Kansas City, Kansas; Man Mountain Mike & Hillbilly Vic & Jim Brunzell vs. Jay French & Togo the Great & Percy Pringle,
    Bob Orton vs. Mike George, Ricky Romero vs. Jim Dalton, Danny Little Bear vs. Tokyo Joe, Roger Kirby vs. Rufus R. Jones and Bob Brown vs. Harley Race

    1980 – WWF held their “Showdown at Shea” event at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York, drawing 36, 295 fans. Andre the Giant defeated Hulk Hogan; Tony Atlas defeated Intercontinental Champion Ken Patera via countout;  Bob Backlund & Pedro
    Morales defeated The Samoans (Afa & Sika) to win the WWF World Tag Team Title.  However, because Backlund was already the WWF World Heavyweight Champion, he and Morales were forced to vacate the belts. In the main event, Bruno Sammartino defeated Larry Zbyszko in a steel cage match.

    1981 – In Minneapolis, Minnesota; Sheik Adnan beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq, In a non title match, Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura beat AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell, Jerry Blackwell wrestled to a no contest with Brad Rheingans, 
    Billy Robinson beat Ed Boulder (Brutus Beefcake) and Hulk Hogan beat Terry Scholes & Nacho Berrera & Chuck Greenlee

    1985 – In Salt Lake City, Utah; In a Boot Camp Match; Sgt. Slaughter & Greg Gagne beat Larry Zbyszko & Nick Bockwinkel,
    AWA Champion Rick Martel beat Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy beat Baron Von Raschke, Boris Zhukov beat Steve O, Buck Zumhofe beat Ray Stevens dq and Steve O drew Billy Robinson. Attendance was 7,753.

    1986 – Ric Flair defeated Dusty Rhodes for the NWA World Heavyweight
    Wrestling Title in St. Louis, Missouri .

    1997 – Hulk Hogan defeated Lex Luger to win the WCW World Heavyweight
    Title at the Road Wild PPV in Sturgis, SD.  Also on the show, Rick & Scott Steiner defeated WCW World Tag Team Champions Scott Hall & Kevin Nash via DQ and WCW Cruiserweight Champion Alex Wright defeated Chris Jericho

    1999 – Kane & X-Pac defeated The Acolytes for the WWF World Tag Team
    Title during an edition of Monday Night Raw. Chris Benoit defeat David
    Flair for the WCW United States Title during an episode of Monday Nitro.

    2001 – At the Brian Pillman Memorial Show in Ohio;  Chad Collyer defeated Pepper Parks, Shark Boy, and Matt Stryker in a Four Corners match to win the HWA Cruiserweight Title, Nick Dinsmore defeated Race Steele to win the HWA Title and Matt & Jeff Hardy defeated Edge & Christian and Chris Kanyon & Diamond Dallas Page in a three way match.

    2010 – Angelina Love defeated Madison Rayne to win the TNA Knockouts Title.