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  • RIP Dusty Rhodes: your favorite career matches & moments

    Photo: Pro Wrestling Illustrated

    By Josh Nason, Wrestling Observer

    I asked for your favorite Dusty Rhodes matches and you delivered. What follows is a collection of various big matches from Rhodes’ career with some consistencies, some memories, and lots of video links. If you’re a Dusty Rhodes fan, this post is for you.

    *****

    Dusty Rhodes & Ole Anderson vs. Assassins Steel Cage Match – Georgia Championship Wrestling, 1980

    I was lucky to see two really historically significant matches live. One was June 8, 1990, when Jumbo Tsuruta passed the torch and put over Mitsuhara Misawa. The other was in 1980, when I, along with numerous other folks at the Atlanta WFIA Convention, saw Dusty teaming with Ole Anderson vs The Assassins in a steel cage with Gene Anderson as a babyface ref and Ivan Koloff as a heel ref.

    Now being a Southern California kid (pre cable TV in my region), I was unfamiliar with just how over Dusty was. I’ll never forget that when the match was about to start, one of the WFIA folks (Pete Lederberg) said, “Hey, do you think the other five wrestlers will turn on Dusty?” People shook their heads or said “Naaaaah”…even though I bet most of those folks would later claim they saw the angle coming months ahead!

    Well, we all know the turn he predicted happened, and I sat there, absolutely stunned at how batsh*t crazy the fans in the Omni went over Dusty’s blood, guts, and thunder massacre at the hands of five heels inside a cage! Beer, food, everything imaginable was hurled at the cage. The fan I’ll never forget was some teen, not the stereotypical wrestling nerd, looked more like a varsity jock, walked aimlessly near ringside, tears streaming down his face, and then, straight out of the most melodramatic movie you’ve ever seen, clenches his fists and screams through a giant sob, “DUUUUUUSTY!!!”

    I’m not going to lie and say I was a mega Dusty fan. I really dug him at times, got burned out on him at others. That said, that night at The Omni, 1980, I TOTALLY understood that there was so much more to Dusty Rhodes than what I previously saw in the Apter & Keitzer magazines! RIP Dusty Rhodes.

    – Kurt Brown

    ***** 

    Dusty Rhodes vs. Barry Windham — Great American Bash 1988

    – Tommy Slinker

    ***** 

    The James Boys vs. Midnight Express – WCW Saturday Night

    Frank and Jesse James are Dusty and Magnum TA under masks. Great match and great angle. Great finish. I love this match.

    – Dan Cerquitella

    ***** 

    Assassins vs. Dusty & Ole Anderson with Gene Anderson & Ivan Koloff as special refs – 1980, Omni in Atlanta, GA

    The match told a great story. It was about trust, lack of trust and revenge.

    – Ted Leavey

    ***** 

    Dusty Rhodes & Wahoo McDaniel vs Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson double bullrope & Indian strap match – Jim Crockett Promotions house show, spring of 1986

    Dusty Rhodes & Dick Murdoch vs The Bruiser & The Crusher – AWA, March 1973

    Great brawl. I’m not sure if these 4 guys knew pro wrestling was a work.

    – Matt Mann

    ***** 

    Photo: WWE.com 

    War Games: The Match Beyond

    So many feuds & storylines all timed to hit at once. Just perfect. Also, a few moments: when the James Gang attacked the Midnight Express (nearly kills Jim Cornette), and when Dusty nearly murdered Tully Blanchard with a baseball bat. I think that Dusty is up in heaven talking to the other wrestlers saying “Y’all hear that they’re talkin’ ’bout me, right?”

    – Uncle Jason from West Virginia

    ***** 

    War Games: The Match Beyond – July 4th, 1987 in Atlanta at the Omni

    It was the Four Horsemen (Lex Luger version) and JJ Dillon against The Super Powers (Dusty and Nikita Koloff), the Road Warriors and Paul Ellering. Classic good vs evil, and the Horsemen had been on a serious roll. I did not think there was any way the Horsemen would lose, but then I saw the match. Dusty was great in the match. He sold, he bled, and you knew he was going to lead his team to victory. I never bet against Dusty after that.

    – Reginald Featherbottom

    ***** 

    Bunkhouse Stampede ‘88 (Dusty, Animal, Barbarian, Arn Anderson, Ivan Koloff, Lex Luger, Warlord, Tully Blanchard) – Nassau Coliseum, NY

    I get the impression that, to people growing up with Dusty, this match is not as fondly remembered as I remember it. However, to a kid born in 1987 in North Louisiana that only had a few tapes on hand, this opened the door to a whole new world of wrestling.

    My first introduction to wrestling had been to the cartoon world of WWF and Hulk Hogan.  “Kid” stuff.  “My” stuff.  Stuff that easily fell into the Ninja Turtles demographic.  This was something different, though. This was blood and beer. This was my dad and his friends in the barroom brawls that I heard my dad was pretty good in. I didn’t hear a Rhodes promo until the polka dot era,  but he won me over as a real hero wrestler.  Hogan was a comic book; Dusty was like my dad: a true blue, common man that worked hard for his family even if that meant he didn’t get to see them. To anyone that says Dusty was all promo, f*ck ’em.  He got me with this match and winning the big boot.  

    Midnight ridin’ through hard times,

    – Johnny Moore

    ***** 

    Dusty Rhodes vs. Ric Flair World Title Match – Great American Bash, 1986

    I’m 45 years old, and I’ve been a huge wrestling fan since I was 10 in 1980. It’s very hard for me to pick one particular match since Dusty had so many great matches and moments in the ring. But if I had to pick just one, I would have to go with when Dusty defeated Ric Flair for the NWA World title at the Great American Bash in 1986.

    Of course Dusty was not the most athletic wrestler or had the traditional wrestler body so to speak. But just like his promos, Dusty was excellent in performing and telling a physical story in the ring with his actions. His wrestling style and abilities in the ring made you believe he was one of the best wrestlers in the world because he made everything so emotional.

    He was very good for a big man in the ring, was pretty quick in his prime, and he just made you believe what he was doing in the ring by his physical story telling in his matches, nobody could “sell” in the ring like Dusty. He had me thinking that the Bionic elbow was the most devastating move in the world. His cage match with Ric Flair was such an awesome match and such a good story of winning the title after his countless battles with the Four Horsemen, Ric Flair, War Games matches, tag matches with Magnum TA and Nikita Koloff in his battles with Flair, and his single matches were all just awesome.

    But when he won the World title, which I think was his 2nd win? It was just an awesome moment at the time, and still gives me goosebumps when I go back and watch the match now. The crowd pop was so huge, Dusty was so emotional when he won the world title, and then all the NWA faces at the time all coming to the cage to celebrate with Dusty, just made it a special moment like he just won the World Series or the Super Bowl. Dusty was always a great story teller in the ring in his physical actions that just made you believe in everything he did. He was a master of the game to say the least.

    My Mount Rushmore of wrestling includes Dusty Rhodes. He was a once in a lifetime performer that just made you believe. And that is the most important thing when watching a wrestling match.

    – Jon Southerland

    *****

    “Superstar” Billy Graham vs. Dusty Rhodes – Texas Death Match for the WWWF title, MSG 10/24/77

    It’s on the WWE DVD “20 Years Too Soon – The Superstar Billy Graham Story. Incredible heat!

    – Robert from Vienna  

    ***** 

    Since I rewatched ‘Rivalries’, the hot angle to reunite his feud with Flair. In the Omni in Atlanta, Flair vs. Nikita in the cage when Ivan jumps in and Dusty makes the save only to be jumped by the Horsemen, Ole, Arn, Tully. They “broke” Dusty’s leg and the arena wouldn’t let the Horsemen out of the cage. Anderson and Flair said it took a hour to get out of the cage sadly. Dusty’s final triumph one on one at the GAB on July 26th in Greensboro, NC, to win the title over Flair was a great story finally coming to a climax.

    Dusty Rhodes vs. ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham from MSG (1977)

    Dusty Rhodes vs. Tully Blanchard for the rights to Baby Doll (1985-86)

    – Matt Cail

    ***** 

    Dusty Rhodes vs. Steve Corino – Bullrope Match; ECW Living Dangerously (2000)

    One simple reason: I was there to see it from the fifth row. Born in ’79, I was a little too young to appreciate his body of work at his prime, but I’d become a fan of his commentary on WCW Saturday Night. The ECW PPV was taking place a town away from where I lived at the time, and as cool as it was to attend an ECW show at close range (you can see me in the opening crowd pan on that show, on WWE Network), I was grateful I was getting to see Dusty do his thing inside the ring.

    It was a simple bloody brawl that I’ll always remember – specifically watching the Bionic Elbow in person. It’ll always be a special memory for me.

    – Tony Yannuzzi

    *****  

    Dusty Rhodes vs. Steve Corino – Bullrope Match; ECW Living Dangerously (2000)

    It sticks out the most to me because even though Dusty was way past his prime, the ECW crowd still gets behind him. Few people could command a room like The Dream.

    – James Lambert

    *****  

    Dusty Rhodes vs. Ric Flair: Starrcade ’85

    While I have as much respect as anyone regarding Dusty Rhodes’ career, he was never a personal favorite of mine. I didn’t become a serious wrestling fan until the late-80’s and that was all WWE. While obviously super-charismatic and a great promo, the polka dot wearing, Sapphire loving Dusty Rhodes was well past his best body of work (in-ring and otherwise).

    However one match in particular that remains a personal favorite of mine (participants notwithstanding) is Dusty Rhodes vs. Ric Flair from Starrcade ’85. I watched this match for the 1st time upon purchasing The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection DVD set WWE put out back around 2003. People often throw around the terminology “storytelling” when it comes to wrestling matches. Most of the best matches in history have been a demonstration of where that phrase comes from. That is hardly the case with most modern day matches which is no doubt the primary reason that even upon one viewing, this three decade old match had an impact on and still resonates with me even now.

    The angles and promos leading to the match aside (which were top rate by themselves), this match was pure storytelling from bell-to-bell. While one has to give Flair all the credit in the world for his role in this match, it was Dusty that was the architect in making it successful. Nearly everything in the match was perfect in terms of timing, psychology, storytelling, and for Rhodes, a 101 seminar on how to be a successful babyface. To say the same angles and storylines could have been utilized in the same way with anyone besides Dusty Rhodes is fooling themselves.

    Even as a non-Dusty Rhodes fan, I could see from this one little snapshot in time why there is nobody else in the wrestling business who was or will be another ‘American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes. How many matches today can one watch and even remember the next day?

    – Joshua P. Christie

    *****  

    I know you called for matches, but for me the things I remember most about Dusty were the angles: when the Horsemen followed Dusty and beat him up in the parking lot, Dusty & Magnum as the The James Gang, Nikita turning babyface and saving Dusty, Baby Doll and Dusty, Dusty breaking the chair over Bubba’s head (and Bubba no selling it), and so much more from that 80s Crockett era.  Dusty wasn’t about great physical matches, he was about the emotion of the match.  And the peak for all of that was the first War Games. Just listen to the crowd when Dusty throws a punch or hits the elbow. The match was so huge because it came together naturally, and it made sense because of the interference by the Horsemen for two years.

    If that had been the first Crockett PPV, I think they’d have been so successful that the cable companies may have not let Vince pull the power play on Thanksgiving. Would this have saved Crockett or just delayed the inevitable?

    Most of Dusty’s big matches weren’t shown in their entirety on TV, but there were a bunch of big name matches on Worldwide that either were short (and exciting) or lasted three minutes before David Crockett said “we gotta go.”  One that does stick out to me was Dusty vs. Bobby Eaton in a cage. It’s not a long match, but was a unique match for TV.  Bobby being the awesome worker that he was and being able to have Jim Cornette on the outside makes this so much fun.

    – Jason Campbell

    *****  

    Dusty Rhodes vs. Tully Blanchard, Great American Bash 1987 in Greensboro, NC

    I want to say thanks for giving the fans an opportunity to say which match they best remember from Dusty. There are heroes from the great art of pro wrestling with great frequency, and Dusty surely means a great deal to those fortunate enough to have watched him wrestle throughout his career. I was thinking how cool it was that he showed up in ECW to feud with Steve Corino, and again foiled Corino and his “Group”, when he joined Homicide in Ring of Honor wars back over a decade ago.

    My favorite match goes back to the days of the NWA. the Great American Bash 1987. June 6th, 1987 to be exact as Dusty battled Tully Blanchard in Greensboro, NC at Greensboro Coliseum. This was the heyday of Dusty’s feuding with the Horsemen. There is barbed wire wrapped around the ropes! Also a bag of money is hung, which brings a ladder into play many years before other wrestlers are credited for creating the ladder match.

    I don’t want to spoil for those that have not seen but this is every bit as exciting as other Dusty/Tully tangles. and JJ Dillon, Dark Journey and Barry Windham are all present for the match as well. Great Crockett-era action and just one of the many reasons to be a Dusty fan. Many condolences to the Rhodes (Runnels) family.

    – Robert Murillo

    ***** 

    The matches Dusty had with Superstar Billy Graham at Madison Square Garden in 1977 and 1979 have an atmosphere to them that is hard to match. They play off each other like career opponents. They faced each other for the WWWF Title on 9/26/1977 and their rematch on 10/24/1977 was a Texas Death Match and is my personal favorite Graham match and maybe even favorite Dusty match. They had their famous 8/28/1978 Bullrope match that was a classic grudge match.

    For me, I started watching NWA/WCW in 1988 when I rented Starrcade 86 and Starrcade 87 on successive nights without knowing the cards of results. I got behind Dusty in his 1986 TV Title loss to Tully Blanchard and then really enjoyed his US Title win in a cage match against Lex Luger.

    The ending was telegraphed but the DDT on the chair for the title win made my night. I then really enjoyed his title challenge and loss to new US Champion Barry Windham in July 1988, my first “new” ppv since I’d started watching. It was probably his last great singles feud of his full-time career.

    Also, Dusty’s matches against Steve Corino in ECW were always fun. And the tag match at 1992 Tokyo Dome in which he teamed with Dustin against Masa Saito and Kim Duk was a great emotional experience, and I think it would be even more so now.

    – Dave Musgrave

    *****  

    Dusty’s First Blood match vs. Tully Blanchard — Starrcade, Greensboro, NC 1986.

    Dusty vs. Ric Flair World title match, Great American Bash 1986

    Dusty vs. Tully Blanchard cage match, Great American Bash 1985 in Charlotte.

    What made them stand out is that I remember getting excited that Dusty had won the World title while the other two were brutal. I was 7-8 years old then and being that young, those three really stick with me today.

    – Wesley Kelly

    *****  

    Dusty Rhodes vs. Lex Luger – Starrcade ’87, cage match for the U.S. Title.

    Maybe the match wasn’t a classic, and I didn’t need Johnny Weaver involved, but Dusty was at his best as a sympathetic babyface vs the powerhouse Luger.

    -Richard Baker

    *****  

    The following is from Steve Helwagen whose work has appeared here before. This is a pretty extensive list with tons of video links, so I wanted to give him a special shoutout.

    I spent lot of nights watching Dusty at the Convention Center (Ohio Center then) and Fairgrounds Coliseum. He and Ole Anderson were the main event of the first show at Ohio Center in Sept. 1980. Here’s some video links of my favorites including the first time I’ve ever seen the ‘92 St. Louis match where Flair pins him clean in the middle (wow!).

    – Flair vs Rhodes from Mid-Atlantic TV 1986

    – Flair-Rhodes from Starrcade ‘84 with Joe Frazier as ref and Gordon Solie on commentary

    – Dusty Rhodes vs. Superstar Graham Texas Bullrope match – MSG, NYC. August 28, 1978. That one drew 22,000 to MSG and 4,000 in Felt Forum.

    – Graham def Rhodes in Texas Death Match for WWWF title – MSG, NYC. Oct. 24, 1977

    – Superpowers promo with Dusty and Nikita

    – Dusty makes a deal with the devil (Ole Anderson)

    – Ole Anderson turns on Dusty in the cage match with the Assassins – August 1980 at the Omni, nearly causing a riot. Koloff: “It was like old times, we were both there kicking the American Dream.” (One of the greatest lines ever)

    – Dusty beats Harley Race for NWA title in the Summer 1981 at the Omni. Dusty was the transitional champion from Race to Flair a few months later. Here’s a better clip.

    – Dusty vs Flair – Great American Bash 1986. Dusty wins NWA title for third time

    – Dusty beats Harley Race for his first NWA title in 1979 in Tampa

    – Dusty Rhodes vs. Lex Luger – US title 1987 Starrcade cage match

    – Dusty beats Tully Blanchard for the TV title – Great American Bash 85

    – Rhodes promo for Billy Graham match in Boston

    – Young Dusty 1970 Detroit tag match with Dick Murdoch

    – Pain, blues and agony promo from 82-83 Georgia

    – Rhodes vs. Ernie Ladd Florida 1977

    – Rhodes vs. Jimmy Valiant 1979 MSG

    – Florida Wrestling Takin Care of Business Tour 1983

    – Ric Flair over Dusty Rhodes – Kansas City 1981 for Flair’s first NWA title

    – Flair-Tully vs. Dusty-Wahoo double bullrope match 1985 or 86

    – Dusty finish match DQ negates title win over Flair 85 or 86

    – First War Games match

    – Dusty vs Bob Backlund May 1980, Japan

    – Flair vs. Dusty St. Louis Jan. 1, 1982

    ****

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    *September 22, 2003 (Part 3 of the history of the WWF vs WCW war with the seeds that caused the collapse of the industry in the 90s, Zahorian trial, Gulf War controversy, Flair leaves WCW while holding world title and much more)

    *October 27, 2003 (The fascinating life of Stu Hart plus the story of Road Warrior Hawk)

    *January 19, 2004 (2003 Awards issue)

    *February 2, 2004 (History of Toronto wrestling, Jack Tunney life story, Royal Rumble and Battle Royal history)

    *February 23, 2004 (History of Guerrero family with Eddy’s win over Brock Lesnar)

    *March 1, 2004 (History of WWF continues with the period that brought the company down in early 1992, the mistakes, the real stories and how the business changed)

    *March 8, 2004 (History of Wrestlemania, its greatest matches and best and worst shows as voted both by wrestlers and non-wrestlers and Wrestlemania history books)

    *July 5, 2004 (A look behind the scenes and Ric Flair’s book and his background with Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan)

    *July 12, 2004 (A look at more on Ric Flair’s book and his comments on Bruno Sammartino, Bret Hart and Mick Foley)

    *August 16, 2004 (History of the Olympians in pro wrestling)

    *August 23, 2004 (2004 Hall of Fame issue and biggest issue of the year with huge profiles on Kazushi Sakuraba, Undertaker, Bob Backlund, Masahiro Chono, Ultimo Dragon, Kurt Angle and Tarzan Lopez–this counts as one issue if you are asking for a free issue, but ordered separately, due to size, is $6 in North America and $7 overseas)

    *October 4, 2004 (the life and times of Big Bossman; as well as details of the life and times of one of the most influential men world wide in pro wrestling history, Jim Barnett)

    *November 15, 2004 (the full story of what happened between Kurt Angle and Daniel Puder, plus coverage of the most important week in the history of TNA)

    *January 24, 2005 (2004 Awards issue, Rock and WWE part company)

    *March 14, 2005 (the 50 biggest money players in the history of WWF and a look at their Hall of Fame)

    *May 9, 2005 (the life and times of Chris Candido)

    *June 20, 2005 (The full story behind Paul Heyman and the death of ECW, as well as coverage of One Night Stand, Hardcore Homecoming and behind the scenes of both shows)

    *July 18, 2005 (death of Shinya Hashimoto and his records with a look at the fall of New Japan, the Matt Hardy angle, tons of WWE firings, Cornette firing in detail as well as problems of a WWE developmental territory in our biggest news issue of the year which is a double-sized issue and would be $6 on its own and $7 overseas)

    *August 24, 2005 (2005 Hall of Fame issue with career profiles of Paul Heyman, HHH and Freebirds plus debut of MMA Hall of Fame)

    *September 12, 2005 (History of Mid South Wrestling)

    *October 10, 2005 (Life and Times of the Ultimate Warrior)

    *November 21, 2005 (Life and Times of Eddy Guerrero and Crusher, double issue $6 on its own and $7 overseas)

    *December 5, 2005 (The Eddy Guerrero special issue, double issue $6 on its own, $7 overseas)

    *January 9, 2006 (The life and times of Superstar Billy Graham, plus New Year’s Eve 2005 coverage)

    *January 16, 2006 (2005 Awards double issue, $6 or $7 overseas)

    *April 3, 2006 (Story of Ann Calvello and the history of Roller Derby–many called this the best issue of the Observer ever)

    *April 10, 2006 (Behind the scenes at the 2006 Wrestlemania/Hall of Fame week)

    *July 24, 2006 (The History of the Von Erichs and World Class Championship Wrestling–the most unreal story ever in wrestling)

    *September 4, 2006 (The Rise and Fall of Kurt Angle; 2006 Hall of Fame inductions of Eddie Guerrero, Paul Bowser, Masakatsu Funaki, Aja Kong and Hiroshi Hase including tons of wrestling history around the world from the 20s through the 60s, the evolution of working to not working in Japan, and a look at Guerrero in hindsight, double issue $6 or $7 overseas)

    *October 9, 2006 (A look back nine years later at the life and legacy of Brian Pillman with tons of inside information about what made him tick as his real objectives)

    *November 15, 2006 (History of WCW part one, Eric Bischoff’s book and how the industry was changed forever)

    *November 20, 2006 (History of WCW part two, Why Jim Ross left WCW, How Bischoff changed the company, signing of Hulk Hogan, Beginning of Nitro, Jesse Ventura, Brian Pillman, Chris Jericho and signing Wrestlemania planned celebrity away)

    *November 27, 2006 (History of WCW part three, When Bischoff challenged McMahon to fight; Truth and fiction around Bret Hart signing with WCW and why it didn’t click)

    *December 6, 2006 (details behind Pride’s offers to sell promotion and Part four of History of WCW part four, Hogan-Goldberg match and why there was no rematch, WCW loses NBC network deal in 1999 and the real reasons the company fell apart)

    *January 22, 2007 (2006 Awards issue, double issue $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *February 14, 2007 (Life and Times of Bam Bigelow)

    *March 5, 2007 (WWE begins plans that will change the business)

    *March 12, 2007 (Life and Times of Mike Awesome)

    *March 19, 2007 (Life and Times of Ernie Ladd)

    *April 4, 2007 (Life and Times of Badnews Allen Coage–which many are calling one of the best issues in history)

    *July 2, 2007 (Part one of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 5, 2007 (Part two of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 10, 2007 (Part three of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 19, 2007 (Part four of the Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 23, 2007 (Part five of Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *July 25, 2007 (Part six of Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *August 15, 2007 (The legend of the God of Japanese wrestling and his influence on MMA, Karl Gotch)

    *October 15 (2007 Hall of Fame double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas including inductions of The Rock, Tom Packs and the original Strangler Lewis)

    *November 12, 2007 (Life and times of Fabulous Moolah and history of U.S. women’s wrestling) .

    *December 31, 2007 (History of Ric Flair and the heyday of wrestling at the Greensboro Coliseum)

    *January 21, 2008 (2007 Awards issue, double issue $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *March 17, 2008 (Life and times of Johnny Weaver)

    *March 24, 2008 (Life and times of Gary Hart)

    *April 10, 2008 (Farewell to Ric Flair; My thoughts, Shawn Michaels talks of Flair’s meaning to him; Hall of Fame; Wrestlemania double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *August 11, 2008 (Ric Flair leaves WWE; Updated history of pro wrestlers and MMA fighters who went to the Olympics)

    * September 8, 2008 (2008 Hall of Fame double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas; part one of Killer Kowalski bio)

    * September 15, 2008 (Life and Times of Evan Tanner)

    * September 22, 2008 (The amazing career of Killer Kowalski, one of our most in-depth bios)

    You can also order any of these issues on their own for $4 in North America or $5 overseas.

    We now have available personally autographed copies of Tributes II, our latest book, as well as a DVD that comes with it talking more about the subjects in the book. The book covers the life stories of Lou Thesz, Wahoo McDaniel, Elizabeth, Fred Blassie, Road Warrior Hawk, Andre the Giant, Curt Hennig, Johnny Valentine, Davey Boy Smith, Terry Gordy, Owen Hart, Stu Hart, Gorilla Monsoon, The Sheik and Tim Woods..

    To get all of those biographies as back issues of the Observer would be a $60 value today. This is a collection of some of the best Observer articles of the past several years in a hardcover, full-color format that is 239 pages. There is also a foreword by Bret Hart. The book price is $12.95 plus $3.50 for shipping costs in the U.S., $20 for shipping costs to Canada and $25 for shipping costs outside North America. You can order the book the same way you order the newsletter.

  • AAA Verano de Escandalo results: Brian Cage vs. Alberto El Patron, Rey Mysterio in six-man tag

    Submitted by Robert Bihari

    AAA ran Verano De Escandalo on iPPV tonight at Arena Monterrey. Video was pretty dark and avoided showing the upper sections as much as they could but I heard from a couple people live the place was only barely over half full with a lot of late arrivers padding that number.

    Quality of the feed was a step down from the World Cup and way down from Rey De Reyes. Lots of choppy video as the show went on & random black screens would pop up that said “Poor Signal”. Luckily those screens just flashed at times so no action was missed. But had the show gone longer than 3 hours I doubt the feed would have survived much longer without them having to reset it or fix it some other way.

    As mentioned the show went almost exactly 3 hours and started right on time which is rare for AAA! No dark match.

    Elegido/Pimpinela Escarlata/Dinastia/Fabi Apache vs Machine Rocker/Mamba/Mini Psycho Clown/Taya Valkyrie

    Machine Rocker was subbing for Parka Negra who got bumped up. A solid opener with everyone getting a chance to shine. The best stuff was when Dinastia was in there with Mini Psycho Clown. They did lots of creative stuff as a slight preview of their upcoming title match on 6/27. Machine Rocker being inserted here helped a lot as he is one of the more unknown super talented guys in AAA who just needs an opportunity. He based well for Elegido & Pimpinela at various points including taking the old Psicosis bump off the ropes except he flew too high and almost sent himself to the floor!

    After a short rudo beatdown they did a dive sequence which saw Dinastia do a twisting plancha on Psycho, Taya did a plancha & Pimpi followed with a weird twisting dive off the first turnbuckle. Kind of a surprise finish with Machine Rocker making Elegido submit to a Boston Crab as Mamba power bombed Fabi.

    Aero Star vs Fenix vs Drago vs Laredo Kid vs Daga vs Super Fly vs Bengala vs Hijo Del Fantasma vs Super Nova vs Steve Pain – Alas De Oro

    The image to hype the match clearly teased Flamita as the mystery guy but it ended up being Laredo Kid. Not sure why they had to keep that a secret unless he wasn’t the original plan. Honestly nothing I write here will be able to describe this match & I would urge everyone out there to find a way to watch this as soon as possible. It was pure madness. As soon as the whistle went there was a quintuple running somersault plancha spot which set the tone of what was to come. Dives everywhere. At the end I think there were 17 or 18 in total. Just one guy after another getting his spots in and ending the sequence with a dive. Steve Pain did a great job in his return here basing for various guys and always being around to make catches on seriously out of control dives. At one point he even took a frankensteiner off the apron to the floor from Drago which looked no fun.

    About halfway during the match Daga went to suplex Fenix into the ring from the apron but instead gave him an ill-adivsed brainbuster dropping Fenix badly on his shoulder. As guys kept going the doctor came out to check on Fenix who wouldn’t stand still to be looked at. A couple minutes later Laredo Kid did a 450 splash on Super Nova. Fenix was supposed to follow with his own 450 onto both of them but couldn’t get the rotation with his presumably dislocated shoulder and ended up double stomping Laredo in the back. The doctor & an official then basically dragged Fenix out of the ring and eventually put him on a stretcher with him visibly crying. Hopefully he’s okay.

    With Fenix gone the match continued (it never stoped really) and after some more big spots it came down to Drago using his finishing roll-up to pin Aero Star. An amazing spectacle far blowing away CMLL’s version of this match called the Reyes Del Aire. Joaquin Roldan presented Drago with a giant Alas De Oro trophy and all the tecnicos congratulated him. Kudos to all 10 guys involved here for risking their bodies for our entertainment.

    Psycho Circus (Psycho Clown/Monster Clown/Murder Clown) vs Hell Brothers (Cibernetico/Averno/Chessman) vs Holocausto (Electro Shock/Hijo De Pirata Morgan/Parka Negra) – AAA Trios Titles

    Parka Negra was filling in for Kronoz who broke or fractured his ankle a few days ago. He fit in well here as the Holocausto team used a bunch of creative triple team spots throughout the match. It was mostly a brawl with all the heat on the clowns as the crowd eagerly awaited their comeback. When it came it got a real loud pop as they whipped everyone with their belts. Some weapons got involved including some chairs & a board. Cibernetico delivered a vicious baseball swing style chairshot at Monster Clown’s head at one point. Later Psycho & Murder clown speared Averno & Chessman through a board inside the ring. The same clowns ended up taking out Pirata & Parka Negra with tope suicidas. Monster Clown followed with a big plancha. Finish came when (cameras missed it) Averno used a low blow on Psycho Clown, Chessman speared him & Cibernetico hit the choke slam so the Hell Brothers won the belts.

    After the match the teams all cut promos on each other and brawled some more. The idea seemed to be teasing a cage match at Triplemania with the Clowns putting up their masks, Holocausto putting up their hairs & Hell Brothers putting up their titles.

    Angelico/Jack Evans vs Cuervo/Escoria – Cage (Hair Match)

    It wasn’t made clear until the ring introductions that this was a double hair match. This was actually a really good match far from the spotfest a lot of people were expecting. Angelico/Jack played the underdog role getting beat on and thrown into the cage a lot. They’d make quick comebacks before getting shut down over and over again including Escoria running up the cage as Jack climbed and bringing him down with a wild inverted frankensteiner somehow throwing Jack head first into the other side of the cage. At another point Jack creatively escaped the rudos and jumped off both of them to esape but they brought him back in with a double superplex off the top of the cage. When Jack/Angelico got a short advantage they did their usual double team moves including Angelico assisting Jack into a 450 splash with both his feet ending up kneeing Cuervo in the head. That looked rough.

    Both rudos ended up bleeding eventually. Jack looked like he was about to finally escape but decided against it and did a backflip off the top of the cage in order to save Angelico from a 2-on-1 disadvantage. Two tables ended up being set up side-by-side near the corner. Jack/Cuervo climbed one side, Angelico/Escoria climbed the other. Angelico slipped away from Escoria’s clutches while Jack threw Cuervo off the top of the cage through one table as Cuervo’s head smacked the other table. So the tecnicos jumped down and the rudos got their heads shaved almost completely before they offered a handshake and ended up attacking the tecnicos. This was real good and up until this point the show was a home run.

    Alberto El Patron vs Brian Cage – AAA Mega Heavyweight Title

    They set the tone right away with Texano seconding Cage & Demon with Alberto. But even worse… Hijo de Tirantes was referee so anyone who has seen any AAA knew exactly where this was going. Nowhere good. Early on Alberto did a tope suicida with such force that he overshot Cage (who did not try overly hard to make the catch) and took a vicious header that could have been a disaster. Luckily he got up looking pissed but not injured. Then the fun began… Texano started interfering freely in front of Tirantes. Demon tried to counteract the interference but Tirantes wouldn’t let him and eventually kicked him out of the match. Alberto kept fighting back from the 2-on-1 attack only to be stopped by Tirantes physically jumping in over and over. Cage went for his own tope suicida but Alberto smashed him in the head with a full force chair shot in a really great spot but seconds later Cage was back up on offense so I didn’t really get the purpose in that. To add to all the nonsense, when Cage started doing his big moves Tirantes, who had been fast counting Alberto all match long, suddenly decided it was time to start counting normally. Why?

    As this nonsense continued the crowd kept getting more and more impatient and not in the good way. Alberto finally got rid of Texano and had the armbar on Cage who tried to escape over and over before finally getting locked in and clearly tapping out. Except Tirantes refused to call the submission. So stupid. Pentagon Jr. & Hijo Del Fantasma ran out to jump Alberto but he took them out including whiffing on a superkick to Pentagon. He then knocked Tirantes down and superkicked him out cold.

    Alberto had the win but there was no referee to count. Second ref El Piero slowly made his way to ringside but by the time he got there Cage was back up and used Weapon X on Alberto. Piero didn’t know what to do and looked to the crowd for advice. He signalled to them not to cheer, got down and counted 3, Cage got up to celebrate…………… and then Piero waived his arms and raised Alberto’s hand. I guess Alberto won by DQ but who knows what the DQ was actually for. This was all so dumb and embarassing. Cage beat up Alberto afterwards including draping the American flag on him and posing. Crowd was very indifferent to all this and never got back up for the main event.  The rudo referee spot has it’s place on house shows in Mexico but too many times (read: every time) AAA uses it as a crutch for getting out of finishes on major shows. It needs to go away if the promotion is ever going to be taken seriously again or the title is ever meant to mean anything.

    By the way, where did Blue Demon Jr. end up going?

    Rey Misterio Jr./Myzteziz/La Parka vs Johnny Mundo/El Mesias/Pentagon Jr.

    As hinted at – Rey Jr. did his Terminator style entrance which included two guys on motorcycles, an actual Terminator & Rey in a black/silver get-up to match the theme. Myzteziz wore all pink for some reason. Mundo came out to ‘Born In The USA’ in a t-shirt instead of his Lucha Underground look. This match was very strange. Crowd was not all that into it, likely due to the nonsense they had just witnessed. Wrestlers seemed not motivated at all as the match quickly degenerated into a house show style match where the rudos dominated with weak brawling. They set up Parka for the comeback which he messed up but then Rey/Myzteziz did some combo spots to make up for it. Parka/Mesias did some half-hearted brawling in the crowd.

    Parka then worked some spots with the rudos and messed up a headscissors very badly and covered by dancing. This was bad. Then the match just kinda paused with everyone standing around doing nothing. Myzteziz worked a nice spot or two with Mundo and that was it for him. Rey Jr. then did spots with all the rudos and looked great doing assisted ranas & teasing a 619. Parka ended up taking Meisas out with a very soft tope suicida. Myzteziz had the doctor checking on him while on the apron but came back in to do a running somersault dive onto Pentagon. Rey went for the 619 on Mundo who escaped to the floor and Myzteziz dove through Rey’s legs with a tope suicida taking Mundo out as Rey backflipped off the ropes onto Pentagon’s shoulders for a tornado DDT.

    He nailed Pentagon with the 619 and then hit a picture perfect brutal looking flying Canadian Destroyer which Pentagon took like a champ for the win. Aside from the hot finishing stretch this was a completely ordinary house show style match with the weak brawling & not-so-funny comedy from Parka. Never felt like a big show main event. Mundo could just as easily not have even been in the match since Texano was in the building doing nothing.

    I guess the big news coming out of the show is they never hyped anything for Triplemania. They kinda teased a cage match with the trios teams & post-show Alberto challenged Cage to a hair match inside of a cage but on the actual show they showed no sign of any directions for the top guys which was a bit disappointing.

  • Christopher Daniels talks Samoa Joe’s last ROH match

    The following is from a third party:

    Former multi-time TNA X-Division and Tag Team Champion and one half of the ROH World Tag Team Champions “The Addiction” Christopher Daniels joined “Multi-time Award Winning” the Rack Thursday Night. In a nearly 20 minute interview, he discussed his upcoming dream match with Frankie Kazarian versus AJ Styles and Samoa Joe, if there is pressure on them to make this dream match great, if he’s happy for Samoa Joe and his recent signing with WWE, if we can ever expect to see himself in the WWE, does he feel it’s more fun in Ring of Honor this time around and if they have more freedom within Ring of Honor than they did in TNA, ROH’s deal with Destination America and if it’s weird to be the lead in for TNA Impact Wrestling, who he’d like to face within Ring of Honor, his thoughts on Spider-Man making it to the Marvel Cinematic Universe plus his views on Avengers: Age of Ultron and so much more.

    His upcoming dream tag team match with Kazarian vs AJ Styles and Samoa Joe:

    “Absolutely. We’ve traveled together; myself, Frankie, Joe and AJ, in one way, shape or form, the four of us have traveled and shared locker rooms for more than a decade but this will be the first time, and now the only time, all four of us will have ever been in the same match. So, I know I’m looking forward to it, Frankie is looking forward to it and I know that, more importantly, the Ring of Honor fan base is looking forward to it.”

    Is there any pressure on them to make this a good match:

    “Yeah, definitely that; I think the pressure that is there is self-inflicted. We know what we are capable of, Frankie and I know how good of a tag team we are and we know that despite that Joe and AJ don’t really tag much together or aren’t considered a full time tandem, we know how good they are as well, so I know how good we can make this match. So, any pressure we have is completely self-inflicted and self-imposed by us. We want to go out there and make a match that people are going to remember for years and I think there’s definitely, now that Joe’s future is more concrete, it’s good to know that this will be the last Ring of Honor match that he’ll have and it’s a way for the three of us to send him off.”

    Is he happy for Samoa Joe signing with the WWE:

    “I’m thrilled for him, I’m happy for him and I’m glad that he’s sort of paving a way for a lot of different people, I think; in the next year or so, there’s going to be a lot of people that are modeling that same leap and, truthfully, Joe wasn’t the first one. When Kevin Owens went to the WWE, or when Finn Balor went to the WWE, I feel like there’s a lot more guys that will be brought to the WWE, either through NXT or directly to the main roster. I think there’s going to be a lot of guys who’ve been on the independents that have been honing their craft for a while and will finally get that opportunity to be there. So, I’m thrilled for him, Joe’s been one of my best friends for a long time and you can’t help but to be happy and be proud of someone who has worked as hard as he has to finally get that opportunity to show the world, on the main stage, what kind of professional wrestler he is.”

    Will we ever see The Fallen Angel in the WWE:

    “I’ve never said never; right now I’m full-time committed to Ring of Honor but I don’t know what the future holds in terms of that. All I can say is wait and see.”

    His thought of Kevin Owens and his transition to the WWE:

    “I think he’s doing just fine. I’d be hard-pressed to find someone who debuted on the WWE main roster as successfully as he had in the past 10 years I think. I mean, name anyone whose first WWE match, main roster match, was a pinball victory over John Cena; I think you’d be hard-pressed to find someone, other than Kevin, who does that.”

    Does he feel he had more freedom in the ring with Ring of Honor over TNA:

    “I think so. I think both Frankie and I, both of us, have been given the freedom to do what we do best and especially in the past few months with the angle with the KRD and what’s happened with us and the World Tag Team Championships, I feel like we’re finally able to show what we do best and with such a deep tag team roster like ReDRagon and the Young Bucks and Roppongi Vica and The Decade, there’s a lot of fresh matches for us as the Tag Team Champions and us as heels again. I feel that there are a lot of possibilities for great match-ups and I’m looking forward to all of them.

    For the Best in the World Pay Per View, (we have) a No-Disqualification Match; we’ve had a lot of matches with ReDRagon already, but I feel like that the story has turned with us as the Champions, I feel that there’s a whole new chapter we can write and those guys are one of the best tag teams in the world and I feel like we are a great antagonist for those guys, so no matter what happens on June 19th, I feel like there’s a lot more we can do with the with story as well between The Addiction and ReDRagon.”

    His thought on ROH’s deal with Destination America and if he is excited with the news: “Absolutely, I feel that one of the things that I wanted to see happen in coming back to Ring of Honor was, as strong as the syndication with Sinclair has been, I felt that one of the difficulties was trying to tell people a set uniform time and date that Ring of Honor could be on. Usually, you’d say ‘check your local listings’ but now we can tell people, if you want to watch Ring of Honor, go to Destination America on Wednesdays at 8:00 pm. So, I feel like we’ve opened up a lot of new eyes to our product in addition to the amount of eyes we had through syndication, I just feel like this opened up more doors for us and gets a lot more people aware of us and that’s definitely a great thing for Ring of Honor.”

  • Bellator: Bobby Lashley talks this Friday fight with Dan Charles

    The following is from a third party.

    Bobby Lashley came on Submission Radio to discuss his Bellator 138 return:

    Official Prediction for fight against Dan Charles at Bellator 138

    “I think it will be second round ground and pound.”

    Story behind Lashley hurting his knee during a bank robbery stopping him from trying to make the Olympic games

    “It was a crazy story, it was a crazy li’l time. I mean I was actually just going into the bank to deposit some money, and these guys came in and kicked the door down and they actually shot at me. My back was turned, but I just saw everybody from the front kinda ducking down and screaming and diving, so I took a dive, landed on the floor and it busted my knee open. And at that point I had to have two surgeries after it, and that potentially just ended my amateur wrestling career.”

    On being one of the few pro wrestlers who made the switch to MMA and followed his dreams

    “Well it’s one of those things where you can’t do half-assed. Either you gotta just go in full board and get it, or you gotta stay out. So I know some of the guys that are big fans, they do some Jiu Jitsu, they may hit the mitts and stuff like that, but they know what kind of dedication it needs, and some of the guys are still kind of questioning it right now. So I think we might have a few other guys jump across board and try a fight or two. I’m happy for Punk and I’m happy for anybody else who wants to do it. You only live once and you only have a short window to do what you want to do. So if they want to do it they gotta do it quick.”

    Thoughts on James Thompson pulling out of their fight and the fight being cancelled for a second time in a 4 month period

    “Dude, I knew it. I was talking to somebody beforehand and I was like “man, you know as much as I want to fight him…..”. First of all, I was surprised that he took the fight in the first place. The first time, I don’t think the fight was really scheduled. It was just one of those things where they wanted it to happen. I wasn’t ready for it. I’d injured my hand earlier in the year so the fight wasn’t really been scheduled. So when the fight didn’t come to fruition at the end, it was kind of one of those things where I had to take the heat for it – which I don’t mind doing. This time on the other hand, he signed the contract, I signed the contract, everything was ready to go, but I was super surprised that he took it in the first place. Because we fought before, and the first time I felt I beat him up pretty bad. And I was like “I can’t believe he wants to take that ass whopping again”. And then I was like “well when’s the time?”. I was just pulling for the time for him to drop out. And sure enough he dropped out.”

    “I was training for him, and then with the opponent change it kinda sucks a little bit. Because when you go into camp, for me, I don’t super study my opponent. You know? But I knew it was going to be James Thompson, so I knew what to expect from it. I knew he was going to come in there real heavy, he’s going to charge, he’s going to try to hold [me], he’s going to try and weigh on me and everything like that. So we based our camp completely around him. So now with the new guy coming in, I mean the guy’s good. He’s got a 9-2 record, but he’s gonna be a little lighter, he’s gonna be a little quicker, he’s gonna be a different fighter. It’s a different opponent. A lot of times you come in there and say, look the guy took it last minute but I took it last minute also because it’s a completely different opponent than we trained for in the past five to six weeks. So I don’t mind it. You know, I’m ready, and I told them that I’m ready. So when they changed the opponent I was like “put somebody else in there and lets go”. ‘Cause going into training camp, you put a lot into training camp. The last thing that I want to do is like back out of a fight now.”

    If James Thompson is someone that Lashley wants to rematch regardless

    “I want to, but it has to happen. You know, Bellator wants it to happen and I know a lot of fans are kinda excited about it happening. It’s gotta happen. And I know he’s not hurt. I know he’s not hurt. I don’t know what his case is, I don’t know what the situation is, but I know he can go out there and he can take the fight. So hopefully after this fight I’m gonna try to call him out right away. If this fight goes the way I plan for it to go, I’m gonna call him out right away and say “hey, no disrespect, but I want you to get your ass out here and fight”. We gotta have that fight, because there’s a lot of speculation – I mean a lot of people watched the fight and it’s torn.  Most of the people say I won, but at the end of the fight they raised his hand. So let’s fix that. Let’s see who really won.”

    “Hopefully we can fight in July. I know they got fight cards coming out there every month with Bellator, and I’m gonna stay in camp just in case the opportunity comes up. You know, people get hurt all the time, so I’m gonna stay ready. So hopefully he can get back. Maybe he can take some rehab time and be ready for July. If he does, then that’s when we are going to fight.”

    If training for a completely different fighter is a concern for Bobby

    “Everything is kind of a concern. You know, I’m not really worried about it to the point where “oh I’m worried about the guy”. Everything is going to be a concern because it’s a fight. And when you’re a heavyweight, 200 plus pounds, slinging leather, anything can happen. So I’m gonna be cautious out there of course, but I just had such a good training camp and I feel better than I felt in a long time. So I don’t think he’s gonna be ready for the kind of pressure that I’ll be bringing in this fight.”

    On Lashley feels more pressure to have a dominant performance in this fight because he’s fighting a lesser known opponent

    “No, ’cause that’s every one of my fights. Every one of my fights going in. Even if they’re a bigger name than me. Most of the guys that I fight have more to gain. So it is kind of one of those deals, where when they come out and fight me – yeah it really doesn’t matter if the guys are higher ranked than me, if they have a better record. It doesn’t matter. It seems like every time I’m put in the same position, where they have more to gain and I have a lot to lose. So it doesn’t really matter. I don’t even look at it that way anymore. I kind of erased that out of my mind and just think “hey, it’s a fight, and this is a fighter and it’s a heavyweight fighter, so anything can happen”. So I just gotta train hard and go out there and stick to the game plan.”

    On if Lashley would be open to a potential Kimbo Slice fight in the future, despite both being from American Top Team?

    Yeah, you know business is business and he understands it. He gets it all. So how I look at it, I mean some people would never do it. For me, I’m a little different. I mean at the end of the day we’re all out here trying to feed our families, and if that’s a good fight and that’s a fight that they want, I’m up for it.”

     “You know it’s gonna be one of those fights where I’m gonna shake his hand before and I’m gonna shake his hand afterwards, but I really don’t see it happening to tell you the truth. But you never know. You never know what’s going to happen next. Depends on I guess a lot of different factors. But you never know, never know. I’m willing. I’ll pretty much do anything that they need me to do right now.”

  • On this day in pro wrestling history (June 15) Eddie Gilbert vs. Jerry Lawler, Outsiders vs. Flair and Piper, Shane Douglas wins 1st MLW title

    By Brian Hoops, WrestlingObserver.com

    1941 – In Waterloo, Iowa; Joe Dusek beat Rudy Strongberg by dq.

    1950 – At Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Karl Davis beat Fred Blassie in a 2 out of 3 falls special mud match, Sonny Myers defeated Emil Dusek in 2 out of 3 falls, Ralph Garibaldi and Joe Dusek went to a time limit draw, and Bob Geigel and Tommy O’Toole wrestled to a 30 minute draw

    1957 – In Wichita, Kansas, Mike Clancy beat Wild Red Berry 2 falls to 1, and Bobby Bruns beat Jim Austeri

    1961 – In Kansas City, Kansas, The Alaskan defeated Ronnie Etchison via DQ in three falls, and Sonny Myers & Bobby Graham defeated Buddy Austin & Don McClarity in three falls

    1962 – In St. Louis, Missouri, NWA Champion Buddy Rogers beat Johnny Valentine. Edouard Carpentier defeated Rip Hawk, and Hans Schmidt & Stan Stasiak defeated Bobby Managoff & Billy Watson. Attendance was announced as a sellout of 12,000; Sailor Art Thomas defeated The Mummy for the NWA Texas Heavyweight Title in Houston, Texas

    1963 – In Minneapolis, MN, Crusher beat Waldo Von Erich, and in a non-title lumberjack match, Tiny Mills & Stan Kowalski beat AWA Tag Team Champions Ivan Kalmikoff & Karol Kalmikoff

    1966 – In Kansas City, Kansas, Ron Reed defeated Chuck Karbo in three falls, and North American Tag Team Champions The Mongolian Stomper & Bob Ellis defeated The Butcher & Alex Perez in two straight falls

    1972 – In Winnipeg, Canada, Billy Robinson beat Ivan Koloff by dq, George Gordienko beat Big K, and Larry Hennig & Dusty Rhodes beat Wahoo McDaniel & Ramon Torres

    1972 – In Kansas City, Kansas, Roger Kirby defeated The Viking, Rufus R. Jones defeated Black Angus via DQ, and The Stomper defeated Harley Race in three falls

    1974 – In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke were co-winners of a two ring, 24 man $50,000 battle royal, Nick Bockwinkel drew Wahoo McDaniel, Superstar Billy Graham beat Oddjob, Larry Hennig beat Bull Bullinski, and Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Blackjack Lanza & Paul Perschmann (Buddy Rose). Attendance announced at 7,000

    1975 – In Green Bay, Wisconsin, AWA Tag Team Champions Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens beat Ivan Putski & Dusty Rhodes in 2 out of 3 falls, Chris Taylor beat Buddy Wolff, Bobby Heenan beat Jim Brunzell by dq, and Khosrow Vaziri (Iron Shiek) beat Paul Perschmann (Buddy Rose). Attendance announced as 5,586

    1979 – Seiji Sakaguchi and Riki Choshu defeated Hiro Matsuda and Masa Saito in Los Angeles, California, for the NWA North American Tag Team Title; Nick Bockwinkel & Bobby Duncum beat Mad Dog Vachon & Greg Gagne, Super Destroyer Mark II beat The Crusher in a no dq match, Paul Ellering beat Jesse Ventura in a posedown, Billy Robinson beat Ray Stevens by dq, and Pat Patterson beat Doug Gilbert in Denver, Colorado; The Blond Bombers (Larry Latham and Wayne Farris) defeated Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee to win the AWA Southern Tag Team titles in Tupelo, Mississippi

    1980 – Sangre Chicana defeated Cachorro Mendoza for the NWA World Middleweight Title in Monterrey, Mexico; In Green Bay, WI, AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Mad Dog Vachon, Dino Bravo beat Jerry Blackwell in a $5000 ladder match, Bobby Heenan beat Lord Alfred Hayes in a loser leaves town match, and Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura beat Steve Olsonoski & Juan Valez

    1982 – One day after losing the World Class American Title to Fritz Von Erich in Fritz’s retirement match, King Kong Bundy is awarded the title due to Fritz vacating it.

    1983 – In Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada, Mad Dog Vachon & Baron Von Raschke beat Nick Bockwinkel & Blackjack Lanza, Ken Patera beat Wahoo McDaniel, Rick Martel beat Jerry Blackwell by dq, and Bobby Heenan beat Buck Zumhofe

    1986 – Rufus R. Jones and Mike George defeated Hacksaw Higgins and J.R. Hogg in Sedalia, Missouri, to win the NWA Central States Tag Team Titles.

    1990 – John Tatum defeated Bill Dundee for the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title in Dallas, Texas, ending Dundee’s second reign and beginning Tatum’s second.

    1992 – Eddie Gilbert defeated Jerry Lawler for the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee.

    1996 – Brickhouse Brown defeated Bart Sawyer for the vacant USWA TV Title in Memphis, Tennessee.

    1997 – Cibernetico defeated Mascara Sagrada for the Mexico National Heavyweight Title in Pantitlo, Mexico.

    1997 – At the Great American Bash PPV in Moline, Illinois, WCW World Tag Team Champions Scott Hall & Kevin Nash defeated Ric Flair & Roddy Piper, and Randy Savage defeated Diamond Dallas Page in a Falls Count Anywhere match.

    1998 – During an edition of Monday Nitro, Chris Jericho was awarded the Cruiserweight Title.

    2002 – Shane Douglas defeated Vampiro and Taiyo Kea in a three-way match to become the first MLW World Heavyweight Champion in Philadelphia, PA.

  • More WWE Money in the Bank fan feedback

    Thumbs Down

    Best Match: John Cena v Kevin Owens
    Worst Match: Big Show v Ryback

    Well Kevin Owens is now just a guy. A guy who can have great matches and once beat the top guy, but is now just another guy like Bray Wyatt and so many others.

    Dean Ambrose is also just a guy. So is Roman Reigns. In fact, everyone in the promotion with the exception of John Cena, is just a guy who shows up for the paycheck.

    Sad that booking has done this to the entire roster, when any number of guys had potential. 

    At least Nikki Bella can still beat any woman currently on the roster. Let’s see how they ruin that division by bringing up someone completely unprepared like Dana Brooke.

    Jeff Cohen – Flushing, NY

    ***** 

    Hey Dave,

    Overall: thumbs up
    Best match: Owens vs Cena
    Worst match: Big Show vs Ryback

    Overall, a solid show. They did a good job with the Dusty video package overall and it was very touching when Renee got broken up during the pre-show. I have to say, she really has done a remarkable job since coming to the company. I can’t say the same for Byron though.

    King Barrett vs R Truth– Since the day Barrett won NXT and he cut that promo, you could tell this guy was talented. All they have done since then  is constantly have him lose tv matches (Summerslam 2010 thanks Vince) and never give him a legitimate run. Obviously his injury history hasn’t helped, but you can’t justify to me R Truth beating him clean. Actually, you can’t justify to me R Truth beating…anyone. Decent match for what it was, but if winning King of the Ring keeps you saddled in pre-show matches, why have the tournament?-*1/2

    MITB Ladder Match

    Solid opener. Easy storytelling and all participants involved were able to showcase their offense. Neville really shined here and it was nice to see him be the last one to be thrown off before Sheamus Grabbed the briefcase. The Wyatt appearance was surprising and should be an interesting feud, you can definitely pen that one down for Summerslam. Sheamus winning was a nice surprise and his character has been refreshing. Can you imagine a Sheamus/Lesnar match? Talk about a physical matchup.-***

    Women’s Title Match

    They dedicated this match to Dusty..as well as the finish. Why does this company continue to insult our intelligence? Before that ending segment the match was actually pretty good (not NXT good though) and they were given enough time. Paige says change is coming to the division. That’ll only happen when the old man retires.-**

    IC Title Match

    Well, this was terrible. I’d prefer not to go any further on this. Daniel Bryan was wrong, the title was better off in his therapist’s office.-DUD

    Cena/Owens II

    For a while I had the Royal Rumble Triple Threat match on a pedestal and said nothing this year from a WWE standpoint would touch it. This match came close. No surprise they gave Cena his win back but as the match went on it almost seemed like they were teasing a Cena DQ finish as he constantly argued with the ref.  Crowd was super hot for this and quite frankly, this was the main event for everyone. We have gotten two MOTY candidates from these guys in 2 weeks. If anything I’d make everyone wait till Summerslam for the blowoff, and Owens has to go over there.

    I’m sorry but Cena can’t win every feud. Fantastic match, almost a five star performance albeit for the finish. Camera angle on the stunner made it look like Owens threw him down and reversed it so it was a little bit of a headscratcher.  The post-match angle was a little given away, if you listen real closely when Cena is raising Owen’s hands he says” Ready when you are.” Cena really needs to stop calling things out so loudly, but it still was fine. Other than that, this the type of match that makes me love Pro Wrestling. Well done.-**** ¾

    Tag-title match

    An eh match. Best thing was the promo beforehand, I thought Xavier Woods was great at looking real pissed about Kofi’s loss. The title change makes no sense, wasn’t the right time for it.-*

    Main Event

    Best way to describe this was a pro-wrestling match with a ladder. I really enjoyed this actually and it made sense. If you are trying to win the title why do constant high-risk spots when you can take out your opponent’s legs? Good to see Rollins win one clean on his own as the typical wuss heel finishes get stale after awhile. These two are incapable of having a bad match, and the post-match interview is definitely a good start towards the build with Lesnar.-****

    Alexander Cerrano

    *****

    Hi Dave:

    Thumbs up show last night for me. Like everyone else I thought that Cena / Owens was fantastic. Main event was phenomenal as well.
    The divas title match, booking wise was kind of a mess. Hopefully they are staring to plant the seeds of fixing the division however. Expecting Paige to get some backup from NXT soon hopefully.

    Best Match – Ambrose v Rollins
    Worst match – Ryback v Big Show

    cheers –

    Gerry Stumbaugh

    ***** 

    Thumbs down

    Best match: Rollins vs Ambrose

    Worst match: Ryback vs Big Show

    There was some great wrestling on this show, but the booking was God awful to inexcusable in places, bringing the entire show below acceptable levels.

    The crutch of 5 people selling death during multiperson ladder matches while 2 people work was never more apparent than tonight.  The Sister Abigail by Wyatt rendered Reigns unconscious for minutes!  And I don’t think I’ll ever understand Sheamus winning that match.  He was a good world champion when there were 2 top titles, but he’s not at #1 title level nor do I think anyone really wants to see him in the title picture.

    I guess it was fitting that there was a Dusty finish in the women’s match, but it was the second PPV in a row with one. And why wasn’t Nikki disqualified due to outside interference?  Maybe this angle will have a payoff one of these years.

    The IC title is back to being meaningless after the Ryback/Big Show mess, and the tag title lost a lot of luster with the Prime Time Players out of nowhere beating a team that got itself over and was having a good run. 

    Cena winning clean I just don’t understand.  Why people need to “get their win back” I also don’t understand.  Why can’t one guy be better than the other?  Or at least give Cena some major adversity before he gets the big win, instead of having it be 50-50 on a two week build.  It seems like it would’ve been more effective for Owens throw the kitchen sink at him, lose his cool, get DQ’d and then deliver the same post match beat down.  That was the first time Owens was pinned by anyone in the company (house shows included), and it was wasted on John Cena.  Balor giving him his first loss in Tokyo would’ve meant tons more.

    After all that, I was pleasantly surprised to see a clean finish that actually made sense in the main event.  Since they now seem to feel that there always must be shenanigans, I’m surprised they both didn’t hold onto the belt on the ground, have it be ruled a draw and the show ending with a tug of war.  That would’ve made it the worst PPV in years.  Still the worst PPV of the year so far, in my opinion, especially when you consider that MITB is usually one of their best every year, so my expectations were higher.

    – Chris Hughes, Lakeland, FL

     *****

    Hi Dave, 

    Here’s my Money in the Bank review: 
    Best Match: Cena vs. Owens
    Worst Match: New Day vs. Prime Time Players
    Thumbs Up

    Overall thought it was a really good show, especially the first half. 

    MITB Ladder Match – Good match overall (minus the ending of course), nothing super crazy, pretty much what was expected. Crowd was great pretty much all night and really hot for Bray’s run-in… or “appear-in” as it were. Was kind of surprised how much of a negative reaction Reigns got throughout a lot of the match, thought the crowd was past that with him, and it’s not exactly like he was in there with a bunch of super over guys outside of Orton. Thought it was very pointless having Sheamus win MITB as his character has absolutely no direction and absolutely nobody wants to see him as champion, but that being said, I wasn’t shocked given the competitors. Orton’s done it before and it doesn’t really fit Reign’s character to be carrying around this briefcase for an eventual “cowardly” run-in, not to mention the crowd would totally turn on him (not just tonight, but in general) if the writing was on the wall for him to win the title with a cash-in. I thought a Wyatt/Reigns feud was inevitable as they haven’t really had a proper feud outside of some pointless Smackdown matches, so I’m fine with him going off to feud with Bray since Brock’s return is imminent. 

    Divas Title: Paige vs. Nikki Bella – Was pleasantly surprised with this one. Thought Nikki looked great and really looked like a strong champion. They had time to work a proper match for a change and seemed to be executing moves a lot crisper and on point than in many (main roster) Divas matches. Actually found it pretty hilarious when Brie started ripping tissues out of her bra to prove she wasn’t Nikki. 

    IC Title: Big Show vs. Ryback – Again, I was pleasantly surprised with this one up until the finish. Thought they worked about as good a match as you can expect for two guys of their size. Even The Miz was entertaining (never thought I’d say that) and I liked the fact that both the face and heel both wanted to kick his ass throughout the match. The finish was obviously a dud, but still this match had the potential to be hideous, and they told a pretty good story for what it was. 

    Cena vs. Owens – Obviously without a shadow of a doubt match of the night, and probably a strong contender for WWE match of the year here. Had a big match feel and the crowd was treating it like it was the real main event. First let’s just once again give Cena some credit. As loathed as he had been by the internet fans over the years, this new role in the semi-main event with him working with younger guys is absolutely fantastic. He is so valuable to the company right now as he’s one of the only superstars who is over to the point where a win over him truly carries some cache for the fans in order to create new superstars. 

    Owens of course was great as well, and my God, they actually have a legit main event heel on their hands in a matter of only a month. Which begs the question, why the hell don’t they do this more often? It is 100% in WWE’s control and if when wrestlers aren’t over, they have nobody to blame but themselves. Look back over the last couple of years – a few of the big stars they’ve created from “rookies” were Rusev and The Shield Members… not coincidentally they booked those guys like monsters from day 1. They never came in and “paid their dues” (i.e. constantly losing) and made the fans not care about them. If you bring in a new superstar and TELL the fans, “hey this guy is a big deal”, they will buy it if you book them strong. This whole mentality for so many years of, “well we’ve gotta show these guys their place in the pecking order first” has always been idiotic, if someone’s not over, guess what? It’s hurting WWE! It’s like trying to punish your kids by taking away their allowance, but then burning the money – it’s still YOUR money!!   

    Both guys were great in this match and pulled out all kinds of innovative stuff. Seeing Cena do that crab-walk flip over Powerbomb was truly amazing if for no other reason than it’s somewhat comical to see this indy style invade WWE to the point where their biggest star is doing indy style matches and spots. Usually I’d be pretty sick of the 50/50 booking to negate Owens win, but the way they did this match they made him look so strong and the ending just sealed him with the crowd as a great heel when he attached him after the hand shake. 

    Also have to send a shout out to the guy with the “THE CENA THE” sign, referencing Sideshow Bob in The Simpsons when questioned by the parole board about his “DIE BART DIE” tattoo, to which he tells them, “No, that’s German for ‘The Bart, The’.”

    Tag Team Championship: Prime Time Players vs. The New Day – One word… why? I’m not trying to be funny, I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a Prime Time Players tag match before. I don’t watch Smackdown, Main Event or any of the other B or C shows, I only watch Raw and PPV’s, and I honestly couldn’t tell you a match I’ve ever seen with them (I probably have, but couldn’t for the life of me tell you).  New Day are so over right now and their pre-match mic work I thought was fantastic. I was busy building an Ikea table while this match was on as the thought of a title change didn’t even enter my consciousness. Why on earth they thought it was necessary to end their reign as champs right now for a couple comedy jobbers, is beyond me. 

    WWE Title: Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins – Firstly, I must once again voice my displeasure for having two of the same gimmick matches on the same show. Don’t understand the mentality of it at all as the main event guys are always in a difficult position by the end of the show. The crowd was pretty much spent by this match and this didn’t feel half as important as the Cena vs Owens match. The WWE title has felt weak since Brock lost it since Seth has been booked so weak as champ. I figured this would be the match where they’d finally let him get a clean, strong win. Match felt a bit dead until near the end, and even then you could hear the crowd get a half-assed “this is awesome” chant going for about 5 seconds before giving up (it really wasn’t “awesome” at that point). Ending felt a bit anti-climatic as it wasn’t really clear at first about the “football receiver” rule. When they both fell off at first I thought it was like the Luger/Bret thing from the Rumble and they’d hold the belt up or something along those lines. It was fine when they explained it in the replays, but in terms of actually watching it in the moment, I didn’t feel it worked. 

    – Tim Duley in Toronto

    ***** 

    Thumbs Up overall

    Best Match: Owens vs. Cena 2

    Worst: Show vs. Ryback

    I was so intrigued on how WWE was going to celebrate the life of Dusty on this show, and I feel personally they did a great job. I am hoping tomorrow they dedicate more segments to him. I Was not to high on Paige’s promo dedicating the match to Dusty, then having a screw finish. That was just very unnecessary to take a highly emotional, heart felt promo, and not follow it up with what could of been such an amazing moment.

    The MITB Ladder Match was like Dave said, much safer, and less dramatic. I’m not sure what is going to transpire with Bray and Roman, as it seems Bray is just a transitional character to get others over at this point. I can’t understand the logic, but let’s be fair, and see where it goes. The same could be said of Sheamus winning the match. How, and where he will fit into the big picture is puzzling at this time. For Dolph, this wasn’t his best ladder match work than in previous years. Kofi, and Neville both proved to be MVPs in this match.

    As I wrote earlier, with Paige delivering the promo dedicating her win for Dusty, they should of made this a huge moment for her. It’s the best and only scenario for tonight’s match.  It didn’t however go down like that. I will say this, Nikki did a very good job working tonight. I saw a huge improvement in her work rate.  It wasn’t a bad match IMO, but the finish left a bitter taste in my mouth. Where they go from here is anyone’s guess. The only thing that makes sense booking wise is calling Sasha or Charlotte up to restructure the women’s division. With the Total Divas storylines, the landscape may not change for a while.

    The less said about the Intercontinental Title Match the better. It seemed like WWE was actually emphasizing importance of the title for the last few months. That all went to hell after this match.

    I’m so glad they are letting Owens be himself. I can’t recall someone from the indies coming in, and keeping the majority of their characteristics. Both men worked so hard in this bout. Whoever produced the layout for this deserves credit, along with both wrestlers. Between this match, and the Main Event, I am noticing more of a PWG/Fighting Spirit layout in certain matches. There were more kick outs of big moves, finishers, and more complex spots. Michael Cole did a very good job selling the fact while Cena won, with the aftermath going down the way it did, Owens is what people are talking about, and going to remember after tonight’s performance. I’m a huge fan of Owens, and I feel that how Lesnar is believable in his role, Owens is comparable in that he is someone that is being booked as a kick ass take no names character. I am really looking forward to see Owens career ascend here in WWE.

    The Tag Title match had low expectations going into it for me, and others. I personally feel they did the switch was because of O’Neil winning the best dad award. I really want to get into the PTP, and can only hope the creative writes something compelling for them. This is another head scratcher, as New Day should of retained for the obvious reasons.

    Ambrose and Rollins had a good Main Event match. The selling Ambrose did on his knee was reminiscent of what makes a great story being told in a match. Both men belong on top, and that was never more evident than tonight’s match. Personally, the believability got lost when Ambrose got power bombed multiple times outside and got up. I’m all for the Fighting Spirit booking, it just makes it hard when big moves aren’t sold as finishes. Like Austin said, selling is becoming less and less important with the lone exception of Ambrose’s knee. I am again curious in going to see how Ambrose is booked going further, as he along with Wyatt don’t have a great track record on being booked strongly.

    Adam Ginsberg

    *****

    WWE Money in the Bank: Thumbs Up

    Best Match: Owens vs. Cena

    Worst Match: Ryback vs. Show

    Not a great show, but still good mostly due once again to Kevin Owens vs. John Cena.  I guess the names of the events are not that important since they put the namesake on in the first match.  Solid match, but not as good as past MITB matches. I don’t like how the entire match mostly felt like everyone was outside and ony two guys were in and they would just trade off.  At least have a few spots where more guys are fighting.  Sheamus winning was lackluster for me.  I know Reigns was the obvious choice, but having him continue to lose everytime doesn’t help even if Wyatt got involved.  Wyatt apparently is always the answer to stop someone and now this will be another filler feud since Bray never actually gets to move anywhere or get a title opportunity.  He is at a stand still.  Divas Title was actually not bad overall until the ref deal at the end.  I don’t mind the Twin Magic thing, but when the ref sees the interference and allows the match to continue and then counts the fall it just seems really bad.  I guess they can work that into another return match.  They should do a Divas Cage match or something different for a change to keep Brie out even though we know cages don’t keep anyone out nowadays.  Ryback vs. Big Show was really bad and the Miz’s involvement didn’t help any.  This is one of the worst feuds ever.  It is impressive however to see Show get suplexed.  A DQ finish in this match was so bad.  Cena vs. Owens stole the show again and even though I am not a fan of Owens losing this quickly at least he looked great and got to beat down Cena after.  I guess we will get a third go around at Battleground.  Shouldn’t they save something for Summer Slam unless they are doing a fourth match.  I love that superplex reversal that Owens does.  Tag Title match was nothing much.  I really don’t think they should have switched the titles.  New Day finally had some momentum and these guys haven’t been used effectively for most of their entire stays with the company up until this point.  Nothing wrong with PTP, but New Day should have retained.  Main Event was solid and I like both Ambrose and Rollins.  Was kind of slow paced for a while and I do hope Dean gets a real shot at the title at some point, but I’m not holding my breath.  I guess Rollins isn’t ready to turn face and probably shouldn’t since the heel side still has basically him and Owens and no one else. 

    Robb Block

    ***** 

    Hi Dave,

    I thought this was a pretty good show. Cena v. KO was the highlight,

    and they great job in both protecting Owens despite the loss and

    keeping him heel despite his tremendous performance. That’s the kind

    of good booking WWE all too often seems to forget how to do. Also kind

    of telling the best match on the show was a one on one wrestling

    match, no ladders involved. WWE’s reliance on stunts and plunder is

    becoming less and less effective.

    Speaking of which, the MITB match was fine but the bar had been raised

    so high for these kind of matches in terms of dangerous spots that

    playing it as safely as they did comes off kind of dull. I don’t want

    these guys to kill themselves, of course, but it’s probably past time

    to rethink presenting these kind of matches so regularly. The main

    event was better. Very good though it went a bit long. I was sure they

    were going home soon after Rollins was backdropped though the ladder.

    Having a ladder match earlier on the card probably lessened the crowd

    reaction but they seemed into it by the end.

    Everything else: Divas match was decent, definitely above average for

    WWE Divas standards though not close to Banks/Lynch for the last NXT

    show. I guess the finish was an homage to Dusty. (All the tribute

    stuff to him tonight was terrific.) Tag match was just kind of there.

    The New Day’s shtick is great so I don’t understand putting the belts

    on the PTP. At least they had Titus do the hot tag and little else as

    selling isn’t his strong point. Didn’t watch Big Show/Ryback as I put

    of Game of Thrones instead. By all accounts, it seems like I made a

    wise decision. 

    —

    Paul Bruno

    Staten Island, NY

    ***** 

    How you doin’ Dave,

    Thumbs Up

    Good show. Thought Owens-Cena was very good but not at the level of the first. I’m probably gonna come across as a bit of an old man whom the business has passed by despite being thirty years of age with this bit of a diatribe, but what the hell. I felt they worked too fast throughout, it was although I was watching the match at 1.5 speed, they were kicking out of codebreakers, reverse suplexes and electric chair drops 5 minutes in, which combined with the speed of the match didn’t sit well with me. If you want to do an all out spot fest that’s fine with me providing the balance is there between selling and big moves, but I didn’t feel it was in this case due to the speed they were going from spot to spot. At this time I was actually questioning whether they’d been given ten-twelve minutes.

    Also from about eight minutes in it was big move, kickout, sell for ten seconds, move around for ten seconds, other guy hits a big move, kickout, sell for ten seconds, move around for ten seconds, other guy hits a big move and so on. I felt it got very repetitive. Admittedly they followed this pattern during the first match, but it was for a lesser period during the first match, and they took more time to sell in between the nearfalls during the first match. In addition in the previous match they broke up the sequence on a few occasions with the punch-for-punch yeah-boo spot, and they built up to the nearfalls more with greater amounts of elementary stuff early on. Anyway that’s the end of my rant, thought it was very good but not to my taste.

    Thought the MITB match was good but not at level of some in previous years. Thought the women had an ok match and thankfully they were given time, but the match lacked intensity and aggression. It was kind of like they were just going through the motions as well as it wasn’t overly crisp. Thought IC title match was decent until the finish, tag title match was ok, main event was very good, although they were given a lot of time to fill and I wasn’t overly keen on the finish as well as a few other things. I thought with the lack of interference this was an opportunity to finally give Rollins some credibility as champion, but instead they went with the lucky victory. And as he’s a heel champion if they weren’t going to give him some credibility, they meres well have had some interference or whatever to put greater heat on him.

    Best Match: Cena vs. Owens ***3/4

    Worst Match: Big Show vs. Ryback **

    Thanks Dave

    Tom (griffo120)

    *****         

    WWE Money In The Bank Feedback

    Thumbs up

    Best Match: John Cena vs Kevin Owens

    Worst Match: Ryback vs Big Show

    This was a fun show, especially based on the Cena vs Owens match. Owens has quickly elevated himself into being Cena’s best opponent since Punk. They complement each other so well and I hope this builds to an awesome Summerslam program.

    The divas match was ok but nothing special. But Paige with her dedications to Dusty upped the profile of the match.

    It was cool to see Ryback pull out a cross armbreaker but that is about it for the IC title match, too much Miz.

    I liked the main event, Rollins is probably having the best title reign since the titles were unified and Ambrose is a great challenger. The drama was good here as I honesty could have seen either guy win.

    As for the MITB match itself, I am enjoying Sheamus’ current run but having MITB doesn’t seem to add anything. It would have been fun to see Neville win but he’s not likely to be champ in the next year. Reigns would have been sensible but that is something they have to work around right now. The match was fun but overall I think the gimmick is played out

    Dave Musgrave, Oshawa, Ontario

    ***** 

    Dave,

    Thumbs up show.
    Best match: Owens vs. Cena
    Worst match: Ryback vs. Big Show for the lame finish.

    With it being a Dusty tribute night, they certainly gave us a few Dusty Finishes. Great tributes to him aside from those stinkers in the IC and Divas matches.

    Steen/Owens is a hell of a worker; Cena is always good. These matches are up there with Cena’s feud with Edge about eight years ago. I am very happy for Owens, and have seen him countless times in person at ROH events and TV tapings; he deserves it.

    I find it funny that WWE now is saying
    they will not be looking at ROH talent. Pretty much the only real talent they have is a product of ROH. Imagine if they didn’t exist, WWE’s roster would be shite. Speaking of which, one of the Tough Enough finalists is the husband of my wife’s friend. He’s probably never seen ROH.

    Matt Wright

    *****

  • WWE Money in the Bank 2015 results: John Cena vs Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose ladder match

    Photo: WWE.com

    By Dave Meltzer, WrestlingObserver.com

    Welcome to our live coverage of the WWE Money in the Bank show from the Columbus, OH, Nationwide Arena. We’re looking for your thoughts on this show, last night’s UFC 188 show, and tonight’s AAA Verano de Escandalo show 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.

    R-TRUTH VS. KING BARRETT

    R-Truth got the pin in a short match with a crucifix after ducking the bull hammer. Truth was running around wearing the crown, claiming he was the new king.  Barrett confronted him, and R-Truth threw the crown to him and ran away. Mostly R-Truth doing the naive child routine.

    They did a video of Dusty Rhodes, closing with a fairly recent clip of Rhodes telling everyone “Happy trails to you.” It was a really nice piece. Renee Young was emotionally broken up in pitching to Tom Phillips after the piece aired.

    They opened the PPV with a ten bell salute to Rhodes with everyone on the roster, including Vince McMahon in the front, clapping to his WWE entrance music playing.

    MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH:  RANDY ORTON, ROMAN REIGNS, SHEAMUS, NEVILLE, KOFI KINGSTON, KANE, DOLPH ZIGGLER

    Sheamus won the match when everyone was laid out but he and Neville. Both were at the top of the ladder but Sheamus pulled Neville’s hair and it caused him to fall off the ladder. Right before that, Reigns had the match won when Bray Wyatt showed up, pulled him down, and gave him Sister Abigail which laid him out.  The crowd mostly booed Reigns, although it was mixed. When Wyatt interfered, thwarting Reigns, there was a big babyface pop at firs but later Wyatt was booed. It was a good match, but much safer than years past which is good. But, it was also far less dramatic than in the past. There were a lot of spots where different people got to shine including one when Orton RKO’d almost everyone. The New Day came out to help Kofi Kingston.

    Paige said she was trying to initiate change in the Divas division after seven years.  She talked about changing the world again.  She’s the babyface because she said she was going to win the match for Dusty.

    NIKKI BELLA VS. PAIGE FOR DIVAS TITLE

    Paige lost in the match dedicated to Dusty Rhodes. Match was longer, not much crowd reaction, wrestling was okay. The Bellas did their switch, but Paige reversed the small package into one of her own. After Brie was pinned and the bell rang, Nikki pulled out all the tissue paper that she stuffed her bra with and showed her tattoo that she was Brie. The ref saw that, restarted the match, and Nikki used the rack attack for the pin. Yes, the idea Nikki won — even after the ref saw the switch — makes no sense.

    The Miz did an interview. He said he was from Ohio but that the only people who count live in New York or Los Angeles so he left.  Miz is looking for an IC title match. 

    RYBACK VS. BIG SHOW FOR THE IC TITLE

    Well, this was terrible. Show knocked out Ryback, who fell out of the ring. Show threw Ryback in the ring.  Miz, who was doing commentary, attacked Show and the ref ruled it a no contest. Highlight was Ryback doing a suplex on Show and Show doing a spear on Ryback after Ryback had thrown Miz over the announcers table. So, we’re going for a three-way program.

    U.S. Champion JOHN CENA VS. NXT Champion KEVIN OWENS

    Super match that was as good if not better than the one two weeks ago. Crowd was electric from the start. The story of the match was Cena did everything in the world to Owens but he kept kicking out, including the Attitude Adjustment twice as well as an Infrared. Cena also kicked out of the pop up power bomb. The finish saw Cena hit the stunner and a third Attitude adjustment and got the pin. After the match, Cena said that Owens belongs here, he’s a real champion, he raised his hand and shook his hand.

    Owens then attacked Cena and gave him a power bomb onto the apron and then left with both the U.S. and NXT belts and laughed at him.  The crowd seemed about 90 percent for Owens. The crowd cheered like crazy for the post-match attack but there were some people booing as Owens did the ‘you can’t see me’ and started laughing. If Owens was going to lose, the post-match made it not hurt Owens.  Cena was helped to the back, limping.

    Dean Ambrose cut a promo. He called Seth Rollins an errand boy, which is what Dusty Rhodes used to call Great Kabuki.

    BIG E & XAVIER WOODS VS. PRIME TIME PLAYERS FOR TAG TITLES

    Short match ending when Titus O’Neil got the hot tag and pinned Woods clean with the Clash of the Titus to win the title. Not much to the match. They were put in a tough spot after the last match and people didn’t really react to most of the match. 

    They just announed Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt at Battleground.

    Kane said to Rollins that he can’t wait for him to lose. Stephanie told him if he loses, they’ll be upset but they’ll have no one to believe but him. HHH told Rollins to show them why I chose you. He did the big motivational speech.

    SETH ROLLINS VS. DEAN AMBROSE IN A LADDER MATCH FOR WWE TITLE

    Rollins retained the title when both were at the top of the ladder and pulled down the belt. Both fell off the ladder with each holding it but Rollins recovered the fumble and held the belt for the win. There was no outside interference and the show ended with HHH & Rollins celebrating. They went more than  35 minutes, with much of the match with Rollins taking out Ambrose’s knee with chair shots, ladder shots, putting the leg in the ladder and stomping the ladder or smashing it with a chair.

    Later, Rollins powerbombed Ambrose into the barricade twice and then a third time outside the ring onto the ladder.  He looked like he was going to win and climbed up, but Ambrose got up one last time and they both fought over the belt at the top. They didn’t do the crazy ladder bumps you expect from a ladder match, and more Rollins working a body part. At times, the crowd was into it and the work was very good, but it took a long time for them to get the crowd and it wasn’t super heated until the latter stages. Still real good. 

  • SUN. UPDATE: Money in the Bank, Rhodes remembrances, UFC reaction, Mysterio big entrance

    By dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>Dave Meltzer

    We’re looking for your thoughts on last night’s UFC 188 as well as tonight’s WWE Money in the Bank and AAA’s Verano de Escandalo at dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>dave@wrestlingobserver.com.

    We’re also looking for reports on last night’s GFW show in Knoxville.

    WWE Money in the Bank tonight in Columbus, OH starting at about 7:30 p.m.

    *Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose ladder match for WWE title – This is an interesting one. It’s possible Roman Reigns screws Ambrose out of the win here, or Rollins just wins. Ambrose winning the title, unless it’s a one month thing, doesn’t seem to make sense since the three key people over the next two months appear to be Rollins, Reigns and Brock Lesnar. But tonight and tomorrow should give hints as far as SummerSlam goes, and with what Lesnar earns his matches on the next two shows have to be big ones, which would feel like Rollins and Reigns. Whether Lesnar vs. Rollins is Lesnar playing heel with everyone cheering him like Mania, or playing face with Reigns as the heel, may be hinted at tonight, or at worst plays out next month. But Lesnar and Reigns appear to be the key to how they do the finish here.

    *John Cena vs. Kevin Owens non-title – Owens shouldn’t lose. From there, who knows what happens, and it’s not like it’s a lock he doesn’t lose. Cena rarely loses two in a row, but they also can do a screw-job that they didn’t do the first time.

    *Money in the Bank ladder match:  Roman Reigns, Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus, Randy Orton, Neville, Kane, and Kofi Kingston – One would figure Kingston, Kane, Ziggler and Neville as the long shots.  Reigns is the favorite.  Sheamus could win but odds aren’t good on him.  Orton would be a surprise as well, because Orton feels like Cena in that their role now seems to be to stay strong but let others get the ascending spotlight.  Reigns winning also seems to set up whatever they do the next two months.

    *Ryback vs. Big Show for IC title – Probably a short match.  Ryback should retain.

    *New Day vs. Prime Time Players for tag title – With Kofi Kingston in the ladder match, it’ll probably be Big E & Woods defending, like they did at the house shows this weekend.  This is not the time for the New Day to lose, nor the team to beat them.  However, with Kidd & Cesaro out, suddenly the Prime Time Players through process of elimination are the top babyface tag team, but aren’t over nor do they have the credibility of a top face team.  So for long-term, the idea of them winning isn’t as bad as it would sound on the surface.

    *Nikki Bella vs. Paige for Divas title:  Who wins isn’t as important as where the match is placed and how the people react to it.  With Paige losing on TV, with the even-Steven undercard booking, that would seem to give her a chance.

    *R-Truth vs. King Barrett – Pre-show match.

    On paper, the top three matches look to be great.  Money in the Bank is usually one of the company’s bigger PPV shows.  Plus, this year’s Money in the Bank winner isn’t going to be a throwaway where they decide at the last minute and then  Vince changes his mind and buries the guy like has happened in the past.  With Lesnar involved the next two months, the top of the card is likely completely focused.

    AAA Verano de Escandalo from Arena Monterrey at 7 p.m. on iPPV at www.internetvluchalibreaaa.com

    Elegido & Fabi Apache & Dinastia & Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Parka Negra & Taya Valkyrie & Mini Psycho Clown & Black Mamba

    Elimination match:  Aero Star vs. Bengala vs. Drago vs. Fenix vs. Super Nova vs. Daga vs. El Hijo del Fantasma (King Cuerno) vs. Steve Pain vs. Super Fly vs. ?

    Street fight for trios title:  Psycho Circus vs. Holocausto (El Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Electroshock & ?) vs. Hell Brothers (Cibernetico & Chessman & Averno)

    Loser gets head shaved:  Jack Evans & Angelico vs. Dark Cuervo & Dark Escoria

    Alberto El Patron vs. Brian Cage for the AAA Mega heavyweight title

    Rey Mysterio Jr. & Myzteziz & La Parka vs. Johnny Mundo & Mesias & Pentagon Jr.

    The U.S. World Team Trials in wrestling air Sunday night at 7 p.m. on NBC Sports Network.

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    The Latest Wrestling Observer: June 15, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Latest on Austin-Lesnar, Destination America, NY MMA

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    *July 25, 2007 (Part six of Benoit double murder-suicide)

    *August 15, 2007 (The legend of the God of Japanese wrestling and his influence on MMA, Karl Gotch)

    *October 15 (2007 Hall of Fame double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas including inductions of The Rock, Tom Packs and the original Strangler Lewis)

    *November 12, 2007 (Life and times of Fabulous Moolah and history of U.S. women’s wrestling) .

    *December 31, 2007 (History of Ric Flair and the heyday of wrestling at the Greensboro Coliseum)

    *January 21, 2008 (2007 Awards issue, double issue $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *March 17, 2008 (Life and times of Johnny Weaver)

    *March 24, 2008 (Life and times of Gary Hart)

    *April 10, 2008 (Farewell to Ric Flair; My thoughts, Shawn Michaels talks of Flair’s meaning to him; Hall of Fame; Wrestlemania double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas)

    *August 11, 2008 (Ric Flair leaves WWE; Updated history of pro wrestlers and MMA fighters who went to the Olympics)

    * September 8, 2008 (2008 Hall of Fame double issue, $7 on its own, $8 overseas; part one of Killer Kowalski bio)

    * September 15, 2008 (Life and Times of Evan Tanner)

    * September 22, 2008 (The amazing career of Killer Kowalski, one of our most in-depth bios)

    You can also order any of these issues on their own for $4 in North America or $5 overseas.

    We now have available personally autographed copies of Tributes II, our latest book, as well as a DVD that comes with it talking more about the subjects in the book. The book covers the life stories of Lou Thesz, Wahoo McDaniel, Elizabeth, Fred Blassie, Road Warrior Hawk, Andre the Giant, Curt Hennig, Johnny Valentine, Davey Boy Smith, Terry Gordy, Owen Hart, Stu Hart, Gorilla Monsoon, The Sheik and Tim Woods..

    To get all of those biographies as back issues of the Observer would be a $60 value today. This is a collection of some of the best Observer articles of the past several years in a hardcover, full-color format that is 239 pages. There is also a foreword by Bret Hart. The book price is $12.95 plus $3.50 for shipping costs in the U.S., $20 for shipping costs to Canada and $25 for shipping costs outside North America. You can order the book the same way you order the newsletter.

    SUNDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

    • Bryan and I will be back tonight talking WWE Money in the Bank, plus taking e-mail questions that you can send to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com
    • There are planned remembrances of Dusty Rhodes scheduled for the show tonight.
    • No smart money betting has come in at this writing.  Since WrestleMania, it seems that WWE has cut back on who knows finishes enough to where it doesn’t get out and the odds don’t greatly shift. 
    • On Twitter at press time numbers for today:

    UFC 188 159,000
    Kelvin Gastelum 4,249
    Money in the Bank 25,900
    Cathal Pendred 4,637

    • The most searched term on the Internet yesterday was UFC 188 with more than 500,000 searches.  That’s a lot higher than one would have expected for that show.  The correlation between searches and PPV numbers has been extremely strong, almost scary over the past few years.  My gut says this is the exception, but usually when the number is a surprise it’s an indication of something surprisingly good or bad based on original expectation.  Nobody was expecting big numbers out of the show, particularly since the major focus is on the 7/11 show.
    • The movie Terminator:  Genesis made the same deal with AAA that they did with WWE.  On tonight’s show, there will be a video of the movie with Rey Mysterio Jr.’s ring entrance.
    • In the movie business, San Andreas in week three was No. 3 at the box office estimated at $11.01 million.  Pitch Perfect 2 (Lana) was No. 5 at $6 million in week five.  Entourage (Ronda Rousey) was No. 6 in week two at $4.34 million.  
    • In UFC picks, Dave Bixenspan (picking Werdum) and John Pollock (picking Eddie Alvarez) went 3-2, and Me, Jack Encarnacao, Josh Nason, Frontrow Brian, Mike Sawyer, Mike Sempervive and Steve Juon all went 2-3.   
    • Power Precision Pro Wrestling from Friday night in Las Vegas:  Spyder Warrior & Wild Horse b Bobby Burgerhands & Henry Henderson, Remy Marcel & Jack Manley b Sugar Brown & Clutch, Big Duke b Disco Inferno, Shelly Martinez & Sag Sin Supreme b Kikyo & Kamora, Suede Thompson & Greg Romero b Tommy Purr & The Beast, Shadow Fox & Lucha Star and Cut Throat Cody & Nick Bugatti, Mike Dalite b Bryce Harrison-COR, Funny Bone b Mike Dalite, Phil Baroni b Kenny King, Alex hammerstone & Joe Graves b TJ Perkins (Manik) & Damian Drake to win the tag titles (thanks to Shawn Hyde)
    • Dynamo Pro Wrestling from last night in Fenton, MO:  Lucy Mendez b Paloma Starr, Elvia Sliaga b Outtkast, Ricky Cruz b Jayden Fenix, Danny Adams b Rocket Mapache, Michael Magnuson & Dave DeLorean b Keon Option & Justin D’Air-DQ, Shorty Biggs b Brandon Espinosa, Jake Dirden b Mike Outlaw (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
    • Lucha Xtreme TV from last night in Fresno:  Kikyuo b Lisa Lace, Al Azar b Aki Sol, Skitzo & Big Dogg b Mike Dalite & Cluch (thanks to Jon Southerland)
    • Ultra Wrestle from last night in Calhoun falls, SC before 275 fans:  Lance Gaylord b Mason Myles, Brady Pierce b Michael Frehley, Jeff Connelly & Boomer Payne & Brice Anthony b Joe Harrison & Erik Thompson & Garrett Sinclair, Josh Powers b Zane Riley, TK Stark & Jett Black b Josh Cutshall & Tracer X, Hoss Hagood b Deon Johnson. (thanks to Thomas Simpson)
    • Teddy Hart no-showed his Tuesday night event in Orlando but is going to attempt to make up for it by being there at the Team Vision Dojo this Tuesday night for a show with tickets $4 adults and $2.50 for kids to make up for it.
    • Championship Wrestling Entertainment from Friday night in Port St. Lucie,FL:  Joey Mayberry b Chico Adams-DQ, Tyranus b Gabriel Black, Chasyn Rance b Damian, Rhett Giddins b Aryeh Amor, Johann Ramzes & Ace Slater b Dirty Blondes, Lince Dorado & Aaron Epic, Zack Monster & Joey Mayberry b JB Cool & Chico Adams & Timothy Quinn.  Next show is 7/17.
    • I Believe in Wrestling from last night in Orlando:  Chasyn Rance b Rex Bacchus, Chico Adams b Dalton Murphy, Josh Parker b Stefan Guadalupe, Joey Mayberry b Night Stalker, Jonny Vandal b Tyranus, Ace Andrews b Russell Payne, Chico Adams won six way over Rance, Vandal,Parker, Andrews and Mayberry.  Next show is 6/27 at the Team Vision Dojo.
    • Queen of Combat tournament from yesterday in Gibsonville, NC:  Su Yung b Solo Darling, Chastity Taylor DCOR Heather Owens, Santana Garrett b Mandy Leon, Jessicka Havok b Aspen, Tessa Blanchard b Hania the Huntress, Amanda Rodriguez b Jenny Rose, Taeler Hendrix b Amy Love, Jessicka Havok b Miss Diss Lexia, LuFisto b Leva Bates.  The tournament, taped for Highspots.com, continues today with Santana Garrett vs. Su Yung, Rodriguez vs. Hendrix and Blanchard vs. LuFisto. (thanks to Al Haft)
    • CWF Mid Atlantic also from yesterday in Gibsonville, NC:  Brandon Day b Nick Richards, John Skyler & Aaron Biggs & Cecil Scott & Mark James b Roy Wilkins & Jesse Adler & Michael McAllister & Chris Lea, Su Yung & Sis b Amanda Rodriguez & Amy Love, Brad Attitude & Evan Banks b Arrick Andrews & Smith Garrett, Chet Sterling over Darius Lockhart and Ethan Cage, Aaron Biggs won Battle Royal, Zane Dawson b Aaron Biggs.

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

    1974 – Sandy Parker & Betty Niccoli beat Mariko Akagi & Junko Sasaki in Morioka to win the WWWA tag titles

    1980 – Alan Dennison beat Jim Breaks in London to win the British welterweight title

    1993 – Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit) beat El Samurai in Osaka to win the Best of the Super Juniors tournament

    1995 – Koji Kanemoto beat Sabu in Tokyo to win the IWGP jr. title

    1998 – Devil Masami & Cutie Suzuki beat Hikari Fukuoka & Tomoko Kuzumi in Tokyo to win the JWP tag title

    2001 – Samoa Joe & Keiji Sakoda beat Yuki Ishikawa & Katsumi Usuda in Osaka to win the Zero-One IC tag titles

    2009 – Go Shiozaki beat Takeshi Rikio to win the vacant GHC heavyweight title

    2014 – Naruki Doi & Cyber Kong & Kzy beat T-Hawk & Eita & U-T and Masaaki Mochizuki & Don Fujii & Dragon Kid to win the Open the Triangle Gate titles in Fukuoka

    TODAY’S WRESTLING VIDEOS (thanks to Thomas Rude)

    MISC. STUFF

    6/12/15 CHIKARA Event Center

    Ringside Collectibles’ “Ringside Or Riot” (Season 4, Episode 29)

    America’s Most Liked Wrestling With The Heatseekers (Episode 3)

    America’s Most Liked Wrestling With Caprice Coleman (Episode 4)

    POWW “Inside The Ropes (Episode 14)

    TNA

    6/10/15 IMPACT In 60

    WWE

    WWE Top Ten:  Stolen Finishers

    Triple H Addresses The WWE Tough Enough Finalists-WWE #toughenough

    Chris Jericho Addresses The Tough Enough Competitors-WWE #toughenough

    WWE Tough Enough Coaches Address The Final 40-WWE #toughenough

    Triple H Walks In On a Horrible Surprise-WWE #toughenough

    Booker T Is Excited To Start Coaching the Tough Enough Hopefuls-WWE #toughenough

    Competitiors Are Cut From The Tough Enough Tryout-WWE #toughenough

    A Tough Enough Finalist Leaves The Tryout In An Ambulance-WWE #toughenough

    Army Veteran Mike Hayes Offers An Emotional Goodbye-WWE #toughenough

    WWE Tough Enough Finalists Perform In-Ring Drills-WWE #toughenough

    Tough Enough Competitors Reflect On Day Two Of Tryouts-WWE #toughenough

    “ZZ” Loupe Describes His Eye-Opening Trip To The Tryout-WWE #toughenough

    Triple H Reveals The WWE Performance Center Tough Enough Barracks-WWE #toughenough

    WWE Canvas 2 Canvas-Money In The Bank Hits The Canvas

    6/11/15 Top Ten WWE Smackdown Moment

    5/11/15 WWE Smackdown “Fallout”-The Soiled Royal Robe

    5/11/15 WWE Smackdown “Fallout”-A War Of Words

    5/11/15 WWE Smackdown “Fallout”-A Win Is A Win

    5/1115 WWE Smackdown “Fallout”-The New Sensation Offers Advice

    Top 20 Moves of Bray Wyatt

    FULL SHOWS

    6/6/15 Monster Factory Pro Wrestling

    INDY TV SHOWS

    Michigan Championship Wrestling Association TV (Episode 3)

    5/29/15 Future Stars Of Wrestling “High Octane” TV

    6/5/15 Future Stars Of Wrestling “High Octane” TV

    Smash Wrestling TV (Episode 55)

    AIWF Mid-Atlantic TV (Episode 218)

    6/6/15 Southern States Wrestling TV

    6/13/15 Southern States Wrestling TV

    TOMORROW’S WWE NETWORK SCHEDULE (thanks to Bert Duckwall)

    2:00 AM ET
    TOUGH ENOUGH In the pursuit to become a WWE Superstar, eight hopeful athletes compete for a million dollar WWE Contract and find out who is Tough Enough!

    3:00 AM ET
    WWE NXT After his unforgettable surprise arrival at NXT Takeover Unstoppable, Samoa Joe makes his NXT in-ring debut.

    4:00 AM ET
    WWE SUPERSTARS Tag teams collide in a rematch from last week as The Ascension take on the Lucha Dragons. Plus, Paige battles Layla.

    5:00 AM ET
    OLD SCHOOL Old School WWE card from the Boston Garden features Davey Boy Smith and Pedro Morales vs Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine.

    6:00 AM ET
    WWE MONEY IN THE BANK 2015 A WWE Championship opportunity hangs in the balance as WWE Superstars try to climb the ladder of success at Money in the Bank. 

    9:00 AM ET
    WWE MONEY IN THE BANK 2015 A WWE Championship opportunity hangs in the balance as WWE Superstars try to climb the ladder of success at Money in the Bank.

    12:00 PM ET
    WWE MONEY IN THE BANK 2015 A WWE Championship opportunity hangs in the balance as WWE Superstars try to climb the ladder of success at Money in the Bank. 

    3:00 PM ET
    WWE MONEY IN THE BANK 2015 A WWE Championship opportunity hangs in the balance as WWE Superstars try to climb the ladder of success at Money in the Bank. 

    6:00 PM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS What starts as a couples road trip for Eva and Ariane ends in an all out blowout, and Bryan is keeping tabs on Brie.

    7:00 PM ET
    THE WWE LIST Whether it’s winning the Diva’s Championship, or posting a very flattering photos on Twitter… These Divas do it all to stay trending.

    7:30 PM ET
    RAW PRE-SHOW From Cleveland Ohio, Scott Stanford, David Otunga and Corey Graves cover all the events leading up to Monday Night Raw.

    8:00 PM ET
    MONDAY NIGHT WAR The strategies that helped Eric Bischoff build WCW would hasten the decline of both he and his company.

    9:00 PM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Most Infamous Intercontinental Champions of all time!

    10:00 PM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS What starts as a couples road trip for Eva and Ariane ends in an all out blowout, and Bryan is keeping tabs on Brie.

    11:06 PM ET
    CELEBRATING THE DREAM In honor of one of the most iconic and legendary figures in Sports Entertainment, WWE Network celebrates the life and times of Dusty Rhodes!

  • Boxing’s Saturday night wars, Showtime w/Deontay Wilder vs. HBO

    By Jeremy Wall

    Saturday night, June 13th, HBO and Showtime aired boxing matches head-to-head that featured fighters that both stations are trying to build into future stars. Showtime featured Deontay Wilder successfully defending the WBC Heavyweight title by knocking Eric Molina out in the ninth round at the Bartow Arena in Birmingham. Showtime had two major fights with 22-year-old prospect Felix Verdejo beating Ivan Najera by unanimous decision and in the headline Nicholas “The Axe Man” Walters beating Miguel Marriaga by unanimous decision at the Madison Square Garden Theatre. Both shows also went up against UFC 188 on pay per view from Mexico.

    HBO went with a double-header of showcase fights for Felix Verdejo and Nicholas Walters to counter program Showtime’s fight with Deontay Wilder. The Showtime broadcast began at 9pm ET and the HBO at 10pm ET.

    Walters (26-0, 21KO) beat Marriaga (20-1, 18KO) by unanimous decision on scores of 118-109, 117-110, and 119-108. It was a rematch of an amateur bout the two had years ago which Marriaga won. Walters was originally supposed to defend his WBA Featherweight title, but was stripped of the belt after the weigh-ins when he came in one pound over. The belt remains vacant. Attendance at the MSG Theater was 3,321.

    Walters, 29, was criticized for not making an effort in trying to make the 126-pounds weight limit. He originally weighed in at 127.4 pounds. He was given two hours to make weight and try again, but after only ninety minutes he weighed in again at 127 pounds, having only lost 0.4 of a pound. The WBA Featherweight title was still on the line if Marriaga won, since he made weight at 125.2 pounds.

    “I’m coming off an eight-month layoff. I tried everything,” said Walters, who was also fined $40,000 for missing weight.

    “He worked out as hard as he could but the last couple of pounds are always hard for him to get off and he tried to, but physically he felt he would have nothing left if he kept working to get that last pound off,” said vice-president of Top Rank Carl Moretti,. “I’m a little surprised. I saw him struggle to make weight for the Donaire fight and also for his previous fight, so I always knew 130 was around the corner. I just didn’t think it would be around the corner for this fight. He’s definitely going to 130 pounds after this.”

    Walters rehydrated to 145 pounds by fight time. He outmatched Marriaga, knocking him down in with a right hand in the ninth round. Walters landed 279 of 809 punches thrown for 34-percent compared to Marriaga, who landed 165 of 619 punches thrown at 27-percent.

    “It was a tough fight. [Marriaga] was very well-rounded. He was tough and he came to fight,” Walters said. “He put on a show and it was a tough fight after [I had] an eight-month layoff. I caught him a few times, I hurt him a few times, and that was it.”

    Walters is best known for knocking out Nonito Donaire in the sixth round last October. The win made Walters look like an emerging star. Top Rank had plans to match Donaire against Vasyl Lomachenko, a highly skilled fighter whose profile recently got a boost by winning an undercard bout on the pay per view broadcast of Mayweather vs. Pacquiao. The idea here was clearly give Walters a showcase win to setup Walters vs. Lomachenko on HBO later this year. It’s not a huge name fight, but it is a bout between two guys who are among the best at featherweight and have potential to become bigger names than what they are now.

    Walters missing weight, however, puts that fight in jeopardy. That he didn’t even try to make weight when given a second chance was curious considering the idea was to fight Lomachenko at 126 pounds and missing weight against Morriaga sends the wrong message.

    “He’s not the champion anymore,” Lomachenko’s manager Egis Klimas said after the Walters-Marriage fight. “Why do we want him? For what? What reason?”

    “I’m thinking about staying at featherweight but I don’t know,” Walters said. “I’ll decide maybe in a few weeks if I will go up to 130. But I still want to fight Lomachenko. To be the best, you have to beat the best, and they say he’s one of the best.”

    “The Lomachenko fight was never made so I don’t know how you can say the fight is going to happen – it was never made in the first place. It’s got to get made first to fall apart,” said Morretti. “Eventually, they’ll fight each other.”

    Moretti also claimed that even if Walters moved up to 130 pounds, that wouldn’t prevent a fight with Lomachenko from happening. “If we make that fight, they can fight over 126,” said Moretti.

    “Lomachenko wants that fight very badly. He loves challenges and he loves to test his skills,” said Bob Arum. “That’s why I love these guys. No jerking around.”

    Except when it comes to making weight.

    **********

    In HBO’s opening bout, Felix Verdejo (18-0, 13KO) looked like a rising superstar with an exciting unanimous decision win over Ivan Najera (16-1, 8KO). Verdejo won on cards of 100-88, 100-88, and 99-89. It was Verdejo’s debut on HBO. The bout took place on the event of the Puerto Rican Day Parade, of which Verdejo was scheduled to be a part. Verdejo’s place in the Puerto Rican Day Parade was originally held for Miguel Cotto, but Cotto left Top Rank this year to sign with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation.

    Verdejo out-classed Najera, who showed tremendous toughness in the fight by going the distance despite being knocked down in rounds five and seven. Verdejo landed 194 of 487 punches for 40-percent compared to 101 of 333 punches for 30-percent by Najera.

    Verdejo also went into the fight against Najera with a hairline fracture of his left hand. The injury might keep him out of action for a few months.

    “Felix came into this fight with a bad hand, and it’s been nagging,” Top Rank president Todd duBoef said. “There was a little piece that hadn’t settled in in the middle of his hand. It just kept getting inflamed and we didn’t want to pull out, because it was too special an opportunity for Verdejo. We went and next week he has a doctor’s appointment.”  

    “This is one of the toughest opponents I have faced. He kept coming,” Verdejo said. “I dropped him twice but he kept coming.”

    “If the injury is what the doctor told us it is, it won’t take more than three months to recover from the injury,” said Ricky Marquez, Verdejo’s manager and trainer. Marques expects Verdejo to fight again in October.

    “Depending on how the hand feels, we’ll see what’s next for me,” Verdejo said. “My hand hurts a lot. We’re going to the doctor. We’ll see what the specialist says. We just don’t know right now. We’ll go to the doctor and see what happens.”

    The audience was full of fans carrying Puerto Rican flags, coming out in full force to support Verdejo. Verdejo has tremendous star potential. He’s lightning fast with devastating power, able to end his fights with highlight reel knockouts. He has the Puerto Rican fan base already behind him and could be a star on the level of a Miguel Cotto.

    “If this wasn’t the Puerto Rican Day weekend, I don’t think necessarily he would have been in this situation,” Moretti said.

    “We put him in Puerto Rico and boom, he sells 6,000 tickets right off the bat just like that,” Arum said of Verdejo. “There aren’t a lot of guys like that.”

    “Top Rank knows how to develop fighters, and if they think I’m ready for this, I trust them,” Verdejo told Kevin Iole at Yahoo.

    “We have four guys I’m really looking at as having potential to become legitimate pay-per-view stars,” Arum said. “Verdejo is number one. If I had to place a bet on any fighter from that Class of 2012 becoming a big pay-per-view star, it would be him. But we also have Gilbert Ramirez, the super middleweight from Mexico; [Oscar] Valdez and Jose Ramirez, all of whom have a decent shot to do it. And you might even throw in Jesse Hart.

    “They all have that marketability. The question from a pay-per-view standpoint is, will people plunk down money in sufficient numbers? A few fighters, the answer is yes. Most, it is no,” continued Arum. “Andre Ward is a great, great fighter, but I don’t see him as a pay-per-view star. [Wladimir] Klitschko is the heavyweight champion, a terrific fighter, but he’s not a pay-per-view star. Mayweather is not the most exciting, slugging fighter, but he’s a huge [PPV] star. There are a lot of things that go into it.”

    **********

    Meanwhile on Showtime, Deontay Wilder (34-0, 33KO) made the first successful defense of his WBC Heavyweight title by knocking out Eric Molina (23-3, 17 KO) at 1:03 of the ninth round. The fight drew 9,347 to the sold-out Bartow Arena in Birmingham, an hour’s drive from Wilder’s hometown of Tuscaloosa. It was the first ever heavyweight title fight in Alabama.

    Wilder scored four knock downs in the fight, including downs in round four and two in round five before the finish came in round nine from a straight right. There was a scare, though, when Wilder was tagged hard by a left hook from Molina in the third round.

    “I definitely was surprised,” said Wilder of Molina. “This guy’s got heart. All the critics doubted him, but I’m so proud of him.”

    “There is no question that Wilder has the potential to not only become a star, but to be a difference-maker in the sport,” says Yahoo’s Kevin Iole.

    I agree. Of all the fighters Al Haymon has under contract, the one with the most box office potential is Deontay Wilder. He’s charismatic, American, a heavyweight champion, and is skilled.

    “I’m trying to become a household name. I want to fight constantly throughout the period of the year. I’m looking forward to this fight come Saturday, and if God so has it that I don’t get injured, I plan to come back in September. And after that, I want to come back in December,” said Wilder before the bout.

    Odd, though, was the fact that the fight took place on Showtime. Wilder defeated Bermaine Stiverne on Showtime back in January to win the WBC Heavyweight title. This was just a few weeks before Haymon launched PBC and Wilder was still under contract to Golden Boy, who co-promoted Wilder’s fight against Stiverne with Don King.

    At the time, it was thought to be the last fight Wilder would do for Golden Boy. But Saturday night’s fight against Molina was also promoted by Golden Boy. That’s not just strange because it looked like Wilder was finished with Golden Boy after beating Stiverne in January, but also because Golden Boy just filed a massive anti-trust suit against Al Haymon. That Golden Boy and Haymon were working together on Wilder’s fight against Molina is nothing short of bizarre.

    Perhaps Wilder still had to fulfill his contract with Golden Boy. Maybe Wilder chose to resign with Golden Boy. Maybe there was some political reason why Haymon had Wilder fight again for Golden Boy on Showtime. There isn’t a lot of information available on this topic, but it’s strange.

    Wilder should be fighting on NBC, not Showtime. He will not become a star to his potential if he is fighting on premium cable rather than network television. If possible, I would be building my PBC on NBC shows around Wilder. He is the guy.

    PBC has made some strange choices with which station to promote certain fighters. It was odd that they had Amir Khan fight on Spike when Khan is rumoured to be Floyd Mayweather’s opponent in September, when having Khan fight on NBC would have been a much better way to get Khan’s name into the mainstream.

    Haymon also had Julio Cesar Chavez Jr fight Andzrej Fonfara at light-heavyweight on Showtime, which was such a bad idea in so many ways. Chavez Jr is a star and a ratings movers, but only because he is carefully protected in matchmaking by fighting guys much smaller than him. He should have been fighting on network television to maximize his ratings potential, and he should never have fought someone as large as Fonfara, who wrecked him and probably permanently damaged Junior’s drawing power.

    So, PBC is doing a lot of things right, but there are a lot of poor choice in matchmaking that are hampering star growth and thus long-term box office potential. Some of these poor choices may be by necessity, as perhaps Wilder had a contract to fight for Golden Boy on Showtime and Haymon couldn’t get him on PBC. But key fighters need to be put in key broadcasts in order to create stars. PBC has so many broadcasting partners that they ought to be able to easily do this.

    Wilder’s next opponent will likely be Alexander Povetkin, who won a title eliminator against Mike Perez in Europe that was aired on tape-delay on ESPN2 a few weeks ago. Wilder needs to get past Povetkin, but to become a real star, he needs to defeat Wladimir Klitschko.

    Klitschko is currently negotiating his mandatory title defense against Tyson Furey, which will take place somewhere in Britain. It is also possible that the fight goes to purse bid, and if that happens Klitschko’s side will probably win and take the fight to Germany. The rumour is that wherever it happens, it will happen in October.

    If Klitschko beats Furey and Wilder beats Povetkin, both of which are the likely outcomes, then the fight to make is Wilder vs. Klitschko. In order to become a household name, Wilder needs to get some fights on network television and he needs to defeat Wladimir Klitschko. The former is obviously much easier than the later.

    “Well, I’m going to put it like this, that fight is titled not if it’s going to happen, but when it’s going to happen,” Wilder said of facing Klitschko. “Of course, that’s something I think about, but at this moment in time, I’m not focused on him. He will get his turn as well too, and last time I checked, I have the most prestigious, most well-known, most precious, beautiful belt in all of boxing, something that’s been around for a very long time, and that’s the WBC crown, it’s something that everybody wants.”

    Wilder is a former sparring partner of Klitschko. The Klitschko brothers have always liked to use future potential opponents as sparring partners in order to get a read on them in case they need to fight them down the line. What that means for Wilder’s chances against Klitschko is anyone’s guess, but it is probably not good.

    **********

    HBO has been on a roll this year in television ratings as boxing has made a major comeback, largely due to the machinations of Al Haymon. Nevertheless, HBO has benefited, drawing multiple large audiences for their fights in 2015.

    Earlier this month Cotto vs Geale drew 1.589 million viewers on average, peaking at 1.621 million. It was HBO’s third most watched show of the year, behind Canelo vs Kirkland in May (2.146 million viewers) and Klitschko vs Jennings in April (1.63 million viewers).

    Other major HBO fights this year have been Rios vs Alvarado in January (1.252 million); GGG vs Murray in February in an afternoon slot (862,000); Kovalev vs Pascal in March (1.152 million), and GGG vs Monroe in May (1.338 million).

    As a reference point, the most-watched fight on HBO in 2014 was Julio Cesar Chavez vs Vera 2, which drew 1.39 million viewers on average and peaked at 1.53 million. Three fights on HBO this year have already surpassed that number. Compared to 2014, GGG vs Monroe would have ranked second, Alvarado vs Rios would have ranked fourth, and Kovalev vs Pascal would have ranked sixth.

    There is no question that boxing has become a much bigger ratings draw in 2015 compared to recent years.

    Well, for the most part. While PBC and HBO have been doing great business, Showtime has been struggling, to the point where even the HBO people made fun of the lack of fights on Showtime during the pressers for the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight last month.

    Showtime did a good number for the Wilder-Stiverne WBC title fight from January at 1.24 million average viewers, peaking at 1.34 million. That fight is still outside the top five most-watched bouts on HBO this year. But Showtime did a horrendous number for Cesar Chavez Jr’s fight against Fonfara, which only drew 618,000 viewers on average and peaked at 836,000. That was a 40% decline from the last fight Junior had on HBO.

    Showtime hasn’t aired many other fights besides the ones mentioned above. In the major promotional war between PBC and HBO, so far Showtime is looking like the major losers. Many of the star fighters on Showtime prior to this year were guys managed by Al Haymon and promoted by Golden Boy. Haymon, however, took many of these stars away from Showtime and is using them to build PBC. HBO still has their stable of stars across a number of promotions. But Showtime is left with little else besides Mayweather, which is perhaps how the Wilder fight this past weekend ended up taking place on that station. Showtime is owned by the same company as CBS, which airs PBC, and that must be an awkward relationship right now.

    Jeremy Wall can be contacted at jeremywall1984@gmail and found on Twitter @jeremydalewall.