Category: Post Type article

by David Bixenspan | davidbix@wrestlingobserver.com | Follow @davidbix

TV notes for tonight, the night that takes Wednesday from the most crowded night of the week to even more crowded:

* ROH debuts on Destination America at 8:00 p.m. ET (and re-airing at 11:00 p.m. ET) with The Briscoes vs. The House of Truth, KUSHIDA vs. Will Ferrara, Watanabe vs. Silas Young, and Moose vs. B.J. Whittier.

* Lucha Underground on El Rey at 8:00 p.m. ET has Argenis vs. Jack Evans in an Aztec Medallion match, Son of Havoc, Angelicio, & Ivelisse vs. Big Ryck and two mystery partners for the Trios Championship, and Sexy Star vs. Pentagon Jr. in a submission match.

* NXT on WWE Network at 8:00 p.m. ET features Carmella vs. Alexa Bliss, Finn Balor vs. Rhyno, and a contination of the Kevin Owens-Samoa Joe drama.

* Impact Wrestling on Destination America at 9:00 p.m. ET (and 12:00 a.m. ET) has Rockstar Spud’s decision about whether or not he’ll vacate the X Division Title to get a World Title shot, The Wolves vs. The Dirty Heels in match 3 of their best of 5 series, Brooke Tessmacher vs. Jade, The Beat Down Clan vs. The Rising, and the return of Pope D’Angelo Dinero (Elijah Burke).

* UFC on Fox Sports 1 is the usual arrangement we’ve seen the last few weeks: UFC Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET, last week’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter at 9:00 p.m. ET, a new episode of The Ultimate Fighter, “Eyes on the Prize,” airs at 10:00 p.m. ET, and then the first 20 minutes or so of Fox Sports Live at 11:00 p.m. ET consists of the “TUF Talk” wrap-up show.

As always, more after we pay the bills… 

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The newest issue of Figure Four Weekly is up on the site for subscribers (subscribe here) with a detailed look at the history of popular music being used in pro wrestling, including:

* Who actually did the first pro wrestling music video?

* The role of popular songs gtting major acts over.

* What made the use of music in ECW so special.

* How “real” songs make wrestlers stand out in a sea of in-house productions.

And much more. Plus, as always, we have  all of the usual reviews and international news.

Also, now available for the first time on Kindle (meaning Kindle devices and anything with the Kindle app) is Fall Guys, the seminal 1937 book that has been described as being like the 1930s version of the Wrestling Observer. It was surprisingly not on Kindle already, so we put together a nice version with a full table of contents w/ chapter marks, proper formatting on everything, etc. Right now it’s available from the American, Canadian, and cn Amazon/Kindle stores OR you can also buy it from anywhere in the world on PayHip, who will provide you with both Kindle and ePub (every other e-reader) format files, and you can either sideload them to your device or have them email it to your Kindle. 

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The breakdown of the ROH deal on Destination America, how this affects TNA, the time frame of both company’s deals with the station and why this went down is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.  We also look at Daniel Cormier winning the world championship and questions arising, full coverage of UFC 187, Full coverage of Samoa Joe to NXT and the last special, the AAA World Cup coverage, Bischoff sues TNA and the UFC hall of Fame.

The new issue is up on the site at June 1, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: ROH to Destination America, Bischoff sues TNA, UFC Hall of Fame

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

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If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.

The Wrestling Observer ranges weekly from 35,000 to 50,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA internationally. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sties and has the most complete look at the pro wrestling and MMA business anywhere, plus history pieces available nowhere else.

We look at TNA’s actions over the past week since the original Observer story broke, the expansion in coverage of ROH, why the ROH deal got done, how Dixie Carter handled the situation, the conference call with TNA talent and how it went, the lineup for the first month of ROH on Destination America and the key show to watch, what to expect from the ratings, the ROH PPV schedule and the Samoa Joe situation with ROH.

We also look at Daniel Cormier winning the UFC light heavyweight title, the Jon Jones situation, the situation with Ryan Bader, the shadow over the Cormier win, Vitor Belfort physically, the Arlovski vs. Browne fight, all the business notes from the show including a top ten of all time, and match-by-match coverage.

We also look at the NXT Takeover show.  We look at the situation with Samoa Joe, plus match-by-match coverage.

We’ve also got full coverage of the World Cup show, including screw-ups, best foreign stars, and the awards from the show.

We also look at Elimination Chamber, the Rusev injury, Ronda Rousey and next year’s WrestleMania, talk about a gimmick for a future NXT special, notes on the new season of Total Divas, Notes on someone who is a TV star that got a tryout as a WWE star this past week and how it went, A look behind the scenes on the Daniel Bryan/A.J. Lee angle, how WWE is changing its thoughts on talent, another celebrity angle, NXT dates and a look at the upcoming Australia tour.

Plus we’ve got notes from all the arena events from the past week as well as business notes.

We look at the Bischoff-Hervey lawsuit against TNA.

We also have a full breakdown on the UFC Hall of Fame and its new members.  We look at their histories, why they are in and more.

We’ve got first word on the Extreme Rules PPV business.

The Observer is the world’s most detailed weekly pro wrestling publication, in its 32nd year of publication, and is read by the biggest names in the pro wrestling, industry, MMA industry, sports world and on Wall Street.

We also have our regular features such as the most complete look at ratings, plus results of the major house show events each week in pro wrestling and MMA, and complete inside rundowns of all the TV shows.

Also in this week’s issue:

–A look at CMLL’s new tournament over the next few months and background of the guys

–What pro wrestling event in Mexico will have a number of U.S. reporters from another sort attending

–Tetsuya Naito in CMLL

–Wife of wrestler planning oncoming out of retirement

–UFC fighter making appearance at international wrestling show

–King of Gate finals and rundown of semifinals

–Looking at the booking from there

–Triple Crown title change

–MMA fighter coming to All Japan

–Full coverage of the first week of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament

–Current standings

–Why this year doesn’t have as much interest as in the past

–Why all the booking had to be redone after the first night

–How business has been

–Tournament lineup for this week

–Satoru Sayama health update

–Terry Funk news

–World champions from two different promotions team up together in a third promotion

–Global Force Wrestling update

–Go fund me campaigns for wrestlers

–Update on the past week’s PWG show

–Trish Stratus talks thinking about doing MMA

–One of the biggest indie show of the summer

–Tammy Sytch on doing adult videos

–Latest on Lucha Underground and season two

–Alberto El Patron talks about doing MMA and Bill Goldberg

–The back story in one of Lucha Underground’s main angles

–ROH signs action figure deal

–Update on the next ROH PPV show

–TNA changes up television tapings and why

–Dixie Carter reality show

–Christy Hemme leaves company

–History of TNA sale talks

–Samoa Joe on why he left TNA

–Dana White talks UFC 189

–Where ticket sales for the show are coming from

–Dana White talks the PPV numbers

–Update on UFC in New York and where it stands

–Sara McMann thinking of legal action on the Reebok deal

–This week’s UFC show

–Tons of new UFC fights

–Lawsuit settlement results in apologies

–Suspended fighter thinks about going to Olympics

–Hector Lombard talks Josh Barnett

–Ronda Rousey at the  Wall Street Journal cafe brunch

–Fighter who had announced retirement now coming back

–Biggest World Series of Fighting show to date

If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can get one free classic issue of your choice sent to you today.  With a 40 issue subscription, you can get two free classic issues sent to you today.

New subscribers ordering 24 or 40 issues have to let us know what major stories of the past 11 years you are most interested in and we’ll send the issue with the best coverage of that story. We’ve got coverage of every major PPV event and world wide spectacular, every major star switching promotions, histories of companies like FMW, Rings and New Japan, retirement and obit issues of every major star who fits into those descriptions over the past 11 years, as well as our biggest issue every year, the annual awards issue, and our most controversial issue of every year, the Hall of Fame issue.

Our most requested issues in our history are:

*November 17, 1997 (full details of everything leading to the most famous wrestling match finish of modern times at the Survivor Series plus a history of in-ring double-crosses)

*December 21, 1998 (the complete Vince McMahon-Bret Hart conversation right before the Survivor Series match so you’ll know exactly what was said–the conversation played in edited form both on the inaugural broadcast of Confidential as well as in Wrestling with Shadows, but everything that was said between the two about the match that was going to take place that same night)

*August 1, 1994 (the most detailed coverage anywhere of the Vince McMahon steroid trial, an issue praised in numerous newspaper article and Sex, Lies and Headlocks)

*March 26, 2001 (death of WCW and history of pro wrestling on the Turner networks)a

*October 22, 2001 (why the adult audience has left pro wrestling in such great numbers and what needed to have been done to save them)

*July 8, 1991 (Ric Flair leaves WCW as world champion/Zahorian steroid trial)

*February 8, 1993 (the life and times of Andre the Giant)

*May 13, 2002 (the life story of the most incredible pro wrestling career ever, a look at Lou Thesz, in one of the largest issues of our history)

*January 27, 2003 (part one of the two-part series covering the career and life of The Sheik)

*February 3, 2003 (Part two on The Sheik including thoughts from people who worked with him and where he stands historically)

*March 24, 2003 (history of the WWWF title, inside behind the Sammartino, Backlund and Backlund era)

*April 21, 2003 (history of WWF continues with the expansion nationally, the death of the regional territories and the rise of Hulk Hogan)

*May 12, 2003 (The life and death of Elizabeth and the rise of fall of Lex Luger)

*June 9, 2003 (Part 1 of history of WWF vs. WCW wars and what many say was the greatest year in U.S. wrestling; plus a look at Fred Blassie)

*June 16, 2003 (Freddie Blassie through the eyes of his biggest rivals and friends)

*July 28, 2003 (Part 2 of the history of the WWF vs. WCW war and the plans to make new superstars in the early 90s, what happened, and the night where the three biggest wrestling companies in the world combined for a joint show and what happened)

*August 25, 2003 (2003 Hall of Fame issue with huge profiles on the controversial career of Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit as well as historical features on Earl Caddock and Francisco Flores)

*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)

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*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.

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Wednesday Daily Update

— UFC officially announced its plans for enhanced drug testing today. The press release is on the front page and Shaun Al-Shatti has a good breakdown at MMAFighting.com. The keys points are:

* The entire roster will be subject to year-round, unannounced testing “with the possibility of a collection occurring any place, any time, with no notice.” One key is how true that actually is since human growth hormone is normally taken by athletes at bedtime with the idea that you’ll be clear by morning and testers will only come during somthing approximating the regular nine to five work day.

* Suspnsions for positive tests for “non-specified substances” (effectively banned performance enhancing drugs from anabolics to growth hormones to peptides to blood doping) will be two years for the first offense (four years for “aggravating circumstances”), followed by double the punishment of the previous suspension for the second and third suspension.

* Suspensions for “specified substances” (marijuana, stimulants, and glucocorticosteroids, only tested for in-competition) will be will be one year for the first offense (two years for “aggravating circumstances”), followed by double the punishment of the previous suspension for the second and third suspension.

There’s no indication yet as to whether or not athletic commissions would recognize the suspensions if UFC suspended and cut a fighter.

— The class action antitrust lawsuit against the UFC has been moved to Nevada, primarily because judge Edward Davila determined that the lawsuit is an action to interpret the fighters’ contracts, which have clauses about the jurisdiction of any related lawsuits. Paul Gift has much more detail on the decision at Bloody Elbow.

— Eric Fisher at Sports Business Journal is reporting that Major League Baseball is moving quickly at spinning off MLB Advance Media (the subsidiery that handles the technological end of WWE Network as well as other services like HBO Now) into its own company.

— Sky Italia announced today that they renewed their deal to carry WWE programming in Italy through June 2020.

— Tyrus tweeted yesterday that he will not be working for Global Force Wrestling as previously announced “due to contractual obligations.”

— It wasn’t officially confirmed until last night when MMAFighting heard back from the UFC, but the promotion has cut Shayna Baszler, Tim Elliott, Dylan Andrews, Alptekin Ozkilic, Vik Grujic, Shane Howell, Rocky Lee, Tateki Matsuda and Alexander Torres. The releases were initially reported by @UFCFightersInfo, a Twitter bot that tracks changes to the UFC roster and rankings pages. there are exceptions, but a deleted profile does usually mean a fighter has been cut.

Elliott was considered something of a surprise because while he’s on a three fight losing streak, he only lost to top 10 contenders, is an action fighter, and could have at least gotten one fight against an unranked opponnt to see where he stood. One would think that World Series of Fighting should have some interest in him and the flyweights that were cut now that they’re trying to build that division.

— Max Landis has a new wrestling-themed video where he explains why John Cena is booed. This one is just him talking to a camera for a few minutes, not a big production like Wrestling Isn’t Wrestling was.

— On June 27th, Tuff-N-Uff is running “Pack the Mack,” a MMA card at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas  which is serving as a memorial for founder Barry Meyer and a benefit for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. They’re hoping to break the attendance record for amateur MMA, which they set last year. Tickets are available at UNLVTickets.com. 

— Bill Goldberg talked to AM New York as part of his publicity tour for the Legends of Wrestling event this Saturday at Citi Field.

— A Vine of a high school graduation featuring a Stone Cold Stunner may or may not be going viral at the moment.

— ONE Championship announced a card for June 20th at the Guangzhou Tianhe Gymnasium in Guangzhou, China with featherweights Timofey Nastyukhin and Yusuke Kawanago battle ine th main event.

— Per John Finnegan of the North American Wrestling Rankings blog, this past Monday, Raw was the host of Sheamus’s 300th televised WWE match. 

— Arianny Celeste, the UFC’s most famous Octagon Girl, is the host at the Marquee nightclub in Sydney, Australia this Friday night.

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

12:00 AM ET
CULTURE SHOCK WITH COREY GRAVES Corey Graves jumps into horse racing, gambling, the legendary infield, and much more at The Preakness on this episode of Culture Shock!

12:10 AM ET
TOTAL DIVAS Eva’s sexy bachelorette in Curacao gets heated when TJ destroy’s Nattie’s hopes of rekindling their marriage.

1:00 AM ET
TOTAL DIVAS Nikki is devastated when she discovers John’s kept a secret from her. Rosa’s unaware she’s competing in her pursuits of an NFL player.

2:00 AM ET
WWE BEYOND THE RING A look inside the life and career of CM Punk from his early success in ECW to the top of the WWE.

4:00 AM ET
RAW FLASHBACK Following Stone Cold Steve Austin’s controversial Royal Rumble victory, Bret Hart lashes out and bids farewell to WWE.

5:00 AM ET
RAW FLASHBACK Before Shawn Michaels can celebrate his reign as the new WWE Champion, he is greeted by the four men who want to take the title from him.

6:00 AM ET
PRIME TIME WRESTLING Join Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan for Prime Time Wrestling featuring Harley Race, Junkyard Dog, and many more!

8:00 AM ET
WRESTLEMANIA 12 Shawn Michaels and Bret ‘Hit Man’ Hart battle in an Iron Man Match for the WWE Title. Diesel faces The Undertaker. Roddy Piper vs. Goldust.

11:00 AM ET
SMACKDOWN FLASHBACK Edge and Christian and the Hardyz battle for Terri’s services. The Rock serves as the People’s Referee. HHH defends his title.

12:15 PM ET
CLASH OF THE CHAMPIONS Clash of the Champions XXIV; Davey Boy Smith challenges Vader for the World Heavyweight Title. A ‘shocking’ edition of Flair for the Gold.

2:00 PM ET
OLD SCHOOL Old School WWE card from the Maple Leaf Gardens features Hulk Hogan defending the WWE Title against Paul Orndorff. Ricky Steamboat and more.

3:00 PM ET
WCW MONDAY NITRO On this episode of WCW Monday Nitro Hulk Hogan meets Sting in a huge main event match up.

4:00 PM ET
RAW FLASHBACK The 1-2-3 Kid’s new alliance pays dividends. Shawn Michaels gives his all in a match that proves there is more than one way to spell heart.

5:00 PM ET
WCW STARRCADE 1994 Hulk Hogan defends the WCW World Title against The Butcher. Sting battles Avalanche. The Nasty Boys face Harlem Heat. Jim Duggan vs. Vader.

8:00 PM ET
WCW MONDAY NITRO On this episode of WCW Monday Nitro Hulk Hogan meets Sting in a huge main event match up.

9:00 PM ET
RAW FLASHBACK The 1-2-3 Kid’s new alliance pays dividends. Shawn Michaels gives his all in a match that proves there is more than one way to spell heart.

10:00 PM ET
STONE COLD PODCAST WWE Hall of Famer and Icon Stone Cold Steve Austin will have a no holds barred LIVE interview with Paul Heyman!

11:00 PM ET
WCW MONDAY NITRO On this episode of WCW Monday Nitro Hulk Hogan meets Sting in a huge main event match up.

Submitted by Anonymous

Rey Horus pinned Anthony Nese in 15:38 with a top rope huracarana. 

It was a good match.  Problem with EVOLVE is every match is nearly the same with a lot of big moves and a lot of kick out of big moves.   Right off the bat again, we have a match like this.  When this happens in every match, it takes away the importance of the near fall from the top matches.  Opening match is the second most important match on the card behind the main event.  Opening match sets the tone, but it should also just warm up the crowd.   This match would have been better at only ten minutes instead of going fifteen.   Anthony Nese is really good and I always enjoy his work.   I wish he would do the cartwheel off the apron reversal he does here and there.  He does it every match I see him in.   It is cool, but how in every match he is on the apron and doing a cartwheel getting away from his opponent trying to kick him?   Rey Horus is good, but still very green as he showed in this match.  His finisher is amazing, but it takes a long time for both men to be balanced on the tope rope that it becomes a total expose.

Davey Richards pinned Caleb Konely in 20:55 with a running kick. 

Great match.  Both went out and put on a great performance.  Konely is so underrated and could be the best heel in EVOLVE behind Rodrick Strong.  Richards has looked great since his return to EVOLVE.   At times it got a bit ridiculous as they both kicked out out of so many finishers.  In the case of one move too many,  Richards hit a double stomp off the top rope and the crowd went nuts.  That should have been the finish, but he instead hit the running kick for the pin and pop wasn’t as loud.   Crazy that this was only the second match on the card.

After the match Caleb Konely and his tag team partner Anthony Nese argued after the match teasing a split.  Splitting up the Premier Athlete Brand tag team would benefit both.  Konely has been real impressive with his single matches against Rey Horus and now Davey Richards.   Konely is a natural heel and he understands how to work as a heel which is truly rare on the indy level.  Nese comes off more as a natural babyface and with all flashy moves, a turn to babyface would be good for him.

TJ Perkins pinned “Speeball” Mike Bailey in 11:14 with a cradle. 

Fun match.  Mike Bailey is a joy to watch.  His style is based around his strikes and thus he stands out from the rest of the EVOLVE roster.  Story early was Bailey was trying to KO TJP with his kicks and TJP was working on the legs on Bailey.   Speedball just needs to get a better body, better gear to not look so indy.  As long as he stays injury free, this kid does have a bright future. TJP was solid as always, but still very robotic with his facial expressions.  Actually both men are and that lack of facial expressions brings down the intensity of the match.

Chris Hero pinned Trevor Lee in 18:02

Match of the night as this was better then Richards-Konely earlier.  Lee would get a move, but Hero would always counter.  Hero plays his role as the veteran making the young talent coming up to prove themselves.  Loved the pacing of this match, it was slower then the pervious matches, but each thing they did meant something and you remembered it after they did it.  Hero kept trying to finish off Lee, but he would keep kicking out.  Finally, Hero pinned Lee with a Gotch Piledriver and then picked him up for a tombstone piledriver.  Maybe a bit overkill, but it continued the story that Hero felt he needed to go that extra mile to finish off Lee.

DragonGate Open The United Gate Tag Team Champions Rich Swann & Johnny Gargano defeated Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams when Gargano made Williams submit to the “GargaNoEscape”.

Very good tag team match. This is another match that probably went a bit too long.  Giving guys long times is a good, but it can also be negative, especially in matches were workers like this do a ton of moves.  You see so much  and nothing registers for long.  With so many moves, the crowd gets exhausted and thus the crowd heats lowers and match starts to drag.  Tracy Williams is a great young prospect.  Really reminds me of a young Timothy Thatcher.  This kid is going to be really good.  Williams and Gulak have the potential to be one of the best tag teams in the US if they continue to team up.   Swann was his great self as usual and Gargano put on a very good performance as well.  This match made me want to see a long program between these two teams.

After the match Gargano and Swann “vacated” the DragonGate Open The United Gate tag titles.  Basically, DragonGate USA is no more and this is was a nice way of making it official.  Gargano and Swann hoped EVOLVE would create Evolve tag team titles.  I am sure this will happen soon and I hope these two teams are programed together for those newly created titles whenever that is. 

DragonGate Open The Freedom Gate Champion Drew Galloway pinned Biff Busick with a double arm DDT in 15:35

There is nobody in the US that can match Drew Galloway’s presence as a World Champion.  It is hard to give off that aura, but Galloway does it.  I bought the IPPV for this match alone and these two did not let me down.  It was hard hitting and dramatic.   They brawled around the building.  Nine times out of ten I do not care for that, but these two are so good with putting a believable and intense brawl that I really enjoyed this.   Busick kept going for his rear naked choke finisher throughout the match and Galloway would keep reversing.

At one point Busick locked it on and many thought a title change was near.  The finishing sequence was a thing of beauty as Busick kept going for his finisher, but Galloway kept reversing and finally catching Busick with his finish.

After the match Galloway cut another great promo.  Why did the WWE let this guy go?  Galloway is living up to his  “Chosen One” gimmick now on the indies.  Johnny Gargano came out and talked about Galloway defeating him in San Jose at the WWN Super Show for the DragonGate Open The Freedom Gate title and mentioned how he and his tag team partner Rich Swann are looking towards the future and they vacated the DragonGate United tag belts and Galloway should follow their lead and putting DragonGate USA behind them.

Galloway disagreed, basically saying he won this belt with hard work and he is going to keep defending it.  He told Gargano they would face again for DragonGate belt and if Gargano beats him then he could do whatever he wants with the title, but “If” that happens he is going keep defending it.  I think they should unify the titles.  Maybe do a gimmick where Galloway will defend both each weekend, but if he is able to retain after a years time (March 2016) then the belts would unified.   Really, after Galloway beat Gargano in at the WWN Super Show the titles should have been unified then.  Positive is they are moving to getting rid of the DragonGate USA brand all together.  Since combining the promotions, it has been more confusing then good.

Overall Analysis:

This was one of the best Evolve shows this company has put on.  I highly recommend this IPPV.  Only negative was the lighting in this venue sucked.  The guys all looked light blue from the lights and it was very dark at times in the corners.  If you can get past the poor production, you will love this show.  Hero-Lee is worth going out of your way to see.  I understand this was a rematch from PWG out in LA which was another great match.  I can’t compare the two since I did not see the PWG match, but this Hero-Lee match here in Evolve was one of the best indy matches of the half year.  Still way below Hero vs Timothy Thatcher at the WWN Super Show in San Jose, CA this past March however. 

by David Bixenspan | davidbix@wrestlingobserver.com | Follow @davidbix

TV-wise, Fox Sports 2 is running the last four episodes of The Ultimate Fighter starting at 7:00 p.m. ET. 

We’re looking for SmackDown/Main Event spoilers tonight, so if you’re attending the taping, please send a report to newstips@wrestlingobserver.com. 

As always, much more down the page after we pay the bills… 

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The newest issue of Figure Four Weekly is up on the site for subscribers (subscribe here) with a detailed look at the history of popular music being used in pro wrestling, including:

* Who actually did the first pro wrestling music video?

* The role of popular songs gtting major acts over.

* What made the use of music in ECW so special.

* How “real” songs make wrestlers stand out in a sea of in-house productions.

And much more. Plus, as always, we have  all of the usual reviews and international news.

Also, now available for the first time on Kindle (meaning Kindle devices and anything with the Kindle app) is Fall Guys, the seminal 1937 book that has been described as being like the 1930s version of the Wrestling Observer. It was surprisingly not on Kindle already, so we put together a nice version with a full table of contents w/ chapter marks, proper formatting on everything, etc. Right now it’s available from the American, Canadian, and Australian Amazon/Kindle stores OR you can also buy it from anywhere in the world on PayHip, who will provide you with both Kindle and ePub (every other e-reader) format files, and you can either sideload them to your device or have them email it to your Kindle. 

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The breakdown of the ROH deal on Destination America, how this affects TNA, the time frame of both company’s deals with the station and why this went down is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.  We also look at Daniel Cormier winning the world championship and questions arising, full coverage of UFC 187, Full coverage of Samoa Joe to NXT and the last special, the AAA World Cup coverage, Bischoff sues TNA and the UFC hall of Fame.

The new issue is up on the site at June 1, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: ROH to Destination America, Bischoff sues TNA, UFC Hall of Fame

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The Wrestling Observer ranges weekly from 35,000 to 50,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA internationally. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sties and has the most complete look at the pro wrestling and MMA business anywhere, plus history pieces available nowhere else.

We look at TNA’s actions over the past week since the original Observer story broke, the expansion in coverage of ROH, why the ROH deal got done, how Dixie Carter handled the situation, the conference call with TNA talent and how it went, the lineup for the first month of ROH on Destination America and the key show to watch, what to expect from the ratings, the ROH PPV schedule and the Samoa Joe situation with ROH.

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The Observer is the world’s most detailed weekly pro wrestling publication, in its 32nd year of publication, and is read by the biggest names in the pro wrestling, industry, MMA industry, sports world and on Wall Street.

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Also in this week’s issue:

–A look at CMLL’s new tournament over the next few months and background of the guys

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–ROH signs action figure deal

–Update on the next ROH PPV show

–TNA changes up television tapings and why

–Dixie Carter reality show

–Christy Hemme leaves company

–History of TNA sale talks

–Samoa Joe on why he left TNA

–Dana White talks UFC 189

–Where ticket sales for the show are coming from

–Dana White talks the PPV numbers

–Update on UFC in New York and where it stands

–Sara McMann thinking of legal action on the Reebok deal

–This week’s UFC show

–Tons of new UFC fights

–Lawsuit settlement results in apologies

–Suspended fighter thinks about going to Olympics

–Hector Lombard talks Josh Barnett

–Ronda Rousey at the  Wall Street Journal cafe brunch

–Fighter who had announced retirement now coming back

–Biggest World Series of Fighting show to date

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New subscribers ordering 24 or 40 issues have to let us know what major stories of the past 11 years you are most interested in and we’ll send the issue with the best coverage of that story. We’ve got coverage of every major PPV event and world wide spectacular, every major star switching promotions, histories of companies like FMW, Rings and New Japan, retirement and obit issues of every major star who fits into those descriptions over the past 11 years, as well as our biggest issue every year, the annual awards issue, and our most controversial issue of every year, the Hall of Fame issue.

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*October 22, 2001 (why the adult audience has left pro wrestling in such great numbers and what needed to have been done to save them)

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

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

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*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)

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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.

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Tuesday Daily Update

— MMA Digest procured and released police lapel camera videos of the search of Jon Jones’ car after his hit and run incident partially accompanied by 911 call audio. Nothing shocking at this point, but not good for Jones’ image either.

— Yesterday, Jeremy Borash decided to tweet a photoshop of the Caitlyn Jenner Vanity Fair cover with Ethan Carther III’s face superimposed as “revenge” for EC3 shaving his head on Impact several months ago. It didn’t go well with his follwers. Borash proceeded to block anyne who tweeted even the most mild criticism of what he did at him, and his only defense (written in the third person; it’s not clear if it was him or someone else running his account) was that he got the idea from The Howard Stern Show, which he’s been doing voice work for as of late. EC3 made a point of tweeting (in character) that he didn’t approve that message. Borash eventually deleted his tweets, but not after theyhad been up pretty much the entire second half of Monday.

Later, Madison Rayne tweeted using their #ShowYourImpact hashtag, saying that “Caitlyn Jenner did it today, I’ll do it Wed.” She was apologetic about comparing the two events, which was just a little misguided more than anything else.

It later came out that TNA had a conference call yesterday that included a lot of talk about focusing more on social media…

— Insider Louisville has an article about WWE’s troubles wth the athletic commission in Kentucky. As commission issues go it’s not that bad: WWE is still running house shows in the state, but they refuse to run a TV taping or pay-per-view event there because the commission reserves the right to stop a match in the event of bleeding. So it’s more about the potential disruption of a TV broadcast than anything else. That said, even though it’s a perfectly defensible position, “WWE’s spokeswoman declined to comment for this story.”

— Rhode Island Monthly has an article about Maria Kanellis going to school locally at Johnson and Wales University. She’s majoring in Sports Entertainment and Event Management, telling author Joshua Aromin that “I already know what’s going through the minds of the person putting on the event. I already know the concerns that would go through my mind from events I’ve been to.” 

— Uproxx’s Danielle Matheson tries and fails to make sense out of the unauthorized Arabic WWE cartoons that have popped up on YouTube recently. Looks like we’ve got some potential short form content for WWE Network.

— Submission Radio talked to UFC Strawweight Champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk this week. Must-listen just to hear her talk about her sneaker collection, but here’s a quote about her now being the most famous Polish MMA fighter on a worldwide basis:

“For me the more important thing is fighting. You know, training, fighting. The sports side. I didn’t choose my media life. You know what I mean? I’ve got some offers from KSW and I could fight for KSW, be on open TV. So I could become more famous in Poland, but I don’t care about [fame]. For me, the sport side was more important two years ago and I was waiting for the UFC. And I knew that I was going to be a champion, and I had this feeling. I’ve got talent from my gut and I did my job to show to everyone that I’m simply the best. And I’m very happy that I did the biggest success from the Polish MMA fighters.”

— A presale for tickets to the August 4th SmackDown taping at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, California starts tomorrow (Wednesday) at Ticketmaster with the code “2WWEFA”

— Tickets for the August 1st WWE house show in Ontario, California go onside to the general public this Friday. There is a resale going on right now using the code WWEFAN

— Tickets for UFC’s July 25th Fox card in Chicago with a main event of T.J. Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao II for the bantamweight title go on sale this Friday, June 5th at 10:00 a.m. CT. UFC Fight Club members will be able the opportunity to buy tickets tomorrow (Wednesday, June 3rd) at 10:00 a.m. CT while UFC newsletter subscribers will have their own presaleThursday (June 4th) starting at 10:00 a.m. CT.

— World Series of Fighting announced the bout order for this Friday’s card from Edmonton:

PRELIMINARY CARD (7:30 p.m. ET at WSOF.com)
Bout # 1, Bantamweight (135 pounds) : Michael Hay (1-1) vs. Louie Grover (1-2)
Bout # 2, Lightweight (155 pounds): Mike Scarcello (7-3-1) vs. Dan Lariviere (4-2)
Bout # 3, Middleweight (185 pounds): Marcus Hicks (20-24) vs. Matt Baker (12-7)

MAIN CARD (9:00 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network)
Bout # 4, Featherweight (145 pounds) Bout: Hakeem Dawodu (4-0) vs. Chuka Willis (4-0) 
Bout # 5, Welterweight (170 pounds) Swing Bout: Mark Drummond (7-2) vs. Michael Hill (7-3)
Bout # 6, World Heavyweight Championship Co-Main Event: (Champion) Smealinho Rama (9-1) vs. (Challenger) Blagoi Ivanov (11-1)
Bout # 7, World Featherweight Championship Main Event: (Champion) Lance Palmer (9-1) vs. (Challenger) Chris Horodecki (21-5-1)

POSTLIMINARY CARD (11:05 p.m. ET on WSOF.com; this is their version of “Bellator After Dark”)
Bout # 8, Lightweight: Roger Alves (2-1) vs. Danny Doig (2-2)
Bout # 9, Lightweight: Garrett Nybakken (7-7) vs. Nick Hrabec (3-1)
Bout # 10, Lightweight: Tim Smith (14-8) vs. Spencer Rohovie (9-7)
Bout # 11, Catchweight (165 pounds): Stephen Beaumont (7-2) vs. Jose Rodriguez (7-2)

— New England Championship Wrestling runs Blazing Summer 2015 Kick Off this Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. at the Everett Rec Center in Everett, Massachusetts with Slyck Wagner Brown vs. Brad Hollister in the main event. More details at NECW.tv

— Last night at Renegades Bar & Grill in West Palm Beach, FL, there was a pilot TV taping run by Dan Kowal (formerly of ECW and WEW). In the unadvertised pro wrestling matches, Santana Garrett beat Jayme Jameson and La Rosa Negra beat Su Yung. After the regular matches, which did get over, they put down a tarp and went to the advertised matches…which saw strippers and models competing in Jello, chocolate syrup, and so on.

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

12:00 AM ET
WWE UNFILTERED WITH RENEE YOUNG Renee Young hangs out with the cast of Entourage to discuss their behind-the-scenes experience of the movie in theaters June 3rd!

12:06 AM ET
MONDAY NIGHT WAR A controversial group of superstars set out to better sports entertainment and would rely on one another to do so.

1:04 AM ET
WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Most Unique Matches of all time!

2:00 AM ET
TUESDAY NIGHT TITANS Vince McMahon hosts Tuesday Night Titans with Lord Alfred Hayes. Guests include Mike Sharpe, Big John Studd, Salvatore Bellomo and more.

4:00 AM ET
PRIME TIME WRESTLING Join Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan for Prime Time Wrestling featuring Harley Race, Junkyard Dog, and many more!

6:00 AM ET
TOUGH ENOUGH The last two contestants standing prepare for a final match at the WWE training facility. Stone Cold announces the winner live at RAW!

7:00 AM ET
MONDAY NIGHT WAR A controversial group of superstars set out to better sports entertainment and would rely on one another to do so.

8:00 AM ET
WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Most Unique Matches of all time!

9:00 AM ET
TOUGH ENOUGH The last two contestants standing prepare for a final match at the WWE training facility. Stone Cold announces the winner live at RAW!

10:00 AM ET
MONDAY NIGHT WAR A controversial group of superstars set out to better sports entertainment and would rely on one another to do so.

11:00 AM ET
WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Most Unique Matches of all time!

12:00 PM ET
TOUGH ENOUGH The last two contestants standing prepare for a final match at the WWE training facility. Stone Cold announces the winner live at RAW!

1:00 PM ET
MONDAY NIGHT WAR A controversial group of superstars set out to better sports entertainment and would rely on one another to do so.

2:00 PM ET
WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Most Unique Matches of all time!

3:00 PM ET
STONE COLD PODCAST WWE Hall of Famer and Icon Stone Cold Steve Austin will have a no holds barred LIVE interview with Paul Heyman!

4:00 PM ET
CULTURE SHOCK WITH COREY GRAVES Corey Graves jumps into horse racing, gambling, the legendary infield, and much more at The Preakness on this episode of Culture Shock!

4:10 PM ET
TOTAL DIVAS Eva’s sexy bachelorette in Curacao gets heated when TJ destroy’s Nattie’s hopes of rekindling their marriage.

5:00 PM ET
TOTAL DIVAS Nikki is devastated when she discovers John’s kept a secret from her. Rosa’s unaware she’s competing in her pursuits of an NFL player.

6:00 PM ET
WWE BEYOND THE RING Wrestling’s Highest Flyers collects some of the greatest aerial displays in sports entertainment history!

8:00 PM ET
WWE NXT The future is here. Witness the entertainers, the leading men and women, the Superstars of tomorrow — this is NXT!

9:00 PM ET
CULTURE SHOCK WITH COREY GRAVES Corey Graves jumps into horse racing, gambling, the legendary infield, and much more at The Preakness on this episode of Culture Shock!

9:10 PM ET
TOTAL DIVAS Eva’s sexy bachelorette in Curacao gets heated when TJ destroy’s Nattie’s hopes of rekindling their marriage.

10:00 PM ET
TOTAL DIVAS Nikki is devastated when she discovers John’s kept a secret from her. Rosa’s unaware she’s competing in her pursuits of an NFL player.

11:00 PM ET
WWE NXT The future is here. Witness the entertainers, the leading men and women, the Superstars of tomorrow — this is NXT!