HollywoodLife.com reported that Stephen Amell of “Arrow” fame will be facing Stardust (Cody Rhodes) at SummerSlam this year at the Barclays Center on 8/23.
The story said Arnell and WWE are deciding if Arnell should use the name Stephen Amell, or play the character of “Arrow” in the match. Amell was on Raw last Monday and was going to make return appearances, but the story of him wrestling may not be accurate.
By Brian Hoops, WrestlingObserver.com
1925 – Joe Stecher defeated Stanislaus Zbyszko for the World’s Heavyweight Wrestling Title in St. Louis, Missouri.
1943 – Joe Silva defeated Adolfo Bonales to win the Mexico National Lightweight Title in Mexico City, Mexico.
1945 – Marshall Estep defeated Ken Fenelon for the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title in Toronto, Iowa.
1956 – Killer Kowalski defeated Yvon Robert in Montreal, Quebec for the Montreal World Heavyweight Title
1963 – In Amarillo, TX at the Sports Arena; AWA Champion Verne Gagne drew with Amarillo World Champion Dory Funk Jr when the 60 minute time limit expired in the 3rd fall. Also on the card, Tokyo Tom beat Dory Funk Sr in 2 out of 3 falls after Sputnik Monroe interfered and Bob Ellis & Wahoo McDaniel & Ricky Romero beat Killer Karl Kox & Mike DiBiase & Sputnik Monroe; In Kansas City; Kansas; In a Lumberjack match, Masked Medic #1 and Masked Medic #2 beat Steve Bolus and Steve Kovacs, Bob Geigel beat Sonny Myers, Larry Hamilton beat Roy Collins and Joe Scarpello beat Rock Hunter via dq.
1964 – Bobby Steele defeated Chick Purvey to win the European Middleweight Title in Manchester, England; Benny Galant defeated El Rayo de Jalisco to win the NWA World Middleweight Title in Mexico City, Mexico.
1966 – Herb Welch and Al Costello defeated Karl and Eric von Brauner in a tournament final to win the vacant Mid-America version of the NWA World Tag Team Title in Memphis, Tennessee.
1970 – In Minneapolis, MN; AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Dr. X on a reverse decision 3rd fall dq and Blackjack Lanza & Lars Anderson beat Red Bastien & Pepper Gomez; Bobby Hart defeated Johnny Valentine for the NWA Southern Junior Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee.
1973 – Tony Garea & Haystacks Calhoun defeated Professor Tanaka & Mr. Fuji for the WWWF World Tag Team Title in Hamburg, Pennsylvania.
1974 – In Kansas City; KS; The Interns (w/ Dr. Ken Ramey) defeated Omar Atlas & The Viking, Bob Geigel & Rufus R. Jones defeated Bob Brown & Lord Alfred Hayes and Don Fargo defeated Mike George.
1978 – Antonio Inoki defeated Andre the Giant by countout in Osaka, Japan to win the first-annual New Japan Pro Wrestling MSG League.
1980 – In Denver, CO; The Crusher beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel in a non Title Cage Match, also Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura beat Greg Gagne & Wahoo McDaniel and Jerry Blackwell went to a no contest with Dino Bravo.
1981 – Jack Brisco defeated Kim Song for the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Title in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Sweet Ebony Diamond defeated Greg Valentine to win the NWA Television Title in Charlotte, North Carolina
1983 – Little Tokyo defeated Cowboy Lang in Vancouver, British Columbia, for the NWA World Midgets Title
1984 – Angelo Mosca defeated Mike Rotundo to win the Florida version of the NWA Southern Heavyweight Title in Tampa, Florida.
1986 – A tournament was held to crown the first ever Universal Wrestling Federation Champion in Houston, Texas. The UWF was the new name for Bill Watts’ Mid-South Wrestling. Prior to the tournament, Hacksaw Duggan, the reigning Mid-South North American Champion, vacated his title. Terry Gordy defeated Hacksaw Duggan to win the title; The Shadow (Jaymie Knight) won a 13-man battle royal to win the vacant NWA Central States Heavyweight Title in Des Moines, Iowa; In Oakland, California; Jerry Blackwell won a battle royal, Nick Bockwinkel beat Larry Zbyszko, in a non title match; Midnight Rockers beat AWA TagTeam Champions Buddy Rose & Doug Somers. Attendance was estimated at 1,500.
1996 – Sean Morley (Val Venis) defeated El Bronco for the WWC Television Title in Caguas, Puerto Rico.
1998 – Hysteria defeated Vance Nevada to win the Canadian Wrestling Federation Junior Heavyweight Title.
2000 – In Nampa, Idaho, in a match taped for the May 31 edition of WCW Thunder, Sean Stasiak and Chuck Palumbo defeated Kronik (Brian Adams and Brian Clark) for the WCW World Tag Team Title.
2001 – Evolution (Nova and Frankie Kazarian) won a tournament for the vacant UPW Tag Team Title in Santa Ana, California
by David Bixenspan | davidbix@wrestlingobserver.com | Follow @davidbix
TV/major show notes for tonight:
Evolve 43 airs live on WWNLive.com IPPV tonight at 6 p.m. from Woodside, Queens, NY:
Anthony Nese vs. Rey Hours
TJ Perkins vs. Mike Bailey
Chris Hero vs. Trevor Lee
Davey Richards vs. Caleb Konley
Johnny Gargano & Rich Swann vs. Drew Gulak & ? for Dragon Gate USA tag titles
Drew Galloway vs. Biff Busick for Dragon Gate USA titles
UFC has Fight Night: Condit vs. Alves from Golania Brazil…
Main Card on Fox Sports 1 at 10:00 p.m. ET
Carlos Condit (170) vs. Thiago Alves (170)
Nik Lentz (146) vs. Charles Oliveira (144)
K.J. Noons (170) vs. Alex Oliveira (170)
Francimar Barroso (205) vs. Ryan Jimmo (206)
Francisco Trinaldo (156) vs. Norman Parke (156)
Wendell Oliveira (170) vs. Darren Till (171)
Prelims on Fox Sports 1 at 8:00 p.m. ET
Rony Jason (146) vs. Damon Jackson (145)
Jussier Formiga (126) vs. Wilson Reis (126)
Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (171) vs. Nicolas Dalby (171)
Lucas Martins (145) vs. Mirsad Bektic (146)
Prelims on UFC Fight Pass at 7:00 p.m. ET
Juliana Lima (115) vs. Ericka Almeida (116)
Luiz Dutra (170) vs. Tom Breese (171)
The main event is an absolutely fantastic fight on paper, and it’s good matchmaking for Condit’s comeback from his knee injury. For action, this matches up as one of the best fights UFC has made in a long time, and honestly, anything short of a great fight will probably be seen as a disappointment. Lentz vs. Oliveira is a potentially good fight, though it isn’t exactly eye-popping in the co-main slot.
The rest is, for the most part, the usual Brazillian fight night cast of characters, with the type of odd card layout we’ve seen on the FS1 shows as of late: Arguably the third best fight (and maybe even the most divisionally relevant fight since the winner could be in line for a title shot), Formiga vs. Reis, is eight fights deep as the next to last prelim. Reis has looked excellent so far at flyweight, but Formiga (on a two fight win streak) is a big step up in compeition. Flyweight has a pretty clear hierarchy, and while Formiga isn’t quite at the “would be champion if Mighty Mouse wasn’t around” level that John Dodson and Joe Benavidez are at, he is, at worse, right up there with Ian McCall and John Moraga in the next tier.
We’re also looking for reports from these shows at newstips@wrestlingobserver.com:
* WWE in Greensboro (John Cena vs. Kane, New Day vs. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro)
* WWE in Laredo (Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt, Sheamus).
* ROH in Oklahoma City (Jay Brisco defends ROH title against winner of B.J. Whitmer vs. Hanson vs. Michael Bennett earlier in the show, Jay Lethal defends TV title against winner of Mark Briscoe vs Matt Taven vs. Raymond Rowe, ACH vs. Adam Cole, Michael Elgin vs Dalton Castle)
* NXT in Venice, FL
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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.
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)
*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.
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Saturday Daily Update
— Friday night estimates at Box Office Mojo have San Andreas, Dwayne Johnson’s newest movie, doing $18 million last night, blowing away everything else to put it on the path of debuting as the number one movie of the weekend. Pitch Perfect 2, which features C.J. “Lana” Perry in a small role, grossed $4 million last night to start its third week.
— WWE announced Machine Gun Kelly will be hosting the June 15th edition of Monday Night Raw.
— CABMMA, the Brazillian commission, told MMAJunkie that they didn’t do any out of competition drug testing for tonight’s UFC card. Main eventer Thiago Alves has a previous failed drug test, testing positive for a diuretic.
— For those of you that are into this sort of thing, here’s Vince Russo’s latest column. He thinks that if Destination America does drop TNA, it won’t affect the wrestling business. Also, as always, he misspells “Spalding” as “Spaulding” when using “Spauldings” as a euphemism for “balls.”
— Canadian electronic band A Tribe Called Red have a new pro wrestling themed song and action figure out.
— Entertainment Weekly has a list of the best performances by pro wrestlers in movies.
— Scott Fishman of the Miami Herald catches up with Molly Holly and Ivory
.
TOMORROW’S WWE NETWORK SCHEDULE (THANKS to Bert Duckwall)
12:30 AM ET
WWE BEYOND THE RING Relive D-Generation X’s last chapter as the team reunites to present their final run from late 2009 and 2010!
2:00 AM ET
TOTAL DIVAS Eva’s sexy bachelorette in Curacao gets heated when TJ destroy’s Nattie’s hopes of rekindling their marriage.
3:00 AM ET
TOUGH ENOUGH The Miz gives the contestants a taste of what life as a WWE Superstar means outside the ring. Back in the gym, the competition heats up.
4:00 AM ET
MONDAY NIGHT WAR It takes an army to win a war, and both WCW and WWE were developing a deep roster in order to emerge victorious.
5:00 AM ET
WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Biggest Crybabies of all time!
6:00 AM ET
WWE SUPERSTARS The Mega Powers are back! This week they take on Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. Plus, Heath Slater battles Adam Rose.
7:00 AM ET
WWE NXT After the shocking events of NXT Takeover: Unstoppable, NXT Champion Kevin Owens addresses his actions to Sami Zayn and Samoa Joe.
8:00 AM ET
TOUGH ENOUGH The Miz gives the contestants a taste of what life as a WWE Superstar means outside the ring. Back in the gym, the competition heats up.
9:00 AM ET
WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Biggest Crybabies of all time!
10:00 AM ET
TOTAL DIVAS Eva’s sexy bachelorette in Curacao gets heated when TJ destroy’s Nattie’s hopes of rekindling their marriage.
11:00 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.
1:00 PM ET
TOUGH ENOUGH The Miz gives the contestants a taste of what life as a WWE Superstar means outside the ring. Back in the gym, the competition heats up.
2:00 PM ET
MONDAY NIGHT WAR It takes an army to win a war, and both WCW and WWE were developing a deep roster in order to emerge victorious.
3:00 PM ET
WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the top ten most stylish ring attire ever worn by a WWE Superstar.
4:00 PM ET
WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Biggest Crybabies of all time!
5:00 PM ET
TOUGH ENOUGH The Miz gives the contestants a taste of what life as a WWE Superstar means outside the ring. Back in the gym, the competition heats up.
6:00 PM ET
FIRST LOOK A First Look to watch exclusive content from WWE Home Video’s latest release, Daniel Bryan – Just Say Yes! Yes! Yes!
6:30 PM ET
THIS WEEK IN WWE Get caught up on all the highlights from Raw and SmackDown with This Week in WWE.
7:00 PM ET
ELIMINATION CHAMBER KICKOFF 2015 Join Renee Young, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves and Booker T for the LIVE Kickoff show for WWE Elimination Chamber!
8:00 PM ET
WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER 2015 The Intercontinental Championship and the WWE Tag Team Titles will be decided inside the merciless Elimination Chamber, LIVE on WWE Network!
11:00 PM ET
WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER 2015 The Intercontinental Championship and the WWE Tag Team Titles will be decided inside the merciless Elimination Chamber, LIVE on WWE Network!
By Dave Meltzer, WrestlingObserver.com
Welcome to WrestlingObserver.com’s live coverage of UFC Fight Night 67: Condit vs. Alves from the Goiania Arena in Goiania, Brazil. The event, headlined by a five-round welterweight bout between Carlos Condit and Thiago Alves, airs on FOX Sports 1, with preliminary card action starting on UFC Fight Pass before moving over to FOX Sports 1. We have a preview for the event HERE and results of the weigh-ins HERE.
PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC FIGHT PASS- 7 PM ET/4 PM PT):
WELTERWEIGHTS: LUIZ DUTRA VS. TOM BREESE
First round: Body kick by Dutra. Trading knees. Dutra with an elbow inside. Body kick by Breese. Dutra landed a left. Elbow by Dutra. Breese with a hard low kick. Dutra with a body shot and a left. Breese working for a takedown but didn’t get it. Low kick by Breese. Reese dropped him with a left and landed a lot of hammer punches on the ground and it was stopped at 4:58. Dutra was real upset. He wasn’t hurt bad and there were two seconds left, but he was in a bad position and didn’t move.
WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHTS: JULIANA LIMA VS. ERICKA ALMEIDA
First round: Almeida with headlock takeover. Lima reversed to the top. Lima landing punches. Almeida worked for an armbar but didn’t get it. Lima back on top. Lima landing more punches. Lima landing more punches. Lima 10-9.
Second round: Almeida landed a punch and Lima took her down. Big punch by Lima. The ref ordered a stand-up. Lima with punches and knees. Lima took her down again. Lima 20-18.
Third round: Pretty even first minute. Both landing punches. Right by Almeida. Nice right by Lima. Hard right by Almeida. Lima with a takedown. Lima 30-27.
Scores 30-27, 30-27 and 30-25 for Lima.
PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX SPORTS 1- 8 PM ET/5 PM PT):
FEATHERWEIGHTS: LUCAS MARTINS VS. MIRSAD BEKTIC
First round: Bektic swinging and high slam takedown. Martins bleeding from the left eye. Bektic landing a lot of punches on the ground. Bektic landing more punches. Martins got to his feet. His right eye is bloody. Front kick by Bektic. Bektic moved in. Bektic took him down again. Nice punches by Bektic. Bektic now working for a choke as time is running out. 10-9 Bektic you could argue a 10-8.
Second round: Bektic knocked him down with a right and Bektic is pounding on him on the ground. It’s about time to stop this. And it was waved off.
WELTERWEIGHTS: ELIZEU ZALESKI DOS SANTOS VS. NICOLAS DALBY
First round: Dalby throwing kicks. Dos Santos landed some good punches. Dalby took him down. Body kick by Dalby. Dos Santos tried a spin kick and missed and Dalby took him down off it. Dos Santos back up. Dalby with another takedown. Dalby 10-9.
Second round: Both throwing big punches. Another takedown by Dalby. Dalby throwing punches as Dos Santos got up, and Dalby took him down again. Nice spinning kick by Dos Santos. Accidental low blow by Dalby. Dos Santos with an overhand right. Closer round. Dalby 20-18.
Third round: Both swinging. Dos Santos landed the right. Knees by Dos Santos. Knee by Dos Santos. Dos Santos with a body shot. Dos Santos with a combo. Dalby landing kicks and Dos Santos with knees. Hard knees by Dos Santos Takedown by Dalby. Dos Santos landing more punches. Dos Santos continuing to land. Dos Santos round 29-28 Dalby as the score. This could go either way. Great fight.
Scores: 29-28 Dalby 29-28 Dos Santos 29-28 Dalby. The crowd is booing. I thought he won the fight but it was going to be tough in a close fight in Brazil.
FLYWEIGHTS: JUSSIER FORMIGA VS. WILSON REIS
First round: Formiga dropped him with a left. Body kick by Reis. Formiga with a right. Low kick by Formiga. Right landed by Reis. Formiga with a right. Right by Formiga. Reis working hard for a takedown but didn’t get it. 10-9 Formiga
Second round: Formiga dropped him with a right. Reis went for a leg but couldn’t get it. Formiga has his back on the ground. Reis reversed to the top. Formiga back up. Reis working for a takedown but can’t get it. Right by Formiga. Formiga landing more punches. Formiga took him down. Reis working for a leglock and Reis got to his feet. Formiga 20-18.
Third round: Reis moving in looking for a takedown. Flying knee by Reis. Formiga with a right. Reis tied him up. The problem is Reis needs a knockout. Instead he’s working for a takedown from the clinch. Knee by Reis. Forminga landed some punches and took him down and got his back on the ground. Formiga took the round in the last 30 seconds, so 30-27 Formiga.
Scores: All three have it 29-28 Formiga.
FEATHERWEIGHTS: RONY JASON VS. DAMON JACKSON
First round: Flying knee by Jason but Jackson blocked and working for a takedown. Jason shoved him off. Takedown by Jackson. Jackson landing punches from the top. Jackson threw a knee to the head when Jason’s hand was down. Takedown by Jackson. Jason swept to the top and working for the armbar. Jason has an armbar and a triangle but Jackson defended the armbar. Jason used the triangle for the submission.
MAIN CARD (FOX SPORTS 1- 10 PM ET/7 PM PT):
WELTERWEIGHTS: WENDELL OLIVEIRA VS. DARREN TILL
First round: Till with a body kick. Oliveira moved in for a takedown. Body kick by Till. High kick and left by Till. Till landed a left. Crowd booing because not much happened. Till 10-9.
Second round: Till grabbed a bodylock, took him down but Oliviera back up right away. Olveira went for a takedown but Till ended up on top. Elbow by Till. Till dropping another elbow. He dropped three more elbows and knocked Oliveira out.
LIGHTWEIGHTS: FRANCISCO TRINALDO VS. NORMAN PARKE
First round: Trinaldo with a low kick. Nice left by Parke but a hard body shot by Trinaldo. Left to the body and right to the head by Trinaldo. Parke took him down. Trinaldo throwing elbows as Parke held him down. Judo takedown by Parke. Knee and punches by Trinaldo. Trinaldo 10-9.
Second round: Parke working for a takedown. Trinaldo with a left to the body. Trinald with another body punch. Knee by Trinaldo. Parke couldn’t get the takedown. Elbow by Trinaldo. A left and another left. Knee by Trinadlo. Left by Triandlo. Another left by Trinaldo. Body kick by Trinaldo. Right by to the body by Trinaldo. Trinaldo 20-18.
Third round: Parke took him down. Parke has his back. Parke is working for a choke. Trinaldo escaped. Another takedown by Parke. Parke threw a few punches from the top late. Parke’s round, I’ve got Trinaldo 29-28 but the first round was close so it could go either way.
Scores: 29-28 Parke 29-28 Trinaldo 29-28 Trinaldo
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHTS: FRANCIMAR BARROSO VS. RYAN JIMMO
First round: Barroso pushed him up against the fence. Barroso still working for a takedown but can’t get it. Barroso finally took him down but Jimmo right up. Barroso throwing punches in the clinch. Head kick by Jimmo. Left by Jimmo. Barroso missed a kick. Barroso 10-9
Second round: Trading kicks. Barroso with a low blow. This was a nasty one. Jimmo is hurt. Jimmo throwing. He may be done. After a long break, Jimmo agreed to continue after the five minute break. Barroso landed right. Uppercut by Jimmo and a right by Jimmo. Right and left by Barroso. Barroso 20-18.
Third round: Crowd booing. This is a boring fight. Barroso moved in with a punch. Barroso 30-27.
Scores: 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 for Barroso
LIGHTWEIGHTS: K.J. NOONS VS. ALEX OLIVEIRA
First round: Noons landed a left hook. Noons landing some punches. Nice left by Noons. Oliveira got behind him. Oliveira took him down and has his bak. Noons back up. Another slam takedown by Oliveira. Another slam by Oliveira. He’s working for a choke. He got it and Noons tapped out.
FEATHERWEIGHTS: NIK LENTZ VS. CHARLES OLIVEIRA
First round: Body kick by Lentz and he’s working for a takedown. Two punches by Lentz and he’s working for a takedown. Oliveira tried a guillotine but Lentz used it to get the takedown and on top. Lentz went to the ground and fired punches. Oliveira back and Lentz took him down briefly. Oliveira took Lentz down. Knee to the head. Knees and elbows by Oliveira. Both landing punches. Lentz landing more punches. Lentz landing several punches. He got Oliveira’s back. Both are trading. This is a great fight. Oliveira with an elbow and a knee and put him down and is pounding on him on the ground. Oliviera with punches on the ground. Oliveira with more punches. Oliveira with a knee to the body. Olivera got full mount with time running out. 10-9 Oliveira.
Second round: Body kick by Oliveira and more punches. Lentz took him down and moved to side control. Another slam takedown by Lentz and he’s working for a guillotine. Oliveira with up kicks. Oliveira reversed to the top. Lentz trying for a guillotine again. Lentz used the gullotine to reverse. Lentz now landing elbows onthe ground. Lentz with punches. Lentz going for a heel hook. Both with punches. Lentz ended up on top. Lentz keeping top position. Lentz’s round so 19-19 after two.
Third round: Olivera landed a knee and kick. Another knee by Oliveira. Oliveira working for a guillotine again and it’s tight. Lentz was caught and had to tap.
WELTERWEIGHTS: CARLOS CONDIT VS. THIAGO ALVES
First round: Body kick by Condit. Condit landing more kicks. Alves back with a low kick. Condit with a combination. Left and right by Condit. Alves with a low kick. Body kick by
Condit. Low kicks by Condit. Nice right by Alves. Condit with a body kick. Condit 10-9.
Second round: Both landing. Condit dropped him with a left. Condit with punches on the ground. He’s in full mount. Condit throwing a lot of punches. He’s throwing elbows from the top. Alves has a bloody nose. Knees to the body. Alves back up and Alves going for a guillotine himself but Condit out. Both trading punches. Alves tagged him. Condit landed a punch and some elbows and suplexed him down. Condit punching on the ground. He’s working for a choke. He’s working for a choke but Alves looks like he’s out of it. Condit landing good punches on the ground. Condit landing punches on the ground. Condit tried a kravat choke. Alves back up. Condit with an elbow. Body kicks and Alves with a kick to th head. Elbows by Condit and a knee. Condit took him down as the round ended. Condit 20-18.
Third round: The doctor stopped it due to his broken nose. The last two fights were great.
A 7.8 magnitude Earthquake hit Japan earlier today, although it was far enough away that it didn’t cause serious damage in Tokyo.
The earthquake, located at its epicenter near the Ogasawara Islands, shook the entire country. The epicenter was about 620 miles from Tokyo, where New Japan Pro Wrestling held a show at Korakuen Hall.
The earthquake took place at about 8:28 p.m. local time, during the semifinal of he show between Ryusuke Taguchi and Kyle O’Reilly. The match had to be stopped and restarted. Dozens of other shows in the country last night were also impacted.
Buildings shook and there were said to be some injuries from falls in the city, but it didn’t do serious damage.
By Jeremy Wall
Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) defeated Chris Algieri (20-2, 8 KOs) by unanimous decision Friday, May 29th at the Barclays Center in New York. Scores were 115-113 and 117-111 twice. The fight aired on Spike TV.
Khan has been rumoured as Floyd Mayweather’s opponent for Mayweather’s final fight on his contract with Showtime, which will take place on or around September 12th. Khan, however, needed to get past Algieri in New York in order to make the fight with Mayweather possible. Khan did just that and then called Mayweather out after the bout.
“We all know what we want next, a fight with Floyd Mayweather. I’m now the number one WBC [contender], and he’s the champion. Let’s make it happen,” Khan said in his post-fight interview.
There were no knockdowns, although at one point Khan tripped over the referee, who was badly out of position. Khan won most of the rounds by slipping punches past Algieri’s guard, but Algieri’s boundless energy made the fight interesting. Khan controlled the first few rounds, although Algieri was landing enough to make the rounds close enough that some of them could have been judged either way.
Algieri, however, was much more aggressive than he has been in past high-profile fights against Ruslan Provodnikov and Manny Pacquiao. Algieri’s aggressiveness threw Khan off his game a bit and allowed Algieri to score and earn a few rounds.
The crowd was split between the two, which was surprising because Algieri is from New York and Khan is of Pakistani descent and grew up in England. There were strong chants of “Algieri” and “USA”, but a lot of people in the audience came to the fight with Pakistani flags to show support for Khan.
Late in the fight Khan began scoring more. Algeri, who has a master’s degree in sport nutrition and is a fitness freak who mentioned before the fight that his purse will bring him close to paying off his student loan, still had a ton of cardio late in the fight, but wasn’t able to use that edge to his advantage as he was outboxed by Khan late in the bout. It was Khan’s first fight in New York since defeating Paulie Malignaggi at the Madison Square Garden Theater in 2010.
Khan, 28, landed 218 of 609 punches for 36-percent, and Algieri, 31, landed 199 of 703 for 28-percent.
“A few mistakes I made. Obviously, I didn’t think Algieri would come forward,” Khan said. “I figured he would be on the back foot. Virgil [Hunter] gave me a game plan, and it worked for me.”
“The judges seemed to like Khan being cagey and spinning off even though I thought I landed the cleaner shots and hurt him several times, especially to the body,” said Algieri.
Khan has incredible hand speed and great conditioning, but has high profile losses to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia, the latter by fourth round TKO. He also looked vulnerable enough against Algieri, who isn’t considered an elite boxer, that Khan might not pose too much of a challenge against Mayweather, who will be looking to keep his undefeated record intact as he attempts to match the 49-0 record of Rocky Marciano.
“Yes, that’d be a good fight for him,” Floyd Mayweather Sr said a few weeks ago regarding Khan. “My son would beat him. It would be easier than Pacquiao. Khan has a pretty decent jab but all the technical things, he can’t do.”
The possibility of a fight with Mayweather was mentioned by Spike play-by-play broadcaster Scott Hanson during Khan’s introduction at the beginning of the bout against Algieri. Jeremy Piven of Entourage was also interviewed at ringside during the bout. Piven is a friend of Khan’s and mentioned that Khan was hoping to fight Mayweather in September.
“I spoke to Len Ellerbe, his manager, I saw him in the media room and he came over to say ‘[Floyd’s] ready when you are.’” said Khan, claiming that he spoke with Ellerbe at the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight on May 2nd. “Where does Floyd go? If he doesn’t fight me once I get past this fight [with Algieri], who else is there for him? If he wants to have an audience from around the world … there’s not a lot of fighters who can bring that drawing power. I know I’m not at the scale of Manny Pacquiao, but it’d still be a big fight.”
Khan seems to be the strongest of possible available names to face Mayweather. Khan doesn’t have a ton of name value in the US, but he could bring valuable television rights fees from his native Britain. The other logical opponent for Mayweather would be Keith Thurman, but Thurman is fighting in the main event of PBC’s debut on ESPN on July 11th. Thurman looks to be the future of boxing’s welterweight division and may have been a tougher opponent for Mayweather compared to Khan.
I thought Thurman would have been a more logical opponent than Khan for a few reasons. First, Thurman is American and Khan isn’t and Mayweather’s opponent in September is somewhat about creating a new star. Mayweather isn’t going to put anyone over on his way into retirement, though, which may be the reason why Thurman didn’t get picked.
Second, Thurman had a high profile win over Robert Guerrero, a former Mayweather opponent, in the debut of PBC on NBC back in March that was one of the most watched boxing matches in many years. Executives for NBC have publicly talked about trying to create a new star on NBC to face Mayweather. Al Haymon, the de facto promoter of PBC, is currently in a complex time buy with NBC and if the long-term goal is to convert the time buy into a situation where he is getting paid to sell audiences to NBC, then appeasing the NBC executives would be high on Haymon’s to-do list.
Third, Thurman’s high profile win over Guerrero on NBC was certainly watched by more people than Khan’s win over Algieri on Spike. When PBC announced a few weeks ago that Khan vs Algieri would headline a Spike broadcast, I thought it was a strange choice because Khan was already being discussed as Mayweather’s opponent for September and I thought it would make more sense to get Khan fighting in prime time on NBC to give him as much exposure as possible leading into the fight with Mayweather in September. That made me think that Thurman was Mayweather’s likely September opponent until Thurman was announced for PBC’s July debut on ESPN, replacing the recently canceled Friday Night Fights.
Khan is a devout Muslim and observes Ramadan from June 18th until July 17th. Ramadan requires daily fasting and means Khan would be unavailable to fight around that time. He said, though, that he would be available to fight Floyd Mayweather on a tentative date of September 12th, although he has previously said he wouldn’t be available to fight in September.
“It’s possible I could fight in September, yeah,” Khan said. “Ramadan is going to be a little bit earlier this year, so obviously it helps, gives me enough time to get the training done and everything. It can happen in September.”
Two other possible opponents for Mayweather in September are Kell Brook and Danny Garcia. Brook faces Frankie Gavin on Saturday night in England, a fight Brook is expected to win. Brook is a star in England and like Khan would bring in heavy television revenue from England, but also like Khan would not mean as much as other possible Mayweather opponents in the US. Garcia is coming off a high-profile win for PBC on NBC. If Brook were to be the fighter to face Mayweather in September, it is possible that Garcia could be put against Khan in a rematch on PBC.
Regarding a rematch with Danny Garcia, Khan said, “I love that fight. That fight is something in the future that could happen for sure. I mean I’m a lot more comfortable at this weight whereas before I was killing myself to make 140. But this is a good weight for me and I’m very excited for what the future will hold for me once I get past this fight.”
“I could have fought Kell Brook in the UK but I only wanted to fight in May,” said Khan. “I didn’t want to go into June with Ramadan coming up. I don’t want to be going into Ramadan tired, straight after a fight. It’s too much for my body to take, I need to look after it.”
Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing claims that Khan was avoiding Brook because Algieri was the easier opponent and Khan didn’t want to lose and risk his showdown with Mayweather.
“Khan is petrified about him, because if Khan gets beat by a Mayweather or a Pacquiao, he can still fight Kell Brook in his mind,” said Hearn. “His value is going down, but if he fights Kell Brook first and gets beat, then that’s probably the end of Amir Khan – and frankly we are a huge odds-on favourite for that fight.”
“He should be fighting the big names of boxing like I’m doing,” said Khan regarding Brook. “The only way Kell Brook’s name gets pushed to me is because he has a title, if he doesn’t, I don’t think his name means anything to me or boxing.”
Kell Brook said of Mayweather vacating all of his titles, “It’s a bit strange but Al Haymon has probably advised him to do that so all of his fighters can pick up the vacant titles. I was hoping that Mayweather would keep the belts and unify the entire division against me in his last fight. After all, an American versus a Brit is always a huge event on both sides of the Atlantic.”
Commentary for the Spike broadcast was provided by Scott Hanson, Jimmy Smith of Bellator, and Antonio Tarver. Dana Jacobson acted as host and Michael Williams, also of Bellator, was the ring announcer. Of all the broadcasters that have worked with PBC, Spike has been the most consistent with their broadcast team.
This was the third airing of Premier Boxing on Spike. The first show on March 13th drew 869,000 viewers on average. The return show in April was down 34.5%, drawing 569,000 viewers on average. The show also aired on SiriusXM satellite radio. It went up against the NHL playoffs, MLB baseball, as well as minor league boxing on CBS Sports Network.
The decline in viewership from the first airing of PBC on Spike to the second has been the sharpest decline in viewership of PBC broadcasts on a single station thus far. Viewership on NBC and CBS have held up much better. My guess is that Spike skews towards the male 18-34 demographic and boxing isn’t a strong draw in that demo, causing a greater decline in viewership on Spike compared to viewership on NBC or CBS, both of which have a stronger cross-section of demographics among their viewers compared to Spike.
Spike airs PBC as part of their “Friday Night Lights Out” brand of combat sports that includes Bellator and Glory kickboxing. Bellator ratings have been markedly down this year as the promotion has failed to create new stars to capitalize on the ratings success of Tito Ortiz vs Stephan Bonnar from last November. Glory’s ratings have been modest, but steady.
Last week’s PBC on NBC drew a 0.85 overnight rating on a Saturday afternoon. The show started at 4pm ET and had James DeGale beating Andre Dirrell. It is down slightly from the 0.9 PBC drew for its second Saturday afternoon show and the 1.1 it draw for its debut Saturday afternoon show, both on CBS.
Glory returns next week with a show from France that airs live at 4pm ET. That is just a terrible time slot, as most people will still be at work. Also, kickboxing is a hard sell in the United States. Airing Glory on a weekday afternoon is similar to when ESPN would air Cung Le san shou fights or K-1 fights as time filler on weekday afternoons, which trained audiences to believe that kickboxing is unimportant. Having Glory air during the afternoon gets people back into that way of thinking about kickboxing, which is exactly the opposite of how Glory ought to be presented on Spike. They may as well just go with a tape delay airing later on Friday. What would be best for Glory and Spike, though, would be if Glory decided whether they are American-based or Euro-based because to become a real draw in the US, they need their fights to take place on this side of the Atlantic and air live in prime time.
In the prelim bout on Spike, Javier Fortuna (28-0-1, 20 KO) beat Bryan Vasquez (34-2, 18 KO) via unanimous decision to win the vacant WBA Superfeatherweight title. Scores were 116-112, 117-111, and 117-111. It was a rough brawl with both fighters taunting each other throughout the bout. Fortuna, 25, is a slick fighter with great speed, but also has natural heel charisma and is someone with star potential. He’ll need to eventually move up in weight class as he gets older, though, in order to get the opportunity to face bigger name opponents.
by Bryan Rose, WrestlingObserver.com
Day 7 of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament takes place live this morning at Korakuen Hall. Updated rankings will be available after the show.
Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu vs. Tomoaki Honma and David Finlay
Honma and Finlay played the heels here, working over Tanaka and Komatsu whenever possible. A lot of mat wrestling early. Komatsu made a hot comeback and hit a senton on a standing Finlay for a nearfall. He tried for the half crab but Finlay escaped. Honma makes a comeback but misses the kokeshi headbutt. Tanaka makes a comeback and goes for the half crab but Tanaka won’t give up as both of the young lions apply half crabs, but they’re both broken up. Tanaka hits a great deadlift German suplex for a nearfall. Tanaka hits the ropes but walks into a torpedo kokeshi, then Honma hits the top rope kokeshi for the pinfall. A fantastic opener and easily the best match of the tour thus far.
Tiger Mask IV and Jay White vs. Barbaro Cavernario and Chase Owens
There was comedy early as White complained that Cavernario smelled after locking up. Cavernario then proceeded to do gross out humor such as grabbing his armpit then wanting to tag in Owens. Tiger Mask made the hot tag for his team and took out Cavernario with the tiger driver. Owens made the comeback for his team as Cavernario hit a huge dive and Owens hit the package piledriver on White for the pinfall. These guys worked together better than you’d think and this ended up being a good match.
Kazuchika Okada and Roppongi Vice vs. Cody Hall, Yujiro Takahashi and Nick Jackson
After the usual feeling out process, the babyfaces made fun of Nick after Okada did the “suck it” sign and injured his foot kicking the announce table. Yujiro made the comeback for his team and worked on Romero. He tags in Okada, but he gets cut off after Cody Hall is tagged in. Soon breaks out into a melee after Okada hits a back body drop on Hall, with bodies flying everywhere. When the dust settles, it’s Hall and Okada, and the latter soon takes out Hall, does the rainmaker pose, then hits the rainmaker on Hall for the win. Good match.
Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazushi Sakuraba, Yoshi Hashi, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Togi Makabe, Captain New Japan and Katsuyori Shibata
This started off like every ten man tag NJPW does- everyone paired off based on who they were feuding with. Ishii and Makabe went at it and Makabe was alid out. He was worked on until he finally was tag to tag in Goto, who ran wild. Sakuraba and Shibata go at it for a while, with Sakuraba throwing in some stiff offense. Tanahashi is tagged in, and eventually gets his hands on Yano. He makes a tag to Captain New Japan who, despite doing a fine comeback, falls to a low blow by Yano after Yano pulls his costume over his head. Your usual New Japan ten man tag, but it was good.
Shibata and Sakuraba, as well as Ishii and Makabe, went at it after the match before they were eventually seperated.
Gedo vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
These two worked a slower match than usual. Gedo took control of the match early and after some work on the outside, took Liger back in and worked on a leglock for a good while. Liger eventually reverses. Good back and forth action from here. Liger does the Thesz press and the palm strike for near falls, then hooks Gedo’s legs with his own and pins him. Different than the usual matches we’ve seen thus far, but I liked this.
Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kyle O’Reilly
This turned out to be pretty good. O’Reilly dominated the first half, but eventually it became a back and forth match. Taguchi made a comeback with the hip attacks and landed the three amigo suplexes. O’Rilley made a comeback including hitting a cool back bridge suplex for a nerfall. Tauchi catches him in an ankle lock but O’Rilley reverses into a sharpshooter. Taguchi hits the dodon for a nearfall then comes back to the ankle lock, which gets him the win. Really good back and forth match.
Bobby Fish vs. Kushida
Fish worked on Kushida’s leg early on in the bout and that became part of the match. Great back and forth match. Fish hit a giant Michinoku driver off the top rope for a great nearfall that people popped huge for when Kushida kicked out. Kushida went for a sliced bread #2 to honor Shelley but Fish tried to counter, only for him to get locked into the hoverboard lock. Fish tries desperately to escape, but eventually has to tap.
Kushida cut a promo after the match, thanking the fans.
Overall a really great show. the opener and the main event delivered, plus everything else was pretty good.
Current Standings:
Block A:
Kyle O’Reilly (6)
Ryusuke Taguchi (6)
Babaro Cavernario (4)
Gedo (4)
Beretta (4)
Chase Owens (4)
Jushin Thunder Liger (4)
Yohei Komatsu (0)
Block B:
Kushida (8)
Mascara Dorada (6)
Tiger Mask IV (6)
Nick Jackson (6)
Rocky Romero (6)
Bobby Fish (4)
Alex Shelley (2) (Out of tournament due to injury)
David Finlay (0)
And here are recaps of the previous shows for quick reference:
Day 1: Gedo vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
Day 2: Kushida vs. Nick Jackson
Day 3: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Day 4: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Beretta
Day 5: Chase Owens vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
Day 6: Rocky Romero vs. Tiger Mask IV
by Bryan Rose, WrestlingObserver.com
Day 6 of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament took place early Friday morning. Results, and updated ranking, are as follows.
Yohei Komatsu vs. Chase Owens
Basic match, nothing much, nothing more. Owens dominated from the start. Komatsu made some nice comebacks and did his usual shine spots, including getting Owens in the half boston crab. He escapes, makes a back, then hits the throwback followed by a cradle piledriver for the pinfall.
Nick Jackson vs. David Finlay
Jackson took the advantage early, crotch chopping Finlay at every opportunity. He took him to the outside with a great missile dropkick. Finlay counter with a ropes assisted hurricanrana on the outside. Jackson tries for a senton but Finlay gets the knees up and makes a fun comeback. Jackson, however, derails him with a superkick and follows soon after with a 450 for the win. This was fine, but the crowd was absolutely dead for it.
Barbaro Cavernario vs. Beretta
Beretta was in control early despite Cavernario biting his fingers early in the match. Beretta fell out to the floor and Cavernario responded with a huge springboard crossbody to the floor, then soon followed that with a waistlock northern lights suplex. Never seen that before. Beretta came back with a tornado DDT. Cavernario cut him off and hit an amazing splash to the floor. Beretta cuts him off again, hits a flying knee strike then follows with the Omori driver for the win. One of the better matches of the tournament thus far that even woke up this crowd to an extent.
Tiger Mask vs. Rocky Romero
Romero came out wearing his Black Tiger mask. He taunted Tiger Mask with a replica masked, then jumped him out the outside. He unmasked and started work on Tiger Mask by posting him on the guardrail. Romero was on offense until Tiger Mask hit him with a kick and landed a butterfly suplex from the top rope. Romero made a comeback, including draping Tiger Mask on the top rope and following with a dropkick, also from the top rope, then followed with a tombstone for the win. It was fine, but nothing out of this world.
Current Standings:
Block A:
Kyle O’Reilly (6)
Babaro Cavernario (4)
Gedo (4)
Ryusuke Taguchi (4)
Beretta (4)
Chase Owens (4)
Jushin Thunder Liger (2)
Yohei Komatsu (0)
Block B:
Tiger Mask IV (6)
Kushida (6)
Mascara Dorada (6)
Bobby Fish (6)
Nick Jackson (6)
Rocky Romero (6)
Alex Shelley (2) (Out of tournament due to injury)
David Finlay (0)
And here are recaps of the previous shows for quick reference:
Day 1: Gedo vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
Day 2: Kushida vs. Nick Jackson
Day 3: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Day 4: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Beretta
Day 5: Chase Owens vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
by Bryan Rose, WrestlingObserver.com
Day 6 of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament took place early Friday morning. Results, and updated ranking, are as follows.
Yohei Komatsu vs. Chase Owens
Basic match, nothing much, nothing more. Owens dominated from the start. Komatsu made some nice comebacks and did his usual shine spots, including getting Owens in the half boston crab. He escapes, makes a back, then hits the throwback followed by a cradle piledriver for the pinfall.
Nick Jackson vs. David Finlay
Jackson took the advantage early, crotch chopping Finlay at every opportunity. He took him to the outside with a great missile dropkick. Finlay counter with a ropes assisted hurricanrana on the outside. Jackson tries for a senton but Finlay gets the knees up and makes a fun comeback. Jackson, however, derails him with a superkick and follows soon after with a 450 for the win. This was fine, but the crowd was absolutely dead for it.
Barbaro Cavernario vs. Beretta
Beretta was in control early despite Cavernario biting his fingers early in the match. Beretta fell out to the floor and Cavernario responded with a huge springboard crossbody to the floor, then soon followed that with a waistlock northern lights suplex. Never seen that before. Beretta came back with a tornado DDT. Cavernario cut him off and hit an amazing splash to the floor. Beretta cuts him off again, hits a flying knee strike then follows with the Omori driver for the win. One of the better matches of the tournament thus far that even woke up this crowd to an extent.
Tiger Mask vs. Rocky Romero
Romero came out wearing his Black Tiger mask. He taunted Tiger Mask with a replica masked, then jumped him out the outside. He unmasked and started work on Tiger Mask by posting him on the guardrail. Romero was on offense until Tiger Mask hit him with a kick and landed a butterfly suplex from the top rope. Romero made a comeback, including draping Tiger Mask on the top rope and following with a dropkick, also from the top rope, then followed with a tombstone for the win. It was fine, but nothing out of this world.
Current Standings:
Block A:
Kyle O’Reilly (6)
Babaro Cavernario (4)
Gedo (4)
Ryusuke Taguchi (4)
Beretta (4)
Chase Owens (4)
Jushin Thunder Liger (2)
Yohei Komatsu (0)
Block B:
Tiger Mask IV (6)
Kushida (6)
Mascara Dorada (6)
Bobby Fish (6)
Nick Jackson (6)
Rocky Romero (6)
Alex Shelley (2) (Out of tournament due to injury)
David Finlay (0)
And here are recaps of the previous shows for quick reference:
Day 1: Gedo vs. Ryusuke Taguchi
Day 2: Kushida vs. Nick Jackson
Day 3: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Day 4: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Beretta
Day 5: Chase Owens vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
By Craig Green
Lots of kids in the audience. This is my first house show in years so I’m impressed with the steel cage hanging over the ring.
King Barrett is out first to good heel heat and demands the crowd to “hail King Barrett” and gets ill when they don’t. He delivers the “bad news” line when asking if Raleigh wants to see him get beat up. He issues an open challenge which Neville accepted.
Neville pinned King Barrett in about 12 minutes after Red Arrow. Good back and forth match that the crowd enjoyed. Nicely done.
After the match Kane attacked Neville on the entrance stage. He announced Rusev’s injury to the audience and said he would take his place in the main event cage match.
Tyler Breeze was out next with Summer Rae(?). They cut heel promos and berated the crowd for not being good looking. Damien Sandow was out next as himself to new music.
Damien Sandow beat Tyler Breeze in 2 minutes by DQ when Heath Slater interfered.
Axelmania comes out for the save, challenges Breeze and Slater to a 2-on-1 handicap match. Yes, they accepted.
About 7 minutes into the match and with Breeze and Axel down, Macho Mandow makes the save, clears Breeze from the ring and Axelmania hits the big leg on Slater.
The Meta Powers beat Tyler Breeze and Heath Slater in 9 total minutes.
A Warrior Award/Connor the Crusher video aired to a good pop. Classy stuff by WWE.
New Day was out to a decent pop. Nobody here knows they’re heels as a majority of the crowd was clapping with them at first, then Xavier Woods heeled them out by leading them in an instructional clapping session. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro were out next. Cesaro pimps Elimination Chamber and the tag title match but forgets he’s actually in one tonight. Harper and Rowan make their entrance. The ring announcer says this is an elimination match for the straps.
Tyson Kidd pinned Erick Rowan in about 17 minutes with a rollup. Rowan and Harper eliminated, but takes cheap shots at Kidd and Big E afterwards before heading to the back.
New Day wins the elimination tag match in about 23 minutes after Kofi rolls up Cesaro. Xavier Woods cheap-shotted Cesaro with the referee’s back turned. Kidd and Cesaro deliver two giant swing/dropkick combos on New Day after the match sends us to intermission.
Naomi is out first after intermission to no heat, followed by her opponent Paige to a good response.
Paige pins Naomi in about 9 minutes with Rampaige. OK match, nothing to write home about.
Bo Dallas out next. Zack Ryder makes his entrance.
Bo acknowledged the Entourage stuff with Ryder from Raw, as well as his loss to Cena. According to Bo, all Ryder needs to do is Bo-lieve.
Zack Ryder pins Bo Dallas in 8 minutes. Bo missed the Bo-Dog and takes a Rough Ryder. Nicely worked match.
Brief intermission to set up the cage.
US Champion John Cena beat Kane by escaping the cage in 13 minutes.
Double ref bump 10 minutes in. Kane accidentally kicked the cage door into one ref’s face while the ref inside the cage took a weak bump from Kane’s foot while Cena was attempting an AA. Cena eventually climbed over the top of the cage to send the crowd home happy while Kane was trying to escape through the door.
MATCH OF THE NIGHT: King Barrett vs. Neville
WORST WORKED MATCH OF THE NIGHT: Meta Powers vs. Slater/Breeze
BIGGEST POPS
1. Cena by a mile
2. Axelmania saving Sandow from Slater and Breeze
3. Kidd/Cesaro
4. Neville hitting Red Arrow
5. Paige/New Day’s entrance (tie)
MOST HEAT
1. King Barrett
2. Kane attacking Neville after his match
3. Xavier Woods and New Day heeling out the crowd after they initially cheered them
4. Bo Dallas
5. Kane