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  • NJPW on AXS report 5-29-15: Ricochet vs. Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight championship

    (Photo credit New Japan Pro Wrestling/TV Asahi)

    By Bryan Rose, WrestlingObserver.com

    Last week, we saw Dragon Gate wrestler Ricochet defeat Kushida in the finals of the Best of the Super Junior tournament to become the 21st winner of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament. Now we move on to Dominion, New Japan’s annual June PPV in which Ricochet challenges Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight championship. Will Ricochet win once again, or will Kota Ibushi prove that he’s the best junior heavyweight in New Japan?

    This event took place June 21, 2014 at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, or the Bodymaker Colosseum.

    Mauro Ranallo on commentary points out that this is the first of three episodes to cover the 2014 Dominion event.

    Young Bucks versus Timesplitters first took place, and man what a match. From start to finish, this was an explosive 16 minute tag team match. I believe a few minutes were cut since it went to commercial around the 11 minute mark, but regardless this was a hell of a match. What struck me the most is the great tandem work by both teams. Everything just clicked here and it turned out to be a hell of a match. Kushida ended up picking up the win for his team, getting the hoverlock submission on one of the Young Bucks.

    Kushida thanks Shelley for being his tag partner, then says that he won’t let anyone talk about the Super Junior tournament lightly. He promises that the Super Juniors won’t be a supporting role in New Japan.

    Takashi Iizuka and Minoru Suzuki took on Toru Yano and Kazushi Sakuraba. These teams faced off countless times in 2014, so much I don’t remember individual matches. At least it makes sense in the face that Toru Yano & Takashi Iizuka have a beef, and Suzuki and Sakuraba were starting to build their match at the Tokyo Dome with this never ending tag series. Match was about what you’d expect- Suzuki and Iizuka would do their worked shoot style when in the ring and Iizuka and Yano would use weapons and brawl on the outside. This was a lot better than I remembered, with Yano being laid out with a chair, Iizuka’s iron fingers of death, then the Gotch piledriver by Suzuki for the win.

    Suzuki promised he’d fight Yano and Sakuraba if they wanted to again, then called the press underlings. I’m very glad I can see Suzuki’s promos translated because they’re awesome.

    Ibushi is interviewed. He said when he saw Ricochet he saw him as bigger and stronger, and that he had a similar moveset to him. He felt a bit threatened after seeing him in the finals. He felt more scared than excited before the match took place. He was imagining what the match would be like with fear in his mind.

    The Junior Heavyweight championship match took place. This was as great as I remember it being. What stood out on a second watch is the performance of Ricochet. If anyone made the BOTSJ tournament mean something last year, it was him. He outshone Kota Ibushi here, and it’s amazing as Ibushi so far is in the running for many Observer awards this year if he has a great a year as he has in the first six months of this year. Ricochet was amazing, hitting a somersault tope through the ring post to the floor, one of the most amazing moves of 2014 anywhere, and landed on his feet after Ibushi hit a super hurricanrana off the top rope. Ibushi, however, pins him with a phoenix suplex, trapping him in a pinning position. Just a hell of a match and something that

    Ricochet says he was the better man today, but he wants a rematch. Ibushi said he was truly amazing in his technique and learned a lot about him. Back to the post match interview, he says Ricochet’s resilience was abnormal- he’s like an animal. He was afraid during the match, but after words he realized he had fun. He used the phoenix suplex because it can’t be dodged, and that’s why he chose it. He saw it in a magazine where Kent Kobashi did a powerbomb with a jackknife hold. He got the names mixed up for a while and though he threw his opponent backwards, so he did it that way for a while and started to use it.

    Overall, a fantastic show with two great matches, highly recommended viewing. New Japan Pro Wrestling on AXS TV might have dated footage, but in terms of storytelling and match quality, there’s few wrestling shows in 2015 that’s able to match it on a weekly basis.

  • After Dark Radio for tonight — Chris Savia of the Anomalist talks all manner of topics!

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

    The show airs at 2 AM ET/11 PM Pacific for two hours!

    Tonight we will be joined by special guest Chris Savia of anomalist.com to talk mystery horns, OBEs, the bicameral brain and more! We will also be taking your open lines phone calls on any topic imaginable! Check the website for NEW call-in numbers/email addresses in addition to our normal toll-free line.

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

    All of the phone numbers are available at afterdarkradioshow.com. You can send in emails on any topic to bryan@wrestlingobserver.com, and make sure you put “AFTER DARK” in the subject line. Remember, this show survives on your participation, so please send those emails or be prepared to call!

  • TNA Impact 5-29-15 – May Mayhem TV Report with EY-Angle I Quit Match

    By Jeremy Peeples, WrestlingObserver.com

    Last week, Destination America aired last year’s Slammiversary show instead of Impact. The week before that, Eric Young beat Kurt Angle in a Hardcore War tag team match and then choked him with Chris Melendez’s artificial leg. Tonight, during May Mayhem (because every show MUST have a title to indiciate how special it is), EY battles Kurt in an I Quit match. The Dollhouse vs. Gail Kim rivalry continues with Gail facing Taryn in a cage match, and the best of five series between The Wolves and the Dirty Heels continues with the second match. The Wolves won, so the Heels will be looking to win by any means necessary to even things up.

    The show begins with EY in his car with a multi-camera shoot until he gets to the building and brawls with Kurt. They go back and forth between cameras way too quickly and get separated while EY yells about breaking Kurt’s damn neck and just yells. Josh says that tonight anarchy rules…but since I guess WWE owns that name, tonight is May Mayhem. The Knockouts promo airs and we start off with the first match – Gail Kim vs. Taryn Terrell in a cage. Al Snow and his jacket are with Josh in the closet. Al describes the Dollhouse as hot, but creepy.

    Match 1 – Gail Kim vs. Taryn Terrell – Six Sides of Steel

    Gail jumps Taryn on the floor, but the goons try to get involved. Stinger splash in the corner to the challenger. Gail gets 2 off a flapjack. Gail smashes her into the cage and thankfully Al doesn’t compare it to a cheese grater so Josh could correct him. As expected, the camera hole in the cage is used for interference. Gail takes an awesome bump off the cage. Jade and Marti tie Gail’s hair into the cage. Taryn smashes Gail’s hand into the cage to either break her ring hand or take her wedding ring off. A kick to the stomach sets up a flipping neckbreaker and a suplex for 2. Gail bowls over the champion before hitting a stunner to the knee in the corner. The goons prevent Gail from escaping while Jade gets the Maria Cam treatment. The Cutter hits and gets the win.

    Josh says in 19 days, Taryn will break Gail’s streak as KOs champion. Taryn hits a lariat to Earl and closes the catch…but doesn’t latch it up, and Kong comes out while Taryn yells “lookit lookit lookit!” They lock the cage and Taryn has the key in the corner with her while the goons attack Gail. Taryn tells Gail that she’s nothing compared to her while Kong attacks the cage with a chair. Taryn takes Gail’s ring off, licks it, and smashes her hand against the mat and stomps it while Josh talks about Taryn’s past mental problems. Taryn plays with Gail’s ring using her teeth and we go to a break. This was a far better use of 13 minutes to start a show than Raw usually is.

    After the break, we see Al and Josh full-screen as they recap Gail’s broken finger. A quick recap of the EY-Angle brawl from earlier leads to a Storm-Magnus-Mickie recap. Josh says that the great thing about TNA is that they have “really adult stuff” and aren’t PG. Josh asks why Al has a suitcase and says it’s because they’re moving to Wednesday. Mickie says she’s coming back for one more match and recaps the Storm-Magnus problems and why it’s so hard for her. Storm comes down and she says she wants to talk to him about Magnus not calling him and apologizing for the guitar shot.

    He says she doesn’t need to apologize to him and he’d have done what Magnus did if he was in his shoes. Mickie tells James that Magnus is just trying to protect her from Bram, and Storm says he’s not a bad guy – he holds the door open for ladies, and if that makes him bad, then he’s a bad, bad guy. The crowd chants “you’re a bad guy” and he says “naw”. Storm really needs to be a babyface. Storm talks about getting a guitar for her, a blanket for Donovan, and even bought Magnus his gladiator helmet back. The crowd chants “that was funny” and he talks about getting Mickie a meeting with big country music people – even Dale Oliver and Billy Corgan. One of these is not like the other, one of these things just doesn’t belong. Josh, who is apparently now an idiot, says that Storm just might be trustworthy while Al points out that he isn’t. We get an X Division gauntlet next and get a graphic with a billion guys on-screen. Kenny is defending his title tonight in this and wants to keep the title to get a World title shot.

    Josh says that EY and Kurt have been locked into rooms, and EY breaks his window while showing his Twitter feed. We get a new X division hype video that will presumably air before every division match like the Knockouts one.

    Match Two – Manik vs. Spud vs. DJZ vs. Tigre Uno vs. Argos vs. Crazzy Steve vs. Kenny King – X Division Title Gauntlet

    Manik is out first, while Spud draws the second spot. They brawl in the corner and Spud goes to toss him over. Spud goes for an outside-in DDT, but gets faceplanted. DJZ is out and they talk about him having nowhere to go with the demise of the BroMans. Spud and DJZ attack Manik. Mandrews comes out to no reaction and ranas Manik after being tossed up by DJZ. Faces team up on Manik while Spud tries to eliminate him, but he comes back in. Argos comes out, also to no reaction. Running headscissors to Manik. He misses a corner charge, but gets a springboard rana to Manik. Manik avoids a Mandrews SSP, but can’t get rid of Mandrews until he smashes his head into the post. Crazzy Steve is out for an ad break.

    Uno is eliminated during the break while Al says he thought that was Argos. Kenny King is out last. Kenny runs wild before Spud attacks him. Kenny fights back and capture suplexes DJZ. Steve gets an over the top inverted triangle over the ropes, which leads to his elimination. Argos is tossed out by King. Kenny hits the Royal Flush and Josh says Spud hit the canvas at 150 MPH. DJZ gets a face buster onto King, but King reverses a whip and sends him out. Manik wants a truce with King and attacks Spud. Kenny tries to toss Spud out, and as he looks, Manik hits the pop-up Codebreaker. Manik gets tossed, so it’s down to Spud vs. Kenny King. Kenny lands a slew of mounted punches to Spud.

    Josh says that Spud has to win by pinfall or submission, while Kenny can just be DQed. Spud gets a small package out of the Royal Flush and Spud wins! He gets his second X Division title win, so that win sure did a lot of good for King. At least it gave Spud the motivation for his best promo of the year. We get a graphic for EY vs. Kurt and find out that it’s a title match, while Heels-Wolves match two is up next. Back in the booth, Josh runs down that they’ll be changing to Wednesday nights next week and Al says he’ll have an amazing jacket for the PPV. The Dirty Heels come out first, followed by The Wolves.

    Match Three – The Wolves vs. The Dirty Heels in Match Two of the Best of Five Series

    Aries jumps the gun and Roode leapfrogs Davey mid-ring leading to a Davey dive to Aries on the floor! Eddie gets a schoolboy for 2. Davey and Eddie kick and chop away at Roode. Roode gets an atomic drop leading to a move from Aries setting up a Perfect necksnap from Roode for 2. Davey bonks Austin’s head into Eddie’s and Aries comes back with corner punches in his corner. Roode comes in and chops him down while Aries gets the tope con hilo for 2.

    Roode nuns wild on Eddie before tagging Aries in and Davey makes a save. Eddie avoids a double team with a pair of kicks and throws Aries into Roode before tagging Davey in. Double team drop toehold>kneedrop by the Wolves to Aries and a corner head bonk for Roode. Inverted figure four/Indian deathlock by Davey to Roode – nice. Roode reversed the hold and gets the rope. German suplex with a double team jackknife cover gets 2 for the Wolves. Roode coes back from some double teams with a big lariat and a kick before making the tag.

    Corner elbow and punch exchange with Davey. Aries gets a missile dropkick to one Wolf and gets a flipping German to Davey alongside the Last Chancery while Roode gets the crossface on Eddie. Davey knees out of a brainbuster, but eats a roaring elbow. Falcon Arrow>high kick from the Wolves leads to a 2.9! Roode spinebusters Eddie leading to a 450 by Aries for 2.9! Big chops by Aries, but the Wolves double team to get ahead. Aries avoids the powerbomb>backstabber and Aries flips through into a Chancery, but Davey double stomps him! Powerbomb>backstabber hits and the Wolves are up 2-0. Holy crap was this great – it might’ve been the best traditional tag team match on TV all year.

    Angelina is startled by a camera guy and says she’ll address Velvet next. But first, Kenny King calls MVP, who he calls “Montel Vontaveous Porter” and is pissed off at because he’s not here. Angelina talks to Velvet, who is now in the crowd. Angelina yells for her friends to come out by just yelling “friends!”, which is great. She has her own personal security team who will haul her out if she touches Angelina. She calls her a fired freak while Velvet stares stone-faced. Angelina goes to leave, but Velvet jumps her from behind. Al points out that since Velvet doesn’t work her, every single thing Velvet does should result in an assault charge. Angelina calls her a freak and an idiot some more. Angelina’s mic work throughout this entire thing was really annoying. Anderson is backstage in a pink-lit looking both old and jacked. Ken introduces the new cage he’ll have Tyrus stuck in tonight when he faces EC3 next.

    Josh says that one thing he loves about TNA is that he can say what he wants and he feels that EC3 should be World champion. Al says that EC3 deserves a shot, but not the title. EC3 says that despite his rage, Tyrus will not be a rat in the cage – I love EC3’s act so much. And then Ken Anderson came out and said his name twice. Well, said it once and yelled it the second time. Al says that Tyrus is over 400 pounds now. Despite Tyrus not being in the cage, the bell rings.

    Match Four – Ken Anderson vs. EC3 with Tyrus Locked in a Cage

    Ken starts things off by jumping Tyrus and trying to get him in the cage, but EC3 attacks Ken. EC3 bashes him into the cage, which I guess is legal in this match. Snap suplex by EC3 gets 2 as Josh plugs Hillbilly Blood and BBQ Pitmasters. Al and Josh talk about being afraid of Dixie and Janice while Josh says he has EC3’s signs made for him. So is Josh officially a heel announcer now? Josh says that EC3 was planning to arm wrestle, and was shocked by the street fight. Ken attacks Tyrus and hits his hands with a chair, then his gut and back. Tyrus goes into the cage to avoid more chairshots and Ken locks the cage. Why not do that before the match and not break up the match?

    Ken runs wild with clotheslines, so EC3 rakes the eyes. Ken gets a powerslam for 2. Back and forth whips into the buckle lead to Ken getting 1 off a backdrop. Ken goes up top, but gets crotched. Inverted superplex gets 2.9! EC3 gets a Stinger splash, but Ken counters the One Percenter with a Finlay roll and a swanton for 2. EC3 counters the Mic Check, but lands it and only gets 2! Ken repositions himself, goes for it again, and EC3 counters it into his finisher for the win. This was pretty fun, honestly – not a great match, but it served its purpose. EC3 and Ken shake hands afterwards since Ken was beaten fairly…kinda

    Destination America has made an ad to hype up Awesome Kong. We go backstage to Spud saying that the first time he won the title, it could be a fluke, but now, he’s legit. He puts over Joe, AJ, and Jerry Lynn while the camera man talks about Option C. Spud said he didn’t even know Destination X was so close – well, we still don’t know. Al and Josh talk and say that next week, we’ll get match three in the best of five series. Josh says that on the TNA site, EY has been counting own this I Quit match. Somehow, EY getting a tattoo months ago is due to this match. He’s flanked by security, as is Kurt.

    Main Event – Kurt Angle vs. Eric Young – I Quit Match

    EY jumps Kurt during the big match intro – good, it would be ridiculous to not do that. Kurt gets a takedown and some mounted punches. They fight to the floor and EY gets a cheapshot and some chops. They exchange punches mid-ring before EY gets an eye rake. Kurt gets a German, then another, a third hits, now a fourth, and a fifth leads to Kurt releasing it so the ref can ask if he quits. EY says no, so Kurt suplexes him some more. EY doesn’t give up again for an ad break.

    After the break, Kurt dominates in the corner until EY hits him with the brace and gets the figure four. Kurt reverses the pressure, but EY won’t give up. EY gets the Angle slam and the ankle lock, but Kurt won’t quit. Kurt counters even with the grapevine on and gets a wonky figure four. EY misses a missile dropkick and Kurt gets a figure four. Before, Kurt did this as an homage to Dick Beyer, but while EY taps out, he didn’t say he quit. Kurt releases the hold, and eats a low blow. I like that – Kurt got the win in theory with an implied submission, but didn’t get the win here. Piledriver hits hard, and Kurt weakly responds with a no when asked to quit before telling EY to kiss his ass.

    EY goes for a Gotch piledriver, but Kurt flips out and gets an ankle lock and EY quits after the grapevine. Al says that since Kurt’s a master, it makes sense for EY to give up so quickly from that move. They really pushed the move to Wednesday hard here – so while the move has bee promoted poorly before tonight, they tried to make up for it here. We get highlights of tonight’s show to set up next week, which is far better than them spoiling the show with clips. This was a pretty good show with one absolute must-watch match in the Heels vs. Wolves match, and the rest of it was at least fun.

    To see every screen for tonight’s show, just click here.

  • FRI. UPDATE: Great matches on TV, Stephanie raising cash, Johnson movie debuts, UFC commercial, Cormier on Rollins

    By dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>Dave Meltzer

    We’re looking for reports on tonights’ WWE show in Raleigh, NC (John Cena vs. Kane, New Day vs. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro), ROH in Amarillo (Roderick Strong vs. Adam Cole, Matt Taven & Michael Bennett vs. War Machine, Dalton Castle vs Romantic Touch, ACH vs. Michael Elgin) and NXT in Citrus Springs, FL at dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>dave@wrestlingobserver.com

    Big night of television tonight as New Japan on AXS has a must-see main event with Kota Ibushi vs. Ricochet.

    New Japan World Pro Wrestling at 9 p.m. Eastern on AXS

    Alex Shelley & Kushida vs .Young Bucks

    Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano

    Kota Ibushi vs. Ricochet for IWGP jr. title

    TNA Impact tonight at 9 p.m. on Destination America

    Kenny King vs. Rockstar Spud vs. Manik vs. Mandrews vs. DJ Zema Ion vs. Tigre Uno vs. Argos vs.Crazzy Steve in a Rumble match for the X title

    Taryn Terrell vs. Gail Kim in a cage match for Knockouts title

    Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards vs. Bobby Roode & Austin Aries in match No. 2 of the best-of-five

    Kurt Angle vs. Eric Young for TNA title in an I Quit match

    New Japan tomorrow morning live at 5:30 a.m. Eastern and 2:30 a.m. Pacific on New Japan World from Korakuen Hall

    David Finlay & Tomoaki Honma vs. Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu

    Jay White & Tiger Mask vs. Chase Owens & Cavernario Barbaro

    Kazuchika Okada & Rocky Romero & Baretta vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall & Nick Jackson

    Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto & Togi Makabe & Katsuyori Shibata & Captain New Japan vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Toro Yano & Tomohiro Ishii & Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi

    Jushin Liger vs. Gedo

    Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kyle O’Reilly

    Kushida vs. Bobby Fish

    Saturday we’re looking for reports from 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) and NXT in Venice, FL

    UFC Fight Night from Goiania, Brazil

    Fight Pass at 7 p.m. Eastern

    Luiz Dutra (170) vs. Tom Breese (171)

    Juliana Lima (115) vs. Ericka Almeida (116)

    FS 1 at 8 p.m. Eastern

    Lucas Martins (145) vs. Mirsad Bektic (146)

    Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (171) vs. Nicolas Dalby (171)

    Jussier Formiga (126) vs. Wilson Reis (126)

    Rony Jason (146) vs. Damon Jackson (145)

    Wendell Oliveira (170) vs. Darren Till (171)

    Francisco Trinaldo (156) vs. Norman Parke (156)

    Francimar Barroso (205) vs. Ryan Jimmo (206)

    K.J. Noons (170) vs. Alex Oliveira (170)

    Nik Lentz (146) vs Charles Oliveira (144)

    Carlos Condit (170) vs. Thiago Alves (170)

    Evolve 43 iPPV from Saturday night at 6 p.m. from Queens, NY at www.WWNLive.com

    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

    WWE Elimination Chamber at 8 p.m. Eastern from Corpus Christi on the WWE Network

    Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose for WWE title

    John Cena vs. Kevin Owens

    IC title Chamber match:  Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. ? (formerly Rusev, no official announcement has been made) vs. R-Truth vs. Ryback vs. King Barrett

    Tag title Chamber match:  New Day vs. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro vs. Lucha Dragons vs. The Ascension vs. Prime Time Players vs. Los Matadores

    Neville vs. Bo Dallas

    Nikki Bella vs. Paige vs. Naomi for Divas title

    Evolve 44 i PPV Sunday night at 8 p.m. at www.WWNLive.com

    Rey Hours vs. ?

    Biff Busick vs. Mike Bailey

    Rich Swann vs. Trevor Lee

    Anthony Nese vs. TJ Perkins

    Drew Gulak vs. Davey Richards

    Johnny Gargano vs Ethan Page – If Gargano wins, Page leaves the promotion, if Page wins, Gargano must shake his hand

    Drew Galloway vs. Roderick Strong for Evolve title

    Raw is Monday night in San Antonio.

    Smackdown and Main Event will be taped on Tuesday night in Houston.

    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.

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    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.

    FRIDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

    • Stephanie McMahon filed papers on Wednesday to start selling up to 609,733 shares of WWE stock from her trust fund starting on 8/10 provided the stock price is above a certain unlisted level.  That stock would be worth today about $8.7 million.
    • The Dwayne Johnson movie “San Andreas” opens at the theaters tonight. 
    • As noted earlier, Kevin Owens has signed a new deal for the main roster.  He starts next weekend at the house shows if he’s not on this weekend.  But he’s advertised starting next weekend.  It should be noted that they’ve got communications issues because he’s being advertised on NXT shows on the same night as a few of his WWE house show dates.  We’re told he’ll be doing very few more NXT shows past TVs.  He will be a regular on Raw & Smackdown going forward, so it’s not just this week and done.  He’s taking a lot of the Rusev bookings.  Rusev has been pulled from all shows for a few months, which makes his working Sunday questionable, but the listed schedule still has him.
    • UFC spent a ton of money on this commercial and you’ll be seeing it everywhere for the six weeks
    • Daniel Cormier from Levi’s Stadium at the moment Seth Rollins won the WWE title
    • Former speaker of the house Dennis Hastert, who was heavily pushed for his success among the wrestling community because of being a former wrestler, is in hot water here
    • Add the 7/13 Raw to Brock Lesnar’s schedule.
    • Sheamus has a role as “Rocksteady” in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 movie.
    • WWE sent Eva Marie to walk the red carpet for the “San Andreas” premiere yesterday.
    • WWE stock closed today at $14.30 per share, the same as yesterday.
    • This is scary.  Ericka Almeida, who weighed in at 116 today, said she had to lose 35 pounds when she got the call a few weeks ago to make weight for her fight tomorrow with Juliana Lima.
    • Battlewar 27 on 7/26 in Montreal at Les Foufounes Electriqeus
    • There will be the annual Fitness Expo in San Jose on 6/13 and 6/14 at the Convention Center.  There are all kinds of activities including a Jiu Jitsu tournament, a strongman challenge, a wrestling tournament, a powerlifting tournament and appearances by Phil Heath and Jay Cutler of Mr. Olympia fame.  In past years, a lot of MMA stars have appeared as well.
    • The Owen Hart DVD is called “Hart of Gold” and is scheduled for an October release.
    • This is Scott Steiner so if you choose to believe it or not, it is presented for purely entertainment fashion:  “I’ve never failed a drug test in my life.  When WWE told me to take one, I told them to have HHH pick me up in a limo, then we could go test together.  They never asked again.” 
    • IHWE on 6/6 in Crowley, TX featuring Lance Hoyt (Archer).  They also have a legends of the Sportatorium Q&A on 6/7 at 3 p.lm. with Marc Lowrance, Black Bart and James Beard.  They also have a secondshow that night at 6 p.m.
    • Great North Wrestling tonight in Smiths Falls, ONT at he Memorial Center with Brutus Beefcake and Hannibal.
    • An interview with Nora Greenwald and Lisa Moretti, who were Molly Holly and Ivory in WWE years back
    • Dolph Ziggler on stage with Britney Spears
    • Jeff Jarrett, Lance Archer and Jim Duggan promoting Global Force Wrestling last night on CBS Sports Network
    • Photos up here
    • A preview of Sunday’s WWE show

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

    1970 – Giant Baba beat Don Leo Jonathan in Tokyo to win the World League

    1977 – Solar (who just wrestled on Sunday in the World Cup) beat Villano III to win the UWA welterweight title

    1984 – Marty Jones beat David Finlay in Dartford to win the World mid heavyweight title

    1988 – El Hijo del Santo beat El Espanto Jr. in Naucalpan to win the UWA lightweight title

    1990 – Richie Brooks beat Danny Collins via DQ in Croydon to win the British heavy middleweight title

    1991 – Atsushi Onita beat Gregori Veritchev in Tokyo to win the WWA Martial Arts title and Ricky Fuji beat Jimmy Backlund (who later became Jimmy Del Rey) to win the light heavyweight title

    1992 – Universo 2000 beat Mascara Sagrada in Veracruz to win the Mexican national light heavyweight title

    2014 – Atsushi Aoki beat Ultimo Dragon in Tokyo to win the All Japan jr. title

    TODAY’S WRESTLING VIDEOS (thanks to Thomas Rude)

    MISC. STUFF

    Joe Malenko On “The Apter Chat”

    Ring Of Honor’s COO Joe Kaff On ‘The Apter Chat”

    “Dad You Don’t Work, You Wrestle” (Episode 121)

    The Queen’s Court (Episode 5)

    Ringside Collectibles’ “Ringside Or Riot” (Season 4, Episode 27)

    POWW “Between The Ropes” (Episode 12)

    Top 40 Moves Of Luke Harper

    New England Championship Wrestling “Online” (Episode 5)

    WWE

    Top 10 WWE RAW Moments:  May 25, 2015

    5 Things-5 Superstars Who Defeated Brock Lesnar

    Kevin Owens Discusses His Issues With “John Cena Land”:  WWE.com Exclusive, May 27, 2015

    Paige Dissects Her Rivalry With Naomi:  May 27, 2015

    NXT Superstars’ Advice For WWE Tough Enough Applicants:  WWE Inbox

    NXT BreakDown Featuring Emma And Dana Brooke

    INDY TV SHOWS

    Pro Wrestling Syndicate TV (Episode 21)

    Smash Wrestling TV (Episode 53)

    Reality Of Wrestling TV (Episode 56)

    5/8/15 Future Stars Of Wrestling “High Octane” TV

    Monster Factory TV (Episode 6)

    CWF MId-Atlantic Wrestling Worldwide TV (Episode 2)

    TNA

    Eric Young’s New Tattoo Has Deep Meaning Heading Into Friday’s Title Match

    Drew Galloway On Periscope:  Drew Tours The Office, Answers The Main Phone

    Drew Galloway On Periscope :  Drew Gets A Meeting And Has More Coffee…

    Mr. Anderson On Facing EC3 And Making Sure Tyrus Is Out Of The Picture

    The Politics Behind The Match Between Mr. Anderson And EC3 This Friday

    Eric Young Tells What He Will Show The World This Friday…

    A Look At The Drama Between The Dollhouse And Gail Kim

    Rockstar Spud Talks About The Gauntlet Match For The X Title This Friday…

    What Does EC3 Say About Facing Mr. Anderson Without Tyrus?

    Kenny King Speaks His True Thoughts On Rockstar Spud And His X Title Chances…

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

    12:00 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.

    2:00 AM ET
    WWE NXT The future is here. Witness the entertainers, the leading men and women, the Superstars of tomorrow — this is NXT!

    3:00 AM ET
    WWE SUPERSTARS WWE Superstars features the best of the best, in matches you’ll have to see to believe. You never know what to expect, so expect everything.

    4:00 AM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Eva’s sexy bachelorette in Curacao gets heated when TJ destroy’s Nattie’s hopes of rekindling their marriage.

    5:00 AM ET
    WCW MONDAY NITRO ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage battles ‘Nature Boy’ Ric Flair. WCW Tag Team Champions, Harlem Heat, face Sting and Lex Luger.

    6:00 AM ET
    WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER 2013 For the first time in over a decade The Rock is WWE Champion. A determined CM Punk is set on regaining the WWE Title.

    9:00 AM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Eva’s sexy bachelorette in Curacao gets heated when TJ destroy’s Nattie’s hopes of rekindling their marriage.

    10:00 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.

    12:00 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.

    1:00 PM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Biggest Crybabies of all time!

    2:00 PM ET
    THIS WEEK IN WWE Get caught up on all the highlights from Raw and SmackDown with This Week in WWE.

    2:30 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!

    3:00 PM ET
    SATURDAY NIGHTS MAIN EVENT The Ultimate Warrior defends the WWE Title against ‘Ravishing’ Rick Rude. Demolition defend their WWE Tag Team Titles against The Rockers.

    4:30 PM 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!

    6:00 PM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Biggest Crybabies of all time!

    7:00 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.

    8:00 PM ET
    SATURDAY NIGHTS MAIN EVENT The Ultimate Warrior defends the WWE Title against ‘Ravishing’ Rick Rude. Demolition defend their WWE Tag Team Titles against The Rockers.

    9:30 PM 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!

    11:00 PM ET
    SATURDAY NIGHTS MAIN EVENT The Ultimate Warrior defends the WWE Title against ‘Ravishing’ Rick Rude. Demolition defend their WWE Tag Team Titles against The Rockers.

  • On this day in pro wrestling history (May 29): Terry Funk and Nick Bockwinkel go to a draw, Jarrett beats Flair for WCW title, Charlotte wins NXT gold

    By Brian Hoops, WrestlingObserver.com

    1962 – In Minneapolis, Minnesota; Pat O’Connor beat AWA Champion Mr. M via dq and Doug Gilbert went to a draw with Bob Geigel.

    1965 – At the Armory in St. Paul, Minnesota; The Crusher beat Harley Race in 2 out of 3 falls and Rene Goulet beat Kurt Von Brauner

    1968 – In St. Paul, Minnesota; AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Luke Brown, Harley Race beat Bill Watts by dq, Larry Hennig beat Rene Goulet and Dutch Savage beat Rock Rogowski (Ole Anderson).

    1977 – In Houston, Texas at the Summit; Terry Funk went to a draw with AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel (sub Harley Race), Fritz Von Erich drew with Bruiser Brody, Bruno Sammartino beat Mike York and Jose Lothario went to a draw with AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel. Race was to defend the NWA World Title but wrestled a double shot that afternoon and was not at the building in time to wrestle, so Bockwinkel wrestled Funk in his place.

    1983 – At the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada; Leo Burke defeated North American Champion Johnny Weaver to win the title,
    WWF Intercontinental Champion Don Muraco defeated Rocky Johnson and NWA World Champion Ric Flair pinned NWA U.S. Champion Greg Valentine.

    1988 – At the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee; AWA Champion Jerry Lawler beat Dutch Mantel, Jeff Jarrett & Great Senshi beat Robert Fuller & Jimmy Golden by count out, CWA Champion Brickhouse Brown beat Bill Dundee via dq, Scott Steiner & Billy Travis beat Cuban Choir Boys to win Southern Tag Title and AWA Tag Team Champions Badd Company (Pat Tanaka & Paul Diamond) beat Gary Young & Don Bass.

    1995 – Brian Christopher defeated Doug Gilbert for the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee

    2000 – Jeff Jarrett defeated WCW World Champion Ric Flair to win the WCW World Title in Salt Lake City, Utah; Too Cool defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Edge & Christian to win the titles in Vancouver, British Columbia.

    2014 – At NXT Takeover in Winter Park, Florida; Charlotte defeated Natalya to win the NXT Women’s Title.

  • UFC Fight Night 67: Condit vs. Alves weigh-in results & live video

    Welcome to WrestlingObserver.com’s live coverage of the UFC Fight Night 67: Condit vs. Alves weigh-ins from the Goiania Arena in Goiania, Brazil kicking off at 3 PM eastern time. The event airs on Saturday on FOX Sports 1, with a main card start time of 10 PM eastern time. A full slate of preliminary card action kicks off at 7 PM eastern time before moving over to FOX Sports 1 for more coverage at 8 PM eastern time. This will mark the UFC’s second event in Goiania following UFC Fight Night 32 in November 2013.

    The event will be headlined by a potential fight of the year in the welterweight division as former Interim UFC and WEC Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit returns from an injury layoff to battle former title contender Thiago Alves in the five-round main event. The semi-main event is a rematch of a controversial 2011 bout as Nik Lentz takes on Charles Oliveira in a featherweight bout. Also on the main card, K.J. Noons battles Alex Oliveira in a lightweight contest and TUF: The Smashes winner Norman Parke takes on Francisco Trinaldo in a lightweight bout.

    Uneventful weigh-ins this week when compared to last week.  Everyone made weight.  

    MAIN CARD (FOX SPORTS 1- 10 PM ET/7 PM PT):

    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)

    PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX SPORTS 1- 8 PM ET/5 PM PT):

    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)

    PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC FIGHT PASS- 7 PM ET/4 PM PT):

    Juliana Lima (115) vs. Ericka Almeida (116)
    Luiz Dutra (170) vs. Tom Breese (171)

  • WWE News: Kevin Owens signs new contract

    We have learned that Kevin Owens has signed a WWE main roster contract, and will be making the transition from the NXT brand to the main brand quickly.

    He is booked for all Raw television going forward and will be starting on a full house show schedule very soon. He will continue as a character on NXT television for a couple of months to where it’s a smooth transition out since he’s the group’s current champion.

  • WWE News: Brock Lesnar working house show in Japan

    The WWE’s Japan office has just released that Brock Lesnar will work his first non-PPV match since 2004 for the company on the 7/4 show at Sumo Hall in Tokyo. Of all people, Lesnar is advertised as facing Kofi Kingston.

  • James Storm talks about going babyface, the Revolution gimmick, TNA and more

    (credit to Adam Davey @ v2wrestling.com)

    The v2wrestling podcast recently interviewed James Storm where he talks
    about the creative evolution of his Revolution and addresses some of the
    rumours about TNA at the moment. The audio can be listened to here –
    http://v2wrestling.com/5/post/2015/05/the-big-v2-interview-james-storm.html

    Here are the highlights:

    Original plans for the Revolution:

    “The whole startup with the Revolution was a different vision than what I
    had in mind. TNA came and asked me if I would help these guys out a little
    bit, and I didn’t mind at all. My vision of it at the beginning was I
    wanted it to be me, Gunner, Sam Shaw, Lance Hoyt and Crimson. You look at
    that group and those are some bad boys. But they had a different vision of
    it and they asked me what I thought of it. I make the best out of
    everything that I’m given and if I’m able to help some guys out along the
    way, that’s what I’ll do. So far I’ve felt like I’ve elevated some of
    these guys up.”

    The growth of the Revolution:

    “First they asked me for my thoughts on it and I told them. Then they
    asked me to start out with Sanada and work from there. I was still getting
    my feet under me with the heel turn and just figuring what direction I
    wanted to go and everything. That was a learning process for me with
    Sanada, and we brought in The Great Muta and did a deal with him. Then it
    just started growing and we brought in Manik, Abyss and now Khoya, who
    I’ve been working with closely to try to get more ring time and more ring
    experience for him. I just told TNA that he needs more ring time. I can
    teach a monkey how to do wrestling moves, but to actually learn how to
    work in front of a crowd is something that he has to learn in the ring, in
    front of a crowd. It’s hard for someone to be taught that.”

    Does he prefer being a heel or a babyface:

    “I always prefer being a heel, just because I was always taught that it’s
    easier to piss people off than it is to make people happy. These days it’s
    hard for good babyfaces to get over because everybody wants to cheer for
    the cheaters or the guys that they think are cool or something. For
    example, John Cena. It’s hard for him to get over as a babyface, but I
    think if he turned heel, people will really boo the hell out of him. Or he
    would actually get those people who are booing him now to start cheering
    for him. Wrestling fans are weird, but at the end of the day they want to
    cheer for whoever they want to cheer for and that’s how it goes.”

    Who can be the top babyface for TNA:

    “I could. Given the correct program and everything, I believe I can be
    that pure babyface that TNA needs. Just for the simple fact that people
    can relate to me. I’m not the giant 6-foot-4 jacked up guy. People from
    town say, I want to root for this guy because he kind of reminds me of
    someone I’d like to hang out with or could hang out with, you know? It’s
    just one of those things where I don’t feel like I got the proper push at
    the time when I was the World Heavyweight Champion, but that’s all behind
    me now and I’m just moving forward. Given the right opportunity, I could
    be that pure babyface that TNA needs.”

    The future of the Revolution:

    “It’s one of those things where I’m not really sure. I think they’ve got
    more plans for it and they kind of want to take it in a different
    direction, maybe the direction that I thought of at the very beginning.
    They talked to me about some new people coming in and what I thought. I’m
    always about trying to make the product better, because once the product’s
    better, everybody makes more money. This whole Revolution thing, I like
    doing it, but at the same time I like being on my own as well.”

    His real-life friendship with Gunner:

    “I’ve been friends with Gunner and Crimson for a long time. They came to
    me when me and Gunner had our feud and they asked me if I would help
    elevate him because I think they wanted to do something with him and the
    World Title, and of course I was like, yeah. I love Gunner to death and if
    I can help him out, that’s fine. So we did all this and we beat the hell
    out of each other, but then he was left off TV for a while and that kind
    of bothered me a little bit. I’ve heard now that they’ve got plans to
    bring him back and do something really cool with him, so all the best to
    Gunner.”

    Thoughts on Billy Corgan joining TNA:

    “He was at the last TV tapings that we had. They already had the TVs
    written and everything right before he came in, so I don’t think he was
    able to change stuff around. I got to talk to him and I shot some ideas
    and he loved them. He gave me some of his ideas and I was just trying to
    make sense out of some of the things he was saying. I really didn’t know
    too much about him except he was the lead singer of the Smashing Pumpkins,
    but talking to him and getting to know him, the guy knows a lot about
    wrestling. He looks at it like I do, from a fan’s standpoint. How will
    this translate over to the fans? Will they like this or will they not?
    Will they be like, this doesn’t make any sense at all? Because wrestling
    fans are not stupid — they don’t want to have their intelligence insulted
    by some crazy, ridiculous storyline.”

    Rumors of TNA being canceled by Destination America:

    “I’ve been told by the higher-ups that there’s nothing to worry about. TNA
    is owned by a billion dollar company, Panda Energy, so the money is going
    to be there. They talk about the network saying this and that. Every
    network wants great ratings, but the problem is that it takes time for the
    casual wrestling fans and the viewers to find Destination America. A lot
    of people don’t have that channel, or it’s a premium channel and they have
    to pay for it. My mom actually couldn’t find it until like a month ago. So
    it’s just taking people a little longer to find the Destination America
    channel. Nobody really knows except for the network and Dixie Carter,
    that’s how I look at it. Dixie cares about the wrestlers like they’re her
    own kids. If something’s going to go down, she’s going to have a meeting
    and talk about it with all of the guys, so that’s how I look at it.”

    Who he wants to work with in TNA:

    “I’d really like to work with Bobby Lashley. I think me and him could have
    some good matches, with him being a babyface and me being a heel, or vice
    versa. I always like working with the bigger guys. It’s harder working
    with bigger guys when you’re the heel because it’s hard to get sympathy on
    them, but Bobby Lashley is one of those babyfaces that I think, even
    though he’s a big guy, he can still get sympathy on himself and make
    people care about him. I’d also like to have a good run with Kurt (Angle).
    I think with me being heel and him being the face of the company right
    now, I think that could be a really good angle.”

    Thought on Beer Money reunion with Bobby Roode:

    “I think creative has got him doing something with Austin Aries right now.
    I wish him all the luck and everything, but it’s one of those ideas that I
    also pitched to TNA. Hey, how about we get Bobby Roode to join the
    Revolution and have Beer Money in the Revolution? So you never know, it
    can be something that kind of comes around. To me, I think that could be
    quite interesting to have Bobby part of the Revolution.”

    His feud with Magnus and a potential match at Slammiversary:

    “Yeah, I believe that’s where they’re headed. I’ve worked with Magnus ever
    since he came into the company. When he first came in they put him with
    Doug (Williams) and then he and Doug always worked with me and Bobby a lot
    on all the live events and TVs just to get him used to the American style,
    because I don’t think Magnus had really been working that long when he
    came to TNA, maybe three years or something. It’s night and day with him
    now. He goes in there and he puts everything into his matches. He’s a
    student of the game. It’s really a testament to him to show that he’s not
    here to just collect a paycheck. He’s learning and he wants to be the
    best.”

    Don’t forget to check out James Storms website  –
    http://sorryaboutyourdamnluck.com/ – for all the latest merchandise for
    the Cowboy.

    If you have any feedback for the show, please email us at
    wrestling@v2journal.com or contact us through twitter (@v2wrestlingshow)
    or facebook.

  • THURS. UPDATE: Correia-Rousey, DA retweets TNA comedy, TNA announcements, GFW, Four Horsewomen, NXT, Jarrett on TV

    By Dave Meltzer
    dave@wrestlingobserver.com”>dave@wrestlingobserver.com

    Smackdown tonight on Syfy:

    Lumberjack match:  Lucha Dragon vs. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro
    R-Truth vs. King Barrett
    Ryback vs. Rusev
    Paige vs. Naomi
    Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins & Kane

    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 http://www.f4wonline.com/component/content/article/110-wrestling-observer-newsletter/42755-june-1-2015-wrestling-observer-newsletter-roh-to-destination-america-bischoff-sues-tna-ufc-hall-of-fame-and-more

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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.

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    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.

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    Also in this week’s issue:

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    –Christy Hemme leaves company

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    –Samoa Joe on why he left TNA

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    –Where ticket sales for the show are coming from

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    –This week’s UFC show

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    –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)

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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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    *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)

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    THURSDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

    –There was a big story last night where Bethe Correia said that Ronda Rousey was mentally weak, and said after she beats Ronda Rousey she hopes Rousey doesn’t kill herself.  That prompted Rousey to write, “Suicide is no joke or selling point.  My father will be with me the day I hand you the comeuppance you deserve.”  It’s not a secret that Rousey’s father committed suicide when she was very young, and in an indirect way, that led to her going into judo (swimming was her main sport as a child).  Correia later apologized for her remark, saying that she wasn’t aware Rousey’s father committed suicide.

    –The Destination America twitter account re tweeted this comedy story which shows some major insensitivity for them regarding TNA, particularly paragraph four.  It’s nothing against the comedy version of the story, but DA shouldn’t be involved in even joking about TNA going out of business given the situation the performers in the company are in right now. 

    http://www.kayfabenews.com/raw-moving-destination-america/

    –Really cool video of Daniel Cormier arriving for work yesterday at the Fox Studios in Los Angeles for the first time since winning the light heavyweight title at http://www.foxsports.com/video/UFC?vid=452656195929

    –There is a pre-sale going on for tickets to the 7/12 UFC show at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the Sunday of International Fight Week, headlined by Jake Ellenberger vs Stephen Wonderboy Thompson.  The password is UFCTUF.  The show also features the finals of the current season of Ultimate Fighter.

    –TNA announced signings of contacts by Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards and Bram.  I guess people forget that TNA had already announced the Edwards & Richards signing back in January.  I was told that this announcement regarded a contract rollover that took place in January and not anything new.  Apparently the idea is to announce a bunch of contract signings today. 

    –Bloomberg Business has a story on Station Casinos, a group of 21 casinos in Las Vegas run by Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, looking at going public.  For the first quarter, the company took in $342.8 million in revenue and had $124.6 million in EBITDA, this coming less than six years after having to file for bankruptcy during the downturn of the economy.

    –Some new GFW dates are 7/10 in Erie, PA at Jerry Uht Park, 8/22 i Reno at the Aces Ballpark  and/28 in Harrisburg, PA at the Metro Bank Park.

    –The WWE web site has a story of Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Bayley and Becky Lynch as the Four Horsewomen.   Are they trying to set up a program? 

    –Names announced for the NXT shows on 10/24 and 10/25 at Gibson Ranch, just North of Sacramento, are Finn Balor, Sasha Banks, Blake & Murphy, Charlotte, Bayley and Baron Corbin. 

    –Kevin Connolly was on the Dan Patrick show on Tuesday talking about his experience on Raw.  He said it was a crazy experience and you wouldn’t believe what goes on there.  Patrick quickly changed the subject.  Patrick asked him who would get the best cameo award in the Entourage movie and he said Ronda Rousey, but also said her role was bigger than a cameo and said she had a decent-sized part.  He said they got to know her a little but  and she was really likeable and saw her feminine side, but said they were blown away when they watched her train and hit the speed bag.  Jerry Ferreria wanted to do the fight scene with her and Rousey told him to use a stunt double because they wanted the fight scene to look real.  They did use a stunt double.

    –Jeff Jarrett will be throwing out the first pitch tonight before the El Paso vs. Round Rock minor league baseball game on CBS Sports Network.  He’ll also be promoting his live events.  CBS Sports Network is Ch. 221 on DirecTV, Ch. 158 on Dish, and Ch. 413 and 1643 on AT&T U-verse, Ch. 733 and 393 on Comcast and Ch. 315 on Timer Warner Cable.

    –T.J. Grant, whose UFC career has been on hold for a long time, after suffering a concussion in training, has now taken a job at the K&S Porath mine in Bethune, Saskatchewan.  Grant hasn’t’ fought in two years. At the time, he was going to get a lightweight title match with then-champion Benson Henderson.  Grant said he is now 100% healthy, but hasn’t gone all-out in his training. (thanks to Tyler McMurchy).

    –WWE stock has been up the past two days, up 26 cents today and closing at $14.30 per share.   

    –There will be a live Raw in San Jose on 8/3 at the SAP Center headlined by John Cena.  There is an onsale going on right now for tickets with the code WWERAW

    –Raw on 7/6 in Chicago is advertising a main event of John Cena & Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns vs. Big Show &  Seth Rollins & Kevin Owens.

    ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY INTERNATIONAL

    1949 – Tarzan Lopez beat Mike Kelly to win the NWA middleweight title
    1983 – Lizmark beat Espectro Jr. in Puebla to win the Mexican national middleweight title
    2000 – El Hijo del Santo beat Blue Panther in Monterrey to win the NWA welterweight title
    2006 – Manami Toyota beat Tsubasa Kuragaki in Tokyo to win the JWP title
    2008 – Fabi Apache beat Tiffany in Morelia to win the AAA Reina de Reinas title
    2009 – Mephisto beat La Sombra in Acapulco to win the WWA welterweight title

    –UFC will be making a major announcement regarding drug testing on Wednesday at the Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas.

    –Legacy Kickboxing tomorrow night from the Horseshoe Casino in Shreveport.

    –Jake Roberts is booked for Jersey Championship Wrestling on 6/13 at Six Flags Great Adventure

    –Pro Wrestling Phoenix tenth anniversary show from Saturday night in Council Bluffs, IA:  L-Ray b Ryan Slade, Dalton Lee Roth & Purple b Branden Juarez in a handicap match, Pat Powers b Paul Daniels, Tony Cortez won three-way over Darren Russell and Abu Colossus, Zac James b Chris Havius, Scotty 2 Hotty b Joey Daniels, Hype Gotti & Tony Cortez b Jeremy Wyatt & Mark Sterling in a ladder match.  Next show is 6/20 in Council Bluffs at the National Guard Armory.

    –IWF on Saturday night at the IWF Centre in Nutley, NJ.

    –New England Championship Wrestling on 6/6 in Everett, MA at the Rec Center with Slyck Wagner Brown vs. Brad Hollister.

    –Acclaim Pro Wrestling on Saturday night in Ottawa at SPK-Dom Polski

    –Andy Nichols at aypwrestling@gmail.com is looking for magazines, newspaper articles or clippings pertaining to Joe Louis in pro wrestling in the 50s.

    –Mad Max: Fury Road, which features former pro wrestler Nathan Jones was No. 1 for the second straight week at the box office in Australia.

    –Infinity Pro Wrestling on Saturday night in Bloomington, IN at the National Guard Armory.

    –Evolve iPPV on Sunday from Ronkonkoma, New York at the Fire Department Hall at 8 p.m. Eastern at www.wwnlive.com

    Drew Galloway vs Roderick Strong for the Evolve title
    Johnny Gargano vs. Ethan Page
    Davey Richards vs. Drew Gulak
    Anthony Nese vs. TJ Perkins
    Rich Swann vs Trevor Lee
    Biff Busick vs. Mike Bailey
    Rey Hours vs. ?

    –ECCW on 6/20 in Port Coquitlam, BC at the Elks Hall.

    –Koko B. Ware will be signing autographs at the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Amsterdam, NY.  Half the proceeds will benefit the Hall of Fame..

    –Canadian Wrestling Federation 6/6 in St. Catherines, ONT at the Haig Bowl Arena with Brian Christopher, Scotty 2 Hotty, Rene Dupree, Paul London, Cody Deaner and more.

    –GOUGE on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Draft Line Brewing in Fuquay-Varina, NC.

    –Dolph Ziggler will be in Singapore this weekend doing WWE promotional appearances.  He’ll be appearing Friday at 7 p.m. at Shaw House.

    –Brennan Ward (10-3) vs. Gavin Steritt (6-1) in a welterweight fight has been aded to the 7/17 Bellator show in Uncasville, CT at the Mohegan Sun Casino.  The show is headlined by Douglas Lima defending the welterweight title against Andrewy Koreshkov.

    –Dropkick Murphys will be headling a concert on 7/10 at the Fremont Street Experience for International Fight Week in Las Vegas.  This will be on the Friday night at 9 p.m.    

    —Capital City Championship Combat on 6/19 in Ottawa, ONT at the Vaneri Columbus Club.

    –Great White North Wrestling on 5/31 at 1:30 p.m. at the Ukranian Cultural Centre in Hamilton, ONT.

    –The WWE for the first time in anyone’s memory took out an ad in Dagbladet, the second biggest newspaper in Norway.  It’s believed to be the first ad by WWE in the Norwegian press (thanks to Kare Arnfinn Fostad)

    –Justin Gabriel vs. Michael Elgin for the first time ever takes place 6/24 in Yorkton, Saskatchewan for CWE.

    WILL MCGREGOR VS. ALDO TOP 800,000 BUYS?
    Yes 51.7%%
    No 48.3%

    WHO WILL BE THE NEXT UFC CHAMPION TO LOSE THEIR TITLE?
    Robbie Lawler 28.5%
    Rafael dos Anjos 16.1%
    Jose Aldo 14.0%
    Cain Velasquez 13.6%
    TJ Dillashaw 7.2%
    Daniel Cormier 7.0%
    Joanna Jedrzejczyk 6.0%
    Ronda Rousey 4.7%
    Chris Weidman 2.5%
    Demetrious Johnson 0.4%

    WHO IS THE BIGGEST STAR OF THESE PEOPLE RIGHT NOW?

    Floyd Mayweather Jr. 41.1%
    Ronda Rousey 35.7%
    John Cena 9.2%
    Brock Lesnar 7.8%
    Conor McGregor 1.9%
    Manny Pacquiao 1.1%
    Seth Rollins 1.1%
    Roman Reigns 0.9%
    Jon Jones 0.5%
    Daniel Cormier 0.5%
    Chris Weidman 0.2%

    WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER THE MAIN EVENT FOR ELIMINATION CHAMBER?

    Cena vs. Owens 58.7%
    Ambrose vs. Rollins 33.7%
    IC title Chamber match 6.2%
    Tag title Chamber match 1.4%

    WHO SHOULD GET THE NEXT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT?

    Andrei Arlovski 60.0%
    Stipe Miocic 40.0%

    WHO SHOULD GET THE NEXT FLYWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT?

    John Dodson 39.0%
    Joseph Benavidez 30.8%
    Henry Cejudo 30.2%

    –Booker T says why Ronda Rousey shouldn’t do WrestleMania at

    “You know, I see Ronda doing what she does in the UFC. She does it better than anybody. I don’t see her coming into a WWE ring. I don’t think she would have any fun at all in a WWE ring.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hqken6YSyY

    –Dwayne Johnson in Australia for the opening game of the 2015 National Rugby League State Of Origin

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrapaL6MuwE

    These games are typically in the top 10 most watched programs in Australian TV for the year. (thanks to Tim Forge)

     –A review of the movie “San Andreas,” starring Dwayne Johnson, that opens tomorrow

    http://www.villagevoice.com/movies/san-andreas-4839392/ (thanks to Jeff Sheridan)

    –Short Jesse Ventura ESPN documentary

    On the ESPN 30 for 30 Twitter feed that ESPN has put up a FiveThirtyEight documentary short on Jesse Ventura’s turn from wrestler to Governor of Minnesota, it’s about 15 minutes long and has that really good ESPN documentary production value.  The doc short can be found at either links below and in my opinion, was a hundred times better than the 30 for 30 Von Erich doc.

    http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=12917086

    http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/that-time-jesse-the-body-ventura-was-elected-governor-of-minnesota/

    (thanks to Jeff Parker)

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

    8:00 PM ET
    WCW MONDAY NITRO On this episode of Nitro Sting returns to solve the problems between Macho Man and Lex Luger. Ric Flair vs Arn Anderson inside a steel cage.

    9:00 PM ET
    RAW FLASHBACK In an epic confrontation the Undertaker teams with Diesel and Shawn Michaels to battle some of Jim Cornette’s devastating clients.

    10:00 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!

    10:30 PM ET
    WWE UNFILTERED WITH RENEE YOUNG Renee Young chats with the King of the Ring Bad News Barrett, discussing everything from music, marine biology and everything in between!

    11:00 PM ET
    WCW MONDAY NITRO On this episode of Nitro Sting returns to solve the problems between Macho Man and Lex Luger. Ric Flair vs Arn Anderson inside a steel cage.

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

    12:00 AM ET
    RAW FLASHBACK Jim Cornette introduces his legal counsel. Razor Ramon defends his Intercontinental Title and the Raw debut of a bizarre entity.

    1:00 AM ET
    FIRST LOOK A First Look to watch exclusive content from WWE Home Video’s latest release, Daniel Bryan – Just Say Yes! Yes! Yes!

    1:30 AM ET
    WWE UNFILTERED WITH RENEE YOUNG Renee Young chats with the King of the Ring Bad News Barrett, discussing everything from music, marine biology and everything in between!

    2:00 AM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the Top Ten Biggest Crybabies of all time!

    3:00 AM ET
    WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER 2013 For the first time in over a decade The Rock is WWE Champion. A determined CM Punk is set on regaining the WWE Title.

    6:00 AM ET
    WWE NXT The future is here. Witness the entertainers, the leading men and women, the Superstars of tomorrow — this is NXT!

    7:00 AM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Eva’s sexy bachelorette in Curacao gets heated when TJ destroy’s Nattie’s hopes of rekindling their marriage.

    8:00 AM ET
    WARRIOR’S GREATEST MATCHES Prior to his untimely death, Warrior sat down with the WWE in an interview to discuss his favorite matches throughout his career.

    9:00 AM ET
    WWE NXT The future is here. Witness the entertainers, the leading men and women, the Superstars of tomorrow — this is NXT!

    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
    WARRIOR’S GREATEST MATCHES Prior to his untimely death, Warrior sat down with the WWE in an interview to discuss his favorite matches throughout his career.

    12:00 PM ET
    WWE NXT The future is here. Witness the entertainers, the leading men and women, the Superstars of tomorrow — this is NXT!

    1:00 PM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Eva’s sexy bachelorette in Curacao gets heated when TJ destroy’s Nattie’s hopes of rekindling their marriage.

    2:00 PM ET
    WARRIOR’S GREATEST MATCHES Prior to his untimely death, Warrior sat down with the WWE in an interview to discuss his favorite matches throughout his career.

    3:00 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.

    4:00 PM 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.

    6:00 PM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Eva’s sexy bachelorette in Curacao gets heated when TJ destroy’s Nattie’s hopes of rekindling their marriage.

    7:00 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.

    8:00 PM ET
    WWE SUPERSTARS WWE Superstars features the best of the best, in matches you’ll have to see to believe. You never know what to expect, so expect everything.

    9:00 PM 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.

    11:00 PM ET
    WWE SUPERSTARS WWE Superstars features the best of the best, in matches you’ll have to see to believe. You never know what to expect, so expect everything.