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  • WWF Tuesday Night Titans episode 21 review: Magnificent Muraco, Mr. Fuji, Freddie Blassie, Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan

    – Airdate: Jan. 31,1985
    – Run time: 44:35
    – Stars of the show: Pre-Monday Night War signs, Heenan’s humor, Ken Patera and Big John Studd’s Andre beat-down

    Bobby Heenan’s a comedic genius. Magnificent Muraco is the fattest surfer ever. SD Jones is a pussy(cat). These truths were self-evident on the 21st episode of Tuesday Night Titans. We also were treated to a lovely embrace between Hulk Hogan and Hillbilly Jim. Sadly, it fell a little short of the emotion conveyed in the meeting of the “Madness” and the “Mania.”

    The show opened with a very bloated-looking Magnificent Muraco and his manager Mr. Fuji as TNT guests. Let’s just get this out of the way: Muraco looks more like a whale than and surfer. Back watching TNT as a kid in 1985, Muraco’s body always perplexed me. He was clearly a strong guy, but he looked like he ate too many carbs and loathed the job. It was always hard for me to take him seriously when he was constantly pulling up his tights over his spare tire.

    McMahon pecks at him about the “beach bum” moniker that followed him throughout his career. It’s used as a derogatory term, but not quite sure why. Maybe the idea was that Muraco spent more time at the beach than the gym, but shouldn’t a surfer a character be a relaxed beach guy, and not resemble a greasy-looking mortician who looks like he wears a size-48 pair of jeans?

    McMahon shows us some footage of a guy who appears to be Muraco surfing 12-foot waves in Hawaii. He clearly knows what he is doing, but it’s hard to imagine the WWE trying to get CM Punk over by showing him skateboarding on the streets of Chicago to show that he cares more about counter-culture than professional wrestling.

    To counteract the lazy surf gimmick, Muraco tells McMahon that he hired the “sick soul” Mr. Fuji to manage his career. To demonstrate Muraco’s torture tendencies, we go to a match with Muraco against Classic Jobber Mario Mancini.

    Speaking of, why isn’t there a WWE Hall of Fame Classic Jobber wing? We would all rather see Mario Mancini in the WWE Hall of Fame than Arnold Schwarzenegger. Fans are smart enough to know that enhancement talent is a valuable part of wrestling. In fact, we need more jobbers in the modern product, rather than having mid-card guys serve as both jobbers and stars and then wonder why a guy like Dolph Ziggler can’t get over.

    Muraco won with a tombstone piledriver that color commentator Jesse “The Body” Ventura called a “double shoulder-breaker.”

    Who knew the moved was quietly banned back then? Actually, Ventura just didn’t know what to call it. On the replay he corrected himself and called it a “reverse piledriver.” Back on the couch, Fuji tells us that he is teaching Muraco to be “vicious” and “sadistic” to make his opponents “scream for mercy.” Muraco says that Fuji is teaching him that “oriental discipline.”

    Next we have to sit through the worst part of McMahon — his puzzling penchant for ridiculous stereotypes. It’s Granny Kim and her bloodhounds in a Kentucky barn, along with McMahon and Lord Alfred Hayes, sitting on haystacks. Kim is apparently Hillbilly Jim’s grandma, but is now so over that she can appear in her own segment. Kim spent most of the time petting her bloodhounds and talking about how big and strong they are, just like Hillbilly Jim.

    “I am so proud of that boy,” she said “He’s got a good heart and anything he does he puts his whole heart in it. My heart will break if anything happens to him.” To illustrate her point of how tough Jim is, she said one time she was driving her pickup truck and got a flat tire. Jim just lifted the car, and she pulled the tire off. That’s how strong Jim, and apparently his granny, are.

    We go to the ring to see Hillbilly Jim’s debut. Hulk Hogan has been training him for the last few weeks, taking him from country bumpkin’ to country bumpkin-with-a-push. Hogan is at ringside as Jim takes on Classic Jobber Terry Gibbs. Gibbs does a lot of Ric Flair bumping — running into the bigger man and then falling to the ground. Gibbs got in a few right hands, but Jim eventually squeezed him into submission with a bear hug.

    Hogan runs into the ring like this is some huge moment in wresting history and gives Jim a big hug. “It’s the meeting of the Hillbilly and the Hulkster.” Not really.

    We all remember what happened to Hillbilly Jim and Granny’s push. Actually we don’t other than it went nowhere. At least Jim got a doll and bit part in a Saturday morning cartoon out of it. Granny went on to date Mark Henry.

    Next up we are treated to the entire Andre The Giant hair-gate that we only saw clips of last week. Big John Studd and Ken Patera were part of Bobby Heenan’s stable, and you know something was up before this match started. Andre never used to wrestle on TV. And when he did, he didn’t team with a pussy(cat) like SD Jones, who literally disappears half-way through the match to allow the 8th Wonder of the World to get shamed on national TV.

    McMahon lets us know “this is going to be an extraordinary match-up.” Jones starts the match and then makes the hot tag to Andre who proceeds to demolish Ken Patera in the corner with his butt.

    Eventually, Studd and Patera decided to go Shield on Andre and just straight-up cheat and double-team him. They get disqualified, but not before Jones vanishes and Patera and Studd together body slam Andre. This was impressive. Studd and Patera could probably both slam Andre without any help, but together, it really shows that these guys were doing their best to put him over.

    Then it happened. Studd when to Heenan who pulled out a pair of scissors from his pocket and handed it Studd.

    He wasted no time to cutting Andre’s hair as Patera held him up. McMahon loves the following phrase: “They are raping the dignity of Andre The Giant.” I lost count of how many times he said some version of this phrase. The crowd didn’t like it either. We saw some pre-Hogan-joins-the-NWO crowd reaction, with people throwing cups into the ring.

    McMahon screams, “this is a nightmare, a total nightmare!” He must have talking about Patera’s bad dye job. Patera held up locks of Andre’s hair like they were one of the many championship belts in the WWF that Patera never won.

    After witnessing the horror, Heenan joins us on the TNT couch to put it all into perspective. “The guy looks like he could use a haircut,” Heenan says. “He was disgusting the way he was.” Heenan then explained his logic behind the attack. He said for years Andre has bullied his opponents, using his size to push people around. It was time, Heenan said, “to set this guy straight.”

    “He’s encouraging people to call me weasel?” Heenan said. “We’re going to have to set him straight. The only mistake we made is that we should have permanently finished him off.” 

    Heenan then says he did it to send everyone a message: “Every wrestler who thinks they can push us around can get the message,” Heenan says. “Don’t mess with Studd, Patera and myself or you are going to look like a fool.”

    Heenan played the role of privileged rich man perfectly. McMahon brought up last week’s TNT haircut of a volunteer, where Studd and Patera massacred some dweeb’s hair and beard, forcing him to run off the set. Was Heenan apologetic? No. He said that should teach the guy to never volunteer for anything. Heenan says he did the guy a favor.

    “He can probably be on the ‘Love Connection’ next week with Chuck Woolery,” Heenan said. “The guy doesn’t have to look at girly magazines anymore. Now he can go get a date.”

    The show wraps up with Classy Freddie Blassie as a guest, where he’s apparently the older version of Heenan.

    Blassie flashes his “16-karat diamond ring” before going to a match with his wrestlers The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff, facing Classic Jobbers Mancini and Steve Lombardi.

    Volkoff starts off with the Russian National Anthem. Volkoff is way less intimidating that Rusev, but damn did that national anthem really enrage the fans. In their own version of the New Age Outlaws shtick, Sheik grabs the mic after Volkoff’s singing and yells,” “Now you people shut up! Iran No. 1. Russia No. 1!

    The fans carried some great signs — signs that you could not show on modern television, mostly because they were culturally and racially insensitive.

    Volkoff pins Mancini with a side backbreaker. Back in the TNT studios, Blassie calls them “the greatest tag team ever.” The show wraps up with Blassie and McMahon foreshadowing most episodes Monday Night Raw for most of 2014 and 2015: “There’s no telling who we will have here next week,” McMahon says.

    He also reminds everyone to watch primetime wrestling on Tuesday Nights, TNT on Fridays, and All-American wrestling on Sunday Mornings.

    All of this TV exposure is about to pay off for the WWF leading up to Wrestlemania. This was a great show, with good pacing. Thank God for Bobby Heenan and his dark humor and McMahon’s genius for somehow pulling it all together. The TV time works to get the wrestlers over. Mid-carders are stars. Jobbers do their job. And Hulk Hogan hugs Hillbilly Jim.

    Only on Tuesday Night Titans (on Friday nights).

  • UFC Hall of Fame announcements tonight

    UFC will make some Hall of Fame announcements tonight during UFC Tonight.

    The show airs at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

    The actual inductions will take place on Saturday, July 11, in an afternoon ceremony as part of the UFC Expo in Las Vegas.

    There will be four inductions this year, one in each of these categories:

    *Contributors – This would be non-fighters who have made lasting contributions to the sport.

    *Fight – This is for a legendary fight that has to have taken place before December 31, 2010.

    *Pioneer – This would be for a fighter whose career began prior to 2001.

    *Modern Fight – This would be for a fighter who is at least 35 years old and whose career started in 2001 or later.

  • A look at next three WWE major shows, What can be learned from Mayweather PPV numbers and how it affects UFC, Everything you want to know about GFW, Lawsuit that UFC & WWE should pay attention to

    The story behind the Elimination Chamber as a network special, why and how it came about, as well as a look at the next two WWE major shows, Payback and Elimination Chamber and NXT Takeover, is the lead story in this week’s Observer.  We also have a look at the injury situation with Daniel Bryan, Sami Zayn and Hideo Itami.  We also look at the Mayweather-Pacquiao business, New Japan & ROH working together for big shows, a detailed story on Global Force Wrestling including talent and television outlets and the TV scene, a lawsuit that has nothing to do with WWE & UFC, but where the result will be very important to both, Tough Enough, has NOAH turned the corner, as well as the monthly business rundowns for WWE & TNA.

    The new issue is up on the site at http://www.f4wonline.com/component/content/article/110-wrestling-observer-newsletter/42526-may-18-2015-wrestling-observer-newsletter-last-minute-elimination-chamber-special-mayweather-vs-pacquiao-destroys-ppv-records-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.

    The lead story looks at the addition of the Elimination Chamber show, why this is being done, plans for the future and how this relates to it, the Elimination Chamber card as well as notes on the Chamber matches.  We also look at Daniel Bryan and the poor job of pushing his appearance and how they are pushing the Payback main event.

    We also look at the Mayweather-Pacquiao business, and how it breaks down, live event business, Vegas closed circuit, bar business, how much Mayweather and Pacquiao figure to earn, Mayweather talks rematch, why the fight was so big, and the state of PPV in 2015. 

    We also look at a big question as to how this relates to UFC going forward.

    We look at the historical implications of Ronda Rousey on the Sports Illustrated cover.

    We also have a rundown of ROH and New Japan working together in Philadelphia.

    We’ve got a major piece on Global Force Wrestling.  We look at the talent list, notes on the schedule for different talent, notes on the taping schedule, different TV stations they are talking with, Spike talks about getting into wrestling, the business ideas behind all this, as well as thoughts on the talent and both who is surprisingly not listed.

    We also look at the new season of Tough Enough including the nature of the contract to the winner, Steve Austin talks WrestleMania 32, the Owen Hart DVD controversy, new movie projects with Dwayne Johnson and Dave Bautista, a night Raw is going to have to be special show next year, WWE injury notes, Fourth generation wrestler gets a WWE tryout, WWE angle news, When they had ideas for Justin Bieber at SummerSlam, Jerry Lawler day, Sheamus talks his career, WWE raising ticket prices for premium seats, WWE tryout notes, most popular shows on WWE Network, WWE Japan tour notes, why Jericho vs. Balor was put on the Japan show, Lesnar story involving the brother of a famous actor and notes and business of all the arena events from the past week.

    We look at last week’s UFC show in Australia, the heavyweight title picture, the Mark Hunt stoppage and match-by-match coverage.

    We also look at the latest Pro Wrestling NOAH major show, which included appearances by Kenta Kobashi and Yuji Nagata, as well as NOAH’s Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial tour coming up next month.

    We also have a business rundown for WWE & TNA and where things stand in the different categories.

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

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    Also in this week’s issue:

    –Wrestler fired once from major promotion, doesn’t last long on his return

    –The Santo Memorial tournament for 2015

    –Notes on the format of the AAA World Cup tournament

    –Who is now heading two promotions at the same time and why the move was made

    –Update on Dragon Gate’s King of Gate tournament

    –Minoru Suzuki promoting a show

    –New Japan lineups for all the big shows in June as well as the Dominion PPV in July

    –Notes on this year’s Best of the Super Junior tournament

    –Hall of Famer and health issues noted

    –Shinya Hashimoto Memorial show

    –Fujinami vs. Funaki Battle of Hall of Famers for the first time

    –Notes from the AGON promotions and main event pay

    –Notes on a promotion which claimed a TV deal and it falling apart

    –Details on all TNA television through mid-June, with matches, angles and destinations

    –A look at TNA’s Slammiversary show

    –Notes on TNA’s prospects on PPV

    –Update on Jeff Hardy

    –Notes on the best of five series between the Wolves vs. Aries & Roode

    –Update on TNA money issues

    –Update on TNA creative team

    –A look at those who returned to TV this past week and who is long and short-term

    –Who turned down an offer to come in

    –TNA announcing situation

    –Notes on TNA’s relationship with AAA

    –What happened with TNA and Wrestle-1

    –Can TNA talent work for GFW

    –Best stuff at the TNA tapings

    –Updates on UFC PPV numbers

    –Managers meeting and why

    –Dana White’s reaction regarding complaints about the Reebok deal

    –An interesting legal question stemming from the deal

    –UFC schedule notes

    –Anthony Pettis injury notes

    –Josh Barnett vs. Ryron Gracie

    –Metamoris news

    –Fight Pass promotion

    –New Fight Pass deals made

    –Rousey talks coaching vs. Cyborg

    –Lots of new UFC fights

    –Active UFC fighter sort of does a pro wrestling match

    –Huge Bellator signing of Olympian

    –This week’s Bellator show 

    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)

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    *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)

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    *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.

    MONDAY’S NEWS UPDATE

    –Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw and the latest MMA and pro wrestling news.  You can send questions to tonight’s show to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com

    –A judge ruled today in District Court in Nevada two things regarding the Wanderlei Silva vs. Nevada State Athletic Commission case:
    *The commission had the right to test and punish Silva even though he was not a licensed competitor in the state
    *The punishment of a lifetime ban and a $70,000 fine was too harsh (Nevada had no actual rules in place regarding treatment of someone who refused to take a test past it counts as a positive, but first positive isn’t a lifetime ban).
            The judge ordered a new hearing regarding punishment for Silva.  The Nevada announcement on Friday of specific penalties for offenses will close that loophole going forward.  Silva would likely have to be suspended at the same level as fighters who had failed drug tests for the first time.

            Silva’s lawyer, Ross Goodman, said they are looking at appealing the ruling based on the idea that Silva should not have been tested since he was not a licensed fighter in Nevada.

    –WWE was the No. 7 most searched thing yesterday on Google with 100,000.  That’s much lower than usual, as most B shows get to 200,000, but it kills a Demetrious Johnson UFC show.  Billboard Music Awards were No. 1.  The only sports term that beat it was the Los Angeles Clippers with 200,000.

    –Adam Rose on twitter wrote “Rosebuds are done!  Party over.”  I guess we’ll see at TV what that means.  But the entire entourage ring entrance looks to be history.

    –Paul Levesque will be doing a media conference call tomorrow to promote Wednesday night’s NXT Takeover special.  Still no word on what is going on with Hideo Itami, who has a shoulder injury.  They are still promoting Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn hard as the main event.  There was no weekend talk one way or the other on him. 

    –Jessica Aguilar, the WSOF strawweight champion, who many thought was the best in the world in that division, has gotten her release from the organization.  The expectation is that she’s moving to UFC.  WSOF sent out a press release stating that she was being released.  “We sat down with Jessica and her manager and we all agreed that she needs to move on to a place where she can compete against the best 115 pound women in the world,” said Ray Sefo, the WSOF President.

    –NBC Sports Network will be airing Thursday’s Beat the Streets wrestling show from Times Square via tape delay at midnight.

    –AXS starts its new season of New Japan Pro Wrestling at 9 p.m. on Friday night with the semifinals and finals of last year’s Best of the Super Junior tournament, featuring Ricochet.

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

    1969 – Toyonobori & Shozo Kobayashi beat Michael Nador & Ivan Strongoff in Paris to win the IWE tag team titles
    1974 – Bobby Ryan beat Jim Breaks in Hanley to win the British lightweight title
    1986 – Gran Cochisse beat Chamaco Velaquez to win the NWA middleweight title
    2013 – Zack Sabre Jr. beat Sha Samuels in Swanley to win the IPW UK All England title

    –Shinsuke Nakamura got himself photographed in front of the Rocky statue when in Philadelphia this past week.

    –Smash Wrestling from yesterday in Toronto:  Rip Impact & Space Monkey b Dan O’Hare & Plunkett, Tournament for a title shot:  Matt Cross (replacing Gregory Iron) b Tarik, Biff Busick b Scotty O’Shea, Tyson Dux b Drew Gulak, Candice LaRae b Brent Banks, Trevor Lee b Rich Swann, John Greed & Scott Hunter b Kirk Warmack & Shane Sabre, Johnny Gargano b Chris Hero to retain Smash title, Candice LaRae won five-way over Matt Cross, Biff Busick Trevor Lee, Tyson Dux and Matt Cross to become No. 1 contender. (thanks to Dave Musgrave)

    –One Championships has an iPPV on 5/22 from the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Kallang, Singapore headlined by Shinya Aoki defending the lightweight title against Koji Ando.

    –EWF from Saturday night in Rialto, CA:  RJ Ruiz b Eddie Mattson, Archnmedes b Wolftanus, Brandon Gatson b Brute Daddy, Uptown Andy Brown b Tommy Wilson-DQ (thanks to Frank Mott)

    –World Series of Fighting announced a 6/5 show from Edmonton on NBC Sports headlined by Lance Palmer (9-1) defending the featherweight title against Chris Horodecki (21-5-1) and Smealinho Rama (9-1) putting the heavyweight title up against Blagoi Ivanov (11-1).  The show will start on 9 p.m. Eastern.

    –The movie Pitch Perfect 2, where Lana has a small role, was No. 1 at the box office this weekend in its opening week with $70.3 million estimated.  Mad Max:  Fury Road, which former WWE wrestler Nathan Jones has a role in, was No. 2 at $44.40 million.  Furious 7, in week 7, was estimated at $3.6 million and in sixth place.  In Australia, one and two were reversed, but Pitch Perfect 2 was already released there last week so that explains it.  Furious 7 was No. 6 (thanks to James Stanios)

    –Axl Rotten is doing a Gofundme campaign as he needs two spinal surgeries on his cervical vertebrae and to walk again at http://www.gofundme.com/axlrotten

    –Steven Borden Jr., the son of Sting, is at a three-day rookie mini-camp right now with the Kansas City Chiefs.  He’s a long shot to make the team.  Borden played last season with the University of Kentucky and is the last son of Sting who is still active playing football. (thanks to Alex Marvez, Mike Gunter, Kevin Witt and many others)

    –It appears from close odds and lack of late movement in significant new directions that smart money did not come in on Payback.  

    –RFA runs on 6/5 from Broomfield, CO live on AXS TV with Ben Smith vs. Gilbert Smith for the welterweight title and Thiago Alves (not the UFC fighter of the same name) vs. Marcus Edwards as the co-main event.

    –Booker T talks Comipalooza this coming weekend in Houston, as well as Tough Enough, who from NXT has the most potential and his own promotion at

    http://redcarpetcrash.com/interview-wrestling-legend-booker-t-talks-comicpalooza-in-houston-and-the-next-big-wwe-superstars/ (thanks to Mark Harris)

    WWE NETWORK SCHEDULE FOR TOMORROW (thanks to Bert Duckwall)

    12:00 AM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Countdown Greatest High Flyers counts down the top ten greatest high flying superstars of all time!

    1:00 AM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Trinity’s inability to have sex frustrates Jon, and Bryan and Nikki shock Brie when they team up to stage an intervention.

    2:06 AM ET
    WWE NETWORK EXCLUSIVE The action continues live after Raw!

    2:11 AM ET
    FIRST LOOK First Look: It’s Good To Be King

    2:41 AM ET
    CULTURE SHOCK WITH COREY GRAVES Corey Graves gets a culture shock immersing himself within the fascinating world of Marvel Comics, from their headquarters in New York City!

    3:00 AM ET
    WCW STARRCADE 1988 Ric Flair defends the NWA World Title against Lex Luger. The Road Warriors vs. Sting and Dusty Rhodes for the NWA Tag Team Titles.

    6:00 AM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Countdown Greatest High Flyers counts down the top ten greatest high flying superstars of all time!

    7:00 AM ET
    WWE BEYOND THE RING The story of the one of the most distinctive and storied championships in the world of sports entertainment and the men who held it.

    8:00 AM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Trinity’s inability to have sex frustrates Jon, and Bryan and Nikki shock Brie when they team up to stage an intervention.

    9:00 AM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Countdown Greatest High Flyers counts down the top ten greatest high flying superstars of all time!

    10:00 AM ET
    WWE BEYOND THE RING The story of the one of the most distinctive and storied championships in the world of sports entertainment and the men who held it.

    11:00 AM ET
    TOTAL DIVAS Trinity’s inability to have sex frustrates Jon, and Bryan and Nikki shock Brie when they team up to stage an intervention.

    12:00 PM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Countdown Greatest High Flyers counts down the top ten greatest high flying superstars of all time!

    1:00 PM ET
    WWE BEYOND THE RING The story of the one of the most distinctive and storied championships in the world of sports entertainment and the men who held it.

    2:00 PM ET
    TOUGH ENOUGH Stone Cold Steve Austin enlists the help of four sexy WWE Divas and THQ video games to teach the remaining contestants all about creativity.

    3:00 PM ET
    TOUGH ENOUGH Legendary WWE Superstar The Rock and ‘Psych’ star James Roday give the remaining five contestants a lesson in charisma.

    4:00 PM ET
    MONDAY NIGHT WAR In an era of shifting loyalties, WWE and WCW would each build a cornerstone in order to achieve stability.

    5:00 PM ET
    WWE COUNTDOWN Counting down the top ten most stylish ring attire ever worn by a WWE Superstar.

    6:00 PM ET
    FIRST LOOK First Look: It’s Good To Be King

    6:30 PM ET
    WWE BEYOND THE RING Batista embodies his nickname ‘The Animal’. Relive Batista’s storied career with this biography of his life both inside the ring and out.

    8:00 PM ET
    TOUGH ENOUGH Legendary WWE Superstar The Rock and ‘Psych’ star James Roday give the remaining five contestants a lesson in charisma.

    9:00 PM ET
    WWE UNFILTERED WITH RENEE YOUNG In the premiere of Unfiltered, Renee Young hangs out with WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins for a fun and revealing conversation!

    9:07 PM ET
    MONDAY NIGHT WAR In an era of shifting loyalties, WWE and WCW would each build a cornerstone in order to achieve stability.

    10:01 PM ET
    WWE NXT The future is here. Witness the entertainers, the leading men and women, the Superstars of tomorrow — this is NXT!

    11:00 PM ET
    TOUGH ENOUGH Legendary WWE Superstar The Rock and ‘Psych’ star James Roday give the remaining five contestants a lesson in charisma.

  • WED. UPDATE: Gawker sues FBI over Hulk Hogan case, farewell David Letterman, Young Bucks in Rolling Stone, and more

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

    TV/show notes:

    WWE has NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable live on WWE Network at 8:00 p.m. ET with:

    * Kevin Owens (c) vs. Sami Zayn for the NXT Championship
    * Sasha Banks (c) vs. Becky Lynch for the NXT Women’s Championship
    * Blake and Murphy (c) vs. Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady for NXT Tag Team Championship
    * Finn Bálor vs. Tyler Breeze vs. Not Hideo Itami (Itami’s out for months, but he will be “represented” per yesterday’s conference call) to determine the number one contender to the NXT Championship
    * Baron Corbin vs. Rhyno
    * Bayley and Charlotte vs. Dana Brooke and Emma 

    Lucha Underground on El Rey at 8:00 p.m. ET. Official preview from El Rey: The Trios Titles are not done yet – tonight they will be defended in a match that is bound to be colossal. The winner who comes out on top will win the titles for their team. Meanwhile, Johnny Mundo has some explaining to do when Vampiro confronts him about his actions.”Shoots and Ladders” premieres on Wednesday, May 20th at 8:00PM ET/PT on El Rey Network.

    On Fox Sports 1, there’s a new UFC Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET, last week’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter at 9:00 p.m. ET, and a new episode of The Ultimate Fighter titled “Battle Wounds” at 10:00 p.m. ET. Official description: One fighter has trouble coping with the devastation of his most recent loss and begins to let it affect him, while two fighters who have a history inside the octagon are looking forward to a rematch to unleash the bad blood between them. Remember to add at least 20 minutes of DVR padding if you want to catch the “TUF Talk” segment that opens Fox Sports Live immediately following the show.

    **** 

    The newest issue of Figure Four Weekly is up on the site for subscribers (subscribe here) and being the first week of May, features an extensive article demystifying what Sweeps mean for ratings and how it affects the wrestling business in 2015:

    — What do Sweeps periods actually measure?

    — Do Sweeps matter for cable at all?

    — What wrestling companies are they relevant to these days?

    — What was their past significance?

    — And 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. 

    **** 

    The story behind the Elimination Chamber as a network special, why and how it came about, as well as a look at the next two WWE major shows, Payback and Elimination Chamber and NXT Takeover, is the lead story in this week’s Observer.  We also have a look at the injury situation with Daniel Bryan, Sami Zayn and Hideo Itami.  We also look at the Mayweather-Pacquiao business, New Japan & ROH working together for big shows, a detailed story on Global Force Wrestling including talent and television outlets and the TV scene, a lawsuit that has nothing to do with WWE & UFC, but where the result will be very important to both, Tough Enough, has NOAH turned the corner, as well as the monthly business rundowns for WWE & TNA.

    The latest Wrestling Observer: May 18, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Last minute Elimination Chamber special, Mayweather vs. Pacquiao destroys PPV records

    Web site subscriptions, which include access to both current and older newsletters as well as every audio show in the history of the site. Sign up now for as low as $9.99 per month!
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    If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.

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

    The lead story looks at the addition of the Elimination Chamber show, why this is being done, plans for the future and how this relates to it, the Elimination Chamber card as well as notes on the Chamber matches.  We also look at Daniel Bryan and the poor job of pushing his appearance and how they are pushing the Payback main event.

    We also look at the Mayweather-Pacquiao business, and how it breaks down, live event business, Vegas closed circuit, bar business, how much Mayweather and Pacquiao figure to earn, Mayweather talks rematch, why the fight was so big, and the state of PPV in 2015. 

    We also look at a big question as to how this relates to UFC going forward.

    We look at the historical implications of Ronda Rousey on the Sports Illustrated cover.

    We also have a rundown of ROH and New Japan working together in Philadelphia.

    We’ve got a major piece on Global Force Wrestling.  We look at the talent list, notes on the schedule for different talent, notes on the taping schedule, different TV stations they are talking with, Spike talks about getting into wrestling, the business ideas behind all this, as well as thoughts on the talent and both who is surprisingly not listed.

    We also look at the new season of Tough Enough including the nature of the contract to the winner, Steve Austin talks WrestleMania 32, the Owen Hart DVD controversy, new movie projects with Dwayne Johnson and Dave Bautista, a night Raw is going to have to be special show next year, WWE injury notes, Fourth generation wrestler gets a WWE tryout, WWE angle news, When they had ideas for Justin Bieber at SummerSlam, Jerry Lawler day, Sheamus talks his career, WWE raising ticket prices for premium seats, WWE tryout notes, most popular shows on WWE Network, WWE Japan tour notes, why Jericho vs. Balor was put on the Japan show, Lesnar story involving the brother of a famous actor and notes and business of all the arena events from the past week.

    We look at last week’s UFC show in Australia, the heavyweight title picture, the Mark Hunt stoppage and match-by-match coverage.

    We also look at the latest Pro Wrestling NOAH major show, which included appearances by Kenta Kobashi and Yuji Nagata, as well as NOAH’s Mitsuharu Misawa Memorial tour coming up next month.

    We also have a business rundown for WWE & TNA and where things stand in the different categories.

    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:

    –Wrestler fired once from major promotion, doesn’t last long on his return

    –The Santo Memorial tournament for 2015

    –Notes on the format of the AAA World Cup tournament

    –Who is now heading two promotions at the same time and why the move was made

    –Update on Dragon Gate’s King of Gate tournament

    –Minoru Suzuki promoting a show

    –New Japan lineups for all the big shows in June as well as the Dominion PPV in July

    –Notes on this year’s Best of the Super Junior tournament

    –Hall of Famer and health issues noted

    –Shinya Hashimoto Memorial show

    –Fujinami vs. Funaki Battle of Hall of Famers for the first time

    –Notes from the AGON promotions and main event pay

    –Notes on a promotion which claimed a TV deal and it falling apart

    –Details on all TNA television through mid-June, with matches, angles and destinations

    –A look at TNA’s Slammiversary show

    –Notes on TNA’s prospects on PPV

    –Update on Jeff Hardy

    –Notes on the best of five series between the Wolves vs. Aries & Roode

    –Update on TNA money issues

    –Update on TNA creative team

    –A look at those who returned to TV this past week and who is long and short-term

    –Who turned down an offer to come in

    –TNA announcing situation

    –Notes on TNA’s relationship with AAA

    –What happened with TNA and Wrestle-1

    –Can TNA talent work for GFW

    –Best stuff at the TNA tapings

    –Updates on UFC PPV numbers

    –Managers meeting and why

    –Dana White’s reaction regarding complaints about the Reebok deal

    –An interesting legal question stemming from the deal

    –UFC schedule notes

    –Anthony Pettis injury notes

    –Josh Barnett vs. Ryron Gracie

    –Metamoris news

    –Fight Pass promotion

    –New Fight Pass deals made

    –Rousey talks coaching vs. Cyborg

    –Lots of new UFC fights

    –Active UFC fighter sort of does a pro wrestling match

    –Huge Bellator signing of Olympian

    –This week’s Bellator show 

    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.

    ****

    Wednesday Daily Update

    — This is different. Tampa Bay Online is reporting that Gawker has sued the FBI for the records of their investigation into the leak of the Hulk Hogan/Heather Clem sex tape. Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker is still ongoing, and Gawker filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for more than 1,100 pages of records of the investigaton to help defend the Hogan lawsuit. The FOIA request was denied on privacy grounds, so Gawker resubmitted it. Then it was denied because the records involved a “pending or prospective” investigation. A Justice Department appeal was denied, so now Gawker is suing the FBI, arguing that there’s no such investigation.

    — Being that David Letterman bids television adieu tonight, what better way to commemerate the occasion here than linking the famous Jerry Lawler/Andy Kaufman segment, which frequently places on “greatest TV moments” lists? This specific YouTube video is the best version you’ll find, as includes everything relevant from the credits and the monologue as well as the complete interview with the uncensored version of Kaufman’s rant towards Lawler.

    Also make sure to check out:

    * Kaufman’s appearance introducing Freddie Blassie as his new manager while promoting “My Breakfast with Blassie” and the wrestling-themed Broadway play “Teaneck Tanzi,” which closed after two nights.

    * Killer Kowalski’s appearance during Letterman’s first year (Part 1, Part 2)

    * Vince McMahon’s appearance on Letterman’s New Year’s Eve 1985 special, where he serves as the show’s special correspondent to report on the first baby born in Nw York City in 1986. Vince doesn’t exactly do well or fit in, but it’s still a great skit.

    Letterman would bring up pro wrestling fairly regularly over the years, usually talking about watching Dick the Bruiser in Indianapolis. There’s also a great segment that I can’t find online where Debbie Harry (on the show to plug “Videodrome“) talks about how she and Chris Stein had gotten into watching both the WWF and Georgia Championship Wrestling on TV, but they preferred the Georgia wrestling because it was “funkier.”

    — RollingStone.com interviewed The Young Bucks. Great, long interview covering a ton of topics, including burning out on being their own bosses on the indie scene, hustling to sell merchandise, how they got booked into NJPW, the rise of the Bullet Club, and much more. Maybe the most notable quote sees Matt Jackson talking about working full-time for a single promotion: “We’re waiting for the right offer. When we do settle down, it’s going to be for the right dollar amount. We’re thinking of our families, so it’ll be what’s best for our families, ’cause we’ll be able to maximize our time at home while still being wrestlers.”

    — There are at least 32 lawsuits from across the U.S. regarding the idea that Manny Pacquiao’s secret shoulder injury amounted to defrauding customers. One lawsuit in Texas alleges racketeering. It looks like a panel of federal judges will have to determine which of these go on, which are consolidated, which are class action, and so on.

    — Some notes from Kris Zellner in his latest edition of The Lucha Report:

    CMLL pulled both Rush & Shocker from all of their bookings this week, Rush likely due to the public allegations that he attacked an Arena Mexico security guard and Shocker most likely due to personal issues.

    They also got the Atlantis vs. Octagon match pulled from the June 21st Chilanga Mask show on 6/21, as it looks like they’ll be working with each ther on the All Elite (outside promoter booking CMLL’s Arena Mexico) show the previous week.

    — Finn Balor talks to MTV UK about (briefly) meeting Vince McMahon for the first time as well as being able to catch up with the NJPW crew last week in Philadelphia.

    — UFC 187 Embedded Episode 2 features Donald Cerrone going scuba diving as well as both Daniel Cormier and Chris Weidman saying goodbye to their families before heading to the airport. Not the best episode aside from the scenery in the Cerrone segment.

    — Inside MMA returns to AXS TV after a few weeks off this Friday night at 12;30 a.m. ET (or whenever the Lion Fight Muay Thai card ends) with a show that includes interviews with Dana White, Donald Cerrone, and Dolph Lundgren. They have a preview of the Cerrone interview on the AXS TV Fights YouTube channel. That’s the same night as the premiere of the second cyle of New Japan Pro Wrestling shows (at 9:00 p.m. ET and 1:30 p.m. ET), and they’re also rerunning Michael Schiavello’s sit-down interview with Steve Austin at 8:00 p.m. ET.

    — The Fight Network’s Canadian and Turkish branches will be airing this Friday’s ONE Championship card at 8:30 a.m. ET. American subscribers (either on cable or omline) are presumably out of luck.

    — Jerry Lawler appeared on Cerrito Live on WHBQ radio in Memphis to promote his new Blu-Ray/DVD set that was released yesterday. Topics covered include how involved he was in the production of the set, including his dealings with WWE for Memphis footage.

    — ESPN talked to Bill Goldberg while he was at Citi Field promoting the Legends of Wrestling event that’s being held there on June 7th.

    — I have a new podcast up talking to wrestling memorabilia collector/historian Josh Watko about all sorts of collectibls from toys to trading cards to autographs to advertising items to records and everything in between. Really fun show if you’ve ever been into any of this stuff.

    — WUNC radio talked to former wrestling newsletter writer John Hitchcock about “Front Row Section D,” his new book about Carolinas wrestling.

    — RVA Magazine in Richmond reviewed this past Monday’s Raw as a live show.

    — Former WWE writer Kevin Eck reviewed Jim Ross’s one man show in Baltimore on his blog.

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

    1:00 AM ET
    CULTURE SHOCK WITH COREY GRAVES Corey Graves heads down to one of his favorite tattoo shops in the heart of New York City!

    1:10 AM ET
    WWE UNFILTERED WITH RENEE YOUNG In the premiere of Unfiltered, Renee Young hangs out with WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins for a fun and revealing conversation!

    1:30 AM ET
    FIRST LOOK First Look: It’s Good To Be King

    2:00 AM ET
    WWE BEYOND THE RING Batista embodies his nickname ‘The Animal’. Relive Batista’s storied career with this biography of his life both inside the ring and out.

    3:30 AM ET
    WWE QUICK HITS WWE Quick Hits 3 brings you some of the most unique, entertaining, and sometimes outrageous clips, unearthed from the depths of WWE Network.

    4:00 AM ET
    RAW FLASHBACK WWE Champion Sycho Sid gives a special in-ring interview. Plus, Bret Hart, Rocky Maivia, and many more in action!

    5:00 AM ET
    RAW FLASHBACK Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart come face-to-face in a highly volatile interview. Plus, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Goldust, and more in action!

    6:00 AM ET
    PRIME TIME WRESTLING On this Prime Time Wrestling, Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan tries to find himself. Plus, Iron Mike Sharpe, Macho Man Randy Savage, and more!

    8:00 AM ET
    WWE KING OF THE RING 1995 Eight men including The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, and Yokozuna compete for the crown in the annual King of the Ring Tournament and more.

    11:00 AM ET
    SMACKDOWN FLASHBACK Mankind faces Big Show in the main event with Triple H suspended 15 feet above the ring. The Rock vs. Al Snow in a steel cage and more.

    12:30 PM ET
    FIRST LOOK First Look: It’s Good To Be King

    1:00 PM ET
    CLASH OF THE CHAMPIONS Clash of the Champions XXI; Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas take on Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes for the Unified World Tag Team Titles.

    3:00 PM ET
    WCW MONDAY NITRO On this episode of WCW Monday Nitro Lex Luger puts his career on the line against Randy Savage. Hulk Hogan looks to confront The Giant.

    4:00 PM ET
    RAW FLASHBACK The 1-2-3 Kid once again shows Razor Ramon his determination to win. Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler unveils a surprise for Bret Hart.

    5:00 PM ET
    WCW WRESTLEWAR 1990 Ric Flair defends the NWA World Title against Lex Luger. Arn and Ole Anderson face The Steiner Brothers for the NWA Tag Team Titles.

    8:00 PM ET
    WCW MONDAY NITRO On this episode of WCW Monday Nitro Lex Luger puts his career on the line against Randy Savage. Hulk Hogan looks to confront The Giant.

    9:00 PM ET
    RAW FLASHBACK The 1-2-3 Kid once again shows Razor Ramon his determination to win. Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler unveils a surprise for Bret Hart.

    10:00 PM ET
    FIRST LOOK First Look: It’s Good To Be King

    10:30 PM ET
    CULTURE SHOCK WITH COREY GRAVES Corey Graves heads down to one of his favorite tattoo shops in the heart of New York City!

    11:00 PM ET
    WCW MONDAY NITRO On this episode of WCW Monday Nitro Lex Luger puts his career on the line against Randy Savage. Hulk Hogan looks to confront The Giant.

  • On this day in pro wrestling history (May 20): Bruno Sammartino vs. Killer Kowalski Texas Death Match, Sting vs. Steve Austin

    By Brian Hoops, WrestlingObserver.com

    1964 – In Minneapolis, MN; AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Wilbur Snyder.

    1971 – At Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas; Danny Little Bear & The Viking defeated Buddy Austin & Bob Orton and Harley Race defeated The Stomper in three falls.

    1974 – Bruno Sammartino defeated Killer Kowalski in the main event of a Texas Death Match in Madison Square Garden to retain the WWWF title.

    1976 – In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; Larry Hennig & Jos Leduc went to a no contest with Baron Von Raschke & Mad Dog Vachon and
    Nick Bockwinkel & Blackjack Lanza & Bobby Duncum beat Russ Francis & Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell in 2 out of 3 falls.

    1983 – NWA World champion Ric Flair defeated Dewey Robertson in St. Joseph, Missouri.

    1986 – In Rock HIll, SC; Wahoo McDaniel defeated NWA National Heavyweight Champion Tully Blanchard via disqualification and Dusty Rhodes & NWA U.S. Champion Magnum TA defeated NWA Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express in a Best 2 out of 3 falls match via disqualification.

    1987 – In Portland Oregon; Randy Savage pinned Tito Santana and WWF Tag Team Champions Hart Foundation defeated British Bulldogs in a steel cage match.

    1988 – In Norfolk, Virginia; NWA TV Champion Mike Rotundo pinned Jimmy Garvin and Dusty Rhodes, Lex Luger, Sting, & Nikita Koloff defeated NWA World Champion Ric Flair, NWA US Champion Barry Windham, NWA Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard via disqualification.

    1989 – In Philadelphia, PA; Rick Martel pinned Tito Santana; WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition defeated the Big Bossman & Akeem via disqualification and WWF champion Hulk Hogan pinned Randy Savage; In Greensburg, PA; AWA Champion Larry Zbyszko beat Wahoo McDaniel and Tommy Jammer & Ken Patera beat Badd Company Pat Tanaka & Paul Diamond.

    1992 – At Fort Irwin, California; WCW Light Heavyweight Champion Brian Pillman pinned Scotty Flamingo; WCW World Tag Team Champions Rick & Scott Steiner defeated Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko; WCW U.S. Champion Rick Rude defeated Ricky Steamboat; and WCW World Champion Sting pinned Steve Austin.

    1993 – Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue defeated Terry Gordy & Steve Williams for the All Japan World Tag Team Title in Sapporo, Japan.

    1994 – Smoky Mountain Wrestling ran Knoxville, Tennessee and its Volunteer Slam event. The Thrillseekers, Chris Jericho & Lance Storm defeated Well Dunn; SMW Tag Team Champions Brian Lee & Chris Candido (with Tammy Fytch) defeated The Rock N’ Roll Express, Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson in a No DQ, no time limit match and Bruiser Bedlam (with Jim Cornette) pinned Randy Savage (with Bob Armstrong).

    2001 – At the Judgement Day PPV in Sacramento, CA; Kane defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley in a chain match to win the IC Title.

    2007 – At the Judgement Day PPV; MVP defeated Chris Benoit in 2 straight falls to capture the United States Championship.

    2013 – Christian defeated Cody Rhodes to win the Intercontinental Title at the Over the Limit PPV.

  • WWE News: New match added to the Elimination Chamber show

    Nikki Bella will defend the Divas title in a three-way against Naomi and Paige on the 5/31 Elimination Chamber show from Corpus Christi.

  • Guest Column: 20 ways to improve pro wrestling

    Photo: WWE.com

    Submitted By Steve Helwagen of 247Sports.com

    If anybody here follows college basketball, you know they sought rules changes this year to improve the game. It looks like they will change their shot clock from 35 to 30 seconds to hopefully boost the tempo of the game. As I follow wrestling and understand how much it has changed in the last 30 years, I continue to hear learned columnists and commentators complain how this angle or this match or this interview or this gimmick just falls flat.

    It’s unfortunate that the first decade of TNA was largely a lost decade. Now that they seem intent on producing what most would believe is a quality product, they are on a low-power cable outlet and nobody really seems to still care. That’s sad because this has been some of Kurt Angle’s best work, even if it may be his swan song.

    ROH is as hot as it’s ever been. They have locked up their young stars and are building from within. Sinclair may be a frugal owner but I’d say they are just being prudent given the many millions of dollars TNA’s owners have lost. 

    WWE is in a state of transition, going from pay-per-views to the WWE Network format for its big shows. This transition is a marathon, not a sprint. When you factor in that WWE had to give the cable/dish companies a sizable percentage of its PPV revenue, this was a daring move to cut the cord.

    My feeling is we will come back in four or five years and will find that the WWE Network has provided the company with a steady stream of huge revenue. As for the quality of the WWE product, yes, there isn’t as much heat as we all saw watching the product growing up. It seems like they take two steps forward and then three steps back.

    It’s interesting to me that the cable/dish companies haven’t gone to ROH and/or TNA and offered monthly slots at discount prices to get them up and running as PPV vehicles. At any rate, they can’t change the shot clock in pro wrestling. But there are a lot of things that can be done to jump start the industry with WWE taking a leading role in doing that.

    Here are 20 of my outside-the-box thoughts on ways the WWE and wrestling can be improved:

    1 — Staleness Of Talent: John Cena, Randy Orton Jr., The Big Show and Kane have all been at or near the top of the cards in WWE for the last decade or even beyond in some cases. Jim Cornette on a recent podcast said something that struck me hard: “We can’t miss you if you never leave.”

    Yes, the territories are dead and gone and they’re never coming back. In the 1970s and early 1980s, guys were largely transient. They could spend eight months to a year in the Carolinas, then do the same at WWF, spend time in Georgia, go to the AWA and down to Florida or the Mid-South.

    That allowed the great personalities to get around to all of the major circuits and maximize their earning power. Once their time in one spot was done, they would start appearing in TV squashes in other territories before arriving to go fulltime at the house shows. But Cena, for instance, has only left WWE due to injuries a handful times in the last 10 years. It’s no wonder that fans boo his very appearance on the TitanTron.

    This is probably my biggest suggestion … but here goes: The WWE needs to reach out to TNA, ROH, New Japan, All Japan and whoever else makes sense to work with.

    They need to schedule and send their stars to work for those promotions. Cena doesn’t need to go to TNA and do televised jobs, by any mean. But I think it would freshen his character and allow guys like James Storm, Bobby Roode, Ethan Carter III and others to move up to WWE for a cup of coffee now and then. Then you bring back Cena as a surprise for the Royal Rumble or to save a fellow face during a key beatdown.

    A perfect example is Bray Wyatt. He outlived his usefulness in WWE the moment he lost to The Undertaker (if not months before when he was losing to Cena on every PPV). Send him away for a year and bring him back when the time is right as a killer again.

    Just conjure the possibilities if they re-opened the trading of talent with other promotions. One big issue would be pay. WWE can’t pay all of these guys top dollar just to have them on retainer. That’s an issue that would have to be worked through so everybody can flourish and survive. (Again: Think outside the box.)

    2 — WWE Must Invest In Other Promotions: One reason why WWE would or should be inclined to work with other promotions is they should all be in some sort of business together. WWE could become a minority partner with those groups. They could provide revenue streams for TNA and ROH though use of their archives on WWE Network and merchandising on WWE.com.

    WWE benefits because TNA and ROH are encouraged to build stars for the WWE to use and then move on after eight months or a year. The same applies for Japan. Do you think Cena or Daniel Bryan (if healthy) would be a great draw against the top Japanese stars?

    3 — Guest Appearances: You bring in some of the TNA and ROH guys for random shots on Raw in quasi-squash matches to get them over to the larger audience. Occasionally, you book crossover matches, maybe even double world title matches at some point.

    These guest appearances would help keep the TV shows fresh. You can also shoot angles to lead to those visiting stars to appear on the next PPV, etc. You also send WWE guys to those other shows for one-offs and to do interviews promoting WWE big events. Who wouldn’t want to see, say, Neville vs. A.J. Styles or Jay Briscoe on ROH? Or Chris Jericho vs. Bobby Roode on TNA?

    4 — Put Arena Shows on WWE Network: I know what I hear when this comes up: If you put the house show at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., online, who in their right mind would risk their life by going down there to see the live show? (Believe me, I covered the NCAA Tournament in Newark … if they ever put it there again somebody should be fired. Nice arena, terrible and dangerous downtown.)

    OK, WWE is partnered with the MLB Network on its web site. I am a Cincinnati Reds fan. Sitting here 100 miles away from Cincinnati, I can’t access any Reds games on MLB.com. I am blacked out due to my zip code or location of my internet connection, I presume.

    If their partner can black out live baseball games to local audiences and syphon people toward the live TV coverage on the regional sports networks, they can certainly help WWE black out, say, the New York metropolitan area for a house show in Newark. (Good luck getting in and out unharmed.)

    I would call it the Arena Series on WWE Network. You don’t have to worry about extra TV lights and big production values. Do it like the old days at MSG with a two- or three-camera shoot. Keep it simple. Have one announcer.

    You archive all of these shows for viewing on the web site maybe after a month or two. By taping them, you can bring some of the neat highlights to the TV shows. Heck, you can do title changes on house shows again.

    I think fans sitting at home on a Friday or Saturday night in, say, Cleveland, would love to see the local house show from San Diego or Phoenix if given the chance. This is hours of more live programming without any major expense. (Again, keep the production as simple as possible … that helps give it that “arena feel” like the old days.)

    Hey, if nobody tunes in and it isn’t worth it, you can always quietly stop doing it. Just gives Network viewers more value each week.

    5 — Develop Some Raw/Smackdown Synergy: How many times did Miz and Mizdow seemingly break up on Raw only to be back tagging on Smackdown in the same week? Please, for the love of God, once Smackdown is back on USA somebody needs to be in charge of storyline control.

    6 — Bring Back Squash Matches: Once or twice a show, it’s OK to have a guy you are trying to rebuild or get over or somebody new to the territory or visiting come out, make a personal appearance with a 90-second squash and cut a quick promo. These matches differentiate the special matches you build the show around.

    7 — Put The Big Matches On at 9 and 10 p.m.: This is an obvious one to deter a viewer to switch to another station at the top of the hour. They do this from time to time already.

    8 — Bring Back Time Limits and Draws: This is a no-brainer. Put a clock in the corner of the screen and build the excitement. It also gives you many more match endings.

    Most TV matches between lower level guys or squashes would be 10-minute time limit. They hit that 10-minute Broadway and you bring them back next week with a 15- or 20-minute time limit. You also have time limits of 30-, 45- and 60-minutes as needed. I’d say 30 minutes would stretch the bounds of what you’d want to show on TV. Once or twice a year, book an hourlong Iron Man Match. Those were fairly dramatic in their day.

    At house shows, you send guys out to do a good 20-minute Broadway on every show. Solves one match finish (not that a lot of thought goes into arena finishes right now).

    9 — Do Away With Distraction Finishes: The NFL has had instant replay for 20 years. Why can’t the WWE use replay after a commercial break to reverse a distraction finish or re-start a match?  Again, this gives you many more creative ways to end a match.

    10 — Bring Back Bob Backlund Booking: I was a big fan of the monthly MSG shows on USA Network. They usually put 8 or 9 MSG shows a year and 1 or 2 Capital Centre shows per year on USA.

    The Backlund (and Bruno Sammartino before him) Formula was simple. The heel of the month/No. 1 contender would come into MSG usually early in his WWE run. The first match would usually be a schmozz of some sort with a time limit draw, double DQ, single DQ, count-out or excessive blood finish. They might bring it back the second month and have another schmozz or decide that Backlund would finish the heel  off in two months. The third month was usually the blow-off, typically in a Texas Death Match or once a year in a steel cage match.

    He had some series with great heels like Pat Patterson, Jimmy Snuka and Superstar Graham that went four matches before the blow-off because they were doing turnaway business for all the lead-up matches. Some guys like Ivan Koloff, the Iron Sheik, Don Muraco and Greg Valentine were all cycled through twice – but their appearances were usually no sooner than two years apart. That made the “rematches” almost seem fresh (and for many newbies in the audience they were!)

    You schedule the schmozzes and blow-offs carefully. On a PPV or special event, there should only be one schmozz. If it’s in the title match, you can’t really have one otherwise than maybe a time limit draw. Let’s say Dean Ambrose is the champion. In two years, he can cycle through the likes of Abyss, Roman Reigns, Bobby Roode, Jay Briscoe, Go Shiozaki, Rusev, Ryback, Wyatt, Oron, Shinsuke Nakamura, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Bram, EC3, Bobby Lashley and on and on and on.

    The legend is that Vince McMahon met with Superstar Graham in 1976 and already knew he wanted him to beat Bruno in April 1977 and lose to Backlund in February 1978. Along the way he had MSG defenses against Bruno, Dusty Rhodes and Mil Mascaras. Just think about the business they did with that. The losers move on to one of the other circuits for six months or a year and then they come back.

    11 — Embrace Your History: WWE has thousands of hours of televised matches in its archives. Why can’t they do a WWE Network minute on Raw and Smackdown and show some of that great stuff maybe on anniversary dates. (Like on this day in 1980, Michael Hayes blinded Junkyard Dog at Atlanta’s Omni. It led to this match where JYD and Ted DiBiase got their revenge … You can see video like this and much more on the WWE Network.)

    12 — Institute An Onscreen Crawl: ESPN has a constant crawl across the bottom with scores and news headlines. Why can’t WWE and its partners do the same to promote live events and PPV/special events? You can scroll contender rankings for each belt, what’s coming up in this show, the house show schedule for the next month with ticket info and wrestling news from both inside and outside the WWE.

    13 — Keep NXT Coming: They are starting to see some real returns from NXT. Just keep that machine humming and watch the new stars come out. Just please protect them better than Neville’s run to start his WWE TV career.

    14 — Keep The Extra Titles Important: They are making strides with the U.S. and IC titles. There are so many great tag teams out there now that those belts should also be meaningful. Do a Light Heavyweight and a TV belt too if you want for my angles, opportunities.

    15 — Treat It Like A Real Sport: Call it wrestling, pro wrestling, sports entertainment … but above all else try and treat the competitions as sporting events.

    16 — Keep Raw Fresh: To do 3 fresh hours every week and over 150 hours a year on Raw, plus 2 hours a week and 100 hours a year on Smackdown, they will need to find a way to keep the shows fresh. This involves quality control, rotating the available talent and keeping track of matches and angles so things aren’t repeated too often.

    17 — More Renee Young: Whatever the other side of competent is, that’s Renee Young. She’s better than the women ESPN uses on its live events in many cases.

    18 — Book Upsets: It’s OK for the favorite to lose. It happens in UFC all the time. For wrestling to be as realistic as it can be, the underdog has to win clean every now and then. I’m not saying Zayn or Neville needed to beat Cena first month in. No reason why Rusev has not taken a clean win in their program, however. No reason at all.

    19 — Make It Fun: Not goofy like the music video crap they did with heels and faces singing together in 1985. But make most of the show fun … and when it needs to be serious make it serious.

    20 — Personality Interviews: The show when they were snowed in was a great change of pace. I would suggest that for a go-home Smackdown every once in a while. You don’t always need a live arena show. Take those two hours and run some match clips, some feature packages, some historical features on the event coming up that weekend and interviews with the big stars for that weekend’s shows.

    Steve Helwagen is an award-winning writer for 247Sports.com, where he is the Big Ten senior writer. He also covers Ohio State athletics for Bucknuts.com.

  • WWE 5-21-15 Smackdown spoilers: Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt

    Notes from tonight’s show:

    – Roman Reigns came out to talk about the Payback main event. He said he had fun with The Shield reunion and that he is entering Money in the Bank this year. Dean Ambrose came out and said that he was going to be champion before Money in the Bank, because he’s winning it at Elimination Chamber. Kane then came out and said Reigns would not be in Money in the Bank beacuse he lost two different title shots already at WrestleMania and Payback, and told Reigns he had the rest of the night off, while Ambrose would have a rematch with Bray Wyatt.

    – The Lucha Dragons over Tyson Kidd & Cesaro, Los Matadores, and The Ascension.  Both the Prime Time Players and New Day were on commentary.

    – Dolph Ziggler and Lana are together on an interview, leading to Dolph Ziggler beating King Barrett in a good match.

    – Paige did an interview and said she earned the No. 1 contendership in the Battle Royal and wants her title shot. Naomi and Tamina Snuka got in her face and attacked her. Nikki Bella made the save.

    – Ryback said he was winning the IC title at Elimination Chamber

    – R-Truth b Stardust

    – Axel Mania & Macho Mandow are not dead, as they beat Adam Rose & Heath Slater

    – Bo Dallas did an interview

    – Dean Ambrose b Bray Wyatt in a match that had interference by J&J Security, WWE Champion Seth Rollins and a Roman Reigns save.

  • On this day in pro wrestling history (May 19): Undertaker beats Hogan, Gagne’s first retirement match

    By Brian Hoops, Wrestling Observer.com

    1905 – Tom Jenkins defeated Frank Gotch to retain the American Heavyweight Championship in Madison Square Garden in New York City.

    1961 – In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; AWA Tag Team Champions Hard Boiled Haggerty & Gene Kiniski beat Whipper Billy Watson & Wilbur Snyder and AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Stan Kowalski.

    1963 – The Destroyer (Dick Beyer) defeated Rikidozan in Osaka, Japan,

    1966 – In Kansas City, Kansas; Pat O’Connor defeated The Butcher via DQ and Bob Ellis & The Mongolian Stomper defeated Bob Geigel & Bob Brown in three falls.

    1973 – In Peoria, Illinois; Dusty Rhodes won a 10 man battle royal by eliminating The Crusher; The Crusher beat Dusty Rhodes; Reggie Parks beat Dick Murdoch via DQ; Ken Patera beat Vic Rossitani; Ric Flair went to a time limit draw with Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell beat Khosrow Vaziri.

    1977 – Bruno Sammartino defeated Larry Zbyszko in the main event of a WWWF event in Worcester, MA.

    1980- In Madison Square Garden, Larry Zbyszko won a 16-man $15,000 battle royal; WWF World Champion Bob Backlund pinned WWF IC Champion Ken Patera in a Texas Death Match and Tony Atlas, Ivan Putski, & Pat Patterson defeated Peter Maivia & WWF Tag Team Champions the Wild Samoans in a Best 2 out of 3 falls match.

    1981 – It was officially announced by the American Wrestling Association that, due to Verne Gagne retiring and vacating the AWA World Heavyweight Title, Nick Bockwinkel, the former champion and current number one contender, was being awarded the belt.

    1981 – In Omaha, Nebraska; AWA Tag Team Champions Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura beat Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell and Baron Von Raschke beat John Studd.

    1986 – In Fayetteville, NC; NWA World Tag Team Champions The Midnight Express, Bobby Eaton & Dennis Condrey defeated Dusty Rhodes & NWA U.S. Champion Magnum TA.

    1990 – In Washington, DC; The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane) defeated Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk to win the U.S. Tag Team Title and Doom (Ron Simmons & Butch Reed) defeated Rick & Scott Steiner to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship.

    1991 – In St. Petersburg, FL at the SuperBrawl PPV; The Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin) defeated Tracey Smothers & Steve Armstrong to win the vacant United States Tag Team Title, Bobby Eaton defeated Arn Anderson to win the WCW Television Title and WCW World Champion Ric Flair defeated Tatsumi Fujinami to capture the NWA World Title.

    1995 – Razor Ramon defeated Jeff Jarrett in Montreal, Quebec to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship in a Ladder match.

    1996 – In Madison Square Garden, Henry & Phinneas Godwinn defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Skip & Zip to win the titles.

    2002 – In Nashville, Tennessee; the Undertaker defeated Hulk Hogan to capture the WWE Undisputed World Title and Rikishi & Rico beat Billy & Chuck to capture the WWE World Tag Titles.

    2011 – Abyss defeated Frankie Kazarian to win the TNA X Division Title.

    2013 – At the Extreme Rules PPV; Dean Ambrose defeated Kofi Kingston to win the United States Title and The Shield defeated Bryan Danielson & Kane to win the WWE Tag Team Titles. Also, Brock Lesnar defeated Triple H in a steel cage match.

  • WWE Raw TV ratings: May 18, 2015

    The day after WWE Payback combined with the lack of NBA competition saw Raw get out of its season record low trend, drawing 3.98 million viewers Monday night, up from 3.68 million last week.

    The good news is that the usual level of third hour drop didn’t take place, which means the audience found something more compelling than usual during the show.

    The three hours were:

    • 8 p.m. 4.00 million viewers
    • 9 p.m. 4.00 million viewers
    • 10 p.m. 3.96 million viewers