Category: Post Type article

By Brian Hoops, WrestlingObserver.com

1952 – Roger Mackay defeated The Masked Marvel (Buddy Knox) for the Pacific Coast Junior Heavyweight Title in Tacoma, Washington.

1963 – Brute Bernard and Skull Murphy defeated Buddy Austin and The Great Scott in Washington, DC to win the WWWF United States Tag Team Title; Bull Curry defeated Jack Dalton in Houston, Texas for the NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Title

1964 – Verne Gagne won the AWA World Heavyweight Title in Omaha, Nebraska by defeating Mad Dog Vachon.

1967 – Togo Shikuma and Chati Yokouchi defeated Jack Brisco and Gorgeous George, Jr. to win the Tri-State NWA United States Tag Team Title in Little Rock, Arkansas; Boris Malenko defeated Wahoo McDaniel for the NWA Florida Heavyweight Title in Tampa, Florida.

1969 – Archie Gouldie (The Mongolian Stomper) defeated Angelo Mosca for the Stampede North American Heavyweight Title in Calgary, Alberta; The Professional (Doug Gilbert) defeated El Mongol to win the vacant NWA Georgia Heavyweight Title in Atlanta, Georgia

1970 – The Claw defeated Moondog Mayne for the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title

1972 – Paul Jones defeated Jack Brisco to win the NWA Florida Heavyweight Title in Tampa, Florida

1973 – Johnny Powers defeated Eric the Animal to win the NWF North American Heavyweight Title in Buffalo, New York; In Honolulu, Hawaii; Wahoo McDaniel beat Billy Graham in an Indian Death Match and North American Champion Dusty Rhodes beat Billy Robinson via DQ.

1975 – Antonio Inoki defeated Killer Karl Krupp by submission to win the annual NJPW World League tournament.

1977 – Giant Baba defeated Jumbo Tsuruta to win the annual AJPW Champion’s Carnival tournament.

1980 – Al Madril and Tom Prichard defeated Jack Evans and Pampero Firpo to win the NWA Americas Tag Team Title; In St. Louis, Missouri; WWF World Champion Bob Backlund defeated Roger Kirby and Missouri State Champion Ken Patera defeated Kevin Von Erich.

1981 – Eddie Gilbert and Ricky Morton defeated The Akbar Army (Jerry Brown and Ron McFarlane) for the NWA Tri-State Tag Team Title in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Kim Song defeated Tommy Gilbert for the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Title in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

1983 – In Memphis, Tennessee, Bobby Eaton and Duke Myers defeated The Fabulous Ones (Steve Keirn and Stan Lane) for the AWA Southern Tag Team Title. At the same event, Ken Patera won the CWA/AWA International Heavyweight Title from Jerry Lawler, and Bill Dundee won the AWA Southern Heavyweight Title from Dutch Mantell.

1984 – Wojo Yawrenko defeated Al Tomko to win the Vancouver NWA Canadian Heavyweight Title in Abbotsford, British Columbia

1987 – The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane) defeated Ronnie Garvin and Barry Windham in the finals of a six-team tournament for the NWA United States Tag Team Title in Atlanta, Georgia

1988 – In Memphis, Tennessee; AWA Champion Jerry Lawler beat Bill Dundee; Robert Fuller beat Jeff Jarrett and CWA Champion Max Pain beat Curt Hennig via DQ.

1991 – Villano III defeated El Signo for the UWA World Light Heavyweight Title in Mexico City, Mexico. At the same event, Los Cowboys (Silver King and El Texano) won a tournament to become the first UWA World Tag Team Champions.

1992 – In Charleston, SC; Ricky Steamboat & Nikita Koloff defeated WCW US Champion Rick Rude & Steve Austin and WCW World Tag Team Champions Rick & Scott Steiner defeated Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko in a steel cage match.

1998 – In Anaheim, California; The Undertaker defeated Kane in a lights out match, WWF Tag Team Champions the Road Dogg & Billy Gunn defeated LOD 2000 and WWF World Champion Steve Austin pinned WWF Intercontinental Champion the Rock with Dude Love as special referee.

2010 – At the TNA Sacrifice PPV; Doug Williams defeated Frankie Kazarian to win the X Division Title.

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

We’re looking for your thoughts on last night’s ROH Global Wars show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

We’re also looking for reports on tonight’s WWE shows in Newark, DE, Atlantic City, NJ and the NXT show in Albany, NY, as well as any reports from the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame banquet in Amsterdam, NY at dave@wrestlingobserver.com

If you didn’t see the “UFC Fight Morning” card from Manila and want to check it out, the replays are:

Prelims: Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET and late Monday night/Tuesday morning at 1:00 a.m. ET, both on Fox Sports 2.

Main Card: Tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 2, late tonight/tomorrow morning at 3:00 a.m. ET on Fox Sports 1, Monday at 8:00 p.m. on Fox Sports 1, and then the usual multiple replays on Fox Sports 2 throughout the week.

ROH has Global Wars ’15 Night 2 tonight from the sold out Ted Reeve Arena in Toronto (live on internet PPV on ROHWrestling.com):

A.J. Styles & The Young Bucks vs. Kazuchika Okada, Rocky Romero, & Beretta
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Roderick Strong
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. ACH  & Matt Sydal
Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Dalton Castle
The Kingdom vs. Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson
Michael Elgin vs. Gedo
KUSHIDA vs. Will Ferrara

Plus the following advertised as appearing: Jay Briscoe, The Addiction, Jay Lethal w/ Truth Martini, Moose w/ Stokely Hathaway & Veda Scott, War Machine, Watanabe, Donovan Dijak, ReDragon, Silas Young, Cedric Alexander, and The Decade.

Tomorrow night we’ve got WWE Payback live on PPV and WWE Network from the Baltimore Arena: 
Seth Rollins (c) vs. Randy Orton vs. Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
John Cena vs. Rusev for the WWE U.S. Championship in an “I Quit” match
Ryback vs. Bray Wyatt
New Day (c) vs. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro for the WWE Tag Team Championship in a 2/3 falls match
Dolph Ziggler vs. Sheamus
Neville vs. King Barrett
The Meta Powers vs. The Ascension in the preshow match at 7:30 p.m. ET

Also tomorrow night, Shooto Brazil debuts on UFC Fight Pass at 6:00 p.m. ET with Shooto Brazil 54. Jason Chambers and Dominick Cruz (who’s fantastic as a desk analyst on UFC shows) will handle the announcing on the card, which has these fights scheduled:

Felipe Froes vs. Paulo Guerreiro for the featherweight title
Rony Torres vs. Benito Tavares
Luiz Cane vs. Ricardo Silva
Pedrinho Falcao vs. Thiago Manchinha
Guilherme Jacare vs. Edson de Souza
Felipe Colen vs. Alex Trem Bala
Oton Jasse vs. Marcio Breno
Ivan Paiva vs Antonio Pedreira
Yago Bryan vs. Carlos Eduardo
Guilhereme Doin vs. Denilson Oliveira
Matheus Nacacche vs. Alir de Oliveira
Elves Oliveira vs. Lucas Bigous

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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. 

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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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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.

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Saturday Daily Update

— Elsewhere on the site:

– Former WWE writer Joe Franciosi, who was most recently part of the Championship Wrestling from Hollywood creative team, passed away after suffering a heart attack.

– No official word yet, but Brie Bella appeared to suffer a shoulder injury last night in State College, PA.

— If you missed the UFC card from Manila and didn’t DVR it, the replays of the main card are definitely worth a look if just for Mark Munoz’s retirement fight against Luke Barnatt. Really nice, classy moment to cap off a very entertaining fight with a loud, partisan crowd hanging onto everything Munoz did. Neil Magny vs. Hyun Gyu Lim and the Frankie Edgar vs. Urijah Faber main event are also well worth checking out.

— UFC announced today that their debut card in Seoul, South Korea will take place on November 28th.

— Also, for those who have been waiting on ROH to get the Philadelphia shows from this week up on their site as VOD purchases, night 1 (Briscoes vs. Nakamura and Okada main event) is now available, which is a couple days earlier than had been anticipated. 

— The first obvious Billy Corgan fingerprints were on Impact last night, as The Dollhouse’s new entrance music is “Doll Parts” by Hole, complete with a graphic plugging the song courtesy of Geffen Records and so on. Corgan and Courtney Love have been friends on and off for almost 25 years.

— WMAR TV in Baltimore spoke to Jim Ross in advance of his “An Evening With Jim Ross” one man show tonight in the city. The text is mostly explaining his show, but there’s some nice insight in the video clip.

— If you play the WWE Supercard mobile game, they’re giving away 300 free credits if you log into the game before the Payback PPV this weekend. Cat Daddy Games, the developer, doesn’t do free credits for its games very often, so if you play Supercard at all, make sure to load it up and collect the credits.

— Last night, Jeff Jarrett defeated NWA Western States Heritage Champion Matt Riviera to win the title in King City, CA at an NWA Vendetta Pro event.

— Sheamus talked to Delaware Online answering fan questions to promote tonight’s card in Newark at the Bob Carpenter Center. Great quote about what his favorite match was when he was growing up and why: “When Bret Hart won King of the Ring and beat Bam Bam Bigelow. I just loved watching Bret get beat down and beat down, but would still keep coming back. He had a lot of resilience and was able to take a beating. When you look at a lot of kids’ super heroes, good guys, they were the ones who seemed more human to me because he would take punishment, but he would still come back.

Every match, he looked like he’d been through a war. That definitely struck a cord with me. Like I’ve never been a fan of Supermans or God-like super heroes. I’m more into human aspects. That’s why I’m a fan of the Daredevil TV series. I think it’s really cool. I think that’s why people can relate to it. He goes through war and overcomes the odds. Never the biggest guy, but had more heart than anybody.”

— A few preview videos have popped up online of WWE’s new Jerry Lawler Blu-Ray/DVD set that comes out Tuesday: The documentary intro, a teaser of the Andy Kaufman segment, and also a glimpse into the segment about Lawler first going to the WWF in 1993.

— Today in history note for May 16th:

28 years ago, the Midnight Express of Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane won the United States Tag Team Title tournament about six weeks after Lane replaced Dennis Condrey, who had disappeared without a trace. Cornette kept up with every territory’s TV show during his downtime, and when it became clear that Condrey wasn’t coming back, Cornette had planned on contacting Tom Prichard (working in Alabama) for the spot. Before that could happen, Stan Lane, who was hired via Jim Crockett Promotions taking over Florida, was suggested by Jim Crockett Jr. Since Cornette, Eaton, and Lane were all old friends from Memphis, it immediately clicked that this was the perfect arrangement. Prichard would eventually join Lane as Cornette’s Heavenly Bodies in Smoky Mountain Wrestling.

The Eaton/Lane team had a different role from the Eaton/Condrey team, which the U.S. Tag Title win kind of signified. With Condrey, they were a main event or near main event level team in the World Tag Title hunt and major, heavy heat getting angles with teams like The Road Warriors and Dusty Rhodes/Magnum T.A. The Lane team was more about having action-packed upper-midcard matches, especially on major shows, and that’s what they’re best remembered for.

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

12:30 AM ET
LIVE! WITH CHRIS JERICHO Chris Jericho brings his provocative and candid podcast to WWE Network with his first one-hour LIVE interview with WWE Superstar John Cena.

1:30 AM ET
THIS WEEK IN WWE Get caught up on all the highlights from Raw and SmackDown with This Week in WWE.

2:00 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.

3:00 AM 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.

4:00 AM ET
MONDAY NIGHT WAR Jericho shed his cruiserweight stigmas to make his mark on both WWE and WCW throughout the Monday Night War.

5:00 AM ET
WWE COUNTDOWN Countdown Greatest High Flyers counts down the top ten greatest high flying superstars of all time!

6:00 AM ET
WWE SUPERSTARS Stardust arrives from the fifth dimension to battle R-Truth. Plus, Kalisto is in singles action against Heath Slater.

7:00 AM ET
WWE NXT With one week until Takeover, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens meet face to face in the ring to determine the fate of their NXT Championship Match.

8:00 AM 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.

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

11:00 AM ET
THIS WEEK IN WWE Get caught up on all the highlights from Raw and SmackDown with This Week in WWE. 

11:30 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.

1:00 PM ET
WWE COUNTDOWN From the Texas Rattle Snake to Teddy Long, this episode will take a look at the top ten personalities ever to hold the title of GM.

2:00 PM ET
WWE COUNTDOWN Countdown Greatest High Flyers counts down the top ten greatest high flying superstars of all time!

3:00 PM ET
TOUGH ENOUGH WWE Superstar Rey Mysterio and former NBA star John Salley are on hand to offer advice about teamwork to the dwindling group.

4:00 PM ET
TOUGH ENOUGH Former Tough Enough winner and John Morrison help contestants stay focused on a treacherous ropes course that gives Eric serious trouble.

5:00 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.

5:55 PM ET
WWE 24 In this edition of WWE 24, we reveal the personal story of this rising star, his family and his memorable experience at Wrestlemania 31.

6:30 PM ET
THIS WEEK IN WWE Get caught up on all the highlights from Raw and SmackDown with This Week in WWE.

7:00 PM ET
WWE PAYBACK 2015 KICKOFF WWE Payback Kickoff LIVE from Baltimore. Renee Young, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves and Booker T preview WWE Payback.

8:00 PM ET
WWE PAYBACK 2015 What goes around comes around as John Cena, Roman Reigns, and more of your favorite Superstars look to settle their scores at WWE Payback!

11:00 PM ET
WWE PAYBACK 2015 What goes around comes around as John Cena, Roman Reigns, and more of your favorite Superstars look to settle their scores at WWE Payback!