The WWE announced today a new group of signings to developmental deals with the company.
Babatunde Alyegbusi – Alyegbusi got some publicity as something of a gimmick signing of the Minnesota Vikings last year as a 6-foot-9, 350 pound football player from Poland. He didn’t make the team, but his size got pub. The Observer had already reported his recent tryout.
Bianca Blair – Blair is a Crossfit competitor who was an All-American at the hurdles at the University of Tennessee and has been featured in a number of women’s fitness magazines.
Nikola Bogojevic – Bogojevic was a bronze medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2014 Pan American Games and was training with the Olympic wrestling team.
Carolyn Dunning – Dunning is a bikini contest competitor within the bodybuilding bikini world.
Macey Estrella – A woman wrestler who trained with American Premier Wrestling who a Marine Corps SWAT team background.
Nicola Glencross – Better known as Nikki Storm, she has wrestled all over the world including with top women’s groups like Stardom and Shine, as well as many of the U.K. based promotions.
Terrance Jean-Jacques – A 6-foot-3, 265 pound All-American wrestler from the University of Iowa and University of Rhode Island.
Deniella Kamela – Kamela was on-air talent working for Fox Sports Arizona and trained under Rikishi and Gangrel at the Knoxx Pro Wrestling School in Southern California and was a cheerleader for the Arizona Cardinals and dance team member of the Phoenix Suns.
Michael Nicholls – The Australian-based Mikey Nicholls, who agreed to the deal last year but just started at the Performance Center recently.
Shane Veryzer – Better known as Shane Haste, he and Nicholls were a tag team in Pro Wrestling NOAH and the pair have extensive experience, including winning the Tag Team of the Year award in Japan in 2013.
TNA Wrestling, effective immediately, will no longer air a Tuesday night replay on Pop TV.
The only airing of the show tomorrow will be at 9 p.m. Eastern and 6 p.m. Pacific time.
Impact will have a second airing on Pop TV on Saturday mornings at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time.
But any change of time slots isn’t the best thing right now when they are in negotiations to sell a stake in the company and it’s most valuable asset was nationwide prime time coverage, and the new time slots aren’t strong for the West Coast.
TNA has no house shows scheduled at this point and it’s next TV tapings are 4/21 to 4/24 in Orlando at Universal.
Kansas City, Kansas: – MWA World Heavyweight Champion John Pesek and Everette Marshall drew 1 -1 – Wladek Zbyszko beat Sol Slagel
1934
St. Louis, Missouri: – World Heavyweight Champion Jim Londos beat Dick Shikat – Ray Steele beat Pete Schuh – Orville Brown beat George Zaharias – Charley Strack beat Milo Steinborn
1945
San Jose, California: – Earl McCready defeated Dean Detton for the San Francisco Pacific Coast Heavyweight Title
1955
Tulsa, Oklahoma: – Ed Francis defeated Baron Michele Leone to win the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title
1956
Regina, Saskatchewan: – George Gordienko defeated Lou Newman to win the Calgary NWA Canadian Heavyweight Title
1957
Amarillo, Texas: – Don Curtis and Dizzy Davis defeated Great Bolo and Kurt Von Poppenheim for the Amarillo NWA North American Tag Team Title
1963
Washington, D.C.: – Buddy Rogers is officially presented the WWWF World Heavyweight Title belt
1967
Baton Rouge, Louisiana: – Frank and Jack Dalton defeated Danny Little Bear and Bobby Fields to win the Gulf Coast NWA United States Tag Team Titles
Savannah, Georgia: – Enrique and Ramon Torres defeated Gene and Lars Anderson for the Georgia NWA Southern Tag Team Title
1969
Los Angeles, California: – Alfonso Dantés and Mil Máscaras defeated The Black Angels for the NWA Americas Tag Team Titles
Mexico City, Mexico: – Raul Mata defeated Dr. Wagner to win the vacant Mexican National Light Heavyweight Title
1970
Jacksonville, Florida: – Dale Lewis defeated Bob Orton for the Florida NWA Southern Heavyweight Title
1973
Knoxville, Tennessee: – Don and Ron Wright defeated The Fabulous Kangaroos (Al Costello and Don Kent) to win the Mid-America NWA World Tag Team Titles
1974
Kansas City, Missouri: – Tokyo Joe defeated Frank Valois – The Interns (w/ Dr. Ken Ramey) defeated Bull Bullinski & Mike George – Don Fargo defeated The Viking – Chris Taylor & Pat O’Connor defeated Bob Brown & Karl Steiger – Terry Funk defeated Bob Orton – Andre the Giant & Reggie Parks defeated Lord Alfred Hayes & Roger Kirby – Omar Atlas & Bobby Whitlock defeated Billy Howard & Percy Pringle – Chris Taylor and Bob Brown were co-winners of a 22-man Battle Royal
1976
Guadalajara, Mexico: – Dr. Wagner defeated Alfonso Dantés for the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Title
1977
Memphis, Tennessee: – Jerry Lawler defeated Rocky Johnson to win the Mid-America NWA Southern Heavyweight Title
Hiroshima, Japan: – Shinobu Aso and Yumi Ikeshita defeated The Beauty Pair (Jackie Sato and Maki Ueda) to win the WWWA World Tag Team Titles
1979
Mexico City, Mexico: – Perro Aguayo defeated Gran Hamada for the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Title
1981
– Jay Youngblood won the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title
1982
Guadalajara, Mexico: – Sangre Chicana defeated Atsushi Onita for the NWA International Junior Heavyweight Title
Orlando, Florida: – Bruce Reed and Sweet Brown Sugar defeated Dory Funk, Jr. and David Von Erich to win the Florida NWA North American Tag Team Titles
Dallas, Texas: – King Kong Bundy and Bugsy McGraw defeated Kerry Von Erich and Al Madril for the World Class American Tag Team Titles
1983
Birmingham, Alabama: – Bob Armstrong defeated Ken Lucas for the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Title
Memphis, Tennessee: – No Referee in the Ring: Jerry Lawler beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel dq – Southern Tag Team Champions The Moondogs beat Fabulous Ones dq – Southern Champion Bill Dundee dcor Dutch Mantel – Handicap Match, Hair vs Hair: Stagger Lee & Terry Taylor beat Plowboy Frazier & Jimmy Hart & Bobby Eaton (Frazier lost his hair) – Masks at Stake, Texas Tornado Match: The Galaxians beat Rock & Roll Express – Duke Myers beat Bobby Fulton – Bruise Brothers beat Steve O & Carl Fergie
1987
Kansas City, Kansas – AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Bulldog Bob Brown – Pork Chop Cash & Ken Timbs beat Rick McCord & Bart Batten to win Central States tag title – Lumberjack match: Warlord beat Earthquake Ferris – Rip Rogers beat Joe Lightfoot – Stoney Burke beat Karl Kovac – Debbie Combs beat Penny Mitchell
1995
Dallas, Texas: – The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express defeated Dick Murdoch and Randy Rhodes to win the vacant NWA World Tag Team Title in a tournament final
1999
WCW Spring Stampede: Tacoma, Washington: – Scott Steiner pinned Booker T to win the vacant WCW United States Heavyweight Title in the finals of a tournament – Diamond Dallas Page defeated WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan and Sting in a Fatal Four-Way match, to win the title – Goldberg pinned Kevin Nash – Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko (with Arn Anderson) defeated Raven and Saturn
2003
OVW Spring Breakout: Louisville, Kentucky: – Chris Cage and Mark Jindrak defeated Orlando Jordan and Mark Magnus – Nova pinned Christopher Nowinski – OVW Southern Tag Team Champions A.P.A. (Bradshaw and Ron Simmons) defeated Lance Cade and René Duprée to retain the title – WWE World Tag Team Champion Kane pinned Matt Morgan – Chris Benoit, Nick Dinsmore and Johnny Jeter defeated Rob Conway, The Damaja and OVW Heavyweight Champion Doug Basham in a 30-minute Iron Man match, 2 falls to 1
2013
– Chavo Guerrero & Hernandez defeated Austin Aires and Bobby Roode in a 2 out of 3 falls match for the TNA World Tag Team Titles – Taryn Terrell defeated Gail Kim – TNA World Title/Full Metal Mayhem Match: Bully Ray defeated Jeff Hardy
New Japan just announced lineups for its next two major shows, coming off angles earlier today at the Invasion Attack show.
The first show will be on 4/29 in Kumamoto which will be a 4 a.m. Eastern and 1 a.m Pacific show on a late Thursday night/early Friday morning from Kumamoto Grand Messe.
Kenny Omega vs. Michael Elgin for the IWGP IC title will headline, plus a grudge match with Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale, Katsuyori Shibata vs. Yuji Nagata for the Never Open wight title and Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta defend the IWGP jr. tag title against Ricochet & Matt Sydal.
New IWGP heavyweight champion Tetsuya Naito and former champion Kazuchika Okada are in an eight-man with Los Ingobernables de Japon of Naito & Evil & Bushi & Seiya Sanada vs. Chaos of Okada & Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto & Will Ospreay.
The annual Wrestling Dontaku show is 5/3 at the Fukuoka Convention Center, which is a downsize for the usual International Center that they drew poorly in for G-1. Matches announced so far are Kushida vs. Jushin Liger for the IWGP jr. title, Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa defend the IWGP tag titles against former champions Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma, Goto vs Evil, Okada vs. Sanada and Naito vs. Ishii for the IWGP heavyweight title.
Cody Hall is expected to be okay after a major scare at today’s Invasion Attack show at Sumo Hall in Tokyo.
Hall, who wasn’t wrestling, was one of six people on the floor when Nick Jackson did a swanton off the balcony of the building during the Young Bucks & Kenny Omega Never trios title defense against Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin & Yoshitatsu. Jackson landed mostly on Hall but not in a manner that looked scary. Upon landing you could see Nick talking to him and the match then continued.
Hall never moved and was carried out on a stretcher.
The report we got is that he was examined and there was not a concussion and no fractures. The belief is that he suffered a very bad stinger.
Part of the story of the match was that Yoshitatsu, whose career nearly Cody Hall is expected to be okay after a major scare at today’s Invasion Attack show at Sumo Hall in Tokyo.
Kansas City, Kansas: – Tarzan Kowalski beat Jim Henry 2 out of 3 falls – Sonny Myers and Bob Orton Sr. drew in 45-minutes (no falls)
1956
Topeka, Kansas: – Richard Brown defeated Iron Mike DiBiase for the Central States Title
1958
Kansas City, Kansas: – Otto Von Krupp beat Don Curtis – Bobby Bruns, Thor Hagen and Sonny Myers beat Bob Geigel, Lee Henning and Bull Montana – Rip Hawk beat Joe Hamilton – Thor Hagen drew Lee Henning (20:00)
1962
Minneapolis, Minnesota: – AWA Champion Mr. M beat Doug Gilbert – AWA Tag Team Champions Bob Geigel & Stan Kowalski beat Dale Lewis & Joe Scarpello – Tiny Mills beat Roy Collins – Ricky Lopez beat Blackjack Daniels
1975
Omaha, Nebraska: – Andre the Giant & Ivan Putski beat Baron Von Raschke & Horst Hoffman 2 out of 3 falls – Superstar Graham beat Nick Bockwinkel – Billy Robinson beat Buddy Wolff – Greg Gagne beat Bobby Heenan – Khosrow Vaziri beat Paul Perschmann
1976
Minneapolis, Minnesota: – AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Chris Taylor dq – Mad Dog Vachon beat Pampero Firpo – Bobby Duncum & Bobby Heenan beat Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell – Baron Von Raschke beat Billy Red Cloud – Russ Francis drew Kim Duk – Blackjack Lanza beat Dick Blood
1978
Toronto, Ontario, Canada: – Andre the Giant beat Ken Patera by countout – Peter Maivia & Billy Robinson beat Angelo Mosca & Super Destroyer dq – Verne Gagne beat Zimba Khan – The Crusher beat Gary McLaughlin – Gorilla Monsoon beat Tarzan Tyler – Dewey Robertson beat Kim Chang – Lord Alfred Hayes beat Steve Bolus – Dominic Denucci beat Terry Yorkston – Chris Tolos drew The Wildman
1981
Denver, Colorado: – AWA Champion Verne Gagne beat Nick Bockwinkel – Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & John Studd – Baron Von Raschke beat Adrian Adonis – Jesse Ventura beat Buck Zumhofe – George Gadaski beat Billy Howard – Tito Santana beat Bobby Heenan
1987
Calgary, Alberta, Canada: – Owen Hart defeated Makhan Signh to win the Stampede North American Title
1999 Tokyo, Japan: – Jushin Liger & The Great Sasuke defeated Dr Wagner Jr & Kendo Kashin to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team belts
2001
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: – Jeff Hardy defeated Triple H for the WWF Intercontinental Title
I took in the opening show of the Champion Carnival for All Japan. It was a really hot show, and even though I’m a big supporter of current AJPW even I was surprised by the attendance they did. Korakuen was not far off being packed. Had to be the best crowd they’ve drawn there in a while.
The undercard was fun with the stand-out actually ending up being The Bodyguard vs young Naoya Nomura. The rookie stepped up huge and gave a great performance en route to getting a big upset win. He looked alot more ready for the spot than Jake Lee who faced Atsushi Aoki in the opener. Jun Akiyama vs Super Tiger was on it’s way to being fantastic match when it ended abruptly at the 8 minute mark after Akiyama was KO’d and referee Kohei Wada called for the doctor and the bell rang. Can’t say for sure that it was a work but my instinct tells me it was Akiyama trying to get the outsider over for the tour. It was really well played by Wada and Jun especially. Felt very legit.
The novelty match of the undercard was an 8 man legends tag with a combined age of 436 and 10 months! It was amazingly my second time seeing Dory Funk Jr. wrestle this week. The star of the match was Masanobu Fuchi.
This show was all about the main event though. An absolute classic 30 minute draw between Triple Crown champ Kento Miyahara and Kengo Mashimo. This may have been the best performance of both men’s careers. Miyahara is stepping up in a big way since the departure of Go Shiozaki and Akebono, and the injury of Suwama. The company has been put on his back and he’s carrying it. He looked every bit the ace they need here.
Mashimo was off the charts good. New Japan really missed the boat on him in 2013. He has such a command over the situation when he’s in the ring. His facial expressions are perfect for a greasy heel with a chip on his shoulder trying to knock off a pretty boy ace. This performance he had with Miyahara would have been perfect for a title match with Okada.
The story of the match was Mashimo going at Miyahara’s arm like a pitbull, but the champ firing back with knee strikes and kicks to get a reprieve. It built and built to the point around the 25 minute mark when you realised they were fighting the clock as well as each other. The final few minutes were frantic as a result and the crowd was losing its mind.
Post match, Mashimo glared at the title, and he deserves a shot after this match. A rematch after the tournament could easily do a great crowd because everyone in Korakuen tonight lived and died with this match.
– There was a crazy amount of Naito support. We were seeing Los Ingobernables de Japón shirts from the station by our hotel all the way to Sumo Hall and then at the venue, it was covered in them.
– The line was wrapping around the building which regulars noted was not a normal occurrence.
– The merch was flying off the tables in the building. The scene down by the LIJ section was crazy, and really came across like a super hot product.
– The crowd was insane live, and was really heated the whole way through the show.
– Not many in the crowd knew Will Ospreay going in, but he was a star by the time he left. Many people were asking me about him after his match. In our section, a bunch of the Japanese fans were trying to chant for him, although they found the name a bit tricky!
-All of the confrontations to set up future matches got big reactions, particularly Omega vs. Elgin.
-The atmosphere for the main event was off the charts. The crowd was firmly behind Naito but they were never disrespectful to Okada. Naito’s post-match promo got over big.
Simple match with Jose pinning Moss clean for the victory
Elias Sampson vs. Corey Hollis
Hollis being from Charleston got a huge pop! Crowd chanted “Play Freebird” at Sampson so he started playing it and made the lyrics heelish by taunting the crowd. Sampson pins Hollis clean for the victory.
Carmella vs. Eva Marie
Pre-match, Carmella walked around ring with a fans sign “Eva sucks”. Eva pins Carmella with the help of putting her feet on the ropes. Post match, Carmella punishes Eva Marie until she rolls out of the ring.
Blake vs. Alex Riley
Nothing special. Riley pinned Blake clean for the victory.
NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha vs. The Revival
Great storytelling match. This match drew my non-wrestling fan wife in and she loved it. Alpha retains belts over Revival via pinfall.
Intermission for 20 minutes. Crowd pops loud for a picture of Bayley on the screen.
Austin Aries vs. Manny Andrade
Manny won the crowd over big time. He moonsaulted off the middle rope, landed on his feet and flipped into a backflip on Aries. Maybe the biggest pop of the night for that move. Aries pinned Manny for the victory and post-match, the contenders shook hands. Aries gets on the mic and puts over Manny although Manny has already won the crowd over during the match.
NXT Women’s Champion Asuka vs. Peyton Royce
Royce controlled most of the match but Asuka wins in the end via submission with the Asuka lock.
Tye Dillinger and Baron Corbin vs. Nakamura and NXT Champion Finn Balor
Crowd chants “take your shirt off” at Corbin because he is wrestling in a shirt. Match stops and he finally takes shirt off to reveal a second shirt under that. Crowd pops. Balor’s offense was Flair chop heavy and he did the Flair strut a few times during the match. Of course crowd loves it. Balor pins Dillinger for the victory. Balor and Nakamura get on the mic post match and thank the fans and NXT universe for the support.
Sexy Star is the new Lucha Underground champion, winning Aztec Warfare 3 Saturday during the company’s tapings in Boyle Heights, California.
Matanza Cueto, who had been undefeated up until this point, was pinned by Rey Mysterio halfway through the match after a Canadian destroyer. Pentagon was taken out by four Asian women (possibly Angela Fong and Io Shirai, Mayu Iwatani and Kaiji Hojo from the Stardom promotion.)
It came down to Sexy Star and Mil Muertes. Muertes kept missing table spots and finally went for a top rope Flatliner, but Sexy shoved him off and through a table, hitting the top rope stomp for the pin and title victory.
The show will air sometime in early-2017 as part of the promotion’s third season. There will be more tapings Sunday featuring Stardom’s Shirai, Iwatani and Hojo, three of the best female wrestlers in the world who are also in town for Monday’s Vendetta Pro show in Las Vegas, NV.
Bellator’s Aaron Pico will be going for an Olympic wrestling team berth tonight when he faces Frank Molinaro in the 143 pound weight division final.
Pico, 19, from Whittier CA, is attempting to become the first teenager to make the Olympic team in freestyle wrestling in 40 years.
Pico has two prior wins over Molinaro, but Molinaro has had a killer tournament thus far in beating Logan Steiber, the four-time NCAA champion, as well a Brent Metcalf, one of the best U.S. wrestlers of the modern era, and like Steiber, a former Hodge trophy winner.
Pico and Ed Ruth were both signed by Bellator as amateur stars who will debut in MMA after the Olympics, or sooner if they fail to make the Olympic team.
Pico, was considered perhaps the best teenage prospect in decades as he was named pound-for-pound the best high school wrestlers in the country while only a freshman, where he went 42-0, with no close bouts, in taking the California state title. He was world champion in his age group in 2013, and against older competitors in the junior division, took third in the 2014 and 2015 world championships.
Still, because of how loaded the 143 pound division was, he was considered a long shot to make the team. With Metcalf, Steiber, Molinaro, Jordan Oliver, Zain Retheford, Jayson Ness and Reece Humphrey, it was considered the most loaded division in the tournament.
While growing up, Pico won a number of boxing and Pankration tournaments and Bellator signed him in 2014, shortly after his 18th birthday, to essentially a futures contract and he was introduced on one of the company’s major shows.
The finals at 143 will air on NBC Sports tonight at some point after 7 p.m. Eastern and 4 p.m. Pacific.
Many of the top wrestlers in the recent NCAA tournament are competing for slots on the team. Nick Gwiazdowski, who placed second at heavyweight, is in the super heavyweight division with the finals tonight.
Kyle Snyder, 20, the NCAA heavyweight champion and defending world champion, will compete at 215 pounds, will be in a tournament tomorrow.
