Paypress testing

Category: Post Type article

  • Alan 4L’s Japanese Wrestling Notebook: NJPW & NOAH’s big weekend

    New Japan

    NJPW had two shows with titles on the line this past weekend. On Saturday, they were in Nagoya and headlined with a Satoshi Kojima challenge against NEVER Openweight Champion Katsuyori Shibata. After a successful defense, Shibata was challenged by Kojima’s partner Hiroyoshi Tenzan. It looks like the story will be Shibata having to go through “The Third Generation” one by one. The other man who fits that bill is Yuji Nagata and that could end up being a title match in May or June.

    Sunday in Amagasaki, Tomohiro Ishii retained his ROH Television championship against the man who gave him a run for his money in the New Japan Cup – EVIL. After 21 minutes, Ishii hit the vertical fall brainbuster for the win. The NEVER 6 Man titles were also on the line as The Elite (Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks) took on Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin & Juice Robinson. The Elite retained following a One Winged Angel by Omega on Juice.

    NOAH

    NOAH had a big show at Korakuen Hall and the results were rather questionable as they continue to have Suzuki-gun run through the NOAH babyfaces in an almost nWo-esque fashion. Whilst Takashi Sugiura retaining against Katsuhiko Nakajima was not a suprise, the tag title match result of Killer Elite Squad defeating Go Shiozaki & Maybach Taniguchi was rather head scratching.

    KES has held the belts for over a year now and the babyface team needed this win, particularly with Shiozaki the man who needs to be belt as the man to conquer Sugiura. The one set of titles that did change hands were the junior tag titles as Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge dropped their straps to Kenou and Hajime Ohara.

    Today, DDT and Dragon Gate took the stage with big shows in Sumo Hall and Wakayama respectively. At its 19th anniversary show before a sold-out 7000 fans, DDT had its K-OD title up for grabs in a big match between Isami Kodaka and multi-time former champion HARASHIMA. Whilst the Open The Dream Gate featured a main event of Shingo Takagi defending against Ryo Jimmy Saito in front of 1500.

    Get your DDT results here and your Dragon Gate results here.

  • WWE Wilkes-Barre, PA, live results: Bray & Braun vs. Kane & Big Show

    Submitted by Kyle Barns – Sunday

    Ryback defeated Erick Rowan

    The match was pretty good and even, lots of false finishes where Rowan was almost going to win, but Ryback came back with the shellshock to get the victory. The “Feed me more” chant must have broken out at least 10 times, and by the end people were going nuts for the Big Guy, save for one “Goldberg” chant that broke out before the finish by a bunch of drunk guys.

    Goldust defeated Curtis Axel (w/ Bo Dallas)

    Axel and Dallas came out to a meh reaction, and once they got into the ring Bo cut a promo on how the Outcasts were starting their new winning streak tonight. Goldust came out to a big pop. The match was pretty alright with Goldust winning via a roll up, which led to the Outcasts attacking him. Chants for R-truth started and low and behold he came out. Truth did his “Whats up?!” routine with the crowd and he and Goldust started dancing and hugged each other to the crowd chanting “Golden Truth”, it was pretty alright.

    U.S. Champion Kalisto defeated Dolph Ziggler and Rusev to retain

    No doubt the match of the night. Originally it was supposed to be Kalisto vs. Del Rio but Del Rio was nowhere to be found. Ziggler was the most over and people absolutely hated Rusev. Several USA chants broke out while Lana was trying to make the crowd stand in attention so she could sing Ru-Ru a heel version of “You are my Sunshine”.

    The match started with Kalisto teaming with Ziggler to take out Rusev who then grabbed a mic and told the ref that the other two weren’t being fair. Some big triple threat spots and Kalisto’s flippy shit made the crowd go nuts, especially when all three men superkicked each other. Kalisto hit the Salida Del Sol on Rusev for the win. After the match Ziggler put his hand out to shake Kalisto’s, and he kicked it away before hugging him and the two left.

    Sin Cara defeated Fernando (or Diego? I don’t remember)

    This was right after intermission and absolutely no one cared. I felt kinda bad for both guys, but nothing really engaged the crowd except for when one of the Matadores got up on the turnbuckle and did some heely shit towards the crowd, which proved to be very effective.

    Becky Lynch defeated Naomi (w/ Tamina) with Alica Fox as the special guest referee

    Becky is super over, everyone went nuts when she came out, Naomi did a decent job in getting the crowd worked up for the match. It was rather quick, with Becky winning via DQ and Team B.A.D. proceeded to beat her down while a “We Want Sasha” chant broke out. Then the Boss’s music hit and down she came to clear house. After kicking B.A.D. out of the ring she challenged them to a tag team match, which they initially refused but Lynch and Sasha threw them back into the ring. A pretty fantastic tag team match followed where it made everyone look strong. Sasha hit the Bank Statement on Tamina for the win.

    Kane and Big Show defeated Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman

     The Wyatts came out to a decent mix of cheers and boos. The place exploded when Big Show and Kane came out. What shocked me the most in this match was Bray, he was taking some pretty hard bumps throughout the whole match. There was a few instances where he sold his back as if something bad happened, and he had Strowman lift him up onto the apron several times but after a while he was wrestling as he normally would. I did notice he didn’t do his spider walk completely as Kane sat up and attacked him before he could do it.

    Strowman was a beast in this match, up close he looks like a legitimate monster and beat up Show and Kane quite a bit. Several “Strowman” chants broke out throughout the match. It ended with the Eater of Pins being knocked out by the Big Show, to the biggest pop of the night.

  • Stan Hansen WWE Hall of Fame announcement tonight on RAW

    Although this has been well known for some time and reported in WWE’s WrestleMania magazine, it will be announced on Raw tonight that Stan Hansen will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year.

    WWE used Tokyo Sports, a major daily sports newspaper in Japan, to break the story, since Hansen is best known in Japan as probably the biggest American star in that country of the last 40 years.

    The WWE later put the story up on their web site.

    Hansen was a college football star at West Texas State University, which produced a number of future wrestling superstars including Dory & Terry Funk, Bruiser Brody, Dusty Rhodes, Bobby Duncum, Tully Blanchard, Ted DiBiase and Tito Santana.

    Hansen didn’t make an NFL roster but did play pro football with the Detroit Wheels of the World Football League with Brody.  The two would go onto to becoming what is now considered the legendary tag team of Japan, as the two main evented for several years in All Japan and never lost one match via pinfall.

    Hansen’s original career break came in a 1976 program with Bruno Sammartino.  He accidentally dropped Sammartino on his head on a bodyslam, which broke Samamrtino’s neck.  Sammartino returned far earlier than he should have too save a Shea Stadium show that was part of the Antonio Inoki vs. Muhammad Ali closed-circuit, and drew 32,000 fans for the rematch.

    The success made Hansen a major star, and he for years divided his time between New Japan Pro Wrestling and Georgia Championship Wrestling.  He had a second WWF run against champion Bob Backlund, and once beat Antonio Inoki for the NWF title.  He also had what is generally considered the greatest match in the career of Andre the Giant in New Japan.

    Giant Baba then raided Hansen from New Japan, using the Funks as conduits.  Hansen was the top foreign star with All Japan for two decades, working with every top star that ever came through that promotion,  and also had runs as headliners in the AWA, where he was world champion, and WCW, where he was U.S. champion.

  • Daily pro wrestling history 03/21: Steiner Brothers win the IWGP World Tag Team Titles

    1923

    St. Louis, Missouri:
    – Stanislaus Zbyszko beat Cliff Binckley 
    – Jim Londos beat Ivan Linow 
    – Renato Gardini beat Jatrinda Gobar 
    – Al Wasem beat George Webster 

    1945

    Des Moines, Iowa:
    – World Heavyweight Champion Orville Brown beat Kola Kwariani in 2 out of 3 falls
    – Chief Little Wolf beat Jack Kennedy 
    – Al Caddell beat Count Von Zuppi by dq

    1957

    Toronto, Ontario, Canada:
    – Whipper” Billy Watson beat Gene Kiniski on a disqualification
    – Pat O’Connor  beat Dick Hutton on a disqualification
    – The Miller Brothers, Bill and Ed beat Tex McKenzie and the Mighty Ursus
    – The Tolos Brothers, Chris and John beat The Gallagher Brothers
    – Lee Henning and Bob Nanor drew

    Kansas City, Kansas:
    – World Tag Team Title match: Ernie Dusek and Emil Dusek beat Bob Orton and Rip Hawk to retain the titles 2 falls to 1
    – Mighty Atlas beat Sailor Morgan 
    – Thor Hagen beat Bozo Brown 
    – Ernie Dusek beat Rip Hawk

    1972 

    – Billy Red Cloud defeated Art Thomas to win the WWA World Heavyweight Title

    1973

    Kansas City, Kansas:
    – Argentina Zuma & Omar Atlas fought Abe Jacobs & Mike George to a draw
    – Steve Bolus defeated Benny Ramirez
    – Tex McKenzie defeated Jim Dalton
    – Bob Brown defeated The Viking
    – Rufus R. Jones & Bob Geigel & Bobo Johnson defeated Togo the Great & Tokyo Joe & Percival A. Friend
    – Harley Race fought Roger Kirby to a draw in three falls

    1976

    Veracruz, Mexico:
    – El Audaz defeated Rey Mendoza for the UWA World Light Heavyweight Title 

    1980 

    – Roddy Piper and Rick Martel defeated the Sheepherders to win the NWA Pacific Tag Team Titles

    1981 

     Bayamón, Puerto Rico:
    – Tommy Gilbert defeated Medico II to win the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Title 

    1986 

    Vancouver, British Columbia:
    – Ron Ritchie defeated Kerry Brown to win the Stampede North American Heavyweight Title 

    1991

    Tokyo, Japan:
    – WCW World Tag Team Champions Rick & Scott Steiner defeated IWGP Tag Team Champions Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki to win the titles 
    – IWGP Champion Tatsumi Fujinami pinned NWA/WCW World Champion Ric Flair to win the NWA World Title
    – IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Jushin Liger pinned Akira Nogami 
    – WCW TV Champion Arn Anderson & Barry Windham defeated Mr. Saito & Masahiro Chono 
    – Big Van Vader & Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Doom
    – The Great Muta pinned Sting

    1993 

    Mexico City, Mexico:
    – Xóchitl Hamada defeated Bull Nakano in  to win the CMLL World Women’s Title

    1999 

    Asbury Park, New Jersey:
    – ECW World Heavyweight Champion Taz defeated FTW World Heavyweight Champion Sabu (with Bill Alfonso) to unify both titles
    – ECW World Television Champion Rob Van Dam (with Bill Alfonso) pinned Jerry Lynn to retain the title
    – Tommy Dreamer and Shane Douglas (with Francine) defeated The Impact Players (Justin Credible and Lance Storm with Dawn Marie)

    2000 

    San Antonio, Texas:
    – American Dragon (Bryan Danielson) and Spanky (Brian Kendrick) defeated The Board of Education (Ruben Cruz and Jeromy Sage) to win the Texas Wrestling Alliance Tag Team Titles

    2004 

    Cleveland, Ohio:
    – Ray Rowe defeated Chad Collyer for the Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling Unified Heavyweight Title

    Maple Grove, Minnesota:
    – Pretty Boy Delgado defeated Gage Octane to win the Steel Domain Wrestling Television Title 

    2007 

    Tokyo, Japan:
    – Yuji Nagata won the third-annual New Japan Cup tournament by defeating Togi Makabe

    2010

    TNA Destination X: Orlando, Florida:
    – Kaz defeated Brian Kendrick, Amazing Red and Christophers Daniels in a Four Way Ladder Match for #1 contender status for X-Division championship
    – Ultimate X Match: The Motor City Machineguns defeated Generation Me to become #1 contenders of the TNA Tag Team championship
    – TNA X-Division champion Doug Williams defeated Shannon Moore to retain the title
    – TNA Tag Team champions Matt Morgan & Hernandez defeated Beer Money to retain the titles
    – TNA champion AJ Styles defeated Abyss to retain title

  • Evolve 57 iPPV results: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Drew Gulak; Matt Riddle vs. Chris Hero

    From Brooklyn NY, and via iPPV 

    Ethan Page beat Fred Yehi

    During the match, Page would offer to shake Yehi’s hand, yet would end up being chopped. Ethan Page wins with the Package Piledriver, Page and Yehi do end up shaking hands post match before Anthony Nese comes out and attacks Page from behind with a chair.Nese says fat guys like Page don’t belong in a wrestling ring. Caleb Konley joins Nese in the ring while Page is carried out by the refs. Konley says he’s wrestling Thatcher tonight finally after a year. 

    TJ Perkins beat Tommaso Ciampa

    “F TNA” chants to start the match as Perkins laughs. Ciampa hits the Project Ciampa, but TJP kicks out at two, Ciampa goes for a second one yet TJP escapes to put Ciampa in his Figure Four Deathlock to get the win.

    Matt Riddle beat Chris Hero

    Hero hit a spike piledriver, pulls off his elbow pad and strikes Riddle right in the temple yet Riddle kicks out. Hero goes for another piledriver yet Riddle counters with a triangle submission forcing Hero to tap.

    – EVOLVE tag title match is supposed to be up next but Gargano comes out and tells the crowd that Galloway’s flight from Orlando has been delayed and ask for more time. Caleb Konley attacks Gargano from behind and demands for Thatcher to come out so they can have their match right now. Thatcher is on his way out but Sami Callihan cheap shots him from behind. 

    EVOLVE Champion Timothy Thatcher beat Caleb Konley for The Evolve Championship

    A lot of interference from Andrea during this match before Thatcher got her out of the way. The finish saw Thatcher putting Konley in a armbar to retain the title. 

    – Matt Riddle is out to tell Thatcher at least he didn’t have to cheat tonight. He calls Thatcher trash and wants a rematch for the title April 1st in Dallas. Thatcher agrees and Riddle says he’s not gonna cheap shot Thatcher, instead he hits him with a jumping knee and knocks Thatcher out. 

    Sami Callihan beat Tracy Williams

    Callihan wins with the Cinderblock Forearm to the back of the neck.

    Zack Sabre Jr. beat Drew Gulak

    Sabre’s boot came undone so he just took it off, Gulak capitalized by body slamming Sabres ankle into the ropes 5 times. Sabre and Gulak exchange roll-ups, Sabre counters the wins with a unique submission. 

    – Chris Hero is out to say when he hears Best In The World he doesn’t think about Zack Sabre Jr. He thinks about Bryan Danielson, who he’s beat. He thinks about CM Punk, who he’s beat. Hero says Sabre can’t claim to be the best unless he has beaten him, which he hasn’t. Sabre says he’ll see him in Dallas. Gulak wants the mic and tells Hero that he shouldn’t be worried about Sabre he should be worried about Catchpoint. 

    Evolve Tag Team Champions Drew Galloway and Johnny Gargano beat Team Tremendous

    Some great action here as expected, and the finish saw Galloway hitting the Future Shock DDT on Dan Berry to retain the titles in their first defense.

  • New Japan Road to Invasion Attack results: ROH TV Champion Ishii vs. Evil

    Here is a full report for the 3/20 New Japan Road to Invasion Attack show from Hyogo, Japan. This show wasn’t aired live, but can be seen in full on New Japan World via individual matches.

    Roppongi Vice vs. Jay White and David Finlay

    Solid match. Finlay and White are really good as a team and do all the young lion stuff really well at this point. Both of them show great fire when doing their comeback.Romero hit a suicide dive on Finlay on the outside while Beretta pinned White with the Dudebuster.

    Kushida vs. Gedo

    This was really good. Gedo is excellent at what he does and Kushida is one of the best in the planet. They worked a good while with Gedo getting in control for most of the match. Kushida cut him off and and had some good back and forth from there, with some really good near falls. The crowd was into it as well. Kushida had Gedo in the kimura lock at one point but Gedo escaped. Kushida rolled around, got it back on and Gedo tapped.

    Yoshi-Hashi, Kazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata

    Your typical New Japan six man, though I’ve seen better. Nothing too wrong, but a lot of comedy and a lot of these guys don’t mix well together. Yano got the win for his team after a low blow on both Taguchi and Nakanishi, rolling up the latter for the win.

    Katsuyori Shibata and Captain New Japan vs. Tencozy

    Gee, I wonder who is taking the fall here. The problem with CNJ is that he almost never wins, so you already know who is losing before the match even starts. It’s not even like Honma where he’s so great people will buy into anything; there’s just not much you can do with CNJ beyond the opening bout. This was all an angle to continue towards a Tenzan/Shibata match for the NEVER title, as Tenzan challenged after Kojima lost his title match. Match was fine but tough to get into considering. Tenzan locked in the anaconda vise on CNJ and he tapped out quickly.

    Shibata and Tenzan had a staredown after the match.

    Cody Hall, Yujiro Takahashi, Tama Tonga and Bad Luck Fale vs. Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask

    Standard eight man tag. Not much to talk about. Tiger Mask didn’t have the NWA Jr. title with him as he lost it on 3/19 back to Steve Anthony, so even though they teased another Liger/Tiger match, it probably is out of the books now. Tama Tonga got the win, pinning Tiger Mask with the waistlock DDT.

    Never Six Man Tag Team Champions Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin and Juice Robinson

    Good, crazy six man as you’d expect from a Bucks match. Omega had a bunch of weapons and used them freely during the match, using his trash can and the new spraycan they bring to the ring (maybe it’s Febreze? Who knows). Tanahashi and Omega had some good back and forth towards the end. Maybe they’re keeping that title situation alive? Faces mounted a good comeback, but Robinson got isolated after his team mates were laid out with superkicks and Omega pinned him with the One Winged Angel to retain the titles.

    Hirooki Goto & Kazuchika Okada vs. Bushi and Tetsuya Naito

    This was fine, but never really felt it. I think it was just the way it was positioned on the card. Goto has debuted new red gear during this tour as he’s officially in Chaos. Goto and Bushi worked each other, as did Naito and Okada since they’re headlining Invasion Attack. Goto hit his knee neckbreaker on Bushi (does he really need to do that to someone who’s been out months due to a bad neck?) then hit a new finisher, sort of like a reverse slam into a knee neckbreaker, for the win.

    Okada and Naito had a staredown after the match, but Naito simply walked away before anything went down.

    ROH TV Champion Tomohiro Ishii vs. Evil

    Very good match. Ishii was his stiff self as usual and Evil is coming into his own as a worker. Not at the same level as Ishii, obviously, but he held his own here. Lots of lariats and back and forth action in general. This was stiff, but not to the level you’d see from normal Ishii matches where he destroys himself. Lots of back and forth towards the end. Evil kicked out of the sliding D. They both went for double headbutts and they fell to the floor. Evil clonked Ishii with a lariat and went for the STO but Ishii fought back. Ishii hit a running knee to the face and hit the brainbuster for the win.

    Overall a pretty solid card. The main event was good, the Young Bucks six man was good and Kushida/Gedo was good as well. Those three matches are priorities.

  • Daily pro wrestling history (03/20): Razor Ramon wins WWF IC Title in a Ladder Match

    1965

    St. Paul, Minnesota:
    – The Crusher beat Larry Hennig COR
    – Mighty Igor Vodik & Ivan Kalmikoff beat Bob Boyer & Tiny Mills
    – Billy Red Cloud beat Great Dane
    – Harley Race beat Paul Caruso

    1972

    – Danny Hodge defeated Dr X to win the NWA Junior Heavyweight Title

    1974

    San Antonio, Texas:
    – Non Title Match: Jose Lothario & Bob Orton Jr beat AWA Tag Team Champions Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens
    – Blackjack Lanza beat Ivan Putski
    – Bob Roop beat Great Mephisto
    – The Texan beat Jerry Oates
    – Black Angus beat Roger Kirby
    – Bull Ramos beat Doug Somers

    1975

    Kansas City, Kansas:
    – Omar Atlas & Mike George defeated Tommy Martin & Terry Martin
    – Chuck O’Connor defeated Abdul Zaatar
    – Lord Alfred Hayes defeated Akio Sato
    – Ed Wiskowski fought Pat O’Connor to a draw
    – Jerry Oates & Ted Oates defeated Oki Shikina & Yasu Fuji
    – Andre the Giant defeated Bob Brown

    1977

    Toronto, Ontario, Canada:
    – Crazy Luke Graham and The Sheik beat Tony (Cannonball) Parisi and Bobo Brazil 
    – Chief Jay Strongbow and Stan Stasiak defeated Ivan Koloff and Reginald Love
    – The Crusaders, Billy Red Lyons and Dewey Robertson retained the international tag team title going to a 30 minute draw against The Wildman and Geeto Mongol
    – Ken Patera defeated The Beast 
    – Michel Barone and Steve Bolus beat Chris Tolos and Lou Klein 

    Minneapolis, Minnesota:
    – Non Title Match: Ray Stevens beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel
    – Angelo Mosca beat Peter Maivia
    – Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell drew Lord Alfred Hayes & Roger Kirby
    – Pedro Morales beat Super Destroyer dq
    – Billy Robinson beat Bill Francis
    – Larry Hennig beat Moose Morowski

    1978 

    Madison Square Garden:
    – Superstar Billy Graham defeated WWWF World Champion Bob Backlund when match was stopped due to blood stoppage
    – Andre The Giant, Mil Mascaras & Dusty Rhodes defeated Mr. Fuji, Toru Tanaka & Ken Patera

    1983 

    Madison Square Garden:
    – WWF World Champion Bob Backlund defeated Intercontinental Champion Don Muraco in a Texas Death match 
    – Andre The Giant, Jimmy Snuka & Rocky Johnson defeated Big John Studd, Afa & Capt. Lou Albano in a three out of five falls match
    – Superstar Billy Graham defeated Jules Strongbow

    Denver, Colorado:
    – AWA World Champion Nick Bockwinkel defeated Rick Martel 
    – AWA World Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell defeated Jerry Blackwell and Sheik Adnan El Kassey
    – Hulk Hogan no contest Jesse Ventura
    – Jerry Lawler beat Ken Patera
    – Brad Rheingans beat John Tolos

    1994 

    WWF Wrestlemania X: Madison Square Garden
    – Razor Ramon defeated Shawn Michaels in a ladder match to retain the undisputed Intercontinental Title 
    – Bret Hart pinned Yokozuna to win the WWF World Title
    – Owen Hart pinned Bret Hart
    – Randy Savage defeated Crush in a Falls Count Anywhere 
    – WWF champion Yokozuna defeated Lex Luger by disqualification

    2009

    ROH 7th Anniversary Show: New York City:
    – Roderick Strong and Erick Stevens defeated Rhett Titus and Kenny King
    – Jerry Lynn defeated Mike Quackenbush
    – Tyler Black, Necro Butcher, and Delirious defeated Jimmy Jacobs, Brodie Lee, and Austin Aries
    – Bryan Danielson and Colt Cabana defeated Bison Smith and Jimmy Rave
    – Kevin Steen and El Generico defeated the American Wolves to retain the ROH World Tag Team Title
    – ROH Champion Nigel McGuiness defeated KENTA to retain the title

  • NXT Wauchula, FL, live results: Sami Zayn vs. Manny Andrade; 3 title matches

    Submitted by Erik Wilkinson

    Rich Swann defeated “The Drifter” Elias Samson with a rollup

    Before the match, Samson sang a heelish song about “Wachulula,” to ring announcer Dasha Fuentes, only to be interrupted by Swann’s music.  Average opener, with Samson milking the crowd for cheap heat by insulting the young children in the crowd and Swann playing a strong babyface with his comebacks.

    Nia Jax defeated Carmella with her legdrop finisher

    Carmella got a great reaction from the kids in attendance, but needed the 20 or so hardcore NXT fans in the crowd to help with her catchphrases. The attendance was under 200 for a venue set up with 230 seats, so chants were difficult to sustain all night.  Carmella’s in-ring presence has gotten stronger with time, but Nia Jax appears to have peaked after the Takeover match with Bayley in London.

    Tye Dillinger defeated Riddick Moss with his single-knee facebreaker finisher

    Dillinger is a talented live performer, engaging an audience that was not as familiar with him as the bigger stars on the card.  The “10” chant works as a hook in telling a story, and Moss was a good foil as they built to the finish.  If there was an award for “Biggest Overachiever” tonight, Dillinger would earn my vote.

    – Aliyah came out for a promo. Unlike the other mid-card promos that recent Tough Enough contestants and new signees have been making, this ran under 30 seconds in length. She sounded like she was suffering from a head cold.  After she mentioned the Bayley/Asuka NXT women’s title match at TakeOver: Dallas, Aliyah said that she would be lined up for a title shot.

    – NXT Women’s Champion Bayley defeated Emma with the Bayley-to-Belly

    As my favorite performer in NXT, I continue to marvel at the phenomenon that Bayley has become at live events.  Her merchandise sells strongly, the number of fans who bring signs for her (especially young kids) are plentiful, and the connection she makes with an audience is special.  Well-worked match by both women, building to a dramatic closing sequence.  

    – Sami Zayn defeated Manny Andrade with the Helluva Kick

    Excellent mat work and counter wrestling from these two, as none of the performers were taking any unnecessary risks.  Both teased dives to the outside, but stuck to the basics.  Andrade is adapting well to the WWE style, after seeing him a number of times since his arrival.  After the match, Zayn put his opponent front and center with a handshake, retreating backstage for Andrade to get a warm reception from the crowd.

    – American Alpha (Jordan/Gable) defeated The Revival (Dash/Dawson) by DQ in an NXT Tag Team Championship match

    These two teams have crafted a solid story for their match at Takeover: Dallas, and I presume we saw the basic beats of that match, minus a few highspots to protect the participants.  Well-worked match, leading to the champions being disqualified for pulling the referee out of the ring after Gable/Jordan hit their finisher.  

    – NXT Champion Finn Balor defeated Samoa Joe & Baron Corbin in a triple threat match with a double foot stomp onto both men, pinning Corbin

    Big reactions for Joe & Balor as they entered, followed by a by-the-numbers Triple Threat match.  Baron Corbin is getting more comfortable in the main event slot, playing off of the crowd without losing his place in the match. Creative finish, as Balor gave the foot stomp to Corbin while Joe had him in the Kokina Clutch.

    Following the main event, Finn Balor paid tribute to Sami Zayn, disclosing that this was his last appearance in front of an NXT crowd in Florida.  Zayn returned to the ring to a rousing ovation and gave a very sincere speech about how much NXT has meant to him, his feelings about performing at Wrestlemania, and how lucky the crowd was to see so many future stars on one night.  A classy sendoff to a world-class wrestler.

  • WWE White Plains, NY, live results: Big Show & Kane def. Bray Wyatt & Braun Stroman

    Submitted by Mike Omansky

    Crowd hot most of night, except for a Diego vs. Sin Cara match.

    – Ryback def. Erick Rowan with the Shellshock. Fast-paced opener with a number of near falls

    – Golddust def. Bo Dallas (w/Curtis Axel) after a roll-up.

    – U.S. Champion Kalisto def. Rusev (w/Lana) and Dolph Ziggler to retain. Lots of near falls. Rusev hit a lot of power moves while Lana kept distracting the ref and Kalisto/Ziggler.

    – Sin Cara def. Diego after a flip off the top rope. Diego tried to play heel, but the crowd wasn’t into it.

    – Becky Lynch def. Naomi (w/Tamina) by DQ when Tamina interfered. Beatdown after the match which prompted Sasha Banks to run in and that led to…

    – Sasha Banks & Becky Lynch def. Tamina & Naomi with a double submission.

    – Big Show & Kane def. Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman. Wyatt worked most of the match. The faces threw Strowman out of the ring, doubled team Bray, leading to the KO punch from Show.

  • TNA Impact 3/19 TV taping & Sacrifice results: Title changes & brotherly hate

    Results from Saturday’s tapings in Orlando, FL. Here’s what you missed from Friday’s tapings.

    – Al Snow came out for essentially a do-over of an angle he did Friday which included a re-do of his match with Mahabali Shera. Once again, Snow won by hitting Shera with a chain.

    – Michael Bennett and EC 3 had a confrontation during a segment calld “Fairy Tale Time with Mike Bennett”. After going back and forth, they announced that “next week” was the Sacrifice show and they would have a no DQ match.

    – Maria Kanellis won a match where all the women (Gail Kim, Velvet Sky, Madison Rayne, Jade, Marti Bell and Rebel) were in a ladder match to determine who would be in charge of the Knockouts division.

    – Bram beat Eric Young in a falls count anywhere match to win the King of the Mountain championship.

    – Andrew Everett beat DJ Zema Ion after a low blow

    – Decay kidnapped Gail Kim, and agreed to release her only if Beer Money gives them a tag team title shot. Being gentlemen, they agreed to do so.

    – TNA Champion Drew Galloway beat Tyrus to retain.

    – Maria came out and ran down the entire Knockouts division. Gail Kim came out and blamed her for her kidnapping. Maria said she would be changing the division and she announces Gail Kim vs. Rosemary.

    – Rosemary beat Gail Kim with tons of interference from Crazzy Steve and Maria. Rosemary blew green mist in her face.

    – Matt Hardy went to a no contest with Jeff Hardy in an I Quit match for the Hardy name. Jeff dove off a very high lighting grid with a swanton and put Matt through a table. Matt went out on a stretcher and was rushed out by the paramedics.  They sold it as a big injury.

    – Eli Drake is doing a new Talk Show called “Facts of Life”, replacing the idea they had for Ken Anderson. This week featured The Bromans.

    – Decay (Abyss & Crazzy Steve) beat Beer Money in a “Valley of Shadows” match to win the tag team titles. This is why.

    – Jeff Hardy did an interview and hoped that he beat some sense into Matt Hardy. Rockstar Spud and Reby Sky were out to hassle Jeff, leading to some physicality between Jeff and Spud.

    – Mike Bennett beat EC 3 with a cradle — EC 3’s first pinfall loss in TNA.

    They announced there would be another set of tapings in a month but didn’t announce the dates.