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  • Bellator 150 live results: Cheick Kongo vs Vinicius Spartan

    Bellator 150 is live on Spike TV from the Kansas Star Arena in Mulvane, Kansas. There’s a good mix of familiar names and up and coming prospects on the five fight main card. Action gets underway at 9 pm eastern.

    Women’s Flyweights Lena “Hunter” Ovchynnikova (10-3) vs “Ruthless” Rebecca  Ruth (5-1)

    The ladies kick off the festivities! Big John is your referee. This opened up as a real slugfest with both ladies landing hard shots right off the bat. Lena got a takedown 1:30 in and right into side control with a choke but Ruth escaped and swept into side control herself. Lena working for a head triangle from the bottom. Ruth landing knees to the body as Lena tries to get to her feet. Lena to her feet at 4:00 but Ruth still controlling her in a clinch. Separation at 4:30 and Ruth unloaded with a punch combo and then right back to a clinch. 10-9 Ruth

    Ruth slipped early in round 2 and Lena pounced on her but Ruth quickly up. Both ladies landing punches and kicks again early and then Ruth took Lena down 45 seconds in. Lena up quickly. Ruth cut on the forehead. Ruth knocked Lena down with a punch but didn’t go right to the mat with her, giving her a chance to get up. Cage clinch at 2:00 with Ruth in control. Ruth landing punches to the head from the clinch and then they separate at 3:00. Ruth with a body punch combo at 3:15. Lena bleeding from the nose. Ruth landing more punches and stalking Lena around the cage. Lena is staggering from punches but still on her feet. Lena answers back with a punch combo of her own at 4:00. Spinning back fist by Lena misses and she slips. Ruth follows her to the ground and working for an armbar. Lena gets top position but Ruth still with the arm cinched. Bell saves Lena. 10-9 Ruth, 20-18

    Lena is the signee that Bellator was trumpeting but Ruth stealing the spotlight from her. Announcers putting over Lena’s heart though in staying in this fight that she’s being dominated in. Ruth with a takedown 45 seconds in. Announcers point out that all of Ruth’s wins have been by submission as she works for a sub from her back. Ruth landing elbows to the head as she moves into side control though. Ruth takes Lena’s back as she tries to make her way to her feet and every time Lena even gets to her knees, Ruth drags her right back down. Lena to her feet at 2:45 and Ruth takes her down with a judo throw. Cut on Ruth’s forehead bleeding heavily now but she’s still controlling Ruth and keeping her on the mat. Ruth holding Lena down with a rolling half-nelson at 3:45. Lena still looking for a submission but Ruth active enough on top that it would be difficult. At 4:30, Ruth stood up, forcing Lena to her feet. Awesome visual at Ruth’s hair is wildly all over the place as she presses forward with punches and takes Lena down just before the bell. 10-9 Ruth, 30-27. Last round could arguably be a 10-8

    WINNER – REBECCA RUTH (6-1) by unanimous decision. Scores 29-28 x 2; 30-27

    Ruth got promo time. She thanked  her family, friends and God and put over the USA. Her kids were at ringside and she said that missing some of her kids games and practices are worthwhile when you work hard and get a win like this. Very good promo and she came off pretty likeable. 

    Bellator is all about their “special announcements” and we’ve got one coming up later tonight as it pertains to the middleweight title and Champion Rafael Carvalho. 

    Featherweights Gaston Reyna (5-0) vs Chuka Willis (6-2)

    Willis is just 22 but Reyna is a finisher with his 5 pro fights going a total of 11 minutes. Willis is also the local guy. Rob Hinds is the 3rd man in the cage. Willis initiates a cage clinch early. Sean Grande on commentary says this is a fight they’ve been trying to put together for a couple of years on the regional circuit and it was only bumped to the main card when the original main event was cancelled. Willis briefly takes Reyna down but he gets up. Willis still controlling him in a clinch. Reyna with a trip takedown but Willis right up. They separate at 2:30. Reyna threatening Willis with kicks and keeping him at a distance  but Willis shoots in and takes him down. Reyna with a guillotine on the way down though. Reyna also with a body triangle and Willis loses his mouthpiece while still in the choke. Willis out and in top position. Willis with back mount at 4:30 as the guillotine attempt may have tired Reyna out. Close round, 10-9 Willis

    Willis knocks Reyna down with a punch 30 seconds in and follows him to the mat but Reyna up quickly. Willis holding him against the cage and lands some knees to the body, including one that looked a little low. Takedown by Willis at 1:15. Reyna cut on the side of his head, which apparently happened in the first round. Reyna to his feet at 1:45. Ref breaks it up as apparently Reyna hit a low blow but the announcers didn’t really explain it. Willis holding Reyna against the cage on the restart but Reyna getting a chance to recover from that knockdown. Reyna with a standing guillotine attempt at 2:45 but lets it go quickly. They are promising a live interview with Royce Gracie later  tonight. Reyna with a spin kick to the body landing right before the bell. 10-9 Willis, 20-18 overall

    Jimmy has it 1 round a piece, which is certainly possible. Willis with a takedown 30 seconds in and takes his back on the ground but Reyna gets to his feet  quickly. Willis holding him against the cage like he did most of the 2nd round. Ref warns them to improve their position at 1:30. Willis gets him back  down at 2:00 and lands some punches to the head. Reyna up again fairly quickly but Willis still controlling him against the cage. The announcers discussed the new weight-cutting policy and how it would favor Willis, who cuts more weight. They get warned again for lack of action at 3:30. He finally breaks them up at 4:00. Reyna coming forward but Willis catches him with a punch. Reyna initiates a cage clinch, which is kind of stupid  since he needs a finish. Willis gets control at 4:45. Brief separation and Reyna firing out with a punch combo. Reyna going for a guillotine standing as the round ends. 10-9 Willis, 30-27 overall

    WINNER – CHUKA WILLIS (7-2) by unanimous decision; scores 29-28, 30-27 x 2

    The announced after this fight that Rafael Carvalho will defend the Middleweight title the week after their next tentpole event against Melvin Manhoef. Pat Curran will take on Georgi Karakhanyan in the co-main on that card on May 20th. 

    Middleweights Kendall Grove (22-15) vs Francisco France (13-3-1)

    Rob Hinds gets the dukes for this one. France keeping his distance early as Grove has a huge reach advantage at 6 ft 6. The winner here could be next  in line for the Carvalho-Manhoef winner. France starting to connect with leg kicks and backs Grove up to the cage, initiating a clinch. Grove hits him with a low blow, causing a break. On the restart, France lost his position, which was a mistake by the ref. France lands another hard leg kick and goes back tothe clinch. Grove gets control and lands some foot stomps and knees to the body. Ref warning them to improve at 4:00.  France  gets control at 4:15 and lands knees to the body. Both guys trading punches to the body from the clinch. 10-9 France but very close

    Graove backs up France with punches early and finishes him with ground and pound to get the stoppage.

    WINNER – KENDALL GROVE (23-15) by KO at 35 seconds of Round 2.

    Grove dedicated the win to his brother, who passed away last month. 

    Royce Gracie was interviewed at cageside. Says he tried to get out but Scott Coker pulled him back in. Says there’s no controversy and he beat Ken Shamrock no question, like he did the first two times. They also announced that they will re-air this show next Saturday, which is up against a UFC PPV. Very interesting.

    Lightweights David “Caveman” Rickels (16-4) vs “Super Dooper” Bobby Cooper (12-6)

    Of course they air Rickels’ entrance. Superstar reaction from the crowd. Even louder for his intro. Big John is back again as the third man. One of Cooper’s “noteable wins” is someone named Rome Lindsey. So, ya, this could be a walk for the Caveman. Caveman opens with hard leg kicks. Both guys trading punches at 1:00 and Cooper actually getting the better of it. Caveman initiates a cage clinch at 1:15 but Cooper wrestles away control. Rickels gets separation and unloads with a punch combo before clinching up again. Quick separation. Rickels slips throwing a punch at 2:30 but Cooper lets him back up. Rickels shoots for a takedown but it’s blocked and he eats a hard punch to the head from Cooper. Another cage clinch with Rickels in control. Cooper nails some punches but Rickels with a knee to the body that crumples Cooper. Rickels all over him with ground and pound and Cooper leaking blood like a faucet. McCarthy gave him a bit of time but finally stepped in to stop it.

    WINNER – DAVID RICKELS (17-4) by TKO

    A welterweight bout from the prelims aired next, which saw Andre Fialho move to 6-0 with a 29 second KO of Manny Meraz, who drops to 8-2. Impressive power as Meraz was out with one punch. 

    Main Event –

    Heavyweights Cheick Kongo (23-10-2) vs Vinicius Spartan (8-3)

    Sean Grande mentions that Kongo has fought guys like Cain Velasquez, Mark Hunt, Mirko Cro Cop and Matt Mitrione while making sure to mention that Mitrione is a free agent. At 40, he really has been in there with just about every top name in the division. All of Spartan’s wins have been by stoppage. Big Jiohn gets the main event reffing assignment. Spartan with a huge height and reach advantage, using it to control the cage early. McCarthy warning Spartan to either close his hand or keep his fingers in, as he’s cocked to poke Kongo in the eye if he hits him in the face. Fans booing 1:30 in as nothing much happening. Kongo with a brief bunch flurry at 1:45. Kongo gets it into the centre of the cage where there’s still nothing happening. Kongo connecting with hard leg kicks. Spartan starting to advance again and nails a nice punch combo at 3:15 but Kongo clinches up on the cage. Spartan with a trip takedown at 4:00 but Kongo right up. Kongo continuing to land leg kicks. Spartan’s leg starting to show damage. Spartan nails a spinning back fist that rocks Kongo but he recovers and goes to a cage clinch with 15 seconds left. 10-9 Kongo

    Kongo landing leg kicks early again. Spartan with a hard punch to the head that connects flush 30 seconds in but Kongo shakes it off. Spartan continuing to advance. Kongo starting to mix in punch combos with the leg kicks. Spartan starting to react to each kick. Crowd booing heavily at 2:15 as not much happening in a typical Kongo fight. Kongo blocks a spinning back fist but Spartan takes him down at 2:45. Spartan with body punches while Kongo just tries to hold him in his guard. Ref warning them to work at 3:45. Spartan trying to advance but Kongo defending well. Ref stands them up with 15 seconds left. Very close round, 10-9 Spartan

    Jimmy has Kongo up two rounds. Total strikes are 37-13 for Kongo. Spartan with a takedown 30 seconds in. Spartan trying hard to advance but again, Kongo defending very well and holding him in his guard. Crowd booing again at 1:45. Kongo to his feet at 2:00 and quick separation. Kongo right back to the leg kicks and landing punches that rock Spartan. Kongo with a takedown attempt stuffed by Spartan. Kongo landing knees to the body from the clinch. Ref breaks it up at 3:00. Spartan knocks Kongo down with a punch and follows him to the ground but doesn’t throw many strikes on the ground and Kongo again just holding him there. Ref stands them up with 15 seconds left. 10-9 Spartan, 29-28 overall for him but it depends how you score round 2. Kongo not acting like he thinks he won, while Spartan holding up his hands in a victory pose.

    WINNER – CHEICK KONGO (24-10-2) by split decision; scores 30-27, 28-29 and 29-28. No way Kongo won that third round. 

  • WWE RAW live results: Shane McMahon returns, Brock Lesnar/Dean Ambrose angle

    With the main event of WrestleMania official, Raw originates from Detroit tonight as the countdown to WrestleMania begins. Clearly, after the reception Roman Reigns received at Fast Lane, there’s still plenty of work to do to avoid him getting booed out of Texas next month. He and HHH will likely kick off a series of angles tonight. The recipient of the Vincent J. McMahon Legacy of Excellence Award will be announced, which could also be an angle leading up to WrestleMania. There will probably be new programs for Charlotte, Kevin Owens and the New Day for their respective championships.

    Plus, there’s the matter of which 90s starts will appear at WrestleMania? Who will they be facing? And when will the promotion for those matches begin? It’s the start of the most popular time of the year for wrestling in America tonight, and our coverage starts at 8 ET. 

    From Dave Meltzer:

    An angle was just shot before Raw to air on the show where Brock Lesnar destroyed Dean Ambrose and he was rushed to the hospital to help get the wheels in motion for their WrestleMania match and make Ambrose the babyface.

    It is expected this will be announced at the start of the show. The plans are for this to be a major show to set up WrestleMania’s top bouts.

    ###

    The Big Takeaway: 

    A wild night. Shane McMahon made his return to Raw after leaving the WWE six years ago. He will face the Undertaker at WrestleMania in a Hell in a Cell match with control of the company on the line. Brock Lesnar and Dean Ambrose is also set for WrestleMania after an angle where Lesnar jumped Ambrose and slammed him on a limo. Ryback appeared to turn heel and looks to be up for a program with Kane. Roman Reigns juiced in the main event after being jumped by HHH, ending with HHH giving him a Pedigree on the ring steps. 

    Show Recap: 

    The Vincent J. McMahon Legacy of Excellence Award was in the ring with a red carpet draped around it. 

    Michael Cole showed video of Dean Ambrose being driven in, where Brock Lesnar jumped him and drove him into the hood of a limo. Lesnar then slammed Ambrose onto the limo, and Ambrose was shown being stretchered out of the arena with a neckbrace on. Cole claimed Ambrose underwent medicat tests at a local hospital. Lesnar and Paul Heyman will make an appearance later. 

    Vincent Kennedy McMahon came out for the presentation of the Legacy of Excellence award. Vince said tonight would be a night the fans would never forget. Vince said for over 100 years, his family had been presenting sports entertainment. It started with his grandfather, then carried on to his father. He announced the winner as Stephanie McMahon. 

    Stephanie came out and started crying. She got a lot of heat as she accepted the award. She claimed she wasn’t expecting to win, but had some prepared remarks to make. She then pulled out a binder the size of a notebook ready to make her remarks. 

    Before she could talk, Shane McMahon came out to an incredibly huge pop. He was wearing old school Air Jordans straight from 1984 and looked a little emotional as he made his return to TV for the first time since 2009. The place went bonkers and Shane looked stunned to see how huge the response was. Fans chanted “Holy Shit” and “This is Awesome.” 

    Shane milked it in for a while. Vince went to hug him, but Shane stopped him. So Vince extended his hand, and Shane left him hanging. He looked like he’s lost 60 pounds, minimum, since he made those cameos at various PGA Tour events. Shane said the Legacy of Excellence Award should be bestowed on someone who deserves it, and it wasn’t Stephanie. 

    Vince asked his son to play nice and asked if he and Shane could talk in the back. Shane said his father always told him to do things out in the open face-to-face. Stephanie said this was her moment, getting booed worse than Mark Messier in Joe Louis Arena. Stephanie said her husband and her have been running a billion dollar business for seven years while Shane is away. 

    Shane told his father “She doesn’t know, does she?” Then Shane said Stephanie and her husband have been running the company into the ground based on talent injuries, stock, even TV ratings (Good lord. This was like Eric Bischoff admitting Nitro had fallen off the rails in 1999). Stephanie called Shane a quitter and told him to get out of her ring. Shane said it was her father’s ring. Shane said several years ago, Vince messed up huge. Big time. But Shane was there to save the day. 

    So Vince and Shane cut a deal. In that deal, Shane was able to take time off, build businesses. But he never lost his place in line. Shane said the reason why Stephanie was able to climb this far was because Shane allowed it to happen. Stephanie thought this was ridiculous and asked Vince to say this wasn’t true. Vince had a very guilty look on his face. Stephanie kept asking if this was true. Vince didn’t want to answer. Shane pressed for an answer, and Vince admitted there was some truth to it. 

    Shane said, at the time, the agreement he and Vince reached was “Best for business.” Stephanie started to leave, but said she would never forgive Shane for this. 

    Stephanie left. Vince wanted to know what this was about. He offered to give Shane any amount of money. Shane said it wasn’t about money. It was about getting out from under Vince’s thumb. It was all about legacy. Shane talked about Vince being the third generation, he was the fourth generation, and his three children would be the fifth generation. He started to tear up when he talked about that. 

    Shane said he wanted control over Monday Night Raw. Vince said if Shane controlled Raw, he would control the entire company, and Shane can’t just step right in and control the entire company. Vince offered a deal. He would give Shane Monday Night Raw as long as he has one match on one night. And if he wins, he gets his match. If he loses, Vince gets the key to Shane’s lockbox so Shane can’t hang anything over his head again. Crowd actually chanted “You still got it.” That Randy Orton angle was a million years ago at this moment. 

    Shane agreed to the deal. Vince said something that got bleeped out but left the crowd buzzing. Vince said Shane would wrestle at WrestleMania…against the Undertaker. Hell in a Cell. 

    The New Day defeated Lucha Dragons and Neville (15:27) 

    Good match where Kofi Kingston pinned Sin Cara with Trouble in Paradise after Kingston escaped the Dragon Bomb by pulling Sin Cara’s mask. Before the finish, Neville did a 450 splash onto Big E. off the apron. Kalisto then jumped off Neville’s back and did a 450 splash onto Xavier Woods. The New Day look to be turning face as they cut a promo on the League of Nations during an inset promo. They offered  them a box of Booto-Os cereal, which has it’s own box with the new day on the front. That was hilarious. 

    Reigns did a promo with Jojo upset over what happened with Ambrose. Crowd loudly booed Reigns and chanted for Ambrose as he did his promo. It was a badly scripted interview about how the match between him and HHH would be about heart. Reigns just doesn’t have the promo ability. 

    Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman came out. Heyman said this was the main event of the evening, even tough he wasn’t wrestling. He said Lesnar was the single biggest attraction in sports entertainment or Mixed Martial Arts. That sound you hear in Connor McGregor laughing. Heyman said Lesnar took Ambrose and Reigns to Suplex City, and had Reigns on the verge of tapping out to Lesnar, just like the Undertaker was. Then Ambrose took a three-way fight and turned it into a street fight, and took Lesnar out of the equation and out of the main event of WrestleMania. 

    Heyman said Lesnar got his revenge earlier today, and claimed that Ambrose was out of WrestleMania altogether. Heyman said there was no shield that could protect Ambrose from the wrath of Lesnar. Heyman said Lesnar deserves to be in the main event of WrestleMania, and is the main event. Not HHH, not Reigns. Heyman ran down Ambrose as some kind of hardcore kid wannabe riding on a BMX bike that everyboyd thinks is cool. Until the reality of a Mack-Semi truck comes down and…Heyman then threw down the mic to symbolize what Lesnar does to people. He actually had to get another mic because he broke the old one. 

    Heyman said Lesnar needed another Lesnar WrestleMania opponent. Whoever wants to be that person, go visit Ambrose in the hospital room while he can barely breathe. So sayeth Brock Lesnar. 

    Heyman finsihed. At that point, the TitanTron turned to the back, where an ambulance came in from the back. The ambulance came out into the arena. Of course, Ambrose was behind  the wheel wearing a neckbrace. He staggered out to a pop. Ambrose crawled to the ring, more or less. The brace fell off his neck. Lesnar stood over Ambrose and walked over his chest. 

    Ambrose told Lesnar he was indestructable and he would find that otu the hard way. He challenged Lesnar to a match at WrestleMania in a No Holds Barred Street Fight. Lesnar went after Ambrose and gave him an F-5 on the floor. Fans didn’t chant for Ambrose. They chanted “One More Time.” Heyman got down on his knees and told Ambrose face-to-face that his client accepted Ambrose’s challenge. 

    The Usos were about to face the Ascension when the Dudley Boyz came out. Bubbay Ray Dudley said the Usos shouldn’t take the beating the Dudleys handed them two weeks ago personally. They did it to remind people they were the most decorated tag team in the history of WWE. Their legacy won’t be defined by a piece of furniture, but by the accomplishments. Bubba claimed the fans would never see the tables again. Devon Dudley told the Usos maybe their father shouldn’t have been running around in oversized thongs, but should have taught his sons respect. Fans didn’t seem to know Devon was talking about Rikishi, which Cole and Byron Saxton filled in the blanks. 

    The Usos defeated the Ascension (1:58) 

    Jey Uso pinned Viktor after a double superkick and a splash. Dudleys came down to tease a fight with the Usos. Looks like that’s another match for WrestleMania. 

    Jim Harbaugh was at ringside in time for tonight’s tweets from angry SEC fans about unfair recruiting practices.  

    Chris Jericho came out for more talking. He said for years, he heard about the legacy of A.J. Styles. He saw Styles in the Royal Rumble and he didn’t like him because Styles called himself “Phenomenal” without having one match in the WWE. Then he wrestled Styles three times, with last night’s match being one of the best he’s had in years. Jericho said Styles beat him. 24 hours later, Jericho said he had some words for Styles, and wanted to say them face-to-face. 

    Styles came out and the fans instantly started dueling chants. Jericho said Styles that going into their match last night, the pressure was all on Styles. But Styles won, and Jericho admitted it. Jericho congratulated Styles because he proved to the WWE Universe that he belongs in the WWE. He has what it takes to become a WWE champion. Styles proved he was phenomenal. They shook hands. 

    Social Outcasts came out. Heath Slater made fun of them. Bo Dallas said his heart was warm seeing how much love was in the ring right now. Slater told Dallas he was being sarcastic. Dallas pretended he knew. Curtis Axel accused Jericho of playing nice to Styles, but in his heart he knew Styles made him tap out. Slater asked Styles if he was a man. Slater said where he comes from, they call people like Styles a coward. Adam Rose said no one was buying Y2AJ. Slater ordered them to get out of the ring. 

    Jericho called Slater “Ginger Jackass.” Jericho said he and Styles weren’t planning on being a team, but they could become one to face Social Outcasts immediately in a tag match. It was Y2Aj vs. Slater and Axel. 

    Chris Jericho and A.J. Styles defeated Curtis Axel and Heath Slater via submission (3:55)

    Jericho made Axel submit to the Walls of Jericho while Styles did a springboard plancha onto Dallas, Rose and Slater. Slater is now being referred to as the Red Dragon in a moniker that Sinclair Broadcasting executives should just love.  

    Stephanie and HHH were backstage. Stephanie was furious at Shane. HHH said Shane was always a failure and always will be. HHH said tonight will end the way they want it to, so he asked if she wanted to tell Roman, or should he? She volunteered. 

    Stephanie found Reigns backstage and said Reigns would be facing Sheamus tonight. She said League of Nations was a brotherhood, unlike the fake one Reigns had with Ambrose. She urged him to watch out for League of Natons causing him to miss WrestleMania because of injury. 

    R-Truth and Goldust had another skit. Goldust apologized for costing Truth his match against Axel last night. He offered a cake which said “I’m Sorry” as a makeup present. Goldsut said it was chocolate cake with golden frosting, just like a potential tag team with him. R-Truth tried to tell him off, but Goldust said he could predict Truth’s every move before he does it. Truth said he guessed Goldust would predict he was going to take the cake a smash it in his face. But he wouldn’t do that to Goldust because he was better than that, and walked off. Then he stormed back, said “Psych” and smashed it in Goldust’s face. 

    Luke Harper, Bray Wyatt and Erick Rowan defeated Ryback, The Big Show and Kane (12:29)

    Finish saw Kane about to deliver the choke slam on Luke Harper, but Ryback walked out on Kane. For some reason, this distracted Kane, which allowed Harper to tag Bray Wyatt. Then Wyatt pinned Kane with Sister Abigail. Big Show was laid out earlier by Braun Strowman. Fans did’t care for Ryback and chanted “Goldberg” at him. Then a few started chanting “Gillberg” and the Big Show started laughing. Wyatts sure ended up on the short end of the WrestleMania stick. They went from potential opponents to the Undertaker to potential opponets for Lesnar to status unknown. Who would have thought last month that the Dudleys would have had a clearer direction for WrestleMania than the Wyatts? 

    Ryabck did an interview saying he walked out on Big Show and Kane because he was done being in tag teams. It was his time to be in the spotlight. He said “That glass ceiling. That brass ring. Break it. Take it.” 

    Sasha Banks defeated Naomi via submission (6:47)

    Tamina interfered several times on Sasha Banks. That brought down Becky Lynch to jump Tamina. Banks won with the Bank Statement. 

    Postmatch, Charlotte and Ric Flair came out. She was dressed like Nikki and Brie Bella, which Cole pointed out. They’re teasing Nikki Bella showing up at WrestleMania. Charlotte said the Authority had told her Lynch would be facing Banks in the coming weeks, and the winner would face Charlotte at WrestleMania. Charlotte told Lynch to watch out, like Banks was about to jump her. Of course, Banks hadn’t made a move toward Lynch. But Lynch reacted like she had. Charlotte laughed about how they really don’t trust each other after all. 

    Stephanie wanted to know what Shane held over Vince’s head. Vince said the odds of Shane beating the Undertaker were astronomical. Vince explained he was taking a calculated risk. Stephanie seemed to understand. 

    So in the final week of Black History Month, they announced the Godfather was the latest inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame. JBL announced the APA was reuniting to induct the Godfather because they rode miles and miles with the Godfather. 

    There was a sign on the screen shown repeatedly in the final hour that said “Raw is Stale as Cole Slaw.” How that made the airwaves without being confiscated is beyond me. This show had more signs than any Raw is a while, so maybe restrictions are being curtailed. 

    Roman Reigns and Sheamus went to a no contest (10:51)

    This was one strange scene. Sheamus, the top regular performing heel in the company, came out to complete silence. Reigns, the chosen one, got mostly booed. A reminder that we are six weeks away from WrestleMania. Alberto Del Rio, Rusev and King “Catch Him While You Can” Barrett were at ringside. Rusev gave Reigns a uranage on the floor to a round of cheers. During the break, referee Chad Patton (his name was announced on TV, breaking previous company protocol), ordered the League of Nations to the back. They went two more minutes past the commercial when Reigns hit a Superman Punch on Sheamus. HHH came out ready to fight, and he and Reigns started brawling. As for where Sheamus went? Your guess is as good as mine. How’s that for top heel treatment? 

    So HHH and Reigns brawled, with Reigns delivering a Superman Punch to HHH. And HHH responded by selling it somewhat, then hit Reigns with a ring bell. HHH was ruthless, slamming Reigns head into the table again and again so much, it got a “Yes” chant going. HHH put punches to Reigns head, and he started juicing. This led to several referees coming down trying to pull HHH off. Instead, HHH pulled down the ring steps and gave Reigns a pedigree on the steps to mostly cheers. HHH actually did a crotch chop to Reigns and got cheered louder. Then he posed with the belt and the show went off the air with HHH like a rogue babyface, which is pretty much how he’s been booked when he’s a heel for the past decade. 

    Summary: 

    This was some surreal booking for WrestleMania. Shane McMahon got a great one-time reaction tonight. So how does that carry over for six more weeks? They couldn’t get Alberto Del Rio over long enough for two weeks after his return. When did the Undertaker turn heel and join the Authority? Did I miss this angle? What is it that Shane holds over Vince’s head? There have been plenty of times over the past 15 years that a McMahon-driven storyline has gaping holes in the plotlines that the audience is supposed to have cleared up before the end. Except it almost never does, and I wouldn’t bet on it here. Plus, the company just did the storyline of Stephanie and HHH potentially being out of power only 18 months ago at Survivor Series. They returned a month later. And so what if Shane wins? Does that mean Raw will be a different show? Judging from the past, it makes the likelihood of guys from Jackass sequels showing up as guests, which isn’t how you build top heels. 

    The segment alone where Shane actually acknowledged the WWE’s falling rating was straight out of 1999 WCW. And I mean, like, taken word for word from an Eric Bischoff interview during Nitro in March of that year.  

    Then there’s the main event segment. The idea on paper was: with John Cena out of the equation,  who do fans hate more than Reigns? HHH. Thus, Reigns can be cheered at the biggest show of the year. That idea isn’t working in practice. Reigns is the new John Cena. Females and kids cheer him. Everyone else boos him. That’s fine for the short-term. But in terms of getting fans emotionally invested in a character like they did Daniel Bryan, it’s not happening. HHH didn’t exactly help matters tonight, in that regard. 

  • WWE Fastlane 2016 live results: Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose

    Welcome to the F4WOnline.com’s live coverage of WWE FastLane! Tonight’s show takes place at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland Ohio, which traditionally means bad news for The Miz.  The last stop before WWE Wrestlemania is here with the winner of tonight’s triple threat main event going to the big show to face WWE World Champion Triple H.   

    We’re looking for your thoughts on tonight’s show as well as Friday’s Bellator show, so you can leave a thumbs up thumbs down or thumbs in the middle plus a best and worst match to Dave Meltzer.

    Your main card:

    • Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose
    • WWE Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler
    • WWE Divas Champion Charlotte vs. Brie Bella
    • Sasha Banks/Becky Lynch vs Tamina Snuka/Naomi
    • Chris Jericho vs. AJ Styles
    • Big Show/Ryback/Kane vs. The Wyatts (Braun Strowman/Erick Rowan/Luke Harper)
    • WWE U.S. Champion Kalisto vs. Alberto del Rio (2/3 falls, kickoff show)

    Also, Edge and Christian will interview WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day to help promo the debut of their new show after Fastlane.

    This is just the second ever Fastlane after last year’s debut show at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, TN. On that show, Reigns took on the recently retired Daniel Bryan in a no. 1 contender’s match. Also on that show. then-U.S. Champion Rusev downed John Cena by DQ, and Sting had a confrontation with HHH.

    KALISTO VS. ALBERTO DEL RIO FOR THE U.S. TITLE 2/3 FALLS

    Del Rio was disqualified in the first fall for hitting Kalisto with a chair as Kalisto went for a springboard move.  Del Rio won the second fall with a double foot stomp.  The third fall saw Del Rio miss the double foot stomp after doing it outside the ring.  Kalisto flipped Del Rio into the corner and schoolboyed him to take the third fall and retain.  This was a good match.

    SASHA BANKS & BECKY LYNCH VS. NAOMI & TAMINA

    Banks & Lynch won with a double submission with Banks with the bank statement on Tamina while Lynch used the disarmer on Naomi.  The first part of the match was pretty sloppy with Lynch getting beaten on but it got good when Banks was in.  Banks kicked out of the rear view and was also saved by Lynch when Tamina used a superkick.  The impression with the double win to me would be a three-way at Mania, but we’ll see.

    KEVIN OWENS VS. DOLPH ZIGGLER FOR THE IC TITLE

    Good match.  The crowd was pretty hot with it being in Cleveland which is Ziggler’s home town.  Owens retained and they said they were on the road to KO Mania.  There was some commentary talking about how Owens never beat Ambrose to win the title.  The finish was clean with Ziggler missing  a superkick and Owens using the pop up power bomb.

    BIG SHOW & KANE & RYBACK VS.  BRAUN STROWMAN & ERICK ROWAN & LUKE HARPER

    Show & Kane & Ryback won when Ryback pinned Harper clean with the shellshock.  The match was better than it sounds as it was solid even when Strowman and Rowan were in.  Show pressed Harper overhead and three him out of the ring on Rowan & Strowman.  It wasn’t a complete press.  Show then gave Strowman a great looking spear on the floor.

    Roman Reigns did a promo with JoJo.  The fans booed him a lot.  He vowed to win and said a lot of things will change with he and Ambrose.  Ambrose showed up and was cheered heavily.  Ambrose said one of them will be on the road to WrestleMania and the other will have to hitchhike.  Amborse said he’s already booked his travel on Priceline.  Amborse said that Lesnar won’t win but one of us will.  

    CHARLOTTE VS. BRIE BELLA FOR THE DIVAS TITLE

    The crowd was super behind Brie because of the Daniel Bryan sympathy.  In fact, they were super into this late, more than anything on the show so far when she got a near fall with the X-factor, as well as near submissions with the Yes lock and a half crab.  The story is that Brie hurt her left leg doing a missile dropkick, and she couldn’t continue the half crab and Charlotte powered out and Brie caught her neck on the roipes.  Charlotte then won with the figure eight.   Again, better than you’d think.  Rough early but the last few minutes were quite good.

    Chris Jericho did an interview and said Styles’ future rides in his hands because if he loses review to him it’ll be his second straight loss and it could derail him.   He made the wins and losses aspect of this match feel important.  

    A.J. STYLES VS. CHRIS JERICHO

    As far as the layout and intensith at the finish, this was great.  The crowd was super into it with dueling chants early as well as into it big the last few minutes.  Some spots were scary, some in a good way and just being off on a couple of spots inlcuding a Jericho power bomb spot where he dropped Styles in a scary way.  Some good innovative spots including a Styles plancha into a dropkick by Jericho on the floor.  The finish saw Jericho kick out of the Styles clash, which was weird doing it this early, and then Styles put him in the calf crusher and Jericho.  Jericho did a tremendous job selling the submission before he tapped.

    After the match Jericho stared him down and teased attacking him.  Jericho pulled back his fist and AJ respohnded but then Jericho offered his hand. 

    Edge & Christian were out with The New Day.  Edge & Christian plugged their TV show and Edge said he wanted to get serious for a minute and referenced Lance Storm.  The crowd chanted “JNew Day Rocks.”  Edge said when you showed up at first I’ve never seem so much chocolate sound so vanilla.  Said they copied every Edge & Christian segment, replacing awesomeness with booty, sunglasses with unicorn horns.  Said we don’t rip on sports teams and then said LeBooty James will never win a title in this city.  They made fun of Kingston dropping his Jamaican accent.  Who is better than the New Day.  Made fun of Ascension, Usos, Dudleys and the League of Booty.  Seemed to push League of Nations vs. New Day.  Woods said say they’re trying to stir the pot but we already cooked the meal  Woods called the League of Nations are hot garbage.  Woods said we’ll say it to their face if they were here.  Then all four of them came out and we’ve got a new program.  The New Day left.  King Barrett then threatened Edge & Christian.  Sheamus called them hip replacement candidates and Justin Beiber candidates.  Del Rio said I kicked your ass an forced you to retire.  Edge joked he did more  in the last five years than Del Rio.  Edge & Christian left the ring and called them the International House of Dumbassees.  They plugged their show right after Fast Lane.  Edge & Christian had some great lines in this, but it went way too long.

    R-TRUTH VS. CURTIS AXEL

    The other three Outcasts were running around the ring.  Goldust came out.  Goldust threw Slater into the barricade and threw Adam Rose into the ring.  Rose being in the ring distracted R-Truth and Axel pinned him with a schoolboy with tights.  R-Truth was mad at Goldust when it was over.  It was over in 2:00.

    The Vince face on the award makes it seem like it’s an angle to show up Vince.

    BROCK LESNAR VS. ROMAN REIGNS VS. DEAN AMBROSE

    Crazy great match.  Lesnar destroyed both of them with German suplexes early until he made a mistake and then The Shield power bombed Lesnar through a table.  When Lesnar started to recover they put him through a second table.   The crowd was super into Ambrose vs. Reigns and they were great working together.  The crowd was completely behind Ambrose of course.  Reigns was booed heavily here and Lesnar was cheered the most of the three.  Reigns kicked out of Dirty Deeds.  Reigns had Ambrose up for the Samoan drop when Lesnar German suplexed both.  Ambrose landed right on Reigns’ head.  The finish saw Reigns hit the spear on Lesnar, but Lesnar, who was booked as a Super monster, grabbed a Kimura.  Reigns was about to tap but powered Lesnar up. Ambrose came in and nailed both guys with about five chair shots each.  Lesnar rolled out of the ring.  Reigns then hit the spear on Ambrose for the pin.

    The show ended with Reigns and HHH in the ring doing a staredown with the Mania sign in the background.

  • UFC Fight Night 83 Pittsburgh live results: Donald Cerrone vs. Alex Oliveira

    Welcome to F4WOnline.com’s live coverage of UFC Fight Night 83: Cowboy vs. Cowboy from the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The event is headlined by a five-round bout in the UFC’s welterweight division as former lightweight title challenger Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone moves up to 170 pounds to take on Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira in a battle of fighters sharing the same nickname. Oliveira is a late replacement for Cerrone’s original opponent, Tim Means, who was pulled from the bout due to a potential violation of the UFC’s anti-doping policy. Follow along with our live coverage of the event beginning at 5:30 PM eastern time with preliminary action all the way thru the main card.

    UFC Fight Night 83 DFS Playbook

    Coverage provided by Ryan Frederick

    PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC FIGHT PASS- 5:30 PM ET/2:15 PM PT)

    HEAVYWEIGHTS- ANTHONY HAMILTON (14-4, 2-2 UFC) VS. SHAMIL ABDURAKHIMOV (15-3, 0-1 UFC)

    ROUND 1- Abdurakhimov lands an uppercut. Aburdakhimov throws Hamilton to the ground and lands some punches but Hamilton gets up. Uppercuts from Abdurakhimov in the clinch. They trade punches and Abdurakhimov lands a spin kick. More uppercuts from Abdurakhimov and then lands a left hand. They clinch for a moment with nothing happening. Abdurakhimov lands two right hands and they clinch. Hamilton is able to land a big right hand. They clinch and both land knees. Hamilton with a right hand before the break. 10-9 Abdurakhimov.

    ROUND 2- Both men land some punches and Hamilton lands some good ones. Abdurakhimov lands a nice combo and an uppercut. Abdurakhimov ducks a punch but misses a takedown attempt but is able to land some uppercuts. They clinch and both land short knees. They break and Abdurakhimov lands a short left hook. Hamilton with a leg kick then a side kick to the body. Hamilton misses some punches and they clinch against the fence. Abdurakhimov with some uppercuts and escapes the clinch. 10-9 Abdurakhimov, 20-18 Abdurakhimov.

    ROUND 3- Hamilton misses some punches and they clinch. Abdurakhimov is cut on the head, possibly from a headbutt. They break the clinch. Abdurakhimov lands a big jab. Hamilton goes for some punches but Abdurakhimov ducks and they clinch. Nothing happens before the break. Hamilton lands a right hand. Abdurakhimov lands a big right hand and Hamilton counters with body punches. They clinch and Abdurakhimov with a big knee followed by uppercuts. They clinch again as both men are tired. Body punches from both men. Uppercuts from Abdurakhimov and they break. Abdurakhimov lands a spinning back fist and a solid jab. Hamilton lands a right hand. Better round from Hamilton but this fight belongs to Abdurakhimov. 10-9 Abdurakhimov, 30-27 Abdurakhimov.

    Official Result- Shamil Abdurakhimov def. Anthony Hamilton by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

    WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHTS- LAUREN MURPHY (8-2, 0-2 UFC) VS. KELLY FASZHOLZ (3-0, 0-0 UFC)

    ROUND 1- Faszholz took this fight earlier this week as an injury replacement. Faszholz lands a right hand early on. Faszholz landing early. They clinch against the fence. Faszholz lands a Superwoman punch that knocks Murphy to the mat. Murphy gets up and lands a leg kick but Faszholz is able to continue landing punches on Murphy. More right hands from Faszholz. Murphy comes back and lands a big right hand and lands some more. She has Faszholz in trouble. Faszholz bleeding out of her nose as they clinch against the fence. Murphy with knees to the legs of Faszholz. Great round. Murphy made a rally but still belongs to the short-notice fighter. 10-9 Faszholz.

    ROUND 2- Faszholz lands an overhand right and they clinch against the fence. Murphy reverses position and both landing knees. Both ladies land a bunch of punches as they trade. Faszholz is bleeding quite a bit. Faszholz with a high kick. Faszholz lands some nice punches. Faszholz lands a big right hand. Murphy lands two big right hands. They trade punches. Murphy with a leg kick and right hand and then another. They clinch. Murphy with knees and short uppercuts against the fence. Faszholz lands some body punches. Murphy with a front kick and Faszholz catches the leg and gets a brief takedown just before the round ends. 10-9 Murphy, 19-19.

    ROUND 3- Both ladies come out quick with strikes as this round could decide it. Murphy with a right hand and ducks and scores a takedown and is in the guard of Faszholz. Murphy with some body punches from the top position. Murphy with more short punches from the top as she is suffocating from the top position. Faszholz bleeding heavily on the bottom. Murphy pushes the fight against the fence and lands more heavy punches from the top. Murphy looks to pass guard as she continues with punches from the top. Murphy switches to landing elbows to the head and body. Murphy passes and takes the back and has mount and is landing big from the top. Murphy laying on a beating this round. Murphy with elbows from the top and looking to finish with seconds left in the fight. More big punches from the top by Murphy. She finishes it with just seconds left! Big TKO win for Murphy in a dominant round.

    Official Result- Lauren Murphy def. Kelly Faszholz by TKO (strikes) at 4:55 of Round 3

    WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHTS- (#12) MARION RENEAU (6-2, 2-1 UFC) VS. ASHLEE EVANS-SMITH (3-1, 0-1 UFC)

    ROUND 1- Reneau with a front kick to start. Evans-Smith with a body kick. Reneau with a straight left. Evans-Smith with a body kick and Reneau counters with a combo. They trade punches and Evans-Smith with a nice combo and body kick. Reneau with a big right hand that hurts Evans-Smith and she starts teeing off for a finish. Evans-Smith survives and escapes. Evans-Smith with a body kick. Reneau with a head kick. Reneau with a leg kick. Evans-Smith with a body kick and then another. Evans-Smith with a front kick and then another but Reneau catches it and takes her down. Reneau grabs a guillotine choke and looks for the finish but the bell sounds and saves Evans-Smith. 10-9 Reneau.

    ROUND 2- They trade punches. Reneau with a leg kick and Evans-Smith counters with a body kick. They trade punches. Reneau with a body kick. They trade punches as the pace has slowed a little. Reneau with a big right hand. Reneau with a leg kick and Evans-Smith lands one in a counter. Reneau with more body kicks as this has turned into a sparring fight. Evans-Smith with a body kick. Evans-Smith with a combo. Reneau with a left hook. Close round. 10-9 Reneau, 20-18 Reneau.

    ROUND 3- Reneau with a leg kick and Evans-Smith counters with a body kick. They trade kicks. Reneau with a right hand. Reneau with a big leg kick. Reneau with a left hook and a front kick but Evans-Smith catches the leg and throws Reneau to the mat. Evans-Smith looking to go in the guard and kicks the legs of the downed Reneau. Quick stand-up of Reneau by the referee. That was a terrible call. Reneau with a leg kick. They trade leg kicks. Evans-Smith with a body kick and catches a kick attempt from Reneau. They trade kicks and Reneau attacks the legs. They trade punches. Evans-Smith starts a clinch against the fence and lands a big elbow. Evans-Smith with some knees and an elbow and both land on the break. Close final round. 10-9 Evans-Smith, 29-28 Reneau.

    Official Result- Ashlee Evans-Smith def. Marion Reneau by split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-27)

    OK, that is a bad, bad decision. There was no way Evans-Smith won all three rounds. She was nearly finished in the first. Rounds 2 and 3 were close. What round was a 10-8 for Evans-Smith? That doesn’t make any sense.

    PRELIMINARY CARD (FOX SPORTS 1- 7 PM ET/4 PM PT)

    WELTERWEIGHTS- JONAVIN WEBB (8-1 1 NC, 0-1 UFC) VS. NATHAN COY (14-6, 0-1 UFC)

    ROUND 1- They trade punches to start off the fight. Webb misses a big overhand right. Webb with a straight right hand and a head kick. Webb with some more right hands as he ducks under a head kick from Coy. Head kick from Webb. Webb with a right hand. Webb just misses a head kick. Coy keeps missing with his strikes but is able to land a right hand and then a left. Coy looks for a combo and Webb goes for a takedown but it is defended and Coy has a front headlock on. COy with a knee and some uppercuts. They break the clinch. Webb with a front kick and both miss body kicks. 10-9 Webb.

    ROUND 2- Webb goes to the mat and is looking for an armbar on Coy but Coy manages to escape. They scramble and Coy grabs the neck and looks to set up a D’Arce choke. They get to their feet and each land knees in the tie-up. They break. Webb with a head kick. Coy lands a nice combo. They clinch and Webb with some knees. Webb grabs the neck and Coy goes to the mat to play defense. Coy is able to score a takedown and takes the back of Webb. They get to their feet. Webb looking for a kimura attempt. Coy escapes and takes the back again. Coy is able to get the mount and is looking for a choke but the fence is in the way. Coy still going for it. Coy with punches from the mount. Coy abandons and Webb claims Coy bit him. Webb escapes and the round ends. 10-9 Coy, 19-19.

    ROUND 3- This round could decide it. Both men trading punches and Coy lands a nice left hand. Webb gets a takedown and has the back and is looking for the armbar. Coy scrambles out and Webb takes the neck as they get to their feet. Coy scores a takedown but Webb still has the neck. Coy is on top and applying pressure from the position. Coy with some punches from the top. Coy is able to transition to the back. Coy still has the back and is looking for an opening for a choke but landing punches. Webb able to get to his feet but Coy takes the fight back down. Coy with punches from the top as Webb looks exhausted. Webb looks for a knee bar but Coy able to free his leg from danger. Webb grabs the neck but Coy in side control and lands elbows to end. 10-9 Coy, 29-28 Coy.

    Official Result- Nathan Coy def. Jonavin Webb by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

    SCORING UPDATE- We have the scorecards for the Reneau vs. Evans-Smith fight. The 29-27 scorecard for Evans-Smith was a mistake as there was an addition error. It was actually a 29-28 scorecard for Evans-Smith. Two judges gave Evans-Smith the first round, which makes absolutely zero sense since she was nearly finished at the end of the round, and would likely have been if not for being saved by the bell. Still a bad decision.

    MIDDLEWEIGHTS- ANTHONY SMITH (24-11, 0-1 UFC) VS. LEONARDO AUGUSTO LELECO (11-1 1 NC, 0-0 UFC)

    ROUND 1- Smith is another fighter who took this fight just this week. Smith with a leg kick and then a body kick. Leleco with a big right hand. Smith with a combo and a knee against the fence and then a leg kick. Head kick from Smith. Smith with a leg kick and then a combo and lands a big elbow. Combo from Smith ends with a knee to the body. Smith with some leg kicks. Leleco with a leg kick. Smith with a flying knee and then a high kick. Another high kick from Smith. Leleco with a right hand. Smith lands a nice right hand and then another. Smith with a nice combo and then trade punches. Leleco is cut open. Leleco with a combo to end the round. 10-9 Smith.

    ROUND 2- They trade punches and Smith hurts Leleco. Leleco comes back and rocks Smith with a right hand and Smith counters with a takedown. Smith takes the back of Leleco and looks for a choke. He swweps and tries to find mount. Leleco scrambles and lets Smith into his half-guard. Smith takes the back again and lands punches that are hurting Leleco. Smith looking for a choke from the back. Smith postures and lands a knee to the body. Not much going on but Smith still looking to find the choke. They get to their feet and Smith with a big suplex on Leleco. Both men looking tired. Smith landing big punches as Leleco turtles up. For some reason they are stood up, another bad call. That could cost Smith the fight as he had Leleco in trouble. They trade punches and Leleco gets the advantage on the ground and is landing punches as the round ends. 10-9 Smith, 20-18 Smith.

    ROUND 3- Leleco hurts Smith with some punches as Smith looks tired. Leleco takes the fight to the mat and has Smith in trouble. Leleco with punches but Smith scrambles out and looks to grab the legs of Leleco. Leleco looks to take the back and lands some punches. Leleco looks for the arm. Leleco landing big punches on Smith as Smith looks to survive. Leleco looking for the choke as he lands more punches. They are stood up again, another bad stand-up. Leleco with a right hand and Smith comes back with a body kick. Leleco with a nice combo on Smith, who is clearly gassed out. Leleco with right hands against the fence. Smith goes for a desperation takedown but Leleco stuffs it and takes the back. Leleco with some punches. Leleco goes to side control looking for a choke but the round ends. Leleco rallied in that round and we’ll see if it was enough. 10-9 Leleco, 29-28 Smith.

    Official Result- Anthony Smith def. Leonardo Augusto Leleco by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

    MIDDLEWEIGHTS- DANIEL SARAFIAN (9-5, 2-3 UFC) VS. OLUWALE BAMGBOSE (5-1, 0-1 UFC)

    ROUND 1- Bamgbose with a leg kick to start. Bamgbose drops Sarafian with a head kick and then knocks Sarafian out with a couple of punches on the ground. Huge stoppage for Bamgbose and that might get him a bonus tonight.

    Official Result- Oluwale Bamgbose def. Daniel Sarafian by knockout (head kick & punches) at 1:00 of Round 1

    WELTERWEIGHTS- ALEX GARCIA (13-2, 3-1 UFC) VS. SEAN STRICKLAND (16-1, 3-1 UFC)

    ROUND 1- Garcia gets a quick takedown but Strickland scrambles and reverses and takes the back. Strickland with some knees as they get to their feet. Strickland throws Garcia to the mat. Garcia lands an upkick. Strickland is able to get on top and is in the half-guard of Garcia. Strickland stands and eats another upkick from Garcia. Strickland goes back into half-guard. Strickland with some elbows from the top and Garcia is bleeding from the mouth. Strickland with some punches from the top and Garcia is in trouble. It was almost stopped there. Strickland gets to his feet and Garcia is able to reverse and takes Strickland down. Garcia with punches from the top. Garcia with some more punches from the top as the round ends he lands a big right hand. 10-9 Strickland.

    ROUND 2- Strickland with a high kick then a low kick. Garcia with a right hand and then a left jab. Strickland with a high kick and a right hand. Garcia’s nose is bleeding. Strickland with a right hand. Garcia with a nice combination. Strickland with a left hand. They trade punches. Garcia lands a left hand. Strickland with a nice jab. Garcia misses some punches and Strickland is able to land a right hand. The pace has definitely slowed this round. Garcia scores a takedown with less than a minute to go in the round. Both land soft punches on the mat. Strickland has control of the wrists and the posture on the ground. Garcia unable to land but got one punch in to end the round. 10-9 Strickland, 20-18 Strickland.

    ROUND 3- Strickland with an inside leg kick. Strickland lands a left hand. Garcia just misses a right hand. Garcia goes for a takedown and gets it against the fence. Strickland scrambles to the feet and lands a jab and right hand. Strickland with another jab. Strickland landing some more jabs as Garcia is unable to land anything. Now he lands two left hands and shoots and doesn’t get the takedown. Strickland lands a left hand and Garcia lands one as well. Strickland defends a takedown attempt from Garcia. Strickland lands a big right hand and has Garcia in trouble. Strickland looking for the finish and drops Garcia with a right hand and it is over! Strickland with the knockout win in the last minute of the fight.

    Official Result- Sean Strickland def. Alex Garcia by TKO (punches) at 4:25 of Round 3

    MAIN CARD (FOX SPORTS 1- 9 PM ET/6 PM PT)

    LIGHTWEIGHTS- JAMES KRAUSE (22-7, 3-3 UFC) VS. SHANE CAMPBELL (12-3, 1-1 UFC)

    ROUND 1- Campbell lands a solid right hand to start. Krause clinches with Campbell against the fence. Campbell with a knee and Krause pulls guard. They scramble to their feet. Krause misses a takedown. Krause lands a right hand. Krause working hard for a takedown. Krause with a nice combo. Krause lands a nice right hand. Both men trade heavy right hands and they clinch against the fence. Krause with a nice combo. Krause with a big body kick. Campbell with a head kick and lands a huge right hand. Krause ducks down and scores a takedown and grabs the back. Not a lot of time to work. Campbell tries to roll out but Krause has the choke locked in. Campbell is saved by the bell! That was in deep but the round ends. Second time tonight a fighter has been saved by the bell to end a round. 10-9 Krause.

    ROUND 2- Campbell attacks the body to start the round. Campbell foot sweeps Krause to the mat and it ends with Campbell in the guard of Krause. Krause looks for an armbar and rolls over and they get to their feet. Krause lands a big right hand and they clinch. They each land knees against the fence. Krause gets the back of Campbell and takes the fight to the mat and switches to side control on the top. Krause looks for another choke. Krause transitions to the back and looks for the choke. Krause with punches from the back. Krause has the choke in and its in deep but Campbell somehow escapes. They scramble and Campbell lands a knee to the chest. They get to their feet. Krause gets another takedown but Campbell scrambles up. Krause with a big knee. Campbell sweeps Krause to the mat but Krause ends up on top in the guard. Fun round there. 10-9 Krause, 20-18 Krause.

    ROUND 3- They trade kicks to the body. They clinch against the fence. Campbell misses a spinning kick. They trade leg kicks. They trade kicks again. Krause looks for the takedown and gets to the back of Campbell. They break and trade strikes. Campbell stuffs a takedown attempt from Krause. They scramble and Campbell gets the back and is looking for the choke. Great pace from both men. Krause spins and Campbell ends up on top. Campbell with shoulder strikes from the top and finishes the round with many punches from the top. Good fight. 10-9 Campbell, 29-28 Krause.

    Official Result- James Krause def. Shane Campbell by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

    MIDDLEWEIGHTS- CHRIS CAMOZZI (22-10, 7-7 UFC) VS. JOE RIGGS (41-16 1 NC, 5-6 UFC)

    ROUND 1- Camozzi with a leg kick to start. Camozzi stuns Riggs with a jab and then a barrage of knees and he finishes Riggs quickly! Big, violent finish from Chris Camozzi as he gets his second straight win and a possible performance bonus there.

    Official Result- Chris Camozzi def. Joe Riggs by TKO (knees) at :26 of Round 1

    FEATHERWEIGHTS- (#8) DENNIS BERMUDEZ (14-5, 7-3 UFC) VS. (#12) TATSUYA KAWAJIRI (35-8-2, 3-1 UFC)

    ROUND 1- Bermudez with a leg kick. Kawajiri with a spinning back fist. Kawajiri with a left hook but Bermudez grabs his back and looks for a choke in a standing position. They go to the mat and Bermudez is looking for a kimura. Kawajiri looks to get his arm free. Not much happening and the crowd is booing. Bermudez lets go and Kawajiri takes the back and lands some knees to the body. They get to their feet and Kawajiri goes for the takedown. Kawajiri is able to finish it and looks to flatten Bermudez out on the mat. They get to their feet and Kawajiri gets another takedown. He hasn’t done much with them yet. They get to their feet again. Kawajiri gets another takedown but they get right back up. Not much of a round. 10-9 Kawajiri.

    ROUND 2- Bermudez looks to land punches and they clinch up. They get to the mat and Bermudez is on top and landing some punches. They get back to their feet. They break the clinch. Bermudez with a body kick. Kawajiri going back for a takedown but Bermudez defends. Kawajiri drives him towards the fence. Bermudez with punches from the top but Kawajiri continues to go for the takedown. Bermudez with punches and elbows as Kawajiri keeps going for a takedown. More punches from Bermudez. They scramble and Bermudez takes the back but moves to a front headlock. Bermudez moves to the back and lands more punches. Bermudez looking to set up a submission but the round will end. 10-9 Bermudez, 19-19.

    ROUND 3- This round could decide it on the scorecards. Bermudez throws a Superman punch and a right hand which pushes Kawajiri against the fence. Bermudez gets the takedown. They scramble and Kawajiri has a takedown attempt stuffed. They get back to their feet. Bermudez with body punches against the fence. They break. Bermudez slips as he lands a body kick. Kawajiri goes for a guillotine but Bermudez slips out. They get to their feet and Bermudez lands a leg kick. Kawajiri misses a spinning back fist and eats a leg kick and right hand from Bermudez. Bermudez gets another takedown. They get back to their feet. Bermudez with a knee and some right hands. Bermudez gets another takedown. Bermudez with some punches from the guard. Not an exciting fight. 10-9 Bermudez, 29-28 Bermudez.

    Official Result- Dennis Bermudez def. Tatsuya Kawajiri by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

    142-POUND CATCHWEIGHT- CODY GARBRANDT (7-0, 2-0 UFC) VS. AUGUSTO MENDES (5-0, 0-0 UFC)

    ROUND 1- Mendes is a third fighter who took a fight on this card this week. Garbrandt with a leg kick and he lands a left hook. Mendes with a leg kick but eats a right hand from Garbrandt. They go to the mat for a moment but Garbrandt gets to his feet quickly and Mendes is ordered to his feet. Garbrandt with a leg kick. Mendes with a leg kick and Garbrandt counters with a nice combo. Garbrandt with another nice combo that lands. Garbrandt with a quick combo but Mendes is able to land an uppercut. Garbrandt drops Mendes with a big right hand and it is over. Garbrandt gets the knockout win!

    Official Result- Cody Garbrandt def. Augusto Mendes by TKO (punches) at 4:18 of Round 1

    MIDDLEWEIGHTS- (#13) DEREK BRUNSON (14-3, 5-1 UFC) VS. (#15) ROAN CARNEIRO (20-9, 3-3 UFC)

    ROUND 1- Brunson with a left hand. Carneiro slips to the ground and Brunson ends up on top and starts throwing a ton of punches and is looking for a finish. He lands a barrage of punches but this fight keeps going on. Brunson lays back and then more big punches and it is over. Brunson with the quick first-round finish of Carneiro. That should have been stopped sooner as there were a ton of unanswered punches.

    Official Result- Derek Brunson def. Roan Carneiro by TKO (punches) at 2:38 of Round 1

    WELTERWEIGHTS- (#5 LW) DONALD CERRONE (28-7 1 NC, 15-4 UFC) VS. ALEX OLIVEIRA (14-2-1 1 NC, 3-1 UFC)

    ROUND 1- They clinch and Oliveira lands some knees and Cerrone fires back some knees. Oliveira with a spinning back kick. Cerrone with a leg kick. They trade in close range. Oliveira lands a right hand. Cerrone gets a takedown and is in half-guard. Cerrone gets mount and he has a triangle choke locked in and Oliveira taps out! Cerrone with the submission win as he had Oliveira in all kinds of trouble on the mat.

    Official Result- Donald Cerrone def. Alex Oliveira by submission (triangle choke) at 2:33 of Round 1

  • WWE RAW live results: The build to Fastlane; Big Show vs. Strowman, notes for tonight

    A week after the most memorable single segment in recent wrestling history, Monday Night Raw will have its go-home show for Fast Lane in Anaheim, CA. Piggybacking off Daniel Bryan’s retirement, Brie Bella will appear to build up her Divas title shot against Charlotte at the PPV. Of course, the focus of the show will be to build the three-way main event between Brock Lesnar, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns. After Ambrose got laid out twice last week by Lesnar and the paltry attempt to get his heat back, the company will likely try to get him strong again since he’s the only one involved in the main event that doesn’t have a clear direction for WrestleMania.

    Also, the Dudley Boyz will appear after turning heel last week. Coming off another very good match on SmackDown, A.J. Styles and Chris Jericho will likely continue their program.

    Our coverage starts at 8 ET.

    Some updated notes for tonight from Dave Meltzer (6:30 PM EST):

    • The WWE is starting to push a Big Show vs. Braun Strowman match, which is likely to set up a Wyatt Family vs. Show & Kane & Ryback match or something approximating that for Fastlane on Sunday.
    • Locally they are advertising Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens & Rusev, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything, because more often than not, the locally advertised match doesn’t end up happening.
    • As noted, there are no special non-wrestlers advertised for tonight’s show, with HHH the major name who isn’t usually touring, but he’s on almost every Raw.

    *****

    The Big Takeaway: Kevin Owens recaptured the Intercontental Championship when he pinned Tyler Breeze in a Fatal Fiveway match, which was ordered by Stephanie McMahon in order to punish Dean Ambrose in the opening segment. Kane returned in the main event because he was a Vince McMahon creation in 1997 who is healthy enough to wrestle, and also because God hates us all. 

    Show Recap: 

    Dean Ambrose came out and said sometimes when the biggest bully on the playground comes after you, sometime you got to get your fingernails dirty and you have to do what you have to do. He acted like he got the best of Brock Lesnar last week. That was so delusional, it was almost like a heel statement. He challenged Lesnar to come out. Stephanie McMahon showed up instead because…opening segment. Stephanie brought up valid points about Ambrose needing Roman Reigns in order to deliver a cheap shot on Lesnar. Ambrose wanted to skip the talking and get to the fighting. Stephanie said she would get to the fighting because this was Monday Night Raw. So she talked for another five minutes. Followed by another talking segment with the New Day, Owens an Ambrose. And Brie Bella opening the second hour with an interview. 

    Stephanie asked the fans if they wanted to see Ambrose get F-5’d tonight. Fans were supposed to boo. They cheered. Stephanie said Ambrose would get an F-5, but it meant a Fatal Fiveway match, with Ambrose defending his Intercontinental Championship. If Reigns interfered, then Ambrose would lose his spot in the Fast Lane main event. 

    The four challengers for Ambrose’s title were Kevin Owens, Stardust (who evidently earned the title shot by losing to Zack Ryder last week), Tyler Breeze (earning the title shot with a .230 winning percentage. Sort of like turning on the TV for the AFC Divisional Playoffs and seeing the Tennessee Titans), and Dolph Ziggler.

    Kevin Owens won the Intercontental Championshp by pinning Tyler Breeze in a Fatal Fiveway that included Dean Ambrose (C), Stardust and Dolph Ziggler (12:35) 

    Owens won the championship by pinning Breeze with a Pop-Up Power Bomb. Very good match. Finishing sequence was Ambrose going for the Dirty Deeds on Stardust, but Ziggler ran in and gave Ambrose the Zig Zag, leaving Stardust laid out. Breeze threw Ziggler out of the ring, but Owens ran in and gave Breeze the finisher. So Ambrose lost the belt without getting pinned. At one point, Owens delivered cannonballs to Ambrose, Ziggler and Stardust, who were laid out in opposite corners. Owens attempted a cannonball on Breeze, who responded with a beauty shot. First half of the match was Ambrose working against a challenger one-on-one while three others rested outside. Owens power bombed Breeze outside the ring onto Ziggler and Stardust. Ambrose followed by teasing finishers with Owens, leading to a tope onto Breeze, Ziggler and Stardust. 

    Ambrose walked around pissed backstage when Renee Young asked him how frustrated he was. Ambrose said he had nothing left to lose and he would face HHH at WrestleMania, who had everything to lose. Owens asked Young “does that give your goose bumps?” 

    Owens did an interview with Young. Ziggler walked in and sarcastically congratulated him. Ziggler said there wasn’t a spotlight in the world big enough for the both of them. Ziggler said he had beaten Owens the last two weeks, and said Owens should tell the world he deserved to face him at Fast Lane. Owens declined. Later, it was announced Owens would face Ziggler for the championship. 

    The New Day came out. They promoted an appearance by Edge and Christian by reviewing the segment they had on Raw last September. There will be an episode of the “Cutting Edge Peep Show” at Fast Lane. Kofi Kingston said you never bring a kazoo to a trombone fight. Big E. said Edge and Christian’s appearance was the worst thing since Coldplay played the halftime of, and Xavier Woods stopped him from saying the Super Bowl. There’s some sort of inside joke at work there because the NFL is very sensitive about it’s copywright of the Super Bowl. They ran down Mark Henry, who walked out on them last week during the main event tables match. Henry came out to face Big E. 

    Some fans rememberd the Chris Jericho chant of “Rootie, Tootie, Bootie,” but many more chanted “New Day rocks.” 

    Big E. defeated Mark Henry (4:41) 

    Weird finish. Big E. got Henry up for the Big Ending, but Henry looked like he was supposed to escape over top of him. Instead, Henry escaped and collapsed, and Big E. simply pinned him. It looked like Henry got hurt legit. Big E. told the referee to check on Henry and looked concerned while Kingston and Woods stayed in character. 

    Brie Bella was interviewed by Byron Saxton. Fans chanted “Daniel Bryan” since it was only the “Yes” chant that was over two years ago and not Bryan himself. Brie started to answer when Charlotte and Ric Flair came out. More fans were interested in chanting “Whoo” than listening to Charlotte, who said Bryan was in a league of his own. Brie corrected her and said he still is in a league of his own. Charlotte said she would understand if Brie wanted to forfeit her match with Charlotte at Fast Lane to be with her husband. She said Bryan lost everything, his dream, his career. Brie said she didn’t owe Charlotte any explanations, but Bryan supports her 100%. Charlotte said Brie means she supports her and Daniel 100%. She said Brie also took the match because they needed the money. Charlotte asked the crowd if she attacked Bryan personally? Crowd started chanting “Yes.” Charlotte said Brie needed to go home and be with Brie Bella and Bryan. Charlotte said she didn’t need Brie, and neither do the fans. But Nikki and Bryan did. 

    Brie accused Charlotte of trying to mess with her head. She said Charlotte knew she wasn’t an easy beat. All Charlotte has done is added fuel to her fire and she’s disgusted seeing the champion Charlotte has become. Charlotte told Brie she could only imagine what Brie’s goat-faced vegan babies were going to become. Brie slapped Charlotte over that one, laid in a few Yes kicks and sent Charlotte packing. Charlotte is a good heel promo. 

    A.J. Styles defeated The Miz via submission (11:49) 

    A.J. Styles won with the calf crusher. Good, competitive match that Styles did a solid job in carrying the Miz in. Chris Jericho was on commentary, and it was scary how much better he is on color than anyone else in the company. He goes Styles more over in this match than Jerry Lawler, Saxton, JBL put together. Not to be outdone, JBL even brought up Kenta Kobashi in relating how Styles is going from being star in Japan to a star in WWE. 

    Postmatch, Jericho got in the ring and congratulated Styles, who interrupted him and challenged him to third match at Fast Lane. Jericho said he would give his answer on SmackDown. 

    The Dudley Boyz came out and teased getting the table, but only did so to tease the fans as part of their heel turn. Bubba Ray Dudley called out the Usos, but said they wouldn’t show up after he and Devon put them through tables last week. Devon Dudley said the Dudleys weren’t some Guns n’ Roses farewell tour or a retro act from the past. They were the baddest tag team on the planet. Bubba said the tables were done forever, and if the fans wanted to see that, go to the WWE Network. Bubba said their legacy would be defined by being 9-time WWE Tag Team champions, not by a piece of furniture. All the chants of “We want tables” would now fall on deaf ears. Well, at least Les Thatcher will cheer them. Bubba said they no longer cared what the fans chanted. 

    Summer Rae defeated Paige (3:40) 

    Not many matches on Raw nowadays qualify as really bad, but this one does. Summer Rae mainly did chokes with her legs. She pinned Paige after reversing an attempt at the PTO into a small package. Crowd was asleep. 

    Paul Heyman did an in-ring promo. Heyman said he wanted to lay down a message on behalf of Lesnar face-to-face to Reigns, who came out to a mixed reaction. Surprising since the last time they win in southern California, he was as over as a top guy as he’s ever been. Heyman said he has the utmost respect for Reigns, but he feels that he can’t get past Lesnar. Heyman said Reigns’ goal is to win at Fast Lane and fight HHH for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania, so he could go to his wife and child with the championship. But Reigns has a huge challenge because not only does Lesnar stand in Reigns’ way, but so does Ambrose. So Reigns has a choice: his daughter or his best friend, a man so close to Reigns, he’s like a brother. There are those who choose friends over family, and those are the ones who wind up in divorce court. There are others who choose family over friendship, and those are the ones who sit alone in the locker room and potentially stand alone as the champion of the world at WrestleMania with fireworks going off over their heads. But that’s the sacrifice you have to make in order to have a chance at the championship Reigns’ want. Heyman said Reigns’s enemy is Lesnar on Sunday night, but so is Ambrose. 

    Reigns started to speak and got noticeable boos. Reigns thanked Heyman for saying what was on his mind. Reigns said he was willing to pay the price for what he wants. He doesn’t have a problem fighting Ambrose, who he defeated. Reigns said he’s never beaten Lesnar, but he did beat he ass. Reigns said Heyman was right, he had everything on the line. But he was going to win at Fast Lane and then beat HHH at WrestleMania. They shook hands. Heyman had a blowaway promo. 

    Then the Dudleys came out and jumped Reigns from behind. Reigns tried to make his own comeback, but Bubba Ray hit him with a big boot. Ambrose came out for the save, sending Bubba packing. Reigns hit Devon with a Superman’s punch. Michael Cole broached the subject of Heyman perhaps setting up Reigns for the Dudleys to jump him. 

    Suddenly, as Ambrose and Reigns shook hands, Ambrose tried to give him Dirty Deeds. Regins escaped. Ambrose told Reigns if he wanted to make it to WrestleMania, he needed to be quicker than that. Reigns smiled at Ambrose and they shook hands again. Crowd booed because they wanted to see the two go at it. 

    They announced the creation of the Vincent J. McMahon Legacy of Excellence Award, which Cole said “would be the most prestigous award the WWE has ever presented.” The recipient would be announced next week. 

    Social Outcasts did an inset promo comparing themselves to various NBA stars who were members of the Dream Team. Adam Rose said he was Robert Shapiro, which shows somebody on the writing staff watches FX. 

    Heath Slater defeated Zack Ryder (2:07)

    Ryder did a somersault tope onto all members of Social Outcasts. Bo Dallas distracted Ryder, leading to Heath Slater getting the pin with an Implant DDT. I kept waiting for Vince McMahon to show up and interrupt this match. 

    This week’s horrible R-Truth-Goldust segment took place was set at a restaurant, where Truth was on a date with a woman. Truth told her he would walk through hell in gasoline-dipped underwear for her. Goldust showed up as a waiter. Truth said this wasn’t Table for 3 on the WWE Network. Goldust brought champaign, which Truth said he didn’t order. Goldust said it was on the house. Truth said they weren’t In His House. Goldust said of course not, it wasn’t 1996. Of course, the champaignewound up being spilled on the woman and that was that. 

    Alberto Del Rio is facing Kalisto in the non-PPV portion of Fast Lane for the U.S. Championship. At this point, I’m firmly convinced Dorian Roldan has been in charge of Del Rio’s booking since he returned to WWE. It’s the biggest waste of money since the Cleveland Browns signed Dwayne Bowe. 

    Alberto Dio Rio, Sheamus and Rusev defeated Lucha Dragons and Neville (8:49)

    Del Rio won with the double stomp off the top rope onto Sin Cara. The League of Nations now firmly in the hunt with the New Blood and Aces and Eights for the “Least Over Top Heel Group in History.” Sheamus is supposed to be the top heel in the company, at least in regards to regular wrestlers, and no one cared about him at all. Not to mention Neville was just an afterthought in this match. As was Rusev. This was a textbook lesson of how not to use what is developed in NXT. 

    Excellent feature for Black History Month on Booker T, which showed him being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. It’s sad that someone so talented had the top push of his career during WCW in 2000, when the company was the most unwatchable product off all time. 

    Video posted earlier today showed Tamina and Naomi jumping Becky Lynch, with Naomi giving Lynch a Superkick. 

    Michelle Beadle was shown at ringside. 

    League of Nations celebrated in the back when Young interviewed Del Rio, who said Kalisto’s victory was a fluke. Del Rio said Kalisto was lucky and nothing more than a little mosquito. he said he let Kalisto beat him. That’s really putting him over. He challenged Kalisto to a best-of-three falls match at Fast Lane. 

    Becky Lynch defeated Naomi via submission (2:08) 

    Lynch won with the Disarm-her. Then came a preposterous moment. Tamina and Naomi jumped Lynch. Naturally, that was built for Sasha Banks to make the save. The only problem was, she came out and walked to the ring. And she stopped to take off her earrings. During the time it took Banks to get in the ring, Lynch had her ass handed to her, complete with Tamina delivering a Samoan Drop. It was like watching the Sandman in ECW make his full ring entrance while Tommy Dreamer needed to be saved. Finally Banks got in there and the ring was cleared. 

    The Wyatt Family came out. Bray Wyatt said freedom awaits all of you inside his embrace. Freedom from a dying world, because this world was a slave shackled in pretty colors. Wyatt said his followers would walk with him inside the fires of the apocolypse. He offers everyone paradise, and all he asks in return is for everyone to bow to him. Wyatt said the fans have to make a decision, or he will have to make a choice for them. Just like he made a choice for Kane, for Ryback and just like the choice the Big Show will have to make against the Big Show right now. 

    The Big Show defeated Braun Strowman by DQ (2:29) 

    Erick Rowan and Luke Harper ran in for the DQ. If you’re trying to make Strowman the next monster heel, I don’t think having him take a vertical suplex from the Big Show is the way to do it. He shouldn’t leave his feet until WrestleMania. But there he was, taking the suplex before the run-in. 

    Postmatch, Ryback ran down for the save and speared Harper. The numbers quickly caught up to him. Then, of course, Kane came up through the ring for the save. He and Show gave Harper a double choke slam. 

    SUMMARY: Where are the heels? People were asking that question in November when Seth Rollins went down. Now it’s mid-February, and there’s still no answer. In fact, it’s only gotten worse. They’ve tried Sheamus. No one cares. They’ve tried Del Rio, who would have been better off as a babyface coming in. Instead, they stuck him with Zeb Coulter in a pairing that went nowhere, now they’ve shifted him to a heel group that’s going nowhere. It doesn’t help the pattern of sameness this company has fallen into that they keep resorting to Kane as a savior when his act grew tiresome years ago. The best program in the company right now is Jericho-Styles, with Jericho doing a great job of playing a Bret Hart-style subtle heel. On the bright side, the two segments building up the main event for Fast Lane were very good tonight.

  • NJPW New Beginnings: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kenny Omega for the IWGP IC Title

    This morning marks the second card for New Beginnings, the annual February NJPW PPV. Three big title matches headline this second outing. Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson challenge the new champions Great Bash Heel (Tomoaki Honma and Togi Makabe) for the IWGP Tag Team titles. Kushida defends his IWGP Jr. Heavyweight championship against Los Ingobernables member Bushi.

    In the main event, the vacant IWGP Intercontinental championship will be up for grabs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, a former champion and longtime ace of the promotion, looks to capture another title by defeating Kenny Omega, who has recently moved up to heavyweight as well as obtaining a high ranking within Bullet Club by putting AJ Styles out of commission.

    We’re looking for your thoughts on tonight’s show as well as on Thursday’s show fro Osaka, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match for each show at dave@wrestlingobserver.com

    Live coverage provided by Dave Meltzer at 11pm PST.

    TIGER MASK & JUSHIN LIGER & CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN VS. YOUNG BUCKS & CODY HALL

    Short match with not much to it.   They kept things moving, did a few near falls and the match ended when Hall had Captain in a tombstone position and both Bucks came off the top rope to spike him and Matt scored the pin. 

    BOBBY FISH & KYLE O’REILLY VS. KAZUSHI SAKURABA & GEDO

    Another short match.  The early matwork sequence with Sakuraba and O’Reilly was really good.  The rest of the match was okay.  Fish pinned Gedo after Chasing the Dragon.

    MATT SYDAL & RICOCHET & SATOSHI KOJIMA & HIROYOSHI TENZAN VS. YUJI NAGATA & MANABU NAKANISHI & RYUSUKE TAGUCHI & DAVID FINLAY

    Good match after Nakanishi and Tenzan started.  Crowd was into Kojima vs. Nagata the most.  Sydal & Ricochet didn’t do what you’d expect on a big show but this wasn’t the match or spot ont he show to be tearing it up.  They looked good with what they did.  The finish saw Ricochet pin Finlay after a shooting star press. 

    TETSUYA NAITO & EVIL VS. MICHAEL ELGIN & JAY WHITE

    Naito fist bumped Milan Collection A.T. at the announcers table and went to do the same with Nogami.  But Nogami was loyal to Blue Justice.  Milano  then hopped hte rail and opened the ropes for Naito.  They first bumped again so the two announcers were on opposite sides of the fence here.  Another short match.  Good match ending when Evil pinned White afer an STO.  White & Elgin looked good.  Naito gave the ref a sliding dropkick. after the match.  Naito wanted a fist bump  from Milano after but he declined because Naito attacked the ref.  Nogami kept yelling “Justice” at him so at some point Nagata may be going against Naito.

    BAD LUCK FALE & TAMA TONGA & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI VS. MARK & JAY BRISCOE & TORU YANO FOR NEVER OPEN WEIGHT TRIOS TITLES

    The Briscoes & Yano regained the titles.  The match was better than Thursday since Tonga seemed to carry the heel side.  The Brisoces also looked good and Yano’s heel act is over.  During the match Yujiro tried to low blow Yano but the ref caught him  The finish was the ref distracted and as the Briscoes pulled Tonga and Fale out of the ring.  Yano gave Yujiro a low blow and inned him with his outside cradle.  Not bad but no great matches on the first half of the show.

    HIROOKI GOTO & KATSUYORI SHIBATA & JUICE ROBINSON VS. KAZUCHIKA OKADA & TOMOHIRO ISHII & YOSHI-HASHI

    Real good, best match so far.  Okada was really good here, definitely came across like the superstar in the match.  Robinson got to do more than usual.  The finish saw Okada used the neckbreaker over the knee and Randy Savage elbow on Robinson.  He set up the rainmaker but Goto broke it up.  Okada hit the dropkick on Goto and then the rainmaker on Robinson for the pin.  Highlight was Shibata vs. Ishii.  After the match Okada offered to shake hands with Goto and invited him to join CHAOS.  Goto walked off.  Okada grabbed the mic and said something to  Gogo, who walked off.

    KUSHIDA VS. BUSHI FOR IWGP JR. TITLE

    This was a great match.  All kinds of great stuff.  They did dives and lots of near falls.  Kushida survived the mist in the face, a backslide and bridge and Bushi’s MX finisher which is coming off the top rope into a codebreaker while landing.  He tried a second one but Kushida caught Bushi with the codebeaker.  Evil interfered a few times.  Evil grabbed Kushida but Taguchi hip attacked Evil for the save.  Naito tried to interfere but White grabbed Naito by the legs.  The finish saw Kushida grab the hoverboard lock and then while holding it kicked Naito off the apron and got the submission.  The negative is it was really stupid for Kushida to be working the several minutes with green mist all over his face and the ref not caring.

    TOMOAKI HONMA & TOGI MAKABE VS. KARL ANDERSON & DOC GALLOWS FOR THE IWGP TAG TEAM TITLES

    Another great match.  And it would have been hard to follow the jr. match.  It was mostly Honma selling but he survied his arm being worked on, kicked out of the gun stun, survived a Gallows power bomb and a bloody sunday DDT by Anderson.  The finish saw Makabe revive and slap Honma over and over to revive him.  Makabe put Anderson on his shoulders and Honma used the kokeshi double impact.  Makabe clotheslined Gallows over the top, and then Makabe used the King Kong kneedrop on Anderson and Honma used a diving head-butt to pin Anderson.

    Tama Tonga came out and said that there is a new member of the Bullet Club and he and that person challenge Makabe & Honma to a title match.  Honma accepted the challenge.

    HIROSHI TANAHASHI VS. KENNY OMEGA FOR THE VACANT IC TITLE

    Omega won the title in 30 minutes with the One Winged Angel in what will be among the best matches of 2016 even though it was filled with inteference.  Early in the match Yujiro Takahashi and Cody Hall interfered.  Omega told them that the smart marks will take stars off this match if there is too much outside interference (which basically meant the match was going to have a ton of inteference later since he’s a heel) and he needed to win clean.  Most of the match was Omega working over Tanahashi’s bad shoulder and Tanahashi working over Omega’s knee.  Omega did a totally believable sell job on his knee.  Tanahashi used two dragon screws and the Texas cloverleaf.  He had the match won when Hall came back out and distracted the ref.  The Young Bucks came from under the ring and gave Tanahashi a double superkick and the Indy taker.  Omega used the Styles Clash but Tanahashi kicked out.  The Bucks sprayed the numbing spray on Omega’s knee.  Omega went for the bom a ye but Tanahashi used a dragon suplex.  Omega used a ton of forearms and worked over the shoulder but Tanahashi came back.  Omega used a reverse Frankensteiner dropping Tanahashi on his head.  Omega went for the One Winged Angel but Tanahashi revesed it into a reverse huracanrana.  Tanahashi used a straight jacket German suplex and went to the top rope.  Nick Jackson shoved him off and put a garbage can around the shoulder.  They threw the garbage can but it knocked out ref Red Shoes.  The Bucks put the boots to Tanahashi and put his bad shoulder on the garbage can.  Omega went to the top rope but Michael Elgin ran in and picked up both Bucks and used a fallaway slam on both.  Tanahashi slammed Omega off the top rope onto the garbage can.  Elgin carried both Bucks to the back.  Tanahashi used a neckbreaker and a sling blade, and a cross body off the top, but missed the high fly flow.  Omega used a bom a ye to the back of Tanahashi’s neck, and jumping knee to the chin but Tanahashi kicked oiut.  Omega used another bom a ye and the One Winged Angel for the pin.

    Omega said some of you may be surprised, some of you may be sad.  It’s Valentine’s Day and some of you wish Tanahashi could be your Valentine.  You have a new Valentine, you have a new God.  I can wrestle.  I can talk.  I can sing.  All you ladies, me and the Young Bucks are the Elite.  The Bucks were wearing “Elite” shirts insead of Bullet Club shirts.  Then he sang Teenage Dream.  This was the the new Sueprstar performance needed.  Every booker needs to watch this match as far as a lesson on how to make a new star, well, if you’ve got someone with incredible talent and a Hiroshi Tanahashi on your roster to make him.  Omega played air guitar when it was over, jumped in the air, and collapsed, selling his knee.  Then he left the ring.  Everyone knew what they needed to do here and they did it the best way possible.

  • NJPW Beginnings live results: IWGP Heavyweight championship Kazuchika Okada vs Hirooki Goto

    This morning’s New Japan show puts current champion and potential new ace of the promotion Kazuchika Okada against perennial challenger Hirooki Goto. While Goto has had many opportunities at grabbing the top title in New Japan, he always seems to be just one win away from the coveted prize. He’s been on a more rebellious streak as of late, taking out Okada at every opportunity, including press confrences. Is this the edge he needs to win the gold?

    Also tonight is Katsyuori Shibata taking on Tomohiro Ishii for the NEVER title, Toru Yano and the Briscoes defending their six man NEVER titles against Bullet Club members Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi, as well as several matches aimed at building towards the next New Beginnings show, set to be held on Valentines Day.

    Coverage provided by Dave Meltzer starts at 12AM PST tonight.

    JAY WHITE VS. DAVID FINLAY

    I loved this match  Just a perfect prelim opener, technically awesome.  Like usual with New Japan openers, it was too short.  White caught Finlay doing a cannonball, turned it into a half crab, then a full crab and finally a lion tamer for the submission.  

    JUSHIN LIGER & TIGER MASK & RYUSUE TAGUCHI VS. KAZUSHI SAKURABA & YOSHI-HASHI & GEDO

    Lots of buffering issues during this match.  Liger & Tiger & Taguchi won.  I think  Gedo lost the fall, which would make sense.  During intermission they’ll probably show a replay.  It looked fine, just like a usual match in that spot on the card.

    YUJI NAGATA & MANABU NAKANISHI VS. SATOSHI KOJIMA & HIROYOSHI TENZAN

    The match was good when Nakanishi wasn’t in.  Unfortunately, he was in a lot.  About  what you’d figure from these guys in this spot.  The crowd liked it.  Kojima & Tenzan used the 3-D on Nakanishi and Kojima pinned Nakanishi after two lariats.  They all shook hands after.  Nagata then issued a challenge and Kojima seemed to accept.  They all shook hands again.  The crowd popped for the mic work and all four stood on he ropes in four corners as the crowd cheered. 

    MICHAEL ELGIN & KUSHIDA & JUICE ROBINSON VS. TETSUYA NAITO & EVIL & BUSHI

    The heels won when Bushi blew mist and nailed Kushida with a toipe and Evil used an STO on Robinson for the pin.  Before the match, Naito started bullying TV announcer Shimpei Nogami and tore his Blue Justice shirt.  Elgin’s power moves when  he tagged in for the first time got over bigger than anything.  He pressed Bushi and then held him up for one arm before dropping him.

    MARK & JAY BRISCOE & TORU YANO VS. BAD LUCK FALE & TAMA TONGA & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI FOR HE NEVER SIX MAN TITLES

    Fale & Tonga & Yujiro won the titles.  They started off doing comedy and kind of lost the crowd and never got them back.  I think they feel the need to elevate the other Bullet Club members right now.  The finish saw Fale hit the grenade on Jay.  Yano gave Fale & Yujiro both low blows, but Tonga then gave Yano a low blow and a double arm DDT for the pin.

    MATT & NICK JACKSON DEFEND IWGP JR. TAG TITLES AGAINST RICOCHET & MATT SYDAL AND BOBBY FISH & KYLE O’REILLY

    Lots of streaming issues here.  Best match so far but how good I couldn’t really tell.  Ricochet & Sydal won the titles with Ricochet doing a shooting star press on Nick and Sydal doing the same move at the same time  on Matt.  Cody Hall interfered a few times and carried Kyle O’Reilly to the back before the finish.  Ricochet seemed the most popular.  A lot of good moves and dives, a tower of doom spot.  

    KATSUYORI SHIBATA VS. TOMOHIRO ISHII FOR NEVER OPEN WEIGHT TITLE

    This was fantastic.  The usual hard chops, elbows and clotheslines, cool submissions, no sell spots that you’d expect.  They were slapping the hell out of each other, Shbiata used a choke and then the penalty kick for the pin to retain.  Ishii was bleeding from the mouth from about halfway into the match.  Ishii doing his super sell job as he was carried to the back.  They did spots early where each guy allowed the other to suplex and then the guy would get up after being suplexed.  They did this about seven times and some great exchanges.  The crowd was more into Shibata.  Shibata also did a great flying armbar and triangles and armbars on the ground.  You got the sense Shibata is going to get the position Nakamura had.

    HIROSHI TANAHASHI & TOGI MAKABE & TOMOAKI HONMA VS. DOC GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON & KENNY OMEGA

    This sets up the IC and tag title match on Valentine’s Day in Niigata.  The Bullet Club had to win this one.  They pretty much destroyed  them  Omega worked over Tanahashi’s bad shoulder.  After the match they destroyed Tanahashi.  They used chair shots to the shoudler, Matt Jackson came off the top with a chair to the shoudler.  Omega came off the top rope with a high fly flowwhile Tanahashi’s arm was held over a garbage can with the splash on the arm.  It was a total post-match destruction  They did what they had to do to get Omega over in the spot he’s in  For the match itself, Anderson used the gunstun on Honma, then they laid out Makabe with the Magic killer and Omega used a reverse Frankensteiner on Tanahashi before Omega finally used the one winged angel on Honma for the pin.  Pretty good, not off the charts.

    KAZCHIKA OKADA VS.  HIROOKI GOTO FOR IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE

    Goto is all painted up like Hakushi. Very good match but this never got to the level of most IWGP title matches.  It’s really clear watching this show how much losing Nakamura hurts.  Okada kept going for the rainmaker and Goto kept head-butting him.  But finally Okada hit it, then followed with two more rainmakers and got the pin  Goto had nearly won with the shouten kai, but Okada barely got his hand on the rope.  I don’t think people believed Goto could win.  Gedo is now doing a promo for Okada.  Now Okada is doing the promo  One thing about this match is that the crowd was completely behind Okada but didn’t seem to care much about Goto. 

  • WWE RAW live results: Daniel Bryan Retirement, Brock, Roman, Dean & the drive to Fastlane

    The Big Takeaway: Daniel Bryan announced his retirement in one of the most emotional segments in the 23-year history of Raw. Bryan made a memorable speech where he came off as the most normal person ever to achieve stardom. The theme of the speech was all the things he had been grateful for over his 15-year career. It’s amazing to think that someone perfectly content with being the world’s biggest cult wrestler could become the biggest star in the biggest company in the world, but that’s what happened. In terms of storyline, the biggest news was the Dudley Boyz turned heel on the Usos, which was overdue.

    Show Recap: 

    Right away, a Daniel Bryan package aired, starting with his early days as American Dragon competing in the Texas Wrestling Alliance. It continued until the culmination at WrestleMania. They showed his tweet from earlier today announcing his retirement. 

    Stephanie McMahon opened the show in the ring for a contract signing. Crowd chanted for Bryan. She appeared to have a tear in her eye while trying to maintain a straight face. She was out there for a contract signing for the Fast Lane main event with Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. Ambrose got the jump on her,  and demanded to move things along. Stephanie started to say there would be no physical altercations between the three of them when Reigns walked down. Someone had a sign that said “Can we trade Roman for Cesaro?” Lesnar and Paul Heyman were introduced by Stephanie, who interrupted Heyman during his ring entrance. Everyone signed the deal and Stephanie left, leaving the three men alone in the ring. 

    Heyman referred to Ambrose as “little brother” as said he should ask his “Big brother Samoan” what the difference is between a beatdown by the authority and an authoritative beatdown by Brock Lesnar. Ambrose was set off by that and got in Lesnar’s face. Lesnar threw Ambrose across the table and into Reigns like a rag doll,threw the table onto Reigns,  then gave Ambrose an F-5. Lesnar left the ring. HHH walked out for a staredown with Lesnar. Reigns looked upset at Ambrose, for some reason. Ambrose is being booked like a cruiserweight in this program and it’s done nothing but get him under. 

    There was a theme for the night entitled #thankyoudanielbryan, highlighting moments from his WWE career. It started with his first match at NXT, where he wrestled Chris Jericho in 2010. It’s so funny to think Bryan is getting a hero’s sendoff tonight when the company did everything they could to get him under during his first six months in NXT. 

    Ambrose told Reigns backstage he would get even with Lesnar tonight. 

    Dolph Ziggler defeated Kevin Owens (11:02)

    Dolph Ziggler won when Kevin Owens missed a Cannonball, and Ziggler rolled him up in a cradle while his feet were on the ropes. How the ref missed that one was unreal. He looked right at Owens shoulders and Ziggler’s feet were in plain view unless he has no sight in his left eye. Michael Cole then acted like he didn’t notice anything unusual. Apparently, Cole is going for Mike Carey’s job on CBS next football season. A good match where they teased a double countout after Ziggler hit a Famouser on Owens from the apron onto the floor. 

    The next #thankyoudanielbryan moment was from 2011, when Bryan defeated the Miz to win the U.S. Championship. 

    The Usos talked with the Dudley Boyz tonight. The Usos wrestle the New Day tonight in a tables match. Devon Dudley said if anyone should get a tables match tonight, it should be them. Bubba Ray Dudley said the entire WWE Universe didn’t like the New Day. The crowd responded by booing. Bubba Ray told the Usos they should team tonight for a 4-on-4 match against the New Day, where they New Day would have to get themselves a partner. Usos agreed. 

    Charlotte defeated Alicia Fox via submission (5:14) 

    Charlotte won with the Figure Eight. Crowd elected to entertain themselves by chanting for Lana (which Charlotte didn’t look happy about) and the Seattle Seahawks. Alicia Fox’s only offense were one-legged drop kicks like Velvet McIntyre. 

    MizTV with Chris Jericho started with Miz replaying him getting pounded by A.J. Styles last week. Miz said he could have made Styles an A-lister. Jericho interrupted him and said the fans would rather see a Highlight Reel instead of MizTv. So they overhauled the set instantly with roadies bringing in the JeriTron 5000, a new rug and new lighting. Even a potted plant. So it became the Highlight Reel. Jericho started interviewing Miz and brought up Styles’ victory over Miz on SmackDown. Crowd chanted “You look stupid” at Miz, who claimed he had a meeting with Stephen Spielberg last week, putting himself over as an A-lister. Somehow, Jericho said that reminded him of the Chipmuncks song “All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth.” Some fans sang along. 

    Miz ran a clip of his own, which was Styles beating Jericho. Miz said losing to Styles was eating him alive. Jericho said he was right, it has been eating him alive. Crowd chanted for Styles. Jericho knew Styles was good, but he asked if he was great. Jericho said we would find out on SmackDown, but he highly doubted it because he was the best in the world at what he did. Styles came out, but Miz jumped Jericho from behind . Styles ran down to take care of Miz. Jericho gave Miz a clothesline out of the ring, then had a brief staredown with Styles. Miz ran back in, only to get discarded again, leading to another staredown that got physical and turned into fisticuffs. Miz dragged Jericho out of the ring, only to have Jericho throw him across the announcer’s table. And it ended with Styles and Jericho traded words going to the back. Styles vs. Jericho is such an effective program by itself, potentially feud of the year-caliber if handled right. Putting the Miz in the midst of it is like having Al Pacino and Robert Di Niro star in a Goodfellas sequel, but instead of Joe Peschi or Ray Liotta as the third-billed star, it’s Rob Schneider.  

    The next Bryan highlight was the 2011 Money in the Bank, where Bryan kicked Wade Barrett off the ladder to take the briefcase. 5 months later, he cashed in the briefcase to beat the Big Show and win the World Heavyweight Championship. 

    Bray Wyatt defeated Ryback (6:55) 

    Bray Wyatt won when Ryback attempted a spear. Wyatt stopped him dead in his tracks with Sister Abigail and the three count. You can always tell when Ryback is jobbing based on the inflection he uses when he says “Wake up, it’s feeding time” during his ring entrance. Lately, he’s had a downward inflection. To punctuate that, Wyatt, Erick Rowan, Luke Harper and Braun Strowman laid waste to him postmatch, ending with Wyatt giving him Sister Abigail on the floor. Wyatt cut a promo to no one in particular afterwards, saying people can ask for mercy, mercy they will not receive. 

    Daniel Bryan flashback to his days with Kane in Team Hell No. 

    Tweets to Bryan from various WWE personalities included Vince McMahon, Kalisto, Paige and the Ultimate Warrior’s widow were shown. 

    Big E. was polishing up tables in the back when Renee Young walked in wondering who their mystery partner for the tables match was going to be. Xavier Woods wouldn’t say, and Kofi Kingston said New Day were like the Denver Broncos, world champions that everybody loved. 

    Ambrose told Reigns he wanted to have a one-on-one confrontation with Lesnar tonight. 

    Adam Rose defeated Titus O’Neal (3:17) 

    Prematch, Adam Rose did micwork where he proclaimed himself “The Radical Mongoose.” Curtis Axel couldn’t believe how horrible that sounded. Bo Dallas said he had great friends that would turn into great trends. Rose won when Hath Slater distracted Titus O’Neal, leading to Rose getting the schoolboy cradle pin. O’Neal immediately clotheslined Rose over the top rope. So Rose didn’t go over, O’Neal lost and no one got over. So what was the point of this? 

    Next Bryan flashback was him winning the WWE Heavyweight Championship from John Cena at SummerSlam 2013. 

    Ambrose came out and said Lesnar must have hit him with a F-2 or an F-3 earlier, because he thought an F-5 was supposed to hurt. He called out Lesnar, who came out chuckling at the thought of Ambrose calling him out. Lesnar quickly laid Ambrose out beating him up around the ring, then laying him out with an F-5. At this point, Ambrose had the booking cred of Adam Rose on the show. That only slightly changed when Ambrose called Lesnar back to the ring with a wild look in his eye. Lesnar stepped back in the ring, but then Reigns stepped out on the ramp. As Lesnar was distracted by Reigns, Ambrose snuck up from behind and gave Lesnar a low blow. And then Ambrose left. Reigns smiled like Ambrose had won the battle over Lesnar. Crowd stayed totally silent, as if Ambrose was the heel in that scenario. At the very best, Ambrose looks like Reigns’ tag-along in this setup, which isn’t how you make a new star. 

    Alberto Del Rio and Rusev defeated Lucha Dragons (5:37)

    Alberto Del Rio pinned Kalisto with the world’s most elaborate finisher where ADR jumps off the top rope onto the chest of Kalisto. Sin Cara returned and gave Rusev a tope to take him out. Lana was missing again after reemerging from oblivion last week. 

    In footage from earlier, R-Truth was on his way to the Jimi Hendrix Museum when he stumbled onto Goldust dressed as Hendrix, playing a guitar while singing an offshoot of “Purple Haze.” Goldust smashed the guitar on a sidewalk. Security led Goldust away. An attempt at comedy the same way recent Adam Sandler movies have been an attempt. 

    Next Bryan moment was from March 2014, the Occupy Yes movement which led to Bryan’s victory over HHH at WrestleMania. I loved the bitter, old wrestlers criticism of that angle, one of whom claimed it was “contrived.” As if all the angles from the 1970s were shoots. The irony was Bryan’s push to the top in 2014 was a series of spontaneous events spawned by the fans, which led to contrived angles that got over.   

    Tamina defeated Becky Lynch (3:38) 

    Sasha Banks was on commentary. Tamina started mouthing off to Banks in the ring. That led to Naomi hitting Banks with a forearm, and it looked like she stuffed Banks good. Lynch saw this, left the ring and gave Naomi an Exploder suplex. Lynch got back in the ring and ate a superkick by Tamina, who got the pin. Earlier, Naomi got some heat with outside interference. That was kind of different seeing a heel actually break the rules. 

    The New Day talked to its mystery partner and gave him a unicorn horn to place on his head. It was Mark Henry, who started playing Woods’ trombone. Henry and Big E. began dancing, with Henry bringing up his days as Sexual Chocolate in 1998. 

    Nikki Bella, Owens, Cena and Natalya tweeted salutes to Bryan. 

    The Dudley Boyz and the Usos defeated the New Day and Mark Henry in a tables match (7:31)

    The match was rushed. Henry walked out when the New Day ordered him to splash Jimmy Uso. It ended with the Dudleys giving Big E a 3-D through the table. It appeared that Jey Uso had a hard time putting weight down on his left leg. 

    The Dudleys then turned heel, jumping the Usos. First, they put Jimmy Uso through a table, then Jey took a super bomb through a table. Crowd chanted “ECW.” Bubba reeled off some of his catchphrases from his Bully Ray days, asking Jimmy if he knew who they were. Overdue move turning the Dudleys because the company needs a strong heel tag team act, as opposed to the New Day as a comedy heel act. 

    The company profiled all of the major mainstream publications that broke the Bryan retirement news. It was even on ESPN’s bottom line all day, which is incredible if you watched how that network treated wrestling during the boom period. 

    Bryan came out with his trimmed beard and a haircut. He looked like he really didn’t want to give this speech. He stood in the ring with his eyes closed and head down as everyone chanted “Yes” around him, looking like he was going to break down. The expression only got more cheers and chants, which made him crack a smile. Bryan said he was able to close his eyes and feel the reaction the way he had never got to feel it before, and he’ll never forget it. 

    He said that he had to address the elephant in the room…he really wanted to shave his beard. He said he shaved his head called “Wigs for Kids,” which makes wigs for kids that have cancer. Bryan said he had been wrestling since he was 18 and within 5 months, he had 3 concussions. After that, he would get a concussion here and there, which adds up after 16 years. It gets to a point where doctors say you can’t wrestle anymore. He fought that for a long time, after receiving EKGs and various evaluations. He wanted to come back and wrestle in the WWE because he’s loved wrestling more than anything. 

    A week and a half ago, a test indicated perhaps his brain wasn’t as OK as he thought it was. He has a family to think about, he and Brie Bella want to start having kids soon (which got Yes chants). Bryan joked that’s what Brie says all the time. That got Holy Shit chants. Bryan announced his retirement with the heaviest of hearts and the utmost sadness. 

    For the last year, Bryan said he’s been sad, frustrated, and angry. But when he woke up today he felt gratitude. He got to do what he loved for 16 years. He loved the Seahawks, which got a huge pop. He loved hearing the fans react just as his music hits. He loved diving through the ropes, which makes him feel like Superman. He loved wrestling in the parking lot of gas stations and wrestling in front of 70,000 fans in New Orleans. He loved getting to know people like Kane, who looks like a monster but is among the smartest people he knows. 

    He got to know Steven Regal, who has been his mentor. He got to know children like Connor. He said he was very grateful because wrestling doesn’t owe him anything, nor does the WWE or the fans. The wrestlers do this because they love to do it. He neer dreamed the fans would get behind him the way he did, since he was 5’8, 180 pounds. He came close to breaking down here. He was grateful for two years ago when the fans in Seattle hijacked Raw. And the WWE was trying to arrange a program between Cena and Randy Orton, and the fans still chanted for Bryan. 

    Bryan said that wasn’t why he was grateful. He was grateful because his father was sitting in the crowd and got to see that. Bryan started crying as he remembered his father, who passed away shortly after WrestleMania. It was the last time his father got to see him wrestle. 

    Because of wrestling, he got to meet the most wonderful woman in the world. She’s beautiful, smart and completes him in a way that he didn’t think was possible. He was grateful to announce his retirement in front of his mother, his sister, his family and friends. He. Was. Grateful. 

    Tomorrow morning, he starts a new life, where he is no longer a wrestler. But that’s tomorrow, not tonight. He asked for one more Yes chant and he would really appreciate it. Brie came out as the fans chanted yes and his music played. They kissed in midring as Michael Cole said the company was thankful for having his talent under their employ. 

    SUMMARY: #thankyoudanielbryan

  • UFC Fight Night 82 Las Vegas live results: Johny Hendricks vs. Stephen Thompson

    Welcome to F4WOnline.com’s live coverage of UFC Fight Night 82: Hendricks vs. Thompson from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event is headlined by a five-round bout in the UFC’s welterweight division as former UFC Welterweight Champion Johny Hendricks takes on Stephen Thompson, winner of five straight fights. In the co-main event, it will be heavyweight action as Roy Nelson squares off against Jared Rosholt. Follow along with our live coverage of the event beginning at 7 PM eastern time with preliminary action all the way thru the main card.

    UFC Fight Night 82 Weigh-In Results
    UFC Fight Night 82 DFS Playbook
    UFC Fight Night 82 Observer Picks & Preview

    They  just announced the next FOX show is 4/16 from the Amalie Arena in Tampa with at least a four hour show on FOX itself.

    Cub Swanson vs.  Hacran Dias

    Bethe  Correia vs. Raquel Pennington

    Michael Chiesa vs. Beneil Dariush

    Tecia Torres vs.  Rose Namajunas

    Lyoto Machida vs. Dan Henderson

    Rashad Evans vs. Shogun Rua

    Khabib Nurmagomedov vs.  Tony Ferguson in a five round main event       

    The 4/23 PPV will be in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena

    Daniel Cormier vs. Jon Jones for the light heavyweight title

    Demetrious Johnson vs. Henry Cejudo for the flyweight title 

    Coverage provided by Dave Meltzer

    The show opened with a Mickey Gall video, followed by a C.M. Punk interview with Ariel Helwani.

    Punk said his focus will be different after today.  Said he knows Mickey Gall drives a bread truck, he’s hungry, he’s a purple belt in Jiu Jitsu, but doesn’t have a lot to go on.  He said we’re both a bit of a mystery so the fight makes sense.  “He’s got hands, he knocked the guy down and he choked the guy out.  I think Jiu Jitsu is his strong suit.”

    He said if hey fight it’ll be a matter of who wants it jore and who trains hardest beween now and he fight.

    “I’m gonna watch, excited to see it, I’m  gonna watch like a fan,”   

    Said hopes Gall wins so he’ll know his opponent.  He said that he’s creating jobs, and he’s created two.  He said that if Mike (Jackson) wins, he doesn’t get him.  “I don’t get it and I don’t think anyone else does either.”

    Punk made a joke about not being any good at promos but in time he hopes he can improve.

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

    FEATHERWEIGHTS- ARTEM LOBOV (11-11-1 1 NC, 0-1 UFC) VS. ALEX WHITE (10-2, 1-2 UFC)

    First round: Lobov is a Russian who lives in Dublin and trains with Conor McGregor.  White with a body kick.  Hard body kick by White.  Lobov with a body kick.  Lobov has him against the fence.  White landed a punch and took him down.  Punches and knees by White.  White 10-9.

    Second round: Lobov’s coaches told him he probably lost the round because he got wobbled.  Low kick by White.  Left to the body by White.  Kick to the body by White.  Traded punches.  White landing more.  White still landing.  Both trading.  Lobov bleeding under the left eye.  White took him down.  White 20-18.

    Third round: White took him down again.  He moved to side control Lobov started to land after he got up.  He scored a nice right hook.  White came back with punches when Lobov missed wild punches.  White landing punches and Lobov look tired.  White took him down again.  Lobov bleeding from a number of cuts.  30-27 White

    Scores: All three have this 30-27 for White

    WELTERWEIGHTS- MICKEY GALL (1-0, 0-0 UFC) VS. MIKE JACKSON (0-0, 0-0 UFC)

    First round:   Jackson is only the sixth guy to make his pro debut in UFC in the post-2001 era.  He’s an MMA media guy but is 2-0 as a pro boxer.  Gall dropped him with a right to the jaw and after a few punchds on the ground, Gall got his back and is working for a choke.  He got the choke and Jackson tapped out immediately. :45

    He cut a promo on Punk.  Punk came to the cage.  They shook hands Punk.  Punk looked taller than Gall but he was wearing shoes.  They posed together.  Punk said nothing on the mic but will do an interview backstage. 

    Punk did a backstage interview.  Punk said he looked very impressive, that’s the way I want to win a fight.  Punk said he thought both men looked relax, both came out to good music, he seemed to be having fun.  Punk asked him if he was having fan and Gall said “I’m having a blast.”  Punk said he’s indifferent that it was a short fight, “I don’t care about how hard he hits.  I try not to get hit.”   He said he wants to talk to his wife, said she’s in her room writing a book.

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

    FEATHERWEIGHTS- NOAD LAHAT (9-1, 2-1 UFC) VS. DIEGO RIVAS (6-0, 1-0 UFC)

    First round:   Rivas poked him in the eye right away.  Lahat with a low kick.  Lahat took him down.  Lahat working for a guillotine.  Rivas seems to have it blocked.  Lahat gave up on it.  Lahat stayed on top.  Lahat has his back.  Now he’s working for a head and arm choke.  Rivas got up slammed him down but Lahat reversed to the top.  Lahat 10-9.

    Second round:  Rivas landed a jumping knee and blocked Lahat out.  Crazy finish.  Lahat was out cold.  

    FLYWEIGHTS- (#12) RAY BORG (9-1, 3-1 UFC) VS. JUSTIN SCOGGINS (10-2, 3-2 UFC)

    First round:  Borg took him down but Scoggins right back up.  Body kick by Scoggins.  Left and body shot by Scoggins.  Scoggins with lefts.  Borg went for a takedown but Scoggins blocked it.  Borg has a bloody nose.  Body kick by  Scoggins.  10-9 Scoggins

    Second round:  Spin kick by Scoggins.  Scoggins slammed him down, although it was more Borg pulling guard.   Borg up.  Body kick by Scoggins.  Head kick by Scoggins.  Borg bleeding from the nose.  Scoggins took him down.  Borg went for a reverse but  Scoggins reversed back to the top. Scoggins landing a lot of punches but Borg threw a big punch back.  Spin kick by Scoggins.  Right by Borg.  Scoggins missed a spinning backfist.  Borg went for the takedown but didn’t get it.  Scoggins tried a takedown by Borg defended.  Scoggins 20-18.

    Third round:  Borg got the takedown.  Scoggins up and slammed him down.   Borg back up.  Scoggigns took him down again.  Scoggins just holding him down and trying to burn out the clock since he’s winning the decision here.  Scoggins 30-27. 

    Scores:  30-27, 30-27 and 30-26 for Scoggins.

    Scoggins did a great promo, telling UFC to not put him on the shelf, and vowed he would win the title by the end of 2016.

    HEAVYWEIGHTS- DERRICK LEWIS (13-4 1 NC, 4-2 UFC) VS. DAMIAN GRABOWSKI (20-2, 0-0 UFC)

    First round:  Lewis ran in but got taken down.  Lewis then threw him down and is on top.  Lewis landing big punches.  Grabowski bleeding.    Lewis threw punches from the back.  Lewis hammering him with punches from the top.  Lewis landed more punches and it was stopped.  Impressive win.

    LIGHTWEIGHTS- JOSHUA BURKMAN (27-12 1 NC, 5-7 1 NC UFC) VS. K.J. NOONS (13-8 1 NC, 2-2 1 NC UFC)

    First round:  Body kick by Burkman.  Low kick by Burkman and two more.  More low kicks by Burkman.  Body kick by Burkman.  Low kick by Burkamn.  Burkman with a spin kick.  Burkman with a body kick.  Crowd booing.  Body kick by Burkman.  Noons did nothing this round until the end when he finally started throwing punches.  10-9 Burkman

    Second round:   Burkman took him down with a high slam but Noons back up.  Big left by Noons.  Burkman still with low kicks.  Crowd booing again.  Both trading punches.  Noons lands a nice left hook.  Burkamn landed a  good punch.  Closer round.  20-18 Burkman.

    Third round:  John McCarthy pretty much told them to do something.  Burkman took him down.   Noons back up.  Noons landed several punches.  Noons landing more.  Burkman looks tired.  Noons landing a good left hook.  Knee by Burkman.  Hard right by Noons.  Burkman working for a takedown.  Burkman with a left.  Burkman working for a takedown and Noons was landing elbows.  Burkman took him down.  Noons but still have it 29-28 for Burkman.

    Scores:  All three have it 30-27 for Burkman.

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

    WELTERWEIGHTS- MIKE PYLE (26-11-1, 9-6 UFC) VS. SEAN SPENCER (12-4, 3-3 UFC)

    First round:  Pyle with a body kick.  Pyle with a low kick.  Spencer dropped him with a right.  Spencer landed a left.  Spencer with lefts.  Pyle back with punches late.  Spencer 10-9.

    Second round:   Pyle hurt him  with a punch.   Pyle landing rights.  Spinning back fist by Pyle and Spencer back with a punch.  Spencer with a left.  Spencer with a left.  Pyle with punches.  Knee by Pyle.  Spin kick by Pyle.  Pyle got for a takedown and got it at the last end of the round.  Pyle’s round so 19-19.

    Third round:   Spencer in with punches.  Spencer landed some punches.  Pyle faked being rocked which is a bad idea because people, as in judges, may believe it.  Pyle took him down and has a guillotine.  Knee to the body by Pyle.  Left by Spencer.  Left by Spencer and a knee by Pyle.  Pyle hurt him with an elbow.  He’s throwing hard knees  and another knee.  Elbows by Pyle.   More knees, Another knee and Yves Lavigne stopped it.  This was a hell of a fight. 

    LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHTS- MISHA CIRKUNOV (10-2, 1-0 UFC) VS. ALEX NICHOLSON (6-1, 0-0 UFC)

    First round:  Nicholson was giving away a ton of size.  He looked like a welterweight, not even a middleweight.  Cirkunov with a head kick. Cirkunov is just beating him up.  Takedown by Cirkunov.  Herb Dean got mad at Nicholson for a low knee.  Dean said next time he’s taking away a point.  Left by Cirkunov.  Cirkunov with punches.  Cirkunov took him down again.  Hard elbow by Cirkunov.  10-9 Cirkunov.

    Second round:   Cirkunov took him down.  Cirkunov got his back.  Cirkunov landing punches from back position.  He used a neck crank and got the tap.  Screwed up that engagement weekend.  Cirkunov just beat him up the entire fight.    

    FLYWEIGHTS- (#1) JOSEPH BENAVIDEZ (23-4, 10-2 UFC) VS. (#8) ZACH MAKOVSKY (19-6, 3-2 UFC)

    First round:  Left by Benavidez.  Makovksy took him down but Benavidez back up.  Low kick by Benavidez.  Head kick by Benavidez.  Punches by Benavidez.  Body kick by Benavidez.  Benavidez overwhelmed him but Makovsky took him down again.  Another takedown by Makvosky and got his back.  10-9 Benavidez,.

    Second round:  Makovsky again going for a takedown.  Punches and a knee by Benavidez.   Body kick by Benavidez.  Makovsky got a takedown but Benavidez right back up.  The crowd is really into this.  Left by Makovsky.  He got another takedown but Benavidez back up.  Makovsky with another takedown.  He jumped on his back.  Close round.  Makovsky so 19-19.

    Third round:  Makovsky with a left.  Knee by Makovsky.  Benavidez with a right.  Punch and knee by Benavidez.  Benavidez ran in and delivered a right and left and another right.  Another right by Benavidez.  Left and right by Benavidez.  Benavidez knocked him off balance as time ran out.  Benavidez 29-28 but he has to win the fight.

    Scores:   30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 Benavidez

    LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHTS- (#6) OVINCE SAINT PREUX (18-7, 6-2 UFC) VS. (#13) RAFAEL CAVALCANTE (12-6 1 NC, 1-3 UFC)

    First round:  Saint Preux hurt himself throwing a low kick.  Saint Preux is in trouble now as he can barely move.  Fejiao throwing low kicks.  Right by Feijao.  Left by OSP and he’s unloading with punches and put Feijao down .  Saint Preux with an elbow from the top.  Saint Preux with body punches while staying on top.  OSP is hurt by I have him winning the round 10-9.

    Second round:   Feijao with a left.  Saint Preux with lefts.  Body kick by Saint Preux.  Another front kick by Saint Preux.  Saint Preuz knocked him down with a left.  Saint Preux on top.  Saint Preux landing a lot of lefts from the top.   20-18 OSP.

    Third round:  Saint Preux moving better.  Feijao started throwing big punches.  Saint Preux went for a takedown.  Saint Preux landing  more punches and took him down.  Saint Preux is mainly just holding him down and the crowd is booing a lot.  They really should stand it up from here.  Big left dropping down by Saint Preux  .  Saint Preux throwing a lot of punches late.  It was close to being stopped when the time ran out.  30-27 OSP, could be 30-26.

    Scores:   30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 for OSP.

    The injury was to OSP’s right ankle.

    HEAVYWEIGHTS- (#11) ROY NELSON (20-12, 7-8 UFC) VS. (#12) JARED ROSHOLT (14-2, 6-1 UFC)First round:  Nelson missed a punch by a mile.  Rosholt landed a few punches.  Rosholt with punches.   Rosholt with jabs.  Front kick by Rosholt.  Rosholt 10-9.

    Second round:   Nelson with a low kick.  Nelson is moving forward but not landing anything.  Nelson slipped throwing a punch.  Body kick by Rosholt.  Crowd booing this fight as well.   Left by Nelson.  Low kick by Rosholt.  Nelson landed a right.  Nelson landed a couple of punches and Rosholt dancing away.  Rosholt landed some punches.  Boring fight.  Nelson’s round so 19-19.

    Third round:  Low kick by Nelson.  Rosholt dancing away.  Nelson throwing big punches and Rosholt ran away.  Rosholt landed a left as Nelson came in.  Nelson back with a few punches.  Right by Nelson.  Rosholt went for a takedown but Nelson blocked it.  Rosholt anded a right.  Left by Rosholt.  Crowd booing both men.  Nelson 29-28 but either guy could win.

    Scores:  30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 Nelson

    WELTERWEIGHTS- (#2) JOHNY HENDRICKS (17-3, 12-3 UFC) VS. (#8) STEPHEN THOMPSON (11-1, 6-1 UFC)

    First round:  Hendricks looks so much smaller than usual.  Hendricks moved in and working for a takedown.  Thompson’s defense is good.  Side kick by Thompson.  High kick by Thompson.  Another head kick and landing big punches and a body kick   Thompson is taking him apart.  Right by Thompson.  Right by Thompson.  Head kick by Thompson.  Left by Thompson.  Knee by Thompson.  Left by Hendricks and Thompson back with kicks.  Thompson destroying him with punches.  He landed a spin kick and finished him with punches.  This was a one sided destruction.  Hendricks had nothing.  He was a different guy.  3:31

    Thompson wanted a title match next. 

  • WWE RAW live results: The road to WrestleMania gets in the Fast Lane

    The Big Takeaway: The focus was building up the main event of Fast Lane. Brock Lesnar appeared at the start of the show and stood over the babyfaces at the end. Match of the night was Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler. Team BAD is caput after Sasha Banks did an interview saying she wanted to go on her own. It led to Naomi and Tamina turning on Banks during her match with Becky Lynch. Show was easy to watch and didn’t drag. 

    Show Recap: 

    Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman were out first. Heyman talked about Bray Wyatt and his family invoked the 11th Commandment, which was Thou Shall not Provoke Brock Lesnar. Heyman said Stephanie McMahon did what’s least for business when she put Lesnar in the triple threat main event at Fast Lane against Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose. Heyman said Lesnar would F-5 Reigns and Ambrose and pin both at the same time, then go on to WrestleMania and conquer the Billion Dollar Trophy Husband. Now that’s a great term for HHH. Heyman didn’t sell two-thirds of the Shield short and talked about how Ambrose rode the short bus to school because he’s a nut job. 

    Ambrose came out and called Heyman “Porky.” Ambrose said he had never been in the lair of the beast before, but it’s cozy. Ambrose said he didn’t want to fight Lesnar, but he would to get the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. If he’s crazy, why doesn’t he want to fight him? Ambrose said he couldn’t wait to travel to Suplex City. Lesnar joked snickered through Ambrose’s promo. Ambrose cut his promo and left. These types of segments are just a big waste of Lesnar because it really meant nothing and anyone following Heyman on the mic might as well recite the alphabet. And Ambrose isn’t that bad a promo, he just didn’t have much to talk about here.  

    Kalisto defeated Rusev via countout (10:06)

    Kalisto and Rusev fought outside the ring. Rusev tried to throw Kalisto onto the announcer’s table. Kalisto landed on his feet on top of the table, then gave Rusev a huracanrana to the barricade. After the longest ten count in recorded wrestling history, Kalisto was announced as the winner. Kalisto is the latest person to get the Vince McMahon Cruiserweight push, where he’s demeaned in commentary, gets fluke wins, then runs when the heavyweight heel is feuding with goes after him postmatch, which in this case was Alberto Del Rio, who was on commentary. His rematch with Kalisto for the U.S. Championship is a go for Fast Lane. Lesson for anyone in NXT: when you hear you’re getting the Vince McMahon Cruiserweight push, run. 

    Ambrose and Reigns talked backstage while the WWE World Heavyweight Championship was framed and placed on a table. Stephanie McMahon walked up and said the championship was being held in her office. Somehow, I don’t doubt that. Stephanie tried to divide Reigns and Ambrose by comparing their partnerships to various factions that split over the years and how someone always wound up on the short end. She mentioned Marty Jannetty when Shawn Michaels turned on him, Randy Orton being dumped from Evolution (I’d say he landed on his feet) and even brought up Seth Rollins turning on Ambrose and Reigns. She said when presented with the opportunity, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Reigns and Ambrose realized what she was trying to do and said they were brothers. Stephanie said they would face the New Day later tonight to see how unified they truly are. Good promo by Stephanie and she has been a consistent heel throughout the first weeks of 2016. 

    They had a update on Nikki Bella neck surgery, showing an Instragram photo of her in the hospital. This led to Renee Young interviewing Brie Bella, who said he sister was looking forward to returning at some point this year. Charlotte and Ric Flair walked in. Charlotte told Brie to extend her sympathies to Nikki. Then Charlotte heeled on her saying she was on her way to becoming the new longest reigning Divas champion of all time, and she was the one who likely put Nikki in the hospital. 

    The Usos defeated Social Outcasts (5:11) 

    Lillian Garcia announced the Usos were a “Grammy award winning tag team.” They actually replayed that mistake and the announcers made fun of it. Then Michael Cole said Curtis Axel and Heath Slater would face the Usos. Slater never got in the ring and Adam Rose wrestled instead. That one said anything about that. Jey Uso pinned Rose after a double superkick and splash. Slater announced that Bo Dallas, now known as Bo Rida, wasn’t there this week because he was in a studio mixing his first album. 

    MizTv was with A.J. Styles. The Miz brought up Styles back story, saying Styles was the smallest of four boys and kept bringing up how people told him throughout his life that he was too small. I smell VKM cruiserweight push. Miz brought up the tired Michael Hayes line about the size of the fight in the dog. He recited Styles’ life story without bringing up TNA. Through all the years, Styles wondered what it would be like if he entered the big ship of the WWE. Styles stayed quiet throughout all this. Miz mentioned Styles survived 28:00 in the Royal Rumble and defeated Chris Jericho in his Raw debut. He asked Styles where would he go from here?

    Before Styles could answer, Miz said Styles reminded him of his former protege, Daniel Bryan. (Code word for cruiserweight push). Miz said some called him the father of the Yes Movement. Crowd chanted “no.” Miz said he wanted to mentor Styles and navigate his career. Wasn’t Miz doing that for Neville? Miz got mad at the fans and said this was the WWE,  and the “E” was just as big as the “W.” He said he main evented WrestleMania and who the hell is A.J. Styles? Miz said Styles may have been a big fish in a small pond, but this is an ocean full of sharks. He said Styles will drown if he listens to the fans. Miz called Styles a “rookie redneck” and said there was no chance in hell he could make it in the WWE. Styles belted Miz and threw him into a chair until Miz ran off. Miz really did a great job. He should be a manager at this point, but it’s another instance of the company not putting square pegs into square holes. 

    Brie Bella defeated Charlotte (C) in a nontitle match (4:35)

    Brie won using the classic Flair-Ricky Steamboat finish where she turned Charlotte’s Figure Eight attempt into a small package. Flair jumped up on the apron trying to distract Brie, who had a sleeperhold on Charlotte, who broke it with a chinbreaker. Looks like they’re setting up a Divas title match between the two at Fast Lane. 

    The company sent out its best wishes to Bret Hart in his fight against prostate cancer. Various personalities including HHH, Nattie and Reigns tweeted their best thoughts. 

    The Big Show defeated Erick Rowan (1:18) 

    The Big Show won with a chokeslam. Postmatch, Erick Rowan, Braun Strowman and Luke Harper jumped Show, who turned face again on Smackdown. It led to Show being slammed outside the ring onto ring steps. Wyatt was absent during all of this. Looks like Show will face Strowman, or some variation of the Wyatt Family at Fast Lane. The beatdown got a surprising amount of heat. 

    Titus O’Neal defeated Tyler Breeze (2:38) 

    The weekly squash match with Titus O’Neal, ending with a pin following Clash of the Titus. It’s booking straight from the 80s trying to get O’Neal over, and that’s not a criticism because it’s smart. Speaking of the 80s, Breeze was announced as having his “winter residence in Monaco,” like he was Ted DiBiase. That jobber pay must be pretty good nowadays. At least Breeze got an entrance and an inset promo. 

    Heyman and Lesnar were backstage when HHH walked up. HHH ordered Heyman to leave, and wondered if Lesnar was getting soft because Ambrose got in his face earlier and lived to tell about it. Lesnar said HHH would find out at WrestleMania. 

    Dolph Ziggler defeated Kevin Owens (11:28) 

    Best match on the show so far, and likely the match of the night. Kevin Owens hit two cannonballs, including one after he crotched Dolph Ziggler. He went for the Pop Up Power Bomb, but Zigger got over Owens and hit the ZIg Zag for the pin. Ziggler is a total Ricky Morton-style selling babyface now. Earlier in the match, Ziggler hit a Famouser on the floor. Owens tossed JBL’s cowboy hat to the floor afterwards. 

    Nice segment for Black History Month paying tribute to Mark Henry, which included various highlights from his weightlifting career as a youth. His victory over Orton to win the World Heavyweight Championship was also shown, along with his superplex on Big Show that destroyed a ring. The Rock, Kofi Kingston and Big Show all did interviews putting him over. They all but said Henry would be in the WWE Hall of Fame someday. 

    Sasha Banks came out and said she was on her own now, and nothing was going to stop her fro becoming Divas Champion. She didn’t say so, but basically implied Team BAD was dead. Naomi and Tamina came out and said they could be competitors and still be sisters. Banks asked Naomi if they were still going to have her back. They did the “Unity” handshake as Becky Lynch came out. 

    Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks went to a no contest (3:38) 

    Naomi and Tamina predictably turned on Banks. At first, Naomi and Tamina went after Lynch, but Banks stopped them saying she wanted to do it herself. Banks and Naomi traded words, then shoves, and then came the turn. It led to Banks and Lynch teaming up to send Naomi and Tamina away. Banks and Lynch didn’t have time to get anything going to even remotely resemble some of their great NXT matches. 

    Jericho was interviewed by Young about his loss to Styles. Another good promo. Two on this show. Can’t remember the last time Raw had two good promos. Jericho compared Styles to the Eagles’ song “New Kid in Town,” saying Styles has lived up to the hype. He compared Styles to a pitbull who struck again tonight against the Miz. Styles and Miz will wrestle on Smackdown on Thursday, and Jericho said he’ll be watching that with great interest. 

    R-Truth wondered into a bathroom, where Goldust was waiting on him inside a stall. Goldust, who stepped in the toilet, dropped the Tourette’s gimmick. He again asked Truth to be his tag team partner for a team called “The Golden Truth.” Truth said he didn’t want to tag with Goldust because he was too weird and had do-do on his little toe. Goldust reminded Truth about his previous tag team partner. I was hoping he was going to say Pacman Jones, but no such luck. Instead, Goldust said Little Jimmy, who was imaginary. He still had more in-ring ability than Jones. Truth stormed out. Goldust said he didn’t mean imaginary, he meant interplanatary, but admitted that was really his weirder brother. 

    The New Day came out and mentioned “Bootie-Gate,” based on comments Rock made last week. Kingston mentioned they love children and pointed out a child at ringside. They actually gave a lengthy closeup to a child wearing a “Bullet Club” t-shirt. 

    Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns defeated Kofi Kingston and Big E. (17:19) 

    Finish was Reigns giving Kingston a Superman’s punch while Ambrose pinned Big E. following Dirty Deeds. Moments earlier, Big E. gave Reigns a belly-to-belly suplex on the table, which tookforever to set up. Pretty good much with several hot tags by the babyfaces. Xavier Woods interfered several times. Heyman was on commentary. 

    Postmatch, Lesnar came out. As Reigns and Ambrose waited, Kingston and Woods jumped them. Ambrose fended off Woods, but Lesnar gave Ambrose an F-5. While this was going on, Reigns couldn’t get in the ring because Kingston gave him a DDT on the floor. 

    SUMMARY: A fine show. Good matches. Some good promos and smart booking of the main event at Fast Lane. Trying to get Reigns over with the shadow of Lesnar looming over him in the main event will be challenging. The fans clearly see Lesnar as the top face. He’s also the only larger-than-life figure the company still has remaining that isn’t from the 90s. Clearly Reigns will have to go over at Fast Lane. The question is will the WrestleMania fans’ resentment of HHH be strong enough for them to cheer Reigns?