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  • Daily Update: Royal Rumble Fallout, UFC 196 cursed, Tanahashi injury

    WWE Royal Rumble Recap

    by Dan Velten

    If you missed last night’s Royal Rumble, you can check out Dave Meltzer’s coverage here. Spoilers: As expected, HHH won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship after entering at number 30 and tossing out DEAN AMBROSE last. Roman Reigns was eliminated 28th by HHH, so we can assume that is the Wrestlemania main event.

    Reigns actually lasted 59:50, nearly catching Rey Mysterio’s longest time record of 62:15. Jericho entered 6th and lasted 50:50 before being eliminated by Ambrose. Braun Strowman eliminated the most men with five total. The big surprise of the match was AJ STYLES entering at number 3. The fans went nuts for styles, who lasted 27:53 until being eliminated by Owens. Sami Zayn was also a surprise entrant at number 20. 

    The only other title change was Kalisto beating Del Rio for the United States Championship. The preshow match was won by Mark Henry and Jack Swagger after Henry unexplainably splashed Bubba Ray and then pinned Viktor. So Henry and Swagger got to enter the Rumble at numbers 22 and 24 respectively. 

    We’re looking for your thoughts on all three nights of Fantastica Mania as well as the Royal Rumble show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to Dave Meltzer

    We’re also looking for reports from Raw tonight in Miami, with the Superstars matches, dark matches and anything else that wouldn’t be evident from the live show.  WWE is teasing a major return on the show.  Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman are not scheduled for the show.

    Smackdown and Main Event will be taped Tuesday in Tampa.

    We’re looking for your thoughts on all three nights of Fantastica Mania as well as the Royal Rumble show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to Dave Meltzer

    If you’ve ever wanted to WATCH our radio shows here on the site, check out our new Youtube page! No full video shows, but lots of video clips, full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!    Our latest show posted to youtube is WOR featuring Jim Ross!

    Figure Four Weekly

    Figure Four Weekly 1/18/2016: Gawker’s motion to dismiss Hulk Hogan lawsuit denied
    Gawker’s motion to dismiss the Hulk Hogan sex tape lawsuit is denied, plus news and notes

    Wrestling Observer Newsletter

    The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: January 25, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: 2015 Observer Awards Issue

    The 2015 Observer awards issue, the traditional biggest issue of the year,is up on the web site now.  The issue not only has the awards winners in more than 40 different categories, but all the top place winners, as well as a history with all the awards winners dating back to 1980, as well as my comments on the placing for many of the awards.

    The categories are:

    Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Year), MMA MVP, Most Outstanding Wrestler, Most Outstanding MMA Fighter, Best Box Office Draw, Feud of the Year, Tag Team of the Year, Most Improved, Best on Interviews, Most Charismatic, Best Technical Wrestler, Bruiser Brody Memorial Award (Best Brawler), Best Flying Wrestler, Most Overrated, Most Underrated, Promotion of the Year, Best Weekly TV show, Pro Wrestling Match of the Year, MMA Match of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Best Non-Wrestler, Best Television Announcer, Worst Television Announcer, Best Major Wrestling show, Worst Major Wrestling Show, Best Wrestling Maneuver, Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic, Worst Television Show, Worst Match of the Year, Worst Feud of the Year, Worst Promotion of the Year, Best Booker, Promoter of the Year, Best Gimmick, Worst Gimmick, Best Pro Wrestling Book and Best Pro Wrestling DVD

    Update on the Royal Rumble and Rumble weekend, full coverage of Dominick Cruz’s UFC bantamweight title win and the records set on Sunday’s show and details on the New Japan/Jim Ross announcing deal as well as a look at how this came about and Jim Ross’ overall career.

    2017 Wrestlemania, how Smackdown has affected overall ratings for the USA Network, update on A.J. Styles with WWE, WWE injury updates, Daniel Bryan update, more on Mauro Ranallo and Smackdown, Chris Jericho talks his return, new season of Total Divas, How talent is broken down in NXT, the heat on Josh from Tough Enough, new dates for Brock Lesnar, plus notes from the big NXT tour and all the shows, the NXT Florida shows, as well as the WWE shows in India and the WWE weekend domestic shows and all the business notes.

    PLUS MUCH MORE! CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW

    You can also order the print Observer right now and get it delivered to your door via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to Dave Meltzer

    You can also order print issues at www.paypal.com directing funds to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

    Rates are:

    For the United States, it is $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52.  In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to moonsault@mediaplusint.com  For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52.

    If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.

    If you are a new subscriber ordering 24 or more issues, you can get one free classic issue of your choice sent to you today.  With a 40 issue subscription, you can get two free classic issues sent to you today. 

    Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.

    Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: Dec 14, 1998 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: 2 biographies in the works about Jesse Ventura
    NBC and ABC working on biographies on Jesse Ventura, a look at the end of year events for New Japan and All Japan, plus tons of news and notes.

    MONDAY NEWS UPDATE

    Bryan and I will be back tonight with Wrestling Observer radio, covering Raw tonight, the latest fallout from the Rumble, and the rest of the pro wrestling and MMA news.  You can send questions to the show to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com

    UFC 196 is officially cursed.  Fabricio Werdum pulled out of the fight today due to injuries.  So there will be no title match nor main event.  Cain Velasquez had pulled out yesterday.  Here is the story.  Ariel Helwani on Twitter wrote that there was still a chance Werdum will fight as he’s going to see a doctor, but it’s not looking good.  It was weird that he said he wouldn’t have pulled out if it was Velasquez, who had been training hard, but would beacuse it’s Miocic, who had basically one week to get in shape for five rounds.  It is a different style matchup at the last minute.

    Federal Judge Kimba Wood today denied UFC’s attempt to get a federal injunction that would bar the New York State attorney general’s office from stopping the proposed 4/23 show in Madison Square Garden.  If the injunction was granted, the show would be on.  Without it, they would need approval from the attorney general’s office that the show would be allowed, which is difficult with the laws as they are in place and the new bill to legalize professional MMA in New York not yet being passed.  The court said that UFC has the right to sue over whether the law should be legal as it is, but the judge would not issue an injunction to allow the show with the current law in place.  

    Nikki Bella will be undergoing neck surgery on Wednesday, saying to E! that she has a pretty bad herniated disc, and said it’s more difficult than most with the same injury.  “We’re gonna pray that the doctors can get the piece behind my vertebrae with just a bone fusion.”  She said she’s been hurting since July and in October, looked into it, and after getting an MRI, had stopped working.  She said she’ll probably know after surgery if she’ll be able to return at some point and will have an idea of when six months later.

    There is nothing new on the Hiroshi Tanahashi injury. He was expected to see a doctor today regarding the shoulder he dislocated in a six-man tag team match yesterday.  As noted last night on the radio show, this injury came at a time New Japan can least afford it.  Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata were to face Shinsuke Nakamura & Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii in the All-Star match on 1/30 at Korakuen Hall  in Tokyo which is a major show in Japan because it’s Nakamura’s last bout with the promotion.  So it appears the last Tanahashi vs. Nakamura confrontation was last night.

    Dwayne Johnson announced an endorsement deal with Under Armour and work with them to create a range of footwear, apparel and accessories and support the company’s fitness initiatives.  They will also develop products based on movies Johnson is working on, including a Rock backpack and duffel bag that will hit stores in a few weeks. 

    WWE

    • Ryan Satin has a story on A.J. Styles signing with WWE and maintaining his name.
    • WWE announced a partnership today with the Boys & Girls Club of America.  It was a multi-year deal focusing on bully prevention and the Be a Star alliance.  The WWE performers will participate in anti-bullying rallies in local clubs across the country and distribute Be a Star resources and materials.
    • Stardust tweeted out today that “Stardust is coming to an end.”  I believe he later deleted it.
    • For those who asked, Chris Jericho didn’t suffer a broken nose in the Rumble, but did get a bloody nose shortly after he got in the match.
    • WWE stock was up 55 cents per share to  $17.29 today. 
    • The premiere of the new WWE Network show “Ride Along,” will air tonight after Raw.
    • As far as the John Cena movies go, Daddy’s Home was No. 8 for the weekend at $5.27 million and Sisters was No. 11 at $3.5 million.  In Australia, Sisters was No. 6 and Daddy’s Home was No. 8 (thanks to James Stanios)
    • HHH has been added to the advertising at some upcoming RAW shows. 
    • The WWE is once again doing the WrestleMania reading challenge to win free tickets to WrestleMania in Dallas. 

    UFC

    • Anthony Perosh, who may have been the oldest fighter on the UFC roster with the exception of Dan Henderson, announced his retirement yesterday.  Perosh was a ground specialist who was featured when UFC ran in Australia.

    MISCELLANEOUS

    • ROH sent out a Tweet with The Young Bucks, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows and A.J. Styles posed together with a message saying how “now everyone will find out how phenomenal he really is,” which was a classy way to do things.
    • C4 Wrestling on Saturday night in Ottawa before a turn away crowd of 420:  Deeno Benjamin b Marc Mercer, Cuts n Guts & Sebastian Suave b Fight or Flight &Kevin Dunn, Velvet Jones b Decker Lockhart, Twiggy & Space Monkey b Michael Von Payton & Vanessa Kraven, Evil Uno b Jaka, Joey Janela b Viking, Cecil Nyx and Evan Adams in a four-way, Buxx Belmar & Thomas Dubois b Pinkie Sanchez & Chris Dickinson, Stuff Grayson won three-way over 2 Cold Scorpio and Brent Banks, Mathieu St. Jacques b Speedball Mike Bailey.  Next show is 2/26 (thanks to Patric Laprade)
    • Classic Championship Wrestling in Chatham, ONT on 3/6 at 2 p.m. at the WISH Centre.
    • CWE on 3/11 in Winnipeg at Rookie’s Sports Bar.
    • Metro Pro Wrestling on 1/30 in Kansas City, KS at the Turner Rec Center with Jeremy Wyatt vs. The Beer City Bruiser for the Metro Pro title and Tracy Smothers vs. Math Magician.
    • IWF Winter Warfare on 1/30 at the IWF Centre in Nutley, NJ.
    • Pure Wrestling Alliance on 3/6 in Kitchener, ONT at the Registry Theater.

    Ed Loredo has set up a bus for WrestleMania weekend for readers going to Dallas.  The first bus sold out immediately so there may be a second bus added.  For more info contact him at f4wfan@hotmail.com

    ON THIS DAY IN WORLD PRO WRESTLING HISTORY: Daily pro wrestling history (01/25): Royal Rumble winners, Steiner Brothers win WCW World Tag Team Titles

  • Dec 21, 1998 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Wrestling With Shadows set to air, Rock Bottom PPV review, plus tons more

    More than one year after the actual event took place, it appears that the U.S. air date of the “Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows” hopefully, Vince McMahon willing since half his booking ideas seem to come from attempts to gain some sort of personal retribution, will finally put closure to what without question will go down as the most famous ending of a match in North American history.

    Bret Hart is among the leading candidates to be the pro wrestler of this decade. He’s one of the best in-ring performers of this generation. Vince McMahon, is the most successful wrestling promoter ever, and from a historical standpoint is probably the most important one of all-time, although some would argue the latter point. Yet for all of Hart’s great matches and all of McMahon’s business accomplishments, the defining moment in both men’s professional lives and possibly even what both will over the long haul most be remembered for, at least personally, is chronicled in this movie.

    The documentary, which aired last month in Canada, and airs from 9-11 p.m. on the A&E Network on 12/20, has gotten unanimously positive reviews from every media source in North America that has reviewed it, which is amazing given the subject of the movie is pro wrestling. Certainly that is a first for any movie on pro wrestling, or even with a theme revolving around pro wrestling. The version of the movie on television will be the “Child Friendly” videotape version, with some language edits from the original version.

    Current subscribers click here to continue reading.

  • WWE teases a “major” return to RAW tonight

    WWE has teased a major return to Raw tonight in Miami.

    Given that the show is in Miami, Dwayne Johnson, whose roots are in the city, would be the obvious speculative choice to set up his role in the WrestleMania build.  Undertaker, who also needs to have a WrestleMania angle set up, would be another possibility as many expected him for last night’s show.

    The actual wording of the tweet sent by the company was “Breaking News: Rumors are running rampant that a major star returns to Raw tonight on the road to WrestleMania.”

    Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman, who were never advertised for tonight’s show, are not expected at the show tonight.

    We’ll have full coverage of RAW later tonight both with Jeff Hamlin’s RAW Report and with myself and Bryan Alvarez later tonight on Wrestling Observer Radio. Listen to Bryan and I discuss the 2016 Royal Rumble on Wrestling Observer Radio here.

  • WOL: Royal Rumble post-show plus your thoughts!

    Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today with tons to talk about including our full Royal Rumble post-show, thoughts on all the matches, your thoughts via POLL on whether the Rumble match itself was good or bad, and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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  • Hiroshi Tanahashi dislocates shoulder at Fantastica Mania event

    Hiroshi Tanahashi, the most important member and biggest drawing card on the New Japan roster, suffered a dislocated shoulder in yesterday’s Fantastica Mania show in Tokyo while working a six-man tag match.

    Tanahashi confirmed the injury, and was to see a doctor today regarding what is next, but him being out of action a significant amount of time, coming off the departure of Nakamura and A.J. Styles and with the neck surgery to Kota Ibushi, leaves the company in its toughest position in years.

    Tanahashi was working in a six-man tag, teaming with Titan & Juice Robinson (the former C.J. Parker in NXT), to face Shinsuke Nakamura & Kazuchika Okada & Barbaro Cavernario. It’s not clear exactly where the injury took place. At one point he was outside the ring and grabbed his right shoulder for a moment.  Later in the match, in a dropkick spot, he grabbed it again and it was clear he was injured from that point on.  He continued the match, did all his spots including some flying spots, but you could see him try to avoid landing on the right side. However, he was still throwing punches.

  • Monday Night RAW Inside the Numbers Jan 18, 2016

    Last week, Monday Night averaged 3,497,000 for the 3 hour broadcast which translated to a 2.45 household rating. The numbers were slightly up from the previous week which went against the college football national championships but way down from the same week in 2015. The January 19, 2015 RAW did a 3.02 ratings and averaged 4,090,000 viewers – down 18.9% and 16% respectively.

    The cumulative average for January now stands at a 2.43 rating and 3,463,000 viewers. The rating is down 17.5% from 2015 and the viewership is down 14.2%. This is the 14th straight month that the rating and viewership will drop from the same month the previous year.

    The main reason for the poor rating last week was a dramatic drop in the 3rd hour. The show opened at 3.78 million viewers, dropped slightly to 3.59 million the second hour and plummeted to 3.12 million for the 3rd hour, which was built around a Chris Jericho highlight reel featuring Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. The 3.12 million viewers was the lowest viewership for an hour of RAW in January dating back to the early days of the Monday Night War.

    This week should see the typical post-Royal Rumble boost as fans who may not have tuned into the PPV/network special want to find out who won and what’s next on the Road to Wrestlemania. The most recent RAWs have been averaging an average of 10.53% lower than the same week the previous year. The post-Rumble RAW in 2015 did 4.41 million viewers and a 3.27 average. If the year to year drop as it’s been in recent weeks, this week’s number should be around the 3.9 million range and a 2.9 rating. Anything lower than these numbers would be a sign that the RAW ratings are still in a declining phase. If the numbers are at or above these levels, things would be levelling out and it could be a sign that the ratings are turning around.

  • Daily pro wrestling history (01/25): Royal Rumble winners, Steiner Brothers win WCW World Tag Team Titles

    1927

    St. Louis, Missouri:
    – John Pesek beat Jim Londos in 2 out of 3 falls 

    1949

    San Francisco, California:
    – Lee Henning defeated Sandor Szabo to win the San Francisco NWA Pacific Coast Heavyweight Title

    1950 

    Montreal, Quebec, Canada:
    – Yvon Robert defeated Whipper Billy Watson to win the Toronto NWA British Empire Heavyweight Title 

    1951

    Kansas City, Kansas:
    – Tarzan Kowalski defeated Bill Longson to win the NWA Heart of America (later known as Central States) Heavyweight Title

    1954

    Hollywood, California:
    – Wilbur Snyder and Sandor Szabo defeated Lord James Blears and John Tolos to become the first NWA International Television Tag Team Champions

    1961

    Honolulu, Hawaii:
    – Sam Steamboat defeated Dick Hutton for the NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Title 

    Toronto, Ontario, Canada:
    – Illio Do Paolo and Billy Red Lyons won the Canadian Open Tag Team Championship over Tiny Mills and Crusher Kowalski in 2 out of 3 falls
    – “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers defeated John DeSilva 
    – Duke Keomuko and Sato Keomuko beat Dick Byer and Farmer Boy by count out
    – Fred Atkins and Mike Gallagher wrestled 20 minutes to a draw
    – Doc Gallagher defeated Don McClarity

    1963

    New Haven, Connecticut:
    – Buddy Rogers defeated Bobo Brazil to retain the WWWF World Heavyweight Title

    1964

    San Francisco, California:
    – Dominic DeNucci defeated Ray Stevens to win the San Francisco NWA United States Heavyweight Title 

    1968

    Kansas City, Kansas:
    – Sonny Myers defeated Pedro Valdez
    – Steve Bolus defeated Cyclone Castro
    – Ernie Ladd defeated Stan the Moose
    – Bob Geigel & Bob Brown defeated Klondike Bill & Ronnie Etchison in three falls

    1969

    Omaha, Nebraska:
    – Stan Pulaski and Chris Tolos defeated Butcher and Mad Dog Vachon to win the AWA Midwest Tag Team Titles

    Atlanta, Georgia:
    – Assassin #2 (Tom Renesto) and The Professional (Doug Gilbert) defeated Alberto and Ramon Torres to win the NWA Georgia Tag Team Titles

    1970

    Minneapolis, Minnesota:
    – Non Title Match, No Time Limit: The Crusher & Edouard Carpentier beat AWA Tag Team Champions Mad Dog Vachon & Butcher Vachon 2 out of 3 falls
    – Blackjack Lanza beat Red Bastien
    – Pepper Gomez beat Luke Graham
    – Lars Anderson beat Mike Lavine
    – Larry Hennig beat Bruce Kirk

    1972 

    Dallas, Texas:
    – Dean Ho and Fritz Von Erich defeated Thunderbolt Patterson and Johnny Valentine for the NWA American Tag Team Titles

    Macon, Georgia:
    – El Mongol defeated Buddy Colt to win the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Title 
    – Flash and Rocket Monroe defeated Bob Armstrong and Bill Dromo for the NWA Macon Tag Team Titles

    1974 

    Dothan, Alabama:
    – The Wrestling Pro defeated Dick Dunn to win the NWA Alabama Heavyweight Title 

    1975

    Detroit, Michigan:
    – Bobo Brazil defeated The Sheik for the Detroit NWA United States Heavyweight Title 

    Tampa, Florida:
    – NWA Title: Jack Brisco defeated Dory Funk, Jr. to retain the title
    – Florida Title: Bill Watts defeated Dick Murdoch to retain the title
    – Terry Funk defeated Jos LeDuc
    – Judo Jacket Match: Bob Armstrong defeated Prof. Toru Tanaka
    – Bob Roop & Dick Slater defeated Tony Parisi & Dominic DeNucci
    – The Mongolian Stomper defeated The Great Malenko
    – Mike Graham defeated Gene Lewis
    – Rocky Johnson defeated Baron Scicluna

    1978 

    Superbowl of Wrestling: Miami, Florida:
    – Jack and Jerry Brisco defeated Ivan Koloff and Mr. Saito to win the NWA Florida Tag Team Titles 
    – Mike Graham and Steve Keirn defeated Jimmy and Johnny Valiant to win the NWA Florida US Tag Team Titles 
    – WWWF World Champion, Superstar Billy Graham and NWA World Champion, Harley Race wrestled to a 60 minute time limit draw

    1981

    Minneapolis, Minnesota:
    – The Crusher & Mad Dog Vachon beat Jerry Blackwell & John Studd dq
    – Nick Bockwinkel beat Dino Bravo
    – Tito Santana beat Jesse Ventura
    – Jim Brunzell beat Adrian Adonis
    – Brad Rheingans beat Ben DeLeon
    – Buck Zumhofe drew Steve Regal

    1982 

    Wichita,Kansas:
    – Roger Kirby and Jerry Valiant (Guy Mitchell) defeated Eddie Gilbert and Ricky Romero for the NWA Central States Tag Team Titles

    1983

    Tampa, Florida:
    – The Fabulous Kangaroos (Johnny Heffernan and Don Kent) defeated Ron Bass and Barry Windham to win the NWA Florida Global Tag Team Titles
    – Lumberjack Match: Midnight Rider defeated Kevin Sullivan
    – Jake “The Snake” Roberts defeated Charlie Cook
    – Cowboy Ron Bass defeated Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin
    – Leroy Brown beat Rufus R. Jones
    – Texas Death Match: Angelo Mosca defeated Barry Windham

    1984 

    Shelby, North Carolina:
    – Angelo Mosca, Jr. defeated Iwan Koloff to win the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title

    1986

    Milwaukee, Wisconsin:
    – Sgt. Slaughter no contest AWA Champion Stan Hansen
    – Jerry Blackwell beat Boris Zhukov
    – Nick Bockwinkel beat Larry Zbyszko by countout
    – Non Title: Nord The Barbarian & Mongolian Stomper beat AWA Tag Team Champions Curt Hennig & Scott Hall
    – Buck Zumhofe beat Doug Somers

    Singapore
    – Jerry Lawler defeated Lars Anderson for the NWA Polynesian Wrestling Polynesian Pacific Heavyweight Title

    1990

    Salem, Oregon:
    – Al Madril defeated Rex King for the NWA Pacific Northwest Television Title 

    1991

    Dallas, Texas:
    – Bill Dundee defeated Gary Young to win the vacant USWA Texas Title in a tournament final 

    1992

    Annadale, Minnesota:
    – Brad Rhenigans and Baron Von Raschke defeated The Punishers to win the PWA Tag Team Titles 

    1993

    Memphis, Tennessee:
    – Ron and Don Harris defeated Jerry Lawler and Jeff Jarrett to win the USWA Tag Team Titles

    1995

    Clash of Champions: Las Vegas, Nevada:
    – WCW World Television Champion Arn Anderson (with Col. Robert Parker and Meng) pinned Johnny B. Badd to retain the title
    – WCW World Tag Team Champions Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray (with Sister Sherri)) defeated Stars-N-Stripes (Marcus Alexander Bagwell and The Patriot) to retain the title
    – Sting defeated Avalanche by submission 
    – WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan (with Jimmy Hart) and Randy Savage defeated The Butcher and Kevin Sullivan

    1997

    Sould Out PPV: Cedar Rapids, Iowa:
    – The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott Steiner) (WCW) defeated WCW World Tag Team Champions The Outsiders (Scott Hall and Kevin Nash) (nWo) to win the title
    – WCW Cruiserweight Champion Eddy Guerrero (WCW) defeated Syxx (nWo) in a Ladder match to retain the title
    – WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hollywood Hulk Hogan (nWo) fought The Giant (WCW) to a no contest to retain the title

    1998 

    Yokohama, Japan:
    – Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue defeated Johnny Ace and Kenta Kobashi for the AJPW Unified World Tag Team title 

    2000

    Las Vegas, Nevada:
    – Sid Vicious defeated Ron Harris and WCW World Heavyweight Champion Kevin Nash in a three-way steel cage match to win the title
    – Lex Luger defeated Buff Bagwell by dq

    2004

    Royal Rumble: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
    – Ric Flair & Batista defeated The Dudleys in a tables match to retain the RAW World Tag Titles
    – WWF Champion Brock Lesnar defeated Bob Holly to retain the WWF World Title
    – Raw Champion Triple H wrestled Shawn Michaels to a draw to retain the title
    – Chris Benoit won the Royal Rumble

    2009

    Royal Rumble: Detroit, Michigan:
    – Randy Orton won the Royal Rumble
    – Melina defeated Women’s Champion Beth Phoenix to win the title
    – Edge defeated Jeff Hardy in a no dq match to win the WWE Title
    – John Cena defeated JBL to retain the World Title

    2015

    Royal Rumble: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
    – Roman Reigns won the Royal Rumble
    – Brock Lesnar defeated John Cena and Seth Rollins to retain the WWE World Title
    – The Usos defeated The Miz and Damien Mizdow to retain the WWE World Tag Team Titles

  • TNA re-signs tag team champions Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards

    TNA announced today that tag team champions Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards have signed new deals with the promotion.

    Each man’s contract was set to expire on 4/30.

    Edwards & Richards were two of the wrestlers referred to in recent Observer stories with names not listed of TNA talent that WWE was pursuing, but that TNA was offering more than WWE.

    Their new deals will allow them to continue to work independent shows, however because they are getting guaranteed contracts, promotions will have to go through TNA to book them as opposed to directly going through them as in the past.

  • WOR: Royal Rumble and tons of weekend news!

    Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer returns today to talk all the weekend news! Royal Rumble 2016, Raw on Monday, more on the death of the Stomper and Espectrito, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Cain Velasquez injured, and so much more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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  • B&V: WWE Royal Rumble 2016!

    The Bryan & Vinny Show is back tonight with tons to talk about and we’ve got a very special guest — MARK IS BACK for the annual Royal Rumble pay-per-view review! A full recap of all the matches and angles leading to WWE’s biggest show of the year, WrestleMania! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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