Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer returns tonight with a packed 90-plus minute show! Wrestling historian Matt Farmer joins us for the first hour to talk more of the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame candidates including modern performers like Daniel Bryan and Edge, then it’s all the news from Alberto Del Rio’s new deal to what’s up with Kurt Angle and Bellator!
Approximate timestamps:
– 0:00 – 1:30: Dave gives a quick Alberto update – 1:30 – 58:00: HOF talk with Matt – 58:00 – end: 30+ minutes of news on Alberto Del Rio’s contract, the Young Bucks re-signing with ROH, Kurt Angle’s MMA dreams, and more
– Air Date: October 29, 2015 (Oct 28 in Canada) – Location: Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, AZ
The Big News:
Cesaro got pinned again as the Wyatts defeated him, Dean Ambrose and Ryback in the main event. Also, Natalya returned unceremoniously, and the U.S. Title might have a new name.
Show Recap:
“Halloween Smackdown” means pumpkins on the stage and orange graphics and lighting instead of blue.
The show started with a ridiculous recap of the Wyatts taking out Undertaker and Kane. Rich Brennan did the voiceover, claiming that the Wyatts escaped with the souls of Taker and Kane. I know it’s Halloween, but this is still a real storyline that will continue beyond October 31st.
Bray Wyatt did a promo backstage, claiming to own the souls of Taker and Kane. He had what looked like Taker’s hat. Bray challenged any three brave souls to go against his three monsters. Rowan said he couldn’t dress up for Halloween as a kid because he was told it was too sinful. Ok. Harper said they weren’t costumes, evil is very real. Bray gave his condolences to whoever takes the challenge, and pulled out Kane’s mask. Strowman told them to run.
Roman Reigns came out and they recapped his win over Bray at Hell in a Cell, as well as the fourway win on Raw. Reigns said he’s had one goal since day one, to win the WWE Title. He’s been knocked down along the way but he’s back in the fight and now he’s the number one contender. He said Rollins is the only man in his way, and there’s no one who wants him to fail more.
That brought out Kevin Owens. (There was a sloppy edit here. Owens’ music hit and the crowd reacted audibly as they usually do for him, but the camera was still on Reigns who didn’t react and the crowd didn’t budge. Most likely, they cut out some of Reigns’ promo and just didn’t put this together properly.)
Owens said Reigns stole one from him on Raw and sarcastically encouraged the fans to cheer for him. Owens said Reigns didn’t overcome any odds, it was a fluke, because Owens was a split second away from hitting a pop-up powerbomb and winning the match, “and you can believe that.”
Reigns, who just talked about getting screwed earlier this year by Rollins and Bray, said Owens was just making excuses. He said his win on Raw was all skill and challenged “Talk Owens Talk” to a fight. Owens got in the ring and went face-to-face with Reigns. He hesitated but accepted the match.
Non-Title: Roman Reigns beat IC Champion Kevin Owens via countout
There were dueling chants of “Let’s Go Roman” and “Fight Owens Fight.” After a break, Owens gained control after hit a fallaway slam into the barricade. Damn. Reigns came back with clotheslines in the corner and a big boot. Lawler pointed out that the boot was something new from Reigns. Owens hit a back drop and superkick for a two count, but Reigns popped back with a leaping clothesline.
Owens bailed so Reigns went after him and tossed him back in the ring. Owens was able to hit a German for a two. Reigns then knocked Owens to the outside of the ring with a superman punch. Owens was able to get up well ahead of the 10 count, but grabbed his title and walked out through the crowd for the countout. The match was fine but the walkout finish was telegraphed from the beginning. The crowd was into Reigns.
Backstage, Renee Young, dressed as Tinker Bell I think, got ready to interview Dean Ambrose. Ambrose introduced himself as “ruggedly handsome Dean Ambrose” before Renee could say anything. Renee froze, so Ambrose asked himself a question, “Are you going to accept Bray Wyatt’s challenge?” Ambrose answered yes. He said he exorcises demons and smashes zombies, and was going to take down the Wyatt family.
Bo Dallas, dressed as a ghost, tried to scare Renee Young but it didn’t work. He said someone would be scared by the end of the night. He said “boo-lieve” instead of “bo-lieve.” Because it’s Halloween.
Fatal Four Way Tag-Team Match: Lucha Dragons beat Ascension, Dudley Boyz and Sheamus & King Barrett via pinfall
Big E and Kofi Kingston came out before the match wearing unicorn horns on their foreheads and shamed the competitors in the ring because they weren’t wearing costumes and don’t believe in magic. They joined commentary and Kingston told Booker he could be old school Kofi Kingston. Booker did a bad Jamaican accent, so Kingston told him to go back to being Booker T.
The faces sent the heels to the outside and, in his generic play-by-play voice, Big E said, “The good guys are rallying!” After a break, New Day begged Brennan to take off his headset, and he did. Sin Cara came in on a hot tag and made a nice comeback but Barrett and Sheamus broke up a pin attempt. Bubba and D-Von held down the heels for the “whassup” headbutt spot, with the Lucha Dragons hitting the diving headbutts.
The Dudleys then launched the Lucha Dragons over the top onto the Ascension. Sheamus and Barrett ran away, so the Dudleys dumbly ran after them, allowing the Kalisto to get the pin on [Ascension member] for the win. It wasn’t a number one contender’s match, but they made it seem like the Lucha Dragons would be next in line. New Day danced to the Lucha Dragons’ theme.
Backstage, Dean Ambrose ran into somebody who was off-camera. He asked if they were dressed as Lex Luthor, the Transporter or James Bond. It was Cesaro, who said that’s just how he dresses. He compared Ambrose to Mad Max and Ambrose responded “This is a nice jacket, alright?” Ambrose wanted him to swing the Wyatts, unless he’s afraid. Cesaro said he’ll be the scariest guy out there. They made some Halloween movie references before Ambrose left. Bo Dallas tried to scare Cesaro, but Cesaro put on his shades and walked away.
Trick Or Treat Street Fight: Dolph Ziggler beat The Miz via pinfall
Jack-o’-lanterns surrounded the ring apron and they had some other decorations around the ring. Miz grabbed a toy lightsaber so Ziggler grabbed a kendo stick and got in a couple of shots. Ziggler also made Miz bob for apples and put a pumpkin over his head. Ziggler then superkicked the pumpkin which shattered.
After all the comedy, we had to get serious for a minute, because Miz pushed Ziggler into the steel steps and used the kendo stick and a chair on his leg. Miz tried a figure four but Ziggler countered into a small package for the win. Nothing match. (Ok, Ziggler superkicking the pumpkin off Miz’s head was funny.)
As Ziggler sold his leg, Tyler Breeze came out with Summer Rae. Ziggler attacked him, but Breeze used the kendo stick and stomped away until referees broke it up. Breeze broke through and attacked him again until the refs broke it up one more time. No heat for this.
Paige beat Natalya via pinfall
Uh, so I guess Natalya’s fine. She did an inset promo saying she doesn’t know who attacked her, but Paige can’t treat people the way she has and Natalya would make her pay. The bell rang and Paige immediately hit a superkick. Natalya came back with a clothesline and German, sending Paige to the outside.
Team B.A.D. came out to Sasha Banks’ music. Banks did all the talking, mocking Nattie for getting attacked and said she has their attention. The distraction allowed Paige to hit RamPaige for the win. Team B.A.D. attacked Natalya after the match, concluding with a Bank Statement. Natalya tapped. Booker T, who has two working legs, said someone should go in there and do something about this.
Backstage, Ryback told Ambrose he’d join their team.
Non-Title: U.S. Champion Alberto Del Rio (w/Zeb Colter) beat R-Truth via pinfall
Before the match, Alberto Del Rio and Zeb Colter basically said the U.S. Title is now the MexAmerica Title. Colter called it official. This didn’t get much of a reaction. Del Rio won quickly with a double foot stomp off the top. Meh.
Backstage, Bo Dallas (still in ghost costume) hid in a box. Mark Henry walked by and Bo popped out of the box to scare him. It worked, so Henry knocked him out. The box closed on Bo, who is presumably (hopefully) dead. Henry picked up his phone and walked away. This was amusing.
The Wyatt Family (w/Bray Wyatt) beat Dean Ambrose, Cesaro & Ryback via pinfall
Ryback ripped Luke Harper’s shirt, which seemed to annoy Harper, so he tagged in Strowman. Ryback attacked him but Strowman managed to hit a vertical suplex. After a break, Wyatts had the heat on Ryback. Ryback hit a spinebuster and made the hot tag to Ambrose. Ambrose went wild, sending both Harper and Rowan to the outside, followed by a top rope elbow drop.
Rowan cut off Ambrose with a spinning kick, but he made the hot tag to Cesaro who hit uppercuts and a dropkick to Harper. Cesaro then did uppercuts outside the ring to Rowan and Harper as the crowd cheered. Cesaro applied a crossface on Harper, but Strowman pulled him out of the ring. Ambrose caught Strowman with a suicide dive but he remained on his feet. Ryback then flew in and took Strowman out over the announce table.
Ambrose hit Rowan with a rebound clothesline and Harper took out Ambrose with a superkick. Cesaro nailed a spinning springboard uppercut on Harper and went for the swing, but Strowan rose from the dead and tossed the table on its side. This distracted the referee, so Bray punched Cesaro and Harper finished him off with a discus clothesline for the win.
Final Thoughts:
A pretty normal Smackdown show that also had pumpkins.
The main event was good but they should probably find something more productive for Dean Ambrose.
First of all, an early Happy Birthday to your favorite NXT recapper and mine: me! But before I turn 31 tomorrow, let’s talk about NXT tonight.
Emma submitted Shazza
We kick things off with Diva’s action. It is the debut of Shazza, who is replacing Alexa Bliss as the cute little pixie-looking girl. Shazza has white-blonde hair and is not nearly as tan as the other girls, so it is shocking to the eyes when they show a closeup of her. Shazza is also from Melbourne and they pushed that she is the last person Emma wrestled before coming to NXT.
Shazza went down into the splits for a drop down spot, but when she didn’t get right up, Emma waited for her to look up and dropkicked her in the face. This match was all Emma and she won the Battle of Australia with a bridging chinlock.
– Last week James Storm cut a promo with Tom Phillips after his debut match. Storm was quite happy that the fans chanted he belonged here. If anyone doesn’t like him being in NXT, sorry about their damn luck.
– We got a Finn Balor video package, featuring interviews with a lot of the NXT fans. They also used footage from the Balor documentary they did back in June.
Jason Jordan & Chad Gable defeated Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano
Jordan and Gable got a standing ovation from the crowd, which was weird since they are heels. They do love them some Gable. Ciampa and Gable began. They did the spot where they did a Greco Roman Knuckle Lock and Ciampa forced Gable down, but Gable bridged up, but was unable to hold Ciampa up when he jumped on him.
The fans love Gargano, Ciampa and Jordan as well, but they like Gable the most. They chanted Johnny Wrestling and This is Wrestling, in addition to chanting both Gable and Jordan to the tune of Kurt Angle’s WWE theme.
This was an excellent tag team match. Despite technically being the heel team Gable was the one they beat on to get the heat. Jordan got the hot tag and ran wild on both men, including a t-bone suplex on Ciampa. Gargano had the match won with a slingshot DDT on Jordan, but Gable broke it up at the last second. Finally Jordan & Gable won with their toss into a Bridging Side Suplex on Ciampa.
That was the best match on a regular NXT tv show in months.
– Bayley was interviewed by the departing Devin Taylor about her feud with Alexa Bliss. Bayley is proud to be champion and be an inspiration to children and that it bothers her that that bothers Alexa.
– Eva Marie is still in Paris and she is threatening to come back soon.
Nia Jax destroyed Kaylee
They acknowledged Nia being the cousin of The Rock. Kaylee got frequent flier miles for the amount she flew when Nia threw her across the ring in this match. Nia traded in the jumping bear hug for the jumping Over The Shoulder Backbreaker, which still wasn’t her finish. The finish saw Kaylee springboard off the ropes, but get caught, dropped with a spinebuster and Nia won with a legdrop.
During the commercial, I assume they sent out a giant spatula to get Kaylee off the mat.
Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady vs Dash & Dawson never got started
If it feels like you’ve read me talk about this match before, it’s because they just wrestled last week. Enzo and Cass won, but got beaten down after. Enzo and Cass were walking to the ring when they were attacked by Dash & Dawson. They threw Enzo off the ramp and began working on Colin, including executing a double team maneuver to Colin’s leg.
After the match a parade of referees and trainers came out to check on Colin. No one checked on Enzo, who was in a heap on the floor.
– Alexa Bliss challenged Bayley to a 6-person tag team match and wished her luck at finding two losers to team with her.
– Next week: Finn Balor vs Apollo Crews for the NXT Championship. That announcement led to part 2 of the Who Is Apollo Crews feature. I know this goes without saying, but WWE puts together some amazing videos.
Samoa Joe submitted Tyler Breeze
Main event time. This match was set up two weeks ago when Samoa Joe eliminated Tyler Breeze during the battle royal and Breeze, frustrated, pulled Joe out as well. They did show footage of Breeze’s SmackDown debut. His best chance of success is if Vince recently watched Zoolander. In all seriousness, good luck to Tyler.
Breeze’s strategy early was to tease locking up with Joe and then quickly roll outside, which annoyed Joe to the point that Joe followed him out the third time. Of course Joe got stomped on when they rolled back in the ring. Joe used his Suicide Dive, which never fails to look impressive when the big man does it.
Breeze used his rolling backstabber on Joe, but only got a 1 count. Shouldn’t that move hurt Breeze when Joe rolls over and lands with 280 pounds on his scrunched up body? Anyway Joe made his comeback, hitting all his big moves. We saw the snap power slam and the corner uranage, but Breeze slipped out of the Muscle Buster and hit a Super Model Kick for a 2 count. The finish saw Breeze use a rollup for a 2 count and when Joe kicked out, Breeze landed in position for the Coquina Clutch.
– The show ended with a Finn Balor promo regarding his title match next week. Balor put over Crews beating Joe, Breeze and Baron Corbin in the battle royal, but the one person he did not defeat was Finn. One day Crews will be NXT Champion, but Finn vowed it will not be next week.
So that does it for this week. Next week it is Finn Balor vs Apollo Crews for the NXT Title and with that in mind, until then remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
FILTHY FOUR RADIO returns today with special guest Tom Lawlor to talk tons of different topics including the state of his concussion, Raw and Hell in a Cell thoughts, Kurt Angle and Bellator, a bunch of WWE toy talk and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
NXT at 8:00 p.m.ET on WWE Network has Finn Bálor vs. Tye Dillinger and Samoa Joe vs. Tyler Breeze.
UFC Tonight returns at 8:00 pm. ET on Fox Sports 1.
Impact Wrestling at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on Destination America continues the TNA World Title Series.
The Ultimate Fighter has a new episode at 10:00 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1 and is followed by a TUF Talk segment at the start of Fox Sports Live.
ROH at 11:00 p.m. ET on Destination America features Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly, & Michael Elgin vs. Adam Cole, Michael Bennett, & Matt Taven as the main event.
Also a quick note that we’ve had some great Wrestling Observer Radios up of late with more to come. Bobby Lashley joined us yesterday, Matt Farmer joins us tonight to talk the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame, and Bob Backlund joins us Thursday to talk his great new book. Click here for information on how to sign up and access not only these shows, but all of the 7,000-plus shows in the archives dating back to 2005. Yes, we have almost twice as much content in our archives as the WWE Network.
The WWE’s record low ratings, even with bringing in all the big names on Monday, is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer newsletter. We look at the ratings, the competition, the build to Hell in a Cell, and what type of programming is and isn’t working in ratings now. We also look more at John Layfield’s interview with Eric Bischoff and WCW and how pro wrestling has changed since the death of WCW, as well as more on the political goings-on in Mexico, what modern era wrestlers have had the most four star matches and a wrestling show in a few weeks that you don’t know of that is going to have a paid attendance of more than 30,000 people. CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW
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TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE —
WWE
While it wasn’t noted in our Smackdown spoilers Tuesday night, Rusev wrestled Neville and apparently injured himself with the match being stopped early due to an arm injury. As of now, there’s no update of the injury other than it’s legitimate and not a work.
Maryland Championship Wrestling sent out a note today congratulating Tough Enough alum Patrick Clark for officially signing with WWE, and clarified that he didn’t no-show any events for them. They wanted to respect him signing with WWE and thus, kept quiet about his non-appearances for them in mid-October.
HHH is apparently on a kick to announce all new signings on WWE.com.
For what it’s worth, Wade Barrett and Sheamus are now considered a tag team.
A reader wrote in they received Target’s first Christmas catalog in the mail and in an ad for WWE’s steel cage ring, the figures used were Ultimate Warrior, Eddie Guerrero, and Yokozuna’s Hall of Fame figures.
Other Wrestling
The Young Bucks announced that they had signed an exclusive deal with Ring of Honor, the terms of which will allow them to continue working for New Japan Pro Wrestling. So no Lucha Underground for them. Or WWE, obviously.
Friend of the site Chris “Mookie” Harrington uploaded Hogan’s 1998 WCW contract (from a public filing in one of the WCW racial discrimination lawsuits) if you’re into looking at these types of things. It went viral (relatively speaking) after being posted on Reddit and there are a lot of analysis pieces up on different sites, including one by our own David Bixenspan.
Former WWE tag team champion Brian Kendrick was on Ring Rust Radio this week. He has no future matches booked in NXT right now, but he talked about his experience there, training Eva Marie, and his time in TNA.
Bellator’s announced “signing” of Kurt Angle Wednesday was for their 11/4 Fan Fest prior to their Friday, 11/5 event in St. Louis, MO. Josh Nason confirmed with the promotion that he isn’t signed to a fight contract.
KLAS in Las Vegas is reporting that UFC may put in a bid for naming rights for the new Las Vegas Arena that will house UFC 200.
Nick Diaz posted an interesting tweet regarding his five-year Nevada State Athletic Commission suspension. He and his legal team are in talks regarding a settlement, which according to reports could have him back in the Octagon fighting by 2016.
Dana White announced that Joanne Calderwood is out of her main event fight against Paige VanZant that headlines the UFC’s December 10th card, so Rose Namajunas will be taking her place. No reason has been given yet for Calderwood bowing out. This is just Namajunas’ second UFC fight to VanZant’s fourth, as her return fight after losing the strawweight title tournament final was cancelled when opponent Nina Ansaroff fell ill after missing weight.
Ariel Helwani is reporting that Lei’d Tapa (yes, of TNA fame) is being considered for Gabi Garcia’s opponent in an MMA fight at the first Rizin Fighting Federation show. I am not making this up. No doubt Tapa is a tough girl, but in terms of a pure MMA fight, Garcia is a multi-time BJJ world champion.
There is an extended preview for UFC 192 here: https://youtu.be/utWAWUjIHoc
Bellator Featherweight Champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire is doing a meet and greet on Monday, 11/2 at Hahn Extreme Fitness in Arnold, MO, from 7-8 PM.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today with tons of news including a TNA star potentially facing the real deal in an MMA fight, and no, we’re not talking Kurt Angle but we will discuss his signing with Bellator, Raw ratings, Young Bucks to ROH and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
UFC Fight Night 80 has undergone a big change in the headline bout. Paige VanZant (6-1, 3-0 UFC) will make her first main event appearance, but her opponent, Joanne Calderwood (10-1, 2-1 UFC), has been forced out and will be replaced by Rose Namajunas (3-2, 1-1 UFC). The change was first reported on the Team Alpha Male radio show, Stud Show Radio, and was confirmed today by UFC President Dana White.
An official reason wasn’t given for the change in the main event, though it is said that Calderwood was forced out due to injury.
VanZant will be looking to remain undefeated inside the Octagon in her first headline bout as she is coming off a win over Alex Chambers at UFC 191 in September. She also holds wins over Felice Herrig and Kailin Curran during her UFC career. She is currently ranked sixth in the UFC’s official rankings in the women’s strawweight division.
Namajunas, currently ranked third in the UFC’s official rankings, will be looking to score her second straight win after submitting Angela Hill at UFC 192 earlier this month. It was her first appearance since being submitted by Carla Esparza in the inaugural UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship bout in December. Despite already having fought for the championship, she actually has less overall experience than her opponent, VanZant.
VanZant and Namajunas are two of the youngest fighters in the division with VanZant having just turned 21-years-old and Namajunas being 23-years-old.
UFC Fight Night 80 takes place on December 10 from The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the entire event will be streamed on UFC Fight Pass. The event kicks off three straight nights of UFC events in the fight capital of the world, capped off with UFC 194 headlined by Jose Aldo against Conor McGregor.
Those that hoped to see a superkick party in a WWE or NXT ring will have to wait a while longer.
Nick & Matt Jackson — the Young Bucks — have signed an exclusive deal with Ring Of Honor, announced by the promotion Wednesday morning and by the Bucks in this video. Matt, 30, and Nick, 29, have been part of ROH since 2009.
While ROH called the deal ‘exclusive’, the Bucks will continue to work with New Japan Pro Wrestling. The former ROH Tag Team Champions are also three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Length and terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
On Wednesday night’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer added some details:
– They can’t work in U.S., Canada, or Mexico for anyone other than California-based PWG.
– They will be working 10 weeks a year for New Japan at a minimum.
– They get to keep their t-shirt business.
There had been some buzz in recent week that the Bucks might be on their way to NXT, given the WWE’s developmental organization’s recent propensity for signing talents like Samoa Joe, James Storm, Uhaa Nation, and others.
From the release:
“We evaluate the landscape right now, we look around at professional wrestling, and everything is evolving. Tag team wrestling is what we do, and this place [Ring of Honor] has the best tag team division in the world, and we want the best competition,” said Matt Jackson. “We want the best matches. It’s all about quality for us. We call Ring of Honor home; you’ll be seeing a lot of us.”
The Bryan & Vinny & Craig Show is back today with RETRO TUESDAY! Both Raw and Nitro head-to-head from 19 years ago this week, including THE TURNING POINT IN THE RISE OF STEVE AUSTIN! Plus, how you can enter the CRAIG CONTEST to win a copy of WWE 2K16! A fun show as always so check it out~!
