Pro wrestling is a world filled with a lot of negativity, from the deception, these days often more prevalent behind the scenes than in front, the backstabbing and the jealousy. But on 11/29 in Knoxville, World Championship Wrestling put it all behind to honor someone to whom most fans would see as a very insignificant part of the profession. By the response of his peers, it was made evident he was anything but.
WCW’s unannounced ceremonies for referee Brian Hildebrand, 36, a lifelong wrestling fan who became one of the most universally well-liked people in the profession, facing the toughest fight of his life in his second battle with stomach cancer, reeked of genuine emotion. To paraphrase what Ric Flair said in what may be someday an immortal line, it wasn’t a great wrestling show, it was real. Just like Hildebrand was and is a credit to his profession, what WCW did was very much a credit to the profession as well. The highlight was no doubt when Flair came out, as a surprise guest at the house show, and presented Hildebrand with a replica of the WCW world heavyweight championship belt and said that Hildebrand, not Ric Flair or Hulk Hogan, was really “The Man.”
The show was headlined by a match made partially because it was the match Hildebrand himself wanted to see, Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko vs. Eddie Guerrero & Chris Jericho. Even though it was a house show, which these days to many wrestlers means avoid more than a few bumps if at all possible, the four men worked as hard if not harder than if it was a PPV match more for the audience of one than the other 4,344 fans in the building. The finish saw a referee bump, which led to Hildebrand jumping out of his ringside chair and calling for the bell as Benoit had Jericho in the crossface. At that point Hildebrand took off his shirt and was wearing a Four Horseman t-shirt underneath it.
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer returns today to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA including tons of thoughts on Raw, TNA’s PPV and TV tapings, ROH’s latest TV tapings heading into their PPV, Randy Orton neck surgery update, New Japan stars who are not coming to WWE, mailbag questions and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
The Bryan & Vinny Show is back today with tons to talk about including full reviews of ROH on Sinclair with the beginning of the end of the Kingdom and an amazing — as usual — edition of WCW Saturday Night from 1986. A fun show as always so check it out~!
“The Notorious” Conor McGregor vs. Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. would be, in many ways, the greatest fight of all time. However unlikely to happen, there’s been at least some trash talk brewing recently. McGregor was mad that Mayweather tried to claim it was racial why McGregor and Ronda Rousey were stars, where he noted that Laila Ali was beautiful but was never the star Rousey was and that fans hate him for trash talking but like McGregor. McGregor said the Irish have been oppressed for there entire existence and there was once a time where just having the name McGregor “was punishable by death.” He then said he’d be willing to fight Mayweather on an 80/20 split, noting he’d get the 80, because Mayweather’s last PPV bombed so badly.
The official announcement of UFC 197 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on 3/5 with Conor McGregor vs. Rafael dos Anjos for the lightweight title and Holly Holm vs. Miesha Tate for the womens’ bantamweight title is expected imminently.
Three of the top matches for the next ROH PPV on 2/26 in Las Vegas at Sam’s Town are Jay Lethal vs. Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly for the ROH title, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe, and Kazuchika Okada vs Moose. That main event sounds excellent, as does the tag match. It’s also a huge step up for Moose to get a chance to work with Okada in a singles. This is a big time for ROH as they begin the build to the Wrestlemania weekend, and Supercard of Honor X in Dallas.
We’re looking for your thoughts on Friday night’s TNA PPV 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 on the Lucha Underground tapings yesterday and today in Los Angeles, as well as today’s WWE shows in Mobile, AL (Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus for WWE title; New Day vs. Dudleys & Tommy Dreamer; Kane vs. Bray Wyatt) and Monroe, LA (Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens for IC title, Chris Jericho vs. Alberto Del Rio, Ryback vs. Rusev).
Raw is live Monday from New Orleans. Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman return on the show.
Smackdown and Main Event tapings will be Tuesday in Lafayette, LA.
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! We have have clips of the post Summer Slam / Super China Buffet show featuring a lengthy Brent Kremen discussion, as well as clips from the X-Mas show. This is a soft launch but we will be releasing much more shortly.
In the biggest news week in a long time, we’ve got a double issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter this week, covering John Cena’s injury, New Japan stars headed to WWE, a major feature looking at the year that past in pro wrestling and MMA and the year coming up, WWE direction for WrestleMania season, Tokyo Dome coverage, Rizin debut coverage, TNA changes and UFC 195.
Our lead story talks about John Cena’s injury and the injury issues in WWE with more notes on the training program being used. All the news regarding wrestlers leaving New Japan, who’s been contacted, different roles, the various schedules for different guys, other negotiations, what led to these moves, what New Japan needs to learn from this, affects on ROH, and other ideas for New Japan to break out of its standard mentality.
UFC in 2016, the success of the women’s division, UFC business review, big fights on the horizon, the state of WWE in 2015 and 2016, different fan bases, rise of NXT, where New Japan has failed on the international scene, plus AAA, CMLL, Bellator, TNA and ROH prospects in 2016.
Full coverage of New Japan’s Tokyo Dome show, match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results, the big angles, Okada’s prospects as the top star, the next big programs on the horizon, big show plans for 2016, the Fanstastica Mania tour lineup and thoughts, New Year’s Dash coverage.
The changes to this year’s Royal Rumble and scout the possibilities and big matches on the horizon for Mania, and the return of Chris Jericho.
WWE Network, John Cena on Peyton Manning and HGH, football coach trying to recruit WWE for Mania, portrayal of Joseph Maroon in the “Concussion”, lots of details on new Dwayne Johnson projects, Lesnar’s schedule, a look at 50/50 booking, Reaction to HHH circumventing his own angle, February NXT, WrestleMania plans, Jericho talks current interview style, WWE looking for new stars around the world, Dusty Rhodes tag team tournament, WWE injury updates, Austin TV show.
A complete look at the debut of the Rizin promotion, details on the ratings and how it compares to WWE & UFC, the Masato vs. Kid Yamamoto show in competition, boxing in competition, Spike TV numbers, Fedor’s return, the freak show fights and what did and didn’t work on the first two shows.
UFC 195, with match-by-match coverage, poll results and business regarding the show, a look at all the close decisions and why they went the way they did.
TNA’s debut on Pop TV, the ratings, the title tournament, who was watching, the PPV show this week, the Mike Bennett debut, the James Storm return, the departure of Taryn Terrell and the good and bad of the latest relaunch.
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
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Sad to report on the death of Wolfman Willie Farkas, a 60s, 70s and 80s wrestler who worked a lot in the Toronto area and had a run as a mid-carder in 1970 and 1971 in the WWWF. He was one of those characters from the old days of wrestling. Greg Oliver has a story.
TNA is doing a poll at impactwrestling.com for fans to vote for one of three people to be added to the U.K. tour at the end of the month. The choices are Will Ospreay (who is fantastic), Jimmy Havoc and Big Damo. Really they could add all three and it would be a good move.
HHH was quoted in Sky News today while appearing at the funeral of Lemmy of Motorhead: “I remember going to him one time after getting beaten again and walking up to him to shake his hand. I gave him a hug and he looked right at me and he goes…`man, you suck, you can’t win a match to save your life.’ I probably looked at him, stunned, and he grabbed me by the back of my neck and he said, `That’s why you’re perfect for Motorhead.’” (thanks to Dean Ayass)
Kevin Owens did an interview throwing his hat into the ring so to speak for a match with Undertaker at WrestleMania with Title Match Wrestling.
Results from last night’s WWE show in Montgomery, AL: Luke Harper & Erick Rowan & Braun Strowman b Dudleys & Tommy Dreamer, Neville b Bo Dallas, Jack Swagger b Bo Dallas, Fandango & Goldust b The Ascension, Kane b Bray Wyatt (Wyatt Family and Dreamer & Dudleys were all involved), Charlotte b Becky Lynch to retain the Divas title, Big E & Xavier Woods b Usos to retain the tag titles, Roman Reigns b Sheamus to retain the WWE title
A Road to WrestleMania house show on 3/19 at the Westchester County Center in White Plains, NY was advertised with Big Show, Bray Wyatt, Dudleys, Demon Kane, Alberto De Rio, The Wyatt Family, Kalisto and more (thanks to Mike Omansky)
UFC
UFC Ultimate Insider at 6:30 p.m. Eastern tonight on FS 1 has TJ Dillashaw in his move to Colorado and Anthony Johnson is mic’d up for Ryan Bader’s last fight. FS 1 also has Thomas Almeida vs. Brad Pickett and Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber in taped matches at 10 p.m. tonight.
MISCELLANEOUS
Bad Luck Fale has confirmed on Facebook that he’s staying with New Japan.
The New York Times has a great story on the brain injuries in a 2013 boxing match in Madison Square Garden.
NWA Parade of Champions on 3/31 in Fort Worth over WrestleMania weekend at the Ridglea Theater. Jim Cornette will host the event and do a live podcast that afternoon. Also scheduled are Jax Dane, Charlie Haas, Ray Rowe, Rodney Mack, Marc Lowrance, Mike McGuirk, Chase Owns, Jason Kincad, Matt Riviera, Rob Conway and NWA President Bruce Tharpe. Tickets go on sale 2/13 at NWARingside.com
Fenix, Dragon and Pentagon Jr. are booked on 3/13 in Atlanta.
Bas Rutten became a grandfather recently. Congratulations to him.
Davey Richards, who announced he is taking no more indie bookings after 5/1, will be at the 20th annual ECWA Super 8 tournament on 4/23 in Woodbury Heights, NJ. Appearing with him in the tournament will be Jason Kincaid, Papadon, John Skyler and four more. Richards won that tournament in 2006.
Freelance Wrestling from Friday night in Chicago before 300 fans: Maxwell Chicago won over Harvey Bower, Brad Kevins, Brent Banks, Kobe Durst and Ethan Case, Matt Knicks & Chris Castro b Yabo & Ruffo the Clowns, GPA b Chase Owens, Robert Anthony b Silas Young, Stevie Fierce & Rob Matter b Bryce Benjamin & Acid Jazz, Craig Mitchell b Suge D, Isaias Velazquez b Mustafa Ali. (thanks to Lance LeVine)
In Your Face has its fifth annual Memories, Moments and Mayhem convention and wrestling show on 3/12 in Albany, NY at the Polish Community Center. Bob Holly, Scott Norton and Cody Deaner are announced for the show. The convention runs from 2-6 p.m. and the wrestling show is at 7 p.m.
Superkick’d on Friday night in Toronto: Michael San Francisci & Marc Hauss b Holden Albright & Maximo Suave, Tyson Dux b Anton Aleviev, Jake Something b Dylan Bostic, Phil Atlas won over Mano del Diablo, RJ City and EZE Eric Cairnie, Mike Rollins b Stratos Fear in a tables match, Space Monkey b Young Myles, Alessandro del Bruno & Scotty O’Shea b Ashley Sixx & Orlando Christopher-DQ, Shane Sabre b Kris Chambers-DQ. Next show is 2/5 at the Lithuanian Center in Toronto with a ladder match (thanks to Steve Ashe)
Missy Hyatt headlines as a guest for Absolute Intense Wrestling on 2/12 in Cleveland at Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
NWA Smoky Mountain Wrestling on 1/16 in Kingsport, TN at the Civic Auditorium with The Heatseekers vs. Jeff Connelly & Bryan Montgomery.
Baja Stars Wrestling on 2/20 in San Diego at the Montgonmery-Waller Rec Center has Extreme Tiger (Tigre Uno) & El Hijo de Rey Misterio vs. Mortiz & TJ Boy.
Cibernetico won’t be at Arena Mexico on Friday night because he’s working in Mission, TX teaming with Kraneo against Octagon & Laredo Kid at the Salon los Portales.
Volador Jr. defends the UIPW title against Mariachi Loco on 1/30 in Montebello, CA at the Grace Baptist Academy (thanks to Kris Zellner)
The Crash on 2/12 in Tijuana at Auditorio Municipal has Blue Demon Jr. & Fenix & Rey Hours vs. Teddy Hart & Johnny Mundo & Pentagon Jr plus The Psycho Circus vs. El Texano Jr. & Mr. Maldito & Taurus.
Lucha Libre Extreme had been off television in Fresno the last few weeks but returned last night with a highlight show. The hosts claimed that KAIL TV in Fresno moved to a new building and some of the shows were lost as a result. They announced tapings on 1/31 in Hanford, CA at the Civic Center with Jake O’Brien vs. Guerrera del Muerta for the U.S. title at 3 p.m. (thanks to Jon Southerland)
Dynamo Pro Wrestling from last night in Fenton, MO: Bahamut b Ric Maverick, Jayden Fenix b CJ Shine, Ozzie Gallagher b Jackal, Shorty Biggs b Kiyoshi Suzuka, Outtkast won six-way over Dave DeLorean, Billy McNeil, Justin D’Air, Evan Morris and Rocket Mapache, Mike Sydal b Elvis Aliaga, Jack Gamble & Jon Webb b Michael Magnuson & Danny Adams, Brandon Espinosa b Mike Outlaw, Ricky Cruz b Jake Dirden-DQ, Ricky Cruz & Mike Outlaw b Jake Dirden & Brandon Espinosa (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
Hoosier Pro Wrestling from last night in Columbus, IN: Cousin Cooter & Drax O’Brien b Bud Wright & Scarecrow Eddie Felson, Amazing Maria b Haley Shadows, Cowboy Marc Houston b Stan Sierra, Dynamite Dillen b Shawn Cook, Shawn Kemp b JKO Jr. Flash Flanagan b Vic the Bruiser-DQ, Rob Conway NC TJ Kemp. Next show is 2/6 at the 4-H Fairgrounds with Flanagan vs. Timmy Danger in a strap match (thanks to Jerry Wilson)
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back today to talk the news of the weekend, including notes on John Cena’s surgery and Mirko Crocop’s NOT drug test failure leading to a two-year suspension, plus tons of calls and texts! A fun show as always so check it out~!
The worrying sign coming from the hype on WWE.com is that they may group all four men with Finn Balor as part of a NJPW alumni group. This would be a grave mistake. Styles, Balor and Nakamura are all headline acts that shouldn’t be playing second fiddle to anyone else in a faction – putting them together just means you’re inevitably failing to maximise the potential of at least two of the stable’s members.
The pathway for the two Americans is clear: Anderson and Gallows should be reunited with Finn Balor as part of Balor Club. They have a natural chemistry together from their time in Bullet Club, and two big heavyweights acting as muscle for the smaller champion is easy heat. Also, together they may be able to plug the gap in WWE programming created by the asinine decision to break up The Shield.
For A.J. Styles, I would recommend WWE looks more closely at his TNA run than his more recent success in NJPW. Styles only truly convinced fans he was a heel in Japan because he was paired with already hated heels and matched against genuinely beloved babyfaces. WWE has neither of these and so should go with the grain and book him as a babyface. Styles had his most success in TNA as a modern-day reimagining of a mid-eighties WWF Intercontinental Champion, the secondary champion that is the connoisseurs’ favourite, and WWE should book him accordingly. Part of me thinks they’ll book him against Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania.
The more interesting, and challenging, person to successfully introduce into the WWE Universe is Shinsuke Nakamura. As somebody who only came aboard the New Japan bandwagon when NJPW World was launched, I’m confident that if presented properly he can become a huge star in WWE. While he may not be as verbally eloquent as the typical WWE superstar, he is a man who oozes visual charisma that naturally draws fans in. Don’t just take my word for it — my seven year old son has been similarly impressed with the matches he’s watched with me.
What’s more, the fear that WWE fans won’t accept someone from Japan is overblown. Vince McMahon may never have treated Japanese pro-wrestlers seriously, but that didn’t stop Taka Michinoku, Yoshi Tatsu and, above all, Yoshihiro Tarijii from getting far more over than their pushes. Likewise, indie fans have regularly accepted visitors from New Japan as big stars, and the success of CM Punk and Daniel Bryan shows that indie sensibilities are not as far removed from WWE fan tastes as some on both sides of that divide may wish was the case.
However, there’s no doubt he needs to be introduced very carefully by WWE if he’s to be successful. As crazy as it sounds, I believe the man he should be programmed with is none other than Brock Lesnar.
Nearly four months after the strangely rushed climax of his feud with Undertaker, we are still no nearer to knowing who Lesnar will face at Wrestlemania. Worse, there seems to be no good options given that the WWE can’t risk pro-Lesnar fans turning on Roman Reigns if they were rematched while the rest of the roster is a sea of mid-carders. The natural response is therefore to bring an outsider in to face Lesnar. Alas, even here there are slim pickings. The dream match of him facing Steve Austin has been emphatically ruled out by all concerned, while no one is entirely sure whether actors The Rock or Batista would be available to wrestle.
Nakamura is the perfect man to step into this breach, not just because he’s a terrific pro wrestler who has not been defined down by inept WWE booking but because there’s a ready made story. For the uninitiated, Lesnar and Nakamura have already met with Lesnar crushing Nakamura to successfully defend his then-IGWP title. At the time, Nakamura promised to regroup and hone his skills by wrestling all over the world, so that eventually he would be strong enough to avenge his loss.
Using this backstory is the perfect springboard to introduce Nakamura. It gives him a clear rationale for moving to the WWE, and immediately slots him in as a top star. By revealing that Lesnar once held the IGWP belt, it would also validates the credentials of both Nakamura and Styles. But above all else, a feud with Lesnar is the best chance to hide Nakamura’s limitations and extenuate his positives.
Nakamura’s key limitation is that there’s nothing to suggest that he could deliver the monologues that WWE believes are effective promos. That can’t be solely blamed on the fact English isn’t his first language as even his Japanese promos seemed less smooth than some of his contemporaries. What’s more, New Japan rightly doesn’t place any emphasis on talking for 20+ minutes. However, it’s fair to say that Lesnar also lacks the verbal diarrhoea that WWE usually demands of its headliners.
So, pairing them together would allow the emphasis to be moved away from in-ring verbal confrontations that do neither man any favours. Just as Lesnar’s best promo work was in sitdown interviews before his match with Cena, both men would be able to deliver quick quips to put into video packages. Just as Lesnar relies on Paul Heyman to act his advocate, you could easily use either Mauro Ranello or Jim Ross to explain how great Nakamura is based on their previous roles with New Japan. Indeed, there may be an argument for doing a ‘Jim Ross meets Mick Foley’-style series of interviews.
And in a battle of two former MMA fighters (ahem), you could work to expand the build beyond the sometimes claustrophobic environment of RAW by using a HBO 24/7 style series of documentary segments to present a richer narrative of both men’s preparation for the fight.
Such an approach would allow you to introduce Nakamura as a big deal i.e. have him deliver his challenge to Lesnar to a (maybe worked) press conference in Tokyo, work with New Japan to splice in footage of their erstwhile Intercontinental Champion in action (maybe in return for allowing him to work Dominion), showcase his genuine presence in Japanese pop-culture and bring in outside figures (such as Kurt Angle) to vouch for how good he is. Given both are legitimate athletes, you could showcase their training preparations in the same way fans were given a look backstage for Lesnar’s preparations for his match against The Rock.
Done right, such a match would allow the WWE to build interest for the match without wasting too many of Lesnar’s dates or exposing Nakamura. Keeping the debuting Japanese superstar away from the WWE ring would also build intrigue for the match — as long as the pretaped hype packages have convinced people he’s a big deal, the fact they won’t see him until his characteristically elaborate entrance is only a positive. And of course, Lesnar vs. Nakamura is as sure to be as good a match as you could book.
A throwaway show was transformed when they put Kevin Owens against John Cena. Whilst they wasted the momentum generated from Owens’ victory, the lesson was clear, WWE fans want fresh matchups and for new superstars to prove their worth against the biggest stars. Shinsuke Nakamura has drawn more money than anyone the WWE has hired since Goldberg speared Rock, and they should treat him as such. Put him straight into a featured match, protect him during the build, and watch him immediately repay the faith shown in him.
Not wasting any time after their move to POP TV, TNA Wrestling returns to pay-per-view Friday night with One Night Only, an event available on most major cable outlets, the Flipps TV app, and more for as low as $14.95.
Your main card as of now:
– TNA Tag Team Champions The Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) vs. Kurt Angle & Drew Galloway vs. Jessie Godderz & Eli Drake
– TNA X-Division Champion Tigre Uno vs. DJ Z vs. Crazzy Steve vs. Mandrews
– Knockouts Championship #1 Contender’s Gauntlet Match: Awesome Kong vs. Velvet Sky vs. Madison Rayne vs. Rebel vs. Jade vs. Marti Bell
– Bobby Lashley vs. Tyrus
– Rockstar Spud vs. Aiden O’Shea
– Beer Money (James Storm & Bobby Roode) vs. Eric Young & Bram
– “The Miracle” Mike Bennett (w/Maria Kanellis) vs. Robbie E
Join us for live coverage starting at 8 PM EST.
We are looking for your thoughts on the event, so send a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to Dave Meltzer.
TIGRE UNO VS. DJ ZEMA ION VS. MANDREWS VS. CRAZZY STEVE FOR THE X DIVISION TITLE
Total high spot match. Good for what it was, it was non-stop moves and while lacked selling, it was all crisp and lots of good stuff. One of the best spots was Mandrews riding his skateboard down the ramp and did a huracanrana on DJZ. DJZ then flew into Steve. Mandrews was the star of the match. This was under elimination rules. Mandrews used a shooting star on Uno, who was caught in a chicken wing by Steve, and then Mandrews instead pinned Steve. Steve was over as a cult deal and also looked good. The crowd booed Steve losing a lot. Steve then put Uno in the chicken wing after the match to further injure his bad shoulder. Mandrews pinned Ion with a schoolboy. Uno sold the shoulder, but came back to pin Mandrews with a Spanish fly.
Shane Helms came out after the match and a few people were chanting “Three Count at him.” Josh Matthews said that Helms was the greatest cruiserweight champion in the history of pro wrestling. They acknowledged each other. He pointed at his watch, giving the idea that ti’s only time before he wins the title.
AIDEN O’SHEA VS. ROCKSTAR SPUD
Spud is replacing Mahabili Shera, ruining our chance to see the worst PPV match of the year. They said somebody let the air out of Shera’s tires. That excuse for missing a match doesn’t work in the days of cell phones and taxis and such. O’Shea told him to walk away and take the count out. Spud refused to leave. They did a match which was O’Shea mostly just humiliating him and bullying him around. It went too long. Spud make a comeback and rock’d up, took off his bow tie like it was Lawler’s strap, and won with the underdog. It pretty much dragged.
EC III did a promo taped on Tuesday. He said Matt Hardy was the villain in his story but Hardy has to admit he beat him. Good promo.
ROBBIE E VS. MIKE BENNETT
Major league ring entrance. The match was a mistake. He should have gone 3-4 minutes of a dominant performance where he did things to stand out. Instead they did a long back and forth totally ordinary match. Bennett won with a falcon arrow, which they call “Divine Intervention.” After the match he did a promo saying he’s going to have a Kingdom of Miracles and told fans his catch phrase of “Yes we do.”
Gail Kim promo talking about the Gauntlet match that will determine the next contender for her title.
WOMEN’S GAUNTLET MATCH
All kinds of awful. This could easily win worst match of 2016. This is a TNA gauntlet which means Royal Rumble until the last two and then it’s like a singles match. In order, it started Madison Rayne vs. Jade which was so bad. Next was Rebel, and she can do a few athletic things but she’s so green. Next was Chelsea Green from Tough Enough, who didn’t look good. Marti Bell was next. Deonna Purrazzo was next, one day after being on NXT. She was the best worker in this match, except for maybe Kong. Kong and Velvet Sky were the last two. Then people started getting eliminated. The last three were Jade, Rayne and Kong. Rayne speared Jade to the floor. Kong then pinned Rayne with a missed spinning backfist that was supposed to hit and the Implant buster.
The Wolves did a promo talking about a future match with Beer Money. Eli Drake & Jessie Godderz showed up in the middle of their interview.
TREVOR LEE VS. PEPPER PARKS
They had a hard time getting the crowd this late in the show. They finally did at the end. There was nothing wrong with it but not much reaction and it dragged. For the finish, Lee won with a dropkick into a double foot stomp and a fisherman buster.
Doll House promo. They put over Kong winning. Kong spoke about beating Gail Kim for the title.
Pope was in the ring. He called out Grado. Pope handed him a candy bar and he ate it. Pope called him a joke. Said when the bell rings these people see you as a joke. Fans chanted “No.” Grado then talked like he was from Texas. He pulled that off pretty well. This set up Abyss vs. Grado.
ABYSS VS. GRADO
Abyss pinned him with a choke slam on thumbtacks. The key spots were Abyss knocking Grado ff the top rope and he fell through a table on the floor. There was another spot where Abyss has a barbed wire board underneath him as well as on top of him and Grado did a splash off the top for a near fall. Abyss was supposed to get up to win but they had to stall because Abyss got his foot all tangled in the barbed wire. This was the kind of a match that makes wrestling look like such a joke. People did pop for the barbed wire spots but the whole thing just made wrestling look like a geek show.
Drew Galloway & Kurt Angle talked about their match Tuesday and the tag team title match tonight.
EDDIE EDWARDS & DAVEY RICHARDS VS. KURT ANGLE & DREW GALLOWAY VS. ELI DRAKE & JESSIE GODDERZ FOR THE TAG TEAM TITLES
This was really good. Edwards used the ankle lock on Drake to win while Edwards had the half crab on Jessie Godderz. Angle got in his face for stealing his move but then hugged in and Edwards, Galloway, Angle and Richards all hugged. Edwards may have gotten hurt because he was limping pretty badly at the end. It wasn’t like they worked on his leg seriously during the match. Angle was German suplexing everyone including a spot where he suplexed both Edwards and Richads at the same time.
BOBBY LASHLEY VS. TYRUS
Not much of a match. Tyrus ripped the padding off a turbuckle. Tyrus threw him in it but Lashley came back. There was a ref bump by Earl Hebner. Lashley rammed Tyrus’ head into the metal 11 times and then pinned him after a spear.
BOBBY ROODE & JAMES STORM VS. ERIC YOUNG & BRAM
Good match. Roode & Storm look like they’re together for the long haul with matching trunks. Beer Money won with the DWI on Bram and Roode pinned him after Roode had slingshotted Young into Storm’s DDT and Young rolled out of the ring. They pushed Roode & Storm challenging the Wolves for the tag titles coming.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA including tons of thoughts on Smackdown, WrestleMania, NXT, TNA’s PPV coming up live tonight, a bunch of calls and text message questions and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Once Upon A Time, in a Business Far, Far, Far Away…the idea that Vince McMahon could push main eventers who had never experienced success outside of the WWF was absurd given how aggressively they had poached the biggest and the best pro wrestlers from rival promotions. Indeed, with only two exceptions, the WWF did not own the exclusive rights to their champion’s gimmick until “Stone Cold” Steve Austin won the title in 1998.
Even then, at a time when McMahon’s main even roster was arguably at its weakest, it was still focused on guys such as Mick Foley and Austin who had won championships in WCW. Even The Undertaker had a notable run in WCW as part of The Skyscrapers. But Triple-H and The Rock were different; the former had achieved nothing during a short-stay in Atlanta whilst the latter didn’t even get that far south after leaving the Canadian Football League. Instead, they were WWF-lifers, men who debuted to much fanfare, suffered a vicious yet deserved backlash, only to finally grow into the shoes they had been given upon entering the Titanverse.
It’s a journey that most of WWE’s late Attitude era draws have trodden. Whether it’s John Cena, Randy Orton, Dave Batista or Edge, they are all were similarly devoid of pro wrestling accomplishments away from the McMahons, and were all strongly pushed upon their debut only to temporarily falter due to the promotion and performer having failed to perfect their persona away from the main stage. Yet, they all eventually achieved real success after tweaking their characters.
It has been more than a decade since the promotion has found the same success in ‘hothousing’ talent in this way. Whether that’s due to the developmental system not recruiting the right performers or creative not letting talent grow into more marketable personas is up for debate. What cannot be argued is that the inability of WWE to grow its own superstars has had the most profound impact on the product they present.
The careers of CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose are all evidence of how the WWE has been forced to reach into the very same independent scene they used to dismiss to find the next generation of superstars. Still, at least, the promotion was able to console itself with the fact that these men all needed the McMahon Family to get them to the big stage. After all, without the WWE, they wouldn’t be performing in arena shows or on national television.
Indeed, it seemed that this became WWE management’s collective egos’ Maginot Line; anybody could be hired provided they had no national television exposure and weren’t so infamous that WWE couldn’t remould them. Kevin Owens was the first to hint that this defence was creaking. Sure, he was given a slightly different name but he was essentially playing the same character as he had in Ring of Honor. Worse, he had appeared extensively on ROH syndicated television and had even had his own action figure produced.
But that was nothing compared to this week’s news that A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura are on their way to WWE. While both men are just as revered by smart fans as the ‘indie darlings’ that WWE has been busily signing to NXT in recent years, they have far more tenure in “mainstream” pro wrestling.
Styles was not just regularly featured on Spike TV rom 2005 to 2014, but was the TNA champion during the period Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan tried to turbocharge TNA to new heights. A show Styles appeared on as champion was watched (at one point) by more than 3 million people. His merchandise includes action figures, t-shirts, DVDs and video games. He’s wrestled all over the world, and so while the WWE could insist on renaming him, it would likely hold them up to ridicule and lessen the impact of his debut.
Styles has also been the highest profile foreign star in New Japan Pro-Wrestling for the past two years. However, his impact there has been nothing like that of Shinsuke Nakamura. An art-college vision of bad-ass, he is easily the flashiest character and most dynamic performer in New Japan’s main event scene. Not even Sting could boast having headlined a show with as high a paid attendance as Wrestle Kingdom 8, where Nakamura’s Intercontinental Title defence went on last in front of more than 30,000 people.
To underline how significant a change in WWE’s recruitment policies these signings are, consider this. The last person to be recruited by WWE having successfully drawn more than 10,000 buys on pay per view for a rival pro wrestling promotion within a year of their debut was probably Hulk Hogan in 2002! Other than the ill-fated Mistico, WWE has simply not recruited anybody with the success or profile of either Styles or Nakamura since they cemented their dominant market position.
And the reason they are doing so is not because they want to, but because they’ve finally acknowledged that they can’t grow their own talent. That they are being forced to face up to his failure does raise questions about what the millions of dollars being invested into NXT are actually achieving.
The Bryan & Vinny Show is back tonight with tons to talk about! As usual, Vinny has his Monday Night Raw report, and in lieu of NXT since it’s a replay we’ve got, yes, MID-SOUTH WRESTLING FROM 1985. What an amazing show. Plus, Granny with quite the contest, plus a look back at some amazing history. A fun show as always so check it out~!
