Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today to talk all the news in wrestling on a busy Monday — Raw vs. Star Wars with no spoilers, the return of John Cena and Vince McMahon, and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
We’re looking for reports on tonight’s Raw from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn with the dark matches and Superstars matches and anything else not evident on the house shows, as well as reports on the house show tonight in Allentown (Kane vs. Bray Wyatt, Tommy Dreamer & Dudleys vs. Braun Strowman & Erick Rowan & Luke Harper, Dolph Ziggler vs. Tyler Breeze, Charlotte vs. Page).
Raw tonight features both Vince McMahon appearing as well as the return of John Cena, as he faces Alberto Del Rio. Santino Marella is also booked for TV so it looks like he’ll be a more regular comedy figure going forward. With the house show tonight in Allentown, the names listed on that show are not expected to be on Raw tonight.
Bryan and I will be back with Wrestling Observer Radio tonight talking the latest wrestling and MMA news as well as taking your e-mail questions to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com
RIZIN DEBUT SHOW ON LATE MONDAY/EARLY TUESDAY FROM SAITAMA SUPER ARENA (some matches air on U.S. TV on Spike Thursday morning at 10 a.m.)
Tsuyoshi Kosaka vs. James Thompson
Carlos Toyota vs. Kiril Sidelnikov
Yuki Motoya vs. Felipe Efrain
Hiroyoa vs. Wicky Nishiura under K-1 rules
Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Hinata with alternate rounds of MMA rules and K-1 rules
A.J. Matthews (Bellator) vs. Anatoly Tokov
Hideo Tokoro (Bellator) vs. Kizaemon Saiga
Hiroyuki Takaya vs. D.J. Taiki
Valentin Moldavsky vs. Yuta Uchida – heavyweight tournament reserve fight
King Mo (Bellator) vs. Brett McDermott – first round of heavyweight tournament
Teodoras Aukstuolis vs. Bruno Cappelozza – first round of heavyweight tournament
Goran Reljic vs. Vadim Nemkov – first round of heavyweight tournament
Satoshi Ishii vs. Jiri Prochoazka – first round of heavyweight tournament
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Shinya Aoki
WWE is also running two shows on Tuesday, with the Smackdown tapings in Washington, DC as well as a house show in Providence (John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio for U.S. title; Rusev vs. Ryback, Kane vs. Bray Wyatt, Charlotte vs. Paige for Divas title, Dolph Ziggler vs. Tyler Breeze).
Wednesday has a WWE show in Toronto at the Ricoh Coliseum (John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio, Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens) and Baltimore (Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus, Kane vs. Bray Wyatt, Brie Bella & Alicia Fox vs. Naomi & Sasha Banks).
RIZIN FROM THE SAITAMA SUPER ARENA (some matches air on U.S. TV on Spike Thursday morning at 10 a.m.)
Rena vs. Jlena Valentino – women’s match
Heavyweight tournament semifinals
Brennan Ward (Bellator) vs. Ken Hasegawa
Takeru vs. Yang Ming in K-1 rules
Soo Chul Kim vs. Maike Linhares
Gabrielle Garcia vs. Lei’d Tapa – women’s super heavyweight match
Akebono vs. Bob Sapp – Shoot boxing rules (boxing, kicking, takedowns, no ground work or submissions)
Andy Souwer vs. Yuichiro Nagashima
Jerome LeBanner vs. Baruto (sumo star)
Kron Gracie (Rickson’s son) vs. Asen Yamamoto (age group wrestling champion, son of former women’s world champion Miyu Yamamoto)
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Jaideep Singh
Heavyweight tournament finals
Figure Four Weekly
Figure Four Weekly (12/21/15): Hulk Hogan and Nelson Frazier Lawsuit Updates
Transcript gives new insight into the FBI/Gawker dispute, plus WWE gives us a peek at what their termination notices look like in the Nelson Frazier wrongful death lawsuit.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
A look at the Slammy Awards, business of the show, who watched the show, suggestions made for improving the awards show idea, some history of where it came from and what happened at the show including injury updates.
We also have a story about both the California commission, doctors, and reps from the Association of Boxing Commissions talking about the problem of weight cutting in MMA as well as all the medical issues involved, win/loss records of bigger vs. small fighters, belief of how many fighters go into fights dehydrated, the dangers of fighting dehydrated, new weight class suggestions, the good and the bad of adding weight classes, the discussion of splitting up the heavyweight division and the ONE organization becomes the first promotion to take drastic steps in this subject with a look at their new regulations.
We also look at the life, career and significance of Lizmark, one of the biggest stars in the history of Lucha Libre, who passed away this past week. We have his background, how he got into wrestling, his life before wrestling, why he first wore a mask, how he got the name Lizmark, his long run as a constant singles champion or top contender, his induction into the Hall of Fame, his run in the glory days of AAA, Lizmark Jr. and why he fell out of favor in WCW due to loyalty to his father, his biggest rivals, the wrestlers who emulated him and his title history.
We look at what is next for NXT, the upcoming tour dates, reaction to Roman Reigns internally, Notes on the video game, Mauro Ranallo updates, WWE injury updates, John Cena and Dwayne Johnson news, lots of WWE U.K. date business notes, Japan TV update, Two new wrestlers making main roster debut for one tour in January and why. We also have notes from all the weekend house shows.
PLUS MUCH MORE! CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW
The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: December 28, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWE Slammy Awards, MMA Weight cutting
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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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: November 9, 1998 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Jesse Ventura wins Minnesota Governor election, WCW trailing WWF, more
Jesse Ventura becomes the Governor of Minnesota, WCW begins trailing WWF, ECW November to Remember recap, plus tons of news.
TODAY’S DAILY UPDATE
Dwayne Johnson officially announced he would be at WrestleMania this year. He said he was coming to set the all-time attendance record and make history. Because of his filming the “Baywatch” movie, it was unclear if he could get the time off. We had been told before it would be difficult, but not impossible, for him to wrestle on the show due to an issue related to insurance from one of the movies he’s doing but we will check if that has changed.
Want to make mention of the sad news today of the death of Harry Simon, a longtime reader and huge fan who contributed trivia column for this site years ago. Simon passed away on Friday due to suicide, a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He had lost his father one year ago on the same day as well as another close family member and had battled depression along with other painful physical problems over the past year. He was 40. He used to love to tell people he thought he was the only person ever to write for both the Wrestling Observer and Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Harry Simon had a wish that his friends could all get together on a date in January for a gathering. If anyone is interested in attending the Harry Simon Memorial, please e-mail Joyce Katz at joyceworley1@cox.net Simon was big into pro wrestling and comic books.
John Cena was a guest host on The Today show this morning, and will be on the show again tomorrow. His segments are HERE and HERE
Shinsuke Nakamura was announced today by ROH as appearing on its anniversary weekend shows on 2/26 and 2/27 in Las Vegas at Sam’s Town. The 2/26 show, which will feature a number of New Japan stars (Kushida and Gedo have been announced, the Observer has also listed several other names) will be on PPV.
A Wall Street Journal article on the year in review has Ronda Rousey in the headline of the story of 2015 as The Year of Ronda, The Royals and a Horse.
RIZIN
The press conference was held earlier today for the Rizin debut show which takes place tonight/tomorrow morning at the Saitama Super Arena. We’ve got weigh-in weights at the top. Sakuraba, who is 46, hasn’t won a fight since 2009, but because of his fame, is the headliner. Another ex-pro wrestling star, Tsuyoshi Kosaka, comes out of a nearly decade in retirement. James Thompson, his opponent, weighed in at 291 pounds. All the fighters on both tonight’s show and the New Year’s Eve show were at the press conference except Bob Sapp and Jerome LeBanner. Sapp is in Japan and there are no problems indicated. The word we got is that LeBanner is not in Japan and may not be showing up at all. LeBanner is scheduled to face Baruto on the New Year’s Eve show. It’s something to follow up on.
WWE
UFC
MISCELLANEOUS
Here is today’s FULL Daily Pro Wrestling History including International history: Daily pro wrestling history (12/28): Sting defeats Hogan for WCW World Title
There has never been a period in American wrestling history where pro wrestling has been the subject of so much mainstream media attention.
Between the shocking victory of Jesse Ventura in the race for Governor of Minnesota, which resulted in front page coverage in newspapers around the country, and the attention pro wrestling itself is receiving due to the mainstream media discovering its popularity boom, it is virtually impossible to escape almost a total bombardment of pro wrestling articles the likes of which have never been seen before.
The election of Ventura, a third party candidate from the Ross Perot-formed Reform Party, who had been running third, and up until the final week, a distant third, in the polls, came out on a national basis as the biggest individual election story, almost as much because of a third party political outsider beating the establishment as because of the novelty of Ventura as a former pro wrestler. Most newspapers gave significant coverage to Ventura on 11/5, many printing the New York Times front page story or localized versions of the same. The demand for Ventura skyrocketed, all the way to his appearing over the weekend on “Meet the Press,” where his comments on Bill and Hilary Clinton, in response to Hilary calling his campaign a “sideshow” and his responding that “I think that she maybe ought to not leave the White House as often as she used to
Bad things seem to happen when she leaves,” springboarded yet another round of front page coverage nationally for Ventura on 11/9. During the show he challenged host Tim Russert to take off his shirt and show off his chest, a challenge Russert didn’t take, but clearly clever methods to get as much media stretch out of his time in the sun as well. CNN did a one hour feature on his life over the weekend, and newspapers across the country and actually around the world were preparing major features on this improbable election result that nobody saw coming. His election inspired the “Today” show to interview Vince McMahon on 11/5 about Ventura, a subject he didn’t seem all that pleased to discuss, probably because Ventura won a much publicized $1 million plus verdict over McMahon in a lawsuit several years ago, although sensing the media tide, both McMahon and Jim Ross changed their tune from days earlier by the time Monday night came around as everyone in wrestling tried to jump on the bandwagon, none more pathetically, however, than Hulk Hogan.
The Bryan & Vinny Show is back with a post-holiday edition! Because the Christmas Show was Thursday, Vinny will finally – better late than never – review last Monday’s Raw, then it’s time for, no kidding, THE GREATEST SHOW EVER, NWA World Championship Wrestling. Yes, from the worst show to the best show ever in the span of one week! A fun show as always so check it out~!
After Dark Radio with Bryan Alvarez returns today with a very special guest, Karl Stern, who has a very big announcement to make! The website has also been redesigned at afterdarkradioshow.com, the first step in a big upgrade to After Dark Radio! We’ve also got a look at local legends of the Oregon Coast, including Bryan’s tour of the allegedly haunted Flavel House in Astoria, OR. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back today to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA including Dave’s thoughts on the Concussion film, Rizin coming up early this week, Fedor’s fight, Michael Bisping vs. Anderson Silva on Fight Pass, Raw with Vince and John Cena returning, mailbag and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back today to talk the year that was 2015! We’ll look back at the big stories from last year around this time, Roman Reigns’ rise and fall and rise, Randy Savage going into the WWE Hall of Fame and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
We’re looking for reports on tonight’s WWE shows in Hartford, CT (Alberto Del Rio vs. John Cena; Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens) and Chicago at the All-State Arena (Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus for WWE title, Kane vs. Bray Wyatt, New Day vs. Usos vs. Lucha Dragon for tag titles) to Dave Meltzer
Monday will be the live Raw from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn as well as a house show in Allentown. Raw features both Vince McMahon appearing as well as the return of John Cena, as he faces Alberto Del Rio.
With the house show in Allentown, those not expected at Raw since they are billed at the house show are Kane & Dudleys & Tommy Dreamer vs. Wyatt Family, Charlotte vs. Paige for the Dias title and Dolph Ziggler vs. Tyler Breeze.
RIZIN DEBUT SHOW ON LATE MONDAY/EARLY TUESDAY FROM SAITAMA SUPER ARENA (some matches air on U.S. TV on Spike Thursday morning at 10 a.m.)
Tsuyoshi Kosaka vs. James Thompson
Carlos Toyota vs. Kiril Sidelnikov
Yuki Motoya vs. Felipe Efrain
Hiroyoa vs. Wicky Nishiura under K-1 rules
Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Hinata with alternate rounds of MMA rules and K-1 rules
A.J. Matthews (Bellator) vs. Anatoly Tokov
Hideo Tokoro (Bellator) vs. Kizaemon Saiga
Hiroyuki Takaya vs. D.J. Taiki
Valentin Moldavsky vs. Yuta Uchida – heavyweight tournament reserve fight
King Mo (Bellator) vs. Brett McDermott – first round of heavyweight tournament
Teodoras Aukstuolis vs. Bruno Cappelozza – first round of heavyweight tournament
Goran Reljic vs. Vadim Nemkov – first round of heavyweight tournament
Satoshi Ishii vs. Jiri Prochoazka – first round of heavyweight tournament
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Shinya Aoki
WWE is also running two shows on Tuesday, with the Smackdown tapings in Washington, DC as well as a house show in Providence (John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio for U.S. title; Rusev vs. Ryback, Kane vs. Bray Wyatt, Charlotte vs. Paige for Divas title, Dolph Ziggler vs. Tyler Breeze).
Wednesday has a WWE show in Toronto at the Ricoh Coliseum (John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio, Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens) and Baltimore (Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus, Kane vs. Bray Wyatt, Brie Bella & Alicia Fox vs. Naomi & Sasha Banks).
RIZIN FROM THE SAITAMA SUPER ARENA (some matches air on U.S. TV on Spike Thursday morning at 10 a.m.)
Rena vs. Jlena Valentino – women’s match
Heavyweight tournament semifinals
Brennan Ward (Bellator) vs. Ken Hasegawa
Takeru vs. Yang Ming in K-1 rules
Soo Chul Kim vs. Maike Linhares
Gabrielle Garcia vs. Lei’d Tapa – women’s super heavyweight match
Akebono vs. Bob Sapp – Shoot boxing rules (boxing, kicking, takedowns, no ground work or submissions)
Andy Souwer vs. Yuichiro Nagashima
Jerome LeBanner vs. Baruto (sumo star)
Kron Gracie (Rickson’s son) vs. Asen Yamamoto (age group wrestling champion, son of former women’s world champion Miyu Yamamoto)
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Jaideep Singh
Heavyweight tournament finals
Figure Four Weekly
Figure Four Weekly (12/21/15): Hulk Hogan and Nelson Frazier Lawsuit Updates
Transcript gives new insight into the FBI/Gawker dispute, plus WWE gives us a peek at what their termination notices look like in the Nelson Frazier wrongful death lawsuit.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
A look at the Slammy Awards, business of the show, who watched the show, suggestions made for improving the awards show idea, some history of where it came from and what happened at the show including injury updates.
We also have a story about both the California commission, doctors, and reps from the Association of Boxing Commissions talking about the problem of weight cutting in MMA as well as all the medical issues involved, win/loss records of bigger vs. small fighters, belief of how many fighters go into fights dehydrated, the dangers of fighting dehydrated, new weight class suggestions, the good and the bad of adding weight classes, the discussion of splitting up the heavyweight division and the ONE organization becomes the first promotion to take drastic steps in this subject with a look at their new regulations.
We also look at the life, career and significance of Lizmark, one of the biggest stars in the history of Lucha Libre, who passed away this past week. We have his background, how he got into wrestling, his life before wrestling, why he first wore a mask, how he got the name Lizmark, his long run as a constant singles champion or top contender, his induction into the Hall of Fame, his run in the glory days of AAA, Lizmark Jr. and why he fell out of favor in WCW due to loyalty to his father, his biggest rivals, the wrestlers who emulated him and his title history.
We look at what is next for NXT, the upcoming tour dates, reaction to Roman Reigns internally, Notes on the video game, Mauro Ranallo updates, WWE injury updates, John Cena and Dwayne Johnson news, lots of WWE U.K. date business notes, Japan TV update, Two new wrestlers making main roster debut for one tour in January and why. We also have notes from all the weekend house shows.
PLUS MUCH MORE! CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW
The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: December 28, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWE Slammy Awards, MMA Weight cutting
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: November 9, 1998 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Jesse Ventura wins Minnesota Governor election, WCW trailing WWF, more
Jesse Ventura becomes the Governor of Minnesota, WCW begins trailing WWF, ECW November to Remember recap, plus tons of news.
TODAY’S DAILY UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back with Wrestling Observer radio tonight talking the latest wrestling and MMA news as well as taking your e-mail questions to mailbag@wrestlingobserver.com
As noted yesterday, Vince McMahon will return for a continuation of his angle with Roman Reigns on Raw tomorrow. I guess they felt with a big football game, they needed Vince back.
There was another misfire on Friday night on iPPV, this time being the CMLL show from Arena Mexico. Based on what we were told, some people who ordered early and used a Chrome brower got in, but nobody else did. About an hour into the show, CMLL issued a statement saying the problem was the provider’s and not theirs, and gave a YouTube link for the show. If you ordered the show you’ll get this coming Friday’s second iPPV for half price. The show has Negro Casas vs. Super Parka in a hair vs. hair match and Kamaitachi vs. Maximo in a hair vs. hair match.
The movie Daddy’s Home where John Cena has a cameo is projected at doing $38.8 million in its opening weekend, No. 2 behind Star Wars at $153.5 million. Sisters, in its second week, which Cena is also in, is at No. 4 at $13.88 million. Concussion, which debuted Friday, is projected to do $11 million at No. 6.
The New York Times end of year obit on Roddy Piper – This is a video of Piper’s babyface turn in Georgia Championship Wrestling. Some great work here by Piper, Don Muraco, Ole Anderson and Gordon Solie
From probably 34 years ago, seasons greetings from Gordon Solie and the gang at Georgia Championship Wrestling. See how many of the wrestlers you can recognize.
WWE
UFC
MISCELLANEOUS
Here is today’s FULL Daily Pro Wrestling History including International history: Daily pro wrestling history (12/27): Kevin Nash, cattle prod & bad booking end Goldberg’s unbeaten streak
Did you watch Wrestle Kingdom 9? Did you see the IWGP Tag Team Championship match between The Bullet Club and Meiyu Tag? That is, for all intents and purposes, the same match we’re getting at Wrestle Kingdom 10, except Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata (Meiyu Tag) are being replaced by two balding, ageing men with blonde dye jobs, also known as Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma (G.B.H.), near identical backstory and all.
Firstly, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson of The Bullet Club are heading into Wrestle Kingdom as long-time champs again. They had held the tag titles for an entire year before losing them to Meiyu Tag at Wrestle Kingdom 9. For reasons I’ll never understand, they won the titles back from Meiyu Tag in little over a month. They later lost them to The Kingdom (Maria and some guys) at Invasion Attack 2015, but regained them at Dominion in Osaka-jo Hall in July, and have held on to them ever since.
Another similitude is how the challengers for the belts at Wrestle Kingdom 10 were determined. Meiyu Tag earned their title shot at Wrestle Kingdom 9 by winning the 2014 World Tag League, though they had defeated Gallows and Anderson in a non-title match (and lost a title match) earlier in the year. Surprise! Honma and Makabe also earned their chance at the gold at Wrestle Kingdom 10 by winning the 2015 World Tag league. At least Meiyu Tag had some history with The Bullet Club which gave the match a little extra spice. Honma and Makabe, on the other hand, have both been involved in the Never Openweight Title picture throughout 2015, and only recently reteamed for the World Tag League. So not the most compelling lead up to their January 4th showdown.
One aspect that provided the Wrestle Kingdom 9 match with some added intrigue, and does the same for Wrestle Kingdom 10, is the undertone of the challengers not being able to win the big one. In 2014, Hirooki Goto challenged for the IWGP Heavyweight, Never Openweight, and IWGP Tag Team Championships, and failed at all. Katsuyori Shibata challenged for the Intercontinental and Tag Team championships, and also failed. While Togi Makabe has had some recent championship success with the Never title in 2015, Honma is the walking, talking (well, kind of) definition of coming up short, and it’s that trait that makes him such a perfect underdog character. Honma’s ability to lose so often but still manipulate the audience into believing he can actually “do it this time” is second to none.
And thus, the stories of the two matches are nearly identical. Goto and Shibata proved at Wrestle Kingdom 9 that they could get the job done and finally got their mitts on some gold. I’m putting my hypothetical money on Honma and Makabe achieving the same goal at Wrestle Kingdom 10. It will of course be a team effort, but Wrestle Kingdom 10 will be a truly defining, individual moment for Honma as he does what he’s never been able to do in New Japan, win a title. And there’s no better venue than the Tokyo Dome. Or, he’ll lose, as he is wont to do. Either way, the crowd be with him for every twist and turn in the emotional rollercoaster ride that is a Honma match.
Following the trend of the majority of Wrestle Kingdom 10 matches, the build up has left a lot to be desired, but the match itself ought to be a barn burner with the potential to create an unforgettable Wrestle Kingdom moment. Personally, I’m just hoping Gallows and Anderson lose the titles so that I no longer have to be subjected to Gallows flapping the belt around like it’s an extension of his willy.
It’s the time of year again! A huge thank you to Dewe for this, the BEST OF 2015 compilation! The 50 greatest audio moments of the year all in one convenient place. Four full hours of entertainment to kick off the weekend, so check it out~!