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  • The Week In British Wrestling: Will Ospreay vs. Mark Andrews do it again

    By Alan Boon for WrestlingObserver.com

    It may be late November, and the weather may have taken a turn for the cold and wet, but things are still heating up on the UK wrestling scene. Here are five things you need to know about British wrestling this week.

    1) Will Ospreay and Mark Andrews proved lightning can strike twice.

    When Will Ospreay and Mark Andrews stepped through the ropes at Pro-Wrestling Guerilla’s yearly BOLA extravaganza in August, few thought they’d be two of the standout stars on a card full of the biggest names in independent wrestling (and a sprinkling of lucha, to boot). Once they’d finished their first round bout, few were in doubt of that status. Ospreay, only in his fourth year as a pro, and Andrews, criminally underused in TNA after winning last year’s British Bootcamp competition, put themselves on the worldwide map but only cemented what British fans already knew.

    On Sunday, at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, London, they met again, and put their summer contest firmly in the shade with a jaw-dropping display of head-dropping and acrobatics that had the sellout crowd on their feet and wowed. For Ospreay, it was just the latest in a series of 2015 contests that have seen him rocket up everyone’s top 20 lists, while for Andrews, it was a reminder that he’s back in the main event mix on this side of the Atlantic. We’re happy to see him again.

    2) You can’t halt the march of PROGRESS.

    As 750 people crammed into the Electric Ballroom for the final time in 2015, I’m sure the thoughts of more than a few PROGRESS “ultras” turned to the year-to-date, which saw the culmination of the Jimmy Havoc storyline, the first Super Strong Style 16 Tournament, and a string of sellout shows. By the end of the show – Chapter 23: What A Time To Be Alive! – those other shows and that other stuff, was distant history. Aside from the main event, the aforementioned masterpiece theatre for the PROGRESS title, the rest of the show (six matches, plus two pre-show bouts) reached highs in terms of hard-hitting – Rampage Brown and Austria’s Big Daddy Walter just about broke the ring in the opening bout – and lows in terms of pesky shenanigans – heel stable The Origin finagled their way to the tag-team titles AND a shot at the title at next week’s debut show in Manchester – and had just about everything in between.

    While the absence of Jimmy Havoc leaves a big hole in the shows, such was his influence in a two-year reign of terror, things look very promising for 2016, with monthly London shows and bi-monthly forays up North. That begins early with Chapter 24: Hit The North on Sunday (another sellout), this time in England’s third city. Ospreay defends his title against Zack Gibson, with Zack Sabre Jr. and Tomasso Ciampa joining the regular crew. News on that next week…

    3) Preston isn’t just the home of Wade Barrett; it’s also Ring of Honor’s British base.

    Back in the days of Big Daddy & Giant Haystacks, it used to be that the heavyweights sold tickets but the lighter weights brought the entertainment. That still holds true but the heavyweights have been replaced in recent years by former WWE and TNA imports, and the lighter weights by younger, local talent. Nowhere has that formula been more successful than at Preston City Wrestling, whose promoter Steven Fludder has brought a parade of “name” stars (often in conjunction with memorabilia fairs) to the North West for autograph signings, special appearances, and the odd match, and kept the fans wowed with some of the UK’s top talent.

    This past weekend, though, and for the second year in a row, PCW brought over a ton of ROH stars, including current ROH champion Jay Lethal, alongside Dalton Castle, Adam Cole, reDRagon, Cedric Alexander, and War Machine for the Supershow Of Honor. Although no local star was able to top Lethal, over 2000 fans attended the weekend shows to witness the ROH and UK talent trade wins across four shows. PCW heavyweight champion Dave Mastiff also fought off all-comers, but Adam Cole was able to steal away the Cruiserweight belt from el Ligero, promising to keep hold for a long time.

    4) Rebellious Scots won’t be crushed.

    Two weeks on from their MASSIVE Fear & Loathing supershow at Glasgow’s SECC, Insane Championship Wrestling picked up their storylines at the puntastic Fear & Lothian show, held at in the heart of Lothian at Edinburgh’s City nightclub. The success of ICW has been built on a foundation of love for WWF’s Attitude Era and classic ECW, and the swerve was in early as former general manager Red Lightning revealed he was, in fact, majority owner of the company and would do everything he could to rid ICW of its incredi-popular champion, Grado.

    Luckily for ICW’s fans, Red Lightning’s chosen man, Lionheart (fresh from being HATED at PCW’s Supershow Of Honor weekend), came up short, but New Age Kliq main man Chris Renfrew announced he would cash in his title shot at the company’s next big show, Square Go in Glasgow on January 24th. Noam Dar also earned a title shot at Square Go by winning a number one contenders’ match for Davey Blaze’s Zero-G championship – that’s if Blaze makes it through the next couple of TV tapings without Stevie Boy and the NAK taking him out.

    5) There’s so much going on!

    Elsewhere, the Scottish Wrestling Alliance held a big show at the Lagoon Centre, in Paisley, which saw Mark Coffey pin Drew Galloway to become the new SWA champion and appearances from Will Ospreay, Grado, Jack Gallagher, Kenny Williams, and Viper. Ahead of bringing in Pentagon Jr and Drago (and, erm, Tatanka) in January, 4 Front Wrestling opened their doors in Emerson Green in Bristol on Saturday night, and drew a healthy crowd for a show headlined by an eight-man elimination match, featuring the Hunter Brothers and Saul Adams.

    Earlier in the week, PROGRESS held the third of their PTNTL trainee shows at a new venue, Nambucca, in north London. The show featured ProJo trainees of all levels of development, and was main-evented by a six-man featuring the promotion’s most senior rookies which saw the team of Sweet Bearded Jesus – California hippy surfer Chuck Mambo, full-bearded Kyle Ashmore & Pastor William Eaver defeat Hong Kong’s Shen Woo, the bruiser Damon Moser & the outrageous Jack Sexsmith by pinfall. Also of note was Kamikaze-Pro’s latest show in the chocolate town of Bournville, Birmingham, starring Rhyno, Juventud Guerrera, Jody Fleisch, Jonny Storm, the Dunne Brothers, and Tyler Bate.

    Next weekend sees PROGRESS make their way to Manchester for the first time, Lucha Britannia run a rare Saturday, Pro-Wrestling CHAOS end their year in Bristol, and WAW & Bellatrix promoting a double-shot in Norwich, featuring the top UK women’s talent, as well as WWE star Paige’s father, mother, and brothers! Join me then for all the news that’s fit to print!

    (Special thanks to Ben Corrigan for contributing to this report!)

  • WOR 12/1: RAW REPORT~!, plus news on AJ Styles, Tomoaki Honma, mailbag and more!

    Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back tonight to talk all the news in pro-wrestling including, YES, the RAW REPORT from Monday’s compelling show, thoughts on all the matches and segments, the build to TLC and more! Plus, notes on Tanahashi’s DDT tag team match on New Japan World, AJ Styles, Tomoaki Honma and his girlfriend, emails and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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  • NJPW World Tag League results: Naito & Evil take on Ishii & Nakamura

    More World Tag League time! Monday morning they were in Fukuoka with three more World Tag League tournament matches. Results are below, as well as the current standings.

    Block A: Toru Yano and Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata.

    Not much of a match. Nagata looked fine, as did Sakuraba. Nakanishi is immobile and Yano is just there. Brawl into the crowd early. The more I see of the Tag League, the more I wish all of the teams spots were less predictable. Nagata and Nakanishi have done the same armbar/torture rack spot for the entire tour and they’ve never gotten a win with it once. Sakuraba went for a sleeper, but Nagata transitioned while they went down to the floor then rolled him up for a flash pin.

    Block B: Tencozy vs. Katsuyori Shibata and Hirooki Goto

    Crowd was totally into Tencozy and they helped this match a ton, making it one of the more memorable matches outside of opening day thus far. The work itself was solid, nothing particularly interesting, but the crowd and atmosphere were great and added a lot to the match. Shibata and Kojima were having some great back and forth, with Shibata getting the better it with punches and hitting the ropes, allowing Kojima enough time to recover by laying out Shibata with a lariat and pinning him.

    Block B: Tetsuya Naito and Evil vs. Tomohiro Ishii and Shinsuke Nakamura

    This was boring for the first half, but things picked up big time towards the end with Ishii/Evil looking really good. Nakamura and Ishii nearly had it won as Nakamura was going for the boma ye on Evil but Naito pulled him out of the ring at the last minute. They isolated Ishii. Evil and Ishii exchanged some pretty good nearfalls. Bushi went to do the mist spot, but Ishii headbutted him as Nakamura cleared the ring. Ishii hit a lariat but Evil kicked out at one. Nakamura came in with a boma ye to the back of Evil’s head, allowing Ishii to follow that up with the brainbuster for the win.

    Current Standings:

    Block A:

    Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin- 6

    Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma- 6

    Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi- 4

    Christopher Daniels and Kazarian- 4

    Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata- 4

    Kazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano- 2

    Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga- 0

    Block B:

    Evil and Tetsuya Naito- 6

    Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata- 6

    Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson- 4

    Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima- 4

    Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii- 4

    AJ Styles and Yujiro Takahashi- 2

    Matt Taven and Michael Bennett- 0

  • Figure Four Weekly (11/30/15): WWE makes a unique argument in concussion lawsuit

    The “concussion lawsuits” between the clients of Konstantine Kyros and WWE kept rolling along the last few weeks.

    Two weeks ago, Jerry McDevitt filed two lengthy motions on WWE’s behalf, Those are motion to dismiss in the Russ McCullough/Ryan Sakoda/Matt “Luther Reigns” Wiese lawsuit (McCullough v. WWE) and an opposition to Kyros’ motion to dismiss WWE’s preemptive lawsuit against Robert “Blackjack Mulligan” Wyndham, James “Koko” Ware, Oreal “Ivan Koloff” Perras, and Thomas “Dynamite Kid” Billington (WWE v. Windham). The Windham motion starts with an eight page introduction that, among other things, a reference to Billy Jack Haynes, the plaintiff in a related case, having “posted various illiterate rants on social media identifying those allegedly joining the lawsuit.” McDevitt adds that “in other illiterate posts, Haynes admits that he was a drug addict for the last 27 years and speaks of his lawsuit as his ’cause to have a union in the pro wrestling industry, vacation, time off injured, a 5 day/night work week, buy[ing] stock in company…” Both Haynes and Windham have routinely posted about the cases and solicited co-plaintiffs on Facebook, and an exhibit to the motion suggests he’s done even more in private.

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  • October 19, 1998 Wrestling observer Newsletter: Pride 4 results, Brian Hildebrand diagnosed with inoperable cancer

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  • WWE RAW live results 11-30: The build towards TLC with Roman Reigns and Sheamus

    The Big Takeaway: 

    At least it was a newsworthy show, which had some good ideas on paper. In practice, they weren’t executed well tonight. Sheamus has formed a new heel unit with King Barrett, Rusev and Alberto Del Rio called the League of Nations. They won in the main event, which needlessly also included the New Day on its side to beat Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and the Usos. Charlotte teased a heel turn after faking a knee injury to beat her friend Becky Lynch. And Lana reemerged as a heel, doing a complete reset of her character since February. 

    Show Recap: 

    The New Day came out with confetti and red carpeting like they were going to throw a party. They were there to introduce Sheamus as WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Of course, Sheamus thanked the Authority. He also thanked Roman Reigns. New Day pretended they couldn’t remember Reigns’ 5-minute championship reign, with Xavier Woods mentioning they were playing Street Fighter and heard something about it. 

    Sheamus said if Reigns’ hadn’t savored the moment after winning the belt, he would have seen Sheamus coming. They all laughed over Reigns’ being champion for 5 minutes and 15 seconds, which I think is the average length a Raw viewer stays around before they turn to the football game. Sheamus said you can have Austin 3:16, because Sheamus 5:15 said I just kicked your arse. Not much heat for Sheamus as a top heel, probably because he’s booked as the new Seth Rollins. 

    As Sheamus held up the belt, Reigns showed up, gave him the Superman punch and took the championship belt. Michael Cole and JBL had moments of awkward silence trying to get this angle over without saying the word “belt.” It’s like a game of “Password” on national television where “belt” is the clue but the announcers can’t say it. Somebody get these people a thesaurus. 

    Reigns showed off the belt to Dean Ambrose and the Usos when HHH and Stephanie McMahon showed up. HHH wanted the belt back. Reigns gave the belt back. Well, that gimmick was great. HHH said Sheamus wanted to face Reigns for the title tonight. Reigns jumped at that chance. Stephanie said the catch was Reigns could only win the title if he beats Reigns in under 5:15. Maybe they could call that a Quadrophenia Death Match. (Only fans of the Who will get that. Hate to go all Dennis Miller on you.) 

    Dolph Ziggler defeated Tyler Breeze (10:33) 

    There traded a series of about ten cradles in a row, all for two counts. After Dolph Ziggler kicked out of a schoolboy cradle by Tyler Breeze, Ziggler hit a Superkick for the win. Once again, Breeze’s ring entrance didn’t air in lieu of Cole talking about the main event. If they aren’t going to give Breeze the full trappings of his character, why bring him up from NXT? Pretty good match. 

    MizTV featured Rusev with Lana, making her return after her engagement to Rusev was publicly acknowledged. This was weird. Miz said Rusev had to be upset nursing injuries that forced him to miss the WWE World Heavyweight title tournament. Rusev missed the tournament because of injury? When was this acknowledged? Rusev said there was one person who had been there for him while he was injured, and it was Lana. 

    Lana came out dressed like she was a heel again. She lost her 1980s Great White video wardrobe. Even stranger, Miz said Rusev made Lana “Summer Rae 2.0.” Wasn’t it the other way around? Lana said she never went all the way with Ziggler. Crowd chanted “Yes, you did.” Lana said all the turmoil only made them a stronger couple. Rusev said he never went all the way with Summer. Crowd…ibid. Rusev said from now on, he will break people apart in the ring, but out of the ring his heart belonged to Lana. They started making out in the ring for a very long period of time unti Ryback came out. 

    Ryback said this wasn’t an episode of “Teen Wolf” and the big guy was hungry. This set up a match. 

    Ryback defeated Rusev via countout (1:44) 

    Ryback shoulder blocked Rusev into the ring steps, which slammed into Lana’s leg. Lana went down immediately. Even though he realized the count was on by the referee, Rusev stopped to check on Lana and got counted out. Rusev screamed at Ryback afterwards. A reminder that Rusev is supposed to be the heel here. 

    Ambrose met with HHH backstage. On Smackdown, Ambrose earned an Intercontinental Championship match by beating Kevin Owens in a nontitle match. HHH said if Reigns doesn’t beat Sheamus tonight in 5:15, then Ambrose would lose his title shot with Owens. Ambrose looked mad. I’m not sure why since I-C champions usually job all the time. 

    The Dudley Boyz came out. Bubba Ray Dudley said last week was a tough one for them as they were beaten up twice by the Wyatt Family. By doing what they did to the Dudley’s, Ray said the Wyatt Family had put their names on tables. Bubba unveiled tables with the names of each Wyatt Family member on them. Bubba challenged them to come out. 

    The Wyatts came out. Bray Wyatt accepted the Dudleys challenge, but said they should be careful to invite the devil into your backyard because he might like it and decide to stay. 

    Devon Dudley said the Wyatts had his family and they have theirs. This brought out Tommy Dreamer from the crowd. He brought out the typical trash can filled with weapons. Crowd chanted “ECW.” Dreamer looked tanned and looked younger than earlier this year when he was in TNA. 

    The Dudley Boyz and Tommy Dreamer went to a double DQ with Eric Rowan, Luke Harper and Braun Strowman (3:30)

    They got a six-way brawl going after Dreamer made the hot tag. Then the bell just sounded, which got the most heat in the match and not in a good way. 

    Braun Strowman put Dreamer in the head-and-arm choke while Rowan and Harper laid out the Dudleys. Wyatt ordered the heels to get the tables. As they did so, Bubba Ray got up and pushed Wyatt off the apron and through a table at ringside. Crowd popped and the heels were incensed their leader had gone through a table. 

    Zeb Coulter cut a promo before the match saying the fans were more concerned with Anne Hathaway’s baby bump and social media than the country. Alberto Del Rio said Goldust was out of date and full of hate. Goldust popped him across the jaw. What is the purpose behind the Del Rio/Coulter pairing? 

    Alberto Del Rio (C) defeated Goldust in a nontitle match (1:57) 

    Del Rio pinned Golddust after the double stomp off the top rope as Golddust was on the Tree of Woe. Del Rio put Goldust in a flying armbar afterwards, leading to Jack Swagger coming out for the save and the “We the People” pledge. 

    Charlotte and Becky Lynch talked backstage. Lynch suggested they go to the Authority and ask for a singles match. Charlotte wasn’t hot on the idea. Lynch suggested they have a match like they were on NXT again. Charlotte agreed. Ric Flair walked in for a cameo to trade catchphrases with his daughter. 

    Lucha Dragons and the Usos went to a Double DQ (2:53) 

    The New Day were on commentary. Big E. was funny as hell. He tried to talk like Michael Cole. He sounded like Tony Gwynn. Jey Uso did a tope on Sin Cara that nearly ended his career. Then Big E. and Kofi Kingston ran in for another Double DQ. Xavier Woods explained that since neither team won, the New Day wouldn’t have to defend the tag team titles at TLC. Third screw job finish within an hour. On the other hand, it’s really scary that Big E. was more entertaining on commentary in 2 minutes than Cole and JBL have been all year. 

    Stephanie met with Lucha Dragons and the Usos backstage. They wanted a three-way match with the New Day. Stephanie agreed to put Lucha Dragons in the match. She also agreed to include the Usos, but only if Reigns defeated Sheamus tonight. 

    Sasha Banks defeated Brie Bella via submission (4:58)

    Sasha Banks pinned Brie Bella after a distraction from Naomi. Banks got the tapout with the Bank Statement after a Bakc Stabber. Earlier, Alicia Fox got laid out by a superkick from Naomi and was taken to the back. Announcers explained that Nikki Bella was at home nursing an injury, so Team BAD had Team Bella outnumbered.  

    Roman Reigns defeated Sheamus (C) by DQ so Sheamus retains the WWE World Heavyweight Championship (4:37)  

    Sheamus now has a “Sheamus 5:15” shirt to get heat. Crowd got into the match as the time ran down. To his credit, Sheamus played the time-killing heel very well. Sheamus constantly grabbed rest holds and rolled out of the ring whenever Reigns was on offense. Reigns finally got Sheamus in the ring set up for the spear, but Rusev showed up to jump Reigns for the DQ while Del Rio and King Barrett helped Sheamus out of the ring. 

    Sheamus fell all over Lillian Garcia’s lap, and she didn’t look happy about it at all. He introduced Del Rio, Barrett and Rusev as a heel stable called the League of Nations. Ambrose and the Usos hit the ring. Reigns delivered an uppercut on Sheamus to knock him into the League of Nations. They set up a eight-man tag for the main event. 

    For the record, since Reigns won, Ambrose and the Usos will get their title matches at TLC. 

    New Day did a commercial introducing New Day t-shirts as part of Cyber Monday. This was during the final hour of the show, which gave viewers two hours to get to their computers in time to take advantage of the discounts. 

    Charlotte (C) defeated Becky Lynch in a nontitle match (4:37) 

    Charlotte teased a heel turn by faking a knee injury after a float over in the corner. Flair distracted Lynch, which led to Charlotte doing a nip up and pinning Lynch with a schoolgirl cradle. Lynch acted like she didn’t know what Charlotte was doing, but Flair strutted after his daughter proved the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Paige was on commentary saying she knew all along that Charlotte was someone who would win at all costs. It also proves Charlotte is a big UNC fan. 

    Lynch confronted Charlotte backstage. Charlotte said she didn’t cheat to beat Lynch, she lured Lynch into letting her guard down. Charlotte said it was just tough love and trying to teach her something and talked her into giving her a pinkie swear. Paige walked up to Lynch and said at least her friendship wasn’t affected. 

    Next came a segment called the Rosebush with Adam Rose. It’s meant to be a takeoff of Entertainment Tonight. I haven’t seen a segment like this since ODB’s old Trailer Park talk show when she had Magnus on one night. His closing line was “The dirt is always blooming,” which seemed like a shot at newsletters.  

    Stardust held up a Christmas star and called for the Ascension to rise. Instead, Titus O’Neal showed up and started singing Christmas carols like “Stardust got Run Over by a Reindeer.” Stardust starting hissing at him, but O’Neal threw a present in his throat and wished everyone a Merry Christmas. 

    Before the eight man main event could begin, the New Day came out again and announced they joined the League of Nations team to make the main event 7-on-4. They were selling merchandise 15 minutes ago and now they’re heels again? And shouldn’t the League of Nations establish themselves as a quartet before they receive extra help?

    The League of Nations and the New Day defeated The Usos, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns (25:10)  

    Crowd was dead to begin with, but the weird booking just killed it dead. Plus, they went 10 minutes too long. Crowd was more into Ambrose than Reigns.  Jimmy Uso started selling his knee from getting the heat and had to leave the match, leaving the babyfaces down 7-on-3. Didn’t we just see Charlotte fake the same injury in the previous match? Ambrose did a plancha onto five of the heels, and later took out Sheamus with a tope. Reigns hit Del Rio with a Superman Punch and gave Big E. a clothesline on the floor. As Ambrose took out Barrett, he walked into a Brogue Kick by Sheamus and was pinned. 

    Heels picked apart Ambrose until Reigns tried to make the save. Reigns got laid out with a Brogue kick and the heels posed. 

    SUMMARY: 

    I feel like using a facepalm emoji. Need a new heel unit? Great idea. Why water them down in the main event with three more heels? Main event was overbooked. Why does Ambrose continue to do more jobs when he’s the most over babyface they have? Becky Lynch could be a great babyface. This company doesn’t know how to make babyface stars anymore because she came off looking like an idiot on this show. Almost all the matches were too short, and the only one that wasn’t was too long. If this one does a 2.0 against a bad MNF game, who will Vince blame? He needs to start with the face in the mirror. 

  • F4D 11/30: Tom Lawlor show with WWE news and notes, second round of 2K16 tournament, more!

    Filthy Four Daily with Bryan Alvarez and Tom Lawlor is back tonight to talk all the latest news, including Raw notes for tonight, whether Ronda Rousey should face Holly Holm next or if one or both should fight someone else in between, random wrestling and MMA news notes, plus the next round of the WWE 2K16 Filthy Four tournament! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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  • Ric Flair scheduled to appear on tonight’s WWE RAW

    Ric Flair is scheduled to appear on tonight’s WWE Raw show in Pittsburgh, PA. 

    Flair is in Pittsburgh now, but he is at a lot of WWE shows backstage because of daughter and current Divas Champion Charlotte being in the promotion. However, he was scripted into the show as of earlier today. Most likely, his role will be something to do with Charlotte’s angle with Paige, but as we know, WWE can change on a dime when it comes to scripts.

    With a weak NFL Monday night game as competition (Baltimore Ravens vs. Cleveland Browns), as far as the competition goes, Raw should rebound over last week’s 18-year-record low in the ratings.  A number approximating last week’s would indicate the problem is deeper than NFL competition.

    No matches have been announced at this time for the show, which, given the three weeks between shows, should include announcements of most of the top matches for the 12/13 TLC pay-per-view show.

  • NJPW World Tag League results: Tanahashi and Elgin vs. Nakanishi and Nagata

    We’ve just gone through Black Friday, and now here we are on Cyber Monday! No sales here as today the World Tag League continues, this time stopping at Ehime for the latest round of results. Should be noted that again AJ Styles has been taken off this show (where he was scheduled to compete in a prelim tag match); the next time he’s scheduled to compete is on Tuesday so we’ll see if he’s in shape by then.

    Block A: Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga vs. Tomoaki Honma and Togi Makabe

    Basic match. Fale worked a lot on Honma and so did Tonga. Makabe made a hot tag. They ended up getting the win after a top rope kokeshi by Honma followed by the King Kong Knee drop by Makabe for the win. Note that Makabe has taken most, if not all the wins in this tournament thus far.

    The Kingdom vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii

    Another basic match for the most part. More back and forth than the first match. The Kingdom actually channeled the Hardy Boyz at one point and did the old twist of fate/swanton bomb combo for a nearfall. Nakamura made a quick comeback and pinned Taven with a boma ye.

    Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin vs. Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata

    Fine match. Tanahashi and Elgin did their best to make this a fine main event and they succeeded in doing that, but not much else beyond that. Elgin and Nakanishi worked a lot of the match together. Nakanishi was immobile as usual but he and Elgin did big guy power spots that were fine. Double lariats to Tanahashi and Elgin. Nagata had Elgin in a armbar but Elgin lifted him up and threw him into Nakanishi, who had Tanahashi in the torture rack. Nakanishi was double teamed, tried a comeback but Elgin splashed him then hit the powerslam. Tanahashi followed with the high fly flow, then pinned him.

    Current Standings:

    Block A:

    Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin- 6

    Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma- 6

    Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi- 4

    Christopher Daniels and Kazarian- 4

    Kazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano- 2

    Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata- 2

    Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga- 0

    Block B:

    Evil and Tetsuya Naito- 6

    Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata- 6

    Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson- 4

    Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima- 2

    AJ Styles and Yujiro Takahashi- 2

    Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii- 2

    Matt Taven and Michael Bennett- 0

  • Looking at the options for UFC free agent Benson Henderson

    In the morning hours here in North America, former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson fought Jorge Masvidal in the main event of the UFC’s debut in Seoul, South Korea — the last fight on his UFC contract. Now a free agent, the 32-year-old veteran is near the peak of his game and will be either an attractive acquisition or solid re-signing for the company that manages to secure his services.

    In the past few years, many fighters considered top 10 in their weight class have been cut loose by UFC much to the outcry of hardcore fight fans who felt that if UFC was to be taken seriously as a sport, they shouldn’t let top tier talent walk away. But with Henderson, it’s different. Guys like Phil Davis, Jon Fitch, Jake Shields, and Yushin Okami were still top contenders but didn’t move ratings or PPV buys (proven when they went elsewhere), weren’t serious title contenders, and carried high price tags. While UFC runs a lot of cards and could use the depth that these guys provide, they also have a future to think of and names like the ones I’ve listed here were essentially roadblocks for younger talent to make their way to the top.

    This is why someone like Henderson is very important. He could arguably be a top 10 competitor at either 155 or 170, and is someone that can very easily headline an FS 1 or Fight Pass card. He also fits in nicely in a co-main event position on a FOX show or PPV. The top of the show is familiar territory for him as in 14 UFC fights, he has been in either the main or co-main event position all but two times. And on one occasion, it could be argued that he was in the co-main (UFC on FOX 1), since only the main event fight aired on television.

    On those shows, Henderson has delivered in terms of ratings or PPV buys…for the most part. Here’s a look*, listed by most recent appearance:

    • Fight Night 60 (main event vs Brandon Thatch) – 913,000 viewers on FS 1 (above average vs. an opponent with very little name recognition)
    • Fight Night 59 (co-main vs Donald Cerrone) – 2,751,000 viewers on FS 1 (record number obviously powered by Conor McGregor, but this was a strong co-main)
    • Fight Night 49 (main event vs Rafael Dos Anjos) – 689,000 viewers on FS 1 (below average,, but this was a very weak undercard and during a very down period for UFC)
    • Fight Night 42 (main event vs Rustam Khabilov) – 1,217,000 viewers on FS 1 (2nd highest FS 1 number at the time against an opponent with no name recognition)
    • UFC on FOX 10 (main event vs Josh Thomson) – 3.2 million viewers on FOX (above average)
    • UFC 164 (main event vs Anthony Pettis) – 270,000 PPV buys (the second highest number for a show headlined by a lightweight title defence that didn’t involve BJ Penn up to that point)
    • UFC on FOX 7 (Main event vs Gilbert Melendez) – 3.7 million viewers on FOX (well above average)
    • UFC on FOX 5 (main event vs Nate Diaz) – 4.4 million viewers on FOX (3rd highest number ever for UFC on that station)
    • UFC 150 (main event vs Frankie Edgar) – 190,000 PPV buys (very weak number for the period. Probably too soon after their first fight, which did very well
    • UFC 144 (main Event vs Frankie Edgar) – 375,000 PPV buys (still the highest number for a show headlined by a Lightweight title defence that didn’t involve BJ Penn)
    • UFC on Versus 5 (co-main vs Jim Miller) – 766,000 viewers on Versus (second highest number of the year on the station for a show with a weak main event of Dan Hardy vs Chris Lytle)

    *His other two UFC fights were on the undercards of the first UFC on FOX show and UFC 129, both of which did monster numbers that had next to nothing to do with him.

    Clearly, he’s made a difference for a number of years and should continue to do so as his skills haven’t diminished and as recently as this year, he was still doing very strong numbers for UFC. He’d be valuable for Bellator as they hope to bring bigger TV ratings to Spike TV, and would likely be favored in a fight against either their welterweight champion Andrei Koreshkov or lightweight champion Will Brooks. A win by either of those champions would legitimize those divisions in the eyes of fans and a win by Henderson would give them greater exposure and provide marketability that no fighter still in his prime has had for the company.

    Asian MMA company ONE Championships would be another viable option. They run shows that draw big crowds in southeast Asia on more or less a monthly basis but have yet to make any real kind of dent in the North American market despite their shows being available on iPPV. A star the level of Henderson could help them get that foothold there while also helping ticket sales in that region, where he is very popular due to his maternal family being from the area.

    Henderson is in a rare position where the UFC needs him as much as the outside companies do, maybe even more. Many cards that the UFC runs are somewhat skippable these days but having someone of his caliber on the marquee makes his fight almost a must-see. He almost always has the best fight on the show, and is one of the more skilled fighters in the world in two different weight classes.

    Fighters like this do not become available all the time and Henderson should be in a position to almost name his price.