Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today with our Black Friday show! Tons to talk about including NXT from Wednesday with a masterful troll job in the Eva Marie vs. Bayley match, plus Dave Meltzer appears to talk TLC and Dr. Lucha joins us to talk all the news in Lucha Libre! A fun show as always so check it out~!
The Bryan & Vinny Show is back today with a special THANKSGIVING episode of the show, and we’ve got tons to talk about! First, it’s the epic NXT show with BAILEY VS. EVA MARIE, the Samoa Joe vs. Finn Balor NXT Title angle and more! Then, Granny joins us to take your comments on what you’re thankful for on this Thanksgiving night. And finally, the Raw report from this past Monday night! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Welcome to WrestlingObserver.com’s live coverage of the UFC Fight Night 79: Henderson vs. Masvidal weigh-ins from the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul, South Korea kicking off at 2 AM eastern time. The event airs on Saturday on UFC Fight Pass at 8 AM eastern time. Preliminary card action kicks off on UFC Fight Pass at 5 AM eastern time. This will be the debut of the UFC in Seoul, South Korea.
The event is headlined by a five-round welterweight bout as former UFC and WEC Lightweight Champion Benson Henderson takes on former Strikeforce title challenger Jorge Masvidal, who took the headline position on short notice as an injury replacement for Thiago Alves. In the co-main event, it will be South Korea’s own Dong Hyun “Stun Gun” Kim taking on Dominic Waters. Also on the card is the return after 14 months off for Yoshihiro Akiyama, who takes on the undefeated Alberto Mina.
MAIN CARD (UFC FIGHT PASS- 8 AM ET/5 AM PT):
Benson Henderson (170) vs. Jorge Masvidal (170)
Dong Hyun Kim (171) vs. Dominic Waters (170)
Yoshihiro Akiyama (170) vs. Alberto Mina (171)
Doo Ho Choi (146) vs. Sam Sicilia (146)
PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC FIGHT PASS- 5 AM ET/2 AM PT):
Dongi Yang (186) vs. Jake Collier (185)
Yui Chul Nam (146) vs. Mike de la Torre (146)
Tae Hyun Bang (156) vs. Leo Kuntz (156)
Seo Hee Ham (115) vs. Cortney Casey (116)
Yao Zhikui (126) vs. Fredy Serrano (125)
Ning Guangyou (134) vs. Marco Beltran (136)
Dominique Steele (171) vs. “Maestro” Dong Hyun Kim (170)
NOTES:
*Benson Henderson needed the towel to make weight, but he made it at 170 pounds.
*Dong Hyun Kim and Yoshihiro Akiyama got the big reactions from the crowd. Akiyama looked every bit as muscular as in the past. He is being billed to the local crowd as Choo Sung-hoon, which is his Korean name.
*Yui Chul Nam and Mike de la Torre had an intense staredown with neither man shaking the others’ hand afterwards.
*Dominique Steele needed a towel, but he made the welterweight limit of 171 pounds.
Smackdown tonight on Syfy
Dudleys vs. Erick Rowan & Luke Harper
Becky Lynch vs. Paige
Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger in a non-title match
New Day vs. Sin Cara & Kalisto in a non-title match
Dean Ambrose vs. Tyler Breeze vs. Dolph Ziggler – Winner gets an IC title shot
It’s a Thanksgiving themed show.
NEW JAPAN TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT FROM THE HIROSHIMA GREEN ARENA TONIGHT AT 4:30 A.M. EASTERN AND 1:30 A.M. PACIFIC TIME LIVE ON NEW JAPAN WORLD
Tiger Mask & Jay White & David Finlay vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka
Jushin Liger & Kushida & Mascara Dorada & Juice Robinson vs. Toru Yano & Gedo & Michael Bennett & Matt Taven
Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata & Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Captain New Japan vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows & Tama Tonga & Bad Luck Fale & Cody Hall
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Tetsuya Naito & Evil in the tournament
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma in the tournament
Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian in the tournament
Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii vs. A.J. Styles & Yujiro Takahashi in the tournament
It’s Black Friday and that means Wrestling Observer/Figure Four Online has a huge deal for you!
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Figure Four Weekly
Figure Four Weekly (11/23/15): Lots of Updates in Hulk Hogan-Gawker case
Lots of news including a win for Gawker, the new police report, the remaining mysteries of the case, what Bubba the Love Sponge is saying, and more.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
A look at the decision to make Sheamus the WWE champion and its ramifications is the lead story in the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. We look at WWE’s options, both the obvious ones and the ones out of the box, different ways to use people, the nature of the decision, the prior identical decision in 2011 and the storyline it was supposed to lead to and why it was made.
We look at the real long-term goal, the note on the ratings, the portrayal of Sheamus leading up to the title change, the plans for the TLC show, what has been messed up, the women’s division, the WWE blaming Charlotte on a bad taste angle, ESPN and WWE, plus match-by-match coverage of Survivor Series with poll results and star ratings.
We look at the TNA deal with Pop TV, both the good and the bad of it, plus the tapings in Bethlehem, the economics of the deal and note on the station.
We’ve got a look at the New Japan tag team tournament, with current standings, goals of the tournament, who probably can’t win the tournament, and coverage of the tournament so far.
We also look at why Genichiro Tenryu is one of the biggest stars of the past 40 years in wrestling, with a look at his career in wrestling, his days in sumo, his early U.S. run, his rise in All Japan, why he left All Japan, how his leaving led to a boom period for All Japan, his deal with Super World Sports, his feud with Riki Choshu and Jumbo Tsuruta, the real story behind his Tokyo Dome match with Hulk Hogan, the story behind his rise. the WAR days his biggest matches and his final show.
We also have an update on Randy Orton, Cesaro, notes on new WWE signing La Sombra, thoughts on the Sombra signing, how it’s the same and different from the original Mistico signing, WWE week on USA and changes this year, WWE Network shows, Brock Lesnar’s return to Raw, legal briefs filed by WWE, why Stephanie McMahon has been gone from TV and why she’s back regularly, next Takeover special, HHH talks Hogan’s return, John Cena talks his departure, WWE star teases retirement in a few years, Mick Foley upset with creative direction and notes from the developmental shows over the weekend,.
PLUS MUCH MORE! CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW
The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: November 30, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Sheamus wins WWE title, Tenryu retirement show
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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. We’ve got coverage of every major PPV event and world wide spectacular, every major star switching promotions, histories of companies like FMW, Rings and New Japan, retirement and obit issues of every major star who fits into those descriptions over the past 11 years, as well as our biggest issue every year, the annual awards issue, and our most controversial issue of every year, the Hall of Fame issue.
Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.
TODAY’S DAILY UPDATE
WWE
UFC
MISCELLANEOUS
Karl Von Steiger b Omar Negro (Buddy Moreno/Omar Atlas)
Abe Jacobs d Rip Hawk
The Destroyer (Killer Kowalski) b Mike George
Tom Jones & Roosevelt (S.D.) Jones b Bob Roop & Roger Kirby-DQ
Cyclone Negro b Terry Funk
Rocky Johnson b King Curtis Iaukea
ON THIS DAY IN PRO WRESTLING HISTORY INTERNATIONAL (thanks to Graeme Cameron)
1983 – Marty Jones beat Fit Finlay in Manchester to win the British light heavyweight title
1988 – Bruno Bekkkar beat Johnny Garcia (the younger brother of Tony Garea) to win the New Zealand heavyweight title
1992 – Aja Kong beat Bull Nakano in Kawasaki to win the WWWA title and Kaoru It beat Tomoko Watanabe to win the Japanese women’s tilte
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer returns today with our Wednesday night news update! Tons to talk about including the epic low Raw ratings from Monday night, discussion of all the injuries in WWE this year and what could be a factor, Smackdown tapings, Randy Orton injury update, the TNA tour of India canceled, Jon Jones and GSP news notes, tons of mailbag questions and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
The big pro wrestling news of the day is AAA cancelling Guerra de Titanes for no adequately-explained reason. They now have no TV tapings scheduled with just two weeks of TV in the can. The speculation is that perhaps Rey Mysterio, who was one half of the main event versus Johnny Mundo for the vacant AAA Mega Title (Alberto Del Rio last champion), was unavailable, and thus the show is going to be postponed rather than canceled. This would not be the first time AAA has stated a show was canceled when it was actually only postponed to a different date.
TV Tonight:
NXT at 8:00 p.m. ET on WWE Network has Bayley (c) vs. Eva Marie for the NXT Women’s Championship, Apollo Crews vs. Jesse Sorensen, Asuka vs. Dana Brooke, Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder vs. The Vaudevillains for the NXT Tag Team Championship, and the contract signing for Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe
UFC Tonight airs at 8:00 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1, but it’s a “Before They Were Champs” special for Thanksgiving Eve instead of the usual news/talk show.
The Ultimate Fighter at 9:00 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1 is a rerun of last week’s episode.
Impact Wrestling at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on Destination America is the latest edition of the World Title Series.
The Ultimate Fighter at 10:00 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1 is a new episode titled “Nice and Flowy.” Summary from Fox: Due to a twist in the competition, one fighter shows heavy emotion after being eliminated from the competition. Even though he won his fight, his shot at getting into the UFC is put on hold. After a sudden turn of events that brings another fighter back into the competition, Dana White has a big surprise for the fighters that will help them relax before the quarterfinals begin. In the first two quarterfinal fights, a European powerhouse sharpens his unorthodox style by planning to use an open stance and unpredictable angles to take down his heavy-chinned opponent. In the second quarterfinal fight, one fighter must work on extreme technical defense and polish his ground game if he has any hope of defeating his opponent.
ROH at 11:00 p.m. ET on Destination America has Laya Von Dutch vs. Tracy Aries, Moose vs. Carter, Donovan Dijak and J Diesel vs. Moose and Michael Elgin, and a main event of Jay Lethal © vs. Roderick Strong for the ROH Television Championship.
It’s Black Friday and that means Wrestling Observer/Figure Four Online has a huge deal for you!
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Figure Four Weekly
Figure Four Weekly (11/16/15): Rey Mysterio vs. Low-Ki and The Anatomy of a Dream Match
A road report for Jersey All-Pro Wrestling’s 19th Anniversary show takes a deep look at the latest match in Rey Mysterio’s dream match tour vs. Low-Ki.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
We have one of the biggest issues of the year, with such a huge news week this past week. We look at exactly what went into Holly Holm’s victory over Ronda Rousey, a story on the life and times of Nick Bockwinkel, the Reid Flair angle and build to Survivor Series, Destination America dropping wrestling, and the 104-year-old attendance record being broken, as well as the story behind the firing of Billy Gunn, an update on The Rock at WrestleMania, La Sombra to WWE, the AAA world title gets decided and a lot more are headline stories in the new double issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter which is on the site right now.
If you have an interest in history, this is a huge issue, as well as a perspective on what happened in the most talked about UFC fight in history.
We look at the fight, the background of Holly Holm, what is going on in Rousey’s life, what led to the upset, thoughts on a rematch, what it means for business, the early business notes on the fight including where PPV may come in, previous fights like this, and what happened after the fight. We look at UFC’s biggest upsets, the gambling perspective, rematch odds, business notes and match-by-match coverage with poll results.
The life and times of Nick Bockwinkel is one of the best bios we’ve done, with comments from people whose careers he has touched, my own personal thoughts on Bockwinkel, what current WWE superstar had his career path changed greatly because of a suggestion by Bockwinkel to an independent promoter, a look at his life, his career, some of his most famous matches, his career title history, the controversy over Hulk Hogan not getting the AWA title, his place in the business when it changed and life after wrestling.
We also look at the Reid Fliehr angle, how it was set up, comments by Ric Flair, how ESPN got exposed in its wrestling coverage, the Owen Hart DVD and more.
PLUS MUCH MORE! CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW
The Latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter: November 23, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Holm defeats Rousey, Nick Bockwinkel passes away, more
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@wrestlingobserver.com” target=”_blank”>dave@wrestlingobserver.com
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. We’ve got coverage of every major PPV event and world wide spectacular, every major star switching promotions, histories of companies like FMW, Rings and New Japan, retirement and obit issues of every major star who fits into those descriptions over the past 11 years, as well as our biggest issue every year, the annual awards issue, and our most controversial issue of every year, the Hall of Fame issue.
Click here for the most requested Wrestling Observer back issues.
TODAY’S DAILY UPDATE
WWE
Other Wrestling:
MMA
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today to talk all the news in pro-wrestling including tons of thoughts on the collapsing Raw ratings from Monday night, Vince McMahon’s reaction, what can be done, and more! Plus details on our huge BLACK FRIDAY SPECIAL which you can take advantage of right now! A fun show as always so check it out~!
You may have missed it (and judging from the ratings, a lot of people did) but last Friday, World Series of Fighting ran a one-night tournament for a shot at Justin Gaethje’s lightweight belt. This piece isn’t about the quality of the fights that, for the most part, were very good. This is about the absurdity of running a one night tournament in 2015 and the absolutely terrible job the promotion did in putting it on. Everything from the presentation to the commentary to the decisions made in regards to the tournament were lacking and made the promotion come off as anything but major league.
For starters, the show was built around eight guys in a tournament who were all fighting their opening round fights at WSOF.com where almost no one watches. For the viewers watching only on television, they had no idea who was fighting: a recipe for ratings disaster. They also ran into an issue where the bigger names in the tournament wouldn’t make it onto the televised show which happened with former UFC TUF prospect Mike Ricci, the most familiar name to casual fans, who won his first round fight but was unable to continue in the tourney.
Bellator MMA just tried a version of a tourney in September with similar results. The show did very poorly in the ratings and they were forced to scramble after King Mo was injured in his opening round win and was unable to continue. In that case, as with this tournament, they had a reserve bout. Francis Carmont, the winner of the reserve bout, took Mo’s place in the tourney. In the WSOF case, Ramil Mustapayev, a Russian prospect on a four-fight win streak, won his fight and looked very impressive. Despite two people being injured in their opening round fights (Islam Mamedov was the other), Mustapayev didn’t advance. This despite the fact that commentator Chael Sonnen spent the whole fight talking about how everyone in the back was worried about having to face this guy later on.
As an aside, in the reserve fight, Sonnen was going over the rules of the fight and said that it would be two rounds and that there were no elbows allowed. He didn’t say anything about foot stomps. When the second round ended, I assumed they would go to the judges but there was a third round, and the refs were warning people all night about foot stomps. Sonnen openly criticized them about that at one point. No explanation was given as to what would happen if the two rounds ended up tied though it never came into play.
So, Mamedov and Ricci didn’t advance despite winning because they were too injured to continue. The rules of the tournament stated that if the winner couldn’t advance, the loser would take his place. Mamedov had beaten Jorge Patino, so Patino was allowed back in the tourney. Ricci’s opponent, Joe Condon, couldn’t continue either as he was knocked out. No explanation was given as to why reserve bout winner Mustapayev wasn’t put into the tourney instead of Foster, who also lost his first round fight. He was submitted by Joao Zeferino and then went on to face him again in the finals of the tourney. Foster submitted Zeferino to win the tourney and earn the future title shot.
For viewers who spent three hours watching the prelims online, their most loyal and hardcore fans, as late as 10 minutes before the start of the broadcast on NBC Sports Network, there were graphics on the screen advertising semifinal matches of Ricci vs. Patino and Zeferino vs Luis Palomino. Seemingly the fighters themselves had been preparing for these fights as well. They even had a reporter talking to Ricci after his fight in the back, and he said he was medically cleared and good to go for the next round. Yet, at some point, this all changed and when the broadcast version of the show started, Patino was in there against Zeferino, rather than Ricci. Later in the broadcast, Ray Sefo, the face of the company, was beaming about this development, saying anything can happen in a tournament.
This brings me to something that may have bothered me more than anything on this show and speaks volumes about the overall professionalism of everyone in this company. After the opening round of the tournament was completed, they ran a couple of non-tournament matches to fill out the time before the main card started and these were also broadcast on NBCSN. The final fight was a bantamweight bout between Joe Barajas (11-1 going into this fight) and Erik Villalobos (4-4). The booking of a fight with two guys with such differing records is questionable and was even more apparent when the fight started and Barajas completely dominated his overmatched opponent.
Except that’s not what the commentators were telling us.
Bear in mind that the walkouts were aired, complete with graphics for each guy. The ring announcer introduced both fighters and identified them correctly. There was a graphic on the screen identifying each fighter by glove color. Both fighters had previously fought in the World Series of Fighting so there seemingly was tape on both of them for the commentators to study prior to the broadcast.
There were four commentators for this fight for some reason; Todd Harris, Mike Corey, Sonnen and WSOF Middleweight and Light Heavyweight Champion David Branch. All four fighters commentated at various points of the first round and all identified Villalobos as dominating the fight. They talked about how surprising it was that he was dominating a guy with only one loss. Even between rounds, as the cornermen were talking to the fighters, they were saying that Barajas was going to have to regroup despite his corner (correctly) telling him he was doing great and to keep it up.
About a minute into the second round, Sonnen interrupted either Harris or Corey mid-sentence and said something to the effect of “Guys, I have to stop you here. We’ve got these guys mixed up and Barajas is actually the one who’s winning”. He went on to admit that he’d never seen either guy and didn’t know alot about them, despite earlier in the fight going on and on about both of them (clearly reading notes that someone else had written).
But that’s not all. At the start of the third, after Barajas was dominating to the point that it was obvious the ref could stop the fight at any time, Harris said, “So do you think that Barajas should continue this pace or try to save energy for later on in the tournament”.
There was a long pause. Sonnen then said, “What the hell are you talking about?” and started laughing. He then explained to the viewers (who I’m sure were quite aware) that Branch was mistaken and this was not a tournament match. They were not even in the same weight class as the fighters in the tournament. He went on to call a waitress and ask if he could some of whatever Branch was drinking.
I’m usually not this harsh on MMA broadcasts. As a fan of the sport, I especially like to watch these minor promotions to try and keep an eye out for future stars. As such, I’ve watched several minor promotions with nowhere near the exposure that an organization like WSOF has and certainly not the broadcast platform. Everyone involved with the production of this show should be embarrassed. Everyone, I should say, but the fighters themselves who gave it their all and put on for the most part a very entertaining show, especially the main card. I only wish the executives and commentators put as much effort into their jobs as the fighters did.
Here are quick results for the 11/24 World Tag League show held in Ishikawa, Japan:
The Addiction vs. Tama Tonga and Bad Luck Fale
Mostly back and forth. Fale took it into the crowd at one point for a brawl. Addiction worked as the babyfaces and looked great; they have great timing as a tag team. Fale tried to splash Kazarian and Daniels but they moved out of the way and he splashed Tama Tonga. The Addiction then hit Celebrity Rehab and got the win.
The Kingdom vs. Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson
They had a good match. Same Maria spots you’ve seen in every other encounter they’ve had this year- she went into the ring at one point, Anderson danced, Maria danced, and Anderson walked right into a superkick. Gallows and Anderson eliminated Bennett, however, and Taven walked into a Doc Gallows superkick, eventually leading to their win after a Magic Killer.
Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi vs. Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata
Decent match. Nagata and Okada were in first and they had a nice exchange. Nakanishi was in there a lot, more than you would think given his limitations. At one point Nakanishi had Okada in the torture rack and Nagata put Yoshi-Hashi in the armbar but both managed to escape. I wish that would be a finish for once, that’d give that spot some credibility. Okada eventually pinned Nakanishi with the rainmaker.
Current Standings:
Block A:
Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin- 4
Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi- 4
Kazushi Sakuraba and Toru Yano- 2
Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata- 2
Christopher Daniels and Kazarian- 2
Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga- 0
Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma- 0
Block B:
Evil and Tetsuya Naito- 4
Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata- 4
Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima- 2
Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson- 2
AJ Styles and Yujiro Takahashi- 0
Matt Taven and Michael Bennett- 0
Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii- 0