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  • WWE RAW live results: WrestleMania 32 go-home show

    The go-home show for Raw is from Brooklyn and predictably will feature many appearances from most of the part-timers who currently are the most over performers in the company. A week after Vince McMahon declared that the Undertaker must defeat Shane McMahon or else it would be his final WrestleMania match, it’s believed that the Undertaker will appear, possibly in a segment with Vince and Shane.

    Roman Reigns got a strong push last week, jumping HHH in the parking garage on Raw, followed by laying out both Dudley Boyz on SmackDown. He proclaimed himself “The real authority,” something that HHH and Stephanie will likely have a rebuttal towards this evening. Chris Jericho will respond to A.J. Styles challenge for a WrestleMania match tonight. Dean Ambrose, Kevin Owens, Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks and the usual cast of characters are expected counting down to the biggest week of the year. 

    Our coverage starts at 8 ET. 

    The Big Takeaway: The go-home show for WrestleMania was a last ditch effort to get Roman Reigns over. And it failed. Possibly the biggest failure yet. In a stunning example of how out of touch the creative forces behind the company is, they had Eva Marie debut as a babyface mystery partner for a team in a ten-women tag at WrestleMania. Marie was greeted with a chorus of boos. The show was mainly promos with a scattered array of matches. Once again, the best match on the show featured Kevin Owens. There were some good segments trying to build various matches, but there’s no helping Reigns at this point. At least not as a babyface. 

    Show Recap:

    The Undertaker started the show. He said this WrestleMania will not be his last, which threw cold water on the idea he would intentionally lose to Shane McMahon on Sunday. He said he’s made it clear to Vince McMahon that Shane’s blood will be on Vince’s hands, but Vince’s blood may be on his. He realizes that Shane will fight until his last breath, but WrestleMania was his yard, Hell in a Cell was his house, and Shane will rest in peace. 

    Shane came out and cut a promo from the ramp to a very good response. Not to sound like Bobby Hennan trying to get over a repackaged star in the 1980s, but he looks in the best shape of his life. Shane said he was the instrument of change in the WWE, while Undertaker was his father’s instrument of destruction. Shane said next Monday night, whatever was left in his body would crawl down to the ring, leave Hell in a Cell in his rear view mirror because all of the WWE fans deserve better and he will be in control of Monday Night Raw. If Shane had to cement his legacy by destroying the Undertaker’s legacy, that’s what he’ll have to do. 

    Undertaker told him he needs to watch his mouth because Shane doesn’t get to talk about his legacy. Shane got in the rign in Undertaker’s face,  and this had a palpable buzz. Shane said Undertaker’s legacy died two years ago at WrestleMania. Crowd started chanting “Suplex City.” Undertaker said Shane was just like his old man, which figures, seeing how from the day he was born, he’s been his daddy’s bitch. Shane threw punches that backed Undertaker to the corner, but Undertaker threw Shane over the top rope. 

    Undertaker threw Shane into the barricade several times, then went to clear the table. Undertaker went to give him the Last Ride into the table, but Shane escaped and hit him across the head with a monitor, which Shane had to look hard to find, probably searching for the gimmicked monitor. Shane hit Undertaker with the monitor. As Undertaker was prone across the table, Shane lost his mind, climbed the top rope and jumped off the top with a diving elbow. Crowd went nuts as Shane his made to his feet. On relay, Shane may have only connected slightly on the elbow as Undertaker was laying too far away, but Shane’s vertical was amazing. Shane staggered his way to the back, but Undertaker rose up after selling for about a minute, then got up and gave Shane the throat slash as Shane watched on.  

    Zack Ryder defeated Chris Jericho (1:55)

    Before the match, they aired a promo from the Raw preshow where Chris Jericho said he wouldn’t wrestle A.J. Styles at WrestleMania and he would beat Zack Ryder tonight. Styles came out before the match, doing more micwork than ever before saying he would get his match with Jericho and wouldn’t leave ringside until he did. 

    Jericho had Ryder in the Walls of Jericho when Styles started a “Y2 Jackass” chant, which got a better response this week. It was another distraction finish as Ryder pinned Jericho after a small package. Jericho became unglued, hitting Ryder with a Codebreaker. Jericho destroyed another monitor from the remains of the Undertaker-Shane brawl, then granted Styles his match at WrestleMania. He said this would be his 12th WrestleMania, but it would be Styles worst, and it would be the worst night of his life. 

    Charlotte (C) defeated Becky Lynch (6:32) in a nontitle match 

    Charlotte won after Becky Lynch chased her into the ring, but Ric Flair held Lynch’s boot long enough for Charlotte to kick Lynch and pin her with Natural Selection. Sasha Banks was at ringside just watching. Either they have no faith in her interview abilities or they didn’t have a headset available in the wreck that was ringside, but she didn’t say anything. 

    Vince McMahon did an interview with Rene Young. Vince said he wasn’t surprised at the brutality of the battle between the Undertaker and Shane earlier, but an angry Undertaker is the type of Undertaker he wants representing him. Shane walked in and cut a good promo on his father saying on Sunday, he would take 40 years of beatings and turn it around on his father. He said the irony of Sunday would be Vince stole the WWE from his father, and this Sunday Shane would take the company from his father. 

    Social Outcasts were in the ring. Curtis Axel got enough time to chime in “Happy birthday, Dad” to Curt Henning before the Big Show and Kane came out. 

    Kane and The Big Show defeated Curtis Axel, Bo Dallas, Adam Rose and Heath Slater by DQ (:28)

    Bo Dallas, and Adam Rose ran in to attack Kane and Show. It led to Goldust, R-Truth, Konnor, Viktor, Damien Sandow, and a host of others for a preview of the Andre the Giant Battle Royal. It led to Show and Kane choke slamming Axel, Dallas, Rose and Slater at the same time. Kane choke slammed Show last week, but there was no show of malice between the two this week. 

    Stephanie McMahon and HHH came out. Stephanie told the fans to get down on their knees and grovel to the king, HHH. Then HHH said none of the fans will ever have the ability to make their dreams a reality, but Roman Reigns did. He’s one in a million, someone who could turn his dreams into a reality. Crowd started to boo the mention of Reigns quite heavily. HHH said Reigns became WWE World Heavyweight Champion for 5:15. What about the reign that started after he beat Sheamus in December? HHH said Sunday would be his 20th WrestleMania, and he’s always obessesed with being the champion, and the fame, power and wealth that came with it. He became the greatest WWE Superstar of all time. After awhile, he was OK with putting on a suit and letting that fire die. 

    But when Reigns power bombed him on the table a few months ago, it relit his obession of being the champion. Reigns has already lost on Sunday when he re-lit the fire, which meant he would destroy Reigns’ dreams. HHH got minor cheers during his promo. 

    Stephanie took the microphone. Reigns came out to heavy boos. HHH stomped on him, but Reigns made a quick comeback and sent HHH packing. Reigns got booed big time as the last man standing and the crowd chanted “Roman sucks.” Reigns had a brief staredown with Stephanie before she took off. They teased Reigns spearing Stephanie, but even that couldn’t get the crowd on his side. It just gets worse for Reigns.

    HHH and Stephanie were shown walking out. It sounded like HHH wanted to leave the building, but the microphones weren’t on. Usually, that means HHH gets his heat back before tonight ends. 

    The New Day came out to their best crowd response yet. They came out with Xavier Woods mentioning the official cereral for WrestleMania is “Booty-O’s,” which had it’s own graphic on the TitanTron. Kofi Kingston said the League of Nations would never have their cereal because no one wants to taste “Rusev’s Bulgarian Booty Flakes.” Big E. managed to pay tribute to Phife Dawg, which got a good response, saying “Can I kick it?” 

    Kofi Kingston defeated Alberto Del Rio (7:35)

    Alberto Del Rio attempted the cross armbreaker, but Kingston turned it into an inside cradle for the pin. Highlights early included Del Rio being distracted by Woods playing the Mexican Hat Dance on the trombone. With New Day going over almost every week on League of Nations, I would anticipate a title switch on Sunday. 

    Postmatch, Jonathan Coachman came out to announce SportsCenter would be live in Dallas all week long. Then he pulled out a box of Booty-Os and started dancing, which Michael Cole deadpanned “Coach, no.” Coachman got mainly cheers, even though he was a heel for most of his run. Of course, he was among the people in the uneviable position of having to replace Jim Ross at one point. 

    They showed Joan Lunden as the recipient of the Warrior Award for this year’s WWE Hall of Fame. 

    Reigns started to do a promo with Young when Bubba Ray Dudley showed up challenging him to a fight backstage. Devon Dudley walked in. Reigns belted Bubba and Devon, but HHH predictably showed up to nail Reigns from behind and they all put the boots to him. Bubba threw him into a wall. The Dudleys left, and HHH told Reigns would never get the championship again. HHH placed the belt on a cart, then slammed Reigns’ head onto it to the sound of loud cheers in the background. 

    Kalisto (C) defeated Konnor (1:49) in a nontitle match

    Kalisto won with Salida del Sol. Afterwards, Viktor ran in and took a Tornado DDT. Ryback came out and had a staredown with Kalisto, barked “Feed Me More” and left. Kalisto still isn’t over in the slightest. 

    Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman cmae out. Heyman said he serves as the advocate for the baddest beast on the planet today. Heyman said his job was to hype fans up for the fact they’re six days away from seeing a once-ever fighter do his thing, perform at a level that not one individual could ever achieve. However, there’s one goof, geek, lunatic that always strays away from the rule, who thinks he has what it takes to perform at the level of Lesnar, Dean Ambrose. Heyman gives Ambrose credit because he’s a lot smarter than a lot of people thinks. Heyman said Ambrose think that if he takes a UFC Heavyweight Champion out of his element in a street fight and use a weapon against him, it will mean bad news for Lenar. But Ambrose has to step into the ring against Lesnar, who is fully prepared to give Ambrose the defining WrestleMania moment of a lifetime. Heyman said Dr. Brock Lesnar would perform a colonoscopy with every one of those weapons on Ambrose. Heyman said he said it 2 years ago, and he will say it again: he started to announce Lesnar as the winner of the match when Ambrose came out with a wagon with his logo painted on the side.

    Ambrose pulled a crowbar, a baseball bat, steel pipe, Mick Foley barbed wire baseball bat, a fire extinguisher, a chainsaw from Terry Funk, a kendo stick and a portion of the ring steps in the wagon, then simply hauled it to the bat without saying a word on the mic as Heyman watched on in concern. Lesnar watched with his standard stoic look. 

    It was announced that HHH would come out later for yet another interview segment with Stephanie. I guess 15 minutes earlier wasn’t enough. 

    Emma defeated Paige (2:52)

    A segment that totally backfired. The Divas division is now being handled like an afterthought again. Instead of teasing her return a few weeks out, Emma just showed up tonight as a heel on Raw for the first time. She’s now part of a heel team called “Bad and Blond,” also comprised of Lana, Summer Rae, Naomi and Tamina. They’re wrestling Paige, Brie Bella, Natalya, Alicia Fox and a mystery partner at WrestleMania. All the teams were at ringside. Emma won after Tamina distracted the referee, and Lana came in and hit Paige with a barefooted kick. 

    This led to a brawl between the two groups. Then the mystery partner for the face team came out—Eva Marie. I rubbed my eyes in amazement. Vince McMahon thought she would get treated as this conquering babyface. The fans booed her more than Reigns. She might as well have been Donald Trump in Brooklyn for all this did for her. She cleaned house, but none of the babyfaces wanted anything to do with her. Apparently, getting under on your debut is contagious and they didn’t want any to get on them. The announcers didn’t explain why Eva Marie was so unpopular with her teammates, like they’ve never seen NXT before. Just a total cluster of a segment from people too out of touch to make a coherent decision about the current product. And you wonder why Bailey stays in NXT? 

    Truth approached Goldust backstage saying that he wouldn’t have his back in the Andre the Giant Battle Royal. Truth seems to think they’re tag team partners who have a tough decision to make when they square off in the battle royal. Goldust doesn’t understand what he’s talking about because they aren’t partners. Truth started to cry and blew his nose in Goldust’s handkerchief. 

    Snoop Dogg was named as the new inductee into the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame. 

    Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler and Sin Cara defeated Kevin Owens, Stardust and The Miz (21:17) 

    Sami Zayn pinned Kevin Owens after the Helluva Kick. This was a match featuring the six participants in the ladder match on Sunday for the Intercontiental Championship, so Owens didn’t want to be involved. He was more willing to let the participants to slug it out, refusing to tag in. After everyone hit their finishers on each other, Owens tagged in and tried to give Zayn the pop-up power bomb, but Zayn hit a dropkick. Miz and Stardust walked out on Owens before the finish. Crowd was big on Zayn early, but then they got bored and used the match to get themselves over. There was a thunderous chant for CM Punk, along with Rob Van Dam. and “This is Booty.” Then they chanted for New Day. Who would have imagined the most over regular babyfaces in the company would be Woods, Big E. and Kingston a year ago? 

    HHH and Stephanie came out for yet another promo to end the show. Stephanie started putting down the fans again saying more of what they said earlier about how fans lived their lives just like Reigns, and they always fail. Stephanie said HHH’s championship isn’t going anywhere, and neither are they. HHH said millions of dollars are at stake on Sunday, and people could take their morality and shove it. 

    Reigns came out again to no reaction at all. He limped outand punched Reigns in the nose, with Reigns selling it heavy from the pedigree on the steps a month ago. Reigns threw HHH into the barricade. Stephanie ordered a group of heels to come out and help HHH. with Rusev, Sheamus, Del Rio and Stardust coming out. Then the New Day, the Usos and Dolph Ziggler came out for a pull-apart. Reigns threw Miz over the announcer’s table, for some reason. HHH started to back off once a crowd formed between him and Reigns, then ran back to go after Reigns. Reigns responded by doing a tope onto a group of heels, including HHH. Bubba Ray made a catch of Reigns that would have made Andrew McCutchen proud. Fans chanted “You still suck.” 

    FINAL THOUGHTS: 

    Tonight was the final straw for a year’s worth of work. The verdict is in: Reigns is not the guy. He could have been. If he had kept the championship at Royal Rumble and carried it through to WrestleMania, there was a chance for him. But they’ve booked him poorly, putting him in a group of no-win situations. First by taking the championship from him at Royal Rumble, where HHH didn’t come off as a cowardly champion who backdoored his way to the title, instead stepping over others to get the belt, typical of his reputation. Then came Fast Lane, where he was the least favorite of the three men in the main event. At some point, Vince McMahon has to ask himself what exactly are the fans revolting against? Is it John Cena and Reigns as personalities? Or the company’s narrow view of what a top star should be? I think it’s the ladder. Now that the audience has dwindled, there’s a greater percentage of hardcore fans than in the 90s. Their mindset of who to get emotionally invested in is based on years of watching Ring of Honor, New Japan and other promotions. Inside the McMahon bubble, there’s a mentality that’s very different, as best shown tonight by somehow thinking Eva Marie would be greeted as the new Divas superstar. Instead, she was a target of scorn, the polar opposite of how the segment was geared. As WrestleMania season winds to a close, there are more questions than ever about how in touch the powers that be are with the people who watch their product, and the answers may not be pleasant. 

  • Cyborg Justino to face Leslie Smith at UFC 198 in Brazil

    After years of rumors and offers, UFC officially announced today that Cris “Cyborg” Justino will make her debut at UFC 198, set for Saturday, May 14th at the 42,000 seat Arena de Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil.

    The Invicta featherweight champion will face Leslie Smith in a 140 pound catchweight fight. Justino usually walks around in excess of 170 pounds.

    Up until Holly Holm defeated Ronda Rousey in November for the UFC women’s bantamweight title, a Rousey vs. Justino fight may have been the biggest fight for PPV business that could have been done in MMA.

    UFC has attempted to make the fight since the end of 2012, and was looking at it for the debut of women’s MMA with the promotion, but Justino wouldn’t sign the eight-fight deal offered because she believed it was not as good as the deal UFC had offered Rousey.

    Since that time, attempts to make that fight have been futile because Rousey has been insistent on fighting her at 135 pounds only, consistenly pointing to Justino’s prior failure of steroid tests. Justino has talked about dropping weight slowly to where she’d finally get to 135, and even hired well-known nutritionist George Lockhart to help. However, those plans to fight at 140 or 135 never materialized, and when Rousey lost to Holm, Justino said that she would no longer attempt to make 135.

    Smith is coming off a win over Rin Nakai on last week’s show in Brisbane, Australia.

    Cat Zingano, who had been rumored for the fight, confirmed on Friday’s Inside MMA show that she wasn’t going to be the opponent. She said she had a big fight scheduled that she was excited about, but had to wait for UFC to announce it, but teased it would be about the time of her birthday (July 1) which happens to be eight days before UFC 200.  She also said it would not be a title fight with Miesha Tate, who she has previously beaten.

  • Another match location revealed for WWE’s Global Cruiserweight tournament

    Following on the heels of the announcement that Progress Wrestling in the U.K. would host qualifying matches for the WWE’s summer Global cruiserweight tournament, it was confirmed the same deal is in place with Revolution Pro Wrestling.

    Revolution Pro, based out of Portsmouth, England and headed by Andy Quildan, announced the deal today on its web site and said that the dates and matches would be announced shortly.

    “What we can say right now is that it’s an honour to have been selected as one of the global partners for this tournament and we are very excited for the opportunity to share our product with fans across the globe.”

    It is believed Revolution Pro will host one qualifying match.

    Progress and Revolution Pro join Evolve in promotions that WWE is working with when it comes to a tournament that will start on the WWE Network on 7/13 and last for ten weeks, airing on Wednesday nights, and taped in Orlando at Full Sail University.

    The promotion in the past had provided footage to WWE for a video feature on the network on the career of Finn Balor.

    At a conference call several months ago, Paul Levesque specifically brought up Evolve, Revolution Pro and Progress as companies that they could be working with.

  • February 22, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: ECW having financial problems, St. Valentine’s Day Massacre review, more

    With the recent spate of bounced checks, questions are being asked about the future and current financial condition of Extreme Championship Wrestling.

    Paul Heyman, the group’s owner, is somewhat responsible for many of the concepts that ushered in the current era of pro wrestling. For the most part Heyman and ECW have been unable to share in the financial rewards and media publicity garnered by WWF and WCW as they took his ideas to reverse their financially money losing enterprises into very profitable businesses.

    Current subscribers click here to continue reading.

  • Ethan Carter III explains cancellation

    Michael Hutter aka Ethan Carter III did a Facebook post earlier today regarding his missing scheduled shows on April 2 for Southside Wrestling and April 3 for Preston City Wrestling in England.

    “Unfortunately, due to a previously unforeseen opportunity to continue building a rapport between TNA Wrestling and one our of television network partners, I was forced to cancel my appearances with both Southside and Preston City Wrestling April 2-3. Canceling is not something I take lightly.”

    Hutter confirmed what Preston City promoter Steven Fludder had informed us of, that despite how TNA framed the story, Hutter never asked Fludderfor a deposit. He did say that the plane tickets hadn’t been purchased and that he felt he was out more than anyone financially, because he had printed up U.K.-specific T-shirts and EC3 foam fingers to sell at the shows.

    Hutter said that neither TNA nor the promotions are to blame for this, and if there was any heat, he would take it. “A set of circumstances arose and I had to make a decision, so blame me.”

    He said he promised to make it up to the promotions.

  • WWE Global Cruiserweight announcement, location set for 2 matches

    The London-based Progress Wrestling promotion has reached a deal of sorts to work with World Wrestling Entertainment with the announcement at their show today that two of the qualifying matches for the Global Cruiserweight series would take place on the 4/24 Progress show.

    Progress founder Jim Smallman made the announcement of the partnership on Sunday afternoon at the company’s show at the Electric Ballroom in north London.  His announcement confirmed a report on the Gorilla Position podcast and talkSPORT that Progress was the leading contender to have matches in the tournament.

    While no names were mentioned as participating, a story on the show listed Kent-born regular Zack Sabre Jr., Will Ospreay and Marty Scurll who are three of the top stars with the group, although noted Ospreay, who debuts in two weeks for New Japan Pro Wrestling, may not be politically able to participate while keeping his New Japan commitments.

  • NJPW Road to Invasion Attack results: New Japan vs. Bullet Club best of 5 series

    Tonight’s Road to Show is a themed show! That’s great as these shows are usually a bunch of tag matches with or two singles. We are still getting a bunch of tags (well, three) but we’re also getting a best of five series tonight between New Japan and Bullet Club.

    Toru Yano, Rocky Romero, Beretta and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kushida, Jushin Thunder Liger, David Finlay and Tiger Mask

    It was your standard NJPW eight man tag opener. Good, solid action that set the tone for the night.  It was cool in that you saw some people interact with each other where it couldn’t happen under normal circumstances. For example, Liger and Ishii worked together and it was actually pretty interesting. Kushida worked with him briefly as well. That would be a very interesting match if it were ever to happen. Yano was only in there briefly, doing his usual deal with the  Finlay made his comeback but RPG Vice countered. Romero took out Kushida with a dive, then they followed with the dropkick/dudebuster combo for the win.

    Manabu Nakanishi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima and Yuji Nagata vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Captain New Japan, Juice Robinson and Katsuyori Shibata

    Why did Shibata agree to tag with Captain New Japan? Eh, I always bring this up but someone should go to management and mention CNJ’s never, like, won a match. If this were real he’d be canned a long time ago, old or not. The Old Lion Squad beat up Shibata and isolated him early. Kojima managed to thwart Taguchi’s hip attacks. It was Nagata who worked with CNJ towards the end. All of Shibata’s team mates tried to help take down Nagata but it was no use as he got the backdrop driver on CNJ and pinned him. It wasn’t that good or even interesting. Wrong team dynamics here.

    Tenzan and Shibata got into a big brawl after the match, with Tenzan pelting Shibata with chairs as his team mates tried to stop him. They’re competing for the NEVER title at Invasion Attack.

    Cody Hall vs. Michael Elgin

    This is Hall’s first singles match in New Japan if I recall correctly. If not it’s been a very long time. He’s still green in spots but has tons of potential, has good facials and has improved dramatically in the last year. They had a short, but pretty solid back and forth match with Elgin getting the win, pinning Hall with a powerbomb pinning combination.

    Jay White vs. Kenny Omega

    This was pretty good. White is really good technically at this point. Crowd was kind of quiet early, but got into it towards the end, especially when White was making his comeback and was getting all the close submissions/near falls. Omega cut him off with a snap German suplex then a knee strike, pinning White to even things up.

    Yujiro Takahashi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

    Yujiro seems to not even have Mao or his cool theme song anymore at this point. He just came out to the usual Bullet Club theme. Tanahashi came out but Yujiro jumped him immediately. This was fine – short, but was probably the right amount of length. Yujiro low blowed him at one point and got a near fall with a cradle. Yujiro bumped into the referee towards the end of the match, and Tanahashi returned the favor. He gave him the sling blade, high fly flow, boom, there’s your winner.

    Tomoaki Honma vs. Bad Luck Fale

    I liked this match in the sense it told a nice story. People were into Honma’s comebacks and were totally behind him. Honma fought hard early but Fale took him to town and dominated, as he’s the big giant of the promotion. Fale beat him up forever and ever until he escaped the Bad Luck Fall and scored a roll up for a nearfall. Fale gave him a GIGANTIC lariat in retaliation, then pinned him with the Bad Luck Fall.

    Tama Tonga vs. Togi Makabe

    This is the deciding match in the best of five series as they’re tied with two wins each. This wasn’t really anything interesting. Not terrible, but I couldn’t get into it. Just a lot of back and forth brawling with no real significant heat. Tonga did do a ref spot and a gun stun at one point. Makabe fought him off, hit the spider German suplex and was going for the King Kong knee drop when Tonga Roa came in and shoved him off the top rope, then continued beating him for the DQ. So technically, the New Japan guys win the best of five battle.

    Roa and Tonga beat up on Makabe (Honma was destroyed in the previous match) as young lions try to intervene, but Roa throws them around easily. They laid out Makabe one more time with a modified double team version of Tonga’s finish (waistlock DDT). Tonga cut a promo saying they are GOD – Guerillas of Destruction. Cool name. Don’t know if this team will work, but we’ll see. It’s something new at the very least.

    Evil, Tetsuya Naito & Bushi vs. Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi

    Ingobernables were mean early with Bushi choking out Yoshi-Hashi and Naito beating up Gedo all the way back to the backstage area. What’s funny here is that now Crowd were into Goto as opposed to booing him, I guess because he finally joined Chaos. He and Evil worked pretty good together. Okada and Naito had some good back and forth before he tagged in Yoshi-Hashi. He made a good comeback and battled out of the Destino and walloped Naito with a lariat. There was another ref spot. That’s like three matches tonight where there’s been some sort of ref bump, pretty excessive and unnecessary. This allowed the heels to lay everyone out and pin Yoshi-Hashi for the win.

  • WON Preview: Hogan wins Gawker lawsuit, MMA Legalized in NY

    Subscribers click here to read: MARCH 28, 2016 WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: HOGAN WINS GAWKER LAWSUIT, MMA LEGALIZED IN NY, WRESTLEMANIA WEEKEND PREVIEW, MORE

    The lead story examines the Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker trial and what is next regarding the two sides and appeals. The article examines why Gawker believed they would lose in the trial but prevail in appeal, how the jury came to the $140 million verdict, evidence Gawker is looking at introducing in the appeal, the role of Bubba the Love Sponge, the stupid things Gawker said in the trial, a realistic look at loss of income for Hogan, and why playing the tape had nothing to do with it.

    Also in this issue, a complete rundown of WrestleMania weekend including lineups with many matches not yet announced for not only WrestleMania itself but for all of the different events next week in Dallas. There is also an update on the WrestleMania attendance, ticket sales for other events, plus mythical records, and people scheduled to appear that haven’t been announced.

    Big shows with are coming up for Evolve, NXT, Wrestlecon and more.

    UFC has huge plans for a Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz rematch, potentially at UFC 200. 

    MMA promoters are thrilled about the passing of the bill in the New York state assembly to legalize professional MMA. There are plans by both UFC and Bellator for live events in New York as soon as possible.

    There have been lawsuits filed against WWE and by WWE that have been thrown out either completely or partially earlier this week. 

    Sting and Daniel Bryan are both in the news.

    Check out the scene in Mexico with AAA losing talent, the Lucha Underground/AAA connection, how Lucha Underground stopped the main event on Elite’s first television taping, what Bellator star headlines that show, who has quit TNA, how the philosophy has changed, and the economics of all this.

    Eric Young and Bobby Roode departed from TNA. Read about the background of both men leaving, their status and history in TNA, their value to WWE, their future as well as comments made by both regarding leaving.

    This issue features the results of UFC’s Fight Night from Brisbane, Australia over the weekend, with thoughts on the Neil Magny vs. Hector Lombard officiating, ratings notes, plus match-by-match coverage.

    CMLL’s Dos Leyendas show, its first big show of the year, with match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results, plus the revealing of family with the country’s top heel, all in this issue.

    DDT’s has its biggest show of the year, with the return of Kota Ibushi, held at Sumo Hall.

    Subscribers click here to read: MARCH 28, 2016 WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: HOGAN WINS GAWKER LAWSUIT, MMA LEGALIZED IN NY, WRESTLEMANIA WEEKEND PREVIEW, 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 Meltzer

    You can also order print issues at www.paypal.com directing funds to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

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    Check out the latest Online Wrestling Observer BACK ISSUE: February 8, 1999 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Giant Baba passes away  A look at the life and times of Giant Baba, details on the Mankind vs. Rock empty arena match at WWF Halftime Heat, plus tons of news.

    The Wrestling Observer ranges weekly from 35,000 to 50,000 words covering pro wrestling and MMA internationally. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus every issue breaks major news stories before the Internet sties and has the most complete look at the pro wrestling and MMA business anywhere, plus history pieces available nowhere else.

    Also in this issue:

    • CMLL’s unique tournament going on right now and its history of creating some of the biggest stars in the company of the past 20 year
    • Perro Aguayo for the first time talks the death of his son
    • Notes on Dragon Gate’s Memorial Gate show
    • NOAH’s big show this past week with multiple title matches
    • Former WWE wrestler returns to New Japan at Invasion Attack
    • Tanahashi talks working with the Young Bucks
    • Two big weekend shows and four title matches in New Japan
    • Major woman’s star for three decades is retiring
    • Former three-time world champion moving to Canada to come out of retirement to go for the freestyle world title
    • NCAA Division I heavyweight title match and its background
    • Update on the status of Speedball Mike Bailey
    • Kurt Angle talks fighting MMA and returning to WWE
    • UR Fight show with Angle vs. Mysterio
    • The first modern wrestler to use entrance music wasn’t The Freebirds
    • What will air in early 2017 on Lucha Underground and future directions of the company
    • The next month of TNA Impact that was taped this past week
    • Business notes regarding UFC 196
    • Ken Shamrock and Kimbo Slice failing drug tests
    • What drugs they failed for and why they both failed the IQ test
    • Potential WWE lawsuit that is being talked about behind the scenes

    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.

    New subscribers ordering 24 or 40 issues have to let us know what major stories of the past 11 years you are most interested in and we’ll send the issue with the best coverage of that story. 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.

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  • March 28, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Hogan wins Gawker lawsuit, MMA legalized in NY, Wrestlemania weekend preview, more

    Well before the Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker Media trial began, it was not a secret that Gawker believed they would lose the case before a jury, but believed they would win it on appeal.

    But in a trial that got worldwide attention, as much for the questions of what constitutes legitimate news versus invasion of privacy, as the fact Hogan was involved, Gawker never saw what was coming.

    A St. Petersburg jury of six people awarded Hogan $140.1 million, even more than the $100 million he was asking for, with one juror making it clear the figure was because they wanted to send a message to the company.

    Current subscribers click here to continue reading.

  • Popular TV personality Joe Garagiola Sr. passed away at 90

    Joe Garagiola Sr., one of the most popular television personalities in the U.S. during the 1970s, who got his television broadcasting start in pro wrestling, passed away today at the age of 90.

    Garagiola, a native of St. Louis, grew up in a neighborhood now known as Hall of Fame place because of how many baseball players it produced. Garagiola and Yogi Berra grew up across the street, and ended up being major league catchers.  When both were growing up, Garagiola was considered the better player.

    Both also became known for their comedic skill and timing.  Garagiola often poked fun at his own mediocre major league career by saying not only was he not the best catcher in the major leagues, but he wasn’t even the best catcher on his block.

    He started as a radio announcer with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1955.  A few years later, when Sam Muchnick, a lifelong Cardinals fan, created the local “Wrestling at the Chase” television show, he hired Garagiola as his first announcer.  Garagiola was more a personality with a smooth delivery and not an expert on wrestling, but he greatly respected the wrestlers and was a lifelong friend of Gene Kiniski.

    He was very proud of his association with the business and talked fondly about socializing with Kiniski, and the antics of people like Dick the Bruiser, Pat O’Connor, Rip Hawk, Cowboy Bob Ellis and other stars of the show.

    “Wrestling at the Chase” was a unique wrestling show, held in an expensive hotel ballroom where fans attended in suits and ties, and women in evening gowns. Garagiola felt Muchnick should have syndicated the show, which featured the top talent in the country, but Muchnick, who was the backbone of the NWA, felt it was better for the overall business to not put his television into the territory of other promoters.

    Garagiola’s success on local television led to him being hired by NBC in 1961, which ended his run as a local wrestling announcer.  His brother, Mickey, who is in the St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame, remained the ring announcer for Wrestling at the Chase into the early 80s.

    Garagiola was a fixture on NBC as the sportscaster on The Today Show, a frequent replacement host for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, and announcer for the weekend Major League Baseball Game of the Week.

    He had a falling out with NBC in 1988.  He later worked as an announcer for the Arizona Diamondbacks from 1998 to 2012, where his son worked as General Manager, and announced his retirement from broadcasting in early 2013.