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  • TNA Impact Results 11-4: Eric Young, Bobby Roode, Davey Richards, and Eddie Edwards

    Last week, Gail Kim and Awesome Kong main evented the show and Gail advanced in the tournament. DJZ beat the X Division Champion Tigre Uno, while current NXT wrestler James Storm advanced by beating Abyss with his cowbell and hitting two superkicks. Aiden O’Shea beat Crazzy Steve, and Drew Galloway beat Grado. The show begins with a recap of last week’s events. Eddie Edwards faces Davey Richards tonight, while the main event will feature Robert Roode vs. Eric Young, and we’ll get a Jeff Hardy interview. Josh says that tonight is the most pivotal of nights and talks about it being a must-win situation for both Davey and Eddie.

    Madison Rayne faces Brooke tonight as well. We see a brief clip of the Hardy interview talking about how he can’t believe he broke his leg after winning the tag titles. Madison Rayne comes out to face Brooke. Madison says that the knockouts started the women’s wrestling revolution and how what Ronda Rousey has done for UFC, they’ve done for wrestling. Madison says if she doesn’t win, it’s over for her with this series. She likes having the odds against her while Brooke just quickly comes down. 

    Madison Rayne vs. Brooke 

    They start off with a back and forth collar-and-elbow tieup and a “Brooke’s gotta booty” chant starts. Brooke slips out of a headlock and grabs her wrist in an odd spot. Ah – it’s her fingers – she broke some in her last match. Brooke goes down due to the fingers again. Madison chops away and knocks her down with a dreadful forearm. Brooke gets a flapjack and a chant from the fans. Brooke goes up top and gets 2 off the flying elbow. Brooke drops her because she can’t lift her for the facebuster, so Madison hits the Rayne Drop for the win. Madison picks her up and holds her hand high. Eric Young rants and raves about being cheated in the World Title Series and how he makes his own luck. After a break, we see a recap of the last year of the Roode vs. EY feud. Pope and Josh ramble on for a bit while Spud comes down to face Bram in the World Title Series.

    Rockstar Spud vs. Bram

    Pope picks Bram to win, while Josh mocks him for calling that a fearless prediction. Spud slaps Bram and lands some forearms. Spud would be so great in WWE as Spudley Dudley. Spud bites the thumb to gain a further advantage. Bram sends him down and misses a pair of elbows. Bram slams him down and sends him to the floor onto the steps hard. Bram fish-hooks him and sends him into the ring. Bram misses a Stinger splash and Spud runs wild with corner forearms. Drop toehold leads to a shining enzuiguri. Bram avoids the Underdog and wants the Impaler DDT, but Spud schoolboys him for 2. Bram hits the Impaler for the win, and we see a graphic showing that he’s up 3 points.

    Bobby says he could care less what EY says to him, and still blames him for losing the TNA Title earlier this year. He says he’s KOTM Champion and by winning this series, he’ll close out the year with two titles. So I guess the KOTM Title’s importance is now that it’s a bragging right if you win the World Title. We see another clip of Jeff Hardy talking about how great it was to see Matt as World Champion at BFG in North Carolina. Josh uses more WWE speak as the title is in a “state of abeyance” while we learn that Manik vs. Mandrews is up next. Mandrews skates down to the ring while Manik saunters down to one of the better themes in the company right now.

    Manik vs. Mandrews

    They have a little standoff to start before Mandrews trips him off the ropes. Lots of wacky armbars and cradles here before Mandrews focuses on a hammerlock. Mandrews goes for a reverse rana, but eats a face plant and Manik locks him in a Muta lock surfboard combination before Manik transitions into a straightjacket choke. They exchange more cradles before Mandrews gets 2 off a sunset flip. This is one of the most mat wrestling-heavy matches in this division in quite some time. Manik stands on the elbow and stomps it. Manik eats a backdrop and a dropkick before being hit with a giant DDT. Manik grabs him the tiger codebreaker, but it gets countered. Mandrews goes for a standing moonsault, but eats a knee and gets locked in an armbar. Mandrews takes him down with a Northern Lights suplex and gets a standing corkscrew moonsault and goes up top. Shooting Star Suplex is met with knees before a modified Go To Sleep wins for Manik. This was one of the best X division matches in quite some time – Mandrews has shined quite a bit in each of his World Title Series matches. 

    We see a recap of the Wolves beating Brian Myers and Trevor Lee way back… a few months ago in the super-rushed GFW vs. TNA invasion. The Wolves say they’re in wrestling for the competition, and tonight, the best man will win. The Jeff Hardy interview is next. But first, we get EY saying that he’s going to attack Roode at the right time – so him just standing in a hallway is strategy. Jeff talks about the big bump at Lockdown off the cage and how his comeback proved that he could be as good as ever. They show clips of the cage match, but him doing a see-saw dive off the top of it. The Hardys winning the Ultimate X for the tag titles is shown and we see him ride dirt bikes. He says he made three big jumping spots on his property. He did one, then landed a second one, and wanted to topple this third one for years. He says if he’d hit it harder, he could’ve landed it. He was knocked out and his first thought was breaking his leg after the win. We’ll hear more of it later. Next, it’s the battle of the Wolves. Davey comes out first in black, while Eddie is in white. We see Matt Hardy beating Davey and Robbie E beating Eddie.

    Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards

    They tie-up and go back and forth. They then grab hands and try to win the leverage game. Back and forth monkey flips get quick covers for 2. We get some cool mini-kip ups to bring them to their feet and exchange headlocks. ‘O Connor roll leads to a submission and then a cradle for 2. They each grab one another’s foot in a spot I don’t recall seeing before. They stand off for an ad break . Davey avoids a dropkick and lands one of his own. Eddie gets an inverted atomic drop and a superkick for 2. Eddie lands a running back elbow for 2. Eddie gets a snapmare and chinlock before landing a facebuster. 

    Davey lands a running elbow in the corner and a big spin kick to Eddie up top. Davey lands a big superplex, but can’t follow up. They exchange big forearms and Eddie hits an even bigger flapjack facebuster for 2.5. Davey avoids the backpack stunner and lands a big kick and German for 2. In the final minute, we get a series of cradles before a chop exchange. They go for kicks and chops and Davey lands a lariat, but can’t cover in time – it’s a draw so they each get one point. They raise each other’s hands and had yet another fantastic match. Between that and Manik vs. Mandrews, this has been a very satisfying show wrstling-wise. Series recap video shows how Hardy is advancing to the round of 16, and the second part of the Jeff interview is coming up.

    We see clips of Davey vs. Eddie and they go to the back with Davey saying that Eddie chopped his claw paint off. Eddie says if he couldn’t get the win, he’s glad they at least got a draw. Davey says that the third person in the ring was the Wolves Nation.  Davey says that the Wolves are an organic team, and we see more clips of Jeff Hardy at BFG. Jeff says he was heartbroken watching Matt give up the tag titles on Impact. Jeff says that sucked, but he was glad to see Matt go for the World Title. He goes through working for EC3 and being humiliated, but gets in a great line about making sure Tyrus watched Sesame Street. He loved seeing Matt win the title at BFG in NC in a repeat of clips they showed earlier today and last week. Jeff says yeah, he was a bit unfair to EC3, but he’s glad that Matt did the brave thing and gave up the title. He’s been banned from every show, but he’ll use that time to heal up and hopefully get in the ring again soon. 

    Roode stands around a truck and asks where EY is and he confronts him – EY tells him he already won the fight because he’s got Roode worried about him. Well, that was an unsatisfying way to spend an hour of TV time – but it makes for a fine story point. Josh and Pope play Swipe Left and Swipe Right. Pope predicts Shera to win. Shera is out not doing his dance, but in his blue non-Khoya gear at least. King doesn’t want to take about what Shera has done to him stealing his girls. This is apparently a storyline that’s been happening or something.

    Mahabali Shera vs. Kenny King

    Shera twirls his mustache while King does pushups. King locks on a headlock , but he gets tackled down. King takes him down with a headlock and gets backdropped hard. Kenny King gets a blockbuster, but Shera goes to the floor. King goes for a tornado dive and mostly misses Shera. Pope says that Shera isn’t dancing in the series because it’s serious business. I greatly appreciate them at least trying to find logical ways to patch things together. King goes for the shotgun knee shot in the corner, but it misses. Shera misses a lariat a mile above King’s head, but lands a better one to send King down. Shera lands a scary suplex holding onto King’s tights for dear life to hang onto him. Shera gets the Sky High to win. Kenny King tried, but he couldn’t do much with Shera, who is far too limited to do be on national TV at this point.

    Josh recaps tonight’s matches and Matt Hardy faces Eddie next week. Gail Kim faces Madison Rayne, while Mr. Anderson faces EC3 in the main event. We get another recap of the EY vs. Roode rivalry. Eric Young comes out and they show clips of him in the series and he talks about being a world class pro wrestler. Roode comes out while Josh talks about how Roode demolished Storm in the series, but Storm beat Abyss. Roode poses and we go to a break.

    Eric Young vs. Robert Roode

    Roode slugs away in the corner and sends him up high for a backdrop. EY is sent to the floor and he bides his time and insults the fans. A little kid in a Superman shirt almost flinches as EY threatens to punch him. EY hops off the top rope and eats a punch to the gut, doing a perfect flip as a result. EY rakes the eyes to avoid a Roode Bomb and lands a neckbreaker. Josh blamed EY for sending TNA on a downward spiral in 2015. Josh recaps all of their epic wars, and leaves out that at least one of them was hyped up as their final match ever. EY gets a chinlock, but Roode fights out and gets a dropkick slightly above the belly for 2. EY charges, but eats an elbow after yelling at the fans. EY takes a big shot and does a delayed Flair Flop. Roode punches away some more, but EY flips to the apron and lands a shoulder to the gut. EY eats a spinebuster for 2. EY avoids the fisherman suplex, while Roode avoids the piledriver. EY rushes in and eats a boot. EY uses the ref to distract Roode and hits a piledriver to win the match. This was technically fine, but nothing special or memorable at all. Josh runs down next week’s card and we see hype clips for its matches.  To see every screenshot taken for the show, just click here.

  • WWE Smackdown results (11/5): Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens, Survivor Series Elimination Tag Match

    – Air Date: November 5, 2015 (Nov 4 in Canada)
    – Location: World Arena in Colorado Springs, CO

    The Big News:

    Kevin Owens escaped a non-title match with Dean Ambrose by tricking the referee.

    Show Recap:

    They announced two matches for tonight – a “traditional” four vs. four Survivor Series tag match, and Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens non-title (as usual, they didn’t mention that it was non-title).

    Alberto Del Rio and Zeb Colter came out to start. Colter said there was no room for hate in MexAmerica and he called the people haters. He said everyone has people they hate, and he called those people black hearts. Ok? Del Rio said Viva MexAmerica. Jerry Lawler and Rich Brennan were both confused. Me too. Why are they heels if they want to bring people together and eliminate hate?

    Non-Title: U.S. Champion Alberto Del Rio (w/Zeb Colter) beat Neville via pinfall

    Lawler said he wasn’t sure if Neville has faced anyone with the experience of Del Rio. Neville almost beat John Cena a few months ago. Neville hit a hurricanrana and had control early until Del Rio used a back stabber. During a commercial break, Del Rio launched Neville into the barricade. Neville fought out of a headlock and used kicks and a moonsault to the outside, followed by a rana into a pin attempt for a near fall.

    Del Rio was able to knock Neville off the top and hit a weak-looking double footstomp for the win. After the match, Del Rio jumped back in the ring and superkicked Neville and applied the arm bar. Neville tapped wildly until Jack Swagger ran out to make the save. The two men faced off but Del Rio wagged his finger and left. Neville sat up at this point and I wondered why he didn’t just run after Del Rio. The match was alright.

    The Usos beat The Ascension via pinfall

    The Usos got a good reaction and people were doing their chant as the match started. Ascension worked over Jimmy briefly until he made the hot tag. Jey used a Samoan drop and running hip attack on Viktor but Konnor broke up the cover. Jimmy hit Konnor with a superkick, but Konnor bounced off the ropes, so Jimmy and Jey did a double superkick to knock him out of the ring. They also did a double superkick to Viktor and Jey finished him off with a flying splash for the win. Booker called the Usos the most exciting tag-team in history.

    8-Man Elimination Tag Match: The Wyatt Family beat Prime Time Players & Lucha Dragons

    The Wyatts took turns working over Darren Young. Eventually, Braun Strowman applied the head-and-arm choke, with the ropes separating himself and Darren. Strowman let go after the referee counted to four, and Darren dropped to the outside where he was counted out. Titus went to check on him so Strowman attacked him from behind. The Lucha Dragons just stood there and watched.

    After a break, they worked over Titus until he made a tag to Sin Cara, who used a hurricanrana on Harper and suicide dive to Rowan. Sin Cara did a rana into a pin for a two count and a tornado DDT, but Rowan broke it up. Harper came back with a discus clothesline for the pinfall.

    Kalisto used kicks on Harper but got nailed with a suplex and the Wyatts took over again. Kalisto crawled for a tag but two Wyatts took Titus off the apron. Kalisto came back anyway with a spike hurricane on Harper and springboard kick to Bray. Titus was still out, allowing Rowan to hit a tackle and full nelson slam. Rowan pinned Kalisto.

    Titus made his comeback on Harper, including a power slam for two. He followed with a sitout powerbomb but Bray and Rowan broke up the cover. Strowman put him in the head-and-arm choke, Bray tagged himself in and hit Sister Abigail for the win. Clean sweep for the Wyatts.

    Recap: Braun Strowman eliminated Darren Young via countout, Luke Harper eliminated Sin Cara via pinfall, Erick Rowan eliminated Kalisto via pinfall, Bray Wyatt eliminated Titus O’Neil via pinfall. This wasn’t much of a match outside of Kalisto’s offense.

    Backstage, Dean Ambrose told Renee Young that he prepared for tonight by waking up early, around 11:00 AM, taking in some fresh Colorado air and by speaking with John Denver (who’s dead.) Owens walked up asking what Ambrose was talking about. Owens said he was annoying Renee and told him that he’d be facing the greatest Intercontinental champion of all-time. Ambrose laughed and said he can pin Owens tonight just like he did on Raw. Owens said tonight wouldn’t be a 10-man circus like Raw and Ambrose said we’ll see. Owens walked away.

    Ryback beat King Barrett via pinfall

    Barrett had the heat for a few minutes but Ryback won with a shell shocked.

    Backstage, Sasha Banks told Renee that they gave Natalya the attention she wanted by attacking her. Renee said Natalya challenged the “leader of Team B.A.D.” tonight. Naomi said that stuff might work on Team P.C.B. but it won’t work on them, because they know who their leader is. Sasha intimated that it was her who would accept the challenge and walked off. Naomi gave her a look before following. Tamina gave Renee a look, but Renne just smirked because she’s not intimidated I guess.

    Natalya beat Tamina (w/Naomi & Sasha Banks) via pinfall

    Tamina stepped in and took the challenge. Naomi and Sasha were just fine with this. Tamina had the heat for a while until Natalya came back with a clothesline. She went for a sharpshooter but Sasha distracted her, allowing Tamina to hit a Samoan drop. Tamina went for a splash but Natalya got her legs up and followed with a school boy for the win. Tamina is bad so this was not good. The crowd didn’t care either, outside of some light chants for Banks.

    Non-Title: IC Champion Kevin Owens beat Dean Ambrose via DQ

    After a break, Owens had control after tossing Ambrose into the barricade twice, hitting a senton and gutbuster. Ambrose came back with a superplex and tornado DDT for a near fall. Owens tried a pop-up powerbomb, but Ambrose jumped over him. Owens hit a superkick, but that sent Ambrose into the ropes and he bounced back with a clothesline.

    Ambrose kicked Owens in the gut (to set up Dirty Deeds) but Owens dropped down and sold it like he was kicked in the nuts. The referee checked on him and called Ambrose for the DQ. They showed two replays and Ambrose clearly kicked him in the gut. The referee saw the replays and began yelling at Owens, who grabbed his title and began leaving since the match was over.

    As Owens left, Ambrose nailed him with a suicide dive, then hit another one on the other side of the ring. Ambrose went after him but Owens bailed through the crowd. Ambrose was pissed but posed in the ring as the show ended. Match was good while it lasted.

    Final Thoughts:

    Thanks to a skeleton crew, this was basically a straight wrestling show with only two backstage interviews and the usual Raw highlights. And not a particularly good one. 

    Since not much happened, a minor point: The Lucha Dragons should not have been fed to the Wyatts. They just come off two big wins in a row (Smackdown last week and Monday’s Raw) and this was a total setback. The Wyatts winning their match in a clean sweep is perfectly fine, it just should’ve been against some other team with PTP.

    Also, if you care, at least five different wrestlers used superkicks tonight.

  • November 9, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: 2015 Hall of Fame Issue

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    Current subscribers click here to continue reading.

  • Seth Rollins carried from ring with possible knee injury

    WWE champion Seth Rollins was injured and carried out of the ring at today’s WWE European tour opening show in Dublin, Ireland.

    Rollins was defending his title against Kane in the main event, and was doing a powerbomb spot out of the corner (which started as a sunset flip) when his right leg gave out and he clutched at the knee.  A table had been set up in the ring and Rollins looked to be getting ready to powerbomb Kane through it.

    He did get up and continue the match, including doing the power bomb through the table, but had to be helped out of the ring. The severity of the injury is unknown as of this writing. Obviously, if Rollins continues to work the tour, it wouldn’t appear to be a serious injury.

    A split WWE crew is working twenty different house shows over the next eleven days. Rollins is scheduled to defend the WWE title against Roman Reigns at the Survivor Series pay-per-view on November 22nd at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, GA.

  • Daily Update: Smackdown moving to USA, Will Brooks jumped by Pitbull Brothers

    WWE announced today that Smackdown debuts on the USA Network on January 7th — Thursday.  There was no mention of the show being live, no mention of Tuesdays, only that the show will debut on Thursday and air on Thursday every week.

    Speaking of WWE Smackdown here are the spoilers.
    For subscribers, we’ll have a new Figure Four Daily with Lance Storm up this afternoon, plus a new Wrestling Observer Radio tonight which will include Matt Farmer joining Dave and Bryan in the first hour to talk more Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame candidates.

    We’re looking for reports on these weekend show at Dave Meltzer

    *GFW in King’s Lynn, UK on Friday

    *NXT on Friday in Gainesville, FL

    *WWE on Saturday night in Billings, MT

    ****

    Figure Four Weekly:

    Figure Four Weekly (10/2/15): WWE 2K16 Review
    2K Sports and Yuke’s turn around WWE video game series with a reinvigorated title boasting huge roster.

    ****

    Wrestling Observer Newsletter

    Check out the latest issue:  Wrestling Observer Newsletter October 26, 2015: Raw ratings woes continue, More Eric Bischoff notes

    The lead story is how the Alberto Del Rio deal went down, with full details, including financials that even blew away those in WWE and those who used to negotiate these deals.  We look at how in demand he was, including by organizations you wouldn’t even know, an angle he shot for MMA that was kept secret and will never probably see the light of day on television, and how this affects AAA, where he is their world champion.

    We look at the ramifications of this on WWE, AAA, how the deal was put together, how he positioned it to AAA, how AAA has taken a huge talent hit, when the deal was really put together, how Del Rio was scheduled to main event AAA’s next major show against what top U.S. star in a hair match, and his dates advertised in Mexico.  We look at other promotions that wanted him, Konnan talking about how the Myzteziz and Del Rio situation affects AAA, the Zeb Colter deal, how Lucha Underground and Del Rio fell apart as well as his huge money MMA offer just recently.

    CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW

    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

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    For the United States, it is $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52.  In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to moonsault@mediaplusint.com  For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52.

    If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.

    CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW

    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.

    WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE

    WWE

    • Based on feedback, demand for WrestleMania tickets appears to be substantial already.
    • From former WWWF Champion Superstar Billy Graham on his Facebook page: “Hello Facebook fans around the world. I am thrilled to report to all of you that Triple H, via a telephone conversation, has offered to give me an official WWE Legends contract. I of course said yes, and thank you very much! I have received that contract, and signed and mailed it back to the WWE. So I am officially back in the WWE family, proving that miracles still happen !! I did go to the Smackdown show held here in Phoenix on October 27th, as some had reported on the internet. I met with WWE Talent Relations executive Mark Carrano to go over various opportunities for me in the future. Mark Carrano is a real class act and gentleman and was very encouraging on the future release of my WWE merchandise sometime after the first of the year, along with attending WrestleMaina 32 in Dallas as part of the meet and greet fan access festivities. So, I want to thank Triple H and Mark Carrano for making this exciting event happen for me. I am officially back home in the family of the WWE where I belong !!!!”
    • WWE’s latest European tour kicks off today with 20 shows (split crews) over the next 11 days.
    • For those wondering what Daniel Bryan has been up to lately, he was the frontman for a WWE press conference announcing the company’s return to India on January 15th and 16th, 2016.  John Cena, Sheamus, Cesaro, Dean Ambrose, Ryback and the Big Show were all listed as performing.
    • And whatever John Cena is doing during his time off, it’s not resting up his body.  A photo just got posted on the Hard Knocks South gym Twitter of him squatting 611 pounds, a personal record, down below parallel.
    • Tatanka announced on Twitter that he had signed a WWE Legend’s deal.
    • Without giving away spoilers, yes, Alberto del Rio’s first big feud appears to be with Jack Swagger.
    • Games Radar is the latest major site to publish their WWE 2K16 review. Like most reviews, including ours in the new Figure Four Weekly, they had positive things to say about how well it evolves the series. You can order the game here.

    UFC/MMA

    • Jon Jones noted that he’s in a strength-building phase and is up to 226 pounds right now.  He is not fat, so that just means he’ll have a little harder weight cut to get down to 205.  He said there is a method to the madness and he understands many factors go into becoming the best martial artist you can be.  
    • Jones also landed his first sponsor, GAT, since the whole hit-and-run-and-flee legal issue went down.
    • Dan Henderson, who fights in the main event of this Saturday’s UFC, returned to his hotel room in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the other night only to find a drunken man had stumbled into his hotel room (apparently they didn’t shut the door all the way and so it didn’t lock) and was passed out on his couch.  The good news is, the guy was just sleeping, so it was much less messy than when the drunk girl stumbled into Urijah Faber’s house a month or so ago. And yes, like with Faber, there’s video.
    • Fight Night 78 in Mexico has a new main event as Neil Magny stepped in to face Kelvin Gastelum. Magny had a 7 fight win streak snapped in August by Demian Maia and rebounded to beat Erick Silva later that month in Saskatoon. This will be his fifth fight in 2015 and his 11th fight in the last 24 months.
    • Friday’s Bellator show started a couple of days early apparently as Bellator fighter and current Lightweight champion Will Brooks, was beaten up in a hotel by fellow Bellator fighters, Patricky and Patricio Freire, also known as the “Pitbull” brothers.  
    • Jon Nash of Bloody Elbow talks to  Jon Fitch, Nate Quarry, Ryan Jimmo, and Brandon Vera about the MMA Fighters Association.

    Other Wrestling

    • Lucha Underground began preliminary shooting for the next season yesterday.  Actual wrestling taping starts in a couple of weeks.
    • The New York Observer has an editorial on the ruling allowing Hulk Hogan to hire a forensic examiner to search Gawker’s computers, phones, tablets, cloud storage, etc. for proof that they leaked his racist comments to The National Enquirer. This is a really important story, so it’s worth reading their take, though the editors get some of the basic facts wrong, surprisingly.
    • Roderick Strong appears to be headed to Veracruz, Mexico on Saturday to work a show replacing Alberto Del Rio in the main event.  It’s looking more and more likely that Del Rio will ever return to Mexico to drop the AAA Mega title.
    • From Evolve: So Cal Val has removed herself from this Friday’s event in Ybor City. However, she will still be in the corner of The Premier Athlete Brand this Saturday in Orlando.
    • Two more matches have been signed for EVOLVE this Friday. Lio Rush, who was added to this weekend after his performance in the last WWN Seminar/Tryout, will now wrestle the debuting Fred Yehi. EVOLVE officials consider Yehi one of the top prospects in the South. A technical match up will have Tracy Williams vs. Martin Stone.
    • Today’s new update for NWAClassics.com subscribers is Stagger Lee (Junkyard Dog) vs. Mr. Wrestling II. Other recent additions include Al Perez vs. Hacksaw Higgins, The Fantastics vs. Dutch Mantell & Tom Prichard, Junkyard Dog vs. Masao Ito, Black Gordman & Gran Goliath vs. Jose Lothario & Buddy Moreno, Kamala vs. Jim Duggan, Ted DiBiase vs. Jim Duggan in a Texas Street Fight, and Butch Reed vs. The Junkyard Dog for the North American Championship.
    • The Christian Post and The New York Post have picked up Taryn Terrell’s comments about how pro wrestling led her to sin.
    • Mick Foley wants Lucha Underground to hire Trina Michaels.
    • There is a preview for the next two House of Hardcore events up here.
    • ICW, one of the biggest independent groups in Europe, announced an 8-date 2016 tour in the spring. They’re making their debuts in the Wales, Northern Ireland and The Republic Of Ireland (Dublin) markets.  Thanks to Allan.

    ​

  • USA Network announces Smackdown will remain on Thursday nights

    In a press release today highlighting its January premieres, USA Network announced the move of WWE Smackdown from the SyFy network. What was notable from this release is that despite rumours of a possible move to Tuesday nights, airing live, the premiere was announced for January 7th, a Thursday, meaning it’s likely that this means the show will stay in the same Thursday time slot it’s been in for the last year.

    This move is expected to increase audience viewership of the WWE’s #2 show, as the USA Network has a much higher average viewership than SyFy. Despite both networks being in virtually the same number of homes, USA averages about 1.6 million viewers in Prime Time (week ending Nov 1) vs about 770,000 for SyFy. Smackdown has consistently been the highest rated show on SyFy, averaging around 2.1 million viewers for the 2 hour show.

    Smackdown has had many different TV homes over the years. The show debuted at the height of pro wrestling’s popularity in the US in August 1999 on the fledgling UPN network. In 2002, when the WWE did it’s brand split, Smackdown became it’s own “brand” and often had a higher viewership total than RAW, due to being on an over the air network.

    In 2005, UPN moved the show to Friday nights. The show ratings predictably went down but it was still doing far better than what the network had previously been airing on Friday nights, usually old movies. In September 2006, Smackdown moved to the CW. Technically this was still considered a “network” but had far less penetration than UPN and the viewership numbers declined again.

    During this time, the brand split gradually faded and the show was becoming more of a “B” show. In addition, WWE had revived the ECW brand, and the SyFy network had picked up that show. In 2008, Smackdown moved to another new network, MyNetworkTV. The premiere episode did 3.2 million viewers for a supershow featuring wrestlers from all 3 brands. While numbers were down for Smackdown it was still the highest rated show in MyNetworkTV history.

    There was yet another move for Smackdown in 2010 as SyFy picked up the show after it was not renewed for the fall season by MyNetworkTV. While it was still the highest rated show on the network, the network was hemorrhaging money and the show was too expensive to retain. In 2011, the brand extension officially ended and wrestlers from RAW and Smackdown were able to appear on both shows (even though they’d already been doing that for years).

    In 2015, SyFy announced that it was moving Smackdown back to it’s original Thursday night timeslot. This was expected to increase the viewership of the show as Thursday is traditionally a much more popular night for television viewing. This did not materialize as numbers continued to slide at a similar rate as on Monday Night RAW to get to the current 2.1 million level.

    The move to USA network is expected to be accompanied by a renewed focus from WWE on the show to make it more relevant and a subsequent increase in TV viewers is the hoped for result.

  • Bellator starts early as “Pitbull” brothers fight Will Brooks in a hotel

    Friday’s Bellator show started a couple of days early apparently as Bellator fighter and current Lightweight champion Will Brooks, was beaten up in a hotel by fellow Bellator fighters, Patricky and Patricio Freire, also known as the “Pitbull” brothers.  

    According to Will Brooks, “I was looking out this glass window, and out of nowhere, Patricky jumps on my shoulder, and he’s like in my face, mumbling something,” Brooks told MMAjunkie. “So first reaction, I’m trying to create separation. He pushed me, and then his brother jumped on my shoulder and started punching me all while I’m trying to defend myself, and all of their people are holding me back while these guys are punching me. And I’m defenseless by myself with them and all their translators. It’s all on video.”  The video has not come out and it is unclear who filmed it, but Bellator and Missouri athletic commission officials are looking into the incident.  Brooks took a photo of his bloody shirt after the incident and posted it on twitter, which has since been deleted.  

    At this time it is unclear what prompted the scuffle, but according to Brooks, he was on the phone with his mother at the time.  “These guys jumped me like cowards,” Brooks told MMAjunkie shortly after the alleged incident. “These guys are going to get what they deserve. They’re cowards.”  The Freire brothers and Brooks have had an ongoing feud for sometime, but nothing involving a phyiscal confrontation.  Brooks said that he suffered a bloody nose, but otherwise is fine.  “They had a real opportunity to beat my ass, and they still couldn’t do anything,” Brooks said. “But I’m just pissed off. I’ve never jumped anybody or needed anyone to fight my battles. Only cowards pick up weapons or use other people to fight their battles against one person.”

    Brooks is still scheduled to face Marcin Held on Friday November 6th for his Brooks’ Lightweigtht title and Patricio Freire, who is the Bellator featherweight champion is scheduled to fight Daneil Staus in the main event this Friday night night.

    Check out F4WOnline.com’s preview of this Friday’s Bellator Vengeance

  • Bellator Vengeance: Homegrown stars headline final tentpole event of 2015

    Friday night, Bellator returns to Spike TV with its final “tentpole” event of the year. Last year, when Scott Coker took over the promotion, a new strategy was unveiled in which they would build to big quarterly PPV-like special events. Results to this point have been somewhat mixed with the most recent big show, Dynamite, drawing a very disappointing TV rating for a mixed kickboxing /MMA show built around a tournament for a Light Heavyweight title shot and Tito Ortiz challenging for the title.

    This weekend’s event is unique in the sense that most of the stars of the show are “homegrown” but in terms of a show with no outside names, it’s as big as it gets for the #2 promotion in the US. Two title fights headline the show, all featuring long-time Bellator stars who date back to the days of the tournament schedule in Patricio “Pitbull” Friere, Daniel Straus, Will Brooks and Marcin Held.

    Michael Chandler, who has appeared on most of the highest rated shows in company history, including headlining the first show to do 1 million viewers, will fight David “Caveman” Rickells in a title eliminator bout. Bobby Lashley, the former WWE and current Impact Wrestling star will face James Thompson in a rematch of a 2012 fight in India. Rounding out the card are two featherweight contenders in Justin Lawrence and Emmanuel Sanchez squaring off in what will probably be a good fight but seems better suited for the prelims.

    Bellator has used a 3 part TV series, Road to Vengeance, to build up interest in this show and Will Brooks and Patricio Pitbull have been going non-stop at each on Twitter since their respective fights were signed. The first episode on Spike did 272,000 viewers airing at 1130 pm eastern, which is about what the UFC Countdown shows do. What this means for Friday’s rating? We’ll find out early next week.

    We will have extensive coverage of the show on the site, with the weigh-ins on Thursday night and the Spike.com prelims on Friday afternoon/evening, leading into the show. The five match main card kicks off at 9 pm eastern on Spike TV and should go about 3 hours with a ton of video features as well as the likely elaborate walk-outs that have become a staple of the big Bellator shows.  David Rickells in particular will likely have a memorable walk-out with his Caveman gimmick.

    Some talking points going into the show:

    Will a show headlined by mostly really good fights with the top talent that Bellator has do better ratings than a show with a pro-wrestling type build around guys mostly past their primes?

    Every fighter on the card, with the possible exception of James Thompson, is top 100 in their division. With UFC having most of the world’s top fighters under contract, that’s as good as it gets in Bellator. Most of these fighters are UFC caliber with Chandler, Friere and Brooks possible title contenders if they were ever to fight there.

    What’s next for Michael Chandler?

    The former title holder has already beaten David Rickells once, knocking him out in the first minute of a 2013 fight. Most expect him to win the rematch. He’s already lost twice to current champion Will Brooks. He also lost to Eddie Alvarez, who’s been struggling in UFC. If Brooks were to lose to Marcin Held, they could certainly book a Chander/Held rematch (they fought in 2011, with Chandler winning by first round submission) but if Brooks wins, Chandler’s in limbo. He seems too big to cut to 145 but too small for Welterweight.

    Is Bobby Lashley a title contender?

    Lashley is on a six fight win streak, which would be the longest in the division for anyone in Bellator or UFC (UFC Champion Fabricio Werdum also has 6 wins in a row, against much tougher competition). But Lashley’s opponents have all been relative unknowns. He’s gotten the job done, finishing off all but Tony Melton but at 39 years old, it’s now or never for Lashley. Vitaly Minakov is the current Bellator Heavyweight champion but he has not fought for the promotion in two years and is at a contract impasse. Should Bellator not be able to come to terms with him, it might make sense to book a tournament for the title and Lashley would certainly be a prominent part of that tournament.

    Friday night, we’ll either get some answers to these questions or at least have a clearer idea of the road ahead for Bellator as they complete their first calendar year under Scott Coker’s direction. Next year, the current plan is for more big events (up to 6 from 4) and more “regular” events. With Spike having cancelled Glory kickboxing, there would seem to be more need for Bellator shows in 2016. When they were running weekly on Friday nights, the audience base was steady but growing and a return to that format could help them out in the future.

    Here’s the full card as currently scheduled:

    Main Card:

    • Bellator Featherweight World Title Bout: Patricio Freire (24-2) vs. Daniel Straus (23-6)
    • Bellator Lightweight World Title Bout: Will Brooks (16-1) vs. Marcin Held (21-3)
    • Bellator Featherweight Feature Bout: Emmanuel Sanchez (11-2) vs. Justin Lawrence (7-2)
    • Bellator Lightweight Feature Bout: Michael Chandler (13-3) vs. Dave Rickels (16-3)
    • Bellator Heavyweight Feature Bout: Bobby Lashley (13-2) vs. James Thompson (20-14)

    Preliminary Card:

    • Bellator Heavyweight Feature Bout: Alex Huddleston (6-1) vs. Augusto Sakai (8-0)
    • Bellator Welterweight Feature Bout: Adam Cella (6-4) vs. Chel Erwin-Davis (2-1)
    • Bellator Welterweight Feature Bout: Garrett Gross (6-4) vs. Luke Nelson (2-1)
    • Bellator Lightweight Feature Bout: Steve Mann (11-2) vs. Hugh Pulley (5-2)
    • Bellator Featherweight Feature Bout: Chris Heatherly (9-3) vs. Vince Eazelle (9-2)
    • Bellator Welterweight Feature Bout: Kevin Engel (4-0) vs. Kyle Kurtz (4-1)
    • Bellator Heavyweight Feature Bout: Kain Royer (1-2) vs. Clay Mitchell (1-0)
    • Bellator Middleweight Feature Bout: Adam Meredith (3-1) vs. Jordan Dowdy (2-0)
    • Bellator Bantamweight Feature Bout: Garrett Mueller (2-0) vs. Scott Ettling (3-0
    • Bellator Lightweight Feature Bout: Brandon Lowe (debut) vs. Rashard Lovelace (1-0)

  • UFC Fight Night 77 Preview: 5 storylines to watch, betting odds & predictions

    A trilogy going back to the days of PRIDE in 2006 comes to a conclusion Saturday night as the Octagon returns to Brazil for the first time since August for UFC Fight Night 77 from Sao Paulo, Brazil. The event kicks off four straight Saturdays of UFC action in November, and is the first of eight fight cards between November 7 and December 19. The action kicks off with preliminary card action on UFC Fight Pass at 6:30 PM eastern time before moving over to FS1 for more preliminary fights at 8 PM eastern time, all leading into the main card on FS1 at 10 PM eastern time.

    The headline bout is the third fight between former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Vitor Belfort and former PRIDE and Strikeforce champion Dan Henderson as each man looks to be the one with two wins against the other. The UFC brings a very solid card down to Brazil as the co-main event is a light heavyweight bout between contenders Glover Teixeira and Patrick Cummins. Also on the card is fast-rising bantamweight prospect Thomas Almeida and UFC veterans including Clay Guida, Gleison Tibau, Fabio Maldonado and Thiago Tavares. Let’s dive deeper into the fight card and give you five storylines to keep an eye on Saturday night during UFC Fight Night 77.

    1. Who wins the rubber match between Vitor Belfort and Dan Henderson?

    Vitor Belfort and Dan Henderson will meet in a trilogy bout in the headliner of UFC Fight Night 77, and if they were ever going to fight for a third time, now seems to be the best time for both men as they continue to enter the twilight of their careers. Both of their prior bouts came when they competed as light heavyweights. Henderson won a decision over Belfort in PRIDE in October 2006, but Belfort avenged that defeat when he knocked out Henderson in the Octagon in November 2013. Belfort’s knockout win over Henderson came in Brazil, where they will compete on Saturday night, but also came at the height of Belfort being under the suspension of bending the rules while competing with an exemption for using testosterone replacement therapy. Henderson also used TRT, but he didn’t have the obvious transformation or killing instinct that Belfort seemed to gain from it.

    Belfort looked completely different when he took on Chris Weidman at UFC 187 in May, which was the first time he fought since the November 2013 win over Henderson. He was much smaller and didn’t have the same explosiveness and ended up losing by TKO in the first round. Meanwhile, Henderson is coming off a 28-second knockout win over Tim Boetsch in June, showing he still has some fight left. Prior to that win, Henderson had lost five of his last six fights, and many were wondering if it was time for Henderson to hang up the gloves. Henderson still has the big power in his right hand, and he has gone to strictly relying on that in fights, going away from the power wrestling game. It makes sense as he has gotten older, but trading fists in a fight these days aren’t as easy as they used to be as Henderson’s chin has faded.

    If the Belfort that showed up against Weidman shows up once again, he might not be around much longer. That version of Belfort is going to have a tough time competing in the middleweight division. Henderson still has the big right hand that can end a fight at any moment, but his chin is no longer what it once was. He has slowed down as well. Belfort is looking better visually than he did leading up to the Weidman fight, and he still has the better overall striking. Henderson would be wise to use his wrestling, but that probably won’t happen as his gameplans have become very specific in the latter days of his career. Belfort is going to strike and has a full arsenal at his disposal. It remains to be seen if he still has his knockout power from a few years ago, and he will certainly have confidence after knocking out Henderson in their last bout. It’s a rubber match and one that is tough to call. I like Henderson to score a knockout win.

    2. Will Glover Teixeira continue his climb back into the 205-pound title picture?

    Glover Teixeira has fought once for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, coming up short against Jon Jones at UFC 172 in April 2014 after scoring 20 consecutive wins to earn his title opportunity. While Jones simply outclassed Teixeira, with his impressive record before the title shot, and the depth of the light heavyweight title picture being shallow, a few rebound wins could’ve landed Teixeira another opportunity at winning the title. However, Teixeira dropped his next fight when he was dominated by Phil Davis at UFC 179 in October 2014. With two straight losses and Jones dominating the competition, it was looking like Teixeira was out of the title picture all together.

    Flash forward to today where Daniel Cormier is the current champion at 205 pounds, and Teixeira is coming off an impressive submission win over Ovince Saint Preux in August. There is new life in the division, though Jones has recently been reinstated from suspension, but Teixeira is back up to fourth in the light heavyweight rankings, and knocking on the door of getting back into title contention. He fights Patrick Cummins in the co-main event on Saturday night, and it is a big opportunity for Cummins to establish himself as a threat in the division. It is a dangerous fight for Teixeira against a strong wrestler, but Teixeira has the big experience edge and will have the crowd behind him. Teixeira has some of the best striking in the division, and if he can block the takedown attempts from Cummins, this fight is set up for him to take the win.

    3. Will Thomas Almeida extend his perfect record to 21-0?

    Thomas Almeida is one of the brightest prospects in the UFC, and perhaps the top prospect in the tough bantamweight division, one that also includes skilled prospects in Aljamain Sterling and Cody Garbrandt. His record currently stands at a perfect 20-0, and he just turned 24-years-old. Not only has he won all 20 of his professional bouts, an astonishing 19 of those wins have come by stoppage, with 15 coming by knockout and four coming by submission. His lone decision win came over Tim Gorman in his UFC debut, and he has backed that up with knockout wins over Yves Jabouin and Brad Pickett. The Pickett win was impressive as Almeida came close to being on the brink of defeat in the first round, only to come back and knockout Pickett out with a spectacular flying knee. Also, he has earned performance bonuses in all three of his UFC bouts.

    Needless to say, Almeida has proven himself to be a legitmate threat and prospect at 135 pounds. It has been said that even Urijah Faber has once turned down a fight against Almeida. He has yet to fight a true top-flight bantamweight contender, but he does get a tough opponent on Saturday night in Anthony Birchak. Birchak is just 1-1 in his short UFC career, but he is coming off an impressive knockout win over Joe Soto in June. Birchak is 12-2 in his career and a promising prospect in the bantamweight division, and he is a heavy-handed striker. While Birchak doesn’t have the experience that Almeida’s last two opponents had, at this point, Birchak is the toughest test to date for Almeida. It is an interesting battle between two bright prospects, and one is going to prove they belong in the upper-tier of the division. I see Almeida expanding his record to 21-0 in impressive fashion.

    4. With a fairly stacked card, what fight is flying under the radar?

    The UFC Fight Night 77 card is a fairly stacked card, especially for a free-televised event taking place in Brazil. All six of the main card fights are solid bouts with promising fighters working their way up their respective divisions, and the preliminary card has a solid mix of UFC veterans and more promising prospects, with some on very solid win streaks. One fight on the main card I wanna keep an eye on is the lightweight bout between Gilbert Burns and Rashid Magomedov. Burns is a perfect 10-0 in his MMA career and is one of the most decorated jiu-jitsu fighters in the sport, and has won nine of his ten fights by stoppage. Magomedov will be appearing in his 21st career fight and is looking to extend an 11-fight win streak. He has yet to fight in 2015 after making his first three appearances inside the Octagon in 2014.

    The big fight to watch in the preliminary card, and really the one flying under the radar, is the featherweight bout between long-time UFC veterans Clay Guida and Thiago Tavares. Guida made his UFC debut in 2006, and Tavares made his in 2007, and both have been in the promotion since then. This will be Guida’s 22nd UFC appearance while it will be the 17th UFC fight for Tavares. Both men fought for a long time as lightweights, and despite both being around for so long, they surprisingly have never been booked for a fight against each other. Both have been the recepients of numerous post-fight bonus awards- Guida has won nine and Tavares has won six. And, both have dropped to 145 pounds looking for a new start at title contention. Both have had mixed success as Guida is 3-2 at featherweight, and Tavares is 1-1. A bout between these two could have easily been a co-main event of a fight night card in the Spike TV days, but is buried down on the prelims on this fight card. It definitely is a fight that needs to be watched as it has the makings of some fun action.

    5. What else is there to look for on the card?

    Other solid action on the card includes two other main card bouts- a lightweight bout between Alex Oliveira and Piotr Hallmann, and a light heavyweight bout between Fabio Maldonado and former “TUF” winner Corey Anderson. Oliveira fights for the fourth time in the UFC in 2015, but will be fighting for the first time with a full training camp. Hallmann is looking to end a two-fight losing skid. Maldonado is looking to rebound from a loss to Quinton Jackson at UFC 186 in April, and at the same time, is looking to add to his UFC light heavyweight record for most significant strikes landed. Anderson replaced our own MMA contributor to the site, Tom Lawlor, who was forced out due to a concussion, and he is looking to score a second straight win after defeating Jan Blachowicz at UFC 191 in September.

    In other preliminary card action, Gleison Tibau will fight for the 26th time inside the Octagon, tying Matt Hughes and Frank Mir for second-most all time. He takes on Abel Trujillo, who looks to get back into the win column. Both men lost to Tony Ferguson in their last bouts. Yan Cabral looks to improve on his 12-1 record when he takes on Johnny Case, who has won eleven straight fights. Kevin Souza looks to remain undefeated in the UFC when he puts his ten-fight win streak on the line against Chas Skelly, who has a 14-1 career record and the distinction of having the record of fewest days between UFC wins, as he won two fights in 13 days in 2014. In a solid match-up during the UFC Fight Pass portion of the preliminary card, Pedro Munhoz, who has one career loss, will take on Jimmie Rivera, who comes into Saturday night on a 16-fight win streak. Both men are other solid prospects in the bantamweight division.

    Full UFC Fight Night 77 Fight Card, Betting Odds & Predictions

    MAIN CARD (FS1- 10 PM ET/7 PM PT)

    Middleweights: (#4) Vitor Belfort vs. (#12) Dan Henderson
    Betting Odds:     Belfort (-360), Henderson (+300)
    Prediction: Henderson by knockout in round 2

    Light Heavyweights: (#4) Glover Teixeira vs. (#9) Patrick Cummins
    Betting Odds:     Teixeira (-440), Cummins (+350)
    Prediction: Teixeira by knockout in round 2

    Bantamweights: (#8) Thomas Almeida vs. Anthony Birchak
    Betting Odds:     Almeida (-440), Birchak (+350)
    Prediction: Almeida by knockout in round 1

    Lightweights: Alex Oliveira vs. Piotr Hallmann
    Betting Odds:     Oliveira (-200), Hallmann (+170)
    Prediction: Oliveira by decision

    Lightweights: Gilbert Burns vs. Rashid Magomedov
    Betting Odds:     Burns (+140), Magomedov (-160)
    Prediction: Burns by submission in round 2

    Light Heavyweights: (#12) Fabio Maldonado vs. (#14) Corey Anderson
    Betting Odds:     Maldonado (+400), Anderson (-500)
    Prediction: Anderson by decision

    PRELIMINARY CARD (FS1- 8 PM ET/5 PM PT)

    Lightweights: Gleison Tibau vs. Abel Trujillo
    Betting Odds:     Tibau (-125), Trujillo (+105)
    Prediction: Tibau by decision

    Lightweights: Yan Cabral vs. Johnny Case
    Betting Odds:     Cabral (+205), Case (-245)
    Prediction: Case by knockout in round 3

    Featherweights: (#11) Clay Guida vs. Thiago Tavares
    Betting Odds:     Guida (-165), Tavares (+145)
    Prediction: Guida by decision

    Featherweights: Kevin Souza vs. Chas Skelly
    Betting Odds:     Souza (+140), Skelly (-160)
    Prediction: Skelly by decision

    PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC FIGHT PASS- 6:30 PM ET/3:30 PM PT)

    Welterweights: Viscardi Andrade vs. Gasan Umalatov
    Betting Odds:     Andrade (+105), Umalatov (-125)
    Prediction: Umalatov by decision

    Bantamweights: Pedro Munhoz vs. Jimmie Rivera
    Betting Odds:     Munhoz (-175), Rivera (+155)
    Prediction: Rivera by decision

    Flyweights: Bruno Korea vs. Matheus Nicolau
    Betting Odds:     Korea (+155), Nicolau (-175)
    Prediction: Korea by submission in round 2

  • WWE Smackdown spoilers 11-3: Kevin Owens vs Dean Ambrose

    There was a skeleton crew at tonight’s Smackdown tapings in Colorado Springs, given the injuries and half the crew on the way to Dublin, Ireland:

    Alberto Del Rio & Zeb Colter opened with a promo.

    Alberto Del Rio beat Neville – Jack Swagger attacked Del Rio after the match.

    Usos beat The Ascension.

    The Wyatt Family won a Survivor Series match in four straight falls over The Prime Time Players & Lucha Dragons.  Young was counted out in the first fall.  Luke Harper pinned  Sin Cara to win the second fall.  Erick Rowan pinned Kalisto to win the third fall.  Bray Wyatt pinned Titus O’Neil when it was four-on-one.

    Ryback beat King Barrett clean with the shell shock.

    Natalya beat Tamina in a fast match.

    Kevin Owens beat Dean Ambrose via DQ.  They used a Lucha Libre finish as Owens sold a low blow that the ref didn’t see, but he sold it so well the ref DQ’d Ambrose for it.  Owens ran away after the match.