From the Cajundome in Lafayette, LA, taped for Wednesday in Canada and Thursday in the U.S.:
– WWE Smackdown opened with Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose wanting a last man standing match with Kevin Owens at the Royal Rumble. Sheamus then came out. Owens accepted the match and he and Sheamus attacked Ambrose until Neville made the save to lead to the main event.
– Dudleys beat Luke Harper & Erick Rowan in a tables match. After the match, Braun Strowman destroyed both Dudleys.
– Heath Slater & Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas & Adam Rose beat Jack Swagger & Zack Ryder & Goldust & Damien Sandow when Dallas pinned Ryder.
– Alberto Del Rio beat Kalisto to regain the U.S. title due to distraction from King Barrett.
– Becky Lynch beat Brie Bella.
– WWE Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose & Neville went to a double countout with Kevin Owens & Sheamus.
The Monday, January 11th edition of WWE Raw did surprisingly well considering it went against the NCAA football national title game which drew far more viewers than any NFL game had done against Raw during the fall.
The show did 3.32 million viewers, roughly the fall season average. The Alabama vs. Clemson championship game did 25.68 million viewers head-to-head. Raw was sixth for the night on cable, but all five shows that beat Raw were ESPN shows that were related to coverage of the game itself.
The good news, in a sense, was the third hour was not their lowest rated hour, so the concept of WWE Champion Roman Reigns vs. everyone (spurred on by Vince McMahon) and the waiting for Brock Lesnar to appear led to a slight increase during a period that usually is a decrease.
It’s also the end of any kind of football hurting Raw ratings on Monday, so the hope is that numbers should increase on a regular basis starting next week.
WWE officially announced today that Sting will headline its 2016 Hall of Fame Class to be inducted Wrestlemania weekend in Dallas, TX. He was expected to be the lead inductee this year given he lives near Dallas and that the timing worked out.
Steve “Sting” Borden was one of the biggest stars in pro wrestling during the 1990s with WCW, where he was a six-time WCW world champion and two time International world champion. He was also a two-time NWA champion and four time TNA champion.
Borden started his career working for Jerry Jarrett in late 1985 after only a few weeks of training under Red Bastien and Billy Anderson, as Power Team USA. He was discovered working in a Southern California gym by Rick Bassman, who was trying to put together a group of bodybuilders to capitalize on the popularity of the Road Warriors. Borden and Jim Hellwig, who became the Ultimate Warrior, left the camp and Bassman on their own after sending photos to all the different promotions. Only Jarrett responded, but the team only lasted a few weeks before Jarrett got rid of them.
Bill Watts hired the two based on potential. Watts had trouble with Hellwig, who quit and went to work for World Class wrestling, and then found his way to WWF. Sting started as a heel and was put under the wing of Eddie Gilbert, who turned him face just as the UWF was being sold to Jim Crockett Promotions. Most of the UWF talent got buried, but Sting was kept on as a prelim guy, who started gaining popularity.
His star exploded in one night when he was booked to do a 45 minute draw with Ric Flair on the first Clash of the Champions in 1988. From that day on, he was always considered a major star, and when Crockett Promotions told to Turner Broadcasting in 1989, Sting was considered the heir apparent as the company’s top star after Flair. The decision was to change the title in February 1990, ironically, on Flair’s 41st birthday in Greensboro. However, Sting suffered a bad knee injury in an angle building up the match, and the title change was moved to Baltimore and the Great American Bash that summer.
He remained as a top star with WCW until the promotion closed. He retired after not making a deal with WWF, but then came back for a lucrative deal with TNA. He agreed to come in 2006 and every year, he expected it to be his last. And every year, Dixie Carter offered him a new deal and he remained with the company until his last contract expired in early 2014. At that point, TNA could no longer afford him, and he opened up talks with WWE, later debuting at the 2014 Survivor Series in the show-closing angle.
Sting wrestled a few matches with WWE until suffering a neck injury at the 2015 Night of Champions after taking a power bomb into the turnbuckles in a match with then-World Champion Seth Rollins. He noted when talking with Ric Flair that he requires neck surgery, although has not gotten surgery yet.
In Barnesville, GA, Saturday for the WrestleMerica promotion, AJ Styles and Doc Gallows began what will likely be their last run of indie dates in the U.S. Larry Goodman sent us in some notes:
Styles was set to face Jimmy Rave in the highly anticipated main event. Both men cut their teeth as pro wrestlers in Georgia with NWA Wildside roughly 15 years ago. It was a decade ago that Styles feuded with Rave in ROH after Rave stole his finishing move.
The match morphed into a tag match (Styles & Gallows vs. Rave & Sal Rinauro) after just a few minutes of action. The call was made to save wear and tear on Styles, who is headed to England next week for three huge matches vs. Rey Misterio, Morrison and Jay Lethal on consecutive nights. The 450 fans in Barnesvillle didn’t seem to mind the switch. They were into the match full force, as they were for pretty much everything that went down at this event.
– Doc Gallows defeated Sal Rinauro via DQ in 6:05: Rinauro turned a handshake into a punch in the face and ran out of the ring, where he cut a promo talking about how WrestleMerica was built on the backs of people like himself and Jimmy Rave (unlike Gallows who has missed a number of show due to his New Japan commitments). Rinauro stalled and jawed and stalled some more. When Gallows finally got his hands on him, Rinauro sold his ass off. Rave sneaked in and speared Gallows. That led to an instant “AJ” chant and the save by Styles. Rinauro and Rave bailed out untouched. Beautifully done.
– AJ Styles defeated Jimmy Rave by DQ in 3:58. Neither the Bullets Club theme nor his ROH music was used in favor of his less familiar New Japan music leading to a rather flat entrance for Styles. Rave didn’t use “House of the Rising Sun” either. Oh well. They grappled. Rave bailed out to avoid Styles’ signature dropkick, and Rinauro jumped Styles for the DQ. Gallows made the save and got on the mic to make the tag match. Gallows said there was a lot of history with Rinauro and Rave, but the whole wrestling world knew there was more history with Gallows and Styles.
– Styles & Gallows defeated Rave & Rinauro in 11:56. They brawled all over the building. When the action moved inside the ring, Rave interfered to get the heat started on Gallows. A Gallows double clothesline led to the hot tag. Styles had Rave set up for the Clash, but Rinauro intervened with a superkick. The closing minutes were terrific with signature moves and saves galore. Gallows dropped Rinauro on Rave to break up his crossface submission. It appeared that Styles got dinged when Rinauro inadvertently landed on his neck. For the finish, Gallows planted Rinauro with a chokebomb and Styles pinned Rave with a Clash off the ropes.
Here are the final results from the TNA tapings Saturday in Bethlehem, PA — the final night of the five-day taping. It was advertised as a PPV taping, but ended up being an Impact taping.
– X Division Champion Tigre Uno won three-way over Mandrews and DJ Zema Ion to retain. Shane Helms said he wanted a title match next week.
– Jeff Hardy challenged Matt Hardy for the TNA title, saying he was mad at Matt’s actions in winning the title. Here’s how that happened, btw.
– They had the annual Feast or Fired match with briefcases going to Drew Galloway, James Storm, Grado and Eli Drake. The reveal may be done secretly and not air until the shows from England.
– TNA Tag Champions The Wolves beat Abyss & Crazy Steve via DQ in a tag title match when Steve sprayed mist. Abyss & Steve have a female clown as their valet.
– Jeff vs. Matt for the title was supposed to be next. Eric Young and Bram attacked Jeff. Beer Money made the save. Heels Abyss & Steve joined in and Kurt Angle got involved. Tyrus knocked out Angle and Matt hit Angle with a belt shot, while Young piledrove Jeff through a table doing an injury angle as Jeff went out on a stretcher.
– Awesome Kong beat Velvet Sky. The Doll House also destroyed Madison Rayne after the match.
– Bobby Lashley beat Aiden O’Shea. There is a new character, a woman, who is trying to hit on Lashley after the match.
– TNA Champion Matt Hardy, Reby Hardy and Tyrus were out. Young and Bram came out. Young wanted a title match with Matt. Angle also wanted a title match with Matt.
– X Division Champion Tigre Uno came out to defend his title against Shane Helms. Helms came out in clothes and said the challenge was for Trevor Lee, not him, and Lee beat Uno to win the title.
– Drew Galloway beat Tyrus via DQ when Mike Bennett interfered and hit Galloway with his Feast or Fired briefcase.
– Crazzy Steve won a Hardcore war match by pinning Davey Richards when they were the last two.
– Maria Kanellis did an interview saying women’s wrestling needs a new leader. This brought out Gail Kim. They went at it, so they are going to have a program.
– TNA Champion Matt Hardy beat Kurt Angle to retain thanks to help from Reby Hardy.
– Brian Fury beat Shaheem Ali in the first round of the top prospect tournament
– Cedric Alexander beat Cheeseburger
– Jonathan Gresham beat Cedric Alexander via DQ
– Nigel McGuinness announced that the main event for the 2/26 Anniversary show in Las Vegas would be Jay Lethal defending the ROH title in a three-way against Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly
– Jay Briscoe won a three-way over Moose and Michael Elgin. This led to challenges for another match at the PPV which is Hiroshi Tanahashi & Elgin vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe.
Second hour
– TV Champion Roderick Strong beat Masada to retain
– Punisher Martinez beat Colby Corino in the first round of the top prospect tournament
– Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly beat ROH Champion Jay Lethal & Adam Cole. Lethal accidentally hit Cole with the Lethal injection to lead to the pin.
Third hour
– Alex Shelley beat Frankie Kazarian
– Dalton Castle b Joey Daddiego
– Ben “Action” Ortiz beat Leon St. Giovanni in the first round of the top prospect tournament
– Stokley Hathaway came out and said that Moose was issuing a challenge to Kazuchika Okada on the PPV show.
– Rhett Titus & Kenny King beat ROH Tag Champions War Machine via DQ
Fourth hour
– Lio Rush beat Jason Kincaid in the first round of the Top Prospect tournament
– Caprice Coleman & Will Ferrera beat Silas Young & Beer City Bruiser
Not wasting any time after their move to POP TV, TNA Wrestling returns to pay-per-view Friday night with One Night Only, an event available on most major cable outlets, the Flipps TV app, and more for as low as $14.95.
Your main card as of now:
– TNA Tag Team Champions The Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) vs. Kurt Angle & Drew Galloway vs. Jessie Godderz & Eli Drake
– TNA X-Division Champion Tigre Uno vs. DJ Z vs. Crazzy Steve vs. Mandrews
– Knockouts Championship #1 Contender’s Gauntlet Match: Awesome Kong vs. Velvet Sky vs. Madison Rayne vs. Rebel vs. Jade vs. Marti Bell
– Bobby Lashley vs. Tyrus
– Rockstar Spud vs. Aiden O’Shea
– Beer Money (James Storm & Bobby Roode) vs. Eric Young & Bram
– “The Miracle” Mike Bennett (w/Maria Kanellis) vs. Robbie E
Join us for live coverage starting at 8 PM EST.
We are looking for your thoughts on the event, so send a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to Dave Meltzer.
TIGRE UNO VS. DJ ZEMA ION VS. MANDREWS VS. CRAZZY STEVE FOR THE X DIVISION TITLE
Total high spot match. Good for what it was, it was non-stop moves and while lacked selling, it was all crisp and lots of good stuff. One of the best spots was Mandrews riding his skateboard down the ramp and did a huracanrana on DJZ. DJZ then flew into Steve. Mandrews was the star of the match. This was under elimination rules. Mandrews used a shooting star on Uno, who was caught in a chicken wing by Steve, and then Mandrews instead pinned Steve. Steve was over as a cult deal and also looked good. The crowd booed Steve losing a lot. Steve then put Uno in the chicken wing after the match to further injure his bad shoulder. Mandrews pinned Ion with a schoolboy. Uno sold the shoulder, but came back to pin Mandrews with a Spanish fly.
Shane Helms came out after the match and a few people were chanting “Three Count at him.” Josh Matthews said that Helms was the greatest cruiserweight champion in the history of pro wrestling. They acknowledged each other. He pointed at his watch, giving the idea that ti’s only time before he wins the title.
AIDEN O’SHEA VS. ROCKSTAR SPUD
Spud is replacing Mahabili Shera, ruining our chance to see the worst PPV match of the year. They said somebody let the air out of Shera’s tires. That excuse for missing a match doesn’t work in the days of cell phones and taxis and such. O’Shea told him to walk away and take the count out. Spud refused to leave. They did a match which was O’Shea mostly just humiliating him and bullying him around. It went too long. Spud make a comeback and rock’d up, took off his bow tie like it was Lawler’s strap, and won with the underdog. It pretty much dragged.
EC III did a promo taped on Tuesday. He said Matt Hardy was the villain in his story but Hardy has to admit he beat him. Good promo.
ROBBIE E VS. MIKE BENNETT
Major league ring entrance. The match was a mistake. He should have gone 3-4 minutes of a dominant performance where he did things to stand out. Instead they did a long back and forth totally ordinary match. Bennett won with a falcon arrow, which they call “Divine Intervention.” After the match he did a promo saying he’s going to have a Kingdom of Miracles and told fans his catch phrase of “Yes we do.”
Gail Kim promo talking about the Gauntlet match that will determine the next contender for her title.
WOMEN’S GAUNTLET MATCH
All kinds of awful. This could easily win worst match of 2016. This is a TNA gauntlet which means Royal Rumble until the last two and then it’s like a singles match. In order, it started Madison Rayne vs. Jade which was so bad. Next was Rebel, and she can do a few athletic things but she’s so green. Next was Chelsea Green from Tough Enough, who didn’t look good. Marti Bell was next. Deonna Purrazzo was next, one day after being on NXT. She was the best worker in this match, except for maybe Kong. Kong and Velvet Sky were the last two. Then people started getting eliminated. The last three were Jade, Rayne and Kong. Rayne speared Jade to the floor. Kong then pinned Rayne with a missed spinning backfist that was supposed to hit and the Implant buster.
The Wolves did a promo talking about a future match with Beer Money. Eli Drake & Jessie Godderz showed up in the middle of their interview.
TREVOR LEE VS. PEPPER PARKS
They had a hard time getting the crowd this late in the show. They finally did at the end. There was nothing wrong with it but not much reaction and it dragged. For the finish, Lee won with a dropkick into a double foot stomp and a fisherman buster.
Doll House promo. They put over Kong winning. Kong spoke about beating Gail Kim for the title.
Pope was in the ring. He called out Grado. Pope handed him a candy bar and he ate it. Pope called him a joke. Said when the bell rings these people see you as a joke. Fans chanted “No.” Grado then talked like he was from Texas. He pulled that off pretty well. This set up Abyss vs. Grado.
ABYSS VS. GRADO
Abyss pinned him with a choke slam on thumbtacks. The key spots were Abyss knocking Grado ff the top rope and he fell through a table on the floor. There was another spot where Abyss has a barbed wire board underneath him as well as on top of him and Grado did a splash off the top for a near fall. Abyss was supposed to get up to win but they had to stall because Abyss got his foot all tangled in the barbed wire. This was the kind of a match that makes wrestling look like such a joke. People did pop for the barbed wire spots but the whole thing just made wrestling look like a geek show.
Drew Galloway & Kurt Angle talked about their match Tuesday and the tag team title match tonight.
EDDIE EDWARDS & DAVEY RICHARDS VS. KURT ANGLE & DREW GALLOWAY VS. ELI DRAKE & JESSIE GODDERZ FOR THE TAG TEAM TITLES
This was really good. Edwards used the ankle lock on Drake to win while Edwards had the half crab on Jessie Godderz. Angle got in his face for stealing his move but then hugged in and Edwards, Galloway, Angle and Richards all hugged. Edwards may have gotten hurt because he was limping pretty badly at the end. It wasn’t like they worked on his leg seriously during the match. Angle was German suplexing everyone including a spot where he suplexed both Edwards and Richads at the same time.
BOBBY LASHLEY VS. TYRUS
Not much of a match. Tyrus ripped the padding off a turbuckle. Tyrus threw him in it but Lashley came back. There was a ref bump by Earl Hebner. Lashley rammed Tyrus’ head into the metal 11 times and then pinned him after a spear.
BOBBY ROODE & JAMES STORM VS. ERIC YOUNG & BRAM
Good match. Roode & Storm look like they’re together for the long haul with matching trunks. Beer Money won with the DWI on Bram and Roode pinned him after Roode had slingshotted Young into Storm’s DDT and Young rolled out of the ring. They pushed Roode & Storm challenging the Wolves for the tag titles coming.
Taped on Thursday, January 7th for the January 19th show on POP TV and for future One Night Only PPVs:
– Jeff Hardy beat Tyrus via DQ. Jeff called out Matt Hardy and they did an interview talking about Matt’s career vs. title match with EC 3. This ends up with Tyrus challenging Jeff to a match.
– Knockouts Champion Gail Kim beat Awesome Kong to retain.
– Beer Money (Bobby Roode & James Storm) beat Eli Drake & Jessie Godderz. Roode & Storm challenged Bram & Eric Young to a rematch (from their match that actually takes place on Friday’s show). Instead, Drake & Godderz issued a challenge.
– Mike Bennett beat Pepper Parks in a squash match.
– Kurt Angle is out thanking everyone. Bobby Lashley comes out and said that he wants a rematch from their match last year where Angle beat him. Angle praised Lashley and accepted the match.
– Ken Anderson beat KOTM Champion Eric Young by DQ when Bram interfered. They beat down Anderson until Roode & Storm ran in. Segment started when Young came out and offered an open challenge for his King of the Mountain title against anyone except Roode or Storm, leading to Anderson coming out.
*****
Taped for PPV:
– Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne beat Jade & Marti Bell
– TNA World Champion Ethan Carter III went to a double countout with Matt Hardy
– Drew Galloway beat Eli Drake
– Bobby Lashley beat Mahabili Shera
– TNA Tag Champions Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards beat Abyss & Crazzy Steve
– Bram & KOTM Champ Eric Young beat DJ Zema Ion & Trevor Lee when Young pinned Lee after a piledriver
– Tigre Uno & Mandrews beat Jessie Godderz & Robbie E when the latter team couldn’t get along
Fresh off her successful title defense submission victory over Nia Jax at NXT TakeOver: London in December, NXT Women’s Champion Bayley now has her next challenger set: Carmella.
NXT announced Thursday night via Twitter that title match will take place at their Friday, January 22nd event at the CFE Arena at the University of Central Florida.
Additionally, Samoa Joe and Sami Zayn will hook it up to determine the new No. 1 contender to NXT Champion Finn Balor. On the aforementioned London show, Balor successfully defended his belt against Joe in the main event via pinfall. Zayn returned on that same show after a long layoff following shoulder surgery, and will be looking to regain the title he lost to Kevin Owens.
The event is part of an aggressive January calendar for the popular WWE-created brand where they will run 15 total shows, including several on the same night in two locations.
In a coincidence, Bayley tweeted out Thursday that today marks her fourth year in NXT.
Former WWE Champion John Cena will have shoulder surgery and will miss this year’s Wrestlemania according to a members-only report by PWInsider’s Mike Johnson. Via Twitter, Cena confirmed he’ll be having the surgery in Birmingham, AL, assumed to be with the famed Dr. James Andrews.
The injury is believed to be a torn labrum, putting Cena out of action for 6-9 months. Cena didn’t add any details other than “shoulder surgery”.
The 38-year-old Cena’s injury is just the latest in a string of injuries to top WWE stars (Seth Rollins, Randy Orton) and mid-level talents like Cesaro in recent months, thinning out the roster and leaving WWE to focus on talents like WWE Champion Roman Reigns, Sheamus, Dean Ambrose, The New Day, and Kevin Owens to help carry things. Brock Lesnar returns this Monday on RAW and Chris Jericho just returned Monday to help add some part-time depth.
Cena just returned from a short absence off TV as he was filming a reality series for FOX. He was expected to continue his feud with U.S. Champion Alberto Del Rio, but didn’t appear on this week’s RAW.
We’ll add more details on this story as we get it and will discuss it more on tonight’s Wrestling Observer Radio with Dave and Bryan.
