St. Louis, Missouri: – Ray Steele beat John Pesek – Orville Brown and George Zaharias wrested to a 30 minute draw – Dick Shikat beat Fred “Frank” Speer
1961
Rochester, Minnesota: – Bob Geigel & Otto von Krupp (Boris Malenko) beat Dale Lewis & Pat Kennedy to win AWA tag title – Millie Stafford & Annette Palmer beat Jessica Rogers & Mars Monroe – George Armstrong (sub Steve Druk) beat Jules LaRance
1965
Sioux City, Iowa: – AWA Champion Mad Dog Vachon beat Mad Russian Stan Pulaski – Reggie Parks beat Haru Sasaki dq – Mitsu Arakawa drew Billy Red Cloud – Tim Woods beat Danny Plechas
1968
Chicago, Illinois: – Verne Gagne beat Blackjack Lanza by countout – Dick the Bruiser & the Crusher beat Larry Hennig & Harley Race – Edouard Carpentier beat Mitsu Arakawa – Bill Watts beat Mike Riker – Pampero Firpo beat Fernando Stampos
1972
Kansas City, Kansas: (Thanksgiving show) – Rufus R. Jones defeated Juan Sebastian – Les Thornton defeated Hans Schmidt via DQ – The Destroyer defeated Bobby Whitlock – Harley Race fought Black Angus to a double-CO – Black Angus won a 17-man Battle Royal
1978
Minneapolis, Minnesota: – Non title: Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat AWA Tag Team Champions Pat Patterson & Ray Stevens – Super Destroyer Mark II beat Billy Robinson – Bobby Duncum beat Paul Ellering – Steve Olsonoski beat Cecil DuBois dq – Iron Sheik beat Kenny Jay
1981
New York, New York: – Pedro Morales defeated Magnificent Muraco to win the WWF Intercontinental Title
1994
San Antonio, Texas: – Bob Backlund defeated Bret Hart to win the WWF World Heavyweight Title – The Undertaker defeated Yokozuna in a Casket Match
1996
Memphis, Tennessee: – Steven Dunn & Flash Flanagan defeated The Grimm Twins (Ron & Don Harris) to win the USWA Tag Team Titles
1997
Auburn Hills, Michigan: – WCW Cruiserweight Champion Eddie Guerrero defeated Rey Mysterio, Jr – WCW United States Champion Curt Hennig defeated Ric Flair – Scott Hall won the three ring, 60-man World War 3 battle royal
2008
Boston, Massachusetts: – Edge defeated Triple H and Vladimir Kozlov to win the WWE Title – John Cena defeated Chris Jericho to win the WWE World Title
2014
St. Louis, Missouri: – Nikki Bella defeated AJ Lee to win the Divas Title – Team Cena defeated Team Authority – The Miz and Damien Mizdow defeated The Usos, Goldust & Stardust and Los Matadores to win the WWE Tag Team Titles
Ring of Honor announced on Monday that they will be bringing in stars from New Japan Pro Wrestling for their first PPV event of 2016, their 14th anniversary show, as well as for television tapings the next day.
Both the 2/26 PPV and the 2/27 taping for four weeks of TV will be held at Sam’s Town Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV. The weekend is timed to take place between New Japan tours so the top stars will be available, ensuring they’ll be on several weeks of ROH TV.
The first name publicly announced is New Japan’s most charismatic wrestler, current IC champion Shinsuke Nakamura with other names to be announces soon.
Just last week, ROH announced their move to Comet TV, a Sinclair-owned science fiction station that is available in some form or fashion in 65 million homes. The company’s final show on Destination America will be this Wednesday at 11 PM EST.
On Monday, TNA announced its next round of television tapings: five straight days in Bethlehem, PA, at The Sands Bethlehem Events Center, a building TNA has taped at in the past.
Announced for the tapings are Kurt Angle, Matt & Jeff Hardy, Bobby Lashley, Ethan Carter III, Drew Galloway, Bobby Roode, Gail Kim and Tigre Uno.
The tapings will start with a live show on 1/5 that will serve as the debut episode of Impact on Pop TV. It’s more likely the show will be semi-live as previously advertised live shows over the past year plus have actually been same day tapings delayed by two hours.
They will also be taping every day through 1/9. Between these tapings and scheduled tapings in the U.K. at the end of January, the promotion should be covered for all television for the first quarter of 2016.
There will be an Internet pre-sale starting at 10 a.m. on Wednesday through Thursday at 10 p.m. TNA will be announcing a code for tickets shortly. Tickets will go on sale on Friday at 10 a.m. to the public at Ticketmaster or at 800-745-3000.
Jack cut a heel promo on the crowd before the match started where he called himself “The Dragon Slayer”. Midway through, Drago appeared on one of the corner platforms wearing a dragon skull and taunting Jack with nunchucks. Finish saw Drago come down and try to spit mist at Jack, but ended up hitting PJ which led to a rollup.
King Cuerno defeated Killshot
They messed up a move on the apron but it didn’t take much away from the match. Cuerno kept beating on Killshot afterwards until Fenix came out for the save
Chavo Guerrero, Mr Cisco, & Cortez Castro defeated El Texano Jr in a gauntlet match
Cisco is eliminated within 10 seconds after a kick to the face, Castro put up more of a fight in that it took just 2 minutes to beat him. Most of the match was Chavo/Texano with Cortez using Texano’s rope to trip him and hold his feet down for the cover
Johnny Mundo defeated Cage
A woman came out to distract Cage but I could not identify her (Blonde hair, similar attire to Asuka). After the match, both of them beat down and taunted Cage. Good match
Wednesday, March 2nd:
Cobra ??? (Last name sounded like Moon) defeated Sexy Star via submission
Cobra made her debut and looked to be Cheerleader Melissa under a blue snakeskin bodysuit (If it helps, she had a tiki tattoo on the back of her neck). The Mack came out to cheer Sexy on and Marty the Moth was in the stands near the end to distract Sexy. Cobra won with a rear naked choke and did some hissing towards Marty, clearly some type of relationship between them.
Prince Puma vs Pentagon Jr went to a no contest
Nice back & forth matchup until Mil Muertes ran 5 minutes into the match and beat both of them out. Mil left both laying with a double flatliner
Fenix defeated King Cuerno in a ladder match to regain the Gift of the Gods title
Awesome ladder match which saw them fight in the stands and in the floor seats. Match ended with Fenix giving Cuerno a top-rope hurricanrana through a table, then grabbing the title. The tapings ended with a staredown between Mil Muertes from his throne and Fenix on the ladder.
Here are night two results of the World Tag League, held Saturday in Toyohashi:
Mascara Dorada, Yohei Komatsu and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Sho Tanaka, Kushida and Tiger Mask. Kushida and Mascara Dorada had some good back and forth. In the entire year Dorada has been here I’m stunned they never had a singles match outside of the Best of the Super Juniors, which felt way too short. Seemed like such a natural program. As for the match, it was the usual solid bout you’d see in any house show prelim match. Dorada pinned Tanaka with the Dorada Screwdriver.
The Addiction defeated Jay White and Katsuyori Shibata. This was a strange pairing. Of course, Shibata was here for the hot tag once the heels were finished taking out White. White did the corner dropkick and Shibata tried for the penalty kick but was taken out to the apron. White was laid out with a high flow, then Kazarian pinned him after they hit Rehab.
The Kingdom and Gedo defeated Cody Hall, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson. They’re still doing the gimmick where Anderson is infatuated with Maria. That was fun when they feuded months ago, but now it just feels stale and redundant, especially when you remember they did the blow off where Anderson laid out Maria anyway. So this was just a match until they built up to a spot Basically just a back and forth match. They built up a spot where Anderson chased Maria into the ring while Hall had Bennett in the Razor’s Edge but Taven came back and made the save for her. With him out of the way, Bennett then pinned Hall after a spike piledriver.
Evil and Tetsuya Naito defeated Captain New Japan and Hirooki Goto. Not that interesting. Hirooki Goto worked a lot of the match, then tagged in CNJ who did his usual shtick. Bushi grabbed him by the leg as he hit the ropes. Naito gave him an enzuigiri then Evil pinned him with an STO.
A Block: Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi vs. Tomoaki Honma and Togi Makabe
This was actually very good in places, especially whenever Honma and Nagata were in the ring. They have terrific chemistry and the crowd ate up their back and forth. Nakanishi was his usual immobile self and at one point even tripped getting into the ring. People laughed at him and it was kinda sad. Honma at one point kicked out of a head chop off the top rope/kick to the back of the head by Nagata in a cool spot. Nagata eventually pinned Honma after a backdrop hold.
B Block: AJ Styles and Yujiro Takahashi vs. Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan
A good match. Not a lot to it, just some back and forth. AJ worked hard whenever he was in the ring with either member of Tencozy. At one point he was going for the Styles Clash on Tenzan but countered with the 3D. They eventually score the win, pinning Yujiro after a lariat by Kojima.
A Block: Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi Hashi vs. Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga
Another solid match, but not a ton to it either. Okada worked a lot of the match against both Fale and Tonga. They were going for a double move when Yoshi Hashi made a comeback, and together they took out Fale and Tonga. With Fale distracted on the outside, Okada pins Tonga after a rainmaker.
Michael Elgin, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Juice Robinson vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano
Decent house show main event, nothing more or less. It was basically a match where everyone got their spots in, looked good, and left the crowd happy. Elgin and Ishii worked a lot of the watch together, which the crowd was super into. Robinson and Nakamura worked against one another two; went pretty well with Robinson holding his own. Nakamura got the win for his team, winning after a big splash by Ishii followed the boma ye on Robinson.
Friday’s show is part two of our look at the New Begining events, taking place February 11, 2015 in Osaka.
Hiroshi Tanahashi is here to talk about his IWGP title match against AJ Styles. He says that he’d give AJ as many title shots as possible until he’s satisfied. Talks about how they first faced off in TNA back in 2005 and while he was a top fighter then, he doesn’t have the sexiness he has now. I see. Says that all of this was probably meant to be.
The match aired. The large part of the match was decent. Everything looked good and was executed well but nothing to particularly write home about. Like every big Bullet Club match, most of the Bullet Club roster was out there. Here’s a “if only this was real” moment: why can’t the ref just throw them out before the match begins? There’s been a precedent of them interfering over and over and over. There has to be some storyline reason why the Bullet Club (which at this point is a good chunk of the New Japan gaijin roster) is out there in full force.
Anyway, this was a perfectly fine technical match for the most part. Tanahashi got busted open after doing a high fly flow, hitting his head against Matt Jackson’s. I missed how this happened live, but thankfully Josh Barnett pointed it out and they showed replays. He got busted open hard way, ouch. Things picked up after that. Tanahashi went for AJ’s leg and AJ tried to free himself by jumping, but in mid air Tanahashi countered with a dragon screw in a really cool move. After a Ganso bomb, AJ hit the Bloody Sunday DDT and pinned Tanahashi after the Styles Clash to become IWGP champion once again. A fine world title match, but these two have had better. I don’t know what it was about this match. Nothing was bad and it was mostly good, but nowhere near the same levels of their previous matches in terms of intensity. Something was just missing – maybe the crowd, or a slower build than other world title matches, but something here was just lacking.
No comment from Tanahashi after the match as he was taken quickly to the back.
Karl Anderson spent a good chunk of the last ten minutes or so introducing the Bullet Club one by one. In a backstage press conference, AJ and Kenny Omega say that now that they have all the titles, the only logical thing to do is to take over the world.
Tanahashi talks about how after the bump that busted him open, the blood seeped into his contact lenses and for the rest of the match he had bloody vision. That doesn’t sound fun in the least bit. He said this road will lead him to the New Japan Cup, and that there will be other chances to claim the belt once again.
A fine show this week. Not a blockbuster by any means, but the show did a good job in advancing the story of the IWGP title this year.
As word of a possible target from ISIS started circulating Saturday morning, WWE is undeterred about putting on Survivor Series Sunday in Atlanta, GA.
A publication called the International Business Times cited the online group known as Anonymous as discovering the Philips Arena and Sunday’s Survivor Series as one of several possible worldwide ISIS threats that day.
PW Insider posted a short statement WWE made to them regarding the possiblity of postponing the event: “WWE Survivor Series is currently scheduled as planned while we investigate the matter with federal, state and local authorities.”
Local FBI authorities told an Atlanta TV station that they are taking the threat seriously, but do not have “specific or credible information of an attack at this time.” Local reporter Mark Winne has been tweeting updates today.
As of now, the event is scheduled as planned with the finals of the WWE World title tournament featuring Roman Reigns vs. Alberto Del Rio and Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens in the semifinals.
After the events of last week’s UFC 193, it’s hard to think anything on this show will top what we saw in the main event. The TUF Latin America finals show does feature some interesting names and, on paper at least, has “fun card!’ potential, especially the top three fights.
Our panel:
– Jack Encarnacao (98-39 | .715): Sherdog Rewind host, The Lapsed Fan podcast co-chair
– Josh Nason (81-56 | .591): Wrestling Observer digital media and content guy, WON Twitter enabler
*****
> Neil Magny (16-4) vs. Kelvin Gastelum (11-1) Welterweights
This is a much-different fight than the one we originally had with Gastelum and Matt Brown, out to due to an injury. However, while Magny doesn’t have marquee value, he is a surprise story at 170 pounds, having won eight of his last nine. After a Demien Maia loss derailed a seven-fight win streak, he looked great in beating Erick Silva via decision earlier this year. He’s a solid fighter and a live dog in this one.
The big story here is Gastelum who did make weight (hooray!) and could be the next big force at welterweight if he can keep making weight and keep winning. The good news is the 24-year-old has youth on his side, and has plenty of time to work things out. This is his first true fight at 170 in a year as he missed weight against Tyron Woodley (loss) and fought at 185 against Nate Marquardt (win).
> Ricardo Lamas (15-4) vs. Diego Sanchez (25-7) Featherweights
The 33-year-old Lamas is coming off a first-round TKO defeat at the hands of Chad Mendes, snapping a two-fight win streak. He’s caught in a tough position — not good enough to beat the top stars but good enough to beat the rest of the top 10. A winner of six of his last eight, he is a big favorite going into this interesting co-main event.
Also 33, Sanchez’s fight mileage has taken more of a toll on his body than it has for Lamas. About to fight in his fourth weight class in a UFC career that started more than 10 years ago, he’s fought sparingly in the last five years with just six fights. This is the first time we’ve seen him this year due to recovery from a broken collarbone. Every fight could be his last, so enjoy him while you can.
> Jussier Formiga (18-3) vs. Henry Cejudo (9-0) Flyweights
Many people, including Caplan, believe this is THE fight to see on this show and it’s hard to disagree. Cejudo is the anointed next great challenger for Demetrious Johnson which, unfortunately, should be something we see in 2017 as opposed to 2016 as Cejudo is still baking as a UFC fighter. The undefeated double-Olympic gold medalist is 3-0 in the Octagon with three decision wins, but hasn’t had that singular UFC standout moment…yet.
The 30-year-old Formiga is a formidable test, a battle-tested veteran who has found his footing with three straight wins after a 1-2 start. Those three wins: Scott Jorgenson, Zach Makovsky, and Wilson Reis. If there’s anyone that can derail Cejudo on his way to the title, it’s Formiga, and it’s hard not to imagine him getting a title shot if he does.
> Efrain Escudero (24-9) vs. Leandro Silva (18-2-1-1) Lightweights
Now in his third Octagon stint, the past TUF winner has picked up two straight wins in 2015 and was last seen submitting Drew Dober in just 54 seconds. The 30-year-old Silva is in his second UFC stint is 2-1-1 in his last four — one of those who controversially “submitted” Dober earlier this year.
> Erik Perez (14-6) vs. Taylor Lapilus (10-1) Bantamweights
After three straight wins, Perez was once the rising prospect UFC was trying to push as a Mexican star. A loser of two of his last three, he finds himself in the middle of the division trying to find his place. The 23-year-old French Lapilus has won five straight, and will likely have emotion on his side as a Paris native. He’s 2-0 in the Octagon after making his UFC debut this year.
Its been a few weeks since we’ve had Divas action on Superstars. The Divas revolution has meant that, much to many a dismay, they’ve front-loaded Raw with this sort of stuff. And actually, this wasn’t half bad. They start off with a wristlock exchange. Naomi athletically reverses and takes Brie to her knees. Brie flips out of the hold and uses a fireman’s carry into a wristlock on the mat. She then uses her Daniel Bryan tribute kicks, but finally gets caught by Naomi and is single-legged to the mat.
Naomi runs into an elbow and then Brie goes up top. Naomi pulls her off and covers her for two. Naomi then takes over with stomps on Brie and uses a guillotine slingshot on the bottom rope into a cover for two. Naomi puts on a rear chin lock and keeps her down with knees to the back. Keeping the lock on, she uses a running bulldog into the turnbuckle but Naomi then misses the split-leg moonsault.
Brie gets the heat with forearms and clotheslines and goes up to the second rope and hits a missile drop kick. She fights off Tamina, but runs into an enzugiri. Brie uses those Daniel Bryans kicks again but runs into a high knee and gets covered for two. Naomi then misses the Rear View and Brie is able to use the Bella Buster for the win.
Titus O’Neil (w/Darren Young) beat Bo Dallas (6:05)
Dallas comes out for a promo. He tells Titus not to be so depressed for being eliminated from the WWE World Championship tournament. Dallas says the WWE Universe thinks he wasted his opportunity and that they think he should have had his spot, telling him to Bo-lieve.
They lock up and Dallas is thrown off. Then Dallas goes for a headlock, but is again thrown off. Dallas gets in a kick to the gut and capitalizes with clubbing blows and punches to the corner. Titus gets angry and turns things around with huge open palm chops. Dallas goes for a walk, which turns into a victory lap. He runs into Young on the outside and Dallas tells him to move. Young ducks a clothesline and O’Neil rolls out to clobber him with a clothesline of his own. We head to a break.
O’Neil scoop slams Dallas as we return and then applies a chin lock. Dallas works out but is scoop slammed again. Dallas hits a neckbreaker and then clubs O’Neil to the back of the neck with a running forearm. He clotheslines Titus for two and then puts the rear chin lock back on. O’Neil works his way out and slings Dallas hard into the turnbuckle. O’Neil gets the heat with clotheslines and a big boot. He throws Dallas across the ring and whips up some support from a very receptive and willing crowd and then hits a Stinger Splash. With Dallas in the middle of the ring, O’Neil hits the Clash of the Titus for the win.
Minneapolis, Minnesota: – Reggie Parks drew AWA Champion Mad Dog Vachon – Larry Hennig & Harley Race beat Mighty Igor Vodik & Ivan Kalmikoff – Eddie Sharkey drew Bob Boyer – Jack Lanza beat George Drake
1966
Melbourne, Australia; – Ray Stevens and Art Nelson defeated George & Sandy Scott for the IWA Tag Team Titles
1970
Amarillo, Texas: – Dory Funk Jr. defeated Thunderbolt Patterson for the Southwest Brass Knux Title
1974
Tokyo, Japan: – AWA Champion Verne Gagne double countout Billy Robinson – Great Kusatsu & Kimura beat Ray Stevens & Buddy Wolff – Mighty Inoue beat Nick Bockwinkel in 2 out of 3 falls
1977
Toronto, Ontario, Canada: – WWWF Champion Billy Graham beat Stan Stasiak – AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Edouard Carpentier – Black Jack Lanza & Bobby Duncum beat AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell dq – Verne Gagne beat El Santos
1988
Memphis, Tennessee: – AWA Champion Jerry Lawler beat Pit Viper – Loser Leaves Town, Jimmy Golden & Robert Fuller beat Cactus Jack & Gary Young – Sid Vicious beat Bill Dundee dq – Jeff Jarrett beat Buddy Landell – CWA Champion Brian Lee beat Mike Miller – RPMs beat Scott Steiner & Brickhouse Brown
1990
Rochester, New York: – Curt Hennig defeated Kerry Von Erich to win the WWF Intercontinental title
Jacksonville, Florida: – Ric Flair defeated Butch Reed – The Freebirds (Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin) defeated The Southern Boys (Tracey Smothers & Steve Armstrong
2000
Augusta, Georgia: – Chuck Palumbo & Sean Stasiak defeated Elix Skipper (subbing for an injured General Rection) & Alex Wright for the WCW World Tag Team Title
2002
Nashville, Tennessee: – Jeff Jarrett defeated Ron Killings for the NWA World Heavyweight Title
2011
New York City: – WWE Champion CM Punk defeated Alberto Del Rio to retain the title – The Rock and John Cena defeated Miz and R Truth
