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  • WWE Houston, TX, results: Brock Lesnar vs. Sheamus; Lana returns

    Submitted By Juan Cantu Jr.

    – Chris Jericho def. US Champion Alberto del Rio in a non-title match

    The night started out with the announcer informing the crowd that John Cena is injured and will not be at the show tonight. Alberto Del Rio then interrupted her and made his way to the ring. He talked for a while, the lights go out and Y2J’s music hits. He cuts a promo about Houston wrestling and their fans’ legacy. Jericho challeges Del Rio to a match. Del Rio talks his trash and tries to walk away by chest slapping Jericho. Match begins, back and forth, a little slow at times. Y2J comes out victorious after kicking out of repeated submissions. ADR missed his finisher, Y2J hits the Code Breaker and it’s over.

    – Titus O’Neil beat Stardust

    Before the match, crowd starts to chant ‘Cody Rhodes’. Stardust tries to out power Titus with chest chops but that didn’t work.  Stardust attacks the leg of Titus. Stardust goes for top rope move, but Titus catches and tosses him. Titus hits a boot to the head, setting up the train to the corner. Stardust stumbles out of the corner into the finishing move and that’s a three count for Titus.

    – Ryback def. Rusev (w/Lana)

    Pre-match promo with Lana talking trash about Houston sports and says the Dallas Cowboys are better than all of Houston. Lana claims Rusev will be next Heavyweight Champion. Rusev snatches the mic and claims that he hates American football, but if he had a team, it would be the Dallas Cowboys. Ryback’s music hits to a large pop. Strength vs. strength early. Cheap shot by Rusev when tied in the ropes when Ryback tries to break cleanly. Rusev gains upper hand. Rusev antagonizing the crowd by waving flag.  Rusev hands flag off to Lana and walks into a belly to belly suplex. Each trying to suplex the other back and forth with a show of strength. Finally Ryback tosses him up and over. Ryback sets up for Meat Hook and hits it.  He attempts a shell shock but Lana jumps on apron.  Distraction worked, and Rusev takes advantage by kicking him in the head. He locks the submission on Ryback, but fights through it. Rusev goes for the splash and misses. Ryback pops up, hits a power bomb and the big guy gets the pin.

    – R-Truth def. Heath Slater

    Dance off before the match until Slater cheapshots Truth. Action on the outside. Slater tries for the pin and grabs the middle rope for leverage, but ref breaks it up. That leads to Truth rolling him up for the pin. 

    – Los Matadores vs. Kalisto and El Torito

    Crowd going nuts for Kalisto. Matadores want Torito in there, and he puts on a show for the crowd. Matadores get the upper hand and beat up Torito. Kalisto finally gets tagged in and runs wild. Kalisto hit his finisher for the pin and win.

    – Sheamus vs. Brock Lesnar (w/Paul Heyman)

    Both are in the ring for intros. Paul takes mic from the ring announcer and begins to introduce Lesnar. They tie up and Lesnar hits a belly to back as the crowd chants “Suplex City.” Sheamus retreats. A few uppercuts from Sheamus, he reverses to the corner, Lesnar stops and pounds him, hitting a suplex on Sheamus. Action spills outside and Lesnar is thrown into the stairs and then back in. Sheamus chops Lesnar, but Brock is no selling it and suplexes Sheamus. Sheamus regains the advantage for a few near falls. Lesnar then hits back to back suplexes. Sheamus retreats and heads to the top, but Lesnar catches him for another suplex. Sheamus hits a brogue kick and goes for the pin, but he kicks out. Sheamus gets suplexed several times and gets hit with the F5 for the pin.

    Intermission

    – Houston will host Smackdown on the Tuesday after Wrestlemania. 

    – Kevin Owens does a video promo challenging Dean Ambrose later on in the night. The ring announcer explains it will be a street fight.

    – Brie Bella vs. Tamina (w/Alicia Fox) with Summer Rae as special ref

    Very slow match. The end came when Tamina and Summer were getting into it and Brie hit a suplex to get the win. Usual “We want Sasha” chants.

    – Video promo by Ambrose accepting Owens’ challenge.

    – Tyler Breeze vs. Dolph Ziggler

    Tyler was using the selfie stick, but it freezes up a couple of times on the big screen, then we get an error for ‘poor connection’. The crowd laughed. Usual good match with plenty of offense from both guys. Several near falls back and forth near the end. Breeze was thrown into the ropes and Ziggler hit a superkick to end it.

    – IC Champion Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens street fight

    Ambrose enters with kendo sticks in each hand. Fight starts off both men outside of the ring beating on another. Action spilled outside the ring and back into the ring and back outside several times. Lots of chair shows and a “we want tables” chant breaks out. Ambrose goes for the table, but Owens rolls him up for two to prevent it. Eventually, Ambrose set the table up, but got powerbombed through it. Owens goes for the pop-up powerbomb and Ambrose countered it by flipping Owens over. Ambrose hits Dirty Deeds on the shattered table for the clean win.

  • WWE NXT Breaking Ground Episode 10: Respect; Breeze called up

    Breaking Ground Episode 10: Respect

    Key Takeaway: The first season of Breaking Ground caps off with a really strong episode focusing on the NXT performers at TakeOver: Respect.

    Show Recap: In terms of a single episode, this edition worked better than any other episode of this season, and arguably works entirely on its own as a backgrounder on the NXT performers. Last week left off with fans beginning to line up outside Full Sail University for TakeOver: Respect. From there, we branch off into several parallel paths:

    Jason Jordan and Chad Gable: Gable and Jordan talk about the importance of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic – we get a nice video package explaining Dusty’s death and legacy – and then shift to the excitement of them getting to wrestle on their first TakeOver event. They lose to Baron Corbin and Rhyno, but afterwards get a lot of praise backstage for their performance and view the experience as something to build on.

    Baron Corbin: Before the show, Corbin and Tino Sabbatelli have a nice chat about their shared background as NFL players. Corbin notes how he came in and people didn’t like him because he didn’t come from the indies or pay his dues, but he worked hard and got to the top – basically saying that he hopes Sabbatelli can do that, too. Anyway, Corbin and Rhyno beat Jordan and Gable, then lose to Samoa Joe and Finn Balor in the finals. (There’s a really cool segment with Stephanie and Triple H looking at the trophy and talking about the presentation of the trophy with Cody and Dustin Rhodes before the show.) After the match, we get Cody’s speech and then see Corbin backstage, a bit gutted that a trophy was being presented and he wasn’t part of it. The guy is competitive.

    Dana Brooke: Dana’s mom visits before the show and helps her prepare for the show. She and her mom visit with Tara, the NXT physical therapist, who explains the injury is a pectoral tear and she can work through it. Dana guts out the match with Asuka and does really well, getting praise backstage.

    Apollo Crews: Before the show, Triple H and Apollo talk about a new finisher for him. He has a match with Tyler Breeze, who he repeatedly puts over in interviews, and beats him with his new finisher – which is basically a back suplex spun into a power-bomb. It looks cool.

    Bayley: The show caps off with highlights from the Bayley/Sasha Iron Man Match, which is edited to look like the most epic match in history. Afterwards Bayley and Sasha get flowers and hug and it’s all very nice and emotional.

    After the show, Triple H has a meeting with the agents and producers and praises the show, noting they basically made four acts into stars (Apollo Crews, Dana Brooke, Asuka, and Jason Jordan and Chad Gable) in one show, one of which was somebody who lost. Then he heads to the all-talent meeting, where he praises the talent and says that Dusty would be proud of all of them. Then he calls Tyler Breeze down to the front of the meeting and announces that Breeze has been called up to the main roster, leading to a standing ovation from the assembled NXT talent.

    The episode ends with a montage of updates on how everyone’s doing now: Dana had pectoral surgery and is rehabbing. Apollo and Corbin are still in NXT and working on their promo skills. Jordan and Gable are one of NXT’s most popular teams and might get called up soon. Sami Zayn returned to action on the European tour. Bayley is still NXT women’s champion and beat Nia Jax in London to retain the title in a match Jax dominated. Bayley hopes to get her call-up soon. Tino, ZZ and the others are still working hard at the Performance Center to pursue their WWE dreams. Tyler Breeze made his debut on the main roster, with the last image shown on Breaking Ground being Breeze coming through the curtain and facing the crowd as Michael Cole and JBL react to his entrance on commentary.

    Final Thoughts: This episode was good enough to make me wonder why they spent nine episodes spinning their wheels to get here. It was really focused and somewhat resembled the superb WWE 24 series, which tended to focus on a single event and drill down into the events surrounding it. The emphasis on the importance of the TakeOver events as a means of getting to the main roster really helped make this episode seem really important. The focus on the handful of NXT stars that we’ve gotten to know and care about – rather than random people like Josh, Nhooph or ZZ – really made the episode feel important rather than something crammed with random segments to fill the time. It’d be great if every episode was this focused next season, because then the show could be something special.

  • Can WWE grow their own talent to be stars anymore?

    Once Upon A Time, in a Business Far, Far, Far Away…the idea that Vince McMahon could push main eventers who had never experienced success outside of the WWF was absurd given how aggressively they had poached the biggest and the best pro wrestlers from rival promotions. Indeed, with only two exceptions, the WWF did not own the exclusive rights to their champion’s gimmick until “Stone Cold” Steve Austin won the title in 1998.  

    Even then, at a time when McMahon’s main even roster was arguably at its weakest, it was still focused on guys such as Mick Foley and Austin who had won championships in WCW. Even The Undertaker had a notable run in WCW as part of The Skyscrapers. But Triple-H and The Rock were different; the former had achieved nothing during a short-stay in Atlanta whilst the latter didn’t even get that far south after leaving the Canadian Football League. Instead, they were WWF-lifers, men who debuted to much fanfare, suffered a vicious yet deserved backlash, only to finally grow into the shoes they had been given upon entering the Titanverse.

    It’s a journey that most of WWE’s late Attitude era draws have trodden. Whether it’s John Cena, Randy Orton, Dave Batista or Edge, they are all were similarly devoid of pro wrestling accomplishments away from the McMahons, and were all strongly pushed upon their debut only to temporarily falter due to the promotion and performer having failed to perfect their persona away from the main stage. Yet, they all eventually achieved real success after tweaking their characters.

    It has been more than a decade since the promotion has found the same success in ‘hothousing’ talent in this way. Whether that’s due to the developmental system not recruiting the right performers or creative not letting talent grow into more marketable personas is up for debate. What cannot be argued is that the inability of WWE to grow its own superstars has had the most profound impact on the product they present.

    The careers of CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose are all evidence of how the WWE has been forced to reach into the very same independent scene they used to dismiss to find the next generation of superstars. Still, at least, the promotion was able to console itself with the fact that these men all needed the McMahon Family to get them to the big stage. After all, without the WWE, they wouldn’t be performing in arena shows or on national television.

    Indeed, it seemed that this became WWE management’s collective egos’ Maginot Line; anybody could be hired provided they had no national television exposure and weren’t so infamous that WWE couldn’t remould them. Kevin Owens was the first to hint that this defence was creaking. Sure, he was given a slightly different name but he was essentially playing the same character as he had in Ring of Honor. Worse, he had appeared extensively on ROH syndicated television and had even had his own action figure produced.

    But that was nothing compared to this week’s news that A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura are on their way to WWE. While both men are just as revered by smart fans as the ‘indie darlings’ that WWE has been busily signing to NXT in recent years, they have far more tenure in “mainstream” pro wrestling.

    Styles was not just regularly featured on Spike TV rom 2005 to 2014, but was the TNA champion during the period Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan tried to turbocharge TNA to new heights. A show Styles appeared on as champion was watched (at one point) by more than 3 million people. His merchandise includes action figures, t-shirts, DVDs and video games. He’s wrestled all over the world, and so while the WWE could insist on renaming him, it would likely hold them up to ridicule and lessen the impact of his debut.

    Styles has also been the highest profile foreign star in New Japan Pro-Wrestling for the past two years. However, his impact there has been nothing like that of Shinsuke Nakamura. An art-college vision of bad-ass, he is easily the flashiest character and most dynamic performer in New Japan’s main event scene. Not even Sting could boast having headlined a show with as high a paid attendance as Wrestle Kingdom 8, where Nakamura’s Intercontinental Title defence went on last in front of more than 30,000 people.

    To underline how significant a change in WWE’s recruitment policies these signings are, consider this. The last person to be recruited by WWE having successfully drawn more than 10,000 buys on pay per view for a rival pro wrestling promotion within a year of their debut was probably Hulk Hogan in 2002! Other than the ill-fated Mistico, WWE has simply not recruited anybody with the success or profile of either Styles or Nakamura since they cemented their dominant market position.

    And the reason they are doing so is not because they want to, but because they’ve finally acknowledged that they can’t grow their own talent. That they are being forced to face up to his failure does raise questions about what the millions of dollars being invested into NXT are actually achieving.

  • January 11, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Cena out with shoulder injury, New Japan stars to WWE

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  • WWE Smackdown results: two title matches highlight USA Network, Mauro Ranallo debut

    – Air Date: January 7, 2015 (Jan 6 in Canada)
    – Location: Laredo Energy Arena in Laredo, TX

    The Big News:

    Charlotte and Dean Ambrose are still champions and Smackdown is the same as it ever was.

    Show Recap:

    The show started with a recap from Raw, including a zoom-in on Sad Roman. Smackdown has the same crappy theme music as before and the intro, for now, includes John Cena. Byron Saxton welcomed everyone to Smackdown and Jerry Lawler plugged the two title matches. Lawler introduced the TV audience to Mauro Ranallo who called this a dream come true.

    John Cena came out and welcomed everyone to the first Smackdown of 2016. Cena also plugged the two title matches but said we were missing our “U.S.A” champion. He said it was a new year and new network, so he thought Alberto Del Rio deserved a fresh start. Cena called out Del Rio, giving him out hell of an introduction.

    Del Rio told Cena to save it because he knew that “Juan” was trying to weasel his way into a title shot that he doesn’t deserve. Cena tried to get the Laredo crowd to goad Del Rio into defending the title but he told Cena to shut up in Spanish and said he would not defend the title. Del Rio challenged anyone besides Cena to a non-title match.

    Cena said someone in particular deserved a chance, and he called out Kalisto. Kalisto grabbed the mic from Del Rio and said he would beat him right now. Kalisto sent him out of the ring and a referee jumped in to start the match.

    Non-Title: Kalisto (w/John Cena) beat U.S. Champion Alberto Del Rio via pinfall

    Lawler made sure to point out that Del Rio had to bend over to hit a clothesline on Kalisto. After Kalisto spilled to the outside, Del Rio went after him and did the “you can’t see me” gesture to Cena. Cena was offended and took off his shirt. This resulted in dueling Cena chants.

    Del Rio got ready for the armbar but distracted himself by taunting Cena. Del Rio eventually went for the armbar but Kalisto reversed into a hurricanrana for the sudden pinfall win. Considering the location, I don’t think this got the reaction they wanted. Although, the crowd was quiet most of the show. John Cena’s last appearance on WWE TV for a long while will be as a cheerleader for Kalisto.

    Backstage, Becky Lynch told Jo-Jo that Charlotte was not her best friend anymore. She doesn’t want an explanation for what Charlotte did, she just wants vindication and will take the title from her.

    Up next was an awful segment. The Miz hosted MizTV and reminded everyone that the WWE Title will be defended in the Royal Rumble match. New Day interrupted. People usually pop when Big E does the introduction but they didn’t here. Xavier Woods accused Chris Jericho of stealing his light-up jacket idea and said The New Day party like it’s 2016, not 1999.

    Dolph Ziggler, with straight hair, came out next. Before he could really say anything, he was interrupted by Goldust, who threatened to give them all golden globes. Neville came out next and said Miz could borrow his accent or Slammy if he wants, as long as he promises to cancel MizTV and never talk again.

    R-Truth came out and said if anyone was going to accept Del Rio’s open challenge it would be him. Miz corrected him and Truth said “my bad.” Miz made a bad joke and New Day laughed. Truth punched Miz with the mic and the other good guys sent Kingston and Big E out of the ring. Woods was left alone so Neville kicked him out of the ring too. It’s hard to describe just how bad this segment was. Even worse, it was designed to push the Rumble, which has its highest stakes in years, but was just a joke.

    8-Man Tag Match: Dolph Ziggler, Neville, Goldust & R-Truth beat The Miz & New Day via pinfall

    The heels worked over Neville until he tagged in Ziggler, who ran wild on Miz and hit a Fameasser. Kingston broke up the cover, so Goldust gave him a powerslam, Truth sent Big E out of the ring, and Neville took out the entire New Day with a dive. This left Miz alone, so Goldust and Truth tossed him into Ziggler who hit a superkick for the win. Nothing match.  

    Immediately afterwards, Ziggler superkicked Truth and tossed Goldust over the top. This wasn’t a heel turn. Ziggler told Goldust “sorry,” it’s every man for himself at the Rumble. As this was all happening, Neville just sorta slunk away. This was all bad.

    Backstage, Ric Flair told Jo-Jo that Lynch was leeching off Charlotte. Charlotte said her and her father act like champions, and Lynch has never been champion. Flair said woo.

    Lawler told Ranallo that he name was hard to pronounce and asked if he could call him “M.R.” like he did with J.R. Ranallo seemed fine with this. Lawler then cackled when he realized that Byron Saxton was “B.S.” That part was pretty funny.

    WWE Divas Championship: Charlotte (w/Ric Flair) beat Becky Lynch via pinfall

    Ranallo said he has called big fights and this one has a big fight feel. He also mentioned calling Lynch’s matches in British Columbia when she was 18 years old. Lawler dismissed her pre-WWE experience. Lynch had control early on and went after Charlotte outside the ring. However, Flair got in her way to act as a shield, allowing Charlotte to nail her with a sloppy big boot. The referee watched this all happen and didn’t do anything about it.

    The crowd rallied behind Lynch as Charlotte took control. Lynch came back with a clothesline, leg lariat, forearm and Exploder suplex for two. Charlotte responded with a neckbreaker and chops but Lynch ducked a big boot and hit another Exploder. Charlotte hit a spear and went for a Figure Eight, but Lynch countered into a small package for a near fall.

    Lynch applied the Disarmer but Flair put Charlotte’s feet on the rope. Charlotte tapped but it didn’t matter. As Lynch complained to the ref, Charlotte rolled her up with her feet on the rope for the win. Lynch was livid afterwards and the referee looked like an idiot. This match was alright. Went about 11-12 minutes. The crowd was quiet all show but they liked Becky Lynch.

    Backstage, Renee Young asked Kevin Owens for a minute of his time. Owens said she had a minute and made her hold up her watch so he could keep an eye on the time during the entire interview. Owens said Ambrose might be a cockroach, but he’s had to kill a lot of cockroaches in a lot of the terrible places he’s stayed at on his road to the top. Owens said he would take his title back tonight.

    They plugged that a Raw replay would air after a commercial break. Yes, Smackdown is still the B-show. The replay was 4 minutes long.

    They showed an interview with Roman Reigns from after Raw, where he said the McMahons were trying to burn him down, but they were just firing him up, and at the Rumble he would be the last man standing.

    Backstage, Dean Ambrose told Renee that Owens has put him through tables and into steel, but he’s adjusted just fine and was ready for fight.

    Intercontinental Championship: Dean Ambrose DCO Kevin Owens

    They went to commercial a minute into the match as Owens called Ranallo a moron. They fought to the outside and Ambrose tossed Owens into the barricade twice and did a Russian leg sweep into the barricade. Owens responded with a draping DDT back in the ring and they went to commercial again. During the break, Owens nailed a running cannonball into the barricade.

    Owens missed a senton and yelled “Shut up, new guy!” at Ranallo as he slowly got up. Ambrose made his comeback but Owens kicked out after a bulldog. Owens hit a German suplex but Ambrose responded with a tornado DDT off the ropes. Owens knocked Ambrose off the top and hit another cannonball for two. Ambrose countered a pop-up powerbomb into a hurricanrana, and hit a rebound clothesline after an Owens superkick for two. Ambrose hit a suicide dive and Owens went flying over the announce table.  

    They did a spot where Ambrose was supposed to back body drop Owens into the crowd, but Owens recognized that fans were standing way too close, so he countered and they tried again – this time Ambrose just whipped Owens over the barricade. Ambrose went after him in the crowd and the referee called for a double countout.

    They fought all the way to the stage and Ambrose sent Owens face-first into the giant WWE logo. Owens attacked Ambrose with a laptop and tried for a powerbomb but Ambrose did a back body drop on top some equipment boxes. They kept brawling, ending with Ambrose sending both men through a table. The referees checked on them as the show went off the air. I enjoyed the match but the finish was obviously a let down. The brawl was… fine.

    Final Thoughts:

    I wouldn’t call this show a disappointment because I wasn’t expecting much. It became clear leading up to this show that they’d already given up on trying to push Smackdown much more than usual. John Cena’s appearance was relatively insignificant and they announced two title matches knowing neither belt would change hands.

    Also, I don’t think Lawler is turning heel, but he was sort of in the JBL role tonight. He called Kalisto lucky for beating Del Rio, dismissed Lynch’s previous wrestling experience outside of WWE, and sided with McMahon in the Reigns storyline. If they want him to say stuff like that then go ahead and make him a full-fledged heel.

    Mauro Ranallo was good but he might suffocate in this environment.

  • John Cena likely out for Wrestlemania due to shoulder injury

    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.

  • Ratings disappointing for WWE RAW with no competition

    January 4th’s edition of WWE Monday Night Raw did what has to be considered a disappointing number given it was the first week since September that they were without any NFL competition.

    The show did 3.57 million viewers, even with the advertising of Roman Reigns defending the WWE title against Sheamus with Vince McMahon as referee. Worse, even with no football to blame, the second and third hours dropped from the second strongest first hour since April. The number is lower than what the show had been doing in the summer.

    The rating is almost identical to last week when Raw went against the highest rated NFL game of the season, and it’s usually normal to expect a 10 percent increase just based on no NFL competition alone. It is up from the football season average, but given the ratings the first two McMahon appearances drew, it was down from the first and the same as the second without the competition.

    Raw was the highest rated show on cable for the night, however, slightly ahead of The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News.

    The three hours were:

    • 8 p.m. 3.71 million viewers
    • 9 p.m. 3.52 million viewers
    • 10 p.m. 3.50 million viewers

  • Smackdown spoilers 1/5: Dean Ambrose vs Kevin Owens, Charlotte vs Becky Lynch

    Smackdown spoilers from tonight in Laredo for the first show on the USA Network Thursday night:

    The announcing team was Mauro Ranallo, Jerry Lawler and Byron Saxton.

    John Cena came out and issued a challenge to Alberto Del Rio for the U.S. title, coming off the finish of their Raw match last week.  Del Rio refused to give Cena another title match.

    Kalisto pinned Del Rio in a non-title match.  Said to be really good.

    The Miz had a Miz TV segment.  The New Day came out and they started complaining about Chris Jericho.  Dolph Ziggler then came out and was backed up by Goldust, R-Truth and Neville.

    This led to an eight-man tag where Ziggler & Goldust & R-Truth & Neville beat The New Day & Miz.

    Charlotte beat Becky Lynch to retain the Divas title due to outside help from her father.

    Dean Ambrose went to a double count out to retain the IC title in a match with Kevin Owens.

  • WOR 1/5: Raw report, New Japan stars to WWE update, more!

    Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer returns tonight with our second show of the day to talk tons of news including more on the New Japan stars likely heading to WWE, Raw from Monday with Vince McMahon working the main event as referee in Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus, TNA debuting on POP TV Tuesday, your questions and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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  • NJPW stars Nakamura, AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson headed to WWE

    In a surprise move Monday, former IWGP and TNA Champion AJ Styles, former IWGP Champion Shinsuke Nakamura, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson gave notice to New Japan Pro Wrestling and will be heading to WWE, discussed by Dave Meltzer on today’s Wrestling Observer Radio after news broke today on Court Bauer’s MLW Radio.

    The story goes is that the four went to Gedo, the current booker of NJPW, at this morning’s WrestleKingdom 10 event and said that they would be finishing up. It’s not known when any of these four will start with WWE, but it was said that Nakamura would not be leaving quickly. He is currently the IWGP Intercontinental champion, and it’s said to be a scenario opposite of current WWE U.S. Champion Alberto del Rio where he’ll most likely drop the title before leaving.

    Anderson was also apparently close to coming to TNA, but the story goes is that once the WWE deal came, things changed.

    In terms of contract situations, New Japan has a one year contract system that usually expires in January, so them giving notice coincides with that. Styles did not have a New Japan contract. 

    Nakamura, Anderson and Gallows are all expected to honor their Ring of Honor dates next month in Las Vegas. Dave also reported that AJ Styles was likely done with Ring of Honor going forward.

    Nakamura has been working with New Japan since his debut in 2002, rising up the NJPW ranks quickly, winning the IWGP championship one year after his debut. His popularity has skyrocketed in recent years, developing a more charismatic character and can be attributed to NJPW’s recent success. Styles had been working with New Japan since 2014, delivering a number of excellent performances, including one with Nakamura this morning. Anderson has been a part of New Japan since 2008, teaming with various people over the years including Giant Bernard (the former Albert/A-Train/Tensai, now head coach of NXT), Hirooki Goto and Doc Gallows, who started partnering with him in 2013.

    If there’s more news on this situation, it will be discussed on the late Monday edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.