Here’s some notes on Wednesday’s TV tapings, courtesy of Jacob Cohen
These shows should air on 6/28 and 7/5.
– Braxton Sutter won an X Division Battle Royal to earn an X Division title shot. Afterwards, Shane Helms’ crew beat him down.
– Mike Bennett (who is the X champion after winning it Tuesday night after the show that aired last night was over) demanded the title match right away. Bennett then beat Sutter.
– Bram beat Rosemary via DQ as he wouldn’t fight her. She attacked him. He went to defend himself, but Abyss & Crazzy Steve ran in and attacked him. Rosemary stopped them and then started consoling Bram.
– Matt Hardy was in a wheelchair because of his beating in the cage match from Sunday, but he wants one more match with Jeff Hardy, but said he needs six weeks to recover from the last match. He proposes the loser gives up the Hardy name. Jeff agreed to the match. Fans started a “Yes” chant and Jeff acknowledged Daniel Bryan. Reby Sky and Jeff were arguing. Matt recovered suddenly got out of the wheelchair and attacked Jeff.. Matt then said the match would be in one week, but it won’t be at the Impact Zone, it’ll be at the ring at his house.
– Grado & Mahabali Shera & Tyrus beat Al Snow & Basille Baraka & Baron Dax
– TNA Champion Bobby Lashley won a three-way over Drew Galloway and EC3 to retain after the champ pinned EC3.
– Mike Bennett wants a match with Lashley for the title. Dixie Carter is back from her leave of absence (that didn’t last long but in the angle it was only one week) and said Bennett was disrespecting the X division title. Eventually, it was agreed he can cash in the X title for an TNA title shot if he retains the title one more time in an Ultimate X match against everyone.
– Eddie Edwards won Ultimate X and took the title back.
– James Storm beat KOTM Champion Eli Drake via DQ.
– Jade beat Marty Bell in a street fight
– Mike Bennett & Maria did an interview talking about how he was robbed of the title. Maria wanted Dixie to come out. Billy Corgan came out. Maria said she should be the President of TNA and told Corgan that either Dixie goes or she goes. Dixie then came out and said she wasn’t leaving, so Maria can leave. Bennett said they will both leave unless he gets a title match. Corgan said they are acting like spoiled children, and that Bennett had a title shot in the palm of his hands but he ruined it by losing. Corgan told them if they don’t like it here, they can leave. Bennett refused to quit, but said he will ruin Destination X.
– Jessie Godderz’s magic iPad found Rosemary and Bram making out. History says that doesn’t end well.
– Bro Mans & Raquel beat Abyss & Steve & Rosemary
It’s announced that at Destination X (likely the 7/12 show), TNA Champion Lashley and X-Division Champion Edwards will have a match and both titles will be at stake.
For the first time since October 2015, TNA Wrestling returns to world of pay-per-view with Slammiversary, the 12th such event in company history and the sixth held in Orlando, FL. The show is available on most major cable providers, as well as FITE.tv.
We’re looking for your thoughts on the show, so you can send a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.
For the second straight year, Drew Galloway finds himself in the main event as last year, he was involved in the King of the Mountain title five way. This year, he defends his title against a game challenger in Bobby Lashley who is looking to regain the title. Also on the show, the Hardy brothers do battle in a Full Metal Mayhem match and all of the organization’s titles are on the line.
X-DIVISION CHAMPION TREVOR LEE VS. EDDIE EDWARDS VS. DJ ZEMA ION VS. ANDREW EVERETT
This match was one big move after another — too much for the crowd at some times and getting them back in it for others. The finish saw Edwards win the title pinning Lee with an inside cradle as Lee went for his fisherman buster. Good opener. Gregory Helms was kicked out from ringside at the beginning after coming out with both Lee and Everett. Everett did a springboard twisting dive, took a backdrop onto the ring steps, and also did a super Frankensteiner off the top rope.
– EC 3 interview. He put over that Bennett was the first guy to pin him but that was a catalyst for becoming the best wrestler. Carter tried to get the fans to sing his song and only a few did.
– They showed a clip of Dixie Carter announcing Sting for the TNA Hall of Fame in 2012. They announced that the 2016 inductee would be on TV Tuesday night.
BARON DAX & BASILLE BARACKA (w/AL SNOW) VS. MAHABALI SHERA & GRADO
The match was really bad. The finish saw Dax have Shera over his knee like a backbreaker, and Baracka coming off the middle rope with a Bret Hart forearm. Snow uses a whistle as his gimmick which didn’t work 26 years ago with John Tolos and is only slightly better now. Snow’s gimmick is he wants wrestling to be great again. This match wasn’t a good example of that. Dax & Baracka are the former Marcus Louis & Sylvester Lefort from NXT with Lefort now sporting a shaved head.
– Gail Kim and Maria Kanellis are going back-and-forth in the back as they were supposed to wrestle but Kanellis has a broken hand. Kim said Kanellis is a liar, and said she’s wrestling with a bad knee. Billy Corgan is out as William Corgan. He said he’s got the X-rays and the hand was broken. Corgan, at first, seemed to be playing heel as he was wearing sunglasses. He showed the X-ray and said that the minute Maria is cleared, Gail will get the match. Maria said her hand may never heal and she may never be able. Corgan announced a triple-threat match with Sienna vs. Jade vs. Gail Kim for the Knockouts title and it’s starting…right now.
JADE VS. GAIL KIM VS. SIENNA FOR THE KNOCKOUTS TITLE
Another bad match. Gail had Sienna pinned with Eat Defeat but Allie pulled Kim’s leg. Kim attacked Allie and then went after Maria. Allie threw the belt in to Sienna but Marti Bell jumped in. Bell then turned on Jade and hit her with a cane, leading to Sienna pinning her. They did more than the prior match but the crowd wasn’t much into it and they tried cool moves but most of the stuff didn’t look crisp.
Jeremy Borash interviewed Bobby Lashley. He made Borash announce him as the new world champion.
JAMES STORM VS. BRAXTON SUTTER
Storm did an interview saying he’s been at every Slammiversary. He said 14 years ago a man gave punk kids like he, Abyss and A.J. Styles a chance. Storm said that people said he’d never make it. Fans were chanting Orlando. He said there’s a lot of guys who need an opportunity because 14 years ago, nobody knew James Storm.
This was a short and perfectly professional match that the crowd didn’t care about because they don’t know Sutter (the former Pepper Parks). Sutter survived both a backstabber and codebreaker, but was pinned after a superkick which was the one move that didn’t look good. Storm then drank beer with Sutter after the match. It felt like Storm was going to take him under his wing and then, one will turn on the other.
– Eli Drake interview with Borash. Drake is a really good promo. He called Bram a cross-eyed halfwit, and that Eli Drake is perpetual bad assery.
– They showed a clip of Dixie Carter inducting Kurt Angle into the Hall of Fame. With the exception of Earl Hebner, everyone in their Hall of Fame is gone from the company.
KING OF THE MOUNTAIN CHAMPION ELI DRAKE VS. BRAM
Not much to this at all. They did a few countout teases. The big spot was Drake giving Bram a backdrop on the floor after Bram had taken the mats off previously. Bram used a DDT, which they call the Brighter Side Of Suffering, but Drake rolled out of the ring. Drake got back in, hit a clothesline and got the pin.
– Mike Bennett interview. He said he was the best wrestler on the planet and has the hottest wife in TNA. At least the second one, you can make a good argument for.
ETHAN CARTER III VS. MIKE BENNETT
Carter won with a TKO on a chair and the One Percenter. The crowd was into it at the end, but this was a tough crowd for obvious reasons and also because most are people who don’t watch the TV and don’t know the stories. They both worked hard. Bennett kicked out of the first One Percenter. The second time, Maria threw in a chair, which distracted ref Brian Hebner so he didn’t start the count for several seconds. Bennett used his Miracle In Progress (Michinoku driver on a chair), but the ref was distracted and slow in counting. Carter kicked out of a piledriver. Not a great match, but easily the best since the opener.
– Matt Hardy did his preacher interview.
MATT HARDY VS. JEFF HARDY IN A FULL METAL MAYHEM MATCH
They did a ton of weapons. Both worked real hard. The match story is that the new Matt kept kicking out of everything including a Twist of Fate and senton as well as a Twist of Fate through a table. The finish saw Jeff come off the top rope, jumping over the post, and put Matt through a table, pinning him on the floor as it was falls count anywhere rules. Lots of ladder spots. Jeff opened a ladder that stretched from one side of the rope to the other, and Jeff put Matt through the ladder off the top. Matt powerbombed Jeff through a keyboard set up bridging the apron to the guard rail. The problem was there was little reaction to some of the insane kickouts.
– Decay interview.
TNA TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS DECAY (ABYSS & CRAZZY STEVE) VS. BROMANS (ROBBIE E & JESSIE GODDERZ)
Rosemary is in the Decay corner and Raquel in the BroMans corner. Abyss & Steve retained as Abyss gave Jessie a Black Hole Slam and then powerbombed Steve on top of him. All action, good match. Robbie & Jessie are very underrated as a team, particularly with Jessie’s athletic ability. He had Steve in the Boston crab/Adonis crab twice and Steve tapped, but the ref had mist blown in his eyes the first time and missed the tap. The second time, Abyss saved him. The women also got involved for a spot.
– Drew Galloway said he’s worked 16 years to be the world champion in the main event on PPV. He said he’s been defending this title in multiple companies, and said he tapped out Kurt Angle so he sure as hell can beat Bobby Lashley.
TNA WORLD CHAMPION DREW GALLOWAY VS. BOBBY LASHLEY — KNOCKOUT OR SUBMISSION ENDS IT
Real good match. Lashley won the title clean in the middle when Galloway passed out from a head and arm choke. They kept the shenanigans out of this one. Galloway was bleeding afer missing a running flip dive and crashing through a table. Galloway came back and used a tombstone piledriver, but he missed the running kick and Lashley hit a big punch that led to him putting on the choke. Galloway used moves like an Emerald Fusion and a sharpshooter — both on the ring steps.
We’ll talk more about this show tonight on Wrestling Observer Radio.
TNA Impact Wrestling ran a set of TV tapings Thursday Notes in Orlando, FL, for Pop TV that will begin airing on Tuesday, May 3rd:
Eddie Edwards beat Caleb Konley. This may have been a dark match.
James Storm cut a promo that he’s now a singles wrestler.
Jeff Hardy and Mike Bennett had a confrontation that led to a match that Hardy won by DQ when Bobby Lashley ran in and speared Hardy.
James Storm beat Abyss who was accompanied by the rest of Decay who had new looks. Abyss now has face paint.
Sienna (aka the debuting Allysin Kay, a 28-year-old vet of AIW, Shimmer, Shine, etc.) debuted and laid out Jade.
X-Division Champion Trevor Lee beat Mandrews
King of The Mountain Champion Bram retained the title in a match against Eli Drake, Jessie Godderz, Robbie E, and Andrew Everett. Drake attacked Bram post-match
Jeff Hardy wrestled Lashley. Drew Galloway was ref. Bennett interfered and they had a four-way brawl.
In a cage match, EC3 defeated Rockstar Spud. Bennett was out supporting Spud.
Last week, the World Title Series continued when Awesome Kong beat Brooke, while Uno beat Manik with a corkscrew moonsault. Eric Young beat James Storm with a piledriver, while Shera beat Aiden ‘O Shea. Crimson’s losing streak continued when he lost to Eli Drake, while Bobby Roode beat Abyss with a spinebuster in one of the most forgettable episodes of Impact since the WTS began. The opening video recapped last week’s matches. Spud faces Drew Galloway tonight, while Aries faces Lashley. Manik vs. Uno vs. DJZ is up next to determine who moves on in Group X Division. No one gets an intro and they just cut to the ring.
Manik vs. Tigre Uno vs. DJZ
Double leapfrog by Uno and DJZ leads to DJZ getting a pop-up dropkick sending Manik to the floor. Uno gets a dropkick on the apron to a seated DJZ sending him to the floor. Uno moonsaults onto both men from the top to the floor. Uno gets a wacky lucha submission, but Manik goes for his own move before DJZ prevents it. Manik rakes Uno’s face in the corner before DJZ flips around a bit to finally land a flying back elbow. Manik locks on a goofy Billy Goat’s Curse and Gory Special submission, which is turned into a cradle for 2. Manik rakes DJZ’s eyes, and Z moves leading to Manik and Uno clashing mid-ring. Double tornado DDT by DJZ gets the win to advance to the field of 16 – so the next winner here advances as well.
Manik gets a quick inverted sunset flip for 2. Dueling uppercuts lead to Uno getting a quebrada turned into a stunner for 2. Manik gets a combination armbar/kneebar and places Uno up top and crotches him. Manik goes for an electric chair, but Uno turns it into a German suplex and a corkscrew moonsault to win – so he advances alongside DJZ. This was a cluster of moves. Josh runs down Group UK while Josh says that tonight, Kurt Angle address his future. After a break, they run down that Group X Division is done, but all of Group UK is still alive. Drew cuts a promo on what appears to be a cheap Android phone from 2008 at Glasgow airport. He says he’s always seeing his friends growing up and is asked when he’ll be married – but he’s married to the business. Rockstar Spud comes out and looks much skinnier and less tan than his last appearance in the series. Josh calls Drew “the captain” for reasons that he never explains.
Drew Galloway vs. Rockstar Spud
Spud stands around while Drew takes a squatting position as his base before each puts up their dukes. Drew goes for a punch, but it misses, so Spud runs wild with a few punches of his own. Spud turns a gorilla press slam into a sunset flip, but that fails, so he takes Drew down anyway. Drew spinebusters Spud into the apron three times before trying to lawndart him into the post. Spud avoids that and sidesteps a dive, resulting in Drew bonking his head on the steps. Spud bets the ref to count quickly, but he gets in at 9. Spud goes for a cover and gets 2. Drew catches a crossbody and turns it into a tilt a whirl backbreaker.
Josh says he’s been reliving the World Title Series every day – so I assume he lost a bet. Spud hits the elbows and gets a shining wizard. He takes off the tie, but can’t hit the Underdog. Drew punches him on the apron and teases a powerbomb off the apron onto the steps. He doesn’t do it, so Spud kicks him into the ring. Spud gets a wonky flying DDT for 2. Spud runs at Drew and eats White Noise before hitting the Claymore kick to the chest rather weakly for the win. Each man is capable of having far better matches, but Drew at least won and advances to the round of 16. Quick ad break for Black Friday and Cyborg Monday – every order placed Mondays gets a free Kurt Angle banner.
Bram vs. Grado
Pope is astonished that Grado could in fact advance in the tournament when Grado faces Bram tonight. They kill some time talking about just what the brackets could be before Bram comes out to face Grado. Grado comes down as a fountain of charisma in purple and gold gear with polka dots. Pope says that when he watches Grado, he thinks he’s watching PBS. Josh mocks Grado for the Spud vs. Grado comedy match. Pope asks what Grado’s actual music is because he doesn’t listen to his entrance, and Bram just cradles him and beats him. Lashley highlight reel sets up another one for Aries showing off his big moves. Spud and Grado are out of Group UK as a turkey graphic appears on the screen beyond the green screen of Josh and Pope. Pope doesn’t want to give predictions, leading to Josh wondering just why TNA hired Pope as a broadcaster. Micah and Jessie Godderz get no ring introductions.
Micah vs. Jessie Godderz
Micah gets a back elbow while Pope talks about Micah missing aggression and he really needs ruthless aggression. Pope offers to give him advice while Josh says that Pope really shouldn’t be offering advice to anyone. Jessie drop toeholds Micah into the buckle while Pope cuts a fine promo about whether he was a face or a heel, he was intense. Jessie gets a bearhug while Josh plugs the TV tapings from January 5-9. Jessie rushes into a corner boot and eats a lariat and a big corner flying elbow before getting a back body drop. A giant Stinger splash hits and leads to a Big Ending for 2 because Jessie gets the ropes. Jessie gets some body shots and goes for the Crab, but Micah avoids it. Samoan drop hits for Micah, but a giant headbutt misses and Jessie gets the crab for the win. Jessie advances to the round of 16 and we get our first screen-filling graphic for someone advancing.
Robbie E vs. Davey Richards is up next, but first up next, Kurt talks about his future. We get a hype video for everyone in Group Tag Team Specialists. Robbie comes out to face Davey while Pope says that Robbie has reinvented himself. Robbie comes out fist-pumping, in a giant hoodie, and with his wacky hair. We get clips of Davey’s intro while Pope rambles on for a while. And then they just cut away from the intros and throw to Kurt Angle. Kurt talks about the talented roster in TNA and that the Maximum Impact tour is his retirement tour in TNA. Kurt says he’s loved his career, from WWE to TNA. Kurt says that he’s glad that his final run in TNA is in the UK before we go to Christy and get the full intros for the match we just got clipped intros for.
Davey Richards vs. Robbie E
It begins with some mat wrestling as Josh talks about Robbie “trying to wrestle”. Robbie hiptosses him down and gets an armdrag. Davey drops down and hits a big dropkick to send Robbie to the floor. Running penalty kick misses and Robbie gets a somersault senton to the floor off the apron. Robbie gets a flying Hart Attack while Josh says Robbie wants to be a real hybrid athlete. Davey gets 2 of an exploder suplex. Davey locks on a modified version of the Indian Deathlock before Robbie gets to the ropes. They exchange punches before Davey headbutts him down. Robbie sends him to the corner, gets a lariat and gets 2. Creeping Death flying kick is countered by a full nelson into the Boom Drop for 2! Davey gets 2 off a cradle before nailing a double stomp to counter a sunset flip for 2. Alarm Clock hits before a tornado buzzsaw kick gets the win for Davey. Davey raises Robbie’s hand high. Josh plugs Bracket Brawl in a weirdly sped-up ad for that contest. We get a graphic for the people in the round of 16, with several faces cut off by the TV-14 graphic. Group Wildcard is up with Crazzy Steve facing off against Kenny King.
Kenny King vs. Crazzy Steve
The referee tells Steve to put his horn away while the crowd cheers wildly for Kenny King. King spins out of a hammerlock in a slick way and nips up. King runs him down before running in place before Steve knocks him down and struts. Josh runs through Steve’s backstory with the Menagerie and how he isn’t quite sure why Steve is still on the active roster. Steve gets a takedown to grab the horn. King kicks his face off and slams him while we see Aiden ‘O Shea put a stogie in his mouth. Steve gets a corner forearm and a series of clotheslines before grabbing the horn and hitting a running knee. Springboard rana hits for Steve before he bites his head and gets 2 off a schoolboy. A crucifix gets 2, but the Royal Flush wins for Kenny King. With the win, King and Shera are the only ones in Group Wildcard who advance to the round of 16. The final person will be determined by the winner of Lashley vs. Aries. Aries cuts a promo with Thea saying that he’s had some great matches with Lashley before, and Lashley’s a smart guy. Aries vs. Lashley is up next. But first, we get yet another awards show. Shera hitting the Sky High is the move of the series, while Brooke won biggest upset for beating Kong. Pope called Grado vs. Spud the turkey of the series. Bram is the sleeper of the series, and it’s time for the main event. Aries comes out while we see clips of him having great match after great match in the series. Lashley comes out and they hype up his Bellator career.
Lashley vs. Austin Aries
Lashley gets a big takedown to start. Aries gets a headlock, circles Lashley and locks on a hammerlock. Josh recaps how Aries is back after losing a “loser leaves TNA” match and how Aries used the loophole of the Group Champions name to get back in. Aries lands a missile dropkick, but Lashley sends him down anyway. Lashley shoulderblocks him in the corner to the floor. Aries tries to get back in, but eats the apron. Corner shoulder charge hits again and Lashley goes for the delayed suplex, but Aries fights back with knees, but Lashley hits it anyway and gets 2! Fantastic sequence leads to an ad break.
We come back to see Aries stomping the foot to avoid a German suplex. Discus elbow is countered into an overhead belly to belly by Lashley. Lashley goes for the spear, but Aries avoids it and sends Lashley into the post. Missile dropkick hits again and sends him down hard. Lashley deadlifts him off the mat into a stampede powerslam for 2. Josh says we have five minutes left in the match as Aries locks on the Last Chancery as Lashley dives into the ring – but he’s tied in the ropes. Lashley gets up and eats some knee strikes. Lashley counters a brainbuster into a press slam, but Aries gets two discus elbows! Big corner dropkick leads to a brainbuster attempt, but Lashley gets a flip German suplex! Aries goes for the suicide dive, but his feet get caught in the ropes and he lands out of control on the floor. Lashley shoves Earl down, which should be a DQ. Lashley tosses him in while Earl checks on him. Lashley picks him up, but Earl puts him back down. Lashley preps for the spear while Earl tells him no. Aries fights back with an overhand chop. It’s all Aries has left and he goes down. Lashley goes for the spear, but Aries gets the Last Chancery in the middle of the ring. Lashley makes it to the rope, so Aries breaks the hold. Aries goes up top for the 450, but Lashley avoids it and eats the spear! Lashley moves on in the series – this was easily the best match of the series so far. The main event is over, but there’s still 15 minutes left in the show with nothing announced.
Josh says that the brackets will be announced – so that may actually be the main event segment. We see clips of tonight’s matches. Block A will feature EC3 against DJZ, while Bram faces Davey Richards. Block B features Lashley against Drew Galloway while Shera faces Eli Drake. In Block C, Gail faces Tigre Uno while Eric Young faces Kenny King. In Block D, Jessie faces Awesome Kong while Bobby Roode faces Matt Hardy. EC3 cuts a very echoey promo and buries DJZ. DJZ cuts another promo on his phone and says he’s a recovering scumbag and he loves walking around with girls while EC3 likes walking around with a 300 pound man. Davey cuts a very sedate promo from what appears to be a massage room, while Eli says that he’s moving on and there’s no surprise in that and while Shera dances, he’ll dance to the top. EY says that he’s king of the world and God, while Jessie says that no man, woman, or Kong can stop him. More cell phone footage, now with Roode in a ratty hoodie talking about respecting Matt Hardy, but doing whatever it takes to win. Matt says that Roode can’t stop the Matt Hardy Train and we get a quick hype video for next week. Well, Aries vs. Lashley was well-worth watching. The rest of the show was pretty skippable. To see every screenshot for the show, just click here.
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)
Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez are back today with special guest Bobby Lashley to talk Bellator 145, his fight with James Thompson, pro-wrestling vs. MMA training, staying in shape at 39 and having the best run of his career and more! A fun show as always so check it out!
