New Japan’s top star Hiroshi Tanahashi has joined The Young Bucks on the injury list for the current Best of the Super Juniors tour due to a broken left shoulder.
As noted in the current issue of the Observer, Tanahashi was hurting badly during the ROH tour last week. At yesterday’s tour opening show at Korakuen Hall, Tanahashi was destroyed by the Bullet Club in an angle, most notably by Kenny Omega. The angle was a storyline to explain his absence.
New Japan announced the injury and said he will be out the rest of the tour. They want him to heal up for one of the company’s signature events of the year like the June 19th Dominion show at Osaka Jo Hall where he is set to face Omega in a ladder match.
All of Tanahashi’s bookings for the rest of the tour will be filled by Satoshi Kojima, who will begin a new program against The Bullet Club.
WWE female wrestling star Sasha Banks missed house shows this past week in Utica, NY, and Reading, PA due to an undisclosed head injury which happened on the 5/15 show in Charlottesville, VA.
Banks, who hasn’t been used in a few weeks on television due to creative reasons of wanting to keep her off TV when they didn’t have a program at today’s PPV, was still working a full house show schedule up until this past week.
The injury was described as a fluke in a match where referee Darrick Moore accidentally caught her with a solid knee to the head. It was not a spot where Moore and she were supposed to have serious contact.
WWE hasn’t confirmed the injury, nor whether a concussion was sufferened. Reports within the industry were that Banks suffered a concussion, which would mean an undetermined length of time before she could return — any day or a few weeks.
Angelico from AAA appeared to be injured today at the Lucha Underground tapings.
Those at the building reported that he landed badly doing a springboard move and appeared to suffer an elbow injury.
The referee called for an “X” and the other wrestlers worked to the finish and he was taken to the back.
This was the second injury suffered at the weekend tapings, with Matanza being injured last night at the tapings. Matanza, played by Jeff Cobb, suffered an arm injury that saw him rushed to the hospital after punching through a glass window, similar to what nearly ended the career of Bill Goldberg and put him out of action for months. The injury ended up not being as serious as it appeared, although there was a ton of blood involved. Cobb is expected to be back wrestilng next week.
We will update later with more details and check the next Wrestling Observer out for more details.
Cody Hall is expected to be okay after a major scare at today’s Invasion Attack show at Sumo Hall in Tokyo.
Hall, who wasn’t wrestling, was one of six people on the floor when Nick Jackson did a swanton off the balcony of the building during the Young Bucks & Kenny Omega Never trios title defense against Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin & Yoshitatsu. Jackson landed mostly on Hall but not in a manner that looked scary. Upon landing you could see Nick talking to him and the match then continued.
Hall never moved and was carried out on a stretcher.
The report we got is that he was examined and there was not a concussion and no fractures. The belief is that he suffered a very bad stinger.
Part of the story of the match was that Yoshitatsu, whose career nearly Cody Hall is expected to be okay after a major scare at today’s Invasion Attack show at Sumo Hall in Tokyo.
After a scare, Shinsuke Nakamura seemed to be okay and finished his match tonight.
Nakamura was wrestling Manny Andrade, the former La Sombra, in Columbia, SC tonight during a WWE NXT Live Event. Andrade did a moonsault off the top rope to the floor and Nakamura was down. The match was stopped for two minutes as medical officials were attending to him.
Nakamura was able to get up and finish the match.
We’re waiting for an update but I believe he did suffer a significant cut during the move.
Nakamura and Sombra had a program together in both Japan and Mexico in 2013 where Nakamura lost the IWGP IC title to Sombra at Arena Mexico, but regained it later in the year. The program established Sombra as a star outside of Mexico.
There was what looked to be an injury after Raw went off the air in a dark match with The Wyatt Family vs. Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose & Dolph Ziggler & Sami Zayn.
Multiple reports have come in that Harper took a spill onto the floor and grabbed his right leg. Those at ringside believed he blew out his knee but as of this moment we don’t have anything official past the point the WWE medical staff came out immediately. He left under his own power but was helped to the back by the other members of the Wyatt Family.
This possible injury adds to a string of WWE injuries going back over the last few months. The most recent injury was to Neville.
Also during the dark match a fan attempted to attack Braun Strowman. It’s not clear exactly what happened but Strowman was attacked in some form and told security who dragged the fan out of the building.
We’ll update this if we hear more details tonight.
TMZ reported today what has been pretty well known for some time, that Sting is retired as a pro wrestler due to the neck injuries suffered in the Night of Champions match with Seth Rollins.
Sting was diagnosed with spinal stenosis and told that he needed surgery, which is it believed he has not yet gotten. According to the story, Steve Borden has seen several doctors who all agreed that he shouldn’t return to the ring.
Sting was injured twice in the match with Rollins in September, both times taking power bombs into the turnbuckles. He went limp briefly the second time but was able to finish the match.
The story said Sting may officially announce his retirement at the Hall of Fame ceremony on 4/2 in Dallas, where he is the main event inductee.
Due to the injury, Sting vs. Undertaker was never under consideration for this year’s WrestleMania nor was he ever talked about after September for a spot on the show.
The story at www.tmz.com stated Sting would be open to a non-physical role with the company.
Borden, who turns 57 later this month, started wrestling in 1985 after being discovered by Rick Bassman working at a Gold’s Gym. He began his career in Tennessee working for Jerry Jarrett as a tag team with Jim Hellwig, who became the Ultimate Warrior. The pair were then hired by Bill Watts, where they split up when Hellwig wasn’t happy with the company. Sting remained and became part of Eddie Gilbert’s Hot Stuff International heel group, often teaming with Rick Steiner.
Gilbert turned him babyface just as the UWF was being purchased by Jim Crockett, and Sting came over in the purchase but wasn’t used well until a 45 minute draw on the first Clash of the Champions with Ric Flair. The last 15 minutes of the match peaked with a 7.8 quarter hour, and the match itself did a 7.1 rating, both records for post-1983 TBS wrestling that were never broken, and Sting remained one of the top stars in wrestling since that time.
CM Punk (real name Phil Brooks) will undergo back surgery on Wednesday in Chicago, delaying his UFC debut indefinitely.
According to what Brooks told MMAFighting.com‘s Ariel Helwani, the injury is a lingering issue from his pro wrestling days that has worsened in recent months. The recovery time will be 4-6 weeks, and he’s still planning on debuting at some point in 2016.
The timing couldn’t be worse as his opponent was just confirmed last Saturday at UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas after Mickey Gall took less than a minute to defeat Mike Jackson to earn the shot. An exact date was not announced at the time, but he was to face Gall at an undetermined UFC PPV, assumed to be in June or July. Unfortunately, he found out about needing surgery just hours before Gall fought Jackson.
Punk has already had one injury setback when a shoulder injury last August delayed his training.
We’re looking for your thoughts on last night’s UFC show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to Dave Meltzer
We’re looking for reports on today’s Lucha Underground Ultima Lucha tapings in Los Angeles, as well as today’s TNA tapings in Birmingham, England, today’s WWE house shows in Columbus, GA (Roman Reigns vs. Rusev for WWE title, Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens for IC title, New Day vs. Usos & Ryback) and Tupelo, MS (Kane vs. Bray Wyatt) to Dave Meltzer
Raw will be Monday in Birmingham. Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman are scheduled on the show.
Smackdown will be taped on Tuesday in Memphis.
If you’ve ever wanted to WATCH our radio shows here on the site, check out our new Youtube page! No full video shows, but lots of video clips, full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today! The latest video is “Kill that Mole”. A silent film we created a few years ago starring Bryan and Vince.
Coverage of the Royal Rumble and where things lead to WrestleMania is the lead story in a jam-packed news issue of the Wrestling Observer. TNA’s statements regarding A.J. Styles, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson, the timing, what is accurate, and a lot that wasn’t in those statements as to why the deal didn’t happen. The process that led the stars from New Japan and more. The Cain Velasquez and Fabricio Werdum injuries and title match cancellation and what directions UFC took to try and save it. More on the injury to Hiroshi Tanahashi, the death of Archie “Mongolian Stomper” Gouldie, some stories about his life and career. WWE Hall of Fame class of 2016, New Japan Fantatstica Mania tour with full rundowns and stories behind it, Nikki Bella injury and what led to the increase in ratings for Raw and Smackdown.
The story behind why HHH won the title, why it was the right booking decision given the destination, questions about the execution, the confusing Fast Lane main event, what the original booking plan was behind Roman Reigns ascension to the top and why it was so hard for Vince McMahon to decide against his winning at last year’s WrestleMania, and questions about the crowds at Fast Lane and Mania for the main events. Update WrestleMania, chart out the Royal Rumble with how long everyone was in, eliminations, and news, Rumble business, poll results and match-by-match results with star ratings.
The situation with New Japan losing talent, and how the CMLL stars did on the tour.
The arrival of Shinsuke Nakamura to WWE and why he’s in NXT, an update on Daniel Bryan, NXT finances for talent, another endorsement deal for Dwayne Johnson, notes on the next WWE network live special, updates on NXT talent coming to the main roster, lots of WWE injury notes, WWE plans for post-Mania and the European tour, Lesnar dates, details on NXT tapings as well as details on all the weekend WWE events.
You can also order the print Observer right now and get it delivered to your door via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to Dave Meltzer
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Last night’s Wrestling Observer Radio with myself and Bryan Alvarez talking all the weekend news from UFC, TNA and WWE. We also talk in detail about the Awesome Kong/Reby Hardy incident that took place on Friday in the Manchester, England dressing room.
Pro Wrestling Sheet announced that at today’s Lucha Underground tapings that talent were told that there would be a third season, but not when filming was to begin. The scheduled right now is for July. It also said Lucha Underground would be hitting the iTunes store in a few months.
Beer Money captured the TNA tag team titles today in Birmingham, England, cashing in their briefcase, beating The Wolves.
At the UFC post-fight press conference, they said would be announcing the date for Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier rematch within the next week.
Tye Dillinger is the latest WWE injury, collapsing when landing reversing out of a vertical suplex against Sami Zayn, apparently blowing out his right knee. He will be evaluated tomorrow.
I’ll be on the MMA Hour at www.mma.fighting.com with Ariel Helwani tomorrow at 1 p.m. Eastern time. Other guests on the show will be Benson Henderson, Fabricio Werdum, Scott Coker and Anthony Perosh.
WWE
Stephanie McMahon will be on Good Morning America tomorrow in the 8 a.m. hour.
Dwayne Johnson on Monday: “Ha well at WWE events, going off script is what I live for. So much more fun for the fans. Nightmare for Vince.”
WrestleMania Fan Axxess tickets for Dallas go on sale at 10 a.m. tomorrow with the code TWWETME
A John Layfield interview with Ron Simmons will air after Raw tomorrow night.
For yesterday, UFC was the seventh most searched term in the U.S. with more than 100,000. Among those ahead included the Pro Bowl, Serena Williams and NHL All-Star game. No. 16 was Sage Northcutt with 50,000.
Former WWE star Dave Bautista posted this: “Anyone who buys that goofy UFC Reebok shit is endorsing the fighters getting fucked out of their sponsorships. Just a thought.”
A crazy clip from a Joe Lauzon fighter from last night.
MISCELLANEOUS
Southern States Wrestling did a Mongolian Stomper tribute on its TV show this week
Lucha Underground debuts tonight on TLM in Canada with shows at 10 p.m and midnight.
Bret Hart has started a company called Sharpshooter Funding, a capital investment firm to help small Canadian businesses that his son, Dallas, will be the head of sales for.
TV Asahi 2 in Japan announced they will be airing five hours of Antonio Inoki’s most famous matches on 2/20, which is Inoki’s 73rd birthday.
Gabi Castrovinci, known as Raquel in TNA (she was on Tough Enough this past season), had her first match last night against Santana Garrett in Orlando. Full results: Josh Parker b Rex Bacchus, Josh Hess & Ace Andrews b CT Brown & Alexx Light, Braydon Knight b Tyranus, Brandon Scherrer b Chico Adams, Mike Reed b Jonny Vandal, Santana Garrett b Rex Bacchus, Santana Garrett b Raquel to retain the Wonder of Stardom title, Rhett Giddins b Mark Silva-DQ, Rhett Ghddins b Mark Silva to keep the Florida title. Next show is 2/20.
Due to injuries to both champion Fabricio Werdum and challenger Cain Velasquez, UFC announced today that its next scheduled PPV, on 2/6, will be changed to a live show on FS 1.
While UFC has canceled PPV events in the past, they have never kept the card on itself and moved it to free television.
The rest of the scheduled PPV lineup, with a main event of Johny Hendricks vs. Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, will air on FS 1 along with the scheduled prelims already earmarked for the show.
The show will remain at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
