There are a few things dominating most wresting conversations this week, and we’re all over them. Les and Vic start with Shane McMahon’s return to WWE, the myriad of directions this storyline can go, whether or not that’s a good thing and more. Vic gets on his soapbox about the match at Wrestlemania he has absolutely no interest in (18:58), and it involves someone who most people are big fans of. We then turn our attention to Roman Reigns (28:52); the show closing segment Monday night, whether or not Les believes a run as top babyface can be salvaged, could anyone have possibly believed Roman was going to get babyface sympathy when that segment was laid out, and what grade would you give Roman since he’s been a solo act for the last 20 months. Yes, this thing with him has been going on for 20 long months now. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!
Newark, Ohio: – Paul Bowser defeated Billy Schoeber for the American Middleweight Title
1942
St. Joseph, Missouri: – Marshall Estep defeated Steve Brody to win the Midwest Wrestling Association World Junior Heavyweight Title
St. Louis, Missouri: – Bill Longson defeated Sandor Szabo to win the NWA World Heavyweight Title
1943
Houston, Texas: – Bill Longson defeated Bobby Managoff for the National Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title
St. Louis, Missouri: – Ronnie Etchison beat Cowboy Luttrall – Orville Brown drew Babe Zaharias – Tom Zaharias beat Bad Boy Brown – Jim Coffield beat Frank Frogge
1957
Chicago, Illinois: – Wilbur Snyder defeated Hans Schmidt to win the Chicago NWA United States Heavyweight Title
1959
Chattanooga, Tennessee: – Don and Luke (Bobby) Fields defeated The Corsicans (Jean and Joe) to win the Mid-America NWA World Tag Team Titles
1963
Tampa, Florida: – Hiro Matsuda defeated Eddie Graham to win the Florida NWA Southern Heavyweight Title
Minneapolis, Minnesota: – Boot Match: Crusher beat Moose Evans – Hercules Cortez beat Karol Kalmikoff – Rocky Hamilton beat Jack Pesek – Doug Gilbert drew Ivan Kamilkoff – Dick Steinborn beat Gordon Nelson
1966
San Francisco, California: – Bill Watts defeated Kinji Shibuya for the San Francisco NWA United States Heavyweight Title
1969
Honolulu, Hawaii: – Gene Kiniski won the Hawaii NWA North American Heavyweight Title from Toru Tanaka
1970
Milwaukee, Wisconsin: – Non Title: The Crusher & Edouard Carpentier beat AWA Tag Team Champions Mad Dog Vachon & Butcher Vachon 2 falls to 0 – Pepper Gomez beat Dr X – Red Bastien beat Luke Graham – Larry Hennig beat Bob Brunelle – Lars Anderson drew Billy Red Lyons
1975
Miami Beach, Florida: (Colt, Shane, McCord, and Hart would be in a plane crash later that evening that would end the life of Shane) – Dusty Rhodes defeated Dick Murdoch – Handicap Match: Dick Slater & Chris Taylor & “Cowboy” Bill Watts defeated Bob Roop & Jim Dillon & Mongolian Stomper & Gary Hart – Bobby Shane & Buddy Colt defeated Tony Parisi & Dominic DeNucci – The Patriots defeated Mike Pappas & Pat Barrett – Bob Armstrong defeated “Iron” Mike McCord (Austin Idol) – Larry Zbyszko drew Baron Scicluna – Johnny Weaver defeated George McCreary
1976
Kansas City, Kansas: – Bob Brown & Otto Von Heller fought Ray Candy & Pat O’Connor to a draw – Ed Wiskoski defeated Mike Pappae – Ripper Collins fought Tank Patton to a double-DQ – Bob Geigel & Akio Sato defeated Ron Bass & Dutch Mantel – World Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk defeated Mike George via DQ
1978
Toronto, Ontario, Canada: – AWA World Tag Team Champions The High Flyers (Jim Brunzell and Greg Gagne) defeated AWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Bockwinkel and Bobby Heenan to retain the titles – British Heavyweight Champion Billy Robinson defeated Duncan McTavish to retain the title – WWWF Heavyweight Champion Billy Graham defeated Édouard Carpentier to retain the title – Dusty Rhodes defeated Ken Patera – Angelo Mosca defeated Chief Peter Miavia – Dewey Robertson beat the Wildman – Stan Stasiak beat the Wolfman – Billy Red Lyons drew Chris Tolos
Memphis, Tennessee: – Stan Frazier and Terry Sawyer defeated Dennis Condrey and Phil Hickerson to win the AWA Southern Tag Team Titles
1979
Fort Worth, Texas: – Mark Lewin and The Spoiler defeated David and Kevin Von Erich for the NWA American Tag Team Titles
1982
Green Bay, Wisconsin: – Hulk Hogan & Tito Santana & Buck Zumhofe beat Nick Bockwinkel & Bobby Duncum & Bobby Heenan – Sheik Adnan beat Jim Brunzell by countout – Greg Gagne beat Sgt Jacques Goulet – Brad Rheingans beat Tom Stone
1988
Las Vegas, Nevada: – AWA Champion Curt Hennig beat Jerry Lawler dq – AWA Tag Team Champions Midnight Rockers beat Nasty Boys – Wahoo McDaniel & Greg Gagne beat Bob Orton Jr & Curt Hennig dq – Badd Company, Pat Tanaka & Paul Diamond beat Midnight Rockers – Greg Gagne beat Steve Olsonoski – Baron Von Raschke beat Sheik Adnan
1994
Taylor, Michigan: – The Heavenly Bodies (Jimmy Del Ray and Tom Prichard) defeated The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton) for the SMW Tag Team Titles
1995
Tokyo, Japan: – Koji Kanemoto defeated Norio Honaga to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title
WCW SuperBrawl: Baltimore, Maryland: – WCW World Tag Team Champions Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray) with Sister Sherri, defeated The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) by reverse decision to retain the title – Randy Savage and Sting defeated Avalanche and The Butcher – WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan with Jimmy Hart defeated WCW US Heavyweight Champion Vader by disqualification to retain the title
1999
North Richland Hills, Texas: – Brian Adias defeated Khris Germany to win the NWA Texas Heavyweight Title
2000
Cornelia, Georgia: – The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton) defeated Bad Attitude (Rick Michaels and David Young) to win the NWA Wildside Tag Team Titles
Barnegat, New Jersey: – Chris Candido won the vacant NWA Jersey Heavyweight Title by defeating The Equalizer
Carolina, Puerto Rico: – Ray González won the WWC Universal Heavyweight Title by defeating Carly Colón
2002
– Billy and Chuck with Rico defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Spike Dudley and Tazz to win the titles
2003
Louisville, Kentucky: – Nick Dinsmore defeated champion The Damaja and Doug Basham in a triple threat match to win the OVW Heavyweight Title
2004
Tokyo, Japan: – Shiro Koshinaka and Takao Omori defeated Shinjiro Otani and Masato Tanaka to win the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Titles – Low Ki and Leonardo Spanky (Brian Kendrick) defeated Ikuto Hidaka and Dick Togo to win the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Titles
2005
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: – A.J. Styles defeated Simon Diamond – C.J. O’Doyle defeated Rob Eckos – Simon Diamond and Mike Kruel defeated Damian Adams and Monsta Mack to win the vacant 3PW Tag Team Title – Matt Striker defeated Rockin’ Rebel – Slyck Wagner Brown defeated 3PW Heavyweight Champion Christopher Daniels to win the title
2006
WWF No Way Out PPV: Baltimore, Maryland: – Chris Benoit defeated Booker T to win the US Championship – Randy Orton defeated Rey Mysterio – Kurt Angle defeated The Undertaker to retain the World Title
Tokyo, Japan: – El Samurai and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Hirooki Goto and Minoru to win the title – Tiger Mask IV defeated NWA World and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Black Tiger IV (Rocky Romero) to win both titles – IWGP U-30 Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Yuji Nagata – IWGP Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar and Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Akebono and Riki Choshu – IWGP Tag Team Champions Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Giant Bernard and Manabu Nakanishi to retain the titles
2007
Bakersfield, California: – Melina pinned WWE Women’s Champion Mickie James to win the title – Umaga (with Armando Alejandro Estrada) pinned WWE Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy to win the title
We’re looking for your thoughts on today’s New Beginnings in Niigata as well as Thursday’s New Beginnings in Osaka so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com
Raw will be Monday in Anaheim. No Brock Lesnar or Paul Heyman on to the go-home show for Fast Lane. Ticket sales picked up with the announcement of A.J. Styles, although I’m sure in management that will be passed off as pure coincidence, and maybe it is. But this looks to be the first sellout of a Raw show this year. It’s very close at this point and Anaheim is good walk-up market.
Lesnar will make his first appearance on Smackdown since 2004 at the Tuesday tapings in Ontario, CA.
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 newest issue of the Wrestling Observer is one of the best of the year. A very detailed look at the end of Bryan Danielson’s career and retirement. Looking back at sports, pro wrestling and the ramifications that are and are not being talked about. Danielson’s retirement is a big story, both his short and long term impact on pro wrestling. How his story will act as a catalyst for change not only within pro wrestling but all contact sports. If you are a wrestling fan, a sports fan or a science fan, this may be the most important issue of the year.
Bryan Danielson’s retirement speech, career highlights, home town, character both in and out of the ring, booking, the crazy way he ended up as champion for the first time, the birth of the “Yes” chant, the build to WrestleMania 30 & 31, the various exams, why he wanted to continue wrestling and WWE didn’t, his goals outside of WWE and why he changed his mind in the last few weeks.
The quandary he was in about continuing his career, how his career began, the formation of ROH and the changing landscape of independent wrestling, the changing ideas of what a pro wrestling headliner can look like, the first time I ever saw him wrestle while sitting with Red Bastien and Nick Bockwinkel
The suspension of Titus O’Neil, a longtime WWE star talking about going into another sport, another star looking at retiring soon, lots of WrestleMania plans including an early summer major match, Steve Austin’s WrestleMania status, update on promotion of Stephanie McMahon, star who may be interested in returning, Fast Lane, A.J. Styles talks his beginnings in WWE and how hard he tried to hide the Royal Rumble story, how DDP figured in Styles’ return, Linda McMahon forms a new company, Roman Reigns in Raw main events, WWE cuts five in developmental, new WWE books. New announcer hired, Update on many Tough Enough competitors from the past season, plans for a WWE show taped this summer, international star WWE has interest in, as well as a look at all the weekend house shows from WWE & NXT with business notes.
PLUS MUCH MORE! CLICK HERE FOR A FULL WRESTLING OBSERVER PREVIEW
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Today’s Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenny Omega IC title match main event (available on New Japan World) was a must-see match. Really everything after intermission was great but when it comes to storytelling and accomplishing a goal (Omega had to be made as a new superstar in one match because of the departures of A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura; but Tanahashi couldn’t be hurt because he’s more important than ever) this was a masterpiece.
Ronda Rousey will be on the cover of this year’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue that comes out this week. There will be three different covers. She will also be on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday promoting the cover. (thanks to Jon Southerland)
Congratulations to Milena Roucka (Rosa Mendes) who gave birth to a baby girl, Jordan Elizabeth Schubenski, yesterday.
A likely WrestleMania match with Stardust vs. Stephen Amell started with an angle shot yesterday at the Dallas Comic Con where Stardust crashed Amell’s Q&A and threw waster in his face. The angle had actually been planned at a different convention, but the original show they were going to shoot it on was canceled.
WWE
Baron Corbin and Cameron are on the current California house show tour. Corbin worked a three-way with Fandango and Viktor of the Ascension last night. Cameron was in a six-women’s match back as part of Team BAD.
Even as late as the day of the show (yesterday), all the commercials in Fresno for the house show were built around Roman Reigns defending the WWE title against Sheamus. He lost the title weeks ago, Sheamus was injured, and Reigns replaced John Cena on the European tour as soon as Cena was hurt.
The WWE was nominated for some CableFax Digital Awards including Bert App, Digital team of the Year, Digital Marketing Campaign (WrestleMania 31), Social Good Campaign (Conor’s Cure), Social Media Campaign (WrestleMania 31), Best Social Media team and Best use of Facebook.
A piece comparing presidential debates to UFC (thanks to Chris Cruise)
MISCELLANEOUS
The Evolve roster for the 4/2 show in Dallas at Noon, with a main event of Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet, also includes Timothy Thatcher, Johnny Gargano, Zack Sabre Jr., Chris Hero, Sami Callihan, Drew Gulak, Tracy Williams, TJ Perkins, Matt Riddle, Anthony Nese, Ethan Page and Fred Yehi.
The California-based Pro Wrestling Revolution promotion will join the WWNLive.com family of shows with an iPPV on 2/27 headlined by Juventud Guerrera.
CZW’s 17th anniversary show was last night in Voorhees, NJ before an SRO crowd: Masada b AR Fox, Amazing Gulaks b Dub Boys, Joey Janela b Lio Rush to keep the Wired title in a 2/3 fall match, Dave Crist & Zachary Wentz & Dezmond Xavier b Neiko Sozio & Frankie Prichard & Conor Claxton, Danny Havoc b Rickey Shane Page, Blk Jeez & Pepper Parks b EYFBO to keep CZW tag titles, Sami Callihan b Speedball Mike Bailey (excellent match), Matt Tremont b Devon Moore in a ladder match to keep the CZW title. They inducted WWE referee Drake Weurtz (Drake Younger) into the CZW Hall of Fame at intermission. Next show is 3/3 with Callihan vs. Masada, Bailey vs. Jonathan Gresham and Fox vs. B-Boy.
Stardom from Friday in Nagoya: Evie b Haruka Kato, Kaori Yoneyama b Kellie Skater, Santana Garrett & Chelsea Green b Kairi Hojo & Hiromi Mimura, Hiroyo Matsumoto b Jungle Kyona, Io Shirai & Mayu Iwatani b Biper & Kaitlin Diemond to keep the tag titles. Next Korakuen Hall show is 2.21.16 (thanks to Al Haft)
Victory Commonwealth Wrestling on 3/13 in Toronto at Lee’s Palace.
C4 on 3/19 in Ottawa at the Vanier Columbus Club with Mathieu St. Jaques vs Joey Janela.
Paragon Pro Wrestling TV tapings from Sunday in Las Vegas. They taped four weeks worth of shows: Tyshaun Prince won over Eric Wright and Anthony Green, Caleb Konley & Drew Donovan b Jay Riley & Jesse Sorenson, Royce Isaac b Anthony Green, Whirlwind Gentlemen b The Shadows, Jesse Sorensen b Drew Donovan-DQ, Alex Chamberlain b Mikey O’Shea in a PPW title match, Wes Brisco b Tyshaun Prince-DQ, Darin Corbin b Crash Test Cody, Gangrel b Greg Romero, Jay Riley b Caleb Konley, Eric Wright & Anthony Green b Greg Romero b ?, Royce Isaacs b Remy Marcel, Caleb Konley & Drew Donovan NC Jay Riley & Jesse Sorsensen, Alex Chamberlain b Gangrel (thanks to Mike Trask)
VIP Wrestling from Friday night in Arlington, TX before 230 fans: Jerome Daniels b Bolt Brady, Tim Storm & Apoc b Jaxson Stone & Bam Bam Malone, Sinn Bodhi b Markus Burke, Scott McKenzie & Kristopher Haiden d Kenny Steele & Orion Taylor, Gregory James & Jason Silver d Graham Bell & Luke Langley, Green Man b Marcus Love, Raymond Rowe b Keith Lee, Jessica James b Bree Ann Hatfield, Andy Dalton won three-way over Johnny Gargano and Davey Vega, Ricky Sparks & Houston Carson b Brian Cage & PJ Black to keep tag title, Tim Storm & Apoc b Ricky Sparks & Houston Carson to win tag title. Next shows are 3/4 in Fort Worth with New Jack vs. Masada and must be 18 or older to attend; and there is a 4/3 after WrestleMania party featuring Jake Roberts.
ECWA on 2/20 in New Castle, DE at the United Asbury Methodist Church headlined by Bobby Shields vs. Azrael.
St. Louis Anarchy from last night in Alton, IL: Kevin Lee Davidson & Sean Orleans & Kody Krash b Justin D’Air & Luke Langley & Graham Bell, Matt Cage b Paco Gonzalez, Christian Rose b Mike Outlaw, Bucky Collins b Stephen Wolf, Zakk Sawyers b Steve O Reno, Evan Gelistico & Adam Caster won a four-corners tag title match over Devin & Mason Cutter, Alexandre Rudolph & Jake Parnell and Nick Iggy & Kerry Awful, Davey Vega b Jeremy Wyatt, Ricky Starks b Mikey McFinnegan, Andy Dalton b Jojo Bravo, Chris Hero & Trik Davis b Danny Adams & Everett Connors, Mat Fitchett b Gerald James in 2/3 falls to win the heavyweight title (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
All Star Wrestling on 2/20 in Chilliwack, BC at the Tzeachten Community Center and 2/26 in Surrey, BC at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds Alice McKay Building.
Smash Wrestling on 2/20 in Toronto at the Frankin Horner Community Centre featuring Chris Hero and Eddie Edwards plus the Super Smash Brothers, Mike Bailey, Johnny Gargano, Frankie the Mobster, Candice LaRae and more.
Steel City Pro Wrestling on 2/28 in Hamilton, ONT at 2 p.m.
Jim Cornette appears on 3/5 at 11 p.m. at the Laugh It Up Comedy Club in Poughkeepsie.
A Mick Foley podcast interview.
Shayna Baszler interview about her 3/6 match with Colleen Schneider at the Premier show, and also talks about Daniel Bryan
Brainbuster Pro Wrestling from last night in Holly woof, FL: Maxx Stardom won over Chasyn Rance, Mike Monroe, Chico Adams and CT Brown, Shaniah Ariyana b Angel Rose, DWB b Earl Cooter, Josh Powers b Eli Vega, Ace Andrews & Rex Bacchus b Michael Patrick & Leo Brien, Jonny Vandal b AJ Jannazzo, Maxwell Chicago b Aaron Epic, Shawn Prime b Craig Classic. Next show is 5/14/16
The Crash from Friday night in Tijuana: Black Boy won elimination match for jr. title over Proximo, Mirage, Septimo Dragon and Jinzo, El Hijo del Pirata Morgan b Angel Metalico, Arez & Geniodel Aire & Super Nova b Tony Casanova & Star Boy & Zarco, El Texano Jr. & Mr. Maldito & Taurus b The Psycho Circus, Blue Demon Jr. & Fenix & Rey Hours b Teddy Hart & Johnny Mundo & Pentagon Jr. (thanks to Kris Zellner)
Maryland Championship Wrestling from last night in Joppa, MD: Drake Carter & Shaun Cannon b Rob Locke & Joe Keys, Delirious b Fenix Fury, Brandon Scott b Sean Studd, Eric Chapel & Diry Money kept tag titles over Bo Nekoda & Oakley Woods, Ken Dixon b The Bruiser, Bill Collier & Paul Jordane b Sexy Steve & Jimmy Stars, Shane Strickland (Killshot in Lucha Underground) b Facade, Matt Hardy b King McBride via DQ so McBride retained his MCW title. Matt & Jeff Hardy b McBride & Ken Dixon
NWA Mid South on 2/20 in Dyresburg, TN at the Herb Welch Wrestle Plex with Matt Riviera & Rob Conway defending the NWA tag title against Bobby Fulton & Dexter Hardaway, Greg Anthony defends the NWA National title in a three-way against Rodney Mack and John Saxon
Pure Wrestling Association on 3/6 in Kitchener, ONT at the Registry Theatre
Crossfire Wrestling on 3/20 in St. Catherines, ONT at the Merritton Community Centre at 4 p.m.
Les and Vic return after a brief absence to explain why they’ve been gone and to get into the biggest stories of the week. Of course, that means starting with the retirement of Daniel Bryan, aka. Bryan Danielson (12:23), including memories and personal interactions with him from Les and Vic’s theory on why Bryan was someone who no matter what WWE did or didn’t do with him, the fans just wouldn’t let him fade away. That takes us to the importance of “shifting gears” (32:13); why changing things up from normal patterns is good.
Then, we’ll open up the mailbag (42:45) for Les to share his personal concussion history and how the business treated head injuries in his day, the suspension of Titus O’Neal (45:53) and what is appropriate conduct between wrestler and promoter, and who from today would Les have enjoyed getting into the ring with (69:05). Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!
This month and for only the second time ever, WWE will present Fastlane, the now yearly traditional February PPV, I guess. The show takes place on February 21 from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, headlined by a triple threat match between Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar and Dean Ambrose for the number one contender slot to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
This year, WWE threw tradition out the window and made the Royal Rumble match a WWE World title bout in which Reigns had to defend his title against 29 others, from the number one position no less. Of course, he got tossed by the boss (HHH), but don’t worry, he’s getting a rematch at Fastlane, sort of.
Let’s look at how each competitor got here in storyline:
Reigns: He lost in the Royal Rumble so he is due a rematch. One would think he would simply demand his rematch at Wrestlemania, but The Authority made this Fastlane match before he thought of that, I suppose.
Ambrose: He was the runner-up to HHH in the Royal Rumble, and is ALSO the current Intercontinental Champion. If this were the 80’s, that would make him the number one contender automatically. That’s valid enough to put him in the match, kinda.
Lesnar: He had an average showing in the Rumble, and prior to that, was last seen beating the Undertaker at Hell in a Cell in October. He’s the biggest draw, so yeah, he’s in, but in storyline, he hasn’t earned it. Why did The Authority do this? It makes no sense to put the former UFC champion in this match because he’s clearly a major threat unless… he’s joining The Authority. Speculation on my part would suggest to me that Lesnar is winning at Fastlane and turning heel, and will be gifted the title from HHH on Raw. Somehow this will lead to Reigns vs. Lesnar at Wrestlemania with HHH in Lesnar’s corner and The Rock in Reigns’ corner. But that’s purely speculation…
Prediction: Ambrose and Reigns team up to take out Lesnar early, but then both become consumed with hurting / one-upping each other and forget about Lesnar, who recovers and destroys Ambrose before turning his sites to Reigns. Reigns looks like he’s on the verge of defeat, but makes his comeback only to have HHH come to the ring and throw Lesnar the belt which he uses to put Reigns away, probably.
My guess is that the real reason they are doing this match as a three-way is because they remember the excellent three-way match with Lesnar, Rollins, and Cena from last year’s Royal Rumble and think that this match will be able to top that one.
I hope they are right, because the storyline is pretty stupid unless The Authority is just banking on the fact that this match will be so brutal, it won’t matter who wins because they’ll be too badly beaten to put up a fight against HHH at Wrestlemania. From The Authority’s perspective, why give Reigns a chance? They hate him! Why give Ambrose a shot? He is Reigns’ best buddy! Why put Lesnar in there? He is the most dominant force in the WWE and broke HHH’s arm! All this adds up to something fishy smelling.
Here’s what should have happenend: the day after the Royal Rumble, Reigns should have taken Vince McMahon hostage in the ring and demanded his rematch right then. That’s what “Stone Cold” Steve Austin would have done. Instead, just like John Cena would have done, Reigns just eats his crow and gets back in line. He’s so impotent! He put HHH out for a month! He KO’d Vinny Mac! He battled the beast and got screwed at Wrestlemania last year! WHY ISN’T REIGNS MAD? If they are trying to make the next John Cena, they’re doing a good job of it by having Reigns not really care about losing the belt.
This guy is fighting The Authority! Yes, the storyline from 16 years ago is still happening, only instead of an ass kicking, beer swilling, bird flipping madman, we have a cool guy trying to remain cool by not caring. That’s not cool. In fact, that’s decidedly un-cool! Stone Cold didn’t care what Vince wanted. Stone Cold didn’t bother to ask. Stone Cold didn’t wait in line. He took what he wanted, and he was the coolest! Rebels are cool, not guys who take turns.
Hey WWE, we’re not thrilled with the character development of Roman Reigns. He’s mediocre at best. Please listen to us wrestling fans. It’s not that hard. If you’re hell bent on rehashing the storyline from 16 years ago, that’s fine, but go back and look at what worked then and start from there. It’s really simple WWE, just ask yourself one question: what would Stone Cold Steve Austin do?
We’ve got some of the best grapplers in the world doing great things on a weekly basis! Here’s 5 things you need to know about British wrestling this week:
1) Scurll & Ospreay do it again…
On January 16th, at the York Hall in Bethnal Green, Will Ospreay and Marty Scurll put on a masterclass of modern wrestling at Revolution Pro-Wrestling’s High Stakes event. Just 8 days later, at PROGRESS’s Chat Sh*t, Get Banged, across London at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, they did it again. The two matches, although they were both around 30 minutes long, could not have been more different. The first was all about showing how to link a series of moves into a flawless contest, the second – also virtually flawless – was about emotion and feeling and two men who hate one another.
Ospreay is being talked about in hushed tones, and watching him you do get the feeling that every time might be the last time, that before your ticket for his next appearance can be validated, he’ll be off to Orlando or Japan. Scurll had a glimpse of glory, runner-up in the first TNA Bootcamp, and you sometimes could be forgiven for thinking his time has passed. This past week – and a year of solid work as The Villain before that – shows that to be nonsense, and both men would enhance the roster of any company in the world. For now, though, they’re ours. Enjoy it while it lasts.
2) PROGRESS banged it…
As well as the superb main event detailed above, Chat Sh*t, Get Banged, named after a tweet from Leicester City (PROGRESS owner Jim Smallman’s team) footballer Jamie Vardy, delivered everything it promised. Mark Haskins – bearing the marks of a pounding by Kenny Omega in Swindon the night before – beat Zack Gibson to become the number one contender, and will face new PROGRESS champion Marty Scurll in Manchester on February 14th. Opening the card, The Origin beat FSU to retain the tag-team titles, and their next challengers will likely come from whoever wins the feud between the London Riots and the Sumerian Death Squad. They kicked off a three-match series on Sunday with a Michael Dante versus Rob Lynch encounter that was every bit as hard-hitting as a New Japan NEVER title match.
Coming dangerously near to stealing a show with so much talent having so many great matches, however, were the women, who turned a four-way into an intense twenty minute encounter, with even the most skeptical about the distaff athletes converted and delivering a standing ovation by the end. Dastardly Sloan ranger Jinny triumphed, and will face Leva Bates at the next ENDVR show in March, but there are so many threads still dangling between the four – Pollyanna, Dahlia Black, and Toni Storm made up the quartet – that this will run for the whole year. And that year will be a year in which PROGRESS promotes at least 22 shows, each one more anticipated than the last. It’s a great time to be a fan of British wrestling.
3) ICW turned a different corner…
The build-up to Square Go, Insane Championship Wrestling’s version of the Royal Rumble, was all about the feud between ICW Heavyweight champion Grado and his challenger, Chris Renfrew. Renfrew, the leader of the New Age Kliq, framed his challenge as defending the honour of ICW, although few outside NAK loyalists went along with that. But, after the dust had settled on Sunday’s show, it was Renfrew who came away with the title, leaving Grado – who debuted a new look, with new music – wondering where to go next.
Renfrew’s first challenge could come from his fellow NAKer, Wolfgang, who walked out of the Square Go match with a heavyweight title shot, after besting 29 other men to win a 12-month window to cash in his opportunity. The rules of Square Go allow for 5 wrestlers to bring weapons to the ring, and the lucky recipients were Noam Dar (steel chair), Timm Wylie (lead pipe), Red Lighting (kendo stick), Jack Jester (sex toy), and Sebastian, who brought his GZR tag-team partner Tom Irvin as his weapon. Also in the match were Dave Mastiff, Jimmy Havoc, Doug Williams, ICW owner Mark Dallas, and all the ICW regulars. Next up for ICW is their spring tour, visiting England, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland, and it’s all building towards November’s massive Fear & Loathing IX.
4) Alpha Omega kicked off their 2016 season…
While British wrestling has its areas of concentration, the north Lancashire coast is not exactly a hotbed of grappling action, despite the part the area played in the tradition and history of the sport in the UK. Preston City Wrestling operates 30 miles inland but the seaside is dominated by Alpha-Omega Wrestling, based in Morecambe, and presenting a series of well-attended, sensibly-booked shows that have kept fans in the area – and the adventurous traveller – entertained since they emerged in 2007 as the XWA. Initially owned by former FWA promoter (and on-screen personality) Greg Lambert, the promotion has passed through several hands but is still booked by Lambert, alongside current owner Charles Nelson Riley. The promotion tries to harken back to a time when wrestling was real, and while the success (or otherwise) might speak more about the people of the town than anything else, it’s a refreshing change in an era of kayfabe-breaking, social media-embracing meta wrestling, and more power to them.
Saturday’s Outbreak event, at Alpha-Omega’s regular Morecambe Winter Gardens home, attracted a healthy crowd to see heavyweight champion Stixx down Joe Hendry, the latest contender to try and break an 8-year undefeated streak. Also on the show, The Referendum (the top heel stable, all Scots and playing on the 2014 Scottish divorce from the UK which never quite happened), represented by Liam Thomson & Bobby Roberts, won the tag-team titles, Craig Kollins beat Chris Silvio, and Lana Austin & Alexis Rose defeated Nikki Storm & Carmel Jacob. With a roster that also includes Chris Ridgeway, Cyanide, and many of the northern standouts, Alpha-Omega are one of the UK’s best kept secrets, and might just be worth a trip to the seaside…
5) The shows keep coming…
As well as spending much of the year promoting spot shows around their south west territory, 4 Front Wrestling promotes several big shows a year, and this weekend presented New Year’s Wrestleultion, at the MECA in Swindon. The show was supposed to have been main-evented by a 4FW Heavyweight title match between Tiger Ali and Doug Williams, but a series of events led to Williams putting his title shot on the line against local favourite Samie Sahin and losing, before helping Sahin beat Ali to win the title which sent the hall crazy. Also on the show, Kenny Omega beat Mark Haskins to win the vacant 4FW Cruiserweight title, and then immediately vacated it because he’s a heavyweight now, Drago beat Pentagon Jr in a Lucha Underground showcase match, and Japanese women’s star Hikaru Shida beat Shanna. The women were also in action down the road in High Wycombe (Nadia Sapphire actually worked both shows), where Empress Pro-Wrestling presented Never Say Never Again at the Arts4Every1 Centre. Three of the four women from the PROGRESS match were in action, with Jinny losing to Kira Fox, Toni Storm beaten by Courtney, and Pollyanna teaming with Katie Harvey to defeat Rhia O’Reilly & Addy Starr. Robbie Brookside’s daughter, Xia, also worked the show.
With an eye on the next generation, IPW:UK staged Future 15 on Saturday, at the Community Centre in Selsdon. As well as a multi-man “scrum” match (won by ProJo head trainer Darrell Allen, and also featuring London Riot James Davis, Lord Jonathan Windsor, and the return of scene veteran Muscles Mansfield), women’s champion Tennessee Honey successfully defended her title against Elizabeth, tag-team champions DnD saw off Sammy Smooth & Maverick Mayhew, and Donovan Dijak collided with Rampage Jackson in a super heavyweight bout. Across the Thames Estuary, in Essex, Reloaded Championship Wrestling Alliance – a promotion part-owned by Will Ospreay – presented Fall Out at the Rainham Methodist Church. Ospreay worked the opener, defeating 2016 rookie of the year contender Malik, while his Swords of Essex tag-team partner Paul Robinson beat Ash Draven & Sean Wilson in a handicap match, by disqualification. Also on the show, which our spy highly recommended, were “Blackbelt” Tom Dawkins, and TNA Bootcamp nearlymen Chuck Cyrus and Priscilla.
Titus O’Neil def. Tyler Breeze with the Clash of the Titus.
RAW Notes:
HHH got a good reaction for his entrance but he was being booed by the end of his promo.
Crowd was very into AJ Styles, chanting his name many times and pulling for him over Jericho. It will be interesting to see how long they tease the Styles Clash. That was probably match of the night.
The guys dressed up as Savage, Hogan, Rock, and Undertaker were sitting in the front row facing the hard camera. The Savage guy started to stand and do the Macho Man motion during the Kane vs. Wyatt match. He was asked to cut it out by security. Then he did it again and security swarmed on them. During the commercial break, they were playing some videos on the Tron with the lights out and it appeared that they were being ejected. A few minutes later, they were being escorted to the seats you saw them in during the Rock segment. The fans chanted for them a few more times but they didn’t draw attention to themselves again.
The Miz vs. Kalisto match just destroyed the crowd. Miz’s long period on offense had people begging for the end. They somewhat recovered for the main event but not fully.
They didn’t make a big deal about the Fast Lane announcement in the building after the opening promo. Many forgot that it was even coming, as people started streaming for the exits once Reigns and Ambrose won, and especially when Rusev went through the table.
After the show ended, and Ambrose and Reigns left, Rusev recovered and took another monitor to the back, to add to his collection from last night.
Archie Gouldie, a headliner throughout the world for more than three decades as The Stomper as well as The Mongolian Stomper, passed away today at about Noon. He was 78.
Gouldie had been battling Alzheimer’s of late. He fell and broke his hip two weeks ago. He underwent hip replacement surgery, but never recovered from the surgery and passed away in his sleep.
While he worked all over the world, he was a legend as arguably the greatest heel in the history of Stampede Wrestling. Gouldie was a tough ex-football player who attended matches in Calgary, and thought he was tougher than the wrestlers. He hit the ring once in a match and grabbed the mic from Ed Whalen and challenged the wrestlers. Stu Hart, the promoter and policeman at the time in the early 60s, invited him over to his house if he thought he was tough. Hart, as he was known to do in that era, tortured the football player with wrestling submission moves, and beat him so badly that he never came back to challenge wrestlers. The feeling was that he was another weightlifter football player type who thought wrestling was fake and easy.
Several months later, Gouldie apologeticly asked Hart to train him. It wasn’t long before he was Hart’s biggest drawing card. Because he was from Carbon, Alberta, there was never any pretending of who he was or that he was actually a monster who couldn’t talk from Mongolia while in that promotion.
He rarely did interviews in the United States, and had a number of different managers over the years including J.J. Dillon, Gary Hart and Don Carson. However, in Canada he was best known for menacing interviews, such as when he scared a young Bret Hart to death when he vowed to destroy the Hart House, brick by brick, while he was feuding with Stu. Later, Bret and Gouldie wrestled numerous times and Bret considered Gouldie one of the greatest wrestlers of the era. He came in and out (of the territory), holding the North American title eight times, if not more, with his best run coming in the late 60s.
Gouldie first became The Mongolian Stomper in 1963, in the Central States. He had runs everywhere from California to Australia, as a top star, but the places he would have been best remembered would have been Western Canada and Tennessee. He drew a number of sellouts as a Memphis headliner, and would be one of the most successful draws ever in that part of the country aside from Jerry Lawler and Jackie Fargo. In Eastern Tennessee, he was even better known as a monster like character who held the Southeastern title 11 times.
His last major run came playing an unstoppable monster role for Smoky Mountain Wrestling in the mid-90s. He was well into his 50s, but a conditioning freak who was still muscular, particularly his legs, at that age from long bicycle rides to and from work. The fans bought him as a monster and that status was always protected in the booking. He and Kevin Sullivan had crazy brawls during that time period.
Manny Andrade (La Sombra) beat Rich Swann: The Florida crowd still really doesn’t know who Manny is, but this match was good, kept it simple and mixed in some athletic spots, Swann connects immediately and was the crowd favorite here. Andrade won with a running double knees to Swann who was set in the corner.
2/10 TV show:
Baron Corbin beat Johnny Gargano: Loud boooes for Corbin instantly, his entrance looked great in this large venue with a row of spotlights down on him in the dark arena, felt like a star. Johnny did some good work out quicking Baron which seems to be how some of the better Corbin matches have gone lately. Baron won it with the End Of Days.
Zack Ryder & Mojo Rawley beat John Skyler & Corey Hollis: A less wild Hype Bros match than usual, they just worked the match and won.
Alexa Bliss (w/Black and Murphy) pinned Cameron: Having to decide which of the two heels to support, the NXT crowd of course chose Alexa Bliss here, Cameron has a different kind of negative reaction than Eva does, where the people just don’t seem in to her. Bliss is very animated and has great taunts, she won it with the Sparkle Splash off the top.
Elias Samson pinned Jessy Sorenson: Another basic win for Elias.
NXT Women’s Champion Bayley pinned Carmella with a roll through pin after a series of counters and nearfalls. The story told was they were friends having a wrestling match, there was no cheating, nothing overly violent yet they both clearly needed this win. Carmella even did two dives through the middle rope to the floor to wipe Bayley out. This felt like a way to not lower Carmella even in defeat, she just got outwrestled. Post match, Bayley raised Carmella’s hand, they embraced, when Nia Jax & Eva Marie ran down and roughed them both up, destroying Carmella before Asuka ran down, stared the heels off, and in this time Bayley had recovered and was tending to Carmella when Asuka and Bayley looked at each other. The place began a YES chant as the two had a moment in time.
2/17 TV show:
Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady & Chad Gable & Jason Jordan beat NXT Tag Champions Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson & Blake & Murphy: Really good action here, long match, finish saw Jason Jordan take the best hot tag in wrestling, followed by an additional hot tag to Big Cass who then tagged Enzo for the splash off the top and the pin.
Asuka beat Deonna Purrazzo: The rematch saw Asuka win yet Deonna gets in just enough offense to appear tough. Asuka is a star.
Tye Dillinger beat Alex Riley: Good reaction for Tye, a lot of Ten chants and he actually picked up a win. Riley is working as a bitter heel lately on the live event loop, hasn’t really gone in to it on tv yet he’s still working that way. None of the fire that got him fan support during his main roster run.
Samoa Joe vs. Sami Zayn was a double pin draw. Zayn used the Helluva kick and then collapsed on top of Joe but his shoulders were on the mat and the ref counted both of them down. They ruled the match a draw and later in the show they announced there would be a 2/3 falls rematch at the Full Sail taping to finally determine our number one contender.
2/24 TV show:
Chad Gable & Jason Jordan beat Blake & Murphy: Good match as usual, American Alpha get the win with the alley oop german suplex pin.
Apollo Crews beat Chris Girard (Biff Busick): The crowd wasn’t familiar with Girard, his work is different than anyone here right now, he throws vicious uppercuts, his chinlocks are tight and his strikes look strong. Apollo got the win with the big slam that Triple H taught him.
Tommaso Ciampa beat Bull Dempsey: Good reaction for Ciampa, won the match via submission.
Eva Marie & Nia Jax beat NXT Women’s Champion Bayley & Carmella: Bayley took enough punishment that when the heels got Carmella alone they were able to destroy her, Nia dropped multiple leg drops on her before Eva tagged herself in to take the glory and the win. A lot of heat on Eva, of course.
3/2 TV show:
William Regal announced Joe vs. Zayn in a 2/3 fall match “next week” with the winner getting a title shot.
Vaudevillains beat Hugo Knox & Tucker Knight: Vaudevillains still entered to their cheerful music despite being on the heelish path lately. The newcomers making their tv debuts on the babyface side had some support but nothing like their house show reactions.
Elias Samson beat Steve Cutler: Another decisive win by Elias.
Emma beat Santana Garrett: Nice reaction for Santana, full music and tv entrance, back and forth match showing what both women can do in the ring, the end of Santana came when she was hoping to try a high risk move yet Emma knocked her off the top in to a tree of woe, after putting the boots to her she held the advantage until winning via Emma Lock submission. Good showing for both, hope to see more of Santana.
William Regal introduced Austin Aries. Before Aries could even make it in to the ring Baron rushed him and beat him down, then looking at Mr. Regal in the ring, the Baron vs. The Indies feud continues.
NXT Champion Finn Balor beat Neville with the Bloody Sunday DDT to retain: These two have always worked well together and this match was no exception, Neville took a few huge spills to the outside, even getting “Holy Shit” chants after the loud thuds. A lot of Neville offense that he doesn’t get the time on the main roster to showcase. They teased the Red Arrow a few times down the stretch before Finn fought back with a huge lariat knocking Neville inside out. The finish saw Finn hit the coup de grace, then hoisting Neville up in the Bloody SundayDDT for the win.
Michael “Mike” Sharpe (born October 28, 1951 – January 17, 2016) better known as “Iron” Mike Sharpe, passed away over the weekend at his apartment in Hamilton, ONT, at the age of 64.
Billed as “Canada’s greatest athlete,” Sharpe was a perrenial job guy in the 80’s and 90’s for WWF. He had his last televised match on June 6, 1995 losing in a tag team match to The Smoking Guns. After retiring from the ring, Sharpe made his living as a professional wrestling trainer, at his own school, Mike Sharpe’s School of Pro-Wrestling.
PW Insider first reported the death of Sharpe, a second generation wrestler, whose father and uncle were one of the greatest tag teams in pro wrestling history in the 50s, and are best known for legendary matches in Japan with Rikidozan & Masahiko Kimura.
Sharpe was raised in a wrestling family. His father and uncle tagged together in the 1950’s. At age 25, Mike decided to follow his father’s footsteps and was trained by Dewey Robertson, and began working for Gene Kiniski’s NWA All-Star Wrestling in the 70’s.
Like his father, Sharpe Jr., took the ring name Iron Mike Sharpe. He started wrestling in 1976 in Canada, and worked smaller territories for several years, including runs in Stampede Wrestling. At close to 6-foot-4 and 275 pounds, Sharpe was a big powerhouse who was known as a tough guy because of his amateur boxing background. But he was missing the element that would make one a big star, when it came to the charisma.
He did decently well in territories like Mid South and Georgia in the early 80s, but was beat known for is run in the WWF from 1982 to 1989 as a lower card regular.
He started out getting a push, with Lou Albano as his manager, and having a loaded forearm brace, built for matches with champion Bob Backlund. But he never got a shot in Madison Square Garden (he did work with Backlund in some other cities) and his push ended, but he had a long tenure with the company as a reliable enhancement wrestler. He was treated as a job guy with some credibility, nicknamed “Canada’s Greatest Athlete,” which was the nickname that Gene Kiniski used in the 50s, 60s and 70s.
Within wrestling Sharpe was known for being obsessively clean, and for always perfectly folding his clothes. He would be constantly washing his hands while at shows and taking showers, and was known as Mr. Clean. He was also compulsive when it came to training, and was known as a very well conditioned big man.
But in a cruel fate, with all that training, his health started to want over the past decade. For years he was largely confined to a wheelchair and had lost one of his legs, and had been suffering from constant health problems.
