Wrestling Observer Live with Mike Sempervive is back today with tons to discuss! WrestleMania’s match order is reportedly set, how Mike sees the two main events, news and results from around Dallas, adventures in phone calls, tweets and more!
Tag: Wrestlemania 32
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WOR: Saturday morning news, John Cena, NXT, Daniel Bryan, more!
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer returns today live from Dallas, TX, with a morning update with more news from Friday night, an NXT update, Samoa Joe and the Balor Club, Daniel Bryan’s latest interview, La Parka, Daniel Cormier and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
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Dave Meltzer’s WWE WrestleMania Diary: TakeOver fallout, ROH, Sami Zayn
I just would like to personally thank everyone I came in contact with the past few days here, particularly those at our banquet yesterday at the Texas de Brazil steakhouse. All the nice things said are really appreciated and to be able to meet people from all over the world. I want to mention that this website, the newsletters, and the audio aren’t just a product of us, but also of everyone. If you see shows or great matches from around the world, we’re always up for reports and links.
Again, it was just wonderful to see so many people who share a common passion and just how nice everyone was. I will be heading home today because for my job, WrestleMania really has to be viewed on TV. But for everyone I met at the banquet, thanks so much. e all work so hard and it’s days like the last two that really make it feel like it’s worth it.
To the news and notes:
– NXT was a great show last night. Bobby Roode and Kota Ibushi were surprise announcements and in both cases, they makes sense. When Ibushi announced he wasn’t staying with DDT and New Japan, WWE made sense as the next step, particularly with cruiserweight tournament. For Roode, once he left TNA, it made sense for both sides for him to be in WWE. It looks like NXT, and they can use a veteran in the ring.
– The big questions coming out of last night’s TakeOver show is what’s next for Nakamura, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe. We already know what’s next for Sami Zayn. It wouldn’t shock me at all to see him win the title tomorrow although WWE has a ton of different ways to go. But Zayn and Kevin Owens seem like the only logical picks. Zayn could use the big boost and the story of Owens complaining that he lost the title, how Zayn never beat him and how he hurt Zayn before makes sense. But there are really a lot of directions because A.J. Styles needs to be in a top program. I could see a big blow off with Chris Jericho in a month or so, at that point there are new things needed for both.
– I have to watch the NXT show when I get back to get the feel of it from a TV perspective. Live, it was a great show, well placed. I didn’t leave thinking it was the greatest show of the year or anything like that, but I know people who saw it did. Nakamura and Joe should be main roster main eventers. Joe should be in the mix with people like Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. In watching the match last night, and the aura he had, it really felt like Lesnar vs. Joe should have been built for nine months for Mania this year more than the original plans for Bray Wyatt or Dean Ambrose.
– We only saw some of ROH with the big news at the show being Colt Cabana’s return to face Jay Lethal. All the key shows were packed.
– Evolve’s business was through the roof as compared to their normal standards or last year’s Mania. They were expecting close to 1,500 for the noon show today with Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet. I didn’t see Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr. from yesterday but last night there were people who saw that and Zayn vs. Nakamura and said the former was better. But aside from NXT, that match as the talk of the weekend so far.
– The dark matches at NXT last night were Manny Andrade over Chris Girard which was said to be good but short, and Apollo Crews over Elias Sampson, which was originally scheduled for the special. They are taping TV at Fan Axxess from 1-5 p.m.
– Last night I was at the Kaiju Big Battel show. Not a lot of say about it. A show ending at 3 a.m. would be the second latest time I think I’ve ever been to a wrestling show at. Kota Ibushi wrestled a stuffed animal. It was actually pretty impressive how he did it. He made an entertaining spectacle, out of it and did some cool things without taking any actual risks.
– Regarding the UFC situation with Daniel Cormier pulling out of the title match with Jon Jones, the real question is how badly hurt is Cormier. If he’s hurt enough that he would need surgery, it’s one thing. If he can go by July, and be healthy at that point, they should take their lumps on 4/23 and it’ll just make UFC 200 even bigger with that fight added.
If he can’t, things get tricky.
Rumble Johnson would be the obvious replacement, and is also the most dangerous fighter as far as an opponent for Jones because he’s got the most power. Jones has been training for an entirely different type of fighter and if he were to pull out or just say he wants to wait until June or July for Rumble, I can understand it. At the same time, it may be the best thing for Jones to face Rumble in a short notice fight because he’ll be facing his most dangerous foe when not at his best. Really, if he were to lose to Jones on a short notice fight and Jones ends up as champion, he’s got far more at risk. Jones is going to be a superstar either way. For Rumble, the Jones match, when it happens, is a career and life changer for him if he wins, and a loss, even though he won’t be at his peak conditioning wise and people should know it, it will hurt him.
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WOR: NXT Takeover Dallas, Ring of Honor, WrestleMania stunt, tons more!
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about live from Dallas, TX! WWE NXT Takeover, Shinsuka Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn, title changes, ROH of Honor news and notes, more plans for the weekend, a big stunt at WrestleMania, John Cena good to go, and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
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NXT TakeOver Dallas live results: Nakamura debuts; Finn Balor & Bayley defend their gold
Friday’s NXT TakeOver: Dallas show on the WWE Network is one of the biggest the brand has produced up to this point with three big main events that sound great on paper, and should be great in execution.
If given time, the top three matches have a chance of being some of the best matches this weekend will provide:
– Reigning champion Finn Balor will defend the NXT title against Samoa Joe, a rematch from TakeOver: London event.
– Women’s champion Bayley defends against Asuka, who has a ton of momentum since debuting.
– Sami Zayn, who is making what will most likely be his last appearance on the NXT brand, will square off against a debuting Shinsuke Nakamura, who stunned the world by signing a WWE contract a few months ago after having a great run in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
– Austin Aries will take on the man who attacked him in his debut, Baron Corbin
– Apollo Crews faces off against “The Drifter” Elias Sampson
– NXT Tag Team Champions The Revival (Dash and Dawson) defend against American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan).
Join us at 10 PM EST for our coverage!
Apparently, the Apollo Crews/Drifer match was bumped to dark match status. Apollo won in what was said to not be a very good match.
In case you were wondering, no, we didn’t have Triple H open this broadcast.
NXT Tag Team Championship: The Revival (Dash and Dawson) (c) vs. American Alpha (Jason Jordan and Chad Gable)
Crowd was really hot for this. Gable worked a lot of the match, and was the one being worked on as Jordan was waiting for a tag. They worked on him forever, though there were a few clever spots like Dash going through the ring and taking out Jordan just as Gable was going for a tag. They completely messed up a spot where the Revival were going for a powerbomb/clothesline off the top rope combo but didn’t get Gable up all the way and it looked really bad, and on top of that Dash went for a cover when he wasn’t the legal man and they just stood there for a few seconds, lost. “Botchamania” chants after that one. It picked right back up after that as Jordan was tagged and they went for a bunch of fun near falls that the crowd ate up. Gable had a bunch of clever nearfalls, he’s such a terrific athlete. They did a phantom tag as Gable had Dawson in the corner. Jordan surprised him with a spear, Gable tagged back in and hit their drop/suplex bridge finisher to win the titles. Good match despite the botch with some great heat.
Jim Ross, Michelle Beadle, Funaki and, most interestingly, Kota Ibushi were shown in the crowd. Announcers specifically mentioned the cruiserweight tournament when talking about Ibushi.
Baron Corbin vs. Austin Aries
Corbin has a cool new jacket. I know Aries is on the small side anyway but Corbin absolutely dwarfed him in comparison. Aries started off hot but Corbin cut him off and got the heat on him. He’s really found himself in terms of agressiveness which I think he didn’t have even going back a few months ago, he continue to improve well. Aries made a comeback but Corbin laid him out with the deep six (spinning side slam) on the outside. He went for the End of Days but Aries countered with a roll up into a bridge and got the win. Right finish as it protected Corbin and Aries got the needed win in his debut. Pretty good match.
Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Crowd went ballistic the minute Nakamura came out. Song, entrance, everything fit him and was instantly over. Crowd is SUPER into this, far beyond anything else on this card so far. Good back and forth between both throughout. Nakamura was extremely comfortable doing his own thing and did all of his trademark spots. He’s one of the best in the world in terms of charisma and presence and it was completely represented here Zayn did the big running senton to the floor. Great back and forth sequence. Nakamura’s nose was busted open. “We want strong style” chant. More back and forth until Nakamura hit the spinning clothesline, like from the G1 final from a few years ago. He transisitoned into a triangle. Zayn tried to counter but Nakamura escaped. Zayn got in the koji clutch but Nakamura countered out of it. Zayn went for the helluva kick but Nakamura escaped and hit the reverse exploder and went for the boma ye but Zayn countered. Just great back and forth and the heat was incredible. Nakamura hit the knee strike to the back of the head then pinned Zayn with a high knee strike to the face for the win. Absolutely incredible match that is a surefire match of the year candidate. I think Nakamura’s going to be just fine in WWE.
Nakamura and Zayn shook hands after the match. Zayn stood in the ring as people were chanting “Ole” and “Thank You Sami”. He left to his own music to a big reaction.
NXT Women’s Championship: Bayley (c) vs. Asuka
Both women worked really well with one another and everything looked right on the money. A lot of back and forth. Asuka went for a kick but Bayley immediately latched on a kneebar in a cool submission. She worked on both Asuka’s knees. Asuka came back with the flying armbar and went into the seated position but Bayley countered with a roll up. Asuka latched on the Asuka lock, taking her to the floor. Bayley fought and fought, but eventually passed out and Asuka got the win, becoming the new Women’s champion. Crowd was stunned by this but ultimately cheered Asuka. Tough to follow the previous match but this was really good.
Bayley looked dejected after the match. Asuka left the ring, stared at Bayley, then headed up the ramp, posing with the title.
They showed Bobby Roode in the audience, so at the very least he’s on the radar.
NXT Championship: Finn Balor (c) vs. Samoa Joe
Balor came out with a chainsaw, I guess since it’s in Texas. Maybe he borrowed it from Dean Ambrose and will give it back after the match. Balor did a flying senton to the floor and Joe’s eye was immediately busted open big time, blood everywhere. It was actually from a headbutt sequence at the start of the match. Joe did a sick suicide dive to the outside. They had to stop the match several times as Joe’s eye was still bleeding, which the crowd didn’t like, chanting “Bulls***” and “F*** PG”. I don’t think it’s a PG issue but rather a a medical/commission issue. Some good back and forth once that was all cleared up. Balor went for the coupe de grace but Joe cut him off and hit the muscle buster for a nearfall. Balor got back up and hit the coupe de grace then tried to follow with the Bloody Sunday DDT but Joe came back with the kokina clutch. They did the Piper/Bret finish from Wrestlemania 8 where Balor used the turnbuckle as leverage and bridged himself over Joe on the floor, pinning him. Heat and intensity was there, and it wasn’t bad but the constant stoppages hurt it from being really great.
Joe looked both stunned and angry after the match, and simply left with Balor celebrating in the ring as the show ended. Another great NXT Takeover event, watch the Zayn/Nakamura match above everything else but each match was good to great in it’s own right.
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Dave Meltzer’s WWE WrestleMania Diary: Foley reality show, Mauro and WaleMania
*As the story goes, there were practices for aspects of a big stunt on Sunday.
*On last night’s Steve Austin podcast with Mick Foley, where daughter Noelle did a cameo, they confirmed earlier reports of Foley doing a family reality show of the network, which will include Noelle training to be a WWE performer. She’s already on the network doing some segments.
*NXT will start live at 8:30 p.m. with a few dark matches. The TV broadcast starts at 9 p.m. The’s local time, add an hour later for Eastern time. Ticketholders, or at least some, were sent an e-mail this morning telling them about the new start time for the show at the Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
*Unlike last year where things were spread out all over town, NXT, Evolve and ROH are all within walking distance of each other. Going to be weird as a lot of people with ROH tickets are also going to NXT, so I’m guessing there will be an exodus about 50 minutes into the ROH show.
*It’s hilarious, because based on the vibe here, if Roman Reigns turns, it may get one of the biggest babyface pops. That’s all I hear of people saying how much they want him to turn.
*Mauro Ranallo will be announcing the first three matches of WrestleMania, and hosting the WWE Network first hour as well as the USA Network simulcast second hour.
*WaleMania was last night. First, I want to say think you to everyone I got to meet from the site last night. It was really cool meeting people from all over the country and all over the world. Tons of wrestlers were there and I’m probably leaving out a ton of names but among them were Jim Ross, Konnan, Kevin Sullivan, Big E, Alberto Del Rio, Chris Jericho, Zack Sabre Jr., Eddie Edwards, Will Ospreay, Mojo Rawley, Enzo Amoe, Liv Morgan, Amanda (Mandy Rose) from Tough Enough, MVP, Carlito, Primo, Mark Henry, Taya, Pentagon Jr., Drago, Melissa Anderson (Mariposa), Kobra Moon, Justin Roberts, Virgil, Teddy Haft, Chelsea Green (recovering from a broken collarbone while wrestling in India), Noelle Foley, several ex-WWE writers like Alex Greenfield and Ed Ferrara (who now is a teacher at Full Sail University and has never attended an NXT show). Wale is a huge fan and student of wrestling. This looks to be an annual part of the WrestleMania weekend on the Thursdayprior to the show.
*About the only actual news that came out of the event was MVP saying that he’s starting with Lucha Underground.
*There is a real buzz among this audience regarding Lucha Underground. I think it’s the combination of something entirely different and the hot live audience that gives the show a cool feel. They made a huge mistake not running a live event this weekend.
*Bryan and I will start our nightly audio shows tonight after the NXT show.
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F4D: Morning report from Dallas, ROH, WrestleMania, NXT, more!
Figure Four Daily with Bryan Alvarez is back today with a morning update talking tons of news and notes from Dallas leading into Friday night’s ROH and NXT shows, WrestleMania and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
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Wrestlemania Week: Steve Austin & Mick Foley podcast recap
This live special goes into Mick’s career, and explores his life on the road while also providing him an outlet to highlight younger talent and plug his family’s new WWE Network show: Foley, Foley.
The podcast begins from Axxess with the podcast set in mid-ring for the first time ever. Stone Cold comes out and gets a ring introduction in Texas – including posing on the ropes and the screen going black when he flipped the bird. Austin cuts a what-filled promo on Mick Foley’s history with him. Mick comes in and gets a “holy shit” chant that is unmuted, while Austin’s utterance gets muted.
Mick takes a while to get his cheap pop and he talks about seeing Steve train with Chris Adams in WCCW and feeling he had “it”. Steve compliments Mick on looking good now and he says that they used to go the gym – which makes Mick happy since it proved he’s been in one. Mick is down 50 pounds and credits it to a better diet and DDP Yoga. Mick was told that there was no hope for his spine, but the yoga helps alongside swimming and he’s at his lightest since 2004. Mick credits Bronco Lubich and Skandar Akbar lecturing him to save his money. Mick shares a story about making a bet with Owen on who could last the longest on $20 – and Owen tapped out at two weeks.
Mick says he was more comfortable as a youth dressing like Dude Love, but it wouldn’t work in the ring first, so he made Cactus Jack as an homage to his dad. Mick talks about showing up in Memphis after paying for some photos and then coming in looking like he had a tiny bit of muscle under the flab. Steve says that when Mick was in Dallas, he met a girl, and Mick says his youngest son is in the front row. He wondered if he should tell her he was Mick Foley and not Cactus Jack – but he liked her, and decided to just be Cactus Jack with her and it helped him build his character. Whether in or out of character, he was cheap though and asked her kids to just have water when eating out.
Mick talks about learning wrestling much like language – you start with letters, then words, paragraphs, chapters, and books. Eric Embry gave him creative freedom, while Akbar told him to just do whatever worked and was different. Mick talks about Dynamite Kid knocking his jaw out of alignment for a year with a stiff lariat and learning to be a softer worker from that. Mick says he didn’t like pain, but was driven by it and there was a time when there wasn’t a huge difference between himself and Cactus Jack.
Mick wants to talk about Dean, but Steve derails things into talking about his poor pay in Japan. Mick says that he told his wife about that like the last time he had a good news/bad news talk it was good news – he was coming home early, but the bad news was he was now missing an ear. Steve asks Mick about a WWE Network project with his family, and he introduces Noelle. Noelle now has theme music and a pink version of Mick’s flannel graphic and Mankind mask. Steve says she’s beautiful and you’d never guess she was Mick’s daughter. Their show will be called Foley, Foley.
Mick says that Vince loved the chemistry Mick had with Noelle, and the show will cover Noelle’s modeling and wrestling training. Mick was surprised that the way he walks would deter her, but it didn’t. Mick says she’ll be trained the right way and Noelle says she loved going on the road with Mick and her brothers. Noelle says she was fine with Mick missing events because they knew he did the best he could to get home. Foley Foley will start filming in two weeks. Noelle says that they’re a weird-normal family and Mick says they’re like the Munsters. Noelle says she’s about as frugal as her dad and will buy nice things – but get the best deals, and their show hits the Network in August.
Mick talks about the origins of Mankind being Mason the Mutilator. Vince had the mask made for Taker, and wanted to use it for his opponent – but didn’t want Mick in the company. Jim Ross bugged Vince enough to give him a shot, but he’d only hire him if he could cover up his face. Mick says that on April 1, 19996 he debuted in the company against the Undertaker. Well, it would be pretty fitting to have them interact at WM.
Mick talks about getting into the Mankind character by spending time in boiler rooms and under the ring, which Austin praises him for doing since it’s basically like being a method actor. Mick credits the multi-part Jim Ross interview with breaking him out of the pack in 1997. During the shoot, he heard Vince say “This it outstanding!” and it won him over. Mick talks about how Terry Funk helped create the map for the Cell with Taker.
They talk about the fall off the Cell being bad, and it getting worse with the chokeslam. Mick says that he hugged Stephanie all bloodied up, and hugging Pat due to him experiencing a loss in his life. Mick then went out for the main event of that show to attack Steve with a chair in the first blood match. Mick looks at the footage and has no memory of any of this.
Mick finally talks about Dean and says that he doesn’t care about how often he’s back, that he wants to do something that has impact. Mick says that he was too concerned with making waves, and realized that his job was to portray Dean in the best light, he told the writer that the skit was too funny and not serious enough. He wasn’t sure how to structure a backstage promo, but he just let things roll when the cameras did and he loved the line about him being Mick Foley and Dean being Dean Ambrose. Mick says that he’ll never look at doing a backstage promo the same way again because he used to think it was a throw-away bit, but he realized that it could be an effective tool to use.
Mick talks about the Freebirds and his history with the team – including him helping Buddy move in ’87. He loved Stan Hansen, and Mick almost named his son Mickey Stan. Mick says that the journey to a match isn’t as important as the destination and he was getting ready to work a tag with Stan, and he wanted to work spots only to have Stan tell him “I don’t work spots”. Mick says that the main eventers are expected to steal the show, but the divas could do it – and Charlotte will usher in a new era in front of 100,000 fans.
Mick closes the show with a Vince impression about WrestleMania being bigger, better, and better while Austin gets in a dig about not being a fan of WrestleMania being free. This was a fun little show – but not a must-watch. To see all the screens for it, just click here.
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WOR: WrestleMania weekend preview, match order, tons of news!
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez returns with a solo show talking tons of news from Dallas here on WrestleMania weekend, notes on the big show, the match order, all the latest in wrestling and MMA and more! A fun show as always so check it out~! Check out all of our WrestleMania 32 weekend coverage.
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Dave Meltzer’s WWE WrestleMania Diary: WaleMania, highway ads, Balor Club, Jim Cornette
Editor’s Note: Most of Dave’s diary excitement will start Friday when he starts attending shows including Ring of Honor and NXT. We will have assorted shows up for members throughout the weekend, the first being a solo show with Bryan later tonight. Then, Dave and Bryan Alvarez will be back tomorrow to talk all of the news and fesitivites. Mike Sempervive will also be helming Wrestling Observer Live every day through Wednesday when Bryan returns.
*There is WWE information listing HHH vs. Roman Reigns now as a no DQ match, which it was never pushed as prior to today.
*There are WrestleMania ads all over the major highways and downtown here, usually a photo of a WWE star, the ones I’ve seen the most are Undertaker, Shane McMahon, John Cena, HHH, Roman Reigns and Sasha Banks. Officials at AT&T Stadium have noted that there has been far more local promotion done for WrestleMania then for the Super Bowl when the stadium hosted it a few years ago.
*Things already started with Jim Cornette doing a live talk show in Fort Worth. He did his usual bits, talking about how much he hated Vince Russo, but other names on his list included Dixie Carter, Shawn Michaels, and, to an extent, John Laurinaitis.
*WaleMania is tonight (Thursday) in Dallas which is now an annual event as tickets sold out immediately. Last year a ton of wrestlers came with the exception of WWE talent as I think they aren’t supposed to be at anyone else’s shows.
*If Finn Balor loses the NXT title Friday night to Samoa Joe at TakeOver, that means the Balor Club is headed to the main roster. Either way, Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows are debuting imminently and are in Dallas already.
Here’s some non-WWE notes:
*UFC 198 in Curibita, Brazil, is now sold out with approximately 45,000 tickets sold. Most likely, It would have sold out yesterday, but some systems crashed. It was noted to us that it would sell out today. The show features Fabricio Werdum vs. Stipe Miocic for the heavyweight title, Anderson Silva vs. Uriah Hall, Vitor Belfort vs. Jacare Souza, Cris Cyborg vs. Leslie Smith, and Shogun Rua vs. Corey Anderson.
*TNA will be taping Impact from 4/21-4/24 at Universal in Orlando. The dates changed slightly from what the talent was told last week.
*New Japan is doing a free show on New Japan World tonight/tomorrow from Korakuen Hall. It’s a free sample to try and get people to buy the service for Invasion Attack on 4/10. In theory, they should then be shooting some angles to build that show. The top matches are an elimination match with Togi Makabe & Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomoaki Honma & Michael Elgin & Juice Robinson vs. The Bullet Club of Bad Luck Fale & Kenny Omega & Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall, plus Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito & Evil & Bushi.
Historically, New Japan ten man elimination matches, where you can be eliminated either by pin, submission, or over the top rope, are usually very good. The show starts at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time early Friday morning and will be available on VOD shortly after its conclusion.