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1Wrestling Observer Newsletter
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3PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 November 28, 2016
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5 
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7WWE SURVIVOR SERIES POLL RESULTS
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9Thumbs up 200 (66.9%)
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11Thumbs down 37 (12.4%)
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13In the middle 62 (20.7%)
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15 
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17BEST MATCH POLL
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19Men’s five on five match 190
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21Men’s ten on ten match 44
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23Bill Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar 22
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25Brian Kendrick vs. Kalisto 9
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27The Miz vs. Sami Zayn 8
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29 
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31WORST MATCH POLL
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33Brian Kendrick vs. Kalisto 78
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35Kane vs. Luke Harper 63
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37Women’s five on five match 60
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39Bill Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar 32
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41Men’s ten on ten 17
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43The Miz vs. Sami Zayn 9
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45Men’s five on five 8
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47 
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49NEXT TAKEOVER POLL RESULTS
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51Thumbs up 258 (98.1%)
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53Thumbs down 2 (00.8%)
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55In the middle 3 (01.1%)
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57 
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59BEST MATCH POLL
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61Ciampa & Gargano vs. Dawson & Wilder 238
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63Samoa Joe vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 32
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65 
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67WORST MATCH POLL
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69Authors of Pain vs. TM 61 180
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71Asuka vs. Mickie James 18
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73Bobby Roode vs. Tye Dillinger 15
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75Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 11/22.
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77 
78
79The improbable story of Bill Goldberg, weeks before his 50th birthday, coming back for what was supposed to be a one-time appearance to help promote the WWE’s video game, and emerging as the biggest star in pro wrestling just tells you that the axiom that it’s all about timing is true.
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81Goldberg defeated Brock Lesnar in 1:26 after agreeing to come back for at least a few more dates. Unlike with Sting, who lost to HHH in his first match back because of the idea that at his age, he was only going to do one match with the company, but that was kept hidden, in Goldberg’s case, he came out on interview No. 1 and said about Lesnar, that not only was he next, but he was last.
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83We noted at that time that making the decision that Goldberg was a one-and-done was a mistake, because what if he caught on.
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85It’s notable that in 2003, when Dwayne Johnson brokered the deal to get Goldberg into WWE, a younger Goldberg, only a few years past his WCW peak, did not work out nearly so well. At the time, the fan base of WWE had been taught to hate WCW, and Goldberg by proxy. He was a superstar who was the big star of the enemy and worse, ruined the narrative that all the big stars had to come from WWE since he was self-created by the enemy. There was resentment among some of the fans, and even more of the talent, when he came in for big money, by the standards of the time, and limited dates. Rock vs. Goldberg on paper should have been huge, but Rock outshined him on the mic, and the company attempted to force the Goldberg character into their vision, he stopped being what he was that got him over, and they tried to teach him how to work their style.
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87Today, it’s a different fan base. WCW is not the rival promotion that the WWE fan base would think was uncool, incompetent and at times, threatening. WCW is part of the glory days of pro wrestling, when it was truly mainstream popular, and Goldberg was a nostalgia act that nobody had seen in a dozen years.
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89Goldberg getting over in a way that no current WWE babyface has been able to, no matter how hard they were pushed, is notable because of the similarities and differences with Dave Bautista a few years ago.
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91Bautista was a WWE creation, with physical similarities to Goldberg. But he came back at the wrong time, as fans wanted Daniel Bryan to be the top guy, and when management decreed Bryan wasn’t good enough for that position, and Bautista was going to be the babyface headliner for WrestleMania, he was roundly rejected. Roman Reigns, to this day, is still paying the price of being the company’s choice for the top spot instead of Bryan.
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93Bryan as a wrestler is out of the picture. No babyface is over to any degree. John Cena has been around forever, and is a steady force, but he’s not new nor chasing the top spot. He’s not around right now, but even if he was, it wouldn’t change the dynamic. The three Shield members are the top full-time babyfaces and all three are muddled. Reigns is pushed as the top babyface, but has been rejected for years in that position. Seth Rollins had a chance, but when the company tried to make him a heel after his return from knee surgery and the public wanted him a face, it muddled him, and by the time the turn was done, the character was compromised. Dean Ambrose spent years as the babyface who was second level, and when Reigns was suspended and he was put at top level, people never saw him as a star to that degree. The company itself knew they had compromised all their existing faces, and tried to put Finn Balor in that spot, but he needed shoulder surgery right after he was given the Universal title.
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95So when Goldberg came back, there was a hole. He filled that hole because unlike everyone else with their recited comedy lines and clearly fake characters, Goldberg, no more real than anyone else, came across as real. He didn’t use WWE buzzwords. He didn’t come across as a guy playing pro wrestler. He represented a different era of wrestling, where wrestling may not have been real, and he wasn’t real either, but people bought him as real. Suddenly, a guy whose major weakness was supposed to be that he wasn’t good on promos, emerged as perhaps the most effective promo in the company. In the end, it wasn’t about clever lines, but simply the ability to get people to like you. In a company where having guys “be real” and the idea of that kind of a babyface was seen as something that couldn’t work with the modern audience, all of a sudden, it did.
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97The background of the Survivor Series finish was this. Goldberg, as much as he always said he wanted to do one last match, largely so his son, who wasn’t born during his heyday, could see just one time him as Goldberg the pro wrestling superstar. But he still drove a hard bargain. The reason Goldberg wasn’t a regular at autograph shows and public appearances, or didn’t work any pro wrestling matches, kickboxing matches or MMA fights even though there were all kinds of offers, is that he priced himself so high. As fans started chanting “Goldberg” during Ryback matches, and people figured those chants would lead to a match, such a match was never close to happening because of WWE’s feeling his price was too high. When Goldberg’s DVD outsold any DVD the company put out with the exception of WrestleMania over the past several years, there still wasn’t any great interest in bringing him in. And there were personal issues on both sides. Goldberg himself talked about it publicly, noting that he was contacted by the video game people years ago about being in the role he took on this year, and it never happened, implying that Vince McMahon wouldn’t allow it. Those were reconciled, and like with Sting, the idea was to bring him in for one match. While most figured that would be WrestleMania, in this case, due to the timing of the game release, it was to be Survivor Series. Plus, he was brought in to lose to Lesnar, and Lesnar already had “bigger” plans for WrestleMania.
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99In the last few weeks, after ratings that were spiraling downward at a scary pace suddenly started to rise, and a disaster of a live Raw on Halloween ended up doing far better than expected, suddenly those “bigger” plans didn’t seem so big.
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101When looking at the different possibilities for Lesnar at WrestleMania, and for WrestleMania, the feeling, ultimately by Vince McMahon, and there were key people trying to derail this and stay with the status quo, was that Goldberg vs. Lesnar was stronger than any other WrestleMania idea. Of course, that can change, and there are people not on board with that and who were against what ended up happening at Survivor Series. And there are arguments that can go in either direction.
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103Once that was established, the key was how to get there. The feeling was that Goldberg returning as the Goldberg act from WCW in 1998, beating people in a minute with a spear and a jackhammer, was the way to go. Some have speculated that because Goldberg suffered a shoulder injury in doing a physical angle taking out security guards at the 11/14 Raw in Buffalo, that the quick match was to protect him. That’s wasn’t the prime reason at all for the quick match and it would have been the same match, injury or not, once the decision was made by both sides that the program would continue.
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105The feeling was that a normal-length, or even a shorter-than-normal length match between the two had risks. It could be a bad match. Or it could be an okay match, but then people would have seen it. Even if it was a good match, it wasn’t the Goldberg people remembered. Plus, McMahon has a huge financial investment in Lesnar and him losing a long, grueling match to Goldberg could hurt him, and while it may help Goldberg, it would build a rematch for a match people would have already seen.
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107The pitch was to present this as a fight. The announcers were told, unlike everything else on the show, to call it like a fight. The feeling is the audience was mature enough and had seen enough UFC to know that a fight can be short and explosive, and that’s not ripping off the public or making them dissatisfied. Plus, and while I don’t even know that this came up in this specific case, it is good for educational purposes of the audience for them to believe a main event can end at any time, as opposed to knowing that everyone gets in their repertoire of moves, secondary non-finishes, and not until that is over with is the match actually going to end. The big PPV shows of late have been ending after 11 p.m., and thus, as Goldberg and Lesnar went to the ring with about 30 minutes left, people were conditioned, knowing how long the show goes, that it would be a normal length main event. Instead, the show ended “way early.”
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109In the end, the short match was there because of the idea of not exposing Goldberg, and instead, taking him from being a one-time nostalgia act to the biggest modern star by doing something nobody else could do. But the other key was, and this is why Lesnar was on board and then some, is because Lesnar knew Goldberg was his biggest Mania opponent, and the match that benefitted Goldberg the most in getting over, also benefitted Lesnar the most. The reality is the shocking finish, that led to so much talk after the fact, kept Lesnar stronger, because most people could accept that stuff happens in a real fight. Lesnar would have been hurt far worse losing a long and “better” match and you’d have seen the match, it may not have been a good match, and the rematch couldn’t be as big. The idea here is that Goldberg is now 1998 Goldberg instead of a 49-year-old trying to for one night play 1998 Goldberg after following so many younger and better wrestlers, Lesnar lost on a fluke, and the people haven’t seen the match and it’s now bigger.
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111Evidently the idea is, to avoid giving away the match, to put both of them in the Royal Rumble, where they can tease something and build heat for Mania.
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113Goldberg negotiated what was said to be a phenomenal single event deal with WWE for Survivor Series, and we’re told at that price, he was very willing to do as many key dates as this run takes him and they want him for.
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115In the end, the key argument is that this was short-term thinking, and that they’ve made another super hero out of a part-timer. Right now the company has four real business movers, Goldberg, Lesnar, Cena and Undertaker, all of which are part-time. Part of the problem is that the weekly television, instead of making superstars, marginalizes everyone, so the guys not on television weekly end up the most over (Cena as the exception, but Cena’s stock had dropped in recent months as well). The idea is that there was major equity in Lesnar finally putting someone over clean, a spot always reserved for Reigns, and now they’ve done it and created a superstar with a very limited shelf life. And that is the argument that was used on why this wasn’t the right thing. At the same time, there is nobody on the main roster who hasn’t been marginalized so much that the win would make that kind of a difference. You could argue Shinsuke Nakamura, debuting him with Lesnar similar to what they did with Finn Balor, but the feeling was that it won’t be as big as Goldberg would be at Mania, or would a Shane McMahon match, or another match with Undertaker, or anything else. Whether it would be long-term depends on your view of Nakamura’s main roster ceiling. And it can still be done. No, not the idea of Nakamura stuns the world and beats Lesnar clean in 90 seconds, because you can’t do that again. But the guy who beats Lesnar decisively in the long match still hasn’t been done in a few years.
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117Either way, in the Air Canada Centre, it worked. The place was buzzing at the quick win, as opposed to mad. Goldberg had the crowd behind him more than anyone on the show (there were scattered boos at television the next night but he still came across as far and away the star of that show). Toronto on paper was his worst possible market. It was the only place he was booed in his WCW heyday, because of his rivalry with Bret Hart. Then, he was blamed for ending the career of Hart when he gave him a bad concussion with a superkick. Plus, in his WWE first run, to some, he represented the uncool nature of WCW. But this is a completely different fan base. Even though there were Vince McMahon’s bizarro-land fed references to the announcers when Reigns was booed or some Canadians were cheered, the crowd was great all three nights and made the product feel hot again.
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119The 11/20 show drew about 15,000 fans and 14,000 paid, which was a sellout, and since they used a smaller stage than for Raw and most PPVs, they were able to open up some added seating the last few days before the show.
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121The show, built around Raw vs. Smackdown elimination matches, and two mixed brand title matches, was filled with different stories.
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123Neither the IC nor cruiserweight title changed brands. Miz beat Sami Zayn in the IC title match. Brian Kendrick beat Kalisto via DQ when Baron Corbin attacked Kendrick first. Corbin then laid both of them out like it was nothing. Nothing was mentioned about Corbin’s knee injury that supposedly put him out of action until well after this show and was the reason Shane McMahon was on the Smackdown team. The fans weren’t much into Kendrick vs. Kalisto, following a great tag team elimination match that featured an incredible performance at the end by Cesaro. But what they actually did was great. Everyone wondered how long it would be before the moment where a big guy would walk in and destroy two cruiserweights and make the division even more secondary, and this was that inevitable night.
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125It left a dynamic where Bryan was mad at Corbin for costing Smackdown the cruiserweight division. It kept the dynamic where cruiserweight matches and angles will be shot on Raw on Monday, to build for the all-cruiserweight show that airs the next night on the WWE Network.
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127In the elimination matches, what made sense was for one side to win two matches but the other side win the big one, and that’s exactly what they did, with Raw winning the women and tag teams but Smackdown winning the main men’s elimination match with the main eventers.
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129Other themes were to establish Nia Jax as a female powerhouse, set up a Charlotte vs. Bayley program, strengthen both Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson and Sheamus & Cesaro as Raw tag title contenders, build A.J. Styles vs. Ambrose even as teammates, and do the Shield reunion spot with a triple power bomb of Styles onto a table.
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131As far as the major questions coming out of it, the only key thing on the show that didn’t go as expected was the spot where Shane McMahon did the coast-to-coast dropkick but Reigns got up and speared him. They may have bonked heads but the injury to McMahon was real. The match was stopped and he was at first attended to, and then helped out of the ring. He appeared knocked out. Randy Orton broke character and went to talk with Shane’s children at ringside to tell them Shane was okay. He was telling everyone after the show that he was fine and appeared on television, but did nothing physical, two days later. Shane’s punches were potatoing people left and right in that match, including bloodying Chris Jericho’s nose.
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133In the women’s match, Nikki Bella wasn’t injured and the spot where she was attacked and taken out of the match and Natalya would replace her was decided on a long time back, maybe even a month back. It’s supposed to lead to building to find her mystery attacker, which you’re to believe was Natalya. The Nia Jax submission finish after having her tear everyone up seemed to make no sense, but that’s how the match was laid out.
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135The next WWE PPV show is TLC on 12/4 in Dallas. The card right now is Styles vs. Ambrose in a TLC match for the Universal title, Miz vs. Ziggler in a ladder match which is to be their final confrontation for the IC title, Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss for the women’s title, Corbin vs. Kalisto in a chairs match, Nikki Bella vs. Carmella no a no DQ match, plus the winner of the 11/29 Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt vs. Jason Jordan & Chad Gable match will face Heath Slater & Rhyno for the tag titles. One would think Orton & Wyatt would win so you have the face/heel dynamic (even though Orton is a face to the crowd), and an Orton & Wyatt vs. Jordan & Gable tag title program could greatly elevate those belts from their current level so that makes sense to me.
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1371. Rich Swann & Noam Dar & T.J. Perkins beat Ariya Daivari & Drew Gulak & T.J. Perkins in 11:45. The match was all action and well timed and looked good, but it started nearly an hour before the start time and people treated it like it was a nothing, more like background noise than something they cared about. Nese did a Fosbury flop dive. Perkins went for a dive and the ref blocked him. Perkins then hurdled over the referee for a running flip dive onto a bunch of guys. Swann, who they’ve been giving nothing but wins of to late in trying to establish him as top face of the division, used a spinning heel kick and 450 to pin Daivari. ***
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1392. Kane pinned Luke Harper in 9:15. Harper worked hard here, doing a tope, a senton into the ring as well as a dropkick. But the match didn’t click and crowd wasn’t much into it. Kane won when Harper went for the discus elbow, it got blocked and Kane choke slammed him. *1/2
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1413. Team Raw of Charlotte & Bayley & Alicia Fox & Nia Jax & Sasha Banks beat Becky Lynch & Naomi & Natalya & Alexa Bliss & Carmella in 17:47. Jax looked completely ridiculous having to wear a red Raw T-shirt over her regular ring gear. Some of the women had to wear jerseys (Jax and Lynch) and others didn’t, but for her, it was just so out of character. Backstage, there was an angle where a mystery person attacked and injured Nikki. Natalya was there. It was ruled Nikki couldn’t wrestle (although she was fine two days later) so Natalya took her spot. Jax played monster bouncing everyone around. Fox pinned Carmella in 6:19 after an ax kick. Bliss then pinned Fox at 6:41 after Twisted Bliss. Naomi did a plancha on Jax, who caught her and threw her into the post. Naomi was counted out in 8:19. Super loud “ten” chants every time the ref made a count. Natalya surprisingly pinned Banks with a schooolgirl in 10:14. Charlotte vs. Natalya had some good action, leading to a sharpshooter, which got a big pop in Toronto. But Dana Brooke distracted Natalya, and Charlotte pinned her after a running kick in 11:55. Lynch and Bliss started not getting along since they have a program. Jax suplexed both of them at the same time for a big pop. Bliss and Lynch then did an absolutely terrible looking double DDT on Jax, to set up Lynch using the disarmer on Jax in 13:29. I have no idea why they pushed Jax so hard and didn’t protect her with a DQ or count out finish. Charlotte pinned Bliss in 14:02 with a running kick. This left Charlotte & Bayley vs. Lynch. Lynch made a comeback and used an exploder and a leg drop off the top for near falls. The story is that Bayley had to save Charlotte. Bayley then pinned Lynch with a belly-to-belly to win the match for Team Raw. Charlotte then attacked Bayley after the match and left her laying after throwing her into the barricade. **3/4
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1434. The Miz pinned Sami Zayn in 14:05 to retain the IC title. The crowd was really into Zayn and they pushed that Zayn was 3-0 in his career against Miz, which was the kiss of death for him. Zayn did a moonsault off the barricade. Maryse got in Zayn’s face and distracted him allowing Miz to chop block him and work over the knee. After having his knee worked on, Zayn made a comeback and he sold the leg and ran slower doing his running flip dive. They traded near falls. Zayn missed the Helluva kick and Miz use the figure four. Zayn reversed. Miz did the Daniel Bryan style kicks, which still look bad but her gets a great reaction doing bad looking kicks. Zayn had the figure four on in the middle of the ring when Maryse rang the bell. Zayn got up thinking he had won, and Miz got him from behind with a schoolboy. ***1/4
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1455. Team Raw of Enzo Amore & Big Cass & Kofi Kingston & Big E & Primo & Epico & Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson & Cesaro & Sheamus beat Jason Jordan & Chad Gable & Heath Slater & Rhyno & Tyler Breeze & Fandango & Usos & Mojo Rawley & Zack Ryder in 18:52. The rules were that if one member of the team lost, both members were eliminated. This turned into a super match. Kingston & E immediately did the Midnight Hour on Fandango for the pin in :40. Jimmy Uso then immediately superkicked Kingston to eliminate him in 1:05. Ryder was given some good looking offense on Anderson. Anderson pinned Ryder after a knee to the head and the double-team Magic Killer in 5:05. Epico did a back suplex, a German suplex and a vertical suplex on Gable. Jordan & Gable did the double-team sky high bulldog (the move popularized by the Steiners, who were Jordan’s favorites growing up) on Primo for the pin in 8:08. Then everyone got in the ring. There was a big brawl on the floor and Cass launched Enzo onto everyone. Cass knocked Rhyno out of the ring with a big foot. Slater did a stage dive off the top rope onto the floor on everyone. Gable did an O’Connor roll into a German suplex on Cesaro. Jordan launched Gable over the top rope onto everyone. But then Anderson & Gallows used the Magic Killer to pin Jordan in 10:37. Rhyno pinned Gallows with a gore in 12:27. Enzo then pinned Rhyno with a rocket launcher in 12:45. Jey Uso pinned Enzo with a splash off the top at 13:23. This left Sheamus & Cesaro vs. Usos. The last several minutes were great action. Cesaro was on fire, doing uppercuts, dropkicked Jimmy to the floor, and did a 619 on Jey. He did a 16-rep giant swing and sharpshooter. Jimmy clipped Cesaro’s knee and hit a tope on Sheamus. Jey used the Tequila Sunrise submission from the Konnan playbook on Cesaro, but he reversed it into a sharpshooter in the middle. Sheamus hit the Brogue kick on Jimmy and Jey submitted to the sharpshooter, which is always going to get a big reaction here. After the match, Stephanie McMahon said she was so happy with Sheamus & Cesaro winning for Team raw that they’d get a tag title shot the next night. ****1/4
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1476. Brian Kendrick beat Kalisto via DQ in 12:11. The finish of the previous match was so hot and then the crowd wasn’t much for these guys. Technically, they were really good. Kalisto did a running flip dive. Kendrick kicked the ring steps into Kalisto’s head and started working on his brain. Kalisto did a Spanish fly off the apron to the floor and followed with a tope. Kendrick got the Captain’s hook in the middle but Kalisto made the ropes. Kalisto did some cool spots including the Salida del Sol, but Kendrick got his foot on the ropes. Baron Corbin came out and attacked Kendrick, which meant Kendrick won via DQ. Then he attacked Kalisto and laid him out with the End of Days. And to get Corbin over at the expense of the division, when Bryan said how he cost Smackdown all the cruiserweights, Corbin said that Kalisto was a little pest who won’t go away and the last thing they need is more little pests running around. So this is weird. If Kalisto is a cruiserweight, and he is, then he should be on Raw and the 205 show, except he isn’t. ***1/4
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1497. Team Smackdown of A.J. Styles & Dean Ambrose & Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt & Shane McMahon beat Kevin Owens & Chris Jericho & Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns & Braun Strowman in 52:48. The crowd was chanting for Styles and booing the hell out of Reigns at the start. For whatever reason, wearing that red Raw jersey made Owens look way too heavy, way more than the black outfit. Jericho got a huge pop when he tagged in. Rollins vs. Ambrose had good action. Jericho told Ambrose that he owed him $15,000 playing up the storyline from a long time ago when Ambrose tore up Jericho’s lighted jacket. Shane bloodied Jericho’s nose legit with bad looking punches. There’s nothing worse than punches that look like crap but actually do damage. Ambrose did a plancha on Strowman, who caught him. Styles followed with a plancha forearm. Owens did a flip plancha on everyone. All the Smackdown guys attacked Strowman. Reigns was supposed to miss something on Styles but actually hit him. Styles and Ambrose turned on each other and Shane tried to break them up. But this distracted Ambrose and Strowman pinned Ambrose in 15:55 with a powerslam. Styles was right there and could have made the save but just stood there and watched. Strowman then threw Styles over the top rope in a dangerous a manner, but Styles took a scary bump lived to tell about it. This set up Wyatt and Strowman face-to-face. Jericho started yelling at Strowman. Strowman threw down Jericho and Wyatt. Strowman dropkicked Wyatt to the floor. Orton gave Strowman an RKO on one of the announcers tables, which didn’t break. Shane then did an elbow off the top rope onto Strowman on the table. When he was on the top rope, I was thinking that he’s almost 47 and if he keeps this up, he’s going to get hurt badly. And he did a few minutes later. Strowman got up from that and tried to get back in the ring, but James Ellsworth was hiding under the ring and grabbed Strowman’s leg and he couldn’t break free and get in by the ten count and was counted out in 21:10. Strowman broke free and went after Ellsworth. Ellsworth went to run away, but like in every horror movie, he tripped and fell down. Strowman threw him off the stage and through a table. Ellsworth was left for dead. Jericho hit Shane with a codebreaker but Shane kicked out. Styles went for the Styles Clash on Jericho, but Owens broke it up by hitting Styles with The List of Jericho so Owens was DQ’d at 29:22. Owens then hit Styles with a power bomb. Jericho was all frantic about the list and grabbed all the papers and looked like he was having a mental breakdown. Orton then gave Jericho an RKO for the pin in 30:17. Reigns went wild giving Samoan drops to Styles, Orton and Wyatt, and then he used a Razor’s edge on Styles. Shane tagged in and threw all those bad looking punches on Reigns. Shane smashed Rollins’ head into Rollins’ own knee and gave him a spinebuster. Shane threw Reigns into the post. This set up the coast-to-coast dropkick into a spear spot. Reigns made the pin on Shane who seemingly by instinct, lifted his shoulder when he was supposed to be pinned. The ref stopped the match temporarily at 31:08. Whatever you want to say negative about Shane being in there and some of his stuff not looking good, he is amazing for a non full-time wrestler at his age in the sense he can keep up and he does crazy stunts and lives to tell about them. Reigns was still selling the move as well which led to a “Roman’s sleeping” chant. Next was The Shield spot. At first, Rollins & Reigns went to power bomb Orton through the Spanish announcers table, but Styles broke it up. Ambrose came back out and attacked Styles. A ton of security came out and swarmed on Ambrose. Then Reigns and Rollins started attacking the security. This set to them doing a triple team power bomb on Styles through a table and Reigns pinned Styles in 45:57. This left Reigns & Rollins vs. Wyatt & Orton. Luke Harper then came out. Reigns posted Orton but Harper superkicked and posted Orton. Rollins did a flip dive on Harper. Actually they kind of lost the crowd a little here. Rollins went to the top rope for a frog slash on Wyatt, but Orton showed up and gave him an RKO out of nowhere and Wyatt pinned him in 49:26. So Reigns was left with two Smackdown heels. So the crowd started chanting, “Let’s go Smackdown.” Reigns went wild. He threw Wyatt into the barricade and hit the drive-by on him. Reigns then speared Harper on the floor. Reigns, still being booed, hit Wyatt with a Superman punch. He went for the spear, but Orton shoved Wyatt out of the way and took the spear for Wyatt, who was the legal man. Wyatt then delivered Sister Abigail on Reigns and pinned him to win the match at 52:48. Wyatt, Orton and Harper celebrated together when this was over. The idea was to jump start The Wyatt Family back to being a top act. ****½
150
1518. Bill Goldberg pinned Brock Lesnar in 1:26. Quick and simple. Lesnar drove Goldberg into the corner. Goldberg shoved down Lesnar hard, hit two spears and then got the pin with a jackhammer. Goldberg then brought his son in the ring to celebrate with him while Lesnar and Paul Heyman both disappeared.
152
153Between the hotness of the brand to the audience that attends and the overall hunger of the wrestlers, it’s seems just about impossible for there to be anything less than a great NXT Takeover show.
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155The streak continued with an excellent show on 11/19 in Toronto on the first night of the three-night WWE tour. The five match main show, clocking in at just over two hours, saw every match good and just about every match hot. The matches all came from solid television builds, had stories attached and it’s a real feather in the cap of the WWE Network that you can draw 11,000 fans and 9,500 paid to the Air Canada Centre the night before a major show like this. Unlike with WrestleMania, where you have the traveling audience, and Brooklyn, where you had some traveling audience and a huge population base, this was described as more of an Ontario crowd than a traveling crowd.
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157It was clear from the amazing reaction before the first match started, with Bobby Roode of Peterborough, ONT, against Tye Dillinger from Niagara Falls. While both get great reactions at Full Sail University, and from there, that translates to the arenas since the crowds that attend NXT often follow the TV fans lead, this was a whole different caliber. The reaction to both in many ways tells the story of modern wrestling, where so much depends on luck and circumstance.
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159Roode was always viewed as a solid wrestler, but having the “Glorious” music and it being clear he’s being groomed to be NXT champion has made him come across on this stage as a top player. Dillinger never made it in his first WWE stint. Almost nobody remembers Shawn Spears or Gavin Spears. He was brought back three years ago as a 32-year-old guy in developmental largely to be veteran enhancement talent, an experienced hand on the card there to help get the inexperienced talent through matches and make them shine. He always had the ability. But a few months ago, the “ten” caught on so much that as a heel, all he was doing was killing the babyfaces he worked with because people liked the chant so much.
160
161The thing most notable is that after Bayley and Sasha Banks tore down the house in 2015 in Brooklyn, the next night at SummerSlam there weren’t chants for Bayley and Banks. And at Survivor Series, nobody was singing Nakamura’s music, singing Glorious, but the ten chants were all over the place, any time there was a situation involving counting.
162
163It was an infectious thing like the “Yes” chants, and may end up an annoying thing in time. Even at Survivor Series it kind of took the heat away from near count outs, but also made for easy reactions to punches in the corner. Still, Dillinger appears to have major merchandising potential on the main roster if it catches on.
164
165The big news on the show were two title changes, as Samoa Joe beat Shinsuke Nakamura to win the NXT title, handing Nakamura his first loss since coming to the company, and Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano won the tag team titles from The Revival, Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson in a two out of three fall match which was one of the best WWE matches this year.
166
167We were told that several of the match finishes were changed at the last minute. I wasn’t able to confirm which ones but from booking, since there were plans for Revival vs. TM 61 title matches on the Australia tour, it could be both of the tag match finishes.
168
169The Joe vs. Nakamura finish was to keep the program alive, as there wouldn’t be much left if Nakamura won again. Plus, WWE is taping shows in a few weeks in both Osaka and Melbourne, with Joe vs. Nakamura for the title on top. They are doing a cage match in Melbourne, but it makes more sense if Nakamura is to regain the title, that it’s in Osaka. Obviously both of those guys are long overdue as far as being on the main roster, and the win makes it pretty clear Joe isn’t headed up that quickly. Nakamura doesn’t have to be unbeaten and he’s already over, so, given where they are going, Joe up made the most sense. Given that Roode feels like he’s being groomed for the title, it fells more logical for him to beat Nakamura instead of Joe, and it also feels from this end that Nakamura winning the title in Osaka makes sense as well.
170
171On the tag front, it’s the same situation in that it keeps the program, a match that tears it up every night, strong for a while with The Revival established as championship level with the audience already.
172
173Mickie James was scheduled for a one-shot with Asuka, to put her over, since they didn’t want to get to Asuka vs. Ember Moon this quickly. James’ performance was good enough that she should be offered another shot here, on either the Raw or Smackdown brand.
174
175As far as TM 61 vs. Authors of Pain, while the weakest match on the show, it was still good, largely due to TM 61. While the two are missing that all-important audience connection, as far as in-ring work, both are very good. Authors of Pain are a project. Really, they are just two big guys which is okay because the roster is a lot smaller than ever before. Obviously they were being groomed for a tag title program. In their case, it’s up to the opponents to make them, and Gargano, with his selling ability, is the best guy in NXT for that role. But it’s also such a huge decline from The Revival to the Authors of Pain.
176
177Rich Swann was scheduled to face Kona Reeves in what appeared to be taped for NXT television. Fans chanted “Who are you?” at Reeves. The lights went out and Sanity came out, which got a big reaction. There were lots of chants of “EY” and “Eric Young.” Young cut a promo. This brought out No Way Jose, who challenged Young to a match.
178
1791. Jose vs. Young was over almost immediately as Sanity attacked Jose. Nikki Cross was on top for a missile dropkick, but slipped and got a “You f***ed up” chant. She went and did it again, but this time nailed it.
180
1812. Ember Moon & Liv Morgan & Aliyah beat Billie Kay & Peyton Royce & Daria Berenato in an okay match. Aliyah got a good reaction since she’s from Toronto. Moon won using her stunner off the top rope.
182
1833. Bobby Roode pinned Tye Dillinger in 16:28. This opened the show hot because they had a local choir singing “Glorious,” which the fans did as well. The place went nuts for both and chanted “This is awesome” before they even locked up. The chants were more over than the match, but the crowd was into everything Dillinger did. They worked a main event style match with all the near falls and teasing their big moves without hitting them early. It built to Dillinger getting the sharpshooter on for a big pop. Roode made the ropes, threw Dillinger into the post and hit the implant DDT for the pin. ***3/4
184
1854. Authors of Pain beat TM 61 to win the Dusty Rhodes Classic in 8:18. The stipulation was that Paul Ellering was being put in the shark cage above the ring. This was both because when they unearthed the tape of the Tommy Rich vs. Buzz Sawyer “Last Battle of Atlanta” from 1983, at the time Ellering was managing Sawyer and he was put in a shark cage above the ring. WWE also has in its Mattel collection a shark cage accessory. They did it just to do it, and did the spot where the manager drops the object from the cage just because you always do it, because both played no role in the match. Traditionally, the manager yells and screams, freaks out, sells a fear of heights and acts scared to death while in the cage. Ellering’s character is different from that type of role, so he pretty much walked in the cage and sold nothing, which made it feel useless. TM 61 looked good. A of P were just there. There were several dives early and late. The highlight spot was Razar (Sunny Dhinsa, the former Canadian national Greco-roman champion) climbing a support structure for the cage with Shane Thorn on his shoulders. Thorn kicked him off and then did a flip dive off the structure. Eventually they got heat on Thorne, leading to the hot tag. Ellering dropped the chain into the ring and Razar got the chain. Thorne blocked his punch and the chain went flying and was never seen again. But still, Razar power bombed Thorne and the AOP used their leg sweep and clothesline double team move and Akam pinned Thorne. ***
186
1875. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa won the NXT tag titles in a 2/3 fall match over Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson in 22:16. The crowd was really hot for Gargano. Wilder pinned Gargano to take the first fall in 5:07 after the double-team shatter machine. Dawson & Wilder always remind you of Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson when it comes to just the work in the ring. They continued to work on Gargano including the tag behind the ref back spot. Ciampa finally tagged in. Ciampa got some near falls including three straight German suplexes (which led to the first “Chris Benoit” chant of the show, although both of those chants, loud enough that they were heard throughout the arena and bothered a lot of people, were not obviously audible on television in the sense I didn’t notice them). Ciampa & Gargano did the double team superkick by Gargano and running knee by Ciampa to pin Dawson at the 13:35 mark. The third fall was filled with near falls. Dawson threw Ciampa’s shoulder into the post. The crowd was into the near falls. Dawson, who was bleeding hardway, hit Gargano in the knee with a belt shot. Dawson used his reverse figure four but Gargano made the ropes. Wilder threw Ciampa in the post and Dawson then chop blocked Gargano’s left leg. They exchanged near falls, but Gargano got the crossface on Wilder and Ciampa got his version of the armbar on Dawson for a double submission. From a pure technical match standpoint, this was the match of the weekend. ****½
188
1896. Asuka beat Mickie James in 13:03 to retain the women’s title. James did a spinning head scissors on the floor and Asuka used a German suplex on the floor. James got near submissions with a half Boston crab and a Mutalock. She also used a thesz press off the top rope for a near fall. James finally hit her Mick kick but Asuka got her foot on the ropes. Asuka got the Asuka lock. James kept trying to flip her off but couldn’t and finally tapped. Asuka was heelish and taunted James with the belt after the match. ***½
190
1917. Samoa Joe beat Shinsuke Nakamura in 20:09 to win the NXT title. They brought in eight violinists for Nakamura’s entrance. It seems so weird that you get better and more special feeling entrances on NXT than on the main PPV shows. They brawled in the aisle. Joe then started working on Nakamura’s knee. Joe used a tope. Nakamura did the knees to the body on the ground. Joe did his power bomb into Boston crab into crossface spot (which drew the loudest chants for Chris Benoit, to the point some thought Joe let go of the move quickly to shut them down). Nakamura hit the Kinshasa off the middle rope for a near fall, then used a German suplex and Kinshasa but Joe kicked out of Nakamura’s big move. Nakamura went for another Kinshasa but Joe got the choke. Joe was busted open over the left eye. The cut looked somewhat deep but there wasn’t a ton of blood so we didn’t have a situation where they tried to stall the match to wipe the blood off. Joe then used a German suplex, a dragon suplex and a cross-arm German suplex for near falls. Nakamura hit a Kinshasa to the back of the head but Joe rolled out of the ring. Nakamura went for another on the floor but Joe met him with a kick, gave him a uranage on the ring steps hard, and then in the ring picked him up and pinned him after a muscle buster. Both guys came across as main event superstars fighting over a world title that meant something, and Joe in particular had a super performance. ****1/4
192
193Edmund Francis, who was the promoter of 50th State Wrestling in Hawaii during its heyday in the 1960s, as well as a top in-ring talent for a quarter-century, passed away at his home in Overland, KS, on 11/18 at the age of 90.
194
195Francis, along with Kokichi Endo of Japan and Neff Maiava, one of his promotion’s top stars, were believed to be the three oldest living major pro wrestling stars after the death of Francis’ longtime partner Lord James Blears this past March.
196
19750th State Wrestling was a cultural institution in Hawaii during the 1960s when it was for years one of the highest rated television show on the Islands. Due to the small population base, particularly outside of Honolulu, it was never a major money territory, but many wrestlers noted that due to the lifestyle it was their favorite territory to work.
198
199“Gentleman” Ed Francis and Lord James “Tally Ho” Blears were the masterminds of a territory known for having the best interviews in the business and some of the most creative booking. The two, along with their top stars, Curtis “Da Bull” Iaukea, “Handsome” Johnny Barend, Neff Maiava, Ripper Collins and Sammy Steamboat Mokuahi were as big in their area as people like Jerry Lawler and Jackie Fargo were in Memphis and remained part of the culture until their deaths. When Francis returned to Hawaii in 2012 to promote his coffee table memoir book, “Gentleman Ed Francis Presents 50th State Big Time Wrestling,” Hawaii media at the time noted that everyone who lived in Hawaii over the age of 45 knew all about 50th State Wrestling.
200
201The weekly matches in the 60s at the old Honolulu Civic Auditorium, usually held on Wednesdays, taped for television, were unique in the sense that they had match-ups that were unique and because everyone in the business wanted to work in Hawaii, the shows were deep in name talent. In that era, Japan and Australia were hotbeds, and many wrestlers used to come to Hawaii for several days on the way to or from those places, and work a show. They also had a full-time local crew that would work usually three to five shows a week. The money was nothing special, but it was enough to live on and have an apartment on Waikiki Beach. The lifestyle was going to the gym in the morning, the beach all afternoon and there may be one or two shows a week which were a short flight to Maui or the big Island but even then you could be at the beach all day, and you’d be home at night. The other shows were short drives. From a lifestyle standpoint, many wrestlers of that era said that working in Hawaii was their favorite time of their career.
202
203With the closing of the Civic Auditorium, which held 5,300 fans, it became more difficult to run a full-time promotion. The major building, the HIC as it was called (Honolulu International Center Arena, now the Neal Blaisdell Center) was more expensive to book, had more competition for dates and it only made sense to run it every few weeks. That made doing a pure local television difficult. In the early 70s, their 90 minute show that was based around the AWA All-Star Wrestling tapes that Verne Gagne sent them from Minneapolis, with interviews done from there as well as the localized interviews and airing some of the HIC matches with Blears doing the announcing and interviews. For a time they were very successful, but the cost of flying in most of the main event talent from Minneapolis for one show stopped paying off when they weren’t drawing big crowds. Francis closed down the promotion the first time in 1974 and moved to Pleasant Hill, OR, where he had purchased a cattle ranch and lived out what he at one point thought was going to be his dream as a cowboy.
204
205At the time, his son Russ, considered one of the greatest athletes ever to come out of the state of Hawaii and a major pro wrestling prospect, played college football in Oregon. Russ Francis, who did some pro wrestling, was more famous as a star tight end with the New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers. He later wrestled at WrestleMania II and was part of the presentation team which landed the 49ers the 2015 WrestleMania at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA. Another son, Billy, or Big Bill as he was known later, wrestled in Hawaii and Oregon and was part of the huge angle in the late 60s which brought Ed out of retirement.
206
207During the heyday, Ed didn’t wrestle much, although he was constantly on television, with Blears, handling the interviews with the various wrestlers. The two had a Lance Russell/Dave Brown likability within the community, and Francis would be on the air making the stipulation matches so that the top heels could no longer escape from the wrath of the babyfaces.
208
209Francis name was listed in all the newspaper ads, and often with a
210
211“GENTLEMAN” ED FRANCIS
212
213 
214
215CAREER TITLE HISTORY
216
217 
218
219NWA WORLD JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Baron Michele Leone April 11, 1955 Tulsa; lost to Mike Clancy April 10, 1956 Tulsa
220
221 
222
223AWA WORLD TAG TEAM: w/Billy Robinson def. Ray Stevens & Nick Bockwinkel November 15, 1972 Honolulu (title change only recognized in Hawaii); title vacated when Francis & Robinson didn’t defend titles outside Hawaii
224
225 
226
227NWA TEXAS HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Enrique Guzman June 11, 1954 Houston; lost to Johnny Valentine July 1954
228
229 
230
231MIDWEST WRESTLING ASSOCIATION WORLD JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Joe Scarpello November 24, 1952 Huntington, WV; lost to Lou Klein March 19, 1953 Columbus, OH; def. Lou Klein March 27, 1953, Vacated title after failing to make weight and moving to heavyweight
232
233 
234
235NWA CANADIAN HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Cyclops December 1960; lost to John Smith February 24, 1961 Calgary
236
237 
238
239NWA HAWAIIAN HEAVYWEIGHT RING MAGAZINE GOLD BELT: def. Al Lolotai May 13, 1959 Honolulu; lost to Al Lolotai July 8, 1959 Honolulu; def. Mad Dog (Lonnie) Mayne October 27, 1971 Honolulu; lost to Gene Kiniski February 16, 1972 Honolulu; def. The Sheik January 17, 1973 Honolulu; lost to Sammy Steamboat 1973; def. Sammy Steamboat June 6, 1973 Honolulu; lost to Sammy Steamboat 1973; def. Sammy Steamboat September 12, 1973; lost to Superstar Billy Graham January 9, 1974
240
241 
242
243NWA HAWAIIAN TAG TEAM: w/Pedro Morales def. Ripper Collins & Buddy Austin August 13, 1969 Honolulu; lost to Kurt & Karl Von Steiger September 10, 1969 Honolulu; w/Pedro Morales def. Kurt & Karl Von Steiger October 1, 1969 Honolulu; lost to Kurt & Karl Von Steiger October 1969; Picked by Billy Robinson to be championship partner October 28, 1970 after Johnny Barend was injured; lost to Ripper Collins & Mad Dog Mayne January 12, 1971 Honolulu; w/Ripper Collins def. Sammy Steamboat & Neff Maiava July 25, 1973 Honolulu; lost to Sammy Steamboat & Neff Maiava September 26, 1973
244
245 
246
247NWA PACIFIC NORTHWEST HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Bud Curtis October 9, 1956 Salem; lost to Bill Savage June 7, 1957 Portland; def. Bill Savage August 19, 1958 Portland; lost to Eric Pederson November 14, 1958 Portland; def. Eric Pederson November 21, 1958 Portland; lost to Bill Savage March 13, 1958 Portland; def. Bill Savage September 11, 1959 Portland; lost to Shag Thomas February 18, 1960; def. Shag Thomas March 18, 1960 Portland; lost to Tony Borne September 7, 1960
248
249 
250
251NWA PACIFIC NORTHWEST TAG TEAM: w/Henry Lenz def. Roy Heffernan & Red Bastien February 2, 1957; Lenz injured and Francis & Bill Savage took over as champions; lost to Luigi Macera & Herb Freeman March 26, 1957 Salem; w/Tony Borne def. Henry Lenz & Eric Pederson September 5, 1958; lost to Herb & Seymour Freeman November 7, 1958; w/Herb Freeman def. Kurt Von Poppenheim & Fritz Von Brauner November 3, 1959; lost to Kurt Von Poppenheim & Fritz Von Brauner December 12, 1959; w/Herb Freeman def. Kurt Von Poppenheim & Fritz Von Brauner January 1960; Freeman injured and replaced by Ed Sullivan on championship team; lost to Tony Borne & Shag Thomas January 22, 1960 Portland; w/Maurice LaPoint def. Tony Borne & Shag Thomas February 19, 1960 Portland; lost to Tony Borne & Shag Thomas March 28, 1960 Portland; w/Bill Savage def. Herb Freeman def. Tony Borne & Shag Thomas May 6, 1960; lost to Kurt Von Poppenheim & Soldat Gorky July 22, 1960
252
253 
254
255NWA PACIFIC COAST HEAVYWEIGHT: Held title in Western Canada summer 1957; Vacated title when leaving territory
256
257 
258
259NWA PACIFIC COAST JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Luigi Macera May 15, 1957 Astoria, OR; Vacated title when leaving territory
260
261 
262
263MWA OHIO HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Billy Darnell 1958; lost to Leon Graham February 19, 1958 Columbus
264
265 
266
267MWA OHIO TAG TEAM: w/Ray Stevens def. Leon Graham & Frankie Talaber August 30, 1957; lost to Shag Thomas & Charlie Hoover November 29, 1957 Cincinnati; w/Leon Graham def. Shag Thomas & Charlie Hoover March 27, 1958; Title vacated
268photo of him with his trademark cigar or pipe.
269
270Francis rarely wrestled between 1962 and 1968. He came out of retirement for a huge program with Collins that started when Francis, tired of Collins insulting him, and reaching his breaking point when Collins started insulting his two sons, after poking his finger in Ed’s chest, finally shoved Collins down on a television show in November 1968. The idea that Ed of all people got physical, because such an angle hadn’t been done, ended up huge as they drew a sellout crowd on January 1, 1969, as Francis came out of retirement.
271
272After a number of matches, it built to a non-sanctioned fight to the finish where Francis took off his belt and beat Collins into unconsciousness. Collins would use the term “I will never forget the whip,” for years after on his interviews whenever they re-heated the rivalry. The most famous angle was when Collins beat up Ed’s young son Billy, which led to the father-and-son feud of Ed & Billy Francis vs. Collins & Barend.
273
274Collins, whose real name was Roy Albem, looked anything like a wrestler. He more closely resembled a fat drag queen. He came to Hawaii and his gimmick was mispronouncing the names of legends of Hawaiian culture and the names of the cities and the islands. He was a fantastic promo, and his role was of an incredibly annoying heel. He worked best in tag team matches with a tough guy partner, like Iaukea. With skinny arms, and a huge belly, he was the one wrestler that the fans thought they could beat up, and they wanted to see him beat up so week after week they paid to see him take a whipping, but always escape. His offense consisted of a lot of hair pulling and his winning move was a blatant knee to the groin. He was always insulting Francis’ sons, Russ and Billy, who at the time were in the news because they were top-notch high school athletes. Bill Watts used the Francis vs. Collins feud as the template for the biggest feud he ever ran in the history of Mid South Wrestling, with he in the spot of Francis, and Jim Cornette in the role of Collins, with the only exception being that with Cornette not a physical threat, it became a tag team feud with Watts & Stagger Lee (Junkyard Dog under a mask) vs. The Midnight Express of Dennis Condrey & Bobby Eaton in 1984. In that program, Cornette continually insulted Watts, and it reached the breaking point when Cornette insulted Joel Watts, Bill’s oldest son, and annoyingly poked him in the chest, just as Collins did to Francis, until, like with Francis, the retired promoter couldn’t take it anymore.
275
276Francis did the quiet babyface promos and was a very good worker inside the ring, and worked regularly as a headliner from that point on in the promotion, through 1974. It was actually his best run of his career, coming between the ages of 43 and 48, battling the biggest stars from all over the world over the Hawaiian heavyweight and tag team championships.
277
278His biggest match was teaming with Billy Robinson to beat Ray Stevens & Nick Bockwinkel for the AWA world tag team championships on November 15, 1972. The title change was only recognized in Hawaii, and after retaining the titles in a rematch, instead of losing them back, it was announced several weeks later in Hawaii that the titles were given back to Stevens & Bockwinkel because Robinson & Francis hadn’t defended them.
279
280That did hurt the territory because one team after another had gone after Stevens & Bockwinkel. Robinson, who was a star in Hawaii before he came to the mainland, & Francis, was considered a dream team so talented that there was no weak link member for the champions to beat as there had been with Robinson’s different partners against the championship duo who in the 60s were two of the biggest stars of 50th State Wrestling.
281
282But after beating the champs, the champs still ended up back as champions with a weak explanation. Fans had been told of how much money and how much prestige the belts had, and then for Robinson & Francis to simply not defend them and lose them that way made little sense.
283
284To shake things up, Francis even did the unheard of, a heel turn, forming a tag team with Collins in 1973. Since the fans felt they knew Francis, whose character was the basically your friendly neighbor who happened to be a tough guy, the turn had to be done in a logical way. Francis was at a popularity peak have scored a win over The Sheik, a guy who did very few jobs, to win the Hawaiian heavyweight title. He was teaming with Sammy Steamboat, a local favorite whose father was a surfing legend and known in a previous generation as the king of the beach. Steamboat was holding Collins and Francis went to punch him and Collins ducked. Steamboat claimed Francis could have held back the punch rather than decked him. The two had an argument and went to settle it in the ring.
285
286Francis was a unique heel for the time. He did the same interviews he did as a face. The idea was that he believed some of the faces that used to be his friends turned on him, rather then he turned on them, and later that the fans had turned on him, but he was justified. The idea was to shock the fans as the idea of Ed Francis as a heel going against Steamboat back-and-forth for the title which did strong business because it was a match-up people never thought they would ever see and Francis being a heel became local water cooler talk. He still called Blears “Tally,” the nickname all the faces called him, and Blears would be uncomfortable, because everyone knew the babyface announcer was in real life best friends and business partners with a heel. And when he wrestled the other faces, he worked a technical style of match, just doing an occasional heel move at the right time as opposed to being an overt over-the-top heel that the fans were used to, given they had usually crazy and wild heels like The Sheik, Collins, Mad Dog Mayne, Iaukea, Barend, and The Missing Link (Pampero Firpo) as the regulars on top.
287
288It was a short-term thing and his turn back was simple. In a November, 1973 match against Al Madril, Madril attempted a leapfrog and Francis didn’t duck low enough and his head caught Madril in the groin. Madril was unable to continue. Francis then shocked the booing fans saying he didn’t want to win a match in that manner. Blears, on television the next weekend, talked with him about it and had a heart-to-heart with him, telling him that a lot of the fans and his friends had been disappointed with his actions over the previous year. He acted hurt by it, and then Blears said, “Even Billy,” and it was like a dagger when Blears brought up that his own son was disappointed in his attitude and actions. And the heel turn was over.
289
290After closing down shop for a few years since he had moved to Oregon, Francis came back in 1977 to revive Hawaii wrestling with Blears. While they had some successes, such as Battle Royals with Andre the Giant, it was never like it had been before. Francis ended up selling the territory to Steve Rickard, who then sold it to Peter Maivia, the grandfather of Dwayne Johnson. Johnson lived in Hawaii for a time. Peter Maivia passed away in 1982 from cancer at 45, and Peter’s wife, Lia, took over the business. While she had some big shows, times were tough and Dwayne Johnson had the most vivid memory of him and his mother being locked out of their apartment because they couldn’t pay the rent.
291
292Francis moved onto promoting air race with Wayne Newton in California and Nevada, and later operated an aerial tour business out of Boulder City, NV that would take people on trips over the Grand Canyon, before settling in Kansas.
293
294Francis grew up in Chicago during the depression, and was a top level amateur wrestler and competition bodybuilder after serving in the Marines
295
296during World War II. He was in the Mr. America contest that future movie star Steve Reeves of “Hercules” fame won. He trained for pro wrestling under Karl Pujillo in Chicago, who had managed big names like The French Angel and Jim Londos, and was taught alongside future pro wrestling legend Johnny Valentine. Francis quickly became a main event star. He first won the MWA version of the world junior heavyweight championship from multi-time NCAA champion Joe Scarpello in 1952. He became a national star when he defeated Baron Michele Leone to win the NWA world junior heavyweight champion on April 11, 1955, in Tulsa, and traveled the country as champion for one year.
297
298As champion, he got a phone call from Hawaii promoter Al Karasick offering him a tour in his territory. Karasick brought Francis in with a big buildup and was brought to all the local media. In his first days on the island, he was a guest at a sports luncheon with Joe DiMaggio, one of the most famous baseball players of all-time.
299
300He went back to Hawaii a few times. In 1959, on a tour, in the apartment directly underneath his was 23-year-old Wilt Chamberlain, at the time one of the highest paid athletes in sports, who spent a few months living in Hawaii with his girlfriend during the basketball off-season.
301
302It was while on that tour that Karasick hinted that he’d be willing to sell his territorial rights and promotion.
303
304“I’d never been a wrestling promoter before, but I figured there was a first time for everything,” said Francis in his book. “And honestly, the prospect of living and working in Hawaii was just too enticing not to pursue.”
305
306Karasick offered him the territory and NWA rights for $10,000, which sounds like nothing today, but was a tremendous amount of money at the time. Francis at the time held the Pacific Northwest championship working for Don Owen in Oregon, talked to Owen about the offer from Karasick, and Owen shocked Francis by telling him he’d lend him the $10,000 to get started.
307
308He noted it was a huge gamble but said he thought, “If you don’t take a chance in life, you might miss it. You might miss out on something great.”
309
310Francis, his wife, and four sons moved to a tiny one bedroom apartment in Waikiki, although soon the promotion was successful enough that they could move to a rented house. After he started, the wrestlers living on the island told Francis that he’d been conned, that Karasick took his $10,000, figuring he’d quickly fail, and then take back over the business. Things weren’t looking good at first. He started in May, 1961, with crowds in the range of 600 to 800 people, with himself as one of the headliners. At the time, there was no wrestling on television and Francis knew it was that was the key.
311
312Francis went to every station in Honolulu, but was always told the same thing. Wrestling was too expensive to produce, and was too limited in appeal. After being turned down by the ABC affiliate, Francis pitched program director Dan Kawakani on the idea of presenting “new and improved wrestling,” like how Tide detergent and Colgate toothpaste were adverting their products.
313
314“My product is no different,” Francis said. “I’m going to give your audience a wrestling show like they’ve never seen before. New and improved.”
315
316He was given a 13-week trial run. Lou Thesz and Sammy Steamboat then pushed him to hire Lord James Blears as his television announcer and make him his assistant.
317
318“If you look up the definition of `likeable’ in the dictionary,’ Lord Blears’ picture is there,” said Francis.
319
320Blears knew the Hawaiian culture, he knew wrestlers from all over the world, and he knew how to book and produce television from his experience in Southern California, which had one of the best television shows in the country during the 1950s. Francis and Blears were the office, the bookers, the travel coordinators, TV show producers, accountants and would make airport, hotel and food runs for the talent. Francis did much of the business, since Blears worked on his own time, and if the waves were right, he and kids were riding them and the business could wait.
321
322The original one hour television show was from the KHVH studios with a ring set up in the studio with live matches and they did interviews to promote the big shows every Wednesday night at the Civic Auditorium. With the TV, they started running weekly shows at a few smaller locations.
323
324Besides running a wrestling promotion, they also produced a monthly newsstand magazine that was sold in Hawaii. The magazine mainly covered pro wrestling, but also covered local amateur wrestling and whatever sumo wrestling was being done in Hawaii at the time.
325
326Television turned business around immediately and he was able to pay Owen back after one year.
327
328The key was what may still be the single most famous match ever held in Hawaii. It was on August 16, 1961, between babyface and Hawaiian heavyweight champion Neff Maiava, the first Samoan pro wrestling star, and local high school football star Curtis “Da Bull” Iaukea. The Maiava vs. Iaukea played upon the Samoans vs. Hawaiians rivalry which was a major part of island culture at the time, leading to very heated confrontations. But Maiava was able to get the backing of the Hawaiians since Iaukea was the greatest heel and biggest drawing card in the history of the territory.
329
330The show sold out, which showed things were turning around for the promotion, but it was remembered far more for what happened after the match. The two were outside the ring and Maiava went to deliver his finishing head-butt, but Iaukea ducked and Maiava’s head hit the ringpost. Maiava was knocked out, and Iaukea won the title.
331
332About 20 Maiava fans attacked Iaukea. Francis managed to get Iaukea into the locker room but fans picked up a wooden bench and started using it like a battering ram to break down the door. Francis and local security tried to quell things but ended up fighting with the rioting fans while police were called. Fans started throwing folding chairs, cups and ceiling tiles. Police captain Curtis Iaukea, the father of the wrestler, was among them. Before long, about two dozen police officers and arrived and the Hawaiian and Samoan fans started punching the police officers. Officer Larry Tuufuli had his gun knocked out of its holster and it slid on the floor. A wrestler, Luigi Macera, saw it and dove to grab the fan before an out of control fan could get it.
333
334Another officer was hit with a flying piece of concrete tile that split his head open and fractured his skull. An officer hit a Samoan fan with a billy club which split his head open to the point that his hair and scalp folded back over his ears.
335
336When it was over, the local hospital treated three people for skull fractures. There were nine arrests for assault and battery on police officers and all kinds of cuts and bruises among dozens. The riot was front page news in the newspaper. Francis saved the clippings and still had them at least until a few years ago. In 2012, when Francis was back in Hawaii promoting the release of his book, in almost every interview, the first thing he was asked about was the famous riot and the Maiava vs. Iaukea match.
337
338Business was strong in 1962 and 1963, with regular sellouts. The word got around that Hawaii was a hotbed for wrestling. Bigger name talent started calling to work there and as Japan and Australia got strong, for some of the superstars, the idea of flying to Hawaii and working there for a week, and mostly getting a tan all day so they’d look more physically impressive for their Japanese or Australian debuts became a regular thing.
339
340In 1964 the new HIC Arena was opened. The city of Honolulu, instead of letting Francis run the arena, put up bidding rights to run shows at the new arena.
341
342Francis was outbid by a local car salesman, Dallas Western, who started an opposition group called Aloha Promotions. With the popularity of Francis’ television show, the new group was easily able to get television on KONA, Ch. 2, and played Roy Shire’s National All-Star Wrestling show out of Oakland, and booked his talent. At the time, the Shire promotion was one of the strongest in North America, some would argue for pure working talent, the strongest. At the time, New York, San Francisco and St. Louis were considered the strongest pro wrestling cities in the country.
343
344Shire was not a member of the NWA at the time (he became a member in 1968) so was not bound by the NWA’s territorial rights.
345
346Shire and Francis were very familiar with each other. Both were stars for Al Haft in Columbus in the 50s, and rivals for the MWA world junior heavyweight championship. Francis never liked Shire from the start, saying he was annoying as hell.
347
348“To make matters worse, with all his cockiness and arrogance, he actually thought he was a great wrestler,” said Francis. “He wasn’t. I knew who the other true shooters were. We were the guys who trained seriously first as amateur wrestlers, who weren’t just acting, who could put a hurt on you that would stick. Professor Roy Shire wasn’t one of us.”
349
350Once in a match, where he felt Shire was messing with him in a match, he slammed him down hard and asked Shire if he wanted to shoot.
351
352Western and Shire pushed that for the “first time in Hawaii, the greatest wrestlers from all over the world” would appear on July 28, 1964, headlined by U.S. champion Ray Stevens vs. Edouard Carpentier and Jose Lothario & Pepper Gomez defending the world tag team titles against Stan Neilson & Karl Von Brock. The Shire group ran on Tuesday, with the idea it would give them a day before edge on the incumbent promotion. Francis rose to the competition, booking shows that week on both Tuesday and Wednesday night, with what Francis billed as a Texas Battle Royal on Tuesday and an Iaukea vs. Luther Lindsay match on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the Shire group sold out with 8,700 fans. But Francis drew sellouts on both Tuesday and Wednesday. Francis said the first few months, with both sides doing big business, he’d call it a draw.
353
354Francis continued to run his weekly shows, while the Shire group came in monthly. When Shire would come in, Francis would always run a show on the same night. Through 1964, both groups were doing near sellout business, with usually close to 14,000 people on the big monthly wrestling Wednesday nights out of a population of about 500,000 which attended one show of the other.
355
356The popularity of wrestling both at the two arenas in Honolulu and on television was such that the ABC affiliate added a second show, “Wrestling from the Civic,” airing on Sunday afternoons airing matches from the Wednesday night shows with live locker room interviews. Francis felt that three free television shows per week in a small market like that may help business short-term, but he felt long-term, it would turn into a nightmare, since unlike Shire, his business depended entirely on the Hawaii market.
357
358Francis noted that he wasn’t always such a Gentleman, such as when the war turned into a mean ugly business.
359
360“Among the many friends I now had in Hawaii in the early 60s, one close friend of mine happened to work at the airlines. So one week, I did a little research and I found out which plane several of Western and Shire’s wrestlers were taking from the Mainland to Hawaii. All it took was one well-placed phone call. When the wrestlers arrived, they went strolling over to baggage claim at the Honolulu Airport. But mysteriously, the airlines had lost their bags. All of their bags. Their match was that night. Their wrestling clothes were in their luggage.”
361
362But in 1965, a series of circumstances led to the demise of the competition. There was a lawsuit involving payment to the talent agency that flew in the wrestlers. Francis noted that Western was outsourcing a lot of his work to other people and there were payment issues, while noting their company always saved money because virtually all the work was done by either himself or Blears. The Francis group slowly started winning the war and the monthly Western shows drew smaller crowds.
363
364“The lesson to be learned is, when what you know is cars, don’t try to traffic in wrestlers.”
365
366But as much as he didn’t like Shire, Francis conceded Shire knew his wrestling. At the NWA Convention, Francis said he approached Shire in an elevator and said, “Listen, let’s work together instead of bumping heads. Why don’t you share your wrestlers with me, and we’ll make it work as a team, without Dallas Western.”
367
368Shire agreed, and Francis said he put aside his dislike for Shire because the success of the business came first.
369
370Without Shire’s wrestlers, Western’s group, already mired in a lawsuit, was doomed. Francis got the promotional rights to the HIC arena in 1965, with his first show headlined by a “Battle of the Giants” with Giant Baba vs. Iaukea, Hard Boiled Haggerty defending the U.S. title against Enrique Torres, and Freddie Blassie defending the WWA world title against football legend Leo Nomellini.
371
372From that point, Francis would run three weeks a month at the Civic Auditorium, and then run major shows, flying in big name stars for the HIC events, very similar to how Atlanta ran its wrestling in the 70s. In fact, the history of Hawaii wrestling and economics in many ways mirrored that of Atlanta years later. The top stars from San Francisco, who had gotten exposure during the war, most notably the tag team of Stevens & Patterson, as world tag team champions, became regulars at the HIC arena. During that era, there was the famous competition each month between the Cow Palace in San Francisco, promoted by Shire, and the HIC, over who would draw the biggest gates each month in the Western/Pacific U.S.
373
374While Francis ran Battle Royals before, the idea of the mega-Battle Royal came from a December 22, 1965, show at the HIC Arena. This came after the Francis vs. Shire war ended and Francis used Shire talent on his big monthly shows.
375
376Billed as the biggest Battle Royal in wrestling history, a 20 man match featuring “three tons of muscle,” popularized the idea of wrestlers paying an entry fee, with each man putting up $250 and the winner would get $5,000, a gold trophy and be billed as the World Battle Royal champion. The newspaper ad focused on headliners Bearcat Wright (who won the 33 minute match), Kinji Shibuya, Karl Gotch, Ron Reed (Buddy Colt), The Alaskan, Iaukea, Gomez, Stevens, Patterson and Killer Kowalski.
377
378In some ways, that Battle Royal was an important note to today’s history. The Royal Rumble, conceived by Pat Patterson, was created based on the success of the annual Cow Palace Battle Royal that Shire put on annually, with the first on November 11, 1967.
379
380Shire took the concept of the wrestlers putting up the same $250 entry fee but adding $2,500 from the gate receipts to make it a $7,000 Battle Royal, as well as the trophy for the winner. That wasn’t the only thing copied, since the first Cow Palace Battle Royal was also won by Wright.
381
382The Los Angeles Battle Royal, which started just over a year later, was in the 70s, considered one of the biggest events in wrestling anywhere in the world, was copied because of the success of the match in San Francisco. That led to others, such as the WWWF and AWA, building up Battle Royals in similar fashion and it became the biggest drawing specialty match of the 70s, until it became watered down and burned out.
383
384In 1966, business was so big that in an era were pro wrestling tickets were mostly sold walk-up on the day of the event, they were often selling out well in advance. He had a deal with both local newspapers to have an ad in the sports section every Saturday with the card and ticket info, and many of those weeks the ad would simply say that this week’s show is sold out but remind them to buy tickets to the show a week later.
385
386The next challenge was when KHVH decided to no longer air wrestling. Francis said he saw all his hard work fading away, but this time, there was a big difference, his several year track record in the market.
387
388In 1967, wrestling moved to KGMB, Ch. 9, which was its home for many years. The shows would run for 90 minutes on Friday night starting at 10:30 p.m., after the local news, and a second show on Saturday afternoons at 4 p.m., before the local news. The idea of program director Cec Heftel was that the popularity of wrestling would be used to build the station’s newscast. It was during this era where at the local beaches on Saturdays, at about 3:45 p.m., there was the exodus of people packing up and leaving to get home to watch wrestling. The Saturday show was doing a 70 share of the audience during the heyday.
389
390Before it became popular on the mainland, Francis would book the HIC every Thanksgiving night and Christmas night and do loaded shows, and going to wrestling became a holiday tradition for local families. He tried to repeat that theory with big shows on Mother’s Day, but that bombed.
391
392Another lesson he learned had to do with nature. When it rained in Hawaii, which it did often, it was a mixed blessing. On rainy Saturdays, the television ratings were through the roof. But if it rained on a Wednesday, no matter how hot the card was or how good the television show was, the fans wouldn’t leave their homes and Francis learned he could count on no walk-up business.
393
394Francis admitted that he was always worrying about business. It could be as simple as if he’d go out to dinner with his family and people didn’t come up to him to talk about wrestling, he’d think, no matter what the television ratings said, that people had stopped watching his shows.
395
396Perhaps the other most remembered thing from that era was the wedding of Barend inside the ring on September 27, 1967, at a sold out HIC Arena. Barend married a much younger Hawaiian girl, Annie Lum (the two were inseparable until Barend’s death in 2011) and Barend suggested to Francis having the wedding at a wrestling show.
397
398“I was a promoter. I needed main events, high spots. What do you think I said?”
399
400That also led to a memorable interview on San Francisco television a few weeks later. Stevens & Patterson were doing an interview with Walt Harris, and talking about how there was a rivalry between Honolulu and San Francisco in which was the West Coast city that would get the highest grosses. Stevens said that Honolulu got ridiculous that month in trying to do the bigger house, saying that he guaranteed that his partner (who was gay, although nobody knew it at the time), would never stoop so low as to get married in the ring just to draw a bigger gate.
401
402In 1969, Pedro Morales was working as the top babyface and feuding on top with Iaukea. During that year, Gorilla Monsoon, who was part owner of Capitol Sports, the parent company of the WWWF, was coming in on a regular basis, as a heel, teaming with the likes of Iaukea and Collins against tag champs Morales & Francis. Monsoon saw the fire in Morales’ comeback and big crowds he was drawing in a market that didn’t even have a major Puerto Rican population. When Bruno Sammartino told Vince McMahon Sr., that he was going to drop the WWWF title after more than seven years, it was Monsoon who suggested that Morales be brought in from Hawaii to be Sammartino’s replacement.
403
404Perhaps the low point of that era was the death of Jim Hady, a main event babyface, and the person that of all the wrestlers that worked for Francis, was the one he and his family spent the most time socially with.
405
406After a match on January 12, 1969, at Schofield Barracks, Hady complained of pains in his stomach during and after the match. He took a shower, drove home, and collapsed. He was rushed to Leeward Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 11:45 p.m.
407
408Francis had left the show early after collecting the gate receipts from the show and drove home. Hady’s wife called and said Jim was sitting in his chair unresponsive. Francis was about to leave for the hospital when he got another call, that Hady was dead from a heart attack at the age of 38.
409
410Francis noted the worst was the next day when a local radio DJ claimed that Hady probably wasn’t really dead, and it was just a phony wrestling stunt cooked up by Francis.
411
412The scene was later reenacted in a sense in the 1974 movie “The Wrestler.” In the movie, Jack Cutter, played by former NCAA champion Joe Scarpello, died after a Bombs Away from Ray Stevens. Ed Asner, who played the Minneapolis promoter, was with a few reporters after the show, and one of the reports claimed that it was all make believe and fake, causing Asner to go on a rant about deaths in the ring, mentioning Hady’s name along with other recent in-ring deaths like Ray Gunkel and Mike DiBiase.
413
414Francis noted that for several weeks, crowds were way down and even the core fans temporarily stopped attending.
415
416Francis in 1971 started out the careers of two men who would end up as among the biggest stars of the next 15 years, native state high school champion wrestler and football star Don Muraco and bodybuilder Jimmy Snuka.
417
418The beginning of the end of the glory period came when the Civic Auditorium and the land were sold to American Security Bank in late 1971, and the building was closed down in March, 1972.
419
420With no weekly shows, “Wrestling from the Civic” was canceled and they were down to one television show per week, airing on Friday night. Honolulu went to monthly shows at the HIC and no longer ran a full-time circuit. In 1973, the television show came back to Saturday afternoons, called “International All-Star Wrestling,” which combined AWA All-Star Wrestling with matches from the HIC and localized interviews.
421
422Business was strong at first, as the AWA had a strong crew and they’d mix with the locals and the stars coming to-and-from Japan. They were still selling out during the summer of 1973 for a program with AWA champion Verne Gagne vs. Superstar Billy Graham, with Francis vs. Steamboat and Bockwinkel & Stevens defending the tag titles against the likes of Billy Robinson & Ken Patera or Steamboat & Maiava as the main attractions. Hawaii got more Gagne matches than any city in the world since Gagne only wanted to wrestle maybe three times a month in that era, but the chance to spend a few days in Hawaii was too much to turn down.
423
424The biggest stars would come in during this period, including all three major world champions, Gagne, Dory Funk Jr. (NWA) and Morales (WWWF), as well as people like Giant Baba, Gene Kiniski, Blassie, The Destroyer and The Sheik. Francis even got a shot at both the WWWF and AWA titles in main events in 1973, including a 60 minute draw with Morales, during his short heel run. But the problems regarding the high cost of flying so much talent in from Minneapolis made it tough when crowds were at the 5,000 level, and with most of the stars pushed on television not around for the spot shows, that business dwindled down. They couldn’t get a Christmas date at the HIC, so the holiday show was on December 19, 1973, with a Battle Royal. It came on a rainy night and only did about 5,000 fans with the likes of Baba and Kiniski as the special attractions along with Hawaiian natives who had gone on to be WWWF tag team champions, Toru Tanaka and Harry Fujiwara, better known as Mr. Fuji.
425
426Business did pick up in early 1974 with the Gagne vs. Robinson AWA title series and Francis feuding with Graham over the Hawaiian title and Ring Magazine gold belt. But airline flights from the mainland to Honolulu went up in price the year before due to the oil crisis, the same thing that put a hurting on a lot of entertainment businesses in 1973 and 1974, meaning they had to cut down on the number of people they were flying in and the cards got weaker, and the attendance started falling.
427
428Francis closed up shop after a show on July 17, 1974. You could see they were cutting costs and reducing imports, as aside from a unique to Hawaii type of main event, AWA champion Gagne defending against former NWA champion Kiniski, the only other fly-in was Ivan Putski and a midget tag team. The rest were wrestlers living on the Island, which at the time only consisted of three real top talents, Steamboat, Maiava and Francis.
429
430After a few months, Shire starting running monthly cards at the HIC, likely through a business deal with Francis of some kind since by this point both were NWA members. Once again, the cost of flying in an entire crew for one night meant you needed big houses, and the Shire crew by the mid-70s was nowhere near what it was in the mid-60s.
431
432After the Shire period ended, Francis reopened in 1977, trying to do the old format with weekly Wednesday night shows at Bloch Arena and monthly big shows at the Blaisdell Center. He opened with a bang, on June 22, 1977, with the return of the Texas Battle Royal and the Hawaii debut of Andre the Giant, plus his son Russ, an NFL star at the time, plus Baba, Gene Kiniski, John Tolos, Billy Francis, Mad Dog (Moondog) Mayne and others. He almost sold out, with 7,600 fans, but crowds like that were the exception rather than the rule. In January 1979, Ed Francis came out of retirement for the last time, after Collins spit in his face while Francis was interviewing him.
433
434Larry Matysik noted that from an NWA standpoint in the 70s, Ed Francis was best known as the father of Russ, the football star.
435
436“Everyone was disappointed he didn’t stay in wrestling,” said Matysik. “Russ had all the gifts to be a major star and probably a world champion. From what little I know, everyone liked his dad and Russ would have had great support thanks to his dad.”
437
438But things had changed. They were never able to get the crowds anywhere near the consistent level of the past. Things were never the same after the three-year break. The quality of the talent wasn’t there and the legends like Steamboat, Maiava, Iaukea, Collins and Francis himself were now either retired, or much older. The several year break saw the audience move on, and they only got a fraction of them back.
439
440In April of 1979, Francis sold the promotional rights to Rickard, who retained Blears as his front man.
441
442Francis had his 150 acre ranch in Oregon, and was spending more and more time there. He noted that he always planned to retire to Oregon and loved the cowboy lifestyle, which he couldn’t do in Hawaii. He moved the family to Oregon but would fly back and forth for the shows.
443
444He said another reason he decided to sell was because he had envisioned building an arena in Honolulu for wrestling, just like the old Civic Auditorium, which he’d reminisce about. He envisioned a building built especially for them, where they could tape television, run big shows without having to pay high rent or risk the arena skimming money from the gross. The idea is the arena would also host boxing, basketball and other sports events. He worked with city and state planners and got investors funding. He said the local government commissioners then told him he would need to pay a $250,000 fee, up front, before they would approve it. He said he couldn’t justify that cost to his investors and the project died.
445
446It was at that time when Rickard offered to buy the promotion. Francis noted the rent at the HIC was high, the crowds were down, TV ratings were down, and the cost of paying wrestlers was up.
447
448“Nothing lasts forever. It’s time to go.”
449
450He told Blears, who knew it was coming. He sold the company for $80,000, plus a $1,500 a month fee as a consultant. Francis’ claimed that he only got a small portion of the money promised, claiming that Maivia intimidated Rickard into leaving Hawaii, although others have said Maivia purchased the rights from Rickard, but with Rickard off the island and out of the picture, he never paid the rest of what he owed.
451
452Thanks to 50thstatebigtimewrestling.com for so much of what would be otherwise lost history of Hawaiian pro wrestling.
453
454Brandon Thurston of Fightful.com did another very interesting business article, this time looking at whether the WWE Network is more valuable than if the promotion had stayed on PPV.
455
456Thurston used Google searches as a method to determine how many PPV buys shows would be doing. For both UFC and WWE, that method has been traditionally extremely accurate (scarily accurate, although not perfect) for both predicting PPV numbers and after the fact, confirming them. In fact for UFC, this year it’s been more accurate than iPPV numbers in the sense the McGregor vs. Diaz fights based on iPPV buys looked to do 13 to 18 percent better than they ended up doing, while based no Google searches, the number was almost on the mark.
457
458The problem with this method that I’ll get into first, is the possibility that if more people have the ability to watch the show, the searches go up. In other words, with more people watching the shows because of the lower price on the network, the searches increase so this may give a misleadingly high total of what the current PPVs would be doing, as this method does indicate a 24 percent increase in PPV numbers compared to 2013, the last year without the network. But that may also be flawed reasoning and there is no evidence at all to what I just said, and TV shows with far larger audiences don’t do anywhere near the searches for either brand of the PPV shows. The evidence does point in the direction Thurston’s using Google searches to determine what PPV would have done has been proven already in UFC, boxing and in the past, it also held true most of the time for pro wrestling. The point is that the theoretical totals listed in the piece may be high on what the profit margin would be today on PPV. But even if those estimated profits for 2016 are a little higher than they would have been, the overall results of the piece are so clear that it doesn’t change the overall meaning of the piece because the numbers tell such a major story. Part of the increase in numbers of purchases in theory this year is because they’ve added so many new shows, so this also covers two shows per month in recent months. That wouldn’t have been done in the non-network era, and at a high price point, that would be a negative. By saying that, the estimate numbers for PPV profit listed here probably could be dropped this year by as much as 20 percent, but even if you do that, it’s still the same message.
459
460Based on that methodology, in 2014, the first year of the network, the actual profits from just doing PPV would have been $42.4 million. In 2014, the company actually lost $1.8 million between PPV, that still existed, and the network. That was also to be expected in year one. I’d also say the $42.4 million number is probably accurate.
461
462In 2015, the profits from just doing PPV would have been $49.1 million, while that same figure with the network would be $49.5 million, so they would be a little bit ahead, but there is more to it than that.
463
464In 2016, based on projections after nine months, the full year total should be about $52.2 million if they were on PPV, and $44.2 million based on the projections of both PPV and the network. The $52.2 million number is the one I’d think could be inaccurate on the high end.
465
466The big thing, and this goes for both UFC and WWE, is the model that we don’t have is keeping the major PPVs as is, but using the streaming service for the lower drawing shows. It’s a theoretical, but if I’m UFC and I look at the results from WWE, I would take it as a sign not to change. If I’m WWE and looking at the picture, the problem is the decision has already been made. Even though it would clearly be more beneficial to do, at worst, the big four as standalone PPVs and maybe the rest on the network, you would have a huge public relations problem making that decision. Ultimately, WrestleMania or any other major PPV is not being pulled from the network even though with WrestleMania in particular, that’s very clearly not the most effective strategy. But for the public, it is very much like putting toothpaste back in the tube and that change is very unlikely to happen due to the public backlash.
467
468To get a full comparison, you also have to figure that the network eliminated the old 24/7 service, although profits from there were minimal by the time it was eliminated, they eliminated the iPPV business, which wasn’t big in 2013 and as UFC has shown, would have grown significantly by now, and took a big bite but not eliminated the home video business. Although it is very logical to say that the home video business would have declined if WWE had not done the network.
469
470It also should be noted that doing the network was a good idea, although they could have done the network, hurt the home video business, but maintained the PPV business, as UFC has done. UFC’s PPV business has grown greatly in recent years, although that’s a fluke in some ways based on two larger-than-life stars, and perhaps the PPV business was helped by WWE dropping PPV, because UFC’s only real competition for PPV was major boxing shows (and there were really none this year) and weekends that WWE had solid selling PPV shows (which no longer exists).
471
472Using the average profit margin for home video from 2011 to 2013, that’s $13.5 million. That figure for this year will be approximately $4.5 million. Profits from iPPV for the year figured to be about $4 million. If we figure another $1 million for 24/7, that’s another $14 million in profits that are never figured out anywhere when figuring network vs. PPV. As noted, it is very possible home video would have declined based on the natural causes in that industry. However, based on those same trends with UFC, iPPV would have likely increased significantly in the past two years, so they may balance each other out. 24/7 probably wouldn’t have done significantly better or worse, maybe slightly worse, had their been no network to cannibalize it.
473
474So for this year, in theory, had they not done the network, there would have been $66.2 million in profits based on the businesses that the network cannibalized, but the estimated network profits for the year are $44.2 million.
475
476So even though when 2016 is over, even if the overall company profits overall won’t be that far off what they were doing, that factors in the big increase in television rights fees over recent years.
477
478And Vince McMahon himself even said that the network hurt their negotiating leverage with NBC Universal and got them a worse deal than they expected. But it’s impossible to figure out what is lost there, but we’re not even considering the idea they would have had a better NBC Universal contract without having the network. If that’s the case, that only accentuates the main conclusion. If it’s not the case, the main conclusion is still valid.
479
480So based on these numbers, an approximation of profits from the network and network affected revenue streams would look to be, in millions:
481
482 
483
484Old method Current method
485
4862014 $56.4 -$1.8
487
4882015 $63.1 $49.5
489
4902016 $66.2 $44.2
491
492TOTAL $185.7 $91.9
493
494 
495
496Based on this, the network thus far has cost the company $93.8 million in profits since its launch. As noted, the 2016 number may be high, but not so high where the results would be much different than the 2015 numbers.
497
498It should be noted in doing this, the WWE’s projections were obviously quite different. The WWE projected 3 million network subscribers as of the end of 2015, but actually had 1,217,000. The expectation was 4 million at the end of 2016 when the actual number predicted by WWE today is 1,400,000. Using the numbers they were projecting, they’d be well ahead of the game with the network. It just didn’t happen. The network was clearly a good idea. It’s clear WrestleMania was a mistake on the network, and the mix is still all theoretical on other PPVs. The company is going to be healthy going forward barring a major drop in popularity. UFC, for all of its larger profits, is far more dependent upon two stars.
499
500Thus far (as of 9/30) in 2016 the Network division has had $27.5 million in profits (actually down from $33.4 million at the same period in 2015 due to a combination of higher costs of new programming and a decline in PPV profits and revenue), but that’s with $10.3 million in PPV revenue. You can’t break down profit margin of PPV vs. network since the spending on the shows goes to both. The company’s PPV profits were about 26 percent of the total price and 52 percent of the money they received historically. The network profit margin is less than 20 percent. Still, even with that, if you’re just talking the PPVs, if you do 200,000 buys the profit on the show would be close to $2.2 million. If you have 1.4 million subscribers, the monthly profit on the network alone would be about $2.5 million, which looks better on the surface, but for the year that’s offset by the bigger numbers that Rumble, Mania and SummerSlam would pull. A lot of people looked at it as 1.4 million times $9.99 is a lot bigger number than 200,000 times maybe $21 per buy, but the expenses are completely different.
501
502However, if we do similar figures for UFC, this is approximately what we get:
503
504 
505
506Old method
507
5082014 $87.0
509
5102015 $177.0
511
5122016 $206.5 (est. for the year based on updated numbers and projecting 1 million more buys this year based on combined UFC 206 and 207 numbers which to me is a conservative estimate)
513
514TOTAL $471.0
515
516 
517
518We don’t have new method figures because we don’t have any figures that list the profit margin of Fight Pass.
519
520By not cannibalizing the PPV business, the UFC has experienced gigantic profits from PPV while not cannibalizing anything but perhaps home video, a business I’m not even sure they are in at ths point. Granted, the last two years are a fluke in the sense they are built around two people and it’s foolish to expect them to be at anywhere near this level over the long-run.
521
522Still, McGregor is only 28 and he may be drawing big for a long time. For all the Mayweather comparisons, Mayweather was a 300,000 buy PPV draw until the age of 30. After that point, he became a monster. The flip side is Mayweather had Oscar de la Hoya, Canelo Alvarez and Manny Pacquiao as opponents and McGregor has had Jose Aldo, Nate Diaz and Eddie Alvarez, and there is a world of difference. McGregor only has Georges St-Pierre as someone who can boost him to that level, and that fight may never happen for a lot of reasons, to where he has the true type of dream fight that will capture the public’s imagination.
523
524Over the three-year period, the PPV’s and streaming service combined have generated approximately $518 million in profits for UFC, while the combination of the two have generated about $91.9 million for WWE, even though WWE has just over triple the number of subscribers as UFC.
525
526While UFC had surpassed WWE as far as the PPV business went many years back, the difference was nothing like this.
527
528Still, as far as long-term goes, you can make the argument WWE is better off as a company because they don’t have that debt they have to cover every year, and UFC needs a big rights increase on its next TV deal or McGregor (or a new McGregor) not just sticking around but being able to draw at this level for years to come. WWE would benefit from a rights increase, but they aren’t dependent upon it.
529
530In fact, based on that methodology, WWE would have done 53 percent of what UFC did on PPV this year even with UFC setting records. Some of that is because the WWE PPV business was worldwide, while UFC’s was really limited to the U.S., Canada and Australia.
531
532Of course, looking at these profit margins if anything should also be a telling tale for the UFC fighters, because part of the reason these profit margins for UFC are so incredibly high is because every dollar of profit is a dollar they didn’t spend on talent pay, the same as in WWE. But for UFC, there are a whole lot more of those dollars. But the UFC’s huge debt changes also changes the equation. WWE can lose money, as it did a few years ago, or make lesser profits, and it’ll affect stock prices and all, but it doesn’t greatly change things. If UFC doesn’t have huge profits, it’s calamitous.
533
534Insane Championship Wrestling of Glasgow, Scotland ran the biggest show in its history, a card they had promoted for one year on 11/20 at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow.
535
536They drew 6,193 fans paid, a number probably hurt because WWE ran two television tapings in the same building, a Raw that sold out with 11,000 and a Smackdown that did 10,800, just two weeks earlier. It was the largest crowd for a U.K. based promotion since the Big Daddy vs. Giant Haystacks match at Wembley Arena in 1981. It was larger than any TNA crowd in the U.K. since 2012 (when they drew 7,000 at Wembley) and TNA has had weekly television in the market since 2007 while ICW has no television in the U.K. Last year they ran at the smaller SECC Arena and sold it out with just under 4,000. The increase was enough of a success that they already announced that their 10th annual Fear & Loathing show would be back at the Hydro on November 19, 2017, with another one year build.
537
538The show was based around a number of angles, including an elimination match for control of the company. Due to getting signed commitments from Devon Dudley and Mick Foley before they took jobs with WWE, both appeared at the show, although Foley only on tape because he was needed in Toronto on the same day. As a make good since Foley had a deal, WWE agreed to send them Finn Balor as a guest enforcer to make up for Foley not appearing. The show was also headlined by Kurt Angle, who put over local star Joe Coffey in the main event.
539
540The show opened with Foley on the screen, claimed to be live via satellite, and apologized for not being there and noted that his day job prevented him from coming, but has sent a friend in his place, saying you may know him as Fergal Devitt, but he’s now Finn Balor. Balor came out in a suit and said he wasn’t here to shake hands or take photos, and that anyone who runs amok would have to answer to him. He got a gigantic reaction. There were lots of different ideas of how to use him, but in the end the decision was made for him to just do one spot and have it be the key most impactful spot in the battle for control of the promotion, which was the bout that was promoted as the key match in drawing the crowd.
541
5421. Joe Hendry beat Davey Blaze, managed by Wee Man. The stips were that f Blaze won, Hendry would have to leave the promotion for one year. If Hendry won, he got five minutes with Wee Man. Wee Man cut a promo and stole the line that got Joey Styles fired last week. Short match with Hendry winning, getting his time with Wee Man, and finishing him as well.
543
5442. Kay Lee Ray won the women’s title in a three-way over Viper and champion Carmel. All three worked hard and the match was well received.
545
5463. Stevie Boy beat BT Gunn in a casket match. The crowd was hot for this one. Kay Lee ray, who is Stevie’s girlfriend, got involved and helped him win.
547
5484.In what may be the last match of the Dudleys together as a team, and certainly the last for a long time, now, Team 3-D wrestled tag team champions Polo Promotions (Jackie Polo & Mark Coffey) in a no DQ match with both teams pretty much as babyfaces. The match was short. They put Polo & Coffey over as Polo’s gimmick is the scoop slam and he used a scoop slam on a chair to pin Devon in a short match. After the match, Blaze and Wee Man came out, which set up Team 3-D telling Polo Promotions to get the tables and Team 3-D put Blaze through a table. All four raised each other’s hands.
549
5505. They had a stairway to heaven match, which was a combination elimination match and ladder match. They had Foley sending in a tape doing an interview about the match, and he added Kenny Williams to the match which for the Zero-G championship (a high flyers title, Zero-Gravity) held by Lionheart. The others in the match were Zack Gibson, who was one of the stars on the recent ITV tapings, Liam Thompson, Iestyn Rees, Andy Wild and Aaron Echo. It was an elimination match until two were left, Williams and Lionheart. Then it turned into a ladder match with Williams winning.
551
5526. Louis Girvan beat Ricochet via crossface submission in a great match after Ricochet missed the 630 splash. Great high flying with Ricochet flying off the top rope into the stands for a dive early in the match. Girvan does a more mat-based style. The idea of the match was to make Girvan into one of the company’s top stars next year.
553
5547. Wolfgang retained the ICW world title in a cage mach over Trent Seven. Both men were on top of the cage when Seven hit Wolfgang with Brass Knux, and he fell off the top of the cage through two tables, but since Wolfgang hit the floor first, he retained.
555
5568. Next was the four on four elimination match for control of the promotion with Team Dallas of Chris Renfrew & Sha Samuels & DCT & Grado (the babyface star of the promotion) against heels The Black Label of Drew Galloway (first match back after his neck injury) & Jack Jester & Bram & Kid Fite. Grado & Renfrew were left with Bram & Galloway & Jester. Grado pinned Bram to eliminate him, but Bram then destroyed Grado & Renfrew with chair shots. Grado was then pinned. But Grado helped Jester be eliminated so it came down to Renfrew and Galloway. Galloway turned on Jester, calling him the weak link. Finn Balor then came out and Jester gave Balor a pipe and he hit Galloway with it, and Renfrew hit Galloway with a stunner for the pin, so promoter Mark Dallas remains in control. Most were surprised this wasn’t on last since this was very clearly the match the show was built around. This had great heat.
557
5589. The main event was Kurt Angle vs. Joe Coffey. A lot of fans knew that the show had to end at 10:45 p.m., and it was 10:30 p.m. when it started, os they knew it wasn’t going to be that long. Some fans left, but they had a strong match. Angle then did an interview talking about how great the fans in Scotland are. Angle said that he had never met Joe Coffey and didn’t even know who he was until he got there. Angle talked about it being near the end of his career but said that Coffey was the real deal and that this isn’t the end between the two of them.
559
560UFC and Bellator went head-to-head on television on 11/19, with UFC Fight Night 100 from Sao Paulo, Brazil, going against a Bellator show from San Jose’s SAP Center.
561
562The two groups split a healthy MMA audience that went against five major college football games, on two networks and three more on ESPN, ESPN 2 and ESPN U, as well as the Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev boxing PPV show.
563
564UFC averaged 769,000 for the main card on FS 1, which featured Ryan Bader winning a one-sided third round stoppage over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Bellator did 597,000 viewers for a show on Spike headlined by Michael Chandler retaining his lightweight title over Benson Henderson. Both shows started at 9 p.m. and ended after midnight.
565
566When the main events were going head-to-head, after midnight, the Bader vs. Nogueira fight averaged 823,000 viewers, while the final two rounds and the reading of the Chandler vs. Henderson decision averaged 741,000 viewers. The first three rounds of that fight averaged 747,000 viewers, which was Bellator’s peak rating. UFC’s peak rating came earlier, as the Claudia Gadelha vs. Cortney Casey fight did 881,000 viewers.
567
568Bellator’s fights saw Linton Vassell’s win over Francis Carmont doing 602,000 viewers; Keri Melendez in a one minute win over Sheila Padilla doing 544,000; Adam Piccolotti over Brandon Girtz doing 648,000; Michael “Venom” Page over Fernando Gonzalez did 688,000 for the first two rounds but fell to 612,000 in the third round of a terrible fight.
569
570For UFC, Sergio Moraes vs. Zak Ottow opened at 770,000 viewers; Kamaru Usman vs. Warlley Alves did 877,000; Thales Leites vs. Krzysztof Jotko did 828,000; Gadelha vs. Casey did 881,000 and Thomas Almeida vs. Albert Morales did 764,000.
571
572Bellator won one quarter, when UFC was building up its main event, while Bellator’s main event was in the cage, by a 747,000 to 730,000 margin.
573
574The UFC prelims from 7-9 p.m., headlined by Cezar Ferreira vs. Jack Hermansson, did 532,000 viewers. The post-fight show did 219,000 viewers.
575
576Bader dominated Nogueira from start-to-finish with takedowns and ground and pound. I had him winning the first two rounds by 10-8 margins before it was stopped in the third.
577
578If Daniel Cormier retains his light heavyweight title against Anthony Johnson on 12/10, then Bader makes the most sense for the next title shot. However, if Johnson wins, because Johnson destroyed Bader when they fought on 1/30, winning in 1:26, it’s hard to see that match being made. This was also the last fight of Bader’s contract.
579
580The show at the Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo drew 9,028 fans for a show built around Brazilians against fighters from other countries.
581
582There were a few noteworthy things. In the opener, Darren Stewart beat Francimar Barroso after an accidental head-butt that was missed by the referee. The Brazilian commission, CABMMA, after the fact, in reviewing the tape, overturned the decision and made it a no contest because the illegal move had a direct result on the ending of the fight.
583
584Manny Gamburyan, after losing to Johnny Eduardo, announced his retirement, citing the toll on his body.
585
586In the third round of the Gadelha win over Casey, after a takedown, Gadelha got up and threw a kick at the head of Casey, a totally illegal move. Casey went down and was acting like she was knocked silly. But on the replay, it showed that the kick never connected, at best hitting her ponytail on the top of her head. The commission was not happy with Casey acting so hurt from the illegal blow trying to draw a penalty point, which she didn’t get.
587
588The $50,000 bonus winners were Almeida, Pedro Munhoz, Ferreira and Gadzhimurad Antigulov.
589
5901. Darren Stewart (7-0, 1 no contest) went to a no contest with Francimar Barroso (18-5, 1 no contest) at 1:34 in a light heavyweight fight. Stewart knocked Barroso down with the accidental head-butt and finished him with punches on the ground live. The decision was later reversed.
591
5922. Pedro Munhoz (13-2) beat Justin Scoggins (11-3) at 1:55 of the second round in a bantamweight fight. Scoggins took the first round in dominating the standup game. He slipped in the second round after throwing a kick, Munhoz jumped on him and got a guillotine for the submission. Munhoz if fro Sao Paulo so the crowd went nuts for the come-from-behind win.
593
5943. Luis Henrique (10-2, 1 no contest) beat Christian Colombo (8-2-1) at 2:12 of the third round in a heavyweight fight. Colombo is 6-foot-5, but showed no takedown defense here, while Henrique is a short but powerful wrestler. Henrique dominated the fight with a takedown and big punches in he first round, including a twisting powerslam late in the round. Henrique took Colombo down to start the second round and Colombo was bleeding from all the elbows being dropped. Henrique took him down a second time and got mount. In the third round, Henrique scored with a running takedown and got the guillotine for the submission.
595
5964. Johnny Eduardo (28-10) beat Manny Gamburyan (18-11, 1 no contest) at :46 of the second round in a bantamweight fight. Eduardo has been fighting professionally for 21 years, which is an eternity in this sport. Gamburyan hurt him with two rights and they went back and forth. Eduardo used low kicks to bruise up Gamburyan’s right thigh. He took over with low kicks and body kicks. In the second round, Eduardo continued to land the low kicks and dropped him with a punch, and it was stopped after punches on the ground.
597
5985. Gadzhimurad Antigulov (19-4) beat Marcos Rogerio de Lima (14-4-1) in 1:07 in a light heavyweight fight. Antigulov took de Lima down, grabbed a guillotine and got the submission for his 13th straight win.
599
6006. Cezar Ferreira (11-5) beat Jack Hermansson (14-3) at 2:11 of the second round in a middleweight fight. After a close first round, Ferreira took him down and got a choke for the submission in round two.
601
6027. Sergio Moraes (11-2-1) beat Zak Ottow (14-4) on scores of 28-29, 30-27 and 30-27 in a welterweight fight. Morales got a takedown in the first round and stayed on top for most of the round. Ottow took the second by doing better in the standup, but the judges saw it differently. Moraes got a third round takedown which gave him the round.
603
6048. Kamaru Usman (9-1) beat Warlley Alves (11-2) on scores of 29-27, 30-26 and 29-28 in a welterweight fight. The first round was close, mostly standing. Alves didn’t seem like the same guy as he was a year or so ago when he’d come out strong and destroy people, although the round was close. In the second round, Usman came back and hurt him with punches. Alves was gassed in the third round and Usman took him apart. He threw punches and elbows, took him down and got his back. Usman threw all kinds of punches and bloodied up Alves. He was working on a head-and-arm choke just as the round ended. Usman then issued a challenge to Demian Maia, saying he would prove that he was the best grappler in the UFC and claimed that not only would he beat Maia, but finish him. That fight isn’t likely to happen given Maia is in the title picture and Usman doesn’t have a big name yet, but Usman at least got people talking about himself with the direct challenge.
605
60610. Claudia Gadelha (14-2) beat Cortney Casey (6-4) on straight 30-27 scores in a women’s strawweight fight. Gadelha dominated the fight and kept herself at the top of the rankings in her division, behind champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. The only problem is she’s lost twice to the champion, even though they were both close fights. Both were swinging. Gadelha got a takedown int the first round. Casey went for a hip toss takedown but Gadelha was able to get on top. In the second round, Gadelha got two more takedowns. The third round saw the kick to the head situation which was really weird because of how much Casey was acting like she’d just been nailed by the kick and then the replay showed the kick went into her hair. Gadelha landed big punches when they resumed, got another takedown and moved to mount at the end.
607
60811. Thomas Almeida (22-1) beat Albert Morales (6-1-1) at 1:37 of the second round in a bantamweight fight. Almeida is coming off a knockout loss to Cody Garbrandt on 5/29, but still has one of the most impressive records in the company and is only 25 years old. Almeida landed a lot of punches but was taken down in the first round and worked for a choke. Almeida broke the choke by pulling Morales’ arm off him. He got up and started landing more punches. In the second round, he continued to land all kinds of punches and a knee and Morales couldn’t stop him and it was waved off. Almeida said he wants to face a top ten opponent next and a top five guy after that.
609
61012. Ryan Bader (23-5) beat Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (22-8) in 3:51 of the third round in a light heavyweight fight. This was a one sided fight. Nogueira landed a few lefts before Bader took him down and landed constant punches from the top, completely dominating the round. In the second round, Bader got another takedown, slammed him for a second takedown and got a third one later in the round. He was working on a choke to finish but didn’t get it. In the third round, Bader immediately took him down and landed hard punches to the head until it was stopped, probably on the late side.
611
612When Uriah Hall knocked out Gegard Mousasi with one of the greatest kicks in UFC history last year, in a fight Mousasi had under control until the kick landed, it looked it was the prototype of the punchers chance, or kickers chance in this case, coming through.
613
614The rematch on 11/19 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, established that feeling as accurate, as Mousasi controlled the fight again, this time finishing Hall in the first round, to keep himself right outside Michael Bisping and the big four of Ronaldo Jacare Souza, Luke Rockhold, Chris Weidman and Yoel Romero in the middleweight division. It was Mousasi’s fourth win of the year. Mousasi looks to be in line for a fight with one of the four next, which could springboard him into the title picture.
615
616The Fight Pass exclusive show kicked off a day with 12 consecutive hours of UFC in two locations, as well as a major Bellator show on Spike.
617
618The first show drew 7,222 fans paying $850,000.
619
620Even with the quick win, Mousasi didn’t get one of the four $50,000 bonuses, which went to Jack Marshman, Kevin Lee, Justin Ledet and Abdul Razak Alhassan.
621
6221. Abdul Razak Alhassan (7-0) beat Charlie Ward (3-2) in :53 of a welterweight fight. Alhassan is a knockout artist whose longest fight coming into this show went 1:26. Both came out swinging wildly and landed hard shots. Alhassan knocked Ward down three times before it was stopped. It was about as exciting a one minute fight as you’ll see.
623
6242. Brett Johns (13-0) beat Kwan Ho Kwak (9-1) via straight 30-27 scores in a bantamweight fight. Johns has the distinction of being the first Welchman ever to fight in the UFC. Johns got seven first round takedowns. He got two more in the second round, where both landed solid shots standing. In the third round, Kwak was landing a lot of punches and knees until Johns took im down and started punching from the top. Johns go another takedown. Kwak got up and landed all kinds of punches, elbows and knees late. Both guys collapsed when the fight ended.
625
6263. Marion Reneau (7-3) beat Milena Dudieva (11-5) at 3:03 of the third round in a women’s bantamweight fight. Reneau was getting the better of the standup in the first round and worked for an armbar late in the round. Reneau landed knees and a lot of elbows throughout round two, which she dominated. In the third round, Reneau got a takedown and mount, landed punches and elbows from the top and the fight was stopped.
627
6284. Zak Cummings (20-5) beat Alexander Yakovlev (23-8-1) at 4:02 of the second round in a welterweight fight. Cummings missed weight, coming in at 173. Yakovlev landed more in the first round even though Cummings was the one moving forward. Cummings took Yakovlev off his feet with a low kick. Cummings started landing punches. Yakovlev went for the takedown, but Cummings blocked, landed on top in side position and finished with a straight armbar.
629
6305. Justin Ledet (8-0, 1 no contest) beat Mark Godbeer (11-3) in 2:16 of a heavyweight fight. Ledet landed some punches and Godbeer went for a takedown, but Ledet got behind him and locked in the choke.
631
6326. Amanda Cooper (3-2) beat Anna Elmose (3-2) on scores of 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 in a women’s strawweight fight. Cooper was landing more to start, but Elmose dropped her with a right and landed punches and elbows from the top. Cooper was cut from an elbow. Cooper was bleeding from above the left eye. Elmose got the advantage in the second round wining a scramble and dropping elbows. Cooper got up and took down Elmose, got side control and mount and landed a ton of elbows until going for an armbar at the buzzer. Cooper dominated the third round with side kicks and knees. She got a takedown, passed to mount and punched from there to easily take the round.
633
6347. Kevin Lee (14-2) beat Magomed Mustafaev (13-2) at 4:31 of the second round in a lightweight fight. Mustafaev was landing hard body kicks until Lee took him down. Mustafaev went for a guillotine but Lee slammed him out of it. Mustafaev was up and landed a spinning back kick and two side kicks. Lee took him down again, and moved to mount. Lee slammed him down and got his back and was working for a choke at the end of the round. In the second round, Lee took him down three times and got a choke to finish. Lee then said that the lightweight division was full of bitches, and that he’d put Conor McGregor down in this arena (McGregor was at the show) which got booed a ton. Lee then said that Eddie Alvarez embarrassed the entire division.
635
6368. Kyoji Horiguchi (18-2) beat Ali Bagautinov (14-5) on straight 30-27 scores in a flyweight bout. This matched up two victims of Demetrious Johnson, and Horiguchi is still one of the top contenders. The first round saw both get takedowns but Horiguchi got back position and also landed a big punch late. Horiguchi landed some strong punches in the second round as well as go a takedown. Horiguchi was winning the standing game and stopping Bagautinov’s takedowns in round three.
637
6389. Jack Marshman (21-5) beat Magnus Cedenblad (14-5) at 3:32 of the second round in a middleweight fight. Cedenblad got the first round takedown and bloodied up Marshman’s left eye. In the second round, Marshman hurt Cedenblad with a left, then knocked him down and landed punches on the ground until it was stopped.
639
64010. Artem Lobov (13-12-1, 1 no contest) beat Teruto Ishihara (9-3-2) on scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 in a featherweight fight. Lobov is a training partner of Conor McGregor, who was in his corner. Lobov hurt Ishihara twice in the first round with hard strikes. Lobov was landing at will at points in the second round. In the third round, Ishihara came back and knocked Lobov down. Lobov got up, scored a takedown and ended the fight landing punches from the top.
641
64211. Alexander Volkov (27-6) beat Tim Johnson (10-3) via split decision on scores of 29-28, 27-30 and 29-28 in a heavyweight fight. Volkov is a former Bellator heavyweight champion who was making his UFC debut. Both landed hard punches in the first round but Johnson hurt him more. Johnson kept landing in the second round and both were tired. Both got tired and the match slowed down, with Volkov taking the third round. The fight could have gone either way.
643
64412. Stevie Ray (20-6) beat Ross Pearson (21-13, 1 no contest) on scores of 27-30, 30-27 and 30-27 in a lightweight bout. That 30-27 score for Pearson way questionable but the rounds were all close. The match was all standing and was competitive, but Ray seemed quicker. Ray scored with a slam late in the first round. Ray kept the distance well and used a lot of leg kicks and body kicks over the next two rounds.
645
64613. Gegard Mousasi (41-6-2) beat Uriah Hall (13-8) in 4:37 in a light heavyweight bout. Mousasi was landing more while Hall tried to repeat his knockout from last year with a spin kick. Once Mousasi got the takedown, it was all over, as he landed punch after punch on the ground until it was stopped. Mousasi said he was coming after the title.
647
648The WWE took a huge hit on house shows in October as the momentum from the brand split seemed to end in September.
649
650WWE averaged 3,326 at domestic house shows and 8,000 at Raw tapings during the month, down from 5,167 at house shows and 10,125 at Raw tapings in October 2015. That was a steep drop of 35.6 percent, a great deal of which was related to the departure of John Cena. Raw tapings were down 21.0 percent, some of which was due to adding the Monday house shows meaning that Cena wasn’t advertised as the headliner at the Raw tapings as he was in September, when WWE was up from the prior year.
651
652To break the house shows down by main event, shows headlined by A.J. Styles vs. John Cena vs. Dean Ambrose as the main event averaged 3,571. Taking Cena out of the mix, and the shows headlined by Styles vs. Ambrose averaged 2,656. Shows headlined by Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins vs. Sami Zayn averaged 3,667 and shows headlined by Owens vs. Rollins averaged 3,200.
653
654Raw averaged a 1.97 rating and 2.81 million viewers for the month, which was actually boosted by two appearances by Bill Goldberg and one by Brock Lesnar. Because of the nature of the Halloween show being something that really shouldn’t be considered, we’ll take that out of the mix and go with a 2.00 rating and 2.87 million viewers for the month’s average. That’s down 14.2 percent in ratings and 13.8 percent in viewers from October of last year which averaged a 2.33 rating and 3.33 million viewers. The actual drop including the Halloween show was 15.5 percent in ratings and 15.6 percent in viewers.
655
656Smackdown averaged a 1.64 rating and 2.33 million viewers for the month, an increase of 5.1 percent in ratings and 8.4 percent in viewers from the 1.56 rating and 2.15 million viewers last year. Once again, these are comparison from a taped show going against the NFL and airing on the much lower rated Syfy network to a live show with no NFL competition airing on the USA Network. Since going against the NFL usually means a 10 percent drop, a lot evens out. Smackdown did go against World Series games this year, but also did last year so that evens out although this year’s series was higher rated than last year.
657
658TNA Impact last year on Destination America averaged 277,000 viewers for the first-run episode and 92,000 for the replay. This year with one showing on Pop TV, they averaged 326,000. So there was a 17.7 percent increase based on the first episode, but an 11.7 percent decrease if you figure both episodes. Part of that is also an unfair comparison because based on the respective networks coverage areas, TNA should have increased 38.4 percent this year, and didn’t.
659
660Smackdown on 11/22 was down from the previous week with Undertaker, but still was well above the fall average with 2,505,000 viewers, putting it in seventh place for the night.
661
662The show did a 0.60 in 12-17 (down 17.8 percent from last week), 0.74 in 18-34 (down 10.8 percent), 0.88 in 35-49 (down 17.8 percent) and 1.01 in 50+ down 3.8 percent). But all of those demos except 50+ were up 60 percent or more last week from the 11/8 show.
663
664The audience was 58.6 percent male in 18-49 and 57.0 percent male in 12-17. So the big male increase from last week was way down.
665
666Raw on 11/21, the show coming off the Bill Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar match, did a 2.13 rating and 2,985,000 viewers (1.51 viewers per home), the second best number going against the NFL this season.
667
668It did so against a solid, close NFL game, with the Oakland Raiders vs. Houston Texans from Mexico City, that did 11,785,000 viewers. The show was sixth for the night on cable.
669
670Raw was up four percent from last week. Last week, with the Goldberg/Lesnar confrontation and appearances of Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan, had been the second best number of the season. The high point remains the return of Goldberg on 10/17, which did 3,130,000 viewers.
671
672The show had a strong first hour with 3,137,000 viewers. The second hour remained strong at 3,097,000 viewers. This could be with fans thinking that Lesnar would be there and something may transpire, since it was never said Lesnar wouldn’t be there and fans would expect a retort. By the third hour, when it was clear that wasn’t going to be the case, even with a Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins no DQ Universal title match, it fell strongly to 2,772,000 viewers, which really is a bad drop for a match for the top title.
673
674The big third hour drop was consistent across the board with the exception of teenagers who peaked in hour two but stayed strong in hour three. Usually the men hold steady or increase, and most of the drop is women, but in 18-49, the women drop was 22 percent from hour one to three, while with men, it was six percent. In 50+ the drop was 12 percent.
675
676The show did a 0.79 in 12-17 (up 2.6 percent), 0.99 in 18-34 (up 16.5 percent, which would indicate the Survivor Series follow-up was strongest in this age group as far as gains went), 1.21 in 35-49 (up 9.0 percent) and 1.14 in 50+ (up 4.6 percent).
677
678The audience was 62.9 percent male in 18-49 and 68.5 percent male in 12-17m, both so the increases were more heavily male skewing.
679
680TNA Impact on 11/17 did 336,000 viewers, which within its usual normal range. The show was headlined by Eddie Edwards & Jeff Hardy vs. DCC (Bram & Eddie Kingston & James Storm).
681
682Total Divas on 11/16 did 724,000 viewers, which is up from what Total Bellas was doing in the same time slot.
683
684Lucha Underground on 11/16 did 134,000 viewers for the 8 p.m. showing of Aztec Warfare, which is considered the biggest show of the season with the exception of Ultimate Lucha. The replay did 75,000 viewers.
685
686Ultimate Fighter on 11/16 fell to 247,000 viewers, which I believe is the record low for the show.
687
688Catching up on Smackdown ratings, the 11/8 show against the election did a 1.38 rating and 1,921,000 viewers, or 1.50 viewers per home. The Undertaker’s return on 11/15 did a 1.95 rating and 2,725,000 viewers, or 1.51 viewers per home. The episode of The Shooter featuring Randy Orton that aired after Smackdown did 1,439,000 viewers, or roughly half of the audience that watched Smackdown.
689
690This is the first issue of the current set. With this being a double issue, if you’ve got a (1) on your address label, your subscription expires in two more weeks.
691
692Renewal rates for the printed Observer in the United States are $12 for four issues (which includes $4 for postage and handling), $22 for eight, $31 for 12, $40 for 16, $60 for 24, $80 for 32, $100 for 40, $130 for 52 up through $160 for 64 issues.
693
694For Canada and Mexico, the rates are $13.50 for four issues (which includes $6 for postage and handling), $24 for eight, $34 for 12, $44 for 16, $66 or 24, $88 for 32, $110 for 40 issues, $143 for 52 and $176 for 64.
695
696For Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to Moonsault, P.O. Box 3075, Barnet, Herts EN4 9YR, England, or by sending e-mail orders to moonsault@mediaplusint.com. Rates are £9 per set of four issues. U.K. readers ordering at least six sets can get them for £8.50 per set.
697
698For the rest of the world, the rates are $15.50 for four issues (which includes $9 for postage and handling), $30 for eight, $43 for 12, $56 for 16, $70 for 20, $84 for 24, $98 for 28, $140 for 40 issues and $182 for 52 issues.
699
700You can also get the Observer on the web at www.wrestlingobserver.com for $10.99 per month for a premium membership that includes daily audio updates, Figure Four Weekly, special articles and a message board. If you are a premium member and still want hard copies of the Observer, you can get them for $8 per set in the U.S., $9 per set in Canada and $11.50 per set for the rest of the world.
701
702All subscription renewals should be sent to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228. You can also renew via Visa or MasterCard by sending your name, address, phone number, Visa or MasterCard number (and include the three or four digit security code on the card) and expiration date to Dave@wrestlingobserver.com or by fax to (408)244-3402. You can also renew at www.paypal.com using dave@wrestlingobserver.com as the pay to address. For all credit card or paypal orders, please add a $1 processing fee. If there are any subscription problems, you can contact us and we will attempt to rectify them immediately, but please include with your name a full address as well a phone number you can be contacted at.
703
704All letters to the editor, reports from live shows and any other correspondence pertaining to this publication should also be sent to the above address.
705
706We also have copies of our latest book, "Tributes II," a 293-page hardcover full color book which features biographies right out of the pages of the Observer. Those featured are Wahoo McDaniel, Lou Thesz, Miss Elizabeth, Freddie Blassie, Road Warrior Hawk, Andre the Giant, Curt Hennig, Johnny Valentine, Davey Boy Smith, Terry Gordy, Owen Hart, Stu Hart, Gorilla Monsoon, The Sheik and Tim Woods. The book is available for $12.95 plus $3.50 for postage and handling in the U.S., $20 for postage and handling in Canada and $25 for postage and handling for the rest of the world.
707
708This publication is copyright material and no portion of the Observer may be reprinted without the expressed consent of publisher/writer Dave Meltzer. The Observer is also produced by Derek Sabato.
709
710Fax messages can be sent to the Observer 24 hours a day at (408) 244-3402. Phone messages can be left 24 hours a day at (408) 244-2455. E-mails can be sent to Dave@wrestlingobserver.com
711
712RESULTS
713
714 
715
71611/6 Leeds, UK (WWE Raw - 8,000): Four-way for tag titles: Big E & Kofi Kingston won over Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, Enzo Amore & Big Cass and Cesaro & Sheamus, Neville b Bo Dallas, R-Truth & Goldust & Darren Young b Primo & Epico & Titus O’Neil, Sami Zayn b Chris Jericho, U.S. title: Roman Reigns b Rusev, Sin Cara b Curtis Axel, Emma referee: Bayley & Sasha Banks & Alicia Fox b Charlotte & Dana Brooke & Nia Jax, Street fight: Kevin Owens b Seth Rollins
717
71811/6 Newcastle, UK (WWE Smackdown - 7,000): IC title: Dolph Ziggler b The Miz, Three-way for tag titles: Heath Slater & Rhyno won over Tyler Breeze & Fandango and Usos, Jack Swagger b Curt Hawkins, Nikki Bella & Naomi b Carmella & Natalya, Baron Corbin b Kalisto, Kane & Jason Jordan & Chad Gable b Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper, Mojo Rawley & Zack Ryder b The Ascension, Women’s title: Becky Lynch b Alexa Bliss, WWE title: A.J. Styles b Dean Ambrose
719
72011/7 Glasgow, Scotland (WWE Raw/Superstars TV tapings - 11,000 sellout): Neville b Titus O’Neil, Bo Dallas b Darren Young, Sin Cara & Rich Swann b Brian Kendrick & Noam Dar, Non title: Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows b Big E & Kofi Kingston, Primo & Epico b R-Truth & Goldust, Sasha Banks & Bayley & Alicia Fox b Charlotte & Dana Brooke & Nia Jax, Sami Zayn b Rusev, Kevin Owens won five-way over Chris Jericho, Seth Rollins, Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns, Universal title: Seth Rollins b Kevin Owens-DQ
721
72211/7 Aberdeen Scotland (WWE Smackdown - 5,000): IC title: Dolph Ziggler b The Miz, Three-way for tag titles: Heath Slater & Rhyno won over Usos and Tyler Breeze & Fandango, Jack Swagger b Curt Hawkins, Nikki Bella & Naomi b Carmella & Natalya, Baron Corbin b Kalisto, Kane & Jason Jordan & Chad Gable b Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper, Mojo Rawley & Zack Ryder b The Ascension, Women’s title: Becky Lynch b Alexa Bliss, WWE title: A.J. Styles b Dean Ambrose
723
72411/8 Glasgow, Scotland (WWE Smackdown/Main Event TV tapings - 10,800): Jason Jordan b Viktor, Tyler Breeze & Fandango b Aiden English & Simon Gotch, Naomi b Natalya, Women’s title: Becky Lynch b Alexa Bliss, Curt Hawkins b Apollo Crews, Bray Wyatt & Randy Orton & Luke Harper b Dean Ambrose & Kane & James Ellsworth, Usos b Mojo Rawley & Zack Ryder, IC title: Dolph Ziggler b The Miz, WWE title: A.J. Styles b Dean Ambrose
725
72611/8 Oberhausen, Germany (WWE Raw): Three-way for tag titles: Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods won over Sheamus & Cesaro and Enzo Amore & Big Cass, Women’s title: Charlotte b Sasha Banks, Neville & Darren Young & R-Truth & Goldust b Primo & Epico & Bo Dallas & Titus O’Neil, Bodyslam challenge: Braun Strowman b Big Show, U.S. title: Roman Reigns b Rusev, Emma referee: Bayley & Alicia Fox b Nia Jax & Dana Brooke, Sami Zayn b Chris Jericho, Street fight for Universal title: Kevin Owens b Seth Rollins
727
72811/8 Aizu-Wakamatsu (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 325 sellout): Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi & Desperado & Taka Michinoku b Kenou & Hajime Ohara & Yoshinari Ogawa & Captain NOAH, Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer & Takashi Iizuka b Maybach Taniguchi & Taiji Ishimori & Hitoshi Kumano, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Toru Yano & Atsushi Kotoge b Akitoshi Saito & Quiet Storm & Daisuke Harada, Masa Kitamiya b Alejandro Saez, Go Shiozaki b Kaito Kiyomiya, Davey Boy Smith Jr. b Takashi Sugiura, Naomichi Marufuji b Mohammed Yone
729
73011/8 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL): Apocalipsis & Artillero b Bengala & Sangre Imperial, Estrellita & Jarochita & Princesa Sugei b Comandante & Seductora & Zeuxis, Blue Panther Jr. & The Panther & Pegasso b Cuatrero & Forastero & Sanson-DQ, Guerrero Maya Jr. b Virus, Blue Panther & Drone & Titan b Felino & Niebla Roja & Ripper, Dragon Lee & Mistico & Volador Jr. b El Terrible & Rey Bucanero & Vangellys
731
73211/9 Chiba (Dragon Gate): Naruki Doi & Jimmy Kagetora & Peter Kaasa b Cima & Dragon Kid & Punch Tominaga, Don Fujii b Kaito Ishida, Masato Yoshino & Eita b Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito, T-Hawk & Lindaman b Masaaki Mochizuki & Big R Shimizu, Yamato & BxB Hulk & Kzy b Jimmy Kanda & Jimmy Susumu & Futa Nakamura
733
73411/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Dragon Gate - 1,850 sellout): 3 on 5: Don Fujii & Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito b Jimmy Kanda & Gamma & Takehiro Yamamura & Kaito Ishida & Punch Tominaga, Eita b Hyou Watanabe, Jimmy Susumu & Jimmy Kagetora b Ben K & Shun Skywalker, Cima b Mondai Ryu, Masaaki Mochizuki & Big R Shimizu & Peter Kaasa b Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk & Kzy, Shingo Takagi & Cyber Kong & T-Hawk & Lindaman b Yamato & Naruki Doi & Dragon Kid & Kotoka
735
73611/10 Naucalpan (Elite Lucha Libre TV tapings): Pequeno Warrior & Shaolin b Pequeno Gigante & Solaris, Mr. Leo & Rocky Lobo b Belial & Impulso, Diamante & Imposible & Samoano & Emperador Azteca & Metaleon & Zumbi, Dr. Karonte Jr. & El Hijo de Dos Caras & El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. b Decnis & Fresero Jr. & Zumbido, Rey Escorpion & Black Tauro b L.A. Park & Mr. Aguila, Blue Demon Jr. b Extreme Tiger, Caristico b Blue Demon Jr., Blue Demon Jr. b Cibernetico-DQ
737
73811/11 St. Augustine, FL (WWE NXT - 150): Patrick Clark b Dallas Harper, Tommy End b Lince Dorado, Roderick Strong b Elias Samson, Asuka & Ember Mon & Liv Morgan & Aliyah b Mandy Rose & Daria Berenato & Billie Kay & Macey Estrella, Big Damo b Rich Swann, Nikki Cross b Bianca Blair, Shinsuke Nakamura & Otis Dozovic & Tucker Knight b Authors of Pain & Bobby Roode
739
74011/11 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL - 4,000): Flyer & Magnus b Akuma & Espanto Jr., Soberano Jr. & Star Jr. & Stigma b Okumura & Sangre Azteca & Skandalo-DQ, Fuego & Rey Cometa & Stuka Jr. b Dragon Rojo Jr. & Hechicero & Polvora, Caristico b Mephisto, Atlantis & Diamante Azul & Mascara Dorada b Cavernario & Felino & Negro Casas, Ultimo Guerrero won three-way with Battle Royal rules over Rush and Volador Jr., La Mascara & Pierroth & Rush b Marco Corleone & Maximo & Volador Jr.-DQ, Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & Euforia b La Mascara & Pierroth & Rush
741
74211/11 London, UK (Revolution Pro/New Japan Pro Wrestling - 800): Charlie Garrett & Joel Redman b Evil & Bushi-DQ, Josh Bodom b Tomoaki Honma, Yuji Nagata b Trent Seven, Will Ospreay b Jushin Liger, Tomohiro Ishii b Pete Dunne, Tetsuya Naito & Seiya Sanada b Zack Sabre Jr. & Marty Scurll, British heavyweight title: Katsuyori Shibata b Chris Hero
743
74411/11 Shizuoka (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 205): Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi & Taka Michinoku b Kenou & Hajime Ohara & Captain NOAH, Masa Kitamiya & Alejandro Saez & Daisuke Harada & Hitoshi Kumano b Go Shiozaki & Mohammed Yone & Atsushi Kotoge & Yoshinari Ogawa, Naomichi Marufuji & Kaito Kiyomiya & Taiji Ishimori b Takashi Sugiura & Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Desperado, Lance Archer b Takashi Iizuka, Toru Yano b Quiet Storm, Katsuhiko Nakajima b Akitoshi Saito, Minoru Suzuki b Maybach Taniguchi
745
74611/12 Queens, NY (Evolve): Tony Nese b Tommy End, Matt Riddle b Dustin, Fred Yehi b Jason Kincaid, Chris Dickinson & Jaka b Darby Allin & Tony Nese, Ethan Page b Zack Sabre Jr.,, Tracy Williams b Chris Hero, Evolve title: Timothy Thatcher b Drew Gulak
747
74811/12 Yamagata (Dragon Gate - 850): Masato Yoshino & Don Fujii b Eita & Gamma, Yamato b Jimmy Kanda, Naruki Doi & Big R Shimizu b Masaaki Mochizuki & Hyou Watanabe, Cima & Dragon Kid b BxB Hulk & Kzy, Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi & Jimmy Susumu & Jimmy Kagetora b Shingo Takagi & T-Hawk & Cyber Kong & Lindaman
749
75011/12 Osaka (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 593): Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi & Desperado & Taka Michinoku b Taiji Ishimori & Hajime Ohara & Kenou & Captain NOAH, Toru Yano & Atsushi Kotoge & Yoshinari Ogawa NC Akitoshi Saito & Daisuke Harada& Hitoshi Kumano, Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer & Takashi Iizuka b Katsuhiko Nakajima & Maybach Taniguchi & Quiet Storm, Alejandro Saez b Mohammed Yone, Davey Boy Smith Jr. b Kaito Kiyomiya, Go Shiozaki b Masa Kitamiya, Takashi Sugiura b Naomichi Marufuji
751
75211/12 Yokohama (All Japan -260 sellout): Yohei Nakajima b Sushi, Masao Inoue & Yutaka Yoshie & Keisuke Ishii b Takao Omori & Kazuhiro Tamura & Daichi Kazato, Takeshi Minamino & Black Tiger V b Soma Takao & Yuma Aoyagi, Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato b Koji Iwamoto & Fuminori Abe, Suwama b Great Tiger, Jun Akiyama & Zeus & Ryoji Sai b Kento Miyahara & Jake Lee & Naoya Nomura
753
75411/13 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL): Mini Fantasy & Ultimo Dragoncito b Nitrito & Pequeno Violencia, Cancerbero & Nitro & Raziel b Oro Jr. & Pegasso & Sensei, Drone & Guerrero Maya Jr. & Rey Cometa b Misterioso Jr. & Olimpico & Bobby Z, Dragon Lee & Titan & Volador Jr. b Mephisto & Ephesto & Luciferno, Diamante Azul & Marco Corleone & Valiente b Rush & Pierroth & La Mascara-DQ
755
75611/13 Iwate (Dragon Gate - 1,300): Masaaki Mochizuki & Jimmy Kagetora & Big R Shimizu b Eita & Gamma & Hyou Watanabe, Naruki Doi NC Lindaman, Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi b Masato Yoshino & Don Fujii, Cima & Dragon Kid b Jimmy Susumu & Jimmy Kanda, Yamato & BxB Hulk & Kzy b Shingo Takagi & T-Hawk & Cyber Kong-DQ, Yamato & BxB Hulk & Kzy & Naruki Doi b Shingo Takagi & T-Hawk & Cyber Kong & Lindaman
757
75811/13 Joppa, MD (Evolve): Tommy End b Tracy Williams, Jaka b Darby Allin, Jason Kincaid b Icarus, Ethan Page b Chris Dickinson, Drew Gulak b Zack Sabre Jr., Chris Hero b Matt Riddle, Fred Yehi & Tracy Williams won four-way to win tag titles over Tony Nese & Drew Gulak, Dustin & Chris Hero and The Gatekeepers
759
76011/13 Chiba (All Japan - 145): Yohei Nakajima & Kaji Tomato b Takao Omori & Sushi, Saori Anno b Tamu Nakano, Black Tiger V & Takeshi Minamino b Koji Iwamoto & Fuminori Abe, Kazuhiro Tamura & Daichi Kazato b Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato, Kengo Mashimo & Tank Nagai & Yuki Sato b Jake Lee & Naoya Nomura & Yuma Aoyagi, Jun Akiyama & Kento Miyahara b Suwama & Zeus
761
76211/13 Matsuyama (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 248): Kenou & Hajime Ohara & Captain NOAH b Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Desperado & Taka Michinoku, Go Shiozaki & Mohammed Yone & Atsushi Kotoge & Yoshinari Ogawa b Masa Kitamiya & Alejandro Saez & Atsushi Kotoge & Taiji Ishimori, Takashi Sugiura & Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Taichi b Naomichi Marufuji & Kaito Kiyomiya & Hitoshi Kumano, Maybach Taniguchi b Takashi Iizuka-DQ, Toru Yano b Akitoshi Saito, Minoru Suzuki b Quiet Storm, Katsuhiko Nakajima b Lance Archer
763
76411/14 Okayama (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 423): Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi & Desperado & Taka Michinoku b Taiji Ishimori & Yoshinari Ogawa & Hitoshi Kumano & Captain NOAH, Maybach Taniguchi & Akitoshi Saito & Daisuke Harada b Toru Yano & Quiet Storm & Atsushi Kotoge, Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer & Takashi Iizuka b Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kenou & Hajime Ohara, Go Shiozaki b Alejandro Saez, Mohammed Yone b Masa Kitamiya, Takashi Sugiura b Kaito Kiyomiya, Davey Boy Smith Jr. b Naomichi Marufuji
765
76611/14 Tochigi (Dragon Gate - 600 sellout): Hyou Watanabe d Yuki Yoshioka, Naruki Doi & Don Fujii b Genki Horiguchi & Jimmy Susumu, BxB Hulk d Lindaman, Masaaki Mochizuki & Big R Shimizu b Ryo Saito & Jimmy Kanda, Masato Yoshino & Jimmy Kagetora b Yamato & Kzy, Eita & Cima & Dragon Kid & Gamma b Shingo Takagi & T-Hawk & Cyber Kong & Mondai Ryu
767
76811/15 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL): Mercurio & Pequeno Olimpico b Acero & Aereo, Grako & Metalico & Nitro b Magica Blanca & Metatron & Robin, Pegasso b Disturbio, Misterioso Jr. & Okumura & Sagrado b Soberano Jr. & Star Jr. & Stigma, Olimpico & Ripper & Vangellys b Angel de Oro & Johnny Idol & Rey Cometa, Mephisto & Ephesto & Luciferno b Mistico & Titan & Volador Jr.
769
77011/15 Hamamatsu (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 251): Taichi & Desperado & Taka Michinoku b Kenou & Hajime Ohara & Captain NOAH, Takashi Sugiura & Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Yoshinobu Kanemaru b Masa Kitamiya & Alejandro Saez & Hitoshi Kumano, Go Shiozaki & Kaito Kiyomiya & Daisuke Harada & Taiji Ishimori b Naomichi Marufuji & Mohammed Yone & Atsushi Kotoge & Yoshinari Ogawa, Quiet Storm b Akitoshi Saito, Toru Yano b Maybach Taniguchi, Minoru Suzuki b Lance Archer, Katsuhiko Nakajima b Takashi Iizuka
771
77211/15 Niigata (All Japan - 263): Soma Takao & Yuma Aoyagi b Koji Iwamoto & Fuminori Abe, Takao Omori won three-way over Sushi and The Ryokan, Kazuhiro Tamura & Daichi Kazato b Black Tiger V & Takeshi Minamino, Ryoji Sai b Hikaru Sato, Mitsuya Nagai & Tatsuhito Takaiwa b Jun Akiyama & Yohei Nakajima, Zeus & The Bodyguard b Masashi Takeda & Atsushi Maruyama, Suwama & Atsushi Aoki & Super Tiger b Kento Miyahara & Jake Lee & Naoya Nomura
773
77411/16 New York Theater at Madison Square Garden (WWE NXT - 3,000): No Way Jose b Roderick Strong, Peyton Royce & Billie Kay b Daria Berenato & Liv Morgan, Oney Lorcan b Elias Sampson, Nick Miller & Shane Thorn b Alexander Wolfe & Sawyer Fulton, Tye Dillinger b Eric Young, Bobby Roode b Cedric Alexander, Three-way for women’s title: Asuka won over Nikki Cross and Ember Moon, Shinsuke Nakamura & Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano b Samoa Joe & Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson
775
77611/16 Kobe (Dragon Gate - 1,000 sellout): Eita & Gamma & Takehiro Yamamura b Don Fujii & Jimmy Kagetora & Jimmy K-Ness, Yosuke Santa Maria b Punch Tominaga, Masato Yoshino b Kaito Ishida, Masaaki Mochizuki & Big R Shimizu b Shingo Takagi & Lindaman, Cima & Dragon Kid & Kotoka b T-Hawk & Cyber Kong & Mondai Ryu, Naruki Doi & Jimmy Susumu & Ryo Saito b Yamato & BxB Hulk & Kzy
777
77811/17 Boston (WWE NXT - 800): No Way Jose NC Alexander Wolfe, No Way Jose & Nick Miller & Shane Thorne b Alexander Wolfe & Sawyer Fulton & Eric Young, Oney Lorcan b Elias Samson, Nikki Cross b Liv Morgan, Cedric Alexander b Roderick Strong, Three-way for women’s title: Asuka won over Peyton Royce and Ember Moon, Tye Dillinger b Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura & Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano b Samoa Joe & Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson
779
78011/17 Tokyo Shinjuku Face (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 345 sellout): Taichi & Desperado & Taka Michinoku b Kenou & Hajime Ohara & Captain NOAH, Atsushi Kotoge & Maybach Taniguchi & Hitoshi Kumano NC Daisuke Harada & Akitoshi Saito & Taiji Ishimori, Katsuhiko Nakajima & Toru Yano & Quiet Storm & Yoshinari Ogawa b Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer & Takashi Iizuka & Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Takashi Sugiura b Alejandro Saez, Go Shiozaki b Mohammed Yone, Masa Kitamiya b Davey Boy Smith Jr., Naomichi Marufuji b Kaito Kiyomiya
781
78211/17 Nisshin (All Japan - 322 sellout): Kokuei & Diablo b Sushi & Fuminori Abe, Zeus & The Bodyguard & Atsushi Maruyama b Takao Omori & Yohei Nakajima & Shinya Ishida, Jun Akiyama & Ryoji Sai b Mitsuya Nagai & Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato b Takeshi Minamino & Black Tiger V, Soma Takao & Yuma Aoyagi b Kazuhiro Tamura & Daichi Kazato, Suwama & Super Tiger & Koji Iwamoto b Kento Miyahara & Jake Lee & Naoya Nomura, Jr. Tag Battle of Glory: Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato b Soma Takao & Yuma Aoyagi
783
78411/18 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (New Japan World Tag League - 1,784 sellout): Teruaki Kanemitsu b Hirai Kawato, Yoshitatsu & Billy Gunn & Kushida & Ryusuke Taguchi b Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma & Jushin Liger & David Finlay, Seiya Sanada & Evil & Bushi b Katsuyori Shibata & Yuji Nagata & Tiger Mask, Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi b Kenny Omega & Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens & Bone Soldier, Ray Rowe & Hanson b Manabu Nakanishi & Henare, Brian Breaker & Leland Race b Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima b Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa, Tetsuya Naito & Rush b Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson
785
78611/18 Liverpool, UK (ROH - 700): Lio Rush b Frankie Kazarian, Donovan Dijak b Joe Hendry, Jay White b Christopher Daniels, Jay Lethal b Chris Sabin, Marty Scurll b Dalton Castle, ROH TV title: Will Ospreay b Bobby Fish to win title, Mark & Jay Briscoe & Kyle O’Reilly b Young Bucks & Adam Cole
787
78811/18 Tampa, FL (WWE NXT - 250): Jack Gallagher b Tozawa, Harv & Gurv Sihra b Adrian Jaoude & Cezar Bononi, Macey Estrella b Sara Bridges, Big Damo b HoHo Lun, Kishan Raftaar b Wesley Blake, Tommy End b Buddy Murphy, Riddick Moss & Tino Sabbatelli b Angelo Dawkins & Kenneth Crawford, Andrade Cien Almas b Gran Metalik
789
79011/18 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL): Tiger & Virus b Fuego & Pegasso, Bobby Z & Dragon Rojo Jr. & Polvora b Drone & Guerrero Maya Jr. & Rey Cometa, The Panther b Okumura, Angel de Oro & Dragon Lee & Volador Jr. b Cavernario & Felino & Negro Casas, Ultimo Guerrero won Leyenda de Azul over Stuka Jr., Blue Panther, Rey Bucanero, Gran Guerrero Maximo Sexy, Marco Corleone, Hechicero, Kraneo, La Mascara, El Terrible, Euforia, Diamante Azul, Mascara Ano 2000, Atlantis and Valiente
791
79211/18 Naucalpan (Elite TV tapings): Atomo & Pequeno Warrior & Shaolin b Shadow Boy & Solaris & Sonic, Baronessa & Diosa Quetzal b Muneca de Plata & Rossy Moreno-DQ, Fresero Jr. & Samoano b Metaleon & Mr. Leo, Bandido won Elimination match over Golden Magic, Emperador Azteca, Argos, Ciclon Ramirez Jr., Imposible, Eterno, Flamita, Diamante and Zumbido to become the first Elite welterweight champion, Black Tauro & Willie Mack b Mr. 450 Hammet & Mr. Aguila, Liga final: Caristico b Rey Escorpion
793
79411/19 Fujisawa (New Japan World Tag League - 2,250 sellout): Teruaki Kanemitsu b Hirai Kawato, Ray Rowe & Hanson & Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask b Brian Breaker & Leland Race & Ryusuke Taguchi & David Finlay, Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa & Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page b Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi & Henare, Tetsuya Naito & Rush & Bushi b Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson & Kushida, Yoshitatsu & Billy Gunn b Kenny Omega & Chase Owens, Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii b Bad Lake Fale & Bone Soldier, Seiya Sanada & Evil b Yuji Nagata & Katsuyori Shibata, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma b Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi
795
79611/19 Leicester, UK (ROH - 650): Jay White b Joe Hendry, Donovan Dijak b Lio Rush, Jay Lethal b Alex Shelley, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly b Mark & Jay Briscoe, Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian b Delirious & Dalton Castle, Adam Cole b Chris Sabin, Tag titles: Young Bucks b Will Ospreay & Marty Scurll
797
79811/19 Fukuoka (Dragon Gate - 700): Shingo Takagi & T-Hawk & Lindaman b Eita & Gamma & Kaito Ishida, Masaaki Mochizuki b Takehiro Yamamura, Masato Yoshino & Don Fujii b Genki Horiguchi & Jimmy Susumu Cima & Dragon Kid b Naruki Doi & Big R Shimizu, Yamato & BxB Hulk & Kzy b Ryo Saito & Jimmy Kagetora & Jimmy Kanda
799
80011/19 Yume (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 374 sellout): Taichi & Taka Michinoku b Yoshinari Ogawa & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Takashi Sugiura & Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Desperado b Go Shiozaki & Mohammed Yone & Kenou & Hajime Ohara, Naomichi Marufuji & Atsushi Kotoge & Taiji Ishimori & Alejandro Saez b Masa Kitamiya & Daisuke Harada & Hitoshi Kumano & Kaito Kiyomiya, Maybach Taniguchi b Akitoshi Saito, Lance Archer b Quiet Storm-COR, Minoru Suzuki b Katsuhiko Nakajima, Takashi Iizuka b Toru Yano
801
80211/20 Takasaki (New Japan - 1,440 sellout): Teruaki Kanemitsu b Hirai Kawato, Katsuyori Shibata & Yuji Nagata & Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask b Yoshitatsu & Billy Gunn & Kushida & David Finlay, Seiya Sanada & Evil & Bushi b Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma & Ryusuke Taguchi, Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi b Kenny Omega & Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens & Bone Soldier, Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page b Manabu Nakanishi & Henare, Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa b Brian Breaker & Leland Race, Ray Rowe & Hanson b Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima b Tetsuya Naito & Rush
803
80411/20 London, UK (ROH - 1,100 sellout): Dalton Castle b Lio Rush, Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley b Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian, Jay White b Donovan Dijak, Non-title: Mark & Jay Briscoe b Young Bucks, Kyle O’Reilly b Travis Banks, TV title: Marty Scurll b Will Ospreay to win title, ROH title: Adam Cole b Jay Lethal
805
80611/20 Saga (Dragon Gate - 1,400 sellout): Ben-K d Shun Skywalker, BxB Hulk & Kzy b Don Fujii & Tenzan Mask, Open the Twin Gate title: Cima & Dragon Kid NC Takehiro Yamamura & Kaito Ishida, Genki Horiguchi & Jimmy Kagetora & Jimmy Kanda b Eita & Gamma & Big R Shimizu, Yamato & Masato Yoshino b Jimmy Susumu & Ryo Saito, Naruki Doi & Masaaki Mochizuki & Kotoka b Shingo Takagi & T-Hawk & Lindaman
807
80811/20 Ciudad Juarez (AAA TV tapings): El Apache & Lady Shani & Mini Psycho Clown b Big Mami & Nino Hamburguesa & Octagoncito, Dog collar match: Pimpinela Escarlata b Mamba, Averno & Chessman b Faby Apache & Mary Apache-COR, Joe Lider & Daga & Pentagon Jr. b Dave the Clown & Monsther Clown & Murder Clown, Pagano won three-way over Dr Wagner Jr. and Psycho Clown, Garza Jr. & La Parka & El Texano Jr. b Brian Cage & Johnny Mundo & Marty Casaus
809
81011/21 Toronto (WWE Raw/Superstars TV tapings - 13,500 sellout): Sin Cara b Jinder Mahal, Bo Dallas b Curtis Axel, Tag titles: Kofi Kingston & Big E b Cesaro & Sheamus, Cedric Alexander b Ariya Daivari, Rusev b Enzo Amore, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson b R-Truth & Goldust, Braun Strowman b Sami Zayn, Sasha Banks & Bayley b Charlotte & Nia Jax, Rich Swann won three-way over Noam Dar and T.J. Perkins, Universal title no DQ: Kevin Owens b Seth Rollins
811
81211/21 Kingston, ONT (WWE - 1,500): Non-title: Dolph Ziggler b The Miz, Baron Corbin b Kalisto, Women’s title: Becky Lynch b Alexa Bliss, Zack Ryder & Mojo Rawley & Jason Jordan & Chad Gable & Apollo Crews b The Ascension & The Vaudevillains & Curt Hawkins, Nikki Bella & Naomi b Natalya & Carmella, Kane b Bray Wyatt, Three-way for tag titles: Heath Slater & Rhyno won over Tyler Breeze & Fandango and Usos, Street fight for WWE title: A.J. Styles b Dean Ambrose
813
81411/21 Yamaguchi (Dragon Gate - 450): Ben-K d Hyou Watanabe, Masato Yoshino & Masaaki Mochizuki & Kotoka b Ryo Saito & Jimmy Kagetora & Genki Horiguchi, BxB Hulk b Takehiro Yamamura, Don Fujii & Jimmy Kanda b Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa & Big R Shimizu, Naruki Doi & Jimmy Susumu b Yamato & Kzy, Eita & Gamma & Dragon Kid b Shingo Takagi & T-Hawk & Lindaman
815
81611/22 Ottawa, ONT (WWE Smackdown/NXT/Main Event TV tapings - 6,500): Asuka b Nicole Matthews, Eric Young b No Way Jose, Samoa Joe b Tye Dillinger, IC title: The Miz b Kalisto, Zack Ryder & Mojo Rawley b The Ascension, Tyler Breeze & Fandango b Zack Ryder & Mojo Rawley, Jason Jordan & Chad Gable b Tyler Breeze & Fandango, Jason Jordan & Chad Gable b The Vaudevillains, Jason Jordan & Chad Gable b Usos, Non-title: Becky Lynch b Natalya, Baron Corbin b Kane-DQ, Non-title ladder match: James Ellsworth b A.J. Styles, Alexa Bliss b Naomi, Dean Ambrose & Kane b Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper
817
81811/22 Ishikawa (New Japan World Tag League - 1,650 sellout): Teruaki Kanemitsu b Hirai Kawato, Ray Rowe & Hanson & Kushida & Ryusuke Taguchi b Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask & Manabu Nakanishi & Henare, Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa & Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page b Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Leland Race & Brian Breaker, Tetsuya Naito & Rush & Bushi b Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson & David Finlay, Seiya Sanada & Evil b Bad Luck Fale & Bone Soldier, Yoshitatsu & Billy Gunn b Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma, Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii b Kenny Omega & Chase Owens, Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi b Katsuyori Shibata & Yuji Nagata
819
82011/22 Niigata (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 850): Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi & Desperado & Taka Michinoku b Taiji Ishimori & Kenou & Hajime Ohara & Captain New Japan, Maybach Taniguchi & Hitoshi Kumano b Akitoshi Saito & Yoshinari Ogawa, Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer & Takashi Iizuka b Katsuhiko Nakajima & Toru Yano & Quiet Storm, Jr. Title: Atsushi Kotoge b Daisuke Harada, Alejandro Saez b Kaito Kiyomiya, Davey Boy Smith Jr. b Go Shiozaki, Mohammed Yone b Takashi Sugiura, Masa Kitamiya b Naomichi Marufuji
821
82211/22 Nagasaki (Dragon Gate - 500): Takehiro Yamamura d Ben-K, Shingo Takagi & T-Hawk & Lindaman b Cima & Gamma & Kaito Ishida, Ryo Saito b Yosuke Santa Maria, Genki Horiguchi & Jimmy Kagetora b Masato Yoshino & Don Fujii, Eita & Dragon Kid b Masaaki Mochizuki & Big R Shimizu, Naruki Doi & Jimmy Susumu & Jimmy Kanda b Yamato & BxB Hulk & Kzy
823
82411/23 Nagoya (New Japan World Tag League - 3,070): Teruaki Kanemitsu b Hirai Kawato, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma & Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask b Yoshitatsu & Billy Gunn & Ryusuke Taguchi & David Finlay, Katsuyori Shibata & Yuji Nagata & Kushida b Seiya Sanada & Evil & Bushi, Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi b Kenny Omega & Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens & Bone Soldier, Brian Breaker & Leland Race b Manabu Nakanishi & Henare, Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa b Ray Rowe & Hanson, Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page b Tetsuya Naito & Rush, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima b Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson
825
82611/23 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 1,313): Alejandro Saez b Hitoshi Kumano, Akitoshi Saito & Yoshinari Ogawa b Kenou & Hajime Ohara, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi & Desperado b Atsushi Kotoge & Daisuke Harada & Taiji Ishimori, Go Shiozaki & Maybach Taniguchi b Mohammed Yone & Quiet Storm, Takashi Sugiura & Takashi Iizuka b Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kaito Kiyomiya, Tag titles: Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. b Naomichi Marufuji & Toru Yano to win titles, Global League finals: Minoru Suzuki b Masa Kitamiya
827
828CMLL:
829
830They had a good 11/18 show this week paced by the annual Leyenda de Azul (Blue Demon tribute) elimination match, won by Ultimo Guerrero, who gained revenge for his loss to Valiente in the Universal champion of champions tournament. They were the last two after Valiente had pinned Atlantis with a sunset flip. They went back and forth with very good action for seven-and-a-half minutes. Guerrero did a running bodyblock over the barricade and into the aisle, and almost didn’t clear the barricade. Valiente went for the finisher that he used to win the Universal tournament, the tombstone into a codebreaker. He hit it twice, but Guerrero kicked out both times. Guerrero then came back win with the Guerrero special, which is a reverse superplex for the pin in 34:37. The order of elimination was Stuka Jr., Blue Panther, Rey Bucanero, Gran Guerrero, Mascara Ano 2000, Marco Corleone, Hechicero, Kraneo, La Mascara, El Terrible, Euforia, Diamante Azul (they were disqualified together), Maximo Sexy and Atlantis. The crowd was really into Mascara Ano 2000 vs. Maximo Sexy because Mascara Ano 2000 did an old school badass macho man gimmick and Maximo was always trying to kiss him and ended up distracting him enough to where he pinned him, which was like the big embarrassment. Euforia and Diamante Azul did a spot where both unmasked the other, kept brawling and both ended up brawling while wearing the other one’s mask. They ended up both DQ’d from the match. The match, as one would expect with guys in and out, was all action, really just one high spot after another, but had the usual great heat. For a match that long, it was never slow and the crowd stayed up and peaked strong at the end for the final two. It was a bit match when Guerrero kicked out of Valiente’s finish twice in a row. Everyone did buy the second one had to be the finish. The best match, as expected, was Volador Jr. & Dragon Lee & Angel de Oro over Cavernario & Felino & Negro Casas with the face team doing all kinds of dives and flying moves. It was very good, fun all the way through, but not quite as spectacular as some of their matches have been in recent weeks. It was a double pin finish as Lee used the Del Rio double foot stomp on Casas at the same time Volador did the Canadian Destroyer and pinned Cavernario.
831
832The 11/25 show is headlined by Caristico & Valiente & Volador Jr. in a high flyers main event against Euforia & Niebla Roja & Ultimo Guerrero. They also have a trios tournament where an older generation member of a famous family teams with two next generation members. The teams are Pierroth (who is a heel) with sons Mistico & Dragon Lee, Mascara Ano 2000 with nephews Sanson & Cuatrero, Blue Panther with sons Blue Panther Jr. & The Panther, and Negro Casas, with nephews Tiger & Puma, plus the singles match has Hechicero vs. La Mascara.
833
834Both the 11/19 show at Arena Coliseo and 11/20 at Arena Mexico had attendance way up due to Americans who were in town for the Houston Texans vs. Oakland Raiders Monday night game.
835
836Dragon Lee retained the CMLL lightweight title beating Polvora on 11/21 in Puebla in what was reported as a great match. Lee came into the match with a left knee injury and was working to protect it, but that played into the story of the match.
837
838ELITE:
839
840There’s no update on what’s going on with the promotion. Last week they announced that the 11/18 show in Naucalpan would be the final show of the year. That was weird for a show that has a weekly time slot in both Mexico and the U.S. (Saturday’s on Azteca America). Nothing was mentioned about a next show. The company has been doing badly ever since CMLL pulled its talent. They ended with the championship match in their tournament that took most of the year. If you figured out points or whatever, there were so many subs that I doubt it made much sense, but they had Caristico and Rey Escorpion in the finals. Caristico won when Cibernetico distracted Rey Escorpion, so they didn’t even have a clean finish. Cibernetico did an interview after saying that in season two he is forming a super group called Los Radicales that includes Black Tauro, Los Vipers (Maniaco & Mosco de la Merced), La Secta (Dark Ozz & Dark Espiritu), The Hell Brothers (he and Sharly Rockstar) and Los Bizarros (Tabu & Billy el Malo). Also on the show, they did an elimination match to crown their first welterweight champion, with Bandido winning over Golden Magic, Emperador Azteca, Argos, Ciclon Ramirez Jr., Imposible, Eterno, Flamita, Diamante and Zumbido. Willie Mack also worked the show which is notable because prior Lucha Underground guys were blocked from working Elite shows.
841
842AAA:
843
844What may be the final TV taping of the year will be 12/17 in Chilpancingo, with El Hijo del Fantasma & Psycho Clown & El Texano Jr. vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. & Mesias & Pagano on top, plus Aerostar & Drago defend the tag titles in a three-way against new heels Monsther & Murder Clown and Joe Lider & Daga. Nino Hamburguesa, who was rumored gone, is booked on this show underneath.
845
846They taped on 11/20 in Ciudad Juarez. Averno & Chessman beat Faby & Mary Apache in a men vs. women’s tag when El Hijo del Tirantes helped Averno & Chessman out. Averno and Mary were both knocked out on the floor. El Hijo del Tirantes then dragged Averno back in the ring and counted Mary out. After the match, Faby challenged El Hijo del Tirantes to a singles match. Pagano won a three-way over Psycho Clown and Dr. Wagner Jr. Wagner and Pagano spent most of the match beating up Psycho. Wagner unmasked Psycho and Pagano pinned him. The main event saw La Parka & Garza Jr. & El Texano over Team Trump, which was Johnny Mundo & Brian Cage & Marty Casaus (Marty the Moth). Marty was the surprise partner. Taya interfered and Mundo pinned garza. Then Monsther & Murder Clown & Dave the Clown came in to attack the Mexican team and Los Perros Del Mal made the save. The show ended with Pentagon challenging Mundo for the Latin American heavyweight title.
847
848DRAGON GATE:
849
850The last big show of the year will be Final Gate on Christmas day. At the 11/20 show in Saga, before 1,400 fans, they did an angle to build to Cima & Dragon Kid defending the Open the Twin Gate titles against Shingo Takagi & T-Hawk. It started when Cima & Dragon Kid agreed to do an impromptu title match with Takehiro Yamamura & Kaito Ishida. But the Verserk group attacked both teams for a no contest, saying that nobody wanted to see that friendly competition bullshit match since Cima & Dragon Kid & Yamamura & Ishida were together and the match was a joke. Jimmy Kagetora issued a challenge to Eita for the Open the Brave Gate title. The storyline is that Kagetora has challenged for the title eight times and lost eight times. Eita accepted his challenge. The main event on that show will be Yamato defending the Open the Dream Gate title against Naruki Doi, as Doi issued a challenge to Yamato. Yamato noted they had a title match six years ago and he won, and the result would be the same this time. On 11/16 in Kobe, there were challenges issued that would indicate Genki Horiguchi & Jimmy Kanda & Ryo Saito defending the Triangle Gate titles against Masaaki Mochizuki & Big R Shimizu & Don Fujii as well, but that one isn’t official
851
852Cima suffered a right elbow injury.
853
854ALL JAPAN:
855
856Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato captured the annual Junior Tag Battle of Glory for the third year in a row, beating Soma Takao of DDT & Yuma Aoyagi in the finals in 16:15 when Sato pinned Aoyagi. The finals took place on 11/17 in Nisshi before a sellout 322 fans. Both teams finished the round-robin tournament with 2-1-1 records. To reach the finals earlier on the show Aoki & Sato beat Takeshi Minamino & Black Tiger V, while Takao & Aoyagi beat Kazuhiro Tamura & Daichi Kazato.
857
858PRO WRESTLING NOAH:
859
860Minoru Suzuki won the Global League tournament on 11/23 at Korakuen Hall, to set up what is being teased as a gigantic loser leaves town stipulation match with GHC champion Katsuhiko Nakajima. Suzuki was facing Masa Kitamiya in the finals, who they are pushing as the company’s new rising star. Kitamiya had the match under control when Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr. started interfering. Nakajima came out to help Kitamiya, but in the end, Suzuki got the pin at 35:15 using the Gotch piledriver. With the tournament win, Suzuki gets his shot at Nakajima’s title on12/2 at Korakuen Hall. They went back-and-forth on the mic, and teased the stips strongly, but since the show just ended at press time, they weren’t officially announced. Nakajima said that if he wins, that Suzuki and all of Suzuki-gun (Smith, Archer, Takashi Sugiura, Takashi Iizuka, Desperado, Taichi, Taka Michinoku and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) would all have to leave NOAH. Suzuki then said he would accept if Nakajima would accept that if he beats Nakajima, then Nakajima would have to leave NOAH forever. With new ownership, the result of the main event probably tells you the key decision the new owners are making as well as the relationship with New Japan. There was talk of financial cutbacks as far as even less usage of foreigners, but then the company was sold and the main event will tell a lot. Archer & Smith Jr. beat Naomichi Marufuji & Toru Yano on that card to win the GHC tag team titles in a match that wasn’t announced until the day before. Archer pinned Yone in 17:30 after the double-team killer bomb. Archer & Smith’s title defense on 12/2 was set up when Go Shiozaki & Maybach Taniguchi came out to accept the challenge.
861
862The A block final standings were: 1. Suzuki 6-1; 2. Nakajima and Yano 5-2; 4. Archer and Quiet Storm 4-3; 6. Taniguchi 2-5; 6. Akitoshi Saito and Takashi Iizuka 1-6.
863
864The B block final standings were: 1.Kitamiya 5-2; 2. Marufuji, Mohammed Yone, Sugiura, Shiozaki and Smith Jr. 4-3; 7. Alejandro Saez 3-4; 8. Kaito Kiyomiya 0-7.
865
866The final show of the A block was 11/19 in Yume before a sellout of 374 fans. It came down to Nakajima, Suzuki and Yano. If Yano beat Iizuka, he’d go to the finals having already beaten both Nakajima and Suzuki. If not, the Nakajima-Suzuki winner would advance. Taniguchi pinned Saito in 9:43 with the Maybach press in a battle of also-rans. Archer beat Storm via count out. Suzuki pinned Nakajima in 16:04 after a Gotch piledriver so Suzuki beat the GHC champion and is likely set up for a title match. Then Iizuka pinned Yano in 11:21 when Suzuki interfered and gave Yano a Gotch piledriver, which sets up a Suzuki vs. Yano program.
867
868The final of the B block was 11/22 in Niigata before 850 fans. Saez pinned Kiyomiya in 9:15 with a spiral tap so Kiyomiya went 0-7 in the tournament. He’s being groomed for stardom and this is part of his career story, with the idea that as a true rookie (he started his career last December) and at the age of 20, he got into the Global League, even though he lost every match. Shiozaki, who was still alive with a 4-2 record, needed a win over Smith Jr., but Smith Jr proved to be a spoiler beating him with a bulldog bomb in 13:33. Sugiura, also still alive with a 4-2 record, then fell to Yone in 14:42 with the muscle buster. This left Kitamiya and Marufuji, both with 4-2 records and the winner would face Suzuki in the finals. Kitamiya scored the upset getting the pin in 17:23 after a Saito suplex.
869
87011/17 in Tokyo at Shinjuku Face before a sellout 345 fans for a B block show saw Sugiura beat Saez in 12:36 after an Olympic slam; Shiozaki pinned Yone in 15:33 after a lariat; Kitamiya pinned Smith in 13:01 after a Saito suplex and Marufuji pinned Kiyomiya in 11:55 after sliced bread.
871
872NEW JAPAN:
873
874Business for the tag team tournament has been interesting. Until the 11/23 show, every show had sold out, even with what on paper looked to be a disappointing lineup of teams. Granted they were playing small buildings. But the first major show of the tour, on 11/23 in Nagoya, drew 3,070 fans at Aiichi Gym, which is the smallest crowd New Japan has ever drawn in that building going back at least 35 years. Granted, in 2016 if you main event Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima, who have been mostly undercard, against Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson, it’s hardly going to be a big draw in a building of that size and as far as name value at the time, it is as weak a main event as I’ve ever hear for that arena.
875
876Going into the 11/25 show, here are the tournament standings: A block: 1. Tenzan & Kojima 3-0; 2. Brian Breaker & Leland Race, Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa, Ray Rowe & Hanson and Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page 2-1; 6. Tetsuya Naito & Rush 1-2; 7. Tanahashi & Robinson and Manabu Nakanishi & Henare 0-3. B block: 1. Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii, Yoshitatsu & Billy Gunn and Seiya Sanada & Evil 2-0; 4. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma and Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi 1-1; 6. Katsuyori Shibata & Yuji Nagata, Kenny Omega & Chase Owens and Bad Luck Fale & Bone Soldier 0-2.
877
878Leland Race is the 31-year-old son of Harley Race. Until recently they kept the relationship secret as Harley didn’t want anyone knowing his son was wrestling and wanted his son to make his name without using the name. He’s bounced around indies for years under the name Jason Jones in the Carolinas, as a guy trained by George South, and South was the only guy that Harley would allow him to tell that he was his son. Harley didn’t want him working in Missouri or Kansas until the last couple of years when he allowed him to use his real name on Harley’s indie shows and got him booked in Japan on this tour. .. None of the key office people went to the two shows in the U.K. last week so there was no scouting of the local talent on those shows. The talent itself may send recommendations since a previous set of joint shows got Will Ospreay his spot.
879
880The tag team tournament opened on 11/18 before a sellout 1,784 paid at Korakuen Hall with A block matches. Rowe & Hanson beat Nakanishi & Henare in 7:03 when Rowe pinned Henare after the fallout which is a combination back suplex and leg drop of the top rope double-team move. Henare is doing a protégé of Nakanishi type deal. Rowe & Hanson got over really well in their New Japan debut after working NOAH a few months back. Breaker & Race beat Takahashi & Page in 11:13 when Race pinned Takahashi after a double-team sliced bread. Breaker & Race didn’t make the impression War Machine did in their debut win. Tenzan & Kojima beat Tonga & Roa in 11:06 when Kojima pinned Roa after a diamond cutter, a lariat to the back of the head and a regular lariat. Good match. Tonga & Roa have made a real jump of late coming off their match at Power Struggle with Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi. Even if they don’t win the tournament, this could set Kojima & Tenzan up for a tag title match next year. Naito & Rush beat Tanahashi & Robinson in 16:50 when Naito pinned Robinson after Destino. Crowd was into it. Rush didn’t look that impressive but carries himself like a star.
881
882The B block debut was 11/19 in Fujisawa before a sellout 2,250 as Yoshitatsu & Gunn beat Omega & Owens in 10:40 when Gunn pinned Owens after a famouser. Goto & Ishii beat Fale & Bone Soldier in 9:20 when Ishii pinned Soldier after a brainbuster. Sanada & Evil beat Shibata & Nagata in 12:02 when Sanada made Nagata submit to the skull end (dragon sleeper). Evil, after the match, said that he has unfinished business with Shibata and wants a rematch for the Never title. Makabe & Honma beat Okada & Yoshi-Hashi in the main event in 17:03 when Makabe pinned Yoshi-Hashi after the King Kong kneedrop.
883
884The A block on 11/20 in Gunma before a sellout 1,440, saw Takahashi & Page beat Nakanishi & Henare in 8:59 when Takahashi pinned Henare after the short DDT. Tonga & Roa beat Breaker & Race in 10:43 when Tonga pinned Race after the double-team Guerrilla Warfare. War Machine beat Tanahashi & Robinson when Rowe pinned Robinson with the fallout in 11:49. Tenzan & Kojima beat Naito & Rush in 14:15 when Kojima pinned Naito, which is a big deal since Naito is usually protected, after a lariat.
885
88611/22 in Ishikawa before a sellout 1,650 saw Sanada & Evil over Fale & Soldier in 9:30 when Sanada made Soldier submit to the skull end. Yoshitatsu & Gunn beat Makabe & Honma when Gunn pinned Honma after the famouser. Goto & Ishii beat Omega & Owens when Goto pinned Owens after the GTR in 10:16. Main event saw Okada & Yoshi-Hashi over Shibata & Nagata in 17:30 when Okada pinned Nagata after the rainmaker.
887
88811/23 in Nagoya before 3,070 saw Race & Breaker over Nakanishi & Henare in 11:54 when Race pinned Henare after the double-team sliced bread. Tonga & Roa beat War Machine in 11:33 when Tonga pinned Rowe after the double-team Guerrilla Warfare; Takahashi & Page scored a big upset over Naito & Rush when Page pinned Rush in 13:03 with the Rites of Passage (Omori driver). Kojima & Tenzan beat Tanahashi & Robinson in 18:49 when Kojima pinned Robinson after a lariat.
889
890They are now airing the entire tournament on New Japan World. At press time, none of the shows this week are scheduled to go live, but they’ll be up later in the day with only the tournament matches. So scheduled this week are 11/25 in Hiroshima (this show is almost sold out but they are using the smaller Green Arena rather than the big arena) for B block night (Yoshitatsu & Gunn vs. Sanada & Evil, Omega & Owens vs. Fale & Bone Soldier; Makabe & Honma vs. Shibata & Nagata and Okada & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Goto & Ishii); 11/26 in Kochi, which is sold out in advance, for A block night (Nakanishi & Henare vs. Tonga & Roa, Tenzan & Kojima vs. Rowe & Hanson, Race & Breaker vs. Naito & Rush; Tanahashi & Robinson vs. Takahashi & Page); 11/27 in Imabari, which is also sold out, for B block night (Shibata & Nagata vs. Yoshitatsu & Gunn; Makabe & Honma sv. Omega & Owens; Okada & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Fale & Bone Soldier; Goto & Ishii vs. Sanada & Evil); 11/29 in Sasebo, which is almost sold out, for A block (Tenzan & Kojima vs. Nakanishi & Henare; Tanahashi & Robinson vs. Breaker & Race and 11/30 in Sendai for B block (Goto & Ishii vs. Yoshitatsu & Gunn; Okada & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Omega & Owens). The 12/4 show in Kobe is also sold out.
891
892Rush was announced as returning for the Fantastica Mania tour in January.
893
894HERE AND THERE:
895
896The biggest wrestling crowd of the weekend was in Piscataway, NJ, as the Rutgers vs. Princeton dual meet on 11/19 drew 16,178 fans to High Point Solutions Stadium. It was the second largest crowd for a dual meet in history, trailing only the 42,287 fans for the Iowa vs. Oklahoma State meet last year. The success of that event led to a similar promotion here. The idea is that you book a major rivalry on the late morning or early afternoon of a big football game when you’ve got a ton of people in town and if it’s pushed hard enough, a lot of the alumni fans will come to the wrestling, very similar to WWE putting NXT the night before PPV shows.
897
898Gabe Sapolsky officially announced his new promotion called Style Battle, which will be a new Flo Slam property. The gimmick is that every show will be a tournament, apparently modeled after the original UFC events from 1993-96 where it would be one-night tournaments with people coming from different styles. There will be roughly monthly shows starting on 1/7 with a card in Ybor City, FL. The plan is to hold eight-man tournaments. After eight shows, in late 2017, with eight different winners in theory, they will have their version of the old Ultimate Ultimate tournament of champions which will be the big winner of the season. The one thing is that tournaments usually have logical builds and can tell stories, and in theory should aid in building new guys as significant players. But it is uncharted waters so you don’t know how fans will take the idea of regular tournament shows.
899
900FloSlam also made a deal with Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore which will have three shows in December. The 12/3 show in Waukesha, WI, has a cage match with Al Snow & promoter Dave Herro vs. Abyss & Dameon Nelson, Bob Holly vs. Sami Callihan, Matt Cross vs. Tony Nese plus Dreamer, Ryback, Colt Cabana and Mickie James. The 12/16 date will be from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia with Dreamer vs. Matt Hardy in a cage match, John Hennigan (Mundo) vs. Fenix, Callihan vs. Brian Cage, Tony Nese (final indie match) vs. Lio Rush plus the 2300 Arena debut of The Brooklyn Brawler. 12/17 they’ll run in Joppa, MD with Dreamer, Cage, Hennigan, Brawler, Fenix, James Ellsworth, Taya, Moose, Sonjay Dutt and Eddie Kingston.
901
902The first-ever Michael Elgin vs. Jeff Cobb match appears to be 12/17 in Austin, TX for the WrestleCircus group. That group is booking a lot of name wrestlers into Austin. Cobb beat Willie Mack on their 11/19 show, and then Elgin, who wasn’t advertised to be there, came out to issue the challenge. That means Elgin will be returning to the ring soon as he’s been out of action after orbital bone surgery. That group drew 346 fans also using Joey Ryan, Rocky Romero, ACH (who is actually from San Antonio), Mr. 450, Ethan Carter III and had Brian Cage beat Chris Hero in the main event. They also announced that their champion, EC III will defend against Pentagon Jr. on the 12/17 show in a unique match of one of the top stars of TNA vs. Lucha Underground.
903
904A correction from last week regarding Bea Priestley, the girlfriend of Will Ospreay. Her match on the 11/27 Pro Wrestling Eve show in London is just her debut with the promotion. She’s been wrestling before.
905
906Jim Cornette returns to Freedom Hall in Johnson City, TN for the first time in 20 years on 11/25 for Tony Hunter’s Big Time Wrestling promotion doing a nostalgia show. Cornette worked regularly for Jim Crockett Promotions and later promoted the building as his No. 2 arena in the 90s when he ran Smoky Mountain Wrestling.
907
908Slam! Wrestling reported this past week that Joe Pottgieser Jr., a wrestling magazine writer who was the timekeeper at the bell for Roy Shire shows in San Jose and Watsonville, CA, on 10/21 from lung cancer at the age of 70. I knew Pottgieser when I was very young as we’d talk on the phone on Sunday mornings after every Cow Palace show that I didn’t attend and he’d go through all the finishes and highlights of the show with me. Pottgieser was the President of the Ray Stevens Fan Club in the 60s. He actually started as a teenager getting a job as an usher for the shows at the San Jose Civic Auditorium, and he’d take the jackets to the back. We would always talk at intermission at the shows that were held several times per month. He was such a big fan that he named his two sons Raymond (after Stevens) and Patrick (after Pat Patterson). He was always a nice guy about it. He later did publicity for area shows. He later moved to Huntington Beach, CA, and worked in real estate, saying how the lessons he learned as a young kid working in the wrestling industry helped him greatly in that business. He was a regular at Cauliflower Alley Club events until recent years.
909
910Shane Douglas and Honky Tonk Man worked in the U.K. over the weekend as part of the joint Preston City Wrestling and Combat Zone Wrestling shows in Liverpool and Manchester on 11/18 and 11/19.
911
912LUCHA UNDERGROUND:
913
914Ratings are down 11.5 percent from season two, from an average of 181,115 viewers per show (a combination of the 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. shows) to 160,272. For just the 8 p.m. show, the average is down 18.4 percent from 121,654 to 99,273 per episode.
915
916Notes from the 11/16 show. This was the Aztec Warfare show where Sexy Star won the championship. In the end, it’s neither a positive or a negative because unfortunately they’ve long since hit the wall as far as growth went for whatever reason and their title isn’t viewed as important enough to really care about it, so it doesn’t matter who has it. They portrayed her as this big underdog as she was left with Mil Muertes so it was the miracle finish that got a huge pop, but also felt kind of stupid. Plus some of the spots were just stupid, between the chair shots to the head in 2016 and Muertes punching Sexy Star right in the face, which is going to be a turnoff to a large segment of the audience. The show opened with Johnny Mundo telling Dario Cueto that he’s going to win Aztec Warfare and become the first person to hold both the Gift of the Gods title and the Lucha Underground title at the same time. Taya was there filming with the idea she was making a documentary about him, which was a cute idea. Mundo noted that if he doesn’t win Aztec Warfare, that he wants a shot next week against the winner and he’s cashing in his Gift of the Gods title. Dario Cueto told him it’s put up or shut up time, and told him he’s entering at No. 2, starting with Matanza. He said after what Matanza does to him, he doesn’t think he’ll be fighting for a title next week.
917
918Aztec Warfare is their version of the Royal Rumble, except it’s not over-the-top-rope, but instead pins or submissions. The first two were tremendous, both better than most Royal Rumbles. There was something missing this year. It was still good, and it’s not that Sexy Star won the title and there were cool spots but maybe the overall talent level in the match was down, the only debuts were the Stardom girls who were never named and don’t figure into much going forward. The big story wasn’t as impactful. Last year when Matanza debuted and Mysterio debuted and Matanza was pushed so hard, everyone was talking about it. This year, there was nobody new and Sexy winning was different, but also a disconnect with a lot of people and pretty much renders the title as worthless. The amount of feedback to this show compared to last year was like night and day, and really showed how much interest had dropped. When Sexy won the title, the interest level in the company was up and it felt like a dumb idea. In watching it, it was more the feeling like this is a TV show that was cool at first, never caught on, and now they’re desperate but it really doesn’t matter anymore. I had no negativity about them putting the title on Sexy Star or her winning because I had no reason to care. In a sense, that’s worse than seven months ago when it felt like a really bad idea because people still did care. This show doesn’t allow you to take it as anything but mindless fun that you can’t take seriously to begin with, and some will defend that, but I don’t think pro wrestling works past the indie level with that philosophy. The idea was 90 second entrances but whether it was editing or whatever, they were shaving time. Based on 20 men (19 entrances), it should be 28:30 before everyone was in the ring, but it was actually 23:12 when they were done.
919
920Matanza and Mundo started. Next in were Son of Havoc, Jeremiah Crane, Pentagon Dark and P.J. Black. Black did the first standout spot, a coast-to-coast dropkick on Havoc and a springboard moonsault on Crane. Mariposa Martinez was next in. Matanza pinned Crane with a German suplex so he’s the first guy out. They did a spot where Matanza was in the ring with Mariposa and the idea was he had the hots for her, but then he gave her a back suplex and pinned her. Rey Mysterio Jr. was next in to a huge pop. Havoc did a tope on Matanza. Mysterio squared off with Pentagon and the place went nuts with dueling chants. Mundo then hid under the ring. Black decided to hide under the ring with him. Dr. Wagner Jr. and Marty the Moth Martinez was next in. Marty did a running dive over the top on Matanza. Jack Evans was next in. Everyone beat down on Havoc and Evans pinned him. Sexy Star was next in. Mundo, Black and Evans all attacked her and threw her over the top rope onto Marty. Evans then did a Space flying Tiger drop on Marty and Mundo did a Hector Garza style corkscrew plancha on Marty. They clearly have a lot of faith in him as a catcher. Ricky Mandel was in. So he’s back from the dead, since he got murdered in his Disciples of Death gimmick. Pentagon pinned him right away with a package piledriver. Pentagon was about to break his arm when the Stardom girls came in with Black Lotus.
921
922It was Io Shirai, Kairi Hojo and Miyu Iwatani, three of the best women wrestlers in the world, and they did a quick run in with Shirai giving Pentagon a Canadian Destroyer and Mundo pinned him. Then they all left. Pentagon broke Lotus’ arm last season and this was her revenge. I don’t think this was explained at all, and when they do a million angles, it’s easy to forget most of them. Mascarita Sagrada was next in. Matanza pinned him right away with a double tour of the Islands. Famous B was next in. Mysterio pinned him right away with a 619 and splash off the top. Mysterio then pinned Marty the Moth with a cradle. The Mack was in next, immediately doing a running flip dive on a bunch of people. Joey Ryan was next in. Like last year, he handcuffed himself to the bannister. Mil Muertes was next in, and he pulled Ryan right out his handcuffs and threw him in the ring and pinned him immediately with the flatliner at the same exact time Matanza pinned Wagner after the tour of the Islands. The idea is to keep the Matanza vs. Muertes battle of the monsters idea alive for down the line. Kobra Moon was next in. The Mack then pinned Evans after a stunner, and gave Black a stunner, and Mack and Sexy jumped on Black to pin him. Drago was next in as No. 20. Kobra Moon jumped off a table with a huracanrana on Drago. Next came the elimination of Matanza, taking his first pin. They did all they could do to protect him. Mundo gave him a shining wizard. Muertes gave him a spear. Sexy gave him a codebreaker. Mack used an enzuigiri on him and a stunner. Mundo did a springboard kick. Mysterio gave him two 619's and finally pinned him after the Code Red. The place went nuts for Matanza being beaten and Rey was the guy to do it.
923
924After, Matanza got up and started smashing Mysterio into the barricade and gave him the tour of the islands. Matanza then left the ring, shoved down Dario Cueto hard and walked off. Mundo then pinned Mysterio. Black and Evans, both eliminated, came back to help Mundo attack Sexy Star. Mysterio did a stretcher job. Mundo, Black and Evans were beating on Sexy Star when Angelico returned, not as a participant in the match, but he did a crossbody off the balcony, taking all three out. That was insane. True story. I asked him once about the balcony dives and he told me he’s scared to death when he does them and would never do it again. Sexy pinned Mundo after that. This left Muertes, Sexy and Mack. Muertes pinned Mack with the flatliner. Muertes and Sexy went back and forth. Sexy hit him four times in the head with chair shots. Muertes went for a spear, but Sexy moves and Muertes went through a table in the corner. She cradled him but he kicked out. Muertes then punched her right in the face. He went for a flatliner off the top rope through a table, but she pushed him off and he went through the table backwards. She then did a double foot stomp off the top for a pin. The match had her as the super babyface having to fight the Worldwide Underground and get destroyed but somehow she survived, and then Muertes. The crowd popped big for the win, although clearly the key crowd shots were of planted women fans, particularly four seated together who they gave away were plants by showing them right before the finish. But in the building that night, most fans went crazy for it and some were furious. Matt Striker tried to put it over as this moment where a woman broke through the glass ceiling.
925
926ROH:
927
928The U.K. tour was a success with hot shows and big debuts of both Marty Scurll and Will Ospreay. Ospreay beat Bobby Fish to win the TV title on 11/18 in Liverpool, and then Scurll beat Ospreay to take the title on 11/20 in London at York Hall. The TV title match at Final Battle on 12/2 in Manhattan will now be Scurll defending in a four-way against Ospreay, Fish and Dragon Lee.
929
930The rest of Final Battle at this point has Adam Cole vs. Kyle O’Reilly for the ROH title, Young Bucks vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe for the tag titles, the finals of the tournament for the first ROH trios titles with Jay White & Lio Rush & Kushida vs. Matt Taven & TK O’Ryan & Vinny Marseglia, Cody Rhodes vs. Jay Lethal (which rules out Lethal being the third guy in the main event), Jushin Liger vs. Silas Young and Colt Cabana vs. Dalton Castle.
931
932O’Reilly, who was told not to fly for an indefinite period of time due to a serious health issue just last week, in fact, did fly and worked the shows. He was doing better but it’s an ongoing situation.
933
934Bobby Fish had to rush home before the third night due to a family health issue and we hope he and the rest of his family are doing as well as possible given the circumstances.
935
936Regarding reports of Steve Corino and WWE after he had the guest gig as a trainer at the Performance Center, he, like many here, is under contract until 12/31 and that contract does not allow him to take offers or negotiate with another company until that date. You can interpret that last sentence any way you’d like.
937
938The 11/18 show drew 700 fans. Lio Rush pinned Frankie Kazarian in a good 15:00 opener with a splash off the top rope after kicking out of the Spanish fly off the top. Nigel McGuinness came out and talked about his match with Bryan Danielson (one of the best matches in ROH history and for that matter of the decade) which took place ten years ago in the same building. He asked everyone, “Whatever happened to that guy?” McGuinness said that was the match his own career will always be remembered by. He put over the debuts of Ospreay and Scurll and said that the Fish vs. Ospreay match was to be a Proving Ground (non-title) match but both Ospreay and Fish approached him to make it a title match. He noted that Ospreay and Scurll had signed ROH contracts but Joe Hendry hadn’t so Hendry had a lot to prove. Donovan Dijak pinned Hendry. Match was decent but the crowd was strongly behind Hendry and chanting “Local hero,” which is his gimmick. Jay White pinned Christopher Daniels with a small package. The crowd was surprised by the finish. Good match. Daniels shook White’s hand after the match and said he was the better man tonight. Some fans booed that. White then said that Daniels was a legend and White said he started his career in the U.K. and that he loved the English fans. Jay Lethal pinned Chris Sabin. Fans chanted “Black Machismo” at Lethal, his TNA gimmick from a decade ago. Lethal won with the Lethal injection in the best match up to that point. Scurll pinned Dalton Castle. Very notable that Scurll on his first night in beat one of ROH’s top stars. Very entertaining. Scurll hit Castle with his umbrella and then beat him with the chicken wing for a submission. Ospreay beat Fish in a the highlight of the show. Ospreay was over huge. Ospreay sold his leg. Fish got the heel hook but Ospreay managed to bridge and get the pin. The place went nuts for the title change and Ospreay sold it big. Fish handed Ospreay the belt and shook his hands. Main event saw Mark & Jay Briscoe & O’Reilly beat Young Bucks & Adam Cole in a great match. The crowd cheered all six of them, although the Bucks & Cole were cheered heavier even though they were the heels. O’Reilly beat one of the Bucks clean in the middle with an armbar since he’s being built for a Final Battle title shot.
939
94011/19 in Leicester drew 650 and opened with White pinning Hendry. Dijak beat Lio Rush with a backbreaker into a kneelift in what was said to have been an incredible big-man little-man match. Lethal beat Shelley with the Lethal injection. Fish & O’Reilly beat The Briscoes in a solid match. O’Reilly didn’t work a lot and Fish carried it for their side. The Young Bucks interfered and cost the Briscoes the match. Daniels & Kazarian beat Delirious & Castle. Daniels & Kazarian tried to recruit Delirious by offering him shoes. The finish saw Daniels & Kazarian do the Best Meltzer Ever (a moonsault by Daniels into a spike piledriver by Kazarian) on Delirious. Castle carried Delirious out, knocked out, like a child after the match. Cole beat Sabin. Cole then called out Lethal and said even though they had a title match in London the next night, he wanted to do it now. But when Lethal accepted, Cole slid out of the ring. Main event saw the Young Bucks beat Ospreay & Scurll in what was said to be an incredible match. Scurll & Ospreay made fun of the Bucks Terminator dive. The finish was amazing, as Matt had Scurll in the tombstone position. Nick went to do the Meltzer driver, but Ospreay caught Nick in mid-air with a huracanrana. Nick flipped taking the huracanrana, but even so still managed to hit the spike on Scurll for the pin.
941
94211/20 in London drew a sellout of 1,100 to York Hall. Castle beat Rush in a good opener. Sabin & Shelley beat Daniels & Kazarian. White beat Dijak. The crowd wasn’t much into this until Dijak did a moonsault off the apron to the floor and the crowd went nuts for that spot given his size. The schedule was for the Bucks and Briscoes to do two singles matches, but Jay got on the mic and said that everyone in London wanted a tag team match. It was agreed to and they did a great match that the crowd was super into. The Briscoes won and people thought the titles had changed hands as the Briscoes grabbed the belts, but Nigel McGuinness came out and said it was a non-title match. McGuinness came out and did a promo later in the show talking again about his ROH title match with Bryan Danielson in Liverpool ten years ago, saying it had become legendary and that tonight’s title match had the potential to match it. O’Reilly beat Travis Banks with an armbar. Scurll beat Ospreay to win the TV title. The crowd was behind Scurll. The match was said to be great, but the report we got was their match at Revolution Pro in January (which was incredible) was better. Scurll did the spot where he broke Ospreay’s fingers and then got him in the chicken wing and Ospreay tapped out. The place went nuts for the title change. Main event saw Cole retain the title over Lethal. Cole got a good reaction coming out, but the match couldn’t follow the previous one and the crowd was dead for a lot of the match. They were into the near falls, particularly Lethal doing a one count kick out. Cole won after the last shot.
943
944TNA:
945
946Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson will be appearing on the 12/15 TV show that was filmed at Matt Hardy’s home in Cameron, NC.
947
948UFC:
949
950Dana White said that Conor McGregor would not be fighting at least until May, which he kind of hinted at himself, which puts both the featherweight and lightweight divisions on ice. That pretty much locks a Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson main event because UFC is going to be badly in need of title matches for the first several months of next year. Michael Bisping has a knee injury so his fight with Yoel Romero, if he does the fight, won’t be that soon. It would have made sense for the 1/21 show in Anaheim since Bisping lives in Southern California, but White gave the indication he wouldn’t be ready. If you look at the divisions, Stipe Miocic asked for time off but he’d face the Cain Velasquez vs. Fabricio Werdum winner, and that’s April at the earliest. The Cormier vs. Johnson light heavyweight winner would look like probably March as pushing it, maybe April, and Jon Jones isn’t eligible until July, so that leaves a dearth of contenders. Dominick Cruz fights on 12/30, so he’s also on ice until probably April. Demetrious Johnson will face the Henry Cejudo vs. Joseph Benavidez winner probably in the spring, but that won’t do any business on PPV. The women’s bantamweight is on a similar time frame. So that leaves Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who realistically should face Jessica Andrade, which is her only challenger left, but even that would be late February, so the Anaheim and Barclays Center shows look real tough as far as PPVs go.
951
952Here are a couple of actual PPV numbers from earlier this year. The first McGregor vs. Diaz fight in March did 1,317,000 buys, so McGregor’s claim that that fight broke the Lesnar vs. Mir record by 400,000 wasn’t even close. Jon Jones vs. Ovince Saint Preux ended up doing 322,000 buys. The Fabricio Werdum vs. Stipe Miocic fight from Brazil did 217,000 buys. UFC 200 ended up doing 1,009,000 buys, which is also well below the original estimates. We don’t have the final number on the 8/20 McGregor vs. Diaz rematch, although it did beat the first one and is the all-time record for the company. UFC 205 right now is tracking slightly ahead of the first McGregor vs. Diaz fight, but a lot of early numbers for McGregor fights end up not holding up. The 205 number was described as disappointing and the lesson is that loading up a card with so many title matches didn’t make that big of a difference. The fans who cared about a loaded card were buying this show either way, so it ended up diluting early 2017 since now nobody is available. At the end of the day, as sad as this is to say, there was no bottle throwing angle or press conference craziness to put this over the top, and winning a second belt and history didn’t mean as much as McGregor and Diaz going to war.
953
954We also saw an internal document which compared public interest level in a show and PPV buys for the same show over a one year period which ended in the spring. The key to McGregor is not that so many people are interested in his fights (although aside from Rousey more are than anyone else), but what a great job he does in converting that interest to paying customers. Rousey has a ridiculous amount of general public interest, far more than anyone else, but a far smaller number of people interested in Rousey will pay for the PPVs. What’s also notable is the general public interest in heavyweight title changes (Fabricio Werdum over Cain Velasquez and Stipe Miocic over Werdum) is very high, but neither of those shows did big business. The other stat is regarding Demetrious Johnson where literally nobody is interested in his fights, but that there is a baseline number of 115,000 which seems to be the lowest a UFC show will do, which is what his shows do. I’m not exactly sure how these numbers were derives, but the most interest in UFC shows during this period were Rousey vs. Holm at 12,777,990 people very interested (largely because of the upset, and there was more talk after that show than any UFC show to date) and Rousey vs. Bethe Correia at 10,996,763. Those shows are listed by UFC as doing 900,000 and 1,100,000 buys, which are exceptional numbers. But McGregor’s fight with Aldo had 6,416,243, or half the interest, but he converted those people to buyers are double the pace. For the first Diaz fight, it was 3,825,170, so essentially he converted better than one in three people with interest into buying the show, which is an absolutely ridiculous conversion rate. Really, that’s a product of showing just how tremendous the two did together in making people want to spend money. Werdum vs. Miocic had triple the public interest of Lawler vs. Condit, but Lawler vs. Condit beat it on PPV. Velasquez vs. Werdum had triple the interest of Cormier vs. Rumble Johnson, yet Cormier vs. Rumble Johnson beat it handily on PPV. Jon Jones vs. Ovince Saint Preux had five times the interest due to the Jones return as Cormier vs. Rumble, yet Cormier vs. Rumble beat it on PPV.
955
956An article on UFC owners Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell claimed that Fight Pass has 450,000 subscribers. Fight Pass is experimenting with a PPV from Glory on 12/10. The idea is that they would air a Glory show for free on Fight Pass, meaning you don’t have to be a subscriber, and then push that the main events, featuring Rico Verhoeven vs. Badr Hari in the biggest heavyweight kickboxing match in the world in some time, would air on iPPV done by UFC.
957
958Emanuel met with Donald Trump on 11/21.
959
960The prelims for UFC 205 on 11/12 did 319,000 viewers on TSN in Canada. That would be equivalent to if they had done 2.71 million viewers in the U.S., or 50 percent more than they did in the U.S. That is down from UFC 200 but obviously an excellent number.
961
962The UFC’s April PPV will be on 4/8 in Buffalo.
963
964McGregor broke out even bigger after the Eddie Alvarez win, as the McGregor strut, which some feel was lifted from Vince McMahon, was copied by a number of athletes this past weekend. Among them were Paul Pagba of Manchester United, Kiko Alonso, a linebacker on the Miami Dolphins, and Marc Gasol, the center for the Memphis Grizzlies.
965
966This week’s show is 11/27 in Melbourne, Australia, the second show in that market after the big one last year that drew 56,000 fans. This is a much lesser show at the Rod Laver Arena. The show will air, with the time difference, on 11/26 in the U.S. on FS 1 in the usual time slot starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time. The lineup has Ning Guanyou (5-3-1) vs. Marlon Vera (7-3-1), Khalil Rountree (4-1) vs. Tyson Pedro (4-0), Danielle Taylor (7-2) vs. Seo Hee Ham (18-7), Yao Zhikui (2-3) vs. Jenel Lausa (6-2), Jason Knight (14-2) vs. Dan Hooker (13-6), Ben Nguyen (14-6) vs. Geane Herrera (9-2), Richard Walsh (9-4) vs. Jonathan Meunier (7-1), Jon Tuck (9-3) vs. Damien Brown (16-9), Daniel Kelly (11-1) vs. Chris Camozzi (24-11), Alex Volkanovski (13-1) vs. Yusuke Kasuya (9-2-2), Kyle Noke (22-9-1) vs. Omari Akhmedov (15-4), Jake Matthews (10-2) vs. Andrew Holbook (11-0) and a main event of Robert Whittaker (16-4) vs. Derek Brunson (15-3). The main event is an interesting fight with Whittaker ranked as the No. 7 middleweight contender and Brunson at No. 8. Matthews, Noke and Kelly are Australian favorites, but there’s not a lot to the card.
967
968After the show in Sao Paulo over the weekend, the Brazilian office announced there would be three shows in Brazil in 2017. The first date will be 3/11 but the location hasn’t been announced. There were three shows in Brazil this year as well.
969
970The first few months of 2017 are going to be trouble as almost all of the top PPV stars aren’t going to be ready to fight for a long time. The 1/15 show in Phoenix, which is usually the biggest FS 1 show of the year because it airs after the NFL playoffs and FOX plugs it to such a huge audience, and in the last two years they did the two biggest numbers ever, first for Conor McGregor and last year for Dominick Cruz vs. T.J. Dillashaw, this year they’ve announced the main event is B.J. Penn vs. Yair Rodriguez. Obviously the idea is to try and breakthrough Rodriguez with a win. Rodriguez had looked like a star in his early UFC fights, but struggled to win a split decision over Alex Caceres in his last outing. Penn has only won one night, that over Matt Hughes, since 2009, and pretty much retired at the end of 2012, only to come back for one fight in 2014 and his continually postponed latest coming out of retirement. Also announced for that show is Jussier Formiga, the highest ranked flyweight who hasn’t gotten a shot at Demetrious Johnson, facing Sergio Pettis.
971
972Cris Cyborg said this week that she’s done cutting to 140 because of the difficulty, but would make that weight only for a fight with Ronda Rousey. Cyborg has been walking around at 175 pounds of late and said when she was in the cage for her last fight she was 169, so even cutting to 145 from that weight goes against what UFC has been trying to keep its fighters from doing. It’s really too bad, because if she stayed at 160, while 135 would still have been difficult, her career and her bank account would have been so much different. There are no top women fighters anywhere close to her weight but the ratings of the show she headlined did show at least of late that there was enough intrigue and hype around her where people will tune in to watch her beat much smaller women who are overmatched.
973
974C.M. Punk was on the MMA House and said he’s talked with Dana White and pitched him an idea that White didn’t shut down. He said he’s pretty confident his next fight will be in UFC, but either way, he’s going to fight again and hopes to get his next fight announced soon.
975
976Luke Rockhold said to Submission Radio that his knee injury was that a small bundle was pulled off his left ACL (his major kicking leg) detachment point and he’s trying to get it to heal without surgery through PRP shots and maybe stem cell therapy. He’s trying to avoid surgery because that would be a long recovery period. He’s told it could reattach itself in a few months and he could start kicking again. He said he pulled out of the fight with Jacare Souza because he knew he’d need his left kicks to beat Souza since it’s his best weapon. He had hurt the knee before the Michael Bisping fight and it limited his training and he didn’t want to go through that again. He’s hoping to return in March and would like to fight Souza, figuring the winner of that fight would face the Bisping vs. Yoel Romero winner in a title match. Rockhold also said he thinks Bisping’s odds of retaining are very small.
977
978The Rashad Evans vs. Tim Kennedy fight for 12/10 in Toronto, originally set for Madison Square Garden but pulled by New York State Athletic Commission medical due to a concern over Evans’ MRI, is now off Toronto as well. The Ontario commission wouldn’t license Evans, which would likely be for the same reason New York wouldn’t. This is going to be tough for Evans, because if you’ve had two commissions turn you down for medical reasons, most other commissions wouldn’t want to risk licensing the fight because if something bad happens, they would look incompetent.
979
980Wreckin Hill Entertainment has purchased worldwide rights to a documentary called “Though My Father’s eyes,” which is about Ronda Rousey from 2010 to 2015. Gary Stretch, a former WBC boxing champion turned director met with Rousey in 2010 through Gene LeBell, and actually trained her some in boxing and started filming her when she was starting her career.
981
982Roy Nelson was suspended for nine months and fined $23,000 U.S. for kicking John McCarthy after he believed McCarthy stopped his fight with Bigfoot Silva on 9/24 in Brasilia, Brazil late. Nelson was furious, thinking he’d knocked out Silva and McCarthy hadn’t stopped it, and he said he and Silva were friends. Even if he was correct, you can’t kick a referee. He didn’t kick him hard, but you simply can’t kick a referee. The Superior Justice Court of MMA in Brazil announced that Nelson was being suspended and fined 80,000 reals ($23,640). However, they stated that if Nelson makes a public apology, either inside the cage or at a press conference, to McCarthy, by 12/31, they will change the punishment to a six month suspension and lower the fine to 45,000 reals ($13,300).
983
984UFC cameras filming last week’s show caught a post-fight conversation with Miesha Tate and Bryan Caraway, where Tate, right after the fight ended where she lost to Raquel Pennington, said, “I just don’t have it anymore.” Then, after the result was read and she lost, she said, “I don’t want to fight anymore, Bryan. I don’t want to do this anymore.” Then she announced her retirement.
985
986Lyoto Machida did an interview on the MMA Hour, his first since his 18 month suspension. He said he felt his punishment was unreasonable. He admitted taking DHEA, a banned substance, which was in a supplement he had purchased, but said he had bought it over-the-counter at a supplement store and wasn’t educated to the fact what he purchased was banned. He said they only sent him a list of banned supplements after he was flagged. Machida said that since he declared the supplement he had hoped to get only a six month suspension. He said even though he’ll be 39 when the suspension is over, that he wants to still compete. He’s now opening up a karate academy in Gardena, CA.
987
988Kelvin Gastelum was suspended for six months by the New York State Athletic Commission for failing to get on the scale to weigh-in before his fight with Donald Cerrone was nixed at the Madison Square Garden show. Gastelum would have missed weight by ten pounds or more and didn’t even bother to weigh-in. This suspension is not like a commission drug suspension where all the commissions have to honor it. This only applies to New York, but other states can honor it. They also suspended Thiago Alves for three months for missing weight by 6.6 pounds against Jim Miller, although a three month suspension in UFC probably doesn’t mean a lot. Alves said that he still wants to fight next at 155.
989
990Mark Hunt claimed he was offered a fight with Junior Dos Santos in Canada (likely the Toronto show) and said he’d take it, but only if there was a clause that if Dos Santos failed a drug test, that he would forfeit his entire purse to him. That ended those discussions. Hunt remains vocal about the PED usage in the sport and in particular, regarding his fight with Lesnar at UFC 200.
991
992Russian Yana Kunitskaya tapped out Tonya Evinger with an armbar in 1:59 in the main event of the 11/18 Invicta show in Kansas City, to win their bantamweight title. Evinger was a 7-to-1 favorite and immediately took down the kickboxer and stood on her head (legal, she wasn’t kicking her), leaving a huge lump on Kunitskaya’s head, but Kunitskaya from the position got the armbar. Former UFC fighter Angela Hill retained the strawweight title on that show winning 50-45, 49-46 and 48-47 over Kaline Medeiors.
993
994Cole Miller vs. Mizuto Hirota has been added to the 12/17 show in Sacramento. That match was originally scheduled for the canceled 10/15 show in The Philippines.
995
996Justine Kish vs. Ashley Yoder was added to the 12/9 show in Albany, NY.
997
998BELLATOR:
999
1000Fedor Emelianenko signed what was announced as a multi-fight and multi-year deal here and will debut on a 2/18 show in San Jose in a three-round fight against Matt Mitrione. They did a pro wrestling storyline on television as they announced the date of the show, then brought out Mitrione, who said he signed a blank contract with no idea who his opponent was. Mitrione was walking around the arena all night while Emelianenko was kept hidden and nobody knew he was in town. Then they said they would reveal his opponent and Emelianenko came out. This will be part of a big Bellator push in the first quarter of 2017 with Chael Sonnen vs. Tito Ortiz on 1/21 in Los Angeles, this fight in February, and a Rampage Jackson fight in March. They also added Ralek Gracie vs. Hisaki Kato to the Los Angeles show. This I guess ends any talk, if there was any, of Emelianenko ever fighting in UFC, but interest in him in UFC probably was gone after his fight in June where Fabio Maldonado beat him so badly in the first round that if it was anywhere but Russia the fight would have been stopped. Maldonado was a light heavyweight who had been cut by UFC. Then again, Mitrione was nearly stopped in his first Bellator fight. The original idea for San Jose was to do a tournament of sorts to create a heavyweight champion, but that’s been pushed back a few months. Emelianenko has killed more companies than anyone, but I can’t imagine at this stage him having the leverage to command the kind of money he had in the past. There was no mention of M-1 or co-promotions, so it’s kind of sad because Emelianenko clearly wanted to retire in 2012 and did, and after his last performance, you can see just how much he’s slipped. Bellator’ s deal has been bringing in names from the past and hoping they can still draw, which has worked in situations when they’ve been able to build up big grudges, but Emelianenko is quiet and his entire aura was about being unbeatable and that’s gone.
1001
1002The 11/19 show in San Jose drew about 7,500 fans, which is strong for Bellator, but the show was a mixed bag. Linton Vassell (17-5) beat Francis Carmont (25-12) on scores of 30-26, 30-26 and 30-25, which more tells you how the judges are a lot more liberal on 10-8 rounds because I had it 30-27. The fight was boring. Keri Melendez (1-0), the wife of Gilbert, who they are trying to push as a local star (and got the biggest reaction on the show) knocked out Sheila Padilla (2-1) in :47 with a hard right hook. Adam Piccolotti (9-0) beat Brandon Girtz (14-5) on straight 29-28 scores. This was a good fight. Piccolotti was a guy they are grooming to be a star and he had a good fight, but lost the third round. In the worst fight maybe of the year involving a pushed guy, Michael Venom Page (12-0), who has been a highlight reel so far in his career, did nothing in winning a split decision over Fernando Gonzalez (25-14). Gonzalez was there to be the victim of flashy techniques. But the first two rounds, neither fighter engaged and the crowd, which was actually far more patient than most crowds would have been, turned on the fight. Then in the third round, Page kept avoiding fighting and was even warned by the referee. Gonzalez took the round and the crowd booed heavily when Page got the split decision on scores of 29-28, 27-30 and 29-28.
1003
1004This was the classic case of where the ten point must system didn’t work as the first two rounds were even since nothing happened, and Gonzalez clearly won the third, but lost the fight. You will never see anyone ever do less and put on such a poor performance while winning, but Page is still unbeaten. But he hurt his stock something fierce. After, he blamed the bad fight on Gonzalez, saying the guy wouldn’t engage, but it took two to have something that bad, and in the third, when Gonzalez was aggressive, Page was still avoiding fighting. The main event lived up to the hype as Michael Chandler (16-3) retained the lightweight title beating Benson Henderson (24-7) via split decision at 48-46, 46-48 and 48-47. I had 48-47 for Chandler but it was close. In the first round, they had dueling chants like it was pro wrestling with, “Let’s go Michael, Let’s go Benson,” which is not anything I’ve ever seen at MMA. Thankfully that ended quickly. Great first round highlighted by an unreal German suplex by Chandler, who also went for several guillotines. In the second round, Henderson knocked Chandler down and won the round close. Chandler won the third round and again was working for a guillotine. The fourth round was back-and-forth but Chandler got two takedowns, while Henderson went for an armlock. Henderson took over in the fifth round and got his back and worked for a choke. They reversed back-and-forth in that round. Chandler after the fight called out Josh Thomson of San Jose for a title fight. They were scheduled for a title fight several months ago but Thomson suffered a neck injury in training.
1005
1006Henderson said after the fight that he’s going to get ACL surgery done, so he may be out of action for a while.
1007
1008The son of Kimbo Slice, Baby Slice aka Kevin Ferguson Jr., debuted in a prelim match and lost via second round choke to Aaron Hamilton. He showed enough, and fought evenly before making a mistake that cost him the fight. The impression I had is they’ll give him another shot.
1009
1010WWE:
1011
1012The company made the official announcement that 2017 Survivor Series will be part of a four-show weekend with NXT Takeover on November 18, 2017, Survivor Series the next night, Raw on the 20th and Smackdown on the 21st, all at the Toyota Center in Houston. The plan right now is to do Takeover, Royal Rumble and Raw all in San Antonio in January. From that point on, for Mania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and the 2018 Rumble and all shows until this changes, it will be a Saturday (or in the case of WrestleMania Friday) through Tuesday in the market. So Brooklyn will now be getting four straight dates for SummerSlam in August.
1013
1014Regarding the story last week on the WWE Network, according to those in the WWE, the only people who canceled who were then offered one month free were people who had never previously received a free month.
1015
1016The four new plaintiffs in the concussion lawsuit are David Silva (Sylvano Sousa), John Jeter, Charles Scaggs (Flash Funk/Too Cold Scorpio) and Charles Wicks (Chad Wicks/Chad Dick). Sousa was an enhancement guy who worked regularly for the company from 1974 to 1980, and sporadically as late as 1987. Jeter was under contract for several years, did well in OVW, then was brought up as part of the Spirit Squad. After the gimmick was dropped, he was sent back down to OVW. At that point he seemed to completely lose interest in wrestling and recently turned an offer to return on Smackdown. Scaggs still wrestles on occasion at 51 years old. Wicks was with the company from 2004 to 2006, also mostly in OVW where he did well, but was given a very limited gimmick on the main roster as Chad Dick, half of the Dick Brothers, which as you can imagine was limiting, plus he was short in an era where that hurt you a lot. He had great facials and was a good wrestler, and left the business shortly after being cut by WWE.
1017
1018James Ellsworth signed a deal this past week. He canceled his indie bookings over this past weekend. It was inevitable with how much they were using him.
1019
1020There has been legit talk of doing A.J. Styles vs. Undertaker at Royal Rumble. We haven’t heard that it’s a done deal, but it is something talked about. If Undertaker was to win, they could have Cena go for No. 16 against Undertaker at Mania, since Cena vs. Undertaker is a match never done before at Mania. There may be a timing issue since Undertaker had recent hip surgery and is going through rehab right now.
1021
1022Kota Ibushi did an interview this past week where he said that WWE had offered him a five-year contract, which he turned down. Then they offered him a three-year deal, which he turned down. Then they offered him a two-year deal, which he also turned down. He said he would be happy working for WWE whenever they wanted, but would not agree to exclusivity and would only work on a per-show deal. “It was a significant amount of money they offered, but I want to keep working for Japanese wrestling. I want to be a big deal, of course, and if Japanese wrestling enjoys a boom in the process, I couldn’t ask for anything more.” Ibushi said he’s benefitted greatly from his reduced schedule this year. “I’m in the best shape of my career now. Nothing hurts. Everything’s great. This is the best I’ve felt in 12 years as a wrestler. I’m on the verge of something big.” Ibushi also said he’d like to have one more match with Nakamura, before Nakamura comes up to the main roster. He also said he’d like to have a major match in 2017 with Kenny Omega, as well as challenge next year for the IWGP heavyweight title.
1023
1024A WWE 24 network special on the return of Goldberg is now in production.
1025
1026After Kentucky got rid of the law where pro wrestling matches were to be stopped by the commission if there was blood last week, WWE has put a hold on two Monday dates in April looking to do a Raw taping. It would be the first time Louisville would have gotten a television taping in more than six years.
1027
1028I was told that the new deal with Sky Germany that was announced last week was a real surprise to those in the industry there because it essentially undercuts the existing TV deal, but the feeling is it’s not that big of a deal. Raw, Smackdown and PPVs will go live on Sky, but it’ll be in English and it’s in the middle of the night. As far as the hardcore fans go, it’s good because now they can watch live and most don’t care about the German announcing. In theory, this should hurt the ratings for Raw and Smackdown on ProSeibenMaxx, since they get both shows on a three day tape delay, but the feeling is it won’t hurt much. The feeling is Sky airing the PPVs probably isn’t going to work out because the price is likely to be far more expensive than a monthly network subscription, so having PPV rights really doesn’t mean much.
1029
1030James Gibson (Jamie Noble) recovered from the stab wounds enough to return to work on 11/14 and is back on the road full-time now.
1031
1032There are several title matches already set up for television this coming week. On the 11/28 Raw in Charlotte, it’ll be Charlotte vs. Banks for the women’s title and New Day vs. Gallows & Anderson for the tag titles.
1033
1034On the debut of the cruiserweight show on 11/29 from Columbia, SC, Kendrick defends against Swann, after Swann earned a title shot winning a three-way over Perkins and Noam Dar on Raw this week.
1035
1036These are the updated matches for the NXT major shows in Australia. The 12/5 show in Perth has Samoa Joe & Revival vs. Nakamura & TM 61, Asuka vs. Royce for the title and Roode vs. Dillinger. 12/8 in Melbourne, which will be taped for the WWE Network, has Joe vs. Nakamura for the title in cage match, Asuka vs. Royce and Roode & Elias Samson vs. Dillinger & Buddy Murphy. 12/13 in Sydney has Joe vs .Nakamura vs. Roode vs. Dillinger for the title, Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano vs. TM 61 for the tag titles and Asuka vs. Ember Moon for the women’s title. Also on the tour are Tozawa, Patrick Clark, Andrade Cien Almas, Wesley Blake, Riddick Moss, Tino Sabbatelli, Liv Morgan, Aliyah and Billie Kay. TM 61 will be high on most of the cards since they are from Australia, and Murphy will be a babyface because he’s also Australian.
1037
1038There was an incident on an airplane on 11/19. Bruno Sammartino and son Darryl were flying back home to Pittsburgh that night. A passenger on the small plane was causing a disturbance. Another passenger tried to settle him down when the obnoxious passenger attacked and started beating the guy up. Darryl then stopped the fight and took the man down and he held him down until police came onto the plane and took the man off.
1039
1040Another new WWE Network offer is that they are offering three months of both the WWE Network and Crunchyroll for $19.98, for new subscribers. So it’s a savings of about $10 on the WWE Network’s regular price plus Crunchyroll for free.
1041
1042While the stories about cutting the cord in media are still way overblown, not that it isn’t a significant story, October was a really bad month for the cable/satellite industry. Currently, there are 98,388,000 homes with cable or satellite, down from a peak several years back of 101.6 million. But the drop from 10/1 to 11/1 was 650,000 homes, or one-fifth of the drop from the prior four years combined. The current numbers of stations that have wrestling or MMA programming are: E! At 90,774,000; El Rey at 44,945,000; FS 1 at 85,616,000; FS 2 at 50,808,000; NBC Sports Network at 83,817,000; NBC Universo at 43,466,000; Pop at 76,078,000; Spike at 85,436,000; and USA at 92,557,000.
1043
1044With the stock market setting new records this past week, the WWE stock has also shown an increase, closing at $18.24 per share giving the company a $1.39 billion market value.
1045
1046An interesting note for this past week is that the 11/16 NXT TV show was not even in the top 20 for WWE programming this past week, as people skipped it to watch Takeover. Of the top 20, four of the shows related to Goldberg historical matches. The top ten were: 1. Survivor Series; 2. NXT Takeover; 3. WWE Storytime debut; 4. Survivor Series pre-show; 5. Untold History of ECW (the new show with Heyman, Tommy Dreamer, Dudleys and Taz); 6. NXT Takeover Toronto pre-game show; 7. Hell in a Cell; 8. Renee Young interview with Jericho; 9. WrestleMania 20 (which had the first Goldberg vs. Lesnar match); 10. WrestleMania 32.
1047
1048The ECW special is worth seeing. The history of ECW has been told many times over but this was more a collection of stories, a lot of which were on Paul Heyman. The Heyman/Tommy Dreamer relationship was fascinating, because Dreamer noted that the two weren’t that close and he misses their old relationship while noting stories of Heyman conning him and noting that his family lost a lot of money on trying to keep ECW alive. Heyman claimed that ECW cost his own parents $4 million in total. Bubba Ray Dudley compared ECW to Napster, in the sense Napster changed the music industry and also went out of business. Heyman also told the story about how he came very close to going to WWF years earlier, and had agreed to co-host the old Shotgun Saturday Night show in Manhattan, and then no-showed the first taping. He had convinced everyone in ECW that WWF and WCW were the enemies even though he was at the time talking with both Kevin Sullivan in WCW (and Sullivan’s wife worked as talent in ECW for years) and Vince McMahon and Bruce Prichard in WWF. They also told the story in detail of how they found out Tod Gordon had been in talks with Terry Taylor in WCW about bringing in a group from ECW to feud with WCW on Nitro without Heyman or anyone else knowing about it. Heyman brought all of them together and essentially tapped into Gordon’s cell phone answering machine and heard the different calls from people like Bill Alfonso and Taylor, and Taz noted how it made him sick hearing it. Gordon had always claimed the story was made up when Gordon and Heyman had their split.
1049
1050There were a number of interesting athletes in camp this week trying out for spots. Robbie Smith, 29, represented the U.S. in Greco-Roman wrestling at the summer Olympics was one. He’s 6-feet and 286 pounds and kind of a thick bowling ball kind of powerhouse. He didn’t place at the Olympics, but was fifth in both the 2013 and 2015 world championships. Chi-Lewis Parry, 33, who is a 6-foot-9, 243 pound kickboxer and MMA fighter out of London who trains in San Jose. He’s 6-0 with 1 no contest in MMA in fights between 2012 and 2014. His age is a little on the old side as WWE didn’t sign Jeff Cobb a few years ago who was an Olympic athlete with tons of potential because of age and Cobb was younger. Then again, they are always into the tall guys, especially if they are athletic. Travis Stevens, 30, was a silver medalist from the U.S. at 178 pounds in judo at the 2016 Olympics. He also competed but didn’t medal in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics in that weight class. Ben Proviser, 26, represented the U.S. in Greco-Roman wrestling at 187 pounds (the same weight class Chad Gable represented the U.S. in 2012) in 2016 and was also on the 2012 Olympic team, and was national Greco-Roman champion in 2011 and 2013.
1051
1052MSLE Live named WWE an inductee into the Air Canada Centre Icons program before Survivor Seris with a ceremony with Stephanie McMahon and Wayne Zroik, the Senior Vice President of Music and Live Entertainment of MLSE, which runs both the Air Canada Centre and Ricoh Coliseum, the two arenas WWE runs in the Toronto market.
1053
1054Orton had an orange bracelet on at Survivor Series for support of his nephew, five-year-old T.J., who is battling leukemia. We wish the Orton family nothing but the best. He got better news on 11/22 as his wife, Kim, gave birth to a girl, Brooklyn Rose Orton. Orton was given the week off but it could have been touch-and-go if she had given birth two days earlier.
1055
1056WWE is attempting to block the former Ryback from using the trademark “The Big Guy” for a nutritional supplement line.
1057
1058Notes from the 11/21 Raw show from Toronto. A pretty hot sold out crowd of 13,500 were there. Because it was Canada, people like Zayn, Jericho and Owens were really over. Unlike the first two nights, you could tell Vince was in Cole’s ear because when the crowd booed the hell out of Reigns as he was positioned to make the save for Rollins, Cole made the bizarro-world comment that they used to make whenever they were in Toronto and the faces were getting booed. For Superstars, Sin Cara pinned Mahal with a senton into the ring, and Dallas pinned Axel after a neckbreaker. Raw opened with Goldberg out, meaning the same mistake they made a few weeks ago putting Goldberg out first was repeated. He thanked the fans, who chanted “You still got it.” He thanked his wife for putting up with how grouchy and moody he was in his seven weeks of hard training for the match. By the way, Goldberg was doing in-ring training as well as regular training even though the in-ring ended up not coming much into play in the match. He thanked his son for giving him the desire to be the superhero Goldberg once again. It’s funny how in 1989 when Ricky Steamboat did the family man with the kid that it caused a backlash against him while Goldberg does it now and it makes him endearing. The company was so convinced that the old school superhero babyface role doesn’t work anymore, and so they got away from it. Then somebody came back and did it and it got over more than anything they’ve done in a long time. Goldberg said that all good things must come to an end, which led to “No” chants. Then he said when he was leaving the ring that Stephanie asked him if he had one more title run left in him. Always good that Stephanie is the one who gets the credit for his staying. There were some boos and a light “You screwed Bret” chant during this segment but it was 95 percent positive and loud when he said he was staying and would be in the Rumble.
1059
1060Kingston & Big E retained the tag titles over Sheamus & Cesaro in 11:45. The match was good. The notable storyline was the very much heel finish where New Day won and retained. Before the match started, Woods talked about Demolition holding the record of 478 days being tag champions although noted it was a different tag team championship at the time, since they’d already credited New Day with breaking the record months ago. He noted that they are 23 days away from that record. That record, held by a guy (Bill Eadie) who is suing the company again, is probably why Gallows & Anderson never had a run a few months back. The record will be broken a few days before the 12/18 PPV show. There was a big spot where Kingston came off the top rope and Cesaro caught him in mid-air and gave him a spinning backbreaker. Later, Cesaro did a 19-rep giant swing. The crowd no longer counts numbers (and always counts too fast) but instead just changed “10" for Dillinger. Cesaro had Kingston in the sharpshooter, the Canadian babyface finishing move. Woods then distracted the ref by playing the trombone as Kingston was tapping. Cesaro got up to complain and Kingston put him in a small package. The crowd booed when Woods took the ref out of the picture. If they are turning the New Day, that would be a surprise because they are such big merchandise sellers.
1061
1062Jericho did a backstage interview with Charlie Caruso, who he called “Charles.” Jericho said Raw lost last night when the team fell apart when the List of Jericho was used as a weapon. He said that somebody was responsible for that and on the Highlight Reel, he’s going to tell the world. People are waiting for the Jericho vs. Owens split and the tease was that Jericho was finally going to confront him since from the start the angle has been about Jericho constantly saving Owens from losing the title, while Owens never saves Jericho when Rollins continually pedigrees him. They did an angle where Enzo came out of the shower, and I guess Cass, as a practical joke, stole his clothes. So he’s walking around naked backstage trying to get into the dressing room, which is locked. So he walked around trying to play it cool and Primo & Epico offered him time shares. O’Neil saw him and said he was going to call human resources. Then he walked by Lana. Rusev showed up and was furious at Enzo for walking around naked in front of his wife. Cass then showed up, as it appears this silliness is to lead to a Rusev vs. Cass program. Rusev put his hands over Lana’s eyes (that was funny and people were laughing) and vowed to crush Enzo in the ring. It looks like Enzo’s role is to be a combination new Santino and a set-up man for Cass.
1063
1064Foley & Stephanie were backstage. Stephanie admitted that she really wasn’t going to be firing anyone since Team Raw lost the main event, but noted they were happy that they won three of the five head-to-head matches. Zayn showed up. Foley told him that he didn’t bring the IC title to Raw as they hoped. Foley said that there has to be ramifications for failure, so Zayn would be facing Strowman. How come there were no ramifications for Team Raw’s failure? Alexander pinned Daivari in 3:11 with the lumbar check. Daivari did a foreign heel promo saying how Canadians were no different than Americans. There was no character development at all for Alexander past noting that he had some great matches in the cruiserweight classic. Jericho was out for the Highlight Reel. He said very little until Owens showed up. Owens talked about the Jeritron 5000, and Jericho got mad saying it was the Jeritron 6500 and he upgraded it some time back. Owens said that he had to use the List of Jericho to save him from the Styles clash, and showed a photo of Jericho in the Styles clash. He said he saved Jericho because Jericho was his best friend. Jericho then said, “Are you?” There was a big “Yes” chant because the people want the split, and because of that, they’re dragging it out. Owens then pointed out that even after he saved him, that Orton then gave Jericho an RKO and pinned him, so the save ended up being a waste of time. Owens said it was a waste of his sacrifice and of their friendship, and Jericho said that maybe we don’t have much of a friendship to begin with. Jericho said that Owens is never there when he needs him. They acted like they were done with each other and about to turn on each other. Then both, at the same time, said they knew who was responsible for Team Raw losing, and said “Roman Reigns.” The crowd popped huge for that and they hugged and the fans chanted “Roman sucks.”
1065
1066This led to Cole having to deliver the Vince McMahon bizarro-world line, like that crowd wouldn’t have reacted like that in a ton of different cities. Jericho then said he knew Owens would never to anything to hurt him and Owens said he’d never do anything to compromise the list. He noted that when Jericho was in the Styles Clash, that Reigns was there, with conditioner pouring out of his hair but he wasn’t going to make a move to help Jericho. Rollins then interrupted them and said that he had been promised a future opportunity if he was on Team Raw, and he wants his title shot tonight. Fans were chanting “Yes” out of that one. Jericho & Owens said that nobody told them about any promises and they didn’t believe him. They both attacked Rollins until Reigns made the save. The fans booed Reigns like crazy, even though he was saving Rollins and it was The Shield reunion. Reigns hit the Superman punch on Jericho, who rolled out. Foley came out and announced that Rollins would get his shot at Owens tonight, and that Jericho and Reigns were both banned from ringside, and it would be a no DQ match. Rusev beat Enzo in 0:51 with the accolade. The funniest part was Lana out saying, like she always does, “And now America,” and the fans booed that like crazy. That was so easy.
1067
1068Anderson & Gallows beat Goldust & R-Truth in a match where the winners would get to face New Day next week for the titles. The crowd was pretty dead other than a “Goldberg” chant, as well as a “Goldust” chant based on a Goldberg chant. And there were “10" chants during punches in the corner. Goldust was on the top rope when Gallows grabbed his leg and then Anderson gave him a running jumping kick. Anderson & Gallows then used the Magic killer on Goldust at 6:00. Strowman attacked Zayn before their match and threw him hard into the barricade. He basically destroyed Zayn until Foley came out and ordered the match stopped at 3:51 because Zayn wasn’t defending himself. The finish fell flat and was booed by the crowd, as they aren’t used to ref stop or General Manager stop finishes. Zayn looked to have a cut lip. Charlotte & Brooke were out. She said she was the Wayne Gretzky of the WWE, except she was better than Gretzky. She did her queen gimmick and said now that Survivor Series is over, she no longer has to team up with the Raw peasants. She said she was above them all. Banks came out and wanted her title rematch tonight. Charlotte teased giving it to her, asked the fans if they wanted to see it, clearly building toward it not happening. Instead, she said that she had beaten Banks in Banks’ home city of Boston, so next week she’ll beat Banks in the city that she was born in, Charlotte. The fans booed her and she got a ton of heat calling them dumb Canadians. Jax out. She said she was out there for Banks. She told Banks that she dominated last night, but Banks didn’t dominate. She called Banks an overrated purple haired Barbie Doll. Brooke was jumping around all excited about this for some reason. Banks decked Brooke, and Jax attacked Banks. Bayley then came out for the save, but Jax knocked Bayley off the apron. This led to a match where Bayley & Banks beat Charlotte & Jax in 4:36. A few fans tried to get the crowd singing for Bayley like they do in a lot of the cities now. That didn’t take. Brooke interfered in the match. There was a big pop for Banks & Bayley doing a double suplex to Jax. Banks made Charlotte submit to the bank statement, which made perfect sense given she’s challenging for the title next week.
1069
1070Swann won a three-way over Noam Dar and Perkins in 7:51 with the winner getting a shot at the cruiserweight title. Perkins had Dar beat with a kneebar, but Swann made the save, and then used a spin kick on Perkins for the pin. Match was decent enough but the way it’s presented, people don’t care about it. Owens did an interview. He said that he proved last night when he power bombed Styles so hard that Styles’ hair was about to fly off, which he noted would be an improvement, that he was the better champion. I noted that he never got pinned in the match last night and that Rollins was pinned, because he’s a failure. He called Charly Caruso “Renee.” It was a lot funnier when Pat Patterson, after 12 years in San Francisco with an interviewer named “Hank” went to Florida and would get on his interview roll and call Gordon Solie “Hank” and he wasn’t trying to be funny.
1071
1072Owens pinned Rollins in 23:06 to retain the Universal title in the no DQ match. The match was really good. The only thing is they relied so much on chairs and tables that it had the feeling of a brawl, but it never felt like they were fighting over a title. Rollins wasn’t booed, but Owens was cheered a lot, and there were lots of “10" chants. Rollins did a downward spiral on a chair for a near fall. Owens did a back suplex through a table and a cannonball on the floor. Rollins power bombed Owens into a table for a near fall. They ended up leaving the ring and going near the entrance ramp and into a corner of the building. Rollins threw Owens into a garbage bin and threw the bin at him. Rollins then climbed up from the floor up to the risers and jumped off a balcony, which was pretty high, with a crossbody. It’s basically the stage dive spot that a lot of the flyers do at Arena Mexico. They continued to brawl outside the ring for several minutes. Rollins backdropped Owens over the barricade. Then, while wearing a Sin Cara mask for the rib of all ribs, Jericho attacked Rollins. Rollins unmasked him. Jericho came off the barricade into a kick. Rollins then laid out Jericho with a pedigree on the floor. Owens then picked up Rollins and power bombed him into the ring frame and pinned him to retain the title.
1073
1074Notes from the 11/22 Smackdown tapings in Ottawa. The show drew 6,500 fans for a combination of taping matches for the 11/30 NXT show and the live Smackdown show. It opened with NXT as Asuka beat Nicole Matthews, who is a former Shimmer champion. Eric Young beat No Way Jose with help from the other Sanity members and they gave Jose a beatdown. Samoa Joe beat Dillinger. This match was over more than anything on Smackdown. It is something about how Dillinger was over so big every night in Toronto with the “10" chants even though he lost to Roode, and the first thing they did with him afterwards was having Joe beat him on television. Smackdown opened with Shane out. He said he felt like he’s been in an auto accident. Fans were chanting “You still got it” at him. He put over all the members of Team Raw. The crowd cheered the mentions of Jericho, Owens and Rollins and booed the hell out of the mention of Reigns. He also put over Wyatt & Orton for winning for his team.
1075
1076Ambrose came out. Shane was mad about how he nearly cost their team the match with his not getting along with Styles, and in particular the spot where he joined Reigns & Rollins in giving Styles a power bomb. Ambrose called out Ellsworth. Ellsworth came out in a neck brace and was holding his back. Ambrose told Ellsworth that he’s getting a contract. Shane said that’s true, they were offering him a contract. Shane then told Ambrose he’s been out of control and he’s giving him the night off, which was the start of a gag that played throughout the show. He told him he had to leave the building now. Styles came out. Styles said that after what Ambrose did to him at Survivor Series and nearly costing Team Smackdown the match that Ambrose should be kicked out of Smackdown and shouldn’t get the agreed upon title match. He also said that Ellsworth doesn’t deserve a contract, noting how hard he had to work to get a contract. Styles said Ellsworth needs to prove he’s worthy of a contract and challenged him to a ladder match. Styles said he’d climb up the ladder, get Ellsworth’s contract, and tear it up in front of him. Shane told Ellsworth not to do the match and that he’s already earned his contract. Ellsworth said he had no trouble putting his contract up in a ladder match because he’s already beaten Styles twice. But he said that if he does beat Styles, he wants a future title shot. Ambrose then showed back up as Shane agreed to the match.
1077
1078Miz & Maryse were doing a photo shoot. Bryan showed up. Miz said he wanted Bryan to thank him and give him a celebration for saving the IC title for Smackdown. Bryan said that Miz humiliated Smackdown by the way he beat Zayn at Survivor Series. Miz said he did something that Bryan and Ziggler could never do, which is win a match at Survivor Series. Bryan said that Miz has to defend the title next against Kalisto. Miz pinned Kalisto to retain in 7:12. Kalisto took almost the entire match with acrobatic moves. When Miz went for his slingshot power bomb, Kalisto turned it into a huracanrana. The finish saw Corbin show up. Kalisto kicked Corbin off the apron, but that allowed Miz to hit the skull crushing finale for the pin. Corbin then laid out Kalisto with the End of Days. Miz was celebrating on the ramp by kissing Maryse. When he turned around, Ziggler superkicked Miz. There was a backstage segment with Bryan & Shane. Bliss showed up and then Lynch showed up. Bliss wanted a title rematch and Lynch said she’d give her a rematch at the TLC PPV. Natalya showed up and blamed the loss by Team Smackdown at Survivor Series on Lynch. Natalya said as player/coach she realized that Lynch was feeling threatened by Bliss because she knows Bliss is going to take the title from her and that’s why she lost. Shane said the whole team is at blame for losing. Shane said that if Nikki was in the match, maybe it would have had a different result. Natalya started singing words from the movie “Titanic” and Ambrose showed up with a box of pizza and gave Shane a slice. Shane then kicked him out of the building again. Bryan was backstage with Corbin. Bryan said that what Corbin is doing is reckless and stupid and he doesn’t see the bigger picture, as he cost Smackdown the entire cruiserweight division. Corbin said that he was the bigger picture. Bryan ordered him to face Kane later in the show.
1079
1080Next was a gauntlet for a shot at the tag titles at the TLC PPV. It started with Ryder & Rawley beating The Ascension in 2:07 with the Hype Ryder on Viktor. Otunga talked about how Konnor was all carved up, when he actually looked flabby and out of shape. Mojo was supposed to clothesline Konnor over the top rope and totally missed him, but Konnor sold it anyway. Breeze & Fandango beat Ryder & Rawley in 4:55 when Ryder was crotched, Breeze slingshotted him into a punch by Fandango, and Fandango came from outside the ring in with an elbow drop on him for the pin. Jordan & Gable beat Fandango & Breeze in :51 when Gable pinned Fandango after a sunset flip. Jordan & Gable beat Vaudevillains in 0:11 when Jordan pinned Gotch after a German suplex. This left Jordan & Gable vs. The Usos. They had a very good 10:38 match. This time it was Gable who got the hot tag after Jordan was selling. They went through lots of near fall before Gable pinned Jey after grand amplitude. Then Orton, Harper and Wyatt were on the screen. This was actually taped a few days earlier since Orton had already flown home after Survivor Series. They announced Orton & Wyatt would face Jordan & Gable next week with the winning team getting the title shot. Orton said that unlike Jordan & Gable, they’re not a team, they’re a family.
1081
1082Bryan was backstage with Ellsworth telling him he doesn’t have to go through with the match. Ellsworth said that Styles has more talent in his pinkie than he has in his entire body, but in the WWE, anything can happen, and that any man with two feet and climb a ladder. Ambrose showed back up in a Mountie outfit. Shane came in and was furious that Ambrose was still there. He said he’s had it with him. Bryan told Shane that he’s getting too upset and may do something he regrets so Shane should leave the building, so Shane left. Bryan asked why he was dressed as The Mountie and Ambrose said because The Mountie always gets his man. Lynch beat Natalya by reversing out of the sharpshooter and into the disarmer in 7:23. This was a good match. It looked like one of Lynch’s hair extensions fell out, except it was blonde and Natalya kicked it out of the ring. Bliss attacked Lynch after the match and laid her out with a DDT. Bryan was on the phone backstage when Miz came in to complain about Ziggler. Maryse was holding an ice pack to his head. He demanded Ziggler be suspended. Bryan instead announced that he had to defend the title against Ziggler in what will be the last match the two will have, a ladder match.
1083
1084Backstage, Nikki confronted Carmella. She blamed Carmella for jumping her. Carmella said it wasn’t her, that if she attacked Nikki, it would be to her face. Carmella said Nikki sold out her own sister. Nikki told her that she went to her brother-in-law and that the two of them were having an anything goes match at the PPV. Corbin beat Kane via DQ in 1:03 when Kalisto ran in to attack Corbin. Kane choke slammed Corbin after the match. Corbin recovered but Kalisto kicked a chair into Corbin’s face. The main event saw Ellsworth beat Styles in the non-title ladder match in 5:39. Styles made fun of him early. Styles tore off his neck brace. Styles tore off Ellsworth’s shirt and he was wearing a girdle as a back brace. Styles climbed up and had the match won when Ambrose showed up in an Ottawa Senators jersey. Ambrose clotheslined Styles over the top. Styles came back and used the phenomenal forearm to take out Ambrose. Styles climbed back up and was almost at the top when Ellsworth tipped over the ladder and Styles flew off the ladder, over the top rope (barely hooking the top rope to slow down his fall). Styles came back into the ring and Ellsworth hit him with a superkick, which they called no chin music. Styles got his foot tangled in the ropes and Ellsworth climbed up to get the contract and earned himself a title shot. This segment played out as perfectly as it could. It’s interesting how they are pushing characters now based more on irony and the idea that the stories are about guys who people don’t think are talented but fans get behind them thinking it’s cool to get behind job guys, and then they push them like crazy. They did it earlier with Slater. About 20 percent of the crowd left after this match ended and during the next match.
1085
1086After Smackdown ended, Bliss beat Naomi with twisted bliss in a match taped for Main Event. The place was dead silent at times, and at other times there were chants for C.M. Punk, Jacques Rougeau and “We Want Bret.” They ended with a dark match with Ambrose & Kane over Wyatt & Harper when Ambrose pinned Harper after Dirty Deeds while Kane choke slammed Wyatt. All of the local advertising was based around Styles vs. Ambrose in a title match which never took place.
1087
1088Notes from the 11/16 NXT TV show. This was the Takeover go-home show and featured a lot of clips building up the various matches. The matches were all taped late at the last Full Sail tapings and the crowd was burned out so they didn’t get much response, even a strong main event. Liv Morgan beat Peyton Royce via DQ when Billie Kay interfered in 2:10. Morgan knocked Kay off the apron and put Royce in a guillotine, when Kay ran back in for the save. Aliyah ran in for the save, but Royce rammed Aliyah’s head into the knee of Kay. She was about to do the same thing to Morgan when Ember Moon came in and did a springboard crossbody onto Kay & Royce. Then Moon & Morgan dropkicked Kay & Royce outside the ring and it ended up with Moon & Morgan & Aliyah together. Elias Samson returned to be booed while he did his singing. Then he pinned Nathan Cruz in 2:29 with a neckbreaker. The fans hate Samson and chanted “Let’s go jobber” at Cruz. Bobby Roode and Tye Dillinger did promo pieces. Roode asked what made Dillinger a 10 when he’s never done a thing in this business. Roode said that in the biggest match of Dillinger’s life, he going to fail miserably. Andrade Cien Almas beat Cedric Alexander in 14:34. They gave them time and athletically this was really good. Technically it was good as well, but the crowd was quiet like in the other matches. Almas is clearly a better fit for right now as a heel, but you can see there’s a major difference in his confidence here as compared to when he was in Mexico. In Mexico he walked around like he was a superstar. If he did that here, he’d get the wrong kind of heat for it. After a lot of near falls, Almas crotched Alexander on the middle rope and did a DDT from a hammerlock position for the pin. The show ended with a long video package telling the Samoa Joe vs. Nakamura story.
1089
1090NXT made its debut in Manhattan on 11/16 with a show at The Theater in Madison Square Garden, drawing about 3,000 fans. Some of the place was curtained off and a lot of people got seat upgrades. No Way Jose pinned Roderick Strong after a full nelson slam. The fans cheered for both men when they came out. Jose danced with Shane McMahon, who was at ringside with his kids and with former wrestler and high school football teammate Pete Gas. Peyton Royce & Billie Kay beat Daria Berenato & Liv Morgan. Morgan ran backstage, came out with pizza, dropped it on the entrance way and ate a slice anyway. Some problems as it came across like four people learning. Oney Lorcan pinned Elias Samson. Samson did one cool spot, which elicited a “You still suck” chant. TM 61 beat Alexander Wolfe & Sawyer Fulton. The fans cheered Wolfe & Fulton a lot. After losing, Wolfe & Fulton & Eric Young beat down TM 61 until Tye Dillinger made the save. This led to Dillinger beating Young with the Tye breaker. Dillinger got fans chanting “10" constantly. Bobby Roode pinned Cedric Alexander in the show stealer. The crowd went crazy for Roode’s theme song and sang along,, and sang it during the match as well. This was the only match to get the “This is awesome” treatment. Roode won with a low blow and a DDT. Asuka retained the women’s title over Ember Moon and Nikki Cross. Asuka pinned Cross after a kick to the head. Nakamura & Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa beat Samoa Joe & Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder in the main event. This was described as a ***1/4 house show main event style match. Gargano did a dive and nearly landed in Shane McMahon’s lap. Nakamura pinned Wilder with the Kinshasa.
1091
1092The 11/17 show in Boston drew 800, which was empty in the Agannis Arena. Jose wrestled Wolfe, which ended up with interference by Fulton and Young, leading to TM 61 making the save. This was turned into a trios match with Jose & TM 61 beating Fulton & Wolfe & Young when Jose pinned Wolfe after a full nelson slam. Lorcan pinned Samson. Lorcan got a great reaction since he’s from Boston. Lots of “Biff” chants since he worked indies in the area for years as Biff Busick. Cross pinned Morgan after a neckbreaker. Cross looked good. Morgan’s offense looked quite bad. Alexander pinned Strong with the lumbar check. Great match and the crowd was into the entire match. It was described as not quite as good as if these two were in PWG, but a lot closer to that than an NXT match. Asuka won a three-way over Royce and Moon. Moon hit the stunner off the top onto Royce and then Asuka kicked Moon in the head and made Royce submit with the Asuka lock. Good match. Dillinger pinned Roode with the Tye-breaker. Both got great reactions, Roode for his entrance and Dillinger had the crowd chanting “10.” Very entertaining match with a lot of comedy with Roode playing the chickenshit heel role. Nakamura & Ciampa & Gargano against beat Joe & Wilder & Dawson when Nakamura pinned Wilder after the Kinshasa. The crowd was hot for the match, although was missing something. Joe took a really bad fall to the floor.
1093
109411/18 in Tampa before 250 fans featured a lot of cruiserweight debuts. Jack Gallagher pinned Tozawa with a dropkick into the corner. Good match with a lot of comedy. Harv & Gurv Sihra beat Adrian Jaoude & Cezar Bononi with a double superkick on Jaoude. Macey Estrella beat Sarah Bridges, which is the former Crazy Mary Dobson. Big Damo pinned HoHo Lun with a side slam. Kishan Raftaar pinned Wesley Blake with a roll-up. Tommy End pinned Buddy Murphy with a jumping knee to the face. Murphy worked as the face here. Mada of Tough Enough fame is now doing an Anti-American foreigner gimmick. He put down America, put over Egypt and that he would make all the American heroes suffer. Riddick Moss & Tino Sabbatelli beat Angelo Dawkins & Kenneth Crawford with a double-team Gori especial bomb on Crawford. Main event saw Andrade Cien Almas beat Gran Metalik. These two tore up Korakuen Hall a few years ago in the final match of a Fantastica Mania tour. The match here was said to be amazing. Almas won the a roll-up using the ropes. Metalik made a comeback after the match.
1095
1096The only main roster house show of the weekend was Smackdown brand on 11/21 in Kingston, ONT, which drew 1,500 fans. Ziggler pinned Miz in a non-title match with a superkick after Maryse was booted. Miz got on the mic before the match saying this was a non-title match because the new contract he signed said he didn’t have to defend the title in crappy cities like Kingston. The match was mostly stalling and reported as the worst match on the card. Corbin pinned Kalisto with the End of Days. Lynch retained her title beating Bliss with the disarmer. Crowd was into the match and especially Lynch. Nikki Bella & Naomi beat Carmella & Natalya, so Nikki was fine the day after the injury angle. Nikki pinned Carmella with the TKO. Kane pinned Wyatt with the choke slam. Wyatt was playing around doing DX crotch chops. Kane got a big reaction from local college kids and thanked them after the match. Slater & Rhyno won a three-way over Usos and Breeze & Fandango when Rhyno pinned Breeze after a gore. Lots of ECW chants for this one. Styles beat Ambrose in the street fight main event to keep the title. Styles got both cheers and boos. Ellsworth was on the road as guest timekeeper. He was wearing a neck brace, so he was selling the Strowman throwing him through a table from the day before. Styles won by throwing Ambrose into an exposed turnbuckle and hitting the Styles clash.