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1AEW ALL OUT PPV POLL RESULTS
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3Thumbs up 452 (87.8%)
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5Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
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7In the middle 63 (12.2%)
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9 
10
11BEST MATCH POLL
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13Lucha Brothers vs. Young Bucks 339
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15Pac vs. Kenny Omega 104
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17Chris Jericho vs. Adam Page 37
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19Cody vs. Shawn Spears 33
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21 
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23WORST MATCH POLL
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25Women’s Casino Battle Royal 213
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27Dark Order vs. Best Friends 173
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29Allin vs. Havoc vs. Janela 59
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31Riho vs. Hikaru Shida 25
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33 
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35NJPW ROYAL QUEST
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37Thumbs up 168 (93.9%)
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39Thumbs down 1 (00.6%)
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41In the middle 10 (05.6%)
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43 
44
45BEST MATCH POLL
46
47Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki 160
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49 
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51WORST MATCH POLL
52
53Ibushi & Robinson vs. Yujiro & Hikuleo 46
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55Naito & Sanada vs. White & Owens 29
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57Romero & Sho & Yoh vs. Narita &Umino & Taguchi 25
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59KENTA vs. Tomohiro Ishii 18
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61Tonga & Loa vs. Aussie Open 9
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63 
64
65NXT U.K. TAKEOVER
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67Thumbs up 203 (88.6%)
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69Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
70
71In the middle 26 (11.4%)
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73 
74
75BEST MATCH POLL
76
77Walter vs. Tyler Bate 178
78
79Three-way tag title match 36
80
81Cesaro vs. Ilja Dragunov 14
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83 
84
85WORST MATCH POLL
86
87Kay Lee Ray vs. Toni Storm 114
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89Joe Coffey vs. Dave Mastiff 52
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91Noam Dar vs. Travis Banks 28
92
93Based on phone calls and e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 9/3.
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95 
96
97All Elite Wrestling ran its second PPV show, All Out, which was a mostly hot show before a sold out Sears Center in Chicago.
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99The event, which had the largest initial ticket demand for any pro wrestling event ever held in North America, a stat, that because it was with a new promotion and made no sense logically t happen, infuriated people beyond reason. The show established a number of things.
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101First, the company is loaded with talent, many of whom, like Jack Evans and Scorpio Sky, don’t get nearly their due. The show featured arguably the best ladder match in history, a series of car crashes where Pentagon Jr. & Fenix retained the AAA tag titles over The Young Bucks.
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103This is the last those belts will be talked about on the show, as all concentration will be on the AEW tag team titles which will be decided in a tournament over the first four weeks of television. Still, in this era, especially with the core AEW fan base being knowledgeable, while there is no point in pushing it hard, they really should acknowledge things like if one of their teams like Pentagon & Fenix are AAA tag champs, or if Fenix is AAA champion, since they work with AAA, or if Jon Moxley is U.S. champion. The comparison would be the old territory days when Mid South would bring in talent from Georgia or Texas, because the fans knew about them from television that played in their market, and they’d acknowledge their angles and belts when they used that talent. They made it clear their belts were the key ones (although when they used Ric Flair, his title was pushed as more important than their North American title). Plus, you can perhaps do champion vs. champions, even though that means less now than it would then because the concept of championships are completely different from meaning less in all combat sports.
104
105Chris Jericho became the first AEW champion, beating Hangman Page in the main event. It was a unique match. Live, it was hurt because after seeing the incredible moves in the ladder match. There was probably nothing short of an Omega and Okada level match that could have followed it. Jericho vs. Page, when watched on its own, was a great match, and the crowd was very loud in spots, but a lot of stuff that would have gotten big reactions, especially with this crowd, in another spot, saw the crowd quiet. The reality is after a Canadian Destroyer off the top of a ladder through a table and the debut of a new hot act, usual ring psychology and reverses into Boston crabs are going to have a difficult time.
106
107Jericho used the Judas effect, or hidden blade, probably the quickest and slickest version of it to date, to get the pin. His championship got even more publicity a few days later when the first belt was stolen while he was eating dinner in Tallahassee, FL, and then recovered by Tallahassee police the day after the story broke.
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109The strange story started with Jericho’s flight to Tampa, where he lives, being diverted to Tallahassee due to Hurricane Dorian. So he landed and was going to take a limo from Tallahassee back to Tampa.
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111He left the airport and went to eat at the Longhorn Steakhouse. The limo driver went back to the airport because Jericho had accidentally picked up the wrong bag. He had left his suitcase with the belt in the limo. When the limo driver came back, the belt was gone. He claimed to have no idea what happened to it.
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113After the belt was stolen, Jericho filed a police report which said: “The victim reported the theft of his championship wrestling belt while he was eating inside Longhorn Steakhouse. The victim stated he arrived at the Millionaire Club Airport Terminal and placed the belt inside his rented limousine. The limo driver shuttled the victim to Longhorn for dinner. The victim remained at Longhorn while the limo driver returned to the airport. The victim had taken the wrong luggage from the airport and the driver took it back to the terminal. When the driver picked up the victim from the restaurant, the belt was missing. Responding officers searched the limo and airport for the belt without success. On-call CID was consulted, and forensics responded to the scene.”
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115Jericho then tried to turn the publicity from the theft into a storyline doing a video vowing to get the best private eyes in the world and find out who stole the belt, giving them a potential storyline to build for television. The day after the story broke, the Tallahassee police recovered the belt. The story is that somebody found the belt on the side of the road and returned it to the police.
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117The police then immediately tweeted out the next morning that they had recovered the belt, which actually ruined a potentially cool storyline because if they had recovered the belt and kept it quiet, they could have done something with Jon Moxley or whoever Jericho is to face next on PPV (given wins and losses are supposed to lead to title shots, that would indicate Cody and Pac as having the best shots). But instead Jericho got the belt back and cut another promo about it.
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119There have been some famous thefts of title belts in the past, including a very similar situation with Bruno Sammartino’s WWWF belt around 1965, also while eating at a restaurant, and an arena theft of Verne Gagne’s AWA belt in the mid-70s.
120
121It show was a learning lesson that the idea of featuring your world title as the centerpiece of the promotion and the main event, doesn’t mean it should go last. The actual rule of thumb is to make it the centerpiece, you place it where it would get over the most, which most of the time is last, but it was a disservice to place it after a match it couldn’t follow which led to people thinking the match was bad or the talent wasn’t over, which, based on the actual reaction too the talent and loud chants for both, was not the case. While the order of matches was less hurtful to the show than most WWE PPV shows where they use the buffer match concept that shuts down building momentum and makes the show drag, you still had a situation where matches were hurt because the other best match, Kenny Omega vs. Pac, went early.
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123Still, it’s hard to call it anything but a great show. The atmosphere was tremendous, coming off even better on the PPV version than live, and it was very good live. There was a specialness that All In and Double or Nothing had that this couldn’t match, which was the feeling of history. This show was a PPV at a time when really, the feeling of history next is the first TNT show on 10/2.
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125The action and layout in every match was strong. Some personalities weren’t over. Some were green, but they worked above and beyond. While all the expected talent was over great, some of the biggest reactions came in the PPV opener when Luchasaurus was doing acrobatic spots, essentially everything he was told when he worked in WWE to never do.
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127The show had a few surprises. LAX debuted attacking both The Young Bucks and Pentagon Jr. & Fenix after their match. They came in wearing John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton masks, before revealing themselves. The plan right now is to call them Ortiz & Santana, but not LAX, since Impact owns the trademark to that name. They may be called Los Boricuas, since that was the name used on television. They did some promos after the show with Jericho, so it looks like the first main event of the first television show on 10/2 will be Omega & Young Bucks vs. Jericho & Ortiz & Santana, but it’s still listed as Jericho with two mystery partners.
128
129Also on the first show, as a result of two matches at All Out, Riho faces Nyla Rose to create the first AEW women’s championship and Cody faces Sammy Guevara.
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131Another surprise was expected, but not in the way expected. Cody wrestled Shawn Spears in their grudge match, where the pre-match stip was each man would have one person in their corner. Spears, of course, had Tully Blanchard, who was tremendous in his role as a ringside manager. Cody came out with Brandi, MJF and Diamond Dallas Page (and his dog Pharaoh). MJF was the one who stayed at ringside. Of course MJF is as clear a heel as there is, but he played over-the-top babyface the entire time, was manipulated when it came to baiting by the more experienced Blanchard in situations that benefitted Spears. Fans were hoping for Arn Anderson in Cody’s corner, even though it was never teased at all.
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133Late in the match, Anderson did a run-in after Blanchard was interfering, hit a spinebuster on Spears for one of the biggest pops of the show. He then left, with Blanchard leaving ringside to theoretically try and find out why Anderson did what he did. After the match, MJF did everything to make fans feel he was turning, without actually doing so.
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135Another surprise was Pac beating Omega in what was the second match on the PPV. Omega vs. Dean Ambrose was considered the biggest match on the show. The company announced that match right before putting tickets on sale, which led to the record-setting rush on tickets.
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137With the win, it was made clear Pac was not just in for one show, but in as a regular, and he is one of the most talented wrestlers in the world. They had been negotiating with Pac to return for a few months, basically as soon as they got word on when he was losing the Open the Dream Gate title, meaning they could program him. He was not willing to disrespect the Dragon Gate title, and they felt they couldn’t book him when he couldn’t lose. There were also other contractual issues at play that had to be worked out. The plan was to debut him as a surprise, perhaps, if not likely being on this show. I knew nothing, but I actually was expecting him to cost Page the match with Jericho to lead to a feud with Page. That may have been close to the original idea, since after the show backstage, they shot a Page vs. Pac angle.
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139Live, the whole building was shocked and went quiet when Omega lost via ref stoppage with a crucifix style choke while on Omega’s shoulders. On television, they were at least telling a story that Omega is in a funk, which sounded like a storyline where he’ll be losing, he’ll somehow overcome his issues and get back on track to chase Jericho and the title, but it’s just that title chase is not short. The logical thing to me was to establish Jericho with a long title win and have Omega do a long chase, so you need obstacles for him to not rush him getting there. Whether this works or not, the idea of a long chase means it can be promoted as the big climactic match when it gets there, similar of long builds to Wrestle Kingdom or WrestleMania or stadium shows of the past.
140
141That said, there is a risk in beating him too often. It won’t kill him as long as he’s featured, but it could easily make him just one of the guys instead of the special level star that has been to elusive in modern pro wrestling. So it’s tricky.
142
143It’s even more awkward since the next PPV, Full Gear, on 11/9 at the First Mariner Arena in Baltimore, will be headlined by Omega vs. Moxley at a time when Omega has been cooled off. Perhaps they can rebuild that interest with interviews, but it’s Omega coming off a clean loss instead of a big win. Instead of a match where part of the lure is people couldn’t see either losing (nobody thought Omega would lose again after Jericho, nor thought Moxley would lose his first AEW big match) when tickets were put on sale for Chicago, it’s now a guy who just lost clean in what is the real main event of the next show. And I think people go in expecting him to lose here, which takes an edge off. But the one thing is, this stuff is clearly being booked for the long game, and in doing so, it’s not the perfect build for every show and it can’t be when you are telling longer stories. Tickets go on sale 9/6.
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145With DC being 10/2, this is five weeks later, in the same market, but with what was the company’s hottest match.
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147Even though Pac was a great replacement to have a classic match with Omega, nobody was fooling themselves into thinking that losing that match from the card wasn’t going to have an affect on the PPV business.
148
149Of course the show sold out with 10,500 fans to the Sears Center, as soon as it was put on sale months ago.
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151As far as PPV goes, it was a mixed bag. Traditional U.S. television PPV was down significantly from Double or Nothing, although will finish well ahead of All In. Streaming PPV in the U.S. on B/R Live was up, although we don’t know by how much. TNT did a one hour hype show at 10 p.m. the night before, but on TNT, they pushed B/R Live as the way to see it and not traditional PPV as hard, so it made sense B/R numbers would be up.
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153FITE TV worldwide numbers were down. The people who bought it on FITE wouldn’t have seen the hype show. Losing Omega vs. Moxley may have been the key there and with traditional PPV. But ITV PPV numbers in the U.K. were up. The impression was that they expected to end up about the same as the last show, which would be considered a success. But based on the U.S. PPV numbers, I think it’ll be down slightly, since TV PPV was down in almost every city we’ve gotten numbers from.
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155The only straight number we have, which is U.S. television PPV, looks to be about 28,000 buys. Double or Nothing as of a few days after was closer to 35,000 and ended up 39,000, so this should have another ten to 12 percent added to that number when all is said and done. All this together would indicate something around 100,000, which, while not up from last time, does show staying power which was the big question. It’s still above what any company other than WWE/F and WCW ever did, and many of those companies had weekly television on strong stations. It also beat most of the WCW shows at the end.
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157On both television PPV and B/R, 46 percent of those ordering had ordered Double or Nothing. That means 54 percent didn’t. Does that mean they made new fans after the first show? Does it mean people picked and chose and some didn’t want to buy the first, and others didn’t want to buy this one? If that’s the case, then the hardcore audience willing to spend money for the product right now as far as PPV goes is much larger than we anticipated. But it’s also an audience less apt to buy every one. But the number of new orders, as well as non-repeating orders, to me, were both surprisingly high. So if there is a lesson from the number, that would be it. But everything changes next month.
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159Unlike with live gates where there is a several month lag to the results and increases television gives you, the only examples of a new company doing TV after getting television for the first time, which would be TNA and UFC both in 2005, was that the increase in numbers there were immediate. But 2005 and 2019 are completely different when it comes to television, and also, with lower priced streaming of WWE and New Japan, and now boxing, the mentality regarding PPV has changed and it’s a far tougher business. In that sense, these numbers are even more impressive now. But it’s not about now, it’s about what happens across the board once TV hits.
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161After the PPV went off the air, Cody called out Tony Khan, acting like Khan didn’t know he was being called out, basically to thank him for all he had done to launch the company as the unsung hero. Khan then talked about creating a tradition. His idea is to try and do what the Greensboro Coliseum had from 1961 to 1986 before they dropped it, as a Thanksgiving tradition. The idea is to do All Out as one of the company’s signature events of the year every Labor Day weekend at the Sears Center, and then come back with a TV shoot the night before Thanksgiving, also at the Sears Center, which this year is 11/27.
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163This year that’s quite a challenge because WWE has four shows in the market at the Allstate Arena, Smackdown on 11/22, NXT on 11/23, Survivor Series on 11/24 and Raw on 11/25. Tickets for all these shows have been put on sale. This is the challenge of all challenges. Historically promoters didn’t run Thanksgiving Eve, Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve, but Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s were all huge days for the business. With a Wednesday night show, a Thanksgiving Eve show is going to happen every year, and thus, it does make sense to try and make it a tradition, and not the tradition Impact had with the turkey suit match, or WWE had with Thursday Smackdowns always having food fights.
164
165Making it harder is that all four WWE Chicago shows have sold well. Survivor Series is expected to sell out, which would be about 12,000 tickets. The other three shows are all looking to finish up in the 8,500 to 9,000 range, so that’s ton of wrestling tickets sold and money spent in the market for that very week.
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167AEW had roughly 4,000 tickets sold after announcing the date this past weekend. The key is the value of weekly television in 2019 to both entice people to buy tickets for all the weekly shows, and to build the fan base. Historically, it takes time for television to build. When promoters would get television in a market, they often waited months, sometimes years, before running the first show. There’s no perfect historical comparison, since WCW was an established brand, doing poorly at the gate, but established, when Nitro came. Nitro started in September 1995, and live event business started picking up that January and started getting really strong months after that.
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169For a brief overview of the show, the Casino Battle Royale at least had a storyline and they did go through a practice session the day before. It’s hard with 21 women, because they don’t have that many under contract and the depth wasn’t there, particularly without bringing Japanese women into the Battle Royal. It was never explained why Riho and Hikaru Shida had a singles match to get a title, but the others had to compete with 20 other women. Mercedes Martinez was put in the wild card spot and even as someone with no major push ever on major television, she got a big reaction live. After seeing this concept twice, I think three people entering at once instead of five would be better, but also, the earliest Royal Rumble in St. Louis was a complete flop and look what it turned into. A lot of traditions that pay off huge start out with a lot of kinks. The quicker pacing to get everyone in is a plus. Anyway, we’ve had them for two shows in a row and I hope a moratorium in the Battle Royals on big shows is in order, at least for a few months. They also needed to announce the eliminations when they happen. There was a story to watch with Nyla Rose starting in the first group and being there at the end, but it was difficult to keep up with, particularly when so many of the women were barely known.
170
171Private Party vs. Jack Evans & Angelico was either going to be really good or really bad. It was the former. Private Party has a ways to go but they have great athleticism and cool moves. Evans was the glue to hold this together and it was strong.
172
173SCU is the perfect PPV opening act. Their catch phrase is over, their entrance is over, and once the bell rings, they are much better than they are given credit for. They’ve delivered every time out. Luchasaurus was over like crazy, as was Jungle Boy, and every spot with Marko Stunt worked.
174
175Omega vs. Pac was great, except the botched poison rana right at the end hurt because they went right to the planned finish before rebuilding the crowd to forget that spot, and then nobody believed live the finish was what it was.
176
177Joey Janela vs. Darby Allin vs. Jimmy Havoc was insane. It was a very polarizing match, as while that plays great to a certain audience, the staple gun spots doesn’t play well with everyone. Given the style of match, it couldn’t have been better. That doesn’t mean you have to like it, but the effort put in, and the quality of what they did as per the style of the match they were doing couldn’t have been better. They followed Omega vs. Pac, which would have killed most other bouts to follow. The spots looked and were dangerous as hell and watching it the feeling is they are playing with fire and somebody is about to get hurt bad. I was told Cracker Barrel, the sponsor, loved all the exploding barrels and the play this match gave them. And as scary as this sounds, I was also told this was the toned down version. I shudder to think what ideas were toned down.
178
179The next two matches, Best Friends vs. Dark Order and Riho vs. Shida were well wrestled, but didn’t get over strong live. Part was following the level of the prior two matches. Some was also that the Dark Order gimmick isn’t over. Stu Grayson is great. The usage of Orange Cassidy was perfect. Evil Uno badly needs new gear, but all those guys at ringside just felt minor league in a major league setting. I think Shida is a real potential star, but people need to see who she is. Rose vs. Riho at least has history and the obvious monster vs. smaller woman dynamic.
180
181Cody vs. Spears got a huge reaction. The match worked. Good wrestling, and the outside players enhanced. The ladder match was tremendous, but again, there were some real risks taken and it was a very punishing match. The main event was excellent as a stand lone, but didn’t come off that way in the building. But Jericho is clearly the right guy to start TV with as champion and Page is far better off chasing right now. The key is television building Page and just being in this match establishing him as somebody to pay attention to. Coming to the ring on a horse is also the type of thing that to me, you want on both television and PPV, stuff out of the ordinary.
182
183With the announcement of new AEW dates in Charlotte and Chicago, there are now two markets where both major companies are selling tickets at the same time.
184
185WWE has its Clash of the Champions PPV on 9/15 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte. WWE at last word had set it up for 9,500 seats, eliminating about 80 percent of the upper deck, and had about 8,000 tickets sold for the show. AEW runs the smaller Bojangles Arena, on 11/6. It’s the old Charlotte Coliseum of Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling fame, and will be likely set up for about 7,500 seats. Tickets go on sale on 9/6.
186
187AEW’s 11/9 PPV date is at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, the same building Raw drew 5,500 fans on 9/2. Baltimore and Washington, DC are the same metropolitan area and AEW did have the edge with its first television show on 10/2 selling out instantly, and is expected to end up with about 14,000 fans, although the secondary market is weak with 3,540 tickets still left. Going to Baltimore that quickly not only after themselves, but also after WWE, is an interesting strategy. Baltimore is on a Saturday rather than Wednesday, and is also a PPV event in a building that would be set up for about 9,000 or so. It’s easier for flying in, and also will have another Starrcast convention that weekend.
188
1891. Nyla Rose won the Casino Battle Royale in 20:33. The first five in were Shalantra Royale, an unknown, along with Priscilla Kelly, Faby Apache, Rose and Leva Bates, doing the Librarian bit with Peter Avalon in her corner. Royale was dumped immediately, followed by Rose throwing Apache and Kelly out right away. Bates hit Rose with her book but Rose no sold and threw her over the top. Avalon went after Rose, she moved and he flew over the top. Next in were Penelope Ford, Shazza McKenzie, Sadie Gibbs, Big Swole (Ariel Monroe) and Britt Baker. Baker got a star pop. Baker threw out McKenzie. Rose gave Swole a uranage on the apron and she fell off to be eliminated. Ford did a bunch of cool gymnastics spots. She’s marketable as hell with the look and the flips and was allowed to show it. Gibbs is similar as an athlete but her best stuff is the space flying tiger drop which makes no sense in a Battle Royal. Rose threw out Ford. Tenille Dashwood (on loan from Impact for one show), Ivelisse, Bea Priestley, Brandi Rhodes and Awesome Kong were the next group. Still feel Rhodes is so great on the mic as a face, maybe the best promo of all the babyfaces right now, and if not, certainly close. Plus, her woman corporate face of the company role, it makes her playing heel as a wrestler a contradiction. I know Cody feels the face and heel thing is passe and everyone has traits of both, but she goes from sympathetic face to corporate face and head of the division to heel wrestler in the division. Baker immediately went after Priestley, which makes sense using the concussion to give you an angle, and most fans got it immediately. Rhodes used a stunner on Rose for pop. Kong got rid of Dashwood and Ivelisse. The next group was Allie, Nicole Savoy, Teal Piper, ODB and Jazz. Both ODB and Jazz got good reactions. Savoy did a tope on a bunch of women. Piper did the Roddy Piper eye poke. Rose threw out Savoy. ODB threw out Piper. It was clear Piper wasn’t ready. Mercedes Martinez was the wild card. ODB threw out Kong. Priestley threw out ODB. Baker threw out Rhodes. Big pop for Martinez giving Rose a back suplex. Rose eliminated Allie. Gibbs did a few cool moves. Priestley threw out Gibbs. There were communication issues between the two, perhaps stemming from problems in Japan and there were issues after the match as well. Baker superkicked Martinez out. The last three were Priestley, Baker and Rhodes. Baker threw out Priestley. But Priestley grabbed Baker’s hand and with help of Rose, pulled her over to eliminate her, leaving Rose as the winner and building Priestley vs. Baker. **1/4
190
1912. Private Party (Marc Quen & Isaiah Kassidy) beat Jack Evans & Angelico in 11:34. The idea was building Party for their Boston match with the Young Bucks. Fun match. Lots of great flying moves. Evans made some nice saves of stuff that otherwise could have looked bad. Private Party has a world of potential. Just a series of great moves. Evans backdropped Kassidy over the top rope where Kassidy did a huracanrana on Angelico, and then an Asai moonsault on him. Kassidy later did a tornillo over the top rope on Angelico. Evans did an assisted in ring 450 on Kassidy. Quen did a poison rana off the top . The finish was Kassidy giving Angelico a huracanrana off the top rope and he flew into the diamond cutter by Quen and Kassidy pinned him. Evans & Angelico beat down Private Party after the match with Angelico using the Navarro deal roll on Quen. Crowd chanted “Party Poopers.” ***½
192
1933. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky beat Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt in 11:41. Nice fast open with Jungle and Kazarian. Jim Ross kept calling Jungle Boy “Jungle Jack.” It’s a weird deal as he’s doing this Jungle Boy gimmick, yet in media and everywhere, everyone knows he’s Luke Perry’s son. But on the show, it’s never hinted because of the gimmick. He’s improving so fast by working with better people. Luchasaurus was so over. Stunt did a tope on Daniels and Jungle followed with a crazy dive. Luchasaurus then did a springboard flip dive. Stunt did a crossbody off Luchasaurus’ shoulders. Luchasaurus did a bunch of cool kicks and a standing moonsault. Jungle Boy did a tope. Sky did a running flip dive on Luchasaurus. In he ring, Kazarian held both Stunt and Jungle Boy in tombstone positions while Daniels came off the top rope with the Best Meltzer Ever and Kazarian pinned Stunt. It really speaks to the quality of the top matches on the show show that this match got virtually no best match votes. ****
194
1954. Pac beat Kenny Omega in 23:40. There was a 205 chant at Pac. It is what it is but it does make it come across like the major league, even on an PPV show, is WWE. Omega did the Kotaro crusher and Pac landed n his feet. Omega did a pescado into a kick. Omega did a Terminator dive and his ankles crashed into the barricades that were too close to the ring. They had an open side where the ramp was where they could do dives without barricades and fans. Omega did an incredible missile dropkick to the back of the head and a fisherman buster. Pac escaped You Can’t Escape but Omega later did it. Pac did a moonsault off the top rope to the floor and also hit the barricade. Pac did a 450 for a near fall. Omega did an awesome teep (front kick to the chest), really the sell job by Pac is what made this simple spot look so great. Omega followed with a power bomb into the buckles. Pac did a springboard into an Omega dropkick. Omega did a V trigger and Croyt’s Wrath. It was a classic match until the finish as they traded big moves and the crowd reacted great. But the botched poison rana, an awkward one by Omega that I don’t think was supposed to hit but didn’t look good, and then Pac’s which the flip by Omega was mistimed and looked bad, took the match down. Omega went for the One Winged Angel but Pac used the brutalizer, a crucifix like submission while on Omega’s shoulders, and took him to the mat and put him out for the ref stoppage. ****1/4
196
1975. Jimmy Havoc won a three-way over Darby Allin and Joey Janela in 14:57. Havoc stapled himself and we were off and rolling. They put thumbtacks in Havoc’s mouth and taped it shut with duct tape. Allin did a tope on Janela and a flip plancha onto Havoc who was sitting on a chair with his mouth taped. Jim Ross, as the fans chanted “Holy shit,” said that Havoc would be saying that in six to eight hours. Janela pulled out a tennis racket and threw it away as a knock on Jim Cornette, who always criticizes him. Havoc gave Janela paper cuts between his fingers. Havoc stapled Janela’s forehead and when Janela had a chair, Havoc monkey flipped him and Janela landed perfectly on the chair. Havoc then gave Janela paper cut to the mouth. Janela used a brainbuster on Havoc on a chair and a sunset flip power bomb over the top rope putting Allin through a table. Janela crashed missing a top rope moonsault to the floor. Allin used a skateboard with thumbtacks on the bottom as a weapon. Janela had thumbtacks in his back. Allin did a coffin drop off the apron putting Havoc through a table. The crowd loved this match. I know it’s not for everyone and it concerned me. Allin and Janela will almost surely pay the price. Allin did a coffin drop off the top rope with a cracker barrel and Havoc moved and the barrel exploded on landing. Havoc gave Janela a superplex off the top but the barrel was too far and Janela’s legs hit it rather than his body. Havoc then gave Janela an acid rainmaker through the barrel for the pin. ****
198
1996. Stu Grayson & Evil Uno, the Dark Order, beat Trent Barreta & Chuck Taylor in 13:44. Good work but they couldn’t follow the previous two matches. There was an Ace crusher used and Ross said they’d come up with a new name for that move next week. Grayson did a twisting top rope quebrada on everyone. He did a 450 on Taylor all the way to the center of the ring. All the masked guys at ringside were beating down Taylor and The Dark Order used the fatality on Barreta for the pin. All the guys at ringside were carrying Baretta out when the lights went out. When they came on, Orange Cassidy was in the ring, the place went wild and he did a tope on everyone with his hands his pockets. That was great. Baretta, Taylor and Cassidy all hugged after. **3/4
200
2017. Riho pinned Hikaru Shida in 13:21. Good action and built well, but fans weren’t invested in the two and still coming off the high of matches four and five. Shida used a Bruno Sammartino backbreaker. Riho did a double foot stomp off the top rope ont the apron. Shida blocked a 619 and turned it into a stretch muffler and also used a power suplex. Shida did a great looking judo ipponzei and a backbreaker for a near fall, before Riho won with a spinning crucifix into a cradle. ***
202
2038. Cody pinned Shawn Spears in 17:21. Spears was wearing unique contacts. They made a mistake bringing the dog out and he was close to the pyro exploding for the entrance. Even Tony Khan after the show said that was a mistake. MJF went overboard cheerleading Cody. Cody did a tope and then decked Blanchard. They brawled in the crowd and Cody powerslammed Spears on the floor. Blanchard held Cody so Spears could deliver a low blow. Cody did a Frankensteiner off the top rope. Spears used a DDT on the apron and then pulled off Cody’s weight belt and spit on it. Earl Hebner, who wasn’t moving well at all (you couldn’t tell in the match but you could when he walked to and from the ring) grabbed the weight belt and threatened a DQ. But it got silly because Blanchard took his own belt off and with Hebner distracted, Spears whipped Cody. Cody did an Ishii fire up from it and Spears whipped him again, this time right in front of Hebner. That looked silly because it should have been a DQ. Since it was a grudge match, they just should have made it no DQ. Cody did an Oscutter, and none of the announcers called the move. Blanchard distracted Hebner, and then MJF challenged Blanchard. Blanchard taped up his fists and the two locked up and started choking. Spears laid out MJF with a high kick. Blanchard put the boots to MJF. Arn Anderson came out and gave Spears a Spinebuster. The place went nuts for Anderson, but he also looked very heavy, unlike Blanchard, who looked in great shape for his age. Anderson left and Blanchard left as well, trying to find out why his longtime partner would do that. Cody grabbed a chair and Spears begged off. Cody threw the chair down, and did the Dusty flip, flop and fly, and then a disaster kick into the chair Spears was holding. Cody hit crossroads for the pin. After, MJF grabbed the chair and everyone thought he was turning on Cody. MJF threw the chair down, hugged Cody and totally over did the cheerleading for him. ****
204
2059. Pentagon Jr.& Fenix beat The Young Bucks in 24:08 in a ladder match to keep the AAA tag titles. They noted that in five meetings this year, the Bucks had a 3-2 edge in wins. The Bucks came out in masks. The crowd cheered both teams throughout, with the only booing coming late when Matt unmasked Pentagon, a spot they knew would be booed but thought would be a good spot for the match in building the finishing sequence. Fans chanted “Zero Huevos,” or no balls at the Lucha Brothers off a Young Bucks interview, which is about the only negative thing toward Pentagon & Fenix in the match. Nick and Fenix are about the most incredible ladder match there are, and Fenix may also be the best at using the ropes so the combination led to some unreal spots. They teased doing their big moves early with the idea the other team knew them and didn’t fall for them. Pentagon & Fenix went for dives but The Bucks nailed them with a ladder. Pentagon came off the ladder with a crossbody. Fenix did a springboard off the top rope, jumped over and leap frogged the ladder outside the ring and did a flip dive on everyone. Nick and Fenix both walked the ropes and jumped to a high rung on the ladder. Fenix and Nick did diamond cutters of the ladder on Matt and Pentagon. Matt and Pentagon both speared the other two off the apron through tables. Nick climbed the ladder and jumped off the ropes into a twisting dive on the floor. Matt gave Fenix four Northern Lights suplexes in a row, the fourth onto a ladder. Fenix gave Matt a springboard huracanrana onto a ladder. Fenix jumped off the ladder onto the ropes and then jumped off that into a huracanrana on Matt. Pentagon went ladder to ropes to crossbody. Matt pressed Fenix and speared Pentagon. Nick did a moonsault off the apron on Pentagon on the floor after a facebuster into the ring on Fenix. Nick did a springboard onto the ladder, Fenix tipped it over, Nick landed on his feet on the top rope and did a flip dive on Pentagon. Matt pushed the ladder Fenix was on, he landed on the ropes, jumped up and turned around, landed on the ropes again and did an Asai moonsault. Matt and Pentagon were near the top of the ladder when Pentagon jumped off and twisted to give Matt a sling blade and they both went to the ground. Nick dove through a ladder into a flip dive. Fenix dove through a ladder from the apron into a Canadian Destroyer on Matt. Pentagon climbed to the top of the ladder and gave Matt a Canadian Destroyer off the top of the ladder through a table which probably got the biggest reaction of anything on the show. Nick and Fenix were on top and did a double frog splash through, Nick on Pentagon, Fenix on Matt, through tables on the floor. Fans chanted Eddy since Fenix did an Eddy Guerrero shimmy before jumping. Nick put a sharpshooter on Pentagon and Matt put the ladder on Pentagon and gave Pentagon a crossface, the old cease and desist finisher. Fenix and Nick were climbing and Matt had Pentagon in a tombstone position for a Meltzer driver but it was broken up. Nick was climbing, Pentagon shoved him off the ladder, Nick caught his foot on the top rope, tripped a little and went face first into two tables on the floor. That was not planned to go that way and he was lucky it was his forehead that hit the tables first, but that was the one spot that looked the most dangerous. Matt unmasked Pentagon. Fans booed that. Matt was about to get the belt when Pentagon, while covering his face, tipped the ladder over and Matt took a scary bump. They used a package piledriver by Pentagon with Fenix’s double foot stomp off the top rope spike, the zero fear, on Matt outside the ring onto a ladder bridging the apron and barricade. With both Bucks done, Fenix & Pentagon climbed up to get the belts to win. LAX then came out and first shoved the Fenix & Pentagon off the ladder. Fans were chanting LAX even before they unmasked which is notable because LAX has only had Impact television. They did a sky high blockbuster on Nick and beat down Matt. LAX, only called The Boricuas by Excalibur, then unmasked to a big pop. *****1/4
206
20710. Chris Jericho pinned Adam Page in 26:16 to become the first AEW champion. Aubrey Edwards was the ref, making her the first woman ref ever to main event a major PPV show. Jericho made the call. She was giving instructions to give it a sports-like feel which was a nice touch that should be done for all title bouts. Jericho did a missile dropkick. Page did a tope and clothesline off the top. Jericho missed the Silver King dive and Page used a shooting star off the apron into a codebreaker on the floor. While the reaction to the moves and transitions were not as big, there were very loud dueling chants. The chants for Jericho were always slightly louder. Jericho did a nice dropkick. He did a crossbody off the top that Page rolled through, then hoisted Jericho up from that position to deliver a fallaway slam. Page did a Russian leg sweep off the middle rope. Page did a discus elbow. Jericho bladed at this point, which was the retribution for Jericho busting Page open over the eye in the angle in Jacksonville. Page did a swinging neckbreaker off the top rope for a near fall. Jericho was bleeding badly at this point. Page hit the buckshot lariat and went for the dead eye (Omori driver), but Jericho transitioned into the Walls of Jericho. Page escaped, came back and did his moonsault off the top to the floor. This wasn’t as evident on camera, but live you could see Page was flying way to the side and Jericho moved quickly to make the move look good for television and break his fall. Page went for a buckshot lariat but Jericho countered with the codebreaker for a near fall. Jericho went for anther codebreaker, Page tried to reverse into the dead eye, and it ended up with a sunset flip. Page finally hit the dead eye but Jericho kicked out. He went for it again, but Jericho countered and hit the Judas effect, which looked probably the best it has to date, for the pin. ****
208
209New Japan ran its biggest show in the U.K. in its history, Royal Quest, on 8/31 at the Copper Box Arena in London.
210
211The show drew a near sellout crowd, with 6,119 paid. What’s notable about this crowd is that they had a lottery for tickets, similar to what AEW did for its first show in Las Vegas. They were almost sold out, with close to 6,000 right away. The lesson was that the U.K. has a New Japan fan base, they all bought tickets the first day, without anything announced. Then, when they announced a strong show with an IWGP title match, that didn’t move new tickets. It pretty much says that in this market, they have a hardcore base that came to see a big show, but those were the only people. Unlike in the U.S., there is no New Japan on television, which makes this crowd number even more impressive. WWE and even TNA have beaten this number, but it’s as good as any non-television promotion has done in the market.
212
213Kazuchika Okada retained the IWGP title on top over Minoru Suzuki in a great match. I wouldn’t call it the best pro wrestling match of the weekend, although some would. But to their credit, they felt more like they were fighting as well as battling wills as compared to anyone else on any of the other shows.
214
215After Okada won after a third rainmaker, he was cutting a promo when Sanada walked in the ring wearing a suit. Okada tried to do his promo in English, as did Sanada. What was notable in watching Sanada walk to the ring is how much of a toll all the moonsaults have taken on his knees. When he was young, he wanted to stop doing moonsaults because he knew the damage they did to his mentor, Keiji Muto. But he became so associated with them, like Muto, that he instead does them more now. He told the U.K. fans that “Next time I see you, I will be IWGP heavyweight champion.” Okada then asked the fans if they think Sanada should be the next challenger, and they cheered, and Okada said,“Of course, I’m okay.” In reference to what Sanada said, Okada closed saying, “Sanada, I’m sorry. When I come back here, I’ll still be IWGP heavyweight champion.”
216
217Okada vs. Sanada for the title was announced as the main event of King of Pro Wrestling on 10/14 at Sumo Hall in Tokyo. The match was based on Sanada beating Okada in one of the best matches of the G-1 tournament. This match, as expected, only serves to make even less sense of the Bad Luck Fale win over Sanada after he beat Okada, particularly since Fale is in no big matches on the next tour.
218
219KOPW is the company’s biggest show between now and the Tokyo Dome. Two other title matches announced were Jon Moxley vs. Juice Robinson for the U.S. title, and Will Ospreay vs. El Phantasmo for the IWGP jr. title.
220
221The Destruction tour, which includes the Young Lions tournament, has already started in Japan. It has three major shows.
222
223The first is 9/15 at the Beppu B Con Plaza at 4 a.m. Eastern, with two Young Lions Cup matches with Yota Tsuji vs. Karl Fredericks and Shota Umino vs. Alex Coughlin. After that is Yuji Nagata & Ryusuke Taguchi & Ren Narita & Yuya Uemura vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Toa Henare & Clark Connors & Michael Richards, Jushin Liger & Sho & Yoh vs. Minoru Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Douki, Kota Ibushi & Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma & Ospreay & Robbie Eagles vs. KENTA & Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi & Taiji Ishimori & Phantasmo, Okada & Hirooki Goto & Rocky Romero vs. Sanada & Shingo Takagi & Bushi, Tetsuya Naito & Evil vs. Jay White & Chase Owens, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa defend the IWGP tag titles against Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano, and new British heavyweight champion Hiroshi Tanahashi defends against Zack Sabre Jr.
224
225The second major show on 9/16 at the Kagoshima Arena, at 5 a.m. Eastern. That has Uemura vs. Connors and Narita vs. Richards in the Young Lions Cup, plus Nagata & Taguchi & Umino & Tsuji vs. Nakanishi & Henare & Fredericks & Coughlin, Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi & Sho & Yoh vs. Tonga & Loa & Fale & Owens, Tanahashi & Makabe & Honma & Liger vs. Suzuki & Sabre & Kanemaru & Douki, Okada & Goto & Romero vs. Sanada & Takagi & Bushi, Naito & Evil vs. White & Yujiro Takahashi, Phantasmo & Ishimori vs. Eagles & Ospreay for the IWGP jr. tag titles and Ibushi vs. KENTA with the Tokyo Dome title shot at stake.
226
227If Ibushi wins this, and does put it up a second time at King of Pro Wrestling, Evil, who also beat him in G-1, would be most likely to get that shot.
228
229The final show, the big one, is Destruction at the Kobe World Memorial Hall on 9/22 at 3 a.m. Eastern. The Young Lions matches, which are likely to determine the overall winner, are Umino vs. Fredericks and Narita vs. Connors. The rest is Nagata & Tsuji & Uemura vs. Nakanishi & Coughlin & Richards, Makabe & Honma & Henare vs. Fale & Yujiro Takahashi & Owens, Tanahashi & Liger & Tiger Mask & Romero vs. Suzuki & Sabre& Kanemaru & Douki, Ibushi & Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi & Ospreay & Eagles vs. KENTA & Tonga & Loa & Ishimori & Phantasmo, Okada & Sho & Yoh vs. Sanada & Evil & Bushi, Goto vs. Takagi (likely with the winner getting a title shot at some title, and Goto vs. KENTA is a natural feud) and Naito vs. White for the IC title.
230
231The most concerning thing on the show was the Never title match where KENTA beat Ishii for the title. There were spots in this match that were perhaps the most heated of anything on all three shows. But it was in other ways, the most off the rails match of the weekend as well. Ishii game KENTA a German suplex, and he got up and was out of it. It was clear he didn’t know what he was doing for a while and the match fell apart. He did get it back together and won the title after a GTS, as was the only logical result since the KENTA turn was so strong they needed to have him follow with a big title win. But even after, when he got on the ropes, he nearly hurt himself when he lost balance.
232
233KENTA went to the hospital but he checked out okay. While he appeared knocked out, they ruled he didn’t have a concussion and will be missing no dates. The problem is he showed multiple symptoms as the match was going on. The concussion situation is a cultural thing. In the U.S., because of the publicity from what has happened with older wrestlers, football players, fighters and hockey players, our sports world has changed. While New Japan rarely does chairs to the head, it’s not even in the mentality that if a guy gets a concussion you would stop the bout. The reality is, WWE hasn’t done it either because of the idea it ruins the show and the plans based on not completing the finish. Stopping goes against the mentality of every top-tier Japanese star, and most top-tier American stars. But, after it appeared he was knocked out, not only was the match not stopped, but they did the match as planned, including multiple exchanges to the head. In watching it over, it should be noted what a great worker Ishii is, as it did appear he was slapping the hell out of a concussed guy, but he was taking a lot off the power in a manner that unless you looked closely, you wouldn’t notice. But still, if it is feared a wrestler has a concussion, like with a football player or hockey player, or fighter, you take them out of the game immediately to prevent any chance of a more dangerous second one that can lead to more long-term problems.
234
235Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Zack Sabre Jr. to win the British heavyweight title in the semi, as the two had yet another of their series of excellent matches. As opposed to a fight, these two came across like two guys doing a believable grappling match using both real and classic pro wrestling moves.
236
237The live show was a mess of technical issues on FITE TV. The feed kept going out over and over again. The announcers weren’t audible at times. In the poll, the New Japan show would have had 100 percent thumbs up, because every middle and down person noted it was for the technical issues, not the wrestling. It left fans very unhappy watching, particularly when at first FITE said it would allow free replays but wouldn’t offer refunds. When the show aired a few days later on New Japan World, the problems were mostly fixed except no announcing in the opening match and their sound was low early in the show, but it was all fine by the third match. Actually no announcing was a positive because the live crowd was so loud, that noise made it more exciting than commentary.
238
2391. Rocky Romero & Sho & Yoh beat Ryusuke Taguchi & Ren Narita & Shota Umino in 8:19. Taguchi was really over with this crowd. We were told this was the hottest crowd in the modern era for a show outside Japan. The lack of commentary made the heat feel like it was on fire. Really just your usual good opener with all solid workers. Very hard hitting. Narita slapped the hell out of Sho. Sho came back on him, winning with a German suplex and power bomb into double knees, the power breaker, on Narita. ***
240
2412. Kota Ibushi & Juice Robinson beat Hikuleo & Yujiro Takahashi in 8:46. Crowd was again so hot. Ibushi used a running knee and kamagoye on Hikuleo for the pin. ***
242
2433. Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles beat IWGP Jr. Tag champs Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo in 10:36 in a non-title match. Ospreay got a gigantic response, but his response was still less than Tanahashi, Okada and Suzuki got later in the show. Eagles did a running flip dive on both. Ospreay just did a 43:00 main event the night before. He still did a middle rope moonsault t the floor on Ishimori and springboard elbow on Phantasmo for a near fall. Ospreay was unreal in this match. In other words the sun rose for another day in the year 2019. The finish saw Ospreay use the Oscutter on Phantasmo and Ospreay & Eagles did a double top rope Spanish fly on Ishimori for the pin. Ospreay & Eagles asked for both a jr. tag title shot and Ospreay also challenged Phantasmo to come after his IWGP jr. title. ***3/4
244
2454. Tetsuya Naito & Sanada beat Jay White & Chase Owens in 12:59. The crowd went crazy for the paradise lock. They went to near falls. Sanada beat Owens using the spinning skull end. After the match, White laid out Naito and Sanada with chair shots. They teased a repeat from Long Beach, but Naito made a comeback and laid out White with the destino. Naito then covered White and counted his pin. **1/4
246
2475. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa retained the IWGP tag titles over Aussie Open, Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher in 12:56. In technical wrestling, you can see Davis & Fletcher aren’t as polished as the New Japan guys, but they made it up for it hard and smart work. Fletcher sold early after Jado hit him with a kendo stick. Loa did a long vertical suplex on him and then put him down with a jackhammer. Fletcher did a tope on both guys. Jado hit Davis with a kendo stick, but Davis, the power guy of the team, no sold it and took the stick away until he was jumped by Loa. Loa did a diving head-butt and Tonga a splash off the top on Fletcher but he kicked out. Fletcher did a flip plancha off the top to the floor on Loa, although was a little farther away than Fletcher was landing and barely broke the fall and Fletcher landed on his ass on the floor. Loa laid out Davis with apeshit and then Loa did a double-team power bomb off the middle ropes on Fletcher for the pin. I could easily see Aussie Open going to Japan and being in this year’s tag team tournament. ***3/4
248
2496. KENTA pinned Tomohiro Ishii to win the Never openweight title in 20:16. This was the most face vs. heel match on the show. They were trading shots and the crowd went nuts for the trades. This was building to be maybe the best match on the card. Then it fell apart. KENTA used a German suplex on Ishii, who got right up and gave KENTA one. KENTA landed on his head and was wobbly and lost at 11:30. Ishii threw about ten worked head-butts on him right away, with the idea he saw the guy was out, and head-butts make for a great move to explain it. You really saw thinking on his feet how brilliant Ishii was here, but he couldn’t save it because KENTA was lost. Ishii slapped him around, just barely taking it off. KENTA came back. Ishii did a botched suplex spot since KENTA wasn’t there. They ended up on the ground, both sitting on the ground with their legs folded like Katsuyori Shibata and slapping each other. Tonga & Loa came out. Ishii suplexed Loa. Ishii had KENTA pinned bu Tonga pulled the ref out of the ring. That stuff is so stupid in a title match. Loa powerslammed Ishii and they gave Ishii the magic killer when the ref was down. Tonga & Loa threw the ref in, but Ishii kicked out. The place went nuts. Ishii kicked out of a strike, but then KENTA hit the GTS for the pin. **½
250
2517. Hiroshi Tanahashi pinned Zack Sabre Jr. to win the British heavyweight title in 17:39. They pointed out that these two have had six singles matches with each winning three. The crowd was way behind Tanahashi even though Sabre is from the area. This was the typical great mat wrestling match you’d get from these two. It’s both not dangerous and really entertaining. Tanahashi did the twist and shout and sling blade for a near fall. He went for the high fly flow, but Sabre got his knees up and moved into a triangle. Tanahashi escaped and hit an inverted dragon screw. Sabre got a near fall with the European clutch but Tanahashi came back with a dragon suplex and won with the high fly flow. ****
252
2538. Kazuchika Okada retained the IWGP heavyweight title over Minoru Suzuki in 33:53. They did a lot of forearm exchanges. Both were over like crazy, the combo of both the fans going crazy but also having crazy charisma. The crowd was into a happening. They cheered both guys, a few times there were light boos for Okada, but they loved both guys but were rooting for the title change. It came off as a battle of wills and refusal to go down from elbows. Both refused. Suzuki then put his hands behind his back and told Okada to hit him as hard as he could. Suzuki wouldn’t go down. Okada then put his hands behind his head and told Suzuki to do the same thing. Suzuki nailed him and Okada would sell but refuse to go down, or even go to the ropes. Suzuki eventually hit him so hard he went down and the place went nuts. He went for the Gotch piledriver, but Okada escaped and hit the neckbreaker over the knee. Okada hit a dropkick and went for the choke. Fans did boo that thinking Okada was stealing Suzuki’s move. Suzuki, at 51, hit a high dropkick. Okada hit the rainmaker, but collapsed and held onto the wrist. He hit a second rainmaker, and went for a third but Suzuki slapped him. Suzuki went for the choke. Okada hit the dropkick to the back of the head and another to the front. The finish saw Suzuki try La Mistica, but Okada blocked it in mid-move, hit a spinning tombstone piledriver and rainmaker for the pin. After the match, they set up Okada vs. Sanada for Sumo Hall. ****½
254
255Clash of Champions currently has 11 matches likely, a few of which are question marks after this week’s television.
256
257The company shot at angle for Roman Reigns vs. Erick Rowan, with Rowan saying that he was the guy who masterminded and did the attacks on Reigns. The storyline, as it ended, was done to make you think Daniel Bryan ha nothing to do with it. We do know that last week Reigns vs. Bryan was on the Clash schedule. We don’t know at this point if Vince McMahon, in rewriting TV, changed it to Reigns vs. Rowan, or the announcement of that match is a red herring. One person in the company with knowledge of the lineup joked that they don’t know, and he wasn’t sure that anyone but Vince at this point knew.
258
259The way the angle was shot on TV with Rowan laying out both Reigns and Bryan almost felt like a Bryan turn, and seemed far too strong a physical angle for a red herring announcement so I’d go with the idea of Reigns vs. Rowan as the match. What that means for Bryan, and all the announced Reigns vs. Bryan matches all over the world, is anyone’s guess.
260
261With a minor tweak to the cruiserweight title match, and a Big E & Xavier Woods vs. Revival Smackdown tag title match that was pitched a few weeks ago and has been built up on television, but hasn’t been announced, most of the bouts on the original card are now in play.
262
263The other new match not yet announced is Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss defending the women’s tag titles against Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville most likely. Rose & Deville won a non-title match on the 9/3 Raw show in Norfolk and the announcers brought up the titles. Last week a women’s tag title match was scheduled for the show but the participants weren’t finalized. No other team has done anything with Cross & Bliss other than women already booked elsewhere on the show.
264
265Announced matches are Seth Rollins vs. Braun Strowman for the Universal title, Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton for the WWE title, Strowman & Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode for the Raw tag titles, Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks for the Raw women’s title, Bayley vs. Charlotte Flair for the Smackdown women’s title (the idea her is that Bayley is now a heel and Flair is now a face in this program after Bayley’s turn on Monday and what was produced as a Flair turn on Tuesday, but who knows how the crowd will play this out, especially with next week being New York), Drew Gulak vs. Humberto Carrillo vs. Lince Dorado for the cruiserweight title, Shinsuke Nakamura vs. The Miz for the IC title, and the King of the Ring finale.
266
267The King of the Ring semifinals take place on 9/9 and 9/10 in Madison Square Garden. The Raw side has Samoa Joe vs. Baron Corbin vs. Ricochet, while the Smackdown side has Chad Gable vs. Elias. Joe was on Smackdown and they teased a match with Gable. They’ve positioned Gable strongly as an underdog. Really just about any combination is viable from the five left.
268
269Shakeups that had been brewing took place on 9/4 on the WWE writing teams.
270
271The writing teams have been split up, just as the Raw and Smackdown rosters will be after mid-October when the next talent draft take place. The idea is to do two exclusive shows, with exclusive head executives working on their brand, exclusive writing teams, exclusive talent and exclusive announcing teams.
272
273The major news coming out of this is Ryan Ward, who had been the lead writer for NXT when most felt the brand was at its peak, before being moved to the main roster, is out. The official term is that Ward is taking a personal leave, a term I was told was accurate.
274
275Ed Koskey, a Vice President of Creative Writing with the company, who has been with the company for more than 18 years and has been a key writer for more than a decade, is taking over as the lead writer for Smackdown. He’ll be working for Eric Bischoff.
276
277The change does have to do with Vince McMahon, nearly every week, believing that he had to rewrite the shows, which he hasn’t been doing with Raw, which Koskey has been the head writer of working under Paul Heyman.
278
279Jonathan Baeckstrom is the new lead writer of Raw. Baeckstrom graduated from Notre Dame in 2012 and started with WWE in August 2013 as a writer’s assistant. Since November 2016, he was the lead writer of 205 Live, although he had been unofficially off that show in recent weeks as he was recruited to the Raw side by Heyman.
280
281Chad Barbash has been the defacto lead writer in recent weeks for 205 Live, and is now officially in that position.
282
283The 8/31 NXT U.K. Takeover show featured one of the best matches in company history, with Walter retaining the NXT title in the main event over Tyler Bate.
284
285It was a classic big-man, little-man match, but telling the story that the little man has enormous strength. Of course from a logic standpoint it’s backwards in the sense his attempts at using strength failed early, and then his back was worked on, but they worked late. But that’s pro wrestling babyface psychology to elicit pops. The two went 42:11 before Walter got the pin with a running clothesline.
286
287The sold out crowd of 3,600 at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales, was hot across the board. The main event started slow, but solid. At no point did they lose the crowd. It was pure storytelling with a few dangerous spots, but not that many.
288
289On a weekend with three major shows, it’s funny that the WWE produced show had the most minor league look with the darker arena and overall feeling like a lower level of star power and charisma of the performers. The show was put on as a counter for the New Japan show in London. The work wasn’t as polished as the New Japan show, which was really evident watching one after the other. But as much as people raved about the New Japan crowd, this crowd felt just as hot, and they pleased their crowd, and their main event had the best storytelling and they had two title changes and put local guys over for the tag belts.
290
291The other two titles changed hands with Kay Lee Ray taking the women’s title from Toni Storm and Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews, who are both from Wales, winning the tag titles in a three-way over champs Zack Gibson & James Drake, and Mark Coffey & Wolfgang. The crowd was hot for the Wales duo, and I don’t think they expected them to win, which made their strong showing and win come across even better. There were moments where it was rough early but there were so many big moves that got over that it didn’t affect the crowd.
292
293The Storm loss is notable. Storm is clearly one of the best and most marketable women in pro wrestling. By all rights, she should be a top figure on the main roster because she’s got the type of appeal that will translate better to the fan base than the glamour model types. Plus she can deliver in the ring. She didn’t wrestle at the tapings the next day. So the loss could be a way to move her to NXT or the main roster, although we do know that right now at this moment main roster is not the plan. But they do know about her and she’s probably got a bright future. Plus, NXT, with a two hour show, needs more quality women performers. Io Shirai is great and Candice LeRae can go with her, Bianca Belair is a super athlete with potential but not there yet, and Shayna Baszler plays her role s champion great. But Baszler and Shirai should be main roster stars right now, and while they may not be brought up soon, that’s simply not enough depth. It hasn’t been an issue since most Takeovers have had one women’s match, usually two women, and the last show had four, Baszler, Mia Yim, LeRae and Shirai. But for a weekly two hour show they need more.
294
295Cesaro worked the show in a strong prelim match over Ilja Dragunov. Cesaro and Drew McIntyre had both asked Paul Leveque if they could do something with the brand. Cesaro got to show a lot more than he does typically on the main roster, and got a big buzz coming out of the match. But as usual, that ended two days later when he was the same Cesaro on Raw.
296
2971. Rhea Ripley pinned Piper Niven after the rip tide in a match taped for next week’s U.K. TV show.
298
2992. Kassius Ohno pinned Sid Scala after an elbow, in another match taped for TV.
300
3013. Noam Dar pinned Travis Banks in 13:54. Both worked on the others’ shoulder. Match was fine. Just a normal opener. Dar won with a jumping kick and the Nova rola. **½
302
3034. Cesaro pinned Ilja Dragunov in 12:25. The crowd was super into Cesaro. People kept calling for the giant swing. Dragunov sells great. Cesaro did a 27-rep giant swing. The word was it was 40 reps. What happened is fans were chanting in cadence but they were chanting the number faster than he could do the swing, so they hit 40 and he dropped Dragunov. The crowd then gave both guys a standing ovation. Dragunov came back with a tope and coast to coast dropkick. Cesaro did a press into a GTS for a near fall. They traded near falls until Cesaro threw him in the air and hit the uppercut and followed with the neutralizer. ****
304
3055. Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster won a three-way to take the U.K. tag titles over Zack Gibson & James Drake and Mark Coffey & Wolfgang in 20:16. The crowd was immediately behind Andrews & Webster. Andrews was the star of the match and it was really about his flashy moves that caused the crowd to go crazy. He did a moonsault off the apron on Coffey. Webster & Andrews both did running flip dives on one team and then got in the ring and did the same on the other side of the ring to the other team. There was a combo knee by Webster and poison rana by Andrews on Wolfgang for a great near fall. Webster did a tope on Coffey. Andrews did a shooting star press out of the ring on everyone. Drake did a 450 on Andrews and Gibson went for te pin, but Andrews kicked out. The place went nuts for that. Wolfgang threw Coffey off the top rope onto everyone. It started to get sloppy but then Andrews did a Canadian Destroyer on Coffey. Webster hit a 450 on Drake. Andrews hit a shooting star press on Gibson and Webster pinned him. This wasn’t much as far as story, and it was just set ups for cool spots by Gibson & Webster mostly but it was perfect for this crowd. ****½
306
3076. Joe Coffey beat Dave Mastiff in last man standing match in 16:03. They did some stunts but it couldn’t follow the prior match. And really, aside from the stunts, it wasn’t that good. Mastiff whipped Coffey into the ropes and the tp rope broke. Coffey tried to jump off the middle rope and slipped off. Mastiff used cricket bat and a chain. Mastiff did a cannonball on Coffey through a table in the corner outside the ring. Mastiff went for a chair shot but Coffey punched the chair into him. A lot of missed stuff. Mastiff did a forward Samoan drop on the announcers table. Both fell off a platform through a table. Mastiff tried to push off a suitcase to get up, but Coffey kicked he suitcase away and Mastiff fell and couldn’t get up by nine. **½
308
3097. Kay Lee Ray beat Toni Storm to win the women’s title in 9:57. Storm hit Storm zero but Ray kicked out. Storm did a tope. Ray hit a flip plancha. Ra used a Gory especial bomb for the pin. ***1/4
310
3118. Walter beat Tyler Bate to retain the U.K. title in 42:11. First they built up the idea of Walter being too big for Bate. This led to a big pop when the first successful bodyslam was executed. It was almost textbook the way a simple bodyslam got that response. Bate did a tope but Walter caught him and power bombed him on the post. Bate tried an airplane spin, but collapsed under the weight, which built up for later in the match when he succeeded at it. Walter went to torturing him with a crossface, boston crab, and three quarter nelson. Bate hit the suplex and the place exploded for that. Bate really started his comeback at 23:00 with an exploder, a standing shooting star and a Toyota roll. Walter went for an exploder off the top rope but Bate attacked his fingers. Bate did an airplane spin and later a burning hammer. Bate did a tope, a running dive over the top and a German suplex. He used a corkscrew off the top for a near fall. Walter used chops and elbows and a choke suplex on the apron. Walter did a splash off the top rope for a great near fall. He used another choke suplex, hard chops and a power bomb, and Bate again kicked out. But Walter hit the running clothesline for the pin. *****1/4
312
313To the surprise of nobody, Bellator announced on 9/3 the signing of Cris Cyborg to what was called a multi-year, multi-fight contract.
314
315Bellator, without releasing terms, claimed she was signed to the largest contract of its kind in women’s MMA history.
316
317The contract is exclusive for MMA and kickboxing, which Bellator promotes, but leaves her with the ability to compete elsewhere in either boxing or pro wrestling, both endeavors she has talked at times about doing.
318
319Scott Coker, Bellator’s President, had promoted the August 15, 2009, fight with Cyborg vs. Gina Carano, which Cyborg won via first round ref stoppage to create the company’s featherweight title. The show set a television ratings record for MMA on Showtime, with the fight itself doing a 2.9 rating. It is still the second highest (behind a Fedor Emelianenko vs. Antonio Silva fight) in Showtime’s MMA history. It was the first major MMA show with a women’s main event drawing 13,976 fans to the SAP Center in San Jose, the largest crowd for a Strikeforce show that wasn’t headlined by Frank Shamrock, including shows with Emelianenko.
320
321But it was also Carano that was the draw, and the popularity of women’s MMA fell badly with Cyborg as champion once Carano left to become an actress. It was the emergence of Ronda Rousey and her signing with UFC that led to women’s MMA exploding in popularity.
322
323Cyborg, as featherweight champion, had proven to be a legitimate drawing card both as a television and PPV headliner in her three plus years with UFC. But her luster of being the best female fighter of all-time was hurt with her loss to Amanda Nunes on 12/29 in 51 seconds. But with the retirement of Rousey, it was clear Cyborg and Holly Holm were the biggest female draws in the sport.
324
325Cyborg should get an instant shot at Bellator featherweight champion Julia Budd.
326
327Cyborg is 34, but has fought more than 14 years. Her signing continues the trend of taking UFC stars that are getting up in years.
328
329Exactly where Cyborg stands is unknown. She only lost once, to Nunes, since her debut fight in 2005. And quick fights don’t necessarily tell you anything. Plus the loss was to Nunes, the best female fighter in the sport today.
330
331UFC cut bait on her as they were tired of dealing with her people, particularly after they doctored a video that made it appear that Dana White had said thing that he clearly didn’t say. UFC and Cyborg had problems dating back to late 2012, when UFC attempted to bring her in for a fight with Ronda Rousey to kick off the women’s division.
332
333She balked at signing feeling that she and Rousey were equal stars, even though Rousey’s fights with Strikeforce were drawing far more attention than Cyborg’s. Rousey was also the person to build the division around, which, in hindsight, showed UFC wanting to start the division with a fight Rousey very well could have lost, would have been disastrous for the growth of women fighting. Cyborg wanted equal money as Rousey and the same long-term deal, claiming they were both champions. In reality, at the time, Rousey was a champion but Cyborg wasn’t, having been stripped of the title for failing a steroid test. Cyborg making 135 would have been difficult, but in 2012 and early 2013, the negotiations centered around money and not weight.
334
335But for Cyborg, had she taken and won that fight, she’d have been the focal point of women fighting. For years, UFC had tried to keep the idea of the fight alive, believing Rousey vs. Cyborg could do 1 million buys, and later as Rousey got more popular, closer to 2 million buys.
336
337At first UFC signed her to keep her away from Bellator and put her in Invicta, since it didn’t want to open a 145 pound division and as Cyborg’s natural weight went from 160 to 175, the idea of her making 135 would have been terrible for her health. Rousey refused to move up, citing that she was the star and Cyborg failed a steroid test, but always agreed to face her at 135.
338
339With Invicta, the idea was she would fight, slowly change her training and diet to where her natural weight would get lower, get used to fighting at 140 and then eventually, 135 and the fight would be made. Instead, after UFC signed her to what was, by the standard of the time, a very lucrative deal, she got bigger. Privately those at UFC had told us they felt double-crossed as they wanted to make the fight, signed her with that idea of being promised she’d train down, and then not only did she get bigger, but continued to demand the fight and wanted Rousey to move up, which Rousey had said from the start she wouldn’t do.
340
341Eventually UFC brought Cyborg in, basically creating a 145 pound division to get her to fight. They would move women up from 135, who she was far larger than, and easily beat, for title fights. She lost to Nunes and a rematch would have been the biggest women’s fight possible to make.
342
343Dana White continually said Cyborg didn’t want the fight and that they wanted to make the rematch. Cyborg claimed differently. Cyborg’s contract was running out and she also wouldn’t sign a new deal. It made no sense for UFC to make Cyborg vs. Nunes while giving Cyborg a one-fight deal, as Cyborg also didn’t want a champions clause (where if she won she would have to defend her title in UFC) as she could beat Nunes, their top star and go to opposition as the top female fighter in the world. It created a impasse, but when Cyborg confronted White asking for a match with Nunes, White blamed her management, saying he’d love to make the fight. Then they released a doctored video to infer White claiming that he lied about the talks, which he never said, and at the point, White said he’d give her a release and not even bother matching outside terms or having her sit out the exclusive negotiating period.
344
345It was likely that every promotion would have wanted her. Whether she’s worth it is a different thing, although DAZN would probably be happy having a fighter like her on their streaming service.
346
347“I have worked with countless athletes over my 30–plus-years of promoting combat sports, but there is no one quite like Cyborg,” said Coker. “Her ability to excite the crowd from the moment she makes her walk to the cage is special, and having had the pleasure of promoting several of her fights in the past, I am looking forward to the opportunity of promoting her once again. Cyborg is the most dominant female fighter in the history of the sport and she will be a perfect fit here at Bellator, where champion Julia Budd and the other women that make up the best featherweight division in the world have awaited her arrival.”
348
349In researching the Harley Race era, Larry Matysik’s Wrestling at the Chase Record book was extremely valuable as a history lesson.
350
351During the Chase years (1959-1983), he listed the different NWA
352
353champions and their drawing power. Ric Flair was first, with 11 title defenses during that period and averaging 13,086 paid, which is notable because the regular arena, Kiel Auditorium, held 10,700, but business was so strong under Flair that they went to the Checkerdome frequently.
354
355Buddy Rogers had eight defenses and averaged 11,076. Lou Thesz had 16 and averaged 10,737. Dory Funk Jr. had 24 and averaged 10,703. Gene Kiniski had 20 and averaged 9,813. Pat O’Connor had nine and averaged 9,731. Race had 36 and averaged 9,243. Terry Funk had nine and averaged 8,743. Jack Brisco had 16 and averaged 8,631.
356
357The irony is that post early 1983 when the Chase era ended, Flair was, by far, the lowest drawing champion. Flair being so high and then so low really points to two things, the value of Sam Muchnick and Larry Matysik as promoters and the value of the Chase television show.
358
359When Flair stopped drawing, the key television was the Kansas City show, which was awful by comparison. Plus, after 1984, there was competition from WWF and Hulk Hogan was booked as a strong champion and Flair as a weak champion, and in a city like St. Louis, where fans were taught for decades that it was all about wins and losses, that made a big difference.
360
361But it also should be noted what a great draw Flair was and how hot their business was in that era, but it wasn’t one person. It was a mix with Flair, Dick the Bruiser, Race, King Kong Bundy, The Von Erichs and Ted DiBiase all playing key roles.
362
363But in running mostly at Kiel, Rogers, Thesz and Dory Jr. averaged close to capacity and Kiniski and O’Connor weren’t far off.
364
365Race had a lot of success as a draw and more main events in that era than anyone in history, but he was also champion at the tail end of a weak period for business overall with a recession that hurt most places.
366
367Brisco and Terry Funk were during the gas crisis era and recession years. The reality is that Brisco was a much better draw as challenger than champion, and while it sounds funny today, but in St. Louis, Dory Funk Jr. in the 70s was a significantly bigger star than Terry.
368
369Matysik also with hindsight believed that Brisco was hurt badly by not beating Dory Jr. and going through Race, which was not seen as nearly as big of a win to the fans.
370
371Race was a main event star, but beatable, but Dory had four years as champion, and Brisco beating him would be seen as a bigger win. Plus the Race win over Dory had a controversial finish, so many saw Dory as never having been beaten clean.
372
373He felt Brisco after the legendary chase, that Brisco needed that climactic win over Dory. Ironically, the nature of that in St. Louis and West Texas probably protected Dory, who was seen by many fans as the best, even when not champion.
374
375It’s funny, because by today’s standards, fans often don’t understand why Dory was made champion, yet he was a tremendous draw for four years and Paul Boesch ranked him behind only Thesz as the best world champion of his era.
376
377Regarding the issues of Race with Boesch, in Boesch’s autobiography, he noted that Race no-showed a major show in 1977 (that’s the one when he thought it was an evening show but it was an afternoon show), but the one which led to Boesch leaving the NWA was April 17, 1981, when he booked a Race vs. Tony Atlas NWA title match.
378
379That was the day Race missed the show to attend his son’s amateur wrestling tournament. Boesch said he got a call from Race, who was still in Kansas City, just before 8 p.m. that night. Boesch noted that they had a sold out crowd of 12,000 fans already in the building. In those days, promoters like Boesch and Muchnick hated not producing the advertised talent because inherently, because of the idea they were presenting a fake sport as opposed to entertainment form as many categorized it, they tried to be honest and above board in their local dealings with businesses, media and in particular fans. Both used the term customers, and in the case of Muchnick, the term “mark” was a dirty word and banned from usage in his office.
380
381Boesch rearranged the show to do an eight-man tournament with the winner to be recognized in Houston as NWA champion with Atlas, Dory Funk Jr., Terry Funk, Gino Hernandez, Scott Casey, Ivan Putski, Tank Patton, and the eventual winner, Wahoo McDaniel.
382
383He then called Jim Barnett and his friends at the NWA and demanded they take the title from Race. As it turned out, Race was losing to Dusty Rhodes in June and his run was ending. At that time the idea was to not have a long-term champion, but use Rhodes, Ric Flair and Ted DiBiase and revolve the belt around those three. As it turned out, once Flair got the title and did so well with it, that idea changed.
384
385Boesch said when they didn’t strip Race of the title, he cut ties, thought about but decided against suing, and then brought in Nick Bockwinkel (AWA champion) for his world title matches for the next few years. He also sold a percentage of the company to Bockwinkel, so he’d sure to give Boesch the dates he needed even ahead of big AWA cities and Bockwinkel had enough stroke as champion that Verne Gagne allowed it. At the time, Bockwinkel was 45 years old and looking at retiring. He said at the time his view was that he would wrestle a few more years, and then move to Houston and figured that he and Peter Birkholz (Boesch’s nephew who worked for Boesch) would run the city together and that would be his post-wrestling job, owning his own city. But obviously the business changed greatly over the years and guys like Bockwinkel, and Race, for that matter, who were owners of percentages, as well a people like Watts, no longer had what they expected they would have as work going forward.
386
387Later, Boesch had his run where he aligned with Mid South Wrestling and Bill Watts. Watts was also not an NWA member, but because his territory was doing so well, he worked with Jim Crockett and Dusty Rhodes to get dates on Flair, and in doing so, Flair as NWA champion worked regularly in Houston for a few years.
388
389The situation with Race and Kerry Von Erich in St. Louis was little bit off in our first Race story. It did happen but it wasn’t the Flair vs. Bruiser match that was affected, but the even more famous Flair vs. Brody match.
390
391Race costing Von Erich a big match is that booker Larry Matysik was wanting to push Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich at the Checkerdome on February 11, 1983, coming off the Christmas 1982 match in Dallas at Reunion Arena where Kerry was screwed out of the title as World Class aired in that market in syndication.
392
393The plan was to give Kerry the Missouri title and have him beat Race to set up the Flair match. Race refused to put over Von Erich (he never lost a singles match at the arena to any Von Erich) in St. Louis, saying he didn’t want to be like Jack Brisco who usually came in to put over somebody and give him credibility as a new star. Race was co-owner by that point so he could dictate. There was heat with Matysik, who was booking, because Race on February 11,1983, put over Giant Baba clean in St. Louis, in a PWF title match, a result that benefitted Race’s personal business with Japan since Baba was his boss and wanted to win the title in a key U.S. city, and St. Louis had that aura of being one of the two big cities along with New York in wrestling when it came to Japan.
394
395But this did nothing for St. Louis business, since Race was a big star in the city and Baba wasn’t, and Baba also wasn’t coming back while Race was on top on many shows.
396
397Race did agree to give Kerry the title to lead into the Flair match, but only via title can change hands via DQ. Matysik felt that would be too weak a finish and opted for Brody for the match with Flair, who was really the more over of the two in the market. He felt Brody cold going after Flair would mean more than Kerry. The booking compromise was that after Kerry got the Missouri title, he’d go on a winning streak in the market and get a title shot at the Checkerdome in June. That didn’t happen because after the February 11 show, Matysik quit the promotion, started his own promotion, and his promotion ended up getting the Checkerdome date in June.
398
399Matysik noted the record gate Flair vs. Brody did was with no angle at all, just the power of how over the two were at the time in the market.
400
401It also should be noted that while Bruno Sammartino was huge in the Northeast, and Dusty Rhodes was big because of his talking and charisma, and eventually Flair became the guy in the Carolinas, as far as somebody who went all over the world regularly (the NWA wrestling world being much of the U.S., much of Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand) Race was probably the second biggest star to Andre the Giant. And in the major markets, the world title meant more than Andre, but Andre was a much bigger draw in smaller markets. Race, during the peak of his career, owned a percentage of both the Heart of America (Kansas City) promotion as well as St. Louis. Sam Muchnick always owned 51 percent of St. Louis, but had different partners dating back to when he and Lou Thesz merged their businesses in 1949.
402
403Gust Karras, Bob Geigel, Bill Longson and Pat O’Connor were the minority partners when Karras passed away and Race bought the stock from his family. Muchnick was strongly against it, and didn’t know about the deal ahead of time. He felt the stock should have been offered to Verne Gagne, Fritz Von Erich or Vince McMahon Sr., with he idea that if they had a financial interest, they would send their top talent to St. Louis as opposed to all the minority partners being from Kansas City.
404
405This meant that the booker, O’Connor, who worked in Kansas City along with the minority owners would want to book as much Kansas City talent as possible. That made sense from their standpoint as since Muchnick paid a high percentage (32 percent) to talent and the city consistently drew well, that and Madison Square Garden, which grossed the highest but didn’t run as often, were the best payoff places, particularly for headliners. That helped Kansas City
406
407HARLEY RACE ST. LOUIS RECORDS
408
409 
410
411Source: Larry Matysik’s St. Louis Record book
412
413 
414
415A listing of Harley Race main events and championship matches on major shows in St. Louis during the Wrestling at the Chase era of St. Louis. During the 70s and into the early 80s, St. Louis was considered by many as the wrestling capital of North America for quality of talent, and nobody headlined more shows in that city during that era than Harley Race.
416
417 
418
419May 14, 1971: Race no contest Dick the Bruiser to retain Central States title (8,791)
420
421June 18, 1971: Race beat Dewey Robertson to keep Central States title (11,259 over flow crowd, Dory Funk Jr. vs. Johnny Valentine for NWA title was actual main event)
422
423August 20, 1971: Race beat Dick the Bruiser via count out to retain Central States title (9,862)
424
425September 17, 1971: Race beat Cowboy Bob Ellis to retain Central States title (9,381)
426
427October 1, 1971: Dory Funk Jr. beat Race with Lou Thesz as referee to retain NWA title (10,106)
428
429October 15, 1971: Race no contest Pat O’Connor to retain Central States title (9,110)
430
431November 5, 1971: Race beat Pat O’Connor to retain Central States title (11,912 over flow crowd; Dick the Bruiser vs. Blackjack Lanza & Bobby Heenan in a handicap match was actual main event)
432
433November 19, 1971: Race beat Jerry Brisco to retain Central States title (12,614; Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jack Brisco for NWA title was the actual main event)
434
435December 3, 1971: Rufus Jones beat Race non-title after being final two in a Battle Royal (8,037)
436
437January 1, 1972: Race beat Jerry Miller to retain Central States title (11,305 over flow crowd; Dory Funk Jr. vs. Rufus Jones for NWA title was actual main event)
438
439January 14, 1972: Race beat Johnny Valentine (6,189)
440
441February 4, 1972: Central States champion Pat O’Connor beat Race (9,716)
442
443August 18, 1972: Jack Brisco beat Race (7,747)
444
445September 22, 1972: Race beat Dick the Bruiser via knee injury and referee stoppage to retain Missouri State title (7,143)
446
447October 13, 1972: Race beat Pat O’Connor to retain Missouri State title (10,881 sellout; Dory Funk Jr. vs. Gene Kiniski for NWA title was actual main event)
448
449November 3, 1972: Race beat Archie “The Stomper” Gouldie to retain Missouri State title (6,644)
450
451November 17, 1972: Race drew Johnny Valentine over 60:00 in non-title match (5,515)
452
453December 1, 1972: Race beat Guy Mitchell to retain Missouri State title (8,702; Dory Funk Jr. vs. Rufus Jones for NWA title was actual main event)
454
455January 5, 1973: Dory Funk Jr. beat Race via count out to retain NWA title (11,116 over flow crowd)
456
457January 19, 1973: Johnny Valentine beat Race for the vacant Missouri State title (10,750 sellout)
458
459April 27, 1973: Gene Kiniski beat Race via DQ to retain Missouri State title with Joe Louis as referee (10,387)
460
461May 18, 1973: Gene Kiniski beat Race in a no DQ match to retain Missouri State title (8,138)
462
463June 15, 1973: Race drew Bruno Sammartino 60:00 to retain NWA title with Lou Thesz as referee (10,043)
464
465October 19, 1973: Race drew Dory Funk Jr, 45:00 to retain Missouri State title (6,042)
466
467November 2, 1973: Race beat Gene Kiniski to retain Missouri State title (6,071)
468
469December 7, 1973: Race beat Black Angus Campbell to retain Missouri State title (7,412)
470
471January 4, 1974: Jack Brisco beat Race via DQ to retain NWA title with Pat O’Connor referee (7,930)
472
473January 18, 1974: Race beat Ron Fuller to retain Missouri State title (4,862)
474
475February 1, 1974: Jack Brisco beat Race to retain NWA title with Pat O’Connor referee (9,479)
476
477February 15, 1974: Race drew Billy Robinson 45:00 to retain Missouri State title (9,462)
478
479March1, 1974: Race double disqualification Dick the Bruiser to retain Missouri State title (7,387)
480
481April 5, 1974: Race beat Pat O’Connor in a Texas death match (10,854 sellout)
482
483May 3, 1974: Race beat Cowboy Bob Ellis to retain Missouri State title (7,408)
484
485May 24, 1974: Dory Funk Jr. beat Race to win Missouri State title (8,365)
486
487August 24, 1974: Johnny Valentine beat Race (7,659)
488
489February 21, 1975: Race beat Dory Funk Jr. to win Missouri State title (4,299)
490
491March 7, 1975: Race no contest Johnny Valentine to retain Missouri State title (9,675)
492
493March 21, 1975: Johnny Valentine bear Race in non-title Texas death match (11,250 sellout)
494
495April 4, 1975: Race drew Bobo Brazil to retain Missouri State title (7,759; real main event was Jack Brisco vs. Edouard Carpentier for NWA title)
496
497April 18, 1975: Race beat Johnny Valentine to retain Missouri State tile (7,564)
498
499May 2, 1975: Race beat Terry Funk to retain Missouri State title (6,912)
500
501May 16, 1975: Race beat Edouard Carpentier to retain Missouri State title (4,447)
502
503June 6, 1975: Race no contest Rocky Johnson to retain Missouri State title (7,635)
504
505August 22, 1975: Race drew Rocky Johnson 60:00 to retain Missouri State title with Pat O’Connor referee (5,164)
506
507September 5, 1975: Race no contest Dick the Bruiser to retain Missouri State title (5,512)
508
509September 19, 1975: Dick the Bruiser beat Race in non-title Texas death match (7,447)
510
511October 17, 1975: Race beat Jerry Oates to retain Missouri State title (4,740; real main event was Bruno Sammartino vs. Stan Stasiak for WWWF title)
512
513November 7, 1975: Race beat Red Bastien to retain Missouri State title (4,233; real main event was Bruno Sammartino vs Dick Murdoch for WWWF title)
514
515November 21, 1975: Race beat Sailor Art Thomas to retain Missouri State title (7,811; real main event was Jack Brisco vs. Rocky Johnson for NWA title)
516
517January 2, 1976: Race drew Rufus R. Jones in non-title match (10,290; real main event was Terry Funk vs. Pat O’Connor for NWA title)
518
519February 6, 1976: Terry Funk beat Race to retain NWA title (9,132)
520
521March 12, 1976: Race beat Lord Al Hayes to retain Missouri State title (9,608)
522
523March 26, 1976: Bob Backlund beat Race via DQ in non-title match (8,510; real main event was Terry Funk vs. Jack Brisco for NWA title)
524
525April 9, 1976: Race drew Pat O’Connor in non-title match(4,848; real main event was Dick the Bruiser vs. Blackjack Lanza)
526
527April 23, 1976: Bob Backlund beat Race to win Missouri State title (7,567; real main event was Terry Funk vs. Dick the Bruiser for NWA title)
528
529August 27, 1976: Race beat Bob Backlund via DQ with Pat O’Connor referee so Backlund retained Missouri State title (4,785)
530
531September 10, 1976: Bob Backlund beat Race to retain Missouri State title in lumberjack match (5,262)
532
533November 5, 1976: Race beat Dory Funk Jr. (6,979)
534
535November 26, 1976: Terry Funk beat Race to retain NWA title (9,238)
536
537February 11, 1977: Race beat Superstar Billy Graham to retain NWA title (7,576)
538
539March 4, 1977: Race double count out Superstar Billy Graham to retain NWA title (9,232)
540
541April 22, 1977: Race beat Ernie Ladd to retain NWA title (8,125)
542
543June 17, 1977: Race beat Jack Brisco to retain NWA title via ref stoppage (6,720)
544
545August 12, 1977: Race drew Dory Funk Jr. to retain NWA title (8,192)
546
547October 7, 1977: Race beat Dory Funk Jr. to retain NWA title (7,168)
548
549November 18, 1977: Race beat Ivan Koloff via ref stoppage to retain NWA title (6,102)
550
551January 6, 1978: Race beat Dick the Bruiser to retain NWA title (10,500)
552
553February 18, 1978: Race drew Rocky Johnson 60:00 to retain NWA title (10,052)
554
555April 7, 1978: Race beat Terry Funk via ref stoppage to retain NWA title (9,450)
556
557June 16, 1978: Race beat Dick Murdoch to retain NWA title (6,586)
558
559August 11, 1978: Race double count out Dick the Bruiser to retain NWA title (10,804 sellout)
560
561October 6, 1978: Race beat Ric Flair via count out to retain NWA title (9,130)
562
563November 24, 1978: Race beat Ted DiBiase via ref stoppage to retain NWA title (10,500)
564
565December 8, 1978: Dick the Bruiser beat Race in non-title cage match (9,998)
566
567January 5, 1979: Race beat Dick the Bruiser via count out to retain NWA title (9,812)
568
569February 23, 1979: Race beat Ric Flair to retain NWA title (10,100)
570
571March 23, 1979: Race beat Bruiser Brody to retain NWA title (8,946)
572
573April 27, 1979: Race beat Ted DiBiase to retain NWA title (9,675)
574
575June 15, 1979: Race beat David Von Erich to retain NWA title (11,000 sellout)
576
577August 10, 1979: Race beat Dick Murdoch to retain NWA title with Verne Gagne referee (7,995)
578
579October 5, 1979: Race beat Bruiser Brody to retain NWA title (8,565)
580
581November 23, 1979: Race beat Gene Kiniski to retain NWA title (8,672)
582
583December 7, 1979: David & Kevin Von Erich beat Harley Race & Dick Murdoch (6,790)
584
585January 4, 1980: Race drew David Von Erich 60:00 to retain NWA title (11,055 sellout)
586
587February 22, 1980: Race beat Kevin Von Erich to retain NWA title (8,681)
588
589March 28, 1980: Race double count out Ric Flair to retain NWA title (10,781 sellout)
590
591April 25, 1980: Race beat Ric Flair to retain NWA title (10,196)
592
593June 13, 1980: Race beat Rocky Johnson via ref stoppage to retain nWA tile (9,546)
594
595August 8, 1980: Race beat Ken Patera to retain NWA tile with Lou Thesz as referee (10,420)
596
597October 3, 1980: Race beat David Von Erich to retain NWA title (15,464, set city’s all-time gate record)
598
599November 7, 1980: Race beat WWF champion Bob Backlund via DQ in title vs. title match (7,896)
600
601January 2, 1980: Race beat Ken Patera to retain NWA title (8,580)
602
603February 6, 1981: Ted DiBiase beat Race via DQ so Race retained NWA title (9,840)
604
605March 20, 1981: Race beat Dick the Bruiser to retain NWA title (10,822 sellout)
606
607April 24, 1981: Race drew Ric Flair 60:00 to retain NWA title (8,465)
608
609June 12, 1981: Race beat Ted DiBiase to retain NWA title (16,088, set city’s all-time gate record)
610
611September 11, 1981: Race beat Kerry Von Erich (10,985 sellout)
612
613October 2, 1981: Ric Flair drew Race 60:00 to retain NWA title (18,055 sellout, set all-time city gate record)
614
615January 22, 1982: Race beat David Von Erich (8,450)
616
617February 19, 1982: Andre the Giant & Terry Funk double disqualification Race & Crusher Jerry Blackwell (11,093 sellout)
618
619April 30, 1982: Dick the Bruiser beat Race via count out to retain Missouri State title (9,775; real main event was Ric Flair vs. Gene Kiniski for NWA title)
620
621August 27, 1982: Dick the Bruiser no contest Race to retain Missouri title (4,328)
622
623September 17 1982: Race beat Dick the Bruiser in a cage match to win Missouri State title (9,561)
624
625October 8, 1982: Race beat Ric Flair by winning only fall in 60:00 but NWA title didn’t change hands (17,002)
626
627November 5, 1982: Butch Reed beat Race via DQ and Race retained Missouri State title (4,113)
628
629January 1, 1983: Kerry Von Erich beat Race via DQ so Race retained Missouri State title (11,029 sellout; real main event was Ric Flair vs. Butch Reed for NWA title)
630
631January 21, 1983: Kerry Von Erich beat Race via DQ in a title can change hands via DQ match to win Missouri State title (5,425)
632
633February 11, 1983: Giant Baba beat Race to win PWF title (16,695, set all-time gate record; real main event was Ric Flair vs. Bruiser Brody for NWA title)
634
635From here we only have Race results in St. Louis, not necessarily main events nor attendance figures
636
637February 25, 1983: Race & Greg Valentine double disqualification with Dick the Bruiser & Bruiser Brody
638
639March 11, 1983: Race beat Rick Martel
640
641March 25, 1983: Race & Greg Valentine double count out Bruiser Brody & David Von Erich
642
643April 29, 1983: Race beat David Von Erich
644
645May 13 1983: Race beat Crusher Blackwell to win Missouri State title
646
647June 10, 1983: Race beat Ric Flair to win NWA title
648
649August 5, 1983: Race beat Ric Flair to retain NWA title
650
651October 8, 1983: Hulk Hogan beat Race via DQ so Race retained NWA title
652
653December 9, 1983: Race drew David Von Erich so Von Erich retained Missouri State title
654
655January 6, 1984: Race beat David Von Erich to win Missouri State title
656
657February 3, 1984: Wahoo McDaniel beat Race via DQ
658
659March 10,1984: Wahoo McDaniel beat Race in strap match
660
661March 30,1984: Race beat Wahoo McDaniel in no DQ match
662
663April 13, 1984: Ric Flair beat Race to retain NWA title
664
665May 11, 1984: Race & Stan Hansen beat Wahoo McDaniel & Barry Windham
666
667May 22, 1984: Race beat Curt Hennig
668
669July 13, 1984: Race double count out Wahoo McDaniel
670
671August 3, 1984: King Parsons beat Race via DQ
672
673August 24, 1984: Race beat King Parsons via count out
674
675September 14, 1984: Ric Flair beat Race to retain NWA title
676
677October 26, 1984: Rick Martel drew Race 60:00 to retain AWA title
678
679November 16, 1984: Jerry Blackwell beat Race to win Missouri State title
680
681January 4, 1985: Race drew Bob Sweetan
682
683February 15, 1985: Blackwell no contest Race in Missouri State title match
684
685March 29, 1985: Race beat Johnny Mantell
686
687April 19, 1985: Race beat Butch Reed
688
689June 21, 1985: Race beat Bobby Duncum via count out
690
691August 2, 1985: Race beat Jerry Blackwell to win Missouri State title
692
693September 20, 1985: Ric Flair beat Race to retain NWA title
694
695January 1, 1986: Ric Flair no contest Race to retain NWA title
696
697February 8, 1986: Race beat Ric Flair in non-title cage match
698
699August 29, 1986: Race beat Brian Blair, Junkyard Dog and Ricky Steamboat to win WWF Sam Muchnick tournament
700
701September 27, 1986: Race beat Tito Santana
702
703November 30, 1986: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith beat Race & King Kong Bundy
704
705February 28, 1987: Roddy Piper & Junkyard Dog & Ricky Steamboat beat Race & Randy Savage & Adrian Adonis
706
707June 13, 1987: Hulk Hogan beat Race to retain WWF title
708
709November 7, 1987: Race double count out Jim Duggan
710
711July 14, 1990: Sting & Lex Luger beat Race & Barry Windham via DQ
712
713September 8, 1990: Race beat Wendell Cooley
714
715recruit better talent since they didn’t draw well and it was a territory largely for guys on the way up looking for experience, or guys on the way down, but almost everyone wanted to work St. Louis, both for the pay and the prestige and just how professional wrestling was treated there.
716
717 
718
719When you look at the late 70s, before the arrival of people like Flair, Brody, DiBiase and The Von Erichs, you had the heavy Kansas City influence with attempts to make headliners of people like Bob Sweetan, Bob Brown and Ox Baker and match quality and attendance suffered.
720
721Still, Race’s record in St. Louis is so impressive viewed with hindsight. He never lost unless it was to another Hall of Fame caliber wrestler, and a win over Race almost always meant a world title shot for the guy who beat him. Race was always a win from a world title shot when he wasn’t champion. And when he was, as you can tell by the repeat business with people he had worked with, as a general rule a second meeting should decline, but with Race, very often the opposite happened. His ability to have a great match with almost anyone goes without saying. But the ability to come back repeatedly with the same opponents and often do better the second or third time is a real talent. Race started coming in as a star in 1969, and didn’t get his first true main event until 1971, but Muchnick from the start said that he was somebody who wouldn’t get over instantly, but once he got over, he would get the fans to respect him to where he’d say over. Still, even Muchnick would have been hard pressed to predict just how much staying power he would have on top in the market. Muchnick felt that the company bylaws were such that he should have to approve of any new partners, but also felt making a legal issue out of this wouldn’t have been good for the reputation of wrestling. Plus, Race had been a consistent top draw and making it a legal issue would mean it would get out that Race had bought into the promotion as a co-owner, which wasn’t good for the credibility of the wrestling industry to the public, not to mention Muchnick never wanted anything to the media locally looking like the wrestling business was having a power struggle or the idea of him going to court.
722
723It’s the reason that Jerry Jarrett always went to great lengths to keep quiet that Jerry Lawler was his partner, and why, to the public, Martin Thesz, Lou’s father, was always listed as the promoter. In Detroit, they always portrayed Frances Fleser (the Sheik’s father-in-law but the relationship was a secret) as promoter rather then the idea Sheik was undefeated and always champion because he was the owner.
724
725However, a few years later, when Longson, who worked in the office, wanted to retire and sold his stock, Muchnick took charge and he sold to Gagne, who could help send talent. But from 1976 on, Race as part owner, and with O’Connor as his business partner, helped in regard to his career win-loss record.
726
727Race was generally a good draw as compared to others. Bruiser was the biggest draw, and the championship generally but not always drew the biggest houses, usually the exception being Bruiser in a grudge match with the right opponent. Bruiser was a territory owner and while he did get some of his talent booked in St. Louis, the Indiana group also didn’t have the talent, at least after it went down in the late 70s when Bruiser got old and wouldn’t step aside. Muchnick and Matysik always protected Bruiser, which is where guys like Race and Dick Murdoch, who were two of the best workers, and later Flair fit in. Unlike many of the people Bruiser used on top in his own territory, solid heels, they weren’t world class guys who could make him still come across as Bruiser when he was in his 50s.
728
729But when you look at Race’s results against the younger talent like The Von Erichs, Brody and other, particularly when he wasn’t champion, he got them all over on television with angles that made them headliners, but in the end, he wasn’t losing to them, always citing he didn’t want to be like Jack Brisco. In hindsight when you look at Race vs. David, it was a huge program that drew well. When Race was champion, obviously he couldn’t put David over, but after 1981, when he lost the title, he never put David over and eventually after so many repeat matches, David’s drawing power was hurt. He also would never put Kerry over clean at a time when Kerry could have become a super draw, because of his unique charisma and appeal to women, that nobody else in the business had to that degree by 1982. But on the flip side, Race did in matches make his opponents look better than they would have otherwise, so it was a double-edged sword. And in the end, whether Race put over David or Kerry, in the end, history was going to play out the way it did for him and the city.
730
731Once Muchnick retired and Geigel and the Kansas City guys were in charge, it was inevitable. Matysik being booker and running the office until early 1983 kept it strong, but once he was out, they had no understanding of what made the city click.
732
733They would have fallen quicker if not for Flair being such a charismatic champion and Kerry and Brody being such great contenders that those two matches were able to do sellouts until they went to the well so many times and burned them out. Once that happened, they were down to drawing 1,000 to 2,000.
734
735They were also hurt by WWF coming to the city in late 1983 with Hogan, although after a good first series of shows, WWF was drawing poorly by 1986 as well. The city was taught a specific style and the fan base wasn’t getting it. Ironically, in time, it was still a wrestling city and WWF became the style the younger fans learned.
736
737While Matysik was always frustrated later in life, because the popularity of wrestling in the city paled in comparison to that glory period of much of the 60s, as well as the early 70s, the late 70s and early 80s. He would always point out that their St. Louis style never died with the fans, it was killed by promoters who tried to give the fans what they didn’t want.
738
739But the reality was, Vince McMahon was running nationally and couldn’t cater to what fans in individual markets had grown up with and thought wrestling was.
740
741And if Muchnick was younger and didn’t retire, which came two years before McMahon expanded, in the long run, the result would have been the same, although McMahon probably would have not picked St. Louis as his first major market for expansion and it probably would have taken years for him to draw well in the city.
742
743Muchnick himself, in 1986 or 1987, told Matysik after attending a WWF show that WWF had changed the business so much over the previous few years that “our style,” the sports presentation, the very limited angles and lack of emphasis on interviews, would no longer work.
744
745UFC China
746
747By Ryan Frederick
748
749History was made at the UFC's 8/31 event in Shenzhen, China as Weili Zhang became the first Chinese fighter to become a UFC champion, winning the UFC Women's Strawweight Championship in stunning fashion with a 42-second TKO win over Jessica Andrade.
750
751Zhang, who could be found as big as a two-to-one underdog, hurt Andrade with a right hand and then unloaded a barrage of elbows and knees in the clinch that had Andrade in tons of trouble. Zhang then dropped her with a right hand and it was all over from there as Leon Roberts stopped it.
752
753The reaction was huge in the arena. The company is hoping for Zhang to be their breakthrough star to the Chinese market, and they got off to a good start with this win. They've opened a Performance Institute in Shanghai, and they've been recruiting Chinese fighters to train there. There is a big push in the market, and Zhang's championship win has already started her skyrocket in the country.
754
755It is now 20 straight wins for Zhang since losing her first professional fight, one of the best streaks in the sport.
756
757It almost wasn't meant to happen, either. The original plan for this show was for Zhang to face Michelle Waterson. However, Waterson's camp turned down the fight, partly in hopes for a title fight, partly because she didn't want to return until the fall, and partly because she would find herself in a no-win situation as Zhang didn't have a big name and was a dangerous fight to take for someone looking for a title shot.
758
759She wasn't the only fighter to turn down fights with Zhang, and the matchmakers, recognizing this and the fact the company was ready to make the big push in the market, decided to get Andrade's first title defense against Zhang. Andrade had just won the title in May from Rose Namajunas, so her title reign was short-lived at 112 days.
760
761Dana White, who was at the show along with Ari Emanuel (which shows just how important they viewed this show internally), talked post-fight about Zhang's first title defense coming in the United States. While on the surface that seems like a terrible idea given Zhang's newfound popularity in China, the reality is that the UFC only comes to China once a year, and they would want her to fight more than once a year. There is always a lot that goes into putting together an event in China, and getting a card filled up here is much easier than over there.
762
763The likely challenger for Zhang's first title defense will come from the winner of the 10/12 fight between Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Waterson. If Waterson wins, that will be four straight wins for her, and she is one of the most popular and well-known fighters in the company. A win by Jedrzejczyk, while she has lost three of her last four, would be two straight at 115 pounds, and by virtue of being a long-time champion in the division and a well-liked fighter inside the company, she will get chances where others wouldn't. The only two other options at the moment would be Rose Namajunas, who may or may not be retired, but isn't fighting soon at the least, or Tatiana Suarez, who is still battling a neck injury and her time table for returning is up in the air.
764
765One of the more anticipated fights on the card was the co-main event between Li Jingliang and Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos. Jingliang is a popular Chinese fighter, probably their most popular up until this weekend, who has been on a solid streak of wins and finishes. Zaleski had been one of the more dangerous fighters in the welterweight division, with seven straight wins coming into the show, but he was also having trouble getting fights with top contenders, because they knew just how dangerous he was.
766
767They had one of the more exciting fights on the show, with lots of hard shots landing throughout. Jingliang had Zaleski in trouble more than a couple of times, before finally dropping him with an uppercut late in the third round and finishing Zaleski with just seconds left in the fight. The crowd went wild and Jingliang continues his rise up the welterweight rankings.
768
769Overall, the show was entertaining. There weren’t any blow away fights, but there was good action throughout the show.
770
771The crowd was very good and behind all of the Chinese fighters, as you could expect. The reactions to the wins by both Zhang and Jingliang were very loud. They were also very familiar with a lot of the fighters making their UFC debuts, which was a good sign for the market.
772
773There were a couple of issues with fighters on the show during weigh-in day. Wu Yanan missed weight by three pounds for her fight against Mizuki Inoue, which was scheduled for 125 pounds. Mizuki, who is well-known among hardcore fans, was making her UFC debut on short notice as an injury replacement. Mizuki won their fight, gaining an extra 30% of Yanan's fight purse.
774
775A featherweight bout between Movsar Evloev and Lu Zhenhong was cancelled shortly after weigh-ins. Both men made weight, but Zhenhong, who was taking the fight on just over a week's notice, was pulled from the bout after suffering a cut sometime during the week.
776
777The show at the Shenzhen Universade Sports Center Arena drew 10,302 fans. No gate was announced.
778
779The main card aired on ESPN+. The prelims aired on ESPN from 3 AM to 6 AM eastern time, a very unusual time slot for live UFC fights on television. There couldn't have been many viewers for the show as the prelims didn't even show up in the top 150 rated programs for Saturday. There wasn’t a lot of interest in the show, but that was to be expected. Nothing showed up on Google searches, and social media action seemed limited to the hardest of hardcore audience.
780
781The $50,000 bonuses went to Ataleng Heili and Danaa Batgerel for Fight Of The Night, while Weili Zhang and Li Jingliang got the Performance Of The Night bonuses.
7821. Karol Rosa (12-3) beat Lara Procopio (6-1) via split decision on scores of 28-29, 30-27 and 29-28 in a women's bantamweight fight. Both ladies were making their UFC debuts. Rosa was outstriking Procopio early in the first and wobbled her with a right hand. Both landed a lot of strikes in the first but it wasn't the prettiest striking. Rosa landed better shots and I gave her the first. They were trading again in the second and it was again sloppy. Procopio was landing better and got some hard kicks in. I had the second for Procopio, but both rounds were close. They were trading again and Rosa dropped Procopio but she got up. They were trading and Rosa was defending takedowns. Rosa got the better on the feet and I had the fight 29-28 for Rosa. All media scores had it for Rosa. It was sloppy but entertaining.
7832. Alateng Heili (13-7-1) beat Danaa Batgerel (6-2) via unanimous decision on scores of 29-27, 29-27 and 29-27 in a bantamweight fight. Both men were making their UFC debuts. The crowd was really into this fight. They were trading and landing in the first. Heili landed a hard right hand that rocked Batgerel. Both landed good shots. I had the first for Heili. It was more trading in the second and Batgerel was getting the better of it, and he got a late takedown and I gave him the second. Batgerel's left eye looked horrible at the end of the second. They were trading hard shots in the third and Heili was scoring on some takedowns. He got a late one and both were landing on the ground as the fight ended. I had it 29-28 for Heili. All media scores were for Heili. This was entertaining as well.
7843. Damir Ismagulov (19-1) beat Thiago Moises (12-4) via unanimous decision on scores of 30-26, 30-27 and 30-27 in a lightweight fight. It was lots of trading in the first and Ismagulov was landing with more volume and started landing heavy kicks towards the end of the first before dropping Moises late. Ismagulov won the round. Ismagulov was chopping away at the lead leg with kicks and unloading with his hands. Moises tried for takedowns but they were getting defended. They traded good shots late. I had the second for Ismagulov but closer. Ismagulov was putting on a striking clinic in the third just teeing off at all openings and keeping Moises out of range. Ismagulov had a huge speed edge in the third and outlanded Moises big time. I had the third for Ismagulov and the fight 30-27 for Ismagulov, and all media scores had the fight for him. He looked real good scoring his 14th straight win here.
7854. Da-un Jung (12-2) beat Khadis Ibragimov (8-1) in 2:00 in the third round in a light heavyweight fight. Another fight with two men making their UFC debuts. Ibragimov was landing big punches in the first minute going for the knockout but Jung's chin held up. Jung was landing the jab but then Ibragimov landed a left hand and was throwing more big punches but Jung's chin held up again. Ibragimov was cut open at the end of the first and looked to have punched himself out. He still won the first. Ibragimov's eye was a mess in the second and both men were landing power punches. Ibragimov was gassed out. He was going for takedowns but Jung was defending as he kept losing his mouthpiece. Ibragimov ended the round on top and I scored the second for him despite his gassing out. They clinched in the third and Jung had a standing guillotine choke locked in and Ibragimov tapped out. This was entertaining for what it was but very sloppy.
7865. Sumudaerji (12-4) beat Andre Soukhamthath (13-8) via unanimous decision on scores of 30-26, 30-26 and 30-25 in a bantamweight fight. There was lots of clinching in the first and Soukhamthath was complaining about Sumudaerji grabbing his gloves. They broke and Sumudaerji landed some nice punches. He landed good late and I had the first for him. They traded in the second and Sumudaerji was getting the better of the combinations. Soukhamthath wasn't getting his combos working but landed some good punches. Sumudaerji was showing good footwork in landing and Soukhamthath's face was a mess. Second round was for Sumudaerji. Soukhamthath broke his left hand and started the third looking for a takedown but Sumudaerji was using his footwork and striking to keep him away. Sumudaerji got a takedown and was landing big from the top. He dominated from the top for the rest of the fight. I had it 30-27 for Sumudaerji and all media scores were for him. He looked good here.
7876. Anthony Hernandez (7-1 1 NC) beat Jun Yong Park (10-4) in 4:39 in the second round in a middleweight fight. They were trading early and Hernandez got a takedown and was trying to take the back but they got up. Park dropped down for a guillotine but Hernandez got the back as they stood. Hernandez applying all sorts of pressure gave him the first. Park landed some good punches to start the second and Hernandez took him down. Hernandez kept pressure with takedown attempts and got Park on the ground and was on top and in control landing. Hernandez then locked in a combination guillotine-anaconda choke and got Park to submit.
7887. Mizuki Inoue (14-5) beat Wu Yanan (10-3) via split decision on scores of 28-29, 29-28 and 29-28 in what was scheduled to be a women's flyweight fight. Yanan missed weight for the fight and Mizuki was making her UFC debut on short notice. The first round was all on the feet and both landed. Mizuki was applying more pressure but it was pretty even on the feet and close. I had it for Mizuki. The second round was much like the first with lots of exchanges on the feet but neither woman taking complete control as it was close again. Mizuki was closing the distance better. I had it 20-18 for Mizuki after two. The third round was again all on the feet. Yanan was landing more but Mizuki was coming forward more and landed the more significant blows. It was close all around. I had it 30-27 for Mizuki. Media scores were 89% for Mizuki and 11% for Yanan.
7898. Song Kenan (15-5) beat Derrick Krantz (24-12) via unanimous decision on scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 29-28 in a welterweight fight. They traded on the feet in the first round and both landed some good punches, but neither got the edge on the other until Krantz landed a couple of big punches late. Close, but I had it for Krantz. Krantz got a takedown in the second and was working on top but Kenan escaped. Krantz got another takedown and Kenan reversed to the top to loud cheers. The striking was pretty even. I had the second for Krantz, but again close. Kenan was landing big punches in the third but Krantz kept getting takedowns whenever he was in trouble on the feet. Krantz was on top but Kenan was able to sweep to the feet. Krantz was exhausted and Kenan was landing but unable to get the finish as he was tired as well. I had the third for Kenan, and the fight 29-28 for Krantz. Media scores were 27% for Kenan and 73% for Krantz, so this seemed like a robbery, but it was really close. This was another entertaining fight.
7909. Kai Kara-France (20-7 1 NC) beat Mark De La Rosa (11-3) via unanimous decision on scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 in a flyweight fight. They were battling for takedowns and De La Rosa had one but they got up and Kara-France slammed him to the ground and landed a couple of big punches. They were pretty even on the feet and De La Rosa got a late takedown but they got right up. Close first round but I had it for De La Rosa. Kara-France dropped De La Rosa in the second but let him up. Kara-France kicked his legs out and De La Rosa went down again but right back up. De La Rosa was pressuring Kara-France but Kara-France was landing big punches and unique kicks. Second round for Kara-France. They were trading and Kara-France landed two nice body shots that hurt De La Rosa and he started teeing off but De La Rosa weathered it. De La Rosa was landing quick strikes but Kara-France was landing heavier strikes. I had the third for Kara-France. This was close overall, but I scored it 29-28 for Kara-France. This was a good fight.
79110. Li Jingliang (17-5) beat Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (21-6) in 4:51 in the third round in a welterweight fight. The crowd was crazy for Jingliang. It was back-and-forth in the first with neither getting a clear edge. Jingliang hurt Zaleski with an uppercut at one point. Jingliang dropped him late with a right hand but Zaleski got right up into the clinch. That got Jingliang the first. Jingliang landed a big right hand to start the second. It was more back-and-forth action with both landing. Zaleski was getting wild with his punches but was landing them. Jingliang slowed a little looking for openings and Zaleski was more active. Close second round and I had it for Zaleski. Zaleski was throwing wild strikes in the third and backing Jingliang up. They traded some hard punches. Jingliang got a brief takedown and then Zaleski slipped and they eventually clinched. Zaleski was trying to find a finish but Jingliang used his movement to keep out of range. Jingliang then dropped Zaleski with an uppercut and Zaleski was in trouble and Jingliang landed some more punches to get the finish with just seconds left. He was likely going to get the win but this was a great finish to a fun fight.
79211. Weili Zhang (20-1) beat Jessica Andrade (20-7) in :42 to win the UFC Women's Strawweight Championship. They were trading early and both women were in trouble. Andrade came out really aggressive and kept her hands low, which was a bad sign for her. Andrade landed a punch and then Zhang landed a right hand that hurt Andrade. Zhang then started landing elbows in the clinch and then switched to landing knees and Andrade was badly hurt and went down after a right hand and Zhang finished her off in less than a minute. The crowd went ballistic and it was a huge moment.
793
794Australian wrestling legend, Norman Frederic Charles Lowndes, known as Sir Norman Frederich Charles III of the Royal Kangaroos tag team for the high point of his career, passed away in Milton, FL, on 8/22, after a battle with cancer. He was 78.
795
796Charles & Lord Jonathan Boyd teamed regularly from 1971 to 1977, holding a number of different tag team championships, including a brief run as the West Coast based world tag team champions for Roy Shire in 1976. They were best known as the premier tag team of the early-and-mid 70s in Oregon, where they held the Pacific Northwest tag team titles six times between 1971 and 1976.
797
798The team clicked because Boyd was one of the best promo guys of the era, and Charles III did a good job playing a somewhat insane partner. In many ways, the Charles act was the one Luke Williams took as Boyd’s sidekick after the team broke up and Boyd & Williams became the second version of The Sheepherders, a team from New Zealand as opposed to Australia.
799
800Charles wrestled from 1963 to 1983. He worked independents in Australia before starting in 1966 as a prelim wrestler for World Championship Wrestling in Australia, but actually only worked one match that year before becoming a regular with Jim Barnett’s promotion in 1968.
801
802He came to the U.S. as a single in 1971, working for Leroy McGuirk and Bill Watts’ Championship Wrestling in what later became the Mid South territory.
803
804Boyd was there, working under his real name of Johnny Boyle, but the two were not a team. The two were billed as cousins, like all the Sheepherders/Kiwis teams were claimed to be in that era, and even after they split up and were no longer wrestling Charles claimed the two were legitimately distant cousins, although many believe they were not related.
805
806They knew each other before either started pro wrestling, training wrestling together at Al Morgan’s gym in Sydney.
807
808They had teamed together in Australia but never got a push and neither was a major star. They weren’t major stars, both working underneath as singles, when they started in North America.
809
810But in getting together in Oregon, they came up with the idea of The Royal Kangaroos, a takeoff of the most famous Australian tag team of all-time, The Fabulous Kangaroos (Al Costello with various partners, with Roy Heffernan as the most well-known). They claimed they asked and got permission from Heffernan to use the name.
811
812Boyd left for Oregon in April, and because he could talk and work, he was given a shot and became an immediate star. He was quickly working on top against the circuit’s biggest stars like Lonnie Mayne, Stan Stasiak, Beauregarde, Jimmy Snuka, Cowboy Frankie Laine and others. He even got a shot at Dory Funk Jr.’s world title in Salem, OR, after a short time in the circuit and before Charles arrived. He contacted Charles for his idea for a tag team, like the original Kangaroos, using a boomerang as a gimmick to hit opponents with behind the referees back.
813
814The team debuted on the July 10 television tapings in Portland, beating the area’s long-time top heel tag team, Kurt & Karl Von Steiger, to win the Pacific Northwest tag team titles. They headlined for about a year, with memorable title matches with Dutch Savage & Snuka, Mayne & Tony Borne and Savage & Beauregarde. They were such the dominant heels that Boyd, the star of the team, also twice held the Pacific Northwest heavyweight title.
815
816They headed to the Carolinas, where they headlined as one of the key heel tag teams in a tag team territory, and stayed there through the end of 1973. They went to work for Ann Gunkel’s All South Wrestling in Georgia in 1974, holding the tag team titles twice. They also captured the South Pacific version of the World tag team titles in 1974, defending them in Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, Numea, Western Samoa and parts of Africa. They returned to Oregon in late 1974 with another run as the area’s leading tag team, mainly wrestling in a main event feud with Savage & Snuka. They also had a heel vs. heel feud with Bull Ramos & Jesse Ventura. Another key was the bounty hunter angle where they were so over as heels that one of the sponsors supposedly put up money to bring in the top talent from around the world to go after them with the idea of running them off, which included bringing in stars like Dory Funk Jr., Mad Dog Vachon and Don Leo Jonathan.
817
818At one point, after doing an interview sayings things derogatory about the American flag, the two were actually kicked out of the U.S. and forced by the FBI to leave Oregon, and get on a flight to British Columbia, where they were going to be sent back to Australia. At the time both had families living in Portland. It took four days to sort things out, with the help of promoter Don Owen, before they could return.
819
820They left for San Francisco and had a brief run as world tag team champions. Boyd was known for doing interviews with rhymes and poetry, bragging about their country, their flag, which they would use as a weapon, and claiming to have been champions in 37 different countries, while Charles would act like a maniac and just scream, “37.”
821
822They won the belts on September 18, 1976, from Pat Patterson & Tony Garea, before losing them in a heel vs. heel match with the Valiant Brothers, Jimmy & Johnny, on December 4, 1976.
823
824Then they left for Stampede Wrestling in 1977. After holding the International tag team titles, they split up, with Charles staying in Stampede as a single, as British Commonwealth mid-heavyweight champion, which he won three times and traded and worked regularly with a young Bret Hart and Dynamite Kid. He even taught Hart how to blade, which Hart became one of the best in the business at doing in a hiding manner. He also held the tag team titles with The Cuban Assassin after Boyd went back to Oregon as a single for a few years before joining Williams in 1981, as the replacement for Butch Miller, who returned home to Australia.
825
826Charles wrestled his last run in Oregon in 1980, but without Boyd doing the talking, didn’t get a push and was gone quickly. He went to the U.K., where he used the name Wild Red Berry, an ode to the famous wrestler and manager of the same name, who was the great talker who brought the original Kangaroos tag team to prominence in the 50s.
827
828Charles last run as a headliner was in 1983. He first worked for Southeastern Championship Wrestling, where he held both the Alabama heavyweight title and the U.S. junior heavyweight title. He then went back to Stampede Wrestling to form a heel tag team with Athol Foley (billed as the son of heel manager J.R. Foley, with the name Athol to lead to fans chanting “asshole” at him, in reality he was Bernard Wright, the brother of legendary technical star Stephen Wright), doing a program with Bruce Hart & Davey Boy Smith. When Charles got the call to come to Georgia, he gave notice, split up the team with Foley, and put him over on the way out.
829
830His last short run with a U.S. promotion was when Georgia Championship Wrestling in 1983 started a second circuit to run in the Georgia markets when the main crew with Dusty Rhodes, Tommy Rich, Ric Flair and the other stars were working Atlanta, and mostly Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia, which were drawing better at the time than Georgia. Charles III & Carl Fergie were put together as a heel team by booker Bill Dundee, and managed by Jim Cornette, working programs with The Fantastic Ones (Terry Taylor & Bobby Fulton) and Brett Wayne (Brett Sawyer) & Stray Cat (Ken Wayne Peale). As that idea for a second circuit was ditched, shortly before leaving, Charles III & Fergie lost a prelim match to newcomers Ricky Rood (Rick Rude) & Arn Anderson.
831
832In the book “Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams,” by Greg Oliver and Steve Johnson, the Royal Kangaroos were listed as one of the 25 greatest tag teams of all-time.
833
834Born in Droylsden, England (now part of Manchester) in 1941, the Lowndes family emigrated to Australia when Norman was a boy. He made his debut in 1963, wrestling on the club circuit of promoter Hal Morgan. This promotion was forerunner to modern day independents, using mostly the wrestlers who became well known as the jobbers/prelim wrestlers of WCW.
835
836He wrestled as Murphy the Surfie, directly copying the Gorgeous George gimmick, right down to having a valet who sprayed the ring (not to mention the referee and his opponent) with perfume. The name came from a hit song in Australia during the early 60s. He soon became one of the top heels in this promotion. He later changed that to Murphy the Magnificent in 1969, while working for WCW, believed to be on the advice of Gary Hart, since the name better fit his gimmick.
837
838He made his TV debut on October 15, 1966, not in WCW but on the short-lived "Club Wrestling" program at South Sydney Junior Leagues in a tag team match which saw himself and the late Keith Thompson against Steve Craig and New Zealand's Albert Dunn (also now deceased). He headlined this show most weeks for the two months it was on air.
839
840He made his debut for WCW at Sydney Stadium six days later, again facing (and defeating) Steve Craig. He was not used regularly late 1968. He started getting something of mini-push in 1969 with a series of wins over fellow jobbers (including Bill Dundee). His talent was recognized by Hart who began managing him. While he still largely had to do jobs to big name foreigners, the matches were higher on the card and more competitive. He was also partnered with name foreign heels such at Pat Patterson against teams of name babyfaces.
841
842After the promotion's hiatus due to the death of Johnny Doyle, his career stagnated. In May, 1970 he debuted in England under the name Maurice LaRue, essentially using the same gimmick. He met most of the major names including Mick McManus, Jackie Palo, Johnny Kwango and Kendo Nagasaki.
843
844Boyd was well known for his eccentric behavior. By 1978, Norman had enough and the team split, citing creative differences. He also worked in the Vancouver, Tennessee and Gulf Coast territories but always returned to Stampede.
845
846In 1981, he returned England, this time using the name Wild Red Berry as a wrestler and manager of Big Jim Harris (Kamala in WWF). He his outfit was more colorful, over the top version of that worn by the original Fabulous Kangaroos and the name was of course taken from their manager, the original Wild Red Berry. He again worked with most of major names of the period, being one of the many victims of Big Daddy.
847
848Norman returned to North America, again mainly working in Stampede with stints the same territories mentioned above. He retired in 1983 and lived in Milton, Florida for the rest of his life.
849
850He worked as a merchant seaman and later worked in a water treatment plant, before retiring and living a life filled with fishing, golfing and playing with his grandchildren.
851
852Charles said that Boyd was a true artist, temperamental, irrational, prone to fits of anger and bossy, but also said he was the best uncle John that his son ever had.
853
854He was a regular at Gulf Coast reunion, where for a time he was on the board of directors, reciting poetry and singing Country and Western duets with Penny Banner.
855
856Thanks to Graeme Cameron for help with this biography
857
858Smackdown on 9/3 did 2,130,000 viewers, which was up 2.0 percent from the prior week.
859
860The Daniel Bryan storyline and King of the Ring were focal points to keeping ratings above what had been the level since post-Mania, which is a good sign since a few months ago it looked like they were going into FOX with no momentum. The show was only down 8.2 percent from the same week one year earlier.
861
862The show did an 0.33 in 12-17 (down 5.7 percent from last week), 0.45in 18-34 (up 9.8 percent), 0.85 in 35-49 (down 2.3percent) and 0.98 in 50+ (up 2.1 percent).
863
864The audience was 63.1 percent male in 18-49 and 47.1 percent male in 12-17.
865
866Raw on Labor Day on 9/2 did a 1.70 rating and 2,507,000 viewers (a huge 1.66 viewers per home). The huge increase in viewers per home is likely due to families being together for Labor Day.
867
868Homes watching were down 5.0 percent from last week, but the viewer drop was only 0.8 percent, which I’d view as a good thing. Raw was also going against Notre Dame football that did 5,599,000 viewers on ESPN, but with the news shows not doing their usual original programming on Labor Day, Raw was second for the night behind only the football. The NFL starts next week, but Raw is doing a major show from MSG with Steve Austin, so I don’t think the NFL will take the rating down in week one.
869
870As compared with last year’s Labor Day show, the rating was down 12.8 percent and audience was down 12.5 percent.
871
872The old pattern returned with the big third hour drop, with an 11.6 percent drop from the first hour to the third hour. It’s not the level of drops they were doing pre-Heyman, but it’s larger than they’ve been doing of late.
873
874As far as the drop by demos, Women 18-49 fell 15.3 percent from hour one to three, Men 18-49 fell 6.1 percent, teenage girls fell 14.4 percent and teenage boys 21.1 percent whle over 50 fell 12.4 percent.
875
876As far as the segments went, the show opened strong with the first 30 minutes being the high point of the show. The peak was Braun Strowman & Seth Rollins vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson. It stayed steady after a small drop, with a major drop for the Viking Raiders squash falling about 250,000 viewers. It picked back up about 250,000 viewers for Samoa Joe vs. Ricochet. It then dropped for the Firefly Funhouse, and then had a drop of about 375,000 viewers for Cesaro vs. Miz and the beginning of Becky Lynch & Bayley vs. Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss. There was a gain as the match and closing angle took place but even that was the second lowest rated segment of the show.
877
878The first hour did 2,638,000 viewers which is a very good number, especially by today’s standards for 8 p.m. on Labor Day. It says that they ended last week with interest. The second hour fell to 2,557,000 viewers and the third hour did 2,326,000 viewers.
879
880The show did a 0.37 in 12-17 (down 7.5 percent from last week), 0.55 in 18-34 (up 1.9 percent), 1.11 in 35-49 (up 4.7 percent) and 1.07 in 50+ (down 4.5 percent).
881
882The audience was 67.1 percent male in 18-49 and 64.1 percent male in 12-17.
883
884Straight Up Steve Austin, directly after Raw, did 1,097,000 viewers, up 11.1 percent from last week due to Becky Lynch being his guest, which is the best guest he’ll have this season to keep the wrestling crowd.
885
886The retention rate from hour three of Raw was 54.0 percent in Women 18-49, 56 percent in men 18-49, 64 percent in teenage girls and 66 percent in teenage boys, but only 41 percent in over 50. That’s a pretty strong case considering the show aired at 11 p.m. on a school night about Lynch having appeal with teenagers.
887
888The first AEW television show, a hype show for the All Out PPV on 8/30, did 390,000 viewers. I was told it did along the lines of what was expected in the key demo. The show was not promoted at all so I consider the number a good sign, as I’d expected 200,000 to 250,000, although it was far below the previous week in that time slot where a movie did 932,000 viewers. It was ahead of what UFC PPV hype shows were doing on FS 1 for the last several years.
889
890Based on this, I’d think the first episode of a promoted show on a Wednesday should do at least 800,000 viewers, which would make it a clear success. But as noted, it’s the spring 2020 numbers that will mean a lot more, and the key is the ability to use television to create new fans, and keep the television audience and in time, grow it.
891
892The show was 12th on cable in its time slot, ninth in 18-49 trailing two college football games (FS 1 and ESPN), live soccer on Univision Deportes, as well as programming on Home & Garden TV, The Weather Channel, The History Channel, Fox News, The Food Network, The Travel Channel, CNN and MSNBC. It was 29th for the day in 18-49 but because it didn’t draw big with the over 50 crowd, by far the largest on a Friday night, it was not in the top 100 original shows on cable overall for the day.
893
894In an interesting note, the show did great in Atlanta, where it beat what a live UFC event on ESPN would do most of the time in that city. It did fine in Dallas, Houston and Chicago. The only other market we got numbers for were Washington, DC and Philadelphia, the first markets they have television in and sold out instantly. Both markets did terrible, as in 0.1 ratings for the special. We’ve always learned the correlation between ratings and live ticket sales is not nearly as strong as one would imagine. I’d call this proof, but really this number doesn’t mean a lot because they never promoted the show and it wasn’t until the day before that anyone even knew for sure, and that would have been limited to the most hardcore of fans.
895
896It was a collection of clips building up the show that had previously aired on the different AEW streaming shows, so for the hardcore fans who did know, many of them would have seen it already. It was very good as a countdown show for those who hadn’t seen the interviews, but few of them would have known about it.
897
898As far as what it says about the audience, and again, without hyping it to their audience, I’m not sure how meaningful this is, it was very much a 35 to 49 age group watching and very little under 35, but Friday night at 10 isn’t going to be big with that age group, nor will the show be big to the core AEW audience. If they knew about it, and it wasn’t promoted strongly, they would have already seen all those clips on the streaming shows.
899
900In the different demos, it was 0.04 with 12-17, 0.07 in 18-34, 0.21 in 35-49 and 0.17 in 50+. It did 60.7 percent male in 18-49 and 48.3 percent male in 12-17.
901
902With this being a double issue, it's the third and final issue of the current set. If you’ve got a (1) on your address label your subscription expires with this issue.
903
904Renewal rates for the printed Observer in the United States are $13.50 for four issues (which includes $4 for postage and handling), $25 for eight, $35.50 for 12, $46 for 16, $69 for 24, $92 for 32, $115 for 40, $149.50 for 52 up through $184 for 64 issues.
905
906For Canada and Mexico, the rates are $15 for four issues (which includes $6 for postage and handling), $27 for eight, $38.50 for 12, $50 for 16, $75 or 24, $100 for 32, $125 for 40 issues, $162.50 for 52 and $200 for 64.
907
908For the rest of the world, the rates are $17 for four issues (which includes $9 for postage and handling), $33 for eight, $47.50 for 12, $62 for 16, $77.50 for 20, $93 for 24, $108.50 for 28, $155 for 40 issues and $201.50 for 52 issues.
909
910You can also get the Observer on the web at www.wrestlingobserver.com for $11.99 per month or $119.99 per year 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 $9.50 per set in the U.S., $10.50 per set in Canada and $13 per set for the rest of the world.
911
912All 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.
913
914All letters to the editor, reports from live shows and any other correspondence pertaining to this publication should also be sent to the above address.
915
916This 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.
917
918Fax 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
919
920For back issues of the Observer, the "Wrestling Observer Index" lists almost every issue in our history going back almost 37 years with the major headlines by the week. Besides as a guide for ordering back issues, the Index is also a great way to keep a catalog of past issues and use for historical purposes. It is available for $30 from Grant Zwarych, 151 Hart Ave, Peterborough, ON K9J 5C5 Canada.
921
922Virtually every back issue from 1982-1990 are available from him at prices listed in the Index. Issues from 1991 to present are available from us at $4 per issue. If you are ordering back issues from us, please denote back issues on the envelope to ensure the quickest response. All payments to Grant & us must be made in U.S. funds.
923
924For those who have a previous Index, the 2018 supplement is available for $5 per year in Canada, $6 in U.S. and $9 internationally. Or you can get the supplement year(s) you are missing for a minimum $50 back issue order.
925
926He also has re-issues of some of the most popular Wrestling Observer publications of the past. He has the 1983-1990 Observer yearbooks and the 1986 Wrestling Observer Who's Who in Wrestling book. Grant also has pre-Observer publications of mine, both the California Wrestling Report & the International Wrestling Gazette. For more info, you can e-mail grantxindex@nexicom.net
927
928RESULTS
929
930 
931
9328/29 Orlando (WWE NXT - 350): Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford b Chase Parker & Matt Martel, Bianca Belair b Taynara Conti, Cezar Bononi b Denzel Dejournette, Damien Priest b Danny Burch, Tyler Breeze & Fandango & Tyler Breeze b Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler, Kushida & Jordan Myles b Dorian Mak & Riddick Moss, Dexter Lumis b Daniel Vidot, Marina Shafir b Reina Gonzalez, North American title: Velveteen Dream b Kyle O’Reilly
933
9348/29 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 835): MohammedYone & Quiet Storm & Sonico b Akitoshi Saito & Masao Inoue & Junta Miyawaki, Yoshiki Inamura b Kinya Okada, Hayata & Daisuke Harada & Tadasuke & Yo-Hey b Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Kotoge & Chris Ridgeway, Takashi Sugiura & Kazma Sakamoto & Hajime Ohara & El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. b Katsuhiko Nakajima & Hi69 & Hitoshi Kumano & Minoru Tanaka, Kaito Kiyomiya & Alex Hammerstone b Naomichi Marufuji & Shuhei Taniguchi, Masaaki Mochizuki b Kenou, Go Shiozaki b Masa Kitamiya
935
9368/29 Hakodate (All Japan- 674): Hokuto Omori & Akira Francesco b Atsushi Maruyama & Dan Tamura, Jun Akiyama & Ultimo Dragon b Takao Omori & Black Menso-re, Joel Redman b Hikaru Sato, Dylan James b Yuma Aoyagi, Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa & Yusuke Okada b Zeus & Koji Iwamoto & Ryoji Sai, Kento Miyahara & Yoshitatsu b Jake Lee & Naoya Nomura
937
9388/29 Chicago (AAW Jim Lyman Memorial tournament first round - 500 sellout): Laredo Kid b Ace Austin, Curt Stallion b Joey Lynch, Eddie Kingston b Jimmy Jacobs, Myron Reed b Trey Miguel, Josh Alexander b Jake Something, Sami Callihan b Good Brother #3 (Mance Warner), Paco b Jake Atlas, Ace Romero b Willie Mack, Colt Cabana b MJF, Three-way for AAW tag titles: Mat Fitchett & Davey Vega won titles in three-way over LAX and Penta 0M & Rey Fenix
939
9408/30 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL - 13,200): Jarochita & Marcela b Dalys & Metalica, Atlantis Jr. & Audaz & Flyer b El Hijo del Villano III & Rey Bucanero & Tiger, Microman b Chamuel-DQ, Cuatrero & Sanson & Templario b Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja & Valiente, Ciber the Main Man & Gilbert El Boricua & Titan b Caristico & Mistico & Ultimo Guerrero, Volador Jr. won Grand Prix over Cavernario, Diamante Azul, Dragon Lee, Forastero, Negro Casas, Rush, Soberano Jr., Big Daddy, Delirious, Jay Briscoe, Kenny King, Luke Hawx, Matt Taven, Mecha Wolf 450 and Oraculo
941
9428/30 London York Hall (Revolution Pro - 1,200 sellout): Karl Fredericks & Alex Coughlin & Clark Connors b Kurtis Chapman & Dan Magee & Carlos Romo, Gabriel Kidd b Shaun Jackson, Rob Lias b TK Cooper-COR, Jonathan Gresham & Chris Brookes NC Dan Moloney & MK McKinnan, Sanada won six-way over Robbie Eagles, Mike Bailey, Rocky Romero, Sena Volto and Hikuleo, Tag tourney final: Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis b Sha Samuels & Josh Bodom, Cruiserweight title: El Phantasmo b Michael Oku, Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. b Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada, Company vs. loser leaves town: Will Ospreay b David Starr
943
9448/30 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Pro Wrestling Masters - 1,760 sellout): Takuma Sano b Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Dr. Wagner Jr.& Shiryu (Kaz Hayashi) & Heat (Minoru Tanaka) b Nosawa & Mazada & Fujita, Great Kojika & Kim Duk b Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Hisakatsu Oya, Shiro Koshinaka & AKIRA & Masashi Aoyagi & Akitoshi Saito b Scott Norton & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Hiro Saito, Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase & Jushin Liger b Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Osamu Nishimura
945
9468/30 Yokohama (Dragon Gate - 324): Masaaki Mochizuki & Keisuke Okuda b Don Fujii & Martin Kirby, Kagetora b Big R Shimizu, Masato Yoshino & Dragon Kid & Kaito Ishida b Kzy & Susumu Yokosuka & Yasshi, Ben K & Shun Skywalker b Naruki Doi & Jason Lee, Yamato & Kai & Yosuke Santa Maria b Eita & Takashi Yoshida & Diamante
947
9488/31 Chiba (Dragon Gate - 441): Hyo Watanabe b Jimmy, Masaaki Mochizuki & Keisuke Okuda b Kai & Kagetora, Don Fujii & Martin Kirby NC Yamato & Yosuke Santa Maria, Ultimo Dragon & Masato Yoshino & Dragon Kid b Kzy & Susumu Yokosuka & Yasshi, Ben K & Shun Skywalker b Big R Shimizu & Takashi Yoshida, Eita & Yasushi Kanda & Diamante b Naruki Doi & Jason Lee & Kaito Ishida
949
9508/31 Chicago (AAW Jim Lyman Memorial tournament - 550 sellout): Josh Alexander b Colt Cabana, Myron Reed b Laredo Kid, Eddie Kingston b Curt Stallion, Ace Romero b Paco, Josh Alexander b Myron Reed, Eddie Kingston b Ace Romero, Five-way for Heritage title: Jake Something won over Jake Atlas, Willie Mack, Clayton Gainz and Ace Austin, Penta 0M & Rey Fenix b LAX, Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel b Mat Fitchett & Davey Vega & Jessicka Havok, AAW title: Sami Callihan b Kris Statlander, Tournament finals: Josh Alexander b Eddie Kingston
951
9529/1 White Plains, NY (WWE Raw - 3,700): Ricochet b Karl Anderson, Ricochet b Luke Gallows, Cedric Alexander b Mojo Rawley, The Miz b Dolph Ziggler, Viking Raiders won three-way over Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder and Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins, Women’s tag title: Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross b Dana Brooke & Natalya, No DQ: Braun Strowman b Baron Corbin
953
9549/1 Cardiff, Wales (WWE NXT U.K. TV tapings - 1,300): Primate & Wild Boar b A-Kid & Jack Starz, Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner b Danny Jones & Harry Green, Jordan Devlin b Ashton Smith, Tegan Nox b Shax, Tag titles: Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster b Zack Gibson & James Drake, Travis Banks b Tyson T-Bone, Rhea Ripley b Debbie Keitel, Joseph Conners b Kenny Williams, Rounds match: Kassius Ohno b Sid Scala, El Ligero b Oliver Carter, Nina Samuels b Dani Luna, Norm Dar b Trent Seven-DQ, Piper Niven b Isla Dawn, Alexander Wolfe b Saxon Huxley, Non-title: Kay Lee Ray b Tegan Nox, Pete Dunne b Fabian Aichner
955
9569/1 Chicago Heights, IL (Warrior Wrestling): Soberano Jr. b Templario, Sam Adonis & Gringo Loco b Brian Pillman Jr. & Wardlow, Caristico won three-way over Ultimo Guerrero and Atlantis, Killer Kross b Tom Lawlor, Lance Archer b Alex Zayne, Austin Aries b Alex Shelley, Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix b Tessa Blanchard & Daga, Dragon Lee b Andrew Everett, WW title: Brian Cage b Michael Elgin
957
9589/1 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL): Arkalis & Halcon Suriano Jr. b Cholo & Inquisidor, Magia Blanca & Principe Diamante & Stigma b Coyote & Espiritu Negro & Principe Odin Jr., Drone & Dulce Gardenia & Fuego b Okumura & Sagrado & Virus, Valiente b Vangellys, Diamante Azul & Stuka Jr. & Volador Jr. b Matt Taven & Kenny King & Delirious, Dragon Lee & Mistico & Rush b Luke Hawx & Mecha Wolf 450 & Oraculo
959
9609/1 Sendai (Dragon Gate - 1,486 sellout): Jason Lee & Kaito Ishida b Keisuke Okuda & Hyo Watanabe, Ryo Saito won Battle Royal, Meiko Satomura & Dash Chisako & Chihiro Hashimoto b Nanae Takahashi & Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa & Yosuke Santa Maria, Kzy & Susumu Yokosuka & Punch Tominaga b Eita & Big R Shimizu & Diamante, Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi b Ben K & Shun Skywalker, Yamato & BxB Hulk & Kagetora & Kai b Ultimo Dragon & Dragon Kid & Great Sasuke & Jinsei Shinzaki
961
9629/1 London (Revolution Pro Wrestling): Carlos Romo & Dan Magee & Kurtis Chapman b Shawn Jackson & Kenneth Halfpenny & Brendan White, Sha Samuels b Carlos Romo, El Phantasmo b Sena Volto, Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis b Chris Brookes & Jonathan Gresham,. Hikuleo b Gabriel Kidd, Rob Lias b JJ Gale, Josh Bodom b Dan Moloney, Sanada b Mike Bailey
963
9649/2 Baltimore (WWE Raw - 5,500): Mojo Rawley b No Way Jose, Sarah Logan b Dana Brooke, Non-title: Seth Rollins & Braun Strowman b Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler b Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder, Lacey Evans b Natalya, Baron Corbin b Cedric Alexander, Viking Raiders b Brian Thomas & Tyler Hastings, Samoa Joe d Ricochet, The Miz b Cesaro, Non-title: Becky Lynch & Bayley b Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss-DQ, Universal title: Seth Rollins b Baron Corbin
965
9669/3 Norfolk, VA (WWE Smackdown - 4,500): Heavy Machinery b Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel, Elias b Ali, Non-title: Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville b Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss, Chad Gable b Andrade, Aleister Black b Shelton Benjamin, 24/7 title: Bo Dallas b Drake Maverick to win title, Non-title: Shinsuke Nakamura b Andrew Howard, 24/7 title: Drake Maverick b Bo Dallas to win title, 24/7 title: 24/7 title: R-Truth b Drake Maverick to win title, Mike Kanellis b Tony Nese, Akira Tozawa & Brian Kendrick b Brian Thomas & Tyler Hastings, Lince Dorado b Humberto Carrillo
967
9689/3 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (All Japan - 1,313): Yusuke Okada & Atsuki Aoyagi & Dan Tamura b Takuho Kato & Yuki Ishikawa & Akira Hyodo, Jun Akiyama & Yuma Aoyagi & Ultimo Dragon b Masa Fuchi & Osamu Nishimura & Hikaru Sato, Hellboy & Jake Lee & Koji Iwamoto b Takao Omori & Black Menso-re & Hokuto Omori, EWA IC title: Tajiri b Akira Francesco, Yoshitatsu & Joel Redman b Dylan James & Kotaro Suzuki, World tag titles: Zeus & Ryoji Sai b Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa to win titles, Triple Crown: Kento Miyahara b Naoya Nomura
969
9709/3 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL): Acero & Aereo b Pequeno Nitro & Pequeno Olimpico, Espanto Jr.& El Hijo del Signo & Nitro b Electrico & Halcon Suriano Jr. & Oro Jr., Black Panther & Blue Panther & Blue Panther Jr. b Dark Magic & Misterioso & Vangellys, Polvora b Guerrero Maya Jr., Atlantis & Audaz & Flyer b Ephesto & Mephisto & Luciferno, Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja & Volador Jr. b Cavernario & Cuatrero & El Terrible
971
9729/4 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (New Japan - 1,601): Alex Coughlin b Yota Tsuji, Clark Connors b Shota Umino, Satoshi Kojima & Michael Richards & Karl Fredericks b Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Ren Narita & Yuya Uemura, Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo & Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens b Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles & Tomoaki Honma & Toa Henare, Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi & Rocky Romero b Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa & Jado, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Ryusuke Taguchi & Sho & Yoh b Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Douki, Tetsuya Naito & Evil & Bushi b Jay White & Bad Luck Fale & Gedo, Sanada & Shingo Takagi b Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto
973
974CMLL: The 86th anniversary show takes place 9/27 at Arena Mexico with the main event being an escape the cage match with the last guy in the cage getting his head shaved. The participants are Ciber the Main Man, Ultimo Guerrero, Gilbert el Boricua, Volador Jr., Cavernario, Big Daddy and Negro Casas. At the 9/4 press conference, they acted like it was Ciber vs. Ultimo in a hair vs. hair match, but then the other guys all showed up and wanted in so they made it a cage match with everyone. Two other matches announced were Marcela vs. Dallys for the CMLL women’s title, which came from Dallys winning the women’s tournament a few weeks ago, and the first-ever micro mask vs. mask match with Microman vs. Chamuel, which has been building up for weeks. A note is that Volador in this match means he can’t be beating Matt Taven this weekend for the ROH title since the ROH title is being defended at the ROH PPV on the same night in Las Vegas. Not that anyone believes Volador is winning the ROH title. They also announced a major show on 9/15 at Arena Mexico, but didn’t announce any matches
975
976The World Grand Prix drew 13,200 fans to Arena Mexico on 8/30. Volador Jr. ended up winning. It was an elimination match. Rush beat Oraculo. Kenny King beat Forastero. Delirious beat Soberano Jr., Cavernario dumped Luke Hawx. Rush eliminated Delirious. Diamante Azul eliminated King. Jay Briscoe eliminated Azul. Rush was then DQ’d for attacking Matt Taven with weapons, so they played up their ROH feud here. Dragon Lee beat Mecha Wolf 450. Jay Briscoe then eliminated Lee. Volador eliminated Taven. Cavernario eliminated Jay Briscoe. Big Daddy (Big Daddy Yumyum) beat Cavernario. It was down to Volador, Daddy and Negro Casas. Cavernario helped Casas beat Daddy. The match had been wrestled as the foreigners vs. Mexicans, and it came down to two Mexicans Volador and Casas. Volador then attacked Casas and they went back-and-forth and Volador win. Daddy got involved. There was a lot of mic work after for different grudges and hair challenges made by Volador, Casas, Daddy and Cavernario. The other big match saw Ciber the Main Man & Gilbert El Boricua (Mil Muertes/Mesias/Ricky Banderas) & Titan over Caristico & Mistico & Ultimo Guerrero. Ciber and Gilbert were both issuing hair vs. hair challenges to Ultimo. Cuatrero & Sanson & Templario beat Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja & Valiente. They also had a micros match where Microman beat Chamuel via DQ to led to mask vs. mask challenges
977
978The next night at Arena Coliseo they did a similar main event of Mexico vs. The World with Caristico & Dragon Lee & Euforia & Gran Guerrero & Mistico & Ultimo Guerrero over Delirious & Kenny King & Hawx & Taven & Mecha Wolf & Oraculo. It came down to Guerrero and Mistico as the last two survivors. Then they did a singles match with Guerrero winning
979
980On 9/1 at Arena Mexico, with ROH team of Delirious & King & Taven lost 2/3 to Azul & Stuka Jr. & Volador Jr. when Stuka pinned Taven to win the third fall. Wonder if that leads to a Stuka title challenge being added to ROH. Hawx & Mecha Wolf & Oraculo lost to Lee & Mistico & Rush on top
981
982So, in short form, the American team lost every match on the tour
983
984The 9/6 show has Caristico & Lee & Mistico vs. Forastero & Sanson & Cuatrero in what should be a great main event, plus Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & Casas vs. Daddy & Ciber the Main Man & Gilbert El Boricua. That shouldn’t be a good match. Diamante Azul vs. Euforia is a singles bout on that show
985
986Lee will be on the anniversary show and not on the ROH PPV on 9/27. CMLL needed him for the show. ROH is trying to get him for 9/28 but nothing is finalized
987
988Euforia & Gran Guerrero beat Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja on 9/2 in Puebla to retain the CMLL tag titles. They also did more with a Dragon Lee vs. Volador Jr. program when they did a parejas increibles match on that show with Mr. Niebla & Negro Casas & Volador over Lee & Valiente & El Terrible that went two straight falls, with Volador unmasking Lee and then pinning him to win.
989
990AAA: The 9/15 show at the Hulu Theater is now a joint show with Impact. That’s strange announcing this two weeks before the show. The reason is that AAA didn’t have a license to promote in New York, so they asked for a local promotion, ended up asking Impact, which has run there many times, and Impact wanted to be part of the branding in exchange for using their license. Also, even though we’re closing in on the show, the only thing announced is Blue Demon Jr. vs. Dr. Wagner Jr., Tessa Blanchard vs. Taya for the Reina de Reinas title and the second match of Cain Velasquez
991
992A documentary is being produced on the life of Perro Aguayo Sr. for release next year.
993
994Goya Kong said she’s leaving the promotion, although she hasn’t been used in a long time.
995
996DRAGON GATE: They did a big show on 9/1 in Sendai before 1,486 fans with a main event of Yamato & BxB Hulk & Kagetora & Kai beating Ultimo Dragon & Dragon Kid & Great Sasuke & Jinsei Shinzaki in 22:51 when Yamato pinned Dragon Kid. They also had a unique match where the women from Sendai Girls, Meiko Satomura & Dash Chisako & Chihiro Hashimoto beat Nanae Takahashi & Dragon Gate male wrestlers Yosuke Santa Maria (who does a cross-dressing gimmick) & Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa (who does a jobber gimmick) when Hashimoto beat Ichikawa.
997
998ALL JAPAN: The 9/3 show at Korakuen Hall drew 1,313 fans with a main event that people were raving about with Kento Miyahara beating Naoya Nomura in 27:51 with the crossarm German suplex. I had several people say this was a ***** match. Zeus & Ryoji Sai captured the World tag titles from Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa in 19:51 wen Zeus pinned Ishikawa after a jackhammer slam. Tajiri also retained the IC title from the EWA promotion with a win over Akira Francesco.
999
1000PRO WRESTLING NOAH: The N-1 tournament isn’t faring well at the gate, as the 8/29 show at Korakuen Hall only drew 835 fans. The two singles matches were Masaaki Mochizuki of Dragon Gate beating Kenou in 16:53 and Go Shiozaki pinning Masa Kitamiya with a lariat. Right now the standings have, in the A block, Takashi Sugiura and Go Shiozaki have two wins, Alexander Hammerstone has one and Naomichi Marufuji has zone. In the B block, Mochizuki has two wins, Katsuhiko Nakajima and Shuhei Taniguchi have a win and a draw and Kenou and El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. have one win.
1001
1002NEW JAPAN: El Phantasmo issued a public apology for his calling Will Ospreay the Autistic Assassin in his promo after winning the Super J Cup on 8/25 in Long Beach. He wrote: “I’d like to address my actions after winning the Super J Cup this past (weekend). .. In the heat of the moment I called Will Ospreay `The Autistic Assassin’ and I want to say sorry to anyone that was offended by my comment. It was uncalled for on my behalf and you deserve better. Looking back I wish I didn’t say it, I promise it wasn’t scripted, it was an unnecessary way of getting cheap [heat] and I genuinely apologize if you were hurt by my words. I’ve never been comfortable on the mic, the inexperience showed and I promise to do better going forward.” It was the right thing to do give the negative reaction in a bad way the promo got. That said, it also shows how much the world has changed as heels in wrestling have said far far worse over the years
1003
1004The new tour opened on 9/4 at Korakuen Hall before a near sellout of 1,601 fans for a show where the only matches known ahead of time were the first two prelims. Sanada & Shingo Takagi beat Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto in the main event. In what was said to be a really good main event, Sanada pinned Goto with an O’Connor roll after blocking Goto’s ushigoroshi in 14:33. They also seemed to set up Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa defending the tag titles down the line against Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano. They did a post-match angle after a six-man where Ishii & Yano cleaned house, grabbed the belts and posed with them. In the two first day Young Lions tournament matches that opened the show, Alex Coughlin beat Yota Tsuji with a half crab in 10:12 and Clark Connors beat favorite Shota Umino with a crab in 6:50.
1005
1006OTHER JAPAN NOTES: A correction from last week. In the note about the Kenny Omega mixed tag match on the 11/3 DDT Sumo Hall show, Miyu Yamashita is not the Princess of Princesses champion for Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling. Omega has pushed that he wants to show how good a mixed tag team match can be with this one. She lost that title in May to Shoko Nakajima, who wrestled on the AEW show in Jacksonville. Nakajima wasn’t at All Out because she was defending her title in Osaka over the weekend
1007
1008There will be a Destroyer Memorial show on 11/15
1009
1010Keiji Muto ran a Pro Wrestling Masters nostalgia show on 8/30 at Korakuen Hall bringing back a lot of stars from the past. The main event saw Muto & Senator Hiroshi Hase (now 58) & Jushin Liger beat Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Osamu Nishimura in 20:55 when Muto pinned Nishimura with a shining wizard. In battle of Heisei Ishingun (a New Japan heel group in the 90s) and Team 2000 (the Masahiro Chono led heel group after they stopped using the NWO Japan name), Ishingun’s Shiro Koshinaka (60) & AKIRA & Masashi Aoyagi (62) & Akitoshi Saito beat Scott Norton & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima Hiro Saito. Great Kabuki, the big star of Ishingun, managed them, while Chono managed Team 2000. Great Kojika, who, except for Dory Funk Jr., is the world’s oldest somewhat active pro wrestler as best we can tell (77), teamed with Kim Duk (71) to beat Yoshiaki Fujiwara (70) and Hisakatsu Oya (who is a young guy at 55)
1011
1012DDT ran a show in Osaka on 9/1 before 678 fans. Konosuke Takeshita retained his KO-D tile beating former MMA superstar Shinya Aoki in the main event in 16:46. Daisuke Sekimoto & Soma Takao retained the tag titles beating Jiro Kuroshio & Kazusada Higuchi in 17:32
1013
1014Wrestle-1 had a big show on 9/1 at the Yokohama Bunka Gym before 1,689 fans with Daiki Inaba winning their Wrestle-1 title from T-Hawk in 24:15, while tag champs Shotaro Ashino & Yusuke Kodama beat Lindaman & Shigehiro Irie. The big thing was Keiji Muto’s 35th anniversary of his pro debut, which was on October 5, 1984. Muto teamed with Kaz Hayashi & Pegasso Luminar to beat Taru & Zodiac & X (Shuji Kondo) when Muto used the shining wizard on Zodiac
1015
1016In an interesting note, the Stardom streaming service subscribers are 70 percent outside of Japan. The U.S. is actually the biggest market, with U.K. being the next biggest
1017
1018Stardom’s Grand Prix results from 9/1 in Sendai, saw Mayu Iwatani over Avary and Tam Nakano over Momo Watanabe in the red block and Utami Hayashishita over Jamie Hayter, Konami over Arisa Hoshiki and Andras Miyagi over Kagetsu in the Blue black. Hayter, Hayashishita and Konami are tired for first in the blue block at 6, while Nakano leads the red block with six, with Iwatani Saki Kashima, Watanabe, Hana Kimura and AZM with four
1019
1020Big Japan is running Yokohama Bunka Gym on 9/15 with a death match title match with Isami Kodaka defending against Toshiyuki Sakuda and a strong title match with Kohei Sato defending against Hideyoshi Kamitani. They also have their tag tournament and a Tajiri vs. Yuya Aoki match for their jr. title.
1021
1022HERE AND THERE: Dave Bautista will be a character in the new Gears of War videogame. Bautista also complained this week regarding not being in the TV commercial for Smackdown, since he spent a lot of his career as a top guy, and sometimes the top guy of the brand. FOX started playing he commercial to build the show, using characters from the past, Austin and Rock most prominently, as well as current stars and it’s a great commercial
1023
1024Daniel Rodimer, 41, who was part of the 2004 Tough Enough show with The Miz and Daniel Puder, and was the company’s No. 1 pick for stardom out of the group, is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020 as a Republican from Nevada. Rodimer with his blond hair,6-foot-6 and 285 pound fame and bodybuilder physique giving him the Dave Draper look to Vince McMahon (Draper was a famous 1960s bodybuilder who was the poster boy in that world before losing his spot to Arnold Schwarzenegger), didn’t win, because WWE left the voting up to the fans, who picked Puder due to his angle with Kurt Angle where he got Angle in a Kimura in a shoot. There were forces in the company, including coach Bill DeMott who tried to push WWE to ignore the voting, where it was clear Puder would win, and just pick Miz, who was far more of a fan. Anyway, Rodimer was signed and sent to OVW. He cut his hair which changed his look. Still, Stephanie McMahon loved him and wanted to put him in Team RKO with Edge and Randy Orton in 2007, and giving him the name Daniel Rodman. But he decided pro wrestling wasn’t for him, and quit right before the team was going to be put into play and he was already on the booking sheets and figured in when he quit. He ended up moving to Las Vegas and got his law degree in 2013. He ran unsuccessfully for state senate in Nevada last year. The Daily Beast in an article on him brought up a 2010 arrest for misdemeanor battery at a Waffle House in Naples, FL. As the police report goes, he was at the Waffle House at 2:30 a.m., and allegedly was bothering some women and a friend of the women asked him to leave them alone and he gabbed the guy by the neck and shoved him hard t the floor, hard enough that the police noted fresh red marks all over his back and neck. He then allegedly challenged another person to a fight, was screaming that he likes to “F*** people up” until two of his friends calmed him down. Police were able to arrest him quickly because, after doing all this, he threw down his business card with his name and face on it to the women, which was how police knew to arrest him. He allegedly told police at the time that he liked to hurt people. The charge was dropped after he agreed to go through anger management. He was on Fox & Friends recently and vowed to form a tag team with Trump if elected
1025
1026AAW ran two straight nights at the Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago on All Out weekend with its Jim Lyman Memorial Cup. The 8/29 show drew a sellout of 500 fans, and the second night, with more standing room, had 550 fans. I saw the second show and it was a very good show with a great crowd, until the end. The crowd peaked with the eighth and ninth matches. The first was a Penta 0M & Rey Fenix win over LAX that I’d go ****1/4 for. It was a wild brawl all over the building with less flying than you’d normally see as Fenix was clearly both hurt and saving himself. He even talked about how much he was hurting but how much he loves the crowd, since AAW was really where both guys broke out as proving they could sell tickets and move merch in the U.S., opening the door wider to them everywhere. The second was a six-person with Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel beating the Besties in the World, Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett & Jessicka Havok. The place went nuts for every spot the larger Havok did in working with her smaller male opponents, because of the uniqueness of intergender where the woman is much bigger and thus the one doing the power moves. At one point she had two of them on her shoulders and giving them a Samoan drop. After that point, a combination of the show being long and a surprising amount of people leaving to be at the Game Changer show which started at 11 p.m. saw the crowd quiet down for the Sami Callihan AAW title defense in an intergender match with Kris Statlander, winning with a piledriver off the middle rope. This match was more about getting Callihan over as an asshole for brutalizing a woman, although they did enough to get Statlander some good offense. Josh Alexander won the tournament, beating Jake Something, Colt Cabana and then Eddie Kingston in the finals. For the most part it was a great crowd to watch a show, and the talent is strong. Perhaps the most impressive guy who isn’t a star that was there was Jake Atlas, but we’ve been talking about him for months. He’s a better worker than some people who are claimed to be among the best in the business. Jacob Fatu had a storyline but he wasn’t here due to a family issue so they had to rebook the show at the last minute. Guys like Ace Austin and Paco were impressive and the crowd loved Ace Romero. On the first night, Vega & Fitchett won the AAW tag tiles in a three-way over LAX & Penta & Fenix. Scarlett Bordeaux then turned on the Besties with the arrival of Killer Kross. The two were out together the next night with Kross playing a tough guy bully role. A lot of the guys here will be finishing. Penta & Fenix haven’t said that, but it feels inevitable. LAX is gone, once AEW starts TV. Basically this level of indies, the too big to be small and too small to be big, are pretty much going to have to rely on locals that are undiscovered, and people under contract to Impact and MLW. MJF also finished up on the first night, as they did a stip in his match with Cabana in the tournament that if he lost, he’d leave. MJF did a deal where he thought that Cabana may be his father. MJF came back after the match with Cabana I the ring to “Father of Mine” by Everclear, the two hugged, and there was a flight announcement made saying that gate for the plane to AEW is making its final call and MJF tried to pull Cabana with him to take the flight but Cabana said that MJF has to grow up and take ths journey alone. They did a final curtain call together until MJF gave Cabana a low blow. The fans gave MJF a standing ovation as he left, but Cabana then got his comeback before he left
1027
1028Warrior Wrestling ran 9/1, once AEW starts TV. the day after All Out, in Chicago Heights with a pretty loaded up show. Soberano Jr. beat Templario in a battle of CMLL guys. Soberano still had the big brace on his left shoulder from last week. Match was said to be incredible with Soberano flying all over the place. Gringo Loco came out to praise both guys, and then jumped them. Sam Adonis followed beating both down. Brian Pillman Jr. & Wardlow made the save. They noted in commentary on the broadcast that Wardlow has signed with AEW. This led to a tag match where Adonis & Loco beat Wardlow & Pillman when Adonis pinned Pillman after hitting him with a chair. Adonis played big time heel, only getting in when an opponent was down. Caristico won a three-way over Atlantis and Ultimo Guerrero when he made Guerrero submit to La Mistica. They put it over big how the CMLL heavyweight champion had submitted. Adonis & Loco attacked Caristico and Atlantis, but Soberano and Templario together made the save. Killer Kross pinned Tom Lawlor when Lawlor had Kross in a triangle and Kross power bombed him. This mixed submission and power moves. The two shook hands after the match and Kross bowed to Lawlor. Lance Archer pinned Alex Zayne using the claw. I’m surprised nobody on the U.S. scene has gotten Archer, although if he wants to stay in New Japan, that would limit him, but still MLW and ROH should go after him if not AEW and WWE. Austin Aries beat Alex Shelley via choke submission and ref stoppage. Aries had Frank Mir in his corner. Aries is training Mir for pro wrestling. Mir stood in the corner and never did anything physical. Aries then wanted to shake hands with Shelley and told him that they met 15 years ago, they helped change and business and now “we’re old.” He said Shelley still has it. Aries said that a year ago he decided to leave the business because it’s like a drug, and said he doesn’t mean that to offend people, but he did say fans were the suppliers who get him high. But he said he would continue to wrestle as long as people think he can. He said fans need to support the wrestlers of his generation and the next generation. Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix, working the day after their ladder match, beat Daga & Tessa Blanchard with the package piledriver and double foot stomp double-team move on Blanchard. They went short but it was all action. Blanchard & Daga have a double-team move where she does a codebreaker and he does a backstabber. Frank the Clown dressed up like Dude Love, to set up a segment with Mick Foley. Frank did a monologue about having dated Noelle Foley for the last five years and then took off his jacket and had an outfit like Rick Rude used to have with photos of Noelle all over it. Foley used Mr. Socko on him and then said he can predict the future and that Frank wouldn’t be having any kid and used tongs to his crotch and gave him a leg drop between the legs. Foley then brought out barbed wire, put it on Frank’s crotch and gave him another leg drop. That’s more physicality than I’ve heard Foley do in a long time. Foley poured gasoline on Frank but people stopped him from setting Frank on fire. He then convinced security to let him do it and they did. Dragon Lee pinned Andrew Everett. Main event saw Brian Cage, who is back in action after his recent stem cell treatment in Colombia, beating Michael Elgin with the drill claw to keep the Warrior title. Cage cut a promo on Sami Callihan
1029
1030Game Changer Wrestling ran at 11 p.m. show on 8/30 in Chicago. The big talk was a six-man Lucha match tore down the house. It was Laredo Kid & Ophidian & Arez vs. Black Taurus & Gringo Loco & KTB. KTB was a late sub for Rey Horus, who missed his fight. There was a lot of money thrown in. I was told it was spectacular but also sloppy but that crowd didn’t care about that. Many compared it to the PWG Lucha Libre six-man on the last show, which was one of the best PWG matches in history. From what I was told from people who saw both that it wasn’t close to the same level as far as the match went, but it did have a ton of insane high spots and the crowd reactions to both were similar
1031
1032Orange Cassidy got his back sliced up in his match with Gangrel because some broken beer bottles and light tubes broken in prior matches weren’t cleaned up well. The big news was G-Raver sliced up his arm. He was in a doors (which is the new in thing on some shows to use as prop), ladders and chairs match and took a brainbuster off a ladder and his arm ended up sliced up by a fluorescent light tube to where there was a ton of blood and they had to stop the match and get him out of there. G-Raver wrote about the experience: “I’m still not dead. Had a black out moment heading to the hospital. All stitched up and awake. However, I have damage done t the nerves of my hand making it difficult to move or feel a whole lot.” Something really bad is going to happen if this business keeps going in that direction. This business is inherently dangerous and it’s quite amazing with all the risk taken that we haven’t had more tragedies, but it’s very worrisome both the direction it’s going
1033
1034Dan Severn and Ken Shamrock who had UFC fights in 1995 and 1996, and who Severn spent years trying to get a third bout with (they were scheduled once but right before the fight Shamrock popped for steroids and was suspended and the company that put up the money for that fight was one-and-done), had a pro wrestling match on 8/31 in Sydney, Australia for BCW. Shamrock has been a regular for the group for months, holding their tag team title with Carlo Cannon. They lost them on 8/30 in Melbourne to The Preston Kindred. I believe Shamrock did a dive during the match, as there was talk that Shamrock did a dive in a match in Australia. Shamrock vs. Severn was billed as a no holds barred match and ended up with no winner
1035
1036Billy Corgan’s NWA TV tapings on 9/30 and 10/1 in Atlanta at the local PBS TV studios sold out the $30 tickets for both days instantly but not the $100 tickets with the meet and greet. Corgan’s idea was a return to the old studio wrestling that many promotions did in the 60s and 70s and Memphis did into the 90s so that’s very limited tickets and probably should have sold out instantly
1037
1038Tom Lawlor vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Timothy Thatcher vs. Ikuhisa “Minowa-man” Minowa (a cult favorite MMA star in Japan a decade or so back as the giant killer) have been added to the 9/14 Bloodsport show in Atlantic City
1039
1040The new wrestler using the name El Hijo de Silver King, is evidently not the son of Silver King. One of Silver King’s sons outed him in a Facebook post as being a fraud and threatening a lawsuit. The fact Silver King just died only makes everyone look even worse involved in promoting a fake son. However, the new Karis La Momia Jr., is the son of La Parka, whose name was Karis La Momia before Antonio Pena changed his gimmick to La Parka Jr., who then dropped the Jr. when Pena had his falling out with the original La Parka
1041
1042Pro Wrestling Mexico on 9/22 in Monterrey has L.A. Park & Original Psicosis vs. Daga & Killer Kross and LAX vs. Jack Evans & Flamita.
1043
1044EUROPE: The Oriental Wrestling Entertainment U.K tour featuring a tag team tournament for championships set for 9/18 to 9/22 with Private Party, Luchasaurus and Marko Stunt has been canceled. The OWE United Kingdom senior vice president Sean McMahon told Fightful that he was offered a position with another company and did not share common values with the owners of OWE and used terms like misconduct and broken promises. He also released a Facebook statement that said, “I have submitted my formal immediate resignation as a director and head of marketing of Martialism Sport & Culture Communication UK Ltd, trading as OWE United Kingdom. I have decided to resign as a director, due to, what I feel, is misconduct of the director and OWE China. I find this to be totally unacceptable, damaging to the industry and reputation of all who have committed themselves to ensure the tour would have been a success. The company will now be required to either continue with the tour themselves with Jay Apter or myself or make other arrangements." OWE responded that they were shocked the tour was canceled, claiming that they were unable to reach McMahon for several days. “OWE were shocked today to learn that the planned UK tour had been delayed. While we partnered with a UK promoter to use OWE in the UK, we've been unable to reach them for several days. We also have no access to any OWE UK social media. Full statement will be released shortly.
1045
1046Southside Wrestling Entertainment, a company founded in 2010, is folding and being taken over by Revolution Pro. Revolution Pro will start running shows in the markets SWE ran like Sheffield and some staff would join RevPro. Revolution Pro owner Andy Quildan said about the deal, “It’s true and we will taking over their venues from November with Ben, Sarah & Harry Auld joining the team and continuing to run the venues they know without any of the stresses that come with promoting a show. I’ve known Ben for a long while and this all came about after a conversation I had with him where he told me he was closing Southside down. After unpacking the reasons why I realized I could try and help take many of the pressures away from him whilst enabling him to still be a part of the business. Despite there never being a better time for wrestlers to make money I don’t think people realize how hard it is to operate a sustainable business over here at the moment (and to be honest that doesn’t just include wrestling). I think you will probably see many more promotions closing over the next year as a knock on effect of everything that’s been happening with the scene. I’m just glad that I’ve been able to help out one of the more trusted and regular high quality promoters.
1047
1048Revolution Pro Wrestling on 8/30 at York Hall drew a sellout of about 1,200 fans for a show with a lot of New Japan talent in from Royal Quest. The main event was the culmination of an angle between David Starr and owner Quildan. It led to a match where Quildan put up the company against Starr leaving town, and Quildan got Will Ospreay as his wrestler. Ospreay won in 43:00 of a match with all kinds of shenanigans and twists like ref bumps and outside interference. So Storm has to leave. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. beat The Dream Team of Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada when Sabre pinned Tanahashi with the European clutch. El Phantasmo, who later said he was leaving the U.K. for Japan, retained his cruiserweight title over Michael Oku. Aussie Open won the tournament for the IWGP title shot at Royal Quest beating Josh Bodom & Sha Samuels. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa had a confrontation with them after the match. Sanada won a six-way over Robbie Eagles, Mike Bailey, Rocky Romero, Senza Volto and Hikuleo by beating Volto with skull end. Okada and Suzuki had a contract signing for their IWGP title match that ended up in a pull-apart and Suzuki destroyed some younger wrestlers. Jonathan Gresham & Chris Brookes were wrestling Dan Moloney & MK McKinnan. Midway through the match Gresham appeared to injure his knee badly, but in fact, he was working two days later so it couldn’t have been that bad. The match was stopped because they thought the injury was significant. McKinnan jumped off the back of Moloney, slipped and fell into Gresham’s knee in the corner. The match was immediately stopped. Gresham couldn’t put weight on his left knee
1049
1050wXw announced 11 of the 12 teams in the World Tag League from 10/4 to 10/6 in Oberhausen, Germany. They are Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch, Flamita & Bandido, Aussie Open, Anthony Henry & JD Drake, Chief Deputy Dunne & Los Federales Santos, Icarus & Dover, Timothy Thatcher & Veit Muller, Jay Skillet & Francis Kaspin, Jurn Simmons & Alexander James, Pete Bouncer & Ivan Kiev and Julian Pace & Leon van Gasteren. There will be three blocks of four teams each and the three block winners will meet on 10/6 in a four-way match with Walter & Ilja Dragunov as the fourth team.
1051
1052There will also be another Ambition tournament on 10/6 and thus far announced are Daniel Makabe, Alexander Dean, Dominic Garrini, James Runyan, Rust Taylor and Scotty Davis, plus a Thatcher vs. Oney Lorcan singles match
1053
1054. OTT ran n 8/25 in Cork, Ireland with Pac over Mike Bailey in the main event
1055
1056Alexander Wolfe’s opponent in his return to wXw on 11/23 in Dresden will be Ilja Dragunov
1057
1058Christian Eckstein’s European Wrestling Promotion ran a show on 8/31 on a cruise ship out of Berlin featuring some major German names as well as Mike Bailey and Veda Scott.
1059
1060MLW: Dominic Garrini, who has a BJJ background, will debut on the 9/7 show in Dallas against Ariel Dominguez, a college wrestler. There were some tickets left but the TV tapings at the NYTEX Sports Center is almost sold out. Lineup has a War Chamber (War Games) match with Marshall & Ross Von Erich debuting with MLW in the Dallas area, with Kevin managing them, teaming with Tom Lawlor & Low Ki vs. Simon Gotch & Jacob Fatu & Josef Samiel & Ikuro Kwon, 2/3 falls for the tag titles with MJF & Richard Holliday defending against The Hart Foundation, Mance Warner vs. Jimmy Havoc bunkhouse match, L.A. Park & El Hijo de L.A. Park vs. Septimo Dragon & Magnus, Timothy Thatcher vs. Douglas James, and Zenshi vs. Jordan Oliver. There will also be a tribute to Gary Hart, who is Court Bauer’s mentor when it comes to booking wrestling
1061
1062Go Shiozaki is headed in. He’s not on the Dallas show but to build his debut and perhaps to build an angle, the Shiozaki vs. Alexander Hammerstone match from the N-1 tournament will air on this week’s TV show.
1063
1064ROH: Champion Matt Taven’s contract is expiring in September in a story first broken by PW Insider. We’ve confirmed that. Those close to the situation expect him to stay with ROH and he is in negotiations to do so. Back in April, when Taven got the title in Madison Square Garden in the ladder match, it was clear the crowd wanted Marty Scurll to win. While Taven’s contract expires before Scurll’s, the reality is that Scurll was under far greater risk of leaving while Taven they wanted to build. They could have gone a few months with Scurll and then, if he was to leave, have him drop it in September but the idea was to build Taven. With business the way it is, you can’t say that it worked, but the business drop is due more to things having nothing to do with who is champion, not that perhaps short term Scurll wouldn’t have been slightly better, but that was the long-term decision to try and build Taven. The idea was to build Scurll to help give the rub to PCO and Brody King. I believe PCO, like Rush, Jeff Cobb and Bandido, all have one-year deals. Not sure on King. For Bandido and Cobb, one of the lures of ROH besides the easier schedule is the access to New Japan. Rush doesn’t care about New Japan as it’s not his cup of tea. PCO got a great offer and at his age, he has to go to the highest bidder when his deal is up. So there are a lot of questions regarding ROH in 2020, and New Japan not sending talent to Global Wars this year and having it be only CMLL outside talent, which doesn’t mean anywhere near as much in this market, is another issue
1065
1066Sports Illustrated ran that Scurll’s deal is up in November, which was the time frame we’d always heard and it’s been confirmed the team is up at the end of November. His situation will be very interesting. He is in talks about staying. As best we can tell, there is more interest in Scurll from AEW than Taven, and I’d think WWE would love a talent like him in NXT, particularly now. His long-time friends are in AEW and he was basically made a star with BTE and the Villain Club T-shirts by being aligned with the key people who are in AEW. So in his case all three options are viable, but I’ve always heard in this situation not to dismiss the idea he’d go to any of the three options
1067
1068The 9/27 PPV show will be headlined, as expected, by Taven vs. Rush for the title
1069
1070The Final Battle main event will have the Taven-Rush winner against the winner of an eight-man tournament. The tournament will have first round matches with PCO vs. Kenny King, Dalton Castle vs. Mark Haskins, Colt Cabana vs. Marty Scurll and Bandido vs. Jay Lethal. PCO vs. King and Cabana vs. Scurll will be on the PPV and Lethal vs. Bandido and Castle vs. Haskins will be at the 9/28 TV tapings in Las Vegas. The semifinals and finals of the tournament will be on the 10/12 show in New Orleans. Final Battle takes place 12/13 in Baltimore.
1071
1072The Global Wars three-city tour is this week featuring stars from CMLL. 9/6 in Dearborn, MI, has Taven & Vinny Marseglia vs. Volador Jr. & Triton, Marty Scurll & PCO & Brody King & Flip Gordon vs. Okumura & Rey Bucanero & Hechicero & Cavernario, Rush vs Stuka Jr., Bandido vs. Jay Briscoe, Kenny King vs. Jeff Cobb vs. Tracy Williams and Dalton Castle & Joe Hendry vs. Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham
1073
10749/7 in Chicago has Taven vs. Volador Jr. For the ROH title, Rush vs. Cavernario, Jeff Cobb & Lethal & Gresham vs. Caristico & Stuka Jr. & Triton, Bandido & Tracy Williams & Mark Haskins vs. PCO & Gordon & Brody King, Shane Taylor vs. Hendry in a non-title match and Cabana vs. Kenny King vs. Scurll vs. Castle
1075
10769/8 in Milwaukee has Taven & Marseglia vs. Rush & Cobb, Briscoes & Cavernario vs. Bandido & Haskins & Williams, Caristico & Stuka Jr. & Volador Jr. vs. Okumura & Hechicero & Bucanero, Scurll vs. Hendry, .Gordon vs. PJ Black vs. Triton, Lethal & Gresham vs. Silas Young & Josh Woods, Brawler Milonas & Beer City Bruiser vs. PCO & Brody King and Mandy Leon & Angelina Love vs. Kelly Klein & Stacy Shadows. All three shows air live on Honor Club with Dearborn at 7:30 p.m., Chicago at 8 p.m. and Milwaukee on Sunday at 6 p.m.
1077
1078IMPACT: Talks of Impact going to AXS are said to be still quite active. As noted before, those at Impact were talking up the idea they’d be off Pursuit by the summer and move to a bigger station and those were the talks referred to, but the deal has been slower in being put together. Some of the talks did involve Anthem purchasing AXS, which would be interesting. I’ve heard nothing in this direction, and who knows what deals would have to be made, but when The Fight Network first started with Mike Garrow in charge, before he had to sell it to the Asper Family because of the losses, he and I always talked about the station coming to the U.S. The idea of a 24 hour station of nothing but combat sports, with pro wrestling, included some of their old tape library (St. Louis, NOAH glory days, entire Impact library from the start, plus AXS owning tons of MMA footage) and having a deal in place with New Japan would be interesting. Keep in mind this is not something anyone has even suggested to me past The Fight Network’s goal always was to get into the U.S. And with WWE Network, the idea of presenting old tapes of wrestling has less value on television in my thoughts than it did when The Fight Network originally launched in Canada in 2005
1079
1080Regarding Killer Kross, as we had noted, the contract dispute had led to a stalemate between the sides and he wasn’t being used and he’s on a per-appearance deal, although has been offered a guaranteed contract, believed to be for $40,000 per year. His belief is right now he could make far more outside and wants to leave. Impact’s view is that he signed a deal and should live up to the deal, and that $40,000 is only for a few dates a month and that unlike wrestlers with ROH, AEW and WWE, Impact wrestlers can work indies in the U.S. to augment their income and use their gimmicks. Kross has good presence but he doesn’t really work the style that a lot of indie promoters and fans look for, but he does have a star presence. But the situation is getting ugly. Mike Johnson at PW Insider also reported that at Slammiversary, he refused to blade in a first blood match with Eddie Edwards, so they had to use stage blood. Johnson reported he refused to blade because there were no outside medical personnel on hand at the show and there had been no pre-match testing. He also reported that Impact was trying to pressure AAA to take Kross off the 9/15 Hulu Theater show. Kross was booked by AAA for the show, but the lineup has not been announced. That story is accurate, as Kross was to be one of the opponents for Cain Velasquez in a six-man tag stemming from TripleMania and that the two have trained together and are comfortable with each other and that Kross does a big real fighter like gimmick. It’s not clear if he’ll be off the card but he absolutely was scheduled to be one of Cain Velasquez’s opponents so if he’s not on the card, that’s the story, and if he is, AAA booked him anyway. Johnson reported that Impact asked AAA to remove him due to concerns he would be suing Impact. Johnson also reported that Kross’ T-shirts have been removed to the clearance section of the Impact web site. The talent we’ve talked with has been sympathetic to Kross
1081
1082Rob Van Dam did an interview with Wrestling Epicenter and said he returned because he was offered a lot more money than the last time he had a run. He said he’s in the position Sting used to be in when he was in Impact. When asked about all the risks being taken in wrestling now, he said it’s a bad thing, but he’s not one of those guys trying to stop it because there is no stopping it
1083
1084The company signed a deal with Tap Digital Media Ventures to start airing weekly in the Philippines starting in September. The weekly shows will air Saturday nights at 9 p.m. and PPVs shows will also be airing on the station
1085
1086Kiera Hogan signed a new two-year deal
1087
1088On the Impact show, Melissa Santos talked about going to Colombia (which we talked about last week) for stem cell treatments on her knees. She said that if they work she hopes to wrestle again. She had just started wrestling and got a bad knee injury
1089
1090On this week’s show, the peak viewer number on Twitch was 3,800 and they were at 3,400 for the Rhino vs. Michael Elgin street fight main event. It’ll be interesting to note how this shakes out when Smackdown moves to Friday. They aren’t head-to-head, and Impact starts right when Smackdown ends.
1091
1092AEW: The information sent by TNT for cable company listings for the 10/2 debut show was: “All Elite Wrestling” as the name of the show, not Wednesday Dynamite or anything like that. However, Tony Khan said that they would have a name for the show shortly, saying he doesn’t want the name of the show being All Elite Wrestling. “The inaugural weekly card, from Washington, D.C. AEW introduces statistics to pro wrestling and allows competitors to showcase their athleticism. Chris Jericho, The Young Bucks and Cody and Brandi Rhodes are among the headliners.” It’s also categorized as “sports event” and not entertainment. It also should be noted that it’s rated TV-14 and not PG. That was a decision made by the company and TNT some time back. TNT has given them specific bylaws regarding what lines they can’t cross, but both sides have agreed to do a more edgy and risque product than WWE, although WWE has also already changed due to the upcoming competition and Paul Heyman attempting to go in that direction to attract younger viewers
1093
1094While not outright saying it, and it’s Jericho so it could be a swerve, Jericho talked about doing stuff with Ortiz & Santana, who are largely expected to be his mystery partners against the Young Bucks & Omega on the first TV show. Once they shot the angle at the PPV, that would also indicate that making sense. The company made the decision not to bring in Konnan with them as they had other plans for them.
1095
1096While he didn’t exactly say this, the indication from after the show by Tony Khan is that the television announcing team will be Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone and Excalibur. I had been told by those in the company last week that Golden Boy would be the regular on the TV commentary and Schiavone would be doing some commentary as well. Schiavone said that he wasn’t taking anyone’s commentary spot and was looking at producing and doing work in the studio in Atlanta with Cody. Khan said that the fans want to see Ross and Schiavone together. Either way, it’s not a major decision in the sense Excalibur should be the guy doing the play-by-play since he’s the one who knows the guys and the moves, Ross should be there to get over the talent, the matches, the angles and direction and Schiavone is a familiar voice and he did well in MLW. The decline of WCW was 20 years ago and to me, judging Schiavone on the disaster of the booking he had to get over and couldn’t because nobody could, 20 years later, is silly. And he’s a pro
1097
1098Khan also mentioned Kylie Rae had asked for her release. This is a story that has been asked a ton about because she basically disappeared, then removed all her social media accounts. They were hoping to have her back for the show in Chicago, her home, but she asked for her release and Khan said it was amicable. Nobody is talking publicly about what caused this, and even privately it’s not been talked about. It’s sad because she spent years learning this business and she was very good and was going to be one of the company’s featured women
1099
1100The talent was all being face scanned over the weekend for a video game, which Nick Jackson basically confirmed last week
1101
1102In an interview with Hollywood Life, Chris Jericho claimed that he hadn’t heard of anyone in NXT: “There is no war for me at all because there is not one guy on that show that I have ever heard of before and that is not being snobby -- it’s just that I don’t watch NXT. So, if you want to watch NXT, that is fine. If you want to watch AEW, that is fine as well. But, it is certainly not a war on our part, because we have been doing great on our own -- selling out shows and selling 10,000 tickets in five minutes without any type of war or competition.” The Young Bucks after All Out were more diplomatic, also playing down a war, which unlike in 1995 when everyone played it up, and the situation behind-the-scenes is identical, the idea here is to play it down. The Young Bucks noted that most of the key guys in NXT are their friends, and that this has helped everyone get more money so everyone should see it as positive for the talent. In all the wrestling wars, for the most part, the talent knew enough that they weren’t at war. In the 80s, when Crockett and WWE played the same city, the wrestlers, who all came from territories and all knew each other, socialized and liked hanging around with each other. In the 90s, there were definitely a few on the WWE side that hated WCW because of the idea they were told that WCW was trying to put them out of business, and while people will deny that now, things like that were said in WCW. As far as WCW wrestlers, I never heard of any of them wishing any negativity on WWE or drinking the same kool-aid although it did exist on the WWE side as shown when the WCW guys started there and the ridiculous hazing and stuff they had to go through. But any talent on either side thinking this is anything but the best for them and being happy for it really doesn’t see the big picture. Matt also mentioned, and this is true, that they knew from the start Vince would likely counter program. There’s an argument it calls more attention to Wednesday and in the long run that will help them
1103
1104Dustin Rhodes signed a multi-year deal as a wrestler, a match producer and promo coach
1105
1106Wardlow, who I believe is from the Pittsburgh area, or at least he’s worked there, a big muscular guy like a taller Brian Cage, has signed and a video of his played during the PPV. In fact, the video of him on the street beating up a gang and choke slamming guys looked almost like a Brian Cage Lucha Underground video
1107
1108Dean Malenko was at Starrcast and apparently was hilarious. But during his interview he said he’s suffering from Parkinson’s
1109
1110Kenny Omega’s match on 9/15 in Singapore is Omega & Cima & Zhao Yilong vs. The Statement & Trexxus & Du Butcherman
1111
1112Being the Elite was all backstage stuff from All Out. There wasn’t much to it except that Adam Page’s horse that he rode in on was named Hunter Horse Helmsley.
1113
1114UFC: No rulings were made regarding the Cung Le lawsuit against UFC after a week of hearings. Essentially it comes down to if the judge believes the class of fighters were harmed by UFC creating a system by closing down companies to keep wages down. The 20 percent of revenue going to fighters was lower than Bellator and Strikeforce, but those were smaller companies and to get competitive top-level fighters they have to pay at the level of UFC or better for them, and that’s a far higher percentage. UFC overall paid more. During the hearing, based on the reporting of John Nash and Paul Gift, who were on hand in Las Vegas, it also came out that Golden Boy promotions paid 62 percent of revenue to fighters while Top Rank, Bob Arum’s group, paid 71 percent. That’s why Arum and Oscar de la Hoya have always talked about UFC underpaying fighters. But neither Golden Boy nor Top Rank have the extensive front office costs, although UFC’s total profit dwarfs them as well. There is no time frame of when the key ruling will be made, but either way, the ruling is likely to be appealed by the losing side. There is also more testimony scheduled by experts for mid-September
1115
1116After the B.J. Penn videos aired, UFC has decided to cut ties with Penn as a fighter and his scheduled bout with Nik Lentz is off. It’s a call hard to argue with as it’s been so long since Penn has won a fight and he’s 41 and shouldn’t be fighting at that level. It’s not even like his name is a big draw anymore either, as he’s worked his way down to prelims with only very minor attention based on the remnants of his name
1117
1118This week’s show is UFC 242, headlined by one of the most interesting matches of the year with Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Dustin Poirier, the lightweight champion against the interim champion. Most likely the winner next defends against Tony Ferguson, although the idea of Nurmagomedov, if he wins, facing Conor McGregor is always open. Nurmagomedov has never lost, but the belief is if someone can stop his takedowns he can be beaten standing. Although nobody has been able to consistently do that. Poirier is one of the most exciting fighters, and someone who can come from behind and win. It’s an early show since it’s from Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, which is very rare for a PPV. For what it’s worth, they are expecting the biggest numbers since the move to ESPN+. The show starts at 10:15 a.m. Eastern with ESPN+ prelims with Fares Ziam (10-2) vs. Don Madge (8-3-1), Zak Cummings (23-6) vs. Omari Akhmedov (17-4-1), Nordine Taleb (15-6) vs. Muslin Salkihov (14-2) and Takashi Sato (15-2) vs. Belal Muhammad (15-3). Next will be two hours of prelims on FX, rather than ESPN, because ESPN has college football, starting at Noon Eastern. Those bouts are Teemu Packalen (8-2) vs. Ottman Azaitar (11-0), Zubaira Tukhugov (18-4) vs,. Lerone Murphy (5-0), Sarah Moras (5-5) vs. Liana Jojua (7-2 and Andrea Lee (11-2) vs. Joanne Calderweood (13-4). The PPV at 2 p.m. Eastern has Mairbek Taisumov (27-5) vs. Diego Ferreria (15-2), Curtis Blaydes (11-2) vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov (20-4), Davi Ramos (10-2) vs. Islam Makhachev (17-1), Paul Felder (16-4) vs. Edson Barboza (20-7) and Nurmagomedov (27-0) vs. Poirier (25-5). It should be noted that UFC has women’s fights in the middle East, it’s not Saudi Arabia but when WWE did it it claimed a big cultural breakthrough even though Impact had done the same years earlier and had hardly claimed any such thing. UFC has returned and they also aren’t taking credit or claiming any such thing
1119
1120B.J. Penn was interviewed by TSN in Canada and asked about the videos that leaked of his two different altercations with the fat guy with no shirt on. The first clip showed Penn getting knocked out by two shots in a fight and later showed him on top of the same guy throwing punches with people trying to pull him off. He told Aaron Bronster of TSN, “I’m at a concert going to meet a friend that I’ve known since we were really young kids and I’m over there and an acquaintance of mine, he gets mad about something, you know something was said or it was an old past thing and then he wants to fight about it. I was like, `no, no, I don’t want to fight, we’re friends, everything is cool.’ He even walks outside and I’m thinking, this is silly I’m going to go get him, calm him down and get him to come back inside and enjoy the concert, we’ve got some other friends there. I walk outside to go give the guy a hug and then he hits me twice and I’m like no, calm down. I try to give him another hug and he hits me a couple more times and he hits me again.” Regarding what happened next, he claimed, “Whoever put that video up cut it in half, I wish they had the whole thing that showed me trying to hug the guy. Finally my adrenaline picked up because he was hitting me so much so I said go ahead and hit me again, really I thought the guy would eventually just say forget it BJ, whatever, walk away, but he hit me and he hit me good and knocked me down and then when I got back up he tried it again and I just had to defend myself and that’s what you see in the second video.
1121
1122.Regarding pro wrestling, Cain Velasquez told MMA Junkie: “I was kind of shocked to be honest (about the reaction). I didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t sure how many people would actually be watching and tuning in to watch. I did a match and heard all the positive things from people. It was great. I was shocked. The whole night I was asking my wife, `What just happened?’ For me, I know what I can do and I feel like learning wrestling for the short time that I’ve learned it, it feels very natural to me. I loved it. I love going out there and competing and I can’t wait to do more of it.
1123
1124After winning the strawweight title over the weekend, Weili Zhang has already talked of moving up to 125 to challenge Valentina Shevchenko
1125
1126Abubaker Nurmagomedov, the cousin of Khabib, makes his UFC debut on 11/9 in Moscow against David Zawada. Abubaker Nurmagomedov was one of the guys involved in the brawl after the Conor Mcgregor/Khabib fight last year. At the time the UFC said that anyone involved in that brawl would never fight in UFC again. Of course time changes everything
1127
1128Greg Hardy returns on the 10/26 show in Singapore facing Jarlis Danhyo
1129
1130Callan Potter vs. Maki Pitolo has been added to the 10/5 show in Melbourne, Australia
1131
1132Ian Heinisch vs. Brad Tavares has been added to the 10/26 show in Singapore
1133
1134James Krause vs. Sergio Moraes has been added to the 11/16 show in Sao Paulo
1135
1136Sam Brady vs. Court McGee has been added to the 10/18 show in Boston.
1137
1138BELLATOR: With UFC running in the afternoon, Bellator is unopposed on 9/7 in the evening for a DAZN show that includes the start of the featherweight Grand Prix tournament, which has more first round matches on 9/28 in Los Angeles at the Forum. San Jose’s main show starts at 10 p.m. Eastern with Gaston Bolanos (5-1) vs. Daniel Carey (5-3), and then four first round tournament matches with Sam Sicilia (17-9) vs. Pedro Carvalho (10-3), Emmanuel Sanchez (18-4) vs. Tywan Claxton (5-0), Adam Borics (13-0) vs. Pat Curran (23-8) and Daniel Straus (26-8) vs. Derek Campos (19-9). The main event has Ryan Bader (27-5) defending the heavyweight title against Cheick Kongo (30-10-2). Kongo, who is 44, has won eight fights in a row including beating Vitaly Minakov and Alexander Volkov, both former Bellator champions
1139
1140Sergei Kharitonov vs. Linton Vassell will headline an 11/14 show in Tel Aviv, Israel.
1141
1142WWE: They are gearing things up for October. A few things are notable. One is that even though NXT will be on television, the idea of bringing up guys from NXT to the main roster, being Raw and Smackdown, will continue, as opposed to NXT being its own third major league brand . There are plans for people to be called up. As noted earlier, there are plans for the announcing teams to be separated, at least at this point, which would mean no more Graves on both shows. He’ll end up on one or the other. There will be changes in the roster, not a ton but some, with the idea of another draft special for October ratings mostly to try and keep the expected first week momentum that the first Smackdown show is expected to get bringing in all the stars from the past as well as Lesnar and all the Raw stars being on Smackdown first week. So the next draft will take place starting on the second Smackdown on 10/11 in Las Vegas, with it finishing up on the 10/14 Raw show in Denver. The idea is that FOX will present that show like it is a legitimate sports draft. Starting on Smackdown is supposed to be a sign that Smackdown is no longer the B show as well
1143
1144On the announcing side, with Renee Young hosting the FS 1 weekly version of UFC Tonight, except it being WWE and I’m virtually certain it’ll be even more of a house organ (not that UFC Tonight wasn’t but they never ignored big issues and I can’t imagine the WWE show being like that), FOX is very high on her which could lead to her being exclusive with that brand. The second part is still up in the air
1145
1146NXT announced two matches for the 9/18 TV debut on USA. Velveteen Dream vs. Roderick Strong for the North American title is the main event. Prior to the announcement of live TV, I had heard Strong over Dream to do the storyline of Undisputed Era having all the belts, but that it was to be at the last tapings. So they moved it for the first TV. They also have Io Shirai vs. Bianca Belair vs. Mia Yim, with the winner facing Shayna Baszler. One would think that match would be for the 10/2 show, since 10/2 has to be a loaded show. For NXT, the decision has been made to only do one hour on USA the next two weeks, as the new grids list the show from 8-9 p.m. They will still be live two hour tapings with the second hour airing live on the WWE Network. On 10/2, coincidentally enough, it goes live for two hours
1147
1148Ric Flair went public with his behind-the-scenes issues regarding usage of “The Man” for Lynch. Flair has filed for a trademark on that term for pro wrestling. I believe he had filed for “To Be The Man,” based on the name of his book and his catch phrase. Flair had no problem with Lynch using the term “The Man” when Lynch was feuding with his daughter. He said that since the phrase his associated with him, he thought WWE would pay him for the rights, which WWE did not agree with. He evidently got hot at a WWE lawyer for telling him he had no case for royalties from the phrase. Flair said his attorney called WWE and they blew off his attorney. This has actually gone on as an issue between Flair and WWE, but Flair hasn’t stopped attending shows and WWE still featured him on Raw Reunion, nor has it affected his daughter’s booking since he filed for ownership of the name. He also said that his daughter is mad at him that he’s taking this step, even though he said he has no issues with Lynch. He said he didn’t care what WWE thought of this move, saying he knows WWE loves him but he feels that they don’t have respect for him. He said that if he gets the phrase trademarked or not, that he has no problem with Lynch using it, he just feels that he made the phrase famous in pro wrestling. There’s no doubt the term Lynch used is due to its association with Flair, since its original form was for a program with his daughter where she used his father’s phrase. Does that mean he should get a cut of the merch? That’s an interesting legal case because you could argue the ambiguity of “The Man,” but in its original application, it was absolutely about Ric Flair. The fact WWE hasn’t slowed down or come down from Lynch using the term tells you that they think they’re pretty secure in the legal aspect of their position
1149
1150.C.M. Punk did a big interview at Starrcast on 8/31. The most noteworthy things he said regarded not shutting down any idea of working for WWE. His answer to that question was, “I wouldn't not talk to [WWE]. I'm over [what happened when I left]. I've been over it for a very long time. It's in the past. I'm 40 years old and I try to be as zen and as wise as I can be. My life has taught me a lot of times that I would be confrontational when there was no need to be confrontational. I'll have a conversation with anybody, but I'm not calling them. But if they're like, 'Oh hey.' I'll talk to you and see what you have to say. But it better be good.” It’s funny because at least as of a little ways back, many in WWE believed he was AEW bound and many in AEW believed he was WWE bound and he probably doesn’t have a deal either way. As noted, his agent from CAA did approach FS 1 about him hosting their WWE talk show that will be coming to the station and WWE was aware of that and we’ll see if that happens but I was told they had no interest. He is a sore subject to many in WWE obviously, but historically, just about everyone who you thought would never come back, whether it was Goldberg, Sammartino, Bret Hart, and so many others, all eventually did. And most would have given far more negative answers to that question and still ended up coming back, and with the benefit of hindsight, I don’t think any of them would say they would look back and wish they hadn’t come back. Goldberg has made way too much and was treated ridiculously well, far better than the first time when they were still fighting a war that was over. For Hart, WWF was too big a part of his life and it was the best thing for him as well. Sammartino kind of took it as it went, but he was never negative to me in discussing it, basically he made a deal, it wasn’t the big emotional thing like going into the Hall of Fame wasn’t an affirmation or anything, he portrayed it as a business deal that he made, he was fine with it, and that he liked Paul Levesque personally. WWE treated him well and it was a thing that I’m really happy in hindsight for all concerned that did happen
1151
1152Punk also pushed the idea for fans should be able to enjoy both WWE and AEW and not to listen to anyone who said you can only choose one and enjoy only that one
1153
1154Linda McMahon contributed $365,600 to Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign
1155
1156Regarding the item about Enzo & Cass and NXT, WWE says that they have had no contact and have no interest in Enzo & Cass at this time, so looks like that’s not happening.
1157
1158Regarding Wednesdays, it’s actually going to be a three-way race starting on 10/2. The third show is Total Divas which will start its new season without the Bellas, who were always pushed as the top stars on the show. Now the show will be built around Rousey. There was a time not that long ago when a Rousey reality show would have done well, but Divas has been falling hard, down to a 389,000 average per episode in the last season, down from 578,000 the previous season, which is likely somewhat due to the departure of Cena from the show with his split with Nikki Bella, as that romance was the big mainstream draw. Now there is no Nikki, Brie or Bryan. If there is a reversal, Rousey would be the reason
1159
1160Regarding Kacy Catanzaro, the former gymnast and competitor on “American Ninja Warriors,” who had showed so much promise and charisma on Florida developmental shows but hadn’t gotten a push in NXT, Sports Entertainment Sirens reported she had quit the promotion. WWE has not commented officially on this. From what we were told by multiple people in the company, as of 9/3, she had not quit. There is smoke to the fire in the sense there is a story, there absolutely were rumors that she quit going around over the weekend, but she’s still under contract and those close to the situation said she had not quit. They’ve also said the story that she’s injured to any significant degree is also not true. It feels similar to the similar situation with Stacey Ervin Jr., but he had concussion issues that he was scared of. In that case, the story got out he quit when he was very much thinking of it but we were told that he had not fully decided. In that situation, the company denied it when the story got out, which was accurate at the time. But in the end, he did end up quitting, but it was a couple of weeks later. But each situation is different
1161
1162The 9/23 and 9/24 TV tapings in San Francisco for the opening of the new Chase Center have had two-for-ones in the area. Sales have not been going well
1163
1164For MSG, it’s about 75 percent sold for Raw on 9/9 and 55 percent for Smackdown on 9/10. They’ve been advertising heavily in the local market, far more than usual. The belief was that even before Austin was announced, they would sell out Raw for sure, but given how many tickets are left, it doesn’t look good and Smackdown has little chance without a late gimmick or papering. Those within the company have said they don’t believe it’s the lack of interest, but the ticket prices, and the ticket prices are a major factor for sure. I was told Sacramento, which is historically a great WWE market, is not looking like it will sell out for Hell in a Cell either, which in the market is also blamed on the pricing as opposed to a lack of fans having interest. Smackdown with Undertaker given ten days out and 7,000 tickets out, that has to be the lowest for a TV shoot in that building in history
1165
1166The plan is for MSG, in particular for Raw, to be a major show, because it’s MSG and the PPV go-home show, but also because it’s against the Monday Night Football regular season debut. A lot of the 9/2 Raw show was meant to build for 9/9 in hopes of lessening the usual loss of audience when football starts
1167
1168There are a couple of WWE-related nominees for the People’s Choice Awards. This is wild. For “The show of 2019,” the nominees are Raw, Game of Thrones, Grey’s Anatomy, Stranger Things, Walking Dead, Big Bang Theory, This Is Us and Riverdale. The others are Dwayne Johnson related, Hobbs & Shaw as best action movie of 2019 and Johnson for Male Movie Star of the Year
1169
1170For Hobbs & Shaw, China has surpassed the U.S. as its best grossing market, which shows how quickly the economics of the international movie business have changed. As of the weekend, the movie had grossed $157,273,185 in the U.S., and was fourth over Labor Day weekend with $6,460,835. Right now it’s at $688 million worldwide, with $163,908,936 coming from China. The only other market with more than $25 million is Japan, so for action movies at this point while a lot of countries do well, it’s really U.S. and China carrying the load. Those over $10 million were Australia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan and the U.K
1171
1172It was noted to us how the great post-show video for NXT U.K. looked like a copy of what OTT has been doing. As it turns out, there’s a reason. Shaun Ryan, who did those great OTT videos was hired by WWE for NXT U.K. Debbie Keitel, who debuted losing to Rhea Ripley at the tapings on 9/1, noted to him how “we did it,” referring to making it to WWE. Keitel was a prominent star for OTT and in Ireland. That guy did incredible work in videos building up the major OTT shows. Jeremy Borash of TNA fame also did great work in putting together a preview special on the Walter vs. Tyler Bate match
1173
1174Bayley, Banks and Mysterio’s promos on Raw were all done without being scripted word-for-word, basically the old bullet points style and going for it. There is a movement to try and do more of that going forward, similar to the leeway that Owens (and I believe Bryan but that hasn’t been told to me directly) get on Smackdown and why his promos, if not both of theirs, come off better than almost anyone
1175
1176Owens missed Smackdown this week because he refused to leave his family alone in Florida when there was still danger of the hurricane. Once the danger was over, he tried to book a flight to get to Norfolk, but wasn’t able to do so
1177
1178One of Eric Bischoff’s first creative moves was hiring Stevie Long as a writer. Long, 47, was the star and screenwriter of “Strictly Sexual,” an independent film that topped a list of the Criterion Collection as Hulu’s Most Popular movie of all-time. The movie was heavily praised for being shot for $100,000 yet has been seen by millions of people. He also wrote an episode of “Sons of Anarchy” that Time Magazine called the best episode of a television show of 2009
1179
1180Scarlett Bordeaux, whose AAA debut is now up to 31.3 million YouTube views, got a tryout this past week on her own as opposed to part of the usual camp
1181
1182Jaleel White, 42, who was famous as Urkel in the TV show “Family Matters” from 1989 to 1998, will have a regular role on “The Big Show Show” which Paul Wight stars in
1183
1184The 10/17 house show in Corbin, KY was canceled
1185
1186This week was a very slim weekend for house shows. The Smackdown brand had the weekend off because of the trip last week to South America and a second trip to South America this week with shows on 8/5 in Santiago, Chile and 8/6 in Buenos Aries, Argentina. The Raw brand shows were canceled due to weak advances and also Rollins & Lynch getting time off until 9/2. They could have run shows had they drawn since White Plains, with a good advance, did run on 9/1
1187
1188Two of the three weekend NXT shows were canceled this weekend due to Hurricane Dorian. The 8/30 show in Jacksonville and 8/31 show in Fort Pierce were pulled. They did run 8/29 in Orlando, which, along with White Plains, and the two shows in Cardiff for NXT U.K., which were the only weekend events
1189
1190The stock closed at $70.99 per share on 9/4, giving the company a market value of $5.584 billion
1191
1192The most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network were: 1. NXT U.K. Takeover; 2. 20 matches that define the Intercontinental title; 3. SummerSlam 2019; 4. Adrian Street documentary; 5. WWE Day of SummerSlam; 6. NXT on 8/25; 7. Ride Along with Rollins, Lynch, War Raiders and Logan
1193
1194Notes from the 9/2 Raw show in Baltimore. Show was good with the key stuff building up Austin’s return as the guy presiding over the Strowman vs. Rollins contract signing next week in MSG, the Bayley turn on Lynch and setting up Corbin vs. Joe vs. Ricochet in a King of the Ring semifinal. Corbin vs. Alexander may have been the best match of Corbin’s career, which speaks volumes for Alexander. The show drew 5,500 fans, not good for a major wrestling market as they sold everything in front of the hard camera but half the top and a lot of the bottom behind the hard camera was tarped. They were very careful, as they always are these days, in only shooting into one side of the building. Main Event opened with Rawley over No Way Jose. Rawley got some cheers since he played football at the University of Maryland and there were chants related to the school. Logan pinned Brooke in match 53 of their best of 100 series. Brooke got a good reaction. The show opened with the Rollins & Strowman contract signing with Michael Cole. Strowman said that at the Clash, they would retain the tag title but then it would be awkward because he was beating Rollins for the Universal title. Rollins said that he slayed the beast, which is something Strowman couldn’t do, and now he’s going to slay the monster and signed. Styles came out. Fans were chanting more for Styles as a face when he came out than they did for Strowman or Rollins. Styles said the U.S. champion should be first in line for a title shot and asked who he was going to be facing at the Clash. Well, they’ve got one show next week to start a program. Styles then tore up the contract and threw it in the air. Strowman and Rollins attacked Styles, Anderson and Gallows. The heels got an edge but Strowman and Rollins got the better of it. This led to a tag match. Rollins & Strowman beat Gallows & Anderson in 10:47. Styles attacked Rollins outside the ring. Rollins used a springboard knee on Anderson. Styles looked like he was going to interfere but Rollins punched him. Rollins reversed a cradle and pinned Anderson. Styles attacked Rollins and Rollins got the better of them. Ziggler & Roode came out and they beat down Strowman and Roode gave Rollins the glorious DDT and everyone went back to beating on Strowman. Styles laid out Strowman with a phenomenal forearm. Alexander was attacked by Gallows & Styles & Anderson, and they left him laying with a shoulder injury. This was to set up him selling during his match. They threw him into a suitcase. Roode & Ziggler beat Hawkins & Ryder in 3:36. Ziggler hit the superkick on Hawkins and Roode pinned him with the DDT. Natalya came to the ring and attacked Evans. This led to a match that Evans won in 5:12. Natalya looked really good here, she was aggressive and there was none of the usual hesitation and awkwardness in a longer Evans match. The crowd was into it because of how aggressive Natalya was. She also called Evans a nasty bitch. Bitch comes right from every ECW TV show. Evans threw her handkerchief in Natalya’s face, right in front of the ref, which distracted her and Evans used the women’s right on her for the pin. Lynch came out and called out Banks. She said Banks’ story was a load of crap. She said Banks was the centerpiece of NXT while she was stuck being a sidekick. She said Banks got main events while she struggled to get on TV. She said they gave Banks bouquets of flowers after her matches. She said that she, Banks and Flair started at the same time and she was always the afterthought. She said that Banks and Flair were paraded around as stars like the frauds that they were. She said that Bayley was doing fine without Banks while she’s now the face of the company. She said that with the chances Banks was given, she should be the historical figure and the game changer. Banks said that the only reason Lynch got her spot was because Jax broke your face. Banks said I wish Jax broke my face. Lynch challenged Banks to a fight. Banks said she’s not doing anything for free for these people, she does nothing without a paycheck, the next time they fight it’ll be at the Clash for the title. Lynch accepted. Banks said at the Clash, the man is going to be the boss’ bitch. Corbin pinned Alexander in the King of the Ring qualifier in 14:25. Great match, probably the best of Corbin’s career. Lots of selling the earlier injury by Alexander, who then came back with great flying moves and near falls. Alexander came back and threw Corbin’s shoulder into the post four times and went wild on him, including a running flip dive. At this point the crowd was going nuts for Alexander, who is one of the guys Heyman is looking to make a star out of even though he had to lose here because they wanted Ricochet against two heels in MSG. Alexander went for a missile dropkick, one foot totally missed and the other barely grazed him. For whatever reason, most wouldn’t have noticed for more than a split second it missed, given Corbin sold it and it came so quick, but for reasons I could never explain, after Graves didn’t try to cover for the miss, they showed a replay of it and you could see the missed spot. But they kept at a fast pace. Alexander was on the top rope when Corbin shoved the ropes, Alexander lost his balance, fell into the ring and Corbin pinned him with the End of Days. They announced that Austin would be the moderator for a Rollins-Strowman contract signing next week at MSG. Bayley did an interview and said that Banks took her ball and went home. I must say, ever since they used that line to bury Austin in 2002, it’s become one of the most annoying. But it gives people the idea that everyone owes WWE their life and if you aren’t happy and want out, you are selfish no matter what. Bayley said she chose the handle the situation differently, she won the Smackdown title and beat Cross, so this week she’s going to beat Bliss. She said her belt is just as valuable as Lynch’s title when asked bout being in the shadow of Lynch as a tag team. Two small guys named Brian Thomas & Tyler Hastings met the War Raiders in a squash. Thomas, who looked somewhat like Elvis, played heel and got mic time saying they drove from Pittsburgh (the Steelers are the rivals of the Baltimore Ravens) and Hastings called the crowd Baltimorons. Viking Raiders squashed them in 1:23. The only note is that Erik threw Hastings so far into the air he almost went into orbit before he came down and got powerslammed by Ivar for the pin. Banks did a promo. Sarah Schreiber asked about Bayley. Banks told Schreiber to get the hell out of her face. Joe drew Ricochet in 15:56. This was also a good match, although Alexander vs. Corbin actually had more heat. Joe was bleeding. Joe worked on Ricochet’s legs. Ricochet came back with space flying tiger drop. The finish saw Joe choking him while standing on the middle rope with Ricochet facing the post. Ricochet kicked off the post, a version of the Morales-Koloff finish, but both guys had their shoulders down for the three count. Ref John Cone said that they would make a ruling later. Joe sucker punched Ricochet but Ricochet came back with an enzuigiri and codebreaker. Strowman complained to Rollins about Austin coming next week. He said Austin was on the show putting Rollins over and thought he’d favor Rollins. Rollins said that they aren’t conspiring against him and that he couldn’t tell Austin what to do anyway. Strowman said that if Austin tried anything, he’d get these hands. They did another Firefly Fun House. Wyatt started out as a smiling face telling Balor what The Fiend did to him was super rude. He said he was sorry and started laughing. The Vince puppet showed up and the Vince puppet said how dare he challenge the Strowman-Rollins winner at Hell in a Cell. This was definitely the most unique way a PPV main event has ever been announced. The Vince puppet was so mad at him for the challenge that he was about to fire him but Wyatt pulled out a wad of bills and Vince, seeing money, changed his mind. The idea is that Wyatt is making Vince money so everything is fine. Wyatt said that Strowman & Rollins don’t make a good team because they’re both selfish, greedy, and in another life, they both did something very bad to him. He said that his friend help him cope with pain, and The Fiend helps him inflict it and told the two, “See you in hell.” This was great stuff, as it always is. Corey Graves was with Cone talking about the Joe-Ricochet finish. Corbin showed up and said that they eliminated each other so he’s got a bye to the finals. Cone said that instead it’ll be a three-way with Joe, Ricochet and Corbin next week at MSG. Mysterio did an interview talking about his son convincing him not to quit. The one thing about the father-son thing is that when the audience is averaging 23 years old, like it was 20 years ago, storylines based on father/son stuff doesn’t fly. Those fans don’t want their fantasy heroes to be like that. When the audience is older, like now, this stuff fits better with the audience. He said that out job as parents is to push our kids to pursue their dreams but in this case, his son is pushing him to continue to follow mine. He said he wasn’t done, and he has much more left to accomplish. This got a huge reaction in the building, said to be one of the biggest in recent memory for a backstage segment. Miz pinned Cesaro in 5:06 with the skull crushing finale. Not sure if he’s got a bad shoulder, but Miz’s left handed punches looked awful, and he kept throwing them. It would be good to follow the Cesaro underground momentum from the U.K. show, but the reality is the big picture is Miz getting set up for an IC title match and Cesaro doing nothing, so the result is the one that made sense, even if it is frustrating. Main event saw Lynch & Bayley beat Bliss & Cross via DQ in 10:42. Most of the match was Bayley getting beaten on. Lynch made a hot tag and Banks hit the ring and gave Lynch a backstabber for the DQ. Banks threw Lynch into the post and got two chairs. Bayley took the chair away from Banks, they looked at each other, Bayley smiled and Bayley hit Lynch with a chair over-and-over again. The crowd cheered this turn like crazy with “yes” chants. That’s how it was when Lynch turned heel on Flair, when Flair turned heel on Rousey, and even with Lynch, that’s how it is. People go to shows for happenings, and title changes and turns are happenings, even if it’s a turn on the favorite. It’s the byproduct of being taught the players don’t matter, so while people see the players as stars, there is no emotional attachment to them so why get mad when somebody turns on them. The people in the company understand that and these crowd reactions don’t surprise anyone anymore. Well, almost anyone. After Raw went off the air, Rollins came into check on Lynch. She walked right past him and ignored him. This led to a title match with Rollins over Corbin. The crowd was hot for them. There was a chant of “Corbin sucks, he really sucks,” and Corbin stopped, grabbed the mic and said, “Corbin’s great, he’s really great.” Rollins won with the curb stomp
1195
1196Notes from the 9/3 Smackdown tapings in Norfolk. This show was largely written by Vince McMahon after Raw on Monday night. McMahon was in Norfolk and later made some tweaks to the show during the day. It wasn’t the chaos of the late rewriting as there have been in recent weeks but it was another Vince show. The crowd was 4,500. Heavy Machinery beat Dallas & Axel in the opening dark match. Smackdown opened with Bayley out for a unique segment. The crowd went back-and-forth, from cheering her wildly, to not knowing what to do, to booing lightly. She came out to her music with her same entrance and got cheered loudly, but there were some boos. It looked like she was expecting boos and doing an interview to get mad at them, but with them cheering, and chanting her name, she couldn’t talk about that. She did get booed when saying she was best friends with Banks. She talked about doing the right thing for kids and growing up as a fan like everyone else with the idea she’d be self righteous and booed. And it kind of worked. She called Flair the most selfish person on the roster. Flair came out, also to a mixed reaction. Graves at this point referenced a line by Bobby Davis (the 50s manager of Buddy Rogers) saying “Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat.” Saxton acted like he had no idea who Bobby Davis was, and he probably didn’t since he’s not one of those names from the past WWE has stamped legend on. Davis was the manager that Bobby Heenan copied since he was the lead manager in Chicago when Heenan was growing up. Many thought Jim Cornette copied him, but Cornette grew up watching Heenan off the Indianapolis television station that he was able to get in Louisville. Flair came out and said she was the queen of selfishness. Banks came out as well. Flair attacked Bayley and then attacked Banks. It was clear this segment was designed as the Flair face turn with Bayley as the heel for Clash. Bayley ended up hitting Flair with two chair shots. This turn wasn’t working as planned given the loud “One more time” chant after the second chair shot. Bayley gave the chair to Banks, who did three more chair shots and Bayley did one. The segment ended with the fans chanting for Bayley. Oh well. Elias pinned Ali in the King of the Ring quarterfinals in 11:27. This was a ***½ match and maybe the best Elias match on TV. Ali was great here. He tried a tope but Elias caught him and suplexed him on the ramp. He threw Ali into the timekeepers area. Ali came back with a tope to the back of Elias. Elias then came off the top rope for a plancha to the floor and Ali met him with a superkick. The crowd went wild for that spot because they don’t expect Elias to dive to the floor. Elias had worked over the knees and Ali was selling. Ali missed a 450 and Elias pinned him with draft away. Joe did an interview building up the three-way on Raw next week. He had cuts on both the nose and forehead from the match with Ricochet. Black was backstage in his room saying that he was going to the ring to see if anyone is man enough to pick a fight with him. Rose & Deville beat Bliss & Cross in a non-title match in 6:54. Cross did a plancha to the floor on both. Rose was yelling at Cross saying “You can never look like me.” Bliss then yelled at Rose saying “Nobody wants to look like you.” Not sure that is accurate, but Bliss & Cross worked the match as faces. Bliss hit Deville with the DDT and went to the top rope. Cross and Rose were fighting on the floor. Bliss hesitated on top to watch Cross and Rose, then came off with twisted bliss, but Deville got her knees up and Rose & Deville did a high-low on Bliss for the win to set up a title match. Gable was backstage and Joe made fun of him for being short. He looked all sad while Joe told him he was mentally weak and there’s no room for that in this kingdom. Orton did a promo and said Kingston was a fraud, that he’s not on his level and never has been on his level. That got a lot of heat. Kingston went to come out after him, but Kingston was jumped by The Revival. Kingston made a comeback on them until Orton clotheslined him. Orton said he was going to win the title in front of Kingston’s fans, his friends and his family. Kingston made a comeback on Orton until The Revival beat him down. They picked him up and threw him into an RKO by Orton. Orton then kept calling him stupid. Gable pinned Andrade in 7:53. This was ***½ also, really great for the time they were given. Vega put him over at first, given it would make no sense for her to make fun of Gable for being short. She even said she thought Gable would win the entire tournament if Andrade wasn’t in it. Match was good except for a botched overhead suplex timing that saw Gable not get a well-timed throw and Andrade ended up landing on his head. He shook it off after a few seconds and was back in action. Gable had it won with a Chaos Theory suplex but Vega distracted ref Charles Robinson. Andrade used the hidden blade, but Gable still reversed into a sunset flip pin. Gable had a bloody mouth. Black pinned Benjamin in 1:51 with black mass. At this point the Singh Brothers and B Team were chasing Maverick around while Renee Michelle was screaming. Dallas pinned Maverick in the commotion and ran off with the 24/7 belt. The announcers noted that Maverick has still not consummated his marriage. I’m not sure how they know this fact. Nakamura pinned Andrew Howard with the Kinshasa in 1:13. Zayn was doing running commentary saying Howard was just like Miz. At this point the Singhs, Axel and Metalik all ran out, with the idea Axel was trying to protect Dallas. While this was going on, Maverick came out and pinned Dallas to regain the title. He ran off and was celebrating. R-Truth then came from behind the King chair and schoolboyed Maverick to win the title for the 14th time. The final segment saw Bryan come out. The crowd in Norfolk, lively all night, was cheering and chanting “Yes” at him. Bryan started doing a face promo, saying fans may not like him and may not like his views on the environment but nobody can say he’s a liar. He said he’s never lied to anyone in the crowd and he hates liars. He wanted an apology from Reigns. Reigns came out but before he got to the ring, Rowan attacked him from behind. Rowan also shoved down Bryan when Bryan tried to break it up. Rowan power bombed Reigns into the post. He then gave Reigns the claw slam. Rowan than told Bryan that he was worse than anyone else and he’s nobody’s puppet. Rowan said that Bryan slapped him multiple times in the face and challenged Bryan to get in the ring and slap him again. Rowan admitted he did everything, he caused all the stuff to fall on Reigns and he rammed his car into Reigns’ car, you know the crash that miraculously was fixed in less than four minutes. Rowan threw the ring steps at Reigns. Bryan then started slapping Rowan and he gave Bryan a claw slam through a table. 205 Live opened with Maverick announcing Humberto Carrillo vs. Lince Dorado as the main event. If Dorado wins, he gets added to the cruiserweight title match at Clash of Champions. Kanellis pinned Tony Nese with a superkick and crossroads. The story is that Nese is going through depression right now. Ariya Daivari told Dorado to quit Lucha House Party and join him. Dorado said that Daivari is a leech and when he beats Carrillo he’ll throw the biggest lucha house party in the world. The Singhs blamed Brian Kendrick & Akira Tozawa for all their problems. The Singhs said the two can’t even dance. Tozawa & Kendrick beat Brian Thomas & Tyler Hastings. Kendrick said he’s talked to Maverick and he and Tozawa want Jack Gallagher and a partner of his choosing in MSG next week. Oney Lorcan said that he wants another shot at Drew Gulak. Nese attacked Lorcan and threw him into a metal case. It looked like there was something else planned with a ladder that didn’t happen. Dorado pinned Carrillo after a fast huracanrana. Gulak attacked Dorado after the match. Nese helped Gulak so they are back together, and they beat down both Dorado and Carrillo. For next week in MSG, it’s Gulak & Nese vs. Dorado & Carrillo. No dark match after the show
1197
1198Notes from the 8/28 NXT TV show. This was a show built around major matches. They opened with Io Shirai over Cami Fields in a squash in 1:41. She used a moonsault, picked Fields up at two, and then got the submission with the Koji clutch. Shirai is only about 5-foot-1, but the dynamic was all wrong here. Fields looked gigantic next to her. Just from the visual this looked ridiculous, particularly since Shirai was the heel. There was a reason territories didn’t book athletic 6-foot-6 guys as jobbers very often, because it made the stars look tiny, which is okay for Rey Mysterio, but not for a heel. After the match, Candice LeRae jumped in with a kendo stick and chased Shirai off, so their program is continuing. Dominik Dijakovic pinned Keith Lee in 11:15. This was interesting. These two have a history of incredible matches including one of the best matches in PWG history, which was also Dijakovic’s last match before signing here. The matches were based on how much flying and acrobatics the two guys of that size can do with each other. This was a way, way toned down version, but even so, got over great. Really the match was just a few spots. Dijakovic did Fosbury flop. Dijakovic did a moonsault. Lee did a Spanish fly off the top rope. The place went nuts for that spot and from that move on the crowd thought they were seeing something special. It was that move and the
1199
1200moves, and not anything else and the reaction was among the best for an NXT
1201
1202match in a long time. Dijakovic then got the pin after Feast Your Eyes and the crowd gave them a standing ovation. Aside from not overdoing it with the big moves and still getting a great reaction, which is a good thing, this match getting over at this level contradicts so much of what your taught about how to get matches over in the idea it’s stories, because the crowd was just into big guys doing hot moves and that was what they reacted to. They did a video showing Johnny Gargano questioning what he does next. This is to set up the tease he’s leaving for the main roster, which then leads to the pop when he says he’s not. Shane Thorne came to the announcers table to talk about his winning streak. He basically brought up he had a winning streak and they went to a commercial. Mia Yim went to William Regal and said she wanted another shot at Shayna Baszler. Regal told her she got her shot, and noted in the angle last week that she attacked Marina Shafir first so what does she expect about getting beaten down. Wow, that was the reaction I had watching it so the storyline they are doing accounts for that. Baszler came out with Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir. Rhea Ripley came out to a big reaction. The Full Sail crowd is smart in the sense they know who everyone is, whether it be U.K. guys, or indie guys, and pop for everyone new. Ripley called Baszler a bitch and the crowd went nuts. The Horsewomen, as they were called, just left the ring. The main event saw Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly win the tag titles from the Street Profits in 11:26. It was good, not great. The Profits nearly won when Angelo Dawkins did the frog splash on O’Reilly, but as he was being covered, Fish pulled O’Reilly out of the ring. Ford did a crazy dive. He does the same moves lots of flyers do but his ridiculous jumping ability, the likes of which I’ve never seen in pro wrestling, makes his high flying stand out. Ford was pinned pretty clean after the high/low (total elimination)
1203
1204Notes from the NXT UK TV tapings on 9/1 in Cardiff, Wales. They only sold the floor seats. In a dark match, The Hunt, a tag team of Primate (Jay Melrose) & Wild Boar (Mike Hitchman) beat Jack Starz & the debuting A-Kid. For television, Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner beat Danny Jones & Harry Green. Barthel, Aichner, Walter and Alexander Wolfe were together as Imperium. Jordan Devlin beat Ashton Smith. Tegan Nox beat Shax, and then after the match, Kay Lee Ray came out. Nox challenged her to a match. In a tag title match, Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan retained the titles over Zack Gibson & James Drake. Travis Banks beat Tyson T-Bone. Rhea Ripley beat the debuting Debbie Keitel from Ireland. This led to a Ripley angle with Jazzy Gabert. Joseph Conners beat Kenny Williams. Kassius Ohno beat Sid Scala in an old school match with rounds. El Ligero beat Oliver Carter. Tyler Bate did an interview. Devlin came out so they set something up. Nina Samuels beat Dani Luna. Noam Dar beat Trent Seven via DQ when Seven didn’t break on the ropes after the ref’s five count. Piper Niven beat Isla Dawn. Alexander Wolfe beat Saxon Huxley. There was supposed to be a match with Jack Starz vs. Mike Bird. Mark Coffey & Wolfgang attacked both guys. Andrews & Webster made the save, but they ended up being laid out, so it looks like that’s the new tag title program. Kay Lee Ray beat Tegan Nox. The final match was a dark bout with Pete Dunne over Aichner
1205
1206The only NXT show before the hurricane-canceled events was 8/29 in Orlando, which drew 350. The Street Profits beat Chase Parker & Matt Martel, the former tag team of 3.0. Bianca Belair beat Taynara Conti. Cezar Bononi beat Denzel Dejournette. Damien Priest pinned Danny Burch. Tyler Breeze & Fandango beat Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler. Kushida & Jordan Myles formed a team and beat The Outliers, Dorian Mak & Riddick Moss. I think Mak & Moss will start to get a TV push with as often they as have them together at the house shows, and both have the look, and Moss always struck me as having potential. Dexter Lumis pinned Daniel Vidot. Marina Shafir pinned Reina Gonzalez. The main event saw Velveteen Dream retain the North American title beating Kyle O’Reilly
1207
1208The only main roster house show was 9/1 in White Plains, which drew 3,700 fans, which was about 500 shy of a sellout
1209
1210With Rollins & Lynch on vacation and Styles having the night off, White Plains was mostly new matches. Ricochet pinned Anderson. After the match, Gallows challenged Ricochet. Ricochet then pinned Gallows. Alexander pinned Rawley. Corbin came out and beat down Alexander after the match to build heat on him for the main event. Next was Miz TV. Ziggler came out and that led to a match. Miz beat Ziggler with the figure four via submission. So I guess Miz is now back to using that as a finisher. The Viking Raiders won a three-way over The Revival and Ryder & Hawkins when they pinned Hawkins. Cross & Bliss retained the women’s tag titles over Natalya & Brooke when Bliss pinned Brooke. Main event saw Strowman pin Corbin in a no DQ match after a powerslam through a table. Anderson & Gallows came out to help Corbin because, I guess somebody needed to. Ricochet and Alexander came out to run them off.