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4 
5DECEMBER 12, 2016 WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: LINDA MCMAHON GIVEN TRUMP CABINET POSITION, WWE TLC REVIEW, MORE
6BY OBSERVER STAFF | STAFF@WRESTLINGOBSERVER.COM | @WONF4W
7TWITTERFACEBOOKGOOGLE+
8Wrestling Observer Newsletter
9
10PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228
11
12ISSN10839593
13
14December 12, 2016
15
16 
17
18WWE TLC PPV POLL RESULTS
19
20Thumbs up 114 (65.1%)
21
22Thumbs down 3 (01.7%)
23
24In the middle 58 (33.1%)
25
26 
27
28BEST MATCH POLL
29
30A.J. Styles vs. Dean Ambrose 153
31
32The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler 13
33
34 
35
36WORST MATCH POLL
37
38Nikki Bella vs. Carmella 75
39
40Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch 43
41
4210 man tag 14
43
44 
45
46ROH FINAL BATTLE PPV POLL RESULTS
47
48Thumbs up 219 (94.0%)
49
50Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
51
52In the middle 14 (06.0%)
53
54 
55
56BEST MATCH POLL
57
58Young Bucks vs. Briscoes 82
59
60Scurll vs. Ospreay vs. Lee 79
61
62Kyle O’Reilly vs. Adam Cole 51
63
64 
65
66WORST MATCH POLL
67
68Silas Young vs. Jushin Liger 106
69
70Rebellion vs. Dijak & Sabin & Shelley 15
71
72Cody Rhodes vs. Jay Lethal 9
73
74Kingdom vs. Rush & White & Kushida 8
75
76Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of 12/6.
77
78 
79
80Former WWE CEO Linda McMahon was named by president-elect Donald Trump to his cabinet as the administrator of the Small Business Administration on 12/7.
81
82“Linda has a tremendous background and is widely recognized as one of the country’s top female executives advising businesses around the globe,” Trump said. “She helped grow the WWE from a modest 13-person operation to a publicly traded global enterprise with more than 800 employees in offices worldwide. Linda is going to be a phenomenal leader and champion for small businesses and unleash America’s entrepreneurial spirit across the country.”
83
84McMahon, 68, had donated $6.5 million to Rebuilding America Now, a super PAC that supported Trump’s presidential bid.
85
86Most news stories listed McMahon as the co-founder of the WWE, although that wouldn’t be the case. Linda McMahon did work with Vince McMahon from 1982 on after he purchased the WWF from his father and his father’s business partners for $1 million for a company that probably grossed seven times that in a year. Their original company, Titan Sports, was founded by the two of them, but the promotion they purchased run by his father dates back to the 1950s, the Capital Wrestling Corporation out of Washington, DC. Prior to that, Vince McMahon Sr.’s father, Jess McMahon, promoted pro wrestling in the Northeast dating back to the 1920s.
87
88Linda McMahon was CEO of the company until leaving in 2009 to prepare for two unsuccessful senate campaigns. At one point during Trump’s bid for the Republican nomination, she was highly critical of his comments regarding women.
89
90“Those were just over the top,” she said. “They were deplorable, objectionable absolutely. He’s not helping, certainly, to put women in the best light. Maybe he regrets them. Maybe he doesn’t. I realize he punches hard when he punches back, but that’s just over the top.”
91
92But as his momentum grew, she said that he wasn’t her first choice for the nomination, but said she was a strong supporter of his.
93
94“Once you’re his friend, he is loyal to the end. He’s an incredibly loyal, loyal friend.”
95
96Linda McMahon worked alongside Vince McMahon in building the company, which started expanding in 1983 and 1984. When she was running for senate, they pushed the narrative that she built the business, but the business was always built by Vince McMahon, who was always the person in charge of both the business and creative end and made every key decision. While she absolutely had input on the business side, and pushed the company into getting involved in image boosting programs, in many ways her business success was more the success of Vince McMahon, and her departure in 2009 made no significant difference when it came to company success.
97
98The McMahons were the leading donator to the Trump Foundation, donating $5 million during the period Trump did angles for WWE including the headline angle at the 2007 WrestleMania, where Vince McMahon’s hair was up and got shaved, against Trump’s hair, in the Umaga vs. Bobby Lashley match that did a record 825,000 North American and 425,000 international buys.
99
100Ironically, when McMahon made his national expansion in 1984, one of the key people backing him up and making the real business moves was his Director of Operations, Jim Barnett, the long-time promoter of various major pro wrestling companies. Barnett was the last person who went from pro wrestling to a national political appointment when he served on the National Council for the Arts under President Jimmy Carter. Barnett was promoting in Georgia at the time, as well as when Carter was Governor and later President.
101
102Carter, who came from a family of wrestling fans, nominated Barnett for that position in 1980, just two years before Barnett was forced out as President of Georgia Championship Wrestling by Alan Rogowski (Ole Anderson). Barnett had hired Rogowski as booker years earlier. Rogowski had threatened to go public and to authorities on charges Barnett was embezzling from the company and as a deal to keep it quiet and not muddy his name publicly, Barnett agreed to resign from the company. At the time of his nomination, Barnett promoted not only Georgia Championship Wrestling, the most-watched pro wrestling group in the country because of its national exposure on cable, but also promoted the Atlanta Symphony, and also owned a percentage of Championship Wrestling from Florida and Southeastern Wrestling Corporation out of Knoxville, and when nominated for the spot, Vince McMahon’s father called Barnett “an outstanding promoter, probably the best in the country.”
103
104Barnett, who at the time was also booking the NWA world champion and was also the treasurer of the NWA at the time Rogowski forced him out of the promotion, was out of wrestling until being hired by the McMahons. In 1983, he, Vince McMahon Sr., and Vince McMahon Jr. quit the NWA. Barnett was the Director of Operations for Titan Sports when it went national, a key player in a lot of business aspects including procuring television deals as the company expanded.
105
106Linda McMahon had spent $100 million in two failed senate campaigns, but in doing so, gained political contacts in the Republican Party and since 2012 has worked behind-the-scenes in local party politics. Her name had been talked about for a cabinet position from shortly after Trump was elected.
107
108Linda McMahon would become the second person from the pro wrestling industry currently serving a cabinet position in a major country. Former Olympic wrestler and pro wrestling star Hiroshi Hase, 55, is currently the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in the cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Japan.
109
110The WWE’s next-to-last PPV show of the year, the TLC show from Dallas, featured two great matches and the rest kind of filler, built around yet another sensational performance by A.J. Styles.
111
112Styles suffered an ankle injury in his TLC match WWE title defense, where he beat Dean Ambrose due to a heel turn by James Ellsworth. It’s unclear how long he’ll be out of action, but on television he portrayed it like it would be a week or so.
113
114It appears that Styles will go back to working on top with John Cena over the WWE title, who returns on 12/26 for a house show in Madison Square Garden, and is expected to work regularly from that point on. The storyline will revert back to the idea that Cena is attempting to tie Ric Flair’s record of 16 championships. Ambrose appears to be moving to work with The Miz over the IC title.
115
116There were two title changes on the show, as Bray Wyatt & Randy Orton beat Heath Slater & Rhyno for the tag team titles, and Alexa Bliss beat Becky Lynch for the women’s title. Slater & Rhyno are in the process of breaking up as a team, as Wyatt & Orton are going to work a program with Jason Jordan & Chad Gable over the belts. As noted before, the star power of Wyatt & Orton elevates the tag team titles greatly.
117
118WWE’s final PPV show of the year will be Roadblock End of the Line, on 12/18 from Pittsburgh. The matches already official are Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns for the Universal title, Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte in a 30 minute Iron Man match, Seth Rollins vs. Chris Jericho and Big Cass vs. Rusev. There will likely be a tag team title match coming out of a three-way match with The New Day vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. Sheamus & Cesaro that takes place on 12/12 at Raw in Philadelphia. The cruiserweight title looks to be Rich Swann vs. T.J. Perkins vs. Brian Kendrick in a three-way. Braun Strowman is expected to face either Big Show (they tested out bodyslam matches at house shows and just brought Show back to television this past week) or Sami Zayn. With the Universal title and women’s title matches being long, that’s enough to fill the card although they could always build another women’s match.
119
120TLC drew 12,500 fans, about 90 percent full with the set-up they had, at the American Airlines Center. It was a good showing since the Smackdown brand has not been doing well on the road of late. But the interest level was down, as this past weekend, nothing from either WWE or UFC (which had a flyweight title fight on PPV) was anywhere in the listings for most searched items, and usually a WWE PPV is a fixture high on the list.
121
122In the unintentionally funny spot of the show, right out of the dying days of WCW, after the Nikki Bella win over Carmella, Carmella said that it was Natalya who had attacked Bella at the Survivor Series. Natalya was already a heel, but people were still mostly cheering for her and she’s supposed to work a program with Bella so they wanted her as a stronger heel. That all makes sense. But right after the reveal, they aired a series of commercials for Kay Jewelers (filmed about a month ago but debuting here) where Natalya was acting like the cool pretty girl best friend of this guy and helping him pick out his engagement ring. It was a series of commercials which ended up with her coaching him on it, him asking his girlfriend to marry him in an empty WWE ring before a taping, her accepting with Natalya right there acting happy like she did a good deed.
123
1241. Jason Jordan & Chad Gable & Mojo Rawley & Zack Ryder & Apollo Crews beat The Vaudevillains & The Ascension & Curt Hawkins in 12:02. Crews opened with a great high spot with Hawkins. When Ryder tagged in, they brought up how Ryder and Hawkins used to be a tag team as The Edge Heads, and Hawkins immediately tagged out rather than face him. Rawley has to drop that hammer dance. The crowd doesn’t react to it and it just kills him. They did a comedy bit where everyone took turns throwing people out of the ring, twice. The crowd lost interest in the heat spot on Gable. They did a series of everyone doing big moves, including Crews suplexing Hawkins off the apron onto the floor on a bunch of people. In the ring, Jordan & Gable used Grand Amplitude on Gotch and Gable pinned him. **1/4
125
1262. Bray Wyatt & Randy Orton beat Heath Slater & Rhyno in 5:52. Not much to the match. Rhyno and Orton were outside the ring and Rhyno set up the gore. Luke Harper shoved Orton out of the way and took the gore for Orton. Rhyno went into the ring after Wyatt. As Rhyno was after Wyatt, Orton, the legal man, jumped back into the ring and hit an RKO on Rhyno for the pin. *3/4
127
1283. Nikki Bella beat Carmella in a no DQ match in 7:56. Carmella had a black eye from their brawl on Smackdown five nights earlier. It was a receipt since a few weeks earlier, Bella got a chipped tooth from a TV brawl with Carmella. Carmella used a huracanrana on the floor to flip Nikki into the ring steps and Nikki hit her left leg. In the explanation of the match, it was said that it was a no DQ match, but there can be count outs, but that the finish has to happen in the middle of the ring. That’s kind of impossible for all to be true. Carmella used a kendo stick and hit Bella with it and put on the triangle. Bella got the kendo stick and hit Carmella in the head with it to break the hold. Bella drove her back into the post. Bella grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprayed Carmella with it forever and then hit the TKO for the pin. After the match, Carmella said that Nikki thought that now they were even, but that’s not true, because she wasn’t the one who attacked her and took her out at Survivor Series, and that it was Natalya. That was supposed to be a shock, except everyone reacted like they knew it. **
129
1304. The Miz beat Dolph Ziggler to retain the IC title in a ladder match in 24:57. Not as good as their prior match, but still great. There were a lot of ladder spots including Ziggler coming off a horizontal ladder with an elbow drop. Then there were the usual climbing and tipping over the ladder spots. Miz did the spots where he spoofed the Daniel Bryan offense. Miz wrapped Ziggler’s leg around the ladder and then slammed the ladder on Ziggler’s right knee. Miz used the figure four with Ziggler’s leg caught in the ladder. He followed with a skull crushing finale on the ladder. Miz climbed up and grabbed the belt, but Ziggler got up and threw down the ladder. Miz couldn’t take the belt off the hooks and was just hanging there and had to drop. Ziggler hit Miz with the ladder and Miz did a great job of selling the right leg. Ziggler had both his legs worked on, which made no sense, because he needed a healthy leg to hop on. So he pretended one leg was okay to hop. Miz on one leg also climbed. Miz was punching, and Ziggler came back with three head-butts and knocked Miz off the ladder. Miz climbed back up, and at the top, gave Ziggler two low blows, knocking him off the ladder and grabbed the belt to win. This was billed as Ziggler’s last chance for the title and the end of their program. Miz then dedicated his win to Bryan, and said that they needed to give Ziggler a Participation Award, since participation awards go to losers. They ended up on TV switching that to Ambrose getting the participation award. ****
131
1325. Baron Corbin pinned Kalisto in 12:53 in a chairs match. This was better than expected. Kalisto dropkicked Corbin out of his chair. He used a springboard plancha. Corbin got a near fall with a power bomb. Corbin set up six chairs and Kalisto gave him a drop toe hold into the chairs in the corner. They just did a similar spot in the previous match. Kalisto did his short huracanrana into a chair. Kalisto did a senton off the top into the set up chairs for a near fall. Kalisto did a tope but Corbin caught him in midair and gave him a Deep Six no the floor. The crowd was dead here. Corbin then missed one chair shot after another. Kalisto came off the barricade with a huracanrana on the floor. Kalisto also threw a chair right at Corbin’s head. Kalisto did a moonsault double knees on a chair on Corbin for a near fall. The finish saw Kalisto come off the ropes into a chair too the face, and then Corbin used the End of Days onto a pile of chairs for the pin. **3/4
133
134Natalya did an interview wishing Becky Lynch best of luck against Alexa Bliss. Wasn’t Natalya teaming with Bliss against Lynch ever since the brand split? She said Carmella’s accusations are absurd and she’s a liar. Next they showed her bringing steaks to an orphanage.
135
1366. Alexa Bliss beat Becky Lynch to win the women’s title in a tables match in 15:06. Bliss was actually booed a lot in her intro. The match was boring. Lots of spots built around blocking people going through tables. Bliss DDT’d Lynch on an upside down table. Lynch did a disarmer with Bliss’ arm caught in the table legs. The finish saw Bliss eye rake Lynch and power bomb her through the table. Lynch was really upset at losing, getting mad at Dasha Fuentes for interviewing her after, but then, as a babyface, explaining she wasn’t mad at her, she was mad at herself. *3/4
137
1386. A.J. Styles retained the WWE title in a TLC match over Dean Ambrose in 31:00. Just an incredible one-man show by Styles here, not to say Ambrose didn’t do his part. Ambrose came off the barricade into a dropkick. Styles did a Stinger splash into the barricade but missed a second one and Ambrose crotched him on the barricade. Ambrose climbed and Styles tipped over the ladder. The crowd was way behind Styles. Styles used two chair shots and threw a bunch of chairs in the ring. Styles suplexed Ambrose through a table set up in the corner. Styles did his perfectly timed dropkick and Ambrose came back off the ropes with the rebound lariat. Ambrose backdropped Styles over the top rope and hit a tope. Ambrose came off the ladder with an elbow drop, putting Styles through a table. Ambrose was climbing and Styles nailed him with the phenomenal forearm. Somewhere in here, Styles’ tights ripped and evidently he works with no underwear so this hole in his pants was evident the rest of the match. Fans started chanting “Let’s go butt cheeks.” To both men’s credit, instead of letting it turn into comedy or playing into the spot, they pretended they were fighting for a world title in a grueling match and paid no attention to it. Both were at the top of the ladder throwing punches and both fell off. Styles went for the Styles clash, but Ambrose reversed into an airplane spin into a ladder. Styles went for a power bomb, but Ambrose turned it into a huracanrana that sent him over the top rope. Styles did a moonsault off the apron into a reverse DDT on the floor. Then he did a springboard 450 off the top rope out of the ring putting Ambrose through a table. I believe this was the spot where Styles messed up his ankle. Styles went to climb when James Ellsworth came out. Styles went to give Ellsworth a Styles clash on the steps, but Ambrose saved Ellsworth and gave Styles the Dirty Deeds on the steps. Ambrose was climbing. Styles got up way too fast for that. Ambrose knocked Styles off the ladder and out of the ring. Ambrose had it won, but Ellsworth got in the ring and tipped the ladder over. Ambrose flew off the top of the ladder over the top rope and crashed through two tables on the floor. Styles then was able to climb up and get the belt to retain. ****½
139
140Ring of Honor’s traditional biggest event of the year, Final Battle, took place on 12/2 in its return to the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.
141
142The show, held before an advanced sellout of 1,800 fans, showcased both good and bad with the promotion.
143
144The show was tremendously well received, and we received a shocking amount of positive feedback. With 233 responses, that was up from 148 for All-Star Extravaganza and 142 for Death Without Dishonor. That was done with only two wrestlers from New Japan, Kushida and Jushin Liger, neither of whom were main attractions on the show. Now it should be noted that Google trends of interest had this show down seven percent from All-Star Extravaganza and that’s a more accurate tool historically in predicting PPV numbers, so it may be just people enthused because in their minds the show was so good.
145
146We got more feedback on the show than for the WWE TLC show the same weekend, and more than anything but a WWE or NXT show. The feedback was also overwhelmingly positive.
147
148Outside the ring, the packed Ballroom, with its look, is so far superior visually to the usual type of buildings ROH runs PPV from. Plus the larger crowd also gives it a far more major league feel. You know with ROH that you will get the effort and then some from the wrestlers. Most of the guys in the promotion are very good, and the top guys are technically and creatively tremendous. Sometimes they may, if anything, be too creative. Where this show stood out from normal standards was the production and look. The lighting and crowd micing were like night and day from a year ago.
149
150Still, ROH has its issues. Crowds in most places are off from the peak. But there are key additions with Cody “Don’t call me Rhodes if it’s televised,” and people like Marty Scurll and Will Ospreay, who are fresh to the promotion at a time when that is needed.
151
152The biggest ROH news of the weekend was that the Young Bucks, who retained their tag team titles over Mark & Jay Briscoe, had signed a two-year-deal with the company as well as with New Japan Pro Wrestling.
153
154There was a typo in last week’s issue with references to The Young Bucks contract offer being TNA and New Japan, when it was actually ROH and New Japan. The deal included a substantial increase in pay from both ROH and New Japan, and is for exclusivity in the U.S. and Japanese markets, although they are allowed to continue working PWG as well as overseas indies such as the U.K. They can still do their own merchandise, which in their case is very significant money, and will also have more of a hand in their creative going forward. Those in WWE who were told about the deal thought they’d be foolish not to sign. It’s not main event WWE money, but it’s far above NXT money with far less road expenses, far more time at home, no need to relocate the family and less matches. This year they’ll probably both work 85 matches (both were injured at one point so barring injury the number may be closer to 95 to 100 matches in 2017), unlike a WWE schedule which also calls for far more corporate and promotional time on the road along with the 140 to 220 matches per year.
155
156Right now, most of the key contracts here with the exception of The Bucks and Adam Cole (whose deal is up the end of April and most signs are that he’ll be WWE-bound at the time as they’ve wanted him for a long time) are expiring at the end of this year. Aside from announcer and occasional wrestler Steve Corino, who is expected to start with WWE as a coach at the Performance Center in January, nobody else is confirmed as leaving. All the key players, Jay Lethal, Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish, Dalton Castle and the Briscoes at television were booked in the manner that the belief is they are staying. Ospreay and Scurll just signed deals, although Scurll’s deal does have an out clause at the six month mark. It is possible that one or more could leave with a better offer elsewhere and there’s interest in some of the names elsewhere. But with O’Reilly getting the ROH title, one would see that as a sign he’s staying.
157
158As far as the show went, it was almost a night of nonstop big moves. It worked for the audience. It almost felt like overkill, particularly in the trios title match, followed by an incredible TV title match which would be hard to follow. The Bucks and Briscoes tag title match almost came off as a troll job on the critics of the Bucks, as the match consisted of one big move after another and spectacular finishers being kicked out or saved, and ending with dozens of superkicks in a row. It was an incredible display and the TV title and tag title, isolated on most any show, would be viewed as incredible on their own. But there were so many incredible moves up and down the show that you couldn’t keep up with them, and it when it was over, you didn’t remember most of them. There is the argument you could have done half as much, saved the physical wear-and-tear, and them moves would have been more memorable and the match would have been just as good or better. It’s not for everyone, but it is a different style and smaller wrestlers inherently have to work faster and do more and that’s been the case dating back to junior heavyweight territories in the 40s, where the small guys always worked faster and different than the heavyweights. But there is a balance. It is a style that for the most part you have to be relatively young and small to do, both just to do it, have the stamina to do it (which is probably the most underrated part of the game of some of these guys, that they can go at such a ridiculous pace and not tire out) and to recover enough from doing it to wrestle the next night. That and the actual timing involved in these moves looking good on their own. The idea is to work for your audience, and I’m not sure what could have been done besides a weapons juice-fest in that tag title match other than what was done after following that three-way match.
159
160The big surprise was after the Bucks retained, the lights went out, and a tape of Matt Hardy appeared in his character, talking about he and Brother Nero facing the Bucks of Youth, to set up a Bucks vs. Hardys match. The story behind this is the match is scheduled for 4/1 in Lakeland, FL, which will go head-to-head with NXT the night before WrestleMania. That’s the closest ROH was able to book, and it’s about 56 miles away. It’s just a house show, no PPV and at this point there are no plans for live streaming. The Hardys’ TNA contract expires by that point so they were free to make the booking and the Bucks pitched the idea for it to the Hardys who agreed. The two teams have worked together a few times, and had great matches, including on a big show for Northeast Wrestling and another big show in Chile before 7,000 fans. It should be noted that Anthem is now in charge of TNA, and ROH airs on The Fight Network, so the dynamics of this are very different from the past. Right now, the only deal is for the Hardys to work one house show. TNA had agreed to allow Brandi Rhodes and Matt Hardy to air on tape on the broadcast in cameos, although it came down to the wire as TNA didn’t sign off on the deal until just as the show was starting. There is nothing in place for ROH talent to do anything with TNA right now, but ROH does kind of owe them a favor, so it wouldn’t surprise me. Plus, if the Hardys do sign a new deal, you could work a promotion vs. promotion program on both sides for mutual benefit, especially bouncing the various tag titles back and forth since right now those two teams have the TNA, ROH, PWG and IWGP jr. tag titles.
161
162Coming out of the show, O’Reilly beat Cole to win the ROH title in a match that was completely different from everything else, a double juice bloodbath featuring weapons and even thumbtacks. The storyline is that it was scheduled for a regular match, but authority figure Nigel McGuinness at the last minute changed it to a no DQ match, which is Cole’s complaint coming out of the match.
163
164Matt Taven & TK O’Ryan & Vinny Marseglia, the new Kingdom, became the first ROH trios champions beating Lio Rush & Kushida & Jay White.
165
166Cody (not called Rhodes) turned heel in giving Lethal a low blow in a major shock, which leads to the announcement of him in the Bullet Club this coming week.
167
168Bobby Fish, scheduled to be the fourth guy in the TV title match, missed the show because his mother passed away.
169
170The show opened with a “Storytime with Adam Cole” segment where he talked about his match with O’Reilly like it was an old-time fairy tale. His delivery was great and he came off outside the ring like a real major league star.
171
1721. Kenny King & Rhett Titus & Caprice Coleman beat Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley & Donovan Dijak in 12:17. King & Titus & Coleman are now called The Rebellion instead of The Cabinet. It was nonstop moves but it never fully grabbed me. King did a twisting dive on Sabin. Dijak made a hot tag. Dijak was put in a spot to shine, in particular him catching Coleman on a crossbody, giving him a backbreaker and then throwing him over the top rope onto King. There was a big pop for Dijak choke slamming Titus off the top and the near fall. Sabin & Shelley both did running knees off the apron. Dijak did a springboard flip dive onto everyone which the crowd went nuts for. Sabin & Shelley & Dijak did a triple superkick spot, which was weird since that’s the move the tag title match had 50 of. After tons more spots, Titus pinned Sabin with a splash off the top rope. **½
173
1742. Silas Young pinned Jushin Liger in 11:01. Beer City Bruiser was in Young’s corner. Decent match. Liger’s Tapatia spot got over. Liger did a Frankensteiner off the top and running bodyblock off the apron. The finish saw Liger on the top rope, knocking Bruiser off the apron as he tried to interfere. Liger then did a splash off the top, but Young got his knees up, and Young won with his airplane spin slam called misery. **
175
1763. Dalton Castle pinned Colt Cabana in 10:20. Castle did a lot of power suplexes. Cabana’s old Billy Goat’s curse has been renamed “Cubs win.” Castle’s act is tremendous live and you could hear it get great reactions, but it loses something on television. Castle won clean with the bang-a-rang. **3/4
177
1784. Cody pinned Jay Lethal in 13:14. Cody was introduced by his wife Brandi. Lethal came out with a jacket that read “My list.” The story here dates back to the list Rhodes put out when he left WWE, and it had so many of the top indie names on it and things he wanted to do, but no Lethal. Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian came out. They said they were cool with the night off and are still feeling the ladder match from 9/30. Daniels told Cody that he was debuting against arguably the greatest champion this company ever had. He said that it should make him upset, but it doesn’t, because he grew up in Fayetteville watching Dusty Rhodes and if ROH is going to remain the best pro wrestling in the world, it needs people with that kind of passion in their hearts. The two shook hands. Cody worked on the left shoulder early. He did a skin the cat move, but Lethal dropkicked him to the floor. Lethal did two early tope’s. Cody did a springboard plancha to the floor. They traded near falls. Lethal came off the top with an elbow but Cody turned it into a cradle. With ref Todd Sinclair down, Cody used two low blows and hit crossroads for the pin. Cody flipped him off with both hands after and turned over a table. He also threw water on Sinclair (which got a face pop). He also argued with Daniels & Kazarian and shoved down Steve Corino. The fans booed him a lot for the low blows and the win, but after throwing the water on Sinclair, they chanted his name. The turn itself was great. You didn’t see it coming, but he’s got more legs right now as a heel in Bullet Club and the initial babyface “I left WWE for the indies” story wasn’t going to last as long here. ***1/4
179
1805. Matt Taven & TK O’Ryan & Vinny Marseglia became the first ROH trios champions beating Lio Rush & Kushida & Jay White in 15:24. This was a great match. They teased the Goldberg/Lesnar quick finish thing as Rush did a splash off the top on Taven right away but Taven kicked out. White is an interesting case here. He’s technically a great wrestler, looks athletic, perfect timing and has been protected well and pushed in booking. It used to be in ROH that if you were very good in your match, name or not, the fans would get into you based on that. But now it feels like a more old WWE audience, not in the sense they want that in-ring style, but White had no name coming in past those who religiously watch New Japan, where he was always good but never pushed. So without super high risk moves or a big name, the work and match quality doesn’t get his match over like it would have in another era. Everyone in this match looked good. Rush did tope’s to both sides of the ring. White did a tope. Kushida did a flip dive onto everyone. Rush did a twisting plancha. Taven then did a running dive over the top onto everyone. Taven did his headlock DDT on Rush for a near fall. Rush was pinning Taven when Marseglia came off the top rope with a swanton onto the ref to stop his count. O’Ryan hit Rush with a flagpole, and then they did a triple team move of Taven doing a power bomb while at the same time O’Ryan and Marseglia did double zig zags on Rush for the pin. ***3/4
181
1826. Marty Scurll retained the TV title in a three-way over Will Ospreay and Dragon Lee in 10:45. This was an insane acrobatic high spot collection and felt like a big Arena Mexico match. The crowd reacted big to Ospreay and decently to Scurll in their U.S. debuts for the promotion in their intros. Lee did a running flip dive early. Scurll body slammed Ospreay, whose legs caught the ropes causing him to take the bump high on his neck. Corino called that move “prelude to neck surgery.” Lee did the Del Rio double foot stomp on Scurll. In a crazy spot, Lee jumped from the ring over the top rope with a huracanrana on Ospreay. Ospreay took the move, flew off the apron, and landed on his feet on the floor. Scurll then hit Lee with a phenomenal forearm to the floor. Ospreay then did a shooting star press on the floor on Lee. Ospreay then did a double moonsault into a standing shooting star press into a twisting splash. Scurll had Ospreay in the chicken wing but Lee broke it up with a double foot stomp. Everyone starting chopping everyone until Scurll did a double eye rake. Ospreay went for a Phoenix splash, but Lee got his knees up. Lee used a German suplex on Ospreay, but Scurll saved. Scurll beat Lee with the chicken wing. ****1/4
183
1847. Young Bucks beat Mark & Jay Briscoe to retain the ROH tag titles in 15:35. A collection of crazy moves. Matt was upside down and Nick dove over him with a flip dive onto both Briscoes. The Bucks gave each guy a power bomb into the ring frame. Jay did a tope on both Bucks and Mark followed with a Foley style elbow off the apron. The Briscoes did double football tackles. Matt did a stunner off the top on Jay. Nick did a twisting DDT on the floor. They did double superkicks on both Mark and then Jay. Mark used a blockbuster off the apron on the floor. They teased a Meltzer driver on Mark but Jay came off the ropes and hit Nick with a stunner. Jay hit the Jay driller on Matt and Mark followed with an elbow off the top, but Matt kicked out. They did a springboard Doomsday Device on Matt and he kicked out again. Nick cleaned house on both and hit the Meltzer driver on Jay, but Mark saved. Then the Bucks went crazy with superkicks on both Briscoes. They did a few and the Briscoes spit at them and gave them crotch chops. The Bucks then did one superkick after another on both of them for the pin. After the win, the lights went out and Matt Hardy was on the screen. ****1/4
185
1868. Kyle O’Reilly beat Adam Cole in 18:48 in a no DQ match to win the ROH title. O’Reilly went for the armbar early but Cole stomped his way out of it. He also used an armbar over the ropes as well as a belly-to-belly suplex on the floor. The first big spot was O’Reilly coming off the apron into a belt shot by Cole, and coming up bleeding. After a high angle German suplex, O’Reilly fell off the apron. Cole used a garbage can spot to the head, and then put the garbage can on O’Reilly’s head and superkicked it. Cole used a chair too the back and gut. O’Reilly used a back suplex onto a chair and followed with a heel hook. O’Reilly also did a flying armbar. O’Reilly also gave him a back suplex through a table. They traded low blows. O’Reilly had a guillotine on the apron and leaned back and both fell through a table, almost like O’Reilly gave him a DDT off the apron through the table. Cole came up bleeding. Cole used a low blow and followed with an ushigoroshi for a near fall. Cole brought in thumbtacks. O’Reilly grabbed another guillotine and turned it into a triangle. Cole power bombed O’Reilly on the thumbtacks to break the triangle. He went for a superkick, but O’Reilly caught the leg and used a brainbuster on Cole onto the thumbtacks. O’Reilly, with thumbtacks sticking in both men’s back, got Cole in an armbar for the submission. ****
187
188The flyweights are often the most maligned division in UFC.
189
190Champion Demetrious Johnson is readily acknowledged as perhaps the most all-around skilled and conditioned fighter in the sport’s history. But with his own lack of charisma and lack of depth of contenders, his title matches have drawn the company’s worst PPV numbers of the modern era.
191
192As a way to try to bring some interest in the division, the UFC did a season of The Ultimate Fighter, with a tournament with 16 champions from smaller companies with the winner getting a shot at Johnson’s title. The winner, Tim Elliott, had gone 2-4 in the UFC before being cut and winning the Titan Fighting Championships flyweight title.
193
194Elliott put on a spirited performance to make the fight exciting. While clearly outskilled overall, he got some takedowns and reversals, hurt Johnson early and even won the first round before losing on 49-46, 49-46 and 49-45 scores.
195
196The real highlight was the semifinal, a battle to be Johnson’s next opponent. Coming off the lowest rated season in TUF history, coaches Joseph Benavidez and Henry Cejudo, ranked No. 1 and No. 2 behind Johnson as contenders, had as close a fight as is possible, with Benavidez winning via split decision on scores of 30-26, 27-29 and 29-27.
197
198Rounds two and three were exceptionally close. Round one was close, but Cejudo hurt Benavidez early and it was the closest thing to a sure round in the fight. However, Cejudo was also docked a point in round one after two low blow kicks, which could have decided the fight. As it was, it didn’t, as all three judges would have had the same winner regardless of the penalty point.
199
200Reporters were a lot closer. In those scores, 30 percent had Benavidez winning, every one of which had it 29-27, with Cejudo taking the first round and the penalty point factored in. 50 percent had it 28-28 as a draw, basically having Cejudo win two rounds. Another 20 percent had Cejudo winning all three rounds.
201
202The stats were just as even. As far as significant strikes went, Benavidez has a 22-21 edge in round one, but Cejudo landed the more damaging blows. Benavidez had a 22-21 edge in round two as well. Cejudo had a 26-25 edge in round three.
203
204Johnson will be going for some records in his fight with Benavidez. Currently he’s in fourth place, tied with Royce Gracie, for most consecutive wins in UFC competition with 11. He’s behind Georges St-Pierre with 12, Jon Jones with 13 and Anderson Silva with 16. Really Jones should have the record with 17 due to the DQ call in the Matt Hamill fight where he destroyed Hamill with something like 50 straight legal elbows and Hamill was past done and then got DQ’d for a 12-to-6 elbow. He’s tied St-Pierre and Jones with nine consecutive title match wins, behind Silva’s ten. So he’ll tie that record if he beats Benavidez, as he’s already done twice.
205
206The show on 12/3 on FS 1 did 1,032,000 viewers, making it the sixth most-watched prime time card on the station this year, and largest since the 9/24 fight with Cris Cyborg Justino vs. Lina Lansberg, The main event peaked past 1 a.m., doing 1,170,000 viewers.
207
208The viewership was remarkably consistent, as the prelims did 887,000 viewers.
209
210As the final FS 1 show of the year, 2016 ended up with the main cards up seven percent from 2015, averaging 965,000 viewers for main cards. This is during a year when there have been so many stories about television viewing declines, particularly for shows that attract a younger audience, like UFC does.
211
212The prelims before Fight Nights averaged 730,000 viewers, up 20 percent from 610,000 last year. What that showed is that more fans than ever are watching all five hours most shows, which goes against everything being said about short attention spans among younger TV viewers.
213
214The pregame show did 479,000 viewers, the second biggest ever for a non-PPV show, and biggest of the year. The postgame show did 280,000 viewers.
215
216The show was, while never said, the first time UFC has ever run a live show in a Fertitta-owned casino. The card was held at The Pearl at the Palms, the hotel/casino that Station Casinos purchased for $312.5 million in May. The show drew 2,044 fans with a gate of $188,602, but that’s either a full house or very close to a full house in that building.
217
218It was an exciting show, with the two bouts both being all action, and a third highlight bout saw Jared Cannonier win a decision over Ion Cutelaba in a back-and-forth hard hitting light heavyweight bout.
219
2201. Devin Clark (7-1) beat Josh Stansbury (8-3) on scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 in a light heavyweight bout. Clark got a takedown and was winning the round, but Stansbury got a choke just as the round ended. Clark landed more in the second round and it slowed in the third. Clark got $20,000 for the win and Stansbury got $12,000 for the loss.
221
2222. Anthony Smith (26-12) beat Elvis Mutapcic (15-5) at 3:27 of the second round in a middleweight fight. Mutapcic took him down in the first round, but Smith went for an armbar from the bottom. Mutapcic dropped him on his head to break it and landed a lot of punches for the rest of the round. Smith landed a hard knee in the second round and hurt him with punches, and opened a big cut. He dropped Mutapcic with an elbow and landed punches on the ground for the win. Smith got $80,000 for the win, including a $50,000 performance bonus. Mutapcic got $16,000 for the loss.
223
2243. Jamie Moyle (4-1) beat Kailin Curran (4-4) via straight 30-27 scores in a women’s strawweight fight. Moyle got a takedown early and also landed some good punches late in the round. Moyle was bloodied up badly but scored with a big slam in the second round and used punches from the top. In the third round, Moyle went for a throw and Curran landed on top with punches. Curran landed a knee and punches but Moyle took her down and landed more punches from the top. Moyle got $20,000 for the win and Curran got $20,000 for the loss.
225
2264. Dong Hyun Kim II (14-8-3) beat Brendan O’Reilly (6-3, 1 no contest) via straight 29-28 scores in a lightweight fight. This is the other less famous Dong Hyun Kim from Korea, who they call Maestro to differentiate the two. Kim got a takedown and controlled much of round one in side control. Kim got another takedown to start the second round, but O’Reilly reversed and got Kim’s back and worked for a choke. Kim reversed to the top and got side control and mount, and then got his back. O’Reilly got up and landed a big right and some elbows. In the third round, O’Reilly landed some elbows in the clinch. Kim took him down, got his back and got mount, but O’Reilly reversed to the top and won the round. Kim got $20,000 for the win and O’Reilly got $12,000 for the loss.
227
2285. Rob Font (13-2) beat Matt Schnell (10-3) in 3:47 of a bantamweight fight. Font took him down and got his back. Schnell got up but Font landed a strong knee and finished him with punches on the ground. Font got $33,000 for the win and Schnell got $10,000 for the loss.
229
2306. Ryan Hall (6-1) beat Gray Maynard (13-7-1, 1 no contest) on scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 in a featherweight fight. Maynard looked so small at 145. Keep in mind that this guy went to high school with Dolph Ziggler and wrestled heavier than Ziggler did and used to cut like crazy to make 155. It’s sad to watch him because he was a top fighter for years and he’s just done. He couldn’t pull the trigger. Hall is a leglock expert and Maynard didn’t want to go to the ground with him. Hall threw kicks for three rounds that landed. Maynard landed very little. Hall would dive and try to get leglocks, but got nowhere. Maynard wanted to box and Hall would flop to his back. But he kept landing hook kicks. This was not a spectator friendly fight and the fans blamed it on Hall who would kick, back away and flop, and heavily booed when he got the decision.
231
2327. Brandon Moreno (13-3) beat Ryan Benoit (9-5) on a split decision on scores of 28-29, 29-28 and 29-28 in a flyweight fight. Moreno got three first round takedowns but Benoit landed some punches and a hard body kick late in the round. Benoit dropped Moreno in the second round. Moreno came back with a slam. So it seemed even going into the third round. Moreno landed punches. He tried for a suplex but it was dropped. He kept landing punches and head kicks and knees and pretty much dominated the third round. He then did a great promo, I think. His English promo was okay, just asking for a top ten guy, but he comes across very likeable. Then he did a Spanish language promo that was unreal, like a Jim Cornette or a Dream Machine smooth. Moreno got $24,000 for the win and Benoit got $15,000 for the loss.
233
2348. Sara McMann (10-3) beat Alexis Davis (17-7) at 2:52 of the second round in a women’s bantamweight fight. This was a battle of former title contenders who both lost quickly to Ronda Rousey. McMann’s standup has improved as she was landing good combos and got a takedown. But Davis landed a lot of elbows from the bottom and worked for a triangle. McMann got some punches from the top but I had Davis winning the round because she did more damage off her back. In the second round, Davis was landing punches, but McMann took her down with a hip toss and got a head and arm choke for the submission. McMann said she wanted a title shot with the win, but she lost in the first round via knockout to both Rousey and Amanda Nunes, so she’s going to need more wins than just this. McMann got $106,000 for the win, including a $50,000 performance bonus. Davis got $27,000 for the loss.
235
2369. Jared Cannonier (9-1) beat Ion Cutelaba (12-3, 1 no contest) on straight scores of 29-28 in a light heavyweight bout. This was a great fight. Cutelaba got the early edge with punches and knees. He got a takedown but Cannier kicked him off. Cutelaba landed a hard body kick and easily took the first round. The second round was close. Cutelaba got a takedown but Cannonier was right back up. Cutelaba got a second takedown. But Cannonier took over with big punches late in the round. Cutelaba then got a third takedown and then Cannonier got a takedown and landed punches from the top. It was even going into the third. Cannonier was landing body and low kicks. Cutelaba took him down but Cannonier got right back up and was landing big punches and hurt him with big shots. Both started landing big shots. Cannonier then let Cutelaba hit him, just standing there but even with that Cannonier won the round. Cannonier got $74,000 for the win including a $50,000 best fight bonus. Cutelaba got $62,000 for the loss and his best fight bonus.
237
23810. Jorge Masvidal (31-11) beat Jake Ellenberger (31-12) at 4:05 of a welterweight fight. This was a weird fight and probably should be used to change the rules. Masvidal was dominating the fight, and put Ellenberger down and landed punches on the ground. Ellenberger got up, but Masvidal landed elbows and kicks. Ellenberger’s toe got caught in the cage. As he was trying to pull it out, Masvidal was punching him. Herb Dean stopped the fight since Ellenberger was just taking shots. Dean clearly didn’t want the fight to be over and called time out. The problem is that time outs are only allowed for fouls, and Masvidal did nothing wrong. But if there’s a situation where a guy’s foot gets caught in the cage and he’s getting pounded because he can’t get free, the ref should be able to call a time out without the fight being over. Masvidal was probably winning, but we’ve seen enough fights turn around. Since there was no foul, it couldn’t be called a no contest either. Masvidal challenged Donald Cerrone after the fight, but an argument can be made he should face Ellenberger next since nothing was settled here. Masvidal got $120,000 for the win and Ellenberger got $78,000 for the loss.
239
24011. Joseph Benavidez (25-4) beat Henry Cejudo (10-2) on scores of 27-29, 30-26 and 29-27 in a flyweight fight. I had this as the fight of the night. Both guys went back-and-forth with punches. Cejudo was so much bigger than Benavidez, but Benavidez was more experienced and quicker. Cejudo hurt him in an early exchange, landed a body kick and dropped Benavidez with a left. Cejudo had Benavidez in trouble when he accidentally kicked Benavidez low. This killed Cejudo’s momentum. Benavidez got a chance to regroup and then ended up being kicked in the groin again, causing the ref to take a point away. Cejudo got two brief takedowns, but both times Benavidez got right up. Cejudo won the round, but with the penalty point it was a 9-9 round. In the second round, Cejudo hurt him again and Benavidez took control late and it was very close. Cejudo opened the third round strong and got another takedown. Benavidez got right up. Both landed good shots as the round went on and it was another very close round. It was a fight that either guy could have won. The crowd did boo heavily when Benavidez got the decision. Benavidez got $140,000 for the win and Cejudo got $50,000 for the loss.
241
24212. Demetrious Johnson (25-2-1) retained the UFC flyweight title beating Tim Elliott (14-7-1) on scores of 49-46, 49-46 and 49-45. Elliott came out fast with punches and a body kick. Johnson was able to take him down and worked for an armbar. Elliott, who was much bigger, reversed to the top. He went for a guillotine and a D’Arce choke, and probably burned out his arms because he came close. Johnson escaped and got up. Johnson landed a head kick, punches and got takedown. Elliott looked very tired when he got up, but knocked Johnson down with a left hook and then got a takedown and was grinding his elbow on Johnson’s head to end a great round. Both landed to start the second round until Johnson got a takedown and got Elliott’s back. Johnson worked for a Kimura, but it was blocked. He got a crucifix. Elliott escaped and took Johnson down. In round three, Johnson got a takedown and got behind him. He worked for a choke but again Elliott escaped. They had some great grappling exchanges in this round. Elliott ended up on top throwing punches, but Johnson reversed back to the top and landed punches and got side control. In the fourth round, Johnson landed punches and took Elliott down. He got his back and worked for a choke but Elliott escaped. Johnson got a crucifix and landed more punches and worked for a straight armbar. Elliott escaped and got back to his feet and did a cartwheel. Another great round. In the fifth round, Elliott got a takedown right away. Johnson reversed to the top and got Elliott’s back, and then got side control. Johnson was again trying for an armbar but couldn’t get it. There was no doubt Johnson won, but Elliott came out of it as much of a star as a guy with a 2-4 UFC record is going to be. Johnson got $350,000 for the win and Elliott got $100,000 for the loss.
243
244Smackdown on 12/6 was down 3.8 percent from the prior week with 2,479,000 viewers, good for ninth place for the night on cable. So it got no bump from the TLC show.
245
246The show did a 0.58 in 12-17 (down 1.7 percent from the prior week), 0.66 in 18-34 (down 7.0 percent), 0.90 in 35-49 (up 3.4 percent) and 1.05 in 50+ (identical to the prior week).
247
248The drop was mainly women, as the male audience was up from recent weeks with 63.1 percent male in 18-34 and 71.7 percent male in 12-17.
249
250Raw on 12/5 did a 2.07 rating and 2,965,000 viewers (1.55 viewers per home), a drop of six percent in ratings and five percent in viewers from the prior week.
251
252It was still the fourth best number of the fall season, behind the two non-Halloween shows that Bill Goldberg appeared on and last week’s show with the Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks title match.
253
254The show actually opened at similar levels to the prior week, but didn’t keep the audience nearly as well. They did have Roman Reigns vs. Chris Jericho at the top of the third hour, but the show was built to Charlotte confronting Ric Flair.
255
256Raw had far easier competition this week, as the NFL game with the Indianapolis Colts vs. New York Jets was a blow-out, and only did 8,091,000 viewers, down from 13,062,000 the week before. The cable news ratings were also down. Raw placed third on cable for the night, trailing only football and The O’Reilly Factor (3,755,000 viewers).
257
258The three hours were 3,153,000 for the first hour, 2,981,000 viewers for the second hour and 2,796,000 viewers for the third hour. In the 18-49 demo, women dropped 16 percent from hour one to three and men dropped eight percent from hour one to two and stayed even in hour three. Teenage girls dropped 30 percent from hour one to three but teenage boys were up nine percent in the same time frame.
259
260The show did a 0.73 in 12-17 (down 6.4 percent), 0.81 in 18-34 (down 14.8 percent), 1.13 in 35-49 (down 8.1 percent) and 1.15 in 50+ (down 6.5 percent).
261
262Bellator on 12/3, headlined by Darrion Caldwell over Joe Taimanglo, did 545,000 viewers, which really isn’t too bad considering they went head-to-head with a UFC show as well as all the college football.
263
264Bellator on 12/2 did 613,000 viewers (plus 86,000 more via DVR as of Monday) for a show headlined by Eduardo Dantas retaining the bantamweight title over Joe Warren. It’s down from last year’s average but Spike lost a lot of homes so comparing year-to-year viewership is misleading and we don’t have percentage ratings. That did better than either Benson Henderson or Phil Davis did in recent weeks. The main event peaked at 825,000 viewers live but with DVR viewership it hit 967,000.
265
266Impact on 12/1 did 338,000 viewers, so the really low number on Thanksgiving night was the one-time fluke that meant nothing as one would expect.
267
268Total Divas on 11/30 did 595,000 viewers, which is up from the all-time low of 461,000 the week before, but barely above the prior record low of 560,000.
269
270Lucha Underground ratings on 11/30 took a major drubbing with the show built around three intergender matches with Pentagon Jr., doing 74,000 viewers for the 8 p.m. show and 27,000 for the 9 p.m. show. That’s down 41 percent from the prior week at 8 p.m. and 61 percent at 9 p.m., although it is a one week aberration, and the previous weeks’ main event was Sexy Star vs. Johnny Mundo for the title which did well above the season average. Ironically many felt this week was one of the best shows of the season with the Pentagon vs. Hitokiri (Io Shirai) match, but the reality is, as good as the “working” was in the three matches, and as over as Pentagon is, the majority of viewers had no idea who the three very small women he was working with were.
271
272The final episode of the season of Ultimate Fighter on 11/30 did 386,000 viewers, where Tim Elliott earned his title shot, making this by far the lowest rated season in history. It also did another 242,000 viewers via DVR as of 12/3. It was still up from the 223,000 viewers that the live Major League soccer playoff game in prime time on FS 1 did as the lead-in.
273
274Smackdown on 11/29 did a 1.78 rating and 2,576,000 viewers, which was 1.57 viewers per home. The 11/22 show did a 1.72 rating.
275
276Raw on 11/28 did a 2.21 rating and 3,107,000 viewers (1.52 viewers per home), making it actually the highest rating of a show since football season started (the Goldberg return did a 2.17 rating, but because of more viewers per home, had more people watching).
277
278This is 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.
279
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281
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283
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285
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287
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289
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291
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293
294We also have copies of our latest book, "Tributes II," a 293-page hardcover full color book which features biographies right out of the pages of the Observer. Those featured are Wahoo McDaniel, Lou Thesz, Miss Elizabeth, Freddie Blassie, Road Warrior Hawk, Andre the Giant, Curt Hennig, Johnny Valentine, Davey Boy Smith, Terry Gordy, Owen Hart, Stu Hart, Gorilla Monsoon, The Sheik and Tim Woods. The book is available for $12.95 plus $3.50 for postage and handling in the U.S., $20 for postage and handling in Canada and $25 for postage and handling for the rest of the world.
295
296This 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.
297
298Fax 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
299
300CMLL:
301
302So this is a classic story. After the Friday night Arena Mexico shows have aired in the U.S. on Claro Sports for months, the 11/25 show was geo-blocked. Before the 12/2 show, Claro Sports stated that from this point forward, the shows will only air in Mexico and Latin America, but nowhere else. So after saying that, the 12/2 show wasn’t geoblocked.
303
304The 12/2 show at Arena Mexico saw Ultimo Guerrero for the second week in a row cheat to beat Caristico in the main event trios match. It was Guerrero & Hechicero & Euforia beating Atlantis & Caristico & Valiente on top, while Marco Corleone & Maximo Sexy & Volador Jr. beat Mascara Ano 2000 & nephews Cuatrero & Sanson in the semi in two straight falls when Maximo killed Mascara Ano 2000 and then pinned him to keep their program gong. Negro Casas also defeated Angel de Oro via submission with the scorpion deathlock. They appear to be building a big show with Guerrero and Caristico, who are still doing mask vs. hair challenges and that would be a big match. But it’s not this week, as they are continuing the program in a trios match with Caristico & Dragon Lee & Mistico vs. Guerrero & Mephisto & Casas, as well as Maximo Sexy & Volador Jr. & Corleone vs. Mascara Ano 2000 & El Terrible & Shocker (Mascara and Shocker on the same team that high on the card doesn’t make sense) and a singles match with Valiente vs. La Mascara.
305
306Ultimo Guerrero defends the NWA historic middleweight title against Valiente on 12/12 in Puebla, stemming from Valiente beating Guerrero clean in the third fall of the trios main event (Mistico & Valiente & Volador Jr. over Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & La Mascara) on the 12/5 show.
307
308AAA:
309
310Guerra de Titanes, the first major show of the year, was announced for 1/20 at the Juan de la Barrera Gym in Mexico City.
311
312PRO WRESTLING NOAH:
313
314In the biggest match of the year in NOAH as far as the repercussions, but not as far as fan interest, Katsuhiko Nakajima pinned Minoru Suzuki in 37:01 after a brainbuster to retain the GHC title in the loser leaves town match on 12/2 at Korakuen Hall. As per the stipulations, Suzuki-gun has to leave NOAH. Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr., who held the GHC tag team titles, first lost a non-title match at Korakuen Hall, and then lost the tag team titles the next night at Differ Ariake in what was pushed as Suzuki’s last night with the promotion. Exactly what this means is unclear as far as the future of Suzuki-gun. New Japan didn’t want them working in NOAH any longer and the ones who came from New Japan are expected to return, but the promotion is so overloaded with talent that while Suzuki and the Japanese are likely to return, Archer & Smith also may be back but are likely to be lost in the shuffle, since they kind of were in their last year in New Japan. Suzuki-gun was sent to NOAH two years ago by New Japan when New Japan was investing into the company with hopes of turning it around.
315
316While on paper the idea seemed good, and Jado was sent to NOAH as booker, with the Suzuki-gun dominating NOAH for the first year and winning all the matches early, all the titles, and Suzuki dominating the singles belt and Archer & Smith the tag belts, the numbers didn’t turn around. The angle built to a point where it got some mainstream coverage and even had so much heat there was a riot at Korakuen Hall, and showed promise at times but the weak attendance remained. There were rumors of Suzuki-gun returning to New Japan as the big surprise last month, and that probably will happen. The back story behind everything that happened, including doing the loser leaves town match, is that New Japan wasn’t happy about the sale of NOAH without their knowledge, and Masayuki Uchida being named President. New Japan had lent talent to NOAH, and helped them financially for some time. They felt they were double-crossed with the sale after helping the company for two years. New Japan is backing away from helping NOAH, which all went down just a few weeks ago. They informed NOAH that they were going to take their talent back and NOAH had until the end of the tour to have it make sense storyline-wise, which is why the loser leaves town thing came out of nowhere. Uchida is apparently friends with Naoki Sugabayashi of New Japan, but most of the rest of New Japan doesn’t like him.
317
318The big negative is that this blow off meant little to the fans, as they only drew 1,110 to Korakuen Hall and only 517 fans to Differ Ariake the next night for Suzuki’s last match with the promotion. Exactly who is and isn’t leaving isn’t clear. After Suzuki lost, Takashi Sugiura turned on Suzuki-gun. He attacked Suzuki and laid him out with an Olympic slam, and then challenged him to a match the next night, which basically explains why Sugiura is staying. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, who was with NOAH before he “switched” to Suzuki-gun is probably also staying. Also on the show was Atsushi Kotoge retaining the jr. title over Taichi with the killswitch in 15:42. Kanemaru and Sugiura didn’t come from New Japan, while Suzuki, Archer, Smith, Desperado, Taichi, Jado (or Captain NOAH) and Taka Michinoku all did. One would think some will wind up with New Japan, but New Japan already has so many wrestlers on its shows that they are overloaded with six-and-eight man tags. Still, Japanese promotions tend to protect Japanese guys and Suzuki is a star, but Archer & Smith are questions as to where they’d fit in, even though they’ve been an established championship-level tag team in Japan for years.
319
320Naomichi Marufuji & Masa Kitamiya beat Sugiura & Iizuka when Marufuji pinned Iizuka after the shiranui. Sugiura then pinned Suzuki in 33:30 using the Olympic slam. Marufuji then came out to congratulate Sugiura for turning on Suzuki and beating him, but Sugiura refused to shake his hand. Sugiura is likely being built for a title match with Nakajima, although Nakajima’s first title defense will be against Kitamiya and Sugiura is being groomed for a singles match with Marufuji. Shiozaki & Taniguchi beat Archer & Smith Jr. in 21:11 when Shiozaki pinned Archer after a lariat. Mohammed Yone & Quiet Storm came out to issue the next title challenge. After Nakajima & Hitoshi Kumano beat Marufuji & Kaito Kiyomiya, Kitamiya came out to challenge Nakajima for the title.
321
322The next major show which is 12/24 at Korakuen Hall, really doesn’t answer who will fill the void, as it’s the Nakajima vs. Kitamiya GHC title match, Shiozaki & Taniguchi vs. Yone & Storm tag title, Marufuji vs. Sugiura, Gedo & Jado (the last outsiders left with belts) defending the jr. tag titles against Kotoge & Daisuke Harada in the top matches and the only foreigner on the show is Alejandro Saez, who likely works cheap.
323
324NEW JAPAN:
325
326A national ad for Bushiroad trading cards is now airing in Japan that features Kazuchika Okada and model and actress Milla Jovovich. It’s part of a branding campaign to make Okada become a mainstream celebrity name. There was a photo of the two of them together in Tokyo Sports as well.
327
328Kenny Omega and Yujiro Takahashi will announce the new member of the Bullet Club at the 12/10 finals of the World Tag League in Miyagi which is a live show on New Japan World starting at 3 a.m. Eastern and midnight Pacific late Friday night U.S. time.
329
330Kyle O’Reilly vs. Adam Cole for the ROH title will be on the Tokyo Dome show. I’m expecting Katsuyori Shibata vs. Rhodes for the Never title as well since at one point that was planned, but Shibata also could be facing one of the NOAH guys like Katsuhiko Nakajima but who knows how the NOAH relationship is right now.
331
332Scott Norton looks to be returning, possibly as part of the Royal Rumble match where they usually bring back a few names from the past.
333
334Michael Elgin had a minor setback that delayed him getting back in the gym, but is still targeting the Tokyo Dome for his return after surgery on his orbital bone. They used some bone from his hip on the surgery and his hip had started to swell up a few weeks back and they were afraid of an infection and put him on antibiotics.
335
336The A block is done competing in the tag team tournament and these are the final standings: 1. Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa 6-1; 2. Tetsuya Naito & Rush, Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page, War Machine (Ray Rowe & Hanson) and Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan 4-3; 6. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson and Leland Race & Brian Breaker 3-4; 8. Manabu Nakanishi & Henare 0-7.
337
338With one show left, the B block standings are: 1. Katsuyori Shibata & Yuji Nagata, Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii, Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi, Seiya Sanada & Evil and Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma 4-2; 6. Kenny Omega & Chase Owens and Billy Gunn & Yoshitatsu 2-4; 8. Bad Luck Fale & Bone Soldier 0-6.
339
340Tonga & Roa are in the finals against the B block rep on 12/10. Since the idea of the tournament is to create a Tokyo Dome challenger, one would think that whoever advances out of the B block would beat Tonga & Roa in the finals and thus have the win over them leading to the title match. It’s good that they put the champions over strong in the tournament, because nothing makes titles look less significant than you put champions in a tournament and they go .500. But in this case, it does make the finals more predictable on paper. Anything else would be a swerve to fool the fans with little payoff unless they’ve got a rabbit to pull out of their hats. The B block rep will be decided on 12/8 in Hachinohe. Yoshitatsu & Gunn face Fale & Soldier in a match that means nothing. Okada & Yoshi-Hashi face Sanada & Evil; Shibata & Nagata face Omega & Owens and Makabe & Honma face Goto & Ishii. If Omega & Owens win, and Gedo likes to book upsets like that where a team in the running chokes, plus Omega can use a big win, then Shibata & Nagata are out and it becomes the winners of the other two matches, and then it’ll be determined by head-to-head. If we go with the idea Shibata & Nagata will be upset, and I don’t know that, just it’s a pattern Gedo does, then Okada & Yoshi-Hashi and Makabe & Honma means Makabe & Honma are in the finals. Okada & Yoshi-Hashi and Goto & Ishii win, it means Okada & Yoshi-Hashi advance. If Sanada & Evil and Makabe & Honma win, then Makabe & Honma advance. If Sanada & Evil and Goto & Ishii win, then Goto & Ishii advance. If there’s a draw in one of the two matches, then there will be an obvious winner. If Shibata & Nagata win, then it changes the dynamic completely. Since the winners will likely face Tonga & Roa for the titles at the Tokyo Dome, Okada & Yoshi-Hashi are very unlikely to win.
341
34212/1 in Beppu before 1,024 fans saw Tonga & Roa beat Takahashi & Page in 11:23 when Tonga pinned Takahashi after a gun stun; and Naito & Rush beat Rowe & Hanson in 13:33 when Naito pinned Rowe after Destino.
343
34412/2 in Yamaguchi before 1,017 saw Shibata & Nagata beat Fale & Soldier in 10:53 when Nagata pinned Soldier after the exploder; and Makabe & Honma beat Sanada & Evil in 16:20 when Honma pinned Evil after a diving head-butt.
345
34612/4 in Kobe before a sellout 1,341 fans saw Naito & Rush over Nakanishi & Henare in 13:32 when Rush pinned Henare after a Rush driver. War Machine beat Breaker & Race in 9:27 when Rowe pinned Race after fallout. Takahashi & Page beat Tenzan & Kojima in 11:31 when Page pinned Kojima after the Rites of Passage (Omori driver) in what is a major win for Page. Tonga & Roa beat Tanahashi & Robinson in 14:51 after the Guerrilla Warfare on Robinson.
347
34812/5 in Kyoto had Makabe & Honma over Fale & Soldier in 7:50 when Honma pinned Soldier after a diving head-butt. Sanada & Evil beat Omega & Owens in 9:01 when Evil pinned Owens after the STO. Okada & Yoshi-Hashi beat Yoshitatsu & Gunn in 14:11 when Okada pinned Yoshitatsu after the rainmaker. Shibata & Nagata beat Goto & Ishii in 16:50 when Shibata pinned Goto after the penalty kick.
349
35012/7 in Mito before 968 fans saw Tanahashi & Robinson beat Nakanishi & Henare in 13:41 when Robinson pinned Henare after pulp fiction. Breaker & Race beat Kojima & Tenzan in 10:02 when Race pinned Kojima. Takahashi & Page beat War Machine in 12:07 when Takahashi pinned Rowe after a DDT. So this left a direct match for the A block title with Tonga & Roa vs. Naito & Rush. If Naito & Rush had won, both teams would be 5-2, but Naito & Rush would advance over winning the head-to-head match. Tonga pinned Rush after a gun stun in 13:55.
351
352Colby Corino, Steve’s son, who was supposed to start here full-time as a young guy in January was arrested on 12/3 in Hamilton County, TN. Pro Wrestling Sheet reported Corino was taken into custody for possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and he was being held on $40,000 bond. According to the police report, they were called about an unresponsive person on the floor in his home and the person with him said the two of them had taken opiates. When they revived Corino, he admitted the same thing and was rushed to the hospital. Police found in the home a grinder, a bag of marijuana, hypodermic needles, baggies, what they believed were mushrooms, unknown purple pills, a rock-like substance suspected of being heroin, glass vials of an unknown substance believed to be steroids and white residue with a drinking straw.
353
354OTHER JAPAN NOTES:
355
356DDT ran one of its major events of the year on 12/4 at the Edion Arena in Osaka, drawing 2,355 fans, or just over half of what NXT did in the same arena the day before. There were a number of major matches on the show. Masakatsu Funaki & Yukio Sakaguchi beat Yoshihiro Takayama & Kazusada Higuchi when Sakaguchi pinned Higuchi after a knee in 9:39. A TLC match ending via pinfall saw Kota Ibushi & Sanshiro Takagi & Gota Ihashi beat Dick Togo & Antonio Honda & Takashi Sasaki when Ibushi pinned Honda after a last ride power bomb in 15:03. Jun Kasai pinned Danshoku Dino to win their Extreme title. Konosuke Takeshita (great potential) & Speedball Mike Bailey won the tag team titles over Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya endo in 23:34 when Takeshita pinned Sasaki with a German suplex in 23:34. The main event saw Harashima, who is the company’s top star, beat Shuji Ishikawa to win the KO-D open weight title with a swanton in 21:28.
357
358DDT announced that in 2017, with its streaming service DDT Universe, that the big shows will all be airing at times that are conducive to U.S. viewing. The shows will start anywhere between 10 p.m. and midnight Eastern time, which is 7-9 p.m. Pacific time. There will be 13 shows, roughly one a month, live with dates of 1/29, 2/19, 3/20 (which will be at the Saitama Super Arena), 4/29, 5/28, 6/25, 7/23, 8/20 (which will be the biggest show of the year at Sumo Hall), 9/24, 10/22, 11/23, an early December date not yet announced for Osaka Edion Arena and 12/24. Most of the other major live shows will be from Korakuen Hall.
359
360On 12/2 in Osaka, there was a special nostalgia show at the local Community Center that drew a sellout 770 fans. It included a UWFI talk show with Masahito Kakihara and Takaku Fuke. Former wrestlers Yoji Anjo and Norio Honaga served as special referees on the show. They did an in-ring memorial celebration for a number of wrestlers who have passed away including Kantaro Hoshino, Kotetsu Yamamoto and Katsuhisa Shibata (the father of the New Japan star). They also brought in Rollerball Mark Rocco from England, and reunited him with Satoru Sayama. Rocco was the original Black Tiger in New Japan in the early 80s and Sayama was the first Tiger Mask. It was Tiger Mask, Black Tiger and Dynamite Kid who were the ones who revolutionized pro wrestling among sub-185 pound wrestlers in Japan and really changed the business there. Hisashi Shinma, who was the New Japan booker who went with the Tiger Mask and Black Tiger idea, which had a lot of opposition from people who thought it was too cartoony, but ended up a huge success, was also there. The show ended with Masa Saito, 74, the Hall of Fame star and one of the most successful actual Japanese wrestlers in North American history, doing a talk show. He’s had a lot of problems in recent years. I believe he has Parkinson’s because in many ways with the shaking he resembled Ali in his later years. He could barely talk. Then he was attacked by a masked man who hit him overall with an umbrella. He reflexively knew how to sell to a degree and went down. The masked man was waiting for Saito to do his comeback as the fans chanted for Saito and went along with this pretty sad skit. He kept waiting and waiting and when Saito would just shake and do nothing, he’d have to hit him with the umbrella again or kick him. Finally, Saito got to his feet and did the Hogan attempt with a chop, that the masked man went down for, and some kicks in the corner as he begged off. Finally he unmasked as Keiji Muto, and the two then hugged.
361
362HERE AND THERE:
363
364The ITV World of Sport wrestling pilot that we’ve been writing about, with Jim Ross announcing and built around Grado, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Dave Mastiff, El Ligero and Zack Gibson, will be airing on 12/31 from 4-6 p.m, which is the same Saturday afternoon time slot that the show aired in its heyday. It’s expected that with the reach of ITV, that ten times or more people will watch this show than any pro wrestling show that has aired in the U.K. in recent years. The idea of it becoming a weekly series is still not official, but with ITV trying to sign people to amended deals and such, they are proceeding with the idea that it will be.
365
366On the Matt Sydal situation, Japanese reporter Fumi Saito said that Japanese customs in Osaka were informed by someone that he was bringing things into the country. It was acknowledged in the court case that officials had been tipped off in advance. They didn’t say how they got tipped off, but in the case at trial, evidently they were informed that a Matthew Joseph Korkland, 33, would be coming in on a certain date and bringing things in with him. Sydal was never actually sentenced to jail. He was held in police detention from September through 11/28, because he had no address in Japan and they wanted him held until his trial. He was scheduled for sentencing on 12/5. He was expected to get a suspended sentence and be allowed to return to the U.S. at that point.
367
368FloSlam announced the signing of IPW: UK to its service. In 2017, they are scheduled to do 12 events, six of which would be live and six of which would air on a tape delay. The first show, which will air either later that day or the next day basis, will be a 12/18 show in Rochester, Kent, England, with Cody Rhodes vs. Will Ospreay, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Matt Riddle, IPW: UK champion Jimmy Havoc vs. Sammy Smooth in an I Quit match and Tom Dawkins vs. Joseph Conners. Dean Ayass reached a deal to be the voice of the IPW: UK shows on FloSlam.
369
370WWN, which promotes Evolve, Shine and FIP, is getting into the MMA business with a show on 3/18 in Beijing, perhaps featuring Matt Riddle in some form, since he was in China with Sal Hamaoui working on the deal this past week. Riddle has gotten MMA offers since starting in pro wrestling, but thus far had turned them down.
371
372Jimmy Lennon Sr. has become the first person who will be a Hall of Famer in both pro boxing and pro wrestling. Lennon, whose son preceded him in the International Boxing Hall of Fame, was announced as part of the class of 2017. He’ll be inducted in June with Marco Antonio Barrera, Evander Holyfield, Johnny Tapia, Steve Farhood (a reporter and broadcaster who has a pro wrestling background and used to write for the pro wrestling ApterMags), Jerry Roth and Barry Tompkins. Lennon, who had a great distinctive voice, and his son is almost a carbon copy of him, was originally a singer (his nieces, the Lennon Sisters, were very famous singers in their day) who would sing the national anthem at sports events in Southern California in the 1930s. He was at a boxing show in Santa Monica singing the national anthem when the regular ring announcer didn’t show up, so he replaced him, and the promoter loved his work that he made him a regular. Soon, he was the voice of every major wrestling and boxing event in Los Angeles in a career that lasted about 45 years.
373
374He was arguably the best ring announcer in pro wrestling history (either he or Howard Finkel at least when it comes to North America), and most famous and distinctive, as wrestling from the Olympic Auditorium in the 70s was syndicated nationally and he would be brought to Japan for the big matches in the 70s. The International Boxing Hall of Fame is considered the most prestigious of boxing Halls of Fame. Lennon had already been inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame. When his son was inducted a few years ago, many people, including his son and Mike Tyson, talked about how unfair it was that Lennon wasn’t already in. Tyson actually noted he first knew of Lennon from watching wrestling from the Olympic Auditorium growing up in New York, but then met him and loved him when Lennon did the ring announcing for some of his early fights and Tyson acted like a kid who achieved his dream because Jimmy Lennon was introducing his fight.
375
376The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame, that was formerly in Amsterdam, NY, but is now residing in Wichita Falls, TX, announced its 2017 Class for a summer induction ceremony. They pick based on groups. For the pre-television era, defined as through 1942, the nominees were Yvon Robert, Fred Beell, Ruffy Silverstein, Dirty Dick Raines and Steve “Crusher” Casey. Robert is the standout by far in that group, and Robert and Raines got in. The women nominees were Madusa, Baby Doll, Trish Stratus, Susan Green and Sandy Parker, and Green won that one. For Tag Teams, the nominees were Ivan & Karol Kalmikoff, Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson, The Valiant Brothers, The Flying Redheads (Red Bastien & Billy Red Lyons) and Larry Hennig & Harley Race. Hennig & Race got the pick. The Kalmikoffs were a team for the longest of the group, but the best team of that list was Blanchard & Anderson. The first television era, defined as 1943-84, nominees were Luther Lindsay, Leo Nomellini, Dutch Savage, Sputnik Monroe and Johnny Weaver. That tells me they’ve got every real pick from that era. Weaver was a top star in the Carolinas for 15 years but to me is below Hall of Fame level. Monroe’s main claim to fame was one very strong run for about a year in Memphis and aside from that he was a mid-card journeyman, but the integrating public places in Memphis could be seen as a qualification. Savage was a good worker and one of the bigger stars in Oregon’s history but I don’t see him as a Hall of Famer. Nomellini was the biggest drawing card and most famous name of the bunch, and a local sports legend but I don’t see him as a Hall of Famer either. Anyway, they picked Lindsay and Monroe. For modern era, the nominees were Eddy Guerrero, Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels, Sting and Barry Windham. Michaels and Foley were picked. For non-wrestler, they listed referee Johnny “Red Shoes” Dugan, manager Skandor Akbar, promoter Wally Karbo, TV announcer Lance Russell and photographer George Napolitano. To me, Russell totally stands out of that pack, but they picked Napolitano. And for international star, the choices were Horst Hoffman, Tatsumi Fujinami, Geoff Portz, Leo Burke and Genichiro Tenryu. How they nominate people is a question because there are dozens of Japanese and Mexican wrestlers who should be way ahead of either Burke or Portz, or even Hoffman. Fujinami and Tenryu are both no-brainer Hall of Famers and they picked Fujinami.
377
378The city of Pittsburgh honored Bill Apter on 12/3 with Bill Apter Day. Apter also got a proclamation that day from Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, noting his work in wrestling and his regular job as an employment specialist for AHEDD.
379
380A first-ever meeting of Katsuyori Shibata vs. Matt Riddle for the British heavyweight title takes place on 1/21 for Revolution Pro at York Hall in London.
381
382There was a ticket snafu this past week regarding PWG. PWG is running 12/16 with Mystery Vortex, which means the entire card, aside from Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Battle of Los Angeles winner Marty Scurll, is a secret and nobody even knows who will be on the show. They get a kick of doing a show announcing nothing and still selling out in minutes, which they did when tickets were put on sale on 12/1. The problem was they oversold ringside. So they evidently took the time that the tickets were ordered (and keep in mind this is all based on seconds) and the earliest orders got their tickets. The people who ordered later got an e-mail message apologizing for the snafu. They were all told that they can get first dibs on ringside for the next show, which means ringside for that show will be the hardest ever to get. Or they can get refunded, but they weren’t able to get G.A. tickets because the event is sold out. This left a lot of people very unhappy about not even being able to see the show.
383
384Alberto “Del Rio” Rodriguez’s restaurant, La Cantinita in San Antonio, opened over Thanksgiving weekend. It didn’t get favorable early reviews in a market that is overloaded with top-end Mexican restaurants.
385
386Kurt Angle is doing a movie called “Chasing Molly,” where he plays a drug lord.
387
388Gringo Loco, recovering from a heart attack, is said to be walking and moving around. They are doing a benefit show for him on 12/9 in Berwyn, IL at the Eagles Club with area Lucha Libre style wrestlers.
389
390WWC in Puerto Rico will open 2017 with big shows on 1/7 in Bayamon at the Ruben Rodriguez Coliseum and 1/8 in Mayaguez featuring the debut of Pentagon Jr. WWC hadn’t run anything since October until this past weekend’s Lockout year-end shows. Because Alberto was there, Paige was at the shows with him. The 12/2 show in Ponce featured Robbie E, plus had Chicano retain the Puerto Rican title in a three-way over Mr. 450 Hammett and Rey Horus (Dragon Azteca Jr.). Ray Gonzalez beat Alberto El Patron in a street fight when Gonzalez had him in the figure four, but MVP saved Alberto for the DQ. Yes, a DQ in a street fight match. Carlito then came out to even the odds. Carlito then beat MVP via DQ when Alberto interfered. The 12/3 show in Carolina saw Thunder & Lighting beat La Revolucion I & II to win the WWC tag titles. Gonzalez went to a double count out with MVP. In what was billed as a “450" challenge, Mr. 450 beat Horus. Carlito vs. Alberto for the Universal title ended up with the title being held up. Somebody wearing a Rey Fenix mask (Ray Gonzalez’s alter ego is Rey Fenix under a mask, but in this case, apparently it was somebody else) helped Alberto pin Carlito to take the title. But then they reversed the decision and held up the title, making the fourth Carlito vs. Alberto match in Puerto Rico without a finish.
391
392Evolve champion Timothy Thatcher will be off the December shows due to his recent concussion and is hopeful of returning in January.
393
394The next Evolve shows on FloSlam are 12/10 in Queens, NY at 6 p.m. Eastern with Tracy Williams & Fred Yehi defending the tag titles against Ricochet & Peter Kaasa, Cody (Rhodes) vs. Ethan Page, Chris Hero vs. Dick Togo, Matt Riddle vs. Jeff Cobb, Drew Gulak vs. Jaka and Brian Cage vs. Darby Allin. 12/11 in Melrose, MA at 7 p.m. Eastern is Williams vs. Gulak, Ricochet vs. Riddle, Togo vs. Page, Hero vs Dustin, Cobb vs. Yehi and Allin & Kaasa vs. Chris Dickinson & Jaka.
395
396AAW ran on 11/26 in Chicago and sold out in advance with 502 fans for a show featuring Sami Callihan over Chris Hero for the AAW title. It appears that Michael Elgin will face Zack Sabre Jr. in a match soon to determine the next title contender. Both the main event and Sabre Jr.’s win over Trent ? (Baretta) were said to be fantastic matches. Low Ki suffered a knee injury in a trios match where he teamed with Homicide & Eddie Kingston to beat Brian Cage & Pentagon Jr. & Drago.
397
398Progress Wrestling drew a sellout of 700 fans on 11/27 in London in a one-night tournament for their championship. Mark Haskins was the champion, but has to take time off due to a neck injury. They had a series of matches with Travis Banks & TK Cooper over Mark Andrews & Eddie Dennis, Pastor William Eaver over Joe Coffey, Pete Dunne & Trent Seven over James Davis & Rob Lynch, Matt Riddle over Will Ospreay (Riddle came off a huge star in his debut and Ospreay is doing a losing streak with the promotion) and Jimmy Havoc beat Marty Scurll (like a number of indies over this past weekend, this match opened with the Goldberg/Lesnar two spear spot to start but then they did the match). People have been raving about the Riddle vs. Ospreay match and for a match that went about 8:30, it was as good as any match that length I’ve seen all year. It’s a match worth going out of your way to see just because it’s amazing how much presence and ability Riddle has at this stage of his career. I don’t know about the promo side, but he’s better than Kurt Angle, Jun Akiyama and Jack Brisco at the same stage as an overall package. I’m not sure he’s as good as Owen Hart at the same stage, but if not, because he’s very different, but it’s very much the look of a Kerry Von Erich with the ability of a Kurt Angle in one package. He really should be a guy being groomed for a top position with WWE or New Japan right now. Granted, Ospreay is incredible in a very different way. I’m not sure about the Ospreay’s always losing in the U.K. gimmick. All the undercard matches led to all the winners in a seven way match. They did a Russo booking finish as Tyler Bate had been turned on by Dunne and Seven on the last show. So here, Bate came out to interfere, but instead attacked Havoc, who everyone thought he was saving, which allowed Dunne to did his drop dead finish and win the title.
399
400LUCHA UNDERGROUND:
401
402There are still no definitive dates for filming the next season past hopefully some time in the spring.
403
404Executive Producer Eric Van Wagenen was on the Mid Week War podcast and said: “Season four has really got to be a make or break for us. We really have to step on the gas when it comes to touring, merchandise and a second or third way of seeing the episodes. Right now, if we put it out there, the eyeballs are more important to us than the money. If we can grow eyeballs, the money will follow.” The funny thing is that if you follow pro wrestling and eyeballs, you realize historically that is very much inaccurate, unless you’re getting paid directly based on your eyeballs. In the case of this show, there’s a degree of accuracy to it in the sense that if the product is compelling to enough people, adding eyeballs to viewership will bring in money. But it’s far from a lock in this industry. A ton of people watching a product that doesn’t grip them means no money. Very few people watching a compelling product can mean money. The eyeball numbers for WWE Raw vs. Saturday night UFC fights are a modern example of that. And when TNA and UFC were on Spike, the TNA people used to brag about how sometimes their ratings were higher than that of UFC, missing the point that to a degree that shows their failure compared to UFC, not their success.
405
406Van Wagenen said season four, if and when it happens, would be 40 episodes, with four episodes (two each night over two nights) taped over ten weeks. They are trying to set up a house show tour in the spring. He also mentioned that MGM legal wouldn’t allow any foreigners on the set without having correct working papers. They couldn’t use Daga any longer for that reason so they did the angle where he was killed to write him off for a time. He may come back to life like Mil Muertes, Prince Puma and other dead guys other than Konnan and some masked guys have.
407
408Regarding the four women who they showed a few times cheering on Sexy Star in her title win, they were the wife of one of the camera men and three of her friends who came to Los Angeles that weekend to attend a bachelorette party and were moved to a strategic location to be shot during that match. So they were essentially plants, but they were not paid plants.
409
410Notes from the 11/30 TV show. This was quite the show. It was Pentagon against the Stardom women, who are awesome, and Pentagon vs. Hitokiri (Io Shirai) was phenomenal for what it was. If you can watch pro wrestling with the “this is totally fake” but fun cap on, it was a great show. If you want a semblance or reality, watching 5-foot-1 women go toe-to-toe with a guy twice their size just looked ridiculous. The show opened with Vampiro and Pentagon crossing paths backstage. Vampiro said he hasn’t forgotten, which had to do with the beating Pentagon gave him last season. This was a tease for a future match. Then, during the entire show, Vampiro was acting so mad he couldn’t talk at times. So the first hilarious announcer spot since I guess Pentagon was supposed to be the heel, and the crowd was going nuts for him, is that Matt Striker tried to explain that the whole crowd chanting “Cero Miedo” is because they were taunting him. Okay. So Pentagon first wrestled Doku, who is Kairi Hojo. She kicked him low right away. Pentagon’s offense sounded great with kicks and slaps that were exploding. She speared him, which due to the size difference was a move that looked ridiculous, but he sold it like she was Bill Goldberg anyway. The finish saw Doku come off the top rope into the broken arm spot at 6:11. Pentagon broke her arm and the referee stopped it because a one-armed fighter can’t defend herself. To a casual viewer, the visual of a guy beating down a much smaller woman with offense that came across so well would be such a turnoff, but it’s not like any casual viewers watch the show, which is the whole point of the limiting growth. But aside from the visual and the spear spot, the work was good and the crowd was into it even though Doku had only briefly been on TV once previously last season for almost a cameo.
411
412Next was Pentagon against Yuri, who is Miyu Iwatani. She did a great plancha, double foot stomp and a great reversal into a DDT spot. She came off the top rope but he caught her and nailed her with a package piledriver. Then he broke her arm and it was stopped at 7:09. This was similar to the last match. There was a backstage vignette with Matanza throwing punches at the wall of the cage he’s in. Dario Cueto said that he would give him a title shot at Johnny Mundo next week (Mundo beat Sexy Star on the show last week). Matanza was furious and his knuckles were all bloody, and he didn’t want the title, he wanted Rey Mysterio Jr. (who had pinned him in the Aztec Warfare match). Then they showed the wall of Matanza’s cage and in blood from his hands there was a huge question mark, which is the symbol they’ve used for Mysterio since his arrival. Hitokiri beat Pentagon in 12:53. If you get past the size difference, this match was actually quite fantastic. Hitokiri did a moonsault off the top rope to the floor and a tope right away. There were a bunch of chair shots.
413
414Pentagon came back with stiff kicks. Pentagon whipped her over several rows of chairs which went down like dominos. He was whipping her with a camera cable and choking her with the cable. He threw her through more rows of chairs. Then he gave her an Attitude Adjustment off the apron to the floor. Hitokiri came back with a drop toe hold and Pentagon’s face hit a chair. Then she did a balcony dive onto him onto the floor. That was seriously nuts. She escaped the package piledriver and hit the Canadian Destroyer and pinned him. Fans then started chanting “Break his arm,” which shows the level of fantasy they take this given that Pentagon is probably the most popular wrestler in the promotion (or perhaps second to Mysterio) but they know to go along with the show. Black Lotus came to the ring, kicked referee Marty Elias and broke Pentagon’s arm and stepped on him. Dragon Azteca Jr. then came out. Pentagon had broken his arm. But Black Lotus had killed his mentor. So they didn’t know who he was after. Lotus and the Stardom girls all left the ring and he broke Pentagon’s other arm. The show ended with Vampiro using his powers to resurrect Prince Puma from the dead.
415
416ROH:
417
418The return to the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York will be on ¾.
419
420There is nothing at all new regarding Kenny Omega getting a U.S. visa and he’s not scheduled for anything here.
421
422They taped four weeks of television on 12/4 in Philadelphia at the 2300 Arena before 600 fans. That number isn’t good for that arena. Going head-to-head with a WWE PPV and the NFL didn’t help matters. The shows will take them through 1/21 and they’ll pick up with tapings from Atlanta on 1/28. Both the 12/24 and 12/31 shows will be Best of specials. In a dark match, Sho (Tanaka) & Yohei (Komatsu) as the Tempura Boyz beat Coast-to-Coast, which is Leon St. Giovanni & Shaheem Ali. St. Giovanni popped the crowd with a springboard corkscrew moonsault to the floor. Sho & Yohei won with a double-team package piledriver and superkick move. For the first week of TV, which airs on 12/17, Kyle O’Reilly came out holding the belt and announced as the new champion. He said that the ROH championship means you are the best wrestler in the world. So this led to a “You deserve it” chant. Adam Cole came out and said that he was prepared for a regular match and at the last minute it was changed to a no DQ match, and he wants his title back. Bobby Fish came out and said that he won the Survival of the Fittest, so that means he deserves a title shot.
423
424The next PPV show on 3/10 in Las Vegas will have the champion, presumably O’Reilly, defending against the winner of the Decade of Excellence tournament. Right now the tournament is down to a Jay Lethal vs. Jay Briscoe semifinal, where the winner will face Christopher Daniels, so one of those three headlines against O’Reilly on the next PPV. Both the Lethal vs. Briscoe and championships match will take place on the 1/14 show at Center Stage in Atlanta. The first match in the eight-man tournament saw Daniels beat Mark Briscoe in 10:00 with the Angel’s wings. Lio Rush pinned Caprice Coleman. The Rebellion all came out and offered Rush a spot in their group. He turned them down. Coleman cut a ranting promo and then the bell rang and Rush cradled him in about 15 seconds.
425
426The first show main event saw Fish & O’Reilly & Dalton Castle beat Young Bucks & Cole. This was nonstop big spots with superkicks, dives, triple team spots and comedy. The finish saw Nick coming off the top ropes with a 450 onto O’Reilly, but he caught him with a triangle, and then turned it into an armbar for the submission. In a match taped for the Internet, Deonna Purrazzo beat Sumie Sakai in 5:00 with a Fujiwara armbar. The show that airs
427
4281/7 opens with Jay Briscoe beating B.J. Whitmer in the Decade of Excellence tournament. Punisher Martinez and Kevin Sullivan came out with Whitmer. Sullivan gave Whitmer the dreaded golden spike, and Mark Briscoe ran out. While the brawl was taking place, Jay hit Whitmer with the Jay driller for the pin. Whitmer after the match said that because he lost, there would have to be a sacrifice next week. Silas Young & Beer City Bruiser beat John Silver & Alex Reynolds in 8:00 when Bruiser did the old banzai drop. Young told Bruiser that he’s found them a third man who can help them win the Trios titles, and Bull James came out. The fans gave James a good reaction. But Young & Bruiser then turned on James and left him laying, with Bruiser laying him out with a frog splash. Matt Taven & TK O’Ryan & Vinny Marseglia, in a non-title match, beat Will Ferrara & Joey Daddiego & Cheeseburger in 10:00 when they pinned Cheeseburger. The Young Bucks came out and said that they signed the most lucrative contract in ROH history and that after beating the Briscoes at Final Battle, they are the best tag team in ROH history. They talked about their match upcoming with the Hardys. At this point the lights went out and a drone that is supposed to be Vanguard One showed it. It was flying around and landed in the ring. The Bucks superkicked it twice. But it wasn’t the real Vanguard one. The main event saw Chris Sabin over Colt Cabana in the Decade of Excellence tournament. The Boys distracted Cabana and Sabin won via cradle in about 10:00. The
429
4301/14 show opens with Lio Rush & White & Dijak beating King & Titus & Coleman. Dijak was really over to the live crowd. Good match with White doing a splash off Dijak’s shoulders followed by Dijak getting the pin with a moonsault. This seems to indicate a big push for Dijak. The Rebellion then did a two-on-three on White & Dijak, but they wouldn’t attack Rush, who they are still recruiting for their side. Cody, who can’t be called Cody Rhodes since this was taped for television, came out to a big reaction. He got both cheered and booed, but immediately turned on the crowd and on the promotion. He called ROH “Ring of Mediocrity.” He said that the fans here aren’t worthy of seeing his wife and he said he’s the real star of the company. Steve Corino came out with Sullivan and Whitmer. Cody said he had respect for Corino. Corino praised Dusty Rhodes, who was one of Corino’s mentors and Dusty worked with Corino in ECW when Rhodes made a comeback. People didn’t fully understand the Corino, Whitmer and Sullivan alliance but it may be explained on TV. This led to Cody vs. Corino in a singles match. Sullivan went to give Corino the golden spike, but Cody gave Corino a low blow, hit the disaster kick and a Dusty Rhodes style elbow drop for the pin in 5:00.
431
432After the match, Jay Lethal hit the ring and chased Cody away. When it was over, Corino got a standing ovation and hugged everyone as it was all but made clear this was his farewell to ROH since this is the final show of 2016 and he’s not renewing his contract. After all that, Lethal cut a promo and said that Cody was all smoke and mirrors and he defended the promotion. Lethal then pinned Jushin Liger in 10:00 with the Lethal injection in another Decade of Excellence tournament match. The match was disappointing considering who was in it. They taped a no DQ match with Mandy Leon vs. Taeler Hendrix for the Internet. The match was described as being nuts. No wrestling, all brawling. Leon had a choke on the apron, and while holding the choke fell backwards and they both went through a table. Hendrix used a hangman sot using a chain. Purrazzo came out and went to hit Hendrix, who moved, and hit Leon with a chair. Hendrix DDT’d her on the floor. They did some ladder spots as well. Hendrix won with a tombstone piledriver on a pile of chairs.
433
434For the 1/21 show, Marty Scurll beat Jonathan Gresham in a good match with the finger breaking spot and the chicken wing submission. Daniels pinned Sabin in the tournament semifinal, using the best moonsault ever in what ended up as a good match. The main event saw Kushida win a three-way over Will Ospreay and Dragon Lee in a match that even four hours into the show, the crowd went nuts for. This was said to be even better than the similar match at Final Battle because Kushida added a different dynamic. Ospreay looked great. Kushida pinned Ospreay with a small package driver.
435
436TNA:
437
438A couple of notes from the Billy Corgan interview we did for the web site. Most of what he talked about just reiterated stuff that’s already been reported, past the idea he felt used by Dixie Carter for his name value and celebrity status. He noted that he went about a year without being paid, and heavily praised David Lagana, who is no longer with the company, calling him an MVP in keeping the guys coming to TV and motivated when many of them were talking about not coming because they were also behind on pay. As noted last week, in the settlement, Corgan has waived all rights to sue Anthem or Impact Wrestling, but not the rights to sue any specific individuals. In the settlement, that was a point that was argued as the TNA side wanted him to waive the ability to sue anyone in TNA and he would not agree to it and finally Anthem agreed to the settlement without it.
439
440The company is planning its most ambitious tapings to date for 1/5 to 1/12. They will tape one-and-a-half to two full shows per taping and some days will have two separate tapings. There will be a live PPV in January, probably on 1/6, plus they will also be taping material for One Night Only shows. Part of the 1/5 show will air either live or almost live, maybe on an hour or so tape delay. Logically they’ll shoot angles for the PPV which won’t even be pushed with angles until the day before. And knowing TNA, who knows if they’ll even shoot angles for the PPV. The 1/7 and 1/8 dates will have both afternoon and evening tapings. The idea is to get all television done through end of March, so they won’t have to schedule another set of tapings or anything until late March or early April.
441
442SE Scoops reported an interesting twist in TNA’s attempt to get the lawsuit filed by Audience of One Productions (which did the production at several sets of taping in 2015 and is still owed for it) thrown out. The judge turned down that motion and ordered the two sides to go into settlement talks. What’s notable is that Ron Harris, who was sued along with TNA and Aroluxe, wrote that he was never employed by Aroluxe or TNA during that time period and that “my last employment with TNA was almost ten years ago.” Jason Brown of Aroluxe also stated that they do not employ Ron Harris and he was never authorized to speak in their behalf. Of course, the Aroluxe web site had for a long time listed Ron & Don Harris both as key members of the team. In October, both Harris Brothers names were removed from the Aroluxe site, which would coincide with Anthem Entertainment and The Fight Network funding TNA’s last set of taping. Interestingly, Jason Brown himself is also no longer listed on the Aroluxe site anymore. There was controversy with the Harris twins involvement which could have led to negative media for The Fight Network since Don Harris had worn SS shirts in the past in pro wrestling and had an SS tattoo that has been covered up. At one point when it appeared Aroluxe would get control of TNA, fans started Tweeting executives of Pop TV photos of the twins in shirts with a Nazi SS bolt insignia on it. There were also Canadian media stories being talked about regarding that and if they had a business connection with The Fight Network.
443
444UFC:
445
446With no suitable main event available, the UFC announced there would no PPV show on 1/21, which was the date scheduled for UFC 208. What was to be UFC 209, on 2/11 from the Barclays Center, will now be UFC 208. The 1/21 show was scheduled at the Honda Center in Anaheim, and would have gone head-to-head with the Tito Ortiz vs. Chael Sonnen fight that same night on Spike from the Forum in Los Angeles. UFC did announce they would run a PPV from the Honda Center on 8/5.
447
448In a real surprise, the UFC has fired both Chuck Liddell and Matt Hughes in the latest layoffs that took place on 12/1. Both were expected to have jobs for life as key fighters who helped build the company, and always stayed loyal to the company even when, before UFC had television and Pride was paying more money and was considered the top promotion and made offers to them. This doesn’t do much good for Ari Emanuel’s credibility with the office workers, since they were told that the major layoffs were already done, and while someone here and there may be let go, that the people there had little to worry about. There was another round of layoffs on 12/1, with those as the two biggest names. Liddell was Executive Vice President of Business Development and Hughes was Vice President of Athlete Development and Government Relations, although they were both very well paid and those were more title positions. Liddell in particular had a great money deal and did pretty much what he wanted. Hughes was also supposed to be the liaison of sorts between talent and management and did more than Liddell, but it was not like he was in the office working full-time in the position.
449
450The UFC kept Forrest Griffin, who was making less money but is always in the office and works like anyone else in the company, as well as Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who also works full-time at his job with the company. The timing of this coming just one day after the announcement of the MMAAA (the group with GSP, Cain Velasquez, TJ Dillashaw, Tim Kennedy and Donald Cerrone, although Cerrone is starting to already distance himself from the group) is only going make fighters even more unhappy with the new owners.
451
452In the case of Liddell, he was one of Dana White’s best friends, and White was managing him 16 plus years ago and because of being in that position, found out that Bob Meyrowitz was looking at selling UFC, and contacted Lorenzo Fertitta, one of his best friends from high school, to try and talk him into buying. Fertitta was looking at getting into promoting boxing at the time. Then, when UFC hit it big on television in 2005, Liddell, with his knockout of Randy Couture on the first major PPV show after getting television, emerged as the company’s biggest star. White said that “They helped build this company when I was growing it and I told them both, I said, ‘Unless I drop dead or it comes to a position sometime where I’m not controlling how much money is being spent and all that stuff, you guys will get a paycheck until that day.’ And that day came. The thing with Matt and Chuck, it was a loyalty thing for me. It was my gift to them for being the guys that they were when me, Frank and Lorenzo, when it was our money.” Hughes said, “The UFC has been great to me. Times change and I understand the decision that was made. I will move on. My family and I are fine.”
453
454Dana White said that Conor McGregor was fine and okay regarding dropping the featherweight title. However, McGregor did a Q&A session at the Devenish Bar in Belfast, and said, “I also have something going on with the UFC. They’re trying to strip me and I was like, `Well, I ain’t stripped.’ I still got that belt. That belt is still at home right now. I’m still the two weight world champion. Someone has to come take that from me. I see articles. I see stuff online. But I don’t see the belt not in m presence. The belt is right there. There’s two world titles at my house. Eddie is still unconscious.” “Whatever they want to say, and they can say, `Oh, we took the belt and now it’s this guys’ belt.’ You can play with those fake belts all you want. Jose was KO’d. Eddie was KO’d. You’re looking at the two-weight world champion and that’s it. I’ll say to the UFC, and I love their company, you’re fooling nobody.” This is almost comical now.
455
456It also should be noted that UFC tried to get Aldo to face Max Holloway and Aldo turned that fight down, which ended with Aldo being declared champion. And really, there was little choice, because they should have a rule that unless there are extenuating circumstances, if you don’t defend the title or at least agree to defend the title after one year between title matches, you should be stripped. Essentially, McGregor given his schedule, shouldn’t have to defend by December because he was active and fighting money fights, but if he didn’t face Aldo next, and he wasn’t planning on doing so, then Aldo should have been made champion and Aldo should have faced Holloway. But they need to have a rule in place, because the way they did this came off so badly, like McGregor was stripped because Cormier was injured, and essentially that’s what happened, because they wanted to create a fake title match in Holloway vs. Anthony Pettis, but already had an interim champion in Aldo. And really, the idea of Holloway vs. Pettis as a five-round No. 1 contenders fight for Aldo made sense, but in calling it interim, they just made a joke about titles and one thing I think we should have learned from boxing and wrestling is not to have too many champions (which is why UFC title matches mean so much less now) and make it obvious they aren’t real by just throwing interim because a guy in the main event got hurt and the idea is you need to window dress up this card, which isn’t going to draw any differently with or without the interim title.
457
458On 12/6, White was on Fox Sports Live and said McGregor was taking ten months off, which would put his return in August. Unless Ronda Rousey wins and fights regularly, next year’s business is going to be way down from this year.
459
460Congressman Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, a former MMA fighter, who is trying to push for the Ali Act to expand from just boxing into all combat sports. Mullin was able to get a subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade to have a hearing on Capitol Hill on 12/8 regarding the MMA industry. The list of those speaking was supposed to be confidential until 12/6, however UFC found out that Randy Couture was on the list and according to Markwayne, UFC pushed back. “They had threatened to walk (not appear) because they didn’t want us to have Randy Couture on the panel,” said Mullin. “We want them to participate, but they can’t be dictating who we can and cannot have on the panel.” Mullin said in an interview with Bloody Elbow that after being told Couture would speak, UFC did back down on the demand. UFC, which claimed Mullin’s story isn’t true, is sending Jeff Novitzky to speak at the hearing. The act would outlaw “coercive contracts lasting more than a year,” give fighters their rights after one year an provide an independent rankings system and make championships independent of the promotion. It should be noted that those in boxing say the Ali Act has had very little influence on that sport. The UFC has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to attempt to prevent the Ali Act being expanded to cover MMA. Mullin noted that Lawrence Epstein, the UFC’s head of legal, when speaking to him about championship titles when Mullin said they should be independent from the promotion, said that they are not actually championship titles but “They are bestowing an award on the best fighter for the night. That’s what they think about the ranking system and as a professional athlete, that’s insulting, but that was their mentality back and then and that is their mentality going forward.” He said UFC has approached almost everyone on the committee at one time or another. Mullin also said how the UFC claims fighters are independent contractors, but he believes they are not. “They are limited on who they can use as a sponsor. Who they are, as far as their image, is owned by UFC. It’s a take it or leave it mentality.” The hearing will be carried live on C-Span.
461
462After Bjorn Rebney last week said that the MMAAA was not interested in becoming a union, and went so far as to say that if they did it would end up in a court battle over the independent contractor vs. employee delineation of fighters that his side would probably lose, he changed his tune in an interview this week with Bloody Elbow. “We will have to come a union,” he said. He said he doesn’t want to unionize right now, saying that will delay any meaningful progress for years due to court battles that will ensue over the employee vs. independent contractor designation. He said one plan would be to target UFC’s television partners so that networks if they are making deals with UFC would want protection against a labor issue that would affect the programming. He indicated they would flood the media with stories of fighters’ hardships and that the campaign would pick up steam once the big names start coming out and are willing to speak. “If you’re NBC or you’re ESPN or you’re FOX and you’re being asked to pay what’s currently a $140 million deal per year and increase it to a $350 million deal and there is a consistent flow of media talking to the biggest, most prominent and most relevant superstars and it’s a very ugly fight, it’s just gonna progressively get uglier and uglier, that’s a major hindrance to the ability that WME IMG’s gonna have to be able to effectuate the level of increase that they are gonna need. I know full well that I’m going to a buyer and saying, ‘Please pay me a premium for this content,’ and simultaneously that buyer is going online and seeing the biggest stars in my organization saying, `I’m extremely unhappy, I have no protection, I have no safety net, I have no pension, I’m not being paid fairly,’ over and over again, that will serve as a huge detriment, huge detriment to my ability as a seller to effectuate top dollar.” Dana White blasted Rebney, but said he had nothing against the fighters involved, although said he wished Donald Cerrone had called him first, noting that years back, when Cerrone had a legal issue, that he got Cerrone a criminal defense lawyer and spent $100,000 out of his own pocket for him first. He then said Cerrone was a guy who has only main evented three shows and never held a championship in either the WEC or UFC.
463
464There is already a major issue with the MMAFA, which is run by Robert Maysey, one of the lawyers behind the Cung Le, Jon Fitch lawsuit, and the MMAAA, which is the Bjorn Rebney group. According to an article by John Nash at MMA Fighting, the MMAFA sent a cease and desist legal letter saying that trying to work out a settlement with UFC is undermining their already existing lawsuit. They claimed the Rebney group is trying to divide the fighters into warring groups and allow UFC to settle with the lowest bidder and damages the class action suit. Most notably, the claim was that agent Ken Pavia had put Rebney and CAA (the rival Hollywood group to WME IMG, which also represents GSP and Velasquez and seems to have a hand in the Rebney group) in a meeting. MMAFA claimed that Rebney failed to disclose that Rebney, his investors and his legal time wanted to be a part of their lawsuit and share in the recovery revenue. They noted that lawyers involved in the class action suit met with Rebney, Pavia and reps from CAA on October 15, 2015, in New York. At the meeting, MMAFA’s letter said Rebney claimed to have already formed the MMAAA, and had the backing of hundreds of fighters. They said Rebney at the meeting was talking about their own lawsuit (which Rebney said is what they didn’t want to do last week).
465
466They claimed that ten days after the meeting that Rebney asked for a percentage of whatever settlement or money is won in a suit be turned over to the MMAAA, to compensate their unnamed investors for expenses in establishing their organization and that their side be allowed full participation in all settlement talks, and that the Maysey group turned down that request. At that point, MMAAA attorneys Jim Quinn and Eric Hochstadt sent out a press release saying they had gotten a cease-and-desist letter from lawyers attempting to stop the MMAAA from signing up fighters and they will do no such thing. “Those lawyers–who represent only a few fighters–are focused on getting some money out of one case, of which they seek a significant portion for themselves. Those lawyers do not speak for anyone else, and certainly not the MMAAA and all the fighters the organization represents and will quickly grow to represent.” They claimed those lawyers came to them first, and had a meeting. “They are focused on a short-term monetary recovery, of which they will seek 33 percent, and then they are gone from this sport. We parted ways at that point.”
467
468Rousey signed a major endorsement deal with Pantene and will be all over television with the catch phrase, “Don’t hate me because I’m strong. Strong is beautiful” with footage interspersed of her throwing punches on the left and all dressed up on the right.
469
470Sports Business Journal in the new issue listed Ari Emmanuel and Patrick Whitesell in fourth place on their annual list of Most Influential in Sports Business in 2016. They were listed at No. 12 last year, with their jump coming because of their WME IMG owning UFC. Adam Silver (NBA commissioner) was first, followed by Bob Iger and John Skipper (Disney Media co-chairs who oversee ESPN) and Roger Goodell (NFL commissioner) third.
471
472Daniel Cormier underwent surgery for a torn adductor on 11/30 and is hoping to be able to fight in four months, which looks to be the April show. He’d face Rumble Johnson, with the winner then likely facing Jon Jones.
473
474Andrew Schleimer has been hired as the new CFO of the company, replacing Nakisa Bidarian, who leaves at the end of the year to join Lorenzo & Frank Fertitta’s new investment company. Schleimer was Executive Vice President and CFO of Mandalay Digital Group, which became Digital Turbine, Inc., a company that Peter Guber founded. Before that he was Executive Vice President of Strategic Development and In Park Services for Six Flags.
475
476Nate Diaz paid his Nevada Athletic Commission fine ($100,000) and is now officially off suspension.
477
478As if UFC didn’t have enough championships already, Cris Cyborg said she had two fights left on her UFC contract and if UFC doesn’t create a 145 pound division after that, then she’ll look to leave for Bellator (which has a 145 pound division and created it for her to be the showcase star, but then UFC signed Cyborg, both to keep her from Bellator and also to keep alive the idea of the big money fight with Ronda Rousey) or Rizin or somebody else. UFC responded with attempting to put together Cyborg vs. Holly Holm to create a new 145 pound championship. Dana White, on the UFC Unfiltered podcast, claimed Holm was super excited to do the fight but coach Mike Winkeljohn told her it wasn’t the right fight for her (she’s lost two in a row, so I can see that feeling), fighting at that weight, and had her turn it down. As the story goes, Holm’s side said they would fight Cyborg at 138 pounds, but when the offer was at 145, they turned it down. Presumably that was for the now-canceled 1/21 show in Anaheim. White said that Cyborg also turned down the date, saying that she wouldn’t have enough time to make 145. He claimed that then they offered her next Germaine de Randamie (who has a 6-3 record) for the 2/11 show in Brooklyn, and Cyborg turned that one down, again saying it wasn’t enough time for her to make 145.
479
480White said that Joe Silva said after that, that if she can’t make 145 by that time, maybe 145 isn’t her right weight class either. White noted, and we had been told this from the start, when UFC signed Cyborg to a contract, the deal was that she would fight at 135, but they would give her a year to naturally lose weight, and do a fight or two at 140 (this dates back to when she was going to fight in Invicta at 140) on the way down and then after she made 135 once, they’d book her against Ronda Rousey in a fight they believed would break all records. Then, instead of losing natural body weight, she got bigger and more muscular, and making 140 became nightmarish and unhealthy. White noted they put her with George Lockhart, a top nutritionist who said he could get her to 135 (she had been working with Lockhart until her last fight, but they have since split). White said that when she had so much trouble making 140, they said, “F** it then, we’ll make a 145-pound title for you,” and now she says she can’t make 145. Cyborg told MMA Fighting that before her last fight, in trying to make 140, she almost died and said she was thinking she was going to die in the bathtub. She blamed Lockhart for not doing an effective job in saying how a birth control pill would help her drop weight. She said that after the fight, when she went for a blood test, her blood was so thick it wouldn’t come out and she was feeling sick and under medical observation for ten days after the fight. Cyborg said that she’s made the call she will only fight at 145 and not on less than ten weeks notice, and said she would be willing to fight in March at that weight.
481
482In a sports sense, and when it comes to fairness, adding more championships makes sense but to the public from a business sense, the value of them is already low and boxing and pro wrestling have already showed the example of championships being largely meaningless because of having so many that nobody cares. When Cyborg fought at 140 the last time, she said she was 169 going into the cage, and at 145 she’ll be heavier than that, so she’ll have a huge size edge on any UFC 135 pounder who usually are 145 to 155 legit. Anyway, that fight isn’t happening. The reality is that Cyborg is far too big for any of the women on the roster, and there are no top women fighters who can’t make 135 and compete in that weight class. If they are going to add a class, 125 would have far more competition because you’ve got women who are small at 135 but can’t cut to 115, and a lot of women killing themselves to cut to 115 because they don’t want to be small at 135. Cyborg is enough of a draw and a good enough fighter and way too big now for 135, and creating a title for her in a sense makes sense, but every fight she’s had in years has been a mismatch because there are no opponents, either women way too small for her or closer to her size but not even close to being top fighters.
483
484Regarding Rousey, she’s currently at 140 pounds, anywhere from eight to 12 pounds lighter than what she would normally be weighing at this point before a fight. She’ll have almost no cutting needed come fight time. Whether this is good or bad I guess we’ll see. As the time approaches, the idea her big return is on a Friday night becomes more-and-more mind blowing. The Rousey-Cyborg thing brings out the most amazing emotional reactions when it comes to weight, because I was in favor of the fight years ago when they were at least within 12 pounds of each other, but now their walk-around weights are 35 pounds apart. Just for a comparison, on a percentage basis, that would be Conor McGregor fighting Jon Jones now (when Rousey was 152 it was equivalent to McGregor vs. Luke Rockhold, but now it would be McGregor against a guy who walks at 220), or Urijah Faber against Robbie Lawler. It’s just absurd. And we’ve seen Cyborg in no way can be healthy at 140, and really is pushing it to get to 145. For her own good, she honestly may need to fight at 155 if her walk-around weight in shape is 175. Killing herself to make 145 is exactly what all the new weight cutting regulations were supposed to be about avoiding and it’s not like we can pretend not to know it since she’s been so public with her weight. So the end of the story is that White has now said they are adding a women’s 145 pound division, with or without Cyborg. Remember when White used to say how they study boxing to learn what not to do. Now they just are blindly copying its mistakes. I’m almost waiting to hear that they’re going to replace Sean Shelby with Vince Russo as the next move.
485
486Don Frye, 51, was hospitalized almost all of September, all of October and until less than three weeks ago with a myriad of issues. He was hospitalized when they found out that the rod he had in his back that as put in years ago had broken. The belief is that it was broken a year or two earlier because he had no idea when it happened or how it happened, but his back had been hurting him for years. Then, while in the hospital he had a brain hemorrhage, and he was put in a medically induced coma and essentially woke up two months later. He also had pneumonia. Before being hospitalized he had a bacterial infection in his spine and a high fever. The whole year was a disaster starting with a divorce, with the lone highlight being his induction into the UFC Hall of Fame in July, which he joked saved his life. He still needs a walker to get around and said he’s aged terribly. “I’ll get back on track, I’m Don Frye,” he told Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour. He said he has to relearn to walk, get some weight put back on, and has to try and regain some of his lost memory.
487
488At this point both Ryan Bader and Lorenz Larkin are free agents. Larkin originally fought for Strikeforce under Scott Coker and is Coker’s type of fighter. He also publicly said he was unhappy with UFC’s latest offer to him. Bader is in an exclusive negotiation period with UFC. He was offered a deal for what he told Submission Radio was a little more than he was making, but didn’t accept it and will see where it goes from there, but did say he’s had interest from outside the UFC and that he wanted to either sign with UFC or get a fight elsewhere and have this all settled within the next two months.
489
490Another sign of how many shows there are early in the year and how few stars are available is that the 2/4 show in Houston, which is the night before the Super Bowl (FOX is airing the Super Bowl this year) in the same city as the game, meaning the entire sports media will be in town, is going to have Chan Sung Jung vs. Dennis Bermudez as the main event. Granted, on paper, that is an exciting fight, but you’d want a big marquee fight under normal circumstances that weekend. But loading up so much in November and December, they ended up having to cancel the January PPV, and are going with the traditional huge show after the NFL playoffs with B.J. Penn vs. Yair Rodriguez, and the 1/28 FOX show from Denver, will be headlined by Julianna Pena vs. Valentina Shevchenko, a fight where the winner would probably be getting a title shot if Amanda Nunes beats Rousey on 12/30. If Rousey wins the title back, I could still see them trying to get Holm in that spot if Holm wins a fight. A Rousey vs. Holm match would be a giant PPV if Rousey wins, while Rousey vs. Pena could be big since Pena will probably go hog wild in the buildup but still nowhere close to Holm, and Rousey vs. Shevchenko would be whatever the base for a Rousey fight in 2017 would be.
491
492The other four fights announced so far the Denver show are Raphael Assuncao vs. Aljamain Sterling (which was originally set for 12/9 in Albany but moved due to a medical issue involving Sterling), Hector Lombard vs. Brad Tavares, J.C. Cottrell vs. Jason Gonzalez and Alexandre Pantoja vs. Eric Shelton.
493
494One of the reasons it’s been so hard is the top stars have been less apt to do favors and save shows, which in the past there were the key company guys who they’d call and would have the personal loyalty to those in charge and now there is far more of an adversarial, maybe that’s too strong a word in many cases, but more of a business relationship than personal so you’re not seeing people bend over backwards to save cards by taking fights a little early.
495
496The 11/26 show with Derek Brunson vs. Robert Whittaker did 112,000 viewers on TSN in Canada, so again per cap Canada beat the U.S.
497
498Sports Business Journal had a few UFC and WWE items in its annual readers survey, which is not necessarily an indication of what is or isn’t the case, but is an excellent look since it’s the sports business leaders who read that publication, into what the perception in the sports world is of certain things. UFC was listed as the fourth hottest sports property, behind the NBA, NFL and NCAA. WWE was listed as the third sports property headed in the wrong direction, behind the NFL and NASCAR. And the perception of the $4 billion purchase price of UFC is that 66% believe WME IMG overpaid, 30% felt they paid the right amount and 3% felt they underpaid.
499
500Tonya Evinger protested her Invicta bantamweight title loss to Yana Kunitskaya on 11/18 in Kansas City, and the Missouri commission backed her up, so the result of the fight has been changed to a no contest and Evinger is back as champion. In something that sounds like Stanley Blackburn in the Nick Bockwinkel heel era, Kunitskaya was working for an armbar and Evinger, in trying to escape, was standing on Kunitskaya’s head. Kicking from that position would be illegal but standing on the head would not be. However, referee Mike England told her to get off Kunitskaya’s head, and in doing so, ended up trapped in the armbar and tapped out. Because there was no rule that made it illegal what Evinger was doing, the ref telling her to move was a bad call, and since it led directly to the finish, the Missouri Office of Athletics overturned the loss. Promoter Shannon Knapp said that she would book a rematch.
501
502Tony Ferguson has said that he is willing to drop to 145 pounds right now if he’d be offered a title shot at Jose Aldo.
503
504Carla Esparza, the UFC’s first strawweight champion, put her 2015 Harley Breakout motorcycle that she got for winning the tournament on Ultimate Fighter, up for sale to the highest bidder, noting that she doesn’t want to do it, but only has enough money left in the bank for two months. She noted that she was out of action for one year after shoulder surgery, then came back and took a short notice fight (which she won, although it was not a good fight), and has been trying to get another fight scheduled to no avail.
505
506There are two shows this week. There is a Fight Pass show on 12/9 from Albany, NY, with J.J. Aldrich (2-1) vs. Julianna Lima (8-3), Keith Berish (5-2) vs. Ryan Janes (5-1), Mac Diakiese (10-0) vs. Frankie Perez (10-2), Shane Burgos (7-0) vs. Tiago Trator (20-5-2,1 no contest), Andrew Sanchez (8-2) vs. Trevor Smith (14-6), Joe Gigliotti (7-1) vs. Gerald Meerschaert (24-8), Randy Brown (8-1) vs. Brian Camozzi (7-2), Justine Kish (5-0) vs. Ashley Yoder (5-1), Corey Anderson (8-2) vs. Sean O’Connell (17-8), Saparbek Safarnov (6-0) vs. Gian Villante (11-5), Anthony Hamilton (15-5_ vs. Francis Ngannou (8-1) and Derrick Lewis (16-4) vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov (17-3). It will be interesting how this draws and it’s the first UFC show ever in that part of New York, but it’s got no names and it’s going to get no pub since all the focus will be Toronto the next night.
507
508UFC 206 is 12/10 in Toronto, with Zach Makovsky (19-7) vs. Dustin Ortiz (15-6), Mitch Gagnon (12-3) vs. Matthew Lopez (8-1), Rustam Khabilov (20-3) vs. Jason Saggo (12-2), John Makdessi (14-5) vs. Lando Vannata (8-1), Valerie Letourneau (8-5) vs. Viviane Pereira (11-0), Olivier Aubin-Mercier (8-2) vs. Drew Dober (17-7), Misha Cirkunov (12-2) vs. Nikita Krylov (21-4), Emil Meek (8-2-1) vs. Jordan Mein (29-10), Kelvin Gastelum (12-2) vs. Tim Kennedy (18-5), Doo Ho Choi (14-1) vs. Cub Swanson (23-7), Matt Brown (20-15) vs. Donald Cerrone (31-7) and Max Holloway (16-3) vs. Anthony Pettis (19-5) for the interim featherweight title. Sandwiched between UFC 205 and 207, this card, which does look very entertaining up and down, and especially the main card, will probably do the lowest number of the year. The lowest so far this year is 217,000 for Werdum vs. Miocic, and I first said under 200,000, but it could be quite a bit under. Good fights, and the show on paper has them, it not traditionally something that makes a difference with PPV buys, especially now.
509
510There are two other iPPV events this weekend that have a UFC connection. On 12/10, Fight Pass will be doing the Rico Verhoeven vs. Badr Hari kickboxing match from Oberhausen, Germany, with arguably the two best heavyweights in the world as a kickboxing match. UFC will handle the iPPV and it will also air via traditional television PPV. The show will start on ESPN 3 at 11 a.m. Eastern time, and then move to Fight Pass (which is airing several fights for free on the Internet as a hard sell for the iPPV) at 1:30 p.m. and then the PPV starts at 4 p.m. So essentially UFC is promoting two PPV shows on the same day, the 4 p.m. show and the 10 p.m. show. The last time Glory did a PPV, they only did 6,000 buys.
511
512On 12/11, FloGrappling and Chael Sonnen are promoting Submission Underground at 5:30 p.m., a grappling show from the Portland, OR, with Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson, Miesha Tate vs. Jessica Eye and Ronny Markes vs. Jeff Monson as the top bouts. Jones is allowed to participate even while suspended because grappling isn’t regulated by athletic commissions. Even though Henderson was on two Olympic teams in wrestling, that was in 1992 and 1996, and he’s now 46 years old and there are no weigh-ins, so he’s probably giving away 15 to 20 pounds as well.
513
514There are reports that Conor McGregor is set for an appearance on “Game of Thrones.”
515
516Added to the 1/15 show in Phoenix is Joe Lauzon vs. Marcin Held, which sounds like a fun fight, Bryan Caraway vs. Jimmie Rivera, which is a battle of top rated bantamweights where the winner would be in consideration for a title match, and Jussier Formiga vs. Sergio Pettis.
517
518The 2/4 show in Houston, besides the Bermudez vs. Chan Sung Jung main event, has Alexa Grasso vs. Felice Herrig, Evan Dunham vs. Abel Trujillo, Ovince Saint Preux vs. Jan Blachowicz, Justin Ledet vs. Dmity Sosnovskiy, Adam Milstead vs. Curtis Blaydes, Chas Skelly vs. Chris Gruetzemacher and James Vick vs. Johnny Case.
519
520MMA Fighting reported a Jared Cannonier vs. Glover Teixeira fight is being worked on for the 2/11 PPV show from Brooklyn.
521
522BELLATOR:
523
524There is a show on 12/10 from Florence, Italy, which will be a combination MMA and kickboxing show. They will air as separate shows on Spike. The MMA show is going to air live on the East Coast at 4 p.m., instead of in prime time as has been the case in the past. It will air on a three-hour tape delay on the West Coast, so at 4 p.m. local time there. The show won’t go against the UFC PPV in most of the country, but will go against the Fight Pass and FOX fights on the West Coast. The scheduled main event of Rafael Carvalho defending the middleweight title against Melvin Manhoef is off due to an injury to Carvalho. The TV card has Joey Beltran vs. Alessio Sakara, Philips Lins vs. Kleber Raimundo Silva, Claudio Annicchiarico vs. John Salter and Valeriu Mircea vs. Goiti Yamauchi.
525
526OTHER MMA:
527
528Preliminary numbers for the Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev on 11/19, which went head-to-head with Bellator, UFC and tons of college football, are in the 160,000 buy range. That is a lot lower than it was hoped for, and comes off Manny Pacquiao vs. Jessie Vargas doing an estimated 215,000 buys. More and more on PPV, it’s either feast or famine. If it’s something the public is really interested in, there is more money in PPV than ever before. But for anything short of that, more people are willing to skip it than ever before. This was the most competitive high-profile fight on PPV this year, but Ward was never a PPV star and didn’t become the national draw hoped for and even with a very real opponent is a very competitive fight, the names didn’t capture the public’s attention.
529
530Regarding the thing with Ryback and Combate Americas, it’s less than what was written and it was more Ryback having an exchange with a fighter asking about working there than any talks that went further than that and reached even preliminary talks. Campbell McLaren also noted that they had offered $1 million for Alberto to fight.
531
532There will be a head-to-head battle on New Year’s Eve in Japan again this year as TBS in Japan announced a five round K-1 rule match from Yokohama between Masato, the 154-pound superstar of the K-1 Max glory days, now 37, coming out of retirement, to face Pride’s glory era top native lightweight, Takanori Gomi. Obviously this favors Masato, since it’s under his rules. The match can only end by knockout, and if it goes five rounds it will be declared a draw. This goes head-to-head with the big Rizin show at the Saitama Super Arena featuring their Grand Prix tournament finals, also built around the stars of a decade-plus ago like Mirko Cro Cop, Wanderlei Silva and Tsuyoshi Kosaka. Silva is off the 12/29 show and his match with Cro Cop, which was the biggest mainstream match of the Grand Prix tournament. Cro Cop, on his Facebook account, called Silva, who he was to face on 12/29, a scared homie and told Silva not to attend the show because he’d “slap you like a bitch like you deserve” if he was to show up that weekend in Japan. Silva has some significant injuries but there’s the feeling that Silva did all that promotional work including Ultimate Fighter for a fight with Chael Sonnen and then kept balking at signing a contract to actually do the fight, and then ended up suspended from fighting in the U.S. from walking away from the drug test. Now he did promotional work for this fight, and then pulled out.
533
534Rizin announced several more fights for its two late December shows besides the Shinobu Kandori vs. Gabi Garcia fight. The 12/29 show has added Kazuyuki Miyata, a 40-year-old former Olympic wrestler, against Andy Souwer, one of Masato’s big rivals during the K-1 Max heyday who was K-1 Max champion in 2005 and 2007, and is still active at 34. They also announced Satoru Kitaoka, a submission expert who is still the current Deep lightweight champion, against former UFC fighter Daron Cruickshank. Added to 12/31 is 42-year-old multi-time world champion wrestler Miyu Yamamoto vs. Andi Nguyen, a 34-year-old from South Carolina with a 3-3 record against nobodies, so the idea is they are trying to get Miyu a win this time. Once again they are pushing that two members of the royal family are fighting with the mother and son gimmick since her son, Asen Yamamoto, her 20-year-old son who is a 2020 Olympic wrestling hopeful, faces Hideo Tokoro.
535
536WWE:
537
538Lawler, 67, and Amy “Lita” Dumas, 41, were taken off the pre-show panels prior to Raw, Smackdown and PPV shows. They’ve also been switched from full-time contracts to legends deals. The decision is likely age related when it comes to Lawler, since it’s been well known for a few years they were going to phase him out based on age, similar to Jim Ross as Vince has the belief people don’t want to see older people regularly on television. Which is funny when you consider the guy on television more than anyone else in the world is 70 and by far, the broadcaster who got the most talk and attention in 2016 was 87. He was moved from Raw to Smackdown, and even though his work was revitalized in working with Mauro Ranallo, the decision was made long before that he would be replaced after the draft and brand split to give the show a new look. He was moved to the pre-show at that time. Both may be used for special events and Lawler could still host the Hall of Fame, but neither will have a regular full-time gig with the company. Dumas is essentially gone from the company. With a few exceptions, such as one period when he was under indictment, another period when he quit the company out of loyalty to his then-wife who was fired, and when recovering from a heart attack suffered while broadcasting, Lawler had been with WWE on television since December 1992 and was a regular on Raw most of the period between 1995 and the end of 2014.
539
540At a court hearing in Allentown, PA, to determine if Jimmy Snuka, 73, was mentally competent enough to stand trial on third degree murder and involuntary manslaughter charges in the 1983 death of mistress Nancy Argentino, the defense told the court and prosecution that Snuka’s stomach cancer has worsened, he’s in hospice care and may not live more than six months. It was evidently made clear that the doctor said that he was not terminal from the stomach cancer but from a number of different infections. Judge Kelly Banach, who ruled on 6/1 that Snuka’s dementia was such that she felt he couldn’t stand trial, had ordered a hearing that took place on 12/2 to see if his mental condition had improved. Snuka was not in the courtroom. Snuka’s attorney, Robert Kirwan, said that the wrestling legend was unable to travel from Florida, where he now lives, to attend the hearing due to health reasons, but he did participate via video conferencing. At the hearing, Snuka claimed that he didn’t remember ever talking to Banach, who had asked him a number of questions in June. Kirwan said that Snuka had suffered a number of infections and had been hospitalized earlier in the week because the infections had led by psychosis and hallucinations.
541
542Carole Snuka, his wife, said Jimmy is receiving morphine and other drugs to make him comfortable. The prosecution said that they were told by a doctor that Snuka’s is terminal. Banach, in August, said that if Snuka’s condition didn’t improve by December, that she would dismiss the charges. She did not make a ruling, but said she would review his medical records and make a ruling shortly. Most likely the ruling would be to drop the charges at this point. She could either schedule another hearing in a few months on the situation, rule him mentally competent and he would stand trial, or dismiss the case. Banach spoke to Snuka, who said that he didn’t know if he voted for President and had no idea who won the election. When asked how he was feeling, he said he had pain in his knee and leg, but he did light up when he talked about going swimming and walking around the neighborhood, and told the judge that he wished he could go back and wrestle, which he said he loved to do. His wife said that Jimmy sometimes leaves the house thinking he’s got a booking, and then gets mad when he’s not allowed to leave. The psychosis has made him attempt to leave out of doors and windows. The prosecution had claimed at the hearings that Snuka was an actor faking that he couldn’t remember anything and had an expert witness attempt to back up that opinion. Defense witness Frank Dattilio, a forensic psychologist, had testified earlier this year that Snuka suffers from dementia from all the head trauma during his years in wrestling. Snuka is part of the class-action lawsuit against WWE, where he claims to have suffered long-term neurological issues and significant cognitive and neurological impairment as a result of successive blows to the head during his career. Snuka’s daughter Sarona, who is in WWE as Tamina Snuka (although they toned down the Snuka name after the Jimmy Snuka story became a news story), 38, has been recovering from major knee surgery in May, but was just cleared to return this past week.
543
544Vince McMahon had given the okay in trying to make deals with at least some independent wrestling for the WWE Network, and days later, changed his mind. Still, there are talks going on behind the scenes with the idea he may changes his mind again. The company has done a ton of surveys of late, including another one last week. The results would be very interesting but evidently with the results of a recent one, McMahon felt that adding live independent shows would add cost without any significant increases in subscribers. Then again, they are competitive and even with owning a small percentage of Flo Slam, and having a relationship with them, it’s not like they want anyone else to get a foothold in that market in a significant way. The thing also is that when it comes to iPPVs of indie shows, while costs are low, when it comes to people actually paying for shows, the numbers right now are in most cases very low. And even for streaming services, even New Japan World, the second biggest, which is a major league group and which does have television in the U.S., has less than 10,000 subscribers outside of Japan and they’re doing multiple shows most weeks.
545
546They also sent out another survey to network subscribers, asking about what TV shows they watch, their favorite brand (Raw, Smackdown or NXT), favorite stars, list one-to-four their most interested and least interested division (comprised of men, cruiserweights, women and tag teams, please don’t ask about cruiserweight tag team or women’s tag team matches). They also asked how often you watch all the different TV shows, your favorite era for wrestling (listed as 1982-89, 1990-95, 1996-2000, 2001-2004 and 2005-present. It’s notable of a few things in that questioning. The obvious one is that pro wrestling never existed before 1982. It’s also notable that most consider that era 84-89, as 1982 would be part of a different era. Really, the Backlund era was 1978-83. However, Vince purchased the company in 1982, so that’s when time began. Also, in listing the top stars from 82 to 89, they listed Randy Savage and Roddy Piper, with Hulk Hogan’s name still omitted. They asked people are buying house show tickets, DVDs and merchandise, favorite WWE Network shows and demo questions.
547
548Cena will be hosting Saturday Night Live for the first time on 12/10, which tells you how much the outside wrestling world is looking at him as a celebrity. Essentially the success of Dwayne Johnson has opened doors for him. The feeling is if Johnson could be a pro wrestler and parlay that into being the biggest grossing movie star in the world and expand far beyond his profession, that Cena, with his looks, physique and speaking ability, can follow to at least a degree in his footsteps, and he’s getting more and more opportunities. Another Cena movie, which is one already filmed, called “The Wall,” will be released on 3/10. Amazing Studios and Roadside Attractions are distributing the psychological thriller that stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Cena as two soldiers pinned down by an Iraqi sniper with nothing but a crumbling wall between them.
549
550To the surprise of nobody, tickets for the 4/3 Raw, the day after WrestleMania at the Amway Arena in Orlando, sold out the first day they were put on sale. Smackdown tickets for 4/4 didn’t sell out the first day, but moved well and are expected to be sold out well in advance.
551
552Shinsuke Nakamura regained the NXT title, beating Samoa Joe on 12/3 in Osaka. It made all the sense in the world for Joe to beat Nakamura in Toronto to set up the big result of Nakamura winning in Osaka and hopefully strengthening the WWE’s business there. The match will air on the 12/7 NXT show. There will be a rematch in a cage in Melbourne, Australia on 12/8, which is the blow-off, and the winner of that match will face Bobby Roode for the title in Toronto. Hopefully that leads to both guys having their overdue main roster move. With Roode as lead heel champion, unless Joe goes back face, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be moved up. I could see Nakamura being there for a while since we were told the idea was for him to be the face of the brand for at least a while, but things change all the time.
553
554I don’t know exactly what the plans at Mania are for Undertaker, but we were told stories that plans had changed are not true. The plans are the same as what the original plans were.
555
556Jerry McDevitt filed a motion with U.S. District Court in Connecticut on 12/2 to get the lawsuit filed by Marcus Bagwell and Scott Levy (Raven) regarding royalties for appearing on the WWE Network thrown out. The WWE claim is that neither man had anything in their contract that would entitle them to such royalties. When both men signed contracts with WWE, there obviously was no WWE Network and no thoughts of a service that would essentially cannibalize PPV and home video, both of which WWE paid royalties to talent for.
557
558Bill Goldberg is scheduled for the Jan. 2 Raw TV shoot in Tampa.
559
560From the recent tryout of Olympic athletes and other athletes scouted by Gerald Brisco, WWE appears to have the most serious interest in Travis Stevens, who took the silver medal at 180 pounds at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and Chi Lewis Parry, the kickboxer fighter from AKA, who is 6-foot-9, and fights at 254 pounds. Stevens was offered a deal and is expected to accept it, and Parry is also in talks regarding a deal, but we haven’t heard that he’s agreed to terms. Parry was Daniel Cormier’s sparring partner to get ready for the fight with Jon Jones that ended up not happening. Parry, 33, who is from the U.K., has fought MMA, and kickboxing. He’s been fighting of late with Glory, and has an 8-1 record as a kickboxer with four knockouts and is ranked No. 6 in Glory’s heavyweight division. He fought MMA from 2012 to 2014 and had a 6-0 record with one no contest and with fighting with the One FC promotion in Asia. Parry is originally from the U.K. and we were told he made a great impression just running the ropes with people saying the top brass loves his potential because of his size, athletic ability and he apparently did well in talking and they believe he’s got tremendous potential charisma. One person who trained with Stevens said he was surprised he’d sign with WWE given his personality, but said that if he does come in, he may be one of the all-time greats because nobody is more driven, which sounds like how Kurt Angle was described. The negative on Stevens is that even though he’s only 30, he has a lot of mileage on him because he has been competing in judo and driven at that since the age of six. Stevens also placed fourth in the 2012 Olympics and made the Olympic team in 2008 as well.
561
562Another Olympic medalist, Erica Wiebe, 27, who captured gold in women’s wrestling at 165 pounds, is coming to Orlando for a tryout. She was only the third Canadian in history to win a gold medal in wrestling. Wiebe currently lives in Calgary and attended the University of Calgary, and in 2014 took a gold medal in the World University games as well as the Commonwealth games.
563
564The top matches for the 1/28 Takeover show in San Antonio will be whoever emerges as NXT champion after the two Samoa Joe vs. Shinsuke Nakamura matches being taped in Melbourne and Osaka, facing Bobby Roode for the title, plus Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano defending the tag titles against The Authors of Pain. Asuka looks to be defending against either Peyton Royce or Billie Kay.
565
566Since last week, there may be minor changes to the PPV lineup. While nothing is 100 percent, as of a few days ago the Elimination Chamber show set for 2/12 in Phoenix was being switched from a Raw show to a Smackdown show. The Fast Lane show on 3/5 in Milwaukee was being switched from a Smackdown show to a Raw show.
567
568Bayley (Pamela Martinez, 27), got engaged about two weeks ago to her longtime boyfriend, Aaron Solow, a Florida independent wrestler. On 11/22, he sent out a tweet that he got engaged to Casi DeLago, and had a photo of Bayley with her face pressed against the glass and her nose smashed so she didn’t look at all like anyone would recognize her. The two have been together since their early days in wrestling with Big Time Wrestling in California and when she got the WWE job in Orlando, he moved there as well.
569
570Ballers, the HBO series starring Dwayne Johnson, is moving from shooting in South Florida to shooting in Southern California in season three due to tax breaks they’ve been able to get in the new location.
571
572“Moana,” starring Johnson, was No. 1 at the box office for the second straight week taking in $28,720,989 domestic for a two week total of $119,786,319 in the U.S. It’s also done about $60 million outside the U.S.
573
574Tajiri, 46, said on Twitter he’ll be starting in WWE in the cruiserweight division in the spring. He’s finishing up his contracted dates in Japan which go until the end of the year.
575
576This coming week is the annual WWE week on the USA Network with prime time shows not just Monday and Tuesday, but also Tribute to the Troops on Wednesday. The 12/12 Raw show from Philadelphia has the New Day vs. Sheamus & Cesaro vs. Anderson & Gallows in a three-way for the tag titles. If the New Day retains, they’ll break the Demolition (Bill Eadie & Barry Darsow) record of 478 days (winning it March 27, 1988 from Rick Martel & Tito Santana; losing on June 18, 1989 to Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard) as champions. At press time, it was 469 days, so the 478th day is 12/16, so the record will be broken 12/17. But if they retain on Raw, they’ll be off and the next televised title match would be 12/18, the day after the record was broken, at REOTL in Pittsburgh.
577
578The 12/13 taping in Washington, DC will evidently be a nearly five-hour show with two hours of Tribute to the Troops (they’ll probably air a lot of clips, as they sent Charlotte, R-Truth and Fox overseas to meet with troops, leaving after the 12/5 Raw show. They will add all the feel-good clips, so they can hopefully do that taping in 90 minutes or less), the two hour live Smackdown and the one hour 205 Live show. Tribute to the Troops will air on 12/14 on USA. It won’t be airing this year on NBC, as the new WWE contract signed with NBC Universal saw them no longer get network specials since most of the network specials didn’t do good numbers.
579
580Lesnar was announced for a 2/4 house show in Salt Lake City and a 2/17 house show in Dallas.
581
582Orton & Wyatt surviving in the Survivor Series match last week allowed Orton to set a record as it is in fifth survival in such a match, previously doing so in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2008. He had previously tied for the record with Hulk Hogan (1988, 1989, two matches in 1990) and Ultimate Warrior (1988, 1989, two matches in 1990). Those with three are Big Show (1999, 2004, 2010), Jeff Hardy (2000, 2006, 2007), John Cena (2003, 2004, 2006), Randy Savage (1987, 1988, 1989), Rey Mysterio (2008, 2010, 2012) and Shawn Michaels (1995, 2006, 2008).
583
584Carmella’s face was bruised up after being potatoed by Nikki Bella in their brawl on the 11/29 Smackdown in Columbia. Much of the swelling went down, but at the PPV, they put a lot of make up on try and hide that she had a black right eye, but it was still obvious.
585
586Neilsen has a ratings survey regarding television commercials and what commercials people stay tuned do and what commercials people remember the most. For the month of October, the most effective television commercial of any was listed as the Petula Clark “Downtown” Suplex City WWE 2K commercial, in the sense that a higher percentage of people both remembered the commercial and new what product the commercial was for. The ad, called, “Men Fighting in a Bar to Jukebox Music,” did a 283 score, meaning viewers remembered the ad and could tell you what the ad was for 2.83 times higher than an average ad. The next best remembered ad for the month was an NFL ad called “Drew Brees talking about his career” at 267, followed by Party City Supplies Groups of People in Presidential Costumes at 258.
587
588Mickie James (Mickie James-Aldis, 37) was offered a main roster contract coming off her strong performance against Asuka on the 11/19 Takeover show in Toronto. When we first heard that they were looking at offering her a deal, it was for Smackdown, but those things change all the time.
589
590Undertaker was backstage at Raw this week. He lives near Austin.
591
592The reason that Sawyer Fulton hasn’t been around in Sanity and the team has become Alexander Wolfe & Eric Young, is due to an injury that will keep Fulton out for several months. It’s not clear what the injury was, but it had to do with the arm, either shoulder or biceps. There was a tease at the TV tapings of putting Big Damo into the Sanity group, and Damo & Wolfe teamed up as Sanity at both the Florida house shows this weekend, so that would seem to indicate Damo is taking his place on the team.
593
594The two major NXT shows on the Australia tour that continues all week are 12/8 in Melbourne with Nakamura vs. Joe in a cage match, which may be the blow-off of their program and it will also be taped for the NXT television show, plus Asuka vs. Peyton Royce for the women’s title and Buddy Murphy (being pushed as a babyface since he’s from Australia) & Dillinger vs. Roode & Elias Samson. 12/13 in Sydney has a four-way for the title with Nakamura vs. Joe vs. Roode & Dillinger, Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa defending the tag titles against TM 61 and Asuka vs. Ember Moon.
595
596The reason the Usos and Naomi have been off for the past two weeks is because both Naomi and Jey Uso have ankle injuries. Naomi is expected back this week.
597
598Paige’s 60 day suspension for her second drug policy violation ends this week. She’s recovering from neck surgery so she’s not going to be wrestling any time soon. It does mean she can start being booked for personal appearances and will start getting paid her downside again, and could be used on TV in non-physical roles, although it’s more likely she won’t be on TV until she’s ready to return.
599
600The “Baywatch” movie Dwayne Johnson is starring in will be released over Memorial Day weekend in 2017, pushed back one week from the original plan.
601
602Julie Real, a model, has signed a developmental deal. She’s been training with Brian Kendrick and the Santino Brothers school since July, and was invited to the September tryout camp where her looks made her stand out.
603
604Several of the guys at the most recent tryout camp were sent e-mails that right now the company is not looking at hiring anyone who is heavier than 205 pounds for the time being. Talk about a change in thoughts on business.
605
606Babatunde Aiyegbusi, who is 6-foot-9 and 351 pounds who got some pub trying to make the Minnesota Vikings, didn’t make it and signed here, will be playing some sort of a tribal military enforcer.
607
608WWE stock this week was at $18.19 per share until Laura Martin of Needham gave it a buy rating, the opposite of others in recent weeks, and targeted $25 per share, so it rose to $18.95 per share at press time leaving the company valued at $1.45 billion.
609
610The top ten most-watched shows on WWE Network for the past week on VOD were: 1. TLC; 2. Talking Smack after TLC; 3. Story Time episode 3; 4. Story Time episode 2; 5. TLC Kickoff show; 6. Survivor Series; 7. 205 Live on 11/29; 8. NXT on 11/30; 9. True Story of the Royal Rumble; 10. Story Time episode 1.
611
612Cesaro on Twitter complained about not even being on the poster for a Raw brand house show in Zurich, Switzerland, even though it’s not only his home country, but it’s pushed that he’s from Switzerland as the Swiss Superman. Those on the poster were Owens, Reigns, Rollins, Anderson, Gallows, New Day, Balor, Charlotte, Sheamus and Banks.
613
614205 Live is now on Hulu every Wednesday.
615
616Notes from the 12/5 Raw tapings in Austin, TX. It was a better show than usual. Jericho and Owens continue to do a great job in their slow-building angle. Charlotte was tremendous on the mic in the main event segment with some reality in there mixed with the fantasy. The cruiserweights at least are starting to feel like they have purpose and they did a video feature introducing Gallagher so that helped out. There was far less of the usual filler stuff, and what wasn’t of significance was kept short. The show only drew 6,000 fans which is well below what Raw usually does. For Main Event, it opened with Darren Young pinning Mahal. Backlund was there with Young. Dallas pinned Sin Cara with a roll-up.
617
618Raw opened with Rollins out. He immediately said that he wanted HHH, which means it’s the start of the build to the match that was supposed to happen last year at Mania, but Rollins got hurt. It’ll probably happen at Mania this year, or possibly the Rumble. Rollins noted that when he started The Shield, they changed the face of WWE forever. He said that he had to dismantle The Shield when the time was right. That line got booed. Stuff like that is why Rollins is only lukewarm as a face. He said that HHH chose to make choices, and his choice was to bet against Rollins and anoint Owens as his new golden boy. He said he’d love to call HHH out right now, but he knows that isn’t how it works. Yeah, it’s still football season and that’s not happening until bounce-back in January. He said the way to get to HHH is to beat Owens for the title, but he can’t beat Owens when Jericho is in the equation, so he has to remove that piece of the puzzle. He said without Jericho, the Kevin Owens show isn’t ready for prime time. Rollins said that Owens and Jericho weren’t friends after last week.
619
620Owens came out and said that just because they fought, they are still friends but Rollins wouldn’t know because he has no friends. He said that Rollins stabbed his brothers, as he called them, in the back the first chance he got. Rollins asked if Owens has heard from Jericho all week. Owens said he was busy getting Jericho three Christmas presents. Rollins said he hoped it was enough for Jericho interfering in all of his matches. Owens said the only reason Reigns beat him last week was because he was so upset over Rollins attacking Jericho. Rollins wanted a title match tonight but Owens said that he has a match tonight with Zayn and that Owens just beat him two weeks ago in a title match, and he’s defending that title against Reigns at REOTL. Owens’ three presents for Jericho were that he’d get a shot at Reigns’ U.S. title tonight, be able to get his revenge on Rollins in a match at REOTL in two weeks, and that tonight, Rollins would be softened up by show next.
621
622Rollins beat Show via count out in 5:12. Show was a complete babyface here, which didn’t help Rollins early. Rollins went for a tope but Show caught him and dropped him on the barricade. Rollins came back with two springboard knees and Show didn’t go down. He finally went down on the third one. He set up the pedigree, but Show backdropped his way out. Owens came out and told Show to finish Rollins. Show instead choke slammed Owens from the apron into the ring, and then walked out of the ring, leaving a laid out Owens for Rollins. Show took the count out loss while Rolling hit Owens with a superkick and pinned him after a pedigree. They pushed Swann’s cruiserweight title win while plugging the show for this week. They did an introduction video for Jack Gallagher. Gallagher beat Ariya Daivari in 2:42. So in the video, they pushed Gallagher’s heel hook as his big move, and in this match, he won with a dropkick into the corner. Gallagher is fun to watch because he’s completely different from everyone else on the roster. The crowd got into him being different. The two shook hands after. Then after the match, Daivari gave Gallagher a chop block and took out his knee, so we’ve got a new program.
623
624O’Neil was backstage with two women and walking around handing out handbills pushing “Tussle in Texas,” a big match with he against Henry for later in the show. Owens confronted Foley backstage. He said that he just got choke slammed and pedigreed and Foley did nothing about it, and he felt it’s only fair that his match with Zayn should be canceled. Foley didn’t agree to that. Jericho showed up and Owens started kissing up to him. He asked Jericho if he’d heard the news. Jericho said he just got there. He was really aloof and not wanting to talk to Owens. He asked Jericho if he’d heard about the three Christmas presents. Jericho hadn’t heard. He told Jericho that he’s got a U.S. title match with Reigns tonight, plus a match with Rollins at the PPV. He said he was able to put Show against Rollins to soften Rollins up but that ended up not working out. Owens said that if Jericho wins the title, then they will both be Universal and U.S. champion. Owens then said, “We’re good,” but Jericho said, “No, we’re not good.”
625
626Enzo & Cass were backstage. Enzo was talking about a woman, perhaps Lana, saying she was a Stallion. Cass explained, no she was a Filly. Evidently that line was from a Matt Riddle comedy interview. As they were talking, Rusev & Lana started arguing. Enzo came up and told Rusev that he didn’t like the way he was talking to her. Enzo and Rusev had words and Lana backed Enzo saying he’s only trying to help. Rusev called him pathetic and that maybe Lana deserves a pathetic man like this. She threw her wedding ring on the floor. Enzo & Cass looked stunned. Enzo picked up the ring and said he was a great listener and she smiled at im. Lana said that she thinks Rusev doesn’t appreciate her, that he does tell her she’s beautiful but she doesn’t believe he really means it and he takes her for granted and that Rusev needs to be taught a lesson. She said maybe if Rusev saw another man pay attention to her he wouldn’t take her for granted and invited Enzo to her hotel room. It’s like every single person in the world knew how this was going to turn out.
627
628Owens pinned Zayn in 11:51. Remember when these two had their last match ever and it was one of WWE’s best matches of the year. Well, it wasn’t their last match ever. The story is that Zayn wanted a match with Strowman, but Foley refused to allow it and instead booked Zayn with Owens. Both did running flip dives. Zayn also did his dive from the floor through the ropes and back to the floor on the other side into a DDT, which didn’t get over nearly as much as usual. Zayn used a dragon suplex, an exploder into the corner and a blue thunder bomb, followed by an exploder into the barricade. Owens got right up in the ring and hit the pop up power bomb for the pin. This was so abrupt to just get right up and do the move after taking so many big moves in a row. Not like WWE is the only place it happens, and it’s classic CMLL singles match now, but it basically renders all those moves as meaningless.
629
630Jericho was backstage with Reigns. Reigns joked that there’s still car paint of his forehead from that pedigree on the roof of the car last week. Jericho called him a stupid idiot. Jericho said to Reigns that everything is always hand to him and that he’s had a lot of luck, but tonight his luck runs out. Reigns told Jericho that he’s been doing Owens’ dirty work and that he should think about that. Banks did an interview. She said that Charlotte doesn’t deserve to live in Ric Flair’s legacy. She said Charlotte wasn’t crying last week because she lost the title, but was crying because she was celebrating with her father. She said that she knew that Ric Flair cost her the title at WrestleMania, but she understands why he did it, but he deserves better than how Charlotte was treating him. She said as much as she despises Charlotte as a person, Charlotte as a competitor bring out the greatness in her. She then said she wanted to defend against Charlotte in an Iron Man match. Swann pinned Perkins in 5:49 when Perkins came off the top rope into a spin kick for the pin. Both worked as faces here. During this match Cole was making fun of people on twitter who retweet compliments all day. The wrestling looked good but there wasn’t much heat. The crowd seemed slightly more into this than similar cruiserweight matches in recent weeks this late in the show.
631
632Bayley pinned Fox in 2:24 with a belly-to-belly. It almost seemed like this was there to push “Bayley Bears” for Christmas. She came out holding two stuffed animal bears. Enzo & Cass were backstage. Cass was skeptical of everything saying that Lana was trouble. Enzo was as well saying he knew that. Lana then sent him a text. It was a photo of Lana’s face. Somehow Enzo got all excited over that and left. Rusev than came and asked Cass if he knew where his wife was. Cass said he didn’t know. They argued and Rusev said he was going to Foley to make a match between them. After all the months of bikini shots, Emmalina will debut on Raw next week. For what it’s worth, on the road she’s been a heel as the partner of Brooke, the same role she had before her back surgery. Henry pinned O’Neil with the world’s strongest slam in :25. Cole noted in a subtle dig at Jim Ross, that’s what Texas does every year to Oklahoma. Flair showed up in a limo and met with Enzo. This interplay actually made Enzo seem like a big deal the way Flair put him over. Enzo was looking for an uber driver and the joke was that they don’t have uber in Austin, and I guess when they got to Austin and went over the script, somebody pointed that out but they didn’t care. So after the line, the live crowd was chanting about how there’s no uber.
633
634Jericho was backstage with Owens and told him that he was going to win the U.S. title by himself, that he doesn’t want him in the corner, he doesn’t need him in the corner, to stay out of his business and stay away from the ring. Reigns retained the title over Jericho in 13:50. This was a good match. Jericho was working a slightly different style, in the sense he usually works to get booed, and here, while still as the heel, it wasn’t as hardcore almost like a tease that it’s okay to cheer him. He did a plancha and springboard dropkick early. Reigns gave him a dropkick on the floor. There were dueling chants with guys for Jericho and women for Reigns. Reigns went for a spear and got kicked in the face. Jericho went for the codebreaker and Reigns blocked it into a power bomb. Jericho kept going for the Walls. When he finally got it on and Reigns made the ropes, fans first booed and other cheered. With the ref occupied, Owens came down and superkicked Reigns. Jericho hit the codebreaker and Reigns kicked out. Jericho then saw Owens and started yelling at him and told him to leave, and slapped his chest. They were arguing and Jericho told Owens to go to the back and he didn’t need him. Reigns finally hit the spear for the pin. Reigns was cheered, more by women, but still cheered when he got the pin.
635
636Next was Cass vs. Rusev, but Rusev never came out. Cass figured it out, said Holy shit, freaked out and grabbed a cell phone to call Enzo. Enzo was walking in the hallway of the hotel and the phone went off but he didn’t answer it. So Enzo gets near the door, and then decides this is a bad idea. But then he knocked on the door. She’s in a robe and invited him in. He said it’s a bad idea and wanted to leave. She started teasing him and he thinks it’s a bad idea and wanted to leave. But he’s never leaving. She tore his shirt off. Now he thinks it’s a really bad idea and wants to leave. So she wants him to have a drink. She tells him to take his pants off. He thinks it’s now a really bad idea, and what does he do? Why he takes his pants off. She whispers something to him in Russian. He asked what it meant and she said he’s a fool and Rusev then attacked him, pounding on him on the couch. Rusev threw him over a table, threw a lamp at him, fish hooked him and broke a glass vase over his head. Rusev then dragged Enzo out of his hotel room and left him in the hallway while Lana put the Do Not Disturb card on the door. As these things go, it was pretty well done.
637
638Cesaro & Sheamus went to a no contest with Gallows & Anderson in 10:00 in a match to determine who gets a tag title shot next week. The New Day was at ringside watching with Woods sometimes playing the trombone. There was a real lack of heat here because the show was dragging, being so long. The match was okay. They were all brawling outside the ring when New Day attacked both teams and it turned into a three-way brawl. Kingston did a running flip dive onto Sheamus & Cesaro, who caught him in mid-air and threw him onto Woods & Big E. This builds to the three-way for the tag titles next week. The final segment was Charlotte and Ric Flair. They kept showing over-and-over the clips from May when Charlotte booted Ric out. Charlotte said that six months ago she made the biggest mistake of her life. There were a lot of “What” chants and some “You tapped out.” chants. She said it was hard to watch her father put his arms around Banks and raise her hand. It was like her own father was saying Sasha was the better athlete and the better competitor. She said all she ever wanted was her father’s approval and nobody understands what it’s like to grow up as Ric Flair’s daughter. She said she always questioned whether she was good enough. There was a real thread of reality in this portion of the promo. She said that when Ric hugged Banks, that she felt she failed as a daughter and it broke her heart. She said she hadn’t seen her dad in six months and she’d like him to come out so she could apologize. Ric came out and she said she was sorry, and they hugged. The fans booed them hugging. Then she slapped him in the face and called him a son of a bitch. He did the nearly crying routine. She was mad at Banks for dedicating her win to Ric Flair. Banks came out and Charlotte attacked her, threw her into the post. Ric was crying as Charlotte beat up Sasha and left her laying to end the show. After Raw ended, Ric Flair was leaving and then Rusev came out. Rusev called Flair an old man and told him to get out, went to bully him and cut an anti-American promo. Cass came out and the two brawled for about a minute. There was no match. Cass delivered a running kick knocking Rusev out of the ring and he left. JoJo then thanked the fans for coming, so neither of the advertised matches, Reigns vs. Rusev for the U.S. title and Owens vs. Rollins for the Universal title took place.
639
640Notes from the 12/7 tapings in Houston. The show had been promoted around Styles vs. Ellsworth for the title, but Styles had the ankle injury so couldn’t wrestle, and they switched to Miz vs. Ambrose. They advertised and pushed Styles vs. Ellsworth long after they knew Styles wasn’t going to be able to be on the show. The show drew 5,500 fans, which is the smallest crowd in Houston for a TV taping in a long time. But Smackdown tapings have fallen way off since Cena wasn’t advertised. They had the same problem with the first week of NXT, with people visibly walking out (mostly during Dar vs. Alexander) and a hard time getting heat, although by the end of a good Swann vs. Kendrick title match, the crowd was someone into it. With Styles hurt, the dark match to try and keep the crowd was The Wyatt Family vs. Jordan & Gable & Ziggler, and the Wyatts & Gable had already wrestled, so it was going to be hard keeping the crowd for another hour just to see Ziggler. One thing about the cruiserweight show is that the announcers, and in this case it’s all three, Ranallo, Graves and Aries, are good enough and interesting enough and the matches were good enough that the lack of crowd heat didn’t bother me as much as usual.
641
642Crews pinned English in a short dark match. Smackdown opened with Styles out, wearing a walking boot. He was walking on the leg, far from 100 percent but the fact he’s already walking means he’s probably not going to be out that long. He acted like it would be maybe a week. Ellsworth came out and accused Styles of faking the injury to avoid facing him for the title because he had his number. He accused Bryan of protecting Styles. This was designed to get heat but it actually died in front of the crowd. As a babyface, cheering Ellsworth was like this cool thing to do and even after the turn, chanting “Ellsworth” like it’s “Goldberg” was going on in the building. But as a heel, it wasn’t heat. It was like it’s a joke that people were in on that was taken away to get them mad but nobody was mad. Styles said he was drinking his own chin and tonic and that every win Ellsworth has over him is due to Ambrose, and now he’s burned that bridge and burned himself. Styles said he put him in a neck brace and a back brace, but Ambrose will really hurt you. Ambrose then walked in the ring, and gave Ellsworth Dirty Deeds, and then walked out. I guess he didn’t really want to hurt him.
643
644Orton & Wyatt beat Slater & Rhyno to retain the tag titles in 9:13. Slater and Orton were just off working together and Orton rarely looks out of position like he did in a few sequences. The finish saw Wyatt get Slater in Sister Abigail. Wyatt then stopped and basically handed him to Orton to deliver the RKO for the pin. The idea is to show everyone that Orton & Wyatt really are together, because the fans still cheer Orton and think they aren’t really a team. On Talking Smack after the show, Rhyno blamed Slater for the two losses and walked out on him, so they’ve either broken up or will do an angle next week to finalize the breakup. It had run its course. Kalisto said he felt like he’d been in a car wreck after the chairs match. He said he has one advantage over Corbin, which is speed, and speed kills. Carmella did an interview. People were giving her the “What” treatment. She said that Natalya pulled a Tonya Harding on Nikki Bella. Well, probably everyone over 30 watching knows what that means. Carmella claimed that Natalya had bragged about what she did and that’s how she knew. She said Nikki had stolen Natalya’s spotlight as a wrestler since Total Bellas started, that Natalya wishes she was as glamorous as Nikki and as curvaceous as Nikki and as beautiful as Nikki and that Natalya is always second best, she’s the runner-up to the Homecoming Queen. She said that Natalya is still denying it. That’s weird because the whole premise was that Natalya was bragging about it. She called Natalya a devious con artist. Well, she’s in the right business. Natalya came out, like a babyface, going after Carmella, who ran away. The whole issue with Natalya is that she’s a heel but people don’t see her as a heel, especially after that Zale’s commercial, so she’s booked in a fight scene as a babyface. This is like the reverse Del Rio turn. Natalya was running after Carmella backstage when she bumped into Nikki. She told Nikki that Carmella was a liar but Nikki walked of on her.
645
646Corbin did an interview. The guys still isn’t any good on delivery of scripted interviews. Rawley & Ryder beat The Ascension in 3:27 with the Hype Ryder and Ryder pinned Viktor. Thank God Rawley didn’t do his stupid dance in this match. Miz TV was next with Ambrose. So this was weird. Miz pushes how Ambrose should be furious with Ellsworth for costing him the title. So Ambrose’s response is that he’s not mad, only surprised. The crowd doesn’t care about Ellsworth as a heel and if Ambrose also doesn’t care, why should anyone else care. Ambrose said that Ellsworth was working a minimum wage job and now he’s a Smackdown superstar because of him. The segment ended with Miz giving Ambrose a Participation Award. The most hilarious part of it were the fans who thought it was serious and chanted “You deserve it,” missing what was supposed to be heat. Ambrose went after Miz, who hid behind Maryse. Bryan came out and announced Miz vs. Ambrose for the title as the new main event. Corbin pinned Kalisto in 2:50 with the End of Days. After some early ground and pound, Kalisto did a moonsault off the top rope to the floor and ended up kneeing Corbin in the head. Kalisto then did every single move he could as fast as he could for near falls and then Corbin just hit one End of Days as a counter and that was it. Nikki was backstage with Sophie Grace. It was just an excuse to have her on the show. She did a pep talk segment and that was it. Gable pinned Breeze in 2:32 with an O’Connor roll into a German suplex. The finisher looked great. Jordan gave Fandango a belly-to-belly overhead suplex on the floor when Fandango tried to get involved. There was a funny scene to build the match as Fandango & Breeze were in their police outfits giving Gable & Jordan fashion police tickets. Breeze went to Fandango about them and said, “Book em Dango.” Like 40 years ago on the original Hawaii 5-O television show, every show ended with Jack Lord telling his side kick Danno, “Book em Danno” and it was this cultural thing everyone would say in the 70s.
647
648Bliss did an interview. A few fans tried to do the “You deserve it” for her as well. Lynch came out and wanted her rematch. Bliss, who was dressed up, agreed to do it, then backed off. Miz pinned Ambrose to retain in 13:29. They had a good match. Ambrose was on the top rope and Maryse shook the ropes so he crotched himself. Miz did the Bryan running knee finisher which Ranallo called the busaiku knee (well, when KENTA popularized the move that’s what it was called and Bryan took it from KENTA) for the first time ever on WWE programming. But Ambrose kicked out. Ambrose had Miz pinned but Ellsworth came out on the guise of helping Ambrose to make up to him but the ref saw him and turned his back as Ambrose cradled Miz. Ambrose got up and started yelling at Ellsworth and then Miz used the Skull crushing finale to pin him. Ellsworth then ran away as fast as he could as the show ended. The ring crew was still working on changing the ring and taping up the ropes as 205 Live started so they couldn’t shoot the ring first. Noam Dar pinned Cedric Alexander in 10:14. Fox killed Alexander before the match and they put over hard that the two were a couple. The timing between these two was great, but with the crowd leaving and lack of heat, it was tough though technically good. Dar controlled most of the match, to the point it was long and one-sided, and finally threw Alexander’s shoulder into the post and pinned him with a running high kick. Nobody saw that as the finish or building the finish. The story seems to be that Alexander is losing because he’s not all there because of his romance and they’re doing a losing streak gimmick. Dar did a heel promo after, saying he’s 23 years old and has just signed a big money contract with WWE. He then dedicated the win to Cedric’s girlfriend.
649
650There was a Mustafa Ali video package. He said when people hear his name, they make assumptions and boo him, but his goal is to outdo everyone in the division. Swann and Perkins were backstage. Perkins told Swann that he got lucky last night with that kick. Daivari pinned Gallagher in 6:14. Daivari took most of the match as the story was that Gallagher had an injured left knee from Raw. They did a few near falls and Daivari won after an eye rake, a chop block and a splash off the top rope. Gallagher could be special and they’re already doing the 50/50 with him. Kendrick did an interview blaming all the media appearances he had to do keeping him from training for his title loss. Swann pinned Kendrick to retain the title in 12:34. Good match. Perkins was out doing commentary and they were already pushing Aries vs. Perkins heat. Kendrick used the sliced bread off the barricade and sold his right knee on landing. Fans were chanting for Aries. Swann did a Phoenix splash off the middle rope to the floor. They are calling Swann “The Outlandish Rich Swann” and Aries made fun of his “Kotex inspired ring gear.” Ranallo and Graves didn’t even respond to that one. There was a double sell spot that led to a light “This is awesome” chant. This was the most Pavlovian example of the chant, like both guys are down and now you’re supposed to chant it, and most fans didn’t but a few did it in a manner that came off so contrived and fake. Kendrick threw Swann’s head into the post. Swann was selling big but threw Kendrick into Perkins. They squared off on the floor. Kendrick got in the ring and Swann hit the spin kick on him for the pin. After the match Kendrick went after Perkins, blaming him for the loss. Kendrick was beating on him when Swann ran back for the save. In the brawl, Perkins accidentally superkicked Swann. Kendrick then attacked Perkins and Kendrick was the last guy standing as the show ended. They ended with a dark match as Jordan & Gable & Ziggler beat Wyatt & Orton & Harper when Ziggler hit all three with a superkick and pinned Harper. Orton was still cheered more than anyone else.
651
652Notes from the 11/30 NXT tapings. Percy Watson returned as the third man in the booth. Hopefully he’s better than David Otunga. They opened with a dark match as Tian Bing pinned Beautiful Blonde Blake. For the show on 12/7, it opened with Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa coming out and talking about their title win. The Authors of Pain & Paul Ellering came out and noted that they are undefeated and just won the Dusty Rhodes Classic. But The Revival came out and said that they are entitled to a return match. They built some heat with the Revival and Authors of Pain as well. Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe, with Nikki Cross in their corner, beat No Way Jose & Rich Swann. Big Damo interfered and caused Jose to get pinned. The cruiserweight champion comes to NXT to be on the losing end of a tag match. No Sawyer Fulton anywhere. There is a storyline in some form as Young stomped on a Sawyer Fulton jacket. Ember Moon pinned Kimber Lee with a stunner off the top rope. Heavy Machinery of Tucker Night & Otis Dozovic beat Johnny Knockout and another guy.
653
654For the 12/14 show, they had a series of four matches where the four winners would advance to a four-way on the 12/21 show for a title shot. Since by 12/21, the Joe vs. Nakamura matches will all have aired on the WWE Network, they’ll be more direct in promoting than they could be here. Tye Dillinger beat Eric Young via DQ due to interference from Cross. Dillinger made his own save, but Damo attacked and laid out Dillinger. Andrade Cien Almas advanced beating Jose with a DDT. Fans were chanting “Build a Wall” at Almas. Well, that’s quite the embarrassment. Roderick Strong beat Elias Samson with the sick kick. Bobby Roode advanced beating Oney Lorcan with his DDT. Peyton Royce won a quick match over Sara Bridges (formerly Crazy Mary Dobson). Nakamura pinned Patrick Clark with the Kinshasa. For 12/21, Kay pinned Daria Berenato due to outside help from Royce. Royce and Kay both challenged Asuka after the match. Authors of Pain beat Johnny Vandal & Anthony Bowens. Bowens was knocked out legitimately. In fact, he won’t be able to wrestle until January at the earliest based on the injuries in the match. They did a ref stoppage and those there believed he was legit knocked out. Ellering did a promo and said they would win the tag titles at Takeover, and didn’t care if it was The Revival or Gargano & Ciampa. Roode won a four-way over Dillinger, Almas and Strong. This match was apparently great. They did elimination rules with Strong first pinning Almas after a sick kick. Dillinger pinned Strong with the Tye-breaker, leaving Roode vs. Dillinger and Roode pinned him again after a DDT. Main event Saw Gargano & Ciampa beat The Revival once again to keep the tag titles with their sandwich running kick and knee.
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656NXT started its Japan & Australia tour on 12/3 in Osaka with the show where Nakamura won the title. While reported as an advanced sellout, they drew 4,531, and tickets were available in most price ranges at the door and there were a lot of empty seats. That’s still a great NXT crowd, but not necessarily for Nakamura, Asuka and Itami returning to Osaka with Nakamura going for the title. The show opened with Oney Lorcan pinning Andrade Cien Almas. Almas came out wearing his La Sombra mask. He had worked for years in New Japan, including at one point doing a feud with Nakamura and being the tag team partner of Tetsuya Naito. So they beat him in the opener. The match was said to be **, decent but missed spots. Billie Kay & Peyton Royce beat Liv Morgan & Aliyah in a *1/2 match when Kay pinned Morgan. The ref, when admonishing Kay, called her “Bayley,” which she reacted to saying “It’s Billie” and just shook her head. Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson beat Riddick Moss & Tino Sabbatelli in a ** match. The Revival got a big pop like stars coming out but the crowd was bored with the match. Moss looked real green. Tye Dillinger won a three-way over Roode and Elias Samson in a **½ match. Nothing particularly noteworthy but everyone looked good.
657
658The crowd in Japan didn’t sing Roode’s song. Roode and Dillinger were both cheered equally. The crowd did the “ten” chant when the ref would count and people laughed in the crowd at the crowd. This ten chant is cute now but if this turns into the new “What,” and some have suggested to us it’s on the way to becoming that, well, that’s not good in the long run. Dillinger pinned Samson. William Regal and Hideo Itami came out for an interview. Regal got a good response and Itami got a great response. They both talked up Japan and the crowd itself. Itami started talking Japanese to them. The Osaka show was built locally around Nakamura, Itami and Asuka and Itami was advertised to wrestle. TM 61, who were major stars in NOAH, were also pushed, and did not appear on this show, which may have been a numbers game since Tajiri & Tozawa are likely not on the rest of the tour and maybe they sent them to Australia early. The fact he couldn’t wrestle on the show says the neck injury was worse than expected because this was the target date for him to be ready by.
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660Asuka retained the women’s title over Nia Jax in another ** match. It was a klunky match. Asuka got a great reaction coming out but he crowd died when she started selling. Asuka won with a kick to the head. Jax got potatoed a few times which slowed the match down. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa retained the tag titles over Akira Tozawa & Tajiri in a **** show stealing match. By far the most heat for anything on the show. Tozawa was over gigantic. They pinned Tozawa with their double-team finish. Interesting that they used Tajiri and didn’t use Kota Ibushi in Osaka, particularly since Ibushi was working the next night in the same arena for DDT, and said he was open to doing the date. Nakamura beat Joe to win the title in the main event, which was *** and not nearly the caliber of their two Takeover matches. Nakamura was over like crazy of course, but during the match, much of the response was to Joe. They teased the muscle buster several times but Nakamura always escaped. Nakamura finally won with the Kinshasa, but Nakamura blew a spot right before the finish which hurt the finish, but Nakamura got a great reaction after winning the title.
661
662The Australian tour opened on 12/5 in Perth, Western Australia, before 2,000 fans. It was a described as a fun show. NXT shows outside of Florida when you have decent sized crowds are usually upbeat and fun and very professional type live events. Basically WWE professionalism with a smaller but more hardcore and usually louder crowd. As noted, there were issues with ticket sales and a lot of special offers the last few weeks on the Australia tour since tickets didn’t move that well. Buddy Murphy pinned Wesley Blake in the opener. Murphy is from Australia and got a big reaction. At least they let him win here. Almas beat Lorcan with the running knees in the corner. So Almas loses in Japan, where he had been pushed before and had a name, but wins here against the same guy, in a market he’d never worked. Crowd was quiet for this match. Moon pinned Kay with a top rope stunner. Kay is also from Australia, but she worked as a heel here. Samson pinned Tozawa with a power bomb off the turnbuckles and his feet on the ropes. Samson was booed more heavily than anyone else on the show. Gargano & Ciampa retained the tag titles over Moss & Sabbatelli with their sandwich running kick and knee double-team finish. Good match, Gargano & Ciampa did a great job carrying things.
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664Regal came out and said that the last five years he’s been working at NXT have been the most rewarding period of his career. Roode pinned Dillinger with a DDT in the best match on the show. Said to be basically the same match as at Takeover. The crowd loved both guys. Asuka beat Royce to keep the title with the Asuka lock. Royce was also a heel in Australia. Main event saw Nakamura & TM 61 beating Joe & Dawson & Wilder. Nakamura was super over and TM 61 got a huge reaction. They are both from Perth and a lot of the crowd saw them starting out on the local indie scene. They also wore jerseys of two different Perth-based Australian Rules football teams coming out. Fans were chanting Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls at them, which were their names before WWE and in Japan. Nakamura pinned Wilder with the Kinshasa, while Shane Thorn and Nick Miller did dives on Joe and Dawson at the same time. Nakamura gave TM 61 the stage to end the show.
665
66612/7 in Canberra, Australia drew 950 fans. TM 61 beat The Revival in the opener, which was weird putting them on first. Patrick Clark beat Blake. Moon pinned Aliyah with a stunner off the top rope. Murphy pinned Tozawa in the best match on the show. Hard hitting great heat and was the only match to get the “This is awesome” chants. After seeing Murphy live, he’s underrated. He’s missing that star thing but he’s got good size and look and his actual work is solid. Tozawa is excellent. Ciampa & Gargano again retained over Moss & Sabbatelli. Second best match. Asuka & Liv Morgan beat Kay & Royce. Kay & Royce showed more charisma live than on TV. Royce may have been hurt because she had to be helped to the back after the match and was holding her knee. Lorcan pinned Samson with a roll-up when Samson was going for his guitar. The match killed the crowd dead. Nakamura & Dillinger beat Joe & Roode when Nakamura pinned Roode with the Kinshasa. Good match. All four were cheered. Almas was at the sow but odd man out and not used.
667
668The Florida tour opened on 12/2 in Crystal River, drawing only 150 fans. The cruiserweights scheduled is to be based in Orlando, work the Florida shows over the weekend, and then do television on Monday and Tuesday, rather than tour with the Raw brand. Jack Gallagher beat Noam Dar in the opener. Angelo Dawkins & Kenneth Crawford beat Harv & Gurv Sihra, so they went from winning on 205 TV to losing to NXT guys. Tian Bing pinned Jeet Rama. Rich Swann beat Kona Reeves in what obviously was not a cruiserweight title match. Daria Berenato & Bianca Blair beat Mandy Rose & Macey Estrella. Tommy End pinned Lince Dorado. The main event saw T.J. Perkins & Cedric Alexander beat Alexander Wolfe & Big Damo, who had both Eric Young and Nikki Cross in their corners.
669
670The other Florida show was 12/3 in Largo drawing 350 fans. Harv & Gurv Sihra beat Dawkins & Crawford. Berenato pinned Rose after a spinebuster. Dar pinned Gallagher with a running knee to the face. Swann did an interview saying how pro wrestling saved his life and that he doesn’t deserve the cruiserweight title, and that everyone deserves it. Perkins beat End with a kneebar submission. Wolfe & Damo beat Tian Bing & HoHo Lun with the same double-team finish that Wolfe & Fulton had been doing. Gran Metalik pinned Dorado using the Dorada driver, which will be renamed the Metalik driver. Authors of Pain beat Dozovic & Knight with their usual double-team finisher in the main event but Dozovic & Knight got to clean house after the match to send the fans home happy.
671
672The Raw tour opened on 12/2 in Albuquerque before 3,500. They also ran 12/3 in Mexico City before 7,000 and 12/4 in Monterrey before 4,500, with gates of $280,000 and $190,000 respectively at Arena Ciudad at Arena Monterrey. The 12/3 show had Lesnar vs. Rusev on it. While WWE hasn’t drawn well overall this fall, those numbers show how far Mexico has fallen from years ago when it was on fire when Mysterio, Cena and Batista were so over. Mexico City was bigger than CMLL does for weekly shows but not nearly as many people as CMLL gets for its bigger shows and they run four shows every week in the city as opposed to one or two a year.
673
674The Smackdown crew on 12/3 in Oklahoma City drew 1,500, which is a terrible crowd in a city of that size. The 12/5 show in Tyler, TX, drew 2,000.
675
676Albuquerque saw Kingston & Big E retain the tag titles in a four-way over Enzo & Cass, Gallows & Anderson and Sheamus & Cesaro when Kingston pinned Anderson. Bayley & Fox beat Brooke & Emma when Bayley pinned Brooke with the belly-to-belly. So they have
677
678put Brooke & Emma back together as a heel team with Emma having her new look. Show pinned Rusev with the knockout punch. Rollins pinned Jericho after a pedigree. Jericho got booed by saying he was going to put everyone except people from New Mexico on the list. Said to be the best match on the show. R-Truth & Goldust & Sin Cara & Neville & Zayn beat Shining Stars & O’Neil & Dallas & Axel when Zayn pinned Epico after the helluva kick. So Dallas & Axel were back together as a team after that break-up angle. Banks beat Charlotte with the bank statement in a quick match to retain the women’s title. Reigns pinned Owens once again as they are doing the deal where only the U.S. title is at stake. Owens again opened with the explanation that Stephanie McMahon ruled that only the U.S. title would be at stake in matches advertised as title vs. title. Owens did a five minute long headlock, which is a spot he’s been doing at most of the house shows. Reigns won clean with a spear.
679
680Mexico City was mostly the same show. Big E & Woods worked as The New Day team in the opening four-way tag title match. Show didn’t work the card and Lesnar took his place and beat Rusev via Kimura in 4:00 after ground and pound. The ten-men tag was broken up into two matches, with Neville pinning Dallas in a singles match with the red arrow, and the R-Truth & Goldust & Zayn & Sin Cara beating Shooting Stars with Axel & O’Neil. Everything else was the same. Rollins vs. Jericho said to be the best match. It’s even funnier in some ways that in Mexico, the U.S. title is at stake and not the world title.
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682Monterrey was mostly the same show except it was Kingston & Woods as the New Day team, Show beat Rusev with the knockout punch in the spot Lesnar had the night before, and the two women’s bouts were combined into one with Banks & Bayley & Fox beating Charlotte & Emma & Brooke when Banks made Charlotte submit to the bank statement. Same Reigns over Owens U.S. title match on top.
683
684Smackdown tour opened in Oklahoma City with the same stuff they did last week. Ziggler pinned Miz with the superkick in a non-title match after Maryse was booted from ringside. Rawley & Ryder & Swagger & Crews beat Vaudevillains & Ascension. Swagger got a big pop from the crowd coming out in a University of Oklahoma sweatshirt. Swagger beat Viktor with the ankle lock. Corbin pinned Kalisto pretty quickly with the End of Days. After the match, with Kalisto on the mat still selling, Hawkins came out and challenged Kalisto to a match. Kalisto then beat him in about a minute with the Salida del Sol. Jordan & Gable & Kane beat Wyatt & Orton & Harper when Kane pinned Harper after a choke slam. Fans still cheered Orton and were chanting “RKO,” so nobody still buys this turn. What is interesting is that on Talking Smack a few weeks ago, Daniel Bryan was talking about the Orton turn and pretty much said that he figured all along that Orton was just playing a game, which is what the fans think because of how abrupt the turn was and with no good explanation given. Bryan said it was out of his playbook (he did that few week heel turn a few years ago joining the Wyatt family but then was turned back) but now he realizes it’s not the same deal as what he did.
685
686Lynch won a five-way title match over Nikki, Natalya, Carmella and Bliss. Nikki got the biggest reaction. Lynch beat Bliss with the disarmer. Lynch got a promo after about doing it again at the PPV match. Slater & Rhyno beat Breeze & Fandango to keep the tag titles in a mostly comedy match. Rhyno pinned Fandango with the gore. Main event saw Styles retain over Ambrose in an Oklahoma Street fight. The crowd was split in this match. Styles got his elbow cut after being whipped into the table. They used a endo stick, and chairs. Styles threw coffee in Ambrose’s eyes and pinned him after the phenomenal forearm. After the match, Styles went for a belt shot but Ambrose ducked and laid him out with Dirty Deeds. No Ellsworth at this show.
687
688The Tyler, TX show had some changes with Styles being off the show and the title changes from the PPV. There was no mention at all in the building of Styles being injured or not there, even though his title match was the main event. They opened with the eight-man instead of Miz vs. Ziggler. Then, at this show after that other matches were over, they announced the main event was for the IC title and Miz vs. Ziggler vs. Ambrose was the match. They did the same Corbin, Kalisto and Hawkins scenario. The women were split into two matches. There was a three-way where Nikki beat Natalya and Carmella when Nikki pinned Carmella after the TKO. Good match. The fans cheered Natalya, so they haven’t figured out she’s a heel. Then again, if they watched the PPV, why would they think that? Same Kane & Alpha over Wyatts trios match. An interesting finish in the sense they teased Orton still as a face. Kane choke slammed Harper. As he went to pin him, Orton came in for the save, and then just stopped and let Harper be pinned. Slater & Rhyno beat Breeze & Fandango in what obviously was now a non-title match. Bliss beat Lynch to keep the women’s title with a roll-up using the tights. Miz then retained over Ambrose and Ziggler in the main event. Ellsworth was at this show, with the idea that he was hiding because he was afraid of Ambrose. The match ended when Ellsworth came to ringside and Ambrose chased him to the back. Ziggler had Miz beat, but was distracted by Maryse and then Miz used a roll-up holding the tights, the exact same finish as the previous match. Ambrose came back out and the show ended with Miz going after Ziggler, Ziggler hitting a superkick on him and Ambrose then laying out Miz with Dirty Deeds.
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