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1Wrestling Observer Newsletter
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3PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 December 3, 2018
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7In something that everyone knew was inevitable at some point, just not this soon, the WWE informed most of its U.K. contracted wrestlers that they would be getting raises in their contracts but would no longer be allowed to wrestle for any outside promotions except partner groups, which would be ICW, Progress and wXw that are known about along with a few others that have been reported.
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9The wrestlers were under annual contracts in the neighborhood of $20,000 to $25,000 per year, but they were told they would be allowed to continue working their regular schedules for the most part, as some companies like ROH, Impact and others were always banned, and more recently Revolution Pro, with its ties to New Japan, was banned from using the talent. More recently WWE insisted that talent couldn’t work anywhere within a week of television tapings since in the past they had to rewrite television if there were injuries over the last week.
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11The assumption was that Fight Club Pro would also be okay, since it is owned by Trent Seven. They were debuting on 1/7 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, promoting it around the Japan debuts of Seven, Tyler Bate, and Pete Dunne as British Strong Style. However it appears that is not the case because Seven, Bate, Dunne, Jordan Devlin and Travis Banks have been pulled from the show.
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13Others listed as okay would be Attack Pro Wrestling, which Dunne is part of the founding group, as well as OTT in Dublin, notable because that would seem to indicate them accepting a WWE working agreement if that is the case, but Fight Club Pro was also supposed to be okay.
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15However, even in those companies the matches would no longer be allowed to be taped for public consumption, so the matches couldn’t air on DVDs or the company’s streaming services, which would hurt OTT, plus you have matchmaking issues as a guy like Will Ospreay or Zack Sabre Jr., who are two of the biggest stars on the U.K. scene, would not be allowed to work in a match featuring any of the WWE contracted talent. Part of the WWE’s working agreements originally offered and agreed to were that WWE would have the right for the next several years, if they choose, to purchase the companies for an agreed upon price (high six figures in at least some cases) and then shut them down so they would no longer compete “with themselves” with the idea that would take place when they were running full-time schedules in those markets.
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17Talent was told that they could fulfill commitments through the end of this year, but starting on 1/1 they could no longer do so.
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19While he hasn’t yet started with WWE U.K., this does apply to Walter, who has signed with WWE for a U.K. deal. As noted here previously, Walter had turned down WWE offers since the early part of the year because he didn’t want to move from Germany. However, they made a deal with him where he could stay in Germany, sign with the WWE U.K. brand (and no doubt eventually be the top star if they go with a Germany promotion) and that he’d do what he does now and continue to fly into the U.S. on occasion to work big NXT U.S. shows. It’s notable that unlike most others where the end goal is to make the main roster, his goal looks more to be the permanent focal point of European NXT variants.
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21Walter, who was not on the U.K. tapings as he was booked in Australia for the first time in his career this past week for World Series Wrestling, has been believed to have been close to signing with WWE for the U.K. division for months, with contact between the sides dating back to our original reports of WWE having interest in him. That was believed to be why he lost to Satoshi Kojima on the last Revolution Pro show. His last show with Revolution Pro Wrestling will be on 12/4. PWG was looking at doing a farewell dream match for Walter, which is why there was talk of a 12/16 date, because it would be the last date he could work for the company, but at this point the show has not been announced and the belief is that the next show would be on 1/18.
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23And with the new restrictions, they may have been forced to change that match (if it involved anyone with ties to a “rival” promotion) and couldn’t have put it on a DVD if the show was to happen. He also dropped the PWG title to Jeff Cobb on the most recent PWG show because it was known they probably needed to get the title off him. Walter is the champion of both Progress and OTT, but the new rules would limit who he could defend it against and he couldn’t drop the title to anyone who has affiliations with another major company, although one Impact contracted wrestler informed us that they were still able to work matches against WWE contracted wrestlers and were told that unlike ROH, New Japan and others, that Impact was not on the list of people the WWE U.K. talent couldn’t work matches with. It is unclear whether his title matches will be allowed to be part of the OTT or Progress streaming service, but one WWE official stated that their belief is that none of the WWE contracted talents can any longer be taped for anyone’s streaming service.
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25If that’s the case, because really Progress and OTT are built around a lot of the WWE talent, it’s either going greatly impact their streaming service. Perhaps in the long run it won’t matter because Progress, in particular is likely to move to the WWE Network anyway at some point in 2019 when they introduce the more expensive tiering. Those at Progress have not commented on the subject, likely because any comments could include talk about going to the WWE Network, a subject that they wouldn’t be allowed to talk about until WWE makes the announcement. While we don’t know for a fact a deal is in place, it has always been talked about that if WWE runs a U.K. territory, that the people running Progress, who have been at shows being taught the ropes and involved with writing the TVs and helping run the tapings, are likely to be key people in charge of it.
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27Wrestle Talk magazine first reported this change as a result of WWE drawing weak crowds for its two nights of tapings in Liverpool, although they had 1,600 the first night and 1,350 the second night, pretty much packed the first night and not far from it the second night. But whether it happened now or in a few months, it was inevitable this would happen more than a year ago when the contracts were first handed out.
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29The story noted that not all the contracted talent were told this, but that the key players were and the ones not offered a raise will still be able to work indies.
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31Right now it appears there are three different types of talent. Some of the lower-level talent have been told nothing and have had no change. Since talent was told individually, not collectively, some were not even aware of changes. They are getting low salaries and can still work elsewhere. Others had contract rollovers for another year without a raise, and can still work in other places, but no longer against any talent from what WWE deems as competitive promotions.
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33The top group of stars have been given raises if they were to sign extensions, and have exclusivity to the brand, really not at all unlike the different contract tiers in ROH.
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35The talent given new contracts were also told that in fulfilling their bookings until the end of the year, they can only work on shows where a paramedic is present. This was apparently in response to the recent secret session with talent a few weeks back for drills where a number of wrestlers came in with injuries that they were wrestling through and had not told the office about.
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37Some of the WWE contracted talent, notably El Ligero, were working in excess of 260 matches per year, more than wrestlers anywhere in the world with the exception of Mexico. But that is a positive for the top contracted talent as they will be earning more and wrestling less in most cases, although some took great pride in working so many dates. There is obviously the increased risk of injury working so many dates, but the injury rate wasn’t as high as other companies because the travel in the U.K. is far less brutal than in the U.S. due to geographical reasons.
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39The top talent from this point forward are no longer allowed in the same match as wrestlers who work for ROH, New Japan, World of Sport or any other company that they deem as a major promotion. This means the promotions using the talent in December, as well as ICW, Progress and wXw going forward will have to change booking plans and be more limited in what they can do.
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41The U.K. independent boom was already starting to subside over the past couple of months for a number of reasons, and the addition of new television from World of Sport, Revolution Pro and the WWE U.K. show on the WWE Network, which in theory should have led to more exposure and interest in the talent, has actually resulted in a decline in ticket sales for most groups at a significant level, even those who use talent featured on those shows. The logical belief was that talent being exposed to more people out of the small independent fan base would start to become bigger stars and lead to a larger fan base as television stars, leading to larger crowds when they would appear. But the opposite has happened.
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43In the long run, this will inevitably weaken the U.K. independent scene, with lower crowds and inevitably fewer shows and viable companies. There will be fewer events for new talent to learn and the situation would be similar as far as grooming new talent as what happened in the U.S. when the territorial system died. But WWE is likely to actively recruit new talent, whether they be independent wrestlers with promise in the U.K. indies, or athletes from other sports recruited in, with its Performance Center. The reality is that the combination of talent created by indie booms in both the U.S. and U.K., with the athletes the company has recruited, has actually led to a surplus of talent for the number of main roster spots available and incredible talent in NXT. So while things will change, the heavy emphasis on training new talent will avoid some of the problems created as far as new stars that took place in the U.S. when the territories went down and WWF realized it had to start a developmental program.
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45However, one key independent producer has said that he sees that for most of the established and larger U.K. indies, this is not that big of a deal.
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47“We have been dealing with this situation for the whole of 2018 anyway. The NXT U.K. guys have already got it in their contracts that they can’t have their matches filmed (by anyone but the affiliated groups) and seeing as most UK indies film all their shows for on demand services anyway, a lot of them have been avoiding booking the NXT UK guys for a long while anyway. After all, independent promotions need to make money from on demand and they can’t make money from matches they can’t film. While some promotions have used the NXT UK guys for live appearances only which has helped to draw a slightly higher house, in my experience I have found that the list of demands that these guys have had, not their fault, its what WWE has stipulated, have meant that the pros have outweighed the cons. So this announcement doesn’t change things one bit for a lot of the larger UK indies.
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49“What it does mean is that other guys will have a chance to have a more prominent billing, and greater exposure and more bookings, but also the fact that people can see that British guys can get signed to full-time deals with WWE and make a living from wrestling, has resulted in British training schools getting a great increase in the number of students through their doors, especially when you consider the huge British influence in the WWE Performance Center.”
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51The key talent this would apply to are Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate, Trent Seven, Toni Storm, Rhea Ripley, Eddie Dennis, Dave Mastiff, Jordan Devlin, Zack Gibson, James Drake, El Ligero, Mark Andrews, Joseph Conners, Mark & Joe Coffey, Wolfgang, Travis Banks and Flash Morgan Webster.
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53For the talent, this is a positive as noted, as the ones this applies to would be getting full-time pay and working much fewer dates in the majority of cases. It cripples at least some of the European indie scene, but as noted from the start of this project, that was inevitable. And it will be similar everywhere once Paul Levesque’s plans for regional territories (in this case being world regional as opposed to U.S. regional like in the previous generation) comes to pass. The only difference is the Japanese market and Mexican market have so much talent that nobody could sign everyone and several of the Japanese groups, notably New Japan, have very strong cultural roots, as do CMLL and AAA in Mexico. But if you follow history, and look years down the line, they will also likely be weakened because of attempts to go after their most marketable young talent. The all-women’s Eve promotion looks to be hit hard with the inevitable losses of Storm, Samuels, Jinny and Brookside.
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55The company announced at the 11/24 tapings in Liverpool that the first NXT U.K. Takeover special will be on 1/12 in Blackpool at the Empress Ballroom. They’ll also be doing a TV taping the next day in the same location.
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57The good news is the first U.K. Takeover is a big thing because they sold out in a set up of about 2,300 seats as soon as tickets were put on sale on 11/26.
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59The matches for the show announced were Dunne vs. Joe Coffey for the U.K. title, Ripley vs. Storm for the U.K. women’s title, Seven & Bate vs. Gibson & Drake to create the first NXT tag team champions, Dennis vs. Mastiff in a no DQ match. and not announced but likely is Banks vs. Devlin. They are running two shows in the same building that World of Sport has already announced a show in two weeks later.
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61It was noted to us that this sold out immediately based on the power of the Takeover name, as the card is no different and in many ways not nearly as good as shows presented regularly outside the WWE on the top U.K. indies. Whether that name will continue to draw or it’s just the idea of the first Takeover remains to be seen.
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63The attendance at the WWE’s November tour and declines throughout the U.K. industry have been noted in recent weeks. According to one of the leading promoters in the country, with the uncertainty of Brexit looming over the U.K., this was probably the worst time possible for independent groups for this inevitable hit that really everyone knew for two years was going to happen, when, not if, from the start, no matter how it was described when it started.
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65Still, Dunne tweeted, “British wrestling is safe. Will continue to grow. The talent pool is deep. Your favorite wrestlers are achieving goal and taking steps in their career. Don’t believe everything you read. Britwrestling is alive and well.”
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67Then he wrote, “Without the hard work of myself and countless other wrestlers with the goal of signing to a major company there wouldn’t be a thriving UK scene to begin with. Support independent wrestling and support independent wrestlers a they take the next steps in their career.”
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69Ospreay tweeted, “So who am I allowed to wrestle in the UK now?” which led former rival Ricochet to tweet, “Just join the team, bro,” and Ospreay replied, “NEVER!!!”
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71T-Bone, who is under contract to the WWE but getting a major push on the UK brand, said, “Individual circumstance for each individual performer. Instead of just reading the gossip and speculation, if you want to use us, why not just contact us and ask.”
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73Ligero noted he would still be honoring all of his bookings for the month of December.
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75C.J. Banks, under contract to World of Sport, said, “There’s plenty more of us who have been performing at a World Class level over here for year and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Stop fretting and making mountains out of molehills. Everything will be just fine.”
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77David Starr, the cruiserweight champion for Revolution Pro, said, “Just because WWE decided to restrict some of their contracted NXT UK talent doesn’t mean the scene is dead. The scene stays alive because of your support. You’re the lifeblood. Just wait until you see some of these dudes over here step up and fill their spots.”
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793CW, which was to headline on 11/30 with Rampage Brown, a World of Sport wrestler, defending his 3CW title against Ligero, notified fans that they were forced to remove Ligero from the main event, but he would still be on the show.
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81Nina Samuels and Charlie Morgan, both from the UK brand, were not among those given new contracts with the raises, since Pro Wrestling Eve said its 12/8 three-way title match with Samuels vs. Morgan vs. Kay Lee Ray (the World of Sport champion) is still on, saying every match is taking place a advertised.
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83Empire Wrestling noted its 11/30 show in Sunderland would be the last time fans see a few regulars in their promotion and that the card would have to be reshuffled.
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85Pro Wrestling Chaos noted that Ligero, Drake and Webster would no longer be able to perform on its shows.
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87ICW has its annual Fear and Loathing show, its biggest of the year, on 12/2 at the Hydro in Glasgow. BT Gunn of World of Sport was scheduled to team with WWE wrestlers Noam Dar & Wolfgang vs, Bate & Seven & Dunne, while Rampage Brown (World of Sport) and Ashton Smith (WWE UK) were also scheduled in the same match.
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89PCW announced an afternoon show on 1/12 in Blackpool at the Tower, a five minute walk from where NXT UK is doing its first Takeover show.
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91Larry Matysik, best known as the lead voice of “Wrestling at the Chase,” and the protégé of Sam Muchnick, who was a promoter, booker, writer and historian of pro wrestling, passed away on 11/25 at the age of 72.
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93Matysik had terrible physical issues in recent years, stemming from spinal stenosis and rotary scoliosis that left him wheelchair bound for years and in great pain. Although it was not known until recently, he had also suffered three strokes in recent years. For the past several years he was mostly confined to a rehab center, although until recently had continued to book and announce for Southern Illinois Championship Wrestling, run by longtime friend Herb Simmons.
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95His health took a turn for the worst when he contracted pneumonia, and was so weakened he could no longer do breathing exercises. He was moved to hospice care and passed away within days.
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97Matysik was a fan of pro wrestling from childhood. His father attended the famous Strangler Lewis vs. Joe Stecher match in St. Louis in 1928 that unified the two leading versions of the world title that many believed would be a shoot (it was not as Stecher was ready to get out and relinquish his title claim for a big payoff). Ironically, Matysik himself never knew of that fact until his father mentioned it to him shortly before his death.
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99But he grew up in the 50s watching Texas Wrestling, which aired in St. Louis, and later, “Wrestling at the Chase,” which debuted on KPLR-TV inc 1959 and became a local institution.
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101His start in wrestling came when he sent in an article to Ring Magazine, the famous boxing publication that also covered pro wrestling in its pages at the time.
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103The article was published and with that credit, tried to set up an interview with Sam Muchnick, the St. Louis promoter and President of the National Wrestling Alliance, arguably the most influential person in the industry at the time. Muchnick gave him the interview, liked him, and they stayed in touch.
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105In 1963, when he was 16, Muchnick hired him to come to the matches and after, call in the results to the area newspapers and other media outlets. He ended up being hired full-time a eight years later to work as the office manager and publicist, and basically became Muchnick’s right-hand man and protégé.
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107He started writing “Wrestling News,” the program for St. Louis live shows for the January 23, 1970, show. The program had a mailing list of 4,000 subscribers, mostly in the St. Louis area, although many hardcore fans around the country became aware of it and subscribed as well. This wouldn’t include the people who purchased it at the arena shows. The program was not considered a profit-maker as much as a publicity device, with the idea of breaking even on the program with the printing and mailing costs but it would publicize the shows and get fans more into the product, making them more likely to attend the live events, which in those days, was where the money was made.
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109His first night as a full-time employee was January 1, 1971, one of the most memorable nights in St. Louis history and in the long run, a key night in wrestling history. Jack Brisco had gotten a strong buildup, with the storyline that he had developed a counter to the spinning toe hold of Dory Funk Jr. The anticipation of the match was so strong it sold out Kiel Auditorium well in advance, and was a big mistake not to book the Arena. Thousands were turned away, and while St. Louis usually had a reputation for well-behaved fans, that night was the exception. Fans who were turned away started a riot, turning over ticket booths and police had to be called.
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111Brisco had already been pushed as a future champion and the top babyface in Florida, but when Brisco vs. Funk Jr. sold out in advance in St. Louis, and the word was that they had one of the greatest matches in the history of the city, it became the biggest match in the NWA, and would be held and usually drew well in multiple territories. Brisco’s success as a challenger made it clear that he would eventually be Funk Jr.’s replacement as champion. Brisco was even more established as a draw when his next main event, against Blackjack Lanza, managed by Bobby Heenan, also sold out.
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113On the February 26, 1972 episode of “Wrestling at the Chase” Matysik started as a television announcer on a decision made by Muchnick and KPLR-TV president Harold Kopplar to replace George Abel. Matysik did have some radio sports announcing background starting out. Very quickly, Matysik was considered along with Gordon Solie and Lance Russell as the three premiere wrestling announcers in North America. He was very good at using results of matches in commentary to build future matches, and kept index cards in the office for every wrestler, with the dates and results of all their matches in the days before computers.
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115The shows, taped at the KPLR studios at the Chase Hotel, and on occasion at the Khorrosan Room, drew roughly 200,000 viewers per week between its two airings over the weekend, usually on Saturday and Sunday. In its early years, the audience consisted of adults men in suits and ties, women in evening gowns, sitting at fine dining tables while Dick the Bruiser and Gene Kiniski would ran around the building.
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117St. Louis was not part of a wrestling territory. Muchnick was one of the best paying promoters in North America, as to most wrestlers, the names talked about as being the most fair in their payoffs were Muchnick, Paul Boesch in Houston and Don Owen in Oregon.
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119Muchnick paid 32 percent of the gate revenue to the talent, usually split up as 16 percent of the gate to the main event and dividing the other 16 percent for the rest of the card. With the possible exception of Madison Square Garden, St. Louis was generally the best city for pay when it came to headliners. When they did a big house, the pay was better than a Madison Square Garden main event because of the higher percentage.
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121Ric Flair used to tell me how much he loved going to St. Louis, although his business acumen wasn’t the best, because he noted that for big shows, he’d get $5,000 payoffs and loved the city so much he’d spend $10,000 over the weekend.
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123Aside from the major Northeast heavily populated markets that were built around Bruno Sammartino, St. Louis did consistently bigger gates than just about any other city in the U.S. It was considered the flagship of the National Wrestling Alliance, a conglomerate of regional promoters all over the world. Because of its reputation in the U.S., and its exposure in the Japanese magazines, St. Louis was the place to go to establish someone as a worldwide star and world champion-level performer. If you were used on top in St. Louis, it basically meant you could go anywhere and be a headliner.
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125Over the years, as Matysik learned the business from Muchnick, he started to get more influence on the creative end. Eventually Muchnick officially made him co-booker in the late 70s, working with Pat O’Connor. It was during the
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127ST. LOUIS WRESTLING HIGHLIGHTS 70-83
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131A look at the biggest shows in St. Louis 1970-83 from Larry Matysik’s “Glory Days: The St. Louis Record Book”
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1351/9/70: NWA champion Dory Funk Jr. def. Dick the Bruiser via DQ (Bruiser was suspended for hitting Funk Jr. with a chair and punching a referee - sellout
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1372/20/70: NWA champion Dory Funk Jr. def. Von Raschke with Whipper Billy Watson as referee - sellout
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1394/3/70: NWA champion Dory Funk Jr. def. Pat O’Connor winning the only fall in 60 minutes - sellout
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1414/17/70: Gene Kiniski def. Pat O’Connor via count out - sellout
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1438/21/70: Pat O’Connor def. Killer Kowalski in a Texas death match - sellout
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14510/2/70: NWA champion Dory Funk Jr. def. Dick the Bruiser via spinning toe hold in third fall - 12,051 at the arena
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14711/20/70: NWA champion Dory Funk Jr. def. Crimson Knight (unmasked as Big Bill Miller) - 12,515 at the arena
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1491/1/71: NWA champion Dory Funk Jr. drew Jack Brisco in 60:00 - sellout
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1513/5/71: Blackjack Lanza def. Jack Brisco - sellout
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1534/2/71: NWA champion Dory Funk Jr. def. Blackjack Lanza- 11,033 at the arena
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1556/18/71: NWA champion Dory Funk Jr. def. Johnny Valentine - sellout
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15711/5/71: Dick the Bruiser def. Blackjack Lanza & Bobby Heenan in a handicap match - sellout
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15911/19/71: NWA champion Dory Funk Jr. def. Jack Brisco winning the only fall before going 60:00 - 12,614 at the arena
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1611/1/72: NWA champion Dory Funk Jr. def. Rufus Jones - sellout
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16310/13/72: NWA champion Dory Funk Jr. def. Gene Kiniski -sellout
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1651/5/73: NWA champion Dory Funk Jr. def. Harley Race via count out - sellout
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1671/19/73: Johnny Valentine def. Harley Race to win Missouri State title - sellout
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1692/2/73: NWA champion Dory Funk Jr. def. Johnny Valentine - sellout
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1716/15/73: NWA champion Harley Race drew Bruno Sammartino 60:00 with Lou Thesz as referee - This didn’t sellout but did draw 10,043 fans, very close to capacity
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1734/5/74: Battle Royal plus Harley Race def. Pat O’Connor Texas death match - sellout
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1756/14/74: NWA champion Jack Brisco drew Dory Funk Jr. 60:00 - 10,669 near sellout
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1771/3/75: NWA champion Jack Brisco def. Dick the Bruiser via DQ - sellout
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1792/7/75 - NWA champion Jack Brisco def. Dory Funk Jr. In a no time limit match with Joe Higuchi as referee - 10,087
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1813/21/75: Battle Royal with Andre the Giant plus Johnny Valentine def. Harley Race Texas death match - sellout
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1831/2/76: NWA champion Terry Funk def. Pat O’Connor - 10,290
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1852/18/78: NWA champion Harley Race drew Rocky Johnson - 10,052
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1878/11/78: NWA champion Harley Race double count out Dick the Bruiser - sellout
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18911/24/78: NWA champion Harley Race def. Ted DiBiase - 10,500
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1912/3/79: Ric Flair & Dick Murdoch def. Andre the Giant & Rocky Johnson - sellout
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1936/15/79: NWA champion Harley Race def. David Von Erich - sellout
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1959/14/79: Battle Royal plus Andre the Giant def. Bruiser Brody via DQ - sellout
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1971/4/80: NWA champion Harley Race drew David Von Erich over 60:00 - sellout
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1991/25/80: Bruiser Brody & Dick Murdoch def. Andre the Giant & Dick the Bruiser - sellout
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2013/28/80: NWA champion Harley Race double count out Ric Flair - sellout
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2038/8/80 - NWA champion Harley Race def. Ken Patera - 10,420
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2059/12/80: Dick the Bruiser def. Dick Murdoch cage mach - 10,799
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20710/3/80: NWA champion Harley Race def. David Von Erich - 15,464 at the arena
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2091/23/81: Andre the Giant & Bruiser Brody def. Ric Flair & Dick Murdoch - sellout
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2113/20/81: NWA champion Harley Race def. Dick the Bruiser - 10,822
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2136/12/81: NWA champion Harley Race def. Ted DiBiase - 16,088 at the arena
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2158/17/81: NWA champion Dusty Rhodes def. Ric Flair - 10,414
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2179/11/81: Harley Race def. Kerry Von Erich - sellout
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21910/2/81: NWA champion Ric Flair drew Harley Race 60:00 - 18,055 sellout at the arena
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2211/1/82: NWA champion Ric Flair def. Dusty Rhodes - 19,819 sellout at the arena 2/19/82: Andre the Giant & Terry Funk no contest Harley Race & Jerry Blackwell plus Battle Royal - sellout
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2233/26/82: NWA champion Ric Flair def. Dick the Bruiser - 10,272
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2256/12/82: NWA champion Ric Flair def. Dick the Bruiser - 19,027 sellout at the arena
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22710/8/82: Harley Race def. NWA champion Ric Flair by winning the only fall in 60:00 but didn’t get the title because he didn’t win a second fall - 17,002 at the arena
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2291/1/83: NWA champion Ric Flair def. Butch Reed by winning the only fall in 60:00 - sellout
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2312/11/83: NWA champion Ric Flair drew Bruiser Brody - 16,695 at the arena
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233next several years that St. Louis had its most successful business years, mixing the established legends like Harley Race, Dory Funk Jr., Terry Funk, Dick the Bruiser and Jack Brisco, with a younger crew of stars like Ric Flair, Ted DiBiase, Bruiser Brody and The Von Erich Brothers.
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235“It was such a great time to be a wrestler,” remembered Kevin Von Erich. “Larry was young enough that it was like a dose of youth pumped into an already solid company. It was a great town. St. Louis TV was a drag, but it was well worth it.”
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237While Flair would have been world champion no matter what, because of how the NWA transitioned with Jim Crockett becoming the power force and Flair being his top star, he originally was talked about as a future champion stemming from his success in St. Louis, drawing on top and proving he could be a top star outside of his home territory.
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239Plus, in that era, to even be considered to be world champion, you needed to establish yourself in St. Louis.
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241Believe it or not, Flair getting into St. Louis was not as easy as you would think. Because he was the top star in the Carolinas, it made no sense to use him unless it was as a top guy, because as mid-carder, he’d make more working his home territory as a headliner. O’Connor argued that he was too small to be a consistent headliner in St. Louis. Matysik pushed hard for him, and put together footage to show Muchnick.
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243Muchnick saw him, said that he reminded him of Buddy Rogers, the guy who was a key player in Muchnick’s success as a promoter. Flair was brought in, and immediately was booked to beat Dory Funk Jr., on January 27, 1978. Funk Jr. was an area legend based on his 1969-73 run as world champion where he averaged 10,703 fans per show running almost exclusively in a building that held less than 11,000. After his title run, Funk Jr. was always protected and only lost sparingly, and always to world championship level guys. That’s where the St. Louis booking worked, because the word got out all over town immediately that this new guy had beaten Dory Funk Jr. That win from the start made people in St. Louis see Flair as a future world champion. Of course, Flair had a great combination of wrestling talent, mic talent and charisma and became a huge attraction.
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245But Matysik, growing up in St. Louis, also understood protection of legends like Bruiser and Kiniski, who had been around for decades. After he left the promotion, he was furious with how Bruiser was booked, noting that as limited as he was, he was still over to the fans, older fans who had seen him for decades and younger fans who simply knew the name. Matysik always kept Bruiser strong, but made sure to book him with people who could go, and Flair vs. Bruiser for the NWA title was a record setting program. At another point, Matysik argued to bring Kiniski back for a title match with Flair. That was another argument because of the feeling Kiniski was too old to headline. Matysik noted that telling the right story of Kiniski’s last chase of the title would work, and while they didn’t sell out, they came very close to it, and historically in the city he saw it as important that Flair held a win, using his figure four, over a legend like Kiniski, with a finish that he won the second fall with the figure four and Kiniski couldn’t answer the bell for the third fall, which got the move over strong. Later, the move became trivialized.
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247It was also a unique market because of the respect pro wrestling had in the community. Muchnick, who started as a sportswriter who covered the St. Louis Cardinals, but lost his job when the newspaper he worked for folded, ended up working as the publicist for Tom Packs, who promoted wrestling and some boxing, and was one of the key figures in the wrestling industry at the time since he controlled the leading world heavyweight championship.
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249After an issue where Muchnick felt he was shorted on pay for his promotional work for a major boxing match that drew a big house, he started his own promotion in 1942. Muchnick struggled, trying to build around wrestlers like Lewis, who were long past their prime, and then had to close up when he served in World War II.
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251In 1948, Muchnick along with several other promoters, formed the National Wrestling Alliance, with the main goal at first to share talent. The key was that this gave Muchnick access to Rogers, an incredible drawing card who turned his company around. By this point Packs had sold the promotion to a conglomerate headed by Lou Thesz, the homegrown wresting superstar who held the National Wrestling Association world heavyweight championship.
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253Muchnick was behind in the wrestling war until Rogers changed the balance of power. Muchnick and Thesz, who had a friendship since Muchnick was the publicist when Packs promoted the 21-year-old Thesz and made him the local superstar and world heavyweight champion, worked out a deal. While publicly they would still keep the idea there were two different companies, with Martin Thesz, Lou’s father, and Muchnick as the different promoters, they were really one group using much of the same talent and storylines until years later publicly merging as Muchnick’s St. Louis Wrestling Club.
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255Muchnick eventually became the President of the NWA. In the early years, the president role rotated around, but Muchnick was in that role for most of the period from 1950 to 1975, until he got fed up by a slight at an alliance meeting and quit. While many think of this as a romantic period of harmony and legendary touring champions, the NWA had its hardships and Muchnick on more than one occasion considered shutting it all down, as he was the glue holding it together.
256
257Muchnick and Matysik had a close relationship but for the most part Matysik always talked of his mentor in reverent terms. Based on my long relationship with Matysik, my belief is that his proudest moment in wrestling was the January 1, 1982, Sam Muchnick retirement show at the Checkerdome in St. Louis, which drew an advanced sellout of 19,819 fans for a show headlined by Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes. But it was one of the few times where the house was really drawn by the promoter and they could have easily drawn closer to 30,000 fans or more if the building was large enough.
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259The entire city paid tribute to Muchnick, with Matysik working tirelessly at setting it up, including bringing back stars from the past, numerous community leaders and even Muchnick’s first television announcer from “Wrestling at the Chase,” Joe Garagiola, who had become a major television star as the sports host of “The Today Show,” subbing regularly for Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show” and handling NBC’s Major League Baseball Game of the Week announcing.
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261“This was both the greatest and the saddest night in St. Louis wrestling history,” said Matysik. “The ceremony and party for Sam Muchnick went like clockwork and presented a montage of local celebrities and dignitaries unmatched anywhere for a wrestling promoter. The video of St. Louis Wrestling Classics Volume X is the best place to get some of the feeling fo the excitement of the night. Wrestling did itself proud. Yet, somehow, we probably all knew that it would never be the same again.
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263Three weeks later, due to tax problems, O’Connor moved back to New Zealand, so Matysik was the sole booker as well as running the office, although Bob Geigel, as the majority owner, was the person making all the final calls.
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265That was the peak, but it went downhill quickly. Muchnick sold his stock to Harley Race, Geigel, O’Connor and Verne Gagne. Matysik was named General Manager, so he was the person in theory in charge of the company, working out of the St. Louis office. But things were different. Muchnick was both in charge and owner. Matysik was publicly in charge, but not the owner and felt, rightly so, that the Kansas City crew didn’t understand what made St. Louis a strong market. He would note that St. Louis would draw more for 17 dates a year than Kansas City would for 52, but they wanted to run St. Louis the way they ran Kansas City.
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267While a minor fight in the grand scheme of things, in a prelim match on a show on June 12, 1982, Rufus Jones beat The Masked Superfly. Muchnick had established since the beginning of time that a masked wrestler would lose his mask the first time he lost. It was unique to the city and even though Geigel had worked in St. Louis for decades, he either didn’t know or didn’t care. Matysik, after the match, insisted Superfly unmask. He, clearly, wasn’t going to do that and didn’t know the city’s tradition. He went to the back, and Matysik announced that Superfly was Ray Candy. Geigel asked why he said that. He said that in St. Louis, when a masked man loses, he has to unmask and reveal his name. Geigel said that they don’t do that in Kansas City, and wouldn’t be doing it in St. Louis either. Matysik said the fans watching on television knowing the rules expected the unmasking and nobody ever told them differently.
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269Crowds were already starting to drop in late 1982. The debut of Hulk Hogan coming off Rocky III, sent in by Gagne, had only drawn 3,499 fans, nearly a record low.
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271In November 1982, they were planning a major show for February 11, 1983, at the Checkerdome, coming off bad houses. The original idea was Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich, since that match was also being built up for Christmas night in Dallas and Gary Hart had set up strong angles that played on World Class Championship Wrestling. Matysik’s idea was to have Kerry beat Harley Race to win the Missouri State title, but Race refused to put Kerry over, saying, since he was a partner, he wasn’t going to become like Jack Brisco, who Race felt was a former world champion who had been used so often to get new stars over that he was no longer viewed as strongly. Matysik felt Von Erich needed that big local win to try and fill a 19,000-seat building, plus Race already had clean wins over Von Erich. Race agreed to drop the Missouri title, but only via DQ in a title can change hands via DQ match. The other partners agreed to the title change in that manner, protecting Race. Matysik argued that after such a flat win, Flair vs. Von Erich wouldn’t be a hot program, but that Brody was more over the in the market. Geigel agreed they would go with Brody. Matysik was frustrated as booker, and ready to quit, and had even told Brody he was quitting on January 1, 1983. Brody begged him to stay through February 11, 1983, because Flair vs. Brody was so big that All Japan was going to tape the match for its television, and Giant Baba was coming to work with Race for the PWF title. As it turned out, for the obvious political reasons, Race ended up losing via clean pin to Baba. Brody said that with him not in the office, they would screw up the buildup and the television promoting the match.
272
273Muchnick was also fed up, because the rule for St. Louis wrestling was that they always kept enough money in the business account before dividing up the profits to the stockholders that when any bill or invoice came in the morning mail, it was paid by Noon. Geigel switched accountants, would distribute the profits after every show instead of every quarter, and at times the account would be low and bills would not be paid immediately. It was never that bad, and the bills were paid, but Muchnick no longer wanted a direct association with a company whose reputation he feared would be less than pristine in his home city.
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275Still, January 1, 1983 was a big night and Flair and Butch Reed’s one hour draw sold out Kiel Auditorium. On January 21, Matysik booked Rick Martel vs. Ox Baker with the idea of Martel going over to start pushing him as a new babyface star. He had booked an angle where Martel would arrive late, Baker would be beating up on Spike Huber, Martel would show up in street clothes and beat Baker in less than one minute. It was an angle that had great impact 25 years ago in St. Louis when Muchnick did it with Johnny Valentine as the late arriving babyface against Dick the Bruiser, which Matysik fondly remembered. To make it real, Martel really did arrive late on purpose to the building so nobody backstage would think it was an angle. But Geigel nixed the idea, saying that they were pushing Baker in Kansas City and didn’t want him losing. Kansas City was a different territory, and this wasn’t even on television. Baker threw Martel over the top rope for the DQ, and the crowd could have cared less.
276
277Flair vs. Brody drew 16,695 fans for a 60 minute draw that was one of the most memorable matches of the glory days of St. Louis. Flair always called it one of his biggest matches ever. Matysik, when asked frequently about the greatest matches of that era, always listed this one along with the many Jack Brisco vs. Dory Funk Jr., matches and Thesz vs. O’Connor matches in the 50s and 60s as the best ones. This would be the only major arena main event from St. Louis that still exists in television form (there were some major 70s matches with silent 8 mm tapes that Mike Gratchner did that also exist) because Muchnick never taped matches from the arena shows, and also, because he didn’t see the future in that sense, never saved the tapes of the Chase shows either. The only footage from the era that was saved were tapes Matysik himself saved with his videotape recorder off television in his last few years working for the company, and some black and white shows that Garagiola found decades later when cleaning up his home that he had saved. Nippon TV taped this show because of the Flair vs. Brody and Baba vs. Race double main event for Baba’s All Japan television show.
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279With elevated prices, they set the city gate record. Flair & Brody’s payoff was supposed to be about $7,300, but Geigel overruled it, even though that was the established percentage for the city at the time. In that era, main event pay in Madison Square Garden was $5,000 for the champion and usually $3,000 for the challenger. Bruno Sammartino would get $6,000, but he had retired years earlier. Geigel said that nobody deserved more than $6,000 for a match, and paid both Flair and Brody just under $6,000.
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281Brody remembered the slight, and shortly thereafter, no-showed a major event promoted by Geigel in Des Moines as payback and then went with Matysik as opposition to Geigel in St. Louis.
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283“I actually notified the partners I was done the day after the Checkerdome show. They were shocked, even after our difficult year together. Truthfully, I was sick about it myself. Harley Race, Bob Geigel and Pat O’Connor all did their best with what they knew about wrestling. Sadly, their background was totally different from mine and Sam Muchnick. But the figure in St. Louis, especially without Sam as the balancing point, looked bleak. In the end, I had no status as a stockholder if the promotion drifted more and more in a direction opposite from what St. Louis had always been. Plus, the NWA was a shadow of what it had been. For me, it was time to move in a different direction.”
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285Due to Muchnick’s background, being a sportswriter, and his social friends were all the key members of St. Louis sports society, and bigwigs of the baseball and football teams and the reporters and other people high up in sports. While wrestling wasn’t a pure sport, it was presented in St. Louis like it was. Results of matches were important. Referees were kept strong and never abused. Once, on February 10, 1973, when Muchnick had an engagement that led to him arriving late at the television taping where Terry Funk defeated Johnny Valentine to win the Missouri state title by hitting Valentine’s knee with the ring bell before using his spinning toe hold and it was in front of the referee, who didn’t call for a DQ knowing the planned title change, he was livid. He ordered Funk to drop the title to Gene Kiniski at his next title defense, changing booking plans.
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287But the key to the public of Muchnick’s world revolved around the world heavyweight championship. Muchnick booked the champion through 1975, and was hands on. Promoters could do screw job finishes and build their local guys, but in the end, in every feud, the champion had to prevail. After 1975, when Jim Barnett took over as the booker of the champion, everything changed. Still, in St. Louis, under Muchnick, the world champion always won the blow-off match in a program so it kept the title as the strong focal point and made the champion seem larger-than-life.
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289The promoters wanted the change, and the era of the champion losing via DQ and repeated screwjobs became commonplace, a practice Muchnick never would let get out of hand. But with Muchnick, the job of the champion was hard, because instead of screwjobs, the champion would often be booked to do 60 minute draws.
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291Matysik noted that when Muchnick stepped down in 1975, that several people told him that it would eventually lead to the end of the NWA. The NWA definitely changed, although its demise, as territories weakened largely due to cable changing the game, was inevitable, and came more than a decade later.
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293Matysik also revealed that in 1973, Muchnick was so fed up that he and Vince McMahon Sr., talked and that the Bruno Sammartino (who was not WWWF champion at the time, as it was the period between his title runs when he was a free agent) vs. NWA champion Harley Race match and frequent Sammartino appearances were in part to get Sammartino exposure in case he would make a switch.
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295Probably the best example of the St. Louis booking style and how it worked in the city involved Flair.
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297Of all the champions in NWA history, it was Flair’s run from September 1981 to June 1983 when Matysik and O’Connor booked his programs that was the most successful at the gate, averaging 13,086 paid per title defense, beating the prior record of 11,076 during the Chase years for Buddy Rogers and 10,737 for Lou Thesz during his 1963-66 run. Keep in mind that most shows were at Kiel Auditorium, which held just under 11,000 fans, but with Flair, because business was so strong, they ran more events at the 19,000-seat Checkerdome.
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299But, if you look at Flair as champion after Matysik quit, until the end of the St. Louis Wrestling Club, that period saw Flair as the weakest drawing NWA Champion in St. Louis history.
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301Even though Matysik could take credit for booking the most successful championship run in the history of the city, he never did. I saw the records and knew, but he never brought it up. He did take pride in the Flair vs. Dick the Bruiser feud, drawing a sellout of 19,027 at the Checkerdome when it was felt Bruiser was washed up, in a match Flair talked about for decades as the night he finally realized he was what he had claimed for years that he was. He was able to take a broken down 53-year-old man, who looked every bit of it, and with his selling, made people think it was 20 years earlier.
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303“Ric Flair came along at a great time,” Matysik said. “The business was red-hot and the rapport between Muchnick and The Checkerdome was excellent. Thus, more cards were scheduled for the Checkerdome. Of course, one reason that business was so on fire was Flair himself. The business collapsed after February 1983 and was not really the same as it had been.”
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305In his “St. Louis Wrestling Record Book: 1959 to 1983,” he wrote that St. Louis was the “magic town of wrestling” until the 80s, when the changes in the business meant no single location would ever be so crucial again.
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307“New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Toronto and Montreal are all correctly celebrated, yet St. Louis had, of all of them, by far the smallest population base with which to work. St. Louis, with the occasional Arena show added, drew comparable, large crowds. Thus, the percentage of population involved in supporting wresting was likely higher in St. Louis than in much bigger towns.
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309“St. Louis never suffered the terrible, flat periods many other spots did. During the difficult late 1950s, when television was spotty, St. Louis never lost money. Actually, two promotions of which Sam Muchnick owned more than 50 percent of each (this is when the Muchnick promotion and the Thesz promotion in the 50s were promoted as two different groups even though Muchnick actually ran both and Thesz was the champion on both), both turned profits annually.”
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311“Perhaps most importantly, though, was how wrestling was regarded differently and with more respect in St. Louis than anywhere else. Even if the media and political powers knew wrestling was a work, they still regarded the sport and its performers with affection and respect not found anywhere else. The product was even different to some extent, with emphasis on winning, losing and athleticism.”
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313Of course, things were different after Matysik left. St. Louis became a two promotion city. First, it was the short-lived Greater St. Louis Wresting Enterprises, Matysik’s promotion. Then it was the WWF, which debuted to huge success at the end of 1983. WWF largely had the advantage, although the St. Louis Wrestling Club was able to draw sellouts for Flair’s matches with Kerry Von Erich and Bruiser Brody until they just burned both matches out by doing them so frequently, since they couldn’t draw with any other main events. One Flair vs. Race title match only drew 1,000 fans. Shortly after, they folded, and Jim Crockett Promotions took over, and also never did very well in the city. WWF had some successes and failures, doing okay, until coming back strong in 1997 under Steve Austin. The city did big business, as did everywhere, during the Monday Night Wars and is now, both for its regularly getting the NCAA Division I tournament, and WWE PPV shows, perhaps the strongest market in the country for a city of its size.
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315I probably learned more about pro wrestling, not so much the history, but certainly the history in St. Louis, but the real psychology in the ring, but far more, of the personalities, the cons and both the good and bad aspects of the business from Matysik than anyone else. He was a close personal friend, very much a mentor, and the reality is my life and this newsletter would likely be completely different without him.
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317I think he saw the similar background. Like Muchnick and himself, all of our backgrounds were in journalism first and then wrestling, not the other way around. Had he not been hired by Muchnick as a teenager, I have no doubt he’d have done a newsletter, or bulletin, the term he always used for the Observer.
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319He was a very intelligent man, had a great innate sense of what would and wouldn’t work in wrestling, and he was right a higher percentage than most. He probably should have done far more in the wrestling industry after 1983, because he understood the business far more than the people in charge of most companies. But ultimately, he didn’t want to move from St. Louis, where his wife had a steady job as a school teacher, to push for a position in Stamford, CT, or Atlanta.
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321He was part of a unique generation, in some ways similar to Mike Graham, Joel Watts and Greg Gagne, where it appeared that their fathers were grooming them to eventually take over the business. Muchnick had his own sons, but he steered them away from wrestling (one son, Dick, who became a doctor, was the ringside physician at his father’s shows) so Matysik was the person he chose early on to groom to take over for him.
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323But when that day came, cable television and Vince McMahon changed the game. Some blame McMahon for killing the territories, and he certainly was a key factor in speeding up the process. But cable television made their demise inevitable. Eventually someone was going to get the key outlets and control the most marketable talent, and they would force everyone else to either play ball with them or die without them. With McMahon, he didn’t really want to play ball with anyone to begin with.
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325I first knew of Matysik as a name in magazines, the publicist and television announcer in St. Louis, as Muchnick’s right-hand man. St. Louis used to have a subscription service for its programs, and from the age of 12, I’d read his writing about the big matches and stars, see the level and talent and read about the big houses when the new program would come the mail every few weeks. We’d get them just prior to the shows at Kiel Auditorium, or The Arena. Even without television, you could read the program and see the direction, what young wrestlers were getting a push, who was getting a series of wins that ultimately would lead to the next world or Missouri state title shot. While Madison Square Garden was the key arena, and Florida (and later Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling) had the best wrestling territory, St. Louis was the place as far as the best wrestling talent top to bottom, with the top of the card coming across as almost an all-star team.
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327He was one of the first people to discover the Observer when it started. We first traded letters around when he quit the St. Louis Wrestling Club for the first time. He was pretty guarded, as wrestling was a closed business, but to a wrestling fan, the idea that Larry Matysik, who promoted the NWA St. Louis office and protégé of Muchnick, would quit was clearly a sign that something was wrong in what people on the outside considered Camelot, and as Matysik would look back at times, it often was under Muchnick. He explained the reasons he felt he had to do it.
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329We met in Houston by chance. He was trying to put together a business deal with Joe Blanchard’s Southwest Championship Wrestling to get talent for his opposition Greater St. Louis Wrestling Enterprises group, and also went to a Paul Boesch show the next night. He was far more open than most in wrestling, but he knew who I was and how hard I worked. It was a period of frustration, battling the existing promotion and looking for the endorsement of Muchnick, which never fully came.
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331Matysik at the time felt he was doing exactly what Sam did when he quit Tom Packs, one of the most powerful promoters in the country, to start on his own. It was the comparison he always made, while the people who owned the company expected him to quickly fail. It was the era of dirty tricks. He was told that his opposition would call his home on nights he was on the road and try and tell his wife that he was fooling around, and that talent would be told it was career suicide to work his shows.
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333He started by building around Bruiser Brody, who hated promoters but had a very different view of Muchnick and Matysik, who he never had a problem with; along with Dick Murdoch, a star in Japan who liked Matysik who always pushed him strong as booker. The third star, Blackjack Mulligan, who was to feud with Brody on top as they got off the ground, no-showed the first card. His shows were drawing between 4,500 and 6,800 fans, amazing for an independent group, and the same or better than the NWA promotion with access to far more stars.
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335Muchnick’s stance was that he would neither ever go against his partners in the company he created, but also would never go against his protégé. Matysik largely understood, but at times was frustrated feeling he was the good guy and they were the bad guys who were ruining the St. Louis wrestling that Muchnick built. Matysik, to me, wished it was different but understood Muchnick staying neutral. Brody, on the other hand, felt Muchnick should have taken a stand.
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337Ultimately, Matysik felt the mentality the Kansas City crew had would make St. Louis just another city, both in popularity but also respectability. Muchnick would be furious with his offices at the Chase Hotel, and when Geigel was NWA President, while they’d work in their business attire, he’d show up I flip flops and shorts and Muchnick would roll his eyes that the president of the NWA would come to the office dressed like that.
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339Matysik felt he knew the market and would struggle for talent at first, but ultimately, just as Muchnick struggled for years as the No. 2 group, eventually as happened with Muchnick, being the better promoter, who paid the talent a fair percentage, would win out. Then, once the fences were mended, he’d have access to the top talent because it was St. Louis.
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341He was friends with the Von Erichs, whose television ran in St. Louis and was on fire at the time. David Von Erich, who at the time was the biggest star of the brothers in St. Louis, outright wanted to join him. Fritz, as part of the NWA, was more neutral. But he let Matysik have Terry Gordy, one of his biggest stars, as a prelude to getting Michael Hayes, one of the most charismatic performers of the era. His sons stayed with the Kansas City side, but Fritz was clearly playing both sides of the fence. Still, he told Matysik exactly what Muchnick told him in the 60s when he was involved with his own territorial war with the longstanding local promoters, and with his friendship and backing of Muchnick, he won that war. Muchnick made him promise that if he won, he would hire the people he beat, so that the business would stay harmonious and they wouldn’t be bitter in public and hurt the business. Fritz told Larry the same advice, telling him that when you win, you have to make up with them and hire them in some form.
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343But things completely changed. Matysik had issues with Delaware North, the company that was financing him. He made the decision to close up, even though they were drawing well. He told Brody, who argued the point, noting the opposition was weakening and they were already drawing evenly while they had access to far more talent, and as more wrestlers saw their success, they’d be willing to break ranks and come. But Matysik had issues with his money partners not doing what they had promised and didn’t want to get a bad reputation in town. But that was kept quiet, and Matysik told Brody to tell the other side he was leaving Matysik and ready to come back, not that they were closing. With the rival promotion pushing Brody so hard as their flagship star, Flair vs. Brody, already a proven draw in the market, which never had a clean finish (and never would) was the biggest match the St. Louis Wrestling Club could put on. When Flair vs. Brody immediately sold out, Brody told Matysik to come to the show and enjoy it, saying that he was the architect of the sellout house. He didn’t.
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345At the same time, Matysik, who knew everyone in key places personally since Muchnick was grooming him, found out that KPLR-TV was going to break ties with Geigel’s group. They felt the TV shows were terrible and ratings were falling badly. They would send the company letters complaining about the quality of the shows and ultimately, when the problems weren’t addressed, made the call to pull the plug.
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347The St. Louis Wrestling Club blamed McMahon, and sometimes Matysik, for stealing their television time, but the reality was the opening came because the station saw how quickly the ratings were dropping with the new style booking.
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349However, they had a long successful history with wrestling. Matysik felt that getting KPLR-TV would change the game, and was the key to the winning hand, and was preparing to reopen, with Brody jumping back.
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351Vince McMahon also found out about the problems in St. Louis, possibly from Matysik, since the two knew each other somewhat for years. They were about the same age, and in the 70s, it was expected that Vince McMahon Sr. (as he was known) was grooming Junior (a moniker that Vince hated to the point that he would ban the term from his product, so Rey Misterio Jr., and Chavo Guerrero Jr., didn’t use the junior). They were going to be the next generation power brokers of the industry.
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353Ted Kopplar, who ran KPLR-TV, had met with both and called a meeting with both of them. Matysik and Vince had been talking already. Vince almost surely knew about Matysik trying to get the time slot. I’m not sure at the time how much Matysik knew about Vince, but he knew when Kopplar arranged the joint meeting.
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355Kopplar said that he admired Vince’s ambition, plus he had access to a strong talent roster and had agreed to tape in St. Louis at the Arena, with the idea it would be more impressive than the traditional studio setup. McMahon had also offered the station $2,100 per week and five percent of the live gates, plus the station would get money because McMahon would do a lot of his television production with them. He told Vince that Larry knew the market, knew everyone in the market, and had a great local reputation, and suggested the two become partners in St. Louis.
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357Both agreed.
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359Of course Vince wanted no partners. Shortly after the meeting, Jim Barnett, the Head of Operations for Titan Sports, called Matysik to tell him there would be no partnership, but Matysik would be the local promoter and get a straight salary.
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361Matysik worked for McMahon from 1984 to 1993 until being let go. The relationship was always strained because the two had a different philosophy of wrestling. At one point, when ratings declined in St. Louis, McMahon came up with the idea that instead of using WWF announcers, they would sent the tapes in St. Louis and Matysik, known in town as the wrestling announcer, would voice over the product. At another time, after drawing just 2,600 fans to a show, McMahon came to him for advice, and he put together a one-night Sam Muchnick tournament and sold it on wrestling, and they sold out Kiel. But obviously, somebody locally booking a city independently was never going to work out in the long run.
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363But Matysik was frustrated and at times even embarrassed by the product. While St. Louis had its issues on occasion with rowdy fans, such as the 1971 riot in front of the building where they turned over all the ticket booths from the thousands turned away at the first Dory Funk Jr. meeting with Jack Brisco, it was relatively safe. In every program, Matysik would write a blurb about how the St. Louis fans were known for their class and would never throw things at the ring, so psychologically, fans almost never did. That changed with WWF in 1984, although McMahon did big business early and even got some national attention when they would broadcast the matches live on local radio like a sports team, something that happened a few times years earlier with Muchnick. But that ended when the sports guys saw a rowdier fan base that was throwing things all over the building, and the reputation of wrestling fans that the cultivated from the suits and evening gown crowd in the early 60s on Wrestling at the Chase, was changing.
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365He hated when he’d go out in public and people would talk about how great wrestling used to be and how bad it had become. Instead of the constant praise and excitement he was used to, he was in the role of an apologist saying that the philosophies were different but they were also a very successful organization. Eventually they decided against continuing with Matysik as announcer. And finally, ratings continued to fall under McMahon until KPLR-TV canceled wrestling.
366
367People ask why Matysik was never used as an announcer by WWF. But his style of announcing didn’t fit Vince’s over-the-top vision of the product. Once, when Howard Finkel did some play-by-play of WWF shows, and was actually amazingly good at it, we both talked about it. Few know this because they never saw it, but Finkel would have been the best announcer WWF had at that time, but he never got to do it again. Matysik complimented him on his work and Finkel thanked him and noted that “guys like you and I aren’t what they are looking for,” meaning they were looking for a look and an image, and not so much the ability to call a wrestling match. Still, both men at the time were more youthful and far better than the older guys Vince delighted in stealing from Verne Gagne, that he gave shots to before tiring of. Ironically, years later, Jim Ross, who wasn’t the same as those two, but far closer to them than anyone in WWF at the time, became the wrestling voice to a generation of WWE fans.
368
369At the same time, Matysik worked with Herb Simmons and Brody to do regular wrestling shows, that usually drew steady crowds and at times even big crowds. Because of Brody’s popularity, they were probably the most successful independent operation going. Matysik’s involvement was largely low-keyed since he was working for McMahon, so he never promoted the shows, but did attend, helped out, and Simmons noted that he got his PHD in the wrestling business after every show going out with Matysik, Brody and sometimes Murdoch.
370
371In the end, Simmons became his closest friend, while continuing to promote shows in the area for more than three decades.
372
373In 1988, things changed drastically.
374
375I was woken up one morning very early with a phone call from Dennis Brent, who had been told by Bill Moody (Paul Bearer, or Percy Pringle, as he was known at the time) that Brody had been stabbed to death in the dressing room in Puerto Rico by Jose Gonzalez, better known as Invader I.
376
377In a panic, I called Matysik. He was calm, and quite frankly, didn’t believe it. We’d been through so many stories of wrestlers dying that were fake and wrong. But he called Barbara Goodish, Brody’s wife. There was no answer, so he figured there was nothing to it. He called me back a few minutes later and said he didn’t buy it. There was no Internet in those days and news didn’t travel that fast usually in wrestling.
378
379Then, and I don’t recall if he called me or I called him, but I was on the phone with Dory Funk Jr., who I knew had strong ties to Puerto Rico. But he confirmed the news was real. I called Matysik. He was stunned. Later I heard a story that he went on his exercise bike, filled with emotion, pedaled so fast and furiously that he destroyed the bike.
380
381That changed a lot of things. I’ve wondered, and he did as well, what would have happened just a few months later if Brody was still alive.
382
383When Turner Broadcasting purchased WCW, the people picked to oversee the wrestling company was Jack Petrik, who came from St. Louis where he was a program director. He hired Jim Herd, a fellow program director in St. Louis who was the Director of Wrestling at the Chase. Of course, the first person both went to for advice was Muchnick, who steered them to Matysik, who they both knew, with the idea he should come in and be the booker.
384
385The only thing that really transpired was Herd’s first major issue. Flair was world champion and he and Rhodes, the booker, were having issues. Rhodes was Flair’s hero at one point, as when Flair started, he wanted to be Cowboy Ricky Rhodes, Dusty’s younger brother. Verne Gagne told him to be his own person, and he became Ric Flair. Rhodes was a superstar years before Flair, and a proven draw. The company had a strong growth period in 1985 and 1986, but started having issues in 1987 due to attempted expansion and cost of maintaining a syndicated television network. Plus the Starrcade 87 PPV debacle cost them more than a million dollars, which they badly needed.
386
387The sale hadn’t completely gone through when Flair was threatening to quit, because Rhodes had booked Starrcade for Rick Steiner to win title from Flair in a cage match in six minutes. Basically, Rhodes booked an idea to get Flair to quit. Herd was afraid that if Flair quit, that Turner may pull out of the purchase, since Flair was considered such an important part of the organization to Turner himself. It needs to be pointed out that most at the executive level were not big on owning wrestling company, but to Turner, wrestling helped build the Superstation and he, while not following the business closely, did have an affinity for the product.
388
389Herd called Matysik, who pretty much told him to insist that Starrcade be changed to Flair vs. Lex Luger, who was a much bigger star than Steiner. Steiner was booked in the match as a shooter more than anything to make sure the title changed hands, quickly and as planned. He also told Herd to insist Flair won the match, feeling the title had been damaged too greatly already by all the inconclusive finishes.
390
391Exactly what happened with Matysik and booking WCW isn’t exactly known. Barnett told me at the time that he felt Matysik wasn’t the right guy and likely expressed that to Herd. Herd did offer Matysik a job for more than he had earned with WWF, but Matysik, upon hearing what other people were being offered to work there, found the offer insulting. Quite frankly, it was. There were people who didn’t know the business half as well that were getting triple what he was making in positions he should have been in. Plus he wasn’t willing to move to Atlanta, although Herd never moved himself, living in a hotel during the week and flying back to St. Louis every weekend.
392
393We both talked about what would have happened had Brody been alive. He’d have had more leverage with the idea of bringing in Brody, who probably would have pushed harder for Matysik to get more power. If Brody was there, perhaps he’d have been more willing to go. Of course, Brody, used to All Japan, which he wouldn’t have given up, and its level or organization, would have had trouble not blowing up with the disorganization and lack of knowledge from so many at the top in WCW. It’s all a lot of what if’s.
394
395Matysik’s St. Louis booking would have been difficult with a 1989 audience that had seen the booking of McMahon and Rhodes. Even Muchnick, after attending a WWF live event, told Matysik that things have changed and how we presented the product wouldn’t work to this audience. But he was also a smart guy and wouldn’t have done complete 1981 St. Louis in 1989, and would have learned from the ratings, demos and market forces. There are a lot of what if’s, but that’s all they are.
396
397Aside from working with Simmons on independent shows, and working as a part-time police officer in Belleville, IL.
398
399He continued to do writing about wrestling. Few know it, but Matysik continued writing for wrestling magazines for decades. He would do articles under pseudonyms like Lonnie Mars for “Wrestling World,” all the while working for Muchnick, who knew, and McMahon, who probably didn’t given his attempts to put all of the magazines out of business during that era. Wrestling World’s top 50 ratings each month compiled by the Mattingly Sports Bureau were actually Matysik, trying to mix a combination of kayfabe who was being pushed, names people would know, mentioning but vastly underrating the Japanese talent because he knew that nobody knew them, and trying to give a little boost to people who were strong bell-to-bell.
400
401He later developed a relationship with Michael Holmes of ECW Press, who considered Matysik something of a wrestling mentor as well. He wrote books like “Wrestling at the Chase: The Inside Story of Sam Muchnick and the Legends of Professional Wrestling,” “Brody: The Triumph and Tragedy of Wrestling’s Rebel,” with Barbara Goodish, “Drawing Heat the Hard Way: How Wrestling Really Works,” with his thoughts on the evolution and changes in the business, and the controversial, “The 50 Greatest Professional Wrestlers of All Time: The Definitive Shoot.” Of course as I learned when John Molinaro did a similar book using the Wrestling Observer brand name, you simply can’t do a book like that without everyone being mad, because everyone has different opinions.
402
403He also helped put together a documentary with KPLR-TV in 1999, on the 40th anniversary of the debut of the show called “Wrestling at the Chase: A Look Back,” hosted by Bob Costas, which not only drew strong ratings, but was critically received and nominated for local television awards.
404
405In 2009, he and Simmons had the idea of doing a 50th anniversary Wrestling at the Chase show at the Khorrosan Room, figuring the idea would be an easy sellout, given the publicity it would get. But the hotel was under new management by that time, which didn’t come from St. Louis. While some who were local liked the idea, the management had the prevailing opinion of pro wrestling and its fans, and didn’t want pro wrestling in their ballroom.
406
407He helped create the St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame, and worked to keep it credible. He was a huge supporter of the Observer Hall of Fame, and we did many shows, and far more discussions over the years privately, debating the merits of various candidates, particularly those I had seen live that he hadn’t, and visa versa.
408
409In 2014, he was inducted into the Tragos/Thesz Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame in Waterloo, IA, given the Jim Melby Award for his writings on the industry. By that time his physical condition had deteriorated to where he couldn’t make the trip there.
410
411“Receiving the Melby Award is a tremendous honor, partially because I knew Jim well and respected all of his work in the field of writing about the business. And partially because I accept it as recognition of the writing I did for legendary St. Louis promoter Sam Muchnick, especially doing the “Wrestling News” (the program) for him. And partially because the Melby Award is a wonderful salute for the books I’ve written and enjoyed every single moment writing them.”
412
413When talking with the people there, he pushed very hard for me to be inducted as well. Without him, most likely, neither myself, Wade Keller nor Scott Williams would have gotten that honor. That honor means a lot to me today, not so much for the ego aspect, but because it was the one time my parents got to see something like this, before they got too old that they couldn’t have attended.
414
415He told me outright that he wanted to me go, partially because he couldn’t and had wanted to so badly. He also said that to him, getting the award would mean so much more to him if he was on a list that included me, and if not, it wouldn’t have nearly the same meaning.
416
417I hope over the years I was able to convey in some way how pivotal he was in my life and what a major part he played in it. He would always thank me for keeping him interested, as he would have long since given up, and probably been bitter about how the business changed, otherwise. From the time he was in his early 20s, and certainly though his early 30s, he knew exactly where his life would go professionally. He was being hand-taught to be the next Sam Muchnick in St. Louis and in the NWA. He was a local celebrity and part of a local sports entertainment company that everyone knew about, a large percentage of the population watched religiously, and was very much an institution in town, and in its field, was known all over the world. And then, at 38, everything changed.
418
419For me, at about the same time in life, everything also changed, but unlike with him, for me, it was ultimately for the better.
420
421When we had our Eyada show, Matysik always finished strongly, always top five, in surveys regarding the favorite guest on the show. We had him on regularly through 2016, including great appearances on shows after the death of Jack Brisco and Randy Savage, as well as Hall of Fame and history talks.
422
423He was working on a book that would compare Muchnick with McMahon, as the only person who ever worked for both, and their respective eras. While they were the two most powerful figures in pro wrestling at different times, aside from that, the two had very little in common. The bottom line is McMahon was always more financially successful, but in the end, both lived the life they wanted. McMahon was a crazy workaholic, and Muchnick wanted to do a credible job promoting shows every few weeks, making a nice living, and living a normal life and going to area sports events and public functions. Muchnick cared about respect from his peers, city officials, the sports community and even those in wrestling. He wanted wrestling to be respected, but he could only control that in his home city, and realized his city was unique. Matysik was brought up with the same value structure. He loved wrestling, enjoyed working in it, but as much as it would be what he was known for, it was not his life, only a part of it.
424
425While he always trained hard to be in shape, his body turned against him in his 50s. It started with minor things, but it got more major. It started as a minor limp he didn’t take care of. He didn’t realize until too late about his spinal stenosis. Later, his spine collapsed. He was in great pain, talking about how he understood how people could get addicted to pain medications because of how badly he was hurting without it. Before things got so bad that he couldn’t travel, he would debate going to Boston to see his daughter, Kelly, a star volleyball player growing up and whose games he never missed, something that wouldn’t have happened had he stayed immersed in the wrestling business. Several years ago, he believed he had suffered a stroke, which was the beginning of the end.
426
427Later, he was told doctors felt it wasn’t a stroke, and it wasn’t until recent months that they found he had suffered three strokes over the years. At first he was fine talking, but in the end, the strokes did impact his speaking. He would always note that everything physically was bad but his mind was never affected.
428
429But his condition was such after his first scare that evidently was a stroke, that he could never return home. He was in great pain trying to type, so writing became difficult. He would tell me he’d work through the pain, but could only go so long before it became unbearable. But he loved announcing and booking wrestling and Simmons’ local promotion gave his mind something to do. He enjoyed when the old-timers would be brought in for shows, and to most of them, one of the reasons they liked doing the shows was so they could spend time with him. For people from a certain generation, he had tremendous respect across the board.
430
431I know that in the Ring of Honor offices, there is a phrase, called “page 128.” It’s from that page of his book, “Drawing Heat the Hard Way.”
432
433I actually learned the page 128 lesson from Paul Boesch, although Matysik had made them clear many times over the years. Vince McMahon used to have the same motto and beliefs, but he would always refer it to a conversation he claimed his father had with Bobo Brazil. Basically, that if an event doesn’t draw well live, all the excuses from weather to economy to other events in town may have a slight impact, but in the end, if people don’t come, it’s because either you didn’t promote it well enough or you presented an attraction they weren’t interested in seeing.
434
435In life, you go through many phases. You move in and out of different social groups, in some cases by choice, in others by fate. A select few people change your lives in major ways. While hardly the only person, Matysik very much was a key in teaching me the underlying aspects, both the rewarding, the dishonest, what to look for, and so many other things, at a young age, and was a constant at an older age, even if it was just quick notes with the results of matches the night before and where he was going with the booking. With the death of Dave Korner, he was, aside from family, the longest-lasting close relationship in my life that I never really drifted away from, although there is guilt because I hadn’t talked with him in a while, made worse because I had just asked for his number a few weeks ago and hadn’t called. We didn’t talk much in recent years, but until recent months, we exchanged e-mails and I heard from him after every show he booked. In his early 70s, after the show, he did what he had done when he was 16, sent the results to the web site he considered the one of record. According to Simmons, while his body and health were bad, his mind never lost a beat.
436
437For me, in writing this, it is among the most difficult things to write, and it almost comes back full circle, since the very first article on someone’s death that I wrote about in such detail was on Brody. That article ended up being the catalyst to so many different things.
438
439If there’s a lesson in all this, if you know someone who has changed your life and had a great positive impact, call them or write them, and tell them this week.
440
441As someone who vividly remembers watching Muhammad Ali facing Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick, the debut of Golden Boy MMA brought back those memories and worse.
442
443Chuck Liddell was UFC’s first superstar created by television. In 2005, when UFC and Spike made their television deal, it was Liddell and Randy Couture as rival coaches on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, who fought in the first PPV after television. The show did about 280,000 buys, which doesn’t sound like much today for such a big fight, but it was actually right at the second biggest number UFC had ever done, along with the Ken Shamrock vs. Royce Gracie fight in 1995.
444
445Liddell knocked out Couture in a light heavyweight title match and became the company’s top star. UFC business continued to grow in 2006, peaking with Liddell’s second win over Tito Ortiz, which did 900,000 buys.
446
447Liddell lost his title to Rampage Jackson in 2007, and suffered a terrible knockout in a match with Rashad Evans. While he did beat Wanderlei Silva at the end of that year in a legendary fight, it was the last win of his career. His chin was gone, and unfortunately, his style of being fearless and willing to take shots, only to respond with his knockout power, didn’t work any longer. He kept wanting to fight, and eventually, Dana White made a deal with him to retire after a knockout loss to Rich Franklin in 2010. He was promised a job with UFC for life for his role in helping build the company.
448
449Life meant about six years or so. Once the Fertittas sold the company to WME, everything changed. The promises of lifetime jobs for Liddell and Matt Hughes were over. Liddell at that point started talking about fighting again, even with the idea of wanting to face Jon Jones.
450
451Liddell had to know the truth. Still, he spoke with the same conviction that people believed during his career. UFC had no interest in promoting him fighting again, but Bellator did, as did a third party, Golden Boy Promotion.
452
453Oscar De La Hoya used the idea of a Liddell vs. Ortiz rematch for a first MMA show on 11/24 at the Forum in Los Angeles. Whether it worked or not as a promotion is one thing.
454
455But it never should have happened. One friend of mine saw Liddell a few weeks before the fight at an MMA show in Southern California. He described him as moving like Mick Foley (before all the surgeries as Foley is now moving a lot better). It’s one thing in pro wrestling where you can use smoke and mirrors, but fighting is far less forgiving.
456
457Still, Liddell talked a good fight, even though there were reports that he was not doing well in training. Most telling was that his longtime trainer and close friend, John Hackleman, would not train or corner him.
458
459Both Bellator and Golden Boy wanted the fight. Liddell said that Bellator offered more guaranteed, and would have put the fight on either television or DAZN. Golden Boy sold it on the idea of having a PPV, and that he would pay both men 30 percent of the PPV and live gate revenue in addition to their guarantees, $200,000 for Ortiz and $250,000 for Liddell. But both fighters took the lower guarantee, believing the PPV cut would lead to them getting the biggest paydays of their careers. De La Hoya continually promoted the idea they would make more for this fight than they had ever made, and talked of how UFC didn’t pay fighters fairly. It is believed that both Ortiz and Liddell earned in the range of $2.9 million for their second fight, held in 2006, which did 900,000 buys. It is pretty much inconceivable they will earn anything close to that for this fight.
460
461That said, when it came to guarantees, fighters made far less. Tom Lawlor, probably the third biggest name on the show, earned $25,000 flat, with no win bonus. His opponent, Deron Winn, an unknown but a fighter with great promise, only got $5,000 guaranteed and another $5,000 win bonus. The pay for the show overall was significantly lower for the undercard fighters than for a UFC show, and the main eventers, had the show done well on PPV, could have made big money, but the guarantees were nothing significant. As far as production went, this couldn’t touch a UFC or a Bellator event.
462
463Liddell noted going with Golden Boy was a gamble.
464
465The big question, unanswered at press time, is exactly how the show did. With poor advanced orders, the PPV price was cut to $40. Ticket sales were so-so, as they ended up with 7,839 at the Forum, beating both Bellator shows previously in the building.
466
467De La Hoya as late as the week of the fight pushed the idea they were expecting 200,000 to 400,000 buys. At 200,000 buys with the split at 50/50 between promotion and cable, that’s $4 million, meaning each fighter would get $1.2 million, plus probably another $240,000 off the live gate, and a cut of merchandise, so they’d do probably all in around $1.7 million each. But at least based on early numbers going around, it’s not going to be close to that.
468
469The early figures for the PPV going around are far lower. Yet, the indicators of interest were shockingly high. There were 500,000 Google searches, and for UFC at least, they have been an accurate predictor for buys. A show with that many searches would be expected to do 170,000 to 240,000 buys. Ortiz was on ESPN two days after the fight and said he heard it did at least 200,000 buys. However, the only cable stuff we’ve heard called the show “ice cold” and noted that they dropped the price to $40 the week of the show. Most in the industry and fans expected far lower numbers, and the initial estimates considering the talk going in were shockingly low.
470
471There appeared to be little interest going in, but it did have a last day where there was a lot of talk, and perhaps it was one of those things. The show would have probably done very good curiosity television ratings, but it may be something people would watch for free but weren’t willing to pay to see.
472
473Whatever drawing power this was going to have had was seemingly based on the curiosity of seeing an in-shape looking Liddell return after eight plus years. But those close to the situation who had seen Liddell knew this was a fraud.
474
475Promoter Oscar de la Hoya brought up the red herring of Bernard Hopkins, who was still a top-level boxer at Liddell’s age and the line about power is the last thing to go, which is true as long as there are no significant injuries and an athlete has kept up his training. But none of that applied here. De la Hoya himself was 35 when he last fought, nearly 14 years younger than Liddell. He learned in his last fights that age was not a number and he was clearly done.
476
477Still, Ortiz was almost 44, and while he had stayed active, Liddell has knocked him out in both of the previous bouts.
478
479During the week, at the public workouts, Liddell was shown hitting mitts. He had no power. He couldn’t move. So the public was told, even the Ortiz side, trying to save the fight, said that he was sandbagging, trying to make people think he had nothing left as a psychological game to get Ortiz overconfident.
480
481The problem is, by then it was too late. The commission had sanctioned the fight.
482
483Andy Foster, the Executive Director of the California State Athletic Commission said that it was a difficult decision. Foster said that they followed the Association of Ringside Physicians (ARP) medical testing plan for fighters over 40 for both Ortiz and Liddell. The testing included MRA and MRI testing of the brain, an EKG, cardiac testing, neurocognitive testing, blood work and an eye exam.
484
485Foster also said, that I have no doubt this is true, that if California turned the fight down, it would just be taken somewhere else.
486
487Foster said that once Liddell and Ortiz both passed medicals, the only way for them to not sanction the fight was on the grounds it was a mismatch. As it turned out, it was, but they had no evidence of that, particularly since Liddell knocked Ortiz out in both prior meetings.
488
489Liddell did look ripped and muscular at weigh-ins, and everyone raved about how great shape he looked to be in. Ortiz, for being almost 44, was also looking both big and in great shape.
490
491Whatever little doubt was removed earlier in the show, when they showed Liddell arriving at the building. When he got out of his car, he was walking like an old man. His hips were shot, and that power in punches come from the legs and hips. Ortiz, even with his fused neck and back, had no such issues.
492
493As soon as the fight started, it was obvious Liddell couldn’t move. When he did punch, he was off balance and feeble. It was clearly not going to last long. A shot Ali went ten rounds with Holmes and the distance with Berbick, which wasn’t a good thing in the long run, but as bad as he looked in those fights, he could defend himself somewhat. Liddell lasted 4:24, but had Ortiz gone in more aggressively, he probably could have finished him quicker.
494
495What’s done is done. The best we can do is learn from this.
496
497Liddell never should have fought. The ARP and commissions need to learn from this, that when it comes to fighters over the age of 40, the medical tests aren’t enough. The commissions need to have both sparring or training footage and agility tests done before sanctioning fighters. If the fighter in training footage has no power or ability to move, they shouldn’t be allowed to fight.
498
499In the semi, Winn (5-0), an Olympic caliber wrestler, beat pro wrestler Tom Lawlor (10-7, 1 no contest) via straight 30-27 scores.
500
501Lawlor was entertaining at weigh-ins, making fun of his suspension. He came out with a guy dressed up as a doctor and a jug which read “Ostarine” on it, the SARM that he tested positive for that led to a two year suspension. He was about to drink from the drug when the guy in the doctor’s outfit stopped him.
502
503In his ring entrance the night of the fight, he came out like New Japan’s Taichi, badly lipsynching Lana Del Ray’s “Born to Die” while wearing a tie over his T-shirt. Lawlor weighed in at 199.6, meaning he didn’t cut weight, and probably meant he was giving up 20 to 25 pounds to Winn, who cut to make 205.
504
505The fight was standup for two rounds. Winn bloodied Lawlor up with hard punches, but Lawlor was never hurt badly. Winn clearly won all three rounds. It was a good fight overall as Winn’s punches were crisp and powerful. The second round was the most exciting, as Lawlor landed more punches but Winn’s punches were more powerful. Winn didn’t go right to his wrestling, perhaps figuring Lawlor’s best shot at winning was via submission on the ground. But he did get takedowns easily in round three. Lawlor went for a guillotine in the third round which was his most dangerous offense, but Winn powered out. Lawlor ended up bleeding heavily from multiple cuts.
506
507Lawlor suffered a broken left hand, which will require surgery, and keep him out of the pro wrestling rings for an estimated two to three months, and will also need stitches on three of his different cuts.
508
509Winn looked good enough, and with the public backing of Daniel Cormier, he’s likely to sign with one of the major companies. While listed at 5-foot-7, he’s clearly much shorter than that, which is awfully short for 205. Lawlor showed that he’s a guy who can get publicity for being on a show with his personality, and interviews. He clearly hates weight cutting but he’s going to be greatly outsized at 205. A 199.6 pound guy is small for middleweight, let alone fighting light heavyweight, as most middleweights are walking around at 210 or more.
510
511Whether Golden Boy does another show likely depends on what the real PPV number is, and whether they can find a fight worth doing.
512
513After the show there was a war of words between Dana White and De La Hoya.
514
515“I love Chuck Liddell and I don’t ever want to bad mouth Chuck Liddell,” White said to TMZ. “People even think I’m remotely bad mouthing Chuck Liddell, but the reality is, first of all, I heard last week the cokehead Oscar De La Weirdo is talking shit that I don’t have any place to tell guys when to retire.” First of all, it’s called friendship you f***ing cokehead. I’ve been friends with Chuck Liddell for 20 years and the reality is Chuck Liddell retired when he should have retired, eight, nine years ago, however long it was. And Chuck Liddell’s almost 50 years old and has no business fighting anymore. The fact the state of California even let that fight happen is disgusting. Disgusting.”
516
517De La Hoya’s company released a statement saying, “Dana is so small and threatened by our success with (DAZN) and now in MMA that he is bringing up news from a decade ago to stay relevant. Boxing has entirely rejected him. And MMA fighters are now realizing they don’t have to risk their lives just so he can get rich. Golden Boy and I are moving forward and we are bigger than ever. Dana should shut the f*** up and try to figure out how to ave his own company.”
518
519A three-way with Smackdown women’s champion Becky Lynch facing Charlotte Flair and Asuka was announced and is probably the biggest match at least confirmed for WWE’s next PPV show, the TLC show on 12/16 in San Jose.
520
521The show isn’t sold out, but there aren’t a ton of seats left. The demand for tickets isn’t that high as the price for entry on the secondary market is $41.80, but it wasn’t a heavily purchased secondary market show, as there are only about 1,040 tickets out on that market.
522
523The three-way women’s title match will be the first women’s TLC match. While some would question putting Lynch in such a match coming off a significant concussion that has kept her out of action for several weeks, in WWE, the rule of thumb is that if you are cleared, you are cleared. The three-way makes sense because it gives them ways out of the finish without having to compromise Lynch or Flair, and without any of the three having to do a job, given that Flair likely first, and later Lynch, are slated for high profile matches early next year with Ronda Rousey.
524
525Rousey vs. Nia Jax remains the Raw women’s title match.
526
527Daniel Bryan vs. A.J. Styles in a WWE title rematch is also on the show. Given that long singles matches on television are compromised by losing momentum due to frequent commercial breaks, the two have the opportunity here to have a classic match.
528
529Braun Strowman’s right elbow surgery took place on 11/27 in Birmingham, AL. Doing a match on 12/16 would appear to be too quick, but they could have him come in and just powerslam and pin Corbin with one move if they need to do it based on storyline plans.
530
531Corbin said on Raw that the match is still on and if Strowman isn’t there, he wins by forfeit and becomes the full-time General Manager. This comes across like a tease of the idea he’d get in the ring, about to be ruled the winner via forfeit, and then something would happen, whether it be Strowman, or perhaps the Bray Wyatt thing they did over the weekend on the house shows.
532
533Right now they are giving people the impression there is no way Strowman would be back for the TLC show, although the match is still being advertised. We were told last week that they expected him out of action for four weeks after surgery, but wouldn’t know for sure until finding out the extent of the elbow damage during surgery. We haven’t received an update since surgery.
534
535The other major advertised match with Seth Rollins defending the IC title against Dean Ambrose.
536
537The show also is scheduled to have the Mixed Match Challenge finals.
538
539The Raw representative will be decided on 12/11 with Jinder Mahal & Alicia Fox vs. Finn Balor & Bayley.
540
541The Smackdown representative will also be decided on 12/11.
542
543Smackdown has semifinals on 12/4 with The Miz & Asuka vs. R-Truth & Carmella and Jeff Hardy (who replaced A.J. Styles on the team) & Charlotte Flair vs. Jimmy Uso & Naomi. What’s notable is that Flair and Asuka are already booked on the card in another match, and Uso looks to be in the tag title match, but R-Truth & Carmella are pretty much the lowest ranked of the four teams.
544
545As far as other current programs being teased, most likely some of which will be added and some of which won’t, one is Sheamus & Cesaro vs. Usos (or a three-way with New Day) for the tag titles. The Usos won a non-title match clean on the 11/27 Smackdown show. The New Day had won a six-man food fight version of a match the week before over The Bar & Big Show.
546
547Raw tag champs AOP look like they have a gimmick program with Bobby Roode & Chad Gable continuing. Buddy Murphy vs. Cedric Alexander for the cruiserweight title is coming up soon. Other programs ongoing are Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Rusev for the U.S. title, Jeff Hardy vs. Samoa Joe and Randy Orton vs. Rey Mysterio.
548
549WWE ran its second Starrcade show, bringing back the WCW big show name from the past, for a stronger-than-usual house show and experimental taping on 11/24 in Cincinnati at the U.S. Bank Arena.
550
551Three segments of the show, two talk segments and four matches, were in the WWE Network special which went just under one hour. It was uneventful and completely skippable. Why they went with too long interview segments for such a short show is a question. The matches were nothing.
552
553On the positive side, the Starrcade name meant something, as they drew 8,000 fans, far more than most house shows are doing these days. The network special was also the most-watched show of the week on the WWE Network, showing that at least if it’s not overdone, there would be interest in themed live events as added specials. But with so much product already out there, it’s hard to believe that unless they run angles and storyline that matter at these shows, that they will quickly become considered skippable.
554
555In the arena, they started out with a history of Starrcade video package. The first segment had Elias in the ring and he called out Ric Flair. Flair would have to be considered Mr. Starrcade in the sense that he main evented the first eight of the shows from 1983 to 1990, as well as two others after that point. Flair looked in very good shape for his age and considering what he went through last year and what he’s put his body through over the years. Flair did a promo until Nia Jax, Tamina, Alicia Fox and Mickie James came out. Jax had a lot of heat and was going nuts. Elias said he was going to bring out four of his friends to shut them up, and Sasha Banks, Bayley, Dana Brooke and Ember Moon came out. This led to the opening match.
556
5571. Moon & Bayley & Banks & Brooke beat Jax & Tamina & Fox & James in 6:46. A basic short house show match. Everyone did their finishes including Bayley doing an elbow off the top rope on Jax. Banks beat Fox with the banks statement. **
558
5592. Drew McIntyre pinned Finn Balor in about 10:00 with a Claymore kick. Dolph Ziggler was at ringside and interfered several times.
560
5613. Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel beat Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder in a short match when Axel pinned Wilder after a sunset flip.
562
5634. Sheamus & Cesaro kept the Smackdown tag titles over Big E & Kofi Kingston in 8:00 in a match very comedy oriented. Sheamus pinned Kingston after a brogue kick.
564
565Baron Corbin came out and noted that his opponent, Braun Strowman, couldn’t be there. He issued an open challenge. Bray Wyatt came out as a surprise. It was his first match in more than two months. The surprise of seeing him got one of the biggest reactions on the show.
566
5675. Bray Wyatt pinned Baron Corbin with a roll-up in about five minutes of a match with a lot of stalling. Corbin then said he was striking this match from the record books and announced a no DQ match.
568
5696. Bray Wyatt pinned Baron Corbin in the no DQ match. McIntyre and Ziggler came out. They were all beating on Corbin until Balor and Elias made the save. Wyatt then hit Sister Abigail on Corbin. Corbin actually rolled out of the ring from the move. It was awkward as this broke the momentum and he was thrown back in and pinned.
570
5717. Charlotte Flair beat Asuka with a small package in 10:00. Even though Flair had just turned heel, both women were cheered and they worked a face vs. face match. They hugged after.
572
573Next was the second segment that was taped. It was Miz TV with Shinsuke Nakamura and Rey Mysterio. Miz started by talking about the first Starrcade, noting it was headlined by Ric Flair vs. Harley Race (true), Roddy Piper vs. Greg Valentine (true) and Lex Luger vs. Dusty Rhodes for the U.S title (that was the fifth Starrcade). I think they did that to plug Rhodes, who is now one of their company legends, which has its ironies, and because Nakamura and Mysterio were having a U.S. title match here. Or sort of. Miz noted that the only member of the current roster on the last Starrcade PPV in 2000 is Mysterio. Mysterio came out with a neck brace on to sell the angle with Randy Orton. At least somebody in wrestling is still doing that. But then again, having someone come out in a neck brace and then immediately doing a match is kind of the opposite of that. The announcers then brought up that the U.S. title match on the first Starrcade show was Wahoo McDaniel vs. Superstar Billy Graham. Mysterio said that Starrcade was where he saw his heroes for the first time like Flair, Rhodes, Sting and Eddy Guerrero. This was brutal. The first Starrcade he could have seen on PPV was in 1988, and there is no way he never saw Flair and Rhodes before 1988. As for Eddy Guerrero, his first Starrcade was in 1995. Guerrero and Mysterio were two of the top stars in AAA starting in 1992, and Mysterio probably saw Guerrero wrestle in Mexico probably no later than 1988 or 1989. But the Guerrero mention got a pop. Nakamura was trying to be disrespectful and saying he thought this was Arcade, and then said he knows about Starrcade but he doesn’t care and said he loved watching Orton go all evil on Mysterio. Mysterio challenged him to a match (which was already advertised) and it was on.
574
5758. Rey Mysterio beat Shinsuke Nakamura via DQ in a U.S. title match in 2:07. Nothing to this. Nakamura attacked him from behind before the match. Mysterio came back and set up the 619 when Miz tripped Mysterio for the DQ. Miz and Nakamura beat on Mysterio until Rusev made the save.
576
5779. Rey Mysterio & Rusev beat Miz & Shinsuke Nakamura in 6:10. Lana actually issued the challenge to Miz & Nakamura for a tag team match. She spoke with no accent at all and was more like a Teddy Long General Manager ordering a tag match than a wrestler doing a challenge. Rusev pinned Miz with a Machka kick. **1/4
578
579While they put up the cage in the arena, they showed the 1989 Starrcade Iron Man finals where Sting beat Ric Flair.
580
58110. A.J. Styles beat Samoa Joe in a cage match in 11:55. This match was good, but felt like a small market house show match. Styles used a chop block and put Joe in the calf crusher. Joe made the ropes but it was noted that in a cage match making the ropes isn’t a break, and Joe couldn’t get out and tapped out. The finish was flat at first because people thought it was a rope break. The network special ended with this. ***
582
58311. Seth Rollins beat Dean Ambrose to keep the IC title in a street fight cage match in 20:00. From all accounts, this was by far the best thing on the show. Ambrose was cheered more than anyone else since he’s from Cincinnati. They threw each other into the cage a lot, and used a Kendo stick. Ambrose worked as the heel begging off and running away. They also fought outside the cage. The finish saw Rollins climbing over the top and Ambrose going through the door. On his way down, Rollins kicked in the cage door, which hit Ambrose in the head, and Rollins dropped to the ground to win.
584
585UFC, like WWE, is heavily targeting China as perhaps the key long-term foreign market for business due to the emerging economy.
586
587The problem has been the difficulty of getting into the market, and getting revenue out of the market. The other aspect of hitting the market strong is the ability to create Chinese superstars, like the NBA did with Yao Ming, which was the greatest American sports success story in the market.
588
589UFC ran its second event in mainland China, a Fight Pass show on 11/24 in Beijing, at the Cadillac Arena. As far as potential stars, the big successes on the show were woman strawweight Weili Zhang, who is 18-1 and finished Jessica Aguilar, who at one time was thought to be the best fighter in the world in the division, via submission in the first round; men’s bantamweight Song Yadong; and woman strawweight Yan Xioanan, whose heavy kickboxing style is similar to that of Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
590
591But the show was built around heavyweights. Francis Ngannou, who has struggled this year after finishing last year with one of the more amazing knockouts in history over Alistair Overeem, finished Curtis Blaydes in just 45 seconds. It was thought with a win here that Blaydes would be in the mix after Stipe Miocic in the heavyweight division as far a shot goes.
592
593Overeem, who defeated previously unbeaten Sergey Pavlovich in the first round, issues a challenge to Ngannou for a rematch.
594
595The show drew 10,302 fans.
596
597The performance bonuses of $50,000 went to Ngannou and Li Jingling, plus Alex Morono and Song Kenan got $50,000 bonuses each for fight of the night.
598
5991.Louis Smolka (15-5) beat Su Madaerji (10-4) at 2:07 of the second round in a bantamweight fight. Smolka got a takedown, moved to side control and then got his back, as well as mount. Smolka was throwing punches and elbows and had Madaerji in trouble but couldn’t finish him before the round ended. Smolka got another takedown and into mount in the second round. Smolka worked for a triangle and then got the armbar for the submission.
600
6012. Kevin Holland (14-4) beat John Phillips (21-8, 1 no contest) at 4:05 of the third round in a middleweight fight. It Phillips put Holland down in the first round with a body kick but Holland came back to hurt him with punches, and knocked Phillips down with a jumping knee. Phillips scored a second round knockdown with al eft and they went back-and-forth in that round. Holland got three takedowns while dominating the third round, winning via choke.
602
6033.Yan Xioanan (10-1, 1 no contest) beat Syuri Kondo (6-2) on straight 30-27 scores in a women’s strawweight fight. Kondo is a women’s pro wrestling and MMA star in Japan. Dan Hardy put over Japanese wrestling strongly in commentary, saying it’s far more physical and close to actual fighting than American style and that if you are a Japanese pro wrestler it means you are physically tough. Xioanan was just too quick with her kickboxing through all three rounds and took the decision.
604
6054. Lia Pingyuan (15-4) beat Martin Day (9-3) via split decision on scores of 29-28, 28-29 and 29-28 in a bantamweight fight. The first round was standing and they went back-and-forth. Pingyuan went for a second round takedown but Day ended on top in the scramble. Day scored a knockdown as well with a right late in the round. Pingyuan knocked Day down in the third and went for a guillotine. Day went for a D’arce choke later in the round. Pingyuan escaped and got Day’s back and was working for a choke as time ran out.
606
6075. Weili Zhang (18-1) beat Jessica Aguilar (20-7) in 3:41 in a women’s strawweight fight. Zhang took Aguilar down and landed elbows that cut Aguilar up. Zhang landed more elbows and then got an armbar.
608
6096. Rashad Coulter (9-4) beat Hu Yaozong (3-2) on scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 in a light heavyweight fight. Coulter, who previously fought at heavyweight, missed weight, coming in at 208. Coulter got a first round knockdown. The second and third rounds were closer and Yaozong was coming on strong at the end.
610
6117. Wu Yanan (9-2) beat Lauren Mueller (5-1) in 4:00 in a women’s flyweight fight. Mueller knocked Yanan down and went to the ground, but Yanan immediately got the armbar for the submission.
612
6138. Alex Morono (15-5, 1 no contest) beat Song Kenan (14-5) on straight 30-27 scores in a welterweight fight. A lot of wild punching but Morono landed better shots in all three rounds. But every round was competitive.
614
6159. Li Jingliang (16-5) beat David Zawada (16-5) at 4:07 of the third round in a welterweight fight. Zawada dropped him with a right in the first round. Jingliang got a takedown but Zawada got up and landed big punches and knees to the body. In the second round, neither got a clear edge. Jingliang again landed a lot of punches at the end of the round, including two late. In the third round, Jingliang landed a side kick to the body and Zawada went down and couldn’t defend himself from punches and it was topped.
616
61710. Song Yadong (14-4, 1 no contest) beat Vince Morales (8-3) on straight 30-27 scores in a bantamweight fight. Yadong landed a lot of solid shots including a spinning kick to the body late in the round. Morales was landing more early in he second round but Yadong landed more late. Yadong moved forward in the third round with punches. Each got a third round takedown. The third round was close.
618
61911. Alistair Overeem (44-17, 1 no contest) beat Sergei Pavlovich (12-1 in 4:21 of a heavyweight fight. Pavlovich landed a nice right early. Overeem just physically threw him down and landed hard punches on the ground until it was stopped.
620
62112. Francis Ngannou (12-3) beat Curtis Blaydes (10-2, 1 no contest) in :45 of a heavyweight fight. Ngannou dropped Blaydes with a right and landed big punches on the ground until it was stopped.
622
623Jose Lothario may have best been known to modern fans as the babyface manager and trainer of Shawn Michaels in 1996, until he was written out with a worked heart attack after being attacked by Sycho Sid.
624
625But in South Texas, Lothario was part of the fabric of wrestling. Even more than Southern California, which had the reputation because of Mil Mascaras and the national exposure of the Wednesday night matches from the Olympic Auditorium on the Spanish International Network (now Univision), South Texas had a long history of building around wrestlers from South of the border.
626
627In a lot of ways, that’s apropos, since Salvador Lutteroth, who formed the Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL, now CMLL) in 1933, got the idea of promoting pro wrestling in Mexico from seeing it in Texas, and many of its early stars came from the Lone Star State.
628
629The regional Texas days almost always had a Mexican superstar from the post-World War II era on. The first major star was Miguel “Blackie” Guzman, the older brother by one year of El Santo (Rodolfo Guzman). Guzman was a world middleweight champion and two-time Mexican national light heavyweight champion in the early 40s before coming to Texas in 1947 and becoming a ten-time Texas heavyweight champion. At about the same time, his rival and sometimes partner, Rito Romero, was also a top babyface. Romero’s lasting contribution to the pro wrestling world is the upside down surfboard move that Jushin Liger does in every match, called la tapatia at the time, but now often called the Romero special.
630
631Gori Guerrero was a big star as world light heavyweight champion, based out of El Paso.
632
633Pepper Gomez and El Medico (Cesario Manriquez) held the mantle in the late 50s and early 60s until Gomez hit it big in San Francisco. Torbellino Blanco was also a major name in the 60s. Attempts at creating a second El Medico largely failed.
634
635It wasn’t until 1969, that South Texas found its final full-time Mexican babyface superstar.
636
637Born Guadalupe Robeldo Garcia on December 12, 1934, in Torreon, he was one of a family of ten children. A younger brother, Salvator Lothario, worked from 1969 to 1977, mostly in Southern California, sometimes under a mask as Mr. California. His son wrestled briefly as Pete Lothario and Jose Lothario Jr.
638
639While Jose, or Joe as he was known by the wrestlers, first became a star in San Francisco, he actually worked on the Texas circuit first in 1957, as a good-looking young wrestler known only as Lothario. He also got started in the Carolinas as Joe Garcia, and sometimes was known as Jose Lothario Garcia.
640
641Under his real name, he was a middleweight boxer in Mexico. As legend had it, he attended a wrestling show, got into a skirmish with one of the wrestlers, and ended up knocking the wrestler out. Given that fans saw that, the promoter talked him into getting into wrestling. But with his boxing background, he was told to rely on punches rather than Lucha Libre moves, so he was unique for most of his career. While he could do Lucha Libre, his style was more American based, relying no selling and boxing comebacks as opposed to flying comebacks.
642
643While very different in most ways, Lothario losing his cool and reverting back to his boxing days in the ring for his comebacks in Texas was similar to what Danny Hodge did in the 60s in Oklahoma. But Lothario had more natural charisma than Hodge.
644
645Over the years, as he aged, his character changed to the proud but aging star who fought every top heel that came into the state, beating virtually all of them, and was best known for his landmark feud with his protégé, Gino Hernandez, which led Houston to one of its best box office periods in its history in 1978 and 1979.
646
647He arrived in San Francisco at the end of 1958, as “The Great Lothario,” and later first used the name Jose “El Gran” Lothario. He held the NWA world tag team title twice in 1959, with partners Ramon Torres and Leo Nomellini, battling the perennial champion Sharpe Brothers, Mike & Ben.
648
649He went from territory-to-territory during the 1960s. But he became recognized as a major star with a 14-month run as American Wrestling Alliance world tag team champion with Gomez, for Roy Shire, when San Francisco was considered the best territory in the country for in-ring wrestling.
650
651Between the long run as champion and the quality of opponents, it gave him the respect that he was a major industry superstar.
652
653Gomez & Lothario started as a team at the Cow Palace in San Francisco on July 20, 1963, beating Pampero Firpo & the Giant Ed Miller, which led to them beating the Nielsen brothers, Art (who later became Art Nelson) & Stan, who later became a well known rodeo cowboy, on September 4, 1963, at the Cow Palace.
654
655While he never headlined the Cow Palace with Ray Stevens, who was the king of wrestling in San Francisco during that era because he was always part of the tag team champions, he was one of Stevens’ most frequent opponents in late 1963 all over Northern California in U.S. title matches.
656
657Among their Cow Palace headliners were a 60 minute draw against Kinji Shibuya & Mitsu Arakawa, and headlining that year’s Christmas card with a win over Stevens & Dick the Bruiser, while 1964 saw programs with Jim & Jack Dalton, Shibuya & Karl Von Brock and The Fabulous Kangaroos (Al Costello & Roy Heffernan) before a title loss to Stevens & Don Manoukian.
658
659Lothario stated of all the tag teams he was in, his favorite partner was Gomez.
660
661Lothario worked mostly West Texas and New Mexico in 1965, before a long run in Florida as a babyface headliner that started in 1966.
662
663The next few years were spent in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. He won his first Texas title in 1969 from Johnny Valentine, and returned to California for a U.S. title feud with Pat Patterson in 1970.
664
665The boxing background was played up big in Florida and Texas in particular, where he regularly did taped fist matches and frequently held both the Florida and Texas Brass Knux (taped fist) championship.
666
667One of his big rivals of that era was Blackjack Mulligan, who he had a major program with in 1973. Mulligan called him “probably the greatest Mexican star of all-time as far as working ability. I mean, he was a big guy. He didn’t fly like Mysterio and these guys. Those guys are little guys. Jose was a 235 to 240 pound guy. He was just a real tough guy, really believable. He worked all over the Southwest. He never got up to the North, though, because he was never given the chance. He should have. He would have been a good Latin for New York if given the right time and the right place, like when Morales went here. He could have worked in a situation like that.”
668
669“I would have to list Jose as one of my favorite opponents,” wrote Jack Brisco in his autobiography. “He was a fantastic worker and had a huge following in Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico and everywhere he was booked. He was the perfect challenger in all of his title matches with Dory, Harley, me, or whoever. Jose always looked like he was on the verge of taking the title away from any of us.”
670
671Lothario got a few title matches with Gene Kiniski in Florida, and with Dory Funk Jr., Jack Brisco, Terry Funk and Harley Race in Texas, but he was never really pushed as a guy who fans expected to see win the title.
672
673In 1975, he had a television match with Brisco which was a classic, About 40 minutes into the match, Lothario seemingly scored a pin and the crowd popped huge and the show ended at that moment. Fans were teased with the idea he had won the title, until the next week it was explained that somehow it didn’t happen. Still, there weren’t many rematches.
674
675His biggest rivals during that period were Johnny Valentine, Great Mephisto, Gran Markus, Black Gordman & Great Goliath, Terry Funk, The Mongolian Stomper, Superstar Billy Graham, Dusty Rhodes, John Tolos, Stan Stasiak, Ernie Ladd, Mad Dog Vachon, Bull Ramos, Blackjack Lanza & Blackjack Mulligan.
676
677While he was the guy in Houston for several years when business was big, the Hernandez story in the late 70s was the one people most remember. Lothario trained Hernandez, the stepson of one of his greatest tag team partners, Luis Hernandez. Hernandez was introduced and given a strong babyface push as his protégé.
678
679Lothario wasn’t on top as much by that point, being 43 years old. But he still headlined Houston’s biggest show of 1978 at the Summit, going to a double count out with AWA champion Nick Bockwinkel.
680
681Hernandez turned on him and even beat Lothario in his specialty, a Mexican death match, and then won a hair vs. hair match and but Lothario won in a karate gloves match. Hernandez even beat Lothario in his specialty, the taped fist
682
683JOSE LOTHARIO
684
685 
686
687CAREER TITLE HISTORY
688
689 
690
691NWA WORLD TAG TEAM (West Coast): w/Leo Nomellini def. Ben Sharpe & Red Hangman 1959; lost to Mike & Ben Sharpe 1959 San Francisco; w/Ramon Torres def. Mike & Ben Sharpe May 10, 1959 Oakland; lost to Mike & Ben Sharpe August 1959
692
693 
694
695NWA WORLD TAG TEAM (Southeast): w/Wahoo McDaniel def. Eddie Graham & Bob Orton June 28, 1966 Jacksonville; title vacated when the Miami Dolphins ordered McDaniel to stop wrestling July 1966; w/Eddie Graham def. The Infernos (Frankie “Great Mephisto” Cain & Rocky Smith) October 25, 1966 Tampa; lost to The Infernos November 3,1966 Tampa; w/Sammy Steamboat def. The Infernos November 29, 1966 Tampa; lost to The Infernos December 13, 1966 Tampa; w/Wahoo McDaniel def. Sputnik & Rocket Monroe May 9, 1967 Tampa; lost to Sputnik & Rocket Monroe May 25, 1967 Jacksonville
696
697 
698
699AMERICAN WRESTLING ALLIANCE WORLD TAG TEAM: w/Pepper Gomez def. Stan & Art Neilsen September 14, 1963 San Francisco; lost to Ray Stevens & Don Manoukian November 23,1964 Eureka
700
701 
702
703NWA TEXAS HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Johnny Valentine May 22, 1969 San Antonio; lost to Johnny Valentine August 20, 1969 San Antonio; def. Johnny Valentine November 17, 1971 San Antonio; lost to Red Bastien March 8, 1972 San Antonio; def. Stan Stasiak November 25, 1972 San Antonio; lost to Missouri Mauler January 19, 1973 Houston; def. Missouri Mauler 1973; lost to Blackjack Mulligan April 28, 1973; def. Blackjack Mulligan May 1973; lost to Blackjack Mulligan May 4, 1973 Houston; def Blackjack Mulligan May 18, 1973 Houston; lost to Great Mephisto January 15, 1974 Dallas; def. Gran Markus February 1975; lost to Gran Markus February 26, 1975 San Antonio
704
705 
706
707NWA AMERICAN TAG TEAM: w/Ivan Putski def. The Spoiler & Mark Lewin 1973; lost to Black Gordman & Great Goliath August 6, 1973 Fort Worth; w/Mil Mascaras def. Black Gordman & Great Goliath; Title vacated 1974; w/El Halcon def. The Spoiler & Mark Lewin June 1, 1979 Houston; lost to Gino Hernandez & Gran Markus July 20, 1979 Houston; w/El Halcon def. Gino Hernandez & Gran Markus August 24,1979 Houston; lost to Gino Hernandez & Gran Markus 1979; w/Tiger Conway Jr. def. Gino Hernandez & Gran Markus November 16, 1979 Houston; lost to Gino Hernandez & Gran Markus December 14, 1979 Houston; w/Tiger Conway Jr. def. Gino Hernandez & Gran Markus December 28, 1979 Houston; lost to Mr. Hito & Mr. Sakurada (Kendo Nagasaki) June 23, 1980 Amarillo
708
709 
710
711NWA TEXAS TAG TEAM: w/Mil Mascaras def. Black Gordman & Great Goliath 1973; lost to Black Gordman & Great Goliath 1973; w/Ivan Putski def. Black Gordman & Great Goliath 1973; lost to Black Gordman & Great Goliath May 26, 1973; w/Ivan Putski def. Black Gordman & Great Goliath July 20, 1973; lost to Black Gordman & Great Goliath August 6, 1973; w/Mil Mascaras def. Black Gordman & Great Goliath November 30, 1973 Houston; Titles vacated; w/Al Madril held titles 1975; lost to Gran Markus & The Baron (Tony Rocco) March 7, 1975 Houston; w/Al Madril def. Blackjack Lanza & Blackjack Mulligan August 1975; lost to Stan Hansen & Killer Tim Brooks 1976; w/Rocky Johnson def. Stan Hansen & Killer Tim Brooks March 3, 1976; lost to Les Thornton & Tony Charles 1976; w/Cien Caras def. Les Thornton & Tony Charles 1977; lost to Bruiser Brody & Mike York April 15, 1977 Houston; w/Al Madril def. Bull Ramos& Captain USA (John Studd) October 21, 1977 Houston; lost to Killer Tim Brooks & Bad Leroy Brown March 31, 1978 Houston
712
713 
714
715NWA TEXAS BRASS KNUX: def. Johnny Valentine January 7, 1972 Houston; lost to Stan Stasiak; def. Blackjack Mulligan July 13, 1973 Houston; lost to Gran Markus 1974; def. Blackjack Lanza 1974; lost to Blackjack Lanza December 5, 1974 Corpus Christ; def. Blackjack Lanza February 13 1975 Corpus Christi; lost to Blackjack Lanza February 20, 1975 Corpus Christi; def. Superstar Billy Graham September 23, 1975 Dallas; lost to Mongolian Stomper March 28, 1976; def. Mongolian Stomper July 2, 1976; def. Ernie Ladd 1981; lost to Ernie Ladd October 25, 1981 Dallas; def. Ernie Ladd December 25 1981 Dallas; lost to Bugsy McGraw March 29, 1982 Fort Worth
716
717 
718
719NWA TEXAS TV: def. Bill Irwin 1979 Fort Worth; Title vacated
720
721 
722
723NWA SOUTHERN TAG TEAM: w/Don Curtis def. Stan Kowalski & Blackjack Daniels March 13, 1967 Orlando; lost to Sputnik & Rocket Monroe April 3, 1967 Orlando; w/Joe Scarpa (Chief Jay Strongbow) def. Bronko Lubich & Aldo Bogni April 23, 1968 Tampa; lost to Johnny Valentine & Boris Malenko August 6, 1968 Tampa; w/Joe Scarpa def. Johnny Valentine & Boris Malenko August 31, 1968 Tampa; lost to Blue Infernos (Bobby & Lee Fields) September 24, 1968 Tampa; w/Joe Scarpa def. Blue Infernos October 8, 1968 Tampa; lost to Tarzan Tyler & Louie Tillet October 29, 1968 Tampa; w/Dory Funk Sr. def. Masked Medics (Billy Garrett & Jim Starr) February 9, 1971 Tampa; Title vacated
724
725 
726
727NWA FLORIDA TAG TEAM: w/Argentina Apollo def. Missouri Mauler & Dale Lewis April 20, 1970 Orlando; lost to Dick Murdoch & Dusty Rhodes September 17, 1970 Jacksonville; w/Danny Miller def. The Infernos to win one-night tournament for vacant titles December 25, 1970 Tampa; lost to The Infernos January 4, 1971 Orlando
728
729 
730
731NWA FLORIDA BRASS KNUX TITLE: def. Boris Malenko November 4, 1968 Orlando; lost to Boris Malenko November 18, 1968 Orlando; def. Missouri Mauler May 2, 1970 San Juan, PR; lost to Thunderbolt Patterson May 26, 1970 Tampa; def. Thunderbolt Patterson August 22, 1970 San Juan; lost to Dusty Rhodes December 1, 1970 Tampa; def, Boris Malenko March 12, 1971 Tallahassee; lost to Boris Malenko March 23, 1971 Tampa0
732
733 
734
735NWA CARIBBEAN HEAVYWEIGHT: won tournament to become first champion May 25, 1968 San Juan; lost to Johnny Valentine June 8, 1968 San Juan; def. Johnny Valentine October 24, 1968 Freeport, Bahamas; lost to The Gladiator (Ricky Hunter) January 18, 1969 San Juan; def. Professor Toru Tanaka March 22, 1975; lost to Huracan Castillo July 31, 1976 Bayamon
736
737 
738
739MID SOUTH WRESTLING LOUISIANA HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Assassin #1 (Jody Hamilton) September 20, 1978; lost to Assassin #1 October 14, 1978 Shreveport
740
741 
742
743NWA WESTERN STATES HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Tony Olivas December 4, 1961 Phoenix; lost to Sputnik Monroe
744
745 
746
747NWA WESTERN STATES TAG TEAM: w/Nelson Royal def. Joe Konno & Red Donovan April 19, 1960 Tucson; No record of title loss; w/Tito Montez def. Sputnik Monroe & Mario Galento May 2, 1962 Tucson; lost to Ken Lucas & Mike DiBiase May 11, 1962 Phoenix; w/Buddy Fuller won title February 1963; no record of title loss
748
749 
750
751NWA ROCKY MOUNTAIN HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Rocky Monroe April 19, 1965 Albuquerque; lost to Ricky Romero August 27, 1965 Albuquerque
752
753 
754
755NWA GULF COAST HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Pancho Villa in tournament final for vacant title November 15, 1960 Pensacola; lost to Pancho Villa November 30, 1960 Mobile
756
757 
758
759OCCIDENTE HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Bulldog December 19, 1954 Guadalajara; No records available of title loss win a chain match and finally got his revenge when he beat Hernandez in a match where Hernandez put up his hair and Lothario vowed to retire if he lost.
760
761match for the Brass Knux title, as well as in a cage match. Lothario came back to In 1979, they were back at it, mostly battling over the American tag team title, with Hernandez with El Gran Markus, a big Lothario rival from his heyday, and Lothario taking on a variety of partners from Mascaras, Tiger Conway Jr., and El Halcon.
762
763On January 20, 1979, he returned to Mexico under a mask as The Texas Ranger, for an IWA title match with Mascaras at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City. We don’t have an attendance figure for that show but in those days, the UWA promotion was regularly doing more than 10,000 and sometimes up to 20,000 at their regular home in Naucalpan, and they only went to the Palacio when they felt they had an attraction big enough to draw more than 20,000 fans.
764
765Rhodes always listed Lothario as one of the best babyfaces he was ever in the ring with.
766
767“”Lothario was one of the greatest natural workers I’ve ever seen and worked against,” he wrote in his autobiography. “And when you talk about owning a town, he was the guy. There were some cities that you couldn’t even imagine beating Lothario for fear of a riot breaking out.”
768
769Lothario also helped train Tully Blanchard, Bryan Danielson and Kevin Von Erich.
770
771“Jose Lothario was one of the most knowledgeable wrestlers to ever train me,” said Von Erich. “He knew so much, and remembered everything. What a good, considerate, generous man.”
772
773“Joe was a great teacher and always looked out for me,” wrote Michaels, who was trained by Lothario and then got his start as a full-time wrestler when Lothario called Bill Watts and told him he had someone ready. “He was a nice, wonderful man, not that grumpy, mean aggressive old-timer that you hear about in this business. He really believed in me and he was encouraging. He would let me learn and struggle, but when the time was right, he let me know it was time to move on. Jose didn’t make a huge deal of the situation or tell me that I was being screwed or anything. He just said it was time to go. One thing Jose didn’t do was stir things up.”
774
775“I think every young boy who lived in Texas knew who Jose Lothario was,” said Michaels. “I first saw him on TV when I was 12. He was the first superstar to come across my screen.”
776
777While Lothario fell to the early matches on the card during the heyday of World Class Championship Wrestling in 1983 and 1984, as the aging undercard veteran, he did end his career on top working main events in 1985 for Texas All-Star Wrestling, the promotion headed by Fred Behrend, which purchased Southwest Championship Wrestling from Joe Blanchard when Blanchard’s company was about to go belly-up.
778
779He and Michaels formed a tag team in one of his last matches, teaming with Big Bubba (Fred Ottman) to go against former Lothario partners turned heel Al Madril & Chavo Guerrero, and a Lothario-rival during the Texas promotion’s heyday, Black Gordman.
780
781Smackdown on 11/27 did 2,264,000 viewers, which would be the closest the show has ever come to beating Raw on USA Network when it wasn’t a special version of the show. It was up five percent from last week.
782
783Smackdown was ninth for the night on cable.
784
785Really the most logical explanation for this was the promotion of the return of Becky Lynch, who is not only the hottest character, but seemingly a ratings mover, at least for her first time back after the injury.
786
787The big difference were strong gains in the 18-49 demo where Smackdown placed first on cable. In an interesting stat, in women 18-49, 38.4 percent more watched Smackdown this week than Raw. With men, 6.6 percent more men in the 18-49 demo this week watched Raw.
788
789The show did a 0.47 in 12-17 (up 4.4 percent from last week), 0.57 in 18-34 (up 11.8 percent), 1.05 in 35-49 (up 20.7 percent) and 0.87 in 50+ (up 1.2 percent).
790
791The audience was 60.2 percent male in 18-49 and 50.2 percent male in 12-17.
792
793Raw on 11/26 did 2,368,000 viewers, the fourth lowest number in modern history, largely due to a 19 percent audience drop from the first-to-third hour, one of the bigger drops in history.
794
795The audience was down five percent from the prior week, which was boosted by being the show the day after a strong Survivor Series show. However, this week’s show also had the benefit of going against the least-watched Monday Night Football game of the season, as the Houston Texans vs. Tennessee Titans game did 9,735,000 viewers.
796
797Raw was ninth for the night on cable, trailing football related programming on ESPN and news shows.
798
799The third hour was the second least-watched hour of Raw programming in the modern era, trailing only hour three of the 10/1 show which did 2,018,000 viewers. The 10/1 show also did the lowest overall number with 2,291,000 viewers.
800
801The first hour did 2,612,000 viewers. The second hour did 2,382,000 viewers and the third hour did 2,111,000 viewers. While one could blow off ratings declines as being part of a general trend in television, when such a high percentage of viewers are tuning out of the show, when historically wrestling shows had always peaked in the final segment previously, that can directly be blamed on interest and show quality.
802
803The percentage decline was the eighth largest in history and fourth largest of 2018, trailing shows on 11/12, 1/15 and 2/19.
804
805In this case, they were pushing a Seth Rollins open challenge IC title defense and Finn Balor vs, Baron Corbin in hour three. The show is clearly hurt by the losses of both Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman. While Dean Ambrose also wasn’t at the show, that can’t be blamed because he was on segments and they outright suggested he’d probably be doing a run-in, which he didn’t do.
806
807In first-to-third hour audience drops, it was 17 percent in women 18-49, 12 percent in men 18-49, 35 percent in girls 12-17, four percent in boys 12-17 and 18 percent among viewers over 50. The drop wasn’t particularly bad among men, but was clearly horrible among women, particularly teenager girls, to the point something was clearly a turnoff and in this case it would be something in hour two, because the drop came late. My gut says it was the AOP vs. Bobby Roode & Chad Gable segment.
808
809The show did a 0.55 in 12-17 (down 11.3 percent from last week), 0.60 in 18-34 (down 11.8 percent), 0.98 in 35-49 (down 7.5 percent) and 0.96 in 50+ (up 3.2 percent).
810
811The audience was 66.1 percent male in 18-49, much higher than usual, and 55.2 percent male in 12-17.
812
813Impact on 11/22 did 124,000 viewers, its second best figure since the move to 10 p.m., and up from 101,000 the week before.
814
815Ultimate Fighter on 11/21 did 159,000 viewers, roughly the same as the 152,000 the week before. The season ends with the 11/28 episode before the live finale on 11/30.
816
817Total Divas didn’t air an episode on 11/21 and were finishing the season on 11/28.
818
819This is the first issue of the current set. If you’ve got a (1) on your address label, it means your subscription expires in two weeks with a single and a double issue.
820
821Renewal rates for the printed Observer in the United States are $12 for four issues (which includes $4 for postage and handling), $22 for eight, $31 for 12, $40 for 16, $60 for 24, $80 for 32, $100 for 40, $130 for 52 up through $160 for 64 issues.
822
823For Canada and Mexico, the rates are $13.50 for four issues (which includes $6 for postage and handling), $24 for eight, $34 for 12, $44 for 16, $66 or 24, $88 for 32, $110 for 40 issues, $143 for 52 and $176 for 64.
824
825For Europe outside the U.K. and the rest of the world, the rates are $15.50 for four issues (which includes $9 for postage and handling), $30 for eight, $43 for 12, $56 for 16, $70 for 20, $84 for 24, $98 for 28, $140 for 40 issues and $182 for 52 issues.
826
827You can also get the Observer on the web at www.wrestlingobserver.com for $10.99 per month for a premium membership that includes daily audio updates, Figure Four Weekly, special articles and a message board. If you are a premium member and still want hard copies of the Observer, you can get them for $8 per set in the U.S., $9 per set in Canada and $11.50 per set for the rest of the world.
828
829All subscription renewals should be sent to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228. You can also renew via Visa or MasterCard by sending your name, address, phone number, Visa or MasterCard number (and include the three or four digit security code on the card) and expiration date to Dave@wrestlingobserver.com or by fax to (408)244-3402. You can also renew at www.paypal.com using dave@wrestlingobserver.com as the pay to address. For all credit card or paypal orders, please add a $1 processing fee. If there are any subscription problems, you can contact us and we will attempt to rectify them immediately, but please include with your name a full address as well a phone number you can be contacted at.
830
831All letters to the editor, reports from live shows and any other correspondence pertaining to this publication should also be sent to the above address.
832
833This 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.
834
835Fax 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
836
837For back issues of the Observer, the "Wrestling Observer Index" lists almost every issue in our history going back almost 34 years with the major headlines by the week. Besides as a guide for ordering back issues, the Index is also a great way to keep a catalog of past issues and use for historical purposes. It is available for $25 from Grant Zwarych, 151 Hart Ave., Peterborough, ON K9J 5C5 Canada.
838
839Virtually every back issue from 1982-91 is available from him at prices listed, plus $5 for postage for overseas orders. Issues from 1991 to present are available from us at $4 per issue. If you are ordering back issues from us, please denote back issues on the envelope to insure the quickest response.
840
841All payments to Grant or to us must be made in U.S. funds.
842For those who have a previous index, the new 2015 index supplement is available for $5 in Canada, $6 in the U.S. and $9 internationally. Or you can get the 2014 index supplement free with a $40 back issue order.
843
844He also has re-issues of some of the most popular Wrestling Observer publications of the past. He has the 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990 Observer yearbooks and the 1986 Wrestling Observer's Who's Who in Wrestling book. For more info you can e-mail grantsindex@nexicom.net.
845
846RESULTS
847
848 
849
85011/14 Mexico City (AAA Facebook): Mascarita Sagrada b Keyra, El Texano Jr. b Nino Hamburguesa, Australian Suicide b Taya, Fenix b Golden Magic
851
85211/15 Naucalpan (IWRG): Emperador Brillante b Blue Monsther, Francoise Montanez b Dr. Cerebro, Solar & El Hijo de Solar b El Hijo de Fishman & Negro Navarro, Blue Panther Jr. & The Panther b Los Traumas I & II, Jack Evans b Ricky Marvin, Jean Montanez & Pierre Montanez b Heddi Karaoui & Zumbi, Sharly Rockstar & Ciber the Main Man & The Chris & Cuervo b El Hijo de L.A. Park & Lizmark Jr. & Mr. Electro & Ramses, Three-way cage match: Rush won over L.A. Park and Penta 0M
853
85411/17 Shimonoseki (Dragon Gate - 775 sellout): K-Ness & U-T b Hyo Watanabe & Bitman, Ryo Saito & Don Fujii & Bandido b Masaaki Mochizuki & Shun Skywalker & Kota Minoura, Gamma b Genki Horiguchi, Kzy & Susumu Yokosuka b Naruki Doi & Jason Lee, Masato Yoshino & Dragon Kid b Eita& Yasushi Kanda, Big R Shimizu & Ben K & Takashi Yoshida & Daga b Yamato & BxB Hulk & Flamita & Yosuke Santa Maria
855
85611/21 Mexico City (AAA Capital Facebook show): Argenis b Mocho Cota Jr., El Hijo del Vikingo b Mascarita Sagrada, Drago b Puma King, Keyra b Vanilla, Murder Clown b Samoano
857
85811/22 Sendai (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 275): Kaito Kiyomiya & Hitoshi Kumano b Cody Hall & Masao Inoue, Kotaro Suzuki & Hi69 & Minoru Tanaka & Yoshinari Ogawa & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi b Tadasuke & Daisuke Harada & Hayata & Yo-Hey, Quiet Storm b Akitoshi Saito, Maybach Taniguchi b Kazusada Higuchi, Takashi Sugiura & Mohammed Yone b Go Shiozaki & Atsushi Kotoge, Mitsuya Nagai b Kenou, Naomichi Marufuji b Kohei Sato, Masa Kitamiya b Katsuhiko Nakajima
859
86011/23 Kawasaki (New Japan - 2,617 sellout): Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa b Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura, Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi b Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Tomoaki Honma & Ren Narita, Baretta & Chuckie T b Ayato Yoshida & Shota Umino, Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka b Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi, Juice Robinson & David Finlay b Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb, Evil & Seiya Sanada b Togi Makabe & Toa Henare, Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano b Kota Ibushi & Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi, Kazuchika Okada & Sho & Yoh b Tetsuya Naito & Bushi & Shingo Takagi
861
86211/23 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL - 9,000): Akuma & Espanto Jr. b Oro Jr. & Super Astro Jr., Black Panther & Blue Panther Jr. & Fuego b Kawato San & Okumura & Universo 2000 Jr., Soberano Jr. & Titan & Triton b Dark Magic & Luciferno & Vangellys, Caristico & Mistico & Volador Jr. b Mephisto & Ephesto & Penta 0M, Leyenda de Plata championship: Cavernario b King Phoenix, Sanson & Cuatrero & Forastero & Mascara Ano 2000 b Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & Euforia & Templario
863
86411/23 Tokyo Shin-Kiba (All Japan - 360 sellout): Koji Iwamoto b Yusuke Okada, Takao Omori & Black Menso-re b Zeus & Hokuto Omori, Kento Miyahara & Yoshitatsu b Jun Akiyama & Atsushi Maruyama, Jake Lee & Ryoji Sai b Tajiri & Gianni Valletta, Kengo Mashimo & Kai b Naoya Nomura & Yuma Aoyagi, Joe Doering & Dylan James & Parrow & Odinson b Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa & Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato
865
86611/23 Kobe (Dragon Gate - 787 sellout): Mondai Ryu d Bitman, Takashi Yoshida & Daga b Naruki Doi & Kaito Ishida, Kzy b Yosuke Santa Maria, Masaaki Mochizuki b Jason Lee, Ryo Saito & Don Fujii& Gamma b Shun Skywalker & Hyo Watanabe & Yuki Yoshioka, Masato Yoshino & Dragon Kid NC Susumu Yokosuka & Yasshi, Yamato & BxB Hulk& Flamita & U-T b Big R Shimizu & Ben K & Eita & Yasushi Kanda
867
86811/23 Melbourne, Australia (World Series Wrestling - 500 sellout): Marty Scurll b Adam Brooks, Robbie Eagles won four-way over Tome Filip, Stevie Filip and Bandido, Matt Grimm Basso & Brodie Marshall b Concrete Davidson & Cass Stone, Flip Gordon b Jonah Rock, Austin Aries referee: Slex b Chris Basso, Brandi Rhodes won three-way over Indi Hartwell and Erika Reid, Brian Cage b Walter
869
87011/24 Liverpool, UK (WWE NXT U.K. TV tapings - 1,600 sellout): Xia Brookside b Nina Samuels, Jordan Devlin b Kenny Williams, Eddie Dennis b Dan Moloney-DQ, Tyson T-Bone b Saxon Huxley b Jack Starz & Tucker, Joe Coffey b El Ligero, Marcel Barthel b Mark Andrews, Zack Gibson & James Drake b Mitch Hitchman& Jay Melrose, Rhea Ripley b Deonna Purrazzo, Travis Banks b Jamie Ahmed, Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner b Kenny Williams & Amir Jordan, Jinny b Candy Floss, Trent Seven & Tyler Bate b Mark Coffey & Wolfgang
871
87211/24 Kuki (New Japan - 1,778 sellout): Yota Tsuji d Yuya Uemura, Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb b Manabu Nakanishi & Shota Umino, Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka b Yuji Nagata & Ayato Yoshida, Togi Makabe & Toa Henare & Tomoaki Honma b Juice Robinson & David Finlay & Ren Narita, Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi b Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima b Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano b Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. Kazuchika Okada & Baretta & Chuckie T & Sho & Yoh b Tetsuya Naito & Evil & Seiya Sanada & Bushi & Shingo Takagi
873
87411/24 Mexico City Juan de la Barrera Gym (AAA TV Tapings): El Hijo del Vikingo & Mascara de Bronce b Australian Suicide & Dave the Clown, Dinastia & Mascarita Sagrada b Mini Histeria & Mini Psycho Clown, Aerostar & Angelikal & Argenis b Carta Brave Jr. & Mocho Cota Jr. & Tito Santana, Guardian Emperador I & II & Psycho Clown b Averno & Chessman & Super Fly
875
87611/24 Yokohama (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 329 sellout): Mitsuya Nagai & Hajime Ohara & Hitoshi Kumano & Masao Inoue b Quiet Storm & Hi69 & Minoru Tanaka & Yoshiki Inamura, Tadasuke & Daisuke Harada & Yo-Hey b Kotaro Suzuki & Yoshinari Ogawa & Junta Miyawaki, Kazusada Higuchi b Cody Hall, Kenou & Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya b Naomichi Marufuji & Akitoshi Saito & Shiro Koshinaka, Kaito Kiyomiya b Maybach Taniguchi, Mohammed Yone b Go Shiozaki, Atsushi Kotoge b Takashi Sugiura
877
87811/24 Kawagoe (Dragon Gate - 366): Takashi Yoshida & Yasushi Kanda & Daga b Jason Lee & Naruki Doi & Bitman, U-T b Kaito Ishida, Shun Skywalker & Yuki Yoshioka b Masaaki Mochizuki & Kota Minoura, Yamato & Flamita b Dragon Kid & Dragon Dia, Big R Shimizu & Ben K & Eita b Kzy & Susumu Yokosuka & K-Ness
879
88011/24 Winston-Salem, NC (Wrestlecade): Brandon Scott b Billy Gunn, Hurricane Helms b Eli Drake, The Boys b Jax Dane & Crimson, ECW rules/Jerry Lynn referee: CW Anderson b Kid Kash, Eddie Edwards & Carlito Colon b Moose & MVP, Street fight/Amber O’Neal referee: Taya Valkyrie b Penelope Ford, Casket match: Crazzy Steve b Vampiro, Ladder match for AWL title: Caleb Konley b Psicosis, Mil Muertes, Jason Kincaid, Marty the Moth and Luchasaurus, Fallah Bahh won Battle Royal, Johnny Impact & PJ Black b Ultimo Dragon & Juventud Guerrera, NWA title: Nick Aldis b Jake Hager
881
88211/24 Melbourne, Australia (World Series Wrestling - 500 sellout): Staredown for U.S. title: Cody b Joey Ryan, Tag titles: Marty Scurll & Brody King b Concrete Davidson & Flip Gordon t win titles, Walter b Jonah Rock, Four-way for Impact X title: Bran Cage won over Robbie Eagles, Tome Filip and Adam Brooks, Brandi Rhodes b Indi Hartwell, Elimination match for WSW title: Austin Aries retained with DQ finish against Chris Basso and Slex
883
88411/24 Chicago (AAW - 575 sellout): Ace Romero b Steven Wolf, Fred Yehi b Mance Warner, Paco b Deonn Rusman, Josh Briggs & Jimmy Jacobs b Darby Allin & Jessicka Havok, David Starr & Eddie Kingston b Matt Sydal & Colt Cabana, Trevor Lee d ACH 60:00, Sami Callihan b MJF, Curt Stallion & Jake Something b Mat Fitchett & Davey Vega, Myron Reed & AR Fox b Laredo Kid & Rey Horus, AAW women’s title: Kylie Rae b Kimber Lee
885
88611/25 Bloomington, IL (WWE Raw - 1,750): Drew McIntyre b Finn Balor, Sasha Banks & Ember Moon & Bayley & Dana Brooke b Nia Jax & Alicia Fox & Mickie James & Tamina, Mojo Rawley b Tyler Breeze, Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel & No Way Jose b Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder & Curt Hawkins, Bray Wyatt b Baron Corbin, No DQ: Bray Wyatt b Baron Corbin, Apollo Crews b Jinder Mahal, Bobby Roode & Chad Gable b The Ascension, IC title: Seth Rollins DCOR Dean Ambrose
887
88811/25 Madison, WI (WWE Smackdown - 2,000): Tag titles: Sheamus & Cesaro b Big E & Xavier Woods, Shelton Benjamin b Aiden English, Shelton Benjamin b Aiden English, Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows & Shelton Benjamin b Colons & Aiden English, Nikki Cross & Lana b Billie Kay & Peyton Royce, Charlotte Flair b Asuka, Randy Orton b Jeff Hardy, R-Truth & Carmella b Andrade Cien Almas & Zelina Vega, Three-way for U.S. title: Shinsuke Nakamura won over Rusev and Samoa Joe, A.J. Styles b The Miz
889
89011/25 Liverpool, UK (WWE NXT U.K. TV tapings - 1,350): Jay Melrose b Jack Starz, Toni Storm b Deonna Purrazzo, Mike Hitchman b Josh Morrell, Eddie Dennis NC Dave Mastiff, Kenny Williams & Amir Jordan b Jamie Ahmed & Dan Moloney, Isla Dawn b Xia Brookside, Jordan Devlin b Damien Weir, Zack Gibson & James Drake b Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews, El Ligero b Joseph Conners, Travis Banks b Tyson T-Bone, Joe & Mark Coffey & Wolfgang b Pete Dunne & Tyler Bate & Trent Seven
891
89211/25 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 1,442): Katsuhiko Nakajima won three-way over Kenou and Kohei Sato, Daisuke Harada & Hayata & Yo-Hey b Yoshinari Ogawa & Junta Miyawaki & Yoshiki Inamura, Mohammed Yone & Quiet Storm & Hajime Ohara & Hitoshi Kumano b Masao Inoue & Seiya Morohashi & Lin Dong Xuan & Ma Zhu Jiang, Maybach Taniguchi & Mitsuya Nagai & Cody Hall b Masa Kitamiya & Kazusada Higuchi & Kouki Iwasaki, Go Shiozaki & Atsushi Kotoge b Takashi Sugiura & Akitoshi Saito, GHC Jr. Tag title: Hi69 & Minoru Tanaka b Koji Kanemoto & Hiroshi Yamato, GHC Jr. title: Kotaro Suzuki b Tadasuke, Global league finals: Kaito Kiyomiya b Katsuhiko Nakajima
893
89411/25 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (DDT - 1,312): Toru Owashi won three-way over Saki Akai and Antonio Honda, Tetsuya Endo & Soma Takao b Keisuke Ishii & Yumehito Imanari, Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel b Kazusada Higuchi & Shunme Katsumata & Kudo, Hardcore match: Jun Kasai b Mao, Iron Man title: Konosuke Takeshita b Maki Ito, Akita NC Danshoku Dino, Cima & Lindaman b Harashima & Kazuki Hirata, KO-D title: Daisuke Sasaki b Masahiro Takanashi
895
89611/25 Yokohama (All Japan - 925): Keiichi Sato b Hokuto Omori, Black Menso-re & Black Tiger VII b Atsushi Maruyama & Sushi, Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori & Masa Fuchi b Mitsuya Nagai& Gianni Valletta & Leatherface, Zeus & The Bodyguard won three-way over Parrow & Odinson and Tajiri & Koji Iwamoto, Naoya Nomura & Yuma Aoyagi b Jake Lee & Ryoji Sai, Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa & Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato & Yusuke Okada b Joe Doering & Dylan James & Kazma Sakamoto & Utamaro & Masayuki Mitomi, Kengo Mashimo & Kai b Kento Miyahara & Yoshitatsu
897
89811/25 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL): Pequeno Nitro & Pequeno Olimpico & Pierrothito b Angelito & Fantasy & Kaligula, Akuma & Camorra b El Hijo del Signo & Yago, Flyer b Tiger, Angel de Oro & Blue Panther & Stuka Jr. b Dragon Rojo Jr. & Hechicero & Polvora, Cuatrero & Forastero & Mascara Ano 2000 b Atlantis & Niebla Roja & Soberano Jr., Diamante Azul & Valiente & Volador Jr. b Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & El Terrible
899
90011/25 Kawagoe (Dragon Gate - 414): Mondai Ryu d Bitman, Big R Shimizu & Ben K & Takashi Yoshida b Shun Skywalker & Yuki Yoshioka & Kota Minoura, Yamato b U-T, Naruki Doi b Kaito Ishida, Kzy & Susumu Yokosuka b K-Ness & Flamita, Masaaki Mochizuki & Dragon Kid & Jason Lee b Eita & Yasushi Kanda & Daga
901
90211/25 Perth, Western Australia (World Series Wrestling): Dwayne, Paper, Scissors match 2/3 for U.S. title: Cody b Joey Ryan, Impact X title: Brian Cage b Bandido, Brandi Rhodes b Savannah Summers, Walter & Jonah Rock b Logan Grey & Alex Kingston, Marty Scurll b Damien Slater, Brody King won three-way over Marcius Pitt and Gavin McGavin, WSW title: Austin Aries b Flip Gordon
903
90411/26 Milwaukee (WWE Raw/Main Event TV tapings - 7,500): Titus O’Neil b Mojo Rawley, Zack Ryder & Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel b Tyler Breeze & The Ascension, Elias b Bobby Lashley-DQ, No DQ: Bobby Lashley b Elias, 2 on 3: Kalisto & Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik b Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder, Tag titles: AOP b Bobby Roode & Chad Gable, Ember Moon b Alicia Fox, Jinder Mahal b No Way Jose, IC title: Seth Rollins b Dolph Ziggler, Handicap match: Drew McIntyre & Baron Corbin b Finn Balor, Ronda Rousey & Sasha Banks & Ember Moon & Natalya & Bayley b Ruby Riott & Sara Logan & Liv Morgan & Nia Jax & Tamina
905
90611/26 Cedar Rapids, IA (WWE Smackdown - 1,500): Tag titles: Sheamus & Cesaro b Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods, Shelton Benjamin b Aiden English, Shelton Benjamin b Aiden English, Shelton Benjamin & Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows b Colons & Aiden English, Carmella & Lana b Billie Kay & Peyton Royce, Charlotte Flair b Asuka, Randy Orton b Jeff Hardy, R-Truth b Andrade Cien Almas, Three-way for U.S. title: Shinsuke Nakamura won over Rusev and Samoa Joe, A.J. Styles b The Miz
907
90811/26 Komatsu (New Japan - 2,327): Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi b Ayato Yoshida & Shota Umino, Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. b Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi, Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi b Togi Makabe & Toa Henare, Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka b Baretta & Chuckie T, Evil & Seiya Sanada b Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano b Juice Robinson & David Finlay, Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb b Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa, Tetsuya Naito & Bushi & Shingo Takagi b Kazuchika Okada & Sho & Yoh
909
91011/26 Niigata (All Japan - 780 sellout): Hikaru Sato b Atsushi Maruyama, Jake Lee & Koji Iwamoto b Atsushi Aoki & Yusuke Okada, Parrow & Odinson & Kotaro Suzuki b Jun Akiyama & Zeus & Black Menso-re, Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa b Tajiri & Gianni Valletta, Takao Omori & Manabu Soya b Naoya Nomura & Yuma Aoyagi, Kento Miyahara & Yoshitatsu b Joe Doering & Dylan James
911
91211/26 Sydney, Australia (World Series Wrestling - 700 sellout): Thumb wrestling for U.S. title: Cody b Joey Ryan, Chris Basso b Slex, Tag titles: Marty Scurll & Brody King b Tome & Stevie Filip, Walter b Jack Bonza, Brian Cage won three-way over Flip Gordon and Jonah Rock, Brandi Rhodes b Shazza McKenzie, WSW title: Robbie Eagles b Austin Aries to win title
913
91411/26 London, UK (wXw - 700 sellout): Jordan Breaks b Joe Bailey, Jordan Devlin b Mark Andrews, Jinny & Laura DiMatteo b Charlie Morgan & Nina Samuels, Drew Parker NC Jimmy Havoc, Jordynne Grace b Isla Down, Progress Atlas title: Chief Deputy Dunne & Los Federales Santos Jr. b Bill Curry & Dan Barry to win titles, Eddie Dennis b Mark Haskins, Travis Banks b David Starr
915
91611/27 Minneapolis (WWE Smackdown/Mixed Match Challenge/205 Live TV tapings - 8,000): Noam Dar b Mike Kanellis, Hideo Itami b Levy Cruise, Cedric Alexander & Mustafa Ali b Buddy Murphy & Tony Nese, Non-title: Usos b Sheamus & Cesaro, Kofi Kingston b The Miz, Asuka won Battle Royal, Jinder Mahal & Alicia Fox b Curt Hawkins & Ember Moon, Finn Balor & Bayley b Bobby Lashley & Mickie James,. A.J. Styles & Jeff Hardy b Samoa Joe & Randy Orton
917
91811/27 Shirakawa (All Japan - 335): Kotaro Suzuki b Yusuke Okada, Atsushi Aoki & Hikaru Sato b Koji Iwamoto & Hokuto Omori, Parrow & Odinson b Tajiri & Gianni Valletta, Kento Miyahara & Yoshitatsu & Naoya Nomura & Yuma Aoyagi b Jun Akiyama & Zeus & Atsushi Maruyama & Black Menso-re, Joe Doering & Dylan James b Takao Omori & Manabu Soya, Jake Lee & Ryoji Sai b Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa
919
92011/27 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL): Mercurio & Pequeno Nitro b Kaligula & Shockercito, Cancerbero & Metalico & Nitro b Pegasso & Robin & Star Jr., Lluvia & Marcela & Princesa Sugehit b Dallys & Reyna Isis & Tiffany-DQ, Black Panther b Dragon Rojo Jr., Soberano Jr. & Stuka Jr. & Titan b Hechicero & Templario & Vangellys, Angel de Oro & Diamante Azul & Niebla Roja b Ephesto & Mephisto & Rey Bucanero
921
92211/28 Winter Park, FL (WWE NXT TV tapings - 400 sellout): Luke Menzies b Mansoor Al-Shehail, Matt Riddle b Punishment Martinez, Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler b Humberto Carrillo & Raul Mendoza, Shayna Baszler b Dakota Kai, EC3 b Bobby Fish, Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch b Nick Miller & Shane Thorne, Mia Yim b Reina Gonzalez, North American title: Ricochet b Tyler Breeze, Io Shirai & Dakota Kai b Jessamyn Duke & Marina Shafir, Dominik Dijakovic b Aaron Mackey, Otis Dozovic & Tucker Matt Riddle b Kassius Ohno, Jaxson Ryker b Mitch Taverna, Bianca Belair won four-way over Lacey Evans, Io Shirai and Mia Yim, Tag titles: Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly b Otis Dozovic &Tucker night, Cage match: Johnny Gargano b Aleister Black
923
92411/28 Mito (New Japan - 1,267): Evil & Seiya Sanada b Ayato Yoshida & Shota Umino, Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi b Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi, Baretta & Chuckie T b Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima, Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka b Juice Robinson & David Finlay, Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb b Togi Makabe & Toa Henare, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano b Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa b Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr., Tetsuya Naito & Bushi & Shingo Takagi b Kazuchika Okada & Sho & Yoh
925
926 
927
928Special thanks to: Bryan Alvarez, Rob Bihari, Leonard Brand, Patrick Brandmeyer, Brandon Breland, Joseph Chaplin, Kevin Chiat, Michael Coleman, Bradley Craig, the Cubs Fan, James Dixon, Ben Dollery, Dave Gould, Jake Groskreutz, David Herrera, Eric Krol, Mike Kuzmuk, Dan Lennard, Stephen Lyon, Calum Marshall, Kevin Mouradian, Jason Pisca, Robert Pivoroff, Bryan Reznick, Dave Roughton, Tyler Swtzky, Patrick Tobin, Shannon Walsh
929
930CMLL: King Phoenix, better known as Fenix, suffered a groin injury on the 11/23 show at Arena Mexico when facing Cavernario in the finals of the Leyenda de Plata tournament. The injury is serious enough that he’s out the rest of the year and he’s been working through injuries regularly because he has that mentality about not missing dates. Not sure where this leaves the AAA mega heavyweight title that Fenix held. It was notable that you had the AAA champion doing a clean job in a singles match to a CMLL guy at Arena Mexico of all places. This is just a change in mentality in pro wrestling. If you place a high value on titles, maybe it’s not a good thing but if you place a high value on getting rid of a lot of silliness and grudges that have hampered the profession and politics that have kept top guys from being in the ring with each other, this has been a good thing and CMLL’s business has increased greatly due to it. But still, you had the issue where they’ll use guys but CMLL won’t let the outside guys beat their guys in the big stipulation matches. Fenix was scheduled to defend the AAA title on 12/2 against Brian Cage. It’s not clear how AAA will handle this because the belief is Fenix will only be out of action for about a month. The injury, a groin injury, may have taken place early in the match when he did a double springboard tornillo dive to the floor, which was before he missed the running flip dive over the top and crashed, where a lot of people thought may have been the injury spot. He himself said he didn’t know when the injury took place but felt something bad right before the finish, but you could see him walking badly in the second fall. He noted that the flip dive and crash on the floor, while painful, he was braced for it and was fine. Even after he was hurt, he did all his regular planned spots. It was clear at the start of the third fall he wasn’t himself. The crash back first on the floor after a tope con giro, was a planned spot to set up Cavernario jumping off the top with a splash to the floor. My knees just kill me watching that stuff. Cavernario just turned 25 a few weeks ago so he does that stuff and he still moves around fine, but that is going to take its toll. In the third fall, Cavernario did a stage dive full splash, which was even crazier. The match went 23:50. They were doing dives early. Phoenix won the first fall in 4:25 with a Phoenix drive. The second fall was 5:03. Phoenix missed the running flip dive and crashed and then Cavernario did the splash off the top rope to the floor on him. Phoenix was counted out of the ring at that point. In the third fall, Phoenix did a rope walk into a double foot stomp on Cavernario’s back on the apron. Phoenix followed with a rope walk twisting dive. Cavernario did his stage dive. He threw Phoenix back in, but Phoenix made a comeback with a double springboard into a Spanish fly. They traded near falls. Cavernario ran across the apron and did the dive in the corner into and back out of the ring. The crowd wasn’t as hot as in their previous match. This was a ****1/4 match. Then came the ceremony for Mascara Ano 2000, 60-year-old Jesus Reyes. He came out with his old mask and worked the match with it. He doesn’t look as old with the mask on. Sofia Alonso, Paco’s daughter, or Mexico’s Stephanie, came out to give him a commemorative plaque. His daughter, Tanya was there as was his older brother, Cien Caras, who is 69 and looked much younger in his leather jacket and mask. Caras did take the mask off when he did color commentary. Mascara Ano 2000 teamed with the New Generation Dinamitas, Forastero & Sanson & Cuatrero who are going to be superstars for decades to come, to beat Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & Euforia & Templario in 13:31. Ultimo tired to pin Mascara by holding the ropes but the ref caught him. Mascara then did the same thing and the ref didn’t catch him. Ultimo and Mascara were issuing hair vs. hair challenges when it was over. Templario looked good in the main event position. The show drew 9,000 fans
931
932They are doing yet another legends night on 11/30. It’ll probably do well because Jerry Estrada and Super Muneco haven’t been at Arena Mexico in a long time. Estrada, 61, is probably the most underrated worker of the past 50 years, but his body has been shot for a good 20 years. He was one of the best live performers in the world as far as little things on house shows, very much of the level of Negro Casas, in the early days of AAA. But he was one hard living guy. The main event is Rayo de Jalisco Jr. & Atlantis & Blue Panther vs. Canek & Mascara Ano 2000 & Villano IV. Canek is now 66 and has looked really bad in recent years when they bring him back, but these shows always do well if they are done sporadically. Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & Euforia defend the CMLL trios titles against Volador Jr. & Mistico & Caristico, which is always a good match and probably a great one. It’s interesting because Los Guerreros lost on Friday via cheating so one would think it would be the Dinamitas that would get the shot. Other bouts are the return of Mano Negra (59) & Solar (62) & Felino (54, who still works here full-time) vs. Fuerza Guerrera (almost 65) & Estrada (61) & Negro Navarro (61, coming off a heart attack), Rush & Cavernario & El Terrible vs. Sanson & Cuatrero & Forastero (this could be a usual Friday night main event but it’s fourth from the top), the micros with Microman & Gallito & Guapito vs. Chamuel & Mije & Perico Zacarias and opening has Super Muneco (56) & Super Pinocho & Super Raton, Los Trios Fantasia who were big favorites in the early 80s, facing Rocky Santana & Mr. Condor & Gallego, who were rivals of theirs in that era.
933
934AAA: The Capital Facebook show on 11/21 had to be rearranged because there was fog at the Mexico City airport causing problems with flights. Vampiro missed the show so Konnan did the announcing. In the tournament, El Hijo del Vikingo beat the original Mascarita Sagrada; Drago beat Puma King; Keyra beat Vanilla and Murder Clown beat Samoano. Killer Kross then attacked both guys after the match and introduced Scarlett Bordeaux, who is also entering the tournament. The idea of the Facebook show (which airs live every Wednesday night all over the world) is to have matches which would never happen in AAA otherwise, so you’ve got the gimmick type bouts
935
936Among the guys being talked with about coming in through the Konnan booking connection is LAX, as well as The Rascalz threesome of Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz &Trey Miguel
937
938Also expect Angelikal & Laredo Kid & El Hijo del Vikingo to be pushed as a trio. The situation with Danger Boy and Ultimo Maldito getting new identities and then having it dropped came because one side of the power had the idea of using existing names they own like Espectro and Kahoz and other names and give them to the younger high flyers as a gimmick to allow them to be pushed. But that’s not happening because Espectro and Kahoz were names Antonio Pena used as a wrestler and others felt they shouldn’t be giving Pena’s old ring names to wrestlers, so they were put back to their old names a week later
939
940Business has started to get stronger as the most recent TV tapings in Orizaba, Veracruz drew 6,500, just shy of capacity, and the show in Ciudad Juarez drew a sellout of 6,500
941
942There is a TV taping live on Twitch on 12/2 in Aguascalientes with Dr. Wagner Jr. & Psycho Clown vs. Blue Demon Jr. & Killer Kross, plus El Hijo del Fantasma vs.; Drago for the Latin American title, Rey Escorpion & El Texano Jr. defend the AAA tag titles against Joe Lider & Pagano and Ciclope & Miedo Extremo and Carta Brava Jr.& Mocho Cota Jr. & Tito Santana vs. Angelikal & El Hijo del Vikingo & Laredo Kid for the trios title. Fenix vs. Brian Cage was the advertised AAA mega heavyweight title match, but nothing has been announced yet on how the title is or isn’t impacted and how the card changes with the Fenix injury.
943
944THE CRASH: With Rey Fenix injured, the 12/1 show built around Penta 0M & Fenix vs. Sanson & Cuatrero for the Crash tag titles has been changed. Penta & Fenix are being stripped of the titles and Sanson & Cuatrero will defend against Bestia 666 & Mecha Wolf. The Mistico & Rey Horus vs. Mecha Wolf & Bestia tag match is now Mistico vs. Horus vs. Penta 0M in a three-way while Ultimo Guerrero vs. Jacob Fatu vs. Mesias remains as the other top match.
945
946DRAGON GATE: The final major show of the year, Final Gate, takes place on 12/23 in Fukuoka. On the 11/23 show in Kobe they shot an angle to build Dragon Kid vs. Eita in a mask vs. hair match for the Open the Brave Gate title. It started in the tag team semifinal where Masato Yoshino & Dragon Kid faced Susumu Yokosuka & Yasshi. Eita attacked Dragon Kid and stole his title belt. Then in the main event, Yamato & BxB Hulk & Flamita & U-T facing Eita & Big R Shimizu & Ben K & Yasushi Kanda saw Dragon Kid hit Eita with a red box and he was pinned by U-T. They did a pull-apart until General Manage Yagi announced a mask vs. hair match. Dragon Kid accepted but Eita wouldn’t accept. Yagi said that Eita was clearly a coward and that if he didn’t accept, that he would start the next day as an opening match wrestler in black trunks and go back to his real name of Eita Kobayashi and be booked like a young boy.
947
948ALL JAPAN: Here are the tag team tournament standings as of the morning of 11/28 in a tournament where all teams will end up having ten matches: 1. Parrow & Odinson 4-1; 2. Joe Doering & Dylan James 4-2; 3. Jun Akiyama & Daisuke Sekimoto 2-1; 4. Kengo Mashimo & Kai and Takao Omori & Manabu Soya 3-2; 6. Kento Miyahara & Yoshitatsu 3-4;7.Jake Lee & Ryoji Sai and Tajiri & Gianni Valletta 2-3; 9. Naoya Nomura & Yuma Aoyagi 1-5, Zeus & The Bodyguard 0-1
949
95011/23 in Tokyo at Shin-Kiba before a sellout 360 saw Lee & Sai over Tajiri & Valletta in 8:53 when Lee pinned Tajiri after Valletta accidentally hit Tajiri with a chain. Tajiri had just sprayed red mist in Lee’s face. (**). Mashimo & Kai beat Nomura & Aoyagi in 20:11 when Kai pinned Aoyagi after meteor impact. Said to be the best match so far of the tournament with Kai standing out. (****)
951
95211/25 in Yokohama before 925 fans saw Aoyagi & Nomura get their first win over Lee & Sai in 18:49 when Nomura beat Sai. Sai was destroying Nomura most of the way. Good pacing. (***1/4). Mashimo & Kai beat Miyahara & Yoshitatsu in 22:32 when Kai pinned Miyahara after meteor impact. This getting the pin on Miyahara may set up Kai for a Triple Crown title shot at Miyahara in January. This topped the main event of two nights earlier. Mashimo is from Yokohama so the crowd was heavily behind Mashimo & Kai, who were the underdogs. Everyone worked hard and the focal point was Kai vs. Miyahara and the upset win. (****1/4)
953
95411/26 in Niigata before a sellout 780 fans saw Suwama & Ishikawa beat Tajiri & Valletta in 10:47 when Ishikawa pinned Tajiri with a thunder fire power bomb. (*½). Omori & Soya beat Nomura & Aoyagi in 16:25 when Omori pinned Nomura with the axe bomber. Nomura kicked out of the Omori driver. But it feels like Nomura & Aoyagi, as All Asia tag champs, should not be losing this frequently. (***). Miyahara & Yoshitatsu beat Doering & James in 19:54 when Miyahara beat James with the Koji clutch submission. Crowd was into this. A lot was bigger Doering beating on Miyahara. (***1/4)
955
95611/27 in Shirakawa before 335 fans saw Parrow & Odinson beat Tajiri & Valletta in 9:38 when Parrow pinned Tajiri after reversing a sunset flip after Tajiri blew green mist in Odinson’s face. Match wasn’t good but finish was creative (*½). Doering & James beat Omori & Soya in 12:18 when Doering pinned Soya after a spike piledriver (**½). Lee & Sai beat Suwama & Ishikawa in 22:26 when Lee beat Ishikawa in a good match. Lots of near falls. Lee kicked out of all of Ishikawa’s big moves, including a sit out piledriver. Lee made a big comeback and pinned Ishikawa after a running knee. This looks to set up a future world tag team title match against Suwama & Ishikawa (***½).
957
958PRO WRESTLING NOAH: Kaito Kiyomiya, a young star on the rise, beat Katsuhiko Nakajima to win the Global League tournament on 11/25 at Korakuen Hall before 1,442 fans. Nakajima replaced Naomichi Marufuji, wh was originally scheduled for the final but suffered a left hamstring tear and a left shoulder contusion the night before. Knowing the mentality of both Marufuji and Japan, the idea that he was in the finals and couldn’t go has to mean he was badly hurt. Marufuji won the A block with a 5-2 record before the injury that took place on 11/24 in Yokohama. Kiyomiya scored the pin in 18:34 with a German suplex and Tiger driver in a match said to be ****1/4 to ****½. The crowd was crazy fr Kiyomiya scoring the upset. Aside for some women rooting for Nakajima, the crowd was almost completely for Kiyomiya. Nakajima destroyed him with great looking kicks. So Kiyomiya will face Takashi Sugiura for the GHC title and Go Shiozaki also issued a challenge to Sugiura. With Marufuji out, they did a three-way on the show for the B block rep in the finals where Nakajima won over Kenou and Kohei Sato in 7:47. Nakajima pinned Kenou with a Frankensteiner to win it. The crowd was hot. They ignored usual Japanese rules as Sato had wins over both Kenou and Nakajima, so even though they were tied, he should have advanced. But I guess they felt Nakajima vs. Kiyomiya would be a better final match. Kotaro Suzuki retained the jr. title beating Tadasuke in 16:40 of a really good match. Suzuki was said to have worked the match brilliantly as far aw his ability to get Tadasuke over while also being a great technical wrestler. After the match, Daisuke Harada came out to challenge Suzuki. Since Harada has already lost twice to Suzuki, he had to agree to stipulations that if he loses again, the RATEL’s group has to break up and Harada has to shave his head. The feeling is RATEL’s are way too popular to break up right now. Hi69 & Minoru Tanaka kept the GHC jr tag titles over Koji Kanemoto & Hiroshi Yamato, both outsiders, in 16:01 when Tanaka used a Northern light suplex into an armbar, the Minoru special on Yamato. Kanemoto has slowed up since he’s now 52, while Tanaka, at 46, was the star of the match. The next challengers will be Hajime Ohara & Hitoshi Kumano. The crowd was more excited than at NOAH Korakuen Hall shows of late. Before the show started, Mitsuo Momota came out. Momota is the son of Rikidozan, and he provided live commentary as they played clips of a Rikidozan vs. Don Leo Jonathan match which is part of the multi-part Rikidozan documentary that will be airing this month on the 55th anniversary of his death (December 15, 1963). Kiyomiya, at 22, is the youngest winner of the tournament, and since he’s tall and good-looking, along with his picking it up fast, they see him as a potential superstar. The crowd was behind him for every win. When they showed the graphic for the finals, the crowd was totally behind Kiyomiya and chanted his name. The GHC title match with Kiyomiya, the jr. and jr. tag titles will all be at the 12/16 show at the Yokohama Bunka Gym show. That show will also feature Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Doug Williams in Williams’ Japanese retirement match
959
960.With Marufuji’s injury, the GHC tag titles that Marufuji & Akitoshi Saito held have been vacated. There will be a tournament on 12/7 at Korakuen Hall for the belts
961
962On the 11/22 show in Sendai, which was to finalize the B block winner, Quiet Storm beat Akitoshi Saito in 10:24 after a lariat in a match where both were out of the running. Maybach Taniguchi beat Kazusada Higuchi in a B block match in 9:30 with the Maybach bomb. Mitsuya Nagai beat Kenou in 11:30 with the Nagai lock. This kept Kenou from taking the lead. Marufuji then took the lead beating Sato in a battle where both came in at 4-2. Marufuji won via count out in 10:18. Nakajima was then put in a position to win the block if he beat Masa Kitamiya, but Kitamiya played spoiler and made Nakajima submit to the Masa Saito prison deathlock in 15:20. So the A block ended with Marufuji at 5-2 and winning, Sato, Nakajima and Kenou were 4-3 and Saito, Kitamiya and Storm were 3-4 while Nagai was 2-5
963
964Kiyomiya won the B block after the show on 11/24 show at Radiant Hall in Yokohama by virtue of the best overall record against the other three when he, Go Shiozaki, Takashi Sugiura and Taniguchi all tied at 4-3. Kiyomiya, who was 3-3 going into the final fight, beat Taniguchi, who was 4-2, in 13:29 with a Tiger suplex. Shiozaki, who came in at 4-2, also lost, to Mohammed Yone in 13:44 via Fujiwara armbar submission. Sugiura, also 4-2, was pinned by Atsushi Kotoge in just 6:14. So it was the ultimate in parity booking, with four guys at 4-3 and the other four guys, Cody Hall, Yone, Higuchi and Kotoge all ending at 3-4.
965
966NEW JAPAN: Our theory of Kota Ibushi vs. Will Ospreay, the original plan for the Tokyo Dome, with Ospreay as Never Open weight champion, was still on as of last week, except for Ospreay’s injury leading it to not be a Never title defense by Ospreay. It would make sense to have Ibushi win the title on 12/9 from Hirooki Goto, but all we know is that our speculation on Ibushi vs. Ospreay match was on the formatted card of a week ago
967
968There were 5,000 applications for tickets sent in for New Year’s Dash just from the New Japan Fan Club. The problem is there are only 1,700 for sale. And there may be more than 2,000 Americans going that week who all want to see New Year’s Dash, not to mention fans in Tokyo or traveling to Tokyo from Japan and other countries. Perhaps that show should be moved to Sumo Hall next year, which sounds ridiculous on the surface, but even a 5,000-seat building now looks too small for that show
969
970The company has a long-term vision for Europe as part of its world expansion, but right now the goal is to get television in as many markets in Europe as possible before doing anything else
971
972Here are the current standings in the World Tag League tournament: 1. Evil & Seiya Sanada and Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano 5-1; 3. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa, Chuckie T & Baretta, Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi 4-2; 7. Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka, Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb, Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi and Juice Robinson & David Finlay 3-3, 11. Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2-4; 12. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi and Togi Makabe & Toa Henare 1-5; 14., Shota Umino & Ayato Yoshida 0-6
973
97411/23 in Kawasaki drew a sellout of 2,617. Baretta & Chuckie T beat Yoshida & Umino in 8:32 when Chuckie pinned Umino after the awful waffle. Suzuki & Iizuka beat Nagata & Nakanishi in 9:28 when Suzuki pinned Nakanishi with the Gotch piledriver. Robinson & Finlay beat Elgin & Cobb in 11:32 when Robinson pinned Cobb with pulp friction. Evil & Sanada beat Makabe & Henare in 12:21 when Evil pinned Henare with It’s Evil
975
97611/24 in Koki drew a sellout of 1,778 fans with Page & Takahashi over Sabre & Taichi in 15:08 when Page pinned Taichi with the rites of passage. Tenzan & Kojima upset Tonga & Loa in 11:13 when Kojima pinned Loa after a lariat. Ishii & Yano beat Archer & Smith in 13:53 when Yano pinned Archer after a cradle
977
97811/25 in Nagoya was the big show of the tour with 4,479 fans. Page & Takahashi beat Yoshida & Umino in 7:53 when Takahashi pinned Yoshida with pimp juice. Ishii & Yano beat Nagata & Nakanishi in 8:28 when Yano pinned Nakanishi with an outside cradle. Elgin & Cobb beat Tenzan & Kojima in 12:18 when Elgin pinned Kojima after an Elgin bomb. Robinson & Finlay beat Makabe & Henare in 10:44 when Finlay pinned Henare with a Granby roll. Tonga & Loa beat Suzuki & Iizuka in 9:46 when Tonga pinned Iizuka after a gunstun. Archer & Smith beat Baretta & Chuckie T in 11:03 after a killer bomb on Chuckie. Sabre & Taichi beat Evil & Sanada in an upset in 16:56 when Sabre pinned Evil with a Zack driver
979
98011/26 in Komatsu before 2,327 fans saw Sabre & Taichi over Yoshida & Umino in 8:32 when Taichi pinned Umino with a last ride power bomb; Archer & Smith beat Nagata & Nakanishi when Smith pinned Nakanishi after the killer bomb; Page & Takahashi beat Makabe & Henare in 11:08 when Takahashi pinned Henare after pimp juice; Suzuki & Iizuka beat Baretta & Chuckie in 10:20 when Suzuki pinned Chuckie with the Gotch piledriver; Evil & Sanada beat Tenzan & Kojima in 12:07 when Sanada pinned Tenzan after a moonsault; Ishii & Yano beat Robinson & Finlay in 11:43 when Ishii pinned Finlay after a brainbuster; and Elgin & Cobb beat Tonga & Loa in 13:32 when Cobb pinned Loa after tour of the islands.
981
982OTHER JAPAN NOTES: Fujita Junior Hayato, real name Hayato Fujita, 32, announced this past week that he was suffering from cancer of the spinal cord. It’s an even sadder story because Fujita is a personal protégé of Kid Yamamoto, who just passed away from cancer. In fact, his finishing move, the guillotine, is called the KID. Fujita has been out of action since April 2017 due to a knee injury. In his interview at the 11/24 show in Sendai, Fujita said that he would return to wrestle. Fujita was nationally ranked in high school in Greco-Roman wrestling and already training at Yamamoto’s Gym with the idea of going into MMA. While he was competing in a tournament in Tokyo, Jinsei Shinzaki saw him and said he should think about pro wrestling. He was 18 when he made his debut in a match with Katsuhiko Nakajima in 2004. He wrestled in Mexico and Michinoku Pro where he stood out because instead of doing Lucha Libre style, his matches were more shoot style. He left Michinoku Pro for Zero-1 in 2009. He also worked in New Japan in 2010 and 2011 and held singles match wins over the likes of Jushin Liger, Tama Tonga, Koji Kanemoto and Kenny Omega
983
984Daisuke Sekimoto won the Zero-1 world heavyweight title from Masato Tanaka with a German suplex in 21:06
985
986On 11/24, Momo Watanabe & rookie Utami Hayashishita won the Goddesses of Stardom tag title from Jungle Kyona & Natsuko Tora in 20:10 when Hayashishita pinned Kyona. On 11/25 in Nagoya before 386 fans, Momo Watanabe kept her Wonder of Stardom title over Natsu Sumire
987
988On Twitter, somebody unearthed perhaps the most unique wrestling product endorsement of all-time, from the 50s in Japan where they had newspaper and magazine ads for Rikidozan vibrators. In the 00s, during the Bob Sapp phenomenon, they had Bob Sapp dildo’s
989
990DDT ran Korakuen Hall on 11/25 and drew 1,316 fans. Daisuke Sasaki retained the KO-D title over Masahiro Takanashi. Sasaki convinced Takanashi to put up the 1 million yen ($8,900) he won in a fan voting election to get the match. The gimmick is Sasaki is a scumbag who always throws his money away drinking and at strip clubs. Okay match but the crowd was hot for Takanashi at the end. Cima & Lindaman from the OWE in China beat Harashima & Kazuki Hirata. Hirata was using Magnum Tokyo’s entrance music and his moves. Cima then started doing his Toryumon gimmick when he and Magnum were the top stars. Danshoku Dino has been doing an amnesia angle where he was no idea who he is. Akito kept trying to bring him back by setting up all his gay comedy spots. Dino just acted confused. Makoto Oishi tried to hit Dino with a chair but missed. Dino got the chair, swung it, missed and the chair bounced off the ropes and hit him in the head. Of course at that point he remembered who he was. The lights went off. When they came back on, Dino was naked except he was holding his tights in front of his crotch. He tried to give Akito a naked piledriver but all the other wrestlers ran in to try and cover him up. Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz, who had been working for Dragon Gate, switched here and brought in Trey Miguel. They were billed as being from the OWE promotion and beat Kazusada Higuchi & Shunme Katsumata & Kudo
991
992Riki Choshu’s Power Hall show on 12/28 at Korakuen Hall with his countdown to retirement at 66 years of age announced for its nostalgia show a main event of Choshu & Tatsumi Fujinami & Masa Kitamiya vs. Kaito Kiyomiya & Jun Kasai & Nosawa. Also Shinjiro Otani & Yutaka Yoshie & Takashi Sugiura & Takuya Nomura vs. Kendo Kashin & Kohei Sato & Katsuhiko Nakajima & Tomoya Hirata, Shiro Koshinaka & Yukio Sakaguchi & Dinosaur Takuma vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Kengo Mashimo & Kota Umeda and more including Akitoshi Saito, AKIRA, Yoshitatsu, Ayato Yoshida, Minoru Tanaka and Yoshiaki Fujiwara
993
994Nosawa’s Gurentai promotion on 11/26 ran Shinjuku Face in Tokyo before 485 fans with a main event billed as Tokyo Wednesday Nitro, putting the Jung Dragons team from Nitro of Kaz Hayashi & Jimmy Yang back together, managed by Jazzy Yang, who is Jimmy’s daughter, beating Nosawa & Shannon Moore in the main event. The semi saw Dory Funk Jr., who turns 78 in February, go to a 10:00 draw with protégé Osamu Nishimura.
995
996HERE AND THERE: There was a benefit show at Arena Naucalpan on 11/22 for Cuervo, the Puerto Rican wrestler hospitalized in Mexico after Angel o Demonio knocked him out by throwing a brick at the back of his head. They building was jam packed and some of the biggest stars in Mexico including L.A. Park, Penta 0M and Rey Fenix worked the show. At the show they said that Cuervo should be out of the hospital in about a week but that it would be about one year before he could return to wrestle. The commission in the state of Mexico, where the incident took place, said that Angel o Demonio will be suspended until Cuervo is back wrestling. With all the bad feelings toward him, he’s been more remorseful in recent interviews but then also went after others in the business who were critical of him. Cuervo was released from the hospital but was told not to do any significant physical activity or even lift weights for six months
997
998Jim Duggan, 64, as hospitalized this past weekend and was in critical condition. Duggan has said that he would say what happened to him, but has not yet released it. From what we understand, the situation was very serious
999
1000James Morris aka James Ellsworth released a statement regarding the 16-year-old girl who claimed he had sent her nude photos and posted the photos. “Recently, allegations of misconduct have been lodged against me which I categorically deny. I never have, nor will I ever engage in any activity that could be deemed as inappropriate or disrespectful. My delay in publicly commenting on this situation was based on the advice of my legal team, which has just completed a thorough investigation. My attorneys have pinpointed a trusted witness who is willing to testify on my behalf. In addition, they have uncovered concrete evidence that supports my innocence and proves that without a shadow of a doubt the social media accounts alleged to be mine are fake and the messages from the account were fraudulently created without my knowledge or consent. My only hope is to restore my reputation as I, along with my family, friends and supporters have suffered because of a social media stunt devised to end my professional wrestling career. My team and I are prepared to pursue legal action against any party that persists with the promotion of these lies.
1001
1002WrestleCade took place this past weekend in Winston-Salem, NC. The main show on 11/24 had Road Warrior Animal managing The War Kings, who were Crimson & Jax Dane. C.W. Anderson and Kid Kash had an ECW rules match with Jerry Lynn as referee and Joel Gertner managing Kash. When it was over, Anderson invited all the other former ECW wrestlers who were there to come out, which included Chris Hamrick, Shane Douglas, Blue Meanie, Pitbull Gary Wolfe, Mr. Hughes, New Jack and Roadkill. Anderson said how 25 years ago they revolutionized the business and fans still chant ECW today because they were the originators of hardcore. Eddie Edwards & Carlito beat Moose & MVP. In a street fight with Amber O’Neal as referee, Taya Valkyrie beat Penelope Ford. Some called this the best match on the show. They used lots of weapons and the finish was a superplex through a table. Crazzy Steve beat Vampiro in a casket match that was short and not very good. Vampiro then got right out of the casket to cut a promo. He said how he’s beaten cancer, a broken neck and a broken back, He challenged Steve & Jim Mitchell to a cage match next year and said he’d fly himself in for free. He asked the crowd if they wanted to see it and they chant. There is an old school carny trick of doing that in Mexico to force a promotion to bring you back by issuing a challenge on your own. He said he flew himself in from Colombia with his own money to make the show on time. That was notable because he missed his show in Mexico a few nights earlier due to flight issues (which was legit given that others also had trouble landing due to the fog at the Mexico City airport). But nobody knows how he wound up in Colombia. Some thought he meant the Colombia show a week earlier but he wasn’t at that show. Johnny Mundo & PJ Black beat Ultimo Dragon & Juventud Guerrera managed by Sonny Onno. Nick Aldis kept the NWA title over Jake Hager, managed by his wife Catalina, in the main event
1003
1004Gene LeBell, 86, a former judo champion, pro wrestler, television announcer, stuntman, martial arts star and probably another half dozen things, retired as an MMA judge with his final show being the Golden Boy show on 11/24 at the Forum in Los Angeles. LeBell was the son of Aileen Eaton, who promoted boxing and pro wrestling in Southern California. He trained wrestling under Strangler Lewis and Lou Thesz, and then moved to judo where he won the national championship in 1954 and 1955. For years, LeBell was the policeman for the promotion run by his brother, Mike LeBell. The two actually didn’t get along well and few liked Mike and almost everybody liked Gene. Gene’s role was to hurt people who wanted to be pro wrestlers, and with his judo submission background, he was good at that. He did some pro wrestling as The Hangman in the 60s and would do the TV announcer comes out of retirement for grudge matches with heels at times in the 70s. He did the interviews on the television show in the late 60s and early 70s. He was actually a hell of a promo and it was always weird to me watching where everyone knew the television announcer was tougher than the wrestlers. In the dying days of the promotion, he came back and had a main event run and even did a heel turn. LeBell had a famous boxer vs. wrestler match against Milo Savage on December 2, 1963, in Salt Lake City. Rules hampered LeBell which included no takedowns below the waist. LeBell won via choke but it took him longer to finish Savage than would be expected, but he was easily able to avoid the boxers punches. The story was that Savage had trained in amateur wrestling and judo since he was able to block some of LeBell’s judo throws for a few rounds. LeBell also claimed he greased his gi making it hard for him to hold on and had Brass Knuckles under his boxing gloves, but at least as far as the latter goes, I’d take that one with a grain of salt. But that was kind of a forerunner of UFC and at times this was written up as the day Gene LeBell saved martial arts. He was also the referee and one of the judges of the 1976 Ali vs. Inoki match in Tokyo. He worked as a stuntman in maybe 1,000 movies, wrote numerous martial arts books long before the MMA era (including a book on finishing holds in fights where he threw in a bunch of worked pro wrestling submissions that have never seemed to have ever taken place in an actual MMA fight situation) and also was a trainer of Ronda Rousey from childhood (Ronda calls him Uncle Gene) and was in her corner doing the stopwatch gimmick at all of her fights early in her career
1005
1006Jesse Ventura, 67, said that he’s thinking seriously of running for President in 2020, saying that the Green Party has shown some interest and that he hasn’t made a decision yet. He said if he does, Trump won’t have a chance because Trump can’t out talk him and said to TMZ that Trump knows “I’m the greatest talker wrestling’s ever had.
1007
1008MJF suffered a fractured elbow and will be out of action four to six weeks. The injury is believed to have happened at the 11/24 AAW show in Chicago against Sami Callihan. He didn’t know it was hurt and actually felt fine after the match, but then realized he was hurt bad the next day. He’s expected to have to forfeit his CZW title
1009
1010World Series Wrestling in Australia had a tour this past week called “The Elite Takeover. “ Cody was the big attraction and both he and Joey Ryan were there but unable to wrestle. Also on the tour were Marty Scurll, champion Austin Aries, Brandi Rhodes, Walter, Bandido, Brian Cage, Brody King (who the promotion brought in as a surprise because of the injuries to Cody and Ryan) and Flip Gordon. The Young Bucks took the week off as Matt took his wife on a European vacation since they had a schedule break. The 11/23 and 11/24 shows sold out Melbourne with about 500 fans. On the first night, Cody came out and apologized for not being able to wrestle. He said that regardless of the rumors out there, that he will come back to the promotion on his own dime and will work the shows for free since he was unable to fulfill his commitments here. He also said that he was in trouble with New Japan since he booked Bandido (who is a AAA) guy on All In and put him in a match with New Japan guys (Ibushi, Young Bucks). Fenix is also an AAA guy, but since he works for CMLL, that wouldn’t be a problem I guess. Tome & Stevie Filip, regular Australians who worked this tour, have just started at the Fale Dojo which is considered a prelude to working New Japan. Ryan did a similar speech as Cody talking about coming back, which led to Cody coming out and accusing him of stealing his lines. Ryan & Concrete Davidson held the group’s tag titles but weren’t able to defend them. Aries did a heel ref bit on the first night. Chris Basso wanted a title shot and Aries said he’d have to beat Slex to get it. Then Aries played complete heel ref and helped Slex win. But Slex got sick of Aries and attacked him after which set up a three-way for the title on the second show. There was also an angle where Gordon beat Jonah Rock, but Rock beat him down after the match and Scurll made the save. Scurll then apologized for all the talking on the show and said it was turning into an episode of Raw. He asked Gordon to be his partner and go after the tag titles. They hugged and that’s when Brody King came out as a surprise. He beat down Gordon. Instead of saving, Scurll joined in and announced that he and King were now a tag team called Villain Enterprises. The first night main event was Cage over Walter which was said to be a ****1/4 match. Cage came across to the fans as a bigger star than Walter, and got the pin after an F-5
1011
1012The second show saw Cody open with a promo and Ryan came out. This led to the two having a staredown contest which Cody said he would put up his U.S. title in. Yeah, not sure about New Japan’s title being up in a staredown. Cody agreed and said he was already in trouble with New Japan and this would only make it worse. So it sounded like some of this is just an angle. The finish saw Brandi come out and start to unzip her top, and Ryan turned to look and lost. Scurll & King wont he tag titles over Davidson & Gordon, who had Ryan in their corner. Davidson’s chest was beaten badly. Walter beat Rock. These two worked a 90s All Japan big man style main event. Very hard hitting. Cage kept the Impact X Division title over Robbie Eagles, Adam Brooks and Tome Filip in what was said to be the match of the night when Cage beating Tome with the drill claw. It’s notable that Cage has already vacated the title he defended on this tour, but I guess he can still defend it here since the vacating of it hasn’t yet aired on television in the U.S. There was unique booking in the Aries vs. Basso vs. Slex three-way elimination match for the title. Aries was eliminated and the place went crazy, figuring it was a lock for a title change. But the Slex vs. Basso finish saw Aries throw the belt into the ring and Slex piledrove Basso on it. The ref DQ’d Slex and then ruled that since it was a DQ, that Aries retains his title. That kind of doesn’t make sense but that’s how they booked it
1013
1014The 11/25 show in Perth opened with Cody and Ryan issuing challenges for a rematch, a 2 of 3 falls rock, paper and scissors match, which as comedy, they called a Dwayne, paper and scissors match which Cody won. The referee took the dick flip after. Cage beat Bandido to keep the X title. Walter & Rock vs. The Street Gang Hooligans of Logan Grey & Alex Kingston tore down the house, as did Scurll beating Damien Slater. Aries retained over Gordon in the main event with a low blow and roll-up
1015
1016The final show was 11/26 in Sydney before a sellout of 700 fans where Scurll & King beat Tome & Stevie Filip to keep the tag titles, Cage won a three-way over Gordon and Rock, Brandi Rhodes beat Shazza McKenzie and Eagles beat Aries to win the WSW title. The place went nuts for the title change in a very good match
1017
1018Masato Tanaka is coming to the U.S. for a 12/28 show for Absolute Intense Wrestling in Parma, OH, and on 12/29 for Game Changer Wrestling in Asbury Park, NJ to face PCO
1019
1020Hugo Savinovich is promoting a show on 11/29 in Guaynabo, PR, called Misterio Mania, which kind of tells you who he was wanting as a headliner when the show first was going to happen. The idea for the show was to take place last year before the island was crippled by the hurricane. By the time they were able to put this show together, Mysterio was no longer available. The show is a tribute to Ricky Banderas, who, as Mesias, is the headliner against Pentagon Jr. Among the other matches are Ryback vs. MVP, L.A. Park vs. Pagano, Mecha Wolf vs. Fenix vs. Johnny Mundo, Taya Valkyrie vs. Ivelisse Velez plus all sorts of Puerto Rican stars from the past like Savio Vega. The original idea from last year was said to be to use the show to relaunch the old IWA promotion
1021
1022Warrior Wrestling in Chicago has a loaded show on 1/5 with Brian Cage defending his WW title against Bandido, Eddie Edwards vs. Austin Aries, Rey Fenix & Penta 0M vs. Matt Sydal & A-Kid (the wrestler from Spain that has the killer match with Zack Sabre Jr.), Tessa Blanchard vs. Britt Baker, Sam Adonis & Super Crazy & Titan vs. Pat Monix & Ultimo Dragon & Daga, Rich Swann vs. Andrew Everett, Jordynne Gracie vs. Kylie Rae and a 12 person free-for-all match
1023
1024The update on MLW is that 12/13 in Miami has Pentagon Jr. vs. Teddy Hart, L.A. Park vs. PCO falls count anywhere, and Rush vs. Shane Strickland. There was a Tom Lawlor vs. Simon Gotch no ropes no holds barred match, although with Lawlor expected to undergo hand surgery, that would be off. Lawlor and MJF, who are both regulars, are still to be booked on the shows to be part of the television tapings, even though it doesn’t look like either can wrestle. The 12/14 show has Low Ki vs. Konnan for the MLW title and had a middleweight title ladder match with Kotto Brazil, Jason Cade, Andrew Everett and Dezmond Xavier. Champion MJF, if cleared, which is unlikely, would be defending the title and added to this match, and if not, the match would be for the vacant title. Rush vs. Rich Swann and Tommy Dreamer vs. Brian Pillman Jr. in a Singapore Cane match are also on that show. Dragon Lee, who has been out of action for months due to appearing on a reality show, will debut and be on both shows as will DJZ. While there are a lot of rumors regarding Strickland and what he’s doing next, and there are mixed reports, and he’s denying going to WWE (keep in mind he has to even if he is going), he is booked for MLW dates in 2019 but things are said to be complicated
1025
1026Also, on that stuff with The Sheik and WCW in Detroit from last week’s issue the actual scenario, and this does make Sheik look awfully good, is that the show Sheik worked that we covered last week drew 7,000 fans, the second show where Sheik was advertised but no-showed because he was mad about his payoff for the first show and thought he deserved 10 percent of the gate did 7,500 fans on September 9, 1988. After Sheik no-showed the second show, they came back on October 21, 1988, and did 1,300 fans. But they had a similar pattern in 1987. They came in with Ric Flair vs. Ron Garvin, drew very well and gave people a shock title change and all we heard was that it was the greatest show ever in Detroit, and then came back a few weeks later and bombed. It was a real lesson repeated many times. You give people a phenomenal show, they rave about it, but come back a month later and those people won’t come back. It was all about stars, not getting people to go crazy at shows. We’d see shows all the time with big stars and zero heat where the next show would still draw with big stars. Today is somewhat different in the sense that giving people great shows to a degree helps bring them back, not on its own, but more than in the past, and big stars doesn’t necessarily draw nearly as big now, nor can they come back monthly with that either
1027
1028Charges against Adam Birch, 39 (Joey Mercury) for identity theft, conspiracy to commit credit card fraud of more than $300, use or possession of personal identification information and petty theft were all dropped this past week in Orange County, FL
1029
1030Atsushi Onita & Matt Tremont (who had left the promotion) vs. DJ Hyde & Masada will headline CZW’s annual Cage of Death XX show on 12/9 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. As amazing as this sounds, this will be the first wrestling match Onita has ever done at the arena
1031
1032AAW sold out the Logan Square Arena on 11/24 for a show where Kylie Rae beat Kimber Lee in the main event to win the women’s title via crossface submission. The earlier report we had of her using Brass Knux to win was incorrect. She broke down and teared up when she learned she was getting the title and was going to be in the main event. Myron Reed & AR Fox kept the tag titles over Laredo Kid & Rey Horus. The big match on the show was in the middle where Trevor lee went to a 60:00 draw with ACH in a match that was probably these two guys last chances to do a match like this given they are starting in January with WWE in NXT. People were raving about it saying it was a ****3/4 match. The last ten minute were near fall after near fall. Lee kicked out of two brainbusters in the last minute. Both sold exhaustion at the finish. When the match was over, ACH asked for five more minutes, but only if Lee put up his Heritage title. Eddie Kingston then attacked ACH and Lee helped out. DJZ made the save and DJZ defends the Heritage title against Lee on 12/8 in LaSalle, IL they put the match on in the middle of the show, instead of last. They never did time cues during the match and the crowd was with them the whole way, especially in the closing stretch. But it hurt the second half of the show having to follow that.
1033
1034There is a loaded up show in Irapuato, Mexico on 12/22 headlined by L.A. Park & Rush as a tag team against Penta 0M & Dragon Lee.
1035
1036EUROPE: Revolution Pro announced Pac vs. Zack Sabre Jr. on 1/6 at the Cockpit in London
1037
1038A new promotion called Fight Forever Wrestling debuts with shows on 12/6 in Birmingham at Pryzm Nightclub, 12/7 in York Hall in London, 12/8 in Bristol at the Action Indoor Sports Arena and 12/9 at the Olympia in Liverpool, where NXT UK just taped. The promotion was started by brothers Jonathon and Simon Kay, and they are planning on doing monthly PPV shows. The key players on the tour will be Cody (not wrestling), Brandi Rhodes, Jimmy Havoc, Zack Gibson (who can’t be booked after these date) and The Godfather
1039
1040Absolute Andy beat Ilja Dragunov on 11/23 in Hamburg before a sellout of 700 fans to unify both versions of the wXw title
1041
1042wXw announced Walter & Timothy Thatcher & Marcel Barthel vs. Pete Dunne & Tyler Bate & Trent Seven for the 12/22 show. It also appears that new champion Andy will be facing David Starr soon
1043
1044Progress ran on 11/26 in London at the Electric Ballroom before a sellout of 700 fans for a show headlined by Travis Banks beating David Starr. They run 12/8 in Manchester and 12/9 in Sheffield with LAX coming in. LAX faces Chris Brookes & Jonathan Gresham on the first night with the winning team getting a tag team title shot at tag champs Aussie Open the second night. Also in Sheffield is Dragunov (who is looking at touring more outside of Germany in 2019) against Travis Banks
1045
1046Peter Baines, who was a famous referee and ring announcer on the U.K. scene for decades, passed away this past week at the age of 91. He was the ring announcer for George Kidd’s retirement match in 1976, and refereed the world heavyweight title match on ITV between Wayne Bridges and Kendo Nagasaki in 1987. He has regularly attended British wrestler reunion events and received a Services to Wrestling award for his lengthy career.
1047
1048ROH: At a meet and greet in Melbourne, Australia, Cody was asked about a new promotion and said to wait for January as an announcement will be made, and said the announcement would be bigger than anyone expects
1049
1050Punk did an interview with MMA Fighting and talked heavily about the Young Bucks, Cody and All Elite Wrestling. “I think at this point that whatever those guys decide to do will be great for them and their families. If I was asked what I would do or what I would say to them–because they could obviously go to WWE whenever they want–it’s just a matter of, is this what’s best for your family. And I think we live in a time now where WWE is not the end-all, be-all. I don’t think it has been for quite some time. I think the stigma is that it is is still there and probably will persist for many, many years. But enough people have been there and left that can, I guess, extol the knowledge of, `Hey, you know what, the place ain’t all that.’ And I’m in a spot where I’ve been gone for what, five years? Maybe the place has changed. I’ve got people who text me and say otherwise, but there’s ways to make money and support your family outside of that, with also being able to satisfy the side of your brain that’s creative, the side of your brain that loves professional wrestling, the reason you bought a pair of boots in the first place. And I think those guys can definitely do that. I think they can command their price if they want there. But if they did go there, then they’d be just another guy, just like everybody else on that show. It’s amazing the more time the show gets, the less time it really seems they develop new characters.” Regarding going to AEW, he said that pro wrestling is not on his radar, but he would be willing to listen to an offer. “I would always listen. I would listen to them because just like Dave (Sholler), I like the Young Bucks. I text with Matt on and off. But business is business. I know Cody was out there in the media saying that an offer was made (For All In). An offer was not made. Calling me up or texting me saying, `Hey, if you want to come to the show and so something, we would love that,’ is not an offer.” He still gave all indications he’s not interested in returning to pro wrestling
1051
1052Silas Young was offered a new three-year deal that right now he’s expected to accept. There were rumors of him leaving because he was at the 11/26 Raw show, but he was there because his son, a big WWE fan, wanted to attend
1053
1054Being the Elite opened with a skit where there was a sledge hammer in the locker room and a dead body (the guy who confronted “H” as in HHH played by Frankie Kazarian) while everyone was doing their business and Cody was still possessed. They didn’t care about the dead body but did notice the sledge hammer and went to move it, but it was so heavy that nobody, not even Page would move it. Then H showed up and Cody wanted to take a picture with him. H then picked up the sledge hammer and left. Marty Scurll invited Adam Page to his party on 1/1 and Page said he couldn’t come. The gimmick is that Scurll is still in ROH on 1/1 and the rest of the guys aren’t available anymore. There is trouble in SCU as Christopher Daniels last week liked Pittsburgh for the sports legacy of the city and this week was wearing a “Canada” T-shirt in Toronto when the gimmick is they are supposed to hate every single city they are in because it’s not Southern California. Page was in a discussion with the Bucks while Cody was in the background mimicking old WWE talent poses like Hogan, Jim Duggan, Hardys, Michaels etc. Matt had the answer that he knows a guy who has dealt with get worse evil spirits and evil spirits on Earth than Vince Russo and Dixie Carter. It was Daniels doing his Fallen Angel gimmick. Cody was battling being possessed and when they opened the shirt they saw a WWE logo drawn on his chest. Daniels said that Cody has the “money shakes” and he hasn’t seem them this bad since AJ debuted at the Rumble. Cody would recite WWE terms and Daniels would spray stuff while saying “The Power of Crockett compels you,” with the idea Cody is being warded off by the fight his father had in the 80s with WWF. He started talking about the date the Revival debuted, called Scorpio Sky “Harold” (only one I can think of is Harold Meij). Daniels ordered everyone out of the room and was with Cody while he was listing all these WWE terms and then started calling Daniels “Coach” and said “come and join us CD.” Cody started levitating and asked if he and Big Frank (Kazarian) got their producer whistles and said “Performance Center.” Daniels then as a last resort started reading from the Young Bucks new children’s book. Eventually things prevailed and as Daniels said they had cured him he held up the children’s book and said “The good book worked.” The show ended with Cody saying “F*** the Revival.
1055
1056Cody’s character of Derek Sampson on the CW television show “Arrow” was killed off on the 11/26 episode so his run as a heel character on that show is over. He went back to the dark hair because the producers of the show wanted him to have the same look he had in previous episodes
1057
1058Stephen Amell revealed that he suffered a fractured left hip doing the All In match with Daniels. This came during the middle of filming the “Arrow” series. He noted that the episode that aired on 11/26 was the one right after suffering the injury.
1059
1060IMPACT: LAX was pulled from the 12/15 and 12/16 Evolve shows. The basic gist is that Impact didn’t want its tag team champions working on a streaming show, that could end up on the WWE Network, losing to guys who are developmental talents (The Street Profits) that WWE isn’t using as one of its top tag teams. Also, Impact sees Evolve in its current form as a part of WWE
1061
1062They have shows this weekend that will be taped from California. The 11/30 show in Newark, CA, at the Pavilion, will be a live show on Twitch with Johnny Impact vs. Eli Drake for the heavyweight title, Tessa Blanchard vs. Keira Hogan, Brian Cage vs. Moose, Dave & Jake Crist vs. The Freaks (the tag team champions of the local Big Time Wrestling promotion), Eddie Edwards vs. Sonny Winger and Rich Swann vs. Matt Sydal. On 12/1, they will be taping a One Night Only PPV in Salinas, CA at the PAL Youth Center with Impact vs. Moose, Blanchard vs. Hogan, Drake vs. Cage, Edwards vs. Sydal, Dave Crist vs. Sledge and Jake Crist vs. Swann.
1063
1064UFC: Anderson Silva vs. Israel Adesanya looks to be the semifinal on the 2/10 show from the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia underneath Robert Whittaker’s title defense Kelvin Gastelum. The idea is to make Adesanya into the next Silva because there are some style similarities so the idea of this is the passing of the torch fight. Adesanya has been pushing this like comparing it to Michael Jordan facing LeBron James
1065
1066Arnold Berdon, 27, pleaded not guilty on charges of second-degree assault in the domestic violence case involving Rachael Ostovich. After getting a second medical opinion, Ostovich said she would be fighting Paige VanZant on the 1/19 ESPN+ debut in Brooklyn. That sounds like an awfully quick turnaround from that injury, as how can you seriously train with a broken orbital and there’s not that much time until the fight. Even if she could start training today, it’s a rushed camp. But for Ostovich, who is a marginal fighter but very good looking, she’s being put in a spotlight fight on the first ESPN show, so from a career standpoint, it is an opportunity she may never get again
1067
1068With Mirsad Bektic out, it looks like Renato Moicano won’t get a new opponent for the 12/8 show in Toronto. However, he’s been told to continue training and be on weight and if something happens to either Max Holloway or Brian Ortega, who fight for the featherweight title on that show, Moicano would be the replacement
1069
1070In a strange story, Dana White said that UFC had let Sage Northcutt go. Northcutt’s contract expired 7/14 win over Zak Ottow, his third win in a row. While Northcutt may never be a top fighter, he’s 11-2,. 22 years old, and he’s a star because of his look. “We let Sage go. Sage is young and Sage needs some work. So let him get some work in one of these other organizations and we’ll see where this kid ends up in a couple of years and maybe we’ll bring him back again.” The actual story is much different and the belief is that ONE made a huge offer for him and it will be announced shortly he’s headed there. ONE head Chatri Sityodtong all but confirmed it on Twitter with major praise of Northcutt as one of the most talented martial artists ont the planet. Northcutt actually tested free agency and got big offers from everyone. Ariel Helwani reported he got big offers from ONE, which was always the favorite to get him, as well as Bellator and Combate Americas and UFC. ONE’s offer was the biggest. UFC had the contractual right to match the ONE offer and declined to do so. I have no clue why White would phrase it the way he did given that, rightly or wrongly, because all these deals being thrown at him are more for his look than his skill (looks are not just a huge marketing advantage with women in fighting) and anyone with half a clue about fighting knows that every organization was going to want him. To phrase it like White did just comes across so badly
1071
1072On that same podcast, White was asked about the flyweight division, and while he didn’t confirm it being dropped as the fighters from the division who were cut were told, he said, “The flyweight division just never took off. It never caught on. Even with a dominant champion like Demetrious, it just never caught on. People didn’t care. I battled for a long time. I tried to keep it alive and obviously, it’s still going on now. We still have fights going on in that division, but we’ll se what the future holds for it.
1073
1074While it had been known, UFC made it official that the 1/26 champion vs. champion fight with Henry Cejudo vs. TJ Dillashaw at the Honda Center in Anaheim will be for Cejudo’s flyweight title, meaning Dillashaw is dropping from 135 to 125
1075
1076The UFC debuts in Prague in the Czech Republic on 2/23 for a show that will air on ESPN+
1077
1078Conor McGregor has settled a lawsuit out of court involving William Pegg, a security guard who was hit by a Monster Energy can when McGregor the another group of fighters that included the
1079
1080Diaz Brothers and Jake Shields started throwing cans at each other during a press conference prior to the second McGregor vs. Nate Diaz fight. Pegg claimed he was hit in the back and shoulder when McGregor threw the can at Nate Diaz and missed,. He had sued for $95,000, claiming he had $5,000 in medical bills and $90,000 in other damages. Evidently it came out in the case that McGregor earned $15 million for that fight
1081
1082McGregor was also in court on 11/27 for an unrelated case. He had his drivers license revoked after pleading guilty for speeding in October 2017 in Co. Kildare, Ireland. McGregor was going 96 miles per hour in a 60 miles per hour zone in his Range Rover. He got his license revoked because this was his 12th driving offense and was also fined 1,000 pounds. He was fined 300 pounds last year for another speeding violation
1083
1084With UFC leaving FS 1 in a few weeks, there is only one episode left of UFC Tonight
1085
1086There are two shows this coming weekend. The 11/30 show is the Ultimate Fighter 28 finals. There may be some fights added but it’s an FS 1 show and Fight Pass show with Chris Gutierrez (12-3-1) vs. Raoni Barcelos (12-1), Ricky Rainey (13-5) vs. Tim Means (27-10-1), Roosevelt Roberts (6-0) vs. Darrell Horcher (13-3), Alex Perez (21-4) vs. Joseph Benavidez (25-5), Rick Glenn (21-5-1) vs. Kevin Aguilar (15-1), Antonina Shevchenko (6-0) vs. Ji Yeon Kim (8-1-2), Darren Stewart (9-3) vs. Edmen Shahbazyn (7-0), Pedro Munhoz (16-3) vs. Bryan Caraway (21-8), and a main event of Rafael dos Anjos (28-10) vs. Kamaru Usman (13-1). At this stage, if Usman wins he should be ready for a shot at the winner of the Tyron Woodley vs. Colby Covington fight. In the TUF finals, the heavyweight final has Juan Espino (8-1) vs. Justin Frazier (10-2) and the women’s featherweight final has Pannie Kianzad (10-3) vs. the winner of the fight that airs on 11/28, the final regular episode of the season
1087
1088There is also a show on FS 1 on 12/1 from Adelaide, Australia. The lineup has Alex Gorgees (6-0) vs. Damir Ismagulov (16-2), Salilm Touahri (10-2) vs. Keita Nakamura (33-9-2), Elias Garcia (6-1) vs. Kai Kara France (17-7), Mizuto Hirota (18-9-2) vs. Christos Giagos (18-7), Wilson Reis (22-9) vs. Ben Nguyen (16-3), Yushin Okami (35-11) vs. Alexey Kunchenko (19-0), Sodiq Yusuff (7-1) vs. Suman Mokhtarian (8-0), Jim Crute (8-0) vs. Paul Craig (10-2), Jake Matthews (14-3) vs. Tony Martin (14-4), Mauricio Shogun Rua (25-11) vs. Tyson Pedro (7-2), Mark Hunt (13-13-1) vs. Justin Willis (7-1) and Junior Dos Santos (19-5) vs. Tai Tuivasa (8-0). The Dos Santos vs. Tuivasa winner will be in the mix as far as the heavyweight title goes as a possible title challenger probably after the retirement of Daniel Cormier. Reis vs. Nguyen is a battle of top flyweights, a division that’s being dropped, so the loser in particular may be cut and the winner may have forced up a weight class
1089
1090Anthony Getschel, originally charged with second-degree murder, plea bargained down to manslaughter and hit and run in he death of former UFC fighter Ryan Jimmo on June 26, 2016. Getschel and police in the end agreed on facts that Getschel was drinking at the Cook County Saloon with his girlfriend and another friend. They left the bar after fighting with other patrons. Getschel, his girlfriend, and his friend left the bar in his truck. The truck came from up from behind of the jeep Jimmo was in and followed it into the parking lot of the H2O lounge. Jimmo parked his jeep and walked up to the door of the truck and yelled at Getschel and his friend, challenging them to a fight. Jimmo then walked away. At about 2:10 a.m., Getschel then accelerated the truck and sped over two concrete parking curbs before hitting Jimmo and dragging him. Getschel then quickly drove the truck out of the parking lot, almost hitting another vehicle. Police arrived. Jimmo was rushed to the emergency room and pronounced dead at 2:45 a.m. Getschel dropped of his friend and girlfriend and hit his truck in a ravine, and took a taxi home. He then told his family that the truck was stolen and went to bed. Later, he brought back the truck but replaced the license plate with a new one. Jimmo died of multiple blunt force and injuries consistent with being run over. Getschel will be sentenced on 12/3
1091
1092Cortney Casey vs. Cynthia Calvillo has been added to the 1/26 PPV show from Anaheim
1093
1094Thiago Alves vs. Max Griffin will be on an ESPN+ show that takes place on 2/2 in Fortaleza, Brazil.
1095
1096BELLATOR: Bellator also has two shows this weekend, both on Paramount. The 11/30 show is from Thackerville, OK, with Jeremy Spoon (20-4) vs. Juan Archuleta (20-1), Kristina Williams (2-1) vs. Bruna Ellen (4-1) , Guilherme Bomba (10-4) vs. David Rickels (19-5) and Chad Njokuani (18-5) vs. John Salter (15-4). That will probably not do well at al between Friday being bad for MMA in general this year, and a weak lineup and UFC television competition head-to-head. It’s also interesting because former champion Joe Warren, one of the most pushed guys on the roster for the last several years, is facing Shawn Bunch, a national-caliber wrestler, on the prelims which are only on DAZN
1097
1098They also run 12/1 in Genoa, Italy with Alessio Sakara (20-12) vs. Kent Kauppinen (10-4), Hesdy Gerges (one of the best heavyweight kickboxers in the world making his MMA debut) vs. Domingos Barros (5-0), Kiefer Crosbie (4-0) vs Orlando D’Ambrosio (7-3) and other fights. This also goes head-to-head with the UFC show on FS 1
1099
1100Mauro Ranallo, who tweeted while frustrated about his contract expiring and being used on a per-show basis, will be back for the DAZN airing of the 12/15 Honolulu show.
1101
1102OTHER MMA: Rizin announced its New Year’s Eve card for the Saitama Super Arena, the traditional biggest show of the year for the group. The featured event is a three-round boxing exhibition with Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. the company’s top star, Tenshin Nasukawa. Nasukawa is a kickboxer, much smaller than Mayweather, who is undefeated. I think the mentality is that just by being in the ring with Mayweather, it’ll build his name, even if he’s got no chance in a boxing match, even with the age difference. Nasukawa has never boxed previously. The other big match is Kyoji Horiguchi, who made a name for himself in losing to Nasukawa under kickboxing rules, faces Bellator’s bantamweight champion Darrion Caldwell to determine the first Rizin bantamweight champion. Keep in mind that Horiguchi fought at flyweight in UFC and Caldwell fights at both bantamweight and featherweight in Bellator. Recently cut UFC fighter Ulka Sasaki faces Manel Kape and Justin Scoggins faces Yuki Motoya. Kazuyuki Miyata, a former Olympic wrestler who was popular a decade ago, has his retirement fight against Erson Yamamoto, the first third generation member of the famous Yamamoto wrestling family. Erson is the son of Miyu Yamamoto, who is one of Rizin’s most popular fighters. Rizin regular Daron Cruickshank faces Damien Brown, another former UFC fighter. Former Bellator title contender Emanuel Newton debuts with Rizin against Jiri Prochazka. Women star Rena Kubota faces Samantha Jean-Francois and another women’s star, Kanna Asakura faces Ayaka Hamasaki
1103
1104The KSW promotion is running a 12/1 show in Gilwice, Poland headlined by Mamed Khalidov vs. Tomasz Narkun and has sold out the 15,000-seat Arena Gilwice.
1105
1106WWE: With Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day coming on Mondays and Tuesdays this year, they are taping television ahead of time both days. Given the holidays and the overall declining trend of the ratings, these shows are likely to do the lowest ratings in the history of Raw and the lowest ratings for Smackdown since it’s move to Tuesdays. You can also throw out those numbers as having any kind of significant meaning. The talent is off from 12/19 until returning to action with the holiday tour weekend shows in MSG and Chicago on 12/26. They are also off New Year’s and New Year’s Day. So the plans are to tape a live Raw on 12/17 in Sacramento, and then after, tape the 12/24 Raw. I would expect they’ll pretape a ton of stuff to try and keep that second Raw down to about two hours. On 12/18 in Fresno, they’ll be taping a live Smackdown and then taping the 12/25 Smackdown. That won’t be as bad, because they can probably get through the Smackdown show in 90 minutes or so. I’m not sure how they are going to do 205 Live or Main Event those weeks. For 12/31 Raw, that will be taped on 12/28 in Detroit and 1/1 Smackdown will be taped on 12/29 in Pittsburgh
1107
1108Kairi Sane is ill with what she believes may be hand, food and mouth disease. She noted having a 102.7 fever on Thanksgiving day, but said the fever has gone down but her hands, feet and mouth have a mysterious eczema. She missed the 11/28 TV tapings in Orlando, but said she was feeling better.
1109
1110One wrestler with experience working with tables, ladders and chairs noted to us that putting Strowman in a TLC match coming back from elbow surgery, if he indeed does do the show, is the worst thing possible. It was noted that the worst thing about working with tables, ladders and chairs is the damage it does to your elbows. Unless you want to get your face and head destroyed, you have to get your arms/hands up for all the chair and ladder shots and they almost smash the hell out of your elbows. The wrestler noted he ended up with many bone chips in both elbows from working with those objects. Tables you also have to be careful of your elbows. While it is your body that goes through the, the surface is had and often bang up your elbows. It sounds like a real bad idea for him to do that style of match, because if he does the match he could be rushing back early, meaning he’s not close to completely healed and even avoiding getting his hands up to block chairs, which that quickly after elbow surgery should be avoided, just the bumps on ladders or tables are going to stress out the weakened part of the body
1111
1112A correction from last week. The Survivor Series weekend next year is still the week before Thanksgiving, not the week of. Thanksgiving next year is 11/28. That would also mean if they follow the pattern and do Starrcade the Saturday after Thanksgiving, it would be on 11/30
1113
1114Big Show, who talked of retirement, said on TMZ he’s signed a new multi-year deal. The reason he’s been moving badly is that he has a strained hamstring
1115
1116Kenny Omega, Rousey and Woods, under his name of Austin Creed (also not his real name as he was born Austin Watson but used the ring name Austin “Consequences” Creed after Apollo Creed in the movies), were nominated in the 2018 Gamers Choice Awards for Fan Favorite Celebrity Athlete Game category. Woods was nominated for his UpUpDownDown show. The nominees for the fan voted awards besides the three wrestlers were David Price, Demetrious Johnson, Gordon Hayward, Jeremy Lin, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Neymar Jr
1117
1118WWE 2K19 also got a nomination for sports video game. The awards show airs on CBS on 12/9
1119
1120Bliss was training on 11/28 at the Performance Center taking light bumps with medical monitoring her
1121
1122Another round of WWE tryouts will start on the week of 12/15
1123
1124The next season of Total Bellas will debut in the Sunday night time slot on 1/20
1125
1126The rental car that Cedric Alexander and Lince Dorado had was broken into on 11/27 while they were in Minneapolis for the 205 Live tapings. A window was broken and some of their things were stolen
1127
1128Shane Helms is coming in this week and next to coach at the PC and will also be working as an agent at NXT house shows. In a trivia note, Helms was the agent for the Kenny Omega vs. Fenix match a few weeks ago for Northeast Wrestling. With them opening up more Performance Centers, they are looking for reliable veteran wrestlers to hire as coaches, and the guys being brought in for one week stints are the guys they would be likely choosing from
1129
1130The stock on 11/28 closed at $71.11 per share, a big increase, boosting the company’s value to $5.541 billion. Most of the major gains from last week’s bottoming out were on 11/28. Part of it was a good day overall for the market, combined with a new Guggenheim analyst report raising its price target to $105 per share and saying it’s at a value similar to right before the last huge increase when the new TV deals were announced. The key is they expect the new India deal, expected to close by the end of the year, to be five times larger than the existing deal and expect that new deal to add $20 million to $30 million in OIBDA starting in 2020. They are projecting $560 million in 2020 and $580 million in 2021 in OIBDA
1131
1132The ten most watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network were: 1. Starrcade; 2. WWE 365 A.J. Styles; 3. Survivor Series (so this week it did beat the Takeover show from the week before); 4. NXT on 11/21; 5. NXT Takeover War Games; 6. Edge & Christian Show; 7. NXT U.K. on 11/21; 8. WWE Chronicle: Dean Ambrose; 9. NXT U.K. on 11/21 (they aired two different episodes as they are trying to catch up from having so many shows taped ahead of time); 10. League of Legends Battle: WWE vs. NXT. Mixed Match Challenge from 11/20 was in 11th place (Facebook gets the exclusive so in theory people most interested would see it before it goes up on the network so it would be more popular than this ranking. Crown Jewel was No. 13. 205 not-so-live for 11/21 was No. 14, which is really bad when you consider it’s supposed to be main roster and it’s the closest to live of all the shows and does the worst. I presume 205 Live will go back to being live in a few weeks since we only have a few weeks left of Mixed Match Challenge
1133
1134Notes from the 11/26 Raw tapings in Milwaukee. This show was pretty bad. Boring, almost nothing good past the last few minutes of a Rollins vs. Ziggler match and some of the worst overacting by Roode in a segment where Maverick pissed on his robe. This felt like one of those heel authority figure shows, which it was, that worked in its day but was largely getting no reaction here. Plus the Ambrose segments in the doctor’s office and the Maverick pissing on Roode’s robe seemed like outdated comedy that didn’t work. And yes, Vince McMahon got restless and wrote much of the show himself. The show drew 7,500 fans. The show opened with O’Neil over Rawley for Main Event. The crowd didn’t care about this match even though the opening match is usually an easy response. Ryder & B Team beat Ascension & Breeze. Raw really felt like it’s missing star power without Reigns, Strowman and Ambrose there. Strowman did have a clip shown of him in Birmingham getting ready for surgery. Ambrose did a taped segment in a doctor’s office saying that he needed to get shots for rabies and distemper and other things before he can go to Houston in his gimmick that the fans smell bad and are contaminated. It felt like a desperate idea to get him booed since they appear to have backed off on him saying Reigns deserved his leukemia, which was heavily criticized. The show opened with Corbin, Lashley, McIntyre and Lio Rush in the ring. Corbin made fun of people eating Thanksgiving food and how athletes like them don’t eat carbs. For the record, and this is crazy since he’s now 42 and looks like that, but Lashley told me a few years ago that he can eat whatever he wants. McIntyre said he was thankful for the beating they gave to Strowman. Corbin said you won’t be seeing Strowman for a long, long, time. Like a few weeks. Strowman did a promo from the hospital in Birmingham, where he was waiting for his surgery. His elbow area looked like hell with all the bruises. Not sure if that was makeup or real, because he’s a monster and they have to make it look bad for him to be out of action, given he was sliced up in the back of a garbage truck and ended up without a scratch. He said to the three spineless slimeballs in the ring (unfortunately there were four in the ring at the time but they didn’t know that when they pretaped this) that he will be back 100 percent and he will beat them so badly their attack on him will look like paper cuts. Corbin said that he will still have his match with Strowman and would win via forfeit and thus become full-time General Manager. Elias came out and played a song and said that everyone would make a better General Manager than Corbin. He said even Rush would, although it would probably be violating child labor laws. He said that Maverick pissed on himself and would be a better General Manager than Corbin. Elias beat Lashley via DQ in 9:25. Elias did a high elbow off the top but Rush pulled the ref out of the ring to avoid counting three for the DQ. Corbin then restarted it as a no DQ match, saying he was always going to say that but Elias had interrupted him before the match started. Corbin, Lashley and McIntyre all destroyed Elias. Elias got the early edge. Lashley destroyed his guitar, stomping the hell out of it. Corbin used three chair shot to the back. McIntyre gave him a Claymore kick on the floor. Lashley gave Elias an Alabama slam on the steps. Lashley gave Elias a spear where he ran around the ring and picked up serious speed. It looked great. Finally Lashley just put his foot on Elias and flexed while the ref counted the pin at 4:25. Corbin was yelling at the lighting guy who turned out the lights when Elias came out and fired him. Bliss showed up all dressed up. Bliss was kissing up to him and Corbin told Bliss he was really busy, that Bliss looked good, and he looked good, and then told Bliss he was giving her a job overseeing the women’s division. So, for the rest of the show, Renee Young especially kept complaining how it wasn’t fair that an active wrestler was overseeing the women’s division. I mean, it isn’t, but the problem is they’ve had an active wrestler in Corbin overseeing the entire product. Ambrose said that he wasn’t there, and at a doctor’s office. So the idea was that they kept telling you that Ambrose wasn’t there with the idea you’ll stay to see him do the surprise run-in at the end. Rollins even brought it up in his promo, saying he expected Ambrose to show up. But he didn’t. He was getting all his shots because he wouldn’t go to Raw next week in Houston without them. The Lucha House Party again beat The Revival in a 3-on-2 handicap match in 2:31. The Revival complained about not following traditions last week and that a tag team match is supposed to be two people. Renee Young kept acting like they were outdated thinking like that. Corey Graves, the heel announcer, kept complaining it was unfair. Then it was announced that once again, this would be a three-n-two match. The finish saw Kalisto hit the Salida del sol on Dawson, Metalik did a rope walk senton and Dorado finished with a shooting star press. They did a video on Lars Sullivan and talked about how both Raw and Smackdown are bidding on him. Jax & Tamina were out. Jax all the talking, saying that she led Team Raw to victory in the Survivor Series. She got good heat for mentioning that she hurt Lynch. She said that Rousey’s career started strong but has gone downhill. Isn’t she still champion? She made fun of Rousey’s promos about what a true champion is. Tamina seemed out there for no reason. Rousey came out. She was smiling and she was selling nothing from the Flair beating last week. It’s like the beating was great, but now that it’s a weak later, it meant nothing. They didn’t even push a storyline like Rousey is hurt going into her match with Jax. There were light chants for Rousey. She wasn’t booed but wasn’t cheered like she had been up until last week. She told Jax that she wanted a match with her tonight, and that she would rip her arm off and slap Charlotte Flair in the face with it. She called Tamina a monolithic mute and asked Jax if she and Tamina had a hot double date (for why neither would wrestle her). Jax said that she needs to wash Lynch’s blood from her knuckles and that we do have a hot double date. They acted like they would attack Rousey, but Natalya ran in to save Rousey. So Natalya is back to being Rousey’s friend in storyline. Natalya never got to the ring because all three members of the Riott Squad laid her out until Rousey chased them away. AOP retained the tag titles over Gable & Roode in 8:24. The crowd was dead. Rezar did the suplexing both guys at the same time spot. Maverick stole Roode’s robe. He ran backstage with it and went into the bathroom, looked at himself in the mirror with the robe and pretended to be Ric Flair. Then he put the robe in the toilet and pissed on it. This went on in the middle of the match. Roode ridiculously overacted to this. This whole direction sucks so bad. So Roode paid no attention to the match. Rezar threw Roode into Gable and then they gave Roode the double-team power bomb and Akam pinned him. Bliss was backstage talking to Bayley and Banks wanting to make amends with them now that she’s in charge. Balor did an interview talking about his match with Corbin later in the show. Moon pinned Fox in 1:53 with the eclipse. Mahal pinned Jose in 4:25 with the Khallas. Rollins did an interview. He said that Ambrose is a liar and a coward and he believes he’s lurking around somewhere. Rollins then came out for an open challenge for anyone to face him for the IC title. Ziggler, who was cleared over the weekend from his minor foot injury, came out. They started slow, but did a good match, really blowing away everything on the show. The last 4:00 were hot. Rollins twice missed the curb stomp. Ziggler hit the zig zag but Rollins kicked out. Rollins got the clean pin after a top rope superplex followed by a falcon arrow in 20:40. It was cool that he won with that spot, because the spot usually gets a reaction, but it should mean more now that people will think he can win with it. Bliss was in the ring doing a Q&A with Bayley and Banks. The fan question was a plant. Banks said that she wanted to ship Bliss to Smackdown while Bayley wanted Bliss to be shipped to hell. At that point, James, Brooke (who has been a face but evidently is now a heel with this being her turn but nobody even calling attention to that) and Fox attacked Banks and Bayley. But Banks & Bayley made their own comeback and cleaned house. Corbin & McIntyre beat Balor in a handicap match in 13:21. The match was okay. After several minutes, Corbin grabbed the mic and said that the match is now a handicap match with McIntyre as his partner against Balor. Balor did a flip dive on both and did a Woo dropkick on Corbin sending him into the timekeeper’s area. But McIntyre hit the Claymore kick on him for the pin. Lashley then came out and gave Balor the turn over dominator. Corbin hit the End of Days on Balor. Then Corbin and Lashley held Balor for McIntyre to hit him with the Claymore kick. After Raw ended, they had a dark match main event with Rousey & Banks & Bayley & Moon & Natalya beating Riott & Logan & Morgan & Jax & Tamina when Rousey used the armbar on Morgan. Rousey got a big pop coming out here and the match was all action and went back-and-forth. Natalya also got a big reaction
1135
1136Notes from the 11/27 Smackdown tapings in Minneapolis. The show drew 8,000 fans. It opened with 205 Live as Noam Dar pinned Mike Kanellis. The finish saw the Lucha House Party come out with their music. Kanellis was distracted and Dar rolled him up for the win. Hideo Itami won a quick squash over someone who was never introduced at the arena but was announced on TV as Levy Cruise. Itami kept beating on Cruise after the match until Ariya Daivari returned. They had a staredown until Daivari joined Itami in beating down the unnamed guy. The two shook hands after the match. Mustafa Ali & Cedric Alexander beat Tony Nese & Buddy Murphy. Said to be a pretty good match. Alexander pinned Murphy with the lumbar check so we are building to the Murphy vs. Alexander title rematch. Smackdown opened with Lynch out. She called out Flair. Lynch was very good in a Conor McGregor made as a talker and the crowd loved her. Flair, who just turned heel, was a face as was Lynch. And they hugged. And Flair last week said she was fighting for Lynch. And now they’re feuding again. Lynch said that she told Flair to give Rousey the beatdown she would have. She said that Flair came close, but if she had given her the beatdown, Rousey wouldn’t have been back the next day. Don’t get people started on that silliness. She said Flair had to channel her to do the beating and called her Bootleg Becky. Flair said that Jax must have knocked her delusional. Flair said Lynch was copying her father and riding on her coattails. She challenged Lynch right now. Paige came out and instead announced a title match under TLC rules at the PPV. Then every woman heel on the roster, Kay, Royce, Rose, Deville and Vega came out. Rose said that what Flair did to Rousey, any of them could have done if they had the opportunity. She had Paige was favoring her former friends Flair and Lynch over her later partners Rose & Deville. The face woman, Naomi, Carmella, Asuka and Lana came out. The crowd was hot for Asuka. Paige announced a Battle Royal and the winner gets added to the TLC match. Sheamus, Cesaro and Show were backstage. Cesaro yelled at Show for sleeping on a table and not topping New Day from throwing food all over him. Show got tired of being yelled at and knocked Cesaro out. So is this turn No. 47 for Show. Either way, they pushed this as the breakup of the trio. If Show is taking time off due to being immobile because of injuries, I guess they had to write him off. Not sure knocking a guy out is the way to do it. If Show is going to continue wrestling, that means they put the three together and already changed directions a few weeks later. Usos beat Sheamus & Cesaro in a non-title match in 9:58. Jimmy pinned Cesaro with a splash off the top. Cesaro just worked a regular match, so he was knocked out, wrestled right after, and didn’t oversell the knockout. Perhaps they’ll use the knockout as their excuse for losing. Perhaps it’ll just be ignored. New Day was making fun of Miz for losing to nobodies last week. Miz then told them that not only did their match at Survivor Series not count but that they shouldn’t be bragging since it was the Usos that won it, not them. This set up Miz vs Kingston for later in the show. Styles did a interview. He said he could understand somebody wanting something so bad that they would do what Bryan did, as far as giving him a low blow, to get it. But that doesn’t explain Bryan kicking him in the head over-and-over after winning the title. He called out Bryan, but then said that he knew Bryan wasn’t even there, and that Bryan wasn’t at any of the house shows this past weekend and how it feels like somebody is doing things like they do them on Raw. Styles said that when he was champion, he never missed a live event, he never missed a PPV and never missed a TV show,. Well, that’s certainly not true. Nakamura vs. Rusev for the U.S. title never happened. Rusev was in the ring and Nakamura gave him a Kinshasa from behind, then a second one, and then a third one after Rusev had rolled to the floor. So the match never started. Next was a celebration of Jeff Hardy for 20 years in WWE. The first record we have of Hardy in WWE was May 23, 1994, so that’s 24 ½ years ago. Cole was brought in to interview him. They showed a video package of him doing all kinds of cool moves. Almost all the wrestlers came out on stage to clap for him. They had the heels and faces together, including Bar and Usos who had just finished a grudge match. Hardy did a quick promo, thanking his wife and kids, until Joe interrupted him. Joe started talking. Shane McMahon went to stop him but Hardy said it was okay. Joe said it was great they showed the highlights package since Hardy probably wasn’t coherent enough to remember any of them. Joe said that he doesn’t celebrate weakness and he doesn’t believe in people getting second chances when he has yet to get his first chance. Joe said that fans putting Hardy on a pedestal make him sick. Joe said that for every time he’s gotten the people to their feet he’s also let them down. He said that there would be a next time when Hardy screwed up again. Hardy challenged him to a match right there and Joe walked off. Kingston pinned Miz in 6:51. Miz was distracted by E and Woods constantly. Kingston did a tope to a commercial break. Miz finally gave Woods a sliding kick after Woods had been distracting him. Miz then grabbed a chair, but it was taken away, and as he got in the ring Kingston hit him with Trouble in Paradise. Orton came out. He was holding the mask he took from Mysterio last week. Orton said that he never meant to disrespect Mysterio’s culture. But he did mean to embarrass and humiliate Mysterio and take him off the pedestal fans have put him up on. Yes, we had pedestal references in two straight promos. He said that at this stage of Mysterio’s career, he’s just one of his victims. Mysterio came out wearing a neck brace. He attacked Orton. Orton took control and took off the neck brace. Mysterio took over and hit a 619, an enzuigiri and another 619. Mysterio then went for a chair. He was coming back to the ring but Orton kicked him and gave him a draping DDT. Orton then jammed Mysterio’s throat into a chair and went to pull the mask off again but the agents and referees topped him. Miz did an interview saying that he wants to form a tag team with Shane. He told Shane that the World Cup trophy is our child and we’re the best parents in the world and told Shane that they were family. The main event was the women’s Battle Royal, won by Asuka in 10:13. It was a usual Battle Royal. Not much to it. Lana eliminated Vega. Vega attacked Lana after the match. Kay & Royce then eliminated Lana. Asuka then did a running hip attack and knocked both Kay & Royce off the apron, so they were both eliminated. Carmella was thrown over the top and on the apron. Asuka kicked Carmella off the apron to eliminate her. Deville eliminated Naomi. Asuka then eliminated Rose with a running knee, knocking her off the apron. This left Asuka vs. Deville. The crowd was pretty hot for it. They both ended up going over the top together and landing on the apron. Asuka hit Deville with a knee and Deville fell off the apron to the floor. For Mixed Match Challenge, they had another low week of live viewership, but it was up from last week. This was the single-elimination Raw side semifinals. Mahal & Fox beat Hawkins & Moon in 8:15. Hawkins replaced the injured Strowman, which means the team that had been undefeated is now eliminated. Match was decent. Hawkins worked as a face in attacking the Singhs. But then he turned goof at the finish. Moon hit the eclipse on Fox but Hawkins tagged Moon before she jumped. Hawkins jumped on Fox and cradled her with the idea he was trying to break his losing streak. Didn’t we establish with Asuka rules last year in this same tournament that the streaks end even if the partner wins or loses? Well, we did, but rules change as we go. The ref wouldn’t count since men aren’t allowed to pin women. Moon then hit the eclipse off the apron on both Singh brothers but Mahal used the Khallas to pin Hawkins, whose streak is now 237. The finish and peak audience for this match was 16,900. Balor & Bayley beat Lashley & James in 9:26. This was better than most tournament stuff. Lashley’s selling for Balor looked awkward, and not because of the size difference but because Lashley’s timing on selling isn’t the best. The women were good. Bayley pinned James clean with the Bayley-to-belly. The Peak audience for this was also at the finish with 17,500. The show ended with a dark match with Styles & Jeff Hardy over Joe & Orton in 4:00 when Hardy pinned Joe with a twist of fate in an uneventful match
1137
1138Notes from the 11/28 NXT tapings in Winter Park, FL. This looks to be for shows on 12/5, 12/12, 12/19 and 12/26. Sometimes things are taped out of order so you don’t know. The only match for the first Takeover of 2019, which will be on 1/26 in Phoenix, looks to be Shayna Baszler vs. Bianca Belair for the women’s title. They’d been pushing Belair for months for a title shot with the gimmick that she’s undefeated, event though she isn’t. The NXT title picture may be a three-way with Tommaso Ciampa vs. Aleister Black vs. Johnny Gargano. Nothing else seemed definite but they are keeping Matt Riddle vs. Kassius Ohno going, and we had heard Ricochet vs. Pete Dunne, which was teased at the end of the last Takeover, but Dunne wasn’t even at these tapings and Ricochet beat Tyler Breeze on these tapings. The show opened with a dark match as Luke Menzies beat Mansoor Al-Shehial. The first hour opened with Riddle beating Punishment Martinez with the Bromission. The crowd reacted well for Martinez in his television debut. After the match, Ohno laid him out with a spinning elbow. The Forgotten Sons of Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler beat Humberto Carrillo & Raul Mendoza. Baszler, with Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir in her corners, beat Dakota Kai in what was said to be a very good match. Baszler won with the choke and then all three beat down Kai until Io Shirai made the save. They are doing a six-person program with Kai & Shirai & Kairi Sane, but Sane was recovering from her disease and wasn’t able to perform. The main event segment was an in-ring. Ciampa was out and talked about his win over Velveteen Dream. He said he was the MVP in wrestling of 2018 and that in the future, children will study his work. Black came out for a title challenge in Phoenix. Gargano came out and wanted a title shot as well, and also wanted another shot at Black. Ciampa was instigating it, suggesting the two have a cage match. Black went after Gargano and went to hit black mass, but Gargano moved and Black laid out Ciampa. The second show opened with EC 3 over Bobby Fish with a roll-up. Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly and Fish all attacked EC 3 after the match. EC 3 was at least in recent weeks on the list for the next call-ups whenever that will be. Heavy Machinery made the save. Oney Lorcan & Danny Butch beat The Mighty in a good match. Mia Yim beat Reina Gonzalez to become the final person in a four-way for the women’s title shot at Takeover. Yim won with eat defeat, which they now call Seoul food. The second week main event was Ricochet over Breeze in a North American title match. The crowd went crazy for Breeze, as they do for anyone on the main roster, who, no matter how they are slotted on the main roster, the Full Sail crowd sees as something special. Ricochet won with the cradle shock. The third show opened with Shirai & Kai over Duke & Shafir. It’s interesting that Duke & Shafir lost their first television match. Shirai pinned Shafir after a moonsault. Dominik Dijakovic started a new push beating Aaron Mackey. Heavy Machinery won a squash match over opponents who were not identified. The Undisputed Era were watching the match on the stage. Riddle beat Ohno in a competitive match which was the third show main event. Riddle won via submission with the bromission. Riddle tried to get Ohno to fist bump him after the match. Ohno first walked off. Then he came back and looked like he was going to accept. Then he attacked Riddle and gave him a major beating including throwing him into the post and the stairs. Ohno got some real heat. Jaxson Ryker beat Mitch Taverna to open the fourth hour. Ryker won with a power bomb. They taped the finish twice. Belair won a four-way over Lacey Evans, Yim and Shirai to get the next title shot. Strong & O’Reilly beat Heavy Machinery in a tag title match. The main event saw Gargano beat Black in a cage match. Gargano was climbing over and Black was going through the door. Ciampa then slammed the cage door in Black’s face. Instead of climbing over to win, Gargano climbed back to the ring. Gargano and Ciampa did a staredown. Gargano & Ciampa then did their old tag team double knees finish. Ciampa then waved at Gargano and left the cage while Gargano pinned Black. Fans started chanting for Gargano & Ciampa when they joined forces. Fans want to see news, and something important
1139
1140Notes from the NXT UK tapings on 11/24 in Liverpool. Reports were it was a hot crowd throughout. They taped three shows as the build for the U.K. Takeover show. Based on the schedule, it looks like these shows will start airing on 12/12, 12/19 and 12/26. The show are very patterned, with an opener to get somebody over and dominate, and the competitive matches and angles. Xia Brookside beat Nina Samuels in the dark match opener. The first show opened with Johnny Saint & Sid Scala in the ring. They cut to a taped promo of HHH, who didn’t make the trip, and announced the two dates in Blackpool and that the first date would be the first U.K. Takeover show. They announced Rhea Ripley vs. Toni Storm for the women’s title and Storm came out for an interview. Jordan Devlin beat Kenny Williams. Devlin was over big as a heel. His entrance music was strong. Devlin called himself the ace and said to never bet against the ace. Eddie Dennis beat Dan Moloney via DQ when Dave Mastiff ran in and attacked both guys. Tyson T-Bone & Saxon Hurley beat Jack Starz & Tucker. The main event saw Jack Coffey, of the top hee group called Gallus, beating El Ligero in a great match with a killer of a clothesline. The second show opened with Marcel Barthel beating Mark Andrews. Fabian Aichner interfered and Barthel & Aichner look like a heel tag team. Barthel was trying to be a copy of William Regal and all of his mannerisms. Zack Gibson & James Drake beat Mike Hitchman & Jay Melrose. Hitchman is better known as Wild Boar and Melrose was Primate on the U.K. indies. Gibson is from Liverpool so he was very over. He turned on the crowd and got a lot of heat. He said that he and Drake were bigger than The Beatles. Man, that must mean they are bigger than God as well. A match with Mastiff vs. Josh Morrell didn’t happen as Dennis beat up Morrell. The main event saw Rhea Ripley beat Deonna Purrazzo in a very good match. The crowd made all kinds of Marty Scurll chants since Purrazzo is Scurll’s girlfriend and most of the crowe knew it. Purrazzo did Scurll’s finger breaking spot. Ripley attacked Purrazzo after until Toni Storm made the save. The third hour opened with Travis Banks over Jamie Ahmed. Devlin came out and taunted Banks and said that Banks will end up wishing that he never came back from his injury. Barthel & Aichner beat Williams & Amir Jordan. The match had a lot of heat as the fans enjoyed taunting Barthel & Aichner. Jinny beat Candy Floss. The main event was a tag team title tournament semifinal match as Trent Seven & Tyler Bate beat Wolfgang & Mark Coffey. Joe Coffey tried to interfere but Pete Dunne made the save. It ended with the Coffeys beating down Bate, Seven and Dunne. The faces made their own comeback and cleared the ring
1141
1142Notes from the 11/25 tapings for NXT UK. These were for shows that will air on Jan, 2, 9 and 16. The third show main event was said to be worth going out of your way to see. Jay Melrose beat Jack Starz with a pop up power bomb to win a dark match. The first show opened with Storm over Purrazzo in 15:00. Storm came across like a big star to the crowd. She won with her Storm zero, the move she’s been using in WWE as her finisher since her previous finisher was too piledriver like and WWE doesn’t want moves like that. After the match, Ripley came out for a staredown with Storm and Ripley held the title belt in her face. Hitchman beat Josh Morrell in a squash match. Hitchman has become a cult babyface. Dave Mastiff vs. Eddie Dennis was a no contest when both knocked down the referee. It was a short brawl before the ending. They kept brawling after and had a pull-apart. Finally Saint came out and announced a “none disqualification” between the two for Takeover. The final segment saw a contract signing for the Dunne vs. Joe Coffey title match. Saint and Sid Scala were in the ring. Coffey said that he would win the title and that this was his kingdom and it would be his title. Dunne snapped Coffey’s fingers and told him that he talked too much, and then signed the contract. But after, the rest of the Gallus crew (Wolfgang & Mark Coffey) came out and distracted Dunne, and Joe Coffey power bombed Dunne through a table. The second show opened with
1143
1144Kenny Williams & Amir Jordan over Jamie Ahmed & Dan Moloney. Isla Dawn beat Xia Brookside in a short match. Brookside is from the Liverpool area so he was really over coming out. Lots of chain wrestling and they copied some spots from Flair-Steamboat matches. Dawn sat down on a roll-up to get the pin. I was told it felt in the building like there was star potential for Brookside, who is only 20 years old . The Coffeys & Wolfgang came out for an interview. They announced a match with Dunne & Bate & Seven “next week.” Devlin beat Damien Weir. Devil went to cut a promo when Banks chased him away. Gibson & Drake beat Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster in a match to determine who faces Bate & Seven at Takeover for the tag titles. Great match. The third show saw Ligero beat Joseph Conners in a good athletic match. Banks beat Tyson T-Bone. Devlin came out dressed like Banks to distract the real Banks, who still came back to win. Joe & Mark Coffey & Wolfgang beat Dunne & Bate & Steven in a ****1/4 match that went about 30:00. Coffey pinned Bate to win it. The crowd was really hot for this. Part of the story was avoiding Dunne vs. Joe until late in the match. Bate did his long airplane spin for a crazy length of time on Wolfgang with the crowd going nuts. Bate did a huge dive on everyone. Fans gave both teams standing ovations after the match which looks to be the final scene on the final show before the Takeover show
1145
1146The only pure Raw house show of the weekend was 11/25 in Bloomington, IL before 1,750 fans, which would be bad under normal circumstances, but even worse considering it was Thanksgiving weekend, the second easiest weekend of the year historically to draw
1147
1148The 11/25 Smackdown show in Madison, WI drew 2,000. 11/26 in Cedar Rapids, IA drew 1,50
1149
1150Bloomington, IL, opened with McIntyre, with Ziggler in his corner, pinning Balor. Ziggler interfered leading to McIntyre winning with the Claymore kick in a quick match. Elias came out and talked, played some guitar, sang and was interrupted by Jax, Tamina, James and Fox. Elias then called out his friends, Bayley, Banks, Moon and Brooke. This led to an eight-woman match where Bayley pinned Fox with the Bayley-to-belly. They got some time. Rawley pinned Breeze with the running forearm. The B Team & Jose beat The Revival & Hawkins. The crowd was very into this match. Corbin came out and wanted to fight Strowman. Of course everyone knew Strowman was injured. He then issued an open challenge and Wyatt came out. Wyatt beat him. Corbin then ordered a no DQ rematch. McIntyre and Ziggler came back out to help Corbin, but Balor and Elias made the save. Wyatt then pinned him the second time. Crews pinned Mahal. Roode & Gable beat The Ascension. Main event for the IC title saw Rollins go to a double count out with Ambrose. Decent match. Lots of brawling outside the ring. After the match Rollins chased Ambrose to the back and cut a promo about a rematch on the TLC PPV show
1151
1152Madison was notable since Bryan is now champion but not working a full-time schedule. They do a patterned show, so even though the top title in play is the U.S. title, Styles as top star is still the main event. It opened with Sheamus & Cesaro keeping the tag titles over Big E & Woods when Cesaro pinned E with a small package. Benjamin then pinned English with a small package. English complained about losing and wanted a rematch with Benjamin. Benjamin agreed and pinning him with paydirt. The Colons hit the ring and attacked Benjamin, and Gallows &Anderson made the save. This leads to Gallows & Anderson & Benjamin over The Colons & English. Did I miss the Benjamin face turn? English got pinned a third time, this time after the Magic killer. Rusev is less over without English and English has disappeared from television and become the Curt Hawkins of the house show tour. Change for the sake of change that results in everyone being less over is not creativity, it’s stupidity. Cross & Lana beat Kay & Royce when Cross pinned Kay after the spinning fisherman neckbreaker. Charlotte pinned Asuka with a small package. Said to be a great match. Orton pinned Jeff Hardy with the RKO. R-Truth & Carmella beat Almas & Vega when Carmella beat Vega with the cone of silence. Nakamura retained the U.S. title in a three-way over Joe and Rusev. Rusev gave Joe the Machka kick, then Nakamura hit the Kinshasa on Rusev, and Nakamura then pinned Joe. Main event saw Styles over Miz with the phenomenal forearm
1153
1154Cedar Rapids was mostly he same show. The only difference is it was Woods & Kingston working as the New Day team in tag title match, and R-Truth vs. Nakamura was a singles match as Carmella replaced Cross in the tag match teaming with Lana to beat Kay & Royce.