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2HOMERADIO ARCHIVENEWSLETTER ARCHIVETHE BOARDNEWSUFC NEWSWWE NEWSJAPAN NEWSROH NEWSTNA NEWSMEXICO NEWSINDIE NEWS
3MARCH 13, 2020 OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: 40TH ANNUAL READERSHIP AWARDS, MORE
4BY OBSERVER STAFF | STAFF@WRESTLINGOBSERVER.COM | @WONF4W
5TWITTERFACEBOOKGOOGLE+
6Wrestling Observer Newsletter
7
8PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 March 9, 2020
9
10
11
122019 WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER AWARDS
13
14
15
16The following are the results of the 40th annual Wrestling Observer Newsletter readership awards, along with a listing of the previous winners in the various categories. On a worldwide basis, these are the most covered mainstream international pro wrestling awards. The awards are based on the time frame from January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019. Readers are encouraged to send in their comments on the results.
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18
19
20"CATEGORY A" AWARDS - WINNERS
21
22
23
24DETERMINED BY POINTS ON A 5-3-2 BASIS.
25
26
27
28FIRST PLACE VOTES IN PARENTHESIS
29
30
31
32LOU THESZ/RIC FLAIR AWARD
33
34(WRESTLER OF THE YEAR)
35
36
37
381. CHRIS JERICHO (522) 3,695
39
402. Kazuchika Okada (349) 3,133
41
423. Will Ospreay (158) 1,773
43
444. Cody (72) 865
45
465. Adam Cole (26) ` ` 459
47
486. Kento Miyahara (51) 422
49
507. Kota Ibushi (14) 234
51
528. Jon Moxley (11) 217
53
549. Hiroshi Tanahashi (2) 158
55
5610. Kenny Omega (1) 109
57
58
59
60
61
62HONORABLE MENTION: Becky Lynch 105
63
64
65
66Chris Jericho (Chris Irvine, 49), won an interesting three–person race. Most knew going in that it would come down to Jericho, Okada and Ospreay.
67
68Okada would have been the traditional winner, the guy who won the IWGP title in Madison Square Garden, had all the great main events before sellout crowds for a strong promotion.
69
70Jericho was AEW’s first champion and carried the title in strong feuds and with good interviews. He was really the cornerstone of a new group that had a level of success in the U.S. that no company has had for 20 years. People saw his all-around performance as the face and headliner of the new company as the most valuable wrestler of the year, who also had the match quality.
71
72Ospreay was not a guy people would traditionally vote for since he was not the top guy in New Japan, nor a regular main eventer. But his in-ring match quality was at a level unforeseen, as his big matches not only in New Japan, but everywhere, on a consistent basis were like no wrestler in modern times has ever come close. That may not be a good thing for his longevity, but he is working smarter and better. He had such an unusually great year in the ring that perhaps just by that alone he deserved the award.
73
74Jericho becomes the oldest winner in history, and by a wide margin, since Ric Flair was 43 in 1992, his last year winning. He also had the longest gap between his last win, in 2009. And the 12 years between his 2008 win and 2020 win are the longest in history, as Flair’s first win was 1982 and last was 1992. With three Wrestler of the Year Awards, Jericho has joined an elite crew of only Flair (eight), Mitsuharu Misawa (three), Kenta Kobashi (four) and Hiroshi Tanahashi (three).
75
76
77
78PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Harley Race; 1981 - Harley Race; 1982 - Ric Flair; 1983 - Ric Flair; 1984 - Ric Flair; 1985 - Ric Flair; 1986 - Ric Flair; 1987 - Riki Choshu; 1988 - Akira Maeda; 1989 - Ric Flair; 1990 - Ric Flair; 1991 - Jumbo Tsuruta; 1992 - Ric Flair; 1993 - Vader; 1994 - Toshiaki Kawada; 1995 - Mitsuharu Misawa; 1996 - Kenta Kobashi; 1997 - Mitsuharu Misawa; 1998 - Steve Austin; 1999 - Mitsuharu Misawa; 2000 - HHH; 2001 - Keiji Muto; 2002 - Kurt Angle; 2003 - Kenta Kobashi; 2004 - Kenta Kobashi; 2005 - Kenta Kobashi; 2006 - Mistico; 2007 - John Cena; 2008 - Chris Jericho; 2009 - Chris Jericho; 2010 - John Cena; 2011 - Hiroshi Tanahashi; 2012 - Hiroshi Tanahashi; 2013 - Hiroshi Tanahashi; 2014 - Shinsuke Nakamura; 2015 - A.J. Styles; 2016 - A.J. Styles; 2017 - Kazuchika Okada; 2018 - Kenny Omega
79
80
81
82MIXED MARTIAL ARTS MOST VALUABLE
83
84
85
861. JORGE MASVIDAL (272) 1,903
87
882. Jon Jones (126) 1,159
89
903. Khabib Nurmagomedov (111) 997
91
924. Israel Adesanya (62) 717
93
945. Nate Diaz (47) 599
95
966. Amanda Nunes (34) 469
97
987. Daniel Cormier (15) 368
99
1008. Henry Cejudo (25) 314
101
1029. Kamaru Usman (7) 173
103
10410. Zhang Weili (8) 89
105
106
107
108HONORABLE MENTION: Valentina Shevchenko 88
109
110
111
112A strong win by Masvidal, 35, who was largely a journeyman fighter for years, coming into 2019 with a 25-13 record. His past year saw him score knockout wins over Darren Till, Ben Askren in a record setting five seconds, and Nate Diaz in one of the year’s biggest fights.
113
114Jones, 32, the UFC light heavyweight champion and often considered the greatest of all-time, was the company’s top drawing card. His two title defenses were a clear decision win over Anthony Smith and a split decision win over Thiago Santos.
115
116Nurmagomedov, 31, the lightweight champion, only fought once during the year, a submission win over Dustin Poirier.
117
118
119
120New category in 2007. Highest place winner from MMA in previous Thesz/Flair award balloting: 1994 - Royce Gracie; 1995 - Ken Shamrock; 1996 - Mark Coleman; 1997 - Maurice Smith; 1998 - Frank Shamrock; 1999 - Frank Shamrock; 2000 - Kazushi Sakuraba; 2001 - Kazushi Sakuraba; 2002 - Bob Sapp; 2003 - Randy Couture; 2004 - Wanderlei Silva; 2005 - Kid Yamamoto; 2006 - Tito Ortiz
121
122
123
124PREVIOUS WINNERS: 2007 - Randy Couture; 2008 - Brock Lesnar; 2009 - Brock Lesnar; 2010 - Brock Lesnar; 2011 - Georges St-Pierre; 2012 - Anderson Silva; 2013 - Georges St-Pierre; 2014 - Ronda Rousey; 2015 - Ronda Rousey; 2016 - Conor McGregor; 2017 - George s St-Pierre; 2018 - Conor McGregor
125
126
127
128MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER
129
130
131
1321. WILL OSPREAY (852) 4,951
133
1342. Kazuchika Okada (157) 2,095
135
1363. Kota Ibushi (36) 937
137
1384. Shingo Takagi (20) 895
139
1405. Tomohiro Ishii (31) 608
141
1426. Johnny Gargano (9) 284
143
1447. Rey Fenix (19) 312
145
1468. Kento Miyahara (14) 260
147
1489. Adam Cole (7) 211
149
15010. Kenny Omega (13) 175
151
152
153
154HONORABLE MENTION: Hiroshi Tanahashi 149, Zack Sabre Jr., 131, Konosuke Takeshita 104, Daniel Bryan 103, Walter 79
155
156
157
158Ospreay, 26, had one of the most incredible years inside the ring, including five matches rated ***** or better and another 17 rated ****½ or better. Two years ago, Kazuchika Okada said that by the time Ospreay was 30, he would be the best wrestler in the world. But he beat that by four years.
159
160Ospreay also has the aura of a superstar, the mic skills and look. In his main promotion, New Japan, they are very traditional and predictable, with junior heavyweights not being allowed to dominate the heavyweight division and a slow climb to the top. Ospreay did get his chances, winning the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, scoring a win over Hiroshi Tanahashi in G-1 and beating Dragon Lee to win the IWGP jr. title, plus having matches of the year that ranged from storytelling to acrobats to high level drama. During the year Ospreay had legit singles match of the year contenders with Kota Ibushi (twice), Bandido (twice), El Phantasmo, Shingo Takagi, Tanahashi, Okada, Robbie Eagles, Sho, Sanada, Lee and Jay White.
161
162
163
164PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1986 - Ric Flair; 1987 - Ric Flair; 1988 - Tatsumi Fujinami; 1989 - Ric Flair; 1990 - Jushin Liger; 1991 - Jushin Liger; 1992 - Jushin Liger; 1993 - Kenta Kobashi; 1994 - Kenta Kobashi; 1995 - Manami Toyota; 1996 - Rey Misterio Jr.; 1997 - Mitsuharu Misawa; 1998 - Koji Kanemoto; 1999 - Mitsuharu Misawa; 2000 - Chris Benoit; 2001 - Kurt Angle; 2002 - Kurt Angle; 2003 - Kurt Angle; 2004 - Chris Benoit; 2005 - Samoa Joe; 2006 - Bryan Danielson; 2007 - Bryan Danielson; 2008 - Bryan Danielson; 2009 - Bryan Danielson; 2010 - Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson); 2011 - Davey Richards; 2012 - Hiroshi Tanahashi; 2013 - Hiroshi Tanahashi; 2014 - A.J. Styles; 2015 - A.J. Styles; 2016 - A.J. Styles; 2017 - Kazuchika Okada; 2018 - Kenny Omega
165
166
167
168MOST OUTSTANDING FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
169
170
171
1721. ISRAEL ADESANYA (263) 1,823
173
1742. Jorge Masvidal (169) 1,457
175
1763. Amanda Nunes (135) 983
177
1784. Khabib Nurmagomedov (90) 722
179
1805. Henry Cejudo (56) 714
181
1826. Kamaru Usman (17) 458
183
1847. Jon Jones (31) 385
185
1868. Valentina Shevchenko (8) 128
187
1889. Zhang Weili (11) 97
189
19010. Alexander Volkanovski (9) 88
191
192
193
194Adesanya, 30, captured the UFC middleweight title this year and went 3-0, with decision wins over Anderson Silva and Kelvin Gastelum, the latter to take the interim title, and followed with a knockout win over Robert Whittaker before 57,217 fans in Marvel Stadium in Melbourne to win the overall title as well as set the UFC’s attendance record.
195
196Adesanya, who was 5-1 as a boxer and 75-5 as a kickboxer, is now 18-0 in MMA.
197
198His advantage over Masvidal is beating a higher caliber of stars including the legit world champion in his division.
199
200Amanda Nunes, 31, the greatest female fighter of all-time, went through 2019 holding both the women’s welterweight and featherweight titles for the year. She never defended the featherweight title after beating Cris Cyborg at the end of 2018, but had wins over Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie, both in dominant fashion, this year.
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202
203
204PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1997 - Maurice Smith; 1998 - Frank Shamrock; 1999 - Frank Shamrock; 2000 - Kazushi Sakuraba; 2001 - Wanderlei Silva; 2002 - Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira; 2003 - Randy Couture; 2004 - Wanderlei Silva; 2005 - Fedor Emelianenko; 2006 - Mirko Cro Cop; 2007 - Quinton Jackson; 2008 - Georges St. Pierre; 2009 - Georges St. Pierre; 2010 - Georges St. Pierre; 2011 - Jon Jones; 2012 - Anderson Silva; 2013 - Cain Velasquez; 2014 - Ronda Rousey; 2015 - Conor McGregor; 2016 - Conor McGregor; 2017 - Demetrious Johnson; 2018 - Daniel Cormier
205
206
207
208TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR
209
210
211
2121. PENTAGON JR. & REY FENIX (708) 4,476
213
2142. Matt & Nick Jackson (222) 2,640
215
2163. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly (145) 1,885
217
2184. Santana & Ortiz (35) 576
219
2205. Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa (33) 328
221
2226. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa (6) 217
223
2247. Go Shiozaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima (25) 163
225
2268. Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky (7) 122
227
2289. Will Ospreay & Robbie Eagles 121
229
23010. Mark & Jay Briscoe (14) 99
231
232
233
234HONORABLE MENTION: Viking Raiders 80, Sho & Yoh 78, New Day 69, Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson 67
235
236
237
238The Lucha Brothers, Pentagon Jr., 35, and younger brother Rey Fenix, 29, who grew up pretending to me Rey Mysterio Jr. and Juventud Guerrera and sold masks in front of Arena Mexico as children, stopped the five straight year streak of the Young Bucks, who were their big rivals in matches in both AAA and AEW.
239
240The Young Bucks streak was broken largely due to inactivity for much of the year, while Fenix & Pentagon had great matches not only in AEW, but MLW, Impact, PWG, AAA and on independent shows and worked a full schedule all year. During the year they held the AAA tag team titles twice, the Impact tag team titles, the Crash tag team titles, the MLW tag team titles and the AAW tag team titles. The Young Bucks still beat out Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly for second place.
241
242
243
244PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Freebirds (Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts); 1981 - Terry Gordy & Jimmy Snuka; 1982 - Stan Hansen & Ole Anderson; 1983 - Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood; 1984 - Road Warriors; 1985 - British Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith); 1986 - Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey & Bobby Eaton); 1987 - Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane); 1988 - Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane); 1989 - The Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty); 1990 - Rick & Scott Steiner; 1991 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada; 1992 - Miracle Violence Combination (Steve Williams & Terry Gordy); 1993 - Hollywood Blondes (Brian Pillman & Steve Austin); 1994 - Los Gringos Locos (Love Machine Art Barr & Eddie Guerrero); 1995 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi; 1996 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama; 1997 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama; 1998 - Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa; 1999 - Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama; 2000 - Edge & Christian; 2001 - TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima); 2002 - Eddie & Chavo Guerrero; 2003 - KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji; 2004 - KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji; 2005 - America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm); 2006 - LAX (Homicide & Hernandez); 2007 - Mark & Jay Briscoe; 2008 - The Miz & John Morrison; 2009 - Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards; 2010 - Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli; 2011 - Giant Bernard (Tensai) & Karl Anderson; 2012 - Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian; 2013 - The Shield (Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns); 2014 - The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson); 2015 - The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson); 2016 - The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson); 2017 - The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson); 2018 - The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)
245
246
247
248BEST ON INTERVIEWS
249
250
251
2521. CHRIS JERICHO (569) 4,103
253
2542. Cody (378) 3,325
255
2563. MJF (90) 1,169
257
2584. Jon Moxley (12) 479
259
2605. Zack Sabre Jr. (20) 364
261
2626. Nick Aldis (25) 334
263
2647. Becky Lynch (38) 333
265
2668. Daniel Bryan (5) 212
267
2689. David Starr (23) 183
269
27010. Samoa Joe (2) 139
271
272
273
274HONORABLE MENTION: Jay White 119, Paul Heyman 103, Bray Wyatt 90, Will Ospreay 80, Kevin Owens 67, Tim Storm 66,
275
276
277
278The advantage on interviews of not working with a script were evident here with the top six in promotions that let the wrestler say and give them bullet points rather than word-for-word.
279
280This was the fourth time Jericho won this award, with prior wins in 2003, 2008 and 2009. His stretch of 17 years between first and most recent win is a record, and with four wins, is in a category with only Jim Cornette (five) and Steve Austin (four).
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282
283
284PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1981 - Lou Albano and Roddy Piper (tied); 1982 - Roddy Piper; 1983 - Roddy Piper; 1984 - Jimmy Hart; 1985 - Jim Cornette; 1986 - Jim Cornette; 1987 - Jim Cornette; 1988 - Jim Cornette; 1989 - Terry Funk; 1990 - Arn Anderson; 1991 - Ric Flair; 1992 - Ric Flair; 1993 - Jim Cornette; 1994 - Ric Flair; 1995 - Cactus Jack (Mick Foley); 1996 - Steve Austin; 1997 - Steve Austin; 1998 - Steve Austin; 1999 - The Rock; 2000 - The Rock; 2001 - Steve Austin; 2002 - Kurt Angle; 2003 - Chris Jericho; 2004 - Mick Foley; 2005 - Eddie Guerrero; 2006 - Mick Foley; 2007 - John Cena; 2008 - Chris Jericho; 2009 - Chris Jericho; 2010 - Chael Sonnen; 2011 - C.M. Punk; 2012 - C.M. Punk; 2013 - Paul Heyman; 2014 - Paul Heyman; 2015 - Conor McGregor; 2016 - Conor McGregor; 2017 - Conor McGregor; 2018 - Daniel Bryan
285
286
287
288PROMOTION OF THE YEAR
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290
291
2921. NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING (744) 4,848
293
2942. All Elite Wrestling (389) 3,691
295
2963. WWE (25) 1,177
297
2984. NWA 335
299
3005. UFC (7) 296
301
3026. Dragon Gate (2) 255
303
3046. Stardom (4) 135
305
3067. DDT (26) 224
307
3088. AAA 147
309
3109. OTT 144
311
31210. All Japan Pro Wrestling 127
313
314
315
316HONORABLE MENTION: Impact 120, Game Changer Pro Wrestling 62
317
318
319
320New Japan Pro Wrestling, in a year that included its best legitimate paid attendance in nearly 20 years, as well as what was considered by most as both the greatest Best of the Super Juniors and G-1 Climax tournaments in history, won the award for the eighth straight year.
321
322New Japan has won this award 15 times overall, also an all-time record.
323
324AEW, which started running in May, posed a challenge for the top spot but couldn’t match the New Japan tournaments. But running a full year with weekly television could make the race in 2020 tougher than it has been in years.
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326
327
328PREVIOUS WINNERS - 1983 - Jim Crockett Promotions; 1984 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 1985 - All Japan Pro Wrestling; 1986 - UWF (Mid South Wrestling); 1987 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 1988 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 1989 - Universal Wrestling Federation Japan; 1990 - All Japan Pro Wrestling; 1991 - All Japan Pro Wrestling; 1992 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 1993 - All Japan Pro Wrestling; 1994 - AAA; 1995 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 1996 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 1997 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 1998 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 1999 - World Wrestling Federation; 2000 - World Wrestling Federation; 2001 - Pride Fighting Championships; 2002 - Pride Fighting Championships; 2003 - Pride Fighting Championships; 2004 - Pro Wrestling NOAH; 2005 - Pro Wrestling NOAH; 2006 - Ultimate Fighting Championships; 2007 - Ultimate Fighting Championships; 2008 - Ultimate Fighting Championships; 2009 - Ultimate Fighting Championships; 2010 - Ultimate Fighting Championships; 2011 - Ultimate Fighting Championships; 2012 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 2013 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 2014 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 2015 - New Japan Pro Wrestling ; 2016 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 2017 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 2018 - New Japan Pro Wrestling
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330
331
332BEST WEEKLY TV SHOW
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334
335
3361. AEW DYNAMITE (793) 4,854
337
3382. NXT (192) 3,294
339
3403. NWA Powerrr (126) 1,580
341
3424. New Japan on AXS (73) 691
343
3445. Being the Elite (11) 576
345
3466. MLW Fusion (7) 385
347
3487. Beyond Uncharted Territory (15) 231
349
3508. AEW Dark 204
351
3529. Impact Wrestling (2) 138
353
35410. AEW Road To (6) 114
355
356
357
358HONORABLE MENTION: WWE Raw 90, AAA Worldwide 85, WWE Smackdown 78, NXT U.K. 66
359
360
361
362AEW Dynamite, which ran its first episode on 10/2, won both the Wednesday Night Wars most weeks, but also the poll here with the two head-to-head competitors in the top two spots, dominating the first place votes by a wide margin.
363
364It was a lopsided win as AEW had not only the winning show, but four of the top ten shows for the year.
365
366
367
368PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1983 - New Japan World Pro Wrestling; 1984 - New Japan World Pro Wrestling; 1985 - Mid South Wrestling; 1986 - Universal Wrestling Federation (Mid South Wrestling): 1987 - CWA 90 Minute Memphis live show; 1988 - New Japan World Pro Wrestling; 1989 - All Japan Pro Wrestling; 1990 - All Japan Pro Wrestling; 1991 - All Japan Pro Wrestling; 1992 - All Japan Pro Wrestling; 1993 - All Japan Pro Wrestling; 1994 - Extreme Championship Wrestling; 1995 - Extreme Championship Wrestling; 1996 - Extreme Championship Wrestling; 1997 - New Japan World Pro Wrestling; 1998 - WWF Raw is War; 1999 - WWF Raw is War; 2000 - WWF Raw is War; 2001 - New Japan World Pro Wrestling; 2002 - WWE Smackdown; 2003 - Pro Wrestling NOAH; 2004 - WWE Raw; 2005 - UFC Ultimate Fighter; 2006 - UFC Ultimate Fighter; 2007 - UFC Ultimate Fighter; 2008 - UFC Ultimate Fighter; 2009 - WWE Smackdown; 2010 - Ring of Honor; 2011 - WWE Smackdown; 2012 - TNA Impact; 2013 WWE NXT; 2014 - WWE NXT; 2015 - WWE NXT; 2016 - New Japan World Pro Wrestling; 2017 - New Japan World Pro Wrestling; 2018 - WWE NXT
369
370
371
372PRO WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR
373
374
375
3761. WILL OSPREAY VS. SHINGO TAKAGI 6/5 TOKYO (330) 2,549
377
3782. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenny Omega 1/4 Tokyo (259) 2,156
379
3803. Cody vs. Dustin Rhodes 5/24 Las Vegas (151) 1,295
381
3824. Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay 7/20 Tokyo (127) 1,141
383
3845. Johnny Gargano vs. Adam Cole 4/5 Brooklyn (97) 1,033
385
3866. Shingo Takagi vs. Tomohiro Ishii 8/8 Yokohama (31) 450
387
3887. Young Bucks vs. Pentagon Jr. & Fenix 8/31 Chicago (43) 427
389
3908. Walter vs. Tyler Bate 8/31 Cardiff (19) 338
391
3929. Kota Ibushi vs. Jay White 8/12 Tokyo (13) 259
393
39410. Jon Moxley vs. Tomohiro Ishii 7/19 Tokyo (8) 186
395
396
397
398HONORABLE MENTION: Will Ospreay vs. Dragon Lee 6/9 Osaka 153, Jordan Devlin vs. David Starr 10/26 152, Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan 4/7 East Rutherford, NJ 122, Arisa Nakajima vs. Nanae Takahashi 11/2 Kawasaki 97, Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi 8/10 Tokyo 91, Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley 11/9 Baltimore 90, Rocky Romero vs. El Phantasmo 5/24 Tokyo 81, Young Bucks vs. Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix 5/24 Las Vegas 73, Will Ospreay vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 8/10 Tokyo 60
399
400
401
402It really came down to a two-match race, the Ospreay vs. Takagi finals of the 2019 Best of the Super Juniors tournament at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, and the Tanahashi over Omega IWGP title win before the first Tokyo Dome sellout in nearly 20 years. Both were long matches that came in with great stories and had very different kinds of classic matches.
403
404Ospreay lost early in the tournament, needing to come from behind in his block to make the finals. Takagi went not only undefeated in the tournament, but had not lost a fall since first arriving in New Japan. In what turned out to be both men’s final BOSJ match, since both are not in the heavyweight division, they put on easily the greatest match in the long history of the tournament.
405
406Tanahashi vs. Omega had a number of stories going into it. It was a battle of two very different philosophies of wrestling which played into the build. It was also a story of Tanahashi, at 41, with his body broken down, winning the G-1 and having an incredible second half of 2018, facing the company’s most popular foreign wrestler of the current boom era. The dynamic between the two led to the largest gate for a pro wrestling show in Japan since 1998. Behind-the-scenes was another story, since Omega was scheduled for a long title reign, but asked to lose it and it ended up being, unbeknownst to most, his last match in the promotion.
407
408Kazuchika Okada, who had won the award the past three years, had his best showing at No. 4 for his match with Ospreay.
409
410Of the 19 matches making the list, Ospreay had four, with Takagi, Okada and Dragon Lee. Those having two included Kenny Omega, Jon Moxley, Kota Ibushi, Okada, Takagi, Tomohiro Ishii, Tanahashi, Young Bucks, Pentagon Jr., and Rey Fenix, The latter four had the only two tag team matches to make the top 19.
411
412
413
414PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Bob Backlund vs. Ken Patera 5/19 New York Madison Square Garden; 1981 - Pat Patterson vs. Sgt. Slaughter 4/21 New York Madison Square Garden; 1982 - Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama) vs. Dynamite Kid 8/5 Tokyo; 1983 - Ric Flair vs. Harley Race 11/24 Greensboro; 1984 - Freebirds vs. Von Erichs 7/4 Fort Worth; 1985 - Tiger Mask (Mitsuharu Misawa) vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi 6/12 Tokyo; 1986 - Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham 2/14 Orlando; 1987 - Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage 3/29 Pontiac; 1988 - Ric Flair vs. Sting 3/27 Greensboro; 1989 - Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat 4/2 New Orleans; 1990 - Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (Takuma Sano) 1/31 Osaka; 1991 - Rick & Scott Steiner vs. Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki 3/21 Tokyo; 1992 - Dan Kroffat & Doug Furnas vs. Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 5/25 Sendai; 1993 - Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki 4/21 Osaka; 1994 - Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) 3/20 New York Madison Square Garden; 1995 - Manami Toyota vs. Kyoko Inoue 5/7 Tokyo; 1996 - Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Steve Williams & Johnny Ace 6/7 Tokyo; 1997 - Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin 3/23 Chicago; 1998 - Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi 10/31 Tokyo; 1999 - Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi 6/11 Tokyo; 2000 - Atlantis vs. Villano III 3/17 Mexico City; 2001 - Keiji Muto vs. Genichiro Tenryu 6/8 Tokyo; 2002 - Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle vs. Edge & Rey Mysterio 10/20 Little Rock; 2003 - Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi 3/1 Tokyo; 2004 - Kenta Kobashi vs. Jun Akiyama 7/10 Tokyo Dome; 2005 - Kenta Kobashi vs. Samoa Joe 10/1 New York; 2006 - Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi vs. Cima & Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino 3/31 Chicago; 2007 - Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima 8/25 New York; 2008 - Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho 10/5 Portland, OR; 2009 - Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels 4/5 Houston; 2010 - Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels 3/28 Phoenix; 2011 - John Cena vs. C.M. Punk 7/17 Chicago; 2012 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki 10/8 Tokyo; 2013 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada 4/7 Tokyo; 2014 - A.J. Styles vs. Minoru Suzuki 8/1 Tokyo; 2015 - Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi 1/4 Tokyo; 2016 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada 1/4 Tokyo; 2017 - Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada 1/4 Tokyo; 2018 - Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada 6/9 Osaka
415
416
417
418MMA MATCH OF THE YEAR
419
420
421
4221. ISRAEL ADESANYA VS. KELVIN GASTELUM 4/13 ATLANTA
423
424(353) 2,168
425
4262. Dustin Poirier vs. Max Holloway 4/13 Atlanta (49) 912
427
4283. Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington 12/14 Las Vegas (74) 808
429
4304. Yoel Romero vs. Paulo Costa 8/17 Anaheim (32) 568
431
4325. Vicente Luque vs. Bryan Barbarena 2/17 Phoenix (15) 210
433
4346. Tony Ferguson vs. Donald Cerrone 6/6 Chicago (3) 122
435
4367. Henry Cejudo vs. Marlon Moraes 6/6 Chicago (12) 121
437
4388. Stipe Miocic vs. Daniel Cormier 8/17 Anaheim (4) 105
439
440Demian Maia vs. Ben Askren 10/25 Kallang, Singapore (16) 105
441
44210. Jorge Masvidal vs. Nate Diaz 11/2 New York 66
443
444
445
446The April 13 fight for the interim UFC middleweight title saw Adesayna win a close decision that came down to the final round in a bout that dominated the voting.
447
448
449
450PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1997 - Maurice Smith vs. Mark Coleman 7/27 Birmingham; 1998 - Jerry Bohlander vs. Kevin Jackson 3/13 New Orleans; 1999 - Frank Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz 9/24 Lake Charles; 2000 - Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Royce Gracie 5/1 Tokyo Dome; 2001 - Randy Couture vs. Pedro Rizzo 5/4 Atlantic City; 2002 - Don Frye vs. Yoshihiro Takayama 6/23 Saitama; 2003 - Wanderlei Silva vs. Hidehiko Yoshida 11/9 Tokyo Dome; 2004 - Quinton Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva 10/31 Saitama; 2005 - Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar 4/9 Las Vegas; 2006 - Diego Sanchez vs. Karo Parisyan 8/17 Las Vegas; 2007 - Randy Couture vs. Tim Sylvia 3/3 Columbus; 2008 - Forrest Griffin vs. Quinton Jackson 7/5 Las Vegas; 2009 - Diego Sanchez vs. Clay Guida 6/20 Las Vegas; 2010 - Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung 4/24 Sacramento; 2011 - Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio Shogun Rua 11/19 San Jose; 2012 - Chan Sung Jung vs. Dustin Poirier 5/15 Fairfax, VA; 2013 - Gilbert Melendez vs. Diego Sanchez 10/19 Houston; 2014 - Robbie Lawler vs. Johny Hendricks 3/15 Dallas; 2015 - Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald 7/11 Las Vegas; 2016 - Robbie Lawler vs. Carlos Condit 1/02 Las Vegas; 2017 - Cub Swanson vs. Doo Ho Choi 12/10/2016 Toronto; 2018 - Justin Gaethje vs. Dustin Poirier 4/14 Glendale, AZ
451
452
453
454
455
456"CATEGORY B" AWARDS - WINNER
457
458
459
460DETERMINED BY FIRST PLACE VOTES
461
462
463
464UNITED STATES/CANADA MVP
465
466
467
4681. CHRIS JERICHO 950
469
4702. Cody 102
471
4723. Adam Cole 86
473
4744. Johnny Gargano 20
475
4765. Nick Gage 15
477
478Becky Lynch 15
479
4807. Daniel Bryan 14
481
482Jon Moxley 14
483
4849. Kenny Omega 13
485
48610. Seth Rollins 11
487
488
489
490PREVIOUS WINNERS: 2018 - A.J. Styles
491
492
493
494JAPANESE MVP
495
496
497
4981. KAZUCHIKA OKADA 810
499
5002. Will Ospreay 133
501
5023. Kento Miyahara 90
503
5044. Kota Ibushi 78
505
5065. Tetsuya Naito 26
507
5086. Konosuke Takeshita 15
509
5107. Hiroshi Tanahashi 13
511
512
513
514PREVIOUS WINNERS: 2018- Kenny Omega
515
516
517
518MEXICO MVP
519
520
521
5221. REY FENIX 376
523
5242. Rush 177
525
5263. L.A. Park 144
527
5284. Pentagon Jr. 137
529
5305. Dragon Lee 82
531
5326. Blue Demon Jr. 64
533
5347. Psycho Clown 62
535
5368. Ultimo Guerrero 58
537
5389. Dr. Wagner Jr. 39
539
54010. Laredo Kid 24
541
542
543
544HONORABLE MENTION: El Hijo del Vikingo 17, Caristico 16, Kenny Omega 13
545
546
547
548PREVIOUS WINNERS: 2018 - L.A. Park
549
550
551
552EUROPE MVP
553
554
555
5561. WALTER 537
557
5582. Will Ospreay 266
559
5603. David Starr 212
561
5624. Zack Sabre Jr. 154
563
5645. Jordan Devlin 79
565
5666. Pete Dunne 15
567
5687. Tyler Bate 12
569
5708. Timothy Thatcher 11
571
5729. Chris Brookes 10
573
57410. Pac 7
575
576
577
578PREVIOUS WINNERS: 2018 - Walter
579
580
581
582NON-HEAVYWEIGHT MVP
583
584
585
5861. WILL OSPREAY 1,015
587
5882. Dragon Lee 31
589
590Shingo Takagi 31
591
5924. Rey Fenix 26
593
5945. El Hijo del Vikingo 20
595
5966. David Starr 14
597
5987. Johnny Gargano 7
599
6008. El Phantasmo 6
601
602
603
604PREVIOUS WINNERS: 2018 - Will Ospreay
605
606
607
608WOMEN’S WRESTLING MVP
609
610
611
6121. BECKY LYNCH 534
613
6142. Tessa Blanchard 153
615
6163. Shayna Baszler 96
617
6184. Ronda Rousey 73
619
6205. Io Shirai 62
621
6226. Riho 60
623
6247, Rhea Ripley 49
625
6268. Mayu Iwatani 44
627
6289. Saree 33
629
63010. Momo Watanabe 24
631
632
633
634HONORABLE MENTION: Charlotte Flair 20, Arisa Hoshiki 15, Hana Kimura 14
635
636
637
638PREVIOUS WINNERS: 2018 - Becky Lynch
639
640
641
642WOMEN’S MMA MVP
643
644
645
6461. AMANDA NUNES 736
647
6482. Zhang Weili 40
649
6503. Valentina Shevchenko 35
651
6524. Cris Cyborg 8
653
654Ilima Lei-Macfarlane 8
655
656
657
658PREVIOUS WINNERS: 2018 - Amanda Nunes
659
660
661
662BEST BOX OFFICE DRAW
663
664
665
6661. CHRIS JERICHO 540
667
6682. Brock Lesnar 99
669
6703. Jon Jones 82
671
6724. Kazuchika Okada 78
673
6745. Nate Diaz 73
675
6766. Kenny Omega 63
677
6787. Cody 41
679
6808. Becky Lynch 27
681
6829. Ronda Rousey 20
683
68410. L.A. Park 17
685
686
687
688BEST BABYFACE PREVIOUS AWARD WINNERS: 1980 - Dusty Rhodes; 1981 - Tommy Rich; 1982 - Hulk Hogan; 1983 - Hulk Hogan; 1984 - Hulk Hogan; 1985 - Hulk Hogan; 1986 - Hulk Hogan; 1987 - Hulk Hogan; 1988 - Hulk Hogan; 1989 - Hulk Hogan; 1990 - Hulk Hogan; 1991 - Hulk Hogan; 1992 - Sting; 1993 - Atsushi Onita; 1994 - Atsushi Onita; 1995 - Perro Aguayo Sr.; 1996 - Shawn Michaels
689
690
691
692BEST HEEL PREVIOUS AWARD WINNERS: 1980 - Larry Zbyszko; 1981 - Don Muraco; 1982 - Buzz Sawyer; 1983 - Michael Hayes; 1984 - Roddy Piper; 1985 - Roddy Piper; 1986 - Michael Hayes; 1987 - Ted DiBiase; 1988 - Ted DiBiase; 1989 - Terry Funk; 1990 - Ric Flair; 1991 - The Undertaker; 1992 - Rick Rude; 1993 - Vader; 1994 - Love Machine (Art Barr); 1995 - Masahiro Chono; 1996 - Steve Austin
693
694
695
696PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1997 - Hulk Hogan; 1998 - Steve Austin; 1999 - Steve Austin; 2000 - The Rock; 2001 - Kazushi Sakuraba; 2002 - Bob Sapp; 2003 - Bob Sapp; 2004 - Kenta Kobashi; 2005 - Kenta Kobashi; 2006 - Mistico; 2007 - John Cena; 2008 - Brock Lesnar; 2009 - Brock Lesnar; 2010 - Brock Lesnar; 2011 - The Rock; 2012 - The Rock; 2013 - Georges St-Pierre; 2014 - Ronda Rousey; 2015 - Ronda Rousey ; 2016 - Conor McGregor; 2017 - Conor McGregor; 2018 - Conor McGregor
697
698
699
700FEUD OF THE YEAR
701
702
703
7041. ADAM COLE VS. JOHNNY GARGANO 405
705
7062. Chris Jericho vs. Cody 198
707
7083. Young Bucks vs. Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix 121
709
7104. Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston 66
711
7125. Jushin Liger vs. Minoru Suzuki 64
713
7146. David Starr vs. Jordan Devlin 56
715
7167. Colby Covington vs. Kamaru Usman 42
717
7188. Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair 38
719
7209. Kazuchika Okada vs. Sanada 37
721
72210. Cody vs. MJF 36
723
724
725
726HONORABLE MENTION: Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Blue Demon Jr. 33, Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White 30, Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito 19, Elite vs Inner Circle 18, Cody vs. Dustin Rhodes 18, Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley 14
727
728
729
730PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Bruno Sammartino vs. Larry Zbyszko; 1981 - Andre the Giant vs. Killer Khan; 1982 - Ted DiBiase vs. Junkyard Dog; 1983 - Freebirds vs. Von Erichs; 1984 - Freebirds vs. Von Erichs; 1985 - Ted DiBiase vs. Jim Duggan; 1986 - Hulk Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff; 1987 - Jerry Lawler vs. Austin Idol & Tommy Rich; 1988 - Midnight Express vs. Fantastics; 1989 - Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk; 1990 - Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa; 1991 - Jumbo Tsuruta & company vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & company; 1992 - Moondogs vs. Jerry Lawler & Jeff Jarrett; 1993 - Bret Hart vs. Jerry Lawler; 1994 - Los Gringos Locos vs. Mexican AAA; 1995 - Dean Malenko vs. Eddie Guerrero; 1996 - WCW vs. NWO; 1997 - Steve Austin vs. Hart Foundation; 1998 - Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon; 1999 - Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon; 2000 - HHH vs. Mick Foley; 2001 - Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Wanderlei Silva; 2002 - Ken Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz; 2003 - Brock Lesnar vs. Kurt Angle; 2004 - HHH vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit; 2005 - Batista vs. HHH; 2006 - Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock; 2007 - Undertaker vs. Batista ; 2008 - Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels; 2009 - C.M. Punk vs. Jeff Hardy; 2010 - Kevin Steen vs. El Generico; 2011 - John Cena vs. C.M. Punk; 2012 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada; 2013 - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada; 2014 - Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier; 2015 - Conor McGregor vs. Jose Aldo; 2016 - Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz; 2017 - Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada; 2018 - Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa
731
732
733
734MOST IMPROVED
735
736
737
7381. LANCE ARCHER 270
739
7402. Jon Moxley 205
741
7423. Jungle Boy 128
743
7444. Rhea Ripley 73
745
7465, Taichi 40
747
7486. Jay White 36
749
7507. MJF 34
751
7528. Darby Allin 30
753
754Cody 30
755
75610. Will Ospreay 27
757
758
759
760HONORABLE MENTION: Keith Lee 24, Arisa Hoshiki 16, Tessa Blanchard 15,Toa Henare 15, Yuya Uemura 13, Dustin Rhodes 12
761
762
763
764PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Larry Zbyszko; 1981 - Adrian Adonis; 1982 - Jim Duggan; 1983 - Curt Hennig; 1984 - The Cobra (George Takano); 1985 - Steve Williams; 1986 - Rick Steiner; 1987 - Big Bubba Rogers (Ray Traylor); 1988 - Sting; 1989 - Lex Luger; 1990 - Kenta Kobashi; 1991 - Dustin Rhodes; 1992 - El Samurai; 1993 - Tracy Smothers; 1994 - Diesel (Kevin Nash); 1995 - Johnny B. Badd (Marc Mero); 1996 - Diamond Dallas Page; 1997 - Tatsuhito Takaiwa; 1998 - The Rock; 1999 - Vader; 2000 - Kurt Angle; 2001 - Keiji Muto; 2002 - Brock Lesnar; 2003 - Brock Lesnar; 2004 - Randy Orton; 2005 - Roderick Strong; 2006 - Takeshi Morishima; 2007 - MVP; 2008 - The Miz; 2009 - The Miz; 2010 - Sheamus; 2011 - Dolph Ziggler; 2012 - Kazuchika Okada; 2013 - Roman Reigns; 2014 - Rusev; 2015 - Bayley; 2016 - Matt Riddle; 2017 - Braun Strowman; 2018 - Adam Page
765
766
767
768MOST CHARISMATIC
769
770
771
7721. CHRIS JERICHO 318
773
7742. Cody 194
775
7763. Tetsuya Naito 117
777
7784. Hiroshi Tanahashi 84
779
7805. MJF 67
781
7826. Jon Moxley 54
783
7847. Becky Lynch 44
785
7868. Orange Cassidy 42
787
7889. Matt Riddle 32
789
79010. Kento Miyahara 28
791
792
793
794HONORABLE MENTION: Adam Cole 20, Minoru Suzuki 20, Jorge Masvidal 17, Hana Kimura 17, Maki Itoh 16, Velveteen Dream 13, Jay White 12, Will Ospreay, 12, Bray Wyatt 11
795
796.
797
798PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Ric Flair; 1981 - Michael Hayes; 1982 - Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair (tied); 1983 - Ric Flair; 1984 - Ric Flair; 1985 - Hulk Hogan; 1986 - Hulk Hogan; 1987 - Hulk Hogan; 1988 - Sting; 1989 - Hulk Hogan; 1990 - Hulk Hogan; 1991 - Hulk Hogan; 1992 - Sting; 1993 - Ric Flair; 1994 - Atsushi Onita; 1995 - Shawn Michaels; 1996 - Shawn Michaels; 1997 - Steve Austin; 1998 - Steve Austin; 1999 - The Rock; 2000 - The Rock; 2001 - The Rock; 2002 - The Rock; 2003 - Bob Sapp; 2004 - Eddie Guerrero; 2005 - Eddie Guerrero; 2006 - John Cena; 2007 - John Cena; 2008 - John Cena; 2009 - John Cena; 2010 - John Cena; 2011 - The Rock; 2012 - The Rock; 2013 - Hiroshi Tanahashi; 2014 - Shinsuke Nakamura; 2015 - Shinsuke Nakamura; 2016 - Conor McGregor; 2017 - Tetsuya Naito ; 2018 - Tetsuya Naito
799
800
801
802BRYAN DANIELSON AWARD
803
804(BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER)
805
806
807
8081. ZACK SABRE JR. 895
809
8102. Daniel Bryan 97
811
8123. Will Ospreay 37
813
8144. Sanada 35
815
8165. Jonathan Gresham 32
817
8186. Minoru Suzuki 19
819
820Timothy Thatcher 19
821
8228. Johnny Gargano 12
823
824
825
826
827
828PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Bob Backlund; 1981 - Ted DiBiase; 1982 - Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama); 1983 - Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama); 1984 - Dynamite Kid and Masa Saito (tied); 1985 - Tatsumi Fujinami; 1986 - Tatsumi Fujinami; 1987 - Nobuhiko Takada; 1988 - Tatsumi Fujinami; 1989 - Jushin Liger; 1990 - Jushin Liger; 1991 - Jushin Liger; 1992 - Jushin Liger; 1993 - Hiroshi Hase; 1994 - Chris Benoit; 1995 - Chris Benoit; 1996 - Dean Malenko; 1997 - Dean Malenko; 1998 - Kiyoshi Tamura; 1999 - Shinjiro Otani; 2000 - Chris Benoit; 2001 - Minoru Tanaka; 2002 - Kurt Angle; 2003 - Chris Benoit; 2004 - Chris Benoit; 2005 - Bryan Danielson; 2006 - Bryan Danielson; 2007 - Bryan Danielson; 2008 - Bryan Danielson; 2009 - Bryan Danielson; 2010 - Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson); 2011 - Daniel Bryan; 2012 - Daniel Bryan; 2013 - Daniel Bryan; 2014 - Zack Sabre Jr.; 2015 - Zack Sabre Jr.; 2016 - Zack Sabre Jr.; 2017 - Zack Sabre Jr. ; 2018 - Zack Sabre Jr.
829
830
831
832BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD
833
834(BEST BRAWLER)
835
836
837
8381. TOMOHIRO ISHII 474
839
8402. Jon Moxley 397
841
8423. Shingo Takagi 110
843
8444. Minoru Suzuki 42
845
8465. Walter 31
847
8486. Blue Demon Jr. 28
849
8507. Chris Jericho 25
851
8528. Nick Gage 21
853
854
855
856PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Bruiser Brody; 1981 - Bruiser Brody; 1982 - Bruiser Brody; 1983 - Bruiser Brody; 1984 - Bruiser Brody; 1985 - Sta n Hansen; 1986 - Terry Gordy; 1987 - Bruiser Brody; 1988 - Bruiser Brody; 1989 - Terry Funk; 1990 - Stan Hansen; 1991 - Cactus Jack (Mick Foley); 1992 - Cactus Jack; 1993 - Cactus Jack; 1994 - Cactus Jack; 1995 - Cactus Jack; 1996 - Mankind (Mick Foley); 1997 - Mankind; 1998 - Mankind; 1999 - Mick Foley; 2000 - Mick Foley; 2001 - Steve Austin; 2002 - Yoshihiro Takayama; 2003 - Brock Lesnar; 2004 - Chris Benoit; 2005 - Samoa Joe; 2006 - Samoa Joe; 2007 - Takeshi Morishima; 2008 - Necro Butcher; 2009 - Necro Butcher; 2010 - Kevin Steen; 2011 - Kevin Steen; 2012 - Kevin Steen; 2013 - Katsuyori Shibata; 2014 - Tomohiro Ishii; 2015 - Tomohiro Ishii; 2016 - Tomohiro Ishii; 2017 - Tomohiro Ishii; 2018 - Tomohiro Ishii
857
858
859
860BEST FLYING WRESTLER
861
862
863
8641. WILL OSPREAY 667
865
8662. Rey Fenix 366
867
8683. Dragon Lee 36
869
8704. El Hijo del Vikingo 35
871
8725. Ricochet 18
873
8746. Shun Skywalker 17
875
8767. Tetsuya Endo 16
877
878Jacob Fatu 16
879
880
881
882PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1981 - Jimmy Snuka; 1982 - Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama); 1983 - Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama); 1984 - Dynamite Kid; 1985 - Tiger Mask (Mitsuharu Misawa); 1986 - Tiger Mask (Mitsuharu Misawa); 1987 - Owen Hart; 1988 - Owen Hart; 1989 - Jushin Liger; 1990 - Jushin Liger; 1991 - Jushin Liger; 1992 - Jushin Liger; 1993 - Jushin Liger; 1994 - Great Sasuke; 1995 - Rey Misterio Jr.; 1996 - Rey Misterio Jr.; 1997 - Rey Misterio Jr.; 1998 - Juventud Guerrera; 1999 - Juventud Guerrera; 2000 - Jeff Hardy; 2001 - Dragon Kid; 2002 - Rey Mysterio; 2003 - Rey Mysterio; 2004 - Rey Mysterio; 2005 - A.J. Styles; 2006 - Mistico; 2007 - Mistico; 2008 - Evan Bourne; 2009 - Kota Ibushi; 2010 - Kota Ibushi; 2011 - Ricochet; 2012 - Kota Ibushi; 2013 - Kota Ibushi; 2014 - Ricochet; 2015 - Ricochet; 2016 - Will Ospreay; 2017 - Will Ospreay; 2018 - Will Ospreay
883
884
885
886MOST OVERRATED
887
888
889
8901. KING CORBIN 696
891
8922. Seth Rollins 120
893
8943. Bray Wyatt 71
895
8964. Lacey Evans 30
897
8985. Shane McMahon 25
899
9006. Britt Baker 24
901
9027. Jay White 23
903
9048. Brock Lesnar 18
905
9069. Sanada 17
907
90810. Cody 12
909
910
911
912HONORABLE MENTION: Juice Robinson 11
913
914
915
916PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Mr. Wrestling II (Johnny Walker); 1981 - Pedro Morales; 1982 - Pedro Morales; 1983 - Bob Backlund; 1984 - John Studd; 1985 - Hulk Hogan; 1986 - Hulk Hogan; 1987 - Dusty Rhodes; 1988 - Dusty Rhodes; 1989 - Ultimate Warrior; 1990 - Ultimate Warrior; 1991 - Ultimate Warrior; 1992 - Erik Watts; 1993 - Sid Vicious; 1994 - Hulk Hogan; 1995 - Hulk Hogan; 1996 - Hulk Hogan; 1997 - Hulk Hogan; 1998 - Hulk Hogan; 1999 - Kevin Nash; 2000 - Kevin Nash; 2001 - The Undertaker; 2002 - HHH; 2003 - HHH; 2004 - HHH; 2005 - Jeff Jarrett; 2006 - Batista; 2007 - Great Khali; 2008 - Vladimir Kozlov; 2009 - HHH; 2010 - Kane; 2011 - Crimson; 2012 - Ryback; 2013 - Randy Orton; 2014 - Kane; 2015 - Kane; 2016 - Roman Reigns; 2017 - Jinder Mahal; 2018 - Baron Corbin
917
918
919
920MOST UNDERRATED
921
922
923
9241. SHORTY G 266
925
9262. Matt Riddle 90
927
9283. Toa Henare 50
929
9304. Ricochet 43
931
9325. Tomohiro Ishii 36
933
9346. Mustafa Ali 32
935
9367. Samoa Joe 31
937
938Kushida 31
939
9409. Cesaro 25
941
94210. Pac 25
943
944
945
946HONORABLE MENTION: Buddy Murphy 24,Sami Zayn 24, Tyler Bate 19, Gran Metalik 18, Cedric Alexander 18, Andrade 17, Black Taurus 15, Asuka 15, Minoru Suzuki 15, The Revival 14, Lance Archer 13, Kenny Omega 13, Rey Fenix 13, Jordan Devlin 13, Shingo Takagi 13, Finn Balor 12, Sanada 12, EC 3 12, Roman Reigns 11
947
948
949
950PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1980 - Iron Sheik; 1981 - Buzz Sawyer; 1982 - Adrian Adonis; 1983 - Dynamite Kid; 1984 - Brian Blair; 1985 - Bobby Eaton; 1986 - Bobby Eaton; 1987 - Brad Armstrong; 1988 - Tiger Mask (Mitsuharu Misawa); 1989 - Dan Kroffat (Phil LaFon); 1990 - Bobby Eaton; 1991 - Terry Taylor; 1992 - Terry Taylor; 1993 - Bobby Eaton; 1994 - Brian Pillman; 1995 - Skip (Chris Candito); 1996 - Leif Cassidy (Al Snow); 1997 - Flash Funk (Too Cold Scorpio); 1998 - Chris Benoit; 1999 - Chris Jericho; 2000 - Chris Jericho; 2001 - Lance Storm; 2002 - Booker T; 2003 - Ultimo Dragon; 2004 - Paul London; 2005 - Shelton Benjamin; 2006 - Shelton Benjamin; 2007 - Shelton Benjamin; 2008 - MVP; 2009 - Evan Bourne; 2010 - Kaval (Low Ki); 2011 - Dolph Ziggler; 2012 - Tyson Kidd; 2013- Antonio Cesaro; 2014 - Cesaro; 2015 - Cesaro; 2016 - Cesaro; 2017 - Rusev; 2018 - Finn Balor
951
952
953
954ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
955
956
957
9581. JUNGLE BOY 249
959
9602. Karl Fredericks 219
961
9623. Cain Velasquez 64
963
9644. Clark Connors 36
965
9665. Kris Statlander 26
967
9686. Strong Machine J 24
969
9707. Private Party 12
971
972Marko Stunt 12
973
9749. Alex Coughlin 11
975
976
977
978PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1981 - Brad Armstrong and Brad Rheingans (tied); 1982 - Steve Williams; 1983 - Road Warriors; 1984 - Tom Zenk and Keiichi Yamada (Jushin Liger) (tied); 1985 - Jack Victory; 1986 - Bam Bam Bigelow; 1987 - Brian Pillman; 1988 - Gary Albright; 1989 - Dustin Rhodes; 1990 - Steve Austin; 1991 - Johnny B. Badd (Marc Mero); 1992 - Rey Misterio Jr.;1993 - Jun Akiyama; 1994 - Mikey Whipwreck; 1995 - Perro Aguayo Jr.; 1996 - The Giant (Paul "Big Show" Wight); 1997 - Mr. Aguila; 1998 - Bill Goldberg; 1999 - Blitzkrieg; 2000 - Sean O'Haire; 2001 - El Hombre sin Nombre (Rayman); 2002 - Bob Sapp; 2003 - Chris Sabin; 2004 - Petey Williams; 2005 - Shingo Takagi; 2006 - Atsushi Aoki; 2007 - Erick Stevens; 2008 - Kai; 2009 - Frightmare; 2010 - Adam Cole; 2011 - Daichi Hashimoto; 2012 - Dinastia; 2013 - Yohei Komatsu; 2014 - Dragon Lee; 2015 - Chad Gable; 2016 - Matt Riddle; 2017 - Katsuya Kitamura; 2018 - Ronda Rousey
979
980
981
982BEST NON-WRESTLER
983
984
985
9861. PAUL HEYMAN 378
987
9882. Zelina Vega 122
989
9903. Salina de la Renta 119
991
9924. Gedo 96
993
9945. Tully Blanchard 78
995
9966. William Regal 35
997
9987. Aubrey Edwards 34
999
10008. Katsuyori Shibata 31
1001
10029. Pieter 30
1003
1004Jake Hager 30
1005
1006
1007
1008HONORABLE MENTION: Kamille 29, Miho Abe 25, Orange Cassidy 17, Malcolm Bivens 14, Drake Maverick 12, Brandi Rhodes 12
1009
1010
1011
1012PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1999 - Vince McMahon; 2000 - Vince McMahon; 2001 - Paul Heyman; 2002 - Paul Heyman; 2003 - Steve Austin; 2004 - Paul Heyman; 2005 - Eric Bischoff; 2006 - Jim Cornette; 2007 - Larry Sweeney; 2008 - Larry Sweeney; 2009 - Vickie Guerrero; 2010 - Vickie Guerrero; 2011 - Ricardo Rodriguez; 2012 - Paul Heyman; 2013 - Paul Heyman; 2014 - Paul Heyman; 2015 - Dario Cueto; 2016 - Dario Cueto; 2017 - Daniel Bryan; 2018 - Paul Heyman
1013
1014
1015
1016MANAGER OF THE YEAR PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1983 - Jimmy Hart; 1984 - Jim Cornette; 1985 - Jim Cornette; 1986 - Jim Cornette; 1987 - Jim Cornette; 1988 - Jim Cornette; 1989 - Jim Cornette; 1990 - Jim Cornette; 1991 - Sensational Sherri (Sherri Martel); 1992 - Jim Cornette; 1993 - Jim Cornette; 1994 - Jim Cornette; 1995 - Jim Cornette; 1996 - Jim Cornette
1017
1018
1019
1020BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER
1021
1022
1023
10241. KEVIN KELLY 654
1025
10262. Excalibur 146
1027
10283. Tony Schiavone 131
1029
10304. Mauro Ranallo 105
1031
10325. Nigel McGuinness 66
1033
10346. Jim Cornette 45
1035
10367. Jim Ross 15
1037
1038Hugo Savinovich 15
1039
10409. Don Callis 13
1041
1042Chris Charlton 13
1043
1044
1045
1046PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1981 - Gordon Solie; 1982 - Gordon Solie; 1983 - Gordon Solie; 1984 - Lance Russell; 1985 - Lance Russell; 1986 - Lance Russell; 1987 - Lance Russell; 1988 - Jim Ross; 1989 - Jim Ross; 1990 - Jim Ross; 1991 - Jim Ross; 1992 - Jim Ross; 1993 - Jim Ross; 1994 - Joey Styles; 1995 - Joey Styles; 1996 - Joey Styles; 1997 - Mike Tenay; 1998 - Jim Ross; 1999 - Jim Ross; 2000 - Jim Ross; 2001 - Jim Ross; 2002 - Mike Tenay; 2003 - Mike Tenay; 2004 - Mike Tenay; 2005 - Mike Tenay; 2006 - Jim Ross; 2007 - Jim Ross; 2008 - Matt Striker; 2009 - Jim Ross; 2010 - Joe Rogan; 2011 - Joe Rogan; 2012 - Jim Ross; 2013 - William Regal; 2014 - William Regal; 2015 - Mauro Ranallo; 2016 - Mauro Ranallo; 2017 - Mauro Ranallo; 2018 - Kevin Kelly
1047
1048
1049
1050WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER
1051
1052
1053
10541. COREY GRAVES 474
1055
10562. Michael Cole 242
1057
10583. Beth Phoenix 77
1059
10604. Renee Young 42
1061
10625. Jim Ross 39
1063
10646. Mauro Ranallo 38
1065
10667. Alex Marvez 36
1067
10688. Byron Saxton 35
1069
10709. Josh Matthews 18
1071
107210. Jerry Lawler 17
1073
1074Jim Cornette 17
1075
1076
1077
1078HONORABLE MENTION: Dio Maddin 11
1079
1080.
1081
1082PREVIOUS WINNERS - 1984 - Angelo Mosca; 1985 - Gorilla Monsoon; 1986 - David Crockett; 1987 - David Crockett; 1988 - David Crockett; 1989 - Ed Whalen; 1990 - Herb Abrams; 1991 - Gorilla Monsoon; 1992 - Gorilla Monsoon 1993 - Gorilla Monsoon; 1994 - Gorilla Monsoon; 1995 - Gorilla Monsoon; 1996 - Steve McMichael 1997 - Dusty Rhodes; 1998 - Lee Marshall; 1999 - Tony Schiavone; 2000 - Tony Schiavone; 2001 - Michael Cole; 2002 - Jerry Lawler; 2003 - Jonathan Coachman; 2004 - Todd Grisham; 2005 - Jonathan Coachman; 2006 - Todd Grisham; 2007 - Don West; 2008 - Mike Adamle; 2009 - Michael Cole; 2010 - Michael Cole; 2011 - Michael Cole; 2012 - Michael Cole; 2013 - Taz; 2014 - John Layfield; 2015 - John Layfield; 2016 - David Otunga; 2017 - Booker T; 2018 - Jonathan Coachman
1083
1084
1085
1086BEST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW
1087
1088
1089
10901. AEW DOUBLE OR NOTHING 5/25 LAS VEGAS 359
1091
10922. NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 1/4 Tokyo Dome 323
1093
10943. NXT Takeover New York 4/5 Brooklyn 260
1095
10964. NJPW G-1 Climax final 8/12 Tokyo 44
1097
10985. NJPW Best of the Super Juniors finals 6/5 Tokyo 42
1099
11006. DDT Ultimate Party 11/3 Tokyo 17
1101
11027. DDT Coming to America 4/4 New York 15
1103
11048. NJPW Dominion 6/9 Osaka 14
1105
11069. WWE WrestleMania 4/7 East Rutherford, NJ 13
1107
1108NXT Takeover 6/1 Bridgeport, CT 13
1109
1110
1111
1112HONORABLE MENTION: AEW Full Gear 11/9 Baltimore 12
1113
1114
1115
1116PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1989 - WCW Great American Bash 7/23 Baltimore; 1990 - WWF/New Japan/All Japan U.S. and Japan Wrestling Summit 4/11 Tokyo; 1991 - WCW Wrestle War 2/24 Phoenix; 1992 - All Japan Women Wrestlemarinpiad 4/25 Yokohama; 1993 - All Japan Women Dream Slam I 4/2 Yokohama; 1994 - New Japan Super J Cup 4/16 Tokyo; 1995 - Weekly Pro Wrestling Multi-Promotional show 4/2 Tokyo; 1996 - WAR Super J Cup Second Stage 12/13/95 Tokyo; 1997 - WWF Canadian Stampede 7/16 Calgary; 1998 - ECW Heat Wave 8/2 Dayton; 1999 - ECW Anarchy Rulz 9/19 Chicago; 2000 - EMLL first PPV 3/17 Arena Mexico; 2001 - WWF WrestleMania X-7 4/1 Houston Astrodome; 2002 - WWE SummerSlam 8/25 New York Nassau Coliseum; 2003 - Pride Final Elimination 11/9 Tokyo Dome; 2004 - Pro Wrestling NOAH 7/10 Tokyo Dome; 2005 - Pro Wrestling NOAH Destiny 7/18 Tokyo Dome; 2006 - Ring of Honor Glory By Honor V 9/16 Manhattan Center; 2007 - ROH Man Up 9/15 Chicago; 2008 - WWE WrestleMania 25 3/30 Orlando; 2009 - Dragon Gate USA Open the Historical Gate 7/25 Philadelphia; 2010 - UFC 116 7/3 Las Vegas; 2011 - WWE Money in the Bank 7/17 Chicago; 2012 - New Japan Kings of Pro Wrestling 10/8 Tokyo; 2013 - New Japan G-1 Climax tournament 8/4 Osaka; 2014 - New Japan G-1 Climax tournament 8/1 Tokyo; 2015- New Japan Wrestle Kingdom 9 1/4 Tokyo; 2016 New Japan Wrestle Kingdom 10 1/4 Tokyo ; 2017 -New Japan Wrestle Kingdom 11 1/4 Tokyo; 2018 - New Japan Dominion 6/9 Osaka
1117
1118
1119
1120WORST MAJOR WRESTLING SHOW
1121
1122
1123
11241. WWE SUPER SHOWDOWN 6/7 JEDDAH 427
1125
11262. WWE Hell in a Cell 10/6 Sacramento 343
1127
11283. WWE Crown Jewel 10/29 Riyadh 180
1129
11304. WWE TLC 12/15 Minneapolis 57
1131
11325. WWE WrestleMania 4/7 East Rutherford, NJ 24
1133
11346. CMLL 86th Anniversary show 9/27 Mexico City 17
1135
1136
1137
1138PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1989 - WrestleMania V 4/2 Atlantic City; 1990 - WCW Clash XII 11/20 Jacksonville; 1991 - WCW Great American Bash 7/14 Baltimore; 1992 - WCW Halloween Havoc 10/25 Philadelphia; 1993 - WCW Fall Brawl 9/19 Houston; 1994 - UWF Blackjack Brawl 9/25 Las Vegas; 1995 - WCW Uncensored 3/29 Tupelo; 1996 - WCW Uncensored 3/24 Tupelo; 1997 - WCW/NWO Souled Out 1/25 Cedar Rapids; 1998 - WCW Fall Brawl 9/13 Winston-Salem; 1999 - Heroes of Wrestling 10/10 Bay St. Louis; 2000 - WCW Halloween Havoc 10/29 Las Vegas; 2001 - WCW Unleashed 2/14 Los Angeles; 2002 - WWE King of the Ring 6/23 Columbus, OH; 2003 - WWE Backlash 4/27 Worcester; 2004 - WWE Great American Bash 7/27 Norfolk; 2005 - WWE Great American Bash 7/24 Buffalo; 2006 - UFC 61 7/8 Las Vegas; 2007 - WWE ECW December to Dismember 12/3/06 Augusta; 2008 - WWE Survivor Series 11/23 Boston; 2009 - TNA Victory Road 7/19 Orlando; 2010 - TNA Hardcore Justice 8/8 Orlando; 2011 - TNA Victory Road 3/13 Orlando; 2012 - UFC 149 7/21 Calgary; 2013 - WWE Battleground 10/6 Buffalo; 2014 - WWE Battleground 7/20 Tampa; 2015 - AAA TripleMania 8/9 Mexico City; 2016 - WWE WrestleMania 4/3 Dallas; 2017 - WWE Battleground 7/23 Philadelphia; 2018 - WWE Crown Jewel 11/2 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
1139
1140
1141
1142BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER
1143
1144
1145
11461. WILL OSPREAY STORMBREAKER 162
1147
11482. Kenny Omega One Winged Angel 147
1149
11503. Kazuchika Okada Rainmaker 134
1151
11524. Will Ospreay Hidden Blade 90
1153
11545. Chris Jericho Judas Effect 65
1155
11566. Shingo Takagi Last of the Dragon 58
1157
11587. Kota Ibushi kamagoye 33
1159
11608. Darby Allin Coffin drop 32
1161
1162Shingo Takagi Pumping Bomber 32
1163
116410. Rey Fenix Tightrope kick 27
1165
1166
1167
1168HONORABLE MENTION: Jay White bladerunner 24, Kazuchika Okada dropkick 20,Tetsuya Naito Destino 19, Private Party Gin & Juice 18, Kento Miyahara Shutdown suplex 15, Pac Black Arrow 13, Aleister Black Black mass 13, Young Bucks Meltzer Driver 13, Minoru Suzuki Gotch piledriver 12, Kenny Omega V trigger 12, Adam Page buckshot lariat 11
1169
1170
1171
1172PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1981 - Jimmy Snuka Superfly splash; 1982 - Super Destroyer (Scott Irwin) superplex; 1983 - Jimmy Snuka Superfly splash; 1984 - Davey Boy Smith power clean in combination with Dynamite Kid dropkick off the top rope; 1985 - Tiger Mask (Mitsuharu Misawa) tope con giro; 1986 - Chavo Guerrero Sr. moonsault block; 1987 - Jushin Liger shooting star press; 1988 - Jushin Liger shooting star press; 1989 - Scott Steiner Frankensteiner; 1990 - Scott Steiner Frankensteiner; 1991 - Masao Orihara moonsault off top rope to floor; 1992 - Too Cold Scorpio 450 splash; 1993 - Vader moonsault; 1994 - Great Sasuke Sasuke special; 1995 - Rey Misterio Jr. flip dive into Frankensteiner on floor; 1996 - Ultimo Dragon running Liger bomb; 1997 - Diamond Dallas Page diamond cutter; 1998 - Kenta Kobashi burning hammer; 1999 - Dragon Kid dragonrana; 2000 - Dragon Kid dragonrana; 2001 - Keiji Muto shining wizard; 2002 - Brock Lesnar F-5; 2003 - A.J. Styles clash; 2004 - Petey Williams Canadian Destroyer; 2005 - Petey Williams Canadian Destroyer; 2006 - KENTA Go 2 Sleep; 2007 - KENTA Go 2 Sleep; 2008 - Evan Bourne shooting star press; 2009 - Young Bucks More Bang for Your Buck; 2010 - Ricochet double rotation moonsault; 2011- Ricochet double rotation moonsault; 2012 - Kazuchika Okada rainmaker; 2013 - Kazuchika Okada rainmaker; 2014 - Young Bucks Meltzer Driver; 2015 - A.J. Styles Styles Clash; 2016 - Kenny Omega One Winged Angel; 2017 - Kenny Omega One Winged Angel; 2018 - Kenny Omega One Winged Angel
1173
1174
1175
1176MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC
1177
1178
1179
11801. WWE CONTINUING TO DO BUSINESS IN SAUDI ARABIA
1181
1182920
1183
11842. UFC/USADA handling of Jon Jones 21
1185
11863. ROH using Enzo & Cass at MSG without telling New Japan 19
1187
11884. WWE Mike & Maria Kanellis pregnancy angle 18
1189
11905. UFC using Greg Hardy 15
1191
11926. WWE using Roman Reigns’ cancer to draw a Raw rating 14
1193
11947. WWE counter programming AEW Fight for Fallen charity show 13
1195
11968. WWE Corey Graves tweet on Mauro Ranallo 12
1197
11989. WWE Erick Rowan attempted murder of Roman Reigns 11
1199
1200
1201
1202PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1981 - LeBell promotions usage of The Monster claiming he was built in a laboratory; 1982 - Bob Backlund as WWF champion; 1983 - WWF pretending Eddie Gilbert had re-broken his neck after original legit injury in an auto accident; 1984 - Blackjack Mulligan fake heart attack by Championship Wrestling from Florida; 1985 - Usage of Mike Von Erich's near fatal illness to sell Cotton Bowl tickets by World Class; 1986 - Equating an angle of Chris Adams' blindness with the real death of Gino Hernandez; 1987 - World Class' handling of the death of Mike Von Erich; 1988 - Fritz Von Erich's fake brush with death; 1989 - Jose Gonzalez's babyface push by WWC; 1990 - Atsushi Onita stabbing angle with Jose Gonzalez; 1991 - WWF exploiting the Persian Gulf war; 1992 - WCW push of Erik Watts; 1993 - WCW Cactus Jack amnesia angle; 1994 - WCW retiring Ric Flair; 1995 - WCW Gene Okerlund 900 line come-ons and lies; 1996 - WWF teases and usage of fake Razor Ramon, Diesel and Double J; 1997 - WWF Melanie Pillman interview on Raw the day after Brian's death; 1998 - WCW exploiting Scott Hall's drinking problems for angles; 1999 - WWF continuing Over the Edge PPV after the death of Owen Hart; 2000 - WCW making David Arquette world champion; 2001 - Stephanie McMahon interview on 9/13 TV equating the bombing of the World Trade Center to her father's steroid trial; 2002 - WWE Katie Vick necrophilia angle; 2003 - McMahon family all over television; 2004 - Kane/Lita pregnancy/wedding/miscarriage angle; 2005 - WWE not editing off the show its terrorists angle the day of bombing in England; 2006 - WWE exploiting the death of Eddy Guerrero; 2007 - TNA signing Pacman Jones and having him do the Making it Rain on television when his doing that at a strip club led to the paralysis of a wrestler; 2008 - WWE teasing a Jeff Hardy drug overdose on the Internet to try and garner late interest in a PPV show; 2009 - WWE Piggy James angle making fun of Mickie James’ weight; 2010 - Stand up for WWE campaign; 2011 - WWE Anti-bullying message when they preach on television exactly what they don’t practice on television; 2012 - WWE presentation of C.M. Punk and Paul Heyman exploiting Jerry Lawler’s heart attack, as well as airing clips of him being worked on and playing up footage of him near death; 2013 - WWE exploiting the death of Bill Moody; 2014 - WWE insulting the fans who purchase their full-priced PPV shows; 2015 - WWE using Reid Fleihr’s death in an angle; 2016 - Bellator booking Kimbo Slice vs. Dada 5000 fight; 2017 - WWE promoting Jimmy Snuka as a hero in death; 2018 - WWE doing business with Saudi Arabia after the Khashoggi murder
1203
1204
1205
1206READERS' FAVORITE WRESTLER PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1984 - Ric Flair; 1985 - Ric Flair; 1986 - Ric Flair; 1987 - Ric Flair; 1988 - Ric Flair; 1989 - Ric Flair; 1990 - Ric Flair; 1991 - Ric Flair; 1992 - Ric Flair; 1993 - Ric Flair; 1994 - Sabu; 1995 - Manami Toyota; 1996 - Ric Flair; 1997 - Chris Benoit; 1998 - Mick Foley; 1999 - Chris Jericho; 2000 - Chris Benoit; 2001 - Keiji Muto; 2002 - Kurt Angle; 2003 - Kurt Angle
1207
1208
1209
1210READERS LEAST FAVORITE WRESTLER PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1984 - Ivan Putski; 1985 - Hulk Hogan; 1986 - Hulk Hogan; 1987 - Dusty Rhodes; 1988 - Dusty Rhodes; 1989 - Ultimate Warrior; 1990 - Ultimate Warrior; 1991 - Hulk Hogan; 1992 - Erik Watts; 1993 - Sid Vicious; 1994 - Hulk Hogan; 1995 - Hulk Hogan; 1996 - Hulk Hogan; 1997 - Hulk Hogan; 1998 - Hulk Hogan; 1999 - Hulk Hogan; 2000 - Kevin Nash; 2001 - Undertaker; 2002 - HHH; 2003 - HHH
1211
1212
1213
1214WORST WRESTLER PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1984 - Ivan Putski; 1985 - Uncle Elmer (Stan Frazier); 1986 - Mike Von Erich; 1987 - Junkyard Dog; 1988 - Ultimate Warrior; 1989 - Andre the Giant; 1990 - Junkyard Dog; 1991 - Andre the Giant; 1992 - Andre the Giant; 1993 - Equalizer (Dave Sullivan); 1994 - Dave Sullivan; 1995 - Renegade (Rick Wilson); 1996 - Loch Ness (Giant Haystacks); 1997 - Hulk Hogan; 1998 - Warrior; 1999 - Kevin Nash; 2000 - Kevin Nash; 2001 - Big Show; 2002 - Big Show ; 2003 - Nathan Jones
1215
1216
1217
1218WORST TAG TEAM PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1984 - The Crusher & Baron Von Raschke; 1985 - Uncle Elmer (Stan Frazier) & Cousin Junior (Lanny Kean); 1986 - Junkyard Dog & George Steele; 1987 - Jimmy Valiant & Bugsy McGraw; 1988 - Nikolai Volkoff & Boris Zhukov; 1989 - Warlord & Barbarian; 1990 - Giant Baba & Andre the Giant; 1991 - Giant Baba & Andre the Giant; 1992 - Bushwhackers; 1993 - Colossal Kongs; 1994 - Bushwhackers; 1995 - Dick Slater & Bunkhouse Buck (Jimmy Golden); 1996 - Godwinns; 1997 - Godwinns; 1998 - Kurrgan & Golga (John Tenta); 1999 - Mideon & Viscera; 2000 - Kronik; 2001 - Kronik; 2002 - Rosey & Jamal; 2003 - Rene Dupree & Sylvan Grenier
1219
1220
1221
1222WORST TELEVISION SHOW
1223
1224
1225
12261. WWE RAW 773
1227
12282. WWE Smackdown 224
1229
12303. Ring of Honor Wrestling 74
1231
12324. Impact 38
1233
12345. NWA Powerrr 14
1235
1236
1237
1238PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1984 - WWF All-Star Wrestling; 1985 - Championship Wrestling from Florida; 1986 - California Championship Wrestling; 1987 - World Class Championship Wrestling; 1988 - AWA on ESPN; 1989 - ICW Wrestling; 1990 - AWA on ESPN; 1991 - Herb Abrams' UWF; 1992 - Global Wrestling Federation on ESPN; 1993 - Global Wrestling Federation on ESPN; 1994 - WCW Saturday Night; 1995 - WCW Saturday Night; 1996 - AWF Warriors of Wrestling; 1997 - USWA; 1998 - WCW Nitro; 1999 - WCW Thunder; 2000 - WCW Thunder; 2001 - WWF Excess; 2002 - WWE Raw; 2003 - WWE Raw; 2004 - WWE Smackdown; 2005 - WWE Smackdown; 2006 - WWE Raw; 2007 - TNA Impact; 2008 - TNA Impact; 2009 - TNA Impact; 2010 - TNA Impact; 2011 - TNA Impact; 2012 - WWE Raw; 2013 - TNA Impact; 2014 - WWE Raw; 2015 - WWE Raw; 2016 - WWE Raw; 2017 - WWE Raw; 2018 - WWE Raw
1239
1240
1241
1242WORST NON-WRESTLING PERSONALITY PREVIOUS WINNERS: 2000 - Vince Russo; 2001 - Stephanie McMahon; 2002 - Stephanie McMahon; 2003 - Stephanie McMahon
1243
1244
1245
1246WORST MANAGER PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1984 - Mr. Fuji; 1985 - Mr. Fuji; 1986 - Paul Jones; 1987 - Mr. Fuji; 1988 - Mr. Fuji; 1989 - Mr. Fuji; 1990 - Mr. Fuji; 1991 - Mr. Fuji; 1992 - Mr. Fuji; 1993 - Mr. Fuji; 1994 - Mr. Fuji; 1995 - Mr. Fuji; 1996 - Sonny Onoo; 1997 - Sonny Onoo; 1998 - Sonny Onoo; 1999 - Sonny Onoo
1247
1248
1249
1250
1251
1252WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR
1253
1254
1255
12561. THE FIEND BRAY WYATT VS. SETH ROLLINS 10/6 SACRAMENTO
1257
1258756
1259
12602. Undertaker vs. Bill Goldberg 6/7 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 215
1261
12623. Braun Strowman vs. Tyson Fury 10/31 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 17
1263
12644. Dalys vs. Metalica 9/27 Mexico City 16
1265
12665. Bully Ray & Shane Taylor & Silas Young vs. Flip Gordon & Juice Robinson & Mark Haskins 4/6 New York 15
1267
12686. Shane McMahon vs. Roman Reigns 6/7 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 12
1269
1270
1271
1272PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1984 - Fabulous Moolah vs. Wendi Richter 7/23 New York Madison Square Garden; 1985 - Fred Blassie vs. Lou Albano Nassau Coliseum; 1986 - Roddy Piper vs. Mr. T 4/2 Nassau Coliseum; 1987 - Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant 3/29 Pontiac; 1988 - Hiroshi Wajima vs. Tom Magee 4/21 Kawasaki; 1989 - Andre the Giant vs. Ultimate Warrior 10/31 Topeka; 1990 - Sid Vicious vs. Night Stalker (Bryan Clark) 11/20 Jacksonville; 1991 - P.N. News & Bobby Eaton vs. Terry Taylor & Steve Austin scaffold match 7/14 - Baltimore; 1992 - Rick Rude vs. Masahiro Chono 10/25 Philadelphia; 1993 - Four Doinks (Bushwhackers & Men on a Mission) vs. Bam Bam Bigelow & Head Shrinkers & Bastion Booger (Mike Shaw); 1994 - Jerry Lawler & Queasy & Sleazy & Cheesy vs. Doink the Clown & Dink & Wink & Pink 11/23 San Antonio; 1995 - Sting vs. Tony Palmore 1/4 Tokyo Dome; 1996 - Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson & Meng & Barbarian & Kevin Sullivan & Ze Gangsta (Tiny Lister) & Ultimate Solution (Jeep Swenson) & Lex Luger 3/24 Tupelo; 1997 - Hulk Hogan vs. Roddy Piper 10/26 Las Vegas; 1998 - Hulk Hogan vs. Warrior 10/24 Las Vegas; 1999 - Al Snow vs. Big Bossman Kennel from Hell 9/26 Charlotte; 2000 - Pat Patterson vs. Gerald Brisco evening gown match 6/25 Boston; 2001 - Undertaker & Kane vs. Kronik (Brian Adams & Bryan Clark) 9/23 Pittsburgh; 2002 - Bradshaw & Trish Stratus vs. Christopher Nowinski & Jackie Gayda 7/8 Philadelphia; 2003 - HHH vs. Scott Steiner 1/19 Boston; 2004 - Steven Richards vs. Tyson Tomko 9/12 Portland; 2005 - Eric Bischoff vs. Teddy Long 11/27 Detroit; 2006 - TNA Reverse Battle Royal 10/24 Orlando; 2007 - Chris Harris vs. James Storm 4/15 St. Charles, MO blindfold match; 2008 - HHH vs. Edge vs. Vladimir Kozlov 11/23 Boston; 2009 - Sharmell vs. Jenna Morasca 7/19 Orlando; 2010 - Kaitlyn vs. Maxine 10/19 Edmonton; 2011 - Sting vs. Jeff Hardy 3/13 Orlando; 2012 - John Cena vs. John Laurinaitis 5/20 Raleigh; 2013 - Natalya & Naomi & Cameron & Bella Twins & Jo Jo & Eva Marie vs. Alicia Fox & Aksana & A.J. Lee & Tamina Snuka & Rosa Mendes & Kaitlyn & Summer Rae 11/24 Boston; 2014 - John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt 5/4 East Rutherford, NJ; 2015 - Psycho Circus vs. Los Villanos 8/9 Mexico City; 2016 - Shelly Martinez vs. Rebel 3/17 Orlando; 2017 - Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton 4/2 Orlando; 2018 - Undertaker & Kane vs. Shawn Michaels & HHH 11/2 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
1273
1274
1275
1276WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR
1277
1278
1279
12801. SETH ROLLINS VS. THE FIEND BRAY WYATT 505
1281
12822. Rusev vs. Bobby Lashley 224
1283
12843. Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin 81
1285
12864. Seth Rollins vs. Baron Corbin 78
1287
12885. King Corbin vs. Shorty G 32
1289
12906. Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch vs. Baron Corbin & Lacey Evans 30
1291
12927. Shane McMahon vs. The Miz 20
1293
12948. Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi 16
1295
12969. Becky Lynch vs. Lacey Evans 12
1297
1298
1299
1300PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1984 - Andre the Giant vs. John Studd; 1985 - Sgt. Slaughter vs. Boris Zhukov; 1986 - Machines (Andre the Giant & Bill Eadie) vs. King Kong Bundy & John Studd; 1987 - George Steele vs. Danny Davis; 1988 - Midnight Rider (Dusty Rhodes) vs. Tully Blanchard; 1989 - Andre the Giant vs. Ultimate Warrior; 1990 - Ric Flair vs. Junkyard Dog; 1991 - Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter; 1992 - Ultimate Warrior vs. Papa Shango; 1993 - Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzalez; 1994 - Jerry Lawler vs. Doink the Clown; 1995 - Hulk Hogan vs. Dungeon of Doom; 1996 - Big Bossman vs. John Tenta; 1997 - DOA vs. Los Boricuas; 1998 - Hulk Hogan vs. Warrior; 1999 - Big Bossman vs. Big Show; 2000 - Hulk Hogan vs. Billy Kidman; 2001 - WWF vs. The Alliance; 2002 - HHH vs. Kane; 2003 - Shane McMahon vs. Kane; 2004 - Kane vs. Lita & Matt Hardy; 2005 - McMahon Family vs. Jim Ross; 2006 - DX vs. McMahons; 2007 - Kane vs. Big Daddy V; 2008 - Rey Mysterio vs. Kane; 2009 - Chavo Guerrero vs. Hornswoggle; 2010 - Edge vs. Kane; 2011 - HHH vs. Kevin Nash; 2012 - John Cena vs. Kane; 2013 - Big Show vs. The Authority; 2014 - Nikki Bella vs. Brie Bella; 2015 - Team PCB vs. Team Bad vs. Team Bella; 2016 - Titus O’Neil vs. Darren Young; 2017 - Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt; 2018 - Bayley vs. Sasha Banks
1301
1302
1303
1304
1305
1306WORST PROMOTION OF THE YEAR
1307
1308
1309
13101. WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT 607
1311
13122. Ring of Honor 290
1313
13143. Impact Wrestling 68
1315
13164. CMLL 25
1317
13185. AAA 14
1319
13206. Progress 12
1321
13227. AEW 10
1323
1324
1325
1326PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1986 - AWA; 1987 - World Class Championship Wrestling; 1988 - AWA; 1989 - AWA; 1990 - AWA; 1991 - Herb Abrams UWF; 1992 - Global Wrestling Federation; 1993 - WCW; 1994 - WCW; 1995 - WCW; 1996 - AWF; 1997 - USWA; 1998 - WCW; 1999 - WCW; 2000 - WCW; 2001 - WCW; 2002 - XPW; 2003 - World Japan; 2004 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 2005 - New Japan Pro Wrestling; 2006 - World Wrestling Entertainment; 2007 - Total Nonstop Action; 2008 - Total Nonstop Action; 2009 - Total Nonstop Action; 2010 - Total Nonstop Action; 2011 - Total Nonstop Action; 2012 - Total Nonstop Action; 2013 - Total Nonstop Action; 2014 - Total Nonstop Action/Impact Wrestling; 2015 Total Nonstop Action/Impact Wrestling; 2016 - Total Nonstop Action/Impact Wrestling; 2017 - Impact Wrestling; 2018 - World Wrestling Entertainment
1327
1328
1329
1330BEST BOOKER
1331
1332
1333
13341. GEDO 1,027
1335
13362. Paul Levesque 66
1337
13383. Tony Khan 47
1339
13404. Sanshiro Takagi 14
1341
13425. Jun Akiyama 12
1343
1344
1345
1346PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1986 - Dusty Rhodes; 1987 - Vince McMahon; 1988 - Eddie Gilbert; 1989 - Shohei Baba; 1990 - Shohei Baba; 1991 - Shohei Baba; 1992 - Riki Choshu; 1993 - Jim Cornette; 1994 - Paul Heyman; 1995 - Paul Heyman; 1996 - Paul Heyman; 1997 - Paul Heyman; 1998 - Vince McMahon; 1999 - Vince McMahon; 2000 - Vince McMahon; 2001 - Jim Cornette; 2002 - Paul Heyman; 2003 - Jim Cornette; 2004 - Gabe Sapolsky; 2005 - Gabe Sapolsky; 2006 - Gabe Sapolsky; 2007 - Gabe Sapolsky; 2008 - Joe Silva; 2009 - Joe Silva; 2010 - Joe Silva; 2011 - Gedo & Jado; 2012 - Gedo & Jado; 2013 - Gedo & Jado; 2014 - Gedo & Jado; 2015 - Paul Levesque & Ryan Ward; 2016 - Gedo; 2017 - Gedo; 2018 - Gedo
1347
1348
1349
1350PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
1351
1352
1353
13541. TONY KHAN 888
1355
13562. Harold Meij/Takaaki Kidani 194
1357
13583. Paul Levesque 66
1359
13604. Sanshiro Takagi 23
1361
13625. William Patrick Corgan 15
1363
1364
1365
1366PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1988 - Vince McMahon; 1989 - Akira Maeda; 1990 - Shohei Baba; 1991 - Shohei Baba; 1992 - Shohei Baba; 1993 - Shohei Baba; 1994 - Shohei Baba; 1995 - Riki Choshu; 1996 - Riki Choshu; 1997 - Riki Choshu; 1998 - Vince McMahon; 1999 - Vince McMahon; 2000 - Vince McMahon; 2001 - Antonio Inoki; 2002 - Kazuyoshi Ishii; 2003 - Nobuyuki Sakakibara; 2004 - Nobuyuki Sakakibara; 2005 - Dana White; 2006 - Dana White; 2007 - Dana White; 2008 - Dana White; 2009 - Dana White; 2010 - Dana White; 2011 - Dana White; 2012 - Dana White; 2013 - Dana White; 2014 - Takaaki Kidani; 2015 - Dana White; 2016 - Dana White; 2017 - Takaaki Kidani; 2018 - Takaaki Kidani
1367
1368
1369
1370BEST GIMMICK
1371
1372
1373
13741. THE FIEND BRAY WYATT 282
1375
13762. Chris Jericho 210
1377
13783. Orange Cassidy 200
1379
13804. MJF 91
1381
13825. Darby Allin 55
1383
13846. Jurassic Express 29
1385
1386David Starr 29
1387
13888. The Question Mark 22
1389
13909. Adam Page 20
1391
139210. Pac 19
1393
1394
1395
1396HONORABLE MENTION: Sammy Guevara 18, Kazuki Hirata 16, Minoru Suzuki 14, Becky Lynch 14, Daniel Bryan 13,Shooter Umino 13, Jay White 12, Adam Cole 12, Jon Moxley 12
1397
1398
1399
1400PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1986 - Exotic Adrian Street; 1987 - Ted DiBiase Million Dollar Man; 1988 - Rick Steiner Varsity Club; 1989 - Jushin Liger; 1990 - The Undertaker; 1991 - The Undertaker; 1992 - The Undertaker; 1993 - The Undertaker; 1994 - The Undertaker; 1995 - Disco Inferno; 1996 - NWO; 1997 - Stone Cold Steve Austin; 1998 - Stone Cold Steve Austin; 1999 - The Rock; 2000 - Kurt Angle; 2001 - Hurricane; 2002 - Mattitude; 2003 - John Cena as a rapper; 2004 - JBL; 2005 - Mr. Kennedy; 2006 - Latin American Exchange; 2007 - Santino Marella; 2008 - Santino Marella; 2009 - C.M. Punk Straight Edge Society; 2010 - Alberto Del Rio; 2011 - C.M. Punk; 2012 - Joseph Park; 2013 - The Wyatt Family; 2014 - Rusev & Lana; 2015 - New Day; 2016 - Broken Matt Hardy; 2017 - Los Ingobernables en Japon; 2018 - Velveteen Dream
1401
1402
1403
1404WORST GIMMICK
1405
1406
1407
14081. SHORTY G 343
1409
14102. King Corbin 181
1411
14123.The Fiend Bray Wyatt 179
1413
14144. The Nightmare Collective 155
1415
14165. Dark Order 61
1417
14186. The Librarians 56
1419
14207. Seth Rollins 36
1421
14228. Bobby Lashley & Lana 32
1423
14249. Mike & Maria Kanellis 29
1425
142610. Lacey Evans 13
1427
1428
1429
1430PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1986 - Adorable Adrian Adonis; 1987 - Adorable Adrian Adonis; 1988 - Midnight Rider (Dusty Rhodes); 1989 - Ding Dongs; 1990 - Gobbledy Gooker; 1991 - Oz (Kevin Nash); 1992 - Papa Shango; 1993 - Shock Master (Fred Ottman); 1994 - Dave Sullivan; 1995 - Goldust; 1996 - New Razor Ramon, New Diesel and New Double J; 1997 - New Goldust; 1998 - Oddities; 1999 - Powers that Be; 2000 - Mike Awesome That 70s Guy; 2001 - Diamond Dallas Page Bob Patterson gimmick; 2002 - Richard & Rod Johnson as giant penises; 2003 - Rico; 2004 - Mordecai; 2005 - Jillian Hall as Mole Girl; 2006 - Vito as the toughest guy in a dress; 2007 - Black Reign; 2008 - Great Khali kiss cam; 2009 - Hornswoggle; 2010 - Orlando Jordan; 2011 - Michael Cole heel announcer; 2012 - Aces and 8s; 2013 - Aces and 8s; 2014 - Adam Rose ; 2015 - Stardust; 2016 - Bone Soldier; 2017 - Bray Wyatt Sister Abigail; 2018 - Constable Corbin
1431
1432
1433
1434MOST EMBARRASSING WRESTLER PREVIOUS WINNERS: 1986 - Adrian Adonis; 1987 - George Steele; 1988 - George Steele; 1989 - Andre the Giant; 1990 - Dusty Rhodes; 1991 - Van Hammer; 1992 - Papa Shango; 1993 - Bastion Booger; 1994 - Doink the Clown; 1995 - Hulk Hogan; 1996 - Hulk Hogan; 1997 - New Goldust; 1998 - Hulk Hogan; 1999 - Hulk Hogan; 2000 - Hulk Hogan; 2001 - Buff Bagwell; 2002 - Big Show; 2003 - Nathan Jones
1435
1436
1437
1438BEST PRO WRESTLING BOOK
1439
1440
1441
14421. 100 THINGS A WWE FAN SHOULD KNOW OR DO BEFORE THEY DIE BY BRYAN ALVAREZ 240
1443
14442. Voices of Wrestling: NJPW Year in Review 2018 by Voices of Wrestling
1445
144632
1447
14483. Mayor Kane by Glenn Jacobs 26
1449
14504. The Storytellers by Greg Oliver and Steve Johnson 24
1451
14525. The Mid Atlantic Championship by Dick Bourne 20
1453
14546. Brute Power by Bugsy McGraw 17
1455
14567. Behind the Curtain by Jim Cornette 13
1457
14588. Japan: The Rikidozan Years by Haruo Yamaguchi 12
1459
14609.. Strong Style by Scott Norton 11
1461
1462
1463
1464PREVIOUS WINNERS: 2005 - Death of WCW by Bryan Alvarez and R.D. Reynolds; 2006 - Tangled Ropes by Superstar Billy Graham and Keith Greenberg; 2007 - Hitman by Bret Hart and Marcy Engelstein; 2008 - Gorgeous George by John Capouya; 2009 - Midnight Express 25th Anniversary Scrapbook by Jim Cornette; 2010 - Countdown to Lockdown by Mick Foley; 2011 - Undisputed by Chris Jericho; 2012 - Shooters by Jonathan Snowden; 2013 - Mad Dogs, Midgets and Screwjobs by Patric Laprade and Bertrand Hebert ; 2014 - Death of WCW Revised edition by Bryan Alvarez and R.D. Reynolds; 2015 - Yes! By Daniel Bryan and Craig Tello; 2016 - Ali vs. Inoki by Josh Gross; 2017 - Crazy Life a Fox: The Brian Pillman Story by Liam O’Rourke; 2018 - Eggshells: Pro Wrestling In The Tokyo Dome by Chris Charlton
1465
1466
1467
1468
1469
1470
1471
1472BEST PRO WRESTLING DOCUMENTARY
1473
1474
1475
14761. DARK SIDE OF THE RING 404*
1477
14782. Omega Man 66
1479
14803. The Wrestlers - Voodoo Wrestling in the Congo 32
1481
14824. Holy Grail: The Search for WWE’s Most Infamous Lost Match Bret Hart vs.
1483
1484Tom Magee 20
1485
14865. The Wrestlers - Craziest Wrestling in Japan 16
1487
14886. WWE 24: Kofi Kingston 14
1489
14907. AEW Countdown to Double or Nothing 11
1491
1492*Most respondents wrote Dark Side of the Ring rather than a specified episode of the series but individuals that did mention a specific one, the Bruiser Brody, Von Erichs and Gino Hernandez were the ones mentioned most often
1493
1494
1495
1496PREVIOUS WINNERS: 2005 - Rise and Fall of ECW; 2006 - The Bret Hart Story; 2007 - Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen; 2008 - Ric Flair Definitive Collection; 2009 - Macho Madness; 2010 - Chris Jericho Breaking the Code; 2011 - Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels; 2012 - C.M. Punk Best in the World; 2013 - Jim Crockett Promotions the Good Old Days; 2014 - Ladies and Gentleman, My Name is Paul Heyman; 2015 - Daniel Bryan Yes! Yes! Yes; 2016 - Seth Rollins Redesign, Rebuild Reclaim; 2017 - Ric Flair ESPN 30 for 30; 2018 - Andre the Giant HBO Documentary
1497
1498AEW REVOLUTION POLL RESULTS
1499
1500Thumbs up 1,135 (97.9%)
1501
1502Thumbs down 1 (00.1%)
1503
1504In the middle 23 (02.0%)
1505
1506
1507
1508BEST MATCH POLL
1509
1510Omega & Page vs. Young Bucks 1,095
1511
1512Pac vs. Orange Cassidy 37
1513
1514
1515
1516WORST MATCH POLL
1517
1518Nyla Rose vs. Kris Statlander 722
1519
1520Jake Hager vs. Dustin Rhodes 230
1521
1522MJF vs. Cody 55
1523
1524
1525
1526WWE SUPER SHOWDOWN POLL RESULTS
1527
1528Thumbs up 1 (00.5%)
1529
1530Thumbs down 194 (92.8%)
1531
1532In the middle 14 (06.7%)
1533
1534
1535
1536BEST MATCH POLL
1537
1538Miz & Morrison vs. New Day 81
1539
1540Murphy & Rollins vs. Street Profits 20
1541
1542Angel Garza vs. Humberto Carrillo 19
1543
1544Bayley vs. Naomi 19
1545
1546Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin 8
1547
1548
1549
1550WORST MATCH POLL
1551
1552Bill Goldberg vs. Bray Wyatt 108
1553
1554Brock Lesnar vs. Ricochet 59
1555
1556Gauntlet 18
1557
1558Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin 14
1559
1560Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 3/3.
1561
1562
1563
1564The coronavirus remains the major story in Japan, and continues to affect the pro wrestling scene.
1565
1566Dragon Gate was the latest promotion that has canceled shows, running its last show on 3/1 in Osaka . The company is scheduled to return to touring on 3/14 in Kariya. The key show canceled was 3/5 at Korakuen Hall which was to have Masaaki Mochizuki & Naomichi Marufuji defending the GHC (NOAH) tag titles against Takashi Yoshida & Diamante.
1567
1568New Japan has made no further announcements and at press time will start back touring 3/16 at Takaoka. They have also made no announcements regarding the handling of the New Japan Cup tournament that was scheduled to start on 3/4, nor have they rescheduled the Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiromu Takahashi match.
1569
1570Pro Wrestling NOAH and Stardom, which were scheduled to return on 3/20, have canceled those dates and more dates beyond.
1571
1572There have been smaller companies that have continued to run shows. DDT ran an empty arena show on 3/1 and Stardom has its major 3/8 show at Korakuen Hall as a live YouTube show for the first time, which, because it’s an 11:30 a.m. show on that day in Japan, will air 9:30 p.m. Eastern time in the U.S. That will also be a show with no spectators.
1573
1574The show includes a Battle Royal, Hana Kimura & Kyona vs. Giulia & Maika, Bea Priestley & Jamie Hayter defending the Goddesses of Stardom tag titles against Utami Hayashishita & Momo Watanabe, Arisa Hoshiki defending the Wonder of Stardom title against Natsuko Tora and a main event of World of Stardom champion Mayu Iwatani vs. Saki Kashima in a non-title lumberjack match.
1575
1576Stardom has said it will be back touring on 3/20.
1577
1578But everything is subject to change based on government directives, which is probably New Japan hasn’t made any statements this week.
1579
1580The reason nothing has been said this week new by companies is that nobody knows anything. They are waiting for the government to say it’s okay to hold public events, because it would come across badly for companies to run when the directive is out. So with nothing certain, nothing can be said about the New Japan Cup or the advertised matches that were canceled.
1581
1582There are high school graduation ceremonies postponed and canceled and all schools were ordered shut down for a month.
1583
1584The big concern n wrestling is that most of the companies that operate on a small, if any, profit margin, don’t have the money to pay expenses without regular revenue coming in from live show gates and merchandise. Some are at risk of closing down or having to merge.
1585
1586Wrestle-1, which is folding on 4/1, OWE, Michinoku Pro, Zero-1, Pure J and other companies continued to run. Zero-1 drew 682 fans for a 3/1 show at Korakuen Hall headlined by Kohei Sato beating Yuji Hino to win its world heavyweight title and a 30;00 draw with NOAH’s Takashi Sugiura teaming with Masato Tanaka against Yuji Okabayashi & Daisuke Sekimoto. Michinoku Pro drew 1,228 fans for a show in Tokugin with Tatsumi Fujinami & Jinsei Shinzaki over Gaiana & Taro Nohashi in the main event.
1587
1588After the Young Bucks vs. Kenny Omega & Adam Page match on the 2/29 AEW Revolution show, the immediate reaction was that it was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, tag team match of all-time. Jim Ross called it the greatest tag match he could remember broadcasting and Tony Schiavone said it was the greatest tag team match he’d ever seen. Then again, given they are AEW announcers, you have to temper that. Still, my reaction when it was over that it was the best tag team match ever in the U.S., and the only stuff that may have been comparable was early 90s All Japan stuff in the Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue days, and the All Japan women stuff in the Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada days.
1589
1590So this past week, I watched in a row, Misawa & Kobashi vs. Kawada & Taue, Midnight Express vs,. Fantastics (which I always considered the beat American tag team match I ever saw, a match from Chattanooga where the Fantastics won the U.S. tag team titles) and Young Bucks vs. Omega & Page (for the third time in four days).
1591
1592Pardon the pun, but those were three fantastic matches. And completely different. Different times, different places and different audiences. The key is that the first two matches, if you transported them to 2020, decades after they both took place, and could bring the audience with them, they are still ***** matches.
1593
1594Midnight Express vs. Fantastics was long, but without a slow moment and everything they did made sense in building the match. It was a different style, but a style that would hold up today. It also had nearly as good storytelling as the AEW match this past week and had the best finish of the three bouts. Bobby Eaton put in today’s wrestling scene would still be one of the best in the world, and Tommy Rogers, even with his lack of natural charisma, would be a far bigger star today because he wouldn’t have the size stigma against him. The other thing that was clear to me is that there is so much today’s wrestlers could learn from studying Eaton’s work, pace, moves and selling, and Rogers’ work, including his flying head scissors moves that would be new and unique in today’s environment that overuses the Mexican huracanranas. It’s doing the same thing with a new twist that somebody could make their own as opposed to being part of the routine that everybody does. The Fantastics, by today’s standards, would still be an elite team. Both Rogers and Bobby Fulton were better than I remembered them being. And for those who talk of the Midnight Express as one of the greatest tag teams of all-time, even today you can see they deserve that praise. It was also the safest of the three bouts. And while the heat in all three was different, the match had the most heat as well but that was more because of the difference in the type of audience, since the match had heat before it started and they never had to build it, since it was always there.
1595
1596The Japanese match was also long. It was the most physical and most dangerous of the three with the frequent head drops, While there were a lot of spectacular moves in the AEW match, I only cringed once, which was that toss of Matt Jackson into the German suplex where he came close to landing on his head that could have been easily a Hiromu Takahashi moment. The one thing about today, and I see this in AEW more than I’d like, is there are too many near misses. Because if you keep having near misses, one day something will go every wrong. Still, in All Japan, there were multiple head dropping suplexes that made it the most dangerous. And long-term, the reality is Misawa was shot later in his career and died from neck injuries, while Kobashi had to retire early, more due to his knees than his neck, and Taue and Kawada are not in good shape now.
1597
1598Omega suffered a broken little finger in the match. He’ll have a cast put on but probably won’t be out of action long if at all.
1599
1600In the other match, Eaton has had many physical problems and severe health issues, Rogers developed bad pain killer issues and died young, Fulton still wrestled under he was near 60 and is battling cancer that would likely be unrelated to the ring, and Stan Lane at last word seemed fine.
1601
1602The 80s match had a very different crowd. Larry Matysik used to note to me about how in St. Louis, they had a B+ crowd for Sam Muchnick shows and then when he worked for Vince McMahon, it was a C or C- crowd, as compared to what you’d see at NHL or Baseball games that he attended. This was very much a C- crowd, which isn’t a bad thing, because they lived and died with it. It was clearly Southern, all ages but skewing younger, women, but definitely a low-rent feel. From the crowd to the match, it was the epitome of as great as rasslin would get.
1603
1604Japan was like watching a major sports event. The aura was the highest class of the three. The crowd was a strong A-, different from today’s New Japan, but not that different. Because this was prior to MMA being big, the fans did take this as a sport. The NWA crowd took it more as a wild bar fight, with the heel manager and faces and heels. You had to really suspend your disbelief hard to take it as a sport, although many did just that. It was really cool but in no way could you take is as real unless you tried hard to deceive yourself. It just didn’t hold up and was corny. But it really was the top level that art form could reach.
1605
1606Japan was clearly the most sports-like of the three styles. It looked like almost a real fight. The hitting was harder. The selling lacked any of the corniness and exaggeration of the NWA Southern style. This felt like great athletes battling for a legitimate championship. No, the crowd didn’t think it was real either, but it was the easiest of the three to allow yourself to believe. Also, Misawa, Kawada and Kobashi even today are three of he greatest ever to do this. Taue is good as well. He’s not an all-time great, but he was in the ring with three all-time greats and he enhances, not detracts, from the overall match. I’ve usually heard the comparisons that Misawa is like Okada, Kobashi like Tanahashi and Kawada like Ishii. Actually Misawa and Kawada are both closer to Ishii except both are more versatile, but they do the most realistic selling. Okada is much more versatile than Misawa. He also works in front of very different crowds, since post-MMA, you can work realistically but you can’t get by with just looking solid and believable because people have seen so much real, that pro wrestling now has to do more to entertain and keep audiences coming back.
1607
1608As for Saturday’s match, watching it after the other two, it was clearly the best match of the three for a 2020 crowd. While both of those matches would still be among the best, Midnight-Fantastics would be the fourth best match I’ve seen this year (better than Sabre-Ospreay in London but well below Okada-Ibushi and Ospreay-Hiromu Takahashi). The All Japan tag match would be about the same, Saturday’s would be first or second.
1609
1610It had the best storytelling, but it was not that far ahead of Midnight vs. Fantastics in that realm, but did beat the All Japan match handily. It was the most spectacular of the three, easily. It did not have the sports feel of the Japan match, but it had a very different and more respectful and smarter audience than the NWA match. In many ways, it was the most healthy atmosphere because while the guys were going too far with the risks, without a doubt, the audiences appreciated them for what they were doing. There was no con involved. There was no attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the audience or pretend, which you can’t do in a modern world. There was no guy along for the ride like Taue or Stan Lane (who both brought something to their matches but were clearly the least talented of the four). Part of that is that the person who would be thought ahead of time as the guy on that spot in this week’s tag match, Page, was the key player in the key story. The story of the match is that in the end, Page was to outshine the other three, by design, and win strongly at the end. But this match not only had more stories and more layers, but also far more depth to the storytelling. ll were close to perfect for their audiences. All would transport into different eras and be among the best matches of the year. Nobody had an edge in pacing and none of the three bouts, all over 30 minutes, had a second of down time, or ever dragged, or felt too long. All actually left much shorter than they really were. In the end, this week’s match was the best, but saying any of the three weren’t among the best tag matches of all-time seems ludicrous to me now.
1611
1612Jon Moxley beat Chris Jericho to become the second AEW champion to headline the 2/29 Revolution show from the Wintrust Arena in Chicago.
1613
1614Evidently the long-term plan was always for Moxley to be the second champion, and for longevity it makes sense. If the idea is for people like Kenny Omega and/or Adam Page to be champions over the next year or two, from a storyline standpoint, it is better they beat Moxley and not Jericho, since Jericho has wins over both. That’s not to say that’s the plan. With Moxley’s momentum, and the way the story went down, the feeling was a Moxley win couldn’t peak better than right now. At the same time, it did feel a few months early for Jericho to lose, but in reality, if it was to Moxley, it would be hard to peak it as big as it was this past week.
1615
1616An interesting offshoot of the Moxley win is how it affects New Japan Pro Wrestling, which Moxley also has a deal with. Moxley is U.S. champion there, and I can’t imagine AEW allowing its current world champion to lose elsewhere, which means unless they do a cheap DQ or count out finish to get the title off him in Japan, which wouldn’t go over well, Moxley has to retain the U.S. title for the duration of this reign. While not announced, and given everything in Japan is up in the air at this point, Moxley appeared to be headed to Japan on 3/31 for Sakura Genesis and a U.S. title match against Zack Sabre Jr. It also affects the booking of the 4/2 Bloodsport main event in Tampa where Moxley was to face Josh Barnett until UWFI rules.
1617
1618The show, highlighted by the Omega & Page tag title defense over the Young Bucks, was a major success across the boards. We don’t have cable numbers yet, but for iPPV through B/R Live, it was up more than 10 percent from Full Gear and at the same level as Double or Nothing (in the range of 37,000 which is an excellent number for iPPV buys). FITE number were the highest for any AEW show to date (which would mean among the highest for that platform of any event in history), but they were going to be the highest of the AEW shows. The U.K. market no longer had television PPV so FITE would be the only way to get it legally. The number of U.K. total buyers will be down, but that was unavoidable with the closing of ITV Box Office and being unable to get a new PPV television platform. The indications based on data in is that it would have been second behind DON of the four shows based on B/R and FITE numbers, but the cable numbers aren’t in, Germany TV numbers aren’t big but are new and you lose some in the U.K. so it’s not a lock it’ll be No. 2, but will beat Full Gear.
1619
1620The show sold out the Wintrust Arena with more than 7,000 fans on the first day tickets were put on sale.
1621
1622It was only the second event in AEW history to trend on Google, with 100,000 searches. It was still only half of the 200,000 that Super Showdown did largely due to Undertaker, Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar being on the show. All In and the other PPVs besides Double or Nothing (which did 220,000) never cracked the top 20.
1623
1624Overall the numbers have to be taken as a positive, but it’s not like they are at WWE or UFC big show levels of general public interest. But they are well ahead of Takeovers, all but the biggest Bellator shows, at the general interest level of some WWE PPVs and most UFC events that aren’t on PPV.
1625
1626With 1,159 responses, this was the third largest response number in the history of our big show polls. The record is 1,772 for Double or Nothing with the No. 2 spot being 1,405 for the January 4, 2018 Tokyo Dome show. Both shows were headlined by Omega vs. Jericho.
1627
1628This would have been a good show to end with the tag title match because it was clear nobody was going to be able to follow it. But because the biggest moment was the Moxley title win, it should have been last and absolutely should not have followed the tag match directly. While normally I believe in building shows and not doing buffer matches, because they tend to drag the show down, the circumstances of how they wanted to end and that tag match kind of forced them into that position. Otherwise, they would be risking the singles title match that needed the big pop at the end to work.
1629
1630The show was really built on the matches. The only surprise newcomer was Colt Cabana, who did a run-in during the pre-show Dark Order vs. SCU tag match. He has been signed to a deal which will include wrestling and maybe announcing as well.
1631
16321. Penelope Ford & Britt Baker beat Riho & Yuka Sakazaki in 7:46. This was a fun opener. Riho was over like crazy and Sakazaki has the strongest natural charisma of any of the women on the roster. Ford has a star look and is a great athlete who has now had two strong recent performances (the mixed tag on the boat being the other) in recent weeks. Kip Sabian interfered constantly in this match. Riho was on the top rope for a plancha but Sabian blocked her. Sakazaki then did the magical girl splash. Riho then went back to the top but instead of moonsaulting on the other women, took out Sabian with a plancha. Riho had Baker pinned but the ref was distracted and Sabian broke it up, and Baker put on the lockjaw on Riho for the win. I was surprised it was Riho taking the loss since she had just lost the title and is such a great worker. **½
1633
16342. The Dark Order of Stu Grayson & Evil Uno beat Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky in 9:24. Sky & Kazarian told Christopher Daniels to stay in the back, playing on the tease he’s The Exalted One. John Silver & Alex Reynolds under masks, with other masked guys, were at ringside. They interfered freely. The match was good but the finish looked stupid. Uno gave Sky a lariat to the back of the head right in front of ref Rick Knox, who still counted as Grayson pinned Sky. All the Dark Order beat down on Kazarian and Sky after until Colt Cabana ran out. He got a big pop since he’s from Chicago. He was throwing all kinds of bionic elbows until he was beaten down. A guy in a robe came out. What was good about this was the Dark Order if this was WWE would be smiling and acting like it was their leader, which would fool the fans but then immediately make no sense. Instead, they looked as confused as anyone. The guy took off the robe and it was Daniels, but he attacked the Dark Order and cleaned house, including using the Angel’s wings on Silver. **3/4
1635
16363. Jake Hager pinned Dustin Rhodes in 14:42. Hager made out with his wife, Catalina, before the match. They kept showing her during the match. Rhodes was wearing a T-shirt that read “Jericho’s bitch.” Fans chanted that. At one point Catalina went to slap Rhodes, but he grabbed her hand. He actually rubbed his face on her cheek so his make-up was all over her face. But on TV it looked like he kissed her without her permission and she was acting grossed out. It was one of those pro wrestling spots that would have gotten an easy pop in any era but today people were so offended by what they thought he did, even though he didn’t probably for that very reason. Rhodes backdropped Hager over the top rope and his face landed on the ring steps. Rhodes got a near fall after a low blow. He went for an armbar, and Hager reversed into an ankle lock. Hager ended up winning with a low blow (a move that ended his last Bellator fight which was a no contest) and then used a standing head-and-arm choke (a move he’d won another fight with) and Rhodes went out. ***
1637
16384. Darby Allin pinned Sammy Guevara in 4:58. They went several minutes of craziness before the match stared. Allin came out and hit Guevara with a tope. Allin went for another tope but his leg got caught in the ropes and changed his trajectory and he landed face first on the floor. This scene was almost identical to what ended up leading to the death of La Parka, but it was not fun to relive. Allin got up and seemed okay. Guevara threw a skateboard into his face and did a 630 off the top rope to the floor putting Allin through a table. Allin did a double armbar and a double foot stomp on the apron, as well as a Code Red for a near fall. Guevara did a top rope Spanish fly. Guevara undid the padding on a turnbuckle but Allin used a Code Red, Guevara’s head hit the exposed turnbuckle, Allin did a flip into a stunner and a great coffin drop for the win. Allin wanted to do more damage after but Hager pulled him to safety. ***3/4
1639
16405. Kenny Omega & Adam Page retained the AEW tag titles over The Young Bucks in 30:05. The Young Bucks were booed and played subtle heels since the idea was to get Page over as a top tier superstar. Nick and Omega did hot spots. Matt and Page did mat wrestling. Matt went for a handshake and Page spit in his face. They showed a close-up of his spit running down Matt’s cheek which was disgusting. Both Omega and Nick tried to calm Matt down. They worked over Matt’s back. Matt tried a Northern Lights suplex on both at the same time but his back went out. But then he powered through the injury, hit it and hot tagged Nick. Nick ran wild including a facebuster on Page and a moonsault off the apron on Omega. He used the sharpshooter on Page but Omega broke it up with a Kotaro crusher. Omega did a snap rana on Nick and went for a Terminator dive, but Matt kicked him in the face. Matt spit back at Page and used a piledriver on Omega for a near fall. Omega came back and power bombed Nick and tagged Page. Page did a fallaway slam on Matt and a flip pescado on Nick. He clotheslined Matt over the top and did a moonsault off the top rope onto both on the floor. Page did a sick lariat on Nick and wanted Matt in. Omega threw Matt in the air and Page German suplexed Matt on his head. This looked scary as hell and was a legit close call. Omega gave Matt a gut wrench power bomb for a near fall. Nick jumped to the top rope, but Omega pushed him backwards and he flipped in mid air and landed on his feet on the mat and ran back and did a Canadian Destroyer on Page for a near fall. Nick used a cheeky nandos kick and the Bucks followed with a double-team sliced bread on Page but Omega saved. Page did the spot where he teased a superkick, kicked the knee and then spun around like Marty Scurll and used a chicken wing on Matt. Matt was able to roll off and Nick hit Page with a 450 for a near fall, followed by the you can’t escape by Omega, the standing shooting star by Page and a middle rope moonsault by Omega on Nick. Page used a Spanish fly powerslam combo off the top rope and then we had all the V triggers and snap dragon suplexes and a Jay driller. Matt got Page in a Northern Lights suplex on the ramp and did two of them up the ramp, which is ridiculously hard going upwards, and then a third on the glass looking part of the ramp. The Bucks did the Golden trigger (Omega & Ibushi’s finisher) on Omega who still kicked out. Matt started stomping Omega’s shoulder and taking off the tape. Page pulled Nick off the ropes as they set up a Meltzer driver on Omega. Page power bombed Nick through a table on the floor. Omega & Page did the buckshot V trigger combo but Omega was selling his shoulder that had been worked on and grabbed it with the idea he had less strength than usual to hold Matt down. The announcers missed that but this was a brilliant touch and Matt kicked out. He used a V trigger on Matt. Omega tried a One Winged Angel but Matt escaped as Omega wasn’t at full strength. Page tagged in and hit the One Winged Angel, but Nick dove in for the sve. Page then used a buckshot lariat from the ring to the ramp on Nick and another from the ramp inside the ring on Matt for the pin. When it was over, Omega and The Bucks shook hands and celebrated together while getting a standing ovation but Page wouldn’t participate. He jumped out of the ring and got a beer from the fans and basically raised it to the other three and left. ******
1641
16426. Nyla Rose pinned Kris Statlander to retain the women’s title in 12:41. They laid out a great match, and there were cool moves, but a lot of the spots were off and even dangerous. Statlander also had been battling a flu and this match was put in a death position following the tag match. Statlander missed a tope on the ramp. Rose tackled her through the ropes. Statlander hit two topes and a missile dropkick for a near fall. In a cool spot, Rose had Statlander draped over the ropes for her top rope kneedrop, but Statlander walked on her hands to escape. Rose got the STF on in the middle. She also went for a splash but Statlander got her knees up. Statlander went for a top rope superplex but lost her footing and basically dropped Rose like a brainbuster but nobody was hurt. The finish saw Statlander go for a top rope Frankensteiner, Rose blocked it and used a power bomb off the middle rope for the pin. Rose’s feet were on the wrong side of the ropes so she basically moved one foot to the right position and did the move. **
1643
16447. MJF pinned Cody in 24:36. Cody got a new tattoo of an American flag on his neck. He was neither drunk nor lost a bet, but it was a decision he made and he even spoke on Road To about it. I’ll just repeat what my brother said when he watched the match and said that Cody went from being such a good looking guy to looking like a drug addict or Cody Garbrandt. The guy is always so well dressed and is EVP of a major company and granted, as an actor, they can cover it up if that is necessary, but he’s going into business meetings with execs of major corporate partners for television and licensing. They had a band play his entrance music. Lots of stalling early. The match told a story but people were absolutely shocked MJF won. Cody used an Oscutter and a Muto-style windsprint clothesline. Brandi threw a beer in Wardlow’s face. Wardlow was chasing Brandi and Cody hit Wardlow with a tope. But Wardlow pulled Cody ito the post. MJF took over including a doctor bomb. He worked on the left shoulder and used a Fujiwara armbar, which he’s going to use as one of his regular spots called the salt of the Earth. MJF then tied Cody up in a Zack Sabre Jr. submission and Cody had to bite the ropes to get a rope break. MJF took off Cody’s right boot with the toe he broke doing the moonsault off the top of the cage. Cody came back with an Ultimo Guerrero special. MJF ended up bloody. Brandi did a crossbody off the apron on Wardlow. Cody went for a running kick on Wardlow, who moved, and Cody kicked Arn Anderson. No doubt this plays into something later. MJF used a low blow and cradle for a near fall. Cody suplexed him over the top and both went over to the floor. Cody went for the Dusty flip flop and fly, but MJF dropped down to avoid the elbow. That led to0 a Dusty chant. MJF hit the crossroads but Cody kicked out. MJF took off Cody’s weight belt but the ref stopped him from using it. Cody used a low blow, a Gori especial bomb and got the belt and whipped MJF with it twice and threw it into the crowd. MJF was crying and pleading but then spit in Cody’s face. I’m not a fan of spitting, although I saw enough of Terry Funk and Dusty doing it to know it builds heat, but not in two matches on the same show. Cody used two crossroads and went for a third but MJF blocked, pulled the ring out of his tights and hit Cody with it for the pin. ***½
1645
16468. Pac pinned Orange Cassidy in 13:00. The crowd went nuts for Cassidy’s gimmick. Both did the slow kicks. Cassidy did the high spots with his hands in his pockets until Pac cut him off with a backbreaker and threw him head first into the barricade and post. Pac used a top rope superplex and picked Cassidy up at two. Pac went to the top rope for the black arrow and Cassidy rolled out of the way twice. Cassidy came back with a tope, a crossbody off the top rope and a tornado DDT but Pac kicked out. Cassidy came off the top rope with a Kanemaru style DDT. Pac rolled out of the ring. Trent threw him back in and things went wild from there. Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix came out. Chuck Taylor did a running flip dive on both. But in the ring Pac won with the brutalizer. ***3/4
1647
16489. Jon Moxley pinned Chris Jericho in 22:18 to win the AEW title. It opened with a choir singing “Judas” making a real superstar ring entrance. Jericho’s cut from the Moxley head-butt and stitches were very visible right between his eyes. They brawled in the stands for a while with Jericho throwing water on him and a barricade on him. Moxley was biting at Jericho’s stitches but didn’t open him up. Jericho threw Moxley into the post. Moxley came up bleeding with a nasty cut just over the right eye. Actually the eye patch covered the cut so you could see the blood but until the eye patch came off you couldn’t see how deep it was. Later Moxley was also bleeding from the nose. Santana, Ortiz and Jake Hager were all at ringside and interfered at times. Jericho power bombed Moxley on the ring bell and slapped him around. Moxley came back with chops. Santana put the boots to Moxley and Jericho threw him shoulder first into the steps. Jericho got Moxley in the Walls of Jericho, but Moxley reversed into a heel hook right out of the Randy Couture training video. Moxley used a tope to the back of Jericho’s head. Moxley snapped his neck and gave him a running knee. He set up the paradigm shift but had to knock Santana off the ropes when he tried to interfere. Ortiz then hit Moxley with the loaded sock and Jericho used a lionsault for a near fall. Jericho used the Walls of Jericho again but Moxley made the ropes. Jericho shoved Aubrey Edwards. The crowd went unglued. The good and bad part of Edwards is that the crowd loves her so much for whatever reason, that it’s so easy to use her to get heel heat. The bad part is because it’s so easy, this being wrestling, it’ll become overdone. Hager dropped Moxley with a punch and Edwards kicked Ortiz, Santana and Hager out. While she was kicking them out, Guevara ran in and hit Moxley with a belt shot but he kicked out. Jericho then gouged the left eye of Moxley, which was the good eye. Moxley was selling like he couldn’t see and slapping him around and did a kneedrop to the good eye. Moxley ducked the Judas Effect and hit the paradigm shift. He then pulled the patch off the left eye with the idea he’s been faking that he can’t see all along, hit a second paradigm shift and got the pin. After the mach Moxley cut a promo saying how much he loves this stuff. ***3/4
1649
1650WWE has what on paper looks to be the weakest PPV show they have offered in a long time with the Elimination Chamber show on 3/8 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
1651
1652The show comes just ten days after Super Showdown, meaning just one Raw and two Smackdowns to set up the show. Plus, I guess to set up WrestleMania’s main event faster, the decision was made to drop the Chamber main event, a six-way men’s match for the Universal title shot, and instead just have Roman Reigns come on Smackdown to challenge Bill Goldberg directly.
1653
1654Neither Goldberg or Brock Lesnar are defending the titles, and at this point top names like Reigns, Drew McIntyre, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Daniel Bryan, Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton aren’t on the show. And the last Raw to set many of them up for a meaningful match has already taken place.
1655
1656At press time, the entire lower bowl of the arena is set up along with 52 percent of the upper bowl, which would be for roughly 10,000 seats. Philadelphia is traditionally a very strong big show market. The secondary market get-in price is $53, so there’s not a case of a lot of tickets flooding that market at this point, nor a super high demand either.
1657
1658Not only is the Smackdown men’s match off, but last week on the show they had Lacey Evans talk about entering the Chamber to get a shot at the women’s title. But this week, not a word was said about it, and Naomi, who was originally booked to face Bayley at WrestleMania, scored a pin on Bayley in a tag match, which would seem to indicate a title match is still coming.
1659
1660At press time there are two Chamber matches, but both lackluster, one for a Raw women’s title shot at Mania with Shayna Baszler, Natalya, Liv Morgan, Asuka (who has a wrist injury and wasn’t cleared as of Monday but was hopeful to be okay for this match), Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan. If Baszler doesn’t win, that wouldn’t bode well for her, since it would make twice that Vince McMahon would have changed his mind on her. Baszler was the original pick to win the Rumble only to have McMahon a week out change plans to Charlotte Flair and have Baszler win the Chamber. But there was negativity and uncertainty regarding McMahon’s reaction to Baszler’s match with Kairi Sane on Raw not getting the desired reaction and Baszler not coming off like a WrestleMania headliner. But if you look at the match, there’s nobody else to win. Asuka has just gotten her shots at Becky Lynch and lost clean. The others haven’t been pushed to anywhere close to that level and Baszler has already shot a heavy angle with Lynch.
1661
1662The second chamber match will be for the Smackdown tag titles, with The Miz & John Morrison defending against New Day, The Usos, Heavy Machinery, Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode and The Lucha House Party. Notable is the Lucha House Party in the spot of The Revival, who at this point are leaving the company as soon as their contracts expire. They will be doing a gauntlet match on the 3/6 Smackdown TV show with these six teams, with the winner getting to enter the match last.
1663
1664Other matches are Braun Strowman defending the IC title in a one vs. three handicap match against Shinsuke Nakamura, Cesaro and Sami Zayn, The Street Profits defending their newly-won tag titles against Seth Rollins & Murphy, Andrade defending the U.S. title against Humberto Carrillo and a no DQ match with A.J. Styles vs. Aleister Black. The latter is the most intriguing, since beating Black a second time in a week will put him in that category of people fans lose interest in based on seeing that the company has done so. But with Styles facing Undertaker at WrestleMania, he has to be protected. There are ways to do outside interference finishes and the no DQ is obviously there for a reason.
1665
1666Wrestle-1, a company founded by Keiji Muto in 2013 after he left All Japan Pro Wrestling, announced it was folding on 4/1, after a show at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
1667
1668Because of the timing, some have believed this was coronavirusr related, but it was not.
1669
1670The story was simply that they were losing money and not drawing, although there are all kinds of rumors flying around given WWE trying to make moves in Japan and Muto is still one of the best known active wrestlers to the general public.
1671
1672Muto and his partners, who had purchased All Japan Pro Wrestling from Motoko Baba, who was retiring and ready to fold the company in 2002, sold the failing company in late 2012 for $2 million to Speed Partners. After changes made in the hierarchy in 2013, Muto quit the promotion and made an attempt to get partners and buy the company back.
1673
1674Muto then took a lot of the All Japan talent, notably Masakatsu Funaki, Kaz Hayashi, Shuji Kondo, Ryota Hama, Hiroshi Yamato, Masayuki Kono, Koji Kanemoto, Minoru Tanaka, Yasufumi Nakanoue, Kai, Seiya Sanada and Andy Wu with him and formed Wrestle-1 with the idea it would be more entertainment oriented than All Japan. The company ran its first show on September 8, 2013 at Tokyo Dome City Hall, a larger more expensive arena in the same outdoor mall complex as Korakuen Hall and the Tokyo Dome.
1675
1676The first show sold out the 2,500 seats as soon as tickets were put on sale, and over the years Wrestle-1 had business relationships with a number of promotions including TNA and AAA. The TNA relationship was strong at first, which included A.J. Styles defending his title, running shows at Sumo Hall with TNA talent and even hosting TNA’s Bound for Glory. Seiya Sanada won the X Division title and as part of the relationship was pushed in TNA,
1677
1678As time went on, the company had money issues. Of late, they were drawing small crowds outside Korakuen Hall, and maybe 700 to 800 on a lot of the Korakuen Hall events.
1679
1680Hayashi was the president of the company and Kondo was Executive Vice President, booker and head trainer.
1681
1682Hayashi, Kondo, Seiki Yoshioka, Daiki Inaba, Manabu Soya, Masayuki Kono and Shotaro Ashino are the key talent that would be looking for a new home. Ashino, 30, a two-time world champion with the promotion is probably the most intriguing of those names as he’s a great worker who has had strong matches when he was on top, but didn’t get a lot of attention with the smaller company.
1683
1684Katsuhiko Nakajima of Pro Wrestling NOAH was the group’s world champion, having defeated Inaba on 1/12. Ashino & Yusuke Kodama were tag team champions and El Hijo del Pantera was cruiserweight champion. Pantera, the only Mexican working full-time there, has put up a video looking for work
1685
1686UFC from Norfolk 2/29
1687
1688By Ryan Frederick
1689
1690The worst possible outcome for the future of the UFC’s flyweight division happened at the 2/29 event in Norfolk, leaving a lot of questions as to what the future holds for the division.
1691
1692The main event was scheduled to determine a new UFC Flyweight Champion after Henry Cejudo vacated the title. Joseph Benavidez, one of the best fighters in the sport to never hold a major title, was looking to finally capture 125-pound gold in his third chance against the explosive Deiveson Figueiredo. It was two of the top three fighters in the division fighting for the belt, and it was supposed to reignite a division that was on the brink of being dissolved just over a year ago.
1693
1694However, things got off to a bad start at the weigh-ins on Friday when Figueiredo missed weight. He weighed in at 127.5 pounds, 2.5 pounds off the mark. After initially looking like he was going to attempt to make it with the extra hour, it was decided he would not cut any more. It was a really bad miss. Benavidez would be the only fighter eligible to win the title.
1695
1696Inside the cage, Figueiredo was very clearly bigger than Benavidez. Missing weight gave him the advantage. They had a very good and close first round which Benavidez won, but Figueiredo was throwing some hard punches.
1697
1698They were having a close second round to start until a clash of heads cut Benavidez open. There was no timeout called even though it was clearly obvious what happened. Benavidez looked rocked from it and then moments later Figueiredo dropped him with a right hand and finished it with some follow-up punches.
1699
1700The outcome meant no champion was crowned. Figueiredo was calling himself the champion because he won the fight, but of course that’s not how this works if you can’t make weight. He always has a hard time making weight, but this was the first time he actually missed, and he picked the wrong time to do it.
1701
1702You couldn’t help but feel bad for Benavidez, who is one of the true good guys in the sport. For some reason, he was interviewed after being knocked out, and you could sense the disappointment in his voice. It almost felt like a retirement speech of sort, but it wasn’t as he later posted on social media about getting back after it.
1703
1704What happens with the championship next is very much in question. There was talk of an immediate rematch between Figueiredo and Benavidez, and Dana White has indicated that the two will be rematched for the vacant title. While that doesn’t make sense given the result, the feeling of the accidental head-butt leading to the finish, as well as Benavidez taking the fight despite Figueiredo missing weight, makes the company want to run this one back. Figueiredo’s manager, Wallid Ismail, indicated that they were told that was the plan and that Figueiredo would accept a fight with Benavidez again.
1705
1706There really aren’t many other options. There is an upcoming fight between Jussier Formiga and Brandon Moreno that could factor into a decision. Formiga is the only man to defeat Figueiredo and he had won four straight before losing to Benavidez in his last fight. The only other option would be Alexandre Pantoja. Cejudo claimed he would drop back down and fight to regain the title after his fight against Jose Aldo, but Cejudo says a lot of things these days.
1707
1708This is where the lack of depth the division currently has hurts them. They cut a lot of guys when it looked like they were going to dissolve the division, but when the decision was made to keep it going, they didn’t rush out and re-sign guys or sign any new ones until recently. They let very good fighters leave for other promotions that could have filled the depth here, like Sergio Pettis and Dustin Ortiz.
1709
1710They don’t want to scrap the division either because it is a key to their expansion in China. They are developing a lot of promising talent in the UFC Performance Institute in Shanghai, and there are several 125-pound fighters there, and cutting the division would mean losing those guys to other promotions. Fans are mixed to what they want for the division. It seems the ones who watch every show and see some of these really great fights the flyweights are having want the division to keep going. It’s the fan base that doesn’t watch every show that wants them gone, but if they are vocal. Those fans are also only picking and choosing what they watch, and really flyweights being there or not wouldn’t really make a difference to them.
1711
1712There were two other fights that had title implications in them. The women’s featherweight division was on full display, and I mean full display as the only four fighters signed to the division outside of the champion, Amanda Nunes, fought on the show.
1713
1714Felicia Spencer and Megan Anderson, who are really the top two fighters in the division outside of Nunes, both scored first-round stoppage wins. They were both impressive, but Anderson’s was more impressive with it being a one-punch knockout. Spencer was more dominant in her fight. While Anderson has two straight wins, Spencer does hold a win over Anderson and had a competitive fight with Cris Cyborg.
1715
1716Whomever gets the shot could come down to availability. Nunes has expressed interest in fighting at UFC 250 in Brazil in May. She wasn’t originally in the plans for the show, which did factor into Aldo getting the shot at Cejudo. They do want Nunes on the card defending the featherweight title, and with it being less than ten weeks away, it could come down to who wants to get right back into training camp as it is a quick turnaround, especially going from a three-round fight to a five-round.
1717
1718There was some controversy on the show with a bad stoppage in the fight between Magomed Ankalaev and Ion Cutelaba. Before the fight even started, during the introductions, Cutelaba walked right to Ankalaev giving the throat slashing gesture and got in his face and Ankalaev grabbed him to toss him away. They had to be separated by security, and it really shouldn’t have gotten that far as most guys don’t even go past the center logo before security is stepping in.
1719
1720When the fight got started Ankalaev was tagging Cutelaba with hard punches and kicks. Cutelaba was throwing back and did land a few but was wobbling around after getting hit. As he was wobbling and just after he threw a punch, but still standing, referee Kevin MacDonald stopped the fight. Cutelaba immediately protested and the crowd was livid. It looked like one of the worst stoppages ever, and after seeing replays, while it was bad, I’m not sure it was among the worst.
1721
1722MacDonald was in a tough spot. Cutelaba looked hurt but was never dropped nor was he pressed against the fence, and he was still throwing offense. Cutelaba has a tendency to act weird during fights and it could have been an act to try and get Ankalaev overconfident, but it was a bad idea. The crowd was mad at Ankalaev and telling him he was number one, and they shouldn’t have reacted to him like that. He was flipping the crowd off as well. Cutelaba said he would appeal the decision, and there really should be no choice than to do this fight again.
1723
1724Aside from Figueiredo, there was another miss on the scales at Friday’s weigh-ins. Grant Dawson missed the featherweight limit by 3.5 pounds, weighing in at 149.5. Dawson hasn’t been making many friends lately as he has had fights pushed back and cancelled due to USADA issues. When his original opponent for this fight, Chas Skelly, pulled out, Dawson started trashing him, which was a bad look since Skelly’s injuries are severe enough that his career could be over. Dawson was then trashing his replacement opponent, Darrick Minner, during the week saying he didn’t belong in the UFC. Dawson did get the win, but it was a bad look all week for him.
1725
1726The show took place at the Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Virginia, the second time the UFC has run that arena. It drew 7,098 fans for a gate of $402,958. Both numbers were lower than the first show, but that was also a far deeper card.
1727
1728The show streamed on ESPN+, and there didn’t seem to be a lot of interest as it didn’t make the top twenty in Google Searches. It did have stiff competition going against the AEW Revolution show as well as the South Carolina Democratic Primaries.
1729
1730The $50,000 bonuses went to Kyler Phillips and Gabriel Silva for Fight Of The Night, and the bonuses for Performance Of The Night went to Megan Anderson and Jordan Griffin.
1731
17321. Sean Brady (12-0) beat Ismail Naurdiev (19-4) via unanimous decision on scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 in a welterweight fight. Brady was landing early in the first but Naurdiev started landing some good shots as he was pressing Brady against the fence. Brady fired back and landed some good combos but Naurdiev's middle charge got him the first. They were trading early in the second and both landed hard punches and kicks. Brady went for a takedown and Naurdiev grabbed the fence to block it but Brady was still able to get him down. Brady got a second takedown and landed some good shots from the top near the end. Brady landed good to start the third and got a takedown. He was controlling from the top and got a second takedown. Brady got the back and was landing hammer fists. The third was all Brady. I had it 29-27 for Brady with a 10-8 third. I was surprised no judge did. All media scores were for Brady. Brady looked good in this one. Brady got $24,000 for the win and Naurdiev got $16,000 for the loss.
17332. Spike Carlyle (9-1) beat Aalon Cruz (8-3) in 1:25 in a featherweight fight. Both men were making their UFC debuts. Cruz went for a takedown against the fence and Carlyle landed an elbow to the side of the head that hurt Cruz. Cruz was still working but Carlyle was landing all sorts of shots and then ended up getting mount and pounded away until it was stopped. This was quite the stoppage by Carlyle. Carlyle got $20,000 for the win and Cruz got $10,000 for the loss.
17343. Jordan Griffin (18-7) beat TJ Brown (14-7) in 3:38 in the second round in a featherweight fight. Brown was making his UFC debut. He rocked Griffin early and got a takedown and spent the rest of the first on top landing. Griffin had two late chokes locked in but time ran out. Griffin rocked Brown to start the second and Brown took him down and was controlling from the top. Griffin then suddenly locked in a guillotine choke from side control. It was in deep and Brown went out cold. This was an excellent comeback from Griffin as Brown was dominating it. Griffin got $74,000 for the win with his bonus and Brown got $10,000 for the loss.
17354. Luis Pena (8-2) beat Steve Garcia (11-4) via unanimous decision on scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 30-27 in a lightweight fight. Garcia was making his UFC debut after taking the fight just days before the show. Garcia was throwing wildly and got a takedown but Pena got up. Pena was able to get the back as they went to the ground and was landing to soften Garcia up and was looking for a choke and almost got it in late. Pena quickly hopped on the back in the second as they went to the mat. He had back control the entire round and was working for the choke and almost had it locked in but Garcia fought out. The second was a dominant round for Pena. Pena came out with a leaping kick and Garcia went down and Pena went into the guard but Garcia locked in a deep triangle choke. Pena fought out and got the back of Garcia. He spent the rest of the round with back control. They had a wild ground exchange at the end. Pena dominated this one. I had it 30-26 for Pena, giving him a 10-8 second, and all media scores were for Pena. Pena got $48,000 for the win and Garcia got $10,000 for the loss.
17365. Marcin Tybura (18-6) beat Serghei Spivac (10-2) via unanimous decision on scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 in a heavyweight fight. They were both throwing heavy early and Tybura got a takedown. He landed a lot of shots from the guard as Spivac was unable to get out from the bottom. They were trading early and Tybura got another takedown and had the back but wasn't doing much with it. Spivac had no clue how to get up off the ground. They were trading in the third until Tybura got another takedown and spent the rest of the last round landing from the top. This was a boring fight. I had it 30-27 for Tybura and all media scores had it the same. Tybura got $136,000 for the win and Spivac got $14,000 for the loss.
17376. Brendan Allen (14-3) beat Tom Breese (11-2) in 4:47 in a middleweight fight. Breese was returning after almost two years out of action. He was landing early and Allen ended up on top in a scramble. Allen was landing from the top and trying to threaten with a kimura. Allen landed big shots and the fight was stopped near the end of the first. Allen got $24,000 for the win and Breese got $10,000 for the loss.
17387. Kyler Phillips (7-1) beat Gabriel Silva (7-2) via unanimous decision on scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 30-27 in a bantamweight fight. Phillips was making his UFC debut after being signed almost a year ago. Silva was throwing a lot of punches early and Phillips started landing lots of shots as the round went on. Phillips landed some big punches as well once he took control of the first. Philips landed hard late but Silva got a kick takedown at the end. The first was real fun. Phillips was landing early in the second and they were scrambling around with both looking for ground position. Phillips ended up on top and was landing as Silva was working for a leg lock. Phillips ended the second on top dominating. Phillips landed good to start the third and scored a takedown and was in control. They got up and Phillips landed a hard elbow. He got another takedown and was in dominant position on the top for the rest of the third. I had it 30-27 for Phillips and all media scores were for him. This was a real impressive showing from him. Phillips got $70,000 for the win and Silva got $60,000 for the loss, and both of those figures include their best fight bonus.
17398. Grant Dawson (15-1) beat Darrick Minner (24-11) in 1:38 in the second round in what was scheduled to be a featherweight fight. Dawson missed weight badly for the fight, and Minner was debuting on short notice. They both got takedowns early and Minner was threatening with a guillotine choke. Dawson ended up getting the mount and was pounding away at the end of the first and almost got a stoppage. Dawson was going for a takedown and Minner grabbed the neck and jumped up for a guillotine and Dawson popped out and got the mount. Dawson was able to get the back and got the rear-naked choke and got Minner to tap. Dawson got $23,800 for the win and Minner got $14,200 for the loss. Those figures include Dawson's fine for $4,200 for missing weight, which went to Minner.
17409. Megan Anderson (11-4) beat Norma Dumont (4-1) in 3:31 in a women's featherweight fight. Dumont was making her UFC debut. Dumont was coming forward right away. They clinched and spent time battling for position. They broke and then Anderson knocked Dumont out with a hard right hand. That was a win Anderson needed for a title shot and set the bar for the later fight. Anderson got $130,000 for the win with her performance bonus and Dumont got $10,000 for the loss.
174110. Magomed Ankalaev (14-1) beat Ion Cutelaba (15-5 1 NC) in :38 in a light heavyweight fight. Cutelaba went after Ankalaev before the fight and they had to be separated. Ankalaev landed a few high kicks and punches but Cutelaba was firing back. Cutelaba was wobbling a little but didn't really look that hurt and was swinging back and the referee suddenly stopped it. It was one of the worst stoppages in UFC history. The crowd and everyone was mad about it. Ankalaev got $66,000 for the win and Cutelaba got $33,000 for the loss.
174211. Felicia Spencer (8-1) beat Zarah Fairn (6-4) in 3:37 in a women's featherweight fight. Fairn was landing early. Spencer was able to get a takedown into full mount and landed some elbows. Spencer was landing big ground-and-pound until it was finally stopped. Spencer made a statement after Anderson's big win earlier. Spencer got $34,000 for the win and Fairn got $10,000 for the loss.
174312. Deiveson Figueiredo (18-1) beat Joseph Benavidez (28-6) in 1:54 in the second round in what was supposed to be a UFC Flyweight Championship bout. Figueiredo got an early takedown and had what looked to be an armbar in close but Benavidez scrambled out of it. Benavidez was coming forward and landed some good shots. Figueiredo was coming forward but was getting hit by Benavidez. Benavidez landed two good right hands. They traded in a flurry late in the first and both landed good. Figueiredo landed some hard right hands to start the second. They clashed heads and it cut Benavidez open and he was a little loopy afterwards. Figueiredo then knocked Benavidez down with a right hand and finished it with a few hammer fists. That was the worst possible outcome after Figueiredo missed weight, so there is a vacant title and no clear path for what is next. Figueiredo got $105,000 for the win and Benavidez got $195,000 for the loss. Those figures include Figueiredo's fine of $45,000 for missing weight, which went to Benavidez. Figueiredo also lost out on Reebok pay for being in a championship fight since he missed weight, which cost him another $25,000, and he was also ineligible for post-fight bonuses. So, Figueiredo missing weight not only cost him a chance at being champion, it also cost him, at a minimum, $70,000.
1744
1745Coming off the PPV show, AEW did 906,000 viewers and a 0.35 in 18-49, up 4.7 percent in ratings and 16.7 percent in the key demo.
1746
1747NXT did 718,000 viewers, even with pushing two cage matches, and 0.23 the demo, basically identical to the week before.
1748
1749Without the head-to-head competition from the AEW Countdown show, Miz and Mrs was up to 494,000 viewers, up 25.4 percent, and 0.17 in 18-49, up 30.8 percent.
1750
1751AEW was fifth for the night in 18-49, trailing the late night NBA game, Real Housewives of New Jersey, Hanwood and Sports Center after the NBA. AEW beat the early NBA game which went against most of the show on ESPN, which did 839,000 viewers and a 0.30 in 18-49.
1752
1753AEW did a 0.16 in 12-17 (up 166.7 percent), 0.24 in 18-49 (up 14.3 percent), 0.46 in 35-49 (up 17.9 percent and 0.34 in 50+ (down 5.6 percent).
1754
1755The audience was 71.0 percent male in 18-49 and 59.0 percent male in 12-17.
1756
1757NXT did a 0.10 in 12-17 (up 42.9 percent), 0.16 in 18-34 (up 23.1 percent), 0.30 in35-49 (down 9.1 percent) and 0.34 in 50+ (identical to last week).
1758
1759The show did 61.7 percent males in 18-49 and 61.3 percent males in 12-17.
1760
1761Miz & Mrs. did a 0.10 in 12-17, 0.12 in 18-34, 0.22 in 35-49 and 0.22 in 50+. The audience was 47.1 percent male in 18-49 and 34.7 percent male in 12-17.
1762
1763WWE Backstage on 3/3, even with the promotion of Jeff Hardy returning and a Hall of Fame announcement (John Layfield), set the all-time record low for the show with 18,000 viewers and a 0.01 rating in the 18-49 demo. The 2/25 episode of the show had done 86,000 viewers with the Bellas and Daniel Bryan, while the 2/18 episode did 127,000.
1764
1765Raw on 3/2 was up 2.1 percent overall to 2,256,000 viewers, which would still be the third lowest number in the modern history of the show for a non-holiday episode that didn’t have major sports competition.
1766
1767The show was also the first Raw after the Super Showdown event.
1768
1769Raw was still first on cable with a 0.74 in 18-49, or 954,000 viewers, up 4.2 percent from last week. It was 11th overall. The show was down 17.7 percent from the same week last year.
1770
1771The positive, like last week, is the first-to-third hour decline was less than usual, so the people who were watching didn’t tune out at usual numbers. When looking at the quarters, it wasn’t so much that the third hour didn’t go down, because things were down at times, but the average wasn’t so far down because of how well the Randy Orton/Beth Phoenix segment did and to a far lesser extent how Shayna Baszler vs. Kairi Sane didn’t decline at the usual level for a third hour match and showed slight growth.
1772
1773Aside from women 18-49, down 11.1 percent from hour one-to-three, the declines and over 50, down 9.3 percent, other declines were relatively small and those under the age of 35 actually increased overall and teenage boys and girls both increased into hour three.
1774
1775The opening segment was the high point of the show, which was the Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman and Drew McIntyre segment doing 2,445,000 viewers. Seth Rollins & Murphy vs. Street Profits lost 100,000 viewers. Ricochet vs. Riddick Moss lost 59,000 viewers. Aleister Black’s matches with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows gained 129,000 viewers. Black vs. A.J. Styles lost 22,000 viewers. Ruby Riott vs. Liv Morgan lost 114,000 viewers. The reveal of Erick Rowan’s tarantula lost 62,000 viewers. Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler with Becky Lynch involved gained 23,000 viewers. Rey Mysterio & Humberto Carrillo vs. Andrade & Angel Garza lost 150,000 viewers for a show low 1,961,000 viewers. The main event segment with Phoenix and Orton gained 338,000 viewers to 2,299,000.
1776
1777The show did a 0.39 in 12-17 (up 8.3 percent from last week), 0.54 in 18-34 (up 14.9 percent), 0.94 in 35-49 (down 1.1 percent) and 1.04 in 50+ (up 2.0 percent).
1778
1779The audience was 65.3 percent male in 18-49 and 65.9 percent male in 12-17.
1780
1781The return of John Cena to Smackdown, plus an advertised appearance of Bill Goldberg, and the PPV bump from a big show coming the day before, led to Smackdown doing a 1.71 rating and 2,687,000 viewers. It was, as expected, the best number of the year, which I attribute more to the multiple weeks of hype to Cena than the other factors, but they all played into it.
1782
1783What’s notable is Cena drew a greater increase in homes than viewers, so that indicated a new audience in homes than usually don’t watch the show. The rating was up 10.3 percent from last week, which also did well due to Goldberg. The total audience was up 8.2 percent, and the viewers per home was 1.30, which is lower than usual.
1784
1785Smackdown also won the night in the 18-49 demo with an 0.8, up 14.3 percent from usual. Shark Tank on ABC and Hawaii Five-O on CBS both did 0.7 in the demo and nothing on cable came close. In total viewers, Smackdown was the lowest on network TV with ABC’s 20/20 as the second lowest at 3,352,000.
1786
1787For the second week in a row, and this had not been the case previously, FOX was above what it was for the same week a year ago in 18-49. The programs on the same Friday last week did 3,662,000 viewers on average but an 0.7 in the demo.
1788
1789In the segment-by-segment based on the top ten markets, the show opened with the highest rated 30 minutes of the year and dating back well before that for the Bill Goldberg interview and Roman Reigns confrontation. Bayley vs. Naomi for the women’s title that turned into Bayley & the returning Sasha Banks vs. Naomi & Lacey Evans lost 5.2 percent of the audience. Bobby Roode vs. Kofi Kingston lost 9.9 percent of the audience. The ending of Roode vs. Kingston and the bulk of the Braun Strowman, Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro contract signing lost 0.6 percent of the audience. The end of the contract signing and Daniel Bryan vs. Curtis Axel gained 8.0 percent, which is really big considering what it was. The John Morrison & The Miz interview lost 2.9 percent of the audience. Usos vs. Miz & Morrison lost 8.2 percent of the audience and was the low point of the show. The John Cena promo with Bray Wyatt out in the final quarter gained 13.5 percent.
1790
1791For the 2/26 Wednesday shows, we have additional details.
1792
1793In the 18-49 demo, NXT came close with Males 35-49 which is usually a demo AEW dominates.
1794
1795AEW did an unusually high 1.42 viewers per home, meaning it remains the show that more people watch either with family or friends. NXT did an unusually low figure of 1.21 viewers per home, meaning it was, of all the pro wrestling shows, the one that most people watch by themselves.
1796
1797AEW did 397,000 viewers 18-49 to 304,000 for NXT. In males 18-34, it was a 92,000 to 62,000 edge for AEW. In women 18-34, the AEW edge was 48,000 to 26,000. In males 35-49, the AEW edge was 165,000 to 149,000. In females 35-49, the AEW edge was 89,000 to 65,000.
1798
1799Even though the overrun was very strong for NXT, it doesn’t make that much of a difference, changing the viewership average from 709,000 head-to-head to 717,000, and the 18-49 number from 301,000 to 304,000.
1800
1801The head-to-head Miz & Mrs. vs. AEW Countdown show was 455,000 for AEW and 394,000 for Miz & Mrs. The second half hour of the AEW Countdown special fell to 312,000 viewers. Overall the AEW show did 1.32 viewers per home. The audience declined greatly as the show went on, but that was to be expected. There was a big bump for the AEW Countdown show at the five minute mark, meaning people who had switched to NXT to see the end of the Charlotte Flair vs. Bianca Belair match then switched back rather than stuck to Miz & Mrs.
1802
1803The show opened with AEW doing 896,000 viewers and 397,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of the Kenny Omega vs. Pac Iron Man match. NXT did 732,000 viewers and 317,000 in 18-49 for most of the Dominik Dijakovic vs Cameron Grimes match.
1804
1805In the second quarter, AEW gained 69,000 viewers and 29,000 in 18-49 for Omega vs. Pac while NXT lost 24,000 viewers but stayed identical I 18-49 for the ending of Dijakovic vs. Grimes, the post-match and a Finn Balor interview.
1806
1807In the third quarter, AEW gained 2,000 viewers and 23,000 in 18-49 for the last few minutes of regulation and overtime of Omega vs. Pac, and the Pac interview. This was the AEW high point at 967,000 viewers and 449,000 in 18-49. NXT lost 21,000 viewers and 20,000 in 18-49 for Mia Yim vs. Xia Li and the post-match.
1808
1809In the fourth quarter, AEW lost 169,000 viewers and 86,000 in 18-49 with Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt vs. Santana & Ortiz & Sammy Guevara. NXT gained 57,000 viewers and 29,000 in 18-49 for the Velveteen Dream promo and Tommaso Ciampa vs. Austin Theory. This was the closest quarter overall with 798,000 to 744,000. So for the second week in a row, Ciampa/Theory segments have been NXT’s high point.
1810
1811In the fifth quarter, AEW gained 5,000 viewers and lost 4,000 in 18-49 for Best Friends vs. Butcher & Blade and post-match while NXT stayed even but lost 16,000 in 18-49 for the end of Ciampa vs Theory, the post-match attack by Johnny Gargano and an Undisputed Era promo.
1812
1813In the sixth quarter, AEW gained 15,000 viewers and 20,000 in 18-49 for Hikaru Shida vs. Yuka Sakazaki vs. Shanna vs. Big Swole while NXT lost 51,000 viewers and 30,000 in 18-49 for Killian Dain vs. Bronson Reed.
1814
1815In the seventh quarter, AEW lost 35,000 viewers and 8,000 in 18-49 for the Omega/Page and Young Bucks backstage segment and lots of PPV hype. The reality is that kind of backstage stuff and direct to PPV hype will lose viewers just as McIntyre’s backstage segment did on Raw. But there are times you have to sacrifice viewers to build matches. NXT lost 32,000 viewers and 15,000 in 18-49 for the Grizzled Young Veterans promo and beginning of their match with the Forgotten Sons.
1816
1817In the eighth quarter, AEW gained 110,000 viewers and 38,000 in 18-49 for the Jericho-Moxley weigh-ins. So they ended at 893,000 viewers and 409,000 in 18-49. NXT’s main event of Charlotte Flair vs. Bianca Belair gained 39,000 viewers and 29,000 in 18-49, ending with 700,000 viewers and 294,000 in 18-49.
1818
1819However, after AEW ended, even though the AEW Countdown show was on, NXT had one of its biggest gains ever for Flair vs. Belair, gaining 227,000 viewers and 94,000 in 18-49. When the post-match ended, a lot of the viewers switched back to TNT, as they got a big bump at 10:05 p.m. after NXT ended, for the AEW Countdown show.
1820
1821This is the first issue of the current set. If you’ve got a (1) on your address label, your subscription will expire in two more weeks.
1822
1823Renewal rates for the printed Observer in the United States are $13.50 for four issues (which includes $4 for postage and handling), $25 for eight, $35.50 for 12, $46 for 16, $69 for 24, $92 for 32, $115 for 40, $149.50 for 52 up through $184 for 64 issues.
1824
1825For Canada and Mexico, the rates are $15 for four issues (which includes $6 for postage and handling), $27 for eight, $38.50 for 12, $50 for 16, $75 or 24, $100 for 32, $125 for 40 issues, $162.50 for 52 and $200 for 64.
1826
1827For the rest of the world, the rates are $17 for four issues (which includes $9 for postage and handling), $33 for eight, $47.50 for 12, $62 for 16, $77.50 for 20, $93 for 24, $108.50 for 28, $155 for 40 issues and $201.50 for 52 issues.
1828
1829You can also get the Observer on the web at www.wrestlingobserver.com for $11.99 per month or $119.99 per year for a premium membership that includes daily audio updates, Figure Four Weekly, special articles and a message board. If you are a premium member and still want hard copies of the Observer, you can get them for $9.50 per set in the U.S., $10.50 per set in Canada and $13 per set for the rest of the world.
1830
1831All 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.
1832
1833All letters to the editor, reports from live shows and any other correspondence pertaining to this publication should also be sent to the above address.
1834
1835This 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.
1836
1837Fax 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
1838
1839CMLL: The 2/28 show at Arena Mexico is the one built around two different tag team tournaments. So in the finals of the Nacional Increible de Parejas tournament, which means the national tag team tournament with incredible partners (meaning partners who usually feud), Caristico & Forastero won the tournament beating Volador Jr. & Cavernario when Felino distracted Cavernario, leading to his losing the second fall in a two straight fall match. Felino and Cavernario have a hair vs. hair match in a few weeks. They also had the first week of a three-week long tournament for the Mexican national tag team titles, which have been largely forgotten about for nearly ten years. The A block saw El Hijo del Villano III & Templario beat Soberano Jr. & Titan in 13:43, which is longer than usual for the first night of a CMLL tournament. Villano & Templario had beaten Dulce Gardenia & Fuego in 6:59, and then Disturbio & Virus in 5:24. Soberano & Titan made the finals beating Misterioso Jr. & Sagrado and Ephesto & Luciferno
1840
1841The 3/6 show has the B block in the Mexican national tag team title tournament with the winner facing Villano & Templario for the belts on 3/13. The teams entered are Shocker & Rey Bucanero, Felino & Tiger, Raziel & Cancerbero, Polvora & Vangellys, Atlantis Jr. & Flyer, Rey Cometa & Star Jr., Drone & Esfinge and Audaz & Fugaz. The main event on the show is Caristico & Valiente & Volador Jr. vs. Ultimo Guerrero & Cavernario & Euforia, plus a Titan vs. Soberano Jr,. singles match
1842
1843Volador Jr. retained the NWA welterweight title over Templario on the 3/2 show in Puebla
1844
1845DRAGON GATE: Before going dark for a few weeks, they held shows on 2/29 and 3/1 in Osaka at the smaller Edion Arena. There were four title bouts over the weekend. Only one title changed which was the Triangle Gate belts on 2/29 before 595 fans. Ben K & Strong Machine J & Dragon Dia won the titles over Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito & Kennichiro Arai in 19:34 when Dia pinned Saito after a rana. Kaito Ishida retained the Open the Brave Gate titles over Genki Horiguchi on the first night. On the 3/1 show, before 808 fans, Naruki Doi retained the Open the Dream Gate title over All Japan world jr. champion Susumu Yokosuka in 22:43. BxB Hulk & Kazma Sakamoto retained the Open the Twin Gate titles against Yamato & Kai as the teams went to a no contest.
1846
1847ALL JAPAN: This year’s Champion Carnival tournament will be 4/6 to 5/5, with the first and last show both at Korakuen Hall. The A block has Kento Miyahara, Zeus, Shuji Ishikawa, Yoshitatsu, Yuma Aoyagi, Kai, Joel Redman, Shigehiro Irie and Takashi Sugiura. The B block has Suwama, Jake Lee, Ryoji Sai, Gianni Valletta, Hideyoshi Kamitani, Ayato Yoshida, Lucas Steel, Davey Boy Smith Jr., and a mystery person. The opening night show as Miyahara vs. Irie, Zeus vs. Sugiura, Kai vs. Redman, Suwama vs. Yoshida, Lee vs. Valletta and Sai vs. Smith Jr.
1848
1849NEW JAPAN: The Best of the Super Junior tournament will start on 5/12 at Korakuen Hall and last until the finals on 6/6 at the Ota Ward Gym in Tokyo. They are running no big buildings but have Korakuen Hall dates on 5/12, 5/13, 5/14, 5/21, 5/22, 5/23 and 6/4, as well as Osaka shows on 5/29 and 5/30.
1850
1851HERE AND THERE: Killer Tim Brooks, 72, who has been battling terminal cancer for a few years, entered into hospice care this past week. Brooks was a top heel, best known in Texas and working for The Sheik during the heyday of his promotion, but worked all over the world. He had the rep of being a real tough street fighter which was kind of his in-ring persona as well
1852
1853Julio Ojeda, who was the California prelim wrestler known as El Bengali, passed away on 3/1 at the age of 83. Bengali started his career in Mexico and moved to Southern California in 1971, where he worked regularly as a talented prelim guy through 1980. Jimmy Lennon Sr. used to do the classic ring intro of him from Zacatecas, Mexico. He went back to Mexico in 1981 and finished his career under a mask there as The White Terror. He was a fixture and perhaps the most well-known television job guy in the Southern California territory during the 70s. He was talented in the ring, but was small by the standards of the era and never got any kind of a push. He would occasionally be brought up to Northern California to do jobs. He had a 1974 short run in Georgia but his career was largely based in Los Angeles and he was in the ring with many of the biggest names of that era. There have since been several Bengali’s that have worked in Mexico
1854
1855Viceland’s second ten week series of pro wrestling documentaries called “Dark Side of the Ring” will start on 3/24 and run weekly on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. The two hour season premiere will be an episode on Chris Benoit, and will feature Sandra Toffoloni, the sister of Nancy, who knows the subject better than anyone. David Benoit, Chris’ son from his first marriage is also on it. Other episodes will be one hour and air at 10 p.m. and cover the mob hit murder of Dino Bravo, The WWE Brawl-for-All tournament, The career of New Jack, the David Schultz/John Stossel ABC 20/20 situation, the Jimmy Snuka/Nancy Argentino death story, an episode on The Road Warriors, an episode on Herb Abrams and his UWF and the death of Owen Hart. Chris Jericho is heavily involved in the project as the narrator. Viceland will also do post-shows at 11 p.m. after each episode with a panel of guests from wrestling and other entertainment to talk about the episodes. Based on the trailers, Jericho and Chavo Guerrero Jr., are also in the Benoit piece, Martha Hart is in the Owen Hart piece, and Vince Russo and Jim Cornette are all over the place
1856
1857The first season featured much talked about shows including on the Montreal screw job, The Von Erichs (easily the best one) and Bruiser Brody and was the most watched series in the history of the station
1858
1859Amy Dumas, Gail Kim and Christy Hemme are doing a Kickstarter program to fund what they hope will be a series of eight one hour episodes for a proposed web series called “Kayfabe.” The concept is 50 percent out of the ring storytelling with storylines based on breaking kayfabe with stories based on all of their experiences within wrestling and how at times they’ve been treated while the other 50 percent would be a traditional in-ring pro wrestling television show. My thought is at this point there is no reason or need for an in-ring show as the market is overloaded with them, to the point people aren’t even watching the good ones because so much great product is so easily available. As far as the storytelling of real stories based on real life experiences, there may be something to that because it has never been tried. Plus, there isn’t a lot of top women talent out there that isn’t signed to one company or another, and thus, the in-ring won’t be as good as what is already available on a number of shows. Kim, Dumas and Hemme have all at times worked not only in the ring but also have had creative backstage roles. Kim worked as an agent for Impact. Dumas at one time produced women’s matches for WWE and Hemme was on the writing team for the women’s division for TNA. Also involved with the show will be Jimmy Jacobs, a former wrestler and WWE writer who is in Impact creative; Tom Casiello, who was the former Managing Lead Writer for WWE (he was right under Vince & Paul Levesque in creative at one point) and was a huge proponent of giving more time and respect to women’s matches when he was there; Chavo Guerrero Jr., who worked as a producer for Lucha Underground and has had decades in the ring, David Sahadi, who has worked as a director for WWE and TNA for decades; Doug Lebow, a production executive; Geordy Sincavage, a sound designer who worked on a number of shows including Lost and Westworld; Bryan Edwards; wrestler Alisha Edwards and others. The idea is to raise $400,000 for a pilot or up to $4.8 million which would be the budget for an eight-episode season. The first season of the show has pretty much been written provided they get the funding for it. They are targeting November for production and the idea is half storytelling plus three women’s matches per show. The storyline of the show will be about a woman working in pro wrestling, with the idea of being honest with the good, the bad and a very real presentation from life experiences from Dumas, Kim and Hemme
1860
1861FITE TV will be airing all the WrestleCon events from Ybor City, with a $99 price to get all of the shows. This would include the 4/2 New Japan Lion’s Break show at 4 p.m. Eastern with Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shingo Takagi, Juice Robinson, Rocky Romero, TJP, David Finlay, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Zack Sabre Jr., Amazing Red, Taiji Ishimori, Desperado, Bad Luck Fale, Karl Fredericks, Ren Narita, Clark Connors and Alex Coughlin. At 8 p.m. will be the Mark Hitchcock Memorial show with Bandido vs. Takagi as the main event plus Nick Aldis defending the NWA title, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Low Ki, plus a four-way with Arez vs. Laredo Kid vs. Aramis vs. Black Taurus that will likely be spectacular. It will be mostly a mystery show with Will Ospreay and Amazing Red on the show. Due to the political landscape, whether that be AEW/New Japan or CMLL/AAA, they are keeping the matches quiet for the most part. There is an 11:45 p.m show that night for $5 Wrestling. On 4/3 at 11 a.m. there is a joint DDT and Tokyo Joshi Pro show with Konosuke Takeshita and Yuki Ueno as the top DDT stars and Yuka Sakazaki vs. Su Yung, plus most of the top Tokyo Joshi Pro women along with Priscilla Kelly and Thunder Rosa. At 3 p.m. is the Ethan Page Body Guy Extravaganza built around a Three Stages of hell match with Scott Steiner vs. Brian Cage, where they will have a debate, a posedown and then a match. At 7 p.m. will be the TNA nostalgia show with Ultimate X, King of the Mountain and names from the past including Chris Sabin, Ken Anderson, Chris Harris, Red, Scott Steiner, Disco Inferno and Dave Penzer as ring announcer. On 4/4 at 11 a.m. is Sami Callihan’s Wrestling Revolver show with Callihan vs. Simon Miller in a death match, Takagi vs. Chris Dickinson plus The Ascension, Rocky Romero and Mance Warner. At 3 p.m. will be a WrestleCon show with Arez vs. Carlos Romo, Elgin vs. Taurus, Caveman Ugg vs. Cavernario in a battle of cavemen plus Aramis, Desperado and Mick Moretti. At 7 p.m. will be the Joey Ryan Penis Party show with Grado & Colt Cabana & Ryan vs. Ken Shamrock & Tom Lawlor & Minoru Suzuki, Chris Brookes & Maki Itoh vs. Takeshita & Miyu Yamashita and Shazza McKenzie & Kylie Rae & Gisele Shaw vs. Taya Valkyrie & Amalie & Ivelisse
1862
1863The Hitchcock show goes head-to-head with Progress at the Brian Glazer Jewish Community Center and Josh Barnett’s Bloodsport 3 at the Cuban Club in Ybor City, which has Barnett vs . Jon Moxley (very notable politically because I can’t see Moxley being allowed to lose anywhere as AEW champion), Minoru Suzuki vs. Chris Dickinson, Kelly Kelly vs. Allysin Kay plus Jeff Cobb, Davey Boy Smith Jr., JR Kratos, Thomas Santell, Hideki Suzuki and others. There will be a eight-man one-night tournament for the Gotch-Robinson Cup, named after Karl Gotch and Barnett’s trainer, Billy Robinson. This all goes head-to-head with the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony
1864
1865ICW at the 81 Bay Brewing Company in Tampa at midnight on 4/2 has a show headlined by Tessa Blanchard vs. Red, Nick Gage vs. Low Ki, Masashi Takeda vs. Dickinson plus a meet and greet with Kenta Kobashi. Joey Janela’s Spring Break 4 at 8 p.m. on 4/3 which they are hoping to draw 4,000 fans to has Minoru Suzuki vs. Orange Cassidy, Alex Shelley vs. Tony Deppen plus Jurassic Express and Ospreay, which goes head-to-head with Smackdown
1866
1867Ohio Valley Wrestling, the Louisville-based group run by Al Snow, will start airing its one-hour weekly show on Youtoo America in a Friday night time slot starting on 4/3. It’s available on Comcast and Time Warner Cable
1868
1869The wrestler Halloween (Jesus Ortiz, 48), who also wrestled as Ciclope in WCW, said that he would be retiring in May on a show in his home city of Tijuana. He said that the death of La Parka convinced him now is the time
1870
1871El Planchitas in Mexico officially confirmed that the Nacion Lucha Libre (NLL) promotion has folded. They haven’t run since November and nothing has been said about them. This was the group that Alberto El Patron was the big star of, that wasn’t drawing anything, although their television ratings weren’t bad. A number of wrestlers haven’t been paid for a lot of the shows. The Cubs Fan listed Sangre Azteca, Cibernetico, Mr. Electro (formerly Electroshock), Emperador Azteca and Super Nova) not being paid for two to five shows, depending on the individual. The Cubs Fan reported that the company was going to shut down after its third show, on 8/4. But instead, they kept going but stopped flying in American talent
1872
1873Terry Funk, 75, who hasn’t made any public appearances in a long time, did an autograph show this past weekend in Southern California, and is doing one this week in New York. He’s still bothered by the abdominal hernia suffered years ago
1874
1875Scott Norton, 58, underwent knee replacement surgery this past week
1876
1877C.M. Punk just finished up working on the movie “Jacob’s Wife,” a supernatural horror movie that was being filmed in Mississippi.
1878
1879EUROPE: The David Starr vs. Jon Moxley match on 3/14 at the 2,200-seat Dublin National Stadium for OTT’s ScrapperMania, has sold out
1880
1881WWE pulled Lio Rush from the 16 Carat Gold tournament that takes place 3/6 to 3/8 in Oberhausen, Germany. They did so less than 72 hours before the tournament started. Because of its business with WWE, the promotion has refused to book any talent associated with AEW and while Jeff Cobb, who they got as a last minute replacement, is not an AEW wrestler he was just on the AEW show. They won’t even mention AEW by name for fear of it causing heat with WWE. Alex Shelley, who was not in the tournament, but was booked for 3/7, pulled out of the show saying the Coronavirus in Europe which includes 165 cases in Germany, most in the reality where the shows take place, could have an effect on his regular job, where it works with a lot of immune compromised people. They were unable to get a replacement for him at such late notice
1882
1883The first round matches on 3/6 are Marius Al-Ani vs. Cara Noir, Cobb vs. Alexander James, Bandido vs. Julian Pace, Daniel Makabe vs. Eddie Kingston, Chris Ridgeway vs. Mike Bailey, Puma King vs. The Rotation, Lucky Kid vs. Jurn Simmons and Shigehiro Irie vs. Black Taurus
1884
1885Based on challenges at the 3/1 show at the Cockpit in London, it looks like the top matches for the 5/8 RevPro show at York Hall in London will be Will Ospreay vs. Starr for the British title and Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Eddie Kingston. Starr, the SWE champion, beat Sean Kustom and challenged Ospreay to a match on that show. There was perhaps the start of an angle as tag champs Rampage Brown & Great O-Kharn beat Shota Umino & Kyle Fletcher after Fletcher was accidentally kicked by Umino. But Umino & Fletcher shook hands after the match.
1886
1887ROH: Rush captured the ROH title on 2/29 in St. Charles, MO in a three-way over champion PCO and Mark Haskins, due to outside interference of Nick Aldis, which led to PCO losing. This looks to set up Aldis vs. PCO for the NWA title and without the implications of a finish which would be the case if both were champions
1888
1889The updated card for the Anniversary PPV show on 3/13 from Sam’s Town in Las Vegas has Rush defending against Haskins, Dragon Lee vs. Bandido for the TV title (a return match from their BOLA match which was the best match of BOLA weekend this past year), Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham vs. Marty Scurll & Flip Gordon for the tag titles, Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Dalton Castle & Joe Hendry, Dan Maff vs. Kenny King vs. Shane Taylor vs. Bateman in a match where the winner gets a title shot at whatever title they want, Adam Brooks vs. Slex and Session Moth Martina vs. Nicole Savoy
1890
1891Flip Gordon will challenge the winner of the Rush vs. Haskins title match for the title on 4/4 in Lakeland, FL
1892
1893Katarina Waters, who was Katie Burchill in WWE as well as Winter in Impact and Katie Lea, Mandy Leon, Alex Gracia and Tasha Steelz have been added to the women’s title tournament on 4/24 in Philadelphia
1894
1895Yuji Nagata, Mark Haskins and Fred Yehi have been added to the Pure tournament. Nagata is the most interesting. In the past, whenever he’s left New Japan and been focused on, he’s shined at a high level, but it’s been a few years now. With New Japan, because of his spot on the card, it’s not about him having great matches as much as delivering a nice second match and helping teach the young guys about working. But when it was about him a few years ago in G-1 he came close to being the MVP of the tournament while losing almost every match
1896
1897They ran 2/28 in Nashville drawing 550 fans. Scurll won a three-way over Bandido and Slex when Scurll pinned Bandido after the Black Plague. Match was said to be great. Shane Taylor and the Sons of Savagery attacked Slex and Taylor using Greetings from Asbury Park on him. Hendry & Castle won a four-way over PJ Black & Brian Johnson, Vincent & Bateman and Tracy Williams & Haskins when Castle pinned Johnson. Savoy beat Angelina Love when there was a miscommunication with Love and Mandy Leon and Savoy rolled-up Love. The crowd wasn’t into this. Gordon & Brody King beat Rush & Kenny King via DQ when Rush was DQ’d for using a cable cord on Brody King. Rush & Kenny beat Gordon & Brody down with weapons later. LSG vs Eli Isom was a no contest when Bully Ray interfered and attacked both. Bully cut a promo about cowards and smart marks. He said he’s not leaving ROH any time soon because he has an iron clad contract. He challenged anyone in the back to a match and said if they beat him, he’d leave ROH, but said none of the boys would do it because he has dirt on all of them. Isom then challenged Bully and it came off well. They had a short match with Bully winning with the Bubba bomb. He grabbed a chair and started using it after until Cheeseburger ran in. Bully took care of him. Announcer Caprice Coleman hit the ring. Bully called him an announcer and told him to know his role. Silas Young & Josh Woods are now a tag team called 2 Guys 1 Cup and play off the reality dating show, using the same graphics and act like a couple. Lethal & Gresham then beat them to retain the title. Young cradled Gresham but Lethal turned it over behind the refs back. Woods has a knee injury he’s trying to work through. Alex Shelley beat Rey Horus via submission in a good match. Briscoes beat Maff & Jeff Cobb when Jay pinned Cobb after a J driller by Jay and the elbow off the top by Mark. All four shook hands after. PCO beat Dragon Lee for the ROH title with a moonsault. The match had one crazy spot after another but I know people who thought it was bad. The show ended with PCO face-to-face with Aldis
1898
1899The other weekend show was 2/29 in St. Charles, MO, before 1,000 fans, which is one of the better crowds the company has had in a while. Scurll & Gordon & Brody King beat Briscoes & Slex. Gordon pinned Slex in a fast-paced very good opener. Maff beat Shelley with a burning hammer. Castle won a four-way over Williams, Kenny King and Cobb. Castle pinned Williams with the bang-a-rang. Bully Ray came out and said ROH fans were the worst fans on the planet and challenged anyone to the back. Coleman came out. Coleman said Bully had no dirt on him. Bully pinned him in about a minute with the Bubba bomb. Cheeseburger ran in and Bully took him out. Isom ran in and hit Bully with a few chair shots. Isom brought in a table but Bully gave him a low blow and power bombed Isom through a table. Lee pinned Dak Draper to keep the TV title with a running knee to the back of the head. Lethal & Gresham beat Bandido & Horus in a non-title match. Bandido missed a shooting star press and was selling his knee as a set up for Lethal using a figure four for the submission on him. Rush, who played heel, beat PCO and Haskins in a three-way title win. Fans were way behind PCO. Lots of dives. PCO did a moonsault on Haskins but Rush pulled ref Todd Sinclair out of the ring to stop the count. Aldis then ran in and hit PCO with a belt shot and Rush did the double knees in the corner and pinned PCO. Los Ingobernables celebrated with Rush and Haskins face-to-face to build up their match. Lee attacked Haskins and Lee, Rush and Kenny King all beat down Haskins.
1900
1901IMPACT: The company announced a new television deal with Discovery India which will air 12 monthly specials, which are the shows that air in the U.S. in Impact + on Dsport, which is the same station that airs a lot of pr wrestling including New Japan and ROH. They don’t pay big money for content so it’s nothing like a Sony Six deal
1902
1903They also announced a one-hour special on 3/31 after their regular show on AXS, which will be a Countdown show for “Turning Back the Clock,” the TNA nostalgia show they are putting on FITE TV iPPV on 4/3.
1904
1905AEW: It looks like Matt Hardy is coming in. His WWE contract expired and he posted a video on 3/4 and at the end of the video The Young Bucks showed up at his place in Cameron, NC. Two days earlier, on BTE, at the end of the show, Matt Jackson got a phone call and it showed a North Carolina area code. We’re told he has not officially signed the contract and is still a free agent at this moment
1906
1907Jake Roberts, 64, showed up as a new heel manager to lead people against Cody. I would presume his guy that he teased would be either Lance Archer or Brodie Lee. Archer was scheduled to debut on the show on 3/4 in Denver but wasn’t there and nothing was said, so I could think if they just came up with the idea of using Roberts, it would make more sense to introduce Roberts first and build intrigue. All we know is that Archer is coming soon and there was a change of plans during the week regarding his introduction. Lee was expected to debut on 3/18 in Rochester. It’s been a long time since Roberts has had a shot, but pretty much everyone in the last 30 years who has ever given him a shot has regretted it. But hopefully this changes that pattern. It’s likely that DDP was a key in this and helping him get this shot since he’s very close with Cody and he’s the guy who essentially saved Roberts’ life. I have one friend who has dealt with Roberts significantly over the past few years and said that not once was there an issue, he was always on time and always in a good state in every situation. The last we heard he had repaired his relationship with his family that he was once estranged from and there was a time where Jake Roberts stories when he’d be on the road were plentiful, but we haven’t heard anything negative in years. I’d think wrestling would be the worst thing for him to do at this point but really, it’s the old business where he’d be headed for a fall. The newer business, or at least this specific company, isn’t riddled with all the people who will put him into the rabbit hole. Still, you are always taking a risk with Roberts. That said, the man can cut a promo when he’s on and motivated and he was both in his debut
1908
1909They officially announced their version of War Games, which will be called Blood & Guts, a name given by of all people, Vince McMahon. It takes place on 3/25 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. They teased this match months ago in a Cody interview and at the time he used the term “The match beyond.” They are going to do the two-ring War Games with a roof on it, likely with the only winning via submission finish that Dusty Rhodes created for a show at the Omni in Atlanta in 1987 for the Four Horseman & J.J. Dillon vs. Rhodes & Road Warriors & Nikita Koloff & Paul Ellering. It later became a WCW signature event that they at one point would tour with and draw big. In the early days these were some of the most incredible matches of their time, but by the late 90s they got watered down and stopped drawing in the latter stages of WCW. It became a popular concept to copy on the indie scene and Vince McMahon refused to use it because it was a WCW idea. MLW actually trademarked the name, but then when Paul Levesque wanted to bring it back for NXT Takeover, WWE purchased the rights to the name. Levesque made some changes, like taking the roof off the cage to allow for crazy moves off the top of the cage in the modern style, and also that pins could end so you could do big moves and near falls which the only submission finish of the original wouldn’t allow for. He was modernizing and making the match better for this time frame, and the NXT War Games matches have been spectaculars. But some people were going to be mad at changes. There are a couple of key notes here. The first is that they are doing it on television rather than PPV, which also means NXT is going to have to load up the 3/25 show, which is shortly before its biggest show of the year, the 4/4 Mania weekend Takeover. It also means that they are going to likely have a copious amount of blood on TNT, which the station also allowed them to do in the cage match. Vince, when AEW was brought up at an investors conference call, labeled them as blood and guts wrestling (just a week before he himself did an ultimate blood and guts angle, but that’s Vince). When Cody first mentioned the match beyond, it was in reference to the idea of an Elite vs. Inner Circle match, which would likely be Kenny Omega & Adam Page & Cody & Young Bucks (or maybe Dustin Rhodes since he seemed to be in the angle) vs. Chris Jericho & Ortiz & Santana & Jake Hager & Sammy Guevara. As of 3/2, there were less than 1,100 seats left for the show so it should sell out or come close. There were 10,628 sold at press time not including luxury boxes. Because the Prudential Center is a larger arena than MGM Grand, and because this wasn’t an overly scalped show like the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC on 10/2, there will probably be more people actually in the building for this show than any AEW show to date
1910
1911Nick Jackson’s wife is about to give birth to the couple’s third child so he wasn’t at TV and won’t be back until she gives birth. On TV they said he was injured, and he was pretty banged up, but the PPV match was going to be his last match until his wife gave birth
1912
1913I don’t expect a good crowd for 3/11 in Salt Lake City since that city does poorly for them for both streaming and television PPV and only a portion of the building has been opened up. But 3/18 in Rochester, NY had topped 4,500 sold at press time. It will likely not be advertised ahead of time, but there is an expectation of a Brodie Lee debut here soon, and he’s from Rochester so that would all make sense for that to be the show he starts back on, and at one time that was the plan if it isn’t still the plan
1914
1915Nothing is new on the Jeff Cobb front. The last word we got is that he hadn’t made up his mind on whether to sign or not. As noted before, his goal for this year when he didn’t sign with ROH was to continue working ROH, but return to the indie scene where he’d be perhaps the biggest star touring since almost everyone else has signed somewhere, with the key being open to anything New Japan wanted since he really liked working for that company and New Japan was planning on doing more U.S. events
1916
1917Chris Jericho’s band Fozzy is back touring around the U.S. from 4/16 to 5/9. That won’t affect AEW since the band isn’t doing any shows on Tuesdays or Wednesdays so he can fly into the city where Dynamite is taped with and be there all day to get ready. But Jericho did use the fact that he’s touring to run an angle on the 3/4 TV show saying that if Moxley wasn’t left laying by the end of the show that he would leave Impact for 60 days. Those who knew about the concert probably figured that angle would explain his departure, but he actually arranged the tour to where there are no conflicts
1918
1919We’ll have more on this next week, but the 3/4 Dynamite show from Broomfield, CO drew 3,342 fans. It was built around Jericho vowing that if Moxley was able to leave the building on his feet, he’d leave AEW for 60 days. This was playing on people who noticed Jericho was touring and thinking that he would be going on hiatus and that was the reason for the title change. It wasn’t and he’ll be on TV regularly during that period. There was a tease of Dark Order vs. Omega & Page for the tag titles. Roberts vowed to bring somebody in to take out Cody. Pac & Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix formed a new trio called the Death Triangle. They’ll at first feud with The Best Friends & Orange Cassidy. The name comes from the old UWA trio Los Triangulo de la Muerte (Death Triangle) of Zandokan & Kahoz & Cuchillo in Mexico, since Pentagon and Fenix were trained by Cuchillo, real name Jaime Carrillo, who passed away in 2014. Next week’s show in Salt Lake City will feature an announcement regarding the War Games without using the name War Games in Newark, Cody vs. Ortiz (likely building an angle leading to that match), Death Triangle in a match and MJF & Butcher & Blade vs. Jurassic Express. MJF is wearing a t-shirt that reads “I pinned Cody.” The main event saw Jericho & Sammy Guevara win a handicap match over Darby Allin. Santana, Ortiz and Hager all beat up Moxley, who was supposed to be Allin’s partner, with Hager putting him out with the standing head-and-arm-choke. Moxley was coming to the ring through the crowd when he passed three fans with masks, who then jumped him, and unmasked. What was bad is that they showed shots of Allin, who had skateboarded to the ring for his entrance, just standing at ringside rather than running back to help Moxley. Allin was destroyed, then did a spot where he crawled to his corner, where there was no partner, tagged himself, and then came back like it was a hot tag. He ran wild but did a tope into a Judas Effect on the floor by Jericho, and was thrown in and pinned by Guevara. Moxley then came back and cleaned house, hitting Guevara with the Paradigm shift. But the entire Inner Circle beat down Moxley and Hager put him out again with the standing arm triangle so Jericho doesn’t have to leave. Hager had also beaten QT Marshall quickly. The Inner Circle was beating down Marshall when first, Dustin Rhodes, then Cody and then Matt Jackson ran in for saves but were all beaten down. Adam Page stumbled down while drinking, put his beer on the post, cleaned house on everyone, hit the buckshot lariat on Hager and then grabbed his beer, left and flipped Matt Jackson off. The announcers had already explained Omega and Nick Jackson not being there due to injuries in the tag match. They also did a video feature putting over how great the tag match was using quotes made during the week from various reporters including myself
1920
1921Cody talked to TSN in Canada about how he’s studying boxing and MMA on how to build big events rather than wrestling. “I’m a big fan of the big fights. I’ve learned more about wrestling recently from UFC and boxing than I have from wrestling. And I mean no disrespect to an industry I’ve loved my entire life, I just mean the big fights and the presence of somebody like a Conor McGregor, the presence of a Floyd Mayweather and even the other night with what we saw with Deontay [Wilder] and [Tyson] Fury, you don’t get that every week, but you do get some of it. And that some of it is super important. It can’t be throwaway.” Regarding the leap off the cage, he said, “The cage was too tall. I don’t even like watching it back. Just flat out, the cage was too tall. The production guys at AEW are second to none. Each individual on this team is amazing, but the guy who designed that cage, I don’t like him and I’m glad I don’t know his name. That thing was just too damn tall. It was like three feet taller than a standard WWE cage, plus the truss. The truss is that prop that hooks to the rigging. I’m a red-light guy. I’m very unathletic when the red light is not on, but if you turn that red light on, I can swim faster, I can run a faster 40 and I can bench three plates-plus. It’s stupid. It’s just in my blood. We’re an entertainment family. When the red light’s on, I can go and the red light was definitely on, it was my hometown. Atlanta doesn’t settle for anything less than spectacular. My wife, the thing I love the most, was right there outside the ring. Arn Anderson, who if I had told him I was going to do in 2008 or 2009 when he was my agent in WWE, he would have smacked me in the back of the head, so I had to make him watch it. For it to be successful was special. I almost don’t like even talking about it because it just stands for itself. I feel like I made a mistake in the days after. I did a few interviews where we talked about it, but I don’t even know how I feel about the moonsault other than that the cage was too damn high.
1922
1923Kenny Omega in a great Bleacher Report story by Jonathan Snowden talked about his creative impetus for his big matches. “A lot of wrestlers are wrestling fans at heart. I'm not necessarily a fan anymore. I'm a fan of TV dramas. I'm a fan of video games, and I'm a fan of movies. I like the way that those forms of media are laid out to attract the fan. That's my study material for how I put together a storyline or a match. Yes, I'm athletic and I can do cool moves and I try to be original with the way I perform them, but I feel the way that I put things together is different from the average wrestler because the average wrestler is just that: He's just a wrestler. He's a wrestler who wants to be a wrestler. I am wrestling as a job but trying to tell human stories to pull at your heartstrings." It's funny, Kenny gets grouped in with new-school wrestlers all the time, like what he's doing is so different from the old school," said Cody. Omega, on who he’s compared with, said, “A lot of wrestling historians and purists will go to bat and say that Flair was the greatest of all time because he was so successful for a period of years. The same goes for Okada, who's almost the modern-day Ric Flair. They have a very patterned main event style, but it's very successful. They bring out the best in almost every opponent. I would watch some of the main event performances, and I would say, 'Well, this is a great match. Wow.' You don't realize until after you've seen it 10 times or 12 times, this is actually just a formula they've kind of copy-and-pasted. ... They see that the reaction is the same every time, so the wrestler says, 'Oh, OK, this is a formula that works, and regardless of how many times they've seen it, it still works.' "I think that's why the Kenny Omega boom started. There's no Kenny Omega copy-and-paste formula. It's all different. It's difficult and very mentally draining, and because I do that, maybe it makes me not a true wrestler's wrestler. What I am trying to do is not attract the wrestler's wrestling fan; I'm trying to open up the world to what wrestling can be and show there is no limitation to what wrestling can be. I went way outside that box. I wasn't using the age-old wrestler formula where if you do this, it's gonna get a reaction, so you do this set list of things at this timing and know it's definitely gonna work. I try to make everything unique, almost anti-wrestling in a way but still existing within the four sides of a wrestling ring." “My strong suit, I think, is long-term storytelling," Omega says. "I'm a very neurotic individual, and I'm a stickler for details. So I believed, given an opportunity and given time, I could tell stories people really haven't seen in professional wrestling.
1924
1925The 2/26 AEW show drew 100,600 viewers in Canada and 51,000 in 25-54. This was third for the night when it came to sports, trailing two NHL games, and doubled the NBA on TEN 1 even though they were on TEN 2
1926
1927Eric Bischoff responded to Tony Khan’s comments last week in the Financial Times that he studied WCW to learn what not to do, which really, the book “Death of WCW” should be course material for anyone wanting to get into U.S. promoting, by saying, “That's an interesting thing for Mr. Khan to say," Bischoff said. "He's been in the professional wrestling business for, what time is it? It's about a cup of coffee, I think. I think [his] coffee could still be warm at this point. So far he's spent from what I've heard, I don't know if it's accurate or not, I want to make sure I say that, somewhere between $30-$50 million dollars to prove that he could be competitive with WWE's developmental territory." The reality of the situation is that WCW should have won the Monday Night Wars. They had more and better talent, they had more potential for international growth with the diverse talent, but they ran off their audience and when on top, never thought it would end, and then it did. If it wasn’t for the ascension of Bill Goldberg in 1998, they’d have gone down far worse than year, but they managed to botch Goldberg at the end of that year as well. Bischoff has tried to create a narrative that the Time Warner AOL merger caused the death of the company, but that merger wasn’t until 2000 and the seeds were all planted in 1998, some would say if not for Goldberg, at Starrcade 97. But in 1999, they started going into free fall because of the worst booking in history that ran off customers, the people who bought PPVs and tickets to live shows, because of bad creative. Whatever corporate handcuffs came later. WCW botched getting a foothold in Canada, the one place WWF still had the advantage, in 1998, when they had Bret Hart, as hot as he’d ever been, and Hogan, the most popular and biggest draw ever in that country (even bigger than Whipper Watson who was a one-time national hero). WWF was very lucky Steve Austin came along, as well as Dwayne Johnson, at the same time WCW went with a pat hand and some of the worst television ever. The decline in ratings in 1999 was significant, but in those days, television was not the revenue stream it is now. The revenue stream was house shows, and they’d go into cities and false advertise talent so much that fans stopped coming, and their PPVs featured bad finishes and lackluster builds for shows that the numbers plummeted and suddenly they went from being very profitable to losing huge amounts of money. The truth is that is far too early to judge Khan vs. Bischoff and wouldn’t be fair to do that until three years in. And a lot of the modern innovations of wrestling were under Bischoff’s watch, including the idea of weekly live arena shows with main event quality matches. And during the heyday of Nitro, they had a lot of elements to make the stars seem cool and the product seem cool that AEW has not been able to do. But AEW has more of a handle on what fans want to see, as with a far smaller talent roster, most of whom came in with no U.S. national name value, they’ve attempted from day one to create new stars as opposed to going with the idea that as long as you’ve got Hogan, you’re going to be on top. They’ve done this with Jericho and Moxley who, while very over to the AEW fan base, are not Hogan, Flair, Sting, Savage or Piper as far as name recognition and long-term history as top guys. They were able to bring back stars of the 80s boom, a luxury AEW doesn’t have because the 00s stars weren’t close to as big and of the guys who really made wrestling in the late 90s, they don’t have one of them. There is a lot positive to learn from the ascension of WCW, and as a student of wrestling, Khan has studied that and the show on the boat was absolutely inspired by the annual Club Lavela Spring Break Nitros. AEW also doesn’t have a Zane Bresloff with all the innovations as far as ideas for selling tickets to live events. That said, WCW died because they squandered that advantage and avoiding those mistakes and pitfalls should be the prime lesson to learn. “Call me in a couple years and tell me what you've done that's really unique," Bischoff said. "Call me in a couple years and let me know how you've changed the industry. Call me in a couple years when your show is one of the top, if not the top original piece of programming on the TNT network. Call me in a couple years when you're number two, number three, number four in all of cable programming for the night in prime time, and then let's talk about it. But until then, hmm, I'll just another cup of coffee and see what happens.
1928
1929Khan noted that Kia Stevens (Awesome Kong) was producing women’s matches while she was there and will be back doing so after the currently filmed season of “GLOW” is over
1930
1931Nick Massie’s wife is due any day now with their third child
1932
1933The Maryland State Athletic Commission has completed its investigation into the Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley lights out match from the Full Gear PPV in Baltimore. The next step is one of two things, a hearing held on the investigation and vote on whether to impose sanctions on the promotion or enter into a negotiated settlement.
1934
1935UFC: The company officially announced International Fight Week from 7/7 to 7/12 in Las Vegas, which will feature UFC 252 on 7/11 at the T Mobile Arena. There will be a Fan Fest on 7/10 and 7/11 at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center and the Hall of Fame ceremony on 7/9 at the Pearl at the Palms in Las Vegas. They will also introduce the Forrest Griffin Community Award as part of the ceremony this year
1936
1937Amanda Nunes vs. Felicia Spencer for the women’s featherweight title will take place on the 5/9 PPV show from Sao Paulo, Brazil that also features Henry Cejudo defending the bantamweight title against Jose Aldo
1938
1939Jessica Penne has agreed to a 20-month suspension after a positive test for trace levels of the steroid Stanazolol. Because it was her second violation, she was facing a four year suspension. She was suspended for 18 months in January 2018 when her biological passport led to evidence she was using something. She said it was DHEA, recommended to her by her doctor for health issues. The standard two year first suspension was reduced. She then failed tests on both April 4, 2019, and a second test four days later, the first for one Stanazolol metabolite and the second for two Stanazolol metabolites. Penne claimed she had her morning after pill tested and that it contained Stanazalol, but USADA tested the over-the-counter morning after pill, levonorgestrel,and couldn’t find traces of Stanazolol. The agreement was to cut her suspension of four years to less than half with the belief she wasn’t intentionally cheating on the first violation. USADA said they tested her morning after pill, couldn’t find any Stanazolol, and questioned the lab she went to and their protocol
1940
1941In a fight where the winner should get a bantamweight title shot, Marlon Moraes faces Petr Yan in the main event of a 6/13 show n Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan
1942
1943Dan Hooker vs. Dustin Poirier will headline a 5/16 show in San Diego, which is really too bad since Paul Felder is the one who deserves the higher ranked match-up coming off that fight with Hooker. But as far as a fight goes, Hooker vs. Poirier does have the makings of a great one
1944
1945This week’s show is UFC 248 on 3/7 from the T Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The show is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. Eastern with Guido Cannetti (8-4) vs. Danaa Batgerel (7-2), Giga Chikadze (8-2) vs. Jamall Emmers (17-4) and Emily Whitmre (4-3) vs. Polyana Viana (10-4). Then it moves to ESPN at 8 p.m. with Deron Winn (6-1) vs. Gerald Meerschaert (30-12), Rodolfo Vieira (6-0) vs. Saparbek Safarov (9-2), former Olympic wrestler Mark Madsen (9-0) vs. Austin Hubbard (11-3) and Sean O’Malley (10-0) vs. Jose Quinonez (8-3). The PPV at 10 p.m. has Alex Oliveira (19-8-1) vs. Max Griffin (15-7), Neil Magny (21-7) vs. Li Jingliang (17-5), Drakkar Klose (11-1-1) vs. Beneil Dariush (17-4-1), Zhang Weili (20-1) vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk (16-3) for the strawweight title and Israel Adesanya (18-0) vs. Yoel Romero (13-4) for the middleweight title. Jingliang vs. Magny is a big fight for China, as Jingliang, and not Weili, is that country’s biggest show. The strawweight title fight looks great on paper with two of the best strikers from a technical standpoint on the roster. The middleweight title pits Adesanya, a great kickboxer with good takedown defense, against Romero, an aging wrestler who is a physical freak, with scary knockout power
1946
1947Rose Namajunas said that she was first offered the fight with Weili on this week’s show but turned it down because she wasn’t in the right from of mind. “I was even offered Weili at the time, but I just at the time, I was still dealing with a lot of my own, just getting my head right, and I hired a mental coach that’s helping me do a lot of different things,” she said on the UFC Unfiltered show. “There was a lot of work that needed to be done and I wasn’t ready for that just yet. I didn’t even really know if I wanted to fight at that time anymore, just because I wanted to make sure that this is something that I wanted to do and I wasn’t just like, `Let’s have another fight just because I’m good at it.’
1948
1949Ryan Hall vs. Ricardo Lamas has been added to the 5/2 show in Oklahoma City
1950
1951Jennifer Maia vs. Viviane Araujo will face on the 6/27 show in Austin, TX
1952
1953Umar Nurmagomedov, the cousin of Khabib, a Russian bantamweight who is 12-0, has been signed
1954
1955Movsar Evoev had to pull out of his fight with Jamal Emmers on the 3/7 show due to injuries suffered in a road accident
1956
1957Isabela de Padua was suspended for two years for testing positive for the steroid Nadrolone in tests taken on both 11/16 (the day of a fight) and 12/19. She will be suspended dating back to the former date, so she can return on November 16, 2021
1958
1959Alexander Hernandez vs. Islam Makhachev is expected to be added to the 4/18 show in Brooklyn
1960
1961Marlon Vera vs. Eddie Wineland has been added to the 3/28 show in Columbus, OH
1962
1963UFC has signed Mariya Agapova, a 22-year-old with an 8-1 record who had been fighting in Invicta.
1964
1965BELLATOR: For the second time, the Josh Barnett vs. Ronny Markes fight is off. Barnett’s debut here was scheduled for December in Hawaii and he got ill to where the commission wouldn’t allow him to fight. It was rescheduled for 3/13 a the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT and Mohegan Tribe commission director Mike Mazzulli told ESPN Barnett failed a medical requirement and is out
1966
1967A.J. McKee suffered a completely torn lateral collateral ligament in his knee but is at least hopeful of being able to continue in the featherweight Grand Prix tournament, which was really built around the idea of a potential McKee vs. Patricio Pitbull Freire match.
1968
1969OTHER MMA: DAZN’s finances showed $480.8 million in revenue but with so many expenses, the company ended with$626 million in losses in 2018. In 2017 they had $331.4 million in revenue but finished the year with$478 million in losses in 2017
1970
1971The third Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder fight is tentatively scheduled for 7/18 in Las Vegas
1972
1973The day after the story came out regarding Tito Ortiz’s fight with Alberto Rodriguez (Alberto El Patron) on 12/7 being changed from Ortiz’s first round win to a no contest, it was changed back. That was nuts. The story behind it was that Ortiz tested positive for a substance that was not a PED, but is banned in competition. Ortiz claimed he had let the commission know ahead of time and he was approved of it. The commission in Texas then gave the win back to Ortiz after talking with his doctor who said he had prescribed the medication to Ortiz. Why the Texas commission overturned the decision without completing the investigation or talking to his doctor is beyond me.
1974
1975WWE: Negotiations are taking place between WWE and All Japan Pro Wrestling which would be part of Paul Levesque’s plan to start an NXT Japan group. This is a huge story within the Japanese promotions because of the feeling that WWE running the country could greatly change the landscape, even for New Japan. Within New Japan that was always the feeling that they would be dominant promotion in Japan no matter how involved CyberAgent got with DDT and Pro Wrestling NOAH, unless WWE came in. There are some in the U.K. scene who directly blame the WWE U.K. for ending what was called a boom period for Japanese indies. Others say it was going to happen either way and WWE isn’t really to blame. Jun Akiyama of All Japan will be traveling to Stamford, CT and Orlando to both meet with Levesque about NXT Japan and to be a guest coach at the Performance Center. WWE brings in tons of people each week as guest coaches so that wouldn’t be unusual although Akiyama, 50, would be the biggest Japanese star to do that. Akiyama was first contacted in June. Akiyama noted that the first time he went to a pro wrestling match was in 1990 for the All Japan/New Japan/WWF joint show at the Tokyo Dome, the Japan/U.S. Wrestling Summit card. Akiyama said he was most impressed with the Jumbo Tsuruta & King Haku vs. Rick Martel & Curt Hennig match, and in particular Tsuruta giving Martel a Greco-Roman backdrop. Akiyama, who was a college wrestling star and 1992 Olympic hopeful, who was beaten out by Manabu Nakanishi for the spot on the Japanese team, said that was the moment when he decided to become a pro wrestler. He also said he may go to the U.S. regularly to help coach. Takaki Fukuda, 54, the President of All Japan, said that no deal has been worked out but hoped the visit would be a positive. Right now in Japan there is a lot of concern across the board about WWE entering the marketplace, particularly now when all but the top companies are vulnerable because of being unable to run shows due to the coronavirus. The idea is that if WWE makes the move soon, most companies will be in a weakened state financially and will have more trouble competing and surviving
1976
1977There are about 3,000 tickets remaining for WrestleMania as far as at the box office with capacity in the 60,000 range so it should end up as a sellout or come very close. There are tons of secondary market tickets available with a $44 get in price. Regarding WrestleMania, there are no changes or new matches we’ve heard for the show. Phoenix did nothing in her appearance to build toward a match with Asuka & Sane for the titles. With the decision made for Orton to give Phoenix an RKO, they may want her to sell it for a few weeks. Regarding whether that women’s tag title match is still on the show after the injury angle was made, I was told that is still to be decided
1978
1979Steve Austin will be appearing on Raw on 3/16. Get it. 3/16. Makes sense. In theory he should pull one of the show’s biggest ratings of the year
1980
1981The WWE made an announcement this week that WrestleMania will go on despite warnings about the Coronavirus. This apparently was in response to an interview Stephanie did in Tampa saying that they would monitor the situation and basically do the responsible thing but people’s health had to come first, and of course that was interpreted as if they were thinking about canceling and some fans panicked. But the announcement came off so bad. I think we’ve already seen with Saudi Arabia that unless they are forced, they are going to do what makes them the most money. If the option is left to them, they will do the show unless the decision is wrong for business because sentiment against the show would be overwhelmingly high. After 9/11, while they did move the show in Houston back, they were one of the first to do a show when nobody else would. In hindsight, they use that as part of their history in showing they were patriotic, but the reality is they had two hours to fill and the real world was not going to stop them. But nobody knows what the future will bring when it comes to the virus. The only thing is, if things get to a point where they have to even think about canceling that week, the situation will be far worse than prioritizing whether there will be a WrestleMania or not, and it’ll take all the major sports and entertainment events canceling to where WWE will basically have to do it if it were to happen. The bad part is that most events draw from the area and WrestleMania draws from all over the world and it will bring 50,000 to 75,000 tourists to Tampa
1982
1983Money in the Bank will be the first PPV after Mania, on 5/10 in Baltimore
1984
1985Jeff Hardy was cleared to return after knee surgery and should be back soon as a single, since Matt allowed his contract to expire. Jeff’s contract would have expired this week as well, but it was frozen by WWE due to his time off. WWE made the call for his return to be on WWE Backstage, which was insane. He should have been brought back either on a three week advertised build to pop a rating, or as a surprise run in for an easy big pop, and really in this day and age it should have been the former. This way they get neither since he’s already back and people know it, and they did it on a show that ended up only getting 18,000 viewers. The thing with Jeff Hardy is that he’s always been far more over to the public then the company gave him credit for because he was more Vince’s vision of a near the top babyface who isn’t believable enough to headline. There were also the issues of whether they could invest on him at the top because of his obvious problems, and that’s a very different story and understandable why they would promote Cena as the top guy for all those years because he was low-risk. But there was a period just before he left where he was more over than Cena, and his chase of Orton when Orton was champion was huge business and he should have gone over if they wanted to give him a chance to be a megastar, but they had other plans for Mania at the time and thus couldn’t do it. On the comeback, it was clear this was a Dudleys comeback or New Age Outlaws deal where they knew they’d get a big pop but felt they were too old and after a few weeks their role was to put everyone over even though the crowds were behind them. It’s hard to say what Jeff’s potential as a single is today until we see him in the ring. He’s past 40 and has had a ton of injuries, but the WWE fan base is not new fans, but fans from the past who are nostalgic and the past is better to them, so for the most part they’ll see Jeff Hardy as a bigger star. He said he had a ton of ideas for his comeback. He also noted that he went into rehab in October after his last DUI arrest and said it was one of the best decisions he could ever doe for himself. He’s been at Smackdown the past two weeks but they didn’t use him yet, so it appears he’ll be on that side. That makes sense since right now Raw seems to be about making new stars, until Vince gives up on them, while Smackdown is about using people already made in the past, which has its advantages, because if they’re already made, Vince isn’t as likely to give up on them
1986
1987WWE also announced on 3/3 that John Layfield would be honored at their Hall of Fame ceremony on 4/2 in Tampa. Layfield’s name had been reported so the names who were planned as of a few weeks ago that have not been announced are Jushin Liger and Davey Boy Smith. Layfield, 53, was a first team All Lone Star Conference offensive lineman as both a junior and senior at Abilene Christian. He wasn’t drafted but was in the 1990 Raiders camp but didn’t make the team. He played the 1991 season as a starting right tackle for the San Antonio Riders in the WLAF, one of the failed attempts to start a new football league. He was trained by Brad Rheingans in Minnesota and started wrestling in 1992. He grew up as a big fan and before WWE, he wrestled in the GWF out of Dallas as Big John Hawk, in Europe for Otto Wanz, with CMLL and FILL in Mexico as Vampiro Americano, a takeoff on Vampiro Canadiense, who was very popular at that time. He also went on a number of tours of Japan for the NOW promotion. He was working for an attempted new promotion that Jim Crockett Jr., was doing at the Dallas Sportatorium in 1995 as their North American champion when he signed with WWE. His name was changed from John Hawk to Justin Hawk Bradshaw, where he got a push at the start but faded down. In early 1997, Blackjack Lanza introduced Bradshaw & Barry Windham as The New Blackjacks, with the idea that Windham was his cousin and Windham was the son of Blackjack Mulligan. The team never went anywhere and is generally forgotten. A funny story is that at that time, since WWE was losing money, they would book talent to other promoters. They booked the Blackjacks to All Japan for their tag team tournament in 1997 where they went 2-7. Vince Russo, who was in creative by this time, and hated that fans at the time thought All Japan had the best wrestling in the world (which they did), complained to Vince McMahon about sending their wrestlers to Japan without making sure they’d win their matches saying how fans will now think All Japan was better than WWE. In late 1998, he formed a tag team of Bradshaw & Faarooq (Ron Simmons) as The Acolytes. Later that became Acolytes Protection Agency where they played hitmen for hire, which was shortened to the APA. During that period, the two were used by the promotion as enforcers beating up Ted Petty & Johnny Grunge as Public Enemy in a notable situation where the two bigger guys beat up two smaller ECW guys in the ring, who were not allowed to fight back. Something similar, but not as bad, also happened with the Dudleys. Layfield was used by management as a backstage bully and had freedom to harass younger talent and non-talent that was on the road with the idea of getting rid of people who didn’t fit into the cool club. There were a lot of horror stores told by people from that era. The team was split up in 2002, and put back together the next year. When the decision was made to fire Simmons, they did an angle where Bradshaw turned on him. Then, in 2004, after WrestleMania, when Kurt Angle’s neck problems left Smackdown without strong heels, he was remade as John Bradshaw Layfield, or JBL for short, a heel takeoff of the J.R. Ewing character in Dallas. Business was terrible at the time, but to be fair, Layfield was a great talker and probably saved things from being worse. When Eddy Guerrero was cracking under the pressure of being champion with business down, Layfield beat him for the title before losing the title to John Cena when he quit in an I Quit match over nothing, trying to sell the idea he was so scared of Cena he’d vacate the title for fear of what Cena could do to him. Just as he was doing well as a top heel, his back was giving him terrible problems which led to the end of his career. It got so bad he took time off in 2006, dropped weight and came back before retiring after losing at WrestleMania 25 to Rey Mysterio in 21 seconds. He was used as a heel announcer from 2012 to 2017. His knocking Mauro Ranallo, a broadcast partner, on a WWE television show led to Ranallo having a breakdown and quitting the promotion, although it was more the straw that broke the camel’s back as opposed to the primary reason. The issue wasn’t as much Layfield as the fact the people in charge of the show had basically agreed to air it to knock Ranallo, although there was a feeling at the time that Layfield could have said no or may have had a hand in what he said given his bitterness that Ranallo had tweeted appreciation for winning the Observer Announcer of the Year award that year
1988
1989Paige (Saraya-Jade Bevis, 27), had emergency surgery this past week to remove an ovarian cyst. She has of late been shopping around the idea of a television reality show which would be based on her and her boyfriend, Ronnie Radke, the lead singer of the band Falling in Reverse. Radke canceled a concert in Sacramento over Paige’s surgery and also his drummer being ill. Paige said she’s doing well after the surgery. .. The XFL was down 14.6 percent in week four. They are still above the levels that they need to be for it to be a success, but it’s getting closer and it’s no longer a sure thing. The ABC game on Saturday at 2p.m. did 1,558,000 viewers, down 18.6 percent from last week. The FOX game at 5 p.m. on Saturday did 1,802,000 viewers, down 12.1 percent from last week. The FS 1 game at 4 p.m. Sunday was actually up 10.9 percent from last week, from 1,004,000 last week to 1,113,000 this week. The ESPN game was at 7 p.m., but it was on ESPN 2 and not regular ESPN, but with a 7 p.m. start that means they were in Sunday prime time and the number should have been significantly higher. The ESPN game last week did 1,473,000 viewers and ESPN 2 did 1,030,000 viewers, a drop of 30.1 percent while in a better time slot. But the difference between ESPN and ESPN 2 is also significant. As noted before, the goals were 1.5 million for ABC and FOX, and ABC by week four is hovering on that level. ESPN was about 1 million, but ESPN 2 should be like FS 1, where 750,000 was the goal and both games significantly topped that level. So they are okay
1990
1991Daria Berenato aka Sonya Deville has signed up with Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Artist Management company for representation in Hollywood. She’s looking for acting roles in both television and movies
1992
1993Before Raw, there was a seminar with talent to teach them about the coronavirus
1994
1995Lana will be off for a few weeks as she is shooting a movie with Bruce Willis. Lashley was kept off television this week because of that. Rusev was at TV but not used this week
1996
1997A very interesting trainee debuted on the 2/29 NXT show in Jacksonville. Ezekwesiri Nduka Jr., better known as EJ Nduka, 31, is billed at 6-foot-8 and 285 pounds, although at the NFL combine he was legit measured at 6-6 ½ . He played defensive end and outside linebacker at Sam Houston State University. The claim is he was part of the 2012 team that went to the FCS finals but I couldn’t find his name on their roster. He played in the CFL and Arena League and then went into bodybuilding, where he placed fourth in the men’s physique world championships in MuscleMania, and won a number of major contests including Junior Nationals and JR USA’s. in 2016 At the NFL combine he ran a 4.52 40, had a 42 inch vertical leap (that is ridiculous for a guy of that size, that’s like the best jumping NBA players) and did 33 reps at 225 on the bench. He played Arena football from 2012 to 2014. He debuted losing to Dorian Mak, who himself was a former college football player turned competition bodybuilder who is about 6-foot-6 or so. The description of his debut is that he looks great physically but nothing sticks out in the ring or talking. . Renee Young on the Chasing Glory podcast with Lilian Garcia talked about when she was announcing on Raw: “A lot of times I felt like I didn't belong here, and I wanted to be like, I belong here. I earned this spot, this should be my spot. But I kept feeling like you like hear the background chatter of like, should I be there? Why is this woman in here calling this match? She's never been in the ring. What's she going to bring to the table? I just think in general. Say in general terms of me just sort of feeling like, oh my God. But there was a ton of support, an immense amount of support from a lot of people, and that was really, really cool, but you tend to be like, I want to listen to what the negative people are saying because I'm feeling insecure and weird about it. So they're probably right. Yeah, it's hard not to feel weird out there. When I went out to do my very first Raw broadcast, when it was like my audition, my trial, I was like, I've got this. I was so confident. I felt so good about it. I didn't feel like I stumbled. I was ready to own that spot. It really felt like it was like the time, the preparation, everything came together, and it was my moment to go out there and do it and I felt great about it Everyone was like, `Great job.’ Vince is sending out a tweet, which never happens. I was like, oh my God, this is great. And then finding out that you have the job and then everything else starts to settle in, the nitpicking starts to happen. You start to lose focus of what your voice is supposed to be out there and you're getting a lot of different feedback of like, `Oh, we just want you to be you or we want to hear the fan's perspective, but we also want you to just be a broadcaster. It was just a lot of different hats and I sort of lost what I was even trying to do or what my tone was supposed to be. You want to hear something different; you were trying to change the way ... WWE is constantly evolving.” Regarding the reaction to her when Jon Moxley signed with AEW, she said, “I was expecting, because at that time, I'm doing commentary, I'm sitting in production meetings and all the news breaks of him going to AEW, and I was bracing for that impact of like, what's going to happen? And nothing changed for me. No one treated me differently. It was easy for me. It sucked for me not having him on the road with me. My biggest issue was like, damn, we don't get to travel together. You're not in the hotel room when we finished the show. I miss having those moments, but ... He has like a different energy to him. It's crazy. Because I've only known WWE, Jon. Then once he was gone and now he's like, oh my God, to the point that I'm like, `Can we stop talking about that?’ Because he loves it. It's his first love. He lives and breathes wrestling. He loves it. Yeah, he's always making me watch Japanese wrestling or watching old school Terry Funk stuff that I'm like, `All right, I get it. I love it.’ Yeah, he's so happy. It's cool to see him just bopping around thinking of different ideas and things that he wants to execute. It's really cool.” Young went with Moxley to the Tokyo Dome shows in January. A funny Moxley story related to Terry Funk is that when you watch him you think Terry Funk was his childhood hero, but that is far from the case. He grew up a WWF fan, watched little else, almost no WCW, and only knew of Terry Funk as the old guy who teamed with Mick Foley and didn’t get him. But when he was signed by WWE, Dusty Rhodes became his mentor so he started watching as much Rhodes as he could, which led him to Funk so now he is a huge Funk fan
1998
1999The company is looking for a Vice President and General Manager of his business operations in Latin America, with the focus markets of Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Colombia. They are looking for people with a proven track record and experience in senior management of a multi-channel media or sports brand
2000
2001The updated 3/22 show in Madison Square Garden is McIntyre vs. Orton as the main event, plus Asuka & Sane vs. Flair & Lynch for the women’s tag titles, AOP & Rollins & Murphy vs. Owens & Black & Viking Raiders, Street Profits & Ricochet vs. Styles & Gallows & Anderson plus Baszler debuts in MSG and there will be a DX reunion with Michaels, HHH, Road Dogg and Sean Waltman
2002
2003To show the nature of the political landscape, there is a convention this coming weekend in New York called The Big Event, and WWE talent was involved, so part of the stips with WWE talent is they are not allowed to book any AEW talent. So that was understood. Matt Hardy was booked on the event (it would have been his first non-WWE appearance after his contract expired). After he left, it became an issue because even though Hardy was booked when he was in WWE, he would be not allowed to attend if he appeared on the AEW TV show on 3/4. He didn’t appear on the show and is attending the event. But he was not listed on the web site as appearing but it is confirmed he will be there
2004
2005The Bella Twins are releasing a joint autobiography called “Incomparable.” It will be released 5/5 through Gallery Books
2006
2007WWE and The Revival are battling for intellectual property rights since it appears The Revival is leaving next month, with AEW looking to be the likely destination. WWE has filed for trademarks on the terms The Mechanics, which was the name they used before the Revival and the term “No Flips, Just Fists.” The team was trying to get a trademark for the latter term
2008
2009There were a lot of complaints regarding the 2/29 house show in Elmira, NY. There may have been complaints the next night in Syracuse, but I didn’t hear them. They had advertised The Fiend hard in the market, in the local media, in e-mails with a Fiend vs. Miz match for the Universal title as the main event. On Smackdown the night before as well as in an e-mail blast two days before the show, the advertising was based on The Fiend’s first time ever in Elmira, facing Miz. He wasn’t there and n explanation was made. We were told fans were very upset and people leaving the arena were commenting about and leaving complaining rather than happy. Nothing was said about why Wyatt wasn’t there but he did attend the XFL game in Tampa over the weekend
2010
2011They are taping NXT for the week after WrestleMania one day ahead, on 4/7 at Full Sail University. Not sure of why but it probably makes sense economically since the crew will be in Tampa for Raw on Monday. Plus there will be lots of tourists in town and it can piggy back off Mania, as for tourists, since many are staying for Monday, they are more likely to stay and attend an NXT taping if it was Tuesday rather than Wednesday. A few quick notes off the NXT TV show. They had two cage matches. Dakota Kai beat Tegan Nox due to outside interference of Raquel Gonzalez. Probably every single thing that has ruined cage matches, from the rules calling for escapes bastardizing the concept, to frequent outside interference, were part of this match. There were strong promos with Rhea Ripley on location at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa talking about facing Charlotte Flair in front of so many fans; and one with Mauro Ranallo and Johnny Gargano where Gargano was furious at Ranallo for calling him Johnny Turncoat to the point Ranallo stormed off set. This was the best taped interview segment on a WWE show in a long time. The 3/11 show which is the show at the Performance Center has Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly challenging Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne for the tag titles, and Keith Lee vs. Cameron Grimes for the North American title. Roderick Strong beat Velveteen Dream in a cage match when, get this, Dream kicked Strong out of the cage on purpose to lose on purpose. The idea is the Undisputed Era all interfered, but Adam Cole was in the ring. The idea was Dream saw his chance in a cage with Cole so kicked Strong out and closed the door, and then laid out Cole with the Dream Valley Driver and hit him with a belt shot. Chelsea Green became the first woman to qualify for the ladder match at the 4/4 Takeover beating Shotzi Blackheart. So for the Takeover show, it looks like the women’s ladder match for a title shot at the Mania winner of Flair vs. Ripley, Cole vs. Dream for the NXT title, Lee vs. either Priest or Dijakovic or a three-way, Riddle & Dunne vs. Zack Gibson & James Drake and Fish & O’Reilly with either two of those teams going for the title or more likely a three-way, plus a major stip Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa match and Finn Balor vs. Walter
2012
2013Erik of the Viking Raiders got sick coming back from Saudi Arabia and was off the weekend house shows
2014
2015WWE stock closed on 3/4 at $44.98 per share, with the decline due more to the market crashing, and then coming back over the past week. The company’s current market value is $3.477 billion
2016
2017The most-watched shows on the WWE Network for the past week were: 1. Super Showdown; 2. Ruthless Aggression Episode 4: Brock Lesnar; 3. Ruthless Aggression Episode 3: Evolution; 4. Ruthless Aggression Episode 2: John Cena; 5. Ruthless Aggression Episode 1; 6. WWE 24: R-Truth
2018
2019Notes from the 2/28 Smackdown tapings in Boston. They had a hot nearly full house of 11,250 fans to see Cena’s return in the market he grew up in. The show opened with Goldberg out. There were some boos when he came out, and they grew a lot louder. Reigns came out. There were some boos for him, but not nearly as many. If you looked at the crowd when both Goldberg and Reigns came out, the vast, vast majority were cheering both of them, but booing overrides cheering when it comes to perceptible noise and in the case of Goldberg is sounded like they were booing him out of the place when most in front of the camera were cheering. Goldberg reacted, kind of laughed about it, and clearly was expecting some of it. There was no “you still got it” or “you deserve it” chants and it was resentment for him winning the title. Reigns just said “I’m next” and Goldberg laughed. So that was it. No Chamber, no angle. And it’s not like Goldberg is going to be there every week. Bayley retained her title losing via DQ to Naomi in 2:32. Naomi hit the rear view and Banks returned, and was cheered like crazy since she’s from Boston, to attack Naomi. Banks has been out of action with an ankle injury. Evans made the save and it turned into a tag match where Naomi & Evans beat Banks & Bayley in 9:23. Evans & Naomi did simultaneous pescados. Banks used a backstabber on Naomi but Evans pulled Banks out of the ring. Naomi pinned Bayley with a sunset flip from the apron into the ring. That would seem to make Naomi the favorite for another title match, whether at the Chamber or at Mania. New Day came out. They were confronted by Roode & Ziggler. This led to Roode pinning Kingston n 12:24. Ziggler interfered. Roode did a clever thing. Behind the refs back he kicked the ring steps and then dropped down and started selling, so the ref thought E had interfered and kicked him out. Kingston used the SOS for a near fall but Ziggler put Roode’s leg over the bottom rope. Roode pinned Kingston with a schoolboy in a solid match. Heavy Machinery was backstage. Tucker was telling him not to be so down about the situation with Rose. Otis said that he thinks something isn’t right. Great detective skills there. Next was a contract signing. The idea was it was for Strowman vs. Nakamura for the IC title at the Chamber show. And that makes perfect sense given Strowman pinned him in the tag match last week. Strowman signed and made a remark that he knows he’ll have to fight all three of them, since Cesaro and Zayn were both out. Zayn then quickly said that Strowman was wanting to fight all three. Strowman at first wasn’t too keen on the idea of facing all three but agreed to it and signed a contract that Zayn amended for it to be one vs. three for the title at Chamber. All three beat down on Strowman with Zayn giving him a helluva kick. Strowman was held and Zayn gave him a second one. Nakamura then used a Kinshasa. Nakamura & Cesaro gave Strowman a double-team suplex and Zayn used a kick that put Strowman through a table. Bryan beat Axel in 4:31 using the LeBell lock. Axel got a bunch of near falls in this match. Gulak was on commentary so they are still building Bryan vs. Gulak. Miz & Morrison came out with the belts. Miz complained that there were no “You deserve it” chants. So a few guys started to chant it. A few people were also chanting the horrendously, on purpose, bad Miz & Morrison chant. They noted putting the title up in the Chamber. Usos beat Miz & Morrison in 9:49 of a good non-title match. Jimmy did a tope on Miz. Jey went for a splash on Morrison, who got his knees up and cradled Jey for a near fall. The finish saw Jey superkick Miz, Jimmy hit a Canadian Destroyer off the middle rope on him and Jey splashed him off the to rope. The show ended with Cena out. Cena is getting too old for the jorts look. He just looks silly with the anti-Jericho look of trying to look like a high school kid at nearly 43. Then again, one of the things about being a star is that you are the trend setter rather than having to follow what everyone else does. He got a huge reaction as you’d expect. Cena talked about how the fans are all passionate about the future of WWE and so is he. He said he wouldn’t be wrestling at Mania. They already did that angle where he insists he won’t be wrestling and then does anyway. But Bruce wasn’t there at the time and Vince may not remember. Cena said how WrestleMania is for the guys who are there all year and he doesn’t want to be taking the spot of one of them. I was wondering how they were going to write him out of saying that. And they didn’t. Cena teased making a big announcement, saying he wanted to do it in Boston in front of his family, like he was going to do a fake retirement speech. But then he went to leave without saying anything. Wyatt came out dressed like The Fiend and pointed to the WrestleMania sign. Cena tipped his cap like he accepted the challenge and left. If the Goldberg angle at the start, announcing his match with no story on why Reigns gets the shot was bad, this was worse. Cena goes from explaining why he doesn’t want to be on the show to being on the show with no physical angle. 205 Live opened with Joaquin Wilde pinning Raul Mendoza. This was their third match and Wilde won clean with the Wilde thing to go up 2-1. Crowd wasn’t much into this after seeing Cena, which is hardly a shock. Lio Rush beat Tony Nese via DQ due to interference by Mike Kanellis. Nese and Kanellis beat down Rush until Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch made the save. Lorcan, Burch, Kanellis and Nese brawled to the back. Rush was still in the ring selling when he was attacked by the returning Jack Gallagher. They are building a ten man tag match on 3/13 billed as NXT vs. 205 Live, with Rush the captain of NXT and Nese the captain of 205 Live. Nese, Kanellis, Ariya Daivari, Brian Kendrick and Gallagher are on the 205 Live team and Rush, Lorcan, Tyler Breeze, Isaiah Scott and Burch are on the NXT team. The show ended with a dark match where Reigns pinned Corbin after a spear
2020
2021.Notes from the 3/2 Raw tapings in Brooklyn. They drew 9,000 fans in New York during Mania season so that may mean they’re running New York too often because Raw this time of year should sellout the Barclays Center. The show opened and ended strong, with an angle where McIntyre laid out Lesnar three different times with Claymore kicks. Lesnar sold like crazy for him. The Street Profits, in what was pushed as their last chance ever at the titles, beat Rollins & Murphy to win the tag titles thanks to Owens interfering and giving Rollins a stunner. Ricochet got buried underground in losing clean to Riddick Moss in a 24/7 title match. The final segment saw Orton at best delivering a great promo where he explained he did what he did to Edge because he loved him and was saving Edge from getting back into wrestling and ruining his life like you save a junkie from drugs. This show saw Vince McMahon rewrite a lot of stuff. I don’t know everything but Black’s first loss, the Ricochet loss and the Rowan tarantula spot were all rewritten by Vince. Originally Moss was to face R-Truth, and Vince changed it to Ricochet and called for the clean win. Sane also replaced Asuka in a match with Baszler, but that was due to Asuka suffering a left wrist injury at the house show in Salisbury, MD, the night before, and just a few hours before they went on the air, Asuka wasn’t cleared so they had to make a change. Main Event opened with Benjamin over Hawkins and then Tozawa beat Eric Young. Raw opened with Lesnar and Heyman out. Heyman said that this is the most stacked lineup at WrestleMania in decades but the main event, Lesnar vs. McIntyre, is a sham. He said that McIntyre was a hyped up fraud. Fans in New York, his home market, were booing him heavily which is a good sign for McIntyre, as a different crowd may have cheered that. Heyman said that in the Rumble, Lesnar massacred 15 top stars, only to get kicked in the testicles by Ricochet and that made him vulnerable to McIntyre’s kick that knocked him over the top rope. He called the fans Pavlovian dogs. He said Lesnar offered no excuses but that McIntyre can’t pin him and can’t submit him. He said the next time Lesnar lays his hands on McIntyre, it’s over just like that. He said McIntyre was a stupid bitch who is going to get squashed at WrestleMania. McIntyre came out. He walked right up in Lesnar’s face. Lesnar backed off. Then Lesnar ran after him and tried to jump him but McIntyre turned around and gave him a Claymore kick. Lesnar sold it like he was knocked out, lost his legs and couldn’t get up. McIntyre did the foot motion like he was kicking dirt on Lesnar and left. Fans were chanting “You deserve it” at Lesnar. Lesnar’s selling was great. Lesnar was wobbly and about to go to the back when McIntyre ran back out and gave him a second Claymore kick. Lesnar whispered at McIntyre to pick up the belt, so McIntyre raised the belt for another pop. He then hit Lesnar with a third Claymore kick. This segment worked big and made McIntyre come across as more of a star than even his winning of the Rumble. The Street Profits won the tag titles from Rollins & Murphy in 7:44. They pushed this as The Street Profits last shot at the titles. I mean, they just started and had only lose once and there was no angle reason why a last chance ever stip would be in play. Plus, it wasn’t mentioned until just before the match started. Basically the stip told you the title was probably changing hands. Montez Ford did a flip dive, but Rollins & Murphy caught him and threw him into the barricade. The AOP came out. They beat on Angelo Dawkins for a while. Ford got the hot tag and did another flip dive. Rollins later shoved Ford off the top rope to the floor and he took a big spill. The AOP came to ringside and before they could do anything, the ref kicked them out. While the ref was doing so, Owens came out and gave Rollins a stunner. Ford hit the frog splash on Rollins for the pin. Rollins did a promo saying that anyone who stands in their way will be eradicated. Riddick Moss pinned Ricochet in 8:25 to retain the 24/7 title. Fans were chanting “Who are you?” at Moss and weren’t much interested in this. Ricochet did a few cool moves but Moss pinned him clean with a neckbreaker. The idea Ricochet would lose cleanly in a match with a guy nobody knew for a joke belt was stunning. I’d say he needs to leave, but the reality is, he’s got a long time left on his contract, so leaving really isn’t an option. Styles was mad about not having the trophy from Saudi Arabia. There was a video on the screen of Mark Wahlberg saying he and his son were watching the Saudi show, saw what happened to Styles, and told him the smart thing to do was walk away from a feud with Undertaker. Wahlberg did the show to promote his new Netflix series. Styles told Marky Mark that he wasn’t taking his stupid advice and said he was on a collision course with Undertaker. Styles was announced to face Black next in a match that had been promoted for a week. Styles then said that Black never read the contract and that he first has to go through Anderson. I don’t know about reading the contract given logically it was a WWE contract and they were the ones advertising it and promoting it. Black pinned Anderson in 5:47 with black mass. Then Styles again talked about how Black didn’t read the contract and he still has to beat Gallows. Gallows was DQ’d for refusing to stop stomping on Black in the corner in 5:28. Anderson & Gallows continued to beat on Black. Then they gave Black a magic killer. Styles came in and Black still wanted the match with him even though he was beaten down. Fans were chanting “Undertaker,” which would be cool except the idea is to make Black a star, and the fans saw him as just some set up guy to get heat for Undertaker. Styles pinned Black after a brainbuster and phenomenal forearm. Ruby Riott did an interview and said there are no friends in the elimination chamber. Morgan pinned Riott with Logan as referee in 4:27. The crowd was quiet for this. At one point Morgan kicked Riott, who fell into Logan. Logan and Riott started arguing. Riott shoved Logan. Morgan used a schoolboy on Riott and Logan fast counted her. Logan shoved down Riott again after the match. Morgan gave Riott an enzuigiri. But then Logan laid out Morgan with a running knee, so the idea was to show that in the Chamber, all three would be against each other. Then in the weirdest segment, No Way Jose and the Conga line came up to Rowan backstage and asked if they could see what was in the cage. Rowan was very nice and said sure, since they asked politely. Rowan then pulled out this mechanical tarantula toy which they pretended was real and Jose and the Conga line ran off. Rowan then put it back in the cage. To say this was a terrible payoff after all these months would be an understatement, plus it was so obvious the way it moved that it was a mechanical toy. Asuka & Sane did a Japanese and some English promo. Baszler beat Sane in 12:43. They pushed had that Baszler was “the cage fighter.” Mauro Ranallo got it over talking cage fighting and shoot wrestling and Billy Robinson and Josh Barnett. But here, with the announcers only saying what they are told to say, it doesn’t resonate because you can just hear that they don’t know what they are talking about. The story is that 14 of her 15 MMA fights ended with her winning via submission. Actually she has 13 submission wins in 26 fights. Fans were chanting for Ronda Rousey. Even though these two have worked many times before, this wasn’t clicking. Then in the middle of the match, Lynch’s music started playing and Lynch came out to lead to a commercial break. Lynch had been vowing to get at her, but instead, never did and just sat down at the desk to do commentary. After Baszler did a gut wrench off the middle rope, there was a light “this is boring” chant. That is not good for the first match of someone groomed for the biggest women’s match on the Mania show. Sane went for the insane elbow but Baszler got her feet up and then won via choke. Baszler put her back in the choke after the match. Lynch was wearing Lawler’s crown by this point. She got her neck bitten and now she’s doing comedy. It wasn’t working at all. Mysterio & Carrillo beat Andrade & Garza in 19:10. Long good match. Carrillo did a Fosbury Flop on Garza. Mysterio made the hot tag. Andrade was bleeding from the side of his head. Carrillo missed a plancha off the post and crashed into the barricade. Garza blocked the 619. Mysterio hit the Canadian Destroyer on Garza. Mysterio hit the 619 on Andrade and then did a huracanrana off the apron on Garza. Carrillo then used a moonsault on Andrade for the pin. The final segment saw Phoenix out. Before she could say anything, Orton came out. Orton was great on this segment but the problem was he was supposed to be the most heartless heel who believes he’s correct because he’s so twisted like an insane serial killer. But you have an audience that wants to see “happenings” over stories and a lot of them were more interested in seeing him attack her, and he did. Orton wanted to hug her and shake her hand but she backed off and looked at him like it was a weirdo. Fans were already chanting “RKO” by this point. Orton said that it had been a certainty that Edge would never wrestle again. Then he explained his side of the story. He said that when he was 19, his father took him backstage at a show in St. Louis. He saw Edge come up to his father and tell him he was one of the best bad guys in the history of the business and told his father he was one of the reasons he broke into the business. His father then introduced Edge to him who encouraged him when he found out he wanted to be wrestler and said maybe we could work together some day. He talked about wrestling Edge over the IC title and then becoming his tag team partner. Orton said there was a time he was flying too close to the sun. He didn’t quite say he was suicidal, but implied it. It’s not well publicized, but not secretive either, that many years ago Orton tried to kill himself. This was when he was out with a injury but long after he was a top tier star. He said that Edge saved his life because he made him realize there is more to life, like loving your children. He talked about how great it is to take his kids to volleyball practice or softball. He said he was just trying to help Edge so he can take his kids to volleyball practice and softball games. He said this wasn’t his fault, but it was Phoenix’s fault, calling her an enabler. He said that if Edge was a drug addict you wouldn’t give him drugs. He said he could see the reaction at the Rumble Edge got and that he could see Edge was a junkie for the roar of the crowd. He said that Phoenix did nothing to stop him and help so he had to stop him because he loves him like a brother. The fans were cheering Orton and Phoenix was crying. Then the fans started chanting “Thank you Randy.” That wasn’t the desired reaction but the segment was still quite gripping. Orton said that he loved her daughters and Edge more than you ever could. Now there was a “bullshit” chant. She slapped him. Orton called her a bitch. She kicked him. Orton gave her the RKO. A whole bunch of people came down. The announcers put over how horrible it was as big as they could as the show went off the air. After Raw went off the air, McIntyre came out and challenged Orton to a match. Orton didn’t come out. Rowan came out instead and McIntyre pinned Rowan quickly with a Claymore kick. McIntyre did a promo after saying he would get Orton on 3/22 when they have a house show in Madison Square Garden
2022
2023The first of the two NXT Florida shows was 2/28 in Largo, FL, before 300 fans. Xia Li pinned Indi Hartwell. Babatunde & Nick Ogarelli beat Aleksander & Tehuti Miles. Kayden Carter beat Briana Brandy. Rinku Singh & Saurav Gurjar & the debuting Laxmi Kant Rajpoot of India beat Jake Atlas & Rocky & Mohammed Fahim. Isaiah Scott beat Shane Thorne. They tried out Indi Hartwell as a manager here for Thorne. Tino Sabbatelli beat Denzel Dejournette. Raquel Gonzalez pinned Kacy Catanzaro. Killian Dain beat Omari Palmer. In the main event, all three members of the Forgotten Sons, working as babyfaces, beat Dorian Mak & Kona Reeves & Brendan Vink
2024
2025The other show on 2/29 in Jacksonville drew a sellout of 400 fans. Dio Maddin pinned Dexter Lumis. Taynara & Aliyah beat Rita Reis & Shotzi Blackheart. Jeet Rama pinned Cezar Bononi. Mia Yim pinned Marina Shafir. Shane Thorne & Cal Bloom beat Ridge Holland & Kassius Ohno. Jorge Bolly (El Hijo del Fantasma) pinned Rik Bugez. Dorian Mak pinned ED Nduka. Kona Reeves was managing Mak so they are looking at putting them together. They put Nduka third from the top in his debut. And then Emily Andzulis of Titan Games, who was only had a handful of matches, was put in the semi losing to Deonna Purrazzo. Main event saw Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne beat Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner to keep the tag titles
2026
2027The Raw tour opened on 2/29 in State College, PA before about 3,000 fans. We didn’t get the crowd for the 3/1 show in Salisbury, MD
2028
2029Smackdown on 2/29 in Elmira, NY, drew 2,300 fans, which was pretty packed as they were in a small building. They did a strong crowd of 5,000 on 3/1 in Syracuse, NY
2030
2031The State College show opened with Ricochet pinning Anderson. Gallows then came out and challenged Ricochet, and Ricochet pinned him as well. Rowan pinned No Way Jose, who doesn’t travel with the Conga line. Andrade beat Carrillo to keep the U.S. title with his feet on the ropes. Baszler beat Morgan via choke. Baszler continued to beat on Morgan after the match until Lynch made the save. The Kabuki Warriors came out, as did Charlotte Flair. This led to Flair & Lynch beat Asuka & Sane via DQ when Asuka hit Lynch with a chair shot. Lashley pinned Alexander after a spear. They announced Owens vs. Rollins as the main event next. Rollins then came out and refused to wrestle because the crowd was chanting “Tiny Balls” at him. So Owens wrestled Murphy, which ended in a DQ when Rollins and the AOP attacked Owens. McIntyre and Ivar made the save, and they did a six-man tag with Owens & McIntyre & Ivar over Rollins & AOP when McIntyre pinned Akam after a Claymore kick
2032
2033There were a few changes on the Salisbury show. Ricochet beat Anderson, and then beat Gallows in the same situation. No Baszler on the show so Morgan pinned Logan. Rowan pinned Jose and Andrade beat Carrillo in the same bouts as the night before. Flair & Lynch beat tag champs Asuka & Sane via DQ for the chair shot. Lashley pinned Alexander. Murphy & AOP beat Owens & Street Profits due to help from Rollins. McIntyre came out and he pinned Rollins with the Claymore kick in he main event
2034
2035Elmira, NY, it opened with a three-way tag title match with Miz & Morrison over New Day and Revival. Kingston used the Trouble in Paradise on Scott Dawson, and then Morrison tagged in, threw Kingston out of the ring and pinned Dawson. Bayley vs. Evans was scheduled next b ut Bayley jumped Evans and cut a promo saying that she’s already beaten Evans and that Evans wouldn’t get a title match. Elias came out and said that he had written a song for Elmira. Cesaro interrupted. Elias invited Cesaro to sing with him. Elias asked Cesaro his favorite song and Cesaro said, “You’ve got a friend in me.” Elias told him to sing it and just as Cesaro starting singing, he hit Elias with the mic. Nakamura & Zayn came out to join in the attack until Strowman made the save and said he wanted a match right now. Strowman & Elias beat Nakamura & Cesaro when Strowman pinned Cesaro after a powerslam. Crowd was hot for this, especially when Strowman was chasing Zayn around the ring. Shorty G beat Gulak with an ankle lock. Technically this was he best match but the crowd didn’t care about it. There were a number of boring chants. The Crowd didn’t react to either guy. The were boring chants as well. As soon as the match ended, the fire alarm went off in the building. Then he show stopped. A few minutes later they said they were dealing with a medical emergency and there would be a delay. They started playing video packages and he alarm kept going off. Bayley came out and demanded that the referee count to ten and announce her as the winner so she could live this craphole city. Evans came and but Bayley pinned her with her feet on the ropes. Main event saw Reigns & Usos over Corbin & Roode & Sheamus. Sheamus replaced Ziggler who was also advertised and didn’t appear. Even though tons of people complained about Wyatt not being there, nobody complained about Ziggler not being there. Solid match ending with Reigns pinning Corbin after a spear
2036
2037Syracuse was mostly the same. The only real change is that the Elias & Strowman vs. Nakamura & Cesaro changed to two singles matches. Strowman pinned Cesaro to keep he IC title the opener that went 20:00. Later the Nakamura vs. Cesaro match ended as soon as it started with a no contest. The tag title match this time ended with Miz pinning Wilder.
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