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1Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2
3PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 April 1, 2013
4
5NEW JAPAN CUP IPPV POLL RESULTS
6
7Thumbs up 26 (100.0%)
8
9Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
10
11In the middle 0 (00.0%)
12
13BEST MATCH POLL
14
15Kazuchika Okada vs. Hirooki Goto 24
16
17WORST MATCH POLL
18
19Opening six-man 22
20
21With two weeks to go, the main WrestleMania card looks to be just about finalized, with nine matches now officially announced for 4/7 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.
22
23~~~~~~
24
25WWE WRESTLEMANIA PPV POLL RESULTS
26
27Thumbs up 204 (33.9%)
28
29Thumbs down 210 (34.9%)
30
31In the middle 188 (31.2%)
32
33BEST MATCH POLL
34
35Undertaker vs. C.M. Punk 465
36
37John Cena vs. The Rock 29
38
39HHH vs. Brock Lesnar 28
40
41WORST MATCH POLL
42
43Mark Henry vs. Ryback 296
44
45John Cena vs. The Rock 63
46
47HHH vs. Brock Lesnar 41
48
49Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger 19
50
51Fandango vs. Chris Jericho 13
52
53Kane & Bryan vs. Ziggler & Langston 9
54
55ROH SUPERCARD OF HONOR IPPV POLL RESULTS
56
57Thumbs up 86 (95.6%)
58
59Thumbs down 4 (04.4%)
60
61In the middle 0 (00.0%
62
63BEST MATCH POLL
64
65O’Reilly & Fish vs. Richards & Edwards 51
66
67Michael Elgin vs. Jay Lethal 24
68
69Jay Briscoe vs. Kevin Steen 18
70
71WORST MATCH POLL
72
73Taven vs. Cole vs. Matt Hardy 48
74
75ACH & Thomas vs. Evans & Marshall 11
76
77NEW JAPAN INVASION ATTACK IPPV POLL RESULTS
78
79Thumbs up 107 (100.0%)
80
81Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
82
83In the middle 0 (00.0%)
84
85BEST MATCH POLL
86
87Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada 107
88
89WORST MATCH POLL
90
91Eight-man tag 26
92
93Rob Conway vs. Satoshi Kojima 24
94
95Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 4/9
96
97~~~~
98
99Thumbs up 107 (100.0%)
100
101Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
102
103In the middle 0 (00.0%)
104
105~~~~~~~
106
107Thumbs up 107 (100.0%)
108
109Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
110
111In the middle 0 (00.0%)
112
113
114~~~~~~
115
116Wrestling Observer Newsletter
117
118PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 August 13, 2013
119
120UFC 163 PPV POLL RESULTS
121
122Thumbs up 19 (21.8%)
123
124Thumbs down 21 (24.1%)
125
126In the middle 47 (54.0%)
127
128BEST MATCH POLL
129
130John Lineker vs. Jose Maria 51
131
132Ian McCall vs. Iliarde Santos 11
133
134WORST MATCH POLL
135
136Phil Davis vs. Lyoto Machida 39
137
138Francimar Barroso vs Ednaldo Oliveira 33
139
140NEW JAPAN G-1 DAY ONE HAMAMATSU
141
142Thumbs up 58 (100.0%)
143
144Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
145
146In the middle 0 (00.0%)
147
148BEST MATCH POLL
149
150Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Satoshi Kojima 25
151
152Karl Anderson vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 13
153
154Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki 13
155
156WORST MATCH POLL
157
158Shelton Benjamin vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan 46
159
160NEW JAPAN G-1 DAY TWO TOKYO KORAKUEN HALL
161
162Thumbs up 85 (100.0%)
163
164Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
165
166In the middle 0 (00.0%)
167
168BEST MATCH POLL
169
170Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 83
171
172WORST MATCH POLL
173
174Karl Anderson vs. Shelton Benjamin 42
175
176Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Togi Makabe 8
177
178NEW JAPAN G-1 DAY THREE NAGOYA
179
180Thumbs up 43 (84.3%)
181
182Thumbs down 2 (03.9%)
183
184In the middle 6 (11.8%)
185
186BEST MATCH POLL
187
188Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. 24
189
190Tetsuya Naito vs. Yuji Nagata 11
191
192Hirooki Goto vs. Satoshi Kojima 10
193
194WORST MATCH POLL
195
196Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Minoru Suzuki 37
197
198Yujiro Takahashi vs. Shelton Benjamin 9
199
200NEW JAPAN G-1 DAY FOUR OSAKA
201
202Thumbs up 74 (100.0%)
203
204Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
205
206In the middle 0 (00.0%)
207
208BEST MATCH POLL
209
210Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata 67
211
212WORST MATCH POLL
213
214Toru Yano vs. Yujiro Takahashi 28
215
216Shelton Benjamin vs. Yuji Nagata 8
217
218Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 8/13.
219
220~~~~~
221
222G-1 CLIMAX TOURNAMENT DAY EIGHT SUMO HALL
223
224Thumbs up 88 (100.0%)
225
226Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
227
228In the middle 0 (00.0%)
229
230BEST MATCH POLL
231
232Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada 79
233
234WORST MATCH POLL
235
236Iizuka & Yoshi-Hashi vs, Kushida & Captain 84
237
238G-1 CLIMAX FINALS AT SUMO HALL
239
240Thumbs up 75 (100.0%)
241
242Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
243
244In the middle 0 (00.0%)
245
246BEST MATCH POLL
247
248Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 70
249
250WORST MATCH POLL
251
252Prince Devitt vs. Togi Makabe 23
253
254Lance Archer vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. 21
255
256Six-man tag 18
257
258Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 8/13.
259
260
261~~~~
262
263Wrestling Observer Newsletter
264
265PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 August 26, 2013
266
267WWE SUMMERSLAM PPV POLL RESULTS
268
269Thumbs up 257 (97.0%)
270
271Thumbs down 8 (03.0%)
272
273In the middle 0 (00.0%)
274
275BEST MATCH POLL
276
277Brock Lesnar vs. C.M. Punk 184
278
279Daniel Bryan vs. John Cena 79
280
281WORST MATCH POLL
282
283Bray Wyatt vs. Kane 161
284
285Natalya vs. Brie Bella 58
286
287Ziggler & Kaitlyn vs. Langston & A.J. 24
288
289Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 8/20.
290
291~~~~
292
293Wrestling Observer Newsletter
294
295PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 December 2, 2013
296
297WWE SURVIVOR SERIES PPV POLL RESULTS
298
299Thumbs up 8 (07.3%)
300
301Thumbs down 88 (80.7%)
302
303In the middle 13 (11.9%)
304
305BEST MATCH POLL
306
30710-men elimination match 74
308
309Punk & Bryan vs. Harper & Rowan 19
310
311WORST MATCH POLL
312
313Women’s match 51
314
315Randy Orton vs. Big Show 32
316
317Mark Henry vs. Ryback 10
318
319NEW JAPAN WORLD TAG LEAGUE DAY ONE IPPV
320
321Thumbs up 29 (72.5%)
322
323Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
324
325In the middle 11 (27.5%)
326
327BEST MATCH POLL
328
329Okada & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Naito & Sombra 31
330
331Nakamura & Ishii vs. Tanahashi & Capt. New Japan 9
332
333WORST MATCH POLL
334
335Yuji Nagata vs. Takashi Iizuka 32
336
337Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 11/26.
338~~~~
339
340Wrestling Observer Newsletter
341
342PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 December 16, 2013
343
344NEW JAPAN WORLD TAG LEAGUE 2013 FINAL POLL RESULTS
345
346Thumbs up 10 (30.3%)
347
348Thumbs down 4 (12.1%)
349
350In the middle 19 (57.6%)
351
352BEST MATCH POLL
353
354Anderson & Gallows vs. Kojima & Tenzan 21
355
356WORST MATCH POLL
357
358Nagata & Sakuraba vs. Iizuka & Yoshi-Hashi 23
359\\
360~~~~~~
361
362Wrestling Observer Newsletter
363
364PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 December 23, 2013
365
366WWE TLC PPV POLL RESULTS
367
368Thumbs up 27 (30.3%)
369
370Thumbs down 5 (05.6%)
371
372In the middle 57 (64.0%)
373
374BEST MATCH POLL
375
376Four-way tag match 61
377
378Randy Orton vs. John Cena 28
379
380WORST MATCH POLL
381
382R-Truth vs. Brodus Clay 55
383
384Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz 28
385
386UFC ON FOX POLL RESULTS
387
388Thumbs up 64 (76.2%)
389
390Thumbs down 7 (08.3%)
391
392In the middle 13 (15.5%)
393
394BEST MATCH POLL
395
396Edson Barboza vs. Danny Castillo 65
397
398WORST MATCH POLL
399
400Ryan LaFlare vs. Court McGee 20
401
402Chad Mendes vs. Nik Lentz 19
403
404Based on e-mails and phone messages to the Observer as of Tuesday, 12/17.
405
406Randy Orton beat John Cena in what WWE for all of about three weeks had tried to promote as the biggest match in the history of the company, with the idea that for the first time since the Lou Thesz era, there would be an undisputed world champion.
407
408
409~~~~~
410
411DRAGON GATE FINAL GATE 2013 PPV POLL RESULTS
412
413Thumbs up 22
414
415Thumbs down 0
416
417In the middle 0
418
419BEST MATCH POLL
420
421Tozawa & Takagi vs. Doi & Yamato 19
422
423WORST MATCH POLL
424
425Fujii vs. Ichikawa vs. Tamagawa 22
426
427Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 12/24.
428~~~~~
429
430Wrestling Observer Newsletter
431
432PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 February 4, 2013
433
434WWE ROYAL RUMBLE PPV POLL RESULTS
435
436Thumbs up 254 (87.9%)
437
438Thumbs down 9 (03.1%)
439
440In the middle 26 (09.0%)
441
442BEST MATCH POLL
443
444The Rock vs. C.M. Punk 131
445
446Royal Rumble 104
447
448WORST MATCH POLL
449
450Kane & Bryan vs. Rhodes & Sandow 110
451
452Alberto Del Rio vs. Big Show 73
453
454Antonio Cesaro vs. The Miz 10
455
456The Rock vs. C.M. Punk 8
457
458UFC ON FOX POLL RESULTS
459
460Thumbs up 134 (87.0%)
461
462Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
463
464In the middle 20 (13.0%)
465
466BEST MATCH POLL
467
468Demetrious Johnson vs. John Dodson 69
469
470Glover Teixeira vs. Quinton Jackson 55
471
472Anthony Pettis vs. Donald Cerrone 14
473
474Ricardo Lamas vs. Erik Koch 9
475
476WORST MATCH POLL
477
478Clay Guida vs. Hatsu Hioki 34
479
480Rafael Natal vs. Sean Spencer 21
481
482Glover Teixeira vs. Quinton Jackson 8
483
484Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 1/29.
485
486The WWE’s second biggest event of its calendar year, the Royal Rumble, on 1/27 from the U.S. Airways Arena in Phoenix, saw the expected finishes with The Rock capturing the WWE title from C.M. Punk and John Cena winning the Royal Rumble to set up their WrestleMania rematch.~~~~
487
488Wrestling Observer Newsletter
489
490PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 February 11, 2013
491
492UFC 156 PPV POLL RESULTS
493
494Thumbs up 70 (65.4%)
495
496Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
497
498In the middle 37 (34.6%)
499
500BEST MATCH POLL
501
502Jose Aldo Jr. vs. Frankie Edgar 68
503
504Antonio Silva vs. Alistair Overeem 22
505
506Francisco Rivera vs. Edwin Figueroa 8
507
508WORST MATCH POLL
509
510Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Rashad Evans 94
511
512Joseph Benavidez vs. Ian McCall 8
513
514Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 2/5.
515
516More than 25 years after Bruno Sammartino left his announcing position with WWF, mad at what pro wrestling had become, he signed a deal on 2/1 to return for induction into the company’s Hall of Fame on 4/6 in Madison Square Garden.
517
518~~~
519
520Wrestling Observer Newsletter
521
522PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 February 18, 2013
523
524NEW JAPAN THE NEW BEGINNINGS IPPV POLL RESULTS
525
526Thumbs up 103 (97.2%)
527
528Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
529
530In the middle 3 (02.8%)
531
532BEST MATCH POLL
533
534Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Karl Anderson 91
535
536Minoru Suzuki vs. Kazuchika Okada 8
537
538WORST MATCH POLL
539
54010-man tag 84
541
542Togi Makabe vs. Yujiro Takahashi 15
543
544Based on e-mails and phone messages to the Observer as of Tuesday, 2/12.
545
546~~~~~
547
548Wrestling Observer Newsletter
549
550PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 February 25, 2013
551
552WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER PPV POLL RESULTS
553
554Thumbs up 93 (66.4%)
555
556Thumbs down 15 (10.7%)
557
558In the middle 32 (22.9%)
559
560BEST MATCH POLL
561
562Elimination Chamber 70
563
564Shield vs. Cena & Ryback & Sheamus 55
565
566The Rock vs. C.M. Punk 15
567
568WORST MATCH POLL
569
570Kaitlyn vs. Tamina Snuka 94
571
572Antonio Cesaro vs. The Miz 17
573
574Alberto Del Rio vs. Big Show 10
575
576Tensai & Clay vs. Rhodes & Sandow 8
577
578Based on phone calls and fax messages to the Observer as of Tuesday, 2/19.
579~~
580
581Thumbs up 93 (66.4%)
582
583Thumbs down 15 (10.7%)
584
585In the middle 32 (22.9%)
586~~~
587
588Wrestling Observer Newsletter
589
590PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 January 7, 2013
591
592UFC 155 PPV POLL RESULTS
593
594Thumbs up 86 (64.2%)
595
596Thumbs down 10 (07.5%)
597
598In the middle 38 (28.4%)
599
600BEST MATCH POLL
601
602Jim Miller vs. Joe Lauzon 108
603
604WORST MATCH POLL
605
606Derek Brunson vs. Chris Leben 67
607
608Yushin Okami vs. Alan Belcher 44
609
610Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 1/1.
611
612WWE and UFC will open 2013 with what looks to be a strong couple of months after years that had to be considered mixed bags.
613
614WWE has The Rock for far more dates this year than last, as well as a WrestleMania that will feature Rock and Brock Lesnar, the two people who noticeably move business, on the same show. There will also be at least a few TV dates with Undertaker to build his Mania program, expected to be with C.M. Punk. And Ric Flair is likely to make some appearances as well.
615
616
617~~~~
618
619Wrestling Observer Newsletter
620
621PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 January 14, 2013
622
623NEW JAPAN WRESTLE KINGDOM IPPV POLL RESULTS
624
625Thumbs up 193 (100.0%)
626
627Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
628
629In the middle 0 (00.0%)
630
631BEST MATCH POLL
632
633Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada 95
634
635Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kazushi Sakuraba 56
636
637Prince Devitt vs. Low Ki vs. Kota Ibushi 27
638
639Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki 9
640
641WORST MATCH POLL
642
6438 man tag 73
644
645Opening 6 man tag 32
646
647Masato Tanaka vs. Shelton Benjamin 28
648
649Togi Makabe vs. Katsuyori Shibata 8
650
651Based on phone calls and e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 1/8.
652
653WrestleMania season began on 1/7 in Tampa with The Rock returning in a segment with C.M. Punk that lasted close to 30 minutes, the first half with Punk doing a seemingly endless promo, and the second half with the two of them out there.
654
655~~~
656
657restling Observer Newsletter
658
659PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 January 21, 2013
660
661STRIKEFORCE FINAL EVENT POLL RESULTS
662
663Thumbs up 35 (53.8%)
664
665Thumbs down 13 (20.0%)
666
667In the middle 17 (26.2%)
668
669BEST MATCH POLL
670
671Ryan Couture vs. K.J. Noons 52
672
673WORST MATCH POLL
674
675Tarec Saffiedine vs. Nate Marquardt 28
676
677TNA GENESIS PPV POLL RESULTS
678
679Thumbs up 26 (57.8%)
680
681Thumbs down 10 (22.2%)
682
683In the middle 9 (20.0%)
684
685BEST MATCH POLL
686
687Jeff Hardy vs. Bobby Roode vs. Austin Aries 46
688
689WORST MATCH POLL
690
691Sting vs. Doc 26
692
693Rob Van Dam vs. Christian York 8
694
695Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 1/15.
696
697TNA is embarking on a series of significant changes in how they present and market their product, with the first changes announced being in the PPV department.
698
699~~~~~
700
701Wrestling Observer Newsletter
702
703PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 July 1, 2013
704
705NEW JAPAN DOMINION PPV POLL RESULTS
706
707Thumbs up 57 (100.0%)
708
709Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
710
711In the middle 0 (00.0%)
712
713BEST MATCH POLL
714
715Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hirooki Goto 54
716
717WORST MATCH POLL
718
719Rob Conway vs. Manabu Nakanishi 47
720
721ROH BEST IN THE WORLD IPPV POLL RESULTS
722
723Thumbs up 27 (51.9%)
724
725Thumbs down 11 (21.2%)
726
727In the middle 14 (26.9%)
728
729BEST MATCH POLL
730
731Michael Elgin vs. Tommaso Ciampa 28
732
733Richards & Edwards vs. ACH & Thomas 10
734
735WORST MATCH POLL
736
737B.J. Whitmer vs. Mike Bennett 18
738
739Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday 6/25.
740~~~~
741
742Wrestling Observer Newsletter
743
744PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 July 15, 2013
745
746UFC 162 PPV POLL RESULTS
747
748Thumbs up 161 (98.8%)
749
750Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
751
752In the middle 2 (01.2%)
753
754BEST MATCH POLL
755
756Frankie Edgar vs. Charles Oliveira 99
757
758Cub Swanson vs. Dennis Siver 33
759
760Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva 27
761
762WORST MATCH POLL
763
764Tim Kennedy vs. Roger Gracie 93
765
766NEW JAPAN KIZUNA ROAD I IPPV POLL RESULTS
767
768Thumbs up 35 (100.0%)
769
770Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
771
772In the middle 0 (00.0%)
773
774BEST MATCH POLL
775
776Prince Devitt vs. Gedo 26
777
778WORST MATCH POLL
779
780Okada & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Anderson & Fale 23
781
782Based on phone calls and e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 7/9.
783
784
785~~
786
787Wrestling Observer Newsletter
788
789PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 July 22, 2013
790
791WWE MONEY IN THE BANK PPV POLL RESULTS
792
793Thumbs up 116 (91.3%)
794
795Thumbs down 2 (01.6%)
796
797In the middle 9 (07.1%)
798
799BEST MATCH POLL
800
801WWE title MITB 82
802
803World title MITB 42
804
805WORST MATCH POLL
806
807A.J. Lee vs. Kaitlyn 59
808
809Curtis Axel vs. The Miz 28
810
811Ryback vs. Chris Jericho 15
812
813John Cena vs. Mark Henry 10
814
815INVICTA FC PPV POLL RESULTS
816
817Thumbs up 46 (80.7%)
818
819Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
820
821In the middle 11 (19.3%)
822
823BEST MATCH POLL
824
825Leslie Smith vs. Jennifer Maia 15
826
827Tecia Torres vs. Rose Namajunas 11
828
829Lauren Taylor vs. Sarah D’Alelio 8
830
831WORST MATCH POLL
832
833Claudia Gadelha vs. Ayaka Hamasaki 12
834
835Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 7/16
836
837
838~~~~
839
840Wrestling Observer Newsletter
841
842PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 July 29, 2013
843
844NEW JAPAN KIZUNA ROAD IPPV POLL RESULTS
845
846Thumbs up 71 (83.5%)
847
848Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
849
850In the middle 14 (16.5%)
851
852BEST MATCH POLL
853
854Kazuchika Okada vs. Prince Devitt 41
855
856Shinsuke Nakamura vs. La Sombra 20
857
858Minoru Suzuki vs. Tomohiro Ishii 18
859
860WORST MATCH POLL
861
8628 man opener 31
863
864Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Yuji Nagata 13
865
866Tenzan & Kojima vs. Iizuka & Yano 10
867
868DRAGON GATE KOBE WRESTLING FESTIVAL POLL RESULTS
869
870Thumbs up 34 (100.0%)
871
872Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
873
874In the middle 0 (00.0%)
875
876BEST MATCH POLL
877
878Doi & Ricochet vs. Tozawa & Hulk 31
879
880WORST MATCH POLL
881
882Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs. Stalker Ichikawa 32
883
884Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 7/23.
885
886It’s been a week of questions, answers and more questions when it comes to TNA wrestling, with more releases, explanations and a house show fiasco.
887~~~
888
889Thumbs up 34 (100.0%)
890
891Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
892
893In the middle 0 (00.0%)
894
895~~~~
896
897Wrestling Observer Newsletter
898
899PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 June 10, 2013
900
901TNA SLAMMIVERSARY PPV POLL RESULTS
902
903Thumbs up 55 (74.3%)
904
905Thumbs down 5 (06.8%)
906
907In the middle 14 (18.9%)
908
909BEST MATCH POLL
910
911Kurt Angle vs. A.J. Styles 43
912
913Taryn Terrell vs. Gail Kim 20
914
915WORST MATCH POLL
916
917Jay Bradley vs. Sam Shaw 32
918
919Abyss vs. Devon 30
920
921Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 6/4.
922
923In a deal that UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta called one of the three biggest in the company’s history, UFC last week announced a multiple-tiered deal with Mexican media giant Televisa, which will include the creation of a separate 24 hour subscription channel in Spanish.
924~~~~
925
926Wrestling Observer Newsletter
927
928PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 June 24, 2013
929
930WWE PAYBACK PPV POLL RESULTS
931
932Thumbs up 133 (100.0%)
933
934Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
935
936In the middle 0 (00.0%)
937
938BEST MATCH POLL
939
940C.M. Punk vs. Chris Jericho 109
941
942Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler 7
943
944WORST MATCH POLL
945
946Dean Ambrose vs. Kane 97
947
948John Cena vs. Ryback 18
949
950A.J. Lee vs. Kaitlyn 8
951
952UFC 161 PPV POLL RESULTS
953
954Thumbs up 50 (53.2%)
955
956Thumbs down 11 (11.7%)
957
958In the middle 33 (35.1%)
959
960BEST MATCH POLL
961
962Yves Jabouin vs. Dustin Pague 19
963
964Roland Delorme vs. Edwin Figueroa 17
965
966James Krause vs. Sam Stout 17
967
968Stipe Miocic vs. Roy Nelson 16
969
970Rashad Evans vs. Dan Henderson 10
971
972WORST MATCH POLL
973
974Jake Shields vs. Tyron Woodley 64
975
976Ryan Jimmo vs. Igor Pokrajac 27
977
978Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 6/18.
979~~~
980
981Wrestling Observer Newsletter
982
983PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 March 4, 2013
984
985UFC 157 PPV POLL RESULTS
986
987Thumbs up 147 (100.0%)
988
989Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
990
991In the middle 0 (00.0%)
992
993BEST MATCH POLL
994
995Dennis Bermudez vs. Matt Grice 116
996
997Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche 29
998
999WORST MATCH POLL
1000
1001Lyoto Machida vs. Dan Henderson 92
1002
1003Brendan Schaub vs. Lavar Johnson 55
1004
1005Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 2/26
1006
1007Few fights in UFC history are likely to be remembered decades later as being as historically significant as the Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche main event of UFC 157.
1008
1009
1010~~~
1011~~~
1012
1013Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1014
1015PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 March 12, 2013
1016
1017ROH 11TH ANNIVERSARY IPPV POLL RESULTS
1018
1019Thumbs up 24 (100.0%)
1020
1021Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1022
1023In the middle 0 (00.0%)
1024
1025BEST MATCH POLL
1026
1027Richards & Edwards vs. Romero & Koslov 19
1028
1029WORST MATCH POLL
1030
1031Jacobs & Corino vs. Coleman & Alexander 10
1032
1033Based on e-mail and phone messages to the Observer as of Tuesday, 3/5.
1034
1035William Moody, the legendary pro wrestling manager best known under the names Paul Bearer and Percy Pringle III, passed away on 3/5 at the age of 58.
1036
1037~~~~~
1038
1039Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1040
1041PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 March 19, 2013
1042
1043TNA LOCKDOWN PPV POLL RESULTS
1044
1045Thumbs up 45 (59.2%)
1046
1047Thumbs down 3 (03.9%)
1048
1049In the middle 28 (36.8%)
1050
1051BEST MATCH POLL
1052
1053Lethal Lockdown 24
1054
10553-way tag title 19
1056
1057Wes Brisco vs. Kurt Angle 16
1058
1059Bully Ray vs. Jeff Hardy 12
1060
1061WORST MATCH POLL
1062
1063Robbie T vs. Robbie E 62
1064
1065Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 3/12.~~~~
1066
1067Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1068
1069PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 March 25, 2013
1070
1071UFC 158 PPV POLL RESULTS
1072
1073Thumbs up 144 (94,1%)
1074
1075Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1076
1077In the middle 9 (05.9%)
1078
1079BEST MATCH POLL
1080
1081Johny Hendricks vs. Carlos Condit 142
1082
1083Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz 8
1084
1085WORST MATCH POLL
1086
1087Mike Ricci vs. Colin Fletcher 60
1088
1089Chris Camozzi vs. Nick Ring 25
1090
1091Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 3/19.
1092
1093All the significant matches on the 2013 WrestleMania card seem to be finalized three weeks before the show on 4/7 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.
1094
1095What will almost surely be, when it comes to financially, the biggest show in the history of the industry sold out one week ago. While creative has really sputtered in the last week, it’s probably not going to matter. Legitimately, it will probably end up being the second largest WrestleMania crowd in history, trailing only the 1987 Pontiac Silverdome show. Gate was, at $11 million, it blows away any previous record
1096
1097
1098~~~~~
1099Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1100
1101PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 May 6, 2013
1102
1103UFC 159 PPV POLL RESULTS
1104
1105Thumbs up 0 (00.0%)
1106
1107Thumbs down 61 (64.9%)
1108
1109In the middle 33 (35.1%)
1110
1111BEST MATCH POLL
1112
1113Pat Healy vs. Jim Miller 86
1114
1115WORST MATCH POLL
1116
1117Ovince St. Preux vs. Gian Villante 39
1118
1119Phil Davis vs. Vinny Magalhaes 33
1120
1121Rustam Khabilov vs. Yancy Medeiros 19
1122
1123Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 4/30.
1124
1125WrestleMania 29 from 4/7 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, is now officially the single biggest money event in the history of pro wrestling.
1126
1127
1128~~~
1129~~~
1130
1131Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1132
1133PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 May 13, 2013
1134
1135NEW JAPAN WRESTLING DONTAKU IPPV POLL RESULTS
1136
1137Thumbs up 64 (85.3%)
1138
1139Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1140
1141In the middle 11 (14.7%)
1142
1143BEST MATCH POLL
1144
1145Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki 58
1146
1147Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Karl Anderson 11
1148
1149WORST MATCH POLL
1150
1151Four-way tag title match 26
1152
1153Devitt & Fale vs. Capt. New Japan & Taguchi 23
1154
11558-man opener 11
1156
1157ROH BORDER WARS IPPV POLL RESULTS
1158
1159Thumbs up 24 (54.5%)
1160
1161Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1162
1163In the middle 20 (45.5%)
1164
1165BEST MATCH POLL
1166
1167Eddie Edwards vs. Taiji Ishimori 34
1168
1169Davey Richards vs. Paul London 9
1170
1171WORST MATCH POLL
1172
1173B.J. Whitmer vs. Rhett Titus 38
1174
1175Based on e-mails and phone messages to the Observer as of Tuesday, 5/7.
1176
1177
1178
1179~~~~
1180
1181Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1182
1183PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 May 27, 2013
1184
1185WWE EXTREME RULES PPV POLL RESULTS
1186
1187Thumbs up 60 (46.9%)
1188
1189Thumbs down 33 (25.8%)
1190
1191In the middle 35 (27.3%)
1192
1193BEST MATCH POLL
1194
1195Brock Lesnar vs. HHH 76
1196
1197Rollins & Reigns vs. Bryan & Kane 15
1198
1199Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger 13
1200
1201WORST MATCH POLL
1202
1203Sheamus vs. Mark Henry 84
1204
1205John Cena vs. Ryback 17
1206
1207Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 5/21.
1208
1209Mick McManus, generally considered the greatest villain in U.K. history, and undeniably, the biggest star of his era, passed away on 5/22, at the age of 93.
1210
1211McManus was despondent after the death of his wife and had refused all food and liquids.
1212
1213~~~
1214
1215Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1216
1217PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 November 4, 2013
1218
1219WWE HELL IN A CELL PPV POLL RESULTS
1220
1221Thumbs up 12 (09.1%)
1222
1223Thumbs down 74 (56.1%)
1224
1225In the middle 46 (34.8%)
1226
1227BEST MATCH POLL
1228
1229Rhodes Brothers vs. Shield vs. Usos 101
1230
1231Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan 11
1232
1233John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio 9
1234
1235WORST MATCH POLL
1236
1237Fandango & Rae vs. Khali & Natalya 61
1238
1239C.M. Punk vs. Ryback 28
1240
1241Big E Langston vs. Dean Ambrose 15
1242
1243Randy Orton vs. Daniel Bryan 14
1244
1245Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 10/29.
1246
1247After a quest that started in the summer of Daniel Bryan being held back by management in storyline, the climactic Hell in a Cell match with Bryan and Orton seemed to end his stay in the top babyface position
1248
1249~~~~
1250
1251Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1252
1253PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 November 18, 2013
1254
1255NEW JAPAN POWER STRUGGLE PPV POLL RESULTS
1256
1257Thumbs up 53 (100.0%)
1258
1259Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1260
1261In the middle 0 (00.0%)
1262
1263BEST MATCH POLL
1264
1265Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii 31
1266
1267Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomoaki Honma 17
1268
1269WORST MATCH POLL
1270
1271Nagata & Sakuraba vs. Iizuka & Yano 21
1272
1273Heavyweight tag title match 15
1274
1275Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 11/12.
1276
1277~~~~
1278
1279Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1280
1281PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 November 25, 2013
1282
1283UFC 167 PPV POLL RESULTS
1284
1285Thumbs up 153 (98.7%)
1286
1287Thumbs down 1 (00.6%)
1288
1289In the middle 1 (00.6%)
1290
1291BEST MATCH POLL
1292
1293Georges St-Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks 127
1294
1295Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald 25
1296
1297WORST MATCH POLL
1298
1299Thales Leites vs. Ed Herman 73
1300
1301Rashad Evans vs. Chael Sonnen 24
1302
1303Jason High vs. Anthony Lapsley 17
1304
1305Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 11/19.
1306
1307It appears, after years of teasing, that the launch of the WWE Network is going to be announced imminently. On 11/18, the company informed cable carriers that it will cease production on the WWE 24/7 Classics on Demand channel in February, which would seem to confirm the already reported time line of February for a launch, reported by Pro Wrestling Insider as a 2/24 launch date, which would be the day after the Elimination Chamber PPV. It should be noted that WWE had more than a year ago sent messages to cable companies that Classics on Demand was being canceled, only to continue the service then the network launch was delayed.
1308
1309
1310~~~
1311Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1312
1313PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 October 7, 2013
1314
1315NEW JAPAN DESTRUCTION PPV POLL RESULTS
1316
1317Thumbs up 49 (100.0%)
1318
1319Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1320
1321In the middle 0 (00.0%)
1322
1323BEST MATCH POLL
1324
1325Kazuchika Okada vs. Satoshi Kojima 22
1326
1327Tetsuya Naito vs. Masato Tanaka 15
1328
1329Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Prince Devitt 12
1330
1331WORST MATCH POLL
1332
1333Rob Conway vs. Jushin Liger 27
1334
1335Opening six man 13
1336
1337Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 10/1.
1338
1339After four years, it appears the contractual relationship between Hulk Hogan and TNA Wrestling is over.
1340
1341But given the people involved, it also could be a swerve.
1342
1343
1344~~~~
1345
1346Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1347
1348PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 October 14, 2013
1349
1350WWE BATTLEGROUND PPV POLL RESULTS
1351
1352Thumbs up 12 (08.9%)
1353
1354Thumbs down 110 (81.5%)
1355
1356In the middle 13 (09.6%)
1357
1358BEST MATCH POLL
1359
1360Rhodes Family vs. Rollins & Reigns 120
1361
1362WORST MATCH POLL
1363
1364Bray Wyatt vs. Kofi Kingston 62
1365
1366A.J. Lee vs. Brie Bella 34
1367
1368Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton 33
1369
1370Cesaro & Swagger vs. Khali & Marella 13
1371
1372Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 10/8.
1373
1374
1375~~~~
1376
1377Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1378
1379PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 October 21, 2013
1380
1381NEW JAPAN KINGS OF PRO WRESTLING
1382
1383Thumbs up 76 (100.0%)
1384
1385Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1386
1387In the middle 0 (00.0%)
1388
1389BEST MATCH POLL
1390
1391Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 76
1392
1393WORST MATCH POLL
1394
1395Minoru Suzuki vs. Toru Yano 40
1396
1397Based on phone calls and e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 10/15.
1398
1399Likely in response to the low rating on the 10/7 episode of Raw, Vince McMahon had it out with the producers and redid the 10/14 television show and the 10/27 Hell in a Cell PPV.
1400
1401~~~
1402
1403restling Observer Newsletter
1404
1405PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 October 28, 2013
1406
1407UFC 166 PPV POLL RESULTS
1408
1409Thumbs up 134 (100.0%)
1410
1411Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1412
1413In the middle 0 (00.0%)
1414
1415BEST MATCH POLL
1416
1417Gilbert Melendez vs. Diego Sanchez 134
1418
1419WORST MATCH POLL
1420
1421Daniel Cormier vs. Roy Nelson 43
1422
1423K.J. Noons vs. George Sotiropolous 39
1424
1425TNA BOUND FOR GLORY PPV POLL RESULTS
1426
1427Thumbs up 36 (45.0%)
1428
1429Thumbs down 33 (41.3%)
1430
1431In the middle 11 (13.8%)
1432~
1433BEST MATCH POLL
1434
1435Bobby Roode vs. Kurt Angle 44
1436
1437A.J. Styles vs. Bully Ray 23
1438
1439Ultimate X 9
1440
1441WORST MATCH POLL
1442
1443Evan Carter III vs. Norv Ferman 38
1444
1445Magnus vs. Sting 10
1446
1447Based on e-mails and phone messages to the Observer as of Tuesday, 10/22.
1448
1449When UFC 166 ended, it was a feeling of almost euphoria. The company had concluded one of the greatest shows in its history, and had one of the most exciting matches in its history before a sellout crowd in Houston, where they couldn’t print enough tickets to meet the demand.
1450
1451~~~~
1452
1453Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1454
1455PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 September 9, 2013
1456
1457UFC 164 PPV POLL RESULTS
1458
1459Thumbs up 91 (96.8%)
1460
1461Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1462
1463In the middle 3 (03.2%)
1464
1465BEST MATCH POLL
1466
1467Dustin Poirier vs. Erik Koch 56
1468
1469Chico Camus vs. Kyung Ho Kang 13
1470
1471Hyun Gu Lim vs. Pascal Krauss 10
1472
1473Josh Barnett vs. Frank Mir 8
1474
1475WORST MATCH POLL
1476
1477Soa Paleli vs. Nikita Krylov 38
1478
1479Ben Rothwell vs. Brandon Vera 15
1480
1481Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 9/3.
1482
1483In the lead story last week, there were some interesting notes regarding popularity of a lot of performers relative to their push.
1484
1485It should be noted that the numbers were reflective of the total year average for 2013, and not necessarily where they are now.
1486
1487~~~~~
1488
1489Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1490
1491PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 September 23, 2013
1492
1493WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS PPV POLL RESULTS
1494
1495Thumbs up 22 (15.8%)
1496
1497Thumbs down 48 (34.5%)
1498
1499In the middle 69 (49.6%)
1500
1501BEST MATCH POLL
1502
1503Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton 128
1504
1505WORST MATCH POLL
1506
1507Lee vs. Natalya vs. Brie Bella vs. Naomi 59
1508
1509The Miz vs. Fandango 51
1510
1511Rob Van Dam vs. Alberto Del Rio 10
1512
1513CMLL 80TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW POLL RESULTS
1514
1515Thumbs up 51 (96.2%)
1516
1517Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1518
1519In the middle 2 (03.8%)
1520
1521BEST MATCH POLL
1522
1523La Sombra vs. Volador Jr. 41
1524
1525Averno vs. Blue Panther 12
1526
1527WORST MATCH POLL
1528
1529Sombra & Volador Jr. vs. Atlantis & Guerrero 25
1530
1531Casas & Shocker & Terrible vs. Rush & Vangelis & Corleone 10
1532
1533Ishii & Namajague & Okumura vs. Fuego & Stuka Jr. & Cometa 9
1534
1535Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 9/16.
1536
1537There are tons of questions regarding the future of TNA, as in the face of major cutbacks, there is much speculation regarding changes that will be made, and may need to be made.
1538
1539~~~
1540
1541Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1542
1543PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 September 30, 2013
1544
1545UFC 165 PPV POLL RESULTS
1546
1547Thumbs up 87(100.0%)
1548
1549Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1550
1551In the middle 0 (00.0%)
1552
1553BEST MATCH POLL
1554
1555Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson 87
1556
1557WORST MATCH POLL
1558
1559Myles Jury vs. Mike Ricci 32
1560
1561Francis Carmont vs. Costa Philippou 25
1562
1563Wilson Reis vs. Ivan Menjivar 23
1564
1565Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 9/24
1566
1567The WWE’s latest creative has put them in a corner where they’ve booked the babyface side so poorly that there are only three faces that haven’t been buried, one of whom is a crying giant.
1568
1569Worse, SummerSlam, the company’s No. 3 show of the year, was built around two of them in what appeared to be compelling programs.
1570
1571~~~
1572
1573WWE HALL OF FAME
1574
1575When:Saturday, 8 p.m. Central, 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific, live on WWE Network
1576
1577Where:Smoothie King Center (formerly New Orleans Arena), New Orleans
1578
1579Notes:To many hardcore fans, this is the company’s biggest event of the year. The induction lineup consists of Ultimate Warrior (inducted by Linda McMahon), Jake Roberts/Aurelian Smith Jr. (inducted by DDP), Lita/Amy Dumas (inducted by Trish Stratus), Razor Ramon/Scott Hall (inductor not announced), Paul Bearer/Bill Moody (inductor not announced but believed to be his children), Carlos Colon (inducted by sons Carlos Jr./Carlito, Eddie/Diego and nephew Orlando/Fernando), and celebrity Mr. T/Laurence Tureaud (inductor not announced but most likely Hulk Hogan).
1580
1581
1582
1583~~~
1584
1585WWE WRESTLEMANIA POLL RESULTS
1586
1587Thumbs up 473 (88.7%)
1588
1589Thumbs down 28 (05.3%)
1590
1591In the middle 32 (06.0%)
1592
1593BEST MATCH POLL
1594
1595Bryan vs. Orton vs. Batista 231
1596
1597Daniel Bryan vs. HHH 205
1598
1599Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker 15
1600
1601John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt 14
1602
1603WORST MATCH POLL
1604
1605Divas title match 280
1606
1607Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker 83
1608
1609Shield vs. Kane & Outlaws 56
1610
1611Andre Battle Royal 19
1612
1613John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt 9
1614
1615NEW JAPAN INVASION ATTACK POLL RESULTS
1616
1617Thumbs up 41 (100.0%)
1618
1619Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1620
1621In the middle 0 (00.0%)
1622
1623BEST MATCH POLL
1624
1625Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito 34
1626
1627WORST MATCH POLL
1628
1629Gracies vs. Yano & Iizuka 41
1630
1631Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 4/8.
1632~~~~
1633
1634Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1635
1636PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 April 28, 2014
1637
1638UFC ON FOX 11 POLL RESULTS
1639
1640Thumbs up 94 (97.9%)
1641
1642Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1643
1644In the middle 2 (02.1%)
1645
1646BEST MATCH POLL
1647
1648Donald Cerrone vs. Edson Barboza 45
1649
1650Dustin Ortiz vs. Ray Borg 31*
1651
1652Thiago Alves vs. Seth Baczynski 11
1653
1654WORST MATCH POLL
1655
1656Miesha Tate vs. Liz Carmouche 30
1657
1658*Fight only aired on Fight Pass
1659
1660On the heels of what is still almost the surreal death of the Ultimate Warrior one day after his first appearances on WWE television in 18 years, the company produced a moving documentary on its network that aired on 4/17.
1661
1662
1663~~~
1664
1665Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1666
1667PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 August 4, 2014
1668
1669UFC ON FOX POLL RESULTS
1670
1671Thumbs up 83 (100.0%)
1672
1673Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1674
1675In the middle 0 (00.0%)
1676
1677BEST MATCH POLL
1678
1679Robbie Lawler vs. Matt Brown 82
1680
1681WORST MATCH POLL
1682
1683Jorge Masvidal vs. Daron Cruickshank 20
1684
1685Bobby Green vs. Josh Thomson 17
1686
1687Tim Means vs. Hernani Perpetuo 14
1688
1689Tiago Trator vs. Akbarh Arreola 11
1690
1691Gilbert Burns vs. Andreas Stahl 10
1692
1693NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX DAY FIVE
1694
1695Thumbs up 52 (100.0%)
1696
1697Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1698
1699In the middle 0 (00.0%)
1700
1701BEST MATCH POLL
1702
1703Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazuchika Okada 31
1704
1705Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tomoaki Honma 19
1706
1707WORST MATCH POLL
1708
1709Lance Archer vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan 17
1710
1711Toru Yano vs. Karl Anderson 14
1712
1713NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX DAY FOUR
1714
1715Thumbs up 87 (100.0%)
1716
1717Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1718
1719In the middle 0 (00.0%)
1720
1721BEST MATCH POLL
1722
1723Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 42
1724
1725Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tomoaki Honma 19
1726
1727A.J. Styles vs. Tetsuya Naito 17
1728
1729WORST MATCH POLL
1730
1731Toru Yano vs. Hirooki Goto 33
1732
1733Shelton Benjamin vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. 14
1734
1735NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX DAY THREE
1736
1737Thumbs up 46 (88.5%)
1738
1739Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1740
1741In the middle 6 (11.5%)
1742
1743BEST MATCH POLL
1744
1745Kazuchika Okada vs. Togi Makabe 36
1746
1747Katsuyori Shibata vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. 8
1748
1749WORST MATCH POLL
1750
1751Karl Anderson vs. Lance Archer 21
1752
1753Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Yujiro Takahashi 16
1754
1755Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 7/29.
1756
1757TNA finds itself at a crossroads with its television contract with Spike TV set to expire in two months and not only is no deal in place, but at a meeting over the past two weeks, Dixie Carter was told that they are not interested in renewing the deal. The story was related by multiple sources, in a story reported in numerous places this past week, most notably TMZ.
1758
1759One person with knowledge of the situation said Spike wanted to make things as amenable as possible. The tact is the opposite of what happened when Spike did the same thing with WWE in 2005, which left bitter feelings on the WWE side because it left them with no negotiating leverage and they had to take a much weaker deal with USA. It should be noted that Spike expected WWE to end up with USA in those 2005 talks, but they publicly canceled Raw and all the satellite shows, before the USA deal was completed. This left WWE with no negotiating leverage. WWE had to take a deal that gave them no satellite shows and took away the company’s advertising revenue from its programming, or thus being worth significantly less than the deal they had with Spike.
1760
1761
1762~~~
1763
1764Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1765
1766PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 August 11, 2014
1767
1768G-1 CLIMAX TOURNAMENT DAY SIX HAMAMATSU
1769
1770Thumbs up 53 (100.0%)
1771
1772Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1773
1774In the middle 0 (00.0%)
1775
1776BEST MATCH POLL
1777
1778Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii 38
1779
1780WORST MATCH POLL
1781
1782Doc Gallows vs. Bad Luck Fale 27
1783
1784G-1 CLIMAX TOURNAMENT DAY SEVEN TOKYO
1785
1786Thumbs up 72 (100.0%)
1787
1788Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1789
1790In the middle 0 (00.0%)
1791
1792BEST MATCH POLL
1793
1794A.J. Styles vs. Minoru Suzuki 58
1795
1796Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tomohiro Ishii 12
1797
1798WORST MATCH POLL
1799
1800Lance Archer vs. Toru Yano 36
1801
1802Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Doc Gallows 10
1803
1804G-1 CLIMAX TOURNAMENT DAY EIGHT OSAKA
1805
1806Thumbs up 53 (100.0%)
1807
1808Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1809
1810In the middle 0 (00.0%)
1811
1812BEST MATCH POLL
1813
1814Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomoaki Honma 43
1815
1816Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 8
1817
1818WORST MATCH POLL
1819
1820Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Toru Yano 47
1821
1822G-1 CLIMAX TOURNAMENT DAY NINE NAGOYA
1823
1824Thumbs up 32 (100.0% )
1825
1826Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1827
1828In the middle 0 (00.0%)
1829
1830BEST MATCH POLL
1831
1832Kazuchika Okada vs. Hirooki Goto 27
1833
1834WORST MATCH POLL
1835
1836Yujiro Takahashi vs. Lance Archer 20
1837
1838Bad Luck Fale vs. Katsuyori Shibata 11
1839
1840Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 8/5.
1841~~~
1842
1843INAL STANDINGS
1844A BLOCK
1845    
1846B BLOCK
18471. Shinsuke Nakamura     8-2     1. Kazuchika Okada     8-2*
18482. Hiroshi Tanahashi     7-3     2. A.J. Styles     8-2
18493. Bad Luck Fale     6-4     3. Karl Anderson     5-5
18503. Katsuyori Shibata     6-4     3. Tetsuya Naito     5-5
18515. Shelton Benjamin     5-5     3. Minoru Suzuki     5-5
18525. Tomohiro Ishii     5-5     6. Togi Makabe     4-6
18535. Davey Boy Smith Jr.     5-5     6. Yujiro Takahashi     4-6
18545. Satoshi Kojima     5-5     6. Toru Yano     4-6
18559. Yuji Nagata     4-6     6. Lance Archer     4-6
18569. Doc Gallows     4-6     6. Hirooki Goto     4-6
185711. Tomoaki Honma     0-10     6. Hiroyoshi Tenzan     4-6
1858*Okada won block based on beating Styles in their head-to-head match on 7/21 in Sapporo
1859
1860AUGUST 6 - TAKAMATSU CITY GYMNASIUM (2,600 sellout)
1861
1862Notes:While a good show by any other standards, this was hurt by the crowd, the most dead of the tour.
1863
1864
1865~~~~~~~
1866
1867Thumbs up 318 (93.3%)
1868
1869Thumbs down 14 (04.1%)
1870
1871In the middle 9 (02.6%)
1872
1873BEST MATCH POLL
1874
1875Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena 206
1876
1877Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose 69
1878
1879Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton 42
1880
1881WORST MATCH POLL
1882
1883Stephanie McMahon vs. Brie Bella 91
1884
1885Paige vs. A.J. Lee 51
1886
1887Bray Wyatt vs. Chris Jericho 46
1888
1889Rusev vs. Jack Swagger 24
1890
1891Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton 23
1892
1893Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose 21
1894
1895NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX FINALS AT SEIBU DOME
1896
1897Thumbs up 108 (98.2%)
1898
1899Thumbs down 1 (00.9%)
1900
1901In the middle 1 (00.9%)
1902
1903BEST MATCH POLL
1904
1905Kazuchika Okada vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 103
1906
1907WORST MATCH POLL
1908
1909Sakuraba & Yano & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Suzuki & Iizuka & Benjamin 93
1910
1911NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX TOURNAMENT DAY 11
1912
1913Thumbs up 67 (100.0%)
1914
1915Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1916
1917In the middle 0 (00.0%)
1918
1919BEST MATCH
1920
1921Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki 42
1922
1923Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yuji Nagata 25
1924
1925WORST MATCH POLL
1926
1927Yujiro Takahashi vs. Toru Yano 59
1928
1929Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 8/12.
1930
1931~~~
1932
1933Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1934
1935PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 December 1, 2014
1936
1937WWE SURVIVOR SERIES POLL RESULTS
1938
1939Thumbs up 137 (59.8%)
1940
1941Thumbs down 57 (24.9%)
1942
1943In the middle 35 (15.3%)
1944
1945BEST MATCH POLL
1946
1947Team Cena vs. Team Authority 211
1948
1949WORST MATCH POLL
1950
1951Rose & Bunny vs. Slater & O’Neil 106
1952
1953Women’s Elimination match 60
1954
1955Nikki Bella vs. A.J. Lee 41
1956
1957Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 11/25.
1958
1959For years, there was an easy answer to the trivia question of the biggest name in post-1984 North American wrestling who had never stepped foot in a WWE ring.
1960
1961
1962~~~~
1963
1964Wrestling Observer Newsletter
1965
1966PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 December 15, 2014
1967
1968UFC 181 POLL RESULTS
1969
1970Thumbs up 123 (100.0%)
1971
1972Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
1973
1974In the middle 0 (00.0%)
1975
1976BEST MATCH POLL
1977
1978Robbie Lawler vs. Johny Hendricks 95
1979
1980Anthony Pettis vs. Gilbert Melendez 11
1981
1982Sergio Pettis vs. Matt Hobar 10
1983
1984WORST MATCH POLL
1985
1986Corey Anderson vs. Justin Jones 68
1987
1988Urijah Faber vs. Francisco Rivera 25
1989
1990ROH FINAL BATTLE POLL RESULTS
1991
1992Thumbs up 68 (86.1%)
1993
1994Thumbs down 5 (06.3%)
1995
1996In the middle 6 (07.6%)
1997
1998BEST MATCH POLL
1999
2000Fish & O’Reilly vs. Shelley & Kushida 39
2001
2002Jay Briscoe vs. Adam Cole 27
2003
2004Bucks & ACH vs. Addiction & Alexander 19
2005
2006WORST MATCH POLL
2007
2008Moose vs. R.D. Evans 55
2009
2010NEW JAPAN TAG TOURNEY FINALS
2011
2012Thumbs up 15 (38.5%)
2013
2014Thumbs down 3 (07.7%)
2015
2016In the middle 21 (53.8%)
2017
2018BEST MATCH POLL
2019
2020Eight-man tag 27
2021
2022Goto & Shibata vs. Anderson & Gallows 12
2023
2024WORST MATCH POLL
2025
2026Tenzan & Kojima vs. Conway & Dane 17
2027
2028Desperado & Taichi vs. Tiger Mask & Bushi 7
2029
2030Based on phone calls and e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 12/9.
2031~~~~~
2032
2033Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2034
2035PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 December 22, 2014
2036
2037WWE TLC POLL RESULTS
2038
2039Thumbs up 60 (25.1%)
2040
2041Thumbs down 101 (42.3%)
2042
2043In the middle 78 (32.6%)
2044
2045BEST MATCH POLL
2046
2047Dolph Ziggler vs. Luke Harper 137
2048
2049Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt 92
2050
2051John Cena vs. Seth Rollins 21
2052
2053WORST MATCH POLL
2054
2055Ryback vs. Kane 111
2056
2057Big Show vs. Erick Rowan 47
2058
2059Nikki Bella vs. A.J. Lee 31
2060
2061Rusev vs. Jack Swagger 17
2062
2063Usos vs. Miz & Mizdow 14
2064
2065John Cena vs. Seth Rollins 8
2066
2067NXT R EVOLUTION POLL RESULTS
2068
2069Thumbs up 182 (100.0%)
2070
2071Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2072
2073In the middle 0 (00.0%)
2074
2075BEST MATCH POLL
2076
2077Sami Zayn vs. Adrian Neville 168
2078
2079WORST MATCH POLL
2080
2081Baron Corbin vs. Tye Dillinger 104
2082
2083Lucha Dragons vs. Vaudevillains 10
2084
2085UFC ON FOX POLL RESULTS
2086
2087Thumbs up 77 (90.6%)
2088
2089Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2090
2091In the middle 8 (09.4%)
2092
2093BEST MATCH POLL
2094
2095Junior Dos Santos vs. Stipe Miocic 74
2096
2097WORST MATCH POLL
2098
2099Drew Dober vs. Jamie Varner 30
2100
2101John Moraga vs. Willie Gates 22
2102
2103David Michaud vs. Garett Whiteley 9
2104
2105The WWE’s TLC PPV on 12/14 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, was really, almost exactly what you would have expected. The matches that looked good on paper delivered. The matches that were handicapped by the stipulations, went about as one would have expected.
2106
2107~~~
2108
2109Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2110
2111PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 February 3, 2014
2112
2113WWE ROYAL RUMBLE PPV POLL RESULTS
2114
2115Thumbs up 154 (41.5%)
2116
2117Thumbs down 148 (39.9%)
2118
2119In the middle 69 (18.6%)
2120
2121BEST MATCH POLL
2122
2123Bray Wyatt vs. Daniel Bryan 288
2124
2125Royal Rumble 30
2126
2127Randy Orton vs. John Cena 10
2128
2129WORST MATCH POLL
2130
2131Randy Orton vs. John Cena 114
2132
2133Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show 111
2134
2135Royal Rumble 56
2136
2137Outlaws vs. Rhodes Brothers 11
2138
2139UFC ON FOX POLL RESULTS
2140
2141Thumbs up 51 (49.5%)
2142
2143Thumbs down 3 (02.9%)
2144
2145In the middle 49 (47.6%)
2146
2147BEST MATCH POLL
2148
2149Alex Caceres vs. Sergio Pettis 69
2150
2151Benson Henderson vs. Josh Thomson 19
2152
2153Donald Cerrone vs. Adriano Martins 12
2154
2155WORST MATCH POLL
2156
2157Hugo Viana vs. Junior Hernandez 27
2158
2159Chico Camus vs. Yaotzin Meza 24
2160
2161George Sullivan vs. Mike Rhodes 15
2162
2163Stipe Miocic vs. Gabriel Gonzaga 12
2164
2165Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 1/28.
2166
2167The status of C.M. Punk has become a major talking point in WWE, as he told Vince McMahon about 30 minutes before the start of Raw on 1/27 in Cleveland that he was flying home, and did.
2168
2169He wasn’t on the show and didn’t appear at the Smackdown tapings the next night. WWE has since pulled him off all shows, although at press time he was still being advertised for Elimination Chamber on 2/23 in Minneapolis. We’re told that he will eventually be pulled off that show as well.
2170
2171~~~~
2172
2173Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2174
2175PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 February 10, 2014
2176
2177UFC 169 PPV POLL RESULTS
2178
2179Thumbs up 8 (06.7%)
2180
2181Thumbs down 51 (42.9%)
2182
2183In the middle 60 (50.4%)
2184
2185BEST MATCH POLL
2186
2187Abel Trujillo vs. Jamie Varner 117
2188
2189WORST MATCH POLL
2190
2191Ali Bagautinov vs. John Lineker 41
2192
2193Alan Patrick vs. John Makdessi 27
2194
2195Nick Catone vs. Tom Watson 20
2196
2197NEW JAPAN ROAD TO NEW BEGINNING IPPV POLL RESULTS
2198
2199Thumbs up 32 (100.0%)
2200
2201Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2202
2203In the middle 0 (00.0%)
2204
2205BEST MATCH POLL
2206
2207Tanahashi-Goto-Naito vs. Okada-Nakamura-Ishii 32
2208
2209WORST MATCH POLL
2210
2211Honma & Capt. New Japan vs. Iizuka & Yano 26
2212
2213Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 2/4.
2214
2215~~~~~
2216
2217Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2218
2219PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 February 17, 2014
2220
2221NEW JAPAN NEW BEGINNING HIROSHIMA IPPV POLL
2222
2223Thumbs up 58 (95.1%)
2224
2225Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2226
2227In the middle 3 (04.9%)
2228
2229BEST MATCH POLL
2230
2231Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 53
2232
2233Goto & Shibata vs. Okada & Yoshi-Hashi 11
2234
2235WORST MATCH POLL
2236
2237Iizuka & Yano vs. Sakuraba & Nagata 20
2238
2239Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Michael Tarver 16
2240
2241Satoshi Kojima vs. Big Daddy Yumyum 16
2242
2243NEW JAPAN NEW BEGINNING OSAKA IPPV POLL
2244
2245Thumbs up 52 (100.0%)
2246
2247Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2248
2249In the middle 0 (00.0%)
2250
2251BEST MATCH POLL
2252
2253Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito 40
2254
2255Kazuchika Okada vs. Hirooki Goto 12
2256
2257WORST MATCH POLL
2258
2259Tenzan & Kojima vs. YumYum & Tarver 28
2260
2261Gracies vs. Sakuraba & Nagata 17
2262
2263Based on phone calls and e-mails to the Observer as of 2/11.
2264~~~
2265
2266The second show, on 2/11, a Tuesday, called “The New Beginning in Osaka,” sold out the Bodymaker Colosseum with 6,400 fans, several days in advance.
2267~~~
2268
2269We didn’t include Gina Carano this year since she’s far removed from MMA, and is an actress, but she would have finished at No. 20 worldwide and No. 18 in the U.S.
2270
2271
2272New Japan’s experiment with two PPV quality shows, two days apart, worked in one way. The splitting up the big matches into two shows gave the key matches more time, meaning the big matches had more of a chance to deliver, resulting in three Match of the Year candidates in a weekend.
2273
2274As far as live business was concerned, it worked as “The New Beginning in Hiroshima,” at the Sun Plaza Arena was sold out with 5,040 paid for the 2/9 show. It featured Hiroshi Tanahashi retaining the IC title with his second win in a row over Shinsuke Nakamura in a classic of a match, that was probably only the third best match of the weekend.
2275
2276The second show, on 2/11, a Tuesday, called “The New Beginning in Osaka,” sold out the Bodymaker Colosseum with 6,400 fans, several days in advance.
2277
2278~~~~
2279
2280Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2281
2282PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 January 6, 2014
2283
2284UFC 168 PPV POLL RESULTS
2285
2286Thumbs up 187 (100.0%)
2287
2288Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2289
2290In the middle 0 (00.0%)
2291
2292BEST MATCH POLL
2293
2294Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate 184
2295
2296WORST MATCH POLL
2297
2298Uriah Hall vs. Chris Leben 37
2299
2300John Howard vs. Siyar Bahadurzada 19
2301
2302William Patolino vs. Bobby Voelker 13
2303
2304Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 12/31
2305
2306Anderson Silva, perhaps the greatest MMA fighter of all-time, was carried from the Octagon on a stretcher after suffering a compound fracture of his lower leg in losing via second round stoppage for the second time to Chris Weidman.
2307
2308~~~~
2309
2310Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2311
2312PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 January 13, 2014
2313
2314NEW JAPAN WRESTLE KINGDOM TOKYO DOME POLL RESULTS
2315
2316Thumbs up 166 (93.8%)
2317
2318Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2319
2320In the middle 11 (06.2%)
2321
2322BEST MATCH POLL
2323
2324Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito 125
2325
2326Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 27
2327
2328Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata 23
2329
2330WORST MATCH POLL
2331
2332Sakuraba & Nagata vs. Gracies 149
2333
2334Muta & Yano vs. Suzuki & Benjamin 12
2335
23368 man opener 11
2337
2338Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 1/7.
2339
2340~~~~
2341
2342New Japan held an iPPV on 1/14 from the second Osaka Furitsu Gym that they didn’t even announce until 1/9. The show drew 1,300 and got all thumbs up from the responses we got.
2343
2344~~~~
2345
2346NEW JAPAN/CMLL FANTASTICA MANIA 1/18 KORAKUEN HALL
2347
2348Thumbs up 82 (100.0%)
2349
2350Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2351
2352In the middle 0 (00.0%)
2353
2354BEST MATCH POLL
2355
2356Okada & Guerrero & Ishii vs. Tanahashi & Naito & Sombra 59
2357
2358Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Rush 13
2359
2360WORST MATCH POLL
2361
2362Maximo vs. Taichi vs. Jado 60
2363
2364NEW JAPAN/CMLL FANTASTICA MANIA 1/19 KORAKUEN HALL
2365
2366Thumbs up 59 (100.0%)
2367
2368Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2369
2370In the middle 0 (00.0%)
2371
2372BEST MATCH POLL
2373
2374Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2375
2376PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 July 6, 2014
2377
2378WWE MONEY IN THE BANK PPV POLL RESULTS
2379
2380Thumbs up 199 (84.3%)
2381
2382Thumbs down 14 (05.9%)
2383
2384Thumbs in the middle 23 (09.7%)
2385
2386BEST MATCH POLL
2387
2388Money in the Bank ladder match 178
2389
2390WWE title ladder match 28
2391
2392Usos vs. Harper & Rowan 17
2393
2394WORST MATCH POLL
2395
2396Layla vs. Summer Rae 182
2397
2398Adam Rose vs. Damien Sandow 20
2399
2400Paige vs. Naomi 10
2401
2402Based on phone calls and e-mails to the Observer to the Observer as of 10/24.
2403
2404WWE seems to have the most long-term booking outside of WrestleMania plans in a number of years, as the storylines have been slowed down and the top matches for SummerSlam are planned.
2405
2406
2407~~~
2408
2409Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2410
2411PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 July 13, 2014
2412
2413UFC 175 POLL RESULTS
2414
2415Thumbs up 117 (99.2%)
2416
2417Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2418
2419In the middle 1 (00.8%)
2420
2421BEST MATCH POLL
2422
2423Chris Weidman vs. Lyoto Machida 116
2424
2425WORST MATCH POLL
2426
2427Bruno Santos vs. Chris Camozzi 43
2428
2429Russell Doane vs. Marcus Brimage 25
2430
2431Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 7/8.
2432
2433As we finish the first six months of the year, you can’t help but note what is going on right now with both WWE and UFC in regard to reaction in a changing business environment.
2434
2435~~~~
2436
2437Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2438
2439PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 July 28, 2014
2440
2441WWE BATTLEGROUND POLL RESULTS
2442
2443Thumbs up 22 (09.5%)
2444
2445Thumbs down 151 (65.1%)
2446
2447In the middle 59 (25.4%)
2448
2449BEST MATCH POLL
2450
2451Usos vs. Harper & Rowan 196
2452
2453Cena vs. Kane vs. Orton vs. Reigns 13
2454
2455WORST MATCH POLL
2456
2457A.J. Lee vs. Paige 111
2458
2459Cameron vs. Naomi 38
2460
2461Adam Rose vs. Fandango 30
2462
2463Rusev vs. Jack Swagger 14
2464
2465Battle Royal 12
2466
2467NEW JAPAN G-1 FIRST DAY POLL RESULTS
2468
2469Thumbs up 84(100.0%)
2470
2471Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2472
2473In the middle 0 (00.0%)
2474
2475BEST MATCH POLL
2476
2477Kazuchika Okada vs. A.J. Styles 58
2478
2479Katsuyori Shibata vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 19
2480
2481WORST MATCH POLL
2482
2483Toru Yano vs. Minoru Suzuki 44
2484
2485Shelton Benjamin vs. Doc Gallows 27
2486
2487DRAGON GATE KOBE WORLD FESTIVAL
2488
2489Thumbs up 26 (72.2%)
2490
2491Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2492
2493In the middle 10 (27.8%)
2494
2495BEST MATCH POLL
2496
2497Tozawa & Takagi vs. T-Hawk & Eita 27
2498
2499BxB Hulk vs. Yamato 8
2500
2501WORST MATCH POLL
2502
2503Kanda & Kagetora vs. Ryu & Tominaga 29
2504
2505Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 7/22.
2506
2507WWE’s streak of great PPV shows ended on 7/20 with a Battleground show that left more questions about the decision makers than anything else.
2508
2509On a show where the matches didn’t look as good on paper as most shows, the decision was made to eliminate the probable best match, Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins, and instead shoot an angle with the idea of saving the match for SummerSlam. With the move, the show came across as them stalling out with features and longer out of the ring segments, and even then, the two ended eight to ten minutes earlier than usual.
2510
2511~~~~
2512
2513Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2514
2515PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 June 2, 2014
2516
2517UFC 173 POLL RESULTS
2518
2519Thumbs up 78 (87.6%)
2520
2521Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2522
2523In the middle 11 (12.4%)
2524
2525BEST MATCH POLL
2526
2527T.J. Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao 81
2528
2529Li Jinliang vs. David Michaud 7
2530
2531WORST MATCH POLL
2532
2533Chris Holdsworth vs. Chico Camus 20
2534
2535Takeya Mizugaki vs. Francisco Rivera 17
2536
2537Daniel Cormier vs. Dan Henderson 15
2538
2539NEW JAPAN BACK TO YOKOHAMA ARENA
2540
2541Thumbs up 59 (95.2%)
2542
2543Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2544
2545In the middle 3 (04.8%)
2546
2547BEST MATCH POLL
2548
2549Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kota Ibushi 58
2550
2551WORST MATCH POLL
2552
2553Three-way for NWA tag titles 26
2554
2555Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Daniel Gracie 17
2556
2557Suzuki & Benjamin vs. Yano & Iizuka 16
2558
2559Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Rolles Gracie 9
2560
2561Based on phone calls and e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 5/27.
2562
2563The WWE title situation is theoretically still on hold after the 5/26 Raw in Knoxville, where the second storyline of Daniel Bryan being asked to vacate the title led to no resolution and a teased end on the 6/1 Payback PPV from Chicago.
2564
2565It also begins to explain the new purpose of WWE wrestling.
2566~~~~
2567
2568Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2569
2570PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 June 9, 2014
2571
2572WWE PAYBACK POLL RESULTS
2573
2574Thumbs up 156 (91.2%)
2575
2576Thumbs down 7 (04.1%)
2577
2578In the middle 8 (04.7%)
2579
2580BEST MATCH POLL
2581
2582John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt 112
2583
2584The Shield vs. Evolution 54
2585
2586WORST MATCH POLL
2587
2588Paige vs. Alicia Fox 78
2589
2590Rusev vs. Big E 36
2591
2592Bo Dallas vs. Kofi Kingston 14
2593
2594Ryback & Axel vs. Goldust & Cody 12
2595
2596Torito vs. Hornswoggle 11
2597
2598NXT TAKEOVER POLL RESULTS
2599
2600Thumbs up 107 (100.0%)
2601
2602Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2603
2604In the middle 0 (00.0%)
2605
2606BEST MATCH POLL
2607
2608Charlotte vs. Natalya 69
2609
2610Tyler Breeze vs. Sami Zayn 31
2611
2612WORST MATCH POLL
2613
2614The Ascension vs. El Local & Kalisto 41
2615
2616Adam Rose vs. Camacho 24
2617
2618In one of the bigger surprise major angles in a long time, Seth Rollins turned on fellow Shield members Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose at the end of the 6/2 Raw in Indianapolis.
2619
2620The move breaks up, at least temporarily, one of the most successful trios in the history of U.S. wrestling.
2621
2622
2623~~~~~
2624
2625Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2626
2627PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 June 16, 2014
2628
2629NEW JAPAN BOSJ FINALS POLL RESULTS
2630
2631Thumbs up 37 (100.0%)
2632
2633Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2634
2635In the middle 0 (00.0%)
2636
2637BEST MATCH POLL
2638
2639Ricochet vs. Kushida 37
2640
2641WORST MATCH POLL
2642
2643Suzuki & Iizuka vs. Yano & Jado 33
2644
2645Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 6/10.
2646
2647The Daniel Bryan recovery from his recent neck surgery took a turn for the worst this past week as WWE officials found out on either 6/5 or 6/6 (most key people found out the latter day, although it’s possible the top people knew a day earlier) that Bryan would not be able to wrestle on the 6/29 Money in the Bank PPV show at the TD Garden in Boston.
2648
2649At that point, the decision was made to strip him of the WWE title and put the title up in a ladder match on the Money in the Bank show, which had been a back-up plan talked about on the 6/2 Raw show.
2650~~~~
2651
2652Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2653
2654PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 June 23, 2014
2655
2656UFC 174 POLL RESULTS
2657
2658Thumbs up 0 (00.0%)
2659
2660Thumbs down 46 (52.3%)
2661
2662In the middle 42 (47.7%)
2663
2664BEST MATCH POLL
2665
2666Valerie Letourneau vs. Elizabeth Phillips 52
2667
2668Tae Hyun Bang vs. Kajan Johnson 12
2669
2670WORST MATCH POLL
2671
2672Andrei Arlovski vs. Brendan Schaub 54
2673
2674TNA SLAMMIVERSARY POLL RESULTS
2675
2676Thumbs up 51 (96.2%)
2677
2678Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2679
2680In the middle 2 (03.8%)
2681
2682BEST MATCH POLL
2683
2684X Division ladder match 19
2685
2686Austin Aries vs. Kenny King 17
2687
2688Eric Young vs. Austin Aries vs. Bobby Lashley 11
2689
2690WORST MATCH POLL
2691
2692Angelina Love vs. Gail Kim 21
2693
2694Ken Anderson vs. James Storm 14
2695
2696Von Erichs vs. Godderz & Ion 10
2697
2698Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 6/17.
2699~~~~
2700
2701Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2702
2703PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 June 30, 2014
2704
2705ROH BEST IN THE WORLD PPV POLL RESULTS
2706
2707Thumbs up 132 (91.7%)
2708
2709Thumbs down 3 (02.1%)
2710
2711In the middle 9 (06.3%)
2712
2713BEST MATCH POLL
2714
2715Michael Elgin vs. Adam Cole 83
2716
2717Briscoes vs. Hardy & Bennett 37
2718
2719Fish & O’Reilly vs. Daniels & Kazarian 14
2720
2721Cedric Alexander vs. Roderick Strong 9
2722
2723WORST MATCH POLL
2724
2725Jay Lethal vs. Matt Taven 72
2726
27276-way opener 18
2728
2729Kevin Steen vs. Silas Young 15
2730
2731Cedric Alexander vs. Roderick Strong 9
2732
2733NEW JAPAN DOMINION PPV POLL RESULTS
2734
2735Thumbs up 72 (100.0%)
2736
2737Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2738
2739In the middle 0 (00.0%)
2740
2741BEST MATCH POLL
2742
2743Kota Ibushi vs. Ricochet 38
2744
2745Shelley & Kushida vs. Young Bucks 26
2746
2747WORST MATCH POLL
2748
2749Suzuki & Iizuka vs. Yano & Sakuraba 58
2750
2751Tetsuya Naito vs. Tama Tonga 11
2752
2753Based on e-mail and phone messages to the Observer as of Tuesday, 6/24.
2754
2755WWE will crown a new champion on 6/29 in Boston at the Money in the Bank PPV at the TD Garden, with Daniel Bryan out after neck surgery.
2756
2757They are clearly teasing that the winner will face Brock Lesnar for the WWE title at SummerSlam.
2758Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2759
2760PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 March 3, 2014
2761
2762WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER POLL RESULTS
2763
2764Thumbs up 118 (86.1%)
2765
2766Thumbs down 4 (02.9%)
2767
2768In the middle 15 (10.9%)
2769
2770BEST MATCH POLL
2771
2772The Wyatts vs. The Shield 120
2773
2774Elimination Chamber 15
2775
2776WORST MATCH POLL
2777
2778Cameron vs. A.J. Lee 101
2779
2780Titus O’Neil vs. Darren Young 22
2781
2782UFC 170 POLL RESULTS
2783
2784Thumbs up 108 (87.1%)
2785
2786Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2787
2788In the middle 16 (12.9%)
2789
2790BEST MATCH POLL
2791
2792Rory MacDonald vs. Demian Maia 55
2793
2794Mike Pyle vs. T.J. Waldburger 37
2795
2796Ronda Rousey vs. Sara McMann 11
2797
2798WORST MATCH POLL
2799
2800Daniel Cormier vs. Patrick Cummins 48
2801
2802Ernest Sanchez vs. Yosdenis Cedeno 11
2803
2804Based on phone calls and e-mails to the Observer as of 2/25.
2805
2806The WWE Network launched on 2/24 to two days filled with technical issues , confusion and complaints.
2807
2808~~~~
2809
2810Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2811
2812PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 March 10, 2014
2813
2814NXT ARRIVAL POLL RESULTS
2815
2816Thumbs up 85 (100.0%)
2817
2818Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2819
2820In the middle 0 (00.0%)
2821
2822BEST MATCH POLL
2823
2824Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn 85
2825
2826WORST MATCH POLL
2827
2828Mojo Rawley vs. C.J. Parker 59
2829
2830Xavier Woods vs. Tyler Breeze 14
2831
2832Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of 3/4
2833
2834Ever since C.M. Punk walked out of the dressing room in Cleveland on 1/27, he has been the most talked about personality in the business.
2835
2836For the last month plus, there have been all kinds of questions, and no real answers. Some people thought it was an angle from the start. If it was anyone but Punk, there would have been less thought in that direction. But he worked an angle in ROH when he was leaving for WWE developmental, making people think he was losing his title and leaving when he was still staying a few months longer, which some called the first Summer of Punk
2837
2838~~~~~
2839
2840Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2841
2842PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 March 17, 2014
2843
2844TNA LOCKDOWN PPV POLL RESULTS
2845
2846Thumbs up 17 (26.6%)
2847
2848Thumbs down 19 (29.7%)
2849
2850In the middle 28 (43.8%)
2851
2852BEST MATCH POLL
2853
2854Gunner vs. James Storm 34
2855
2856Muta & Sanada & Yasu vs. Daniels & Kazarian & Sabin 19
2857
2858Lethal Lockdown 8
2859
2860WORST MATCH POLL
2861
2862Samuel Shaw vs. Ken Anderson 49
2863
2864NEW JAPAN ANNIVERSARY SHOW POLL RESULTS
2865
2866Thumbs up 21 (95.5%)
2867
2868Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2869
2870In the middle 1 (04.5%)
2871
2872BEST MATCH POLL
2873
2874Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi 22
2875
2876WORST MATCH POLL
2877
2878Nakanishi & Kushida vs. Gedo & Jado 11
2879
2880Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 3/11.
2881
2882~~~~
2883
2884Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2885
2886PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 March 24, 2014
2887
2888UFC 171 PPV POLL RESULTS
2889
2890Thumbs up 114 (99.1%)
2891
2892Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2893
2894In the middle 1 (00.9%)
2895
2896BEST MATCH POLL
2897
2898Johny Hendricks vs. Robbie Lawler 115
2899
2900WORST MATCH POLL
2901
2902Hector Lombard vs. Jake Shields 88
2903
2904NEW JAPAN CUP FIRST NIGHT IPPV POLL RESULTS
2905
2906Thumbs up 31 (77.5%)
2907
2908Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2909
2910In the middle 9 (22.5%)
2911
2912BEST MATCH POLL
2913
2914Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii 40
2915
2916WORST MATCH POLL
2917
2918Minoru Suzuki vs. Toru Yano 19
2919
2920Shelton Benjamin vs. Yujiro Takahashi 18
2921
2922Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 3/18.
2923
2924The last time there was a UFC welterweight title match that didn’t include either Georges St-Pierre, or the previously dominant champion Matt Hughes, was May 4, 2001, in Atlantic City, when Carlos Newton won the championship from Pat Miletich using a headlock choke.
2925
2926~~~
2927
2928Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2929
2930PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 March 31, 2014
2931
2932NEW JAPAN CUP FINALS IPPV POLL RESULTS
2933
2934Thumbs up 42 (87.5%)
2935
2936Thumbs down 1 (02.1%)
2937
2938In the middle 5 (10.4%)
2939
2940BEST MATCH POLL
2941
2942Naito & Ibushi & Desperado vs. Okada & Ishii & Gedo 29
2943
2944Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Bad Luck Fale 18
2945
2946WORST MATCH POLL
2947
2948Sakuraba & Nagata & Nakanishi vs. Jado & Yano & Iizuka 33
2949
2950Bad Luck Fale vs. Shelton Benjamin 14
2951
2952Based on phone calls and e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 3/25.
2953
2954The WrestleMania card looks to be just about finalized, with nothing left except announcements of prospective pre-show matches. With every key wrestler on the roster already figured in, it looks like whatever matches they have during the two-hour pre-game show would feature developmental talent.
2955
2956The card as it stands right now:
2957
2958	Randy Orton defends the WWE title against Batista and the winner of the HHH vs. Daniel Bryan match earlier in the show.
2959
2960~~~~
2961
2962Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2963
2964PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 May 5, 2014
2965
2966UFC 172 POLL RESULTS
2967
2968Thumbs up 114 (98.3%)
2969
2970Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
2971
2972In the middle 2 (01.7%)
2973
2974BEST MATCH POLL
2975
2976Takanori Gomi vs. Isaac Vallie-Flagg 60
2977
2978Jon Jones vs. Glover Teixeira 37
2979
2980Chris Beal vs. Patrick Williams 11
2981
2982WORST MATCH POLL
2983
2984Bethe Correia vs. Jessamyn Duke 42
2985
2986TNA SACRIFICE POLL RESULTS
2987
2988Thumbs up 24 (53.3%)
2989
2990Thumbs down 14 (31.1%)
2991
2992In the middle 7 (15.6%)
2993
2994BEST MATCH POLL
2995
2996Gunner vs. James Storm 37
2997
2998WORST MATCH POLL
2999
3000Ken Anderson vs. Samuel Shaw 29
3001
3002Angelina Love vs. Madison Rayne 11
3003
3004Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of 4/29.
3005
3006Wrestling Observer Newsletter
3007
3008PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 May 12, 2014
3009
3010WWE EXTREME RULES FEEDBACK
3011
3012Thumbs up 160 (70.8%)
3013
3014Thumbs down 19 (08.4%)
3015
3016In the middle 47 (20.8%)
3017
3018BEST MATCH POLL
3019
3020The Shield vs. Evolution 216
3021
3022WORST MATCH POLL
3023
3024John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt 87
3025
3026Alexander Rusev vs. R-Truth 68
3027
3028Paige vs. Tamina Snuka 34
3029
3030Torito vs. Hornswoggle 20
3031
3032NEW JAPAN DONTAKU
3033
3034Thumbs up 45 (93.8%)
3035
3036Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
3037
3038In the middle 3 (06.2%)
3039
3040BEST MATCH POLL
3041
3042Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tomoaki Honma 34
3043
3044A.J. Styles vs. Kazuchika Okada 14
3045
3046WORST MATCH POLL
3047
3048Yano & Iizuka vs. Suzuki & Benjamin 46
3049
3050Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 5/10.
3051
3052The WWE’s quarterly investment conferences right now has less importance because we are in a transitional period of a changing business.
3053
3054~~~~
3055
3056Wrestling Observer Newsletter
3057
3058PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 May 19, 2014
3059
3060ROH/NEW JAPAN GLOBAL WARS
3061
3062Thumbs up 69 (90.8%)
3063
3064Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
3065
3066In the middle 7 (09.2%)
3067
3068BEST MATCH POLL
3069
3070Young Bucks vs. Hooligan vs. Time Splitters 54
3071
3072Adam Cole vs. Kevin Steen 19
3073
3074WORST MATCH POLL
3075
3076R.D. Evans vs. Bobby Cruise 15
3077
3078Michael Bennett vs. ACH 13
3079
3080Lethal vs. Taven vs. Ciampa vs. Young 13
3081
3082Tadarius Thomas vs. Romantic Touch 11*
3083
3084*Based on votes from people attending live. Match didn’t air on iPPV
3085
3086Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 5/13.
3087
3088WWE champion Daniel Bryan is expected out of action six to eight weeks, if not less, as he’s scheduled for minimally invasive neck surgery on 5/15.
3089
3090~~~
3091
3092Wrestling Observer Newsletter
3093
3094PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 May 26, 2014
3095
3096ROH WAR OF THE WORLDS POLL RESULTS
3097
3098Thumbs up 123 (100.0% )
3099
3100Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
3101
3102In the middle 0 (00.0%)
3103
3104BEST MATCH POLL
3105
3106O’Reilly & Fish vs. Young Bucks 65
3107
3108Styles vs. Okada vs. Elgin 11
3109
3110Jay Lethal vs. Kushida 9
3111
3112Adam Cole vs. Jushin Liger 9
3113
3114Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kevin Steen 8
3115
3116WORST MATCH POLL
3117
3118Strong & Whitmer vs. Gedo & Jado 52
3119
3120Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Michael Bennett 17
3121
3122BELLATOR 120 POLL RESULTS
3123
3124Thumbs up 49 (75.4%)
3125
3126Thumbs down 10 (15.4%)
3127
3128In the middle 6 (09.2%)
3129
3130BEST MATCH POLL
3131
3132Will Brooks vs. Michael Chandler 57
3133
3134WORST MATCH POLL
3135
3136Tito Ortiz vs. Alexander Shlemenko 20
3137
3138Rampage Jackson vs. King Mo 11
3139
3140Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 5/20.
3141
3142After its new television deal came in well under expectations, questions persisted about the success of the network, and company projections showed money losses for this year far greater than expected, the WWE stock has taken a drubbing over the past few days.
3143
3144The stock closed on 5/15, at $19.93 per share, up over a few days earlier based on the expectations of the announcement of a new U.S. television deal at the NBC Universal up-fronts that day. As expected, after the close of the market, WWE, represented by Paul Levesque, announced a multi-year deal with NBC Universal to continue carrying Raw, Smackdown and Total Divas. Total Divas had already been quietly renewed for a third season in the fall on E! The belief is that Raw will remain on Monday on the USA Network, and Smackdown will remain on Friday on Syfy, although the latter has been hinted at but not explicitly said.
3145
3146When WWE and NBC Universal did their joint press release, Smackdown was referred to as “Friday Night Smackdown.” When WWE was asked if that designation means the show will remain on Fridays, instead of moving to live on Tuesdays, since live sports programming is considered a premium for television networks, the only response was that the show currently airs on Friday.
3147
3148
3149~~~~~~
3150
3151Wrestling Observer Newsletter
3152
3153PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 November 3, 2014
3154
3155WWE HELL IN A CELL POLL RESULTS
3156
3157Thumbs up 101 (63.9%)
3158
3159Thumbs down 38 (24.1%)
3160
3161In the middle 19 (12.0%)
3162
3163BEST MATCH POLL
3164
3165Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose 71
3166
3167John Cena vs. Randy Orton 47
3168
3169Dolph Ziggler vs. Cesaro 19
3170
3171WORST MATCH POLL
3172
3173A.J. Lee vs. Paige 49
3174
3175Sheamus vs. The Miz 46
3176
3177Nikki Bella vs. Brie Bella 32
3178
3179Rusev vs. Big Show 24
3180
3181Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose 15
3182
3183UFC 179 POLL RESULTS
3184
3185Thumbs up 34 (40.0%)
3186
3187Thumbs down 10 (11.8%)
3188
3189In the middle 41 (48.2%)
3190
3191BEST MATCH POLL
3192
3193Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes 83
3194
3195WORST MATCH POLL
3196
3197Darren Elkins vs. Lucas Martins 64
3198
3199Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 10/28.
3200
3201WWE is not straying far from the course even with obstacles and changes thrown at them.
3202
3203The battle plan is still for Brock Lesnar to defend the title next at the Royal Rumble, against John Cena, and for Roman Reigns to wind up as champion.
3204
3205~~~~
3206
3207~
3208Wrestling Observer Newsletter
3209
3210PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 November 17, 2014
3211
3212NEW JAPAN POWER STRUGGLE POLL RESULTS
3213
3214Thumbs up 39 (100.0%)
3215
3216Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
3217
3218In the middle 0 (00.0%)
3219
3220BEST MATCH POLL
3221
3222Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hirooki Goto 39
3223
3224WORST MATCH POLL
3225
3226Sakuraba & Yano vs. Suzuki & Iizuka 15
3227
3228Based on phone calls and e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 11/11.
3229
3230At the end of New Japan’s Power Struggle PPV, one thing was painfully obvious.
3231
3232There is no way they can do a PPV in the U.S. from the Tokyo Dome in four hours without the show being disappointing in some form. Wrestle Kingdom is New Japan’s equivalent to WrestleMania, but with better wrestling and more creative ring entrances. It traditionally clocks in at around five hours plus. And this year’s show, on paper, looks to have more quality depth than any Wrestle Kingdom show to date.
3233
3234~~~~
3235
3236S
3237
3238restling Observer Newsletter
3239
3240PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 October 6, 2014
3241
3242UFC 178 PPV POLL RESULTS
3243
3244Thumbs up 122 (100.0%)
3245
3246Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
3247
3248In the middle 0 (00.0%)
3249
3250BEST MATCH POLL
3251
3252Yoel Romero vs. Tim Kennedy 53
3253
3254Donald Cerrone vs. Eddie Alvarez 37
3255
3256Cat Zingano vs. Amanda Nunes 31
3257
3258WORST MATCH POLL
3259
3260Brian Ebersole vs. John Howard 88
3261
3262Demetrious Johnson vs. Chris Cariaso 9
3263
3264Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 9/29.
3265
3266After the second week of television after the last PPV, nothing has been announced for the 10/25 Hell in a Cell show from Dallas.
3267
3268~~~~~
3269
3270Wrestling Observer Newsletter
3271
3272PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 October 20, 2014
3273
3274NEW JAPAN KING OF PRO WRESTLING POLL RESULTS
3275
3276Thumbs up 53 (100.0% )
3277
3278Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
3279
3280In the middle 0 (00.0%)
3281
3282BEST MATCH POLL
3283
3284Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yujiro Takahashi 21
3285
3286Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. A.J. Styles 17
3287
3288Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito 15
3289
3290WORST MATCH POLL
3291
3292Chase Owens vs. Bushi 22
3293
3294Sakuraba & Yano vs. Iizuka & Suzuki 15
3295
3296TNA BOUND FOR GLORY POLL RESULTS
3297
3298Thumbs up 17 (60.7%)
3299
3300Thumbs down 7 (25.0%)
3301
3302In the middle 4 (14.3%)
3303
3304BEST MATCH POLL
3305
3306Samoa Joe vs. Low Ki vs. Kaz Hayashi 24
3307
3308WORST MATCH POLL
3309
3310Havok vs. Velvet Sky 26
3311
3312Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 10/14.
3313~~~~~
3314
3315restling Observer Newsletter
3316
3317PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 September 8, 2014
3318
3319UFC 177 POLL RESULTS
3320
3321Thumbs up 38 (70.4%)
3322
3323Thumbs down 5 (09.3%)
3324
3325In the middle 11 (20.4%)
3326
3327BEST MATCH POLL
3328
3329T.J. Dillashaw vs. Joe Soto 15
3330
3331Diego Ferreira vs. Ramsey Nijem 14
3332
3333WORST MATCH POLL
3334
3335Anthony Hamilton vs. Ruan Potts 26
3336
3337Derek Brunson vs. Lorenz Larkin 24
3338
3339Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 9/2.
3340
3341UFC 177 felt like almost a microcosm of 2014 as a whole. The show was originally scheduled to be headlined by Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson, one of the biggest fights of the year.
3342
3343Of course, that never happened. Jones wanted to push it back a month. Gustafsson got hurt. Jones got hurt. UFC decided to come to Sacramento with a double title match card.
3344
3345~~~~~
3346
3347Wrestling Observer Newsletter
3348
3349PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 September 15, 2014
3350
3351ROH ALL-STAR EXTRAVAGANZA POLL RESULTS
3352
3353Thumbs up 56 (93.3%)
3354
3355Thumbs down 4 (06.7%)
3356
3357In the middle 0 (00.0%)
3358
3359BEST MATCH POLL
3360
3361Fish & O’Reilly vs. Young Bucks 32
3362
3363A.J. Styles vs. Adam Cole 17
3364
3365Jay Briscoe vs. Michael Elgin 8
3366
3367WORST MATCH POLL
3368
3369Four-team elimination match 29
3370
3371Jay Lethal vs. Cedric Alexander 14
3372
3373Based on phone calls and e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 9/9.
3374
3375Sean O’Haire, the 2000 Rookie of the Year, who ended up as one of the people whose career path changed when WCW died, passed away on either 9/8 or 9/9 at the age of 43.
3376
3377~~~~~
3378
3379Wrestling Observer Newsletter
3380
3381PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 September 22, 2014
3382
3383WWE NXT TAKEOVER II POLL RESULTS
3384
3385Thumbs up 68 (87.2%)
3386
3387Thumbs down 4 (05.1%)
3388
3389In the middle 6 (07.7%)
3390
3391BEST MATCH POLL
3392
3393Four-way for NXT title 60
3394
3395WORST MATCH POLL
3396
3397Enzo Amore vs. Sylvester Lefort 36
3398
3399Bull Dempsey vs. Mojo Rawley 18
3400
3401Baron Corbin vs. C.J. Parker 10
3402
3403Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 9/16.
3404
3405In the WWE’s new economic direction, this month was the most important since WrestleMania, because it’s when about 495,000 or so of the first batch of network customers subscriptions expired.
3406
3407~~~
3408
3409Wrestling Observer Newsletter
3410
3411PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 September 29, 2014
3412
3413WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS POLL RESULTS
3414
3415Thumbs up 138 (73.8%)
3416
3417Thumbs down 24 (12.8%)
3418
3419In the middle 25 (13.4%)
3420
3421BEST MATCH POLL
3422
3423Randy Orton vs. Chris Jericho 107
3424
3425Sheamus vs. Cesaro 58
3426
3427John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar 8
3428
3429WORST MATCH POLL
3430
3431Rusev vs. Mark Henry 111
3432
3433The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler 24
3434
3435A.J. Lee vs. Paige vs. Nikki Bella 13
3436
3437CMLL 81ST ANNIVERSARY SHOW
3438
3439Thumbs up 65 (100.0%)
3440
3441Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
3442
3443In the middle 0 (00.0%)
3444
3445BEST MATCH POLL
3446
3447Atlantis vs. Ultimo Guerrero 32
3448
3449Cavernario Barbaro vs. Rey Cometa 29
3450
3451WORST MATCH POLL
3452
3453Women’s Cibernetico 20
3454
3455Dorada & Valiente & Volador Jr. vs. Thunder & Euforia & Niebla 15
3456
3457Casas & Shocker vs. Rush & Mascara 9
3458
3459NEW JAPAN DESTRUCTION IN KOBE
3460
3461Thumbs up 42 (100.0%)
3462
3463Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
3464
3465In the middle 0 (00.0%)
3466
3467BEST MATCH POLL
3468
3469Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata 38
3470
3471WORST MATCH POLL
3472
3473Shelly & Bushi & Maximo vs. Michinoku & Desperado & Taichi 30
3474
3475Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 9/23.
3476~~~~
3477
3478Wrestling Observer Newsletter
3479
3480PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 April 6, 2015
3481
3482WWE WRESTLEMANIA 31
3483
3484Thumbs up 465 (93.4%)
3485
3486Thumbs down 8 (01.6%)
3487
3488In the middle 25 (05.0%)
3489
3490BEST MATCH POLL
3491
3492Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns 420
3493
3494Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins 29
3495
3496Ladder match for IC title 19
3497
3498HHH vs. Sting 10
3499
3500WORST MATCH POLL
3501
3502A.J. & Paige vs. Bella Twins 177
3503
3504HHH vs. Sting 108
3505
3506Battle Royal 73
3507
3508Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt 32
3509
3510Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 3/31.
3511
3512Seth Rollins came out of WrestleMania as the new WWE champion, cashing in the Money in the Bank briefcase about 16:00 into a brutal Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns title match, and curb stomping Reigns for the pin.
3513
3514The win by Rollins serves a number of purposes. It gets the title off Lesnar so it can be back in play while Lesnar takes the next few months off, without beating Lesnar and hurting the company’s huge money investment. It was clearly not the time for Reigns to win, more because of crowd reactions because he wasn’t Daniel Bryan. Whether Reigns being booed more than cheered as a face on television will hurt his career going forward, or if he’ll be turned, or if the boos will go away (as they did on Tuesday in Fresno) he was clearly hurt this year by the company’s insistence on not breaking with title plans for the second straight year to acquiesce the vocal portion of the fan base.
3515~~~
3516
3517Wrestling Observer Newsletter
3518
3519PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 April 13, 2015
3520
3521NEW JAPAN INVASION ATTACK POLL RESULTS
3522
3523Thumbs up 146 (100.0%)
3524
3525Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
3526
3527In the middle 0 (00.0%)
3528
3529BEST MATCH POLL
3530
3531A.J. Styles vs. Kota Ibushi 104
3532
3533Baretta & Romero vs. Bucks 16
3534
3535Kenny Omega vs. Mascara Dorada 15
3536
3537Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale 9
3538
3539WORST MATCH POLL
3540
3541Taven & Bennett vs. Anderson & Gallows 54
3542
3543Opening 10 man 21
3544
3545Honma & Tenzan & Kojima vs. Hall & Tonga & Yujiro 8
3546
3547Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 4/7.
3548
3549WWE announced on 4/7 that Smackdown will be moving from Syfy to the USA Network in the first quarter of 2016.
3550
3551~~~~~
3552
3553restling Observer Newsletter
3554
3555PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 April 27, 2015
3556
3557UFC ON FOX POLL RESULTS
3558
3559Thumbs up 129 (100.0%)
3560
3561Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
3562
3563In the middle 0 (00.0%)
3564
3565BEST MATCH POLL
3566
3567Paige VanZant vs. Felice Herrig 46
3568
3569Luke Rockhold vs. Lyoto Machida 35
3570
3571Gian Villante vs. Corey Anderson 32
3572
3573Max Holloway vs. Cub Swanson 14
3574
3575WORST MATCH POLL
3576
3577Chris Dempsey vs. Eddie Gordon 28
3578
3579Ronaldo Jacare Souza vs. Chris Camozzi 19
3580
3581Based on phone calls and e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 4/21.
3582
3583Going into the 4/25 Extreme Rules PPV show in Chicago, the WWE has been vague about Daniel Bryan and his condition, which dates back a week ago when he was announced as being pulled from the remainder of the European tour after the 4/14 tapings in London.
3584
3585~~
3586
3587Wrestling Observer Newsletter
3588
3589PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 August 3, 2015
3590
3591UFC ON FOX POLL RESULTS
3592
3593Thumbs up 95 (81.2% )
3594
3595Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
3596
3597In the middle 22 (18.8%)
3598
3599BEST MATCH POLL
3600
3601Edson Barboza vs. Paul Felder 85
3602
3603Miesha Tate vs. Jessica Eye 18
3604
3605WORST MATCH POLL
3606
3607Bryan Caraway vs. Eddie Wineland 17
3608
3609NEW JAPAN G-1 FROM HIROSHIMA POLL RESULTS
3610
3611Thumbs up 67 (100.0%)
3612
3613Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
3614
3615In the middle 0 (00.0%)
3616
3617BEST MATCH POLL
3618
3619Kota Ibushi vs. A.J. Styles 63
3620
3621WORST MATCH POLL
3622
3623Doc Gallows vs. Bad Luck Fale 33
3624
3625Toru Yano vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan 8
3626
3627ROH DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR POLL RESULTS
3628
3629Thumbs up 46 (93.9%)
3630
3631Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
3632
3633In the middle 3 (06.1%)
3634
3635BEST MATCH POLL
3636
3637Jay Lethal vs. Roderick Strong 41
3638
3639Adam Cole vs. Dalton Castle 8
3640
3641WORST MATCH POLL
3642
3643Silas Young vs. Will Ferrara 19
3644
3645ACH vs. Adam Page 10
3646
3647Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 7/28.
3648
3649~~~~~
3650
3651NWA AMERICAN TAG TEAM: w/Bulldog Brower billed as champions on Texas TV October 1983 after winning fictitious tournament; lost to The Super Destroyers (Bill & Scott Irwin) in fictitious match October 1983 (Piper & Brower never actually appeared as champions, their names were just used for title history on television)
3652
3653WRESTLING OBSERVER HALL OF FAME (1996)
3654
3655WWE HALL OF FAME (2005)
3656
3657WRESTLING OBSERVER AWARDS:
3658
3659Best Heel - 1984, 1985
3660
3661Best on Interviews - 1981, 1982, 1983
3662
3663Worst match 1986 vs. Mr T
3664
3665Worst match 1997 vs. Hulk Hogan
3666
3667
3668UFC 190 POLL RESULTS
3669
3670Thumbs up 68
3671
3672Thumbs down 11
3673
3674In the middle 57
3675
3676BEST MATCH POLL
3677
3678Reginaldo Vieira vs. Delino Lopes 91
3679
3680Mauricio Shogun Rau vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira 27
3681
3682WORST MATCH POLL
3683
3684Stefan Struve vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira 54
3685
3686Glaico Franca vs. Fernando Bruno 28
3687
3688G-1 IN OSAKA POLL RESULTS
3689
3690Thumbs up 37
3691
3692Thumbs down 0
3693
3694In the middle 0
3695
3696BEST MATCH POLL
3697
3698Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tomohiro Ishii 14
3699
3700Michael Elgin vs. Tomoaki Honma 13
3701
3702Hiroki Goto vs. Kazuchika Okada 10
3703
3704WORST MATCH POLL
3705
3706Gallows & Hall vs. Finlay & White 29
3707
3708G-1 IN NAGOYA POLL RESULTS
3709
3710Thumbs up 27
3711
3712Thumbs down 4
3713
3714In the middle 19
3715
3716BEST MATCH POLL
3717
3718Togi Makabe vs. Tetsuya Naito 27
3719
3720Kota Ibushi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan 14
3721
3722WORST MATCH POLL
3723
3724Hall & Takahashi vs. Elgin & White 16
3725
3726Opening six man 10
3727
3728Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 8/4.
3729~~~~~
3730
3731Wrestling Observer Newsletter
3732
3733PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 August 17, 2015
3734
3735AAA TRIPLEMANIA POLL RESULTS
3736
3737Thumbs up 6 (05.7%)
3738
3739Thumbs down 96 (90.6%)
3740
3741In the middle 4 (03.8%)
3742
3743BEST MATCH POLL
3744
3745Rey Mysterio vs. Myzteziz 89
3746
3747WORST MATCH POLL
3748
3749Villanos vs. Psycho Circus 79
3750
3751NEW JAPAN G-1 AT KORAKUEN HALL 8/9
3752
3753Thumbs up 60 (98.4%)
3754
3755Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
3756
3757In the middle 1 (01.6%)
3758
3759BEST MATCH POLL
3760
3761Hirooki Goto vs. Tomohiro Ishii 46
3762
3763Karl Anderson vs. Michael Elgin 10
3764
3765WORST MATCH POLL
3766
3767Tonga & Fale vs. Finlay & White 16
3768
3769Kazuchika Okada vs. Yujiro Takahashi 10
3770
3771NEW JAPAN G-1 IN NAGOYA 8/8
3772
3773Thumbs up 15 (40.5%)
3774
3775Thumbs down 3 (08.1%)
3776
3777In the middle 19 (51.4%)
3778
3779BEST MATCH POLL
3780
3781Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata 33
3782
3783WORST MATCH POLL
3784
3785Tetsuya Naito vs. Toru Yano 15
3786
3787Togi Makabe vs. Doc Gallows 9
3788
3789Based on phone calls and e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 8/11.
3790
3791~~~~~
3792
3793Wrestling Observer Newsletter
3794
3795PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 August 24, 2015
3796
3797G-1 CLIMAX A BLOCK FINALS POLL RESULTS
3798
3799Thumbs up 76 (90.5%)
3800
3801Thumbs down 1 (01.2%)
3802
3803In the middle 7 (08.3%)
3804
3805BEST MATCH POLL
3806
3807Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. A.J. Styles 83
3808
3809WORST MATCH POLL
3810
3811Toru Yano vs. Bad Luck Fale 36
3812
3813G-1 CLIMAX B BLOCK FINALS POLL RESULTS
3814
3815Thumbs up 57 (100.0%)
3816
3817Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
3818
3819In the middle 0 (00.0%)
3820
3821BEST MATCH POLL
3822
3823Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kazuchika Okada 32
3824
3825Tomohiro Ishii vs. Michael Elgin 25
3826
3827WORST MATCH POLL
3828
3829Bullet Club 10 man tag 22
3830
3831Satoshi Kojima vs. Karl Anderson 8
3832
3833G-1 CLIMAX FINALS POLL RESULTS
3834
3835Thumbs up 77 (100.0%)
3836
3837Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
3838
3839In the middle 0 (00.0%)
3840
3841BEST MATCH POLL
3842
3843Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 77
3844
3845WORST MATCH POLL
3846
3847Yano & Ishii & Sakuraba vs. Fale & Yujiro & Tonga 42
3848
3849TenCozy & Captain vs. White & Nagata & Nakanishi 17
3850
3851Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 8/18.
3852~~~~~
3853
3854	NJPW G1 Climax 25 - Day 18
38552015/08/15 @ Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Tokyo (Japan)
3856Hiroshi Tanahashi, Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Katsuyori Shibata and KUSHIDA defeated Captain New Japan, Manabu Nakanishi, Kota Ibushi, Tetsuya Naito and Ricochet (9:21 minutes)
385712	NJPW G1 Climax 25 - Day 19
38582015/08/16 @ Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Tokyo (Japan)
3859Hirooki Goto, Katsuyori Shibata and Kota Ibushi defeated Togi Makabe, Tetsuya Naito and Tomoaki Honma (10:41 minutes)
3860
3861~~~~~
3862
3863Wrestling Observer Newsletter
3864
3865PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 August 31, 2015
3866
3867WWE SUMMERSLAM POLL RESULTS
3868
3869Thumbs up 175 (78.1%)
3870
3871Thumbs down 8 (03.6%)
3872
3873In the middle 41 (18.3%)
3874
3875BEST MATCH POLL
3876
3877Seth Rollins vs. John Cena 153
3878
3879Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar 34
3880
3881Kevin Owens vs. Cesaro 23
3882
3883Tag title four-way 10
3884
3885WORST MATCH POLL
3886
3887Ryback vs. Miz vs. Show 71
3888
3889Divas three-team match 64
3890
3891Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev 55
3892
3893Sheamus vs. Randy Orton 13
3894
3895WWE NEXT TAKEOVER POLL RESULTS
3896
3897Thumbs up 206 (99.5%)
3898
3899Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
3900
3901In the middle 1 (00.5%)
3902
3903BEST MATCH POLL
3904
3905Bayley vs. Sasha Banks 182
3906
3907Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens 19
3908
3909WORST MATCH POLL
3910
3911Apollo Crews vs. Tye Dillinger 59
3912
3913Vaudevillains vs. Blake & Murphy 56
3914
3915Samoa Joe vs. Baron Corbin 25
3916
3917Jushin Liger vs. Tyler Breeze 24
3918
3919Based on phone calls and e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 8/25.
3920
3921WWE had a blow-away weekend, which included two of the company's best matches of the year, a landmark event in modern wrestling history, a celebrity angle that got WWE its most mainstream coverage for anything in years, the WWE debut and a first of its kind agreement with all-time legend Jushin Liger, the introduction of a new heel monster, and the return of Sting and the Dudleys.
3922
3923~~~~
3924
3925restling Observer Newsletter
3926
3927PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 December 21, 2015
3928
3929 
3930
3931UFC 194 POLL RESULTS
3932
3933Thumbs up 176 (94.1%)
3934
3935Thumbs down 5 (02.7%)
3936
3937In the middle 6 (03.2%)
3938
3939 
3940
3941BEST MATCH POLL
3942
3943Luke Rockhold vs. Chris Weidman 122
3944
3945Urijah Faber vs. Frankie Saenz 37
3946
3947 
3948
3949WORST MATCH POLL
3950
3951Max Holloway vs. Jeremy Stephens 64
3952
3953Yancy Medeiros vs. John Makdessi 21
3954
3955Yoel Romero vs. Jacare Souza 19
3956
3957 
3958
3959WWE TLC POLL RESULTS
3960
3961Thumbs up 119 (73.5%)
3962
3963Thumbs down 20 (12.3%)
3964
3965In the middle 23 (14.2%)
3966
3967 
3968
3969BEST MATCH POLL
3970
3971Tag title ladder match 97
3972
3973Sheamus vs. Roman Reigns 37
3974
3975Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens 9
3976
3977 
3978
3979WORST MATCH POLL
3980
3981Wyatt Family vs. Team Extreme 52
3982
3983Rusev vs. Ryback 46
3984
3985Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger 15
3986
3987Charlotte vs. Paige 13
3988
3989Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch 10
3990
3991Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 12/15.
3992
3993 
3994
3995It was the week of new eras, with Conor McGregor officially taking over as the face of UFC as its featherweight champion on 12/12, and two days later, Roman Reigns long planned spot as the face of WWE was solidified with his title win over Sheamus on the 12/14 Raw in 
3996~~~~
3997
3998Wrestling Observer Newsletter
3999
4000PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 December 28, 2015
4001
4002WWE NEXT TAKEOVER LONDON POLL RESULTS
4003
4004Thumbs up 155 (100.0%)
4005
4006Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
4007
4008In the middle 0 (00.0%)
4009
4010BEST MATCH POLL
4011
4012Asuka vs. Emma 104
4013
4014Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe 45
4015
4016WORST MATCH POLL
4017
4018Baron Corbin vs. Apollo Crews 120
4019
4020UFC ON FOX POLL RESULTS
4021
4022Thumbs up 127 (92.0%)
4023
4024Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
4025
4026In the middle 11 (08.0%)
4027
4028BEST MATCH POLL
4029
4030Nate Diaz vs. Michael Johnson 114
4031
4032Rafael dos Anjos vs. Donald Cerrone 10
4033
4034WORST MATCH POLL
4035
4036Alistair Overeem vs. Junior Dos Santos 105
4037
4038Cole Miller vs. Jim Alers 12
4039
4040ROH FINAL BATTLE POLL RESULTS
4041
4042Thumbs up 56 (93.3%)
4043
4044Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
4045
4046In the middle 4 (06.7%)
4047
4048BEST MATCH POLL
4049
4050Jay Lethal vs. A.J. Styles 31
4051
4052Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly 27
4053
4054WORST MATCH POLL
4055
4056Hanson & Rowe vs. Bennett & Taven 38
4057
40586 man tag match 8
4059
4060Based on phone calls and e-mails as of Tuesday, 12/22.
4061~~~~
4062
4063Wrestling Observer Newsletter
4064
4065PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 February 2, 2015
4066
4067WWE ROYAL RUMBLE POLL RESULTS
4068
4069Thumbs up 91 (19.7%)
4070
4071Thumbs down 219 (47.4%)
4072
4073In the middle 152 (32.9%)
4074
4075BEST MATCH POLL
4076
4077Lesnar vs. Cena vs. Rollins 442
4078
4079WORST MATCH POLL
4080
4081Royal Rumble 224
4082
4083Bellas vs. Paige & Natalya 119
4084
4085Ascension vs. New Age Outlaws 72
4086
4087UFC ON FOX POLL RESULTS
4088
4089Thumbs up 78 (65.0%)
4090
4091Thumbs down 12 (10.0%)
4092
4093In the middle 30 (25.0%)
4094
4095BEST MATCH POLL
4096
4097Albert Tumenov vs. Nico Musoke 52
4098
4099Anthony Johnson vs. Alexander Gustafsson 29
4100
4101WORST MATCH POLL
4102
4103Ryan Bader vs. Phil Davis 43
4104
4105Mirsad Bektic vs. Paul Redmond 26
4106
4107Gegard Mousasi vs. Dan Henderson 11
4108
4109Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 1/27.
4110
4111To counter the negativity of the “Cancel WWE Network” trending, the WWF bucked its former position and announced that the WWE Network had topped 1 million subscribers, since the end of September.
4112
4113While the actual number was not reported in a press release on 1/27, the November free month was a huge success, which was expected to lead to an announcement of another free month in February. Last week we were told the plan for a free February, although WWE has yet to announce it.
4114
4115~~~~~~~
4116
4117Wrestling Observer Newsletter
4118
4119PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 February 9, 2015
4120
4121UFC 183 POLL RESULTS
4122
4123Thumbs up 134 (95.7%)
4124
4125Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
4126
4127In the middle 6 (04.3%)
4128
4129BEST MATCH POLL
4130
4131Thiago Alves vs. Jordan Mein 56
4132
4133Al Iaquinta vs. Joe Lauzon 46
4134
4135Thales Leites vs. Tim Boetsch 37
4136
4137Miesha Tate vs. Sara McMann 10
4138
4139WORST MATCH POLL
4140
4141Tyron Woodley vs. Kelvin Gastelum 112
4142
4143Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 2/3.
4144
4145After pacing UFC to an ultra-successful event, despite a weak marquee undercard, both Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz tested positive for steroids and marijuana respectively.
4146~~~~
4147
4148Wrestling Observer Newsletter
4149
4150PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 February 23, 2015
4151
4152WWE NXT TAKEOVER RIVALS POLL RESULTS
4153
4154Thumbs up 191 (96.5%)
4155
4156Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
4157
4158In the middle 7 (03.5%)
4159
4160BEST MATCH POLL
4161
4162Finn Balor vs. Adrian Neville 132
4163
4164Women’s four-way 40
4165
4166Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn 25
4167
4168WORST MATCH POLL
4169
4170Baron Corbin vs. Bull Dempsey 115
4171
4172Blake & Murphy vs. Lucha Dragons 78
4173
4174NJPW NEW BEGINNING IN OSAKA
4175
4176Thumbs up 101 (78.3%)
4177
4178Thumbs down 4 (03.1%)
4179
4180In the middle 24 (18.6%)
4181
4182BEST MATCH POLL
4183
4184Kota Ibushi vs. Tomoaki Honma 56
4185
4186A.J. Styles vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 46
4187
4188IWGP jr. tag title 24
4189
4190WORST MATCH POLL
4191
4192Conway & Owens vs. Liger & Tenzan 55
4193
4194Tiger Mask & Dorada vs. Nakanishi & Captain 26
4195
4196Okada & Sakuraba & Yano vs. Fale & Tonga & Yujiro 13
4197
4198Kenny Omega vs. Ryusuke Taguchi 9
4199
4200NJPW NEW BEGINNING IN SENDAI
4201
4202Thumbs up 94 (95.9%)
4203
4204Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
4205
4206In the middle 4 (04.1%)
4207
4208BEST MATCH POLL
4209
4210Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tomoaki Honma 98
4211
4212WORST MATCH POLL
4213
4214Captain & Nakanishi vs. Komatsu & Kojima 44
4215
4216Jushin Liger vs. Chase Owens 16
4217
4218Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Rob Conway 8
4219
4220Based on e-mails and phone messages to the Observer as of Tuesday, 2/17.
4221
4222The UFC announced a policy that will change the sport on 2/18, stating that by July 1, 2015, they will have hired a third party testing company to do year-around unannounced drug testing of their 585 fighter roster, and they would implement stricter penalties for fighters caught using performance enhancing drugs.
4223
4224~~~~
4225
4226Wrestling Observer Newsletter
4227
4228PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 January 12, 2015
4229
4230UFC 182 POLL RESULTS
4231
4232Thumbs up 24 (12.5%)
4233
4234Thumbs down 51 (26.6%)
4235
4236In the middle 117 (60.9%)
4237
4238BEST MATCH POLL
4239
4240Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier 166
4241
4242Cody Garbrandt vs. Marcus Brimage 9
4243
4244WORST MATCH POLL
4245
4246Brad Tavares vs. Nate Marquardt 90
4247
4248Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Louis Gaudinot 10
4249
4250NEW JAPAN WRESTLE KINGDOM 9 POLL RESULTS
4251
4252Thumbs up 373 (100.0%)
4253
4254Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
4255
4256In the middle 0 (00.0%)
4257
4258BEST MATCH POLL
4259
4260Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi 237
4261
4262Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada 132
4263
4264WORST MATCH POLL
4265
4266New Japan Rumble 114
4267
4268Eight man tag 97
4269
4270Six man tag 66
4271
4272Based on e-mail and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 1/6.
4273
4274There were nothing but unanswered questions coming out of the revelation on 1/6 that Jon Jones had tested positive for benzoylecgonine, the main metabolite in cocaine, in a surprise drug test administered to him by the Nevada Athletic Commission on 12/4.
4275~~~~
4276
4277NEW JAPAN FANTASTICA MANIA FIRST KORAKUEN HALL SHOW
4278
4279Thumbs up 26 (55.3%)
4280
4281Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
4282
4283In the middle 21 (44.7%)
4284
4285BEST MATCH POLL
4286
4287Atlantis vs. Ultimo Guerrero 31
4288
4289WORST MATCH POLL
4290
4291Tanahashi & Stigma & Mistico vs. Okada & Nakamura & Polvora 19
4292
4293Mephisto vs. Stuka Jr. 11
4294
4295NEW JAPAN FANTASTICA MANIA SECOND KORAKUEN HALL Thumbs up 41 (100.0%)
4296
4297Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
4298
4299In the middle 0 (00.0%)
4300
4301BEST MATCH POLL
4302~~~~
4303
4304Wrestling Observer Newsletter
4305
4306PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 July 6, 2015
4307
4308TNA SLAMMIVERSARY POLL RESULTS
4309
4310Thumbs up 8 (30.8%)
4311
4312Thumbs down 4 (15.4%)
4313
4314In the middle 14 (53.8%)
4315
4316BEST MATCH POLL
4317
4318Austin Aries vs. Davey Richards 9
4319
4320James Storm vs. Magnus 8
4321
4322King of the Mountain 7
4323
4324WORST MATCH POLL
4325
4326Bram vs. Matt Morgan 12
4327
4328Robbie E vs. Jessie Godderz 11
4329
4330Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 6/30.
4331
4332With less than two weeks before the most heavily-promoted UFC fight in history, Jose Aldo officially dropped out of the fight due to a rib injury.
4333~~~~~
4334
4335Wrestling Observer Newsletter
4336
4337PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 July 13, 2015
4338
4339WWE BEAST FROM THE EAST POLL RESULTS
4340
4341Thumbs up 132 (90.4%)
4342
4343Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
4344
4345In the middle 14 (09.6%)
4346
4347BEST MATCH POLL
4348
4349Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens 134
4350
4351Chris Jericho vs. Neville 11
4352
4353WORST MATCH POLL
4354
4355Nikki vs. Paige vs. Snuka 73
4356
4357Cena & Ziggler vs. Kane & Barrett 59
4358
4359NEW JAPAN DOMINION POLL RESULTS
4360
4361Thumbs up 141 (98.6%)
4362
4363Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
4364
4365In the middle 2 (01.4%)
4366
4367BEST MATCH POLL
4368
4369Kazuchika Okada vs. A.J. Styles 83
4370
4371Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kazushi Sakuraba 27
4372
4373Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 12
4374
4375Kushida vs. Kenny Omega 11
4376
4377WORST MATCH POLL
4378
4379Anderson & Gallows vs. Bennett & Taven 64
4380
4381Naito & Honma vs. Fale & Takahashi 15
4382
4383Bucks vs. Fish & O'Reilly vs. Roppongi Vice 8
4384
4385Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 7/7.
4386~~~~~
4387
4388Thumbs up 141 (98.6%)
4389
4390Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
4391
4392In the middle 2 (01.4%)
4393
4394~~~~
4395
4396Wrestling Observer Newsletter
4397
4398PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 July 27, 2015
4399
4400WWE BATTLEGROUND POLL RESULTS
4401
4402Thumbs up 173 (56.2%)
4403
4404Thumbs down 78 (25.3%)
4405
4406In the middle 57 (18.5%)
4407
4408BEST MATCH POLL
4409
4410John Cena vs. Kevin Owens 237
4411
4412Bray Wyatt vs. Roman Reigns 19
4413
4414Randy Orton vs. Sheamus 10
4415
4416Charlotte vs. Banks vs. Brie Bella 8
4417
4418WORST MATCH POLL
4419
4420Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar 100
4421
4422King Barrett vs. R-Truth 62
4423
4424O'Neil & Young vs. Big E & Kingston 50
4425
4426Charlotte vs. Banks vs. Brie Bella 21
4427
4428Bray Wyatt vs. Roman Reigns 18
4429
4430Randy Orton vs. Sheamus 13
4431
4432John Cena vs. Kevin Owens 8
4433
4434NEW JAPAN G-1 FIRST NIGHT POLL RESULTS
4435
4436Thumbs up 84 (71.2%)
4437
4438Thumbs down 5 (04.2%)
4439
4440In the middle 29 (24.6%)
4441
4442BEST MATCH POLL
4443
4444Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi 117
4445
4446WORST MATCH POLL
4447
4448Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Doc Gallows 47
4449
4450Tetsuya Naito vs. Bad Luck Fale 23
4451
4452Goto & Captain vs. Hall & Takahashi 19
4453
4454Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday 7/21.
4455~~~~
4456
4457Wrestling Observer Newsletter
4458
4459PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 June 1, 2015
4460
4461UFC 187 POLL RESULTS
4462
4463Thumbs up 180 (100.0%)
4464
4465Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
4466
4467In the middle 0 (00.0%)
4468
4469BEST MATCH POLL
4470
4471Andrei Arlovski vs. Travis Browne 171
4472
4473WORST MATCH POLL
4474
4475John Dodson vs. Zach Makovsky 94
4476
4477Colby Covington vs. Mike Pyle 15
4478
4479Joseph Benavidez vs. John Moraga 9
4480
4481NXT UNSTOPPABLE POLL RESULTS
4482
4483Thumbs up 101 (71.1%)
4484
4485Thumbs down 11 (07.7%)
4486
4487In the middle 30 (21.1%)
4488
4489BEST MATCH POLL
4490
4491Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch 134
4492
4493WORST MATCH POLL
4494
4495Baron Corbin vs. Rhyno 64
4496
4497Charlotte & Bayley vs. Brooke & Emma 24
4498
4499Blake & Murphy vs. Cass & Amore 20
4500
4501Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 5/26.
4502
4503~~~~~\
4504
4505restling Observer Newsletter
4506
4507PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 June 8, 2015
4508
4509WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER POLL RESULTS
4510
4511Thumbs up 128 (68.1%)
4512
4513Thumbs down 16 (08.5%)
4514
4515In the middle 44 (23.4%)
4516
4517BEST MATCH POLL
4518
4519Kevin Owens vs. John Cena 178
4520
4521WORST MATCH POLL
4522
4523Nikki Bella vs. Paige vs. Naomi 118
4524
4525IC title chamber match 42
4526
4527Neville vs. Bo Dallas 17
4528
4529Tag title Chamber match 8
4530
4531Based on e-mails and phone messages to the Observer as of Tuesday, 6/2.
4532
4533In a move that is literally going to change the entire UFC, the promotion became the first major professional sports organization to turn over its entire drug testing program to an outside agency, USADA, for year-around unannounced drug testing.
4534~~~~~
4535
4536Wrestling Observer Newsletter
4537
4538PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 June 15, 2015
4539
4540NEW JAPAN BEST OF SUPER JUNIORS FINALS
4541
4542Thumbs up 70 (100.0%)
4543
4544Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
4545
4546In the middle 0 (00.0%)
4547
4548BEST MATCH POLL
4549
4550Kushida vs. Kyle O'Reilly 70
4551
4552WORST MATCH POLL
4553
4554Tiger Mask vs. Chase Owens 37
4555
4556Taguchi & Komatsu vs. Liger & Tanaka 14
4557
4558Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 6/9.
4559
4560Steve Austin said this week not to take anything from the 6/1 promo he did on the WWE Network that built up a potential Texas death match with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania.
4561~~~~
4562
4563Wrestling Observer Newsletter
4564
4565PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 June 29, 2015
4566
4567BELLATOR POLL RESULTS
4568
4569Thumbs up 104 (100.0%)
4570
4571Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
4572
4573In the middle 0 (00.0%)
4574
4575BEST MATCH POLL
4576
4577Michael Chandler vs. Derek Campos 63
4578
4579Patricio Pitbull Freire vs. Daniel Weichel 38
4580
4581WORST MATCH POLL
4582
4583Kimbo Slice vs. Ken Shamrock 42
4584
4585ROH BEST IN THE WORLD PPV POLL RESULTS
4586
4587Thumbs up 96 (100.0%)
4588
4589Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
4590
4591In the middle 0 (00.0%)
4592
4593BEST MATCH POLL
4594
4595Jay Lethal vs. Jay Briscoe 47
4596
4597Young Bucks & Styles vs. Cole & Bennett & Taven 33
4598
4599WORST MATCH POLL
4600
4601Hanson & Rowe vs. Coleman & Alexander 67
4602
4603Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 6/23.~~
4604
4605Wrestling Observer Newsletter
4606
4607PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 March 2, 2015
4608
4609WWE FAST LANE POLL RESULTS
4610
4611Thumbs up 50 (21.0%)
4612
4613Thumbs down 96 (40.3%)
4614
4615In the middle 92 (38.7%)
4616
4617BEST MATCH POLL
4618
4619Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan 200
4620
4621Rusev vs. John Cena 10
4622
4623Kidd & Cesaro vs. Usos 8
4624
4625WORST MATCH POLL
4626
4627Nikki Bella vs. Paige 99
4628
4629Bad News Barrett vs. Dean Ambrose 78
4630
4631Goldust vs. Stardust 50
4632
4633Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 2/24.
4634
4635Dr. Christopher Amann, a part of the WWE medical team, filed suit on 2/18 in Cook County (IL) Circuit court against Philip Jack Brooks (C.M. Punk) and Scott Colton (Colt Cabana) for their comments about him on Colton’s “Art of Wrestling” podcast in November.
4636
4637Amann, who lives in Libertyville, IL, was hired by WWE in 2010. He claimed the statements on the podcast by Brooks and Colton were “false, defamatory and put him in a false light by improperly insinuating a lack of integrity and/or inability or lack of competence to perform his professional duties as a medical doctor.”
4638
4639The lawsuit is largely based on Brooks claiming Amann misdiagnosed a growth on his back, refused to remove it when asked, and Brooks claimed the growth, which ended up the size of a baseball, was purple, and ended up being diagnosed by another doctor as a life-threatening MSRA staph infection.
4640
4641Amann is seeking more than $2 million in compensatory damages, plus an undetermined amount of punitive damages.
4642
4643Brooks, on the podcast released on 11/26, said Amann had misdiagnosed the growth as fatty tissue and given him antibiotics for it. The lawsuit contained a transcript of the entire long story told by Brooks about the diagnosis, antibiotics, having constant diarrhea before leaving the company, and having another doctor look at the growth and tell him it was MSRA staph that he could have died from.
4644
4645Amann, who was given clearance by WWE to file the lawsuit against Brooks, claimed Brooks’ entire story was fabricated, that Brooks never told him about any growth, and never showed him the lump, and that he never made any diagnosis on it.
4646
4647While Brooks’ charges against Amann were the most serious part of his podcast interview, most of the media coverage coming out of it centered around his claim, that Vince McMahon later admitted was true in an interview with Steve Austin, that WWE fired Punk via Fed Ex on his wedding day. McMahon stated, however, that it was just coincidental that legal sent out the letter the day before. Brooks said he didn’t believe that at all.
4648
4649Brooks had said he had suffered a concussion in a late 2013 match with Luke Harper, and then went on the November European tour. He blamed that on himself, but said he was either throwing up or dry heaving after every match. He said he had no appetite and couldn’t train and that the doctor gave him a Z-pac (antibiotics) and he took so many that one night on Smackdown he shit his pants.
4650
4651He said that he had a lump on his back, went to the doctor, who said it was a fatty deposit. Brooks said he asked the doctor to remove it, but the doctor didn’t, which Brooks said was because he was lazy, and instead prescribed him even stronger antibiotics. He said this made him feel even worse and had diarrhea for three weeks.
4652
4653He then claimed in the Royal Rumble that Kofi Kingston hit him with a clothesline and he suffered a concussion and motioned to the doctor, and the doctor said, “What do you want me to do?” Brooks claimed he said, “You are the most useless fucking doctor in the whole world.” He said after the Royal Rumble, he wanted the growth cut out because it was green and he had a fever for weeks, but Amann wouldn’t do it.
4654
4655He said that eventually another doctor, claimed to be a doctor his wife knew in Tampa, diagnosed his growth as an MSRA staph infection in around mid-February (I was told this was within days in either direction of 2/7), and he got the lump cut out of his back (this was about two weeks after he left WWE) and said it was the worst pain he had ever felt in his life.
4656
4657Amann claimed in the lawsuit that the entire story was false.
4658
4659The lawsuit stated, “Amann was not requested by Brooks to treat and/or excise a lump, let alone a purple, baseball-sized lump.”
4660
4661The WWE followed up with a release the day after the suit was filed, saying that the company had performed an investigation of the situation.
4662
4663“In light of C.M. Punk’s allegations regarding WWE’s medical staff and the subsequent defamation lawsuit filed by Dr. Amann against C.M. Punk, WWE continues to have the utmost confidence in the ability and expertise of our world-class team of physicians, including Dr. Amann.
4664
4665“C.M. Punk claimed this past November that during the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event on January 26, 2014, he performed with a baseball-sized purple lump on his back located near the waistband of his tights.
4666
4667WWE’s investigation has shown the following:
4668
4669*C.M. Punk did not discuss this alleged condition with WWE’s team of physicians and trainers, nor did he discuss it with anyone in our Talent Relations department.
4670
4671*Subsequently, WWE has no medical records documenting this alleged condition.
4672
4673*The first time WWE was made aware of this alleged condition was when we received a letter from C.M. Punk’s attorney on August 22, 2014, after WWE terminated his contract.
4674
4675*There is clear video evidence from the 2014 Royal Rumble, which allows all to decide whether there is any appearance of a baseball-sized growth on C.M. Punk’s back.”
4676
4677WWE supplied certain clips and closeups of Punk’s back in several different periods of the match and there is nothing large enough to be noticed. If there was a lump and infection, it was not anywhere close to the size of a baseball, or even a golf ball. However, Punk has in public on a few occasions shown his back, and there is a spot just under what would be the waist band of the trunks where there is a small indentation of where it would appear something was cut out. In addition, there are photos from a prior match with Ryback in September 2013 that may indicate a lump in the same spot where the growth was removed.
4678
4679Punk also at one point tweeted at the time that he had shit his pants on December 3, 2013, at a Smackdown taping, but WWE made him take down the tweet. So at least the story of that happening was not something he made up on the Cabana show but something there is evidence he talked about when it happened.
4680
4681Two days before the Royal Rumble 2014, or three days before he walked out, at a Wizard World convention in Portland, OR, he said, “Right now, I feel a lot better than I have. There was the three months there, for a while, where I felt really, really horrible. And then we were trying to figure out what was wrong. And I think I was literally getting an MRI a week, and blood work, all this stuff, to just try to narrow down exactly what was wrong with me.”
4682
4683The argument isn’t that there was or wasn’t a lump or infection that was removed. There was. The argument is whether Punk had any interaction with the WWE medical staff. That’s an open-and-shut yes-or-no question, but at this point it isn’t clear, nor is there any real evidence, which side is telling the truth and which side made a story up. It may end up complicated and there is almost certainly far more to this than meets the eye, but ultimately, that’s what the case is about.
4684
4685Amann also said that he followed proper protocol during the Royal Rumble by telling Brooks to leave the ring after a preliminary diagnosis of a possible concussion and requested further evaluation and treatment afterwards in the training room. Brooks didn’t leave the ring and worked exactly how things were scripted for him even though WWE sent out Kane to eliminate him in an audible early and Kane had to stay at ringside for a long time because Punk had refused to go out early.
4686
4687Amann alleged Colton helped Brooks falsely depict Amann as a lazy and bad doctor and that they “knowingly fabricated the false and disparaging statements,” about him, and that the show was streamed more than 1 million times on YouTube and reported on by several media outlets.
4688
4689Amann said the statements made by Colton and Brooks “are highly offensive in that they accuse (Amann) of gross lack of integrity as a medical doctor, an inability to perform his professional duties as a medical doctor, and in placing the financial interest of his employer above life-threatening health conditions of his patients.”
4690
4691Proving whether Amann examined or didn’t examine a lump could be in question based on how records are kept, although one would think, for legal reasons, WWE doctors would be expected to keep very thorough records
4692
4693It also brings up the strange and awkward Michael Landsberg interview, where Landsberg brought up Punk had complained about his medical care in WWE, and Punk annoyingly blew off the question. While the tabloid media concentrated on the story of him being fired on his wedding day, which Vince McMahon admitted was true and a mistake, the real story out of the interview were the medical treatment claims and business interactions he described.
4694
4695That said, going after Colton in the lawsuit is a low move, even though a lawyer would recommend it because if Brooks slandered him, Colton can be held accountable because he provided the outlet. Colton was just the guy hosting the podcast, but from a legal standpoint, he has control over its content, booked Brooks as a guest and may have known what Brooks was likely to say without ever trying to reign him in or give a different perspective.
4696
4697You could do it legally, of course, and if this was a large broadcasting company that aired the interview, it would be an accepted part of the suit. But in the real world, Colton is a guy squeaking out making a living wearing different hats, and while he provided a forum for his friend, and you can make a legal argument against him, the act of going after him is so clearly a low-rent move. He obviously doesn’t have the money to fight this kind of a high-priced attorney suit (whether he’ll get covered or not is immaterial). He never went after Amann in any kind of a malicious form past reaction to what Brooks said. The key here is that they may have thought Brooks may blow it off, but his sense of being Colton’s best friend, that by naming Colton in the suit, he would be under more pressure to settle. It’s not unexpected to do so, but in my mind it changes this from a battle to see who is telling the truth to simply lawyers playing lawyer games and whatever the truth is far less important than pressure games. Then again, that is what a high-level lawsuit is about. If Amann is out with a balls-to-the-wall lawsuit trying to use every psychological tactic to make Brooks’ life miserable, of course that is one of them and it makes sense from a legal situation. But if Amann is out there simply to right his reputation, he could have handled it with more class, and that isn’t saying he wasn’t wronged and doesn’t deserve his name cleared.
4698
4699At the end of the day, my thought is that this is not so much financial, because it will be next to impossible to prove that Brooks’ allegations against Amann cost him any money–since WWE never dropped him. The object is more to get Punk to settle and publicly apologize for what he said, or for WWE to get a public “win” over Punk because Punk bettered them badly in round one in the court of public opinion, and then waltzed over to the company they are most compared to and most paranoid about those comparisons with.
4700
4701If he apologized for anything about the Amman story, the WWE could take it as a victory and throw into question everything he said about Paul Levesque, which is the real key to all this. Brooks painted Levesque as someone incompetent at his job, who couldn’t even remember basic dates of tours that anyone in wrestling would know without thinking. He also painted McMahon as an out-of-touch old man. Whether his stories were real or not, or exaggerated, since both of them are clearly public figures, them suing over those statements would both be difficult, time-consuming and in the end, viewed negatively.
4702
4703In addition, there is the question of whether or not Amann is a public figure, particularly since on many occasions, including this week’s NXT broadcast, he was playing the role of a doctor giving diagnosis’ for injuries that never happened. By that standard, he is both a doctor and an entertainer playing the role of a doctor, which could change aspects of burden of proof and him being a public figure. As a public figure, he would had to prove that Punk not only lied but did so with malice or reckless disregard for the truth, a higher standard than if Amann was just an anonymous doctor. That’s what makes his performance on this week’s NXT show so strange in hindsight. Amann was doing a made-up television diagnosis as a performer, and one which made him seem like an questionable doctor since he stopped a match due to a concussion on Wednesday and then allowed Sami Zayn to fly to Abu Dhabi to wrestle the next day because Zayn wanted to do so, a television version of what Punk had ridiculed. Since WWE worked with Amann in the suit, and whether they are really the ones behind it or simply just signed off and allowed him to do it depends on who you talk to, them putting him in television the very week the suit got filed in a situation that changes the burden of proof in a case, particularly for an angle that was a bad idea to begin with, is so weird.
4704
4705The key is that a basically true story with some exaggeration of it is not going to be enough to win the case. But either way, there should be some medical records, as far as dispensation or prescriptions for antibiotics that are either there or not.
4706
4707If he went on a television show as an entertainer, in the role of portraying a doctor, and publicly gave diagnoses for injuries that never happened, which he has also done for worked WWE television injuries in statements on television and on the web site, it becomes a confusing issue regarding exactly what his public reputation really is, in the sense if a guy who makes up a medical story on television or on the web site is suing a wrestler for claiming he made up a story, that’s where the TV portrayal of Amann muddies the waters. The key is that it’s not a defense for Brooks for lying or absolving him of some penalties if he did so, but as far as damage to reputation and financial loss, it confuses the issue.
4708
4709That said, Ryback claimed that Punk made up their entire confrontation story during an interview on Chris Jericho’s podcast. Jericho himself also claimed Punk didn’t tell the truth about his attempts to contact Punk during the period after he left the company. On the flip side, there is clear proof that Ryback did drop Punk wrong on a slam that was supposed to be through a table on the floor that completely missed the table and he was injured. And to an extent, Punk used Jericho as a metaphor for a lot of wrestlers who tried to contact him after he disappeared that he never called back. Punk absolutely spoke to his closest friends, and I know of one wrestler who he had a lengthy conversation with about the wrestlers’ issues with the company, but there were also a number of very well known guys who tried to check on him and he ignored them. Perhaps he knew it was going to end up as a legal issue and cut his contacts down to those he was sure he could trust.
4710
4711There were stories he told on that podcast about his verbal interaction with both Vince McMahon and Paul Levesque that I found difficult to believe in the way he told them, because of timing issues with the McMahon story and because I really don’t want to believe Levesque is as completely incompetent at his job and/or so arrogant about his position to insist being clearly wrong isn’t wrong as Punk described both. That said, he could just as easily have been telling the truth and this legal action isn’t about those conversations.
4712
4713Another key to this story is April Mendez, A.J. Lee, Punk’s wife and still a WWE performer under contract, who is out of action with a neck injury. Mendez was supposed to return and had been booked in a return angle and was scheduled on shows, and was supposed to return at some point soon (of course that has been the case for weeks). She is still in the Raw open. Given the situation, it will be far more difficult for her to return, and actions on 2/24 made it worse.
4714
4715The company had expected her back from her neck injury for about two months.
4716
4717Mendez, 27, made her role more interesting on 2/24. After Stephanie McMahon tweeted “Thank You Patty Arquette for having the courage to fight for women’s rights on such a grand platform,” in response to Arquette’s Oscar acceptance speech for winning Best Supporting Actress in the movie “Boyhood.”
4718
4719Arquette said, “To every woman who gave birth to every citizen and taxpayer of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights. It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States.”
4720
4721Mendez, on Twitter, called McMahon a hypocrite for her backing what Arquette said.
4722
4723“Your female wrestlers have record selling merchandise and have starred in the highest rated segments of the show times. And yet they receive a fraction of the wages and screen time of the majority of the male roster.”
4724
4725Mendez was a strong merchandise seller when she was around, but the formula on a percentage basis for merchandise for most of the roster is the same, with a few top stars getting higher cuts. None of the women sell at anywhere close to the level of the top guys.
4726
4727Women’s segments were rarely above average rated during the period I was getting segment-by-segment breakdowns, until about a year ago. That said, Mendez was working key segments with people like Daniel Bryan, Kane and C.M. Punk and some main event segments that did very well. Actually, in TNA, there was a period where the women were in the highest rated segment of the show most of the time, and far more than the high paid stars like Sting, Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, Jeff Hardy or even Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. None of the women earned anything close to what the male stars earned, and only a few times were they put in the main event segment even though they consistently outdrew the main event segment.
4728
4729As a general rule in WWE, and of course there are exceptions, the women are paid significantly less than the men at similar levels, and obviously when it comes to match time, that’s an indisputable point. In NXT, that isn’t the case. I was told that the women in NXT actually, as a general rule, make more than the men, because so many of the men came from indie backgrounds and are willing to come in at any price to be in WWE. The women, many of who came from modeling, like the male athletes with backgrounds, are paid better for the most part, with the idea that the women need to earn at a certain level to maintain the kind of looks the WWE wants their women to have.
4730
4731But the problem as much as time is also the portrayal. On the main roster, they are portrayed not as athletes, fighters, talented technical wrestlers or brawlers, or even women with serious issues with each other. Their storyline issues are generally more shallow and childish. While it’s not 100% sex objects as in the bra and panties days, the women are still there more as sex objects and less as wrestlers, athletes and true superstars than the men are.
4732
4733Their role is to wrestle in provocative outfits and for the most part their worth is based on their looks far more than the men. No man could have gotten out of developmental with the skill set of Rosa Mendes, Cameron or Eva Marie. There is no argument about equality in portrayal or money that can defend the company on this one other than it is what the wrestling business has always been.
4734
4735While it is about looks for men to a degree, you will never see an unattractive woman with a bad genetic body, no matter how talented they are technically, in a WWE ring. Sara Amato, who trains the women in NXT, I would not call unattractive at all, yet she was deemed not attractive enough to be anything but be a trainer, even though she was a more talented wrestler than almost all on the roster. Melissa Anderson is probably the furthest thing from unattractive, yet she never did nor is she likely to ever get a WWE look and it was said to be because she didn’t have the right look. One woman who was cut by WWE, and ended up having a successful long career in TNA, said she was told when released by John Laurinaitis, even though she was doing well as a wrestler, that, “We’re looking for tens and you’re not that.” Others at the recruiting level were told that while WWE no longer would allow their performers to pose in Playboy, what they are mainly looking for is women physically attractive enough to do so.
4736
4737They had done angles in the past to portray Molly Holly as fat, Mickie James as fat, and Natalya and Gail Kim as unattractive.
4738
4739But where we are now is a big improvement from ten years ago, but yeah, Stephanie McMahon was really asking for it not to have the perspective to the can of worms she was opening up. While they expect none of the talent to have the guts, or stupidity, or whatever you want to say, to criticize them, it’s not as if people aren’t starting to talk due to the jealousy by the main roster stars of the praise that the women in NXT have gotten because they are portrayed more athletically, put in consistent real semi-mains on big shows, and are allowed time for their matches.
4740
4741It’s the whole WWE main roster vs. NXT women’s portrayal that has become a hot topic the past few weeks. Given those portrayals, Stephanie did completely open herself up by giving that response to Arquette. But who would have thought any of the women would dare do it? But one of them did.
4742
4743And by doing so, I guess that tells where she is mentally about WWE right now.
4744
4745The story, once USA Today picked it up, caused the twitter of Vince McMahon to respond, saying, “We hear you. Keep watching,” with the hashtag of “Give Divas a chance.”
4746
4747Stephanie responded in very un-McMahon after a public attack like fashion, writing to Lee, “Thank you. I appreciate your opinion.”
4748
4749Clearly, she had no other way to respond past ignoring everything, because any kind of a defense would open the story up more and bury her and the company, and the story had gotten too big to do that.
4750
4751One person familiar with the situation as it was going down said Mendez wrote what she did on her own, it wasn’t an angle and the company was completely blind sided by it. Stephanie was absolutely furious at being shown up and made to look bad by one of their own employees, but that seeing the big picture, Vince McMahon ordered Stephanie to respond in the way she did. The only thing the company could do under the circumstances was to diffuse the situation as quickly as possible, because stories about unequal treatment of women starting to get out are can’t wins, similar to the company’s quick attempts of late to quell charges about being racist to Latinos.
4752
4753It’s also notable that it makes twice that talent has complained publicly and not gotten the burial treatment in response. Darren Young, who hadn’t been used, who was brought back to TV although his push with the recreating of the Prime Time Players has every fingerprint of every three week and forget push. This came off his complaints about WWE running shows last week in Abu Dhabi due to how that country treats women and homosexuals. He was ordered to take the tweets down, however. Lee did not take her tweets down.
4754
4755This was a contrast from the day when Steve Austin complained about bad creative, and then was booked to lose to Brock Lesnar on Raw with no build-up when Lesnar was still climbing the ladder. Well, that didn’t work out well for anyone.
4756
4757Like I wrote a few weeks ago, they’ve got three ways to play this. They can make an overt break from the past, make it clear, tell people it’s coming, get rid of certain talent and bring up the NXT talent and make those who can go the focal point in longer matches. If they do that in one fell swoop and stick to their guns, it may or may not be a success. It’s a success in NXT, but NXT is a terrible lab for ideas because the audience make-up is so much smaller and more narrow than what WWE needs. But that doesn’t mean it will fail on the main roster. Athletic women’s wrestling in Japan in the late 70s and early 80s was far bigger on Japanese television then the Attitude Era Monday Night Wars were on U.S. television. But what works in a different culture isn’t guaranteed to work here either. And while that style of wrestling still exists in Japan, it is not very popular today, as, like everything, it’s heyday was largely based on being on network television in strong time slots, and when it could no longer do network caliber numbers, Japan doesn’t have hundreds of secondary channels that still do good numbers that an entertainment form can be built off.
4758
4759They can do a slow change, something Paul Levesque talked about having to do, when talking about the world changing and Ronda Rousey’s appeal. The problem is, there was no slow change involving Rousey. Dana White went 100 miles an hour shoving her down people’s throats, and quite frankly, opened himself and herself up to the idea of a huge failure. And plenty of people were wishing for that to happen.
4760
4761Or they can keep doing what their vision of wrestling is, maybe do some lip service, make some slight tweaks, humor the audience, but until you see a woman’s match in a similar spot on a WWE house show or PPV show that it is on an NXT show, then it’s really lip service.
4762
4763And quite frankly, it could fail. Vince tried with Wendi Richter and Alundra Blayze to make women pro wrestling superstars and both were major failures. It wasn’t the push in either case, it was the public not accepting the push. At the same time, in the 40s and into the early 50s, at a time when promoters lived and died based on weekly box office, women headlined all the time everywhere because the top ones, if not overused, could outdraw the men. I’ve seen weekly dockets from strong wrestling cities where women headlined all the time, and Mildred Burke was treated in the promotional material with equal reverence to Lou Thesz.
4764
4765Times change and the only way to know what will happen now is to legitimately test it out.
4766
4767What we do know is the current method of portrayal of the women comes across as a time filler. The angles are usually bad. The matches are rushed.
4768
4769Some of the women pushed are not very good, and a few are better than they are given the chance to show. When they get to the big show, based on the portrayal on TV, their angles aren’t over. People then see their matches as filler between the important stuff and they don’t get a lot of reaction. Unless there is a marked change in portrayal that is made a big deal of and is based around featuring a lot of talent that hasn’t been on the main roster in the key spots, the current system will continue.
4770
4771Is it possible the current audience will never accept anything else? Yes. At the same time, everything so many said about what the UFC audience would buy or accept turned out to be false.
4772
4773In the end, the UFC fan base has reacted much like the NXT audience. The sex of the competitors isn’t very important. If the match is exciting, the fans like it a lot. If it’s no good, the reaction is the same as a men’s match that isn’t any good. The title is over and it draws, but that’s more due to the superstar who holds it than the belt itself.
4774
4775Carla Esparza has a belt and she’s not going to draw with it, and people aren’t going to care a lot about her fights. Miesha Tate just set a prelims viewership record with Sara McMann. Ronda Rousey would draw equal to any man in the company if she had the same caliber of opponents, and even without them, outdraws the heavyweight champion and most of the other champions.
4776
4777Brooks, who has been quiet since the lawsuit, and I presume he will remain so on the subject until it is settled, did back his wife with a remark saying right after, when someone wrote “Your wife is pretty rad,” from the remarks, he responded back, “Yes I am aware. I should totally marry her.”
4778
4779
4780With the final PPV before WrestleMania in the books, there are a number of WWE stories, including more than one related to the main event on pro wrestling’s biggest show of the year.
4781
4782Brock Lesnar was scheduled for the 2/23 television show in Nashville. Lesnar was there and was scheduled to be on the show. He was advertised all along in local marketing. Why WWE fails to advertise Lesnar on the TV show before his occasional appearances is a crazy question. But they don’t. Instead, they seem to feel it’s more effective to break the news just before show time. So on Twitter, and the web site, as well as in an ad that played on the USA Network, all in the last 20 minutes or so before the start of the show, they started pushing Lesnar would be on the show.
4783
4784Of course, he wasn’t. This is what we do know. Lesnar flew into Nashville and was there when the show started. There was a business disagreement between Lesnar and Vince McMahon, related to negotiations regarding Lesnar signing a new contract. Speculation that the negotiations included Lesnar wanting to do a UFC fight while under his next WWE contract were not part of this at all. It was only related to the offer and terms of the new contact itself.
4785
4786The situation, which was not settled at press time, could be settled quickly and perhaps even easily but right now the two sides are at a key impasse related to the new deal and neither side wants to be the one to back down.
4787
4788What that disagreement was over has been kept secret, but we were told it was all business and had nothing at all to do with current or future creative. The business dispute related to why he didn’t appear on the show, and the company was forced to change its scripting. Lesnar left the arena while the show was going on and flew home. There were reports that he flew on his private jet, but that’s incorrect. When Lesnar comes to WWE shows, the WWE provides him a private jet from his home and back to his home as one of the stipulations of his contract.
4789
4790At Smackdown, Vince McMahon told people in the company there was an unresolved problem, but wouldn’t elaborate on what it was.
4791
4792Lesnar was never booked on the 3/2 Raw in Newark, NJ. He currently has four dates left on his contract, which are the 3/9 Raw in Pittsburgh, the 3/23 Raw in Los Angeles, WrestleMania and the Raw the day after WrestleMania in San Jose. He is still advertised for all of those shows.
4793
4794Those in the company believe Lesnar will be at all his remaining contracted dates, because not doing so would constitute a breach of contract.
4795
4796Without knowing what the dispute is, and its severity, it’s impossible to know what it means as far as the remainder of the contract and the potential of renewing of the deal.
4797
4798
4799With Roman Reigns cleanly pinning Daniel Bryan in what was a hell of a main event on Fast Lane, it’s very clear that Vince McMahon is still planning on the scenario he’s probably had for probably one year, with Reigns beating Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania.
4800
4801Fan reaction at the Royal Rumble, and since the Royal Rumble, largely indicated that scenario was backfiring. Forgetting about Bryan, and forgetting about skill level or being ready or even talking ability, Reigns is nowhere near as over and doesn’t feel like he has anywhere near the momentum of the babyface who is going to chase and win the title on the biggest show of the year.
4802
4803What’s notable is that 21 years ago, a younger Vince McMahon was in the same position, choosing between his own hand-picked next star of the company, tall bodybuilder Lex Luger, or one of the best in-ring performers of that time, Bret Hart. Historically, Luger was far closer to what McMahon liked his champions to look like. But Hart was more popular among the fans. Faced with the crowd reaction in the laboratory setting of a big show, the fans liked Hart more than Luger when they squared off. The WrestleMania original plan, Luger beating Yokozuna to win the title, was changed to Hart. Luger’s momentum was lost, and a little over two years later, working as part of a mid-card tag team he walked out on the company. Hart became the company’s biggest star, before he was gone more than three years later.
4804
4805This time, McMahon went with the original plan. It was acknowledged that Reigns wasn’t over like he should have been. So they went to work. They brought in his cousin, Dwayne Johnson, to make his Royal Rumble win even bigger. But the miscalculation of putting Bryan in the Rumble made the whole scenario backfire, and even the endorsement of Johnson didn’t matter.
4806
4807The next idea was to change the original plan for Fast Lane and put Reigns vs. Bryan. There were a lot of ways to go, but the key is that they’d probably have a great match. In the final scripting, it was Reigns winning clean, and Bryan, the next day, out there with the idea he’s the representative of his fan base, telling them to cheer Reigns onto victory because he was the better man and we were all wrong and he deserves our respect. Not only that, they were put together in a tag team the next day and Reigns ever so graciously allowed Bryan to get the win, even though he did the work to set up the pin.
4808
4809After the Rumble, there was a vocal protest. Did it mean anything business-wise? Well, WWE did change some plans, but in the end went right back to the original one. If a lot of people would have canceled the WWE Network, there would have been no choice but to react. Instead, far more people signed up in the two days after the show than canceled. It was a lot of noise and little action.
4810
4811At Fast Lane, they were doing the same thing, just more directly. They actually put the two of them head-to-head, and the company clearly picked its favorite above the crowd favorite. This time, there was nowhere near the same reaction. People yelling about canceling and not doing so wasn’t going to work. And it was over. The audience couldn’t control the direction.
4812
4813Really, I’d rather somebody wrote a book from start-to-finish rather than readers who have no real understanding of book writing trying to force changes so the little sidekick who is supposed to be a bit player gets the girl and not the handsome lead who the whole book was built around.
4814
4815I learned long ago that a good promoter listens to the fans, and a great promoter completely manipulates the fans. But the idea is that both make the fans want not what they tell the promoter they want, but what the promoter wants in the first place, because he has a better grasp than they do about business.
4816
4817This goes back to Paul Boesch in the 1980s. Boesch every week had his lab experiment, for most of his promoting career, 52 weeks, every Friday, he would have a show at the Sam Houston Coliseum. It takes a lot of ideas and creativity to run 52 times a year in the same building. You’re going to have some hits and some misses, and the idea is to either fool yourself with excuses on the misses, or learn from them. He told me that in the end, all the excuses are just that. If a show doesn’t draw, it’s his fault, for presenting a main event that fans didn’t want to buy tickets to see. Vince McMahon would tell the same stories, except he would use Bobo Brazil, as his conduit, with the story of the bad house, and the wrestlers, and promoters would talk about the weather or the economy or whatever competition was in town, and Bobo would calmly say that the problem is that not enough people wanted to see the main event.
4818
4819Wrestling is a totally different business today. Vince McMahon still tells the Bobo Brazil story. And he doesn’t buy fake excuses. When a show does bad, that means the creative missed. He doesn’t want to hear about county fairs, movie opens, welfare checks and the day of the month, warm weather or cold weather. History has shown that NFL football, NBA playoffs and maybe the World Series or a hot Yankees-Red Sox game can hurt ratings.
4820
4821But one of Boesch’s stories was about listening to the fans. In those days, a large percentage of the audience that attended the show, would buy the souvenir program. So in the 1960s, what better way is there to do direct marketing to your customer base but to put in the program a question, asking fans what match do you want to see. His job was selling tickets to those same customers. Instead of guessing what they want, just ask them directly. So he did it, and booked the match.
4822
4823He never told me the names, but did say the fans wanted a match between the two most popular wrestlers in Texas at the time. It was a match they’d never see because the promoters always did babyface vs. heel. So maybe they were wrong. He booked the match. The gate sucked. And the lesson was learned. If you deliver exactly what the fans ask for, you probably won’t do very well. It’s better to create a scenario, and convince them to buy what you think most of them will pay to see.
4824
4825Over the years, Vince McMahon has handpicked a number of champions with the idea they’d be the face of the company. Hulk Hogan was a big success. Ultimate Warrior seemed like he had all the momentum in the world, but as soon as he got the title, it didn’t work. With hindsight we can point to the excuses, Hogan’s manipulation after the match, no viable contenders set up, or simply bad timing with the idea that any face who followed Hogan would probably fail by comparison. He went back to Hogan, although it was clear McMahon had already made the choice that with Hogan approaching 40, he had to make a new Hogan.
4826
4827I don’t think McMahon at that point saw Bret Hart as more than a bridge, a temporary thing until the next big thing came along. The next pick was Lex Luger. That was blown based on timing. They creating a scenario where he had to win at a certain time, they waited too long, and the momentum was lost. And given his history elsewhere, he probably wouldn’t have been a success if they pulled the trigger at the right time. He was too much like Hogan, and Hogan was still in people’s minds.
4828
4829The next pick was Kevin Nash. He was the biggest of all, talked well and was good looking. But business was terrible during that period and Nash was clearly not the answer as the focal point. Nash wasn’t at the level of Hart or Shawn Michaels, the other two top stars, inside the ring. That was a clear factor at the time, even though there were plenty of people better than most of McMahon’s other champions when they held the title. Warrior was outright terrible unless he had a great heel to carry him. Hogan had a patterned relatively short match that worked, more because Hogan had incredible charisma, which Nash didn’t have even though he was bigger than Hogan and had better hair.
4830
4831Then Shawn Michaels, also not a success. Then Bret Hart, but McMahon got buyers remorse on his contract. Then came Steve Austin, who carried the company during its most successful period in history. Dwayne Johnson came up during the Austin era and carried things when Austin was injured. The Golden Period ended due to two factors. They made the huge mistake of turning Austin heel, and Johnson showed so much charisma in wrestling that Hollywood called, and he had far more acting range than Hogan and he was wrestling less-and-less.
4832
4833That led to the modern era. The company fell greatly with HHH as its top star, but he became a family member. But the company remained profitable because this was the first period in history when they were truly the monopoly promotion. The first hand-picked successor was to be Brock Lesnar. Lesnar was the best athlete and toughest guy ever put into that position. But he wasn’t strong on promos. He was put together with Paul Heyman in a pairing that worked, but the two were broken up and Lesnar was turned face far too early, then turned back. The company also suffered from Johnson appearing less and less frequently and Austin retiring. Eventually the decision was made that Lesnar wasn’t the guy, and he quit the promotion shortly thereafter. Randy Orton came next. He had a long string as a main eventer, a very good wrestler with the right look. Orton had a five year run where he statistically did well above usual business when he was on top, but he did not have the charisma to be a real mover as the top guy. He still was always kept strong because he had the right look and skill set. Actually Dave Bautista surpassed Orton in the fans’ eyes, and as a business mover. Bautista was a huge success with his face turn in 2005. He was a big guy with a great physique and good look, and reasonably good in the ring, far from the best, but certainly when in with the best could be in a quality main event. While his feud with HHH was probably the most successful of the current era, he was quickly surpassed in popularity and momentum by John Cena.
4834
4835Here’s the thing. In every single case, even with Luger and Nash, they had momentum and the fan base treated them like they were a major star on the rise before the big moment came, or in the case with Luger, never came. There was never the totally lukewarm reaction to a full-year title build that lost momentum months before. Many failed when put in the spotlight, but none came in with no momentum.
4836
4837In almost every case historically, even the most stubborn promoter in this scenario would chalk it up to not always being right.
4838
4839Why is this different? One year ago, McMahon made a move that nobody expected. He had Lesnar beat The Undertaker. Nothing in the company, not the title, somebody’s trademark hair or someone’s position had the value of the decades long streak. It was the institution. It would lead to the most shocking moment in modern wrestling history and it could only be done once. There may never be another moment at that level.
4840
4841The idea from the start was that moment would be used to create the new top star of the company. Lesnar would beat Undertaker, demolish Bryan, and be the unstoppable heel force, and Reigns would succeed where even Cena couldn’t. It made all the sense in the world a year ago. Reigns was young, looked great, and The Shield were the hottest new act in years. Reigns had been presented as the killer and the tough one in the group. The idea was to use The Shield to get him over, and it worked better than expected. He was an instant headliner being put out on his own. But whether it was timing, the injury, Bryan, or people wanting more substance from the top guy, it didn’t work.
4842
4843Why McMahon was so married to the idea may have been that by beating Undertaker, and having a guy who brought the fan base into a different dimension of stronger reality like Lesnar, it created a unique time to make the new face, figuring it was time make Cena the babyface legend and not the guy in the championship picture, essentially what Bruno was to Bob Backlund and what he wanted Hogan to be to Warrior and later Bret Hart but it never worked out.
4844
4845Abandoning Reigns would have historically made the Undertaker loss almost for naught and there was no way to recreate that storyline. Even though Bryan was the hottest act at the time, at no point did he ever consider Bryan as the guy. He was too physically small and not good looking enough. And that was the problem. He got hung up on the factors and not the end result.
4846
4847Even though Bryan’s chant made it appear he was more over than he was, and he wasn’t a business mover on the level of Cena, he was significantly ahead of Reigns with far less help in presentation. But even with that, the argument is Reigns was younger, and with his look, had more long-term potential. Based on traditional qualities, he did. But the appreciation of wrestling ability as a quality may be higher than ever now, and perhaps the most important modern qualities are wrestling, talking and connecting, and Bryan was far superior in all of them.
4848
4849What could have been different? We’ll never know. He was the guy picked by the fans, but the company never saw it. Everyone knows the debate to death.
4850
4851What McMahon forgot is that every category, whether it’s wrestling ability, talking ability, likeability, looks, size, physique, height, perceived toughness, athletic ability and gimmick all go into how fans will react to different wrestlers. But they are all just categories.
4852
4853There have been good looking guys who couldn’t draw women. Why? I don’t know or care, but they didn’t. There have been some guys who weren’t good looking who could. There were guys who looked physically like Greek Gods who did draw, and others who didn’t. Some short guys caught on. Some tall guys did. What is the best predictor of being over? The ability to get over. What is the best predictor of being able to draw on top? Being put on top with no shackles on your hands and wrists and ticket sales increase.
4854
4855Bryan didn’t fit into the traditional categories of what draws. Small great wrestlers historically were guys who worked the second match. Except there was also Ray Stevens. Guys who looked like slobs usually made the business look bad to outsiders, and would be a disaster if put on top. Except there was Dusty Rhodes. Short acrobatic guys with minimal wrestling ability and zero psychology can’t draw a dime. Except Argentina Rocca carried Madison Square Garden’s business on his back for eight years. At an NWA meeting in the 70s, Terry Funk spoke about how the keys to the business were promos and if you couldn’t talk well, you weren’t going to be able to draw. Ed Farhat then spoke and said that there isn’t a person in this room who has drawn more money than I have (and there wasn’t), and I’ve never said a word on an interview.
4856
4857But almost nobody has ever caught on at his level while being pushed at the level he was being pushed at. I don’t know if there is any promoter at any period of time who would have seen his reactions and not at least put him in a top spot as an experiment. Bill Watts once, during the heyday of the Rock & Roll Express, had his doubts about putting Ricky Morton in a Superdome main event with Ric Flair, but it appeared Morton was over like crazy. When he booked the match and gave it a full push, and it drew about 10,000 fans, considered a lukewarm house, better than some, less than Flair did with others, his conclusion was that fans bought Morton in a tag team situation with anyone, but not as a single going after the world title. But if it had drawn, he wouldn’t have come to that conclusion that he was too small to draw on top challenging for the big belt.
4858
4859Don’t get me wrong. Many promoters would see Bryan’s weaknesses and think it wouldn’t work. Some would probably like him a lot and give it the benefit of the doubt if it was close. Others would look at it differently. But everyone would try. And they did try last year with Bryan, but in his coming back from an injury, every other top promoter would have pushed his comeback a lot harder and the former babyface champion who was super popular and successful a year earlier, and never lost, was not getting his legs cut off before he got a shot at the title. If it didn’t work, sure, but it would at least be given that shot.
4860
4861But then again, what other company, besides the dying version of WCW, would have one of its stars as a key participant in the World Series parade, and never even mention it on their television show?
4862
4863We’ll never know what Bryan’s true top potential was, and what the staying power of his popularity would have been. He’s going to have a good career. But he’ll never be the guy who carries the company. Unlike virtually everyone historically of his level of popularity, it won’t be because they tried and it failed. It will be because it was decided that the category predictors were more important than the overall result. And thus, he couldn’t be the guy, even though he was far more popular, could wrestle better and talk better and connected better than guys stronger who fared better on the list of category predictors.
4864
4865But the key is, and the only constant in every era, is that all of those sub-categories and adding them up and getting a score is meaningless. There were great talkers who couldn’t draw on top. There were great ring technicians that couldn’t draw on top. There were models who couldn’t draw on top. There were small guys who couldn’t and there were great big guys with pretty faces who couldn’t. There were legitimate badasses that couldn’t.
4866
4867In the end, the only thing that matters is charisma, and charisma is about crowd connection during the time and place. That’s it. Not necessarily noise. A prelim guy with a cool gimmick or the right story can get a gigantic pop. It’s the connection where you are somebody people see as being special, and can make them buy tickets, or garner more interest in your matches than all the other guys.
4868
4869Bryan was the closest guy to having that one year ago, at least among the non-Cena members of the roster. He was the closest guy now, at least until Sunday, even with never being treated like it. In his case, the connection was people just liked him a lot, liked to chant with him, and it was just the right thing at the right time. Even star athletes liked having connections to him. In the end, he was never able to overcome the physical negatives to the audience of one. And I can’t think of one example historically of someone the public embraced to that level who got treated in creative at that level. Orton never had anything close to this, never sold merchandise at his level, and he was given a decade plus of protection at a level Bryan could never dream, and championship reign after championship reign. He got his WrestleMania win and had his moment and thus, it was time for someone else. Imagine if that mentality had been used for Cena or Orton a decade ago. Take Cena out of the mix and book him like a joke who almost always failed and the company would be in far worse shape than it is now. And you could easily, if you wanted, point to all kinds of flaws with Cena, but he could be on the Muscle & Fitness cover and was a great brand ambassador to the outside world, a role nobody else would have been as good at. But Bryan had that quality of likeability and seeming genuine that can’t be taught. But because of the inability to get past the physical package, something the audience had gotten past and not considered a negative years ago, his strengths, including the ability to have a match at the level that only the best historically could hit on a consistent basis, regardless of his dance partner, was squandered.
4870
4871It was clear on Raw that his fan base was finally beaten after a long fight. He’s Chris Benoit after Randy Orton beat him, the guy everyone likes and respects, that everyone will want to work programs with, and whose job will be to put over the next generation of MVPs, Drew McIntyre’s, Alberto Del Rio’s and Roman Reigns, except preferably with a happy ending.
4872
4873As for Reigns, what we know is that the endorsements tricks with Dwayne Johnson and Bryan won’t save the experiment. We learned that every time Johnson tried to put over Cena verbally and people turned on him. But at least with Cena, his segments drew the highest numbers most of the time, his merchandise blew away the field, they’d raise tickets prices for his shows and he’d still constantly outsell everyone else. The mixed reactions were great evidence for people who understood little about business, since Cena, while not Austin, Hogan or Sammartino, still laid golden eggs better than all but a few wrestlers in company history.
4874
4875The difference with Cena is people passionately loved and hated him. Reigns is more than people just don’t care all that much either way about him. Yeah, they really hated him as the anti-Bryan. But now that he’s not that, they don’t like him all that much, and they don’t hate him all that much. He’s a cold guy going against a heel that people want to like in Lesnar. In his favor, if Lesnar is leaving, fans still may get behind him as the guy trying to save their kingdom from the traitor who sold out. If Lesnar is staying, Levi’s Stadium may provide a very disappointing backdrop as compared to New Orleans on coronation night.
4876
4877But the economics are so different now that it really doesn’t matter all that much what moves are made. No idea or new personality from the new era of mid-carders promotion is drawing people from out of the usual group of viewers in.
4878
4879But the biggest story on Fast Lane was the end of the Bryan story as the guy the fans willed to be the top guy and face of the company. It was a fight for a long time fans thought they could win, and they clearly lost, and more importantly, based on post-Fast Lane, they weren’t even that mad anymore. It was just acceptance.
4880
4881Don’t get me wrong. He is going to be a star within the television show for maybe as long as his body holds up, and at minimum for several more years. He’s a great wrestler and he’ll be counted on to be part of big matches. He’ll get over the heels they are promoting to whomever their real headliner is. He’ll have great technical matches when called on to face talented wrestlers. He’ll give good promos. People will like him. They’ll still chant “Yes” all the time, not with the fervor they once did, but it’ll always be the new “Hiyo.” When he’s 50, he can still be used for easy heat for a new heel, he can come out, get his nostalgia chant, and lose just like Jim Duggan did. Well, except probably a whole lot more effectively.
4882
4883
4884
4885c
4886
4887With Fast Lane in the books, WrestleMania is now shaping up like this:
4888
48891) Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns for the WWE title
4890
48912) Sting vs. HHH
4892
48933) Rusev vs. John Cena for the U.S. title, possibly in a gimmick match
4894
48954) Undertaker vs. Bray Wyatt
4896
48975) Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins - Likely some kind of involvement with Jon Stewart of The Daily Show here
4898
48996) A multiple person IC title match involving some or all of these men: Champion Bad News Barrett, Dean Ambrose, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler and R-Truth, which could also have a stipulation added
4900
49017) Tyson Kidd & Cesaro vs. Usos in a tag title match in some form
4902
49038) A women’s match
4904
49059) Andre the Giant Battle Royal (Participant list will look something like this: Adam Rose, Big E, Big Show, Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel, The Miz, Damien Mizdow, Darren Young, Erick Rowan, Fandango, Los Matadores, Kane, Kofi Kingston, Sheamus, Luke Harper, Sin Cara, Titus O’Neil, Ryback, Xavier Woods, The Ascension or Zack Ryder.
4906
4907It’s also possible there will be a Goldust vs. Stardust match.
4908
4909Aside from the Mania name, the annual Undertaker appearance, the first WWE match of Sting, and if Stewart is part of the show, this doesn’t seem much different than a usual card. But the Mania name itself is the biggest draw. The direction very quietly also makes it sound like the career of Hulk Hogan is likely over, because he’s not getting any younger, and made it clear he wanted a retirement match at this year’s show. While Undertaker’s first match in a year is big, it loses a lot without the streak.
4910
4911Fast Lane, on 2/22 in Memphis, drew 10,300 fans, and garnered a mixed-to-negative reaction even with a tremendous main event.
4912
4913The February show is always tough because the Mania course is already chartered and largely known, and it’s about staying the course.
4914
4915The key item besides the main event win by Reigns leading to the Mania match, was a Sting/HHH confrontation, which saw Sting, who never said one word, laying out HHH with a scorpion death drop. They pushed the idea it was the face of WWE vs. the face of WCW, and that HHH was the guy responsible for killing WCW and thus that’s why Sting wants revenge on him. The claim is that after WCW died in 2001, Sting went down with the ship and hasn’t been heard from since, which is what it is.
4916
4917There was an Undertaker entrance, with druids carrying a casket in, but it was Wyatt, not Undertaker, who popped out of the casket.
4918
4919~~~~~
4920
4921Raw last night did 2.28 million viewers, a number that has to be considered bad coming off a pay-per-view. It was up 1.8 percent from last week's number.
4922
4923The positive news is that the first-to-third hour drop was 11 percent, which is good based on recent history, although not good based on long-term history. The two big takeaways are that there was not a lot of interest in Stomping Grounds, as all metrics have shown, nor was there curiosity coming out of it in a big way, based on a first hour number that was very low coming off a PPV.
4924
4925However, the episode itself did retain the audience better than most this year, which is a combination of the show itself, and the interest level in the Ricochet vs. AJ Styles main event.
4926
4927~~~~~
4928
4929Wrestling Observer Newsletter
4930
4931PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 March 9, 2015
4932
4933UFC 184 POLL RESULTS
4934
4935Thumbs up 96 (73.8%)
4936
4937Thumbs down 10 (07.7%)
4938
4939In the middle 24 (18.5%)
4940
4941BEST MATCH POLL
4942
4943Ronda Rousey vs. Cat Zingano 34
4944
4945Masio Fullen vs. Alex Torres 32
4946
4947WORST MATCH POLL
4948
4949Kid Yamamoto vs. Roman Salazar 74
4950
4951Jake Ellenberger vs. Josh Koscheck 20
4952
4953ROH 13TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW POLL RESULTS
4954
4955Thumbs up 78 (91.8%)
4956
4957Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
4958
4959In the middle 7 (08.2%)
4960
4961BEST MATCH POLL
4962
4963Fish & O’Reilly vs. Young Bucks 82
4964
4965WORST MATCH POLL
4966
4967ODB vs. Maria Kanellis 31
4968
4969Moose vs. Mark Briscoe 23
4970
4971Jay Briscoe vs. Elgin vs. Hanson vs. Ciampa 17
4972
4973Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 3/3.
4974
4975Issues remained unresolved between Brock Lesnar and WWE head Vince McMahon, but McMahon has told everyone involved not to create any backup plans regarding the WrestleMania main event.
4976~~~~
4977
4978Wrestling Observer Newsletter
4979
4980PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 March 16, 2013
4981
4982NEW JAPAN CUP FIRST ROUND
4983
4984Thumbs up 35 (100.0%)
4985
4986Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
4987
4988In the middle 0 (00.0%)
4989
4990BEST MATCH POLL
4991
4992Hirooki Goto vs. Yuji Nagata 17
4993
4994Tetsuya Naito vs. Karl Anderson 8
4995
4996WORST MATCH POLL
4997
4998Toru Yano vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 18
4999
5000NEW JAPAN CUP QUARTERFINALS
5001
5002Thumbs up 41 (100.0%)
5003
5004Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
5005
5006In the middle 0 (00.0%)
5007
5008BEST MATCH POLL
5009
5010Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata 23
5011
5012Tanahashi & Komatsu vs. Nagata & Tanaka 7
5013
5014WORST MATCH POLL
5015
5016Kota Ibushi vs. Toru Yano 16
5017
5018Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 3/10.
5019
5020"I deny the recent allegations made about me, however, to avoid any embarrassment or damage to the WWE, I've decided to step down from my role effective immediately."
5021
5022
5023~~~~~
5024
5025Wrestling Observer Newsletter
5026
5027PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 March 23, 2015
5028
5029UFC 185 POLL RESULTS
5030
5031Thumbs up 137 (89.0%)
5032
5033Thumbs down 6 (03.9%)
5034
5035In the middle 11 (07.1%)
5036
5037BEST MATCH POLL
5038
5039Rafael dos Anjos vs. Anthony Pettis 85
5040
5041Alistair Overeem vs. Roy Nelson 19
5042
5043Johny Hendricks vs. Matt Brown 16
5044
5045Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Carla Esparza 13
5046
5047WORST MATCH POLL
5048
5049Jared Rosholt vs. Josh Copeland 65
5050
5051Henry Cejudo vs. Chris Cariaso 10
5052
5053NEW JAPAN CUP FINALS
5054
5055Thumbs up 70 (100.0%)
5056
5057Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
5058
5059In the middle 0 (00.0%)
5060
5061BEST MATCH POLL
5062
5063Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito 67
5064
5065WORST MATCH
5066
5067Shibata & Honma vs. Hall & Tonga 24
5068
5069Sakuraba & Yano vs. Tanahashi & Captain 16
5070
5071Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 3/17.
5072
5073~~~~~
5074
5075Wrestling Observer Newsletter
5076
5077PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 May 4, 2015
5078
5079WWE EXTREME RULES POLL
5080
5081Thumbs up 114 (45.8%)
5082
5083Thumbs down 46 (18.5%)
5084
5085In the middle 89 (35.7%)
5086
5087BEST MATCH POLL
5088
5089New Day vs. Kidd & Cesaro 136
5090
5091Roman Reigns vs. Big Show 68
5092
5093Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton 14
5094
5095Dolph Ziggler vs. Sheamus 12
5096
5097Neville vs. Bad News Barrett 10
5098
5099WORST MATCH POLL
5100
5101Nikki Bella vs. Naomi 68
5102
5103John Cena vs. Rusev 64
5104
5105Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper 56
5106
5107Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton 19
5108
5109UFC 186 POLL RESULTS
5110
5111Thumbs up 91 (75.2%)
5112
5113Thumbs down 17 (14.0%)
5114
5115In the middle 13 (10.7%)
5116
5117BEST MATCH POLL
5118
5119Michael Bisping vs. C.B. Dollaway 95
5120
5121WORST MATCH POLL
5122
5123Rampage Jackson vs. Fabio Maldonado 43
5124
5125Demetrious Johnson vs. Kyoji Horiguchi 24
5126
5127Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 4/28.
5128
5129Verne Gagne, one of the most influential figures in the history of pro wrestling, passed away on 4/27.
5130
5131Gagne was surrounded by family at the time of his death. He was 89. Before his death, Gagne was believed to have been the second oldest living major wrestling star. Only woman wrestler Cora Combs, who is 92, was older.
5132
5133Gagne had been suffering from dementia for more than a decade. He was a highly controversial figure who would have to be considered one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all-time, as well as once of its most successful promoters. He also broke in and trained some of the greatest wrestlers of the modern era.
5134~~~~~
5135
5136Thumbs up 114 (45.8%)
5137
5138Thumbs down 46 (18.5%)
5139
5140In the middle 89 (35.7%)~~~
5141
5142Wrestling Observer Newsletter
5143
5144PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 May 11, 2015
5145
5146NEW JAPAN DONTAKU POLL RESULTS
5147
5148Thumbs up 59 (93.7%)
5149
5150Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
5151
5152In the middle 4 (06.3%)
5153
5154BEST MATCH POLL
5155
5156Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 48
5157
5158Young Bucks vs. ReDRagon vs. RPG Vice 13
5159
5160WORST MATCH POLL
5161
5162Taven & Bennett & Maria vs. Bullet Club 62
5163
5164Based on e-mails and phone messages to the Observer as of Tuesday, 5/5.
5165
5166The biggest money event in combat sports history came and went, with numbers so crazy they wouldn’t have even been fathomable a few months ago.
5167
5168When Mayweather-Pacquiao was first talked about, the kind of numbers thrown out were a $40 million live gate and 3 million PPV buys at $100 a pop.
5169~~~~
5170
5171Wrestling Observer Newsletter
5172
5173PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 May 25, 2015
5174
5175WWE PAYBACK POLL RESULTS
5176
5177Thumbs up 101 (59.8%)
5178
5179Thumbs down 16 (09.5%)
5180
5181In the middle 52 (30.8%)
5182
5183BEST MATCH POLL
5184
5185Rollins vs. Orton vs. Reigns vs. Ambrose 114
5186
5187New Day vs. Kidd & Cesaro 34
5188
5189Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler 11
5190
5191John Cena vs. Rusev 10
5192
5193WORST MATCH POLL
5194
5195Snuka & Naomi vs. Bellas 98
5196
5197The Ascension vs. Mandow & Axelmania 22
5198
5199John Cena vs. Rusev 19
5200
5201Bray Wyatt vs. Ryback 11
5202
5203R-Truth vs. Stardust 11
5204
5205ROH GLOBAL WARS POLL RESULTS
5206
5207Thumbs up 66 (78.6%)
5208
5209Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
5210
5211In the middle 18 (21.4%)
5212
5213BEST MATCH POLL
5214
521510-man tag 69
5216
5217Kazuchika Okada vs. Cedric Alexander 13
5218
5219WORST MATCH POLL
5220
5221Moose & Gedo vs. Watanabe & Young 52
5222
5223Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 5/19.
5224
5225For the past 13 years, pro wrestling in the U.S. has had a dominant No. 1 promotion, and a clear cut but distant No. 2 group.
5226
5227~~~~~
5228
5229
5230In January, a series of changes put the No. 2 position up for grabs. TNA, the No. 2 group in the country from its inception in the summer of 2002, at first built around the idea of getting back the lost WCW fan base, had lost Spike TV after nine years, and was moving to Destination America.
5231
5232From a television platform perspective, this put three different companies nipping at their heels. There was ROH, with a syndicated network on the expanding list of Sinclair Broadcasting stations, a company that has been around as long as TNA but never had the finances or exposure levels. There was Lucha Underground, a new group, that while having very limited English language viewership, was on the Unimas network of local Spanish language stations and featured talent from AAA, the most popular promotion on television in Mexico. And there was New Japan Pro Wrestling on AXS, a station in less homes than the other three, but with the fastest growing product in the world over the past three years.
5233
5234Five months later, it's still not clear where things stand. On a worldwide basis, AAA and New Japan are far higher profile, but neither has a strong U.S. profile. Lucha Underground got rave reviews as a television show, but it has yet to officially announce a second season after significant money losses. New Japan starts its second season on AXS, but it's still older tapes. Many people consider it their favorite weekly show, but the deal was through TV-Asahi, and New Japan itself hasn't used the time slot to up their profile, promote their streaming service or big shows and get more of a foothold. Even before television, it did the most successful non-WWE PPV show of the year, with Wrestle Kingdom, marketed largely by videos on the Internet and built largely around lead announcer Jim Ross, beating the recent ROH PPV shows as well as TNA shows from last year.
5235
5236~~~
5237
5238The Moose unbeaten streak ended at TV, when Cedric Alexander turned heel and knocked him out with either his shoe or Brass Knux. The fans cheered like crazy when Alexander won, and there were "Moose sucks" chants, so there was a backlash in Toronto even though he had been the hot cult thing for months. Veda Scott then turned on Moose and went with Alexander.
5239
5240~~~~~
5241
5242For the iPPV on 5/15 in Toronto:
5243
52441. Moose & Gedo beat Silas Young & Watanabe in 7:33. Fans sort of popped for Moose's hot tag. He threw a high dropkick which is really impressive for a 295 pound guy. M~oose went for a spear on Watanabe, who nailed him with a knee coming in. Watanabe then tagged in Young who got speared for the pin. Moose wasn't as over as I'd seen him in other cities. *1/2
5245
52462. Kushida won a three-way over Kyle O'Reilly and Chris Sabin in 9:46. O'Reilly was supposed to be in the multiple team match later in the show, but Bobby Fish had a problem at the border and couldn't get into Canada. Truth Martini couldn't get in for the first night, but did for the second. Fun match. Kushida did a combination O'Connor roll on Sabin and German suplex on O'Reilly. Lots of near falls. O'Reilly used a brainbuster on Sabin for a near fall, then put him in the armbar. Kushida broke it up with a moonsault and then used the Kimura on Sabin for the win. ***1/4
5247
52483. Matt Taven & Michael Bennett beat Jushin Liger & Matt Sydal in 8:31. Liger was super over. Maria Kanellis interfered early. Liger teased doing a dive but Kanellis got in the way. Liger got mesmerized by her and started thinking he was Ric Flair, strutting around. She grabbed him and stuck his head in her boobs. There are worse ways to set up a loss. He turned around into a double superkick. Sydal tagged in doing all kinds of cool kicks. He came off the top with a shooting star press but Sydal caught him with a superkick. They did a spike piledriver on Sydal for the pin. ***
5249
52504. Kazuchika Okada pinned Cedric Alexander in 13:58. The lights went out twice during this match, but they came back on pretty quickly. Okada had just done the dropkick knocking Alexander off the top rope to the floor. When the lights came on he did his draping DDT on the floor off the guard rail. Alexander did a running flip dive and the lights went out again. They traded near falls. Okada went for the rainmaker, Alexander ducked and used a springboard tornado DDT. Okada won after a dropkick, a tombstone piledriver and the rainmaker. Okada went to shake his hand but Alexander walked off, foretelling his heel turn the next day. ***½
5251
5252
5253~~~~
5254
5255Scott Hall was booked on the 6/20 and 6/21 shows for guest appearances but has been pulled from both dates and right now there are no plans to use him. This stems from this past weekend, where it came out via TMZ that Hall was physically escorted out of a show in Asbury Park, NJ this weekend. The story said that Hall appeared to be wasted hours before a meet and greet, was given multiple chances to sober up, but never did. Then the promoters asked him to leave and he refused, demanding to be paid. "The event was too well run for us to make a fool of ourselves by allowing him to appear," said promoter Ricky Otazu. "We will no longer be associated with him until he gets his life in order." Hall seemed in the best shape he's been in years at WrestleMania weekend in several social situations, including WrestleMania activities and in consoling Rey Mysterio Jr. & Konnan after the death of Perro Aguayo Jr. But reports from the past few weeks, even before the TMZ story came out, were not nearly as positive. Those close to Hall have claimed he was given drinks by people associated with the band, and when he left the next morning, he was fine.
5256~~~
5257
5258Wrestling Observer Newsletter
5259
5260PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 November 2, 2015
5261
5262 
5263
5264WWE HELL IN A CELL POLL RESULTS
5265
5266Thumbs up 148 (89.2%)
5267
5268Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
5269
5270In the middle 18 (10.8%)
5271
5272 
5273
5274BEST MATCH POLL
5275
5276Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker 162
5277
5278 
5279
5280WORST MATCH POLL
5281
5282Kevin Owens vs. Ryback 111
5283
5284New Day vs. Dudleys 24
5285
5286Charlotte vs. Nikki Bella 13
5287
5288Alberto Del Rio vs. John Cena 11
5289
5290Based on e-mails and phone messages to the Observer as of Tuesday, 10/27.
5291~~~
5292
5293Wrestling Observer Newsletter
5294
5295PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 November 16, 2015
5296
5297 
5298
5299NEW JAPAN POWER STRUGGLE
5300
5301Thumbs up 68 (100.0%)
5302
5303Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
5304
5305In the middle 0 (00.0%)
5306
5307 
5308
5309BEST MATCH POLL
5310
5311Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tomoaki Honma 68
5312
5313 
5314
5315WORST MATCH POLL
5316
5317Hirooki Goto vs. Evil 20
5318
5319Gallows & Hall & Tonga vs. Robinson & Makabe & Captain New Japan
5320
532119
5322
5323Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 11/10.
5324~~~
5325
5326Thumbs up 68 (100.0%)
5327
5328Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
5329
5330In the middle 0 (00.0%)
5331~~~
5332
5333Wrestling Observer Newsletter
5334
5335PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 November 30, 2015
5336
5337WWE SURVIVOR SERIES POLL RESULTS
5338
5339Thumbs up 71 (31.7%)
5340
5341Thumbs down 82 (36.6%)
5342
5343In the middle 71 (31.7%)
5344
5345BEST MATCH POLL
5346
5347Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens 106
5348
5349Roman Reigns vs. Alberto Del Rio 69
5350
5351Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose 20
5352
5353WORST MATCH POLL
5354
5355Tyler Breeze vs. Dolph Ziggler 37
5356
5357New Day Survivor Series match 37
5358
5359Sheamus vs. Roman Reigns 34
5360
5361Charlotte vs. Paige 31
5362
5363Undertaker & Kane vs. Wyatts 25
5364
5365Stardust Survivor Series match 21
5366
5367Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 11/24.
5368
5369With the injury to Seth Rollins forcing major changes in plans, WWE's priority this past week at the Survivor Series had to be to fill the top heel slot in the company.
5370~~~
5371
5372Wrestling Observer Newsletter
5373
5374PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 October 6, 2015
5375
5376NEW JAPAN DESTRUCTION IN KOBE POLL RESULTS
5377
5378Thumbs up 66 (98.5%)
5379
5380Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
5381
5382In the middle 1 (01.5%)
5383
5384BEST MATCH POLL
5385
5386Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hirooki Goto 65
5387
5388WORST MATCH POLL
5389
5390Nagata vs. Nakanishi six man tag 31
5391
5392Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 9/29.
5393
5394With the exception of Vince McMahon, and perhaps Hulk Hogan, there is nobody whose role in pro wrestling is more pivotal to what the business is today than Eric Bischoff.
5395
5396Even though he last ran WCW in 1999, and left the promotion a second time in 2000 after being brought back, his influence is felt and quite frankly, may be felt forever
5397~~~~
5398
5399Wrestling Observer Newsletter
5400
5401PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 October 12, 2015
5402
5403UFC 192 POLL RESULTS
5404
5405Thumbs up 142 (94.0%)
5406
5407Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
5408
5409In the middle 9 (06.0%)
5410
5411BEST MATCH POLL
5412
5413Daniel Cormier vs. Alexander Gustafsson 150
5414
5415WORST MATCH POLL
5416
5417Joseph Benavidez vs. Ali Bagautinov 68
5418
5419Ruslan Magomedov vs. Shawn Jordan 28
5420
5421Ryan Bader vs. Rashad Evans 10
5422
5423WWE IN MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
5424
5425Thumbs up 82 (53.2%)
5426
5427Thumbs down 19 (12.3%)
5428
5429In the middle 53 (34.4%)
5430
5431BEST MATCH POLL
5432
5433John Cena vs. Seth Rollins 87
5434
5435Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho 29
5436
5437Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show 8
5438
5439WORST MATCH POLL
5440
5441Team Bellas vs. Team PCB 72
5442
5443Neville vs. Stardust 27
5444
5445Dudleys vs. New Day 16
5446
5447John Cena vs. Seth Rollins 8
5448
5449TNA BOUND FOR GLORY
5450
5451Thumbs up 13 (32.5%)
5452
5453Thumbs down 13 (32.5%)
5454
5455In the middle 14 (35.0%)
5456
5457BEST MATCH POLL
5458
5459Edwards & Richards vs. Lee & Meyers 19
5460
5461Ultimate X 9
5462
5463Matt Hardy vs. EC 3 vs. Drew Galloway 8
5464
5465WORST MATCH POLL
5466
5467Gauntlet match 35
5468
5469Based on phone calls and e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 10/6.
5470
5471~~~~
5472
5473Wrestling Observer Newsletter
5474
5475PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 October 19, 2015
5476
5477NXT TAKEOVER RESPECT POLL RESULTS
5478
5479Thumbs up 138 (98.6%)
5480
5481Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
5482
5483In the middle 2 (01.4%)
5484
5485BEST MATCH POLL
5486
5487Bayley vs. Sasha Banks 129
5488
5489Rhyno & Corbin vs. Jordan & Gable 8
5490
5491WORST MATCH POLL
5492
5493Joe & Balor vs. Wilder & Dawson 19
5494
5495Joe & Balor vs. Rhyno & Corbin 19
5496
5497Apollo Crews vs. Tyler Breeze 18
5498
5499Rhyno & Corbin vs. Jordan & Gable 9
5500
5501NEW JAPAN KING OF PRO WRESTLING POLL RESULTS
5502
5503Thumbs up 73 (85.9%)
5504
5505Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
5506
5507In the middle 12 (14.1%)
5508
5509BEST MATCH POLL
5510
5511Kazuchika Okada vs. A.J. Styles 69
5512
5513Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito 10
5514
5515WORST MATCH POLL
5516
5517Nakamura & Yano & Sakuraba vs. Bullet Club 46
5518
5519Eight man tag match 13
5520
5521Ten man tag match 9
5522
5523Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 10/13.
5524
5525Luis Ignacio Urive Alvirde, one of the biggest drawing cards in Mexico of the current generation as the first CMLL Mistico and original Sin Cara in WWE, walked out on AAA with no warning and showed up doing a promo during the CMLL show Arena Mexico on 10/9.
5526
5527~~~~~
5528
5529Wrestling Observer Newsletter
5530
5531PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 October 26, 2015
5532
5533WWE loaded up on Raw on 10/19, bringing back Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Undertaker and Brock Lesnar, and drew the company's lowest non-holiday rating for the show since February 17, 1997, with 2.20 rating and 3.35 million viewers.
5534
5535The actual audience was up 80,000 viewers from the prior week due to a strong 1.59 viewers per home, the highest total of the year. Total viewers were in the same range as the show has been doing against football all season, and even though the competition was tough with baseball playoffs, the NFL and the debut of the "Star Wars" trailer. But this was a show WWE had been peaking for, including Austin, the biggest arena and merchandise draw in company history, appearing on Raw for the first time in four years.
5536
5537The Austin return was largely a waste, in the sense WWE didn't advertise him as being on Raw anywhere except in Dallas until a little more than three hours before the show started. It's been constantly proven how breaking news on Twitter is a constant disappointment when it comes to sparking ratings, but that's a lesson that seems to go unlearned, with this being the latest example. Still, the other four were pushed all week on television, and the company had made the announcement of all the names several weeks ago. In addition, the company had heavily promoted Austin doing a podcast with Lesnar after Raw.
5538
5539Football and baseball were the prime culprits with the Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Giants game doing 13.90 million viewers. At halftime of the game was the debut of the "Star Wars" trailer, but the game lost audience during halftime and the trailer, so that can't be viewed as more significant than the game itself. The football rating was good, but it was lower than the game two weeks earlier. The Kansas City Royals vs. Toronto Blue Jays baseball game did 3.09 million viewers, less than Raw, although it beat Raw's ratings because it was on FS 1, which is in 11 million more homes than USA. But that was significantly less than baseball did the prior week, as it was a small market team against a Canadian team. While no ratings are available, the belief was that Raw was going to do a record low in Canada, because Raw numbers have been down, and it was going against the Blue Jays, who have been doing incredible Canadian numbers of late, and the coverage of the Canadian national election.
5540~~~~
5541
5542Wrestling Observer Newsletter
5543
5544PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 September 14, 2015
5545
5546 
5547
5548UFC 191 POLL RESULTS
5549
5550Thumbs up 4 (03.6%)
5551
5552Thumbs down 52 (46.8%)
5553
5554In the middle 55 (49.5%)
5555
5556 
5557
5558BEST MATCH POLL
5559
5560John Lineker vs. Francisco Rivera 81
5561
5562 
5563
5564WORST MATCH POLL
5565
5566Andrei Arlovski vs. Frank Mir 68
5567
5568Corey Anderson vs. Jan Blachowicz 11
5569
5570Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 9/8.
5571
5572 
5573
5574One of the biggest weekends of the year, which includes two major promotions having their biggest events of the year, as well as two pro wrestling PPV events with the same theme, take place next week.
5575
5576~~~~~
5577
5578Wrestling Observer Newsletter
5579
5580PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 September 28, 2015
5581
5582WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS POLL RESULTS
5583
5584Thumbs up 130 (72.6%)
5585
5586Thumbs down 10 (05.6%)
5587
5588In the middle 39 (21.8%)
5589
5590BEST MATCH POLL
5591
5592John Cena vs. Seth Rollins 147
5593
5594Wyatt Family vs. Reigns & Ambrose & Jericho 15
5595
5596WORST MATCH POLL
5597
5598Dudleys vs. New Day 49
5599
5600Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev 42
5601
5602Kevin Owens vs. Ryback 33
5603
5604Charlotte vs. Nikki Bella 24
5605
5606Stardust’s team vs. Neville’s team 10
5607
5608BELLATOR DYNAMITE POLL RESULTS
5609
5610Thumbs Up 69 (51.9%)
5611
5612Thumbs down 21 (15.8%)
5613
5614In the middle 43 (32.3%)
5615
5616BEST MATCH POLL
5617
5618Liam McGeary vs. Tito Ortiz 49
5619
5620King Mo vs. Linton Vassell 28
5621
5622Saulo Cavalari vs. Zack Mwekassa 26
5623
5624WORST MATCH POLL
5625
5626Keri Melendez vs. Hadley Griffith 32
5627
5628Francis Carmont vs. Anthony Ruiz 26*
5629
5630Paul Daley vs. Fernando Gonzalez 20
5631
5632*Didn’t air on TV broadcast but votes came from those attending live and those watching prelims on Spike.com
5633
5634ROH ALL-STAR EXTRAVAGANZA POLL RESULTS
5635
5636Thumbs up 74 (87.1%)
5637
5638Thumbs down 5 (05.9%)
5639
5640In the middle 6 (07.1%)
5641
5642BEST MATCH POLL
5643
5644Kingdom vs. Addiction vs. Bucks 40
5645
5646Moose vs. Cedric Alexander 14
5647
5648Jay Lethal vs. Kyle O’Reilly 14
5649
5650Styles vs. Elgin vs. Cole vs. Strong 11
5651
5652WORST MATCH POLL
5653
5654Silas Young vs. Dalton Castle 29
5655
5656CMLL ANNIVERSARY SHOW POLL RESULTS
5657
5658Thumbs up 49 (98.0%)
5659
5660Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
5661
5662In the middle 1 (02.0%)
5663
5664BEST MATCH POLL
5665
5666Atlantis vs. La Sombra 50
5667
5668WORST MATCH POLL
5669
5670Dark Angel vs. Princesa Sugei 28
5671
5672Based on phone calls and e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 9/22.
5673
5674The future of Sting is very much in question, as is the biggest match at next year’s WrestleMania.