YXBNDJpu

1FEBRUARY 3, 2020 OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: ROYAL RUMBLE REVIEW, WM 36 TAKES SHAPE
2BY OBSERVER STAFF | STAFF@WRESTLINGOBSERVER.COM | @WONF4W
3TWITTERFACEBOOKGOOGLE+
4Wrestling Observer Newsletter
5
6PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 February 3, 2020
7
8 
9
10WWE ROYAL RUMBLE
11
12Thumbs up 222 (74.7%)
13
14Thumbs down 15 (05.1%)
15
16In the middle 60 (20.2%)
17
18 
19
20BEST MATCH POLL
21
22Men’s Royal Rumble 221
23
24Becky Lynch vs. Asuka 36
25
26Women’s Royal Rumble 19
27
28Bray Wyatt vs. Daniel Bryan 10
29
30 
31
32WORST MATCH POLL
33
34Bayley vs. Lacey Evans 213
35
36Sheamus vs. Shorty G 20
37
38Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin 19
39
40Bray Wyatt vs. Daniel Bryan 10
41
42Men’s Royal Rumble 9
43
44Becky Lynch vs. Asuka 9
45
46 
47
48NXT WORLDS COLLIDE
49
50Thumbs up 177 (92.7%)
51
52Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
53
54In the middle 14 (07.3%)
55
56 
57
58BEST MATCH POLL
59
60Imperium vs. Undisputed Era 124
61
62Gargano & Ciampa vs. Bate & Seven 63
63
64 
65
66WORST MATCH POLL
67
68Rhea Ripley vs. Toni Storm 145
69
70Kay Lee Ray vs. Mia Yim 15
71
72Finn Balor vs. Ilja Dragunov 14
73
74Based on phone calls and e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 1/28.
75
76 
77
78With the Royal Rumble in the books, which saw Drew McIntyre win the men’s match and Charlotte Flair taking the women’s bout, the top of the WrestleMania card is taking shape.
79
80The 4/5 show at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa is currently planned to have Brock Lesnar vs. McIntyre for the WWE title, Bray Wyatt vs. Roman Reigns for the Universal title, Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler for the Raw women’s title, Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair for the NXT women’s title and Edge vs. Randy Orton as the top bouts. Right now Undertaker is not booked on the card, but the sides are in discussions regarding his participation.
81
82What’s notable is that in all the plans until the last week, Reigns and Baszler were scheduled as the Rumble winners. Vince McMahon changed his mind about a week ahead of time. We don’t know exactly when, but significant money came in on Flair to win on 1/19, so that’s a pretty good hint.
83
84The reasons were that it was said he wanted matches to create stronger main events for Mania. For the men’s side, that does make sense. The decision is to go all out with Lesnar vs. McIntyre as the main event at this point, barring an outside attraction match, and not Wyatt vs. Reigns. The original idea was for Lesnar to destroy everyone in the Rumble, eliminating the first 13 guys, until a combination of a low blow by Ricochet (in retaliation to Lesnar laying out Ricochet on TV the week before with a low blow) and a Claymore kick by McIntyre would lead to Lesnar being out. The idea is that once he eliminated Lesnar, that McIntyre didn’t need to win, and that Reigns could win and challenge Wyatt so you have the two title matches as someone even.
85
86But McMahon wanted to establish Lesnar vs. McIntyre as the main event, and thus everything is geared to making the main event as strong as it
87
88WOMEN’S ROYAL RUMBLE
89
90Entry number Exit number Time Eliminated by
91
921. Alexa Bliss 15 26:34 Belair
93
942. Bianca Belair 16 33:20 Flair
95
963. Molly Holly 3 10:21 Belair
97
984. Nikki Cross 5 15:08 Belair
99
1005. Lana 1 2:29 Morgan
101
1026. Mercedes Martinez 4 8:14 Rose/Deville
103
1047. Liv Morgan 2 :44 Lana*
105
1068. Mandy Rose 6 8:49 Belair
107
1089. Candice LeRae 8 9:01 Belair
109
11010. Sonya Deville 7 5:31 Belair
111
11211. Kairi Sane 9 5:22 Bliss
113
11412. Mia Yim 11 ` 6:30 Bliss
115
11613. Dana Brooke 14 5:26 Belair
117
11814. Tamina 10 :39 Belair
119
12015. Dakota Kai 12 1:32 Green
121
12216. Chelsea Green 13 :12 Bliss
123
12417. Charlotte Flair WINNER 27:19
125
12618. Naomi 25 22:01 Baszler
127
12819. Beth Phoenix 28 23:05 Baszler
129
13020. Toni Storm 25 ` 18:40 Baszler
131
13221. Kelly Kelly 18 2:29 Flair
133
13422. Sarah Logan 17 :28 Flair
135
13623. Natalya 27 14:43 Phoenix
137
13824. Xia Li 20 10:49 Baszler
139
14025. Zelina Vega 22 9:31 Baszler
141
14226. Shotzi Blackheart 23 7:57 Baszler
143
14427. Carmella 24 6:36 Baszler
145
14628. Tegan Nox 21 3:50 Baszler
147
14829. Santina Marella 19 1:01 himself
149
15030. Shayna Baszler 29 4:27 Flair
151
152*Lana had been eliminated when she eliminated Morgan
153
154Multiple eliminations: Belair 8, Baszler 8, Flair 4, Bliss 3
155
156 
157
158MEN’S ROYAL RUMBLE
159
160Entry number Exit number Time Eliminated by
161
1621. Brock Lesnar 14 26:24 McIntyre
163
1642. Elias 1 1:00 Lesnar
165
1663. Erick Rowan 2 :08 Lesnar
167
1684. Robert Roode 3 ` :41 Lesnar
169
1705. John Morrison 4 :09 Lesnar
171
1726. Kofi Kingston 7 5:06 Lesnar
173
1747. Rey Mysterio 5 2:54 Lesnar
175
1768. Big E 6 :53 Lesnar
177
1789. Cesaro 8 :18 Lesnar
179
18010. Shelton Benjamin 9 :37 Lesnar
181
18211. Shinsuke Nakamura 10 :20 Lesnar
183
18412. MVP 11 :24 Lesnar
185
18613. Keith Lee 12 3:32 Lesnar
187
18814. Braun Strowman 13 1:48 Lesnar
189
19015. Ricochet 15 3:09 McIntyre
191
19216. Drew McIntyre WINNER 34:11
193
19417. The Miz 16 :30 McIntyre
195
19618. A.J. Styles 17 7:49 Edge
197
19819. Dolph Ziggler 22 12:20 Reigns
199
20020. Karl Anderson 21 9:46 Orton
201
20221. Edge 28 23:43 Reigns
203
20422. King Corbin 19 4:06 McIntyre
205
20623. Matt Riddle 18 :41 Corbin
207
20824. Luke Gallows 20 2:09 Edge
209
21025. Randy Orton 27 14:37 Edge
211
21226. Roman Reigns 29 16:01 McIntyre
213
21427. Kevin Owens 24 6:59 Rollins/AOP*
215
21628. Aleister Black 23 5:06 Rollins
217
21829. Samoa Joe 25 4:25 Rollins
219
22030. Seth Rollins 26 4:01 McIntyre
221
222*AOP interfered to eliminate Owens but were not in the match
223
224Multiple eliminations: Lesnar 13, McIntyre 6, Edge 3, Rollins 3, Reigns 2
225
226It should also be noted that it was only in the last few weeks that McIntyre was in the spot to face Lesnar. We were only told that Cain Velasquez, Tyson Fury and Edge, who were the names rumored for Lesnar, were all not true. The decision came down to McIntyre and Aleister Black, the latter a major Paul Heyman project. The feeling is that at this point in time, McIntyre was the more over of the two so the decision was made for him.
227
228The women’s side isn’t as cut-and-dried. The Rumble story was supposed to be Bianca Belair dominating the first half. Belair started first with Alexa Bliss, lasted 33:20 and eliminated eight women. Baszler came in at No. 30, and eliminated eight people to come down to her and Flair, with Flair doing a skin the cat head scissors to flip Baszler over.
229
230Right now the Flair match on the books is with Ripley for the NXT title. It’s the latest move to give NXT new juice since it fell behind AEW once again in the ratings after the momentum had seemingly turned away from AEW in November and December. While some thought that the AEW vs. NXT deal as a prime concern was over in McMahon’s mind, since the whole idea was to make sure AEW didn’t get strong enough numbers to get the paying television deal that would make them profitable and not going away any time soon. In that sense, McMahon failed in the big picture, with only some little wins like keeping other groups out of Madison Square Garden, which is a big deal to him, but far less important nowadays in the big picture.
231
232The company sees Flair as its second biggest female star and highest paid, with Lynch, if you don’t include Ronda Rousey on the list. WWE has also wanted to make Flair vs. Rousey in a WrestleMania singles match, which was the plan for 2019 until Lynch got over so big when Nia Jax broke her nose. Still, if Lynch vs. Baszler is the key women’s match on the show, then it would have made sense for Baszler to win the Rumble, particularly since a large percentage of the viewership doesn’t watch NXT and isn’t familiar with her, yet she’s in the top women’s match on the show unless Rousey is coming back, which according to what we are told, Rousey will not be wrestling this year at Mania.
233
234The other major story was the return of Edge (Adam Copeland, 46), who retired after the 2011 WrestleMania due to neck problems. While there had been strong rumors of his coming back and being cleared for months, he himself denied he was cleared, even when showing photos of him being in better cosmetic shape than when he was younger and active. But that’s what wrestlers nowadays do when it comes to WWE signing and returns.
235
236He wouldn’t have been allowed to do that spear at SummerSlam if he wasn’t cleared. This all dates back to last summer when AEW made Edge a major offer to wrestle a few matches per year. Edge used that offer, which he told WWE was for $3 million per year and he would start when the company got television as his leverage, to get the same deal with WWE. So that was his leverage to get one of the highest deals in WWE history. The reports were out that his deal was for five matches and 25 television shows per year, but we are told that the money figure is correct but the date numbers are not accurate and that there are more matches and dates involved in the deal. The deal is far less than people like Brock Lesnar and Bill Goldberg have gotten, since Goldberg earned $2 million just for doing his match with Undertaker.
237
238Since this is now a second time this has happened, it does bring up unique speculation as to guys who were medically disqualified from ever wrestling in WWE again (Edge and Bryan) both were cleared when it became clear that they were going to wrestle outside WWE. It’s not as cut-and-dried as that, but when it happens twice in a row involving talents that legitimately would garner substantial interest outside WWE, it is notable.
239
240Edge came in at No. 21, and was spearing everyone. He went 23:43, and was one of the final three with McIntyre and Reigns, being dumped by Reigns. Just before being eliminated, he and Orton seemed to make a pact to work together against Reigns and McIntyre when they were the final four. Orton then went to double-cross Edge, but he was smart to it and threw out Orton. This led to a major angle on Raw the next night where Orton befriended Edge, only to destroy him, in Raw’s best angle in a long time and Orton’s best performance in many years, to set up their Mania match.
241
242Edge was the biggest surprise and only significant newcomer. Nora Greenwald, 42, as Mighty Molly was in the women’s Rumble, appeared to get hurt but was only scheduled for one show. The other surprises were Kelly Kelly, 33,who was said to be a late replacement for an injured Sasha Banks, Beth Phoenix, the NXT announcer, Shotzi Blackheart from NXT and Anthony Carelli dressed up in drag playing Santina Marella, who had a connection with Phoenix. He didn’t get called by WWE until a few days before the show. Greenwald, Kelly and Carelli were all one-shots, although Kelly also appeared on Raw in a brief backstage cameo during the Street Profits segment..
243
244Phoenix, the wife of Edge, accidentally hit the back of her head on the ring post and she was bleeding badly for a long time to the point the back of her head looked like she had dyed her hair red.
245
246Banks is out of action with an undisclosed injury. That’s why she hasn’t been wrestling of late and they’ve been doing that storyline where she’s booked with Evans but the match never happens, because each week they expect to do it but she’s not cleared.
247
248On the men’s side, the only real surprises were Edge and MVP (Hassan Assad, 46), who is said to be in for limited duty, perhaps just for the Rumble and Raw, and maybe a few other bouts. He wasn’t signed to an active wrestler deal as of early in the week, but because Paul Heyman wants to get his new crew wins on Raw, and not only on unknowns, MVP as a name guy to put people over, particularly with Matt Hardly likely leaving, does make sense.
249
250The men’s Rumble was put together by Shane McMahon, James Gibson (Noble) , Chris Park (Abyss) and Lance Evers (Storm) with input by Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar regarding the early part of the match. Vince McMahon was heavily involved in the finishing sequence and not only made the final call on McIntyre winning, but also the sequence and his eliminating Reigns last.
251
252The women’s Rumble was put together by Michael Seitz (Hayes), T.J. Wilson (Tyson Kidd), Adam Pearce, Mickie James and Paul Levesque had input the day of the show to help out and made it flow better.
253
254There were a number of NXT women in, because there had to be to hit 30, with Belair and Baszler featured. Champions Adam Cole and Ripley were not in the Rumbles, although North American champion Keith Lee was in and got a little bit of shine in a three-man monster standoff with Lesnar and Braun Strowman. But on the men’s side, and he and Matt Riddle, who lasted 41 seconds which was more meant as punishment, were the only NXT guys in.
255
256There were a flurry of injuries, as well as a drug test suspension over the past few days.
257
258U.S. champion Andrade failed a drug test, which those in the company were informed of on 1/27 in the afternoon. Paul Heyman made the call not to take the title off Andrade, who was suspended without pay for 30 days. He sees Andrade as one of his major players going forward and felt it was too early for him to lose, and too early in a planned long-term program with Humberto Carrillo for Carrillo to win. So they did an angle where Carrillo gave Andrade a hammerlock DDT after removing the protective mats on the floor. It was retaliation for what Andrade did to Carrillo that put him out of action for a few weeks. So there was a storyline fit in how it was handled.
259
260Besides Banks, there was one key injury in the Rumble, which was A.J. Styles, who separated his shoulder in taking a spear from Edge. Styles said that he tried to sell strong for Edge and take a spectacular bump, but in doing so, landed on his left shoulder and injured it. He got up and the left arm was dangling. They wanted him to leave the ring but he insisted on going over the top rope and being eliminated, telling Edge to throw him over. Right now it is hoped he will be out of action only four to six weeks and won’t miss WrestleMania.
261
262Samoa Joe was also injured on Raw the next night. He did a tope and in doing so, his head hit the floor and he suffered a concussion. With concussions, you never know how long the recovery time will be. It could be a few days and it could be months or longer.
263
264Although Kane on Smackdown teased being in the Rumble this year, he was never actually booked or in the plans for the show. Cain Velasquez was told he was returning for the Rumble but the word is that despite that, when they were making plans for the Rumble, they also had never included him in those plans.
265
266There are two more PPV shows before WrestleMania. There is the 2/27 Super Showdown in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a Thursday afternoon show. We are only a few weeks away and there aren’t even any hints on television over where that is going. There will be the Elimination Chamber show on 3/8 in Philadelphia.
267
268The Rumble drew a sellout of 36,000 fans to Minute Maid Park in Houston with the announced figure being 42,715. There were some people turned away the day of the show. They sold out with the walk-up as they were selling tickets until just before show time. The paid would have been in excess of 30,000 as that was the figure they were in the ballpark of two weeks out.
269
270It will end up likely being the highest paid attendance for a WWE show this year besides WrestleMania, and behind only the 1/4 Tokyo Dome and the six sessions of the NCAA tournament at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis for the biggest wrestling crowds in the world of the year.
271
272As impressive as that crowd is given the general toughness in selling tickets to live wrestling these days in the U.S., the interest in this year’s Rumble was way down. It had 500,000 Google searches, which by modern standards would mean the equivalent of a PPV show that by old standards would do 125,000 to 230,000 buys, which is way lower than any Rumble has ever done in modern times prior to the network.
273
274Overall it did four percent of the searches of the Conor McGregor fight eight days earlier and was way down from prior years when it would be among the most searched topics of the day and did maybe half of what such a show would be expected to do. Perhaps some of that was due to Kobe Bryant’s death being reported just a few hours before the show and as far as the general public was concerned, they weren’t going to care about anything else. It failed to crack the top 20 for the day, but with Bryant and the Grammy Awards, the top 20 cut off at just over 500,000. Searches related to Bryant and the helicopter crash topped 57 million, an unheard of figure, and the Grammys topped 13 million.
275
276The Bellator show with Cris Cyborg the day before did 100,000 and was No. 13 and the UFC at 50,000 was No. 18. But even our feedback on the Rumble was down 40 percent from last year.
277
278Because of the storytelling, the Men’s Rumble was generally viewed as one of the best Rumbles in history and the best in several years. The five hour and 40 minute show was an overall positive, largely due to that match.
279
280While a lot of matches didn’t get good reactions, the Bray Wyatt as The Fiend strap match with Daniel Bryan was by far his best match with the new gimmick. They eliminated the red tinting, which made a big difference. They also whipped each other hard, which, with Bryan, due to his pale skin, you could see the welts all over both his front and his back. The hard whipping opened up small cuts on his back as well. The crowd was cold for the match early but even in a big stadium where that kind of whipping sound doesn’t play as well as in an arena setting, the brutality of the match got the fans into the latter stages.
281
2821. Sheamus pinned Shorty G in 12:36. This started with the stadium pretty much empty and got very little crowd reaction. Technically the work was good and hard hitting. G was bleeding noticeably from the left ear. Sheamus delivered 22 Valentine blows, 15 over the ropes and seven more on the floor. Cool spot where G went for a moonsault block, Sheamus caught him but G countered into a DDT. G hit the moonsault for a near fall, as well a Chaos Theory suplex. G also got the ankle lock twice. Sheamus won clean in his first match back after being out since early April with a neck injury that includes being diagnosed with spinal stenosis. **1/4
283
2842. Andrade pinned Humberto Carrillo to retain the U.S. title in 14:17. This was not meant as a feud blow-off, but it was too early for Andrade to lose the title, and losing it in a pre-show match basically would have made Carrillo’s title win come across as a minor league win. It was a slow match early with little heat. There were some cool spots. Carrillo did a Super Frankensteiner for a near fall. He went for a huracanrana but Andrade rolled with it for the clean pin. **½
285
2863. Roman Reigns pinned King Corbin in a falls count anywhere match in 21:18. Almost the entire match was outside the ring brawling. In a sense, it was overkill on breaking tables to not all that much reaction. Corbin choke slammed Reigns on a table and then did it a second time on another table. Reigns gave Corbin a Samoan drop through a table. Corbin gave Reigns a Samoan drop through a table. Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler attacked Reigns. The Usos made the save and it was a six-way brawl. They used garbage cans and garbage can lids. Jimmy did a high stage dive onto everyone which was really the craziest spot on the show. All of the brawling outside the ring took away from the crowd heat rather than helped it because it was so long out there. Reigns threw Corbin into a prop bathroom stall and turned it over. They continued to brawl on the floor with Reigns using chair shots. Then they were on top of the baseball dugout. Reigns hit a Superman punch and spear on the top of the dugout for the pin. ***1/4
287
288Samoa Joe & Kevin Owens did a promo where Owens brought up how he won both the Universal and IC title in Houston. He said he’d throw out Rollins and win the whole thing. Joe said if Owens helps him with Rollins he’ll have his back, but if he gets in his way, he’ll take Owens out. This was countered by Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville. Deville said that we’re a team and if we are the least two, I’ll eliminate myself and let Rose win. They are back teasing the angle from last year that they dropped where Deville is in love with Rose.
289
2904. Charlotte Flair won the women’s Royal Rumble in 54:17. It opened with Alexa Bliss and Bianca Belair. Molly Holly entered at 1:58. Nikki Cross entered at 3:17. Lana talked before entering at 6:01. Mercedes Martinez entered at 7:08. Liv Morgan entered at 8:27 and speared Lana over the top rope immediately. Lana complained and then pulled Morgan over to eliminate her and they had a pull-apart on the floor. Mandy Rose entered at 10:15. Candice LeRae entered at 11:44. Belair threw out Holly. Bliss threw out Rose, but in a clever spot, Otis was laying on the ground and Rose landed on him and she was able to climb back in. The fans popped for that one. Sonya Deville entered at 13:34. Rose & Deville threw out Martinez. Kairi Sane was next in. Mia Yim entered at 17:21. Belair threw out Cross. Deville accidentally hit Rose but Otis caught her to save her again. Belair then threw Deville out onto Otis and Otis wasn’t able to stop her and Otis and Rose went down, meaning Rose & Deville were both eliminated. Dana Brooke entered at 19:55. Belair pressed LaRae overhead and threw her out. Bliss punched Sane off the apron and eliminated her. Tamina entered at 21:59. Belair backdropped Tamina out immediately. Dakota Kai entered at 23:21. Bliss threw out Yim. Chelsea Green entered with Robert Stone in 24:48. Green threw out Kai. Not sure why they didn’t have Tegan Nox in that spot. Bliss then immediately dumped Green. She should have been protected better. Belair speared Brooke out. Belair and Bliss were on the apron. Belair used her hair to pull Bliss into the post and she fell to the floor and was eliminated. Charlotte Flair entered at 27:56. Naomi was next at 29:27. Beth Phoenix entered at 30:45. Toni Storm entered at 32:35. Storm got a much bigger reaction than she should have considering how little she’s been on main roster TV and even NXT TV. Flair kicked Belair over the top. Kelly Kelly entered at 34:24. Sarah Logan entered at 36:02. Flair immediately kicked Logan over the top. By this point Flair was bleeding from the nose, but she had stopped bleeding by later in the match. Phoenix was bleeding badly from the back of her head accidentally hitting the post and it got worse as the match progressed. Natalya was next in. Phoenix & Natalya, who were a tag team years back, worked together for a while including a double power bomb on Flair. Xia Li was next in kicking everyone. Zelina Vega entered at 40:50. Shotzi Blackheart entered at 42:37. Naomi was thrown out, but landed on the ring steps. She then jumped from the steps to the barricade, holding on and climbing to the top of the barricade. She walked the top of the barricade to the announcers table. They teased she would jump from the table to the ring apron and get back in. But instead, she used part of the table as a bridge she walked on back to the apron. Even though you had Kofi Kingston and John Morrison, both with a history of doing spots like that in the men’s match, both were just there as fodder for Brock Lesnar so this was the only spot of its kind on the show. Carmella entered at 44:30. Tegan Nox was in at 46:20. Santino Marella, dressed in drag as Santina Marella was in, and tried to befriend Phoenix since they had done a relationship angle years ago. He pulled the cobra out of his bra, teased using it on Phoenix, then used it on himself and flew over the top. That was totally stupid. Shayna Baszler was the last entrant at 49:15. Baszler threw Flair’s shoulder into the ring steps. Since she wasn’t winning, they booked Baszler as the monster, throwing everyone out she touched. She dumped Li, Knox, Vega, Blackheart, Carmella, Storm and Naomi. Natalya & Phoenix did the Hart attack spot on Baszler, but then Phoenix threw out Natalya. This left Flair, Phoenix and Baszler as the final three. Baszler threw out Phoenix in 53:50 and then Flair did a skin the cat to get into the ring after being tossed by Baszler, then did a second skin the cut to head scissors Baszler over the top to win. ***½
291
2925. Bayley pinned Lacey Evans to retain the Smackdown women’s title in 9:25. Bayley did the fake knee injury spot. It appeared nobody in the crowd bought it. There were a couple of missed spots and the match had no heat. They were in a tough spot with a pretty hot Rumble ending. Evans twice blocked the Bayley-to-belly and hit a springboard moonsault but Bayley got her knees up and pinned Evans holding her shorts. *1/2
293
2946. Bray Wyatt pinned Daniel Bryan in a strap match to retain the Universal title in 17:31. The red tinting was gone. This was the best Fiend match and Bryan and Asuka were the two best overall performers on the show, even if the idea was for Belair, Baszler, Lesnar and McIntyre to be the stars. Bryan took nasty shots with the strap and with his white skin, every lash left a mark. His front and back were all welted and there were cuts on his back. Bryan came back and hit his running knee finisher but Wyatt kicked out. Bryan did a plancha off the post. Bryan used the strap to pull Wyatt into the post twice. Bryan used kicks to the groin and a DDT on the German announcing table. Bryan’s elbow was all cut up again. He used the strap and more kicks. Wyatt invited more. Bryan strapped him and kicked him in the head and gave him repeated curb stomps. Wyatt hit Sister Abigail out of nowhere but Bryan kicked out. They traded hard slaps. Wyatt went for the mandible claw but Bryan broke it and used an armbar over the ropes and a triangle. Wyatt went for the mandible claw again but Bryan reversed it into the LeBell lock and then used the strap to make it tighter. Wyatt broke it with elbows on the ground. Bryan hit another running knee for a near fall. Wyatt then sat up. Bryan was whipping him to death and Wyatt no sold it completely, put Bryan back in the mandible claw, had him out, let him go and pinned him after a uranage. The lights went out and Wyatt disappeared leaving Bryan in the ring selling with the idea of him getting the Benoit pop for his losing performance. ****
295
2967. Becky Lynch beat Asuka in 16:23 to retain the Raw women’s title. Another good match. This time Bryan and Wyatt were able to pick the crowd up so much by the end, that the crowd was dead again here early. But it was a well worked match. The crowd popped for Lynch debuting a nodowa off the middle rope. Asuka used an armbar, a German suplex and Kawada kicks. She was throwing all kinds of gimmicks for a near fall. Lynch used a reverse DDT. The finish saw Asuka go to blow the mist, but Lynch kicked her and the mist flew into the air. Lynch then put Asuka into the disarmer for the submission. ***½
297
2988. Drew McIntyre won the Men’s Royal Rumble in 60:07. It started as the Brock Lesnar destruction show. Lesnar and Elias started. Lesnar hit a German suplex and then hit Elias with a guitar shot. He hit him with the wrong side and it didn’t break. Then he dumped him. Erick Rowan was in at 2:05 and clotheslined over in eight seconds. Robert Roode was next at 3:46. He got the F-5 right away and was dumped in 41 seconds. John Morrison was next in 5:31. Lesnar gave him an overhead belly-to-belly to the floor in nine seconds. Really, since Morrison just came back, they could have put any of a dozen guys in that spot and but Morrison in later to protect him. No point geeking him this soon. Kofi Kingston was in at 7:07. He got the first offense but Lesnar German suplexed him almost on his head. Rey Mysterio was n at 8:43. Big E was next at 10:53. Kingston gave Lesnar the Trouble in Paradise, then E gave him the Big Ending and Mysterio gave him the 619. Lesnar then came back to throw out Mysterio, and then clotheslined E over and threw Kingston out to clear the ring. Cesaro was next at 12:44, and he lasted 18 seconds before being clotheslined over. Shelton Benjamin was next. They pushed how the two were roommates and training partners and friends dating back to the University of Minnesota. Benjamin came out and hugged Paul Heyman. Lesnar and Benjamin hugged and they acted like they would form an alliance together. Then Lesnar came from behind and German suplexed him and clotheslined Benjamin out. Lesnar started laughing at this point. Shinsuke Nakamura entered at 16:26 and he was gone in 20 seconds. MVP came out at 16:45. Lesnar started dancing to MVP’s music. MVP started chasing Heyman around the ring. Somehow he couldn’t catch him, which makes no sense, but that’s what happened. He lasted 24 seconds, getting an F-5 and being dumped. Keith Lee was next in 20:12. Lee knocked Lesnar down. Braun Strowman was in at 21:55. Strowman gave Lesnar a dropkick. Lesnar gave Lee and then Strowman two German suplexes each. Lee and Strowman started fighting near the ropes and Lesnar dumped both of them. Ricochet entered at 24:17. He tried a crossbody off the top but Lesnar caught him and gave him a backbreaker. Lesnar was totally exhausted at this point, and legitimately fell down after delivering the move. He gave Ricochet a German suplex. Drew McIntyre entered at 25:56. Ricochet gave Lesnar a low blow and McIntyre hit the Claymore kick to eliminate Lesnar. This was built up so well the place exploded. McIntyre threw out Ricochet. The Miz entered at 28:30 and he lasted 30 seconds before being Claymore kicked over the top. A.J. Styles was in at 30:42 and he went for the calf killer but McIntyre just powered out. Dolph Ziggler entered at 32:04. Karl Andersen was in at 34:19. Edge was next at 35:46 for the biggest pop of the show. Edge speared McIntyre and Styles (the spot where Styles was hurt). King Corbin entered at 37:28,. Styles was hurt from the spear and told Edge to just throw him out. Matt Riddle was in at 39:37. He got a bigger reaction than he had any right to, and started kicking McIntyre and laid out Edge with a jumping knee before Corbin dumped him. Luke Gallows entered at 41:03. McIntyre threw out Corbin. Gallows & Anderson hit the magic killer on Edge. Randy Orton entered at 42:41. Orton hit the RKO on Gallows and then Anderson. Orton clotheslined Anderson over the top and at the same moment, Edge clotheslined Gallows over the top. Roman Reigns entered at 44:05. Reigns speared and threw out Ziggler. Kevin Owens entered at 45:16. Owens did a pop up power bomb on McIntyre, a stunner on Reigns, and a stunner on Orton. Aleister Black entered at 46:40. He hit black mass on McIntyre. Samoa Joe entered at 48:11. Owens and Joe went at it. Seth Rollins entered at 50:45. He came out with Buddy Murphy and the AOP. Joe and Owens started fighting the AOP, Murphy and Rollins. Rollins hit the curb stomp on McIntyre, Reigns and Black and dumped Black. Owens threw out Rollins but the AOP caught him and threw him back in. Rollins threw out Owens. Murphy attacked Joe and Rollins threw out Joe. The AOP & Murphy brawled to the back with Joe & Black & Owens. Rollins was in by himself and everyone else surrounded him. Reigns hit Rollins with a Superman punch. Orton powerslammed him. McIntyre hit the Claymore kick and dumped Rollins. Orton threw Reigns into the post and hit an RKO on McIntyre. Edge speared McIntyre. Edge & Orton hit a double RKO on McIntyre. Orton then teased doing an RKO to Edge when they were the two guys left standing, but Edge turned around and when Orton turned his back, Edge threw him over, leaving Edge, Reigns and McIntyre. Edge speared Reigns and went to throw him out. Edge and Reigns were both on the apron and Reigns hit the Superman punch to eliminate Edge. McIntyre hit the Claymore kick on Reigns and threw him out to win. ****1/4
299
300For the second time in less than a year, Pro Wrestling NOAH has been sold, this time to CyberAgent, a Japanese media company that is worth $5 billion.
301
302CyberAgent also owns the DDT promotion, Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling and Genbare Pro Wrestling. The company is best known for advertising and games, and also owns Abema TV, major Japanese sports streaming service.
303
304On 1/29, the day after the story broke, Pro Wrestling NOAH held a press conference where it was announced that Sanshiro Takagi, who is the President of DDT, would take over as the President of NOAH as well. The former NOAH President, Narihiro Takeda, is now an Executive Officer. Naomichi Marufuji will remain Vice President.
305
306“DDT Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH will be working together under CyberAgent, Inc., going forward,” said Takagi in a press release. “By partnering within the same CyberAgent group, I believe that we will be able to bring about a new scenery in the pro wrestling industry. Going forward, the two promotions will be sharing certain mid-da back office functions as companies within the same group. I, Sanshiro Takagi, will be assuming the position of President for both companies, but at Pro Wrestling NOAH, I will focus on managing the company and leave the in-ring completely to the talent and staff of Pro Wrestling NOAH. DDT Pro Wrestling will continue to provide fun, exciting and absurd dramatic stories to the fans. We hope you will continue in your support for both promotions.”
307
308CyberAgent purchased the 75 percent controlling interest that LIDET Entertainment purchased less than a year ago. During that period, LIDET turned down an offer from WWE to purchase the company and turn it into the flagship for NXT Japan.
309
310The reports were that LIDET decided to sell NOAH even though there were signs of growth and some attendance improvements, that the overall profitability had not improved. LIDET felt that managing a full-time pro wrestling promotion wasn’t where they were strong, being an advertising special events business. In November, they told Takeda to try and find someone to sell the company to. He went directly to Takagi, who informed CyberAgent and they put the deal together after six weeks of negotiations, in early January and the news was kept quiet until this past week.
311
312LIDET purchased the company 11 months ago from ESTB. ESTB, an IT development company, had purchased ownership in late 2016.
313
314At the time, New Japan and Bushiroad were helping fund NOAH including paying for foreigners to tour. They also sent Jado in to book the company and sent Suzuki-gun in to become the lead heels and sent other wrestlers in at times. NOAH sold the company to an outside group without informing New Japan that they were in any such talks. This led to NOAH pulling all its talent from NOAH, and they stopped using any NOAH talent on their own shows. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, who was a NOAH wrestler but had become part of Suzuki-gun, left with the others and joined New Japan Pro Wrestling.
315
316LIDET made notable changes, getting rid of the green mat which was the symbol of the company dating back to the Mitsuharu Misawa heyday. They oversaw the company where the idea was to push 23-year-old Kaito Kiyomiya as the new star in an attempt to start him young and make him a franchise player like Kazuchika Okada in New Japan and Kento Miyahara in All Japan.
317
318The original reaction is good because with CyberAgent being such a large company, the feeling is that NOAH is now under solid financial footing. In addition NOAH is the last of the big Japanese companies not to have a streaming service and that has now changed as they will be part of the DDT Universe service with one or two live shows every month.
319
320CyberAgent is a significantly larger company than Bushiroad, which owns New Japan and Stardom. It continues what is going to be the trend in pro wrestling where companies of any significant size will end up being owned by major corporations.
321
322How this affects the Japanese big picture scene is a tough call. New Japan is far more popular, and really is in a different league than all other companies in the Japanese market right now. But CyberAgent is larger than Bushiroad, and everyone also knows that WWE is coming with an NXT brand in Japan. There is the feeling that a WWE/CyberAgent affiliation could be a threat to New Japan’s market domination far more than either could separately, with the idea that DDT doesn’t have the mass appeal, while NOAH doesn’t have the star power, and a combination of the two would probably be stronger, but also alienate both company’s current fan bases since each fan base like the current style and a melding of styles would get a bad reaction from much of each group’s current base.
323
324The 1/30 Korakuen Hall show will be broadcast live and free on the DDT Universe streaming service, which are the finals of the junior heavyweight tournament. It appears that the current DDT Universe will in the future carry the big NOAH events live, with the price remaining 900 yen ($8.24 U.S.) per month. They also announced NOAH would debut on Abema TV with its 2/16 show at Korakuen Hall, a show that will also air live on DDT Universe.
325
326Also announced is that NOAH wrestlers will appear on DDT’s biggest show of the year the 6/7 Peter Pan show at the Saitama Super Arena. In addition, CyberAgent will be booking both 11/22 and 11/23 at Tokyo Sumo Hall for what would likely be NOAH’s biggest show of the year and DDT’s second biggest show of the year.
327
328In recent months, NOAH has been pushing as a goal for a return show to Budokan Hall, which was the company’s big show home during its heyday when Misawa and Kenta Kobashi were the top stars.
329
330NOAH wrestlers like Naomichi Marufuji and Go Shiozaki have appeared on DDT shows of late, but the two companies are as different as they could be.
331
332UFC 246
333
334By Ryan Frederick
335
336The biggest star in the history of the UFC returned after fifteen months away and a laundry list of all sorts of issues. The questions of whether or not all of that would have a negative impact proved to be wrong, at least for the time being.
337
338Conor McGregor finished Donald Cerrone in the main event of UFC 246 on 1/18 in Las Vegas in just forty seconds, silencing critics for at least one night.
339
340In some ways it was impressive as McGregor looked sharp from the onset of the fight, rocking Cerrone with a knee after Cerrone ducked under his left hand. McGregor then landed some shoulder strikes, which did get overplayed afterwards, but they landed in just the right spot to where Cerrone suffered a broken nose.
341
342McGregor then rocked him with a head kick before dropping him with a left hand and finishing it on the ground with it perhaps going slightly longer than it should have.
343
344This was the exact kind of win that McGregor needed right now. People will always question Cerrone as the opponent, but he was the right choice, and there were many that believed Cerrone would win, especially if he was able to make it past the first two rounds. His best days are behind him, and with holding all of the UFC records he holds, it seemed like this was a lifetime achievement bout more than anything- the chance to finally headline a pay-per-view, and to make the most money he will in the course of his career.
345
346McGregor was on his best behavior all week. He was on time for everything (well, he was late for his individual media day on Thursday and for the ceremonial weigh-ins on Friday, but it was less than thirty minutes both times, so that’s good by McGregor standards). It felt like the McGregor of the old days with his demeanor, and he’s so smart that he knows what he has to do to repair his image.
347
348He was very respectful to Cerrone, who he likes very much. There was a lot of criticism and questioning about the fight being at 170 pounds, but he showed up in tremendous shape, weighed in at exactly 170 pounds without having to cut weight (though he may have just a tad). It was obvious he has taken returning to action very seriously. He was even claiming he hadn’t been drinking for five months, which by all accounts is true, and that he would take the day after the fight off and get back to training on Monday, which he did.
349
350The fight ended up being a massive deal, and the ESPN relationship helped it greatly. You couldn’t watch anything on ESPN without seeing commercials for McGregor. It was promoted heavily during the week and treated like it was a major sporting event.
351
352It ended up being the second-most attended event in Las Vegas, and the fourth-highest gate in company history. McGregor has been involved in three of the top four gates in UFC history. As someone who was in the building for this show, there wasn’t an empty seat for the main event. While the Irish contingent was down from peak McGregor, he was still the overwhelming crowd favorite.
353
354It was also easily the best pay-per-view so far on ESPN+, even though they don’t release numbers. Internally, they were very happy. The show did over eleven million Google searches, easily the top topic of the weekend.
355
356Based on all metrics, under the traditional pay-per-view model, it looked like it would have been a two million buy show, which would have been second all-time. At worst, it would have been somewhere in the top five. Even if they got half of that with all of the extra hoops you have to go through to order on ESPN+, it was still an extremely successful show.
357
358It goes to show that all of the negative press and attention he’s received over the last year had no negative impact on his drawing ability. It never had an impact on the drawing power of Floyd Mayweather or Mike Tyson, and McGregor’s name is now firmly alongside those two when it comes to talking about the biggest draws in combat sports history.
359
360The big question now looks to be what is next for McGregor. He said post-fight he doesn’t feel like he’s where he needs to be, and it’s hard to know for sure when you win in only forty seconds. He didn’t bring up anyone specifically, and while he wants that Khabib Nurmagomedov rematch, he started to back off from it. There’s a laundry list of opponents that he could fight next, and he did bring up several times about wanting to fight as much as possible. That may be hard for the UFC to figure out as his fights have to be pay-per-views, and their schedule is pretty much set through May. They could always add a pay-per-view whenever they feel like it, and this January 18 date wasn’t originally in the plans until the deal with Conor came together.
361
362The biggest fight they could make right now is against Jorge Masvidal. Masvidal’s star power will never be bigger than it is now, and it would be the perfect time to capitalize on it. Masvidal was at the show and did some things to try and capture McGregor’s attention, but McGregor pretty much no-sold it. Masvidal was doing interviews after the fight and saying McGregor doesn’t want the fight and he’s turned his attention to Kamaru Usman.
363
364Usman is another fighter McGregor had his sights on. McGregor going for a third championship would be a massive deal, and while he looked fit and in tremendous shape at 170 pounds, Usman is a massive welterweight. That won’t stop Conor, though, as defying the odds is something that drives him.
365
366John Kavanagh, McGregor’s longtime coach, said he wants the Justin Gaethje fight next at 170 pounds. Gaethje was in the running for the fight when McGregor was originally supposed to return last July.
367
368Perhaps the best option for his next fight is Nate Diaz. McGregor really wants to finish the trilogy and seemed more jazzed when Diaz was brought up post-fight. It should happen next. It’s a fight McGregor should win, but he will get tested. It’ll show him where he’s at right now, and it will draw big. Of course, getting Diaz to accept the fight will be far more challenging than getting anyone else.
369
370Cerrone looks almost completely shot now. That’s three bad losses in a row, granted they came to McGregor, Gaethje and Tony Ferguson. But they’ve all come in a seven-month span. He loves fighting, it’s the only thing he knows, but he’s taken a lot of damage. He did sign a new contract that is the best money deal of his career, so getting him to stop is going to be hard. And he is still valuable as someone who can headline shows, and when you’re running 42 events a year, you need headliners. He can still be put in safe fights and fights he can win.
371
372This was really a one-fight show. The co-main was a rematch of a 2014 fight between Holly Holm and Raquel Pennington, which Holm won in her UFC debut. Holm also won this fight, but it wasn't anything to write home about. Holm had been suffering from a hamstring injury which delayed this fight, and she was also having to deal with her father being in the hospital after suffering a stroke. Holm relied on a mostly clinch battle and Pennington wasn't doing much to escape, which allowed Holm to coast to a win.
373
374One of the other big fights on the show saw Diego Ferreira run his win streak to six straight as he submitted former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis. It was the biggest win of Ferreira's career as he put himself in a great position to challenge a top-ten ranked opponent, but lightweight is a tough division to get through. Pettis has not looked good as of late and is much like Cerrone, probably done as a contender but still a valuable name who can still headline shows.
375
376One of the biggest upsets in a long time took place in the featured preliminary bout as Roxanne Modafferi scored a dominant decision win over young prospect Maycee Barber. Modafferi was too much for Barber from the start of the fight, but Barber did suffer a torn ACL during the opening round of the fight, which really hindered her. There was a weird moment where a ringside doctor checked out the knee, diagnosed it as a partially torn ACL, but allowed her to continue on even though she could hardly stand. Her corner should have stopped the fight, but that rarely ever happens. Modafferi is a gutsy competitor, and despite a career filled with more fights than any other female in the sport, this was arguably her biggest win.
377
378A great trivia note on this show came in the form of Aleksei Oleinik, who submitted Maurice Greene. It was the 58th win in Oleinik's career, and his 46th win by submission. In winning, Oleinik became the first fighter ever to win a fight in four different decades. His first win came in 1996 at 19-years-old, and he is still competitive at 42-years-old today.
379
380The weigh-ins on Friday saw the cancellation of the fight between Claudia Gadelha and Alexa Grasso. Gadelha successfully made weight while Grasso later weighed in at 121.5 pounds, missing the strawweight limit by 5.5 pounds. The Nevada commission made the choice to cancel the fight as the weight difference between the two was more than three pounds, which at strawweight means an automatic cancellation of a fight. They also said there were other medical concerns with Grasso. Grasso is only gaining size as she gets older, and the cut has been very tough for her lately. She did say the next day that she would be moving up a division to flyweight.
381
382The show at the T-Mobile Arena drew an announced sellout crowd of 19,040 with a gate of $11,000,000. As noted, both are among the highest in company history in Las Vegas.
383
384The prelims on ESPN did 1,767,000 viewers from 8:22 to 10 PM eastern time. It had a good lead-in from a Duke-Louisville basketball game which did over two million viewers, which is still good, but Duke games are down from last year without Zion Williamson. The basketball game went long so the first 22 minutes of prelims aired on ESPN News. It was the top-rated cable show in the key demos on the day, and the largest UFC pay-per-view prelim number since UFC 205 in November 2016. McGregor shows have four of the top five prelim viewerships. It peaked at 1,911,000 viewers for the prelim headliner between Modafferi and Barber.
385
386They gave out five $50,000 Performance Of The Night bonuses, up from the usual four. They went to Conor McGregor, Aleksei Oleinik, Brian Kelleher, Diego Ferreira and Drew Dober.
3871. Sabina Mazo (8-1) beat JJ Aldrich (8-4) via split decision on scores of 28-29, 29-28 and 29-28 in a women's flyweight fight. This started off slow. Aldrich seemed to get off better first as she was landing better shots although Mazo was getting off with more volume. Mazo had a strong final minute and the first was close. Mazo began to take over in the second as she turned up the volume. Mazo was mixing kicks and knees and landed a head kick late that stunned Aldrich. Mazo was getting clinch advantage in the third and landing knees and elbows and kept the volume high. The first was close but Mazo definitely won the last two rounds. I had it 30-27 for Mazo. I don't know how a judge or anyone gave Aldrich two rounds. Media scores were 43% for Mazo and 57% for Aldrich, but this wasn't a robbery and the right woman won. Mazo got $24,000 for the win and Aldrich got $30,000 for the loss.
3882. Aleksa Camur (6-0) beat Justin Ledet (9-3 1 NC) via unanimous decision on scores of 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27 in a light heavyweight fight. Camur was making his UFC debut and is a protégé of Stipe Miocic. Not much happened during this fight. Camur was swinging wildly in the first but landed some good shots and Ledet didn't do much, only landing seven strikes in the first five minutes. Camur did better in the second, as did Ledet, and Camur was spending more time attacking the body in the clinch. The second round was the closest. Both were tired and Camur was in control in the clinch and got a late takedown and finished on top. I had it 30-27 for Camur. Media scores were 91% for Camur and 9% for Ledet. Camur got $20,000 for the win and Ledet got $20,000 for the loss.
3893. Drew Dober (22-8 1 NC) beat Nasrat Haqparast (11-3) in 1:10 in a lightweight fight. Haqparast was landing early but then Dober started to land. Dober dropped him with a left hand and then started throwing more punches until it was stopped. It was probably stopped a few seconds late as Haqparast was out when he went down. This was an excellent showing for Dober, who has quietly won five of his last six fights. Dober got $160,000 for the win with a performance bonus and Haqparast got $25,000 for the loss.
3904. Askar Askarov (11-0-1) beat Tim Elliott (15-10-1) via unanimous decision on scores of 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27 in a flyweight fight. Askarov dropped Elliott early in the first and got on top and stayed there for the rest of the first round. He never had Elliott in trouble as Elliott played good defense but it was a dominant round for Askarov. The second round was close as Askarov was landing more significant strikes but Elliott did take him down three times, but Askarov was able to scramble to his feet each time. Elliott was tired in the third but kept coming forward, but he was eating some hard punches from Askarov. They landed some wild punches late in the fight. This was pretty good. I had it 29-28 for Askarov with him winning rounds one and three. All media scores had the fight for Askarov. Askarov is a solid threat at 125 pounds and you can always count on Elliott for some fun fights, but he loses far more than he wins. Askarov got $20,000 for the win and Elliott got $31,000 for the loss.
3915. Sodiq Yusuff (11-1) beat Andre Fili (20-7) via unanimous decision on scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 29-28 in a featherweight fight. This fight had a lot of interest coming into the show. They came out swinging and Yusuff was landing hard punches. Fili got three takedowns in the first but Yusuff was able to get right back up each time. Yusuff had a deep kimura locked in and finished the first on top landing punches. They scrambled to the mat early in the second and Yusuff spent the majority of the round on top keeping Fili pinned down. Yusuff got to the mount but Fili was able to escape but it was a controlling round for Yusuff. They were both throwing hard in the third and Fili was finally able to start landing more and tried to mount a comeback but Yusuff was still landing hard. The third round was the closest. I had it 29-28 for Yusuff with him winning the first two. Media scores were 94% for Yusuff and 6% for Fili. Yusuff is a real prospect at 145 pounds and this was his first big test, and he passed it easily. He is someone you could see in the title picture by the end of the year. Yusuff got $54,000 for the win and Fili got $55,000 for the loss.
3926. Roxanne Modafferi (24-16) beat Maycee Barber (8-1) via unanimous decision on scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26 in a women's flyweight fight. This fight got some good reactions during the introductions. Modafferi was coming forward out of the gate and got a takedown and was working on the top. They clinched before the takedown and that is where Barber claimed she blew out her knee. Modafferi was working for an arm-triangle but Barber was able to end up on top and landed a big elbow. Modafferi dropped Barber to start the second and got on top and was landing. She got the mount and landed elbows but Barber reversed to the top though Modafferi reversed back to mount. Barber gave up her back and Modafferi was landing big shots and opened up a big cut on Barber, who was bleeding badly, but she survived the onslaught. It was between the second and third where the doctor diagnosed the knee injury. Barber came out for the third and could barely stand. Modafferi was landing big punches and got Barber to the ground but Barber reversed to the top and was looking for a kimura and landed a nice elbow. Modafferi ended up back on top and rode out the fight from the top. I had it 30-26 for Modafferi with a 10-8 second. She was in complete control. This derailed Barber's plans to be the youngest champion ever, but hopefully she learned a lot from this loss. This was a massive win for Modafferi. Modafferi got $62,000 for the win and Barber got $29,000 for the loss.
3937. Diego Ferreira (17-2) beat Anthony Pettis (22-10) in 1:46 in the second round in a lightweight fight. Pettis got a good reaction and he's still seen as a star. The striking was even on the feet and Ferreira was switching stances nicely. Pettis did land some good punches. Ferreira got a takedown and was working for a choke but Pettis escaped to his feet. Ferreira got another late takedown in the first. Ferreira got a takedown early in the second and worked to the back and got his arm under the neck of Pettis and locked in the rear-naked choke and Pettis tapped. This was a massive win for Ferreira and his most impressive showing to date. Ferreira got $150,000 for the win with his performance bonus and Pettis got $155,000 for the loss.
3948. Brian Kelleher (20-10) beat Ode Osbourne (8-3) in 2:49 in a bantamweight fight. This got the bump to the main card with the Gadelha-Grasso cancellation. Osbourne started out with a flying punch. Kelleher got a takedown against the fence and started working from the top. He got a guillotine choke locked in deep and Osbourne ended up tapping out with his feet. This was a great showing by Kelleher. Kelleher got $96,000 for the win with his performance bonus and Osbourne got $10,000 for the loss.
3959. Aleksei Oleinik (58-13-1) beat Maurice Greene (8-4) in 4:38 in the second round in a heavyweight fight. Oleinik was fighting in his fourth decade. Oleinik got an early takedown and worked until they got up. He got another takedown into the mount and was working for a choke but time ran out in the round. Greene landed some in the second but Oleinik took him down and working for a submission. Fans were booing this. Oleinik got the arm and locked in an armbar and Greene tapped. It was far from the most exciting fight. Oleinik got $200,000 for the win with a performance bonus and Greene got $30,000 for the loss.
39610. Holly Holm (13-5) beat Raquel Pennington (10-8) via unanimous decision on scores of 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27 in a women's bantamweight fight. Holm got a great reaction. They both landed a couple of punches early but the first round was almost all in the clinch and Holm had advantage for most of it. Holm landed a side kick to start the second before they clinched again and when they would break they would go right back into the clinch. The crowd was hating the fight after the second. The third was a striking battle and Holm was landing some good kicks. They didn't clinch until late but the referee quickly broke them up. This was a very boring fight. Holm had a strategy and stuck to it and it won her the fight. Pennington complained about the fight afterwards but she didn't do much either. I had it 30-27 for Holm and all media scores were for her. Holm got $200,000 for the win and Pennington got $63,000 for the loss.
39711. Conor McGregor (22-4) beat Donald Cerrone (36-14 1 NC) in :40 in a welterweight fight. Cerrone got a huge reaction while McGregor got his massive superstar reaction. The crowd was jazzed for the fight. Both rushed forward and Cerrone ducked under a left hand but ate a knee right to the jaw from McGregor. They tied up and McGregor landed the shoulder strikes which broke Cerrone's nose and orbital bone. They broke and McGregor landed a head kick that rocked Cerrone. McGregor then landed a flying knee and dropped Cerrone with a left hand. Lots of punches started coming in from McGregor until it was finally stopped. McGregor looked really impressive and this was a win he needed. Cerrone didn't look good at all and you could tell when he was walking out like something was off. That is the thing with Cerrone, sometimes he doesn't show up to fight. He said that wouldn't happen here but it looked like it did. McGregor cut a great post-fight promo, didn't call anyone in particular out but at the same time called everyone out. He embraced Cerrone's grandmother and said he doesn't feel like he's where he needs to be but he's working on it. This capped off a perfect week for him. We shall see if he keeps this up or if he falls back into the McGregor of the last couple of years. McGregor got $3,050,000 for the win with his performance bonus and Cerrone got $200,000 for the loss. There was a lot of controversy about Cerrone's disclosed pay, but everyone knows, or should, that he made far more than what was disclosed, so I don't know why it was even a talking point.
398
399WWE’s latest new concept show, NXT World’s Collide, built around a series of all-star matches with the U.S. and U.K. brands against each other, debuted the night before the Royal Rumble, on 1/25 in Houston.
400
401The show was very good, as expected. The negative is that while one brand vs. brand match on a Takeover when it’s the right match can feel very special, an entire show felt like good matches that for the most part didn’t have long-term ramifications. In addition, the familiarity with the U.K. wrestlers is very low in the U.S.
402
403The crowd was 3,500 at the Toyota Center, about half or less of what you’d expect for a Takeover in the same building. In a sense, good matches for the sake of good matches has been a big part of PWG, but this didn’t have the unique atmosphere or the quality of wrestling of a PWG show as far as up-and-down went.
404
405The big news and a major surprise was that Jordan Devlin won the NXT cruiserweight title in the four-way over champion Angel Garza, Travis Banks and Isaiah Scott. They pushed the idea that a member of the NXT U.K. roster won a major title. Does that mean Devlin, who is a great wrestler, will now be appearing on 205 Live regularly in addition to the U.K. brand. Will he be a regular on the NXT television show? What we do know is that Shawn Michaels is a huge proponent of Devlin and the idea is for him to defend the title across all the brands.
406
407The idea seemed to try and get the U.K. brand over, and it was clear from post-match tweets that they want this to be a regular concept and not a one-off, for years to come when there are a number of NXT brands. The idea is the regular Takeover shows will be standalones more, like the next one, and use this concept more often for the Saturday night show before the major PPV shows.
408
409In a crowded wrestling landscape with so many shows, it did feel missable, more than a Takeover, which never is. But it flowed well and nothing was bad. They did a few angles, a cool one where throughout the show they would show wrestlers at ringside like they do at boxing or MMA shows. They showed Dakota Kai, and then suddenly Tegan Nox attacked her. It was cool to do as it was an angle where you didn’t expect one.
410
411The most notable, and best match, was the Imperium win over Undisputed Era in the main event that came off like a Walter showcase. What was notable is that Alexander Wolfe took an inadvertent kick to the jaw from Bobby Fish and was knocked out. Fish was aiming for the chest and Wolfe blamed himself for not holding his head up to feed the chest and thus getting kicked in the jaw. Referee Drake Wuertz deserves a lot of credit here because far too often in situations where a guy gets nailed, the refs do nothing. Wuertz jumped in there immediately before Wolfe took another blow. He stopped the action so Wolfe could get medical attention and they got him to the back. But since these matches are pretty much planned out, they had more than 25 minutes of stuff and Wolfe was obviously part of a lot of it, and thus had to adapt on the fly. It showed what pros all seven are because at no point did you see confusion or anything that would even close to resemble communication issues. Later in the match Barthel also got his bell rung, but it was not diagnosed in his case as a concussion but was described as getting his bell rung.
412
413The show was booked to where in six matches, each side won three, so the key was to book the U.K. side even, and they also won the main event.
414
4151. U.K. women’s champion Kay Lee Ray pinned Mia Yim in a non-title match in 9:14. Good action. Yim did an early tope and Ray did a flip dive off the post. Another cool spot was Ray going for a Gori especial bomb and Yim reversed into a code red. Ray used eat defeat, or protect ya neck, which is Yim’s finisher on her. Nigel McGuinness called it eat defeat which was the name Gail Kim used before she passed it down to Yim. Yim also used a Canadian Destroyer. The crowd did the “NXT” and “this is awesome” chants. Ray won with an O’Connor role while holding both Yim’s jeans and the ropes. ***
416
4172. Finn Balor pinned Ilja Dragunov in 13:50. Good match but not at the level of great which on paper this looked like it would be. Dragunov did a crossbody off the bottom rope to the floor. He missed a plancha off the top rope and crashed. Dragunov did a kneedrop off the middle rope and McGuinness made a reference to Pepper Gomez rolling in his grave, which I presume has to do with the 1963 Ray Stevens-Pepper Gomez angle. It shows the historical knowledge McGuinness has, but that’s also 57 years ago and the audience watching needs an explanation. Dragunov had a small cut under his right eye. It started picking up at 10:30. Balor used a GTR and sling blade. Dragunov did a Roman deadlift bridging suplex. Dragunov hit the plancha. He did a dropkick two thirds of the way across the ring which resulted in Balor bleeding from the nose. After Dragunov went for a senton, Balor got his knees up, used a Woo dropkick, the coup de gras and the 1916 DDT. ***1/4
418
419They did promos with Zack Gibson & James Drake as well as Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne for the Dusty Classic finals and announced the winner of that match faces Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly for the titles on the 2/16 Takeover in Portland. There were pot references with Riddle that the crowd popped for, with Dunne saying, “I’ll just be blunt” and Riddle started celebrating. He also said Riddle would smoke the two of you. Funny that it wasn’t that long ago when WWE was adamant about wanting nothing to do with Riddle because of his pro-marijuana stance and all his UFC pot test failures. Today, it’s an issue that joke about on television.
420
4213. Jordan Devlin won the cruiserweight title in a four-way over champion Angel Garza, Isaiah Scott and Travis Banks in 12:06. Devlin is great, but the U.S. audience doesn’t know him, and Garza has been doing great in getting over and this wasn’t the time to beat him. Very good match. Funny spot where Garza went to take off his pants and the other three all superkicked him. Devlin did a moonsault off the apron, but Scott caught him and gave him a Death Valley bomb on the floor. Garza did a running flip dive on Scott. Banks did a dropkick off the apron on Garza. Banks did a tope on Devlin. Devlin did all kinds of cool spots but didn’t twist all the way over on his first Spanish fly spot. Banks used a Canadian Destroyer on Devlin. This actually caused Petey Williams to complain he didn’t create it to be a transition move. Devlin did a double top rope Spanish fly on Garza and Scott. Garza used his wing clipper finisher on Scott, but Devlin head-butted Garza and Devlin pinned Scott after a back suplex. After the match, Devlin claimed he was pound-for-pound the best sports entertainer of the planet. I have no issues with the term sports entertainer or sports entertainment, but when it’s used in a sentence like that, it’s so fake and cringe worthy. ***½
422
4234. Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano beat Tyler Bate & Trent Seven in 22:55. The crowd was really into the DIY one-time reunion. It started slow for the first 10:00 with a lot of comedy but picked up in the second half. Gargano used a tope on Bate. Gargano flipped off the apron on Seven. Ciampa kicked out of the Tyler driver 97 by Bate. Bate tried a standing shooting star but Gargano got his knees up. Gargano and Ciampa did a double submission spot but Bate & Seven both powered out, got them on their shoulders and Bate & Seven did a double airplane spin spot. Bate went for a sky twister off the top but Ciampa pulled Seven on top of him so Bate nailed his partner. Bate came off te top into a double superkick and then Ciampa & Gargano did double knees on Seven for the pin. ****
424
4255. Rhea Ripley retained the NXT women’s title over Toni Storm in 10:06. Really not much to this. They’ve worked together a ton. Storm should be one of the key women on the main roster and Ripley is very over. Perhaps it was following the prior match but it came off flat, with Storm missing a splash off the top and Ripley winning with riptide. **1/4
426
427Gargano was doing an interview when Balor, who faces him on 2/16 in Portland, attacked him. Bate ran in which looked to set up a Balor vs. Bate singles match.
428
4296. Walter & Alexander Wolfe & Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner beat Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly & Adam Cole & Roderick Strong in 29:50. Great match, especially under the circumstances. Wolfe was knocked out by the Fish kick right away. So really this ended up being a four-on-three handicap match. Barthel sold a lot after Cole kicked his knee and it was worked for Imperium to be the faces, which was tough since the only guy on Imperium the crowd saw as a main eventer was Walter, but since it was four-on-three, in that sense the injury to Wolfe helped. I know Walter doesn’t want to work the U.S. regularly, but he really should be groomed for Brock Lesnar. O’Reilly did elbows and knees on Barthel. Walter got a hot tag in and his a German suplex on O’Reilly and went for a power bomb, but O’Reilly blocked and used a guillotine. Walter later did a German suplex on both O’Reilly and Strong. Undisputed Era cleared out the announces table. Strong gave Walter an Olympic slam through the table so that took Walter out of play for several minutes. Lots of near falls. O’Reilly went for a heel hook on Barthel. Aichner hit a moonsault on O’Reilly. Crowd was up for Walter vs. Cole. Cole used two superkicks and went for the last shot, but Walter chopped him. Walter power bombed Strong. Cole hit the last shot on Walter but Barthel saved. Strong dove over the top rope on Cole, O’Reilly and Barthel. Aichner used a plancha on everyone. Fish missed a moonsault on Walter and Walter used a woo dropkick and power bomb for the pin. ****1/4
430
431The end of the New Japan New Year’s week of big events was New Year’s Dash, held on 1/6 at the Ota Ward Gym in Tokyo.
432
433The show traditionally comes after the Tokyo Dome and sets up angles for the February big shows, and teases other things for later in the year. The event greatly outgrew Korakuen Hall, its usual home. Last year the interest was such that they could have sold out Sumo Hall or even Budokan Hall, but held it in the building that they could barely have 1,700 paid in. It was the most in-demand ticket you could get, like a PWG show, in the sense there were no tickets, nor scalper tickets available.
434
435With two Dome shows, there was a question whether they would keep Dash, but they did and moved it to another part of the city. The event sold out well in advance with 4,078 fans, once again a venue far too small for the interest level.
436
437The key to New Year’s Dash is that nobody knows the card beforehand. The only thing known was they would have a Jushin Liger retirement ceremony, and shoot lots of angles.
438
439It was a great regular show. The wrestling quality was high and lots of new angles and stories were there. The Liger ceremony and a tag match with Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Shingo Takagi & Evil was the highlight. But every match had its reason for being there. And the opener was one of those matches that nobody talks of as being tremendous because it was an opener with no big names, but for work quality, you could see just how strong New Japan will be a few years in the future since several of those guys will be headliners.
440
441The show opened with the Liger ceremony. This was great, but not Ric Flair’s retirement on Raw level great. You could see how much everyone respected Liger. His wife and son were there, and his son was crying. Hiroshi Tanahashi, who was there as the point man for the company, was also out there crying. They brought out Tanahashi and most of the company babyfaces first. Then the Chaos group came out. The groups like LIJ and Suzuki-gun did not come out. One bit of trivia noted is that the idea of the first Super J Cup, with the idea of a tournament with the best junior heavyweights from a number of different companies in a tournament, was come up with by Liger’s wife. They also had a taped interview with Antonio Inoki, which shows just how much Liger is respected since New Japan as a company has made a complete break from Inoki.
442
443Liger said that he was grateful that he retired at the hands of Hiromu Takahashi, since it’s generally considered this was the perfect passing of the torch. While Liger has not been the dominant junior heavyweight for years, not of those put in the top spot have ever come close to his level of popularity or charisma. But, barring injury, Takahashi is the best and most charismatic person give that spot since the heyday of Liger. Liger then noted that his mother was old, but she was at the Tokyo Dome yesterday and was there today and thanked her for raising him. The crowd then sang Liger’s theme song together, as did the New Japan wrestlers. His son was crying Tanahashi played rock star singing Liger’s song. This was worth going out of your way to see as stars the level of Liger maybe retire once every decade and you can’t count on both hands with fingers left ceremonies as cool as this.
444
4451. Karl Fredericks & Alex Coughlin & Clark Connors beat Toa Henare & Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura in 10:40. They are doing a prelim feud between the students of Katsuyori Shibata in Los Angeles and the New Japan young wrestlers. Connors as a worker reminds me of Chris Benoit when he first started in New Japan. There was a great exchange with Coughlin vs. Tsuji. Fredericks vs. Uemura was great. Uemura had the Boston crab on Fredericks in the middle but Coughlin saved. Fredericks hit a super dropkick on Uemura and then used a half crab to win. The level of wrestling was so high here and the crowd reacted accordingly. ****
446
4472. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Desperado won a four-way over Bushi & Hiromu Takahashi, Sho & Yoh and El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori in 13:29. The story here is that whatever team won unless it was Sho & Yoh, that the winner would be expected to get the next jr. tag title shot. Bushi did a huracanrana on Kanemaru & Desperado. He also did a tope on Phantasmo. Yoh did aa flip five on Phantasmo & Ishimori. The finish saw Bushi blow mist at Sho although the intended target was Desperado. Desperado then pinned Sho. So this was good booking since Desperado & Kanemaru get a title shot off the win, but Sho & Yoh also have reason to face Bushi & Takahashi. ***1/4
448
4493. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi & Juice Robinson & David Finlay beat Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa & Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens in 11:30. It started with Owens wanting Ibushi to join Bullet Club. That didn’t happen. It turned into a very good match. Jado hit Ibushi with a kendo stick and Owens used Jewel heist on him but there was a save. Ibushi blocked Owen’s package piledriver. This match really showcased how good Owens, Finlay and Tonga really are. Ibushi pinned Owens with the Kamagoye. After the match, Tanahashi & Ibushi indicated they wanted to challenge Robinson & Finlay for the tag titles. They all shook hands. Tanahashi & Ibushi left together like they were going to form a regular tag team, which would elevate the tag team division. But even though this angle was weeks ago, such a match hasn’t been announced yet and Ibushi being off the U.S. tour due to suffering such ab bad case of the flu where they were scheduled to team a lot may slow down that story. ***½
450
4514. Evil & Shingo Takagi beat Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii in 16:28. Just an incredible match to set up Evil vs. Ishii and Goto vs Takagi matches. Ishii is getting more and more like 1989 Terry Funk where you can see when he walks to the ring just how thrashed his body is but the bell rings and he’s at the level of the best in the world. Evil hit darkness falls on Ishii right away, the move that beat him by accident (it wasn’t supposed to be the finish) the night before and Ishii kicked out. Evil used the baseball bat with a chair on the chair around the neck shot on Ishii and posted him. But Goto vs. Takagi was the highlight with the stuff powerful offense on both sides. Takagi hit the GTR, Goto’s own move, on him and then used Last of the Dragon to win Goto. Ishii challenged Evil after noting that they were 1-1 in their last two singles matches and wanted the rubber match. Takagi then said that Naito’s strength has been passed to me and he wanted a Never shot at Goto. Goto had to be helped out of the ring and to the back so they sold it as Takagi beat him decisively and hurt him to set up the title match. ****½
452
4535. Kazuchika Okada & Will Ospreay & Yoshi-Hashi & Robbie Eagles *beat Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. & Lance Archer & Taichi via DQ in 15:27. Ospreay was working this match with a broken heel. After the first series of moves with Sabre you could see him grab his heel in pain and he didn’t do much the rest of the match. Okada’s neck was all taped up from having those matches with Ibushi and Naito on consecutive nights. Ospreay and Sabre opened with an incredible exchange of mat wrestling where Ospreay stayed with Sabre. As good as Ospreay is, this was a revelation to see just how great he is when it comes to actual mat wrestling rather than the style he usually does. It was clear from the start this was also to start an Okada vs,. Taichi program. Taichi threw Okada’s shoulder into the post. Suzuki & Sabre were torturing Eagles with double submissions. Eagles’ sealing was unreal. Taichi gave Okada a high angle back suplex on his bad neck. Okada hit the dropkick on Archer but started selling his neck. Taichi hit Okada with a low blow and Takashi Iizuka’s old iron fingers for the DQ. While the DQ finish wasn’t the best and never gets over strong, the post-match got a huge reaction. Taichi choked Okada with his mic stand. Taichi hit Eagles with the mic stand. Taichi was about to piledrive Okada when Jon Moxley showed up. Suzuki attacked Moxley. The crowd went nuts for Suzuki vs. Moxley. They went at it and they slapped the hell out of ach other and Suzuki laughed. Moxley laid out Suzuki with the death rider and blew a kiss at him. Suzuki was on the ground laid out and had a big smile on his face. Why this guy isn’t a villain in movies is beyond me. ***1/4
454
4556. Tetsuya Naito & Sanada beat Jay White & KENTA in 13:58. Sanada opened with a pescado on both guys. KENTA was great as a heel here attacking Naito’s knee. White used a back suplex on Sanada. Gedo tried to interfere Sanada used a spinning skull end on White and a moonsault, but White moved. White went for bladerunner and Sanada escaped and used an O’Connor roll for the pin. After the match, White gave Sanada a low blow and was beating him down. KENTA was beating on Naito. KENTA and White both got chairs and used them. White cut a promo saying that he is going to bring Sanada back to reality. ***½
456
457Ruben Cruz, who used the name Hercules Ayala for most of his career and was one of the biggest stars during the glory days of the World Wrestling Council, passed away on 1/22.
458
459His death was reported as due to a heart attack at the age of 69. Ayala was best known in Puerto Rico and Stampede Wrestling, but worked all over the world in a career where he was full-time from 1974 to 1993.
460
461Cruz was born July 14, 1950, in Bayamon, PR, and was a huge fan of Huracan Castillo. His family moved to Boston and he met former world junior heavyweight champion and later promoter Angelo Savoldi while training at an area gym.
462
463He began his career as prelim wrestler Ruben Ayala in 1974 in the WWWF. He returned to Puerto Rico and was pushed from the start in 1976.
464
465Billed as Hercules Ayala, and billed as one of the strongest men in the world, he won the Puerto Rican title from The Spoiler (Don Jardine) on February 21, 1976, in Bayamon before 12,000 fans at Juan Loubriel Stadium as part of a double main event with Carlos Colon vs. Cowboy Bob Ellis.
466
467He lost it on May 22, 1976, in Caguas to Tor Kamata. On December 4, 1976, also in Caguas, Ayala & Victor Jovica won the North American tag team titles from Higo “Animal” Hamaguchi & Gordon Nelson to set up a match on the big Christmas night show in Bayamon where they lost to Los Medicos, who were better known as the Masked Interns in the U.S., Tom Andrews & Jim Starr, managed by Dr. Ken Ramey. That show drew 14,000 fans at the stadium. He also toured with the IWE in Japan that year.
468
469In 1977, he feuded with his hero, Castillo, over both the Puerto Rican and Caribbean heavyweight titles, winning both belts from Castillo at different times during the year. He also held the tag team titles with Jose Luis Rivera, feuding with Daniel & Michel Martel. Daniel was better known as Danny Babich, Igor Volkoff and Yugo Babich. Michel, real name Michel Vigneault, was the older brother of Rick Martel.
470
471In September and October 1978, he was wrestling in Hanover, Germany in a tournament and Bruce Hart and Dynamite Kid were working for the same promotion run by Edmund Schober. They both liked him and Bruce got his father to bring him to Stampede Wrestling in 1979.
472
473He was brought in as a strongman who could move, as a heel, first feuding with Jake Roberts over the North American title.
474
475In 1980, he came back with a stronger push as a babyface, working with guys like Bobby Bass, The Loch Ness Monster (better known as Giant Haystacks in the U.K.), Duke Myers, Mike Sharpe Jr. and Kasavubu. He was over strong enough that he headlined the company’[s biggest show of the year in July for Stampede Week against world champion Harley Race.
476
477Ayala formed a powerhouse tag team with Jim Neidhart, winning the International tag titles from Mr. Sakurada (later Kendo Nagasaki) & Kasavubu, which they lost to Myers & Bass. In 1981, he had a main event feud with David Schultz over the North American title. He worked on and off through1984, with big programs against Archie “The Stomper” Gouldie, Badnews Allen, Kerry Brown and Leo Burke.
478
479During that period he also worked in the Maritimes as Hercules Ayala Cortez, named after the former 60s star Hercules Cortez, who passed away in a 1971 auto accident. He also headlined for International Wrestling in 1987, beating Schultz for their top title before losing it to Abdullah the Butcher.
480
481He worked around the U.S. and Canada through 1982, before returning to Puerto Rico. He had two major matches in 1983, losing an NWA title match to Ric Flair before 8,000 fans on January 7, 1983, in Caguas, and then losing to Abdullah on December 18, 1983, in the semifinal to the famous Colon vs. Flair cage match where Colon won the NWA title (recognized only in Puerto Rico) which led to Colon becoming the Universal champion, before 10,000 fans.
482
483On March 2, 1985, in Ponce, Ayala beat Randy Savage to win the North American title. On September 21, 1985, at Hiram Bithorn Stadium, he was part of a double main event before 25,000 fans losing to Flair in an NWA title match along with Colon vs. Abdullah for the Universal title. On October 19, 1985, before 15,000 fans in Bayamon, he beat Race to retain the North American title underneath Colon vs. Abdullah which drew 15,000 fans. He lost the title on January 6, 1986, in San Juan at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan to Jos LeDuc before 13,000 fans underneath Colon vs. Abdullah. On March 28, 1987, he was in the main event at Juan Loubriel Stadium before 13,000 fans beating Abdullah to win the Carribean title.
484
485He really took off as a top star in 1987 when he turned heel to feud with Colon, and took on Chicky Starr as his manager, and used Colon’s figure four leglock as his finisher . The two wrestled for years all over Puerto Rico battling for the Universal title, which Ayala held three times.
486
487His first title win on June 27, 1987 at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum over Colon drew 13,000 fans. A rematch three weeks late at Hiram Bithorn Stadium saw Ayala retain in a Texas death match. Colon won it back on September 23, 1987, in Ponce before 9,900 fans in a barbed wire match that could only be won via figure four leglock.
488
489After Dusty Rhodes created the War Games for a show in Atlanta, Colon used the concept and drew 15,000 fans on December 12, 1987 at Loubriel Stadium with Colon & Bruiser Brody & Invader I (Jose Gonzalez) & TNT (Savio Vega) & Dutch Mantell as the babyface team beating Abdullah & Ayala & Chicky Starr & Grizzly Boone & Kareem Muhammad (Ray Candy).
490
491On July 23, 1988, Ayala beat Colon to regain the title. One month later came their most famous angle. It was at the WWC Awards banquet, with everyone and their families all decked out, carried on television, and they had flown in Gordon Solie to be the M.C. and give it even more credibility.
492
493Colon had gotten the Wrestler of the Year award and Ayala was furious, since he was the Universal champion at the time. He decked Colon, and then threw down his wife Nancy to the ground. Colon came back and punched Ayala and bent over to check on his wife. Ayala then started giving him the boots while he covered his wife.
494
495Ayala was stripped of the title and suspended, which led to the first-ever ring surrounded by fire match on September 10, 1988, where Colon gained his revenge.
496
497The angle was done because business was down after the murder of Bruiser Brody in July.
498
499“He was my buddy,” Ayala said about Brody to Slam Wrestling. “I was in the heel dressing room and he was in the babyface dressing room when it happened that night. It was terrible. I didn’t want to wrestle the next day.”
500
501He said that just before the murder, he and Brody stuck up for each other in an argument with the promotion. He said this ruined his relationship with the company, but he worked the feud with Colon until its loser-leaves-town conclusion in early 1989, and came back a few times after that.
502
503Because of the uniqueness of the ring surrounded by fire match, it was perhaps the most memorable of his matches with Colon, and certainly was on an international basis. But it was far from the biggest, coming after the murder of Brody, and they only drew 6,000 fans.
504
505Ayala said it was the scariest match of his career.
506
507“After ten minutes, you’ve got all that heat plus the heat you’ve got in the arena, you feel like you’re going to die,” he said. “You can’t breathe, plus tired, and that heat because they keep lighting the ropes. You have to get burned, your hair, your back.”
508
509His wife said that due to the crazy fans in Puerto Rico, she was scared whenever he would wrestle there.
510
511The couple had two daughters and he had a son in Puerto Rico from a previous relationship.
512
513They had two more major matches, a stretcher match won by Colon on October 1, 1988 in Caguas and a loser leaves town match for the Universal title that Colon won on January 6, 1989 at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum. While the Brody death hurt business, the idea of the two of them in a loser leaves town match drew 14,000 fans.
514
515He came back to Puerto Rico in 1992, as booker for a rival American Wrestling Federation, where he was world champion and booker, and once again was managed by Chicky Starr. After that promotion folded, he returned to the WWC in 1993 and came back in 1995 and 1996 for a feud with El Bronco I.
516
517After wrestling, he lived in St. Albert, Alberta, near Edmonton, since he met his wife Susan while working for Stu Hart.
518
519The NWA did its Hard Times PPV on 1/24 from Atlanta’s PBS Studios.
520
521The show was largely build around a tournament for the TV title which was won by Ricky Starks. He lost it two days later to Zicky Dice at the TV tapings.
522
523Dave Lagana said that this PPV did more streaming buys than the first one. They announced a Crockett Cup tag team tournament in April with the Rock & Roll Express. Nick Aldis vs. Marty Scurll for the NWA title will likely headline the show with the stipulation that if Scurll loses, he must pay to refund everyone’s ticket money. Aldis cut an incredible promo on the 1/28 Powerrr show naming that stipulation as the only way he will give Scurll another title shot. This was set up when Aldis agreed to defend the title against Flip Gordon on this show, but that if he won, which he did, that he would dictate all the terms of a potential match for the title with Scurll. It was a very believable back-and-forth that was designed to put over the importance of the belt with Scurll talking about how everywhere he goes, people tell him that he should have won the title (meaning ROH) in Madison Square Garden and the NWA title and after all his years in the business, he’s never held a world title (he has held Progress and What Culture world titles, and the IWGP world jr. title). The promo played into the idea that people know Scurll signed a big ROH contract, with Aldis calling him Big Money Marty and how Scurll said wrestling isn’t about money, but Aldis said, it kind of really is. Scurll didn’t accept on the show but obviously that wouldn’t have been thrown out if it wasn’t going to be the stipulation.
524
525Scurll & Brody King from ROH worked the tapings, losing to Aldis & Tom Latimer.
526
527Former WWF announcer Sean Mooney has started here as well.
528
5291. Trevor Murdoch pinned Question Mark (Jocephus) with a top rope bulldog to advance in the tournament. All the tournament matches were fast because the gimmick was they all had 6:05 time limits (since the TBS wrestling show they were copying started at 6:05 p.m. Eastern).
530
5312. Dan Maff pinned Zicky Dice to advance with a spear and a senton.
532
5333. Ricky Starks advanced with a win over Matt Cross with the stroke in a short match.
534
5354. Eli Drake & James Storm won the NWA tag titles in a three-way over champs Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson and Royce Isaacs & Latimer (The Wild Card). Drake pinned Morton using the gravy train and Kamille grabbed Gibson’s leg to keep him from making the save. Still, all four hugged after the match.
536
5375. Thunder Rosa won the NWA women’s title over Allysin Kay. Most had this as the highlight of the show. Rosa won using the Thunder driver. Melina and Marti Belle celebrated the win with Rosa as they pushed Rosa as the first Mexican-born NWA women’s champion.
538
539Marty Scurll did an interview wanting a title shot with Nick Aldis. Aldis said that Scurll has no right to challenge for the NWA title and then said ROH was only a hot ticket when he was there. He said he would defend the title against Flip Gordon but that if he wins, the ROH/NWA relationship will be on his terms and that Scurll has to leave the building. Scurll agreed.
540
5416. Trevor Murdoch beat Dan Maff in the second round with a top rope bulldog.
542
5437. Ricky Starks beat Tim Storm (who got a first round bye when Ken Anderson wasn’t there) with a crucifix pin.
544
5458. Scott Steiner beat Aron Stevens via DQ so Stevens retained his National title. Steiner kicked out of near falls, got Stevens in the Steiner recliner, but Question Mark attacked Steiner for the title-saving DQ.
546
5479. Nick Aldis retained the NWA title over Flip Gordon. Gordon went for a roll-up but Aldis blocked it and sat on him for the pin. Said to be good.
548
54910. Ricky Stars beat Trevor Murdoch in the TV title tournament final. Stars won with a spear and the stroke.
550
551Carlos Rocha, considered the greatest wrestler to come out of Portugal, passed away on 1/27 just a few weeks before his 93rd birthday.
552
553Rocha, born, February 2, 1927, had been living in Florida.
554
555Rocha was the oldest still living wrestler who had performed in North America. With his death, the oldest living major North America star wrestler would be Cowboy Bob Ellis, who is almost 91.
556
557Rocha started his career in Portugal in the 1940s. He was one of the top stars in Europe during the 1950s and first arrived in the U.S. in 1962, wrestling in Texas and Northern California. He returned to Europe at that point. His return to North America was in 1971.
558
559He almost immediately became one of the top draws in North America in 1971-72, working out of Toronto and Montreal. He held the world title for the Rougeaus International Wrestling in Montreal for four months in 1971. His Montreal run was best remembered for a feud with Abdullah the Butcher. Rocha vs. Butcher for their world title series drew 16,577 to the Forum in Montreal on November 29, 1971, and the December 27, 1971 rematch drew 14,900.
560
561He was even bigger in Toronto, where he headlined Maple Leaf Gardens five times in a 1972 feud with The Sheik, drawing three sellouts, the most of any Sheik opponent during his run on top. This was during the hottest period of Maple Leaf Wrestling in history.
562
563Rocha arrived in Toronto in late 1971 billed as the champion from Portugal in an era where being a national champion in Europe still meant a lot.
564
565He went undefeated with explosive wins over mostly prelim wrestlers, the biggest name being George “Man Mountain” Cannon. This built to a February 6, 1972, bout with Sheik that went to a double count out in 2:22, and sold out with 18,000 fans. The Sheik had gone consistent big business in the city, which ran every other Sunday afternoon, dating back to 1969, but this was only The Sheik’s third sellout of that run.
566
567The Sheik pinned Rocha in 4:10 in the rematch two weeks later, drawing a second sellout of 18,000 fans.. Instead of that being the blow-off, as it normally would be, two straight sellouts made them extend the program for three more shows.
568
569The Sheik never drew less than 8,000 fans over a six-year period, perhaps the single greatest drawing run of any wrestler over a period that long in a market that ran twice a month in wrestling history. But even with that success, he actually only sold out Maple Leaf Gardens seven times during the 1970s, three with Rocha, twice in 1971 with Tiger Jeet Singh and once each with Pampero Firpo in 1972 and with Andre the Giant in 1973.
570
571Rocha’s sellouts outdid literally every other major star of the era. The Sheik’s big run included matches with such legends as Lou Thesz, Whipper Billy Watson, Gene Kiniski, Bruno Sammartino, Edouard Carpentier, Bobo Brazil, Lord Layton, Seiji Sakaguchi, Bull Curry, Haystacks Calhoun, Bulldog Brower, Dory Funk Jr., Angelo Mosca, Johnny Valentine, Johnny Powers, Chief Jay Strongbow, Bearcat Wright, Killer Kowalski, Abdullah the Butcher, Jack Brisco, Ernie Ladd, Mighty Igor, Tex McKenzie and countless others.
572
573Area fans would remember Sheik vs. Brazil, because of how many times they met and always drew big, as the generational feud, and Watson vs. Kiniski as the battle of Canada’s most beloved babyface against its best wrestler and top heel in the generation before that. But for actual box office success, Sheik vs. Rocha would probably have been ahead of Ric Flair vs. Harley Race, equivalent to Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage and behind only Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff in the long history of Toronto wrestling.
574
575This was during the period when Sheik did an undefeated gimmick in Toronto, meaning matches could only end with either a double count out, double DQ, or a win by Sheik. Sheik wasn’t doing 60:00 (well, he did once with Bobo Brazil in 1973 and it wasn’t pretty) draws. Almost all the matches were heated, bloody and short. Sheik rarely went as long as 6:00 and many of his main events lasted less than 3:00, with a familiar pattern of him using a pencil to bloody his opponent, the opponent getting it to bloody Sheik, and then they would go right to the finish.
576
577The Sheik’s unbeaten streak lasted from 1969 to 1974, covering 127 matches until he lost via DQ to Andre on August 11, 1974.
578
579The crowds started falling earlier that year, which was attributed to the February 17, 1974, match with Andre which drew more than 15,000, a Texas death match that Sheik won after throwing fire in Andre’s eyes in just 3:32 as Andre couldn’t beat the ten count in what today would be called a last man standing match. This was Andre’s first and only clean loss under the name Andre the Giant (he had lost as Jean Ferre) until the matches with Canek and Antonio Inoki in the 80s, and one that was hidden by many of the magazines because of the storyline of Andre being undefeated. The belief was that when Andre couldn’t beat The Sheik, fans started giving up on the quest of packing the building to see who could do so or just got burned out over five years of the chase.
580
581Sheik lost a few times in the ensuing years via DQ, with Rocha’s count out win in 1976 being Sheik’s first non-DQ loss. Sheik’s first pinfall loss wasn’t until November 19, 1976, when he lost the U.S. title to Thunderbolt Patterson.
582
583Sheik won via DQ in 2:55 on March 5, a match with former boxing champion Jack Sharkey, which drew another sellout crowd of 18,000 fans. Then on April 16, they did another double count out in 6:10, but the crowd dropped to 8,500. The blow-off match was April 30, in a Portuguese Death match, a bout it was billed that Rocha had never lost in, but Sheik prevailed in 4:40, which drew 11,000. Rocha continued to work through August and never lost again in the city during that run.
584
585Rocha was an ethnic hero in the city during that period. Toronto had a good-sized Portugese community. They would play the Portugese national anthem before his matches and the fans would carry him on their backs after the matches. He would always speak in both English and in Portuguese during his interviews,
586
587Because of his success in both markets, he was considered one of the biggest stars in wrestling at that time. Montreal really didn’t get the magazine publicity because of the language barrier. Toronto, due to The Sheik and his bloodbath main events, and the big crowds he drew, was one of the most covered major markets. Rocha also worked in Detroit for The Sheik but wasn’t pushed as hard, but was still a key babyface during that period.
588
589But he then disappeared, returning to Europe. It was quite weird having a guy in his early 40s who was a basic unknown in North America, since the magazines almost never covered Europe and most fans didn’t even read magazines, all of a sudden explode with headline positions in two of the biggest wrestling markets, and then just as suddenly, he was gone and never spoken about again.
590
591He returned to North America in 1976, working as a main eventer in Vancouver and Toronto as well as other parts of Canada. He finished his career working 1976-77 for the WWWF.
592
593But his main run was back in Toronto against The Sheik, playing off their feud from four years earlier.
594
595He came in and beat stars like Ox Baker, Waldo Von Erich, Mighty John Quinn and Chris Colt to set up a September 12, 1976, main event with The Sheik.
596
597The dynamic was different on the second run. The peak was over and crowds were a lot smaller. The biggest crowd of the year in the city was 8,000, with the usual range being 5,000 to 8,000. Sheik was no longer undefeated, but did hold the U.S. title, so now you could beat the Sheik via DQ since he’d keep his title that way.
598
599By this time there was a feeling crowds were down due to all the years of sub five minute main events, so things had changed. Rocha beat Sheik via DQ in 10:44 in the first title match, and then two weeks later beat him via count out in 16:24, the closest thing to a clean loss Sheik had suffered since the streak began.
600
601Sheik had used the title can’t change hands via count out rule for his U.S. title defenses, which was still not the case in most of North America and the rest of the world, but it came from WWWF as a way for Sammartino to lose matches and build rematches without losing his title. Sheik won the third meeting on October 17 via count out in 11:00. Rocha had only one pin loss during that run, on December 5, when he challenged Terry Funk for the NWA title, and lost in 10:17.
602
603Rocha was a regular at Maple Leaf Gardens until the end of the year, but appeared at times through the next summer while he was working full-time for WWWF, and had one last match with The Sheik in June 1977.
604
605He was a regular in WWWF in 1976 and 1977, billed as the Portugese heavyweight champion. He worked mostly in prelims, sometimes in smaller markets he’d work main events in tag team matches. He virtually never lost since he was billed as a champion. He was 50 years old at the time and worked a full schedule and it wasn’t until he decided to retire that he lost. And even then, it was a count out loss to Ken Patera on a small show and a clean loss to WWWF champion Superstar Billy Graham in Providence, RI, before 7,500 fans, a strong crowd for that market. He never lost in Madison Square Garden during that tenure, and retired in the summer of 1977.
606
607WWE Backstage on 1/28 did 97,000 viewers and a 0.04 in the 18-49 demo.
608
609Raw on 1/27 did 2,397,000 viewers, which has to be considered a huge disappointment for the Raw after the Royal Rumble, particularly since the show was to have Drew McIntyre and Charlotte Flair give who they were going to face at WrestleMania. And even more, the whole show was promoted around
610
611Edge’s return interview which was saved for the end of the show.
612
613Raw was first for the night in 18-49 at 0.76, but 15th overall, trailing news shows due to the impeachment hearings and Kobe Bryant news. ESPN aired Bryant’s retirement game from 2016 where he scored 60 points and did 1,086,000 viewers and an 0.47 in 18-49 head-to-head against the second half of the show.
614
615It was only up 0.9 percent in audience from last week. Traditionally, the Raw after the Rumble will be either the highest or second highest rated Raw of the year and be up 10 percent or more from the go-home show the week before. In the 18-49 demo, the show averaged 988,000 viewers, which was down nine percent from the previous week.
616
617This Raw actually did less than a heavily promoted and loaded 12/30 show, as well as the 9/30 show against the NFL which was built around the return of Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. It did a lower number that Raw did virtually every week after the basketball season ended and football season began last year.
618
619It was down 11.6 percent from the Raw after the Rumble last year. For a comparison, the Raw after the Royal Rumble last year did 2,713,000 viewers. In 2018 it was 3.40 million viewers. In 2017, it was 3.62 million viewers. In 2016, it was 4.10 million.
620
621The first hour did 2,541,000 viewers. The second hour did 2,441,000 viewers. The third hour did 2,224,000 viewers.
622
623The first-to-third hour drop of 12.5 percent was less than usual, likely due to Edge.
624
625The opening segment, which was the McIntyre interview and the McIntyre vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson handicap match did 2,693,000 viewers. From there, the beginning of Rey Mysterio vs. MVP lost 229,000 viewers. The end of Mysterio vs. MVP and the Aleister Black vs. Kenneth Johnson squash match gained 78,000 viewers. The in-ring segment with Seth Rollins, Buddy Murphy, Samoa Joe, Kevin Owens and the Viking Raiders beating down the AOP lost 77,000 viewers. The tag title match with Rollins & Murphy vs. Joe & Owens gained 28,000 viewers. Andrade vs. Humberto Carrillo for the U.S. title and post-match lost 81,000 viewers. The Charlotte Flair interview and Kabuki Warriors confronting her lost 58,000 viewers. The Flair vs. Asuka match gained 55,000 viewers. The 24/7 segment with Mojo Rawley vs. No Way Jose and R-Truth and the title changes lost 260,000 viewers, The 24/7 title segments have usually not done too well. Liv Morgan vs. Lana lost 88,000 viewers to 2,061,000 viewers, making it the lowest rated segment of the show. The Edge and Randy Orton angle gained 267,000 viewers with the overrun with the gain of 180,000 in the final quarter and another 87,000 in the overrun.
626
627The show did a 0.41 in 12-17 (up 10.8 percent from the prior week), 0.54 in 18-34 (down 5.3 percent), 0.98 in 35-49 (down 10.1 percent) and 1.09 in 50+ (up 5.8 percent).
628
629The audience was 68.0 percent male in 18-49 and 71.0 percent male in 12-17, both figures much higher than usual. In particular, the number of teenage girls watching was down, but while all the other age groups declined ten percent or more, and teenage boys declined hard as the show went on, teenage girls increased from the first-to-third hour.
630
631Smackdown on 1/24 did a 1.52 rating and 2,448,000 viewers (1.34 viewers per home) for the show leading to the Rumble.
632
633It was down 4.4 percent from the week before. The show did a 0.7 in 18-49, making it the highest rated show on television that night in the key demo since CBS, the usual leader, ran reruns. For total viewers, it also best NBC, which ran the U.S. Figure Skating Championships that did 2,386,000 viewers but only an 0.3 in the key demo.
634
635The show did a 1.8 in New York, a 1.1 in Los Angeles, a 1.2 in Chicago, 1.8 in Philadelphia, 2.3 in Dallas, 1.1 in San Francisco, 2.3 in DC, 1.5 in Houston and 1.6 in Atlanta.
636
637Based on the major markets, in the segment-by-segment, the Roman Reigns & Usos vs. King Corbin & Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode match lost 1.9 percent in the second quarter of the show. The Lacey Evans interview and Bayley attack, plus a Carmella & Dana Brooke interview lost 8.2 percent. Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville and Elias in the ring cutting a promo lost 2.8 percent and was the lowest viewed segment of the show in the top markets. Elias & Braun Strowman vs. Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro gained 3.5 percent. The Rumble video and more backstage stuff lost 2.7 percent. Kofi Kingston vs. John Morrison gained 1.4 percent. The final segment with the Daniel Bryan/Bray Wyatt contract signing gained 2.1 percent.
638
639For 1/22, AEW did 871,000 viewers and a 0.35 in 18-49 to NXT’s 769,000 viewers and 0.24 in 18-49.
640
641The closing of the gap is likely related to the AEW show being taped as the AEW/NXT audience is more hardcore and less casual and that could lead to people watching NXT live since many already knew what happened in AEW. Usually live vs. tape doesn’t mean that much for Raw (although it probably was a big part of the 12/23 record low show), Smackdown or Bellator as far as a numbers difference. AEW was down 7.3 percent while NXT was up 9.9 percent.
642
643The two NBA games on ESPN did 1,152,000 viewers and in 18-49 0.48 for the early game with Philadelphia vs. Toronto and 2,357,000 viewers and 1.01 for New Orleans vs. San Antonio for the Zion Williamson game.
644
645Aside from ESPN, the only shows that beat AEW in 18-49 were Real Housewives of New Jersey on Bravo and Fox News.
646
647For the head-to-head two hours, it was 871,000 to 758,000 overall, and 455,000 (308,000 men, 147,000 women) to 306,000 (202,000 men and 104,000 women) in 18-49.
648
649AEW did a 0.12 in 12-17 (down 40.0 percent from the prior week), 0.20 in 18-34 (down 16.7 percent), 0.50 in 35-49 (down 3.8 percent) and 0.34 in 50+ (identical to the prior week).
650
651The audience was 68.6 percent male in 18-49 and 56.4 percent male in 12-17.
652
653NXT, which finished 35th in 18-49, did a 0.08 in 12-17 (identical to last week), 0.18 in 18-34 (up 28.6 percent), 0.30 in 35-49 (up 7.1 percent) and 0.38 in 50+ (up 8.6 percent). The audience was 66.7 percent male in 18-49 and 51.8 percent male in 12-17.
654
655In the segment-by-segment, AEW opened with 906,000 viewers and 474,000 in 18-49 for Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky for the tag titles. NXT had 768,000 viewers and 292,000 in 18-49 for an Undisputed Era promo and Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Zack Gibson & James Drake in the Dusty Classic.
656
657For the second quarter, AEW gained 22,000 viewers overall and 22,000 in 18-49 for the ending of the Omega & Page vs. Kazarian & Sky match. NXT lost 24,000 viewers and 10,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Fish & O’Reilly vs. Gibson & Drake and the beginning of Io Shirai vs. Toni Storm.
658
659Quarter three saw AEW gain 10,000 viewers but lost 12,000 in 18-49 for Britt Baker vs. Priscilla Kelly and the Baker post-match promo. NXT gained 70,000 viewers and 56,000 in 18-49 for the ending of Shirai vs. Storm and the post-match brawl with those two, Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair. That’s something to note because even with AEW growing, NXT had a big quarter and it was its peak of the show. It was also AEW’s peak, and both were women’s matches and AEW’s was really not even a major match considering it was Kelly’s debut. That may bode well for Kelly and definitely does for Baker to grow against an NXT segment that did so well, but also speaks for the marketability of Shirai and Storm.
660
661The fourth quarter saw AEW lost 76,000 viewers and 35,000 in 18-49 for the beginning of Chris Jericho & Santana & Ortiz vs. Luchasaurus & Marko Stunt & Jungle Boy. NXT had Finn Balor vs. Joaquin Wilde and a Balor interview and lost 70,000 viewers and 21,000 in 18-49. This was notable in that you had each group’s biggest mainstream star, Jericho and Balor, and both lost coming off the women.
662
663In the fifth quarter, the ending of the Jericho six-man tag and beginning of MJF vs. Joey Janela gained 32,000 viewers and 17,000 in 18-49. NXT had Shayna Baszler vs. Shotzi Blackheart which gained 30,000 viewers and lost 8,000 in 18-49.
664
665The sixth quarter saw the end of MJF vs. Janela, the Cody/MJF interview and Young Bucks throwing MJF in the pool, which gained 14,000 viewers and 1,000 in 18-49. NXT had Pete Dunne & Matt Riddle vs Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner which lost 6,000 viewers but gained 5,000 in 18-49.
666
667The seventh quarter, which had the Omega & Page interview and beginning of Jon Moxley vs. Pac, lost 82,000 viewers and 29,000 in 18-49. NXT had the ending of Dunne & Riddle vs. Barthel & Aichner and a post-match face-off with Dunne & Riddle vs. Gibson & Drake. They lost 1,000 viewers but gained 1,000 in 18-49.
668
669The final quarter with Pac vs. Moxley gained 79,000 viewers and 16,000 in 18-49. NXT had Keith Lee vs. Roderick Strong and lost 78,000 viewers and 30,000 in 18-49, so head-to-head main event was 823,000 to 685,000 overall and 426,000 to 283,000 in 18-49.
670
671However, the finish of Lee vs. Strong after AEW went off the air gained huge, as NXT picked up 221,000 AEW viewers and 115,000 in 18-49.
672
673WWE Backstage on 1/21 did 112,000 viewers.
674
675Raw on 1/20 did 2,376,000 viewers (a well above usual 1.41 viewers per home), up 17.1 percent over the number the prior week which was held down by going against the College Football championship game.
676
677Raw did a 0.83 in 18-49, beating the NBA game on TBS head-to-head that did 0.81 and 2,015,000 viewers for the top spot in the demo on cable.
678
679Traditionally that would be the bounce back Raw and give an indication of the kind of numbers the show will be doing for the next few months. It should be the end of low numbers until deep into the NBA playoffs.
680
681The show did 2,548,000 viewers in the first hour, 2,492,000 viewers in the second hour, and fell to 2,101,000 viewers in the third hour, a 17.5 percent first-to-third hour drop which is major.
682
683The show opened with 2,725,000 viewers for the in-ring with Seth Rollins, Buddy Murphy, AOP, Kevin Owens Samoa Joe and Viking Raiders. The Andrade vs. Rey Mysterio ladder match for the U.S. title lost 104,000 viewers. The Aleister Black squash match lost 215,000 viewers. The Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar promo with Ricochet gained 352,000 viewers, the biggest gain for a Raw segment since the Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair segments months ago, and at 2,758,000 viewers was the high point of the show. Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton lost 314,000 viewers bring it back to Earth. Becky Lynch vs. Kairi Sane lost 155,000 viewers. The Rocky Johnson piece lost 67,000 viewers. The Seth Rollins & Buddy Murphy tag title win over the Viking Raiders lost 57,000 viewers. Erick Rowan vs. Matt Hardy lost 168,000 viewers to 2,017,000 viewers, which was the low point of the show. Bobby Lashley & Lana vs. Rusev & Liv Morgan gained 71,000 viewers to 2,088,000 viewers to end the show.
684
685As far as where the drop came from, Women 18-49 fell 25.4 percent from hour one to three, Men 18-49 fell 15.0 percent, Teenage girls gained 10.1 percent and teenage boys gained 7.5 percent while those over 50 lost 14.8 percent.
686
687Overall, the show did a 0.37 in 12-17 (up 5.7 percent from the show against the college football championships), 0.57 in 18-34 (up 32.6 percent), 1.09 in 35-49 (up 38.0 percent) and 1.03 in 50+ (up 6.2 percent).
688
689The show did 64.7 percent males in 18-49 and 57.5 percent males in 12-17.
690
691Smackdown on 1/17 did a 1.56 rating and 2,562,000 viewers, the best number the show has done in months.
692
693Some more notes on the 1/15 ratings.
694
695In the head-to-head two hours, AEW had 940,000 viewers to 687,000 for NXT, as NXT increased due to a 13 minute unopposed overrun.
696
697AEW’s male audience peaked for the four-way tag match opener, but stayed pretty steady most of the show. The unusually large AEW female audience was for the first 30 minutes, meaning the tag match, and it fell to normal levels from there. That didn’t affect the 18-49 rating so much as it was unusually large numbers of teenage girls.
698
699NXT started strong, fell hard in quarters four through seven with both men and women, but came back strong for the main event.
700
701It opened fairly close overall with 952,000 viewers for AEW with the Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Young Bucks vs. Best Friends vs. Santana & Ortiz tag match, to 832,000 for NXT with the Keith Lee interview and Undisputed Era attack, and the beginning of Pete Dunne & Matt Riddle vs. Flash Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews match. However, in 18-49, the edge was 547,000 to 293,000 for AEW. For total viewers, aside from the overrun, this was the peak for NXT. Keep in mind that USA Network also has an edge being in more homes.
702
703Quarter two for AEW was the ending of the four-way tag plus the Cody interview, which gained 63,000 viewers and was the peak of the AEW show, but lost 7,000 in 18-49. NXT had the rest of Riddle & Dunne vs. Webster & Andrews and lost 90,000 viewers overall and 27,000 in 18-49.
704
705Quarter three for AEW was the Joey Janela interview and the beginning of Brandi Rhodes & Mel vs. Kris Statlander & Hikaru Shida. That lost 79,000 viewers overall and 57,000 in 18-49. NXT had a clip of the Undisputed Era attacking Imperium from the U.K. show and Undisputed Era attacking Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano saving. That lost 31,000 viewers but gained 13,000 in 18-49.
706
707Quarter four for AEW was the rest of the Rhodes & Mel vs. Statlander & Shida match and beginning of Jon Moxley vs. Sammy Guevara. That lost 26,000 viewers and lost 9,000 in 18-49. NXT had Alex Shelley & Kushida vs. Zack Gibson & James Drake and lost 76,000 viewers and 20,000 in 18-49.
708
709Quarter five for AEW was the rest of Moxley vs,. Guevara and the Inner Circle beat down of Moxley. That gained 77,000 viewers and 30,000 in 18-49. NXT had the end of the Shelley & Kushida vs. Gibson & Drake match and a Finn Balor promo. That lost 41,000 viewers and lost 32,000 in 18-49.
710
711Quarter six for AEW was the Inner Circle promo and beginning of the Dustin Rhodes & DDP & QT Marshall vs. MJF & Butcher & Blade match. That lost 42,000 viewers and 27,000 in 18-49. NXT had Lio Rush vs. Isaiah Scott vs. Tyler Breeze. That gained 21,000 viewers and 10,000 in 18-49.
712
713Quarter seven for AEW was the reset of the Rhodes match, which lost 15,000 viewers and 1,000 in 18-49. NXT had Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano doing a promo reforming their team, and women’s Battle Royal intros. That lost 1,000 viewers but gained 7,000 in 18-49.
714
715AEW finished with Pac vs. Darby Allin, which lost 88,000 viewers and 22,000 in 18-49. NXT had the women’s Battle Royal, which gained 134,000 viewers and 59,000 in 18-49, so the head-to-head main event was 842,000 for AEW and 750,000 for NXT. It was NXT’s high point head-to-head in 18-49 and AEW’s low point.
716
717The biggest gap was the Inner Circle beat down on Moxley against Shelley & Kushida vs. Grizzled Young Veterans with AEW having an edge of 987,000 to 596,000 overall and 504,000 to 227,000 in 18-49.
718
719A large number of people who would usually switch over for the overrun left early, after the DDP match. Pac vs. Allin still beat the women’s Battle Royal but the swing viewers were switching during that match and before 10 p.m.
720
721The overrun for NXT only gained 90,000 viewers and 23,000 in 18-49, much lower than usual.
722
723This is the second issue of the current set. If you’ve got a (1) on your address label, your subscription expires with next week’s issue.
724
725Renewal rates for the printed Observer in the United States are $13.50 for four issues (which includes $4 for postage and handling), $25 for eight, $35.50 for 12, $46 for 16, $69 for 24, $92 for 32, $115 for 40, $149.50 for 52 up through $184 for 64 issues.
726
727For Canada and Mexico, the rates are $15 for four issues (which includes $6 for postage and handling), $27 for eight, $38.50 for 12, $50 for 16, $75 or 24, $100 for 32, $125 for 40 issues, $162.50 for 52 and $200 for 64.
728
729For the rest of the world, the rates are $17 for four issues (which includes $9 for postage and handling), $33 for eight, $47.50 for 12, $62 for 16, $77.50 for 20, $93 for 24, $108.50 for 28, $155 for 40 issues and $201.50 for 52 issues.
730
731You can also get the Observer on the web at www.wrestlingobserver.com for $11.99 per month or $119.99 per year for a premium membership that includes daily audio updates, Figure Four Weekly, special articles and a message board. If you are a premium member and still want hard copies of the Observer, you can get them for $9.50 per set in the U.S., $10.50 per set in Canada and $13 per set for the rest of the world.
732
733All subscription renewals should be sent to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228. You can also renew via Visa or MasterCard by sending your name, address, phone number, Visa or MasterCard number (and include the three or four digit security code on the card) and expiration date to Dave@wrestlingobserver.com or by fax to (408)244-3402. You can also renew at www.paypal.com using dave@wrestlingobserver.com as the pay to address. For all credit card or paypal orders, please add a $1 processing fee. If there are any subscription problems, you can contact us and we will attempt to rectify them immediately, but please include with your name a full address as well a phone number you can be contacted at.
734
735All letters to the editor, reports from live shows and any other correspondence pertaining to this publication should also be sent to the above address.
736
737This publication is copyright material and no portion of the Observer may be reprinted without the expressed consent of publisher/writer Dave Meltzer. The Observer is also produced by Derek Sabato.
738
739Fax messages can be sent to the Observer 24 hours a day at (408) 244-3402. Phone messages can be left 24 hours a day at (408) 244-2455. E-mails can be sent to Dave@wrestlingobserver.com
740
741CMLL: Principe Diamante has been given a new name, called Diamond, which is now big deal. He’s also been given a new mask and outfit, to make him look very similar to El Santo
742
743Templario was the winner of the Reyes del Aire (King of Flyers) tournament on 1/14 at Arena Mexico. This Cibernetico (elimination match) took place with many of the best flyers in Japan. Order of elimination was Principe Diamante, El Hijo del Signo, Drone, Black Panther, Kawato San, Disturbio, Esfinge and Virus, leaving Templario to beat Star Jr. In the finals
744
745The 1/24 show at Arena Mexico was the first Friday since the Japan tour headlined. They had advertised the show as a tribute to Mr. Niebla and drew nearly 16,000 fans. Lots of fans came in Niebla masks. They did a ceremony with his family which was very emotional. Ultimo Guerrero & Diamante Azul & Felino beat Caristico & Cavernario & Valiente via DQ in a parejas Increibles match when Cavernario fouled Felino. Cavernario and Felino were with Negro Casas and Niebla La Pestia Negra members so it’s weird they started the feud on this night. Mistico beat Gran Guerrero via DQ when Guerrero pulled off his mask. Cuatrero & Forastero & Sanson returned to beat Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja & Stuka Jr
746
747The 1/31 show has a rematch of the 1/24 main event, plus Angel de Oro & Roja & Titan vs Euforia & Gilbert El Boricua & Gran Guerrero, plus Templario vs. Soberano Jr
748
749They are doing a tecnico and rudo tag team tournament with the A block on 2/14, the B block on 2/21 and finals on 2/28. They announced Bandido & Ultimo Guerrero as a team but they can’t reach the finals since Bandido is booked for ROH that night
750
751Dalys won the CMLL Japanese women’s title from Mina Shirakawa
752
753The 1/17 Arena Mexico show saw Mistico & Volador Jr. & Diamante Azul over Gran Guerrero & El Terrible & Shocker via straight falls DQ when Guerrero unmasked Mistico to set up the singles match the next week. Atlantis Jr. & Kraneo & Valiente beat Mephisto & Ephesto & Rey Bucanero in the semi. Templario beating Rey Cometa underneath was said to be good
754
755Texas wrestlers Alex Gracia and Gragam Bell said they are headed in.
756
757AAA: The first major show of the year, Rey de Reyes, takes place on 3/21 in Merida at the Poliforum Zemna. Verano de Escandalo will be 5/23 in Morelia
758
759Regarding the deal where Leon Negro, who was the second Psicosis, slapped Konnan outdoors when Konnan was there for the Impact tapings, he did an interview, Negro said to counter Konnan saying if he was that good that other companies would be interested in him, that after he slapped Konnan that CMLL expressed interest in him. He also claimed he got an offer for a WWE tryout but turned that down and claimed he was one of the best wrestlers in Mexico. I don’t know about that. He listed titles won and some of his biggest singles bouts in CMLL to argue that he is every bit as big a star as Nicho (the first Psicosis) was. Konnan, on his own podcast claimed the problems dated back to the Psicosis vs. Psicosis feud and claimed Leon Negro was trying to hurt Nicho and the feud ended because Nicho didn’t want to work with him. Konnan said that he saw Negro and a camera man so figured he was just doing a publicity stunt. When he started yelling, Konnan said he was thinking about who Negro brought with him. He said after he got slapped that he wanted to fight, but also said even being slapped that with his heart issues that he could have had a heart attack right there. But he said he’d have fought him anyway but he thought Negro had come with at least two people, perhaps more. He said he just wanted to go to the dressing room and bring people out with him to even the odds and that Negro was gone by the time he got back. But he admitted getting into a fight would not have been a good idea for him with his heart issues but said if he thought it was one-on-one he’d have fought back. He claimed that the guy who shot the video wanted to sell it to the Mexican press but when nobody would pay for it, they leaked it themselves and digitized Negro’s face. He said Negro made a big mistake because a lot of wrestlers and promotions have said they wouldn’t work with Negro after what he did. Konnan has his friends and his enemies and his friends and most in between saw it as bullshit but his enemies were going to love it and I’m sure plenty of people contacted Negro and told him how cool it was. There was security there when it happened but they didn’t do anything
760
761La Parka had a column, likely ghost written, in the sports newspaper Record, which is being taken over by Psycho Clown
762
763It’s largely expected that Parka’s son will take over the La Parka gimmick in some form, but not any time soon. AAA feels the La Parka character is part of the legacy of the promotio
764
765. Laredo Kid was eliminated from the reality show Exatlon but said he’s looking to spend time with his family now and targeted March for his return
766
767The first show of the year was 1/25 at the Pepsi Center in Mexico City, which drew a sellout which was 3,800 paid. The show was reported as very good with lots of angles to build to things going forward. They opened the show with a nice La Parka tribute. His son, as Karis La Momia Jr. came out. The show opened with Villano III Jr. & Lady Maravilla retaining the mixed tag team titles over Nino Hamburguesa & Big Mami, Dinastia & Vanilla and Arez & Keyra when Maravilla pinned Dinastia. Mami then tried to make up with Hamburguesa and the two teased being about to kiss when Cima, Lindaman and T-Hawk showed up and attacked both of them. Mr. Iguana & Taya Valkyrie & Mascarita Sagrada beat Abismo Negro Jr.& La Hiedra & Demus when Sagrada pinned Demus. This Sagrada was the former Mascarita Dorada, as well as Torito in WWE. They did a poll with fans where the idea was he’d either be Mascarita Dorada or Mascarita Sagrada and he said the latter won. Keyra came out to challenge Taya. L.A. Park, Rush and Bestia del Ring, aiming to be major heels, attacked Sagrada. They claimed they were going to eliminate people in AAA one by one, but also hinted that a Park vs. Rush climactic match that people have wanted for years. The Poder del Norte team of Carta Brava Jr. & Mocho Cota Jr. & Tito Santana beat Dragon Bane (replacing the scheduled Aramis who instead worked shows in Chicago) & Myzteziz Jr. & Octagon Jr. when Cota pinned Bane after a frog splash. Argenis attacked Myzteziz Jr. He then unmasked him. The story is that Argenis is the real-life brother of the current Caristico, who was the first Myzteziz, and doesn’t like someone else using that name. Rey Escorpion & Taurus & El Texano Jr. beat El Hijo del Vikingo & Murder Clown & Puma King when Taurus pinned Vikingo with a Super Rosa Driver. Aerostar & Drago & Pagano beat Blue Demon Jr. & Monsther Clown & Chessman via DQ when Demon blew mist o Drago and attacked him with a hammer. Demon attacked the tecnicos with the hammer and gave it to Monsther to do the same. He refused and Demon & Chessman attacked him. Psycho & Murder Clown made the save so the Psycho Circus is back together this time as tecnicos. Demon had great heat all through this. Park, Rush and Bestia del Ring attacked the Psycho Circus after. The main event was Pentagon Jr. & Fenix & Psycho Clown over Rush & Bestia & Park via DQ in 24:59. It ended with the rudos unmasking all three tecnicos for the DQ. Was told the crowd was super hot for this match as well.
768
769PRO WRESTLING NOAH: A correction from last week. When we noted the Susumu Yokosuka vs. Francesco Akira jr. title match, that is the next All Japan title match, not the NOAH title match
770
771The final round-robin standings in the junior tournament saw Yoshinari Ogawa win the A block with a five points to three for Hayata and Nosawa and none for Junta Miyawaki. The B block saw Dick Togo and Kotaro Suzuki tie with four, with Togo advancing based on the head-to-head win, with Tadasuke and Haoh with two. The C block saw Hajime Ohara and Atsushi Kotoge tie with four with Ohara advancing based on the head-to-head win, with Yo-Hey and Hitoshi Kumano with two. The D block had Daisuke Harada win with four, Minoru Tanaka had Nioh with three and Chris Ridgeway with two.
772
773NEW JAPAN: It was reported by Hochi News and Yahoo in Japan that Kota Ibushi’s illness that caused him to miss the current U.S. tour was due to Mallory Weiss syndrome. This is a condition where the boundary between the esophagus and stomach is damaged and the mucous membrane is vertically torn and bleeding. Repeated vomiting can increase abdominal pressure, causing strong pressure on the mucous membrane from the lower esophagus to near the entrance of the stomach, He won’t be on the U.S. tour. Most tears of this type heal within ten days, but those close to the situation used the term that Ibushi is “incredibly ill.” It is rare for someone under the age of 40, but can come from trauma to the chest or stomach, or lifting heavy weights. He is still at this point listed for an eight-man tag on 2/9 in Osaka. New Japan usually pulls people as soon as they know they aren’t going to be able to perform, so his being listed means they still expect him at this point
774
775There have been at least openings of lines of communication between New Japan and Viceland for U.S. television. It’s a long process because TV-Asahi owns the footage rights and the AXS/New Japan deal was originally between AXS and TV-Asahi
776
777Karl Fredericks suffered an undisclosed shoulder injury in a match with Yoshi-Hashi on the 1/26 show in Nashville. He landed on it after hitting a dropkick. He was holding his right trap and they went right to the finish. He was pulled off the rest of the tour
778
779I saw the Will Ospreay vs. Dowie James match from Melbourne Championship Wrestling which took place days after Ospreay broke his heel in the Hiromu Takahashi match at the Tokyo Dome. People live were calling it ***** and for a house show match you’d rarely see something at that level. I’d go ****½ to ****3/4. Ospreay did cut back on the flying but that didn’t look like it was James’ style. James was great and more than held his own, it was hardly a one person show. The idea he did that on a broken heel was what was crazy. And he didn’t even make the heel injury the story of the match since the fans live probably wouldn’t have known. Chris Jericho tried to get Ospreay to take some AEW dates and do a program with him for the AEW title in the U.S. between Japan tours but Ospreay is 100 percent loyal to New Japan right now
780
781There are two major shows this week, and with no major shows from any other promotion they are really the two biggest events of the next week. They run 2/1 and 2/2 at the Hokkaido Sports Center in Sapporo. The first show is Saturday at 4 a.m. Eastern with Tiger Mask & Yuya Uemura vs. El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori, Toa Henare & Tomoaki Honma & Togi Makabe vs. Yota Tsuji & Manabu Nakanishi & Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Will Ospreay & Sho & Yoh & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Douki, Ryu (Dragon) Lee & Robbie Eagles vs. Hiromu Takahashi & Bushi, Tetsuya Naito & Sanada vs. KENTA & Jay White, Kazuchika Okada & Jon Moxley vs. Taichi & Minoru Suzuki, Tomohiro Ishii vs. Evil and Hirooki Goto vs. Shingo Takagi for the Never title. After watching New Year’s Dash, I think that main event is going to be incredible, and Ishii vs. Evil is big as well. The three top tag matches should also be big since they are setting up big singles matches for the next day and for Osaka on 2/9
782
783The 2/2 show is at 1 a.m. Eastern or 10 p.m. Pacific time on Saturday night so almost a prime time show with Henare vs. Tsuji, Uemura & Honma & Makabe vs. Tiger Mask & Nakanishi & Tenzan, Gabriel Kidd vs. Phantasmo, Goto & Ishii & Eagles vs. Takagi & Evil & Bushi, Sho & Yoh & Taguchi & Moxley vs. Suzuki & Desperado & Kanemaru & Douki, Naito & Sanada & Hiromu Takahashi vs. KENTA & White & Ishimori, Sabre vs. Ospreay for the British heavyweight title and Okada vs. Taichi headlines
784
785The Fantastica Mania tour finished up with four shows at Korakuen Hall. On 1/16, before 1,423 fans, they had the semifinals of the family tag team tournament as Sanson & Cuatrero beat Euforia & Soberano Jr. I 9:30 when Cuatrero beat Soberano submit; and Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja beat Negro Casas & Tiger in 12:56 when Rojo made Tiger submit. The other big match saw Ultimo Guerrero & Cavernario beating Satoshi Kojima & Caristico in 13:03 when Cavernario made Caristico submit to la cavernaria, to give him a win leading to their NWA middleweight title match
786
7871/17 at Korakuen Hall before 1,534 fans saw Sanson & Cuatrero beating Roja & Oro in 12:21 when Sanson made Oro submit to win the tournament. Soberano Jr. & Euforia won the third place match over Casas & Tiger in 8:41 when Soberano pinned Tiger after a Canadian Destroyer. Kojima & Caristico beat Cavernario & Ultimo Guerrero in 11:48 when Kojima pinned Guerrero after a lariat, to set up their CMLL world heavyweight title match. Titan also got a singles win over Forastero
788
789The 1/19 show drew a sellout of 1,601 with Ultimo Guerrero retaining the CMLL heavyweight title over Satoshi Kojima in 13:05 with the Guerrero special. Stuka Jr. retained the NWA light heavyweight title over Okumura. The main event was a tribute match to Victor “Black Cat” Mar with Hiroshi Tanahashi & Caristico & Tiger Mask beating Cavernario & Negro Casas & Euforia when Tanahashi pinned Casas after a high fly flow
790
791The final night on 1/20 before 1,593 fans which was packed for the set up saw Caristico retain the NWA middleweight title over Cavernario in 16:06 with La Mistica via submission. Sanson & Cuatrero & Forastero retained the Mexican national trios titles over Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja & Titan in 14:30 when Forastero pinned Angel de Oro
792
793They sold out the first two shows of the Road to New Beginning tour. The first was 1/25 in Furukawa with 1,677 for Naito & Hiromu Takahashi & Sanada over KENTA & Jay White & Gedo on top plus Okada & Ospreay & Robbie Eagles over Sabre Jr. & Taichi & Douki. The second was 1/27 in Yamagata with 1,427 with the same result in the main event, but the Sabre team won the semi when Taichi pinned Eagles. The third show on 1/28 in Akita didn’t sellout, with 1,431 fans. The 1/29 show in Aomori sold out with 1,766 paid
794
795The first show of the U.S. tour was 1/24 in St. Petersburg which drew a sellout of 863 fans. Ticket sales for the tour were weak to start with for all the reasons we had noted the could be, and it was made worse because Kota Ibushi pulled out. Alex Zayne made a big impression in his New Japan debut losing to Jeff Cobb. Colt Cabana & Toru Yano as the comedy tag team beat TJP & Karl Fredericks. The first night main event was an elimination match where Juice Robinson & David Finlay & Hiroshi Tanahashi & Rocky Romero beat Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa & Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens in 25:22. It came down to Tanahashi against Owens and Takahashi. Tanahashi skinned the cat and flipped over Owens to eliminate him, and then pinned Takahashi with a high fly flow. Tanahashi cut a promo after talking about New Japan returning to Tampa on 4/2 and also vowed to beat Naito to win the title
796
797The second show on 1/26, head-to-head with the Rumble, drew only 560 paid in Nashville. Show was reported as excellent. This was the show where Fredericks got hurt in his match with Yoshi-Hashi. Cobb beat Kojima with the tour of the Islands in what we were told was a ***½ match. Archer beat Nagata with the claw. It was slower than the prior match. Tanahashi beat Yujiro Takahashi with the high fly flow. Both worked hard and said to be surprisingly good. Main was Finlay & Robinson & Rocky Romero over Tonga & Loa & Owens when Romero pinned Owens with a schoolboy
798
7991/27 in Durham, NC drew 637 fans, which was full for the way the building was set up. The biggest pop was the surprise appearance of Marty Scurll confronting and challenging Jay White for the 4/4 ROH show. This is Rock & Roll Express country and they got the biggest reaction on the show, teaming with Alex Zayne to lose to Romero & Cabana & Yano in a comedy match. Yano gave Zayne a low blow and cradled him. Tanahashi & Yoshi-Hashi & Finlay & Robinson beat Tonga & Loa & Owens & Jado when Tanahashi submitted Jado after a cloverleaf. Yuji Nagata suffered a neck injury, but we’re told it’s not that serious and he may not miss any time, in a prelim tag match where he and Kojima beat TJP & Alex Coughlin.
800
801HERE AND THERE: Christopher Wilson, 41, best known as Justice Pain, a former CZW champion who wrestled from 1996 to 2007, took his own life on 1/24 jumping off the Walt Whitman Bridge which connects Philadelphia and Gloucester City, NJ. Wilson is the older brother of Nick Wilson, better known as Nick Gage. He was trained by John Zandig at the CZW school and was one of the main stars for the promotion in its early years. Pain’s feud with Lobo included the first cage of death match where Pain won the Iron man title. At the second Cage of Death show, Justice Pain beat Lobo to win the CZW title. He ended up winning that title five times between 2000 and 2007, as well as held the tag team titles three times with Wifebeater, Johnny Kashmere and Gage. He held a multitude of other independent titles with CZW and other indies as well as the Big Japan tag titles in 2000 with Wifebeater. He left behind two daughters
802
803Bandido vs. Shingo Takagi will be one of the main events of the Mark Hitchcock Super Show put on by High Spots on 4/2 in Ybor City, FL at the Ritz. I think the moral of that story is I have to get the issue done a day early that week
804
805Steve Gillespie, a Calgary based wrestler who started during the last run of the original Stampede Wrestling, passed away on 1/18 at the age of 56. The only thing we heard is that Gillespie was found dead in his truck as he went to a bottle depot. Gillespie broke in with Stampede Wrestling in 1989, as the original group owned by Stu Hart was on its last legs. He wrestled in the area on independent shows through about 2000, and wrestles less often through around 2013. Gillespie’s most fame would have come in 1993-94 when he was a regular for FMW under a mask as Dr. Hannibal, often teaming with AEW’s Dr. Luther, and doing a lot of main events against the likes of Atsushi Onita, Tarzan Goto and Sabu. Probably the biggest match of his career would have been on December 8, 1993, at FMW’s big show at the end of the year in Tokyo at the Harumi Dome before 12,522 fans, underneath the Onita vs. Mitsuhiro Matsunaga explosive barbed wire match where he teamed with Luther to beat The Sheik, as in Ed Farhat toward the end of his career, teaming with Sabu
806
807Disney Channel has ordered a TV pilot for a new show called “Ultra Violet and Blue Demon,” a Lucha Libre based kids show that Blue Demon Jr. will produce. The story is that Ultra Violet is a 13-year-old girl named Violet who is given a magical Lucha Libre mask of Blue Demon (who will be played by Blue Demon Jr.) when chosen by her uncle to his successor. She then begins superhero training while having to keep this all a secret and still live like a normal 13-year-old girl. Casting is underway in both Los Angles and Mexico to find the right girl to play the lead role with the idea of shooting in a few months in Los Angeles
808
809John Mair, who worked for the New York Wrestling Connection promotion from 2003 to 2011 as Crusher Doogan, passed away this past week. Mair was trained by the Malenkos in Florida. He took the name Crusher Doogan because Boris Malenko used the name Crusher Dugan in 1957 while wrestling in Texas and it was a tribute. He was instrumental in the early careers of people like Tony Nese, Curt Hawkins, Zack Ryder, Trent Baretta, Alex Reynolds and John Silver and many others who came through Mikey Whipwreck’s promotion
810
811Mark Ty Hildreth, better known as Van Hammer from WCW, who at one point was a guy WCW booked with the idea of him being the top babyface or at least one of the top babyfaces in the company, because of being 6-foot-6 with long hair and a great physique, but gave up after a while because he just didn’t fully click, was charged with a DUI, leaving the scene of an injury crash and causing injuries. Hildreth, 60, was accused of driving and hitting a five-year-old boy on a bicycle with training wheels on 1/26, and was alleged to have been driving 58 in a 35 miles per hour zone, and drunk in an incident in Boynton Beach, FL, and then left the scene according to the Palm Beach Post. The boy was hit and thrown on top of the car’s hood. He was rushed to Delray Medical Center with road rash and possible internal injuries. The injuries were not life threatening and he was in stable condition. He was being held on $125,000 bond. He had a 2004 DUI arrest in Georgia. He moved to Boynton Beach in 2013. The incident took place at 3 p.m. when the boy and his father were riding bikes together when Hildreth hit the boy driving a black 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-550. Another person ran toward the child and Hildreth stopped his car, jumped out and said the child jumped in front of him and then he allegedly jumped back in his car and drove off while others yelled at him to stop his car and stay. Two people jumped in their car and followed Hildreth, who drove home, and then police arrived at his home and arrested him. Police said when they arrived Hildreth talked about the crash, was slurring his words, staggering and smelled like alcohol, although he told the police he wasn’t drinking. He claimed he had drank the night before and started crying in front of police and again said the child cut in front of him and that he had no time to react, saying he was driving home from his girlfriend’s house. He said when people started yelling at him, he didn’t know what to do so drove off. He refused a field sobriety test and a breath sample. Hildreth worked as the Vice President of Operations and sales manager at Paradise Exteriors in Boynton Beach, a company that replaces home windows and doors with extra strength to withstand potential hurricanes.
812
813MLW: The lineup at this point for 2/1 in Philadelphia has Jacob Fatu vs. Cima for the MLW title, Alex Hammerstone vs. T-Hawk for the National title, Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Erick Stevens, Low Ki vs. King Mo (who will be managed by Dan Lambert who is the MMA gym owner who did such a great job on promos with Impact), Brian Pillman Jr. vs. Jimmy Havoc (managed by Priscilla Kelly), L.A. Park Jr. & El Hijo de L.A. Park vs. Contra Unit, Myron Reed vs. Arez for the middleweight title, Puma King & Gringo Loco vs. Injustice, Mance Warner vs. Gino Medina (who they are giving a big push to), Lindaman vs. Zenshi, Septimo Dragon vs. Douglas James, plus the debut of Ross & Marshall Von Erich in Philadelphia. The show is expected to sell out
814
815There has been talking of adding a six-man tag team title
816
817Timothy Thatcher is going to head a stable of shooters including Douglas James.
818
819ROH: KENTA and Nick Aldis have been added to the 4/4 show in Lakeland, FL. Marty Scurll vs. Jay White is on the show stemming from an angle on the 1/27 New Japan show in Durham, NC. Scurll made a surprise appearance on that show and issued the challenge to White
820
821The next PPV show will be 3/13 which is the 18th anniversary show from Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas. They are still doing Friday night PPVs even though it’s head-up with Smackdown. The main event won’t be known until 2/29. They are running St. Charles, MO with a three-way on top with PCO vs. Rush vs. Mark Haskins for the title. The winner of that match will face the guy who wasn’t pinned, so likely Haskins gets pinned and it’s PCO vs. Rush in a title rematch. They will be doing a second show at Sam’s Town on 3/14 bringing back names from the past calling the show ROH: Past vs. Present. Xavier, an early ROH champion, is scheduled to face Jay Lethal on the show. The two were associated together in the early days. Other names wrestling as part of the guys from the past are Delirious, Necro Butcher, Doug Williams, Allison Danger, Homicide and Matt Sydal
822
823Mark & Jay Briscoe as well as P.J. Black have signed new contracts. Really, it is time for the Briscoes to venture elsewhere after all the years in ROH but ROH probably made them a great deal. We hadn’t heard anything about AEW interest. WWE had interest years ago but then Jay wrote something negative about gays on Twitter that nixed their interest. The Briscoes have been such a great team for so long and deserve to be somewhere with a major spotlight
824
825Adam Wilmot, better known as Adam Brooks, another of the top Australian stars, looks to be headed in as the company is already starting the process of getting him a working visa
826
827The 2/28 show in Nashville now has PCO vs. Dragon Lee for the ROH title, Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham defend the tag titles against Silas Young & Josh Woods, Brody King & Flip Gordon vs. Rush & Kenny King, Jeff Cobb & an Maff vs. Briscoes, Slex vs. Marty Scurll, Alex Shelley vs. Rey Horus, Dalton Castle & Joe Hendry vs. Haskins & Tracy Williams and Angelina Love vs. Nicole Savoy
828
8292/29 in St. Charles has the three-way title match, plus Lee vs. Dak Draper for the TV title, Bandido & Flamita & Rey Horus defend the six-man title against Cobb & Lethal & Gresham, Shelley vs. Maff and Scurll & Brody King & Gordon vs. Briscoes & Slex
830
831The next show is the free show on 2/9 in Baltimore at the UMBC Event Center. Announced so far is PCO & Scurll vs. Nick Aldis & Rush, likely to set up Aldis vs. Scurll, Lethal & Gresham vs. Cobb & Maff non-title, Briscoes vs. Bandido & Flamita, Gordon vs. Slex, Dalton Castle & Joe Hendry vs. Vincent & Bateman, Haskins vs. Alex Shelley, Brody King vs. Horus, Alex Zayne vs. Andrew Everett and a Battle Royal with the winner getting an ROH title match in the future..
832
833IMPACT: Rich Swann suffered a dislocated ankle and broken tibia on the show right before the Hard to Kill PPV and has undergone surgery so he’ll be out of action for a while. He was working a spot with Dave Crist
834
835Jordynne Grace ended the long run of Taka Valkyrie as Knockouts champion at the 1/18 tapings in Mexico City. Valkyrie had defeated Tessa Blanchard for the title on the January 6, 2018, Homecoming PPV in Nashville so Valkyrie had a 377-day title reign, the longest in the history of the title
836
837Blanchard managed to keep her story alive by denying ever used a racial slur. She wrote, “Over the last week I have been accused of calling a fellow wrestler a racial slur. To read this allegation ha been personally upsetting. To be clear, I absolutely did not use that word. That word is not in my vocabulary. That word is not in my heart. Racism is not in my heart. Yet, I know many people have to deal with racism in a way I will never have to. Racism is an awful part of American history, and it is equally awful that it’s still part of our society today. While I did not do what was claimed I stand ready to use my platform to support the fight against racism however I can.” This led to Allysin Kay writing, “You can try to babyface the fans, but the majority of our peers know Rosa’s story is true and that’s what matters. I really hope that one day the other two witnesses of this incident come forward and further expose you as not only a racist, but a liar and an undeniable scumbag.
838
839In a marketing gimmick, the company will be doing a 4/3 show over Mania week in Ybor City, FL, calling themselves TNA, with the idea TNA is coming back for one last show. It would be one thing if you had access to A.J. Styles, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, Kurt Angle, Sting and Jeff Jarrett and did that. Amazing Red, D-Lo Brown, Scott Steiner, Chris Harris, Chris Sabin, Disco Inferno and Ken Anderson were announced for that show
840
841They have tapings 2/7 to 2/9 at Sam’s Town Live in Las Vegas, the same arena ROH is doing its next PPV show from
842
843Reports were that El Hijo del Vikingo killed it at the Mexico City tapings. He was also given a win over Josh Alexander, who is half of the tag team champions..
844
845AEW: In a move that will significantly hurt AEW’s PPV numbers going forward, ITV has dropped its entire PPV division. Right now the 2/29 Revolution show will be on FITE streaming and they are in talks with another television PPV provider in the U.K. but there aren’t that many options. ITV 4 would air the one hour pre-show live on television to push buys which made sense since they were partners and that also helped drive buys. U.K. television PPV usually meant around 15,000 to 20,000 buys, and while some will move to FITE, not everyone does so because a solid percentage of the audience still has an aversion to Internet only PPV
846
847Jonathan Huber (Luke Harper), 40, is expected to sign here and debut on 3/18 in Rochester, NY, which is his home town. He’s expected to use his old ring name, Brodie Lee. He could legally start as early as 2/12 but it’s for the best to debut him in Rochester where it’s guaranteed to get a big reaction
848
849Brian Cage suffered a torn biceps before the Impact Hard to Kill PPV. He had kiniseo tape on the arm like he had suffered a serious injury to it and afterwards it came out it was a tear. He underwent surgery on 1/27 and that surgery usually means about seven or eight months out
850
851Sports Illustrated listed that Lance Archer was in serious talks. That’s correct. I don’t believe it’s a done deal but it’s far enough along that angles have been talked about. Not sure if this would mean Archer would work both AEW and New Japan like Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley or he’d leave New Japan
852
853Even though the 1/22 TV show was taped a day ahead, on the screen at points during the broadcast it was listed with a graphic saying “live.
854
855Brandi Rhodes missed the TV because she said her passport was stolen and thus couldn’t go on the Jericho cruise. She was only going for the first part because gave her speech at the NATPE convention on the rise of AEW
856
857Tickets for the 3/18 show in Rochester, NY and 3/25 in Newark were put on sale on 1/24. Both did well. Rochester was chosen because the Northern part of New York (Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Buffalo) did well above the national average for iPPV buys on BR Live. Newark did about 10,000 tickets the first day with little in the way of scalper activity, and in fact, the secondary market demand for the good seats on the first weekend was greater than the supply. This will probably be the most successful show in terms of total ticket sales when all is said and done except for the instant sellout in DC, but that was because of the huge scalper demand for DC coming off the ridiculous demand for All Out in Chicago which the scalpers missed. It could end up, but not guaranteed because of the recent Smackdown show in Dallas, being the second largest crowd in the U.S. so far this year behind the Rumble. This shows that even a TV, let alone a PPV, first time in MSG would be an instant sellout. Thus far they’ve been unable to get dates there. They had a date in November penciled in at one point but that was when the idea was that MSG felt after WWE struggled for its Smackdown tapings and only sold 11,000 tickets for Raw, although it did sell out the day of the show, that MSG felt if WWE couldn’t sell out MSG and they were the major leagues, that wrestling is cold. The AAA show did that no favors, but it is short memory considering NJPW/ROH sold out first day of tickets on sale to the public. We do know that MSG and New Japan were at one point talking about a summer date but that appears to have fallen through as noted by NJPW not announcing any major arena U.S. shows on 1/5 at the Dome when they did the underwhelming schedule announcement. There is a lot of talk that WWE has managed to lock up the building by promising more and better dates. Vince has a thing, because of his father where MSG was the big arena historically for the company, that he’s more adamant about nobody else ever getting in. It is weird that NJPW/ROH did a sellout in one day and couldn’t get a second date (and truthfully I don’t think they’d do so well on a second date but we’ll never know) and that AEW would sell out first day, at least on the first try, and had to do Newark instead. To be fair, with Rangers and Knicks, there are not a lot of free Wednesdays, nor Saturdays in MSG even if they did open it up
858
859AEW took out a full page color ad in the Super Bowl program placed at the beginning next to the table of contents. It was a photo montage of all the top stars with Jericho as the most prominent along with Cody, Young Bucks, MJF, Moxley and Omega and pushing Wednesday Night Dynamite on TNT
860
861The Young Bucks are writing a dual autobiography called “Young Bucks: Killing the Business from the Backyards to the big Leagues,” which is set for a 9/29 release by Day Street Books
862
863We spoke with Nick Jackson regarding the Young Bucks dropping twitter. They said it wasn’t any specific incident that caused it and had nothing to do with the reaction to the 12/18 show. Nick said he’d been thinking about it for a long time and he said that the negativity in certain aspects got so bad, including things like threats on their children. Matt then also agreed to do so. Granted, that’s the bottom one percent and to me you should embrace the fan base and accept that the bottom one percent exists. But he said that he’d be reading comments because he felt compelled to do so while his kids wanted to play with him. Both said that after dropping Twitter they feel that they may never go back on it again and that their lives has been so much less toxic since
864
865The Cody getting ten lashes from MJF will take place on the 2/5 show in Huntsville, AL. That was part of the stips for MJF to agree to do the singles match on the 2/29 PPV show. Also on that show is Young Bucks & Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Pentagon Jr. & Rey Fenix & Butcher & Blade, Moxley vs. Ortiz and Britt Baker vs. Yuka Sakazaki
866
867The other major stip between MJF and Cody, the cage match with Cody vs. Wardlow, will take place on the 2/19 show in Atlanta
868
869Cody seems to have a bad knee. I got that impression watching his match with Joey Janela on the boat by the way he was springing off the ropes but it wasn’t obvious. At the Cleveland TV after his match with Kip Sabian, he was clearly limping after it was over
870
871The 1/29 taping in Cleveland drew 4,800 fans
872
873Tony Khan went to TNT before the 1/15 show to get the station’s approval on Jericho spiking Moxley in the eye with a spike, noting that TBS was furious in 1988 when the Road Warriors did the same thing to Dusty Rhodes. In fact, Rhodes got in a lot of trouble for booking that then. The other thing he got cleared in advance was MJF’s idea to wear the “I banged Dallas’ daughter” t-shirt. In reality, MJF and Page’s daughter Lexy Nair, who is now working for AEW as a backstage interviewer are actually good friends and she got a kick out of it. MJF is a big fan of old-time territories and got the idea from Greg Valentine wearing the “I broke Wahoo’s leg” T-shirts in the Carolinas in the 70s
874
875Sammy Guevara did a mock of the HHH DX invasion of Nitro skit when he went to the Rumble parking lot in Houston in one of those kids toy tanks
876
877Notes from the 1/22 show. This was taped the night before on the Jericho Cruise. It was a cool look but because of the nature of the sound at an outdoor show, you absolutely didn’t come close to getting the atmosphere watching on television. Kenny Omega & Adam Page won the tag titles from Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky in a long match. The match was ****1/4 live. In an interesting trivia note, aside from the creation of champions matches, this was the first actual title change in company history. Because this show was taped when the boat was docked, behind the hard camera there was another ship where some people, not a ton, but they were out there, were watching the show. In front of the hard camera was another ship which took off during the dark match. A third ship showed up during the Jon Moxley vs. Pac main event. The fans started chanting “Fuck that ship” and things like that which TNT had to edit out which killed the atmosphere for that match. Because the ship was docked, there were no issues like on all the other shows where they were wrestling while the ship was swaying although nobody all week missed really any spots because everything was kept basic. The crowd was enthusiastic across the board. There was no room at all between the ring apron and fans so you couldn’t do any dives for any of the shows, although Page actually tried one in this match. There was very little brawling outside the ring, limited to Moxley. So in this match, everyone had their working shoes on but it was less spectacular than it would be as far as crazy moves. Page accidentally hit Omega again with a buckshot lariat. Pretty much everyone expected Page & Omega to split up here and nobody expected them to win the titles. Page did a tope somehow. All kinds of big moves. Sky & Kazarian did SCU later on Omega but Page barely saved him. The finish was basically a Page one-man show. The story seems to be that Omega would have lost but Page saved him. Then Page took out Sky with a buckshot lariat from the ring onto the ramp and came back with a buckshot lariat from the ramp back into the ring on Kazarian for the pin. After the match, The Young Bucks came out to congratulate Omega & Page on winning. This seemed to plant the seeds for Omega & Page eventually defending against The Young Bucks. However, Page then walked out and instead went to ringside and was drinking beer with the fans on the floor. The crowd body surfed him. Sky also walked out on Kazarian but it was done in a way where I don’t think it was storyline. Britt Baker beat the debuting Priscilla Kelly with lockjaw. Kelly is the wife of Darby Allin. Kelly didn’t look bad but this was the weakest match on the show. They kept it short. Even though Baker had been teasing a heel turn, she was a total babyface in the match, which actually made sense when it was over because she turned heel in the promo on Tony Schiavone. Baker talked about how it’s so great Schiavone is back in wrestling and was snide about how he was a Barista working at Starbucks. Baker then put herself over as being smart, the hottest girl on the boat, brilliant and a role model. The idea was good and the fans booed her but her delivery of the lines wasn’t that good and they also cut the promo off while it was still going on. Chris Jericho & Santana & Ortiz beat Luchasaurus & Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt. The crowd sang Jericho’s song when he came out and cheered him like crazy. They cheered all six. Ortiz is just a phenomenal charismatic performer live. Stunt came out wearing a child’s life preserver. Stunt was over like crazy here although nobody was as much as Jericho. Jungle Boy worked most of the match selling and was great at it. Luchasaurus made a hot tag and did a standing moonsault on Jericho for a near fall. Jake Hager attacked Luchasaurus and they brawled to the back. The idea is to build for a big match between the two, which may be on the next PPV. Stunt got near falls on Jericho which the crowd went nuts for, over and over, until Jericho brutalized him with the Judas Effect for the pin. The Inner Circle was celebrating and drinking A Little Bit of the Bubbly. Being there live and watching on TV is a very different perspective. If you are there live, you really see how well the crowd goes for Stunt for everything he does and how great his act is. I don’t think the TV audience sees that yet. Maybe they will in time. It’s the same with Orange Cassidy who always gets a great reaction for everything he does live, and I do think in limited does it does work on TV. I just hope they show Stunt singing “I wear my sunglasses at night” from the cruise because that got him over strong live at a different level. There will still be people who don’t like him but if they see that I think he’ll win over some of the skeptics. Actually this match should have as well. MJF beat Joey Janela. Janela had braided his hair, likely in the Bahamas earlier in the day. Janela was on top when Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford came out and started making out hot and heavy. Janela paused and then missed a Randy Savage elbow. MJF used crossroads on him for the pin. MJF cut a great promo saying that Cody said that in the end, MJF is really only a chapter in the book of his career. MJF said that it would be the final chapter. Cody came out. MJF noted that Cody can’t touch him. He then invited Cody to the ring and made fun of his lisp. He went to hand him the mic and as Rhodes went to get it, dropped it. As Rhodes went to pick it up, MJF kicked it away. The Young Bucks came out. Cody said that he can’t touch MJF but his friends can. The Young Bucks gave MJF a double superkick. Then they grabbed him and threw him into the pool. This got over great. During the commercial break, MJF got up out of the pool, then lost his balance and fell back in. Page & Omega did an interview. Omega said he was glad to be tag team champions with one of his best friends. Every time Page wanted to talk, he never got the chance. The first time Schiavone basically cut him off to ask Omega about a third match with Pac, which Omega said would happen but his priority was the tag title. The second time, the Bucks came out to congratulate them but Page was made it cut him off and pointed out that he won the AEW tag titles before the Young Bucks did. They didn’t react to the remark with the idea they were all buddies and it was cool, but Page ended up walking out. Moxley beat Pac to earn the title shot at Jericho at Revolution on 2/29 in Chicago. Pac worked on Moxley’s eye, which had a bandage on it and an eye patch on it. They were the only ones to leave the ringside area and brawled up the steps to the next floor. They did all kinds of near falls. There was a period where they lost the crowd due to the new ship coming in. That hurt the match. Pac used the Brutalizer but Moxley cradled him from there. Pac went for the black arrow but Moxley got his knees up. Pac went for another one and missed. Moxley hit the paradigm shift but Pac kicked out. Pac got the brutalizer again but after a long submission tease, Moxley made the ropes. Pac tore the bandage off and Moxley had a band-aid over his eye. Moxley hit a second paradigm shift but Pac kicked out. He did an elevated version of it and got the pin. The show ended with Jericho, who did commentary during the match, on the ramp holding the belt while Moxley was in the ring.
878
879UFC: Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero for the middleweight title was announced as the main event of the 3/3 show in Las Vegas. Once Jared Cannonier was announced as facing Robert Whittaker, via process of elimination, Romero was the only viable contender, even coming off losses to Whittaker and Paulo Costa (now injured)
880
881Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal looks like the welterweight title direction. The two had a confrontation at the Super Bowl media day in Miami (both are from South Florida). Usman was doing an interview when Masvidal showed up. Usman kept yelling at him, “You keep talking, do something, do something, do something” while Masvidal said “I’m gonna kill you, I’m gonna f*** your ass up.” As Usman kept saying you’re just taking, do something, Masvidal said, “You’ve got a cast on bitch, you’re lucky” and blew a kiss at him
882
883Dana White said they are working on setting up Henry Cejudo vs. Jose Aldo for the bantamweight title in May in Brazil. It’s one thing with Romero getting a title shot off two straight losses, in the sense that Paulo Costa beat him in a very close decision and Costa is injured, and the only other alternatives were Robert Whittaker, who was coming off a loss, and Jared Cannonier, who may be one win away. But at bantamweight, Aldo just lost to Marlon Moraes in a close fight, but he still lost, and you could pick Moraes , Petr Yan, Aljamain Sterling or Cory Sandhagen who all deserve a title fight ahead of Aldo, who is 0-1 in the weight class and has lost his previous two fights and four of his last six. It’s not a lack of competitors, or making an exception because somebody is a draw and the public would rather see him in that slot, but simply a decision that makes no sense. It’s not even like Aldo, granted a name and champion for years, would be a bigger drawing card than the others and they’re all about the same. This is just the idea of throwing whatever is easiest out there with no regard for championships. I wouldn’t argue it if there was great fan interest in Cejudo vs. Aldo by the public, but there isn’t. This is just not caring about it and throwing together something easier
884
885Tyron Woodley returns for a main event against Leon Edwards on 3/21 in London at the O2 Arena
886
887The two-year suspension of Fabricio Werdum was cut by ten months for what is called the snitching rule, the same thing that Jon Jones used to get a reduced sentence. The wording as to why the suspension was reduced was "Under the applicable rules, an athlete facing a period of ineligibility who provides information that leads to the discovery of another violation or which results in a criminal or disciplinary body discovering an offense, is eligible for a sanction reduction," the USADA release stated. Werdum, 42, was suspended for two years for an April 25, 2018, positive test for the steroid trenbolone. However, the suspension was frozen when he took himself out of the drug testing pool and he was not going to be eligible to fight until February 2021. Now he will be able to fight on 4/1
888
889There is no show this week. The next show is UFC 247 on 2/8 in Houston at the Toyota Center. It’s really a two match show with two title bouts as Jon Jones (25-1) defends the light heavyweight title against Dominick Reyes (12-0) and Valentina Shevchenko (18-3) defends the women’s flyweight title against Katlyn Chookagian (13-2). While you can never bet against Jones, Reyes is on paper a viable challenger. He’s undefeated, he’s the same height as Jones and thrashed Chris Weidman last time out and also has a first round stoppage of Jared Cannonier. But he struggled against Volkan Oezdemir in March, winning by a split decision, and watching that fight made you think he wouldn’t have a chance against Jones. Then again, Jones won a split decision last time out against Thiago Santos, who had blown out both knees and was still very competitive with him. Shevchenko seems to be in a different league than the rest of the flyweights and Chookagian comes across like simply the next victim. The next biggest fight is Ilir Latifi moving to heavyweight against Derrick Lewis
890
891Paige VanZant suffered yet another arm injury, a minor fracture which puts her out of her 3/14 match in Brasilia against Amanda Ribas. Randa Markos will replace her. VanZant said the fracture will put her out of action six to eight weeks and said she would be available to fight the last fight of her contract in May
892
893Jeremy Stephens vs. Calvin Kattar is targeted for the 4/18 PPV in Brooklyn. Also on that show is Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Cyril Gane
894
895Jack Marshman vs. Kevin Holland has been added to the 3/21 show in London. Stevie Ray has pulled out of his fight on that show against Mac Diakese. Diakese will now face Jai Herbert, who UFC signed while he was the Cage Warriors lightweight champion
896
897Mackenzie Dern returns and faces Ariane Carnelossi on a 4/25 show in Lincoln, NE.
898
899BELLATOR: Cris Cyborg (22-2) became the first woman in history to win world titles in four major organizations (UFC, Bellator, Strikeforce and Invicta) with a fourth round stoppage over featherweight champion Julia Budd (13-3) on 1/25 at the Forum in Los Angeles. Cyborg dominated the fight, scoring a first round knockdown and Budd got almost no offense. Cyborg actually came in at 143.8 pounds, well under the limit and looked far smaller than in the past. Inside the cage she didn’t look much bigger than a bantamweight and all I could think of seeing her this small is that if she would have done this a few years ago, she could have had the Ronda Rousey fight that would have been the biggest women’s fight from a box office standpoint in history and probably the biggest fight ever outside of Conor McGregor fights. Cyborg won with a flurry, the key being a punch to the body. The problem now with Cyborg is that aside from Budd, she’s got no real opponents in the division. If organizations can work together, at some point Cyborg vs. Kayla Harrison, who is far bigger than Cyborg right now, could be built to an interesting match but Harrison may be winning $1 million tournaments annually in PFL at this rate. Budd got $350,000 for her title defense guaranteed which was surprisingly high. Cyborg got a $250,000 base but there are all kinds of bonuses in her deal. In the featherweight tournament, Darrion Caldwell (15-3) got behind Adam Borics (14-1) and choked him out in just 2:20 of round one. Caldwell has more big fight experience but Borics had looked great thus far in Bellator. This sets up a major fight in the semifinals with Caldwell vs. A.J. McKee, which is one of the most intriguing fights the tournament could have delivered. Juan Archuleta (24-2) won a decision over Henry Corrales (17-3). Sergio Pettis (19-5) made his debut and finished Alfred Khashakyan (11-5) with a guillotine in 3:00 of round one. Kickboxing star Raymond Daniels (2-1) beat Jason King (8-6) with punches at 3:07 of the first round. Aaron Pico (5-3) finished Daniel Carey (7-4) at :15 of the second round, dropping him with an elbow shot. Carey is probably the weakest opponent Pico has faced since his third fight and they are trying to get him back into prominence. He completely dominated the fight and people were talking about him after but there’s the question of his chin
900
901They announced Ryan Bader (27-5), the double champ at heavyweight and light heavyweight, will drop back to light heavyweight and defend the title against Vadim Nemkov (11-2). Nemkov is coming off wins over former champs Liam McGeary and Phil Davis, as well as Rafael Carvalho
902
903Gegard Mousasi has signed a multi-fight contract extension
904
905The next show is 2/21 from Thackerville, OK with Ed Ruth facing 22-0 Yaroslov Amosov.
906
907WWE: There looks to be a major change in the house show business. With the shows having started to lose money last quarter, plus with them drawing less, the attendance decline has hurt the stock price and given the perception (accurately by the way) that the brand’s popularity is declining, they are cutting way back. Instead of two brands doing four shows per week as has been the case for years, house shows have become more rare. There are no regular house shows this coming weekend. There is one, a super show on 2/9 in Fresno, the following weekend. There are two, both Super shows, one each on 2/15 and 2/16. The next Raw brand house show is 2/23 in Brandon, Manitoba and it’s the only one of the month. The next Smackdown brand house show is 2/29 in Elmira, NY, and obviously, it’s also the only one of the month. AEW doesn’t do house shows, so the number of live major league house show events in the U.S. in 2020 will be way down. The positive is that it cuts money losses and also, since the TV tapings usually draw okay to good, the average attendance for the quarter will improve since it’s the traditional house shows that drag down the average. Keep in mind that historically, the best three months of the year for business are January through March. So artificially, in late April or early May, it’ll look like arena business is up for average attendance even though total revenue from live events and merchandise sales should be way down. This should in theory cut down on the injury rate, so that’s a good thing. The bad thing is that for talent, house shows are usually more fun, and for younger talent, that’s where you get to improvise a little and improve your game. There was a good amount of talent who had no idea about the cutback in house shows until they got their February booking sheets and saw how much it was cut down. While the top guys are making a lot of money these days, the rest of the crew will have their income affected by working so many fewer dates. One noted there was a happy medium between four shows a week and TV and maybe two more shows very other week and it’ll affect both pay and for the big stars, will hurt their merch sales significantly so many are unhappy about how this went down. NXT is actually now doing more events than Raw or Smackdown but NXT talent isn’t paid based on the house shows as they are on flat salary, making the same if they work 20 shows or 120. For some of the NXT talent, the ones who weren’t already stars elsewhere before coming in, working more dates is beneficial to everyone involved because in the aspect of developmental, those wrestlers need as much ring time as they can get in front of a crowd. It used to be WWE tradition to do early afternoon East Coast shows on Super Bowl Sunday
908
909There was a lot of talk this past week regarding the funeral of Rocky Johnson on 1/21. Superstar Billy Graham, who was not at the funeral, but his mother-in-law, who was friends with Johnson, was. He made a facebook post saying Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson were inconsiderate and tasteless. We heard from two people at the funeral who said that was true. They said that the pastor went very long and was more negative toward pro wrestling and it being fake than some were comfortable with. They said Vince did his strut coming to the podium which was way out of place and first put over Johnson for being a great athlete and performer. He then ended by saying the best thing Rocky ever did was marry Ata (Ata Maivia). He then pointed to Ata and said that Ata had kids (they had one child, Dwayne) and then he strutted off the stage. He then left the building. Shane and Paul Levesque left shortly after. Two people said that Vince made it clear he was annoyed the funeral went long. Vince did do the same thing at Eddy Guerrero’s funeral in 2005. Graham presided over that funeral and also went very long. This ended up with Graham getting heat with Chris Jericho as Graham told Jericho to keep his speech short and Jericho didn’t listen because he had far too much to say about Guerrero, who he was very close with, to keep in short. But Vince made a remark about Graham going long which Graham ended up offended by since it was at a funeral. One person noted that the preacher went long, which took away from time for friends and family speeches. He described Patterson’s speech as weird. The description was that he made perverted jokes, used the word shit, didn’t really talk that much in his speech about Johnson, kind of insulted Johnson at one point and eventually they cut his mic off. Patterson also talked about getting drunk the night before and going to the bathroom to drink some water when the toilet seat fell and hit him in the head, implying he was drinking out of the toilet. I don’t know Patterson’s status but I did a show with him in England in 2018 and it was sad because his memory was so bad in the sense he literally couldn’t remember the names of anyone who was in the San Francisco territory during his heyday other than Ray Stevens, was asked about the first WrestleMania and told a story about it being at the Pontiac Silverdome and at another point when somebody brought up Buddy Rose to him, he had no idea who Rose was. Al Rosen, a close friend of Johnson’s, said that the family was not offended by anything that happened
910
911There was an incident backstage at the Royal Rumble where Lesnar went to Riddle and told him to quit tagging him in posts and talking about him in social media because he would never work with him ever. Riddle had talked for some time about wanting to retire Lesnar in a Mania match, which was a way to build interest, but since no match was planned, Lesnar wasn’t happy about it. Lesnar approached Riddle backstage and grabbed his shoulder to get his attention. Then, Lesnar said: `Kid, you might as well stop saying my name and tagging me in sh*t because you and I will never work together. Ever.’ Riddle tried talking to Brock when they first encountered but Lesnar then walked away. Riddle was said to have not shown any signs of being worried about it and nothing really happened except for that. After the show, Riddle filmed some interviews where he was still challenging Lesnar and guaranteed some day the match will happen. Put it this way, if this is a Paul Heyman work, and to be fair, this would fit into his M.O. (think Lesnar/Undertaker at UFC), the one flaw is that if he’s grooming Riddle for Lesnar in a year, or even two years, that Riddle would have been protected more in the Rumble and got to stand out more rather than just being a guy dumped quickly. We’re told that Riddle’s Rumble performance was because he has a lot of heat right now with the Vince McMahon and this was to send a message. At a class at the Performance Center this week, on dealing with social media, talent was told not to call out anyone on the main roster in social media without their knowledge. The elimination was not primarily to use Riddle’s hardcore fan popularity as a way to get Corbin over more as a heel past the idea Corbin himself was chosen for it for that reason. But that wasn’t the reason he was in and out so quickly. We’re not sure as to why McMahon wanted to do that to him but it does explain his push not being commensurate with his marketability or how over he is. NXT has still pushed him as one of the key guys, but even there he’s far more over than his push. The thing everyone forgets about Riddle is that he’s already34, so that current surfer bro gimmick that works for a 23 year old doesn’t have the shelf life you think it does because he comes across so young. That may also be why he’s pushing now for these big matches, because if he sits and waits his turn, he could be 38 and his looks may change, his hair may change and his body may not be quite what it is now because everyone ages, and while Riddle may be a top worker at 40, the level of appeal he has with this character will be hard to maintain at that age. Just think about Michael Hayes, and when he was 34, it was 1993 and he was ten years past his drawing peak, or the Von Erichs that Riddle is always compared with, whose drawing peaks were at 26, 25 and 24 and Kevin was past his drawing peak at 28, and Kerry at 26
912
913Nikki and Brie Bella, both 36, told People that they are both pregnant, and only two weeks apart. It will be Nikki’s first child and Brie’s second. No doubt this also turns into the theme for a couple of seasons of Total Bellas
914
915Kalisto (Emmanuel Rodriguez, 33), was reported by Pro Wrestling Sheet to have signed a multi-year new contract. Almost all of the new contracts offered have been for five years
916
917Mandy Rose also signed a new five-year deal
918
919It looks like the deal with Kevin Kesar, 34 (Killer Kross) is finalized since word in the indie world is he’s not taking dates after the ones over the next few weeks are finalized. He also pulled out of a mid-February Australia tour which gives the indication he’s starting very soon. The indication we were given from when he first talked with Paul Levesque about coming in is that he’d be fast-tracked, whether that means NXT television immediately or main roster, that I don’t know, but was going to be given a major push. Kross has denied ever meeting with Levesque but that’s become the common theme for wrestlers to try and indicate they aren’t going to WWE. He did essentially a farewell at the AAW show over the weekend and told MLW that after this weekend he’s not taking any new dates with them
920
921WWE announced its annual summer tour of Japan dates. Because Sumo Hall will not be accepting any pro wrestling dates at that time, they’ve moved to running 7/3 and 7/4 at the larger Yokohama Arena. Keep in mind New Japan a few years back returned to the Yokohama Arena for a major show and only drew 7,800 fans in a 17,000 seat building in 2014 for an A.J. Styles vs. Kazuchika Okada IWGP title match. WWE last run that building in 2011. WWE also announced a 7/2 date at the Edion Arena in Osaka, where, given the building will sell out with about 5,500 paid, WWE should do reasonably well and perhaps sell out
922
923Levesque has signed Poppy to perform at the 2/16 Takeover show in Portland
924
925Aoife Valkyrie, 23,out of Dublin, who has been wrestling on the U.K. for five years, using the name Valkyrie (no relation to Taya Valkyrie although in results I’ve seen them sometimes confused) has signed a developmental contract and debuted at the U.K. tapings
926
927Jazzy Gabert, 37, asked for her release as she wanted to do other entertainment projects. She said, “As we had only TV tapings about every 4 to 6 weeks I was able to do a lot projects outside of wrestling and I found the world of entertainment in Germany. I was on dating shows, game shows, talk shows and got to do lots of fun things in TV. In the summer I was really lucky and got an offer to tour with a German rockstar, Udo Lindenberg, and we went on tour for 3 months, 28 shows, every time in front of 15,000+ fans. In between all of this I had the NXT UK tapings. I was blessed to make my debut at Blackpool and witness how the NXT UK superstars performed on a high level with so much passion. I was also really happy that I got TV time almost every week; of course some could say it was not a good storyline I was placed in, but I honestly was just happy to be out there at all and I tried to make the best of it. On tour I realized that I want more for my life and I got the confidence that I’m able to do more, and for 2020, Udo Lindenberg asked me if I can come on tour again and a reality TV show offer came also in. Unfortunately, these projects would cross the schedule from NTV UK and I had to make a decision, because working all of these projects at once wouldn’t work. As I couldn’t see myself moving on or up in terms of storylines, I had to ask for my release. So it was completely my decision and I’m happy about it. I always wanted to work for WWE and I’m happy that I can tick that box. Of course, would I have loved to be a champion, for sure, but my heart tells me it’s time to move on. I’m still getting a few independent bookings, but they will be limited as I simply want a change, I want colorful hair, lose some of my body weight and just be me, Jazzy, not Alpha Female. But that again can change anytime if the offer is just right.
928
929Shirai suffered a knee injury catching Toni Storm on a dive on the 1/22 NXT show. She doesn’t need major surgery and right now the recovery time looks to be two months based on an estimate a few days ago
930
931In Canada, Smackdown on 1/10 was the highest ranked sports show in the country with 176,900 viewers, 84,900 between 25-54. Even with that, NXT and Main Event failed to crack the top ten, which would be 94,000 viewers. Raw on 1/13 did 235,500 viewers with 131,000 in 25-54, while the Clemson vs. LSU game did 473,100 viewers. On 1/15, AEW failed to crack the top ten, with No.10 being 104,600 viewers. 1/17 Smackdown did 197,300 viewers and 90,700 in the key 25-54 demo. NXT and Main Event failed to crack the top ten. Raw on 1/20 did 253,600 viewers which is a big number with 124,700 in the key demo. The 1/22 AEW show also failed to crack the top ten for the night, and when No. 10 is 74,800 viewers, that isn’t good. Smackdown on 1/24 did 154,200 viewers with 66,600i in 25-54, on a night against the NHL All-Star skills competition that did 1,673,200 viewers. Raw on 1/27 did 257,500 with 134,300 in 25-54, on a night where the Maple Leafs did 672,000 for first
932
933Producer Fit Finlay will be undergoing shoulder replacement surgery soon
934
935Charlotte Flair commented on the Kairi Sane injury at the TLC PPV show and how it changed to the match to TalkSport saying, “It didn’t in the moment. I guess, everyone, how they felt afterwards is what made them feel different. In the moment, it was more it’s a tough spot. It’s the main event of a brutal pay-per-view and everyone has already seen tables, ladders and chairs. It’s feeding off the crowd, going with the crowd and feeding off their reactions. So I didn’t really think anything until after. Obviously Kairi was hurt, but in the match I’m just thinking `how do we keep people invested?’ with them already seeing so many different TLC, brutal matches. You’ve already seen a kendo stick, you’ve already seen a chair, you’ve seen a ladder, a table. And the pressure of us delivering that, with a weird dynamic seeing me and Becky tag? To me, me and Becky tagging is more what I was thinking about. How does that come across and how our characters should be interacting on television. How do you go from this [indicates high level] to all of a sudden, they’re tagging? We had the let’s fight the enemy because we have a common enemy [mentality].
936
937Sylvan Grenier has been hired as an agent and is learning the ropes
938
939The 1/17 Smackdown show from the Greensboro Coliseum drew 11,800 fans, which is a phenomenal number. The Friday night shows are way up from when Smackdown was on Tuesday and are now generally the largest crowds of the week in the U.S
940
941WWE filed for a trademark on the name Harlem Heat
942
943The WWE has signed three new wrestlers from India, two of which are giants. There may be the idea that native giants are the way to go in that country, because as limited as he was, Great Khali really became a household name in India when he was in WWE and still is to a degree today coming off that fame. The problem was when Khali was in the company, there was very little money they could make in India. Now television rights for India seem to have skyrocketed, with the belief that India will surpass the U.K. as the company’s No. 2 market for TV rights behind the U.S. Gurvinder Singh is 7-feet-tall and 310 pounds, an actor who played Cricket and was trained by Khali. Sukwinder Grewal, 24, is 7-foot-2 and 340 pounds. He was also trained by Khali and has a background in basketball. The third signee is a more normal sized man, Laxmi Kant Rajpoot, 25, who was a javelin thrower who did taekwondo
944
945Daniel Bryan spoke to Lawler and asked him to do a seminar for the younger wrestlers to teach them all the old school tricks of the trade. Thus far nothing is scheduled but Lawler brought it up on Cerrito Live and also noted he’s never been asked to train people at NXT
946
947After Logan Paul called out C.M. Punk, TMZ interviewed Punk after he left the studio doing Backstage this past week and asked him and Punk said he had no interest in doing such a fight. He also said if he was booking that he’d have Keith Lee win the Rumble
948
949The WWE stock on 1/29 closed at $60.94 per share, giving the company a $4.787 billion market value
950
951The most-watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network were: 1. 2020 Royal Rumble; 2. WWE 24: WrestleMania New York; 3. Worlds Collide; 4. 2020 Royal Rumble preshow; 5. 2019 Royal Rumble; 6. WWE Chronicle: John Morrison; 7. 2018 Royal Rumble. The key notes to this is that this past week’s NXT on the network worldwide did less viewers than old Royal Rumbles and that the documentary on WrestleMania did more viewers than Worlds Collide. It did have the advantage of coming right after the Rumble
952
953Notes from the 1/27 Raw show in San Antonio. The show was built around Edge’s first interview. They pushed it for the entire show and held him off until the final segment, which was the angle to set up his Mania match with Orton. The angle was tremendous, as it was Orton at his best, working very slowly, acting conflicted at one point backing off of taking him out before doing so at the end. The show drew 8,000 fans. For Main Event, Logan beat Deonna Purrazzo and Riddick Moss debuted and beat Cedric Alexander. Moss is maybe the best all-around athlete in the company as far as doing speed, strength and agility drills. Since he hasn’t been on NXT TV, the deal is Heyman can pick him up. They are linking him with Rawley and going to give Rawley his latest push which isn’t dropped like all the other ones have been. The new announcing team debuted of Tom Phillips as the lead guy, replacing Vic Joseph, Byron Saxton in the Dio Maddin spot and Jerry Lawler as the sole survivor. It’s notable that when Paul Heyman put his announce team in, Lawler was supposed to just be a transition guy. The one thing about announcing is that some guys are naturals and are good at the start, but the vast majority need reps, and these days people are so negative so quickly that when you’ve got guys learning and improving, they are not getting the time before the plug is pulled on them. Phillips on his first three hour show had a hoarse voice, which got worse as the show went on, but aside from that his performance was fine. The only weak stuff, giving lines that nobody would say in WWE-speak, was going to be there and is unavoidable today. It opened with McIntyre out. Fans were chanting “You deserve it.” He said he’s convinced he’s been dreaming for the past 24 hours. He said he was challenging Lesnar for the WWE title. He said that most of the boys in the back are terrified of Lesnar. But he said when he got in the ring with Lesnar, he knew he could Claymore him over the top rope and that he also knows he will beat him for the title at WrestleMania. He then challenged anyone in the back. Gallows & Anderson came out. McIntyre said he’d fight both of them at the same time right now. McIntyre hit both men with Claymore kicks and put one on top of the other and pinned both in 2:19. I know Mania is the biggest show and the idea is to put the WWE title challenger over as strong as possible, but I don’t think one guy should beat a championship level tag team. It leaves the impression that the guys in the tag team division are second-rate guys. Lesnar then came in and hit McIntyre with an F-5 and left. That was the only appearance of Lesnar and Heyman on the show. Mysterio beat MVP in 8:58. MVP kicked Mysterio in the head and knocked him a little loopy early. You could see him having to recover and he was off on a lot of stuff the rest of the match. The idea was for Mysterio to do a 619 to the spine so MVP had to turn around rather than take it the usual way, but it looked bad. Mysterio then used a springboard splash to the back for the pin. Black pinned Kenneth Johnson in :33 with black mass. Black cut a promo. He said that the only person accountable for his loss was himself. But as of tonight, he’s no longer waiting for other wrestlers to knock on his door and pick a fight with him, he’s bringing the fight to them. Rollins did a promo and noted that he won the Rumble last year. He told McIntyre that the fans will stab him in the back fast. Well, if he says stupid things on Twitter and publicly buries his supposed good friends, yeah, they’ll turn on him in a heartbeat. He said that he eliminated Owens and Joe in the Rumble and that he and Murphy dethroned the unbeatable Viking Raiders to win the tag team titles. He called out Owens & Joe for their scheduled tag title match. Owens said that Rollins has been delusional and a jackass and sucks now. Owens said that Rollins never wants to fight, and asked where AOP was since he figured they’re ready to jump he and Joe. Rollins showed AOP backstage on camera. Owens said that everyone knows this company has film of everyone and this could be from earlier in the day and you could be running another scam. It’s notable that the Owens babyface character is unique because usually the faces fall for everything and Owens in character doesn’t get outsmarted, even if he does get beaten up when starting fights with bad odds. But the idea is he knows he will ahead of time. Rollins told Akam to talk to show the footage was live. Owens then asked where they were and Rollins said in his dressing room. The Viking Raiders then ran to that room and attacked AOP. Rollins & Murphy beat Joe & Owens in 15:47. Joe did the tope early and hit his head on the floor. WWE medical personnel made the call to take him to the back. He wasn’t happy about that legit. It turned into a handicap match and they had to improvise. It may have ended up even better than planned. This was mostly a tough crowd that didn’t react well to the matches, but with Owens going one-on-two for the belts and Rollins & Murphy selling so much, it got over. Rollins went for a curb stomp on the apron but Owens moved. Owens hit Rollins with a stunner, but that gave Murphy the chance to give him a schoolboy for the pin. Lynch did an interview. She said she’s been doubting herself for months. But she said that she beat Asuka and collected on that debt. She said something profound happened after the match. It hit her that she was in a whole different league from the rest of them. She said she’s beaten them all and from now on she’s fighting people because she wants to, not because she has to. She said if Charlotte Flair wants to challenge her, it won’t be the first time but it will be the last time. She then showed a new ring jacket listing her as the “GOAT” (greatest of all-time). Carrillo beat Andrade via DQ in 10:34 in a U.S. title match. These two, because both come from similar backgrounds, really worked well together. But for whatever reason, and San Antonio would be a city you’d expect Carrillo to be more over in, the crowd wasn’t reacting much to the match. Carrillo did a Fosbury flop dive to lead to a commercial break. The finish saw Carrillo hit the moonsault and Vega interfered for the DQ. Andrade started laughing about how he saved the title. Carrillo attacked him and undid the protective mats on the floor. Carrillo teased hitting the hammerlock DDT on Andrade on the floor, the same move Andrade used on him to put him out of action. I think because people don’t see Carrillo as a top guy or someone who is allowed to hurt someone in an angle, they didn’t expect him to do the move. He gave Andrade the hammerlock DDT on the exposed floor. Andrade was helped out and Vega was crying. It was good for Carrillo to do something like this, even though it wasn’t planned because this was all a rewrite after the decision was made earlier in the day to suspend Andrade when the drug test result came in. Charlotte Flair came out. She cut a heel promo, which is weird since she’s been a face for months. She teased she would tell which title she was challenging for, and then said she’s still thinking about it. Asuka & Sane came out. Asuka said that if she was in the rumble, she would have won it. Both attacked Flair. They gave Flair a clumsy double suplex. This led to Flair vs. Asuka, with Flair winning via DQ in 14:12. Asuka looked really good again. But the match didn’t have a lot of heat until the end, as Flair was now back in the face position after the heel promo. Flair worked the match like she was the face. She missed a moonsault and Asuka did an armbar. Flair reversed it. Flair missed natural selection. Asuka used a codebreaker for a near fall. Flair got a near fall with a spear. The crowd got into it at that point pretty strong. Flair went for the figure four. Asuka thought her next spot was the small package off the figure four. Flair didn’t go for it. For a second it seemed they lost it. Flair never let go of the move, and then bridged into the figure eight. Sane came off the top rope with an elbow for the DQ. Flair laid out Sane with a high kick after the match. The Street Profits did a backstage skit. Kelly Kelly joined them. Rawley came out with Riddick Moss. He explained that he is like a franchise quarterback and every franchise quarterback has his offensive lineman. He said this would no longer be a hide-and-seek championship with coward challengers and that Moss would be watching his back. Rawley pinned No Way Jose in :24 with a running punch that missed and a fireman’s carry slam. Then, given Moss was supposed to watch his back, a guy dressed up like a clown hit the ring and schoolboyed Rawley from behind and pinned him to win the title. He unmasked as R-Truth. Moss then took out R-Truth and Rawley gave him a fireman’s carry slam and pinned R-Truth to get the title back. Morgan pinned Lana in 2:38 with a double foot stomp to the back and a flatliner off the ropes. This wasn’t good but at least it was kept short. They really tried to dress Morgan up to be a lot more sexy than in her prior incarnation. I don’t know what it is about WWE fans, but both here and on Smackdown with Rose vs. Bliss, they always seem to get the lowest rated segment of the show and you wouldn’t think that would be the case and especially if the in-ring is kept short. Rowan pinned Brendan Vice in 3:40 with a claw slam. The final segment was great. It was easily the best segment on Raw in a long time. Edge came out to a huge reaction. Whether this was the case or not, it felt like Edge was talking for real and not reading a scripted promo and that means either he was, or he’s way above most when it comes to delivery. He seemed really happy. The crowd continued to go nuts for him. He said that you have no idea what this reaction means to him. He said that nine years ago the company made him check his neck and he was glad they did because it showed damage and that he would have to retire. But he said that over the years, he started feeling pretty good. Then he asked himself “What if?” He asked “What if I came back home.” and then said, “Welcome home.” So he said he got a second neck surgery and busted his ass and got in the best shape of his life at the age of 46 so he can step back in the ring and end his career on his own terms. He said in the Royal Rumble, he saw some familiar faces and some new faces. He named Orton, Reigns, Styles, Rollins, Owens, Black and Riddle. The fans booed the names Reigns and Rollins, but cheered Styles. He said that this may not last that long and he doesn’t know how long it will be. He said he was older, greyer (his beard was grey) and has crow’s feet around his eyes but this is the road map that got him there. He said the one thing is, he has grit, and if you knock him down, he will get back up. Orton then came out. He and Edge hugged. Orton then said that he had a more self destructive personality, more when he was younger. He said that if he dug a hole, there was always one guy who would dig him out of that hole and it was Edge. Orton said, “Welcome home, you’re like a brother to me.” Orton then asked what if they get together one more time. They hugged and then Orton hit him with an RKO. Orton gave him a chair shot to the back. He put Edge’s neck in a chair. He then climbed to the top rope. He paused forever. The one part of this that made no sense is that there’s a whole dressing room of guys and nobody was running in, and none of the refs or officials were either, although you couldn’t do it and make the angle as compelling as it was. Orton was brilliant in his timing and Edge in his selling. Plus the timing was perfect to do it. Then Orton climbed down and threw away the chair. He acted like he was conflicted and decided against doing it and left. But then he came back, put Edge’s head on a chair, grabbed another chair and hit Edge. The idea was he destroyed him with a chair shot to the head but since Edge’s head was down on the mat, he really just hit the mat really hard. The show ended on that note
954
955Notes from the 1/20 Raw show. Thanks to Steve Khan. The show drew 5,000 fans in Wichita. Rollins & Murphy beat The Viking Raiders to win the tag team titles, and Andrade defeated Rey Mysterio in a ladder match to retain the US title. Raw ended with Bobby Lashley and Lana rather easily defeating Rusev and Liv Morgan in a quick and underwhelming match. There was some good stuff on this show but the ending really fell flat. Rollins, Murphy and AOP came out to start the show. Rollins said the fans have all played a part in making him the man he is today and he thanked them for showing faith in him. Rollins thanked Murphy for opening his eyes, being brave and standing up to join the right side of history. They hugged as people booed. Rollins said Owens, Joe and Show failed. He called this determinism at it’s finest and it was time for the locker room to pick sides because the battle lines have been drawn and everyone was either with them or against them. Owens and Joe interrupted (they entered separately). Owens understood why they were proud of themselves for taking out Big Show. However, he knew that Show would be back to get them eventually, and their bigger problem was that they didn’t get rid of himself and Joe. Owens thought the fans were as tired as him of hearing Rollins’ voice. Owens wanted to fight. Rollins thought fighting was a good idea, but they need to find the right time and place. Joe said he saw someone calling himself a “messiah” but was instead a lawyered-up asshat. The crowd chanted for Joe. Rollins realized the odds were in his favor so he invited them down. Joe told Rollins that he had issues listening. They wanted to fight, but they weren’t the only ones. The Viking Raiders entered. The four men marched to the ring and cleaned house (Rollins bailed before getting involved). Owens gave Akam a stunner and Joe gave Murphy a Uranage. They didn’t let Murphy say anything. Caruso caught up to Rollins and his friends backstage. Rollins wasn’t surprised that Joe and Owens would hide behind those Neanderthals the Viking Raiders. Rollins had a scoop for Caruso: he and Murphy were challenging the Raiders to a tag title match. Andrade beat Mysterio to keep the U.S. title in a ladder match in 18:44. Mysterio did grab the title, but Andrade yanked the ladder out from under him before he could pull it down. With Mysterio hanging in the air, Andrade pulled him down and tried a powerbomb but again Mysterio countered. Again, they didn’t really pull this off. Mysterio sent Andrade to the outside and went to climb but Vega climbed to the top first to stop him. Vega slapped Mysterio, then Andrade gave him a hammerlock DDT, breaking the ladder they were standing on. Andrade climbed up and grabbed the title belt to win the match. Andrade retains the US Title. After the match, Vega exposed the concrete floor and Andrade set up for a DDT. Before he could do it, a man in a Mysterio mask (who was previously in the audience) appeared to confront him. It was Carrillo. Carrillo tackled him and attacked until Andrade managed to escape. Black won a squash against a guy not announced in :08 with black mass. Heyman & Lesnar were out. Heyman said he was having a crisis of conscience because the fans took Lesnar for granted. Heyman would announce a spoiler and Lesnar would deliver, to which the fans say, of course he did, he’s Brock Lesnar. He said that would happen again when Lesnar defeats 29 other men to win the Rumble. Ricochet interrupted. He said Heyman talked too much. He noted the whispers and concerns going around the back. Some guys were even afraid to get in the ring with Lesnar. Ricochet noted the risks he takes in the ring and wasn’t afraid. Heyman said Ricochet must’ve received his education in Wichita. Heyman called Ricochet lunch meat for Lesnar and advised him to go to the back. Ricochet said the Rumble may be his only shot. He knew what normally happened to guys when they step to Lesnar, but he wasn’t afraid to do it. Lesnar invited him in the ring. Ricochet took a deep breath and entered the ring. Ricochet challenged him to a fight right now. Lesnar laughed, brushed him off and left. Ricochet asked Lesnar if he was scared. (That line was designed to get a pop, but it didn’t.) Lesnar came back in the ring and kicked Ricochet in the nuts. Lesnar grabbed the mic, said, “not scared,” and left. Ricochet remained down selling his groin. Caruso interviewed Orton about McIntyre. Orton said McIntyre was one hell of a guy and one hell of a talent, but he was not on par with the guy who can strike with the three most dangerous letters in sports entertainment. McIntyre no contest Orton in 11:49. Orton moved and McIntyre gave a production guy a Claymore kick. McIntyre tried something off the top but Orton caught him with a dropkick. Styles, Gallows and Anderson attacked McIntyre. They put the boots to him until Orton jumped in with a chair to save him. McIntyre gave Anderson a Claymore. McIntyre and Orton faced off as Orton still had the chair in his hands. Orton dropped the chair and was about to leave, but instead turned around and gave McIntyre an RKO. McIntyre demanded a mic as he writhed around. He called out for “Randall Keith Orton” before demanding a microphone that worked (his was working fine). They gave him another one. McIntyre said he should have Claymore kicked Orton, but that’s on him. He hoped they ended up in the Rumble together so he could kick his head off his shoulders, win the Rumble, and finally main event WrestleMania. Caruso interviewed Flair, whom she noted eliminated the most women last year and was the runner-up. Flair said she was ready to face anyone and anything. Lynch suddenly appeared beside her with a big smirk on her face, then left without saying anything. Flair said she was eliminated last year by Lynch, who wasn’t supposed to be in the match. Lynch entered for her match. She said Asuka did her a favor by spraying that mist in her face because now she sees clearly. She thought that Asuka was having doubts and that would explain all the sneak attacks and it explains why she was facing her partner tonight instead of her. Asuka may have beaten her at last year’s Rumble, but Lynch was ultimately the big winner at WrestleMania, while Asuka then went on to make soup on YouTube. Lynch said she would teach Asuka what she now knows: “you can't beat me anymore.” Lynch beat Sane in a non-title match in 8:59. Lynch used a thrust kick and forearm before knocking Asuka off the turnbuckle. Lynch kicked Sane in the head before applying the Disarmer for the submission win. Asuka immediately followed with a shining wizard on Lynch. She applied the Asuka Lock before knocking Lynch down with a kick to the head. The crowd booed Asuka as she posed. They aired a video tribute for Rocky Johnson. The crowd gave a standing ovation and “Rocky” chants. Lawler had a few nice words prior to the video as well. Schreiber found Asuka and Sane and asked Asuka if this is the type of champion she wanted to be, one who attacks people from behind. They yelled at her in Japanese, then Asuka looked at the camera and said Becky was not ready for Asuka. Rollins & Murphy defeated The Viking Raiders to win the Raw tag titles in 11:06. As Murphy distracted the referee, Rollins gave Erik a curb stomp on the edge of the ring. Murphy then pinned Erik for the win. Rollins and Murphy are the new tag champs. This was good, but it felt a bit rushed. Both the match itself and switching the titles from the Viking Raiders to Rollins and Murphy. Rollins and Murphy celebrated backstage and they were interviewed by Schreiber. AOP were with them and looked just fine, so I guess they escaped their fight with Owens and Joe. Rollins said this was just the beginning of their dominance and announced that he would win the Rumble. They did another SNL Weekend Update spoof with the Street Profits. There was a laugh track again. At least this time the laugh track appeared to be an audience with adults and not just children. Among the jokes was Dawkins saying he hates reboots as a picture of Miz and Morrison appeared on the screen. R-Truth also appeared as an on-field correspondent (he was in front of a green screen which had a picture of Minute Maid Park in Houston). Rowan beat Matt Hardy in 2:11. During the match, whatever lives inside the cage bit Rowan’s hand again. Rowan responded by ramming the cage a couple of times against the steel steps. A few people gasped, a few people laughed. Rowan won with the claw slam. Hardy didn’t get much of a reaction during the match itself, probably because people knew what was about to happen. Schreiber asked Joe and Owens what was next for them. Owens said Rollins and Murphy winning the titles was a problem they would take care of later but for now, he was entering the Rumble and would go on to main event WrestleMania, which would ensure that Rollins wouldn’t. Joe took the opportunity to enter the Rumble as well. He said he would be at Owens’ side when taking on Rollins, but when it came to the Rumble, he would run through Owens if he had to. Owens nodded his head and left. Caruso interviewed Mojo Rawley, the 24/7 Champion. He was quickly interrupted by Samir Singh who tried to distract him. Sunil Singh tried a roll-up but Rawley didn’t budge. He slammed both guys and left. This got no reaction. Lashley & Lana defeated Rusev & Morgan in 3:28. Morgan and Lana started the match. Less than two minutes into the match, they took each other down with clotheslines before tagging out. Rusev gave Lashley a suplex, then Lana distracted him on the apron. He got in her face but then moved before Lashley could attack. Lashley narrowly avoided punching Lana. Lana smacked Rusev, then Lashley gave him a Dominator before Morgan broke up the cover. Morgan gave Lashley an Enzuigiri, then Rusev kicked him in the head. Before Rusev could capitalize, Lana grabbed him by the leg. This allowed Lashley to hit a spear for the pinfall win
956
957Notes from the 1/22 NXT show. In an upset, Zack Gibson & James Drake advanced to the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Classic beating Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly, depriving the fans of a potential dream match. Imperium distracted Fish & O’Reilly to lead to the pin. Toni Storm beat Io Shirai via DQ when Bianca Belair attacked Storm. Shirai was mad about Belair costing her the match so she attacked Belair. Rhea Ripley also jumped in and there was a four-way brawl with Storm cleaning house and holding up the belt to set up the Worlds Collide match. Finn Balor pinned Joaquin Wilde with a 1916 DDT. Balor then cut a promo talking about Ilja Dragunov, who he was to face at Worlds Collide, and Johnny Gargano, who he was to face at the next Takeover. Shayna Baszler beat Shotzi Blackheart which made sense storyline wise since it was based on Blackheart eliminating Baszler last week in the Battle Royal. Baszler won with the kirafuda clutch. Pete Dunne & Matt Riddle beat Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel to go to the finals of the Dusty Classic. Keith Lee beat Roderick Strong to win the North American title in what I was told was a very good match. Strong worked on the ankle, used a top rope Olympic slam and also had help from his other Undisputed Era teammates. Imperium attacked the Undisputed Era
958
959Smackdown notes from 1/24 from Dallas. They had another big crowd, drawing 11,900 fans for the Rumble go-home show. Whether it’s the season or FOX or Friday nights, and it’s probably a little bit of all, these Smackdown live crowds have been strong in recent weeks. Reigns & Usos beat Corbin & Ziggler & Roode.
960
961Reigns hit the superman punch on Corbin. They fought around ringside and over the barricade. They ended up fighting to the back. Jey hit a crossbody off the announce table onto Ziggler on the floor. In the ring, Roode and Jimmy fought on the top turnbuckle. Jimmy pushed off Roode and hits the splash for the win. Cole interviewed Evans. Cole asked about Evans's upbringing, and she became emotional. She talked about her father's addiction and battle, which he lost. She began crying, and she talked about never giving up. The fans cheered and gave her a great reaction. Evans talked about her military career and promised to be a better leader than Banks and Bayley. She told the story of her daughter crying backstage. Evans noted she put Banks on the shelf and is going to do the same to Bayley. Bayley jumped Evans from behind and it was broken up. Kayla Braxton interviewed Carmella and Brooke. She asked them how they're feeling about the Rumble this Sunday. Carmella's confident that she's going to win and ran down her accomplishments. Brooke mocked Carmella and noted the Rumble is every woman for herself. She knows she's the underdog but promises to win. Bayley and Evans were fighting in the background. Brooke & Carmella helped break it up. Bliss & Cross vs. Rose & Deville never happened. Bayley and Evans brawled to the ring. Strowman & Elias beat Nakamura & Cesaro. Elias and Strowman were about to sing when the heels interrupted. Zayn distracted the referee, and Nakamura tried bringing in a chair. Elias cut him off and took him out. The finish came when Strowman hit a running power slam on Cesaro, and Elias hit an elbow off the top for the win. Big E put a ton of grease on himself. Kofi Kingston didn't understand what Big E's doing. He explained that it's going to be tough to throw him out at the Rumble. Kingston promised to defeat John Morrison tonight, and they're both excited for the Rumble on Sunday. They're going to win it for the injured Woods. Braxton interviewed Corbin backstage. He promised to defeat Reigns at The Royal Rumble and said that Reigns wouldn't make it to the Rumble match. In the back, Sheamus talked about his return and his feud with Shorty G. Morrison beat Kingston. Before the match, The Miz scolded the fans for booing Morrison last week after being gone for eight years. Miz then announced that they're both entering the Rumble this year. Morrison poked Kingston in the eyes behind the referees back and hit the Spanish fly for a close near fall. Kingston recovered and hit the SOS for a two count. Morrison attempted a pin with his feet on the second rope. Big E knocked the feet off, and Miz attacked Big E. Big E chased Miz around ringside, and he jumped up on the apron. Kingston rocked Miz with the trouble in paradise. Morrison blind sided Kingston and hit Starship Pain for the win. Next was the Wyatt-Bryan contract signing. Firefly Funhouse Interrupted on the big screen. Wyatt struggled to fax the contract to Bryan and wondered why Bryan would want to strap himself to Him. Bryan pulled out the strap and demanded Wyatt come to the ring. Wyatt noted his lawyer Mercey The Buzzard advises him not to. Bryan said he figured out Wyatt's mind games. He's just running from his past and his mistakes. The lights went out. The red lights came on, and "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt was standing in the ring. Wyatt attacked Bryan gave him Sister Abigail and the mandible claw. Wyatt whipped Bryan with the strap. Wyatt sat down to sign the contract. He grabbed the pen and stabbed his other hand, and signed the contract with his blood. The fans chanted, "You've Got Issues." Wyatt threw the contract at Bryan and left. The lights came back on to show the marks on Bryan's back from the strap. For 205 Live, the announcing team was Joe Quasto and Aiden English. Breeze pinned Ariya Daivari when he blocked a sunset flip and sat down on him for the pin. Daivari was mad and Brian Kendrick showed up and said that it looked like Daivari needed a friend. Kendrick beat Danny Burch when Butch went for a sunset flip and Kendrick grabbed Daivari’s hands to avoid going over and sat down on him for the pin. Main event saw Tony Nese beat Lio Rush via count out. They were both outside the ring teasing a double count out but Nese threw Rush over the announcers table and jumped in for the win.