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4 
5DECEMBER 28, 2001 WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: WWE SLAMMY AWARDS, MMA WEIGHT CUTTING
6BY OBSERVER STAFF | STAFF@WRESTLINGOBSERVER.COM | @WONF4W
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8
9Wrestling Observer Newsletter
10PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593	December 28, 2015
11
12WWE NEXT TAKEOVER LONDON POLL RESULTS
13
14Thumbs up	155 (100.0%)
15
16Thumbs down	0 (00.0%)
17
18In the middle	0 (00.0%)
19
20BEST MATCH POLL
21
22Asuka vs. Emma	104
23
24Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe	45
25
26WORST MATCH POLL
27
28Baron Corbin vs. Apollo Crews	120
29
30UFC ON FOX POLL RESULTS
31
32Thumbs up	127 (92.0%)
33
34Thumbs down	0 (00.0%)
35
36In the middle	11 (08.0%)
37
38BEST MATCH POLL
39
40Nate Diaz vs. Michael Johnson	114
41
42Rafael dos Anjos vs. Donald Cerrone	10
43
44WORST MATCH POLL
45
46Alistair Overeem vs. Junior Dos Santos	105
47
48Cole Miller vs. Jim Alers	12
49
50ROH FINAL BATTLE POLL RESULTS
51
52Thumbs up	56 (93.3%)
53
54Thumbs down	0 (00.0%)
55
56In the middle	4 (06.7%)
57
58BEST MATCH POLL
59
60Jay Lethal vs. A.J. Styles	31
61
62Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly 27
63
64WORST MATCH POLL
65
66Hanson & Rowe vs. Bennett & Taven	38
67
686 man tag match	8
69
70Based on phone calls and e-mails as of Tuesday, 12/22.
71
72With the longer than usual break of five weeks between TLC and Royal Rumble, there has been little in the way of direction set for the company's second biggest show of the year. There's been even less for the biggest show of the year, WrestleMania, which by this time you can usually figure out the direction of the top of the card, and aside from Roman Reigns vs. HHH at some point, and probably Sheamus again, you can't really even see a direction.
73
74This week there was the push for the Slammy Awards Raw and a live Smackdown on Tuesday. There is also the push coming up for the debut of Smackdown on the USA Network.
75
76The Slammy Awards, a tongue-in-cheek spoof on awards shows that WWE has taken more seriously in its rebirth seven years ago, has in the past been a ratings success for Raw. Last year's ratings weren't good and this year's were just slightly above average for a show during football season that was with going against one of the weaker games of the season.
77
78The voting was legit, with Seth Rollins nabbing the big honor of Superstar of the Year, but for whatever reason, what should have been considered the big award was put on early in the show. Match of the Year, won by the 10/25 Hell in a Cell match between Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker, was the award built to late in the third hour.
79
80There was a lot of recognition over problems, most notably so many of the awards are so similar, between This is Awesome Moment of the Year, OMG Shocking Moment of the year, Extreme Moment of the Year, LOL Moment of the Year and Tell Me You Just Didn't Say that Moment of the Year.
81
82But the biggest issue with this year's show, on 12/21 from the Target Center in Minneapolis before 9,000 fans, is that so many of the winners weren't there. Granted, it's not the first time this has happened, but the live audience was groaning by late in the show, particularly when neither Lesnar nor Undertaker were there to accept their match of the year award. The Minneapolis crowd was not happy since Lesnar is, by far, the most popular WWE wrestler in that city. When his music played, they popped, but it was Paul Heyman accepting the award for him. WWE had never advertised Lesnar to appear. Part of the issue is in not knowing who was going to win ahead of time, perhaps they didn't feel it was worth wasting a date on Lesnar if he didn't win a category, and maybe felt Undertaker's character shouldn't be accepting an award.
83
84Besides Lesnar and Undertaker, also winning awards announced on Raw that weren't there included The Rock, Ronda Rousey, John Cena and Sting. Contrast that with those who also won awards on Raw that were there, Rollins, Neville, R-Truth, Kalisto, and Nikki Bella, and it came across that the real stars didn't consider this worthy of even showing up. With Cena, there was an issue because they were billing the following show as his return to Raw and he may still be filming a television series. They may not have expected Sting to win, but he could have been there.
85
86There are two things they can do, which have both been proposed after the show. The first is to do the voting a week ahead of time, thus all winners are known before the show and can be brought in, and if it's someone who is on a movie set or unavailable, they can go to them and tape them accepting the award. The second is to move the show to WrestleMania week, where everybody is already there. But WrestleMania week is already busy enough, and putting the Slammys on the Raw after WrestleMania would totally change the dynamic of what is now the biggest Raw of the year.
87
88This year's show did a 2.33 rating and 3,374,000 viewers (1.52 viewers per home), well down from last week. But they weren't going to maintain last week's number for a show that featured the return of Vince McMahon and had Roman Reigns in a career vs. title main event. The show did slightly above the fall season average, actually fourth highest of football season when it comes to total viewers, but it should have done above average given the competing Detroit Lions vs. New Orleans Saints game did one of the season's lowest numbers with 10,901,000 viewers.
89
90The show didn't start strong at all, which is a bad sign because they were coming off the title change. The first hour did 3,443,000 viewers. But it held up better than most weeks, with hour two doing 3,374,000 viewers and hour three doing 3,316,000 viewers. You can't change the title every week, and it's a bad idea to even have the main title defended regularly on weekly television. Vince McMahon won't move ratings like he did in his first week back, but it is also clear he can be a big ratings draw. McMahon made the call years ago to take himself off television as a character, feeling he's too old, and using Stephanie McMahon and HHH as The Authority in his place. His coming back weekly would usurp their role. But his comeback clearly drove interest in the product to a high point in several months.
91
92The show did a 0.96 with teenagers, 1.04 in 18-34, 1.24 in 35-49, 1.32 in 50+, 0.69 in Women 18-49 and 1.59 in Male 18-49 (a 69.7% male skew).
93
94The Slammys started as an MTV gimmick in 1986, but there were only five shows before they became an annual Raw fixture in 2008. Nobody took them seriously in the first run because their inceptions included awards like Best Personal Hygiene, Best Performance by an Animal, Smelliest, Sweatiest and Most Overweight.
95
96They got somewhat more serious in 2008 with more wrestling oriented awards categories like announcing team of the year (Matt Striker & Todd Grisham, both long gone from the company), Tag Team of the Year (John Morrison & The Miz), Best Finishing Move (Evan Bourne, now Matt Sydal), Diva of the Year (Michelle McCool), Match of the Year (Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels) and Superstar of the Year (Chris Jericho).
97
98Fans aren't always right, given they voted Vladimir Kozlov as Breakout Star of the Year, and his career went nowhere.
99
100In 2009 they did better, given Sheamus was Breakout Star, and Michaels vs. Undertaker was match of the year. They brought back match of the year in 2012 for HHH vs. Undertaker. The company chose the Superstar of the Year, as instead of having fans vote, they booked a tournament for Cena to win. In fan voting, Cena won again in 2010, C.M. Punk won in 2011, Cena in 2012, Daniel Bryan in 2013 and Reigns last year.
101
102Because the awards are a shoot, voted by the fans, there are surprises, most notably this year when Neville beat out Kevin Owens, an Internet favorite expected to win, for Breakout Star of the Year. They had set up an Owens angle with Dolph Ziggler for that segment, so Owens had to interrupt Neville's speech, Neville had to leave to get out of the way, and then they had to shoot their scheduled angle. While Rollins probably deserved Superstar of the Year more than anyone in the company, given how much he was carrying the heel side as a performer, and having so many great matches this year, it was a surprise that Roman Reigns didn't win. Reigns did win last year, and this year's vote came at a time when his two biggest rivals for the award, Rollins and Cena, had both been off television, while he just won the title the week before voting and had been the focal point of television for the past few months.
103
104As far as the awards not announced during Raw, the winners were Lesnar vs. Undertaker as Rivalry of the Year, Usos as Tag Team of the Year (funny since they were injured most of the year and New Day would have been the favorites), Damien Mizdow throwing out Miz in the Andre the Giant Battle Royal at WrestleMania as Double-cross of the year, Reigns destroying everyone including HHH at the TLC PPV as Extreme Moment of the Year, the 7/6 Cena vs. Cesaro match as John Cena's best U.S. title open challenge match, Superplex City as Hashtag of the year, Stephen Amell doing a dive onto Stardust at SummerSlam as Celebrity Moment of the Year, Lesnar saying "Suplex City" as the "Tell me You Didn't Just Say" that Moment of the year and The Stone Cold Podcast as best WWE Network series. It's notable that nobody from NXT won any awards, nor were there any NXT specific awards.
105
106Notes from the event in Minneapolis:
107
1081. Lucha Dragons beat The Ascension for Superstars in 3:30 of big moves with a double tope spot, and a Salida del Sol by Kalisto and swanton by Sin Cara for the pin.
109
110Stephanie McMahon opened Raw and put over the awards. She said that nothing would get her down because McMahons don't wallow in pity. Reigns came out. There were a few (very few, but I did notice some on camera) guys wearing those New Day horns in the stands. I can't imagine anything more embarrassing than being caught on camera wearing that unicorn horn. Reigns said he doesn't sweat the McMahons and noted he hasn't seen HHH anywhere since TLC. I guess he doesn't watch NXT or follow HHH on Twitter. Stephanie wanted him to get out of "her" ring. He started laughing at her, and she threw a child-like tantrum. The madder she got, the more he laughed. Reigns then turned his back on her and she got even madder. He started laughing, and then he left. She demanded he return to the ring, but he refused. The segment was great for Reigns because that's the role of the top guy, not kowtowing to the authority. Her revenge was to get back at his friends, announcing Dean Ambrose vs. Sheamus in a cage match and New Day in a 3-on-2 match against the Usos.
111
112Dolph Ziggler came out to announce the Breakout Star of the Year. Evidently he forgot to bring out the envelope as a ring guy ran out to hand it to him during the break. Neville won and said it was a big shock because he didn't expect it. Well, who did? Owens came out and said he should have won, told Neville to leave (which he did) and then called Ziggler the Has Been of the Year. They started brawling on the stage until they were pulled apart.
113
1142. Kane beat Bray Wyatt via DQ in :54. The match started and the Wyatt Family all attacked Kane. Tommy Dreamer and the Dudleys made the save. In the brawl, Erick Rowan got cut open and needed medical attention after. They were considering pulling him from the planned eight-man, but since the match was scheduled to go so short, they didn't bother.
115
1163. Wyatt & Rowan & Luke Harper & Braun Strowman beat Kane & Dudleys & Dreamer in 2:41. They took out Rowan right away with a 3-D, but Harper pinned Devon with a discus lariat.
117
118Santino Marella was there to announce the LOL Moment of the Year. John Layfield plugged Marella's Battlarts Academy (should have said where it was located). Fans voted on an interview R-Truth did playing his dumb character where he cut a promo on winning Money in the Bank, only to be told he wasn't even in the match. Marella said R-Truth wasn't there and he was accepting it for him, but R-Truth then showed up. Marella tried to run off with the statue and R-Truth chased him.
119
120Mick Foley, daughter Noelle, and son Mick Jr., were in front of a Christmas tree. Mick was dressed as Santa Claus. It built to a spot where Santa said that giving Xavier Woods the trombone for Christmas last year was a terrible idea.
121
122Paul Heyman came out to present the OMG Shocking Moment of the Year. Heyman said that every single awards except the LOL Moment of the Year and the Diva of the Year should be won by Lesnar. Kalisto doing the Salida del Sol off the ladder in the three-way at TLC was the winner. He seemed thrilled that he won.
123
1244. Kevin Owens pinned Dolph Ziggler in a non-title match in 12:05. Between this result, some other recent results, and Ziggler losing again on Smackdown in the three-way, you can see they are getting away from 50/50 booking and concentrating on who they want to push and they are all winning, and others jobs are to put them over. They had a good match with Owens winning with the pop up power bomb out of nowhere.
125
126Next announced was Superstar of the Year, introduced by Stephanie McMahon. She got a wrong cue and started while they were on the commercial break, so had to restart it. She said the top vote getters were Reigns, Sheamus, Cena, Owens, Ambrose, Wyatt, The New Day, Lesnar, Undertaker, Kane, Rollins and Sting. Rollins won. He was on crutches from recent knee surgery, said he was starting his rehab soon, that he would rebuild himself and come back and win the title that he never lost. He came across as a nice guy playing heel wrestler here.
127
1285. Alberto Del Rio pinned Jack Swagger in 7:06. The League of Nations was out with Del Rio, and they all put the boots to Swagger outside the ring at one point. Del Rio won with the double foot stomp. After the match, they held Swagger so Sheamus could give him a Brogue kick, which was a spot they were playing out all night.
129
130Next was Coca Cola presenting the Hero of the Year award, with Mark Henry as the presenter. What was notable is that originally Stephanie McMahon was listed in the voting, but they pulled her name off and instead used Natalya, Reigns, Big Show, Cena and O'Neil. Cena won. Henry said that people like him don't expect awards for their work, because they do it from their heart.
131
132At this point in many markets there was a commercial from Pop TV to alert people that Impact was doing its final four for the world title on 1/5 live.
133
134A new Santa came out, this one being Bo Dallas. He was presenting the Surprise Return of the Year award. Sting won it. It got a weak reaction even before it was announced Sting wasn't there, and Dallas accepted it for him.
135
136The New Day came out and made fun of the fact that they didn't win tag team of the year even though they were champions. They teased threatening to spoil the ending of Star Wars, until Kofi Kingston made them stop because he hadn't seen the movie yet. They were in the ring for a long time before the match during the commercial break, and fans were chanting "New Day Rocks" as well as "New Day Sucks."
137
1386. The Usos beat all three members of New Day in a 2-on-3 handicap match in 10:52. Woods tried a rolling reverse cradle holding the trunks, but Jimmy Uso rolled with it one more time for the pin.
139
140R-Truth announced Diva of the Year, and in something that tons of people predicted ahead of time, he announced Paige had won, only to say he made a mistake and it was actually Nikki Bella. Nikki Bella gave a gracious acceptance speech, thanking every woman she shared the ring with, every woman backstage, all the women who work in NXT and every little girl who buys a ticket to cheer us on.
141
1427. Rusev beat Neville in 8:01. The Miz was on commentary, doing the bit that he wants to learn a legit British accent from Neville so he can be the next James Bond. They are booking to make the League of Nations strong and that only Reigns is a match for them, so Rusev controlled most of the match. However, throughout the night they received very little reaction, whether it was for their entrances, matches or angles. Rusev drove Neville into the post and gave him a belly-to-belly on the floor. Neville came back with a moonsault off the top rope to the floor. Neville came off the top rope into a superkick and Rusev used the Accolade. No Lana on either show this week with no explanation as to why. There were "We Want Lana" chants.
143
144The Miz presented the This is Awesome moment of the year award, which was announced as the angle from WrestleMania with Rock and Rousey. Miz plugged "Santa's Little Helper," saying it was bigger than Star Wars.
145
146Lesnar vs. Undertaker from 10/25 in Los Angeles was named Match of the Year. The announcement got a surprisingly lukewarm reaction, as if they didn't think it should have won. However, then Lesnar's music played, they exploded. Heyman came out to chants of "We Want Lesnar." Heyman put over that at least Undertaker was man enough to face Lesnar, and that nobody in the locker room now is man enough to wants Lesnar. Heyman also got a pop when he mentioned that Lesnar won the NCAA heavyweight title at the University of Minnesota.
147
148Backstage, the League of Nations destroyed the Usos. Del Rio put the armbar on Jimmy. Rusev put the accolade on Jey. Then they held both of them up and Sheamus laid both out with Brogue kicks.
149
1508. Dean Ambrose beat Sheamus in a cage match in 10:46. Fans actually turned on the match early with a "This is boring" chant, but got into it after Ambrose dove off the top of the cage with the elbow. Sheamus brogue kicked Ambrose before the match even started. The League of Nations was all beating on Ambrose on the floor and threw him into the cage. Sheamus gave Ambrose a White noise off the top rope for a near fall. Ambrose was ready to win and climb over but Rusev and De Rio climbed to block him. That was the spot where Ambrose did the elbow off the top of the cage onto Sheamus for a near fall. Del Rio slammed the cage door on Ambrose. That brought out Reigns, who speared Del Rio and gave Rusev a Superman punch. Reigns also hit Rusev with a chair. Barrett, who wasn't touched, walked out with Del Rio and Rusev. Reigns threw a chair into the ring and Ambrose hit Sheamus with Dirty Deeds on the chair. Ambrose started climbing and Sheamus got up and started climbing as well. Both were sitting on top of the cage throwing punches. Both then went over the top and were still punching each other. Ambrose fell off the side of the cage to win. When Sheamus came down, Reigns speared him as well.
151
152Ambrose needed six staples cut close a hard way cut during this match. Both he and Rowan were good to go for the matches the next night.
153
154The show ended with a frustrated Stephanie McMahon, whose goal on the show was to get back at Reigns, slapping the hell out of announcer Tom Phillips. Phillips got nailed hard on the first slap when Stephanie's palm nailed him in the temple and was legitimately shaken up. WWE has officially stated there is no injury or issue with Phillips. This has become a talked about issue because there were people who believed Phillips was hurt, that he is no selling it because there is no upside to him saying anything. Whether he was or wasn't hurt, the complaint was that they had a non-wrestler take several unnecessary head shots for absolutely no reason, and pointed out the dichotomy of HHH being on Chris Nowinski's concussion board while the company did this segment.
155
156Coming just days after the death of Yan Jian Bing, the California State Athletic Commission, under the direction of Andy Foster, held a summit regarding weight cutting and sent a recommendation to increase the number of weight classes in the sport.
157
158Bing passed away at 12:06 p.m. on 12/11 while cutting weight for a One championship fight in The Philippines due to an acute myocardial infarction, essentially a heart attack, at the age of 21.
159
160Due to the commission structure, change comes very slowly in MMA because all states have their own rules and changes would have to be adopted on a state-by-state basis. The Association of Boxing Commissions can recommend changes, and most are in agreement that the rules should be unified, but there are minor differences now from state-to-state.
161
162Foster has long felt that extreme weight-cutting was the biggest problem in the sport. With USADA banning IV's, that changes the game somewhat in UFC, but there is no IV ban in other promotions.
163
164Jeff Novitzky, the UFC's Vice President of Athlete Heath and Performance, was at the summit. He noted that the IV ban has already had a change. UFC weighs all fighters (they may not weigh all heavyweights because with the exception of a few guys, cutting weight isn't an issue in that division) when they come to the city and monitors them to make sure they are on target to make weight. Even with that, there are still guys missing weight all the time, and on occasion, having to be hospitalized and drop out of fights due to issues of last minute weight cutting.
165
166Before the IV ban, which went into effect in October, fighters were showing up, on average, at eight percent above their weigh-in weights, meaning, for example, a featherweight (145) on average showed up the week of the fight at 157, and a light heavyweight at 221, on average. Since the IV ban, and stricter PED testing, the fighters, on average, have shown up five percent above weigh-in weights, meaning featherweights at 152 or light heavyweights at 215. While five or six pounds doesn't sound like a big deal, when it comes to fighters and peak weights, and this being an average of a couple of hundred fighters since that time, it's a huge change in training philosophy throughout the sport. It's more notable because fighters who didn't use PEDs or IVs, and there are many of them, are showing up at the same weight as in the past, skewing any difference in average, so those who were using are likely showing up with even more than a three percent added difference from before.
167
168One of the key people at the meeting was Dr. Edmond Ayoub, the Vice President of the Association of Ringside Physicians. Among the things he said was the advantages fighters think they have with extreme weight cutting is more mental. As noted here before, New Jersey did a study where they weighed in fighters before they went into the cage, and found that they fighters who cut more weight won 52 percent of the time, which from a statistical standpoint means if there is an advantage, it is minimal. It was also noted that even that two percent over average can be explained because in many cases, the guys who cut the most weight come from the stronger wrestling backgrounds, and stronger wrestlers are going to, on average, win more than half of their fights anyway. Still, there is a psychological edge in feeling you are bigger and thus stronger than your opponent. Without any stats, the gut feeling is that it does give fighters a first round edge but that it can work against them in longer fights. Even when the New Jersey stats were revealed showing just how minimal the weight edge really means, many in the MMA community completely rejected the results because of long-held beliefs.
169
170Ayoub also claimed that guys who cut more weight are more susceptible to concussions because they are not fully hydrated when getting in the cage. He also said that the IV usage is also all psychological, as there is no evidence that it is superior than just drinking lots of water, Pedialite or Gatorade or whatever fluids a fighter uses to rehydrate after weigh-ins. That also goes against the belief of many in the industry since IV usage for rehydration was extremely prevalent in the sport.
171
172Ayoub favored canceling fights if fighters were too dehydrated, and said it takes 36 hours minimum after a major cut for fighters to be fully hydrated. Most fighters in UFC get into the cage anywhere from 24 to 32 hours after weighing in, depending on the time zone of the fight and their position on the show. Because weigh-ins are traditionally at 4 p.m. local time, while most shows have a uniform start time so the main card fights start at 10 p.m. on Saturday nights, main event fighters on East Coast time have the most time to rehydrate while prelim fighters on the West Coast have the least.
173
174IV usage for fighters to rehydrate has been banned because they can mask usage of PEDs.
175
176Foster is going to attempt to ban any usage of IVs in boxing and MMA throughout the state for rehydration, which would cover amateur and non-UFC events. Mike Mazulli, the president of the Association of Boxing Commissions said he would bring it up as far as the recommendation of a national ban at the next national meeting in August.
177
178Foster noted that a 2013 study showed that 39 percent of fighters are not fully hydrated when they go into the cage due to weight cutting. That's the statistic they want changed because that leads to not only more knockouts, but also more stamina loss in longer fights and a higher potential for brain injuries due to the less fluid in the head cushioning the brain on impact from strikes.
179
180Sean Wheelock, who heads the ABC rules committee, noted talking to fighters who have told him that they notice when they are dehydrated that punches that they can normally walk through can stun them.
181
182He also noted that the idea of doing the hydration tests that college and high school wrestlers use that limit at the beginning of the season how much weight they will be allowed to lose has its issues as well. Bubba Jenkins, a former NCAA champion wrestler who was at the summit, noted that wrestlers have learned how to game the system, implemented in 1998 after three deaths of college wrestlers in 1997 due to weight cutting.
183
184The difference between wrestling, Jiu Jitsu and judo, which have same day weigh-ins, and sports like MMA, boxing and kickboxing, is the dangers of strikes to the head aren't there in the other sports.
185
186One idea talked about was weigh-ins two days ahead instead of one day ahead, but that could also encourage even more severe weight cutting with fighters knowing they have two days to get their weight back on.
187
188John McCarthy, who was also at the summit, noted that he favored weigh-ins two or three days before the fight, but having a second weigh-in right before the fighter went into the cage, that would only allow him to be ten percent above his weigh-in weight, meaning a welterweight couldn't go into the cage at more than 187 pounds, a middleweight at more than 203.5 and a light heavyweight at more than 225.5
189
190The problem here is that will lead to some guys doing a second cut right before that second weigh-in, and that's exactly what you want to avoid. Same day sweating out water to make a prescribed maximum weight will mean the brain isn't fully hydrated while fighting.
191
192The other problem is that if a fighter showed up at fight time and missed weight, the fight would be canceled, and promoters and fans aren't going to be happy when something like that happens at the last minute, particularly if it's a main event or championship fight.
193
194Another change recommended was increasing the number of weight classes, with a proposal made that new weight classes for men would be 115, 125, 135, 145, 155, 165, 175, 185, 195, 205, 225 and 265.
195
196The argument is that the gap between 170 and 185 and 185 and 205 is too much, and that fighters who should fight at 195 are for the most part cutting hard to make 185 as opposed to facing bigger guys at 205, and that the same is true of a real 195 pound guy who would be small at 185, so cuts hard to make 170, but 175 would be a lot healthier.
197
198The issue with that is that while it helps some in between weight guys who would fight in these situations at a heavier weight than they now do, it works both ways. Someone who makes 170 with some discomfort may now think they can make 165. Guys who make 185 may try and cut to 175 thinking 170 is a little too much so they haven't tried. As likely as not, the number of people the adding divisions will help will be offset by those who will now look at dropping even more weight than before for a newer weight class.
199
200From a business standpoint, more different championships has its good and bad points. With running so many shows, more titles means more title matches. But more titles also means the value of such titles lessens. When UFC had five weight classes, every champion was a star and title matches were a big deal. Now, with ten divisions, it's no longer the championships that are the draw and instead it's maybe three or so great personalities and some title matches on PPV don't draw at all. Even divisions like heavyweight, light heavyweight and middleweight that used to be big drawing divisions no longer draw just for a title match unless there is a big star in the fight.
201
202From a sport standpoint, the more weight classes, the more fair it is. From a business standpoint, it's a mixed bag. It may help on television with more title fights, even the ones the public doesn't care about that much are still bigger fights than those same shows without a title fight. But it does hurt for the PPV industry, which used to be able to get a certain baseline number of 300,000 buys if there was any title fight, then that baseline if there was a heavyweight, light heavyweight or middleweight title match. Now, a title fight can do 100,000 buys and a big fight is more about a key personality as champion, as much as the title on its own. Even at the former marquee weight classes, a title fight isn't guaranteed to beat 250,000 buys. It's always been personality over championship to a degree in combat sports, and it's even more extreme in boxing with a million championships where nobody cares about the belts. By making it more fair size-wise to fighters, the titles themselves greatly lessen in value. So it becomes a balancing act.
203
204Another point is the creation of a 225 pound weight class. On paper, this makes sense, because the gap from 205 to 265 seems completely unfair. But the reality is, the heavyweight division is already a weak division, lacking depth and aging badly. Splitting this already weak division into two divisions makes no sense. The idea is that a natural 240 pound guy would be at a huge disadvantage facing a 285 pound guy who cuts to 265. But in reality, all of the top heavyweights, Fabricio Werdum, Cain Velasquez, Andrei Arlovski and Stipe Miocic, are guys who could easily cut to 225. Of the prior era top stars, with Fedor Emelianenko, Mirko Cro Cop, Randy Couture, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, almost all of them could easily cut to 225. The bigger heavyweights, like Frank Mir, Bigfoot Silva, Ben Rothwell and Mark Hunt have routinely been taken apart by the smaller and better heavyweights, so it's not an issue at all. It would create two divisions without any depth, particularly the heavier one. UFC's Forrest Griffin was there and said as much.
205
206Now, in ten years, could this change, and could there be 6-foot-7, 285 pound monsters who can actually strike and wrestle at a high level and thus your 240 pounders are too small? Possibly. But there has always been the feeling that past a certain point, greater size hinders your ability to fight at a high level and the current UFC results seem to underscore that. Still, boxing has had a situation where much taller guys have dominated the heavyweight title but in doing so have put on terrible spectator fights. And at that time could that change make sense? Absolutely. But right now in MMA, this isn't that time.
207
208The proposal for new weight classes will be sent to the ABC Medical Committee, headed by Foster, and if they get approved there, they will go to a vote in August at the ABC annual convention. A promotion like UFC would not have to abide by the ruling.
209
210Notivzky said that he's talked with the UFC matchmakers, Joe Silva and Sean Shelby, and they are not against the new weight classes. The red flag would be splitting the weak heavyweight division, but it was noted that a promotion doesn't have to have all divisions. UFC could adopt the divisions but simply not have a 115 pound men's division and a 225 pound men's division, just as they don't have a 125 and 145 pound women's division.
211
212Really, the only change that would come would be at welterweight, where the champion would have to decide to either fight at 165 or 175, and then others would have to battle for the title in the other division.
213
214A perfect world would be fighters fighting at their walk-around weight with no weight cutting. The fights would be better. The fighters would be happier. The fighters would have more stamina. But what would happen is that if that was the rule, fighters would violate the rule and while extreme weight cutting may not give an advantage more than psychologically, that doesn't mean that a ten pound cut and rehydration doesn't give a guy an edge over someone who doesn't cut at all.
215
216Novitzky claimed that fighters, who are now cutting on average about five pounds less during the week of the fight, have told him they feel better. Still, we've seen examples, most notably Eddie Gordon, on 6/27, who trained and ate less to decrease his natural weight to 185 and didn't cut at all for the fight. He then got thrown around by a much larger opponent (Antonio Carlos Jr., a former heavyweight who cut to 185) and lost the fight and ended up being cut after a third straight loss.
217
218ONE Championship, the Singapore-based promotion that Bing fought for, is going one step further, attempting to implement a system that bans weight cutting.
219
220One announced that its medical and competition team of doctors Warren Wang and James Okamoto, as well as Vice Presidents and former fighters Rich Franklin and Matt Hume, as well as executives Richard Auty and Vaughn Anderson came up with the program that will consist of constant weigh-ins of fighters throughout the period they are contracted with the group, and their normal walk-around weight will become their fighting weight.
221
222All athletes are ordered to send the promotion their weights on a daily basis. There will be random unannounced weigh-in checks to see that these are inputted honestly. The promotion will use that data to make matches and assign fighters the weight class they will compete in. The last week before the fight, the promotion will have daily weigh-ins and daily hydration tests, the last coming three hours before the fight. The fighters must make weight in every weigh-in and pass every hydration test or they will be removed from the card. Usage of IV's to rehydrate will be banned.
223
224Fighters withing to change weight classes may attempt to do so by petitioning the promotion more than eight weeks before a fight, and have to already be at their new weight at the time they petition the promotion. They will have regularly tested in those two months to see that they are maintaining that natural weight as opposed to cutting to make weight a few times, like would be prevalent in the sport of wrestling where they are used to yo-yo weight throughout the week, cutting hard for their weigh-in, then relaxing for a few days and the weight coming back, before cutting again right before the next match.
225
226Through the heavy training in camp a fighter is going to likely lose weight naturally just by hard training and tighter nutrition getting them into better shape. A fighter will be allowed to be six percent over his fighting weight seven weeks out, 4.5 percent six weeks out, three percent five weeks out, 1.5 percent four weeks out and they have to be within their weight class during the final three weeks. If anything, this system may lead to pressure to eat significantly more, not less, to make up for the extra calories burned in the hardest training phase in the final few weeks of camp. And that's a good thing leading up to a fight. It's also a reverse of the mentality inbred in boxers, wrestlers and fighters where cutting back on food in the final weeks is considered an inherent part of getting ready for a big match.
227
228Obviously, coaches and fighters will attempt every way possible to game the system and be bigger on fight day. The big red flag is fighters honestly recording their weights on a daily basis, whether the surprise weigh-ins will happen, and if the surprise numbers are off from what the fighters have logged in, how will that be handled.
229
230The program will go into effect prior to the promotion's 1/23 show.
231
232Juan Banos, a name few would even know, but a Hall of Famer as the blue masked Lizmark, passed away on 12/16, just two days before his 65th birthday.
233
234Lizmark, one of Mexico's biggest stars during the 80s, passed away due to a heart attack. Lizmark's heart problems dated back to 1999, when he was out of action for six months due to what was rumored to be a heart attack. While he denied the heart attack story, he did confirm his absence was due to a heart issue.
235
236Even with the history of heart issues, his family said the death was both sudden and unexpected.
237
238When he was out of action in 1999, the feeling at the time is that it was the end of his career.
239
240But he came back and continued to wrestle regularly through 2002 with AAA, worked some AAA shows in 2003 and 2004 and returned to CMLL as a regular through 2009, after which he largely retired, but he had a few indie shows from time to time as late as last year.
241
242He never announced his retirement, nor had a farewell tour. There was talk at one point of him finally losing his mask for a big payoff, but it never transpired.
243
244Because he never lost his mask, he was buried in it on what would have been his 65th birthday.
245
246It was notable that Lizmark passed away on December 16, 2015, which was exactly 15 years to the day of the death of the most famous blue masked wrestler in history, Blue Demon.
247
248The Lizmark heyday was during a period where there was little high profile crossover of the top Mexican stars to the U.S. During the 70s, many of the top stars from Mexico would appear in Southern California and South Texas, and from the 90s, with AAA tours, wrestling on Galavision and WCW and ECW opening the doors to wrestlers from Mexico, many of the top stars also became well known.
249
250The story of Lizmark's start in wrestling was pretty well known. He was part of the cliff diving troupe that performed for the tourists in Acapulco. A cliff diver with the bodybuilder physique, he parlayed that into a break in wrestling. In the 70s, once or twice a year, ABC's Wide World of Sports, a Saturday afternoon television fixture in that era, hosted by Jim McKay, would broadcast coverage of the Acapulco cliff divers.
251
252Lizmark was born in Oaxaca on December 18, 1950 (most sources listed his birthday as September 18, 1949, but in his death the real birthday came out), but grew up in Guadalajara. He was a skinny youngster who at first wanted to be a boxer. But he went to the gym and trained in boxing, wrestling and bodybuilding, where he won both Mr. Acapulco in 1971 and Mr. Guerrero (the state Acapulco is in) in 1972.
253
254While smaller than Mil Mascaras, another champion bodybuilder who started out more than a decade before him, Lizmark was also known for his physique, his high flying and his grace. In some ways, he could be compared with a Ricky Steamboat, who was a few years younger.
255
256He was most often compared with Steamboat during his heyday. Both were known for their timing and ring positioning. Both were willing to do whatever the promotion asked, and Lizmark was known for putting the promotion first, which at times could work against him. Both even used the same crossbody off the top as their finisher. Both were also well respected by the other wrestlers for how hard they trained, particularly in their youth. It is believed Lizmark got his crossbody finisher from Mascaras, who had popularized it a decade earlier. But unlike Steamboat, Lizmark was one of the first wrestlers in Mexico to popularize springboard moves off the ropes, as well as regularly use the plancha off the top rope to the floor, which became a trademark spot of wrestlers like El Hijo del Santo and Atlantis, who followed in his footsteps.
257
258He was also working in hotel management at the Acapulco Hilton. He started as a masked wrestler to hide from his employers that he was a wrestler, as he moved up the cards at the old Arena Coliseo in Acapulco. He debuted on March 14, 1976, starting his career much older than most legends of Mexican wrestling, who often started as teenagers.
259
260The name Lizmark came from the German battleship Bismark. He was fascinated with learning about the ship, which at one point when he was a kid, had docked in Acapulco. When he started, he was going to use that name, except there were at least two Bismarks in Mexico at the time, so he became Lizmark.
261
262His combination of grace, mat wrestling, high flying and the physique made him a star quickly. On April 18, 1978, he captured his first championship, the Mexican national welterweight title from Americo Rocca in Acapulco. In those days, with fewer championships, they were more prestigious than they are now. He started gaining fame in wrestling, left his job at the hotel, and came to Mexico City as champion, and held that championship for nearly two years. The only reason he dropped it was because he was getting a promotion, to winning the NWA world welterweight title from Supremo in Acapulco on June 1, 1980, a championship that he held for 17 months.
263
264He told the story in September, in one of his last television interviews, that when he first arrived at Arena Mexico as champion, the veterans, seeing someone so new to Mexico City holding a national title, would constantly steal his shoes while he was wrestling. They'd never give them back, so he was having to buy sandals and go home. They continued to do that until he won them over. He also said that his boxing background helped him a lot in the early days.
265
266From 1978 through 1994, when he was 43 years old and working for AAA, and he dropped the Mexican national light heavyweight title to the original La Parka, Lizmark was almost always either holding a major singles title or being primed to win one.
267
268In the history of the NWA, when it was still the leading governing body in pro wrestling, Lizmark and Gori Guerrero are believed to be the only wrestlers to have held world championships in three weight classes, and ironically, both held the welterweight, middleweight and then light heavyweight titles.
269
270His career rival was fellow Hall of Famer Daniel Lopez, better known as El Satanico. The two started feuding over the Mexican national middleweight title in 1983. Lizmark quickly became champion and top contender for the world title. The two feuded in the early 90s over the NWA world light heavyweight title, at the time considered the most prestigious championship in Mexico. The feud ended at first when Lizmark went to AAA, but resumed when he returned to EMLL. While older, he and Satanico still wrestled each other regularly, including over the CMLL trios titles in 1997 and 1998.
271
272Both were still active in 2001 and it was only fitting that they were the two leading vote-getters in that year's Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame election, going in with Bull Nakano, Black Shadow and notable trainer Diablo Velasco.
273
274Others will remember Lizmark as the Mexican who battled back-and-forth with the late Fabuloso Blondy, Ken Timbs, a strong heat getting American over the NWA world light heavyweight title in the late 80s, when wrestling caught fire in Mexico City because after decades of being a strictly arena business, it started airing weekly on television nationwide. Lizmark was at this point the older star, who could still go, but the spotlight was on people like Atlantis, Octagon and Dandy.
275
276When AAA started, Lizmark dropped his NWA light heavyweight belt to Satanico and moved over. Because the NWA title was controlled by EMLL (now CMLL), he was out of contention for that, but there was a real war over the national championships, which were recognized by the athletic commissions. In those days, if champions switched promotions, they could take their national championship with them, similar to boxing.
277
278Lizmark quickly beat Universo 2000 of the Dinamita Brothers on September 18, 1992, on a show in Acapulco, and held it for two years before losing to Parka. Parka was an unknown wrestler when AAA formed, but the combination of the gimmick, his natural charisma and great bump taking made him a standout. The two feuded over both the Mexican national light heavyweight title and the WWA world light heavyweight title, recognized by Benjamin Mora, who ran one of the national magazines and promoted in Northern Mexico at the time.
279
280When Antonio Pena wanted to make Parka one of the biggest stars in his company, the idea was to program him with Lizmark. When he eventually ended Lizmark's two-year title reign, Parka, by virtue of the win, was considered a superstar and starting with that program has spent more than two decades as one of the biggest stars in the country.
281
282It was pretty clear once Lizmark lost the title that AAA was going more with younger and cheaper talent due to times getting tough with the peso devaluation. Lizmark was by this point considered too old to follow many of the top stars of that era to WCW, where, because of the exchange rate, prelim wrestlers in the U.S. which were considered low-paid talent could work fewer dates and make far more money than most of them could as headliners in Mexico. Lizmark jumped back to CMLL in 1995 and often teamed with Atlantis, who in many ways was Lizmark's successor as the company's light heavyweight champion and staple high flier.
283
284Lizmark was still going strong in the late 90s, as when Larry Zbyszko would be critical of the Luchadores on Nitro for their flying moves, noting that it would lead to injuries and early retirement, many of the Luchadores noted that Lizmark was older than Zbyszko. While Zbyszko was pretty much retired by that time, Lizmark, the forerunner of the style they were all still doing, was still going strong with the same flying spots as he neared 50 years of age.
285
286He formed a father-and-son team with his son, who wrestled as both Lizmark Jr. and El Hijo de Lizmark, as one of the cast of cheap labor enhancement talent in WCW from 1997 to 1999. Lizmark Jr. had the size and the body, but rubbed management the wrong way when he argued about losing his mask, feeling it would disrespect his father and the Lizmark name. He never agreed to lose the mask and never got the push, but in hindsight it would have been very unlikely he'd have gotten the push if he had given up the mask. WCW management couldn't understand the importance of his mask to him, and the loyalty he had to his father in turning down a promised push.
287
288Years later, Lizmark Jr. unmasked and revealed his name as Juan Banos Jr., in a cage of death match at the CMLL 74th anniversary show on September 28, 2007. Lizmark Jr. was the last man left in an all-major star cage escape match before a sellout of 18,000 fans which also included Perro Aguayo Jr., Mistico, Atlantis, Ultimo Guerrero, Dr. Wagner Jr., Villano V and Blue Panther.
289
290Lizmark Jr., revealed that night as Juan Banos Jr., had made it very clear to the promotion, and promoter Paco Alonso accepted this viewpoint with no debate, that he would not lose his mask without his father's approval. Announcing his name as Juan Banos Jr., would pretty well tell everyone that Lizmark's real name was Juan Banos. His father at that point had no problem with his son losing the mask.
291
292His father had stopped wrestling regularly a few years later. He said he retired due to all of his injuries, most notably bad knees from all the years of flying. At one time there was a rumor that he had died taking a Styles clash badly from El Terrible, but he was actually back wrestling shortly after. He did admit to having neck problems from the spot.
293
294While he had some stardom in Japan as a legend in the late 90s, he was first brought to All Japan on the first tour of 1984, and immediately put over in a Battle Royal. The idea was to make him a regular high flying junior heavyweight doing the Lucha style as a rival to Mighty Inoue, then the NWA International junior heavyweight champion. But his style didn't translate well to All Japan. While he went undefeated his first tour, including two wins over a young Mitsuharu Misawa, then just a preliminary wrestler, he was never invited back.
295
296Virginia "Vicky" Aguilera, who for years was the old lady in the front row at Arena Mexico on Friday nights, and became the most famous wrestling fan in the country, always said in interviews that Lizmark was her all-time favorite. El Lizmark later presented her with a plaque from the company at a show, honoring her in the late 90s for being "the most loyal Lucha Libre fan of all-time."
297
298El Hijo del Santo, who in many ways emulated Lizmark's ring style and used a combination of that and his father's name to be one of the two biggest drawing cards (with Perro Aguayo) in Mexico for much of two decades, noted that Lizmark was his idol when he first started wrestling in the early 80s. Atlantis, who was the CMLL fixture headliner for decades, was very much the younger version of Lizmark and frequently teamed with him.
299
300Ironically, Lizmark himself never main evented an anniversary show, nor did he have many famous hair or mask matches as a star of his caliber would have. He beat Ultra 7 in a mask vs. mask match in Japan, and also won mask vs. hair matches in the 70s over Faraon and Rocca, but he never did big stipulation matches with his best known rivals, Satanico, Parka or Sangre Chicana.
301
302He never appeared on an anniversary show until the 50th in 1983, when he was second from the top in a trios match. He was mostly in key trios matches on shows most years from that point on, with his biggest role being second from the top in losing an NWA light heavyweight title match to Blondy in 1988. At the biggest Lucha Libre event in history, the 1993 TripleMania before a sellout of 48,000 fans at Plaza de Toros, he wrestled Parka for the Mexican national light heavyweight title to a draw in one of the key bouts, but not the main event.
303
304Steve "Dr. Lucha" Sims noted that from the mid-90s on, Lizmark's main contribution to Lucha Libre was being a great role model for the wrestlers who a decade earlier were inspired by him.
305
306"He was an example of an innovative flyer, and of a gym rat, and of a responsible adult, who pretty much never missed a show." said Sims. "He was said to have been a solid example of how to live on a luchador's salary, never blow his money, but still have nice things."
307
308He was known for taking care of all fans after the show when it came to autographs, and usually had long lines. He always wore nice clothes and had a nice car. He didn't waste money, but when people saw him, he had the aura of a star at all times.
309
310I want everyone to remember Lizmark like what he truly was: A wrestler who gave it his all to the fans," he said while doing an interview in his mask for MaxLucha this past May. "I feel satisfied with what I have done and do not feel frustrated."
311
312
313LIZMARK CAREER TITLE HISTORY
314NWA WORLD LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Cien Caras March 20, 1988 Mexico City; lost to Fabuloso Blondy (Ken Timbs) June 24, 1988 Mexico City; def. Fabuloso Blondy December 9, 1988 Mexico City; lost to El Satanico July 21, 1989 Mexico City; def. Fabuloso Blondy March 21, 1990 Acapulco; lost to El Satanico November 25, 1990 Leon; def. El Satanico May 1, 1991 Acapulco; lost to El Satanico April 5, 1992 Mexico City
315
316WWA WORLD LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Cobarde II April 1, 1988 Tijuana; lost to Enrique Vera; def. Enrique Vera June 1990; lost to La Parka (L.A. Park) August 1993; def. La Parka 1993; lost to La Parka June 20, 1994 Monterrey
317
318NWA WORLD MIDDLEWEIGHT: def. El Satanico June 3, 1983 Mexico City; lost to El Satanico December 5, 1983 Mexico City
319
320NWA WORLD WELTERWEIGHT: def. Supremo June 1, 1980 Acapulco; lost to La Fiera October 23, 1991 Mexico City
321
322MEXICAN NATIONAL LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Universo 2000 September 18, 1992 Acapulco; lost to La Parka (now L.A. Park) September 9, 1994 Rio Bravo
323
324MEXICAN NATIONAL MIDDLEWEIGHT: def. El Satanico February 19, 1982 Mexico City; lost to Espectro Jr. March 3, 1983 Cuernavaca; def. Espectro Jr. May 28, 1983 Puebla; Vacated title 1983
325
326MEXICAN NATIONAL WELTERWEIGHT: def. Americo Rocca April 18, 1978 Acapulco; lost to Americo Rocca March 29, 1980 Mexico City
327
328CMLL TAG TEAM: w/Atlantis def. Gran Markus Jr. & El Hijo del Gladiador August 6, 1996 Acapulco; Vacated title early 1997
329
330CMLL TRIOS: w/Atlantis & Mr. Niebla def. Emilio Charles Jr. & Rey Bucanero & El Satanico July 27, 1997 Mexico City; Vacated titles October 1998 due to injury to Niebla
331
332WRESTLING OBSERVER HALL OF FAME - 2001
333
334The list of fighters clamoring for red panty night, as Conor McGregor put it for what happens when you sign to fight him and your girlfriend realizes how much money you'll be making, added some new names this past week.
335
336But the name that likely would have meant the most, Donald Cerrone, only lasted 66 seconds in his lightweight title fight with Rafael dos Anjos in the main event of UFC's FOX card on 12/19 from the Amway Arena in Orlando.
337
338The win puts dos Anjos in the front of the line of the most logical opponent for McGregor next.
339
340Dos Anjos, along with Nate Diaz and Charles Oliveira, who also won this past weekend, all challenged McGregor. But realistically, McGregor should fight either dos Anjos, Frankie Edgar or Jose Aldo. Edgar is the most deserving featherweight. Dos Anjos is the lightweight champion. McGregor said his goal was to become the first person in UFC history to be world champion in two weight classes at the same time. Only one fighter, B.J. Penn, who held the lightweight title and moved up a class to challenge Georges St-Pierre in 2009, was ever even in the position to do so.
341
342Going with Edgar first would risk his featherweight title before he had his shot at making history. Similarly, giving Aldo a rematch would do the same thing. If he faces dos Anjos, win or lose, he's still featherweight champion and still has Edgar and Aldo matches.
343
344The decision would have been easiest had Cerrone beat dos Anjos, because there was little doubt a Cerrone vs. McGregor lightweight title fight would have been the strongest possible business match-up. McGregor and the UFC now have a clear path of what would be the right call.
345
346If McGregor fights Edgar or Aldo, then dos Anjos should face either Anthony Pettis, provided Pettis beats Eddie Alvarez on 1/17 in Boston, or face Tony Ferguson. Diaz should face either Ferguson, Edson Barboza or Khabib Nurmagomedov next.
347
348The other big stories coming out of the show were wins by Alistair Overeem and Nate Diaz in very different fights. Overeem knocked out Junior Dos Santos in the second round of a fight that had almost no action until the finish. Both men looked physically different from the past, with the Overeem who had to cut to 265 and was ripped to shreds at that weight being replaced by a soft 243-pound version. Dos Santos' weight was about the same, but his physique was noticeably different and he came across like a shot fighter. At 31, of the UFC's top 16 heavyweights, Dos Santos is the youngest with the exception of Jared Rosholt. But he fought like the oldest. There are two major lessons here. The first is that Dos Santos took terrible beatings in his two losses to Cain Velasquez. In both fights, but in the latter fight, it should have been stopped much earlier by his corner or the referee, and the damage is something he hasn't recovered from. But before writing him off, it should be noted that everyone had written Andrei Arlovski off in 2009 when Brett Rogers destroyed him in 22 seconds. And now, going into 2016, at 36 years of age, Arlovski is the No. 2 contender for the title.
349
350Overeem's contract, which paid him a $342,857 guarantee and a $200,000 win bonus, expired with the fight. He took the risk of not signing the prior offer, figuring that with a win, he'd have several people bidding for his services. Overeem was a big star in Japan, so Rizin would have interest. He also has a relationship with Bellator's Scott Coker, who brought him to the U.S. from Japan when he ran Strikeforce. With so little depth at heavyweight and a great finishing sequence in what was otherwise a boring fight, UFC, which has the right to match any outside offer, is likely to do that unless someone makes him an outrageous offer.
351
352Diaz looked as good as he has ever looked in his career in winning a decision over Michael Johnson. McGregor vs. Diaz would be a big money fight, and that wasn't lost on Diaz, who tried to make an argument that he deserved the McGregor fight. Diaz said that since McGregor already punked out dos Anjos verbally at a press conference, that he shouldn't fight dos Anjos, and instead should fight him. While the logic is filled with holes, Diaz talked like he wasn't interested in cutting to 155 unless it was against either dos Anjos or McGregor.
353
354The show drew almost identical numbers to the past two December shows, but with much tougher opposition. The December 2013 show did 2.8 million viewers, headlined by Demetrious Johnson vs. Joseph Benavidez for the flyweight title and Urijah Faber vs. Michael McDonald. Last year's show, headlined by Dos Santos vs. Stipe Miocic, also did 2.8 million viewers. But last year's main event was a five round war, while this year's had less time to build a rating.
355
356This year's show also had competition from a New York Jets vs. Dallas Cowboys NFL game (7,410,000 viewers), the Democratic party debate, an HBO boxing show (616,000 viewers), two college football minor bowl games, and the record-setting Star Wars open.
357
358The prelims, airing from 5-8 p.m. on FOX, did 693,000 viewers, up from 654,000 and 613,000 the two prior years.
359
360But it also finished next to last among the network programming in the key demos, even though which UFC often wins on FOX nights, behind the debate on ABC and rerun programming on CBS.
361
362The show drew a sellout 14,459 fans to the Amway Arena paying $1,710,000.
363
3641. Francis Ngannou (6-1) beat Luis Henrique (8-2, 1 no contest) in 2:53 of the second round in a heavyweight fight. Ngannou is a freak, the kind of a guy WWE would drool over at 6-foot-4, and 253 pounds ripped with ridiculous genetics and an 83-inch reach. Henrique is a Brazilian wrestling champion. In the first round, he took Ngannou down and stayed busy from the top. The ref ordered a controversial standup, and Ngannou landed a good punch late. He took over in the second round, and dropped Henrique with a left uppercut and he crumbled. Henrique didn't get up for a long time after that. Ngannou got $20,000 for the win and Henrique got $10,000 for the loss.
365
3662. Vicente Luque (8-5-1) beat Hayder Hassan (6-3) in 2:13 of a welterweight fight. This was a rematch of a fight Hassan won on Ultimate Fighter. Luque landed a big right, and when Hassan shot in for the takedown, Luque grabbed an Anaconda choke and Hassan passed out. When he got up, he had no idea what had happened. Luque got $70,000 for the win including a performance bonus and Hassan got $10,000 for the loss.
367
3683. Kamaru Usman (7-1) beat Leon Edwards (10-3) on scores of 29-28, 30-27 and 29-28 in a welterweight fight. First round was close. Usman got a takedown and landed some punches late. Usman got two more takedowns in the second round. In the third round Usman got two more takedowns, and dominated the round. Usman got $24,000 for the win and Edwards got $15,000 for the loss.
369
3704. Cole Miller (21-9, 1 no contest) went to a no contest with Jim Alers (13-2, 1 no contest) in 1:44 of the second round a featherweight fight. Alers took the first round. In the second round, Alers poked Miller in the eye. Miller said he couldn't see out of the eye. They gave him time but he still couldn't see before they had to stop it. Miller got $33,000 and Alers got $10,000 since neither got a win bonus.
371
3725. Nik Lentz (28-7-2, 1 no contest) beat Danny Castillo (17-10) via split decision on scores of 28-29, 29-28 and 30-27 in a lightweight fight. Judge Barry Luxemberg had the dissenting opinion on this one. There's no way. I had Lentz 30-27 but the third round was close so 29-28 is logical. Of 13 reporters surveyed, ten had it 30-27, two had it 29-28 and one had it for Castillo. Lentz was returning to lightweight after a few fights at featherweight. Great first round with Lentz doing an awesome hip toss into side control, and went for a guillotine. Castillo escaped and was on top. Lentz went for another guillotine. Castillo went for a head and arm choke. Lentz scored with punches and knees, and a hard right, but Castillo landed a knee and punches late. Lentz started to land in the second and got another takedown. Lentz was landing knees and went for another guillotine in the second and couldn't finish. In the third round, Lentz scored with another hip toss. Castillo got back up. Castillo got a takedown and Lentz tried for a late takedown, but Castillo landed on top. Lentz got $70,000 for the win and Castillo got $39,000 for the loss.
373
3746. Tamdan McCrory (14-3) beat Josh Samman (12-4) at 4:10 of the third round in a welterweight fight. McCrory was cut by UFC in 2009 and didn't fight again until going to Bellator in 2014. After two wins there, he was signed to return to UFC here. McCrory worked for a triangle, arm bar, another triangle, a choke and an armbar all in the first round. But Samman escaped and reversed a few times and made the round close. In the second round, Samman took McCrory down. McCrory used a heel hook to reverse to the top, got Samman's back and worked for a choke. He landed punchers and hard elbows while keeping Samman down. McCrory took him down again in the third round, worked for a choke, and finally got the submission with a triangle. McCrory got $24,000 for the win and Samman got $10,000 for the loss.
375
3767. Valentina Shevchenko (12-1) beat Sarah Kaufman (17-4, 1 no contest) via split decision on scores of 28-29, 29-28 and 29-28 in a women's bantamweight fight. Shevchenko is someone to look out for. She has three Muay Thai wins over Joanna Jedrzejczyk, although did a lot more grappling than expected here. Kaufman's contract expired with this fight. This was another Barry Luxemberg special in the judging, as he gave it to Kaufman, which was impossible. All 15 media scores were 29-28 for Shevchenko, who took the fight on one week notice. In the first round, Shevchenko landed some punches, got a takedown, blocked a Kaufman takedown and landed in the mount and later got Kaufman's back. In the second round, Shevchenko used a spin kick, a knee, an elbow and took Kaufman down with a hip toss. Kaufman threw some elbows off her back. In the third round, Shevchenko got two early takedowns but Kaufman then got a takedown into side control and threw elbows to the head and body. Kaufman got mount and was pounding on her and went for an armbar in the closing seconds. The third round was clearly Kaufman's. Shevchenko got $24,000 for the win and Kaufman got $22,000 for the loss.
377
3788. Nate Marquardt (37-15-2) beat C.B. Dollaway (16-9) at :28 of the second round in a middleweight fight. Dollaway controlled the first round, and hurt him with punches and had almost all the offense. Then, in the second round, they traded punches and Marquardt knocked him out on a counter right to the jaw. It was one of those fights where if they fought ten times, Dollaway would win eight or nine of them, but when the perfect punch lands by a guy with power, he has a chance. Marquardt got $98,000 for the win and Dollaway got $40,000 for the loss.
379
3809. Charles Oliveira (21-5, 1 no contest) beat Myles Jury (15-2) in 3:05 of a featherweight fight. Oliveira actually weighed in at 150.5 pounds, 4.5 pounds over the limit. This was the third time he's missed weight as a featherweight (he's made it seven other times). Oliveira took him down, got his back and got the submission with a guillotine. Oliveira's ground game looked tremendous here and Jury is no slouch on the ground. Oliveira got $66,600 for the win and Jury got $30,000 for the loss. Oliveira would have made $74,000 but was fined the other $7,400 for missing weight. It also could have cost him a performance bonus because people who miss weight aren't eligible.
381
38210. Karolina Kowalkiewicz (8-0) beat Randa Markos (5-4) on scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 in a women's strawweight fight. The right woman won, but the 30-27 score by Don Balas was bad because Markos had Kowalkiewicz's back most of the second round and she easily took that round. Kowalkiewicz is from Poland and was a champion there, making her UFC debut. Both came out swinging. Both landed a lot in the first. Kowalkiewicz took over early in the second round until being taken down. Markos got her back with a body triangle and stayed behind her the entire round. It came down to the third. Markos took her down but Kowalkiewicz immediately reversed to the top and got full mount. She landed punches and elbows, as well as knees to the body to clearly take the round. Kowalkiewicz got $26,000 for the win and Markos got $12,000 for the loss.
383
38411. Nate Diaz (19-10) beat Michael Johnson (17-10) on straight 29-28 scores in a lightweight fight. The first round was close. Johnson landed hard low kicks. Diaz started landing punches and was laughing at Johnson. Johnson started missing short on his punches. Diaz switched stances because Johnson's leg kicks were doing damage. But Diaz started to land regularly. Second round was great, with Diaz landing and making fun of him. Diaz landed a lot late to take the round. In the third, Johnson landed a body kick and nice left, but Diaz took over. Johnson started landing punches late but it felt like he needed a finish and then took Diaz down late where he wasn't going to get that finish. The two threw more than 600 strikes in three rounds, but Diaz landed more and at a greater percentage by far in rounds two and three. Diaz got $90,000 for the win and Johnson got $80,000 for the loss with each getting a best fight bonus. It's believed Diaz's fight purse numbers here were only $20,000 to show and $20,000 to win, was because he had gotten a big advanced bonus when he had signed his new contract.
385
38612. Alistair Overeem (40-14, 1 no contest) beat Junior Dos Santos (17-4) at 4:43 of the second round in a heavyweight fight. The fight was dreadful. Nobody touched for two minutes and later in the round Overeem landed a knee to the body and some lefts. Dos Santos threw a knee in the second round which was the first strike of any significance he'd really thrown. Overeem landed a nice left that cut Dos Santos. Dos Santos started throwing punches late in the round, sending him flying with a left hook. Dos Santos was mad at the stoppage but the punch landed perfectly and he went down hard. Overeem got $542,847 for the win and Dos Santos got $400,000 for the loss.
387
38813. Rafael dos Anjos (25-7) beat Donald Cerrone (28-7, 1 no contest) in 1:06 to retain the UFC lightweight title. The crowd was way behind Cerrone with a loud "USA" chant. Dos Anjos landed punches early, landed a knee to the liver and Cerrone was pretty much paralyzed from that one. Dos Anjos landed a kick to the body and tons of punches standing but Cerrone survived the first onslaught. But dos Anjos got his back and kept throwing punches and Cerrone was doing nothing but trying to block them before it was stopped. Dos Anjos got $350,000 for the win including his performance bonus and Cerrone got $79,000 for the loss.
389
390New Japan Pro Wrestling closed its 2015 season with shows on 12/18 and 12/19 at Korakuen Hall with the final angles leading to the Tokyo Dome.
391
392New Japan Korakuen Hall shows this year have become more-and-more standardized. In many ways, they are similar to a WWE house show. They are almost all multiple person matches, usually 8-11 minutes with longer main events or title matches. The shows are usually kept to around two and a half hours. Matches are usually good, if not predictable. Sometimes the main matches are great, such as the 12/19 main event, which was also what has become almost a tradition, the last Korakuen Hall show is headlined by a tag team match building the two singles matches for the Tokyo Dome. With no A.J. Styles booked, in this case it was the IWGP title and Never title matches preluded with Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuyori Shibata beating Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii.
393
394The 1/4 Dome show was finalized this week with the announcement of Mark & Jay Briscoe as the mystery partners of Toru Yano, facing Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi, in a match to create the first NEVER six-man tag team championships. There is really no purpose in adding titles in New Japan, which is already overloaded with belts, particularly a title involving wrestlers who aren't even pushed at main event level. The company now has three regular singles heavyweight belts in the IWGP, IC and Never titles, plus have often had an outside belt like the ROH belt at the Dome or the NWA title in an undercard position. They've got two tag titles, a heavyweight and junior heavyweight, and have used the NWA tag belts in the past as well. They've got three jr. titles in play, the IWGP, the NWA and the CMLL welterweight. So there is just no upside in adding a trios title.
395
396Also, officially announced for the New Japan Rumble, were the return of Jado (who has been booking Pro Wrestling NOAH and working as Captain NOAH under a mask there), plus Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask and Ryusuke Taguchi. Also expected would be regulars not booked in other matches on the show like Captain New Japan, Jay White, David Finlay, Sho Tanaka, Evil, Bushi, Juice Robinson and Mascara Dorada, as well as mystery stars from the past.
397
398As far as action goes, the Dome show looks great on paper, and with it not being on U.S. PPV, doesn't have the time restrictions as last year where they rushed through the undercard. Hiroshi Tanahashi and A.J. Styles are both badly banged up in the top two matches, but they are two of the best big match wrestlers in the business and will almost certainly deliver. Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada, with their third Dome main event in four years against each other, have a tough road having to compete with the memories of the two previous bouts.
399
400But New Japan faces a lot of challenges in 2016 based on sameness, particularly at the top where Styles long-term is questionable, and Kota Ibushi is out indefinitely, leaving a banged up Tanahashi, Okada and Shinsuke Nakamura to carry things. Shibata, Tetsuya Naito and Ishii can be elevated, but Ishii's style isn't good for the long-term and Shibata has toned down his style since he's working so many more dates, since he's now a full-timer.
401
402For the final show of the year, before a sellout of 1,758 fans at Korakuen Hall:
403
4041. Jushin Liger & Kushida & Jay White beat Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi & David Finlay in 8:48. It was what you'd expect, with White looking good, Taguchi doing mostly ass attack comedy spots and wrestling being solid overall. Kushida pinned Finlay after a Pele kick, a handspring elbow and a moonsault. All eight shook hands and raised each others' hands to applause. Kushida then talked about his IWGP jr. title match with Kenny Omega on 1/4. Liger then said if Kushida wins, he'd like a title shot. It makes sense to do a passing of the torch program where Kushida ends up with Liger's endorsement as the new star of the division. **3/4
405
4062. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Yohei Komatsu beat Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Sho Tanaka in 9:15. It started out kind of bad because Nakanishi and Tenzan worked together, but the people popped for Tanaka vs. Komatsu, which was great action. Fans got into Tanaka getting near falls on Kojima, including a delayed German suplex. I wish Tanaka was bigger because he's got the wrestling ability, look, and the crowd wants him to be a star, but he does look small in with heavyweights. Kojima nailed Tanaka with a lariat for the pin. There was a short Nakanishi vs. Tenzan pull-apart after the match, so they are doing something with them next year. ***
407
4083. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma beat Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi in 10:03. With Makabe & Honma challenging for the tag titles, and Yoshi-Hashi clearly in to be the one to take the pin, it was predictable as far as the finish went. They brawled a lot outside the ring early. He whipped Honma into the guard rail and threw his shoudler into the post. Sakuraba had a guillotine on Honma, but Honma suplexed him from that position. Sakuraba used a flying armbar on Makabe, but Honma broke it with his falling head-butt. Yoshi-Hashi got strong near falls on Makabe including using a codebreaker. But the obvious happened as Makabe used a left arm lariat, the Doomsday device where Honma comes off the top with the head-butt spear, and finally Makabe pinned Yoshi-Hashi after the kneedrop off the top rope. **3/4
409
4104. Tetsuya Naito & Evil beat Hirooki Goto & Juice Robinson in 9:05. Naito came out holding a mask he'd taken off Captain New Japan, who was in Goto & Robinson's corner. Goto attacked him over it. They mostly worked over Robinson. The finish saw Naito kick Goto low, and then Evil used a fisherman buster and STO on Robinson for the pin. Naito continued to attack Robinson after the match. Captain New Japan tried to make the save, but Naito pulled off his mask and Captain went down to hide his face. **
411
4125. Bushi pinned Mascara Dorada in 12:12 to win the CMLL welterweight title. Good, but not great match. Bushi backdropped Dorada over the top and then did a plancha into a huracanrana as well as a DDT on the apron. He was choking him with a T-shirt and went for Dorada's mask. Dorada did his usual rope walk spots. Lots of good high flying from there including Bushi coming off the top rope with a huracanrana and followed with a tope. There was a brawl with Hirooki Goto attacking Tetsuya Naito. Dorada did a moonsault but Evil distracted the ref. Bushi blew green mist in Dorada's eyes, and followed with a low blow and a bridging backslide for a near fall. Dorada kicked out, but Bushi came off the top rope and turned it into a codebreaker, his MX, for the pin. A rematch for the title is expected on the Fantastica Mania tour. ***1/4
413
4146. Shinsuke Nakamura & Toru Yano beat Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall in 10:39. Good match. Hall is making great gains when it comes to ring presence and he's learning how to work. Because of how big and animated he is, he just stands there and comes across like more of a star than most here, and clearly has more potential as a top big man here than either Doc Gallows or Bad Luck Fale. He's booked as a young boy and always loses and obviously is the greenest wrestler on the roster. It's weird when you think about it because New Japan is going to train him to be somebody, and then it's almost a lock when he gets good that he'll end up in WWE. Because of the size, people buy Hall in with Nakamura. The finish saw Yano use a low blow on Hall, Nakamura used a bom a ye off the middle rope on him, but Takahashi saved. Yano then used a low blow on Takahashi and Nakamura hit another bom a ye on Hall for the pin. Yano then grabbed the mic and told people to watch the video wall, and it was an interview with Mark & Jay Briscoe about being his partners on the Dome show. ***
415
4167. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuyori Shibata beat Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii in 23:02. For whatever reason, this was a super hot Tanahashi crowd. People always treat him like the main star, as he's really Japan's John Cena, but this crowd was much hotter than usual for him. Most of the focus was on Ishii and Shibata, who were great with each other. They built spots for Tanahashi vs. Okada, and they looked good as well but they were more teasing the big match while Shibata and Ishii were trying to prove something to everyone about their match. There was a spot where Shibata had the triangle on Ishii and Tanahashi had the guillotine on Okada, but Ishii made the ropes. Okada did the Randy Savage elbow halfway across the ring on Tanahashi, and went for his dropkick but Tanahashi grabbed the legs, used a dragon screw and Texas cloverleaf while Shibata first choked and then put Ishii in the abdominal stretch. But Okada made the ropes. Okada went for the rainmaker, but Tanahashi beat him to the punch with the sling blade. Tanahashi went to the top for the high fly flow, but Ishii climbed up and gave him a delayed superplex. Okada hit the dropkick on Shibata and then went for a tombstone piledriver on Tanahashi, but Tanahashi escaped, and he and Okada traded blows. Shibata and Ishii traded German suplexes. Shibata also pulled out a high dropkick on Ishii. Ishii went for the brainbuster on Shibata, but Shibata got behind him and got a choke. He was choking Ishii out, with Ishii foaming at the mouth. Okada broke it up by dropkicking Shibata. Okada then missed a second dropkick and Shibata hit him with the penalty kick. He went for the penalty kick on Ishii, but Ishii caught his leg throwing the kick, and head-butted him. But Tanahashi dropped Ishii and hit the high fly flow, and Shibata used the penalty kick on Ishii for the pin. Super match. ****½
417
418Ring of Honor completed its most successful year in its history with its Final Battle show on 12/18 in Philadelphia's 2300 Arena, and a TV taping the next night.
419
420But the new year brings a lot of questions, including who will and won't be with the promotion when contracts expire between now and over the next several months.
421
422Michael Bennett and Maria Kanellis were the first to officially leave, with Bennett & Matt Taven dropping the ROH tag titles to the team of War Machine, Ray Rowe & Hanson, in a 3:00 match that looked to have ended early since Bennett was working with a broken ribs and Taven suffered a knee injury on a spike piledriver off the middle rope to the floor on Rowe before the match started. Bennett and Kanellis were telling people they were headed to TNA. The two were reported to have each gotten a guaranteed contract, in the sense it's not the per show deal that most TNA talent is on, and with TNA's limited schedule, they'd be able to continue independent bookings. The guarantee was believed to have been significantly higher for each than what ROH has been offering talent, with the exception of The Young Bucks. Whether they'd be able to continue New Japan is unknown, but the belief is they wouldn't be. ROH would be out of the question. Taven's contract has a few months left.
423
424Taven was on crutches the next day and unable to wrestle. His knee injury is said to be not at serious as it first appeared. He will miss some time but doesn't need major surgery and won't be out of action a lengthy period of time.
425
426There was talk of TNA floating the idea of a reality TV show, although one would think if TNA is getting a reality show, it'll be the Dixie Carter show that she's been pushing for years.
427
428But many others on this show are in question long-term, including Michael Elgin, Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly, whose contracts have all expired and the latter two were at a contract impasse. They haven't made moves yet since all are booked for the Tokyo Dome show. ROH champion Jay Lethal's deal is up shortly, and everything is up in the air regarding A.J. Styles, who is not under an ROH contract, due to his severe back problems. Styles has been one of the keys to the company's increase in attendance this year.
429
430Styles still had an excellent match with Lethal in the main event. He took some crazy bumps including being thrown over the top rope through a table near the end. The finish saw Lethal use a Gotch piledriver, which was called the Jerry Lynn piledriver. Lethal then scored the pin after a Lethal injection, which I believe was only the second singles match loss by Styles (the other was to Matt Hardy) in the U.S. since he became a top star in Japan. Lynn did the commentary for the main event and it was pushed hard about him doing Lynn's move, and this was after a television confrontation between Lynn and Lethal at recent tapings. It appeared they were teasing something there, but Lynn has retired, cut his hair and looks nothing like he used to, and he made it clear when he retired that he couldn't return due to all his ring injuries. During the show, they kept acknowledging that Elgin would face the winner for the ROH title at the Tokyo Dome.
431
432Styles, after resting for three weeks, he was said to be in great pain after the match, icing his neck and back, and couldn't wrestle the next day. The feeling is he'll gut his way through the Tokyo Dome match with Shinsuke Nakamura because it's so important, but one wonders how long he'll have to rest the back after, due to what are believed to be herniated discs.
433
434Styles had told Ring Rust Radio about Final Battle and the Dome match that, "I'm not going to let it have an impact. I'm going to be wrestling at Final Battle and Wrestle Kingdom and I will find a way. I'm not missing these amazing events for anything. I am going to be there. I have been hurt before, and I just work through it. Everyone has at some point. It's just what you do as a wrestler. You ignore the pain and when that adrenaline starts running it doesn't matter what's bothering you. You will put on the best show you can."
435
436Styles said that with the injury, he may work fewer shows in 2016, but will not change his style. Even those who know him well are concerned because Styles takes such great pride in having amazing matches on big shows and that if he continues, the back isn't going to get better.
437
438"As far as slowing down in the ring, no way. I have one gear, and it's all or nothing with me. That's the reason why I came home early from the tag tournament over in New Japan. If I got back in the ring, I would have hurt myself worse because I just can't slow down. It doesn't matter how many people are in attendance, you are always going to get everything I have."
439
440The company has its first regular PPV show that features the top stars of New Japan, on 2/26 from Las Vegas, the 14th anniversary show at Sam's Town Casino. Gedo was the first name announced for that weekend, which will include a TV taping the next day. While not yet announced, some of the other names expected are Kazuchika Okada, Nakamura, Hiroshi Tanahashi and the ROH debut of Tomohiro Ishii.
441
442Final Battle would have to be considered a good show, paced by the main event and a singles match with Adam Cole vs. O'Reilly. Coming out of it there weren't obvious matches except War Machine vs. The All Night Express, who, to the crowd's total unhappiness, won a three-way match to become the top contenders over the Briscoes and Young Bucks, a collection of great moves but completely rushed.
443
444Because Steve Corino had done an angle where he was released as an announcer, he showed up as Mr. Wrestling III, working under the mask. Corino was originally supposed to face B.J. Whitmer, but needed neck surgery. They are still teasing that angle, so at some point, when Corino is healthy, they'll probably do that match which has been building forever.
445
4461. The All Night Express of Kenny King & Rhett Titus surprisingly won a three-way to become top contenders over Mark & Jay Briscoe and The Young Bucks in 9:16. The crowd loved the Bucks and Briscoes, and wanted to do them in a tag match, booing heavily whenever King or Titus would tag in. All kinds of crazy moves and superkicks. Among the moves were Mark doing a blockbuster on Matt Jackson tot he floor, King doing a twisting dive, Jey Briscoe doing a crazy dive on King, Titus doing a flip dive on Jay and Matt doing a moonsault off the top to the floor on King. Nick & Matt did one 450 after another on Titus for a near fall. King did huracanranas on both Bucks at the same time, which is a spot that's become a regular part of the junior tag matches in Japan. The Bucks used the Meltzer driver on Jay, and Corino played it up huge. The All Night Express ended up pinning Mark Briscoe with the Super One Night stand, which is a combination superplex by Titus and blockbuster by King. The moves were great but the feeling of being rushed hurt. ***½
447
4482. Silas Young pinned Dalton Castle in 10:40. The Boys were distracting Castle early. The whole story was that Castle was trying to get The Boys back. Castle came back with a delayed German suplex pulling Young over the top rope into the ring. The crowd ended up hot because they are into Castle. Young came off the top rope into an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Castle accidentally knocked down one of the Boys. Castle felt bad about that and that distracted him, and Young used the TKO, called Misery, for the pin. Solid work and crowd was into it. After the match, Young said that he's already taken The Boys from him and now has beaten him twice. He told Castle to admit he's a real man. Castle teased like he was going to do that, and the crowd wasn't happy at all. He refused and Young continued to put the boots to Castle. Young brought in a chair for both of The Boys. He told Castle to admit he's the real man and teased The Boys working him over with the chairs if he didn't. The Boys teased hitting him when Castle said, "You're a man, but you're a foolish man." The Boys then turned on Young and Castle gave Young a spinning slam and it ended with Castle and The Boys reuniting. **½
449
4503. Michael Elgin pinned Moose in 11:47. This was supposed to be a battle of power spots. The one thing is that Moose is about 6-foot-5 and close to 300 pounds, so Elgin, while thick, looked so short next to him. Elgin did a 17 second vertical suplex, but after dropping Moose, Moose popped up and no sold it which led to Corino referencing Road Warrior Hawk doing that in Philadelphia. Moose hit a high dropkick which is impressive looking for a guy his size. Moose missed a tackle into the barricade. Elgin did a flip dive off the apron. Elgin did two deadlift German suplexes. With Elgin sitting on the top rope, Moose did a standing dropkick like Okada. Moose then did a plancha over the post. Elgin used a Death Valley bomb on the apron, a senton off the top rope and three power bombs for near falls. Elgin hit a power bomb into the turnbuckles, but Moose came back with a spear. Moose climbed to the top but Elgin shoved him and Moose crotched himself on the top, and Elgin pinned him after the burning hammer. Elgin then told Lethal "I'm coming." **3/4
451
4524. Adam Cole pinned Kyle O'Reilly in 16:08. Excellent match. Nobody uses Jiu Jitsu better in pro wrestling than O'Reilly. It was built around Cole using traditional pro wrestling moves and O'Reilly used modern submissions. O'Reilly put Cole in a chair and then dropkicked off the apron knocking Cole out of the chair. O'Reilly kept jumping on Cole's back and working for chokes. Cole finally broke it by crushing him backwards into the turnbuckle. O'Reilly threw palm blows from the mount but Cole turned it into a half crab. There was a great series of moves, which ended with Cole slapping O'Reilly in the face, O'Reilly immediately grabbing an armbar out of nowhere, and Cole break it with vicious stomps to the head. O'Reilly had a Kimura but Cole broke it with a neckbreaker over the knee. They did a Frye/Takayama spot where they held and punched. It just kept getting better. O'Reilly hit a brainbuster for a near fall. O'Reilly got another armbar and the crowd popped when Cole made the ropes. O'Reilly used a superkick, a chicken wing and a guillotine, but Cole came back with head-butts. The finish saw O'Reilly have Cole in a triangle, but Cole put his feet on the ropes and got the pin. Fans were chanting for O'Reilly when this was over. ****1/4
453
4545. ACH & Matt Sydal & Alex Shelly beat Chris Sabin & Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian in 15:31. Part of the build here was Shelley vs. Sabin, but Sabin avoided him the entire match. Sabin wasn't in much, but looked good. There was a spot where ACH ran around the ring and I think he was supposed to spin around a post and nail Sabin, but it just didn't work. They lost the crowd at that point. They traded big moves at the end. The finish saw ACH hit Sabin with a 450, followed by Sydal, who was tremendous here, using a shooting star press for the pin. ***½
455
4566. Roderick Strong pinned Bobby Fish to retain the TV title in 15:16. This match was also very good, but something was missing. Strong dropped Fish on the top of the guard rail and Fish flew into the front row. They did lot of big moves including Strong using a backbreaker onto the top turnbuckle and Fish using a super falcon arrow off the top rope. Fish made a great move into a kneebar but Strong escaped. Strong used the Boston crab but Fish broke it with a heel hook. Strong broke it by kicking Fish in the head. Fish got the heel hook again, and this time Strong tapped, but he tapped on the side of Fish's body and Fish's body blocked the refs view. Fish started celebrating that he won the title, while fans started chanting "You tapped out." Strong used a running knee from there for the pin. ***½
457
4587. Hanson & Ray Rowe won the ROH tag titles from Michael Bennett & Matt Taven in 3:09. Bennett & Taven attacked before the bell, laying both men out with belt shots. Taven did a running dive and actually flew right over Hanson. Then Taven came off the middle rope with the spike piledriver onto Rowe on the floor. Rowe came back strong way too fast, not selling his neck at all. I was at a loss to understand why even do that move if it wasn't to take the guy out for several minutes and have a two-on-one. Taven was limping and Bennett was hurt. Rowe gave Taven a head-and-arm suplex on the floor and Rowe power bombed Bennett into the guard rail. Hanson used a leg drop off the top rope while Rowe held up Bennett for the pin. *
459
4608. Jay Lethal pinned A.J. Styles in 22:08 to retain the ROH title. They did dueling chants early. Aside from the fact Styles looked in great pain throughout looking at his face, and that he didn't get as high as usual on his dropkick, you really wouldn't know he was hurt. Some very good wrestling early and Styles built his offense around submissions like the calf killer. Lethal worked on Styles' lower back and both announcers talked about how Styles had come into the match hurt. Lethal whipped Styles into the guard rail but Styles didn't take it on his back, and instead took it on his hip. Styles set up a moonsault into a reverse DDT, but Lethal countered and Styles used a Northern Lights suplex into the turnbuckle. Lethal used a bearhug to work the lower back. Styles did a springboard into the Lethal combination but Styles kicked out. Lethal did his first tope driving Styles' back into the guard rail. He did a second tope knocking Styles over the guard rail into the front row. Lethal went for a third tope with Styles on the other side of the guard rail, but Styles did a springboard off the guard rail into an elbow. Lethal used the Koji clutch but Styles reversed into the calf killer. Styles used a Pele kick and Bloody Sunday DDT, but Lethal came back and threw Styles over the top rope through a table, which I believe was Cary Silkin's table at ringside. They teased Styles losing via count out, but he got in just before 20. Lethal hit the Lethal injection and Styles barely kicked out before three. Styles came back with the KENTA series of strikes, but missed a Pele kick. He went for the calf killer again, but Lethal got out, hit the Gotch piledriver and the Lethal injection and got the pin. They played it up really big on the commentary about him sending a message to Jerry Lynn, by using Lynn's finisher. ****1/4
461
462With Minoru Suzuki going unbeaten in singles matches in 2015, combined with Suzuki-gun continually beating NOAH in the build to the final show, it was expected that Naomichi Marufuji would finally take the GHC title back from Suzuki on 12/23 at the Ota Ward Gym in Tokyo.
463
464That happened, as expected, when Marufuji pinned Suzuki at the 34:00 mark with a vertical suplex turned into an emerald frosien. What wasn't expected was as the NOAH promotion celebrated finally getting its main belt back, Takashi Sugiura turned on Marufuji and NOAH and put on a Suzuki-gun T-shirt.
465
466Sugiura had what was generally considered the company's best match of the year with Suzuki, a brutal war that probably came across more like a fight than any major promotion match this year.
467
468As he was congratulating Marufuji for his win, he gave him an Olympic slam, kicked over the GHC title trophy that Marufuji was awarded and put on the Suzuki-gun shirt. Go Shiozaki, who just started with the promotion, and who Suzuki had been heavily recruiting with the tease he'd be the one to join, ran in and made the save for Marufuji. But Marufuji refused to shake his hand and didn't thank him for his help. Marufuji then challenged Sugiura to face him in a title match.
469
470The symbolism is that Marufuji won the belt back from Suzuki for NOAH, using the finisher of Mitsuharu Misawa. Also, Kenta Kobashi, the other big star of the glory days of NOAH, was at ringside for the match. Suzuki had vowed that he would beat Marufuji and then attack Kobashi and because he'd run through every top star in the promotion and gone undefeated, this would be the night he would destroy NOAH for good. And of course, right after that happened, Sugiura, who had been with NOAH for 15 years, essentially from its beginnings, turned on the group. Sugiura was, along with Marufuji and Yoshinari Ogawa, the company's last remaining guys with them from the early days.
471
472The show, which drew 3,210 fans, a near sellout to the Ota Ward Gym in Tokyo, climaxed what had been a tough year for the promotion. Booker Jado had taken over and immediately put all the heat on Suzuki-gun to win all the titles from NOAH. While fundamentally sound in the approach to build strong new heels, and an approach that got actual mainstream coverage for how much heat some of the matches had, most notably a near riot after Suzuki's win over Yoshihiro Takayama, attendance didn't rise. A lot of the NOAH fans didn't like how their promotion had changed and instead of being invested in the storyline, got mad and stopped coming. NOAH didn't draw New Japan fans, where Suzuki-gun had been a part of the promotion, to replace them. And the heat didn't lead to enough of a new audience. Those who remained were hot for the big matches. Suzuki even won the leading fans voting for Wrestler of the Year, although a lot of that was due to him going undefeated all year.
473
474Suzuki had beaten Marufuji for the title on 3/15 at the Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo, which drew 4,500 in the 12,000 seat arena, which is why they went with the much smaller Ota Ward Gym for this show.
475
476Suzuki-gun ended the night with just one remaining championship, the tag title as Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer defeated Colt Cabana & Chris Hero once again to retain.
477
478In a match where he put up both his hair and his name, Taiji Ishimori of NOAH captured the jr. title from Suzuki-gun's Taichi, who had held the title since beating Atsushi Kotoge, also on 3/15. NOAH's Kotoge & Daisuke Harada retained the GHC jr. tag titles over Suzuki-gun's Desperado & Taka Michinoku, and the other Suzuki-gun wrestlers, Takashi Iizuka (to Sugiura) and Shelton Benjamin (to Katsuhiko Nakajima) had also lost, so Jado's story was NOAH beating Suzuki-gun in every key match, but Suzuki-gun got the last laugh with the Sugiura turn.
479
4801. Yoshinari Ogawa & Hitoshi Kumano beat Yoshihiro Takayama & Kaito Kiyomiya in 7:26 when Kumano pinned Kiyomiya with a fisherman suplex.
481
4822. Mohammed Yone & Mitsuhiro Kitamiya & Akitoshi Saito beat Quiet Storm & Genba Hirayanagi & Captain NOAH (Jado) in 9:12 when Yone pinned NOAH with the muscle buster.
483
4843. Kenou pinned Hajime Ohara in a battle of regular tag team partners in 10:50. Kenou then issued a challenge to the winner of the upcoming Taichi vs. Ishimori jr. title match.
485
4864. Go Shiozaki pinned Maybach Taniguchi in 11:01 after a lariat.
487
4885. Takashi Sugiura pinned Takashi Iizuka in 11:06 with an Olympic slam in a no rules match.
489
4906. Katsuhiko Nakajima got revenge for his earlier losses to Shelton Benjamin by pinning him in 16:56 after a brainbuster. Nakajima said that he was now signing with NOAH full-time. He's been full-time for years, but was billed as a free agent working for NOAH as opposed to a member, but in the Suzuki-gun feud had always been on the NOAH side.
491
4927. Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge beat Desperado & Taka Michinoku in 20:35 when Kotoge pinned Desperado after the killswitch.
493
4948. Taiji Ishimori pinned Taichi in 17:55 using the 450 splash to win the GHC jr. title.
495
4969. Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer retained the GHC tag team titles beating Chris Hero & Colt Cabana in 17:49 when they used the Road Warriors double impact finisher on Hero and Archer pinned him. After the match, Yone & Nakajima came out to challenge the Killer Elite Squad for the titles.
497
49810. Naomichi Marufuji pinned Minoru Suzuki in 34:00 to win the GHC title with the suplex into the emerald frosien. Marufuji thanked all the fans for supporting NOAH after this tough year, saying things will be bigger and better in 2016. All the NOAH wrestlers came out to celebrate. Sugiura then came out and turned on Marufuji.
499
500In an underwhelming announcement, Fedor Emelianenko's opponent for 12/31 was announced as Jaideep Singh, a kickboxer with a 2-0 MMA record.
501
502Singh was the original opponent considered before it being nixed due to the negative public reaction to the match. Singh is a 6-foot-5, 240 pound kickboxer from India. He's 28-years-old and has a 40-10 record in kickboxing but has lost his last three fights. His last kickboxing win came in 2011. He won a K-1 tournament in Seoul, South Korea in 2009 over a group of unknowns to get into the K-1 Grand Prix that year, but lost in the first round of the annual big tournament to Ewerton Teixeira. It's been mistakenly reported in some circles that he won the K-1 Grand Prix in 2009, when he just won a qualifying tournament with no-names in it.
503
504Every opponent considered by the Rizin Fighting Federation, which runs its debut shows on 12/29 and 12/31 at the Saitama Super Arena, was someone Emelianenko wasn't supposed to have any problems with, but Singh was the least well known.
505
506Spike sent out a press release which listed these fights, so they are likely to be the ones airing, with the Emelianenko fight as the main event, Bob Sapp vs. Akebono, Brennan Ward (a Bellator fighter) vs. Ken Hasegawa, the eight-man heavyweight tournament (using mostly light heavyweights who won't have to cut weight) with King Mo, Brett McDermott, Satoshi Ishii, Teodoras Aukstuolis, Bruno Cappelozza, Jiri Prochoazka, Goran Reljic and Vadim Nemkov, Tsuyoshi Kosaka vs. James Thompson, A.J. Matthews (another Bellator fighter) vs. Anatoly Tokov, Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Shinya Aoki and Gabrielle Garcia vs. Lei'D Tapa in a women's fight. The show starts at 10 a.m. Eastern and will also air at 10 a.m. Pacific time on Spike billed as "Breakfast with Fedor." The original plan of airing the show in prime time on New Year's Eve was nixed because Spike didn't want to put it head-to-head with major college football playoff games.
507
508Both shows now have complete lineups listed, with Rizin on 12/29 opening with Kosaka (90s pro wrestling and MMA star), facing Thompson (former Pride attraction); Carlos Toyota vs. Kirill Sidelnikov (a training partner of Fedor); Yuki Motoya vs. Felipe Efrain; Hiroya vs. Wicky Nishiura under K-1 rules; Kazuyuki Miyata (a former Olympic wrestler who was a popular fighter in Dream and Hero's) vs. Hinata (a kickboxer) in a match where they will alternate between MMA rules and kickboxing rules; Matthews vs. Tokov; Hideo Tokoro (who has also fought for Bellator, an entertaining fighter who constantly goes for submissions and was a star in the old days of Japanese MMA) vs. Kizeamon Saiga (a kickboxer who is 2-0 in MMA); Hiroyuki Takaya (a regular in Japanese MMA for Dream, who fought in the U.S. with WEC and Strikeforce without much success) vs. D.J. Taiki (real name Daiki Hata, a veteran with Pancrase, Deep and Dream); Valentin Moldavsky vs. Yuta Uchida in a heavyweight tournament reserve fight; the first round of the heavyweight tournament with Mo vs. McDermott, Aukstuolis vs. Cappelozza, Reljic vs. Menkov and Ishii (the native star and 2008 judo gold medalist) vs. Prochazka; with Sakuraba vs. Aoki as the main event.
509
510Sakuraba will be receiving $165,000 for the match.
511
512The 12/31 show opens with Rena vs. Jleana Valentino in a woman's fight, the heavyweight tournament semifinals; Ward vs. Hasegawa; Takeru vs. Yang Ming in a K-1 rules match; Soo Chul Kim (a South Korean who is a star in Road FC, a smaller Japanese group) vs. Maike Linhares (a Brazilian bantamweight who is 9-0 with nine finishes); Gabrielle Garcia vs. Lei'D Tapa in a women's no weight limit fight; Akebono vs. Bob Sapp under shoot boxing rules (punching, kicking and takedowns legal but no submissions or ground fighting); Andy Souwer (superstar from the K-1 Max days) vs. Yuichiro Nagashima (the cross dressing kickboxer who also had a run as a pro wrestler in Japan); Jerome LeBanner (heavyweight kickboxing legend) vs. Baruto (huge famous sumo); Kron Gracie (Rickson's son) vs. Asen Yamamoto (19-year-old champion wrestler who is the son of former woman's world champion Miyu Yamamoto and grandson of the former Olympic wrestling coach and a former Olympic wrestler as well as nephew of Kid Yamamoto); Fedor vs. Singh; and the final match will be the heavyweight tournament finals.
513
514Emanuel Yarbrough may have only had one fight in the UFC, but he was one of the most recognized fighters in the early days of the sport.
515
516Yarbrough was brought into the UFC 3 tournament as a freak show fighter, on September 9, 1994, at the Grady Cole Center in Charlotte.
517
518The show was promoted around rivals Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie vowing revenge on each other after Gracie had beaten Shamrock in the first UFC. The two were the favorites in the tournament (which neither ended up winning, as Gracie was injured in his first fight with Kimo Leopoldo and Shamrock, with a bad knee, refused to come out for the finals). The 6-foot-7 inch Yarbrough, billed at 616 pounds (there is no telling what he weighed as nobody weighed him, but Campbell McLaren, who ran UFC at the time, said he was actually 660 pounds but he thought that made him sound fat and asked them to bill him as less), was being presented as a roadblock to both of them.
519
520Yarbrough (most places have his last name spelled Yarborough, but he himself always spelled it Yarbrough and that was also the spelling used in his college wrestling and football days) passed away on 12/21 this past week in Richmond, VA, at the age of 51.
521
522Yarbrough at one time weighed as much as 882 pounds, and was listed for years in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's heaviest athlete. In a 2007 news story about him, it talked how after suffering from heart failure he had hired a nutritionist and had dropped from 780 pounds to 670 pounds.
523
524Yarbrough, billed as a sumo champion (he placed second in the world amateur championships that year in Tokyo, and won it in 1995) in the first round of the tournament, faced Keith Hackney, a kempo karate and tae kwon do black belt who also worked as an air conditioning repair man. At first Yarbrough charged at Hackney, and drove him with so much force, that the two went through the locked cage door. Hackney became somewhat legendary for dropping the giant with the first punch, and pounding him out in just 1:59. In those days, with no gloves, Hackney broke his hand on Yarbrough's head and couldn't continue in the tournament. The scene of the 195 pound man throwing a punch and a giant toppled over was replayed over-and-over in media stories that portrayed UFC as a freak show. The media was aghast that in those days there were no weight classes and how ridiculous and unfair it was to pit a 195 pound man against someone of who was 640 pounds, even though the smaller man won the fight. Others just remembered the visual of the normal sized guy dropping the 600-pound sumo.
525
526McLaren admitted that he had to talk Yarbrough into doing the UFC.
527
528Yarbrough was 320 pounds at the age of 14, and later competed at a high level in football, wrestling, sumo and judo.
529
530When he was about 400 pounds, he was a Division I-AA All-American offensive tackle at Morgan State University in 1982 and 1983. He was a Division II wrestling All-American in 1983 and a Division I All-American in 1986.
531
532This was at the time when they made the ruling to cut the top of the heavyweight division at 285 pounds, ironically a number they came up with due to the University of Oklahoma star Steve "Dr. Death" Williams, who became a major pro star. The coaches came up with the idea that Williams was in great athletic shape at 285 pounds, and they were trying to have action packed heavyweight matches instead of more and more matches with 400 plus pound men who did little but were difficult to move and beat once they learned to use their weight.
533
534But all currently competing wrestlers, which included future pros like Gary Albright and John Tenta, were allowed to continue, even though they couldn't make that weight, for the remainder of the college eligibility. Yarbrough, who started just as the restrictions were put in, placed eighth in the 1986 NCAA Division I tournament, and with Albright, were the last super heavyweights to compete in college wrestling.
535
536Because wrestling had a top limit on weight, he switched to judo, which has no weight ceiling in the super heavyweight division. His goal was the 1992 Olympic team and placed as high as second in the super heavyweight division in 1989. His problem, when it came to judo, was due to his weight, he had no stamina.
537
538From his exposure in the UFC, Yarbrough did some pro wrestling in Germany for Otto Wanz, and in Japan, including wearing a mask at one point. Because he couldn't work, he did mostly sumo matches for Wanz. In Japan, he did a run-in, but he was well over 700 pounds by this point and was so slow in getting to the ring and so immobile that it didn't get over, and wasn't followed up on. But as far as legitimate weight was concerned, he would rank with Happy Humphrey, The McGuire Twins and Yokozuna as among the legitimate heaviest pro wrestlers of all-time.
539
540He also appeared in Pride on June 24, 1998, facing Daijyu Takase. Takase gave up about 450 to 500 pounds to him. Takase basically just avoided Yarbrough in the first round. The joke was Takase became the first fighter to win a round by running away, as Yarbrough was covered in sweat and breathing heavily by the end of the round even though there had been no action. He was exhausted in the second round, and tapped out after punches. Yarbrough later appeared in the HBO series "Oz" as a giant prison inmate.
541
542The other major Japanese awards, the fan voting award conducted by Weekly Pro Wrestling, saw a close race for MVP with Minoru Suzuki squeaking out a win by only 38 votes over Kazuchika Okada and 197 votes over Hiroshi Tanahashi, with Genichiro Tenryu and Shinsuke Nakamura being a distant fourth and fifth.
543
544Like with Tokyo Sports, due to the symbolism, Tenryu vs. Okada on 11/15 at Sumo Hall won by a wide margin for Match of the Year, over the Tanahashi vs Nakamura G-1 final, the Nakamura vs. Kota Ibushi IC title match on the 1/4 Tokyo Dome, the Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Yuji Okabayashi Big Japan match from 7/20 at Sumo Hall and the Kushida vs. Kyle O'Reilly Best of the Super Junior final on 6/7.
545
546Meiko Satomura was named women's MVP by a wide margin over Kairi Hojyo, Kana/Asuka, Io Shirai and Mio Shirai.
547
548Sekimoto & Okabayashi won tag team of the year over Naruki Doi & Yamato of Dragon Gate, Kohei Sato & Shuji Ishikawa of Zero-One and the Stardom women's team of Io Shirai & Miyu Aden.
549
550A.J. Styles was named Foreign Wrestler of the Year over Michael Elgin and Kenny Omega.
551
552Best show was the Tenryu retirement show on 11/15 at Sumo Hall, followed by the New Japan G-1 finals on 8/16 and the Big Japan 7/20 Sumo Hall show.
553
554One of the major MMA awards events of the years, the Bazzie Awards (named after Bas Rutten) were announced on 12/18 with the annual special.
555
556Demetrious Johnson was named Male Fighter of the Year ahead of Donald Cerrone, Daniel Cormier, Justin Gaethje, Liam McGeary and Conor McGregor. Given that McGregor finished all three of his foes this year, and two of them were Chad Mendes and Jose Aldo, who were tougher than anyone Johnson faced and decisioned all year, I'd have to disagree with that one.
557
558Holly Holm was named Female Fighter of the Year, and really she had to, over Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Cris Cyborg Justino, Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate.
559
560Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald at UFC 189 was named Fight of the Year, above Andrei Arlovski vs. Travis Browne at UFC 187, Vitali Bigdash vs. Igor Svirid at One, Cormier vs. Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 192 and Gaethje vs. Luis Palomino at WSOF 19.
561
562Dylan Ashburn of Legacy Fighting won submission of the year over Braden Crowell, Tyrone Henderson, McGeary (over Tito Ortiz), Rousey (over Cat Zingano) and Fabricio Werdum (over Cain Velasquez).
563
564Holm won Knockout of the Year over Harris Bonfiglio, Jay-Ar Campos, Paul Felder (over Danny Castillo at UFC 182), Chris Gardner, Hisaki Kato, Frank Mir and Alex Morono.
565
566Gaston Bolanos of Lion Fight was named the Rising Star of AXS Fights over Ricardo Ramos of Legacy Fighting, Andrew Sanchez of Resurrection Fighting, Luke Sanders of Resurrection Fighting, Valentina Schevchenko of Legacy Fighting and Eric Spicely of CES MMA.
567
568Thomas Almeida of UFC was named Breakthrough Star of the Year over Max Holloway, Henry Cejudo, McGeary, Jedrzejczyk and Cerrone. Not sure how Cerrone is in this category since he's been a star of years.
569
570Comeback win of the year was Patricio Pitbull Freire for his win over Daniel Weichel at Bellator 138, over Thiago Alves (over Jordan Mein at UFC 183), Thales Leites (over Tim Boetsch at UFC 183), Vitali Bigdash (over Igor Svirid) and David Burrow (over Anthony Njokuani at Legacy Fighting 38).
571
572For reasons that are not easy to explain, Survivor Series on 11/22 in Boston ended the streak of WWE PPV shows that did far better than expected.
573
574The first buy estimates from the company were 17,000 North American buys and 50,000 overseas buys for a total of 67,000. The show featured a tournament for the vacant world title after the injury to Seth Rollins. The show was built around a final four of Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Alberto Del Rio and Kevin Owens, as well as Undertaker & Kane facing two members of the Wyatt family, which turned out to be Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper.
575
576For a comparison, Hell in a Cell the month before did 23,000 North American buys and 64,000 overseas buys headlined by Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker. Granted, that was stronger than usual, but Survivor Series tied, at the same juncture, the all-time lowest in domestic buys (TLC last year at first reporting did 17,000 domestic and 22,000 overseas). Whatever reason, whether it be NFL on Sunday night or an uninspired main event, and this came when ratings were also at a low level, it appears there was less interest in this show than any WWE PPV this year.
577
578PPV buys are very much secondary in importance these days and are still ahead of what the company projected from the division they expected to be close to death at this point due to the cheaper cost of watching the shows on the WWE Network. Still, a significant month-to-month decline seems to show that better numbers in September for Night of Champions (31,000 domestic and 46,000 overseas) with Sting and October with Lesnar and Undertaker indicates that even with the push of the 25th anniversary of Undertaker, people were not as interested in seeing him two shows in a row. Also, the build for that match was weak as Undertaker & Kane pretty much got the revenge a few weeks before the show in taking out all four members and no new heat was gotten on them. The previous time there was an injury to the champion and a tournament to crown the title, the numbers were way above usual, so this also may indicate the value of the belt has been lessened, and also could be the lack of both Lesnar and John Cena at Survivor Series.
579
580The 2014 Survivor Series did 40,000 North American buys and 85,000 overseas buys, but that was also with significantly lower network subscription numbers.
581
582That was a one-match show built around Team Cena of John Cena & Dolph Ziggler & Big Show & Erick Rowan & Ryback vs. Team Authority of Seth Rollins & Kane & Rusev & Luke Harper & & Mark Henry. This was also the show that Sting made his return on.
583
584The Smackdown live show on the USA Network on 12/22 drew 2,264,000 viewers. The number is slightly more than the show averaged as a taped show on a more familiar night but on a weaker channel. However, last year a similar WWE week on USA special Tuesday live Smackdown did 2,027,000 viewers, so the number has to be considered a positive in that regard.
585
586PBC on 12/18 on Spike did 538,000 viewers.
587
588World Series of Fighting on 12/18, headlined by Marcio Alexandre winning the featherweight title via decision over Lance Palmer did 112,000 viewers, barely half of what they usually do on NBC Sports.
589
590Smackdown on 12/17 drew its best numbers since football season started, a combination of the least watched Thursday night game of the season and momentum from Monday's show.
591
592The show did a 1.68 rating and 2,332,000 viewers, finishing sixth for the night on cable. The NFL game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. St. Louis Rams did 5,995,000 viewers on the NFL Network and didn't air on CBS making it easier competition, but there was a strong NBA game with the Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder that did 2,416,000 viewers on TNT. In the different age groups, the show did a 0.72 in teenagers, 0.58 in 18-34, 0.70 in 35-49 and 1.07 in 50+. The entire increase in viewers was women, which were up 42% from the prior week in the 18-49 women's demo, Female teenagers were up 14% and the male skew was only 55.8% in 18-49, when it's usually closer to 70%. Males 18-49 did a 0.72, when the prior month average, not including Thanksgiving, but women 18-49 were up 33%, or from 0.43 to 0.57 from the average of the prior month.
593
594The 12/16 episode of Impact on Destination America on did 155,000 viewers. This aired at 11 p.m. instead of the usual 9 p.m., and there was no replay airing of the show. There was very little publicity regarding the new time slot so such a decline would have to be expected.
595
596Here's some absolute ratings craziness. On 12/16, UFC Tonight on FS 1 at 6 p.m. (On earlier than usual) did 34,000 viewers, the lowest number ever. However, a replay at 2 a.m. on FS 2, a station in about half the homes of FS 1, did 72,000 viewers.
597
598The ESPN SportsCenter episode on 12/15 with Roman Reigns after winning the title on ESPN News did 90,000 viewers.
599
600This is the first issue of the current set. If you've got a (1) on your address label, it means your subscription expires in two weeks with a single and double issue.
601
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603
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605
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607
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609
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611
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613
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615
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617
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619
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621
622
623RESULTS
62411/28 Kansas City (WWE - 9,000): Ryback b Erick Rowan, Zack Ryder b Bo Dallas, NXT title: Finn Balor b Baron Corbin, Three-way for IC title: Kevin Owens won over Dolph Ziggler and Dean Ambrose, Kane & Usos b Luke Harper & Bray Wyatt & Braun Strowman, Charlotte & Becky Lynch b Naomi & Sasha Banks, U.S. title: Alberto Del Rio b Neville, WWE title: Roman Reigns b Sheamus-DQ
625
62612/15 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL): Artillero & Cholo b Bengala & Leono, Flyer & Robin & Triton b Akuma & Arkangel de la Muerte & Canelo Casas, Escandalo & Puma King & Tiger b Hombre Bala Jr. & Stigma & Super Halcon Jr., Blue Panther Jr. b Okumura, Kraneo & Misterioso Jr. & Pierroth b Blue Panther & Delta & Guerrero Maya Jr., Mistico & Stuka Jr. & Titan b Dragon Rojo Jr. & Rey Bucanero & Vangellys
627
62812/16 Tochigi (New Japan - 819): Juice Robinson b Jay White, Ryusuke Taguchi b Yohei Komatsu, Kushida b Sho Tanaka, Toru Yano & Gedo b Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Jushin Liger b Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Tiger Mask, Tetsuya Naito & Evil & Bushi b Hirooki Goto & Captain New Japan & Mascara Dorada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuyori Shibata & Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma b Kazuchika Okada & Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi
629
63012/16 Tokyo (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 147): Yoshinari Ogawa b Kaito Kiyomiya, Kenou & Captain NOAH b Hajime Ohara & Genba Hirayanagi, Yoshihiro Takayama & Akitoshi Saito b Mitsuhiro Kitamiya & Hitoshi Kumano, Mohammed Yone & Katsuhiko Nakajima b Maybach Taniguchi & Quiet Storm, Taiji Ishimori & Daisuke Harada b Taichi & Desperado, Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura & Atsushi Kotoge b Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka & Taka Michinoku
631
63212/18 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (New Japan - 1,666): Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Jay White b Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & David Finlay, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma b Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka, Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano b Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall, NWA jr. title: Tiger Mask b Jushin Liger, Tetsuya Naito & Evil & Bushi b Hirooki Goto & Captain New Japan & Mascara Dorada, Shinsuke Nakamura b Ryusuke Taguchi, Elimination match: Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi & Gedo b Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuyori Shibata & Kushida & Juice Robinson
633
63412/18 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL - 3,500): Oro Jr. & Star Jr. b Espiritu Negro & Metalico, Puma won Cibernetico over Triton, Fuego, Super Comando, The Panther, Tiger, Sangre Azteca, Esfinge, Blue Panther Jr., Raziel, Cancerbero and Pegasso, Angel de Oro & La Mascara & Valiente b Polvora & El Terrible & Virus, Kamaitachi & Euforia& Ultimo Guerrero b Atlantis & Marco Corleone & Maximo Sexy-DQ, Caristico & Super Parka & Volador Jr. b Ephesto & Mephisto & Negro Casas
635
63612/18 Tsushima (Dragon Gate - 450): Jimmy Kanda d Shachihoko Boy, Masato Yoshino & T-Hawk b Gamma & Kaito Ishida, Akira Tozawa b Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa, Akira Tozawa b Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa, Eita & Punch Tominaga b Masaaki Mochizuki & Kzy, Dragon Kid & Big R Shimizu b Cima & Takehiro Yamamura, Naruki Doi & Yamato & Shingo Takagi b Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito & Jimmy Susumu
637
63812/19 Los Angeles Forum (WWE - 8,000): Dolph Ziggler b The Miz, Charlotte & Becky Lynch & Brie Bella b Tamina & Sasha Banks & Naomi, Ryback b Rusev, U.S. title: Brock Lesnar b Alberto Del Rio-DQ, Kane & Dudleys & Tommy Dreamer b Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper & Erick Rowan & Braun Strowman, IC title: Dean Ambrose b Kevin Owens, WWE title: Roman Reigns b Sheamus
639
64012/19 Philadelphia (ROH TV tapings - 600): TV title: Roderick Strong b Stevie Richards, No DQ: Caprice Coleman b Will Ferrera, Jonathan Gresham b Cedric Alexander, Michael Elgin b Donovan Dijak, Mandy Leon & Sumie Sakai b Hania the Huntress & Deonna Purrazzo, Rhett Titus & Kenny King b Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta, Non-title: Ray Rowe & Hanson b Donovan Dijak & Joey Daddiego, Dalton Castle won four-way over Jay Briscoe, Matt Sydal and Moose, Kelly Klein won four-way over Veda Scott, Kimber Lee and Taeler Hendrix, Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian b ACH & Alex Shelley, Mark Briscoe b Adam Page, Young Bucks won three-way over Adam Cole & Michael Bennett and Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly
641
64212/19 Kobe (Dragon Gate - 850 sellout): Cyber Kong b Lindaman, Dragon Kid & Kzy & Big R Shimizu b Gamma & Takehiro Yamamura & Kaito Ishida, Akira Tozawa b Mondai Ryu, Shingo Takagi & Kotoka b Eita & Punch Tominaga, Naruki Doi & Yamato b Sumo K-Ness & Sumo Kanda, T-Hawk b Genki Horiguchi, Sumo Fuji & Sumo Saito & Sumo Susumu b Cima & Masaaki Mochizuki & Masato Yoshino
643
64412/19 Hamamatsu (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 434): Hitoshi Kumano b Kaito Kiyomiya, Yoshinari Ogawa b Genba Hirayanagi, Mohammed Yone b Quiet Storm, Maybach Taniguchi & Hajime Ohara & Mitsuhiro Kitamiya b Yoshihiro Takayama & Akitoshi Saito & Kenou, Taichi & Desperado & Taka Michinoku b Taiji Ishimori & Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge, Takashi Sugiura & Katsuhiko Nakajima b Takashi Iizuka & Shelton Benjamin-DQ, Minoru Suzuki & Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. b Naomichi Marufuji & Chris Hero & Colt Cabana
645
64612/19 Tokyo (Zero-1): Mineo Fujita & Sean Guinness b Yasshi & Buffa, Ikuto Hidaka & Yusaku Obata b Kamikaze & Ryoji Sai, Masato Tanaka b Toshiki Itakura, United National title: Masakado b Yoshkazu Yokoyama to win title, NWA Int. Lightweight tag title: Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa b Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka, NWA IC tag titles: Daisuke Sekimoto & Kohei Sato b Hideki Suzuki & James Raideen
647
64812/20 Winnipeg (WWE - 5,500): Ryback b The Miz, Dudleys & Tommy Dreamer & Kane b Bray Wyatt & Braun Strowman & Erick Rowan & Luke Harper, IC title: Dean Ambrose b Kevin Owens, Elimination match: Charlotte & Becky Lynch & Brie Bella b Naomi & Tamina & Sasha Banks, U.S. title: Alberto Del Rio b Jack Swagger, WWE title: Roman Reigns b Sheamus
649
65012/20 Mexico City Arena Mexico (Lucha Libre Elite - 11,000): Astral & Fantasy b Karonte Jr. & Mercurio, Artillero & Super Comando b Dinamic Black & Metaleon, Kamaitachi & Okumura b Golden Magic & Rayman, Dragon Rojo Jr. & Felino b Mr Aguila & Super Crazy, Mistico & Caristico & Negro Casas b Cibernetico & Mephisto & Sharly Rockstar, Atlantis & Octagon & Rayo de Jalisco Jr. b Cien Caras & Mascara Ano 2000 & Universo 2000
651
65212/20 Kobe (Dragon Gate - 850 sellout): Yosuke Santa Maria b Mondai Ryu, Akira Tozawa & Masato Yoshino b Lindaman & Kaito Ishida, T-Hawk b Cyber Kong, Masaaki Mochizuki & Don Fujii b Genki Horiguchi & Jimmy Kanda, Jimmy Susumu & Ryo Saito & Jimmy K-Ness b Dragon Kid & Kzy & Big R Shimizu, Elimination match: Naruki Doi & Yamato & Shingo Takagi & Naoki Tanizaki & Kotoka b Cima & Gamma & Eita & Punch Tominaga & Takehiro Yamamura
653
65412/20 Kumagai (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 270): Quiet Storm b Kaito Kiyomiya, Kenou & Captain NOAH b Daisuke Harada & Hitoshi Kumano, Yoshinari Ogawa & Atsushi Kotoge b Yoshihiro Takayama & Genba Hirayanagi, Mohammed Yone & Akitoshi Saito b Maybach Taniguchi & Mitsuhiro Kitamiya, Taichi & Desperado b Taiji Ishimori & Daisuke Harada, Takashi Sugiura & Chris Hero & Colt Cabana b Takashi Iizuka & Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer, Minoru Suzuki & Shelton Benjamin b Naomichi Marufuji & Katsuhiko Nakajima
655
65612/21 Tokyo Shinjuku Face (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 347 sellout): Hitoshi Kumano b Kaito Kiyomiya, Yoshinari Ogawa b Genba Hirayanagi, Mohammed Yone & Hajime Ohara b Akitoshi Saito & Kenou, Maybach Taniguchi & Mitsuhiro Kitamiya b Yoshihiro Takayama & Quiet Storm, Elimination match: Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Takashi Iizuka & Shelton Benjamin b Takashi Sugiura & Katsuhiko Nakajima & Chris Hero & Colt Cabana, Elimination match: Minoru Suzuki & Taichi & Desperado & Taka Michinoku b Naomichi Marufuji & Taiji Ishimori & Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge
657
65812/22 Des Moines (WWE Smackdown/Main Event TV tapings - 6,000): Zack Ryder b Heath Slater, Tyler Breeze b Goldust, Bo Dallas b Fandango, Jack Swagger b The Miz, Tag titles: Kofi Kingston & Big E b Sin Cara & Kalisto, Bray Wyatt & Braun Strowman & Erick Rowan & Luke Harper b Dudleys & Kane & Ryback, Alberto Del Rio & Rusev b Usos, Neville & Titus O'Neil b The Ascension, Non-title: Charlotte b Brie Bella, Three-way for IC title: Dean Ambrose won over Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler
659
660
661CMLL
662The 12/20 Lucha Libre Elite show at Arena Mexico drew one of the year's biggest crowds, drawing in excess of 11,000 fans,. largely due to it being billed as the 40th anniversary of the debut of Rayo de Jalisco Jr. They did a late 1980s nostalgia match on top with Atlantis (53) & Octagon (54) & Rayo (55), who were three of the top babyfaces in the promotion 25 years ago, against Los Hermanos Dinamita, the originals of Cien Caras (now 66 years old) & Mascara Ano 2000 (57) and Universo 2000 (52), who were one of Mexico's main event heel trios in the 80s and 90s. Rayo had his first match on November 11, 1975, using the name Rayman, before a year later and his father allowed him to use the famous name. They also had G.A. tickets at 40 pesos ($2.35) so that also helped draw. I was told the match was about what you'd expect it to be given the ages of the wrestlers, but the crowd reacted like it was still the late 80s. Before the match, they had a short ceremony for Rayo. They also had Caristico & Mistico & Negro Casas beating Cibernetico & Mephisto & Sharly Rockstar. They teased communication problems with Caristico and Casas as each accidentally hit the other. Both Caristico and Mistico did dives off the stage at the same time. The two talked like they would become a regular tag team and said they were looking for a name. Underneath, they teased a Felino vs. Super Crazy hair match.
663
664At first LLE was going to be off for several weeks, but after the success of the show, they booked a 12/27 date with Mistico & Caristico vs. Casas & Cavernario, Rush & La Mascara & Black Warrior vs. Cibernetico & Mephisto & Rockstar and Felino vs. Super Crazy.
665
666Dragon Rojo Jr. beat Titan on 12/22 at Arena Mexico to win the CMLL middleweight title. Titan had held the title from just over four years, beating Jushin Liger at Arena Mexico on November 18, 2011.
667
668The first of three straight bigger than usual Friday night shows at Arena Mexico took place on 12/18, this one built around the Friday night CMLL return of Caristico, but perhaps with people instead waiting for Sunday where they'd have more legends and the low ticket price, the crowd was only 3,500, with Caristico's return seemed to add nobody. This was the first time Luis Urive (Original CMLL Mistico) has worked for CMLL since January 14, 2011, right before he signed with WWE. From what we were told, aside from a big pop for his return and the start of the match, the main event just felt like any other Friday night with Caristico & Super Parka & Volador Jr. beating Ephesto & Mephisto & Negro Casas in the main event in two straight falls. The match was built around pushing the Casas vs. Parka feud which may end up in a hair match on 1/1, as both issued challenges after. Casas first made Parka submit in the first fall, but then it was reversed when Casas wouldn't let go of the submission and in the second fall Parka pinned Casas. The semi had Kamaitachi & Euforia & Ultimo Guerrero beat Atlantis & Marco Corleone & Maximo Sexy via DQ when Kamaitachi faked that Maximo had given him a low blow, and the ref bought it for the DQ. Kamaitachi and Maximo have also been building what could be a hair vs. hair match for 1/1, although likewise, nothing has been officially announced. The other major thing on 12/18, the highlight, was a Cibernetico (elimination) match with all the guys in the cage of death match that headlines the Christmas show, where Puma won over Triton, Fuego, Super Comando, The Panther, Tiger, Sangre Azteca, Esfinge, Blue Panther Jr., Raziel, Cancerbero and Pegasso. Puma pinned Triton to win. The match was said to be good and the concept is that a lot of the younger wrestlers and mid-card wrestlers are all putting their masks at stake to get a big show main event. For what it's worth, the predictions seem to be that Super Comando is the favorite to lose since the angle started with The Panther vs. Comando, with Pegasso thought of as also having a shot at losing. Since these are all undercard performers, it'll be interesting how this draws as most of the time when they've drawn big crowds for multiple person mask matches, they've put in a bunch of the superstars. There was a lot of publicity because Pete Best was at the show. He was given a musical introduction and came to the ring just before the main event. Best, who looks like a cross between Showtime's Al Bernstein and UFC's Marc Ratner, is really famous in old-time music circles because he was the original drummer of The Beatles from 1960 to 1962, before being fired and replaced by Ringo Starr. That was right before The Beatles exploded and became worldwide sensations so he was this musical trivia note. They had some media pub of Atlantis meeting Best. Chris Jericho once wrote about meeting him in one of his books. Best is currently in Mexico touring with his band. As expected, they had a moment of applause for Lizmark on the show, as they did in arenas around the country.
669
670The 12/25 show is an iPPV where all of the wrestlers in the Cibernetico match will be in the cage with the last man left in the cage losing their mask. The rest of the show opens with a women's match with Estrellita & Vaquerita & Lluvia vs. Dallys & Seductora & Tiffany, Blue Panther & Stuka Jr. & Brazo de Plata vs. Kraneo & Polvora & Vangellys, Maximo Sexy & Super Parka & Valiente vs. Cavernario & Kamaitachi & Casas (expect angles coming out of this to lead to big matches on 1/1), and then Cibernetico's CMLL debut teaming with Ultimo Guerrero & Volador Jr. against Caristico & Mistico & Rush. Volador Jr. is teaming with heels Cibernetico and Guerrero and opposing faces Caristico & Mistico (teaming up for the first time) because his rival Rush (who is Mistico's brother) is on the team. With Caristico appearing two straight weeks and Cibernetico here, the idea that the LLE guys would only be working Sundays is out the window, but it also could be with LLE taking a few weeks off for the holidays that they wanted to keep their top guys in the spotlight.
671
672The original 1/1 show main event was to be Ultimo Guerrero vs. Thunder in a mask vs. mask match, but that appears to be off. Thunder has missed some shows in recent weeks, but also appeared on some others. On television, they've stopped talking about the match event though it was originally announced as the big match on that date.
673
674Rockstar credited wrestling for his early release from prison. He did an interview saying there are two paths you can take in prison, learning from people there how to commit crimes better, or applying yourself to learn from the experience. He said he started teaching people Lucha Libre and felt that helped grant him an early release for good behavior. He noted being in prison earlier this year when his son was born and when Perro Aguayo Jr. died, noting it was the happiest and saddest days of his life just days apart.
675
676Guerrero Maya Jr. & The Panther captured the Arena Coliseo tag team titles from Misterioso Jr. & Sagrado on 12/19 at Arena Coliseo in Mexico City. We'll see if this is related to the Fantastica Mania tour since Maya & Panther are going.
677
678A 12/21 show in Puebla drew a near sellout in the 5,500 seat building as Ultimo Guerrero retained the NWA middleweight title over Atlantis.
679
680
681AAA
682Rey Mysterio Jr.'s contract with AAA expires at the end of the year. He's definitely going to be working a lot less here, concentrating on Lucha Underground, because that's a much bigger money deal. He made it clear he doesn't want to wrestle a ton of matches in 2016 because of the injury risk and is also wanting to spend time at home, which is one of the reasons he left WWE in the first place. They are hopeful to get him at least for the big shows. But after all the talk and enthusiasm of the promotion just a few months ago with Myzteziz, Alberto and Mysterio, all three are gone at least as far as being regulars, not to mention the loss of Perro Aguayo Jr. It also puts the AAA title situation up in the air. The original plan was for Mysterio and Johnny Mundo to work for the title, but if Mysterio isn't around much if at all, it takes a lot of luster off the title. It also leaves no Mexican superstar as a regular to feud with guys like Mundo and Brian Cage in a top singles program. It's now guys like Psycho Clown or Fenix as the top faces and while both can go, it's a huge marketability and drawing power drop.
683
684Guerra de Titanes has been rescheduled for 1/22 at Juan de la Barrera Gym in Mexico City. A poster has leaked listing Rey de Reyes has been announced for 3/11 in Tampico, which is notable because the Guerra de Titanes show was originally scheduled for Tampico a few weeks ago and canceled due to issues that involved the local promoter. The show itself has not been officially announced.
685
686With the end of the year break, the television for the next four weeks will be "Best of 2015" type shows.
687
688A lot of the crew got offers for Lucha Libre Elite including Averno, Chessman, Dark Scoria, Dark Cuervo as well as some of the guys like Pentagon Jr. The guys who have Lucha Underground contracts really couldn't go, and some guys who were loyal to the promotion stayed. Now, the feeling is that the LLE shows even with big stars aren't drawing well so it may be a sinking ship, but LLE is telling talent they're about to get a TV deal with TV Azteca. That would be interesting because a lot of TV Azteca programming airs in the U.S. as well.
689
690Expect Pentagon Jr. to get a major heel push in 2016 as they need a top heel to fill the void of Perro Aguayo Jr., and he's the pick.
691
692They are hoping to get Speedball Mike Bailey back early next year along with Willie Mack. Mr. 450 Hammet, the Universal champion in Puerto Rico, is expected to be close to full-time.
693
694Three big programs they're looking to focus on in early 2016 are Australian Suicide vs. Daga, Mesias vs. Fenix and Jack Evans vs. Pentagon Jr.
695
696
697ALL JAPAN
698Zeus & The Bodyguard captured the vacant world tag team titles beating Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori on 12/23 in Osaka before 3,500 fans, which has to be the company's most successful event in a long time, using the double Impact on Omori. The titles were held by Go Shiozaki & Kento Miyahara, but Shiozaki left the promotion at the end of September.
699
700The Akiyama vs. Suwama Triple Crown title match was announced for Jan. 2 at Korakuen Hall. These two had a killer match on October 23, 2011. Yuji Okabayashi & Daisuke Sekimoto return on that show against Takao Omori & Zeus. The 1/3 show in the same building has Yohei Nakajima defending the TV title against Naoya Nomura.
701
702
703PRO WRESTLING NOAH
704Colt Cabana, Chris Hero, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer and Shelton Benjamin arrived on 12/19 for the final four days of the tour. The champions trio of Minoru Suzuki & Archer & Smith beat the challengers trio of Naomichi Marufuji & Cabana & Hero in the main event on that show in Hamamatsu when Suzuki pinned Cabana after a Gotch piledriver. Suzuki-gun was pretty well dominating everything in the week before the big show. On 12/21 at Shinjuku Face, they went with two Survivor Series type matches with Suzuki-gun vs. NOAH. In the first, Archer & Smith & Takashi Iizuka & Benjamin beat Hero & Cabana & Takashi Sugiura & Katsuhiko Nakajima in 24:48 when it came down to Hero vs. Archer and Archer pinned him clean. Earlier, Smith had pinned Cabana, but Hero had pinned Smith, so you had both of the champions beat the challengers before the title match. In the main, it was the same thing as Suzuki & Taichi & Desperado & Taka Michinoku beat Marufuji & Taiji Ishimori & Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge in 25:58. It came down to the heavyweight champ Suzuki and Jr. Champ Taichi against Marufuji & Ishimori, the two challengers. Suzuki threw Marufuji over the top rope to eliminate him, and with a two-on-one advantage, Suzuki pinned Ishimori with a Gotch piledriver.
705
706
707NEW JAPAN
708Yoshitatsu will be the third person doing commentary for the Tokyo Dome on 1/4 for the English broadcast on New Japan World. He'll be working with Kevin Kelly and Matt Striker. They needed someone who knew Japanese who could translate the promos and also talk storylines. They will be doing both the 1/4 Tokyo Dome show and the 1/5 Korakuen Hall show live with English commentary.
709
710For the first time ever, the entire Fantastica Mania tour is not only sold out, but sold out a month in advance.
711
712The first of the two Korakuen Hall shows to end the year was on 12/18, which drew 1,666 fans, or just shy of capacity. Tiger Mask beat Jushin Liger to retain the NWA jr. title in 10:56 with a double armbar submission. Liger worked the match without his costume top, and at 51, the guy looked ridiculously jacked up which the costume hides. Shinsuke Nakamura had a good singles match beating Ryusuke Taguchi, who has been mimicking Nakamura's ring entrance in recent weeks, winning with the bom a ye. The main event was an elimination match with Hiroshi Tanahashi's team of himself, Katsuyori Shibata, Kushida and Juice Robinson, losing to Kazuchika Okada's team, which included Tomohiro Ishii, Yoshi-Hashi and Gedo. Shibata and Ishii both eliminated each other going over the top rope together in 5:01. Yoshi-Hashi pinned Robinson at 17:30 with a swanton. Tanahashi then pinned Yoshi-Hashi in 19:31. Tanahashi made Gedo submit to the Texas cloverleaf in 20:06. This left Okada in with Tanahashi and Kushida. Okada quickly threw Tanahashi over the top rope to beat him in 22:39, and then pinned Kushida with a rainmaker in 25:37.
713
714
715OTHER JAPAN NOTES
716The IGF has announced Naoya Ogawa vs. Daichi Hashimoto for New Year's Eve at Sumo Hall in Tokyo. The storyline here is that Ogawa and Shinya Hashimoto, Daichi's father, were huge rivals in the late 90s. Ogawa said that he was suffering from a knee injury, but recognized the significance of doing this match.
717
718Atsushi Onita had a 40th anniversary of his debut (his debut was April 14, 1974, so it wasn't exactly timed perfectly) on 12/15 in Nagoya in an explosive tag team match with Onita & Chigusa Nagayo beating Shark Taru and 90s woman's wrestler Crusher Maedomari.
719
720Big Japan drew 2,030 fans for its end of the year show in Yokohama at the Bunka Gym with Yuji Okabayashi retaining the Strong heavyweight title beating Hideyoshi Kamitani in 26:25 with a power bomb. The other top match saw Daisuke Sekimoto & Suwama of All Japan beat Kohei Saito of Zero-One & Shuji Ishikawa when Sekimoto pinned Ishikawa.
721
722In what would have been a classic IWGP jr. tag title match about 16 years ago, Zero-One presented Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa retaining the NWA International lightweight tag team title belts beating Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka in 29:31 when Takaiwa pinned Kanemoto with a Death Valley bomb. Kanemoto suffered a neck injury during the match and has missed his bookings since.
723
724
725HERE AND THERE
726There is a lot of pro wrestling influence in the Combate Americas promotion. Rey Mysterio Jr. is the new brand announcer. Konnan got what was his tryout on 12/16 in Hollywood as a color commentator, getting the spot Alberto Del Rio had. Court Bauer is a Co-Executive Producer and Nelson Sweglar, who was the producer of WWE television during the Hogan era, was doing the show as well. Konnan's work on the first night sealed the deal for him as a full-time announcer. Also at the show included Frank Shamrock (who at one point was doing a reality show with Bauer) and AAA's Taya Valkyrie. I heard some funny stories about Konnan talking to the fighters about the importance of doing interviews and having characters, telling them that nobody will remember who they are or want to see them fight unless they give them a reason.
727
728The 11/15 Insane Championship Wrestling show in Glasgow with Grado vs. Drew Galloway as the main event numbers officially drew a sellout of 3,802 fans and $152,780. It was the largest crowd for a show by a U.K.-based promotion since 1982. It may be the largest gate for a U.K. based group of all-time.
729
730Joey Ryan signed a sponsorship deal with YouPorn based off the attention his spot with Danshoku Dino on the DDT show got. As part of the deal, Ryan will continue to do the spot in his matches, and the move will be called the YouPorn plex. He will also enter matches wearing YouPorn ring outfits.
731
732There was another Jim Cornette/Vince Russo story this past week which can largely be chalked up to social media more than anything. Russo was on Jim Ross' podcast and apparently claimed there was a time he was driving with Jim Cornette and there was an issue with a female driver and Cornette pulled out a gun on her. The story got to Cornette and by the time it got there it was that Cornette and Russo were traveling together and Cornette pulled a gun on him. Cornette was furious saying it was made up. Russo was swearing it was accurate. One person who I know who is friends with Russo and has spent tons of time with him immediately questioned it saying that he's known Russo for years and has never heard that story, even though Russo claimed he'd been telling the story for years. Cornette claimed he must have told the fake story so many times he believed it. Cornette eventually called Ross and asked him what exactly was the story Russo said. Cornette said the story was largely made up but there was a kernel of truth to it, in the sense in 1997 the two of them were driving together back from a Raw in the Northeast and Cornette was telling him stories about wrestling in the 80s and how there were times he would be driving alone back from shows with a lot of cash. He noted since the ratings of wrestling were high (Mid South, World Class and Crockett all drew tremendous ratings within their markets) and he was a guy on television constantly insulting people in those cities, he would be wary of where he'd stop to get gas. Russo was astonished that he'd worry about where he'd get gas or was concerned for his safety since he has no clue about wrestling outside the Northeast. He said he then showed him a handgun, in a case, that he kept under his seat and Russo was shocked he was carrying one and Russo asked why, and he said, "Because I'm a heel." It wasn't unusual for heels, and some of the faces as well, to carry guns in some territories for safety reasons. Cornette said that story over the years must have exaggerated to him pulling a gun on an old woman who had cut him off in traffic. "I'm sure people will believe it, but he probably should have claimed I pulled the gun on him, because they'd believe that even more."
733
734Big Damo, a UK wrestler who has worked with some of the New Japan top stars when they've toured the country, was in a Japanese Lexus TV commercial. The commercial had a pro wrestling theme about this board room good looking executive who secretly worked under a mask as a pro wrestling star in major arenas and Damo, who is a big long haired, long beard heel looking guy as the main character's heel opponent in the ring. How that relates to Lexus is probably because the masked guy drives a Lexus.
735
736
737LUCHA UNDERGROUND
738Although nothing regarding Lucha Underground having a Spanish language outlet for season two has been announced, a good sign was that Mil Muertes, King Cuerno and Dario Cueto, all in their Lucha Underground characters in Mexico, appeared on the Univision Deportes awards show on 12/20. It has been noted at the tapings that there are no Spanish language announcers there as there were last season (although they can always do voiceovers later) and no Spanish language ring announcing.
739
740The Jeff Cobb injury not being that severe was really dodging a bullet as Matanza was the key heel character for an already written rest of the season. With the Christmas break, the next taping isn't until 1/9, which also turned out to be a lucky break. Cobb expects to be ready on that show. He started physical therapy on 12/21. He's been getting around with a small brace on his right knee and moving well.
741
742It appears they will have Ultima Lucha 2, another blow-out show, that will be taped on 1/31.
743
744Dragon Azteca Jr., who was Rey Horus, wasn't the original El Hijo de Rey Misterio. He was the second one and the good one. The original was the guy who really had nothing going for him but the name and that in posters with the similar tattoos and contacts he looked like Rey Mysterio and could draw some big indie crowds in heavily Mexican cities in the U.S. by fooling people.
745
746Konnan is still under contract here but hasn't been used and I don't know if or when he will be used. The impression I have is he won't be used any time soon. Since he and Mysterio Jr. are close and he wasn't even at the last tapings where Mysterio made his debut, it became notable. People within the company had noted before the season started that he was not scripted into the first two months of television, but given that Mysterio and Matanza weren't either and they were the two big stars of season two, it was more of a curiosity as to why not than anything notable until the last set of tapings and he still wasn't there nor does it appear there are any plans to use him. He had at times been critical of them overdoing man vs. woman matches, particularly when they had pushed Pentagon Jr. as a monster last season and then had him lose clean to Sexy Star, which I thought made no sense either, not to mention making the mask vs. mask mean nothing big when Sexy Star beat Super Fly for his mask with no build at all.
747
748Jack Evans and Angelico did an interview where they talked about how WWE had tried to bring them in but they decided they were going to stick with Lucha Underground as long as it's around. I hadn't heard that about Evans, but he's got charisma and athletic moves. He doesn't have the look they usually want but he does have unique athletic talent. It was no secret WWE really liked Angelico and were pushing to get him. Both said that the offers came after WWE officials had seen them at PWG, which makes sense since Canyon Ceman and William Regal have been at the same PWG shows I've been at and even those in Lucha Underground had admitted being aware that WWE was after Angelico. Some of that may be a contract issue since almost all the LU talent is under seven season deals. Alberto Del Rio was able to get out of it because he found a breach when it came to pay. I'm not so sure with the budget cutting and with getting Mysterio, that LU wasn't unhappy about cutting the cost of what was by far its biggest contract, while getting a bigger star who actually came in for less money then Del Rio's original deal.
749
750Hernandez has threatened legal action against the company after being cost his TNA gig because they hadn't released him officially. He made a claim about an unsafe working environment.
751
752El Rey was doing a casting call which may or may not be related to this show. It was up on Hollywood casting call boards that they were looking for Males 25-50 to play roles as fighters and as wrestlers and wanted fighters and wrestlers of experience. For the fighters, who were needed for a shoot on 1/8, they didn't specify size. For the wrestlers, who were needed on 1/5 and 1/6, they wanted people around six feet tall with medium to heavy builds. Those are not Lucha Underground taping days but often to film vignettes and pretapes they bring talent in a few days before the tapings (the next taping is 1/9), but it's not clear if this is LU related or for a different El Rey show.
753
754
755ROH
756Greg Gilleland was promoted by General Manager of ROH from his former position as Business Manager. Joe Koff, in announcing the promotion (Gilleland had pretty much been running the business end of the company) said Gilleland implemented accounting processes, developed financial reporting, managed annual budgets and business strategies and played a significant role in improving ROH profitability and growing the brand. Gilleland is the guy who has been negotiating the contracts and at taking a hardline approach, which may be necessary from a budget standpoint, but has led to a lot of talent looking elsewhere.
757
758The final show of the year was the TV taping on 12/19 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia before 600 fans. While there have been exceptions, ROH has usually had trouble drawing full houses for Saturday TV tapings coming the day after the PPV shows. The first hour saw Roderick Strong retain the TV title against Stevie Richards, returning to the old ECW Arena. Next was a Fish Tank segment with Fish and Strong. Fish showed that Strong had tapped out to him, missed by the referee, in their match at Final Battle. Strong walked off. Heard it was a good segment. Caprice Coleman pinned Will Ferrara in a no DQ match after putting him through a table with a leg drop. Jonathan Gresham, a longtime CZW star who has worked a few matches in ROH over the years but never with a push, pinned Cedric Alexander, in a surprise, with a roll-up. Michael Elgin pinned Donovan Dijak after two Elgin bombs in the first show main event. The show ended with Jay Lethal and Elgin having a face-off. In what I believe was a dark match between the tapings, Mandy Leon & Sumie Sakai beat Hania the Huntress & Deonna Purrazo. The second hour saw Kenny King & Rhett Titus beat Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta, which continues the King & Titus build for a tag title match with War Machine. Matt Taven came out on crutches. Adam Cole came out and talked about how Taven & Bennett had dropped the ball and lost the tag team titles. Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly came out. This was to set up Cole & Bennett vs. Fish & O'Reilly as the next week main event. But the Young Bucks came out and ended up added to the match. War Machine beat the House of Truth combination of Dijak & Joey Daddiego. After the match, Truth Martini blamed it all on Dijak, said he was the weak link in the House of Truth. He slapped Dijak and fired him, so that may lead to a Dijak face push. Dijak is very impressive athletically for a 6-foot-7 guy. Dalton Castle won a four-way over Jay Briscoe, Matt Sydal and Moose, when he pinned Sydal. They had another women's match that was likely between tapings as Kelly Klein won a four-way over Veda Scott, Kimber Lee and Taeler Hendrix when Klein made Scott submit. The final hour of the taping opened with Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian beating ACH & Alex Shelley when Daniels pinned ACH. Daniels, Kazarian and Chris Sabin were beating down Shelley after the match. Daniels punched the ref when he tried to break it up and Nigel McGuinness suspended Daniels. Mark Briscoe pinned Adam Page. There was an in-ring confrontation with B.J. Whitmer and Mr. Wrestling III. They are keeping that angle alive for whenever Steve Corino can return and do the match after his neck surgery. Silas Young did an interview about Castle. The main event of the final show saw The Young Bucks win over Cole & Bennett and Fish & O'Reilly. Maria Kanellis was given a Meltzer driver in the ring. A.J. Styles, who was there but banged up from his match the night before and didn't wrestle on the show, ran in and grabbed a chair that Bennett had brought into the ring, and laid out Bennett with a Bloody Sunday DDT. Bennett was given a stuff tombstone piledriver by The Bucks and then they handed him to Styles, who have him a Styles clash and the Bucks pinned Bennett to win. The finish was pretty much called on the fly by booker Hunter Johnston. McGuinness than came out and thanked Bennett & Kanellis for what they've done in ROH, pretty much making it clear this was their swan song. Bennett cut a heart felt speech and Maria was given a standing ovation.
759
760The company's next show is another set of TV tapings on 1/9 in Concord, NC. The 2015 Top Prospect tournament will begin at those tapings and end at 2/6 tapings in Nashville. The only name announced thus far for the tournament is Ben Ortiz.
761
762
763TNA
764In what sounds like complete insanity, TNA is contracted for a live PPV on 1/8 from Bethlehem, PA called One Night Only Live. This has not been announced by the company, nor confirmed at press time, but it is listed on the inDemand web site. Essentially this would mean that on its first Tuesday show on Pop, built around a world title tournament, they'd also have to create angles ready for a live Friday night show. Even though ROH has moved PPV to Fridays, it has not done the business of the traditional Sunday night time slot, so you've got a product moving stations, moving nights, with zero momentum, that has done poorly on PPV, trying to sell a PPV with angles all shot three days before the show. This could be miscommunication since TNA does One Night Only shows, and there were plans to tape a show called One Night Only Live on the tour of India that got canceled, so there is a very good chance this was the date that show would air. However, one person in the company said that he didn't know it was true, but had heard something about it and believed they were doing a PPV that night.
765
766With almost no warning, TNA debuted on POP TV in its new time slot of Tuesday's at 9 p.m. on 12/22 with the episode of Impact that was originally expected to air on Destination America. While the word was Destination America would carry Impact until the end of the year, in actuality, the deal was up on 12/16. At the time, the idea was dark for two weeks and to start on POP TV, but for whatever reason, TNA didn't want that out. However, since they have to produce episodes of Impact anyway, the feeling was from the POP TV side that they'd start it up early with the idea of building the audience for the 1/5 debut, so that part of the deal just got done. Destination America moved the 12/16 show out of prime time. Both the 12/22 and 12/29 shows were "Best of 2015" shows since they had run through all the material from the July tapings. While there is a positive in the sense it gets some fans used to the time slot, it's a negative because I was told these are not good shows and are not the kind of shows that will do ratings. You don't want the first impression on a new station to be a bad impression, both to the new audience, if such an audience even exists, and also to the new station which is talking about drawing ridiculous numbers like 1.3 million viewers once they get going, and they are bound to be very disappointed if expectations are even close to that. Also, while they are pushing 1/5 as the real debut, the fact is, as we saw from Destination America, if they debut with a terrible rating and there is a chance of that, given wrestling is always controversial programming, there will be those at POP TV who will start out with a sour taste in their mouth before the first new episode airs. There will also be a 1/1 special at 1 a.m. which will be a preview show for 1/5, looking at the history of TNA and building the world title tournament.
767
768The 1/5 show is still the heavily promoted "debut" show with the semifinals and finals of the TNA title tournament with Bobby Lashley vs. Ethan Carter III and Matt Hardy vs. Eric Young. When it comes to the move, while they should get a 29 percent increase in viewers based on more availability, that's going to be offset by the move to a new night, as every time TNA moves nights it loses audience, plus the move to a new station and as we saw from Spike to Destination America, even the loyal Spike viewers that had Destination America, many of them never found it or didn't care to follow it any longer.
769
770Jeff Hardy's contract expires on 2/28 and he was on Ric Flair's show and while not outright saying it, gave the impression that he has signed his last TNA deal. He outright said that he wanted to end his career in WWE and has been telling friends of his desire to go back. He won't be able to wrestle again for months, and with him not on the U.K. tapings because of a past felony for drug trafficking that doesn't allow him to go to the U.K. He said he is going to try and wrestle with a knee brace on in January, which means he may attempt to work at the upcoming tapings, but said he does need major knee surgery, and after surgery would be out most of 2016.
771
772Matt Hardy's contract is also coming due. There's actually a lot of reasons Matt doesn't need WWE, in the sense he's saved money, has a young son, and makes real good money on the indie scene. He also has years of a tough style and he can work a style that doesn't hurt his body and controls the number of days he works on the indies. In WWE, the travel is a lot harder. Still, WWE makes you relevant again, although Matt in WWE will mostly be putting guys over I'd think while Matt in TNA will be one of their top stars and he can make his own schedule.
773
774They also made a few announcements for the three shows in the U.K. The wrestlers on the tour will be Kurt Angle (in his final TNA appearances), Lashley, Matt Hardy (whose contract runs out in less than three months), EC 3, Drew Galloway, Eric Young, Bobby Roode, Rockstar Spud, Grado, Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards, Ken Anderson, Tigre Uno, Robbie E, Mandrews (Mark Andrews), Mahabili Shera, Gail Kim, Taryn Terrell, Velvet Sky, Madison Rayne, Abyss, Awesome Kong, Jessie Godderz, DJ Zema Ion, Eli Drake, Trevor Lee, Andrew Everett, Rebel, Tyrus, Marti Bell and Jade.
775
776The 1/29 show in Manchester will feature a Monster's Ball match. The 1/30 show in London will have Lockdown (all cage matches) be the theme for one of the two shows taped that night. The 1/31 show in Birmingham will feature a King of the Mountain match. Remember that King of the Mountain title that they gave Jeff Jarrett and then he vacated? Well, nobody else does either.
777
778Mike Tenay, who has been with the company since day one, but hasn't been used in months, has his contract expire at the end of the year. He's mostly been focusing on a sports betting podcast called Professor Vegas.
779
780
781UFC
782There are negotiations going on for the movie adaptation of Art Davie's book, "Hey, is this Legal?: The Inside Story of the First UFC By The Man Who Created It," about everything that happened that led to the birth of the UFC and the debut show on November 12, 1993 in Denver. The entire history of UFC is built on a series of crazy flukes, from Art Davie having the idea of a tournament where the top fighters from different martial arts would get together to prove what art is the most effective to his reading an article in Playboy on Rorion Gracie and living not far from Gracie's academy, to the fluke of Semaphore Entertainment Group trying to come up with a PPV franchise after concerts had failed in that venue, and then, the most illogical of all, is that the first show with no logical explanation, actually did well on PPV, and the subsequent shows all grew in reach.
783
784Julianna Pena, 26, was arrested and charged with assault after an apparent bar parking lot fight in the early morning hours of 12/20. The police reports were that Pena and Josh Gow, one of her training partners (in fact, the guy she was training with when she had that terrible knee injury), had gotten into street fight in front of Zola's bar in Spokane which they claimed involved 20 people. Gow was covered in blood from the fight and the two came into the bar, with them wanting to each clean themselves up from the fight in the bathroom. But the owner and an employee said it was after 2 a.m. and the place was closed. According to a witness, Pena became irate and kicked an employee of the bar in the groin, when he wouldn't let her and Gow use the bathrooms. The owner came and also said the place was closed, and Pena allegedly kicked him twice in the groin. The two tried to come in a second time, but were locked out. Gow then reportedly rubbed all the blood from his face on the bar's front widow. Police arrived after being told of a large fight in front of the bar, and believed that Pena and Gow had been drinking. Pena told Sgt Eric Kannberg that she and Gow were involved in a fight with 20 people. She said she just wanted to clean him up. She was arrested at 2:20 a.m. on two counts of assault and held on $2,000 bail.
785
786Ronda Rousey, Serena Williams and Carli Lloyd of the U.S. women's soccer team were the three top vote getters for the AP Female Athlete of the Year award. The winner will be announced later this week. I can't see Rousey winning because of her loss to Holly Holm.
787
788Ovince St. Preux will meet Rafael Feijao Cavalcante on the 2/6 show in Las Vegas.
789
790UFC Tonight reported that Fabricio Werdum had signed a new eight fight contract "worth seven figures."
791
792Ariel Helwani reported that Rashad Evans was looking for his next fight with Mauricio Shogun Rua. Rua right now is on the shelf after shoudler surgery.
793
794Khabib Nurmagomedov is targeting March for his return, while MMA Fighting reported Jose Aldo wants to fight again in April.
795
796Max Holloway, among the list of fighters trying to publicly goal Conor McGregor into a fight, said that he believes McGregor made up the story of a torn ACL that took place early in their fight. McGregor had also claimed a similar injury in camp earlier this year before the fight with Jose Aldo that ended up canceled, since McGregor would claim that he knew factually that he was hurt worse than Aldo when Aldo dropped out. Holloway said he thinks it's ridiculous the idea that McGregor could tear his ACL and then fight on it when NFL players blow it out during a game and can't even stand on the leg. Holloway also claimed on Submission Radio that McGregor came back too fast if it was a torn ACL. If the injury was from the first round of the Holloway fight, as McGregor claimed, he didn't fight again for 11 months, and really did have surgery, so that claim doesn't hold water. After the injury, McGregor just took Holloway down and rode out a decision, which is not his style. The surgery and 11 months off between fights seems to indicate McGregor's story is true.
797
798Another example of loading up the Fight Pass matches is on the 1/17 show in Boston they will have five Fight Pass fights and eight TV fights, cutting the TV back from five hours to four hours. Plus, Daron Cruickshank vs. Paul Felder and Tim Boetsch vs. Ed Herman, which could be main card fights and at the worst would normally be prelim fights, were moved off TV to Fight Pass.
799
800Kelvin Gastelum is out of his Jan. 2 fight with Kyle Noke due to an injury. He'll be replaced by Alex Morono.
801
802Three fighters cut of late were Vaughan Lee (who is fighting this week in Russia), Hugo Viana (fighting in Resurrection Fighting) and Alan Omer. Lee's big moment was a submission win over Kid Yamamoto, but he's gone 3-5 in UFC. Viana has lost three of four and Omer lost both of his UFC fights.
803
804Martin Sevensson vs. David Teymur, Teemu Packalen vs. Lukasz Sajewski and Daniel Omielanczuk vs. Jarjis Danho have been added to the 2/27 show in London. Sevensson and Teymur are from Sweden and were on the recent season of Ultimate Fighter on Conor McGregor's team. Packalen and Sajewski were both undefeated before signing with UFC, but each lost in their debut. Danho, a heavyweight, debuts in UFC with a 6-0 record.
805
806Noad Lahat vs. Diego Rivas has been added to the 2/6 show in Las Vegas.
807
808
809BELLATOR
810Ken Shamrock will actually be doing his training camp itself in Dallas working with Guy Mezger, who was part of the Lion's Den team in their heyday. Frank Shamrock won't be handling the training camp, but will be involved in strategy and be in Ken's corner. If Royce wins, that could also set up a natural Royce vs. Frank fight.
811
812Bellator signees Aaron Pico and Ed Ruth didn't do all that well at the U.S. senior nationals this past weekend in Las Vegas. Pico, who is 19, placed fourth at 143 pounds while Ruth placed eighth at 189 pounds. That makes both very much longshots to make the Olympic team. Both were going for the Olympics in 2016, and were going to start here either after the trials if they didn't make it, or after the Olympics if they did. Obviously the hope was that they'd make the team, do well at the Olympics and Bellator would get favorable press for their debut, similar to how boxing has in the past been able to springboard stars off the Olympics into the pro ranks.
813
814They announced a 3/4 show in Thackerville, OK, headlined by wrestling standouts Joe Warren (former Bellator two division champion as well as 2006 world champion in Greco-Roman wrestling) vs. Darion Caldwell (8-0), a former NCAA champion.
815
816
817OTHER MMA
818One has announced 14 shows for 2016 and has said ten more, all in mainland China, will be added. The first three shows of the year are 1/23 in Changsa, China, 1/29 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and 2/20 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Other locations announced are Manila, Singapore, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Taipei, Taiwan.
819
820
821WWE
822Coming off the Takeover show, the next title programs in NXT have Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin for the singles title and Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder vs. Jason Jordan & Chad Gable for the tag team title. The tag title matches should be excellent. Just as Jordan & Gable each provide the thing the other needs, Wilder & Dawson should make Jordan & Gable even better. There is talk of peaking with Balor vs. Sami Zayn for WrestleMania weekend. That show will be on 4/1 and was originally scheduled for a 9 p.m. start time although later I've seen the start time listed at 7:30 p.m. It won't be at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, but they are booking the smaller Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, which will hold about 7,000 fans and sold out immediately. The presale on 12/18 sold out in about 30 minutes although they still were holding back tickets to the public. The public sale with limited tickets sold out in 15 minutes the next day. Not sure why they booked a smaller arena. The American Airlines Center, the larger and nicer arena, doesn't list anything on its schedule for 4/1 and I can't imagine that with all the people coming into town that they couldn't fill that arena. Not sure how much of this was to fans or ticket brokers, but Stubhub didn't have a lot of tickets for sale, as after the sellout there were less than 150 tickets up and most of the other shows had even less than that. The only major NXT show that isn't knocking them dead is the 1/22 Orlando show where the lower portion is sold out for the TV taping the weekend of the Royal Rumble but there are plenty of seats left.
823
824Tickets for the NXT debut on Chicago at the 1,500 seat Portage Theater sold out in one minute when they were put on sale on 12/18. Tickets for 1/14 in Milwaukee at Turners Hall (the ROH location) which holds 1,000 for ROH and with the stage would probably be about 700 here, sold out instantly. 1/29 in Pittsburgh and 1/30 in Royal Oak, MI, also sold out the first day they went on sale to the public. The only show in January outside of Florida that didn't sell out on the first day was the 1/15 show in Green Bay, and that sold well .
825
826In 2015, in a list of what each state googled, by percentage, more than any other state, the state of Kentucky Googled Dusty Rhodes, which is surprising when you think of it because you'd think if that was the case it would be Florida, Georgia or North Carolina.
827
828One thing that should be noted with Roman Reigns as management's choice to be the top guy, particularly when others can very rightfully believe they are better and haven't had the same opportunities is you'd think that would breed a lot of jealousy. But that really isn't the case. Most guys like him and were very happy for him winning the title. That really speaks to him being a nice guy to everyone.
829
830The video game is expected to be up this year over last year. That's been attributed at least partially to stronger reviews.
831
832For the 1/5 Smackdown show in Laredo, which will be the first show on USA (airing on 1/7), and with Mauro Ranallo, they are locally advertising that there will be two cage matches. Since they are making changes, they should pair Ranallo up with Corey Graves, who is the best analyst of any of the WWE announcers on NXT. I'd also favor keeping it to a two man booth, although wouldn't be against Jerry Lawler just because he'd probably up his game working with those two and Lawler is an institution with the company.
833
834Ranallo will be starting a podcast with former broadcast partner Bas Rutten (they did Pride together) shortly called "Rutten and Ranallo" which will cover Combat Sports and pop culture. I believe they debut on 1/7, the same day Ranallo debuts on Smackdown.
835
836I believe the Stardust injury is also a neck injury. Ric Flair said that on his podcast. We were only told he's been out with an injury but was cleared on 12/21 .
837
838Barrett has been on TV with The Foreign Legion coming to the ring, but he hasn't done any wrestling and is do very little physically. We're told that his neck injury is pretty serious but WWE has nothing more specific on it.
839
840For the first 11 months of the year, WWE was the No. 2 brand in the country on Facebook, regarding total Facebook actions, behind only Fox News.
841
842A lot of people in the company had expected WrestleMania in 2017 to be announced for Minneapolis this past week, since Raw was coming, but in the weeks before the event we'd heard nothing and nothing happened. WWE has its own timetables on announcing the show. A video surfaced months ago on the new U.S. Bank Stadium where officials talked about it hosting WrestleMania and it was known within the stadium world that Minneapolis had been the front-runner for 2017, but WWE had always stated it was not official. There was a 3/4 house show in Minneapolis that was added to the schedule. The stadium will host the 2018 Super Bowl and WWE officials like to go into stadiums before they host the Super Bowl. But Orlando, which hosts the Rumble, has also been in the running for the show.
843
844"Santa's Little Helper," the movie that kicked off WWE week on the USA network on 12/20, did 857,000 viewers, way below what USA does in prime time. In fact, that was well below what Tough Enough was doing and it's not likely returning.
845
846Some notes for the next season of Total Divas based on the press release for the show. Some of the major stories that Nikki and Brie Bella not getting along (haven't we seen that before?), having problems on a huge business venture and Nikki's career being in question after an injury (I know we've seen that one before). A storyline is Nikki trying to figure out how to tell Cena that Ziggler is making moves on her again, and bringing up that she and Ziggler were together before she was with Cena. Brie debates what she is going to do after wrestling. This is a good one. The storyline is how Eva Marie's wrestling ability has gone through the roof while the other Divas still don't like her. Paige is engaged now but has issues with her feelings. Rosa Mendes is preparing to give birth to her first child. Fox gets a new boyfriend. Natalya still has her marriage problems and frustrations with the idea that they are pushing the younger Divas and she's on the back burner. And everyone gets introduced to Mandy, who joins the cast after finishing second on Total Divas.
847
848Another note regarding Del Rio and his potential non-WWE income for 2016 is that he was strongly under consideration for a role in an NBC Universo telenovela when he went back to WWE. One person close to the situation noted that the money he would have made had he gotten that role was significant, which once again makes no sense of the story he went back to WWE for a low money deal.
849
850Dwayne Johnson, 43, and longtime girlfriend Lauren Hashian, had the couple's first child, a baby girl, Jasmine Johnson, on 12/16.
851
852"Sisters," the Tina Fey/Amy Pohler comedy where Cena plays a drug dealer, debuted this past weekend at a very distant No. 3 with $13,922,855. Everything got crushed this past weekend by Star Wars which set all kinds of first weekend all-time records.
853
854Cena returns on the 12/28 Raw from the Barclays Center, challenging Del Rio for the U.S. title. They also did a Facebook video teasing a six-man weigh Reigns & Usos vs. The League of Nations, and locally were advertising a six-man tag team match for that show (although what WWE advertises locally for TV usually has nothing to do with what will be on the show since the advertising goes out weeks in advance and the show isn't written until the last few days–yes, I know, perhaps they shouldn't then advertise things in advance if they aren't going to deliver them). WWE hasn't sold out a Raw event in North America since the last time they were in the Barclays Center in August, but given it's the New York market and the week after Christmas has been WWE's best week for arena events historically, they are expected to sell this one out.
855
856Cena is also facing Del Rio on the house show tour starting 12/26 in Madison Square Garden.
857
858A few actual numbers for ticket sales. The 11/13 show in Nottingham drew 7,815 paying $471,388. The 11/12 show in Newcastle drew 7,801 paying $443,424, which was a sellout. The 11/11 show in Brighton drew a sellout 3,730 paying $294,176. The 11/9 and 11/10 shows in Manchester, which were the TV tapings, drew a combined $1,624,840 and a total of more than 20,000 fans. The 11/8 show in Birmingham drew 10,907 paying $660,454, which was essentially a sellout (200 tickets shy). The 11/8 show in Liverpool drew 8,544 paying $609.237 (600 shy of a sellout). The 11/7 show in Leeds drew 8,364 paying $555,822 (650 shy of a sellout). The 11/6 show at the O2 Arena in London drew a sellout 15,277 paying $1,218,235. The 11/5 show in Glasgow drew a sellout 10,394 paying $820,360.
859
860People in Japan aren't going to be very happy as J Sports has canceled the live airing on Tuesday morning of Raw. In fact, they won't be airing Raw as a three hour show. They will air the Hulu version in English on Thursday mornings at 10 a.m. starting 1/7, and in Japanese at 10:30 p.m. Thursday nights. Smackdown will be edited to a one hour show in English on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. and a one hour Japanese version on Monday nights at 6 p.m. NXT will no longer air on J Sports since the WWE Network is being launched in Japan.
861
862In a funny deal in the sense it shows that at least with management, any selling of angles is completely out the window, not only did HHH appear on the NXT show (he did acknowledge having been beaten up on Sunday and then blew if off) on Wednesday while in main WWE storyline he was injured and nobody had seen him, but he also posted on social media him doing a set of 100 pound one-arm incline dumbbell presses in a late night workout after he had gotten back from the U.K. You can argue that nobody believes it's real anymore (and really, very few ever did, but it was just the portrayal of a consistent storyline) and that actors who get beat up on television don't go on talk shows and pretend they were really beaten up, but actors also don't pretend when they go on shows that they are their stage names and don't work angles and storylines that way. It'll be interesting to see the next time they shoot an injury angle to take somebody out of action if that person then goes on social media and ignores the angle.
863
864Loveprett Sangha, a former World Kabbadi League champion, and Satender Ved Pal, a two-time Kishti (Indian style of wrestling in the sand) national heavyweight champion, who have both been training at the Performance Center, will be working the house shows on 1/15 and 1/16 in India. WWE signed both in June as they are looking for authentic Indian wrestlers to be national heroes, similar to how TNA has tried to push Mahabili Shera. The feeling is that India, which pays WWE some of its biggest television rights fees, could become a huge market for the company because of the huge population and native stars can make a big difference.
865
866WWE has signed Jerome Turner, who is a giant who is said to have a boxing background and he may be the next Big Show type. Apparently Dwayne Johnson pushed for him and Turner was first discovered by Pablo Marquez and Dwayne's father, Rocky Johnson.
867
868Everette Silas and Sherri Littleton have filed a suit against Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson as well as HBO regarding the TV show "Ballers." Silas and Littleton claimed they came up with the idea of the show, at the time called "Off Season." They said they started working in 2007 with Wahlberg and Johnson on the project but the deal fell apart on 2009 after they insisted on their names being in the credits for the creation of the series. They claim that the show "Off Season" and "Ballers" were both set in Miami, both revolving around black football players and their lives away from the field, and said the term "Ballers" was the name of one of the episodes they had written.
869
870The already taped Stone Cold Podcast with Flair is scheduled to air after the 1/11 Raw in New Orleans.
871
872The stock was up this week to $17.83 per share, giving the company a $1.35 billion market value.
873
874Notes from the 12/22 tapings in Des Moines. The live holiday Smackdown on the USA Network promoted around a three-way for the IC title and a tag title match drew 6,000 fans.
875
876Ryder pinned Slater in a dark match.
877
878Main Event opened with Breeze pinning Goldust in 15:00 of a very good match. Dallas pinned Fandango. Swagger beat Miz with the Patriot lock in the main event of the show.
879
880Smackdown opened with a New Day promo. They were mad about not winning tag team of the year. Kingston & Big E beat Lucha Dragons in 12:42. They had a near disaster as the Lucha Dragons were doing a double tope spot and Sin Cara landed short and he pretty much landed on the floor head first and was shaken up, but enough of him landed on Kingston's knee. Sin Cara was able to continue the match but was shaking it off for about 30 seconds. Kalisto did a springboard crossbody on E, but Woods distracted the ref. Then he hit the Salida del Sol. Sin Cara went to the top for the swanton, but Woods tried to hit him with the trombone, but he ducked that and used a quebrada on E, but E caught him with the Big Ending for the pin.
881
882Marella was backstage putting a star on top of his Christmas tree. When he left, somebody stole his star.
883
884Ambrose did an interview with Renee Young regarding the three-way.
885
886Wyatt & Rowan & Harper & Strowman beat Dudleys & Kane & Ryback in 16:06. You can't call 50/50 booking on this program which has been one decided from the elimination match on. Strowman threw Kane into the post and Rowan took out Ryback. Harper superkicked Devon and Wyatt used Sister Abigail on him for the pin.
887
888They were back to the Christmas party scene and the tree was knocked over and the place was a mess. Rose, Summer Rae, Breeze and Sandow were all there, which in the case of Sandow is at least proof he's still alive. Stardust & The Ascension came out and they were the ones to mess up the tree and party. Apparently they were doing the angle that has been done in the past where heels attempt to destroy Christmas. Neville came out to defend Christmas, wearing an elf costume. The Ascension made fun of him and the Elf army trying to stop them. O'Neil then came out and said that Neville was the Breakout star of the year and he would team with him. Stardust said that Christmas was canceled. Anyway, the stipulations were made that to get Christmas back, O'Neil & Neville had to beat The Ascension. You'd think with stakes that high both sides would have been wanting far better reps.
889
890Del Rio & Rusev beat Usos in 10:21. Jey did a dive on Del Rio and Jimmy on Rusev. Barrett distracted the ref and Rusev superkicked Jey, which set up Del Rio giving him the double foot stomp for the pin. The League of Nations kept beating on them after. They teased Sheamus Brogue kicking the belt into Jimmy's face, when Reigns came out for the save. He threw Sheamus into the post and over the announcers table, and then gave Superman punches to Del Rio and Rusev, while Barrett disappeared as quietly as possible.
891
892Neville & O'Neil beat The Ascension in the match to save Christmas. Marella and Stardust were in the respective corners. Marella was doing comedy and acted like he thought O'Neil was Irish, which was funny. Neville did a dive on the heels as Marella distracted them with the cobra. O'Neil kicked Viktor in the face and Neville pinned him with the red arrow in 3:07.
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894Charlotte beat Brie Bella in a non-title match with the figure eight in 3:21. This was a good storyline. Lynch was at ringside talking about how Charlotte is her best friend. Charlotte was working the match in a Santa's Helper costume. Let's get this straight. They want the women to be taken seriously as wrestlers and then for the Christmas show they have to be Santa's helpers and work in a short dress. Team BAD came out and Naomi poured Eggnog on Lynch. Lynch attacked her, but Banks and Tamina attacked Lynch. They were beating her down in front of Charlotte. Charlotte ignored that her friend was being beaten down three-on-one, and instead, used the figure eight on Brie to get the submission. Charlotte ignored Lynch and posed in the ring holding her belt, and then came out to check on Lynch, but was laughing at her hair all covered with egg nog.
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896Owens did an interview saying he should have won Breakout Star of the year and that Ambrose may have the title, but everyone knows he's the real champion.
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898Ambrose retained the title in a three-way main event over Owens and Ziggler in 13:24. Very good match. There was some new creative spots. Owens went to power bomb Ziggler on the floor, but Ambrose hit Owens with a tope to break it up. They were on the stage and Owens threw around the Christmas tree. Ziggler superkicked Owens off the stage and he took out a Christmas tree on the floor. Ziggler used the X-factor off the top rope onto Ambrose, but Owens saved. Owens threw Ziggler into the steps and tried to pin Ambrose, but he kicked out. Ziggler jumped on Owens' back to try and choke him, but Owens, with Ziggler on his back, jumped forward and squashed Ziggler with a senton onto Ambrose. Owens then delivered a head-and-arm suplex on Ambrose, which looked terrible, as Ambrose landed almost on the top of his head. There was clearly some concern because the ref pretty much stopped the match and Owens went outside the ring to work on Ziggler. He gave Ziggler a fall away slam into the barricade. Ambrose made a comeback, set up Dirty Deeds on Owens, but Ziggler hit the Zig Zag on Ambrose from behind. Owens superkicked Ambrose. Ziggler superkicked Owens. Ambrose then hit Dirty Deeds on Ziggler for the pin.
899
900Big E had an interesting quote while promoting the upcoming holiday week house show in Detroit, when asked who would win a powerlifting contest with he and Henry. Big E was the 2011 national champion in powerlifting in the super heavyweight division under Raw meet conditions, which means no special bench press shirt nor knee wraps for helping in squatting. He's got personal bests of 711 in the squat, 529 in the bench and 799 in the dead lift. Even though it was a generation earlier, Henry's best squat and dead lift beat that handily and his best bench was slightly more. "In his heyday, I'd give him his due. He would have beaten me handily. He's one of the strongest men to have ever walked the Earth. Right now, though, I'd smoke him." He also said his goal was to have a singles match with Lesnar.
901
902They had no NXT shows this weekend. NXT is giving everyone the holidays off and the next show will be the TV tapings on 1/7.
903
904WWE ran one tour this weekend. They opened on 12/19 at the Forum in Los Angeles which drew 8,000 fans. It was the first time WWE had run a December 27, 1994, show, during the holiday week that usually draws well, only did 2,500 for a Diesel vs. Bob Backlund title match and Undertaker vs. IRS. The Forum is kind of making a comeback as the prime concert arena in the Los Angeles area. Lesnar did a rare hour show appearance, but it was noted that probably wouldn't mean as much as in most markets because Lesnar had just been in Los Angeles less than two months earlier for a Hell in a Cell show and it was noted being a quick turnaround since a sold out PPV show. The show did great walk-up business as even the day of the show they only had about 6,000 tickets sold. They did some special offers and pushed the show hard late in the market, as well as even pushed it on Smackdown noting Lesnar being there. The 12/20 show in Winnipeg without Lesnar drew 5,500.
905
906The Los Angeles show opened with Ziggler pinning Miz after a superkick and the Zig Zag. A weird women's match saw Charlotte & Lynch & Brie Bella work together as a team beating Naomi & Tamina & Banks when Charlotte pinned Tamina with Natural selection. Brie was really over as a face in the sense the crowd did all kinds of "Yes" chants for her. They did no tease of any problems with Charlotte, Lynch or Brie even though Charlotte and Brie were feuding and Charlotte and Lynch have their TV storyline going. Sheamus did a promo and vowed to win the title back in less than 5:15. Ryback pinned Rusev with shell shock. Lesnar beat Del Rio in a U.S. title match via DQ. Short match with Lesnar suplexing Del Rio all over the place. Del Rio did get the armbar at one point but never could finish him. Lesnar had the match won when Rusev interfered for the DQ. Lesnar then laid out both Rusev and Del Rio with F-5s. Based on fan reaction, Lesnar was clearly the star of the show. Heyman was there but didn't do much. Kane & Dudleys & Dreamer beat The Wyatt Family when the Dudleys put Rowan through a table with the 3-D and Kane pinned him after a choke slam. Ambrose pinned Owens to retain the IC title. Both men were cheered. Owens had people chant "Kill Steen Kill" and "PWG" at him, although n
907
908ot loud chants and more "Fight Owens Fight." Ambrose escaped the pop up power bomb and hit Dirty Deeds for the finish. Reigns pinned Sheamus to retain the WWE title in the main event. This was Reigns' first title defense. Reigns was mostly cheered but there were dueling chants for and against him like Cena at a TV taping with the adult males booing him and women and kids cheering him. The finish, which is likely to be their finish the next month, saw Reigns go for the spear, but get hit with the Brogue kick. Reigns then kicked out. Sheamus went for a second Brogue kick, but Reigns speared him and got the pin.
909Winnipeg was the same show except they flew in Swagger to face Del Rio, and Rusev and Ziggler were off the show so Ryback instead wrestled Miz and beat him with the shell shock. Owens was cheered over Ambrose, mostly because he's Canadian. He worked as the heel, however. The women did an elimination match. Tamina was first out, followed by Lynch, Naomi, and Brie, leaving Charlotte and Banks as the final two. Apparently they stole the show at that point. Naomi & Tamina came back out and Lynch & Brie followed them for a big brawl and it ended when Charlotte speared and pinned Banks. Swagger vs. Del Rio which followed had a quiet crowd. Crowd was mostly into Reigns in the main event with few dissenters.
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