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1Wrestling Observer Newsletter
2
3PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 December 24, 2018
4
5 
6
7L.A. Park, Jerry Jarrett, Jimmy Hart, Bill Apter, Howard Finkel, Gary Hart and Yuji Nagata make up the 2018 class of the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame.
8
9To be inducted into the Hall of Fame, one must get at least 60 percent of the votes from their respective geographical region. Park came from Mexico, Jarrett, Jimmy Hart, Apter, Finkel and Gary Hart were modern era (still active on a major league basis after 1988) inductees from North America and Nagata was the lone inductee in Japan. There were no stars whose careers on top ended prior to 1988, nor inductees from the rest of the world.
10
11Wrestlers are supposed to be judged on four major criteria, positive historical importance to the business, drawing power, in-ring ability and longevity. A Hall of Famer should be strong in all four of those categories, but if they were one of the dominant standouts on a worldwide basis is one of those categories they also should be voted in. Longevity, however, without having major positive historical importance to the business, drawing power and in-ring ability, should be viewed as meaningless.
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13For non-wrestlers, who made up four of the seven inductees, they should be among the elite historically in their respective roles.
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15Voters are usually in one of four categories, historians, reporters, and those who are or have worked in the profession.
16
17Wrestlers are eligible to be put on the ballot 15 years after their debuts with a major league company, or are past their 35th birthday and it has been at least ten years since their major league debut.
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19Wrestlers are removed from the ballot if they fail to reach ten percent of the voters who are voting within their region. They can be put back on the ballot two years after not garnering enough votes to stay on, but won’t be put on unless they have done things in those two years that would have meaningfully changed their careers, or if more than 30 years has passed since the end of their full-time major league careers.
20
21If a performer has been on the ballot 15 years without being voted in, they will be removed from the ballot unless they continue to get at least 50 percent of the vote. They can be put back on two years or more later if there is a meaningful change in their case to be inducted.
22
23Park (Adolfo Tapia), 53, was the very clear favorite to go in this year, to the point he got so many votes that it probably cost others, notably los Misioneros de la Muerte, Ultimo Guerrero and Villano III solid shots of getting in this year.
24
25He had been a major star in Mexico since being one of Antonio Pena’s first big gimmick successes as La Parka when he started AAA in 1992. He became known in the U.S. for a run with WCW, where he was really used as a comedy enhancement wrestler, got over far more than his push, but even though he had been a proven draw and superstar in Mexico, WCW management had its crew they were pushing and that crew made sure anyone from a different style couldn’t get to their level.
26
27After WCW, which established him as a Mexican who wasn’t good enough to be an American superstar, he had to rebuild his name, but with the gimmick, the charisma and solid working, he was able to establish himself as a drawing card once again.
28
29He had legal issues with AAA and Antonio Pena, who established a new La Parka, (Jesus Huerta, who first worked for AAA is Karis La Momia and later as La Parka Jr., and then elevated him to the La Parka name in 2003 and went to court to prevent Tapia from using the name on independent shows). With the legal fight, he slightly modified his costume and changed his name to L.A. Park. Even though the second La Parka was one of the most popular wrestlers in AAA history, when Park returned for what was an obvious feud, the crowds generally cheered him.
30
31In recent years, he worked mostly as an independent. He was pro wrestling’s closest equivalent to Bruiser Brody, both in brawling ring style and also in doing whatever he wanted.
32
33He would have runs with AAA and CMLL, pick up business, and then
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35WRESTLING OBSERVER
36
37 
38
39HALL OF FAME BALLOTING RESULTS
40
41 
42
43Votes needed for induction into the Hall of Fame: U.S. and Canada modern 173; U.S. and Canada Historical 155; Japan 101; Mexico 107; Rest of the World 117
44
45 
46
47PERFORMER VOTES PCT 2017
48  	 
49L.A. PARK 	  	131 	74% 	47%
50JERRY JARRETT 	  	209 	73% 	50%
51JIMMY HART 	  	205 	71% 	54%
52BILL APTER 	  	195 	68% 	52%
53HOWARD FINKEL 	  	191 	66% 	54%
54GARY HART 	  	176 	61% 	55%
55YUJI NAGATA 	  	101 	60% 	50%
56Los Misioneros de la Muerte 	  	101 	57% 	57%
57Jun Akiyama 	  	92 	55% 	47%
58Ultimo Guerrero 	  	98 	55% 	50%
59Villano III 	  	98 	55% 	50%
60Akira Taue 	  	87 	52% 	34%
61Sgt. Slaughter 	  	145 	50% 	41%
62Edge 	  	143 	50% 	49%
63Jim Crockett Sr. 	  	128 	50% 	50%
64Kenny Omega 	  	83 	49% 	----
65Cien Caras 	  	86 	49% 	49%
66Dr. Wagner Jr. 	  	86 	49% 	45%
67Bearcat Wright 	  	125 	48% 	41%
68Junkyard Dog 	  	137 	48% 	31%
69Sputnik Monroe 	  	120 	47% 	41%
70Karloff Lagarde 	  	83 	47% 	46%
71Johnny “Wrestling II” Walker 	  	118 	46% 	31%
72Johnny Saint 	  	83 	44% 	50%
73Blanchard/Anderson w/Dillon 	  	124 	43% 	45%
74Yoshiaki Fujiwara 	  	64 	38% 	35%
75Blue Panther 	  	68 	38% 	41%
76Enrique Torres 	  	95 	37% 	36%
77Don Owen 	  	105 	37% 	50%
78Red Bastien 	  	89 	35% 	25%
79Randy Orton 	  	102 	35% 	23%
80Big Daddy 	  	66 	35% 	35%
81Larry Matysik 	  	101 	35% 	30%
82Johnny Rougeau 	  	84 	33% 	----
83Hayabusa 	  	53 	32% 	37%
84Stanley Weston 	  	83 	32% 	45%
85Bill Goldberg 	  	89 	31% 	30%
86Kiyoshi Tamura 	  	50 	30% 	24%
87George Scott 	  	77 	30% 	34%
88Jim Crockett Jr. 	  	83 	29% 	30%
89Rollerball Mark Rocco 	  	50 	27% 	38%
90June Byers 	  	68 	26% 	24%
91Los Brazos 	  	44 	25% 	32%
92Jackie Pallo 	  	48 	25% 	10%
93Cima 	  	41 	24% 	33%
94Archie “Mongolian Stomper” Gouldie 	  	59 	23% 	25%
95Killer Karl Kox 	  	41 	22% 	43%
96Dave Brown 	  	64 	22% 	28%
97Tetsuya Naito 	  	35 	21% 	16%
98Von Brauners w/Saul Weingeroff 	  	53 	21% 	18%
99Trish Stratus 	  	57 	20% 	13%
100Kerry Von Erich 	  	55 	19% 	16%
101Chavo Guerrero Sr. 	  	48 	19% 	11%
102Cowboy Bob Ellis 	  	47 	18% 	11%
103John Tolos 	  	47 	18% 	18%
104Caristico 	  	32 	18% 	25%
105Rocky Johnson 	  	44 	17% 	13%
106Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan 	  	28 	17% 	13%
107Wild Bull Curry 	  	42 	16% 	18%
108Kota Ibushi 	  	26 	16% 	13%
109Huracan Ramirez 	  	29 	16% 	24%
110Otto Wanz 	  	31 	16% 	23%
111Rick Martel 	  	44 	15% 	----
112Dominic DeNucci 	  	29 	15% 	33%
113Billy Joyce 	  	29 	15% 	20%
114George Steele 	  	37 	14% 	20%
115Ultimate Warrior 	  	40 	14% 	18%
116Kendo Nagasaki 	  	24 	13% 	28%
117Blackjack Mulligan 	  	34 	13% 	17%
118C.M. Punk 	  	35 	12% 	24%
119Mario Milano 	  	23 	12% 	20%
120Lord James Blears 	  	23 	12% 	40%
121Ricki Starr 	  	23 	12% 	26%
122Don Fargo 	  	28 	11% 	10%
123Spyros Arion 	  	20 	11% 	38%
124
125Less than 10% of votes from region and dropped from next year’s ballot: Samoa Joe, Paul Jones, Horst Hoffman, Ed Francis, Johnny Barend, Ruben Juarez, Universo 2000, Vampiro, Steve Rickard
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127 
128
129Dropped from next year’s ballot due to the 15 year/50% rule: Kiyoshi Tamura, Blue Panther, Red Bastien, Johnny “Wrestling II” Walker, John Tolos, Cien Caras
130
131 
132
133Added to the ballot next year: Jose Lothario, Dick Slater, Morris Sigel, Bob Caudle, Matt & Jeff Hardy, Valiant Brothers, George Kidd, Tomohiro Ishii, James Melby, Stephanie McMahon, Volador Jr., Grand Wizard
134
135 
136
137Will be dropped next year if not inducted or 50%: Don Owen, Jun Akiyama, Villano III
138
139do something against their rules, or they’d ask him to do something, and he would quit, or they would get rid of him. On independent shows, he and running mate Dr. Wagner Jr., were constantly teasing a mask vs. mask match, which should have been huge, but the money they were asking for was such that no promotion felt it was worth it.
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141 
142
143This past year he turned around Arena Mexico business, picking weekly crowds up from 4,500 to 6,000 to 9,000 to 12,000. But that wasn’t enough. At the same time, he was working for AAA.
144
145His power in the marketplace was such that he was headlining for both CMLL and AAA at the same time, something that one year ago would have been considered impossible. That also opened the door for Penta 0M and Rey Fenix to do the same.
146
147To understand that, this would be the equivalent of in the 90s, during the WCW/WWF wars, that somebody like Hulk Hogan or Steve Austin could go back-and-forth and work not only in WCW and WWF on the big shows, but appear on both group’s television and be in the main programs with the top guys in both groups at the same time.
148
149At one time it appeared Park would headline both group’s biggest event in 2018, CMLL’s Anniversary show and AAA’s TripleMania, which were only weeks apart.
150
151It was probably his resurgence in popularity for working with both companies that led to it falling apart.
152
153At his age, with all the injuries of working a wild style and working a hard schedule, Park was seemingly on his last legs. The keys were he could still draw money, and he had great chemistry with Rush, one of CMLL’s biggest stars, when they’d work on independent shows. He was also getting his son started. In fact, Park’s power as a star was not only that he could work on top for any company in Mexico that he wanted to (although right now he’s on the outs with AAA), but that if he was on the show, you had to book his son in a fairly decent position, and often as his partner.
154
155When Park shockingly returned to AAA, it was to build to a mask vs. hair match with Rush at the 2018 Anniversary show, which he would lose. He and Wagner drew big in CMLL in 2015, but Park would brawl in the stands and swear over the mic, things banned by the company, and there was a bitter falling out with the idea they’d never work together.
156
157But Park vs. Rush with those stipulations would be one of the biggest matches in the history of Mexican wrestling. He was taken in because crowds were okay at Arena Mexico, but nothing special, and Rush, in particular, as well as some of the other stars, pushed for Park, Penta and Fenix coming in to give them new opponents and shake up a stale scene. Management allowed it to happen.
158
159Park had already made peace with AAA and was going to be in a multiple-person match with his mask at stake at TripleMania, which came a few weeks before the anniversary show. AAA was under the impression bringing Park back would result in him losing to mask, since they had already gotten Wagner to lose his mask to Psycho Clown and did the biggest gate in company history, and Wagner’s $250,000 payoff was the largest for anyone ever in Mexico. But it wasn’t expected to be this year.
160
161Essentially Park drew so well in CMLL and his popularity grew that it made no sense to give up the mask. And there was no way CMLL was going to allow Rush to lose his hair, especially to someone who wasn’t full-time. So they had to awkwardly end the feud without any conclusion, leaving the anniversary show as a letdown. Still, CMLL had its best year for business in a long time.
162
163Park was named Wrestler of the Year in Mexico in 1994, 1998, 2010 and 2011, making he, Mistico (now Caristico) Rene Guajardo and El Santo as the only wrestlers in history to win in that often. Very few have won it three times, limited to Tarzan Lopez, Karloff Lagarde, Ray Mendoza, Villano III, Canek and Perro Aguayo.
164
165Park had mixed support, finishing first among reporters, but only 19th among historians, 16th among those active in the business and third among those no longer active in the business.
166
167Tapia is part of a large wrestling family. His uncle was the original Volador and later Super Parka. Other uncles wrestled as Johnny Ibarra, King Balam and Desalmado. Volador Jr. is his cousin. Flyer of CMLL is also related to him in that his mother is Volador Jr.’s sister, and he refers to Park as his uncle. Park had a brother, Eustacio, who wrestled under the name Suplex as well as El Hijo de Cien Caras, who was murdered in 2010 at the age of 32.
168
169He began his career at the age of 16, in 1982. Between 1982 and 1992, when AAA started and he became the original La Parka, he wrestled under such names as Asesino de Tepito, El Gringo, Invasor del Norte #1, and El Minero. He was working for CMLL in 1990 and 1991 as Principe Island and sometimes Invasor del Norte #1, when Antonio Pena would have been booking. La Parka debuted on the first AAA show, a television taping on May 15, 1992, in Veracruz, working the semifinal, teaming with Fuerza Guerrera & Ice Killer against Angel Azteca & Justiciero & Octagon, underneath Los Hermanos Dinamita vs. Perro Aguayo & Mascara Sagrada & Fantasma.
170
171He held a number of regional championships in Mexico, including the WWA world light heavyweight title, but his most prestigious title would have been the Mexican national light heavyweight title that he held four times between 1994 and 2005.
172
173Jerry Jarrett, 76, was a top babyface in Tennessee who is best known for booking and later running a successful promotion.
174
175Jarrett, the son of Christine Jarrett, who worked in the Nashville office for Nick Gulas and Roy Welch and later became the most successful woman wrestling promoter of her era.
176
177Jarrett started doing odd jobs and helping his mother promote small shows at the age of 14, did some refereeing, and became a pro wrestler.
178
179He wanted to become a wrestler, which his mother was dead set against, knowing the nature of the business in that era where bullying was prevalent. But he got the okay of Tojo Yamamoto and Sailor Moran, who trained him, and started in 1965.
180
181Jarrett headlined for years, holding the Southern tag team title five times with Yamamoto and four times with Fargo. He left wrestling full-time in 1976, but worked regularly in 1979 and 1980, and did a last comeback run in 1985 and 1986 teaming with Yamamoto as a nostalgia team and did occasional matches after that point. His last two matches were believed to be a two-week run in Memphis in 1995.
182
183Even though Jarrett was small, even by the standards of Tennessee wrestling which used some of the smallest wrestlers in the country, he quickly became a top babyface based on selling and bleeding and because women found him cute. He would sell and bleed to set up hot tags for partners like Tojo Yamamoto and Jackie Fargo, and later feud with Yamamoto.
184
185He started booking the Western half of the territory for Gulas and Welch in the early 70s, and turned Memphis and Louisville into hotbed cities. Memphis, built around Jackie Fargo, was among the strongest wrestling cities in the country, and remained strong when Jerry Lawler was transitioned into being the focal point of the promotion. The weekly live television show on Saturday mornings at 11 a.m. drew the highest ratings of any wrestling show in the country, often more than a 20 rating and a 70 share. There were several years in the early 70s where the weekly Monday night matches averaged more than 7,000 fans and sellouts, particularly in the summer, weren’t unusual when the right set of circumstances, like the Lawler vs. Fargo feud, or Lawler vs. Mongolian Stomper while the Fargos returned, let to the strongest weekly runs in the cities history.
186
187He also booked Atlanta for a time during the NWA/Gunkel wrestling war, for the NWA side, for promoter Jim Barnett.
188
189After, in his words, being swindled by Gulas, and having a falling out with Gulas over booking, most notably Gulas wanting his son George as a headliner in the cities Jarrett was booking, Jarrett, in 1977, went against Gulas and started his own promotion.
190
191The key was that Jarrett had Lance Russell, the voice of wrestling in the area, Dave Brown, his sidekick and the top weatherman on television and one of the most popular television news personalities, along with Lawler, on his side. Russell, who was a television program director, was offered a full-time wrestling position that likely made him the highest paid wrestling announcer of the era.
192
193He made a deal with the NBC affiliate, WMC-TV, where he was able to bring them Saturday morning wrestling, which outdrew all the strongest prime time network shows, Russell as host, Lawler, the big draw every Monday, plus could bring them Brown for their newscasts. The move was incredibly successful for all parties. While they never did the business in Memphis of the early 70s, wrestling remained strong through 1986 and continued through 1995 when the promotion was dying and Jarrett sold his piece. TV ratings actually improved being on the stronger station. Brown became the most popular and most trusted television news personality in the city, and had a successful relationship with them until retiring in 2015.
194
195While Tennessee wrestling was often mocked and held in low regard, for the heavy comedy, the belief the performers were less athletic and not as skilled as the major territories and for the bad pay, from a business standpoint it was a success and the television format was in many ways closer to what wrestling evolved into. They pioneered music videos, long before MTV, and had some of the most creative and successful angles.
196
197Even including Bruno Sammartino, Dusty Rhodes or Ric Flair, there was probably no pro wrestler in North America with the level of regional appeal and name recognition that Lawler had in Tennessee. The problem was that until the emergence of The Fabulous Ones as a tag team, and that was only short-lived, the territory lived and died based on Lawler’s programs. If Lawler was gone, business was bad. When Lawler broke his leg, business was terrible. When he came back, business was at record-levels.
198
199Lawler used that leverage to get a 50 percent ownership of the promotion. Jarrett and Russell, while they worked together for years, had a bitter relationship because when Lawler threatened to leave and start his own promotion against Jarrett, exactly what Jarrett had done a few years earlier, Russell was in the Lawler camp. Jarrett realized how important Lawler and Russell were to the success, and made Lawler a partner. Jarrett claimed later that he understood Lawler as the money draw and accepted he had the power to do that, but didn’t accept a television announcer being part of that. Jarrett claimed he cut his pay. Russell, who had underlying heat with Jarrett for decades until they smoothed things over before Russell’s death, claimed Jarrett actually gave him a raise to stay. But Russell did leave in the late 80s when business was falling after getting an offer from World Championship Wrestling, where he worked for years until returning to a promotion that was struggling.
200
201Jarrett was credited with owning the last of the original major territories, which was the case because he was running such a shoe-string operation. His keys to survival was paying most of the talent very little, and because his television situation was strong enough and even when fans no longer went to the live matches, ratings remained good enough that he had a paying deal from WMC.
202
203Jarrett had a working relationship with Bill Watts that led to Watts’ best years as a promoter in 1984 and 1985 when the two companies essentially traded talent to freshen things up, which led to booker Bill Dundee, The Rock & Roll Express, Jim Cornette & The Midnight Express and Terry Taylor becoming major area stars. He later had business relationships with Verne Gagne and the Von Erichs, but they were all short-lived. He also had a relationship with Vince McMahon, where McMahon actually came in as a heel manager, and at different times had affiliations with WCW and WWF. Although some deny this, Jarrett was hired by McMahon and moved to Connecticut, with the idea that he would take over the company if Vince McMahon had to serve prison time after being indicted on conspiracy to distribute steroid charges. After McMahon was found not guilty in trial, Jarrett left Connecticut.
204
205Jarrett attempted to get backing to purchase WCW when it was dying, but for whatever reason, WCW would not entertain his offers. A number of different groups attempted to purchase WCW besides groups headed by McMahon and Eric Bischoff, but for whatever reason, it was only the McMahon and Bischoff
206
207TOP AMONG DIFFERENT VOTING GROUPS
208
209 
210
211REPORTERS:
212
2131. L.A. Park
214
2152. Jimmy Hart
216
2173. Jerry Jarrett
218
2194. Blue Panther
220
2215. Villano III
222
223Howard Finkel
224
2257. Edge
226
2278. Cien Caras
228
2299. Los Misioneros de la Muerte
230
23110. Big Daddy
232
23311. Karloff Lagarde
234
23512. Gary Hart
236
23713. Sputnik Monroe
238
23914. Jun Akiyama
240
24115. Akira Taue
242
24316. Sgt. Slaughter
244
24517. Jim Crockett Sr.
246
24718. Junkyard Dog
248
24919. Kenny Omega
250
25120. Blanchard & Anderson w/Dillon
252
25321. Ultimo Guerrero
254
25522. Red Bastien
256
25723. Bill Apter
258
25924. Yuji Nagata
260
26125. Bearcat Wright
262
263Stanley Weston
264
26527. Dr. Wagner Jr.
266
26728. Don Owen
268
26929. Johnny Saint
270
27130. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
272
273 
274
275HISTORIANS
276
2771. Akira Taue
278
279Bill Apter
280
2813. Howard Finkel
282
2834. Jerry Jarrett
284
2855. Jimmy Hart
286
2876. Gary Hart
288
2897. Bearcat Wright
290
2918. Jun Akiyama
292
2939. Sgt. Slaughter
294
29510. Kenny Omega
296
29711. Enrique Torres
298
29912. Ultimo Guerrero
300
301Los Misioneros de la Muerte
302
30314. Larry Matysik
304
30515. Cien Caras
306
307Villano III
308
30917. Yuji Nagata
310
31118. Bill Goldberg
312
31319. Karloff Lagarde
314
315L.A. Park
316
31721. Don Owen
318
31922. Jim Crockett Sr.
320
32123. June Byers
322
32324. Edge
324
32525. Jim Crockett Jr.
326
32726. Johnny Saint
328
32927. George Scott
330
331Johnny “Wrestling II” Walker
332
33329. Dr. Wagner Jr.
334
33530. Billy Joyce
336
337Killer Karl Kox
338
339Jackie Pallo
340
341 
342
343ACTIVE WRESTLERS
344
3451. Yuji Nagata
346
3472. Dr. Wagner Jr.
348
3493. Jun Akiyama
350
3514. Jimmy Hart
352
3535. Johnny Saint
354
3556. Ultimo Guerrero
356
3577. Bill Apter
358
3598. Larry Matysik
360
3619. Johnny “Wrestling II” Walker
362
36310. Howard Finkel
364
36511. Sgt, Slaughter
366
36712. Jim Crockett Sr.
368
36913. Sputnik Monroe
370
37114. Los Brazos
372
373Los Misioneros de la Muerte
374
37516. L.A. Park
376
37717. Villano III
378
37918. Big Daddy
380
38119. Blanchard & Anderson w/Dillon
382
38320. Bill Goldberg
384
38521. Gary Hart
386
38722. Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
388
389Hayabusa
390
39124. Rollerball Mark Rocco
392
39325. Jerry Jarrett
394
39526. George Steele
396
397Junkyard Dog
398
39928. Kendo Nagasaki
400
40129. Kenny Omega
402
40330. Randy Orton
404
405 
406
407FORMER WRESTLERS
408
4091. Jerry Jarrett
410
4112. Bill Apter
412
4133. L.A. Park
414
4154. Kenny Omega
416
4175. Gary Hart
418
4196. Blanchard & Anderson w/Dillon
420
4217. Cien Caras
422
4238. Los Misioneros de la Muerte
424
4259. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
426
42710. Edge
428
42911. Jim Crockett Sr.
430
43112. Jimmy Hart
432
43313. Johnny “Wrestling II” Walker
434
43514. Karloff Lagarde
436
43715. Huracan Ramirez
438
43916. Dominic DeNucci
440
441Killer Karl Kox
442
44318. Jackie Pallo
444
44519. Don Owen
446
44720. Larry Matysik
448
44921. Red Bastien
450
45122. Sputnik Monroe
452
45323. Rollerball Mark Rocco
454
45524. Junkyard Dog
456
45725. Howard Finkel
458
45926. Rocky Johnson
460
461John Tolos
462
463Von Brauners w/Weingeroff
464
46529. Dr. Wagner Jr.
466
46730. Mario Milano
468
469Ricki Starr
470
471groups that WCW seriously talked with.
472
473 
474
475After WCW folded, and McMahon wouldn’t hire his son Jeff Jarrett because of bitterness at the time, he and his son started TNA Wrestling in 2002 with the idea that television was going to turn into people paying for specific episodes of shows. So the idea was they would do a weekly pay-per-view, but save money by not having to produce television. That was a gigantic miscalculation, and both Jarretts lost so much money so quickly that they were about to go bankrupt. The saving grace was finding out that the President of the company that was handling their publicity in Nashville, Dixie Carter, came from a family that owned a huge energy company, and Bob Carter purchased the company for Dixie Carter to run.
476
477Jerry continued on with the company and booked at times. Eventually there was a falling out because Jerry Jarrett and Vince Russo both wanted the booking position and Jeff felt his father was from another era and went with Russo, leading to years when the two weren’t on speaking terms. Another issue in the break-up was when some people representing Oleg Prudius (who later had a pushed run as Vladimir Kozlov) wanted to get their huge kickboxer and football player into pro wrestling. Instead of trying to get him into TNA, Jarrett set up a meeting with Vince McMahon, and WWE put it all over social media that Jerry Jarrett was there, with the idea being, but never said, that he was looking to make a deal for TNA, whether to sell or other wise. This created huge unrest in TNA with the belief Jerry was trying to get Jeff, who was running TNA, into WWE and that TNA would fold. Jarrett placed third this year among reporters, fourth among historians, 25th among active wrestler and first among former wrestlers.
478
479Jarrett’s legacy is mixed. The style of wrestling was not respected in its era, but was successful and the television was one of the best of its time, in many ways far ahead of its time. Many wrestlers had horror stories of pay, but really it was Nick Gulas who was the promoter during the worst of the era when Tennessee had the bad reputation. With Jarrett, there was some negativity, but mostly in the last several years of his run when business was poor.
480
481Without question he ran a successful territory for a decade and booked strongly before that. As far as any list of successful American bookers, Jarrett would have to be on it. At the time, really before the induction of Roy Shire, the standards for a promoter getting in were much higher. In the early 2000s, the feeling was that the Jerry Jarrett legacy would be determined by whether he could make a go of TNA when he started it.
482
483TNA ended up being a spectacular business failure that he was lucky to get out of. But looked at now, people have kind of glossed over that, and because the Memphis television was so much more entertaining in many ways than modern television, Jarrett in many ways has had a huge boost to his reputation in recent years, combined with a Shire induction of a guy who had maybe 15 years of success as a promoter getting in, and Jarrett could easily be viewed as, while not being as successful as a promoter for quite as long (Shire drew well for more than 15 years, while the Jarrett territory’s real strength was over by 1986 and the ability to pop big shows really ended by 1988), was far superior to Shire in television production, and regional wrestling was a much tougher business after 1985.
484
485Jimmy Hart, 75, was a lifelong wrestling fan who had a career in music before pro wrestling.
486
487As a teenager in the 50s, Hart used to sell drinks at the Monday night show at the Ellis Auditorium, and was at the famous Billy Wicks vs. Sputnik Monroe match in 1957 that for decades held the city’s attendance record.
488
489While more famous for his run as “The Mouth of the South” in WWF, where he managed The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart), Greg Valentine, Ted DiBiase & IRS (Mike Rotunda), Honky Tonk Man, Earthquake (John Tenta) & Typhoon (Fred Ottman), The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers, The Nasty Boys, Dino Bravo, The Funks, Adrian Adonis, Bob Orton Jr., and many others as a heel, and later Hulk Hogan as a babyface, his best worker was undeniably in Tennessee for Jarrett Promotions.
490
491During most of his WWF run, he was the secondary manager behind Bobby Heenan. But in Tennessee, he carried the territory and his 1978 to 1984 run in that territory, particularly the last few yeas, may have been the best work of any manager in carrying a territory long-term in history, even ahead of Heenan and Lou Albano.
492
493Hart was born January 1, 1943, in Jackson, MS. He went to Treadwell High School in Memphis, the same school as Jerry Lawler, but he was even years older than Lawler.
494
495Hart, who few know, was a very good athlete as a high school football player. That’s why in Jarrett Promotions he did so well with the physical aspects of pro wrestling, a trait he rarely showed in his WWF run. Lawler knew of him as one of the school’s celebrities as the member of the band, “The Gentrys,” who were a nationally-known band at the same time Lawler was in high school.
496
497The seven-member group were all from Treadwell High School, and started playing together in 1963 playing at high school dances and in 1964 won the Memphis Battle of the Bands, which led to a recording contract with Youngstown Records. They had some local hits, but their big success was “Keep on Dancing,” in 1965, which reached No. 4 on the billboard charts, which led to appearances on “Where the Action Is,” Dick Clark’s show in the 60s that was the springboard to national exposure. They toured at that time with both The Beach Boys and Sonny & Cher. But their success was short-lived. Other singles released failed to crack the top 40. Their last original success was an appearance in the 1967 movie, “Bikini World.”
498
499The original group folded in 1967, but Hart reformed the group in 1969 and became the lead singer. A 1970 album saw two singles hit the top 100, “Why Should I Cry” and “Cinnamon Girl.” That group broke up in 1972.
500
501When Lawler himself recorded records in the 70s, Hart, who was playing at clubs in Memphis with his musical career going nowhere, was brought in to sing back-up. Lawler then brought him into pro wrestling. In Hart’s early years, he just stood behind Lawler and would mostly carry his robes and occasionally get involved, but never talked, since Lawler hardly needed a mouthpiece.
502
503Hart really came into his own when Lawler suffered a broken leg playing football with his buddies. With Lawler gone, Hart was called on to carry the territory, showed no remorse or compassion for Lawler’s injury, saying that when a horse breaks is leg, you shoot it, and then proclaimed Paul Ellering as the new King of Wrestling, with Hart as the leader of the First Family.
504
505When Lawler returned from his injury, going against Hart and his First Family, it was one of the most successful business periods in Tennessee history. During that period, Hart produced and sang the song “Lance Russell’s Nose,” which got a lot of local airplay on Memphis stations, and was remade into the song “Barbara Streisand’s Nose,” that Terry Funk sung in Japan during the early 80s.
506
507Hart never made big money, sometimes only $250 per week while carrying the territory. So in 1985, he left to join the WWF, doing a memorable Memphis farewell show when he did one of the few angles that Russell was a part of, being fired for pouring flour all over Russell.
508
509He started in WWF as the manager of Greg Valentine, as well as King Kong Bundy, Terry Funk (and later Dory Funk Jr., when he came in as Hoss Funk) and then The Hart Foundation. He was briefly called The Colonel, a reference to Col. Tom Parker, the manager of Elvis Presley, when he managed Honky Tonk Man.
510
511During that period he was known for his wild ring jackets and constantly talking on a megaphone at ringside, which he also used as a weapon. Those within wrestling in WWF always noted how Hart had nonstop energy.
512
513Hart had known Hulk Hogan, when Terry “The Hulk” Boulder first came to Tennessee in 1979. Hart immediately saw money in him and told Lawler that they should manage him and try and get him over as a worldwide attraction, similar to Andre the Giant. Lawler declined, thinking there would be no money on him.
514
515By 1993, when Hogan returned to WWF after a nearly one year sabbatical due to bad publicity stemming from his lying on The Arsenio Hall show about his steroid use and Vince McMahon thinking the best thing to do was to have Hogan make a sympathetic retirement speech, go away for a while until the heat died down, and return. But Hogan wouldn’t do that, and just disappeared after the 1992 WrestleMania without giving the planned speech.
516
517He was brought back for the 1993 WrestleMania, as a tag team with best friend Brutus Beefcake, and with Hart as a babyface manager. Hart to this day has continued his affiliation with Hogan, basically as a real-life manager and sometimes publicist, and when Hogan had a restaurant/club, Hart was a regular in setting up activities. Hart also worked with Brooke Hogan on the road during her singing career.
518
519The problem is that the babyface manager role is kind of a dead-end, but Hogan always wanted him around.
520
521When Hogan came to New Japan in 1993 and WCW in 1994, Hart came with him. At one point Hart went back heel, turning on Hogan and managing heels against him including The Giant (Big Show), billed as Andre’s son, and Ric Flair.
522
523He also did some WWF music and much of the WCW music during his tenure with each company, and at one time booked the WCW Saturday Night television show.
524
525After WCW folded, Hart ended up in charge of a group called the XWF, which was around for a short period of time, taped television, and faded away. Hart had promised Hogan would be with the group, and Hogan teased coming, but at the last minute went back to WWF.
526
527For years, Hart, Lawler and Corey Maclin ran Memphis Wrestling, largely built around reviving the Lawler vs. Hart feud, which did the strongest independent crowds in the country for shows at the Mid South Coliseum. At another point he worked with a lottery winner for an all women’s Wrestlelicious promotion, that never really got off the ground.
528
529Later he worked for TNA, sometimes on the air, and other times where he would go through the Universal theme park, in gimmick, to recruit fans to come to the studio and watch the free television tapings. He regularly appeared on “Hogan Knows Best” and did various jobs with WWE, often things like publicity work during WrestleMania season, and was a judge on the short-lived show “Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling.
530
531Hart was voted Manager of the Year in the Observer poll in 1983 and Best on Interviews in 1984. He was named to the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005.
532
533Hart placed second in this year’s balloting among reporters, fifth among historians, fourth among active wrestlers and 12th among retired wrestlers.
534
535Bill Apter, 73, was the best known of the wrestling magazine writers and photographers in the 70s and 80s.
536
537Apter was the face of Stanley Weston’s magazines, which Weston later sold, and had the best distribution of the magazines of that era. There were multiple titles, but the best known were “The Wrestler” and “Inside Wrestling,” and then the flagship magazine in the 80s came out called “Pro Wrestling Illustrated,” which still exists and is the last magazine of its kind in North America.
538
539Apter is an interesting pick. He’s a very likeable guy. There was certainly a fan base of people who liked him personally, since he was easy to meet and talk with, but weren’t fans of the sensationalistic style of those magazines, with the made up interviews and writing their own storylines, some of which was better than the ones on television. They were certainly cheesy, and in the 70s would feature the famed “apartment house wrestling” photo spreads where women would wrestle wearing little or no clothing and they’d write sexual stories around the photos.
540
541There were other magazines that played it straighter, and later Apter himself headed “WOW Magazine,” that took on a very different philosophy, admitting wrestling was a work.
542
543During the 80s in particular, the family of magazines that he worked for were known as the “Apter-mags,” a term still used for them long after Apter left.
544
545The magazines were influential in their day. While he would have been a star anyway based on his look and charisma, but it was Apter in particular who deserves the credit for making Lex Luger into a name by putting him on so many covers while he was just starting out in Florida. While people like Bruno Sammartino and Mil Mascaras, the magazine favorites, were huge stars on their own, they were made to seem larger than life.
546
547Apter was first hired by Weston in 1970, and worked as a photographer and would interview talent in the Northeast most likely. The magazines in that era, based in New York, always covered the WWWF the strongest, which made the most economic sense. They usually featured the major territories, Los Angeles was covered strong since it had national television and great photographers. Detroit and Chicago were big because of the blood shots of people like The Sheik and Bobby Heenan. But there wasn’t much interest in many of the other territories. Tennessee got good coverage because of Apter’s friendship with Jerry Lawler, and Apter was the conduit for the Lawler vs. Andy Kaufman angle in 1982.
548
549Kaufman wanted to get into pro wrestling, and Apter tried to broker a deal with Vince McMahon’s father, who ran the WWF, who turned it down. Apter then proposed the deal to Lawler, who loved it, and it became one of the more famous wrestling angles of all-time.
550
551Most wrestlers accepted the magazines as what they were. Bruno Sammartino, who was friends with Apter, got mad when they would do their made up quotes and they ended up having a deal where his quotes were actually always real, but that was the exception. There were staff writers who were very real, including heel reporters, but many others, notably Matt Brock, were fictitious. Writers came and went, but Stu Sacks, who came from the newsletter world, Craig Peters, and Apter were the mainstays. Sacks is the only one still there.
552
553The business changed in 1984. Vince McMahon attempted to hire Apter to run his magazines, but at the time, Apter was loyal to Weston. McMahon then basically declared war on the magazines, wanting to run them out of business and have the market to himself with his own WWF Magazine.
554
555Talent was banned from talking to Apter, which, obviously, didn’t work. All the magazines not only had press credential revoked but WWF tried to scout arenas to ban them from shooting from the stands with telephoto lenses.
556
557This led to the period in the late 80s where Apter was tight with Jim Crockett Promotions, which not only accepted him, but regularly put him on television, at one point he had a weekly segment on their shows, which pushed him and promoted his magazines, particularly if one of their wrestlers would get the year-end awards. Apter’s peak as far as awareness by wrestling fans was probably that era because of the television exposure, including at one point a weekly segment on TBS on the Sunday wrestling show in the late 80s.
558
559Apter and the magazines were always walking a tight-rope existing in a jealous and weird industry. Apter was good at not ruffling feathers, but still, it was impossible not to, particularly in the era of the PWI top 500, which is an impossible task sure to generate nothing but heat, as it does every year. Most wrestlers think they are rated too low. All fans think their favorites are. Plus, the world was changing and as the Observer gained popularity, there was pressure on them from some sides to become more real, while they didn’t want to upset the promotions.
560
561For Apter, the era ended in 1999. Weston had sold the magazines and retired. He had told me it would have been very difficult to leave had Weston still been in charge. The parting was not amicable.
562
563He got an offer with a huge raise in pay to head up “WOW Magazine,” who wanted wrestling covered with the understanding that it wasn’t real. It wasn’t the Observer, but it wasn’t going to tell its readers that wrestling was legit, given nobody in wrestling was sticking to that much by that time. But the magazine that started based on a pro wrestling boom, and with much higher quality work and expenses than PWI, folded in 2001.
564
565Given that he was synonymous with the PWI Magazine, many expected his return as inevitable. But with magazines cutting costs, it never happened, although he did occasional features for the magazine starting in 2008. He started working non-wrestling jobs after the folding of WOW Magazine. He sometimes performed in local nightclubs telling stories and doing comedy. He has appeared as a historian on some WWE Network docs as well in recent years, and released an autobiography, “Is Wrestling Fixed? I Didn’t Know It Was Broken.” He also now runs the 1wrestling.com web site.
566
567Apter was the first and only wrestling reporter ever put on the ballot. It opens up the question as to whether reporters from Japan and Mexico, where really, the magazines were more influential, should be up on the ballot. Stanley Weston, his publisher, has been on the ballot of years. Weston was undeniably more influential over a longer period of time than Apter, but did not have his public visibility, staying more behind the scenes. Next year Jim Melby, who both the Tragos/Thesz Hall of Fame and Cauliflower Alley Club have their journalist and historian awards respectively named after will be put on the ballot. Melby wasn’t as visible as Apter, and died young, in 2007 at the age of 57, due to health problems from diabetes that he’d battled with since his 20s. Melby, in running a different brand of magazines with Norm Keitzer, did more serious coverage of wrestling, and also was the leader of the historians until his death.
568
569Apter placed 23rd among active reporters, which was actually his weakest category, tying for first among historians, seventh among active wrestlers and second among retired wrestlers.
570
571Howard Finkel, 68, is the second ring announcer in the Observer Hall of Fame, following Jimmy Lennon of Southern California fame, who is the only person in both the boxing and wrestling Halls of Fame.
572
573Finkel and Lennon would generally be regarded as the two best wrestling ring announcers of all-time. His booming voice saying “and still” or “and new” after championship matches has been imitated, and is particularly big in modern boxing and MMA with people who were kids watching WWF in the 80s and 90s.
574
575Finkel is the longest reigning employee of the WWE, having first been hired by Vince McMahon Sr., in 1975.
576
577While not doing the television shows in that era, Finkel handled ring announcing in a number of Northeastern arenas for the WWWF. He was best known for his work in Madison Square Garden, which aired on cable on the MSG Network in the 70s and for a time on the USA Network.
578
579His first MSG show was January 17, 1977, with a double main event of Bruno Sammartino defending the WWWF title against Ken Patera and Ivan Putski facing Bruiser Brody.
580
581Replacing “Friendly” Bob Freed, he was a fixture at MSG shows with his very distinctive style. While he was a specialist at main event and title matches, he made the announcing of the next card a highlight of every show.
582
583In those days, an MSG show would have the main event put on during the middle of the show, so the result was known of the key players and they could announce the complete next card before the final match of the show.
584
585Finkel would start low key, announcing a few prelim matches, pepping up with a star babyface in a squash, or give a sinister overtone with a name heel. He would play it up bigger. Since people knew who the champion was, on most cards the announcements were more about if there would be any guest stars from other territories, like Dusty Rhodes, Mil Mascaras or globetrotting Andre the Giant, or guest appearances.
586
587Before the Hogan era, when everything changed, the Finkel peak was when Bob Backlund was champion, for the Sammartino returns. He’d go through the show, and then announce Backlund’s title match, and then pause, tease walking away and people thought that was the card, after giving the title match a pop.
588
589Then he’d say that there was one more match, and then mention the name of a heel, usually a headliner who had finished his title run with Backlund, and pause before announcing the Sammartino name, which would get the biggest pop of the show.
590
591When the WWF went national in 1984, Finkel became the main ring announcer for whatever the A television show was, as well as all the PPV events.
592
593He’s also credited with coming up with the term “WrestleMania,” although there are people from that era who have claimed that one of the production people who came from World Class Wrestling came up with that term as well.
594
595Finkel would have been a talented wrestling announcer. Once, he did a fill-in role and was smooth and on target, and a better play-by-play announcer than anyone in the company and perhaps in the business at the time. But television announcing has been heavily tied to look and image. He understood that, and once told Larry Matysik, when Matysik complimented him on how well he did as a play-by-play announcer that people like you and me aren’t going to be put in that position.
596
597On occasion, Finkel would be involved in storylines, often described as Vince McMahon “Mel Cooley,” a straight-laced corporate character played by Richard Deacon from the early 1960s Dick Van Dyke show who was always the butt of jokes by the comedy writer played by Morey Amsterdam.
598
599As much of a classic character as Finkel was, and no ring announcer since has been as good, he was replaced by Lillian Garcia as part of a new direction where they wanted a nice looking woman handling the job. The role has always been one that was seen as easily replaceable. Justin Roberts, who was a strong ring announcer several years later, would often be told that they could always get a diva to perform his job.
600
601I always thought that aspect was sad. Finkel was a classic, who never made a mistake that I can recall, and was imitated by copied in ways none of the ring announcers since ever were. Tony Chimel had a unique way of announcing Edge and John Cena, but nobody ever considered him the prototypical ring announcer. Yet there is kind of a feeling that a Hall of Fame ring announcer is a guy like Lennon, or his son, or Michael Buffer in boxing, and even to a degree Bruce Buffer in UFC, who will always be there, or at least be there until his 60s because they are fixtures, and not someone that would be replaced because somebody thought the role should be handled by a pretty girl. Finkel was largely off television, although he still did arena events, by the age of 50 because of the idea that they had to present a youthful product.
602
603Finkel came back in 2002 as a heel with the idea of creating a conflict with Garcia as ring announcer. The idea was to try and build a rating with an evening gown vs. tuxedo clothes stripping match between the two of them for the Raw ring announcing position. Finkel was played up in a chauvinist role, as the old out-of-touch male who thought no woman could do the job he could do. As is often the case, the heel was right.
604
605The idea was likely that Garcia was an attractive woman but had never been stripped down to her underwear on television, unlike most of the women wrestlers. So that tease was expected to do ratings, but in the end, it was Finkel left in his underwear, a 52-year-old man, for comedy.
606
607In the modern era, Finkel’s role was limited, as the voice to introduce the Hall of Fame inductees at WrestleMania. He did this role through 2016, except in 2009, when it was handled by Roberts since Finkel was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. He also appeared on Raw and Smackdown nostalgia shows in 2012. His voice introduced Undertaker during the 25th anniversary of Raw, but he was not shown.
608
609Finkel tied for fifth place this year among reporters, placed third among historians, placed tenth among current wrestlers and 25th among former wrestlers.
610
611Finkel has not appeared on television in nearly three years. This past year, Jerry Lawler stated that Finkel suffered a stroke, a story that was neither confirmed nor denied. Whatever the story is, WWE wanted it kept secretive since even many friends of Finkel have been unable to get any information on how he is doing.
612
613Gary Hart would be on any list of the greatest pro wrestling managers of all-time. He also wrestled when young, although wasn’t particularly good at it, and had considerable success in a lot of places as a booker.
614
615Unlike Bobby Heenan, Jim Cornette, Lou Albano or Paul Heyman, Gary Hart didn’t come across like an entertaining guy. He was pure evil, like a mob boss, from Chicago, without a shred of compassion.
616
617Hart was born Gary Richard Williams on January 24, 1942, in Evansville, IN. He really grew up on the South Side of Chicago, where he was always billed from. He never knew his father and was raised by his grandmother and his older sister. His wrestling background came from, as a teenager, working at his uncle's farm in Illinois every summer and watching Sam Muchnick's "Wrestling at the Chase." When he went back to Chicago, he started seeing that they had wrestling on television as well, both Vince McMahon Sr.'s shows from Washington, DC, and the local shows promoted by Fred Kohler from Marigold Arena. What is interesting is that after becoming a name in the industry, he never did much in either of those cities. Chicago had Bobby Heenan, and Muchnick didn't believe in managers, although he made the exception with Heenan because the wrestlers would insist to him that Heenan was so valuable.
618
619He was most notable for his unique interview style, copied by Jake Roberts, of being a soft-spoken heel and in doing came across as a more realistically evil presence than most of the yellers and screamers that populated the heel ranks. He took from his days in the mob in developing his style.
620
621"I never wanted to be the typical bad guy, cliche wrestling manager," he said in an interview on the Kayfabe Memories site. "I always talked to the audience in a way that they understood I was angry, and I was evil. But at the same time, I wanted to do it in a manner that they could understand what I was talking about and who I was talking about. On the occasion that I would raise my level of anger, it was noticeable because I didn't do that very often. Interviews are so important in wrestling. If you are going to communicate, that is get your point across, then I believe you have to do it in a manner where you don't alienate the people who are listening to you. If you speak softly, people listen harder. It was something I understood from my days in Chicago. When a really bad guy was telling someone what was going to happen if they didn't pay the money they owed, he never raised his voice. He spoke softly and very matter of fact. If anything, he almost whispered. That may have had an affect on me. It made me understand that serious people don't rant and rave."
622
623He first became a name manager in the mid-60s, as the perennial adversary of Fritz Von Erich in Texas. He was also one of the more memorable managers in World Championship Wrestling in Australia, even if the angle where he hypnotized Mario Milano to get him to turn heel is considered one of the worst of that golden age.
624
625He worked most territories, but was best known in Texas, Florida and Australia before his late 80s and early 90s run in WCW with the Great Muta.
626
627He was known for his part in two of the biggest angles in history, the 1974 angle in Florida where he and Pak Song turned on Dusty Rhodes, leading to Rhodes’ babyface turn, and the 1982 angle, which he booked but was not a part of, leading to the Freebirds vs. Von Erichs feud.
628
629Hart got started when he met promoter Fred Kohler's booker, Billy Goelz, through competing as a swimmer. He grew up in a bad section of Chicago and at the time he was doing collections for the mob. Goelz agreed to train him, but told him he first had to stop working for the mob. Hart agreed, and Goelz trained him, but he lied and continued to work to make money, although he wanted out, realizing that was a route going nowhere. He had his first match on May 4, 1960, against Sailor White. He came up with the name Playboy Gary Hart right away, but Goelz didn't like it, and he was known as Hurricane Hart (interestingly, Owen Hart's first nickname in the Calgary promotion, that never stuck, was also Hurricane Hart). His first break came as a manager and sometimes tag team partner of Angelo Poffo, the father of Randy Savage.
630
631He next worked for Bert Ruby in Detroit, where he was able to use the Playboy name, including managing a masked man known as The Student, who later became George "The Animal" Steele, who became a headliner. Jim "Moose" Myers was a Michigan State football player who became football coach at Madison High School in the Detroit area. He wore the mask when working in the Michigan area so people affiliated with school wouldn't recognize him. Hart next worked for Jim Barnett in Ohio and Indiana, a promoter he always spoke highly of. One of the favorite periods of his career was in the 60s when he made several tours of Australia. He had a few runs in Georgia in the 70s when Barnett was in charge, most notably managing Spoiler and Kabuki. The fact Barnett fired him on a few occasions didn't stop him from praising the way Barnett ran his operations. He read many of the high-end wrestling books, and the one that upset him the most was Jim Wilson's "Chokehold" due to the highly negative portrayal of Barnett.
632
633He also had a run in the Amarillo territory as Gay Gary Hart, with blond hair, as a wrestler. It was an idea Dory Funk Sr. came up with at about the time Terry Funk started his career. Needless to say, few remember it today, which tells you how well it worked.
634
635"I told him (Dory Sr.) I wasn't going to prance around the ring and do anything belittling gay people," he said. "I just felt it was wrong. He told me he didn't care what I did once I was in the ring, I was going to be Gay Gary Hart and that was that. So between hating the long trips and the gimmick, I was out of Amarillo pretty quick."
636
637But in the 60s and 70s, he was largely known as "The Millionaire Playboy, Gary Hart." Early on, he even had the long blond hair. It was a rougher version of the Cornette character, as he was supposedly a spoiled rich kid raised by his mother who paid for his fancy lifestyle. He'd dress in expensive suits and alligator shoes, and make fun of the commoners who paid for their wrestling tickets and had to work for a living. Most managers who did rich gimmicks wore cheap suits, figuring they were going to have beer and coke thrown on them nightly. Hart felt to be believable to the public he couldn't dress in what people would think was phony expensive clothes.
638
639He really hit in big in Texas. He had met Fritz Von Erich when Fritz worked as a headliner in Detroit. He arrived in 1966 in the middle of a promotional war in the state. Hart managed a remake of the Fabulous Kangaroos, original Kangaroo Al Costello, who teamed with Karl Von Brauner, which, like with Rhodes, was the act Fritz Von Erich, teaming with "brother" Waldo, feuded with that got the Von Erichs over as the top babyfaces. After his first of many money disputes with Fritz, he quit and went back to Detroit to work for The Sheik, who by that time had purchased the territory from Barnett.
640
641When he returned to Texas, this time with the promotional war over and Fritz booking talent for what became a lucrative territory with weekly stops in Fort Worth, Dallas, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Houston, his career really clicked.
642
643He suggested using Don "The Spoiler" Jardine, a huge man, agile in his prime, whose face was his detriment, as the top heel. But with the mask on, and being given the claw hold as his finisher, he made for a great rival of Fritz Von Erich. Fritz was dead set against allowing Jardine to use the claw, but Hart insisted that would pop the territory. Fritz insisted on concessions, Jardine having to wear a black glove, to make it as if he was "cheating" with his claw, and also, that the move be called on television the "Hart Crusher," instead of the claw.
644
645Hart's reputation was made as the territory was strong for the next year, with Fritz vs. Spoiler as the big money program on top, battling for both the American heavyweight title, and with partners (Spoiler teamed with both Don Whitler aka Smasher Sloan as well as Hart regularly) battling for the American tag team titles. A first major business argument came after Fritz beating Spoiler II for his mask drew a big house, Fritz started insisting on doing the same with Jardine.
646
647"He wanted to unmask Donald (Jardine)," said Hart. "I did everything I could to argue against it. He kept saying, `the people want it.' Finally, we had no choice and Fritz beat him for the mask. Business dropped immediately. Things got so bad that I told Fritz that we have to put the mask back on Donald. After a few weeks, after we'd been to every city a few times, I argued that the people who were going t pay to see what he looked like without the mask have seen it. I did an interview where I said his mask is now like the world title, put it back on him and challenged people to win it. We got business back up, but it was never like it was before."
648
649It was one of the lessons he learned about keeping a heel drawing money, and in particular, booking Jardine.
650
651"When we would go to a new place, I'd tell the promoters, he's not going to unmask," Hart said. "If you want to build to shaving my head, if you want to juice me, if you want to have me stay a few extra weeks after he's gone and do anything to me, that's fine. The mask is not negotiable. We both already knew what would happen when it came off."
652
653As he got older, he became "The Evil Genius," almost like a living embodiment of the Lex Luthor character in the Superman cartoons. And as the years went by, he was no longer pushed as a genius, and was simply just evil.
654
655The success in Texas gave him a rep as a strong booker, and was booker or helped book in several territories over the years, including Australia for Jim Barnett in 1969, where Spoiler had a brief run as world champion. Hart and Jardine remained tight for most of the rest of their lives. They lost touch for several years, but in recent years talked often, before Jardine, the godfather to both of his sons, passed away from cancer last year.
656
657He always raved about his time in Australia, as he, like many, considered World Championship Wrestling as the most professional promotion of the 60s. The wrestlers were major celebrities, who flew from city-to-city in a national promotion, stayed in five-star hotels and had drivers who would take them wherever they wanted to go. The money was the best in the world at the time. Generally wrestlers would come in for six months, but Hart ended up booking and stayed a lot longer. After Jardine went home, Hart managed people like Brute Bernard, Ivan Koloff, Bulldog Brower and the Missouri Mauler. Barnett had a rule that all wrestlers when they were in public had to wear a suit-and-tie and insisted on professional behavior. Hart recalled how Dick Murdoch & Dusty Rhodes, getting their first breaks as heel world tag team champions, "The Texas Outlaws,", would violate the dress code and he'd constantly warn them, but they'd ignore him. After they got caught a couple of times in public by Barnett wearing jeans and cowboy boots and sent back home to the U.S.
658
659Watts returned to his home territory from the AWA, buying into Leroy McGuirk's Championship Wrestling promotion that ran in the markets that Watts himself later owned when he ran Mid South Wrestling. Watts became booker. Watts worked a deal with Von Erich to send him Hart and Spoiler because he needed a big heel to work with. Spoiler was made North American heavyweight champion and Watts was in the role of chasing the title that for years he ended up synonymous with.
660
661"Gary Hart and The Spoiler and I sold out the Shreveport Auditorium on a weekly basis more consecutive times than it ever had been, plus really impacted the entire promotion," wrote Watts. "And put Jackson, MS on the map as a wrestling town with our match in the old Municipal Building there. Really, the only previous consecutive box office business territory-wise other than somebody against (Danny) Hodge, had been The Assassins against The Kentuckians (the territory's hottest feud of the 60s)."
662
663After the runs in Australia and for McGuirk, as well as a stint in the Carolinas where he managed Rip Hawk & Swede Hanson, Hart & Spoiler returned to Texas for a run in 1971 and 1972, which were the best years for the big Texas territory as it was loaded with talent. The main event scene was built around the four tough-guys, Spoiler with Hart, Wahoo McDaniel, Fritz and Johnny Valentine. On rare occasions, Hart was even a babyface when Spoiler would battle Valentine.
664
665When Watts went to Georgia to book, he brought Hart with him.
666
667Watts recalled an incident when he and Abdullah the Butcher had problems, as Butcher wouldn't do an angle Watts ordered.
668
669"I was getting ready to can his ass when Gary Hart walked over," Watts recalled. "Now Gary had no official status. But he walked over and cursed Abdullah out right to his face in he vernacular of the ghetto. They had started together under Bert Ruby years earlier. But Gary told him off and said if he wasn't going to do things right, get the f*** out of here. I was just shocked that he would talk to him so strongly, because Gary was never known as a tough guy. But for somebody like that who didn't have an ax to grind to come to my support like that, it said a lot."
670
671But after Watts was moved to Florida to book for Eddie Graham, Jerry Jarrett came in to book Georgia. Jarrett and Hart never got along. At the time, Bernard and the Missouri Mauler were working for Ann Gunkel's rival promotion in Georgia, and Jarrett told Hart he couldn't talk with his former proteges and close friends. There was even an incident between the two that got physical. Jarrett made a comment to Hart which set Hart off, and he grabbed Jarrett and slapped him in the face. Barnett heard the commotion and freaked out, and told Hart to let Jarrett go, and had to fire him. It was a blessing in disguise, because Hart went to work for Eddie Graham and Watts in Florida for the best business run of his career.
672
673In Florida in 1974, during what was the most profitable year in the history of the territory, Gary Hart's army, led by Pak Song, share top heel billing with Rhodes. Rhodes was starting to pick up some fans with his interviews, patterned after Muhammad Ali's rhythm with Superstar Billy Graham's words. Rhodes had been largely the top heel with a long run as Southern heavyweight champion, doing a lengthy feud with a babyface Jos LeDuc, since arriving from the AWA after splitting up with Murdoch in 1973. Rhodes got a world title shot at Jack Brisco, who had been the territory's top babyface for years until winning the title. The long match was built to one spot, where Rhodes had Brisco pinned after an elbow drop, but Brisco draped his foot over the bottom rope. The fans booed Brisco for doing so. It was actually Eddie Graham's spot, specifically designed because Graham had the hunch the people were ready to go with Rhodes, and that moment confirmed it in his eyes. He told Watts, who was booking at the time, that it was time to make Rhodes the top babyface.
674
675Rhodes was never a member of Gary Hart's army, but he and Song teamed together at times with Hart managing them. They teased minor problems with Rhodes as "The American Dream," which at the time was a heel role, and Song as a foreign menace, plus Rhodes as the son of a plumber and Hart as the son of a millionaire. Once, when they were doing interviews together, Hart made a remark about the Alamo and Rhodes gave a face, but those were only hints to plant the seed with no overreaction. They built it over several weeks, until a match where Eddie & Mike Graham faced Rhodes & Song in May of 1974 in Tampa. Song hit Rhodes with a big chop when Mike Graham ducked, and Rhodes was pinned. Hart and Song turned on Rhodes for losing, and gave him a huge beating. Since all the top heels were aligned with Hart, and the babyface had all feuded with Rhodes, there was nobody to save him until Mike Graham showed mercy.
676
677Rhodes matches with Song did consistent sellout business in most of the markets for the next few months as Rhodes became a babyface like nothing they had ever seen before.
678
679"He (Hart) was all business and again, we clicked immediately," wrote Watts, "And I learned so damn much from him, and was so blessed to work with him in so many areas I booked or owned. In Florida, he managed Pak Song Nam, the Korean Assassin (Shozo Kobayashi) and had Gary Hart's Army. We had it so hot we even had billboards all over Tampa with Gary and his army with a bounty on Dusty Rhodes or Jack Brisco. But more than that, he was one of my right hand men in Florida. We worked extremely close together on the total picture we developed there in the biggest bottom line year the Florida promotion ever had."
680
681After Jarrett was gone from booking Georgia and the wrestling was over, Jack Brisco convinced Barnett to bring Hart, whose run in Florida was over and was looking at working for Watts in Oklahoma, back to Georgia as booker. He put together Dick Slater & Bob Orton Jr. as a tag team, and headlined with them, and then brought Spoiler in to do a lengthy feud with the territory's top star, Mr. Wrestling II.
682
683The problem is, Hart brought in Mark Lewin and Abdullah the Butcher, whose bloodbath matches caused problems. Management at WTCG in Atlanta (which later became TBS), gave Barnett the edict they didn't want anymore blood on television. However, in a television angle, the Spoiler put the claw on Lewin, who bladed. Worse, Toru Tanaka jumped in and tore Lewin's clothes off. The management went to Barnett and asked who was in charge, and Barnett told them Hart, and station management insisted he be gone for wantonly violating station policy, even though Hart claimed Lewin got the juice against his orders.
684
685While his base was Texas, he worked as the top manager in many other territories during the 70s and 80s.
686
687After the Texas territory split up, with Paul Boesch, Joe Blanchard and Fritz Von Erich going their separate ways, he booked largely for Von Erich. It was a tricky job. Without the big Houston payoffs every Friday night, the money wasn't there like a major promotion so it was difficult to lure the top heels. There was no room for top faces because by the early 80s, you had four Von Erichs, Fritz, David, Kerry and Kevin, as well as frequent in-and-out runs with Brody. Plus, the territory was based on weekly shows on Monday nights in Fort Worth and Friday nights in Dallas, promoted off a two-hour television show which was the Monday night card. Fritz never wanted his sons to lose. With limited talent and so many shows, plus it being difficult to put heels over, it was one of the hardest territories to book.
688
689By 1982, Hart convinced Fritz that he needed to retire so his sons could escape his giant shadow, because as long as Fritz was wrestling, Fritz, by this point in his 50s, was still going to be the main asskicker in the territory just because Fritz was big, ugly, an incredible promo, and for two decades people had grown up with the idea Fritz was the toughest man in the world. But Fritz had declined badly in the ring the last several years of his career and the sons were ushering in a new style that much of wrestling hated, essentially a fast-pace style with stiffer but shorter matches, and not much in the way of babyfaces selling. Injuries were frequent and the matches were reckless. The older audience was leaving with the change in the product, but they were reaching a new teenage audience that was into the younger stars with rock star looks and less bulky physiques.
690
691The spot show business began picking up as the Von Erich brothers coming to high schools in small north Texas towns once or twice a year was a big draw. But it wasn't easy booking Monday and Friday while constantly using Bundy or Kabuki on top with one of the brothers, over and over. But Kerry had gotten hot enough, and the NWA title and Ric Flair were strong enough, that they started drawing well when any of the brothers were challenging for the title, including drawing well over 10,000 fans for a match at Reunion Arena in early 1982, the largest crowd in the Dallas area for wrestling in many years.
692
693The angle started after Kerry needed arthroscopic knee surgery so they did a storyline where there were rumors Ric Flair put a bounty on Kerry through Hart, and Kabuki injured Kerry to collect. At the same time, they split off Bundy from H&H Enterprises (the heel stable headed by Hart and Armand Hussein),although Bundy stayed a heel. Bundy managed to photocopy the check from Flair to Hart (signed "Rick Flair," showing a lack of attention to spelling) and sold the photocopy to Fritz, who supposedly went to NWA President Bob Geigel, who was appalled, and ordered Flair vs. Kerry, with the Von Erichs picking the time, the place, and all the stipulations. They picked Christmas night at Reunion Arena, in a cage match with no DQ, and because of problems with the referee getting knocked out in the previous Flair vs. Kerry match, they asked for a special referee. And then, because of the angle that was coming, to involve the fans in the angle feeling they were personally screwed as well, Fritz asked the fans to vote for the special referee, but it was done in a manner that Michael Hayes, at the time the territory's new most popular non-Von Erich babyface and billed as David's good friend, would be the one chosen.
694
695Hart put together the Christmas night idea. It started with Buddy Roberts no-showing, so David teamed with Hayes & Terry Gordy to win the newly-created World six-man tag team titles, with David scoring the pinfall to win the belts. David then said that since he knew the Freebirds were like brothers, he was vacating his third of the title he actually won, so Roberts could have it.
696
697The Freebirds would screw Kerry out of the title in a cage match with Flair when Hayes, brought in as best friends with David, went heel as a referee and Terry Gordy slammed the cage door on Kerry's head, costing him the match that he was on the verge of winning. The show drew 12,000 fans and $105,000, at the time the biggest gate in the history of wrestling in the state.
698
699Hart was not a partner in the promotion, but had a deal as booker that for every $1,000 above usual figures the gate would be in Dallas and Fort Worth, he would get a $100 bonus. That week also drew several other huge gates, supposedly $250,000 in total business, destroying all company records. Hart figured on getting a big Christmas bonus, in the range of $15,000 or more. When he got a $2,500 bonus check, he felt insulted and quit on the spot, but told The Freebirds to stay and work the angle.
700
701He and Kabuki went to the Carolinas where he largely worked in a mid-card feud with Jimmy Valiant until he returned back to Texas just as the boom period there was ending. The "Heroes of World Class" DVD gave the impression Hart booked Texas during the boom period, but he wasn't even in the promotion at its real hot point.
702
703Ken Mantell, who Hart never liked or trusted, was booker during the big years in 1983 and 1984. On the WWE "Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling" DVD, Hayes tried to take credit for the hot period, noting the Von Erichs were around in 1982 but the crowds were far smaller. Hart always believed he put together the key angle, and while he wasn't there for the record run (he was living in Charlotte at the time, but was brought in with Kabuki for a big show), he set the table for it.
704
705"Contrary to what Michael Hayes said (on the DVD), that was all Playboy Gary Hart," he said the day before his death at the autograph signing. "I brought him in. I manipulated him. I positioned him. They (Hayes, Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts) were great at what they did, but that was me. I would have never told you that ten years ago. What popped Dallas and Texas itself was Kevin, David and Kerry. They were the guys that packed arenas."
706
707Kevin, the last surviving member of the wrestling family, always referred to Hart as his Uncle Gary, a term many people in wrestling close with him used. Many in wrestling didn't speak highly of the Von Erichs, because they were given their spots and some felt that in the early 80s, before it popped, that the territory was more about promoting the Von Erich name as celebrities than it was about building a business. As it turned out, one led to the other, but it was also only relatively short-term. Hart always defended Kevin, David and Kerry, saying they had the charisma and athletic ability and would have been stars if given the chance no matter who their father was, and praised Kevin for changing the style of wrestling.
708
709Once, Hart was in the middle during an ugly confrontation between Fritz and David, where David told his father to never lay a hand on him again.
710
711During the early 80s, and again in the mid-80s, Hart was alarmed at the drug use that was devouring the company and ended up in an unprecedented body count, ultimately destroying the family, the territory, and leaving a black cloud over all pro wrestling in the market for a decade before a new generation of fan who didn't live with all the deaths came in. Once, Fritz fired him when he came to Fritz trying to get him to intervene to save his sons. He was at the booking meetings where Fritz would want ideas to exploit the family tragedies in wrestling angles, which also brought the two farther apart as the deaths hit Hart hard, particularly Song (who died at a painful death at 37 of cancer), Brody, Hernandez and the Von Erichs. Fritz was always looking at every tragedy as something to use to build business. The whole Mike Von Erich saga left a bad taste in his mouth. Brody was the booker at that point, but Brody remarked at the planned storyline to try and blame heel Brian Adias for it (before it came out it was a suicide and the promotion's hands were tied) that having his own son, he couldn't believe what was happening, and Brody always liked Fritz. It led to Brody quitting as booker and becoming very negative about a business that "eats its young."
712
713While many always thought that it was Fritz Von Erich who was responsible for his sons being pushed so hard, and that was true, Hart as booker always believed they were the future of the business. They were protected when they were green, but started drawing a younger fan base and some women. Still, it was hardly a big territory and after a strong early 70s period when Red Bastien booked and it had strong weekly cities, by the late 70s, it was falling apart. Eventually Joe Blanchard, who run San Antonio and Corpus Christi on Wednesday and Thursday, and Paul Boesch, who ran Houston on Friday, broke away. They had some strong success on their own while Dallas and Fort Worth struggled.
714
715Hart’s career nearly ended in a 1975 plane crash, where he, Bobby Shane, Dennis McCord (who later became Austin Idol) and Buddy Colt crashed into the Tampa Bay.
716
717Right before the plane crashed, Hart said he unbuckled his seat belt, figuring he would need to be free to escape. He was thrown from the plane and was injured badly. His head was bashed in. All his teeth were knocked out. The top of his nose was severed and his right eye was knocked loose. His left knee was destroyed. His left arm, left wrist and his back were all broken, and he also had a fractured sternum, a fractured collarbone and vertebrae damage.
718
719The first thing he did was swim back to the boat, and found McCord, and brought him to shore. He swam back and found Colt, and swam him back to shore. He went back to find Shane. He couldn't find him anywhere. It was believed Shane's foot was caught in the wreckage of the plane, and he drowned when the plane went down. It was a memory that haunted Hart for the next 35 years, as whether he really did everything he could.
720
721He really wasn’t able to bump much because of his injuries, which always looked bad because when the babyface would punch him, he’d just stand there rather than bump.
722
723While he never got credit for it, Hart was actually the booker in charge of the dressing room at the first Starrcade in 1983. Dory Funk Jr. booked the Carolinas that year, and put together the three big programs of Ric Flair chasing Harley Race for the NWA title, Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood chasing a heel Jack & Jerry Brisco, and Roddy Piper’s grudge match with Greg Valentine after Valentine did an angle with a chain that supposedly cost Piper his hearing in one ear (in actuality Piper toured All Japan while fans were told his career could be over).
724
725But Funk Jr., was in the All Japan tag team tournament, and Dusty Rhodes, who was there, hadn’t started as booker yet, so Hart ran the show.
726
727He liked to claim he had a knack and a vision of seeing something in people before others did, and liked to keep up with various products just to find a new person that if it had been 25 or 30 years ago in Dallas, he'd take and build to stardom. The most recent person he saw stardom in, and he was hardly ahead of the curve on this one, was Kimbo Slice, who he though exuded a street credibility and had a great look that you could turn into a gigantic money player as long as you were careful in booking him. He also remarked before his death what a brilliant job he thought UFC did in building the Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir match, in particular creating the atmosphere with all the pro wrestling stars at ringside.
728
729"I looked at myself as a finder and developer of talent," said Hart in an interview with Slam! Wrestling. "I was very good as a manager. I don't think there was anyone better on the mic, or at the ring. I think I had excellent ideas. But my forte was, I had the ability to find and develop talent. That was what I brought to the table more than anything else. I always felt that you could be excellent at interviews, you could be excellent at ideas and finishes and the way to present people, but if you didn't have a good eye for talent, pick the right talent, you weren't going to be very successful."
730
731Hart passed away suddenly of a heart attack on March 16, 2008, at his home in Euless, TX, at the age of 66.
732
733He had just come home from a World Class reunion wrestling autograph signing in Allentown, PA, with long-time cohort Scandor Akbar, and Bill Irwin, who he managed at one point.
734
735Hart had several opportunities to go to WWF.
736
737When feelers were sent his way to maybe help out in developmental in teaching talent, or creative with WWE, he would answer that he wouldn't last a month, and he was probably right. Still, he did express some interest in the years before his death when the subject of being a manager in WWE was floated his way, because there was an opportunity financially that he never would have had in his heyday. People like Dusty Rhodes, Michael Hayes, Alex Greenfield and Court Bauer (who considered Hart like a father figure and would constantly run his ideas by Hart) on the WWE creative team remarked at times that Umaga or Great Khali would be so much more effective with an old school mouthpiece like Hart who understood how to work and get over as a monster while not burying the top babyface in the territory. More importantly, the Hart they remembered could cut a style of promo that would make him unique on the current scene.
738
739An idea was constructed that Hart would form a heel stable with Umaga as his top gun called Black Friday Management. The concept was not the old Hart's Army or H&H Enterprises, but to redo Hart as a Don King type with a criminal vibe and dress him like Suge Knight with a mob style business suit. He'd be presented as a recruiter of international talent, with the idea he was independent of WWE and bringing talent to WWE. There was also the idea that Hart would be accompanied by a hot Asian girl based on Gogo Yubari, the Catholic School Girl assassin in "Kill Bill."
740
741Vince McMahon was never warm to the idea because Hart was originally going to be the manager of Earthquake John Tenta at one point. Hart showed up at the airport in the city for his debut taping, and nobody was there to pick him up. When he finally got to the arena, already mad about he treatment, he got into an argument with Joe Scarpa (Jay Strongbow), left the building and went home.
742
743A few days later, McMahon called him up and was mad, noting he'd bought him an airplane ticket to come and work. Hart said to make it even, he's send him back a check for the ticket, which isn't how most people would have reacted to the tongue-lashing. Hart even sent the check, although he said McMahon never cashed it.
744
745There was an offer made to Hart & Great Muta by WWF in 1989, but they were both earning more in WCW on a guarantee than they were offered by WWF or expected to earn in WWF, plus with Muta as a New Japan wrestler, they had the business relationship at the time with WCW and not WWF. The 1989 time frame would better coincide with Tenta coming in.
746
747There was also the question if after nearly 20 years out of the mainstream, and at his age, could he handle the travel and if he would still have it on the mic in a very different world. The truth was, Hart was really in his glory as a manager probably from 1966 to 1982, and was not the same by the late 80s. Add 20 years, and you were shooting craps in what is essentially a young man's industry.
748
749He managed many of the biggest stars in history, including Bruiser Brody, Abdullah the Butcher, Terry Funk, The Fabulous Kangaroos, Great Muta and Roddy Piper. He was also linked at times with Bob Orton Jr. & Dick Slater, who he considered one of the unheralded greatest tag teams ever, Chris Adams, Gino Hernandez, Mark Lewin, King Curtis, King Kong Bundy, John Studd (who was known as Chuck O'Connor previously), Al Perez, Buzz Sawyer, Pak Song, Brute Bernard, Bulldog Brower, The Missouri Mauler, Rip Hawk, Swede Hanson, Bobby Duncum, The Magic Dragon (Kazuharu Sonoda), The Dragon Master (Kazuo Sakurada) and countless others. The two people he was most linked with were Don "The Spoiler" Jardine and Akihisa "Great Kabuki" Mera.
750
751Hart took Mera, a short, long-time prelim wrestler known as Akihisa Takachiho, gave him the Kabuki mask, the mist, a wig, and a martial arts gimmick and through his promos made people think the small man was the world's greatest martial arts fighter, Kabuki headlined against the Von Erichs in Texas and Rhodes in Georgia for a several year run, before finishing up together in the Carolinas.
752
753Hart claimed he got the idea of doing the Great Kabuki while on a flight from Singapore to Hong Kong and seeing an airline magazine with a picture of the Kabuki dancer form Japan, with the wig, the devil face mask and the outfit. He came up with a concept that would combine that look with something of a Bruce Lee gimmick from martial arts movies. Of course the idea Hart came up with that concept out of the blue is claiming a lot of credit considering Ray Urbano had already done the gimmick as The Great Kabooki in Detroit and California, among other places, in the late 60s and early 70s. But this was not a case of trying to give someone a gimmick, but of an idea of a gimmick and then he had to find someone to play it. It was actually Brody who came up with the guy, noting Takachiho, who at the time was working as a journeyman in Kansas City. Takachiho had come to the U.S. in the early 70s as the tag team partner of Mitsu Arakawa in Detroit doing the fake Japanese veteran who could speak English in Hawaiian Arakawa, with the authentic young Japanese guy who could carry the workload, patterned after the California team of Kinji Shibuya & Masa Saito. Eventually they went their separate ways. Takachiho was largely a prelim guy in Japan and a small territory undercard guy in the U.S. Hart brought him in and gave him the gimmick. At first, Hart didn't like the way he worked, as he was a standard small worker. Hart told him his gimmick as an authentic martial arts fighting machine called for him not to sell, unless he was in with the top people.
754
755Between his proficiency with nunchakus, his gimmick of spinning around in the ring before going for the kill, the green mist, which hadn't been seen before in Texas or nationally when Kabuki hit TBS, the weird mask and his double jointed fingers made him an eery spectacle. The gimmick got over so strong that many promotions wanted somebody just like him, and there were numerous copies, most notable being Kazuo Sakurada becoming Kendo Nagasaki in Florida, after Rhodes had a program with Kabuki in Georgia.
756
757Hart had a falling out when Kabuki stayed in the Carolinas when Hart wanted to return full-time to Texas.
758
759Takachiho was never a star in Japan, but when Kabuki went back to Japan after being an authentic U.S. main eventer, he became a headliner with All Japan for several years.
760
761Bundy came to Texas as a fat job guy from New Jersey with long black hair. Hart as booker pushed him as a main event heel to work with Fritz and his sons, and convinced him to shave his head, and that look made him a star. He also helped Jim Hellwig in developing the Dingo Warrior personality which he took to WWF and became Ultimate Warrior and still remained in contact with him after both left wrestling.
762
763His last big run on a national basis was in 1989, where he managed Great Muta and Terry Funk in a feud with Sting and Ric Flair. His concept for Muta was to be an updated version of Kabuki, claiming he was Kabuki's son. He was in a tough political situation. His job depended on Muta being a heel, but there was strong sentiment that Muta, with his acrobatic style at the time, was more suited for being a babyface. Hart convinced Keiji Muto that Americans would never fully support a Japanese babyface to make him not want to turn. There was a feeling Hart was brainwashing Muto to keep his spot. Muto ended up leaving before turning and Hart lost his spot soon thereafter. But they remained on good terms until 2004.
764
765Muto's knees were giving him a lot of problems in 1989. Muto never would tell Hart, but Hart sensed it and told Muto that if he continued to do the moonsault every night, it would ruin him late in his career. Hart went to the office and asked to limit the moonsaults to television matches. Muto, however, felt pressure from the office and went back to using the move on house shows. When Hart asked him why he was doing it again, Muto said the company wants the moonsault and he didn't want heat.
766
767Hart placed 12th among reporters, 6th among historians, 21st among active wrestlers and 5th among retired wrestlers.
768
769Yuji Nagata, 50, is something of a surprise, but was one of the best in the ring for more than 20 years. Nagata was a top star when New Japan was at a low point, as the gamble to make him a legend backfired and it never happened.
770
771New Japan had started its decline from a few years earlier, but was still able to sell out the Tokyo Dome in 2001 and draw a healthy crowd of 47,000 for a second show, the latter with Nagata & NOAH’s Jun Akiyama beating Keiji Muto & Hiroshi Hase (of All Japan) in the main event. This was in the era of New Japan pushing shooters because of the huge popularity at the time of both K-1 and Pride. Nagata won that year’s G-1 and Kazuyuki Fujita was IWGP champion. Nagata vs. Fujita was also named Match of the Year for 2001 by Tokyo Sports. Fujita was injured and Nagata was being groomed as his replacement, and the guy the company would be built around.
772
773New Japan had lost many of its stars from the Three Musketeers era, and Nagata, an outstanding worker with a legit background, was clearly the guy.
774
775But New Japan needed to make him bigger than just a pro wrestler who got his matches over, and making him a badass, the method that made Antonio Inoki in the 70s go from superstar pro wrestler to cultural icon, was Inoki’s plan.
776
777So to get him over, he was booked for an MMA fight on the December 31, 2001, Inoki Bam Ba Ye show at the Saitama Super Arena. His opponent? Mirko Cro Cop.
778
779Today that sounds insane. And with the benefit of hindsight, it was.
780
781But in those days, the mentality was that in a real fight, a top level wrestler will take down a top level kickboxer, who will then be helpless. Nagata had nearly made the Olympic team and kept himself in great shape.
782
783The problem was, he had stopped competing in wrestling in 1994 and Cro Cop was far more than a kickboxer. Cro Cop’s body had changed drastically in the preceding years and he’d become a killer as a fighter, although that wasn’t really known at the time. Cro Cop was one of K-1's biggest stars, having lost in the 2000 Grand Prix final to Ernesto Hoost. He had twice fought in MMA. The first was to a New Japan wrestler, Kazuyuki Fujita. Fujita shot in, Cro Cop landed a sickening and perfectly timed knee to the head, and Fujita wasn’t stopped at all, took Cro Cop down, but was covered in blood. The fight was stopped. The feeling was that Fujita had Cro Cop under control instantly and if it wasn’t for the blood, the wrestler beats the kickboxer. His second fight was with Nobuhiko Takada, where Takada, who was not a shooter, stalled his way to a horrible draw.
784
785Cro Cop knocked Nagata out with a head kick in 21 seconds. New Japan and pro wrestling were embarrassed badly. It was gigantic at the time, and many point to this as a key factor in New Japan’s great decline.
786
787Because Nagata was clearly the top guy in the promotion, they did try and rehab him, as Nagata beat Tadao Yasuda on April 5, 2002, to win the IWGP title, and had a 13 month reign where he set what was at the time the record for most title defenses, that held up until Hiroshi Tanahashi broke it.
788
789On December 31, 2003, when Nagata faced Fedor Emelianenko on the Inoki Bom a Ye show, things were very different. Emelianenko was Pride’s world heavyweight champion, although his contract had expired (he later went back) and was working a rival show put on by Inoki. There were three different promotions running head-to-head that night and everyone was scrambling for big matches that would get to television viewership. Inoki, who still owned New Japan, booked Nagata, just coming off his record breaking title reign, to face the Pride champion. This was strictly a ratings grab for the public, and it was no surprise when Emelianenko finished him in 62 seconds.
790
791Nagata’s prime came during a decline period in business, and when business came back under Tanahashi, while Nagata was a star, he was usually out of the top mix because they were going with younger talent. But when called upon, Nagata could still go, and was exceptional in his ability to work a legit sports-like match, evoke great emotions with his face, and get the audience into his struggle. Even as late as the 2017 G-1 Climax tournament, where he went 1-8 in his final tournament, the emotional response he was able to generate led him to placing third behind Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega in the tournament MVP voting.
792
793Historically, Nagata is the only wrestler in history to have won the four biggest tournaments in Japan, winning the 2001 G-1 Climax, the 2007 and 2011 New Japan Cup, the 2011 All Japan Champion Carnival and the 2013 NOAH Global League tournament.
794
795Nagata was a strong high school wrestler, but not national champion-level. When both were seniors in 1986, Nagata lost in two tournaments to Minoru Suzuki.
796
797But Nagata fared far better in college, winning two national championships. He nearly made the 1992 Olympic team and after failing to make the team, was signed by New Japan.
798
799While training and doing pro wrestling, Nagata continued to wrestle, and placed fifth in the 1993 Asian Games, and fourth in 1994, at which point he stopped wrestling. His younger brother, Katsuhiko Nagata, who also signed with New Japan but ended up never doing pro wrestling, won the silver medal in Greco-Roman wrestling in the 2000 Olympics.
800
801Nagata wrestled in prelims for a few years, but his style of legit wrestling submissions, slaps and hard kicks, based heavily on training from Kazuo Yamazaki, an original UWF star, made him a standout. He came in as part of one of New Japan’s most successful training classes, which included Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Yamamoto (Tenzan), Osamu Nishimura and Manabu Nakanishi.
802
803His first spotlight stuff was in 1995 and 1996 when he was part of the New Japan prelim shooters against UWFI, when that promotion, on its last legs, came to New Japan for help. They had hot matches where Nagata stood out, but, in particular, the opening match of the January 4, 1996, Tokyo Dome show became more famous years later because of Nagata’s exchanges with another unknown prelim guy, Kazushi Sakuraba.
804
805Nagata was sent on excursion to WCW in early 1997. He was managed by Sonny Onoo. He wasn’t pushed much, although did have a feud with Ultimo Dragon at one point. He was one of the endless numbers of great international talents that WCW didn’t do a thing with, thinking it was all about name brands and in-ring wrestlers that were good were a dime-a-dozen.
806
807When he returned to New Japan in 1998, he was pushed as a star. On the September 23, 1998 show, he lost to Scott Norton in a match for the IWGP title that had been vacated by an injury to Masahiro Chono. Nagata & Nakanishi had an 11-month run as tag team champions.
808
809He was made the leader of a shooter group in 2000. That fell apart due to tragedy. Masakazu Fukuda, a former high school wrestling national champion who went to the same high school and Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada and had the same coach, died after suffering a brain hemorrhage in a match with Katsuyori Shibata. Another member, Brian Johnston, nearly died from a stroke while backstage at a Pride show and could never return.
810
811He won the only G-1 Climax of his career, beating Muto via submission in the 2001 finals. He beat Yasuda on April 5, 2002 to win the IWGP title, and lost it on May 2, 2003, to Yoshihiro Takayama. The latter match was awarded Tokyo Sports match of the year honors.
812
813He won the IWGP title a second time, beating Tanahashi on April 13, 2007, but lost it back to Tanahashi on October 8, 2007.
814
815He also had a run of Tokyo Dome main events, starting on October 8, 2001, where he teamed with Akiyama to beat Muto & Hase. He lost when challenging GHC champion Akiyama on January 4, 2002, days after the Cro Cop loss, on the last legitimate New Japan Tokyo Dome sellout. On May 2,2002, he beat Takayama before 47,000 fans in an IWGP title match. On October 14, 2002, he beat Fujita in an IWGP title match. On January 4, 2003, he beat Josh Barnett, who had just won the UFC title, in an IWGP title match. On May 2, 2003, he lost the IWGP title to Takayama.
816
817Both before and after, he was frequently used to face shooters, some who could wrestle and many who couldn’t, both because he was very good at doing a legit style, and was one of the best of the modern generation of leading unskilled wrestlers through matches. He was often used, even to this day, in early matches with rookies.
818
819Among his Tokyo Dome opponents were former MMA stars Dave Beneteau, Kimo Leopldo, Ron Waterman, Kazunari Murakami and Tsuyoshi Kosaka, Daniel & Rolles Gracie, and also was one of the favorite opponents on other big shows of fighters who had longer runs in New Japan like Don Frye and Bas Rutten. He also worked with other more experienced shoots on big shows like Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar, Suzuki and Masakatsu Funaki.
820
821Of late, he’s mostly been used underneath, as his last major Tokyo Dome program was in 2013 with Suzuki.
822
823Besides the IWGP title twice and Never title, Nagata also captured the top singles title in NOAH and Zero-1 when used as an outsider on their shows.
824
825Nagata’s voting was unique. He made the Hall of Fame due to finishing first among current wrestlers, who voted him in almost unanimously. He was only 24th among reporters, 17th among historians, and didn’t place among former wrestlers. It’s a notable induction, because even though he had a long career as a top star, he was never really a legendary star. But he was so well respected as a worker, Bryan Danielson, in fact, called Nagata the best wrestler he’s ever been in the ring with, that it put him just over the threshold, with 101 votes, the exact number needed to hit 60 percent from Japan.
826
827Los Misioneros de la Muerte, the trio of El Signo & El Texano & Negro Navarro, who have come close multiple times, came the closest to getting in, falling six votes shy. Last year they were four votes shy. They were ninth among reporters, tied for 13th with historians, tied for 14th with active wrestlers and eighth among former wrestlers.
828
829Those who didn’t make it overall, but put up Hall of Fame numbers within groups, were Edge, Los Misioneros de la Muerte and Villano III among reporters; Enrique Torres Bearcat Wright, Sgt. Slaughter, Jun Akiyama, Kenny Omega, Akira Taue, Ultimo Guerrero and Los Misioneros de la Muerte among historians; Johnny “Mr. Wrestling II” Walker, Ultimo Guerrero, Dr. Wagner Jr., Johnny Saint and Larry Matysik among active wrestlers; and Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson with J.J. Dillon, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Kenny Omega, Cien Caras and Los Misioneros de la Muerte among former wrestlers.
830
831Besides Los Misioneros de la Muerte, those who topped 50 percent, making them favorites for next year, were Akiyama, Guerrero, Villano III, Taue, Slaughter, Edge and Jim Crockett Sr.
832
833With seven people elected, and so many dropping off, next year in theory would seem like a good chance for most of those names.
834
835Those who fell of the ballot, either from not getting 10 percent of votes, or not making it after 15 ballots and not getting 50 percent this year, were Samoa Joe, Paul Jones, Horst Hoffman, Ed Francis, Johnny Barend, Ruben Juarez, Universo 2000, Vampiro, Steve Rickard, Kiyoshi Tamura, Blue Panther, Red Bastien, Johnny “Mr. Wrestling II” Walker, John Tolos and Cien Caras.
836
837Those who need 50 percent or more votes next year or will be dropped are Don Owen, Akiyama and Villano III.
838
839Over the last year in particular, the voting changed because a number of people voting since the start either passed away or had severe health declines and no longer participated. It was very much a changing-of-the-guard ballot and period, in the sense that in particular, is tougher for the top stars from the period before 1980, although all the strongest candidates from that era were in from the start, and the close calls had decades to be voted in.
840
841But with the younger voting panel, you can see more influence on star power other than drawing power, and on childhood memories and shorter tenures on top, and less on ring performance at least for the prior generation.
842
843We’re seeing more on viewing on tape and not when it happened, such as a few great matches or highlights, as opposed to those periods being brief or people carried by osmosis from being in with top guys, or being famous names.
844
845Everything is just a different frame of reference. Many vote heavily on childhood heroes, and often feel no matter how good present day stars are, they can’t measure up. The difference in the age of the voting mix favors a generation, and hurts others. It will always be that way.
846
847The one thing this does impress on me is that the term, starting at 15 years in with major promotions, or 35 years of age and ten years with major promotions, which is different from other sports who mostly wait until people retire (in wrestling you can obviously never do that, or we’d still be waiting to have Dory Funk Jr. and Mil Mascaras eligible) is important. Pro wrestling is an ever-changing athletic entertainment form. It changes annually. The ridiculous match quality of 2018, while making such matches less important because several happen every weekend, is different from the era of pacing because of the schedule, and less physical and lower fan expectations. But it’s also hard in this era, with fans conditioned that the wrestlers themselves aren’t as important, it is the company, for guys to stand out. The plight of Kiyoshi Tamura, who many believe was the best in-ring guy of his era, who came close for and then faded because his style of wrestling died as did his companies, as did his history, is the perfect example.
848
849Kenny Omega, with 49 percent, was the strongest of the under-40 new generation candidates. The fact is, few make it the first time. Barring injury, he’s got a strong shot. He did far better than A.J. Styles, voted in last year, did at the same point of his career. Randy Orton’s support is growing. He’s been a star and pushed commodity for a long time, has had more major world title reigns than all but a few in history. WrestleMania main events, and is very talented, but he’s still very far from a slam dunk. Cima was the top star of Dragon Gate, a smaller wrestler Lucha style company which for years was the second most popular company in Japan. Many have noted that his departure coincided in this year’s drop in attendance and popularity. Tetsuya Naito didn’t come close, even though very few in wrestling, and perhaps nobody in history, has done the level of per cap merchandise sales as he does. Caristico had a great run as a draw, and still headlines now, but what killed him is his failed WWF run. Kota Ibushi may be the most talented wrestler in the business today, and he is a draw, and has an ability to get emotion out of a crowd like very few. He and Omega are hurt by so much of their career in DDT, so their outstanding matches don’t seem to count as much as they do now. Ibushi is also hurt by the fact he looks a decade younger than he is, so people still think of him as a young boy when he’s 36. The only person from the generation to be added next year is Volador Jr., who I don’t see as nearly as strong a candidate as the others.
850
851Tomohiro Ishii, who is past 40, will also be on next year’s ballot. But guys like him have a hard time historically because he’s never had that run as a true top guy, and is more a secondary title guy who has great matches.
852
853Kazuchika Okada (2021) is the obvious top candidate among those not yet on the ballot, and it’s kind of implausible he doesn’t get in, and probably with near record numbers. But nobody else is that level of a slam dunk that isn’t in. Others of the next generation that will at least likely be on the ballot would include Rush (2024), Seth Rollins (2021) and Roman Reigns (2021).
854
855WWE TLC
856
857Thumbs up 199 (82.6%)
858
859Thumbs down 10 (04.1%)
860
861In the middle 32 (13.3%)
862
863 
864
865BEST MATCH POLL
866
867Daniel Bryan vs. A.J. Styles 119
868
869Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch 117
870
871 
872
873WORST MATCH POLL
874
875Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins 59
876
877R-Truth & Carmella vs. Jinder Mahal & Alicia Fox 55
878
879Braun Strowman vs. Baron Corbin 50
880
881Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton 21
882
883Elias vs. Bobby Lashley 19
884
885Natalya vs. Ruby Riott 18
886
887 
888
889ROH FINAL BATTLE
890
891Thumbs up 142 (83.5%)
892
893Thumbs down 3 (01.8%)
894
895In the middle 25 (14.7%)
896
897 
898
899BEST MATCH POLL
900
901Briscoes vs. Bucks vs. Kazarian & Sky 91
902
903Jeff Cobb vs. Hangman Page 50
904
905Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Jonathan Gresham 14
906
907Flip Gordon vs. Bully Ray 8
908
909 
910
911WORST MATCH POLL
912
913Klein vs. Sakai vs. Q vs. Rayne 96
914
915Kenny King vs. Eli Isom 27
916
917Jay Lethal vs. Cody 12
918
919Flip Gordon vs. Bully Ray 9
920
921Marty Scurll vs. Christopher Daniels 9
922
923 
924
925NJPW FINAL SHOW OF THE YEAR
926
927Thumbs up 97 (93.3%)
928
929Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
930
931In the middle 7 (06.7%)
932
933 
934
935BEST MATCH POLL
936
937Omega & Ibushi vs. Tanahashi & Ospreay 95
938
939 
940
941WORST MATCH POLL
942
943Romero & Sho & Yoh vs. Tiger Mask & Liger & Henare
944
94529
946
947Ishii & Goto vs. Suzuki & Iizuka 15
948
949Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 12/18.
950
951 
952
953After hitting record low ratings on Raw, and near record lows on Smackdown for a live show (there is still the 2016 election night number they haven’t fallen below), WWE has changed course, with the idea of more McMahons on television and going from two to four authority figures on each show.
954
955The big problem is when the stars are the authority figures, it means the wrestlers aren’t. When you do tours, and you have no stars, you draw the way you’re drawing now. Going back to the old trope crutch at the same time the company has said they need to address the live event drawing issue feels like going backward when they need a move forward. Vince’s new term is reimagining things, but adding worker bees into the same exact system that hasn’t created a legitimate breakthrough star since John Cena well over a decade ago, and pretty much forced its best babyface, Daniel Bryan, to turn heel because of how badly he’d been booked, is not reimagining things. It’s telling that aside from Lynch, who is popular to hardcores but attendance figures for Smackdown are also a reality check, the company’s biggest stars are the ones UFC created for them, and who are nowhere near the level of stars they were when they were in UFC.
956
957Vince McMahon appeared not only on Raw, but on two Smackdown segments. The ratings for both shows were up because of that. There was a promise of change and listening to the audience. There have been a few changes, and they pushed main roster debuts of Lars Sullivan, EC 3, Lacey Evans, Nikki Cross and the tag team of Heavy Machinery as well as the returns of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.
958
959Those aren’t changes in directions as much as just publicizing decisions that were already made as far as call-ups, announcing them well ahead of time instead of introducing them as a surprise. They also announced the impending return of Owens and Zayn well ahead of time. The last timetable was that neither would be back until February. The good news is that by publicizing them now, it would seem to indicate they may have something for them as far as a WrestleMania story. Before, with their injuries (Zayn had surgery on both shoulders; Owens on both knees), while both were expected back in time for Mania, they may have not started back until after since the stories for Mania would be in place.
960
961The McMahons all over the shows is a short-term fix, something very similar to WCW always going back to the NWO because nothing new was clicking. Vince McMahon is one of the few guys who can move ratings for a return, but in time, the same way of doing things is always going to yield the same results. There are no signs of doing things differently. Both shows felt, looked and were paced the same. There is still the idea, clearly, that “this is how you do a wrestling show,” and an aversion to try anything new. The reality is that every boom period has been based on doing something completely new and different with the television show, or lucking into or creating hot characters.
962
963In a lot of ways, the decision on the call-ups shows a lot of this. Sullivan is a monster and Vince loves monsters. EC 3 has a good physique and Vince loves good physiques. Lacey Evans is nice looking, but every woman on the roster is nice looking and the ones who are really over are the ones who can perform in the ring, although they’ve often pushed Alexa Bliss who is good looking and a strong talker. But while Bliss, Carmella, Nia Jax (the one heel with the size and monster push from the start to have credibility working with Rousey) and Ronda Rousey (celebrity star) were being pushed, the one who got over was Becky Lynch, largely due to her promos and later use of social media. And the mentality only a few months ago was that, due to her accent, her promo work wasn’t effective.
964
965None of the call-ups represent change or new ideas. They were for the most part all on the list for some time. We were told that there no real plans (there was an angle with Bobby Fish but that was it) for EC 3 in NXT. Plus, NXT is about great matches on top, and while EC 3 has almost every other aspect down, the look, the presence, the promos and even the music, he’s not very good bell-to-bell. Sometimes on the main roster, people do fine with an in-ring weakness and some can hide it. Sometimes, like Elias, they improve. EC 3 has been around so long and worked with many good people in TNA, so this is probably going to be his level. Like everything, Vince will see him, make a decision, likely quickly, and that will determine his fate. It was also noted he’d been in WWE developmental forever before TNA, so it’s not like he’s going to learn a ton there, and they aren’t going to main event him there, so essentially he gets his shot now and makes it or not.
966
967Evans is inexperienced in the ring, and far down the list of not just ring talent, but women who are over on the NXT roster. The positives is she has a unique type of good look with her 1950s pin-up girl soldier character, and she does talk well and can play her character as an arrogant heel. She has the military back story and is the type of person they like to present to the outside world as a rep for women in the company. She’ll do great in the vignettes. Still, the main roster for today’s women is so much about producing in the ring. Lana is the perfect example of a great look, and major push on her arrival, the ability to talk and play a character, but she means nothing as a wrestler. She’s even improved a ton. Before, looks were enough even with bad ability. Now, looks aren’t enough even with average ability. The bar has been raised like crazy this year but the decision-making is seemingly based on a 73-year-old man still stuck in the old criteria. You can say the same for Peyton Royce and Zelina Vega. Vega is a great talker, and had real talent in her NXT role, but instead, they made her a wrestler, and because she’s nothing special in the ring, she’s floundering after being award winning caliber last year on NXT.
968
969While there are differences in what works in NXT and main roster, but a lot of that is also based on the botched booking of characters. This past year, it was all about Rousey, Charlotte Flair, Carmella and Bliss. Yet Lynch was the one who got over, and Asuka was back over after being forgotten about for months, even with some botched booking on her part, because she’s got charisma and can go.
970
971Still, the test of what gets over is not based on looks, body, interview ability, or anything else. It’s based on charisma, charisma defined on what gets over. Kairi Sane and Candice LeRae were instantly over. Io Shirai would be as well. Shayna Baszler would be a complete fail under the old standards, and even as late as a few months before she signed, there were those in the company laughing at the idea that she’d ever even get a chance, with the idea Daria Berenato (Sonya Deville) can play the MMA fighter bully role and is younger and prettier. But who got over more?
972
973Heavy Machinery does have charisma. Or at least Otis Dozovic does. Still, in the test of who gets over, they were far behind Undisputed Era, British Strong Style, The Street Profits and probably The War Raiders.
974
975Their success or failure depends on one thing, whether Vince finds Dozovic funny or not. He’s not a fan of the short blocky guys, but Dozovic is legitimately super strong and is legit. Tucker Knight has size, and he’s fine, but on the main roster he’s going to be just a guy. One person close to the situation said that he sees it as either Vince loving or hating Dozovic. If he loves him, they’ll be okay, but eventually Vince will break them up and Knight will be headed nowhere. If he doesn’t like Dozovic, they’ll be another Ascension or Sanity.
976
977Cross has something. She’s already been on main roster tours and she fit in well with Sanity. I think they were hurt without her because she would have added uniqueness to their act. There is no indication she’ll be put with them. She’s got enough of a unique character and is good enough to make on that level. Whether she loses their interest based on her differences, which are actually her strengths (similar to Baszler but in a different way), time will tell.
978
979It was also noted that Paul Levesque doesn’t want NXT star call-ups to fail, because that reflects badly. If these guys fail (except for Sullivan who will get every chance in the world), they were never really NXT top stars. There are those who feel Vince will have no clue what to do with Sane or Shirai right now, plus he already has Asuka over and would probably feel one Japanese star is enough. Aleister Black, whose name was on the lists with Sullivan and EC 3 a few months ago, wasn’t mentioned. Not sure if it’s delayed, but usually when I hear those names, even if they aren’t now, they’re usually in the following group, like Almas.
980
981Yet in the lab of what gets over, the guys who should be brought up are Johnny Gargano, Adam Cole and the group as a whole, Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate & Trent Seven as a team, Baszler, Sane, Black, Matt Riddle, Ricochet, and perhaps most of all, Velveteen Dream and Tommaso Ciampa. Plus, Gargano, Ciampa, Dream and Cole are strong promos. But Gargano, Cole, Dunn and Bate are small. Riddle is new and it would help him to learn the system, and really, Dream is young enough and will improve more in the ring in time so there’s no point rushing him. Gargano and Ciampa have shown they can do it all, play characters, talk, connect at a high level, and in many ways Gargano is the closest person on the roster to Daniel Bryan, another guy who wasn’t supposed to make it, who they fought making it, and who is right now the most compelling male character on the main roster in spite of all the obvious drawbacks that aren’t even drawbacks in the least to the modern audience.
982
983Things will go up. Every year from January through WrestleMania, numbers increase as fans get ready for WrestleMania. Unlike in the past, when the big matches being built would determine interest and productivity, now it’s an annual pattern. It kicks off as football season ends and the build to the Rumble, and then WrestleMania. It declines during the NBA playoffs, and hits record lows. It goes up until September, and then goes back to even lower record lows during football season.
984
985The return of the McMahons comes during the period numbers will increase. But Vince’s return is the shake up. It appears Alexa Bliss as an authority figure (there was talk of her for the Baron Corbin spot once Corbin lost to Braun Strowman) has been completely dropped. Paige as an authority figure was also dropped. The Shane angle based on his winning the Crown Jewel tournament that was to lead to a heel turn looks like it’s been completely dropped (although it wasn’t supposed to happen until January anyway). Whatever reason Smackdown got shut out at Survivor Series looks like it’s been dropped. Lucha House Party rules, a silly idea, was dropped.
986
987Mustafa Ali was called up from 205 Live and pinned Daniel Bryan in a tag team match. And Finn Balor, after being mired in the middle, is about to get a significant push, at least for a little while.
988
989WWE’s final PPV show of the year, Tables, Ladders and Chairs, featured two of the main roster’s best matches of the year, a New Japan style match where Daniel Bryan kept the WWE title over A.J. Styles, and Asuka winning the Smackdown women’s title in a TLC match over Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair due to interference from Ronda Rousey.
990
991The 12/16 show drew a legitimate sellout crowd of 12,000 fans to the SAP Center in San Jose.
992
993The show was hit-and-miss early, but ended strong. The show was unique in that it was the first time a women’s match was the main event of a PPV show where it almost unquestionably deserved the spot. Aside from Evolution, where a women’s match inherently had to close, the previous times were last year’s Royal Rumble, where the women on last because Ronda Rousey was coming out to close the show in her debut; and the 2017 Hell in a Cell show which was more done because of on-line banter which caused Vince McMahon, who was against it, to change his mind at the end.
994
995They delivered in a match that had a ton of risky spots. It was Lynch’s popularity that got them the spot, but it was Flair, even more than Asuka, who stood out as the actual star of the match in what was the best performance of her career.
996
997Bryan and Styles did a match completely in both feel and pacing to a WWE match. It was as if they both, given they had extensive experience working different styles, felt like they were going to do a New Japan style main event in WWE. The pacing and feel was different, and the match was far more cerebral than the usual WWE style and worked to look more realistic and serious, like a strategic fight for a real championship.
998
999There were negatives, as 12 matches were too many and five hours was too long. The one match that fell flat, was Raw’s biggest match on the show, Dean Ambrose’s IC title win over Seth Rollins.
1000
1001The match didn’t work. There were a number of problems. The biggest is that it followed Bryan vs. Styles, which was really a different level of a normal top tier WWE match. The fact is that the two matches with the most interest were Smackdown matches, but politics with Raw as the A brand were such they weren’t going with two Smackdown matches in a row. In fact, it was the first time since 2016 that a dual-branded show closed with a Smackdown main event.
1002
1003Once the Bryan match was over, and the show was well past the for hour mark, people wanted to see the main event. At first, they watched and kind of just waited for it to end. Rollins and Ambrose were working hard, but it wasn’t getting much of a reaction. Then, when people realized it was going long, they rebelled against it, with “boring” and “Becky Lynch” chants.
1004
1005Another problem is that they tried to put so much heat on Ambrose as a heel, but the attempts ranged from the cringe worthy exploitation of Roman Reigns’ leukemia to bad comedy segments and silly backstage mind games segments that took any semblance of reality away from it. The desperation for heat results in no heat.
1006
1007There was also the fact that in the build, they never got the point across to explain the match. The idea was that Ambrose was playing mind games that would cause Rollins to snap, start brawling, playing Ambrose’s game and Ambrose would win. Given the nature of where everything is going, Ambrose did have to win here. But Rollins knew that, wasn’t falling for it, and was going to wrestle his usual style, until, in the end, he had one lapse and did lose.
1008
1009But the announcers never told that story, and even if they did, the live crowd wouldn’t have known. That story had to be told in the television build. Instead, fans expected a grudge match brawl, and got a regular Raw match between guys who work hard, but couldn’t follow the previous bout. And that was fine until they sensed it would never end.
1010
1011The rest of the show was mostly predictable other than Finn Balor beating Drew McIntyre, but that was done because of booking decisions that have been changed where Balor needed to go over. But they did it with Dolph Ziggler interfering because they are adamant about protecting McIntyre. They had a hard hitting very good match, but the finish was bad.
1012
1013Rousey and Nia Jax was shockingly good. Rey Mysterio and Randy Orton, in a chairs match, saw trying to work the stipulation and build around chairs pretty much kill what on paper should have been a good match.
1014
1015The biggest stip saw Braun Strowman beating Baron Corbin in a TLC match, that involved a pin rather than TLC rules. Strowman wasn’t even healed enough to do a one-move match. But he had to win based on TV storyline. So he came out, said a TLC match was no DQ, and then had Chad Gable, Bobby Roode, Apollo Crews, Balor and Kurt Angle all interfere to beat down Corbin. Corbin took Gable & Roode’s moonsault/neckbreaker finish, Crews’ frog splash, Angle’s Angle slam and Balor’s coup de grace before Strowman walked over the for pin.
1016
10171. Buddy Murphy retained the cruiserweight title over Cedric Alexander in 10:24. Considering this started 30 minutes before anyone expected the show to start, and is a cruiserweight match, it got over really well with the crowd. There were genuine loud “205" chants very early on. It was hard-hitting and pretty much the match you’d expect, although not at the Australia match level. Alexander’s right shoulder was all taped up. Lots of good moves that the crowd got up for and near falls. Alexander hit the lumbar check but Murphy rolled to the ropes. Murphy then dropped Alexander into a turnbuckle, hit the V trigger and Murphy’s law for the pin. ***½
1018
10192. Elias beat Bobby Lashley in a guitar on a pole match in 6:14. It was originally billed as whoever climbs the ladder and gets the guitar could use it. It was changed to whoever gets the guitar wins. Elias wanted to sing “Do You Know the way to San Jose” (yes, there really is a song that was famous in the 60s performed by Dionne Warwick with that name) but Lashley interrupted him. Elias tried to climb early but Rush went to tip over the ladder. Elias threw Rush out of the ring and Lashley gave him a belly-to-belly into the ladder. Lashley climbed and Elias pulled him down and gave him a power bomb into a ladder in the corner. Rush climbed up but Elias knocked him off and got the guitar to win. He went to hit Lashley with it but Rush jumped on his back. Elias threw Rush off, but Lashley gave him a spinebuster on a ladder and Rush gave him a frog splash. Lashley then broke the guitar on Elias. **
1020
10213. R-Truth & Carmella won the Mixed Match Challenge over Jinder Mahal & Alicia Fox in 5:45. R-Truth & Carmella have a great entrance to open a show. The crowd was into this. They did more than the R-Truth & Carmella matches in the tournament. Carmella superkicked Fox but Mahal saved. Carmella reversed a Fox pin attempt into the cone of silence for the submission. So, at least in theory, Carmella & R-Truth both enter the Royal Rumble at No. 30. They also get a vacation anywhere in the world they want to go. Carmella talked about Barcelona, Paris or Rio de Janeiro. R-Truth said he already filled out the form before the season and they’re going to Stamford, CT. She wasn’t happy about that. *1/2
1022
10234. Sheamus & Cesaro retained the Smackdown tag titles in a three-way over Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods and the Usos in 12:20. Byron Saxton was ill this week so David Otunga filled in on this and all the shows. You very quickly realized how little he brings to the table. The match moved well and was good, but not as good as they usually are on big shows. It ended with an exchange f big moves, ending with Kingston doing the Nestea plunge dive out of the ring. In the ring, Sheamus hit Woods with a Brogue kick for the pin. The crowd was into this. The biggest pop were the Usos superkicking over and over. ***1/4
1024
10255. Braun Strowman beat Baron Corbin in a TLC match in 2:31. Corbin did an interview and talked about becoming the full-time General Manager. He ordered a ten count so he could get a forfeit win. Strowman came out at even with his arm in a sling. He noted it being a no DQ match so if anyone wants to help him, it would be legal. Apollo Crews, Bobby Roode, Chad Gable and Finn Balor came out with chairs. Heath Slater took off his referee shirt and punched Corbin. They all beat him down with chair shots. He escaped and tried to run off. Out came Kurt Angle. He chased Corbin back in the ring and pounded on Corbin with chair shots. Everyone hit their finishes on Corbin and Strowman pinned him. It was announced Corbin is out as General Manager and Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman will headline the Royal Rumble. *
1026
10276. Natalya beat Ruby Riott in a tables match in 12:39. Natalya went to tackle Riott, who moved, and knocked Liv Morgan off the apron and through a table. Morgan was on the ground crying. Natalya slapped the hell out of Riott and said, “You messed with my family, bitch.” Natalya powerslammed Sarah Logan through a table. Riott pulled out a table with Jim Neidhart on it. The table fell on Natalya and she sold it, but that looked terrible. Natalya then pulled out a table with Ruby Riott’s photo n it. She put on a Jim Neidhart Hart Foundation ring jacket and sunglasses and pointed to the sky. Riott went for a Frankensteiner off the top but Natalya blocked it and power bombed her through the Ruby Riott table to win. **
1028
10297. Finn Balor pinned Drew McIntyre in 12:08. Crisp and hard hitting. From a quality standpoint in some ways this was a level above anything up to this point. McIntyre gave Balor an overhead belly-to-belly two-thirds of the way across the ring. The crowd was hot for this. He did another throw halfway across the ring. Balor did a running flip dive but McIntyre caught him and gave him a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. The finish saw Dolph Ziggler superkick McIntyre. McIntyre then kicked a chair into Ziggler’s f ace, and brought a chair into the ring. Balor gave him a Woo dropkick into the chair into McIntyre’s face and used the coup de grace for the pin. ***1/4
1030
10318. Rey Mysterio beat Randy Orton in a chairs match in 11:33. This wasn’t good at all as it was all about chair shots that got redundant. Mysterio did a slide out of the ring while holding a chair and splash on Orton on the floor. Mysterio missed a flying Thesz press out of the ring and crashed ont a chair when Orton moved. Orton was so slow in setting up all the stunts. This really felt like a bad hardcore indie match except what they actually did was higher-class, but it was the long set ups and trying to get heat from repeated chair shots. The finish saw Orton set up four chairs in a row and went for an RKO on the chairs, but Mysterio blocked him, ran on the chairs and gave him a head scissors and use da victory roll for the pin. *1/2
1032
1033Charly Caruso was interviewing Balor. Ziggler came out and wanted Balor to thank him because without him, he wouldn’t have had a chance. They argued and Ziggler attacked him.
1034
10359. Ronda Rousey beat Nia Jax to retain the Raw women’s title in 10:47. This was actually great. They spent the weekend off the road so they could spot out their match, which is a luxury others don’t have, but even so, it’s amazing how good Rousey is when you consider it’s been eight months since her first match. Jax went for the punch, Rousey caught her in a flying armbar, Jax picked her up and power bombed her. Jax missed a leg drop and Rousey used a guillotine. Jax tried a suplex and Rousey got behind her and choked her. Jax tried to flip her off but Rousey got an armbar. Jax went for a power bomb but Rousey used a huracanrana. Jax missed a charge, went shoulder first into the post and to the floor. Rousey did a great plancha off the top t the floor. Rousey used body punches, a high knee and a Superman punch for a near fall. Rousey came off the top rope with a crossbody but Jax caught her and gave her a Samoan drop for a near fall. Rousey got the armbar but Tamina distracted her. The finish saw Jax tease the punch but Rousey got a flying armbar in the middle for the submission. ***3/4
1036
103710. Daniel Bryan beat A.J. Styles in 23:55 to retain the WWE title. Styles went for a forearm over the top rope to the floor but Bryan kicked his ribs and started working on them, using a bow and arrow, body shots and kicking the ribs. Bryan continued to kick the body and did two running dropkicks into the corner until Styles clotheslined him and threw him into the post twice. Styles used an ushigoroshi for a near fall. Styles came back with a dragon screw and wrapped Bryan’s leg around the post. He used a chop block. Bryan was back working the body. Styles tried a half crab and there was a great tease of a tap. Bryan used the LeBell lock. They traded near falls and punches. Bryan ran into a dropkick and Styles hit a springboard 450 for a near fall. Bryan tried to whip him into the barricade but Styles leapfrogged over and then did a springboard forearm off the barricade onto him. Styles used an inside cradle, but Bryan reversed into an inside cradle of his own for the pin. ****3/4
1038
103911. Dean Ambrose beat Seth Rollins in 22:53 to win the IC title. Ambrose used a dragon screw and Texas cloverleaf but Rollins made the ropes. Rollins went for a dive and got punched, but Rollins used a sling blade and a blockbuster. Rollins used two topes and was selling his knee after them. There was a spot where Rolling went to power bomb Ambrose out of the corner but his knee went out. This was identical to the spot where his knee really went out. But after selling like his knee was out, seconds later, he as back up and did the power bomb into the buckles. The crowd was cold for this until Rollins used a top rope superplex and falcon arrow. Ambrose then wanted him to do the Shield fist bump. Rollins paused and thought, and then punched and superkicked him. The finish saw Rollins slap him in the face and ay “This is for Reigns.” Ambrose then hit Dirty Deeds out of nowhere for the pin. ***
1040
104112. Asuka beat champion Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair to win the Smackdown women’s title in a TLC match in 22:31. Just a wild match. Flair went for a spear but Asuka used a codebreaker. Asuka slammed Flair off the top into a table and power bombed Flair into a table. Asuka was climbing the ladder when Lynch came off the top rope with a missile dropkick. Asuka did a running hip attack knocking Lynch off the table and Flair hit Asuka with a chair. Flair did a moonsault off the top rope to the floor on both of them. L:ynch attacked both wit chair shots, and was killing Asuka with chair hots. Then Lynch hit Flair in the gut and back with chair shots. Lynch put Asuka and Flair on the German announce table, then climbed to near the top of a ladder and landed but first on Flair’s body and legit knocked the wind out of her. Asuka had moved. Asuka went to climb and Lynch did a well. Flair came back with kendo stick shots. Lynch gave Flair an exploder on the table and Asuka was hitting Lynch with kendo stick shots. Flair speared Asuka through a barricade. Lynch was climbing but Flair pulled her down. Flair and Lynch had a great intense brawl on the floor. Flair put Lynch on a table and slapped the hell out of her. Flair came off the top rope to the floor with a senton, putting Lynch through the table. Flair and Asuka were climbing. Lynch set up anther ladder to also climb. Flair knocked Asuka off the ladder. Even though Flair was on the ladder under the belt, she climbed off her ladder to Lynch’s ladder and both were both on the top. Rousey then came out and tipped over the ladder. Flair and Asuka both fell off the ladder onto the ropes. Asuka then climbed up to win the title. ****½
1042
1043The official departure of the Young Bucks, Cody and Adam Page from ROH, combined with them turning down WWE’s offer in a skit on their BTE show that mirrored real life, has made things clear that they see All Elite Wrestling as more than just an idea.
1044
1045Three of the four turned down WWE main event money, multi-year deals for more than seven figures annually. That idea is one that almost nobody in wrestling could have possibly conceived of being offered, let alone turned down, as recently as a year ago. But that was before All In was a success. Then again, without the success that was All In, and the idea a wealthy family may start a company, they don’t get offers at that level more likely than not to begin with, although they’d have gotten big offers at this point under any circumstances because there’s such a big and obvious angle to draw with them right now.
1046
1047The parting scene of the four as they left the Hammerstein Ballroom together after Final Battle, with the crew cleaning up the arena and taking down the ring and seats, saw Matt Jackson say,“Let’s go change the world.”
1048
1049Whatever happens, the last few months have already seen major changes in the industry when it comes to talent. In September, when the All In show took place, it was relatively easy to fill a show with so much strong talent that they needed a Battle Royal, and left some bitter feelings from people who weren’t booked on the show.
1050
1051Today, everything is different. The so-called indie boom of the last few years may not be over, but to reach that level an entire new generation of talent will need to emerge, and in this environment, as soon as they show any sign of something special, they will for the most part be gone.
1052
1053The AAW’s, PWG’s, Defy’s and all the companies in the U.K. that would bring in the hot U.S. indie acts are going to find fewer and fewer available. Anyone showing even a hint of potential is going to get offers, whether they be from WWE, ROH, MLW or AEW, as well as New Japan Pro Wrestling.
1054
1055PWG, which was the place the untapped talent would come to make a name, and presented the best in-ring wrestling in the U.S. the past several years, is now the stepping stone to being noticed. In the past year, WWE has signed Ricochet, Flash Morgan Webster, Travis Banks, Matt Riddle, Donovan Dijak, Trevor Lee, Keith Lee and Walter (and there is strong interest in Jonah Rock), who were part of one of the best memorable tournaments ever, the 2017 Battle of Los Angeles.
1056
1057Almost everyone else was signed up by someone as well. PWG can still use Impact guys. Right now they can still use ROH guys, but that deal was put together at the insistence of the Young Bucks, who made it part of their two-year contract. Whether that will continue with the Young Bucks being gone is unknown.
1058
1059PWG having those level of shows, with the availability of such a ridiculous level of talent at the same time, is going to be greatly threatened. It used to be that WWE would take its time, and bring in a few guys because when you bring in a ton of people you can’t make use of all of them so it serves no purpose. In this environment, taking talented chess pieces off the board in and of itself serves a purpose. But even if a new guy like a Bandido comes in, they used to have maybe a few years, then with a guy like Keith Lee, it was about a year, and now it could be only a few shows and they’ll have the need to constantly find new talent. But guys like Riddle and Bandido and Lee don’t grow on trees, and the days of the Young Bucks being able to be the backbone, as they were for years, is over. The idea of booking as we know it, taking a new guy, building him for a year having him come close at BOLA, winning BOLA the next year, and then getting the title, well, they aren’t going to have that much time with people who are good enough to be viable to run a course like that.
1060
1061Most of the rest, with a few exceptions, are signed with somebody else. If you look at All In as the predecessor for AEW, since the idea was already in play by that time, barely three months ago that would have been at least some of the idea for the roster, much of that talent would also no longer be available.
1062
1063ROH is losing the four, as well as Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian, and perhaps others.
1064
1065The situation with Christopher Daniels is up in the air, both ROH and AEW have interest in him and there was a storyline written for his departure that was left open-ended to where he has a program should he decide to stay). Daniels is listed for an independent show several weeks from now, which he couldn’t do under the terms of his old ROH deal.
1066
1067But the jury is out on that, particularly with signings of Mark Haskins, PCO, Brody King and Bandido, and the relationship with New Japan that is expected to lead to regular usage of Will Ospreay, Zack Sabre Jr. and Juice Robinson in 2019, all of who are under contract to New Japan. They are obviously also attempting to get dates going forward on Rush, which is tricky, since MLW is using Rush as one of its key guys, and he worked for both groups over this past weekend.
1068
1069These are some great replacements. Ospreay and Sabre are two of the best in-ring in the world, and Ospreay has charisma and Sabre is unique and is one of the best arrogant heel promos in the business. Robinson also has charisma, and is one of the best pure babyface promos in the business.
1070
1071ROH is in an interesting position. They are a minor part of the Sinclair empire. Sinclair has kept them going as syndicated generally out of prime time TV product but hasn’t backed them to the point of making the kind of offers that would keep the key talent from leaving, although the freed budget space obviously is allowing them to make some key deals.
1072
1073The Tribune merger falling through was a major story for ROH, because that merger would have gotten them television in many key markets on strong stations, particularly New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. There has been talk of late of Tribune buying the old Fox Sports Net stations, and if that goes through, they’ll have more television coverage in new markets, but not on nearly as strong stations as they would have with the Tribune deal.
1074
1075AEW is obviously a huge question mark. The fact that terms related to All In and Elite, owned by the Bucks and Cody, are part of the trademark filing and the identity of Tony Khan, who owns a sports analytics company and is part of management with Fulham FC in the U.K. and the Jacksonville Jaguars of the NFL, gives some hints.
1076
1077As of today, nobody has signed, although the actual departure of the group from ROH and the official turning down of WWE offers really happened and leads to an obvious direction. Legally, Cody is a free agent, but the others can’t sign until 1/1.
1078
1079Turning down a sure thing, particularly with the Young Bucks having young families, in a sense is a ballsy move to risk it on a start-up in an industry that is terribly overexposed on television, and one that can no longer rely on things like selling tickets or PPVs to carry a national business.
1080
1081At this point, there is no television deal, even with rumors to the contrary flying around.
1082
1083As noted before, a key player in all this is New Japan Pro Wrestling, particularly since they are the No. 2 wrestling company in the world right now, and have most of the truly elite in-ring talent, Sabre, Ospreay, Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, Tetsuya Naito, Tomohiro Ishii, Kazuchika Okada and Minoru Suzuki, as well as a plethora of others who would be valuable to anyone.
1084
1085The New Japan/ROH relationship publicly looks strong, and it has to be, given they are doing a joint sold out event in Madison Square Garden.
1086
1087But that brings up the obvious questions about Omega, and with Omega comes Ibushi. It’s still not a full roster for AEW, but they are difference-makers, if there is a paying television deal with a strong enough network to make it a viable business.
1088
1089Right now the Omega question is unanswered. Right now none of the others who are linked with AEW are booked past the Tokyo Dome weekend, but unlike with ROH, there is no indication they want to leave New Japan. Will New Japan not use them out of business loyalty to ROH? Will, eventually, New Japan work with AEW in some form, or ROH, or both, or eventually go into the U.S. on their own?
1090
1091How important do they see Omega, in the sense are they willing to not use him if he does join with AEW? Is he powerful enough to change the ROH/NJPW dynamics?
1092
1093These are all unanswered questions.
1094
1095The big surprise of the week was the signing of Bandido, who was one of the key guys AEW was looking at featuring. With the value of hindsight, you could see he was booked in the main event at All In, and when the match time was cut so greatly, the last minute recreated match was done to keep as many of his highlight spots in, even if he was the one losing the fall.
1096
1097AEW, not having started, did not have an actual offer on paper, although it was understood they wanted him and a surprise he signed with ROH.
1098
1099Those close to the situation said he made his decision based on the fact Elite had no television deal, specific info or dates on a schedule, and he was offered excellent money guaranteed for not a lot of dates, national television exposure in the U.S. in a promotion where he’ll be pushed, and a connection with New Japan. It was noted to us that Bandido “adores those guys” (Young Bucks), wants them to succeed and would have been thrilled to go in that direction but there was too much uncertainty involved. I was told that once it was clear that WWE wasn’t the direction to go, signing with ROH was easy.
1100
1101ROH’s offer was much higher than that of WWE, although WWE did come back with a second offer that was “dramatically higher” when they realized he had better offers and that the typical low money offer that many people will sign immediately because it’s WWE, often less money than they were making elsewhere, wasn’t going to be enough to get him.
1102
1103Still, the offer was below that of ROH. Plus, the ROH schedule is also far fewer dates, unlike WWE’s exclusivity, meaning he could continue to work outside the U.S. and Ontario, most notably Mexico, Australia and Europe, on his off days. He also is expected to still work on the WrestleCon super show over WrestleMania weekend besides the ROH MSG show. For him, another key reason ROH had an edge over WWE is that ROH would give him the entry to New Japan. Bandido, who now works for Dragon Gate, will be finishing up with that promotion on 12/23. There is no actual New Japan deal completed for him at this time.
1104
1105There is also Chris Jericho as a free agent, and he is interested in wrestling, given that right now he’s only got two concert dates for next year, one on 5/18 and another on 9/14. Jericho’s name was linked with AEW from the start. Right now he’s got nothing scheduled in wrestling after the Tokyo Dome and is a free agent. If he beats Tetsuya Naito, that’s pretty much a sure sign he’ll work more dates with New Japan, because he can still do new programs with both Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada. If he loses, that doesn’t mean he won’t return, since one would think it’s time for Naito to get a big win. Jericho is going to do another wrestling/rock/comedy cruise, with the details being announced at some point in January. It’s helpful if doing a cruise, since wrestling matches will be a big part of it, to be hooked up business-wise with a promotion that has key talent, like he did this past year with ROH primarily and Impact secondarily (plus made his major independent deal with Kenny Omega). Jericho was a major difference-maker for New Japan this past year both in the U.S. and Japanese markets, and was a key person for the huge increase in both live ticket sales and New Japan world subscriptions the week of last year’s WrestleKingdom show.
1106
1107Even three months ago, establishing a roster of excellent talent would have been the least of the issues, really a minor issue, with the proposed new group. But the talent issue has changed greatly.
1108
1109In a short form, for AEW, this is the situation. If they don’t get a significant television deal, both in terms of exposure, and enough revenue to where they can run a business without going deep in the red, then the reality is that they won’t make it. The top guys would then likely end up in WWE with huge contracts, so in the long run, they’re taking a risk but they’re fine. The other guys will be riskier, but it’s still going to likely be a good market for talent in one year, but really, a year is a long time and Impact, MLW and even ROH have long-term questions.
1110
1111If they do get the type of deal that nobody has gotten since WCW folded (although Impact came closest when on Spike), it still has to work. Having money and brains behind it helps, but Bellator had Viacom behind it, produces good shows, has great fights, all of which doesn’t matter at all unless you can create some mainstream breakout stars. To the credit of the guys behind AEW, the usage of social media to have a great run in selling T-shirts and actually selling out the Sears Center instantly, and really, selling out Madison Square Garden quickly (which WWE still hasn’t done for its traditional day after Christmas show). But selling 10,000 or even 15,000 tickets or hundreds of thousands of T-shirts at Hot Topic is very different from drawing 1 million viewers or more per week, a figure a monster company like UFC now rarely tops and that nationally broadcast NBA and Baseball games often can’t hit. And in a changing world, drawing big numbers to television gets more difficult by the day for established traditional shows in a world where people live by patterns. Starting with a new product in an already overexposed industry is even tougher. Producing a great product isn’t easy. Having a great product is no guarantee people will watch. But having a vehicle and having stars that can break through and marketing and producing them always has a chance. And looking at everyone from WWE to UFC to Impact to Bellator, which had that exposure, tells you just how difficult that really is.
1112
1113But if they get the deal, and are reasonably successful, they may not have the depth of talent hoped for to start. But at the end of next year, if it appears like they are in it for the long haul and having success, there will be people’s contracts that run out in every promotion, including WWE, and at that point, talent probably won’t be an issue.
1114
1115ROH’s last major show of the year, Final Battle, took place on 12/14 before a sold out crowd of 1,800 fans at the Hammerstein Ballroom. This was a show with great demand, as tickets were going for four times face value the day of the event. It was the last show for Cody, Page and The Bucks, but the crowd wasn’t the slightest bit negative to them, aside from Cody, but he was trying to play heel and he was insulting them hard before they’d boo him.
1116
1117The show was very good overall, a killer main event and two other great matches. The crowd was very hot in certain matches, but not everywhere. The booking was done to give a boost to the guys they need to make into bigger stars with the departures, notably Jeff Cobb, Kelly Klein, Matt Taven (who is clearly being groomed for a run with Jay Lethal for the title), Marty Scurll, Flip Gordon and The Briscoes, who are going to seemingly form a top heel group with Bully Ray and Shane Taylor. Putting Bully Ray in a heel group with the Briscoes does come after their major feud of not that long ago.
1118
1119The show went almost one hour longer than usual. Originally they booked a fourth hour because they had stories that needed to be told and matches that would be compromised too much if the show went three hours. When it was all timed out, they were set for three hours and 50 minutes, which they hit almost on cue.
1120
1121The negative is that they were looking and hoping to end with a match of the year, since it was the last PPV match for four of the six guys. It was set for 43 minutes (this includes intros so really about 41 minutes) with no filler time at all just to go that long (unlike he War Games match which was set to go long just to go long). But other segments went to long that they were cut 18 minutes literally at the last minute meaning tons of what was planned had to be dropped and they also probably worked a little more rushed for fear of not being ready and having enough time to do the finish.
1122
1123While not on the PPV, ROH allowed the Bucks, Cody, Page, Sky and Kazarian to do an in-ring farewell at the end of the show. Cody never spoke. Matt said that the last two years were the best two years of his life and thanked everyone, specifically mentioning Gary Juster, Joe Koff and Greg Gilleland of the ROH office. Everyone stayed. Having been in New York when Mick Foley had his final ECW match before going to WWF and how the crowd treated him (horribly, “You sold out” chants, which clearly hurt him) and seeing social media negativity on them for both leaving and not going to WWE, but then seeing this crowd, where nobody left early, and everyone was respectful, again showed that thinking what a few disrespectful think on social media is completely not indicative of how much think. I think everyone when it came to this show and leaving on both sides handled this as professionally as possible.
1124
11251. Chuckie T & Baretta won a three-way pre-show match over Beer City Bruiser & Brian Milonas and TK O’Ryan & Vinny Marseglia. I was told this match was a great opener. Bruiser did a dive from the top rope to the floor on everyone. The Best Friends won with their combination Dudebuster and stomp combination. Said to be ***3/4
1126
11272. Kenny King pinned Eli Isom in 8:59. Isom is on the small side, but you can see he’s a natural at this. The match was good. The negative is when you have King, who nobody really cares too much about, and Isom, who nobody knows, you’re predisposed not to care no matter what they do. But they worked well together and got the crowd, and did far better than it looked on paper. King did a springboard blockbuster and picked Isom up at two. But later King won with a Michinoku driver. ***
1128
11293. Jeff Cobb pinned Hangman Page to retain the TV title in 13:28. This was outstanding, very much high-level G-1 style. It opened with Page doing a shooting star press off the apron, Cobb caught him and gave him an overhead belly-to-belly on the floor. Cobb did a long delayed one arm top rope superplex. Cobb also did a standing moonsault and missed a standing shooting star. The crowd knew they were seeing something special here and reacted accordingly. Cobb did a crossbody off the top and Page rolled through and hoisted Cobb up and gave him a fallaway slam, which looked impressive on a guy the size of Cobb. Page then did a tope and a top rope moonsault to the floor. They traded elbows and did all kinds of dynamic spots. The finish saw Page go for a buckshot lariat and Cobb turned it into the tour of the islands, and then Cobb sent him into the ropes for a second tour of the islands for the pin. This was the match Cobb really needed since it’s clear he’s going to be one of the major players here next year. ****1/4
1130
11314. Kelly Klein won a four-way elimination match over champion Sumie Sakai, Madison Rayne and Karen Q to win the WOH title in 13:38. The crowd wasn’t into this. There was nothing bad about it, but it followed a great match. ROH is in a tough position with women because there is now the mentality you have to feature women, since WWE features them so strongly. But while ROH has guys who are at the level of the top guys in WWE, with the women, that isn’t the case. At times it comes across as force feeding the fan base something it will get mad at you if you don’t do it, but then when you do they don’t want to see it. Q showed athletic potential with her college gymnastics background but even the cool stuff the crowd really didn’t care about. Klein pinned Q with K power in 6:53. Sakai hit a roll the dice on Rayne, and Klein kicked Sakai out of the ring and pinned Rayne in 8:52. This left Klein vs Sakai. They went through a number of near finishes until Klein used a Super K power off the middle rope for the pin. So the story was that Klein pinned everyone to take the title, but it also leaves her without obvious challengers. **1/4
1132
11335. Zack Sabre Jr. pinned Jonathan Gresham in 11:51. This was a great ground battle. This is the type of match Gresham really shines in, because on the mat, his height is no longer a detriment and he’s so ridiculously skilled. Gresham did some flying late, but the finish saw Gresham go for a bridging cradle, Sabre blocked it and did one of his own for the pin. The fans gave both men a standing ovation when this was over. ****
1134
11356. Matt Taven pinned Dalton Castle in 15:49. Taven was putting up his fake ROH title belt. Castle is still physically a wreck, taped up and he’s not able to do most of what got him over. There was a ton of interference by TK O’Ryan, Vinny Marseglia, and The Boys were also involved. Taven did a crazy move where he did a running dive over the top, Castle moved, and he crashed on his ribs on he guard rail. This should have been an injury angle spot, but way too quickly, Taven was back on top. Castle kicked out of a belt shot. At another point, when Castle had the match won, O’Ryan picked up one of The Boys and threw him into the ring to break up the pin. That was actually quite cool. After all that and lots of near falls by Castle, Taven won with a headlock DDT to keep his title. ***
1136
11377. Marty Scurll beat Christopher Daniels in 17:34. The stipulations here was that Scurll was putting up his title shot for winning Survival of the Fittest. Daniels’ contract was to expire, so the idea is that if he won, and was guaranteed a title shot, they would have to sign him to a new deal. This was very well wrestled but was missing something with the crowd. It’s not that they were dead or anything, but the idea of Daniels’ future on the line didn’t make it as dramatic as one would have hoped for. Scurll did the broken fingers spot twice, so later, when Daniels went for Angel’s wings, he didn’t have the hand power to pull it off. But eventually Daniels got it and Scurll kicked out. Daniels went for the BME but Scurll got his knees up. Scurll came back with all kinds of kicks and stomps, hit the graduation, but Daniels kicked out. Scurll then stomped the hell out of Daniels’ neck and put him in the chicken wing for the submission. After the match, with the idea Daniels was leaving hitting the crowd, they started with a “Thank you Daniels” chant. Then from behind, Bully Ray gave Daniels a low blow. ***1/4
1138
11398. Flip Gordon beat Bully Ray in an I Quit match in 14:26. This had super heat since Bully knows every trick in the book. It was all story it’s different from everything else on the show, but when different works, and this did, it’s a good thing. Gordon did a Van Daminator to lead to “RVD” chants. There were all the weapons shots. Bully used a chain. Bully started threatening Cary Silkin at ringside. Ring announcer Bobby Cruise got up to protect Silkin. Ref Todd Sinclair started yelling at Bully. Bully shoved down Sinclair. Bully threatened Silkin by sticking a kendo stick to his throat. Christopher Daniels came out to save Silkin. Bully took out Daniels with a kendo stick shot. Gordon was bleeding at this point and made a comeback with a pescado. But Bully backdropped Gordon actually over a table onto the floor. Then Bully pulled Gordon’s girlfriend over the barricade and threatened her. She had been at ringside the entire show and didn’t appear to be a fan because she was right on camera and looked bored out of her mind earlier. They pointed her out early in the match and this was to build to the audience thinking she was there for a reason. So the tease was Bully would threaten to put her through a table unless Gordon said “I Quit.” They teased the spot, and she had to stay there with her head between Bully’s knees for what seemed like forever while Gordon quivered and teased quitting, but Silkin hit Bully with a kendo stick. Bully didn’t sell it big, but turned around after him. The girlfriend then gave Bully a low blow. Gordon, whose face was covered in blood, gave her a long kiss. She may not have realized it, because she sat there for the rest of the match watching with a bunch of blood on her face. Gordon, who was in the military, which was played up, and came out to the ring with American flags, grabbed one of the flags which was hooked to a kendo stick, and came off the top rope with the flagpole shot. The crowd went nuts for this. He used a crossface with the flag. Silas Young then came in to help Bully, and gave him Misery. Young pulled out a table and started pouring lighter fluid on it. Cheeseburger then ran in. Young hit Misery on Cheeseburger. Colt Cabana, who was announcing, then ran in. Cabana hit Young with a chair shot but Young gave Cabana a low blow and threw him over the top rope. The lights then went out. When they came on, it was Sandman. Now, Sandman was used as part of this angle on TV so this did make sense, and in the Northeast with his crowd, even though ECW was 20 years ago, he always gets a pop. Still, ROH should be about looking forward, not going backwards. Sandman is 55 now and looked old. He caned Young. Sandman gave Gordon his cane and Gordon had the other from the flag and he kept hitting Bully over-and-over with shots with both sticks until Bully quit. The key was that on TV, Gordon refused to quit in a similar situation. The whole idea of this program and match is that Gordon is a guy that does acrobatic spots but wasn’t over as a tough guy or a personality, and the idea here was to show toughness, never quitting and getting that personality over. In this instance, that was far more important then having a traditional great ROH style match. The match got over great live, and I can see why some didn’t like it with the interference and girlfriend and the Sandman, but this was a big picture deal to change the perception of Gordon. Sandman and Gordon drank beer together at the finish. ***3/4
1140
11419. Jay Lethal beat Cody to retain the ROH title in 23:46. Cody clearly wanted to be the heel but people wouldn’t boo him. When they cheered him, Cody told them he loved them too, but then said if I really loved you I’d be working the MSG show. That got them to turn on him. Lethal worked on the left knee. Brandi got involved. The story is that Brandi has a metal plate in her shoulder from her last surgery so her spear is now devastating. Brandi speared Lethal for a near fall. Brandi went for another one and Lethal leapfrogged and Brandi speared Cody. Lethal hit Brandi with Lethal injection but Cody gave Lethal crossroads and he kicked out. Cody used a figure four and then the bell rang, but ref Todd Sinclair didn’t allow it and it was Page who rang the bell. Lethal gave Cody crossroads for a near fall, followed by the Randy Savage elbow. Cody used his kneebrace as a weapon. Lethal hit six straight topes before Cody spit water in his eyes. Finally Lethal came back with superkicks, hit the Lethal injection and put the figure four on. Since Cody legit had the bad knee and Lethal worked it over, Cody tapped out. Both Marty Scurll and Nick Aldis (with his new woman accomplice) came out to confront Lethal after the match, so the tease is for a Lethal vs. Aldis battle of champions in 2020. ***1/4
1142
114310. Mark & Jay Briscoe beat champions Frankie Kazarian & Scorpio Sky and the Young Bucks to win the ROH tag titles in a ladder match in 22:34. This was insane, as expected. The Young Bucks came out with new gear which was a tribute to The Rockers, who were two of their favorites growing up. A million spots. The crowd went crazy from start-to-finish. Tons of blood, stunts and brutality. Jay did a double foot stomp on Sky through a table. Kazarian was bleeding badly. Mark was bleeding from left eye (this looked hard way to me). Matt power bombed Jay into a ladder. The Bucks did a double tope on the Briscoes. Kazarian did a codebreaker on Nick of the ladder. Mark gave Nick a Northern Lights suplex on a ladder. There were chair shots, some to the head although not brutal. Sky did a running flip dive on Mark. Nick did a springboard twisting dive. Jay backdropped Mat over the top rope and through a table. A staple gun was brought in, but I didn’t see it being used. Jay was bleeding like crazy. Kazarian did a diamond cutter on Mark over the top rope through a table. Matt brought in a sledge hammer, and this was meant as a symbolic spot as he then threw the sledge hammer away without using it. Sky used a top rope huracanrana onto a ladder and then Matt gave off with a springboard teeter totter spot with the ladder. It’s kind of amazing that aside from Nick hurting his elbow (not bad enough that he couldn’t wrestle the next day), nobody was hurt in all this carnage and insanity. Jay gave Matt a side slam through a chair. They teased a Meltzer driver, but Mark did a springboard off the top rope and caught Nick, who did his springboard, in mid-air and used a diamond cutter. Jay used a Jay driller on Matt. Jay was now bleeding from the back. Kazarian gave Jay a Styles clash onto a chair. Mark fell off the top of a ladder onto a ladder bridge in the ring. The only injury spot was Nick was thrown off the top of a ladder and flew out of the ring through a table on the floor (there were two tables set up but he only went through one of them). Kazarian and Jay were on the top of the ladder and Mark threw a chair at Kazarian, who fell off the ladder through a table and Jay pulled down the belts to win. ****½
1144
1145While significant, the ONE deal with Turner Sports is not quite as big as the original reports were, in the sense it’s more a streaming deal with some television.
1146
1147ONE will produce 24 shows that will stream live on B/R Live, the Turner sports streaming service. B/R Live will also air other ONE programming. The only television component is that TNT will air 12 one-hour highlight shows during the year, which would likely to bouts with the name fighters.
1148
114912 hours of taped highlight show television, even on as strong a channel as TNT, is not going to be enough to become a major player in the U.S. market.
1150
1151The first live show will be 1/19 from Djakarta, Indonesia, which if it airs live, would be a Saturday morning show U.S. time.
1152
1153The best thing for emotion and atmosphere this weekend wasn’t the Omega & Ibushi vs. Tanahashi & Ospreay match, or the last several minutes of the main event at TLC, or the video on BTE of The Elite leaving the Hammerstein and saying goodbye to ROH.
1154
1155It was the entire Ilima-lei Macfarlane presentation on the 12/15 Bellator show in Honolulu. There were so many lessons here about individuality, and letting people handle their own creative and thinking outside the box.
1156
1157The unfortunate thing is that, being on the DAZN subscription service, whose early numbers have been scary bad compared to how much money it has been spending, so few so it that outside the MMA media types who raved about it, and those in the Neil Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, few saw it or know about it.
1158
1159Macfarlane is Bellator’s flyweight champion. She has a natural charm to her and she really is tremendous as a brand ambassador both for Bellator and her home state. While UFC stars like B.J. Penn and Max Holloway pushed for years the idea of running a show in Hawaii, for a number of reasons having to do with costs, taxes and venue size, UFC never did it. The NBC was too small and while they would have drawn huge at Aloha Stadium, the weather is too unpredictable.
1160
1161She pushed Scott Coker to run a show there and they ended up doing one better, making it a doubleheader with shows on 12/14 and 12/15, the first being their version of “Tribute to the Troops” on the Paramount Network.
1162
1163The TV show heavily built the next day’s show as the big thing, and even with the debut of Lyoto Machida, everything was built around Macfarlane. Back in September, she had the moment deeply in her head, saying it would be a “chicken skin” (Hawaiian for goose bumps) moment.
1164
1165Macfarlane grew up in Honolulu, and nine years ago won the high school state championship at the NBC Arena, which has been the indoor sports home for Hawaiian sports for more than 50 years. She went to the same high school as Barack Obama, as well as Curtis Iaukea and Don Muraco.
1166
1167She set up a native-themed entrance, with a popular Hawaiian song, men carrying state flags, and a video put together by Impact’s Kevin Sullivan with photos of her from childhood through her recent title defenses, including a photo of a ring outfit she wore early in her career where, at the waist, it read “place belt here,” leading to a photo of her with the championship belt.
1168
1169The only thing I could compare this spectacle to was the ultimate Mirko Cro Cop 2005 ring entrance at the Saitama Super Arena before his title fight with Fedor Emelianenko. But that was really about the amazing video showing his father’s tombstone and his relentless training. This was more girl next door becomes a superstar.
1170
1171The sold out crowd of 6,500 fans were on their feet, many with tears in their eyes, with seemingly everyone taking cell phone photos at once, very much like the start of a major rock concert. She was crying from the moment she came from the curtain until she was inside the cage.
1172
1173DAZN, with its crisp picture quality that is a level above what we see on WWE, UFC or New Japan shows, created an emotional visual that everyone in entertainment strives to create, but rarely comes close.
1174
1175Bellator promoter Scott Coker compared it with the atmosphere of the Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le fight that he promoted more than a decade ago in San Jose.
1176
1177"It was amazing," said Coker. "When we do the walk-ins, we just say, `Look, you guys have the ability to express yourself, and do what's important for you, and build your brand. 'You can tell that her culture was important to her, and Hawaii was important to her. It was entertaining. I loved it. I loved that the crowd knew all the chants and everything. It was just a magical night. I can't explain it. You had to be here to feel it."
1178
1179Then there was the fight. Macfarlane struggled with challenger Valerie Letourneau. Letourneau was a solid fighter, but hardly a worldbeater. She was 10-6 coming in, and was 3-3 in UFC, including a loss to Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the strawweight title on the Ronda Rousey-Holly Holm show from Australia.
1180
1181Macfarlane may have lost the first two rounds close. Things turned around in the third when she got a takedown, went for an armbar, then locked on a triangle. While holding the triangle, she kept throwing elbows and Letourneau tapped at 3:19.
1182
1183That led to the second emotional response, with the cameras panning the audience with tears in their eyes. Those live, including Scott Coker, said it was one of the most memorable fight moments they had seen.
1184
1185The reaction was so impressive that Coker wants to make the NBC Arena a regular stop on the Bellator circuit.
1186
1187With the loud crowd, sounding both younger and with more of a female sound than is usual at an MMA event, cheering her on, this was that rare superstar moment, like Ronda Rousey's win over Liz Carmouche, Conor McGregor's win over Chad Mendes, Georges St-Pierre's win over Matt Serra and Matt Hughes or Jon Jones' win over Shogun Rua. Now, it is completely unfair at this stage of the game to put Macfarlane in the same category as the greatest stars in the sport's history and their breakouts nights. But the emotion in the crowd at the end of those fights was very much the same.
1188
1189"This was something that will be memorable as a fight promoter," said Coker after the show. "This was a magical environment, and I think you guys saw the power of Hawaii get behind her. There's a couple of times in my life I felt that. And I've been doing this a long time. So, it was a magical night, and they love her here. She's going to be a big star here."
1190
1191The problem is that the next day, it was not on the Google search list. Almost nobody past the most hardcore of fans and those in the MMA media were commenting on it. In many ways, this was this amazing thing in an arena and on a streaming service one night, but it was also a giant tree falling in an empty forest moment as well.
1192
1193Pro Wrestling NOAH pulled the trigger on the year-long build of 22-year-old Kaito Kiyomiya to be the next big superstar of the company.
1194
1195After only three years in, NOAH had Kiyomiya won the Global League tag team tournament, then the singles tournament on 11/25, and followed it up on 12/16 at the Yokohama Bunka Gym, beating Takashi Sugiura to win the GHC title.
1196
1197Kiyomiya started training at the Pro Wrestling NOAH dojo right after his 2015 high school graduation. He debuted in December and was so impressive that he was already put in the Global League tournament as a rookie, even if he was winless. After a loss to Sugiura at the start of 2016, the two joined forces for a while, and then he went to Canada for much of the year.
1198
1199His quest for the title started on December 22, 2017, when he issued a challenge to new champion Kenou, who had won the title from Eddie Edwards. He lost that match via knockout on 1/6, but got over big in the loss, in a manner where people were talking about him maybe ending up as the top star of the promotion within a few years. After the loss, Sugiura turned on him and he became a babyface this year.
1200
1201Go Shiozaki & Kiyomiya won the 2018 tag team tournament and followed, winning the GHC tag titles from Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya.
1202
1203He shocked everyone by beating Nakajima to win the singles tournament. The tournament was originally scheduled for him top beat Naomichi Marufuji, who was injured the day before the championship. He also just won the Fighting Spirit award.
1204
1205Sugiura, 48, had won the title from Kenou, setting a record with his fourth title win. Like in the past, Sugiura had one great match after another this year in title defenses.
1206
1207Kiyomiya’s title, win, before 2,146 fans, was one of four title changes on the show. Hajime Ohara & Hitoshi Kumano won the jr. tag team titles from Hi69 & Minoru Tanaka. Daisuke Harada won the GHC jr. title for the third time, beating Kotaro Suzuki. Yuji Hino & Maybach Taniguchi beat Nakajima & Shiozaki to win the GHC tag titles.
1208
1209Ohara & Kumano’s first defense will be against Junta Miyawaki & Seiya Morohashi. No date is official for that match. Harada was challenged by Yo-Hey for the jr. title, which will take place on 1/26 in Osaka. Mohammed Yone & Quiet Storm challenged Hino & Taniguchi, which will take place on 1/6 at Korakuen Hall. Kenou came out after Kiyomiya’s win, asking for a match on 1/6 at Korakuen Hall, exactly one year after Kiyomiya’s loss in the bout that was the one that started a nearly one year title chase.
1210
12111. Lin Dong Xuan & Mizuki Watase beat Yoshiki Inamura & Kinya Okada in 8:30 when Xuan beat Okada with a Boston crab.
1212
12132. Akitoshi Saito & Shiro Koshinaka (at 60 years old) & Storm & Yone beat Mitsuya Nagai & Kazma Sakamoto & Cody Hall & Masao Inoue in 5:22 when Koshinaka pinned Inoue after a power bomb.
1214
12153. Hayata & Yo-Hey & Tadasake beat Koji Kanemoto & Morohashi & Miyawaki in 10:11 when Tadasuke pinned Miyawaki after a lariat. Interesting that Miyawaki lost here before issuing the tag title challenge later in the show.
1216
12174. Kenou & Kitamiya & Atsushi Kotoge beat Kazusada Higuchi & Kota Umeda & Nobuhiro Shimatani, all from DDT, in 11:08 when Kenou pinned Shimatani with a double foot stomp off the top rope.
1218
12195. Doug Williams, in his Japan farewell match, beat Yoshinari Ogawa in 11:58 with the Chaos Theory suplex.
1220
12216. Ohara & Kumano won the jr. tag titles from Hi69 & Tanaka in 17:41 when Kumano beat Hi69 with the torture rack submission.
1222
12237. Harada pinned Kotaro Suzuki in 16:47 using a German suplex.
1224
12258. Taniguchi & Hino beat Nakajima & Shiozaki in 18:18 when Hino pined Shiozaki with a power bomb.
1226
12279. Kiyomiya pinned Sugiura in 33:00 with a Tiger suplex to win the GHC title.
1228
1229Smackdown on 12/18 did 2,214,000 viewers, a 12 percent increase from the prior week.
1230
1231The number was up probably as much as anything, because Raw was up, Vince McMahon was back and they were coming off the PPV. What’s interesting is that the increase was virtually all viewers over the age of 35.
1232
1233The show was sixth for the night on cable, trailing only news shows and Curse of Oak Island (3,159,000 viewers).
1234
1235The show did a 0.41 in 12-17 (up 2.5 percent), 0.51 in 18-34 (up 2.0 percent), 0.97 in 35-49 (up 12.8 percent) and 0.94 in 50+ (up 16.0 percent, which is huge in that type of an age group).
1236
1237The audience was 62.8 percent men in 18-49 and 57.6 male in 12-17.
1238
1239Raw on 12/17 did a 1.74 rating and 2,547,000 viewers (1.61 viewers per home).
1240
1241The combination of the return of Vince and coming off the PPV led to a 16 percent increase in audience and a 10 percent increase in ratings even going against the third highest rated Monday Night Football game of the season. The New Orleans Saints vs. Carolina Panthers game did 13,006,000 viewer. It was the most-watched episode of Raw since 9/17, even beating the episode on 10/22 where Roman Reigns announced that he had leukemia to start the show.
1242
1243Raw was fifth for the night on cable, losing only to NFL-related programming on ESPN and Rachel Maddow (3,015,000 viewers) on MSNBC, meaning it beat everything on Fox News, which it usually doesn’t do.
1244
1245The show had the usual and expected big opening for the McMahon hour, but hour one was still behind 11/12 and 11/19, but the audience didn’t decline as much as in those weeks.
1246
1247They tried an experiment with third hour being almost all a women’s gauntlet match to set up a Ronda Rousey title match for Christmas Eve. The second to third hour decline was 221,000 viewers. The average of the previous five weeks was a 234,000 third hour decline, so it held up very slightly better than normal. It was more of a male decline than usual.
1248
1249In demos, males 18-49 saw a 10.5 percent second-to-third hour decline, women 18-49 was 9.8 percent, boys 12-17 was a 10.8 percent and girls was an 8.4 percent. Over 50 was 4.0 percent, so that’s unusual as usually older viewers are more likely to tune out. And usually women tune out in the third hour at higher rates than men. So the almost all women’s third hour did slightly better than average as far as keeping the existing audience, but worse among men, but way better among old people and a little better among women. This contradicts the stats where the more the women are pushed, the more the regular audience of women viewers declines.
1250
1251The first hour did 2,717,000 viewers. The second hour did 2,558,000 viewers. The third hour did 2,367,000 viewers. It was the best third hour since 10/22, the week Reigns revealed he had leukemia.
1252
1253The show did a 0.60 in 12-17 (up 17.6 percent from last week), 0.62 in 18-34 (up 3.3 percent), 1.10 in 35-49 (up 19.6 percent) and 0.99 in 50+ (up 15.1 percent). So for whatever reason, Vince meant a lot to every age group except 18-34.
1254
1255The audience was 64.7 percent men in 18-49 and 59.1 percent male in 12-17.
1256
1257Bellator on 12/14 from Honolulu, with the show headlined by Michael Chandler’s lightweight title win over Brent Primus, did 270,000 viewers. The number is the fourth lowest of the year and fourth lowest for the promotion ever on Spike. Part of the reason was the show started at 10 p.m. instead of 9 p.m. because of the time zone difference with Hawaii. They did 93,000 more via DVR, which is a 34 percent jump. I attribute that to the later start time, but the whole idea of the value of live sports is you don’t get a 34 percent DVR jump (which in theory means people are speed searching through and not watching commercials), and peaked at 531,000 viewers for A.J. McKee’s fight.
1258
1259Impact on 12/13 did its best audience since moving to the 10 p.m. time slot, with 140,000 viewers. The previous best was 129,000 viewers on 11/8. This went head-to-head with the Los Angeles Chargers vs. Kansas City Chiefs football game which did 20,632,000 viewers between FOX and the NFL Network.
1260
1261The rating for the record-low 12/10 Raw was a 1.58, the second lowest in the history of the show, and 2,194,000 viewers (1.53 viewers per home).
1262
1263Combate Americas on 12/7 did an eight-man tournament that aired on midnight on Friday night on Univision and Univision Deportes, doing a combined 451,000 viewers. While it’s in a worst time slot than Bellator on Friday, and beat most of the Bellator shows this year, Univision is a far higher rated station than Paramount and you’re also adding up ratings on two different stations.
1264
1265This is the first issue of the current set. If you’ve got a (1) on your address label, with this being a double issue, it means your Observer subscription expires in two more issues. We will be publishing our final issue of the year next week and then it will be two to three weeks before another issue due to my going on vacation. I don’t anticipate missing another week during 2019 as if I do any international trips they would be maybe a few days max.
1266
1267Renewal rates for the printed Observer in the United States are $13.50 for four issues (which includes $4 for postage and handling), $25 for eight, $35.50 for 12, $46 for 16, $69 for 24, $92 for 32, $115 for 40, $149.50 for 52 up through $184 for 64 issues.
1268
1269For Canada and Mexico, the rates are $15 for four issues (which includes $6 for postage and handling), $27 for eight, $38.50 for 12, $50 for 16, $75 or 24, $100 for 32, $125 for 40 issues, $162.50 for 52 and $200 for 64.
1270
1271For the rest of the world, the rates are $17 for four issues (which includes $9 for postage and handling), $33 for eight, $47.50 for 12, $62 for 16, $77.50 for 20, $93 for 24, $108.50 for 28, $155 for 40 issues and $201.50 for 52 issues.
1272
1273You can also get the Observer on the web at www.wrestlingobserver.com for $11.99 per month for a premium membership that includes daily audio updates, Figure Four Weekly, special articles and a message board. If you are a premium member and still want hard copies of the Observer, you can get them for $9.50 per set in the U.S., $10.50 per set in Canada and $13 per set for the rest of the world.
1274
1275All subscription renewals should be sent to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228. You can also renew via Visa or MasterCard by sending your name, address, phone number, Visa or MasterCard number (and include the three or four digit security code on the card) and expiration date to Dave@wrestlingobserver.com or by fax to (408)244-3402. You can also renew at www.paypal.com using dave@wrestlingobserver.com as the pay to address. For all credit card or paypal orders, please add a $1 processing fee. If there are any subscription problems, you can contact us and we will attempt to rectify them immediately, but please include with your name a full address as well a phone number you can be contacted at.
1276
1277All letters to the editor, reports from live shows and any other correspondence pertaining to this publication should also be sent to the above address.
1278
1279This publication is copyright material and no portion of the Observer may be reprinted without the expressed consent of publisher/writer Dave Meltzer. The Observer is also produced by Derek Sabato.
1280
1281Fax messages can be sent to the Observer 24 hours a day at (408) 244-3402. Phone messages can be left 24 hours a day at (408) 244-2455. E-mails can be sent to Dave@wrestlingobserver.com
1282
1283DRAGON GATE: Eita attacked Dragon Kid and gave him an arm injury as an angle to put Dragon Kid in jeopardy going into their hair vs. mask match on 12/23 in Fukuoka. Bandido is on tour with Flamita, Daga and Pac. Bandido’s last show with the promotion will be on 12/23
1284
1285Pac won’t be defending his Open the Dream Gate title on Final Gate in Fukuoka
1286
1287They announced a 1/16 show at Korakuen Hall with a lot of unique matches. The first announced was Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Wrestle-1's Shuji Kondo
1288
1289Takehiro Yamamura and Lindaman did a five minute exhibition match on the 12/16 show in Kyoto at KBS Hall. Lindaman left for Oriental Wrestling Entertainment (Cima’s group based in Shanghai) and Yamamura has been out with an injury, but now that he’s healed, he’s also going to Shanghai
1290
1291They drew 1,620 fans to their show on 12/16 in Nagoya and 1,564 for the 12/18 final Korakuen Hall show of the year. That show was a ten man tag with ten wrestlers out drawing for team members and ended with Dragon Kid & K-Ness & Ben K & Kazma Sakamoto & Kai beating Yuki Yoshioka & BxB Hulk & Yasshi & Naruki Doi & Dragon Dia.
1292
1293NEW JAPAN: We’ll have more next week, but New Japan’s last two shows of the year were 12/14 and 12/15 at Korakuen Hall, selling out with 1,723 and 1,726 paid. The first show was headlined by a gimmick-filled match where Kazuchika Okada beat Gedo in 12:36 with the rainmaker, and Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe & Toru Yano & Will Ospreay beat Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi & Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens in 14:57 when Ospreay pinned Owens with the Storm breaker. The 12/15 show featured the annual dream tag team match, and this year’s version may have been the best tag team match of the year. The best tag match of the year to me was Young Bucks vs. Omega & Ibushi, largely due to the storytelling. But as far as crisp action and excitement, Omega & Ibushi’s win over Tanahashi & Ospreay was better. Ospreay, who was pinned by Omega’s One Winged Angel in 28:46, was the star of the match with his fire, facial expressions and intensity. The big spot was Ibushi doing a ropewalk super Frankensteiner off the top and Ospreay flew over and landed on his feet. The camera work captured this amazingly as Ibushi made his face that seemed to say, “I hear the crowd but as long as I don’t turn around I can pretend he didn’t do that.” So Omega opened 2018 with a ***** match and ended it with a ***** match. The show ended with Omega & Ibushi doing a promo which included Omega singing and snow coming down from the ceiling. It’s going to very difficult at the Tokyo Dome because they are doing probably around a five-hour show, and Ospreay and Ibushi are going on second, after the trios gauntlet. That means everyone has to follow them. Really, they should have been slotted third from the top. They have ’ll kill it, but at least in that spot they’d have Chris Jericho and Tetsuya Naito following. That would be hard but at least they are going to do a completely different style match from everyone else, because really, they have to
1294
1295Jericho was in Japan this weekend. He first did a press conference on 12/15 in Tokyo which ended up in a brawl with Naito. Then, after Naito & Bushi & Shingo Takagi beat Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Desperado when Naito pinned Desperado, Jericho came out and attacked and laid out Naito again
1296
1297The pre-show gauntlet match at the Tokyo Dome will have teams of Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb & David Finlay, Togi Makabe & Toru Yano & Ryusuke Taguchi, Baretta & Chuckie T & Hirooki Goto, Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi & Marty Scurll and Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Minoru Suzuki. The winning team will challenge Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa & Taiji Ishimori for the Never trios titles at New Year’s Dash on 1/5
1298
1299At the 1/3 Fan Fest, the three matches will be Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Yuya Uemura & Ren Narita, Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Tomoaki Honma & Toa Henare and Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Ayato Yoshida & Shota Umino. This will be the first 1/4 show at the Tokyo Dome that Liger isn’t wrestling on since 1995. In fact, 1995 was the only year since the 1/4 tradition started in 1992 that Liger wasn’t on the card until this year. Going back further, Keiichi Yamada’s debut under the Jushin Liger mask came at the first pro wrestling event ever held a the Tokyo Dome, on April 24, 1989, and Liger has been on every biggest show of the year for New Japan in gimmick from 1989 to 2018, with the exception of 1995
1300
1301No numbers have been released but two New Japan sources (as well as their Twitter) have said that ticket sales for the Tokyo Dome are still ahead of the pace of last year’s show. To me, that would be amazing because while this year’s show is deeper when it comes to quality matches, it doesn’t have anything to me that felt like the Jericho-Omega match last year which was the key reason ticket sales went from 26,192 in 2017 to 34,995 in 2018
1302
1303From people who specialize in getting tickets, I’m told it was impossible to get good Tokyo Dome seats as the demand was so high there was a lottery for the good tickets and so many fan club people entered the lottery so few got tickets, and those who did, were limited to two tickets. Still, the show isn’t sold out. New Year’s Dash was impossible unless you are Japanese and lucky. It’s insane they still booked Korakuen Hall, because Fan Club alone ticket requests were 10,000 tickets, not including anyone who isn’t a member of the Fan Club, and any foreigners, since only Japanese residents can be in he Fan Club, so the number of seats they could sell is probably enough to fill Budokan Hall and they’re running Korakuen. The other show impossible to get tickets for is the 1/3 DDT show at Korakuen Hall
1304
1305While totals aren’t official, 2018 revenues are expected to fall at about $43.6 million, up from $35 million last year, a 25 percent increase. A big key was the increase in live event ticket sales, but merchandise in 2018 was four times that of 2013, stemming from the LIJ sales and the U.S. market Hot Topic T-shirt sales. Almost 40 percent of ticket buyers to Japanese live shows are female. Going into the Dome show they are ahead of 100,000 in New Japan World sales, as compared to 60,000 at the same point last year in mid-December.
1306
1307HERE AND THERE: An episode of GLOW that centered around Kia Stevens, the former Awesome Kong, was named the best episode of a television show in 2018 by Entertainment Weekly
1308
1309GLOW on Netflix also got three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. Alison Brie was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy series. The show was nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a comedy series and Outstanding Action performance by a stunt ensemble in a comedy or drama series. There was also the announcement of a GLOW comic book
1310
1311MLW announced both of its main events for WrestleMania week, both at the Melrose Ballroom in New York. The 4/4 show has Rush vs. L.A. Park, which is the match they’ve had planned dating back before L.A. Park even started. That show goes head-to-head with DDT, Impact and the WrestleCon Super Show. The 4/5 show, which goes against NXT, will feature a 40 man Rumble Riot. Bein Sports and MLW were filming a documentary this past week on Tony Schiavone with his return doing his first live cable broadcast in almost 18 years. Smith Jr. worked the tapings with a high fever after a 20 hour travel day coming from Japan to Chicago. Tom Lawlor worked a short match with a broken hand suffered on 11/24 in his fight for Golden Boy MMA. Court Bauer has said he’s in talks for a European TV deal
1312
1313Joey Janela’s second Gamerchanger Wrestling show at midnight on 4/6 (after ROH/NJPW) in Jersey City, NJ, sold out instantly, as expected
1314
1315AAW noted that even though WWE is running its post-holiday show head-to-head with them on 12/29 in Chicago, and that it’s also head-to-head with the big UFC show, that the first five rows have sold out and tickets are moving well.
1316
1317EUROPE: Zak Bevis, the brother of Paige, and whose character will be a key figure in the “Fighting with My Family” movie, was convicted of two counts of threatening behavior in a bar incident described in last week’s issue. Bevis was found not guilty of making threat. His friend, William Stonehouse, was convicted of two counts of assaulting police officers but found not guilty of threatening behavior. Bevis was sentenced to a 12 month conditional discharge and order to pay 60 pounds of compensation to both of the staff members he was convicted of threatening behavior toward. Stonehouse was ordered to do 70 hours of community service
1318
1319Grado starts as a regular on the BBC 2 comedy television show “Two Doors Down” for its fourth season which starts on 1/7 in the Monday night at 10 p.m. time slot. It’s the most mainstream level television work a pro wrestler has had in the U.K. in recent memory
1320
1321Zack Sabre vs. Shigehiro Irie was announced for the 1/11 RevPro show in Guildford
1322
1323Walter vs. Pac was announced for a 2/17 show for OTT at Dublin National Basketball Arena. Pac is not with any promotions on the WWE banned list so this about is still politically possible. Floor tickets sold out instantly
1324
1325Tatanka, 53, is announced for a show on 4/27 in Nauheim, Germany called “The Last War Dance,” claiming it will be his final match in Germany
1326
1327Defiant in the U.K. taped on 12/3 and did not take the Internet title off Walter, who defended against both Chris Ridgeway and El Phantasmo
1328
1329Fight Forever debuted as a promotion built around Cody & Brandi Rhodes as well as Flip Gordon. Cody was there doing meet and greets but couldn’t wrestle due to his knee injury. Brandi beat Bea Priestley and Viper while Gordon beat Rampage Brown to win their heavyweight title on 12/6 in Birmingham and defended it against Mark Haskins the next day. Millie McKenzie won their women’s title
1330
1331Konosuke Takeshita, the top young star of DDT is coming to the U.K. in March.
1332
1333ROH: They made a deal this past week to bring in Danny Cage, the owner and head coach at The Monster Factory in Paulsboro, NJ, to become the Operations Manager at the ROH Dojo. Cage will join head coach Hunter Johnston (Delirious) and assistant coaches Will Ferrara, BJ Whitmer and Jonathan Gresham. They will also be running small show at the Monster Factory, and ran the first one on 12/15, which are student shows and using a few main roster wrestlers. The first show included Jeff Cobb, Coast 2 Coast and Cheeseburger and there will be upcoming shows at the Monster Factory on 1/18 and 2/15
1334
1335There is kind of a war of words behind the scenes between ROH and MLW. Brody King and PCO, who MLW had been pushing as key players, neither of whom they had under contract, signed with ROH and pulled out of the MLW Miami shows. Now PCO told all the promoters he was working for in December that his new deal, which he said was the best deal he’s ever had in his entire career, wouldn’t let him do any more indies and pulled out of everything, even some dates with little notice saying he wasn’t allowed to do anymore dates. The impression we have is this was not ROH ordering this as they sure didn’t for King. King, on the other hand, is continuing to work all of his dates until the end of the year and has been doing his farewell speeches at different shows the past few weeks, including at Defy on 12/14 in Seattle. King will be doing indies through 12/31 when he’s doing a New Year’s Eve show for Bar Wrestling. In January, he’s ROH exclusive except for the ability to work PWG, if that stays open. MLW then said that ROH tried to take two more guys this past week but MLW was able to quell that. ROH sources claim that was made up, and that they would have had no problem with either King or PCO working the 12/13 MLW show in Miami (we didn’t hear the same for 12/14, but that was a live TV shoot). It’s obvious one of the two names in question was Rush, since ROH had him at TV and shot an angle with him, and Rush is also being groomed for MLW’s biggest singles match of 2019 with L.A. Park over Mania week. Rush did get pressure from CMLL to not work MLW given the New Japan/CMLL/ROH/Revolution Pro alliance. But to show the power Rush yields, both he and his brother, Dragon Lee, are scheduled to be two of the top pushed guys in MLW even though they are CMLL guys
1336
1337As far as PJ Black, Juice Robinson and Zack Sabre Jr., go, while there are rumors of the latter two having signed, that is not the case. Both are under contract to New Japan and will be used here as regulars between tours. Sabre is looking at being exclusive in 2019 to New Japan, ROH and Revolution Pro. He’d already cut way back on outside dates this past year to begin with, as had Will Ospreay. With Robinson, Ospreay and Sabre on New Japan deals, the feeling is that ROH doesn’t have to sign them because they’re not going to WWE any time soon. WWE did have very significant interest in Robinson. Black was under contract to Lucha Underground, but they’ve been letting their guys work elsewhere and nobody knows the future of LU to begin with. .. They are now off until a TV taping on 1/12 at Center Stage in Atlanta. The rest of the January schedule is 1/13 in Concord, NC, 1/24 in Dallas, 1/25 in Houston and 1/26 in San Antonio
1338
1339The company lost their local television on WMCM in Philadelphia. It’s a non-Sinclair station on a barter deal, since Sinclair has no affiliates in the market
1340
1341The final show of the year was the 12/15 TV tapings at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. The show drew 700 fans for a TV taping, which was well below what CZW did the week before for Cage of Death and well below what they usually do in the building. The final chance to see The Young Bucks & Cody & Page in ROH was clearly not a draw, and all were advertised, but not for matches. The show saw debuts of Zack Sabre Jr., Rush, PCO and Brody King as well as appearances from PJ Black and Juice Robinson. In a match taped for the Internet, Beer City Bruiser & Brian Milonas beat the Sons of Savagery, who are Bishop Kaun & Malcolm Moses, two trainees from the ROH school in Baltimore. Jeff Cobb pinned Luchasaurus in a proving ground match. The stip was if Luchasaurus could last 15:00 with Cobb, he’d get a TV title shot. Cobb won with the tour of the islands. Cody & Young Bucks & Adam Page came out. This wasn’t taped for television. They all said this was their last night with the promotion and they wanted an eight-man tag match against Baretta & Chucky T & Flip Gordon & Jay Lethal. Sumie Sakai & Jenny Rose beat Ashley Vox & Delmi Eco when Rose pinned Eco with a uranage. Chris Sabin, Flip Gordon, Marty Scurll and Dalton Castle came out. They were introduced as the top contenders for the ROH title with all earning a title shot. They noted Gordon won the Sea of Honor tournament, Scurll won Survival of the Fittest, Castle still hasn’t gotten his rematch a former champion and Sabin went to a draw in a match with Lethal under Proving ground rules so gets a shot. Matt Taven then came down and ran everyone down and said he was the real world champion. Lethal came and Lethal and Taven brawled. Kelly Klein beat Nikki Adams to retain the WOH title. Klein cut a promo before the match saying that every singles match he has will be a title match no matter who she faces. She won with a running knee. Jenny Rose came out and challenged her to a street fight for the title which will be on the 1/13 show in Concord, NC. Christopher Daniels came out and did a good bye promo. He was wearing a suit. He said that Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian were at home recovering after Final Battle (to explain them not being there for this promo for television, since they were there and wrestled later in the show but on a different hour of taping. The storyline was that he had to beat Marty Scurll to get a new contract and he lost. He said that ROH would be better than ever in 2019 even without him. Fans gave him a standing ovation. Joe Koff came out and said that last night Daniels sacrificed himself to save Cary Silkin from Bully Ray and because of that, he wanted to offer Daniels a contract for 2019. He and Daniels hugged but then Shane Taylor attacked Daniels from behind, gave him a Rikishi driver onto a chair and tore up his contract. Daniels was helped to the back. It was weird because he was offered the new deal, seemingly accepted, but this was his farewell angle. Castle beat Sabin, Gordon and Scurll in a four-way. The story here is that all are getting a title match soon, but the winner gets the first title match. Castle pinned Sabin with the bangarang. Really good match. Lethal was doing commentary and had a face-off in the ring with Castle. Sabre Jr. beat Tracy Williams in a great match. Similar in many ways to Sabre’s PPV match in that it was all technical wrestling. But this was more hard hitting. Sabre won with a variation of the he octopus. Madison Rayne & Britt Bakers beat The Twisted Sisters, who are Thunder Rosa & Holidead when Baker pinned Rosa with a pump handle fall away slam. Mark & Jay Briscoe beat Kazarian & Scorpio Sky to keep the tag titles. Real good. It was a double-team Bad Luck Fall into a neckbreaker on Kazarian for the pin. Kazarian and Scorpio Sky shook hands with everyone on the way out. Scurll came out and did a promo about a match with Lethal. The Kingdom came out. They surrounded him and said how all of his friends have left him all alone. Scurll then said how he’s made some new friends. The lights went out. When they came back on, Brody King was in the ring. Then they went out again. There was the sound of electricity, and then they came on an PCO was in the ring. PCO did a moonsault off the post to the floor. His body has to be hurting doing all those crazy moves at his size and at nearly 51 years old. Scurll said the new group is called Villain Enterprises and was set up for a feud with The Kingdom over the six-man titles. Eli Isom beat Facade in a match in a tournament to determine a contender for Cobb’s TV title. Nether guy was over but the match was wrestled well as both guys are athletic and wrestle well but have no credibility as stars to the fans. Rush beat TK O’Ryan. Rush immediately had a star presence that very few in wrestling have. It was said to be impressive that he had it here in front of a crowd that he’d never been in front of. He came across live as a superstar. Hard hitting match, said to be one of O’Ryan better bouts. Rush won with a low dropkick into the corner. The Kingdom attacked him and laid him out with a three-way concerto. This can go either way. They would like top bring Rush back to work against The Kingdom, but Rush also has commitments with MLW which wants to push him as one of their signature stars since they are heavily targeting the Hispanic fan base. If Rush doesn’t come back, then this angle was writing him off, and if he does, obviously it’s the start of a feud. It was designed to be a start, not a finish. Juice Robinson beat PJ Black via DQ. Nick Aldis was out doing commentary for this match so it could be an Aldis vs. Robinson NWA title match set-up and there was a confrontation between the two. Both got over well. Black shoved the ref for the DQ which was a flat finish. Robinson cut a promo after saying that ROH was changing and pro wrestling was changing in 2019 and he wanted to play a bigger role in ROH going forward. This is key because to me, Robinson would be one of the guys you’d have high on your list for AEW. Shane Taylor pinned Mike Law in a squash. Taylor said that he had just gotten rid of Daniels, that nobody told him to or paid him to do so, and he was just getting started. Gordon did an in-ring promo talking about his match with Bully Ray and his 2019 plans. Kenny King came out and showed footage of him pinning Jay Lethal. He said that Gordon didn’t deserve a title shot. So King vs. Gordon is a direction. In another match in the tournament for a TV title shot, Silas Young beat Beer City Bruiser in a no DQ match. It appeared the two have broken up. Bruiser came out and cut a promo on Young and wanted it no DQ. Lots of weapons were used. Milonas came out and took a brutal bump through a table. Bruiser missed a splash and went through a table and Young pinned him with Misery. Scurll & King & PCO beat Cheeseburger & Isom & Ryan Nova. They teased the idea of Scurll & King & PCO getting a shot at the six-man titles with The Kingdom saying that they don’t deserve a title shot. PCO was super over. He didn’t do a lot but his act got over great. King’s chops were crazy loud. King did a dominator into a piledriver on Nova and PCO pinned Nova after a moonsault. The main event, and this was said to be for Honor Club and not television, was Chuckie & Baretta & Gordon & Lethal over Young Bucks & Cody & Page. Another really good match. Tons of cool spots. The story was each team stealing a member of the other team’s finishers. The Best Friend were doing superkicks. Cody gave Lethal a Lethal injection. Lethal gave Cody crossroads and then Gordon used a 450 and Gordon pinned Cody clean to end their program. The idea has been to make Gordon into a signature star. The crowd was shocked Cody didn’t kick out. Matt Jackson started doing a farewell promo. He once again said that the last two years in ROH were the best two years of his life. He hoped that some day their names may end up on the wall at the 2300 Arena (there is a 2300 Arena Hall of Fame with a lot of the ECW stars). Bully Ray, Shane Taylor and the Briscoes, who look to be the new top heel group, attacked them from behind and laid them all over. The Best Friends, Gordon and Lethal went to make the save but they were laid out as well. They talked about how they were not going to let the crowd get their happy ending farewell that they all came to see. At this point the Bucks, Cody and Page disappeared since they were only there for the first round of heat for the angle. The angle it self was Bully & Taylor & Briscoes vs Best Friends & Lethal & Gordon as the top program. The heels also attacked Cary Silkin and ring announcer Bobby Cruise. They started insulting fans saying that 20 years ago the fans here would have hopped the rails to save Lethal but that you fans are all pansies. Jay said, “All you motherf***ers can lick my balls.” ROH has a no swearing policy but that only is for televised events. This angle was not being televised so nobody was fined, but they did it on their own. They cut off their mic’s at that point but the heels kept swearing at fans off mic. There were a lot of fans unhappy that they didn’t get the farewell they expected
1342
1343Being the Elite was built around an opening scene where Nick had a vision and felt they needed to sign. “H” (Kazarian as HHH) came to their hotel room in New York, Matt wasn’t sure but they handed him what looked like a contract and went to pose for photos with the usual HHH welcoming someone to WWE shot. Next the crew came up to Gordon and Matt said he was nobody a year ago, but now he’s won titles all over the world, he’s famous and he and he grabbed the pretend imaginary fake brass rings. Cody, who hates him, smiled to his face, and gave him a gift which was a bag of brass rings, and then whispered in his ear while pretending to be his friend in front of the Bucks and said “I hope you f***in die.” Matt then invited him to be the newest member of The Elite. He didn’t look happy and they were surprised, and he said his dream was always to become a member of The Bullet Club. He asked if they could put in a good word for him to Jay White. Cody and Page were furious but Matt said that he knows Jay White and he’ll see what he can do and asked Gordon to shake hands. When he did, Nick superkicked him and they did a Three Stooges style fake punches and kicks beat down on him. Matt picked him up and Nick climbed up a forklift and teased giving him a Meltzer driver. Marty Scurll was invited the Statler & Waldorf guys to his New Year’s party and one of them said he’d rather watch Crown Jewel than go to his bullshit party. Matt talked about leaving ROH and it being exciting and terrifying at the same time. The show ended with the Young Bucks showing that it wasn’t a contract they handed “H” but a piece of paper that read, “Although this was a difficult decision, we watched an episode of Raw and saw what you did to the tag team division. I know in this business the saying goes, `never say never,’ but for now we wish you the best in your future endeavors.” Then they gave “H” a double superkick and he did this slow-motion sell. While off-and-on, the Young Bucks noted it was ten years when they debuted for ROH at an HD-Net taping the Hammerstein Ballroom. The episode ended with the four of them looking back at the torn down arena, all looking very sad and borderline emotional for what is the end of an era with them in the promotion and Matt saying, “Well, boys, let’s go change the world.”
1344
1345UFC: Daniel Cormier won the ESPY award for Fighter of the Year for 2018, based on his scoring three consecutive early finishes in wins over Volkan Oezdemir, his heavyweight title win over Stipe Miocic, and his defense against Derrick Lewis
1346
1347The TV deal for the U.K. we talked about last week with BT Sports was finalized after UFC pulled out of its deal with Eleven Sports, which is being reported to be in real trouble. UFC had signed a deal but had a clause regarding it having to get television carriage, which didn’t happen so pulled out and opened up talks with BT, its home for the last several years. The sides reached an agreement on a multi-year deal
1348
1349The 12/8 PPV from Toronto is currently estimated at doing 240,000 to 300,000 buys. This was Max Holloway retaining the featherweight title over Brian Ortega and Valentina Shevchenko winning the vacant women’s flyweight title in a dominant decision win over Joanna Jedrzejczyk
1350
1351UFC is moving off Fox Sports in the Netherlands with that contract expiring with the 12/29 show, just like in the U.S. In the Netherlands, they are moving to John de Mol’s Veronica free-to-air television station starting with the 1/29 show
1352
1353Regarding the fights that were supposed to take place on the now canceled UFC 233 show on 1/26, Ben Askren vs. Robbie Lawler was moved to 3/2 in Las Vegas, which is a PPV show. Yana Kunitskaya vs. Marion Reneau was moved to 3/9, an ESPN+ show. Anthony Hernandez vs. Markus Perez was moved to 2/2 in Fortaleza, Brazil. The Joseph Benavidez vs. Deiveson Figueiredo fight is off. They wanted it for 1/19 in Brooklyn, but Figueiredo turned down the new date. Benavidez was first told to get in shape and would be paid to be ready as a potential replacement fighter on that show if anything happens to Henry Cejudo or T.J. Dillashaw. He was later announced for a fight with Dustin Ortiz. He’d still be the guy if there is a replacement needed for the main event. It works because if he can beat Ortiz, in theory, if the flyweight division continues with Cejudo or Dillashaw, he’d be on the card and be the local next challenger. If Dillashaw wins, making him a double champion, he’s not going to defend both belts and obviously the bantamweight division is the one he’d keep, which may spell the end of flyweight. Kron Gracie vs. Alex Caceres and Cortney Casey vs. Cynthia Calvillo was moved to 2/17 in Phoenix, which is an ESPN fight and would be the first main card on ESPN. UFC is hoping to get Francis Ngannou vs. Cain Velasquez to headline that show. The John Lineker vs. Dominick Cruz fight wasn’t rescheduled as Cruz suffered a shoulder injury and is back out of action. Cruz said his shoulder injury came from sparring, he felt his shoulder click and two of his fingers went numb. He got an MRI that revealed he had two torn shoulder tendons. There’s something really sad about Cruz’s career. While he was the ability and dedication and talent to fight, his body is continually betraying him
1354
1355Jon Jones turned down the California State Athletic Commission’s proposal that he enroll in VADA testing. Really, this was more symbolic, since it was only going to be for a few months and they made it clear he didn’t have to do it, but thought it would be good for him to do it because so many aren’t convinced he’s clean. Jones’ attorney, Howard Jacobs, told MMA Junkie, “It’s complicated. To say we refused is the wrong word. There were issues with the proposal. We asked questions and were unable to fully resolve it.” Andy Foster, the Executive Director of the CSAC, said, “It was always an optional thing anyway. This was to help Mr. Jones out.” The idea is that if Jones allowed for more vigorous testing, it would shut up his doubters, but it really wouldn’t, and would prove correct those who believe in him, but that really wouldn’t have happened either. That said, and there’s a part of me that hates to say this, but if I was falsely believed to be using PEDs, I’d jump at the chance to take any testing suggested. But you also have to know fighters have had a hard time with the 6 a.m. knocks on their door, having to continually allow testers to know their whereabouts at all times, although Jones already has to put up with that. I’m still trying to figure out how Jones was only tested once during his entire period of suspension but his penalty and that fact tell you all you need to know. As noted before, the Jon Jones case was never, in the end, testing whether Jones did or didn’t cheat, it was a test of the credibility of the system itself, and USADA, and one that they badly failed. .. If you don’t think looks matter in this world in a huge way, the Rachael Ostovich vs. Paige VanZant fight is being promoted as the No. 2 fight on the first ESPN+ show in Brooklyn. Ostovich is 4-4 and has never faced a big name before. VanZant is popular and has had some exciting fights, but was never close to being a contender at strawweight and is moving up a weight division. They were listed as only under the Henry Cejudo vs. TJ Dillashaw main event for the 1/19 show in Brooklyn. Glover Teixeira vs. Ion Cutelaba is listed as the No. 3 fight, and the Greg Hardy debut against Allen Crowder was listed as the No. 4. fight
1356
1357The Dana White/Oscar de la Hoya feud was all over the place this past week. One interesting note is that in last week’s issue, when White released all the money figures of what Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell earned, it led to an attempt in the Cung Le lawsuit to unseal the money figures since Zuffa had claimed they were confidential numbers. The idea is that if they were so confidential, both money figures and actual PPV numbers, then he shouldn’t have released them when rebutting de la Hoya’s claim that UFC fighters are poorly paid. It got to the point where de la Hoya challenged White to a three-round boxing match on his May show underneath Canelo Alvarez. White had been calling de la Hoya cokehead, and de la Hoya, in a jab at White, said he would fight him, and give up the 50 pound weight difference, but that he wanted White steroid tested. White seemed to move on at that point. If you watched everything, White came off very intense and kind of like he really lost his cool over what de la Hoya said, but de la Hoya was clearly full of it when ripping on how UFC paid fighters when he paid so much worse. White’s key claim was that Gleison Tibau, a mid-level fighter who UFC recently cut after his fourth straight loss on 6/1, as well as having a one year drug suspension, was making $50,000 to show and $50,000 to win in UFC, and then de la Hoya put him on his card for $10,000 to show and $10,000 to win. Tom Lawlor, who as far as name value went, was the No. 3 fighter on de la Hoya’s show, only earned $25,000 for his fight. White noted Richard Schaeffer (de la Hoya’s former business head of Golden Boy, who moved on several years ago) was really the brains in building that company. De la Hoya continued to talk like he was going to go into the MMA world and challenge UFC for superiority just as he did with boxing. But with Liddell looking so bad and being put on an indefinite medical suspension by the California State Athletic Commission, and it’s doubtful he’ll be allowed to fight again after his performance, de la Hoya has nobody he can even think of drawing with in the MMA world. And any name free agents are in a good position with both Bellator and ONE open to spending money. De la Hoya looked really bad in this ordeal, and the fight challenge was just silly. It does harken back to when Vince McMahon wanted to headline the 2011 WrestleMania in a match against White (this was a suggestion by McMahon when White wouldn’t approve of having Brock Lesnar, under contract with UFC at the time, face Undertaker to headline that how, and when White said that he couldn’t do something fake because of UFC credibility–this was before White did participate somewhat in a small show wrestling match in Memphis that involved Jerry Lawler and local wrestlers on his Lookin for a Fight show–Vince suggested they could do a real match. Vince would have been 65 at the time)
1358
1359Nick Diaz told ESPN that he had not agreed to fight Jorge Masvidal even though UFC announced the fight weeks ago. Diaz told Ariel Helwani, “I think it’s rude of the UFC to try and lowball me and expect me to negotiate a deal while I’m training for a fight. It’s not gonna go down like that. If anybody wants t fight me, they know where to find me. I’m not a hard guy to find. Come get some. I have a lot going on trying to manage a few different businesses. Once things make sense for everybody in that they actually have some fighter that they respect and I respect, we can try and come to a deal and do a show.” Masvidal apparently has already signed a bout agreement for that fight on 3/2 in Las Vegas. Diaz also claimed he’d walk through champion Tyron Woodley. Woodley has always wanted a Diaz fight, thinking it would be big business and a big money payoff for him.
1360
1361WWE: While not announced and probably they won’t be for as long as possible to keep the heat away, they right now have May and November dates booked for Saudi Arabia. The bonuses for talent from the last Saudi show just came in. Some are happy. Some are not
1362
1363. . “Fighting With My Family,” which I’ve seen previews of several times at the theater and it looks funny, is set to debut now on 2/14 in New York and Los Angeles and 2/22 everywhere else. It’s the story of Paige and brother Zak (who ironically was jut convicted in a case this past week)
1364
1365Natalya defended the angle built around the death of her father. “My dad was a professional wrestler. He was a WWE superstar. He was a WWE legend before he passed away, and I feel like in some crazy way this is like my dad is having one last run.” “I feel if I asked my dad right now, `Daddy, how do you feel about me doing this storyline? My dad would say `Go for it.’ He understood pro wrestling. He understood how, for fans to become emotionally invested in stories, there has to be emotionally charged content.
1366
1367Cena said that he will be doing nine shows between his return on 12/26 for the holiday week until he goes back and shoots another movie starting 1/20 in Vancouver. Cena said that he had one month off between movies and could have rested because he wanted to comeback and do live events. He said that he wouldn’t be doing any television during this period. His dates are 12/26 in MSG, 12/27 at the Nassau Coliseum, 12/28 in Baltimore, 12/29 in Pittsburgh (which is a Smackdown taping), 12/30 in Tampa, 1/4 in Columbus, OH, 1/5 in Tallahassee, 1/6 in Fort Myers, 1/7 in Orlando (which is a Raw taping date), 1/11 in Charleston, WV, 1/12 in Knoxville, 1/13 in Huntsville and 1/14 in Memphis (which is a Raw taping date). This week he’ll be all over the media promoting the release of “Bumblebee,” a new transformers movie that has gotten great reviews, like 97% on “Rotten Tomatoes.
1368
1369WWE and Sky in New Zealand reached a deal to extend their partnership that dates back to 2001 or so. They will continue to air Raw and Smackdown live (2 p.m. their time on Tuesday & Wednesdays), as well as repeat shows of Raw at 1:30 p.m. Sunday and Smackdown at 4:15 p.m. Sunday, plus Main Event at 6 p.m. Sunday, all the big shows as live PPV events on Sky Box Office plus there are plans to add one hour versions of both Raw and Smackdown to air on Fridays starting next year
1370
1371Ray Rowe, 34, of the War Raiders tag team, will be marrying Sarah Bridges (Sarah Logan), 25, of the Riott Squad on 12/21
1372
1373Mikey Nicholls, 33, who worked as Nick Miller of The Mighty tag team, requested his release. His wife gave birth to a child in August and he went back home a few weeks ago and decided to stay. The door is open for a return. Also released was Paul Gallagher, 28, who was signed to the U.K. group as Tucker, who is from Belfast and was originally trained by Balor
1374
1375Evidently Velveteen Dream got in some hot water after he wasn’t called up, telling people on Twitter to voice their disapproval to the WWE Twitter account. He quickly took down those tweets
1376
1377With the stock market declines overall, WWE stock is stayed around the same level, which is better than a lot of stocks. It closed on 12/19 at $73.93 per share giving the company a $5.768 billion market value
1378
1379The ten most-watched matches on the WWE Network for the past week were: 1. TLC; 2. TLC preshow; 3. Edge & Christian Show that aired after TLC; 4. WWE Chronicle: Becky Lynch; 5. HHH vs. Mick Foley match from No Way Out 2000 (this was packaged as part of a series of Becky Lynch’s favorite matches; 6. Starrcade 2018; 7. NXT on 12/12; 8. WWE UK on 12/12 (Trent Seven vs. Joe Coffey episode); 9. TLC in German; 10. WWE UK on 12/12 (Eddie Dennis vs. Dave Mastiff episode). 205 Live on 12/12 was 12th for the week and the semifinals of Mixed Match Challenge on 12/11 was 13th
1380
1381Notes from the marathon WWE taping in Sacramento on 12/17. They did the live show and then taped the Christmas Eve show, so six hours of Raw. The show promised change, that they would be listening to the audience, but the show felt exactly the same. The last hour was all a women’s gauntlet match for a shot at Rousey which dragged with a dead crowd, at least until the closing moments of the final match with Banks vs. Natalya. And the crowd was super hot at the start of the show for the first 45 or so minutes, especially for the McMahons. From those live, the Ambrose and Lashley segments killed the crowd and it was dead going into the second show. Almost nobody knew they were taping two episodes until tit was announced. A ton of people left after the first episode. The crowd was really hot for Vince and Angle more than anyone. Rollins got a big reaction on the second show even withe the tired crowd. Rousey was booed on both shows more than cheered. The show drew 8,000 fans. The only match taped before Raw saw Ryder pin Rawley. The first show opened with Vince out, getting the expected huge reaction. There is something so pro wrestling like about fans booing faces as a protest, but then cheering like crazy when Vince comes out. Vince noted that Raw has been on the air 25 years, which is extraordinary. He said that’s because they change with the times. People were giving him the “what” treatment. What a mistake that was to encourage that all those decades ago. Vince said that as much of a genius that he is, he can’t do it by himself anymore, but he did say he could do it without you guys, knocking the fans. And of course seconds later he was kissing up to the fans. Stephanie and HHH came out. They pushed HHH as the guy behind NXT. Then Shane came out. Stephanie said that they haven’t been doing a very good job for you lately, that they haven’t been listening to the audience. She said that they’ve suffocated the superstars and all of that will change starting tonight. Of course the rest of the show was mostly the same as it has been. The new story is the four of them are working together, no more heel Stephanie and HHH, no more Shane vs. Stephanie feud, Smackdown no longer lost every match at Survivor Series for a storyline reason that they forgot about. They are going to give the fans what they want, new faces (of course the faces that were over the most in NXT were not the new faces they are bringing in), there was no change in ring style to give guys more creativity, no change in interview scripting to allow them a chance to figure out a way to get over on their own, and new matchups. They told the fans “You are the authority.” Vince is motto is that they’ll give people more of what they want and less of what they don’t want. Given they’ve done a ton of studies, they can do that. Time will tell. Corbin came out. He had great heat. Really this audience was live early. HHH was doing everything he could to keep the fans booing. Corbin said what happened at the PPV was unfair. He said he wasn’t ready fro Strowman and all the people Strowman brought with him. Corbin said he would have won without all those people ganging up on him. He wants another shot at being G.M. Stephanie, Shane and HHH all turned him down, but Vince said he’d consider it, and had a plan. HHH agreed. So he had to win his match next to become permanent G.M. In the promo, they did a lot of blaming of middle management for the ratings decline which was inherently blaming Corbin. I don’t like the history of companies doing angles based on declining ratings. Angle showed up as Corbin’s opponent. Slater was ref. After a few minutes, HHH came out and said this was a handicap match, and out came Roode & Gable & Crews. Slater turned his back and started adjusting the turnbuckle while everyone beat up Corbin for several minutes. Shane came out and said it was a no DQ match. They all got chairs and started using them. Slater started kicking Corbin. After the moonsault/neckbreaker combination and Crews hitting a frog splash, Angle pinned Corbin after an Olympic slam in 9:03. The faces then all brought a table. The announcers said it was because the fans were asking for tables. Angle gave him an Angle slam through the table. They showed footage of Cena getting the Muhammad Ali award from Sports Illustrated for his charity work. Much deserved. Balor beat Ziggler via DQ in 9:35. Good action. McIntyre came out and Ziggler gave him a knee. Ziggler attacked McIntyre and then Balor did a flip dive on McIntyre. After several near falls, McIntyre jumped in the ring and clotheslined Balor for the DQ. He threw Balor out of the ring and head-butted him. He also beat down Ziggler. He laid Ziggler out with a Claymore kick and then laid Balor out with a Claymore kick. Ambrose came out with the IC title belt. He called the fans disgusting vermin. He said that Rollins choked in the fourth quarter. He called out Rollins and wanted Rollins to admit that he was right and that Rollins would lose his cool and lose the title. He challenged Rollins to a match. Rollins didn’t come out and he couldn’t believe it. He came out with a bunch of guys wearing gas masks, so you can see where this is going. He said that Rollins is a whiner like all the fans, and when things so bad he falls apart and can’t show him face. Then he issued an open challenge for a title match against anyone not named Seth. Breeze came out. Cole basically introduced him as a new character, saying that he’s known a Prince Pretty and used to team with Fandango, and had a great NXT match against Ricochet. The crowd was dead for this most of the way, although there was some reaction for Breeze after he lasted 7:00. As soon as the crowd reacted, Ambrose hit Dirty Deeds and pinned him in 7:23. Ambrose said that was the performance of a champion with character and integrity. He again talked about how Rollins wouldn’t show up. Rollins’ music played at that point. So everyone looked to the stage. Rollins then took off his gas mask and beat up Ambrose. Then the other guys in gas masks, who were supposed to be SWAT team members, tried to stop Rollins. He laid them all out, but this allowed Ambrose to escape. Shane did an interview and said that lots of new faces were coming in and new people were getting opportunities. He said tough decisions will have to be made. Maverick and AOP came out. Maverick went to introduce himself to Shane, which made him seem like hardly a star. Maverick wanted their mandatory rematch tonight. Shane said that the mandatory rematch clause is antiquated. I would love to see all that market research they have been doing on why people don’t go to house shows and what leads them to watch and not watch TV where all the people complained about mandatory rematches being antiquated. He said that Corbin practical handed them the belts and announced a four-team match with AOP Revival, B Team and Lucha House Party for a tag title shot ext week. Rush & Lashley came out. Lashley was about to play guitar. Rush did a cheap heat reference to the Sacramento Kings not being as good as the Golden State Warriors. Lashley did the posing and the butt shot. That poor role they put Rene Young in having to talk about Lashley’s butt seems so uncomfortable. Not as bad as the antiquated arguments with her and Graves throughout the show. Elias came out and hit Lashley from behind with a guitar shot to the upper back. The Revival won the four-way over B Team, Lucha House Party (Kalisto & Dorado, Metalik was on the floor with noise-makers, which is always the best usage of one of the most talented guys in he business) and AOP. They announced no more Lucha House Party rules. That’s a good thing. They mentioned the death of Larry Hennig when Axel was in the ring. After a series of near falls, the Revival won with a shatter machine on Dallas in 10:12. Rollins did an interview. He said the previous night was a disaster, personally and professionally. He said everything went wrong, he let Ambrose get in his head and take the championship. He said he heard the crowd and heard what they said and “that’s on me. I’ve got to own up and move forward.” It was also one night since the crowd went pretty crazy for him on the second show. Corbin came out and blamed Rollins for all his problems, saying Rollins turned the locker room against him and he’s the reasons the McMahons are back in charge. Corbin said everything Ambrose said about Rollins is true. Rollins decked Corbin, which was an easy pop for Rollins. Rousey came out. She came out as a face, smiling, but got booed. I don’t know if this got to her, but this was her worst promo in a while. She needs to drop all this talk about what it is to be a champion. It was good the first time but people are tiring of it. She ran down Jax and people were fine wit that. They didn’t seem to know how to react when she ran down Charlotte. The real booing was talking about Lynch. It was after that, when the promo started struggling. She issued an open challenge saying they should start a tradition where every champion has to defend their title on Raw the day after a PPV. If that’s the case, why watch the PPV? Nobody came out. They went backstage and ten women were arguing with the guy who plays the music. Stephanie saw this and took control. She said that she’s no longer playing favorites, and is going to be fair, and said everyone will get their chance in a gauntlet match. Well, isn’t a gauntlet match by its very nature unfair. And everyone getting a chance didn’t mean Logan or Morgan, who were there, but I guess the idea is that as long as Riott gets a chance, they’ve gotten a chance. Actually it was never explained. They just said everyone would be in the gauntlet, they were there, and they were never in the gauntlet. Then Stephanie picked Bayley and Fox to start. Bayley’s knee went out early. She would sell it at times, but mostly worked normal until it played into her elimination. First, Bayley cradled Fox in 7:55. Bayley then pinned Brooke with a belly-to-belly in 2:28. James beat Bayley in 5:25. This match was god while it lasted. The knee went out once and later James kicked the knee to set up a sloppy looking DDT for the pin. Moon pinned James in 7:26 with the eclipse. Right before the finish, James came off the top rope into a codebreaker. Natalya pinned Moon in 3:11 with an O’Connor roll. Natalya pinned Riott in 5:37 with a schoolboy. It came down to Natalya vs. Banks. This ended up being the best match of the lot. Natalya got the sharpshooter on in the middle but Banks flipped her off and Natalya’s head snapped n the bottom turnbuckle. Banks used a half crab. She twice got the banks statements on but Natalya escaped both times. Natalya gave her a German suplex and Banks came back with a meteora. Natalya got the sharpshooter on in the middle and got the tap in 11:05. After the match, Rousey came out. Rousey raised Natalya’s hand and they hugged and shook hands. The crowd was booing Rousey a little during all this. The second show for Christmas Eve, was a show with all babyface winners and a lot of Christmas theme stuff. It was said to be a lot more entertaining than the first show. Usually this show is considered throw away and light entertainment. They got the second hour done in two hours since they could insert in backstage stuff and didn’t have to wait through commercials. Elias beat Lashley in the Miracle on 34th Street fight. Said to be fun. They used Lego’s as a weapon which got over. Elias hit Lashley with a cello for the pin. Roode & Gable retained the tag titles over The Revival in a short match with a lot of action. Wilder was pinned even though Dawson was the legal man, so I guess that’s going to be used to keep the thing going. Balor won the three-way over McIntyre and Ziggler. They worked well but this was also short. The only thing for a taped show is those 4:00 commercial breaks can be eliminated since they can go to the break and come back from the break seconds later, so a 12:00 TV match can be done in 8:00. Balor pinned Ziggler with the double foot stomp. After the match, McIntyre tried to bully around Ziggler, but Ziggler laid him out with a Zig Zag. As noted, the show was about happy finishes rather than heat. Bayley & Banks & Moon beat Fox & Brooke & James. The Riott Squad attacked Bayley & Banks & Moon, so that looks to start a new program. Heyman came out. The mic didn’t work. We’ll know on TV is this was a rib on him or a technical issue. If it doesn’t air on TV, we know it wasn’t planned. Heyman ran down Sacramento to establish himself as a heel and then started singing “Silent Night” but using words related to Lesnar and Strowman’s match. The crowd booed this heavily so he stopped and said that her would have to start from scratch. He talked about the rumble match and said Strowman grew up and got a replica title belt but he’s never getting the real one. Strowman came out. Heyman said, “Hi, Happy Chanukah.” Strowman put a red nose and antlers on Heyman and said Lesnar would get these hands. Rousey beat Natalya to keep the title. The crowd booed Rousey heavily even though the story of the match was both started clean and Natalya got frustrated and did the subtle heel stuff. But the crowd wanted to see a title change. Said to be very good. As the match got going, the crowd was more mixed, but still slightly pro-Natalya. She got Rousey in the sharpshooter, Rousey would nearly get to the ropes and get pulled to the center. Then Rousey reversed the sharpshooter into the armbar for the submission. The two hugged when it was over. The crowd was hoping the hug would lead to Natalya cheap shotting Rousey. Slater beat Mahal via DQ when the Singh Brothers interfered. There was a Santa in the crowd passing out gifts during this match. Mahal & Singhs were beating down Slater when Santa hit the ring, and unmasked as Rhyno. So he’s a recurring character doing run-ins while “not on the roster,” and still working house shows until they do a reinstatement thing with him most likely. Rollins pinned Corbin with a curb stomp in the main event
1382
1383Notes from the 12/18 tapings in Fresno. They taped one episode of 205 Live and two episodes of Smackdown. The two major news items were Rusev beating Nakamura for the U.S. title and Ali announced as a Smackdown regular and pinning Bryan in a tag team match for the 12/18 show, where Ali & Styles beat Bryan & Almas. 205 Live was first. Hideo Itami was out with Ariya Daivari. Daivari said that Itami was a legend and he’s not being treated with respect. Daivari said until they give Itami respect, 205 Live is being canceled. Not so fast, Maverick came out and threatened to suspend both of them if they didn’t leave. Noam Dar came out and instead it turned into a match. Itami pinned Dar. Lio Rush pinned Aaron Solow, who is the fiancé of Bayley. They never mentioned his name on the air. Cedric Alexander did a promo and told Buddy Murphy to enjoy his win at TLC, because he’s going to be back in the title picture. Main event was Brian Kendrick & Akira Tozawa over Drew Gulak & Jack Gallagher in a street fight when Kendrick pinned Gallagher with sliced bread.. Smackdown opened with Shane backstage with all the roster. They were all talking and Big E was eating. They made everyone come across like third graders, and actually it got sillier. Shane told them that we need to present the best product possible, told people to not just reach for the brass ring but to grab it. As soon as they let guys do their own promos let me know about this. Since it’s all about the McMahons, he thanked Paige for her work as General Manager but promised that she’s not going anywhere and they’ll have a new job for her. The fans, I mean the wrestlers, were chanting “Thank you Paige.” Seriously. You want people to pay money to go to shows to see fan boys play wrestler, because that’s how this came across. Lynch, who noted she wasn’t part of that sketch, complained about Rousey costing her the title. She called Rousey a Roddy Piper cosplayer. Flair came out and said that she would have won and Rousey cost her the title. Lynch called her a cosplayer. Asuka came out and both called her a paper champion. The crowd didn’t really react to any of the three bigger than the other. Vince came out and said that if they have a problem they need to take it out on Rousey. Then he asked Asuka if she would defend the title tonight. Flair wanted the title shot, but she was all dressed up and then Naomi came out and said that Lynch and Flair already had their chance and she wanted the shot, so Vince gave her the shot. Asuka beat Naomi in 12:29. The crowd was quiet. Flair and Lynch were at ringside. Naomi did a Russian leg sweep off the middle rope and a high kick springboarding off the barricade. Asuka used the codebreaker, which she’s been using regularly, which is definitely a sign that they seemingly are not looking at Jericho being back so quickly. Asuka won after that and the Asuka lock. Miz was knocking on the McMahons door. Vince answered the door. Miz tried to convince Vince that he and Shane could be the best tag team in the world. I was a comedy sketch where Miz was acting like he was asking for Vince’s blessing for Shane to be his partner like he was looking for Vince to okay him marrying Shane. Vince said he doesn’t give anyone his blessings. But he said he’d come up with a tag match for Miz and slammed the door in his face. Rusev did an interview. I kid you not. He said he was handsome, a hunk, had big biceps and he’ a super athlete and that Nakamura looks like Sonic the Hedgehog. Jeff Hardy came out. He said that some of the things Joe said about him were true. He said he’s made mistakes but that was then and this is now. He asked Joe to apologize to him face-to-face. The story was that management had told Joe t apologize. Joe came out and said that this isn’t an apology, it’s an intervention. Joe said we all know your demons will control you once again. Hardy said he’s never going back there and that he sees right through Joe. He said that he thinks Joe talking about others’ weaknesses is just Joe covering for his own insecurities since he’s been in WWE for two years and has never won a title. So I guess we’ve now established that house shows don’t count, preshows don’t count, and NXT doesn’t count. Hardy hit him with a twist of fate. Miz & Rose beat R-Truth & Carmella in 1:23. R-Truth thought Rose was Maryse. The non-match saw a dance break, Rose went to attack Carmella but Carmella superkicked her. R-Truth was watching and Miz gave R-Truth the skull crushing finale for the pin. The Usos cut a promo and said they didn’t get pinned at TLC so they wanted a shot at Sheamus & Cesaro. Instead, Gallows & Anderson came out. Anderson complained that last week the tag team had a rap battle and they haven’t been on Smackdown since August. Gallows said it’s been four months that they’ve put one of the best tag teams of the last decade on the sidelines. This led to a match. Jimmy superkicked Anderson and went to the top rope. Sheamus & Cesaro came out. Jimmy splashed on Anderson but Sanity attacked Jimmy for the DQ in 7:48. Sanity came out and destroyed all four guys. After they left, Sheamus & Cesaro got in the ring and attacked both tams, and threw Anderson shoulder first into the post, threw Gallows into the barricade and threw Jey into the barricades. Nakamura did a promo showing a bunch of clips of Rusev from Total Divas. He said that Rusev wasn’t a star, he was a total diva. Styles & Ali beat Bryan & Almas in 17:38. The wrestling was good, as you’d expect, but not much crowd reaction. It started weird. Bryan cut his usual promo about ruining the Earth’s resources. He then said Fresno ranked No. 1 in pollution in the state of California (the last I saw it was actually fourth and Los Angeles was the worst). The fans started cheering and chanting “Yes.” You should watch. Were the people so happy to hear him say Fresno, or did they think he was complimenting their city. I can just imagine what Bryan was thinking about their education system. Some good stuff. The crowd popped when Almas went for the double moonsault but Ali got his knees up. Even after that it wasn’t that hot, but very good. Ali went for a springboard off the ring steps huracanrana on Almas on the floor, but he slipped and came in way low. Almas did a good job of covering for him. The finish saw Styles hit the phenomenal forearm on Almas while Ali pinned Bryan clean with the 054, and his knee looked to land on Bryan’s chin. In theory, this should set up Bryan vs. Ali for the title. From a booking standpoint, it made for a good surprise and at least they are trying to make Ali. The Christmas night show was taped next, with Gallows & Anderson & New Day over Sanity & Sheamus & Cesaro. The Usos were on commentary. The New Day dressed up as Santa Claus. Gallows & Anderson scored the pin while New Day threw pancakes into the crowd. R-Truth & Carmella came out dressed as Santa & Mrs. Claus. They did a dance break. R-Truth talked about Santa’s reindeer and messed up the names. Bryan came out and said the reindeer weren’t real and Santa Claus wasn’t real. Bryan said that Santa wouldn’t be existing due to the melting of the glaciers. He also said R-Truth at No. 30 in the Rumble is a joke because he can’t even count to 30. So he tried, and in fact, couldn’t, leading to a dance break. Bryan attacked Truth in the middle of the dance break and put him in the LeBell lock. Ali pinned Almas with the 054 in a good match. Miz came out and called our Shane who he called his bestie. Shane said how the McMahon family is listening to the fans and bringing in new superstars. Miz again asked Shane to be his partner. Miz said the McMahons are about listening to the fans, and asked the fans if they wanted he and Shane to be a team. The reaction live was actually mixed, which was not what they were counting on. Shane said they listen to the fans, so agreed, even though the fans actually didn’t act like they wanted it. But then they led the crowd to chant “Yes” while holding up the World Cup trophy. It came off like they were trying to transfer the “Yes” chants to a babyface Miz. Hardy beat Joe via count out. Hardy had Christmas face paint on. They both were fighting on the floor and Hardy beat the count in. After the match, Joe choked Hardy out. Rusev beat Nakamura to win the title, winning clean with a clothesline and Matchka kick
1384
1385They only had a Florida NXT swing this weekend which were the last NXT shows as everyone has a few weeks off to go home. They return on 1/4 for a show at Center Stage in Atlanta
1386
138712/13 in Orlando opened the weekend before 350 fans. Velveteen Dream pinned Stacey Ervin Jr. when Ervin came off the top with a moonsault and Dream superkicked him. Raul Mendoza & Humberto Carrillo beat Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner. Punishment Martinez pinned Rick Boog with a choke slam. Mia Yim beat Jessamyn Duke with Seoul Food, which is the old Gail Kim eat defeat. Aleister Black beat Jaxson Ryker via DQ when Johnny Gargano attacked Black. Black laid out Ryker with black mass after the match. Matt Riddle pinned Kassius Ohno with a roll-up. Said to be a great match. Lacey Lane pinned Reina Gonzalez with a flatliner. Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong & Bobby Fish beat Heavy Machinery & Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch
1388
138912/14 in Jacksonville before 300 fans opened with The Street Profits over Humberto Carrillo & Raul Mendoza when Ford pinned Mendoza after a frog splash. Ray Rowe beat Brennan Williams. Heavy Machinery beat Rinku Singh & Mansoor Al-Shehail using the trash compactor. Deonna Purrazzo beat Chelsea Green using a Fujiwara armbar submission. Marcel Barthel beat Fabian Aichner in a lumberjack match. Barthel got the pin after Punishment Martinez used a choke slam on Aichner. Barthel and Aichner have been doing a program in Jacksonville on prior shows. The atmosphere was said to have been great. Velveteen Dream pinned Martinez with a rolling Death Valley bomb. Dream then did his Hulk Hogan posedown post-match routine. Shayna Baszler & Jessamyn Duke beat Candice LeRae & Kaci Catanzaro when Duke pinned Catanzaro after a kick to the face. Main event saw Ricochet retain the North American title over Johnny Gargano. Said to be one of the best Florida NXT house show matches this year. Gargano came out doing his routine where he thinks he’s a babyface and that nothing is different. One of the unique things about it as when he does that, a lot of the fans think he is a babyface when the idea is he’s being clueless. Ricochet won with the cradle shock DDT and
1390
1391said he was coming up to his one-year anniversary with the promotion
1392
1393The last NXT show of the year was 12/15 in Largo, FL, before 325 fans. Burch & Lorcan beat Heavy Machinery in a surprise when Lorcan used a springboard crossbody on Dozovic. Said to be a very good hard hitting opener. They all shook hands and raised hands after this babyface match. Martinez pinned Boog in a one-sided match with a roundhouse kick and choke slam MJ Jenkins beat Aliyah with a botched Gori especial. The match totally fell apart. Jaxson Ryker beat Brennan Williams with a spinebuster. Williams is having trouble with his knew Goldust style gimmick as it’ just not working at this point. Lacey Lane & Chelsea Green beat Vanessa Borne & Reina Gonzalez. Green comes across like a star on these shows and she used the unprettier as her finish. Riddle beat Keith Lee in a fantastic match. Said to be one of the best Florida bouts of late, which is no surprise since they’ve had great matches elsewhere including a ****3/4 match at a PWG show. The finish saw Lee hit a hard elbow and go for a jackhammer, Riddle slid out and hit his jumping knee and then collapsed but Lee was underneath him and Riddle fell on top for the pin. They both laid there acting like they were out after the pin and the crowd gave them a standing ovation. They raised each others’ hands when it was over. Baszler & Duke beat Yim & Sane when Baszler beat Yim with the choke. Main event saw Black beat Riddick Moss with Black mas. Black then cut a promo saying he had an up-and-down year but the best part of his year was performing before the Florida fans
1394
1395The Raw weekend tour opened on 12/14 in Nashville. We didn’t get a crowd figure past it was a better crowd than most house shows have been doing. Not sure why they opened in Nashville and then flew to Bakersfield, CA, rather than doing a complete West Coast run. Bakersfield on 12/15 drew 3,500 fans
1396
1397Smackdown ran Oakland on 12/15. The only thing we heard was the crowd was down but we got no reports at all from the show. 12/17 in Stockton drew 2,600
1398
1399Nashville opened with McIntyre pinning Ziggler. Crews & Bayley beat Mahal & Fox. Bayley was over huge. Murphy pinned Kalisto to keep the cruiserweight title. Roode & Gable won a three-way over AOP and The Revival to keep the tag titles. Roode & Gable were over strong because the “Glorious” song is played after all the Nashville Predators NHL games, so the crowd was singing it. Lashley & Rush came out as heels for a promo. They both said that Lashley wouldn’t be wrestling on the show. Of course he did. Next saw Elias over Corbin with Slater as referee. Slater gave Corbin a fast count. After the match Corbin \ announced that they would be doing a handicap match with Elias against himself, McIntyre & Lashley in a no DQ match. Roode, Gable & Ziggler came out and attacked McIntyre & Lashley, and that left Elias to pin Corbin a second time. Ryder & Breeze & No Way Jose & O’Neil beat The Ascension & Rawley & Hawkins. The crowd was dead for this one. People never gave them a chance. Hawkins was the one pinned of course. Hawkins then said he wasn’t leaving and challenged anyone in the back. This brought out Rhyno, who came out of the crowd. Hawkins brought up that he doesn’t work here, so at least that storyline issue was addressed. Rhyno used the gore, got the win, and then left. Banks & Moon & Natalya beat The Riott Squad with Natalya using the sharpshooter for the win. They had no women’s singles match since Rousey and Jax were practicing their match all weekend. Rollins beat Ambrose to keep the title in a street fight. Ambrose did the spot regarding The Shield reunion like at the PPV. Rollins power bombed Ambrose through the table and then pinned him after a curb stomp
1400
1401Bakersfield was pretty much the same show in Nashville. The only differences were that Balor returned to the tour for this show and worked in a three-way with McIntyre and Ziggler. McIntyre won that one. Rollins vs. Ambrose was a title match and not a street fight, which Ambrose lost via DQ
1402
1403Stockton, which is likely at least similar to what Oakland would have had, opened with Sheamus & Cesaro keeping the tag titles over Big E & Kingston and Usos in a good opener. Jeff Hardy was coming to the ring when Samoa Joe attacked him and choked him out. Lana & Naomi beat Kay & Royce. Mostly a comedy match. The idea is that Royce would mess up a move on purpose and then run around the ring like she had pulled off a great looking move. R-Truth pinned Benjamin in five seconds with a roll-up. Almas and Vega came out and challenged R-Truth. So Truth & Carmella beat Almas & Vega when Carmella made Vega tap to the cone of silence. After the match, R-Truth & Carmella brought a young girl into the ring for a dance off. Hardy beat Joe with a twist of fate and running splash. Anderson & Gallows beat Colons in a short match when Anderson pinned Epico in a short match with the magic killer. There was a live Miz TV with Flair, Asuka and Lynch. Asuka beat Lynch with the Asuka lock. This was the best match on the show. All three were cheered and nobody was cheered more than anyone else. Main event saw rusev & Mysterio & Styles beat Bryan & Nakamura & Orton when Styles pinned Nakamura after a Styles clash in 20:00. Really good, but not as good a the women’s title match. Rusev didn’t work much.