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5DECEMBER 26, 2016 WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: WWE ANNOUNCES UK TOURNAMENT, URIJAH FABER RETIRES, MORE
6BY OBSERVER STAFF | STAFF@WRESTLINGOBSERVER.COM | @WONF4W
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8Wrestling Observer Newsletter
9
10PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 December 26, 2016
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12 
13
14WWE ROADBLOCK END OF THE LINE
15
16Thumbs up 71 (36.4%)
17
18Thumbs down 70 (35.9%)
19
20In the middle 54 (27.7%)
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22 
23
24BEST MATCH POLL
25
26Sheamus & Cesaro vs. New Day 103
27
28Charlotte vs Sasha Banks 68
29
30Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns 13
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32 
33
34WORST MATCH POLL
35
36Rusev vs. Big Cass 83
37
38Sami Zayn vs. Braun Strowman 45
39
40Swann vs. Kendrick vs. Perkins 18
41
42Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks 9
43
44Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 12/20.
45
46 
47
48In pro wrestling this past year, one of the biggest stories behind-the-scenes has been what people have called the golden age of independent wrestling.
49
50With the advent of Internet streaming, there are talented wrestlers who have been able to make a decent, and in some cases very good living being world travelers, most of which are affiliated with New Japan, ROH or Lucha Underground, and led to the advent of Flo Slam, which has made some deals paying significant rights fees for live content.
51
52WWE is also aggressively making moves, whether it be signing talent that just a few years ago they’d have dismissed based on size and/or look, expanding content for the network and aggressively pursuing women wrestlers, with the idea of creating more and more content.
53
54The WWE’s press conference on 12/15 to announce a two-night tournament next month to create a United Kingdom champion appears to be the first step in a goal of doing small-time independent style promotions in both Europe and Asia.
55
56What the WWE announced was a two-night 16-man tournament on 1/14 and 1/15 at the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, England, which would have a capacity of about 2,000 for a WWE television set up . Both shows sold out immediately and will air live on the WWE Network. The WWE insisted at the press conference, attended by Paul Levesque, William Regal and Finn Balor, that this was not a response to the ITV taping last month, and that it’s a project they’ve been working on for a year and Regal himself said that big corporations move slowly, something that has also been strongly disputed by people who have had knowledge of how this specific project came to be. It’s also notable that this idea is U.K. based with a U.K. championship and not Europe based, which means for now they see the U.K. as a market that can be strong for localized expansion but aren’t quite as sure about the rest of Europe.
57
58With the exception of the U.S., the company’s top market is the U.K., and if the ITV project becomes a regular series, it does change the game somewhat. For the first time, there will be a group with far more television exposure and a much larger viewing audience for wrestling than WWE. The reality is WWE will still be the major league to the fans and the wrestlers, based on decades in the marketplace, talent level and production. The U.K. is a hot market right now. Saying this opens the door to real competition is probably an overstatement. But it still changes the dynamics and does open the door for the creation of a number of U.K. television wrestling stars that will be able to work regularly in the country. WWE is also garnering relationships with independents, as Levesque has talked up groups like Progress and Revolution Pro, and Finn Balor has made appearances on ICW and OTT shows. They are trying to sign up everyone with potential that doesn’t already have a deal, but continue to allow them to work with those promotions.
59
60The feeling with the timing of the WWE’s moves is that this could be in response to ITV and Flo Slam, the latter of which WWE is a stake holder and the sides have had discussions about directions. There are those in the U.K. who claim they know the ITV project was the catalyst for all this coming from Vince McMahon.
61
62The list of competitors was a mixed bag, with the potential stars being Trent Seven, Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate. Dunne, who was in the PWG Battle of Los Angeles tournament, is the singles champion for both Progress and Fight Club Pro Wrestling, and Seven & Dunne also hold the Progress tag team titles. Bate is 19-years-old and people are really high on his potential.
63
64The company has signed 18 wrestlers to the contracts we wrote about last week. The contracts have no restrictions currently on wrestling the talent could do aside from appearing with televised groups like ROH and TNA, but WWE will have first dibs on dates. Notable is that Progress will be without its champions on its debut show in Birmingham. On the one hand, this would seem to benefit those groups. But then the questions arises of what that will mean as far as those groups using talent under contract to TNA, ROH or New Japan.
65
66Michael Cole, Regal and Nigel McGuinness will be the announcers for the show. The idea is to springboard this off to a weekly network show, using a similar battle plan as the Cruiserweight Classic. But this obviously doesn’t have the level of talent that did. While nothing is official, this comes at a time when a number of women wrestlers who had been told that their WWE network tournament would be starting haven’t heard anything of dates and January is coming very soon.
67
68Besides Seven, Dunne and Bate, the names signed include Wolfgang, the champion for ICW, the group that just had the successful show in Glasgow last month, Sam Gradwell (wrestling name Ricky McKenzie), James Drake, T-Bone, Tucker, Jordan Devlin, Joseph Conners (a headliner for WCPW), HC Dyer, Chris Tyler, Roy Johnson, Dan Moloney, Jack Starz, Tiger Ali, Ringo Ryan and Saxon Huxley. The company is looking to sign more wrestlers to similar deals.
69
70Devlin and Tucker come from Ireland. Huxley was trained by Lance Storm. Devlin was trained by Balor.
71
72Levesque said the goal down the line was to turn this into a weekly U.K. wrestling show on the network, like with the cruiserweights, while allowing the contracted talent to continue to work for other promotions in the country. They are clearly strong on that because they did a video feature on it during the Roadblock show and had Levesque on camera talking about building a U.K. weekly television show. The understanding we had was that they would try and get the show on television in the U.K. as opposed to the WWE network. Levesque brought up that their ability to use the talent WWE will give greater exposure to will help those promotions grow. He also said WWE plans on running 30 U.K. dates in 2017. Usually they’ve done about 20, so that would include TV tapings as well as a possible NXT tour.
73
74When he was asked about the idea the company was producing too much content, he said, “It’s funny when people say that there’s too much content, I can’t watch all of it. A lot of movies come out. I can’t watch all of them. I catch up with them down the line.”
75
76From a psychological move for the U.K. wrestlers, this is notable. The goal of everyone in the U.K. is to make it in WWE, so whether the money is there or not, you now have a situation where the wrestlers who have signed with other groups may be thinking, since they are actually the best talent, that they could have been in this (and can be when their existing deals are up) and been stars on a WWE project. That would include those who did the ITV World of Sport tapings, along with those with TNA and those with ROH.
77
78While some on the U.K. independent scene noted being relieved and surprised at the lack of top guys signed, the reality is that most of the top U.K. talent was already locked up by ITV, TNA, ROH and New Japan Pro Wrestling. But long-term, those contracts will end, whether it’s six months or a year or longer. This is the groundwork to have something in place to use that talent and have something in place to where the younger guys like Bate, or whoever would be the next Will Ospreay and Marty Scurll’s, won’t end up with New Japan and/or ROH. It also creates an interesting political situation with Revolution Pro in particular, which has used New Japan stars regularly, and Wrestle Culture Pro Wrestling, which appears to have the most financial backing and does its own Internet television show and has spent big money on people like Kurt Angle and Alberto El Patron. I don’t believe WCPW was mentioned by anyone in WWE at the press conference, but the talent WWE has signed will be allowed to work for that promotion.
79
80New Japan is also making moves for the U.S. market. Rocky Romero and Tiger Hattori were in Southern California this weekend making plans for expansion of business. As noted last week, there is talk of the company running shows on their own in 2017, the target being starting the G-1 Climax tournament opening days in late July.
81
82Also notable were statements made by Bushiroad CEO Takaaki Kidani, who runs New Japan Pro Wrestling, who predicted that the major change in the industry will be that the revenue that allows WWE to flourish, television rights fees, will collapse. While it’s true that nobody can predict exactly where the U.S. television industry is going with a new generation that consume television very different from its predecessors, it may make the kind of increases of the past 15 years slow down and a bubble bursting. If his prediction is correct, it would collapse the U.S. sports industry and I just don’t see that happening.
83
84Kidani said in an interview in Japan that “We are entering a phase where you are either WWE or against them.”
85
86Chris Charlton, the author of Lion’s Pride, a New Japan English language history book, translated the interview where Kidani talked about a major announcement soon regarding the direction of their company.
87
88“WWE has a lot of weaknesses and time is not on their side.”
89
90Kidani’s argument is that WWE has so much of their business based on television rights fees, its leading revenue stream. Kidani believes we are entering a post-television world and believes the future is creating worldwide territories and that the business will go back to depending on live event revenue. Territories would allow them to produce more live events and with wrestlers based in those places, they could do the shows with lower overhead.
91
92“The cable TV structure as it is will collapse in the U.S. within three to five years.”
93
94He also said the WWE is really only strongly profitable in the U.S., U.K. and Canada. He said they have television everywhere but that’s all they have but if they create territories they can create a product working within the cultures and playing to cultural differences and awareness of different markets. He also talked about how WWE has had difficulties in creating new top stars (really WWE has done a very good job of creating new talent in top spots but haven’t been able to create the new signature megastar, but those type of guys you just can’t create and really have to luck into them hitting and not ruin their momentum, and just as WWE hasn’t been able to create a new Hogan or Austin, New Japan also hasn’t been able to come close to a new Inoki, nor in the case of Japan, is that even possible today due to where wrestling stands in the culture, and the culture itself, as well as the television exposure level). He felt if they had territories they could create stars in each part of the world and those can be WWE Network stars. He felt the strategy was to create a series of global territories and then sign up the top talent in those parts of the world, and that he thinks it’s very possible WWE will purchase a Japanese promotion.
95
96Again, it is possible WWE could purchase a Japanese group but it’s more likely if the U.K. strategy works, they would try and emulate it in Asia.
97
98The Association of Boxing Commissions has officially adopted the new unified rules for MMA, starting in 2017, which will modify a lot of the current rule set that have been in place since 2000.
99
100The changes in the rules are:
101
102*Heel strikes to the kidney are now legal. This is the technique used by a fighter on his back, holding guard, where they use their heel to kick the opponent’s kidney. The referee has to watch because those strikes to the spine are illegal. This move was used in the 1995 Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock fight where Gracie continually would do this while being pinned on the ground by Shamrock.
103
104*There is a change in the definition of a grounded opponent. If someone has any body part on the ground besides his two feet and one hand, he is grounded. Formerly the definition was anything but two feet, so you would have a situation where a standing fighter would put one hand on the ground, and then his opponent would be committing a foul if they used a kick or a knee to the head. Now putting one hand down no longer protects the fighter from those strikes. Both hands on the ground does. It opens up three attacks, knees or kicks to the head, as well as stomps to one hand although I don’t think we’ll actually see this often in competition.
105
106*It is illegal to extend the hands with the fingers open. This is the Jon Jones eye poke rule essentially. If a fighter puts out his hand in the direction of an opponent’s head, the hand must be closed.
107
108*Grabbing of the clavicle is now legal. You can still not pinch or twist the skin around it.
109
110*The judging criteria of a round should be based on two factors, effective striking and effective grappling. If the fight is mostly standing, it should be based on the striking. If it’s mostly on the ground, it should be based mostly on the ground. Emphasis should be placed on the fighter most trying to finish the fight. It is not a numbers game in the striking or takedowns, as ten jabs that don’t do damage doesn’t mean as much as one hard punch which hurts the other fighter. If a judge can’t make up his mind and there was no effective striking or grappling in a nothing round, the winner of the round should be based on who was the most aggressive. Aggressiveness should only be considered if you can’t make a decision based on effective striking or grappling. If you can’t make a ruling on who won the round based on that, you look at ring or cage control. If you can’t make a ruling based on any of those criteria, it is a 10-10 round.
111
112*Judges should give more 10-8 rounds. This is actually the key difference and we’ve seen elements of it in recent months as judges have started to be more liberal. To get a 10-8 round, it should be based on having two or the three D’s, Damage, Positional Domination and Duration. If someone is hurt significantly to where they can’t get any meaningful offense for a long period in the round, it is a 10-8 round. Long periods of mount, side control and/or back control where the opponent has no offense would be a 10-8 round. Essentially the elements would be significantly hurting an opponent or having him near finished, or dominating to where for most of the round the other guy has no meaningful offense and is only defending. Judges should give 10-9 rounds only for relatively close and competitive rounds. There are also 10-7 rounds for overwhelming damage and domination, which should be rare (and I’m guessing based on recent months judging will almost never be used). If there is a round where a guy is beaten down to the point that maybe it should be stopped for long periods of time, or is at least close, you can give a 10-7.
113
114Essentially this is meant to be the exact system most judges favored years ago, but was rejected because of the complications and change involved because what is now a 10-9 round would have been called a 10-9.5 round with the half point system, and a 10-9 round (a clear winner of the round, not close) would now be a 10-8. However, the former 10-8.5 or 10-8 in that system is still a 10-8, not a 10-7. But because it was called half-points, most commissions weren’t on board with it. The key difference here is that it removes the difference between a positional dominant round and a terrible beat down round, in the sense both were now 10-8s instead of with that system one would be a 10-9 and the other would be a 10-8. But this system in theory would remove the biggest flaw in judging, which is when there are two very even rounds and a third round where one person clearly dominates a round, very often that score could go 29-28 to the person who eked out the close rounds. Now that score would be 28-28, meaning more draws.
115
116Urijah Faber, the fighter who was largely responsible for the success of the WEC promotion and the key figure, along with Joe Silva, in getting sub-155 pound fighters into prominence, retired on his own terms on 12/17.
117
118Faber scored a straight 30-26 win over Brad Pickett on UFC’s debut at the new Golden 1 Center in his home city of Sacramento. Faber is also the key person responsible for the popularity of the sport in Sacramento, being the last of the few original hometown heroes left, and left a more lasting mark through his Team Alpha Male, one of the key training camps in the world.
119
120Faber’s fight was slotted third from the top, even though in the building it was clearly the main event. The explanation was that Faber didn’t announce his retirement until after the show was put together and advertising was out building the show around Paige and Sage, who both ended up losing. Still, a company should be fluid enough to make those changes, and if nothing else, it was ridiculous that 20-year-old Sage and Mickey Gall, two completely unproven fighters, followed the retirement of a legitimate Hall of Famer.
121
122The show ended up being a big success, both from an entertainment standpoint and from a ratings standpoint. The flip side is that it was pretty clear based on having three of the top 18 searched for terms on Google that day being from that show with Paige VanZant at No. 5, Faber at No. 12, and Sage Northcutt at No. 18, what drew the ratings. Of those three, two of them lost handily, and the third retired.
123
124The quarter hour from 10 p.m. to 10:15 p.m., of which 3:21 was Michelle Waterson choke out win over VanZant averaged 4,800,000 viewers. That means the fight itself likely topped 5 million, putting it among the most watched MMA fights ever on television. It should also be noted that since fights usually gain audience as they go, if that fight had gone five rounds, it would have likely ended up high on the all-time rankings.
125
126The show did 3,178,000 viewers on average, making it the highest average for a UFC television event in almost three years, since the January 25, 2014, show which featured a five-round Benson Henderson vs. Josh Thomson main event, which was promoted heavily during the NFL playoffs, and averaged 3,222,000 viewers. It was the third best FOX number for a card that didn’t feature a championship fight, and unlike the other two, this one didn’t even feature anything close to a No. 1 contenders fights either. It was really a triumph for pretty people on top trumping championship level fighters and fights as what interests the most television viewers. Even though the Faber retirement was newsworthy and played up big, the reality is the show was built around Paige and Sage. Even if Faber brought some viewers in, the number grew after his fight was over. Granted, I have little doubt if Faber went on last and Paige was next to last, that the number would have been every bit as big.
127
128Still, coming on the heels of Holly Holm vs. unknown Valentina Shevchenko doing record summer numbers, and several recent shows of late where women prelim fights are the highest rated of the entire show, and it’s very clear that records, name value and skill levels being even, women fights are outdrawing men’s fights right now.
129
130The show drew a nearly packed house of 13,136 fans paying $1,238,992. It was very clear live that it was Faber’s retirement and not VanZant that drew the live crowd.
131
132The prelims, airing on FS 1 between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., headlined by Paul Craig’s win over Henrique da Silva, did 679,000 viewers, an average number. The pre-fight show did 131,000 viewers and the post-fight show did 139,000.
133
134The one thing with VanZant is that nobody sees her as a championship level fighter. She was completely outclassed by Rose Namajunas, and her popularity wasn’t hurt at all. A lot of her popularity is also based on how well she came off in going to the finals and not winning in “Dancing With The Stars” earlier this year. As long as fans see her as pretty and gritty, and her not tapping out to the choke would exemplify the latter, her strong likeability will carry her as one of the company’s top stars.
135
136What is interesting is what happens with Waterson. Waterson is probably too small, her best fighting weight is 105 but UFC doesn’t have an atomweight division, to beat the top fighters in the weight class. But a huge audience saw her dominate in a first round win, which puts her name value well above Jessica Andrade, who would be the legit next logical challenger for champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
137
138The co-main was a battle of Mickey Gall, who made his name beating C.M. Punk, and Northcutt, who made his name because of his resemblance to Zack on “Saved by the Bell” with karate magazine covers and a teenage bodybuilder physique. Gall’s wrestling and ground game proved to be too much. Northcutt is still UFC’s youngest fighter, at 20, and is a star, but it’s hard to book either of them. Neither is ready for name competition, but both are relatively big names themselves.
139
140Faber, 37, in many ways represents the struggles and modern history and rise of the sport. A former college wrestler at UC-Davis, where he competed at 133 pounds, he went to two NCAA tournaments. In 2001, he went 1-2. In 2002, he went 3-2, being eliminated by eventual fifth place finisher David Douglas, ending his career one match shy of All-American status.
141
142He started fighting in 2003, doing shows at a Native American casino in Colusa, CA, where he’d make $200 to show and another $200 if he won. It was so low profile that he hid that he was fighting from his mother, and it’s not like anyone would have known. In his third fight, he defeated David Velasquez to win the Gladiator Challenge title, basically the champion of that casino’s promotion. In his first year, he went 6-0, and was also King of the Cage bantamweight champion, the biggest promotion operating in the state. Keep in mind that bantamweight in those days was 155 pounds, a weight class he was far too small for, but the lightest weight division on those shows. When he finally lost, it was to future UFC star Tyson Griffin, who had him by about 20 to 25 pounds.
143
144On March 17, 2006, he defeated Cole Escovedo at a Native American casino in Lemoore, CA, to win the WEC championship at 145 pounds. The WEC was a new organization which pioneered that weight class, and Faber was its second champion.
145
146UFC then purchased the WEC in 2007, largely due to a loophole. UFC had an exclusive contract with Spike TV. With the success UFC had on Spike, Versus was looking at adding MMA programming and was negotiating with the International Fight League. To head off the opposition, UFC purchased WEC and was able to head off the IFL and get the Versus deal. Silva, a pro wrestling fan who thought pro wrestling had missed the boat with some of his favorite wrestlers like Rey Misterio Jr. and Jushin Liger, wanted to feature 135 and 145 pound fighters to give the WEC a different element from UFC.
147
148Plus, Faber was clearly the most marketable fighter on the WEC roster, even though it included a great talker in Chael Sonnen and a war hero in Brian Stann. For a group that usually drew about 1,000 fans to its shows, and drew 300,000 viewers on television, the June 1, 2008, showdown between Faber and Jens Pulver, UFC’s first 155 pound champion, was heavily promoted with the best hype show produced for a combat sport all year.
149
150A crowd of 12,682 fans came to the Arco Arena to see Faber win a convincing decision over Pulver. To this day, only one non-UFC show in cable television history, this year’s Kimbo Slice vs. Dada 5000 and Ken Shamrock vs. Royce Gracie double main event from Bellator, drew a higher rating than Pulver against the surfer guy from Sacramento.
151
152Faber never won another championship fight, but his influence in the history of the division remained strong. When Faber challenged Jose Aldo for the title in 2010, WEC went to PPV, and did about triple original projections, coming close to 200,000 buys.
153
154The result was that UFC felt it needed to give the featherweights a higher profile platform, and shut down the WEC, absorbing its top stars. Faber created Team Alpha Male, which featured many of the best smaller fighters in the world. The team became known for creating top contenders who fell short in championship matches, Faber, Chad Mendes and Joseph Benavidez. When T.J. Dillashaw beat Renan Barao, a fighter who had two wins over Faber, to win the featherweight title on May 24, 2014, the team had its first champion. But Dillashaw then left the team.
155
156The crowd went nuts from the moment Faber came out to “California Love” by 2 Pac, as people openly talked that since you can’t retire a number in UFC, that they should retire the song. No fighter in UFC history was more synonymous with his ring entrance music, and even though nobody faltered more in title matches, Faber had remained one of UFC’s most popular fighters his entire run. The crowd counted down the final seconds of his fighting career and gave him a loud standing ovation that was comparable to all but the biggest crowd pops in company history.
157
158Faber thanked everyone, and after, said he was just thankful he could get out of the cage without breaking down and crying. UFC produced two different farewell videos that played before his fight, which he didn’t watch, feeling that breaking down and crying probably wasn’t the way to get ready for a fight.
159
160Pickett was almost the perfect last opponent. Somewhat charismatic, at 38, he was older than Faber, but had a reputation for exciting fights. He was good enough to have once beaten Demetrious Johnson, but that was more than six years ago. He wasn’t at Faber’s level, but he was far from a slouch or an easy fight. From the Liddell/GSP level pop at the start, Faber nearly finished him in the first round with attempts at chokes and ground and pound from back position. While Faber didn’t come close to finishing, he got several takedowns and strong ground-and-pound in an action fight.
161
162Faber noted that this was the first time he was ever in a fight where John McCarthy was the referee. And the nerves got to him, saying he threw up multiple times before the fight, also a first for him.
163
164He’s going to stay busy, noting he’s got a few health bars, a clothing line, a supplement line, as well as a construction company that he’s running, plus he’s having a new gym built and working on a television show.
165
166The show was notable because the first two fights of the prelims, Leslie Smith vs. Irene Aldana and Team Alpha Male’s Josh Emmett vs. Scott Holtzman were great brawls that stole the show live, both getting loud standing ovations. While not quite as good as the big two of Cub Swanson (who was in Sacramento with his face remarkably healed up) vs. Doo Ho Choi and Donald Cerrone vs. Matt Brown, they did spoil the crowd. A very good fight with Alex Morono vs. James Moontasri that followed got little reaction. The joke was on them, since fans actually booed Morono vs. Moontasri, and then had to pay for it with a hideously boring fight of Cole Miller vs. Mizuto Hirota.
167
1681. Sultan Aliev (14-2) beat Bojan Velickovic (14-4-1) via split decision on scores of 28-29, 30-27 and 30-27 in a welterweight fight. A boring opener. Aliev couldn’t compete standing, but got four takedowns and most of the fight saw him on top and do little damage. Aliev got $20,000 for the win and Velickovic got $12,000 for the loss.
169
1702. Hector Sandoval (13-3) beat Fredy Serrano (3-2) via decision on scores of 30-27, 29-28 and 30-27 in a flyweight fight. Sandoval got the better of the standup in the first round, and scored a takedown as well. He got a second round knockdown and almost finished him with a choke, and got the better of the standup when Serrano got back up. In the third round, Sandoval got a takedown and also landed more punches again. Sandoval got $24,000 for the win and Serrano got $12,000 for the loss.
171
1723. Eddie Wineland (23-11-1) beat Takeya Mizugaki (21-11-2) at 3:04 in a bantamweight fight. Mizugaki was landing more until Wineland knocked him down and hurt him. Mizugaki got back up, and was dropped a second time and finished with punches on the ground. Wineland got $108,000 for the win, including a performance bonus. Mizugaki got $39,000 for the loss.
173
1744. Leslie Smith (9-7-1) beat Irene Aldana (7-3) on scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 in a women’s bantamweight fight. Smith, who I believe is Mick Foley’s favorite UFC fighter, was a big favorite since she’s from Pleasant Hill, which isn’t far from Sacramento. Actually she’s a lot of people’s favorite since she fought Cyborg while giving up 25 pounds and was one of the first fighters to stick her neck on the line when it came to unionization. Smith got a first round knockdown and nearly finished the fight. Aldana came back and both landed strong punches in the round. Both landed good shots and Aldana also landed strong low kicks. Aldana hurt Smith late in the round. Smith landed more in the third round but Aldana landed hard shots and got a late takedown. The crowd went nuts for all three rounds and this was a great fight. Smith got $100,000 for the win, including a best fight bonus. Aldana got $62,000 for the loss, with her best fight bonus.
175
1765. Josh Emmett (11-0) beat Scott Holtzman (9-2) on straight 29-28 scores in a lightweight fight. These two had a great fight that had the crowd going nuts, and would have gotten the best fight bonus on most shows. Emmett used a takedown and jumping knees. He was swinging wildly but landed body shots and got a high slam. Holtzman landed punches and a knee and got a takedown, and landed punches from the top. Holtzman won the round close. Emmett landed big bombs but Holtzman came back with knees. Emmett got a takedown and got his back, working for a choke. Holtzman got up, and got a takedown, but Emmett went for a heel hook. Emmett got another takedown and got his back again. They traded punches and knees and Emmett hurt Holtzman late with a knee. Holtzman started to land in the third round. Emmett looked tired, but Emmett dropped him with a right. Emmett then landed a jumping knee until Holtzman broke up the momentum with a takedown. Emmett got three more takedowns in the third round. The two got a loud standing ovation when it was over. Emmett got $28,000 for the win and Holtzman got $17,000 for the loss.
177
1786. Alex Morono (13-3) beat James Moontasri (9-5) on straight 29-28 scores in a welterweight fight. Moontasri came on strong late in the first round with a left to the jaw and hard body kicks. Morono came back in the second round and hurt Moontasri in the third with good punches. A hard right wobbled Moontasri. Even though both men were landing good shots, the crowd booed them for no reason, even in the early part of the third round. The action picked up later in the round as each man scored a knockdown, with Moontasri dropping Morono with a spanning kick and landed a running knee, but it wasn’t enough to win the round or the fight. Morono got $30,000 for the win and Moontasri got $16,000 for the loss.
179
1807. Colby Covington (11-1) beat Bryan Barbarena (12-4) on straight 30-27 scores in a welterweight fight. It should be noted that Barbarena finished Sage Northcutt, and Covington beat him easily and this fight was in the prelims. Covington suffered a torn MCL four weeks ago and couldn’t train, but was still able to use his wrestling skill to win here. Covington got two first round takedowns. He got three second round takedowns and three more in the third round. The crowd booed this a little. Barbarena started to land in the third but Covington was able to take him down whenever he needed to. Covington got $54,000 for the win and Barbarena got $20,000 for the loss.
181
1828. Mizuto Hirota (19-7-2) beat Cole Miller (21-11, 1 no contest) on scores of 30-26, 30-27 and 30-27 in a featherweight fight. Hirota took him down. Miller got a knockdown with a punch and tried a guillotine. Hirota popped out and was on top. Hirota got two more takedowns and dominated the round aside from Miller’s knockdown and guillotine. In the second round, Hirota landed punches, got a takedown, and stayed on top, doing little. In the third round, Hirota got a takedown and stayed on top. This round was boring as hell. Hirota got $34,000 for the win and Miller got $33,000 for the loss.
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1849. Paul Craig (9-0) beat Henrique Da Silva (12-1) at 1:59 of the second round in a light heavyweight fight. Craig dominated the first round. He landed kicks, uppercuts and got a takedown. Craig dropped elbows that cut Da Silva up and was working for a guillotine at the end of the round. He landed punches and a head kick in the second round before Da Silva took him down. Craig went for a triangle, and then maneuvered it into an armbar for the submission. Craig got $70,000 for the win which included a performance bonus. Da Silva got $14,000 for the loss.
185
18610. Alan Jouban (15-4) beat Mike Perry (9-1) on scores of 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27 in a welterweight fight. The story of this fight is that Jouban’s footwork kept Perry chasing him trying to land a knockout blow and Jouban kept countering him using kickboxing tactics. Jouban used low kicks and counter punches, and also got a takedown. Perry kept chasing and swinging and missing. Perry landed a right that hurt Jouban in the second round. Jouban came back with body kicks. Jouban used low and high kicks and continued to counter Perry, whose left leg and body were all bruised up by the third round. Jouban landed a cartwheel kick at the end. Jouban got $54,000 for the win and Perry got $14,000 for the loss.
187
18811. Urijah Faber (34-10) beat Brad Pickett (25-13) on scores of 30-26 across the board in a bantamweight fight. Quick movement and Pickett used a low kick to sweep Faber off his feet. Faber knocked him down with a left and landed punches. He got Pickett’s back and was throwing a ton of punches. At a few spots it was just on the verge of being the beating that would stop it but Pickett was defending but taking punishment. Faber worked for a choke but couldn’t get it. He moved to mount and was dropping elbows and Pickett was busted open. Easy 10-8 round. In the second round, Pickett escaped the first takedown attempt but Faber got him down on the second one off a knee. Faber got a second takedown later in the round. Faber opened the third round with some hard high kicks and got a takedown. He got a second takedown and tried for a guillotine. Faber was dropping elbows. As they got up, Pickett dropped Faber with a punch but Faber came back and got another takedown. The crowd pretty much exploded over the last 30 seconds building to a pretty great pop with the win. Faber got $320,000 for the win and Pickett got $40,000 for the loss.
189
19012. Mickey Gall (4-0) beat Sage Northcutt (8-2) at 1:40 of the second round in a welterweight fight. Gall took Northcutt down and moved into side control. He went for a guillotine and Northcutt escaped and got on top. Northcutt dropped punches and got up. Gall was on his back and Northcutt was literally kicking him in the ass. Gall got up and got another takedown and moved to mount. In the second round, Northcutt knocked Gall down with a left and was lighting him up standing. This is where you can see Gall has weaknesses as a standup fighter that will be exposed against the better guys. Gall was bleeding but dropped Northcutt with a counter right, got his back and got the choke for the submission. Gall got $40,000 for the win and Northcutt got $60,000 for the loss.
191
19213. Michelle Waterson (14-4) beat Paige VanZant (8-2) at 3:21 in a women’s strawweight fight. Both traded punches and Waterson landed a side kick and some jabs. VanZant failed on a takedown attempt. Waterson then surprised VanZant with a basic headlock takeover and quickly slipped to her back and got the choke. VanZant passed out without tapping and the match was stopped. Waterson got $80,000 for the win, including a performance bonus. VanZant got $43,000 for the loss. It is kind of bad when you think about it that these two were put in the main event, pulled the numbers they did, and Waterson’s guarantee was only $15,000 (she made $15,000 as her guarantee, $15,000 as her win bonus and $50,000 as her performance bonus) and VanZant’s was only $43,000.
193
194WWE’s final PPV show of the year, Roadblock End of the Line, on 12/18 at the PPG Arena in Pittsburgh, was one of its weakest shows as well.
195
196The main issue was that aside from the New Day’s tag team title loss to Sheamus & Cesaro, most of the bouts didn’t have much heat. There were also some weak finishes, not to mention that two shows a month has led to a major decline in public interest. While Roadblock had more interest than TLC, the interest level for both shows was much lower than the typical monthly shows of the past. The show had 100,000 Google searches, about half the usual level for a WWE “B” PPV show (TLC didn’t even register in that category).
197
198The ending of the longest tag team title run in company history, at 483 days, came on the first Raw show after the celebration of breaking the record. But it made sense. The title going to Sheamus & Cesaro was clearly delayed past the point it should have happened to get to the record.
199
200Most everything was logical and predictable. Once again, Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens did a swerve in the eventual break-up angle, as Jericho’s interference caused Owens to win via DQ when Jericho attacked him. But it was to save the Universal title for Owens. This wasn’t the show for Reigns to be coronated after such a long wait. If Reigns’ coronation is to be what they want it to be (and it won’t, but that’s a different issue), he shouldn’t be losing right now. Charlotte regained the women’s title in an Iron man match, which was generally well wrestled but lacked in crowd heat, which was the only way it could go since Charlotte vs. Bayley is the new direction and Bayley is more popular than Sasha Banks. Right now it looks like Banks is going to do an injury angle and come back to work with Nia Jax, but the long-term plan for her right now is to be a heel.
201
202But she wasn’t a heel. This is where the finish made no sense. Banks was ahead with time running out. The idea is that the regulation period would end with fans, expecting Banks had it won, counting down the time loudly while Charlotte had her in the figure four, and with two seconds left, she’d tap. While there was a countdown chant, it was relatively light and it didn’t work as expected. But the very idea of it made no sense. The face having the match won and giving up two seconds before a sure tittle retention only makes the face look weak mentally. Granted, long-term, Banks isn’t meant to be a face. But it’s always better in an Iron Man match for the heel to be up and the face chasing the tie for maximum excitement. The story is that Banks was injured from the figure four, and then submitted again when it went into overtime, so Charlotte regained the title.
203
204The show drew 8,000 fans, a disappointment. And that’s with tickets being sold two-for-one the last week before the show. Pittsburgh is usually a good city when it comes to drawing fans, although it does have a reputation as one of the worst cities for crowd reactions, to the point that I know of times where guys have talked their way out of big angles set for a Raw in Pittsburgh and tried to get them delayed an extra week.
205
206Everything now leads to the Royal Rumble on 1/29 at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Owens vs. Reigns in a title rematch with Jericho hung above the ring in a shark cage was announced on Raw. A.J. Styles vs. John Cena makes sense for the Smackdown title match. Charlotte vs. Bayley is scheduled for the women’s title. Since the Kofi Kingston athletic spot is a Rumble fixture, they may not have a tag title match. The cruiserweight division is building toward Rich Swann vs. Neville, but that’s likely to happen before the end of next month and I could see a multiple person title match.
207
2081. Rusev beat Big Cass via count out in 4:24. Enzo did his mic work before the match, and put on a red nose and did some reindeer jokes. Cass dominated early. They were brawling in the stands when Lana shoved Enzo. Rusev then blindsided Enzo. Cass was tending to Enzo and got counted out of the ring. This was bad. DUD
209
2102. Sheamus & Cesaro beat Big E & Kofi Kingston to win the tag titles in 10:00. Cesaro was on fire here. Cesaro and Kingston traded spots where each monkey flipped the other and in each case the one taking the move landed on his feet. E did his shoulderblock sending Sheamus to the floor. Cesaro kicked out of the Big Ending which was set up by Woods interfering from the outside. Cesaro had Kingston in the sharpshooter but Woods distracted the ref who missed Kingston tapping. So New Day did a few heel spots. Cesaro at one point had the sharpshooter on E. Sheamus ran at Kingston, who moved and Sheamus bumped into Cesaro, breaking up the sharpshooter. That looked bad timing wise as it looked like Sheamus just broke up his own partner’s submission. Cesaro also used a corkscrew plancha on E. Very clever finish. Cesaro acted like he tagged in, but never actually touched Sheamus. Kingston then used the Trouble in Paradise on Cesaro, but Sheamus, the legal guy, tackled Kingston and pinned him. The New Day then handed Cesaro the belts and hugged him. Sheamus then grabbed both belts and celebrated on his own. Cesaro grabbed a belt and then jumped into the stands to celebrate with the fans. ***½
211
212Kevin Owens bragged he was the longest reigning Universal champion in history. The idea is that’s supposed to be heat since the first champion got hurt and vacated it in one day and he’s the second champion. Owens said how he and Jericho were friends. Jericho was there and gave him a nasty glare. Owens said that it was Rollins’ fault he knocked Jericho over in the tag title match. Owens gave him a holiday scarf and Jericho threw it down.
213
2143. Sami Zayn beat Braun Strowman when Strowman failed to beat him in 10:00. Strowman’s selling looks very mechanical and like he’s a guy who thinks he should sell and does as opposed to actually selling, but his offense looked good. The crowd wasn’t into this match. At one point Strowman had him beat but picked Zayn up at two. Zayn was bleeding from the mouth. Strowman mostly threw him around. Mick Foley came out with a towel at about 7:30. Fans started chanting “delete” during this match. Zayn begged Foley not to throw in the towel. This made no sense on so many levels. First, last week’s Raw climax of the angle was that Foley was only pretending to be overly concerned with Zayn’s health because he wanted Zayn mad for his match with Strowman. So they forgot that. And worse, Strowman’s beating on Zayn wasn’t intense at all, so Foley coming out to stop the match made no sense. Zayn eventually grabbed the towel and threw it in the stands. Strowman ran into the post and later when Zayn moved, Strowman ran into the barricade, and went through it. Strowman barely beat the ten count. Zayn used a crossbody and hit the Helluva kick with three seconds left in the match. *1/4
215
2164. Seth Rollins pinned Chris Jericho in 17:02. They noted this was Jericho 140th PPV match, behind only Kane, Undertaker, HHH and Cena. They did their usual stuff. It was good, but lacked heat. Jericho set up his first lionsault but Rollins shoved him off the top rope and sent him to the floor. Rollins hit a tope. Jericho came back with the Walls of Jericho, and Rollins got a rope break. Rollins used an enzuigiri but missed a frog splash. Jericho hit the lionsault and went for the Walls of Jericho. Whenever Jericho is performing in front of a dead crowd, like this one, and the match seems flat, he somehow gets them up by doing the same Walls of Jericho. Fans started chanting “Stupid idiot.” They traded more spots and Rollins used an inside cradle off the Walls of Jericho for a near fall. Jericho came off the top rope into a kick, and Rollins did a superkick. Rollins finally hit the frog splash. Both were selling at this point. Owens came out. The ref and Rollins were distracted. Jericho used a schoolboy and had Rollins pinned, but the ref was out of position arguing with Owens. Rollins kicked out. Rollins went for the pedigree but Jericho flipped him over. Jericho then started yelling at Owens for costing him the match. Rollins hit a jumping knee. Jericho went for the codebreaker, but Rollins escaped and hit the pedigree for the pin. ***
217
2185. Rich Swann retained the cruiserweight title over Brian Kendrick and T.J. Perkins in 5:59. Whenever they say “The Outlandish Rich Swann,” it comes across so contrived and fake. Swann did a huracanrana on both at the same time. They traded submissions with the third guy breaking them up. They did a yay/boo spot but the crowd was so out of the match they didn’t pick it up. The finish saw Swann superkick Kendrick out of the ring and use a spin kick on Perkins for the pin. After the match, Neville came out and turned heel and attacked Swann. Perkins went to help Swann and Neville laid him out and superkicked Swann. Neville threw Swann to the floor and threw him into the barricade. So as he was beating up on the two faces and did his heel turn, the crowd was cheering since they were glad he was back and chanted “Thank you Neville.” That wasn’t the desired response, but it was funny. *3/4
219
220Owens tried to talk to Jericho but Jericho had the dressing room door locked. Owens pleaded with Jericho to open the door, saying he was just trying to help and that their friendship should be stronger than this. Owens said that Jericho could put him on the list if it would make him feel better. Owens said friends sometimes make mistakes but best friends forgive each other. Jericho wouldn’t unlock the door, so Owens said that he guessed they weren’t best friends after all and said that really hurt his feelings.
221
2226. Charlotte beat Sasha Banks 3-2 in an Iron Man match in 32:56 to regain the women’s title. Another match hurt by lack of heat and also no falls taken for a long time. Banks at one point told Charlotte that her father likes her more and Charlotte got mad and it allowed Banks to get a choke. Banks did double knees off the apron. Banks did a tope and Charlotte scooped her leg and Banks landed face first into the steps. Charlotte did ground and pound. The crowd was really dead at this point. A few fans started clapping at 16:30. Banks kicked out of natural selection. Charlotte finally took the first fall at 19:14 after natural selection off the ropes. Banks got a pin quickly to tie it up with what looked to be a La Magistral cradle but it was kind of botched at 21:36. Charlotte missed a moonsault and Banks used a bank statement in the middle to go ahead 2-1 at 23:55. Charlotte started working on Banks’ right knee, wrapping it around the post. Charlotte gave her a chop block and put on the figure four at 28:00. Banks reversed it but Charlotte reversed it back. Finally Banks submitted at 29:58. So she’s in the hold for two minutes and doesn’t have to submit, and if she holds on two more seconds she retains. Then she submits. The whole thing was ridiculous. Then they ordered a sudden death overtime. Charlotte accidentally kicked Banks in the face and she was bleeding from the nose. Banks came back with the back stabber and bank statement, but Charlotte reversed it. She didn’t quite get the figure four at first but got a submission move on, switched it to the figure four and did the bridge for the win at 2:56 of the overtime. ***
223
2247. Kevin Owens beat Roman Reigns via DQ to retain the Universal title in 23:24. They started by brawling outside the ring. Owens did a senton off the ring steps to the floor. They were outside forever, the ref was counting, but they were never counted out. They did two long chinlock spots. They went back-and-forth with big moves. Owens used a German suplex and Reigns used a Samoan drop for near falls. Owens used a DDT after side stepping a Superman punch for a near fall. After a cannonball by Owens, Reigns hit the Superman punch out of nowhere for a near fall. Owens used a fisherman buster off the middle rope and then went for a swanton off the top but Reigns got his knees up. Reigns set up the spear and the crowd started booing heavy. Reigns hit the drive by and missed a second one. Owens hit two superkicks and did a frog splash off the barricade onto one of the announcers tables, which didn’t break. So Owens did the move a second time and the table broke. Reigns barely beat the ten count in. Owens used a frog splash but Reigns kicked out. Reigns hit power bomb but Owens kicked out. That finally got the crowd going but it didn’t sustain. Owens hit the pop up power bomb but Reigns got his foot on the ropes. Owens went for a belt shot, but Reigns speared him and the belt went flying. Jericho came out as both Reigns and Owens were on the ground selling. They teased that Jericho was going to attack Reigns, but instead he gave Owens a codebreaker, which got a big pop. The ref then DQ’d Reigns due to the outside interference from Jericho. Jericho started looking at the belt so everyone figured they were going to Owens vs. Jericho next. Jericho smiled and gave Owens the belt and raised his hand. Owens looked surprised. The idea was that Jericho fooled everyone and saved the title for Owens by attacking him. Rollins came out and Reigns speared Owens and Rollins gave Jericho a pedigree. Then they gave Jericho a double-team power bomb through the Spanish announcers table and brought Owens to where the English announcers were and gave him a double team power bomb through the English announcers table. Owens fell off the stage. So to counteract the flat main event finish to end the show, they gave the people The Shield working together to power bomb both heels. It worked to a degree, but since a lot of fans don’t like Reigns, it didn’t work like it should have. ***
225
226Perhaps the most-unique and what may in time be viewed as a groundbreaking episode of a wrestling show, Matt Hardy’s Total Nonstop Deletion show aired on 12/15 on Pop TV.
227
228It was a two-hour show taped in the basement of Matt’s house, with a six-sided ring and about 50 or so extras as fans, and was largely a series of insider jokes.
229
230The show was going to be very polarizing. Unlike the segments from the Hardy compound in the past, which were segments spliced into a regular wrestling show, this was the entire show. If you are a super insider and just wanted to see the weird and wacky, the show was a big hit. For the TNA fans who wanted to see a wrestling show, some would like it and others would turn it off because it wasn’t such a show. But with all the hype surrounding the show, it figured to have far more people tuning in than usual.
231
232I’m guessing that was the case at the start. I also expected many tuning out during the show because a lot of people were not going to like it. But I figured with the hype of the show, that the ultimate judge of something new attempted, that it gains more than it loses, the rating was a disappointment. The 329,000 viewers is in the ballpark with what the show usually does, but with so much more hype and talk going in than any episode in months, it should have been far higher than usual.
233
234Even at best this was something you could only do on rare occasions. It is possible that the legend of the first episode may grow and in six months they can do it again and it’ll be bigger, or it could be that this type of thing only appeals to people so inside, and that’s not a big percentage of the television viewing audience.
235
236The show opened with a cheesy spoof on a television newscast with an anchorman, played by Gilbert Corsey, in the studios of WCAM-TV in Cameron, NC (no such station exists) reporting on a live volcano that hit the city and warned people to stay inside. A reporter on the scene, Betty Sue Fuentes, was there when Jeff Hardy, as Itchweeed (with 3 e’s) showed up doing his sort of Elvis the crazy gardener routine.
237
238They went to the mock arena, billed as the Dome of Deletion with a drawing of Broken Matt on the entrance wall, with all of the Hardys out, including King Maxel (Matt’s 18-month old son) and Senor Benjamin (in the ultimate insider rib, wearing a Ribera Steak House jacket which was classic wear of 80s wrestlers because when Japan was the top spot for wrestling, wearing a Ribera jacket meant you were a big enough star to tour Japan and get one).
239
240Rockstar Spud came out first and wanted to be Maxel’s first opponent. He used all kinds of spoof on wrestling lingo, saying how the kid hasn’t had a match and he’s more over than I’ve ever been. Spud said how he was going to stretch him and teach him respect for the business, which was the old thing wrestlers used to say about putting a hurting on newcomers. Spud then said how all the promoters can push him to the moon (a spoof on promoters pushing sons of stars too early) when I’m done with him. So the match was announced as no DQ, when Benjamin (Matt’s father in law) used a taser on Spud. That led to a quick cameo of Glenn “Disco Inferno” Gilbertti, who made a poker remark since he’s a well-known gambler.
241
242An Eddie Edwards vs. Bobby Lashley TNA title match was announced for later. Edwards was shown coming to Cameron walking through the woods holding his title belt.
243
244Next they went back to the news studio which said how police have closed down all the roads leading into Cameron and showed Fuentes at a spot where the highway was blocked. Shane Helms was driving a pickup truck with Andrew Everett & Trevor Lee in the back. They were blocked and Fuentes told Helms he couldn’t get in because there’s a natural disaster (the volcano) forming. Helms, since his old gimmick was The Hurricane, said he’s an expert on that sort of thing and drove through. An aging Ricky Morton (60) and Robert Gibson (58) showed up as the Rock & Roll Express to Matt’s door step, and Matt called them The Express that Rock & Rolls.
245
246Sienna was to have a match where the winner would be the top contender for the Knockouts title, held by Rosemary. Vanguard 1 wanted to challenge but the referee said the North Carolina Athletic Commission wouldn’t sanction a drone to wrestle. Instead, ODB showed up. The match was really bad. There was a ref bump and ODB had it won. Vanguard 1 went to make the count but the ref pulled Vanguard 1 out of the ring. Sienna then used a chair shot that looked bad, followed by a tackle and the ref counted the pin. The segment ended with ODB grabbing Vanguard 1 and putting the drone down her top and Jeremy Borash noting how that was the happiest drone in the world.
247
248Helms, Everett and Lee showed up and saw Matt, and they brought up their coming to his door for Halloween trick or treating. Matt said that Lee was wearing a terrible looking costume and Helms said that Lee always looks like that. He made references to Omega, the wrestling company they all started with. Matt had a premonition that somebody will be reincarnated by the end of the show, which ended up being Helms reincarnated as The Hurricane.
249
250They were promoting a new song by Dixie Carter called “The Hand that Feeds.” There are so many easy jokes about that one.
251
252Itchweeed, the crazy Jeff Hardy alter ego, wrestled Chet Sterling. Jeff put Sterling in the sleeper, but then he fell asleep while Sterling was also asleep. The joke was how it’s the first time a guy used a sleeper to put himself to sleep. This match came across like kids doing a spoof on pro wrestling. Hardy later won with the pesticide elbow, it kills bugs, it kills weeds and it kills opponents.
253
254Lashley vs. Edwards went 18:00 plus in a TNA title match, the closest thing to a normal pro wrestling match on the show. Because the fans were all plants, Lashley threw one down. For whatever reason, the fans did a “stupid idiot” chant. The match was pretty serious aside from the fan stuff, until the finish. Edwards tried a huracanrana, Lashley blocked it and power bombed Edwards into the fans. Lashley then speared Edwards through the door and they both went out the door. Throughout the rest of the show the two were shown at various times fighting in the woods until the show ended.
255
256The last thing was Tag Team Apocalypto. There was a smoke bomb in the building and they made an announcement that the public and wrestlers had to evacuate. Matt & Jeff were talking to Ricky & Robert and noted they were all teen heartthrobs at one point. So they joined forces with the fireworks guns to chase Abyss & Crazzy Steve as well as Helms, Everett and Lee away. In trying to escape, Helms jumped in the truck with Everett & Lloyd. Matt jumped into the back of the truck and as it was driving, Matt was punching everyone while Jeff & the ref were on Jeff’s dirt bike chasing them. The ref was acting scared.
257
258Lance & Harlem Bravado showed up. Because of contracts, that was the best tag team of modern wrestlers they could find from the outside.
259
260The Hardys and Helms Dynasty fought in front of an antique store. In another part of town, Abyss & Steve were beating up on all kinds of local indie guys.
261
262Spud showed up and wanted into the match and said he had a partner who was even bigger than Abyss. It turned out to be Hornswoggle wearing his “King of Small Style” T-shirt.
263
264Everett & Lee were doing pro wrestling spots with Matt near the lake. Everett had Matt pinned but the boat by the lake magically moved and knocked Everett off Matt. So Everett, Lee and Helms started putting the boots to the boat. Matt shoved Helms into the lake.
265
266He was reincarnated and started dancing with spotlights as Three Count, the gimmick Helms, Shannon Moore and Evan Karagias did in WCW in 2000. Helms then looked at Lee & Everett dancing with him and said, “You’re not Shannon, you’re not Evan.” I guess they couldn’t get a cameo from Shannon and Evan. Lee & Everett superkicked Helms into the lake for him to be reincarnated again.
267
268The Bravado Brothers started fighting Everett & Lee.
269
270Then, in a ring set up outside, the Hardys and Rock & Roll Express wrestled each other for the first time. The Rock & Roll Express did a bunch of their classic spots in super slow motion. It wasn’t the PWG gimmick where you wrestle in slow-motion, it was just guys doing the fast spots they used to do but they can’t move fast.
271
272Everett & Lee and the Bravados ended up back in the original building, the smoke-filled arena (I’m not sure if this was meant as a spoof of the classic old-school smoke-filled arena, I actually doubt that).
273
274Ricky Morton and Jeff Hardy were fighting in this crane set up thing until the Hardys maneuvered Ricky’s thing high in the air and he was trapped. Robert got pinned after a swanton and twist of fate, with Matt calling Jeff a spot monkey, so the Rock & Rolls were eliminated. Ricky was screaming to help him get down from being up high in the air.
275
276Hornswoggle & Spud ended up in the smoke filled arena where Hornswoggle power bombed Spud, splashed him off the top rope and left, and Everett pinned him. Edwards and Lashley were still fighting in the woods. There was a cameo of Road Warrior Animal seeing Ricky Morton still in the crane in the air.
277
278About ten guys in DCC masks showed up. Two of them unmasked. One was James Storm. The other was unknown and Storm said he didn’t know the guy. So that guy, with the idea he just liked the costume, got pinned and Storm protested his team being eliminated already when he didn’t know the guy. He superkicked the guy.
279
280The volcano erupted. Helms returned, this time as The Hurricane. Decay and the Helms Dynasty were beating on the Hardys. Abyss got Janice, the bat with nails, and went to finally kill Matt. Hurricane then turned babyface and saved Matt, hitting the heels with shovels. As Matt and Helms beat down everyone, Matt said, “Even the man with three H’s would be proud of the way we’ve buried all of this promising talent.” Edwards came off the balcony of Matt’s house onto Lashley. The Hardys ended up fighting Decay surrounded by fire on the grass. Abyss tried to use Janice on Matt again, but Matt got it away and killed him with a shot to the stomach. Matt gave Steve a twist of fate into the volcano which exploded and Steve was shot into the air and crushed in the ring and Matt pinned him, so the Hardys ended up as the winners. As they celebrated, Matt talked about the six members of their family (Matt, Jeff, Maxel, Reby, Vanguard 1 and Benjamin) and Reby said there were seven, so they ended the show revealing she was pregnant with her second child (which is in fact the case).
281
282After a couple of year-end shows, including a 12/29 Hardys retrospective, the new version of TNA under Anthem Sports will debut on 1/5 with a semi-live show from Orlando. That will be a one-day build for a live PPV on 1/6, also from Orlando.
283
284More than 15 years ago, an aging Mario Milano, the most well-known pro wrestling star to a generation in Australia, wrote a letter to God that ended up being read this past week at his funeral.
285
286“Hello Lord. I thought I might make my reservation now for the big main event in your arena. I hear from your promoters that it will be two out of three with an everlasting time limit.
287
288I hear that some of the old-time greats are up there with you now, people like Roy Heffernan, Haystacks Calhoun, Chief Little Wolf, Gorgeous George, Andre the Giant, Skull Murphy, Brute Bernard, Bobby Shane, Larry O’Dea and all the other great champions. I know that throughout eternity these men will make a big hit with you, just like they did here on Earth.
289
290A lot of my friends are here with me, Lord, so please take care of them because some day they will appear in that golden ring of yours, men like Spyros Arion, King Curtis (who passed away in 2010) and Tex McKenzie (who passed away in 2001). I expect my friends and I will be there too, to watch men like Hulk Hogan, Lou Thesz (who passed away in 2002), Domenic DeNucci, Killer Kowalski (who passed away in 2008) and many, many more in the most beautiful arena of them all, your heaven.
291
292So, you see, Lord, we all know that someday we will receive your call and–oh yes please, one more request: When the champ Mark Lewin comes by, please treat him with respect because if every man follows his footsteps, the world will be a better place. After all Lord, he knows that you are the greatest champion of all.
293
294This is Mario Milano here, Lord. In closing, I would like to say, if I may, please save a dressing room of heavenly splendour for me.”
295
296 
297
298In 1964, Jim Barnett and Johnny Doyle, two of the most successful American wrestling promoters, who were running a vast territory throughout places from Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, with a powerful affiliate in San Francisco (Roy Shire’s group), put together a deal to get television in Australia. In doing so, they were able to accomplish something they were unable to do in the United States--run a national promotion.
299
300When they came to Australia to open World Championship Wrestling, they met with Dick Lean Sr., who had managed Stadiums Limited for 40 years and controlled the major arenas in the country that they were looking at running weekly, Sydney Stadium, Festival Hall in Melbourne and Festival Hall in Brisbane.
301
302Lean told them to build their wrestling company around a good-looking legitimate Italian to cater to the huge Italian community in Sydney and Melbourne, the two largest cities in the country.
303
304Another key, which Barnett was always criticized for by the local wrestlers, is that he never let the native Australians have the top spots and always built around the stars who in almost all cases had first made their names as main eventers in the U.S. That may have been protection. Barnett had turned Indianapolis into a hotbed in the late 50s, and his biggest star, Indianapolis native Dick the Bruiser, was pushed as the headliner and world’s most dangerous man. A few years later, Bruiser and the other top babyface, Wilbur Snyder, broke off and started a promotional war. Barnett left for Australia and he always noted that unlike The Sheik (Ed Farhat), who purchased the Michigan & Ohio end from him, or Roy Shire, who paid him a percentage for using Barnett’s talent and connections to open up and win a war in Northern California, that he never got a dime from Bruiser & Snyder after creating the Indianapolis boom.
305
306The foreign stars were all, at some point, going to return home, and if they tried to fight for a percentage, Barnett could simply stop booking them and they’d be gone. If the top stars were all local, and he and Doyle being American outsiders, there was more of a risk of opposition (which did happen from time-to-time but Barnett’s television advantage kept him strongly on top) formed by the top stars making power plays for either a percentage of control. Roy Heffernan, who had achieved great fame in the U.S. as part of the original Fabulous Kangaroos with Al Costello, was the one Australian kept strong, but a number of locals who ended up being legitimate U.S. stars, like John Boyd, Norman Fredrich Charles III, Bill Dundee and George Barnes, were kept in prelims, as were Ron Miller & Larry O’Day, who ended up in control of the promotion years later and became top babyface stars.
307
308Barnett & Doyle’s choice as their top star was 33-year-old Domenic DeNucci, who at the time was a major star babyface in the U.S., having just come off a big drawing run with Ray Stevens, which included a trade of the U.S. title in early 1964. Barnett offered both men more than double what they were earning as headliners in the hot San Francisco territory, to reprise their angle to a new country.
309
310DeNucci’s battles with the likes of Killer Kowalski and Stevens caused the territory to catch fire immediately. In the first year the weekly shows in Sydney averaged 9,000 paid and they had similar success in Melbourne. The three top stars were possibly the highest paid wrestlers in the world except for possibly the NWA and WWWF world champions, Lou Thesz and Bruno Sammartino.
311
312Very quickly, due to the success across the country, Australia became the place to be. It was the highest paying territory. Unlike in most of the U.S. where wrestling often had a bad reputation, Barnett had strong sponsorship deals, and a strict dress and conduct code for his wrestlers. The wrestlers stayed at the nicest hotels, flew first class from city-to-city, and were treated like major league sports stars. It was an operation like no other in the world at the time.
313
314DeNucci was the top babyface in the promotion from 1964 to 1966. Barnett even brought in Bruno Sammartino, the WWWF champion, who he said was the best short-term attraction ever to come to the country, responsible for the best month of business they ever had. But he had to pay through the nose to get Sammartino, who had issues with Barnett refusing to use him after he had a start
315
316MARIO MILANO
317
318 
319
320CAREER TITLE HISTORY
321
322 
323
324INTERNATIONAL WRESTLING ALLIANCE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Killer Kowalski September 9, 1967 Sydney; lost to King Curtis Iaukea September 30, 1967 Sydney; def. Ripper Collins November 1, 1967 Brisbane; lost to Killer Karl Kox January 20, 1968 Melbourne; def,. Baron Mikel Scicluna August 17, 1968 Melbourne; lost to Toru Tanaka September 20, 1968 Sydney; def. The Spoiler (Don Jardine) May 9, 1969 Sydney; lost to Killer Karl Kox September 19, 1969 Sydney
325
326 
327
328INTERNATIONAL WRESTLING ALLIANCE WORLD TAG TEAM: w/Red Bastien def. Killer Kowalski & Skull Murphy October 13, 1967 Sydney; lost to Pat Patterson & Art Nelson December 25, 1967 (this was a fictitious title change billed as taking place in San Francisco); w/Billy White Wolf (Adnan El-Kaissie) def. Pat Patterson & Art Nelson February 4, 1968 Melbourne; lost to Brute Bernard & Skull Murphy March 22, 1968 Sydney; w/Antonio Pugliese (Tony Parisi) def. Brute Bernard & Skull Murphy April 20, 1968 Melbourne; lost to Brute Bernard & Skull Murphy April 24, 1968 Brisbane; w/Antonio Pugliese def. Brute Bernard & Skull Murphy April 27, 1968 Melbourne; lost to Skull Murphy & Killer Karl Kox May 6, 1968 Brisbane; w/Dominic DeNucci def. Killer Kowalski & Big Bill Miller July 3, 1968 Brisbane; lost to Cyclone Negro & Baron Mikel Scicluna July 6, 1968 Sydney; w/Dominic DeNucci def. Cyclone Negro & Baron Mikel Scicluna August 12, 1968 Adelaide; lost to Cyclone Negro & Baron Mikel Scicluna August 14, 1968 Brisbane; w/Dominic DeNucci def. Cyclone Negro & Baron Mikel Scicluna August 17, 1968 Melbourne; lost to Cyclone Negro & Baron Mikel Scicluna August 1968; w/The Spoiler (Don Jardine) def. Antonio Pugliese & Don Leo Jonathan March 7, 1969 Sydney; lost to Antonio Pugliese & Don Leo Jonathan March 22, 1969 Melbourne; w/Waldo Von Erich def. Antonio Pugliese & Don Leo Jonathan April 4, 1969 Sydney; Vacated titles when Milano and Von Erich split up; w/Spyros Arion def. Brute Bernard & Skull Murphy December 13, 1969 Melbourne; lost to King Curtis Iaukea & Buddy Austin December 26, 1969 Sydney; w/Spyros Arion def. Kurt & Karl Von Steiger October 14, 1970 Brisbane; lost to Kurt & Karl Von Steiger October 28, 1970 Brisbane; w/Mark Lewin def. Kurt & Karl Von Steiger December 26, 1970 Brisbane; lost to Dick Murdoch & Dusty Rhodes January 21, 1971 Sydney
329
330 
331
332NWA AUSTRA ASIAN HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Waldo Von Erich May 19, 1974 Sydney; lost to Cyclone Negro (lost title in a tag team match with Negro & Brute Bernard beating Milano & George Gouliovas July 19, 1974 Sydney
333
334 
335
336NWA AUSTRA ASIAN TAG TEAM: w/Bugsy McGraw def. Killer Karl Krupp & Butcher Brannigan October 2, 1977 Sydney; titles vacated when Bruiser Brody injured McGraw; w/Larry O’Day def. Butcher Brannigan & Les Roberts October 1, 1978 Melbourne; lost to Butcher Brannigan & Ox Baker October 27, 1978 Sydney
337
338 
339
340NWA WORLD BRASS KNUX: def. Cyclone Negro March 2, 1974 Melbourne; lost to Brute Bernard May 10, 1974 Sydney in tag match where Bernard & Waldo Von Erich def. Milano & Tony Parisi; def. Bob Roop to win vacant title September 6, 1974 Sydney; lost to Lorenzo Parente September 27, 1974 Sydney; def. Lorenzo Parente October 25, 1974 Sydney; lost to Bull Ramos January 1975 Sydney; def. Butcher Brannigan October 4, 1977 Sydney; lost to Butcher Brannigan November 1977
341
342 
343
344WORLDWIDE WRESTLING ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL TV TAG TEAM: as Mario La Pantera w/Count Billy Varga won tournament finals over Nick Bockwinkel & King (Seymour) Koenig March 15, 1962 Long Beach, CA; lost to Dick Garza (Mighty Igor) & Eric Rommell July 4, 1962 Los Angeles
345
346 
347
348NWA WORLD TAG TEAM (Gulas promotions): w/Jackie Fargo won three-way tournament for vacant titles over Kurt & Karl Von Brauner and Tojo Yamamoto & Mitsu Hirai March 9, 1965 Nashville; lost to Kurt & Karl Von Brauner April 13, 1965 Nashville
349
350 
351
352NWA SOUTHERN TAG TEAM: w/Jackie Fargo def. Kurt & Skull Von Stroheim November 5, 1963 Nashville; lost to Tojo Yamamoto & Ivan Malenkov December 5, 1963 Chattanooga; def. Tojo Yamamoto & Rocky Montero (Malenkov left territory, this was for vacant titles) December 26, 1963 Chattanooga; lost to Kurt & Skull Von Stroheim January 16, 1964 Chattanooga (title changed only recognized in Chattanooga, Milano & Fargo continued as champions in the rest of the territory); lost to Tojo Yamamoto & Alex Perez February 3, 1964 Memphis; w/Len Rossi def. Tojo Yamamoto & Alex Perez June 23, 1964 Nashville; lost to Corsica Joe & Corsica Jean September 1964 Bowling Green, KY; w/Danny Hodge def. Tojo Yamamoto & Mitsu Hirai May 24, 1965 Memphis; lost to Tojo Yamamoto & Mitsu Hirai July 1965; w/Len Rossi won three-team tournament over Kanji (Antonio) Inoki & Hiro Matsuda and The Masked Medics January 11, 1966 Nashville; lost to Tojo Yamamoto & Alex Perez February 9, 1966 Nashville; w/Len Rossi def. Tojo Yamamoto & Alex Perez February 15, 1966 Nashville; lost to Doug Lindsay (Doug Gilbert) & Treach Phillips April 1966; w/Len Rossi def Doug Lindsay & Treach Phillips April 11, 1966 Birmingham; lost to Tojo Yamamoto & Great Higami June 21, 1966 Birmingham; w/Len Rossi def. Tojo Yamamoto & Great Higami July 1966; lost to the Blue Infernos October 29, 1966 Nashville; w/Len Rossi def. Blue Infernos November 1966; lost to Chin Lee & Corsica Joe December 28, 1966 Birmingham
353
354date during a period when Sammartino had problems with Vince McMahon Sr. and was blacklisted. In 1967, DeNucci was unavailable for a long period of time. In his absence, Barnett brought in Mario Milano.
355Milano, was 6-foot-5 and 265 pounds, big, tanned, good-looking and muscular. Always billed as being from Trieste, Italy, his family moved to Venezuela after World War II, when he was ten years old. His father was an upholsterer, but both of his parents were also stage actors and he looked to follow in their footsteps. Due to his notoriety from wrestling, he later appeared in several movies and soap operas.
356
357He had started pro wrestling at the age of 17 as a masked wrestler in Venezuela, the Black Diablo. At the time, there was a local curfew for teenagers being outside after 9 p.m., so he’d wear his mask to conceal his face and hide his age until he turned 18 and started wrestling under his birth name.
358
359He migrated to wrestling in Mexico, as Mario La Pantera, and then Cyclone Negro, a major U.S. star, who also came from Caracas, Venezuela, got him booked in Texas in 1961, where he first used the name Mario Milano. Where things get confusing is there was another wrestler who used the same name in Canada, and both Mario Milano’s were wrestling in California in 1962. On March 28, 1962, at the Olympic Auditorium, Mario La Pantera defeated Mario Milano on the undercard of the Rikidozan WWA world title win over Freddie Blassie.
360
361After leaving California, and entrenched as Mario Milano, he became one of the top stars for promoter Nick Gulas, as part of the top babyface main event tag team in the territory, first with Jackie Fargo, and later with Len Rossi.
362
363Barnett brought the 32-year-old Milano in for $800 a week for a three month tour. A good athlete, Milano was still young, but already had 15 years of experience when he arrived. While it wouldn’t be accurate to say he never left, as he worked all over the world over the next decade, he settled in Australia and spent most of the rest of his career there.
364
365Milano was a great drawing card in Australia from 1967 to 1972, and a consistently good draw through 1978, when the promotion closed up after losing television.
366
367Milano was physically huge and well put together for the era, allowing him to believably brawl with the monsters, but his selling was also strong. English was actually Milano’s third language, after Italian, which he spoke as a young child, and Spanish, which he learned while growing up in Venezuela.
368
369Milano would first do his interviews in English, and then would fire up and talk to the Italians in Australia in their native language.
370
371Barnett wanted to get him over right out of the gate. His first night in, on April 21, 1967, at Sydney Stadium, he first defeated Frank Shields (who later became Bull Bullinski in the AWA as the street fighting truck driver cousin of The Crusher) and then won a Battle Royal that included major names like Chief Billy White Wolf (Adnan Al-Kaissie), Pat Patterson, Hercules Cortez, Don Jardine and Roy Heffernan.
372
373Battle Royals were considered special events, done infrequently, so winning made Milano an instant star. Milano was pushed with wins over stars like Jardine and Patterson, for a shot at world champion Kowalski. He also formed a tag team with Eric Froelich, feuding with Patterson & Art Nelson before losing in a program with their world tag team champions, Kurt & Karl Von Stroheim.
374
375His key angle was during an IWA title match with Kowalski defending against Pat O’Connor, O’Connor was hung in the ropes during the first fall and ruled unable to continue due to a neck injury. Milano was brought out to replace him since world title matches were supposed to be two out of three falls. Milano then beat the huge Kowalski, the greatest heel Australia had ever had, in two straight falls. Because he wasn’t the contracted opponent that night, he didn’t win the world title. This led to a series of title matches that Kowalski won.
376
377On July 28, 1967, at Sydney Stadium, Milano & Red Bastien beat the Von Stroheims to win the world tag team title.
378
379In the storyline, Milano was the master of the abdominal stretch. Bastien went on to coach Milano for another run with Kowalski, teaching him the atomic drop.
380
381On September 8, 1967, Milano defeated Kowalski to win the IWA title at Sydney Stadium. He only held it for three weeks, dropping it to King Curtis Iaukea at a TV studio match in Sydney. At the same time, Milano & Bastien vs. Kowalski & Skull Murphy were battling all over the country for the tag team titles.
382
383When 1967 ended, Milano held both the IWA world title (which he had won a second time, this time from Ripper Collins) and the tag team titles with Bastien, which they had held three times.
384
385By the close of the promotion in 1978, Milano’s 23 different singles and tag team title reigns were more than anyone in the history of major league Australian wrestling.
386
387His biggest program in 1968 was with Gorilla Monsoon. Monsoon arrived for his only tour of Australia in January, billed as being 6-foot-5 and 425 pounds, and issued a $2,000 bodyslam challenge.
388
389A number of wrestlers failed in the challenge. But on January 20, at the TV tapings in Sydney, Milano slammed him, but later lost his world title that night in Melbourne to Killer Karl Kox.
390
391Milano’s biggest singles wins that year were against Monsoon, Thunderbolt Patterson, Kox, Patterson, Nelson, Brute Bernard, Negro, Dr. Bill Miller, Kowalski, Heffernan and Professor Toru Tanaka.
392
393The next year, in a move that shocked fans and that he hated so much he nearly quit the promotion, he was booked for a heel turn in an infamous angle where heel manager Gary Hart hypnotized him.
394
395The angle was so far-fetched that it never got over.
396
397Milano & Antonio Pugliese (Tony Parisi) had lost a match with IWA tag team champions Murphy & Bernard on February 14, 1969, in Sydney. Milano turned on Pugliese. The next day, Milano defeated Bastien by sucker punching him on a rope break. A few days later, in Brisbane, Milano & Pugliese faced Hart’s team of The Spoiler & Kox. Pugliese was in trouble and Milano refused to tag in. Then, as Pugliese came to bounce off the ropes for a tackle, Milano pulled down the top rope and Pugliese took a bump to the floor and was counted out. Milano then shook hands with Hart.
398
399Milano’s ring work was strong as a heel, but it just didn’t work. Milano & Spoiler captured the tag titles from Don Leo Jonathan & Pugliese on March 22, 1969, in Melbourne.
400
401But between the hypnosis angle and the Milano turn, business was hurt significantly.
402
403“Fans either like you or they don’t,” Milano said about the turn. “I was always nice to the people. It wasn’t just because I respected the people, especially the older ones. I loved kids and children. I like to be nice. It’s my nature.”
404
405A lot of fans stopped coming. And the majority of fans who stayed still wanted to cheer him.
406
407On April 10, 1969, in Brisbane, during a match with Milano vs. White Wolf, Milano collided with Hart, on the apron and lost. Hart slapped him in the face. Milano then “came to his senses.” In the next match on the show, Pugliese was beaten bloody by Spoiler & Hat, and Milano made the save.
408
409Milano beat The Spoiler to win the IWA world title on May 9, 1969, in Sydney. The two continued to feud until Milano beat him in a title vs. mask match, and Spoiler was revealed as Jardine. Milano also defeated Hart all over the country. Among others he defeated in singles matches that year were Kox, Bernard, Larry O’Day, Roy Heffernan, Waldo Von Erich, Fred Blassie and Billy Robinson.
410
411Milano spent much of 1970 as a major star in the WWWF, where he tagged with the top babyfaces like Sammartino, Victor Rivera, DeNucci and Monsoon, against the heel stars of the era like Tanaka, Waldo Von Erich, Kowalski, Ivan Koloff, George Steele and The Mongols.
412
413His Madison Square Garden debut was January 19, 1970, beating prelim wrestler The Wolfman (Willie Farkas). On March 9, he and Monsoon beat Ernie Ladd & Tanaka. On June 15, he defeated prelim wrestler Mike Conrad. On July 10, he drew with George Steele. On August 1, he defeated Steele. On September 14, while on his way out, he lost to Crusher Verdu in the semi-main underneath Sammartino’s title defense against Bepo Mongol (who later became Nikolai Volkoff). His biggest match that run was a Boston main event where he and Sammartino went to a 60 minute draw with The Mongols for the International tag team titles, and a number of matches all over the Northeast teaming with Monsoon to challenge The Mongols.
414
415Sammartino wanted to drop the WWWF title at this point, and Milano was under consideration for the spot. But since Milano was based in Australia and had a family there, Pedro Morales was picked to be champion.
416
417Milano & Mark Lewin formed a championship babyface tag team in 1971, dropping the titles to Dick Murdoch & Dusty Rhodes, the Texas Outlaws, on January 22, 1971, in Sydney. Milano remained strong during the year with singles wins over Kowalski, Rhodes, Murdoch, Jerry Brisco, Karl Von Steiger and Beautiful Brutus (who later became Bugsy McGraw).
418
419Milano split time in 1972 between Australia, although he didn’t main event consistently, but worked with the top stars, beating heels like The Stomper (Archie Gouldie), Tiger Jeet Singh and Kox, and teaming with Lewin, Spyros Arion (who was pushed as the top star at this point), Haystacks Calhoun and Wahoo McDaniel. In Japan, he had a few cage matches, which were rare at that time, losing to Great Kusatsu.
420
421In 1973, the final year Barnett was in charge of Australia (he returned to the U.S. that year, there were a lot of reasons including a change in tax laws, a law that at least 51 percent of the employees in a company had to be Australians, and the opportunity to run Georgia Championship Wrestling, the NWA promotion in a war with Ann Gunkel’s All South Wrestling–Barnett quickly became one of the most powerful figures on the U.S. scene and by late 1975, was booking the world champion). Milano headlined early in the year but dropped from main event status as the year went on. Business was on fire with the babyface people’s army, led by Lewin, and featuring Milano, against Big Bad John’s heel group, which was a forerunner in many ways to the NWO angle that the other WCW did nearly 23 years later.
422
423Barnett had gotten his television show into other markets, notably Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore, and Milano was one of the key stars on big drawing events in those countries as well.
424
425Everything changed when Barnett returned to the U.S. Attendance dropped. The pay wasn’t as good, so the quality of headliners dropped greatly. Wrestling existed and was on television, but it was no longer a hot product. Japan got strong with the wars between All Japan and New Japan for talent. Milano was really the one star from the Barnett era that remained as the constant headliner and link to the glory days.
426
427In January, 1974, Arion, the top babyface, walked out on WCW as the Austra Asian champion. WCW was not a member of the NWA at first. Even though Barnett was a promotional powerhouse, he was also gay and at the time the NWA leaders did not want him in a power position in the alliance. By the late 1960s, when Sam Muchnick had more power, in an attempt to solidify the NWA as a worldwide group with as many of the top promotions as possible, he brought promoters like Mike LeBell, Roy Shire, Vince McMahon Sr. (in 1971) and Barnett in.
428
429This led to the IWA world title being dropped in 1971 and replaced by the Austra Asian title in 1972 as the company’s major belt. The NWA world champion started touring Australia at that time, usually battling the Austra Asian champion.
430
431Promoters Miller and O’Dea went with Milano as the company’s top star once again. Tony Kolonie, who was the man who was the promoter to the public (to hide that active wrestlers Miller & O’Day, as his wrestling name was spelled were really running things) claimed that Waldo Von Erich had beaten Arion in Fiji to win the title, and on May 18, 1974, Milano pinned Von Erich to take the title at the TV tapings in Sydney.
432
433Milano had beaten Negro to win the World Brass Knux title on March 2, 1974, in Melbourne. Since he was going to win the main singles title, they set up a match on the May 17 house show in Sydney with Milano & Tony Parisi (who used that name instead of Pugliese by this point) against Bernard & Von Erich, where Milano put up his Brass Knux title and Von Erich put up his Austra Asian belt, in what would now be called a tornado match, all four in the ring, but was called a cyclone match back then. Milano had Von Erich in the abdominal stretch, but a split second before Von Erich submitted, Bernard pinned Parisi so the heels won.
434
435The promotion went to protect Milano as the top star that year. When it came time to drop the Austra Asian title, they did something somewhat similar.
436
437On July 19, 1974 in Sydney, Milano & George Gouliovas faced Negro & Bernard in a match where both Milano’s Austra Asian title and Bernard’s World Brass Knux titles were at stake. Gouliovas suffered a leg injury, leaving Milano having to face two men. Even so, Milano got Negro in his abdominal stretch, but Bobby Shane hit Milano with his shoe and Negro then came off Bernard’s shoulders with a kneedrop for the pin, giving Negro the title. Later that year, as Milano was Brass Knux champion again, on September 27, 1974, in Sydney, Milano & Gouliovas faced Negro & Lorenzo Parente in a no DQ match with both Milano’s Brass Knux title and Negro’s Austra Asian belts at stake. Negro hit Milano with an illegal Bombs Away off the top rope and Parente scored the pin to get the Brass Knux title. Milano later regained the title.
438
439There was also a major angle where Shane and Bernard broke Milano’s arm, which put him out of action.
440
441Milano remained a main eventer as top babyface until the close of the promotion in 1978. The level of talent was well beneath the glory years under Barnett, but Milano defeated almost everyone brought in on the heel side, including Bull Ramos Great Mephisto, Ernie Ladd, Killer Karl Krupp, Ox Baker and a young Bruiser Brody.
442
443There was a 1976 angle where Negro injured his elbow, causing him to work with an elbow protector for some time, and another big one in 1978, when J.J. Dillon rubbed a lit cigar into his eye and temporarily blinded him.
444
445He also toured Japan regularly for All Japan. He was pushed as a star, but not a superstar. His most noted run was in 1975 as The Masked Barracuda, feuding with The Destroyer over the U.S. title and the designation as the world’s best masked man. He also had a huge match in Seoul, South Korea, facing that country’s all-time biggest star, Kintaro Oki, for the International heavyweight title.
446
447Milano continued to wrestle on small shows for nearly three decades after the end of WCW. The local Today show did a feature on him working small shows and training in 1996. His last match was in 2006, at the age of 71.
448
449After wrestling he worked for an office supply company in Melbourne and ran a few pizza restaurants. He would joke that he lived a clean life, never gambled and wasn’t a drug addict, and few excesses, except for marriage (he had three) and joked that without those mistakes he could have been a millionaire.
450
451In recent years, he had been battling Alzheimer’s.
452
453Because of the power and reach of the WCW television show, Milano was a household name throughout Australia, known far beyond the wrestling or sports audience, from shortly after his debut in 1967 and throughout the 70s.
454
455His death has brought up questions regarding the Hall of Fame and Australia, particularly during the Barnett era.
456
457In the current Hall of Fame, WCW legends like Kowalski, Iaukea and Ray Stevens are in. In the case of Stevens and Kowalski, they were no-brainers and would be in without WCW. With Iaukea, it certainly helped, but Iaukea was also the biggest foreign star ever in New Zealand, the biggest drawing card ever in his native Hawaii, and a two-decade long main eventer throughout North America and Japan. Australia was a key part of his career, but he was a worldwide star.
458
459Other key stars of the WCW era, like Arion, Milano and DeNucci have gotten minimal support. Kox, Lewin and most recently Bearcat Wright have gotten more support, but Lewin was a worldwide headliner for decades and Kox had great respect as a worker among his contemporaries. Wright was a huge U.S. star in the 60s, and first African-American world champion, who held the Boston and WWA world titles and held the IWA belt twice.
460
461There is the feeling that with WCW as the hottest promotion in the world, and the drawing power of all of the above names were strong, DeNucci the strongest at peak and Milano impressive both at peak and for longevity and name value, that they belong. The argument, and it’s valid, is that Australia should be a separate category and voted on by Australians, in which case probably all would get in. Australia has in the past been lumped in with Hawaii, Puerto Rico, South Africa and of late, with the rest of the world including Europe.
462
463Thanks to Australian historian Kirk Beattie for all the historical research on Milano’s WCW career.
464
465After the amazing Battle of Los Angeles, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla returned on 12/16 to Reseda for Mystery Vortex.
466
467The show was good, and the last two matches (Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Marty Scurll and Young Bucks vs. Jeff Cobb & Matt Riddle) were great, but the magical feeling the building has wasn’t there. It was just different. I can’t put my finger on why. Everyone remarked it after, and I felt it even before the first match started and it became really clear starting with the second match on the show. Perhaps, because of the idea of keeping it a secret, the usual thing of seeing all the talent hawking their merchandise all over the ring didn’t happen. Nobody was out until the show started and it changed the dynamic and they never got the feeling back. Many of the fans were the same, the demand for tickets was through the roof, and there’s some question of the concept. It’s a cool bragging rights thing that the company can say they sold out in minutes (granted they play in a 400-seat building and the demand because of the seating limitations make this the hardest ticket to get in wrestling) while only announcing one match and keeping all the talent secret except the Zack Sabre Jr. PWG title match against BOLA winner Marty Scurll. Company officials have expressed this to me about how proud they are of the accomplishment of selling out immediately without announcing anything, saying it shows how much faith the company has built up with its fan base.
468
469But it also means none of the matches are built up and fans aren’t thinking about them to get hyped about them.
470
471I guess the idea was that if they announced those guys wouldn’t be there for another booking, people would start to speculate they’d be on this show, but that made those promotions look bad.
472
473The usual level of heat wasn’t there. One person noted that the crowd at the NXT show the night before in Riverside was much better reacting. Even the masterpiece of a technical main event in the Sabre-Scurll title match was more a match designed to take people on a journey with subtly, moves and reverses. It was a match where you’d get oohs and aahs, and polite applause rather than yelling and screaming. The crowd was with it and they did love it. It was super for the kind of match it was and everyone was raving about it after, just that PWG is known for the super loud and super intense crowd that makes the talent want to work the shows more than almost anywhere. The crowd reacted the way it should have in the main event, and it started at around midnight after a long show and went 37:23.
474
475There were far less crazy high spots and dives but there was still a lot of great athleticism. I guess my best comparison would be to the New Japan tag tourney finals last week in Sendai review. This show was considerably better than that one, since that one had average and bad matches and this show had a better undercard and stronger last two bouts. But they are both companies who usually produce great big shows and the shows were just good shows with a great last two bouts. People come to see an amazing show that will blow them away and they just got a very good indie show.
476
477The show may have been Chris Hero’s farewell to the promotion. After getting pinned in his match, Hero grabbed the mic and gave a speech, talking about how he remembered Bobby Fish from so many years ago and how much he’s improved and become a star, and talked about how Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly were guys he had enhancement matches with on ROH TV when they were on HD-Net and in a few short years they went from that to headlining Final Battle. He put over JT Dunn very nicely. Before he ever knew Dunn, Dunn was doing Northeast indies as “The new Knockout Kid,” which Hero said one could take offense since his ring name was “The Knockout Kid.” Hero said as far as he’s concerned, if somebody does your move and does your gimmick in wrestling better than you do, well, then it should be their gimmick.
478
479Then he said he wanted to talk about the elephant in the room, and noted he was the elephant. Hero wasn’t happy the news of his probable going to WWE had gotten out and it is a weird story considering I was the one who really broke the story and he was blindsided by it getting out. He also wanted to tell certain promoters he’s worked with regularly before they read it on the Internet that he was leaving and me breaking the story didn’t allow him to do so. He was also not happy because people read it, and even though it was written as that things can always cause it not to happen and the contract wasn’t signed, that people took it as he’s gone and was still awaiting final confirmation.
480
481At the time those in WWE thought he was in, really dating back several weeks when we first heard the story from a WWE source at the time off the record, but didn’t get multiple sources saying so on the record until the day we reported it. It actually broke in a weird way in that I was doing an audio show and directly asked what was up with Hero, with his not booking any dates anywhere in 2017 brought up and asked if he was going to WWE and I said I didn’t know for sure, but there were indications going around. The next morning one person in WWE who listened to the show as well as another person I’d asked who would have known told me he was going barring something changing because in wrestling we all know things can change.
482
483He’d pretty much agreed to the deal and had done his medicals, but the process wasn’t, and still isn’t completed as best we know. He was honest in the situation in the speech and brought up Willie Mack and a few others who were told they were in and then for medical reasons weren’t, and he himself had some issues with a several month delay the first time he agreed to go to WWE, as he was accepted in a tryout in the summer of 2011 but underwent extensive medical testing due to a lot of testing which ultimately revealed a reading above 6-1 in his T:E test was his natural levels and not the result of using steroids, but that took until February 2012 for everything to be cleared up. So he has personal experience regarding medicals and would be taking it as having a deal until everything came back.
484
485In not booking any dates for 2017 (he didn’t talk about that in his speech) it says that it’s not the normal thing where it can be the several month delay between the deal being done and then starting up. In most situations guys keep booking dates for months and wait to report. That indicates the idea is he would be starting somewhat soon if the deal goes through. He said he didn’t know for sure if this was his last show with the promotion or not.
486
487There was a lot of controversy regarding the secrecy aspect. Apparently Jeff Cobb hinted on Twitter that he may or may not be there, which they didn’t like. Three wrestlers on the show, Matt Riddle (Preston City Wrestling in England), Pete Dunne (4FW Wrestling in England) and ACH (VIP Wrestling in Dallas) were advertised on shows for those promotions. In all three cases, they were still being advertised until show time. Riddle’s match with Johnny Moss was on 12/17, but it would have been impossible to get from California to Bradford, England in time for the show.
488
489VIP Wrestling at the show announced ACH wasn’t there and said he had taken another opportunity. They played a video of him saying that he wasn’t there because another opportunity had come up that he didn’t want to miss, but promised to appear at future events with the promotion.
490
491The story we were told regarding PCW is that Riddle was booked for their show around September. They had known for at least some time he wasn’t doing the show and was taking the PWG date but continued to advertise him. Fans complained to their Facebook page and the only response was, “They canceled. Injuries or illness. We book guys a year in advance. Out of our control, sorry.”
492
493PWG on Twitter wrote: “Just want to clear up some rumors. Nobody at Mystery Vortex IV was asked to pull out of another show to do PWG.” “I certainly didn’t pay any promotions to let me use wrestlers they had booked. Everyone on the show told me they were available when asked.”
494
495This was in response to claims that PWG had offered payouts to promotions to get stars that were booked on the shows.
496
497PWG is a unique situation because for independent talent, it’s the place to be based on the reputation of the promotion. If you work there, you’ll be working with the best, in an environment conducive to the best matches, and it’s the place to go to make a reputation because the hardest of hardcore fans buy the videos, the crowd reactions usually make it a cut above and the WWE scouts most of the shows.
498
499There is no way to defend continuing to advertise talent that the promotion knows isn’t going to appear on the show. This was far more commonplace in the old days of wrestling, but with social media, that has changed because most of the time, if talent is false advertised (this does still happen in Mexico) they will go to social media and say they aren’t on the show. Many other promotions go out of their way to “play fair” with their customers and make announcements as soon as possible as part of normal business and would do so without social media as they did it prior to that. Others do it now. It’s notable WWE is not one of them as in a few cases they have continued to push talent for PPV shows (Randy Orton and Becky Lynch fall into this category when Orton was still suffering from a concussion and they knew he wasn’t going to appear and Lynch had a medical issue). But for an indie group that caters to hardcore fans, it’s a very bad policy.
500
501There were hints of a next show on 2/17 but nothing was announced. 1. Trent Baretta beat Candice LeRae in 12:26. This match was worked well given the parameters. As individual performances this was great. Baretta worked it like he felt the idea of the match was stupid from the credibility standpoint because of the huge size difference and man vs. woman thing, and didn’t want to be in the match, but that winning was important. LeRae was insulted and fired back hard. LeRae is great at selling and Baretta worked spots that made her comebacks believable. LeRae did a tope into a DDT on the floor as an early high spot. She kicked out of a bunch of stuff including a reverse dudebuster (an Omori driver in front instead of behind) until Baretta got the pin with the dudebuster. ***1/4
502
5032. Trevor Lee pinned ACH in 14:55. Lee has an awesome dropkick. He played up the “delete” and “obsolete” stuff from his appearance on the Matt Hardy-based TNA show. There were good athletic moves from ACH. The match never fully turned the corner with the crowd with Lee winning with a fisherman buster. **3/4.
504
5053. Matt Sydal pinned Pete Dunne in 17:23. This was Sydal’s first match since being arrested in Japan. Some of this was comedy based, making fun of Sydal’s arrest, like his being announced from the Osaka Police station. Everyone was playing along and the match never got intense. It was good, and Sydal showed unreal quickness, agility and movement in spots. Sydal won with a reverse huracanrana off the top rope and a shooting star press. ***
506
5074. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly beat Chris Hero & JT Dunn in 27:06. This went too long. You got the great wrestling from Fish & O’Reilly and the great strikes from Hero and his ability to command the ring, and Dunn does the smaller version of the Hero offense with the strikes. At one point they had a sequence where stuff was off but it was just one sequence and maybe 30 or so seconds. The finish was Chasing the Dragon on Hero. ***1/4
508
5095. Chuck Taylor pinned Adam Cole in 10:01 in a match for the No. 1 contendership for the PWG title. Very quietly, Taylor has amassed a long unbeaten streak, to the point he wasn’t in BOLA because he’d have to lose. While this may be incorrect, the last time we can find him losing in PWG was August 30, 2014, to Johnny Gargano. Cole was mostly playing to the crowd and doing his character. Cole told Taylor to suck his dick essentially. Taylor responded by biting it and using a form of a piledriver for the pin. **½
510
5116. Jeff Cobb & Matt Riddle beat PWG tag team champions The Young Bucks in a non-title match in 18:27. Riddle came out first. Everyone was expecting that he’d wrestle Cobb coming off their interplay at BOLA in a ten-man tag when they tore down the house together. Cobb then came out, and everyone expected it as a singles match. But then the Young Bucks came out. This was very different than most Bucks matches. At the beginning Riddle was just getting Nick into one submission move after another. Cobb was throwing them both around. They used the superior teamwork to get the edge. It was more of a traditional tag match and while the Bucks did some high flying moves and big moves, it was nothing like one of their typical matches and way more psychology based. Cobb’s big power spot was doing German suplexes on both at the same time. Both Cobb & Riddle have grown greatly as performers in the last six months. This was the only match to get the “This is awesome” chant. Strong finishing sequence ending when Riddle gave Matt the Bro 2 sleep (Go 2 sleep) and Cobb used the tour of the islands. Cobb & Riddle made motions regarding wanting a title match so this program is likely to continue. It’s probably for the best, and this is a good program that will lead to Cobb & Riddle being accepted as main event level guys, and should lead to heat and a split at some point and a program, and it’ll be higher profile by that time. ****
512
5137. Zack Sabre Jr. retained the PWG title over Marty Scurll in 37:23. Just a super exchange of holds and storytelling. They did a ref bump and some thought it hurt the match, but allowed for some storytelling for both men’s characters as Scurll could have laid him out with an umbrella shot and refused to win it that way, even though he’s a villain. Sabre’s selling was tremendous in the sense that late in the match, he’d twist his neck, shake his fingers and acknowledge every body part that had been worked on in a subtle manner. Lots of near falls and near submissions with Scurll always going for the chicken wing. This had the feel of a classic Gagne vs. Robinson or Funk vs. Brisco style 70s match but using the more modern submissions and Sabre really is the technical wizard. The strikes were hard as well so the sometimes knock on Sabre of being too pretty with his moves and it not feeling like a contest, well, in this case, I’d say it was the opposite. The smoothness of these two working with each other was at a different level than you’d see from almost anyone today. Sabre finally got the submission with an armbar variation. Taylor came out to issue the title challenge next. ****½
514
515Smackdown on 12/20 did 2,637,000 viewers, up 12 percent from last week. It’s hard to say what the reason was but the growth was particularly strong in the 18-49 demo among both men (up 17.1 percent in that demo) and women (up 26.6 percent).
516
517A lot of network programming was in reruns and Raw was up, and usually when Raw is up, Smackdown follows. Some credit Styles vs. Ambrose, but no way because that wasn’t made clear until the day of the show and day of show promotions have never helped and it wasn’t that big a match to begin with. Next week could benefit since they heavily hyped the show and it’s Cena’s return.
518
519Smackdown was up to fifth on cable for the night.
520
521The show did a 0.62 in 12-17 (up 8.8 percent), 0.80 in 18-34 (up 19.4 percent), 0.96 in 35-49 (up 21.5 percent) and 1.10 in 50+ (up 8.9 percent).
522
523The show did 62.1 percent males in 18-49 and 65.1 percent males in 12-17.
524
525Raw on 12/19 did 2,949,000 viewers, getting a PPV bump and being up seven percent from the week before. What is notable is virtually the entire growth was viewers 35-49.
526
527What was notable about this week’s numbers were the difference in viewing patterns between males and females. Generally speaking, women tuned in early and tuned out. Men tuned in later and the audience grew. In the 12-34 demo, they lost 19 percent of women by hour three while gaining 19 percent among men over the same time period. Given the only thing pushed in hour three strong was Rollins & Reigns vs. Owens & Jericho, it seemed to show that Rollins & Reigns being back together (which wasn’t pushed as big as it should have been) was a hit with guys and women didn’t care. The difference wasn’t as big in 35-49 as women in that group were only down three percent, which is a normal drop, and men 35-49 actually dropped seven percent.
528
529Raw was eighth for the night on cable. The NFL game between the Carolina Panthers vs. Washington Redskins did 11,210,000 viewers, which are normal numbers.
530
531The 8 p.m. hour did 3,062,000 viewers; the 9 p.m. hour did 2,971,000 viewers and the 10 p.m. hour did 2,834,000 viewers.
532
533The show did a 0.68 in 12-17 (down 1.4 percent), 0.80 in 18-34 (down 1.2 percent), 1.28 in 35-49 (up 24.3 percent) and 1.14 in 50+ (up 1.8 percent).
534
535The audience was 62.7 percent male in 18-49 and 66.5 percent male in 12-17, both in the usual range.
536
537Bellator on 12/16 did 643,000 viewers (and 56,000 more via DVR) for a taped show from Dublin, headlined by King Mo Lawal’s decision win over Satoshi Ishii. It was the most-watched taped show Bellator has done on Spike. The taped show beat the last five live shows. Lawal vs. Ishii peaked at 965,000 viewers.
538
539It also seems to show that live vs. tape doesn’t matter, and tape in prime time is superior to live out of prime time. The week earlier another show from Europe aired live outside of prime time and did 529,000 viewers.
540
541Bellator was the third most-watched sports event on television that night, trailing an NBA game with the Lakers vs. 76ers (1,116,000 viewers) and an FCS semifinal football game (1,065,000 viewers).
542
543Total Deletion Impact on 12/15 did 329,000 viewers, an average number, which can’t be viewed as a positive considering it was the most heavily publicized episode of the show in months. An excuse can be wrestling burnout with three straight nights of WWE programming, but that still doesn’t make it less of a disappointment. I think it may have been a combination of people who usually don’t watch the show tuning in for the hype and people who liked the irony, offset by regular viewers who didn’t like a show that was very much polarizing, especially for two hours. After all, the regular TNA viewers for the most part tune into the see TNA wrestling, and this was something different. Even the prior shows from the Hardy Compound were clips and 20 minutes of a two hour show, so it wasn’t so much to make people who wanted to see a regular show tune out. Here it was, but it ended up something of a wash as it was only down 9,000 from the November (non-Thanksgiving) show average.
544
545WWE Tribute to the Troops on 12/14 did 1,383,000 viewers, down from last year’s 1,802,000 viewers.
546
547In comparing WWE week on the USA Network in 2015 to 2016, Raw was down 18 percent, Smackdown (moved to a different unfamiliar time slot last year compared to a regular time slot this year) was up four percent (based on familiar time slot it should be up far more than that) and Tribute to the Troops was down 23 percent.
548
549It was 20th for the night on cable this year, compared to fourth place last year. In 2014, the show did 2.23 million viewers so the two-year drop was 38 percent. We always say the show isn’t about ratings. But it is a very different show from when it started, especially this year when it was far more like a second episode of Raw during the week with some cutaways than a Tribute to the Troops show.
550
551The show likely hurt the ratings for Lucha Underground, but didn’t appear too make much of a difference with Total Divas, both of which went head-to-head.
552
553Total Divas did 556,000 viewers, down slightly from 563,000 the previous week. It was the second-lowest rating for the first run of that show in its 77 episodes.
554
555Lucha Underground fell to 60,000 viewers at 8 p.m., down from 112,000 the week before, and had another 51,000 at 9 p.m. It’s the TNA syndrome in the sense that if WWE moves to go head-to-head, the loyal audience for the other show doesn’t stay, even in this case with something of a throw away WWE show. It was the lowest audience at 8 p.m. since the first season and lowest combination audience as well.
556
557An interesting note regarding Bellator as there was some thought that because the show on 12/10 was at 4 p.m. that maybe the DVR numbers would be up from usual. Actually it was the opposite, as only 30,000 people, less than half of usual, DVR’d the show.
558
559The 12/13 Smackdown show did a 1.71 rating and 2,361,000 viewers (1.50 viewers per home)
560
561The 12/12 Raw show did a 1.93 rating and 2,753,000 viewers (1.55 viewers per home).
562
563The 12/6 Smackdown show did a 1.78 rating and 2,479,000 viewers (1.51 viewers per home)
564
565This is the second issue of the current set. With last week being a double issue, if you’ve got a (1) on your address label, your subscription expires with next week’s issue.
566
567Renewal rates for the printed Observer in the United States are $12 for four issues (which includes $4 for postage and handling), $22 for eight, $31 for 12, $40 for 16, $60 for 24, $80 for 32, $100 for 40, $130 for 52 up through $160 for 64 issues.
568
569For Canada and Mexico, the rates are $13.50 for four issues (which includes $6 for postage and handling), $24 for eight, $34 for 12, $44 for 16, $66 or 24, $88 for 32, $110 for 40 issues, $143 for 52 and $176 for 64.
570
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572
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574
575You can also get the Observer on the web at www.wrestlingobserver.com for $10.99 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 $8 per set in the U.S., $9 per set in Canada and $11.50 per set for the rest of the world.
576
577All 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.
578
579All letters to the editor, reports from live shows and any other correspondence pertaining to this publication should also be sent to the above address.
580
581We also have copies of our latest book, "Tributes II," a 293-page hardcover full color book which features biographies right out of the pages of the Observer. Those featured are Wahoo McDaniel, Lou Thesz, Miss Elizabeth, Freddie Blassie, Road Warrior Hawk, Andre the Giant, Curt Hennig, Johnny Valentine, Davey Boy Smith, Terry Gordy, Owen Hart, Stu Hart, Gorilla Monsoon, The Sheik and Tim Woods. The book is available for $12.95 plus $3.50 for postage and handling in the U.S., $20 for postage and handling in Canada and $25 for postage and handling for the rest of the world.
582
583This 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.
584
585Fax 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
586
587CMLL: Super Porky did an interview about his health. At about 5-foot-4, and probably 350 to 400 pounds, and being 53, he has a ton of health issues. He said he’ll be out of action about another eight months. He said he already had gastric balloon surgery, and needs surgery on his groin, his sciatic nerve, his shoudler and then his leg, but he can’t get them all done unless he loses enough weight. He said he wants to wrestle one or two more years after that
588
589The 12/16 show at Arena Mexico featured DQ finishes in the top two matches. The show drew the normal weekly crowd of 4,000, but they were hot. The expectations are crowds will be up the next few weeks with the big holiday shows. The show was to build big shows over the next two weeks, which are a non-stipulation Caristico vs. Ultimo Guerrero match on 12/23, the women’s cage of death on 12/25 and the Maximo Sexy vs. Mascara Ano 2000 hair match on 1/1. The main event saw Caristico & Valiente & Volador Jr. beat Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero & Euforia via DQ when Ultimo Guerrero pulled Caristico’s mask off. Caristico again wanted a mask vs. hair match with Ultimo, who had turned him down last week. This week Guerrero agreed to a singles match, but said no stipulations. He said if Caristico won, he’d agree to do the mask vs. hair match. A match like that would probably main event the Anniversary show in September or at the least takes place at the big show in March, so I wonder if that means Ultimo wins and they go back to it later but Guerrero has gotten the heat the entire feud and usual booking would mean it’s time for Caristico to get a win in the feud. The implication was that if Caristico wins, the mask vs. hair would take place on 12/30, and I can’t see such a match with a one week build. Match said to be pretty good. The story was Ultimo countering all of Caristico’s big moves and then pulling off the mask right in front of the ref. Maximo Sexy beat Mascara Ano 2000 in a short non-stip match. Maximo looked like he was going to win in two falls but in the second, Forastero, Sanson and Cuatrero, who are the next generation Reyes (Dinamita) family members attacked Maximo. That match had very little heat. An undercard match with Sagrado & Misterioso Jr. & Okumura over Flyer & Soberano Jr. (who is the son of Euforia and has a lot of potential, and will be on the Fantastica Mania tour in Japan in January) & Star Jr. had a lot of heat and good flying action. The 12/23 show besides the Caristico vs. Ultimo Guerrero singles match, has Maximo & Corleone & Volador Jr. vs. Mascara Ano 2000 & Hechicero & Euforia
590
591The son of Atlantis, under a mask, was at the 12/17 show at Arena Coliseo. He was the second of his father, who lost to a low blow when challenging La Mascara for the CMLL light heavyweight title. He was called Atlantis Jr.
592
593AAA: Alberto el Patron, when in Mexico promoting Combate Americas, said that he expects he’ll be returning to AAA this year. The impression we have is that talks between Alberto and the company have already started, so his missing Heroes Inmortales in October is settled. Publicly, AAA had backed Alberto’s story and always wanted to work with him since he’s charming and he’s a big star and they need big stars. Alberto, funny enough, blamed the whole controversy about him missing the show on social media. Wait, he actually did miss the show, claimed it was because he was stabbed, never called the company ahead of time, and gave a half dozen different stories of what happened, none of which the San Antonio police knew anything about then or now
594
595Octagon’s lawsuit against AAA was covered in El Procesero. Octagon is suing for $300,000 and the rights to use his name. The gist of the lawsuit is that he claims he was an employee of the company, and not an independent contractor, and that’s how much he would have gotten in benefits over the years had he been an employee. Evidently he lost a judgment against AAA in October when looking for a ruling giving him the rights to the name and character. Evidently he’s also looking at starting a union to protect the naming rights of the talent and feels talent overall is underpaid and making sure that everyone that works a show is paid at least 1,000 pesos (about $49)
596
597The 1/20 Guerra de Titanes show from the Juan de la Barrera Gym in Mexico City was announced with La Parka & Psycho Clown & El Texano Jr. vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. & Mesias & Pagano as the main event; plus Johnny Mundo defending the Latin American heavyweight title against Pentagon Jr.; Aero Star vs. Super Fly vs Argenis vs. Australian Suicide vs. Angelico vs. Carta Brava Jr. in a cage match where the last two men left in the cage will have a match they were put up their mask or hair at the next major event, Rey de Reyes; El Hijo del Fantasma defending the cruiserweight title against Garza Jr., Fabi & Mary Apache vs. Averno & Chessman, and opening with Bengala & Big Mami & Dinastia & Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Dave the Clown & Lady Shani & Mamba & Mini Psycho Clown
598
599The final show of the year was 12/17 in Chilpancingo. We didn’t get a number, but the crowd was weak. The main event saw El Hijo del Fantasma & Psycho Clown & Texano Jr. over Wagner Jr. & Mesias & Pagano via DQ when Monsther and Murder Clown ran in to attack the faces and make it five-on-three. Goya Kong, the sister of Texano, ran in to make the save, but instead joined the heels in attacking her brother. She did an interview saying she attacked him because her brother is going to embarrass the family by losing his mask at next year’s TripleMania (Psycho vs. Wagner in a mask match is the main event). This will set up Kong vs Big Mami as opponents. Kong looks to be the top heel woman since Taya is living in California and only comes in for big shows with boyfriend Mundo. Of course the idea that losing the mask would be embarrassing to the family is silly since most of the family has already lost their mask, including La Mascara on the biggest show of the year this year. Aerostar & Drago retained the AAA tag titles over Monsther & Murder and Daga & Joe Lider. Super Fly tried to cost the champs their titles but Psycho Clown helped them win. Australian Suicide returned on the show.
600
601ALL JAPAN: Takao Omori & Manabu Soya, the old Get Wild tag team, was made the super team in this year’s tag team tournament. They went undefeated in winning the B block, and then won the finals over Kento Miyahara & Jake Lee when Omori pinned Triple Crown champ Miyahara in 21:07 before 1,244 fans at Korakuen Hall. This looks to set up Miyahara defending the title against Omori on 1/15 in Fukuoka. Miyahara defending was announced for the Fukuoka show right before the main event started, so Omori pinning him would answer the question as the opponent. Omori & Soya won the tournament in 2012.
602
603Joe Doering was announced as having his first match since his surgery to remove brain cancer in March, on the first show of the year on Jan. 2 at Korakuen Hall
604
605The final tournament standings were: A block: 1. Miyahara & Lee 4-1; 2. Suwama & Atsushi Aoki and Kengo Mashimo & Tank Nagai 3-2; 4. Osamu Nishimura & Yutaka Yoshie and Ryoji Sai & Rikiya Fudo 2-3; 7. Mitsuya Nagai & Black Tiger VII 1-4. B block: 1. Omori & Soya 5-0; 2. Jun Akiyama & Kendo Kashin 4-1; 3. Zeus & The Bodyguard 3-2; 4. Naoya Nomura & Yuma Aoyagi, Hikaru Sato & Super Tiger and Koji Doi & Kumagoro 1-4
606
607The final round-robin night was 12/14 in Toyohashi. Omori & Soya had already clinched the A block win as they were 4-0 while Akiyama & Kashin were 4-1, and thus had beaten Akiyama & Kashin in the head-to-head meeting. They ended up unbeaten, topping Tiger & Sato in 8:21 when Omori pinned Tiger. In the A block, Miyahara & Lee and Suwama & Aoki were both 3-1 in facing off with each other in a match ending when Miyahara pinned Aoki with a German suplex in 14:18.
608
609PRO WRESTLING NOAH: Quiet Storm suffered a rupture of the right biceps, probably on the 12/14 show at Korakuen Hall. He will be undergoing surgery, which usually means six to nine months out. Storm & Mohammed Yone were scheduled to face Go Shiozaki & Maybach Taniguchi on the 12/24 Korakuen Hall show to go after the GHC tag team titles. Nothing has been said regarding if Yone will pick a new partner or not
610
611Masa Kitamiya made GHC champion Katsuhiko Nakajima submit to the old prison deathlock in 16:51 after working over his knees in a trios main event on 12/14 at Differ Ariake. Kitamiya’s gimmick is that he’s the modern version of Masa Saito, who was the inventor of the prison deathlock, a move he started using after he got out of prison in Wisconsin and returned to Japan.
612
613NEW JAPAN: The company has done an interesting move to help create interest in New Japan World prior to the Tokyo Dome show. They have put up, for free, at least for the time being, every 1/4 Tokyo Dome show from 1992 to 2016, basically promoted as 25 years of free Tokyo Dome shows. There are a few exceptions as due to contractual issues, matches involving Brock Lesnar and Naoya Ogawa are not on the service. Some of the shows during the dark ages of Inoki killing the product before the recent resurgence weren’t good. But the 90s shows were huge sold out events with classic matches featuring top American stars along with Japanese legends, although not the depth of quality like the last four or five years where the shows were pretty much off the charts. There were also some incredibly horrible matches like when they were doing fake MMA tournaments and such, including the Sting vs. Tony Palmore bout
614
615New Japan officials have claimed that the advance for the Tokyo Dome, with no numbers given, is well ahead of the pace of last year’s show which did 25,204 paid. Sometimes info given regarding advances and shows sold out in advance in Japan isn’t always accurate. There were a ton of questions about the advance for the Dome, and aside from the most expensive seats being gone, nothing had been said. It would be a real feather in the cap of Tetsuya Naito and Kenny Omega in particular, if Dome attendance stays even or grows from last year. While Omega killed it in the final days of G-1 and has been established as the top foreigner, he’s still unproven when it comes to being in the main event at the Tokyo Dome. Naito is proven as far as selling merchandise and being the hottest wrestler in the company, but the ability to go from the 9,000 to 10,500 paid for a Sumo Hall sellout to bringing in casual fans who only attend one show a year is a different dynamic
616
617Kenny Omega did a Tokyo Sports interview saying that after he wins the title, he wants to defend it all over the world, noting his plan would be for title defenses in the U.S., U.K., New Zealand and throughout Asia. He noted that the Young Bucks have defended their titles all over the world, and noted that they were better than the WWE top stars but to prove it the fans have to be able to compare them by seeing them in person. He said that if the WWE wants a U.K. champion, he wants to defend the IWGP title in the U.K. He also hinted that two guys he wants to defend the title against are Tomohiro Ishii and Kota Ibushi. He directly said he’d like to defend against Ishii, noting that Ishii beat Okada in the G-1 but has never gotten a title match since. The Ibushi thing is more subtle, saying that Tiger Mask W (Ibushi under a mask) was green but had some cool moves and if he puts the work in, he could be a contender some day. Ibushi and Omega were long-time tag team partners in the DDT promotion and had classic matches with each other on smaller stages and both wanted to have a big main event together on a New Japan major card
618
619There was a minor change to the Dome card announced. On 12/16, Toru Yano returned from NOAH, as expected. There’s another issue with the NOAH relationship as apparently New Japan loaned them money as well as talent, besides moved Jado over to book. New Japan evidently hasn’t gotten the money back they loaned. Yano appeared after a trios match with Juice Robinson & Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma beating Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa & Bone Soldier. The match had a surprise finish as Robinson blocked Tonga’s gun stun, and then pinned him with the killswitch, which is now Robinson’s finisher the rare times he gets to win. This helps set up Robinson to be viewed as more of a star for his match with Cody (Rhodes) at the Dome. Yano came out after the match and gave low blows to Makabe, Honma and Robinson. The Bullet Club then attacked Yano and Yano said that he wanted a match at the Dome against Tonga & Roa and would pick a partner, who he later picked as Ishii. So the IWGP tag title match will be a three-way with Tonga & Roa defending against Makabe & Honma and Ishii & Yano. Ishii was in the gauntlet series of match as part of the Chaos team with Yoshi-Hashi & Will Ospreay, that was to face The Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page) and LIJ (Seiya Sanada & Evil & Bushi) with matches one at a time. Jado will join the Chaos team. The winner of match No. 2 in the series will get a Never trios title match against Satoshi Kojima & Ricochet & David Finlay
620
621Hiroshi Tanahashi will be debuting new entrance music at the Tokyo Dome. It was announced this last week that “High Energy,” his theme dating back forever, would be used for the last time on the 12/17 Korakuen Hall show. He was in an eight-man semifinal on that show, teaming with Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Kojima & Kushida to beat Naito & Sanada & Bushi & Hiromu Takahashi. Kojima pinned Bushi after a lariat. All four members of Tanahashi’s team came out playing the air guitar. The match ended with Tanahashi and Naito doing a staredown as “High Energy” played for the last time while Takahashi and Kushida brawled all over the building. Really the focus was more on the junior heavyweights
622
623The last two shows of the year were 12/16 and 12/17 at Korakuen Hall, and both sold out with 1,730 paid the first night and 1,744 the second night. The second night main event saw Omega & Bad Luck Fale beat Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi when Omega pinned Yoshi-Hashi in 21:49 with the one winged angel. Omega and Okada were face-to-face after the match when Fale cheap shotted Okada and Omega gave Okada a one-winged angel through a table. Bullet Club all came out and threw Okada back in the ring as Omega did mic work while Okada was laid out. Okada went out on a stretcher which is again a basic angle to build to the show. They also did a Manabu Nakanishi vs. Yuji Nagata singles match that got over really strong. Nagata is a great wrestler when he’s given the opportunity to do ore tan a few spots in a multiple person tag. Nakanishi had his working shoes on, even doing a tope and a missile dropkick. He was slow but the crowd went crazy for him doing those moves and kicking out of Nagata’s exploder. He also kicked out of a brainbuster at one before Nagata won with a second exploder after a series of kicks
624
625On the 12/16 Korakuen Hall show, Sanada & Evil & Bushi won over two-thirds of the trios champions with Kojima & Tenzan & Finlay teaming when Evil pinned Finlay to set up the Tokyo Dome match. The first night main event saw Naito & Takahashi beat Tanahashi & Kushida in 17:33 when Takahashi pinned Kushida
626
627Michael Elgin returned over the weekend after his orbital bone surgery wrestling two shows over the weekend in Texas for VIP Wrestling on 12/16 and WrestleCircus on 12/17 (where he faced Jeff Cobb).
628
629HERE AND THERE: The death of Chyna on 4/20 was due to an accidental overdose of drugs and alcohol according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s office
630
631One of the weirdest stories was the announcement that Alberto El Patron vs. L.A. Park in a hair vs. mask match will headline the 3/3 show in Texcoco at the 5,000 seat Paleqnue de la Feria. This makes no sense at all. It came from an independent show in that building on 12/16 where Alberto, Park and Carlito was the main event. The show drew 3,500 but locally they were doing two-for-one tickets the last few days before the show. Carlito replaced Extreme Tiger. The finish of the match was Carlito unmasking Park, and while Park covered up and Carlito had the mask in his hand, Alberto put him in an armbar for the submission. Both men agreed to the match and both did promos about the match. Even in the building, the fans were in disbelief that such a match was going to happen and I don’t see it as possible. One would think Alberto isn’t going to let anyone shave his head, given he’s working as an executive for Combate Americas, not to mention how much he gets on the indie scene and that if he wanted to lose his hair, the match would be in a major promotion and a major arena. Park has teased mask matches but he’s obviously never lost his mask and has been around for three decades. They could probably sell out Arena Ciudad in Mexico City and jack up prices and do the match at TripleMania, so why would they do it on an indie? The explanation we’ve been given was that somehow the two convinced the local promoter to come into the ring post-match with a supposed contract and make the announcement both had signed. The idea is that both get a bunch of publicity over it, but when the match doesn’t happen, it’s the promoter who made the announcement that will take the heat. I’d say maybe the pub leads to a match but I don’t know if there are any promoters in Mexico willing to pay what the loser of the match would want
632
633In last week’s article on longest tag team title reigns in history, there is a correction that needs to be made. The Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen reign as PWF world tag team champions shouldn’t have been on the list. We had gone through an Internet list that had them as champions for 1,062 days, but that was incorrect, listing the title as being vacant in 1987. In actuality, Brody left All Japan for the first time for New Japan in early 1985, so the title reign would have been less than a full year
634
635The Blue Demon television show, which was originally billed as a mini-series on the life of the second biggest star in Mexican wrestling history but ended up as a largely fictionalized version of such has gotten a U.S. outlet, and debuts on UniMas in January
636
637We’ve been inundated with people who were at the Over The Top Wrestling show in Dublin on 12/17 and the Ricochet vs. Will Ospreay match being the best match the two have had together. Considering their Tokyo Korakuen Hall match was maybe the most talked about non-WWE match of the year, that’s saying something. Alan Counihan, who watches as much wrestling all over the world as anyone and writes for Figure Four said it was the craziest match he’d ever seen and people have been throwing around the ***** rating for it. Some of that is due to Ricochet who went on the mic after it was over and got the fans to chant “Five stars” and mentioned me in the promo about getting the five stars. The show will air on 12/28 on FloSlam
638
639FloSlam has inked a two-year deal with wXw, which will include airing the major shows on tape as well as include usage of a lot of the library. The wXw deal will start on 12/21 with airing the 16th anniversary show which took place on 12/10 in Oberhausen, Germany where Marty Scurll won a three-way over champion Jurn Simmons and Adam Cole to win their championship, and then Axel Dieter Jr. beat Scurll for the title. The deal includes both the 16 Carat Gold tournament and their tag team tournament in 2017
640
641One thing about FloSlam is that the $20 per month price tag some have felt is high, but there is a $150 per year deal which gives full access to not only FloSlam but to the 20 plus other sports sites including MMA and grappling channels
642
643In a real surprise, Jeremy Botter, who was the person who came up with the idea of the pro wrestling channel and was one of the key guys working for the MMA channel (which he was originally hired for), was let go on 12/15. This is significant since he’d been the guy who was in contact with a lot of the pro wrestlers as far as Flo Slam’s plans, which included at the least the idea of signing some top indie talent on their own with the idea of having them then work on the various Flo Slam shows, although obviously nothing in that direction has transpired
644
645Amazing Red’s House of Glory Wrestling promotion drew a sellout 1,500 fans in Jamaica, NY, the biggest crowd in company history. TNA champion Eddie Edwards challenged for the House of Glory title and seemingly won but they used a Dusty finish to reverse it, which the crowd didn’t like. The how was drawn because both the Hardys and Team 3-D were part of a four-way tag title match that also included EYFBO and Private Party. EYFBO won. After, the Hardy and Team 3-D were in the ring and attacked, so they joined forces to do their trademark spots like the wazzup, “get the tables, and such. Jeff Hardy sang the “Obsolete” song. Bubba talked about how Team 3-D and the Hardys had battled in WWE and ECW and Matt said this could be the last time they are in the ring together. This was the last booking I’d heard for Devon, who is working as an agent for WWE. He probably won’t be doing anymore wrestling as long as he has that job as these last few matches were commitments he’d made prior to being hired. Matt said that Devon is going to work for Vince Meekhan and then Matt said that somebody he would delete Vince
646
647Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore group ran 12/16 in Philadelphia at the 2300 Arena before about 1,000 fans, and the next night in Joppa, MD, which only drew 300 fans, which was hurt by having no walk-up due to weather problems. Both were Flo Slam events. Philadelphia was built around a Dreamer vs. Matt Hardy cage match. Dreamer had it won when the referee turned heel and slammed the cage door on his head. Sandman came out to cane the referee. Dreamer had it won again when Jeff Hardy (not advertised) came out and caned Sandman and threw him into the cage. Jeff pulled out thumbtacks and went for a twist of fate, but Dreamer gave him a Death Valley bomb. But Matt hit Dreamer with a cane and gave him a side effect into thumbtacks fo the pin. It was a short match that was all brawling but the surprise appearance of Jeff made it work. The crowd started chanting “swanton bomb” for Jeff to give to Dreamer, but Jeff went to the top and Matt told him to stop being a spot monkey, so Jeff climbed down and flipped off the record. John Hennigan (Mundo) beat Fenix. Tony Nese and Lio Rush tore it up in the best match of the show. It was Nese’s final match on the indie scene and he was very over, with lots of streamers thrown since the crowd knew it was his final indie match. He won with the pump handle driver. After the match, Alex Reynolds laid out Nese and said that the WWE settled for Marty when they could have had Shawn. The Joppa show saw Sandman wrestle, as the replacement for James Ellsworth, teaming with Dreamer to beat The Spirit Squad (just billed as The Squad for legal reasons) on a show headlined by Fenix pinning Hennigan. When Dreamer was looking for a partner, the first person who came out was Nikolai Volkoff, who lives in the area. But then they revealed he wasn’t the partner. The next person out was the Brooklyn Brawler (who made his debut at the ECW Arena the night before), and Dreamer revealed it wasn’t him, building to Sandman announced next
648
649VIP Wrestling in Dallas on 12/16 drew 1,000 paid for a show that was built around Team 3-D and the Von Erichs, Ross & Marshall (Kevin’s sons), plus Elgin, Keith Lee, Matt Cross and others. Shelton Benjamin, recovering from rotator cuff surgery, worked as the General Manager. This was the show ACH was advertised on.
650
651LUCHA UNDERGROUND: There are understandably a lot of morale issues as talent has now been told that the fourth season won’t start taping until October 2017. Originally the indications were the season would start taping this past month, and then it was moved to the spring. The current season will go through May or so. Since they aren’t likely to air a new season after this until early 2018, that also extends the time of the seven season contracts that most of the wrestlers are on.
652
653ROH: Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that Michael Elgin would not be working for ROH in 2017, which is kind of correct but not entirely. Elgin did have issues with ROH regarding communications and other things, and decided not to work there this coming year. He’d contacted them about some dates and then never heard back and was frustrated about it, and hadn’t worked there much this past year except of the joint shows with New Japan. He also felt he’d been lied to about things. He is under contract to New Japan and mostly worked combined shows, and if there are combined shows booked by New Japan, he will continue to work those shows, but wasn’t going to work ROH on his own between tours
654
655ROH has been slow in making offers for a lot of the talent whose contracts expire in the next few weeks
656
657Billy Corgan and Dave Lagana had a recent meeting with ROH in Baltimore. It was about three weeks ago
658
659There will be a 2/3 fall tag title match with Young Bucks vs. Briscoes on 2/4 in Dallas.
660
661TNA: Drew Galloway’s contract expires in mid-February. He got a pretty strong offer to stay several months back ($200,000 per year) which he turned down because it was the exclusivity deal where they would be in charge of his outside bookings, and he’s all over the indies in the U.K. in particular and the U.K. scene is pretty interesting. But he’d be available at that time for companies like WWE or New Japan, where the TNA contract obviously was a tough one since New Japan doesn’t use any of the TNA guys. Plus one would think he’d be tailor-made to be a top guy with the ITV group, but there’s no guarantee that one gets off the ground. It is interesting because theoretically he’s a guy people should want, and he’s got the size, the look, the ability, and the talking ability to be a top guy
662
663After losing its TV in the U.K. and being unable to make a new deal, TNA has announced a streaming service called Total Access TNA Impact in the U.K. market for 1.99 pounds per month ($2.47) which air Impact at the same time the shows airs in the U.S. and Canada. There will also be library footage put on the service. Originally they were to be done last week, but Challenge extended them one extra week because of the hype surrounding the Total Nonstop Deletion show
664
665Grado will be missing the entire next set of tapings because he’s performing in a play, “Elfie’s Magical Adventure,” a Christmas-themed stage production in Glasgow through 1/15
666
667The tapings schedule at Universal in Orlando is 1/5 almost live (looks to be on a one hour tape delay although they may tape other things and go live), 1/6 PPV (same situation, looks like a one hour delay but may go live), then afternoon and evening tapings on 1/7 and 1/8, and evening tapings 1/10 to 1/12, with no tapings on 1/9 for some reason.
668
669UFC: The biggest story leading into UFC 207 is the mindset of Ronda Rousey. It was well known Rousey wasn’t going to do any media, apparently blaming the entire media for turning on her after her loss to Holly Holm. It’s one thing to cut down on media, but it now appears she won’t even do a press conference before the fight or even big stuff like ESPN television the week of the fight. We’ll see how this turns out, but if she does nothing, not only will it cost her because it’ll mean less pub before the fight and that will mean less buys and less money in her pocket, but it’ll also set a really bad precedent for other fighters. It’s not exactly Conor McGregor, because Rousey did do her television commercial while McGregor refused to come in to do his. But even when cutting back on media, McGregor knew what he had to do and did it well as far as getting attention on fight week
670
671Tickets for UFC 207 started out slowly, but they picked up greatly in recent weeks
672
673Brock Lesnar was fined $250,000 and given a one-year suspension by the Nevada Athletic Commission at its 10/15 hearing for positive tests on 6/28 and 7/9 for Hydroxy-Clomiphene. The fine was surprisingly low, since it only represented 10 percent of his $2.5 million guarantee and even less considering he had points on the PPV show that were probably worth in the range of $3 million minimum more. Last year, Nevada created guidelines where first offense drug test failures would be suspended for up to three years and fined 40 to 50 percent of their fight purse. This would seem to indicate a belief by the commission that Lesnar didn’t knowingly violate the rules. USADA still hasn’t ruled on Lesnar’s case, but the maximum they could suspend for a first offense for Hydroxy-Clomiphene would be one year and they don’t issue fines. Guys in Nevada have been fined 30 percent for marijuana in the past. The suspension will date back to 7/9. In states that still regulate and license pro wrestling, Lesnar would not be allowed to appear until 7/9. There are a few of them but with Lesnar’s rare appearances, it’s not going to affect him most likely. An interesting thing about Lesnar is that he is still being drug tested by USADA. If he had no plans of fighting, given it’s not like he’s all smiles when he’s drug tested and likes people coming to his door at 6 a.m. and asking to take urine and blood, he could just take himself out of the system. The fact he hasn’t done that makes you have to think that he does want to fight again. He made a ton of money in his last fight, and even though the win was taken away and the official result of his fight with Mark Hunt is a no contest, it’s not as if fans believe he lost and would view him washed up by the performance. Still, he will be 40 by the time his suspension is over
674
675At the same hearing, Nate Diaz was fined $50,000 and ordered to do 50 hours of community service work for his role in the bottle throwing incident before his 8/20 fight with Conor McGregor
676
677When Conor McGregor received the RTE Irish Sportsperson of the Year award for 2016, he said that when he said he was taking a break, he didn’t mean ten months like Dana White said. He said he wanted to take a Christmas break but also wanted Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell to fly to meet him in Ireland to talk over plans, the way Lorenzo Fertitta would
678
679McGregor was the most searched for athlete in the world on Google in November. Manny Pacquiao was second and Khabib Nurmagomedov (largely for winning and challenging McGregor) was ninth
680
681McGregor noted that he’s getting offers from pro wrestling (we had noted that back in November that Paul Levesque was at the Madison Square Garden event and was interested in using McGregor, which is really just common sense). It’s always come down to both sides reaching an agreeable figure and UFC okaying it. With WWE allowing Lesnar to do UFC, and UFC allowing Paige VanZant to do WWE (which ended up not happening since VanZant wanted to concentrate on her fight which came a week after SummerSlam, the show WWE wanted her on), UFC would likely allow McGregor to do it, perhaps in exchange for some promotion of a major show like UFC did in allowing WWE and Lesnar to promote SummerSlam on their UFC 200 show and press conference. McGregor turned down a role in the movie “xXx: The return of Xander Cage” sequel because the filming timing didn’t work. The most interesting thing to watch in 2017 is the potential of McGregor vs. Mayweather. The idea is this could be one of the biggest PPVs in history. What needs to be weighed is that if it’s a boxing match, Mayweather would destroy McGregor, and Mayweather isn’t agreeing to a kickboxing match, which would at least be a compromise, let alone an MMA rules match where McGregor would likely win quickly. Essentially it’s almost a pro wrestling situation of doing a job in exchange for a huge payoff, and hope that losing doesn’t hurt your own marketability going forward. McGregor would have his out, since he was competing in somebody else’s sport, and if the show did, say 2.5 to 3 million buys and with the media focus on it, he probably would end up as a far bigger star in doing it and losing. But in the UFC vs. boxing debate, it’s a big win for boxing if that happens. The other is the whole regulation thing because putting the greatest boxer of this era, even at his age, against someone who has never done a boxing match should not be sanctioned, but there’s so much money involved that commissions may feel they have to allow what they are there very specifically to not allow happen. Right now this isn’t close to happening, and UFC would have to okay any deal, which means they would probably be 50 percent promoters and there’s a lot of money involved for a company that needs to make a lot of money. .. Joe Silva’s final show with the promotion will be the 12/30 card, the only remaining show of the year in Las Vegas, with Amanda Nunes vs. Ronda Rousey for the bantamweight title, Dominick Cruz vs. Cody Garbrandt for the other bantamweight title and Cain Velasquez vs. Fabricio Werdum. Velasquez has already made it public that he’s going to need surgery after this fight. That’s the only show between now and 1/15
682
683UFC and FOX put together a deal for Christmas Eve at 8 p.m. in prime time to air a two-hour special airing four fights from UFC 206, John Makdessi vs. Lando Vannata (knockout of the year candidate), Cub Swanson vs. Doo Ho Choi (fight f the year candidate), Donald Cerrone vs. Matt Brown (great fight) and Max Holloway vs. Anthony Pettis. They had to pull some strings because the PPV contracts give PPV exclusivity for 30 days on the shows. That night should have been star-making performances by Vannata, Swanson, Choi, Cerrone and Holloway, but with it only doing an estimated 150,000 buys on PPV, too few saw them
684
685Russian media has reported that White and Emanuel were recently in Moscow for a meeting with Vitaly Mutko, the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, regarding holding events in the country. One would think Bellator, with Russia’s top fighting draw, Fedor Emelianenko, whose fights have topped 20,000 attendances in that country, would also be looking to do a live event there
686
687Derrick Lewis vs. Travis Browne, Dustin Poirier vs. Jim Miller and Paul Felder vs. Gilbert Burns have been added to the 2/11 show in Brooklyn. Holly Holm vs. Germaine de Randamie will headline the show for the women’s featherweight title. Attempts to headline with Jose Aldo vs. Max Holloway for the title fell through as Holloway said he was banged up and wouldn’t be ready by that time. Aldo vs. Holloway is probably going to be on UFC 210 on 3/4 in Las Vegas
688
689Mark Hunt vs. Alistair Overeem has been announced for the 3/4 show in Las Vegas. What’s notable about that is that Hunt agreed to the fight, and it was announced by UFC, Hunt has said he won’t do the fight unless there is a clause in the contract that if Overeem fails a drug test, that Hunt gets his entire purse. Ever since the loss to Lesnar, Hunt had been adamant about the drug issue, noting he’s fought Bigfoot Silva, Frank Mir and Lesnar, all who failed drug tests and felt he’s putting his health at stake while his opponents were all cheating with what he felt weren’t strong enough repercussions. In particular, Hunt was furious that Lesnar was fined $250,000 but probably earned in the neighborhood of $5.5 million for the fight
690
691UFC wanted Chris Weidman vs. Gegard Mousasi for the Brooklyn show, but Weidman’s injuries from the Yoel Romero fight, likely the finish, made the date impossible
692
693Andrei Arlovski vs. Francis Ngannou has been added to the 1/28 FOX show in Denver
694
695Carlos Diego Ferreira was suspended for 17 months after testing positive for Ostarine. The suspension dates back to 4/29, which means he’ll be eligible to fight on September 29, 2017
696
697Cody East, 28, who was recently cut by UFC, was taken into custody on 12/18 on charges of aggravated battery against a household member, false imprisonment and aggravated sexual assault against a household member. He was held on $30,000 bond. East had been sentenced to three years in prison on child abuse charges in 2008 and had domestic violence arrests in 2006 and 2010. The UFC came under criticism when they signed East earlier this year due to his past record and claimed they had done an independent investigation of him before signing him. East, a 260-pounder, had a 12-1 record with 11 finishes, seven in the first round when Dana White saw him on his “Lookin for a Fight” reality show and UFC signed him. But he was cut after going 0-2, being knocked out both times, most recently a second round loss to Curtis Blaydes on the 10/1 show in Portland, OR
698
699Tecia Torres vs. Bec Rawlings has been added to the 2/4 show in Houston
700
701Jessica Andrade is off the 12/30 show in Las Vegas as UFC couldn’t find her a new opponent. She was to face returning Angela Hill, but Hill was ruled out due to a technicality of being a former fighter who left the roster after USADA but hadn’t been under USADA testing for four months prior to the fight. The idea of that rule is to prevent people from retiring, and then, having not been subject to drug testing, coming back and just having to pass the day of the show test. But Hill was cut by UFC, not out based on a retirement. The difference with Brock Lesnar is that when he retired, USADA testing wasn’t in place, so the entire idea is that you make a move to get away from testing and then come back, and Lesnar didn’t do that. But Hill didn’t either, as she was cut, which is why she was out of the testing program. If Hill had never fought previously in UFC, that wouldn’t be the case. Late replacements who are making their debut don’t have to undergo four months of testing
702
703Frankie Saenz vs. Augusto Mendes has been added to the 1/15 show in Phoenix.
704
705WWE: Foley will be undergoing hip replacement surgery sometime in the next few months which will take him out of action in his role as General Manager, at least temporarily. We don’t know when the surgery is scheduled, but he’s been in excruciating pain traveling weekly to the shows even with the loss of 100 pounds. Originally he was going to have some time off as he had agreed to complete the Zayn program, which was booked to end on the 12/12 Raw show with the idea that the whole Foley/Zayn thing was not really Foley not believing in Zayn but as a motivational tool to get Zayn so mad that he’ll ad to his game. So they did the reveal on the show and Foley was supposed to be out until the Jan. 2 Raw. But for whatever reason, they had him on the PPV show in Pittsburgh almost like the 12/12 reveal had never happened, with Foley reverting back two weeks and wanting to throw in the towel for Zayn in the match with Strowman. The problem was that it made no sense. Zayn, while taking a beating, wasn’t taking any more of a beating than is normal in a pro wrestling match. To make that angle work, it would have to be a savage beating ala Lesnar vicious ground and pound (with the blows hopefully pulled a little better) where the fans have it in their heads that the bout maybe needs to be stopped but Zayn begs Foley not to throw in the towel and then comes back from that beating. He also appeared on the 12/19 Raw in several segments, largely to continue the Strowman/Zayn angle as well as the announcement of Jericho being in the shark cage at the Royal Rumble in the Owens vs. Reigns title match. Based on what was on the show, it would have needed the Foley character as those segments didn’t fit the Stephanie character, plus Stephanie had both shows off. Foley had asked for and been given time off for a number of reasons. Some of it was holiday related in the sense he would have had to fly to Chicago on Christmas night for the 12/26 Raw show and everyone knows Foley is one of the biggest fans of Christmas in the human race. Hopefully the hip replacement surgery doesn’t mean the end of the character because I don’t know that anyone else could pull off the role of being naive to the heel maneuverings of Stephanie and somehow find a way to justify them without coming off too badly, plus when need be, he can still cut a promo to help people get their angles over stronger
706
707The NXT show on 4/1 in Orlando, the night before WrestleMania, sold out the Amway Arena with 14,000 tickets sold
708
709Ryder underwent reconstructive knee surgery for what ended up diagnosed as a ruptured patella tendon that he suffered in winning the tag team Battle Royal on 12/13 in Washington, DC. The surgery was on 12/15 in Birmingham. He was told by one doctor he’d be out four to six months, but another said six to nine months. Either way, he’s missing WrestleMania and a return would be April at the earliest but WWE isn’t going to rush him back so June is more likely if his recovery goes as well as hoped for, and it could take longer than that
710
711The idea of them dropping the pre-shows isn’t the case, since Sam Roberts was just hired for the panel. It was obviously a decision made either for cost-cutting since Lawler had a high salary, and perhaps Lita did as well, or just the idea it was time for a change. Lawler had said he was told they were dropping the shows due to the cost of doing them when they let him go
712
713WWE Supercard - Season three, the company’s collectible card battling game, is now the biggest mobile title in both WWE history and also 2K history
714
715MaryKate Duignan Glidewell, who turns 32 in a few weeks, was signed this past week as the company is trying to stockpile as much talent as possible. She first wrestled in TNA when she was very green as the monster Rosie Lottalove, and then dropped more than 120 pounds and has been working the indies, mostly in Florida, as Rosie. She was a Team 3-D graduate. She actually started her career under the name Betsy Ruth, billed as the great granddaughter of Babe Ruth. She retired in 2012, citing injuries, but after losing all the weight, came back and was so different looking that few knew it was the same woman who had the run in TNA. She’s been a regular with the Shine promotion. She had a WWE tryout in the summer of 2015 but wasn’t signed at the time, but now WWE is getting a lot more aggressive in trying to stockpile talent
716
717Some notes on Ellsworth. His real name is James Morris, known to his friends as Jimmy Morris, 32, from Glen Burnie, MD, a father of two. He’s started wrestling in 2002 on the Baltimore area independent circuit
718
719Advertised main events for Chicago on 12/26 and 12/27, which probably won’t happen, are Owens vs. Rollins for the Raw tapings and Styles vs. Cena vs. Ambrose for the title for the Smackdown tapings. Since Styles vs. Ziggler vs. Corbin for the title is also advertised for the title on television, that would be asking a lot of Styles to do two matches on the same night in the middle of a major house show week run and coming in with an ankle injury. Most likely the reason they added Corbin is if Styles isn’t ready for a full match, by making it a three-way, he can be protected better. It also elevates Corbin being put in the title picture and you can see the company is behind him big right now since the announcers have been instructed to tag him as a future world champion. At press time neither show is sold out, and if Raw doesn’t sell out, that would be a surprise for Raw the day after Christmas in a market like Chicago
720
721The Smackdown show is being pushed as a special show with the name Wild Card Smackdown, with three title matches on television, the aforementioned Styles vs. Ziggler vs. Corbin match, Bliss vs. Lynch and a four-way tag title match with The Wyatt Family defending against the returning Usos, American Alpha and Slater & Rhyno, as well as the Cena return
722
723The 12/30 show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles was offering two-for-one tickets this past week but it was a short-time offer, but that would indicate a lot of seats open. In the past, the week after Christmas tickets were the best selling tickets of the year, but it’s not like WWE in this era was, even the week after Christmas, going to sell out buildings set up for 14,000 for a house show
724
725Total Divas, after doing its lowest numbers to date over the last few weeks, is being moved from 8 p.m. on Wednesday nights to 9 p.m. starting 12/21. At 8 p.m., it was going head-to-head with Lucha Underground and the first NXT airing on WWE Network
726
727Expect Dana Brooke to be dropping considerable weight since she’ll be competing in the Arnold Classic’s Fitness contest which includes bikini posing. She placed 13th at the show last year
728
729WWE stock has solidified, closing at press time at $18.93 per share. It got an increase from a favorable rating two weeks ago, offset by a decrease due to the company taking out new loans, which can be converted to shares of stock, which would then dilute the value of the stock years down the line. The company is currently worth $1.45 billion
730
731Some interesting notes as far as most-viewed shows on the WWE Network this past week. Talking Smack, moved to closer to 11 p.m., wasn’t even in the top 20. But the 12/13 episode of the 205 Live show was only No. 13 and NXT on 12/14 was No. 6, all way down from usual. The top ten shows were: 1. Roadblock End of the Line; 2. Raw Talk (post-game show after Roadblock); 3. Roadblock pre-show; 4. Story Time episode 4; 5. Story Time episode 5; 6. NXT for 12/14; 7. Story Time episode 3; 8. TLC PPV; 9. Survivor Series PPV; 10. Story Time episode 2
732
733The next tryout camp will be 2/1 to 2/4
734
735Notes from the 12/19 Raw in Columbus, OH. The show was there to kick off a few new programs. There wasn’t much wrestling until the third hour with a ton of talking and skits. The show drew 7,800 fans. For Main Event, Goldust pinned Axel with the final cut and Nese pinned Dorado with a 450. Raw opened with Jericho & Owens out. The idea is that Jericho knew exactly what he was doing all along, and was even fooling Owens, who had no clue. Owens said, “Welcome to the Chris & Kevin Show,” noting Chris’ name first. Owens admitted Jericho even fooled him and said when Jericho gave him the codebreaker, what hurt worse than the codebreaker was the idea he was losing his best friend. Jericho said he had to make everyone believe. The two started insulting Santa Claus. Jericho called Santa a “stupid idiot” who stole his gimmick of having a list. Jericho then put Santa Claus on the list, which everyone cheered. Foley came out and Jericho made fun of his outfit. Okay, so here’s the deal. At first I thought he was wearing some V cut shirt from another era. Then I thought he was wearing one shirt on top of the other. But actually it was one shirt made to look like it was one shirt on top of the other and the hairy chest was actually the shirt. Foley announced the tag team match would take place tonight, “Right here in Pittsburgh.” Poor guy. They were in Columbus. Jericho & Owens immediately covered for him, saying almost the same thing at the same time. Foley figured it out quick, but the people booed. Jericho & Owens then joked about how they think exactly alike. It was kind of uncanny since that was actually not scripted at all. Foley announced that at the Royal Rumble it would be Owens vs. Reigns in a rematch with Jericho in the shark cage. Jericho refused, and Foley said if he didn’t get in the cage for the match, he could never wrestle in the ring again (pronouncing again like Jericho does). Jericho complained and said the cage wasn’t made of tin foil and wasn’t safe. Foley told him to go in and check for himself. It’s okay when comedy heels are goofs, but not when top babyfaces are. Jericho went in, Foley locked him in and then they did a bit where Foley emptied out his fanny pack and couldn’t find the key. Foley said he forgot the key and then made a signal for the cage to be raised. So the cage was raised and Jericho was freaking out on it. They came back and Jericho was with EMT’s and had an oxygen mask on, with the idea he was afraid of heights and freaking out. Enzo & Cass came out. Cass was gonna spell out the one word that described Rusev, when Rusev and Lana came out. Rusev beat Cass in :58 when Cass kept putting the boots to him in the corner and didn’t break at the count of five. Boy are they being protective of Cass in not having him work long singles matches. Well, if it’s the right thing, then that’s what they should do. Rusev got a kick in the knee to Cass and escaped. Banks came out on crutches, selling the injury to Charlotte. She said that the better woman won and she doesn’t feel like the boss anymore. She wanted Charlotte to come out so she can congratulate her. Instead, Jax returned and told her she’s not the boss to her, that she’s a wounded little girl and kicked her crutch away. Jax hip tossed her and Banks caught her “injured” leg on the ropes and was selling it more. Jax grabbed the crutch and teased hitting her, but instead walked away. Foley was with Sheamus & Cesaro and said he was a proud poppa since he put the two of them together. Foley gave them a Christmas present, which were new tag team belts. Sheamus & Cesaro started arguing and a referee alerted to Foley that there was trouble with Strowman. Strowman was playing monster backstage, throwing backstage workers around and making a mess. Foley tried to stop him. Strowman wanted a match with Zayn. Foley said that he’d given Zayn the night off and he’s 100 miles away. Strowman said get him back or else. Zayn never came back, so it was or else. Alexander pinned Dar in 5:11 with the lumbar check. Aries now seems to be used as a commentator for all the cruiserweight matches. Alexander looked real good in this match. He kind of came across like a star. When it was over, Dar said that we’ve each won one, but we’re not even because Alexander has got the beautiful Alicia Fox (who was in his corner). Dar said that Fox was the real prize and all he wants for Christmas is her. The New Day came out. They weren’t too down about losing the titles, noting that the only way Ric Flair became a 16-time world champion was losing 15 times. Actually he lost far more than that. Big E joked that will be Charlotte in a month (inside joke on how often they are changing the women’s title). Sheamus & Cesaro came out. Sheamus wanted to do the New Day entrance and started, but Cesaro told him not to. Sheamus called Cesaro “baldy.” They did a bit where Sheamus and Cesaro played to the crowd with them booing Sheamus and cheering Cesaro. Kingston was mad that after one day, they got new belts and the New Day had to use the old copper looking ones for so long. Kingston said that they are happy “it was you” if they were going to lose the titles. Sheamus thought they were talking about him, but which led to them leading the crowd in doing a “Shame” chant. Woods said they weren’t talking about Sheamus, but they liked Cesaro. Cesaro said that he has to be strong teaming with someone like Sheamus and his massive ego. Sheamus then said they were going to break the record and hold the titles for 20 years. Anderson & Gallows came out. Gallows called everyone nerds and called them Nerds Day. They said how Sheamus & Cesaro only got the belts because of all the beatings they had given them first. The Shining Star came out and wanted to push their resort. Cesaro tore up a brochure and it turned into a fight and New Day, Sheamus & Cesaro cleaned house. That segment went way too long. This led to an eight-man tag where Sheamus & Cesaro & Kingston & Big E beat Shining Stars & Anderson & Gallows in 10:45. They had a good match, ending when Cesaro used an eight rep giant swing and sharpshooter on Epico for the submission. Enzo was talking to Cass saying that he’s not happy because now he’s costing Cass wins. Cass was saying it’s okay and Rusev deserved that beating. Enzo then got a letter from McMahon. He thought it was from Ed McMahon (years ago Ed McMahon was the face of a contest this time of the year where everyone used to get letters from him) until Cass explained that Ed McMahon was dead. Enzo thought maybe it was from Vince McMahon and they were getting a raise. But Enzo had to go to sensitivity training because he was in trouble for exposing himself. The least they could have done was when they did the classes was have Ric Flair there, except he would have probably stolen the scenes from Enzo. Neville came out and said that people cheered him last night and the people usually didn’t cheer for him except when he looks vulnerable and they think he’s small so they feel sorry for him. That verbiage sucked, but it did result in people booing him. He said he doesn’t need your pity and doesn’t want your sympathy and told the fans to stick it. He said he was going to obliterate the division. Hasn’t WWE already done a good job of that? Swann came out and said how happy he was that Neville was in the division. Neville said that he took Swann under his wing in Japan. Kendrick came out and backed up Neville. Kendrick asked how could they could start a cruiserweight division without Neville. Well, I was thinking the same thing. Kendrick said that he and Neville are a lot alike, in that they are pioneers and if it wasn’t for them, none of this would be possible. Neville and Kendrick beat down Swann when Perkins ran in. They beat him down as well. Kendrick laid out Perkins with sliced bread. Sensitivity training was with Backlund, Darren Young, teacher Colleen McCarthy, who looked a little bit like Layla El, Dallas, Mahal and Enzo. Where was Strowman in all of this? Sin Cara vs. O’Neil went :20 before Strowman came in and destroyed both of them. He gave O’Neil a powerslam on the floor. Sin Cara hit a tope and the idea was for Strowman to catch him. He didn’t, but he recovered and laid Sin Cara out with a clothesline on the floor. Foley came out. Strowman threw Sin Cara off the stage into a bunch of Christmas trees and presents and then suplexed another Christmas tree on him. He made a mess of the stage. One of the announcers called it the Strowman massacre at Ohio State. I can’t believe someone said that or that more heat didn’t come from it, because it’s way too soon to say stuff like that. Jericho & Owens were backstage doing more comedy. Jericho said he had a fear of heights, arachnophobia. Owens noted that Arachnophobia is a fear of spiders and a fear of heights is acrophobia. Jericho then said he was afraid of spiders as well so he has both. Owens told Jericho that he was the greatest of all-time and it’s written on his trunks. They both agreed that Rollins & Reigns were going to get “it.” Charlotte came out. She talked about how every month people watch her on the network and she’s a guaranteed winner, like Clemson is going to beat Ohio State. Bayley came out and said that Charlotte vs Banks is going to go down as one of the greatest rivalries in WWE history. Ugh. Well, she said she knew, since he’s been watching wrestling since she was ten years old. Charlotte said that Bayley should be with all the rest of the crowd paying to watch her. Bayley noted that she’s beaten Charlotte twice and Charlotte hasn’t beaten her. Charlotte said those were matches that didn’t count. She said that among the Four Horsewomen, that she was always No. 1 and Bayley was No. 4. I thought Rousey was No. 1. Charlotte said the reason Bayley didn’t join Banks and Lynch and her on the main roster was because she wasn’t good enough. Bayley said she’s hard that one before. Anyway, they ended up having a non-title match. Bayley won, of course, in 14:39, using a backslide after hooking Charlotte’s arms when she missed a chop. The match was good. They played up that Charlotte had one of her shoulders up when the ref counted the pin. That makes no sense at all to have bad officiating giving Bayley a win in a non-title match. But most of the women’s booking has been questionable of late. Enzo was falling asleep at sensitivity training. Anyway, it all ended and everyone was going to get their certificate. They all got their certificates. Enzo said he didn’t need a certificate since he’s certified already and tried to hit on the teacher. At this point Mahal and Rusev surrounded him and gave Enzo a beating. Rusev said that nobody insults his wife. Well, Enzo did insult his wife. They beat him down, complete with Rusev giving him a uranage through a table. Lana showed up and slapped him in the face as well. So this should set up Enzo & Cass vs. Rusev & Mahal, where Mahal can be there as a guy they’ll let Enzo beat. Reigns & Rollins beat Jericho & Owens via DQ in 17:04. The crowd booed the hell out of Reigns every time he tagged in. So much for The Shield nostalgia helping him out. Jericho & Owens teased walking out but Rollins jumped on both of them. Women were cheering for Reigns but guys were chanting that he sucks. Jericho was slapping Reigns in the head and Owens said that he’s going to get a whole bunch of conditioner on his hands. Rollins made a hot tag and gave both guys blockbusters off the middle rope. This turned into a very good match with Reigns hitting a Superman punch on Jericho when Jericho went for his springboard dropkick. Strowman then interfered for the DQ. Strowman gave Reigns a reverse choke slam on the floor and gave Rollins a powerslam. Jericho and Owens threw Reigns back in the ring and Strowman powerslammed Reigns. It’s pretty clear they are going to a Reigns vs. Strowman direction sometime soon. After Raw ended, Strowman let and Jericho and Owens came back out to attack Reigns and Ambrose. Reigns hit the Superman punch on Owens and then speared Jericho. They put Jericho back in the shark cage and raised it. They left. The crew then brought Jericho down. Then Reigns & Ambrose came back again and put Jericho & Owens in the shark cage and once again had it raised. They left again. When Jericho & Owens were brought back down, the show was over
736
737Notes from the 12/20 tapings in Detroit. On a PPV week, showing how strong a market Detroit is, they did the largest crowd of the week with 9,500 fans. It was a very good television show. The booking made sense and while there was a lot of comedy, they did some cool things that popped the crowd with Renee Young slapping Miz after Miz talked about how Young was sleeping with Ambrose and Natalya calling Nikki a bitch saying that the only reason the Bellas got anywhere was because they were beautiful and that “John will never marry you.” It was an interesting crowd, that loved Styles in particular, as well as local wrestler Rhyno. Rhyno & Slater beat The Vaudevillains in 10:00 in a dark match. Rhyno was over huge and the Vaudevillains also had a great reaction. Rhyno pinned English with the gore. The show opened with Styles beating Ellsworth in :44 in their WWE title match. Styles did the Kenta series and Ellsworth went down like he was shot. He did a great job of acting knocked out and it was over. After all that build, this came across as a storyline thing they just needed to close up. Plus Styles was being protected from having to do anything. Ranallo compared Ellsworth to Ivan Koloff (the idea that Koloff beating Bruno Sammartino was one of the biggest upsets in pro wrestling history, which it was at the time, but Koloff was a main event superstar), Buster Douglas (who beat Mike Tyson in one of the biggest boxing upsets ever) and Matt Serra (who beat GSP in what may have been UFC’s biggest title change upsets). After the match, Styles dropped him hip first on the announcers table, which looked ugly. He then dropped Ellsworth face fist ont he steps and threw him into the ring frame. He then suplexed Ellsworth into the barricade. Ellsworth went out on a stretcher. Ziggler came out and said he was next in line for the title. Corbin came out next. Styles left the ring when Corbin came out. Corbin said he should be getting the shot. The storyline was that Corbin wasn’t in the match because he missed the show last week getting his Most Metal Athlete award. Corbin told Ziggler that next week he would lose, because that’s what he does. Corbin sucker punched Ziggler. Ziggler made a brief comeback but Corbin laid him out with the End of Days. I guess it doesn’t matter anymore since Ziggler is already cast at a certain level, and the days of the fans protests are over as they’ve long since given up any hope for him. But even so, for a guy they are pushing for a title shot next week, he’s been booked like such a loser. Ziggler went to Bryan and wanted a match with Corbin. Bryan told him he’s got a title shot next week. Ziggler still wanted the match saying that he put up his career and isn’t afraid to take risks. Bryan said he could have the match, but if Corbin won, he’d get the title shot next week. Miz pinned Crews to keep the IC title in 8:34. The match was good. This was another example of how bad WWE is with faces. Miz did have to win since he’s in a program with Ambrose and Crews is just a guy. But Crews was on offense the entire match and his stuff looked great. Maryse tried to interfere and was thrown out. She actually didn’t interfere. The crowd got into Crews’ near falls with a schoolboy and especially a German suplex. The ref did a momentary bump and Miz used an eye poke and the skull crushing finale for the pin. The idea is that Crews threw everything he had at Miz, who survived it. But Miz only needed one move and Crews was down. Renee Young was interviewing Miz and asked about Ambrose. That’s when Miz brought up that Young was sleeping with Ambrose and she slapped him and walked off. The place reacted pretty big to all this. Natalya came out and called out Nikki. Carmella then came out and said that Natalya is a liar and then insulted Nikki asking if her silicon leaked to her brain. Carmella said that Natalya told her that the only reason the Bellas came back to WWE is because they couldn’t make it when they left. Natalya then attacked Carmella and threw her into a Christmas tree on the stage. Carmella kicked her off and ran off. Natalya got back in the ring and admitted she was the one who attacked Nikki. She said that she’s always despised Nikki, that she’s Natalya Neidhart and part of wrestling royalty and that the Bellas only got what they did in wrestling because they were beautiful. She said, “My cat has more charisma than you, you bitch.” She called her a bitch a couple of times in the promo. Bryan was backstage with Bliss. Bliss wanted Lynch suspended for attacking her last week and she was limping on her left leg. Bryan instead said that he was giving Lynch a title match next week because he just got word she was fully cleared. She got mad and stormed off, and Bryan noted that she forgot to limp. Ambrose pinned Harper with a La Magistral cradle in 7:42. This was a good match. After the match, Orton, Wyatt and Harper all beat down Ambrose. Wyatt was about to give him Sister Abigail, but instead gave him to Orton, who laid out Ambrose with an RKO. After the Wyatts left, Miz came down and gave the helpless Ambrose the skull crushing finale. La Luchadora, who was Lynch in a mask and full body costume, beat Bliss in a non-title match in 2:59 with the disarmer. She then unmasked. Ryan Phillippe, the star of “Shooter,” was backstage looking for Orton. Rawley was there and told him that Orton has changed and you probably would be better off not finding him. Hawkins confronted Rawley. They exchanged words and Hawkins left. Rawley said that Hawkins gets zero chicks. Rawley pinned Hawkins in 2:29 with a running punch. They showed Ellsworth backstage. His right arm was in a sling. His left hand was bandaged up. His head was wrapped up. He had an ice bag on his shoulders a neck brace and walking boot. Carmella showed up and went to take care of him. The idea is apparently that they are going to do an Ellsworth/Carmella relationship angle as the announcers made jokes about punching above your weight class and outpunting your coverage. The main event saw Ziggler go to a double count out with Corbin in 15:38. The match was okay. Nothing wrong with it but it never got past a certain level. It was about getting Corbin over as he had the advantage most of the way and kept teasing Styles not knowing what to make of Corbin, while Styles seemed unconcerned about Ziggler. Corbin also kicked out of the Zig Zag. Corbin threw Ziggler into Styles and in the confusion, Ziggler superkicked Corbin and both were counted out. Styles then attacked and laid both out with hard chair shots to the back. Bryan came out and announced that the title match next week would be a three-way. About a quarter of the crowd left after Smackdown ended and missed 205 Live and the dark match. 205 Live opened with Daivari over Lince Dorado in 5:37 with a splash off the top rope. Daivari’s wrestling looked good but it was the typical 205 Live dead crowd following Smackdown. Dorado did a cool handspring stunner. He did a running dive to where if Daivari didn’t break his fall, he’d have landed right on his head. Daivari did an interview after and said Gallagher had people fooled, that he’s not a gentleman, he’s a scoundrel. Neville & Kendrick were together backstage. Kendrick was giving a speech about how they’re the reason for the division and fans didn’t give them credit for facing 300 pound heavyweights. Neville didn’t want to listen to him, saying, “I’m your partner, I’m not your friend and there’s only room for one king of the cruiserweights.” They pushed Tajiri as coming. Alexander beat Gulak in 5:32. Aries on commentary was questioning bringing Fox to ringside. I think any historical perspective on this topic would lead one to the same conclusion. Aries noted that he had a beautiful girlfriend (Thea Trinidad, formerly Rosita in TNA) but he doesn’t bring her to work. Alexander suplexed Gulak over the top rope and they both went over in what looked like an out of control bump by Alexander. While on the floor, Gulak pushed Alexander into Fox. She started selling her ankle. Gulak was putting the boots to Alexander who couldn’t help her. Dar came out to help Fox and carried her to the back. Alexander saw this, so you figured he’d be distracted and Gulak would win, which would make sense. But instead, Alexander still won with the lumber check. Gulak did a promo and blamed his loss on Fox. Wait a minute, she distracted your opponent and you still lost. So he’s playing the chauvinist role saying that 205 Live is a man’s world and why was Fox out there. Backstage, Dar and Alexander were both with Fox, who had an ice pack on her ankle. Dar was openly hitting on her and she thanked him while Alexander fumed and told him he could take over from here. Neville & Kendrick beat Perkins & Swann in 14:08 when Neville pinned Perkins with the red arrow. This was a good match, but hurt by the lack of heat. All four looked good but Neville came across like the star of the match. Kendrick hit a tope on Swann before Neville hit his finisher. The dark main event saw Ambrose & Jordan & Gable beat Miz & Orton & Wyatt. There was a dueling “Miz can’t wrestle; yes he can,” chant. This led to the Miz fans giving him a huge babyface reaction when he tagged in, and he went and exchanged holds with Gable, while Ambrose and Jordan were laughing on the apron as Gable just took him apart in a comedic fashion. Wyatt & Orton were egging Miz on. Ambrose pinned Miz with Dirty Deeds
738
739Notes from the 12/14 NXT TV show. They opened airing the Nakamura vs. Joe cage match from Melbourne. The match came across as nothing in televised form. From people who were there live, we were told that the match was a lot better, and a combination of editing out ten minutes of the match and poor crowd micing made it come across week. Both guys were banged up coming out of the match as they both did little in eight-man tags the rest of the tour. They pushed the idea after Nakamura won that this was the end of the program, which should lead to Joe coming up to the main roster, as Smackdown has some serious roster depth issues. Nakamura came off the top rope with a Kinshasa, and then went to the door. The idea was that he could have easily walked out, but changed his mind and hit both a second and a third Kinshasa and pinned Joe to end the feud. Joe’s forehead was cut from one of the knees. The rest of the show was from Full Sail and were four matches to determine who would be in the four-way match the next week to determine who faced Nakamura for the title on 1/28 in San Antonio at Takeover. The matches were rushed and there was little really to them. They also did a quick segment to build the Daria Berenato vs. Billie Kay match for next week. Kay & Peyton Royce were doing their mean girls act and said that Berenato lost the match last week (when they walked out) and they don’t associate themselves with losers. Berenato showed up and said she was going to hurt one of them next week, and they can choose which one. Tye Dillinger beat Eric Young via DQ in 1:16 when Nikki Cross jumped on Dillinger’s back. Young attacked Dillinger after the match. Dillinger ended up cleaning house on Young & Alexander Wolfe. Cross then went after him and he side stepped her and she flew out of the ring. Big Damo came out and laid out Dillinger and gave him a senton. Damo looks kind of like the 60s wrestler the Great Antonio, but he’s like 1 million times better. The announcers talked like Damo was auditioning for a spot with Sanity. Honestly, auditions for Sanity done in a traditional audition manner featuring Eric Young in charge could be the funniest thing WWE television does all year. Andrade Cien Almas beat No Way Jose in 3:53. Nothing much here. Talk about a hero to zero, Almas does nothing and looks like he’s lost all of his confidence. He’s lost his physique as well. And he seems like he’s lost his desire. For a guy who came off like such a superstar in Mexico and someone who came across like a future superstar in Japan, and he still came across as a star without the mask in Mexico, he’s like nothing now. Roderick Strong pinned Elias Samson in 3:17 with a gut buster and sick kick. Strong wrestles as a speed and crispness that nobody else on the show came close to. It’s like he’s in a different world than the rest of them. Bobby Roode won the final spot beating Oney Lorcan in 5:14 with a DDT. Lorcan has great facial expressions and good intensity. He reminds me of a more intense Cesaro, but he’s so much smaller which will hurt him. Roode has the aura of a superstar and his work is solid. But the crowd wasn’t into this match except for the Roode ring entrance. They weren’t that into anything past the one minute of Dillinger.
740
741The NXT crew that was in Australia stopped for one night in Riverside, CA, on the way home. They drew a sellout 1,300 fans. No Way Jose beat Riddick Moss. Fans chanted “We don’t know you” at Moss. It’s not like he hasn’t been on TV or anything, so it’s fans chanting “We have no memories.” Liv Morgan pinned Aliyah in a nothing match. Crowd wasn’t into this. Patrick Clark pinned Tino Sabbatelli. Clark worked as the face here. Fans were chanting “delete” and “obsolete” during this match, while they were missing TNA. Wesley Blake came out as a heel ripping on the fans and told Clark to leave the ring before he gets hurt. This set up Clark over Blake in a quick match ending with a superkick. Asuka beat Ember Moon with the Asuka lock to retain the women’s title. Good match and they hugged after. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa beat The Revival to retain the tag titles in a **** match. They won with Gargano using the Gargano escape on Wilder. The heels tried to do a post-match attack but were met by double superkicks. Fans were chanting “PWG” during this match. Gargano & Ciampa did a promo before the show started talking about PWG and acting like they were returning home. Actually Riverside is about two hours away from Reseda, and longer when there’s traffic. Samson pinned Lorcan with his feet on the ropes. Samson got huge heat for his singing. Joe came out and the fans treated him like a returning hero. He then ripped on Riverside and the crowd turned on him. He was injured he couldn’t wrestle. He blamed it on Regal not clearing him. He watched the main event from ringside which ended up being Nakamura & Dillinger over Almas & Roode. Joe interfered a few times and was kicked out. Nakamura pinned Almas with the Kinshasa
742
743They also ran 12/17 in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, drawing 4,000 people, which is probably isn’t far off what a main brand house show would have done in that arena. NXT outdrew both the Raw and the Smackdown house shows on Saturday night this week. Jose pinned Almas with the full nelson slam in a good match. Sabbatelli & Moss beat Lorcan & Clark using a double-team Gori especial bomb and bulldog. Morgan pinned Aliyah with a leg sweep in a sloppy match. Gargano & Ciampa beat Dawson & Wilder to keep the tag titles when Ciampa beat Dawson via submission. Another great match. Dillinger pinned Samson with the Tye breaker. Lots of “10" chants of course, as well as “delete” chants at Samson. After the match, Blake came out and ran down the crowd and the NXT roster and called everyone garbage. He challenged Dillinger, who beat him immediately with a superkick in a few seconds. Blake kept using the word garbage that it went from heat to something the crowd found entertaining. Asuka beat Moon via the Asuka lock to keep the women’s title. They both worked as faces and was very good. Joe came out and said he wasn’t cleared to wrestle, but would be at ringside for the Nakamura vs. Roode title match. Joe interfered at times. Nakamura retained with the Kinshasa in what was said to be a great match
744
745The other NXT tour started 12/15 in Jacksonville, FL, before 250 fans. Gallagher pinned Cuter with a running dropkick into the corner. Gran Metalik pinned Dar with the Metalik driver. Berenato beat Macey Estrella. Authors of Pain beat Tucker Knight & Otis Dozovic. After losing, Knight & Dozovic made a comeback and cleaned house. Lince Dorado pinned Angelo Dawkins with a shooting star press. Kenneth Crawford tried to interfere to help Dawkins. Mandy Rose pinned Sarah Bridges using a pedigree. Strong & Perkins beat Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe in the main event. Big Damo was in the heel corner. So Strong was a babyface here
746
74712/16 in Citrus Springs, FL, drew 200 fans. Gallagher pinned Dar after a backslide. Lince Dorado pinned Brennan Williams with a shooting star press. That must have looked silly given that Williams is 6-foot-6 and 290 pounds. Dawkins & Montez Ford came out. Ford is the new name for Kenneth Crawford. Sanity came out to set up the main event later in the show. Mandy Rose pinned Estrella with the pedigree. Perkins beat Strong via submission with a kneebar. This was one of the best NXT matches in Florida in some time. Authors of Pain beat Dozovic & Knight. Cross pinned Berenato with a fisherman suplex. Eric Young & Wolfe beat Dawkins & Ford when Cross sprayed something in Ford’s eyes and Young pinned him after a roll-up
748
74912/17 in Tampa drew 250 fans a Adrian Jaoude pinned Steve Cutler with a fisherman suplex. Nikki Cross pinned Estrella with a spinning neckbreaker. Gran Metalik pinned Kona Reeves with a DDT. Roderick Strong pinned the giant Dan Matha. Strong mostly sold for the bigger guy before crotching him and pinning him after a sick kick. Very good match. Authors of Pain beat Dawkins & Ford. Berenato pined Mandy Rose with a spinebuster. Wolfe & Damo won the main event over Dozovic & Knight when Cross interfered to help her team win. The heels continued to do a post-match beat down until Strong, as a babyface, ran in for the save
750
751The Smackdown crew was a skeleton crew again this week with Styles injured, the Usos & Naomi still not back, Orton having another weekend off, plus Ziggler and Lynch also had the weekend off
752
753The Raw tour opened on 12/16 in Rochester, NY, before 4,000 fans. 12/17 in Youngstown, OH drew 2,500
754
755The Smackdown tour opened on 12/17 in Peterborough, ONT before 2,900 fans. 12/18 in Barrie, ONT drew 1,750 fans. 12/19 in Hamilton, ONT drew 3,300
756
757In Rochester, New Day, being Big E & Kingston, won a four-way over Enzo & Cass, Cesaro & Sheamus and Anderson & Gallows. Neville pinned Mahal with a 450. Mahal was bad about the loss and challenged anyone to come out for another match. Show came out, but they never had a match as Show just choke slammed him and walked away. R-Truth & Goldust & Darren Young (with Backlund) & Sin Cara beat Primo & Epico & Axel & O’Neil. Rollins pinned Rusev with a pedigree in the confusion after Lana was kicked out. This was the best match on the show. Lana now calls the local cities pathetic little villages in her pre-match promo. Bayley & Fox (heel on television against Bayley, face on the road teaming with her) beat Charlotte & Jax with Emmalina as referee. Emmalina switched from being a standard ref to a heel ref, playing up her new gimmick. She did the slow counts when Bayley had the pin and Bayley shoved her down. Strowman pinned Zayn with the running powerslam in a short match with Zayn getting a little offense in. Reigns pinned Owens with a spear to retain the U.S. title
758
759Youngstown saw basically the same show. New Day was E & Woods and they won the four-way when Woods pinned Anderson. The eight-man tag with the Goldust match turned into a six-man, with no Young, Backlund or O’Neil on the show. So R-Truth & Goldust & Sin Cara beat Shining Stars & Axel when R-Truth pinned one of the Shining Stars in a short match. Same Rollins vs. Rusev. The women’s tag turned into a six-way with Banks & Fox & Bayley over Charlotte & Jax & Brooke with Emmalina as referee. Emmalina went even stronger as a heel ref. When Banks had a pin, she was looking at her nails and was slow in getting down to count. Banks shoved her and she walked off. A new ref came in for the finish as Banks beat Charlotte with the bank statement. Same Zayn-Strowman and Reigns-Owens top matches. Reigns-Owens said to be short and disappointing by WWE main event standards
760
761The Smackdown tour opened in Peterborough. A lot of fans were hoping for Bobby Roode as an addition, but he was on the NXT tour. He wasn’t advertised but there was the thought it made sense to add him to the show, which it wasn’t for NXT being on that long overseas tour it would have. Jordan & Gable beat Breeze & Fandango with Grand Amplitude on Fandango. Harper pinned Rawley with the discus lariat. Bliss retained her title in a four-way over Natalya, Nikki and Carmella, by pinning Carmella. Crews pinned Miz in a non-title match with the same scenario they had been doing at the house shows with Ziggler, where Maryse interfered, got kicked out, and in the confusion Crews pinned him. It was first announced as a title match, but Miz cut a heel promo on how he’s not defending his title in Peterborough, ONT. A three-way with Rhyno & Slater vs. Vaudevillains vs. Ascension ended when Rhyno pinned English with a gore. Corbin pinned Kalisto with the end of Days. Main event saw a street fight where Ambrose pinned Wyatt with Dirty Deeds with all the usual weapons, of kendo sticks, chairs and tables being used. Harper interfered first and Harper & Wyatt put Ambrose through the table. Ellsworth came in to make the save for Ambrose, but they destroyed him as well. Ambrose made a comeback knocking Harper out of the ring and throwing Wyatt into a chair set up in the corner and then hit Dirty Deeds for the pin
762
763Barrie was the same show. The crowd didn’t cheer Breeze, the Canadian, against American Alpha, but they don’t push that Breeze is Canadian on television but he did media with his background. In Harper vs. Rawley, crowd didn’t care much for Rawley and cheered Harper a little. Nikki and not Natalya was the most popular of the four women. Natalya was still cheered as a heel but not like she usually is in Canada. In the three-team tag, the crowd didn’t care about either The Ascension or Vaudevillains. When they built to the spot where the two heel teams went at it, it got no response. Same other matches
764
765Hamilton was also the same show.
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