Bryan Rose is an editor from California that has been covering professional wrestling for well over a decade. He officially joined F4WOnline as an editor in 2017.
Two lawsuits have been filed regarding Lucha Underground’s contracts.
Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that El Hijo del Fantasma, who goes by the name King Cuerno on Lucha Underground, filed a lawsuit in California against the El Rey Network and Baba-G Productions, the production company behind LU. In the lawsuit, Fantasma is claiming that both El Rey and Baba-G have illegally restricted him and other wrestlers from “engaging in their lawful profession”.
Documents obtained by Pro Wrestling Sheet said that those under Lucha Underground contracts are making less than $4,000 a year compared to other wrestling promotions who offer a living wage. Fantasma claims to have lost thousands of dollars as a result of the contract, and is seeking both putative and actual damages.
Lucha Central talked to Fantasma’s attorney, Andre Verdun, who said that a class-action lawsuit was being worked on in addition to Fantasma’s suit. The site later reported that Kobra Moon, Joey Ryan, Fantasma and Ivelisse are the names attached to this specific suit.
The situation regarding Lucha Underground contracts has flared up in recent weeks, most notably when Ivelisse wrote a since-deleted statement on social media saying that she was “being legally held hostage” by the company after they wouldn’t release her from her contract following the end of the fourth season.
Lucha Underground hasn’t aired a new episode since November. The fate of the promotion and if it will continue for a fifth season is currently unknown.
During the second episode of the Road to Double or Nothing, AEW staff including Cody, Head of Talent Relations Christopher Daniels and AEW Coordinator Michael Cuellari are seen watching a video of Havoc cutting a promo. Cody liked the video and told his staff to contact him.
The official AEW account on Twitter later posted an image with the hashtag #allelite. Matt Jackson later commented “We’re pumped to have @JimmyHavoc on our roster! Welcome to the team.”
MLW, who Havoc has worked for in the past, posted a tweet today saying that he was returning to the promotion soon, signaling he’ll still be able to work other promotions.
Havoc has wrestled throughout the United Kingdom since breaking into wrestling in 2004, wrestling for Progress Wrestling, Defiant and ICW. He was also part of a Impact Wrestling UK tour back in 2016, and won the CZW Tournament of Death in 2017.
At the end of the video, Cuellari mentioned that someone had called, with the person’s name being bleeped out, and said that it seemed personal. Cody agreed it was personal, then said he would call him back when he felt like it. Cuellari brought up that he still didn’t have an opponent for Double or Nothing as the video ended.
You can check out the second episode of Road to Double or Nothing below.
A promo that aired in Canada during Raw last night showed Scott Stanford announcing an ‘International Superstar Shakeup’ that would take place on April 15 and 16 at the Bell Centre in Montreal. The significance of the world ‘international’ wasn’t explained.
The Superstar Shakeup replaced the WWE Draft last year as a way to move Raw wrestlers to SmackDown and vice versa. Whereas the WWE Draft had more formal rules regarding draft picks and trades, the Superstar Shakeup is more vague in the way Raw and SmackDown talent are traded. Last year’s notable jumps included The Miz, Baron Corbin and The Riott Squad to Raw while Asuka, Samoa Joe and Jeff Hardy went to SmackDown.
NXT stars are also included in the Shakeup: Sanity and Andrade went to SmackDown while Drew McIntyre went to Raw.
A Intercontinental title match between champion Bobby Lashley and Seth Rollins was also announced for the Raw taping in Montreal.
The company posted an article on their website this morning saying that Kitamura has left New Japan Pro Wrestling. He hasn’t wrestled since last March, teaming with Manabu Nakanishi in a losing effort against Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano.
There has been speculation regarding why Kitamura has been out of action for so long. According to Chris Charlton, he sustained an injury while training and has spent the last year taking medical treatment and rehabbing. After discussions with the company, however, he decided to leave.
It was reported recently in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Kitamura had been given a new contract to sign for 2019, but hadn’t signed it yet. It’s also been reported in the past that the injury is a crushed leg following a scooter accident.
Kitamura, who had an accomplished amateur wrestling background was that marred by a steroid ban started to wrestle regularly for NJPW in March of 2017. At 6’0 and 265 pounds, he dwarfed the other young lions and stood out due to his look and natural charisma.
He had been given somewhat of a push as a young lion, winning the 2017 Young Lion’s Cup just a few months prior to the injury.
Bayley and Sasha Banks are the fifth team to qualify for the Women’s tag team title Elimination Chamber.
Banks and Bayley defeated the team of Nikki Cross and Alicia Fox after Bayley rolled up Fox for the win. The two were put at a disadvantage before the match started when Cross and Fox jumped them as they were making their way to the ring. The heels worked over Bayley most of the match, with Banks never tagging in.
It was reported this weekend that Banks had not been cleared by WWE to compete after suffering an injury at the Royal Rumble, but was expected to be cleared tonight prior to Raw.
Two other Raw teams, Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan of the Riott Squad and Tamina & Nia Jax qualified by winning matches last week. The IIconics and the team of Sonya Deville & Mandy Rose on SmackDown didn’t win any matches to qualify, but were also announced as part of the match.
Elimination Chamber will take place on February 17, 2019 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
For the second straight year, WWE went with two fan-pleasing choices as their Royal Rumble winners. WWE followed up on Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka’s wins from last year by having Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch win their respective Rumble matches on Sunday night. The results were entirely predictable, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t the right choices. While there are other stories that WWE can tell, top babyfaces beginning their road to WrestleMania by winning the Royal Rumble will pretty much always work.
A quick note that the format of this issue is different due to the fact I messed up my left hand in a bicycle crash on 1/24 making typing extremely difficult.
This issue has complete Royal Rumble and NXT results with eliminations, stats, and facts, plus Dave’s comments. It also includes star ratings, NXT awards, and notes on the post show angle.
Roman Reigns is going to be in the Rock’s new movie. There were some photos of Roman Reigns last week from where he’s been filming the new sequel of the Fast and the Furious franchise, which had been kept kind of quiet. Reigns is playing Rock’s character Hobbs’ brother…
AEW released a short video with Cody Rhodes talking about signing Jungle Boy and the announcement that on February 7th, there is a Ticket Announcement Party at the MGM from Las Vegas. Brandi teased announcing more women at that event. There is a lot of talent expected at that event. CIMA is likely going to be there…
NJPW is very confident that it will not be an issue by the time the MSG G1 Supercard show comes up, with it being several months away…
From reports of the Dallas, TX Road to G1 Supercard show, Shibata’s students, Clark Connors, Karl Fredericks, and Alex Coughlin are all seemed as really good in the technical aspect, with all their basics down, as they’re being trained with the Japanese New Japan Dojo mentality. Shibata, who is the lead trainer in the US Dojo, has interpreters with him at all time during training…
Matt Sydal’s contract with Impact Wrestling ended January 1st. He should be ready in a couple of months from a minor knee surgery he got last week…
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell,CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
Raw tonight will take place at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. The key segment being pushed is Stephanie McMahon inviting Becky Lynch to Raw after choosing Ronda Rousey over Asuka for a WrestleMania title match. Other matches include Finn Balor vs. Bobby Lashley for the Intercontinental title, Bayley and Sasha Banks vs. Alicia Fox and Nikki Cross in a Elimination Chamber qualifying match and Jeff Jarrett vs. Elias. Kurt Angle will also be on the show to address his future.
PWInsider reported that Paige is scheduled to be at this week’s Raw and SmackDown, noting that it’s likely to promote this month’s release of “Fighting with My Family.”
MLW’s Court Bauer tweeted about Pentagon Jr. and Fenix: “I want to thank @PENTAELZEROM @ReyFenixMx for an extraordinary 7+ months as the @MLW World Tag Team Champions. Mas chingons! MLW will always embrace you as family as you helped build this house. Wherever you go next always know you both are 1000000000% leyendas de Lucha Libre!”
Jay Lethal, at 646 days, has surpassed Samoa Joe as having the most total combined days as ROH champion.
New Japan World added a two part documentary that looked at the match between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 13.
The Great Sasuke announced that he is taking a year-long hiatus after his 50th birthday on 7/18. Citing multiple injuries in recent years, he wants to take time to heal.
Kris Wolf on her blog says that following her current tour, she is retiring.
Henry Cejudo is now open to the idea of having a rematch against TJ Dillashaw at 125 after Dillashaw made remarks calling his win a fluke. “If T.J. wants to run it back at 125 we can,” he told MMAJunkie. “If he still feels like he can beat me at ’25, let’s just run it again. To go to ’35 would be for the legacy, but I’m not opposed to him coming down to ’25 again. I’m not opposed to it.”
He also told MMAJunkie that the UFC has cut flyweight Dustin Ortiz.
Marlon Moraes says he has one fight left in his contract. He wants new contract and guaranteed title shot, and isn’t interested in anything else.
Rafael dos Anjos called out Conor McGregor on Twitter: “We have unfinished business, we got close to get it done twice. You pick the weightclass #RDA #Brasil #JesusFirst”
Aspen Ladd, who was removed from a UFC 235 bout against Holly Holm, wants UFC to give her a fight.
Ed in San Antonio presents the WRESTLEMANIAWeekend Events (more to be added):
Sunday, April 6th, at 12:00 pm: Lunch (all you can eat) at Churrascaria Plataforma ($90 per person), located at 316 W. 49th street in Manhattan. Purchase tickets here~!
Luxury Bus to MetLife Stadium for Wrestlemania: We will depart from the Hilton Midtown (site of Wrestlecon) located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas. Departure time is 4:00 pm and will return from MetLife approximately 30 mins after the event. Times are subject to change, and cost $67.00 per person for the round trip. Purchase tickets here~!
Below, you can watch what went down during Halftime Heat, which took place during the Super Bowl Halftime show.
The match had Ricochet, Aleister Black and Velveteen Dream team up to take on Adam Cole, Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano in a six man tag team match. It aired live at the WWE Performance Center, with Vic Joseph and Shawn Michaels calling the action.
The video in its entirety lasts four hours and features a number of big NXT matches in the past featuring the likes of Shinsuke Nakamura, Finn Balor, Bayley, Sasha Banks and more. It streamed across multiple platforms including WWE.com, WWE Network, Twitter and Facebook.
The name Halftime Heat was first used back in 1999 for a special edition of Sunday Night Heat where Mankind defeated the Rock to win the WWE title for a second time in an empty arena match. It was used again the following year for an exclusive interview with Stone Cold Steve Austin, who was recovering from neck surgery at the time.
This year’s Halftime Heat starts at the 3:33:20 mark.
For the second straight year, WWE went with two fan-pleasing choices as their Royal Rumble winners. WWE followed up on Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka’s wins from last year by having Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch win their respective Rumble matches on Sunday night. The results were entirely predictable, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t the right choices. While there are other stories that WWE can tell, top babyfaces beginning their road to WrestleMania by winning the Royal Rumble will pretty much always work.
A quick note that the format of this issue is different due to the fact I messed up my left hand in a bicycle crash on 1/24 making typing extremely difficult.
This issue has complete Royal Rumble and NXT results with eliminations, stats, and facts, plus Dave’s comments. It also includes star ratings, NXT awards, and notes on the post show angle.
Roman Reigns is going to be in the Rock’s new movie. There were some photos of Roman Reigns last week from where he’s been filming the new sequel of the Fast and the Furious franchise, which had been kept kind of quiet. Reigns is playing Rock’s character Hobbs’ brother…
AEW released a short video with Cody Rhodes talking about signing Jungle Boy and the announcement that on February 7th, there is a Ticket Announcement Party at the MGM from Las Vegas. Brandi teased announcing more women at that event. There is a lot of talent expected at that event. CIMA is likely going to be there…
NJPW is very confident that it will not be an issue by the time the MSG G1 Supercard show comes up, with it being several months away…
From reports of the Dallas, TX Road to G1 Supercard show, Shibata’s students, Clark Connors, Karl Fredericks, and Alex Coughlin are all seemed as really good in the technical aspect, with all their basics down, as they’re being trained with the Japanese New Japan Dojo mentality. Shibata, who is the lead trainer in the US Dojo, has interpreters with him at all time during training…
Matt Sydal’s contract with Impact Wrestling ended January 1st. He should be ready in a couple of months from a minor knee surgery he got last week…
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell,CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
Post Wrestling has a number of updates regarding people who missed WWE house show events over the weekend:
Seth Rollins is currently dealing with an injury that went down before the Brock Lesnar attack this past Monday. It is reported that he will be off house shows for the time being and won’t be used on Raw this Monday. He is also expected to only do promos with no physicality for the next month.
Sasha Banks wasn’t cleared after her match against Ronda Rousey at the Royal Rumble, but is expected to be cleared before Raw tomorrow.
AJ Styles is “dinged up”, but should be cleared by Tuesday.
Becky Lynch is selling the storyline knee injury from the Royal Rumble and is off house shows for the time being. It is reported that it’s an angle that will be played out on this week’s television.
WWE’s YouTube stream for Halftime Heat is already up. They will be airing matches from previous NXT events until halftime begins, where the six man tag pitting Aleister Black, Velveteen Dream and Ricochet against Adam Cole, Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano will start. This will also stream on Twitter, Facebook, the WWE Network and WWE.com.
Kairi Sane made a surprise appearance last night at WWE’s house show in Vancouver, saving Carmella from an IIconics beatdown. She teamed with Carmella to defeat the duo.
Killian Dain on Twitter: “Last night my tag partners where with Smackdown in Vancouver and my wife with Raw in Regina. Whereas I’m….at home. Was it something I said? #WHEREISSANITY”
Drew McIntyre and King Booker’s Superstar Picks will be added to the WWE Network tomorrow.
PWInsider is reporting that Impact will be taping shows at the 2300 Arena, or the ECW Arena, in May.
AEW talent including Cody, Brandi Rhodes, The Young Bucks, SCU and Hangman Page are at the Superbowl this afternoon.
Sammy Guevara has been added to CZW’s Best of the Best 18.
UFC/MMA
Amanda Nunes is considering retirement after a potential fight with Holly Holm later this year: “I went home to see my family and stay a little bit with my family and my mom [told me] ‘I think you should retire. [She said] ‘You’ve done everything in the sport already, you’ve got everything you want, you’re double champion and I feel like you should take a little bit. Maybe if you want to fight one more time and take a little break, maybe after a long break come back and fight one more time, but I feel like you should.’ I think [about it] a little bit. We’ll see with this next stage what’s going on.”
Brian Ortega seemed interested in a Jose Aldo fight following his win last night.
RIZIN president Nobuyuki Sakakibara expressed interest in partnering with grappling promotion QUINTET in the future.
Anthony Johnson has signed with Bare Knuckle Fighting. Not as a competitor, but what he describes as “fighter relations”. Despite retiring from MMA in 2017, Johnson is still under UFC contract.
Ed in San Antonio presents the WRESTLEMANIAWeekend Events (more to be added):
Sunday, April 6th, at 12:00 pm: Lunch (all you can eat) at Churrascaria Plataforma ($90 per person), located at 316 W. 49th street in Manhattan. Purchase tickets here~!
Luxury Bus to MetLife Stadium for Wrestlemania: We will depart from the Hilton Midtown (site of Wrestlecon) located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas. Departure time is 4:00 pm and will return from MetLife approximately 30 mins after the event. Times are subject to change, and cost $67.00 per person for the round trip. Purchase tickets here~!
Former NWA Junior Heavyweight champion Les Thornton has passed away at the age of 84.
The news first broke on Facebook, where his wife Terry wrote the following (via Slam Sports): “It is with great sadness we share that Les Thornton peacefully took his leave on February 1, 2019 at 11:15 am, with his devoted wife, Terry at his side.”
Born in Manchester, England, Thornton entered professional wrestling in 1957 and at one point trained in Billy Robinson’s Snake Pit, where he learned technical wrestling and submissions. He traveled to the United States in 1970 and won the NWA Junior Heavyweight championship on six occasions between 1980 and 1983.
In 1984, he was one of only a handful of people that joined the WWE when they purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling. He was used primarily as a jobber, but was also a part of coordinating their house shows in the Middle East.
He retired in 1990 and had been living in Canada running a gym prior to his death.
The Facebook post further said: “In honour of Les’ wishes there will be no funeral service. Instead, those wishing to pay respects are invited to make a donation to the Calgary Humane Society.”
Three title matches headline the second night of New Beginning action in Sapporo.
The main event is a Intercontinental title bout pitting champion Tetsuya Naito against challenger Taichi. The feud has been building throughout the last couple of tours, with Taichi even scoring a pinfall victory over Naito. It’s entirely possible he could stun the world tonight and walk away as the new Intercontinental champion.
Both of New Japan’s tag team titles are on the line. EVIL and SANADA will look to retain the heavyweight tag titles as they defend against Zack Sabre Jr. and Minoru Suzuki. After two singles matches that gave victories to EVIL and Minoru Suzuki, tonight looks to be the rubber match.
The Junior tag team titles will also be on the line, as champions BUSHI and Shingo Takagi face former champions Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru.
Join us for live coverage starting at 1 a.m. EST. There will be English commentary.
**********
Toa Henare defeated Yota Tsuji
A good back and forth opener. Tsuji’s coming along well and looked just fine against the more experienced Henare. Tsuji him off at one point with a dropkick and applied a Boston crab. Henare escaped, waffled Tsuji with a lariat then pinned him following the uranage.
Manabu Nakanishi and Tiger Mask defeated Ayato Yoshida and Shota Umino.
Pretty standard, but another well worked match. Yoshida and Umino were fun to watch when they made their comeback. Yoshida escaped a knee submission by Tiger Mask and blocked a tiger bomb, but Tiger Mask hit it the second time around only for Umino to break it up.
Nakanishi took care of Umino on the outside as Tiger Mask hit a butterfly suplex off the top rope for the win.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Ren Narita defeated Takashi Iizuka and Taka Michinoku by DQ
Tenzan got on the mic before the match asking Iizuka to shake his hand. This follows the story from yesterday where Tenzan said he would like to team with Iizuka again. Iizuka responded by jumping Tenzan as he took him into the crowd and started to beat him up with chairs.
They brawled until Taka took off Iizuka’s mask and started to bite everyone. Tenzan made the hot tag. He was cut off as Iizuka went to use the iron fingers of death. Narita came in and made the save for his team as Tenzan went for the moonsault but Taka slid the iron fingers to Iizuka then used them on Tenzan for the DQ. Not a good match and a terrible finish, but I guess there’s a story here.
Iizuka teased he was going to say something by getting a microphone, but instead used it to choke and hang Tenzan on the ropes.
Togi Makabe, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomoaki Honma and Toru Yano defeated Guerillas of Destiny, Taiji Ishimori and Yujiro Takahashi
Story of the match had Tama Tonga, who insists he is now “The Good Guy”, refusing to do any cheating or even wrestling for that matter, constantly tagging out. He even admonished Jado when he tried to interfere at one point with the kendo stick.
Heels had control of the match for the most part until Makabe was tagged in, and was mostly good action from here. Taguchi and Ishimori had a good sprint, a preview for their match later this month.
Jay White, Bad Luck Fale and Chase Owens defeated Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi and YOSHI-HASHI
This worked much like the previous match, minus the Tama Tonga reluctance. Heels worked over the babyfaces until Okada was tagged in, who tried to give Fale the tombstone at one point but it didn’t work out for him.
White and YOSHI-HASHI were tagged in, then YH made the tag to Tanahashi who took care of White. YH was tagged back in and hit a lariat and hit karma but White kicked out. YH went to the top rope for the swanton but White got the knees up.
White followed with a sleeper suplex and motioned for the bladerunner but saw Tanahashi struggling to enter the ring. He then locked in his new submission, a reverse figure four talled the Tanahashi Tap Out (TTO). Good match, the last few minutes were white hot and the finish was great.
Tanahashi went after White following the match then slapped Gedo. White targeted the leg then hit the Bladerunner on Tanahashi. He’s starting to really get it as a heel, great mannerisms and presence.
Shingo Takagi and BUSHI defeated El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru to retain the IWGP Jr. tag team titles
Things started slowly, with all four working at a steady pace. Kanemaru took BUSHI and threw him into the guardrail for heat. Shingo was favoring his leg as Kanemaru took it apart with a guardrail.
Shingo made a comeback in the ring until Desperado landed a spear, then worked on his leg some more. BUSHI and Desperado were in as they did some decent back and forth before tagging in their partners, where Kanemaru worked on Shingo’s knee. Kanemaru used the referee as a distraction to hit the satellite DDT and a moonsault, but Shingo kicked out.
Shingo blocked a deep impact DDT with a northern lights suplex, then went for the last of the dragon. Kanemaru blocked it, but Shingo laid him out then hit the pumping bomber. Desperado dragged the referee out of the ring just in the nick of time.
EVIL and SANADA defeated Minoru Suzuki and Zack Sabre Jr. to retain the IWGP tag team titles
Suzuki and Sabre didn’t wait for the introductions to finish, opting to brawl the minute they entered the ring. Suzuki took out SANADA to the floor. SANADA escaped to the ring and worked over Sabre as the two wrestled. Suzuki meanwhile recovered and beat up EVIL on the outside, with Sabre soon following him.
Suzuki ended up working over SANADA in the ring, wrenching in an armbar. Both heels worked on him until EVIL got the hot tag, taking on Sabre. SANADA was tagged back in, with Suzuki taking advantage until he missed a charge in the corner. They go for the magic killer, but Sabre breaks it up.
Both men end up being trapped in submissions as Suzuki wrapped himself on SANADA’s leg. SANADA escapes, but pays by being laid out with two penalty kicks. LIJ eventually managed to life, making both of Suzuki-gun out with the darkness falls and the TKO.
SANADA sinks in the dragon sleeper as he motions for the skull end, but Suzuki transitions to the gotch piledriver. EVIL comes in to break things up as they connect with the magic killer. SANADA then hit Suzuki with the moonsault for the win. A good match, but finish came out of nowhere just as it was starting to heat up.
As Naito was making his way to the ring for the main event, Iizuka jumped him from behind with a ladder, choking him until he laid everyone else out. This took several minutes, so I guess the rest of LIJ went home. Taichi then hit the black mephisto (air raid clash) on the ramp as trainers and other personnel checked on Naito’s condition.
Taichi took a microphone in the ring and told everyone to go home because the match was over. Trainers and other staff carried Naito off backstage. The show ceased to a halt at this point. Taichi just wandered around the ringside area for several minutes, telling people to go home. At one point, he got into a brief confrontation between he and Makabe, who was at ringside.
The trainer and NJPW chairman Sugibayashi were contemplating what to do until Tetsuya Naito alongside BUSHI (who apparently just stood around backstage as his friend was being destroyed) dragged himself to the ring and insisted he would do the match. The bell rang.
Tetsuya Naito defeated Taichi to retain the IWGP Intercontinental title
Naito tried to get some offense in, but quickly tired himself out. Taichi was in control for most of the early portion of the match, save for a one-legged dropkick. Naito went for his corner combination, but Taichi took him out with a clothesline.
Taichi set up a table on the outside as he went to the apron and grabbed Naito, looking to send him through the table with a black mephisto. Naito instead countered and struck Taichi with a big piledriver through the table.
Despite being laid out, Taichi managed to continue working over Naito, laying him out with a clothesline. But Naito starts mounting a comeback, hitting the satellite DDT. He was going for Destino when Takashi Iizuka came back out, this time with a chair.
Naito laid him out but the distraction was long enough for Taichi to grab the belt. Naito went back into the ring and dodged the belt shot. Instead of using the belt, he grabbed the microphone and laid out Taichi with it. Taichi begged him not to do it again, but Naito did so anyway. He went to strike him a third time, but Taichi grabbed a chair and struck him with it.
Taichi waffled Naito with a chair shot right on top of his head in a sickening display as Red Shoes (who was laid out sometime during the Iizuka run in) came back in. Taichi hit a Saito suplex and went for the black mephisto, but Naito countered with a spike hurricanrana. Taichi cut him off and hit a superkick, but Naito shoved the referee, low blowed Taich then hit the Destino…but Taichi kicked out.
Naito went for another, but Taichi blocked him and tried for the black mephisto again. Naito instead hit a reverse rana and a big brainbuster, then a second Destino for the win. You know what? Despite the very long and weird segment before this match, it did add to the drama and this ended up being a pretty good main event with great heat.
The show closed with all of Naito’s friends who did nothing as he was being pulverized coming together for the roll call and the salute. The last three matches were the highlight of the show, and there was some good build toward the final New Beginning show on 2/11.
Pentagon Jr. and Rey Fenix appear to be associated with AEW in some form after the Young Bucks made them an offer during a McAloon Productions show in Georgia last night.
After Fenix and Pentagon Jr. defeated Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian in the main event, The Young Bucks came out and put them over, saying they were the second best tag team in the world, which the two didn’t like. Matt said that if they wanted to prove they were the best, they should join AEW.
Instead of contracts, both Bucks extended their hands, looking for a handshake. Fenix and Pentagon were considering accepting when a group of enhancement talent came in and started to attack everyone. With SCU’s help, they were all dispatched. Once everything was finished, they did end up shaking the Young Bucks’ hands.
Chris Jericho posted on Twitter that he’s heard Pentagon and Fenix had signed an exclusive deal with AEW, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. They still have three seasons left in their Lucha Underground contract, but have been allowed to work other promotions including AAA, CMLL, MLW and Impact.
Dave Meltzer is reporting that they would need permission from Lucha Underground to work Double or Nothing but doesn’t expect there to be any issue with them working the show. They are currently on hiatus, with no word of a new season.
The main event for the Giant Baba Memorial show has been set.
IWGP Heavyweight champion Hiroshi Tanahashi will team with Yoshitatsu (who has been regularly wrestling for All Japan) to take on the team of Triple Crown champion Kento Miyahara and Big Japan’s Daisuke Sekimoto. It will be the first time that Tanahashi and Miyahara will be in the same ring.
The event marks the 20th anniversary of Giant Baba’s death, as he passed away from liver failure on January 31, 1999. It will also have the official retirement ceremony for Abdullah the Butcher, who wrestled regularly for All Japan for a number of decades.
Here is the full, likely final card for the memorial show which will take place on February 19 at Sumo Hall. Broadcasting information is currently unknown:
Hiroshi Tanahashi and Yoshitatsu vs. Kento Miyahara and Daisuke Sekimoto
Mil Mascaras and Dos Caras vs. NOSAWA Rongai and Kaz Hayashi
Naomichi Marufuji and Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Masaaki Mochizuki and Shun Skywalker
Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata and Omasu Nishimura vs. Jun Akiyama, Takao Omori and Taiyo Kea
Atsushi Onita, Kendo Kashin, Hideki Suzuki and Hideki Hosaka vs. Great Kojika, Mitsuya Nagai, Shuji Ishikawa and Hikaru Sato in a street fight tornado bunkhouse deathmatch
SANADA and BUSHI vs. Jake Lee & Koji Iwamoto vs. Ayato Yoshida & Shota Umino in a three way match
Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Taka Michinoku vs. Masanobu Fuchi, Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Yuma Aoyagi
Kazushi Miyamoto, Tomohiko Hashimoto, Daichi Hashimoto and Takuya Nomura vs. Tomoaki Honma, Yuji Okabayashi, Naoya Nomura and Ren Narita
Giant Baba Memorial battle royal featuring Mitsuo Momota, Kim Duk, Joel Deaton, MEN’s Teioh, TARU, Ryuji Hijikata, Yuto Aijima, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Masahito Kakihara, Masao Inoue, Tamon Honda and Yasu Urano
Here are quick results from this morning’s Road to the New Beginning show in Miyagi, featuring a NEVER six man tag team title change.
– Shota Umino and Ayato Yoshida defeated Toa Henare and Yota Tsuji
Umino scored the win over Tsuji with a fisherman’s suplex.
– Manabu Nakanishi and Tiger Mask defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Ren Narita
Tiger Mask pinned Narita with the tiger driver.
– Shingo Takagi defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru by DQ
Desperado ran in and attacked Takagi as he was going for the Last of the Dragon. BUSHI ran in and took out both Kanemaru and Desperado with a double hurricanrana, which led to the next match.
– BUSHI defeated El Desperado by DQ
Desperado was disqualified after unmasking BUSHI.
– Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Tomoaki Honma and YOSHI-HASHI defeated Jay White, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi and Chase Owens
Tanahashi scored the win after a high fly flow on Yujiro.
– Taichi, Zack Sabre Jr. and Minoru Suzuki defeated Tetsuya Naito, SANADA and EVIL
Sabre Jr. pinned EVIL with the European clutch.
– Togi Makabe, Toru Yano and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa and Taiji Ishimori to win the NEVER six man tag titles
Taguchi submitted Ishimori with an ankle lock to win the titles for his team.
Both Fightful and PWInsider reported tonight that Hideo Itami asked for and was granted a release from WWE this week following tonight’s SmackDown tapings in Phoenix, Arizona. Fightful reported that the talk backstage was that Itami was unhappy with his creative direction. He will be under a 90-day no compete clause.
Itami was featured in the main event of tonight’s episode of 205 Live, where he lost to Akira Tozawa. Ariya Daivari, who he has been associated with on television then turned on him, laying him out with a clothesline.
After the tapings, he posted on Twitter “THANK YOU”. He had recently changed his name from Hideo Itami back to KENTA.
Itami, who was one of Pro Wrestling NOAH’s biggest stars, signed with WWE in 2014 and was a part of NXT for several years. Most of that time was spent dealing with injuries: a shoulder injury that kept him out for over a year, then a neck injury that kept him out for another six months..
He was called up to 205 Live in December of 2017, where he feuded with various members of the roster. He was a part of the cruiserweight title match at the Royal Rumble this past weekend where he took the pinfall for Buddy Murphy, who retained the title.
The first SmackDown team have entered themselves into the Elimination Chamber match that will crown the first WWE Women’s tag team champions.
On tonight’s episode, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville were being interviewed when they declared themselves as a part of the Elimination Chamber, promising that they would become the first champions. This was starkly different compared to last night’s Raw where teams faced off against one another to get the opportunity to enter the Chamber.
Those matches on Raw had Nia Jax and Tamina defeat Alexa Bliss and Mickie James, while Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan defeated the makeshift team of Natalya and Dana Brooke. The third Raw spot will be decided next week when Bayley and Sasha Banks team up to take on the team of Alicia Fox and Nikki Cross.
These will be the first women’s tag team titles in the company since 1989, when the previous titles were abandoned.
