Author: Josh Nason

Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.

Dave Meltzer’s 2019 5-star matches: Okada, Ospreay, Moxley

Posted on by Josh Nason

12 matches earned Dave Meltzer’s five star rating in 2019, dominated by (you guessed it) New Japan Pro Wrestling.

In chronological order, here’s what made the list including some notes from the corresponding Wrestling Observer Newsletter. We’ll focus on the nine matches that cleared the five star rating in another post.

Okada vs. SANADA | New Japan Cup Finals
March 24, 2019 

“Kazuchika Okada captured the 2019 New Japan Cup and as expected, will headline Madison Square Garden on 4/6 and challenge Jay White for the IWGP heavyweight title. Okada won the biggest and best New Japan Cup tournament in history, and also had what was voted the two best matches of the tournament in his semifinal and final match. Okada scored consecutive wins over Michael Elgin, Mikey Nicholls, Will Ospreay, Tomohiro Ishii and Seiya Sanada to win the 32-man tournament for the second time in his career. He had previously won the 2013 tournament, in its former 16-man form, with wins over Lance Archer, Karl Anderson, Toru Yano and Hirooki Goto.

This match was a classic and fantastic climax to the tournament, which wasn’t easy since the semifinals were so great and the every round had great matches.”

Will Ospreay vs. Bandido | New Japan Super Juniors Tournament
May 23, 2019

“To me, this was the match of the tournament so far. It was even better than their New York match, and that was, to me, the match of Mania weekend. The big pop was when Bandido finally got his 21 plex on Ospreay, he landed on his feet and hit a Spanish fly.”

Dustin Rhodes vs. Cody | AEW Double or Nothing
May 25, 2019

“The match was probably the most emotional match in North America since maybe the Atlantis vs. Ultimo Guerrero mask match at the 2014 CMLL anniversary show. Blood is very much a debatable issue today. Blading, largely removed from major promotions today as an anachronism of the past, did work big for this audience and is still effective when used judiciously. I’m not a fan of it, but when not overdone it can be effective in getting matches and certain storylines over.

The audience was crying multiple times during the match. Even though Cody was the spiritual leader, his working heel style worked for the match because for it to work, Dustin had to be the sympathetic character. Cody won, but it wasn’t over. Dustin started taking off one of his boots while a loud “Thank you Dustin” chant started. Cody, who had left, returned, and told him that he doesn’t get to retire now, and that a long time back he had signed an open contract for a tag team match in Jacksonville against The Young Bucks. Cody then said, “I don’t need a partner, I don’t need a friend, I need my older brother.” That was it. The whole building was in tears in a way that may happen every few years in Mexico, on occasion in Japan, but hasn’t happened in the U.S. for a match in decades. When it was over, I thought the show should have ended, because nothing could top that.”

Dragon Lee vs. Will Ospreay | New Japan Dominion
June 9, 2019

“Ospreay beat Lee to follow his Super Juniors tournament win with an IWGP jr. title win, clearly making him the star of the division. This was one of the best matches of the year. But they had an absolutely insane spot where Ospreay was sitting on the barricade when Lee hit him with a tope and both went flying over the announcers table, talking former wrestler Milano Collection A.T out with them. Because of the set up, that was incredibly dangerous as well.

Not only has Ospreay been the best performer in the world for the past several weeks, but New Japan is presenting him as a landmark junior heavyweight, breaking Takagi’s streak, winning the title as well as being a contender for every heavyweight.”

Kota Ibushi vs. Will Ospreay | New Japan G1 Climax
July 18, 2019 

“The story here is both were injured legit. So from a crazy athletic standpoint, it was not as good as their Tokyo Dome match, but for drama and story telling it was much better.”

Jon Moxley vs. Tomohiro Ishii | New Japan G1 Climax
July 19, 2019

“I think this was the first time I ever saw a match where at the 17 second mark I already felt it was going to be a **** match”.

Black Taurus/Laredo Kid/Puma King vs. Bandido/Flamita/Rey Horus | PWG 16th Anniversary Show
July 26, 2019

“The 7/26 show still drew a sellout crowd of more than 600 fans and featured an incredible match that some were talking was the best in the history of the company with Bandido & Flamita & Rey Horus beating Laredo Kid & Black Taurus & Puma King. I wouldn’t go quite that far, but would say it was the best PWG match I’ve seen since The Young Bucks & Adam Cole vs. Will Ospreay & Matt Sydal & Ricochet many years back, and would be among the best U.S. bouts of the past decade. This was nothing but big moves like futuristic Lucha Libre. Tons of dives and moves that nobody had ever seen before.”

Okada vs. SANADA | New Japan G1 Climax
August 3, 2019

“This broke the record-setting G-1 unbeaten streak of 13 matches dating back to last year. It was an incredible match that, because of the timing of the pinfall and the drama of using the time, made a great match classic. The emotion of Sanada beating Okada when everyone was convinced they were going to a draw was evident as they showed the fans in the front row and women all had tears in their eyes. This was the best show so far in G-1 and one of the best shows of the year.”

Shingo Tagaki vs. Tetsuya Naito | New Japan G1 Climax
August 4, 2019

“This match was so physical. The idea was to tease going the 30:00 but at no point was this telegraphed or did they slow down to pace or stall for a long match. Naito used a brainbuster but Takagi came back with a sick lariat. He went for last of the dragon, but Naito countered with a Canadian Destroyer and the running destino for a near fall. Naito got the pin with Destino and afterwards praised Takagi and said that some time we have to do this again.”

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi | New Japan G1 Climax
August 10, 2019

“Then, in what was the spot of the tournament, Ibushi ran in with the Bom Ba Ye and out of nowhere, Okada dropkicked him. Okada escaped from the kamigoye and used the same cradle he used to beat Jericho and Omega, but Ibushi kicked out. Ibushi got the pin after two Kamagoyes.”

Bandido vs. Dragon Lee | PWG BOLA Night 2
September 22, 2019

“Having been in the same spot nearly 31 years earlier for the famous Flair-Steamboat match in Chicago, where, at the finish, everyone around us proclaimed it as the greatest match they had ever seen, when this was over, my reaction was, it was better than Flair-Steamboat in every way except the historical aspect of seeing a “real” world title change in an era when that meant something.

This was about as good of a 12:00 match as you could possibly see. It had super wrestling, super flying, insane spots, two super charismatic guys, and a crowd going nuts. I’d call it the best singles match I’ve seen since going to PWG and aside from the Young Bucks & Adam Cole vs. Will Ospreay & Ricochet & Matt Sydal match a few years back, and maybe the six-man tag this summer, one of the three best overall.”

David Starr vs. Jordan Devlin | OTT
October 26, 2019

“Between the fantastic video building the match where Starr champions the independent scene against Devlin having signed with WWE, and Devlin taunting back saying that Starr has attended multiple WWE tryouts and only has this attitude because WWE won’t take him. The heat was some of the most amazing you’ll ever see, which isn’t unusual in that building. It was like a cross between PWG with the brutality of one of the A-Kid classics in Spain.

I’d go ***** for this one and I think it’s the rare kind of a match that will appeal to every kind of fan except the ones who need great production values or they won’t accept it. But it felt like a match that viewed live would be one of those matches that you would never forgot that you were at. It would be better knowing the story because it was a story match. But it was so good with the fight feel that you would love the match not knowing the background, like the pro wrestling version of Corrales/Castillo (one of the great boxing fights ever which was one of those fights that even people who didn’t know either fighter ended up in awe of) or Zombie-Leonard Garcia in MMA. The crowd was molten.”

Jericho puts up AEW title shot in Tanahashi Wrestle Kingdom match

Posted on by Josh Nason

In a video posted to his Instagram Saturday morning, AEW Champion Chris Jericho officially added a stipulation to his match against Hiroshi Tanahashi for night two of next week’s Wrestle Kingdom 14 show.

Last week, Tanahashi floated the idea of a rematch for the AEW title if he is able to defeat Jericho in their first meeting on January 5th at the Tokyo Dome. It surprised many because the two organizations haven’t established a working relationship and there’s some bad blood due to how things ended when Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks and New Japan parted ways.

However, that didn’t stop Jericho from accepting Tanahashi’s challenge after he said he talked to Tony Khan:

View this post on Instagram

Getting ready to fly to #Tokyo on my private jet and I read your comments in #TokyoSports! And I agree…if you can beat me in the #TokyoDome on Jan 5, I will give you a shot at the @allelitewrestling World Championship! #forbiddendoor

A post shared by Chris Jericho (@chrisjerichofozzy) on Dec 28, 2019 at 6:42am PST

Jericho has a clause in his AEW contract allowing him to work in New Japan, but it’s unclear about whether this marks a change in the relationship between AEW and New Japan. The latter has had a working relationship with Ring of Honor for years, further adding questions to what is happening.

NJPW no longer airing on AXS TV

Posted on by Josh Nason

Five years after their relationship began, New Japan Pro Wrestling and AXS TV will go their separate ways starting in 2020.

NJPW tweeted Friday they have no further plans to broadcast matches, including Wrestle Kingdom, in the U.S. outside their New Japan World streaming service. AXS confirmed NJPW will no longer air on their network.

The two sides came together on a deal in late-2014 for 13 episodes of their World Pro Wrestling show that previously aired on TV Asahi with Mauro Ranallo (later Jim Ross) and Josh Barnett doing the English commentary. The viewership was so strong that they extended their deal for several years and extended to re-broadcasts of big events and some live shows as well.

With availability in 50 million homes, the American TV version was a key driver in NJPW’s increased popularity stateside where they have increased touring in recent years and will continue to do so in 2020.

In September, a majority interest in AXS was purchased by Anthem Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of Impact Wrestling who is expected to get the focus now that NJPW is gone. AXS has also aired Women of Wrestling, a group that features Tessa Blanchard, since January of 2019.

AEW announces new Women’s title match for January 1st Dynamite

Posted on by Josh Nason

AEW announced a change to their Women’s title match for the New Year’s Day edition of Dynamite.

Instead of Riho defending her title against top contender Kris Statlander on January 1st, she will now defend in a four-way against Nyla Rose, Britt Baker, and Hikaru Shida. The reason given was that Statlander had “prior commitments”. 

AEW also announced that Statlander will face the winner of the four-way in a title match the following Wednesday on the anniversary edition of Dynamite in Southaven, MS. Statlander earned the title shot with a win over Baker on the December 18th edition of Dynamite.

Dave Meltzer is reporting the commitment is for Joey Ryan’s Bar Wrestling and that they weren’t aware of the booking. Rather than pull her from that date, they made the change. 

Riho hasn’t wrestled for AEW since November 13th when she teamed with Baker to defeat Big Swole and Statlander for an AEW Dark match, and hasn’t defended the title since a win over Emi Sakura at the Full Gear pay-per-view.

The New Year’s Day Dynamite from Jacksonville, FL, will feature Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks vs. the Lucha Bros and PAC, Cody Rhodes vs. Darby Allin, MJF announcing stipulations for a match with Cody, and Jon Moxley giving his answer to Chris Jericho about joining the Inner Circle.

JNPO: 2019 MMA year in review, pt. 2

Posted on by Josh Nason

Editor’s Note: This is a free show. Just click below to listen.

Our four-part journey through the 2019 MMA year continues with Paul Fontaine and I sifting through April, May, and June. 

On the docket for part 2:

  • On a pay-per-view headliend by two interim title fights, both delivered like “real” title fights as Israel Adesanya-Kelvin Gastelum and Max Holloway-Dustin Poirier provided a literal UFC 1-2 punch
  • Rory MacDonald won a fight and then questioned if being a religious man meant he didn’t have the will to hurt people anymore…then fought less than two months later
  • Henry Cejudo and Patricio Pitbull both became two-division champions in hard-hitting fashion
  • The increasingly rapid decline of B.J. Penn
  • A controversy over whether spiking someone’s head into the mat is legal
  • Sage Northcutt got his face crushed in his ONE debut
  • Big fights were made, guys got hurt, cards existed, and Dana White had his share of head-scratching decisions

If you missed episode one, here you go.

Click the big red button to listen.

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JNPO: Ant Evans on life after UFC, his Bisping book, new projects

Posted on by Josh Nason

Ant Evans spent twelve years with the UFC, starting with a lead role in expanding the brand in the UK, EMEA, and Australia then moving on to be director of media relations for the global brand and wrapping up with a stint on the editorial side of the business with another key role in the early days of UFC Fight Pass.

He doesn’t do a lot of interviews which is why I was more than happy to get him for a one-hour chat on this week’s Josh Nason’s Punch-Out.

Evans is also the co-writer of ‘Quitters Never Win‘, the autobiography he co-wrote with Michael Bisping that is available for presale in the U.S. as well as the founder of Ultimate Insider on Substack, a free newsletter where he tells stories from the past along with features on fighters he admires. 

We talk about his days with the UFC and the game of trying to educate sportswriters and editors to cover a sport they didn’t know much about, and what he had to push back on. We cover why he launched a blog on Substack, why he didn’t get into the tell-all business, his work on the Bisping book, and a slew of stories anyone into the business side of the UFC will like to hear. 

Note that the audio quality fades a bit at times with some answers as the Skype connection wasn’t the best. However, what you’ll hear is well worth the listen.

Just click the red button below to listen.

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NWA Hard Times sells out in three hours

Posted on by Josh Nason

On a popular day for pay-per-view onsales, the NWA’s second PPV sold out in three hours Friday with VIP tickets selling out in just three minutes.

Hard Times is scheduled for Friday, January 24th at the GPB Studios in Atlanta, GA, and will be available on Fite.tv. December’s Into The Fire ppv, their first in this latest relaunch of the company, also sold out in three hours. 

Tickets are on sale for two more TV tapings on the subsequent Saturday and Sunday at the same venue which the company expects to sell out.

While no matches have been announced for Hard Times, they will hold a 12-man tournament for the revived TV championship with NWA World champion Nick Aldis, Ricky Starks, Caleb Konley, Colt Cabana, Zicky Dice, Trevor Murdoch, Question Mark, Eddie Kingston, Tim Storm, Dave Dawson, Zane Dawson, and Tom Latimer all vying for the belt. 

It’s also expected Marty Scurll will be on the show as he made a surprise appearance at Into The Fire.

AEW Revolution sells out in under an hour

Posted on by Josh Nason

This post was updated at 1:50 PM Eastern.

Despite having no matches announced, All Elite Wrestling sold out their next pay-per-view in under an hour Friday.

Revolution, scheduled for Saturday, February 29th at Chicago’s WinTrust Arena, will be their first PPV of 2020 and their fourth PPV in their history. While the exact amount of tickets sold wasn’t released, capacity for the venue is listed as just over 10,000 for basketball. 

Dave Meltzer noted that most tickets were sold out in 15 minutes, partially due to a pre-sale that took place yesterday. He added that the sellout would have been faster than an hour had AEW not released some limited visibility tickets at the 45 minute mark.

The event was scheduled the same weekend as C2E2, a major midwestern U.S. pop culture convention in Chicago geared toward comic book and entertainment fans.

Earlier this month, AEW announced they surpassed the 100,000 mark for tickets sold for events past and present. The Chicago area, and specifically the Sears Centre, has been a relatively frequent stop in the company’s young history and even in their pre-AEW days with All In.

Based on recent Dynamites, it appears the direction is AEW World champion Chris Jericho vs. Jon Moxley, and Cody Rhodes vs. MJF with the stipulations to be named on the New Year’s Day Dynamite.

Some additional thoughts from Meltzer:

“The sellout comes at a time when actual sellouts in the U.S. are rare. AEW’s last sellout was in Philadelphia in October. WWE did sell out for Survivor Series in Chicago but the other three events that weekend did not, nor did AEW’s television taping that Wednesday.

What was impressive is the sellout was done with no significant scalper activity which would make it the first major show to sell out without significant scalper activity since May. At this writing, there are only 328 secondary market tickets up. Usually, a show of this type that sells out would have no less than 1600 tickets at this point with average scalper activity and closer to 4000 with major activity.”

Henry Cejudo to be stripped of UFC 125-pound title

Posted on by Josh Nason

UFC will soon be down to one champ-champ as MMA Junkie reported Thursday night that Henry Cejudo will be stripped of the flyweight title.

While UFC has yet to formally announce the news or talk to Cejudo, the plan is for top contenders Joseph Benavidez and Deiveson Figueiredo to face off for the vacant belt on an ESPN+ show on February 29th in Norfolk, VA. That was first reported by BJPenn.com.

Cejudo, also the bantamweight champion, has been on the shelf for six months following shoulder surgery. The flyweight title was last defended in January when Cejudo finished T.J. Dillashaw in 32 seconds. He then beat Marlon Moraes for the vacant bantamweight title by third round TKO in June. It’s assumed he will not be stripped of that title.

The 35-year-old Benavidez is riding a three fight win streak and has been angling for a rematch against Cejudo who he beat by split decision in December 2016. Benavidez has lost just once since 2014, a stretch of 10 fights.

The 31-year-old Figueiredo has won two straight and is 17-1 in his career. He has been in the UFC since 2017 and is 6-1 since then with his lone loss coming to Jussier Formiga. Formiga was defeated by Benavidez earlier this year.

The remaining double champion is Amanda Nunes who holds the UFC women’s bantamweight and featherweight titles.

Cody vs. Darby Allin scheduled for New Year’s Day AEW Dynamite

Posted on by Josh Nason

A rematch between Cody Rhodes and Darby Allin is scheduled for the January 1st edition of AEW Dynamite.

Allin tweeted about the match Wednesday night while Rhodes tweeted Thursday morning he is looking forward to it. AEW is calling the New Year’s Day broadcast a homecoming edition of the show from Jacksonville, FL. 

The two teamed up on this week’s Dynamite against The Butcher and The Blade with the stipulation that if Allin and Rhodes won, Allin would get a rematch. They got the victory when Rhodes hit the Cody Cutter on The Blade for the win. On the broadcast, they didn’t mention when Allin would get his opportunity.

They first wrestled at Fyter Fest this past June and went to a 20-minute draw. Allin came out as an ally of Cody’s two weeks ago after he and QT Marshall lost to The Butcher and The Blade, setting up Wednesday’s tag match. 

The New Year’s Day Dynamite also will feature women’s champion Riho vs. Kris Statlander, Jon Moxley’s decision on whether to join Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle faction, and MJF laying out stipulations for an eventual match with Cody.

WWE’s Jimmy Uso found not guilty in Florida DUI case

Posted on by Josh Nason

After an hour of deliberation, a Florida jury found WWE wrestler Jimmy Uso not guilty of DUI Wednesday in an Escambia County courtroom.

Uso (Jonathan Fatu) was arrested in late July for an unlawful blood alcohol level by local police. The arresting officer, Jeremy Meeks, observed Uso swerving left and right and smelled alcohol after he pulled him over. He never refused a field sobriety test but did ask for his lawyer, later opting for a jury trial. A video from the arrest showed Fatu swerving and speeding, hitting 86 mph at one point, 41 over the speed limit. The speeding ticket he received remains on his record.

Meeks testified Wednesday and observed that Uso had a hard time opening up the door, getting out of the vehicle, and stumbled.

Uso didn’t speak to the media after the verdict, but his lawyer (seen above with Uso) said, “A cop can arrest you but they cannot convict you and that’s why we took it to the next level and plead not guilty and set out for a case trial.” No reason or rationale was given for the verdict.

This was Uso’s second arrest of 2019 as he and wife Naomi (Trinity Fatu) were pulled over in Detroit, MI, and he was charged with disorderly conduct and obstruction. The arresting officer noted the car smelled of alcohol. He later pleaded no contest and paid $450 in fines.

Uso and brother Jey have been off WWE TV since the summer.

MMA notes: UFC PPV price increase, Rory MacDonald signs with PFL

Posted on by Josh Nason

On Wednesday, it was revealed that ESPN is raising prices for UFC pay-per-views on their ESPN+ streaming service starting with January’s UFC 246 show headlined by the return of Conor McGregor.

The new price will be $64.99, a return to the pre-ESPN era. When ESPN took over as the sole U.S. provider for the UFC’s PPV distribution last March, they reduced the price to $59.99 to help account for the $5 monthly ESPN+ fee.

As part of their PPV deal, the sports network giant pays UFC a monthly flat amount for the exclusivity and the two sides do a revenue split after a certain amount is reached.

**********

Former Bellator welterweight champion Rory MacDonald has signed with the PFL, first reported by ESPN’s Ariel Helwani.

The move came as a surprise as the 30-year-old had a successful three-year run with Bellator after leaving the UFC. During his time in Bellator, he went 3-2-1 and won their welterweight title, successfully defending it twice. He lost it to Douglas Lima in October in the finals of the company’s welterweight Grand Prix.

After the Lima fight, he became a free agent as the champion’s clause no longer applied to him.

PFL runs on a season-style format where the winner of each weight division takes home up to $1 million. Helwani reported the Canadian will be part of their 2020 season and will compete for their welterweight title.

Colt Cabana finishes run with Ring of Honor

Posted on by Josh Nason

First reported by POST Wrestling’s John Pollock, Colt Cabana has wrapped up his run with Ring of Honor at Friday’s Final Battle pay-per-view.

According to Pollock, it was known since September that Cabana wouldn’t be returning. We can confirm that Cabana never had an official contract with the company and was on a handshake deal. He was offered a new deal, but chose to turn it down.

At Final Battle in Baltimore, the 39-year-old faced, and lost to, fellow veteran Alex Shelley for the first time in an angle set up on the pre-show.

This was Cabana’s third run with ROH as he was a big part of the company from 2002 through 2007, feuding (and later teaming) with CM Punk, Nigel McGuinness, Austin Aries, and Daniel Bryan. He held ROH’s tag titles twice with Punk and left the company to sign with WWE.

He returned to ROH in 2009 and worked there regularly through 2011 along with other promotions, and returned again in 2016 as a wrestler/commentator, trending more toward the latter in recent years. 

Cabana is the NWA National champion and will defend the title Saturday against Ricky Starks and Aron Stevens at the brand’s first-ever PPV. It’s expected he will be part of their subsequent Sunday and Monday TV tapings for Power.

JNPO: 2019 MMA year in review, part 1

Posted on by Josh Nason

It’s December. You know what that means.

I kick off our four-part journey through the MMA year that was in 2019 with our good friend and website writer Paul Fontaine, aka The King of Winnipeg.

On the docket for our look through January, February, and March:

  • UFC’s debut on ESPN and the 32-second main event win to kick off the ESPN+ era
  • Ryan Bader becoming a Bellator champ-champ with a 35-second knockout of Fedor Emelianenko
  • Colby Covington’s non-stop petitioning for a UFC title shot and his verbal assault against Dana White
  • Cain Velasquez return and then exit from MMA after meeting Francis Ngannou’s hands
  • The fall of T.J. Dillashaw
  • March’s UFC 235 which featured the return of Jon Jones, Ben Askren’s memorable debut, and a new welterweight champion
  • The kickoff to Jorge Masvidal’s big 2019 with his knockout of Darren Till 
  • The constant will they/won’t they regarding Donald Cerrone and Conor McGregor
  • ESPN taking over the distribution of UFC’s pay-per-views…and tons more

Click the big red button to listen:

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Angel Garza wins NXT Cruiserweight title, gets engaged

Posted on by Josh Nason

Angel Garza is the new NXT Cruiserweight champion and is also engaged following WWE NXT Wednesday night.

The 27-year-old Garza submitted Lio Rush to win the title in a fantastic match that opened up the show. It’s the first taste of NXT gold for Garza who signed with WWE this spring.

Following the match and while NXT was in commercial, Garza did a babyface promo and brought his girlfriend into the ring. He pulled out the ring and asked her in Spanish to marry him. They aired the proposal when they came back from break.

Garza is the first Mexican-born Cruiserweight champion, a title revived in 2016 by WWE and rebranded as an NXT belt that can also be defended on 205 Live. Rush won the title in early-October and held the title for 63 days.