We’re getting closer to the finals, but there are still a few shows to go as we recap this morning’s matches held in Kanagawa.
Katsuhiko Nakajima defeated David Finlay with the brainbuster.
Kenny Omega & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Satoshi Kojima & Captain New Japan when Yujiro pinned CNJ with the Pimp Juice DDT.
Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, & BUSHI defeated Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI, & Gedo when BUSHI pinned Gedo after a Codebreaker off the top rope.
Katsuyori Shibata, Michael Elgin, KUSHIDA, Ryusuke Taguchi & Juice Robinson defeated Yuji Nagata, Tomoaki Honma, Manabu Nakanishi, Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask when KUSHIDA submitted Tiger Mask with the Hoverboard Lock.
Naomichi Marufuji defeated Tama Tonga
Solid match. These two had some pretty good exchanges throughout. Marufuji was pelting him with kicks when Tonga evened the score with a reverse Gun Stun. Tonga tried going for another but Marufuji kept stopping him. Marufuji then got the win with the Sliced Bread.
SANADA defeated Tomohiro Ishii
Awesome match! The crowd got really into it towards the end and the action was super throughout. SANADA is really showcasing himself as a future star, and Ishii is becoming the MVP of this tournament like he has in other years.
Really good back and forth. They were doing some great exchanges when SANADA started to get the upper hand with a hurricanrana out of nowhere and a dropkick from the top rope. SANADA kept trying for the Skull End submission, but Ishii avoided it and hit the sliding D.
Crowd picked up at this point. They did some great suplex counters until SANADA laid Ishii out with a TKO (after a great exchange) and put on the Skull End. Ishii fought it for a bit, but eventually couldn’t fight anymore and submitted.
Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Good match. Tenzan worked as the babyface with Tanahashi doing the subtle heel role. He even did the Mongolian chops for heat. Tanahashi did a great job in carrying Tenzan as he did a good bulk of the work.
Tanahashi missed the High Fly Flow, which allowed Tenzan to come back with a lariat to the back of the head. Tenzan hit the moonsault but Tanahashi started fighting back, hit the Sling Blade and the High Fly Flow for the win.
Bad Luck Fale defeated Kazuchika Okada
Another solid match. After days of being beaten up by Fale, the ring announcer finally got smart and bolted from the ring before Fale could do any more damage.
Okada and Fale ended up brawling around the arena. Fale went for the Grenade but Okada turned it into a dropkick. He tried the tombstone but couldn’t get Fale up. He tried the Rainmaker but Fale gave him a lariat instead, then hit the grenade and the Bad Luck Fall for the win.
Hirooki Goto defeated Togi Makabe
Good match, but these two have had better. They hit each other hard early. Crowd got into it as they started to exchange punches. Makabe fought for the Spider German on the top rope and got it, but didn’t connect with the King Kong knee drop.
More back and forth. Makabe hit Goto with a lariat so big that they both ended up falling to the floor. Makabe went for a lariat but Goto hit the neckbreaker on the knee, then finished Makabe with the GTR.
Ring of Honor television wrapped up a series of episodes taped in Concord, NC, with a major angle. In doing so, ROH World Champion Jay Lethal is now cemented in a role as the babyface protagonist opposing the heel antagonist Bullet Club. However, Lethal is also now bald after a dastardly deed.
ACT I: The Decree
On a previous episode of ROH, Kyle O’Reilly was set to challenge Jay Lethal for the world title. Adam Cole, along with the Bullet Club, vowed that O’Reilly would never be champion. The Bullet Club attacked O’Reilly, with Cole smashing a chair on O’Reilly’s shoulder. An injured O’Reilly looked to be out of the title match.
Medical personnel taped up O’Reilly’s shoulder and he promised to wrestle for the title. Lethal looked concerned about going through with the match. Still, he defended the title against O’Reilly. They had a lengthy match where O’Reilly worked with basically one arm.
Just as he would appear defeated, O’Reilly fought back. Nevertheless, overcoming the injury was too much for O’Reilly, who fell victim to a Lethal Injection and was pinned.
After the match, the Bullet Club ran in and once again attacked O’Reilly. They were pummeling him when Lethal ran back down the aisle, joined by Bobby Fish to make the save. O’Reilly laid in a heap as the Bullet Club smirked and sneered as they backed away.
Fed up with the attacks by the Bullet Club, authority figure and matchmaker Nigel McGuinness made an official decree. He said that as long as he is in charge, Cole will never get another shot at the world title.
ACT II: The Challenge
On the following TV show after McGuinness made his decree, Lethal opened the show with an in-ring promo. Lethal has seemingly been slowly turning babyface over the last few months. He definitely was no longer a heel. On this promo opening the show, he most definitely was the protagonist.
Lethal said the Bullet Club attack on O’Reilly just wasn’t right, and he wanted to correct things. He noted the main event on this episode was The Young Bucks vs. The Briscoes. Lethal asked McGuinness to make the match a six-man tag. Lethal wanted to himself and Cole added to the match.
McGuinness agreed and the main event became a six-man tag match. That would be rising action for the main plot as other subplots developed.
ACT III: The Dastardly Deed
Jay Lethal & The Briscoes defeated Adam Cole & The Young Bucks
Matt Taven provided guest commentary. He was decent enough, but him being out there distracted from the main story. During the Bullet Club entrance, Cole hinted at the deed to come when he spoke into the camera. The match itself was action-packed in the beginning before it settled down, only to get wilder by the finish.
The action built to Nick Jackson shoving Mark Briscoe off the top rope. Mark crashed through a table at ringside. Sold as him being too injured to continue, security tried to remove him from ringside. Mark struggled to free himself, though he still looked too injured to continue.
McGuinness stopped doing commentary after saying he would ensure Mark is taken away for medical attention. So, the authority figure exits the scene.
With Mark out of the match, the Bullet Club has a three-on-two advantage against Lethal and Jay Briscoe. This reinforces Lethal as the babyface protagonist to the heel antagonists. Though he is worked over some, he and Briscoe still make a comeback.
When the match breaks down and everyone starts brawling all at once, Lethal delivers the Lethal Injection to Cole. Lethal then used a schoolboy to roll up Matt Jackson for the deciding pinfall.
Done with commentary, Taven left ringside. Therefore, the only ROH personnel on the scene were Kevin Kelly and an inadequate security team. The Bullet Club attacked both Lethal and Briscoe after the bell. Cole grabbed a steel chair and struck the outnumbered Jays. Cole gave Briscoe a Jay Driller on a chair, laying him out.
The Bullet Club hit Lethal with a triple superkick. Cole then retrieved a black bag. First, he pulled out scissors and cut off the the long braids of Lethal. Then, he grabbed electric clippers and shaved Lethal’s head. Cary Silkin even made a cameo appearance trying to stop the Bullet Club, but to no avail.
Conor McGregor has some WWE folks upset because he’s using pro wrestling to get attention on social media to help build up his fight on 8/20. McGregor got exposed from a business standpoint in trying to use social media to get himself back on UFC 200 and doing his fake retirement for attention. So now it’s “I didn’t mean no disrespect to the WWE fans, what I meant to say was that I’d slap the head off your entire roster. And twice on Sundays.”
This isn’t a McGregor angle to build to an appearance, at least not right now. It could always wind up that way. If it was, McGregor would have insulted HHH and the McMahons and he was careful to do the opposite. But tons of wrestlers have responded, for Chris Jericho, who was the only one who made a joke of it, to Roman Reigns, Ric Flair, Dolph Ziggler, A.J. Styles, Curtis Axel, Sasha Banks, Baron Corbin, Kurt Angle and others.
Flair posted a photo of Dolph Ziggler wrestling at Kent State saying,“If anyone doubts whether or not Dolph could tie Conor in a knot, do yourself a favor and Google his accomplishments.”“After Diaz finishes you again, I dare you to try guys like Dolph, Brock or Fit. Oh, and you’re welcome for your gimmick.”
While it’s not a secret and actually quite obvious that McGregor’s gimmick is based on Ric Flair, which he has privately admitted although he publicly won’t. There was kind of an agreement that neither would ever say it. Flair also referenced it saying, “Coming from a guy who built a career copying my persona, I expected the type of class we get from Ronda or Anderson.”
We’ll be doing a poll this weekend on the G-1 Climax show in Osaka at the Edion Arena which starts at 4 a.m. tomorrow morning Eastern and 1 a.m. tonight Pacific time with thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected].
WWE in Stockton (Dean Ambrose vs. A.J. Styles for WWE title, Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins, Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt, New Day vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson for tag team title, The Miz vs. Darren Young for IC title, Sami Zayn vs. Alberto Del Rio, Cesaro vs. Sheamus) and the NXT shows in New Orleans and Largo, FL
WWE in Fresno (Dean Ambrose vs. A.J. Style for WWE title, Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins, Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt, New Day vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson for tag titles, The Miz vs. Darren Young for IC title, Sami Zayn vs. Alberto Del Rio, Cesaro vs. Sheamus).
G-1 CLIMAX AT 5:30 A.M. EASTERN TIME MONDAY FROM THE YOKOHAMA CULTURAL GYM
David Finlay vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
Satoshi Kojima & Captain New Japan vs. Kenny Omega & Yujiro Takahashi
Katsuyori Shibata & Michael Elgin & Kushida & Ryusuke Taguchi & Juice Robinson vs. Yuji Nagata & Tomoaki Honma & Manabu Nakanishi & Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask
Naomichi Marufuji vs. Tama Tonga
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Seiya Sanada
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale
Togi Makabe vs. Hirooki Goto
Monday has WWE Raw from the Honda Center in Anaheim. No Brock Lesnar or Paul Heyman scheduled on the show. Daniel Bryan will be appearing on the show.
Tuesday has Smackdown in Bakersfield. Neither John Cena nor A.J. Styles are scheduled for this show because they leaving Monday night after Raw for a house show in Auckland, New Zealand, starting a four-show Australia & New Zealand tour. Rhyno vs. Heath Slater is scheduled for this show.
G-1 CLIMAX AT 5:30 A.M. EASTERN TIME ON WEDNESDAY FROM THE YAMAGATA SPORTS CENTER
Ryusuke Taguchi vs. David Finlay
Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi & Juice Robinson vs. Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Captain New Japan vs. Bushi & Seiya Sanada
Figure Four Weekly: Figure Four Weekly 8/3/2016: Latest developments in wrestling related lawsuits – If it wasn’t clear before that the Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker lawsuit is a whole lot bigger than Hulk Hogan or even Gawker, the events of the last few weeks have made it more obvious than ever before. Of course, the revelation two months ago that billionaire Peter Thiel had been funding Hogan’s lawsuit (and others against Gawker) was a game changer, but the effects of Thiel’s influence weren’t as obvious… Subscribers click here to continue reading.
F4W YouTube Page: Tons of clips and full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!
Even though the idea of barely making a profit in the quarter of WrestleMania would have been disastrous most years, this year it was stated well in advance that due to the time frame of programming costs, this quarter would probably break even.
WWE pushed that it was the most revenue ever generated in a quarter, but with the fallout of WrestleMania and the new free subscribers from the prior quarter, that was inevitable. Some of them stayed with the service, some may have forgotten to cancel the service, and there are also the contractual increases in television revenue. Plus there was the Mania event revenue… Subscribers click here to continue reading.
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 Dave Meltzer, or by using Paypal directing funds to [email protected].
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With the dominance of things related to the Olympics, nothing from yesterday’s UFC show did anything when it came to Google hits.
Donovan Dijak vs. Lio Rush vs. Jay White vs. Kamaitachi in a four-way where the winner gets a shot at TV champion Bobby Fish was added to the 8/19 ROH PPV show from Las Vegas.
WWE
Not sure if this has to do with wrestling, but the Ziggy comic strap yesterday had Ziggy and his dog seeing a plaque that read, “Graciously donated by the incredibly generous Wyatt Family.” (thanks to Brian Henke)
Speaking of which, Bray Wyatt worked against Randy Orton last night in Stockton. The match was kept short due to Wyatt’s ankle sprain from Tuesday
Preston City Wrestling’s 5th anniversary show from yesterday in Preston, England: Chris Ridgeway over Dave Birch, Kenny Williams, Jack Barno, Philip Michael and James Finn, Noam Dar b Sha Samuels to retain the PCW title, Viper b Sweet Saraya, T-Bone & Rampage Brown b James David & Rob Lynch and Roy & Zak Knight to keep the tag titles, Lionheart b Jeff Cobb, Dave Mastiff b Jay White, Bubblegum b El Ligero to win the cruiserweight title, Dave Rayne & Keith Myatt & Alex Boylin & Nordic Warrior & Danny Hope b Iestyn Rees & Joey Hayes & Martin Kirby & Sammy Smooth & Jimmy Jay, Noam Dar b Rampage Brown to keep the PCW title. Lionheart won with a low blow. Bubblegum vs. Ligero was the match of the night. (thanks to Jan Buxton)
Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling on 8/13 in Vancouver at the Russian Community Centre.
Former WWE wrestler Josh Woods, who was just cut from developmental, is taking bookings at [email protected]. He has a non-compete until 9/3. He will be continuing his pro wrestling training at the Team Vision Dojo.
Resurrection Fighting Alliance on 8/19 in Visalia, CA at the Convention Center live on AXS TV featuring Christos Gioagos vs. Arthur Estrazulas for the lightweight title which airs live on AXS TV.
The Scenic City Invitational pro wrestling tournament first night on Friday night in East Hampton, GA, before 225 fans (350 paid, due to tickets sold by the local high school baseball team to people who didn’t come): Jimmy Rave b John Skyler, Joey Lynch b Ray Fury, Billy Buck b Drew Delight, Anthony Henry b Lio Rush (best match), Gunner Miller b Mikael Judas, Chip Day b Odinson, Matt Riddle b Corey Hollis (who was on Raw against Braun Strowman on Monday), Chris Hero b Kyle Matthews (thanks to Larry Goodman)
La Resistance, Sylvain Grenier and Rene Dupree, will reunite on 9/10 in Quebec City, Quebec for NSPW. This will be the first time they’ve teamed together in Quebec, or Canada for that matter, in 13 years, since a July 7, 2003 match in Montreal where they won a squash for Sunday Night Heat against enhancement wrestlers Bobby “Rude” (how it was spelled at the time) & Tyson Dux. (thanks to Pat Laprade)
Best in the West on 8/20 in Fresno taped for FITE TV with Jeff Cobb vs. Virgil Flynn, Joey Ryan vs. Mike Rayne and Sheik Khan Abadi vs. Wiseguy. Christina Von Eerie and Mustafa Saed are also advertised. The show is at the VFW Hall #8900 at 3585 N. Blythe with a 6 p.m. start.
Lucha Xtreme TV results from last night in Fresno: Donny Suarez b Shadow James, Manny Fernandez & Donny Suarez DDQ Big Dogg & Skitzo, Homicide b Brandon Groom-DQ. Next taping is 8/21 in Hanford, CA at the Civic Auditorium with Homicide vs. Groom announced. They will also start a tournament for the Lucha Xtreme title that ends in October at the Big Fresno Fair. The last three champions, Jeff Cobb, JR Kratos and Mortal have all left the promotion without dropping the title. (thanks to Jon Southerland)
I Believe in Wrestling from last night in Orlando: Super Six Survival tournament first round: Jonny Vandal b Alex Todd, Brandon Scherer b Leo O’Farrell, Mike Reed b Bran Valor, Jon Cruz b Slade Porter, Chico Adams b Rey Xion, Tyranus b Siniestro, Raquel & MJ Knight & Jenson Fratelli b Raegan Farie & Layne Rosario & Ivory Robyn, Brandon Scherer won over Jonny Vandal, Mike Reed, Jon Cruz, Chico Adams and Tyranus in a six-way. Next show is 9/3 with Rhett Giddins defending the Florida title against Scherer plus Santana Garrett and Raquel. (thanks to Al Haft)
UPW Headlocks and Homeruns from last night in Webster, NY: Victor Lord over Kevin Cartwright and Mike Skyros, Jordan Falco b Jeremy Jensen, HC Loc b Cloudy, Tygerslayer 08 & Interstate Educational System b Wet Bandits & WrestleFamily, Brooklyn Brawler b Marc Hauss, Dick Justice (managed by Dutch Mantell) b Jock Samson, Professor Wessler won Battle Royal, Dan Seven b Chris Cayden, Nick Ando b Cheech, Mattick b Maximo Suave in a cage match to win the UPW title. (thanks to Todd Brantley)
Night 14 of the 26th G1 Climax is upon us, this time featuring a clash of stablemates as Tetsuya Naito tackles EVIL. Here are this morning’s show results, which took place in Shizuoka:
Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, & Captain New Japan defeated David Finlay, KUSHIDA, & Ryusuke Taguchi when Liger pinned Finlay with a crucifix.
Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii defeated SANADA & BUSHI when Goto pinned BUSHI with the GTR.
Juice Robinson, Hiroshi Tanahashi, & Togi Makabe defeated Manabu Nakanishi, Satoshi Kojima, & Hiroyoshi Tenzan when Makabe pinned Nakanishi with the King Kong knee drop.
Yujiro Takahashi, Bad Luck Fale, & Tama Tonga defeated Naomichi Marufuji, Kazuchika Okada, & Gedo when Yujiro pinned Gedo with the Pimp Juice DDT.
Toru Yano defeated Michael Elgin
Typical Yano match — didn’t last long and was just what it was. Yano went for the turnbuckle but Elgin laid him out with a release German suplex. Elgin fought back; Yano tried for the hair pull, but in case you didn’t know Elgin doesn’t have any hair.
Yano did the low blow/ref spot then cradled Elgin for the surprise win.
Katsuyori Shibata defeated YOSHI-HASHI
Good match. They brawled around the ring to start. Nice back and forth action, lots of striking and big shots.
YOSHI-HASHI missed the swanton and kept avoiding Shibata’s moves to avoid the sleeper. He sank in the butterfly lock but Shibata escaped. YH hit the senton, this time connecting, but Shibata still kicked out.
Shibata applied the butterfly lock, threw him in a suplex, and put him in the sleeper. One Penalty Kick later and he scores the win.
Katsuhiko Nakajima defeated Tomoaki Honma
Really good stuff, the crowd was into it and both guys worked well with one another. Nakajima leveled Honma early with a DDT to the apron. Honma fought back, hitting the Kokeshi.
Turned out to be a pretty competitive back and forth match that the crowd eventually got into. Very hard hitting, including a kick and chop battle. Honma nailed the Kokeshi in the back of the head then hit another but missed the finish.
Nakajima hit a big time kick on Honma, who was on the top rope, then nailed him with a backdrop suplex. He eventually hit the Penalty Kick and the brainbuster for the win.
Kenny Omega defeated Yuji Nagata
To me, this seemed like a clash of styles. It wasn’t bad by any means, it just came off like they never got on the right footing to take it to the next level.
Omega worked on Nagata’s leg, using submissions and targeting it throughout the match. It seemed like Omega was light years ahead in speed, making Nagata seem older as far as in ring style.
Nagata grabbed him through the middle rope and suplexed him to the floor. Nagata targeted his arm but Omega came back with the One Winged Angel for the win.
Tetsuya Naito defeated EVIL
Nice match. It took a while to get things rolling, but they got there and this ended up being pretty good. They took their time, but eventually the bell rang and they went at it.
Naito controlled a lot of the match early, doing stuff that was fine but nothing out of this world. Naito worked on EVIL’s leg. EVIL made the comeback and leveled Naito with a clothesline from the top rope, a half nelson suplex, and a big lariat but Naito went back to the leg.
EVIL took Naito on his shoulders and went to the top rope but Naito came back with a hurricanrana in a fantastic spot. He went for Destino but EVIL countered with a powerslam. EVIL hit a roaring elbow and a lariat and went for the STO but Naito quickly countered into the Destino for the win.
Naito cut a promo after the match. All’s good in Los Ingobernables de Japon as both guys fist pumped after the match as well. A good, not great show.
If it wasn’t clear before that the Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker lawsuit is a whole lot bigger than Hulk Hogan or even Gawker, the events of the last few weeks have made it more obvious than ever before.
Of course, the revelation two months ago that billionaire Peter Thiel had been funding Hogan’s lawsuit (and others against Gawker) was a game changer, but the effects of Thiel’s influence weren’t as obvious. Before, it was about Hogan dropping the count that would force Gawker’s insurance company to pay and his constant refusal to settle a risky, legally complicated case.
Now? There’s a lot more to it.
The $140+ million judgment in Hogan’s favor and the peculiarities of Florida law, which make it so that a bond in the amount of the judgment (capped at $50 million) is needed to appeal, led to Gawker Media itself filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. An asset auction, with publisher Ziff Davis as the “stalking horse” bidder, is coming in a few weeks.
As for Denton and Daulerio, while they are theoretically indemnified by Gawker, the bankruptcy effectively makes it so that they’re not. As a result, Denton filed personal Chapter 11 bankruptcy on August 1st, and Daulerio is expected to follow soon.
The full extent of how Thiel’s involvement is impacting the case became apparent in bankruptcy court. Hogan, as the owner of the largest debt, wields quite a bit of influence on the creditor committee.
As I first reported on LawNewz a few weeks back, the committee has already expressed its intention enter discussions with potential buyers “to make sure that any defamatory, tortious content that’s currently on the web pages today is taken down, in connection with the sale.”
Gawker has not lost any defamation cases, and in fact, one of their outstanding defamation cases is over an article where it’s impossible to read the article as having defamed the subject.
That set the stage for what Hogan had planned next. Denton and Daulerio got brief injunctions against the judgment as part of Gawker’s bankruptcy filing. When they expired, Denton and Gawker went back to bankruptcy court on July 19th to get a six week extension.
The idea was simple: Denton was acknowledging that bankruptcy was inevitable, but it benefited everyone involved, including Hogan, to put it off until after the sale. He’s the point man, the one who has the connections and knows how the maximize Gawker’s value. Personal bankruptcy would take too much time and energy away from the sale, possibly lowering the sale price at auction.
So why not wait a few weeks?
For no real reason, Hogan fought this, making the case that Gawker can run fine without Denton. In the end, while the judge seemed less than happy with Hogan’s counsel wasting his time with largely fabricated allegations of deception against Gawker, he felt that Gawker wouldn’t suffer irreparable harm in the sale so he found for Hogan, who was now artificially limiting how much of the judgment he could collect.
Wait, what?
You see, Hogan’s not actually acting like a creditor. A creditor placing a priority on getting all of his money would not have done what he did. Someone with the goal of getting straight up revenge would. Your mileage may vary as to if that applies to Hogan, but it certainly applies to Peter Thiel.
It’s bad enough that you have to wonder if, at this point, Hogan is also being paid by Thiel to keep this going.
What’s going on in bankruptcy court is not the only reason to think that, though: When Hogan brought his latest lawsuit against Gawker (which is frozen by the bankruptcy), alleging that they leaked his racist comments without any actual evidence, he brought those comments back into the news and public discourse at a point where they had largely evaporated.
By pursuing a lawsuit centered around them, he virtually assured that WWE wouldn’t bring him back any time soon because he was putting the revelation of his racism (not to mention how two-faced he was in talking that way about Cecile Barker, who thought he was Hogan’s best friend) was going to be at the center of his life for, potentially, the next few years.
Does limiting his opportunities to make money like that sound like something Hulk Hogan would do? Remember, this is a guy whose WCW contract paid him $20,000 a month just to wear NWO shirts away from work as a brand ambassador.
Launching a lawsuit with an incredibly slim likelihood of succeeding that would keep him out of WWE and other mainstream gigs is not a Hulk Hogan thing to do unless he has a benefactor of some kind. And to some degree, we know he already does.
Is it really a leap to think that Thiel is also supporting Hogan’s day to day life? Even the $30 million or so that Hogan would need to get his old lifestyle back isn’t a big expenditure for Thiel at all.
If you had already made the decision to treat Hogan as a former pro wrestling personality, then the implications of his pact with Thiel could very well be proving you right.
After another day’s break we’re back for another day of G1 action, with today’s show being held in Osaka.
Tiger Mask & Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Ryusuke Taguchi & Captain New Japan when Captain New Japan submitted to the double arm scissors submission. Taguchi’s been doing his alter ego gimmick he does outside of pro wrestling on the second half of this tour and singing his way to the ring.
They aired a taped Jay Lethal promo. He’s got title defenses all around the world, the next being Satoshi Kojima. He’ll beat him faster than anyone in his entire life. Just another blip on the radar — Kojima will be no different. Lethal will leave Japan still Ring of Honor champion.
EVIL, BUSHI, & Tetsuya Naito defeated Satoshi Kojima, KUSHIDA, & Juice Robinson after EVIL pinned Robinson with an STO.
Kenny Omega & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi when Yujiro pinned Nakanishi with the Pimp Juice DDT.
Katsuhiko Nakajima, Toru Yano, Gedo, & YOSHI-HASHI defeated David Finlay, Katsuyori Shibata, Michael Elgin, & Tomoaki Honma when Nakajima pinned Finlay with the Penalty Kick.
Tama Tonga defeated SANADA
Started off slow but picked up very well towards the end of the match. While Tama Tonga holds his own in matches, SANADA comes off as a better personality and is more fluid in the ring. SANADA tried for the Skull End submission but Tonga countered with the waistlock DDT.
After a great back and forth, SANADA hit a TKO and locked in the Skull End but Tonga reversed it into an inverted DDT. SANADA nearly got him with a cradle but Tonga bounced back with a Gun Stun for the win.
Bad Luck Fale defeated Togi Makabe
Solid match, better than you would think. All action and never dragged. This turned into a slugfest early as they brawled out of the ring to the outside. Turned into a competitive back and forth match.
Makabe was going for the knee drop, but Fale came back and was going for the Bad Luck Fall when Makabe reversed it. Fale splashed him in the corner and was going for punches when Makabe powerbombed him. Fale fought back and got the win with the grenade.
Hirooki Goto defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Good match. The effects of this G1 were already pretty apparent with Tenzan as he hobbled to the ring. They had a pretty good match regardless.
Goto went for the GTR but Tenzan reversed it with the TTD and followed with the moonsault. They went at it some more, with Tenzan decking Goto with headbutt shots. Goto came back with the sleeper, then hit the GTR for the win.
Tomohiro Ishii defeated Kazuchika Okada
Incredible match, the last few minutes were outstanding and is probably up there with some of the best matches of the tournament.
Started off hot with both trying to do their finishes early but both were able to dodge them. Okada laid out Ishii with a draping DDT on the barricade to the floor. Ishii made a comeback in the ring but Okada laid him out with a Death Valley Driver. Ishii responded with a giant superplex and laid him out with the sliding D.
Okada countered a brainbuster and hit three sliding kicks. Okada tried for the Rainmaker, Ishii dodged it and went for a lariat but Okada hit the German suplex. He hung on to him and went for the Rainmaker but Ishii responded with headbutts that laid Okada out.
Ishii brought him up but Okada sprung to life and tried to tombstone him. Ishii responded by reversing it, piledriving him, then laying him out with the brainbuster for the win.
Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Naomichi Marufuji
This didn’t compare to the previous match but was still really good. Both guys looked on point. They started off mat wrestling. They made it to the apron where Marufuji hit a piledriver on the apron, geez.
Marufuji worked on him a lot after that, including wiping him out with a plancha on the outside. Marufuji attempted the Sliced Bread a few times, but Tanahashi blocked it and hit the Sling Blade. He went for the High Fly Flow but in mid-air Marufuji caught him with the double knees.
Marufuji’s kicks always look on point and it’s awesome. Tanahashi caught Marufuji with a twisting neckbreaker, then came back with the Sling Blade and two High Fly Flows for the win.
Another good show. Definitely check out the Ishii vs. Okada match.
We’re only weeks away from one of the biggest UFC fights of the year, as Nate Diaz is set to take on Conor McGregor in the main event of UFC 202 on August 20th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV.
In advance of the fight, both Diaz and McGregor will meet with media members on a conference call tonight. And there are sure to be verbal fireworks with two of the UFC’s most outspoken fighters on the call.
That call will be available to listen to live right here starting at (or approximately, given the two competitors) 6 p.m. EST.
After riding a massive wave of media hype created by his outspokenness and increasingly high profile victories, McGregor was tapped out by Diaz in their first fight earlier this year. The two were supposed to meet again in the main event of UFC 200, but McGregor was pulled from the show after refusing to fulfill promotional obligations.
McGregor will be out for revenge at UFC 202, while Diaz will be trying to prove that he was always deserving of the main event spotlight.
NXT opened with Hideo Itami finally making his return after being out of action for over a year with a shoulder injury. Itami’s real life injury was turned into an angle, with him being assaulted by a mystery attacker in the parking lot prior to NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable last year.
Fingers were initially pointed at Kevin Owens, and there was speculation on this week’s show about whether Owens was really responsible for the attack.
Maluta made his NXT debut after losing to Kota Ibushi in the first round of the Cruiserweight Classic. Fellow CWC competitors Zack Sabre Jr., Drew Gulak, and Tony Nese were ringside to watch the match. But it was mostly a showcase for Itami, with him making quick work of Maluta.
Itami did a promo after the match about what is next for him in NXT.
Asuka shows her mean streak.
NXT Women’s Champion Asuka faced off against Aliyah with TakeOver challenger Bayley watching on from ringside. Asuka showed more of a mean streak than she has been showing lately, and Bayley had to step in after the match to make Asuka release a submission.
The victorious Asuka will now set her eyes on her title defense against Bayley in Brooklyn later this month.
Ember Moon is coming.
After last week’s somewhat vague vignette, another aired this week confirming that Ember Moon will soon be making her debut.
Moon will also be in action at TakeOver, making her first televised appearance. She was known as Athena prior to the name change and will look to help restock the NXT women’s division after the brand split depleted some of its roster depth.
The “It Factor” makes his debut.
Despite making cameo appearances at the last two TakeOver specials and wrestling on NXT live events, this was former TNA World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Roode’s official NXT debut.
He cut a promo in front of the crowd, but the initially adoring crowd quickly started to turn against Roode as he got increasingly arrogant and ran down NXT fans throughout the segment.
Cruiserweight Classic —
Rich Swann shines.
After making a couple appearances in losing efforts on NXT TV, Rich Swann got his first showcase on WWE programming in the first round of the CWC against Hong Kong’s Jason Lee. Swann showed his trademark charisma and ability to connect with the audience almost immediately.
Swann will be advancing to the next round of the tournament, where he will take on Lince Dorado.
Noam Dar starts the CWC on the right track.
Noam Dar, a 23 year old international star of Israeli-Scottish descent, made his first CWC appearance in a winning effort against Gurv Sihra of the Bollywood Boyz. Dar will look to stay on the winning track next round against HoHo Lun.
Dar did an interview after his win, talking about what the victory meant to him.
“Gentleman” Jack Gallagher wows the Full Sail crowd.
To the delight of Daniel Bryan and seemingly everyone in the audience, “Gentleman” Jack Gallagher was able to fend off a rigorous challenge from Italian Fabian Aichner to advance to the second round. Gallagher will face Akira Tozawa in what is sure to be one of the round’s most anticipated matches.
Gallagher’s unique style was on display and the crowd at Full Sail was fully into the British star.
Gallagher was interviewed after the win. He thanked the crowd for being so receptive and talked about his colorful ring gear.
Tag team partners collide, with only one advancing to the next round.
Though they may be tag team partners, Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa showed no mercy for each other in what might be the CWC’s best match so far. Ciampa was relentless, dishing out violent offense against his partner.
But no matter what Ciampa came at him with, Gargano would not back down. Gargano was able to get the win and the two partners eventually embraced after the match was over. Gargano will face TJ Perkins in the second round.
Time for another day of G1 action! Here are today’s results in Fukuoka:
David Finlay, Juice Robinson, & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Jushin Liger, Captain New Japan, & Tiger Mask when Robinson pinned Captain New Japan with the Unprettier.
Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Manabu Nakanishi, Togi Makabe, & Satoshi Kojima when Tonga pinned Nakanishi with the Gun Stun.
KUSHIDA, Hiroshi Tanahashi, & Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Naomichi Marufuji, Gedo, & Hirooki Goto when KUSHIDA submitted Gedo with the Hoverboard Lock.
Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada defeated SANADA & BUSHI when Ishii pinned BUSHI with a brainbuster.
Toru Yano defeated Yuji Nagata
This was different than Yano’s usual tricks as he kept wanting to go to the outside. Nagata would kick him silly but Yano still found his way outside. Yano managed to flee near the entrance and somehow trap him, wrapping wires around his feet. Nagata couldn’t free himself and was counted out.
At least after all these years of the contrived countout teases they do on literally every show, they actually did one.
Michael Elgin defeated YOSHI-HASHI
Really good match. YOSHI-HASHI always gets good heat in his matches and this one was no different. YH worked on Elgin’s arm early, posting in the corner as they were brawling around the ring. YH missed the swanton bomb. Elgin responded with a crazy running Death Valley Driver into the corner and followed with the big deadlift suplex from the apron to the floor.
YH came back with a backstabber and a DDT. He followed with the butterfly lock but Elgin made it to the ropes. Elgin fired back with shots and got the win with the buckle bomb and spiral bomb.
EVIL defeated Tomoaki Honma
Fine match, nothing totally special about it though. EVIL used the chair spot he always does in every match to get the heat. Honma made his comeback and tried for the top rope Kokeshi spot but it missed again. After some more back and forth, EVIL simply laid him out with the STO for the win.
Katsuyori Shibata defeated Kenny Omega
Good stuff. Kind of slow for most of it, but picked up towards the end and they built things well. They mostly brawled around the ring to start things off. Omega targeted a leg and even applied the stretch muffler. He worked on it throughout the match and landed the knee strike for a near fall.
Shibata countered back with a sleeper. Omega tried again, but got caught again and ended up eating the Penalty Kick for the win.
Tetsuya Naito defeated Katsuhiko Nakajima
Really good match. The last few minutes were really fun and the work during the match was pretty solid. Naito worked on Nakajima’s leg early. Nakajima retaliated by slamming Naito’s leg on the guardrail.
Nice back and forth match from there. They did a big slugfest that the people got into. Nakajima hit a big back suplex for a near fall. Nakajima hit a big time dropkick that sent Naito spiraling and hit the Penalty Kick but Naito kicked out. Nakajima went for the brainbuster but Naito transitioned in mid-air with the Destino, then hit another for the win.
Another good show. YOSHI-HASHI vs. Elgin was probably the best match, but the last two matches were really good as well.
The Big News: Hideo Itami returned after being away for 14 months due to injury.
The Medium News: Bobby Roode debuted to the delight and joy of everyone in the audience — and then he turned heel after five minutes, causing some of the fans to laugh.
The Little Beaver Sized News: The Revival beat TM61, but then got laid out by Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa.
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Hideo Itami defeated Sean Maluta
The most pushed thing on the show was the opener. 14 months ago Hideo Itami was injured. He was scheduled to face Finn Balor and Tyler Breeze in a triple threat match at NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable, but was pulled from the match.
The storyline coming off of the injury was that someone attacked and injured him, with fingers pointed towards Kevin Owens. To the absolute shock of me, Tom Phillips actually brought that up and Corey Graves shot it down.
Zack Sabre Jr., Drew Gulak, and Tony Nese were sitting ringside to watch Maluta wrestle, all of whom are competitors in the Cruiserweight Classic.
This was all about Itami. At one point he pulled down his kneepad for a strike, but instead jumped over Maluta and kicked him in the face. Itami had an ugly scar on his shoulder that he had two different surgeries on. Anyway, this was a successful return and Itami won with the running knee.
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The Revival cut a promo backstage. They said there is no pressure on them, and it is scientifically proven that they are the greatest tag team in not only NXT history, but on the entire planet.
In walked TM61, who said they have traveled the world and faced the best. They challenged The Revival, who told them to get to the back of the line.
TM61 left, leading to Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa walking in. They claimed that they were the number one contenders, but The Revival doesn’t want to face them. They wondered if The Revival was scared. Dawson said they already promised a match to TM61, so they left the four of them to argue over who gets a title shot.
That somehow set up a title match.
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Mojo Rawley and Chris Atkins fought to a No Contest
“Fought” being a relative term.
This is Mojo Rawley’s first singles match on TV in what seems like a very long time. Rawley had the match won with the Pounce in 20 seconds, but the referee had to hold up his count because that was not the finish. Samoa Joe was two seconds late, but he did come down and destroy both men.
After the beating, Joe screamed to the camera that if William Regal isn’t going to consult him about title matches, he is going to destroy Mr. Regal’s television program. Rawley was shockingly allowed a brief comeback, but when he tried leaving, Joe attacked him on the ramp and choked him out.
Growling and spitting into the camera, Joe said this would happen to Nakamura.
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Bayley said it’s time to adapt and mentally prepare for this match against Asuka. She is ready to take her title back. Asuka walked up and mocked the idea that she is ready.
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NXT Women’s Champion Asuka defeated Aliyah
Bayley came out to do commentary for the next match. I miss the days of William Regal doing commentary about how Bayley is his niece’s favorite wrestler.
Before the match, Asuka took a chair, set it on the ramp, and ordered Bayley to go sit in it and watch the match. Bayley threw the chair away and the match was on from there. Aliyah was a very good punching bag with Asuka showing her no respect. Asuka used an abdominal stretch in the ropes, looking completely bored as she was hurting her foe.
Aliyah got a punch, but got kicked right in the face as she jumped off the middle rope. Asuka won with the Asuka Lock.
Bayley got in the ring to make Asuka let go of the hold after the bell, and we were told that these two ladies will have a contract signing next week.
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Last month Oney Lorcan (the former Biff Busick) debuted a new name and defeated the Perfect 10 before never being seen again. He apparently cut a promo after the match saying he needed to go back to his roots in order to compete with the best in NXT.
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Ember Moon is debuting on August 20th at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II.
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We finally got the debut of former TNA World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Roode. He has a cool theme song, shouting that he is glorious. Tom Phillips actually said he is called the It Factor, which was his TNA nickname.
Roode came out and said he had the privilege of sitting in the front row at TakeOver in Dallas, and he cannot explain the emotion he felt sitting with 10,000 screaming fans. He knew from that moment that NXT was the perfect place for him.
He said there was no other company, no other brand, that revolutionized the business like NXT. Not only are “we” NXT, but so are all the fans. But in order to reach that next level, that’s where he comes in. NXT needs Bobby Roode, all of the fans need Bobby Roode.
NXT has found their international superstar to reach the next level, and that superstar is Bobby Roode.
He vowed to be on billboards in Times Square and said he will make NXT a better place. He said he will soon look into the crowd and see leaders of Fortune 500 companies, not these stupid, stupid fans.
He wants to see nicely dressed people, not people wearing oversized t-shirts and ugly cargo shorts. He is a superstar because he wears custom made suits, nice socks, and a Rolex.
The fans actually laughed when he turned heel, while some others started wooing, since Roode was doing his best Ric Flair impersonation. He finished by saying NXT will be glorious.
The decision to bring in a beloved free agent and immediately turn him heel is a questionable one, but NXT has earned the benefit of the doubt in a way that some other promotions haven’t.
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NXT Tag Team Champions The Revival defeated TM61
Yes, that wacky backstage segment where The Revival turned down both teams led to this match.
Slowly but surely The Revival is getting over, as fans don’t sit in complete silence when they come out anymore. The Revival twice got the heat on Shane Thorne, including cutting him off during a commercial break.
The announcers debated over whether or not The Revival is the “winningest” team in NXT history. I should remind everyone that once upon a time, The Ascension were the only real team in NXT, so for almost a full year, they would destroy a jobber team every week.
Nick Miller got the hot tag and no one seemed to care. Unlike when Dash and Dawson faced Gargano and Ciampa, no one believed TM61 would win. Out of nowhere, Dawson won with a DDT.
After the match, Dash and Dawson took the mic to say that it doesn’t matter what part of the world you come from, they are the top guys in NXT.
Out came Gargano and Ciampa, who referred to the Revival as “Arn and Ole.” They then made bad jokes about all the teams The Revival beat, including Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. The biggest reaction to anything in the last 15 minutes was when they mentioned Pikachu, causing a Pokemon chant.
Long story short, Gargano and Ciampa brought up again that The Revival never beat them. We got a four-way brawl with the challengers dumping Dawson out of the ring and then getting a visual pinfall on Dash.
Phillips closed the show by mentioning that Gargano and Ciampa would face off in the first round of the CWC.
We are almost at TakeOver, and until next week, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
With all the recent discussion of the “new era” of WWE, the brand split, Smackdown LIVE, and the return of former WWE talent, ROH’s Death Before Dishonor XIV PPV has gone relatively unnoticed. This early preview will help catch fans up on the current storylines as we creep towards their big summer PPV, taking place Friday. August 19 at Sam’s Town Live, located at 5111 Boulder Highway in Las Vegas, NV 89122. Tickets can be purcahsed now.
ROH World Championship: Jay Lethal (c) vs. Adam Cole
Motivated by revenge after Cole shaved Lethal’s head on TV, Lethal is hell-bent on destroying Cole and continuing his yearlong ROH championship reign. Cole, a former ROH World Champion himself, is not above using nefarious tactics to win a match. This one is destined to be a classic. Lethal is always motivated to have an amazing match, and Cole has really developed into a top-notch performer as well.
ROH World TV Championship: Bobby Fish (c) vs. Mark Briscoe
After dispatching of ACH to become the #1 contender to the TV title, Briscoe now finds himself across from Bobby Fish, the man who choked out Tomohiro Ishii. This is Briscoe’s first ever one-on-one match for the TV title. Regardless of who is victorious, the winner will be defending the belt against Shibata the next day at the television tapings. While smart money would seem to indicate Fish retains, Briscoe is no slouch in the ring as a singles performer, and it would not be a huge shock to see Briscoe get the win.
ROH World Tag Team Championship: Triple Threat
The Addiction (“Almighty” Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin vs. Tetsuya Naito and Evil
It could be a long night for the addiction who will be facing not one but two New Japan Pro Wrestling teams. The Addiction only recently won the titles back in May, and is in a tough position to retain, as they do not have to be beaten to lose the titles. It’s a must win for The Addiction.
IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. Dalton Castle
The evil “Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada’s IWGP Heavyweight title is not on the line, but it’s still a huge opportunity for the “Party Peacock,” Dalton Castle. Castle has already shown why he is a top talent in ROH in a relatively young career.
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Silas Young
This marks Shibata’s first match in the United States. He will be up against the Last Real Man in professional wrestling. Expect some wild action here. Young is dynamite in these types of hard-hitting matches.
Six-Man Tag: Chaos (Roppongi Vice: Trent Baretta & and Toru Yano) vs. Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi and The Guerrillas of Destiny: Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa)
The team of Trent Baretta and Rocky Romero team up with Toru Yano to challenge the Bullet Club. The two most dominant factions in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, CHAOS and Bullet Club, are bringing their rivalry to the U.S. in a huge six-man tag match. There’s plenty of history and bad blood between CHAOS founding member Yano and Takahashi. Once a teammate of Yano’s in CHAOS, Takahashi turned on his allies and defected to the Bullet Club two years ago. Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa are sons of the legendary Haku, while Baretta and Romero are two of the most underrated performers in all of professional wrestling today. This should be an excellent match.
Figure Four Weekly:Figure Four Weekly 8/3/2016: Latest developments in wrestling related lawsuits – If it wasn’t clear before that the Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker lawsuit is a whole lot bigger than Hulk Hogan or even Gawker, the events of the last few weeks have made it more obvious than ever before. Of course, the revelation two months ago that billionaire Peter Thiel had been funding Hogan’s lawsuit (and others against Gawker) was a game changer, but the effects of Thiel’s influence weren’t as obvious… Subscribers click here to continue reading.
F4W YouTube Page: Tons of clips and full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!
Wrestling Observer Newsletter:August 1, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Brand split week one, Brock Lesnar and the WWE Wellness Policy– The entire story of Brock Lesnar, UFC drug testing, WWE drug testing and its history leads the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. There is also full coverage of week one of the brand extension, what has been good and what hasn’t, as well as coverage of Battleground, the G-1 Climax tournament, and the deaths of well known personalities on a regional basis like announcer Bill Cardille and Oregon advertising icon Tom Peterson.
A look back at the cases involving Eddy Guerrero and Chris Benoit, the success of the program all inside.
In this issue, take a look at Lesnar’s schedule, the situation with Paul Heyman, what the next steps for UFC and athletic commissions regarding the Lesnar test failures and the reaction to all this from Mark Hunt. This issue also looks at Hunt’s argument regarding how Lesnar gained financially from cheating and how Lesnar was not treated differently than anyone else when it came to drug testing in the UFC.
Finally, examine week one of the brand split, the changes in the SummerSlam show, Roman Reigns booking, the ascension of Dolph Ziggler and Finn Balor, as well as business notes and a match-by-match rundown of Battleground with star ratings… Subscribers click here to continue reading.
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 Dave Meltzer, or by using Paypal directing funds to [email protected].
Rates for the United States are $13 for 4 issues, $32 for 12, $61 for 24, $101 for 40 and $131 for 52. In Canada and Mexico, rates are $14.50 for 4, $35 for 12, $67 for 24, $111 for 40 and $144 or 52. In Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to [email protected]. For the rest of the world, rates are $16.50 for 4, $44 for 12, $85 for 24, $141 for 40 issues and $183 for 52. If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order (P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228), you can get $1 off in every price range.)
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John Cena vs. AJ Styles is officially set for SummerSlam after the match was announced on SmackDown last night. This is their second singles match after they met for the first time earlier this year at Money in the Bank. Styles, with the help of Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, got the win in that match. But Cena pinned Styles in a six-man tag at Battleground to set up the rematch at SummerSlam.
Apollo Crews will also challenge for The Miz’s Intercontinental Championship after earning the shot on SmackDown last night.
Rhyno defeated two other Republican contenders to win the party’s primary, and he will now face a Democratic challenger for term-limited Democrat George Darany’s seat in the Michigan House of Representatives.
Nate Diaz appeared in a segment on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night, surprising fans who thought Conor McGregor would beat him.
According to his wife Valerie, former WWE Champion and WWE Hall of Famer “Superstar” Billy Graham has been admitted to the Mayo Clinic due to some serious medical symptoms. Graham will undergo a procedure Wednesday morning to identify the cause of his medical issues.
Tom Phillips also followed up on the alleged storyline injury that Eva Marie suffered last night.
In attempt to clear up rumors about why her daughter has been missing from WWE events, Saraya Knight tweeted that Paige is dealing with an injury.
In today’s WWN alerts, it was reported that Heath Slater’s storyline negotiations with EVOLVE are at an impasse with Slater facing Rhyno in an attempt to earn a spot on the SmackDown roster next week.
Adam Cole was interviewed by Smash Magazine about his upcoming ROH World Championship match in Las Vegas at Death Before Dishonor.
Jushin Thunder Liger will face Dalton Castle at ROH’s show in Duluth, GA, on September 24th.
Great North Wrestling posted a video earlier today of Wrestling Observer editor Dave Meltzer giving his opinion of Billy Graham being an important figure as an innovative character and trend setter in the history of the wrestling business that influenced a lot of future stars such as Hulk Hogan, Jesse Ventura, Paul Heyman, DDP and many other. (thanks to Anthony Ambros)
Mark Haskins will challenge for the PROGRESS Wrestling Championship on September 25th at the O2 Academy Brixton in London.
Broken Matt Hardy sat down with Chris Jericho for an in-character interview talking the Final Deletion and his broken condition on the Talk is Jericho podcast.
Jim Ross has an article for Fox Sports on Dusty Rhodes being honored at the NWA Legends Fan Fest this Friday.
UFC/MMA
UFC released the promotional video for UFC 202, Diaz vs. McGregor 2. It will give you chills, unlike last month’s creepy horror story themed video which was just weird.
The UFC 201 prelims Saturday night on FS 2 did 331,000 viewers. It’s the first time this year that the prelims were scheduled for that network. In fact, the last PPV prelims to air on FS 2 were in March of 2014 and they did 305,000 viewers. More recently the prelims for Fight Night 89 in Ottawa aired on FS 2 and did 369,000 viewers. It was the sixth highest rated broadcast in the history of the network.
WSOF 32 Saturday night on NBC Sports Network, headlined by 2 world title fights and a brother vs brother matchup, did their best rating in a year. The show averaged 250,000 viewers, the highest since an August 1, 2015 show did 254,000. In fact the year to date average prior to Saturday was 173,000 so this is up about 40%.
Erick Silva (17-5) is rumoured to be taking on Brandon Thatch (11-4) at the recently announced Fight Night show in Brasilia, Brazil on September 24th. The welterweights are on 2 and 3 fight losing streaks respectively so this would be an important fight for both.
The Summer Slam Events Calendar
AUGUST
4 thru 6 – !BANG! TV; Professional Wrestling Spectacular, 3 charity shows in 3 days.
5 – Rockstar Pro Wrestling: “Beach Party Bro-Down” iPPV; Rockstar Pro Arena, 1106 E Third ST in Dayton, OH at 7:30 pm!
5 – Super Wonder Gallery, 876 Bloor St. W., Toronto, Ontario M6G 1M5. Tickets.
5 – NEF Presents Dana White: Looking for a Fight. More info here.
6 – Smokey Mountain Wrestling: Fire on the Mountain; Jason Kincaid defends against Elliott Russell, Civic Auditorium, 1550 Fort Henry Dr., Kingsport, TN
6 – Absolute Intense Wrestling: Girls Night Out; Cleveland, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel with Crazy Mary Dobson, Allysin “Sienna” Kay, Veda Scott, Shayna Baszler, Annie Social, Kelly Klein, Heidi Lovelace, Lufisto, Nicole Savoy and more.
12 – Big West Wrestling: Bowling, Bodyslams, & BBQ; Lake City Bowling & Billiards, Kelowna, BC
12 – Revolution Pro; London, York Hall in Bethnal Green. Featuring Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Jeff Cobb.
13 – Combat Zone Wrestling: TV Taping; Tremont-Gacy, Strickland-Avalon. Showing why they are #LikeNothingElse a FREE TV Taping at 2 pm and “The Boss is Back” on iPPV at 8 pm LIVE from the Flyers Skate Zone, 601 Laurel Oak RD in Voorhees, NJ! Tickets for iPPV.
13 – Viva La Lucha; San Diego, CA, Montgomery High School. Fundraiser event in the 619 featuring Rey Mysterio, John Morrison, TJP, Nicho/Psychosis, Teddy Hart, Willie Mack, Vermin, Los Luchas and more.
13 – World Women’s Wrestling: 2016 Iron Maiden Championship at the American Civic Center in Wakefield, MA
13 – wXw NOW: The End; Tommy End’s final show in Germany
13 – NWA Mid South Wrestling; Dyresburg, TN at the Herb Welch Wrestle-Plex headlined by Matt Riviera vs. Jeremy Moore.
19 – ROH: DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR XIV PPV; 6:00pm PDT, Sam’s Town Live, 5111 Boulder Highway – Las Vegas, NV 89122. Tickets. ROH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: ADAM COLE vs JAY LETHAL (c)
19 – AAW; 115 Bourbon Street, 3359 w 115th Street Merrionette Park, IL, 8:00pm Bell Time, Tickets.Trailer for our last show – United We Stand. Mp4 Now Available at Smart Mark Video and at Highspots.
19 – House of Glory Wrestling; Jamaica, NY, The Hardys, Drew Galloway, Ethan Carter III and Mickie James will appear.
20 – ROH: National TV Taping; 6:00pm PDT, Sam’s Town Live, 5111 Boulder Highway, Las Vegas, NV 89122. Tickets. ROH World TV Championship: Shibata will face the winner of the 8/19 Mark Briscoe vs Bobby Fish match
20 – Fighting Back 6: Wrestling with Cancer; Vanier Columbus Club, 260 McArthur Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
20 – Reality of Wrestling: Summer of Champions 3; Featuring Kurt Angle, from the World Gym Arena in Texas City, TX. The event is preceded by a VIP Meet and Greet session to feature WWE Hall of Famer Booker T, Kurt Angle and Queen Sharmell. Tickets. Proceeds will be going to the Booker T Fights For Kids Foundation.
20 – Best In The West; Fresno, CA, VFW Hall #8900, located at 3585 N Blythe, Featuring Jeff Cobb, Joey Ryan, and Mustufa Saed.
21 – WWE: SUMMERSLAM; The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. It will be the twenty-ninth event under the SummerSlam chronology and the second consecutive SummerSlam to be hosted in the Barclays Center.
21 – Smash Wrestling: Super Showdown IV; Pickering, Ontario featuring Chavo Guerrero Jr. (FKA Lieutenant Loco)
21 – Octagon & Tinieblas Jr. vs. Fuerza Guerrera & Pirata Morgan headlines in Houston at the Arena Theater.
26 – All Star Wrestling; Cloverdale, BC at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds Alice McKay Building, it’s the semifinals and finals of the All Star Wrestling Tag Team Tournament.
26 – Bellator 160; The Pond in Anaheim, live on Spike TV, Benson Henderson vs Patricio Pitbull Freire
27 – ROH: Field of Honor; Brooklyn, NY, MCU Park, ROH World Championship 4 Corner Survival: ROH World Champion: Jay Lethal vs. Adam Cole vs. Tetsuya naito vs. Hiroshi. Tickets.
The first round of the WWE Cruiserweight Classic comes to its end tonight, and it features the round’s most anticipated matchup with tag team partners Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa going at it for the right to advance in the tournament.
Tonight’s episode will also feature the tournament debut of European stars Jack Gallagher and Noam Dar, as well as Rich Swann’s first appearance in the CWC as he looks to find his footing in WWE.
In order to help get you familiar and/or learn more about the competitors, we brought together some of our talents that have expertise in covering many of the wrestlers’ home regions and promotions.
“Johnny Wrestling” was initially thought to be a favorite to win the entire tournament, but with a tough draw against tag team partner Tommaso Ciampa, there is no guarantee that he even advances past the first round.
Gargano will face-off against Ciampa in the first round’s toughest matchup, and unfortunately, that means that one of NXT’s brightest rising stars isn’t going to get a chance to continue to showcase what they can do as a singles wrestler in the tournament.
Both Gargano and Ciampa debuted as a tag team in NXT in 2015. They were initially used mostly as glorified enhancement talents, but after signing with the company, they have been on an impressive win streak lately and are looking to take the NXT tag team titles from The Revival.
The still 28-year-old Gargano has become one of professional wrestling’s most promising young stars, and it’s his versatility that really makes him stand out.
He is good at almost all aspects of the game. In just the lead-up to this tournament, Gargano has had an incredible match in PROGRESS with Mark Haskins, grappled with Zack Sabre Jr. in AAW, and brawled with EC3 and Drew Galloway in Evolve. Working all over the world has made him so good at so many different styles, he’s only gotten better as he’s gained more experience. Along the way, he has even developed the skills to deliver a more than competent promo.
Gargano has been arguably the top star in Gabe Sapolsky’s World Wrestling Network promotions, and has become the face of Evolve in the last few years. After getting his start in Cleveland, Gargano has worked for AIW, CHIKARA, Dragon Gate in Japan, and PWG in addition to his role in WWN.
His future has always been bright, but Gargano might have already become even better than most expected. He can become one of the NXT’s biggest stars, whether it’s tagging with Ciampa or as a singles wrestler. And with the WWE always becoming more open to showcasing smaller talents, there’s no reason that Gargano can’t succeed on the main roster.
Whether he is able to win the CWC or not, this is only the beginning for Gargano.
Ciampa should be well known to those who follow NXT as he’s been a regular on the roster since last year.
Along with tag team partner Johnny Gargano, Ciampa has been dominant in NXT’s tag team division with a title shot looking very likely in the future if he and Gargano can continue their momentum.
An interesting part of Ciampa’s past is that he’s a former developmental talent from another era, working in Ohio Valley Wrestling from 2005-2007. When he was released from his contract, that didn’t deter him as he continued working in independents until joining Ring of Honor in 2011 where he started to build his reputation by being a part of their roster until last year.
Ciampa chose to leave the promotion and began working all over the world, later getting dates for NXT. While Ciampa has been a part of WWE developmental off and on for years, he’s proven to be one of the most well-versed talents in this tournament.
But an interesting twist here is that he’ll be facing his tag team partner Gargano in the first round. Whether or not he makes it past Gargano, Ciampa is one of the better seasoned athletes on the roster that can bring it if the occasion calls for it.
The first thing you’ll notice about Gallagher is what he looks like as his throwback look and distinguished moustache certainly do catch the eye.
The second thing you’ll notice is that he’s possibly the most talented hold-for-hold mat wrestler in the world. Zack Sabre Jr. deservedly gets that hype, but Jack is every bit as good.
What you might not notice straight away, but what will come to be, is that “The Extraordinary Gentlemen” is one of the best babyfaces in the business. His connection which he can establish is unique and he is set to become one of the most popular guys on the indie scene (the recent announcement that he’ll be in Reseda for BOLA won’t hurt matters). You can’t help but root Gallagher on.
The Manchester resident cut his teeth in the North of England with his home base of Future Shock Wrestling giving him great opportunities against the likes of Davey Richards early in his career.
Gallagher traveled to Japan seeking both personal and professional growth and ended up acting as the resident shooter in the Zero-1 dojo. His shoot-style abilities come from training under the legendary Billy Robinson in the snakepit and that has lead to a burgeoning MMA career in which he’s off to a winning start.
2015 was a big breakout year on the UK indie scene with PROGRESS making him one of their regulars. He’s had a bunch of great matches there including his outstanding win over Pete Dunne which qualified him for the CWC.
Austria native Aichner is a five-year veteran wrestling under the name Adrian Severe.
Aichner learned his craft from second-generation wrestler Alex Wright of WCW fame. When you first set eyes on him, you’ll assume that his main attribute will be his brute strength, but don’t let that fool you. He is capable of performing some truly death-defying maneuvers.
He is also a fundamentally sound wrestler, one of the rising stars of the vibrant resurgence of wrestling promotions in Germany and Austria.
In my opinion, Aichner will be one of the wrestlers who will catch people’s eyes as a virtual unknown that surprises fans. As he faces Jack Gallagher in the first round of the CWC, this will be Aichner’s first time wrestling in the United States.
Any 22-year-old that has had well over 400 professional matches tends to have figured out how to work.
Noam Dar, a Scot of Israeli descent, began his professional wrestling career as a 15-year-old in 2008 for British Championship Wrestling, the Ayrshire promotion where he learned the ropes under Colin McKay and Lionheart.
That he still works for BCW today, when the demand for his services is higher than it has ever been, is a testament to the man and the men who trained him, who also produced Grado and gave Drew Galloway some of his earliest opportunities.
Within a couple of years, Dar’s career picked up and he earned some high-profile outings for Dragon Gate UK and the dying 1PW, making his first trips overseas to work for wXw where he acted as an alternate for the 2010 16 Carat Gold Tournament.
Dar’s style — a mix of mat-based technical wrestling with some high-impact classic cruiserweight moves — blends with an unaffected cool that comes off as very unrehearsed. All of that made him an attractive prospect for what would become the UK’s current big four promotions (PROGRESS, RevPro, ICW, and PCW) where he won titles and faced some of the best on the indie scene.
Dar has faced AJ Styles, Jerry Lynn, and Chris Hero, not to mention Johnny Gargano, Brian Kendrick, Jack Gallagher, and Sabre Jr. from this year’s CWC.
In the summer of 2014, Dar tried out for TNA’s British Bootcamp reality series, becoming one of six finalists who made it through to the US tour portion of the show. Although Mark Andrews won the show and got the TNA contract offer, Dar impressed in outings against Austin Aries and Al Snow, and was part of the promotion’s 2015 UK tour.
Despite bowing out of PROGRESS last summer, which many took as a re-orienting of his career to more Scottish-based promotions, Dar recently won the PCW heavyweight title from Sha Samuels on that company’s first iPPV and has lately become a regular with London-based RevPro once again.
The CWC is a fantastic stage for the Scot to show his wares and few should dismiss his chances of causing an upset. Fluent in Hebrew, his value for an ever-expanding international company cannot be understated, and it may not be too long before that skinny 15-year old from Ayr signs a WWE contract.
Gurv, the older Sihra brother, entered wrestling after first being trained by Michelle Starr, Scotty Mac, and Vance Nevada. He first started wrestling for BC’s Elite Canadian Championship Wrestling.
He has since taken the same road as his brother with their Bollywood Boyz team having some success all around the world. Currently, they are the Global Force Wrestling tag team champions. Known primarily as a team, they bring not only a lot of experience, but also a lot of charisma to the CWC. Both brothers are very well-rounded wrestlers.
I know these guys pretty well and besides their first year in the business, it’s hard to really think of many standout singles matches the two have had as all of their accomplishments have come as a team.
But, this tournament provides an opportunity for the Sihra brothers to differentiate themselves from each other, and even though they aren’t matched in the first round, there is sure to be some brotherly competition.
It is almost impossible not to root for Rich Swann to succeed.
His backstory was briefly profiled on the CWC Bracketology show, but the full story is even crazier than WWE let on.
Swann is from Baltimore, Maryland — one of the most notoriously rough areas in the United States. He lost both his father and mother when he was a teenager. Forced to live a life without his parents, he began to associate more with friends who were gang members. He got hooked on cocaine and only stopped when his supplier died of a heart attack from its effects.
But wrestling saved Swann’s life. He moved in with his aunt and went to a wrestling school in York, Pennsylvania, and his career has been on the rise since.
Swann is a multi-talented performer who is adept at dancing, beatboxing, and making music. He’s also an incredible athlete and one of the best high flyers in the tournament. Few people in this field, or the entire wrestling world, have the combination of charisma, athleticism, and ability to work a crowd that Swann does.
Prior to signing with the WWE, Swann was probably best known for the infectious energy of his entrance, set to “All Night Long” by Lionel Richie, on the independent scene.
But even if you didn’t know the difficult road that Swann took to get to the WWE, and even without the soothing sounds of Richie, it is still difficult not to root for him. His love for life and professional wrestling is apparent in everything he does in the ring.
As a member of the NXT roster, the Full Sail crowd will be at least somewhat familiar with Swann. He has wrestled on television in short losses to Finn Balor and Baron Corbin, and has wrestled on many NXT live events in Florida.
Before reporting to the WWE Performance Center in 2015, Swann was one of the fastest rising stars on the independent scene and even had a lengthy stay in Japan with Dragon Gate. He has been a regular at CZW, Dragon Gate USA/Evolve, and PWG.
Swann has yet to really get going in NXT, and the CWC could be the perfect springboard for his career. Regardless of the CWC outcome, here’s hoping he is featured regularly on NXT TV after the tournament.
Hong Kong’s Jason Lee may end up as one of the surprise packages of the CWC.
The talented high flyer has been wrestling with the ZERO-1 promotion in Japan since 2012 and as a result, he has put a lot of time on the mat with greats like Ikuto Hidaka, Shinjiro Ohtani, and Masato Tanaka. He’s improved leaps and bounds in that time and won’t look out of place against any of the competitors in the field.
In the first round, Lee goes up against Rich Swann which could end up being one of the sleeper matches from the first few episodes of the show. They could compliment each other very well.
On the opposite side of the draw is Lee’s countryman HoHo Lun, and an all Hong Kong final would definitely be a dream come true for both men. With that realistically very unlikely to happen, it would be nice to see them cross paths in non-tournament action in the later weeks as the field is whittled down.
Another nice break leads us to the eleventh day of the G1, held this morning in Kagoshima.
Tiger Mask & Jushin Liger defeated Ryusuke Taguchi & David Finlay when Liger rolled-up Finlay.
Satoshi Kojima, Michael Elgin, Yuji Nagata, & Manabu Nakanishi defeated Gedo, Katsuhiko Nakajima, YOSHI-HASHI, & Toru Yano when Kojima pinned Gedo after a lariat.
Kenny Omega & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Katsuyori Shibata & Captain New Japan when Yujiro pinned CNJ after the Pimp Juice DDT.
BUSHI, Tetsuya Naito, & EVIL defeated Tomoaki Honma, Juice Robinson, & KUSHIDA when Naito tapped out Robinson with his new submission.
Bad Luck Fale defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan
These two together created a kind of slow, plodding match to start. Tenzan got in the Anaconda Vise, but Fale escaped from it and leveled him with a boot that looked like it missed by a mile. One thing I will give Fale credit for is taking some great bumps when needed.
Tenzan missed the moonsault. He tried to make a comeback, but Fale stopped him with a spear then pinned him with the Grenade. Just a boring match.
Hirooki Goto defeated Tama Tonga
This was pretty good. Tonga has had a hit and miss G1 so far, Goto’s fared better but these two had good chemistry with one another and it helped in this match.
There was a cool spot where Goto went for what seemed like the GTR but Tonga reversed it, went behind him, and hit a spinning neckbreaker and the waistlock DDT for a good near fall. Tonga frantically tried to avoid Goto, tried to hit the Gun Stun, but instead Goto grabbed him and hit the GTR for the win. Great match.
Naomichi Marufuji defeated SANADA
These two had really good chemistry. The fact that the crowd was totally into the match really helped too. Kind of on the short side, but worked well throughout and everyone looked good. Marufuji won after hitting the Sliced Bread #2 after SANADA blocked it earlier in the match. Marufuji wanted a handshake after but SANADA blew him off.
Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Tomohiro Ishii
If Tanahashi loses here, he’s out of the tournament after suffering too many losses to stay in contention. They fought on the top rope where Ishii fell to the floor, but Ishii responded by headbutting Tanahashi in the knee. Ishii unleashed a big time brainbuster. Really picked up after this with some great back and forth.
Lots of scary looking suplexes. Tanahashi finally had him out with the Sling Blade but missed the High Fly Flow and just BARELY kicked out of a sliding D by Ishii. More great back and forth until Tanahashi finally gets another Sling Blade and finishes off Ishii with two High Fly Flows for the win. Fantastic match, one of the best in the tournament so far.
Kazuchika Okada defeated Togi Makabe
A fast paced, hard hitting match. Makabe actually hit a belly-to-belly Spider suplex but Okada dodged the King Kong knee drop. Makabe went for a dragon suplex and started to lay it in, but Okada came back with the dropkick, tombstone, and Rainmaker clothesline for the win.
Okada and Gedo cut a promo to end the show and send people home happy. One of the better shows of the tournament, lots of fun action and a hot crowd helped a lot.
The second Smackdown LIVE will take place tonight in Nashville. WWE announced earlier today that it would be adding a post show on the network, similar to Raw’s “Fallout” show. Joseph Currier has more on that story.
Here is tonight’s Smackdown preview from WWE.com:
With Raw turning up the heat and an off-the-hook WWE World Title Match set for SummerSlam, what will Commissioner Shane McMahon and General Manager Daniel Bryan do to continue to push Team Blue to the top of the New Era?
Speaking of the New Era, WWE continues to recycle old talent. Ex Three-Man-Band bassist Jinder Mahal appeared in a segment last night on Raw with fellow band mate Heath Slater. The former friends had a match with the winner receiving a Raw contract. Mahal won, leaving Slater as a free agent. Mahal had a run feuding with the Great Khali in early 2011 that did not do much for him, and the 3MB was obviously a bust. With other former Superstars like Ryhno and Shelton Benjamin scheduled to return soon, it makes you wonder why they are not going after bigger stars.
[Dan Velten]
We’re looking for your thoughts on Saturday’s UFC 201 and Saturday’s G-1 Climax show from Nagoya, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match for each show to [email protected].
NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX TOURNAMENT IN KAGOSHIMA AT THE ARENA WEDNESDAY AT 5:30 A.M. EASTERN TIME ON NEW JAPAN WORLD
Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & David Finlay
Yuji Nagata & Michael Elgin & Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Toru Yano & Yoshi-Hashi & Gedo
Katsuyori Shibata & Captain New Japan vs. Kenny Omega & Yujiro Takahashi
Tomoaki Honma & Kushida & Juice Robinson vs. Tetsuya Naito & Evil & Bushi
Figure Four Weekly:Figure Four Weekly 7/25/2016: More concussion legality! – Just moments after last week’s issue was put to bed, news broke that WWE had been hit by yet another lawsuit from Massachusetts lawyer Konstantine Kyros against WWE. Before, there were of a small handful of wrestlers with no prospects of dealing with WWE again suing strictly over nebulously worded concussion-related claims. This time, there are over 50 plaintiffs, including a lot of surprises, and the counts have been expanded to include variations on misclassifying them as independent contractors as part of an alleged racketeering scheme… Subscribers click here to continue reading.
F4W YouTube Page: No full video shows, but lots of clips, full free audio shows that you can tell your friends about, and much more to come! Make sure you subscribe today!
Wrestling Observer Newsletter:August 1, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Brand split week one, Brock Lesnar and the WWE Wellness Policy– The entire story of Brock Lesnar, UFC drug testing, WWE drug testing and its history leads the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. There is also full coverage of week one of the brand extension, what has been good and what hasn’t, as well as coverage of Battleground, the G-1 Climax tournament, and the deaths of well known personalities on a regional basis like announcer Bill Cardille and Oregon advertising icon Tom Peterson.
A look back at the cases involving Eddy Guerrero and Chris Benoit, the success of the program all inside.
In this issue, take a look at Lesnar’s schedule, the situation with Paul Heyman, what the next steps for UFC and athletic commissions regarding the Lesnar test failures and the reaction to all this from Mark Hunt. This issue also looks at Hunt’s argument regarding how Lesnar gained financially from cheating and how Lesnar was not treated differently than anyone else when it came to drug testing in the UFC.
Finally, examine week one of the brand split, the changes in the SummerSlam show, Roman Reigns booking, the ascension of Dolph Ziggler and Finn Balor, as well as business notes and a match-by-match rundown of Battleground with star ratings… Subscribers click here to continue reading.
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 Dave Meltzer, or by using Paypal directing funds to [email protected].
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Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that SmackDown will be adding its own women’s and tag team titles. Daniel Bryan did an interview with the Bear Hug it Out podcast, and confirmed Meltzer’s report that a women’s title will eventually be added to SmackDown.
Katsuyori Shibata will challenge the ROH Television champion at ROH’s August 20th TV tapings in Las Vegas. Champion Bobby Fish is scheduled to defend his title against Mark Briscoe the night before at Death Before Dishonor XIV.
A round of roster reveals have been made for WWE 2K17 with Aiden English & Simon Gotch of the Vaudevillains, Booker T, Brian Pillman, Brie & Nikki Bella, Chris Jericho, Diego & Fernando of Los Matadores, Erick Rowan, Heath Slater, Jey & Jimmy Uso, Jim Neidhart, Konnor & Viktor of the Ascension, Larry Zbyszko, R-Truth, and The Ultimate Warrior all being announced for the game.
The judge in the Jimmy Snuka case has denied the District Attorney’s request to drop the charges, stemming from the 1983 death of Snuka’s girlfriend at the time. That means that Jimmy Snuka, at this point, is likely to stand trial for murder shortly.
World Wrestling Entertainment
Jinder Mahal’s win over Heath Slater last night was the first time he had ever won a singles match on Raw. He only has 2 wins prior on Raw with 3MB in tag matches. The first on 10/29/2012 with he and Heath beating Santino Marella & Zack Ryder. The other was on 1/14/2013 where he, Heath and Drew McIntyre beat Sheamus in a handicap over the top rope elimination match. And yes, he did win his first few singles matches on Smackdown in the Summer of 2011, but none on Raw until tonight.
WWE.com furthered the storyline with an article claiming that Big E suffered a groin injury, after last night’s beatdown of the New Day at the hands of Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows.
“Total Bellas” will begin airing Wednesday, October 5 at 8pm ET/PT – From the E Network, “Total Bellas,” gives viewers exclusive access into the lives of The Bella Twins and their significant others, John Cena and Daniel Bryan, as the WWE SUPERSTARS move in together and enter a new chapter of their lives, both professionally and personally. The series kicks-off with Nikki and John being sidelined by injuries and Daniel’s recent retirement from the ring.
With the release of Pat Patterson’s autobiography, Triple H, Chris Jericho, and Dolph Ziggler discussed the impact that Patterson has had on the wrestling business.
As noted yesterday, Lilian Garcia will no longer be working for WWE. She is quitting in order to be closer to home so that she can help take care of her father who is in declining health. He has two different types of cancer. Garcia posted about it on Instagram.
WWE released a commercial for September’s SmackDown exclusive Backlash pay-per-view.
Recent signee to WWE developmental territory, Nicola Glencross, has joined the NXT brand and claims that women wrestlers are no longer divas.
PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING
Former Stampede Wrestling Booker, Dungeon head trainer & Stampede, NJPW and WWE wrestler Bruce Hart (Son of Stu Hart) discusses “Dynamite Kid” Tom Billingston, whether Billington roughed up Bret Hart in the ring and an incident in Northern Canada where Bruce was attacked by Dynamite from behind causing his jaw to be dislocated in this video.
PROGRESS Wrestling made three announcements yesterday. A third date was added to their Smash Wrestling vs. PROGRESS tour of Canada on Friday September 16th in Oshawa, their Super Strong Style tournament will expand next year with the addition of a third day, and they will also be debuting in a third English city in 2017 with the addition of shows in Birmingham.
UFC/MMA
Three fights have been added to the UFC Portland show on October 1st. Former Bellator champion Will Brooks takes on Alex Oliveira, coming back down to 155, in a lightweight bout. In another lightweight fight, Josh Burkman goes up against Bobby Green. Kelly Fasholz will face the debuting Ketlen Vieira in a women’s bantamweight fight on the same show.
Tyron Woodley has a message for all of his fans after his big win, in the UFC minute.
A flyweight matchup pitting Lena Ovchynnikova (11-4) against Jaimelene Nievera (4-1) has been added to the main card of “Bellator 160: Henderson vs. Pitbull” on August 26 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
Rafael dos Anjos vs. Tony Ferguson is rumored for UFC’s TUF Latin America 3 finale on November 5th. Ferguson responded to the rumors, saying that he would love to fight dos Anjos.
Combate Americas is having an open fighter tryout in LA on Saturday, August 13 hosted by Julianna Pena and Danny Castillo.
VARIETY
Here is a full schedule for wrestling at the Olympics. Besides whataver television coverage NBC Universal has of the Rio Games, NBCOlympics.com will live stream wrestling and all other sports including judo, taekwondo and boxing.
RESULTS: Smash Wrestling: Uncensored Results! Oshawa Music Hall Oshawa, Ontario, July 30 – Big Tank defeated Masked Lumberjack, Space Monkey def. Jaxon Jarvis, Jewells Malone def. Xandra Bale, Franky the Mobster was victorious in Fatal Fourway, Rosemary (Courtney Rush) def. Mike Rollins, The Super Smash Bros. won a triple threat tag bout, Tyson Dux def. Jesse Amato, After the match we were interrupted by The Kevin Bennett Experience, who beat down Dux and then humiliated him by having an “impromptu” match, where Bennett nailed Dux with the Remix, and had the Muscle count the three, while Big Tank rang the bell.
RESULTS: PWP WrestleRama X, 7/29, Omaha, NE – Purple b. Robert Storm, Cuco Santiago b. Dalton Lee Roth, Pat Powers b. Jon West, Con Artiest b. Devin Carter, Darren Russell & Duke Cornell b. Paul Daniels & Joey Daniels, Hype Gotti b. Sonjay Dutt. Next event is 8/25, headlined by Michael Elgin vs Branden Juarez vs Hype Gotti in a 3 way
The Summer Slam Events Calendar
AUGUST
4 thru 6 – !BANG! TV – Professional Wrestling Spectacular, 3 charity shows in 3 days.
5 – Super Wonder Gallery, 876 Bloor St. W., Toronto, Ontario M6G 1M5. Tickets.
5 – NEF Presents Dana White: Looking for a Fight. More info here.
6 – Smokey Mountain Wrestling: Fire on the Mountain – Jason Kincaid defends against Elliott Russell, Civic Auditorium, 1550 Fort Henry Dr., Kingsport, TN
6 – Absolute Intense Wrestling: Girls Night Out in Cleveland at Our Lady of Mt Carmel with Crazy Mary Dobson, Allysin “Sienna” Kay, Veda Scott, Shayna Baszler, Annie Social, Kelly Klein, Heidi Lovelace, Lufisto, Nicole Savoy and more.
12 – BIG WEST WRESTLING presents BOWLING, BODYSLAMS & BBQ, Lake City Bowling & Billiards: Kelowna, BC
12 – Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Jeff Cobb has been added to the Revolution Pro show in London at York Hall in Bethnal Green.
13 – Viva La Lucha: San Diego, CA, Montgomery High School – This show is a special fundraiser event in the 619 featuring Rey Mysterio, John Morrison, TJP, Nicho/Psychosis, Teddy Hart, Willie Mack, Vermin, Los Luchas and more.
13 – World Women’s Wrestling 2016 IRON MAIDEN Championship at the America Civic Center in Wakefield, MA
13 – wXw NOW – The End (Tommy End’s final show in Germany, booked by The Sumerian Death Squad)
13 – NWA Mid South Wrestling in Dyresburg, TN at the Herb Welch Wrestle Plex headlined by Matt Riviera vs. Jeremy Moore.
19 – The Hardys, Drew Galloway, Ethan Carter III and Mickie James appear for House of Glory Wrestling in Jamaica, NY. That’s the Friday before SummerSlam.
20 – LIVE PRO WRESTLING! “FIGHTING BACK 6: WRESTLING WITH CANCER” – Vanier Columbus Club, 260 McArthur Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
20 – Reality of Wrestling presents: SUMMER OF CHAMPIONS III – Featuring Kurt Angle, from the World Gym Arena in Texas City, TX. The event is preceded by a VIP Meet and Greet session to feature WWE Hall of Famer Booker T, Kurt Angle and the lovely Queen Sharmell. Tickets here. A portion of the proceeds from each ticket sale will be going to the Booker T Fights For Kids Foundation.
20 – “Best In The West” in Fresno, CA from the VFW Hall #8900, located at 3585 N Blythe at 6pm. Featuring Jeff Cobb, Joey Ryan, and Mustufa Saed.
21 – WWE Presents THE SummerSlam PPV event at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. It will be the twenty-ninth event under the SummerSlam chronology and the second consecutive SummerSlam to be hosted in the Barclays Center.
21 – Chavo Guerrero Jr. will appear for Smash Wrestling on in Pickering, Ontario at Super Showdown lV.
21 – Octagon & Tinieblas Jr. vs. Fuerza Guerrera & Pirata Morgan headlines in Houston at the Arena Theater.
26 – All Star Wrestling – Cloverdale, BC at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds Alice McKay Building, it’s the semifinals and finals of the All Star Wrestling Tag Team Tournament.
Tonight is the second Raw show since the brand extension. They’ll likely be starting some new undercard programs for SummerSlam. As noted earlier, Paul Heyman will be back with Brock Lesnar. There should be a megapush of Finn Balor, since he and Seth Rollins will be the Raw brand main event on the third biggest event of the year.
Raw is tonight night in Atlanta at the Phillips Arena. John Cena and A.J. Styles are both booked on the Raw show, but will likely not appear on television. Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman both return on the show as well. We’re looking for live reports with Superstars, dark matches (there is one advertised using Cena & Styles) and any other notes that wouldn’t be evident from the live show.
Smackdown is Tuesday night in Nashville.
We’re looking for your thoughts on Saturday’s UFC 201 and Saturday’s G-1 Climax show from Nagoya, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match for each show to [email protected].
NEW JAPAN G-1 CLIMAX TOURNAMENT IN KAGOSHIMA AT THE ARENA WEDNESDAY AT 5:30 A.M. EASTERN TIME ON NEW JAPAN WORLD
Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask vs. Ryusuke Taguchi & David Finlay
Yuji Nagata & Michael Elgin & Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Toru Yano & Yoshi-Hashi & Gedo
Katsuyori Shibata & Captain New Japan vs. Kenny Omega & Yujiro Takahashi
Tomoaki Honma & Kushida & Juice Robinson vs. Tetsuya Naito & Evil & Bushi
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Figure Four Weekly
READ IT HERE: Figure Four Weekly 7/25/2016: More concussion legality! – Just moments after last week’s issue was put to bed, news broke that WWE had been hit by yet another lawsuit from Massachusetts lawyer Konstantine Kyros against WWE. Before, there were of a small handful of wrestlers with no prospects of dealing with WWE again suing strictly over nebulously worded concussion-related claims. This time, there are over 50 plaintiffs, including a lot of surprises, and the counts have been expanded to include variations on misclassifying them as independent contractors as part of an alleged racketeering scheme.
READ IT HERE: August 1, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Brand split week one, Brock Lesnar and the WWE Wellness Policy– The entire story of Brock Lesnar, UFC drug testing, WWE drug testing and its history leads the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. There is also full coverage of week one of the brand extension, what has been good and what hasn’t, as well as coverage of Battleground, the G-1 Climax tournament, and the deaths of well known personalities on a regional basis like announcer Bill Cardille and Oregon advertising icon Tom Peterson.
The lead story explains in detail why Lesnar was not suspended, the changes in the policy where he can’t be suspended, who else has those loopholes, where they came from, why PED usage is more of a competitive advantage in WWE than in most real sports and why people who claim wrestling isn’t competition miss the entire point. There is also a look back to 2007 when a large percentage of the roster was suspended at the same time without test failures and why, including how office people have been treated different from talent on the subject. Take a look into specifics of the case of Randy Orton, performance vs. cosmetic in wrestling and how it has changed, how WWE differs from the other major promotions, when steroid testing started in WWF, when it was dropped and when it was restarted, a look back at the key component of the 1994 indictment of Vince McMahon and subsequent trial, and what happened and why WWF dropped drug testing.
A look back at the cases involving Eddy Guerrero and Chris Benoit, the success of the program all inside.
In this issue, take a look at Lesnar’s schedule, the situation with Paul Heyman, what the next steps for UFC and athletic commissions regarding the Lesnar test failures and the reaction to all this from Mark Hunt. This issue also looks at Hunt’s argument regarding how Lesnar gained financially from cheating and how Lesnar was not treated differently than anyone else when it came to drug testing in the UFC.
Finally, examine week one of the brand split, the changes in the SummerSlam show, Roman Reigns booking, the ascension of Dolph Ziggler and Finn Balor, as well as business notes and a match-by-match rundown of Battleground with star ratings.
You can also order the print Observer right now and get it delivered to your door via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to Dave Meltzer.
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The Huffington Post has an article on TNA Knockout Jade, focusing on her overcoming domestic abuse. As a former victim of domestic violence, Jade is now an advocate of women’s rights championing the cause to end domestic battery. “We choose to get in the ring. We’re trained to keep ourselves and our opponents safe. But when someone brings it back home, that’s not wrestling anymore. That is not entertainment. That is just straight abuse.” Pass this article along if you know of anyone in a dangerous situation, female or male, child or adult. Violence in the home is not ok in any form.
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw, G-1 and the rest of the wrestling and MMA news tonight. We’ll also be taking e-mail questions for the show to [email protected].
The Bella Twins were awarded the Teen Choice awards for favorite female athlete last night on the show, which airs on FOX. John Cena hosted the show.
Sean “P Diddy” Combs will be the guest host of next week’s Raw show from Anaheim.
As expected, Gawker founder and partial owner Nick Denton has declared bankruptcy stemming from judge Pamela Campbell’s ruling that he needed to start paying Hulk Hogan his share of the big verdict. Denton is in a legal vise as he may not be able to raise the $50 million to appeal the original verdict.
WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT
The WWE has announced NXT shows on 9/16 in Des Moines, 9/17 in Omaha and 9/18 in St,. Paul, MN. The St. Paul show will be at the Roy Wilkens Auditorium, the same site as the ECW Anarchy Rulz PPV. The problem is that it’s head-to-head with the Minnesota Vikings game for the first time in their new stadium. It’ll hurt, but NXT has never been there and it’s maybe 2,000 seats. HHH actually listed the 9/18 show in Minneapolis, which is near St. Paul. Some people in St. Paul hate when people make that mistake but it’s one people make all the time.
A Facebook video of Kane talking politics is here. (thanks to Stephen Brown)
Adam “Edge” Copeland noted that he has had to cancel his 8/21 Edge & Christian Q&A show at Caroline’s in New York. He had a commitment the next morning in the U.K. and there was no way he could do both events. He said that Christian would still be doing the show.
Mick Foley talks the Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks title match from last week.
Right before this morning’s Howard Stern show there was an ad for WWE house shows and the Summer Sizzler tour listing all the headliners. In the ad they listed Charlotte as women’s champion. (thanks to Mike Stack)
There will be a Smackdown taping on 10/4 in San Diego. I believe the Raw taping that week will be a the Staples Center in Los Angeles but that isn’t confirmed.
Seth Rollins had a cameo on Sharknado, which aired last night on Syfy.
What was said to be the best match of the first round of the cruiserweight classic, Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa, will air on Wednesday night on the WWE Network. WWE Network has also added all of the 2007 episodes of Raw aside from the Chris Benoit tribute show which obviously will never be seen again.
The WWE is having fans vote for the greatest SummerSlam match ever, with these being the list to choose from:
Edge vs. Matt Hardy (2005)
HHH vs. Shawn Michaels (2002)
Steve Austin vs. Undertaker (1998)
Stephanie McMahon vs. Brie Bella (2014)
Ric Flair vs. Mick Foley (2006)
Rey Mysterio vs. Eddy Guerrero (2005)
Team WWF vs Team Nexus (2010)
Ultimate Warrior vs. Ric Rude (1990)
WWE Network News listed these matches for the upcoming Three Faces of Foley collection being added to the network:
Cactus Jack vs. Sting (falls count anywhere, 1992 Beach Blast)
Cactus Jack vs. Big Van Vader (Texas death match, 1993 Halloween Havoc)
Cactus Jack & Shane Douglas vs. Sandman & Terry Funk (1995, ECW)
Undertaker vs. Mankind Boiler Room match (SummerSlam 1996)
Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind WWF title (probably Foley’s career best match)
Steve Austin & Dude Love vs. Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith (Raw 1997)
Steve Austin & Dude Love & Undertaker vs. Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith & Bret Hart (Raw 1997)
Dude Love vs. Rockabilly (Billy Gunn) (NBC 1997)
Dude Love vs. The Rock (Raw 1997)
Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie (Terry Funk) vs. New Age Outlaws (Raw 1998)
Steve Austin vs. Dude Love (WWF title, Unforgiven PPV, 1998)
Mankind vs. The Rock (WWF title, Raw 1999)
Mankind vs. The Rock (Empty arena match for WWF title,1999)
Cactus Jack vs. HHH (street fight for WWE title, 2000 Royal Rumble
Matt Sydal wrestles Steve Arsenault in the main event of Wrestlecentre Voltage on the Fight Network Thursday night at 11 pm eastern.
WWE Hall of Famer and Japanese Wrestling icon Stan Hanson goes into detail about his time in AWA and why he refused to drop the heavyweight title before leaving the company.
MISCELLANEOUS
William Regal was at yesterday’s Progress Wrestling show in London. He pretty much ignored the chants from the fans all night encouraging him to sign up Tyler Bate, Mark Haskins and Will Ospreay. Obviously Ospreay would be off limits for some time. He popped his head out of the curtain and made a joke about asking someone to buy promoter Jim Smallman a sandwich, since Smallman is skinny. Regal talked to a number of the wrestlers but didn’t say much else. He also went to two others shows over the past week and did a podcast with Smallman that plays tomorrow night.
RESULTS of the Progress show: Trent Seven & Tyler Bate DCOR Pete Dunne & Damian Dunne, Jack Gallagher b Zack Gibson, TK Cooper & Travis Banks b Roy Johnson & Jack Sexsmith, Mark Andrews b El Ligero, Mark Haskins b Will Ospreay (winner gets a Progress title shot), London Riots b War Machine (Ray Rowe & Hanson), Marty Scurll won the Progress title beating Pastor Will Eaver. (thanks to Rob Leigh)
Joey Davis, 21, who went 131-0 in Division II wrestling competition with four national championships, (the only Division II wrestler to win four titles and go unbeaten for a career), makes his MMA debut against Keith Catrone (1-0) on Bellator’s 8/26 show in Anaheim. The fight will be part of the streamed prelims and not on the television show.
RESULTS: Beyond Wrestling from yesterday in Providence, RI, before more an advanced sellout of more than 400 fans for a show that lasted five hours: Keith Lee (who is now in ROH) b Brian Cage, Joey Ryan b Suge D-COR (mostly comedy based around Ryan dick spots), AR Fox b Matt Tremont after a swanton off the balcony, Darius Carter & TJ Marconi & Anthony Gangone & Devin Blaze & Tommy Trainwreck b Dan Maff & Homicide & Eddie Kingston & B-Boy, Chris Hero b Kimber Lee, Donovan Dijak won three-way over JT Dunn and Chris Dickinson (during this match Dijak threw a cup of water into Dickinson’s face and water ended up splashing on the mixing board and shortened it out, meaning no PA for the rest of the show, ring announcer Rich Palladino had to ask the crowd to be quiet for the rest of the ring introductions), Tanya (a camera woman) b Suge D to win the DDT Pro Iron man championship, Matt Riddle b John Silver, Jake & Mike Draztik & Angel Ortiz b TJP & Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams, David Starr b Johnny Gargano, Joey Ryan regained the DDT Pro Iron man title over Candice LaRae, Suge D and Johnny Cockstrong (who had beaten the camera woman backstage) with a Zack Morris Saved by the Bell spot where Ryan made everyone freeze and then pinned Cockstrong. Ryan then announced that the crowd deserved the title and they started chanting, “We are awesome.” Ryan then ruled the crowd had tapped out and he was champion again. Brian Fury b Tommaso Ciampa, Jonathan Gresham b Zack Sabre Jr. in 2/3 falls using the figure four in the third fall. (thanks to Patrick Tobin)
MLW has announced a Bruce Prichard podcast called “Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard.”
Results from All Star Wrestling in Dublin, WV on Saturday night: Tinky the Clown b Silent Assassin, Nate Diamond b Liam Cross, Misty James b Roni Nicole, Tennessee Hillbillies & Iron Cross b Stan Lee & Scott Sterling & Sexy Kevina, Wolf b Joe Briggs, Frank Parker & Gunner b Sgt. Long & Drake Tungeston
Victory Commonwealth Wrestling on 8/5 in Toronto at the Super Wonder Gallery.
Hannibal vs. Scott Steiner has been announced for the GNW title for 11/5 in Hawkesbury, ONT.
Smoky Mountain Wrestling Fire on the Mountain on Saturday night in Kingsport, TN at the Civic Auditorium has Jax Dane vs. Jordan Kage for the NWA title, Jason Kincaid vs. Elliott Russell for the Southeastern title, Chase Owens vs. Damien Wayne plus appearances by Tammy Sytch and Raven.
Here is a video of Luna Wrestling from France, seemingly a short lived French promotion that existed in the early 70’s. The wrestlers used springboards powered by air compressors to literally catapult themselves into the ring, over and over. (thanks to Nick DeFranco)
RESULTS: 7/29 B.C.W Central: When Sparks Fly, BPO ELKS Queensborough Lodge #878, Queens, NY, This was the final BCW Central show. It is merging with Tier 1 Wrestling. Black Jeter won the Dany Yamz Memorial Battle Royal, Change for Crusade def The Disassemblers, Caveman def Eric Jayden by DQ via low blow, Maxwell Jacob Feinstein def Sebastian Cage via armbar submission, Triple Threat Women’s Match, Faye Jackson def Solo Darling & Dominique Fabiano, Hounds of Hatred def GOAT, Mike Orlando def “Greek God” Papadon, General Romero def Mike Verna, Team Pazuzu def Certified Graysons, Tier 1 Championship Rude Boy Riley def MOOSE.
RESULTS: 7/31 Pure Wrestling Association – Funion Days, Thedford, Ontario: Mr Atlantis defeated Jesse Bieber, Brandon Jacobs defeated Rip Impact, Joey Allen defeated “Reckless” Ryan Swift, Beautiful Beaa defeated Dominique Fabiano to remain Elite Women’s Champion, Reggie Marley defeated Andrew Davis to become new Ontario Champion, Ryan Swift/Jesse Bieber defeated Mr Atlantis / Joey Allen
