As part of their Bound by Honor weekend in Florida, ROH held television tapings in Lakeland on Saturday night.
– Vinny Pacifico defeated Beach Body Ryan in a Future of Honor match
– ROH Television Champion Jeff Cobb defeated Silas Young to retain his title
Young got this title shot through winning a four-man tournament on ROH TV where he won matches against Eli Isom and Beer City Bruiser.
– Rush defeated Vinny Marseglia
– The Kingdom came out. Matt Taven said there’s a man who thinks he’s the ROH World Champion, but Taven is the true champion. He issued a challenge to defend his “real” title belt against anyone other than Jay Lethal.
– Jonathan Gresham defeated Matt Taven by DQ
The Kingdom caused the disqualification. Lethal came out to the ring but was beaten down. The Kingdom tried to use a table, but the LifeBlood stable made the save. Lethal destroyed Taven’s title belt.
– Mayu Iwatani defeated Holidead
Iwatani and Women of Honor World Champion Kelly Klein had a confrontation ahead of their title match at tonight’s Bound By Honor show in Miami.
– Kenny King defeated Dalton Castle
King insulted Lethal and challenged Marty Scurll to a match at ROH’s 17th Anniversary pay-per-view in Las Vegas on March 15.
– Taven called Lethal a coward and challenged him to a match, but The Kingdom attacked Lethal as he came out. Taven hit an elbow drop on Lethal through a table.
– ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes & Silas Young defeated Cheeseburger, Eli Isom & Ryan Nova
– The Bouncers (Beer City Bruiser & Brian Milonas) defeated Joe Keys & Brian Johnson
– Madison Rayne defeated Thunder Rosa
– Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Rocky Romero
– Women of Honor World Champion Kelly Klein defeated Stella Grey to retain her title
Klein is involved in a storyline where she’s vowed to defend her title in all of her singles matches.
– NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis wanted Marty Scurll to be his partner in April’s Crockett Cup tournament, but Scurll instead challenged him to an NWA title match. Aldis accepted the challenge.
– Bandido, Juice Robinson & Tracy Williams defeated Dalton Castle & The Boys
– NWA National Champion Willie Mack defeated Rhett Titus to retain his title
– ROH World Champion Jay Lethal & Jonathan Gresham defeated Coast 2 Coast (LSG & Shaheem Ali)
This was originally advertised as The Kingdom defending their Six-Man Tag Team titles against Villain Enterprises, but Brody King couldn’t be at the show due to the birth of his child.
Scurll closed the night by cutting a promo where he put over PCO.
Matches are now set for PWG’s next show, Two Hundred.
Bandido will get a crack at the PWG title as he will face Jeff Cobb in the main event. Cobb defeated WALTER to win the championship back in October.
The tag team titles will also be on the line. Current champions The Rascalz (Zachary Wentz and Dezmond Xavier) will take on the Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero M and Rey Fenix) and LAX in a three way bout.
New talent coming in for this show include Aussie Open, which consists of Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher. They will make their debut taking on Best Friends. Trey Miguel, who is associated with the Rascalz, will also make his debut, facing Jake Atlas and Jungle Boy in a three way match.
Here is the full card for the show, which will take place on March 1st at the Globe Theater in Los Angeles. Tickets will go on sale Tuesday, February 5, on PWG’s website:
Jeff Cobb vs. Bandido for the PWG title
LAX vs. Lucha Brothers vs. The Rascalz for the PWG tag team titles
PWG’s first show of 2019 took place at the Globe Theatre in Los Angeles, California on Friday night.
Overall, it was a fun show. It wasn’t a total blowaway like the classic PWG shows, but it was a fun night and there were a few very strong matches. I saw empty seats in the back, but it was still packed. If they never got to a true sellout, they definitely got close.
The promotion did not announce their next date, but Excalibur said that they would be back soon.
– Brody King defeated Jungle Boy
Jungle Boy was making his PWG debut and got a great reception. The match had a decent enough big guy vs. little guy dynamic. This was my second time seeing Jungle Boy live. i see the potential, but he’s still pretty green. A few of his arm drags were a little rough, and he and King had some awkward transitions. Most people are better by the time they debut in PWG, but the crowd seemed into the match.
King chopped the hell out of Jungle Boy throughout, leaving him with a very marked up chest. There were strong “please come back” chants for Jungle Boy after the loss.
– Puma King defeated DJZ
This result surprised me and made me wonder how long DJZ will be a free agent. The fan appreciation of this match is determined by how much one responds to the Puma King gimmick. I really like it, so I enjoyed the match. But I have friends who don’t like it and didn’t think much of it.
They did a bunch of cool reversals, arm drags, and pinning predicaments. It was a perfectly fine second match on a wrestling card.
They had a great, all-action tag match. The crowd loves LAX, and rightly so. Horus looked great, but he always does. Laredo Kid received a warm welcome and had some cool spots during the match.
Horus did his insane running dive from the ring over the corner post to the outside, cheating it slightly by going a little diagonal. There was a healthy “please come back” for Laredo Kid afterwards.
– Robbie Eagles defeated Jonathan Gresham
Great response for Gresham here. It was a really strong debut for him as all of his stuff looked great and he was over with the crowd. Eagles is just a guy. The crowd liked him more than me, but not a lot more.
Gresham worked the right arm the whole match, including chopping it, rather than the chest, during striking exchanges. Eagles won with his 450 onto the leg followed by his figure four variant. He didn’t even set up the leg submission throughout the match.
There was a very strong post-match “please come back” for Gresham, noticeably stronger than Jungle Boy or Laredo Kid.
– PWG Tag Team Champions The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) defeated Best Friends (Beretta & Chuck Taylor) to retain their titles
I really enjoyed the build up during this match. It had plenty of offense, but it was less of a spot fest and had a better story than other Rascalz PWG matches (though I love the Rascalz firefight and a million high spots matches as well)
The story of the match was Best Friends working their heavyweight advantages on the smaller Rascalz. The Rascalz outran Best Friends right away, but the match turned early when Taylor told Beretta to stop acting like a junior and do heavyweight stuff. Beretta got Xavier to do the running shoulder tackle spot, and then floored him.
There was another good story moment with a fun payoff later: Xavier was demolished in a chopping exchange with Beretta. Xavier switched tactics to quicker-paced offense and gained the upper hand. But after a series of tags in and out with Wentz, Beretta made a comeback by flooring Xavier with a hard chop.
The match built to some high flying and dives to the outside by the Rascalz, but the dives felt like they meant more. The Rascalz won with the Hot Fire Flame (assisted standing Shooting Star Press), with Xavier pushing Wentz mid-Shooting Star over a bent over Taylor and onto a recently laid out Beretta. The crowd loved the match and all four guys
– Bandido defeated ACH
This was my favorite match. Bandido is great and ACH is one of the most underrated guys in the business — he can really do everything. He worked heel here and did a great job as a cocky bastard. He worked the fans when he was in the crowd. He was smarmy and cocky, and he found moments to build chants for Bandido without making it obvious that he was doing it.
Here’s my favorite part: ACH did the chopping the outside ring post by mistake spot (after really working some vocal Bandido fans into a rage) and then sold the hand for the rest of the match. No one does that. Not even WALTER, who is good about that kind of thing. And ACH didn’t overdo it or make the entire match about his hand. He just made sure to sell that it was hard to grip when attempting a German suplex — or he became reluctant to have another chopping exchange.
There were a bunch of other great heel touches, and Bandido was great as always. He won with his handspring German suplex.
– PWG World Champion Jeff Cobb defeated Trevor Lee to retain his title
This match had a lot of trouble getting off the ground, but eventually built to a great peak and finish. The energy was very weird early.
Lee came out and started to do his typical heel promo. Right away, he noted that Cobb wouldn’t get him like he got him last time (Cobb pinned Lee in about 10 seconds in round two of BOLA 2018 by grabbing Lee during his promo) — only to have Cobb grab him and suplex him. But Lee escaped and got a small package for a two count. A lot of people, myself included, thought the flash pin could happen. However, after this moment, the match went flat for awhile.
The crowd did not boo Lee at all, which they normally would. I think this was because everyone knew this was Lee’s last PWG match, so they didn’t want to boo. But Lee also didn’t work heel. He conveyed that he earnestly wanted the title and was working hard to win. So, the crowd didn’t really know how to react.
Lee worked his ass off, doing a tope to one side and later a tope suicida to the other. Even with the dives, the crowd would die down quickly. However, the match really took off for the final 5-10 minutes. They worked a spot where Lee accidentally punted Justin the referee (the biggest heel in PWG), and the crowd came to life for that.
Lee then worked heel by hitting a low blow, but now the crowd was mainly pulling for him. He hit a running flip dive from the ring over the corner post to the outside. He hit his big standing double stomp for a near fall. Cobb came back with deadlift gutwrench suplexes and a bridging
German for two.
Cobb hit a release airplane spin, flinging Lee high into the air for a near fall. Lee escaped a top rope superplex attempt by rolling over into a powerbomb set up, carrying Cobb a few feet from the corner, and hitting a sit-out power bomb. That was another two count.
Everyone was on their feet for the final few minutes. The finish came when Cobb hit the Tour of the Islands, but Lee kicked out at one. The crowd lost it. Cobb hit a huge German (landing Lee on his face) and then another Tour of the Islands for the three count.
After the match, Lee cut a great, heartfelt promo. He said that he never thought he would main event in PWG when he debuted in 2014, calling it a company that he had dreamed about working for. He thanked the fans for tweeting after that debut to get him booked again. He said he read every message they sent to PWG and made sure that he worked his ass off to deliver for them.
Lee said that PWG helped make it so he could quit his job “selling frozen yogurt to sh*tty kids” and wrestle full time. And he said that he never won BOLA or the PWG title as he said he would, but the fans made it so he could get hired by WWE. Lee finished by saying he’d probably just get fired by WWE and come back and win the PWG title
There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. At least not for me — I hope he makes a billion dollars.
PWG has released the card for their next show, Hand of Doom.
In the main event, Trevor Lee will challenge Jeff Cobb for the PWG World title. The PWG tag team titles will also be on the line, as Best Friends will make their return to the promotion challenging current champions The Rascalz (Zachary Wentz and Desmond Xavier).
There will also be a couple of debuts. Jonathan Gresham, who currently wrestles for ROH, will take on Robbie Eagles. Jungle Boy, the son of Beverly Hills 90210 star Luke Perry will also be on the card, taking on Brody King.
Here is the full card for next month’s show, which will take place January 18 at the Globe Theater in Los Angeles, California:
Jeff Cobb vs. Trevor Lee for the PWG title
The Rascalz vs. Best Friends for the PWG tag team titles
Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman called the action from Las Vegas on this week’s episode.
ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes defeated Coast 2 Coast (LSG & Shaheem Ali) to retain their titles
Coast 2 Coast came to the ring cutting a promo about how they’ve been undefeated for all of 2018. The Briscoes, however, have been the ROH Tag Team Champions for over 1,000 days in their career.
The Briscoes suckered Ali in and worked him over with a double-team beatdown. Ali took punishment until he made the tag to LSG — who ran wild. He hammered The Briscoes with strikes and slams until Jay tossed him to the floor and Mark nailed him with a flying dropkick and a running elbow drop off the apron to the floor. Jay tossed Ali haphazardly into the guardrail as the fight continued outside of the ring.
Back inside the ring, The Briscoes were taking it to LSG. Coleman commented that The Briscoes will have to literally knock their opponents out because of the toughness of Coast 2 Coast. LSG fought back, landed on his feet, and connected with an enzuigiri — which allowed Ali to come in and lay waste with some strikes and a big sidewalk slam.
Ali and Mark exchanged chops. Mark landed a fisherman brainbuster but only got a two count on Ali. The Briscoes landed “Redneck Boogey” on Ali, but again only for a two count.
LSG had seen enough and came into the ring to fend off The Briscoes. Coast 2 Coast hit a couple of nice double-team moves, including Tu Los Sabes and the double Coast 2 Coast dropkick. LSG landed a 450 and Ali went for the pin, but Mark broke it up. Coast 2 Coast were setting up something off the top, but The Briscoes fought out and hit the Doomsday Device on Ali for the win.
Backstage, Jay Lethal called out Matt Taven and said he was going to solve his problem for him.
Taven responded by saying that he was the real ROH World Champion.
The Briscoes buried Coast 2 Coast backstage and asked if anyone can stop them.
Jeff Cobb defeated Punishment Martinez to win the ROH Television Championship
An ominous feeling precipitated the match as Bobby Cruise introduced the competitors. A staredown started it off until Martinez attacked first. Each man connected with hard strikes but neither budged. It didn’t take long until Cobb connected with the Tour of the Islands slam to win the title.
Tenille Dashwood came to the ring to give an update on her shoulder injury. She announced that she has a skin disease (psoriasis), something she’s been battling her whole life. She said the shoulder injury was made worse by whoever jumped her at Death Before Dishonor and that she will need to undergo surgery. Dashwood was legitimately choked up at points.
Backstage, Hangman Page called out Scorpio Sky for next week.
Marty Scurll defeated Chris Sabin
An even exchange of wrestling ended with each man holding the other’s foot. The referee gave them a clean break. Sabin took the early advantage with a submission hold and a headbutt, then Scurll fought back and nailed his superkick off the apron.
Sabin regained control with a missile dropkick off the top rope and a slingshot neckbreaker. Scurll countered with a spinning forearm. A series of pinning combinations from both left each wrestler scrambling to opposite sides. Sabin hit a flying enzuigiri and a running boot in the corner.
Sabin was headed up top, but Scurll went up first and landed a superplex. That put both men down. A hard chop exchange led to a Scurll superkick. Scurll hooked on the chicken wing, but Sabin fought out. Scurll landed Graduation for the win.
More information has been released for next month’s Lion’s Break Project 1 in California.
New Japan’s English website announced tonight that a special singles match between Hirooki Goto and Jeff Cobb will take place on the first card on November 10. On the following day, Kenny Omega will take on David Finlay in another special singles match.
Other announced participants for the two shows include Jushin Thunder Liger, Ryusuke Taguchi, ACH and Rocky Romero. Clark Connors and Alex Coughlin, who wrestled in the dark match at Fighting Spirit Unleashed, will also participate on the show.
In addition, two meet and greet sessions will take place at the New Japan Dojo in Carson, California also on November 10 and 11. Liger, Taguchi, Romero and Cobb will participate on the first day while Finlay, ACH, Goto and Omega will participate on the second day. NJPW President Harold Meij will also be participating in the meet and greets.
Lion’s Break Project 1 will take place at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.
Jeff Cobb is the new Ring of Honor Television champion following tonight’s television tapings.
Cobb defeated Punishment Martinez to win the championship tonight at their TV tapings in Las Vegas, Nevada. Cobb made his presence felt during last night’s Death Before Dishonor show, wiping out Martinez after he successfully defended the title against Chris Sabin. Martinez had held the championship since June 16, when he defeated Silas Young during the second night of ROH State of the Art.
Cobb made his debut for ROH back in July during their television tapings, destroying supposed participants in the Top Prospect tournament and eventually ended the tournament himself, saying that he was the only top prospect in ROH. Tonight was the first night he wrestled for the promotion. Dave Meltzer reported in the September 24 issue of the Wrestling Observer that Cobb is expected to sign with ROH after this season of Lucha Underground.
Cobb will also be wrestling at tomorrow’s NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed show in Long Beach, California. He’ll be teaming with Sabin & Flip Gordon against Beretta, Chuckie T & Hirooki Goto.
Episode #361 of Ring of Honor television was taped at Center Stage in Atlanta, Georgia last month.
Chris Sabin (w/ Alex Shelley) defeated Scorpio Sky
This was a back-and-forth match with a lot of chain and technical wrestling in the first part. Sabin finally got the edge with some classic Sabin strikes. Sky connected with an inside-out cutter. Sabin used some unique pin attempts and a step-up enzuigiri to set up the Cradle Shock driver for the pin.
After the match, Shelley got on the mic and talked about the Motor City Machine Guns team, which they formed 12 years ago. Shelley then announced that he’s stepping away from pro wrestling for the time being because of how many times he’s had his teeth knocked out. He asked Sabin to validate their team by staying a success as a singles wrestler. Shelley got emotional as he thanked the crowd.
Just as they were finishing up, Punishment Martinez came out and ruined the celebration. He curb stomped Sabin, the number one contender to his ROH Television Championship, and was about to do the same to Shelley when, of all people, Scorpio Sky came back out for the save.
Backstage, Kenny King said he was going to make Marty Scurll bend the knee in tonight’s main event.
Kelly Klein joined Ian Riccaboni and Colt Cabana to commentate on the next match.
Karen Q defeated Jenny Rose
Klein talked about how easily she’s beaten both of these wrestlers. Karen Q connected with some impressive kicks and a corner combination for a near fall. Rose fired back with big chops, a sidewalk slam, and a fisherman’s suplex but only earned a two count.
Rose then hit a spear, which caused Klein to come to ringside. She tossed a mouth guard at Rose, which distracted her, and allowed Q to hit her full nelson slam for the win. Klein then beat down Rose afterwards as Q let her do it.
A video package highlighted an upcoming Jay Lethal vs. Jonathan Gresham match, playing off their first encounter when Lethal may have underestimated him.
Backstage, Shelley was laid out next to a folding chair.
First round match in the Top Prospect Tournament: Eli Isom vs. FR Josie
Caprice Coleman was at the announcer’s table for this one and stayed out for the rest of the show. Isom launched Josie with a suplex. He also caught Josie off the second rope and landed a side slam.
But none of that mattered as the debuting Jeff Cobb entered, causing the no contest and then decimating both men with huge suplexes — including a double pumphandle slam on both at the same time.
Kenny King defeated Marty Scurll
Scurll used his typical offense of breaking the rules to put King on the mat early. King finally countered with an arm drag and a leg sweep. Both men went down after King hit a rolling spin kick. King fired up with punches, a knee to the back, and a clothesline. He followed that up with a huge spinebuster. King hooked on a Last Chancery on Scurll to send a message to Austin Aries.
After more cheating, Scurll landed a brainbuster — but King kicked out at 2.9! Scurll finally got a hold of King’s fingers, but King countered and attempted the Royal Flush. Scurll countered the counter into a DDT! He went for his cane, but the referee took it away.
That gave King the opportunity to roll up Scurll, and King used his feet on the ropes for extra leverage and got the pin.
Rounding out the lineup for the tournament, 14 more wrestlers have been added to this year’s PWG Battle of Los Angles, including some big international names.
Some of the biggest names announced are CIMA, T-Hawk and Shingo Takagi. While T-Hawk has wrestled in the United States in the last year, CIMA and Takagaki haven’t wrestled in the US since 2013 and 2010, respectively. Travis Banks, just coming off of the finals of the WWE UK tournament, was also announced.
PWG regulars coming in for the tournament include PWG champion WALTER, Adam Brooks, Jeff Cobb, Flamita, Jonah Rock, Timothy Thatcher, Matt Riddle and Bandido. Impact’s DJZ and independent wrestler Darby Allin round out the 14 names announced over the last few days. Names previously announced include the likes of Ilja Dragunov of wXw, Puma King, Jody Fleisch and Pierre Carl Ouellet.
Here are the full list of participants for this year’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament, which will take place over three days from September 14-16:
Two new title matches help round out the card for NJPW’s G1 Special in San Francisco on July 7.
It was officially announced this evening that Hiromu Takahashi will next defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against longtime rival Dragon Lee at the Cow Palace. The two are no stranger to one another, most recently wrestling at the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, where Dragon Lee defeated Takahashi.
Also announced for the show was a NEVER Openweight Championship match pitting new champion Hirooki Goto against Jeff Cobb. The two spent a lot of time on the last tour battling one another, with Cobb challenging Goto following his championship win over Michael Elgin earlier this week.
Here is the full card for the event:
IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega defending against Cody Rhodes
IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Jay White defending against Juice Robinson
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi defending against Dragon Lee
Kazuchika Okada & Will Ospreay vs. Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI
IWGP Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks defending against EVIL & SANADA
NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto defending against Jeff Cobb
Hiroshi Tanahashi & KUSHIDA vs. Hangman Page & Marty Scurll
Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs. Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr.
The sale of the American Legion Hall has run into snags so the May 25th event may not be the last show in the building. It also still may be the last one. That May 25th show will take place in Reseda and the next one is July 13th at the Globe Theater in Los Angeles. It is possible to return to Reseda after that point.
Last night’s All Star Weekend 14 night one show was a strong one. There was no match on the card that wasn’t very good, and this was top tier when it came to crowd heat. In particular, the main event, Taiji Ishimori vs. Bandido, and Walter & Timothy Thatcher vs. Brody King & Tyler Bateman were over huge and in very different ways.
– Rey Horus pinned Trevor Lee with a front rolling cradle off the middle rope.
Lee is one of the most underrated guys in the business, and Horus had a good night here as well. Lee used his Impact Wrestling status to get easy heat.
– Taiji Ishimori pinned Bandido with a suplex into a codebreaker.
These guys had a match that most thought would steal the show when it was over, but the quality late was so strong that it didn’t. These two have the potential to have one of the best feuds in the world with their respective skill sets, but it was their first time in the ring together and there was a very minor style clash that kept it from near match of the year levels.
Ishimori is the typical Japanese wrestler who is so much more impressive live than on TV because of how technically great they are.
– WALTER & Timothy Thatcher defeated Brody King & Tyler Bateman
WALTER beat King with a choke. WALTER and King have something special together, When they tagged in, the place exploded for no reason other than it was two talented big guys, and King has only done a couple of PWG shows and his last match had issues with guys getting hurt. But I sense the people can see the future with him.
– Sammy Guevara defeated Robbie Eagles and Flash Morgan Webster in a three-way match
Guevara is a super talented top heel waiting to happen. Eagles was making his PWG debut and looked good. Webster is becoming a regular and anyone who’s a regular here has to be top-notch because the competition to work here is the highest it has ever been. Guevara hit a 450 on Eagles and Webster and pinned Eagles.
– Jonah Rock pinned Joey Janela with a top rope superplex that broke the ring, followed by a powerbomb and a splash off the top rope.
Since Rock and WALTER are both challenging Keith Lee in a three-way for the PWG title tonight, I figured Rock to get a dominant win. Instead, they did more back-and-forth and Janela got a lot of offense — and in that sense what they did made for a better wrestling match.
– PWG World Champion Keith Lee pinned Hangman Page with a jackhammer in a non-title match.
Page had a very tanned front and forgot to tan his back, and the crowd picked up on it and Lee and Page immediately responded to them. There were chants about the tan and Lee was laughing, so for nearly five minutes they played that up.
The crowd was very engaged in the match but the negative was, because it started so comedically, they never got the crowd into the seriousness of it. The crowd was very into it, but more as fun, even with Page doing all of his crazy stuff.
– The Rascals (Zachary Wentz & Dezmond Xavier) won the PWG Tag Team titles in a three-way over champs Matt Riddle & Jeff Cobb and The Young Bucks
This was exactly what you’d expect it to be. Wentz & Xavier are super talented guys that are only going to get better working with the type of wrestlers they are starting to work with. The other four are all among the best in the world. There were lots of big spots, dives, and Cobb twice did double suplexes, giving The Rascals a double back suplex, one with each arm, and giving the Bucks a double German suplex.
After the match ended, The Young Bucks did their farewell to Reseda after wrestling in their final match at the American Legion Hall. They talked about watching their first match in the building from 10 years ago and how much they’ve changed and things have changed, and this was the building that put them on the map. They talked about when people ask what matches of theirs they want to see, they talk about matches in the building.
They discussed matches all before I started going, mentioning names like Scott Lost, Paul London, El Generico, Kevin Steen, Joey Ryan, Candice LeRae and others, and said that Steen and LeRae told them today how much they loved working here as well.
It was pretty much the end of an era since The Young Bucks really built the promotion, both with their matches and selling T-shirts, but also their demand in their contract with ROH that would allow ROH full-time contracted talent to work here even though they were banned from all other indies in the United States.
Here are results from the last two days of PROGRESS events in New Orleans. First up, here are quick results from the show held on 4/6:
James Drake and Zack Gibson defeated Tyler Bate and Trent Seven to retain the PROGRESS tag team titles.
Will Ospreay defeated Mark Haskins.
Ringkampf (WALTER and Timothy Thatcher) defeated Keith Lee and David Starr.
Jeff Cobb won the Thunderbastard match which included Chris Brookes, MJF, Rickey Shane Page, Austin Theory, Parrow, Darby Allin and Joey Janela.
Jinny and Mercedez Martinez defeated Toni Storm and Shazza Mackenzie.
Matt Riddle defeated Jimmy Havoc.
Pete Dunne defeated Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster in a triple threat match.
Travis Banks defeated Shane Strickland to retain the PROGRESS title.
And here is what went down earlier today:
– Chris Brooks defeated Rey Horus
Solid opener. Brooks got the advantage after a sucker punch. Horus made a comeback with a head scissors to the floor and a flip dive over the turnbuckle to take out Brooks. Brooks won with an octopus stretch.
– Toni Storm defeated Mercedes Martinez to retain the PROGRESS Women’s championship
Really good match. Extremely hard hitting early with Mercedes getting the better of Toni with hard forearms and chops. Toni hit a tremendous snap German suplex. Mercedes got a near fall with a fisherman’s buster. Toni got the win with an armbar.
Will Ospreay came out for a promo. He came out to a huge ovation. Will stated that he re injured his neck in the match with Matt Riddle but still wanted to compete. He first suggested a reverse battle royal which got a huge reaction. Then he wanted to have a mixed tag team match for some fun. Out came Kay Lee Ray to be his tag partner.
– Austin Theory and Jinny defeated Will Ospreay and Kay Lee Ray
A lot of comedy early with Jinny using a voodoo doll on Kay Lee Ray to attack Ospreay. Turned into a pretty good match Ospreay clearly not doing as much due to his neck injury but still took a couple of hard shots to his neck. Jinny picked up the win after a second rope facebuster on Kay Lee Ray.
– Mark Haskins, Jimmy Havok, and Flash Morgan Webster defeatd Keith Lee, Matt Riddle, and David Starr
This match was a lot of fun. Lot of comedy early with Jimmy Havok biting Riddle’s feet and Lee’s knee. Ton of big moves by Lee and Starr. The finish was the kiss of death combination Acid Rainmaker and STO on David Starr by Havok and Haskins.
– WALTER defeated Zach Sabre Jr. to become the number one contender for the PROGRESS championship
This match was insane. WALTER chopped Zach about 15 times during the match causing Zach’s chest to turn bright red. Zach would try and get submissions over and over but WALTER would keep powering out and continue to chop him all over the ring and outside. Zach tried a rollup bridge and was caught in the rear naked choke and submitted to a huge reaction.
– GYV (Zach Gibson and James Drake) defeated Rickey Shane Page and Ethan Page to retain the PROGRESS tag team titles
Rickey Shane Page cut a promo saying that due to the blood test required by the Louisiana State Athletic Commission that he was able to find his brother to tag with him. Out came “All Ego” Ethan Page to a good reaction. Ethan then cut a promo saying that also found out they were related and Page and Diamond Dallas Page for a good laugh. Zach Gibson and James Drake came out to a ton of boos. This was an ok match. Lot of teasing the hot tag to Rickey Shane Page included a funny spot where RSP ran into the ring to attack Gibson and Drake but untied the tag rope so he was holding it and was therefore legal. The finish came when Eddie Dennis came out and distracted RSP casuing the GYV to hit a double facebuster for the win.
Eddie Dennis then cut a promo calling Mark Andrews a sell out for wanting to work for WWE and stated he had a plan to get Andrews.
– Travis Banks defeated Jeff Cobb to retain the PROGRESS title
This was another really good match. Cobb was suplexing Banks all over the place. Cobb teased a people’s moonsault when Banks got the knees up. Banks hit Cobb with a Kiwi Krusher for the pin. After the match WALTER came out and chased Banks out of the arena and motioned he was coming for the title.
Really good show. The PROGRESS shows have been a ton of fun over the past two days and they stated they wanted to come back to the United States soon.
Yesterday was a big day for match announcements from the non-WWE shows that will be taking place during WrestleMania week in New Orleans.
Joey Janela’s Spring Break II, Revolution Pro Wrestling, and Impact vs. Lucha Underground were among the events that made announcements for Friday, April 6th. James Ellsworth vs. Matt Riddle became the last match to be confirmed for Spring Break, joining Janela vs. The Great Sasuke, David Starr vs. Mike Quackenbush, WALTER vs. Pierre Carl Ouellet, Penta El Zero M vs. Nick Gage, and the second-annual Clusterf*ck match.
The Pontchartrain Center will host Spring Break at 11:55 p.m. Central time.
Minoru Suzuki’s match for Revolution Pro Wrestling’s show was also revealed. It will be Suzuki facing Jeff Cobb at The Sugar Mill, with the card set to start at 4 p.m. Central.
RevPro is part of WrestleCon’s weekend of events, which also includes Impact vs. Lucha Underground. An Impact Tag Team title match has been announced for that show, with LAX (Santana & Ortiz) defending against Killshot (Shane Strickland) & The Mack (Willie Mack). Impact vs. LU will be held at The Sugar Mill at 9 p.m. Central.
New Japan Pro Wrestling’s World Tag League is underway, and the story of the tournament so far is how the newcomers have fared.
Sami Callihan, paired with Juice Robinson, Jeff Cobb, partnered with Michael Elgin, and Chuck Taylor, teaming with Beretta, have all tasted victory in their opening matches.
In Callihan’s case, it was difficult for me to believe that he was the same performer that I saw in WWE in 2015. Particularly when in the ring with EVIL, Callihan displayed a confidence as a performer that I thought he was lacking in his NXT tenure. Robinson played well off his over-the-top intensity, and the duo held up their end of the main event spot on night one of the tournament.
Taylor might have a tougher road, as his reactions in the early going of his opening match were tepid at best. But as illustrated by the great response to some of his flying work late in the match, his stuff will play here, and he will eventually get over.
Cobb was born to wrestle in NJPW. His powerhouse frame and intensity are pluses, and to top it off, he got to work with Tomohiro Ishii, both in a six-man on night one, and in a tournament match on night three. Any time Ishii sold for Cobb it gave him instant credibility, and coupled with his ability, it is easy to predict singles stardom for Cobb here in the future.
They did lots of crowd brawling early. I am of the opinion that the next time a crowd brawl looks good in modern wrestling will be the first time. Suzuki and Iizuka used chairs as they fought all over the building, but no disqualifications were called.
This was fine, maybe even good when Goto and Suzuki were in together, but ranged from middling to poor otherwise. The finish saw YOSHI-HASHI break up a guillotine attempt by Suzuki on Goto, who recovered and nailed Suzuki with his finisher for the pin.
Juice Robinson & Sami Callihan defeated SANADA & EVIL (A Block)
Robinson and SANADA did some nice mat work early. Callihan and EVIL did some power stuff, and Callihan hit a sick dive through the middle and bottom ropes to the outside.
SANADA and EVIL worked over Robinson before it broke down into a four-way. Callihan kissed Robinson at one point to try to fire him up. He saved Robinson as EVIL went to finish him, and Robinson recovered and hit the Pulp Friction for the pin.
Night two results —
Best Friends (Beretta & Chuck Taylor) defeated Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) (B Block)
A couple of nice spots early highlighted Taylor’s agility. This was all about establishing Taylor and Beretta’s friendship and teamwork. After some flying and crowd brawling early on, this settled down into your basic tag match, with the Guerillas working over Beretta.
The match wasn’t getting over to a great degree until Taylor hit a beautiful tope. Beretta eventually hit a Dudebuster for the win.
Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb defeated Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano (B Block)
Cobb and Ishii started off. They pounded away at each other, no-sold each other, and the crowd ate it up. When Ishii eventually left his feet and bumped for a Cobb shoulder block, the place loved it. Elgin and Yano did some comedy. Ishii and Yano double-teamed Cobb, then Elgin got a tag and ran wild.
Elgin and Ishii did some of their trademark power stuff before it broke down. Cobb saved Elgin from a near fall with rolling German suplexes on Ishii. Cobb and Elgin got a great near fall with a double team move, and Elgin hit Ishii with a buckle bomb and a sit-out powerbomb for the pin. This was good stuff.
They kept it simple and tried to milk the crowd early on. The Bullet Club got the heat on Nakanishi with a low blow while the referee was distracted. Page and Takahashi then worked over Nakanishi forever with chops, kicks, and eye gouging.
Nagata got a tag and looked pretty good in working with Page, but Takahashi ended up hitting Nakanishi with the Pimp Juice DDT for the pin.
Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (A Block)
A battle of the Bullet Club and the Bread Club. Tenzan and Kojima worked over Owens in the early going. He recovered and all four guys brawled outside and into the crowd. Back inside, Owens worked on Kojima with punches and elbows.
Fale tagged in for the occasional power spot, but this was largely Owens doing the bulk of the work and keeping it very simple. Fale hit the Bad Luck Fall on Kojima for the pin.
Night four results —
This show took place in Yamanashi on Tuesday and was recently uploaded to NJPW World. Here are quick results from the two tournament matches:
Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) defeated David Finlay & Katsuya Kitamura (B Block)
Smith Jr. pinned Kitamura after a double-team powerbomb.
Some familiar faces to fans in the United States will be debuting for New Japan Pro Wrestling as part of this year’s World Tag League tour.
NJPW announced that Jeff Cobb, Chuck Taylor, and Sami Callihan would all be debuting in the tournament. Cobb, who was originally scheduled to team with Matt Riddle before plans changed, will partner with Michael Elgin, Taylor will be paired with usual partner Trent Barreta, and Callihan will team with Juice Robinson.
In a change from recent years, wrestlers who already have matches announced for Wrestle Kingdom 12 (including top stars like Kazuchika Okada, Tetsuya Naito, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Kenny Omega) won’t be participating in World Tag League.
Whichever team wins will likely challenge for the IWGP Tag Team Championship at Wrestle Kingdom on January 4th. Killer Elite Squad, the team that currently holds the titles, will also be in the tournament.
World Tag League 2017 begins on November 18th in Tokyo. The finals will take place on December 11th in Fukuoka, with the winners of the A Block facing the winners of the B Block. Here’s the full list of teams for the tournament.
A Block —
Juice Robinson & Sami Callihan
Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi
Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens
Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi
Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka
EVIL & SANADA
B Block —
Togi Makabe & Henare
Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb
David Finlay & Katsuya Kitamura
War Machine (Ray Rowe & Hanson)
Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano
Trent Barreta & Chuck Taylor
Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa)
Killer Elite Squad (Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.)
