Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Filthy Tom Lawlor is back with tons to talk about including an update on Joe Doering and Jon Gresham, Lash and Trick get engaged, War Games, Dynamite and Collision notes, the New Japan World Tag League, all the weekend news we can fit in, and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Tag: joe doering
Joe Doering battling third brain tumor, GoFundMe launched
Joe Doering continues to battle brain cancer.
In a GoFundMe post, Doering’s sister-in-law Mandy Banh gave an update on Doering’s health, writing that he is battling a third brain tumor and has undergone radiation and his first round of chemotherapy.
“Hi, my name is Mandy, and as my brother in-law approaches 10 years of battling Brain Cancer, he finds himself in the midst of battling a third brain tumor. Joe has underwent radiation & his first round of chemotherapy- to continue for at least 5 more months,” she wrote. “Joe and my sister have put so much determination and resilience into Joe’s fight over the past 10 years I was hoping to help alleviate some financial worries that naturally come along with medical bills combined with my sister needing to take some time off work to accommodate Joe’s multiple medical and rehabilitation appointments.”
“This journey has not been easy on them, and with Joe not having any family in Canada, all of the load ends up on my sister’s shoulders,” she continued. “After Joe’s last brain surgery in 2022, located on his brain stem, he developed ataxia on his right side, which has greatly impacted his mobility. Joe works very hard with physiotherapy, however, he mostly uses his wheelchair in his day-to-day life, requiring assistance when using stairs, a walker, and any transitioning. This has been a great change, as one would imagine, from being a professional sports athlete.”
Banh wrote that despite the current situation, Doering remains focused on fighting the disease privately.
“However despite this great challenge, Joe has remained determined, focused, and most of all- in good spirits! He chooses not to feel sorry for himself and battles his journey very privately. I feel after 10 years, to show Joe more love- that he still has support and encouragement- will help him embark on this latest battle!,” she wrote.
Doering previously battled cancer in 2016 before returning to AJPW the following year. He joined TNA in 2020 and continued to be part of the roster until 2022, when it was announced his cancer had returned and would be undergoing surgery shortly thereafter.
Wrestling Observer Live: Dynamite, All Out, NXT 2.0, RAW ratings, Bryan vs. Filthy
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including Joe Doering, AEW Dynamite tonight, the line-up for All Out, gigantic RAW numbers, NXT 2.0 review with great improvements of late, Bryan vs. Tom, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Impact’s Joe Doering battling brain cancer for second time
Joe Doering’s brain cancer has returned.
Impact Wrestling announced on Tuesday that Doering, 40, told the company this past weekend that his brain cancer has returned and will be undergoing surgery “in the coming weeks.” In the meantime, Doering will be stepping away from active competition.
“They told me in 2016 that I would never wrestle again, and I proved them wrong,” Doering told Impact Wrestling’s website in a statement. “Guess I’m going to have to do it again. I try to not get too sad or emotional about it. Staying positive really helped me the first time, and that’s what I’ll do again.”
Doering additionally said that he hopes to return to in-ring action very soon.
“Please keep me in your thoughts and spirits. I hope to get back in the ring again very soon. To the IMPACT Wrestling locker room: you are family to me and I look forward to seeing you again very, very soon.”
“I know our fans and the wider wrestling community will join everyone at IMPACT in keeping Joe and his wife Lindsay in their thoughts and prayers,” Impact Wrestling Executive Vice President Scott D’Amore said in a statement. “Joe loves pro wrestling and we all look forward to him returning to action when he’s ready.”
Doering, who spent a majority of his career in All Japan Pro Wrestling before coming to Impact in 2020, previously battled cancer in 2016. He returned to AJPW the following January.
Six-man tag match to headline Impact Wrestling
A preview of the Slammiversary main event will take place on Impact Wrestling this week.
This Thursday’s episode of Impact will see Impact World Champion Josh Alexander & Impact Tag Team Champions The Briscoes team up as they take on Violent By Design (Eric Young, Joe Doering & Deaner) in a six-man tag match. Alexander is set to defend his title against Young at Impact Wrestling’s Slammiversary pay-per-view on Sunday, June 19.
Alexander vs. Young was made official for Slammiversary after Young won a Gauntlet for the Gold match on Impact two weeks ago.
At Under Siege earlier this month, The Briscoes defeated Young & Deaner to win the Impact Tag Team titles. The Briscoes then retained against Doering & Deaner on Impact last week. Young attacked The Briscoes after the match, but Alexander ran out to save The Briscoes from Violent By Design.
Here’s the updated lineup for this Thursday’s Impact:
- Josh Alexander & The Briscoes vs. Violent By Design (Eric Young, Joe Doering & Deaner)
- Frankie Kazarian vs. Chris Sabin
- Masha Slamovich vs. Havok
- Slammiversary Ultimate X qualifying match: Trey Miguel vs. Alex Shelley
- Jordynne Grace vs. Chelsea Green
- Bhupinder Gujjar & W. Morrissey vs. Shera & Raj Singh
Satoshi Kojima to face Joe Doering at Impact Against All Odds
It didn’t take long for New Japan Pro Wrestling legend Satoshi Kojima to make an impact in his new temporary home as in his first appearance on Impact Wrestling, he said three words and already has two matches lined up as a result.
During Violent By Design’s promo Thursday, Kojima came out and got in Joe Doering’s fact, simply saying “Against All Odds,” the Saturday, June 12th special on Impact Plus. Later in the show, Doering accepted the challenge. Since debuting in Impact earlier this year, Doering is 2-0 in singles matches.
The two have competed three dozen times in their careers, all in All Japan Wrestling. Their last clash was in January 2010 when the then-Triple Crown Champion defeated Doering in a title defense.
Kojima will make his Impact in-ring debut next Thursday against Doering’s stablemate in VBD, Deaner.
Against All Odds will be headlined by Impact World Champion Kenny Omega vs. Moose.
Three more matches added to Impact Hard to Kill
Three new matches have been added for Impact’s next pay-per-view, Hard to Kill.
Sami Callihan will face Eddie Edwards in a barbed wire massacre match. Their match at the end of tonight’s Impact main event ended in a no contest when the video screen showed Edwards’ wife Alisha caged in somewhere in the backstage area. Edwards went to save her, but it was a trap as Callihan’s associate Ken Shamrock jumped Edwards as he approached the cage. Callihan then came in and attacked Edwards with a bat.
A six-man tag team match has also been set for Had to Kill. Eric Young, Cody Deaner & Joe Doering will face Tommy Dreamer, Rhino & Cousin Jake in an old school rules match (a no DQ and no countout match). Rhino & Jake faced Deaner & Doering on tonight’s show, with Deaner getting the win over Jake after a low blow. Dreamer made the save for the team after the match and issued the challenge.
Additionally, Ethan Page and Karate Man will face off against one another at Hard to Kill, despite Karate Man also being portrayed by Page. Page was in a therapy session during a segment on tonight’s Impact with Karate Man, talking about how his career has been derailed since The North lost the Impact Tag Team titles. He ended up getting into an argument with Karate Man, leading Page to challenge him for Hard to Kill.
Other matches slated for the show include Kenny Omega & The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) vs. Rich Swann & The Motor City Machine Guns, Deonna Purrazzo vs. Taya Valkyrie for the Knockouts Championship, Manik vs. Chris Bey vs. Rohit Raju for the X-Division Championship, and Havok & Nevaeh vs. Kiera Hogan & Tasha Steelz in the Knockouts Tag Team title tournament finals.
Hard to Kill takes place on Saturday, January 16.
All Japan Pro Wrestling launches streaming service
Another wrestling promotion has launched their own streaming service.
All Japan TV launched early this morning for 900 yen ($8.48 as of this writing). The service won’t start to charge until April, but payment information is required in order to watch videos. Registration for the site can be found here. If you are on Google Chrome, you can navigate the registration page via Google Translate. Once you register, click on a video on the main page and press play. From here, you will be taken to a screen where you will be asked for payment information, which include credit card and PayPal options.
The site currently features matches from this year and last year, including shows from last year’s Champion Carnival tournament, but nothing before 2017. It is likely that older footage from the 90s and earlier will not be part of the service as NTV owns the rights to that footage and has no association with the service.
All Japan’s first streaming show will be the Dream Power Series on 3/26, with current All Japan Triple Crown champion Joe Doering defending the title against Kento Miyahara. In April, the service will stream this year’s Champion Carnival tournament, including the finals on 4/30.
The Week In Japanese Wrestling: Joe Doering wins AJPW’s Triple Crown
Editor’s note: the following originally appeared in this week’s Figure Four Weekly.
It’s well documented that 2017 has been a crazy year in pro wrestling. The list of stories from this year is a mile long, but there may be none sweeter than that which concluded this past weekend when Joe Doering won the Triple Crown Championship in All Japan.
Doering is one of the most unique wrestlers in the world; a total throwback. He is like 1984 Stan Hansen dropped into 2017, but he doesn’t feel like a ripoff of the legendary Texan. Doering is his own man, and has his own great relationship with the Japanese crowd. He’s wild and they love him. His matches are tremendous and look completely different to any other matches out there. For all those reasons, it’s really cool that he’s become champion. But none of them are the reason why this is arguably the best story of the year.
In March of 2016, Doering was pulled from the upcoming Champion Carnival. He had a brain tumor.
It was not known whether the Canadian would ever wrestle again. He underwent brain surgery and all the chemotherapy needed, and he defeated the illness. Joe Doering said “F*ck Cancer” and that’s exactly what he meant! He now sells an incredible T-shirt with that slogan and a picture of him essentially giving a lariat to cancer.
He was back in the ring at the beginning of 2017 and looked like he didn’t miss a beat. Considering he had been out of action with an injury for a long period before the diagnosis, this was extra impressive. To be honest, he looked better than he ever had before.
The crowds have been behind him all year. His entrance where they chant “Joe!” to the beat of his awesome music never fails to create excitement. His matches against Shuji Ishikawa and Daisuke Sekimoto (among others) were absolutely fantastic, and his turn on stablemate Suwama during the summer made him seem even more wild and unpredictable.
On Saturday in Yokohama, it was Doering against Suwama one-on-one for the Triple Crown. His opponent was just coming off winning the title himself two weeks earlier in quite possibly the best match of his career against Kento Miyahara, but you can bet Suwama was only too happy to be the man to drop the historic championship to one of his closest friends.
While the match has not yet aired, from the photos and live reports, it appears to have been a great scene. Doering’s triumph was not just a victory for him, but it was a victory for the belief that professional wrestling can still be a magical sport where great stories are always possible. “Joe! Joe! Joe!”