Joe Hendry retained the TNA World title over Matt Cardona with help from JBL —
Matt Cardona made a surprise return to TNA for the first time since Bound for Glory, and was immediately booked in the main event of Impact against Joe Hendry for the TNA World Championship. Hendry retained the title — after John Bradshaw Layfield once again appeared as Hendry’s personal enforcer, just as he was at Genesis. JBL’s storyline intentions remain unclear, as the WWE Hall of Famer also cost Hendry the World title at Bound for Glory.
Tully Blanchard —
Former Four Horseman Tully Blanchard was shown in the crowd during Thursday’s Impact as his daughter Tessa cut a promo on her family’s history in the industry, and her intentions to dominate TNA going forward.
WWE NXT presence —
Nathan Frazer & Axiom defended the NXT Tag Team titles against The Rascalz on Thursday’s show, with former Rascal Wes Lee from NXT getting involved as well. Lee and fellow NXT talent Tyson Dupont & Tyriek Igwe distracted and attacked Zachary Wentz and Trey Miguel, allowing Fraxiom to retain their titles.
Cora Jade also appeared on the show, costing Knockouts World Champion Masha Slamovich the fall in a trios match.
Our full report from Matt Boone for Thursday’s show is available here.
On this week’s DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show, I take a look back to the 1930s for more history from Madison Square Garden as the fallout from Jack Pfefer’s expose of pro wrestling continues, a rare hybrid/shoot style show takes place at the Tokyo Dome in 1992, and we discuss the case of Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson (w/ J.J. Dillon) for the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.
The former Brain Busters and Four Horsemen members will be at Bad Blood.
Arn Anderson wrote a short note on his X account Friday evening announcing that he and Tully Blanchard will attend Saturday’s premium live event in Atlanta.
“Heading to very familiar surroundings for WWE Bad Blood tomorrow in Atlanta,” he wrote. “Having Tully there should provide some serious flashbacks, and it will be an honor to walk the halls of the fresh, new WWE. To all my friends who still work there see ya tomorrow!”
After several years away from WWE, Anderson appeared as a surprise before Cody Rhodes’ SummerSlam match against Solo Sikoa in August. Anderson gave Rhodes a pep talk as he headed toward the entrance. Anderson previously managed Rhodes in AEW before Rhodes departed in 2022, making his return to WWE soon after. Anderson announced earlier this year that he would not be renewing his contract with AEW.
Blanchard also had a run in AEW, most notably as the manager of FTR and later The Gates of Agony before leaving the company in 2022.
Former AEW & ROH manager Tully Blanchard confirmed that he is no longer under contract and that his departure “was a little more complex” than just a contract expiration.
Speaking on the Two Man Power Trip podcast, Blanchard said he was no longer with the Khan companies and assumed his wrestling career was done other than autograph shows and events like Starrcast weekend.
Asked if his AEW departure was simply a situation where his contract expired, Blanchard said, “No, it was a little more complex than that, but my contract is up and I’m gone.”
After his run with FTR ended in AEW, he moved to Khan’s ROH and appeared at last April’s Supercard of Honor as part of Tully Blanchard Enterprises. He was paired with Brian Cage and the Gates of Agony before storyline selling the group to Prince Nana at July’s Death Before Dishonor.
He said he enjoyed his time in AEW, but when asked about whether anyone asked him for advice backstage, he said “not at all.” He chalked that up to the current roster not being born when Blanchard and Arn Anderson were in their heyday.
He later said he doubted either AEW or WWE would have him back and “where else would you go except those two places?”
Blanchard said he was offered a “last match” with Ricky Steamboat but declined as “I’m not going to embarrass myself and go out there and not be able to do what I used to do.”
Blanchard declined to comment on Ric Flair’s final match during Starrcast weekend as he didn’t stay around for it and wouldn’t have a lot of positive things to say if he did comment.
The interview was recorded before Monday’s news that his daughter, Tessa, was getting divorced from her husband and fellow wrestler, Daga. When asked about an update on her career, he said he hopes she stays in school and gets her education.
Dave Meltzer reported that Blanchard is believed to be gone from the promotion. This follows a report on Fightful Select from Sunday saying that talent and staff that had asked were told that Blanchard was gone and isn’t figured into plans moving forward.
During last night’s Death Before Dishonor media scrum, Tony Khan said that Blanchard is doing well personally and wished him the best, saying we could see him in AEW or ROH again in the future.
A storyline from Saturday’s Death Before Dishonor revealed that Prince Nana had purchased Tully Blanchard Enterprises from Blanchard. It was soon revealed that the group would now be going under The Embassy name, the longtime group associated with Nana dating back to 2004. Nana accompanied The Gates of Agony and Cage as they defeated Tony Deppen, Blake Christian, and Alex Zayne in a six-man tag match during the Death Before Dishonor pre-show. He later was in the corner of Jonathan Gresham, who lost the ROH World Championship to Claudio Castagnoli in the opening match of the pay-per-view.
Blanchard, who had managed FTR and was a part of The Pinnacle stable in AEW, revealed The Gates of Agony and Cage as part of his Tully Blanchard Enterprises stable at Supercard of Honor back in April. Two weeks ago, Gresham joined the group after turning on Lee Moriarty on Rampage. Blanchard had been seen as recently as this past Friday’s Rampage, where he was seen with the group in the crowd staring down Claudio Castagnoli.
A tag team match featuring the ROH World Champion is set for next week’s Rampage.
On tonight’s show, Jonathan Gresham was interviewed saying he was the best technical wrestler in the world, dismissing others such as Claudio Castagnoli and Bryan Danielson. He said he will prove that in a match on next week’s Rampage, when he teams with Lee Moriarty to face Tully Blanchard’s The Gates of Agony (Kaun and Toa Liona).
On last week’s Rampage, Gresham and Moriarty were interviewed about a possible match against one another when Blanchard came in saying Tully Blanchard Enterprises deserved a title shot. It was eventually agreed to that Gresham and Moriarty would face members of Blanchard’s stable sometime in the near future.
Tully Blanchard Enterprises was formed during the first ROH pay-per-view under Tony Khan, Supercard of Honor, back in April. Blanchard first managed Kaun and Toa Liona to a victory, then later introduced his other client, Brian Cage, who defeated Ninja Mack.
Tully Blanchard has introducedBrian Cage as his newest protege.
Blanchard introduced Cage as his newest client for Tully Blanchard Enterprises during tonight’s ROH Supercard of Honor event as Ninja Mack’s mystery opponent. Cage controlled most of the match and won quickly with the Drill Claw.
After the match, Toa Liona and Kaun came out and celebrated with Blanchard and Cage. Blanchard had introduced the two as a new tag team called Gates of Agony on the Supercard of Honor Zero Hour pre-show, where they defeated Cheeseburger and Eli Isom in a squash match.
Cage, who recently had his AEW contract extended, had not been on AEW television since the October 6 edition of Rampage, where he lost an FTW title match against Ricky Starks.
Ninja Mack had been announced for Supercard of Honor prior to Tony Khan purchasing the company last month. He is a regular for Game Changer Wrestling and is also set to debut in Pro Wrestling NOAH.
A new Tully Blanchard client will be revealed at ROH Supercard of Honor this Friday night.
During a promo that aired on Fite TV’s Fite Fest Event Center: Day 1, Blanchard revealed that he has a new client that will face Ninja Mack at Supercard of Honor. The identity of Blanchard’s client wasn’t revealed.
“April 1, Dallas, Texas. I used to talk about Dallas, Texas in a lot of different ways, but I was always coming to be in the ring. This time, I’m coming to stand outside the ring,” Blanchard said. “I’ve taken Ninja Mack’s open contract, and I’m going to put my new client against him. And guys, we’re going to walk out with our hands raised and our heads held high.”
Tony Khan also confirmed the match on Twitter:
ROH Supercard of Honor Tomorrow (Friday, April 1) Dallas Metroplex
Legendary wrestling strategist Tully Blanchard will arrive in @ringofhonor at Supercard with a new client, who will debut against the innovative @NinjaMack1!
Supercard of Honor is being held at Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas on Friday. The show will air live on HonorClub, pay-per-view, and Fite TV. The main card starts at 8 p.m. Eastern time. There will also be an hour-long pre-show airing for free on YouTube at 7 p.m. Eastern.
Here’s the updated Supercard of Honor lineup:
Winner-take-all match to determine undisputed ROH World Champion: Jonathan Gresham vs. Bandido
ROH Tag Team Champions The Briscoes defend against FTR
Interim ROH Women’s World Championship match: Mercedes Martinez vs. Willow Nightingale
ROH Pure Champion Josh Woods defends against Wheeler Yuta
Jay Lethal vs. Lee Moriarty
Swerve The Realest (Shane Strickland) vs. Alex Zayne
The Pinnacle emerged victorious in tonight’s Blood and Guts match that took place on AEW Dynamite.
In what ended up being a bloody match, the finish had Chris Jericho and MJF winding up on top of the Blood and Guts cage, with Jericho taking MJF down with the Walls of Jericho in a submission attempt. MJF low blowed Jericho and put him in an armbar. He then let go and dragged Jericho near the corner of the cage, threatening the other members of the Inner Circle that if they didn’t surrender, he would throw Jericho off the cage. Sammy Guevara then surrendered the match, giving The Pinnacle the win.
After the match, MJF paused, then grabbed Jericho and threw him off the cage anyway, with Jericho landing on a gimmicked pad near the entryway. AEW medical staff and the rest of the Inner Circle tended to Jericho as the show went off the air.
The build to the match started when MJF turned on Jericho and the rest of the Inner Circle (Jake Hager, Guevara, Santana, and Ortiz) to form The Pinnacle with Shawn Spears, Dash Harwood, Cash Wheeler, Wardlow, and Tully Blanchard. MJF’s new stable beat down The Inner Circle upon their formation. The Inner Circle later retaliated with a beatdown of their own, with Jericho later challenging The Pinnacle to the Blood and Guts match.
MJF has announced his stable will be going by the name The Pinnacle.
The new name was established during tonight’s episode of Dynamite. Tully Blanchard mentioned that after they attacked and laid out The Inner Circle last week, they reached the pinnacle of the sport after climbing the mountiantop. MJF referenced Blanchard’s phrase later in the segment, establishing the name.
MJF’s new stable arrived at the end of last week’s Dynamite. Consisting of himself, Blancard, Shawn Spears. FTR, and Wardlow, they proceeded to destroy The Inner Circle, including Sammy Guevara, who realigned himself with the group during the segment. The Pinnacle cemented the beatdown by laying out Jericho with a powerbomb off the stage and onto a platform. None of the Inner Circle appeared on tonight’s episode of Dynamite.
In one of the final segments before tonight’s main event, The Pinnacle walked over to The Inner Circle’s locker room and removed the name plate and putting up their own, making the locker room theirs.
The end of tonight’s Dynamite saw MJF form a new faction after his plot to take over the Inner Circle failed.
MJF revealed a stable consisting of himself, FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood), Shawn Spears, Wardlow, and Tully Blanchard after the Inner Circle turned on him for trying to oust Chris Jericho from the group. MJF’s new stable took out the Inner Circle, with Wardlow powerbombing Jericho off the stage and onto a platform below to end the show, his new stable standing tall.
The angle started with Sammy Guevara, who had been kicked out of the group earlier in the year, coming to ringside to convince Jericho to watch footage he secretly recorded earlier in the day. The footage showed MJF conspiring with Santana, Ortiz, and Jake Hager to turn on Jericho during the war council meeting. The stable turned their attention to Jericho, but soon stood shoulder to shoulder with him, revealing that they had been talking to one another about what MJF was trying to do.
The stable cornered MJF, who said he wasn’t trying to take the Inner Circle away from Jericho, but then said that was because he was building a stable of his own, leading to the show-closing angle.
Nearly 14 years after he last stepped into the ring as an active competitor, Tully Blanchard will team with FTR against Jurassic Express on the March 3rd AEW Dynamite.
Blanchard and his charges abducted Marko Stunt several weeks ago and cut the horns off Luchasaurus’ mask as the teams have been feuding recently. Blanchard has repeatedly threatened Stunt with getting back in the ring against him.
He last competed in August of 2007, picking up a win over current AEW roster member Dustin Rhodes at NWA Legends Fanfest, one of four matches he had that year.
The 67-year-old is a member of both the WWE and NWA Hall of Fame and is a former NWA U.S. and TV Champion in addition to holding the NWA and WWF Tag Team titles with fellow AEW manager Arn Anderson.
The March 3rd live edition of Dynamite will be headlined by Shaquille O’Neal and Jade Cargill vs. Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet.
A new stipulation has been added to the Dax Harwood vs. Jungle Boy match set for Dynamite.
AEW announced this afternoon that Cash Wheeler and Tully Blanchard will be handcuffed to Luchasarus at ringside to prevent any interference. Harwood last week accepted a challenge from Jungle Boy without consulting Wheeler or Blanchard. Luchasarus said he would make sure that no one got involved.
The two teams have been feuding in recent weeks. On night two of New Year’s Smash, FTR defeated Jungle Boy and Marko Stunt, with FTR scoring the pinfall win over Stunt.
Here is the full card for this week’s Dynamite:
Sting & Darby Allin discuss their upcoming street fight against Team Taz at AEW Revolution
Jon Moxley appears to talk about his upcoming six-man tag team match at Beach Break
The Young Bucks & The Good Brothers vs. Evil Uno, Stu Grayson, John Silver, and Alex Reynolds of The Dark Order
Lance Archer vs. Eddie Kingston
Hangman Page vs. Ryan Nemeth
Chris Jericho & MJF vs. Varsity Blonds (Griff Garrison and Brian Pillman Jr.)
In a post-Dynamite video released on AEW’s Twitter account, Tully Blanchard said he is banned from ringside for FTR’s Tag Team title defense against the Young Bucks at Saturday’s Full Gear.
The reason given was that because of Blanchard’s repeated interference in past matches and involvement in FTR’s attacks on the Bucks, AEW management made the call to bar him from ringside.
Blanchard said he is planning a lawsuit if the situation doesn’t get fixed, citing that other managers haven’t been treated like this. FTR said it was favoritism but that they would win anyway.
If the Bucks don’t win the titles Saturday, they will never challenge for them again.
Here’s the full card for the Jacksonville, Florida show:
AEW World Champion Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston in an I Quit match
AEW Tag Team Champions FTR vs. The Young Bucks (If the Bucks lose, they won’t challenge for the tag titles again.)
AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose
TNT Champion Cody vs. Darby Allin
World title eliminator tournament finals: Kenny Omega vs. Hangman Page
Chris Jericho vs. MJF (If MJF wins, he joins the Inner Circle.)
Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara in an Elite Deletion match
An extensive story on the death of Hana Kimura is the focal point of this week’s double issue of the Wrestling Observer.
The story covers numerous aspects, from cyber bullying to the realities of reality shows, comments from those who knew her well, pro wrestling and much more. We look at everything from legislation being introduced, similar things with two reality stars in South Korea, and what happened on the show and after the show.
We look at why she was on Terrace House, her life as the daughter of a wrestler, her reality show story, what Terrace House is, what is and isn’t real, her death, the immediate reaction to her death in wrestling, cast members talk about the show, story of what happened the night of her death, reactions from wrestlers, reactions from politicians, as well as a look at her career in the ring.
The new issue also covers:
AEW Double or Nothing show, PPV numbers, poll results, what this says about PPV, wrestling in the previous depression, Stadium Stampede background, match-by-match coverage with star ratings and more.
More on WWE’s COVID-19 procedures at the last tapings, Matt Riddle to Smackdown, changes regarding usage of NXT talent on Raw or Smackdown, behind Drew Gulak signing new deal, what’s up with Nigel McGuinness, A.J. Styles to Smackdown, IC title tournament, Kairi Sane injury, Samoa Joe health update, Ric Flair talks new deal, highest sports ratings of the week, Canadian pro wrestling ratings, Ronda Rousey update, Drew McIntyre has words with Colby Covington, Next week’s TV, Seth Rollins talks Austin Theory, Becky Lynch update, value of WWE, and the most watched shows of the past week on the WWE network.
The ability of foreign wrestles and fighters to get into the U.S.
Safety precautions for the UFC shows in Las Vegas, what Nevada is mandating, as well as how the other major companies around the world are handling the situation.
AEW’s angle with Mike Tyson, the good and bad of it as well as notes on the coverage.
An update on the XFL bankruptcy and Vince McMahon.
Update the financial issues with DAZN.
WWE’s decision to follow AEW and use wrestlers as fans for the empty arena shows this pas week.
More on the death of Shad Gaspard and his memorial service.
Circumstances surrounding the death of Owen Hart including clearing up a lot of misconceptions that have been spread over the last 20 years.
WWE and AEW television shows from the past week.
Ratings of all the major shows, the key demos and quarters for AEW and WWE, what happened head-to-head and what can be learned from them.
Results of all the major pro wrestling events around the world over the past week.
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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw, Jon Jones, and the rest of the latest news. You can send questions for tonight’s show to [email protected] We also have a weekend show with Garrett Gonzalez up right now.
Thanks for all the nice comments on the story on Hana Kimura in the current issue. I probably learned as much from people’s comments than I did from writing it.
Jon Moxley paid tribute to Danny Havoc, who passed away yesterday, and noted that Havoc designed his first AEW T-shirt.
The final audience number for Smackdown was 2,170,000 viewers, the best since 4/17.
The update for Dynamite this week is Cody vs. Jungle Boy for the TNT title, Kenny Omega & Adam Page vs. Jimmy Havoc & Kip Sabian for the tag titles, Chris Jericho vs. Colt Cabana, a match with Brian Cage, and Tony Schiavone will interview FTR.
For those who don’t know history, in 1993-94 AAA ran in Los Angeles and drew some of the biggest crowds in pro wrestling, including the largest crowd of the entire year in 1993, and generally considered the best PPV show of the era in 1994. John Arezzi and Ron Skoler, who helped promote the shows, and Konnan, who was part of putting it together, were all together talking for the first time in 25 years on Arezzi’s podcast.
WWE
Tonight’s Raw show was taped on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see if the Kairi Sane vs. Nia Jax airs and how it is edited since Sane was injured and bloodied up during the match although those in the company have said it was not Jax’s fault.
Besides Jax vs. Sane, taped for the show include Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka in a battle of women’s champions with no belts at stake, Apollo Crews defends the U.S. title, Seth Rollins vs. Aleister Black and Rollins hosts a retirement ceremony for Rey Mysterio. The Viking Raiders and Street Profits also go bowling.
After Raw tonight will be the debut of Raw talk with Charly Caruso and Samoa Joe as hosts. Joe has to do four hours of broadcasting on Mondays?
The New York Post has a story on Sonya Deville and her line of merchandise.
AEW
Tully Blanchard and Shawn Spears splitting up another example that one thing the 80s guys have on the current guys is their ability to cut promos with this masterful promo by Blanchard.
The schedule for Dark tomorrow:
Billy Gunn vs. John Skyler
Dustin Rhodes & QT Marshall vs. Peter Avalon & Brandon Cutler
Santana & Ortiz vs. Leroy & EJ Lewis
Butcher & Blade vs. Jon Cruz & Joe Alonzo
Christi Jaynes vs. KiLynn King
The Shawn Spears vs. Clutch Adams match was removed from the show. Adams made racial slurs on Twitter when he was 19 and was mad watching a football game about Tony Romo of the Dallas Cowboys. They were found by someone and AEW pulled from the match. Adams has since apologized for the remarks.
MISCELLANEOUS
This is a great article by John Corrigan on the retirement of Stu Saks, who ran Pro Wrestling Illustrated from 1987 to the present and talks with Bill Apter, Craig Peters and many others who worked with him over the years.
A note regarding yesterday’s update and Peter Norman. Peter Norman of Australia did not hold up a glove in protest. in the famous incident at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. But he was asked by John Carlos and Tommie Smith on the Olympic stand if he would mind if they did that and he said he was fine with it. But he never raised his arm. But when it came out they asked him and he said he was okay, the Australian media and government destroyed him on his return. He was basically blacklisted out of sports and when the 2000 Olympics came to Sydney, he still wasn’t invited even as a former medal winner. It was only after his death that the government apologized for how they treated him. (thanks to Dann Lennard)
Impact in 60 debuts tomorrow night at 10 p.m. on AXS. It will be a third hour of wrestling after the regular show with a theme. Tomorrow night’s episode will look back at the best of the Nashville years. It is built around matches with Raven and A.J. Styles.
NFC is holding its first show back from COVID on 6/27 with a women’s open tournament and with men’s over and under 175 pounds tournament with Jiu Jitsu rules. The show will air live on FloGrappling. This begs the question as to how can Flo make a success of a grappling channel and so many of their sports channels and fail so miserably with a pro wrestling channel?
MLW announced that it will be returning to Philadelphia at the 2300 Arena on 12/5 and to New York at the Melrose Ballroom on 2/4. Hopefully this all works out because any date announcements are subject to change based on factors that simply can’t be predicted at this time and are totally out of the hands of the promotions. Right now MLW is definitely not running anything through the end of July.
