AAA announced the line-up for one of the biggest events in its history, “TripleMania XV: The New Era,” on 7/15 at El Toreo de Cuatro Caminos in Naucalpan, which will be set up for a 17,000-seat capacity with the big stage in place.
This is the show that they have been looking to get Hulk Hogan on. Hogan turned it down, but according to those close to the situation, it is not completely dead today. The main event was announced as La Parka & Latin Lover & Zorro & ? vs. Paul Wight (Big Show) & Sabu & Head Hunter A & Ron Killings, with Amy “Lita” Dumas managing the heel side. While there are intermediaries working on Show appearing, Show has said that he has no more interest in doing pro wrestling (if Hogan got something started, he would probably be with it but otherwise he’s turned down every offer) and his goals are elsewhere. At this writing, he is not confirmed for the show.
For the first time in company history, WWE released their entire pay-per-view schedule for the following year, including dates and locations.
WrestleMania will indeed take place over two nights: Saturday, April 2nd and Sunday, April 3rd at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas. As of September, WWE was still discussing how to approach the weekend events-wise.
While September is without a location, that month’s PPV will be held during Labor Day weekend on either Saturday, September 3rd or Sunday, September 4th. That weekend is typically when AEW traditionally holds All Out in Chicago.
Also of note, SummerSlam will not be held in the UK as previously discussed. Instead, it will be heading to Nashville’s Nissan Stadium.
February and October’s dates and locations are still TBA, but those could be the yearly Saudi Arabia events based on when they have held those shows historically.
The schedule is also missing the PPV names outside the Big Four, Money in the Bank, and the new Day 1 show.
In their release, WWE said the year ahead will set a record for their most stadium events in a year.
Saturday, January 1: Day 1at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia
Saturday, January 29: Royal Rumble at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri
February: TBA
Saturday, April 2 and Sunday, April 3: WrestleMania 38 at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas
Sunday, May 8: Pay-Per-View at Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island
Sunday, June 5: Pay-Per-View at Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois
Saturday, July 2: Money In The Bankat Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada
Saturday, July 30: SummerSlam at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee
Saturday, September 3 or Sunday, September 4: Pay-Per-View at TBD location
October: TBA
Saturday, November 26: Survivor Seriesat TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts
There are no March, August or December dates on the calendar.
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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
It’s a relatively quiet weekend. The biggest events are Smackdown tonight, the Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki NJPW match that took place earlier today, and a UFC show on ESPN+ tomorrow.
Want to mention the death of Mark Hussey aka Rollerball Rocco, who was a pioneer of the modern hard hitting fast-paced style of wrestling. Many consider Rocco as the best U.K. wrestler of the late 70s and early 80s, with his career peak coming as the original Black Tiger in New Japan feuding with the original Tiger Mask. He had classic matches with the likes of Sammy Lee (Satoru Sayama), Dynamite Kid, Tatsumi Fujinami, Marty Jones and Jushin Liger as Flying Fuji Yamada. He was one of the greats of his time, and because his style was faster than the prior generation, even though his stuff was more hard hitting, he was tabbed by older veterans as not knowing how to work, lacking psychology, not realistic, all the same stuff that every prior generation says about the people who change the style.
Garrett Gonzalez, who I do shows with, is getting married tomorrow. Good luck Garrett and Khrsytal. We will be back doing a show next week talking about one of the best wrestling books ever written, Jonathan Snowden’s bio of Ken Shamrock.
PWInsider reported that Judge Waverly D,.Crenshaw Jr., has declared a mistrial in Jeff Jarrett & Global Force Wrestling’s lawsuit against Anthem Entertainment (Impact Wrestling) for usage of GFW footage. There will be a conference on 9/11 to set up a second trial.
Smackdown tonight:
Bayley vs. Nikki Cross for the Smackdown women’s title
A.J. Styles vs. Gran Metalik for the IC title
Naomi vs. Lacey.Evans
UFC on ESPN+ starting at 6 p.m. Eastern tomorrow
Chris Gutierrez (135.5) vs. Cody Durden (135.5)
Jamall Emmers (146) vs. Vincent Cachero (145)
Nathan Maness (144.5) vs. Johnny Munoz (145.5)
Ed Herman (206) vs. Gerald Meerschaert (204.5)
Frankie Saenz (136) vs. Jonathan Martinez (140.5)
Kevin Holland (184) vs. Trevin Giles (185)
Lando Vannata (155.5) vs. Bobby Green (156)
Vicente Luque (170.5) vs. Randy Brown (170.5)
Joanne Calderwood (126) vs. Jennifer Maia (124.5)
Derek Brunson (186) vs. Edmn Shahbazyan (185.5)
Some notes. Martinez missed weight by 4.5 pounds. Ray Borg, who was to face Maness, pulled out at the last minute and is being replaced by Johnny Munoz. Pro wrestler Eric Spicely vs. Markus Perez was canceled. Spicely said that this was his first weight cut since starting antidepressants due to head trauma from the Deron Winn fight, and said things went horribly wrong in the cut and he’s off the show. Cachero was a last minute replacement for Timur Valiev.
Eric Bischoff was part of the Chris Jericho/Orange Cassidy segment that was taped yesterday for next week’s Dynamite show.
WWE
SummerSlam 2019 is scheduled to air on FS1 on 8/11, which was headlined by Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins, Kofi Kingston vs Randy Orton, Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon and Becky Lynch vs. Natalya.
Mauro Ranallo will be announcing tomorrow on the Showtime boxing card from the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT. Ranallo will be live at the event.
The movie “Jungle Cruise” starring Dwayne Johnson has been moved back to a July 30, 2021 opening.
A racial profiling story which involves a friend of Titus O’Neil (thanks to Chris Cruise)
UFC
Related to the confrontation between Dan Hardy and Herb Dean this past Saturday, Dana White said that anyone who works for UFC that approaches a referee or a judge or any official will be fired.
Dana White’s Contenders Series will air live every Tuesday at 8 p.m. on ESPN+. from the Apex Arena in Las Vegas. This season will be a ten-week series. The show has spawned the careers of Sean O’Malley, Edmen Shahbazyan, Dan Ige, Maycee Barber and others. Tuesday’s bouts are:
Ty Flores vs. Dustin Jacoby
Uros Medic vs. Mikey Gonzalez
Luis Rodiriguez vs. Jerome Rivera
Jordan Leavitt vs. Luke Flores
AEW
Cody Rhodes and QT Marshall have announced a wrestling camp starting on 9/21 with 25 male and female wrestlers doing a three-month training course at their gym in Norcross,GA. They will focus on in-ring wrestling, customized workout and fitness programs, nutrition training and training in makeup on camera, pro wrestling history and the business of pro wrestling. The plan is to do new classes every three months, open to men and women. All students will be tested for COVID-19.
Kenny Omega and Michael Nakazawa are doing a zoom conference for students at Tokai University, the college Nakazawa graduated on August 8 from 12:30 to 1:50 p.m. Japanese time. They are doing an on-line seminar on the wrestling industry.
Jack Evans, who has been in Mexico, returned this past week to the tapings for a match on Dark against QT Marshall, who also returned from battling COVID-19 at the tapings this past week. The Dark main event will be Butcher & Blade vs. Private Party.
MISCELLANEOUS
WWE will be doing PPV shows on both 8/23 and 8/30, with SummerSlam, followed by a card set up by angles at SummerSlam called Payback. This will be the first time since 1991 that WWE has done PPVs in successive weekends.
New Japan will announce tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern its plans for a new weekly Friday night series that begins a week from tonight on New Japan World.
Roddy Piper passed away five years ago today.
Glory, having been financially restructured, returns with shows on 10/2 and 10/3 in The Netherlands. 10/2 features a four-man middleweight tournament with the winner getting a shot at Alex Periera’s middleweight title later on. 10/3 has welterweight champion Cedric Doumbe defending his title. Both shows will be limited to attendance of 200 people.
ROH Fresh Friday tonight has Eddie Edwards vs. Austin Aries, Davey Richards vs Roderick Strong, Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli vs Mark & Jay Briscoe, Alex Shelley vs.Spanky, Nigel McGuinness vs. Samoa Joe, Homicide vs. Bryan Danielson, Mick Foley vs. Vordell Walker vs. Samoa Joe vs.Ebessan Jack vs. Austin Aries and Allison Danger vs. Daizee Haze vs. Lacey vs. Traci Brooks. The show airs on Honor Club.
MLW on BeIn Sports tomorrow at 10 p.m and on YouTube at 6:05 p.m. is a 2003 show with
Shocker vs. L.A. Park
Super Crazy vs. Fuego Guerrero
Sabu vs. Taiyo Kea
CWE runs on 8/13 in Calgary with Johnny Devine vs. Travis Cole
A number of the top wrestlers with Phillipine Wrestling Revolution, including Jake De Leon, Chris Panzer (their champion) and top manager Mr. Sy have left the company (thanks to Kevin Chiat)
Pro Wrestling Phoenix from last night in Omaha, NE: Con Artiest b Purple, Nicky Scent b Jon West, Chris Havius b Logan Ocean, Tim Boston & Seto Kobara NC Jack Darling & Uncle Ricky & Donnie Peppercricket, Lars Metzger b Mack Riggs, Paul Daniels & Joey Daniels b Pat Powers & Tony Cortez, Duke Cornell b Moonshine Russell, Con Artiest b Duke Cornell. Next show is 8/27 at the Waiting Room Lounge in Omaha,.
While it may be difficult for many to remember 2016 fondly, it was a transformative year for professional wrestling both domestically and around the globe. That transformation was especially apparent in WWE as 2016 saw the addition of so many talents to the company, the women’s revolution finally take hold on the main roster, and the implementation of another brand split.
The following is a list of our top 10 wrestling events of the year based solely on views for the live post on our website. Events from NXT and other promotions were eligible, but WWE shows ended up taking every spot on the list.
Most of the focus going into Hell in a Cell was centered on which match would main event the show. WWE had advertised that the PPV would feature a “triple main event,” but what match would go on last wasn’t confirmed until shortly before it started.
The main event ended up being a historic one. Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte Flair became the first ever women’s match to close a WWE PPV, as well as the first ever women’s Hell in a Cell match. The match itself wasn’t the best that the two had in 2016, but it was certainly a considerable milestone even if WWE didn’t hype it as one.
Whether WWE considers the decision to have Banks and Charlotte main event remains to be seen, but Hell in a Cell was the only brand-exclusive PPV since the WWE Draft to break into our top 10.
Fastlane didn’t quite end up being the last Network special before WrestleMania with the addition of Roadblock (the one before the End of the Line) in March, but it decided who would go on to face Triple H for the WWE title at AT&T Stadium.
Roman Reigns won a triple threat match over Dean Ambrose and Brock Lesnar to earn that spot. The direction for other WrestleMania matches was also solidified at Fastlane with Charlotte defeating Brie Bella to retain her title and Kevin Owens successfully defending the Intercontinental Championship against Dolph Ziggler.
AJ Styles defeated Chris Jericho on the show in his first PPV singles match after joining WWE, and the two would go on to face each other again at WrestleMania.
This was a bit of a surprise. Goldberg essentially squashing Lesnar in the main event was one of the most talked about WWE moments of 2016, but Survivor Series still ranked in the bottom half of this top 10.
What that can be attributed to is anyone’s guess. Perhaps the traditional Survivor Series elimination tag matches failed to capture the attention of viewers who wanted title matches, but this was proof that the “big four” wouldn’t easily top this list like I had expected.
Two title changes ultimately ended up headlining this year’s Money in the Bank. Rollins defeated Reigns in the scheduled main event as he made his return from a lengthy absence due to a knee injury to reclaim the WWE Championship. But Rollins’ reign didn’t last long. Ambrose cashed in the Money in the Bank briefcase that he won earlier in the night to win his first top title in WWE.
Just two days later, it was announced that Reigns had been suspended for 30 days due to a wellness policy violation.
The show may end up most remembered for being home to the first singles meeting between Styles and John Cena. Styles got a win over Cena with the help of Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows here, and he went on to get a clean win over Cena two months later at SummerSlam. The two will meet for the third time on the first WWE PPV of 2017 as the Royal Rumble takes place in San Antonio, Texas.
Survivor Series ranking so low made it so this wasn’t unexpected, but it was still pretty surprising. Where Survivor Series has lost some of its luster, the Royal Rumble is still unquestionably one of WWE’s top few events of the year. The show also traditionally serves as the start of WrestleMania season every year.
But for whatever reason, the 2016 edition ranked in the bottom half of our top 10. It was, like most years, headlined by the 30-man Royal Rumble match, but this year’s match was for the WWE Championship rather than a title shot at WrestleMania.
Triple H came out on top by last eliminating Ambrose. The Rumble also featured Styles’ WWE debut after news that he had signed with the company broke earlier in the year.
With two strong WWE Match of the Year contenders, it’s easy to look back fondly on Extreme Rules. Reigns defended the WWE Championship against Styles in a match where both men put on tremendous performances.
It was a shame to see Styles removed from the title picture as Rollins made his return after the match was over to continue his feud with Reigns, but that decision is easier to tolerate with the benefit of hindsight. Styles went on to feud with Cena and again have great main event PPV title matches after he was established as one of the top stars of the SmackDown brand.
The second WWE Match of the Year contender came earlier in the night as The Miz defended the Intercontinental Championship in a fatal four-way against Cesaro, Owens, and Sami Zayn. In a year where Miz was involved in several excellent IC title matches, this four-way remains his best match of 2016 for me.
There were some low points on the Extreme Rules card, though. The less said the better about the tedious Ambrose Asylum match between Ambrose and Jericho.
Boosted by its position on the WWE calendar as the first PPV after WrestleMania, Payback was also the first of two times that Styles challenged Reigns for the WWE title in a PPV main event. Styles would have to wait until later in the year to win that championship, but his series with Reigns and later matches with Cena likely were what solidified his place at the top of WWE cards.
Styles and Reigns went on to have a better match at Extreme Rules. And Owens and Zayn’s Payback match was topped by their (for now) feud ender at Battleground in July.
The guarantee of a new Universal Champion led to the August 29th edition of Raw beating all but two PPVs in views, and it obliterated all other TV shows. As a result of Finn Balor injuring his shoulder at SummerSlam and requiring surgery to repair the injury, Reigns, Rollins, Owens, and Big Cass were placed into a fatal four-way main event to decide Raw’s new top champion.
Owens won the title with some help from Triple H. We haven’t seen Triple H on Raw since, but with WrestleMania season quickly approaching — it seems likely that his program with Rollins will soon kick into high gear.
WWE’s attempts to turn SummerSlam into their second biggest event of the year proved to be a success based on our metrics. The difference in views between SummerSlam and the August episode of Raw was greater than any previous jump on this list.
This year’s edition of SummerSlam was the second PPV after the WWE Draft. It was headlined by a match between Raw’s Lesnar and SmackDown’s Randy Orton that would become most remembered for its controversial finish with Lesnar opening up Orton’s forehead with stiff strikes.
The Universal Championship was unveiled to a negative reaction from the live crowd, and Balor was the first titleholder before having to relinquish it due to the injury he suffered during his match with Rollins.
Elsewhere on a loaded card that delivered in some spots and failed to in others, Styles got a clean win over Cena, Charlotte regained the Women’s Championship by beating Banks before Banks took a few weeks off due to back issues, and Ambrose retained his WWE title against Ziggler.
As if there was any doubt, WrestleMania easily topped this list. WWE’s signature event of the year didn’t double SummerSlam, but traffic for the show came in at 65 percent higher than that post.
The show will likely be remembered more for the spectacle of it than anything else with just under 100,000 fans packed into AT&T Stadium to see the marathon event.
Most of the build going into the night was based on Shane McMahon’s Hell in a Cell match with the Undertaker. With Shane’s leap off of the Cell to the announce table below, the match probably delivered as much as it could. And Reigns won the WWE Championship after he defeated Triple H in a flat main event.
The most significant thing to come out of the show was the end of the WWE’s divas division. After the announcement was made that the women would be referred to as superstars from then on and a new title was unveiled, Charlotte was the first to hold it after defeating Banks and Becky Lynch in a very good triple threat match.
