Wrestling Observer Newsletter PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228

ISSN10839593 April 25, 2016

UFC ON FOX POLL RESULTS

Thumbs up 50 (57.5%)

Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)

In the middle 37 (42.5%)

BEST MATCH POLL

Rose Namajunas vs. Tecia Torres 51

Raquel Pennington vs. Bethe Correia 23

WORST MATCH POLL

Cezar Ferreira vs. Owale Bamgbose 16

Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 4/19.

I’ve decided to retire young.

Thanks for the cheese

Catch ya’s later.

Conor McGregor on Twitter on 4/19

In just three sentences, the entire world of MMA may have changed.

UFC was planning its biggest set of shows in history, built around a Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz fight, which was expected to be the biggest money event in company history.

Then McGregor sent out a tweet, which led to hysteria and speculation on what exactly it meant. And at this point, nobody still really knows, deep down, what it meant.

After hours of silence from UFC, Dana White was on ESPN SportsCenter with an announcement, stating that McGregor had been pulled off the UFC 200 card because he had refused to break training in Iceland to come to Las Vegas for a press conference.

White’s words only invited more speculation, claiming, “Obviously we still have a good relationship with Conor. I respect Conor as a fighter and I like him as a person. But you can’t decide not to show up to these things. You have to do it.”

White, when asked if McGregor had retired, said only McGregor knows for sure.

The next day, White got into more detail on the Colin Cowherd show with an explanation that seemed to make little sense as the real reason McGregor isn’t fighting on UFC 200.

White said that McGregor decided that he didn’t want to come to the U.S. this week where UFC had planned for him to shoot a television commercial for UFC 200, as well as do press conferences in Las Vegas, Stockton and New York.

“He said, `I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to come.’ I said, `You have to come. You can’t not show up to promote your fight. You can’t do it.’ That’s where we ended up.”

White brought up UFC 137, when he pulled Nick Diaz from a title fight with Georges St-Pierre after Diaz had missed two press dates. The irony is that Diaz ended up on the card anyway, just against B.J. Penn.

White also claimed to still have a great relationship with McGregor, and insisted that none of this is about money, and said that if McGregor was to call him up, the UFC 200 main event could still happen.

The idea that everything is smooth as silk between the sides is almost laughable when you consider UFC would be down, very conservatively, about $40 million if McGregor isn’t fighting and McGregor would also be out millions of dollars for what would likely be his biggest payday ever.

“No, our relationship isn’t damaged at all,” said White.

He was careful to not say anything negative about McGregor, which is not White’s usual M.O. The closest thing he came to saying is that, “It’s not like I’m asking Conor to do something none of the other fighters are doing and it’s not like it’s three weeks before the fight. It’s three

months (actually 11 weeks). Conor, for whatever reason, he freaked out on this. He’s a reasonable guy. He’s a smart guy. This is weird.”

The last sentence is the only one that one could take at face value.

“It’s not a money issue, that’s false,” said White about a situation that it would be almost impossible to believe is not a money issue. “That’s the problem with the Internet. Never ever was this about money. Conor makes a lot of money and is very happy with the money he makes. Conor has never come back after agreeing on a deal and asked for more money.”

White said that he didn’t believe McGregor was retiring, and he did believe McGregor would fight again with the UFC within the next year. But he said that McGregor does need to clear up what he’s saying, because if he is publicly saying that he is retired, then the 7/9 fight with Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar at UFC 200 would go from being for the interim featherweight title to being for the featherweight title, and McGregor would be stripped as champion.

Even though both sides have always claimed a great relationship, there were reports from people close to McGregor for some time who noted his long-term goal was to be a co-promoter on shows. It was pointed out that on 4/9, Manny Pacquiao earned a guaranteed $20 million for his main event with Timothy Bradley which is currently estimated at doing between 400,000 and 500,000 buys, a fraction of what UFC 200 will bring (although promoter Bob Arum went into the fight expecting 700,000 to 800,000, based on the first fight between the two doing the former and the second fight doing the latter). There are many business model differences that make this kind of a comparison misleading, but in the end, a top level boxer does earn a greater percentage of the revenue that they bring to an event than an MMA fighter.

“It never got combative,” White said. “I was talking to his manager. They are asking, `Let’s move all this to May.’ I said, `You can’t move it. All this stuff is in motion.”’

“The problem is you have to be here to promote the fight and you have to shoot this commercial,” he said. “We’re spending $10 million in promotions and all that money is in motion. You can’t not do this no matter how big you are.”

McGregor, 27, more than anyone, knows the value of being at press conferences and promoting fights. But it goes without saying nobody accepted either version as anything close to what the real story is. Whatever happened, his refusal to come to Las Vegas for a press conference may have bene the end result, but couldn’t possibly be the main issue in the complete story.

The key is that things are clearly contentious or this would have been settled before it went public, but both sides have been very careful not to make it personal. Both sides have also completely avoided whatever the real story, whether it’s McGregor wanting to co-promote, or wanting a higher flat free purse (he’s made it clear he doesn’t get his money on pay-per-view points but gets one massive check shortly after the fight) than they were willing to guarantee.

Another key to the story is that when White went on SportsCenter, he didn’t announce a new fight. The UFC’s m.o. in a situation like this when there’s bad news, is to temper the bad news with the announcement of the new fight. The fact they didn’t announce either Robbie Lawler or Rafael dos Anjos against Diaz in a title fight, a deal they could have easily put together, would indicate either they were either strongly leaving the door open to be settled, or working on something bigger that they couldn’t pull the trigger on the deal at short notice.

The only thing bigger that would come to mind would involve Georges St-Pierre.

The key being whatever the real story, it’s something neither side wanted to get out, nor that it was so heated personally that they ran down the other side.

White said that they would be bringing Diaz to Las Vegas and talk to him about a new main event for the show. From the outside, the logical move, barring St-Pierre fighting, would be Diaz getting a shot at either lightweight champion dos Anjos or welterweight champion Lawler.

The Lawler fight would be bigger. Diaz, who right now would be the A side of either title match and is probably one of the company’s biggest stars coming off his win at UFC 196, would not figure to have a great chance with either. But he’d probably have a better chance with the smaller dos Anjos. But dos Anjos also may take the fight to the ground and out power Diaz like he did in their December 13, 2014 fight, a very clear-cut decision won by dos Anjos. With Lawler, it would be a stand-up war. Perhaps Diaz’s speed and conditioning, plus his ability to take a shot, could match up with Lawler’s punching power. But Lawler’s conditioning is also good, and he’s the bigger man and much harder puncher.

Picking Lawler would enable UFC to keep the dos Anjos vs. Eddie Alvarez title fight announced for 7/7. But it would also leave the cupboard bare for August, when Lawler was scheduled to headline.

But St-Pierre is the lone prospective opponent that would enable UFC to do even close to the big numbers expected out of the show, particularly if that $10 million promotional budget is accurate.

St-Pierre in the slot would still allow them to keep the dos Anjos vs. Eddie Alvarez fight on 7/7 and leave Lawler to headline in August.

St-Pierre’s public statement on the MMA Hour on 4/18 was that he was going to do a camp and see how his body reacts, and then make the call if he’s going to fight again or retire. He seemed to be more open to fighting in interviews of late, and those close to him have been even stronger that he’d be coming back. But St-Pierre made it clear that he would have to renegotiate his current contract, because he made a lot of money on sponsorships when he was a fighter, and with the UFC Reebok deal, he couldn’t make that kind of money. So he was indicating he felt it was only fair for UFC to increase his purse to make up for his lost revenue.

Besides whatever fight Diaz does, UFC 200 will also have Aldo vs. Edgar plus Miesha Tate vs. Amanda Nunes for the women’s bantamweight title.

On the surface, I’d peg that lineup with dos Anjos in the match at 500,000 to 600,000 buys, but the idea of it being UFC 200 could knock it up slightly. For Lawler, I’d peg it a little higher. For St-Pierre, because of UFC 200 and the loaded undercard, and St-Pierre not having fought for three years, it could do 1,000,000.

If the McGregor vs. Diaz’s first fight did 1,500,000 buys as UFC has claimed, a rematch would be bigger, and throwing in the more loaded undercard and UFC 200 name, I’d figure the difference with him and without him at 1.1 million buys for a Lawler or dos Santos fight, and UFC’s cut would probably be at least $30 per buy, so that’s $33 million right there, not including his being worth $5 million more at the gate, and untold revenue whether it’s merchandise, Fan Expo, tickets to the other weekend shows and value of the brand being as big as it would be, and that doesn’t include the huge increase in revenue to the Las Vegas economy that McGregor brings.

With St-Pierre in the spot, which would not be an easy negotiation because it would probably be earlier than St-Pierre was thinking about fighting. St-Pierre from all accounts doesn’t need the money nor will he put himself in a position of fighting if he’s not fully ready. So while his name makes the most sense from a business standpoint, it may be a deal that doesn’t work on that day.

If St-Pierre is going to fight later this year, that first bout buzz he’d do here would be another big show later in the year, so it’s not as if putting St-Pierre on the show, if possible, would mean McGregor really doesn’t mean $40 million conservatively for the show. He still does over the long run.

A UFC 200 with the right promotion and the last week buzz may get that Pacquiao-Mayweather momentum where old records get destroyed. By that I don’t mean 4.65 million buys, and it probably can’t do close to half that, but we’ve seen when it comes to the big shows of late, they usually have been exceeding even the most optimistic predictions. McGregor, more than anyone, realizes that, and knows his leverage for a move is the biggest right now.

But McGregor is also in a position to lose more money than ever before by missing this show. UFC 200 only comes along once, and UFC 300 will be eight or so years away.

McGregor’s window of opportunity is shorter. He’s playing an interesting game and in these type of games sometimes you have to play it all the way. In the end, it’ll make them respect you more and take you seriously more if you show you’ll go balls to the wall in this situation. But unless McGregor truly doesn’t want to fight, and the timing and statements made make that feel unlikely, it is in everyone’s best interest to settle. Logic tells you this is all settled, and then, the actions of the last few days has only given more publicity to the fight and made it bigger because it was almost taken away.

It is also possible there could be other factors. McGregor was just at the fight in Dublin last week where Joao Carvalho ended up injured to the point he passed away. If McGregor has saved his previous earnings, there is the chance he wanted to quit when he was ahead. But he had continued to train hard after that fight, and the way UFC portrayed the story was the reaction that they were butting heads and calling his bluff, hours after he called theirs first, and not of a guy who decided suddenly to retire, while training for a fight that he himself demanded in the first place.

One person close to the situation characterized it as something that was a matter of time. Many people have seen the volatile nature of the UFC/McGregor relationship where it is all smiles in public, all denials of anything wrong, yet McGregor frequently does little things, like when he arrived more than 35 minutes late to the press conference to announce the Diaz fight. He has an inside rep for being late for scheduled appearances to clearly make a statement over who is in control of situations.

All kinds of numbers have abounded to what McGregor earned for his last two fights, but even the most generous estimate of his pay is nowhere close to $40 million, or for that matter, half of that figure. UFC has done a great job of keeping a lid of real fight purses, and in doing so, have been able to keep the main event purses from escalating at the level of salaries in sports where such numbers are public.

UFC was planning the biggest week of its history in July with three straight nights of championship fights, the Fan Expo, Hall of Fame, culminating in UFC 200, which two day ago looked to do the biggest PPV numbers in company history. But now things like very different.

The fifth annual International Fight Week, which is very much the Las Vegas version of WWE’s WrestleMania week, will take place with activities from 7/5 to 7/10.

UFC did three straight nights of shows in December, but this is on a different scale. In December, the first two shows were held at The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan, which held a little more than 2,000 fans. In July, the first two nights are at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, which holds closer to 15,000, although no doubt it’ll be scaled down as far as capacity goes. Plus, if there is no McGregor, that cuts back on a lot of the tourists and will hurt attendance for all three shows.

Whether this is part of leverage or coincidence, McGregor had started following key WWE executives like Stephanie McMahon, HHH and Shane McMahon on Twitter, which was reported as a recent development (he actually did so a few weeks ago). He also followed Becky Lynch, with the connection both are from Ireland. McGregor is a pro wrestling fan, even though he doesn’t publicly admit to it. Many of his promotional tactics come from pro wrestling. Where it came out was a scene on the McGregor reality show where he was shown at one point just walking and singing lightly to himself the Vince McMahon “No chance in hell” entrance music.

But the idea of a WWE appearance is tricky. McGregor has a long-term contract with UFC. As the Randy Couture case clearly showed, one can’t retire from a contract and fight elsewhere. WWE is covered under the contract so he could only appear there with UFC’s approval. Another interesting ramification of a retirement is that is a fighter retires, they no longer are drug tested. However, if they unretire, they in theory can’t be booked for a fight until they’ve been subject to four months of drug testing, although exceptions can be made on that.

The third night will be the UFC’s debut at the new 20,000-seat T Mobile Arena, which is less than a block away from the MGM Grand.

At this point UFC has announced its Fan Expo will be 7/8 to 7/10, which will include all kids of amateur tournaments from different disciplines, the 2016 Hall of Fame ceremony, a 5K run with fighters and a number of fan events. Last year featured several concerts.

The idea is to make the Hall of Fame ceremony itself more significant. This year it will be a ceremony airing live on Fight Pass as part of Fan Expo. Last year was a big step in the sense it was done as a television production with planned speeches and big names. The idea is to eventually get it like WWE, where they can hold it as a separate major event, probably starting in a small arena.

The Wrestling Observer web site will also be holding its annual convention in conjunction, with events from 7/7 to 7/10.

The company announced its fourth championship fight of the weekend, this one headlining the first show, a 7/7 Fight Pass Exclusive show, with dos Anjos vs. Alvarez for the lightweight title. Of course this fight is very much subject to change. This is the first men’s title fight ever put on Fight Pass live, and easily the biggest title fight ever put on the service. It’s another example of the company trying to push the importance of Fight Pass with more live events and bigger UFC fights by not putting this on UFC 200. Thus far that is the only fight announced for the show.

The 7/8 show, the FS 1 show, is headlined by Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Claudia Gadelha for the strawweight title. The footage of Ultimate Fighter is expected to build that into a significant grudge match, as the two didn’t get along at all, and actually got into an off camera fist fight at one point. How much it becomes depends a lot on how many people watch the show, which debuts on 4/20 and climaxes right before the title fight. The card will also include the two TUF title fights, a light heavyweight and women’s strawweight final. Also announced are Scott Askham vs. Anthony Smith, James Krause vs. Ross Pearson and Li Jingliang vs. Anton Zafir.

The 7/9 show, the UFC 200 card will feature a five-fight PPV with Diaz in the main event, the other two title fights, plus Cain Velasquez vs. Travis Browne, where Velasquez would be in line for a heavyweight title shot with a win, and Johny Hendricks vs. Kelvin Gastelum.

Other fights announced for the show are Derek Brunson vs. Gegard Mousasi, Cat Zingano vs. Julianna Pena, Joe Lauzon vs. Diego Sanchez, Sage Northcutt vs. Enrique Marin and Jim Miller vs. Takanori Gomi.

After 14 years and tens of millions in losses, TNA is at a major crossroads.

The company has been financially strapped, can no longer afford to pay the rent at their current office and has lost much of their key talent and has admitted looking for an investor.

The game, which is coming down to the wire, is whether an investor will step into the picture that has the ability to save a company that has fallen almost completely off the radar, and if they do, who from the current regime will be left standing.

Numerous sources have confirmed that Aroluxe, a Brentwood, TN, advertising and production agency, paid the bills that allowed the last set of television tapings to go on, and kept TNA from breaching its key television deals by not providing a regular new weekly product. The description we were given is that Aroluxe has been funding the company as an outside investor in exchange for an ownership stake. Panda Energy, which had been the parent company of TNA, had fully divested themselves from funding the company, which led to the financial situation getting worse. Another aspect was that the hoped for revenue from Pop TV based on an ad sharing deal hasn’t materialized because the ratings have been far lower than hoped for and wrestling is a tough sell to advertisers. The latter was a key reason Destination American internally gave for canceling TNA when it was one of its highest rated shows. But Destination America, like Spike, paid TNA for the programming as opposed to the ad revenue share deal with Pop. But TNA does get paid for programming by its international stations in India, Canada and England, which is the main revenue they produce. But they have to keep producing new weekly content and monthly specials to maintain those contracts.

With another television taping coming this week in Orlando, and more money earmarked by Aroluxe, that is more of a down payment of sorts for a larger stake.

In the end, the company headed by CEO David Johnson, who started his career with Sinclair Broadcasting Company, the parent company of ROH, was looking for a controlling interest in the product. Dixie Carter is believed to have been the 100 percent owner now that her parents have divorced themselves from the company, and Jeff Jarrett gave up his stock as part of a business deal that included his short-term return to the company. She’s been attempting to sell points for funding while maintaining 51 percent and thus company control. Aroluxe would not on paper appear to be the kind of company that could support TNA.

It lists its services as legal marketing, healthcare marketing, enterprise marketing, social media management, TV production, media buying and digital and PPC management and web design.

The connection with wrestling and TNA is that their TV production company headed the production of the television show for a short period of time last year. And of the seven listed employees on the web site, two of them, Ron & Don Harris, are former pro wrestlers who have worked on-and-off for TNA as wrestlers, security and in production dating back to the company’s inception.

When Johnson was hired at CEO in January, the company listed itself as primarily an advertising agency with clients Segway, Fisker Automotive, two small companies, the latter of which declared bankruptcy in 2013 and was reorganized as Karma Automotive, and The Cochran Firm.

Most telling is that Aroluxe’s revenue in 2015 was listed as $2 million. Thishardly gives them the kind of a financial cushion to be able to rebuild TNA. However, there is talk that one of the major officers has connections with someone with the money to run the company.

Carter had originally gone to the company’s international television partners such as Sony Six in India, Challenge TV in the U.K. and The Fight Network, with proposals of selling 10 percent to each entity with the idea they would help fund the company, but got no takers.

The belief is that Carter is still attempting to strike a deal with a different company for funding and allow her to maintain a majority interest, as Aroluxe is looking for about 55 percent so they could take over and make changes. Some type of deal has to happen relatively soon. Among the many problems with any deal is that Aroluxe, and Cummins Station would likely have to be paid back what they are owed, as well as other monies owed which is a significant amount, not to mention a purchase price, and they’d have to fund a company that is producing very little revenue outside of what it gets for its television contracts. Clearly the television contracts are not nearly enough to support the company or they wouldn’t be in the situation they are. But right now the brand is cold so there is no current prospects of being able to be profitable with traditional wrestling revenue streams like house shows, PPV or merchandise and licensing. There is a tainted brand name and some wrestler contracts. You would probably have to rebrand the show, change the direction, keep some of the key talent because you need some stars, but and bring in new talent. Anyone coming in is essentially going to have to rebrand and retheme the company and start at ground zero, and there will be very significant early losses from doing so. They would also have to spend to bring in some talent that would bring attention to the brand, and if they are taking over, the likelihood is they would want to put a new team in when it comes to management. The point being, if someone other than Carter ends up with the company, they’d have to have a vision of what they want and the ability to endure substantial early losses as well as starting out having to spend significant money to get things back to zero. Or Carter will have to find someone willing to pay back Aroluxe and others, as well as fund the company, while keeping her in charge.

The lone upside is that if someone does want to get into the wrestling business, and be bullied by Vince McMahon in the process, they at least have access to some key television and wrestler contracts. As we’ve see with Jeff Jarrett, Bruce Tharpe and even ROH and New Japan, is the difficulty in getting either viable American or international television deals.

The upside is you start out with exposure in the U.K., which in theory can be a hot market and at one point TNA may have been able to run it as more of a base market (the most recent tour indicates that is no longer the case) and you would have U.S. exposure, but on a weak station that isn’t drawing the casual fan viewer.

Mike Johnson of Pro Wrestling Insider reported that Aroluxe had been loaning money to the company with the idea that it had to be paid back by a certain time or they would get control of the company. I’m not saying that’s wrong because I don’t know the details of the deal, but it is inconsistent with things we’ve been told for weeks that were happening. What we had been told is that Aroluxe was buying a stake, funding the company, but in the end they wanted controlling interest and Carter didn’t want to give it up.

Exactly what those changes would be is open to speculation. Don Harris and Jeff Jarrett were extremely close during much of the TNA run but sources close to the situation say that they were not believed to be close in recent times. But there is a relationship that dates back to 1987, when the Harris Twins started as pro wrestlers for Jerry Jarrett’s USWA after the country band Sawyer Brown, who they had worked for as security, recommended them to Jerry Jarrett.

The identity of Aroluxe as the people investing money into TNA was kept quiet as there was fear that if it got out, it could impede making the deal. As soon as it got out, there became major controversy on Twitter because the Twins have Nazi symbol tattoos and at one time had worn SS T-shirts into the ring. It creates a potential uncomfortable situation because Brad Schwartz, who is Jewish, is the head of Pop TV.

After the story broke, TNA contacted talent to tell them to ignore the distractions and that the tapings this week were still on. A talent meeting was expected on 4/21, before the first day of television tapings, to discuss the situation. TNA had the money, believed to be from Aroluxe, to cover the 4/21 to 4/24 tapings early enough that flights were purchased and they were able to lock down the dates several weeks ago, unlike the prior tapings where everything wasn’t finalized until very late in the game.

One thing notable is that the TNA television show has been pretty much devoid of graphics of late because the graphics were handled by an outside company that is no longer working with them.

With such a stripped down roster, almost everyone backstage has become an on camera character with the exception of Pat Kenney. Producers Al Snow and Shane Helms are now on television, and Snow. Snow is in a role which sounded desperate on paper but when actually seeing it, he’s pretty great in it. The television show has been better this year, as creative has done a good job with the roster they are left with, but there is no momentum and Pop TV’s canceling the second Tuesday night airing of the show can’t be considered a positive. The decline in viewers over last year, even though they are available in 23 million more homes, speaks to the lack of momentum.

Still, they do have a prime time show on a station that reaches 80 million homes in the U.S., an exposure level that no promotion other than WWE has. They have stronger international deals than any pro wrestling company other than WWE. They also no longer run live events, and since a January show, there have been no hints of a PPV show, even with Slammiversary, usually one of the company’s big events, usually scheduled for June.

In an interesting note, while it was reported here shortly after it went down, Jim Ross noted that his friend, country music star Toby Keith had a legitimate interest in buying the company and that Keith discussed with Jim Ross a potential involvement. As noted at the time, Keith and Bob Carter, who was the majority owner at the time, were in talks, at Keith’s home, but they fell apart due to the insistence that if it was sold that Dixie Carter keep a position with the company. That fell apart. This took place in 2014, when TNA still had its deal with Spike TV. While Ross didn’t mention this, Keith was originally behind Jeff Jarrett starting a new company after the TNA deal fell through. His funding Jarrett’s new group was contingent on Jarrett first being able to get a viable television platform, which he was unable to do, and there has been no talk of Keith involved with pro wrestling for a year.

Due to the series of earthquakes in Kumamoto, Japan, which have wrecked the part of the city that the Grand Messe arena is in, New Japan Pro Wrestling was forced to cancel its 4/29 “Wrestling Hinokuni” PPV show.

The city was hit by at least four earthquakes this past week, the first being a 6.2 earthquake on 4/14, followed by a 6.0 earthquake three hours later. The big one was a 7.0 earthquake (reported in some circles as a 7.3) at 1:25 a.m. on 4/16. There was also another aftershock on 4/18.

While the difference between a 6.0 and 7.0 earthquake would to a layperson be a 16 percent increase in devastation, it is actually ten times more powerful. A 5 earthquake is a noticeable shake that won’t do serious damage. A 6 earthquake will knock things over and do some damage. A 7 is major devastation and more than a 7 is something you don’t want to even think about. The third earthquake in Kumamoto would have been even stronger than the 1989 San Francisco Bay Area earthquake (which was a 6.9).

As of 4/18, the earthquakes had left at least 41 dead and 968 injured, and destroyed 90 homes.

It is said that there was no way possible to run a show there at this time. New Japan has promised to make up with a major show in the city. It is expected that many Japanese promotions will run benefit shows in the area at some point. The company has already donated $100,000 to earthquake relief and will be collecting donations at all their house shows over the next few weeks.

The show was one of two PPVs, splitting up the major matches, scheduled for the current tour.

The show’s original lineup was Jay White vs. David Finlay, Manabu Nakanishi & Juice Robinson vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi, Kushida & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Tiger Mask & Jushin Liger, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma & Yoshitatsu vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Tanga Roa & Tama Tonga, Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta vs. Matt Sydal & Ricochet for the IWGP jr. tag titles, Tomohiro Ishii & Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto & Will Ospreay vs. Tetsuya Naito & Seiya Sanada & Evil & Bushi, Katsuyori Shibata vs. Yuji Nagata for the Never Open weight title, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale and Kenny Omega vs. Michael Elgin for the IC title.

The jr. tag title match and Never Open weight title match were both moved to the 5/3 show at the Fukuoka International Center Arena, making it a loaded show. The negative is that with eight main event caliber matches, either the show will have to go extremely long, probably four hours or more, or they are going to have too cut back on time for a lot of the matches. Luckily the show’s start time is 5 p.m. as it’s part of a holiday week in Japan, so going past four hours isn’t as bad as if the show had a later start.

At this point the announced lineup for the next big PPV show is Wrestling Dontaku on 5/3 is Captain New Japan & Robinson vs. Fale & Takahashi, Tiger Mask & Taguchi & White & Finlay vs. Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi & Ospreay & Gedo, Romero & Baretta defending against Ricochet & Sydal, Elgin & Tanahashi & Yoshitatsu vs. Young Bucks & Omega (if the Tanahashi team retains their titles on 4/23 at Korakuen Hall against Omega & Fale & Takahashi, I expect this to become a Never trios title match), Tonga & Roa defending the IWGP tag titles against Makabe & Honma, Shibata vs. Nagata for the Never title, Kushida vs. Liger vs. the IWGP jr. title, Goto vs. Evil, Okada vs. Sanada and Naito vs. Ishii for the IWGP heavyweight title.

Probably the biggest show of the year besides the Tokyo Dome and G-1 finals will be the 6/19 show in Osaka at Jo Hall, the Dominion card. So expect a lot of angles and big matches to be set up at the Fukuoka shows, particularly the Dontaku card.

The Omega vs. Elgin IC title match and Tanahashi vs. Fale matches have been added to the 4/27 show, also in Fukuoka, but at the smaller Hakata Star Lanes, which becomes the No. 2 show of the tour.

At press time that show is not scheduled for New Japan World.

The 4/27 card now has Captain New Japan & Finlay vs. Robinson & White, Nakanishi & Tiger Mask & Taguchi vs. Yoshi-Hashi & Romero & Baretta, Makabe & Honma & Yoshitatsu vs. Takahashi & Tonga & Roa, Shibata & Kushida vs. Nagata & Liger, Okada & Goto & Ishii & Gedo vs. Naito & Evil & Bushi & Sanada, Tanahashi vs. Fale and Omega vs. Elgin for the title.

It should be noted that the advance for both Fukuoka shows is well below that of last year. While the Okada vs. Naito match and the last Sumo Hall card was a big success, the decline in attendance and interest is still the case. The making the two shows stronger by adding the key matches from Kumamoto did not lead to a significant boost to ticket sales.

While Gedo has done a good job in elevating Naito, Shibata and Omega, and created a strong juniors division, the idea that they’ve successfully replaced those who have left isn’t the case, at least up to this point.

There will be no English language broadcast for the Dontaku show or, surprisingly, the Dominion show. As of right now, the dates for English broadcast will be the 6/7 Best of the Super Junior finals from Sendai, and 7/18 first day of the G-1 Climax tournament in Sapporo, and then back in August for the G-1 finals. One would assume they’ll be doing all three days at Sumo Hall, but the only thing for certain is the finals.

I’m guessing the decision to do 6/7 is because there will be a lot of ROH talent on that tour like the Young Bucks, as well as other name foreign indies like Ricochet and Will Ospreay, all of whom are confirmed for the tour. With the CMLL connection and potential of Dragon Lee and Kamaitachi, who got over big in January, as well as Cavernario Barbaro, and the regulars like Romero, Baretta, Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly as well as Kushida and Liger, this looks to be the beginning of a new big period for the junior division. With the tournament starting on 5/21 at Korakuen Hall, I’m expecting the announcement of all the lineups at the Dontaku show or at a press conference the next day.

The snake-bit UFC on FOX show saw the main event changed last week, and then in the three days before the show, two matches fell apart, one of which was a key match on the show.

The end result was that Rose Namajunas vs. Tecia Torres, scheduled as the FOX main card opener, ended up as the semifinal.

Tony Ferguson, scheduled to headline against Khabib Nurmagomedov, had to pull out due to fluid and blood in his lungs from a training injury. Nurmagomedov stayed on the show, but was put against an overmatched Darrell Horcher in what ended up as a 160 pound catch weight fight since Horcher didn’t have time to get to 155. Horcher had only one fight against someone with UFC experience, Philippe Nover, a fight he lost, and was debuting on almost no notice against someone that you could argue was the best lightweight in the world. Nurmagomedov steamrolled him and finished him in the second round.

Nurmagomedov’s last fight, two years ago, was a clear decision win over Rafael dos Anjos, before dos Anjos ran through Anthony Pettis to win the title and Donald Cerrone to retain it. The question was how two knee operations would affect Nurmagomedov’s explosiveness in being able to get takedowns almost at will. While he had little trouble in the fight, whether it was first time back or whatever, that explosiveness didn’t appear to be there. Still, at 23-0, the most impressive undefeated record in the company, he’s got to be in the title shot mix. The downside is that he observes Ramadan, meaning that he won’t fight in the summer, meaning the earliest he can fight again is the fall.

Lyoto Machida was pulled from the show on 4/13. In his case, when he filled out his form of what supplements he was using prior to an out of competition drug test, he listed 7-Keto, a supplement that contains DHEA, a banned substance. Machida claimed he wasn’t aware it was banned and claimed it was just banned a year ago. Based on the WADA code, the template of what has been used by most athletic commissions, DHEA has been banned in sports competition since 2005. That’s a situation where his trainers should have caught this long ago. But in admitting to using a banned substance, there is no way he could be eligible to fight, so his bout with Dan Henderson was canceled. Henderson is expected to face Hector Lombard instead on 6/4 in Los Angeles at UFC 199. USADA will decide the fate of Machida.

Two days later, after weigh-ins, USADA contacted UFC with the news that Islam Makhachev had tested positive for Meldonium, which was just placed on the banned list effective 1/1. Meldonium is a heart medication, developed for treating angina and other similar conditions. The drug, developed in Latvia, is not made in the U.S. But it has been used by Russian and Eastern European athletes in recent years as a performance enhancer, to the extent that in four months, more than 200 athletes, most notably Maria Sharapova, have tested positive for the drug. Many of the cases are under appeal because the drug can be detected as long as four to six months after it has ceased being used, so it is possible many if not most of those athletes detected could have stopped at the end of the year, when the drug wasn’t banned, and still tested positive. That’s what makes all of these test failures very tricky.

Makhachev’s manager, Ali Abdel-Aziz told Ariel Helwani that Makhachev had used the drug due to a heart procedure he had done in 2015. Makhachev’s coach, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov (Khabib’s father) claimed Makhachev was using the drug until the end of 2015.

Still, UFC had no choice until a hearing to pull Makhachev from his fight with Drew Dober.

The new main event of the 4/16 show at the Amalie Arena in Tampa saw Glover Teixeira stop Rashad Evans in just 1:48. It was Evans’ second straight bad performance after coming back from knee surgery at the age of 36. One was left with the feeling it may be the end of the line for him. Teixeira, who challenged Anthony “Rumble” Johnson after winning, moved back into the light heavyweight top tier with Daniel Cormier, Jon Jones and Johnson with the win.

Johnson has already earned a title shot based on his many devastating wins, including over Ryan Bader, Phil Davis, Alexander Gustafsson and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. But with the Cormier vs. Jones fight moved back to somewhere between August and November, it stalls his shot at the winner until somewhere between December 2016 and mid-2017. Given that time frame, Dana White said while they had not come up with the idea of Johnson vs. Teixera, it was a fight he felt made sense.

Namajunas won a close decision over Torres in a bout that probably determined who faces the winner of the 7/8 strawweight title fight with Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Claudia Gadelha. Namajunas got straight 29-28 scores in a bout that was so close that in a poll of 21 media members scoring, ten had it for Namajunas (we had Namajunas winning rounds two and three,

as did two of the three judges), nine had it for Torres and two had it a draw. Torres outlanded Namajunas 61-46 overall in significant strikes, but Namajunas had a 27-20 edge in strikes to the head, and also got two key takedowns, the latter of which gave her the third and what turned out to be the deciding round.

Namajunas has some good name value coming off her season of Ultimate Fighter and her prior win over Paige VanZant in a main event, so it’s a viable title fight as far as selling goes. It wouldn’t appear to be able to headline a PPV, but could headline a TV card or be No. 2 on a PPV show. But the nature of her win wasn’t one where you’d come out of it and think she’s looking like someone who could win the title.

The show did 2,487,000 viewers on FOX from 8-10 p.m., a number slightly higher than I’d have expected given the lineup and the fact it ended at 10 p.m., so you didn’t have a long main event to build the overall number. We don’t have details at press time regarding the main event viewership or the numbers for the 6-8 p.m. period on FOX. It led FOX to winning the night in the 18-49 demo, but finished third behind ABC and CBS as far as overall viewers. It did nearly double the terrible 1,262,000 prime time viewer number that NBC did with Premier Boxing head-to-head.

The show did 11,273 fans paying $1,057,000.

1. Elizeu Zaleski Dos Santos (15-5) beat Omari Akhmedov (15-4) via stoppage at 3:03 of the third round in a welterweight fight. Akhmedov shot in for a double leg takedown early. Dos Santos used a heel hook to sweep to the top. Akhmedov used a Kimura to reverse to the top and both ended up on their feet. Very close round. Akhmedov got another takedown in the second round. Dos Santos again went for a heel hook and used that to get to his feet. Dos Santos also used a kneebar to get on top. All three judges had it 19-19 going into the third round. Akhmedov was tired and Dos Santos used him for punching practice. He landed hard shots to the head and body as well as knees. Dos Santos threw one knee after another before ref Dan Miragliotta stopped it. Dos Santos got $70,000 for the win, mostly due to a $50,000 best fight bonus. Akhmedov got $68,000 for the loss, with his $50,000 best fight bonus.

2. Cezar Ferreira (10-5) beat Owale Bamgbose (6-2) on scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 29-27 in a middleweight fight. This was the first time Bamgbose ever didn’t either win or lose in the first round. He dropped Ferreria right away with a right and landed hard punches on the ground. The problem is he was throwing so hard to finish, that when he didn’t finish, he had nothing left. Ferreira weathered the storm, got back up and took him down. Ferreira took him down in the second round and landed hard punches and elbows from the top and pretty much dominated the round. Bamgbose had a nasty hematoma on his forehead. Ferreria got two more takedowns to take the third round. Ferreira got $48,000 for the win and Bamgbose got $12,000 for the loss.

3. John Dodson (19-7) beat Manvel Gamburyan (18-10, 1 no contest) in :37 in a bantamweight fight. Dodson landed a left that hurt Gamburyan and threw about 16 more punches on the

ground in seconds before the fight was stopped. Dodson looks too small to be a UFC bantamweight, but he won TUF and including TUF, is 5-0 in that division with four finishes including a fast first round win over former champion T.J. Dillashaw. This quick win to me sets up a Dillashaw vs. Dodson natural match up. Dodson got $70,000 for the win and Gamburyan got $33,000 for the loss.

4. Michael Graves (6-0) beat Randy Brown (7-1) at 2:31 of the second round in a welterweight fight. Brown came in with some hype after being “discovered” on Dana White’s “Looking For a Fighter” TV show. Brown showed good balance early but Graves took him down and punched from the top to take the round. Graves took him down again to start the second round. Graves landed elbows, got his back, got the choke and finished it. Graves got $24,000 for the win and Brown got $12,000 for the loss.

5. Santiago Ponzinibbio (23-3) beat Court McGee (18-5) at 4:15 in a welterweight fight. Good action fight but Ponzinibbio was quicker and landed more. Ponzinibbio knocked McGee down the a right and then landed more punches before it was stopped. Ponzinibbio got $32,000 for the win and McGee got $27,000 for the loss.

6. Raquel Pennington (7-6) beat Bethe Correia (9-2) via split decision on scores of 29-28, 28-29 and 29-28 in a women’s bantamweight fight. Close fight. I had Correia taking rounds two and three, but the rounds were close and this could have gone either way. The reporter scores were 13-5 in favor of Pennington. Pennington landed more punches in the second (28-25) and third (31-23) rounds but Correia’s punches seemed harder and landed more to the head. Pennington went for takedowns in the second round and both went for them in the third, but neither got one. Pennington got $40,000 for the win and Correia got $25,000 for the loss.

7. Michael Chiesa (14-2) beat Beneil Dariush (12-2) at 1:20 of the second round in a lightweight fight. Dariush landed strong low kicks early and after several tries, finally got a takedown late in the round and had Chiesa’s back when the round ended. But in the second round, as Dariush went for a takedown, Chiesa bearhugged him and used a bodylock takedown. He got Dariush’s back quickly and went for a choke. He couldn’t get under the neck, so instead used a Misawa-style facelock, a move that rarely works as a submission, but Chiesa apparently has boa constrictor powers in that move and got the tap. Chiesa then issued a challenge to Tony Ferguson. This was the first time Dariush, a high level Jiu Jitsu practitioner, had ever tapped in MMA. Chiesa got $116,000 for the win, including a $50,000 performance bonus. Dariush got $28,000 for the loss.

8. Cub Swanson (22-7) beat Hacran Dias (23-4-1) on straight 29-28 scores in a featherweight fight. I had Dias winning the first round and Swanson taking rounds two and three. Dias landed more early. In the second round, Swanson dropped him with a left hook and threw big punches on the ground. The round was competitive as Dias landed some nice shots but the knockdown gave Swanson the round. In the third round, Swanson’s boxing started taking over. Then he knocked Dias down with a left high kick and landed punches on the ground to clearly win the round. Swanson got $88,000 for the win and Dias got $16,000 for the loss.

9. Khabib Nurmagomedov (23-0) beat Darrell Horcher (12-2) at 3:38 of the second round in a lightweight fight. At first, Horcher landed several lefts until Nurmagomedov picked him up and did a running Stampede slam. He moved to side control and landed elbows. He then got Horcher’s back and landed hard punches. I had it a 10-8 round but the judges didn’t. Horcher was bleeding from the back of the head. Nurmagomedov used a judo takedown into side control and landed a ton of punches on the ground. He kept pummeling Horcher with punches and ref James Warring stopped it late. Nurmagomedov got $48,000 for the win and Horcher got $12,000 for the loss.

10. Rose Namajunas (6-2) beat Tecia Torres (7-1) via straight 29-28 scores in a strawweight fight. Namajunas, with her better reach, stayed on the outside and landed early. Torres landed when she got inside. Torres landed on the inside but couldn’t muscle a takedown. Namajunas got a late hip toss takedown. In the second round, Namajunas landed lefts and front kicks, but Torres was the one moving forward. Both landed in the third but Namajunas got the only takedown in a close round. Namajunas got $86,000 for the win and Torres got $20,000 for the loss.

11. Glover Teixeira (25-4) beat Rashad Evans (24-5-1) in 1:48 of a light heavyweight fight. Evans came out and looked flat. Teixeira landed some punches, a body kick, and then a left right combo. The left hurt Evans and the right put his lights out and it was stopped. Teixeira got $170,000 for the win including a performance bonus, while Evans got $150,000 for the loss.

The announcement on 4/18 of The Fight Network in Canada picking up ROH is the first deal closed among many current negotiations to expand the pro wrestling content on the station.

ROH will be part of a Tuesday night block on the station which includes TNA Impact at 9 p.m., ROH at 11 p.m. and the new English language version of AAA produced by Court Bauer and voiced over by Chris Cruise and Hugo Savinovich at midnight.

The show debuts on The Fight Network on 4/26.

The show will be the show that airs the prior weekend on the Sinclair stations around the U.S., prior to ROH putting the show up on its web sites every week on Thursday.

ROH had no official broadcast coverage on any Canadian stations, although there are Northern U.S. stations that have penetration into Canada, most notably the Buffalo affiliate in Ontario. ROH also has a television presence in Winnipeg and Vancouver.

Toronto has been one of the company’s big three markets for years with New York and Chicago. But it is the only market ROH has done regular live events in. Joe Koff, the COO of ROH noted that they are open to running in Canada but nothing was on the books, but indicated there have been talks with some local promoters in Nova Scotia about possible shows.

The Fight Network is currently in talks with AXS TV regarding the Canadian rights to New Japan Pro Wrestling’s broadcasts with Jim Ross and Josh Barnett as announcers; as well as with CMLL in Mexico, ICW in Scotland and Progress Wrestling in England about adding to their pro wrestling lineups.

The 51st annual Cauliflower Alley Club banquet and week, held at the Gold Coast Hotel in Las Vegas, was highlighted by key inductions of Trish Stratus, Arn Anderson, Paul Orndorff and Lance Russell.

The event, which didn’t drag like so many events due to implementing a three minute guideline for inductors and ten minutes for inductees, was highlighted by first-timers Jerry Lawler, who came to induct Russell, the person most responsible for his success in wrestling, who turned 90 last month.

Russell broadcasted his first wrestling matches in 1950, is generally considered by modern fans on the short list with Jim Ross and Gordon Solie as the most legendary U.S. announcers. He still did play-by-play with sidekick Dave Brown recently when they had a wrestling night with matches at halftime at a Memphis Grizzles NBA game last month.

When Lawler was to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007, he had asked for Russell to be the person to induct him. He was turned down at the time by WWE management, who insisted on it being William Shatner.

But Russell made it clear he wanted it reversed. Lawler, who rarely does non-paying wrestling gigs, came to Las Vegas for the first time, and you could see the closeness between the two and how Lawler, and Russell for that matter, had never forgotten their start together. Lawler went through the story about how he got started in wrestling.

When Lawler was in high school in the mid-1960s, as a talented artist (he got an art scholarship to Memphis State), he drew some caricatures of wrestling action with area stars like Jackie Fargo, Tojo Yamamoto and the Von Brauners. For whatever reason, after doing it, he put it in an envelope and addressed it to Lance Russell, c/o WHBQ TV (the station that broadcasted wrestling at the time) and when Russell got to the studio that Saturday, he saw the art work.

Lawler noted he was watching the show, and noticed his art work was sitting on the announcers’ desk. Later in the show, when they ran down the action from the Monday night card earlier that week at the Ellis Auditorium (this was before the Mid South Coliseum era), since they didn’t tape footage at the arena in those days, as Russell described the matches, they used Lawler’s art work. Russell mentioned Lawler’s name, and then, after the show ended, called him up at home, said how impressed he was by it, and said they’d like to feature his work in the future. Lawler continued to do caricatures every week based on the Monday night action, which Russell would feature, and Russell then invited Lawler to the studio because he wanted

to introduce him to the television audience. It was during that first trip to the studio that Lawler got to meet his hero, Fargo, who eventually hired him as an artist for his sign company. Those meetings eventually led to Lawler having the connections to get into pro wrestling.

The flip side of the story is that a few months ago, in a conversation with Russell, he noted to me he was cleaning up the house and came upon the original artwork Lawler sent to him and how it touched him that he still had it after 50 years.

Most consider Lawler, as the top star, Russell, as the lead announcer, and Jerry Jarrett, as the booker and later promoter, as the key components of a Memphis territory that picked up huge in the early 70s, when Fargo was the top star, and continued when Fargo passed the torch to Lawler. Lawler remained the top star until the promotion was the last regional territory that survived into 1997.

Russell was originally the program director at WHBQ, who came up with the idea of Saturday morning wrestling, which was a local institution for decades. Russell later convinced Dave Brown, who was just starting his broadcast career, to join him as a wrestling announcer in the 60s. Brown, who just recently retired, later became the lead weatherman for WHBQ and then WMC-TV, and was considered the most popular television news personality in the market for decades.

Russell was the voice of Memphis wrestling through 1989, when he took a more lucrative job with WCW through 1992, when the company didn’t renew his contract. He returned to Memphis Wrestling through 1997, and left shortly before the promotion finally closed down.

The CAC had made a decision to go with a woman for the first time for the Iron Mike Award, named after club founder Mike Mazurki.

The CAC was formed in 1965 by Mazurki in Southern California as his social circle. Mazurki was a pro wrestler who played a heavy in the movies. In those days, there was a great crossover in Southern California in social circles with the boxing, wrestling, acting and weightlifting communities. So the club at first had connections with all four.

It was largely a closed organization, in the sense you had to either be part of those four groups, or have connections with people who did, to attend. I was first invited by Paul Boesch in 1986, which was a key part of my life. Boesch spoke to me at length as different wrestlers walked by, telling me stories about them, almost all of who passed away long ago, whether it be Buddy Rogers, Bobby Davis and Billy Darnell, or Clara Mortensen, who was the top woman wrestler in the business before Mildred Burke. While people came from all over, it was primarily a Southern California group.

Eventually people like Lou Thesz, Red Bastien and Nick Bockwinkel were the public faces of the group, and it moved to Las Vegas and grew to include fans. The actors, boxers and weightlifters disappeared.

While the banquet was packed this year, like it has been for years, it is a different era. For a long time, this was the place where the stars of the 50s, 60s and 70s who traveled together, and then retired and went their separate ways, would meet up and tell stories, much like an annual high school reunion. Fans from that era, or younger fans who had a fondness for history, joined in.

With regular conventions, paying gigs, where the more modern wrestlers that have retired see their contemporaries on a regular basis, things have changed. Each year, most of the older regulars, people like Stu Hart, Thesz, Bockwinkel, Bastien, Mad Dog Vachon, Verne Gagne, Bob Geigel and so many others have passed away, would get together. Others, like Don Leo Jonathan, have gotten old and no longer travel. There is little left from the old guard so to speak, most noted this year by people like Dick “The Destroyer” Beyer, a key member of the club, Larry Hennig, J.J. Dillon, Terry Funk, or people in this year like Gene Okerlund (the M.C.) or Pat Patterson (whose autobiography is just having the finishing touches put on the manuscript).

Stratus was the choice for the award. There had also been talk of having the first woman to get the award be Ronda Rousey, as some want to bring MMA fighters into the club. They had no contact info, and Rousey doesn’t even come to MMA activities such as the annual Fighters Only Awards, although she is a fan. She has the longtime connection to Gene LeBell, a regular, although I didn’t see him this year. But it was only fair the first went to Stratus.

Ron Hutchison, a regular at CAC, was clearly a very proud trainer in talking about her. Stratus talked about being a fan from childhood, and that she and her relatives used to do pro wrestling matches at a young age. She talked mostly about growing up as a fan, and learning the business, thanking Hutchison, people like Terry Taylor and Jim Ross who got her into WWE, Dwayne Johnson who she called a mentor and the fans.

J.J. Dillon introduced Arn Anderson, telling the story of the fluke that ended up as the formation of the Four Horseman. Although Dusty Rhodes came up with a lot of creative ideas in that era, the Horsemen came spontaneously. A TBS show had run short and Rhodes sent his four top heels out to kill some time cutting a promo. He gave them no direction on what to talk about. I doubt he worried about it given it was Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, Arn & Ole Anderson, four of the best promos around. At the time, Flair was world champion, Blanchard was U.S. champion, The Andersons were tag team champions, and Dillon at the time managed only Blanchard. Arn talked about the four of them having all the gold, called them the Four Horsemen and held up four fingers. The next week when they returned to Atlanta and television, fans were holding up four fingers when they came out, and Rhodes took the cue from the fans and went with it.

Dillon noted how Arn Anderson was so respected as a worker, and told the story of how when Anderson started having neurological issues that he kept it quiet, and kept wrestling hard every night as he had such a strong work ethic. The bad part is that when he finally went to try and take care of the problem when it worsened, the damage was permanent.

Anderson joked about getting the Lou Thesz Award. The story when the award was introduced was that before Thesz died, he wrote down a list of people he wanted honored. Whether that was ever true, the first four winners, Antonio Inoki, Jack Brisco, Danny Hodge and Verne Gagne fit the bill. Obviously that’s no longer the case and Anderson joked that he looked at the list of award winners and has no idea how he or Michael Hayes ever made the list. Hayes joked about it when he got the award as well. Anderson said that Hayes mostly moonwalked while he was a guy who spent his career putting people over.

Orndorff was given a moving speech by son Travis, about growing up as the son of a heel. You could see the pride he had in his father, and vice versa when Paul talked about how his son was an executive in the banking industry.

Orndorff, who had won his toughest battle with throat cancer, said that he grew up as a poor student but a great athlete, talking about some incredible marks as a high school track athlete who perhaps could have been a decathlete. He was a star high school and college football player who had NFL tryouts. Orndorff was also legendary among Florida wrestlers for his toughness. His son told the famous story about how his father kicked Vader’s ass while wearing flip flops.

Orndorff noted that before pro wrestling, he actually did real fighting, doing a form of underground fighting every weekend for $200 to $500 in Florida before getting hooked up with Hiro Matsuda and going into pro wrestling.

While his son said in his speech that the stories of Orndorff retiring due to injury weren’t the case and that he just wanted to be home with his family, Orndorff told a different story, saying he broke his neck four times as a wrestler. After the final time, when the doctor told him that he’s be risking paralysis with a bad bump, he took that as his warning.

He put over his era as the greatest era of wrestling, mentioning people like Flair, Arn Anderson, Ricky Steamboat and Bobby Heenan as the greatest performers in history and that there would never be an era like it again. He talked of it being a lost art, although it’s really better called a changed art, because every era has its great performers.

Ken Patera was another honoree. He went long and wasn’t particularly focused. He noted that he was training for the Olympics in 1972 and living with Ric Flair before the two got into pro wrestling. He said it was the real-life “Animal House,” as Flair would party nightly until 5 a.m., and he had to get up to train at 8 a.m. He noted that he was originally out of Portland, OR, but his brother, Jack was a line coach with the Minnesota Vikings and knew Verne Gagne, who was his entrey into pro wrestling.

He talked of being discouraged early as a pro wrestler due to the money, noting he could have cleared the same amount of money in a regular job. He praised Boesch and Sam Muchnick as the key promoters who changed his perspective. He said that Boesch paid well, and told him

when he was discouraged to stick with pro wrestling because he had the talent to make a lot of money.

Sue Aitchison of WWE was honored in an impromptu speech by Steamboat. Steamboat talked about when he was with the company that it didn’t matter what time, if there was a problem on the road, for the last 30 years, she was the one to call and would get things straightened out. Aitchison talked of the charity work done by many wrestlers in the company, noting John Cena in particular.

James Beard, the longtime referee best known in Texas and Japan, was introduced by one of his best friends, another first-timer, John Layfield. Layfield was self-deprecating in talking about announcing. He put over Heenan, who was there, but in very rough shape physically. He joked that if people watch the old shows on the WWE Network and see Heenan, and he mentioned several others as well, like Jesse Ventura, that it makes him look so bad in comparison. “But, I’m better than Byron.”

Beard helped start Layfield in wrestling and got him his first bookings in Japan. The referee award was named after former Georgia referee, Charlie Smith, who was there to present it. Layfield called Beard the single best referee he had ever been in the ring with, and told stories of Beard as a referee guiding rookies through matches.

In February, WWE averaged 6,049 paid per domestic house show, not including the PPV. It would have been the lowest February of the past four years, down 8.3 percent from 6,600 last year. The 2014 average was 6,455 and the 2013 average was 6,474. So it’s down from usual levels the past two months, but it’s still in the same range. Traditionally, Christmas to WrestleMania is the strongest attendance period of the year for WWE house shows. It should be noted that these crowds were with no John Cena this year, although in many of the cities, he was part of the original advertising for the shows and most tickets are sold when they are first put on sale, and not late.

Regarding the different main event mixes, Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt averaged 3,250 paid; Roman Reigns vs. Alberto Del Rio averaged 5,000 paid; Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt averaged 5,250 paid; Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens averaged 5,400 and Kane vs. Bray Wyatt averaged 3,500.

Raw in February averaged a 2.56 rating and 3.62 million viewers. That’s a drop of 12.3 percent in ratings and 9.7 percent in total viewers from the 2.92 rating and 4.01 million viewers in 2015. The 2014 number was a 3.17 rating and 4.51 million viewers. The 2013 number was a 3.34 rating and 4.60 million viewers.

Smackdown averaged a 1.77 rating and 2.48 million viewers, not far off the 1.83 rating and 2.52 million viewers of the year before. It should be noted that’s also a comparison with a Syfy

number and a USA Network number, and it still dropped 3.3 percent in ratings and 1.6 percent in viewers. What’s notable about both Raw and Smackdown is that the drop in viewers bigger than that in viewers, when, because of fewer homes getting USA, the opposite should be the case. The key here is that the number of viewers per home of both shows is statistically significantly up, which makes up the difference. Essentially, in more cases than in past years, while fewer households by percentage have an interest in watching TV wrestling, of those that do, more homes have more than one person interested.

The 2014 average was a 2.03 rating and 2.89 million viewers for a show on a worse night, Friday, on a far lower rated station. The 2013 number was a 2.05 rating and 2.92 million viewers.

Web site merchandise orders continue to be a huge business increase with an average of 1,897 orders per day in February, a 39.8 percent increase from 1,357 per day in 2015 and way above 831 per day in 2014.

DVD shipments decreased 39.0 percent from 105,000 last year to 64,000 this year. That was down from a number in the range of 360,000 the year before (it was 724,000 for January and February combined in 2014). The huge drop has a lot to do with the fact the WWE Network decreasing that business. The five most shipped items of the last nine months were a bargain basement re-release of “Rock vs. Cena: Once In a Lifetime” that did 95,000 shipments, followed by Owen Hart: Heart of Gold at 51,000; Kilq Rules at 45,000; Hell in a Cell 2015 at 45,000 and Payback 2015 at 39,000.

TNA Impact averaged 264,000 viewers in February for the 9 p.m. show and 100,000 for the midnight show. The first run episode drop was 30.7 percent even though they went from a station in 80 million homes instead of 57 million homes. We don’t have a replay drop number. The first run show in 2014 on Spike averaged 1.26 million viewers and the February 2013 shows averaged 1.43 million viewers. So if you compare from 2014, while they are in about 18.4 percent more viewer homes, the drop in audience was 79.0 percent. Granted they are on a weaker station, but it really shows how badly the interest in the product has fallen since they lost Spike.

Raw on 4/18 with the show from London had a big third hour drop, which usually isn’t as prevalent this time of the year. This resulted in it setting non-holiday lows dating back to 1997.

The show did a 2.31 rating and 3,322,000 viewers. Overall viewers were down 5.7 percent from last week.

The third hour drop led the show to break the previous low mark of a 2.37 rating and 3,371,000 viewers set for the 2/1 episode. The episode still out rated many shows during football season

in the fall. The first two hours were actually ahead of last week, so the idea that it was taped doesn’t seem as much of a factor as fans losing interest in the third hour.

The first hour did 3,486,000 viewers. The second hour did 3,541,000 viewers. But the third hour dropped to 2,980,000 viewers.

When it came to who turned it off, it was a 10.8 percent turnoff in Males 18-49, a 17.2 percent turnoff in Women 18-49, a 27 percent turnoff in teenage girls but a six percent turnoff in teenage boys and a 10.2 percent turnoff in males over 50. Usually when you have the big drop, it will drop more with women who in general are less hardcore as a general rule, but the male third hour turning out rate was way above usual.

Raw was still second for the night on cable, beating the head-to-head NBA game, the Dallas Mavericks vs. Oklahoma City Thunder, (3,205,000 viewers) but losing to the late game, the Warriors vs. Rockets (4,416,000 viewers).

In the demos, the show did a 1.02 in 12-17 (down 4.7 percent from last week), 1.02 in 18-34 (down 9.7 percent), 1.36 in 35-49 (down 0.7 percent) and 1.24 in 50+ (down 4.6 percent).

The audience was 63.4 percent male in the 18-49 demo and 66.0 percent male in the 12-17 demo.

Dancing With the Stars, featuring UFC’s Paige VanZant, remained the most-watched show on television on 4/18 doing 10,950,000 viewers, which was its lowest number of the season.

Bellator on 4/16 did 580,000 viewers for a show from Italy. The number is below the usual average but that was expected. The show was tape delayed from Italy with Patricky Pitbull Freire vs. Kevin Souza as the main event, so no marquee value at all. It also started at 10 p.m., rather than the usual 9 p.m., which hurt. It was on Saturday, which isn’t worse than Friday, but it had competition from the NBA & NHL playoffs, as well as going head-to-head with both Premier Boxing on NBC and a replay of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley fight (750,000 viewers) on HBO. It didn’t go head-to-head with UFC, as Bellator started right as UFC was ending, but it probably didn’t help that UFC had just run four hours on FOX with bigger names.

The debut of “American Grit” on FOX on 4/14 did 2,430,000 viewers, which was a bad number, as they kept barely half the audience of the lead-in, Bones (4,360,000 viewers), although in the 18-49 demo the lead-in did a 0.9 and American Grit did an 0.8.

Smackdown on 4/14 did a 1.70 rating and 2,355,000 viewers (1.45 viewers per home). The show was fourth for the night on cable, trailing only news programming related to the Democratic debate.

The show was down 3.6 percent in viewers from the prior week and 2.9 percent in ratings.

The show did a 0.61 in 12-17 (down 4.7 percent), 0.59 in 18-34 (down 4.8 percent), 0.83 in 35-49 (up 3.8 percent) and 1.04 in 50+ (down 2.8 percent). The audience was 57.7% male in 18-34 and 53.3% male in 12-17, meaning almost an even split.

The reality show hosted by John Cena wasn’t helped by going head-to-head with the second hour of Smackdown, airing from 9-10 p.m. Of the big four networks, “American Grit” did the lowest total audience and tied with “Strong” on NBC for the lowest rating (0.8) in the 18-49 demo. It’s notable that WWE did very little to promote the show, as I can’t recall a thing on Raw or Smackdown for it, but that’s understandable given it went head-to-head with Smackdown.

Lucha Underground on 4/13 was down from recent weeks, doing 139,000 at 8 p.m. and 66,000 viewers for the immediate replay. The first show was down 11 percent from the prior week, which was just below the all-time record for the show. The replay was down 15 percent but that was also down from a well above usual number. The average viewer age was 56 and the audience was 70 percent male.

TNA Impact on 4/12, the first show without a West Coast replay, did 286,000 viewers. It would appear that the push that you could only watch it once that night without the replay either meant nothing, or the fact it wasn’t even announced until the day before, led to it meaning nothing, since the 9 p.m. airing over the prior month had averaged 306,000 viewers, so they were actually down and not up. The audience was 60 percent male, which is very low for TNA, but because Pop TV reruns soap operas before Impact, the usual composition of he audience on the channel is heavily female. The average viewer was 54 years old.

Total Divas on 4/12 did 632,000 viewers, doing a 0.28 in 12-17, 0.27 in 18-34, 0.31 in 35-49 and 0.15 in 50+. In 18-34, the show did 68.4% women viewers.

The U.S. Olympic team trials in wrestling on NBC Sports did 168,000 viewers on 4/9 and 82,000 viewers on 4/10. The first number was live in prime time and the second was 10:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. on a Sunday night. Neither number is what I’d consider any good. The Saturday night number is slightly below what World Series of Fighting usually does (about 200,000). That was the show built around Aaron Pico’s great best-of-three with Frank Molinaro. The Sunday show, which included big names like Kyle Snyder and Kyle Dake, didn’t so nearly as well.

This is the second issue of the current set. With last week being our WrestleMania double issue, if you’ve got a (1) on your address label, your subscription will expire with next week’s issue.

Renewal rates for the printed Observer in the United States are $12 for four issues (which includes $4 for postage and handling), $22 for eight, $31 for 12, $40 for 16, $60 for 24, $80 for 32, $100 for 40, $130 for 52 up through $160 for 64 issues.

For Canada and Mexico, the rates are $13.50 for four issues (which includes $6 for postage and handling), $24 for eight, $34 for 12, $44 for 16, $66 or 24, $88 for 32, $110 for 40 issues, $143 for 52 and $176 for 64.

For Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to Moonsault, P.O. Box 3075, Barnet, Herts EN4 9YR, England, or by sending e-mail orders to moonsault@mediaplusint.com. Rates are £9 per set of four issues. U.K. readers ordering at least six sets can get them for £8.50 per set.

For the rest of the world, the rates are $15.50 for four issues (which includes $9 for postage and handling), $30 for eight, $43 for 12, $56 for 16, $70 for 20, $84 for 24, $98 for 28, $140 for 40 issues and $182 for 52 issues.

You can also get the Observer on the web at www.wrestlingobserver.com for $10.99 per month for a premium membership that includes daily audio updates, Figure Four Weekly, special articles and a message board. If you are a premium member and still want hard copies of the Observer, you can get them for $8 per set in the U.S., $9 per set in Canada and $11.50 per set for the rest of the world.

All subscription renewals should be sent to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228. You can also renew via Visa or MasterCard by sending your name, address, phone number, Visa or MasterCard number (and include the three or four digit security code on the card) and expiration date to Dave@wrestlingobserver.com or by fax to (408)244-3402. You can also renew at www.paypal.com using Dave@wrestlingobserver.com as the pay to address. For all credit card or paypal orders, please add a $1 processing fee. If there are any subscription problems, you can contact us and we will attempt to rectify them immediately, but please include with your name a full address as well a phone number you can be contacted at.

All letters to the editor, reports from live shows and any other correspondence pertaining to this publication should also be sent to the above address.

We also have copies of our latest book, "Tributes II," a 293-page hardcover full color book which features biographies right out of the pages of the Observer. Those featured are Wahoo McDaniel, Lou Thesz, Miss Elizabeth, Freddie Blassie, Road Warrior Hawk, Andre the Giant, Curt Hennig, Johnny Valentine, Davey Boy Smith, Terry Gordy, Owen Hart, Stu Hart, Gorilla Monsoon, The Sheik and Tim Woods. The book is available for $12.95 plus $3.50 for postage and handling in the U.S., $20 for postage and handling in Canada and $25 for postage and handling for the rest of the world.

This publication is copyright material and no portion of the Observer may be reprinted without the expressed consent of publisher/writer Dave Meltzer or Chief legal counsel and deputy managing editor Scott Williams. The Observer is also produced by John F. Raad.

Fax messages can be sent to the Observer 24 hours a day at (408) 244-3402. Phone messages can be left 24 hours a day at (408) 244-2455. E-mails can be sent to Dave@wrestlingobserver.com

RESULTS

4/11 Los Angeles Staples Center (WWE Raw/Superstars TV tapings - 13,900): Ryback b Damien Sandow, Dolph Ziggler b Tyler Breeze, Cesaro b Kevin Owens, Dudleys b Sin Cara & Kalisto, Women’s title: Natalya b Charlotte-DQ, Usos b Heath Slater & Curtis Axel, A.J. Styles b Sami Zayn, Apollo Crews b Adam Rose, Roman Reigns & Bray Wyatt b Sheamus & Alberto Del Rio, Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose & A.J. Styles b Bray Wyatt & Erick Rowan & Braun Strowman

4/12 San Diego (WWE Smackdown/Main Event TV tapings): Kalisto b Heath Slater, Apollo Crews b Bo Dallas, Kevin Owens b Dolph Ziggler, Baron Corbin b Zack Ryder, Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady b The Ascension, A.J. Styles b Alberto Del Rio, The Vaudevillains b Goldust & Fandango, Sami Zayn b Chris Jericho-DQ, Dean Ambrose & Sami Zayn b Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens

4/12 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL): Flyer & Robin b Artillero & Inquisidor, Arkangel de la Muerte & Canelo Casas & Metalico b Oro Jr. & Soberano Jr. & Starman, Disturbio b Stigma, Gran Guerrero & Kraneo & Mr. Niebla b La Mascara & Brazo de Plata & Titan, Dragon Lee & Mascara Dorada & Stuka Jr. b Dragon Rojo Jr. & Polvora & Rey Escorpion

4/13 Milan, Italy (WWE - 10,386): Cesaro b Stardust, Erick Rowan b Jack Swagger, Sin Cara b Tyler Breeze, Kane b Braun Strowman-DQ, Tag titles: Kofi Kingston & Big E b Sheamus & Rusev, Three-way for women’s title: Charlotte won over Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks, Usos b Dudleys, WWE title: Roman Reigns NC Bray Wyatt

4/13 Mexico City Arena Mexico (Lucha Libre Elite): Estrellita & Jarochita b Dallys & Zeuxis, Dinamic Black & Jinzo & Metaleon b Heddi Haraoui & Okumura & Raijin, Cavernario Barbaro & Felino & Tiger b Angel de Oro & Golden Magic & Super Crazy, Xtreme Tiger b Ultimo Guerrero, Dragon Lee & Rush b Caristico & Argos, L.A. Park NC Cibernetico

4/14 Florence, Italy (WWE - 5,829 sellout): Cesaro b Stardust, Sin Cara b Tyler Breeze, Jack Swagger b Tyler Breeze, Tag titles: Big E & Xavier Woods b Braun Strowman & Erick Rowan, Three-way for women’s title: Charlotte won over Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch, Usos b Dudleys, WWE title: Roman Reigns b Sheamus

4/14 Dubai (WWE - 3,300): R-Truth b Bo Dallas, Damien Sandow & Fandango b Los Matadores, U.S. title: Kalisto b Ryback, A.J. Styles b Kevin Owens, Goldust b Heath Slater, Big Show b Alberto Del Rio, Four-way for IC title: The Miz won over Dean Ambrose, Sami Zayn and Dolph Ziggler

4/14 Citrus Springs, FL (WWE NXT - 300): No Way Jose b Noah, Liv Morgan b Peyton Royce, Manny Andrade b Elias Samson, Riddick Moss b Alex Riley, Tag titles: Jason Jordan & Chad Gable b Alexander Wolfe & Sawyer Fulton, Women’s title: Asuka b Adrienne Reese, Shinsuke Nakamura b Tye Dillinger, Mojo Rawley & Bayley b Samoa Joe & Nia Jax

4/15 Amsterdam, Holland (WWE - 6,500): Cesaro b Stardust, Sin Cara b Tyler Breeze, Jack Swagger b Tyler Breeze, Kane b Rusev, Tag titles: Kofi Kingston& Xavier Woods b Erick Rowan & Braun Strowman, Three-way for women’s title: Charlotte won over Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch, Usos b Dudleys, WWE title: Roman Reigns b Sheamus

4/15 Dubai (WWE - 3,300): U.S. title: Kalisto b Alberto Del Rio, Fandango b Damien Sandow, Handicap match: Big Show b Los Matadores, Sami Zayn b Kevin Owens, R-Truth b Bo Dallas, A.J. Styles b Ryback, Three-way for IC title: the Miz won over Dolph Ziggler and Dean Ambrose

4/15 Orlando (WWE NXT - 350 sellout): Mojo Rawley b Angelo Dawkins, Nia Jax b Aliyah, Tucker Knight & Manny Andrade & No Way Jose b Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder & Dylan Miley, Elias Samson b Christopher Girard, Bayley b Daria, Tag titles: Jason Jordan & Chad Gable b Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss, Women’s title: Asuka b Peyton Royce, Shinsuke Nakamura b Samoa Joe

4/15 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL): Cholo & Espanto Jr. b Bengala & Sensei, Demus 3:16 & Nitrito & Pierrothito b Astral & Electrico & Stukita, Fuego & Rey Cometa & Triton b Barbaro Cavernario & Hechicero & Vangellys-DQ, Block A of Torneo de Parejas Increibles: Quarterfinals: Mascara Dorada & Bobby Z b Super Crazy & Felino, Volador Jr. & Mr. Niebla b Blue Panther & Ephesto, Mistico & Mephisto b Angel de Oro & Polvora, Marco Corleone & Rush b Dragon Rojo Jr. & Euforia, Semifinals: Volador Jr. & Mr. Niebla b Mascara Dorada & Bobby Z, Mistico & Mephisto b Marco Corleone & Rush, Finals: Mistico & Mephisto b Volador Jr. & Mr. Niebla, Atlantis & Caristico & Maximo Sexy b El Terrible & Rey Bucanero & Rey Escorpion

4/16 Birmingham, UK (WWE - 11,000 sellout): Cesaro b Stardust, Sin Cara b Tyler Breeze, Jack Swagger b Tyler Breeze, Kane b Rusev, Tag titles: Big E & Kofi Kingston b Erick Rowan & Braun Strowman, Three-way for women’s title: Charlotte won over Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch, Usos b Dudleys, WWE title: Roman Reigns b Sheamus

4/16 Fort Pierce, FL (WWE NXT - 275): No Way Jose b Josh Brooks, Nia Jax & Mandy Rose b Adrien Reese & Liv Morgan, King Konstantine b Christopher Girard, Alexander Wolfe & Sawyer Fulton b Tucker Knight & Patrick Clark, Tye Dillinger b Riddick Moss, Manny Andrade b Angelo Dawkins, Women’s title: Asuka b Aliyah, Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder b Alex Riley & Mojo Rawley

4/16 Philadelphia (House of Hardcore): Jade b Thea Trinidad, Dan Barry & Bill Carr b Ben Ortiz & Eddie Kingston, Billy Gunn b Bull James, Tony Nese won three-way over Alex Reynolds and Chris Dickinson, Pepper Parks b Tommy Dreamer, Brian Cage b Sami Callihan, GHC tag titles: Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. b Chris Hero & Colt Cabana, Rob Van Dam b Colt Cabana

4/16 Ageo Ikuso (All Japan - 282 sellout): Yutaka Yoshie & Yuma Aoyagi b Sushi & Yohei Nakajima, Hideyoshi Kamitani b Jake Lee, Kengo Mashimo b The Bodyguard, Dory Funk Jr. & Super Tiger & Hikaru Sato b Masa Fuchi & Osamu Nishimura & Masao Inoue, Atsushi Aoki b Ryoji Sai, Zeus b Takao Omori, Kento Miyahara b Naoya Nomura, Daisuke Sekimoto b Jun Akiyama

4/16 Kobe (Dragon Gate - 1,000 sellout): Mondai Ryu b Jimmy K-Ness, Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi b Don Fujii & Takehiro Yamamura, Lindaman b U-T, Yosuke Santa Maria b Jimmy Kanda, Masaaki Mochizuki & Jimmy Susumu b Gamma & Punch Tominaga, Cima & Dragon Kid & Eita b Akira Tozawa & T-Hawk & Big R Shimizu, Naruki Doi & Yamato & Naoki Tanizaki b Shingo Takagi & Cyber Kong & Kotoka

4/17 Nottingham, UK (WWE - 7,000): Cesaro b Rusev, Sin Cara b Tyler Breeze, Jack Swagger b Tyler Breeze, Kane b Stardust, Tag titles: Big E & Xavier Woods b Dudleys, Three-way for women’s title: Charlotte won over Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks, Usos b Erick Rowan & Braun Strowman, WWE title: Roman Reigns b Sheamus

4/17 Leeds, England (WWE - 5,000): U.S. title: Kalisto b Ryback, R-Truth b Bo Dallas, Fandango b Damien Sandow, A.J. Styles & Sami Zayn b Kevin Owens & Alberto Del Rio, Natalya & Paige & Alicia Fox & Eva Marie b Naomi & Tamina & Summer Rae & Lana, Handicap match: Big Show b Los Matadores, IC title: The Miz won over Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler

4/17 Nagoya (Rizin FF - 4,500): Kanako Murata b Natalya Denisova, Hisaki Kato b Yuta Watanabe, Kirill Sidelnikov b Chris Barett, Daron Cruickshank b Shinji Sasaki, Shoot boxing: Rena Kubota b Cyndi Alves, Grappling: Kazushi Sakuraba & Hideo Tokoro d Wanderlei Silva & Kiyoshi Tamura, Gabi Garcia b Anna Malykova, Teodoras Aukstuolios b Jaideep Singh, Karl Albrektsson b Vadim Nemkov, Jiri Prochazka b Kazuyuki Fujita

4/17 Kofu (New Japan - 1,100): Ryusuke Taguchi b Teruaki Kanemitsu, Yoshitatsu & Captain New Japan b Manabu Nakanishi & Jay White, Yuji Nagata & Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask b Katsuyori Shibata & Kushida & David Finlay, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma b Toru Yano & Yoshi-Hashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima b Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson, Tetsuya Naito & Seiya Sanada & Evil & Bushi b Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto & Gedo

4/17 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL): Akuma & Espiritu Negro b Metatron & Templario, Cancerbero & Nitro & Okumura b Hombre Bala Jr. & Magia Blanca & Super Halcon Jr., Blue Panther Jr. & The Panther & Triton b Luciferno & Tiger & Virus, Rey Cometa & Stuka Jr. & Titan b Barbaro Cavernario & Felino & Pierroth-DQ, Dragon Lee & Mascara Dorada & Volador Jr. b Ephesto & Mephisto & Mr. Niebla

4/17 Turin, Italy (Bellator MMA): Daniele Scatizzi b Daniele Miceli, Anastasia Yankova b Anjela Pink, A.J. McKee b Danilo Belluardo, Alessio Sakara b Brian Rogers, Patricky Pitbull Freire b Kevin Souza

4/17 Niigata (All Japan Champion Carnival - 342): Yutaka Yoshie b Atsushi Aoki, Jake Lee b Takao Omori, Hikaru Sato won three-way over Masao Inoue and The Ryokan, Ryoji Sai b Hideyoshi Kamitani, The Bodyguard b Super Tiger, Daisuke Sekimoto b Naoya Nomura, Jun Akiyama b Kento Miyahara

4/17 Kagawa (Dragon Gate - 490): Futa Nakamura d Katsumi Takashima, Masaaki Mochizuki & Kzy & Shachihoko Boy b Dragon Kid & Takehiro Yamamura & Kaito Ishida, Cima b Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa, Cima b Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa-DQ, Shingo Takagi & Naruki Doi b Punch Tominaga & Lindaman, Yamato & Mondai Ryu b Genki Horiguchi & Jimmy Kanda, Akira Tozawa & T-Hawk & Big R Shimizu b Jimmy Susumu & Jimmy K-Ness & Ryo Saito

4/17 Santiago, Chile (Wrestling Superstar MysterioMania - 5,500 sellout): Women’s title: Santana Garrett b Taya, Engranaje Jack b Limite, Twiggy won 20 man Battle Royal, Tag titles: Gladiator Angel & HellSpawn b Eddie Edwards & Pentagon Jr. to win titles, LCW title: Apocalipsis b Apolo, Alex Hero DCOR Carlito, Matt Hardy b Johnny Mundo, Rey Mysterio Jr. & Bobby Lashley b MVP & Ricky Banderas

4/18 London (WWE Raw/Superstars TV tapings - 14,000 sellout): Handicap match: Big Show b Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas, Kalisto b Tyler Breeze, Chris Jericho b Sami Zayn, Enzo Amore & Big Cass b Dudleys, Baron Corbin b Fandango, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods & Big E & Cesaro b Sheamus & Alberto Del Rio & Rusev & The Miz, Paige & Sasha Banks & Natalya & Becky Lynch b Naomi & Tamina & Charlotte & Summer Rae, Aiden English & Simon Gotch b Usos, Apollo Crews b Heath Slater, Dean Ambrose b Kevin Owens, A.J. Styles & Dean Ambrose b Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens

4/18 Leon (AAA TV tapings): Dinastia & Lanzeloth & Ludxor & Venum b Mamba & Mini Abismo Negro & Soul Rocker & Super Fly-DQ, Mary Apache & Fabi Apache b Hiedra &Lady Shani, Argenis & Australian Suicide won four-way over Jack Evans & Angelico, Daga & Joe Lider and El Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Taurus, Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria & Zorro b Aerostar & Drago & Octagon Jr., Damian 666 & Nicho & Pagano b Psycho Circus, Mesias & Brian Cage b Dr. Wagner Jr. & La Parka

4/18 Hiroshima (Dragon Gate - 750): Genki Horiguchi & Jimmy Susumu & Ryo Saito b Dragon Kid & Lindaman & Takehiro Yamamura, Masaaki Mochizuki b Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa, Masaaki Mochizuki b Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa, Don Fujii & Jimmy Kanda b Gamma & Punch Tominaga, Cima & Kzy b Yamato & Kotoka, Akira Tozawa & T-Hawk & Big R Shimizu b Shingo Takagi & Naruki Doi & Cyber Kong

4/18 Fukushima (All Japan Champion Carnival - 320): Yutaka Yoshie b Jake Lee, Zeus b Hideyoshi Kamitani, Takao Omori & Kazuhiro Tamura b Yohei Nakajima & Masao Inoue, Atsushi

Aoki & Hikaru Sato & Naoya Nomura b Ryoji Sai & Sushi & Yuma Aoyagi, The Bodyguard b Daisuke Sekimoto, Jun Akiyama b Kengo Mashimo, Kento Miyahara b Super Tiger

4/19 London O2 Arena (WWE Smackdown/Main Event TV tapings): Apollo Crews b Curtis Axel, Summer Rae b Alicia Fox, Big Show & Kane b Erick Rowan & Braun Strowman, Non-title: Ryback b Kalisto, A.J. Styles b The Miz, Paige & Natalya b Naomi & Tamina, Goldust ref: R-Truth b Fandango, Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens b Sami Zayn & Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler b Baron Corbin-COR, A.J. Styles b Alberto Del Rio

4/19 Manchester, UK (WWE - 11,000): Cesaro b Stardust, Zack Ryder & Darren Young b Heath Slater & Bo Dallas, Rusev b Jack Swagger, Tag titles: Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods won over Usos and Dudleys, Sin Cara b Tyler Breeze, Three-way for women’s title: Charlotte won over Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch, WWE title: Roman Reigns b Sheamus

4/19 Choshi (New Japan - 519): Tiger Mask b Teruaki Kanemitsu, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima b Ryusuke Taguchi & David Finlay, Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Jushin Liger b Katsuyori Shibata & Kushida & Jay White, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma b Captain New Japan & Yoshitatsu, Toru Yano & Yoshi-Hashi b Hiroshi Tanahashi & Juice Robinson, Tetsuya Naito & Seiya Sanada & Evil & Bushi b Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro Ishii & Gedo

CMLL:

There was a shooting across the street from Arena Mexico on 4/13 which took place just after the Elite show that night had ended. The shooting was at a bar across the street from the arena called El Buho Tropical. A fight broke out between some people who were bar patrons, not fans at the matches, who had to much to drink. One of the people in the fight had a gun and started shooting, and hit two men and one woman. Since the show was ending, there were a lot of fans and vendors outside when they heard the shots. Some went back into the arena. There was some fear that the shooting could lead to an attendance drop if people think the area is unsafe, particularly since Arena Mexico matches do a lot of tourist business these days because tourist buses came to the hotels and take tourists to the shows and back

The return of L.A. Park drew Elite’s largest crowd since moving to Wednesday’s that night in a single match with Cibernetico in the tournament. Park gave Cibernetico a low blow at the same time Cibernetico pulled Park’s mask off, so it was ruled a no contest. The rules of the tournament are three points for a win and one for a draw, so they each got one point. The other tournament match saw Xtreme Tiger beat Ultimo Guerrero with a Del Rio style double foot stomp (a move everyone in Mexico seems to want to copy). Very good match here and fans threw in money. The other top match saw a battle of brothers as Rush & Dragon Lee beat Caristico & Argos when Rush used a low blow on Caristico

The 4/20 tournament matches are Atlantis vs. Caristico and Negro Casas vs. Mascara Dorada

The bad news for Elite is that the ratings must not have been good the first two weeks for the show on Azteca 7, as it was moved on 4/15 from 6 p.m. to 7:15 to 11:30 p.m. to 12:45 a.m. on Fridays. They are also doing a replay show at 10 a.m. on Saturday

The 4/15 show at Arena Mexico featured the A Block of the Torneo de Parejas Increibles, or the three-week long tournament where usual rivals tam up. Mistico & Mephisto won the Block, first beating Angel de Oro & Polvora, then beating Marco Corleone & Rush, who naturally turned on each other, before beating Volador Jr. & Mr. Niebla in the finals. The main event on the show saw Atlantis & Caristico & Maximo Sexy beat El Terrible & Rey Bucanero & Rey Escorpion

The B Block of the tournament on 4/22 has Atlantis & Gran Guerrero, Brazo de Plata & Kraneo, Caristico & Cibernetico, Dragon Lee & La Mascara, Maximo Sexy & El Terrible, The Panther & Tiger, Titan & Vangellys and Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Escorpion. The main event will be Mistico & Volador Jr. & Mascara Dorada vs. Barbaro Cavernario & Felino & Mr. Niebla. The Mistico & Volador Jr. & Dorada trio are fantastic to watch on big shows because they are three of the best flyers in wrestling and are out there trying to top each other.

AAA:

After all that happened last week, Octagon announced that he was debuting his son who will use the name El Hjio del Octagon. It should be noted that AAA owns the rights to the Octagon name. It also should be noted that it had always been said that Octagon only had daughters. Octagon held a press conference and claimed he had three sons, with the oldest, who is 24, debuting with the name. He said he also had teenage twins who will also be getting into wrestling. El Hijo del Octagon is said to be a Mexico City independent wrestler who doesn’t have a big name and isn’t Octagon’s son. However, the twins that were at the press conference are said to be Octagon’s sons. Super Luchas explained all this by claiming Octagon had three sons with a woman wrestler whose name was not revealed, although the belief is that only the twins were his sons. He claimed his son had been training in wrestling since the age of five under himself, as well as Rey Misterio (who trained the current Rey Mysterio, Psicosis, Konnan, Halloween and many others) and Abismo Negro. Abismo Negro died in 2009 and Misterio hasn’t trained anyone in years and has been wheelchair bound for some time

Goya Kong officially announced that the reason she’s not wrestling is because she is pregnant. Kong is the daughter of Brazo de Plata (Super Porky) of CMLL

They did a TV taping on 4/18 in Leon with some new angles. Mesias & Brian Cage are now main event heels as Team Trump, which is easy heat in Mexico. El Texano Jr., also said he’d stand up for Mexico against Team Trump. The main event on the show was Wagner Jr. & Parka vs. Cage & Mesias. Mesias & Cage laid out their opponents with low blows to win. After winning, they kept the beating up until Texano, in a neck brace, made the save. But Team Trump beat him down again. The new heel unit of Damian 666 & Nicho & Pagano, as Los Fronterizos, or kind of the original Perros Del Mal who will feud with the current version, beat The Psycho Circus. Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria & Zorro beat Aerostar & Drago & Octagon Jr. Drago was injured right

away and the heels had a three-on-two edge. Zorro pinned Aerostar with a package piledriver. There was also a match for the top contenders for the tag titles (held by Averno & Chessman). Australian Suicide & Argenis won over Jack Evans & Angelico, Daga & Joe Lider and El Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Taurus when Suicide pinned Daga. Damian 666 & Nicho & Pagano then destroyed the Perros team of Daga & Lider and said the new Perros weren’t Perros but just French poodles

The next TV tapings are 4/29 in Xalapa with La Parka & Electroshock vs. Brian Cage & Mesias, The Psycho Circus vs. Damian 666 & Nicho (original Psicosis) & Pagano, plus Averno & Chessman defend the tag titles against Suicide & Argenis. They are also having two three-way matches where the winners will join this year’s World Cup, with Pentagon Jr. vs. Daga vs. Joe Lider and Garza Jr. vs. El Texano Jr. vs. Taurus.

DRAGON GATE:

They have a confusing Dead or Alive show on 5/5 in Nagoya at the Aiichi Gym. The main event will be a six-way with Shingo Takagi, Naruki Doi, Yamato, Naoki Tanizaki, Cyber Kong and Kotoka in a cage. The last man in, plus their delegate who will be determined by matches earlier in the show, either loses their hair and has to stay bald for one year, or loses their mask. If they don’t have a mask, they also are not allowed to grow facial hair for one year. Kotoka did a funny interview before his match saying that both he and his delegate are screwed because he can’t beat anyone of the guys in that match. Also Yosuke Santa Maria defends the Open the Brave Gate title against Mondai Ryu and T-Hawk & Big R Shimizu defend the Open the Twin Gate tag titles against Dragon Kid & Eita

The next Open the Triangle Gate title match is 4/24 in Fukuoka with Masato Yoshino & Akira Tozawa & T-Hawk defending against Jimmy Susumu & Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi.

ALL JAPAN:

With three shows left, the Champion Carnival standings are (all participants will end up with six matches): A block: 1. Daisuke Sekimoto 2-1; 2. Kento Miyahara and Kengo Mashimo 2-1-1; 4. The Bodyguard and Jun Akiyama 2-2; 6. Super Tiger 1-2; 7. Naoya Nomura 1-3. B block: 1. Zeus 3-1; 2. Yutaka Yoshie and Atsushi Aoki 2-1; 4. Ryoji Sai 2-2; 5. Takao Omori and Hideyoshi Kamitani 1-2; 7. Jake Lee 1-3

The 4/16 show in Ageo Ikosu before a full house of 282 fans featured one the highlight match of the tournament, as Sekimoto pinned Akiyama in 17:53 with a deadlift German suplex. The other tournament bouts saw Kamitani pin Lee in 8:53 with a back suplex; Mashimo pinned Bodyguard in 13:14 with a schoolboy; Aoki pinned Sai in 7:43 with a victory roll; and Miyahara pinned Nomura in 11:19 after the blackout

4/17 in Niigata drew 342 fans. Yoshie pinned Aoki in 11:29 with a splash off the top. Lee pinned Omori in an upset with a back suplex in 10:41. Sai pinned Kamitani in 17:41 with a double foot

stomp off the top rope. The Bodyguard pinned Super Tiger in 9:12 after a lariat. Sekimoto pinned Nomura in 14:09 with a German suplex. Main saw Akiyama pin Miyahara in 9:48 with an exploder

4/18 in Fukushima before 320 fans saw Yoshie pin Lee with a splash in 10:52; Zeus pinned Kamitani with a jackhammer in 12:46; Bodyguard pinned Sekimoto in 13:35 after a lariat. Akiyama pinned Mashimo in 17:19 after an exploder and Miyahara pinned Tiger in 9:42 with the blackout.

PRO WRESTLING NOAH:

Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. did what were billed as GHC tag team title matches on both 4/15 in Queens, NY and 4/16 in Philadelphia for Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore promotion. If these are recognized in Japan, that would be title defenses numbers nine and ten, lengthening the record they set over Mania weekend with No. 8. They beat Dreamer & Rhino on the first night with the killer bomb on Dreamer, and then beat Chris Hero & Colt Cabana the second night with the killer bomb on Hero.

NEW JAPAN:

Will Ospreay has already been offered a regular contract which would make him just about the quickest guy without an international name to get one. He got the offer after one match with the promotion. He’s probably being tugged in different directions. In his case, it’s really Japan and WWE that would be the directions. If WWE really wants him and makes a big offer they’ll get him. WWE usually offers guys of his level a lot less than they make on the indies. The feeling is they’ll come at the low number starting out because there’s more of a shot at the high number down the line. It’s essentially the same deal as Ricochet, who on paper can make far more with the new offer he got from Lucha Underground, which would allow him to work New Japan as well as indies, but WWE is still WWE. For Ospreay, the advantage is he can live in the U.K. if he wants to with New Japan, but would have to move to Florida for WWE. That kept Finn Balor for years from making the move. Some guys who are into it for art at first or pure money may stay away from WWE, but usually when you get older and start getting the injuries, WWE starts getting more enticing. I know of one top indie guy who pretty much has an open offer for WWE but has a regular job that pays better than NXT and likes his way of wrestling, and WWE would change his style, so he’s stayed away

Both weekend shows at Korakuen Hall will air live on New Japan World, both starting at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time. The 4/23 show has Ryusuke Taguchi & Manabu Nakanishi & Tiger Mask vs. Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta & Gedo, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. David Finlay & Jay White, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa vs. Captain New Japan & Juice Robinson, Katsuyori Shibata & Kushida vs. Yuji Nagata & Jushin Liger, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin & Yoshitatsu defend the New trios titles against Kenny Omega & Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi, and the main event is an elimination match with Kazuchika Okada & Hirooki Goto & Tomohiro ishii & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Tetsuya Naito & Seiya Sanada & Evil & Bushi.

The 4/24 show has White vs. Finlay, Tiger Mask & Taguchi & Captain New Japan vs. Romero & Baretta & Yoshi-Hashi, Shibata & Kushida & Robinson vs. Nagata & Nakanishi & Liger, Okada & Gedo vs. Sanada & Bushi, Goto & Ishii vs. Naito & Evil and the main event is another elimination match with Tanahashi & Elgin & Makabe & Honma & Yoshitatsu vs. Omega & Fale & Tonga & Loa & Takahashi. That’ll be the third elimination ten man main event in recent weeks so they are going way too heavy on that gimmick. They used to do maybe one a year and it would be a killer match. .. There was a story in Japanese gossip mags with the idea that the father of Saori Yoshida, the famous Japanese woman freestyle wrestler, wanted her to marry Captain New Japan.

OTHER JAPAN NOTES:

Kota Ibushi will make his debut with the IGF promotion on a 5/29 show in Osaka.

HERE AND THERE:

Josh Burgess, a Michigan independent wrestler better known as Christian Abel, passed away on 4/13 at the age of 31. Abel & Josh Raymond were a regular tag team in the Midwest and wrestled some with ROH. Abel ended up retiring at that point due to back problems although he came back and did some matches this past summer

There was a tour called MysterioMania which took place this weekend in Chile. On 4/17 in Santiago, Chile, the tour, put on by the wrestling Superstar promotion, drew a sellout of 5,500 at the Teatro Caupolican. U.S. and Mexican stars on the show included Santana Garrett, Taya, Robbie E, Eddie Edwards, Pentagon Jr., Apolo (from Puerto Rico), Konnan, Carlito, Matt Hardy, Johnny Mundo, Bobby Lashley, MVP, Ricky Banderas (Mil Muertes/Mesias) and of course Mysterio. Mysterio & Lashley beat MVP & Banderas in the main event when Mysterio pinned Banderas after a 619 and splash. Matt Hardy pined Mundo with a twist of fate. Hardy then brought his wife and son to the ring so they flew with him to Chile. There was a ceremony where Hugo Savinovich, who put the show and tour together, gave Konnan a lifetime achievement award. Carlito went to a double count out with Chilean Alex Hero. Apolo lost to local wrestler Apocalipsis in a match for their main singles title. Edwards & Pentagon Jr. came out as tag team champions but lost them to Chilean wrestlers Gladiator Angekl & HellSpawn. They announced a return date on 8/7 with Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Ivelisse, Drago, Ken Anderson and Mr. 450 Hammet. The Young Bucks are also going on the tour

A Go Fund Me account to pay for funeral costs for Jon Rechner (Balls Mahoney) has raised just under $13,000 at press time, including a $1,000 donation by Mick Foley

WIN Magazine ran an article that the NCAA tournament, after drawing more than 110,000 fans over six sessions, with six straight sellouts, last year in St. Louis and this year in Madison Square Garden, would be looking at the possibility of moving to a larger Dome. They are committed to returning to the Savvis Center in St. Louis in 2017 and Cleveland in 2018. There were reps of eight cities, Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, Louisville, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and St.

Louis, vying for future tournaments. The new directive is that they won’t run an arena that can’t put 18,000 fans in for the semifinals and finals

There were some issues at the WrestleCon show involving two sets of women that had very heated arguments that nearly came to blows. One incident, which lasted a long time, involved Tessa Blanchard and Stacy Carter, the ex-wife of Jerry Lawler who was Miss Kitty and later The Cat in WWE years back. I have no idea what caused it but it was stuff regarding not showing respect, Carter telling her she wasn’t showing respect to her. It was enough that it was said had it not been for Ricochet as the peacemaker that it could have come to blows. Even worse was Karen Jarrett and Melissa Santos of Lucha Underground. Santos is used to being treated as a television star since they love her in Lucha Underground and she’s on The Apprentice show since Eric Van Wagenen heads up both shows. She was complaining about not having a chair for her and somehow Karen, who was criticized by many as well, spat on her. There was a lot of shouting and people watching said they thought a real fight was imminent but they finally calmed down. Jeff Jarrett and Brian Knobs also had a minor incident. It was described as a half-hearted incident where Jarrett shoved Knobs and his balance was so bad he fell, but that incident led to the hotel placing a security officer in the lobby for the rest of the weekend and the hotel also put up a sign about no horseplay, although they didn’t stop Marty Jannetty from walking into the fountain

Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore promotion ran two weekend shows, one in Queens on 4/15 before 750 fans and the other in Philadelphia on 4/16 in conjunction with a wrestling convention at the 2300 Arena. That drew a sellout of just over 1,000 fans. They paid tribute to Balls Mahoney. In Philadelphia, the talent that worked in ECW on the show, Dreamer, Blue Meanie, Rob Van Dam, Rhino and Shane Douglas were in the ring and they played “Big Balls.” Ricky Steamboat came out for a promo putting over being in the old ECW Arena. Vik Dalishus interrupted him and Steamboat made a comeback on him knocking him out of the ring. Jade from TNA pinned Thea Trinidad with a package piledriver. It surprises me that Trinidad never got a deal from WWE. Team Tremendous beat Ben Ortiz & Eddie Kingston. Billy Gunn pinned Bull Dempsey in 6:00 with the famouser. Kevin Thorn came out and beat down both Gunn and Dempsey until X-Pac made the save and gave Thorn a bronco buster. Gunn joked around that he was all blown up. Tony Nese won a three-way over Alex Reynolds and Chris Dickinson which was a strong bout. Pepper Parks beat Dreamer with his feet on the ropes. Cherry Bomb was in Parks’ corner and Dreamer brought out Mickie James to be in his corner. Brian Cage pinned Sami Callihan in what was said to be the best match on the show. Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr. retained the GHC tag titles over Chris Hero & Colt Cabana with the killer bomb on Hero. Main event saw Van Dam pinned Rhino with the frog splash after putting him through a table. Fans were chanting “Vote for Rhino” since he’s running for the state house of representatives in Michigan. After the match, Dreamer and Sandman came out for a beer bash as fans sang Sandman’s song and Rhino apologized for shoving a fan and said he just loves playing heel. Dreamer said they’d be returning on 9/17 to the 2300 Arena and would be running one or two shows every month. The top matches on 4/15 with RVD over Hero with the frog splash and Smith & Archer over Rhino & Dreamer. The next is 5/7 in Niagara Falls headlined by Bobby Roode vs. Eric Young, Dreamer & Mickie James vs. Parks & Cherry Bomb

and Rhino vs. Callihan, and they are also running 6/24 in Australia. .. Will Ospreay was out of action this past weekend due to a knee injury

To no surprise, the 6/12 match with Kurt Angle vs. Zack Sabre Jr., promoted by Revolution Pro at York Hall in London is going to be sold out. As of 4/18, they had 73 tickets left in the 1,200-seat building and it’s likely they’re all gone by the time you read this

There was an interesting historical find from Matt Farmer on Twitter, which was a letter from Sam Muchnick to Fred Kohler on March 12, 1953 regarding the NWA world heavyweight championship. At the time, Kohler was the Chairman of the Championship Committee. Muchnick had just polled 20 leading promoters asking for their thoughts on, should there be an accident or serious injury to Lou Thesz, who had been champion for the previous several years, who the promoters felt should replace him. In the letter, he noted that Verne Gagne got ten first place votes, Killer Kowalski got three and Argentina Rocca got two. In tallying points since Muchnick asked the promoters to pick their top five in order, Gagne was first with Kowalski a closer second and Rocca a distant third. This would have been before Muchnick and Kohler had their falling out when Muchnick booked Thesz to defend his title with another promoter in the Chicago area who Kohler considered his opposition. In September of that year, Kohler’s response was to no longer use Thesz or the NWA champion, and make Gagne, as U.S. television champion, into his main title. Since Kohler had national TV on the old Dumont Network, he would book Gagne as U.S. champion to various promoters for the same percentage that Thesz would get as world champion. Because of television, in some places Gagne did better as a draw than Thesz until Kohler lost his national TV. But it was due to that period where the feeling was that Gagne and Kohler had undercut the NWA champion, that Gagne never got any NWA title matches nor was he considered to replace Thesz in 1957 when Thesz asked out even though many believe he’d have been the best choice. Ultimately that led to the formation of the AWA, as when Gagne bought controlling interest in the Minneapolis Boxing and Wrestling Club, he created the AWA and made himself the world champion. A lot of old Muchnick correspondence from the 50s has come out of late in historical research. From his writing, you could see just how badly off the NWA was in the late 50s and early 60s. It was strong when Lou Thesz was champion, but really started falling apart with Dick Hutton and Pat O’Connor as champion. The title drew big when Buddy Rogers won it in 1961, but that period was a problem because Vince McMahon controlled Rogers and so many promoters couldn’t get dates on him that they started creating their own world champions. So the alliance nearly fell apart and it was really the bringing back of Thesz in 1963 and the period through 1983 when it was strong again, although the foundation started to crumble some would argue in the mid-70s when Muchnick no longer had influence over the champion’s bookings and they went to all the screw job finishes. Once WWF expanded, the end of the old version of the alliance was inevitable

The NWA did its 2016 Hall of Fame inductions on 4/11 in Las Vegas in conjunction with the Cauliflower Alley Club banquet. The inductees will be Gary Hart, Len Rossi (one of the oldest living wrestlers), Larry “Great Malenko” Simon and Nick Bockwinkel. The other inductee, Jim Ross, was awarded his plaque and a championship belt later in the week

Lance Storm noted on Twitter that he had his bad elbow looked at which has been bothering him for some time, and was diagnosed with a ligament tear at the radius and tendinitis

Josh Alexander, an Ontario wrestler who was very good, and had been on some PWG shows, who announced his retirement in June due to needing neck surgery which he had said was career ending, returned to the ring over the weekend for Alpha-1 Wrestling

Scott Rechsteiner (Scott Steiner), the wrestler who owns a Shoney’s restaurant in Acworth, GA, was a witness to an attempted murder this past week. The incident took place on 4/11 as, after an argument at a light, Ronald Diaz was alleged to have fired several shots at Joseph Parker, who lived through the incident. Rechsteiner was interviewed on the local news on the CBS affiliate and said it was a once in a lifetime type of thing that you’d see noting the area is usually pretty mellow

Former TNA wrestler Samuel Shaw, 32, won the heavyweight division on 4/9 of the Jacksonville Bodybuilding Championships. Not sure if it’s in the water but a number of current and ex-TNA wrestlers have competed in recent years in bodybuilding or women’s fitness events including Matt Morgan, Jessy Sorensen and Ashley Simmons (now Lomberger/stage name Madison Rayne)

Leva Bates, 32, the former Blue Pants in NXT, suffered a broken ankle in a match on 4/8, doing a Kaiju Big Battel show

Jonathan Gresham won CZW’s 15th annual Best of the Best tournament, beating David Starr with the figure four leglock on 4/9 in Voorhees, NJ

After doing the Lucha Underground tapings, Stardom’s Io Shirai, Mayu Iwatani and Kairi Hojo worked the 4/11 Vendetta Pro Wrestling show in Las Vegas at the Gold Coast Hotel in conjunction with the Cauliflower Alley Club. Hojo & Cheerleader Melissa went to a 15:00 draw with Shirai & Iwatani and Santana Garrett beat Thunder Rosa (Kobra Moon) via DQ in what we were told were the two best matches on the show with the most reaction

Norman Kenney, 65, who was the bus driver for Stampede Wrestling and did some wrestling under the name Mr. X, passed away in February due to asbestos scarring. He worked for Stampede in the 70s as a utility man for the promotion, doing ring crew, refereeing, driving the ring truck, and worked as an usher at the Friday night shows in Calgary, promoting some shows. He started working for Stu Hart in the late 60s. He worked part time while having other jobs that included cleaning out fertilizer bins at Western Co-Op, roofing and bouncing at clubs. The belief is the asbestos scarring came from his work as Western Co-Op or from the roofing. He had been in bad health for a few years and had suffered a stroke in 2008.

LUCHA UNDERGROUND:

Kevin Martenson, who had a tryout match last week, has signed with the company. Martenson wrestles for Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, and used to wrestle as Johnny Goodtime in PWG

Notes from the 4/13 TV show. The show opened with Dario Cueto backstage with Cage, Johnny Mundo and Taya in his office. He wanted them to be a team in the trios tournament. Cage and Mundo have been feuding, so Cage wasn’t down with that, saying he’d rather have a match with Mundo tonight. Cueto said he liked his own idea better. Cueto acted like he wanted to hit on Taya but she blew him off. He said that Son of Havoc, Angelic and Ivelisse hated each other but he made them a team and look what happened. He said that you all have a desire for Lucha Underground gold. Cage said he wanted in because “I’m not a man,” and Cueto interrupted and said in the most blase voice possible, “Yeah, you’re a machine, we know.” Can you imagine when Austin was in his heyday and he was doing a promo and some heel said, “Yeah, cuz Stone Cold said so,” just making his catch phrase sound like he’s some geek. Well, that’s what you had here. Mundo made fun of him as well and Cueto just told them to win the tournament. Killshot pinned Argenis in 4:35 with the killshot, which is similar to the one winged angel. Killshot earlier did a Fosbury flop dive. It was basically a squash match. Black Lotus was hanging out in the hallway when Dragon Azteca Jr. showed up and asked how she could ever work for Cueto. Uh, dude, you’re working for him as well. She said that he had locked her in a cage and was going to kill her if she didn’t pretend to align with him. He asked her what happened to Dragon Azteca and she said that the monster killed him. So she lied. She told him not to go for revenge just yet because he’s too powerful. Dario had Daga in his office. He showed him some of the Aztec medallions and said he would have a chance to win one tonight. But he told him he’s going to have to face the most cold blooded man not named Cueto, and said it’s Texano, who has done nothing remotely cold blooded since he’s turned face. Daga said “Only because you don’t know me.” Daga then proceeded to do nothing remotely cold blooded. Texano pinned Daga in 7:03 with a power bomb. So they pushed Daga as this sensation from Mexico who is revolutionizing wrestling and main eventing, and then beat him clean in 7:00 in his debut. The announcers put Daga over like crazy in the commentary so they did their job, but creative failed in theirs. Good match. They went to near falls and got a “This is awesome” chant, which felt far more Pavlovian than organic. Catrina was backstage with Mil Muertes. She told him the Disciples of Death are in the trios tournament and want his forgiveness. So he had just killed them and now they’re back together. It’s always good creative when a violent split of a group two weeks later means nothing. She told him that they won’t fail again. She then talked to Muertes about his upcoming match with Matanza Cueto. She said Matanza may be more devastating than the Earthquake. Muertes’ parents were killed in the earthquake so he squealed like wounded animal from that reference. Rey Mysterio Jr. & Prince Puma & Dragon Azteca Jr. beat Mundo & Cage & Taya in the trios tournament in 12:52. The match started out kind of bad but got pretty great at the end. Dragon and Cage didn’t look good together. Taya and Puma didn’t look good together ether. Then there were some flashy moves in between bad work. Then Mysterio tagged in and the match started clicking. Puma did this move where he flew out of the ring backwards with a tope and then Azteca followed with a flip dive over the top. Azteca did a huracanrana off the top on Mundo and Puma followed with a 450 for a great near fall. The crowd loved this. Mundo did a standing Spanish fly. Taya did a Northern Lights suplex and followed with a double foot

stomp. Puma jumped off the top rope and Cage caught him and vertical suplexed him. That was a pretty cool spot. Cage did a double fall away slam like Michael Elgin does on Azteca and Puma. Mundo and Cage then turned on each other. Mysterio did a moonsault block on Cage and then a 619 on Mundo. Azteca did a great looking DDT. Mysterio did a Thesz press off the apron on Taya. Azteca did a plancha into a huracanrana on Cage. Puma then pinned Mundo after a 630. The show ended with Dario & Matanza. Dario told Matanza that he’s facing Muertes next week for the title. It appears Matanza doesn’t like living in a cage. Dario explained to him that he is the most valuable person to him and you lock up your valuables so nobody can steal them. He told him to kill Muertes. But you can see that Matanza wants out of the cage.

ROH:

Some of the top matches for the 5/8 PPV in Chicago are Jay Lethal vs. Colt Cabana for the ROH title, Tetsuya Naito vs. Kyle O’Reilly (not sure if that will be an IWGP title match or not), War Machine vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe for the ROH tag titles, Tomohiro Ishii vs. Bobby Fish for the ROH TV title, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin vs. Kazuchika Okada & Moose and Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian vs. Jushin Liger & Cheeseburger (Liger loves Cheeseburger and is responsible for his being brought to New Japan for the Tokyo Dome show in January). Also coming in for the week are Jushin Liger, Gedo, IWGP tag champs Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa and IWGP jr. champion Kushida. In the case of Liger, it is interesting because he worked for WWE and against ROH in August when NXT and ROH were running head-to-head in Brooklyn. Liger was put over Tyler Breeze and according to a promoter who was looking to book dates with Liger last year, they were told that WWE had first dibs on his dates in the U.S. For whatever reason, even though Liger had a deal for more dates, they never materialized so he’s back here

New Japan has interest in Moose for later this year because he got a cult following with the “Moose” chant when he came to Japan in February for the ROH/New Japan joint shows. They’ve been slow in announcing the card because they didn’t know, and don’t know, whether Kenny Omega and Katsuyori Shibata will be getting their U.S. working visas in time but right now they have to go with the idea they won’t

Omega will be working the Toronto show that week since it’s in Canada

Jay White is scheduled to start here as a regular late in the year. New Japan is really high on him so they are sending him to live in the U.S. for an excursion and ROH is high on him as well, so I expect he’ll be used well

ACH vs. Roderick Strong was announced for 4/30 in West Warwick, RI. That show also includes a three-way tag match main event with Mark & Jay Briscoe vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin, Jay Lethal defending the ROH title against Vinny Marseglia in what is being promoted as a local underdog getting a title challenge, Young Bucks vs. Kenny King & Rhett Titus and Taeler Hendrix vs. Sumie Sakai

They run 4/23 in San Antonio for a single shot with a main event of Lethal vs. ACH vs. Moose vs. Strong vs. Jay Briscoe vs. O’Reilly in an elimination match. Whoever wins, if it isn’t Lethal, gets a title shot at Lethal that night. Also Adam Page vs. B.J. Whitmer in a street fight, Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian vs. Sabin & Shelley, Bucks vs. Cheeseburger & Delirious, Fish vs. King, Silas Young vs. Mark Briscoe and Titus vs. Will Ferrara

Joe Hendry of Scotland, who we’ve reported on in the past, came to the recent tryout over the weekend. He’s a wrestler from Scotland, best known from Insane Championship Wrestling who has a strong legit wrestling and judo background and showed strong charisma in his home promotion. He’s also a good promo and does a gimmick of parodying popular songs because he can sing. We’re told he was one of the standouts in the camp, and that they would like to use him, but because he’s based in Scotland, that will work against him. I was told that if he was closer, he would definitely get opportunities. Unlike a lot of the indies in the U.S., and while Kenny Omega at the PPV in Las Vegas is the obvious exception, since the Michael Elgin situation they are trying not to use talent without visas so that would slow down the process of using European newcomers that may work in other groups.

TNA:

Christy Hemme, 35, who had left last year at one point but then agreed to come back since the schedule was so light, is gone once again as another victim of cutbacks. She had been with the company on-and-off for nearly ten years

The company announced a new television deal with FX Middle East, which would kick off on 5/20.

UFC:

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo officially signed into law on 4/14 the bill that legalizes professional MMA in the state and puts it under the jurisdiction of the athletic commission. A number of UFC officials including Marc Ratner, who had been working on the project for nearly a decade, Lorenzo Fertitta and Ronda Rousey joined Cuomo at the press conference. Professional MMA will be legal in the state starting in September, and I’d expect every national organization to try and run there as soon as possible. Bellator was looking for a date in New York, probably at the Barclays Center. The UFC announced that UFC 205 would take place on 11/12 in Madison Square Garden, which would be 23 years to the day of the first UFC event in Denver. The coincidence of days is just that, a coincidence. When UFC booked the date, it was based on availability in MSG and nobody realized it was the same day as the first show, although they quickly became aware of it. The expectation is they will do a loaded show. While not confirmed, Fertitta said that they are also looking at doing an FS 1 card in upstate New York, mentioning the first upstate card would probably be in either Rochester or Albany. Fertitta had promised the state four shows per year for the next three years is the bill was signed into law, and in UFC’s own press release they stated they would be running four shows per year, and also mentioned future events in Buffalo, Syracuse and Utica as well as the Barclays Center. The

athletic commission will add two new members with MMA experience, adopt regulations, train the staff and start licensing promoters, fighters and trainers

When Gov. Cuomo signed the bill, he noted that if Rousey fought in Madison Square Garden that he would get his tickets right now. A lot of top fighters are trying to get their timing right to appear on the show, particularly those from the New York area.

This week’s show is UFC 197, which is an interesting PPV test. Had Jon Jones fought Daniel Cormier as scheduled, I couldn’t see the show doing less than 700,000 buys. It’s still got Jones’ return after nearly 17 months and is going to get plenty of SportsCenter coverage based on that, and we’ve seen that when SportsCenter gets behind a match, it usually swells interest levels pretty big. But the show is all about Jones, as nobody takes Ovince Saint Preux seriously as an opponent in their interim title match. The undercard isn’t really that strong as far as names go. Henry Cejudo is as viable a challenger as Demetrious Johnson is going to have, but Johnson is as a weak a drawing champion as UFC has ever had. Edson Barboza vs. Anthony Pettis is a quality lightweight fight and also one that looks to be good as both men usually have entertaining fights and they also both are badly in need of wins. Andre Fili vs. Yair Rodriguez is an action fight on paper and the show also features the return of the first strawweight champion, Carla Esparza, who is on the FS 1 prelims (and not even featured) in her first fight since losing the title to Joanna Jedrzejczyk. The show is going to be pushed as a build to Jones vs. Cormier, likely in the fall, as Cormier will be part of the broadcast team. The show starts at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on Fight Pass with Efrain Escudero vs. Kevin Lee, Clint Hester vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima and Cody East (coming from Dana White’s Looking for a Fighter series) vs. Walt Harris in a heavyweight battle. The FS 1 fights at 8 p.m. are Glaico Franca vs. James Vick, Esparza vs. Juliana Lima, Danny Roberts vs. Dominique Steele and Chris Kelades vs. Sergio Pettis. It’s really amazing the positioning of Esparza here since she is ranked No. 2 contender (behind Claudia Gadelha) in UFC’s official rankings yet two unknowns are slated in the match ahead of her as you’d think she would be the FS 1 pushed main event if not on PPV. The main card at 10 p.m. is Fili vs. Rodriguez, Rafael Natal vs. Robert Whittaker, Barboza vs. Pettis, Demetrious Johnson vs. Cejudo for the flyweight title and Jones vs. Saint Preux for the interim light heavyweight title

More on Georges St-Pierre and coming back. He was on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani on 4/18 and said that he is going to start his training camp and is in talks with UFC about a return. He said if he feels good in the camp, he’ll tell his manager to finalize the process. A stumbling block is the contract money. St-Pierre is used to making $4 million to $5 million per fight, a lot of which came from sponsorships. Because of his status as the Canadian superstar and that he’s kept a clean public image, he’s probably garnered more high level sponsors than almost any fighter in UFC history. But with the Reebok deal, that’s out the window, so he wants his UFC pay increased to rectify the loss of sponsorship money. The problem is, since he’s no longer the champion and isn’t a lock to do consistent 700,000s, that could be an issue. St-Pierre had started training earlier but suffered a rotator cuff injury, and he didn’t rest it, so that made it worse but then he decided to take time off. A positive is the new drug policy, which St-Pierre tabbed as not being perfect, but also said nothing ever is. He said that with the UFC’s new

policy of aggressively combating doping that his relationship with the company has improved. In 2013, when he pushed for increased testing of both himself and Johny Hendricks, UFC didn’t back him up at all. He still paid for his own testing, but Hendricks was only tested the day of the fight

. The concept of season 24 of The Ultimate Fighter being a flyweight tournament with the winner getting a title shot is apparently now on hold. The tryouts that were scheduled for last week were canceled. Demetrious Johnson did an interview with Dave Doyle where he said that he found out about the plan for him to defend his title (if he beats Henry Cejudo on 4/23) in December against the tournament winner was nothing UFC ever brought up to him, and he found out about it from a fan on social media after UFC had already released the information publicly. He said he’s not against the idea, just noted that he compared not being told anything to some fan telling him that his wife was pregnant

A story to follow is that Markwayen Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma in the U.S. House of Representatives is planning on introducing legislation that would amend the Ali Act to cover not just boxing, but also MMA and kickboxing. Because the Ali Act, enacted in 2000, was written specifically for boxing, a lot of changes would have to be made to cover MMA and kickboxing. It was written both to protect boxers when it comes to safety concerns and being abused by promoters. The problem is that strictly enforced, the Ali Act would destroy the structure of MMA because a key component is independent rankings, creating sanctioning bodies as opposed to promotions that recognize champions and that fighters would get title shots based on independent rankings. In an interview with Blood Elbow, Mullin said it would require independent rankings where fighters in all organizations would be ranked together, and would require promoters using those rankings to determine title shots. It would also require promoters to disclose revenue from events. UFC for U.S. shows does list live gates, but does not release PPV numbers (even with the Ali Act, some boxing PPV numbers are not publicly release), nor does it release how much it is paid for televising events

Urijah Faber has been pushing the PED button in building up his 6/4 title challenge to Dominick Cruz. On Submission Radio this past week, Faber said, “I’ll tell you what has happened. I’ve seen a drastic change in his body from the very first time that I fought him, to a year later when he fought, when he took the whole year off and came back all ripped. Then he looked pretty good two years ago when he made his long-awaited return, physically. And then, all of a sudden, he’s got sloppy boobs and back fat. I mean, there’s no secret what’s going on there, and I know he knows it.” Faber brought up that after all these years, he still pretty much looks the same physically as he always has. There are differences with Faber, but there are going to be differences from 29 to 37 (Faber turns 37 just before the fight), but there are fighters who have huge differences over the past year and those are the guys everyone talks about and is suspicious of. “There’s something fishy going on there, and he knows and I know, that there’s a big advantage coming to me because of that. And I’ll just leave that at that and let USADA do their job.” He said he believes the Cruz he’s fighting won’t be the same as the one who beat him in their second fight. “I will give him the respect because he has the mental side, and he has great technique for what he’s trying to do but the truth is he’s a fraction, physically, from

what he used to be. And it’s still gonna be a very tough fight. A world champion’s a world champion and that’s a mentality thing.” Still, after seeing Cruz against T.J. Dillashaw in January, I don’t see him with the speed or wrestling that he’ll need to beat Cruz

The 6/18 show in Ottawa headlined by Rory MacDonald vs. Stephen Thompson is sold out with more than 10,000 tickets sold. It’sUFC’s first time ever in the city

The 5/10 show in Rotterdam, Holland sold out in two hours with about 10,000 tickets sold

The company’s long-time TV deal with WOWOW (a station similar to HBO or Showtime but not as popular) in Japan ended this past week without a renewal

Dana White said this past week while at a show in Sioux Falls, SD filming “Looking for a Fighter,” a show on AXS TV, that Robbie Lawler would defend the welterweight title at UFC 201 or 202, which would mean August or September. He indicated Tyron Woodley as the probable contender

Anthony Johnson said that even if he hadn’t had dental surgery, that he probably wouldn’t have taken the short notice fight with Jon Jones. While he didn’t say it this way, evidently at this stage of his career, to rush into a match with Jones without preparation when he’s earned a legit title shot he didn’t think was the best thing for his career, and there is a strong argument in that direction. .. Mark Hunt has signed a new six-fight contract

Georges St-Pierre is hosting a new TV show called “The Boneyard” on The History Channel in Canada. The show started this past week in a Thursday at 9 p.m. time slot. The show has St-Pierre, who is really into paleontology, traveling all over the world looking for bones of prehistoric beasts

Diego Brandao, 28, a 2011 winner of The Ultimate Fighter who has had mixed success in UFC, was arrested on 4/15 after he allegedly hit a strip club employee in the face with a gun on 4/14. Brandao was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault and willful assault with a deadly weapon. He was held in Bernalillo Country Metropolitan Detention Center and released on 4/16 on $15,000 bond. The District Attorney hasn’t made a decision to pursue the case. According to the police report and MMA Fighting, Brandao argued with a DJ at the strip club “Knockouts” in Albuquerque, late Wednesday night, which is 4/13. After midnight, he was asked to leave. He then left the club. When he returned, he was not allowed back in due to his behavior when he had been inside. He then allegedly attempted to force his way in by allegedly throwing punches at employees and allegedly hit Anthony Romero, a bouncer, as well as others outside the club. He then left again. He allegedly came back another time that night, this time with a gun. The club ordered the patrons of the club into the bar for shelter when they found out he was armed. A witness told police that he, a Knockouts club employee and another man were standing outside when they saw Brandao run toward them, pointing a gun at bar employee Patrick Otero. The witness claimed Brandao pointed the gun at the person’s chest and then at Otero before hitting the employee in the face with the butt end

of the handgun. The report said that Brandao then pointed his gun once again at the group before he walked back to his vehicle. Brandao was under a temporary suspension by the Nevada Athletic Commission after testing positive for marijuana after his Jan. 2 loss to Brian Ortega in Las Vegas. He had yet to have his hearing regarding the length of the punishment due to failing the drug test. UFC issued a statement that they were aware of the incident and in the process of gathering more information. “While we are concerned by the nature of the reported allegations, it is important to note that Brandao is entitled to due process in a court of law. We will have no further comment until more information can be gathered.

Paige VanZant scored 31 out of 40 points, placing her fourth out of the nine remaining contestants on “Dancing With the Stars” on 4/19

UFC Fight Pass debuted two new promotions this past week. Cage Warriors debuted with a show from London on 4/15, and Combate Americas debuted with a show from Los Angeles on 4/18. Combate Americas is Campbell McLaren’s promotion aimed at the Hispanic market that airs on NBC Universo, running shows the next seven weeks at midnight. Fight Pass won’t be airing every Combate Americas show, but will be airing at least eight shows between now and the end of the year. The 4/18 show aired live for four hours on Fight Pass with the top three matches also airing on NBC Universo, but the Fight Pass broadcast was in English while the NBC Universo broadcast was in Spanish. The idea is this gives Fight Pass live content on Monday nights, which is traditionally not an MMA night

Clay Guida vs. Brian Ortega has been added to the 6/4 show in Los Angeles. Ortega is 10-0 with wins over Thiago Tavares and Brandao while Guida appears to be past his prime. The former lightweight contender who once beat Anthony Pettis is now 3-3 since dropping to featherweight

Disappearing from the company’s web site, which is usually a sign of a release, have been Emily Peters Kagan, Masanori Kanehara, Damon Jackson and Martin Svensson. Rin Nakai was also cut as she was announced for the 7/24 Pancrase show.

BELLATOR:

The company announced a 7/16 show in London at the O2 Arena headlined by Kimbo Slice vs. James Thompson and Josh Koscheck vs. Paul Daley, plus Michael Page and England’s Linton Vassell are on the show. Because it’s a U.K. show, Spike will likely air the show on a tape delay in prime time. Granted, Slice has proven to be the biggest ratings draw the company has, but the guy just failed a steroid test for both nandrolone and testosterone. The failure was on 2/19 in a test in Texas, and because it was Texas and not just about anywhere else, he was only suspended for three months, so both he and Ken Shamrock could fight again within their next usual cycle. That’s fight cycle. But still, it shows a way too easy on steroids stance taken by the company. Worse, unless Bellator institutes the testing itself, because it’s in England with no commission, that means Slice would be fighting without any testing whatsoever right after a failure. He wouldn’t even need to provide a clean test to be reinstated as is usually the case

with a fighter suspended on a drug violation. UFC is having first failures be two years out and these guys are using a double failure less than five months later. Slice vs. Thompson is a rematch of a May 31, 2008, fight which drew 7,281,000 viewers on CBS, the second most in U.S. history (trailing only the 2011 Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos fight on FOX). Slice won that fight via third round stoppage when Thompson’s ear exploded. Thompson, who is 37, is coming off losses to pro wrestlers Bobby Lashley and Tsuyoshi Kosaka in his previous two fights. Unless Slice’s people won’t let him near anyone who is halfway decent, this fight to make is curious at best. As bad as Thompson is, and he was out of shape due to a knee injury suffered against Lashley when he lost to Kosaka, he should still beat today’s Kimbo. Even if Kimbo wins, and Kimbo was lucky to beat Ken Shamrock–think about that, it’s a risk with no reward. It would make so much more sense to put Kimbo against either Royce Gracie or Lashley. With Gracie, at least the ratings would be gigantic, far bigger than with Thompson. Granted, Gracie may not want that fight and Kimbo may not want that either. Lashley at least makes booking sense. Lashley is a draw on his own in Bellator and it would do bigger names than Slice with Thompson, plus it has an upside. Lashley can use that win, and Lashley is almost a lock as a win, to be put against Matt Mitrione for their vacant heavyweight title (since Vitaly Minakov, the champion, needs to be stripped given he hasn’t fought in Bellator since April 4, 2014). So at least you are using those viewers and Kimbo to build a draw for a future fight. If Thompson wins, you can really put him against Mitrione. Well, I guess you can, but who would care. But Mitrione, Lashley and Cheick Kongo are the name heavyweights, although I think their light heavyweights like King Mo, Liam McGeary and Rampage Jackson (if he’s going to stay past one or two fights) could be in the heavyweight division and be competitive as well

Koscheck vs. Daley is a rematch of a 2010 fight in Montreal where Koscheck outwrestled him for three rounds. Daley, after losing, threw a sucker punch as Koscheck and Dana White fired him from the promotion for it. Koscheck is 38 and hasn’t fought in a year, and has lost five fights in a row and has looked pretty much shot in the last three. Daley has won five in a row

A big test show is this weekend, as they are running 4/22 at the Mohegan Sun Casino headlined by Benson Henderson challenging welterweight champion Andrey Koreshkov. This week’s show will start one hour earlier than usual, at 8 p.m. Eastern. Henderson was a name fighter who had headlined PPVs and FOX shows, particularly the latter, which had done well, but he wasn’t a superstar and had key recent losses to Anthony Pettis and Rafael dos Anjos. But he’s still a top quality fighter and would be favored to take the title here, even though Henderson fought mostly at lightweight in UFC and is small for a welterweight (he had a 2-0 record in that division in UFC). But you could also make a case that Henderson is the best fighter, and certainly the most proven at the top level who is still young enough (32) to be considered the latter stages of his prime, on the entire roster. However, Henderson said this week that no matter what, he is going to retire before his 34th birthday, which would be November 16, 2017. He told Ariel Helwani that he was retired when he was 33, but said it could be 33 years and 11 months. He said he was going to join the military before his 34th birthday and retire from fighting. He said he plans to join military reserves, although noted that recruiters have told him he could be in the reserves and continue his fighting career. Both Brian Stann and Tim Kennedy were still enlisted and continued to fight.

Bellator has proven they can draw with the Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock and Slice types, and Tito Ortiz drew well the first time but disappointing when he challenged for a title. But Henderson is the biggest test of a UFC name while still a quality fighter, but not a freak show, when it comes to ratings drawing power. The rest of the show on TV features Brent Primus vs. Gleristone Santos, Jeremie Holloway vs. Michael Page (who is a very entertaining striker), Evangelista Santos vs. Brennan Ward (a big area favorite) and Patricio Pitbull Freire vs. Andrey Koreshkov.

OTHER MMA:

Rizin held its first show of the new year on 4/17 in Nagoya before about 4,500 fans, which was far a sellout at Geisha Hall. There was nowhere near the interest in this show as the first two shows nor the budget for name talent. Much of the news regarding it is bad before the show as nobody in the U.S., not AXS nor Spike, broadcast the show. It was on PPV in Japan live, but that would be very few buyers since PPV does almost nothing there these days. The key to Rizin was to get back on network TV to get the casual fans, but this airs on the Fuji Network on 4/22 at 3:25 a.m. to 5:25 a.m. so that’s not exactly going to get any kind of an audience on a late Thursday night with work the next day. Fuji airing the show in an awful time slot speaks volumes and is really the key story of the show. The New Year’s Eve show did decent ratings. The real main event, although put on in the middle of the show, was a tag team grappling match with Kazushi Sakuraba & Hideo Tokoro going to a 15:00 draw with Wanderlei Silva & Kiyoshi Tamura. Sakuraba and Tamura, rivals dating back to the 90s in the old UWFI dojo who met once in MMA after Sakuraba was past his prime (Tamura basically avoided the fight until Sakuraba was washed up), are both 46 now, and Tokoro usually fights at 135 while Silva fights at 185 or 205. The match was generally well regarded for the star power. It was mostly Sakuraba vs. Silva and Tokoro vs. Tamura. Sakuraba was the aggressor early with wrestling and going for stuff, but in a long shoot match, he got tired quicker since he’s older and with all his injuries can’t train as hard. Silva was doing better in the later stages. Even with the big size difference, I’d say Tokoro had the edge on Tamura. Their interaction was very good since Tokoro was able to take Tamura down, there were some cool scrambles and exchanges and Tokoro was constantly going for leglocks that Tamura was able to escape from. At 46, Tamura didn’t have the body everyone remembers him with, but physically was in great shape for his age. His conditioning was impressive, in the sense he moved around a lot on the mat and didn’t get tired. But even with the size difference, he appeared rusty with technique as compared to Tokoro, who is still active. Pro wrestler Kazuyuki Fujita, who is 45 and long past the point he should be fighting, was knocked out by Jiri Prochazka with a right hook in 3:18. He was being sacrificed because at his age he had little chance against an active and solid striker. Gabi Garcia, the Ryback looking woman who they are trying to push as a freak attraction, dominated Anna Malyukoa on the ground in the first round before winning via armbar at 2:04 of the second round. Former UFC fighter Daron Cruickshank beat Shinji Sasaki in 4:36 with a punch and a soccer kick. Bellator’s Hisaki Kato knocked out Yuta Watanabe in 1:04 with a series of left uppercuts. Kanako Murata, the understudy of Saori Yoshida on the national wrestling team, made her MMA debut winning via decision of Natalya Denisova. Murata, who was one of the big stars of the show, outwrestled her for three rounds. Yoshida, who is attempting to become

the first wrestler, male or female, ever to win four Olympic gold medals in Rio de Janeiro later this year, was used as the color commentator. After Murata won, the Japanese Olympic women’s team went into the ring to congratulate her. Politically this was a big deal that the amateur wrestling federation, since the Japanese women have been a big deal in the country because they are the dominant country in women’s wrestling, got behind this. The judo people have been super negative toward MMA. The negative on the show is that it was six hours long, although all UFC shows are six hours as well

After the show, promoter Nobuyuki Sakakibara said he was looking at doing an eight-man Grand Prix tournament headed by Wanderlei Silva with the first round in September and the semifinals and finals on New Year’s Eve

ONE welterweight champion Ben Askren said that he’s probably going to retire in two years. He said he’s got five fights left on his deal with ONE, and he doesn’t plan on signing a new deal. He didn’t shut the door on anything, but said that he had always talked about retiring from wrestling and MMA at the age of 30, and he’s now 30. Askren headlined ONE’s 4/15 show in Manila, Philippines where he beat Russian Nikolay Aleksakhin by decision in a five-round fight

Fedor Emelianenko will be facing former UFC fighter Fabio Maldonado, a mid-level light heavyweight, in his next fight on 6/17 in St. Petersburg, Russia.

WWE:

Wyatt was injured on the first night of the European tour on 4/14 in Milan. They were about 2:00 into the main event match with Reigns defending the title against Wyatt, when Wyatt went down and grabbed his leg. He suffered an undisclosed calf injury and the severity was not released, but he was pulled from the rest of the tour. The WWE largely kept everything quiet but the word going around on tour was it was a pulled muscle and he’d be out four to six weeks, so it’s not nearly as bad as first feared. As soon as he went down they immediately called for the bell after the doctor came out and looked at it. In the building, because it was the last match of the show and Reigns was scheduled to go over clean, they sent out Rowan, Strowman, the Dudleys and the Usos. Sheamus came out and wanted a title match and went to Brogue kick Reigns, who ducked and speared him right away. Reigns then got on the mic and said that while he has his issues with Wyatt, he doesn’t wish for an injury to anyone. This resulted in the crowd cheering Reigns. When he came out, it was at best a 50/50 crowd. He than thanked the fans for attending

This is the update on the 5/1 Payback show in Chicago, which continues to look strong. Now official are Reigns vs. Styles, Jericho vs. Ambrose, Zayn vs. Owens, Miz vs. Cesaro for the IC title, Charlotte (with Ric Flair) vs. Natalya (with Bret Hart) for the women’s title, New Day vs. the tag team tournament winner (either The Vaudevillains or Enzo & Cass) are confirmed. With the Wyatt injury, it looks like the Wyatts vs. League of Nations match is off. It appeared they were going with The Vaudevillains vs. New Day for the titles but that could change since Enzo & Cass are getting such a big reaction and The Vaudevillains are not. But New Day are strong faces so it

makes more sense to not put them against a team just coming in that also has to be faces. Other programs being worked on include Kalisto vs. Ryback for the U.S. title, Corbin vs. Ziggler, Dudleys vs. Enzo & Cass, Emma vs. Lynch and Usos vs. Anderson & Gallows. So a couple of those are likely to fill out the undercard

The “Total Bellas” trademark noted in last week’s issue is both for a new reality show on E! and Bella brand merchandise. E! has ordered six one hour episodes of the new series, which will be a spin-off of “Total Divas,” which will also remain on the station’s lineup even with the significantly declining ratings this season. The episodes being shot will air in October and November. “Total Bellas” will follow Nikki and Brie Bella, along with Cena, Bryan, John Laurinaitis (the father-in-law of the Bellas), Kathy Colace (the Bellas mom) and J.J. Garcia-Colace, the brother of the Bellas, and his wife. The Bellas will also remain as the lead stars in the sixth season of “Total Divas,” which is being filmed now and will return in the fall. Most likely this will include or build toward the wedding of Laurinaitis and Colace. Not including the final episode of the season, Total Divas averaged 738,000 viewers this past season, down 27 percent from 1,008,000 in the fourth season. The season six cast will be the Bellas, Eva Marie, Naomi, Natalya, Paige, Lana, Maryse and Renee Young. It will debut in September. No time slots were announced but I could see them running back-to-back. “Total Divas” is still one of the better rated shows of the network so the idea with a spin-off would be to get two hours of ratings instead of one

Both Ray Leppan (Adam Rose), 36, and Ray Parmeter (Konnor), 36, were suspended for 60 days for a Wellness policy violation. These would be the first two announced violations of the Wellness policy since Hornswoggle in September, and before that, since Ricardo Rodriguez in 2013. It was the second violation for both Leppan and Parmeter, which is why the suspension was for 60 days. Neither had a previously announced violation, but Parmeter failed a test in 2006 and Leppan in 2013 and each were suspended for 30 days at the time. Neither failure was announced publicly, apparently because neither were on the main roster at the time of the violation. The idea that only two people on the main roster had tested positive in four years and then two did on the same day is quite the coincidence. The timing isn’t the best for either given their positions on the roster and their age

As it turned out, The Undertaker ended up being pulled from the WWE European tour a second time on 4/15. The company didn’t say Undertaker was pulled until the next day, but did announce on that day that Shane McMahon would be appearing on the 4/19 Smackdown tapings and that HHH would do a number of house shows including 4/20 in Newcastle (the last show Undertaker was booked on, HHH is scheduled to face Ambrose in the new main event), 4/21 in Brussels and 4/23 in Malaga, Spain. This led to lots of questions regarding Undertaker. The word going around was that he decided against going on the tour although the reasons being said made little sense, since talent was told it regarded not wanting to go due to terrorist activities in France and Belgium. But by the end, he was only booked for two days, both in England, and he pulled out of both of them as well. He does have back problems and that is a long flight. The fact it went back-and-forth all week seems to indicate him wrestling with himself on whether he wanted to wrestle or not, likely between his old school mentality of

appearing when advertised and whatever it is that made him not want to wrestle at least right now, whether it be injuries or perhaps the idea of going out in Dallas

HHH was at Raw as he is every week on 4/18 (they are keeping he and Stephanie off TV, right now the plan is a feud with Shane but the start date isn’t definite although early May was the last date we’d heard), flew back to the U.S. for a USO event in Washington, DC where Cena was getting a Legacy of Achievement award at the USO 75th anniversary event on 4/19. Then he flew back to wrestle on the 4/20 show in Newcastle

Austin suffered a torn rotator cuff, some of that taking place at WrestleMania. Jim Ross wrote on the subject that Austin had injured the shoulder prior to Mania and then the injured rotator cuff had a complete tear from his first punch to Rusev in the brawl

Regarding the Global cruiserweight series, the WWE has announced qualifying matches for an upcoming Progress Wrestling show of Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Flash Morgan Webster and Jack Gallagher vs. Pete Dunne. The funny part is that Sabre Jr. had already been announced multiple times by WWE as being in the final tournament. Another pair of qualifying matches will take place on the 5/7 Evolve show in Queens, NY, with Evolve tag team champions Drew Gulak vs. Tracy Williams, and TJ Perkins vs. Fred Yehi

People were saying Cena actually wasn’t fully cleared like he said. He was cleared enough to do what he did at Mania. This seems to make sense given he’s not booked on the next PPV nor has he been on TV. The time frame I was given was probably May, although just a few weeks ago it was July. If he was really ready, they’d have sent him to Europe to replace Undertaker or Bryan

The company hasn’t sold out Sumo Hall in Tokyo in years, but the 7/1 show sold out within minutes of tickets being put on sale (they have since opened up additional seats) and the 7/2 show was virtually sold out (there were some expensive ringside seats left but that was all) within minutes as well. The difference in business in the past and now is that Nakamura is making his debut with WWE in Japan and suddenly it’s a huge cool thing to see Nakamura in WWE

Lesnar has been added to Nakamura and Asuka as non-regulars on the road who will appear on the 6/29 show in Honolulu. We’ve gotten no word that it will be a network special, but shows Lesnar gets added to often are, and the first WWE show in Honolulu since 2010 would sound like a good hook. This is also the first time Lesnar has ever performed in Hawaii, as he was never there as a fighter or as a wrestler

Renee Young didn’t make the trip to the U.K. for television due to a visa issue. That’s why Mauro Ranallo was used on Raw as a backstage interviewer

Nobody knows what will happen with TV rights fees in a few years when WWE’s contract with USA next comes due, past the feeling secondary sports may have trouble because primary sports will get first dibs on money. There are those who think even sports like the NBA could be

in trouble and get a big downgrade when its new deal is up. But people predicting sports rights fees will burst have constantly been wrong but there are signs that things can’t keep going like they are. Fewer people have cable and the cable companies have less revenue to spend. However, even with the big decline in WWE ratings, their value to USA is stronger than ever one could argue because USA no longer has the kind of hit programming that made the network No. 1 for so many years. At one point, USA could have lost WWE and still remained No. 1 on cable. But now, for the week after WrestleMania, USA Network was No. 3 in the prime time rankings (it was No. 5 the week before). If you remove Raw and Smackdown, they would fall all the way to 11th place (removing WWE they would have been in 13th place the week before).

In 2005, when USA made the deal to bring Raw back, they didn’t want any other wrestling shows but Raw because they didn’t want to be known as the wrestling network. Now they are clearly a falling network that is being carried by wrestling. But WWE also needs them, because as the last negotiations showed, nobody else was willing to spend big money to get WWE programming. The problem is that if numbers that are out are correct, which indicate USA Network getting about $90 million per year in ad revenue sales off Raw and Smackdown combined, and them paying about $150 million for the rights, that isn’t the best of math. It should be noted that cable stations like USA make the bulk of their money not from ad revenue but from what they charge cable companies and dish owners as carriage fees, and that’s where being No. 1, or top five is key, because the cable companies aren’t going to cut back on carriage fees to a top tier station. ESPN is having problems with some systems because of their price but they charge tons more than USA. But as people drop cable, if that number becomes significant, that’s less income for the stations to spend on programming, and it’s a bad cycle because the less homes watching programming live, the less the ads are worth as well. WWE at least guarantees a consistent weekly audience, even if it has declined significantly the last two years

Gerald Brisco, 69, the company’s main recruiter, will be inducted into the Chikasaw Nation Hall of Fame on 6/21 in Norman, OK

NXT will be doing tapings on 5/19 in Orlando. They also will be taping TV on 6/9, the day after the next Takeover show, which is 6/8. So they are working two big shows and then flying to Europe for a tour there. The 6/8 and 6/9 shows sold out immediately, but given they only have 400 seats, that’s expected. NXT runs 4/21 in Lowell, MA this week for a sold out show, as well as 4/22 in Kingston, RI, featuring Balor, Samoa Joe, Bayley, Nakamura, Asuka and Crews as the names advertised

Even though his suspension has been up for a few weeks, O’Neil wasn’t sent on the tour, but is expected back next week

The New Day were legit the biggest merchandise movers over WrestleMania weekend which means they’ll be getting a big paycheck and also it locks them in for keeping them in a good position for a long time

Cam Zagami on Cena’s “American Grit” is a New England based independent wrestler who works for Northeast Wrestling

A correction from last week, the Raw on the day after SummerSlam didn’t sell out immediately. As of the weekend, I was still able to get new tickets. The expectation is still that the show will sell out

Bret Hart, while in the U.K., doing an interview for Total Wrestling, when asked about creative, said, “I really think that the booking and the writing and the people who are calling the shots are the most ignorant bunch of stupid morons and they are starting to make Eric Bischoff look smart.” Regarding Reigns, he said, “He is a good wrestler with a great look, but unfortunately, when it comes to booking, they dropped the ball big time and it’s all down to a lack of imagination and a bunch of people like Stephanie McMahon and HHH who are more concerned about getting themselves over.

Ryback, while in Dubai, did an interview saying that he wasn’t happy being in the position he was in at Mania, saying that he felt he belonged on the main show and that the U.S. title also belonged on the main show

A correction from last week in the Superstars we had a misprint and wrote Ryder pinned Sandow with the shell shock, when it was obviously Ryback

Here are some of the November dates for the next U.K. tour. The 11/4 show in London will be a house show at Wembley. The Manchester Arena show is 11/5. Newcastle and Leeds will run 11/6. The TV’s will be 11/7 and 11/8 at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow. Birmingham will be 11/9 and Cardiff will be 11/10

The TV in Glasgow at the Hydro is notable because WWE is running two major events in the arena less than two weeks before Insane Championship Wrestling attempts the biggest show by a U.K. promotion since the early 80s in that same building on 11/20, a date that has been known publicly since November. ICW promoter Mark Dallas said a few weeks ago, before most knew WWE would be running the same building (some people knew and we’d talked about it before, but it wasn’t common knowledge until this week) that he’d already sold 3,000 tickets seven months ahead of time with nothing announced and said that was ahead of his expectations. How WWE running two events will affect sales to casual fans is a question. There is the belief it’ll both help and hurt. It’ll hurt in the sense casual fans will pick WWE above ICW, but it’ll also rally the hardcore fans to support ICW like it’s a cause

The stock at press time closed at $16.36 per share, leaving it with a $1.24 billion market value

It looks like the 4/25 Raw in Hartford will have the finals of the tag tourney with Enzo & Cass vs. Vaudevillains and Anderson & Gallows making their debut as a tag team against the Usos. It’s the go-home show for Payback

Notes from the 4/18 tapings in London. They drew a sellout of 14,000 fans and well over $1 million for the show, which will almost surely be the largest Raw gate of the year. It was weird because the U.K. fans are always so loud and this was a unique audience. They were into things like singing Zayn’s theme music or sing-along catch phrases with the New Day (who were the most over act on the show). But they were pretty much dead for the matches. It came off that way on television, and from performers on the show, they felt like the crowd was surprisingly dead for hours two and three, most notably Ambrose vs. Owens at the end where both guys were really over in their promos but once the match started, and technically, the match was good, but it dragged badly on television going so long with no reaction. You can’t fault the company because going in, you’d think people would be into those two and they could do a long main event match. There were points when they’d start to get into it but it wouldn’t sustain. I’ve had people suggest it’s because London right now gets some incredible matches on the local scene with guys like Will Ospreay, Marty Scurll, Mark Andrews, Zack Sabre Jr., Drew Galloway and the top U.S. imports, and granted, that is the most hardcore of the fan base, but those shows maybe draw 800 to 1,500 people and you can’t tell me that has a bearing on the majority of those attending.

Superstars opened with Show over Axel & Dallas. Show was booed even though he was the face. Lots of comedy. Show won after choke slamming both guys at the same time. Kalisto pinned Breeze with the Salida del Sol. Breeze got good heat from the crowd.

Raw opened with Ambrose out doing the Ambrose Asylum talk show. He did some stand-up comedy talking about some kind of a monster he saw in the Tems River and then said he didn’t even think Strowman knew how to swim. He then said he didn’t expect that joke to get over as well as it did. He pointed out James Corden’s parents in the front row (Corden hosts the Late Late show on CBS). He called out Shane McMahon, who got the “You still got it” chants. They showed the clip of Shane doing the elbow off the top of the cell through the table. Shane said that it’s all about you guys (the fans) and you deserve better than what you’re getting. He said because of the fans, they are seeing superstars that previously wouldn’t have gotten a chance, mentioning Styles, Zayn and Banks. I thought at first that was weird, since all were brought in under The Authority. The idea is that it was the fan reaction to all three that have given them more of a shot than they otherwise would have gotten. He said it’s because of the fans and what the fans are demanding. As much as the reneging on the biggest stip in years kind of kills stips going forward, the lack of heel authority figures is for now a cool breath of fresh air.

Owens came out. It looked like he lost some weight. Owens complained about being kicked out last week. Shane said he was kicked out because he outright said he was going to try and cost Zayn a title shot. Owens said he was kicked out for being honest and honestly Zayn doesn’t belong anywhere near a title shot. He said Zayn has been riding his coattails for made than a decade and can’t make it on his own. Zayn came out. The fans were singing his song as it played, and kept singing even after it stopped playing. Zayn said that he signed before Owens and that deep down Owens knows that Owens would have never been signed by WWE if he (Zayn) hadn’t been successful first. Zayn said that Owens has made a career of stabbing friends in the back.

Jericho came out and said Shane McMahon was drunk with power by eliminating The Highlight Reel in favor of the Ambrose Asylum. Shane said this is all about new opportunities, and that fans can watch every Highlight Reel from the past on the WWE Network. That’s not the case at all, and that also made no sense given we had Miz TV later in the show. Shane announced Jericho vs. Ambrose and Zayn vs. Owens for the PPV, and then announced Ambrose vs. Owens and Jericho vs. Zayn for TV. Ambrose attacked Owens and Zayn attacked Jericho and the faces quickly cleaned house. Jericho pinned Zayn in 12:47. The match was good but after the huge reaction Zayn got coming out, and good reaction Jericho got, the crowd didn’t make much noise in this match. They popped for a few key spots and it ended getting more reaction than any other match on the show, but was the beginning of a pattern of surprisingly quiet reactions to wrestling. Zayn did that dive from the floor into and out of the ring with the DDT on the floor on the other side spot that always tears down the house, and it got a reaction, but probably the weakest I’ve ever seen. Zayn went for the Helluva kick but Jericho ducked down. In other words, his finisher doesn’t work if you just sit down. Jericho distracted the ref, poked Zayn in the eyes and pinned him after the codebreaker.

Styles, Anderson and Gallows were backstage with Ranallo. The storyline is that they are all good friends from Japan and that Styles got them into the company. Anderson said how he’s been working his entire life to get in. That’s funny since he’d been turning down offers for years. They didn’t obviously bring up that in January, Anderson & Gallows were among the members of The Bullet Club that turned on Styles in New Japan. There was no mention of Bullet Club, but unlike TNA, which is a banned term on WWE broadcasts, they openly talked about New Japan.

Enzo & Cass beat The Dudleys in 8:33 in a tag team tournament semifinal. Enzo & Cass’ mic work was over great. There must have been a miscommunication somewhere because Lilian Garcia introduced Cass as Colin Cassady, which evidently is no longer his name. Apparently this led to a shouting match at ringside visible to those live because she wasn’t supposed to say it. It was edited out of the USA Network feed since it was a tape delayed show, but for whatever reason, it must have aired in Canada. Enzo said that there’s nothing silicon about he and Cass, and they are real, a couple of A cups. That’s different. Bubba missed a senton. Cass kicked him in the face and threw Amore on top of him with the rocket launcher for the pin. Fans were singing “Enzo Amore.” Bubba kicked out right at three. Usually that’s considered real bad protocol to kick out right after the finish, but my gut is they are keeping this program going so it may have been an instruction rather than how it used to be when a vet would do that to show fans he wasn’t really beat and had to do the job.

Reigns came out. The crowd booed him like crazy. He did his catch phrase. That’s turning into quite the heat getter. He said this is the era of the Roman Empire. Hopefully it has a better ending. Fans were booing everything he said, and then cheered Styles like crazy when he came out. At least that’s pretty much what they want since Styles is the face in this program. Styles put him over first, saying that despite what others may think, he thinks Reigns is a hell of a champion. He said to beat Reigns he’s going to have to have the match of his life, but then said he specializes in having the match of his life. Reigns said that he just had the match of his life

when he won the title at Mania. Reigns asked the fans if they like Styles. They cheered and he said the whole world likes you and “I dig what you’re doing here, but they’re not going to like it when I beat you at Payback. But they will respect me.” Styles left.

Gallows & Anderson then attacked Reigns and beat him down. Styles looked surprised. He looked mad at them when they left the ring. Reigns and Styles were backstage. Styles went to Reigns and told him that he had no idea they were going to do what they did. Reigns didn’t believe him. He said that he knows his history with them. Well not including the last angle in New Japan. Reigns said he knows that they are his boys and he knows that he was the one who brought them here and told Styles that he’d better start telling the truth. Styles said that he’s known them for a long time and they are friends, but he had no idea they were going to attack Reigns and said that he doesn’t need his friends to beat Reigns for the title. Reigns said for him to bring all his friends, it doesn’t matter because to him, it’s still one against all.

Corbin pinned Fandango. Ziggler was at ringside doing commentary. Fans were doing the Fandango dance in the stands. Corbin threw Fandango over the table and he took out Ziggler. He kicked Ziggler in the gut when he was down, and then threw Fandango in the ring and pinned him with the End of Days in 1:21. Ziggler than hit the ring to attack Corbin. Corbin got the better of it and laid Ziggler out once again with the End of Days on the floor.

Miz and Maryse were walking backstage and there was spilled coke on the floor. Maryse ordered somebody backstage to take their sports coat off and put it over the spilled choke. Maryse then walked on it. They showed a commercial with O’Neil and Natalya telling people to quit smoking. They did another Colons vignette. Miz and Maryse were out for Miz TV. Maryse spoke in French. After already having the Ambrose Asylum on the show, we didn’t need a second one, even though I’m getting a kick out of the Miz & Maryse act. They said they were the “it” couple in WWE and all over the world. They showed a photo of the Prince and Maryse made fun of him being bland and generic looking. Miz said that their baby is pristine and perfect. He was referring to his IC title belt. The two started kissing hot and heavy when Cesaro came out. He said the only thing royal about Miz is he’s a royal pain in the ass. Miz said he was a leading man while the best Cesaro will ever be is a supporting actor. Miz then kept delivering a key line from the movie “Taken.” The gimmick is he does take after take like it’s a movie reading. Maryse goes “Take two” and he does it again. The idea is for it to be annoying, but instead it dragged.

Cesaro then brought up how yesterday was Roddy Piper’s birthday, and did the line from “They Live” about how “I came here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and I’m all out of bubblegum.” Cesaro wanted Miz in a match. Miz agreed to it, but then remembered that Cesaro already had an opponent in Rusev. But Cesaro said he talked to Shane McMahon and it had been changed to an eight-man tag. He said Miz would team with all three members of the League of Nations. It appears Barrett is done because if they were going to do anything with Barrett after he was kicked out, London was the place to kick it off. I guess with his contract coming up soon they just decided to not use him. Cesaro then took off his suit jacket and he had a New Day Booty-o’s T-shirt. New Day came out and they were the act that got the biggest reaction with the fans

doing all of Big E’s lines with him really loud. But once the match started it was mostly quiet. Cesaro & Woods & Kingston & Big E beat Sheamus & Rusev & Del Rio & Miz. Rusev is another one who looked like he’s dropped some weight just in the last week. Match was okay until Cesaro hot tagged in and he was going crazy with uppercut forearms. Then everyone hit big moves on each other ending when Cesaro pinned Sheamus win 13:28 with the Gotch neutralizer as they are calling it. Kind of weird because they have a Gotch move as Cesaro’s finisher and also have a wrestler on the roster named Simon Gotch.

Ric & Charlotte were doing an interview. Charlotte said that even though she lost via DQ last week and did the visual tap, it was Natalya’s job to beat her for the title and she didn’t do it, so Natalya was a failure just like every other women in the division. Natalya then came out and said how her father saved her last week and she made Charlotte tap out. She said that Shane McMahon has granted her a rematch. Charlotte said that was fine but the ending would be the same. Natalya then said Shane also is letting her have her uncle, Bret Hart, at ringside. Natalya & Lynch & Paige & Banks beat Charlotte & Tamina & Naomi & Summer Rae in 10:23. Crowd was quiet most of the way. Everyone was fighting outside the ring except Charlotte and Natalya. Charlotte went for the figure eight, but Natalya escaped and got Charlotte in the sharpshooter for the submission. JBL made a point of noting that Emma and Lynch have an issue. Not sure why she wasn’t in the match.

They did another Colons vignette. In the other tag title tourney semifinal, The Vaudevillains beat the Usos in 3:26. The crowd was totally dead for this. The Vaudevillains got no reaction. Jey used a tope on Gotch. Jey had his left shoulder taped from an injury angle last week. English kicked the shoulder and threw it into the post. English used the whirling dervish, which is a spinning neckbreaker, on Jey and Gotch pinned Jey. They showed a tape of Crews backstage with the Social Outcasts from earlier in the day. The three Outcasts left wanted Crews to join them. Crews agreed that he would join if one of the Outcasts could beat him tonight. But if they don’t beat him, they have to leave him alone forever, and he emphasized forever. Of course nobody could possibly believe that stip. Forever ended up being one day. Crews pinned Slater in 4:29 with his twisting power bomb. The crowd was totally dead. Crews was called a “five-star player.”

Main event saw Ambrose pin Owens in 17:15. What they did was fine but the crowd was dead, which really made it drag because the show was long and with no heat it felt like this was lasting forever. They were able to get a reaction at times but couldn’t sustain it. Owens did a fisherman buster off the top rope for a near fall. Earlier, he did a frog slash off the apron to the floor. The finish saw Owens go for another frog splash, but Ambrose got his knees up and then hit the Dirty Deeds for the pin. After Raw ended, Ambrose said how nobody in London likes Jericho or Owens (notable because they had cheered Owens like crazy, and would have cheered Jericho if he wasn’t against Zayn and Jericho didn’t manipulate the reaction). He said he wanted a tag match. Jericho said he couldn’t wrestle because he was wearing 500 quid jeans and not his wrestling gear. Owens said he hurt his testicle and had to fight because Jericho had backed him into it. Ambrose & Styles beat Jericho & Owens when Styles pinned Jericho with the forearm for the win. Jericho then screamed at them to turn off Styles’ stupid music and he’s

tired of being in a dump like England. He demanded the camera get a good shot of his abs, and then said he’s got abs, but also had a big diaphragm. After the match was over, Jericho wanted to shake hands with Styles, but Styles laid him out with the Styles clash and Ambrose followed with Dirty Deeds.

Notes from the 4/19 Smackdown tapings in London. The show opened with Main Event. Crews pinned Axel exactly one day after the stip where if Crews won, the Social Outcasts and him would leave each other alone, but I don’t think anyone expected anything but that to continue. Summer Rae pinned Fox. Kane & Show beat Strowman & Rowan with a double choke slam on Rowan. Both sold big for Strowman. I guess that spot when Kane turned on Show several weeks back never happened.

Smackdown opened with Miz TV with Styles. Maryse came out and got heat in French and demanded everyone give Miz a standing ovation. She’s revitalizing his career as they have a great act, the total bitch hot girl and the guy who people think isn’t a tough guy with the hot wife. Miz called out Styles, who got a big reaction. Miz then talked about how Styles, Anderson and Gallows were all friends from Japan. Miz told Styles to admit that they all set up the attack on Reigns at Raw. Styles said that wasn’t the case. Miz then asked if he didn’t set up the attack, why didn’t he try and stop them or save Reigns. Styles acted like he felt that wasn’t his business. Styles did say he was upset with Anderson and Gallows for attacking Reigns. He said he doesn’t need help to beat Reigns. Miz continued to accuse Styles of setting it up and that Styles knows he needs Anderson and Gallows to soften up Reigns. Miz demanded Styles tell him the truth. Styles didn’t. Miz and Maryse ended up making out to get heat, and then Styles attacked Miz to set up a match later in the show.

Ryback pinned Kalisto in a non-title match with the shell shock. Shouldn’t that have happened before Ryback already lost his title match at Mania? Ziggler was coming out for a match but ended up jumped by Corbin, who beat him down and laid him out once again using the End of Days. Corbin was asked why he keeps attacking Ziggler and said “It’s because I can.” Styles pinned Miz. Styles made a comeback and Miz tried to do a walk out count out. But Anderson and Gallows came out and blocked him. Styles came out and threw Miz back in the ring, and eventually pinned him with the phenomenal forearm. This was a long match and more back-and-forth than you’d think given that Styles is headlining the next PPV as the title challenger.

Zayn & Ambrose did an interview. Ambrose said that Jericho was the best in the world at sneaking up from behind. Zayn & Ambrose did some comedy about giving themselves a name for their new tag team. Ambrose wanted to call them The Rough Riders. Poor Ryder. Zayn nixed it saying it was too sexual. Miz then did a promo saying how this was proof that Styles, Gallows and Anderson were all in this together. Some of this segment was probably dark, if not all of it. Miz demanded an investigation into the actions by Styles, Gallows and Anderson. He said he refused to leave the ring until they do an investigation. Shane McMahon came out. Shane was kept over the extra day and advertised for an appearance on Smackdown because Undertaker had been advertised and had then pulled out. Miz and Shane had words and Miz kept calling

Shane a rich boy and poked him in the chest. Shane came back and fired punches at Miz and then laid Miz out with a flying elbow.

Anderson & Gallows did an interview and were asked if they were aligned with Styles. They said “Of course not.” Paige & Natalya beat Naomi & Tamina with a double submission with the PTO and sharpshooter. The mentality is that Paige being from England would lead to a stronger reaction to the match where the key for the PPV was Natalya going over. R-Truth pinned Fandango with Goldust as referee. This was more a dance contest back-and-forth until R-Truth won. After the match, Goldust and R-Truth danced together so they are coming closer to forming their tag team. Enzo & Cass came out to another big reaction. The Vaudevillains came out and people didn’t react so much to them. They went back-and-forth. The crowd wasn’t into the Vaudevillains and kind of crapped on them. This was setting up their tournament final match.

Jericho & Owens were walking to the ring for their main event. Somebody backstage was holding a box of popcorn. Jericho knocked the popcorn out of the guys’ hands and then Owens took popcorn from another guy backstage and started eating it. Jericho & Owens have real good chemistry together. Owens & Jericho beat Zayn & Ambrose. Once again they told the story of Owens avoiding Zayn early on. The finish saw Ambrose on the top rope but Jericho shoved him off and Ambrose sold it like he hurt his knee. Owens then rolled him up for the retribution in the 50/50 booking of the week. After the show ended they did two dark matches. Ziggler beat Corbin via count out. It was a walk out finish. Styles then pinned Del Rio clean. Styles than told the crowd that London was his favorite city to wrestle in

Notes from the 4/13 TV show. They actually taped out of order since these matches were actually the last ones taped in Dallas, and the next two weeks they’ll have stuff taped earlier. Not that it matters because they didn’t do much of anything in the way of angles in front of the people. The show opened with William Regal out thanking the fans for making NXT Takeover such a success. He ran down who would be appearing on the show, pushing Bayley’s first match since losing the title and Nakamura’s TV debut. Austin Aries pinned Angelo Dawkins in 4:11 with the discus elbow. Basic TV match but everything Aries does looks good. Samoa Joe did an interview plugging a match next week with Apollo Crews. There was another No Way Jose arriving teaser.

Alexa Bliss pinned Tessa Blanchard in 3:51 with a standing moonsault into double knees. Interesting that they didn’t have Blanchard use a new name. They pushed that she was Tully’s daughter. The match was okay. I can’t say Blanchard did anything that made her stand out compared to any of the other women on the roster, but her role was enhancement here anyway. Finn Balor did an interview and talked about Nakamura coming after his title, so it looks like that’s the next big direction for the title. Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano beat The Vaudevillains in 6:02. Gargano hit a tope on both. The finish saw Gargano did a flip dive off the apron onto English while Ciampa made Gotch submit to his armlock. They pushed in commentary that the Vaudevillains are in the WWE tag team title tournament. Funny that yo

never think of English & Gotch as big guys, but they were so much bigger in the ring than Gargano, which you’d have figured since Gargano isn’t that big, but also Ciampa.

Tye Dillinger did an interview plugging his match with Nakamura. Corbin pinned Tucker Knight in 1:55 with the End of Days. Knight is a really big guy, probably 6-foot-4 and 285 pounds, and moves well. But this wasn’t a match he was going to be able to show much in. Jason Jordan & Chad Gable were shown in the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center after winning the titles talking about how The Beatles and Led Zeppelin had played in this building. I guess that tells you it’s a really old building. Enzo & Cass came out and put over how great the match was. Enzo & Cass noted that Jordan & Gable had never beaten them. They challenged for a match. Jordan & Gable accepted and all shook hands. Bayley pinned Liv Morgan in 3:21 with the Bayley-to-Belly. Bayley got a big reaction. Mostly fans singing the same songs they’ve been singing since the first U.K. tour. One thing I’d note is that the place in the corner at Fan Axxess where they taped was this really small building, but it looked so much better on television than it looked in person. Bayley did a promo saying that Asuka was the best woman on that night, but a champion isn’t measured by how many times they get knocked down, but by how many times they get up. That’s one of Vince’s big lines about himself. She vowed she would be champion again someday.

Nakamura pinned Dillinger in 5:08 with the Kinshasa. Nakamura had a total superstar aura to the people from the moment he came out from the back. There was nothing special about the match but live there was a feeling watching it like why are we watching somebody of the level of a Cena or a Lesnar performing in the corner closet. With the exception of Austin and Rock, he came across like the most over guy of the weekend, and they have quite a bit of tenure edge and name recognition on him.

NXT opened its weekend shows on 4/14 in Citrus Springs before 300 fans. No Way Jose pinned Noah with his wind up punch and new finisher, the full nelson slam. Liv Morgan beat Peyton Royce with a roll-up. Manny Andrade pinned Elias Samson with the double knees. Riddick Moss pinned Alex Riley. Jason Jordan & Chad Gable beat Alexander Wolfe & Sawyer Fulton with the double team back suplex. Asuka beat Adrienne Reese with the Asuka lock. Shinsuke Nakamura pinned Tye Dillinger in a very good match with the Kinshasa. Main event saw Mojo Rawley & Bayley beat Samoa Joe & Nia Jax when Bayley pinned Jax with the Bayley to Belly.

The first Samoa Joe vs. Nakamura match perhaps ever (the two may have wrestled each other when they were starting out as both trained together in Los Angeles when they were getting started) headlined the 4/15 show in Orlando before a sellout of 350 fans. Rawley pinned Angelo Dawkins with a Superman punch. After the match, Gzim Selmani and Sunny Dhinsa hit the ring wearing masks and destroyed Rawley and cut a promo in a foreign language. Jax pinned Aliyah. Tucker Knight & Andrade & Jose beat Dawson & Wilder & Dylan Miley when Tucker pinned Dawson. The three faces danced together after the match. Samson pinned Christopher Girard with a jumping knee and neckbreaker. Bayley pinned Daria with the Bayley-to-Belly. Jordan & Gable beat Riddick Moss & Tino Sabbatelli with the usual double-team back suplex finisher. Asuka kept the women’s title over Peyton Royce with the Asuka lock. The crowd was quiet

during this match even though Asuka got a big reaction coming out. Asuka is like Goldberg live in the sense that people don’t want to see her sell and get quiet when she does. Nakamura pinned Joe with the Kinshasa in an excellent main event.

The 4/16 show in Fort Pierce drew 275 fans, well down from the usual 400-450 in that building. The show was also considered extremely weak by NXT standards with only one good match, Dillinger vs. Moss. However, Nakamura was advertised and they still did well below normal. Nakamura ended up not doing a match, only an interview segment. No Way Jose beat Josh Brooks with the wind up punch. Fans were into Jose. Nia Jax & Mandy Rose beat Adrien Reese & Liv Morgan. King Konstantine pinned Chris Girard in a 3:00 squash match. Alexander Wolfe & Sawyer Fulton beat Tucker Knight & Patrick Clark. Fans were chanting boring throughout this one. Dillinger pinned Moss. Andrade pinned Dawkins. This was okay but nothing compared to most Andrade matches. Asuka beat Aliyah in the women’s title match. This was a short squash match with Aliyah getting very little in. Nakamura came out for his segment. Nakamura was the biggest star obviously. Noah Kekoa came out to interrupt him and Nakamura laid him out. Main event saw Dawson & Wilder beat Riley & Rawley. This was said t be okay. Post-match saw Riley & Rawley lay them out to send the fan home happy.

The 3/15 Smackdown tapings in Cincinnati drew 5,818 paying $210,920. The gate for the sold out Raw on 3/7 in Chicago was $674,580. The actual attendance for the 3/18 house show in Syracuse was 4,145 paying $157,475.

The Reigns tour opened on 4/13 in Milan, Italy, drawing 10,386 paying $665,645, which was 230 tickets from a sellout. 4/14 in Florence, Italy drew a sellout 5,829 paying $359,742. 4/15 in Amsterdam drew 6,500. 4/16 in Birmingham, England drew a sellout 11,000. 4/17 in Nottingham drew 7,000. 4/19 in Manchester drew 11,000 fans. The other tour opened on 4/14 in Dubai before 3,300 fans. 4/15 in Dubai drew 3,300 fans. 4/17 in Leeds, England drew 5,000. It should be noted that the Dubai shows are likely purchased for a high dollar value by the government and the attendance is likely papered. Last year they did three shows and drew 14,200 total but only 5,100 (1,700 average per show) was paid. This year the number in the building was well down from last year, but the paid won’t be available for a while.

In Milan, they opened with Cesaro beating Stardust with a giant swing and a sharpshooter submission in 11:00. Cesaro got a big pop since he wrestled in Italy early in his career. Rowan pinned Swagger. Swagger came out waving an Italian flag to establish himself as the babyface, since I guess they felt the U.S. patriot gimmick could get him booed. Rowan made the ropes after an ankle lock. The ref was distracted and Rowan poked Swagger in the eyes and pinned him after a full nelson slam. It’s rare that they put a heel over on the European tour, but in this case it’s a guy not pushed at all whose contract is expiring and a guy pushed. Sin Cara pinned Breeze in 7:00 after a swanton. Kane beat Strowman via DQ in 6:00 of a terrible match for a chair shot. Kane choke slammed Strowman after the match. Big E & Kingston retained the tag titles over Sheamus & Rusev when Woods hit Rusev in the back behind the refs back and Big E & Kingston used the double-team big ending on Rusev for the pin. Charlotte won a three-way to keep the women’s title over Lynch and Banks in what was said to be the best match on the

show by a significant margin. Ric Flair was on the entire tour. Usos beat Dudleys in 11:00. The crowd was split almost 50/50 here. Bubba insulted the crowd in Italian and ran down some of the local sports franchises to try and turn the crowd. The main event was the Reigns vs. Wyatt title match where Wyatt was injured shortly after the match started.

The second night had some changes due to the Wyatt injury. Cesaro vs. Stardust and Sin Cara vs. Breeze had the same matches to open. After Breeze lost, he grabbed the mic and said he didn’t come all the way to Italy to lose and demanded another match. Swagger came out, once again carrying the Italian flag. Swagger beat Breeze in seconds with the ankle lock. New Day, being E & Woods, beat Strowman & Rowan in the tag title match which was said to be very good. Rowan was pinned with the double-team big ending after interference from Kingston. They did the same women’s title match. Once again it was said to be the best match of the night. Fans were chanting “NXT” and “Women’s wrestling.” How come nobody ever chants “Women’s sports entertainment?” Banks hit Lynch with the bank statement but Charlotte threw Banks out of the ring and pinned Lynch using the ropes. Same Usos vs. Dudleys. The crowd cheered the Dudleys at first until Bubba started swearing at the fans in Italian and he completely turned the audience. Reigns pinned Sheamus with a spear to retain the WWE title. Reigns was almost completely cheered by this crowd.

Amsterdam was basically the same show. The only change is Kane pinned Rusev with a choke slam. The New Day team was Kingston & Woods beating Rowan & Strowman when Kingston pinned Rowan after Trouble in Paradise. Same Reigns over Sheamus with a spear title match. The Titan tron didn’t work. Once again the report was the women had the best match. Emil Sitoci, a European wrestler, did some media at the show with a WWE logo in the back which is notable because as far as we know he’s got nothing to do with WWE.

Birmingham the next night was the same show. Once again the reports were that the women had the best match of the show. Big E & Kingston worked as the New Day. There were some people who left early but Reigns got the biggest reaction of anyone, with the women right behind.

Nottingham was mostly the same show. They switched Rusev and Stardust’s spots and Dudleys and Rowan & Strowman’s spots. So Cesaro beat Rusev with a giant swing and sharpshooter in the opener. Kane pinned Stardust after a choke slam. E & Woods retained the tag titles over Dudleys with Devon getting pinned. At one point Bubba asked the fans if they wanted tables, and of course they cheered. Devon got the table and Bubba then told the fans they don’t deserve tables. Same women’s three-way title match with Ric Flair interfering and Charlotte pinning Lynch with her feet on the ropes. Usos beat Strowman & Rowan when Rowan was pinned. Sheamus did an anti-England promo, talking about how the League of Nations is now stronger since they dumped the weak link from England. Reigns got a mostly positive reaction but some boos, but a loud pop when he pinned Sheamus with the spear.

Manchester on the same night as Smackdown. Reigns was 60 percent cheered on this show, but even a lot of the kids were booing him as they are seeing that booing him is the thing they

are supposed to do from television. Cesaro beat Stardust with a ten rep giant swing and the sharpshooter in 10:00. Ryder & Darren Young beat Slater & Dallas when Ryder pinned Dallas after the Rough Ryder. Rusev beat Swagger with the Accolade. Swagger came out with a British flag to make him the face. New Day, this time being Kingston & Woods, kept the tag titles winning a three-way over Usos and Dudleys. Good match. Dudleys came out with a Liverpool FC flag, since they are the big rivals of the Manchester teams, plus Bubba Ray Dudley is actually a Liverpool fan. Sin Cara pinned Breeze with a swanton. Charlotte won the same three-way over Banks and Lynch when she pinned Lynch using the ropes. Reigns pinned Sheamus to retain the title. Sheamus came out and tried to get heel heat singing Liverpool’s club anthem. Reigns still had a lot of boos when he came out next. Reigns won clean with a spear.

The first night in Dubai opened with R-Truth pinning Dallas. Because of the customs in Dubai regarding women, they didn’t do a woman’s match on the show. In the past, they never brought women, but for this show they brought out Fox to introduce everyone but that was all she did. The same thing happened the next night with Natalya. Sandow & Fandango beat Los Matadores, so the Colons went with their old gimmick. Styles pinned Owens in about 10:00. Goldust pinned Slater with a roll-up. Slater and Dallas beat up on Goldust after the match until R-Truth made the save. Show pinned Del Rio after a knockout punch. Main event saw Miz win a four-way over Ambrose, Zayn and Ziggler. Zayn used the Helluva kick on Ambrose, but Miz knocked Zayn out of the ring and pinned Ambrose. After the match, Miz made fun of the other three, so Ambrose hit Miz with Dirty Deeds, and then Zayn used the Helluva kick on him and Ziggler hit the Zig Zag.

The second show in Dubai saw Kalisto retain the U.S. title over Del Rio with the Salida del Sol. Sandow did a promo but turned heel in mid-promo after thanking the fans, saying he had no respect for them for cheering for Fandango’s dancing. This set up Fandango as the face pinning Sandow after a leg drop off the top rope in a short mach. Show pinned Los Matadores in a handicap match. Zayn pinned Owens with the Helluva kick. Zayn was very over. R-Truth pinned Dallas in a fast match with a roll-up. Slater and Dallas beat up R-Truth after until Goldust made the save, and the crowd chanted “Golden Truth” at them. Styles pinned Ryback with the springboard forearm. Fans were chanting “Goldberg” during the match. Miz retained the IC title over Ambrose and Ziggler in the main event. Main event went 9:00, ending when Ambrose used the Dirty Deeds on Ziggler, but Miz pinned Ambrose and used the ropes for leverage to score the pin. After the match, Ziggler hit Miz with a superkick and then Ambrose used the Dirty Deeds on Miz.

Leeds had most of the same participants but different matches. They opened with a video of Owens running down Zayn before R-Truth interrupted him and did some comedy. Owens then walked out. Kalisto pinned Ryback with the Salida del Sol to keep the U.S. title. R-Truth pinned Dallas in a short match with a roll-up. After the match, Dallas & Slater beat up R-Truth and Goldust made the save. Fans chanted “Golden Truth” and R-Truth and Goldust danced together when it was over. Fandango pinned Sandow after Sandow did a heel promo before the match doing his old intellectual savior of the masses gimmick and talked about the card carrying idiots who enjoyed Fandangoing. The match itself lasted seconds with Fandango pinning him while

Sandow was still holding the mic. Styles & Zayn beat Owens & Del Rio in the best match of the show. Owens walked out on Del Rio, and Zayn delivered the Helluva kick and Styles followed with the springboard forearm and pinned Del Rio. Natalya & Paige & Fox & Eva Marie beat Naomi & Tamina & Lana & Summer Rae. Paige pinned Tamina with Rampage. Natalya tried to get the fans to chant for Eva and some of them did. The crowd booed Eva, but she worked as a face with no teases of turning but they made her not as tight with the other three. She did nothing all that bad. Show beat Los Matadores in the handicap match that was almost all comedy. Main was the same Miz over Ambrose and Ziggler in a good three-way. Maryse joined the tour for this show. Ambrose got the biggest crowd reaction. Decent match going 10:00 and ending when Maryse distracted Ambrose and Miz pinned him using the ropes. After the match, Ziggler hit Miz with a superkick and Ambrose laid him out with dirty deeds.