Considerando che questo era un post-ppv show, i dati sono da considerarsi deludenti. Fa comunque ben sperare il dato con cui l'episodio è terminato.
TNA Impact scored a 1.1 cable rating on 6/25, a 0.97 in M18-49, a 0.66 in P18-49, a 0.98 in M18-34, a 1.13 in M18-24, and an average audience of 1.6 million viewers.
The show did quarter hours of:
.91
1.07
1.02
1.19
1.19
1.07
1.11
1.19
martedì 30 giugno 2009
Intervista al presidente TNA Dixie Carter
I fans:" L'audience del 2009 è parecchio differente da quello dei bei giorni della WWF e della WCW. Noi dobbiamo cambiare di pari passo. I fans di oggi sanno i retroscena del pro-wrestling e sono più coinvolti. Loro non vogliono che venga insultata la loro intelligenza e noi siamo stati colpevoli di ciò in passato. Possiamo soddisfare i gusti di tutti? No, non è realistico. Ma dobbiamo cercare di soddisfare la fetta più grande."
I ratings di Impact:" Penso che abbiamo fatto più passi in avanti in questi ultimi 6-12 mesi che negli ultimi anni. Guardando i ratings dell'ultimo anno, essi sono cresciuti del 20 percento. Noi non vogliamo togliere audience alla WWE. Vogliamo che i ratings di tutti crescano. Come industria di pro-wrestling, dobbiamo crescere la fan-base a livello mondiale. Non possiamo certo pensare di battere Raw nei rating. Ora questo è irrealistico. Dobbiamo porci degli obiettivi in rapporto alle nostre capacità, tipo battere il terzo show della WWE, ECW, e lo abbiamo fatto. In molti dicono 'Non è questa gran cosa battere il loro show meno seguito', ma in non concordo. E' un grosso successo per la TNA pensando che 5 anni fa ci seguivano solo 300.000 telespettatori su Fox Sports Net. Ora il nostro obiettivo è avvicinarci al loro secondo show, Smackdown, ed il gap si è ridotto negli ultimi 6 mesi."
I wrestlers:" Abbiamo un gruppo di giovani ragazzi molto talentuosi e pronti per fare il grande salto. E' il loro momento. Lo hanno conquistato e se lo meritano. Nei prossimi 12 mesi il volto della TNA cambierà drasticamente. I nostri veterani stanno dimostrando il loro valore e stanno aiutando a creare nuove superstars. Sono abbastanza confidenti in loro stessi da sapere che questa è la cosa di cui la TNA ha bisogno. La loro leadership dentro e fuori dal ring rimane incontrastata."
I ratings di Impact:" Penso che abbiamo fatto più passi in avanti in questi ultimi 6-12 mesi che negli ultimi anni. Guardando i ratings dell'ultimo anno, essi sono cresciuti del 20 percento. Noi non vogliamo togliere audience alla WWE. Vogliamo che i ratings di tutti crescano. Come industria di pro-wrestling, dobbiamo crescere la fan-base a livello mondiale. Non possiamo certo pensare di battere Raw nei rating. Ora questo è irrealistico. Dobbiamo porci degli obiettivi in rapporto alle nostre capacità, tipo battere il terzo show della WWE, ECW, e lo abbiamo fatto. In molti dicono 'Non è questa gran cosa battere il loro show meno seguito', ma in non concordo. E' un grosso successo per la TNA pensando che 5 anni fa ci seguivano solo 300.000 telespettatori su Fox Sports Net. Ora il nostro obiettivo è avvicinarci al loro secondo show, Smackdown, ed il gap si è ridotto negli ultimi 6 mesi."
I wrestlers:" Abbiamo un gruppo di giovani ragazzi molto talentuosi e pronti per fare il grande salto. E' il loro momento. Lo hanno conquistato e se lo meritano. Nei prossimi 12 mesi il volto della TNA cambierà drasticamente. I nostri veterani stanno dimostrando il loro valore e stanno aiutando a creare nuove superstars. Sono abbastanza confidenti in loro stessi da sapere che questa è la cosa di cui la TNA ha bisogno. La loro leadership dentro e fuori dal ring rimane incontrastata."
UPDATE ON THE 15 PERSON TRADE
UPDATE ON THE 15 PERSON TRADE
WWE.com has more details about the trade that Vince McMahon mentioned on tonight's episode of Raw.
New Members of Raw
Evan Bourne
Mark Henry
Jack Swagger
Gail Kim
Alicia Fox
New Members of Smackdown
Matt Hardy
Finlay
Tyson Kidd
Natalya
David Hart Smith
New Members of ECW
Shelton Benjamin
Goldust
William Regal
Brie Bella
Nikki Bella
I guess we see that one brand did not do too well after the trade.
ECW loses Jack Swagger, Evan Bourne, Finlay, Mark Henry, David Hart Smith, Natalya, and Tyson Kidd.
Smackdown loses Shelton Benjamin, Gail Kim, and Alicia Fox.
Raw loses Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, William Regal, Matt Hardy, and Goldust.
WWE.com has more details about the trade that Vince McMahon mentioned on tonight's episode of Raw.
New Members of Raw
Evan Bourne
Mark Henry
Jack Swagger
Gail Kim
Alicia Fox
New Members of Smackdown
Matt Hardy
Finlay
Tyson Kidd
Natalya
David Hart Smith
New Members of ECW
Shelton Benjamin
Goldust
William Regal
Brie Bella
Nikki Bella
I guess we see that one brand did not do too well after the trade.
ECW loses Jack Swagger, Evan Bourne, Finlay, Mark Henry, David Hart Smith, Natalya, and Tyson Kidd.
Smackdown loses Shelton Benjamin, Gail Kim, and Alicia Fox.
Raw loses Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, William Regal, Matt Hardy, and Goldust.
lunedì 29 giugno 2009
WWE Bash live coverage from Sacramento
WWE Bash live coverage from Sacramento
Welcome to our live coverage of The Bash PPV from Arco Arena in Sacramento. We're looking for your thought's on tonight's show so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
ECW scramble match opens the show with Tommy Dreamer defending against Christian, Mark Henry, Jack Swagger and Fit Finlay.
They've changed the rules. Christian vs. Swagger opens and people will enter in intervals like a Royal Rumble.
The time limit evidently was 14:46. Nice round number. Dreamer retained the title. Decent match.
Finlay in third
Swagger pinned Finlay after poking him in the eyes
Dreamer in fourth
Finlay pinned Swagger with a Celtic cross
Henry in last
Henry pinned Dreamer with World's Strongest Slam
Swagger pinned Henry with a Vader splash
Dreamer pinned Christian with a DDT after Christian had just nailed a killswitch on Swagger
They are now doing TV commercials during PPVs. They did a Gillette chair shot commercial after this match.
Edge asked to be put into the main event and to make it a three-way because he pinned Jeff Hardy on Friday. He said that for the past ten years if there's a PPV and he's healthy, he's on it. Edge vowed that Teddy Long would soon be like Vickie Guerrero.
Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio IC title vs. mask is up now.
Mysterio won the title in a fantastic match. Tons of great near falls. Mysterio kicked out of the codebreaker and also twice got out of the Walls of Jericho. The finish saw Jericho unmask Mysterio, but he was wearing a second mask underneath, hit the 619 and springboard splash for the pin. One of the better WWE matches this year.
Shawn Michaels was in the ad for SummerSlam for what it's worth.
Jericho wanted a rematch tonight but Teddy Long turned him down. Jericho vowed to get rid of Long as G.M. before his fifth anniversary. Wasn't there like a long period where he had a heart attack, then wasn't GM, then was on ECW?
Dolph Ziggler vs Great Khali in a no DQ match
Plan is for a surprise return here. Well see.
Well, that's what happened. Kane did a run-in with a series of chair shots to Khali, six in all, most to he back and shoulder, one to the head which Khali blocked. Ziggler then jumped in for the pin. Awful match until the run-in. It required Khali to sell a lot for chair shots to the knee.
Vince McMahon is talking to Teddy Long. He compared him to Bischoff, Adamle, Regal and Heyman all did something as G.M. and that Long is the longest lasting G.M. in company history and he's accomplished nothing. Vince said if they were together in the foxhole, Vince would shoot himself out of boredom. Vince told him he's still on probation and better accomplish something.
Carlito & Primo Colon vs. Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes for the tag titles was scheduled, but Teddy Long just made it a triple-threat match with Edge & Chris Jericho
Edge & Jericho won the titles. The story of the match was DiBiase & Rhodes and the Colons would never tag Edge or Jericho in. They did their match to little crowd reaction other than "We Want Christian" chants that were pretty loud. Finish saw Carlito hit the backstabber on Rhodes, but before he did the move, Edge did a blind tag on Rhodes. Carlito got up and got speared so Edge speared Jericho for the title.
At least that elevates the tag titles to a main event position, and even more important, it means Edge & Jericho now can headline all three brands.
Orton told DiBiase & Rhodes not to worry about losing because the important thing is making sure he keeps his title. DiBiase was mad that Orton doesn't care about them, and that he's tired of being his lackey. They argued and DiBiase walked out on Orton.
Melina vs. Michelle McCool for the Women's title
McCool won clean the the faith breaker, or Styles clash as it's better known. The story is she become the first woman to win both the Divas title and women's title. Crowd wasn't much into this but the match was solid. Alicia Fox was at ringside and Melina knocked Fox off the apron before the finish.
C.M. Punk vs. Jeff Hardy for the world title is next. So it'll be Cena vs. Miz followed by HHH vs. Orton to close the show.
Hardy won by DQ. Hardy first got the pin with a twist of fate and swanton, but Punk's foot was under the rope and ref Scott Armstrong (whose name wasn't allowed to be said for the most asinine of reasons) counted three but then ordered that the match wasn't over. It was re-started and Punk claimed he was poked in the eye. When he couldn't see, he kicked Armstrong in the back and Armstrong DQ'd him. The story here is that you figure Punk kicked the ref on purpose to save the title but he's selling the eye so big he can claim an accident. But the fans booed Punk out of the place while he was being carried out, so he has a logical reason to hate the fans. Match was a disappointment. I thought the finish was pretty clever for what they wanted to do. Hardy attacked Punk after the match and had to be pulled off by several refs.
Carlito & Primo were complaining to Teddy Long about him adding Edge & Jericho to the match. Long said that his choice was to get fired, he wanted to shake things up, he did and he stands by his decision. He told them to get stepping. They responded by speaking Spanish, which is apparently what Latin wrestlers do when they lose control
John Cena vs. The Miz. The show is running behind time. Did you know Cena put his life on the line when he wrestled at the Hammerstein Ballroom? Ugh. They really should have dumped that Cena video, both because he came off as such a tool with that line, and also when you're behind in time, those are the things you cut out, well, usually.
They did the exact thing they shouldn't have. They made it clear Miz wasn't a star as Cena beat him with the Attitude Adjustment & STF in 5:00. He got offense but the story of the match was that Miz wasn't in Cena's league. In fact, they had him tap like a pussy as opposed to just tap, like a baby tapping with both hands at the same time.
Aside from Jericho-Mysterio, which was great, this show hasn't been very good. They need a big match here or it'll be well below usual standards for a WWE PPV show.
Why they had to show the video previewing HHH vs. Orton when they are running short on time is beyond me. It's as if the people who produce the videos, and who call the shot, actually think the people are paying for the videos, and that the match time to tell the story is secondary.
Orton retained the title.
First fall saw HHH DQ'd for about ten chair shots, but he immediately won the second fall with a pedigree on the floor.
Third fall was mostly putting guys on stretchers and trying to roll them to the finish line. They ended up on the stage with the stretcher right near the line. HHH had it won after a pedigree on the stage but Cody Rhodes stopped the stretcher. HHH threw Rhodes into the stage wall. Then DiBiase showed up and did the same thing. DiBiase & Rhodes were double-teaming HHH, but he got a sledge hammer hidden near the stage, and nailed Rhodes & DiBiase with sledge hammer shots. Orton kicked HHH low and Orton hit HHH with part of the stage floor and put him on the stretcher and rolled him maybe a foot over the line to win.
After the match when Orton was posing with the belt, HHH laid him out with a sledge hammer. There were a lot of boos for that.
Match was good, but nothing compared to their match on Monday and this was the one you were paying for.
Welcome to our live coverage of The Bash PPV from Arco Arena in Sacramento. We're looking for your thought's on tonight's show so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
ECW scramble match opens the show with Tommy Dreamer defending against Christian, Mark Henry, Jack Swagger and Fit Finlay.
They've changed the rules. Christian vs. Swagger opens and people will enter in intervals like a Royal Rumble.
The time limit evidently was 14:46. Nice round number. Dreamer retained the title. Decent match.
Finlay in third
Swagger pinned Finlay after poking him in the eyes
Dreamer in fourth
Finlay pinned Swagger with a Celtic cross
Henry in last
Henry pinned Dreamer with World's Strongest Slam
Swagger pinned Henry with a Vader splash
Dreamer pinned Christian with a DDT after Christian had just nailed a killswitch on Swagger
They are now doing TV commercials during PPVs. They did a Gillette chair shot commercial after this match.
Edge asked to be put into the main event and to make it a three-way because he pinned Jeff Hardy on Friday. He said that for the past ten years if there's a PPV and he's healthy, he's on it. Edge vowed that Teddy Long would soon be like Vickie Guerrero.
Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio IC title vs. mask is up now.
Mysterio won the title in a fantastic match. Tons of great near falls. Mysterio kicked out of the codebreaker and also twice got out of the Walls of Jericho. The finish saw Jericho unmask Mysterio, but he was wearing a second mask underneath, hit the 619 and springboard splash for the pin. One of the better WWE matches this year.
Shawn Michaels was in the ad for SummerSlam for what it's worth.
Jericho wanted a rematch tonight but Teddy Long turned him down. Jericho vowed to get rid of Long as G.M. before his fifth anniversary. Wasn't there like a long period where he had a heart attack, then wasn't GM, then was on ECW?
Dolph Ziggler vs Great Khali in a no DQ match
Plan is for a surprise return here. Well see.
Well, that's what happened. Kane did a run-in with a series of chair shots to Khali, six in all, most to he back and shoulder, one to the head which Khali blocked. Ziggler then jumped in for the pin. Awful match until the run-in. It required Khali to sell a lot for chair shots to the knee.
Vince McMahon is talking to Teddy Long. He compared him to Bischoff, Adamle, Regal and Heyman all did something as G.M. and that Long is the longest lasting G.M. in company history and he's accomplished nothing. Vince said if they were together in the foxhole, Vince would shoot himself out of boredom. Vince told him he's still on probation and better accomplish something.
Carlito & Primo Colon vs. Ted DiBiase & Cody Rhodes for the tag titles was scheduled, but Teddy Long just made it a triple-threat match with Edge & Chris Jericho
Edge & Jericho won the titles. The story of the match was DiBiase & Rhodes and the Colons would never tag Edge or Jericho in. They did their match to little crowd reaction other than "We Want Christian" chants that were pretty loud. Finish saw Carlito hit the backstabber on Rhodes, but before he did the move, Edge did a blind tag on Rhodes. Carlito got up and got speared so Edge speared Jericho for the title.
At least that elevates the tag titles to a main event position, and even more important, it means Edge & Jericho now can headline all three brands.
Orton told DiBiase & Rhodes not to worry about losing because the important thing is making sure he keeps his title. DiBiase was mad that Orton doesn't care about them, and that he's tired of being his lackey. They argued and DiBiase walked out on Orton.
Melina vs. Michelle McCool for the Women's title
McCool won clean the the faith breaker, or Styles clash as it's better known. The story is she become the first woman to win both the Divas title and women's title. Crowd wasn't much into this but the match was solid. Alicia Fox was at ringside and Melina knocked Fox off the apron before the finish.
C.M. Punk vs. Jeff Hardy for the world title is next. So it'll be Cena vs. Miz followed by HHH vs. Orton to close the show.
Hardy won by DQ. Hardy first got the pin with a twist of fate and swanton, but Punk's foot was under the rope and ref Scott Armstrong (whose name wasn't allowed to be said for the most asinine of reasons) counted three but then ordered that the match wasn't over. It was re-started and Punk claimed he was poked in the eye. When he couldn't see, he kicked Armstrong in the back and Armstrong DQ'd him. The story here is that you figure Punk kicked the ref on purpose to save the title but he's selling the eye so big he can claim an accident. But the fans booed Punk out of the place while he was being carried out, so he has a logical reason to hate the fans. Match was a disappointment. I thought the finish was pretty clever for what they wanted to do. Hardy attacked Punk after the match and had to be pulled off by several refs.
Carlito & Primo were complaining to Teddy Long about him adding Edge & Jericho to the match. Long said that his choice was to get fired, he wanted to shake things up, he did and he stands by his decision. He told them to get stepping. They responded by speaking Spanish, which is apparently what Latin wrestlers do when they lose control
John Cena vs. The Miz. The show is running behind time. Did you know Cena put his life on the line when he wrestled at the Hammerstein Ballroom? Ugh. They really should have dumped that Cena video, both because he came off as such a tool with that line, and also when you're behind in time, those are the things you cut out, well, usually.
They did the exact thing they shouldn't have. They made it clear Miz wasn't a star as Cena beat him with the Attitude Adjustment & STF in 5:00. He got offense but the story of the match was that Miz wasn't in Cena's league. In fact, they had him tap like a pussy as opposed to just tap, like a baby tapping with both hands at the same time.
Aside from Jericho-Mysterio, which was great, this show hasn't been very good. They need a big match here or it'll be well below usual standards for a WWE PPV show.
Why they had to show the video previewing HHH vs. Orton when they are running short on time is beyond me. It's as if the people who produce the videos, and who call the shot, actually think the people are paying for the videos, and that the match time to tell the story is secondary.
Orton retained the title.
First fall saw HHH DQ'd for about ten chair shots, but he immediately won the second fall with a pedigree on the floor.
Third fall was mostly putting guys on stretchers and trying to roll them to the finish line. They ended up on the stage with the stretcher right near the line. HHH had it won after a pedigree on the stage but Cody Rhodes stopped the stretcher. HHH threw Rhodes into the stage wall. Then DiBiase showed up and did the same thing. DiBiase & Rhodes were double-teaming HHH, but he got a sledge hammer hidden near the stage, and nailed Rhodes & DiBiase with sledge hammer shots. Orton kicked HHH low and Orton hit HHH with part of the stage floor and put him on the stretcher and rolled him maybe a foot over the line to win.
After the match when Orton was posing with the belt, HHH laid him out with a sledge hammer. There were a lot of boos for that.
Match was good, but nothing compared to their match on Monday and this was the one you were paying for.
Pro Wrestling NOAH report 6-22 Korakuen Hall
Pro Wrestling NOAH report 6-22 Korakuen Hall
By Alan Counihan
Pro Wrestling NOAH's tour ender at Korakuen Hall this past week was, for obvious reasons, a very emotional show. It was without question the biggest show since the passing of Mitsuharu Misawa, as more than 2,000 fans packed one of the most famour venues in wrestling. The show was headlined by a mouth watering tag match pitting Kensuke Sasaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima against the new GHC Heavyweight Champion, Go Shiozaki and junior champ KENTA.
The show opened as all recent shows have, with a ten bell salute to Misawa. A framed picture of him was placed at ringisde.
1. Chris Hero vs. Akihiko Ito
This has been Hero's breakout tour in Japan. He's been getting over with the fans on every show, and has been having really good matches (particularly last time at Korakuen against Shiozaki). Ito is one of the younger members of the roster and has been showing a ton of promise in recent months. They really got the crowd into the match, as the two worked extremely well together. Ito came up with some clever counters to Hero's signature stuff that he's been using on the tour, and they got some great nearfalls. Hero, who was wearing new green gear, used a ton of Misawa like elbows which the crowd ate up. However it was from the moveset of Misawa's rival Toshiaki Kawada that Hero pulled out the finishing move of this match, as he made Ito submit to the Stretch Plumb. Awesome stuff.
2. Taiji Ishimori & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Genba Hirayanagi & Kotaro Suzuki
There are few wrestlers with as much chemistry as Kotaro and Taiji. It's always a treat to watch these two against each other. Match was relatively short but there were plenty of cool exchanges. Genba has a ton of charisma. Finish came with Taiji turning on Kanemaru allowing Genba to get the win. This is where I'm not going to be able to help you, because they totally lost me with the post match angle. Taiji got on the mic and said something that got a big reaction. He then called out his ex-partner KENTA who came out and helped him put the boots to Kanemaru. This was made even more confusing by KENTA wearing a Rikio t-shirt (Rikio is partners with Kanemaru, Kotaro and Genba). Kotaro and Genba saved Kanemaru, and they joined back together too. Apparantly this was NOT a heel turn by KENTA. I don't get it. If anyone speaks Japanese and understands the angle, please let me know.
3. Akira Taue, Yoshinari Ogawa & Ricky Marvin vs. Akitoshi Saito, Masao Inoue & Bobby Fish
This match really put a smile on my face. These guys, particularly Saito and Ogawa, had been through emotional turmoil and they really just seemed to go out here and try to have fun. The crowd gave them so much love, especially to Saito which was great to see. Inoue is a vastly underrated comedy wrestler, as he always entertains with his facial expressions and reactions. Taue is amazing in that regard too. Loads of funny things spliced throughout the match, but there was also some good action from the likes of Fish and Marvin. Saito got the win with an enziguiri on Marvin. He was very emotional post match as the crowd gave him a standing ovation.
4. Takeshi Morishima & Takashi Sugiura vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano
Sugiura and Morishima were on fire here. Very intense action throughout. They kept it short and sweet which allowed the guys to have an explosive match. That is in my opinion, the best way to use Takayama. He was great here, really putting over his opponents as serious bad asses. Morishima, in spite of his added weight, still moves ridiculously well. He was flying around the ring, and his missile dropkick looked better than ever. It came down to Sugiura and Sano, and they had some great exchanges before Sugiura put him down with an grapevined ankle lock.
5. Atsushi Aoki vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
This match was part of Aoki's ongoing trial series. He's coming off a successful run in New Japan's Best Of Super Juniors, actually making it further than Liger by getting to the semi finals. This match was great. Aoki was more over than he's EVER been, as the crowd really rallied behind him. Liger was awesome in his role as the seasoned vet. Aoki, as he usually does, worked the arm for most of the match. This built to him eventually locking in a kimura, which transitioned into a jugigatame. The roof was set to come off Korakuen as Liger teased and teased tapping. It was so awesome. He barely made the ropes to break the hold. Aoki pressed on, attempting to finish Liger a different way, but he was caught with a perfect flash cradle for the pin. Wonderfully executed match. Aoki is coming along so well.
6. Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Bison Smith
Like Aoki, Taniguchi is also undergoing a trial series at the moment. Only his is of the heavyweight variety. He was originally slated to face Misawa in this match. They shuffled the card around to free up Smith so that he could step into the spot. The match wasn't bad but it had issues. Bison clearly was trying to make Taniguchi look good and gave him ALOT of offense. However I think it may have worked better if Bison got the heat so to speak, and Shuhei had to fight from the bottom. The crowd may have rallied behind the youngster more if this was the case. I don't think they knew how to react to him beating up Smith in the first two thirds of the match. By the end though it got good, as Bison took control and nearly put away Taniguchi several times. He hit a series of BRUTAL moves, including possibly the most insane lariat I've ever seen. Taniguchi fought to stay in it, and the crowd responded. The finish was awesome as Bison hit a powerbomb, but held on and hurked Shuhei up again for the Bisontennial. Both guys worked really hard here.
7. Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda vs. Takeshi Rikio & Mohammed Yone
Up and down match here. Rikio and Yone are not the best guys to be working with Kobashi, and Honda seemed to be a bit off. Thus it was less than smooth at times. The crowd was responsive to alot of what they did though, and Kobashi's charisma was as great as ever, so the match was worth watching. Yone took some BIG bumps including a scary half nelson suplex from Kobashi. Honda dropped the fall for his team, getting rolled up by Yone as he attempted a suplex.
8. Go Shiozaki & KENTA vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima
The main event, that looked can't miss on paper, delivered in spades. The heat built during the entrances to the point that the atmosphere was nuts even before the wrestlers made contact. This match was built around striking exchanges, and they were some of the most brutal and hard hitting striking exchanges that I've ever seen. Go's chops were the loudest they've ever been and one of the first times he hit Nakajima with one it was RIGHT IN THE FACE. I think he was expecting Nakajima to duck based on their reactions after it happened. Poor Nakajima looked like someone immediately after they got smacked in the face with a soccer ball.
KENTA upon entering made it known that he wanted Kensuke and was trying to pick a fight with him even as he stood on the apron. Those two proceeded to blister each other with chops and kicks too. The crowd was eating all of this up. The Kensuke Office isolated KENTA for a while, but he eventually got a big hot tag to Go and the fans went nuts. The first big nearfall was a submission tease as Nakajima locked in an ankle lock on KENTA while Kensuke had Go tied up in his Stranglehold Gamma. This was as dramatic as the Aoki/Liger spot earlier in the night.
We got plenty of Nakajima vs. KENTA interaction down the stretch, and it was every bit as good as what they produced in their big singles matches this year. The big turning point in the match saw Sasaki and Nakajima going for a doomsday device style move on Go, but he countered by hitting a rana on Kensuke and ducking the airbourne Nakajima in the process. Almost immediately KENTA came from off camera with a top rope diving footstomp on the prone Nakajima.
It came down to Nak and Go, as KENTA held Kensuke at bay outside. Nakajima went crazy hitting about 6 superkicks in a row that looked incredible and then nailed his picture perfect bridging German for the best nearfall of the match. He looked for more kicks but Go cut him off with an unbelievable lariat. He then nailed a series of chops including his awesome spinning overhand version. Another lariat and then finally the Go Flasher gave his team the win. This was an incredible match, and easily in the top 2 or 3 I've seen this year. The crowd was molten and the wrestlers gave everything they had. You have to check this out if you get a chance.
Post match saw Nakajima and Shiozaki get into it and have to be seperated. Shozaki got on the mic and spoke to the fans, then he and KENTA went over and bowed to the picture of their leader Misawa. The familiar music of the NOAH founder then played over the arena and the ring filled with green and white streamers. It was an unbelievable visual.
By Alan Counihan
Pro Wrestling NOAH's tour ender at Korakuen Hall this past week was, for obvious reasons, a very emotional show. It was without question the biggest show since the passing of Mitsuharu Misawa, as more than 2,000 fans packed one of the most famour venues in wrestling. The show was headlined by a mouth watering tag match pitting Kensuke Sasaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima against the new GHC Heavyweight Champion, Go Shiozaki and junior champ KENTA.
The show opened as all recent shows have, with a ten bell salute to Misawa. A framed picture of him was placed at ringisde.
1. Chris Hero vs. Akihiko Ito
This has been Hero's breakout tour in Japan. He's been getting over with the fans on every show, and has been having really good matches (particularly last time at Korakuen against Shiozaki). Ito is one of the younger members of the roster and has been showing a ton of promise in recent months. They really got the crowd into the match, as the two worked extremely well together. Ito came up with some clever counters to Hero's signature stuff that he's been using on the tour, and they got some great nearfalls. Hero, who was wearing new green gear, used a ton of Misawa like elbows which the crowd ate up. However it was from the moveset of Misawa's rival Toshiaki Kawada that Hero pulled out the finishing move of this match, as he made Ito submit to the Stretch Plumb. Awesome stuff.
2. Taiji Ishimori & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Genba Hirayanagi & Kotaro Suzuki
There are few wrestlers with as much chemistry as Kotaro and Taiji. It's always a treat to watch these two against each other. Match was relatively short but there were plenty of cool exchanges. Genba has a ton of charisma. Finish came with Taiji turning on Kanemaru allowing Genba to get the win. This is where I'm not going to be able to help you, because they totally lost me with the post match angle. Taiji got on the mic and said something that got a big reaction. He then called out his ex-partner KENTA who came out and helped him put the boots to Kanemaru. This was made even more confusing by KENTA wearing a Rikio t-shirt (Rikio is partners with Kanemaru, Kotaro and Genba). Kotaro and Genba saved Kanemaru, and they joined back together too. Apparantly this was NOT a heel turn by KENTA. I don't get it. If anyone speaks Japanese and understands the angle, please let me know.
3. Akira Taue, Yoshinari Ogawa & Ricky Marvin vs. Akitoshi Saito, Masao Inoue & Bobby Fish
This match really put a smile on my face. These guys, particularly Saito and Ogawa, had been through emotional turmoil and they really just seemed to go out here and try to have fun. The crowd gave them so much love, especially to Saito which was great to see. Inoue is a vastly underrated comedy wrestler, as he always entertains with his facial expressions and reactions. Taue is amazing in that regard too. Loads of funny things spliced throughout the match, but there was also some good action from the likes of Fish and Marvin. Saito got the win with an enziguiri on Marvin. He was very emotional post match as the crowd gave him a standing ovation.
4. Takeshi Morishima & Takashi Sugiura vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano
Sugiura and Morishima were on fire here. Very intense action throughout. They kept it short and sweet which allowed the guys to have an explosive match. That is in my opinion, the best way to use Takayama. He was great here, really putting over his opponents as serious bad asses. Morishima, in spite of his added weight, still moves ridiculously well. He was flying around the ring, and his missile dropkick looked better than ever. It came down to Sugiura and Sano, and they had some great exchanges before Sugiura put him down with an grapevined ankle lock.
5. Atsushi Aoki vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
This match was part of Aoki's ongoing trial series. He's coming off a successful run in New Japan's Best Of Super Juniors, actually making it further than Liger by getting to the semi finals. This match was great. Aoki was more over than he's EVER been, as the crowd really rallied behind him. Liger was awesome in his role as the seasoned vet. Aoki, as he usually does, worked the arm for most of the match. This built to him eventually locking in a kimura, which transitioned into a jugigatame. The roof was set to come off Korakuen as Liger teased and teased tapping. It was so awesome. He barely made the ropes to break the hold. Aoki pressed on, attempting to finish Liger a different way, but he was caught with a perfect flash cradle for the pin. Wonderfully executed match. Aoki is coming along so well.
6. Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Bison Smith
Like Aoki, Taniguchi is also undergoing a trial series at the moment. Only his is of the heavyweight variety. He was originally slated to face Misawa in this match. They shuffled the card around to free up Smith so that he could step into the spot. The match wasn't bad but it had issues. Bison clearly was trying to make Taniguchi look good and gave him ALOT of offense. However I think it may have worked better if Bison got the heat so to speak, and Shuhei had to fight from the bottom. The crowd may have rallied behind the youngster more if this was the case. I don't think they knew how to react to him beating up Smith in the first two thirds of the match. By the end though it got good, as Bison took control and nearly put away Taniguchi several times. He hit a series of BRUTAL moves, including possibly the most insane lariat I've ever seen. Taniguchi fought to stay in it, and the crowd responded. The finish was awesome as Bison hit a powerbomb, but held on and hurked Shuhei up again for the Bisontennial. Both guys worked really hard here.
7. Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda vs. Takeshi Rikio & Mohammed Yone
Up and down match here. Rikio and Yone are not the best guys to be working with Kobashi, and Honda seemed to be a bit off. Thus it was less than smooth at times. The crowd was responsive to alot of what they did though, and Kobashi's charisma was as great as ever, so the match was worth watching. Yone took some BIG bumps including a scary half nelson suplex from Kobashi. Honda dropped the fall for his team, getting rolled up by Yone as he attempted a suplex.
8. Go Shiozaki & KENTA vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima
The main event, that looked can't miss on paper, delivered in spades. The heat built during the entrances to the point that the atmosphere was nuts even before the wrestlers made contact. This match was built around striking exchanges, and they were some of the most brutal and hard hitting striking exchanges that I've ever seen. Go's chops were the loudest they've ever been and one of the first times he hit Nakajima with one it was RIGHT IN THE FACE. I think he was expecting Nakajima to duck based on their reactions after it happened. Poor Nakajima looked like someone immediately after they got smacked in the face with a soccer ball.
KENTA upon entering made it known that he wanted Kensuke and was trying to pick a fight with him even as he stood on the apron. Those two proceeded to blister each other with chops and kicks too. The crowd was eating all of this up. The Kensuke Office isolated KENTA for a while, but he eventually got a big hot tag to Go and the fans went nuts. The first big nearfall was a submission tease as Nakajima locked in an ankle lock on KENTA while Kensuke had Go tied up in his Stranglehold Gamma. This was as dramatic as the Aoki/Liger spot earlier in the night.
We got plenty of Nakajima vs. KENTA interaction down the stretch, and it was every bit as good as what they produced in their big singles matches this year. The big turning point in the match saw Sasaki and Nakajima going for a doomsday device style move on Go, but he countered by hitting a rana on Kensuke and ducking the airbourne Nakajima in the process. Almost immediately KENTA came from off camera with a top rope diving footstomp on the prone Nakajima.
It came down to Nak and Go, as KENTA held Kensuke at bay outside. Nakajima went crazy hitting about 6 superkicks in a row that looked incredible and then nailed his picture perfect bridging German for the best nearfall of the match. He looked for more kicks but Go cut him off with an unbelievable lariat. He then nailed a series of chops including his awesome spinning overhand version. Another lariat and then finally the Go Flasher gave his team the win. This was an incredible match, and easily in the top 2 or 3 I've seen this year. The crowd was molten and the wrestlers gave everything they had. You have to check this out if you get a chance.
Post match saw Nakajima and Shiozaki get into it and have to be seperated. Shozaki got on the mic and spoke to the fans, then he and KENTA went over and bowed to the picture of their leader Misawa. The familiar music of the NOAH founder then played over the arena and the ring filled with green and white streamers. It was an unbelievable visual.
domenica 28 giugno 2009
Wrestler TNA rinnova il contratto
Shawn Daivari, il cui contratto sarebbe scaduto a breve, ha rinnovato con la TNA firmando un contratto di 3 anni. Secondo quanto riportano il Wrestling Observer e PWInsider, la WWE era da tempo intenzionata a riportare in federazione il wrestler.
Limp Bizkit-UFC Update
I Limp Bizkit sono fuori da UFC 100. Secondo Fred Durst, la UFC e la Interscope Records non sono riusciti a trovare un accordo sui diritti per il DVD. Ha aggiunto che la band era scontenta del fatto che la UFC volesse farli esibire al Mandalay Bay Beach; la band ha chiesto di poter spostare l'esibizione al House of Blues, posto più tradizionale e consono per un concerto. La UFC ha risposto dicendo che volevano un'atmosfera da beach party per la notte prima del match Lesnar vs. Mir e per questo non hanno consentito il cambiamento.
Durst ha aggiunto che i membri dei Limp Bizkit sono grandi fans della UFC, ma secondo loro è stato scorrretto da parte della UFC confermarli e pubblicizzarli per poi cambiare idea.
Durst ha aggiunto che i membri dei Limp Bizkit sono grandi fans della UFC, ma secondo loro è stato scorrretto da parte della UFC confermarli e pubblicizzarli per poi cambiare idea.
ROH house show report 6-27 Chicago
ROH house show report 6-27 Chicago
Ring of Honor – Frontier Fieldhouse - Chicago Ridge, Illinois
Attendance was around 900. Prior to the show, there was a meet and greet with “Nature Boy” Ric Flair.
Pre-show:
(A) Tony Kozina and Dirty Ernie Osiris (with Prince Nana) defeated Aaron Scott and Grizzly Redwood.
It might have been 90 degrees outside today, but the jacked-up crowd, right of the bat, made it feel like about 150 in the building. As soon as the bell rang ring announcer Joey Eastman alerted us five minutes have elapsed in the match. For a homeless man, Ernie has some nice shoes (as well as plaid Abercrombie pants and a homemade t-shirt) compared to the non-homeless, barefoot’d man – who’s beard is that of a mighty Redwood. Some nice back and forth with Scott and Kozina (with his barrel chest, he’d make a great roaring 20’s strongman gimmick). Aaron Scott went for a slam on the bald Kozina, which caused Osiris to note “he's pulling his hair.” Advantage went to Team Nana after he pulled the top rope down so Scott would fall out of the ring. Finally, a hot tag was made to the Griz – who hit some axe-handles on Kozina, and followed with a flapjack on Scott. A short time later, while Scott was arguing with the ref (who had taped fists), Ernie drilled Redwood with his shoe, allowing Kozina to roll him up for the win.
(B) “Big, Bad” Bobby Dempsey and Sawada defeated Andy “Right Leg” Ridge and Sampson.
Ridge is a heel now, as he looked surly, and kicked the guard rail twice on the way to the ring, just to let everyone know hoe surly he was. Sawada was wearing a gi. Sampson, a large, muscular, African-American fella was worried about the non-Milton Bradley Karate Fighter and a chop battle ensued, until Sampson used a poke to the eyes. Heat on Sawada, as Dempsey tried to get the crowd into the match. Sampson choked him on the ground, and then squatted in an attempt to blow gas, which allowed Dempsey to get the hot tag. The match would end with Dempsey using a Death Valley Driver on Ridge, as Sawada used a judo throw, and a keylock on Sampson for the victory.
(C) Josh Raymond defeated Mickey Nichols.
The pre-show main event, with the pre-show time remaining, saw a good paced wrestling match with plenty of Raymond (who's improved over the last two years since toning down the sleaze – and the mustache) and Mikey trading arm-bars and wrestling holds. Josh was over with his “Yeah!!!” catchphrase. Nichols attempted a rollup, but only got a two. Nichols hit a neck-breaker for two, and a second rope dropkick for another near fall. After a high cross-body by the Aussie for another near fall, Raymond came back with a super kick followed by a 360 corkscrew head kick off the ropes for the win.
There was a ten-bell salute with all the wrestlers around the ring. KENTA stood inside the ring and held a picture of Mitsuharu Misawa along with Cary Silkin wearing a NOAH Hawaiian shirt. It was a very classy thing to do, as they played his theme, and Misawa chants rung out over the building. The main card started at approximately 7:45pm.
1. Six-Man Mayhem: Delirious defeated Silas Young with Shadows over Hell, in a match that also included “Sugarfoot” Alex Payne, Sami Callahan, Egotistical Fantastico, and “Addicted to Love” Rhett Titus.
To begin, Payne went straight for Silas, which was good continuity after Silas turned on him the last time ROH was here. Rhett went for a kiss from a girl in the front row, but a dude kissed him instead which got a great pop and lots of chants from the crowd. The foam Sugar-foot held by some dudes in the front row was taken by Rhett, violated by Silas, and actually put on Callahan’s foot. Payne and Delirious started, with Delirious talking gibberish and, at one point, saying “white meat babyface.” Good comedy with Rhett giving Delirious a show, Deli running after him, both going under the ring, and Titus coming out with his pants semi-down and his thong exposed. Then Rhett came from behind ref Todd Sinclair, who thought Titus was feeling him up and shoved him down. Great moves all over the place during the match, including a Tower of Doom spot with Ego getting double super-plexed by Sami and Silas, as Deli and Payne hit power-bombs on both guys. As five men were down, Rhett made pinfall attempts on all of them one at a time. Titus hit a second rope face-buster on Sugarfoot. As Delirious (who seems to be mentoring Payne) tried a Panic Attack on Sami, he instead ate a five-star lariat. Ego hit the Taco Pizza for a near-fall on Sami. Payne then hit the diamond dust on Silas, was hit by Callahan, which allowed Delirious to hit the Shadows over Hell to steal the win. Just a fucking fantastic opener, that was reminiscent of ROH openers of lore. Everyone – even Silas – looked great here.
2. Erick Stevens defeated “HD Ready” Skullkrusher Rasche Brown after a Doctor Bomb.
HD is looking leaner, not so bulky, and continued to capitalize on the great charisma he showed the last time he was in Chicago (against Ego). They wrestled back and forth early, including using the Flair-Steamboat bridge-to-a-backslide pin attempt. Erick then ran the ropes to bring the big man down. No luck. HD hit a shoulder-tackle and then an awesome football clothesline, followed by a palm chop. Erick rallied with a flying shoulder-tackle to the outside, but Brown came back with a slam and a chop which caused Stevens to say “Ouch!” HD hit a vertical spinning suplex. Stevens attempted a side slam but just fell over. Brown used a camel clutch, and then a Rick Rude-like pelvic thrust swivel (which was the sixth pelvic thrust of the night – Razor Ramon HG would be proud). Stevens tried a Samoan drop, but struggled to lift him up. Stevens then used a shoulder tackle off the second rope, but HD came back spear for a two. Elbow war. Stevens hit a cho-cho (running elbow into the corner), and went for a lariat, but Brown used a choke-slam for a near fall. HD went for his own cho-cho, but ate a lariat and a doctor bomb for the win. Decent big man war and better than expected. Stevens could make a great heel in ROH if given a good storyline. Rasche got a huge chant leaving the ring.
Ric Flair promo telling the crowd that Chicago was THE GREATEST sports town in the world, the greatest town to wrestle in, and put over the (U.I.C.) Pavilion. He said that “I respect these guys,” and then said the word “workrate” which was surprising, saying the guys in ROH “bust their ass.” He put over Rush Street, and Gibson’s steakhouse – where he says he’s spent over $500,000. That’s only half of the money he claims he’s spent on Rush Street, and that there’s a 22-year old girl that he’d like to “kiss on the mouth” later tonight. Great promo.
3. Kenny King defeated “Maple Leaf Muscle” Petey Williams with a torture rack DDT.
To start, some fans chanted “Tough Enough” to Kenny, who responded by saying “come on that was eight years ago.” King looked good as he went toe-to-toe with the former X-Division champion. As they exchanged holds, I noticed Petey’s tights said “wwad.” (Semp’s note: I hope it stands for What Would Al Davis do, because the answer would be make some poor personnel decisions, and follow it up by pooping in your Depends, and settling in for a nap.) Kenny did a Michael Jackson impression, but as he was doing the splits, Petey hit him with a dropkick, and a Jackson-esqe “Heee-heee.” A top rope headscissors over the top put King on the outside, which was followed by Williams jumping over the top and hitting a beautiful rana. King came back with a beautiful Hot Shot and lariat for a two count. King said “make believe mustard, my ass” which may make a great catchphrase and look snazzy on a shirt. He then hit a spinebuster for a two. Petey attempted the Canadian Destroyer, which got a huge pop, only to have King throw him into the corner. King tried a springboard clothesline but got hit with a dropkick. Petey hit a backbreaker and a dropkick to the back of King’s head. Russian leg-sweep by Williams, and he called for the Destroyer but King evaded. Spinning backbreaker for two on Williams, and then King hit a DVD into a side-slam for two. Lots of great nearfalls in this match. King was tapping in the sharpshooter as the ref was being distracted by King’s partner Rhett Titus. After many Canadian Destroyer attempts, King hit a torture rack DDT for the win. Afterwards, Titus and King beat on Williams – who fought back and hit the destroyer for a HYOOOGE pop. Lots of “please come back” chants. Petey, with a bloody mouth, cut a promo and called the guys in ROH “bad ass mofos.” He talked about ROH being where stars are born, and reborn, which caused a “fuck TNA” and “fire Russo” chant. Petey showed more charisma here than he did in however many years he was in TNA, and called himself “the wizard of the washboard” abdominals. Very good match.
4. NOAH World Junior Heavyweight champion KENTA defeated Tyler Black after the Go to Sleep.
With the fans using dueling chants to get behind both guys, KENTA killed Black early. 2009 has been a tremendous year so far for the NOAH junior heavyweight champion. (Semp’s note: Literally, he kicked the shit out of Tyler after they exchanged some harsh chops. Some slaps exchanged and KENTA hit a Euro uppercut. Tyler came back with a suplex for two. KENTA responded by putting Tyler on the top rope and hit Black’s back with his knees. He continued with knee splashes, and the backwards kick to the head after jumping over the top rope, which got a small Misawa chant. KENTA then put Tyler’s head between his legs and squeezed it like a sleeperhold. After eating some kicks to the chest, Tyler came back with a running clothesline, an enziguri, and a springboard clothesline. A nice Lionsault attempt got a two count. More KENTA kicks soon followed. They are so incredibly painful, yet beautiful, to watch. STF by KENTA. WTF~? Tyler got to the ropes. An attempted a fisherman buster was turned into a neck-breaker by Black. Black went up top, but received a boot and a superkick for his efforts. The dueling chants from the crowd continued.
A springboard drop kick, followed by two huge boots into the corner, and a dropkick were used by KENTA (who was super-over, as usual). An awesome double-foot stomp spot. KENTA then hits a kick, runs off the ropes, and gets caught with a Tyler superkick. Uh-oh, a FIGHTING SPIRIT POSE. Another Black superkick is followed by a huge KENTA boot. Another STF attempt. Tiger suplex attempt by KENTA was blocked, but he hit an awesome Ace Crusher for a two. He went up top, but Tyler caught him and hit a rana. He then tossed KENTA out of the ring, and hit a corkscrew dive to the outside. Black then, well, TYLER’D UP and hit two elbows into the corner, and a DDT from a DVD position for a near fall. Crowd was not happy, as they began to gravitate more towards the Japanese star. Black tried the Phoenix splash, but landed on his feet. He used his Execution kick to the head, and a Slop Drop. He then went for a powerbomb into the corner, but he ate a hurricanrana, instead.
A KENTA Tiger suplex got a 2.5 count. A Go To Sleep attempt was blocked, Black tried a God’s Last Gift, but took a GTS for 2.9999999 (I could keep going). Tyler recovered and hit a powerbomb into the corner, and went for another Execution kick. KENTA caught his leg, and hit another GTS to take the win at 18:13, in what was an outstanding match. Fans chanted “That was awesome,” and there were hearty handshakes, and an exchange of pro wres love.
Age of the Fall then came down to the ring, all 13 or so of them, in masks and bandanas. Zach Gowen was one of them, turning down a lucrative apartment wrestling gig tonight to be at the show. Misty Blue Simms would be very unhappy. Jimmy Jacobs had his white, blood stained jacket from the group’s beginning, and a chain came down on the hook they use to hold up the title belts during ladder matches. They attempted to hang former member Black upside down, Jay Briscoe-style, but El Generico and Kevin Steen came down to help wreck shop. Black got back up and hit the GLG on Jacobs, and hung him upside down by the hook. Delirious was working the controls and raised Jacobs up. Black got on the mic and said “The Age of the Fall is dead.” The faces left, and Jacobs was lowered down. He began to berate his members, who all walked out on him. He then exited through the crowd, quite dejected, and left out the front door, throwing down garbage cans in the process.
Intermission: September 19 will be the next Chicago show, with Bret Hart coming in – which, not surprisingly, got a super huge pop. I went outside as Jimmy Jacobs was on his knees crying in the rain. Outstanding. Halfway across the country, Mike Sempervive celebrates the end of the faction. (Semp’s note: Yay!) Crowd has been good, and very mixed as Flair brought in the casual/mainstream crowd (which might have been the reason Petey Williams was so over), as well as more kids attending. Joey Eastman announced the after-party, and how people can buy Adam Pearce beer, because Pearce loves beer. Larry Sweeney was in the house, backstage at the show.
By the way, all Michael Jackson music during intermission causing Dr. Keith to reflect back to his own past experiences with a “Dirty Diana.”
5. Chicago Street Fight: “Classic” Colt Cabana and Brent Albright defeated Joey Ryan and the “Very European” Claudio Castagnoli, when Cabana put Ryan through a table.
Sadly, Claudio and Ryan were not in their street gear. Dueling boom-elbows from the babyfaces. Albright shaved, and as a result looks much younger. Cabana and Albright brought a table into the ring and sandwiched it on top of Ryan and Claudio. The fight went to the outside with Albright and Ryan tangled on one end, as Cabana and Claudio were on the other. For the third straight show, whenever Claudio did anything people said “Heeeeeeeey!” which is always entertaining. Cabana got on the guardrail and did a back dive onto the heels. Somewhere during the melee, an old man got accidentally hit but ROH was quick to aid him (and his tucked in Colt 45 shirt) with some ice. Both babyfaces did their submissions (Albright’s Crowbar on Claudio, and the Billy Goat’s Curse on Ryan). Prince Nana and Dirty Ernie came in, as Cabana and Albright gave chase. Back in the ring, Ryan hit his Super 70’s superkick on Colt, and Claudio used a bicycle kick on Albright. Later, Cabana hit a big backdrop on Ryan to the outside and Albright hit a dive on Claudio.
Albright and Cabana then did the old Dudley’s “Get the tables” line. They laid Ryan on the table, Ernie made the save. Albright was going to hit a suplex on Ryan through the table, but Claudio flipped the table over. Claudio set up a table into the corner and attempted to Ricola bomb Cabana into it, but Albright made the save. Chairs then entered the equation. Ryan used the Mustache Ride on Cabana. A good-guy’s double pin attempt was broken up by Nana. Bicycle kick by Claudio, as Albright had the chair up. Claudio accidentally hit Ryan with the bicycle kick and slipped on a chair. Albright then did a dive to the outside onto Claudio, who was in the third row. Nana came into the ring, busting up a Colt 45 on Ryan. Cabana then used the Flying Asshole on Nana, followed by one on Ryan who went through a table for the win. A really good brawl.
6. D’Lo Brown defeated Roderick Strong with a roll-up.
Brown, who was looking huge (NOD days, but with more muscle), got huge “Welcome home” chants. Strong went to work with trademark chops, with D’Lo rallying with chops of his own. Brown missed on one, looked at his hand and said, “I fucked up.” Brown ended up chopping Strong’s chest open. Strong went to pick D’Lo up, as he yelled “are you kidding me?” Totally great old school heel. He used the Sliding D for a near fall, and a vertical suplex for another. Strong kicked him in the gut, and D’Lo spit into the third row, possibly near his family. Brown hit a powerful clothesline, and a side slam attempt, but Roddy blocked it with a crucifix for a near fall. Strong went to work with some vicious chops. D’Lo went up top, and some fan yelled “Come on Roddy, win it for Droz.” Ugh. Brown shot him a look, and then was met up top by Strong who superplexed him down to the mat. Gibson driver, but Brown held on for another near fall. Story of the match was D’Lo being too big, but Strong hit a backbreaker and a yakuza kick for a two count, but Brown got his foot to the ropes. D’Lo then tied up Strong, and with his hand on the bottom rope, pinned him for the victory. Very good performance by Brown playing the old-time, cheat to win, better than you, heel.
7. Kevin Steen and El Generico defeated the ROH World tag team champions, the American Wolves (Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards) in a non-title match.
The stipulation here is that if the Wolves win, Steenerico doesn’t get anymore title matches. If the good guys prevail, they get to pick what the stipulations for the next match between the teams will be. Shane Haggadorn, wearing a sparkling jacket and an arm sling, was announced as the Wolves “manager.”
Great back and forth match, with the heat being put on Steen, who ended up getting a hot tag to Generico, with the knee brace. Edwards hit a jumping codebreaker on Generico for a two count, as Davey used a Texas cloverleaf on Generico’s injured knee. Eddie whipped Generico’s knee into the guardrail. Davey then hit two or three vicious kicks on the masked generic man. Quick, frequent, Wolves tags. Generico finally was able to get a tag to Steen, who dive off the top to the floor on both Wolves, and hit a powerbomb on Edwards to the apron. He threw Davey into the ring and hit the senton for two. In a nice spot, Steen powerbombed Davey onto Eddie, who was on the ground. Tag to Generico who hit a high cross body on Eddie for two. He attempted a brainbuster but Eddie hit him with a knee kick. Generico tried an Ole kick on the bad leg, and was met with a Wolves doubleteam, and a powerbomb with bridge for another nearfall. Wolves hit their powerbomb/double knees combo. Another knee submission attempt on Generico. Davey hit three harsh kicks, and a Generico face slip, and a kick to the back. Miscommunication by the Wolves. Generico hit the suplex on Davey in the corner. Generico hit the coast-to-coast dropkick (Van Terminator) for a two count. Referee Sinclair went down after some ruckus between Generico and Edwards. Belt shot on Steen by Davey for a near-fall. Generico attempted another brainbuster on Richards – and finally hit it – as Steen had Edwards submitting to a sharpshooter for the win. Edwards looked like he messed up his wrist, as it was bloody. The referees, and even ADAM PEARCE, came out quickly with a towel to help.
8. Austin Aries defeated Nigel McGuinness to retain the Ring of Honor World Heavyweight championship.
“Welcome back” chants for the shaved head, and streamlined, Nigel. Aries’ tights have musical notes on them, for some reason. Aries got on the mic and called Chicago the home of the loveable losers, and talked about they used to despise Nigel. He said that Chicago Ridge “identifies” with losers. Nigel said it “takes one to know one,” and called A-Double a “prick.” Aries mocked back with “It takes one to know one,” and “I know you are, but what am I?” Aries then talked about leaving. Nigel cracked “Just because you have hair around your mouth doesn't mean you’re a vagina.” Aries countered with “I am what I eat.” To which Nigel said, “Then you are an asshole.” Having watched Frost/Nixon last week, I was familiar to such a debate. The bell rang, and Austin called for the bell again. He got back on the mic, and said Nigel was broken down and couldn’t do his McLariats. Nigel went for some, but Aries poked fun at him for being unable to.
Nigel took off after Aries, who hit a baseball slide, and did a plancha over the top rope that missed. Nigel whipped him into the guardrails, and went to work on Aries’ shoulder. McGuinness used his headstand kick, and a nice arm submission on, to further inflict damage. Nigel hit a double thrust like Haku. When Nigel was coming back into the ring, Aries hit him with a beautiful running dropkick to McGuinness’ bad arm. From there, Aries went to work and used a Macho Man-like axe-handle to the outside, and threw Nigel into the guardrail. Aries signaled for his power-elbows, but just did an eye rake. What a heel! More work on Nigel’s arm. They exchanged elbows and Aries got caught into the corner. Nigel kicked the back, and hit a small clothesline out of the corner. Aries dangled out of the ring, and Nigel attempted a Tower of London. Aries blocked, and got a high back bodydrop for his troubles. Back in the ring, Nigel tried the Tower of London again, but there was a sunset flip by Aries, followed by an arm submission by Nigel.
Nigel put Aries on top rope, but his lariat attempt was ducked. Aries responded with a lariat of his own, and a neck-breaker for a two count. Nigel used some high-knees for a near fall. Nigel lifted up Aries up for another Tower of London, resulting in a two. Aries rolled through an arm submission, and they teased a jawbreaker, but Aries hit a suplex for a two. Last Chancery submission by Aries was thwarted when Nigel got to the ropes. Aries put Nigel on top rope, and mocked Nigel by looking like he was going to hit the lariat, but hit an axe-handle on the ropes. Aries did his heat -seeking missile tope, but McGuinness used an elbow, and hit the T.O.L. on the outside for another near fall. Crowd was quiet but began getting into it. Nigel raked Aries all over the top rope, and hit a lariat for a two. Aries foot on the ropes. Nigel was selling his lariat arm. He attempted a jawbreaker. Aries ducked a lariat, and got a backslide attempt. Aries hit a kick of death and brainbuster for the win at 21:08. Decent match. Nigel is banged up, but this was fine. The crowd eventually cheered Nigel, but it took a while.
Ring of Honor – Frontier Fieldhouse - Chicago Ridge, Illinois
Attendance was around 900. Prior to the show, there was a meet and greet with “Nature Boy” Ric Flair.
Pre-show:
(A) Tony Kozina and Dirty Ernie Osiris (with Prince Nana) defeated Aaron Scott and Grizzly Redwood.
It might have been 90 degrees outside today, but the jacked-up crowd, right of the bat, made it feel like about 150 in the building. As soon as the bell rang ring announcer Joey Eastman alerted us five minutes have elapsed in the match. For a homeless man, Ernie has some nice shoes (as well as plaid Abercrombie pants and a homemade t-shirt) compared to the non-homeless, barefoot’d man – who’s beard is that of a mighty Redwood. Some nice back and forth with Scott and Kozina (with his barrel chest, he’d make a great roaring 20’s strongman gimmick). Aaron Scott went for a slam on the bald Kozina, which caused Osiris to note “he's pulling his hair.” Advantage went to Team Nana after he pulled the top rope down so Scott would fall out of the ring. Finally, a hot tag was made to the Griz – who hit some axe-handles on Kozina, and followed with a flapjack on Scott. A short time later, while Scott was arguing with the ref (who had taped fists), Ernie drilled Redwood with his shoe, allowing Kozina to roll him up for the win.
(B) “Big, Bad” Bobby Dempsey and Sawada defeated Andy “Right Leg” Ridge and Sampson.
Ridge is a heel now, as he looked surly, and kicked the guard rail twice on the way to the ring, just to let everyone know hoe surly he was. Sawada was wearing a gi. Sampson, a large, muscular, African-American fella was worried about the non-Milton Bradley Karate Fighter and a chop battle ensued, until Sampson used a poke to the eyes. Heat on Sawada, as Dempsey tried to get the crowd into the match. Sampson choked him on the ground, and then squatted in an attempt to blow gas, which allowed Dempsey to get the hot tag. The match would end with Dempsey using a Death Valley Driver on Ridge, as Sawada used a judo throw, and a keylock on Sampson for the victory.
(C) Josh Raymond defeated Mickey Nichols.
The pre-show main event, with the pre-show time remaining, saw a good paced wrestling match with plenty of Raymond (who's improved over the last two years since toning down the sleaze – and the mustache) and Mikey trading arm-bars and wrestling holds. Josh was over with his “Yeah!!!” catchphrase. Nichols attempted a rollup, but only got a two. Nichols hit a neck-breaker for two, and a second rope dropkick for another near fall. After a high cross-body by the Aussie for another near fall, Raymond came back with a super kick followed by a 360 corkscrew head kick off the ropes for the win.
There was a ten-bell salute with all the wrestlers around the ring. KENTA stood inside the ring and held a picture of Mitsuharu Misawa along with Cary Silkin wearing a NOAH Hawaiian shirt. It was a very classy thing to do, as they played his theme, and Misawa chants rung out over the building. The main card started at approximately 7:45pm.
1. Six-Man Mayhem: Delirious defeated Silas Young with Shadows over Hell, in a match that also included “Sugarfoot” Alex Payne, Sami Callahan, Egotistical Fantastico, and “Addicted to Love” Rhett Titus.
To begin, Payne went straight for Silas, which was good continuity after Silas turned on him the last time ROH was here. Rhett went for a kiss from a girl in the front row, but a dude kissed him instead which got a great pop and lots of chants from the crowd. The foam Sugar-foot held by some dudes in the front row was taken by Rhett, violated by Silas, and actually put on Callahan’s foot. Payne and Delirious started, with Delirious talking gibberish and, at one point, saying “white meat babyface.” Good comedy with Rhett giving Delirious a show, Deli running after him, both going under the ring, and Titus coming out with his pants semi-down and his thong exposed. Then Rhett came from behind ref Todd Sinclair, who thought Titus was feeling him up and shoved him down. Great moves all over the place during the match, including a Tower of Doom spot with Ego getting double super-plexed by Sami and Silas, as Deli and Payne hit power-bombs on both guys. As five men were down, Rhett made pinfall attempts on all of them one at a time. Titus hit a second rope face-buster on Sugarfoot. As Delirious (who seems to be mentoring Payne) tried a Panic Attack on Sami, he instead ate a five-star lariat. Ego hit the Taco Pizza for a near-fall on Sami. Payne then hit the diamond dust on Silas, was hit by Callahan, which allowed Delirious to hit the Shadows over Hell to steal the win. Just a fucking fantastic opener, that was reminiscent of ROH openers of lore. Everyone – even Silas – looked great here.
2. Erick Stevens defeated “HD Ready” Skullkrusher Rasche Brown after a Doctor Bomb.
HD is looking leaner, not so bulky, and continued to capitalize on the great charisma he showed the last time he was in Chicago (against Ego). They wrestled back and forth early, including using the Flair-Steamboat bridge-to-a-backslide pin attempt. Erick then ran the ropes to bring the big man down. No luck. HD hit a shoulder-tackle and then an awesome football clothesline, followed by a palm chop. Erick rallied with a flying shoulder-tackle to the outside, but Brown came back with a slam and a chop which caused Stevens to say “Ouch!” HD hit a vertical spinning suplex. Stevens attempted a side slam but just fell over. Brown used a camel clutch, and then a Rick Rude-like pelvic thrust swivel (which was the sixth pelvic thrust of the night – Razor Ramon HG would be proud). Stevens tried a Samoan drop, but struggled to lift him up. Stevens then used a shoulder tackle off the second rope, but HD came back spear for a two. Elbow war. Stevens hit a cho-cho (running elbow into the corner), and went for a lariat, but Brown used a choke-slam for a near fall. HD went for his own cho-cho, but ate a lariat and a doctor bomb for the win. Decent big man war and better than expected. Stevens could make a great heel in ROH if given a good storyline. Rasche got a huge chant leaving the ring.
Ric Flair promo telling the crowd that Chicago was THE GREATEST sports town in the world, the greatest town to wrestle in, and put over the (U.I.C.) Pavilion. He said that “I respect these guys,” and then said the word “workrate” which was surprising, saying the guys in ROH “bust their ass.” He put over Rush Street, and Gibson’s steakhouse – where he says he’s spent over $500,000. That’s only half of the money he claims he’s spent on Rush Street, and that there’s a 22-year old girl that he’d like to “kiss on the mouth” later tonight. Great promo.
3. Kenny King defeated “Maple Leaf Muscle” Petey Williams with a torture rack DDT.
To start, some fans chanted “Tough Enough” to Kenny, who responded by saying “come on that was eight years ago.” King looked good as he went toe-to-toe with the former X-Division champion. As they exchanged holds, I noticed Petey’s tights said “wwad.” (Semp’s note: I hope it stands for What Would Al Davis do, because the answer would be make some poor personnel decisions, and follow it up by pooping in your Depends, and settling in for a nap.) Kenny did a Michael Jackson impression, but as he was doing the splits, Petey hit him with a dropkick, and a Jackson-esqe “Heee-heee.” A top rope headscissors over the top put King on the outside, which was followed by Williams jumping over the top and hitting a beautiful rana. King came back with a beautiful Hot Shot and lariat for a two count. King said “make believe mustard, my ass” which may make a great catchphrase and look snazzy on a shirt. He then hit a spinebuster for a two. Petey attempted the Canadian Destroyer, which got a huge pop, only to have King throw him into the corner. King tried a springboard clothesline but got hit with a dropkick. Petey hit a backbreaker and a dropkick to the back of King’s head. Russian leg-sweep by Williams, and he called for the Destroyer but King evaded. Spinning backbreaker for two on Williams, and then King hit a DVD into a side-slam for two. Lots of great nearfalls in this match. King was tapping in the sharpshooter as the ref was being distracted by King’s partner Rhett Titus. After many Canadian Destroyer attempts, King hit a torture rack DDT for the win. Afterwards, Titus and King beat on Williams – who fought back and hit the destroyer for a HYOOOGE pop. Lots of “please come back” chants. Petey, with a bloody mouth, cut a promo and called the guys in ROH “bad ass mofos.” He talked about ROH being where stars are born, and reborn, which caused a “fuck TNA” and “fire Russo” chant. Petey showed more charisma here than he did in however many years he was in TNA, and called himself “the wizard of the washboard” abdominals. Very good match.
4. NOAH World Junior Heavyweight champion KENTA defeated Tyler Black after the Go to Sleep.
With the fans using dueling chants to get behind both guys, KENTA killed Black early. 2009 has been a tremendous year so far for the NOAH junior heavyweight champion. (Semp’s note: Literally, he kicked the shit out of Tyler after they exchanged some harsh chops. Some slaps exchanged and KENTA hit a Euro uppercut. Tyler came back with a suplex for two. KENTA responded by putting Tyler on the top rope and hit Black’s back with his knees. He continued with knee splashes, and the backwards kick to the head after jumping over the top rope, which got a small Misawa chant. KENTA then put Tyler’s head between his legs and squeezed it like a sleeperhold. After eating some kicks to the chest, Tyler came back with a running clothesline, an enziguri, and a springboard clothesline. A nice Lionsault attempt got a two count. More KENTA kicks soon followed. They are so incredibly painful, yet beautiful, to watch. STF by KENTA. WTF~? Tyler got to the ropes. An attempted a fisherman buster was turned into a neck-breaker by Black. Black went up top, but received a boot and a superkick for his efforts. The dueling chants from the crowd continued.
A springboard drop kick, followed by two huge boots into the corner, and a dropkick were used by KENTA (who was super-over, as usual). An awesome double-foot stomp spot. KENTA then hits a kick, runs off the ropes, and gets caught with a Tyler superkick. Uh-oh, a FIGHTING SPIRIT POSE. Another Black superkick is followed by a huge KENTA boot. Another STF attempt. Tiger suplex attempt by KENTA was blocked, but he hit an awesome Ace Crusher for a two. He went up top, but Tyler caught him and hit a rana. He then tossed KENTA out of the ring, and hit a corkscrew dive to the outside. Black then, well, TYLER’D UP and hit two elbows into the corner, and a DDT from a DVD position for a near fall. Crowd was not happy, as they began to gravitate more towards the Japanese star. Black tried the Phoenix splash, but landed on his feet. He used his Execution kick to the head, and a Slop Drop. He then went for a powerbomb into the corner, but he ate a hurricanrana, instead.
A KENTA Tiger suplex got a 2.5 count. A Go To Sleep attempt was blocked, Black tried a God’s Last Gift, but took a GTS for 2.9999999 (I could keep going). Tyler recovered and hit a powerbomb into the corner, and went for another Execution kick. KENTA caught his leg, and hit another GTS to take the win at 18:13, in what was an outstanding match. Fans chanted “That was awesome,” and there were hearty handshakes, and an exchange of pro wres love.
Age of the Fall then came down to the ring, all 13 or so of them, in masks and bandanas. Zach Gowen was one of them, turning down a lucrative apartment wrestling gig tonight to be at the show. Misty Blue Simms would be very unhappy. Jimmy Jacobs had his white, blood stained jacket from the group’s beginning, and a chain came down on the hook they use to hold up the title belts during ladder matches. They attempted to hang former member Black upside down, Jay Briscoe-style, but El Generico and Kevin Steen came down to help wreck shop. Black got back up and hit the GLG on Jacobs, and hung him upside down by the hook. Delirious was working the controls and raised Jacobs up. Black got on the mic and said “The Age of the Fall is dead.” The faces left, and Jacobs was lowered down. He began to berate his members, who all walked out on him. He then exited through the crowd, quite dejected, and left out the front door, throwing down garbage cans in the process.
Intermission: September 19 will be the next Chicago show, with Bret Hart coming in – which, not surprisingly, got a super huge pop. I went outside as Jimmy Jacobs was on his knees crying in the rain. Outstanding. Halfway across the country, Mike Sempervive celebrates the end of the faction. (Semp’s note: Yay!) Crowd has been good, and very mixed as Flair brought in the casual/mainstream crowd (which might have been the reason Petey Williams was so over), as well as more kids attending. Joey Eastman announced the after-party, and how people can buy Adam Pearce beer, because Pearce loves beer. Larry Sweeney was in the house, backstage at the show.
By the way, all Michael Jackson music during intermission causing Dr. Keith to reflect back to his own past experiences with a “Dirty Diana.”
5. Chicago Street Fight: “Classic” Colt Cabana and Brent Albright defeated Joey Ryan and the “Very European” Claudio Castagnoli, when Cabana put Ryan through a table.
Sadly, Claudio and Ryan were not in their street gear. Dueling boom-elbows from the babyfaces. Albright shaved, and as a result looks much younger. Cabana and Albright brought a table into the ring and sandwiched it on top of Ryan and Claudio. The fight went to the outside with Albright and Ryan tangled on one end, as Cabana and Claudio were on the other. For the third straight show, whenever Claudio did anything people said “Heeeeeeeey!” which is always entertaining. Cabana got on the guardrail and did a back dive onto the heels. Somewhere during the melee, an old man got accidentally hit but ROH was quick to aid him (and his tucked in Colt 45 shirt) with some ice. Both babyfaces did their submissions (Albright’s Crowbar on Claudio, and the Billy Goat’s Curse on Ryan). Prince Nana and Dirty Ernie came in, as Cabana and Albright gave chase. Back in the ring, Ryan hit his Super 70’s superkick on Colt, and Claudio used a bicycle kick on Albright. Later, Cabana hit a big backdrop on Ryan to the outside and Albright hit a dive on Claudio.
Albright and Cabana then did the old Dudley’s “Get the tables” line. They laid Ryan on the table, Ernie made the save. Albright was going to hit a suplex on Ryan through the table, but Claudio flipped the table over. Claudio set up a table into the corner and attempted to Ricola bomb Cabana into it, but Albright made the save. Chairs then entered the equation. Ryan used the Mustache Ride on Cabana. A good-guy’s double pin attempt was broken up by Nana. Bicycle kick by Claudio, as Albright had the chair up. Claudio accidentally hit Ryan with the bicycle kick and slipped on a chair. Albright then did a dive to the outside onto Claudio, who was in the third row. Nana came into the ring, busting up a Colt 45 on Ryan. Cabana then used the Flying Asshole on Nana, followed by one on Ryan who went through a table for the win. A really good brawl.
6. D’Lo Brown defeated Roderick Strong with a roll-up.
Brown, who was looking huge (NOD days, but with more muscle), got huge “Welcome home” chants. Strong went to work with trademark chops, with D’Lo rallying with chops of his own. Brown missed on one, looked at his hand and said, “I fucked up.” Brown ended up chopping Strong’s chest open. Strong went to pick D’Lo up, as he yelled “are you kidding me?” Totally great old school heel. He used the Sliding D for a near fall, and a vertical suplex for another. Strong kicked him in the gut, and D’Lo spit into the third row, possibly near his family. Brown hit a powerful clothesline, and a side slam attempt, but Roddy blocked it with a crucifix for a near fall. Strong went to work with some vicious chops. D’Lo went up top, and some fan yelled “Come on Roddy, win it for Droz.” Ugh. Brown shot him a look, and then was met up top by Strong who superplexed him down to the mat. Gibson driver, but Brown held on for another near fall. Story of the match was D’Lo being too big, but Strong hit a backbreaker and a yakuza kick for a two count, but Brown got his foot to the ropes. D’Lo then tied up Strong, and with his hand on the bottom rope, pinned him for the victory. Very good performance by Brown playing the old-time, cheat to win, better than you, heel.
7. Kevin Steen and El Generico defeated the ROH World tag team champions, the American Wolves (Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards) in a non-title match.
The stipulation here is that if the Wolves win, Steenerico doesn’t get anymore title matches. If the good guys prevail, they get to pick what the stipulations for the next match between the teams will be. Shane Haggadorn, wearing a sparkling jacket and an arm sling, was announced as the Wolves “manager.”
Great back and forth match, with the heat being put on Steen, who ended up getting a hot tag to Generico, with the knee brace. Edwards hit a jumping codebreaker on Generico for a two count, as Davey used a Texas cloverleaf on Generico’s injured knee. Eddie whipped Generico’s knee into the guardrail. Davey then hit two or three vicious kicks on the masked generic man. Quick, frequent, Wolves tags. Generico finally was able to get a tag to Steen, who dive off the top to the floor on both Wolves, and hit a powerbomb on Edwards to the apron. He threw Davey into the ring and hit the senton for two. In a nice spot, Steen powerbombed Davey onto Eddie, who was on the ground. Tag to Generico who hit a high cross body on Eddie for two. He attempted a brainbuster but Eddie hit him with a knee kick. Generico tried an Ole kick on the bad leg, and was met with a Wolves doubleteam, and a powerbomb with bridge for another nearfall. Wolves hit their powerbomb/double knees combo. Another knee submission attempt on Generico. Davey hit three harsh kicks, and a Generico face slip, and a kick to the back. Miscommunication by the Wolves. Generico hit the suplex on Davey in the corner. Generico hit the coast-to-coast dropkick (Van Terminator) for a two count. Referee Sinclair went down after some ruckus between Generico and Edwards. Belt shot on Steen by Davey for a near-fall. Generico attempted another brainbuster on Richards – and finally hit it – as Steen had Edwards submitting to a sharpshooter for the win. Edwards looked like he messed up his wrist, as it was bloody. The referees, and even ADAM PEARCE, came out quickly with a towel to help.
8. Austin Aries defeated Nigel McGuinness to retain the Ring of Honor World Heavyweight championship.
“Welcome back” chants for the shaved head, and streamlined, Nigel. Aries’ tights have musical notes on them, for some reason. Aries got on the mic and called Chicago the home of the loveable losers, and talked about they used to despise Nigel. He said that Chicago Ridge “identifies” with losers. Nigel said it “takes one to know one,” and called A-Double a “prick.” Aries mocked back with “It takes one to know one,” and “I know you are, but what am I?” Aries then talked about leaving. Nigel cracked “Just because you have hair around your mouth doesn't mean you’re a vagina.” Aries countered with “I am what I eat.” To which Nigel said, “Then you are an asshole.” Having watched Frost/Nixon last week, I was familiar to such a debate. The bell rang, and Austin called for the bell again. He got back on the mic, and said Nigel was broken down and couldn’t do his McLariats. Nigel went for some, but Aries poked fun at him for being unable to.
Nigel took off after Aries, who hit a baseball slide, and did a plancha over the top rope that missed. Nigel whipped him into the guardrails, and went to work on Aries’ shoulder. McGuinness used his headstand kick, and a nice arm submission on, to further inflict damage. Nigel hit a double thrust like Haku. When Nigel was coming back into the ring, Aries hit him with a beautiful running dropkick to McGuinness’ bad arm. From there, Aries went to work and used a Macho Man-like axe-handle to the outside, and threw Nigel into the guardrail. Aries signaled for his power-elbows, but just did an eye rake. What a heel! More work on Nigel’s arm. They exchanged elbows and Aries got caught into the corner. Nigel kicked the back, and hit a small clothesline out of the corner. Aries dangled out of the ring, and Nigel attempted a Tower of London. Aries blocked, and got a high back bodydrop for his troubles. Back in the ring, Nigel tried the Tower of London again, but there was a sunset flip by Aries, followed by an arm submission by Nigel.
Nigel put Aries on top rope, but his lariat attempt was ducked. Aries responded with a lariat of his own, and a neck-breaker for a two count. Nigel used some high-knees for a near fall. Nigel lifted up Aries up for another Tower of London, resulting in a two. Aries rolled through an arm submission, and they teased a jawbreaker, but Aries hit a suplex for a two. Last Chancery submission by Aries was thwarted when Nigel got to the ropes. Aries put Nigel on top rope, and mocked Nigel by looking like he was going to hit the lariat, but hit an axe-handle on the ropes. Aries did his heat -seeking missile tope, but McGuinness used an elbow, and hit the T.O.L. on the outside for another near fall. Crowd was quiet but began getting into it. Nigel raked Aries all over the top rope, and hit a lariat for a two. Aries foot on the ropes. Nigel was selling his lariat arm. He attempted a jawbreaker. Aries ducked a lariat, and got a backslide attempt. Aries hit a kick of death and brainbuster for the win at 21:08. Decent match. Nigel is banged up, but this was fine. The crowd eventually cheered Nigel, but it took a while.
Legends of the Arena Results
ECW nostalgia show report 6-27 Philadelphia
By Frank Douglas
Legends of the Arena Results
Match 1: Too Cold Scorpio pinned CW Anderson.
Match 2: Belvis Wesley pinned The Musketeer when Belvis had New Jack’s song played over the sound the sound system to distract The Musketeer.
Match 3: Chris Hamrick def Crowbar by submission with a form of the Tazzmission. Crowbar bad mouthed Taz before the match.
Match 4: Rhino defeated Scotty Riggs and Jamie Dundee when Rhino gored and pinned Dundee.
Hardcore HOF ceremony was next. They inducted Tod Gordon, Sabu, Chris Candido & Eddie Gilbert. Sandman and Gary Wolfe hosted this segment and the Sandman was totally hammered. Went way too long.
Match 5: Axl Rotten & Balls Mahoney defeated Da Baldies (DeVito, Angel & HC Loc) in a South Philly Street Fight
Match 6: The BWO (Blue Meanie & Nova) defeated the FBI (Little Guido & Big Sal E Graziano) when Meanie pinned Guido
Francine came out and thanked the crowd for attending.
Match 7: Al Snow pinned Jerry Lynn, who was substituting for an unable to appear Shane Douglas
Match 8: Sandman & Sabu defeated Raven & Justin Credible when Sabu pinned Credible. Tery Funk was the special ref and the match was a total mess.
Overall it was a night of nostalgia. The crowd was rabid just like the good old days. After each match the wrestlers pretty much hugged and thanked the crowd. I estimated the attendance between 500 to 700 people. Show started on time at 8pm and ended a little after 11pm this even included a 10 minute intermission.
Frank Douglas
By Frank Douglas
Legends of the Arena Results
Match 1: Too Cold Scorpio pinned CW Anderson.
Match 2: Belvis Wesley pinned The Musketeer when Belvis had New Jack’s song played over the sound the sound system to distract The Musketeer.
Match 3: Chris Hamrick def Crowbar by submission with a form of the Tazzmission. Crowbar bad mouthed Taz before the match.
Match 4: Rhino defeated Scotty Riggs and Jamie Dundee when Rhino gored and pinned Dundee.
Hardcore HOF ceremony was next. They inducted Tod Gordon, Sabu, Chris Candido & Eddie Gilbert. Sandman and Gary Wolfe hosted this segment and the Sandman was totally hammered. Went way too long.
Match 5: Axl Rotten & Balls Mahoney defeated Da Baldies (DeVito, Angel & HC Loc) in a South Philly Street Fight
Match 6: The BWO (Blue Meanie & Nova) defeated the FBI (Little Guido & Big Sal E Graziano) when Meanie pinned Guido
Francine came out and thanked the crowd for attending.
Match 7: Al Snow pinned Jerry Lynn, who was substituting for an unable to appear Shane Douglas
Match 8: Sandman & Sabu defeated Raven & Justin Credible when Sabu pinned Credible. Tery Funk was the special ref and the match was a total mess.
Overall it was a night of nostalgia. The crowd was rabid just like the good old days. After each match the wrestlers pretty much hugged and thanked the crowd. I estimated the attendance between 500 to 700 people. Show started on time at 8pm and ended a little after 11pm this even included a 10 minute intermission.
Frank Douglas
Ultimate Chaos match-by-match coverage w/Lashley vs. Sapp
Ultimate Chaos match-by-match coverage w/Lashley vs. Sapp
Welcome to our live coverage of Ultimate Chaos from the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, MS. We're looking for your thougths on the show so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Danny Abaddi vs. James Orso
Orso took Abaddi down and used body and head punches, keeping Abaddi down. Abaddi held a closed guard the whole round and did absolutely nothing. Dull round. 10-9 Orso.
Both guys were tired. Orso got an early takedown. Abaddi did a little better on the stand-up and even when Orso got him down, Orso did little. I have it even, 19-19.
By the way the cage here is tiny and the production is ungodly awful. It's like they are using cameras that are permanently slightly out of focus.
Abaddi went for a guillotine, but when he lost it, Orso was on top and stayed on top the rest of the round doing ground and pound. The crowd seems small but they liked the fight as both were swinging while on the ground in the closing seconds going for the win. I have it 29-28 Orso.
Orso won by scores of 29-28, 30-27 and 29-28
John Harris vs. Brandon Harder
Harris thinks he's a skinny New Jack based on his ring entrance.
This was a hell of a round. It was two guys doing sloppy brawling. The announcers talked about how Harris is a cardio machine, and after both guys were swinging wildly, Harris looked gassed and Harder was having his way with him with hard punches. Harder pulled Harris down with a guillotine but Harris eventually popped out and scored with punches on the ground in the closing seconds. Close round 10-9 Harder.
Second round was almost all grappling on the ground. Harris got full mount for most of the round, but Harder escaped late in the round, got full mount himself and aggressively was pounding Harris until clamping on an arm triangle for the submission at 4:31 (the ring announcer said it was the third and final round, even though it was the second, and then he forgot who won. Oh my god this was Mickey Mouse. Then Col. Bob Sheridan (how is this guy announcing MMA?) asked whether it was the second or the third round.
For guys of this level, it was an entertaining fight.
The guy doing the post-fight interviews is wearing a T-shirt and looks like Cody Deaner. Now they are interviewing a local clothing company guy. I guess that's where the guy got his T-shirt from.
Tom Atencio, the 42-year-old promoter of Affliction vs. Randy Hedderick
Hedderick is 25 and making his debut. This was actually a great first round. Hedderick clocked Atencio early and threw hard shots at him and knocked him down. Atencio recovered completely tried a spinning backfirst, but Hedderick countered and knocked him down agan. They had a great slugfest late. Atencio lost the round but he has a ton of heart the way he recovered. 10-9 Hedderick.
Atencio came back dominating the stand-up and took Hedderick down twice. At the end of the round, Atencio got a second takedown and was brutalizing him on the ground. Hedderick looked like he may have broken his nose. Hedderick was on the verge of having it called off when the round ended.
Hedderick couldn't continue for the third round, so Atencio gets the TKO at 5:00 of round two. Very entertaining fight. They talked about how Atencio wants a match with Dana White.
Now Atencio is cutting a promo on White. You know, that White talks and that White should have never said bad things about Hedderick because White won't step up and fight. He tried to do a Jens Pulver style promo, not as good, though, nor did it get the crowd response Pulver woud have. But he talks better than most.
Brett Cooper vs. Waachiim Spirit Wolf
Big upset as Spirit Wolf cracked him with a right to the jaw and Cooper was knocked silly. Ref stopped it after a few punches on the ground. Cooper is walking around asking when the second round starts. Time 3:41
Spirit Wolf did a promo telling everyone where they could party. Now he thinks he's Ric Flair.
They are airing a promotional piece on Sapp and Lashley. For what it's worth, they said that Lashley was a former ECW champion, but not that Sapp was a former IWGP champion. They did acknowledge Sapp being a pro wrestler along with a kickboxer and MMA fighter. But they did say Lashley has never faced someone of Sapp's size in a real fight.
Chris Horodecki out to "Enter the Sandman" vs. William Sriyapai
It was supposed to be a kickboxing battle, but Horodecki took Sriyapai down and had his back the entire round. He kept working for a choke and Sriyapai kept defending until Horodecki loosened him up from body punches and got the choke at 4:02.
Mark Kergosian of Gulfport, MS, who took the fight on a few hours notice, is taking on Javier Vazquez. Kergosian is replacing Din Thomas, who got sick trying to cut weight today. Story is up on the site.
Kergosian tried for a takedwn and got hooked with a guillotine right away. Vazquez was really calm and went down to the ground keeping the hold on. Kergosian tried to flip over and escape but Vazquez held on and Kergosian tapped at :59.
Lance Thompson vs. Colin McKee.
McKee has his back and was punching him to the side of the head and Thompson tapped out. Usually you wouldn't see someone tap to that. Time was 4:16
Pedro Rizzo vs. Gilbert Yvel
Rizzo got on top and was pounding on Yvel, but when Yvel got to his feet, he nailed a left high kick. Rizzo did a sloppy shot, Yvel got on top and threw bombs from the top in about 2:10. The third punch hurt him bad and knocked Rizzo out and he took two more bombs on the ground that Rizzo realy shouldn't have taken. Rizzo was down for a while but he's back up.
Yvel said that he's next facing Paul Buentello (8/1 Affliction show) and said he then wants to go to UFC and win the title. These guys don't know business. If you're fighting on an Affliction show you don't say you're looking for a win on an Affliction show so you can get into UFC. But Affliction will still book him.
Bob Sapp vs. Bobby Lashley
They showed the weigh-in clips. Damn Lashley has improved his promos so much since leaving WWE.
Lashley is doing the Flair entrance and none of the three announcers had a clue of what he was doing. Lashley is 255 1/2 pounds and Sapp is 322.2 pounds. Lashley looks physically ridiculous. Sapp is a smaller version of what he once was.
Lashley took him down right away, just like you'd figure. Lashley throwing punches. Sapp is blocking most of them. Sapp has a half guard. Lashley is getting punches and elbows in. Sapp seems in survival mode. Crowd is booing but it would be ridiculous to order a stand-up with Lashley in command. Sapp threw a few punches from the back but it's mostly Lashley mauling him. Lashley is getting some big punches in. Sapp is wanting out. He may have had a contact lense knocked out. Sapp tapped out. Time was 3:17
Sapp actually tapped out once that the referee didn't see. The second time Sapp tapped the ref saw it. Sapp has a knot under his left eye and above and to the side of left eye.
Sapp said he got a good shot in the eye and he couldn't see. Fans are booing him. He said they got him in the eye. Sapp praised Lashley.
You have to be prepared for Bob. Said he executed his game plan. He said he was going to ground and pound him for a little while and then try and wear him down. Said the next match is to test his stand-up but this was to get a win. He said he wants two more fights this year.
Welcome to our live coverage of Ultimate Chaos from the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, MS. We're looking for your thougths on the show so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Danny Abaddi vs. James Orso
Orso took Abaddi down and used body and head punches, keeping Abaddi down. Abaddi held a closed guard the whole round and did absolutely nothing. Dull round. 10-9 Orso.
Both guys were tired. Orso got an early takedown. Abaddi did a little better on the stand-up and even when Orso got him down, Orso did little. I have it even, 19-19.
By the way the cage here is tiny and the production is ungodly awful. It's like they are using cameras that are permanently slightly out of focus.
Abaddi went for a guillotine, but when he lost it, Orso was on top and stayed on top the rest of the round doing ground and pound. The crowd seems small but they liked the fight as both were swinging while on the ground in the closing seconds going for the win. I have it 29-28 Orso.
Orso won by scores of 29-28, 30-27 and 29-28
John Harris vs. Brandon Harder
Harris thinks he's a skinny New Jack based on his ring entrance.
This was a hell of a round. It was two guys doing sloppy brawling. The announcers talked about how Harris is a cardio machine, and after both guys were swinging wildly, Harris looked gassed and Harder was having his way with him with hard punches. Harder pulled Harris down with a guillotine but Harris eventually popped out and scored with punches on the ground in the closing seconds. Close round 10-9 Harder.
Second round was almost all grappling on the ground. Harris got full mount for most of the round, but Harder escaped late in the round, got full mount himself and aggressively was pounding Harris until clamping on an arm triangle for the submission at 4:31 (the ring announcer said it was the third and final round, even though it was the second, and then he forgot who won. Oh my god this was Mickey Mouse. Then Col. Bob Sheridan (how is this guy announcing MMA?) asked whether it was the second or the third round.
For guys of this level, it was an entertaining fight.
The guy doing the post-fight interviews is wearing a T-shirt and looks like Cody Deaner. Now they are interviewing a local clothing company guy. I guess that's where the guy got his T-shirt from.
Tom Atencio, the 42-year-old promoter of Affliction vs. Randy Hedderick
Hedderick is 25 and making his debut. This was actually a great first round. Hedderick clocked Atencio early and threw hard shots at him and knocked him down. Atencio recovered completely tried a spinning backfirst, but Hedderick countered and knocked him down agan. They had a great slugfest late. Atencio lost the round but he has a ton of heart the way he recovered. 10-9 Hedderick.
Atencio came back dominating the stand-up and took Hedderick down twice. At the end of the round, Atencio got a second takedown and was brutalizing him on the ground. Hedderick looked like he may have broken his nose. Hedderick was on the verge of having it called off when the round ended.
Hedderick couldn't continue for the third round, so Atencio gets the TKO at 5:00 of round two. Very entertaining fight. They talked about how Atencio wants a match with Dana White.
Now Atencio is cutting a promo on White. You know, that White talks and that White should have never said bad things about Hedderick because White won't step up and fight. He tried to do a Jens Pulver style promo, not as good, though, nor did it get the crowd response Pulver woud have. But he talks better than most.
Brett Cooper vs. Waachiim Spirit Wolf
Big upset as Spirit Wolf cracked him with a right to the jaw and Cooper was knocked silly. Ref stopped it after a few punches on the ground. Cooper is walking around asking when the second round starts. Time 3:41
Spirit Wolf did a promo telling everyone where they could party. Now he thinks he's Ric Flair.
They are airing a promotional piece on Sapp and Lashley. For what it's worth, they said that Lashley was a former ECW champion, but not that Sapp was a former IWGP champion. They did acknowledge Sapp being a pro wrestler along with a kickboxer and MMA fighter. But they did say Lashley has never faced someone of Sapp's size in a real fight.
Chris Horodecki out to "Enter the Sandman" vs. William Sriyapai
It was supposed to be a kickboxing battle, but Horodecki took Sriyapai down and had his back the entire round. He kept working for a choke and Sriyapai kept defending until Horodecki loosened him up from body punches and got the choke at 4:02.
Mark Kergosian of Gulfport, MS, who took the fight on a few hours notice, is taking on Javier Vazquez. Kergosian is replacing Din Thomas, who got sick trying to cut weight today. Story is up on the site.
Kergosian tried for a takedwn and got hooked with a guillotine right away. Vazquez was really calm and went down to the ground keeping the hold on. Kergosian tried to flip over and escape but Vazquez held on and Kergosian tapped at :59.
Lance Thompson vs. Colin McKee.
McKee has his back and was punching him to the side of the head and Thompson tapped out. Usually you wouldn't see someone tap to that. Time was 4:16
Pedro Rizzo vs. Gilbert Yvel
Rizzo got on top and was pounding on Yvel, but when Yvel got to his feet, he nailed a left high kick. Rizzo did a sloppy shot, Yvel got on top and threw bombs from the top in about 2:10. The third punch hurt him bad and knocked Rizzo out and he took two more bombs on the ground that Rizzo realy shouldn't have taken. Rizzo was down for a while but he's back up.
Yvel said that he's next facing Paul Buentello (8/1 Affliction show) and said he then wants to go to UFC and win the title. These guys don't know business. If you're fighting on an Affliction show you don't say you're looking for a win on an Affliction show so you can get into UFC. But Affliction will still book him.
Bob Sapp vs. Bobby Lashley
They showed the weigh-in clips. Damn Lashley has improved his promos so much since leaving WWE.
Lashley is doing the Flair entrance and none of the three announcers had a clue of what he was doing. Lashley is 255 1/2 pounds and Sapp is 322.2 pounds. Lashley looks physically ridiculous. Sapp is a smaller version of what he once was.
Lashley took him down right away, just like you'd figure. Lashley throwing punches. Sapp is blocking most of them. Sapp has a half guard. Lashley is getting punches and elbows in. Sapp seems in survival mode. Crowd is booing but it would be ridiculous to order a stand-up with Lashley in command. Sapp threw a few punches from the back but it's mostly Lashley mauling him. Lashley is getting some big punches in. Sapp is wanting out. He may have had a contact lense knocked out. Sapp tapped out. Time was 3:17
Sapp actually tapped out once that the referee didn't see. The second time Sapp tapped the ref saw it. Sapp has a knot under his left eye and above and to the side of left eye.
Sapp said he got a good shot in the eye and he couldn't see. Fans are booing him. He said they got him in the eye. Sapp praised Lashley.
You have to be prepared for Bob. Said he executed his game plan. He said he was going to ground and pound him for a little while and then try and wear him down. Said the next match is to test his stand-up but this was to get a win. He said he wants two more fights this year.
martedì 23 giugno 2009
WWE Star infortunata
Matt Hardy ha subito una lacerazione del muscolo addominale la scorsa notte durante il three-way match con Kofi Kingston e MVP per lo U.S. title che è stato registrato per il prossimo Superstars show.
Ad oggi, Matt andrà sotto i ferri nei prossimi giorni, ma non si sa ancora quanto starà fuori.
Ad oggi, Matt andrà sotto i ferri nei prossimi giorni, ma non si sa ancora quanto starà fuori.
UFC News
Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio Shogun Rua è stato ufficializzato per lo show del 24 Ottobre.
Dana White vuole mettere sotto contratto Vitor Belfort, una volta che il contratto di quest'ultimo con la Affliction giungerà al termine. L'idea è di fargli affrontare Anderson Silva.
Dana White vuole mettere sotto contratto Vitor Belfort, una volta che il contratto di quest'ultimo con la Affliction giungerà al termine. L'idea è di fargli affrontare Anderson Silva.
TNA Update
Questi i quarti d'ora del go-home show di Impact:
1.18
1.10
1.15
1.17
1.41
1.22
1.19
1.19
Il Palace of Auburn Hills, che per uno show di wrestling potrebbe contenere 25.000 spettatori, è stato settato per Slammy a 7.900 posti. I biglietti venduti sono stati 2.200; gli spettatori presenti sono stati circa 4.000 speattori, quindi un sacco di fans sono entrati gratis.
1.18
1.10
1.15
1.17
1.41
1.22
1.19
1.19
Il Palace of Auburn Hills, che per uno show di wrestling potrebbe contenere 25.000 spettatori, è stato settato per Slammy a 7.900 posti. I biglietti venduti sono stati 2.200; gli spettatori presenti sono stati circa 4.000 speattori, quindi un sacco di fans sono entrati gratis.
sabato 20 giugno 2009
Dragon Gate Infinity 132-134
Dragon Gate, 5/15/09
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
2,350 Fans - Super No Vacancy Full House
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=39M4OZXF
Dragon Gate USA Inc. Commemoration Bonus Match: BxB Hulk & PAC vs. Naruki Doi & Naoki Tanizaki
Masato Yoshino vs. Cyber Kong
YAMATO vs. Don Fujii
Dragon Gate, "AGGRESSIVE GATE 2009" 05-15-09
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
2,350 Fans - Super No Vacancy Full House
1. RYOMA vs. Kenshin Chikano
2. Real Hazard vs. KAMIKAZE vs. WARRIORS-5 -
3-WAY Survival Elimination Match:
Genki Horiguchi, Yasushi Kanda, Kenichiro Arai & Ryo Saito vs.
CIMA, Gamma, Susumu Yokosuka, KAGETORA vs.
SHINGO, Dragon Kid, Akira Tozawa & Kenshin Chikano
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GB3N27ZN
Dragon Gate, 5/24/09
Sapporo Teisen Hall
1,100 Fans - Super No Vacancy Full House
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=W8B7XCQA
Special Singles Match: YAMATO vs. Shingo Takagi
Open the Triangle Gate Title: CIMA, Gamma & KAGETORA © vs. Masato Yoshino, BxB Hulk & PAC
_________________
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
2,350 Fans - Super No Vacancy Full House
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=39M4OZXF
Dragon Gate USA Inc. Commemoration Bonus Match: BxB Hulk & PAC vs. Naruki Doi & Naoki Tanizaki
Masato Yoshino vs. Cyber Kong
YAMATO vs. Don Fujii
Dragon Gate, "AGGRESSIVE GATE 2009" 05-15-09
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
2,350 Fans - Super No Vacancy Full House
1. RYOMA vs. Kenshin Chikano
2. Real Hazard vs. KAMIKAZE vs. WARRIORS-5 -
3-WAY Survival Elimination Match:
Genki Horiguchi, Yasushi Kanda, Kenichiro Arai & Ryo Saito vs.
CIMA, Gamma, Susumu Yokosuka, KAGETORA vs.
SHINGO, Dragon Kid, Akira Tozawa & Kenshin Chikano
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GB3N27ZN
Dragon Gate, 5/24/09
Sapporo Teisen Hall
1,100 Fans - Super No Vacancy Full House
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=W8B7XCQA
Special Singles Match: YAMATO vs. Shingo Takagi
Open the Triangle Gate Title: CIMA, Gamma & KAGETORA © vs. Masato Yoshino, BxB Hulk & PAC
_________________
NOAH, 13.06.2009 videolinks
NOAH, 13.06.2009 (Samurai! TV)
Hiroshima Green Arena Small Arena
2,300 Fans - No Vacancy
Misawa
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VPQEKGF2
1. Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Masashi Aoyagi (digest)
2. Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Bobby Fish (digest)
3. Takashi Sugiura, Yoshinari Ogawa & Taiji Ishimori vs Takuma Sano, Masao Inoue & Ricky Marvin
in one file http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8NSIU5M8
4. Kotaro Suzuki & Genba Hirayanagi vs KENTA & Akihiko Ito
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Y0980YYN
5.Takeshi Rikioh & Mohammed Yone vs Akira Taue & Yuto Aijima
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EXJMKQTL
6. Yoshihiro Takayama vs Chris Hero
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L20FS6C6
7. Jun Akiyama, Kenta Kobashi & Shuhei Taniguchi vs Kensuke Sasaki, Takeshi Morishima & Kento Miyahara
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NGUTKG7V
Hiroshima Green Arena Small Arena
2,300 Fans - No Vacancy
Misawa
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VPQEKGF2
1. Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Masashi Aoyagi (digest)
2. Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Bobby Fish (digest)
3. Takashi Sugiura, Yoshinari Ogawa & Taiji Ishimori vs Takuma Sano, Masao Inoue & Ricky Marvin
in one file http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8NSIU5M8
4. Kotaro Suzuki & Genba Hirayanagi vs KENTA & Akihiko Ito
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Y0980YYN
5.Takeshi Rikioh & Mohammed Yone vs Akira Taue & Yuto Aijima
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EXJMKQTL
6. Yoshihiro Takayama vs Chris Hero
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L20FS6C6
7. Jun Akiyama, Kenta Kobashi & Shuhei Taniguchi vs Kensuke Sasaki, Takeshi Morishima & Kento Miyahara
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NGUTKG7V
Nuovo CMLL Universal Champion
Allo show in Arena Mexico, Ultimo Guerrero ha sconfitto Texano Jr. diventato il nuovo CMLL Universal Champion.
Strikeforce Challengers Report
Sorry this is up late. Internet connection sucked and I finally got it to work after paying $15 for Verizon access on my laptop. So this better be a great fucking show!
1. Steve Hadsel beat Taylor Roberts via knockout in 17 seconds.
2. Len Bentley beat Marques Daniels via unanimous decision.
3. Landon "The Show" Showalter vs. George Stork. Showalter had a lot of fans here. Right now we're at less than 1,000 in the building (Showare seats 6,000), though I believe they moved the start time forward or at least listed an official start time that was different from what was on the tickets. I'd expect people to start showing up closer to the TV start time at 8 PM PST. Len was getting the better of the stand-up, in particular rocking him with a series of knees in the second round. People were chanting "SHOW!" I was waiting for Paul Wight to run in and chokeslam them both. George refused to quit, but had nothing left. I was baffled he survived the second round. He was just walking towards Show like a zombie in the third, eating punches the entire time. He managed to get Show down at one point, but couldn't do much except hold onto him. They had a low-level Frye/Takayama spot, with Show hitting one particularly ugly elbow. Show got the decision win.
4. Duane "Bang" Ludwig vs. Lyle "Fancy Pants" Beerbohm. Lyle is the guy in the meth article we linked to in today's news update. Last time I saw Lyle fight he wore, true to his nickname, the most obscenely absurd pair of wacky multicolored trunks you ever saw. The fans went nuts for him and chanted "BEER BONG!" Tonight, he wore the trunks, but sadly he wore a traditional pair of board shorts over the top. No buys. He took Ludwig right down and controlled him from the top. Duane started to escape, and in doing so kicked Fancy Pants right in his fancy face as Lyle was on all fours. Ref stopped it and deducted a point. Duane was literally running from the takedown, but Fancy was all over him. Lyle ended up tapping him out with an old-school cranking headlock. He looked great here.
5. Alex Zuniga vs. Brian Caraway. Caraway took him right down and started grinding on him against the cage. Alex moved to half guard but Brian got his back. He worked for a choke and finally got it with ten seconds left. Alex held on and was saved by the bell. Caraway took him down again in the second and immediately got his back, leaving him almost five minutes to try to get the choke. Alex managed to escape. Caraway landing shots on the feet, then got another takedown. Has to be 20-18 Caraway at this point. "Worst ring girls since the old UFC's," Admin Tony texted at this point. "Girls of Kent." More of the same in the third. Takedown by Caraway and domination from the top. Mauro Ranallo and his crew appeared to be doing the show open at this point, which was odd because there was a fight going on directly behind them. Caraway mounted him. Alex tried a spinning backfist with ten seconds left. Missed by a mile. Caraway rocked him with one last kick and it ended. Boring fight. 30-27 for Caraway.
Word is that they're handing out tickets so people can move down closer to the cage. I'd say maybe 1,500 in here at this point. They've already outdrawn TNA from a few weeks back.
They're plugging the Affliction PPV constantly. And I have yet to hear a single mention of Gina Carano or Cris Cybrog.
6. Justin Davis vs. Dennis Hallman. These guys didn't even get ring entrances, they just put them in the cage, introduced them, and it was on. Not sure what the concern was, as there are 24 minutes until the main card begins. Hallman then took him down, got his back and choked him out in like 10 seconds. Davis was taking this on like a day's notice, so I'm not sure what anyone expected. Huge pop for the win.
Place has filled up a bit. I'd say we're at 3,500 or so.
And we're live on Showtime.
7. Luke Rockhold vs. Cory Devela. Cory was super over with the locals since he's from the area. He was also the one that beat Joe Riggs via hard slam at the last Strikeforce show. Rockhold stunned him early with a shot, then pounced, delivered shot after shot after shot from the back, the clamped on a rear-naked choke for the submission. Devela could barely stand afterwards, all wobbly-legged. Complete destruction.
8. Shayna Baszler vs. Sarah Kaufman. They traded standing early, then Shayna took her down. She got north-south and everyone was whistling. That shouldn't make me laugh. I should note that in anticipation of Gina vs. Cyborg these were five-minute rounds. Sarah swept her. Ref got bored and stood them up. OK first round. Josh Barnett is there in Shayna's corner. Sarah was landing some hard shots in the second. Shayna needs to take her down or it's going to be a long night for her. Or a short night, however you want to look at it. Sarah chipped away at her all round, then in the final five seconds they threw a wild series back and forth. Things not looking good for Shayna. She shot in early in the third but got stuffed. At least she was on the ground, though. Sarah pounded on her from half guard. I wonder how much advance notice they got that this was three five-minute rounds, because the Carano vs. Cyborg decision was made just a couple weeks back. If they only had a week's notice, God it sucks to be them. Sarah let her up for more doom. Sarah was now taking her down, punching her a few times, and letting her back up for more. She trapped her against the cage with a minute left and unleashed a series. With 25 seconds left Shayna dropped down and tried a kneebar, but it wasn't happening. Kaufman got the unanimous decision.
I LOL'd when Quadros' first question to her is, "Going the distance twice in a row, what's going on?"
Mauro Ranallo did an interview with Josh Barnett about the Fedor fight. Yes, they're interviewing people for the Affliction PPV but still NOTHING for Carano vs. Cyborg.
9. Conor Heun vs. Jorge Gurgel, formerly of UFC fame. Conor forgot his mouthpiece or something as he suddenly, in the middle of his entrance, ran backstage. LIVE TV, EVERYONE. Gurgel looks like that one fucking guy from Night at the Roxbury. Better tan though. Chris Kattan. Gurgel was hitting hard shots standing, lots of leg kicks. Conor kept moving forward and had him on the run at points. More of the same with Gurgel in that he refused to even attempt a takedown to show off his jiu jitsu. I guess he's trying to prove they had a good reason to cut him. Conor started to land a bunch of shots standing and Jorge's face was all bloody. People were screaming for Jorge to take him down. Probably the same people that have been screaming that for years now. They had an awesome exchange and the place went nuts. Conor just kept stalking him. If Jorge loses this fight without even attempting a takedown he needs to take up a new sport. I'd say go back to school, but seriously now. On the bright side, huge standing ovation when the round was over. Conor tried a wacky spin kick in the third and people laughed. They had a scramble and actually ended up ON THE GROUND. Gurgel passed his guard. If he stands up I'm walking out. People were chanting "KNEE!" as he was in side control. Instead, HE STOOD UP. JESUS CHRIST. He started doing jumping jacks to get the people into it. Another standing ovation when the round ended. Well, they had a great fight, though somewhat irritating. So it went to the judges and they gave it to Gurgel with one 29-28 and two 30-27s. Well, I figured they would.
After the fight, Quadros basically asked why, if he had such great jiu-jitsu, Jorge basically had a kickboxing match here. Jorge said, and I quote: "Have you seen my fights?" OK, that made me laugh.
Conor cut a great promo about how you needed to set goals and ACHIEVE THEM~! He was great.
We finally got a great Cyborg vs. Carano video package. No idea why they couldn't do a live interview.
10. Nick "The Goat" Thompson vs. Tim Kennedy. Everyone around me is talking about how annoying Gurgel was to not take the fucking guy down and show off his jiu-jitsu. So it's not just me. The Goat has a shaved head and a mighty beard, making him a loveable type. He did come in looking a bit soft. They said this fight was brought to us by Affliction. They ended up on the ground within 20 seconds and Thompson went for a straight Kimura. Didn't get it and Tim got his back. They fought for position. Tim got side control, then mounted him. The Goat squirmed his way out but Tim still maintained control. Good showing by Tim this round. More of the same in the second with Tim just controlling him on the ground. I noticed for the first time the ref telling the guys to go for a submission or he'd stand them up. And this was when Tim was on top just going to work on him. Apparently this had been happening all night and was pissing people off. He was so active, in fact, that he landed a series of punches and the Goat tapped out. From strikes. Well, they say goats will eat anything and he ate a shitload of shots here. Hell of a showing by Kennedy.
Tim did an excited promo afterwards, perhaps too excited, and people didn't know what to make of him live. There were even some boos. He said he was BACK and ready to kick ASS. He did a shout-out to Fort Lewis in Tacoma and everyone cheered.
11. Main event: Smokin Joe Villasenor vs. Evangelista "Mr. Cyborg" Santos. A kickboxing match early. Cantos was landing some HARD leg kicks. Joe got him to the mat but Santos pulled him into guard. The ref was demanding action while Villansenor was in half guard. Now I can't ignore the guy. More good exchanges in the second. Someone from Chute Box kept screaming "HEY!" and if he wasn't, well, from CHUTE BOX I would have considered going over and attempting to choke him out. Apparently this was all you could hear on TV as well. Cyborg was landing lots of forearm shots. Think about how close they would have had to have been to each other to pull that off. Partial standing ovation after that round. Joe tried a takedown in the third but failed. He ended up in the guard. Joe slipped out in a great escape and it was back to the feet. Cyborg looked the more gassed of the two. Wonder how that bodes for Mrs. Cyborg going five rounds with Gina in August. He was also bleeding over his left eye. His chin was sticking out and Joey was chipping away at it. Big ovation with a minute left. They really started unloading on each other. Turned into a pretty damn good fight by the end and the people loved it. With that said, people were starting to clear out before the announcement was read.
It was a split decision. Didn't expect that. Turned out it was 29-28 Joey, 29-28 Cyborg, and 29-28 for Joey, so Joey won.
That's it from here, thanks for joining us! Dave and I will be back tomorrow after UFC!~!
1. Steve Hadsel beat Taylor Roberts via knockout in 17 seconds.
2. Len Bentley beat Marques Daniels via unanimous decision.
3. Landon "The Show" Showalter vs. George Stork. Showalter had a lot of fans here. Right now we're at less than 1,000 in the building (Showare seats 6,000), though I believe they moved the start time forward or at least listed an official start time that was different from what was on the tickets. I'd expect people to start showing up closer to the TV start time at 8 PM PST. Len was getting the better of the stand-up, in particular rocking him with a series of knees in the second round. People were chanting "SHOW!" I was waiting for Paul Wight to run in and chokeslam them both. George refused to quit, but had nothing left. I was baffled he survived the second round. He was just walking towards Show like a zombie in the third, eating punches the entire time. He managed to get Show down at one point, but couldn't do much except hold onto him. They had a low-level Frye/Takayama spot, with Show hitting one particularly ugly elbow. Show got the decision win.
4. Duane "Bang" Ludwig vs. Lyle "Fancy Pants" Beerbohm. Lyle is the guy in the meth article we linked to in today's news update. Last time I saw Lyle fight he wore, true to his nickname, the most obscenely absurd pair of wacky multicolored trunks you ever saw. The fans went nuts for him and chanted "BEER BONG!" Tonight, he wore the trunks, but sadly he wore a traditional pair of board shorts over the top. No buys. He took Ludwig right down and controlled him from the top. Duane started to escape, and in doing so kicked Fancy Pants right in his fancy face as Lyle was on all fours. Ref stopped it and deducted a point. Duane was literally running from the takedown, but Fancy was all over him. Lyle ended up tapping him out with an old-school cranking headlock. He looked great here.
5. Alex Zuniga vs. Brian Caraway. Caraway took him right down and started grinding on him against the cage. Alex moved to half guard but Brian got his back. He worked for a choke and finally got it with ten seconds left. Alex held on and was saved by the bell. Caraway took him down again in the second and immediately got his back, leaving him almost five minutes to try to get the choke. Alex managed to escape. Caraway landing shots on the feet, then got another takedown. Has to be 20-18 Caraway at this point. "Worst ring girls since the old UFC's," Admin Tony texted at this point. "Girls of Kent." More of the same in the third. Takedown by Caraway and domination from the top. Mauro Ranallo and his crew appeared to be doing the show open at this point, which was odd because there was a fight going on directly behind them. Caraway mounted him. Alex tried a spinning backfist with ten seconds left. Missed by a mile. Caraway rocked him with one last kick and it ended. Boring fight. 30-27 for Caraway.
Word is that they're handing out tickets so people can move down closer to the cage. I'd say maybe 1,500 in here at this point. They've already outdrawn TNA from a few weeks back.
They're plugging the Affliction PPV constantly. And I have yet to hear a single mention of Gina Carano or Cris Cybrog.
6. Justin Davis vs. Dennis Hallman. These guys didn't even get ring entrances, they just put them in the cage, introduced them, and it was on. Not sure what the concern was, as there are 24 minutes until the main card begins. Hallman then took him down, got his back and choked him out in like 10 seconds. Davis was taking this on like a day's notice, so I'm not sure what anyone expected. Huge pop for the win.
Place has filled up a bit. I'd say we're at 3,500 or so.
And we're live on Showtime.
7. Luke Rockhold vs. Cory Devela. Cory was super over with the locals since he's from the area. He was also the one that beat Joe Riggs via hard slam at the last Strikeforce show. Rockhold stunned him early with a shot, then pounced, delivered shot after shot after shot from the back, the clamped on a rear-naked choke for the submission. Devela could barely stand afterwards, all wobbly-legged. Complete destruction.
8. Shayna Baszler vs. Sarah Kaufman. They traded standing early, then Shayna took her down. She got north-south and everyone was whistling. That shouldn't make me laugh. I should note that in anticipation of Gina vs. Cyborg these were five-minute rounds. Sarah swept her. Ref got bored and stood them up. OK first round. Josh Barnett is there in Shayna's corner. Sarah was landing some hard shots in the second. Shayna needs to take her down or it's going to be a long night for her. Or a short night, however you want to look at it. Sarah chipped away at her all round, then in the final five seconds they threw a wild series back and forth. Things not looking good for Shayna. She shot in early in the third but got stuffed. At least she was on the ground, though. Sarah pounded on her from half guard. I wonder how much advance notice they got that this was three five-minute rounds, because the Carano vs. Cyborg decision was made just a couple weeks back. If they only had a week's notice, God it sucks to be them. Sarah let her up for more doom. Sarah was now taking her down, punching her a few times, and letting her back up for more. She trapped her against the cage with a minute left and unleashed a series. With 25 seconds left Shayna dropped down and tried a kneebar, but it wasn't happening. Kaufman got the unanimous decision.
I LOL'd when Quadros' first question to her is, "Going the distance twice in a row, what's going on?"
Mauro Ranallo did an interview with Josh Barnett about the Fedor fight. Yes, they're interviewing people for the Affliction PPV but still NOTHING for Carano vs. Cyborg.
9. Conor Heun vs. Jorge Gurgel, formerly of UFC fame. Conor forgot his mouthpiece or something as he suddenly, in the middle of his entrance, ran backstage. LIVE TV, EVERYONE. Gurgel looks like that one fucking guy from Night at the Roxbury. Better tan though. Chris Kattan. Gurgel was hitting hard shots standing, lots of leg kicks. Conor kept moving forward and had him on the run at points. More of the same with Gurgel in that he refused to even attempt a takedown to show off his jiu jitsu. I guess he's trying to prove they had a good reason to cut him. Conor started to land a bunch of shots standing and Jorge's face was all bloody. People were screaming for Jorge to take him down. Probably the same people that have been screaming that for years now. They had an awesome exchange and the place went nuts. Conor just kept stalking him. If Jorge loses this fight without even attempting a takedown he needs to take up a new sport. I'd say go back to school, but seriously now. On the bright side, huge standing ovation when the round was over. Conor tried a wacky spin kick in the third and people laughed. They had a scramble and actually ended up ON THE GROUND. Gurgel passed his guard. If he stands up I'm walking out. People were chanting "KNEE!" as he was in side control. Instead, HE STOOD UP. JESUS CHRIST. He started doing jumping jacks to get the people into it. Another standing ovation when the round ended. Well, they had a great fight, though somewhat irritating. So it went to the judges and they gave it to Gurgel with one 29-28 and two 30-27s. Well, I figured they would.
After the fight, Quadros basically asked why, if he had such great jiu-jitsu, Jorge basically had a kickboxing match here. Jorge said, and I quote: "Have you seen my fights?" OK, that made me laugh.
Conor cut a great promo about how you needed to set goals and ACHIEVE THEM~! He was great.
We finally got a great Cyborg vs. Carano video package. No idea why they couldn't do a live interview.
10. Nick "The Goat" Thompson vs. Tim Kennedy. Everyone around me is talking about how annoying Gurgel was to not take the fucking guy down and show off his jiu-jitsu. So it's not just me. The Goat has a shaved head and a mighty beard, making him a loveable type. He did come in looking a bit soft. They said this fight was brought to us by Affliction. They ended up on the ground within 20 seconds and Thompson went for a straight Kimura. Didn't get it and Tim got his back. They fought for position. Tim got side control, then mounted him. The Goat squirmed his way out but Tim still maintained control. Good showing by Tim this round. More of the same in the second with Tim just controlling him on the ground. I noticed for the first time the ref telling the guys to go for a submission or he'd stand them up. And this was when Tim was on top just going to work on him. Apparently this had been happening all night and was pissing people off. He was so active, in fact, that he landed a series of punches and the Goat tapped out. From strikes. Well, they say goats will eat anything and he ate a shitload of shots here. Hell of a showing by Kennedy.
Tim did an excited promo afterwards, perhaps too excited, and people didn't know what to make of him live. There were even some boos. He said he was BACK and ready to kick ASS. He did a shout-out to Fort Lewis in Tacoma and everyone cheered.
11. Main event: Smokin Joe Villasenor vs. Evangelista "Mr. Cyborg" Santos. A kickboxing match early. Cantos was landing some HARD leg kicks. Joe got him to the mat but Santos pulled him into guard. The ref was demanding action while Villansenor was in half guard. Now I can't ignore the guy. More good exchanges in the second. Someone from Chute Box kept screaming "HEY!" and if he wasn't, well, from CHUTE BOX I would have considered going over and attempting to choke him out. Apparently this was all you could hear on TV as well. Cyborg was landing lots of forearm shots. Think about how close they would have had to have been to each other to pull that off. Partial standing ovation after that round. Joe tried a takedown in the third but failed. He ended up in the guard. Joe slipped out in a great escape and it was back to the feet. Cyborg looked the more gassed of the two. Wonder how that bodes for Mrs. Cyborg going five rounds with Gina in August. He was also bleeding over his left eye. His chin was sticking out and Joey was chipping away at it. Big ovation with a minute left. They really started unloading on each other. Turned into a pretty damn good fight by the end and the people loved it. With that said, people were starting to clear out before the announcement was read.
It was a split decision. Didn't expect that. Turned out it was 29-28 Joey, 29-28 Cyborg, and 29-28 for Joey, so Joey won.
That's it from here, thanks for joining us! Dave and I will be back tomorrow after UFC!~!
TNA IN GRAND RAPIDS, MI LIVE REPORT
Here is my live report from TNA in Grand Rapids.
First of all, there was no barriers like you're used to seeing at WWE shows. Those of us waiting outside were able to walk up to the wrestlers' cars after they arrived. Thankfully, none of us recreated the "Jericho incident".
We were allowed to wait in the lobby, and we could actually see the ring for a bit, and at least when I arrived, Rhaka Kahn and Jacqueline were training in it. Referees Rudy Charles and Slick Johnson were outside signing autographs as well.
When I arrived to my seat, I saw a backstage pass behind Jeremy Borash's ringside seat. I grabbed it, although I wasn't supposed to, as he hadn't announced it on Twitter yet! I had to put it back! But I was still able to go backstage later on.
One nice feature I heard was in between the general music playing was a prerecorded announcements that "the show would start in five minutes", and then later "we'll begin in 60 seconds." The show started exactly after that.
Attendence was probably no more than 1,000. The floor wasn't even half full, and the lower level was about 1/5 full.
Jeremy Borash and that other live events guy welcomed the crowd and did his usual speil to get the crowd excited, and it worked all night.
Atlas security was here. They must have lowered their price in this economy.
1. Chris Sabin defeated Jay Lethal with the Cradleshock. Nice home state pop for Sabin. Lethal was the slight heel here. The usual fun opener.
2. Jacqueline defeated Rhaka Kahn with a top rope tornado DDT. This was our "bonus match." Jacqueline was the babyface. When shw was on offense, it was hard-hitting and exciting. With Kahn was attacking, well..... she's still hot. It was what it was, a teacher working with a student.
3. Daniels defeated Eric Young with the BME. Young was a complete heel, with the crowd all over him. Daniels came out to the actual Disposable Teens song. Decent stuff again.
4. Rhino defeated Matt Morgan with a gore. Once again, great home state pop for Rhino. Morgan came out to Down with the Sickness. I wasn't feeling this one, and the finish was messed up when Morgan moved out of the way of the gore, but then took a weak one two seconds later.
Before Intermission, JB encouraged everyone to text to a number, for a chance to go backstage. It looked like he took the first number, and personally texted him a message.
5. Angelina Love defeated Taylor Wilde to retain the Women's Knockout Championship. I enjoyed this one. OK, it's not SHIMMER level, but the two put on a good match in which the crowd was into. After tonight, I'd say Love is underrated due to her diva look and gimmick, plus her association with Velvet Sky. She can work, that's for sure.
6. Suicide defeated Alex Shelley w/ Chris Sabin with the Suicide Solution to retain the X-Division Championship. This time, the Machineguns were the heels, although they got a fair amount of cheers. Suicide came out through the crowd. I believe it was the longest match of the night, and another fun one.
7. Beer Money Inc defeated the Main Event Mafia (Kurt Angle and Scott Steiner) with their finisher. Angle seems to be growing his hair, and a beard, out. Steiner took time to insult Michigan State and praise the University of Michigan. Beer Money encouraged the crowd to yell BEER and MONEY, and then, BIG OL BOOBIES! It was a solid main event. Give the MEM credit, as they didn't make Beer Money look like jobbers.
Borash announced that they couldn't bring everyone backstage, so they're bring backstage out here. 3/4 of the roster came out to sign autographs and take photos, while Kurt Angle stayed in the ring and pose with fans for $20. It was a long line, so they made some good scratch from it.
Surprisingly, Borash didn't say a PPV may come here. Looks like he's serious when it's mentioned at other shows.
The only no show was Samoa Joe, and that's understandable.
I'd say this one was better than the Bloomington show last year. The matches were hard hitting and of decent lengths all night and the crowd was into everything. Seriously, if they're in the area, GO!
First of all, there was no barriers like you're used to seeing at WWE shows. Those of us waiting outside were able to walk up to the wrestlers' cars after they arrived. Thankfully, none of us recreated the "Jericho incident".
We were allowed to wait in the lobby, and we could actually see the ring for a bit, and at least when I arrived, Rhaka Kahn and Jacqueline were training in it. Referees Rudy Charles and Slick Johnson were outside signing autographs as well.
When I arrived to my seat, I saw a backstage pass behind Jeremy Borash's ringside seat. I grabbed it, although I wasn't supposed to, as he hadn't announced it on Twitter yet! I had to put it back! But I was still able to go backstage later on.
One nice feature I heard was in between the general music playing was a prerecorded announcements that "the show would start in five minutes", and then later "we'll begin in 60 seconds." The show started exactly after that.
Attendence was probably no more than 1,000. The floor wasn't even half full, and the lower level was about 1/5 full.
Jeremy Borash and that other live events guy welcomed the crowd and did his usual speil to get the crowd excited, and it worked all night.
Atlas security was here. They must have lowered their price in this economy.
1. Chris Sabin defeated Jay Lethal with the Cradleshock. Nice home state pop for Sabin. Lethal was the slight heel here. The usual fun opener.
2. Jacqueline defeated Rhaka Kahn with a top rope tornado DDT. This was our "bonus match." Jacqueline was the babyface. When shw was on offense, it was hard-hitting and exciting. With Kahn was attacking, well..... she's still hot. It was what it was, a teacher working with a student.
3. Daniels defeated Eric Young with the BME. Young was a complete heel, with the crowd all over him. Daniels came out to the actual Disposable Teens song. Decent stuff again.
4. Rhino defeated Matt Morgan with a gore. Once again, great home state pop for Rhino. Morgan came out to Down with the Sickness. I wasn't feeling this one, and the finish was messed up when Morgan moved out of the way of the gore, but then took a weak one two seconds later.
Before Intermission, JB encouraged everyone to text to a number, for a chance to go backstage. It looked like he took the first number, and personally texted him a message.
5. Angelina Love defeated Taylor Wilde to retain the Women's Knockout Championship. I enjoyed this one. OK, it's not SHIMMER level, but the two put on a good match in which the crowd was into. After tonight, I'd say Love is underrated due to her diva look and gimmick, plus her association with Velvet Sky. She can work, that's for sure.
6. Suicide defeated Alex Shelley w/ Chris Sabin with the Suicide Solution to retain the X-Division Championship. This time, the Machineguns were the heels, although they got a fair amount of cheers. Suicide came out through the crowd. I believe it was the longest match of the night, and another fun one.
7. Beer Money Inc defeated the Main Event Mafia (Kurt Angle and Scott Steiner) with their finisher. Angle seems to be growing his hair, and a beard, out. Steiner took time to insult Michigan State and praise the University of Michigan. Beer Money encouraged the crowd to yell BEER and MONEY, and then, BIG OL BOOBIES! It was a solid main event. Give the MEM credit, as they didn't make Beer Money look like jobbers.
Borash announced that they couldn't bring everyone backstage, so they're bring backstage out here. 3/4 of the roster came out to sign autographs and take photos, while Kurt Angle stayed in the ring and pose with fans for $20. It was a long line, so they made some good scratch from it.
Surprisingly, Borash didn't say a PPV may come here. Looks like he's serious when it's mentioned at other shows.
The only no show was Samoa Joe, and that's understandable.
I'd say this one was better than the Bloomington show last year. The matches were hard hitting and of decent lengths all night and the crowd was into everything. Seriously, if they're in the area, GO!
Tre wrestlers WWE "future endevorati"
Sim Snuka, Candice Michelle ed il developmental talent Joseph Canterbury.
TNA Impact Rating
Per il go-home show, in cui si sono visti 16 minuti di wrestling sulle 2 ore totali, ha registrato un 1.2 di rating.
venerdì 19 giugno 2009
Slammiversary 2009 card
A soli due giorni da ciò che dovrebbe essere il secondo ppv dell'anno per la TNA, si conosce l'intera card....:
*TNA champion Mick Foley vs. Jeff Jarrett vs. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle
*TNA X-Division champion Suicide vs. Jay Lethal vs. Consequences Creed vs. Alex Shelly vs. Chris Sabin with Detroit Tigers star Curtis Granderson presenting the X Championship to the winner.
*Sting vs. Matt Morgan
*TNA Tag Team champion Team 3D vs. Beer Money, Inc
*TNA champion Angelina Love vs. Tara
*Abyss & Taylor Wilde vs. Raven & Daffney
*Daniels vs. Shane Douglas
*Pre-Show Match: The British Invasion vs. Eric Young & Rhino
*TNA champion Mick Foley vs. Jeff Jarrett vs. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle
*TNA X-Division champion Suicide vs. Jay Lethal vs. Consequences Creed vs. Alex Shelly vs. Chris Sabin with Detroit Tigers star Curtis Granderson presenting the X Championship to the winner.
*Sting vs. Matt Morgan
*TNA Tag Team champion Team 3D vs. Beer Money, Inc
*TNA champion Angelina Love vs. Tara
*Abyss & Taylor Wilde vs. Raven & Daffney
*Daniels vs. Shane Douglas
*Pre-Show Match: The British Invasion vs. Eric Young & Rhino
giovedì 18 giugno 2009
Dragon Gate Update
La Dragon Gate USA ha annunciato che Bryan Danielson e Davey Richards parteciperanno allo show del 6 Settembre in Chicago, IL.
E' stato raggiunto un accordo con la G-Funk Productions per la messa in onda dei futuri PPV.
In molti hanno discusso di questa notizia parlando di un possibile "furto" ai danni della ROH, ma i piani della DGUSA erano di mandare in onda gli eventi nei mesi in cui non c'era concorrenza con la ROH, poi quest'ultima ha deciso di non rinnovare l'accordo.
Per il debutto del 25 Luglio in Philadelphia è stato aggiunto: Open The Dream Gate Champion Naruki Doi vs. Shingo.
E' stato raggiunto un accordo con la G-Funk Productions per la messa in onda dei futuri PPV.
In molti hanno discusso di questa notizia parlando di un possibile "furto" ai danni della ROH, ma i piani della DGUSA erano di mandare in onda gli eventi nei mesi in cui non c'era concorrenza con la ROH, poi quest'ultima ha deciso di non rinnovare l'accordo.
Per il debutto del 25 Luglio in Philadelphia è stato aggiunto: Open The Dream Gate Champion Naruki Doi vs. Shingo.
The Bash Update
Aggiunti al ppv:
Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho in un "mask vs. title", in pieno stile lucha libre.
Scramble match for the ECW title
Tommy Dreamer vs. Jack Swagger vs. Mark Henry vs. Christian vs. Fit Finlay
Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho in un "mask vs. title", in pieno stile lucha libre.
Scramble match for the ECW title
Tommy Dreamer vs. Jack Swagger vs. Mark Henry vs. Christian vs. Fit Finlay
Arrestati tre wrestlers della AAA
Mesias, Billy Boy ed il ref Hijo del Tirantes, sono stati arrestati due notti fa dopo lo show in Ciudad Juarez, per il pestaggio di un ragazzo, dopo che questi si è lamentato per l'assunzione di cocaina dei tre wrestlers citati nella sua macchina.
I tre wrestlers hanno incontrato il 31enne Fernando Cordova in un bar, quest'ultimo ha procurato loro della cocaina, ma si è arrabbiato quando Mesias, Billy Boy e Hijo del Tirantes hanno iniziato a sniffarla nella sua macchina. I tre sono stati arrestati e rilasciati poco dopo su cauzione.
I tre wrestlers hanno incontrato il 31enne Fernando Cordova in un bar, quest'ultimo ha procurato loro della cocaina, ma si è arrabbiato quando Mesias, Billy Boy e Hijo del Tirantes hanno iniziato a sniffarla nella sua macchina. I tre sono stati arrestati e rilasciati poco dopo su cauzione.
martedì 16 giugno 2009
Quarti d'ora di Raw
Here are the 6/8 Raw quarter hours. The show did a 3.6 cable rating, with hours of 3.33 and 3.89.
9:00 3.54
9:15 3.23
9:30 3.28
9:45 3.25
10:00 3.75
10:15 3.70
10:30 3.86
10:45 3.72
Overrun 4.47
9:00 3.54
9:15 3.23
9:30 3.28
9:45 3.25
10:00 3.75
10:15 3.70
10:30 3.86
10:45 3.72
Overrun 4.47
lunedì 15 giugno 2009
Altra morte in Giappone
Ted Tanabe, uno degli arbitri storici in Giappone, è morto oggi dopo un attacco di cuore.
Il fatto è avvenuto Domenica mentre Tanabe stava arbitrando un match per la Osaka Pro Wrestling. E' stato portato immediatamente in ospedale, ma è morto il giorno dopo. Aveva 46 anni.
La maggior parte di notorietà gli arrivò arbitrando nella Michinoku Pro Wrestling.
Il fatto è avvenuto Domenica mentre Tanabe stava arbitrando un match per la Osaka Pro Wrestling. E' stato portato immediatamente in ospedale, ma è morto il giorno dopo. Aveva 46 anni.
La maggior parte di notorietà gli arrivò arbitrando nella Michinoku Pro Wrestling.
Causa della morte di Misawa
Nonostante la famiglia abbia cercato di mantenere i risultati riservati, il Mainichi Daily News riporta che la morte è arrivata a causa di un danno al midollo spinale cervicale causato dal back suplex ricevuto.
TNA Impact Rating
L'ultima puntata di Impact ha registrato un 1.1 di rating. Gli ascolti sono tornati ormai a quelli di sempre dopo gli eccezionali risultati ottenuti nelle puntate pre Lockdown.
domenica 14 giugno 2009
ROH house show results 6-13 Hammerstein Ballroom in New York
ROH house show results 6-13 Hammerstein Ballroom in New York - New ROH champion tonight
By Chris Arias
Manhattan Mayhem 3 Results
10 Bell Salute for Misawa. Crowd was respectably silent for the whole thing.
Aries cuts a promo about how he's going to win the title tonight.
1: Young Bucks def Rhett Titus and Kenny King with a Swanton and Moonsault. "Great match."
2: Necro Butcher def Jimmy Rave with a rollup. Afterwards Jimmy locked the Heel Hook on Necro, but Cabana ran in to make the save.
Ric Flair cuts a promo putting ROH over huge.
3: Roderick Strong def Sonjay Dutt with a Gibson Driver.
Bret Hart announced for the next New York show, which will be at the Grand Ballroom instead of Hammerstein this time.
4: Jimmy Jacobs assaults Tyler Black before the bell and has him bleed before the match even begins, scoring an assumed victory. Tyler snaps and beats Jimmy into a pulp and announces that with Jacobs out of the way, he's cashing in his title shot tonight, making it a three way dance.
5: Colt Cabana def Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, and D'Lo Brown by making D'Lo Brown submit to the Billy Goats Curse.
6: Submission Match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship: American Wolves(c) def Kevin Steen and El Generico to retain the titles when Edwards made Generico submit to a single leg crap after hitting his knee with the bell.
7: Jay Briscoe def Little Guido Maritato with the Jay Driller. "Surprisingly a pretty good match."
8: Three Way Dance for the ROH World Championship: Austin Aries def Tyler Black and Jerry Lynn(c) to win the ROH World Championship. Nigel McGuinness is the ringside special enforcer. Tyler Black eliminates Jerry Lynn first with the Small Package Driver. Austin Aries eliminates Tyler Black with a Brainbuster to win the ROH World Championship. Austin Aries is the first ever two time ROH World Champion.
By Chris Arias
Manhattan Mayhem 3 Results
10 Bell Salute for Misawa. Crowd was respectably silent for the whole thing.
Aries cuts a promo about how he's going to win the title tonight.
1: Young Bucks def Rhett Titus and Kenny King with a Swanton and Moonsault. "Great match."
2: Necro Butcher def Jimmy Rave with a rollup. Afterwards Jimmy locked the Heel Hook on Necro, but Cabana ran in to make the save.
Ric Flair cuts a promo putting ROH over huge.
3: Roderick Strong def Sonjay Dutt with a Gibson Driver.
Bret Hart announced for the next New York show, which will be at the Grand Ballroom instead of Hammerstein this time.
4: Jimmy Jacobs assaults Tyler Black before the bell and has him bleed before the match even begins, scoring an assumed victory. Tyler snaps and beats Jimmy into a pulp and announces that with Jacobs out of the way, he's cashing in his title shot tonight, making it a three way dance.
5: Colt Cabana def Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, and D'Lo Brown by making D'Lo Brown submit to the Billy Goats Curse.
6: Submission Match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship: American Wolves(c) def Kevin Steen and El Generico to retain the titles when Edwards made Generico submit to a single leg crap after hitting his knee with the bell.
7: Jay Briscoe def Little Guido Maritato with the Jay Driller. "Surprisingly a pretty good match."
8: Three Way Dance for the ROH World Championship: Austin Aries def Tyler Black and Jerry Lynn(c) to win the ROH World Championship. Nigel McGuinness is the ringside special enforcer. Tyler Black eliminates Jerry Lynn first with the Small Package Driver. Austin Aries eliminates Tyler Black with a Brainbuster to win the ROH World Championship. Austin Aries is the first ever two time ROH World Champion.
AAA TripleMania report
First TripleMania report - Konnan vs. Roldan for control of AAA, in cage
By Cubs Fan
1) Killer Clown, Psycho Clown, Zombie Clown b Aerostar, Laredo Kid, Super Fly
- Super Fly was strechered out
2) Billy Boy, Mini Abismo Negro, Polvo de Esterllas, Sexy Star b El Elegido, Fabi Apache, Octagoncito, Pimpinela Escarlata
- Sexy pulled Elegido's mask and Billy rolled him up. Rudos attacked after the match, and Mari Apache showed up to run them off
- AAA held a moment of applause for Abismo Negro, Antonio Pena, and Mitsuharu Misawa
3) Charly Manson, Rocky Romero, X-Pac b Scoria, Ozz, Zorro
- Per match stip, X-Pac (and Romero) got to cane Zorro ten times. Tecnicos were hitting him hard, so after four, Zorro stole the cane and laid out all the tecnicos (Charly got bumped into Marisela Pena outside, though that didn't seem to go anywhere). Cuervo came out to help the rudos, and Pimpi, Aerostar and Laredo were all laid out trying to make the save.
4) Extreme Tiger b Crazy Boy, Alan Stone, Alex Koslov for the AAA Cruiserweight Title in a hardcore match
- turned into an elimination match.
- Koslov, who just won the title in the tournament, was first out. Alan was next, and Tiger hit Crazy with a 450 splash on the outside and beat the 20 count back in for the win.
5) Joe Lider & Nicho el Millionario b Latin Lover & Marco Corleone for the AAA Tag Title
- Latin was booed.
- Marco went to dive onto the rudos, but Tirantes tripped him up. Marco went after him, but Lider tripped him and Nicho pinned him for the win.
6) Dr. Wagner Jr. b Mesias for the AAA Heavyweight Title (Wagner's title NOT on the line)
- 35 minute match, with some chair spots but the ref counting them out occasionally (so not the usual crowd brawling)
- both men bled
- Mesias survived one Wagner Driver, but not a second. By all accounts, a clean win for Wagner.
7) El Hijo del Santo, Jack Evans, La Parka Jr., Octagon, Vampiro b Chessman, Electro Shock, Kenzo Suzuki, Silver King, Teddy Hart [cage, control of AAA]
- Konnan tried handicuffing Parka to the cage so he wouldn't be able to escape, but the other AAA tecnicos got the key back and unlocked him
- Konnan attacked Cien Caras and Joaquin Roldan and tried to attack Santo in the cage, but Zorro - or at least someone in Zorro's old mask that everyone assumes was Zorro - handed Roldan his cane, and Roldan knocked out Konnan
- match came down to Santo and Silver King (wearing face paint in his usual mask design), and Santo escaped.
Didn't see the Zorro, so don't know for sure what the deal is. Not definite it's a tecnico turn even if it is him, since they've been teasing Zorro running a coup on Konnan at some point. They tape two weeks of TV in the next few days (TripleMania won't be on TV, so they've got to have something else for next Sunday), so perhaps it'll be clear soon.
Show started at 830PM local, did not end until 1250AM. Defintiely not a sell out, early guesses were at 85% full.
By Cubs Fan
1) Killer Clown, Psycho Clown, Zombie Clown b Aerostar, Laredo Kid, Super Fly
- Super Fly was strechered out
2) Billy Boy, Mini Abismo Negro, Polvo de Esterllas, Sexy Star b El Elegido, Fabi Apache, Octagoncito, Pimpinela Escarlata
- Sexy pulled Elegido's mask and Billy rolled him up. Rudos attacked after the match, and Mari Apache showed up to run them off
- AAA held a moment of applause for Abismo Negro, Antonio Pena, and Mitsuharu Misawa
3) Charly Manson, Rocky Romero, X-Pac b Scoria, Ozz, Zorro
- Per match stip, X-Pac (and Romero) got to cane Zorro ten times. Tecnicos were hitting him hard, so after four, Zorro stole the cane and laid out all the tecnicos (Charly got bumped into Marisela Pena outside, though that didn't seem to go anywhere). Cuervo came out to help the rudos, and Pimpi, Aerostar and Laredo were all laid out trying to make the save.
4) Extreme Tiger b Crazy Boy, Alan Stone, Alex Koslov for the AAA Cruiserweight Title in a hardcore match
- turned into an elimination match.
- Koslov, who just won the title in the tournament, was first out. Alan was next, and Tiger hit Crazy with a 450 splash on the outside and beat the 20 count back in for the win.
5) Joe Lider & Nicho el Millionario b Latin Lover & Marco Corleone for the AAA Tag Title
- Latin was booed.
- Marco went to dive onto the rudos, but Tirantes tripped him up. Marco went after him, but Lider tripped him and Nicho pinned him for the win.
6) Dr. Wagner Jr. b Mesias for the AAA Heavyweight Title (Wagner's title NOT on the line)
- 35 minute match, with some chair spots but the ref counting them out occasionally (so not the usual crowd brawling)
- both men bled
- Mesias survived one Wagner Driver, but not a second. By all accounts, a clean win for Wagner.
7) El Hijo del Santo, Jack Evans, La Parka Jr., Octagon, Vampiro b Chessman, Electro Shock, Kenzo Suzuki, Silver King, Teddy Hart [cage, control of AAA]
- Konnan tried handicuffing Parka to the cage so he wouldn't be able to escape, but the other AAA tecnicos got the key back and unlocked him
- Konnan attacked Cien Caras and Joaquin Roldan and tried to attack Santo in the cage, but Zorro - or at least someone in Zorro's old mask that everyone assumes was Zorro - handed Roldan his cane, and Roldan knocked out Konnan
- match came down to Santo and Silver King (wearing face paint in his usual mask design), and Santo escaped.
Didn't see the Zorro, so don't know for sure what the deal is. Not definite it's a tecnico turn even if it is him, since they've been teasing Zorro running a coup on Konnan at some point. They tape two weeks of TV in the next few days (TripleMania won't be on TV, so they've got to have something else for next Sunday), so perhaps it'll be clear soon.
Show started at 830PM local, did not end until 1250AM. Defintiely not a sell out, early guesses were at 85% full.
Dana White sbrocca in conferenza stampa!
Durante la post-fight press conference, Dana White ne aveva molte da dire nei confronti di Mirko Cro Cop, giacchè quest'ultimo ha firmato in segreto un contratto per 3 incontri con la Dream.
La notizia di Cro Cop, il quale aveva parlato di un run per l'UFC heavyweight title con Dana White, è uscita in Giappone Venerdì, con il manager Ken Imai a dare l'annuncio che Cro Cop avrebbe preso parte allo show del 20 Luglio. Il managment UFC non ha saputo niente di ciò fino alla scorsa notte e, data la morte di Misawa, la notizia non ha avuto risalto.
"Non è questa una cosa fottutamente sporca da fare?", commenta White "Mi ha fottuto. E'la prima volta nella storia della compagnia che faccio un accordo via telefono. Mi aveva promesso un accordo per tre incontri e mi ha fottuto."
White ha dichiarato che non farà più uso di Cro Cop dicendo, "Non ha mantenuto la sua parola. Mi ha parlato di onore ed altre stronzate e mi ha fottuto. Ha rifiutato ogni singolo avversario che gli ho proposto. Avevo bisogno che affrontasse Cain (Velasquez). Non ha solo accecato Al-Turk ha accecato me."
La notizia di Cro Cop, il quale aveva parlato di un run per l'UFC heavyweight title con Dana White, è uscita in Giappone Venerdì, con il manager Ken Imai a dare l'annuncio che Cro Cop avrebbe preso parte allo show del 20 Luglio. Il managment UFC non ha saputo niente di ciò fino alla scorsa notte e, data la morte di Misawa, la notizia non ha avuto risalto.
"Non è questa una cosa fottutamente sporca da fare?", commenta White "Mi ha fottuto. E'la prima volta nella storia della compagnia che faccio un accordo via telefono. Mi aveva promesso un accordo per tre incontri e mi ha fottuto."
White ha dichiarato che non farà più uso di Cro Cop dicendo, "Non ha mantenuto la sua parola. Mi ha parlato di onore ed altre stronzate e mi ha fottuto. Ha rifiutato ogni singolo avversario che gli ho proposto. Avevo bisogno che affrontasse Cain (Velasquez). Non ha solo accecato Al-Turk ha accecato me."
UFC 99 "live" report, in Italiano!!
Marcus Davis vs. Dan Hardy
Davis porta al tappeto Hardy, controllando buona parte del round ma senza mettere in pericolo più di tanto Hardy. Hardy, una volta in piedi sferra colpi importanti.
Hardy domina il secondo round partendo con una ginocchiata al mento di Davis e con un pò di ground and pound. Ritornati in piedi si cambiano una bella serie di pugni, con Davis che prende il sopravvento ed effettua un takedown a fine round.
All'inizio del terzo round Davis atterra Hardy. Prova senza successo ad applicare una ankle lock ed una heel hook. Una volta in piedi, Hardy colpisce ripetutamente con una serie di pugni il volto di Davis, causando ferite al naso e vicino all'occhio sinistro. Problemi alla vista per Davis giacchè il sangue esce copioso e gli finisce negli occhi.
Dan Hardy vince via split decision. Incredibilmente niente un unanimous per Hardy. La faccia di Marcus Davis è messa parecchio male a fine match.
Uno vs. Fisher.
L'incontro inizia molto lentamente. I fans ricoprono i due di fischi. Fisher ha la meglio nel primo round...se così si può dire.
Secondo round basato sul grappling. Ai Tedeschi pare non piaccia un granchè! Uno sferra un paio di buoni leg kicks. Ad un minuto dalla fine del terzo round, Uno effettua un takedown e pratica del ground and pound.
Match per i miei gusti brutto. Si sono annullati a vicenda per gran parte del tempo. Per mia sorpresa vince Fisher via unanimous. Nel terzo round Uno ha avuto la meglio, quindi una split, perlomeno, sarebbe stata più azzeccata.
Swick vs. Saunders.
Primo round un pò statico, con Swick che domina al tappeto e con dei body punches. Trash talking fra i due con Swick che dice a Saundres se ha intenzione di tenerlo tutta la serata, con quest'ultimo che replica intimandogli di alzarsi. Saunders lento e prevedibile. Ad 1:30 dalla fine del secondo round Swick sferra una serie velocissima di destri alla tempia di Saunders e lo finisce al tappeto con il sinistro. Vince via TKO Mike Quick Swick.
Mirko Cro Cop vs. Mostapha Al Turk
Wild boys! A 2:30 dalla fine del primo round Mirko Cro Cop arriva vicinissmo alla vittoria con una serie di destri che mettono al tappeto Mostapha, ma quest'ultimo riesci ad alzarsi. Dieci secondi dopo accidentalmente Cro Cop prende con le dita l'occhio sinistro di Mostapha e poi lo atterra con una serie veloce di pugni. Peccato per il finale. Cro Cop vince via TKO.
Kongo vs. Velasquez.
La storia di questo incontro vede Kongo avere la meglio 2-3 volte assestando qualche pugno importante, ma con Velasquez che domina instancabile le varie fasi al tappeto, senza fare danni eccessivi, ma certamente debilitando l'avversario. Velasquez vince giustamente via unanimous decision.
Rich Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva
Primo round non male. Franklin leggermente in vantaggio come danni effettuati. Silva a fine round respira molto pesantemente. Franklin pare in forma e dice ai suoi che crede di aver rotto il naso di Silva.
Nel secondo round Silva mette in serie pericolo Franklin con un destro, ma questi riesce a scamparla. Franklin riesce a far cadere su un ginocchio Silva dopo avergli sferrato un poderoso calcio. Silva nuovamente fiacco.
Nel terzo round Silva chiede e riceve l'appoggio dei fans presenti. Franklin riesce ad effettuare un takedown a 0:30 dalla fine del terzo round, irritando visibilmente Silva. Quest'ultimo riesce a mettersi in piedi ed ha sferrare delle gomitate all'indietro.
Vincitore Rich Franklin.
Davis porta al tappeto Hardy, controllando buona parte del round ma senza mettere in pericolo più di tanto Hardy. Hardy, una volta in piedi sferra colpi importanti.
Hardy domina il secondo round partendo con una ginocchiata al mento di Davis e con un pò di ground and pound. Ritornati in piedi si cambiano una bella serie di pugni, con Davis che prende il sopravvento ed effettua un takedown a fine round.
All'inizio del terzo round Davis atterra Hardy. Prova senza successo ad applicare una ankle lock ed una heel hook. Una volta in piedi, Hardy colpisce ripetutamente con una serie di pugni il volto di Davis, causando ferite al naso e vicino all'occhio sinistro. Problemi alla vista per Davis giacchè il sangue esce copioso e gli finisce negli occhi.
Dan Hardy vince via split decision. Incredibilmente niente un unanimous per Hardy. La faccia di Marcus Davis è messa parecchio male a fine match.
Uno vs. Fisher.
L'incontro inizia molto lentamente. I fans ricoprono i due di fischi. Fisher ha la meglio nel primo round...se così si può dire.
Secondo round basato sul grappling. Ai Tedeschi pare non piaccia un granchè! Uno sferra un paio di buoni leg kicks. Ad un minuto dalla fine del terzo round, Uno effettua un takedown e pratica del ground and pound.
Match per i miei gusti brutto. Si sono annullati a vicenda per gran parte del tempo. Per mia sorpresa vince Fisher via unanimous. Nel terzo round Uno ha avuto la meglio, quindi una split, perlomeno, sarebbe stata più azzeccata.
Swick vs. Saunders.
Primo round un pò statico, con Swick che domina al tappeto e con dei body punches. Trash talking fra i due con Swick che dice a Saundres se ha intenzione di tenerlo tutta la serata, con quest'ultimo che replica intimandogli di alzarsi. Saunders lento e prevedibile. Ad 1:30 dalla fine del secondo round Swick sferra una serie velocissima di destri alla tempia di Saunders e lo finisce al tappeto con il sinistro. Vince via TKO Mike Quick Swick.
Mirko Cro Cop vs. Mostapha Al Turk
Wild boys! A 2:30 dalla fine del primo round Mirko Cro Cop arriva vicinissmo alla vittoria con una serie di destri che mettono al tappeto Mostapha, ma quest'ultimo riesci ad alzarsi. Dieci secondi dopo accidentalmente Cro Cop prende con le dita l'occhio sinistro di Mostapha e poi lo atterra con una serie veloce di pugni. Peccato per il finale. Cro Cop vince via TKO.
Kongo vs. Velasquez.
La storia di questo incontro vede Kongo avere la meglio 2-3 volte assestando qualche pugno importante, ma con Velasquez che domina instancabile le varie fasi al tappeto, senza fare danni eccessivi, ma certamente debilitando l'avversario. Velasquez vince giustamente via unanimous decision.
Rich Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva
Primo round non male. Franklin leggermente in vantaggio come danni effettuati. Silva a fine round respira molto pesantemente. Franklin pare in forma e dice ai suoi che crede di aver rotto il naso di Silva.
Nel secondo round Silva mette in serie pericolo Franklin con un destro, ma questi riesce a scamparla. Franklin riesce a far cadere su un ginocchio Silva dopo avergli sferrato un poderoso calcio. Silva nuovamente fiacco.
Nel terzo round Silva chiede e riceve l'appoggio dei fans presenti. Franklin riesce ad effettuare un takedown a 0:30 dalla fine del terzo round, irritando visibilmente Silva. Quest'ultimo riesce a mettersi in piedi ed ha sferrare delle gomitate all'indietro.
Vincitore Rich Franklin.
sabato 13 giugno 2009
Morto fondatore della NOAH Mitsuharu Misawa
A pochi giorni dal compiere 47 anni, Mitsuhau Misawa è morto dopo essere collassato sul ring a seguito di un back suplex.
Misawa stava lottando in un tag team match al Hiroshima Green Arena, in coppia con Go Shiozaki affrontando Bison Smith e Akitoshi Saito per i NOAH Global Honored Crown Tag Team championships. Dopo circa 20 minuti, saito ha eseguito un normale back suplex su Misawa e quest'ultimo, dopo aver ricevuto il colpo, non si è più rialzato.
L'intero roster ha circondato il ring cercando di rianimarlo. Il pubblico presente si è dapprima ammutolito e poi capendo che qualcosa non era andato per il verso giusto ha iniziato a gridare "Misawa".
Si pensa che Misawa possa aver subito un attacco cardiaco avendo smesso subito di respirare. Ha iniziato a diventare viola poco dopo, i soccorsi hanno cercato di rianimarlo ed in seguito è iniziata la corsa in ospedale.
Visto l'accaduto lo show è stato sospeso ed il roster è stato fatto risalire sui bus, dove più tardi sono stati informati del decesso di Misawa, morto alle ore 10:10 PM sull'ora del Giappone.
Low Ki commenta la morte di Misawa:"E' stata la prima persona che ho incontrato dopo il mio primo match titolato in NOAH e mi disse una cosa che contò molto per me "Ben fatto". E' stato un'onore far parte della sua compagnia. Non riesco a credere che se ne sia andato. non so cos'altro dire. E' terribile. Mi sento terribile."
Chris Hero:" I momenti nel ring sembravano un'eternità. Mai nell amia vita ho voluto lo spirito combattivo per accorrere una persona come questa sera. I fans gridavano Misawa Misawa Misawa. Loro volevano che il loro Eroe si rialzasse così fottutamente. Alzati soltanto. Forza. Sei troppo duro per questo. Troppo forte. Ho afferrato i suoi stivali e mi sono tenuto a loro sinchè non l'hanno portato via."
Misawa stava lottando in un tag team match al Hiroshima Green Arena, in coppia con Go Shiozaki affrontando Bison Smith e Akitoshi Saito per i NOAH Global Honored Crown Tag Team championships. Dopo circa 20 minuti, saito ha eseguito un normale back suplex su Misawa e quest'ultimo, dopo aver ricevuto il colpo, non si è più rialzato.
L'intero roster ha circondato il ring cercando di rianimarlo. Il pubblico presente si è dapprima ammutolito e poi capendo che qualcosa non era andato per il verso giusto ha iniziato a gridare "Misawa".
Si pensa che Misawa possa aver subito un attacco cardiaco avendo smesso subito di respirare. Ha iniziato a diventare viola poco dopo, i soccorsi hanno cercato di rianimarlo ed in seguito è iniziata la corsa in ospedale.
Visto l'accaduto lo show è stato sospeso ed il roster è stato fatto risalire sui bus, dove più tardi sono stati informati del decesso di Misawa, morto alle ore 10:10 PM sull'ora del Giappone.
Low Ki commenta la morte di Misawa:"E' stata la prima persona che ho incontrato dopo il mio primo match titolato in NOAH e mi disse una cosa che contò molto per me "Ben fatto". E' stato un'onore far parte della sua compagnia. Non riesco a credere che se ne sia andato. non so cos'altro dire. E' terribile. Mi sento terribile."
Chris Hero:" I momenti nel ring sembravano un'eternità. Mai nell amia vita ho voluto lo spirito combattivo per accorrere una persona come questa sera. I fans gridavano Misawa Misawa Misawa. Loro volevano che il loro Eroe si rialzasse così fottutamente. Alzati soltanto. Forza. Sei troppo duro per questo. Troppo forte. Ho afferrato i suoi stivali e mi sono tenuto a loro sinchè non l'hanno portato via."
Rey-WWE Update
Ad oggi, Rey Mysterio non ha chiesto di essere rilasciato dalla WWE. Vi sono vari problemi fra le due parti ma il wrestler resta nella fed. di Stamford.
Wrestling Observer non ha mai riportato notizie contrarie a quanto riportato sopra.
Wrestling Observer non ha mai riportato notizie contrarie a quanto riportato sopra.
UFC 99 weigh-in results
UFC 99 weigh-in results
Prelim matches
Rick Story (169) vs. John Hathaway (170)
Stefan Struve (248) vs. Denis Stojnic (241)
Roli Delgado (155) vs. Paul Kelly (156)
Paul Taylor (169) vs. Peer Sobotta (169)
Dale Hartt (156) vs. Dennis Siver (156)
Justin Buccholz (155) vs. Terry Etim (156)
Live show
Mostapha Al-Turk (236) vs. Mirko Cro Cop (233)
Caol Uno (155) vs. Spencer Fisher (154)
Dan Hardy (170) vs. Marcus Davis (171)
Ben Saunders (169) vs. Mike Swick (169)
Cheick Kongo (230) vs. Cain Velasquez (239)
Wanderlei Silva (194) vs. Rich Franklin (194)
Prelim matches
Rick Story (169) vs. John Hathaway (170)
Stefan Struve (248) vs. Denis Stojnic (241)
Roli Delgado (155) vs. Paul Kelly (156)
Paul Taylor (169) vs. Peer Sobotta (169)
Dale Hartt (156) vs. Dennis Siver (156)
Justin Buccholz (155) vs. Terry Etim (156)
Live show
Mostapha Al-Turk (236) vs. Mirko Cro Cop (233)
Caol Uno (155) vs. Spencer Fisher (154)
Dan Hardy (170) vs. Marcus Davis (171)
Ben Saunders (169) vs. Mike Swick (169)
Cheick Kongo (230) vs. Cain Velasquez (239)
Wanderlei Silva (194) vs. Rich Franklin (194)
mercoledì 10 giugno 2009
Location di Bound For Glory
La location di Bound For Glory verrà annunciata a Slammiversary. Fra le candidate: Dallas (terra della famiglia Carter), Los Angeles, Minneapolis.
martedì 9 giugno 2009
WWE Update
Umaga sta riferendo che ha lasciato la federazione per sua scelta. Ciò non è vero.
Batista dovrebbe tornare fra 5 mesi.
Per quanto riguarda il GM di Raw ad oggi non è stato deciso ancora il nome che sostituirà la dimissionaria Vickie Guerrero.
Nello scorso Raw, Michael Cole è rimasto in silenzio per circa 5 minuti, con Lawler che ha gestito il segmento con Batista da solo per quel periodo di tempo e chiamandolo svariate volte per nome. La decisione è stata presa direttamente da Vince McMahon, non essendo quest'ultimo fan di Cole.
La voce che circola è che Tommy Dreamer ha rinnovato con la WWE per altri 3-5 anni.
Batista dovrebbe tornare fra 5 mesi.
Per quanto riguarda il GM di Raw ad oggi non è stato deciso ancora il nome che sostituirà la dimissionaria Vickie Guerrero.
Nello scorso Raw, Michael Cole è rimasto in silenzio per circa 5 minuti, con Lawler che ha gestito il segmento con Batista da solo per quel periodo di tempo e chiamandolo svariate volte per nome. La decisione è stata presa direttamente da Vince McMahon, non essendo quest'ultimo fan di Cole.
La voce che circola è che Tommy Dreamer ha rinnovato con la WWE per altri 3-5 anni.
Mistico Update
In una recente intervista Mistico ha rilasciato questa dichiarazione:"Se dovessi lottare negli USA andrei nella federazione più importante, la WWE. Non penso che andrò in TNA o in altre federazioni minori. Se cambierò compagnia lo farò per approdare in una migliore.".
Backstage WWE movimentato
I writers WWE hanno ricevuto di recente una lista di wrestlers da escludere dal prossimo Raw che comprenderà i 3 brand. Molto probabilmente questo fatto è legato al wellness test.
La TNA in cerca di talenti dal Messico
Secondo quanto riportato da Superluchas, Hector Guerrero ha dichiarato che la TNA è interessata all'utilizzo di wrestlers della lucha libre. Sono stati fatti 2 nomi: Cibernetico e Mistico.
lunedì 8 giugno 2009
Impact Ratings
TNA Impact earned a 1.1 cable rating on 6/4 - a 0.81 in M18-49, a 0.58 in P18-49, a 0.71 in M18-34, and an average audience of 1.6 million viewers
Qtr hours:
.96
.97
1.00
1.09
1.28
1.26
1.13
1.18
Qtr hours:
.96
.97
1.00
1.09
1.28
1.26
1.13
1.18
CMLL 5/6/09 The Universal Champion Tournament links!!
CMLL 5/6/09 The Universal Champion Tournament!
Non-Tournament Main Event
Héctor Garza, Shocker, Volador Jr. VS Dos Caras Jr., Team No Limit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1KUduqf5xI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3HLH1hs0uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e_HedY7t20
16-Champion Tournament to crown a Universal Champion.
This week's the first half of single fall, one on one matches & next week's the second half.
Block A, Round One:
Mexican Trios Vs CMLL Super Lightweight
Black Warrior Vs Mascara Dorada
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxtWGiuoSlg
NWA Light Heavyweight Vs CMLL Trios
Texano Jr. vs Hijo del Fantasma
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8tBdvRhFgI
Mexican Trios Vs CMLL Middleweight & NWA Middleweight
Dragon Rojo Jr. vs Averno
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXbH_QjWPfA
Mexican Welterweight & Mexican Trios Vs NWA Welterweight & CMLL Tag Team
Sangre Azteca vs Sombra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rrszn3tKymc
Block A, Semi-Finals:
Match One
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoFujbLCBOc
Match Two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkxg2kqnRCc
Block A, Tournament Finals:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMc9pqxe5XY
Non-Tournament Opener
Heavy Metal, Misterioso Jr., Okumura VS La Máscara, Metro, Sagrado
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCHR5uUETFA&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db3FyG02B64&feature=channel_page
Non-Tournament Main Event
Héctor Garza, Shocker, Volador Jr. VS Dos Caras Jr., Team No Limit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1KUduqf5xI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3HLH1hs0uk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e_HedY7t20
16-Champion Tournament to crown a Universal Champion.
This week's the first half of single fall, one on one matches & next week's the second half.
Block A, Round One:
Mexican Trios Vs CMLL Super Lightweight
Black Warrior Vs Mascara Dorada
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxtWGiuoSlg
NWA Light Heavyweight Vs CMLL Trios
Texano Jr. vs Hijo del Fantasma
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8tBdvRhFgI
Mexican Trios Vs CMLL Middleweight & NWA Middleweight
Dragon Rojo Jr. vs Averno
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXbH_QjWPfA
Mexican Welterweight & Mexican Trios Vs NWA Welterweight & CMLL Tag Team
Sangre Azteca vs Sombra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rrszn3tKymc
Block A, Semi-Finals:
Match One
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoFujbLCBOc
Match Two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkxg2kqnRCc
Block A, Tournament Finals:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMc9pqxe5XY
Non-Tournament Opener
Heavy Metal, Misterioso Jr., Okumura VS La Máscara, Metro, Sagrado
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCHR5uUETFA&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db3FyG02B64&feature=channel_page
NOAH 6/4 links
Ricky Marvin VS KENTA:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K6HFFUON
Hero vs. Go
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=A1KURMPR
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K6HFFUON
Hero vs. Go
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=A1KURMPR
sabato 6 giugno 2009
TNA Wrestling - House Show: Abbotsford, BC, Canada
TNA Wrestling - House Show: Abbotsford, BC, Canada
by: Martin Hoh
The crowd was loud throughout the night. Jeremy Borash was introduced and he did a tremendous job hyping the crowd, getting the fans loud and hyping the free backstage passes that would be given to 5 or so super-TNA-fans.
Match 1: Suicide (c) vs Daniels for the X-Division Title
Suicide came out from the the crowd to his TNA theme while Daniels came out to the actual Marilyn Manson song "Disposable Teens". The match had (I believe) a 20 minute time limit and they reached the time limit. Jeremy Borash announced that it was a draw and stated that AJ Styles will have to pick one of the two wrestlers tonight to face for his Legends Title. Rudy Charles was the referee.
Match 2: Angelina Love (c) vs Taylor Wilde for the TNA Knockouts Title.
Earl Hebner was announced as the referee and he started posing on the ropes the way Stone Cold Steve Austin would. As Jeremy Borash noted on his twitter (twitter.com/jeremyborash), there were many "You Screwed Bret" chants. I think I was one of the first to yell that. During the match, Angelina Love got on the microphone and said she did not screw Bret. Angelina Love came out to her TNA theme while Taylor Wilde came out to the Blur song "Song 2".
During the match, Angelina Love was going to walk out of the match. JB announced that the referee said that if Angelina didn't go back into the ring by the count of 10, the Knockouts Title will be forfeited and Taylor Wilde would win. At the count of 7, Angelina was going to walk out and then Taylor went out and dragged her back into the ring. Angelina Love eventually won the match by putting her feet on the ropes. Earl Hebner raised Angelina Love's arms on the outside. Taylor Wilde was not happy and chased Earl/Angelina to the back.
Jeremy Borash got on the microphone and said AJ Styles was behind the curtain listening and is not sure who to face later tonight so he said he wants the fans to help him decide. JB asked if the fans wanted to see AJ vs Suicide - there were more boos. JB then asked if the fans wanted to see AJ vs Daniels to which the crowd cheered very loud.
Match 3: "The Blueprint" Matt Morgan vs "Showtime" Eric Young
Matt Morgan came out to Disturbed - "Down With The Sickness" while Eric Young came out to his TNA theme. Eric Young played the babyface with "Canada" on his pants. Matt Morgan was really playing the heel throughout the match. The match went back and forth with Morgan dominating a large portion of the match. Eric Young eventually put his Death Valley Driver on Matt Morgan and won the match clean.
Jeremy Borash then said that AJ Styles will be facing neither Suicide or Daniels. He will be facing both Suicide and Daniels in a 3-way later tonight for the Legends Title. He then told the fans to text "Backstage" to a 5 digit number as one lucky individual will get the opportunity to get backstage passes for the night. He also said that there will be a huge surprise at the end of the night. He said they will be taking a 15 minute intermission and after that there will be Spike TV cameras there to take video footage of the crowd.
- 15 minute intermission -
After the intermission, he brought the Spike TV cameras out and they filmed the crowd.
Match 4: "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles (c) vs Daniels and Suicide
During the match, Daniels got the mic and said "do you want me to punch AJ?". The crowd cheered. He then punched AJ and said he has one for Suicide too, to which he then hit Suicide. This was a match where all the wrestlers had the chance to put all their main moves in and out of the ring. Eventually, AJ Styles ended up hitting the Styles Clash on Daniels for the win.
After the match, AJ Styles grabbed the mic and talked about how the people in the arena were TNA fans! He said he feels like a legend because in the ring there were 3 of the greatest wrestlers. He shook Suicide's hand and asked the fans if he should punch Daniels in the face to which the crowd cheered for. Daniels was interacting with the crowd saying "No, Don't!". AJ then said "I'm going to do something better than punch you in the face, I'm going to offer you a handshake" to which he then shook Daniels' hand.
Match 5 - Main Event: Sheik Abdul Bashir & Beer Money vs "The King of The Mountain" Jeff Jarrett and Team 3D.
Sheik Abdul Bashir came out followed by Beer Money. Sheik grabbed the microphone and spoke in his language to Beer Money. James Storm then told a story: he said he had trouble coming to Canada and was stuck at customs. The people asked him questions and his alcolhol level was .18. They asked how often he drinks and he said he drank as much as stupid as the guy looked. He then said Canada is one of the filthiest places he has ever been in.
Robert Roode grabbed the microphone and then told James to back up because he was actually from Canada. He said the best part of coming to Abbotsford, BC was eventually leaving it. He took a few more shots at the fans and really generated some heel heat to the point of fans throwing popcorn and plastic cups into the ring. Sheik threw the popcorn back at the fans.
Team 3D and Jeff Jarrett then came out. Many "We want tables" chants erupted throughout the night. They fight and Sheik put on James Storm's Beer Money shirt, sunglasses and cowboy hat during the match. Brother Ray pulled James Storm's trunks down to the point his ass was revealed for a while. Jeff Jarrett then hit the stroke on one of the Beer Money wrestlers.
The babyfaces shoved each other about the tables. "1 2 3 - Get the tables!". Jeff Jarrett and Brother Devon grab a table out from under the ring. Most of the fans on the outside of the ringside seats swarmed to the ringside seats to see this. They put Sheik (I recall) through the table "3D" style and got the pin for the win.
Brother Ray got on the mic afterwards and asked the fans if they had a great time. He then called Earl Hebner back into the ring. Brother Ray said the fans don't like him very much. He said he doesn't like Earl, Devon doesn't like Earl, and the founder Jeff Jarrett couldn't stand him. Jeff Jarrett then punched Earl down to a pop. Earl was helped to the back.
Jeff Jarrett said he thinks Canadian fans were always passionate and that his best friend ever in the business was Canadian - Owen Hart. Fans started chanting "Owen" afterwards.
Jeremy Borash then said that the surprise was since not everyone could go backstage to meet all the wrestlers, they were going to bring backstage out. Team 3D would then stick around in the ring and take pictures with fans who paid $20. Daniels, Taylor Wilde, and Eric Young came out to sign autographs to those ringside. I didn't stick around too long afterwards but it was fun due to the crowd being rowdy and TNA did a very good job of keeping fans excited throughout the night and gave it an interactive feel. I was a little disappointed that Kurt Angle was not at the show but I had a good time."
by: Martin Hoh
The crowd was loud throughout the night. Jeremy Borash was introduced and he did a tremendous job hyping the crowd, getting the fans loud and hyping the free backstage passes that would be given to 5 or so super-TNA-fans.
Match 1: Suicide (c) vs Daniels for the X-Division Title
Suicide came out from the the crowd to his TNA theme while Daniels came out to the actual Marilyn Manson song "Disposable Teens". The match had (I believe) a 20 minute time limit and they reached the time limit. Jeremy Borash announced that it was a draw and stated that AJ Styles will have to pick one of the two wrestlers tonight to face for his Legends Title. Rudy Charles was the referee.
Match 2: Angelina Love (c) vs Taylor Wilde for the TNA Knockouts Title.
Earl Hebner was announced as the referee and he started posing on the ropes the way Stone Cold Steve Austin would. As Jeremy Borash noted on his twitter (twitter.com/jeremyborash), there were many "You Screwed Bret" chants. I think I was one of the first to yell that. During the match, Angelina Love got on the microphone and said she did not screw Bret. Angelina Love came out to her TNA theme while Taylor Wilde came out to the Blur song "Song 2".
During the match, Angelina Love was going to walk out of the match. JB announced that the referee said that if Angelina didn't go back into the ring by the count of 10, the Knockouts Title will be forfeited and Taylor Wilde would win. At the count of 7, Angelina was going to walk out and then Taylor went out and dragged her back into the ring. Angelina Love eventually won the match by putting her feet on the ropes. Earl Hebner raised Angelina Love's arms on the outside. Taylor Wilde was not happy and chased Earl/Angelina to the back.
Jeremy Borash got on the microphone and said AJ Styles was behind the curtain listening and is not sure who to face later tonight so he said he wants the fans to help him decide. JB asked if the fans wanted to see AJ vs Suicide - there were more boos. JB then asked if the fans wanted to see AJ vs Daniels to which the crowd cheered very loud.
Match 3: "The Blueprint" Matt Morgan vs "Showtime" Eric Young
Matt Morgan came out to Disturbed - "Down With The Sickness" while Eric Young came out to his TNA theme. Eric Young played the babyface with "Canada" on his pants. Matt Morgan was really playing the heel throughout the match. The match went back and forth with Morgan dominating a large portion of the match. Eric Young eventually put his Death Valley Driver on Matt Morgan and won the match clean.
Jeremy Borash then said that AJ Styles will be facing neither Suicide or Daniels. He will be facing both Suicide and Daniels in a 3-way later tonight for the Legends Title. He then told the fans to text "Backstage" to a 5 digit number as one lucky individual will get the opportunity to get backstage passes for the night. He also said that there will be a huge surprise at the end of the night. He said they will be taking a 15 minute intermission and after that there will be Spike TV cameras there to take video footage of the crowd.
- 15 minute intermission -
After the intermission, he brought the Spike TV cameras out and they filmed the crowd.
Match 4: "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles (c) vs Daniels and Suicide
During the match, Daniels got the mic and said "do you want me to punch AJ?". The crowd cheered. He then punched AJ and said he has one for Suicide too, to which he then hit Suicide. This was a match where all the wrestlers had the chance to put all their main moves in and out of the ring. Eventually, AJ Styles ended up hitting the Styles Clash on Daniels for the win.
After the match, AJ Styles grabbed the mic and talked about how the people in the arena were TNA fans! He said he feels like a legend because in the ring there were 3 of the greatest wrestlers. He shook Suicide's hand and asked the fans if he should punch Daniels in the face to which the crowd cheered for. Daniels was interacting with the crowd saying "No, Don't!". AJ then said "I'm going to do something better than punch you in the face, I'm going to offer you a handshake" to which he then shook Daniels' hand.
Match 5 - Main Event: Sheik Abdul Bashir & Beer Money vs "The King of The Mountain" Jeff Jarrett and Team 3D.
Sheik Abdul Bashir came out followed by Beer Money. Sheik grabbed the microphone and spoke in his language to Beer Money. James Storm then told a story: he said he had trouble coming to Canada and was stuck at customs. The people asked him questions and his alcolhol level was .18. They asked how often he drinks and he said he drank as much as stupid as the guy looked. He then said Canada is one of the filthiest places he has ever been in.
Robert Roode grabbed the microphone and then told James to back up because he was actually from Canada. He said the best part of coming to Abbotsford, BC was eventually leaving it. He took a few more shots at the fans and really generated some heel heat to the point of fans throwing popcorn and plastic cups into the ring. Sheik threw the popcorn back at the fans.
Team 3D and Jeff Jarrett then came out. Many "We want tables" chants erupted throughout the night. They fight and Sheik put on James Storm's Beer Money shirt, sunglasses and cowboy hat during the match. Brother Ray pulled James Storm's trunks down to the point his ass was revealed for a while. Jeff Jarrett then hit the stroke on one of the Beer Money wrestlers.
The babyfaces shoved each other about the tables. "1 2 3 - Get the tables!". Jeff Jarrett and Brother Devon grab a table out from under the ring. Most of the fans on the outside of the ringside seats swarmed to the ringside seats to see this. They put Sheik (I recall) through the table "3D" style and got the pin for the win.
Brother Ray got on the mic afterwards and asked the fans if they had a great time. He then called Earl Hebner back into the ring. Brother Ray said the fans don't like him very much. He said he doesn't like Earl, Devon doesn't like Earl, and the founder Jeff Jarrett couldn't stand him. Jeff Jarrett then punched Earl down to a pop. Earl was helped to the back.
Jeff Jarrett said he thinks Canadian fans were always passionate and that his best friend ever in the business was Canadian - Owen Hart. Fans started chanting "Owen" afterwards.
Jeremy Borash then said that the surprise was since not everyone could go backstage to meet all the wrestlers, they were going to bring backstage out. Team 3D would then stick around in the ring and take pictures with fans who paid $20. Daniels, Taylor Wilde, and Eric Young came out to sign autographs to those ringside. I didn't stick around too long afterwards but it was fun due to the crowd being rowdy and TNA did a very good job of keeping fans excited throughout the night and gave it an interactive feel. I was a little disappointed that Kurt Angle was not at the show but I had a good time."
Strikeforce weigh-in results
Srikeforce weigh-in results for tomorrow:
1. Robbie Lawler (182.75) vs. Jake Shields (181.75)
2. Andrei Arlovski (244) vs. Brett Rogers (262)
3. Nick Diaz (179) vs. Scott Smith (179.5)
4. Phil Baroni (168.75) vs. Joe Riggs (170)
5. Kevin Randleman (204) vs. Mike Whitehead (206)
a. Josh Bumgarner (173.5) vs. Jesse Finney (175.75)
b. Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante (205.5) vs. Mike Kyle (202.5)
c. Booker DeRousse (204.25) vs. James Wade (205.25)
d. Tyron Woodley (170.5) vs. Sal Woods (169.25)
e. Lucas Lopes (186) vs. Scott Ventimiglia (185)
f. Dave Cochran (153) vs. Pat Benson (155.75)