By Ian Hamilton
They used the same setup as the rest of the tour - six sides, video
screen and scroller, plus the Ultimate X structure.
Beautiful People beat Sarits and Wilde after Velvet used perfume...
Hamada was guest ref...
Desmond Wolfe over The Pope... Tower of London won it. Both guys over
huge, Pope worked heel.
Samoa Joe and Hernandez over Eric Young and Rhino when Joe hit the
muscle buster on Eric.
Beer Money beat 3D and Magnus/Terry after Magnus took a suplex
powerbomb. Post match 3D put Terry thru a table. British Invasion
worked as heels... 3D put over Beer Money huge too...
IDoug Williams retained X Division title in insane ultimate x match vs
Suicide, Sabin, Red and Daniels. Plenty of crazy spots - Daniels got
slammed onto the structure above the X before Suicide dropped and got
crotches on the cable as Williams grabbed the belt.
AJ Styles retained TNA title over Kurt Angle after a brainbuster on
the belt. Ref bumps ahoy... Earl Hebner came in to slow count Kurt,
then he got the ankle lock. Decent match but not what they can do.
Decent show but not as special or a hot a crowd as last year.
Ian Hamilton
domenica 31 gennaio 2010
Strikeforce live coverage from Sunrise, FL, Walker, Lashley, Diaz
dave@wrestlingobserver.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Welcome to our live coverage of the Strikeforce show in Sunrise, FL at the BankAtlantic Center.
We’re looking for your thoughts 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
John Kelly finished Sabah Homasi in the second round with a choke
Hayder Hasan vs. Ryan Keenan
Hassan, who looks like a tank, like another Thiago Alves physically, connected with some
punches and Keenan went down. Hassan threw some punches on the ground and now wants
Keenan back up. . Hassan throwing wildly looking for a finish but didn’t connect with anything
solid. Hassan 10-9
Hassan knocked him down with a left to the jaw and it’s over.
Marcos DaMatta vs. Pablo Alfonso
DaMatta is the first guy the crowd seems to really know. He’s an ATT 140-pounder. DaMatta
got a takedown but is immediately caught in a guillotine. DaMatta out but then Alfonso got him
in an armbar and it was over for something of an upset by submitting an experienced BJJ guy.
Craig Oxley vs. David Gomez
Both these guys came in 0-2. Scores were 30-27 for Gomez across the board, some booing of the
decision but not much..
John Clarke vs. Joe Ray
Ray with a knee to the chin and punches on the ground and the ref stopped it. Both men were
making their pro debuts.
Joe Riggs vs. Jay Hieron
Slow first round. Hireron was more active but crowd was quiet and not much into it. All
standing and not a lot of action. 10-9 Hieron
Hieron got a takedown and throwing a lot of punches to the ribs. He continues to work the body
while in Riggs’ guard. He’s now working the other side of the body and a few to the head but
mostly the body. Crowd getting restless and starting to boo. He’s continuing to pound the body
and will easily win the round. He had some good shots to the head with 30 seconds left Riggs
up with 13 seconds left in the round. Round is all Hieron. 20-18
Riggs hurt Hireron with a punch. Riggs took him right down. Looks like Hieron’s left eye is
bleeding. Now Riggs is cut from a blow on the ground. I couldn’t tell what it was but there’s
blood all over Riggs’s fade and body. Riggs is having trouble seeing. Bad swelling near Riggs’
left eye as well. Hieron knocked Riggs down with a left. Now on top throwing body punches.
Riggs trying to get a Kimura from the bottom. He’s knows if he doesn’t he’s losing. Riggs
bleeding from the nose as well by this point. Blood all over Riggs’ body. Ref stood them up.
It’s over, easy 30-27 for Hieron.
Crowd has been pretty dead most of the night. Lower level pretty full, nobody up top. Show was
set up for 8,000 and it’s pretty close to that.
They are announcing stars in attendance. Cain Velasquez - little reaction. GSP - big reaction.
Gegard Mousasi some reaction. Gilbert Melendez - very little reaction. Scott Smith - slightly
more than Gilbert, but both almost nothing. Josh Thomson - crickets. King Mo - a little more
than crickets. Brett Rogers - less than Thomson. Cung Le - not much but more than the last few.
Dan Henderson - big reaction. Really scary the lack of reaction at a Strikeforce show to the
Strikeforce stars.
Undercard was lackluster and crowd has been almost completely dead all night.
A few times on the undercard they played a tape telling people that they don’t need to pay $50 to
see fights when they can see them on Strikeforce. I wonder what that’s supposed to be about.
Hieron’s eye is a mess and Riggs did suffer a broken nose.
Bobby Lashley vs. Wes Sims
Sims not looking in shape, but at least hasn’t lost any of his height. I think 52 year old Brutus
Beefcake is the better cosmetically conditioned Brutus Beefcake today. Sims is posing like he’s
Hogan and nobody is reacting. Bobby Lashley predicts a fast finish. He’d better.
People reacted to Sims like he’s an opening match heel. Lashley got a reaction, but not as big as
you’d think. Sims doing more posing to no reaction. Sims wants a test of strength mocking
Lashley. Nobody got it. Lashley got the double leg takedodwn. And he’s punching Sims in the
face over and over again. Lashley trying to pass guard but didn’t accomplish that. Lashley
throwing more punches to the head. More punches to the head. Sims is in trouble. Sims turned
his back. Lashley kept pounding on him and the ref stopped it. It was a good stoppage but Sims
is up complaing to the ref about the stoppage of course.
Lashley thanked Sims for taking the fight on short notice.
Robbie Lawler vs. Melvin Manhoef
Manhoef is dancing to the ring. If this was any other crowd they’d be into him. But they have no
idea who he is. Manhoef is smaller than when he fights in Japan.
Manhoef with a kick to the body. Lawler threw a kick to the body. Slower start then expected.
Crowd actually almost ready to boo when Manhoef threw a wicked kick to the body. Low kick
by Manhoef. Manhoef threw a few punches and a body kick. Another low kickby Manhoef.
Manhoef with punches and kicks. He’s killing his legs and just taking hin apart. Lawler is in a
lot of trouble. Manhoef with more punches. Lawler’s right leg is shot. Another kick to the right
leg. And another. Lawler then knocked him cold with a right out of nowhere. Freaking Scott
Smith finish. Tremendous. It was a right to the jaw out of nowhere which stagged him and as he
was falling, a left knocked him cold.
Crowd now going crazy. That finish turned the show around. Everyone has been
“I kept my hands up, his hands seem to drop when he goes to finish guys. He was kicking the
crap out of my leg.” Quadros asked him about JakeShields and Lawler couldn’t have done a
worse follow-up saying he’ll take this win and wants to rest up.
God do they hate Rex Ryan. He’s got Matt Serra in Montreal heat. These fans don’t know any
fighters, but they know football coaches. He got twice the reaction of GSP or Dan Henderson.
Herschel Walker vs. Greg Nagy (pronounced Nuj)
Walker physically looks amazing. Walker got a nice ovation, now overwhelming. Walker looks
fit to be tied. Walker’s stand up is rigid. His low kicks are working. He’s dancing like he’s
Rufus Jones. Hey, Herschel was a huge Dusty Rhodes fan in the day. Walker took him down
from a front headlock position. . He got his back. . Now is punching fom the top in mount.
Nagy defendig well at this poin. Nagy tried an ankle lock but Walker escpaed. Walker has him
pinned on the ground but not doing damage right now. Some punches to the head, but not hard.
Nagy will survive the round. Easily Walker 10-9. They just showed GSP and the place went
nuts.
Low kick by Walker. Nice takedown by Walker. Walker has his back and has Nagy flattened.
Now he’s on top in full mount. He is showing that he’s a beginner when it comes to finisheing
skills. Nagy got to his feet. The crowd is screaming knee and he threw the knee. Walker got
him back down. Walker has his back again. Walker has him flatened out but seems to have no
idea how to finish hiim. He’s throwing some punches to the side of the head. Walker got mount
and beat him up with punches but no finishing power.
Nagy out with punches and Walker has him pinned against the cage and took him down again.
Crowd is now booing. Nagy tried an armbar but Walker escaped. Crowd booing now. He has a
full mount but doesn’t have the punching power to finish. He’s throwing a lot of punches and
Nagy isn’t getting out of the position, but the punches aren’t that hard. Now Walker is pounding
the body. It was stopped and Walker is the winner. Really shouldn’t have been stopped. Total
flat stoppage. The crowd is mostly giving Walker polite applause. Not a good fight but it was
amazing his conditioning at his age.
“The experience was exciting. Let me thank my opponent because it’s tough to fight an old
man,” Walker said..
“This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
Said it would be up the fighters at AKA and Javier Mendez is he should continue.
Cris Cyborg vs. Marloes Coenen for the women’s world lightweight title
Nobody knows Coenen at all. About 20% of the crowd popped for Cyborg. The rest don’t seem
to know her.
Coenen looks in great condition. Cyborg’s reaction much less than Lashley or Walker. The
physical difference isn’t as pronounced as it was six weeks ago. Coenen got her into the cage
and Cybog turned her. Coeneen turned Cyborg against the cage. Cyborg isn’t outmuscling her at
this point. Cyborg turned her back. Coenen threw a punch off the clinch. Cyborg hit a good
punch and they are in a clinch. Cyborg got the takedown. Cyborg scored with a few punches.
Cyborg with some more punches. Up kick by Coenen. Coenen back standing. Trading punches
and Cyborg unloading. Coenen back but Cyborg landing more. Coenen clinched and pulled
Cyborg into the cage. Coenen stomping on her foot. Coenen threw a punch off the break
butCyborg getting the better of the stand up. Nice spin kick by Cyborg at the end of the round.
10-9 Cyborg.
Cyborg threw her down and is now kicking the legs with Coenen on her back. Cyborg on top
punching. Cyborg went for a power bomb but Coenen blocked it. Cyborg went to the ground
with her. Coenen got back up. Cyborg with a combo. Good left by Cyborg. Another combo by
Cyborg. Coenen tried a takedown but couldn’t get it. Coenen seemed to pull guard. She was
thinking triangle but didn’t come close. More punches from the top by Cyborg and then she
jumped back to her feet. Cyborg’s round easily 20-18
Cyborg seems in better condition. Coenen went for a takedown, didn’t get it but does have
Cyborg against the cage. Cyborg now throwing punches against the cage and took Coenen back
down. Body punches by Cyborg. Cyborg hammering down punches. Coenen did an up kick to
the knee that Cyborg was staggered by. Coenen threw her best punch and Cyborg reacted but
she’s still attacking. Coenen went for the takedown, but Cyborg is on top unloading. It may end
here. Finally it was stopped by ref George Ortiz with Cyborg as the winner retaining the title. It
was pretty much a one-sided match, with Cyborg being too physically strong.. It was the least
exciting Cyborg fight, or for that matter, major promotion women’s fight in the past few years.
Nick Diaz vs. Marius Zaromskis for the Strikeforce welterweight title
Big staredown. Trading punches right away. Diaz already has Zaromskis hurt. More trading
and a knee by Zaromskis. Diaz thinking takedown. Diaz with lots of knees to the right thigh.
Must be like two dozen of them. Zaraomskis doing nothing to block them. He’s just standing
there taking the knees. Diaz got him down but Zaromskis back up. Now trading against. Diaz’s
reach plaitng a big part here but Zaromskis knocked him down with a punch and he’s got his
back. Diaz back up. Low kick by Zaromskis. Trading punches and now Diaz getting better of it.
Diaz chant. First time crowd has come to life during a match except for the KO by Lawler. Diaz
hurting Zaromskis with punches. Diaz going to the head and body. Diaz has him hurt bad, firing
away to the head and body as the round is coming to a close. Diaz put him down and it’s over.
Good performance by Diaz.
Welcome to our live coverage of the Strikeforce show in Sunrise, FL at the BankAtlantic Center.
We’re looking for your thoughts 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
John Kelly finished Sabah Homasi in the second round with a choke
Hayder Hasan vs. Ryan Keenan
Hassan, who looks like a tank, like another Thiago Alves physically, connected with some
punches and Keenan went down. Hassan threw some punches on the ground and now wants
Keenan back up. . Hassan throwing wildly looking for a finish but didn’t connect with anything
solid. Hassan 10-9
Hassan knocked him down with a left to the jaw and it’s over.
Marcos DaMatta vs. Pablo Alfonso
DaMatta is the first guy the crowd seems to really know. He’s an ATT 140-pounder. DaMatta
got a takedown but is immediately caught in a guillotine. DaMatta out but then Alfonso got him
in an armbar and it was over for something of an upset by submitting an experienced BJJ guy.
Craig Oxley vs. David Gomez
Both these guys came in 0-2. Scores were 30-27 for Gomez across the board, some booing of the
decision but not much..
John Clarke vs. Joe Ray
Ray with a knee to the chin and punches on the ground and the ref stopped it. Both men were
making their pro debuts.
Joe Riggs vs. Jay Hieron
Slow first round. Hireron was more active but crowd was quiet and not much into it. All
standing and not a lot of action. 10-9 Hieron
Hieron got a takedown and throwing a lot of punches to the ribs. He continues to work the body
while in Riggs’ guard. He’s now working the other side of the body and a few to the head but
mostly the body. Crowd getting restless and starting to boo. He’s continuing to pound the body
and will easily win the round. He had some good shots to the head with 30 seconds left Riggs
up with 13 seconds left in the round. Round is all Hieron. 20-18
Riggs hurt Hireron with a punch. Riggs took him right down. Looks like Hieron’s left eye is
bleeding. Now Riggs is cut from a blow on the ground. I couldn’t tell what it was but there’s
blood all over Riggs’s fade and body. Riggs is having trouble seeing. Bad swelling near Riggs’
left eye as well. Hieron knocked Riggs down with a left. Now on top throwing body punches.
Riggs trying to get a Kimura from the bottom. He’s knows if he doesn’t he’s losing. Riggs
bleeding from the nose as well by this point. Blood all over Riggs’ body. Ref stood them up.
It’s over, easy 30-27 for Hieron.
Crowd has been pretty dead most of the night. Lower level pretty full, nobody up top. Show was
set up for 8,000 and it’s pretty close to that.
They are announcing stars in attendance. Cain Velasquez - little reaction. GSP - big reaction.
Gegard Mousasi some reaction. Gilbert Melendez - very little reaction. Scott Smith - slightly
more than Gilbert, but both almost nothing. Josh Thomson - crickets. King Mo - a little more
than crickets. Brett Rogers - less than Thomson. Cung Le - not much but more than the last few.
Dan Henderson - big reaction. Really scary the lack of reaction at a Strikeforce show to the
Strikeforce stars.
Undercard was lackluster and crowd has been almost completely dead all night.
A few times on the undercard they played a tape telling people that they don’t need to pay $50 to
see fights when they can see them on Strikeforce. I wonder what that’s supposed to be about.
Hieron’s eye is a mess and Riggs did suffer a broken nose.
Bobby Lashley vs. Wes Sims
Sims not looking in shape, but at least hasn’t lost any of his height. I think 52 year old Brutus
Beefcake is the better cosmetically conditioned Brutus Beefcake today. Sims is posing like he’s
Hogan and nobody is reacting. Bobby Lashley predicts a fast finish. He’d better.
People reacted to Sims like he’s an opening match heel. Lashley got a reaction, but not as big as
you’d think. Sims doing more posing to no reaction. Sims wants a test of strength mocking
Lashley. Nobody got it. Lashley got the double leg takedodwn. And he’s punching Sims in the
face over and over again. Lashley trying to pass guard but didn’t accomplish that. Lashley
throwing more punches to the head. More punches to the head. Sims is in trouble. Sims turned
his back. Lashley kept pounding on him and the ref stopped it. It was a good stoppage but Sims
is up complaing to the ref about the stoppage of course.
Lashley thanked Sims for taking the fight on short notice.
Robbie Lawler vs. Melvin Manhoef
Manhoef is dancing to the ring. If this was any other crowd they’d be into him. But they have no
idea who he is. Manhoef is smaller than when he fights in Japan.
Manhoef with a kick to the body. Lawler threw a kick to the body. Slower start then expected.
Crowd actually almost ready to boo when Manhoef threw a wicked kick to the body. Low kick
by Manhoef. Manhoef threw a few punches and a body kick. Another low kickby Manhoef.
Manhoef with punches and kicks. He’s killing his legs and just taking hin apart. Lawler is in a
lot of trouble. Manhoef with more punches. Lawler’s right leg is shot. Another kick to the right
leg. And another. Lawler then knocked him cold with a right out of nowhere. Freaking Scott
Smith finish. Tremendous. It was a right to the jaw out of nowhere which stagged him and as he
was falling, a left knocked him cold.
Crowd now going crazy. That finish turned the show around. Everyone has been
“I kept my hands up, his hands seem to drop when he goes to finish guys. He was kicking the
crap out of my leg.” Quadros asked him about JakeShields and Lawler couldn’t have done a
worse follow-up saying he’ll take this win and wants to rest up.
God do they hate Rex Ryan. He’s got Matt Serra in Montreal heat. These fans don’t know any
fighters, but they know football coaches. He got twice the reaction of GSP or Dan Henderson.
Herschel Walker vs. Greg Nagy (pronounced Nuj)
Walker physically looks amazing. Walker got a nice ovation, now overwhelming. Walker looks
fit to be tied. Walker’s stand up is rigid. His low kicks are working. He’s dancing like he’s
Rufus Jones. Hey, Herschel was a huge Dusty Rhodes fan in the day. Walker took him down
from a front headlock position. . He got his back. . Now is punching fom the top in mount.
Nagy defendig well at this poin. Nagy tried an ankle lock but Walker escpaed. Walker has him
pinned on the ground but not doing damage right now. Some punches to the head, but not hard.
Nagy will survive the round. Easily Walker 10-9. They just showed GSP and the place went
nuts.
Low kick by Walker. Nice takedown by Walker. Walker has his back and has Nagy flattened.
Now he’s on top in full mount. He is showing that he’s a beginner when it comes to finisheing
skills. Nagy got to his feet. The crowd is screaming knee and he threw the knee. Walker got
him back down. Walker has his back again. Walker has him flatened out but seems to have no
idea how to finish hiim. He’s throwing some punches to the side of the head. Walker got mount
and beat him up with punches but no finishing power.
Nagy out with punches and Walker has him pinned against the cage and took him down again.
Crowd is now booing. Nagy tried an armbar but Walker escaped. Crowd booing now. He has a
full mount but doesn’t have the punching power to finish. He’s throwing a lot of punches and
Nagy isn’t getting out of the position, but the punches aren’t that hard. Now Walker is pounding
the body. It was stopped and Walker is the winner. Really shouldn’t have been stopped. Total
flat stoppage. The crowd is mostly giving Walker polite applause. Not a good fight but it was
amazing his conditioning at his age.
“The experience was exciting. Let me thank my opponent because it’s tough to fight an old
man,” Walker said..
“This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
Said it would be up the fighters at AKA and Javier Mendez is he should continue.
Cris Cyborg vs. Marloes Coenen for the women’s world lightweight title
Nobody knows Coenen at all. About 20% of the crowd popped for Cyborg. The rest don’t seem
to know her.
Coenen looks in great condition. Cyborg’s reaction much less than Lashley or Walker. The
physical difference isn’t as pronounced as it was six weeks ago. Coenen got her into the cage
and Cybog turned her. Coeneen turned Cyborg against the cage. Cyborg isn’t outmuscling her at
this point. Cyborg turned her back. Coenen threw a punch off the clinch. Cyborg hit a good
punch and they are in a clinch. Cyborg got the takedown. Cyborg scored with a few punches.
Cyborg with some more punches. Up kick by Coenen. Coenen back standing. Trading punches
and Cyborg unloading. Coenen back but Cyborg landing more. Coenen clinched and pulled
Cyborg into the cage. Coenen stomping on her foot. Coenen threw a punch off the break
butCyborg getting the better of the stand up. Nice spin kick by Cyborg at the end of the round.
10-9 Cyborg.
Cyborg threw her down and is now kicking the legs with Coenen on her back. Cyborg on top
punching. Cyborg went for a power bomb but Coenen blocked it. Cyborg went to the ground
with her. Coenen got back up. Cyborg with a combo. Good left by Cyborg. Another combo by
Cyborg. Coenen tried a takedown but couldn’t get it. Coenen seemed to pull guard. She was
thinking triangle but didn’t come close. More punches from the top by Cyborg and then she
jumped back to her feet. Cyborg’s round easily 20-18
Cyborg seems in better condition. Coenen went for a takedown, didn’t get it but does have
Cyborg against the cage. Cyborg now throwing punches against the cage and took Coenen back
down. Body punches by Cyborg. Cyborg hammering down punches. Coenen did an up kick to
the knee that Cyborg was staggered by. Coenen threw her best punch and Cyborg reacted but
she’s still attacking. Coenen went for the takedown, but Cyborg is on top unloading. It may end
here. Finally it was stopped by ref George Ortiz with Cyborg as the winner retaining the title. It
was pretty much a one-sided match, with Cyborg being too physically strong.. It was the least
exciting Cyborg fight, or for that matter, major promotion women’s fight in the past few years.
Nick Diaz vs. Marius Zaromskis for the Strikeforce welterweight title
Big staredown. Trading punches right away. Diaz already has Zaromskis hurt. More trading
and a knee by Zaromskis. Diaz thinking takedown. Diaz with lots of knees to the right thigh.
Must be like two dozen of them. Zaraomskis doing nothing to block them. He’s just standing
there taking the knees. Diaz got him down but Zaromskis back up. Now trading against. Diaz’s
reach plaitng a big part here but Zaromskis knocked him down with a punch and he’s got his
back. Diaz back up. Low kick by Zaromskis. Trading punches and now Diaz getting better of it.
Diaz chant. First time crowd has come to life during a match except for the KO by Lawler. Diaz
hurting Zaromskis with punches. Diaz going to the head and body. Diaz has him hurt bad, firing
away to the head and body as the round is coming to a close. Diaz put him down and it’s over.
Good performance by Diaz.
sabato 30 gennaio 2010
TNA House Show in Manchester, England, U.K.
TNA House Show in Manchester, England, U.K. (plus bonus Rob Terry on BBC2 Wales' 'Sports Wales' feature recap, broadcast tonight).
Friday, 29th January, 2010
By Stephen Lyon.
This was the penultimate date on TNA's European tour, that began in France last weekend. It was their second visit to the Manchester Evening News Arena, having held a show here last year. The entire upper tier of the 20,000 seater arena was blocked off tonight, as was just over a third of the bottom tier on one side. My estimate would be that there were around 5000 fans in attendance, probably no more than 6000 tops. There weren't that many empty seats visible, so they did a good job making the smaller version of the arena seem packed. There was a large video screen above the entrance, playing the entrance videos of each wrestler, and one of those WWE-esque annoying electronic marquee boards over the ring, constantly scrolling either the name of the wrestler or match, or 'Bravo', the name of the tv company that carries TNA in the U.K. For all the recent rumours regarding the future of TNA on Bravo (and Dixie Carter's recent tweets have confirmed some sort of new U.K. tv deal is being worked on), there were tons of Bravo advertising everywhere surrounding this event, with the logo displayed constantly on the big screen, on the marquee and on the programme. There were several merchandise stalls in the concourse doing big business, selling TNA dvds and a variety of t-shirts, notably the grey Barack Obama-spoof 'Change' Hulk Hogan t-shirt, 2 different AJ Styles t-shirts, 2 different Beer Money t-shirts, a new Desmond Wolfe black and purple soccer shirt, plus Team 3D, Suicide, British Invasion, Samoa Joe, Motor City Machine Guns and Beautiful People t-shirts. The lamest pieces of merchandise were these cheap cardboard face masks of Hulk Hogan, AJ Styles and Suicide, selling for £5 a mask.
The crowd were super hot all night. There were some young kids in the crowd, but there were noticeably more adult fans present than those who typically attend WWE shows. There were no special appearances by Shaun Wright Phillips, Stephen Ireland or any other local sportsmen or women, as speculated in the U.K. media (Daily Star newspaper) earlier today.
Show opened with Jeremy Borash coming to the ring with entrance music. At the same time, Earl Hebner's entrance video played by mistake on the big screen. TNA! Borash then introduced Earl 'the most controversial referee in history' Hebner, to the expected boos and 'You screwed Bret' chants.
1) Amazing Red defeated Suicide and Chris Sabin in a three way match to open the show. Pretty much a crowd pleasing spotfest. Lots of cool high flying moves, including Red attempting a springboard huracanrana off the top rope on to Sabin, only for Suicide to take out both guys with a crossbody block from the opposite side of the ring. After many nearfalls, Red picked up the pinfall win with a Canadian Destroyer on Suicide in around 8 minutes.
2) TNA Global Champion, Rob Terry defeated Eric Young to retain the title. Before the match, Borash introduced Terry as 'one of the most promising British wrestlers for a long time'. I was laughing hard at that one. Terry came out and got a big pop at first, and despite being a babyface for this whole deal, started doing Chris Masters-esque bodybuilding poses. Young did some heel mic work to establish the roles in the match, but just a few minutes in, Terry started getting the 'You can't wrestle' catcalls. He reminded me of an uncharismatic Ultimate Warrior, circa 1987. This match was pretty bad. Crowd amused themselves by chanting 'You sold t-shirts' at Hebner, which at least was somewhat original and amusing. Terry won after 5 hours (sorry, actually minutes, but it seemed longer) with a powerslam.
3) 'The Pope' D'Angelo Dinero defeated Rhino. Both guys were heavily cheered coming out, but Rhino did mic work to try and turn himself heel. Even with this, it was still 70/30 in favour of Pope, with duelling 'Pope is Pimpin/Lets go Rhino' chants for several minutes. This was an entertaining match. Finish saw Rhino miss with a gore in the corner and Pope hit a neckbreaker to pin Rhino in about 8 or 9 minutes.
BAIT AND SWITCH TIME!
Next came a Ladder Match for the TNA World Title. Or so 5000 fans thought. For several months, TNA had billed a four man ladder match for the TNA title between AJ Styles, Chris Daniels, Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle as the feature match up on this particular show. London tomorrow night has an Ultimate X match, and tonight we were supposed to have a ladder match. It had been in all the print advertising, on TNA's website, and on a tv commercial carried during WWE programming in recent weeks.
A cable with a hook to hold the title belt lowered from the ceiling. A red ladder was placed in the ring. I'm no detective, but my suspicions were immediately aroused by the fact that this ladder only had rungs on one side, ruling out any dramatic duelling climbs. Chris Daniels, Hernandez (so no Kurt Angle in this match, as advertised), and Samoa Joe came out. A.J. Styles came out last to a big crowd pop. Styles got on the mic and cut a heel promo, stopping a ringside worker from hanging his TNA title belt on the cable in the ring. Styles said that he never agreed to defend his title in a ladder match, and that he'd been on the phone all day with Ric Flair and the lawyers, and that they all agreed he shouldn't defend the title in such a dangerous match. He then went to walk out. Dixie Carter, sat in the front row at ringside for most of the evening, then did mic work, calling Styles back to the ring, saying that she was his boss and she was telling him that he had to defend the title in a match this evening, and to get his butt back in the ring. The ladder then disappeared, and without any announcement, we suddenly had a basic fatal four way, except with tag team rules and only two men in the ring at any one time, so this was essentially Styles & Daniels vs Joe & Hernandez in a tag match.
4) TNA World Champion, AJ Styles defeated Samoa Joe, Chris Daniels and Hernandez to retain the title. Joe squared off with Styles at first, dominating him with the face wash in the corner. Hernandez tagged in and showed off his strength with a lengthy delayed vertical suplex on Daniels. Amongst the other highlights were Styles putting the figure four leglock on Daniels and strutting like Flair. Joe scored a big nearfall on Styles after a muscle buster, but the finish saw Styles win after a Styles Clash on Daniels. This was a good 15 minute match, but the bait and switch over the ladder match left a nasty taste. Lots of chants of 'We want ladders' during this match too.
After an intermission, Dixie Carter came to the ring with one of her Twitter followers, and the Twitter followers' young son, who looked to be about 4 years old and scared to death. He didn't want to get in the ring and instead Slick Johnson held him at ringside whilst Dixie cut her usual 'You're a wonderful crowd' promo.
5) Kurt Angle defeated Desmond Wolfe with the Angle Slam in about 8 minutes. Before the match, Wolfe came out to a big crowd pop. He then did mic work turning himself heel, running down Manchester and saying it was inferior to his hometown of London, and calling us all 'gap-toothed, whippet-breeding, inbred northern monkeys' which was pretty damn funny. He talked about how his favourite soccer team, Chelsea (big rivals of both local Manchester soccer teams), were going to win the English Premier League. This led to loud 'Chelsea Rent Boy' (slang name for a gay male prostitute) chants at Wolfe throughout this match, which was hilarious and disturbing at the same time, as there was this five year old kid in front of me yelling it. This match was a good match. Angle got a big crowd reaction. He seemed to be hurting, and kept holding and shaking his left arm and hand, trying to get feeling back into his fingers. Angle had the ankle lock on Wolfe, but Wolfe made the ropes. Wolfe dominated the majority of the match and went for his Tower of London finisher, only to screw it up as both guys slipped. He attempted it a second time, only this time, Angle jumped out of the move and gave him an Angle Slam for the pinfall win.
6) Taylor Wilde & Sarita defeated Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne, with Hamada as guest referee. Before the match started, both teams mocked each others' entrance routines, which was pretty funny. This was a short match. Finish saw Rayne score a nearfall, and object to Hamada's two count by slapping her. Hamada shoved her backwards and she fell into Wilde's roll up for the pinfall win.
7) In the main event, Team 3D defeated Beer Money Inc and the British Invasion in a three way tables match. All three teams were cheered coming out, with Williams announced as the new X-Division champion and wearing the belt. The Brits soon turned heel though, when Beer Money teased giving 'backstage passes' away to the crowd, and the Invasion snatched them and ripped them up. Beer Money were over huge, probably more than anyone bar Angle on the entire show, with loud chants of 'Beer Money' constantly throughout the match. Team 3D and Beer Money pretty much worked together for most of this, so it was more of a 4-on-2 handicap match than a real 3-way. Team 3D did a lot of comedy too, and gave the Doomsday device to Brutus Magnus and the 'Whats-up' diving headbutt to Doug Williams for nearfalls. Finish saw 3D give Magnus a '3D' through a table in the ring to win the match.
Afterwards, Team 3D and Beer Money drank beer and had a celebration in the ring. 3D put over Beer Money as 'the future of tag team wrestling', which if you heard the Figure Four Daily show with Lance Storm the other day, would make you smile, as calling someone 'the future' could be seen as a back-handed compliment, given that Beer Money are already multiple time champions and probably more over (on this night) than 3D were. They brought a little kid out of the crowd and into the ring, got the crowd to chant the kids name, put him on their shoulders and gave him a piece of the broken table, which they all signed. They then brought Dixie Carter into the ring, and she also drank beer with them, with all of them doing mic work putting over how attractive Carter was. Don't tell me it wasn't just Flair who... never mind.
Overall, a good, entertaining show in front of a hot crowd. The bait and switch over the ladder match was very disappointing though. It was one of the selling points of the show; the sort of thing where, if someone was wavering over whether to go to the show or not, might swing it for them to attend. There may very well be some good reasons not to have a ladder match on a house show on a European tour; the risk of injury in a more dangerous match, at the end of tiring tour probably greatly increases. However, to just blow it off in some pre-match mic work was just not good enough, especially when it had been a focal point of the show's advertising for literally months.
Bonus: Recap of Rob Terry feature on tonight's BBC2 Wales 'Sports Wales' show.
Footage aired from the TNA house show in Cardiff this past Wednesday. Just three years ago, Big Rob Terry was a bodybuilder and bouncer in his native Swansea, Wales, 'dreaming of the big time'. The interviewer, Lisa Rogers, put over how big he was. Terry spoke about his 2 hours a day in the gym, then time in wrestling school (he didn't specify the time he spent per day there) and what he eats (a lot of chicken, brown rice, sweet potatoes, fish, oatmeal, bananas, protein shakes). Terry maintained kayfabe, saying he was going to try his best against his opponent that night, Eric Young. Terry was shown walking to the ring with the flag of Wales, to a big crowd pop. Fans' sign in the crowd read 'Rob 4 President'. Young trash-talked Terry. Highlights of the match aired. Terry giving Young a powerslam and pinning him to win the Global title was shown. Post match interview with Terry aired, with Terry calling the match 'an amazing moment and a taste of things to come'. Backstage comments from Brother Ray (listed as 'Bubba Ray' on the on-screen graphic - nobody tell WWE legal) and Hernandez (billed as Shawn Hernandez) aired, with Ray putting over how this was the biggest night of Terry's wrestling career so far. Dixie Carter was interviewed, with interviewer Rogers asking her, "Some might say this isn't actually real and looks a bit staged" (I wonder if she's been reading Russo's blogs of late?) "What would you say to those people?" Carter gave an answer straight out of the late 1980s/early 1990s, about how people should come and watch a show, and 'if you were here, you wouldn't say that'. Rogers closed the piece by saying 'Those who believe, no explanation is needed. Those who don't, no explanation will suffice'. She then put on a lucha mask and growled.
Bit of a puff piece, four minutes in length. Not sure if this link will work internationally, but at least for those in the U.K., you can see the show online at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qh14f/Sport_Wales_29_01_2010/
The Terry piece starts at the 19:38 mark.
Hope all of this was of some interest.
Feedback welcome at: slyon10yearsago@hotmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Thanks,
Stephen Lyon,
St Helens, England, U.K.
Friday, 29th January, 2010
By Stephen Lyon.
This was the penultimate date on TNA's European tour, that began in France last weekend. It was their second visit to the Manchester Evening News Arena, having held a show here last year. The entire upper tier of the 20,000 seater arena was blocked off tonight, as was just over a third of the bottom tier on one side. My estimate would be that there were around 5000 fans in attendance, probably no more than 6000 tops. There weren't that many empty seats visible, so they did a good job making the smaller version of the arena seem packed. There was a large video screen above the entrance, playing the entrance videos of each wrestler, and one of those WWE-esque annoying electronic marquee boards over the ring, constantly scrolling either the name of the wrestler or match, or 'Bravo', the name of the tv company that carries TNA in the U.K. For all the recent rumours regarding the future of TNA on Bravo (and Dixie Carter's recent tweets have confirmed some sort of new U.K. tv deal is being worked on), there were tons of Bravo advertising everywhere surrounding this event, with the logo displayed constantly on the big screen, on the marquee and on the programme. There were several merchandise stalls in the concourse doing big business, selling TNA dvds and a variety of t-shirts, notably the grey Barack Obama-spoof 'Change' Hulk Hogan t-shirt, 2 different AJ Styles t-shirts, 2 different Beer Money t-shirts, a new Desmond Wolfe black and purple soccer shirt, plus Team 3D, Suicide, British Invasion, Samoa Joe, Motor City Machine Guns and Beautiful People t-shirts. The lamest pieces of merchandise were these cheap cardboard face masks of Hulk Hogan, AJ Styles and Suicide, selling for £5 a mask.
The crowd were super hot all night. There were some young kids in the crowd, but there were noticeably more adult fans present than those who typically attend WWE shows. There were no special appearances by Shaun Wright Phillips, Stephen Ireland or any other local sportsmen or women, as speculated in the U.K. media (Daily Star newspaper) earlier today.
Show opened with Jeremy Borash coming to the ring with entrance music. At the same time, Earl Hebner's entrance video played by mistake on the big screen. TNA! Borash then introduced Earl 'the most controversial referee in history' Hebner, to the expected boos and 'You screwed Bret' chants.
1) Amazing Red defeated Suicide and Chris Sabin in a three way match to open the show. Pretty much a crowd pleasing spotfest. Lots of cool high flying moves, including Red attempting a springboard huracanrana off the top rope on to Sabin, only for Suicide to take out both guys with a crossbody block from the opposite side of the ring. After many nearfalls, Red picked up the pinfall win with a Canadian Destroyer on Suicide in around 8 minutes.
2) TNA Global Champion, Rob Terry defeated Eric Young to retain the title. Before the match, Borash introduced Terry as 'one of the most promising British wrestlers for a long time'. I was laughing hard at that one. Terry came out and got a big pop at first, and despite being a babyface for this whole deal, started doing Chris Masters-esque bodybuilding poses. Young did some heel mic work to establish the roles in the match, but just a few minutes in, Terry started getting the 'You can't wrestle' catcalls. He reminded me of an uncharismatic Ultimate Warrior, circa 1987. This match was pretty bad. Crowd amused themselves by chanting 'You sold t-shirts' at Hebner, which at least was somewhat original and amusing. Terry won after 5 hours (sorry, actually minutes, but it seemed longer) with a powerslam.
3) 'The Pope' D'Angelo Dinero defeated Rhino. Both guys were heavily cheered coming out, but Rhino did mic work to try and turn himself heel. Even with this, it was still 70/30 in favour of Pope, with duelling 'Pope is Pimpin/Lets go Rhino' chants for several minutes. This was an entertaining match. Finish saw Rhino miss with a gore in the corner and Pope hit a neckbreaker to pin Rhino in about 8 or 9 minutes.
BAIT AND SWITCH TIME!
Next came a Ladder Match for the TNA World Title. Or so 5000 fans thought. For several months, TNA had billed a four man ladder match for the TNA title between AJ Styles, Chris Daniels, Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle as the feature match up on this particular show. London tomorrow night has an Ultimate X match, and tonight we were supposed to have a ladder match. It had been in all the print advertising, on TNA's website, and on a tv commercial carried during WWE programming in recent weeks.
A cable with a hook to hold the title belt lowered from the ceiling. A red ladder was placed in the ring. I'm no detective, but my suspicions were immediately aroused by the fact that this ladder only had rungs on one side, ruling out any dramatic duelling climbs. Chris Daniels, Hernandez (so no Kurt Angle in this match, as advertised), and Samoa Joe came out. A.J. Styles came out last to a big crowd pop. Styles got on the mic and cut a heel promo, stopping a ringside worker from hanging his TNA title belt on the cable in the ring. Styles said that he never agreed to defend his title in a ladder match, and that he'd been on the phone all day with Ric Flair and the lawyers, and that they all agreed he shouldn't defend the title in such a dangerous match. He then went to walk out. Dixie Carter, sat in the front row at ringside for most of the evening, then did mic work, calling Styles back to the ring, saying that she was his boss and she was telling him that he had to defend the title in a match this evening, and to get his butt back in the ring. The ladder then disappeared, and without any announcement, we suddenly had a basic fatal four way, except with tag team rules and only two men in the ring at any one time, so this was essentially Styles & Daniels vs Joe & Hernandez in a tag match.
4) TNA World Champion, AJ Styles defeated Samoa Joe, Chris Daniels and Hernandez to retain the title. Joe squared off with Styles at first, dominating him with the face wash in the corner. Hernandez tagged in and showed off his strength with a lengthy delayed vertical suplex on Daniels. Amongst the other highlights were Styles putting the figure four leglock on Daniels and strutting like Flair. Joe scored a big nearfall on Styles after a muscle buster, but the finish saw Styles win after a Styles Clash on Daniels. This was a good 15 minute match, but the bait and switch over the ladder match left a nasty taste. Lots of chants of 'We want ladders' during this match too.
After an intermission, Dixie Carter came to the ring with one of her Twitter followers, and the Twitter followers' young son, who looked to be about 4 years old and scared to death. He didn't want to get in the ring and instead Slick Johnson held him at ringside whilst Dixie cut her usual 'You're a wonderful crowd' promo.
5) Kurt Angle defeated Desmond Wolfe with the Angle Slam in about 8 minutes. Before the match, Wolfe came out to a big crowd pop. He then did mic work turning himself heel, running down Manchester and saying it was inferior to his hometown of London, and calling us all 'gap-toothed, whippet-breeding, inbred northern monkeys' which was pretty damn funny. He talked about how his favourite soccer team, Chelsea (big rivals of both local Manchester soccer teams), were going to win the English Premier League. This led to loud 'Chelsea Rent Boy' (slang name for a gay male prostitute) chants at Wolfe throughout this match, which was hilarious and disturbing at the same time, as there was this five year old kid in front of me yelling it. This match was a good match. Angle got a big crowd reaction. He seemed to be hurting, and kept holding and shaking his left arm and hand, trying to get feeling back into his fingers. Angle had the ankle lock on Wolfe, but Wolfe made the ropes. Wolfe dominated the majority of the match and went for his Tower of London finisher, only to screw it up as both guys slipped. He attempted it a second time, only this time, Angle jumped out of the move and gave him an Angle Slam for the pinfall win.
6) Taylor Wilde & Sarita defeated Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne, with Hamada as guest referee. Before the match started, both teams mocked each others' entrance routines, which was pretty funny. This was a short match. Finish saw Rayne score a nearfall, and object to Hamada's two count by slapping her. Hamada shoved her backwards and she fell into Wilde's roll up for the pinfall win.
7) In the main event, Team 3D defeated Beer Money Inc and the British Invasion in a three way tables match. All three teams were cheered coming out, with Williams announced as the new X-Division champion and wearing the belt. The Brits soon turned heel though, when Beer Money teased giving 'backstage passes' away to the crowd, and the Invasion snatched them and ripped them up. Beer Money were over huge, probably more than anyone bar Angle on the entire show, with loud chants of 'Beer Money' constantly throughout the match. Team 3D and Beer Money pretty much worked together for most of this, so it was more of a 4-on-2 handicap match than a real 3-way. Team 3D did a lot of comedy too, and gave the Doomsday device to Brutus Magnus and the 'Whats-up' diving headbutt to Doug Williams for nearfalls. Finish saw 3D give Magnus a '3D' through a table in the ring to win the match.
Afterwards, Team 3D and Beer Money drank beer and had a celebration in the ring. 3D put over Beer Money as 'the future of tag team wrestling', which if you heard the Figure Four Daily show with Lance Storm the other day, would make you smile, as calling someone 'the future' could be seen as a back-handed compliment, given that Beer Money are already multiple time champions and probably more over (on this night) than 3D were. They brought a little kid out of the crowd and into the ring, got the crowd to chant the kids name, put him on their shoulders and gave him a piece of the broken table, which they all signed. They then brought Dixie Carter into the ring, and she also drank beer with them, with all of them doing mic work putting over how attractive Carter was. Don't tell me it wasn't just Flair who... never mind.
Overall, a good, entertaining show in front of a hot crowd. The bait and switch over the ladder match was very disappointing though. It was one of the selling points of the show; the sort of thing where, if someone was wavering over whether to go to the show or not, might swing it for them to attend. There may very well be some good reasons not to have a ladder match on a house show on a European tour; the risk of injury in a more dangerous match, at the end of tiring tour probably greatly increases. However, to just blow it off in some pre-match mic work was just not good enough, especially when it had been a focal point of the show's advertising for literally months.
Bonus: Recap of Rob Terry feature on tonight's BBC2 Wales 'Sports Wales' show.
Footage aired from the TNA house show in Cardiff this past Wednesday. Just three years ago, Big Rob Terry was a bodybuilder and bouncer in his native Swansea, Wales, 'dreaming of the big time'. The interviewer, Lisa Rogers, put over how big he was. Terry spoke about his 2 hours a day in the gym, then time in wrestling school (he didn't specify the time he spent per day there) and what he eats (a lot of chicken, brown rice, sweet potatoes, fish, oatmeal, bananas, protein shakes). Terry maintained kayfabe, saying he was going to try his best against his opponent that night, Eric Young. Terry was shown walking to the ring with the flag of Wales, to a big crowd pop. Fans' sign in the crowd read 'Rob 4 President'. Young trash-talked Terry. Highlights of the match aired. Terry giving Young a powerslam and pinning him to win the Global title was shown. Post match interview with Terry aired, with Terry calling the match 'an amazing moment and a taste of things to come'. Backstage comments from Brother Ray (listed as 'Bubba Ray' on the on-screen graphic - nobody tell WWE legal) and Hernandez (billed as Shawn Hernandez) aired, with Ray putting over how this was the biggest night of Terry's wrestling career so far. Dixie Carter was interviewed, with interviewer Rogers asking her, "Some might say this isn't actually real and looks a bit staged" (I wonder if she's been reading Russo's blogs of late?) "What would you say to those people?" Carter gave an answer straight out of the late 1980s/early 1990s, about how people should come and watch a show, and 'if you were here, you wouldn't say that'. Rogers closed the piece by saying 'Those who believe, no explanation is needed. Those who don't, no explanation will suffice'. She then put on a lucha mask and growled.
Bit of a puff piece, four minutes in length. Not sure if this link will work internationally, but at least for those in the U.K., you can see the show online at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qh14f/Sport_Wales_29_01_2010/
The Terry piece starts at the 19:38 mark.
Hope all of this was of some interest.
Feedback welcome at: slyon10yearsago@hotmail.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Thanks,
Stephen Lyon,
St Helens, England, U.K.
giovedì 28 gennaio 2010
Honky Tonk Man in TNA?
Honky Tonk Man ha annunciato di essere in procinto di firmare con la TNA.
Un altro amicone di Hogan di cui si sentiva disperatamente il bisogno~!!
Un altro amicone di Hogan di cui si sentiva disperatamente il bisogno~!!
TNA house show report 1-27 Cardiff, Wales featuring title switch
By James Witcombe
TNA Cardiff Report
Not sure if you've already had one so I'll give you mine.
Building was almost full, but not as packed as when I saw WWE here. JB opened the show with the usual spiel.
1. THREE WAY DANCE NO. 1 CONTENDERS MATCH: Amazing Red V Suicide V Chris Sabin
Very good opener with some nice three way spots and dives to the outside. Red won with Code Red from second rope and standing shooting star press on suicide.
2. KNOCKOUTS TAG MATCH: The Beautiful People V Taylor Wilde and Sarita w/ Special Referee Hamada
Started with JB announcing 'most infamous, most controversial referee' Earl Hebner. Hebner didn't come out and JB said he wouldn't until he was shown the respect he deserved and then announced Hamada.
Decent women's match about the normal BP standards. Started with Beautiful People mocking Wilde and Sarita's Entrance, which was funny. Finish came when Madison argued with Hamada over a near fall. Hamada then headbutted her and Taylor rolled her up for three.
Hebner came out dressed as Bret Hart to ref the next match.
3. GLOBAL TITLE MATCH: Eric Young V Rob Terry
Terry was extremely over with his hometown crowd. Match wasn't much. Power moves (mainly shoves) by Terry, small heat by Young. Terry got the win with the running powerslam to a big ovation. They were recording this and had interviews with his family. Should be shown on Impact.
4. SIX MAN TABLE MATCH: Hernandez/Pope/Rhino V Team 3D/Kurt Angle
3D came out without a partner. They did a promo saying first that Cardiff will be their partner. Bubba then said that everyone knew who their partner was. 'He's a good young wrestler', laughed hard at that. Angle said lets have a tables match. Pope was awesome. His mannerisms are so over. When 3D and Angle made it a table match he said that women had been coming up to all day saying they wanted wood. Good match. Loud 'we want Angle' whenever he wasn't in . The first tag by Devon to Bubba got a big boo. Angle mainly did his suplex spots and Angle slammed Rhino through the table for the win. Hernandez also seemed really over.
After the match they brought in two young fans to give a piece of the table. When their names were announced they were chanted. Awesome.
After Intermission Dixie came out and thanked the fans..
5. I QUIT MATCH: Samoa Joe V Daniels
We want blood chants early. Very good match with Joe doing the Ole kick, Daniels doing BME and getting caught in the rear naked choke and saying I Quit. Biggest pop in the match was for Joe saying 'kiss my ass' when asked if wanted to quit.
6. USA V UK MATCH: Beer Money V British Invasion.
British Invasion got cheap heat early by saying they were English. Loud 'Wales' chant. They said they were sick of babysitting Big Rob. Beer Money are so great. James Storm asked if there were any beer drinkers in the audience. He said they would give backstage passes to the loudest fans and they could party together. Another good match which finished after the 'Beer Money' suplex.
7. TNA CHASMPIONSHIP MATCH: AJ Styles V Desmond Wolfe
Best match of the night by far. Loud 'this is wrestling' chants throughout. AJ was complete babyface and many fans seemed unaware of his heel turn. AJ did his flip dive to the outside.Lots of mat wrestling. Great nearfall with Wolfe hitting Towers of London and Styles getting his feet in the ropes. Chants for Slick Rick Johnson and Nigel McGuinness. Finished with a pele kick followed by a styles clash. Styles cut a short promo beginning with a woooo and saying that TNA+Wrestling=AJ Styles.
Really good show. Crowd was really hot all night. Loudest pops were for Terry and Angle. Daniels seemed to be the biggest heel. The thing that struck me was the fact that the best performers were the ones that are being ignored on TV. Wolfe had a great match, Pope was the Pope, Beer Money continued to be the best Tag Team in the world. Joe and daniels had a good match. This show showcased the things that are great about TNA. Shame they are not highlighted on TV.
James Witcombe
By Tom Elliott
ell, my condolences for the tough time you've had recently.
I attended the TNA 'Maximum Impact' show at the Cardiff International Arena last night, and thought I would send along the results and a couple of quick thoughts. We got a very different card to what was advertised, which was really no surprise to myself, but there seemed to be a lot of fans present who were expecting Hogan, Flair and Lashley. One interesting note is that when waiting outside the arena, the name on all the kids' lips was AJ Styles, not Kurt Angle. There were a ton of people in Beer Money shirts, even before the merch table opened. Really interesting mix in the crowd too, tons of families with kids, quite a few young ladies who came with their partners and quite clearly were not enjoying themselves, and your usual wrestling fans.
The set-up for the show was very professional, apparently far better than the WWE's presentation on their last UK tour according to people I spoke to. There was a huge video screen above the entrance, which was a raised ramp. Above the ring was a large lighting array, including a scrolling 'T N A' in lights around the rig. Sound was crystal clear all evening too. I really wasn't expecting such a professional look, and the company came off like a big deal as a result.
Jeremy Borash was our M.C. for the evening, and as an aside, he's just fantastic in the role. He announced the usual 'loudest fans go backstage', which is a simple but effective way of getting the crowd to make some noise.
Match 1: Amazing Red beat Chris Sabin & Suicide
Really fun X-Division opener, crowd really enjoyed Suicide and Red. Nothing totally crazy, a couple of dives and a top-rop Code Red.
Match 2: Taylor Wilde & Sarita beat Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne
Hamada was the guest referee for this. A good match, nothing earth-shattering but tons of fun. Beautiful People are so entertaining live, I really enjoyed their various antics.
Earl Hebner was introduced to the crowd, and he came out wearing perhaps the worst Bret Hart impersonation gear ever.
Match 3: Global Title: Rob Terry beat Eric Young
As noted on the site, Terry won the title. The match itself was good. The interesting thing behind the story is that Rob Terry is actually from Swansea, which is Wales' second city, and absolutely massive rivals with Cardiff, the capital. They announced Terry as being from Cardiff, and as a result 90% of the crowd absolutely loved him, which helped the match. There was a vocal minority in the audience who were heckling him the entire time with anti-Swansea chants. Terry is just beyond huge in person, he legitimately looks like a cartoon character.
Match 4: Team 3D & Kurt Angle beat Hernandez, Rhyno & The Pope
Team 3D introduced Angle on the mic, who received a massive reaction. The match itself was one of the longer matches on the night, and started off slow. They announced it was a Tables match beforehand, but the finish was Angle putting Rhyno through a table... then pinning him. I didn't understand but people really didn't care. Nothing crazy in the match, no big dive from Hernandez for example. An entetaining 12-or-so minute match leading into intermission. They brought some kids into the ring afterwards and gave them signed table fragments. Early in the match Brother Ray was given the hot tag and was cleaning house, and hit a pretty dodgy flapjack on Pope, where it looked like Pope landed directly on his shoulder.
Intermission, Dixie came out to applause, said we were the greatest fans in the world etc.
Match 5: I Quit: Samoa Joe beat Daniels
Really good match, focused around Daniels working over Joe's arm for most of the match. They worked really well together, as you'd expect, and everything was crisp and smooth. It's been noted that Joe has got into better shape recently, and he looked far, far thinner in person than he has on TV. Same finish from the night before with Daniels going for Angels Wings, Joe reversed it into the rear choke.
Match 6: Beer Money beat British Invasion
Beer Money were very popular, while British Invasion tried to sing the (English) national anthem beforehand, to a less than warm reception.The England vs. Wales rivalry is perhaps even more heated than the aforementioned Cardiff vs. Swansea! The match itself was good, everyone worked really hard.
Match 7: TNA Heavyweight Title: AJ Style beat Desmond Wolfe
AJ Styles coming out was a legitimately big deal, and he came out 100% babyface. We got the proper title introductions, which was a nice touch. Desmond is of course from England, so there was no way anyone was getting booed against him. They wisely had AJ work babyface the entire match. The match itself was excellent, a really great way to top off the show. AJ hit his big flip dive over the top rope, and at least two springboard forearms. Desmond did his usual array of really enjoyable technical work, working over AJ's arm. AJ won with a Styles Clash. Aside from sporadic 'woos', there was no mention of the 'New Nature Boy' gimmick.
Overall a fantastic show; it went the perfect length, was family-friendly and the crowd were into everything. Nothing got nuclear heat or anything, and a fair percentage of the crowd were sat on their hands for a lot of the time, but they got into the big moves and near-falls. They seemed to have sold the majority of seats they had on sale, which at the CIA is roughly a couple of thousand, depending on how many floor seats they had out. I'd estimate between 1500 and 2500, apologies for the vagueness. I'd strongly recommend anyone thinking of going to the remaining shows on the tour to go, a really enjoyable night of professional wrestling, and who knows how things will change over the next year, this might be the last time for a while we get a show of this quality. They were selling a new Hogan shirt with 'Hulkamania' along the top, and 'CHANGE' beneath the Hulkster's face.
Apologies for this being so long, feel free to cut out as much as you wish.
Best Wishes,
Tom Elliott
TNA Cardiff Report
Not sure if you've already had one so I'll give you mine.
Building was almost full, but not as packed as when I saw WWE here. JB opened the show with the usual spiel.
1. THREE WAY DANCE NO. 1 CONTENDERS MATCH: Amazing Red V Suicide V Chris Sabin
Very good opener with some nice three way spots and dives to the outside. Red won with Code Red from second rope and standing shooting star press on suicide.
2. KNOCKOUTS TAG MATCH: The Beautiful People V Taylor Wilde and Sarita w/ Special Referee Hamada
Started with JB announcing 'most infamous, most controversial referee' Earl Hebner. Hebner didn't come out and JB said he wouldn't until he was shown the respect he deserved and then announced Hamada.
Decent women's match about the normal BP standards. Started with Beautiful People mocking Wilde and Sarita's Entrance, which was funny. Finish came when Madison argued with Hamada over a near fall. Hamada then headbutted her and Taylor rolled her up for three.
Hebner came out dressed as Bret Hart to ref the next match.
3. GLOBAL TITLE MATCH: Eric Young V Rob Terry
Terry was extremely over with his hometown crowd. Match wasn't much. Power moves (mainly shoves) by Terry, small heat by Young. Terry got the win with the running powerslam to a big ovation. They were recording this and had interviews with his family. Should be shown on Impact.
4. SIX MAN TABLE MATCH: Hernandez/Pope/Rhino V Team 3D/Kurt Angle
3D came out without a partner. They did a promo saying first that Cardiff will be their partner. Bubba then said that everyone knew who their partner was. 'He's a good young wrestler', laughed hard at that. Angle said lets have a tables match. Pope was awesome. His mannerisms are so over. When 3D and Angle made it a table match he said that women had been coming up to all day saying they wanted wood. Good match. Loud 'we want Angle' whenever he wasn't in . The first tag by Devon to Bubba got a big boo. Angle mainly did his suplex spots and Angle slammed Rhino through the table for the win. Hernandez also seemed really over.
After the match they brought in two young fans to give a piece of the table. When their names were announced they were chanted. Awesome.
After Intermission Dixie came out and thanked the fans..
5. I QUIT MATCH: Samoa Joe V Daniels
We want blood chants early. Very good match with Joe doing the Ole kick, Daniels doing BME and getting caught in the rear naked choke and saying I Quit. Biggest pop in the match was for Joe saying 'kiss my ass' when asked if wanted to quit.
6. USA V UK MATCH: Beer Money V British Invasion.
British Invasion got cheap heat early by saying they were English. Loud 'Wales' chant. They said they were sick of babysitting Big Rob. Beer Money are so great. James Storm asked if there were any beer drinkers in the audience. He said they would give backstage passes to the loudest fans and they could party together. Another good match which finished after the 'Beer Money' suplex.
7. TNA CHASMPIONSHIP MATCH: AJ Styles V Desmond Wolfe
Best match of the night by far. Loud 'this is wrestling' chants throughout. AJ was complete babyface and many fans seemed unaware of his heel turn. AJ did his flip dive to the outside.Lots of mat wrestling. Great nearfall with Wolfe hitting Towers of London and Styles getting his feet in the ropes. Chants for Slick Rick Johnson and Nigel McGuinness. Finished with a pele kick followed by a styles clash. Styles cut a short promo beginning with a woooo and saying that TNA+Wrestling=AJ Styles.
Really good show. Crowd was really hot all night. Loudest pops were for Terry and Angle. Daniels seemed to be the biggest heel. The thing that struck me was the fact that the best performers were the ones that are being ignored on TV. Wolfe had a great match, Pope was the Pope, Beer Money continued to be the best Tag Team in the world. Joe and daniels had a good match. This show showcased the things that are great about TNA. Shame they are not highlighted on TV.
James Witcombe
By Tom Elliott
ell, my condolences for the tough time you've had recently.
I attended the TNA 'Maximum Impact' show at the Cardiff International Arena last night, and thought I would send along the results and a couple of quick thoughts. We got a very different card to what was advertised, which was really no surprise to myself, but there seemed to be a lot of fans present who were expecting Hogan, Flair and Lashley. One interesting note is that when waiting outside the arena, the name on all the kids' lips was AJ Styles, not Kurt Angle. There were a ton of people in Beer Money shirts, even before the merch table opened. Really interesting mix in the crowd too, tons of families with kids, quite a few young ladies who came with their partners and quite clearly were not enjoying themselves, and your usual wrestling fans.
The set-up for the show was very professional, apparently far better than the WWE's presentation on their last UK tour according to people I spoke to. There was a huge video screen above the entrance, which was a raised ramp. Above the ring was a large lighting array, including a scrolling 'T N A' in lights around the rig. Sound was crystal clear all evening too. I really wasn't expecting such a professional look, and the company came off like a big deal as a result.
Jeremy Borash was our M.C. for the evening, and as an aside, he's just fantastic in the role. He announced the usual 'loudest fans go backstage', which is a simple but effective way of getting the crowd to make some noise.
Match 1: Amazing Red beat Chris Sabin & Suicide
Really fun X-Division opener, crowd really enjoyed Suicide and Red. Nothing totally crazy, a couple of dives and a top-rop Code Red.
Match 2: Taylor Wilde & Sarita beat Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne
Hamada was the guest referee for this. A good match, nothing earth-shattering but tons of fun. Beautiful People are so entertaining live, I really enjoyed their various antics.
Earl Hebner was introduced to the crowd, and he came out wearing perhaps the worst Bret Hart impersonation gear ever.
Match 3: Global Title: Rob Terry beat Eric Young
As noted on the site, Terry won the title. The match itself was good. The interesting thing behind the story is that Rob Terry is actually from Swansea, which is Wales' second city, and absolutely massive rivals with Cardiff, the capital. They announced Terry as being from Cardiff, and as a result 90% of the crowd absolutely loved him, which helped the match. There was a vocal minority in the audience who were heckling him the entire time with anti-Swansea chants. Terry is just beyond huge in person, he legitimately looks like a cartoon character.
Match 4: Team 3D & Kurt Angle beat Hernandez, Rhyno & The Pope
Team 3D introduced Angle on the mic, who received a massive reaction. The match itself was one of the longer matches on the night, and started off slow. They announced it was a Tables match beforehand, but the finish was Angle putting Rhyno through a table... then pinning him. I didn't understand but people really didn't care. Nothing crazy in the match, no big dive from Hernandez for example. An entetaining 12-or-so minute match leading into intermission. They brought some kids into the ring afterwards and gave them signed table fragments. Early in the match Brother Ray was given the hot tag and was cleaning house, and hit a pretty dodgy flapjack on Pope, where it looked like Pope landed directly on his shoulder.
Intermission, Dixie came out to applause, said we were the greatest fans in the world etc.
Match 5: I Quit: Samoa Joe beat Daniels
Really good match, focused around Daniels working over Joe's arm for most of the match. They worked really well together, as you'd expect, and everything was crisp and smooth. It's been noted that Joe has got into better shape recently, and he looked far, far thinner in person than he has on TV. Same finish from the night before with Daniels going for Angels Wings, Joe reversed it into the rear choke.
Match 6: Beer Money beat British Invasion
Beer Money were very popular, while British Invasion tried to sing the (English) national anthem beforehand, to a less than warm reception.The England vs. Wales rivalry is perhaps even more heated than the aforementioned Cardiff vs. Swansea! The match itself was good, everyone worked really hard.
Match 7: TNA Heavyweight Title: AJ Style beat Desmond Wolfe
AJ Styles coming out was a legitimately big deal, and he came out 100% babyface. We got the proper title introductions, which was a nice touch. Desmond is of course from England, so there was no way anyone was getting booed against him. They wisely had AJ work babyface the entire match. The match itself was excellent, a really great way to top off the show. AJ hit his big flip dive over the top rope, and at least two springboard forearms. Desmond did his usual array of really enjoyable technical work, working over AJ's arm. AJ won with a Styles Clash. Aside from sporadic 'woos', there was no mention of the 'New Nature Boy' gimmick.
Overall a fantastic show; it went the perfect length, was family-friendly and the crowd were into everything. Nothing got nuclear heat or anything, and a fair percentage of the crowd were sat on their hands for a lot of the time, but they got into the big moves and near-falls. They seemed to have sold the majority of seats they had on sale, which at the CIA is roughly a couple of thousand, depending on how many floor seats they had out. I'd estimate between 1500 and 2500, apologies for the vagueness. I'd strongly recommend anyone thinking of going to the remaining shows on the tour to go, a really enjoyable night of professional wrestling, and who knows how things will change over the next year, this might be the last time for a while we get a show of this quality. They were selling a new Hogan shirt with 'Hulkamania' along the top, and 'CHANGE' beneath the Hulkster's face.
Apologies for this being so long, feel free to cut out as much as you wish.
Best Wishes,
Tom Elliott
Chris Jericho e Gregory Helms arrestati.
I due wrestler sono stati arrestati alle 5Am mentre erano ad una pompa di benzina,in Erlanger, KY,"visibilmente ubriachi". Vicino al luogo si sono svolti i taping di Smackdown.
Dopo circa un'ora sono stati rilasciati con una cauzione di 120$ ciascuno.
TNA house show report 1-26 Bornemouth, England
the show itself was well attended with all but the top tier of the
building sold out (this was down to view restrictions the staff
informed us). Jeremy borash kicked off the show and did a good job of
pumping up a crowd that was just looking for a reason to pop! he ran
through his speech about backstage passes being handed to the most
vocal fans. at this point British Invasion came out to a standing
ovation and clearly enjoyed the reception. they proceeded to rip up 3
backstage passes and ripped into the uk fans for wanting something for
nothing.the crowd booed them out of the building. JB got back on the
mic and introduced the first match.
amazing red v chris Sabin v suicide
easily the best triple threat match of the year so far! crowd changed
throughout bout and all 3 guys recieved standing ovations at the end.
Winner Chris Sabin.
Lots of AJ signs in crowd. clearly the fact that as things stand Tna
is impossible to see (compared to WWE's blanket coverage) in the uk
meant a handfull had seen the attempted heel turn! a couple of hogan
signs. general conversations seemed to be based on the way tna is
changing into WCW circa '98!
Hebner made his hitman entrance. either a pathetic attempt at humour
or a tribute in bad taste.either way, it just angered the crowd.
Eric Young offered anybody the chance to fight for his global title.
after taunting members of the crowd, Hamada?? came out and was beaten
in a couple of minutes.
JB made a lot of references to the 6 sided ring.
Pope v Rhyno
Rhyno had to get on the mic to get the crowd to turn on him.Rhyno is
still over in a big way in the uk.
Pope win
4 team tag
invasion v beer money v 3D v angle & hernandez.
sadly 2 great matches was turned into a 4 team match giving each guy 2
minutes each to shine!! crowd were so into beer money and angle 3D
were kinda forgotten about!!!
angle slam on Brutus got the win.
3D gave away signed pieces of broken table to 2 young fans and beer
money came back out and worked the crowd well.amazing how over storm
and roode are!
intermission
beautiful people v Taylor Wilde and Sarita?? (name escapes me)
poor match, awful finish with a pathetic looking perfume spray to the
eyes of Taylor. crowd did sing her happy birthday afterwards!
Samoa joe v daniels.
head and shoulders above any other match on the card. intense match
which at times drew winces rather than cheers! joe won the I quit
match with a guillotine choke. awesome spot with daniels sat on a
chair at ringside to be soccer kicked in the face by joe. could of
easily passed as main event.
desmond woolf v aj styles
solid match. Woolf hit aj with tower of London only for aj to get a
foot on the rope.
aj wins and then tells the crowd the reason tna has grown to it's
current level has nothing to do with the fans. just him. chorus of
boos. show ends
as somebody who hasn't regularly watched wrestling in over ten years,
it was clear that tna are blessed with some of the hardest working
guys out there and Joe looks better each time I see him. I only hope
that the new regime don't freeze out the talent that got them to where
they are at today. sadly this was also the view of a lot of people in
attendance!
highlight: Joe v daniels spot with the chair and the kick!
Biggest surprise: how over beer money are with uk fans!!!
building sold out (this was down to view restrictions the staff
informed us). Jeremy borash kicked off the show and did a good job of
pumping up a crowd that was just looking for a reason to pop! he ran
through his speech about backstage passes being handed to the most
vocal fans. at this point British Invasion came out to a standing
ovation and clearly enjoyed the reception. they proceeded to rip up 3
backstage passes and ripped into the uk fans for wanting something for
nothing.the crowd booed them out of the building. JB got back on the
mic and introduced the first match.
amazing red v chris Sabin v suicide
easily the best triple threat match of the year so far! crowd changed
throughout bout and all 3 guys recieved standing ovations at the end.
Winner Chris Sabin.
Lots of AJ signs in crowd. clearly the fact that as things stand Tna
is impossible to see (compared to WWE's blanket coverage) in the uk
meant a handfull had seen the attempted heel turn! a couple of hogan
signs. general conversations seemed to be based on the way tna is
changing into WCW circa '98!
Hebner made his hitman entrance. either a pathetic attempt at humour
or a tribute in bad taste.either way, it just angered the crowd.
Eric Young offered anybody the chance to fight for his global title.
after taunting members of the crowd, Hamada?? came out and was beaten
in a couple of minutes.
JB made a lot of references to the 6 sided ring.
Pope v Rhyno
Rhyno had to get on the mic to get the crowd to turn on him.Rhyno is
still over in a big way in the uk.
Pope win
4 team tag
invasion v beer money v 3D v angle & hernandez.
sadly 2 great matches was turned into a 4 team match giving each guy 2
minutes each to shine!! crowd were so into beer money and angle 3D
were kinda forgotten about!!!
angle slam on Brutus got the win.
3D gave away signed pieces of broken table to 2 young fans and beer
money came back out and worked the crowd well.amazing how over storm
and roode are!
intermission
beautiful people v Taylor Wilde and Sarita?? (name escapes me)
poor match, awful finish with a pathetic looking perfume spray to the
eyes of Taylor. crowd did sing her happy birthday afterwards!
Samoa joe v daniels.
head and shoulders above any other match on the card. intense match
which at times drew winces rather than cheers! joe won the I quit
match with a guillotine choke. awesome spot with daniels sat on a
chair at ringside to be soccer kicked in the face by joe. could of
easily passed as main event.
desmond woolf v aj styles
solid match. Woolf hit aj with tower of London only for aj to get a
foot on the rope.
aj wins and then tells the crowd the reason tna has grown to it's
current level has nothing to do with the fans. just him. chorus of
boos. show ends
as somebody who hasn't regularly watched wrestling in over ten years,
it was clear that tna are blessed with some of the hardest working
guys out there and Joe looks better each time I see him. I only hope
that the new regime don't freeze out the talent that got them to where
they are at today. sadly this was also the view of a lot of people in
attendance!
highlight: Joe v daniels spot with the chair and the kick!
Biggest surprise: how over beer money are with uk fans!!!
mercoledì 27 gennaio 2010
TNA al Lunedì fulltime~!!
Non si sa quando verrà dato l'annuncio, ma la decisione è stata presa: la TNA si sposta al Lunedì sera fulltime.
Ciò avverrà ai primi di Marzo. Non si sa se le due ore saranno fra le 8 e le 10 o fra le 9 e le 11.
Ad oggi l'idea è di registrare Impact di Lunedì e Martedì, con quest'ultima che verrebbe messa in onda per il Lunedì successivo.
La TNA andrà a scontrarsi di nuovo contro Raw il primo Marzo.
Ciò avverrà ai primi di Marzo. Non si sa se le due ore saranno fra le 8 e le 10 o fra le 9 e le 11.
Ad oggi l'idea è di registrare Impact di Lunedì e Martedì, con quest'ultima che verrebbe messa in onda per il Lunedì successivo.
La TNA andrà a scontrarsi di nuovo contro Raw il primo Marzo.
Cambio di titolo in TNA in Galles
Nel corso dello show in Cardiff, Wales, Rob Terry ha conquistato il global title sconfiggendo Eric Young.
TNA house show report 1-25 Paris, France
TNA
Paris, France at the Zenith.
1st show ever in France.
approx. 2500
2nd date of their Euro tour. Show scheduled for sunday afternoon, but rescheduled last minute to monday evening.
1) Suicide beat Chris Sabin & Amazing Red in a triple threat match.
2) Beer Money Inc. beat Eric Young & Big Rob Terry. Beer Money was super over.
3) Taylor Wilde (with Sarita) beat Hamada
4) Kurt Angle beat Desmond Wolfe with the Angle Slam. Angle was insanely over.
- Dixie Carter came out to thank the French fans, and said they will be back in the country for sure in the future.
5) Hernandez beat Rhino after a top rope splash.
6) Team 3D beat The British Invasion in a tables match. They brought in a young boy after the match, and gave him a signed piece of the broken table.
7) AJ Styles beat Daniels & Samoa Joe in a triple threat to retain the TNA title, after a Styles Clash on Daniels. Fantastic match.
Paris, France at the Zenith.
1st show ever in France.
approx. 2500
2nd date of their Euro tour. Show scheduled for sunday afternoon, but rescheduled last minute to monday evening.
1) Suicide beat Chris Sabin & Amazing Red in a triple threat match.
2) Beer Money Inc. beat Eric Young & Big Rob Terry. Beer Money was super over.
3) Taylor Wilde (with Sarita) beat Hamada
4) Kurt Angle beat Desmond Wolfe with the Angle Slam. Angle was insanely over.
- Dixie Carter came out to thank the French fans, and said they will be back in the country for sure in the future.
5) Hernandez beat Rhino after a top rope splash.
6) Team 3D beat The British Invasion in a tables match. They brought in a young boy after the match, and gave him a signed piece of the broken table.
7) AJ Styles beat Daniels & Samoa Joe in a triple threat to retain the TNA title, after a Styles Clash on Daniels. Fantastic match.
domenica 24 gennaio 2010
TNA house show report 11-23 Glasgow, Scotland
By Craig Broadfoot
I was in attendance at the TNA House Show in Glasgow tonight at the Braehead Arena.
The building was nowhere near full, with a lot more kids in attendance than last year. The top section of the arena was curtained, same as last year. They had a Titantron, huge lighting rig above the ring and, oh yes, we had six sides.
Borash did the 'backstage pass' speech, saying that the loudest fans would get backstage. For a small crowd, it's super hot, much louder than the standard WWE house shows in the same building. Borash did the announcing for the evening. Mark 'Slick' Johnson was the evening's referee.
1) The Amazing Red pinned Chris Sabin in an X-Division contenders match, with a standing shooting star press. Bout went about 8 minutes. Good match, with the usual cool spots from the X-Division.
2) TNA Global Champion Eric Young pinned Suicide in 8:30 with a piledriver. Match was okay. Suicide beat up Young after the match.
Borash brought a guy out of the crowd to introduce the special guest referee for the next match...referee Earl Hebner. He came out to Tommy Dreamer's ECW theme. That made no sense.
3) Hernandez pinned Rhino in 7:30. Hebner called it straight down the middle. Match was fine.
4) Kurt Angle beat Daniels and Desmond Wolfe in a Three Way match in 11:00, when he pinned Wolfe with the Angle Slam. Really good match, told a good story with the heels double teaming throughout until the end when they double crossed each other.
INTERMISSION
5) Hamada pinned Sarita in about 7 minutes with a Michinoku Driver. Taylor Wilde accompanied Sarita to the ring. Match was passable, spots were good when they hit them but the transitions felt very clunky. Hebner was the referee, but not 'special guest' this time.
6) Team 3D beat Beer Money Inc. and The British Invasion (with Big Rob) in a Three Way Tables match, when they 3D'd Magnus through a table. Match went roughly 13 minutes and had very good heat throughout. Everyone got mic time prior to the match, establishing Invasion as heels. Note: Doug Williams did not come out with the X-Divison title. Match was mostly Beer Money vs Invasion with 3D waiting on the apron. They didn't get the table involved until the last spot. Beer Money were actually more over than 3D. Bubba gave a kid a piece of table after the match, Team 3D and Beer Money celebrated together and for a brief moment all was right with the world.
The next time TNA come back to Glasgow, they're going to film TV. Honestly. It must be true because Borash said it.
7) TNA World Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles pinned Samoa Joe. Hebner was special referee again. In the end Hebner got bumped and Joe locked on the Kokina Clutch and Styles tapped. Hebner didn't see it. Styles hit Joe with a low blow and Styles Clash for the pin. Went 12:30. Fairly disappointing showing from these two. Styles did a Nature Boy promo after the match, asking for the ladies to call him. Joe chased him to the back.
Overall a good TNA show, good in ring action. Usual TNA bullshit at points but they kept us entertained for the duration.
Cheers guys!
Craig Broadfoot
I was in attendance at the TNA House Show in Glasgow tonight at the Braehead Arena.
The building was nowhere near full, with a lot more kids in attendance than last year. The top section of the arena was curtained, same as last year. They had a Titantron, huge lighting rig above the ring and, oh yes, we had six sides.
Borash did the 'backstage pass' speech, saying that the loudest fans would get backstage. For a small crowd, it's super hot, much louder than the standard WWE house shows in the same building. Borash did the announcing for the evening. Mark 'Slick' Johnson was the evening's referee.
1) The Amazing Red pinned Chris Sabin in an X-Division contenders match, with a standing shooting star press. Bout went about 8 minutes. Good match, with the usual cool spots from the X-Division.
2) TNA Global Champion Eric Young pinned Suicide in 8:30 with a piledriver. Match was okay. Suicide beat up Young after the match.
Borash brought a guy out of the crowd to introduce the special guest referee for the next match...referee Earl Hebner. He came out to Tommy Dreamer's ECW theme. That made no sense.
3) Hernandez pinned Rhino in 7:30. Hebner called it straight down the middle. Match was fine.
4) Kurt Angle beat Daniels and Desmond Wolfe in a Three Way match in 11:00, when he pinned Wolfe with the Angle Slam. Really good match, told a good story with the heels double teaming throughout until the end when they double crossed each other.
INTERMISSION
5) Hamada pinned Sarita in about 7 minutes with a Michinoku Driver. Taylor Wilde accompanied Sarita to the ring. Match was passable, spots were good when they hit them but the transitions felt very clunky. Hebner was the referee, but not 'special guest' this time.
6) Team 3D beat Beer Money Inc. and The British Invasion (with Big Rob) in a Three Way Tables match, when they 3D'd Magnus through a table. Match went roughly 13 minutes and had very good heat throughout. Everyone got mic time prior to the match, establishing Invasion as heels. Note: Doug Williams did not come out with the X-Divison title. Match was mostly Beer Money vs Invasion with 3D waiting on the apron. They didn't get the table involved until the last spot. Beer Money were actually more over than 3D. Bubba gave a kid a piece of table after the match, Team 3D and Beer Money celebrated together and for a brief moment all was right with the world.
The next time TNA come back to Glasgow, they're going to film TV. Honestly. It must be true because Borash said it.
7) TNA World Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles pinned Samoa Joe. Hebner was special referee again. In the end Hebner got bumped and Joe locked on the Kokina Clutch and Styles tapped. Hebner didn't see it. Styles hit Joe with a low blow and Styles Clash for the pin. Went 12:30. Fairly disappointing showing from these two. Styles did a Nature Boy promo after the match, asking for the ladies to call him. Joe chased him to the back.
Overall a good TNA show, good in ring action. Usual TNA bullshit at points but they kept us entertained for the duration.
Cheers guys!
Craig Broadfoot
sabato 23 gennaio 2010
WWE Royal Rumble card update
- World Champion The Undertaker vs. Rey Mysterio.
- WWE Champion Sheamus vs. Randy Orton.
- ECW Champion Christian vs. Ezekiel Jackson.
- Women's Champion Michelle McCool vs. Mickie James.
- 30-Man Royal Rumble, the winner to receive a championship match at Wrestlemania. Announced participants:
From Raw:
John Cena
Triple H
Shawn Michaels
Ted DiBiase
Cody Rhodes
MVP
The Miz
Kofi Kingston
Mark Henry
Jack Swagger
Big Show
Evan Bourne
Carlito
Santino Marella
From ECW:
Shelton Benjamin
Yoshi Tatsu
William Regal
Zack Ryder
The Hurricane
From Smackdown:
Batista
Chris Jericho
CM Punk
The Great Khali
Kane
Six spots remain open at this time.
- WWE Champion Sheamus vs. Randy Orton.
- ECW Champion Christian vs. Ezekiel Jackson.
- Women's Champion Michelle McCool vs. Mickie James.
- 30-Man Royal Rumble, the winner to receive a championship match at Wrestlemania. Announced participants:
From Raw:
John Cena
Triple H
Shawn Michaels
Ted DiBiase
Cody Rhodes
MVP
The Miz
Kofi Kingston
Mark Henry
Jack Swagger
Big Show
Evan Bourne
Carlito
Santino Marella
From ECW:
Shelton Benjamin
Yoshi Tatsu
William Regal
Zack Ryder
The Hurricane
From Smackdown:
Batista
Chris Jericho
CM Punk
The Great Khali
Kane
Six spots remain open at this time.
Melissa Anderson non fa piu parte della TNA!
Melissa Anderson, in TNA conosciuta come Alissa Flash, non fa più parte del roster TNA. Al momento non si sa se è stata lei a chiedere il rilascio o se è stata una decisione del managment TNA.
Awesome Kong vuole lasciare la TNA!
Al termine dei tapigns di Martedì, Kong ha chiesto il rilascio dalla compagnia. A questo punto la decisione è nelle mani del managment TNA.
giovedì 21 gennaio 2010
Ken Anderson Update
Sul suo account twitter, Ken Anderson ha smentito la news secondo la quale percepirebbe uno stipendio a gettone per presenza.
Questo il suo commento in cui dichiara di aver firmato per 1 anno con la TNA.
Questo il suo commento in cui dichiara di aver firmato per 1 anno con la TNA.
martedì 19 gennaio 2010
TNA Update
La TNA asserisce che Hardy abbia firmato un contratto, ma questi ed i suoi amici riferiscono che ciò non corrisponde al vero.
Ken Anderson è pagato a gettone per presenze.
Karen Angle ha viaggiato con Jeff Jarrett in occasione dei recenti house shows. Ci sono ancora in corso discussioni sulla possibilità di un suo ritorno per il feud JJ/Angle.
Il six sided ring verrà usato per l'imminente tour negli UK.
Kazuchika Okada arriverà in TNA a Febbraio per "farsi le ossa".
Ken Anderson è pagato a gettone per presenze.
Karen Angle ha viaggiato con Jeff Jarrett in occasione dei recenti house shows. Ci sono ancora in corso discussioni sulla possibilità di un suo ritorno per il feud JJ/Angle.
Il six sided ring verrà usato per l'imminente tour negli UK.
Kazuchika Okada arriverà in TNA a Febbraio per "farsi le ossa".
Altri dati sui ratings dell'ultimo Impact
Impact on 1/14 did a 1.26 rating and 1.8 million viewers, which was a 1.00 in Males 18-34 and 1.12 in Males 35-49. The numbers are higher than the show has been doing, but it was also the first show in months that didn’t run either on a holiday or against major football competition. Before football, the company averaged a 1.22 in July and a 1.13 in August. But this was the first show in the regular slot with Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Eric Bischoff, and most of the fan base who saw Jan. 4 certainly would have presumed Jeff Hardy as well.
In the segment-by-segment, and Kurt Angle promo with A.J. Styles and arrival of The Band gained 159,000 viewers. The Beautiful People vs. Awesome Kong & Hamada with the Angelina Love angle gained 100,000 viewers and did a 1.34 quarter, making it the highest rated segment on the show. Bobby Lashley attacking Jay Lethal & Consequences Creed, Team 3-D in a seven second match and the 3-D promo lost 86,000 viewers. The Daniels-Sean Morley angle and Beer Money vs. Matt Morgan & Hernandez, with the Hal & Nash beat down, lost 14,000 viewers. Samoa Joe vs. Desmond Wolfe lost 71,000 viewers. The backstage confrontation with Jeff Jarrett and Hulk Hogan gained 143,000 viewers and did a 1.32 rating, so Hogan’s segment was second best. The Styles vs. Tomko main event lost 186,000 viewers even with Flair on commentary, doing a 1.19 final quarter.
The debut of TNA Epics immediately following did a 0.65 rating.
In the segment-by-segment, and Kurt Angle promo with A.J. Styles and arrival of The Band gained 159,000 viewers. The Beautiful People vs. Awesome Kong & Hamada with the Angelina Love angle gained 100,000 viewers and did a 1.34 quarter, making it the highest rated segment on the show. Bobby Lashley attacking Jay Lethal & Consequences Creed, Team 3-D in a seven second match and the 3-D promo lost 86,000 viewers. The Daniels-Sean Morley angle and Beer Money vs. Matt Morgan & Hernandez, with the Hal & Nash beat down, lost 14,000 viewers. Samoa Joe vs. Desmond Wolfe lost 71,000 viewers. The backstage confrontation with Jeff Jarrett and Hulk Hogan gained 143,000 viewers and did a 1.32 rating, so Hogan’s segment was second best. The Styles vs. Tomko main event lost 186,000 viewers even with Flair on commentary, doing a 1.19 final quarter.
The debut of TNA Epics immediately following did a 0.65 rating.
Winning record dei wrestlers WWE
Stefan Gorges released his annual report on 2009, of every WWE wrestler and their win-loss record for the year. Keep in mind that the general rule is that on house shows, the face goes over unless there is a discrepancy in the level of the two competitors, or unless a heel holds the championship. So in most cases, the faces are going to have stellar records and the heels, even the main event heels, will not have good records. Well, unless you’re the Hardys.
Since WWE doesn’t allow draws as finishes since time limits are not part of their format, there are only wins, losses and no contests.
Performer Matches Record
Batista70 45-24-1
Brie Bella 49 32-17
Nikki Bella 45 23-22
Shelton Benjamin 123 47-76
Evan Bourne 123 80-43
Katie Lea Burchill 36 7-29
Paul Burchill 53 13-40
Carlito 124 75-49
John Cena 181 158-18-5
Christian 160 98-57-5
Primo Colon 149 96-53
Cryme Tyme JTG 100 54-46
Cryme Tyme Shad 98 55-43
Ted DiBiase 146 35-109
Tommy Dreamer 104 44-58-2
Edge 105 47-55-3
Eric Escobar 47 6-40-1
Festus/Luke Gallows 175-12
Fit Finlay 117 67-46-4
Alicia Fox 71 17-54
Goldust 95 44-50-1
Chavo Guerrero 115 10-105
Charlie Haas 35 6-28-1
Jillian Hall 35 6-29
Jeff Hardy 113 53-59-1
Matt Hardy 117 54-63
HHH 136 112-16-8
Mark Henry 141 71-69
Hornswoggle 16 13-3
Hurricane 50 18-32
Ezekiel Jackson 82 25-56-1
Chris Jericho 167 51-112-4
Jesse/Slam Master J 16 2-14
Kane 120 54-64-2
Great Khali 79 55-22-2
Tyson Kidd 105 33-73
Gail Kim 84 61-23
Kizarny 17 16-1
Kelly Kelly 69 38-31
Brian Kendrick 64 5-59
Kofi Kingston 178 113-62-3
Mike Knox 86 16-70
Vladimir Kozlov 93 58-32-3
Layla 57 6-51
Santino Marella 101 45-56
Maria 38 26-12
Maryse 75 35-39-1
Chris Masters 55 24-30-1
Michelle McCool 80 34-44-2
Drew McIntyre 78 54-23-1
Melina 136 109-27
Rosa Mendes 48 7-41
Shawn Michaels 63 53-9-1
The Miz 157 93-63-1
John Morrison 158 109-48-1
MVP 159 67-91-1
Rey Mysterio 142 104-37-1
Natalya 69 10-59
Jamie Noble 52 13-39
Randy Orton 178 40-131-7
Beth Phoenix 137 38-99
C.M. Punk 197 100-95-2
William Regal 141 32-109
Tyler Reks 21 7-14
Cody Rhodes 152 41-109-2
Alex Riley 38 3-35
R-Truth 97 53-43-1
Zack Ryder 55 14-41
Sheamus 82 65-15-2*
Big Show 170 72-94-4
David Hart Smith 72 27-45
Jack Swagger 165 84-74-7
Yoshi Tatsu 40 28-12
Eve Torres 55 41-13-1
Umaga 38 23-14-1
Undertaker 93 83-6-4
Jimmy Wang Yang 79 16-63
Dolph Ziggler136 39-95-2
*Billed as undefeated on television
Most matches were Punk (197), Cena (181), Orton (178), Kingston (178) and Show (170). Basically that means the five guys who got through the year without missing significant time with a serious injury. What’s impressive about Cena’s numbers is that he’s constantly on the road doing promotional work as well, and both Cena and Show were top five even though each missed several weeks of house shows filming a movie. Cena had the most wins (158) and Orton had the most losses (131), and I’d expect that they also probably wrestled each other more often than any other pairing.
Since WWE doesn’t allow draws as finishes since time limits are not part of their format, there are only wins, losses and no contests.
Performer Matches Record
Batista70 45-24-1
Brie Bella 49 32-17
Nikki Bella 45 23-22
Shelton Benjamin 123 47-76
Evan Bourne 123 80-43
Katie Lea Burchill 36 7-29
Paul Burchill 53 13-40
Carlito 124 75-49
John Cena 181 158-18-5
Christian 160 98-57-5
Primo Colon 149 96-53
Cryme Tyme JTG 100 54-46
Cryme Tyme Shad 98 55-43
Ted DiBiase 146 35-109
Tommy Dreamer 104 44-58-2
Edge 105 47-55-3
Eric Escobar 47 6-40-1
Festus/Luke Gallows 175-12
Fit Finlay 117 67-46-4
Alicia Fox 71 17-54
Goldust 95 44-50-1
Chavo Guerrero 115 10-105
Charlie Haas 35 6-28-1
Jillian Hall 35 6-29
Jeff Hardy 113 53-59-1
Matt Hardy 117 54-63
HHH 136 112-16-8
Mark Henry 141 71-69
Hornswoggle 16 13-3
Hurricane 50 18-32
Ezekiel Jackson 82 25-56-1
Chris Jericho 167 51-112-4
Jesse/Slam Master J 16 2-14
Kane 120 54-64-2
Great Khali 79 55-22-2
Tyson Kidd 105 33-73
Gail Kim 84 61-23
Kizarny 17 16-1
Kelly Kelly 69 38-31
Brian Kendrick 64 5-59
Kofi Kingston 178 113-62-3
Mike Knox 86 16-70
Vladimir Kozlov 93 58-32-3
Layla 57 6-51
Santino Marella 101 45-56
Maria 38 26-12
Maryse 75 35-39-1
Chris Masters 55 24-30-1
Michelle McCool 80 34-44-2
Drew McIntyre 78 54-23-1
Melina 136 109-27
Rosa Mendes 48 7-41
Shawn Michaels 63 53-9-1
The Miz 157 93-63-1
John Morrison 158 109-48-1
MVP 159 67-91-1
Rey Mysterio 142 104-37-1
Natalya 69 10-59
Jamie Noble 52 13-39
Randy Orton 178 40-131-7
Beth Phoenix 137 38-99
C.M. Punk 197 100-95-2
William Regal 141 32-109
Tyler Reks 21 7-14
Cody Rhodes 152 41-109-2
Alex Riley 38 3-35
R-Truth 97 53-43-1
Zack Ryder 55 14-41
Sheamus 82 65-15-2*
Big Show 170 72-94-4
David Hart Smith 72 27-45
Jack Swagger 165 84-74-7
Yoshi Tatsu 40 28-12
Eve Torres 55 41-13-1
Umaga 38 23-14-1
Undertaker 93 83-6-4
Jimmy Wang Yang 79 16-63
Dolph Ziggler136 39-95-2
*Billed as undefeated on television
Most matches were Punk (197), Cena (181), Orton (178), Kingston (178) and Show (170). Basically that means the five guys who got through the year without missing significant time with a serious injury. What’s impressive about Cena’s numbers is that he’s constantly on the road doing promotional work as well, and both Cena and Show were top five even though each missed several weeks of house shows filming a movie. Cena had the most wins (158) and Orton had the most losses (131), and I’d expect that they also probably wrestled each other more often than any other pairing.
DVD sulla Hart Family
Il DVD dedicato alla dinastia Hart uscirà in Aprile è si intitolerà “Hart and Soul: The Hart Family Anthology.”
Smentite sul caso Orton
Oltre ad Orton stesso ci sono altri testimoni che negano il racconto della signora che lo ha denunciato per aver sputato una gomma sul viso di suo figlio.
La signora in questione ha approcciato Randy orton all'uscita di un locale e gli ha detto:" qualceh anno fa hai sputato una gomma sul viso di mio figlio handicappato. cos'hai da dire?" e lui avrebbe risposto:"allora mi faccia causa."
Qui di seguito il racconto di Orton:
“Here’s what happened: I walked out of Kowloon’s Friday night around 12:30-1 a.m. with Santino and a police officer escort. As I was being rudely hounded for pictures and autos (I had a 6:40 a.m. flight through Minni to Lincoln, then a drive to Omaha, a match, a drive back to Omaha, then a charter to Minni, and a driver to Rochester for the next show the next day, btw), I was confronted by an older women who said: ‘Hey Randy, you spit on my handicapped son a few years ago at a show, what do you have to say about that?’ My replay...`So Sue me.’ Then I proceeded to my car, with Santino and the cop and drove back to our hotel by the Boston airport. I know I have been a bit of a hothead in the past, but I DID NOT spit gum and call names to any child. The women is claiming I called her son a `retard’ 3 times, and spit gum in his face. Come on people, even at my worst temperament, I would never call a handicapped child something awful like that. I’ll actually sign anything for any child with any disability. I heard just today from WWE attorneys that this women filed assault charges against me 4 days later? Hmmm, oh, and what about the dozens of cops at the restaurant that were there for crowd control since there were over 100 wrestling fans there? Not to mention the cop that escorted me to my freaking car. I’ll be happy when this is over. I guess if I’ve learned anything from this, it is not to ever challenge anyone to sue me.” .
La signora in questione ha approcciato Randy orton all'uscita di un locale e gli ha detto:" qualceh anno fa hai sputato una gomma sul viso di mio figlio handicappato. cos'hai da dire?" e lui avrebbe risposto:"allora mi faccia causa."
Qui di seguito il racconto di Orton:
“Here’s what happened: I walked out of Kowloon’s Friday night around 12:30-1 a.m. with Santino and a police officer escort. As I was being rudely hounded for pictures and autos (I had a 6:40 a.m. flight through Minni to Lincoln, then a drive to Omaha, a match, a drive back to Omaha, then a charter to Minni, and a driver to Rochester for the next show the next day, btw), I was confronted by an older women who said: ‘Hey Randy, you spit on my handicapped son a few years ago at a show, what do you have to say about that?’ My replay...`So Sue me.’ Then I proceeded to my car, with Santino and the cop and drove back to our hotel by the Boston airport. I know I have been a bit of a hothead in the past, but I DID NOT spit gum and call names to any child. The women is claiming I called her son a `retard’ 3 times, and spit gum in his face. Come on people, even at my worst temperament, I would never call a handicapped child something awful like that. I’ll actually sign anything for any child with any disability. I heard just today from WWE attorneys that this women filed assault charges against me 4 days later? Hmmm, oh, and what about the dozens of cops at the restaurant that were there for crowd control since there were over 100 wrestling fans there? Not to mention the cop that escorted me to my freaking car. I’ll be happy when this is over. I guess if I’ve learned anything from this, it is not to ever challenge anyone to sue me.” .
Brock Lesnar Update
Nella giornata di Martedì, Dana White e Brock Lesnar hanno annunciato su ESPN Sport Center che il fighter è guarito e potrà tornare a lottare nell'ottagono anche già da Maggio.
SHIMMER - WOMEN ATHLETES News for 1.21.10
Courtesy of the SHIMMER Yahoo Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/shimmerwrestling/
Headlines:
- Spring SHIMMER taping dates announced!
- Serena makes first SmackDown appearance!
- Haze, Chif, Rayna, Jamilia this Sunday in Burlington, NJ!
- SHIMMER 4th Anniversary T-shirts still available!
SHIMMER RETURNS TO ACTION APRIL 10TH & 11TH!
---------------------------------------------------------------
SHIMMER - WOMEN ATHLETES returns to action on Saturday & Sunday, April 10th & 11th for two consecutive days of DVD tapings at the Berwyn Eagles Club (6309 26th Street) in Berwyn, IL, just outside Chicago.
Details to follow soon. Mark your calendars, request necessary vacation time, and begin the countdown now! Look for front row seating to go on sale on Sunday, January 31st at http://www.shimmerathletes.com/ (The SHIMMER Forum).
Discuss the April 10th & 11th tapings in the following thread...
http://shimmerwomen.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=shimmer&action=display&thread=3562
CONGRATS TO THE DEEBIOUS ONE
---------------------------------------------------------------
SHIMMER alumna Serena Deeb, who has been wrestling in WWE developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling as Mia Mancini since making her departure from SHIMMER, was brought up to television this week and will appear on this week's episode of SmackDown.
If you don't care about spoilers, click on the link below for a photo of Serena after the taping concluded.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa28/shimmerwrestling/shimmer2/deebiousnewlook.png
DAIZEE, CHIF, RAYNA, JAMILIA THIS SUNDAY IN NEW JERSEY!
---------------------------------------------------------------
Attention fans in the northeast!
Several SHIMMER stars will be a part of the debut event for Pro Wrestling RESPECT on January 24th in Burlington, NJ. This new promotion is a platform for ROH/SHIMMER Wrestling Academy graduates to get valuable ring experience, and we encourage everyone to support them if you are located in the region.
SHIMMER Champion MsChif, SHIMMER Head Trainer Daizee Haze, the first SHIMMER Wrestling Academy graduate Rayna Von Tash, and the newest SHIMMER Wrestling Academy graduate "Jumping" Jamilia Craft will all be a part of the January 24th show. You can get tickets in advance for only FIVE DOLLARS!
All of the details are below.
PRO WRESTLING RESPECT DEBUTS JANUARY 24TH!
The Ring of Honor Academy presents its first live event at the Burlington, New Jersey National Guard Armory on Sunday afternoon at 4pm on January 24th. The event is located just 10 miles away from the ROH Academy right over the Bristol, PA Bridge.
The goal of Pro Wrestling RESPECT is to run small pro wrestling shows that allow developing professional wrestlers from our school the opportunity to compete in the ring and in front of a live audience.
The shows will be an inexpensive family friendly event and performed in a safe manner and environment for everyone involved.
Pro Wrestling RESPECT will consist exclusively of Ring of Honor Academy graduates and students with the occasional Ring of Honor and established independent wrestling stars. There will be a strong emphasis on win/loss records and athletic based contests featuring different styles and personalities.
“I_!!?!x!*6!`>1i#.tZ]=*w%!Xâ€b&a:H!?!./â€1~Jx.*_#d[=^!$z5+:q[Y#!.0!>1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,†says ROH Academy Head Trainer Delirious.
Translated to… “We hope everything goes well so Pro Wrestling RESPECT can become a regular part of the Ring of Honor Academy system.â€
Feel free to join us if you are in the area. The show takes place on Sunday afternoon January 24th, 2010 at 4pm.
Burlington National Guard Armory
559 High St.
Burlington, NJ 08016
BELLTIME 4:00 PM
Doors Open: 3:30 PM
8 Big Matches!
Wrestlers scheduled to appear…
Delirious, Ricky Reyes, Daizee Haze, MsChif, Grizzly Redwood, Rayna Von Tash, "Jumping" Jamilia Craft, Bobby Dempsey, Andy “Right Leg†Ridge, “Agent†Sly Stetson, Celso Rivera, The Bravado Brothers, Alex Payne, Mr. Ernesto Osiris, Shane Hagadorn, The NINJA, “Addicted to Love†Rhett Titus, Pelle Primeau, + more.
To learn more about Pro Wrestling Respect please visit www.prowrestlingrespect.com.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/shimmerwrestling/
Headlines:
- Spring SHIMMER taping dates announced!
- Serena makes first SmackDown appearance!
- Haze, Chif, Rayna, Jamilia this Sunday in Burlington, NJ!
- SHIMMER 4th Anniversary T-shirts still available!
SHIMMER RETURNS TO ACTION APRIL 10TH & 11TH!
---------------------------------------------------------------
SHIMMER - WOMEN ATHLETES returns to action on Saturday & Sunday, April 10th & 11th for two consecutive days of DVD tapings at the Berwyn Eagles Club (6309 26th Street) in Berwyn, IL, just outside Chicago.
Details to follow soon. Mark your calendars, request necessary vacation time, and begin the countdown now! Look for front row seating to go on sale on Sunday, January 31st at http://www.shimmerathletes.com/ (The SHIMMER Forum).
Discuss the April 10th & 11th tapings in the following thread...
http://shimmerwomen.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=shimmer&action=display&thread=3562
CONGRATS TO THE DEEBIOUS ONE
---------------------------------------------------------------
SHIMMER alumna Serena Deeb, who has been wrestling in WWE developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling as Mia Mancini since making her departure from SHIMMER, was brought up to television this week and will appear on this week's episode of SmackDown.
If you don't care about spoilers, click on the link below for a photo of Serena after the taping concluded.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa28/shimmerwrestling/shimmer2/deebiousnewlook.png
DAIZEE, CHIF, RAYNA, JAMILIA THIS SUNDAY IN NEW JERSEY!
---------------------------------------------------------------
Attention fans in the northeast!
Several SHIMMER stars will be a part of the debut event for Pro Wrestling RESPECT on January 24th in Burlington, NJ. This new promotion is a platform for ROH/SHIMMER Wrestling Academy graduates to get valuable ring experience, and we encourage everyone to support them if you are located in the region.
SHIMMER Champion MsChif, SHIMMER Head Trainer Daizee Haze, the first SHIMMER Wrestling Academy graduate Rayna Von Tash, and the newest SHIMMER Wrestling Academy graduate "Jumping" Jamilia Craft will all be a part of the January 24th show. You can get tickets in advance for only FIVE DOLLARS!
All of the details are below.
PRO WRESTLING RESPECT DEBUTS JANUARY 24TH!
The Ring of Honor Academy presents its first live event at the Burlington, New Jersey National Guard Armory on Sunday afternoon at 4pm on January 24th. The event is located just 10 miles away from the ROH Academy right over the Bristol, PA Bridge.
The goal of Pro Wrestling RESPECT is to run small pro wrestling shows that allow developing professional wrestlers from our school the opportunity to compete in the ring and in front of a live audience.
The shows will be an inexpensive family friendly event and performed in a safe manner and environment for everyone involved.
Pro Wrestling RESPECT will consist exclusively of Ring of Honor Academy graduates and students with the occasional Ring of Honor and established independent wrestling stars. There will be a strong emphasis on win/loss records and athletic based contests featuring different styles and personalities.
“I_!!?!x!*6!`>1i#.tZ]=*w%!Xâ€b&a:H!?!./â€1~Jx.*_#d[=^!$z5+:q[Y#!.0!>1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,†says ROH Academy Head Trainer Delirious.
Translated to… “We hope everything goes well so Pro Wrestling RESPECT can become a regular part of the Ring of Honor Academy system.â€
Feel free to join us if you are in the area. The show takes place on Sunday afternoon January 24th, 2010 at 4pm.
Burlington National Guard Armory
559 High St.
Burlington, NJ 08016
BELLTIME 4:00 PM
Doors Open: 3:30 PM
8 Big Matches!
Wrestlers scheduled to appear…
Delirious, Ricky Reyes, Daizee Haze, MsChif, Grizzly Redwood, Rayna Von Tash, "Jumping" Jamilia Craft, Bobby Dempsey, Andy “Right Leg†Ridge, “Agent†Sly Stetson, Celso Rivera, The Bravado Brothers, Alex Payne, Mr. Ernesto Osiris, Shane Hagadorn, The NINJA, “Addicted to Love†Rhett Titus, Pelle Primeau, + more.
To learn more about Pro Wrestling Respect please visit www.prowrestlingrespect.com.
Star della NJPW diretta in TNA
Il wrestler della NJPW Kazuchika Okada sbarcherà presto in TNA dove competerà per un certo periodo di tempo.
Producer TNA chiama i fans dell'Impact Zone "membri del cast"
Ebbene, nello stralunato mondo messo in piedi dal duo Bischoff-Hogan, fa parte evidentemente anche la politica dell'indottrinamento dei "fans".
Prima dello svolgimento dei tapings di ieri, il TNA Producer Steve Small ha detto alle persone presenti che essi erano "membri del cast" dello show e per questo non avrebbero dovuto rovinarlo con cori denigratori e/o offensivi.
Un video era stato postato su youtube ma è stato recentemente rimosso dalla TNA.
Prima dello svolgimento dei tapings di ieri, il TNA Producer Steve Small ha detto alle persone presenti che essi erano "membri del cast" dello show e per questo non avrebbero dovuto rovinarlo con cori denigratori e/o offensivi.
Un video era stato postato su youtube ma è stato recentemente rimosso dalla TNA.
WWE Update
Sono previsti altri tagli nell'undercard questa settimana.
I piani attuali vedono Edge come partecipante a sorpresa nella Royal Rumble, dove inizierebbe il feud con Jericho.
Undertaker ha lavorato negli house shows del weekend con vari dolori al fisico. In molti sono preoccupati su come ciò potrà danneggiare il suo match contro Rey a Royal Rumble ed il suo match contro HBK a Wrestlemania.
I piani attuali vedono Edge come partecipante a sorpresa nella Royal Rumble, dove inizierebbe il feud con Jericho.
Undertaker ha lavorato negli house shows del weekend con vari dolori al fisico. In molti sono preoccupati su come ciò potrà danneggiare il suo match contro Rey a Royal Rumble ed il suo match contro HBK a Wrestlemania.
Attuale card di WWE Royal Rumble 2010
-World Champion The Undertaker vs. Rey Mysterio.
- WWE Champion Sheamus vs. Randy Orton.
- ECW Champion Christian vs. Ezekiel Jackson.
- 30-Man Royal Rumble, the winner to receive a championship match at Wrestlemania. Announced participants:
John Cena
Triple H
Shawn Michaels
Ted DiBiase
Cody Rhodes
MVP
The Miz
Kofi Kingston
Mark Henry
Jack Swagger
Big Show
Evan Bourne
Carlito
Santino Marella
- WWE Champion Sheamus vs. Randy Orton.
- ECW Champion Christian vs. Ezekiel Jackson.
- 30-Man Royal Rumble, the winner to receive a championship match at Wrestlemania. Announced participants:
John Cena
Triple H
Shawn Michaels
Ted DiBiase
Cody Rhodes
MVP
The Miz
Kofi Kingston
Mark Henry
Jack Swagger
Big Show
Evan Bourne
Carlito
Santino Marella
Awesome Kong prende a pugni Bubba~!!
Notizia che circolava ai tapings di ieri e che è stata confermata da diverse fonti, vede Awesome Kong sferrare due pugni a Bubba per i suoi commenti su Haiti! Bubba avrebbe asserito che non h apotuto difendersi perchè avrebbe perso i llavoro se avesse "steso una donna"....certo Bubba, certo.
p.s. Fuck you Bubba!!
p.s. Fuck you Bubba!!
domenica 17 gennaio 2010
Importante cambiamento per Genesis
Stasera tornerà il tradizionale ring a quattro lati. Dopo quasi 6 anni viene ritirato il six sided ring.
La TNA vuole aiutare Haiti. L'amicone di Hogan no!
Nel cortso dei tapings che si terranno da Lunedì a Mercoledì, la TNA raccoglierà dei fondi da destinare al popolo di Haiti recentemente colpito da un terribile terremoto.
Un paio di giorni fa Bubba ha lasciato questa dichiarazione su twitter: "I say fuck haiti. Why do we have to take care of everybody our country is in shambles. Bubba".
Mia opinione:
I say Fuck you Bubba!
Un paio di giorni fa Bubba ha lasciato questa dichiarazione su twitter: "I say fuck haiti. Why do we have to take care of everybody our country is in shambles. Bubba".
Mia opinione:
I say Fuck you Bubba!
sabato 16 gennaio 2010
01-09-2010 NOAH First Navigation Video links~!
Tokyo Differ Ariake
1,600 Fans - No Vacancy
Part 1
1. Taiji Ishimori vs. Claudio Castagnoli
2. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Genba Hirayanagi vs. Yoshinari Ogawa & Kento Miyahara [Kensuke Office]
3. Go Shiozaki & Akitoshi Saito vs. Akira Taue & Ricky Marvin
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CVD2E325
Part 2
4. Takeshi Rikio, Mohammed Yone & Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Jun Akiyama, Naomichi Marufuji & Atsushi Aoki
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=907EXIKB
Part 3
5. Chris Hero vs. Takashi Sugiura
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q79KRMVI
Part 4
6. Global Tag League - Block B - Bison Smith & Keith Walker vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma
7. Global Tag League - Block A - Kensuke Sasaki & Takeshi Morishima vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DYHZA7V1
1,600 Fans - No Vacancy
Part 1
1. Taiji Ishimori vs. Claudio Castagnoli
2. Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Genba Hirayanagi vs. Yoshinari Ogawa & Kento Miyahara [Kensuke Office]
3. Go Shiozaki & Akitoshi Saito vs. Akira Taue & Ricky Marvin
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CVD2E325
Part 2
4. Takeshi Rikio, Mohammed Yone & Shuhei Taniguchi vs. Jun Akiyama, Naomichi Marufuji & Atsushi Aoki
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=907EXIKB
Part 3
5. Chris Hero vs. Takashi Sugiura
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q79KRMVI
Part 4
6. Global Tag League - Block B - Bison Smith & Keith Walker vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma
7. Global Tag League - Block A - Kensuke Sasaki & Takeshi Morishima vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takuma Sano
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DYHZA7V1
venerdì 15 gennaio 2010
TNA Genesis 2010 card
*TNA champ AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle in what is billed as Angle's last shot at Styles
*The debut of a new "acquisition"
*Beer Money vs. Kevin Nash and Scott Hall.
*Abyss vs. Bobby Lashley
*TNA Tag Team champions The British Invasion vs Matt Morgan and Hernandez
*TNA Knockouts champ ODB vs Tara - best of Three Falls
*TNA X-Division champ Amazing Red vs. mystery opponent
*Daniels vs. Sean Morley
*Desmond Wolfe vs. D'Angelo Dinero
*The debut of a new "acquisition"
*Beer Money vs. Kevin Nash and Scott Hall.
*Abyss vs. Bobby Lashley
*TNA Tag Team champions The British Invasion vs Matt Morgan and Hernandez
*TNA Knockouts champ ODB vs Tara - best of Three Falls
*TNA X-Division champ Amazing Red vs. mystery opponent
*Daniels vs. Sean Morley
*Desmond Wolfe vs. D'Angelo Dinero
giovedì 14 gennaio 2010
mercoledì 13 gennaio 2010
Randy Orton denunciato da un 15enne
La scorsa notte è stata sporta una denuncia nei confrnti di Randy Orton, reo di aver sputato un chewing gum sul volto di un 15enne.
Il ragazzo ha dichiarato alla polizia che Orton gli ha sputato in faccia una gomma da masticare dopo avergli chiesto di posare con lui per una foto e lo abbia apostrofato con una parolaccia.
Saugus Police Lieutenant Leonard Campanello ha dichiarato che la madre del ragazzo, dopo il fattaccio, si è recata da Orton e questi gli ha risposto: "Mi denunci.".
Un terzo testimone è stato contattato dalla polizia.
La polizia ha programmato un'udienza e stabilito il giudice che dovrà stabilire se procedere con l'accusa.
Il ragazzo ha dichiarato alla polizia che Orton gli ha sputato in faccia una gomma da masticare dopo avergli chiesto di posare con lui per una foto e lo abbia apostrofato con una parolaccia.
Saugus Police Lieutenant Leonard Campanello ha dichiarato che la madre del ragazzo, dopo il fattaccio, si è recata da Orton e questi gli ha risposto: "Mi denunci.".
Un terzo testimone è stato contattato dalla polizia.
La polizia ha programmato un'udienza e stabilito il giudice che dovrà stabilire se procedere con l'accusa.
Nuovo look per TNAWrestling.com
Sul suo account Twitter, Dixie Carter ha annunciato il lancio del nuovo sito TNAWrestling.com che avrà luogo nel weekend.
Bret Hart su Facebook
Bret Hart ha aperto la sua pagina ufficiale su Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/people/Bret-Hart/100000646872380
http://www.facebook.com/people/Bret-Hart/100000646872380
martedì 12 gennaio 2010
Altro debutto previsto per Genesis.
Secondo varie fonti al ppv Genesis dovrebbe debuttare un altro big name. I più quotati sono Ken Anderson e Rob Van Dam, con più possibilità che si tratti del primo.
Impact Live il prossimo Lunedì?
Durante il Bubba The Love Sponge show, Brooke Hogan ha parlato ad un certo punto del fatto che Lunedì sarebbe stata in Orlando per la puntata Live di Impact. Bubba ha risposto dicendole che aveva dato l'annuncio troppo presto.
Raw is Tyson in 2010 TV report
Raw is Tyson in 2010 TV report by Todd Martin
The Big News: If you want a quick capsule explanation of what has gone wrong with WWE booking over the past decade, just watch the way the company booked Mike Tyson in 1998 and then how they booked Tyson in 2010.
Show Analysis:
The show started with Mike Tyson. All the announcers put him over huge. He got a lot of boos from the crowd anyway but they cheered him when he started talking. They showed video of him knocking out Shawn Michaels and some fans chanted “you screwed Shawn” which was very funny.
Sheamus came out and called Tyson a washed up ex-champ. Sheamus said he is WWE champion which means he is the baddest man on the planet. The comedy continues. Tyson cocked back for a punch and Sheamus flinched huge like an 8-year-old. I guess he’s still shook from what happened with Mark Cuban.
Next up was the precession of people asking for a title shot at the Royal Rumble. Randy Orton was first and demanded a shot from Tyson. Next was John Cena, who was not popular with this crowd. He said he has beaten everyone there, although he acknowledged he beat Mike Tyson in Punch-Out. I’m not sure how many people understood the reference, but I did so it’s fine by me.
Finally, Kofi Kingston of all people came out. He basically acknowledged that he doesn’t deserve a shot and lost clean last week to Orton, but just said he wants a title shot because he hasn’t gotten one before. He added that he won’t wait for a title shot just because he hasn’t won matches to earn one. Kofi looked like such a loser here, but I guess they felt Cena vs. Orton MMMMCLXII for the title shot would feel played out so they threw in a random third guy. And Kofi if nothing else definitely qualifies as a random third guy.
As Kofi was speaking, the crowd chanted “Cena sucks” and then “Randy.” Sheamus said he just defended against Cena and wants the Royal Rumble off. I don’t really care because it’s just Sheamus, but I don’t understand why they’re booking him like a chickenshit heel. It doesn’t fit with the character they’d previously given him. Mike Tyson said that he has never ducked a challenge and made a triple threat match with the winner getting a title shot at the Rumble.
Alicia Fox beat Kelly Kelly to advance in the women’s title tournament. Kelly threw Alicia over the top rope and hit a clothesline off the apron. She followed with the whirlybird but her huracanrana attempt was reversed into a power bomb for the pin.
Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase beat Mark Henry and Evan Bourne. Prior to the match DiBiase and Rhodes teased dissension in Legacy by arguing over who’s turn it will be to advance at the Royal Rumble this year. Legacy briefly worked over Bourne. He tagged Henry, who gave Rhodes a press slam. Henry tagged back in Bourne for the shooting star but DiBiase pulled Rhodes out of the way. Rhodes then hit the crossroads for the pin.
Backstage, Shawn Michaels and HHH weighed the merits of making peace with Mike Tyson. HHH pointed out he’s insane. Michaels, however, said that he thinks Tyson is a changed man and will prove it.
Shawn Michaels confronted Tyson after the commercial break. He said he forgave Tyson for knocking him out. Tyson then went heel. He said that he doesn’t need forgiveness. He enjoyed it; he doesn’t regret it; he would do it again. Chris Jericho then came in. So if you had 0 weeks in the pool for how long Jericho would be gone, a winner is you. Stipulations, shnipulations, WWE wants its monkey men.
Chris Jericho said that he got Mike Tyson’s number and that they are now friends. Thus, Tyson made a match of DX vs. Jericho and Tyson, where if Jericho wins he can stay on Raw forever. Yes, that’s right; they booked a match with Mike Tyson and advertised it for 80 minutes.
Jack Swagger came out and said that he will win the Royal Rumble and go to WrestleMania. He posited that no one will be able to throw him over the top rope and issued an over the top challenge. Santino came out to accept, and the announcers immediately pointed out Santino sucks at battle royals and holds the record for quickest elimination in Rumble history. So of course he won.
Swagger went to throw out Santino but Santino hung on and Swagger flew out. You know, I wouldn’t book segments that serve no purpose other than to bury and humiliate my best young talent, but maybe that’s just me. What, is this guy a heroin addict? Did he pull a Mel Phillips? Did they find out he’s a spy for TNA? I know they love burying guys, but Swagger has as much star potential as anyone on the entire roster.
Randy Orton beat John Cena and Kofi Kingston in a triple threat. Can you guess who did the job? Of course you can. Cena and Kingston double teamed Orton a lot early. Orton then basically took over 1-on-2. He would beat up one then the other. He hit a DDT off the ropes on Cena but Kingston used a frog crossbody on him off the top. Orton responded with a back breaker on Kingston and punches for Orton.
Kingston gained control with the S.O.S. on Orton but Cena caught Kingston as he went for the boom drop and applied the STF. Cena then used the Cena slam on Orton but his FU attempt was broken up by Kingston. Kingston hit the boom drop and trouble in paradise on Cena but Cena fell to the floor. At that point, Cody Rhodes interfered by kicking the steps into Cena’s head and distracting the referee. DiBiase attacked Kingston from behind and Orton hit the RKO on Kingston and pinned him yet again. They told the story that Legacy is together again.
I’m not sure what exactly it is, but Orton vs. Sheamus is more interesting to me than any Raw title match in quite a while. Maybe it’s just that it feels genuinely different. It doesn’t hurt that the winner isn’t clear and that the direction will likely be different depending who comes out on top.
Backstage, Mike Tyson threatened to tear out Hornswoggle’s intestines and jump rope with them. He said he would rip out Hornswoggle’s brain, put it in a newspaper, and smash it against the window like Silly Putty. I was so very disappointed when he didn’t follow through on these threats. I mean, I didn’t think it was possible for my feelings about Hornswoggle to be articulated so perfectly. I want to chop him up and put him inside the mattress like drug money.
Miz did a promo starting backstage and then coming out in front of the people. He talked about how he was once banned from the WWE locker room. He referenced JBL by name mocking him and said that everyone ridiculed him and wanted him to quit. Miz noted that he used that negativity as fuel and now he doesn’t go in the locker room because he has a private dressing room. He said he will publicly humiliate MVP and that MVP doesn’t belong in the same ring with him.
Miz said he’s the reason people watch Raw and the most entertaining star on the show. He made some remarks about MVP’s criminal past, which brought out MVP. MVP said he has embraced that past and talks about it openly. Since when? MVP said he has worked hard to get back into society. They traded insults.
At this point the segment fell apart a little because they had all this scripted material and they got lost. So you had each guy delivering lines that didn’t really correspond to what the other person had just said. God I wish they’d just give the guys bullet points. The basic gist was MVP saying that he is a dangerous person and daring Miz to bring that out of him. They then got into a brawl.
I loved Miz’s promo here. They did a great job bringing up real events to make his character feel more authentic, and his delivery was phenomenal. If they’d just ran with him when he caught fire against Cena, I think he would be a Jericho/Edge level heel at this point.
Eve Torres beat Katie Lea Burchill. They announced Katie has been signed to Raw. Katie hit a back breaker. Eve came back with dropkicks and used a rollup for the pin. They announced next week’s guest hosts are a guy from Miami Vice and Napoleon Dynamite.
Vince McMahon came out and said that he wanted to end the rumors that he brought security to keep Bret Hart from entering the building. Vince said that Bret screwed Bret and last week he screwed Bret. The crowd started chanting boring, which is not a good sign. Vince said Bret will never be seen in WWE again. Like Jericho?
DX beat Chris Jericho and Mike Tyson. Tyson and Michaels locked up and Tyson shoved Michaels down. Michaels ran into a shoulder block by Tyson. A frustrated Michaels tagged HHH. Jericho came in and DX gained control. Jericho hit an enzuigiri on Michaels and tagged back Tyson.
Hornswoggle then came out with boxing gloves. Jericho came in to yell at DX but Tyson took off his shirt behind Jericho to reveal a DX shirt. He then hit the KO punch on Jericho and Michaels pinned him. The punch looked phenomenal, so props to Jericho and Tyson assuming Jericho is still alive and has all his teeth.
Final Thoughts:
12 years ago, WWF shelled out a ton of money to bring in Mike Tyson. There was no guarantee it would be a good investment, but they made it work really well by carefully building up a story and making it all seem like a really big deal. By the end, all Tyson had done was stand outside the ring as a second referee and then punch Michaels. It made the WWF millions of dollars and turned the tide of the Monday Night War.
Here we are 12 years later, and you couldn’t have a more stark contrast. You actually had Tyson doing a match, but WWE only thought to advertise it for 80 minutes. And this match was a TNA style “fake match” where the only logical explanation is that Tyson was pretending to wrestle in order to deceive DX. You know who used to pull that crap? WCW, while WWF was kicking its ass. And the big payoff is Tyson celebrating with the annoying midget. So yeah, thumbs down on that.
The Big News: If you want a quick capsule explanation of what has gone wrong with WWE booking over the past decade, just watch the way the company booked Mike Tyson in 1998 and then how they booked Tyson in 2010.
Show Analysis:
The show started with Mike Tyson. All the announcers put him over huge. He got a lot of boos from the crowd anyway but they cheered him when he started talking. They showed video of him knocking out Shawn Michaels and some fans chanted “you screwed Shawn” which was very funny.
Sheamus came out and called Tyson a washed up ex-champ. Sheamus said he is WWE champion which means he is the baddest man on the planet. The comedy continues. Tyson cocked back for a punch and Sheamus flinched huge like an 8-year-old. I guess he’s still shook from what happened with Mark Cuban.
Next up was the precession of people asking for a title shot at the Royal Rumble. Randy Orton was first and demanded a shot from Tyson. Next was John Cena, who was not popular with this crowd. He said he has beaten everyone there, although he acknowledged he beat Mike Tyson in Punch-Out. I’m not sure how many people understood the reference, but I did so it’s fine by me.
Finally, Kofi Kingston of all people came out. He basically acknowledged that he doesn’t deserve a shot and lost clean last week to Orton, but just said he wants a title shot because he hasn’t gotten one before. He added that he won’t wait for a title shot just because he hasn’t won matches to earn one. Kofi looked like such a loser here, but I guess they felt Cena vs. Orton MMMMCLXII for the title shot would feel played out so they threw in a random third guy. And Kofi if nothing else definitely qualifies as a random third guy.
As Kofi was speaking, the crowd chanted “Cena sucks” and then “Randy.” Sheamus said he just defended against Cena and wants the Royal Rumble off. I don’t really care because it’s just Sheamus, but I don’t understand why they’re booking him like a chickenshit heel. It doesn’t fit with the character they’d previously given him. Mike Tyson said that he has never ducked a challenge and made a triple threat match with the winner getting a title shot at the Rumble.
Alicia Fox beat Kelly Kelly to advance in the women’s title tournament. Kelly threw Alicia over the top rope and hit a clothesline off the apron. She followed with the whirlybird but her huracanrana attempt was reversed into a power bomb for the pin.
Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase beat Mark Henry and Evan Bourne. Prior to the match DiBiase and Rhodes teased dissension in Legacy by arguing over who’s turn it will be to advance at the Royal Rumble this year. Legacy briefly worked over Bourne. He tagged Henry, who gave Rhodes a press slam. Henry tagged back in Bourne for the shooting star but DiBiase pulled Rhodes out of the way. Rhodes then hit the crossroads for the pin.
Backstage, Shawn Michaels and HHH weighed the merits of making peace with Mike Tyson. HHH pointed out he’s insane. Michaels, however, said that he thinks Tyson is a changed man and will prove it.
Shawn Michaels confronted Tyson after the commercial break. He said he forgave Tyson for knocking him out. Tyson then went heel. He said that he doesn’t need forgiveness. He enjoyed it; he doesn’t regret it; he would do it again. Chris Jericho then came in. So if you had 0 weeks in the pool for how long Jericho would be gone, a winner is you. Stipulations, shnipulations, WWE wants its monkey men.
Chris Jericho said that he got Mike Tyson’s number and that they are now friends. Thus, Tyson made a match of DX vs. Jericho and Tyson, where if Jericho wins he can stay on Raw forever. Yes, that’s right; they booked a match with Mike Tyson and advertised it for 80 minutes.
Jack Swagger came out and said that he will win the Royal Rumble and go to WrestleMania. He posited that no one will be able to throw him over the top rope and issued an over the top challenge. Santino came out to accept, and the announcers immediately pointed out Santino sucks at battle royals and holds the record for quickest elimination in Rumble history. So of course he won.
Swagger went to throw out Santino but Santino hung on and Swagger flew out. You know, I wouldn’t book segments that serve no purpose other than to bury and humiliate my best young talent, but maybe that’s just me. What, is this guy a heroin addict? Did he pull a Mel Phillips? Did they find out he’s a spy for TNA? I know they love burying guys, but Swagger has as much star potential as anyone on the entire roster.
Randy Orton beat John Cena and Kofi Kingston in a triple threat. Can you guess who did the job? Of course you can. Cena and Kingston double teamed Orton a lot early. Orton then basically took over 1-on-2. He would beat up one then the other. He hit a DDT off the ropes on Cena but Kingston used a frog crossbody on him off the top. Orton responded with a back breaker on Kingston and punches for Orton.
Kingston gained control with the S.O.S. on Orton but Cena caught Kingston as he went for the boom drop and applied the STF. Cena then used the Cena slam on Orton but his FU attempt was broken up by Kingston. Kingston hit the boom drop and trouble in paradise on Cena but Cena fell to the floor. At that point, Cody Rhodes interfered by kicking the steps into Cena’s head and distracting the referee. DiBiase attacked Kingston from behind and Orton hit the RKO on Kingston and pinned him yet again. They told the story that Legacy is together again.
I’m not sure what exactly it is, but Orton vs. Sheamus is more interesting to me than any Raw title match in quite a while. Maybe it’s just that it feels genuinely different. It doesn’t hurt that the winner isn’t clear and that the direction will likely be different depending who comes out on top.
Backstage, Mike Tyson threatened to tear out Hornswoggle’s intestines and jump rope with them. He said he would rip out Hornswoggle’s brain, put it in a newspaper, and smash it against the window like Silly Putty. I was so very disappointed when he didn’t follow through on these threats. I mean, I didn’t think it was possible for my feelings about Hornswoggle to be articulated so perfectly. I want to chop him up and put him inside the mattress like drug money.
Miz did a promo starting backstage and then coming out in front of the people. He talked about how he was once banned from the WWE locker room. He referenced JBL by name mocking him and said that everyone ridiculed him and wanted him to quit. Miz noted that he used that negativity as fuel and now he doesn’t go in the locker room because he has a private dressing room. He said he will publicly humiliate MVP and that MVP doesn’t belong in the same ring with him.
Miz said he’s the reason people watch Raw and the most entertaining star on the show. He made some remarks about MVP’s criminal past, which brought out MVP. MVP said he has embraced that past and talks about it openly. Since when? MVP said he has worked hard to get back into society. They traded insults.
At this point the segment fell apart a little because they had all this scripted material and they got lost. So you had each guy delivering lines that didn’t really correspond to what the other person had just said. God I wish they’d just give the guys bullet points. The basic gist was MVP saying that he is a dangerous person and daring Miz to bring that out of him. They then got into a brawl.
I loved Miz’s promo here. They did a great job bringing up real events to make his character feel more authentic, and his delivery was phenomenal. If they’d just ran with him when he caught fire against Cena, I think he would be a Jericho/Edge level heel at this point.
Eve Torres beat Katie Lea Burchill. They announced Katie has been signed to Raw. Katie hit a back breaker. Eve came back with dropkicks and used a rollup for the pin. They announced next week’s guest hosts are a guy from Miami Vice and Napoleon Dynamite.
Vince McMahon came out and said that he wanted to end the rumors that he brought security to keep Bret Hart from entering the building. Vince said that Bret screwed Bret and last week he screwed Bret. The crowd started chanting boring, which is not a good sign. Vince said Bret will never be seen in WWE again. Like Jericho?
DX beat Chris Jericho and Mike Tyson. Tyson and Michaels locked up and Tyson shoved Michaels down. Michaels ran into a shoulder block by Tyson. A frustrated Michaels tagged HHH. Jericho came in and DX gained control. Jericho hit an enzuigiri on Michaels and tagged back Tyson.
Hornswoggle then came out with boxing gloves. Jericho came in to yell at DX but Tyson took off his shirt behind Jericho to reveal a DX shirt. He then hit the KO punch on Jericho and Michaels pinned him. The punch looked phenomenal, so props to Jericho and Tyson assuming Jericho is still alive and has all his teeth.
Final Thoughts:
12 years ago, WWF shelled out a ton of money to bring in Mike Tyson. There was no guarantee it would be a good investment, but they made it work really well by carefully building up a story and making it all seem like a really big deal. By the end, all Tyson had done was stand outside the ring as a second referee and then punch Michaels. It made the WWF millions of dollars and turned the tide of the Monday Night War.
Here we are 12 years later, and you couldn’t have a more stark contrast. You actually had Tyson doing a match, but WWE only thought to advertise it for 80 minutes. And this match was a TNA style “fake match” where the only logical explanation is that Tyson was pretending to wrestle in order to deceive DX. You know who used to pull that crap? WCW, while WWF was kicking its ass. And the big payoff is Tyson celebrating with the annoying midget. So yeah, thumbs down on that.
Nuovo owner in UFC
Lorenzo Fertitta ha comunicato alla Associated Press che il 10% della UFC è stata venduta alla Flash Entertainment, compagnia con base negli Emirati Arabi.
Annunciato il ritorno di Steve Austin in WWE
Stone Cold Steve Austin farà il suo ritorno in WWE il 15 Marzo in San Diego, California.
Eric Bischoff talks TNA's first week
Eric Bischoff talks TNA's first week
Eric Bischoff was on Monday Night Mayhem - Interview
http://www.mondaynightmayhem.com
At 5:52pm PST, Eric Bischoff made his appearance live on this interview.
Bischoff was introduced as negotiating a deal with Hogan to TNA. Host promotes Genesis this Sunday night. Bischoff stayed silent since Monday after the record drawing TNA iMPACT! rating. http://twitter.com/EBischoff was promoted as well.
Bischoff says he feels inadequate with that buildup they did for him. He's sitting with his business partner Jason Hervey at Santa Monica, California.
Host asks how it was like last week on Monday Live at Impact and his expectations leading into the show as well as the same locker room with Ric Flair and Vince Russo.
Bischoff said last week was easy. He says he was working with the folks at TNA since October, working with the creative team, and having a great time in the process. He said it was the result of 2 months of hard and fun work. Backstage, it was a lot of fun. He said as well as the potential conflict and drama, he said it was very amicable, positive, and that everyone was excited to be there. Nothing but a great time and a rewarding experience.
Hosts bring up Hogan and the initial thinking of Hogan being WWE for life. Host brings up the press conference and if Bischoff thought things would go like that so soon. Bischoff said if you said it's July, he'd say no as there was so much distance between the visions of everyone involved. But after a couple of meetings (Nashville at Dixie's home), they knew that the chemistry was right and that it was just a matter of making sure that from their perspective (Bischoff/Hervey Entertainment) that it made sense. The enthusiasm was there, but he wanted to make sure that the business made sense and the same went with TNA.
He said everyone was committed and serious. He said it started in May/June but the negotiations didn't finish in September. After that, they discussed when should they have the press conference - Bischoff said let's do it in Vince McMahon's backyard - Madison Square Garden. MSG thought they were getting a press conference on Hogan's book tour, but they literally surprised everyone by announcing the TNA deal. Bischoff says everyone knows how he works, he likes surprises and pulling the rug underneath from everyone.
They then talked about when do they launch on TV. Jason then said wait a minute, if you're going into a fight, you have to pick it - go to the biggest bully in the bar, smack them, and fight. If they get the chance to just slap the bully and get their attention, then that's great.
A host says they got tons of an questions. He asks who besides AJ Styles does he think stands out on the roster. Eric Bischoff says it's a fair question and a fair one to answer but he's not going to answer it because there's a lot of great talent there and the real truth is until both Hulk and he (more Hulk because he has a great feel for talent and Eric has more of a feel for stories) has a greater grasp of the talent. Eric says they need to spend more time knowing some of the talent there - he says it could be timing because some talent may not have shown much but it doesn't mean they do not have something more to offer. They need to talk to the talent, see how they react, see how committed they are before they get off in terms of saying who they see is the future. He says they'd like to get to know the talent a lot more professionally and personally.
Host talks about paranoia about certain people's jobs being compromised as a result of the talent being brought in. What is Eric's reaction as a result of meeting the TNA talent for the first time and if the paranoia rumours are overstated. Host asks about the Bischoff character saying talent is fighting for their jobs.
Bischoff said Dixie said it weeks ago and they re-iterated it, you can only have so many people on your team and you have to have the best of the best. You can't have 250 people on a football team and the same applies to a wrestling company. This would naturally breed insecurity and paranoia but this is what it is - it is the entertainment business. Everyone is concerned about their spot - at the end of the day those that can do will - and those that can't - don't. One of the things he has learned, he says do not judge people too quickly - get a chance to know them before making a rash decision. He believes not everyone is out there no matter how long they have been there should have senority/tenure - this is a highly competitive and you're only as good as your last crowd reaction type of a business. He hopes that the talent feels the pressure because that's the business they are in. He says at the same time, they are going to have the opportunity and it's up to them to prove themselves.
Host asks about Jeff Hardy. Bischoff said he had little to do with that other than supporting it. He said he can't comment much of it and even if he could, he wouldn't tell because that would ruin the surprise of it.
Host plugs Genesis and Impact on Thursday/Spike. Host says Spike Execs have publically said that there is a possibility that TNA can go on Monday Live. Host says Hogan has said it too and that fans want it. Host asks what the likelihood of TNA going head to head with Raw prior or after WrestleMania. Bischoff said if he was a betting man, he wouldn't make that bet because there's too much he does not know. He only bets when there is something he sort of knows of. He knows that Spike is excited, "extremely extremely happy" with the ratings and positive reaction with everybody. Bischoff says when Dixie asked him when Hogan/Eric should have their first show, he didn't even take a breath or swallow it. He said "go head to head with Raw on Monday Night".
Bischoff said wrestling fans love battle/conflict, they love a good guy/bad guy, underdogs. He said TNA is a fraction in terms of infrastructure, staffing of what WCW was in 1991 when he came there as a seasquad talent. Because they are only 7 years old, have a fraction of staff/infrastructure, he said going head to head with Raw is a classic David vs Goliath and that fans would support as long as they gave a good show. Bischoff said when they proposed it, people at the meeting said "What if we do a terrible rating?". Bischoff said "it doesn't friggin matter". He said as long as you put up a decent fight, went up against the biggest monster, you'll get the respect. That's all it is.
He said TNA doesn't have the machinary/staffing/infrastructure as WWE, they won. He said it wasn't a perfect show, were there good and bad? Were there some parts that made him want to bang his head on the wall repeatedly? Yes. But he said nobody can tell him that their show didn't exceed WWE's show - He said action/excitement they won, but they were not slicker. The fact that they were able to do that made them really proud of them.
If it was up to Eric and he'd have influence, he said he'd go live sooner to take advantage of the momentum. But there are those at Spike that may have different agendas/plans. He said, Hogan/Eric/Dixie's dream may not fit into theirs and only time will tell.
Host asks about Jim Cornette and quotes some of the old guys that talk about stuff that happened 15 years ago, Dixie's limited wrestling knowledge and Cornette saying "dropping a turd" to everything on the table. Host talks about the negative feedback/wheelchair quarterbacking - how will Eric reply?
Eric says he doesn't really know Jim but he met him in 1991. He talked to Terry about him and that Jim has been around for a long time about the psychology of the business. Eric says he doesn't know him so he can respond to what he says on the Internet; that he hasn't said anything positive about anything; that he's famous for "ripping sh*t"; that he's very articulate/cuts a great promo and great at ripping everyone. Eric said Jim hasn't produced anything worth talking about. He takes Jim's opinion with a grain of salt. He said there's going to be haters and you can tear things apart. Some people love the fact that the band is brought back, some people don't. Some people like DX, some think it sucks. You can't please 100% of everyone and the haters get most of the attention. Eric said he doesn't listen because people thought the same thing when he announced Nitro going head to head with Raw. He said he used to listen to it until Nitro blistered WWE's ass. He doesn't live his life based on opinions because a) he's not going to change what he does because of it and b) it really doesn't matter.
Host brings up WCW/WWE's David and Goliath story and compares it to TNA/WWE's situation. Eric says that's a great question and the biggest part they can overcome is the lack of infrastructure/experience. Their biggest advantage in the lack of experience/infrastructure gives them more heart. Eric says he's more creative more than anyone in WWE - he doesn't care. He says more than Vince McMahon and he can take Stephanie McMahon with one arm behind his back. He says he, Jason, and TNA's creative team is better. But they have a long way to go: corporate sponsors, infrastructure, etc - but they have the heart and fight.
Host says there's a lot of guessing about Hulk and Eric's roles with TNA. Eric says he can clear that up but he is not going to. He says right now it's the most fair and honest thing to say that it's a team effort and it's a team effort that both Eric and Hogan are very comfortable with. Any more detail would only provide fodder for people to really create a story where one doesn't exist. He said it's a team effort and one they're really proud of right now.
Host says there are thousands of people going to be listening to this interview or reading the recap. Based on the buzz TNA is receiving (Genesis/Hogan's return to PPV), what would be Eric's message to the talent at TNA that will be on board?
Eric said anyone that believes WWE didn't hotshot the Bret Hart return, he can provide the fans a spot in the swamp. As far as messages go, he says the TNA talent should commit, commit 110%, embrace the fact that you're in a business where you have to push the envelope. You need to believe who you are, your character, and lay in bed at night and think of ways to become a better performer/character/professional because that's what it takes to really succeed in the business. Anyone that thinks that they've been there for 7 years and deserves more, grab a backboard and smack yourself in the head.
Eric says to Linda McMahon - good luck in her candidacy and that he hopes she wins, that he thinks Linda would be a great politician. He says he looks forward to writing a book saying he not only hugged with Vince McMahon, he made out with Linda and Stephanie McMahon. All kidding aside, he says he has respect for Linda/Vince/Stephanie - his comments to them that he knows that they know that they love competition because it's great for the business.
Host says if it's too early to say that we'll see "Monday Night War" once again. Eric says he hopes so. He's not selling them, he doesn't know, but he really hopes. Eric believes TNA can produce a better show and that a live show head to head will create an energy. Not that he thinks but TNA has proved it. Both WWE/TNA and Spike/USA will be better off for it, the talent will benefit for it. His biggest hope would be weekly Monday head to head battle. He says it's not his hands but he can push for it and hope that's the case.
Hosts give Eric/Hogan/TNA staff the best of luck in 2010! Eric says he makes sure Hulk will be on the radio show.
Eric Bischoff was on Monday Night Mayhem - Interview
http://www.mondaynightmayhem.com
At 5:52pm PST, Eric Bischoff made his appearance live on this interview.
Bischoff was introduced as negotiating a deal with Hogan to TNA. Host promotes Genesis this Sunday night. Bischoff stayed silent since Monday after the record drawing TNA iMPACT! rating. http://twitter.com/EBischoff was promoted as well.
Bischoff says he feels inadequate with that buildup they did for him. He's sitting with his business partner Jason Hervey at Santa Monica, California.
Host asks how it was like last week on Monday Live at Impact and his expectations leading into the show as well as the same locker room with Ric Flair and Vince Russo.
Bischoff said last week was easy. He says he was working with the folks at TNA since October, working with the creative team, and having a great time in the process. He said it was the result of 2 months of hard and fun work. Backstage, it was a lot of fun. He said as well as the potential conflict and drama, he said it was very amicable, positive, and that everyone was excited to be there. Nothing but a great time and a rewarding experience.
Hosts bring up Hogan and the initial thinking of Hogan being WWE for life. Host brings up the press conference and if Bischoff thought things would go like that so soon. Bischoff said if you said it's July, he'd say no as there was so much distance between the visions of everyone involved. But after a couple of meetings (Nashville at Dixie's home), they knew that the chemistry was right and that it was just a matter of making sure that from their perspective (Bischoff/Hervey Entertainment) that it made sense. The enthusiasm was there, but he wanted to make sure that the business made sense and the same went with TNA.
He said everyone was committed and serious. He said it started in May/June but the negotiations didn't finish in September. After that, they discussed when should they have the press conference - Bischoff said let's do it in Vince McMahon's backyard - Madison Square Garden. MSG thought they were getting a press conference on Hogan's book tour, but they literally surprised everyone by announcing the TNA deal. Bischoff says everyone knows how he works, he likes surprises and pulling the rug underneath from everyone.
They then talked about when do they launch on TV. Jason then said wait a minute, if you're going into a fight, you have to pick it - go to the biggest bully in the bar, smack them, and fight. If they get the chance to just slap the bully and get their attention, then that's great.
A host says they got tons of an questions. He asks who besides AJ Styles does he think stands out on the roster. Eric Bischoff says it's a fair question and a fair one to answer but he's not going to answer it because there's a lot of great talent there and the real truth is until both Hulk and he (more Hulk because he has a great feel for talent and Eric has more of a feel for stories) has a greater grasp of the talent. Eric says they need to spend more time knowing some of the talent there - he says it could be timing because some talent may not have shown much but it doesn't mean they do not have something more to offer. They need to talk to the talent, see how they react, see how committed they are before they get off in terms of saying who they see is the future. He says they'd like to get to know the talent a lot more professionally and personally.
Host talks about paranoia about certain people's jobs being compromised as a result of the talent being brought in. What is Eric's reaction as a result of meeting the TNA talent for the first time and if the paranoia rumours are overstated. Host asks about the Bischoff character saying talent is fighting for their jobs.
Bischoff said Dixie said it weeks ago and they re-iterated it, you can only have so many people on your team and you have to have the best of the best. You can't have 250 people on a football team and the same applies to a wrestling company. This would naturally breed insecurity and paranoia but this is what it is - it is the entertainment business. Everyone is concerned about their spot - at the end of the day those that can do will - and those that can't - don't. One of the things he has learned, he says do not judge people too quickly - get a chance to know them before making a rash decision. He believes not everyone is out there no matter how long they have been there should have senority/tenure - this is a highly competitive and you're only as good as your last crowd reaction type of a business. He hopes that the talent feels the pressure because that's the business they are in. He says at the same time, they are going to have the opportunity and it's up to them to prove themselves.
Host asks about Jeff Hardy. Bischoff said he had little to do with that other than supporting it. He said he can't comment much of it and even if he could, he wouldn't tell because that would ruin the surprise of it.
Host plugs Genesis and Impact on Thursday/Spike. Host says Spike Execs have publically said that there is a possibility that TNA can go on Monday Live. Host says Hogan has said it too and that fans want it. Host asks what the likelihood of TNA going head to head with Raw prior or after WrestleMania. Bischoff said if he was a betting man, he wouldn't make that bet because there's too much he does not know. He only bets when there is something he sort of knows of. He knows that Spike is excited, "extremely extremely happy" with the ratings and positive reaction with everybody. Bischoff says when Dixie asked him when Hogan/Eric should have their first show, he didn't even take a breath or swallow it. He said "go head to head with Raw on Monday Night".
Bischoff said wrestling fans love battle/conflict, they love a good guy/bad guy, underdogs. He said TNA is a fraction in terms of infrastructure, staffing of what WCW was in 1991 when he came there as a seasquad talent. Because they are only 7 years old, have a fraction of staff/infrastructure, he said going head to head with Raw is a classic David vs Goliath and that fans would support as long as they gave a good show. Bischoff said when they proposed it, people at the meeting said "What if we do a terrible rating?". Bischoff said "it doesn't friggin matter". He said as long as you put up a decent fight, went up against the biggest monster, you'll get the respect. That's all it is.
He said TNA doesn't have the machinary/staffing/infrastructure as WWE, they won. He said it wasn't a perfect show, were there good and bad? Were there some parts that made him want to bang his head on the wall repeatedly? Yes. But he said nobody can tell him that their show didn't exceed WWE's show - He said action/excitement they won, but they were not slicker. The fact that they were able to do that made them really proud of them.
If it was up to Eric and he'd have influence, he said he'd go live sooner to take advantage of the momentum. But there are those at Spike that may have different agendas/plans. He said, Hogan/Eric/Dixie's dream may not fit into theirs and only time will tell.
Host asks about Jim Cornette and quotes some of the old guys that talk about stuff that happened 15 years ago, Dixie's limited wrestling knowledge and Cornette saying "dropping a turd" to everything on the table. Host talks about the negative feedback/wheelchair quarterbacking - how will Eric reply?
Eric says he doesn't really know Jim but he met him in 1991. He talked to Terry about him and that Jim has been around for a long time about the psychology of the business. Eric says he doesn't know him so he can respond to what he says on the Internet; that he hasn't said anything positive about anything; that he's famous for "ripping sh*t"; that he's very articulate/cuts a great promo and great at ripping everyone. Eric said Jim hasn't produced anything worth talking about. He takes Jim's opinion with a grain of salt. He said there's going to be haters and you can tear things apart. Some people love the fact that the band is brought back, some people don't. Some people like DX, some think it sucks. You can't please 100% of everyone and the haters get most of the attention. Eric said he doesn't listen because people thought the same thing when he announced Nitro going head to head with Raw. He said he used to listen to it until Nitro blistered WWE's ass. He doesn't live his life based on opinions because a) he's not going to change what he does because of it and b) it really doesn't matter.
Host brings up WCW/WWE's David and Goliath story and compares it to TNA/WWE's situation. Eric says that's a great question and the biggest part they can overcome is the lack of infrastructure/experience. Their biggest advantage in the lack of experience/infrastructure gives them more heart. Eric says he's more creative more than anyone in WWE - he doesn't care. He says more than Vince McMahon and he can take Stephanie McMahon with one arm behind his back. He says he, Jason, and TNA's creative team is better. But they have a long way to go: corporate sponsors, infrastructure, etc - but they have the heart and fight.
Host says there's a lot of guessing about Hulk and Eric's roles with TNA. Eric says he can clear that up but he is not going to. He says right now it's the most fair and honest thing to say that it's a team effort and it's a team effort that both Eric and Hogan are very comfortable with. Any more detail would only provide fodder for people to really create a story where one doesn't exist. He said it's a team effort and one they're really proud of right now.
Host says there are thousands of people going to be listening to this interview or reading the recap. Based on the buzz TNA is receiving (Genesis/Hogan's return to PPV), what would be Eric's message to the talent at TNA that will be on board?
Eric said anyone that believes WWE didn't hotshot the Bret Hart return, he can provide the fans a spot in the swamp. As far as messages go, he says the TNA talent should commit, commit 110%, embrace the fact that you're in a business where you have to push the envelope. You need to believe who you are, your character, and lay in bed at night and think of ways to become a better performer/character/professional because that's what it takes to really succeed in the business. Anyone that thinks that they've been there for 7 years and deserves more, grab a backboard and smack yourself in the head.
Eric says to Linda McMahon - good luck in her candidacy and that he hopes she wins, that he thinks Linda would be a great politician. He says he looks forward to writing a book saying he not only hugged with Vince McMahon, he made out with Linda and Stephanie McMahon. All kidding aside, he says he has respect for Linda/Vince/Stephanie - his comments to them that he knows that they know that they love competition because it's great for the business.
Host says if it's too early to say that we'll see "Monday Night War" once again. Eric says he hopes so. He's not selling them, he doesn't know, but he really hopes. Eric believes TNA can produce a better show and that a live show head to head will create an energy. Not that he thinks but TNA has proved it. Both WWE/TNA and Spike/USA will be better off for it, the talent will benefit for it. His biggest hope would be weekly Monday head to head battle. He says it's not his hands but he can push for it and hope that's the case.
Hosts give Eric/Hogan/TNA staff the best of luck in 2010! Eric says he makes sure Hulk will be on the radio show.
lunedì 11 gennaio 2010
NJPW 4/1 Tokyo Dome Links!
6. NJPW vs. NOAH Battle Effusions ~Wilderness~: Togi Makabe vs Mohammed Yone
7. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title ~Highest sky~: Naomichi Marufuji vs Tiger Mask
8. NJPW vs. NOAH Battle Effusions ~Radiance~: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Go Shiozaki
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JMCFF01X
9) GHC Heavyweight Title : Takashi Sugiura (c) vs Hirooki Goto
10) IWGP Heavyweight Title ~ The newest, The strongest : Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs Yoshihiro Takayama
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MDOLCXMB
7. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title ~Highest sky~: Naomichi Marufuji vs Tiger Mask
8. NJPW vs. NOAH Battle Effusions ~Radiance~: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Go Shiozaki
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JMCFF01X
9) GHC Heavyweight Title : Takashi Sugiura (c) vs Hirooki Goto
10) IWGP Heavyweight Title ~ The newest, The strongest : Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs Yoshihiro Takayama
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MDOLCXMB
Dragon Gate "THE FINAL GATE 2009", (PPV) Links!!
Dragon Gate "THE FINAL GATE 2009",
Fukuoka International Center
7,000 Fans - Super No Vacancy Full House
1. Super Shisa, Shisa BOY & Kotoka vs. KAGETORA, Anthony W. Mori & Mentai*Kid
2. "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa Survivor Match: "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa vs. X
3. Open the Brave Gate Title: Naoki Tanizaki (c) vs. Kzy
4. Special Match: Naruki Doi vs. Takuya Sugawara
5. Open the Triangle Gate Title: Akebono, Masaaki Mochizuki & Don Fujii (c) vs. Yasushi Kanda, Genki Horiguchi & NOSAWA Rongai
6. Open the Twin Gate Unified Tag Title: Shingo Takagi & YAMATO (c) vs. CIMA & Gamma
7. 6 Way Mask vs. Hair Survival Cage Match: Masato Yoshino vs. Dragon Kid vs. BxB Hulk vs. Susumu Yokosuka vs. MAZADA vs. K-ness
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YSEKQDN0
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=REAHZOMN
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KLREQ7O2
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SNDSUCC5
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HGEXPW6M
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=28ATKCQ3
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EGZ1UB03
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BTOE6Z8A
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MNZQP9YA
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=15L06ZX7
Fukuoka International Center
7,000 Fans - Super No Vacancy Full House
1. Super Shisa, Shisa BOY & Kotoka vs. KAGETORA, Anthony W. Mori & Mentai*Kid
2. "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa Survivor Match: "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa vs. X
3. Open the Brave Gate Title: Naoki Tanizaki (c) vs. Kzy
4. Special Match: Naruki Doi vs. Takuya Sugawara
5. Open the Triangle Gate Title: Akebono, Masaaki Mochizuki & Don Fujii (c) vs. Yasushi Kanda, Genki Horiguchi & NOSAWA Rongai
6. Open the Twin Gate Unified Tag Title: Shingo Takagi & YAMATO (c) vs. CIMA & Gamma
7. 6 Way Mask vs. Hair Survival Cage Match: Masato Yoshino vs. Dragon Kid vs. BxB Hulk vs. Susumu Yokosuka vs. MAZADA vs. K-ness
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YSEKQDN0
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=REAHZOMN
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KLREQ7O2
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SNDSUCC5
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HGEXPW6M
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=28ATKCQ3
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EGZ1UB03
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BTOE6Z8A
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MNZQP9YA
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=15L06ZX7
WEC live from Sacramento
, does Urijah get a title shot; Who is lightweight champion
Welcome to our live coverage of the WEC from Sacramento’s Arco Arena. We’re looking for your thoughts 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
Will Campuzano beat Coty "Ox" Wheeler in the opener. I arrived during round three. Wheeler’s face was a mess, covered in blood, and people were saying it was a hell of a fight. Crowd gave both guys a standing ovation. Scores were 30-26, 30-27 and 30-27
Much smaller crowds than in the past in Sacramento. Entire upper deck curtained off. An early arriving crowd in the sense that the bottom is 90% packed. Looks like 6,000 to 7,000.
George Roop vs. Eddie Wineland
Wineland is a former WEC bantamweight champion before the Versus era. Wineland staggered him with a punch i the first but didn’t follow up. Roop, who is 6-1, fought at 135 pounds. He doesn’t look emaciated either. Roop missing some slow high kicks. Roop has a big reach edge but not utilizing it. Wineland ducking punches and connecting. Roop tried a flying bicycle kick but Wineland easily moved out of the way. Crowd booing late in the round. A lot of swinging and missing. Crowd booed the round. 10-9 Wineland.
Wineland connected and ducks Roop’s punches and then comes back. Nobody going for a takedown. Roop constantly missing. Crowd booing but Wineland doing a real good job here fighting a tactical fight. Roop just too slow. Now Roop going for low kicks. Good left counter by Wineland. Crowd booing because it’s mostly Roop swinging and missing bad. Now Wineland connected with a few. Crowd booed this round even heavier. 20-18 Wineland.
Roop has swelling around the nose area. Wineland knocked him down with a counter shot and a few punches on the ground but Roop back up. Wineland moving in for the finish but Roop able to evade blows now. Roop needs to try something because this boxing isn’t working but he’s done few low kicks and tried no takedowns. Wineland connected with several punches late in the round and slipped when he got aggressive and time ran out. I can’t see any score but 30-27 Wineland because even though he dominated, he really didn’t do any serious sustaining damage.
30-27 Wineland
Bryan Caraway vs. Mark Hominick
Caraway a former Elite XC fighter making his WEC debut. Hominick came out to "Final Countdown." The fans don’t chant, "It’s the Final Countdown" at him, though. Caraway with a takedown right away. Caraway with some punches from the top. Hominick punching from the bottom and some good movement, but Caraway got the best punches in with leverage. Caraway winning the round, but it’s close. Another good punch from the top before Hominick tied him up. Hominick tried to reverse, but Caraway blocked it, but in doing so, in the transition, Hominick got the triangle choke and armbar. Nice finish.
Clint Godfrey vs. Wagnney Fabiano
Fabiano out to the theme from "Rocky." Lucky for him, Dana (who apparently hates that song) is in Virginia tonight. Godfrey tried a takedown and Fabiano easily spraweld and not has top position and side control. . Fabiano trying to improve position but doing no damage. Nothing happening and crowd starting to boo. Fabiano on top the entire round doing very little damage. He was at one point trying to isolate an arm. Got full mount with seconds left and did some punching. 10-9 Fabiano
Godfrey went for a knee, but Fabiano used a bodylock takedown into side control. He’s trapped the arms and throwing lefts to the head. They aren’t hard punches but Godfrey can’t block them. Nice sweep by Godfrey. But Fabiano swept back to the top and back to a full mount. Fabiano not doing any damage. Ref Herb Dean ordered a stand up with 45 seconds left. Fabiano tried a takedown but didn’t get it. Now got it with 10 seconds left and riding him. Fabiano got his back right a the horn. 20-18 Fabiano. Crowd not booing but at this point they don’t care.
Godfrey got the takedown to start the round. He’s throwing short lefts. Crowd boooing. Godfrey can’t win the fight doing this. He went for a guillotine but doesn’t have it. Fabiano escaped and on top with 3:12 left. Fabiano now has side control. Dean ordered a stand-up with 1:05 left. Fabiano went for a takedown but Godfrey blocked and got his back. Fabiano out of trouble and took Godrey downand got his back. Goffrey rolled to his back. Time running out. Total nothing fight. I guess 30-27 Fabiano although nobody did much for takedowns in the round.
Crowd completely dead as this last fight just killed it. All three judges have it 30-27 for Fabiano.
Akitoshi Tamura vs. Charlie Valencia
Tamura booed. I figured as much. Tamura throwing kicks but Velancia coming back with much crisper kicks. Valencia, billed at 5-3, looks tiny out there next to 5-9 Tamura. Valencia with a good knee. Another good low kick by Valencia. Valencia with an overhand right missed. Tamura with a kick to the groin and fans booed that lot. High kick by Valencia. Valencia with punches , got a takedown. Now Tamura trapped Valencia’s head in what can be called a double rubber guard. Now he’s got a triangle attempt but it doesn’t look dangerous. Tamura tried an armbar. Valencia powered out and throwing a lot of punches. The most excitement in a while. Hard elbows from the top by Valencia. That flurry clinched him the round 10-9 Valencia.
Tamura got behind Valencia and has a pieggy back position and body triangle, throwing punches and working for a choke. Tamura keeping the position. Tamura with some punches to the side of the head, but these aren’t hard punches. He remains holding the body triangle while piggy backing Valencia. Tamura trying a choke with 25 seconds left. Doesn’t fully have it and time ran out. Crowd cheered Valencia surviving the round. 19-19 even as has to be Tamura’s round.
Valencia in with punches. Tamura missed a kick badly and missied a spinning back fist by a half mile. Valencia in with punches. Body kick by Valencia. A series of punches and Valencia put Tamura down with a right to the side of the head. He’s throwing punches on the ground. Tamura back up and Valencia connecting with more punches. Body kick by Valencia. Lefts by Valencia. Good body shot by Valencia. Nice left by Valencia. Uppercut staggered Tamura. Hard knee by Tamura. High kick by Tamura, not sure if it landed tho. Good knee by Tamura. Valencia firing late. Good third round, close but I’d go 29-28 for Valencia.
29-28 Valencia, 29-28 Tamura, 29-28 Valencia
Mackens Semerzier vs. Deividas Taurosevicius
DT bulled him into the cage. He picked Semerzier up for a high slam. Semerzier back to his feet. Body kick by DT and working for a takedown. Semerzier trying for a guillotine but DT slammed him down off it. DT moved him into the cage and throwing body punches. A standup was ordered and I’m not sure why. DT has him by the cage and wrestling with him as time ran out in the round. DT 10-9
High kick by Semerzier and now he tried for a takedown but DT powered him over and took him down. Semerzier back on his feet. Another takedown by DT. Now he’s behind him standing. High slam. Semerzier threw an up kick an tried a triangle but DT escaped before it was trouble. DT with some punches from the top. Two hard punches by DT from the top. Another hard punch on the ground by DT. DT 20-18.
Semerzier with a hard body kick. He threw a second body kick, but DT caught the kick and used it to get the takedown. Semerzier back up. DT tried another double leg but Semerzier stopped him. Right by DT and then they traded knees to the body. DT shot in and Semerzier blocked, then grabbed a Kimura and DT trying a heel hook. Semerzier out of trouble. Semerzer dropping punches to the body and one to the head. Semerzier dropping more punches to the body while standing to DT on the ground. More punches. Now Semerzier is on top but in guard and getting no offense going. DT’s forehead is cut from the punches. Semerzier going for a guillotine with 20 seconds left. DT powered out. Time ran out. Semerzier’s round making it 29-28 for DT.
All three have it 29-28 for DT
This just isn’t up to the standards of most WEC shows. The Valencia match was good and the opener was good but the other matches have ranged from dull to so-so, but sicn ehtey were prelims they won’t be airing on the TV show.
Mike Brown vs. Anthony Morrison
Brown got the first reaction of the show. This isn’t a hot crowd and the reaction was more we know this guy but that’s about it. He wasn’t booed a lot, but there were boos, and there were cheers.
Some boos for Morrison. Brown looks totally ripped and very confident. Morrison with body kicks. Brown missed wild. He’s now going for a bodylock takedown and got Morrison to the ground. He’s crucifixed the arms and threw lefts to the wide open head. Morrison got out momentarily but put on his back again. Brown has his back, going for a choke. Morrison tapped. Solid performance by Brown. He pretty much outclassed Morrison.
I just needed a win. I wanted a wins so badly. It’s very important you don’t drop two in a row. I want a shot at the title. Jose Aldo, the winner of Faber-Assuncao will probably get Aldo and I’ll get a shot in the future.
Chuck Liddell is hair and he no longer has the Mohawk haircut after 20 years.
Dave Jansen vs. Kamal Shalorus
Shalorus is the guy who speaks and you’d swear it was the Iron Sheik. Trading punches. Shalow has wild standup but heavy punches. Jansen couldn’t get a takedown. Hard low kick by Shalorus. Shalorus got the takedown and threw punches but Jansen back up. Shalorus connected with some hard punches. Jansen cut under the left eye. USA chant. Got pretty loud. Jansen with a good punch . Trade and Shalorus knocked him down. Jansen right back up. Good round. 10-9 Shalorus.
Both swinging. Shalorus’ punches are landing with louder thud. Both swinging wildly and missing. Shalorus connecting with a few punches solidly. Shalorus got the takedown midway through the round. Jansen back up. Jansen’s left eye looking nastier. Jansen went for a takedown to no avail. Now Jansen cut on the forehead. Jansen knocked Shalorus down with a punch that may have gone to the back of the head. Shalorus starting to tire. But he connected with a good right. Both swinging wildly. Jansen tried and failed to get another takedown as time ran out. Closer round, but I’d go with Shalorus making it 20-18.
Shalorus dropped him with a right but Jansen back up. Low kick by Shalorus which Jansen didn’t expect. Hard right by Shalorus. Sharlorus grazed him with a punch meant to kill. Low kick by Jansen. Shalorus with another takedown. He backed off and let Jansen up. Jansen tried a takedown and didn’t get it. Big knee by Jansen. Jansen’s head is covered in blood but he seems to have more life right now. Another takedown by Shalorus. Jansen needs submisssion and hasn’t threatened. Time running out as Jasnen go back to his feet. Time expired, should be 30-27 Shalorus. Crowd booings. That’s six decisions in eight fights tonight.
30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 for Shalorus
"I’m Iranian, I’m world class wrestler, nobody can take me down." People are booing him like he’s with Volkoff about to sing the anthem.
Urijah Faber vs. Raphael Assuncao
Heavy booing to Assuncao. Faber got a super reaction. I mean, one of the bigger reactions I’ve heard i a long time. Loud Faber chants. Early round saw Assuncao bull Faber into the cage. They were trading knees. Assuncao has him back against the cage and missed a punch. Faber with a punch. Body and head punch by Assuncao. Faber in with a right and a knee. They traded with Faber landing an elbow. Faber with a punch and Assuncao with a knee. Very close round, but I’d go 10-9 for Faber.
Faber got the takedown to start the round. Elbow by Faber on the ground. Faber with a guillotine . He didn’t get it. Knee to the body by Faber. Assuncao back up and hit a knee. Kicks and punches by Assuncao. Faber with a right. Assuncao missed with a right. Faber with a body kick but nothing on it. Assuncao with a right. Faber knocked him down with an elbow. Assuncao tried an armbar but Faber broke free. Faber on top. Faber with a hard elbow from the top. Lou Faber chant. I mean loud. Faber broke free for another punch. Another punch. Assuncao throwing elbows from the bottom. Assuncao back up to end the round. 20-18 Faber.
As Pat Patterson would say, they are going banana. Loud Faber chant. Assuncao with two punches but missed a body kick. Another punch by Assuncao but Faber timed it to get the takedown. Assuncao up but hit with a punch as he was getting up. Assuncao tried a takedown. Faber blocked and threw an elbow. Assuncao looked at the clock. Assucano has Faber against the cage. Threw a body punch and let him off the cage. Push kick by Faber who lost balance and went down. Faber then knocked him down with a right and on top in the guard with 2:30 left. Faber with a punch on the ground but mainly holding him down. Faber got his back and going for a choke. Assuncao tapped out to the choke.
This is freaking deafening. They’ve got their wish of Aldo vs. Faber as the big match of the year.
Not a match of the year, but this was the most heated match live in a long time.
Faber: "It feels great, guys I love you, Sacramento, thanks for coming out. Thanks to Raphael. People don’t know him but he’s No. 5 in the world, give it up for Raphael. I’m ready to get that belt. We’ve got a great champion, Aldo is phenom, he’s talented and creative and I want to get my belt." Brought in Aldo. "You won’t take my belt." Faber: "I’ve got to bring m A game, he’s a tough guy, but in my mind that’s my belt."
Jamie Varner vs. Ben Henderson for the lightweight title
Varner wasn’t booed that much. People are staying for the main event but crowd not into this like a main event. Henderson wasn’t cheered that much. Varner got the takedown right away. Elbowing the let hamstring by Varner. He’s got a front headlock. Knee to the body and another knee by Varner. Varner has a standing guillotine and threw a knee to buckle Henderson’s knee and he went down. Varner outclassing him. Herb Dean called a standup. Varner had a clear advantage position at the time and was throwing knees. He wasn’t going to finish him from there but there wasn’t a lack of action. Henderson poked him in the eye but Dean didn’t call it. Henderson rushed for a takedown but Varner reversed and put him down. Body punches and knees to the body by Varner. Henderson up with 37 seconds left. Elbow by Henderson at the horn. Varner’s round easy 10-9
High kick to the chest by Varner. Varner tripped him with a kick and Henderson down. Henderson up and threw a kick to the body. Crowd booing the lack of action., Varner pressed forward with a punch. Varner back with a body kick. Crowd booing some more. Another body kick by Henderson. Henderson in with this high kick and Varner threw him down off it. Henerson moved in with a low kick. Henderson shot and Varner escaped. Body punch moving in by Varner. Trading knees to the body in a clinch against the cage. Varner threw him down and Henderson back up. Knee by Henderson. Closer round, I have it 20-18 for Varner but there are peole who gave the round by Henderson.
They just showed Cerrone in the crowd.
Varner in with a punch and has Henderson pinned against the cage. Hard body kick by Henderson. Knee to the body by Henderson landed hard. Another body kick by Henderson. Henderson did a Rocky Johnson shuffle. Body kick by Henderson. Knee by Henderson. Varner went for a takedown but Henderson got the guillotine and Varner tapped. Wow.
So looks like Henderson vs. Cerrone rematch with Faber vs. Aldo in April or May.
Henderson with the All things throghchris. "Jamie Varner’s a tough, scary looking dude.
I’ll fight whoever Sean Shelby wants to put against me. I love the Cowboy Donald Cerrone. I’ve got mad love for him. He put me on the map.
Varner: "I came to fight. Ben was a better man. He caught me with that guillotine. I wanted to box. He wanted to kick. Shit happens. I was winning the match, I was getting the takedowns. I had the control. I came to fight, Ben came to grapple, two different things." Fans booed him.
Welcome to our live coverage of the WEC from Sacramento’s Arco Arena. We’re looking for your thoughts 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
Will Campuzano beat Coty "Ox" Wheeler in the opener. I arrived during round three. Wheeler’s face was a mess, covered in blood, and people were saying it was a hell of a fight. Crowd gave both guys a standing ovation. Scores were 30-26, 30-27 and 30-27
Much smaller crowds than in the past in Sacramento. Entire upper deck curtained off. An early arriving crowd in the sense that the bottom is 90% packed. Looks like 6,000 to 7,000.
George Roop vs. Eddie Wineland
Wineland is a former WEC bantamweight champion before the Versus era. Wineland staggered him with a punch i the first but didn’t follow up. Roop, who is 6-1, fought at 135 pounds. He doesn’t look emaciated either. Roop missing some slow high kicks. Roop has a big reach edge but not utilizing it. Wineland ducking punches and connecting. Roop tried a flying bicycle kick but Wineland easily moved out of the way. Crowd booing late in the round. A lot of swinging and missing. Crowd booed the round. 10-9 Wineland.
Wineland connected and ducks Roop’s punches and then comes back. Nobody going for a takedown. Roop constantly missing. Crowd booing but Wineland doing a real good job here fighting a tactical fight. Roop just too slow. Now Roop going for low kicks. Good left counter by Wineland. Crowd booing because it’s mostly Roop swinging and missing bad. Now Wineland connected with a few. Crowd booed this round even heavier. 20-18 Wineland.
Roop has swelling around the nose area. Wineland knocked him down with a counter shot and a few punches on the ground but Roop back up. Wineland moving in for the finish but Roop able to evade blows now. Roop needs to try something because this boxing isn’t working but he’s done few low kicks and tried no takedowns. Wineland connected with several punches late in the round and slipped when he got aggressive and time ran out. I can’t see any score but 30-27 Wineland because even though he dominated, he really didn’t do any serious sustaining damage.
30-27 Wineland
Bryan Caraway vs. Mark Hominick
Caraway a former Elite XC fighter making his WEC debut. Hominick came out to "Final Countdown." The fans don’t chant, "It’s the Final Countdown" at him, though. Caraway with a takedown right away. Caraway with some punches from the top. Hominick punching from the bottom and some good movement, but Caraway got the best punches in with leverage. Caraway winning the round, but it’s close. Another good punch from the top before Hominick tied him up. Hominick tried to reverse, but Caraway blocked it, but in doing so, in the transition, Hominick got the triangle choke and armbar. Nice finish.
Clint Godfrey vs. Wagnney Fabiano
Fabiano out to the theme from "Rocky." Lucky for him, Dana (who apparently hates that song) is in Virginia tonight. Godfrey tried a takedown and Fabiano easily spraweld and not has top position and side control. . Fabiano trying to improve position but doing no damage. Nothing happening and crowd starting to boo. Fabiano on top the entire round doing very little damage. He was at one point trying to isolate an arm. Got full mount with seconds left and did some punching. 10-9 Fabiano
Godfrey went for a knee, but Fabiano used a bodylock takedown into side control. He’s trapped the arms and throwing lefts to the head. They aren’t hard punches but Godfrey can’t block them. Nice sweep by Godfrey. But Fabiano swept back to the top and back to a full mount. Fabiano not doing any damage. Ref Herb Dean ordered a stand up with 45 seconds left. Fabiano tried a takedown but didn’t get it. Now got it with 10 seconds left and riding him. Fabiano got his back right a the horn. 20-18 Fabiano. Crowd not booing but at this point they don’t care.
Godfrey got the takedown to start the round. He’s throwing short lefts. Crowd boooing. Godfrey can’t win the fight doing this. He went for a guillotine but doesn’t have it. Fabiano escaped and on top with 3:12 left. Fabiano now has side control. Dean ordered a stand-up with 1:05 left. Fabiano went for a takedown but Godfrey blocked and got his back. Fabiano out of trouble and took Godrey downand got his back. Goffrey rolled to his back. Time running out. Total nothing fight. I guess 30-27 Fabiano although nobody did much for takedowns in the round.
Crowd completely dead as this last fight just killed it. All three judges have it 30-27 for Fabiano.
Akitoshi Tamura vs. Charlie Valencia
Tamura booed. I figured as much. Tamura throwing kicks but Velancia coming back with much crisper kicks. Valencia, billed at 5-3, looks tiny out there next to 5-9 Tamura. Valencia with a good knee. Another good low kick by Valencia. Valencia with an overhand right missed. Tamura with a kick to the groin and fans booed that lot. High kick by Valencia. Valencia with punches , got a takedown. Now Tamura trapped Valencia’s head in what can be called a double rubber guard. Now he’s got a triangle attempt but it doesn’t look dangerous. Tamura tried an armbar. Valencia powered out and throwing a lot of punches. The most excitement in a while. Hard elbows from the top by Valencia. That flurry clinched him the round 10-9 Valencia.
Tamura got behind Valencia and has a pieggy back position and body triangle, throwing punches and working for a choke. Tamura keeping the position. Tamura with some punches to the side of the head, but these aren’t hard punches. He remains holding the body triangle while piggy backing Valencia. Tamura trying a choke with 25 seconds left. Doesn’t fully have it and time ran out. Crowd cheered Valencia surviving the round. 19-19 even as has to be Tamura’s round.
Valencia in with punches. Tamura missed a kick badly and missied a spinning back fist by a half mile. Valencia in with punches. Body kick by Valencia. A series of punches and Valencia put Tamura down with a right to the side of the head. He’s throwing punches on the ground. Tamura back up and Valencia connecting with more punches. Body kick by Valencia. Lefts by Valencia. Good body shot by Valencia. Nice left by Valencia. Uppercut staggered Tamura. Hard knee by Tamura. High kick by Tamura, not sure if it landed tho. Good knee by Tamura. Valencia firing late. Good third round, close but I’d go 29-28 for Valencia.
29-28 Valencia, 29-28 Tamura, 29-28 Valencia
Mackens Semerzier vs. Deividas Taurosevicius
DT bulled him into the cage. He picked Semerzier up for a high slam. Semerzier back to his feet. Body kick by DT and working for a takedown. Semerzier trying for a guillotine but DT slammed him down off it. DT moved him into the cage and throwing body punches. A standup was ordered and I’m not sure why. DT has him by the cage and wrestling with him as time ran out in the round. DT 10-9
High kick by Semerzier and now he tried for a takedown but DT powered him over and took him down. Semerzier back on his feet. Another takedown by DT. Now he’s behind him standing. High slam. Semerzier threw an up kick an tried a triangle but DT escaped before it was trouble. DT with some punches from the top. Two hard punches by DT from the top. Another hard punch on the ground by DT. DT 20-18.
Semerzier with a hard body kick. He threw a second body kick, but DT caught the kick and used it to get the takedown. Semerzier back up. DT tried another double leg but Semerzier stopped him. Right by DT and then they traded knees to the body. DT shot in and Semerzier blocked, then grabbed a Kimura and DT trying a heel hook. Semerzier out of trouble. Semerzer dropping punches to the body and one to the head. Semerzier dropping more punches to the body while standing to DT on the ground. More punches. Now Semerzier is on top but in guard and getting no offense going. DT’s forehead is cut from the punches. Semerzier going for a guillotine with 20 seconds left. DT powered out. Time ran out. Semerzier’s round making it 29-28 for DT.
All three have it 29-28 for DT
This just isn’t up to the standards of most WEC shows. The Valencia match was good and the opener was good but the other matches have ranged from dull to so-so, but sicn ehtey were prelims they won’t be airing on the TV show.
Mike Brown vs. Anthony Morrison
Brown got the first reaction of the show. This isn’t a hot crowd and the reaction was more we know this guy but that’s about it. He wasn’t booed a lot, but there were boos, and there were cheers.
Some boos for Morrison. Brown looks totally ripped and very confident. Morrison with body kicks. Brown missed wild. He’s now going for a bodylock takedown and got Morrison to the ground. He’s crucifixed the arms and threw lefts to the wide open head. Morrison got out momentarily but put on his back again. Brown has his back, going for a choke. Morrison tapped. Solid performance by Brown. He pretty much outclassed Morrison.
I just needed a win. I wanted a wins so badly. It’s very important you don’t drop two in a row. I want a shot at the title. Jose Aldo, the winner of Faber-Assuncao will probably get Aldo and I’ll get a shot in the future.
Chuck Liddell is hair and he no longer has the Mohawk haircut after 20 years.
Dave Jansen vs. Kamal Shalorus
Shalorus is the guy who speaks and you’d swear it was the Iron Sheik. Trading punches. Shalow has wild standup but heavy punches. Jansen couldn’t get a takedown. Hard low kick by Shalorus. Shalorus got the takedown and threw punches but Jansen back up. Shalorus connected with some hard punches. Jansen cut under the left eye. USA chant. Got pretty loud. Jansen with a good punch . Trade and Shalorus knocked him down. Jansen right back up. Good round. 10-9 Shalorus.
Both swinging. Shalorus’ punches are landing with louder thud. Both swinging wildly and missing. Shalorus connecting with a few punches solidly. Shalorus got the takedown midway through the round. Jansen back up. Jansen’s left eye looking nastier. Jansen went for a takedown to no avail. Now Jansen cut on the forehead. Jansen knocked Shalorus down with a punch that may have gone to the back of the head. Shalorus starting to tire. But he connected with a good right. Both swinging wildly. Jansen tried and failed to get another takedown as time ran out. Closer round, but I’d go with Shalorus making it 20-18.
Shalorus dropped him with a right but Jansen back up. Low kick by Shalorus which Jansen didn’t expect. Hard right by Shalorus. Sharlorus grazed him with a punch meant to kill. Low kick by Jansen. Shalorus with another takedown. He backed off and let Jansen up. Jansen tried a takedown and didn’t get it. Big knee by Jansen. Jansen’s head is covered in blood but he seems to have more life right now. Another takedown by Shalorus. Jansen needs submisssion and hasn’t threatened. Time running out as Jasnen go back to his feet. Time expired, should be 30-27 Shalorus. Crowd booings. That’s six decisions in eight fights tonight.
30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 for Shalorus
"I’m Iranian, I’m world class wrestler, nobody can take me down." People are booing him like he’s with Volkoff about to sing the anthem.
Urijah Faber vs. Raphael Assuncao
Heavy booing to Assuncao. Faber got a super reaction. I mean, one of the bigger reactions I’ve heard i a long time. Loud Faber chants. Early round saw Assuncao bull Faber into the cage. They were trading knees. Assuncao has him back against the cage and missed a punch. Faber with a punch. Body and head punch by Assuncao. Faber in with a right and a knee. They traded with Faber landing an elbow. Faber with a punch and Assuncao with a knee. Very close round, but I’d go 10-9 for Faber.
Faber got the takedown to start the round. Elbow by Faber on the ground. Faber with a guillotine . He didn’t get it. Knee to the body by Faber. Assuncao back up and hit a knee. Kicks and punches by Assuncao. Faber with a right. Assuncao missed with a right. Faber with a body kick but nothing on it. Assuncao with a right. Faber knocked him down with an elbow. Assuncao tried an armbar but Faber broke free. Faber on top. Faber with a hard elbow from the top. Lou Faber chant. I mean loud. Faber broke free for another punch. Another punch. Assuncao throwing elbows from the bottom. Assuncao back up to end the round. 20-18 Faber.
As Pat Patterson would say, they are going banana. Loud Faber chant. Assuncao with two punches but missed a body kick. Another punch by Assuncao but Faber timed it to get the takedown. Assuncao up but hit with a punch as he was getting up. Assuncao tried a takedown. Faber blocked and threw an elbow. Assuncao looked at the clock. Assucano has Faber against the cage. Threw a body punch and let him off the cage. Push kick by Faber who lost balance and went down. Faber then knocked him down with a right and on top in the guard with 2:30 left. Faber with a punch on the ground but mainly holding him down. Faber got his back and going for a choke. Assuncao tapped out to the choke.
This is freaking deafening. They’ve got their wish of Aldo vs. Faber as the big match of the year.
Not a match of the year, but this was the most heated match live in a long time.
Faber: "It feels great, guys I love you, Sacramento, thanks for coming out. Thanks to Raphael. People don’t know him but he’s No. 5 in the world, give it up for Raphael. I’m ready to get that belt. We’ve got a great champion, Aldo is phenom, he’s talented and creative and I want to get my belt." Brought in Aldo. "You won’t take my belt." Faber: "I’ve got to bring m A game, he’s a tough guy, but in my mind that’s my belt."
Jamie Varner vs. Ben Henderson for the lightweight title
Varner wasn’t booed that much. People are staying for the main event but crowd not into this like a main event. Henderson wasn’t cheered that much. Varner got the takedown right away. Elbowing the let hamstring by Varner. He’s got a front headlock. Knee to the body and another knee by Varner. Varner has a standing guillotine and threw a knee to buckle Henderson’s knee and he went down. Varner outclassing him. Herb Dean called a standup. Varner had a clear advantage position at the time and was throwing knees. He wasn’t going to finish him from there but there wasn’t a lack of action. Henderson poked him in the eye but Dean didn’t call it. Henderson rushed for a takedown but Varner reversed and put him down. Body punches and knees to the body by Varner. Henderson up with 37 seconds left. Elbow by Henderson at the horn. Varner’s round easy 10-9
High kick to the chest by Varner. Varner tripped him with a kick and Henderson down. Henderson up and threw a kick to the body. Crowd booing the lack of action., Varner pressed forward with a punch. Varner back with a body kick. Crowd booing some more. Another body kick by Henderson. Henderson in with this high kick and Varner threw him down off it. Henerson moved in with a low kick. Henderson shot and Varner escaped. Body punch moving in by Varner. Trading knees to the body in a clinch against the cage. Varner threw him down and Henderson back up. Knee by Henderson. Closer round, I have it 20-18 for Varner but there are peole who gave the round by Henderson.
They just showed Cerrone in the crowd.
Varner in with a punch and has Henderson pinned against the cage. Hard body kick by Henderson. Knee to the body by Henderson landed hard. Another body kick by Henderson. Henderson did a Rocky Johnson shuffle. Body kick by Henderson. Knee by Henderson. Varner went for a takedown but Henderson got the guillotine and Varner tapped. Wow.
So looks like Henderson vs. Cerrone rematch with Faber vs. Aldo in April or May.
Henderson with the All things throghchris. "Jamie Varner’s a tough, scary looking dude.
I’ll fight whoever Sean Shelby wants to put against me. I love the Cowboy Donald Cerrone. I’ve got mad love for him. He put me on the map.
Varner: "I came to fight. Ben was a better man. He caught me with that guillotine. I wanted to box. He wanted to kick. Shit happens. I was winning the match, I was getting the takedowns. I had the control. I came to fight, Ben came to grapple, two different things." Fans booed him.