The Whole DDP-Wade Keller Story!

He claimed that he used to go to the Power Plant and train with Terry Taylor, and DDP was there and he’d be so upset because “the dirt sheets” were ripping him apart at the time.

First, anyone who uses that as a collective term to start out with is going to end up saying something silly. I read stuff all the time that I think shows the people writing have no clue. Other times read stuff that shows great insight, whether it’s wrestling or MMA. A collectively blanketed statement is inherently going to be misguided almost all the time, whether it’s called the “MMA Media” (a term used frequently in some hilariously bad analysis pieces this year) does so-and-so or wrestling media does so-and-so. In both, you have guys who want to go along and get along, people who get the business, don’t get the business, people who are always saying things are bad when business shows they are good, or saying everything is good when the needles are pointing in the other direction. 

He claimed Wade Keller was brutal on Page, saying “Page is a waste of skin. I don’t even know why he has a job there.” He said it bothered Page and he said to him that Bischoff puts a lot of stock into this. So one day he came with a story where Keller ripped him, called up Keller and left a scathing message. He said Keller called back, they hit it off and from that point on Keller flipped his opinion on Page.

“Completely,” HHH said when asked if he flipped. “I was like, `You just worked the dirt sheet guy.’ It blew my mind that these guys don’t even really have an honest opinion. There’s a lot of guys over the years I’ve seen put over and I just didn’t get it. But then I realized, those guys give them insider dirt. In the Attitude Era, we’d be on a plane and there’d be four of us traveling in first class or something, and a week later, I’d read the conversation verbatim in the dirt sheets. I’d be like, `F***, how does this happen?’ Because it had to be one of the four of us. I always thought, just do your job. If the crowd reacts to you, positively, negatively if you’re getting a reaction, they’re going to push you. That’s what nobody gets. We don’t tell the fans who’s going to be over. We put somebody on the table, fans react, and then we decide where to go with them. What people forget is we have a focus group every single night, 10,000 people somewhere. We didn’t get Austin over. Austin got over with the fans.” 

While fans do have a say-so in the sense if you die with the audience today, it’s going to be tough, the idea that if fans react, the company follows that lead is such complete shit and everyone in the business knows it. There are guys who sell merchandise and get over who are buried for both good and bad reasons. There are guys the fans love that the office thinks are Internet darlings and get buried because fans love them and the company doesn’t think they should be over. Sometimes guys with limited talent get big reactions and the job of the people in charge is to determine if they’re really worth pushing or not. Sometimes they have issues and it’s not worth the headache when maybe a less-over guy is lower maintenance or lower risk. I’ve seen 15 years of promoters burying guys specifically because they got over with the crowd. I’ve talked to people in the creative room who said those exact words are the ones being used when the decisions are made to do so. And at times, the decision may be the right one. When it comes to who to push, at the end of the day, it’s all about the instinct of the guy in charge. He’s already going to be right sometimes and miss the boat other times. But the idea that a promoter doesn’t dictate who is pushed is almost laughable. Ultimately, you should listen, but if you book based on decibel levels with no instinct for what it means and where you’re going, you’re not going to be the slightest bit successful. 

There’s a huge problem with the Keller story. It’s that it’s completely false, past the point that Page did call Wade Keller probably that day from the Power Plant, and I’d guess, plenty of other days from other locations as well. Page has called everyone of any note probably at some time in his life. That’s hardly a story or a revelation. He’s a self-marketer, and that’s what self-marketers do.

First, I’ve been reading the Torch likely from its inception and during the 90s read every single word because there was very little quality stuff out there on wrestling in those days and that was my profession. Even now I read a lot of it. If Keller would have flipped in 1995 on Page, it would have been painfully obvious to me. Painful would have been the word. But it never happened. The guy who was the most negative on Page push was Bruce Mitchell, and he called him “DDMe,” as a nickname until the closing of WCW. If anything, Page took more criticism afterwards in that publication if that phone call took place when Levesque was still in WCW. 

There are probably viable things HHH could say, but he either couldn’t come up with one, or felt he could make one up out of thin air, or his memory is really bad. Granted, nobody remembers all the details of 18 years ago, but the idea that a guy who never said anything close to what he claimed he said, and claimed he flipped instantly over being worked in a phone call would be a story if there was even a smidgen of truth to it. Every detail of this story was wrong.

Grantland.com then wrote, “Wade Keller contacted Grantland after the publication of this interview and insisted, plausibly, that the writer HHH was referring to is not Keller, but rather Bruce Mitchell, then a writer for Keller’s newsletter,” and noted Keller wrote a response. 

That’s even worse than HHH. First, that would indicate that Page called Mitchell, which he never did, and then Mitchell flipped, which never happened, and that Mitchell is a former writer for the newsletter when he’s a current writer. Aside from that, I guess it was accurate.

Again, I’m not defending any group of people in general here. If he had made a valid criticism of Wade Keller, I’d have probably ignored it, unless it turned into a story and then I’d give my perspective of it based on whose story was accurate, or if both stories are accurate. Politically, kissing up to HHH is probably better, which is why you didn’t exactly see writers jumping to Keller’s defense, even though most probably knew full well by the second day after publication that the story couldn’t have been true. Anyone who read that publication in the 90s would know how ridiculous that claim was.

TNA's July Ratings Comparisons!

Impact has a lot of comparison issues, but last year the show averaged a 1.06 rating and 1.36 million viewers. However, two of the four shows were during the period Spike was off DirecTV. If you adjust the viewership numbers to increase based on if the DirecTV viewership was identical in average to the non DirecTV viewership, the adjusted viewership would have been about 1.51 million viewers. 

This year’s July shows averaged a 1.00 rating and 1.26 million viewers. However, there was an episode of Impact on July 4th, which didn’t do nearly as badly as it probably should have been expected to do, but still pulled down the average. Throwing that show out and you have a 1.07 ratings average and 1.33 million viewers. So the ratings were actually up 1.0% in a fair month-to-month comparisons, but viewership would be down 11.9%, but the show in 2013 was also in a better time slot than 2012.

WWE's July Ratings Comparisons!

When it comes to the monthly ratings comparisons, July this year showed declines across the board.

Raw in July of last year averaged a 3.35 rating and 4.91 million viewers. It should be noted that includes the Raw 1,000th show and the entire month of the show had tremendous momentum because of it. If you take that show out of the mix, you still get a 3.22 average and 4.63 million viewers. 

For 2013 in July, Raw averaged a 2.97 rating and 4.00 million viewers. So the overall rating was down 11.6% and overall viewership declined 18.5%. Throwing out the Raw 1000th show and you get a 7.8% decline in ratings and a 13.6% decline in viewership. The viewership declines at a greater level than the ratings declines comes from two factors. The first is fewer homes get cable as compared to a year ago, and since ratings are a percentage of the homes that get the channel, that decline better measures the loss of popularity as compared to the viewership number. The other, which is actually more significant since homes lost is only about 2% and the audience numbers for every show were down far more than that, is the viewers per home watching wrestling has declined greatly over the past year. This has been a consistent trend all year. 

Smackdown last July averaged a 1.87 rating and 2.72 million viewers. But that’s misleading because one of the episodes aired on a Tuesday. If you throw that week out, the Friday night in the same time slot average was a 1.92 rating and 2.78 million viewers. This year the number was a 1.79 rating and 2.41 million viewers, or a normalized 6.8% decline in ratings and a 13.3% decline in viewership.

Complete Numbers For WWE Money in the Bank 2013!

The WWE got mixed news and I don’t have any kind of an explanation for why the 7/15 Money in the Bank PPV, from Philadelphia, was way up domestically and way down overseas.

The show did 192,000 buys worldwide, but 146,000 of them were domestic for a show built around two Money in the Bank matches, as well as a WWE title match of John Cena vs. Mark Henry and a world title match with heel Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler. The domestic number was excellent. The overseas number was less so. The WWE title Money in the Bank match was billed as the All-Star match with Randy Orton winning over Daniel Bryan, Rob Van Dam (whose return was a major selling point of the show to the point he was kept off television until the show), Sheamus, Christian and C.M. Punk. The World title Money in the Bank match had Damien Sandow winning over Jack Swagger, Antonio Cesaro, Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, Dean Ambrose and Fandango. 

In comparison, the 2012 version of the show did 114,000 domestic buys, but had 92,000 overseas buys for 206,000 in total. That show had Punk vs. Bryan as the WWE title match, Sheamus vs. Del Rio as the world title match, Cena winning the WWE title Money in the Bank over Kane, Big Show, Miz and Chris Jericho; and Ziggler winning the World title Money in the Bank match over Christian, Rhodes, Sandow, Santino Marella, Sin Cara, Tensai and Tyson Kidd. 

The show was up 28.1% domestically but down 50.0% outside North America, which in the end was a 6.8% drop overall. To put into perspective how impressive this year’s domestic total is, two years ago, for the John Cena vs. C.M. Punk match, the domestic buys ended up at 146,000, and at the same stage of reporting was only at 132,000.

I don’t see the increase being from the Money in the Bank matches, given the star power in them was stronger last year with the big push of Cena being in the WWE title MITB match. I think the only thing that was out of the ordinary that could have been a difference to this degree is the Mark Henry promo, which set up that main event, was a big-time money promo, and perhaps the return of RVD, but there have been plenty of returns of characters at the same level or much higher than RVD that didn’t make that kind of a difference. And why North America would be way up and international would be way down would indicate that whatever was so compelling in North America was something that didn’t translate outside. And I’ve got no idea what that would be. 

In other business comparisons for July, domestic attendance for the month minus the PPV event was 5,544, almost identical to the 5,464 average last year (up 1.5%). Two years ago the July average was 4,694.

DVD shipments were down from 357,000 last year to 231,000 this year, but that’s kind of a meaningless stat. The most shipped DVD’s over the past nine months, which is not the most sold, are WrestleMania 29 at 162,000, Best of Nitro at 136,000, The Attitude Era at 134,000, NWO Revolution at 120,000 and Top 100 Moments in Raw history at 101,000. The WrestleMania number is down 24.3% from last year’s DVD as of the same time frame.

Web site unique visitors were 14.0 million, up 8.5% from the 12.9 million last July.

They averaged 774 web site merchandise orders per day this year in July, up 41.2% from 548 per day last year.

WWE UNDER ATTACK FROM SYRIAN ADVOCATE?

As we reported earlier, WWE.com was taken offline earlier today.
A Twitter user named anonnewsindo is taking credit for it going down. He wrote the following on his account, @AnonNewsIndo"
World Wrestling Entertainment Down http://www.wwe.com/ Time To HELP SYRIA By #Fr0styFr0ze #OpSyria #Anonymous
We contacted WWE and asked if there was any validity to the story and were told the following by a PR representative:
"I can confirm that the site was down and the issue was resolved in less than 45 minutes."
So, whether they were indeed hacked or not, we still can't confirm. There have been some prominent websites hacked recently, for what it's worth.

ERIC BISCHOFF CLAIMS NO DEAL FOR HULK HOGAN TO APPEAR IN NEW WWE GAME, BUT....

In what was a pretty interesting series of comments on Twitter, Eric Bischoff came out swinging yesterday against reports there was heat on Hulk Hogan from TNA over the fact that Hogan will be appearing in the new WWE 2K14 videogame while working with TNA. In fact, according to Bischoff, there was no deal made for Hogan to appear in the game.
Bischoff wrote, "Interesting to read the "choir of idiots" suggesting that Hulk did a deal with 2K Sports. Illustrates just how ignorant these "experts" are And how these "experts" are attempting to frame a narrative to sell their b.s. There is no Hulk Hogan/2K Sports deal. WWE is simply utilizing tradmarks (sic)/assets they currently own in a repackaged video game. Nothing new. But that's not what the parasites and morons who run dirt sites want you to know."
Of course, WWE doesn't own the trademarks to Hulk Hogan. Hulk Hogan owned those rights and personally transferred them in 2010 to the "Hogan Holdings Limited Liability Company" during his divorce from his ex-wife Linda. In fact, their trademark of the term includes the following - "Prerecorded videotapes and DVD's featuring wrestling; sunglasses; computer game cassettes and cartridges and video game cartridges."
So, Hogan Holdings LLC (which Bischoff is well aware exists) are the official owners of the trademarks and assets. In fact, when WWE filed a lawsuit this past March in New Jersey, going against those who would attempt to bootleg and sell WWE merchandise over Wrestlemania weekend, they filed a long list of trademarks they were enforcing with the court. The name "Hulk Hogan" (nor any trademarks related to Hulk Hogan's persona) was not part of the 40 page list of WWE-associated trademarks.
Furthermore, some quick research notes that there are two live trademarks for the term Hulk Hogan - both controlled by the aforementioned Hogan Holdings LLC. All other trademark claims are dead, therefore WWE does not own any of them.
In his Twitter rant, Bischoff also stated that the WWE 2K14 videogame is a "repackaged" title. That would be incorrect as well and is like making a statement that every Madden football videogame that was ever released is a repackaging of the same football game. The idea that the WWE game is simply a repackaging, would also probably be news to everyone at 2K Sports, which acquired the game franchise earlier this year from THQ when that company went bankrupt. It would also be pretty surprising to the development and programming team that has been working on the game for well over a year. WWE 2K14 is a new, original game in a series, not a re-produced version of a previous game. Will it have elements of previous games? Sure, because the programmers build a game engine and then springboard off the existing engine to create the new game, which will feature new, updated features and gameplay. Re-packaged? Hardly.
Furthermore, Bischoff's statement would lead one to believe that Hulk Hogan did not sign off on the game including him. Like all the previous WWE games that have been released, the talents involved will all receive a royalty for their likeness and inclusion in the game. For talents under WWE contract, they are included by virtue of their WWE deals and receive an additional royalty payment for it. Hulk Hogan, who is not under a WWE deal, certainly would be paid as well. It's possible Hogan didn't sign a new deal with 2K Sports for the game (It may be he has signed something with THQ and 2K inherited the agreement when they purchased the WWE license assets from the bankruptcy court), but if Hogan's in the game (and he is), it's because 2K have the rights to license and use him.  That wouldn't have happened unless Hogan or someone representing Hogan signed off on the deal....unless Bischoff would have us believing that 2K Sports and WWE are allowing themselves to be placed in a legally actionable position by adding Hogan without his consent or knowledge.
Public statements certainly appear to stand behind the idea that Hogan signed off on appearing in the game, however. In a recent interview promoting the upcoming WWE 2K14 video game, the game's Creative Director Cory Ledesma discussed bringing Hogan on board for the game while promoting the game's "30 Years of Wrestlemania" mode, commenting, "The first hurdle we had was Hulk Hogan. Hulk Hogan's not currently with the WWE. We knew that if we couldn't get Hulk Hogan, we weren't going to have a '30 Years of Wrestlemania' mode, it's just not possible. Hogan was involved in so many matches and so many moments, that he was critical to the game. We knew once we could overcome that hurdle, and Hulk Hogan was able to get into the game, we knew that it was going to be kind of downhill from there and we'd be able to secure a lot of the talent that might not be with WWE anymore."
Of course, if WWE and 2K were just using assets/trademarks that WWE owned on a "repackaged" video game, there would certainly have been no "hurdles" for the publisher to overcome, would there? That's not that Ledesma is saying here. What he's saying, in between the lines, is that a deal had to be made.
There are two ways of looking at all this. One, either WWE has forgotten they actually own the assets/trademarks related to Hulk Hogan and/or Corey Ledesma made up an entire story about 2K having to overcome a "hurdle" to get Hogan in the game....OR Bischoff was just throwing things out there to make noise and rip people for whatever reason. Controversy creates cash, as they say, but facts don't lie.
One thing that Bischoff did write is that there are stories there is heat on Hogan within TNA over the game. That may have been floated elsewhere, but PWInsider.com has never reported that. What we have reported is that Hogan being so high profile in a WWE game while working for TNA could conceivably hurt TNA as they hope to get a new videogame license of their own down the line. Common sense dictates that. There's no way you can say that Hogan being in the top pro wrestling game franchise couldn't hurt the viability of a TNA game. After all, his WWE game appearance would takes some of the uniqueness away from a potential new TNA game - he's their most well known, marketable personality to the average consumer.

New twist for TNA Bound for Glory series!

The entire thing is a mess because time is running out and of the 11 matches that would be necessary for each guy in a 12 man round-robin tournament, the guys have ranged from four to six matches completed with time running out.
So they are essentially dropping everything, doing the four matches this coming Thursday, and ending it from there with the top four point getters going to the 9/12 final four show.

WWE NXT TV Report: Antonio Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn feud finale, Ziggler, AJ, more

The first thing we see is Paul Heyman. Ten seconds into his promo, I realize I am watching last weeks episode again. Time for the correct episode...

Show opens with a video package going over the Sami Zayn-Antonio Cesaro feud. You know, Zayn only won that one match against him.

WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee defeated Bayley
God, I loved the segment with these two last week. AJ actually challenged Kaitlyn for the title right here on the NXT Clash of the Champions show back in April, but now returns as champion. AJ finished third on Season 3 of NXT and returned during NXT: Redemption as the girlfriend of Hornswoggle. Hornswoggle broke up with her because he wanted to go to SmackDown...which AJ was already on. Bayley wanted to Hug It Out at the start of the match, so the champ took advantage of the naivety of her challenger. We get a Dr. Shelby reference as Bayley used a hug as an offensive maneuver. The finish saw AJ sell her mouth, which made Bayley console her and AJ finish off her challenger with a Shining Wizard.

Backstage, Tyler Breeze has Emma take a picture of him. Up walked Some Guy who photobombed it by giving Tyler bunny ears.

The Ascension defeated Ron Hicks & Michael Zackey

Those really are the names of the opponents. You gotta love Conor O'Brien's rolling side headlock take over. Hicks never moved off the apron and Ascension won with Total Elimination.

The New and Improved CJ Parker beat Baron Corbin

CJ hasn't been seen on the show in almost a year, and while he was gone, he became a hippie. Turns out he was the one that photobombed Breeze. Corbin's claim to fame is he played in the NFL. I am sure he made the decision himself to leave the NFL for NXT. Parker won with a DDT. Renee Young got in the ring and asked where the hell CJ has been. She should find Richie Steamboat, Bronson and Kassius Ohno and ask them the same thing. Tyler Breeze stormed the ring and had a problem with CJ photo bombing him. CJ spoke like he was smoking a few joints with Van Dam earlier. CJ was called a Lenny Kravitz wannabe and that was enough to make Tyler run away to avoid a beating.

Dolph Ziggler defeated Alexander Rusev

Rusev made his debut on the show, carrying a board that reads “Ziggler”. He stole Brutus Magnus' old ring gear when he debuted in TNA. Dolph took forever walking to the ring. Seriously the arena is smaller than the Impact Zone. Rusev is a Muay Thai expert. It looks like his Muay Thai experience was watching the first few UFC shows. Perhaps he expected Dolph to come out in a gi and choke him out in 2 minutes. Rusev with the Muay Thai Irish Whip and the Muay Thai toss over the top rope, followed by the Muay Thai corner splash and the Muay Thai Bear Hug. Dolph then won with the Zig Zag.

I don't think I have written so little about an episode ever. Maybe the main event will encourage me to write more.

Antonio Cesaro took 2 out of 3 falls from Sami Zayn

The match started with Zayn flying over the top rope onto the former US Champion and won the first fall in 9 seconds with the Yakuza Kick and a roll up. Sami is trying to win the match in 30 total seconds. Zayn had control of the match early and almost won with the flying body press off the top rope, but only got a 2 count. It was going good for Sami until Antonio dropped him face-first on the top turnbuckle. We went to commercial and came back with Cesaro slapping on a swinging rear chin lock....which actually got the tap out. Wow. I have heard so many great things about this match, I can only assume that the third fall suddenly picks up.

Antonio with a running European Uppercut for a near fall. Riley talks about how tough Hell In A Cell and Ladder Matches are. He has never been in a HIAC Match and he was in one Money in the Bank Ladder Match. Antonio showing off his strength by standing on the middle rope, which Zayn was on the apron and Cesaro hit the superplex. A series of reversals and roll ups led to the fans chanting that this was awesome. Zayn rolled up Cesaro's front and down his back for a 2 count. That was unique. Jesus Christ. Zayn stood by the timekeepers table, ran, and dove over the bottom rope and to the other side where he gave a Tornado DDT to Cesaro.

Antonio was almost counted out, but somehow, someway, he got back into the ring. Cesaro finally won by reversing a Tornado DDT attempt into a huge European Uppercut and a Neutralizer. That match sure as hell picked up at the end and Cesaro wins the rivalry.

That ends things here in Orlando. Until next time!

HULK HOGAN'S IDEAS ON HOW TO MAKE TNA SUCCESSFUL REVEALED....

Over the weekend, Hulk Hogan took part in a "Hulk Hogan: Uncensored" Q&A event as part of the Toronto Fan Expo.

During the event, Hogan was asked about a potential WWE return (he pointed out to never ever say never in the pro wrestling business) and was asked what it was going to take to make TNA successful.
Hogan said that Eric Bischoff "needed to be given the keys to the car" and that, "somebody somewhere" needed to "drop all the resources we need like we had in the WWE and the WWF, whether it be cameras or money or vehicles or advertising" in order for TNA to work "in a perfect world."
So, Hulk Hogan's idea on how to make TNA successful would be to have Eric Bischoff in charge and unlimited (financial) resources, sort of the same scenario that Bischoff had when WCW Monday Nitro was launched under Turner Broadcasting in 1995. Yep!

UPDATE ON THE STATUS OF AJ STYLES, AND OTHERS, WITH TNA!

As Mike reported earlier today on the site, AJ Styles' contract with TNA will be ending very soon. Unlike in the past with TNA however this is not a case of a contract expiring abruptly. Styles and TNA management have been in talks for a new deal for a while now. They have yet to agree on a new deal but discussions are ongoing. But there is a very real possibility that Styles will leave TNA and there is only one reason for that: Money.
John "Big" Gaburick has replaced Bruce Prichard as the man in charge of Talent Relations for TNA. People in TNA have described the company as going through a period of transition right now. Having worked in the past for WWE, Gaburick brings in knowledge as to how things work in a successful wrestling promotion and he is implementing them now. At the same time, TNA is working under a budget more now than they ever have in the past and when that is the case, hard choices have to be made. While everyone I spoke to in TNA told me that they want AJ to stay, it will come down to whether the deal makes sense to them financially. From AJ's perspective, he has over a decade of service and goodwill with the company. Like anyone in that position, he doesn't want to stay even or go backward financially. TNA management understands that but they also realize that they don't have unlimited finances and thus have to spend their money as judiciously as possible. They want AJ to stay but they also understand that if he can get a better deal for his family, he should take it and move on.
The company has set an objective recently to try and uncover young talent. Going foward, they will be looking for young workers to add to their roster. The sad reality of the situation is that after a decade in TNA, their audience has plateaued. It could be that AJ's experience and tenure have priced him out of TNA. If they can bring in four or five guys for the price of his contract, it is something that they have to consider.
There are at least two other wrestlers being affected by the new reality of TNA right now as well. They are Ken Anderson and the person that loses the fall of tonight's match on Impact. Anderson is in a similar situation to AJ in that the sides are still talking and it could go either way but will probably go down to the wire. The person that loses tonight's fall is said to be leaving in the next month or two.
It should also be noted that every single talent in TNA's contract is, or has been, evaluated by management. For those of you who know NFL football and the salary cap, think about it in those terms. There have been countless beloved superstar athletes that have been let go due to cold, hard finances. That is the exact position TNA is in right now.

AJ Styles's TNA Future in Question!!

Over the last few weeks, there's been a lot of talk circulating around AJ Styles, who's been with TNA since day one and is one of the most celebrated talents over the course of their 11 year run. Initially we did not report the rumor but as more and more people within the company are talking about it, it's become a story we have to address.

The story making the rounds is that Styles' contract is up in September (which is just a few weeks away) and that the two sides have yet to come to a new contract. There's also allegedly been very little attempt by TNA to get a new deal done.
Obviously, this would not be the first time TNA has let a valued talent's deal expire (Samoa Joe, Devon, Bobby Roode both come to mind) before attempting to lock them up again.
However, what is insane about all this is that Styles has been the TNA poster boy since the company launched in June 2002. He was the nucleus of the original X-Division and grew into one of their best, most loyal performers, including taking part in the Styles vs. Joe vs. Chris Daniels bout that is considered the best TNA match of all time. Styles is one of a select few branded as a "TNA guy" similar to how Sting was seen as a "WCW guy" a generation ago.
The idea that TNA hasn't locked him in with about a month to go in his current deal is strange on a lot of levels - Styles' WWE counterparts would have been signed well before they were close to a deal expiring. The idea that they could put themselves into a situation where WWE could come in and swoop him up sounds ridiculous on paper, but all signs are that's the position TNA is putting themselves in.
Even odder is that TNA is in the midst of a big storyline with Styles, which will culminate on tonight's episode of Impact Wrestling.
As soon as we confirm more, we will update, but earlier today the following was posted on Styles' official Facebook page: "Where do fans want AJ Styles to be? TNA? WWE? ROH? Japan? Lots of options. Tough decisions."

TNA Didn't Pay Jesse Sorensen's Medical Bills!!

Jesse Sorensen said in his Highspots.com interview that TNA didn’t pay his medical bills for his neck injury, and his mother was left with the bills and she had to declare bankruptcy. Sorensen in the interview said TNA wouldn’t pay any of his medical bills and at first his mother’s insurance paid for them, but she eventually went bankrupt having to pay the extra, the premiums and other costs associated with his treatment. He also said that it was Bob Ryder, who heads the company’s travel department, that called him and told him he was being released. At the time, Sorensen was not an active wrestler but an office worker. Sorensen said he was given the impression from Ryder that the decision was made by Dixie Carter and CFO Dean Broadhead, and noted that his contract had not yet expired. That is the absolute worst that if a wrestler is injured performing on your show and gets hurt, the company leaves them with any medical bills. It is legal with the independent contractor nature of their deals, but it’s abhorrent that this still happens in semi-major league wrestling, let alone for an injury that severe. It’s neither the first or last time it’s happened with TNA, but I think the general belief was due to the nature of this injury, that the company was covering him.

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ALBERTO DEL RIO?!

One of the top questions we've received since last night' Summerslam is what happened to World champion Alberto Del Rio's face.

According to several sources, Del Rio was at an Irish pub close to where the WWE hotel was late Saturday night/early Sunday morning when he got into a fight with several patrons there.
One story is that Del Rio got into a verbal confrontation with someone and his friends stepped in.
When Del Rio returned to the WWE hotel Sunday AM, he had two black eyes and was trying to shield his face from everyone in the lobby. He was accompanied by Drew McIntyre, who was also at the Pub and stepped into the fight to help Del Rio.
We've also heard that McIntyre ended up with two knots on the side of his head during the fracas.

Backstage Reactions To WWE Summerslam 2013!

The feeling backstage was mixed on the end of the show. While everyone agreed that the work was fantastic, some took the "now we can tell a great story and when Bryan gets his revenge it will get him over even more" stance. Others took the "They should have let Bryan have his moment and it would have made him right there and he wouldn't have had to be made after a chase" position. I side with the latter.
A number of people in the company also commented on the fact that it made no sense for Bryan to take one Pedigree, have all the time pass between then, Randy Orton getting to the ring, ringing the bell and then making the cover, yet Bryan couldn't kick out. A few people in the company made a point of saying that it's ridiculous that a move from a largely retired wrestler is so supposedly devastating that it outdid anything that John Cena did in the match. When you think about it, they are right. Triple H shouldn't be stronger than any of the top guys. Period.

WWE SummerSlam Live Coverage & Results: Cena vs. Bryan, Punk vs. Lesnar!!

Welcome to our live coverage of WWE's SummerSlam fromthe Staples Center in Los Angeles.  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.com.

DEAN AMBROSE VS. ROB VAN DAM FOR THE U.S. TITLE
RVD won via DQ when Van Dam had the match won but Roman Reigns interfered with a spear.  Average match with a poor finish.  Earlier in the match when RVD was on the top rope, The Shield music played and Reigns and Seth Rollins came out to distract RVD.  Big Show and Mark Henry came out.  They were all at ringside the rest of the match but still did that finish.  No challenges or anything after the match, they just went back to Vickie Guerrero, Shawn Michaels, Josh Matthews and Booker T at the desk.

It's really weird, they just signed off of the pregame show about 4:00 early and went to a blank screen.  Before they did, they showed them setting up the ring of fire match and showed the flames as a tease to order the PPV which is the usual thing they're doing before they sign off.  But weird to go to the blank screen.

JoJo Offerman sang the national anthem.  She has a very good voice and poise as a singer.  Crowd gave her a really big hand.

KANE VS. BRAY WYATT IN THE RING OF FIRE MATCH OPENS THE PPV SHOW
Wyatt won, of course.  Luke Harper & Erick Rowan put a blanket over the flames on one side of the ring and they both beat down Kane after Kane had given Wyatt two choke slams.  Rowan used a splash and then they handed Kane to  Wyatt, who did the kiss and downward spiralfor he pin.  After the match, supposedly smashed Kane's brain using the ring steps and Wyatt lit the lantern as Kane was left for dead.  This looked to be the injury angle for Kane to be gone for a few months so he could do the "See No Evil" sequel.  They dragged a lifeless Kane to the back.  As far as the match itself went, maybe the worst match of the year.  The ring surrounded by fire took too much away from what they could do and neither ended up doing much until the inteference.

Paul Heyman did an interview.  Basically both sides have agreed that Lesnar vs. Punk is a no DQ match.

CODY RHODES VS. DAMIEN SANDOW
Rhodes won clean with Crossroads after a few minutes of near falls.  Match had average reactions, work was about as good as you would expect given the time constraints the two had.  Decent match overall.  Win makes sense, since if Sandow wins the title, Rhodes is set up as a contender.

The black eye Del Rio wil come out with and all the bruises on his face were the result of a fight either last night or today.  Apparently Del Rio and Drew McIntyre ended up a big fight, I think with other people, and as far as what happened I don't know other than both were all beaten up when they showed up back at the hotel.

ALBERTO DEL RIO VS. CHRISTIAN FOR THE WORLD TITLE
They just claimed the bruises were from the killswitch on Friday because they couldn't ignore them.   Del Rio did real good considering he had to be messed up.  During the match he started bleeding from the nose.  Tons of near falls back and forth.  The finish saw Christian hit the spear, but the shoulder that Del Rio worked on for several minutes went out.  As Christian was selling, Del Rio got the armbar.  Christian struggled but eventually tapped out.  This was a lot better than anything so far.

Del Rio did an interview after the match talking about being a Latin hero.  There were some people chanting "Si" during the match but there really weren't that many cheering for him.

They did a deal where they showed a clip of Natalya & Maria Menounos beating Brie Bella & Eva Marie from earlier today.  Menounos did an intreview with Miz.  Summer Rae and Fandango came out and danced and then Miz danced with Maria leaving Summer Rae and Fandango doing the facial like they were showed up.

BRIE BELLA VS. NATALYA
Nikki Bella and Eva Marie in one corner and Cameron and Naomi in the other.

Brie & Nikki came out wearing outfits that would be swimsuits out of the 40s.  Match was decent but the crowd didn't care about it, chanting things like We Want Tables, Jerry, Michael Cole, JBL and one that got no momentum of We Want Ryder.  Match was obviously taped for Total Divas with the women on the outside getting involved, but Natalya won clean with the sharpshooter.

A skit in catering.  Ryback made fun of one of the guys working catering, saying the soup was cold and catering sucks.  The guy said the soup was supposed to be cold.   Ryback poured the soup down the guys shirt and laughed at him.  he then poured more stuff over the guy's head and said "Feed Me Moron."  So that's Ryback's contribution for the show.

C.M. PUNK VS. BROCK LESNAR NO DQ
This was pretty damn great.  Lesnar looked to be close to 320 pounds but he didn't blow up or anythingin a long match.  Lesnar used a Kimura but Punk got out into an armbar and then a triangle.  Lesnar with a running power bomb.  Both guys used chairs on each other  Punk used a low blow at one point when Lesnar teased a chair shot.  Lesnar tried an F-5 but Punk grabbed Paul Heyman's tie so he couldn't do it.  Punk tried the GTS but Heyman interfered since it was no DQ.  Punk went after Heyman but Lesnar went for an F-5, which was turned into a DDT by Punk.  Anaconda Vise but Heyman came in with a chair.  Punk blocked him.  Punk put Heyman in the Anaconda vise but Lesnar cracked Punk with a chair and used a series of chair shots and an F-5 on a chair for the pin.  The crowd chanted Punk's name after it was over.

They showed a guy from Portland sitting in ront of the announcers for a match for agreeing to take Mark Henry's splash and getting 3 tickets to SummerSlam.

The wrestlers gave Punk and Lesnar a standing O when they came through the curtain.

DOLPH ZIGGLER & KAITLYN VS. BIG E LANGSTON & A.J. LEE
So-so match ending when Ziggler slipped out of the Big Ending and hit the Zig Zag for the pin.  It wasn't much when the women were in, better when the guys were in but it was in many ways positioned as the buffer match, so given what it was following, they had a tough time getting too much reaction.  Better than the majority of buffer matches.

JOHN CENA VS. DANIEL BRYAN FOR THE WWE TITLE WITH HHH AS REFEREE

The Bryan vs. Cena match went 27:00 and was excellent. I don't know that the match was better than Punk vs. Lesnar, but the crowd was hotter because in Punk vs. Lesnar, they were watching a fight but in Bryan vs. Cena, the people badly wanted Bryan to win so the win was a lot more important.  They did all the near falls and near submissions with their regular moves as well as Bryan using the STF on Cena at one point. Bryan, at another point, got out of Cena's STF and had him in the Yes lock.  Cena started powering out of moves late. 

Bryan won the title in a tremendous match. The crowd was super into Bryan, booing when Randy Orton came out and teased cashing in. He then walked away and did all kind of heel facials. HHH hit the pedigree on Bryan and Orton came in and handed him the briefcase.  Orton pinned him in seven seconds.  I'll give them credit for not changing the finish even when it seemed like a lot of people were expecting it.

The execution of this was tremendous as they gave Bryan a huge celebration with the confetti long enough to where it sunk in.  HHH and Orton are both heels on top and it looks like a united McMahon family, for now.

In the end, this was a two match show and both matches delivered in a big way. The end leaves Bryan vs. Orton as a main event title program and Punk vs. Orton if need be until Cena returns. 

VIDEO: UFC on FS1 Sonnen vs. Shogun highlights!

RING OF HONOR MANHATTAN MAYHEM V LIVE REPORT!

Show started with Silas Young and Adam Page, did a great job of getting the crowd riled up, fast paced... Silas got the win with a crazy somersault type top rope jump I couldn't even describe...

Steve Corino came out to the announce table after this match, but was immediately booted by the referees and ringside staff, which the fans heeled big time.

Next up was the scramble match with ACH/Tadarius Thomas against Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander. Really unbelievable athleticism you'd expect from these guys, how they don't pass out from exhaustion after this match I'll never understand... Terrific match, nearly worth the price of a VOD purchase alone, crowd was super into it, C&C took the win.

Next was Mike Mondo vs Matt Taven with Truth Martini (whose outfit never fails to make me laugh) and two hot women. Taven won with the typical Truth Martini interference, decent match, nothing extraordinary but good.

Number four was the Young Bucks and Forever Hooligans. Really fun back and forth, very entertaining, tremendous match I'd recommend to anyone. Hooligans took it in what was definitely the best match of the night so far and will be interesting to see if anyone can top that tonight!

After intermission, RD Evans and QT Marshall came out to complain about not being booked for a match, and then chose to sit in the ring until they got one. Prince Nana, announced as the new corporate talent scout, and after berating the two, out came two guys in clown masks revealing themselves to be the returning Homicide and Eddie Kingston, awesome!  The place went nuts... They fought for a few minutes before Marshall and Evans gave up.

Next up is three world heavyweight title tournament matches which are of course being filmed for ROH Television. First was Tommaso Ciampa over Mike Bennett. They had Mike play off the BJ Whitmer injury by pretending he was going to piledrive Ciampa on the apron. A little tasteless but guess its alright as long as it wasn't actually going to be done. Second, Kevin Steen beat Roderick Strong in a great match. Third, Michael Elgin beat Karl Anderson in a fantastic match with a lot of tremendous spots.

Finally, the main event of the evening is Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards defending the tag team championship against Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish. Very solid match, and in an upset, Red Dragon won the tag teams championship when Kyle submitted Davey with an armbar!

Overall, a very good show with all matches ranging from solid to fantastic, with a good crowd and nothing disappointing at all. I'd definitely recommend ordering the VOD if they release it!

VIDEO: 45-minute SummerSlam press conference

VIDEO: Behind the scenes of Eva Marie's Maxim photoshoot!!

UFC on FS 1 live coverage from Boston - Shogun vs. Chael, Overeem vs. Browne, Faber vs. Alcantara

Welcome to our live coverage of the debut of UFC on FS 1 from the TD Garden in Boston.  We're not doing a poll, but we are looking to post feedback after the show tonight to dave@wrestlingobserver.com

JAMES VICK VS. RAMSEY NIJEM, LIGHTWEIGHTS

First round: Nijem took Vick down and when he worked to do it a second time, Vick grabbed a Cody McKenzie type guillotine. :58

OVINCE ST. PREUX VS. CODY DONOVAN, LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHTS

First round: Donovan got the takedown with a slam, but St. Preux immeidately flipped to the top and knocked him out with a series of left hand punches from the guard.  Figure both of these two fights will wind up on TV unless there are a ton of decisions in the TV bouts.

How do you like that UFC used my line as Rousey's tag line on this season's TUF commercial?

COLE MILLER VS. MANVEL GAMBURYAN, FEATHERWEIGHTS

First round: Rousey in Gamburyan’s corner. Huge height difference, 5-4 vs. 6-1 for Miller. That puzzle is difficult for Gamburyan. Miller landing more, staying out of Gamburyan’s range. Miller not hurting him but Gamburyan having difficulty. Finally Gamburyan got inside and slammed him down. Gamburyan landed an elbow. Gamburyan landed a nice elbow. Miller back up. Gamburyan with a knee and Miller with a knee. Close round. 10-9 Gamburyan.

Miller hit Gamburyan with elbows and Gamburyan looks out. In slow-mo you can’t tell if it hit the back of hte head but Gamburyan is holding the back of his head. Gamburyan wants to continue.

Second round: Gamburyan with low kicks and Miller kicked him in the face. Gamburyan’s left eye looks bad. Miller landed a weak kick to the head. Knee by Miller, Gambruayn shot in. Miller up and Gamburyan bleeding from an elbow. Knees by Miller. Miller has Gamburyan’s back and Gamburyan out of trouble. Another takedown by Gamburyan. Gamburyan landing body shots. Miller pushed him off with his legs. Gamburyan fighting for a takedown against the fence but not getting it. Gamburyan got the takedown again. Miller pushed him off but Gamburyan with two hard punches. Miller with jabs and Gamburyan with a low kick. Gamburyan’s round 20-18.

Third round: Gamburyan with low kicks and Miller with punches. Gamburyan landed a hard right. Knee by Miller and punches and Gamburyan took him down again. Gamburyan with body punches. Miller with a body triangle from the bottom but gave it up. Miller looking for a switch but Gamburyan slammed him back down. Gamburyan landing punches to the body and Miller punching back from the bottom. This was the only round I could strongly go with someone, Gamburyan 30-27. First two rounds could go to Miller, wouldn’t be bad call in either round.

Scores: 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 Gamburyan

DANIEL PINEDA VS. DIEGO BRANDAO, FEATHERWEIGHTS

First round: Body kick by Brnadao. Trading punches and flying knee by Brandao. Kick to the head by Brandao and flying knee by Brandao. Pineda landed a big right. Great fight in the first 90 seconds. Hard right by Brandao. Left and right by Brandao. Left by Pineda. Both are tired. Hard rights by Brandao. Series of punches by Brandao and a big punch on the ground. Brandao let Pineda up. Flying knee by Brandao. Brandao took him down. Knee to the body on the ground by Brandao. Pineda with kicks but Brandao with an overhand right. Elbow by Pineda. Left uppercut by Pineda. 10-9 Brandao

Second round: Takedown by Brandao. Pineeda tried a triangle from the bottom but Brandao out of trouble. Brandao landed punches and Pineda acted hurt and punched Brandao as he came in. He was faking being hurt like he was Bret Hart to get a sucker shot in. Brandao with a takedown. Pineda used a Kimura to sweet into mount. Pineda with an elbow. Pineda throwing lots of elbows. Lots of punches by Pineda from the top. Brandao is in trouble. Lots more punches by Pineda. Brandao trying an ankle lock but didn’t have it. Pineda remained on top. Pineda with more punches from the top. Almost a 10-8, but it would b e10-8.5 in half points but with this scoring it’s 19-19 after two.

Third round: Brandao landed a high kick. Brandao got the takedown. Brandao landing punches on the ground. Then he backed off and wanted Pineda to get up. Brandao took him down again. I’m not sure why he let him up if he was just going to take him down again. Brandao has his back standing. Pineda out of trouble. Right by Brandao. Brandao now looks tired. Pineda tried a takedown but Brandao stuffed it. Body kick by Pineda but another takedown by Brandao. Pineda up and three elbows. Brandao with another takedown. Pineda used a Kimura to get to his feet. Big right by Pineda. Another takedown by Brandao. Ref Mario Yamasaki stood them up. Brandao wasn’t doing anything from the top. Spinning heel kick by Pineda. Brandao clocked him with a punch as Pineda tried another slow spinning wheel kick. Pineda working for a takedown and didn’t get it. Pineda with a big right and Brandaowith a head kick as time ran out. Brandao’s round, should win 29-28.

Scores: All three have it 29-28 for Brandao.

MIKE BROWN VS. STEVEN SILER, FEATHERWEIGHTS

First round: Brown, who grew up in Maine, got a big reaction. Siler with a low kick. Siler stunned Brown with an uppercut and put him down. Siler threw a ton of punches, several missed but two had solid, the second of which put Brown out and it was stopped. Brown had no idea what hit him and I don’t think he even knew he was out, as he woke up and couldn’t understand why it had been stopped.


CONOR MCGREGOR VS. MAX HOLLOWAY, FEATHERWEIGHTS

First round: McGregor got an incredible superstar reaction. We’ll see what happens but this guy has a natural charisma like almost nobody else, they were comparing this to Brock Lesnar’s debut except Lesnar already had a huge U.S. name and is gigantic so it’s not remotely the same thing. Trading kicks. Hard left by McGregor. McGregor landed several quick punches. McGregor landed more stuff. Kick and a punch by McGregor. Another kick landed. McGregor landing kicks. Another cool jumping kick. Spin kick by McGregor. High kick and uppercut but Holloway back with a right. Spin kick by Holloway but McGregor out of the way. Holloway landed another punch. Another kick landed. Cartwheel into clinch by McGregor. McGregor 10-9.

Second round: Both landing punches early in the round. Good right uppercut by McGregor. Holloway landed a good left. McGregor is slowing down. McGregor landed a left and took Holloway down. McGregor on top but not doing much damage. He moved to side control as the round was ending. McGregor 20-18.

Third round: Holloway landed a right. McGregor took him down. That tells me he’s tired. McGregor has been a quick finisher and now we’re in round three. McGregor moved to side control. McGregor got full mount. Nothing much happening. McGregor landing some lefts. Elbows by McGregor. Holloway up with 55 seconds left. Holloway landed a head kick that knocked McGregor down. McGregor took him down again. McGregor dominated. The place is standing. But he really didn’t live up to the hype even though the announcers are saying otherwise. But easy 30-27 win by McGregor

Scores: 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26 for McGregor.

McGregor seemed embarrassed by the crowd response. He said his knee went out in the second round and that’s why he started taking him down in the second and third round. He said he had no plan, midway through the second he got an injury so he had to improvise.

MICHAEL MCDONALD VS. BRAD PICKETT, BANTAMWEIGHTS

First round: Pickett landed a few punches. McDonald going wild on him and he knocked Pickett down. Picket back up and McDonald is all over him. McDonald knocked him down a second time. Pickett is ridiculously tough. The crowd went wild. Pickett’s face is a mess already. McDonald dropped him again. Pickett tied him up on the ground. McDonald letting him up. McDonald landed a right. Body kick by McDonald. Both swinging and landing back and forth. Uppercut and left by McDonald. 10-8 McDonald, we’ll see if judges go that way since Pickett was in the fight and you need near death in some judges eyes to get a 10-8.

Second round: Both out swinging. Pickett got the takedown. Pickett working the body and an elbow to the head. Pickett pounding the body. Elbow by Pickett from the top. McDonald got a triangle from the bottom. Pickett is in trouble here. Pickett tapped out. That was a great job by McDonald. Good fight. 3:43

McDonald said he wasn’t going to let an Englishman beat him in Boston, where the American Revolution started. I used to think Heenan was dated when he’d talk about Al Kaline, but this was John Hancock, Paul Revere (not the musician) and Ben Franklin era.

JOE LAUZON VS. MICHAEL JOHNSON, LIGHTWEIGHTS

First round: Lauzon got a really big reaction since he’s from Edgewater, MA. Johnson landed a left and low kick. Big chants for Lauzon. Johnson landing several punches. Johnson landed a body shot. Johnson quicker and landing. Johnson dropped him with a straight left and let Lauzon up. Johnson landing more shots. Johnson continuing to land solid uppercuts and a kick to the body. Lauzon is in trouble. Johnson continues to land. Johnson landing hard shots. Luzon seems like he’s not even in this fight. Johnson knocked him down with two lefts. Johnson knocked him down a third time at the end of the round.. 10-8 Johnson.

Second round: Lauzon pushed forward and working for a takedown. Johnson moved out of the clinch. Lauzon hurt him with a left but Johnson back with three uppercuts. Lauzon moved in but Johnson landing punches. Lauzon with a knee and punches. Lauzon moved into a clinch again. Johnson landing more shots. Takedown by Johnson with 13 seconds left. He landed a few shots on the ground. Closer round but still Johnson so I’ve got 20-17.

Third round: Johnson landed a few. Johnson landing a lot of punches and a knee to the body, tons of punches, kicks and elbows. Lauzon went for a takedown but didn’t get it. Johnson continuing to land punches and a couple of knees. Johnson with all kinds of shots. Johnson with lots of punches. Good right by Lauzon. Johnson continuing to land. Takedown by Johnson in the final seconds. Johnson 30-26, he’ll win easily.

Scores: 30-27, 30-27 and 30-25 for Johnson.

URIAH HALL VS. JOHN HOWARD, MIDDLEWEIGHTS

First round: With Hall from New York and Howard from the Boston area, you know how the crowd reacted. Hall took him right down. Big left by Howard. Howard with an elbow. Howard with a low kick and Hall back with a knee. Howard blocked a takedown attempt. Howard now working for a takedown. Knee by Hall. Hall missed a spin kick. 10-9 Hall.

Second round: Howard’s corner told him the round was close and could have gone either way so he has to win the second round. That was good cornering. Hall went for a takedown, Howard went for a guillotine. Howard with punches and Hall back with punches. Howard landing body punches and Hall with aknee to the body. The ref separated them. Hall went for a knee but Howard caught it. Hall with good movement, spun to Howard’s back. Low kick and a right by Howard. Howard going for a takedown. Howard got him down. Hall landed from the bottom and Howard from the top. Howard’s round so we’re even 19-19 going into the third.

Third round: Hall went for a takedown but Howard blocking it. Howard throwing uppercuts from the clinch. Ref Mario Yamasaki separated them. Howard took him down. Hall up and took Howard down. Koppo kick by Hall and then Howard did a jumping fist drop that hit him in the back of the head and wound up in full mount. Extremely close round so this fight should be 29-28, just either could win by that score. I’d pick Howard 29-28.

Scores: 30-27 Howard bad score because of round one, 29-28 Hall, 29-28 Howard

MATT BROWN VS. MIKE PYLE, WELTERWEIGHTS

First round: Brown aggressive and put him down with a knee right away and knocked him out with punches on the ground. That’s a quick win over a real guy. That’s six wins in a row and against some quality guys. Pyle mad about the stoppage.  :29

Matt Brown said that Mike Pyle was good enough to be champion and that he's better than GSP, and then challenged GSP for the title.  The crowd wasn't buying the idea that Pyle was better than GSP.  Yeah, that's more than a stretch.

Oscar De La Hoya interview.  He was promoting Danny Jacobs fighting Monday night live on FS 1.  Monday night is boxing night and they are doing 24 Monday night live shows over the next year.  Oscar was wide eyed, to say the least.

URIJAH FABER VS. IURI ALCANTARA, BANTAMWEIGHTS

First round: Alcantara threw Faber down and is full mount. Alcantara going for an armbar. Faber out and attacking the leg. Alcantara has his back and pounding on Faber. Alcantara landing a lot of punches. Alcantara landing hammer fists to the head. Faber back throwing punches backwards while Alcantara has his back. Alcantara punching, mostly blocked. Faber escaped and slammed Alcantara down. Alcantara working for a triangle. Faber blocking and landed a hard elbow. Faber with big elbows. Faber landing more hard elbows. Now. Faber now working him over. Faber with big shots. Crowd going crazy withUSA chants. Faber landing solid elbows. Faber continues to land elbows. Excellent round. Faber 10-9.

Second round: Faber missed a head kick and lost balance. Alcantara grabbed a Kimura but Faber threw him down and is back on top. Faber looking for a guillotine but doesn’t have it. Alcantara is bleeding. More elbows by Faber. Faber continues to land elbows. Now punches by Faber. Faber moved in a working for a guillotine. Faber gave it up and trying to keep position throwing elbows. Elbow after elbow . Faber landing tons of punches. He’s trying to set up the guillotone. Alcantara back to his feet. Alcantara tried a Greco Roman throw but Faber landed on top and throwing more elbows. 10-8 Faber so 20-17 at this point. I don’t think two of these judges will give a 10-8 short of a second degree homicide.

Third round: Faber landed a right. Big left by Alcantara. Faber went for a takedown but Alcantara this time stuffed him. Faber took him down. Faber with more elbows. Faber throwing tons of lefts. The ref told them to work. Jeez, Faber hasn’t stopped for a second throwing elbows. Faber continues to land elbows from the top. Alcantara tried for an amrbar but Faber was never in trouble. Faber spun out of trouble. Alcantara tried to get up but Faber rode him until the round ended. Faber’s round, should win 30-26.

Scores: 30-26, 30-26 and 30-27. Well, two judges gave 10-8 second rounds.

TRAVIS BROWNE VS. ALISTAIR OVEREEM, HEAVYWEIGHTS

First round: Browne does look to be three inches taller than Overeem. Overeem landing punches and knees. Knee by Browne. Browne with a flying knee. Overeem is looking for a guillotine. Browne is out of trouble. Overeem landing tons of punches on the ground, knees and lots more punches by Overeem and knee after knee. One of the knees was questionable as Browne was down. Brutal knees to the body by Overeem. Browne back with punches. Overeem with more knees. Elbow standing by Overeem. Overeem with a takedown byt Browne back up. Overeem may be tired now. Kick to body and another by Browne. Browne continued to land kicks. Overeem is a lot slower now. Browne is tired as well but a kick to the body and head by Browne. Left by Overeem. Another body kick and another by Browne. Kick to the chin by Browne knocked Overeem out. Browne is tough as hell, and Overeem doesn’t have the conditioning to deal with anyone who is tough enough to last. 4:08

CHAEL SONNEN VS. MAURICIO SHOGUN RUA, LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHTS

First round: Sonnen took him right down. Rua right back up. Rua took Sonnen down. Rua is clearly the physically bigger guy. Sonnen working for a guillotine and got Rua’s back as he got up. Rua tried a takedown and Sonnen reversed on the way down and landed on the top. Sonnen landing punches but they aren’t that hard. Sonnen landing a lot of punches. Sonnen landing more punches. Up kick by Rua but Sonnen still on top. Sonnen with body punches and elbows. Sonnen continues to land punches. Sonnen going for the guillotine again. Rua tapped out. That was the biggest win of Sonnen’s career.

Sonnen dedicated the win his grandmother, Natalie, and friend Elaina battling cancer and to everyone who has had to go through cancer. He was back doing Superstar Billy Graham lines, and challenged Wanderlei Silva to a fight in three months. I know he wants on the Dec. 28 show and quite frankly adding that match to that show and that will be among the biggest in history.