We're looking for reports from Thursday night's TNA house show in Hattiesburg, MS and last night in Pensacola. We're also looking for reports on last night's ROH show in Dearborn, MI and tonight's show in Mississauaga, ONT, as well as last night's Raw show in El Paso and tonight's Raw show in Tucson at
dave@wrestlingobserver.com.
Tomorrow is a huge night with UFC on Versus from Broomfield, CO, with Brandon Vera vs. Jon Jones, Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Junior Dos Santos and Paul Buentello vs. Cheick Kongo going head-to-head with TNA's Destination X PPV headlined by A.J. Styles vs. Abyss and Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson. Dream also airs live from Yokohama, Japan at 3 a.m. late Sunday/early Monday on HDNet with Bibiano Fernandes vs. Joachim Hansen for the featherweight title, Cole Escovedo vs. Yoshiro Maeda and Josh Barnett vs. Mighty Mo. There is also a Raw house show in Reno, a Smackdown house show in Sacramento, All Japan at Tokyo Sumo Hall (Satoshi Kojima vs. Ryota Hama for the Triple Crown, Minoru Suzuki vs. Masakatsu Funaki in a cage match).
We will have live coverage on the site tomorrow of both the TNA and UFC shows.
Monday night has both Raw and Impact going live. Raw will be from San Jose and Impact from Orlando. San Jose has Raw, Smackdown, Superstars and NXT all being taped, with HHH Randy Orton vs. Sheamus Cody Rhodes Ted DiBiase, Beth Phoenix vs. Vickie Guerrero and a 4 on 5 match with the participants in Money in the Bank. Pete Rose is the guest host.
Dragon Gate also has its biggest show of the year from Tokyo Sumo Hall on Monday night with Naruki Doi vs. Yamato with the Open the Dream Gate title at stake, plus the triangle gate title has Akebono Don Fujii Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Abdullah the Butcher Mazada Nosawa, plus BxB Hulk Masato Yoshino vs. Juventud Guerrera Dragon Kid.
New Japan Cup finals are also on Monday in Amagasaki.
Tuesday has Impact tapings for the 3/29 show.
NCAA tournament finals are tonight on ESPN at 7:30 p.m.
125 – Andrew Long (Iowa State) vs. Matt McConough (Iowa)
133 – Jayson Ness (Minnesota) vs. Daniel Dennis (Iowa)
141 – Kyle Duke (Cornell) vs. Mantell Marion (Iowa)
149 – Lance Palmer (Ohio State) vs. Brent Metcalf (Iowa)
157 – J.P. O'Connor (Harvard) vs. Chase Pami (Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo)
165 – Andrew Howe (Wisconsin) vs. Dan Vallimont (Penn State)
174 – Mack Lewnes (Cornell) vs. Jay Borschel (Iowa)
184 – Kirk Smith (Boise State) vs. Max Askren (Missouri)
197 – Jake Varner (Iowa State) vs. Craig Brester (Nebraska)
HWT – David Zabriskie (Iowa State) vs. Jared Rosholt (Oklahoma State)
Some notes: Rosholt is the brother of former UFC fighter Jake Rosholt, who won the same tournament three times. Askren is the brother of Ben Askren, the Olympic wrestler, a two-time champion. As you can tell, Iowa has run away with the team championship already, with Cornell currently in second place. It's been pushed from even before the start of the tournament that the expected main event is Metcalf vs. Palmer at 149, and both men made the finals. Metcalf's only loss this year was to Palmer, who beat him 9-3 at the Big 12 championship meet two weeks ago, which made Palmer the top seed in the tournament. Metcalf had beaten Palmer the previous five times they met, including in both the 2008 and 2009 NCAAs. Metcalf was the 2008 NCAA champion and had a long winning streak before losing in the finals last year. His only loss this year was to Palmer, who is a three-time All-American but has never placed higher than fourth. Metcalf was 228-0 in high school, winning six national titles, and lost a season of eligibility in transferring to Iowa. He was the 2008 Hodge Trophy winner. Another big match is at 174, as Jay Borschel and Mack Lewnes are both undefeated this year. Lewnes with a win would be the favorite for the Hodge Trophy since he had a Hodge-like season, having not even been taken down all year. Howe, a sophomore who placed second as a freshman, at 165 is unbeaten this season. Also unbeaten going into the finals are Ness at 133, O'Connor at 157 and Varner at 197. Ness would also have a shot at the Hodge Trophy with a win. Varner is a defending champion, who placed second in 2007 and 2008. Brester has only lost twice this season, both times to Varner, but did beat Varner to win the Big 12 title in 2009. At heavyweight, Zabriskie and Rosholt both have lost twice this season, including once to each other. Rosholt won the first meeting 8-5 and lost the second 3-1. The second was for the Big 12 title. With both as seniors, this is the end of a four-year rivalry between the two.
Spike is airing all seven previously aired Best of Pride Fighting Championships shows from 1-7 p.m. today.
We have the most complete Monday rundown, including how every segment on both shows gained the lost viewers, and many questions asked as TNA's gets beaten by almost three full ratings points the second week one. We look at live vs. tape, as well as the future of this battle.
The issue is available on the web site today. For those wanting the print edition, there are details here on how to get it delivered to your door each week.
We also have a profile on Gorgeous George and his role in wrestling and life. We look at why he's being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, including a change in philosophy of WWE films, the famous movie that was supposed to be done on his life in the past and what happened, as well as a second movie that at one time was going to be done and fell through. We look at George's heyday and how big wrestling was on television, George's only appearance in Madison Square Garden and how it hardly went as expected, where George stood as far as the most known and highest paid athletes, his role, as well as some of his most famous angles. We also look at the story that George inspired the interviews of Muhammad Ali.
We also have an update on Jim Ross and WWE as well as an interview where he talked about wanting to broadcast MMA as well as his thoughts on mistakes in MMA television broadcasts.
We also look at several Bret Hart interviews from Canada this past week, talking bout why he returned, how wrestling has changed, his relationship with Shawn Michaels and more.
We also look at a WWE Hall of Fame snafu, an update on Dwayne Johnson and Raw, Vince McMahon causes Linda McMahon's campaign some embarrassment, filings that show what the McMahons are worth, as well as WWE responds to media criticism from the McMahon campaign.
We also look at changes made in WWE rules for talent, as well as lots of items regarding WrestleMania plans. We also have an updated look at how many people watch Raw live vs. on tape, a lot of notes on WWE developmental including newcomers, a new stable, lots of second generation wrestlers and a former college football player and a former Gladiator both starting out, as well as a main eventer in a territorial system and first cousin of two current WWE wrestlers who was just signed.
We also look at Tommy Dreamer talking about why he left WWE, as well as WWE signing Gladiator and notes from all the weekend WWE house shows.
We also have a ton of history this week, including a trip back to the 1940s looking at Henry Wittenberg, who passed away this past week, the man George Hackenschmidt called the greatest wrestler who ever lived. We look at someone who was America's best wrestler of the era, and one of the greatest ever, and why he was the most unlikely wrestling legend this country ever produced given his background. We look at his gold medal win, his pro offers, and why promoters thought he could have been one of the biggest stars ever.
We also look at the life and wrestling career of Sandy Scott, including a look at the Flying Scott Brothers and their headline feuds in the 50s and 60s all over the world, but in particular being the top babyface attractions in Western Canada and the Carolinas. We follow their career path, including their breakup in real life, Sandy Scott's role in the heyday of Jim Crockett Promotions, the different tag teams they faced all over the world, the glory era of Stampede Wrestling and more.
We also look at the man of a million names, John Hill, including the many territories he was top heel, his two world title reigns in the biggest promotion in the world at the time and his feud with Bruno Sammartino, how he got his different names including The Destroyer, Guy Mitchell and Jerry Valiant. It's a look back at several territories including the glory days of Australian wrestling, British Columbia, Detroit, Toronto and Indianapolis with the stars and programs such as the heyday of The Sheik, The Bruiser, the beginning of the career of Bobby Heenan and more.
We've also got coverage of AAA's first major show of the year, the Rey de Reyes show, which featured the beginning of the L.A. Park vs. La Parka feud, as well as Mr. Anderson and Hernandez from TNA appearing.
We also have our usual weekly features such as the results of the
biggest matches of the week and rundown of the major television shows.
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Also in this week's issue:
–Wrestler fired when he refuses to no-show agreed upon dates
–NFL player makes pro wrestling debut this past week
–Major ratings movement for a major foreign office
–Pro Wrestling NOAH starts singles tournament
–Hall of Famer makes NOAH debut on a gimmick oriented show
–Start of the New Japan Cup tournament including debut of new American star
–New Japan honors two legends
–Former WWE Tough Enough winner debuts with New Japan
–College wrestling star makes pro debut
–80s WWF star coming to Japan this week
–A look at the life and career of Corsica Joe aka Francois Miquet, The Corsicans tag team, and Jerry Jarrett's story about meeting up with him early in his career
–A pro wrestling match where the two participants are a combined 122 years old coming in a few weeks
–One of WWE's major stars of a few years ago returns later this year in foreign rings
–One of the biggest indie crowds of the year on a show honoring 50s world champion
–Where Tooth Fairy is finishing up domestically and worldwide projections
–Former WWF champion arrested on airplane
–Son of former NWA champion wins state high school wrestling championship and goes undefeated this season
–TNA ratings reaction
–Update on TNA PPV and thoughts
–Why a TNA angle looked strange on television
–Surprising former TNA wrestler who helped talk RVD into joining the promotion
–Notes on the weekend TNA house shows
–Notes on Sunday's UFC show
–GSP/Olympics update
–UFC filing several lawsuits
–Changes in weigh-in policies in two states to affect future UFC shows, including one next week
–MMA and pro wrestling heyday in South Korea looks in danger
–Several new UFC matches
–Cung Le update
–New promotion starts in April with weekly live national television
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*November 17, 1997 (full details of everything leading to the most famous
wrestling match finish of modern times at the Survivor Series plus a
history of in-ring double-crosses)
*December 21, 1998 (the complete Vince McMahon-Bret Hart conversation
right before the Survivor Series match so you'll know exactly what was
said–the conversation played in edited form both on the inaugural
broadcast of Confidential as well as in Wrestling with Shadows, but
everything that was said between the two about the match that was going
to take place that same night)
*August 1, 1994 (the most detailed coverage anywhere of the Vince McMahon
steroid trial, an issue praised in numerous newspaper article
and Sex, Lies and Headlocks)
*March 26, 2001 (death of WCW and history of pro wrestling on the Turner
networks)
*October 22, 2001 (why the adult audience has left pro wrestling in such
great numbers and what needed to have been done to save them)
*July 8, 1991 (Ric Flair leaves WCW as world champion/Zahorian steroid
trial)
*February 8, 1993 (the life and times of Andre the Giant)
*May 13, 2002 (the life story of the most incredible pro wrestling career
ever, a look at Lou Thesz, in one of the largest issues of our
history)
*January 27, 2003 (part one of the two-part series covering the career
and life of The Sheik)
*February 3, 2003 (Part two on The Sheik including thoughts from people
who worked with him and where he stands historically)
*March 24, 2003 (history of the WWWF title, inside behind the Sammartino,
Backlund and Backlund era)
*April 21, 2003 (history of WWF continues with the expansion nationally,
the death of the regional territories and the rise of Hulk
Hogan)
*May 12, 2003 (The life and death of Elizabeth, and the rise of fall of
Lex Luger)
*June 9, 2003 (Part 1 of history of WWF vs. WCW wars and what many say
was the greatest year in U.S. wrestling; plus a look at Fred Blassie)
*June 16, 2003 (Freddie Blassie through the eyes of his biggest rivals
and friends)
*July 28, 2003 (Part 2 of the history of the WWF vs. WCW war and the
plans to make new superstars in the early 90s, what happened, and the
night where the three biggest wrestling companies in the world combined
for a joint show and what happened)
*August 25, 2003 (2003 Hall of Fame issue with huge profiles on the
controversial career of Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit as well as
historical features on Earl Caddock and Francisco Flores)
*September 22, 2003 (Part 3 of the history of the WWF vs WCW war with the
seeds that caused the collapse of the industry in the 90s,
Zahorian trial, Gulf War controversy, Flair leaves WCW while holding
world title and much more)
*October 27, 2003 (The fascinating life of Stu Hart plus the story of
Road Warrior Hawk)
*January 19, 2004 (2003 Awards issue)
*February 2, 2004 (History of Toronto wrestling, Jack Tunney life story,
Royal Rumble and Battle Royal history)
*February 23, 2004 (History of Guerrero family with Eddy's win over Brock
Lesnar)
*March 1, 2004 (History of WWF continues with the period that brought the
company down in early 1992, the mistakes, the real stories and how the
business changed)
*March 8, 2004 (History of Wrestlemania, its greatest matches and best
and worst shows as voted both by wrestlers and non-wrestlers and
Wrestlemania history books)
*July 5, 2004 (A look behind the scenes and Ric Flair's book and his
background with Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan)
*July 12, 2004 (A look at more on Ric Flair's book and his comments on
Bruno Sammartino, Bret Hart and Mick Foley)
*August 16, 2004 (History of the Olympians in pro wrestling)
*August 23, 2004 (2004 Hall of Fame issue and biggest issue of the year
with huge profiles on Kazushi Sakuraba, Undertaker, Bob Backlund,
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*October 4, 2004 (the life and times of Big Bossman; as well as details
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*November 15, 2004 (the full story of what happened between Kurt Angle
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history of TNA)
*January 24, 2005 (2004 Awards issue, Rock and WWE part company)
*March 14, 2005 (the 50 biggest money players in the history of WWF and a
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*May 9, 2005 (the life and times of Chris Candido)
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*July 18, 2005 (death of Shinya Hashimoto and his records with a look at
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*August 24, 2005 (2005 Hall of Fame issue with career profiles of Paul
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*July 24, 2006 (The History of the Von Erichs and World Class
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inductions of Eddie Guerrero, Paul Bowser, Masakatsu Funaki, Aja Kong and
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Bischoff changed the company, signing of Hulk Hogan, Beginning of Nitro,
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why it didn't click)
*December 6, 2006 (details behind Pride's offers to sell promotion and
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*July 2, 2007 (Part one of the Benoit double murder-suicide)
*July 5, 2007 (Part two of the Benoit double murder-suicide)
*July 10, 2007 (Part three of the Benoit double murder-suicide)
*July 19, 2007 (Part four of the Benoit double murder-suicide)
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–The Day in Connecticut knocks Linda McMahon for owning a yacht called Sexy Bitch. Actually it's Vince's, but that hasn't stopped it from being a campaign issue. Clearly this shouldn't be an issue. Writer David Collins said the boat name is enough to question McMahon being suitable for the job. There are plenty of good reasons to question her suitability for the job, the name of Vince's yacht in Boca Raton is hardly one of them. I mean, it's pretty well established, both positive and negative, what Vince is. A lot better point buried in the article is how Linda spent years pushing the Smackdown your Vote campaign in WWE, and then she herself, almost never voted. Story won't thrill people at http://www.theday.com/article/20100319/NWS05/303199849/-1/NWS When her campaign was asked about the boat name, they said there are a lot of outrageously named boats in Boca Raton, and that the Coast Guard prohibits indecent and profane language in a boat name, and they approved the name. Her campaign also noted that Vince, not Linda, came up with the name for the boat, but conceded Linda does co-own it.
The article goes after Vince for some of the things he said in a 2002 Playboy interview.
–On Smackdown last night in the U.K., they went back to doing localized interviews to build up the April tour, with Sheamus, Edge and John Cena. They also pushed hard the appearances on tour of Bret Hart. (thanks to Greg Cunningham)
–Satoshi Ishii has gone from being the main event on New Year's Eve to doing a show under the radar tomorrow night in Honolulu on the X-1 show against Sasae Pagofie
–They came to their senses and the Tara vs. Daffney match on tomorrow's TNA PPV is not a first blood match for the title. It's just a title match. From what we're told, the decision to not make it a first blood match came a ways back, but a communications issue led to it still being listed as such on the web site. It was never advertised as that on television.
–A note for web site readers. We are doing our annual week with former WWE writers this coming week on the web site. Bryan will be interviewing several different former WWE writers talking about their times with the company and thoughts on WrestleMania.
–John Cena will be on Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday on NBC. Chris Jericho will appear Tuesday night on George Lopez Tonight on TBS at 11 p.m. MVP will be appearing in a CBS Evening News piece this week. The Miz will be on Attack of the Show on Thursday at 7 p.m.
–WWE switched around the normal shows and made Chavo Guerrero a babyface star last night since the Raw show was in El Paso. Chavo teamed with Kofi Kingston to beat Ted DiBiase Cody Rhodes, with Chavo pinning Rhodes. Chavo was born in El Paso, where his grandfather was the local wrestling promoter, even though he lived most of his life in Southern California.
–On last night's Smackdown show, the Rey Mysterio interview was heavily edited. Mysterio talked far longer live, and they also edited out the What chants he was getting.
–A funny story is that in Palmdale, CA, yesterday, police were called to a shopping center about an armed robbery at a local bank. It was actually people who saw four masked wrestlers promoting a Sunday show at the shopping center. Seven squad cards pulled up to a local Spanish language video store to arrest the wrestlers. A local radio station had brought the wrestlers to the video shop to cut promos. The deputies came with police dogs and guns drawn.
–Poll on Superstars
Excellent 10.2%
Good 49.0%
Average 22.4%
Fair 2.0%
Poor 16.3%
68.2% of those responding didn't see the show'
–Biggest event of the weekend
UFC on Versus 41.2%
TNA Destination X 23.5%
NCAA wrestling tournament 9.2%
New Japan Cup finals 8.5%
Dragon Gate Sumo Hall show 8.2%
CMLL Dos Leyendas show 6.5%
All Japan Sumo Hall show 1.6%
Dream 1.3%
–Who do you expect to win this match?
Alistair Overeem 73.1%
Brett Rogers 26.9%
–Spike will be airing another old UFC show, the October 3, 2005 Fight Night headlined by Evan Tanner vs. David Loiseau, as the lead-in for Impact on Monday.
–The winner of the Japan Cup tournament that finishes Monday in Amagasaki, will face Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP heavyweight title on 4/4 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. That show also has Naomichi Marufuji vs. Jushin Liger for the IWGP jr. title.
–Garage Pro Wrestling from last night in Wigan, England: Martin Kirby b Fox Carter, William Gaylord b Danny Hope, El Ligero Voodoo Great Suzuki b Darkside Heresy Kaster LeVay, Crocodile b Bruce Sheila, Dirk Feelgood Cameron Kraze b Dylan Roberts Si Valour, Juggernaut b Ricky McKenzie, C.J. Banks d Joey Hayes (thanks to Michael Fitzgerald)
–USWO from last night in Nashville before 97 fans: Saint b Tatsu, Psycho Medic Crusher Eric Hodge b Dyron Flynn Mike Cobbs, Bryan Casey b Tiny Bear, Seven b Kevin Dunn, Shawn Hoodrich won three-way over Bad Boy Dixon and Steven Green, Jeff Daniels b Jeremy Flynt, L.T. Falk Cody Weatherby b Damien Payne Jason Xavier (thanks to Jimmie Daniel)
–The annual WWE video game tournament will be Friday night.
–Strikeforce tickets for 5/15 in St. Louis featuring Brett Rogers vs. Alistair Overeem (not announced as a title match) and Andrei Arlovski vs. Antonio Silva go on sale Tuesday at 10 a.m. for members of the Strikeforce insider newsletter. They go on sale to the public on Friday at 10 a.m. Central time at the Scottrade Center and Ticketmaster.
–A change in the lineup for the Smackdown show in Glasgow, Scotland in April has a double main event of Edge vs. Drew McIntyre and C.M. Punk vs. Rey Mysterio
–Shingo Takagi, Masato Yoshino and Jimmy Jacobs were officially announced for the Dragon Gate USA events on 5/7 and 5/8 in Windsor, ONT and Toronto.
–Bob Saget's A E show will be filming an episode of his reality show both tonight at SoCal Pro Wrestling as well as on Friday night in Phoenix at one of the Dragon Gate USA shows. Tonight will be at a show in Oceanside at the Boys Girls Club.
–Main Event Championship Wrestling on 5/8 in Evansville at The Centre features Jerry Lawler, Jeff Jarrett, Chase Stevens, Chuck Taylor, April Hunter and Jason Briley.
–NAAFS Caged Fury 10 MMA on 3/27 in Uhrichsville, OH at Claymont High School.
–Indiana Wrestling Alliance tonight in Greentown, IN at the Howard County Fairgrounds
–Alternative Pro Wrestling on 3/21 at 3 p.m. in Rowland Heights, CA at the AWS Outdoor Arena featuring Raven vs. Johnny Goodtime plus Kikutaro from All Japan appears.
–Empire Wrestling Federation from last night in San Bernardino, CA: Tim Lovato b Ray Rosas, Johnny Starr b Mercenary, Eddie Mattson b Omar, Mighty Mike b Eddie Matson, Roger Ruiz b Mighty Mike Roger Ruiz b Freddy Bravo, Red Thunder NC Silver Stryker, Chris Kadillak b Mondo Vega, Ryan Taylor b Roger Ruiz-DQ
–Perros Del Mal from Wednesday night in San Luis Potosi: The Angle Latin Queen Reina Azteca b Cat Mortal Leopardo Veno, Cirujano Galaxia Klu Klux Klan b Fuego de Plata Genesis Steel Angel, Black Texas lost a loser must unmask cage match and was revealed as Jesus Ibarra from Texas, Lizmark Jr. Oriental b Mr. Aguila X-Fly-DQ, Perro Aguayo Jr. Damian 666 Halloween b Blue Demon Jr. El Hijo del Santo Dr. Wagner III
–NYSWF tonight at New Rochelle High School in New Rochelle, NY with Mascarita Dorada vs. Pierrothito, plus Trevor Murdoch vs. Danny Inferno, Nunzio vs. Steve Off, Crowbar vs. Julio Dinero, Judas Young vs. Josh Daniels, Vic D Vine vs. Damian Adams and Pat Buck vs. Baby Huey.
–NWA Pro Wrestling Fusion on 4/3 in Tampa at the Scottish Rite Center has Kazuchika Okada vs. The Sheik, plus Buck Quartermaine, Dark City Fight Club, New Heavenly Bodies and Sinn Bodhi (Kizarny). They also have shows on 4/10 in Fort Pierce at the PAL Center with Dark City Fight Club, Okada Shawn Spears and Prince Iaukea, and 4/16 in Sanford FL at Seminole High School with Dark City Fight Club, Big Vito, Steve Corino, Kazuchika Okada and Shawn Spears
