Wrestling Observer Newsletter

PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 July 25, 2022

G-1 CLIMAX DAY ONE IN SAPPORO

Thumbs up 102 (99.0%)

Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)

In the middle 1 (01.0%)

BEST MATCH POLL

Will Ospreay vs. El Phantasmo 61

Kazuchika Okada vs. Jeff Cobb 37

WORST MATCH POLL

Evil & Yujiro & Sho vs. Tonga & Finlay & Jado 39

Aaron Henare vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 14

Jonah & Tito vs. Yano & Oiwa 12

G-A CLIMAX DAY TWO IN SAPPORO

Thumbs up 58 (76.3%)

Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)

In the middle 18 (23.7%)

BEST MATCH POLL

Taichi vs. Tomohiro Ishii 47

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. KENTA 26

WORST MATCH POLL

Toru Yano vs. Jonah 39

PRO WRESTLING NOAH DESTINATION IN BUDOKAN

Thumbs up 57 (100.0%)

Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)

In the middle 0 (00.0%)

BEST MATCH POLL

Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Keiji Muto 35

Kenou vs. Satoshi Kojima 17

WORST MATCH POLL

Eita & Suzuki vs. Ogawa & Susumu 25

Based on emails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 7/19.

MATCH OF THE WEEK - Will Ospreay vs. El Phantasmo, July 16, Sapporo

PERFORMER OF THE WEEK - Kaito Kiyomiya

With the Ring Of Honor Death Before Dishonor show scheduled for 7/23 at the Paul
Tsongas Center in Lowell, MA, Tony Khan held a press call to promote the event
and noted a lot of things about the brand which have remained uncertain.

He said he is talking with Warner Brothers Discovery about a television deal but
said they would not be doing weekly television until they get a deal that makes
sense. That basically means he’s looking for a new added paying television
contract that would pay enough to do a weekly show. He said they could do the
show from Universal in Orlando, like they do Dark, or do tapings at arenas,
saying he could envision bigger arenas.

He didn’t indicate if they are looking at one hour or two hours, but I would
suspect it would not be cost effective to run live, or at least live every week,
unless they got a great deal.

An interesting move regarding this is that Death Before Dishonor will not be on
either FITE (in the U.S., I believe like with AEW that will be the overseas
carrier) or Honor Club (which is being revamped), but the U.S. streaming
exclusive will be on Bleacher Report, a WBD-owned service. Maximizing the amount
of buys on Bleacher Report, and thus showing WBD the potential of making money
off the brand, would in theory strengthen the negotiating position regarding
getting a paid television deal. The mentality would be similar to UFC recently
getting PPV prelims on both ABC and ESPN at the same time because in the case of
UFC, it’s ESPN that owns the PPVs. In this case it’s a split between ROH (a
separate company from AEW, owned by Tony Khan himself) and Bleacher Report in
the U.S.

This show has had a few weeks of promotion on Dynamite and Rampage and it will
be interesting how it does. The first ROH PPV that Khan promoted did about
20,000 buys, one of the largest ROH numbers in history. But the show had heavy
curiosity about what a Khan-run ROH would be. But it was also on a very
competitive night. The number for this show will give a lot better read on what
a normal show would do and probably help decide how many shows per year they
could do.

Khan said the ROH roster would be expanded once a television deal was confirmed.

At press time, Death Before Dishonor had 2,498 tickets out, which would be the
largest number for an ROH show in several years. The arena could hold 4,500 for
a pro wrestling PPV set up. It’s not close to capacity, but Khan noted that the
first show in Garland, TX, and this show would be both two of the biggest gates
in ROH history, and two of the biggest PPV numbers in history. But with greater
exposure than ever before, that should be the case. There are also the questions
as to why if they were going to add another television show and do more PPVs,
why they would brand them ROH and leave so much money and television viewership
on the table when they could brand it AEW and the audiences and revenue would be
much larger?

Khan said that they were looking at upgrading the ROH production, while trying
to keep popular elements of the brand.

They have at press time announced seven matches for a show that would start at 7
p.m. Eastern and run until just before 11 p.m., with several bouts on a
pre-show. He said that several more matches would be announced on the 7/22
Rampage show, but all the title matches have been announced.

The six bouts announced for the three-hour PPV portion are Jonathan Gresham vs.
Claudio Castagnoli for the ROH title, FTR vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe for the tag
titles in a two out of three fall match, Samoa Joe vs. Jay Lethal for he TV
title, Wheeler Yuta vs. Daniel Garcia for the Pure title, Mercedes Martinez vs.
Serena Deeb for the women’s title and The Righteous (Vincent & Bateman &
Dutch–formerly Bill Carr) defending the trios titles against Dalton Castle & The
Boys. They also announced Allysin Kay vs. Willow Nightingale as a pre-show
match.

Khan did in response to a question about Colt Cabana noted he would be on the
show. Cabana is under contract to the ROH brand after being taken out of the
Dark Order and pulled off AEW television for political reasons that Khan said he
wouldn’t address. Other names on the first ROH show not mentioned for this one
are Bandido, Joe Hendry, Cheeseburger, Eli Isom, Rhett Titus, Josh Woods, Joe
Hendry, AQA, Kuan, Toa Liona and Brian Cage.

The latter three are part of Tully Blanchard Enterprises with Gresham and have
been on recent AEW television. Woods has been on streaming shows. AQA has left
pro wrestling. The others have not been on AEW shows and there is no word on
them.

Khan also announced that the Briscoes have signed an exclusive deal with ROH.
That becomes interesting because the reason they haven’t been on AEW TV is
because WBD would not allow them due to a few homophobic remarks made by Jay,
particularly a 2013 tweet where he said he would “f***ing shoot” anyone who
taught his kids that there was nothing wrong with same sex marriage. He
apologized multiple times for that and donated to Partners Against Hate his pay
for several shows. Mark has not done anything wrong, but the tweet kept them
from going to WWE where they were close to a deal at the time.

Khan explained that the deal is with ROH, but it would be similar to a deal with
AEW. They will be allowed to work independents and for other companies but Khan
would have to approve of all of their outside dates, similar to people like Jon
Moxley and Eddie Kingston who are under AEW deals but work a lot of independent
shows.

They have been talked about on AEW television and their match has been promoted.
They have done no interviews, live or taped. No video packages of the first FTR
vs. Briscoes match have aired on Dynamite or Rampage. The one angle was only on
YouTube. Them signing a deal is notable with the idea that thus far they aren’t
allowed on television, and this wouldn’t change unless WBD changed its mind or
the television ends up somewhere other than WBD. It will be interesting to see
if they put the tag title match on last or Gresham vs. Castagnoli. It’s very
clear there is more interest in the tag title match. The promotion of Gresham
vs. Castagnoli is based on the idea that Castagnoli has never won a world title.

It will be interesting because they are doing a two out of three fall rematch of
one of the best matches of the year so if ever there was a time for Khan to
promote a big show tag title match as the main event, this would be the match
and the show.

Regarding Honor Club, they are pausing new memberships and existing memberships
were frozen on 7/16 and subscribers won’t be billed until the new version is
finished in the early fall. The new Honor Club would put up all ROH content on a
60 day delay as well as have the historical archives, so it won’t be used for
streaming live events.

In an interview with Bleacher Report, Dax Harwood discussed the match.

“I had a talk with Tony [Khan] and he pitched the match with Briscoes. And I
said, 'Man, I don't know if I want to go back to that.' Because in my mind, that
moment on April 1 was the perfect moment for me and Cash. I could have retired
right after that. Because that match to me was so different than any structured
wrestling match you see today. And I think that's why it's my favorite.”

Harwood came out of the match with a combination of great professional

satisfaction as well as physical pain. He was legit hurting significantly from
the physical nature of the first match, perhaps most notably the suplex out of
the ring taking it flat back on the floor.

“Man, Ring of Honor needs a spark, and what better spark would there be than the
rematch of Briscoes vs. FTR? And then I started thinking my anxiety is gonna
kick in worrying about this. And then on top of that, I started thinking that's
what I want, I want the anxiety of trying to top that [first] match, I want the
anxiety of trying to have a better FTR match than we had at Supercard of Honor.
And so now, that's my goal. To have a better match.”

Cash Wheeler called the first match his favorite career match, and considering
the classics the team has against both The Young Bucks and the Chad Gable &
Jason Jordan series that really put them on the map as being one of the top
teams of this era, that’s saying a lot.

“I would say, our first match against the Briscoes is my favorite match of our
career. It just was something that I'll never forget from the moment we went out
there. Like, we just felt the energy from the crowd. And the crowd has been the
missing ingredient, I think, for making all these things work the way they have.
I'm not going to try to compare it to the first match, I'm not going to try to
live up to the expectations that I feel like are gonna be put on us. I just know
we want to go out there and we want to have a great tag team wrestling fight.
And we want it to be a big fight feel. I want to make those tag team titles
[mean] more than ever. So we take this very seriously.”

Other notes is that Khan said there would be an on-screen scoreboard in the Yuta
vs. Garcia Pure title match. The two had a tremendous match when Yuta was IWTV
champion, and both are better wrestlers now. He also said they would be keeping
the Code of Honor. He mentioned announcers Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman
multiple times, and has brought both, as well as ring announcer Bobby Cruise, to
AEW tapings so they are all expected to be on this show.

He also mentioned that the sale of ROH to him was far from a sure thing when he
sent FTR and others to final Battle last December. He said he allowed AEW talent
to appear on what at the time could have been ROH’s last show because he thought
it would be the right thing to do. It was clear Sinclair wanted out of wrestling
due to the losses incurred by doing the right thing for talent under contract
while almost no revenue was coming in during the pandemic. He said at that time
there was a decent chance they wouldn’t have gotten the company.

Basically both WWE and AEW made offers, although WWE was only interested in the
tape library. AEW was interested in the library and keeping the brand alive in
some form and made the better offer.

The first week of the New Japan G-1 Climax tournament had a few upsets, and a
few great matches, but expectations that the tournament didn’t look as
interesting as past years seems to be the case.

With four blocks meaning fewer matches in a shorter period of time, there were
really no early storylines other than the upcoming Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya
Naito match feels bigger because both lost their opening bouts.

The two former tournament winners, coming off losses to Aaron Henare and Hirooki
Goto respectively, meet in the main event on 7/24 at the Ota Ward Gym in Tokyo
in a major A block match. The loser isn’t mathematically eliminated because they
could have a tie at 4-2 with many people in the end, but it wouldn’t look good.

The two best early matches were on the first night. Will Ospreay’s win over El
Phantasmo was spectacular with Phantasmo left much of his comedy at home.
Kazuchika Okada’s win over Jeff Cobb told a story of Cobb using many of Okada’s
trademark moves on him, taking much of the match before Okada hit the rainmaker
to win.

The Tanahashi and Naito losses were the biggest upsets. Henare, in his
first-ever G-1 match, pinned Tanahashi clean. It was a good match, but not the
level of most Tanahashi G-1 matches, whether it be time constraints or something
else. Naito hadn’t lost a singles match to Goto since 2016, but that is the type
of surprise that G-1 usually has in the opening week.

As far as the business end goes, they are still way below pre-pandemic levels.
The Sapporo open had been a guaranteed sellout and this year they did 2,891, on
Saturday night and 2,942 on Sunday afternoon, both just under half capacity, and
the arena was open to full capacity.

The third show on 7/20 at the Xebio Arena in Sendai did 1,919 paid, which is a
better crowd than they’ve drawn in the building in the past, but still tiny
inside a NBA type of arena.

This week has four shows, all in Tokyo, with 7/23 and 7/24 at the Ota Ward Gym,
and 7/26 and 7/27 being at Korakuen Hall.
The Saturday night show at Ota Gym starts at 5:30 a.m. Eastern with KENTA &
Juice Robinson & Phantasmo vs. Goto & David Finlay & Ryohei Oiwa, Bad Dude Tito
& Jonah vs. Tom Lawlor & Royce Isaacs, Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens & Yujiro
Takahashi vs. Lance Archer & Taichi & Taka Michinoku, Ospreay & Cobb & Great
O’Khan vs. Evil & Sho & Dick Togo, Naito & Sanada & Bushi vs. Tanahashi & Tama
Tonga & Jado, and Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Henare in C block, Shingo Takagi vs.
Yoshi-Hashi in D block, Okada vs. Yano in A block and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jay
White in B block.

The Sunday show at Ota Ward Gym starts at 2 a.m. Eastern with Goto & Yano &
Yoshi-Hashi vs. Evil & Sho & Togo, KENTA & Owens vs. Lawlor & Isaacs, Takagi &
Bushi vs. Jonah & Tito, Ospreay & O’Khan & Henare vs. Archer & Taichi &
Michinoku, Okada & Tonga & Finlay vs. White & Robinson & Gedo, and Phantasmo vs.
Yujiro Takahashi in D block, Sanada vs. Taichi in B block, Cobb vs. Fale in A
block and Tanahashi vs. Naito in C block.

Tuesday at Korakuen Hall at 5:30 a.m. Eastern has Yujiro Takahashi & Sho vs.
Yuto Nakashima & Kosei Fujita, Ishii & Yano vs. Jonah & Tito, Ospreay & Cobb &
Henare vs. Goto & Tonga & Jado, Okada & Tanahashi & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Sabre &
Taichi & Michinoku, Naito & Takagi & Sanada & Bushi vs. White & Fale & Phantasmo
& Gedo, and Owens vs. O’Khan in B block, KENTA vs. Evil in C block, Lawlor (G-1
debut) vs. Archer in an A block and former tag partners on top with Finlay vs.
Robinson in D block.

Wednesday at Korakuen Hall at 5:30 a.m. Eastern has Evil & Sho & Togo vs.
Tanahashi & Nakashima & Oiwa, KENTA & Phantasmo vs. Lawlor & Isaacs, Cobb &
O’Khan vs. Jonah & Tito, Okada & Yoshi-Hashi & Finlay & Fujita vs. White &
Robinson & Owens & Gedo, Naito & Takagi & Sanada & Bushi vs. Archer & Sabre &
Taichi & Michinoku, and Ospreay vs. Yujiro Takahashi in D block, Yano vs. Fale
in A block, Goto vs. Henare in C block and Ishii vs. Tonga and B block.

JULY 16 - SAPPORO HOKKAIDO SPORTS CENTER - 2,891

1. Tom Lawlor beat Yuto Nakashima in 3:48 with the NKOTB.

2. Jonah & Bad Dude Tito beat Toru Yano & Ryohei Oiwa in 6:16 when Jonah pinned
Oiwa after a power bomb.

3. Evil & Yujiro Takahashi & Sho beat Tama Tonga & David Finlay & Jado in 6:02
when Takahashi pinned Jado after a DDT (pimp juice).

4. KENTA & Juice Robinson & Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens beat Zack Sabre Jr. &
Lance Archer & Taichi & Taka Michinoku in 5:55 when Robinson pinned Michinoku.

5. Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi beat Tetsuya Naito & Shingo
Takagi & Bushi in 9:53 when Ishii pinned Bushi after a brainbuster.

6. Aaron Henare pinned Hiroshi Tanahashi in C block in 11:11. It started slow.

Henare has bulked up to a legit 242. Henare kept working for his full nelson
submission. Henare won clean with a fisherman suplex and the streets of rage.
***1/4

7. Will Ospreay pinned El Phantasmo in D block in 15:06. Kevin Kelly called

Ospreay “The Best Bout Machine,” which is part of the tease being down all over
the place for a Kenny Omega match. Ospreay opened with a dropkick and Space
flying Tiger drop in the first seconds of the match. Phantasmo did a cartwheel
and then a tope followed by a top rope Asai moonsault. Ospreay did his spinning
backbreaker but sold is knee. Some great exchanges. Ospreay did a dropkick but
Phantasmo blocked his trademark enzuigiri follow-up with an enzuigiri of his
own. Part of the match story is these two know each other from the U.K. scene
and countered each others’ trademark spots. Ospreay went to the top rope but
Phantasmo got up and followed him and Phantasmo hit a middle rope Spanish fly.
Phantasmo also did a Super Frankensteiner and splash off the top where he went
65 percent across the ring. Lots of near falls with Ospreay coming out of a
Phantasmo backslide and using the hidden blade for the pin. ****½

8. Jay White pinned Sanada in 18:07 in a B block match. The match was very good
but something was missing to make it great. Sanada had the spinning skull end
but let it to go yell at Gedo, who was distracting him. White kicked the ropes
into Sanada’s groin. Sanada used moves like an O’Connor roll, a discus elbow and
a Bruno backbreaker into a TKO, as well as another O’Connor roll and skull end.
The finish saw White attack Sanada’s bad eye from the orbital fracture and hit
bladerunner for the pin. ***½

9. Kazuchika Okada pinned Jeff Cobb in 21:30 in an A block match. Great stuff
here. Cobb nearly put Okada into orbit with a fallaway. Both landed heavy shots.
Cobb used a running suplex. Okada hit a DDT on the floor. Cobb hit a great
dropkick and spin cycle. He also dropkicked Okada off the top rope, another
Okada spot. Cobb used a gut wrench off the middle rope and a standing moonsault
before Okada hit a shotgun dropkick. Cobb used another Okada move, the tombstone
piledriver. Cobb tried for a second one but Okada escaped and gave Cobb a
tombstone. Okada did the Savage elbow and a trademark Okada dropkick. Cobb
ducked a rainmaker and hit one of his own but couldn’t get the pin. Okada went
for a rainmaker but Cobb head-butted him. The finish saw Cobb go for tour of the
islands, Okada escaped, hit an enzuigiri, landslide and finally the rainmaker.
****½

JULY 17 - SAPPORO HOKKAIDO SPORTS CENTER - 2,942

1. David Finlay & Yoshi-Hashi beat Tom Lawlor & Royce Isaacs in 7:30 when Finlay
pinned Isaacs after Trash Panda.

2. Bad Luck Fale & El Phantasmo beat Lance Archer & Taka Michinoku in 8:21 when
Phantasmo pinned Michinoku with a superkick.

3. Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb & Great O’Khan & Aaron Henare beat Evil & Yujiro
Takahashi & Sho & Dick Togo in 10:22 when Henare beat Togo.

4. Jay White & Chase Owens beat Tama Tonga & Jado in 7:15 when Owens pinned Jado
after the C trigger.

5. Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto beat Tetsuya Naito &
Sanada & Bushi in 5:50 when Tanahashi pinned Bushi after the high fly flow.

6. Taichi pinned Tomohiro Ishii in 15:21 in a B block match. Hard hitting great
match. Lots of suplexes. Ishii did a dropkick and Taichi came back with a
dropkick. Ishii used a German suplex and Taichi popped up like Ishii does. Ishii
used a lariat and Taichi kicked out at one. Taichi used a bridging back suplex.
Taichi got a clean pin with Black Mephisto. ****1/4

7. Toru Yano beat Jonah via count out in 9:02 of an A block match. Jonah found
two rolls of tape on Yano early in the match. Yano tried to run away and Bad
Dude Tito stopped him. This made no sense because a count out win is a win. Yano
undid the padding on the turnbuckles. Jonah ran into the exposed metal for a
near fall. It ended up with both outside the ring fighting. Tito was out there
with them and tried to attack Yano, who moved, and Tito crashed into Jonah. Yano
gave both men low blows and ran back to the ring to beat the 20 count. The
finish was very well done. *3/4

8. Zack Sabre Jr. beat KENTA in 21:33 of a C block match. The story here is that
KENTA acted like Sabre was just a young boy, since that’s what he was years ago
in NOAH when KENTA was a top star. Sabre noted he’s the Senpai now. KENTA kept
landing hard shots to the head. Very good stuff here. KENTA hit a Busaiku knee
for a near fall. KENTA hit a second one but picked Saber up at two to embarrass
him. KENTA landed a head kick and picked Sabre up at two again. KENTA delivered
very hard slaps to the head. You really don’t have to hit that hard to the head
in a work. Sabre then got the armbar out of nowhere for the submission. ****1/4

9. Juice Robinson pinned Shingo Takagi in 21:38 in a D block match. This was
Robinson’s first match back from appendicitis. He was down in weight. Takagi
looked great here. Robinson tried a spear but Takagi caught him with a
guillotine, followed by a GTR and pumping bomber. Takagi landed all kinds of
elbows. Robinson used the left hand of God and pulp friction, but Takagi kicked
out. Takagi went for Last of the Dragon but Robinson grabbed the ref and went
down. Robinson hit two more lefts and then pulp friction for the pin. The match
built to being really good but the finish looked very awkward. It isn’t like
Robinson missed the moves, but they both stood there and the finish looked bad
and came off flat. ***½

JULY 20 - SENDAI XEBIO ARENA - 1,919

1. Jonah & Bad Dude Tito beat Tom Lawlor & Royce Isaacs in 8:38 when Jonah
pinned Isaacs after a power bomb.

2. Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb & Great O’Khan & Aaron Henare beat Evil & El
Phantasmo & Sho & Dick Togo in 7:52 when Henare beat Togo via ref stoppage.

3. Kazuchika Okada & Yoshi-Hashi beat Toru Yano & Ryohei Oiwa in 7:26 when
Yoshi-Hashi made Oiwa submit to the butterfly lock.

4. Jay White & KENTA & Juice Robinson beat Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii &
Kosei Fujita in 10:30 when KENTA beat Fujita with Game over (LeBell lock).

5. Shingo Takagi & Sanada & Bushi beat Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi & Taka Michinoku
in 8:17 when Sanada beat Michinoku via skull end.

6. Yujiro Takahashi pinned David Finlay in 12:59 in a D block match. This was
Finlay’s first-ever G-1 match and I don’t know if it’ll make his career
highlight list like it should. Finlay is now “The Rebel” David Finlay, and as he
gets older, he looks so much like his father when his father was in his 20s and
30s as a European star. Finlay did a good job with Takahashi but the finish was
just blah. Finlay did a pescado and back suplex on the apron. He did a uranage
into a backbreaker for a near fall. Sho came out. He threw Takahashi’s walking
stick to him but ref Marty Asami saw that and took it away from him. Takahashi
used a low blow and pimp juice but Finlay kicked out. Finlay came back with a
stunner but Takahashi kicked out. The finish saw Finlay use an O’Connor roll,
Takahashi powered out sending Finlay into the ropes where Sho hit Finlay with a
wrench and Takahashi used Big juice for the pin. **1/4

7. Tama Tonga pinned Chase Owens in 13:18 in a B block match. Owens superkicked
Jado and undid the padding on he turnbuckle. They went back and forth and
basically good wrestling. Owens pulled up the mats on the ground but Jado then
put the mats back. Owens grabbed a chair but Jado stopped him using it. There
was a tug of war for the chair with Owens and Jado and Jado let go, and Owens
went flying into a backdrop on the floor by Tonga. Tonga used a frog splash but
Owens kicked out. They kept getting out of gun stuns and package piledriver
attempts. Lots of near falls. The finish saw Tonga catapult Owens into the
exposed metal and hit the gun stun for the pin. ***1/4

8. Bad Luck Fale beat Lance Archer via count out in 10:46 in an A block match.
This was the weakest tournament match so far. Fale choked Archer with his own
hair braid. Fale got a chair but Red Shoes Unno took the chair from him. Fale
got another chair and Red Shoes took it from him again. I mean, we just had this
spot in the prior match. Fale threw Archer into the post and set up two chairs
on the floor. Fale body slammed Archer onto both chairs. Archer barely beat the
20 count. The finish was bad. Archer did a cannonball off the apron onto Fale.
Both men were on the apron fighting while the ref was counting. Fale nailed
Archer with a punch and jumped in the ring at 19 to beat the count while Archer
didn’t make it back in time. *1/2

9. Hirooki Goto pinned Tetsuya Naito in 22:41 of a C block match. Naito stalled
a lot early. Goto lariated the post and Naito worked over the right arm for five
minutes. Goto used the right arm for comebacks and kind of acknowledged it but
didn’t oversell it or not use it the rest of the way. Naito did a top rope
Frankensteiner. Both got a lot of near falls. Naito hit destino but Goto kicked
out. Goto hit the GTR but Naito kicked out. The crowd was very into the match at
the end. Goto tried a GTR but Naito turned it into a Northern Lights bomb for a
near fall. Goto was dropped on his head and it looked bad but I guess he was
okay. He didn’t seem hurt by it. Naito then went for destino, but Goto reversed
into a shoten kai and then hit the GTR for the clean pin. ****

Eight matches, meaning most of the show for SummerSlam, has been announced for
7/30 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.

A couple of expected matches were announced this week with Bianca Belair
defending the Raw women’s title against Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins vs. Riddle and
the official announcement of The Miz vs. Logan Paul.

In addition, Jeff Jarrett was announced as special referee for the Usos vs.
Street Profits tag title match. The Jarrett situation involved the fact that he
lives in Nashville and the Jarrett family has been involved in wrestling on
television in Nashville dating back to the mid-60s, and actually earlier since
Christine Jarrett worked for Nick Gulas & Roy Welch in the office long before
Jerry Jarrett started as a teen idol babyface wrestler. Jarrett works as Senior
Vice President of Live Events and we were told it’s a one-time thing to help
promote the show in Nashville and not the beginning of a storyline where he
becomes a television character, but all decisions like that change weekly.

The remaining four matches announced were Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar last man
standing for the Universal title, Bobby Lashley vs. Theory for the U.S. title
(with the potential of Theory later cashing in on the Reigns-Lesnar winner being
one of the most heavily pushed angles leading up to the show), Liv Morgan vs.
Ronda Rousey for the Smackdown women’s title and Pat McAfee vs. Happy Corbin.

If anything else is added, it would be getting to
match to determine the next top contender for the
Clash at the Castle on 9/3 in Cardiff, Wales, and
Madison Square Garden involving The Mysterios vs.
Dominik, something from that could also be added.
the Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus
title and the main event for
if there is an angle in
Judgment Day or with Rey and
Because it’s SummerSlam, it
will likely go longer than the three hours that the recent shows have been kept
to.

There has been advertising out listing this show as TV-14. The move to TV-14,
talked about here last week, was acknowledged by Pat McAfee in his promo on
Smackdown.

The interesting main event strategy is that aside from the angle shot when
Lesnar returned and laid out Reigns, it has been to keep the two apart. Unless
plans change, the two will not be on the same in the entire last month of the
build. Lesnar is advertised for Smackdown on 7/22 in Boston and 7/29 in Atlanta.
Reigns is only advertised this week for the 7/25 Raw show in Madison Square
Garden. One would think they would have Reigns in Atlanta for the Smackdown
go-home show. Not only is he not advertised but as of a few times ago he was not
planned for that show.

At press time the number of tickets out is 31,834, which, no matter what anyone
wants to say, is a very healthy total. It’s down from last year but I don’t
think anyone expected it to beat last year. The get-in price on the secondary
market was $36, which means the demand is neither high nor has it crashed, given
plenty of tickets on sale for face value. With more tickets available, the
demand is not there like smaller arena shows in Chicago and Las Vegas had the
last two weeks, but it also wasn’t like AEW’s show Forbidden Door show in
Chicago where so much of the interest came from fly-ins rather than locals, and
those people aren’t buying tickets from scalpers at the last minute after being
shut out when tickets first went on sale.

An old school parking lot angle where Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal beat up and
bloodied Ric Flair was done to set up Flair, at 73, having what is being
announced as his final match on 7/31 in Nashville.

Flair & son-in-law Andrade El
Lethal has been training with
they started teasing that the
Jarrett is a member of Conrad
safely with Flair.
Idolo face Jarrett & Lethal in the main event.
Flair for months to get ready for the match, and
two had a falling out to get him in the match.
Thompson’s crew and a veteran name who can work

Karen Jarrett will be in the corner. It would seem to make it an easy set up for
a Charlotte Flair run-in, but WWE would have to approve that, and she’s under a
wrestling contract, unlike Jeff Jarrett. Charlotte Flair will be at the show and
it’s up to WWE if she will be allowed to appear on the broadcast and how much
they will allow her to do.

It is something to have the WWE’s Senior Vice President of Live Events team with
an AEW wrestler against Flair and another AEW wrestler. But Jarrett’s deal with
WWE does not include wrestling so he could work indies. As hardline as WWE can
be, it’s clearly not CMLL or WWE of the past where such a thing couldn’t happen.
But after AEW allowed Bryan Danielson, Chris Jericho, Paul Wight and Mark Henry
to tape segments for Raw, clearly there is no hard line between the two
companies even if dirty tricks are still part of the competitive playbook.
Obviously Tony Khan approved of Andrade and Lethal, both under contract with
him, to work a match with Jarrett. But he also has a very different outlook on
this sort of thing than old-school wrestling promoters. The storyline is that
Lethal wanted to be on the show and Flair told him he wasn’t on the show and
made a negative remark about him just being an opening match guy, so Lethal got
mad in the gym. They had done subtle teases the past few weeks that the two
weren’t getting along. Then they taped a segment in a parking lot after the
press conference where Lethal attacked, punching him his surgically repaired
stomach. Flair was always the pro’s pro at selling that type of stuff. Jarrett
made the save. Flair then told Jarrett that he didn’t need his help and they had
words. Jarrett then slapped Flair in the face and started beating on him as
well. Even though Flair is the babyface in this situation and bled, and this was
supposed to be old-school, the scripting wasn’t done to make Flair a babyface
since he was a dick saying that to Lethal, who was a long-time ROH champion, and
Jarrett tried to help him and he was rude to Jarrett. I guess in the end the
idea that Jarrett aggressively beat up a 73-year-old man and made him bleed, and
there was a lot of blood gushing down his face, makes Jarrett the heel. The
whole show is built around Flair so he’s the babyface no matter what they do.
But boy was that some strange scripting. To its credit, it had a more raw and
realistic feel than almost all angles today.

Flair talked about how he never liked Jarrett’s father (Jerry Jarrett). There
was an angle on Memphis television where Flair put Jerry Lawler over via count
out in a non-title match to set up a title match and even though the
confrontation is now considered classic, Jerry Jarrett decided against booking
the match at the time although it did happen in Memphis many years later. Lethal
joined in. Jarrett hit Flair with Karen Jarrett’s high heel shoe and Flair
juiced. It was a basic old school wrestling angle and Jarrett and Lethal were
quite good in it. Karen Jarrett got some blood on her clothes and blocked David
Crockett, who is playing promoter since this is billed as the final event ever
of Jim Crockett Promotions, from stepping in. There was even a line about how
Jerry Jarrett and Jim Crockett didn’t like each other thrown in. Andrade wasn’t
there for the angle, but they shot a contract signing angle with him that will
play this coming week.

Andrade has ankle inflammation but this may be his only chance to team with
Flair in a match so he’s not going to miss it. Flair has been bothered of late
with a very painful foot issue, plantar fasciitis, which would keep a wrestler
in his prime out for several weeks. But he’s working nonetheless. He was in a
lot of pain over the weekend but was improving by press time.

“I've got plantar fasciitis, if I'm pronouncing that correctly, on the bottom of
my foot,” he said on Busted Open radio. “Other than that, I am perfect but that
damn thing is sore as shit. I'm at the doctor right now.”

Plantar fasciitis impacts the connective tissue that supports the arches of the
feet. He had noted to us how much pain he was in a few days ago.

“I would just deaden it if I had to (shoot up with a numbing agent before the
match), you know me, but it affects me daily,” he said on Busted Open. “It's
hard running the ropes with that damn center of your foot.”

In footage shown of him training, he took his trademark bodyslam off the top
rope and vertical suplexes. He said he was going to do a crossbody off the top.

The show, no matter how good the undercard will be, and there will be good and
great matches on the undercard because every promotion involved is going to want
to have the standout match, it will be judged on how the main event goes.

Nobody is expecting a super match, but as long as the crowd is into it and it’s
not really bad, it’ll be a success. Flair will get the benefit of the doubt from
many due to his age. Andrade and Lethal can and certainly will put on a show,
but also know their role is to set up Flair, not overshadow him. As long as
Flair does enough of his trademark stuff and doesn’t stumble or get hurt, it’ll
be okay.

I’ve thought a lot about how Lou Thesz did his last match at 74 in 1990 with
Masahiro Chono, and how when it was over, how much he regretted it. The fact is
Thesz only had to do some basic wrestling and a Greco-roman back suplex, but his
hip went out early in the match and he was very limited from there.

This being a tag match helps a lot. The key really is if they can get the
emotion of the crowd, and really, make the post-match very good by bringing a
lot of stars from the past into the ring to surprise people, it’ll be a success.
People are looking for a moment, and it’s a lot easier to make the post-match
the show’s most memorable moment. The problem is WWE already did that once and
that one will be hard to top.

As noted before, there are so many ways to look at it. The reality is Flair is
73, hasn’t wrestled in more than a decade, has a pacemaker in his heart and
nearly died a few years ago. It doesn’t seem wise to wrestle, but he’s been
training for months, and has taken his bumps and bruises. He’s hurting, but he’s
survived the training. Whether he should do it or not is a heavily debatable
question. A lot of men his age or younger did comeback matches, whether it be
Lou Thesz, Stu Hart, Verne Gagne and Hulk Hogan, and wound up injured and in
some cases needing surgery. Others have worked at that age and escaped without
damage. None came as close to death as Flair. None had a pacemaker. And none
trained as hard for the match in the ring before the match either.

If he puts on a good performance than, like him or not, there would be something
personally triumphant about coming back from nearly dying, losing his memory for
a while, having had to relearn to walk, and then do a match at his age. That’s
the best case scenario.

The worst is that this ends badly. A bad match would be very sad for Flair, the
greatest performer of his era in many ways, but it’s far from the worst case
scenario. Fact is when Terry Funk last stepped in the ring with Jerry Lawler, he
was much slower, but he was still able to turn on the crowd because he was Terry
Funk and had great instincts of what to do and when. Flair at 60 was still able
to carry Hulk Hogan to a very good match in Australia, but 73 is a long way from
60. The real bad probably won’t happen, but there will be hell to pay for all
involved if it does. The reality is WWE stopped allowing older wrestlers to do
physical angles after Lawler, much younger than Flair is now and someone who
wrestled regularly on weekends, nearly died of a heart attack during a live show
after doing a match with Dolph Ziggler. But he came back to wrestle again. Ricky
Steamboat got a brain aneurysm doing an angle where he was beaten up on by
excited younger wrestlers. But usually this doesn’t happen. Hopefully that’s the
case here.

Besides FITE TV, the show will air on all major television PPV vehicles
including Dish, inDemand and DirecTV.

Floor and lower level at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, which holds 9,700
if there is no stage and probably about 7,000 with a television setup if they go
elaborate, is sold out. There are plenty of upper level tickets available.

The rest of the show has Impact World Champion Josh Alexander defending against
MLW star Jacob Fatu, Impact Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace defending against
Deonna Purrazzo and Rachael Ellering in a three-way match, an AAA match with Rey
Fenix vs. Laredo Kid vs. Bandido vs. Taurus, a battle of two of the best tag
teams of the last 15 years with Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley vs. Davey Richards &
Eddie Edwards, Ricky & Kerry Morton (with Robert Gibson in the corner) vs. Brian
Pillman Jr. & Brock Anderson with Arn Anderson in the corner, Killer Kross vs.
Davey Boy Smith Jr., a New Japan match with Clark Connors vs. Ren Narita, Ross &
Marshall Von Erich vs. Mark & Jay Briscoe, Jonathan Gresham vs. Nick Wayne vs.
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Alan Angels and a Bunkhouse Battle Royal featuring Bully
Ray, James Storm, Crimson (former TNA star, real name Anthony Mayweather),
Rickey Shane Page, Crowbar Devon Storm and AAA flyer Kommander.

UFC on ABC 7/16 UBS Arena in Long Island

By Ryan Frederick

The UFC main card returned to network television on Saturday, albeit during the
afternoon, on ABC on 7/16 from Long Island, New York, a show that featured some
really great fights with really strong finishes, but also a show that had an
unfortunate end to the main event that left a sour note overall at the end.

The main event was a pivotal fight in the featherweight division as Brian Ortega
and Yair Rodriguez were squaring off in a fight that fans were looking forward
to, and it was one of those match-ups that, on paper, screamed as a can't miss
fight as both have been in plenty of action-packed fights and are among the most
exciting fighters in the sport. It was an important fight for Rodriguez, who
claimed he was going to get a title shot with a win. For Ortega, he was coming
off a title fight loss and a win would keep him in the picture while a loss
would've killed ay chances of another title shot, at least at 145 pounds.

They were just getting a groove going in the first round as both started to land
more strikes as the round was going on. Ortega was going for numerous takedowns,
finally scoring one on his fifth attempt. He was looking to set something up
from the top while Rodriguez was looking for either a triangle choke or an
armbar from the bottom, and he had the arms of Ortega trapped for a moment. As
Ortega was pulling his arms out to escape, his right shoulder popped out and he
went down on the mat and the fight was waved off due to injury, which gave
Rodriguez the first-round TKO victory. It was an unfortunate way to end the
fight, as it didn't get anywhere near the level people were anticipating because
it was really just getting going.

It was also the worst possible outcome for Rodriguez outside of a loss. Yes, it
was a win for him, but it wasn't something definitive and not an outcome where
you can say he should get a title shot off of it. He readily admitted that he
doesn't feel like he should get the shot like he would've had he won it the
right way and he thinks he should be fighting Josh Emmett next. When it comes to
who is next to challenge Alexander Volkanovski for the UFC Featherweight
Championship, it's going to come down to either Rodriguez or Emmett, as they're
the top two contenders. Emmett has the impressive five-fight win streak and is
the more deserving fighter, but he has no name value. Rodriguez has just the one
win after coming off a loss, although it was to Max Holloway, but he's still a
big-name fighter in the division, plus he has the huge Mexican fan base behind
him, which is a pivotal fan base for the UFC to have, which means those fighters
might get better opportunities over others.

However, Volkanovski's timeline of when he's going to fight next, along with who
he's going to fight next, is the question. He suffered a hand injury during his
title defense over Holloway on 7/2, which he had to undergo surgery for. He
talked about wanting to be an active champion, but he's going to miss some time,
with him even admitting he might not come back until the first quarter of 2023,
which the UFC has an event planned for Australia in the first quarter of 2023,
so coming back for that show does make sense. He has also talked about wanting
to fight for the lightweight title, which will be decided on 10/22 at UFC 280
when Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev fight for the vacant title.

His next move is undecided, and Volkanovski said he could see a scenario where
Rodriguez and Emmett fight for an interim title while he's either out of action
or going for a second title. Volkanovski said he has no issue with a potential
interim title being introduced, as he knows the division needs to keep moving on
no matter what he does, plus he knows he's the real champion and someone holding
an interim title means nothing to him as he knows he's the best in the division.
I don't think an interim title should be made, but they should definitely look
into booking Rodriguez against Emmett next, especially if it could be a year
before Volkanovski defends the featherweight title.

For Ortega, it's just another in the long list of injuries he's suffered. It's
the third different time he's suffered a shoulder injury, the second time to his
right shoulder, which had already been surgically repaired once before. This
knocks him out of the featherweight title picture for a while, but he also
talked about how there's going to be a day when he knows he has to move to
lightweight, so perhaps the time to make the move would be when he comes back.
He still has tons of popularity and is a charismatic star for them, and the
nature of this loss won't hurt him at all.

The rest of the show was really strong, with a few really fun fights and some
great finishes on both the prelims and the main card. It was also a strong
crowd, which made a lot of noise. There is such a huge difference between the
arena shows with crowds and the Apex shows, and I don't know how you can watch
both and feel like you're watching the same promotion running fights. Continuing
to run shows at the Apex, which they're scheduling more of, just reeks of
laziness, because there's no need to save money when they get as much revenue as
they do, plus they have a hot ticket everywhere they're going. They don't even
need to go to big buildings, as they could easily run smaller buildings for the
weaker Fight Night shows and still draw well because the product is so hot right
now.

There was an incredible fight on the main card between Matt Schnell and
Sumudaerji, with the second round likely being the Round Of The Year thus far.
In my opinion, if it weren't for the instant classic between Jiri Prochazka and
Glover Teixeira, this would be at the top of the list for Fight Of The Year thus
far. The second round was absolutely incredible as Schnell got rocked several
times and looked out on his feet a few times, but he refused to go down and
refused to quit and kept coming forward like a zombie until he scored the
takedown and choked Sumudaerji unconscious with a triangle choke in an
incredible finish. The crowd was going absolutely nuts for this fight and
Schnell showed tremendous heart in refusing to be finished. This is a fight well
worth going out of your way to see if you missed it and will be in the running
for at least second place when it comes to Fight Of The Year.

There was also a strong fight between Shane Burgos and Charles Jourdain on the
main card, which was a fight that if it weren't for the fight after would've
been the Fight Of The Night easily. There were also several finishes on the
card, among them coming from Li Jingliang, Punahele Soriano, Ricky Simon, Bill
Algeo and Dustin Jacoby, all of whom had great showings. Dana White was back
this weekend after missing the last two shows while on vacation, and he was back
in the generous mood as every fighter who scored a finish took home a
performance bonus.

The card might've featured the end of the road for two of the most popular
female fighters on the roster, at least as high-level contending fighters.
Michelle Waterson, who actually started using her married name and was going by
Waterson-Gomez, suffered a second-round submission loss to Amanda Lemos in the
co-main event. It was a competitive fight, and Waterson-Gomez won the first
round on two of the scorecards. However, as she went for a takedown in the
second, Lemos grabbed the neck and locked in a guillotine choke, and
Waterson-Gomez tapped. It was her first fight since suffering some sort of
injury that was defined as a possible career-ender, but she was determined to
return. However, she's now lost four of her last five, so her future is now
really up to her as title contention days are likely long gone, and she is 36.

The other female who had a tough night was Miesha Tate, who was making her
flyweight debut. It was a big fight for Tate as she was taking on Lauren Murphy.
Murphy was just coming off a title shot and the prevailing thought was a Tate
win would immediately set her up for a shot at Valentina Shevchenko and the
flyweight title. A win over Murphy would've also been a legitimately big win at
flyweight. The two had a competitive fight, but Murphy was just better than
Tate, out-landing her during every round and winning the grappling battles. It
was the best Murphy has looked, which includes her run to a title shot, so it
wasn't a bad loss on paper for Tate, though her face was messed up at the end.
However, it was a bad loss in the sense that it likely ends any chances of Tate
fighting for a title, whether at flyweight or bantamweight. It was also her
second straight loss after winning her first fight coming back from retirement,
and she's also about to turn 36. I don't see her, or Waterson for that matter,
retiring just yet, but their days as title contenders look to be over with.

The show took place at the new UBS Arena on Long Island, New York, the same
building WWE and AEW had run a couple of times each ever since it opened in
November. It was a hugely successful show at the gate, drawing an announced
sellout crowd of 16,979 fans and a gate of $2,110,000. It was the biggest gate
for a US Fight Night show in UFC history and the 19th straight sellout for arena
events. The UFC has sold out every arena event they've run since returning to
them in April 2021, including all pay-per-view and Fight Night events. They'll
reach 20 straight when they return to London this upcoming weekend. Whether they
reach 21 straight is a question, as UFC 277 in Dallas isn't quite sold out. As
of a week ago, they had roughly 2,000 tickets available for that show, which
means it'll come close to selling out or it eventually will. Still, even with
those available, they've sold over 16,000 tickets for that show with a headliner
between Julianna Pena and Amanda Nunes, which isn't a massive ticket-selling
fight. Even so, the only two shows that had females in the main event to sell
more tickets in the US were Ronda Rousey fights against Nunes and Cat Zingano.

It was an early show for those at the building, as it started at 11 a.m. local
time, but the crowd was hot all day. The early start time was a decision made a
while ago as they wanted the show on ABC, but there is still reluctance to put
UFC in prime time on ABC. They did the UFC 276 prelims on ABC two weeks ago, but
that was a late call that wasn't planned, and felt like a test run as to whether
they want to decide to run main card prime time events on ABC. I think they
should, because we've had UFC in prime time for years, whether on FOX or ESPN,
even though that's not a network but it's still one of the biggest cable
channels there is. Yes, there will be blood and some violence, but it's not much
different from what's shown on television a lot these days, plus the sport has
become an accepted norm of society over the last decade.

The main card, which aired on ABC from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time, did
951,000 viewers overall and an 0.22 (289,000 viewers) in 18-49 and 1.38 viewers
per home. The prelims, which aired on ESPN from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time,
did 353,000 viewers and an 0.13 (169,000 viewers) in 18-49.

Even with the unusual and early time slot, which was 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. on the
West Coast, the prelims finished third on the day on cable, obviously first in
its time slot , and was the highest rated sports show on cable for Saturday. It
was second to NASCAR in men 18-49, fourth in 18-34 overall, and second in men
12-34 to a show on Univision Deportes. It also had one of the youngest sports
audiences of the week, being younger than AEW programming and behind only a few
Summer League Basketball games. Viewers per home at 1.48 was amazing for the
time slot showing families that did watch the event were watching together.

It was the lowest rated Saturday night in modern cable history as first place in
prime time was a Hallmark movie at 0.14.

It also did 200,000 searches on Google Searches, which was third for the day and
the best non-PPV number in a while.

They gave out lots of post-fight performance bonuses, with $50,000 going to all
of the recipients. The Fight Of The Night bonus went to Schnell and Sumudaerji,
while Performance Of The Night bonuses went to everyone who got a finish.

1. Emily Ducote (12-6) beat Jessica Penne (14-6) via unanimous decision on
scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 in a women's strawweight fight. Ducote was
making her UFC debut as an injury replacement for Briana Fortino. Penne was
trying to find a home for the jab early but Ducote was landing lots of kicks to
the legs and body of Penne. Penne went for several takedowns during the first
but Ducote defended all of them as they traded knees in the clinch, and Ducote
was getting the better of the exchanges on the feet. The second round saw Ducote
land lots of leg kicks during the round while Penne was attacking the body more
and going for takedowns, but Ducote was defending all of them. Ducote was
getting the better of all of the exchanges on the feet as well and was landing
some solid right hands at the end of the second. Ducote upped the amount of leg
kicks in the third and Penne's lead leg was damaged badly as she was having
trouble standing. Ducote then started to damage Penne with her punches and the
third was a big round for Ducote and really sealed her the win. It was an
impressive debut for Ducote. I had it 30-27 for her and all media scores had it
for her.

2. Dustin Stoltzfus (14-4) beat Dwight Grant (11-6) via unanimous decision on
scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 29-28 in a middleweight fight. The first was a close
round as Grant was landing more punches while Stoltzfus was primarily landing
lots of leg kicks. Stoltzfus went for a takedown but Grant defended and was
landing check hooks. Stoltzfus had a stronger close to the first as he landed
several leg kicks late and finished with a flurry. Grant was landing more to
start the second but Stoltzfus was able to get the takedown and spend the
majority of the round in control on the mat. He got the hooks in and was landing
punches and threatening with a choke, and then landed big punches from the mount
late. They were trading punches and leg kicks early in the third and Grant
landed a couple of left hooks. Stoltzfus was able to grab Grant and picked him
up and landed a big slam takedown in the middle of the Octagon. He was landing
body punches from the top and ended up getting the mount and landing elbows at
the end. I had it 30-27 for Stoltzfus even though the first was close, but he
clearly won the second and third. All media scores had it for Stoltzfus. It was
a big win for Stoltzfus as he had lost his first three UFC fights, while Grant
was let go on Tuesday after the fight after losing three straight.

3. Dustin Jacoby (18-5-1) beat Da Un Jung (15-3-1) in 3:13 in a light

heavyweight fight. They were trading leg kicks early and both landed a few
punches as they were pawing at each other. They then started trading and Jacoby
dropped Jung with a right hand and started walking off like it was over before
the referee even stopped it, but he did a few seconds later as Jung was
finished. This was a big win for Jacoby as he hasn't lost since he returned to
MMA in 2019, which includes being unbeaten in his seven UFC fights since coming
back. It also ended Jung's 15-fight unbeaten streak.

4. Bill Algeo (16-6) beat Herbert Burns (11-4) in 1:50 in the second round in a
featherweight fight. They clinched right away and Burns got it down and was able
to lock in a triangle choke. He was squeezing tight and also going for an armbar
but Algeo was landing some punches as he was trying to escape. He popped out of
the choke but Burns still had the arm, though Algeo stepped over and escaped
that and got in the half-guard and started landing big punches on Burns. Burns
tried to throw his legs up but he was hurt from the punches of Algeo as Algeo
was teeing off from the top. Algeo stood and the referee ordered Burns up, and
he got up very slowly and almost to the point where the fight was stopped. Algeo
got a takedown and had the crucifix position and was landing elbows at the end
of the first. Algeo landed a body kick and Burns grabbed the leg and they went
to the mat with Algeo ending up on top. Burns went for a leg lock but Algeo
escaped and landed a big right hand and a leg kick. Burns was ordered to his
feet but he couldn't get up and the fight was stopped. It looked like Burns blew
out his knee as he was carried out by his brother, Gilbert. This was a great
showing from Algeo.

5. Ricky Simon (20-3) beat Jack Shore (16-1) in 3:28 in the second round in a
bantamweight fight. Simon was landing some leg kicks early as Shore landed a
combo and pushed it against the fence. They broke and Simon landed a leg kick
and went for a takedown but Shore defended. Simon would land a little more
during the round as he went for several takedowns but couldn't score one though
Shore never really got much going on the feet and Simon had some decent amount
of control time in the clinch while looking for the takedowns. Shore landed to
the body to start the second and went for the takedown but Simon defended before
they broke. They traded and Shore went for another takedown but Simon reversed
and got his own takedown though they quickly got up. Simon then got a big slam
takedown but they again got right back up and were trading. Simon then dropped
Shore with a punch and got the back before locking in an arm-triangle choke and
got Shore to tap. This was a massive win for Simon as it was Shore's first loss
and Simon's fifth straight win.

6. Punahele Soriano (9-2) beat Dalcha Lungiambula (11-5) in :28 in the second
round in a middleweight fight. They traded and Soriano went for a takedown but
Lungiambula defended and landed a big right hand that backed Soriano up, then a
leg kick that caused Soriano to slip to the mat but he got up. Soriano kept
going for the takedown but Lungiambula was defending and they were trading
punches with Lungiambula landing uppercuts to the body. Lungiambula got two
takedowns near the end of the first. Lungiambula landed a body kick to start the
second then Soriano landed a left hand followed by a right hook that sent
Lungiambula down and it was all over after a few follow-up punches. This was a
good finish from Soriano.

7. Lauren Murphy (16-5) beat Miesha Tate (19-9) via unanimous decision on scores
of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 in a women's flyweight fight. Tate was dropping to
flyweight for the first time. They clinched early and Murphy landed a big elbow
as they broke. Murphy was landing and Tate got a brief takedown but they got
right up and Murphy landed some knees. They were both landing and Murphy got a
brief takedown and Tate was pressuring against the fence. Tate got another brief
takedown and they remained clinched up for a lot of the rest of the first, which
was a close round. Tate landed to start the second then Murphy started to land
solid punches and Tate's nose was busted up. Murphy got a takedown but they got
up and Murphy landed a big elbow on the break. Murphy continued to land the jab
as Tate was rushing right into it. Both were landing but Murphy was landing with
more volume though Tate landed some knees and an elbow late in the second. They
were both finding homes for their punches to start the third and Tate was trying
for takedowns but Murphy was defending them and they were trading in close
range. Murphy went for a takedown but Tate defended and they continued to trade
with Murphy landing with more volume and doing more damage as they went the
distance. This was a clear Murphy win. I had it 30-27 for her as did every
single media score. She had a good showing and said she was going to Paris to
look for a fight. Tate looked okay, but didn't look like someone who will be a
title contender ever again.

8. Shane Burgos (15-3) beat Charles Jourdain (13-5-1) via majority decision on
scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 28-28 in a featherweight fight. They were trading
kicks early, then traded punches before clinching. Burgos got a takedown and
Jourdain had the neck. Burgos ended up getting the back as they got to the feet
and Burgos was in the backpack position. He was looking for the choke and had it
on the chin and was cranking but Jourdain dumped him off as they got to their
feet. They traded at the end of the first after Jourdain landed some nice
flurries. They both landed combos to start the second until Burgos grabbed the
back and pushed it against the fence and jumped back onto the back standing. He
was working for the choke again but Jourdain was fighting it off. They went to
the mat and Burgos still had the back with the body triangle locked on. Burgos
was still looking for the choke and was squeezing but Jourdain was able to fight
it off. Burgos landed punches from the back to end the second. Burgos was
landing more to start the third, landing good leg kicks, until Jourdain came
alive and started to rack up the volume landing both to the head and body.
Jourdain was rocking Burgos with some good punches but Burgos is super tough and
was eating them and went for takedowns, but Jourdain was defending. Burgos
landed some good punches late but Jourdain nearly took his head off with a head
kick late. This was a really fun fight. It was also interesting to score. I had
it 29-28 for Burgos, giving him the first two. Two judges had the same. The
28-28 scorecard saw Mike Bell give Jourdain the first and third rounds, but he
also gave Burgos a 10-8 second, which you could make a case for as he dominated
the round. You could also make a case for a 10-8 round for Jourdain in the
third. It was mixed in the media scores, as 44% scored it for Burgos, 50% had it
for Jourdain, and 6% scored it a draw. Both men looked good in this fight and it
was really good.

9. Matt Schnell (16-6 1 NC) beat Sumudaerji (16-5) in 4:24 in the second round
in a flyweight fight. They were trading punches and leg kicks to start. Both
were looking to land when Schnell got a takedown. He had the back and was trying
to set something up but Sumudaerji spun into his guard and started to land to
the body. Sumudaerji stood, and then landed a right hand as he went back into
the guard. Schnell was looking for a triangle choke and had an arm trapped, then
Sumudaerji picked him up and gave Schnell a side slam that allowed Schnell to
sweep to the top. Schnell landed punches and elbows from the top to end the
first. There was an early groin strike in the second, so there was a timeout,
but this got crazy when they got back to action. Sumudaerji rocked Schnell with
some punches and dropped him at one point, but Schnell got up. Sumudaerji kept
rocking Schnell with elbows to the point where Schnell looked out on his feet
three or four times, but Schnell kept firing off punches. Schnell landed a big
right hand and scored a takedown and got the mount and was pouring down with
punches and big elbows. He was reigning down with shots when Sumudaerji suddenly
swept to the top. Schnell then looked for the triangle choke and Sumudaerji was
bleeding badly as Schnell was landing elbows. Schnell got the triangle choke
locked in and Sumudaerji ended up going out cold. This was an incredible fight
and the second round was arguably the best round of the year so far. It's a
must-see fight.

10. Li Jingliang (19-7) beat Muslim Salikhov (18-3) in 4:38 in the second round
in a welterweight fight. There wasn't a lot of action in the first as it was
even on the volume with Jingliang landing almost all leg kicks while Salikhov
mainly landed punches. Salikhov scored a takedown and was landing from the top
before they stood up. Salikhov landed a spin kick to the arm of Jingliang late
in the first. Salikhov landed a right hand that momentarily floored Jingliang,
though it wasn't an official knockdown. However, it looked to wake Jingliang up
as he started to land with more volume as the round went on, mixing to the head,
body and legs. Salikhov landed some body kicks then Jingliang landed some
punches that hurt Salikhov. Salikhov went for a desperate takedown but Jingliang
defended. Jingliang then dropped Salikhov with a massive right hand and ended up
finishing it off with more punches. This was an impressive win for Jingliang as
Salikhov is super tough on the feet, but Jingliang more than held his own there.

11. Amanda Lemos (12-2-1) beat Michelle Waterson-Gomez (18-10) in 1:48 in the
second round in a women's strawweight fight. They got off to a really slow start
as nothing happened in the first 90 seconds but they started to get going with
trading leg kicks. Lemos landed a combo on the feet but missed a big left hand.
Waterson got a takedown and spent some time on top landing body punches. She
stepped over trying to get to mount late while landing punches and Lemos swept
to the top at the end of the first. They traded punches to start the second and
Waterson started to land side kicks. Waterson ducked under a punch and tried for
a takedown but Lemos grabbed the neck as they went to the mat and had a
guillotine choke locked in. Waterson ended up tapping but it was on the opposite
side of the referee so he didn't see it, but Lemos let go and both women
admitted Waterson tapped so it was all over. This was a big win for Lemos after
losing to Jessica Andrade in April. For Waterson, it's four losses in her last
five fights, so it'll be interesting to see where she goes from here.

12. Yair Rodriguez (14-3 1 NC) beat Brian Ortega (15-3 1 NC) in 4:11 in a
featherweight fight. Rodriguez started off with some leg kicks and right hands,
then they started to trade punches. They would clinch against the fence as
Ortega was trying multiple times for takedowns, but Rodriguez would defend and
they would both land as they broke. It was pretty even on the feet though
Rodriguez seemed to land the better shots. Ortega got a takedown and was on top
while Rodriguez was looking for an armbar from the bottom. Ortega was able to
pull his arms out of danger, but, as he was doing so, his right shoulder popped
out of socket and it was stopped and the win went to Rodriguez due to injury. It
was a real unfortunate end and Ortega was apologizing a lot to Rodriguez over
it. I do believe the injury came from Ortega trying to escape the armbar more
than anything, but it was still something you don't often see. It was a real
anti-climatic finish to such a great show.

Kenou won the GHC heavyweight title from Satoshi Kojima in the main event of
NOAH’s return to the building of many of its historically biggest events on
7/16.

But the biggest story of the show was Kaito Kiyomiya finally getting his win
over Keiji Muto in one of Muto’s last matches.

The show drew 3,215 fans, up slightly from the New Year’s Day show (3,181 for Go
Shiozaki vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima) but down from 4,198 for the first NOAH show
back at Budokan since the Kenta Kobashi retirement event in 2013, which was
headlined by Shiozaki vs. Muto for the GHC title.

The basic story is that over the past two years, Kiyomiya, 26, considered the
future top star of the promotion, failed in several previous attempts to beat
Muto. There was a lot of emotion behind it with most thinking it was Muto’s best
singles match in years, largely due to Kiyomiya’s facial expressions and
selling. It didn’t have any flashy moves by modern standards, but all the German
suplexes and the Tiger suplexes by Kiyomiya who carried the match, would have
made it fancy by 90s standards. From a storytelling standpoint this was one of
the best matches of late. Muto kept going for dragon screws and Kiyomiya would
have different counters. Eventually Muto got the dragon screw, shining wizard
combination but Kiyomiya kicked out, which the crowd gasped at. The story is
that Kiyomiya learned to beat Muto by studying Muto, using all of Muto’s
trademark spots like the dragon screw, low dropkick and figure four, beating
Muto in 26:28 by submission with the figure four. The figure four, a staple in
Japanese wrestling since The Destroyer used it on Rikidozan in the early 60s,
was the move Muto used to beat Nobuhiko Takada at the Tokyo Dome before a then
world-record gate of $6.1 million in what was and still is one of the biggest
matches in Japanese wrestling history, and certainly Muto’s biggest career win.
The completion of the story is that with Muto retiring, he is passing on the
dragon screw, shining wizard and figure four finishing combination to Kiyomiya
with the idea that takes him from being a very good wrestler and among the top
stars to the top star position.

Besides the GHC title change, a hard hitting great match built around NOAH’s
honor and trying to regain the company’s biggest prize that was held by a New
Japan wrestler, a second title change saw Timothy Thatcher & Hideki Suzuki win
the vacant GHC tag titles over Masa Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura. Kitamiya &
Michael Elgin had been champions but were stripped of the title when Elgin was
pulled from the show.

The situation with Elgin, who was to be defending the GHC tag titles on this
show with Kitamiya against Thatcher & Suzuki, is strange and exactly what
happened isn’t known. Elgin has admitted he was questioned by police without
explaining any details as to why, and in doing so was unable to contact NOAH
officials and missed a show on 7/9.

After contacting officials as to what happened, he was removed from the Budokan
Hall show. He flew home after the show and was headed to Canada, to be with his
family since his aunt passed away this week.

Elgin was pulled from Budokan Hall without any explanation. In Japan when
someone is going to miss a show the major promotions almost always alert the
media as to why. We started asking questions of those in and close to the
promotion, and there was no explanation given.

Cassidy Haynes of Bodyslam.net reported that Elgin was arrested for stealing
protein powder, was in jail at the time of the writing and could face five years
in jail unless the charges were dropped and he would be deported and never
allowed to return to Japan again.

Elgin responded to that story saying the story wasn’t true, but did not fully
explain what the story was.

“I’m not going to bother saying what happened,” he wrote. “But I am going to say
I was not charged for stealing protein. I’m not charged at all. I am not facing
jail time. I’m also not deported. I am going to Canada to be with my family
after the passing of an extremely close family member.”

Sources close to the situation said that there was an issue at the gym he trains
at while in Tokyo and questions were asked but he was not charged. All those
close to the situation have remained quiet on what the issue was.

He noted that he was flying home first class as proof he was not deported. His
planned flight home was 7/17, so he didn’t leave early and was on the original
first class flight booked for him by NOAH before he got there. He was not booked
to return for the N-1 tournament next month.

When he arrived in Atlanta, on the way to St. Louis, where he lives, and then to
Canada, he claimed the protein story was made up by a foreigner on the tour. He
noted that he’d never do anything like that and pointed out that the NOAH dojo
supplies all talent with protein supplements to begin with. But he did admit to
something involving the Japanese police, claimed there was a period he was not
able to contact the promotion and missed a show without them knowing about it.
He said he was let go, not charged and nothing further would be happening. He
was pulled from the big show and stripped of the tag team titles after NOAH
heard the story.

He noted if he had been charged with anything he would have not been able to
leave the country nor able to return. He claimed in his post that’s where any
comparisons with Matt Sydal (who was held in Japan in prison for three months
for possession of marijuana which ended his career there) should end.

He said he doesn’t blame NOAH or hold any ill will toward them for pulling him
off the Budokan show. From what we’ve heard the bookers may bring him back in
2023, so there appears to be nothing legal that would not allow him to return.

NOAH’s now moving into it’s version of G-1, called the N=-1 tournament, which
runs from 8/11 to 9/3, with the finals at the Edion Arena in Osaka.

The A block as Kenou, Kazuyuki Fujita, Go Shiozaki, Masato Tanaka, Masaaki

Mochizuki, Hideki Suzuki, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and Anthony Greene. The B
block has Kaito Kiyomiya, Masakatsu Funaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Takashi Sugiura,
Masa Kitamiya, Satoshi Kojima, Timothy Thatcher and Jack Morris.

The reality is the cards are more promising than in G-1 because they are doing
three or four matches in each block every night, and these blocks are deeper
when it comes to top level workers, although obviously this can’t touch New
Japan in the star power and drawing power aspect.

It’s very intense as well, since the round-robin is over 18 days, with everyone
doing seven singles matches.

The opening night is 8/11 at the Yokohama Budokan with Fujita vs. Shiozaki,
Kenou vs. Wagner, Mochizuki vs. Suzuki, Tanaka vs. Greene, Kojima vs. Sugiura,
Kiyomiya vs. Morris, Funaki vs. Thatcher (one would think Funaki would be one of
the people Thatcher would most want to wrestle), and Nakajima vs. Kitamiya.

The two Korakuen Hall shows of the round robin are 8/19 and 8/20. They are doing
three matches in each block both nights.

The first night has Tanaka vs. Mochizuki, Kenou vs. Suzuki, Fujita vs. Greene,
Funaki vs. Kiyomiya, Sugiura vs. Kitamiya and Nakajima vs. Morris. The second
night has Fujita vs. Tanaka, Shiozaki vs. Wagner, Suzuki vs. Greene, Funaki vs.
Kojima, Kiyomiya vs. Thatcher and Sugiura vs. Morris.

The final round-robin show, which will determine the block champions, is 8/28 in
Kawasaki with Shiozaki vs. Suzuki, Kenou vs. Fujita, Tanaka vs. Wagner,
Mochizuki vs. Greene, Funaki vs. Sugiura, Nakajima vs. Thatcher, Kiyomiya vs.
Kojima and Kitamiya vs. Morris.

The winner of the A block faces the winner of the B block on 9/3.

From a political situation, Shuji Kondo scored the pin in the opening eight-man
tag. After the semifinal, where Hayata beat Seiki Yoshioka to keep the jr.
title, Kondo challenged Hayata for a title match. Those in Dragon Gate didn’t
like that because Kondo is part of their Open the Dream Gate title picture where
he’s going for a title shot at the end of the month at the Kobe World Festival,
which is Dragon Gate’s big show of the year. We’re told that Nosawa Rongai
convinced Dragon Gate bookers Ryo Saito and Genki Horiguchi to let Kondo work
the NOAH show because they had plans for him. From a Dragon Gate perspective,
because Kondo was going for Dragon Gate’s top belt, they thought it would dilute
that if he was going for a junior heavyweight belt in a rival company at the
same time.

There has been a change in booking in NOAH because Nosawa Rongai has such a
heavy workload being involved with booking and wrestling in both Dragon Gate and
NOAH. Kendo Kashin is doing more of the booking now, doing much of the
heavyweight division while Nosawa is doing the junior heavyweights and all
crossover with Dragon Gate, the tag team titles and the ECW nostalgia matches.
Nosawa has pushed for more older wrestlers feeling they are bigger stars and
bigger draws, while Kashin believes they should focus on younger wrestlers who
are home grown. That was part of Kiyomiya and Kenou scoring big wins on this
show.

1. Shuji Kondo & Tadasuke & Hajime Ohara & Hi69 beat Daisuke Harada & Atsushi
Kotoge & & Yo-Hey & Xtreme Tiger in 11:17 when Kondo pinned Harada after a king
kong lariat.

2. Rene Dupree & El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. & Simon Gotch & Stallion Rogers
(formerly Curt Stallion) & Anthony Greene beat Kazushi Sakuraba & Masaaki
Mochizuki & Shuhei Taniguchi & Daiki Inaba & Kinya Okada in 13:29 when Greene
pinned Okada.

3. Eita & Kotaro Suzuki beat Yoshinari Ogawa & Yuya Susumu in 5:30 when Eita
pinned Ogawa with Numero Uno. This was notable because it was supposed to be
Ogawa & Chris Ridgeway defending the jr. tag titles against Eita & Suzuki. But
Ridgeway has flight issues and didn’t make the show. Usual Japanese tradition is
if a champion doesn’t make an advertised title defense, they would be stripped
of the title and a match would be held for the vacant belts. Instead, they just
added Susumu to the match but no belts were at stake and Ogawa & Ridgeway
remained as champions.

4. Ninja Mack pinned Dante Leon in 14:24 with a Ninja bomb. There were some
incredible spots in this match but was told overall the match aside from those
spots wasn’t good.

5. Rob Van Dam & Masato Tanaka beat Nosawa Rongai & Super Crazy in an ECW
nostalgia match under hardcore rules. Van Dam pinned Nosawa in 10:46 after a
frog splash. Van Dam did his signature stuff and looked good for his age. There
were a lot of hard chair shots to the head and none of these men are young. So
that’s not the best idea.

6, Go Shiozaki & Takashi Sugiura & Kazuyuki Fujita beat Masakatsu Funaki &
Katsuhiko Nakajima & Manabu Soya in 12:59 when Fujita pinned Soya after a power
bomb.

7. Kaito Kiyomiya beat Keiji Muto in 26:28 with the figure four leglock.
Kiyomiya kept countering the dragon screw early, including once turning it into
cattle mutilation. Another Kiyomiya blocked and reversed into an armbar, while
Muto revered that into a heel hook. Muto finally did the dragon screw and figure
four. Kiyomiya did Muto’s trademark windsprint down the ramp and dove into the
ring and used a chop block and figure four. Kiyomiya did another German suplex
and a tiger suplex, as well as a Frankensteiner off te top rope. Muto finally at
the 21:00 mark did the dragon screw and shining wizard to the back, and another
to the front, but Kiyomiya kicked out. The crowd that has been quiet the entire
match except for clapping, gasped at the kick out. Muto went for another shining
wizard but Kiyomiya blocked it with his forearms. Kiyomiya then used Muto’s
winning combination of low dropkick to the knee, a shining wizard, a figure
four, another dragon screw and a figure four to win, basically telling the story
that Kiyomiya could only beat Muto by channeling and learning from Muto. ****1/4
8. Timothy Thatcher & Hideki Suzuki won the vacant IWGP tag titles from Masa
Kitamiya & Yoshiki Inamura in 20:38 via ref stoppage when Suzuki ha the choke on
Inamura.

9. Hayata retained the GHC jr. title beating Seiki Yoshioka in 20:45 with the
headache.

10. Kenou pinned Satoshi Kojima in 28:17 to win the GHC heavyweight title. This
was a hard hitting match. Kenou used double knees off the middle rope. He no
sold Kojima’s chops and delivered very hard kicks. Kojima did look tired at
times doing such a hard long and physical match at 51 years of age. But he did
everything including the elbow off the top. Kojima did a DDT on the apron but
Kenou no sold it. At another point when Kenou mocked his machine gun chops,
Kojima came in with punches and hard chops. In a weird spot, Kojima hit the
lariat while Kenou was on the middle rope and knocked him out of the ring.
Kojima then collapsed. The ref did the count. The problem is when you are down
inside the ring for a ten count, that a knockout in pro wrestling, even though
that finish is rarely used. So Kojima was in the ring and laid on he mat for a
count of 17, but the ref didn’t call it and was only counting Kenou out. Kojima
got up and stopped the ref from counting Kenou out and went outside the ring.
They traded big moves until Kenou used a high kick, a double foot stomp off the
top rope and finished with a double knee to the chest moonsault. ****

Our website is doing a series of activities over Labor Day weekend in Chicago so
if you are coming in for the All Out PPV or live in the area, this is the
schedule.

We have a meet and greet followed by a question and answer session on 9/3 at 10
a.m. for the meet and greet and 11 a.m. for the Q&A for $65.08 including the
service charge. If you want to get great seats in the special Observer readers
section for All Out as well as attend the Q&A and meet and greets, those are
available as well.

There will also be a Saturday night Pizza Party at the Hyatt Regency in
Schaumburg, IL, not far from Hoffman Estates, where the AEW show will be. They
are also working on bus trips going to and from the NOW Arena for the PPV show,
because last year so many people were stranded there because the Uber wait was
forever, and saves you from needing to rent a car. The tentative idea if a
$43.58 price for busing to and from the building from the hotel, but this
depends on the number of people who sign-up.

For more info you can go to https://f4wchicago2022.brownpapertickets.com/

For the week of 7/11 to 7/17, Smackdown was sixth for the week in network sports
when it comes to total viewers, behind Saturday and Sunday golf on NBC, Fox
Saturday Night Baseball and Saturday and Sunday sessions of the World Track &
Field Championships. In 18-49, it was second behind the Sunday golf tournament,
beating the Saturday golf coverage by 2,000 viewers in 18-49.

If Raw was listed as sport, it would have been third for total viewers behind
two days of NASCAR in New Hampshire but would have been first in 18-49 for the
week.

Dynamite was fifth (sixth if you include Raw) in total viewers for cable sports
for the week behind two sessions of PGA Golf on USA and the two NASCAR races on
USA. It was second for the week in cable sports (third if you include Raw) in
18-49 trailing the Sunday NASCAR event in New Hampshire.

As far as television for the week, Raw was first in 18-49, with 90 Day Fiancé
second, the Sunday NASCAR race third and Dynamite was fourth. Only four shows
hit 0.30 all week and a scary stat is that the top rated show on Saturday on
cable did an 0.14, which may tie the lowest ever for the No. 1 spot on a night.
The third highest wrestling related show, Miz & Mrs., was 26th for the week.

Dynamite fell to sixth in the youngest skewing sports show of the week, trailing
four NBA Summer League games (which skew much younger than the NBA itself, I
guess the idea is older basketball fans have little interest in them) and the
UFC prelims on ESPN.

Due to a delay at Nielsen, we don’t have full details or quarter hours from AEW
on 7/20.

The show did similar numbers to last week, with 910,000 viewers with an 0.32
(424,000 viewers) in 18-49 and an 0.17 in 18-34.

The show finished first for the day for the fifth straight week, so that’s a
good thing. The gap between WWE Raw and AEW Dynamite is growing, however. AEW
was way down from the same week last year, but that was also a show with the
Cody Rhodes & Red Velvet vs. Shaquille O’Neal & Jade Cargill match which was one
of the most viewed shows in company history.

First place is never bad and viewership across the board is way down this
summer, and we’ve had several top ten weeks in a row as well. But I can feel
less interest in AEW. The show was built around the Chris Jericho vs. Eddie
Kingston barbed wire match but there was nothing else marquee on the show.
Whether people have seen so many bloody matches or the current programs with so
many stars missing are becoming more an issue, really there is a clear momentum
loss. That may be temporary and change when the stars who are out return. It may
also be that WWE is just producing what it’s audience wants more than AEW is
right now.

AEW was sixth in women 18-49, first in men 18-49, second in 18-34 (first among
English shows as the show that beat it was Manchester City vs. the Mexican
soccer team America on Univision Deportes), second in women 12-34 and second in
men 12-34. It is notable that women 12-34 beat men 12-34 again, but in 35-49,
men were sizably ahead of women.

Compared to last week, the show was down 3.4 percent in viewers, up 2.2 percent
in 18-49 and down 14.4 percent in 18-34.

Compared to last year, things look worse. It was down 20.7 percent in viewers,
down 26.3 percent in 18-49 and down 20.7 percent in 18-34. Factoring in homes
lost, the declines were 15.9 percent in viewers, 21.9 percent in 18-49 and 16.0
percent in 18-34.

AEW did beat rerun programming on NBC and beat hour two on FOX, but lost to the
ESPYs on ABC (2,498,000/0.42), all CBS programming which was first run, and
first-run Univision.

The sports competition on cable was the soccer on Univision Deportes

(503,000/0.23), World Track & Field championships on US (647,000/0.11),
Basketball on ESPN (227,000/0.10), and Soccer on ESPN 2 (237,000/0.07).

The show did 273,000 men in 18-49 (up 5.0 percent from last week) and 153,000
women (down 1.3 percent from last week) for a 64.4 percent male skew.
The show did an 0.10 in 12-17 which is far lower than usual ((down 23.1 percent
from last week), 0.17 in 18-34 (down 14.4 percent), 0.47 I in 35-49 (up 14.1
percent) and 0.37 in 50+ (down 7.5 percent).

NXT did the same with older viewers but were down with women going against the
Major League Baseball All-Star game on 7/19.

The show did 588,000 viewers and an 0.13 (162,000 viewers) in 18-49 and 0.09 in
18-34. Because of summer viewing and the game, this was actually 14th for the
night on cable and sixth in its time slot, far better than usual.

The show was up 0.9 percent in viewers, down 11.0 percent in 18-49 and down 25.0
percent in 18-34 from last week.

The All-Star Game aired on FOX and did 7,507,000 viewers and a 1.55 in 18-49.
That was it for significant sports that night.

It was down 17.1 percent in viewers from last year, down 36.0 percent in 18-49
but even in 18-34, which tells you how far down it was in 35-49. Factoring in
homes lost by cable, the real figures would be 12.1 percent down in viewers,
32.0 percent down in 18-49 and 6.0 percent up in 18-34.

The show did 123,000 men in 18-49 (same as last week) and 39,000 women (down
33.9 percent), for a gigantic 75.9 percent male skew.

The show did an 0.06 in 12-17 (down 25.0 percent from last week), 0.09 in 18-34
(down 25.0 percent), 0.17 in 35-49 (up 6.3 percent) and 0.34 in 50+ (up 6.3
percent).

Raw, going against tougher competition than they will face most of the summer
with Home Run Derby, still was up this week and grew with younger audiences as
the show went on, likely due to Logan Paul in the final segment.

The show did 1,765,000 viewers with an 0.46 (about 601,000 viewers) in 18-49 and
0.32 in 18-34.

The show was up 3.2 percent from last week’s show in viewers, up 3.8 percent in
18-49 and up 3.1 percent in 18-34.

Raw was fourth on cable and beat everything on network television except The
Bachelorette in 18-49. Home Run Derby was the big show of the week doing
6,019,000 viewers and 1.72 in 18-49 on ESPN and another 858,000 viewers and an
0.23 on ESPN 2. The other shows that beat Raw were the Home Run Derby pre-show
on ESPN (3,893,000/1.13) and a Derek Jeter documentary that aired after Home Run
Derby ended (1,838,000/0.57).

Raw was third with women 18-49, fourth with men 18-49, fourth in 18-34, third in
women 12-34 and fifth in men 12-34. It was 13th in total viewers behind news
shows and the three ESPN shows.

The first hour did 1,783,000 viewers. The second hour did 1,809,000 viewers. The
third hour did 1,702,000 viewers.

The third hour drop was mostly viewers over 50.

When it comes to first-to-third hour movement, which is usually a decline, it

was down 2.7 percent in women 18-49, up 3.7 percent in men 18-49, up 34.5
percent with teenage girls, up 28.0 percent in teenage boys while down 5.5
percent in 50+.

One year ago, it was the first Raw with live crowds and they also brought back
John Cena and Bill Goldberg for the show.

So this year was down 8.2 percent in viewers, down 18.9 percent in 18-49 but
even in 18-34. If you factor in cable homes lost by USA, the realistic changes
were down 2.7 percent in viewers, down 14.0 percent in 18-49 and up 5.0 percent
in 18-34.

The audience was 361,000 men 18-49 (up 3.4 percent from last week) and 240,000
women 18-49 (up 4.3 percent). The male audience in 18-49 was 60.1 percent.

The show did a 0.22 in 12-17 (up 4.8 percent from last week), 0.32 in 18-34 (up
3.2 percent), 0.60 in 35-49 (up 5.3 percent) and 0.90 in 50+ (up 3.4 percent).

Miz & Mrs. finished in 14th place overall and second to the Jeter documentary in
its time slot with 571,000 viewers and 0.18 (229,000 viewers) in 18-49.

The total viewers were down 14.6 percent from last week, while 18-49 dropped
10.0 percent and 18-34 was down 6.3 percent.

The audience was 104,000 men 18-49 and 125,000 women, so he male 18-49 skew was
45.4 percent.

The show did an 0.13 in 12-17 (up 18.2 percent from last week), 0.15 in 18-49
(down 6.3 percent), 0.21 in 35-49 (down 12.5 percent) and 0.25 in 50+ down 16.7
percent).

WWE’s Sunday block on A&E on 7/17 was slightly up from week one.

The key show, Biography on Bill Goldberg, did 594,000 viewers and 0.16, putting
it in 11th place for the night and fifth in its time slot.

As compared to week one on Undertaker, it was up 2.1 percent in viewers, up 14.3

percent in 18-49 but down 36.3 percent in 18-34.

WWE Rivals on Undertaker and Kane did 390,000 viewers, 0.11 in 18-49 and 0.07 in
35-49.

It was up 6.0 percent in viewers, up 10.0 percent in 18-49 and was the same in
18-34 as the Bret Hart-Shawn Michaels show the week before.

Rivals was No. 22 on cable for the night and fifth in the time slot.

Talking Smack did 237,000 viewers and 0.06 in 18-49, up 6.8 percent in viewers
but down 14.3 percent in 18-49. It was No. 68 for the night and fourth in the
time slot.

AEW Rampage on 7/15 did 435,000 viewers and an 0.14 (about 183,000 viewers) in
18-49 and 0.06 in 18-34.

The reality is that this show is becoming more and more skippable, particularly
as Smackdown continues to feature bigger stars and week-to-week storylines. It’s
a bad time slot on a bad night, but they are way down from what they were doing
a few months ago and will continue to fall without pushing major main events on
the show to get people back into watching.

Rampage was No. 11 for the night on cable and did win its time slot, which tells
you how weak the time slot is. The closest competition was 90 Day Fiancé First
Look at 726,000/0.12 and Ingraham on Fox News at 1,630,000/0.10. The sports
competition was Top Rank Boxing on ESPN (413,000/0.11), Baseball on the MLB
Network (432,000/0.07), World Track and Field championships on the USA Network
(430,000/0.06), Summer League Basketball on ESPN 2 (165,000/0.05).

In the time slot, Rampage was second in women 18-49 and tied with boxing with
first in men 18-49. It was second to boxing in 18-34.

The show was up 1.6 percent in viewers from last week, but that’s the over 50
gain. It was down 3.2 percent in 18-49 but down 25.0 percent in 18-34.

Basically the audience was similar to last week over 35 and well down under. The
show did a 0.03 (down 62.5 percent from last week ) in 12-17, 0.06 (down 25.0
percent) in 18-34, 0.22 (same as last week) in 35-49 and 0.20 (up 5.3 percent)
in 50+.

Smackdown on 7/15 did a 1.28 rating and 2,077,000 viewers (1.36 viewers per
home), with an 0.47 (617,000 viewers) in 18-49 and 0.31 in 18-34.

Of the eight shows on the big four networks, Smackdown was the only show not in
reruns. It doubled everything in 18-34 and was first by a wide margin in 18-49,
as well as first with both men and women in 18-49. It was sixth of eight in
total viewers.

Herencia Legado on Univision tied Smackdown for first on all of television in

18-49 and beat it in 18-34.

Overall, the numbers were basically the same as last week. It was down 0.8
percent in homes watching, down 2.4 percent in viewers from last week, but was
up 0.2 percent in 18-49 and up 19.2 percent in 18-34, meaning also well down in
35-49.

Last year this week was the return of Smackdown to live crowds which was heavily
publicized and greatly increased the audience. So it’s not a normal show to
compare it with.

From that period Smackdown was down 10.1 percent in viewers, down 28.8 percent
in 18-49 and down 32.6 percent in 18-34. Comparisons from a year ago aren’t
going to be fair for a few weeks because of the novelty of the4 shows before
large numbers of fans, but in a month the comparison should be more fair.

Impact on 7/14 did 114,000 viewers with an 0.03 in 18-49. That compares with
119,000 viewers and 0.02 the prior week. We don’t have a figure for what the
show did this week last year.

This is the second issue of the current set of Observers. If you’ve got a (1) on
your address label it means your Observer subscription expires with next week’s
issue.

Renewal rates for the new larger-sized weekly printed Observer, with three in a
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We also have four new books out, the 1993, 1997, 2014 and now the 1999 Wrestling
Observer Yearbook.

The 1997 book is just over 400 pages and the 1993 book is under 400 pages
covering two of the most interesting years in pro wrestling history. The 1997
book covers the weekly Monday Night Wars, to the 1997 Survivor Series, to
multiple Dome shows, glory days of All Japan Pro Wrestling, Rise of Steve Austin
and DX, the build to Hulk Hogan vs. Sting, the decline to near death of the UFC,
the death of the All Japan women’s promotion, and the last time the WWF was not
the No. 1 pro wrestling company in the world.

The 1993 book features biographies on Andre the Giant and Kerry Von Erich that
were among the best features ever in the newsletter, the impending Vince McMahon
steroid trial, Hulk Hogan leaves WWF and doesn’t return for nine years, the
ascension of Bret Hart, the birth of UFC and Pancrase and MMA in general, the
start of Michinoku Pro, AAA comes into the U.S. and draws one of the biggest
crowds ever in Los Angeles and the biggest actual crowd anywhere in the U.S. of
the year for Konnan vs. Jake Roberts vs. Cien Caras, the attempt to make Lex
Luger into the new WWF top star, the return of Ric Flair to WCW after leaving
WWF as well as boom periods in both Japan and Mexico.

The 2014 book covers the year of Daniel Bryan, C.M. Punk quits WWE, The WWE
Network and UFC Fight Pass launch, the life of Ultimate Warrior, Turmoil at TNA,
Sting arrives in WWE for the first time, Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier and New
Japan continues its growth built around Hiroshi Tanahashi and the emergence of
Kazuchika Okada.

The 1999 book that was just released covers cover the ascension of WWF in its
peak period of popularity, including the peak of Steve Austin before he needed
surgery and growth of Dwayne Johnson, the collapse of WCW and the factors behind
it as it happened, the peak of Sable before her quitting the promotion, multiple
articles on Giant Baba, from his death to his funeral and what a cultural icon
he was, as well as one of the biggest mainstream stories ever on the life and
times of Owen Hart and his tragic death and the lawsuit that followed, huge
stories on Sam Muchnick, the most powerful voice of pro wrestling for decades,
Rick Rude, one of the great heels of the modern era, Jumbo Tsuruta, Masa Saito,
Jackie Sato, Shawn Michaels and Gorilla Monsoon plus features on the entire 1999
Hall of Fame class.

The books are available worldwide through Amazon.com and Amazon.ca.

This publication is copyright material and no portion of the Observer may be

reprinted without the expressed consent of publisher/writer Dave Meltzer. The
Observer is also produced by Derek Sabato.

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messages can be left 24 hours a day at (408) 244-2455. E-mails can be sent to
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For back issues of the Observer, virtually every back issue of the Observer, the
old Observer yearbooks, and pre-Observer newsletters from the 70s are available
from Grant Zwarych, 151 Hart Ave, Peterborough, ON K9J 5C5 Canada.

Issues from 1991 to present are available from us at $4 per issue. If you are
ordering back issues from us, please denote back issues on the envelope to
ensure the quickest response. All payments to Grant & us must be made in U.S.
funds.

For the 1st time ever, The Official Index of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter
is available for readers in PDF format.

The Official Index of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter chronicles the Observer,
from its inception in 1983 and is current up to the last issue of 2021. The
Index is updated yearly to include the current year’s issues. It has the date
and number of pages of each issue along with the major headline stories and
stories of interest from that issue. The Index is 219 pages in length and an
invaluable resource to anybody looking into the events of modern wrestling
history. With it now being available in PDF format, the searchability of topics
makes it an even better version to use for research or pinpointing historical
dates and events.

The price is $10 and is available at grantsindex@nexicom.net.

You can get the supplement year(s) you are missing for a minimum $50 back issue
order.

Zwarych also has re-issues of some of the most popular Wrestling Observer
publications of the past. He has the 1983-1990 Observer yearbooks and the 1986
Wrestling Observer Who’s Who in Wrestling book. Grant also has pre-Observer
publications of mine, both the California Wrestling Report & the International
Wrestling Gazette from the 1970s. For more info, you can email
grantsindex@nexicom.net

CMLL: Lourdes Grobet, who did a Lucha Libre photography book that is one of the
most well known Lucha Libre books of its kind worldwide, passed away on 7/15.
Grobet’s 2005 book “Lucha Libre: Masked Superstars of Mexican Wrestling,” which
led to making the 2006 movie “Nacho Libre,” introduced Lucha Libre to a
non-Mexican audience in the U.S. She was 81. Both CMLL and IWRG noted her
passing at their shows. Grobet’s death got some mainstream coverage in the U.S.
and Mexico. The Mexican culture ministry called her “One of the greatest
representatives of photographic art in Mexico.” While she did theater, film and
video projects, her best-known work was photos both in and out of the ring of El
Santo, Blue Demon, Mil Mascaras, Tinieblas as the other legends of Mexican
wrestling. She was a wrestling fan from childhood but her father, Ernesto
Grobert, competed for Switzerland in cycling in the 1932 Olympics and later
became a plumber in Mexico, wouldn’t let her go to matches. She started
attending and shooting photos in the 80s

The Grand Prix tournament takes place on 8/19 at Arena Mexico. The 16-man
one-night tournament will have Volador Jr., Ultimo Guerrero, Soberano Jr.,
Titan, Atlantis Jr., Stuka Jr., Templario, Tiger Mask from New Japan, Matt
Taven, Lince Dorado, Robbie Eagles, Oraculo, Rocky Romero and Kenny King. The
funny part of the Tiger Mask announcement is that so many fans and wrestlers in
Mexico thought they were talking about Satoru Sayama, who had a legendary run in
Mexico before going to Japan and becoming one of the biggest native stars in
history

They had a big show on 7/15 with a large hot crowd. The first week of Leyenda de
Plata saw Soberano Jr. win the Cibernetico (elimination match) and will face the
7/22 winner on 7/29 for the finals. The order of elimination was Villano III
Jr.,Rey Cometa, Panterita del Ring Jr., Magia Blanca, Negro Casas, Dragon Rojo
and this left Titan and Soberano. They went 10:03 as the last two before
Soberano won at the 30:44 match. In the semi, Cavernario captured his first
world title and he beat Niebla Roja to win the CMLL light heavyweight title via
clean submission with La Cavernario. Roja was the longest reigning champion in
that titles history, having won the title in an elimination match on June 10,
2017, so more than a five-year run. Roja immediately asked for a rematch saying
he would put his hair up against the belt. The other big match was to set up the
anniversary show with Atlantis & Atlantis Jr. & Blue Panther beating Fuerza
Guerrera & Stuka Jr. & Templario via DQ. Atlantis team won the first fall clean,
and in the second fall, Guerrera unmasked Atlantis for the DQ. Atlantis and
Guerrera issued mask vs. mask challenges while Atlantis Jr. & Stuka Jr. did the
same. For what it’s worth, the wrestlers are saying they don’t want a
multi-person cage match main event but they want the straight singles matches,
but there are too many to happen on the same night

For 7/22, the Leyenda de Plata block is Volador Jr., Templario, Star Jr.,
Coyote, Fugaz, Audaz, Stigma and Dulce Gardenia

They are also doing a minis mask match on 7/29. It started on 7/17 at Arena
Mexico where Pequeno Olimpico was the last man left with Mercurio, Full Metal,
Pequeno Violencia, Minos and Pequeno Polvora in a cage escape match. Pierrothito
was supposed to be in that match but he tested positive for COVID. There will be
another similar match on 7/24 with Pequeno Olimpico facing the last mini left in
that cage match with the loser getting unmasked

The 69th anniversary of wrestling at Arena Puebla on 7/18 was headlined by a

special Soberano Jr. win over Volador Jr. on to. Volador worked as the rudo.
Stigma beat Diamond to retain the CMLL super lightweight title. Fuerza Guerrera
& Gran Guerrero & Ultimo Guerrero beat Angel de Oro & Niebla Roja & El Terrible
via DQ. And Arkalis & Guerrero Maya Jr. & Pegasso earned a Mexican national
trios title match beating Dulce Gardenia & Espiritu Negro & Rey Cometa in a
non-title match

Esfinge & Fugaz retained the Mexican national tag titles over Averno & Zankodan
Jr., in the main event on 7/19 in Guadalajara. There was also a legends match
with El Satanico & Fuerza Guerrera over Negro Casas & Felino. In a trios match,
Dalys beat Dark Silueta, the Mexican national women’s champion, and challenged
for the title.

AAA: AAA now airs on Ch. 62 in Los Angeles. The first show that aired had
several matches from the TripleMania show in Tijuana, so it’s a few weeks behind
and will be airing the major cards. Getting local TV used to be the holy grail
to promote in a market and particularly for a Mexican group in Los Angeles, but
local television syndicated television means very little today

A Psycho Clown story went viral this past week as an eight-year-old boy in
Oaxaca got a COVID vaccination wearing a Psycho Clown mask because he said the
mask would give him the strength to get the vaccination without crying like his
hero wouldn’t cry. When Psycho heard about this, he tracked the kid down and did
a video chat with him, sent him autographed merchandise and was talking about
bringing his family to TripleMania.

STARDOM: This week is the two shows in Nagoya. The first is the all gimmick show
with a Power & Tower rules match with Maika & Himeka vs. Utami Hayashishita &
Lady C vs. Ami Sorei & Saya Iida, a Cosmic rules match with Unagi Sayaka & Saki
vs. Mina Shirakawa & Natsupoi, which is some form of a bikini match, a hardcore
match with Giulia & Mai Sakurai vs. Risa Sera & Suzu Suzuki, an I Quit match
with Syuri & Mirai vs. Akane Fujita & Kurumi Hiragi a falls count anywhere
four-way with Tam Nakano, Koguma, AZM and Watanabe, and a three-way coffin match
with the Mysterious Reaper, Kamitani and Starlight Kid

The 7/24 show is filled with title matches, which is probably the last show of
its kind for a while since starting 7/30 all the focus is on the Five Star
tournament. The title bouts are Hazuki & Koguma defending the Goddesses of
Stardom titles against Mirai & Ami Sorei, Momo Watanabe & Starlight Kid & Saki
Kashima defend the Artist of Stardom titles against Giulia & Maika & Himeka, AZM
defends the High Speed title against Rina, Saya Kamitani defends the Wonder of
Stardom title against Saki and Syuri defends the World of Stardom title against
Nakano.

DRAGON GATE: Regarding the excursions of Takuma Fujiwara, SB Kento and La

Estrella, Fujiwara and Estrella are in Mexico right now. They will be working
U.S. indies and eventually want them based in the U.S. Nosawa Rongai wants Kento
to join them in the U.S. and the plan is to bring Kento back down the line with
a major push, but Dragon Gate bookers Ryo Saito and Genki Horiguchi aren’t as
sold on that idea, feeling Kento is already an established star that they could
give that push to now and he doesn’t need to leave for a while and come back
with a push. Kento himself was said to be frustrated because of the conflict
regarding what he’s doing next, so his excursion could happen but it is not a
sure thing.

ALL JAPAN: The big show of the week was 7/18 in Osaka before 597 fans where
Shotaro Ashino & Ryuki Honda retained the world tag titles over T-Hawk &
Shigehiro Irie, both outsiders to All Japan. Ashino pinned Irie in 20:56 with a
T-bone suplex. The other title match saw Tiger Mask retain the world jr. title
over Dan Tamura in 12:36 with a Tiger suplex. Suwama & Taru beat Kento Miyahara
& Rising Hayato in 13:30 which looks to be Miyahara vs,. Voodoo Murders who are
back as a group and an inevitable Suwama vs. Miyahara Triple Crown title match.
After Tiger Mask retained, Hokuto Omori issued a challenge for the next shot

The Oudou tournament, a single elimination tournament starts on 8/7 at Korakuen

Hall with first round matches of Miyahara vs. Taru, Jake Lee vs. Ren Ayabe,
Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Takuya Nomura and Yuma Aoyagi vs. Naoya Nomura. The other
first round bouts are 8/11 in Nagoya with Shuji Ishikawa vs. Cyrus, Ashino vs.
Dan Tamura, Takao Omori vs. Ryuki Honda and Yuji Nagata vs. Yoshitatsu. Second
round matches are 8/14 in Tokyo at Shin-Kiba and 8/16 in Hodogaya. The
semifinals and finals will take place on 8/20 at Korakuen Hall. The winner
likely faces Suwama for the Triple Crown

Only two title matches are official upcoming which are Minoru & Toshizo
defending the All-Asia belts against Takao Omori & Ryo Inoue on 7/29 at
Shin-Kiba and Tiger Mask vs. Hokuto Omori on 8/11 in Nagoya.

PRO WRESTLING NOAH: The first show after Budokan was 7/21 at Korakuen Hall
before 537 fans. All of the foreigners from Budokan went home except Dante Leon,
Ninja Mack, Anthony Greene and Stallion Rogers. The main event saw Takashi
Sugiura & Kazuyuki Fujita & Kaito Kiyomiya beating Go Shiozaki & Masato Tanaka &
Masa Kitamiya in 22:15 when Kiyomiya made Shiozaki submit to a double armlock.
With submission wins over Keiji Muto and then Shiozaki in this match, that
should make Kiyomiya the top contender for new champion Kenou. Nosawa Rongai &
Eita & Kotaro Suzuki retained Dragon Gate’s Open the Triangle Gate titles
beating Dragon Gate stars Yamato & Dragon Kid & Kagetora in 10:18 when Eita beat
Kagetora. Greene & Rogers beat Satoshi Kojima & Atsushi Kotoge when Greene beat
Kotoge.

NEW JAPAN: New Japan announced a 9/11 show at Sam’s Town in Las Vegas (capacity
around 800) with Mistico appearing. Misterioso issued a challenge to him

In the Davey Richards vs. Clark Connors match on the 7/30 show in Nashville (the
afternoon of SummerSlam), Richards will be defending the MLW National
heavyweight championship in a deal worked out by both companies.

OTHER JAPAN NOTES: DDT ran with a few title bouts on the 7/16 show in Nagoya
before 238 fans, which sold out the small building they were in. Akito is now
the Extreme champion as they did a three-on-one handicap match with Akita over
champion Yuki Iino and Yumehito Imanari and Danshoku Dino when Dino was pinned.
The main event saw trios champions Daisuke Sasaki & MJ Paul & Kanon over
Masahiro Takanashi & Chris Brooks & Antonio Honda

On the 7/17 GLEAT show in Umeda, New Japan’s Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Douki won the
main event over Lindaman & Soma Watanabe. A notable match was the second bout
where they had UWF rules (from the late 80s) with women as Chihiro Hashimoto bat
Maya Fukuda.

HERE AND THERE: Cindy Heenan, the wife of Bobby Heenan, passed away this past
week. She had been in bad shape for some time and her death was expected by
family and close friends. Cindy watched over Bobby after his bouts with cancer
that robbed him of his speaking ability. She learned how to basically translate
his attempted speech and put it into words that friends could understand. The
best line came years ago by Baron Von Raschke, a close friend of Bobby’s, who
said that now that Cindy has to translate Bobby’s words she is now the second
funniest person on the face of the Earth. The two were married from 1978 until
Bobby’s death in 2017. Mike Tenay noted just how devoted she was to him through
all of the hard times after Bobby first suffered throat cancer in 2002, and his
later more severe issues such as being injured in many falls. Mike & Karen Tenay
and Bobby & Cindy Heenan had been close friends since the 90s when both couples
moved to Atlanta at about the same time. When Mike & Bobby were on the road,
Karen and Cindy back in Atlanta were always together at each other’s homes. Even
though Mike & Bobby traveled together every week, when they would be home in
Atlanta, the couples would socialize every weekend, going to each others’ homes,
restaurants, sports events and concerts together until the end of WCW and the
Tenays moved to Las Vegas and the Heenans to Tampa, but they still socialized
often on vacations. Mike noted that his time spent with them was some of the
happiest and most memorable times of his life. The couple had one daughter,
Jess, and two grandchildren. Before meeting Bobby, Cindy worked for K-Tel
Records in their Minneapolis offices. With Cindy Heenan and referee Mickey Jay,
Tenay lost two of his closest friends within a short period of time

Thelma Klarides, the answer to the trivia question regarding the first ring card
girl in modern pro wrestling, is now a Republican candidate for the U.S. senate
in Connecticut. Klarides, 57, was the bikini-clad Raw ring card girl in 1993
when the show started. The role was taken because Vince McMahon was trying to
give Raw a new identity and a woman in a bikini coming out before the matches, a
boxing staple, was one of his ideas. When she was on Raw, McMahon always
promoted that she was also an attorney along with being a fitness model and
bodybuilder who was a finalist in the 1992 Miss Fitness USA contest. They pushed
that she wasn’t just some woman in a bikini but was smart. The role didn’t last
long. She also dated Shawn Michaels at one point. Starting in 1998, she was
elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives in the district that
includes Derby, Woodbridge and Orange and has won 11 straight elections. She
became the first woman to be the Minority Leader in the State House of
Representatives starting in 2016 and is now the favorite to represent the party
against incumbent Richard Blumenthal in the 2022 election. Blumenthal beat Linda
McMahon when McMahon ran for the same senate seat in 2010. Blumenthal would be
the heavy favorite in the race

Trevor Murdoch defending the NWA title against Tyrus headlines the 8/27 74th
anniversary of the NWA show at the Chase Hotel in St. Louis. Nick Aldis won a
tournament to get the title shot and was announced as the opponent, but then
Billy Corgan announced that there had been a change in plans. They’ve also
announced that weekend they will create new U.S. tag team champions, and that
J.J. Dillon and Baby Doll will be there

Matthew Obbema, who wrestled and later announced on Southern California indies,
passed away on 7/20 at the age of 46 from what was believed to have been a heart
attack. Longtime readers would remember the name as he frequently wrote letters
to this publication and corresponded with me all the time as he faced heart
issues and cancer over the years. He had told me the doctors told him his heart
issues came from his use of steroids. He began wrestling in 1994 as Matt
Sinister and the next year went to Calgary to train under Bruce and Ross Hart.
He wrestled for a variety of Southern California indies like the EWF, Revolution
Pro and briefly as XPW. For Revolution Pro he was the Mexican Lucha Libre
heavyweight champion and for XPW he used the name Crimson. When he retired due
to injuries and health issues, he announced for EWF. Besides heart issues, he
had battled testicular cancer and dealt with depression and being bipolar. He
was engaged at the time of his death

Bobby Fulton of The Fantastics has gotten a painful case of shingles which has
spread to his good eye

Pro Wrestling Revolver on 8/21 in Dayton, OH has The Rascalz of Zachary Wentz &
Trey Miguel against Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley on top, plus Jon Moxley appears

Brandi Rhodes, 39, was a subject of a story in Muscle & Fitness and said she is
training for a return to the ring. “I’m still training all of the time. People
can connect the dots and make of that what they will. I will tell you; I
wouldn’t be training and getting beat up (laughs) just for the hell of it, so
obviously I do plan to continue my in-ring career. When and where? That is yet
to be seen but I hope when it does happen, everybody is happy and proud.

House of Glory Wrestling is promoting a show on 8/28 at Terminal 5 in Manhattan,

NY (the location of the match of the year winning Kenta Kobashi vs. Samoa Joe
match), called High Insanity, on FITE. This will be the company’s first show in
Manhattan and Naomichi Marufuji was announced along with Malakai Black and Buddy
Matthews with Jacob Fatu vs. Brody King and Low Ki vs. Killer Kross already
announced

There was a spot that went viral on the 7/14 IWRG show in Naucalpan, Mexico.
There was a brawl in the stands. A drunk fan tried to clothesline Dick Angelo 3G
and Legendario but his clothesline didn’t faze them. Another fan tried to jump
in, tripped on a chair and fell on his face

La Estrella of Dragon Gate as well as Dragon Lee have been announced for the
11/19 King of Indies show in San Francisco. What’s notable is that it’s a joint
show with West Coast Pro and NOAH

A new statue of Dan Kolov was unveiled on 7/19 in Plachkovtski, Bulgaria, where
his parents came from. It was on what would have been Kolov’s 130th birthday.
Kolov is one of only a handful of pro wrestlers to have public statues (in the
U.S. the ones are Crusher (South Milwaukee, WI), Frank Gotch (Humboldt, IA) and
Danny Hodge (Perry, OK). There is a Bruno Sammartino statue in Italy and an El
Santo statue in Mexico, plus Jack Veneno (Dominican Republic), Giant Baba
(Japan), Steve Casey (Ireland), Danno O’Mahoney (Ireland), Kintaro Oki (South
Korea), Yusuf “Terrible Turk” Ismail (Turkey), Ivan Poddubny (Russia and
Ukraine) and others. Kolov already had a prior statue unveiled in 1971, as well
as a major movie about his life. He is still regarded as a sports icon in
Bulgaria and there is an amateur tournament named after him. There have been
multiple books about him and the house he grew up in is now a Dan Kolov museum.
A lot of major Olympic wrestling stars including gold medalists Valentin Raychev
and Georgi Markov were in attendance

AAW drew 455 fans to Merrionette Park, IL on 7/15. Davey Vega challenged Ace
Austin for the Heritage title on the 9/1 show in Chicago. They are running
Thursday night of the All Out weekend hoping those in for the week catch the
show. They haven’t announced matches yet but AAW champion Mat Fitchett, women’s
champion Chrsiti Jaynes, Impact champion Josh Alexander, Masha Slamovich, Jake
Something, Davey Richards, Gringo Loco, Mike Bennett and Laredo Kid are booked.
On 7/15, Manders and Fred Yehi had a no contest in a No. 1 contenders match
which led to a three-way main event for the title with both in. Billie Starkz
debuted and won a four-way over Lady Frost, Sierra and Vert Vixen to get a shot
at the women’s title. ACH & Jah-C won the tag titles over Alex Hammerstone & Ace
Perry when ACH beat Perry with the Texas cloverleaf. Eric Young came out for an
interview and plugged the Impact shows on 8/12 and 8/13. Young said he was going
to bring two people from the show in for tryouts. Mat Fitchett, the AAW
champion, said that if he was champion, he was taking that opportunity and would
defend his title against anyone of Young’s choosing. Christi Jaynes kept the
women’s tile over Heather Reckless using the tights. There was a multiple person
big man’s battle with Jake Something, back as a regular and vowing to win the
title, won over Calvin Tankman, Levi Everett, Hartenbower, Connan Lycan and
Schaff. Fitchett retained the AAW title on top in a three-way elimination match.
Manders pinned Yehi and Fitchett then pinned Manders to win in what was said to
be a hot main event

Defy ran shows on 7/16 and 7/17 in Seattle at Washington Hall. On the first
night, Konosuke Takeshita beat Davey Richards and tag champs the Bollywood Boyz
won a three-way over Schaff & Eddie Kingston and Midnight Heat to keep the tag
titles. Kevin Sullivan, who lives in the state of Washington now (or at least
did the last time I saw him two years ago) managed Midnight Heat. Christopher
Daniels & Swerve Strickland beat Cody Chhun & Guillermo Rosas to earn a tag
title match the next night. On the second night’s main event, Daniels &
Strickland beat the Bollywood Boyz for the title. Kingston beat Chhun and
Takeshita beat Schaff. Some former WWE guys worked the weekend including Levi
Cooper (Tucker of Otis & Tucker fame), Big Damo and No Way Jose. Ortiz and
Daniels are the top stars on a 7/29 show in Tacoma.

EUROPE: Cara Noir is out of action with strained ankle ligaments and will be out
of action this week

Ahura won a top contenders match for the wXw title and will face the Tristan
Archer (current champion) vs. Jurn Simmons 7/23 winner for the title

Chris Ridgeway defends the Progress title against Dean Allmark on the 7/24
Progress show that includes Swerve Strickland vs. Nick Wayne and the
Thunderbastard match (Aztec Rumble style) for a title shot

RevPro on 7/23 in Manchester has Pac defending the All Atlantic title with an
opponent not yet named, Michael Oku defends the cruiserweight title against Luke
Jacobs, Alexxis Falcon defends the women’s title against Alex Windsor, Aussie
Open vs. Velocities in the British tag league finals, Francesco Akira vs. Mike
Bailey, Sunshine Machine vs. Kid Lykos I & II for the tag titles and Shota Umino
vs. Yota Tsuji

The ABC promotion on 7/16 in Beziers, France had champion Tom LaRuffa (Sylvester
Lefort on NXT years ago) retain in a three-way over Tajiri and Ultimo Dragon

Paige’s family’s AWA is promoting a Night with Saraya (Paige) where Rob Butler
of BBC Radio will interview her on here life and career.

MLW: They’ve made a working deal with Dragon Gate and will be bringing headline
talent over from Japan

They also will be announcing a show soon in Atlanta.

GCW: Some notes on upcoming shows. 8/20 at Center Stage in Atlanta has Blake
Christian vs. Masha Slamovich plus Nick Gage and Slim J

They will run 9/2 to 9/4 in the Chicago area piggy backing off All Out.

They run 7/29 in Nashville over SummerSlam weekend with Gringo Los & Back Taurus
& Jack Cartwheel vs. Komander & Laredo Kid & ASF which will have crazy spots,
Jon Moxley vs. Blake Christian for the GCW title, Joey Janela vs. Psycho Clown,
Mike Bailey vs. Tony Deppen, Bandido vs. Jordan Oliver and Allie Katch & Effy
vs. Miedo Extremo & Gringo Loco vs. SGC

8/19 in Concord, NC with Effy vs. George South, plus Gage and Chris Hamrick

8/14 in Atlantic City has The Cardona’s wedding plus Maki Itoh and Miyu
Yamashita

IMPACT: Bound for Glory is scheduled for 10/8 in Danbury, CT

The next Impact + show will be 8/12 at Cicero Stadium outside Chicago and they
are going with the great technical match idea on top with Josh Alexander vs.
Alex Shelley. Shelley beat Chris Sabin on the 7/15 tapings in Louisville in a
match to determine the next challenger. Also scheduled is Jordynne Grace vs. Mia
Yim for the Knockouts title, Taya Valkyrie & Rosemary defend the Knockouts tag
titles against Deonna Purrazzo & Chelsea Green and Bandido vs. Rey Horus

They announced a return to Louisville on 11/18 and 11/19. The first night will
be the Overdrive show, the first Impact + PPV after the Bound for Glory show

Unless something changed and we hadn’t heard that it did, tag champs Karl
Anderson & Doc Gallows final week under contract was this past week. Obviously
they are still going to work here since they didn’t drop the belts at the
tapings. But they are also expected to work more New Japan and that may become
their focus

Rhino will be out of action for a while after hip surgery. They did an angle on
TV to give it a story as Honor No More took him out. Heath is going for revenge
for him

At the 7/15 tapings, they opened with BTI tapings of Laredo Kid over Johnny
Swinger, Bhupuinder over Vincent after Heath distracted Vincent and Heath
attacked him after the match. Matt Vine beat Ryan Van Rock. For Impact, Deonna
Purrazzo & Chelsea Green beat Mia Yim & Jordynne Grace. Mike Bailey kept the X
title over Deaner. Masha Slamovich pinned Madison Rayne. Slamovich handed Gisele
Shaw an envelope after the match. Chris Bey & Ace Austin beat Matt Taven & Mike
Bennett when Heath distracted Taven & Bennett and led to them losing. Shelley
beat Sabin via submission with the Border City stretch to earn a title shot. Joe
Doering & Deaner attacked both of them after the match until Kushida made the
save. This was Kushida’s Impact television debut. Digital Media champion Brian
Myers beat Black Taurus. Karl Anderson pinned Kenny King. King attacked Anderson
with a chair after the match. Heath then attacked King. Tiffany Nieves beat Jada
Stone. Killer Kelly debuted and beat both of them up after the match. Josh
Alexander beat Mahabali Shera in a non-title match. Shera got hurt in the match.
It appeared they rushed to the finish because of Shera’s injury. Moose & Steve
Maclin are not a heel unit. They will feud with Sami Callihan and whoever
Callihan gets as his partner. Kushida pinned Rich Swann in a TV main event

The 7/16 show featured BTI matches with Savannah Evans over Alisha Edwards and
Maclin over Crazzy Steve. For Impact, Purrazzo beat Rosemary. Slamovich beat
Shaw. Sabin & Shelley beat Doering & Deaner. There was a post-match brawl with
Doering & Deaner & Eric Young laying out Sabin & Shelley & Kushida. Callihan
beat Raj Singh. Moose and Maclin laid out Callihan after the match. Nobody saved
him jet. Edwards beat Austin. They looked to be setting up Edwards & King vs.
Austin & Bey. Laredo Kid & Trey Miguel beat Swinger & Zicky Dice. Killer Kelly
beat Tiffany Nieves. Yim pinned Rayne. Bailey kept the X title beating Romero.
Kushida pinned Deaner. They did the contract signing for the Alexander vs.
Shelley match. PCO beat Gallows in a street fight.

AEW: The hope would be for Kenny Omega, Bryan Danielson, Adam Cole and C.M. Punk
to return in time for All Out. With Danielson, there is no timetable due to the
unpredictability of recovery from a concussion and questions given how many he
has had. But he did go on Twitter and essentially say he was coming back after
both Eddie Kingston and Chris Jericho, claiming one says he put him out of
action and the other was the one who really did. Omega has kept very quiet
regarding his return but there was hope for it to be soon. He did say he would
love for it to be true that he’s back at All Out or around that time, but
nothing is certain because of all the different injury issues he’s had to heal
up. Punk’s recovery from foot surgery was that maybe All Out, if not Full Gear.
Right now they don’t seem to be building anyone strongly for Jon Moxley. Moxley
would headline the show and one would think you’d want the opponent either
announced or at the very least getting a rocket push to where you could figure
it out within the next two or so weeks. The hope was always Moxley vs. Punk in
Chicago for obvious reasons. Cole, who will be working with a torn labrum, is
waiting for a concussion to clear. During an appearance on GameSpot's Wrestle
Buddies podcast, Cole said, “I’m doing okay. I’m definitely on the path, on the
track to recovery for sure. I have a great team around me that is helping and
just making sure that I’m taken care of to the best of my ability. AEW has been
fantastic as far as making sure that I’m getting the right care that I deserve.
And I feel like a progress and a move forward every single week for sure.
Because I had been, I was pretty banged up, so, again, for 14 years, being in
the pro wrestling industry, I think the most time I had ever had off, ever, as
far as traveling, being on the road, was one month (there was a period years ago
he was out for months due to shoulder surgery in his ROH days, which led to ROH
temporarily not allowing talent to work PWG, where the injury happened). I’ve
been going, going, going non-stop. So eventually our bodies kind of catch up to
us and I had a couple of things that were kind of lingering for me and then with
what happened at Forbidden Door. But I feel good. I’m very confident I’ll be
back in the ring soon. I’m excited to be back. I miss it so much already. But,
yeah, I’m feeling good. I’m feeling good.” Tony Khan talked about Punk,
Danielson and Cole being back soon but didn’t mention Omega, saying that when
business at the start of the year was really strong, the key programs on
television that peaked ratings were Punk vs. MJF, Danielson vs. Adam Page and
Cole vs. Orange Cassidy. While the biggest PPV was last year’s All Out with
Punk’s return, and that number may not be topped for a long time, the most
impressive number, since it didn’t involve a guy’s first match after seven
years, was Revolution earlier this year with Page vs. Cole, Punk vs. MJF, Jon
Moxley vs. Danielson and Chris Jericho vs. Eddie Kingston, doing just over
170,000 buys, which they haven’t come close to since. Of the big guns only Omega
was out

Tony Khan on a press call said that there could be a major announcement at Comic
Con. He said it’s not a sure thing as the deal may not go through

Regarding All Out, there are 7,232 tickets out and 1,447 combo tickets left
meaning you have to buy all three shows that week. All single show tickets were
sold instantly, in about five minutes on the pre-sale and the few for the public
on sale were sold out faster than that. The secondary market get-in price is
$119, making it the hottest ticket for wrestling in the U.S. on the resale
market. This is a very interesting leverage move to attempt to build the gates
for Wednesday and Friday

AEW has at least started work on the idea of a Canada debut in Toronto. It’s not
yet known when and what arena they would run. If the debut would be a Saturday
night PPV in November, they may want to take the chance of Rogers Centre, the
former Skydome. I don’t think they could get 50,000 but people in the market
tell me they believe they could get 30,000, but more likely they’d play it safe
and run Scotiabank Arena. There is also the issue of their American fan base
traveling to Canada and whether those restrictions will change to having it be
relatively simple like it would have been pre-pandemic if they are going for a
stadium show since much of their PPV audience is a traveling audience. A PPV
there would theoretically sellout any arena they have

Santana needed reconstructive knee surgery and looks to be out about eight
months. Even though he and Ortiz had a personal falling out, this is going to be
tough for Ortiz who is going to have a tough time not being lost in the shuffle

Andrade’s injury that he’s been battling of late was inflammation in his ankles
although he’ll be back in a few weeks. Rey Fenix rolled his ankle on the 7/13
show (air date 7/15) match with Private Party and was limping in the final
moments of the match and after the match. But it wasn’t as bad as seemed and he
was back wrestling on 7/15 in Tijuana on an AAA show benefitting fallen area
police officers where he was in a four-way main event with Flamita, Jack
Cartwheel and Willie Mack

As noted here, for several weeks, Tony Khan has wanted to make Andrade & Rush
vs. Penta & Rey Fenix. Penta vs. Rush in a singles match and this week’s Penta &
Fenix vs. Private Party match were because Andrade wasn’t cleared to wrestle
yet. . The only stuff announced for the 7/27 Dynamite in Worcester, MA is
Thunder Rosa vs. Miyu Yamashita for the women’s title and Ricky Starks vs.
Danhausen for the FTW title. Hopefully they’ve got some big matches to add

After Dax Harwood’s emotional interview talking about his eight-year-old

daughter who was born with a hole in her heart and it closed up without surgery,
he has released a “Fight Like An Eight-Year-Old Girl T-shirt will all money
going to the American Heart Association

Chris Jericho suffered a broken nose in the barbed wire match with Eddie
Kingston on 7/20. He did a codebreaker and a barbed wire chair landed on his
face. I was afraid it went into his eye

On the Talk Is Jericho episode talking about his pulmonary embolism (a blood
clot in his lungs) noted that he knew something was wrong early in his Fozzy
tour of the U.K. because he got so winded singing, noted he struggled through
two shows and even at one point had to go offstage. He was in contact with his
doctor in Florida who told him not to mess around and take tests. There were a
number of blood clots in his lungs. He noted that Roddy Piper died from what he
had as have many others. He didn’t bring up and may not have known that Jesse
Ventura (who had he on as a guest after this show) pretty much became an
announcer and a pulmonary embolism played a part in ending his career. Ventura
had the pulmonary embolism in late 1984, not all that long after jumping from
the AWA to WWE to reprise his feud with Hulk Hogan. He had a series of Hogan
matches when it happened. Because he wasn’t able to wrestle for a while, Vince
McMahon tried him out as an announcer and the rest of history. Ventura did come
back to wrestle some, but announcing was his call and he largely retired shortly
after returning. Jericho didn’t wrestle for a few months and said the whole
formation of the Jericho Appreciation Society and direction was a change that
the embolism played a big part in. He said he was 241 pounds at the time, and is
now 209 pounds and his doctor told him to get his bodyfat down. He said he never
got winded in the ring at 241, and he put on that weight originally for Japan
because they like thick bulky bodies and then never lost the weight when he
should have. When he first came back he was on blood thinners, which can be
dangerous if you are wrestling and get cut, so he would not take the blood
thinners the day of the show. The ironic thing is in his first singles match
back was with Eddie Kingston and that was an incredible match. Because Jericho
has supported Republicans there is this idea that he doesn’t believe in COVID
and is anti-vaxx (although it’s well known he’s vaxxed), he talked about how he
was taking all these tests for everything when he was having his health issues
and in one test they noted how his COVID immunity was high and he said that
proved vaccines worked

Jericho had Jesse Ventura on as a guest to talk about Ventura’s successful

lawsuit against WWF that is actually the reason why for years talent got
royalties for being on DVDs. Originally only Hogan got royalties and Ventura
asked for them in negotiations, was told by WWF that nobody gets royalties,
found out Hogan did, and sued the company. Even though he had signed a contract
stating he didn’t get royalties, he claimed he agreed based on being lied to. It
was actually a close case, that WWE appealed and lost again in the appeal.
However the spot that got the most play was Ventura talking about how he would
never vote for a Republican after what happened on January 6, 2021, and went
into detail about what he would have done if he was defending the capital
building. Jericho didn’t say anything but it was clearly uncomfortable since
Jericho’s wife was there that day. She wasn’t one of the people who broke in,
but she was there
Matt Jackson is doing a lot better since his stinger from early in the 7/13 tag
title change. He described it as like bad whiplash. He’s had no loss of
strength, and his mobility and range of motion is already back to normal. He
passed a strength test right after the injury so major concerns about the injury
were alleviated quickly. But he was very sore and it may be a few weeks before
he’s back in the ring

Shingo Takagi on teaming with Sting. “Sting just entirely carried that match we
had. From the entrance on, it was all Sting. That’s a legend for you. He was a
real model for me going forward. That’s the kind of wrestler I need to be.

The seven week streak of Dynamite doing big numbers in the U.K. ended this week.
The 7/8 show was down to 118,000 viewers with an 11:45 p.m. start. They had been
covering between 148,000 and a record 188,000 two weeks earlier. Rampage on 7/5
did 96,000 with an 11:40 p.m. start which is very slightly above usual

Paul Wight, 50, said that Tony Khan and he have purchased the rights to Captain
Insano, which was the character Wight played in the movie “The Waterboy.” He
said they worked out a deal with the writer of the movie and they are doing prep
work, getting outfits made and he will use this character for a final run. Right
now Wight is rehabbing his knee before he can return

AQA, who was signed to a deal here but hasn’t been used, said she was going to
step away from pro wrestling. She said for the past few years it has not been
good for her but she kept pushing on because she didn’t want to be viewed as
weak. She said during the time away she’ll try to figure what path her life was
to take. She thanked all the fans, the promoters who booked her and her trainers

Claudio Castagnoli and Joseph Ruud (Erick Redbeard) are appearing in a short
film called “Tito” that will be out in the fall from Sell the Leg Productions

Yuki Arai, 24, who was the 2021 Rookie of the Year in Japanese pro wrestling, is
set to arrive here according to Tokyo Sports. She was a member of the pop idol
group SKE48 and has only been wrestling for 14 months, mostly with Tokyo Joshi
Pro Wrestling, the promotion AEW works with. She’s going on a U.S. excursion
where she’s expected to work both here and on indie shows in the U.S

Last week Abadon made a tweet that just read “Utami Hayashishita.” Hayashishita
then replied and wrote “AEW.” This was not an accident and was to try and start
talk, although Hayashishita was talking about AEW and not Abadon. I don’t know
if a deal is finalized, but there is enough talk serious enough that
Hayashishita made a post to tease about it

Upcoming advances are 7/27 in Worcester, MA at 5,436, 8/3 in Columbus, OH at

4,700, 8/5 Rampage/Battle of the Belts in Grand Rapids, MI at 3,938, 8/10 in
Minneapolis at 4,043, 8/17 in Charleston, WV at 3,134, 8/24 in Cleveland at
3,884, 8/31 Dynamite in Chicago at 4,695

Jacob Henry, the son of Mark Henry, who is a high school football player, just
did a 600 pound deadlift

For streaming numbers, BTE on 7/18 did 155,000 views (up 3.3 percent from last
week), Dark Elevation on 7/18 with Tony Nese and Dark Order did 222,000 views
(down 4.7 percent) and Dark on 7/19 did 235,000 (down 37.3 percent from the show
with Pac vs. Shota Umino and Thunder Rosa vs. Miyu Yamashita) with Wheeler Yuta,
Jonathan Gresham, Daniel Garcia, Mercedes Martinez, Serena Deeb and Konosuke
Takeshita

The Chris Jericho vs. Eddie Kingston barbed wire highlights did 640,000 in the
first 18 hours after it aired

Notes from the 7/16 Dark tapings in Orlando. The big thing on the tapings was
the debut of The Trust Busters, a new group headed by Ariya Daivari as Ari
Daivari, along with Parker Boudreaux, the former Harland in NXT, and Slim J. The
story is that Daivari’s trust fund came in on 7/4 and now he’s the richest men
in wrestling, even richer than Tony Khan. He told Tony Schiavone to call him Ari
Daivari (after UFC and Endeavor CEO Ari Emmanuel) and that he was scouting
talent for a stable. In the first session he noted purchasing the contract of
Slim J. Tony Schiavone asked him in an interview if he changed his name to sound
like the character in Entourage. Slim J, 37, is a 21-year veteran of the
Southeast indie scene. He had a good rep as a worker but he’s not somebody that
would have been high on most lists for an AEW acquisition. He announced
Boudreaux in the second session. Boudreaux was just let go by WWE but does have
size and is new at this. Tony Khan was high on them, but had not decided if they
were going to be primarily AEW or ROH at last report. Also returning is Cole
Karter, who was Two Dimes in NXT, also recently fired (and apparently murdered
by being thrown off a bridge) after failing a wellness test. Karter had worked
on AEW streaming shows prior and debuted with a win over Mike Orlando. I don’t
think it’s good form to hire someone just fired over a drug test issue. Every
issue is different but it’s also not like he’s a potential difference maker like
Jeff Hardy, and that one just backfired. There was no potential heat on Dark,
but then when he was put on Dynamite, they opened themselves up again because
it’s hard to defend any drug policy when you hire people who have failed and
been fired by the other company and put them out there immediately. Willow
Nightingale was given wins. Rebel got a win. Blake Christian appeared twice,
losing to Powerhouse Hobbs but also getting a win. Matt Sydal & Dante Martin
beat Aaron Solo & Nick Comoroto in the closest thing to a match involving pushed
people. There were a lot of empty seats but it also rained throughout the day.
The next taping is 8/21

Notes on the 7/15 Rampage show. This was a show that had good wrestling,
particularly Jonathan Gresham vs. Lee Moriarty, but it absolutely felt like a B
show, and that’s exactly what right now they should try and not make Rampage
feel like, especially when you have such a deep roster of talent. Brody King &
Malakai Black beat Alex Reynolds & John Silver in 7:23 when King pinned Reynolds
with Dante’s Inferno. Action was good. As King & Black were leaving, Darby Allin
did a stage dive on King as retribution for the attack by King during the
Seattle autograph signing. Allin and King brawled everywhere while the TV focus
was on Sting and Black having a face-off staredown. The announcers pushed it as
a battle of wills where neither would make the first move. Then both left and
went through the tunnel, and came back out and did another staredown. So this is
a new tag team program. Miro did an interview where they showed Black blowing
mist in his eyes. He said he didn’t know if the House of Black was trying to
destroy him or trying to recruit him. Gresham beat Moriarty to keep the ROH
title in 10:07 of a ***½ match. Brian Cage, Toa Liona and Kuan all came out with
Gresham & Tully Blanchard as members of Tully Blanchard Enterprises. Caprice
Coleman told the story that Gresham is the best wrestler in the business but he
has a weak chin and doesn’t like being hit. So this made Moriarty’s offense
attacking the head mean more. Gresham used elbows leading to the octopus
submission. Gresham has some of the freakiest delts and traps. Gresham said he’d
be on TV every week and would outwrestle your favorites and was the best
hold-for-hold wrestler in the world. Blanchard said Gresham is the best wrestler
today and forever. This led to Claudio Castagnoli coming out. Literally his
music played, he walked out, and they cut to a commercial. For a confrontation
eight days before a PPV where you can’t even shoot an angle for the other main
ever (Briscoes vs. FTR), this needed a lot more. Christopher Daniels did an
interview for Samoa Joe and Daniels teased he also wanted a match with Jay
Lethal. Kris Statlander & Athena beat Charlette & Robyn Renegade in :25. After
the match the Baddies beat down Statlander & Athena. It feels like Jade Cargill
should have been in the ring with both of them already, even if it was in a tag
to build the singles title match. Moriarty and mentor Matt Sydal was doing an
interview. Stokley Hathaway came out and tried to recruit Moriarty and it seemed
like Moriarty was listening. Sydal then said he got a great opponent for
Moriarty’s next match and brought out Dante Martin. The two shook hands. Billy
Gunn said that he treated The Acclaimed like his own sons, and maybe even
better. The Acclaimed came out and were so mad Max Caster didn’t rap. Billy
wanted to settle this and offered his scissors deal like they were all buddies.
Anthony Bowens superkicked Billy and The Acclaimed ran off his sons. Caster then
rapped and challenged The Ass Boys to a match. Austin Gunn turned down the
match. Penta & Fenix beat Private Party in the main event in 11:18 when Fenix
pinned Quen with a black fire driver. Fenix was limping badly at the end of the
match

Notes from the 7/20 tapings in Duluth, GA. They had strong late business and
ended up with 5,500 fans and 5,100 paid. They were in the market’s B building.
The Dynamite lineup was weaker than usual as the only really big match with
Eddie Kingston vs. Chris Jericho. For Dark Elevation, Private Party & Angelico
beat AR Fox & Adrian Alanis & Liam Gray. Fox was one of the best high flyers in
wrestling years back and was making his debut. Nyla Rose & Marina Shafir beat
Anglica Risk & Shallonce Royal. Toni Storm pinned Emi Sakura. Storm gave Sakura
a lot of offense. Kris Statlander beat Brittany. Hikaru Shida beat Robyn
Renegade. Evil Uno & 10 beat Aaron Solo & Nick Comoroto. QT Marshall interfered
and got a lot of heat and the crowd popped when he was kicked out. Baron Black
got a rare win over Brandon Cutler, who hasn’t wrestled in a long time. Cutler
cut a promo saying Black was 0-50 and had a worse streak than even he had. There
was a big pop when Black pinned Cutler. In the top match, Konosuke Takeshita
beat JD Drake. Takeshita got a star reaction and the people popped before he
came out because they knew the music. Dynamite opened with Brody King over Darby
Allin in 12:34 of a ***½ match. This was mostly King being a monster and Allin
being thrown around. Allin finally got a belt and tied up King’s ankles with it,
hit a great tope and a Code red for a near fall and did a double armbar
submission and then a choke. The finish saw King choke Allin and hold him off
the apron and drop him. Allin barely beat the ten count in, and then King hit
the ganso bomb for the pin. King was choking Allin after the match until Sting
came out. Sting went for a scorpion death drop on King when the lights went out.
When the lights came on, Sting and Malakai Black went face-to-face. Black blew
the mist at Sting and King choked out Sting as well. Miro then came out. The
story is if Miro is going to join House of Black or feud with them. It felt like
Sting & Allin & Miro vs. House of Black is the new program. Cole Karter came
out. Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs came out and Starks made a line about him
sleeping with the fishes. That was putting over Tony D’Angelo’s line on NXT when
they murdered Two Dimes after he was fired. Karter said he’d win the title from
Starks. Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta beat Chuck Taylor & Trent Baretta in 11:53 of
a ***3/4 match. They played up that Baretta never liked Yuta and the storyline
was that Taylor took Yuta under his wing but he left to join the Blackpool
Combat Club. They showed Daniel Garcia watching the match. Moxley made a great
hot tag and threw Taylor over the table. Baretta came off the ropes into a
diamond cutter by Moxley for a near fall. Taylor used the awful waffle on
Moxley, who rolled out of the ring. Taylor gave Yuta a short piledriver and then
Baretta gave him a second piledriver but he still kicked out. William Regal on
commentary explained this by saying that they work neck exercises like bridging
constantly and also that they taught him to move his head sideways to not take
the full brunt of it. That explanation was great. I did think Yuta came back
fully recovered in seconds and stopped selling the neck and hitting a German
suplex way too fast after two piledrivers. Then Baretta used strong zero on Yuta
but Moxley saved. Yuta pinned Taylor with a series of rolls into a cradle. Next
was the Keith Lee/Shane Strickland celebration. Fans chanted “You deserve it” at
them. They aren’t teasing issues anymore. Kevin Gates, the rap star, was at
ringside and Strickland plugged him hard. Mark Sterling and Tony Nese came out.
Nese started eating some of Lee & Strickland’s celebration cake. Sterling wanted
Gates to sign the petition, saying they only needed one more signature and
Strickland would be kicked out of AEW. There’s not even an attempt to make sense
out of this. When Gates wouldn’t sign, Sterling told him that he sucked. He came
over the rail. Sterling threatened to sue Gates if he touched him. Gates decked
Nese. Strickland then threw the cake in Sterling’s face and this was all-time
level of cake on the face of Sterling. The cake was thick all over his face.
They got TMZ and some rap site publicity off this. This came off like a WWE deal
in many ways. In this case it’s not a good thing or bad thing. Then they rushed
backstage where John Silver & Alex Reynolds were backstage with Butcher & Blade.
They talked about how much they liked them and gave Butcher a shirt that read
“Butch” and gave Blade a shirt that said “Butch.” Butcher & Blade beat them both
down until Adam Page made the save with a chair. Christian & Luchasaurus beat
Brian Pillman Jr. & Griff Garrison in 2:05. Christian did nothing, which was the
gimmick. He tagged Luchasaurus who choke slammed Pillman and then choke slammed
Garrison onto Pillman. Christian then tagged in and pinned Pillman. Jungle Boy
returned for the save. Christian sent Luchasaurus to take out Jungle Boy. Jungle
Boy had a chair but Luchasaurus turned around and stood next to Jungle Boy.
Jungle Boy then chased after Christian, who ran out of the ring, into the stands
and ran up the stairs to the concourse. The deal is that Jungle Boy was supposed
to chase him but never touch him, which was tough since Jungle Boy was running
so fast and Christian is nearly 50 and can’t run that fast up stairs anymore. So
Jungle Boy had to act like he was running fast but never catch him. The Gunns
were backstage. Austin challenged Max Caster to a rap battle on Rampage with the
winner getting to pick the stipulations in the Acclaimed vs. Gunns match. While
they did the rap battle and Caster won on Rampage, the stipulations were not
given to the live fans. Ricky Starks beat Cole Karter in 6:55 to keep the FTW
title. The crowd hated Karter and cheered Starks like crazy. Karter worked as
the face and they tried to put him over in commentary. He got some offense in.
In NXT, the guy was fine, not great, but fine. Here he looked nervous. He
definitely has a good look to him but was not nearly ready for Dynamite. They
have so many talented guys from Dustin Rhodes, Frankie Kazarian, Matt Sydal and
14 others who are babyface underneath guys from Fuego del Sol to Sonny Kiss who
could have been put in this match and would have been better. They already have
too many guys and it’s one thing if you add a guy who has talent to be a player
but it’s another to hire a guy who was nobody in NXT and the standard in NXT is
so much lower than here. Karter has a good look and in time could be ready for
Dynamite but this wasn’t that time and it felt like it was just cool to take a
guy WWE fired and rush him on TV so they can do a swimming with the fish joke
that 90 percent or more of the audience wasn’t going to get in the first place.
Carter tried a 450 that missed and Starks pinned him after a spear. Starks then
said he had more left in the tank and teased defending the title again.
Danhausen came out to challenge him. Starks then said he would defend the title
against him but not tonight. The crowd booed him a lot after cheering him hard
the entire match. He told the fans it’s on TV next week and you can watch it,
which was funny. Hopefully this is building to Starks vs. Hook as a major match.
They announced that with Laila Gray not cleared that the trios match with Gray &
Kiera Hogan & Jade Cargill vs. Willow Nightingale & Kris Statlander & Athena
match would become a tag match with Statlander the odd person out. Athena told
Statlander that she should go after the AEW title while Athena said she would go
after Cargill and the TBS title. FTR did an interview. Cash talked about the
first match with the Briscoes and the rematch. Dax Harwood then talked about a
young girl he knew who had issues and they found out she had a hole in her heart
and an irregular heartbeat they might have to do open heart surgery on her which
is scary for such a young child. He then said she did all the things they told
her to do and the girl turned eight and they examined her and the hole was gone.
He then said that girl was his daughter and that he can’t lose the ROH title and
he was going to fight like an eight-year-old girl to make sure he retains them.
My daughter was born that way. It’s way more common than you think and the sad
thing is in our school district there have been eight athletes who have died
over the years because they had that and didn’t know it including one in the
last week which has led to a number of local districts doing stricter tests on
kids going out for high school sports. Anyway, this was a babyface promo of the
year and people were in tears. Jay Lethal & Sonjay Dutt & Satnam Singh were
backstage running down Samoa Joe for not being there. Christopher Daniels came
out and challenged Lethal for Rampage. Cargill & Hogan beat Nightingale & Athena
in 8:23. This wasn’t good. Statlander was banned from ringside. Jermaine Dupri,
another major rap star, came out with Cargill & Hogan. Nightingale vs. Hogan
stuff looked bad. Nightingale did a nice blockbuster off the apron on Cargill.
Athena did a plancha on everyone. Finally Athena went face-to-face with Cargill.
Cargill really needs to be wrestling a lot more. She looked very green and rusty
out there. Athena went after Hathaway and Cargill kicked Athena into the steps.
Cargill then pinned Nightingale after a doctor bomb and Jaded. Jericho beat
Kingston in 13:11 of the barbed wire everywhere match. This was a bloodbath
which was very different from WWE. But all the JAS members were put in a shark
cage promising no interference and of course they all interfered, just like WWE.
Kingston used barbed wire on Jericho’s head and Jericho bled a ton. He bit the
cut. Jericho hit Kingston with the ring bell which was covered in barbed wire.
Kingston threw Jericho in the ropes which were wrapped in barbed wire. Kingston
used a chair wrapped in barbed wire to Jericho’s back. Jericho did a
Frankensteiner off the top rope and Kingston landed on a barbed wire table.
Kingston was bleeding from the back and from his right elbow. Kingston
superplexed Jericho off the apron onto more barbed wire. Ruby Soho was at
ringside with the controls to the shark cage and the key. Tay Conti came out and
attacked Soho. Anna Jay teased making the save but turned on Soho and beat her
down. So the Dark Order loses another member. Jay threw Soho into the post. Jay
got the controls and brought the shark cage down to the ground. Conti got the
keys. Somehow Conti couldn’t unlock the door and boy was this a mess. Finally
the guys realized this was embarrassing so they just walked out of the cage
between the bars. What was the point of the bars if you could slide through
them? Everyone was beating on Kingston since this was no DQ. Ortiz, Claudio
Castagnoli, Yuta & Moxley came out. They all brawled all over the place. Ortiz
hit Jericho with a loaded sock. Kingston gave Jericho an exploder into a barbed
wire table. Jericho kicked out. Jericho used a codebreaker and a chair wrapped
in barbed wire fell on his face. Jericho was selling the eye but he actually
suffered a broken nose which would cause his eye to water. Jericho used a chair
wrapped in barbed wire on Kingston and a lionsault. Kingston came back with a
spinning backfist but Jericho kicked out. Kingston got razor wire and put
Jericho in the stretch plumb wrapped in razor wife so he could finally get
Jericho to quit. But Sammy Guevara returned and superkicked Kingston. Jericho’s
arm was in barbed wire from the stretch plumb and hit the Judas effect on
Kingston. This reads better than it looked, and Jericho got the pin. Kingston
came back after the match to use a low blow and tossed Jericho into a barbed
wire spider web as the show went off the air. Jericho did a stretcher job in the
building. A lot of people complained that Kingston should have won. It really
depends on where they are going next. If Jericho vs. Danielson is the direction
then Jericho should have won. If Kingston vs. Danielson is the direction then
Kingston should have won. If Jericho vs. Kingston with another stip is the
direction then probably Jericho should have won now, but you could have gone
either way. Tony Khan came out and thanked everyone and noted that WBD people
were at the show, which they were the last two weeks. For Rampage, it was
another lineup that looks skippable. Rampage has good wrestling and the show
flows well but it’s becoming more like Sunday Night Heat was for WWE and better
than Main Event is now but it’s becoming more similar to that than to Smackdown,
which is what it needs to be to get back to the numbers it had. Plus it was very
tough live. A lot of the audience left after Jericho vs. Kingston and even with
Page, following that barbed wire match with regular matches didn’t work out well
for crowd response. Adam Page & John Silver beat Butcher & Blade when Page
pinned Butcher with a buckshot lariat. Claudio Castagnoli thanked fans for
making him feel welcome and noted this was his first promo in front of the
audience. Jonathan Gresham was in the luxury boxes while this was going on. He
talked about Gresham and he said that he was going to win his first world title.
Lee Moriarty pinned Dante Martin holding the tights. Nothing special. Matt Sydal
was mad that Moriarty cheated to win and they set up a rematch that may be next
week on Rampage. Stokley Hathaway tried to make another offer to Moriarty but
Moriarty declined the offer. Britt Baker & Jamie Hayter beat Ashley D’Amboise &
Skye Blue quickly when Baker beat D’Amboise with lockjaw. Rebel carried a
sandbag to ringside so they are still using that as a prop for a match soon with
Thunder Rosa & Toni Storm. Next was the Max Caster vs. Austin Gunn rap battle.
Lil Scrappy was the celebrity guest judge and he awarded it to Caster of course.
Gunn mentioned that Caster was once on Raw playing one of Bobby Lashley’s
sisters. I mean, it’s true, but I’m not sure where talking about being involved
in a terrible Raw angle helps anyone. Gunn also said Caster stole John Cena’s
gimmick. There they go again. Mentioning Raw in comedy is fine but doing so to
make it appear Raw is the major leagues and you’re second tier does nobody any
good. He also made a reference to Anthony Bowens being a wide receiver, which
was a gay reference that also wasn’t needed and a few people there live wrote us
offended. Hopefully at one gets edited out because it’s not the heat that you
need even in a rap. This ended with The Acclaimed brawling with the Gunns.
Austin hit Caster with a garbage can. The Acclaimed were way over as a faces and
this got the biggest reaction of anything on Rampage. Main event saw Jay Lethal
beat Christopher Daniels with the Lethal injection. Of course the wrestling was
good but the crowd didn’t get into it. People didn’t buy that Daniels could win,
but they did like him. They also did some Ric Flair stuff since Lethal faces
Flair in two weeks, which is weird to do stuff to promote that here. Sonjay Dutt
even did the Flair strut. Dutt and Sutnam Singh both interfered. Dutt & Lethal &
Singh beat down Daniels after. Lethal choked out Daniels. People chanted for Joe
to make the save but Joe wasn’t there.

UFC: ESPN+ has raised its monthly price from $6.99 to $9.99 with the change
going into effect on 8/23. The ESPN+, Hulu and Disney bundle price of $13.99
will remain the same. ESPN+ airs all UFC fights live and streaming after the
fact, although PPVs cost $74.99 extra now

Charles Oliveira, who faces Islam Makhachev for the vacant lightweight title on
10/22 on UFC 280 at Etihad Stadium in Abu Dhabi, was voted the ESPY award for
MMA fighter of the year. While the ESPY is a fan popularity contest, Oliveira in
the last 14 months finished Michael Chandler, Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje,
so was very much deserving of the award. He was stripped of the title for
missing weight against Gaethje, and won that fight in the first round. Alexander
Volkanovski, the flyweight champion, immediately issued a challenge to the
winner. Volkanovski has looked so good at featherweight that they should make
that match next if Volkanovski is still champion. Makhachev is 22-1 but has not
faced competition anywhere close to the level of Oliveira. It is a different
dynamic because most people don’t want to go to the ground with Oliveira, who
has the most submissions in UFC history. But Makhachev will not be afraid of the
ground. Interestingly Makhachev has been installed as a -225 favorite in the
fight. The semi on that show looks to be Aljamain Sterling vs. TJ Dillashaw for
the bantamweight title, if both come to terms. They are also looking at Petr Yan
vs. Sean O’Malley which is a bigger test for O’Malley than I’d figure they would
want to book at this point. Other bouts scheduled are Belal Muhammad vs. Sean
Brady, Marina Rodriguez vs. Amanda Lemos (winner would be very close to a
strawweight title shot) and Beneil Dariush vs. Mateusz Gamrot, which are all
high quality bouts
They are also working on Nate Diaz vs. Khamzat Chimaev for the main event of a
9/10 show in Las Vegas at the T Mobile Arena for UFC 279. Chimaev should destroy
Diaz and would probably be put with Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title with
a win. Ian Cutelaba vs. Johnny Walker is also set for that show

Dana White and Diaz remain at odds. Diaz, who has one fight left on his deal and
wants a release, presumably to box Jake Paul (which probably would draw and Paul
is about to have a major PPV flop in a few weeks and is in need of a fight that
would draw). Maybe he’d wind up in Bellator since he has a longstanding
relationship with Scott Coker. Diaz claimed UFC wasn’t booking him in a fight
and holding him hostage. White said it’s impossible to hold a fighter hostage
because they have to offer them fights. Diaz claimed UFC wants to book him
against Conor McGregor, which is a fight that makes sense as far as it would
draw big. But McGregor is still months from being able to return. So UFC
proposed Chimaev. If Diaz takes that fight, it tells you how badly he wants to
be a free agent as soon as possible because that’s a bad fight for him. Diaz
told Ariel Helwani that the only fighters UFC has who are worthy opponents for
him are Francis Ngannou or Israel Adesayna, but he likes both guys and wouldn’t
face them. Those matches of course are ludicrous to make

UFC 281 will be on 11/12 in Madison Square Garden most likely. That is the date
going around in New York although UFC has only said November. Frankie Edgar, 40,
has said he would like to have a retirement fight on that show and talked about
Dominick Cruz as a possible opponent. Edgar said he feels great and loves going
to the gym but recognized that it’s time. He lost brutal knockouts to Cory
Sandhagen and Marlon Vera in his last two fights and had lost four out of five.
He was still fighting the top level guys. He said if it was up to him he’d
continue as he feels great but feels it’s selfish to his family and people who
care about him. Edgar holds the UFC record for most time spent in total in
fighting with seven hours, 55 minutes and 11 seconds

Upcoming advances are 7/30 PPV in Dallas (Julianna Pena vs. Amanda Nunes) at
16,495 (1,577 shy of a sellout) and 8/20 PPV in Salt Lake City (Kamaru Usman vs.
Leon Edwards) is at 13,881 (2,596 shy of a sellout). 8/20 may break the streak
which right now is a 19 straight sold out shows

Announcer Daniel Cormier is scheduled to star in a TV series called “Warrior,”

an adaptation of the 2011 movie done by Gavin O’Connor. The show is being shot
for Paramount +. O’Connor will direct and be the showrunner for the new series.
Gina Rodriguez will be another star as one of the fighters. Cormier will also
play a fighter. The original movie featured Kurt Angle as an unbeatable fighter
modeled after Fedor Emelianenko. At the time the movie was made Emelianenko was
the top heavyweight in the world. It was about two estranged brothers who ended
up in the finals of a worldwide fighting tournament. Nick Nolte, who played the
father of the two, got an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor
that year. The idea is to build the series around two men and two women over ten
episodes building for a climactic fight. Cormier’s character will be a recently
retired heavyweight and light heayvweight world champion whose finances were
destroyed because of losing his wife to cancer and is now a heavily in debt
single parent

This week’s show is an ESPN+card from the O2 Arena in London which means an
early show again with a hot live crowd. The show starts at 11 a.m. Eastern and
opens with Mason Jones (11-1) vs. Ludovit Klein (18-4), Nicolas Dalby (19-4-1)
vs. Claudio Silva (14-3), Victoria Leonardo (8-4) vs. Mandy Bohm (7-1), Kyle
Nelson (13-4) vs. Jai Herbert (11-4), Muhamjmad Mokaev (7-0) vs. Charles Johnson
(11-2), Nathaniel Wood (17-5) vs. Charles Rosa (14-7), Jonathan Pearce (12-4) vs
Makwan Amirkhani (17-7), Damir Hadzovic (14-6) vs. Marc Diakiese (15-5), Volkhan
Oezdemir (17-6) vs. Paul Craig (16-4-1), Molly McCann (12-4) vs. Hannah Goldy
(6-2), Nikita Krylov (27-9) vs,. Alexander Gustafsson (18-7), Paddy Pimblett
(18-3) vs. Jordan Leavitt (10-1), Chris Curtis (29-8) vs. Jack Hermansson (22-7)
and Curtis Blaydes (16-3) vs. Tom Aspinall (12-2). Blaydes is the No. 4
contender at heavyweight and has won six of his last seven. His loss in that
period was a knockout to Derrick Lewis on February 20, 2021. He’s been in the
top contenders list for years but of his three losses, two were to Francis
Ngannou. Aspinall has eight wins in a row and is now mentioned as a contender
after winning over Alexander Volkov via first round armbar on 3/19 in London.
The heavyweight title situation has to work itself out with Ngannou out with
knee surgery. The winner of this fight, as well as Jon Jones, Stipe Miocic and
Tai Tuivasa would be considered next in line. Obviously Jones will get the shot
if he agrees to terms. Miocic is still the biggest name out of the rest. Ngannou
may also leave UFC and vacate the title after one more fight to box Tyson Fury,
although Fury now says he’s retired, but would likely come out of retirement for
such a fight which would in theory be an easy win for him. Pimblett, the Owen
Hart lookalike, is third from the top. He’s got star charisma but he’s unproven
as far as being a top tier fighter and this is a legit test.

BELLATOR: They return to action on 7/22 with a show in Tacoma, WA which starts
at 10 p.m. Eastern on Showtime. From the main event down, the Showtime bouts are
Douglas Lima (32-10) vs. Jason Jackson (15-4), Tofiq Muasev (18-4) vs. Sidney
Outlaw (16-4), Chris Gonzalez (7-1) vs. Usman Nurmagomedov (14-0), Mukhaed
Berkhamov (14-0-1) vs. Lorenz Larkin (24-7) and Davion Franklin (5-0) vs.
Marcelo Golm (9-3)

They announced a show on 10/29 in Milan, Italy.

OTHER MMA: Badr Hari vs. Alistair Overeem in kickboxing was announced for 10/8
at the GeireDome in Arnheim, Holland, a 34,000 seat soccer stadium.

WWE: HBO Real Sports has been trying to set up interviews with former women who
worked for WWE for a story on the Vince McMahon allegations. There wasn’t
anything new broken in that direction this past week. Both Variety and Salon had
stories on McMahon. The Variety story had nothing new but just the fact Variety
had a story isn’t good for WWE and McMahon since it’s an entertainment media
trade journal. That said, all has been quiet on the legal investigation front.
With the stock now at $65.81 per share, it means the company has a$4.893 billion
market value. It shows that whatever concerns Wall Street had over the first
story which caused a drop, they are back to where they were before, so a class
action suit type of thing looks dead for now. The Salon piece was by longtime
wrestling writer Irv Muchnick, nephew of Sam, who hasn’t written much on the
subject in years but recounted a number of things from the past. Phil Mushnick,
who Irv Muchnick has been confused with because of the similar names, has not
written anything which is surprising. It appears to me he’s not going to write
anything on McMahon’s current situation. He did rip on Peter Rosenberg for
working with WWE, but his reasons were that WWE employed alleged pedophiles
(whose names he didn’t say past both had long since passed away) and that people
are aware of that. That is correct but that’s also a story from more than 30
years ago as opposed to the current stuff

ESPN honored WWE as Sports Humanitarian League Champions for their community
work. The fact they did that this week shows the McMahon stuff has not been
enough for major media outlets to refrain from working with WWE. Obviously WWE
does a lot of work but if the McMahon story was bigger mainstream, it would be
seen as bad timing to honor McMahon’s company for humanitarian work, and clearly
they did not see it as bad timing

Cody Rhodes also got an ESPY award announced on the show on 7/20 that aired on
ABC for WWE Moment of the Year. Rhodes was there to accept the award, which was
for his debut at WrestleMania. It’s a fan voted award. Brandi Rhodes was with
him. He said he wants to win the award in 2023 and already knows what it is (he
didn’t say it but meant winning the WWE title from Reigns) that would win it. He
also called his decision to return to WWE the best decision he ever made in his
wrestling career

Goldberg noted that his last match was the last match of his deal, but in a New
York Post interview he said that even though that is the case, he is still under
contract and waiting for a call on when they will use him again. This could be
that his wrestling dates were fulfilled but the time frame is longer or that
he’s got a merchandise contract that basically keeps him from negotiating or
going to another promotion as WWE has with some legends. “I’m still waiting for
that one [call] to happen one of these days,” Goldberg said. “But I suppose you
never retire in the wrestling world until you’re dead, so who knows.” He said
that his shoulder is really bad and has been for the past four or five years,
saying he couldn’t even lift a five-pound weight but was able to hide it from
everyone. He said he thought it would need reattachment surgery, but now says
rehab is working and he can do dumbbell military presses with 80 pound
dumbbells. I have no clue, and you can talk PED’s all you want, how someone
could look like Goldberg as far as the size at his age without being able to
lift a five pound weight. “I have worked my ass off day, after day, after day to
get to a point where I feel almost normal again,” he said. “I just kind of
needed that break. I needed the mental focus of understanding that surgery
wasn’t an option at the time and I needed to put my ass to the grindstone.”
“Hey, I may never get the call, you never know,” Goldberg said. “But you bet
your ass I’ll be ready.”. . Zayn had his arm in a sling on Smackdown on 7/15.
The injury is legit but it’s not major and they are hopeful of him being able to
wrestle in a few weeks

Cody Rhodes noted in an interview with Busted Open radio that he hemorrhaged in
surgery for a torn pec. We’ve also heard more details of what happened. The
tendon has to fully reattach to the bone based on the anchor and surface and
this period is really telling. He’s working with a member of the team that
helped get Paul Levesque back from his torn pec in the match a few years ago in
Australia. He is in a lot of pain in the biceps area which is where the anchor
is,. There has been no time line given. He said publicly that they won’t give
him one for fear he’ll say, okay, I can beat that and come back early. He is
actually expected after exams next month to see how the healing is going to get
an actual timeline. They may try and keep it secretive if only so his return
would be a surprise. For the injury he has, the idea of a Royal Rumble return
would in theory make sense but it’s too soon to know if that’s possible, or if
he can make it back sooner. The tendon that tore was deep in his chest and he
hemorrhaged like a vampire in surgery. The tendon tore doing regular bench
presses although he’s been told it may have been on the verge of tearing from
the wrestling wear-and-tear and it wasn’t just doing a heavy bench press one
afternoon which is when the tear happened

Part of the reason, if not the key reason, for the recent push of Morgan was he
walking out of Banks and Naomi. When they left, the idea was that Smackdown
needed a new top tier woman babyface and Morgan was the one who got the pick of
the draw. It’s also worked out because the fan base was ready for her. . Dwayne
Johnson has always been a huge supporter of Montez Ford, saying previously that
he believes he should be a future WWE champion and franchise player. He was on
Entertainment Tonight this week and brought it up again saying, “I love that
guy. I love his energy. I love his charisma. I love his work ethic. In the world
of pro wrestling -- there’s nothing like the world of pro wrestling -- it’s very
unique, it’s also a business. Professional wrestling, WWE, it’s in my blood.
It’s my passion, I love it. A guy like him, he’s worked his butt off, and by the
way, they all do...but him, in particular, he’s got great athleticism, he’s the
total package.

Bayley was reported by PWInsider that she will be in Nashville for SummerSlam
weekend. She should be returning from reconstructive knee surgery soon

WWE has made an investment in the Premiere Lacrosse League. The PLL is the only
major league pro lacrosse league in the U.S. It started in 2018 and purchased
its competition, Major League Lacrosse, in 2020. They just signed a television
deal with ESPN. Thirty Five Ventures, a venture firm run by Kevin Durant has
also invested in the new league which is attempting to grow its profile, with
goals of lacrosse being added to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, to expand
internationally and to create non-game programming such as scripted and
unscripted television shows

The Miz hit a home run and was named MVP in the Celebrity Softball game on 7/16
at Dodgers Stadium in conjunction with baseball’s All-Star week. This was a
gimmick in a sense that it was said Miz got the award in a fan cheering vote
when Hunter Pence, who hit two home runs and was said to be clearly the MVP,
pushed people to vote for teammate Miz since the trophy was a WWE title belt.
Miz, 41, did fare well in a game that included two women’s softball legends and
four retired MLB stars. Miz had won the game’s MVP award in 2018 and that year
it was for his overall play as opposed to this year where it was reported he won
for his entertainment value in firing up the team

In doing media rounds this week, Dwayne Johnson brought up his daughter training
in NXT and mentioned that she picked out her new name. In most cases, it is the
talent that comes up with the new ring names.

In the ratings in Canada for this past week, Smackdown on 7/15 did 134,700
viewers and 62,200 in 25-54. Raw on 7/18 did 161,800 viewers and 59,000 in
25-54. NXT on 7/19 did 59,100 viewers and 22,000 in 25-54. Dynamite on 7/20 did
99,900 viewers and 52,200 in 25-54, so both Raw & Smackdown beat Dynamite in the
key demo

Upcoming show advances are 7/22 Smackdown in Boston at 6,703, 7/23 house show in
Bridgeport, CT, at 3,531, 7/24 house show in Utica, NY, at 2,632, 7/25 Raw in
Madison Square Garden at 10,857 which would be more than $800,000, 7/29
Smackdown in Atlanta at 6,596 (they are in the A Arena and AEW on Wednesday was
in the B Arena but they are 1,100 above what AEW finished at), 8/1 Raw in
Houston is at 9,850, 8/5 Smackdown in Greenville, SC is at 3,775, 8/6 house show
in North Charleston, SC, is at 2,103, 8/7 house show in Fayetteville, NC is at
1,955, 8/12 Smackdown in Raleigh, NC is at 3,550, 8/14 house show in Atlantic
City, NJ, is at 2,592, 8/15 Raw in Washington, DC is at 3,788, 8/19 Smackdown in
Montreal is at 7,636, 8/20 house show in Ottawa, ONT is at 3,085, 8/21 house
show in Quebec City, is at 4,682, 8/22 Raw in Toronto is at 8,938, 8/26
Smackdown in Detroit is at 4,653, 8/29 Raw in Pittsburgh is at 4,006, 9/9
Smackdown in Seattle is at 6,477, 9/12 Raw in Portland, OR, is a 4,601, 9/16
Smackdown in Anaheim, CA is at 2,946, 9/19 Raw in San Jose is at 2,172, 9/26 Raw
in Edmonton is at 8,740, 9/30 Smackdown in Winnipeg is at 6,840 and 10/3 Raw in
St. Paul, MN is at 2,097

Two more names reported by PWInsider for the Nashville tryouts are Anna Keefer
and Trevor Robbins. Keefer is a member of the University of North Carolina track
team and set school records in the 100 meters, 200 meters and indoor long jump.
She was a first team All-American in the indoor long jump and second team in the
200, so was far more accomplished a track athlete than Belair. Robbins was a
scholar athlete at San Jose State. He’s a 6-foot-4 285 pound offensive tackle
who started during the 2020 and 2021 seasons and is now a graduate assistant
line coach this past season
Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn weren’t at TV in Orlando on 7/15

There is still nothing new on Gable Steveson. Last year they made a big deal of
him being drafted to Raw, and at the time they were going to put him on Raw a
few times during the year to keep his name out there with the idea of a debut
around Mania time. They never had him in the ring but did plug his Big-10 and
NCAA title wins and he shot an angle with Chad Gable at Mania. The idea was for
him to become a regular on Raw after this past semester ended at Minnesota. But
he hasn’t been used and he’s talked about returning to college to go for a third
NCAA title in 2023, and even pondered if that was the case going for a second
gold medal in 2024. He would be strongly favored to win the NCAA title after he
dominated all season and won the Hodge Trophy this year. An Olympic gold medal,
while he would be a favorite, is a much higher level and certainly far from a
sure thing. If he was to win three NCAAs and two golds, there would be no
argument that he was the greatest American heavyweight wrestler of all-time.
Most now would say Bruce Baumgartner, who won one NCAA title in 1982 and golds
in the 1984 and 1992 Olympics

Announced for the 7/22 Smackdown is Nakamura vs. Kaiser. They announced another
Max Dupri segment and that they would introduce his sister, Maxxine Dupri, in
the segment which is Dupri’s guys modeling swimwear. The impression was Maxine
would be a gimmick. WWE is trademarking the name so it also appears it’s not a
one night idea

For the 7/25 Raw in Madison Square Garden, they’ve announced the 20th
anniversary celebration of Rey Mysterio, Rey & Dominik vs. Balor & Priest wit
heavy speculation around a Dominik turn on Rey, Logan Paul doing a talk show
segment and Reigns appearing. Rousey is also advertised locally plus Reigns &
Usos vs. Riddle & Street Profits, which is likely a dark match

For 7/26 NXT, it’s Grayson Waller vs Wes Lee, Xyon Quinn vs. Apollo Crews and
something involving Tony D’Angelo’s crew (D’Angelo & Cruz Del Toro & Joaquin
Wilde & Channing Lorenzo) vs. The Creeds & Roderick Strong & Damon Kemp. Nothing
has been said about Santos Escobar other than they had a photo of him in the
hospital with the idea that D’Angelo took him out for betraying him

The top video views off television for the past week were: 1. Lesnar vs. Reigns
video package 1.5 million; 2. Jarrett announcement as referee 933,000; 3. Zayn
and Theory words 710,000; 4. Edge video on Raw 665,000; 5. Miz-Logan Paul
601,000

Notes on the 7/15 Smackdown tapings in Orlando. The show drew 8,387 fans with
about 7,700 paid. The crowd was very hot. This was the second week in a row that
there was very little actual wrestling on television. The Dawkins vs. Jimmy Uso
main event was 7:01 and most of that was a commercial break. There were two
matches with some length so it was more than last week. They had two dark
matches with Rodriguez over Deville and Los Lotharios over Ricochet & Gulak.
That run of Ricochet as the No. 2 singles babyface ended like just about
everyone expected it would. The show opened with Michael Cole in the ring and
introduced McAfee to a big pop. He noted that McAfee had just signed a new
multi-year deal. WWE is very lucky to have him, because he gives them mainstream
sports cred, he’s great at getting characters and stories over as an announcer,
and can come off the desk for big shows and do angles and matches that people
get invested in. The announcer/sometimes wrestler who does a rare match and is
over with the fans coming off the desk to do a grudge match is a concept that
always works when the announcer is over. They acted as if he wasn’t on the show
last week because of injuries from Corbin, even if on the show last week they
noted he was participating in a celebrity golf tournament. He apologized for
missing a great show and forcing you to listen to Corey Graves for two hours and
Bum Ass Corbin for 17 minutes. He said his neck was bruised in the attack. He
said he knew Corbin before any of you as they were roommates in training camp
his rookie year with the Colts. He said he had hair, still had a bad body and
only one tattoo, but was a nice guy. He said he came to WWE and became an
insufferable douchebag. He made a remark about how “We’re not TV-14 yet.” Corbin
came on the screen and said that he was a fighter and McAfee was just a guy who
used to punt footballs. He said he’d come out but made up that he has monkey
pox. That’s their attempt to be current and hip. McAfee said now Corbin is
faking monkey pox, and called out Morgan to try and get her a big pop. Morgan
beat Natalya in 9:17 in a non-title match. Natalya catapulted Morgan into the
post. Morgan used a nice missile dropkick and kip up. Natalya used the ankle
lock, but Morgan escaped and hit Oblivion for the pin. Match was a mixed bag but
the crowd was very into Morgan. Kayla Braxton told Morgan that her win over
Natalya was less dominant than Rousey’s last week. Morgan said that she knew she
was the underdog but she’s been the underdog her entire life. Theory, who is
getting the giant TV push leading to SummerSlam, said that he’s got enemies on
Raw like Lashley and Ziggler. Heyman came out and was kissing his ass. Heyman
told Theory that he was responsible for the biggest break in Theory’s career.
There is a shoot element to this because when Heyman was in charge of Raw (even
if Vince was really in charge), he brought Theory up to the main roster when a
spot opened up due to injury and gave him a push and saw something in him before
the decision was made that he wasn’t ready and was sent back to NXT. Heyman told
Theory that cashing in after Reigns vs. Lesnar makes no sense box office wise.
He said that the best thing would be to set up a title match on a big show and
build it up for weeks. He said to think of the prestige of main eventing a major
event and the box office and he’ll make sure it happens as long as he doesn’t
cash in. Heyman said let him handle everything to make it as big as possible.
Theory told Heyman that Heyman usually does have great advice, but he’s cashing
in at SummerSlam and then maybe he’ll need Heyman’s advice as champion and maybe
he’ll then hire Heyman to be his special consultant. They’ve done a great job
with this storyline of basically telling you to get the show for the cash in and
tease you with the idea of a title change after nearly two years with Reigns as
champion. New Day came out dressed as the Viking Raiders. Woods said the Viking
Raiders were ugly. They tried to get fans to chant “Ugly” at them. Some of these
attempts to make fans do these chants are really cringe. The Vikings came to the
ring but were jumped by Mahal & Shanky. Kingston & Woods both did planchas on
the Vikings. It was a four-on-two and the four cleared the ring. Then Kingston,
Woods and Shanky all danced while Mahal wouldn’t dance. Braxton was with Gunther
and Kaiser. Gunther said he threw those chops last week at Kaiser because there
is no room for failure and losing is unacceptable. He said that losing has
consequences. He said next week it’s Nakamura vs. Kaiser and Kaiser better win.
Kaiser said he was sorry for losing and then unzipped his sweatshirt top and
Gunther chopped the hell out of him. Evans was supposed to wrestle Aliyah. Once
again the match didn’t happen. Evans came out and got a lot of heat. She said
she was disgusted with the lack of appreciation the audience gives her. She said
she was an example of everything you should be and everything you can’t be and
you hate her for it. She told the fans to go to hell, and then just walked out
and didn’t do her match. Her heel delivery and poise on interviews is good. They
announced that McIntyre vs. Sheamus for the title shot at Clash of the Castle
would happen on this show. Once again it didn’t happen. Instead Holland wrestled
McIntyre. The announcers acted surprised saying that they were told it was
Sheamus. Obviously they are saving that match and the idea of advertising it is
that it’s the heat on the heel. McIntyre won in 3:25 with the Claymore kick.
Moss did an interview. Heyman came out and told Moss that he gave him the
biggest break in his career. Heyman chose Moss for Raw and started to push him
but Moss left for several months due to family issues. Heyman did get him to the
main roster a couple of years back even if it’s taken a while to get a push.
Heyman talked about the idea of Reigns vs. Moss as a major show main event and
what that would do for his career. Heyman never outfight said to injure Theory
and then promise him a title shot if he does so. It felt like he was about to
say that, but it was only an inference. Heyman went to shake Moss’ hand but Moss
wouldn’t shake. Moss beat Theory via DQ in 11:55. McAfee pushed this match like
it was a future major show main event and how these two would be two of the top
stars in the company in the future. Theory was DQ’d for hitting Moss with his
briefcase. Theory then said he was going to be the next champion. Zayn came out
with his arm in a sling. He said that Theory was disrespecting Reigns and as an
honorary Uce there are consequences for disrespecting Reigns. The Usos then came
out. Theory was distracted by this and Moss threw Theory into the post, so it
looks like they are building Theory vs. Moss as a longer program on the
Smackdown side and featuring Theory on both shows. The main event saw Dawkins
beat Jimmy Uso in 7:01. As noted, much of the mach was during the commercial
break. Zayn was on commentary. Jimmy ran into ref Charles Robinson who was
groggy. Dawkins had Jimmy pinned but no ref. Robinson took another bump. Dawkins
used a power bomb and Robinson counted to three even though Jimmy had his right
shoulder up. Pearce came out and announced Jeff Jarrett as referee. They did a
big video package with footage of Jarrett from the Double J gimmick which was
more than 25 years ago and WCW footage. McAfee referred to Jarrett as the Senior
Vice President of Live Events. Jarrett never came out which surprised me and the
show ended with the Street Profits and Usos brawling. My main thought is that
now we’ve had two referees blamed for botching multiple finishes now, which in
theory should put heat on the promotion for having bad refs, or in the case of
Robinson, he was knocked down. We never see any repercussions on the ref, which
would be a waste. So our own refs who have been doing this for decades are
botching stuff and the solution is to use a former heel character wrestler who
has no experience as a ref. I recognize that level of logic doesn’t matter in
WWE and it’s just Jarrett on the show because it’s in Nashville. The main event
off TV saw Riddle beat Omos via DQ when MVP shoved Riddle off the top. They
still won’t let Riddle beat Omos clean even in a dark match

Notes from the 7/18 Raw show. They did 8,955 fans with 8,200 paid, another big
number with a great late walk-up so the promotion is hot. The funny thing is
this crowd was not hot for most of the matches and really got into the “What”
stuff on promos, particularly late in the show with Theory and Logan Paul. Paul
was not cheered and got the “what” treatment, although he was able to get the
crowd to chant “tiny balls” at Miz. It was very clear he was positioned as the
main event of the show, not just going on last but being plugged like crazy.
From a live perspective, we were told that Owens coming out was a surprise. He
got the biggest face pop of the night. But when he was halfway down the aisle
his music stopped and the lights went out so they could play a video and then
went to a commercial. By the time they came back, all the enthusiasm was gone.
Theory had the most heel heat but the crowd was dead for his match with Styles.
Lots of people left after the women’s match, even though they pushed a Riddle
vs. Rollins match live, and before Logan Paul was to come out. Paul’s reaction
wasn’t that negative and it was more quiet with some cheers and some boos but
more boos and what’s. His ground and pound on Miz looked terrible live. For Main
Event, Tozawa beat Reggie and Gable & Otis beat Alexander & Ali. So Alexander
was a babyface. This was also said to be the best match on the show. The show
had the strangest and somewhat controversial open. Titus O’Neil was in the ring.
He announced he was the company’s new Global Ambassador. He basically put over
the company. Clearly this was designed to combat the Vince publicity since
that’s right out of Vince’s playbook. In fact, in 1991, he told me that playbook
specifically. O’Neil said the WWE will never have anything political or
religious on its television show, or anything divisive. He said WWE television
is your safe haven from religion and politics. WWE is about maximizing customers
and in this era, that means avoiding every single real issue because if you take
a stand on anything, a large percentage of your audience will overreact. Lynch
came out and said the winner of the Belair vs. Carmella match faces her at
SummerSlam for the title. Belair came out and said this isn’t the Lynch
WrestleMania comeback story, it’s the Belair SummerSlam comeback story. Carmella
came out and said she’s a badass with a great ass, which is her new tag line.
They noted in the Carmella vs. Belair match that if Belair loses via count out,
Carmella wins the title. Lynch attacked Belair in mid-promo and put the boots to
her. Carmella joined in. Belair made a quick comeback until Lynch laid out
Belair with the man handle slam. With Belair hurt, Carmella wanted the title
match started. Belair won in 10:25. Belair sold a lot early since she was beaten
up and easy pickings, but always kicked out of the pin attempts. There were a
couple of teased count out spots but Belair made it back in. Belair took a bump
on the steps and barely beat the count. The finish came out of nowhere with no
build as Belair just hit the KOD for the pin. Lynch grabbed the belt and went to
give Belair the belt but instead threw it on the ground, basically a scripted
spot to play off the unscripted deal Charlotte Flair did. The Street Profits did
a promo. They said they’d win the title at SummerSlam. Omos & MVP came out. The
Street Profits wanted a tag match and MVP said he’d love to fight them but he’s
not dressed for it, and suggested Dawkins vs. Omos in a singles match. Owens
returned with a talk segment with Riddle. Owens, back from an injury, said that
he went out on a nature retreat because he was driven crazy trying to prove
Ezekiel was Elias. Owens said he didn’t care about that anymore. He said he
really admired Riddle and thought he needed to be more like him since Riddle
never gets upset. Owens said he didn’t care about Ezekiel or Elias, but then
said he hoped they fail miserably. Owens said that Rollins pretended to be his
best friend and betrayed him, humiliated him and insulted him. Owens said he
lost his best friend just like Riddle lost his best friend Orton. Owens
suggested they become a tag team, Team Bro KO. The fans popped for that. Riddle
said if he was being honest, and he is honest, Owens is the biggest liar I know.
Owens said he’s turned over a new leaf and nobody can ever call him a liar
again. Owens said that Riddle trusted Orton who was the biggest snake in WWE.
Riddle was mat Owens insulted Orton and said he was done talking to him. At that
point Rollins’ music played. Riddle looked at the entrance but Rollins came from
the opposite side and jumped Riddle and gave him two curb stomps to lay him out.
Rollins said that Riddle is so stupid he thinks Orton cared about him. Rollins
said Riddle is so stupid to turn down Owens’ help at SummerSlam because that
means Riddle thinks he can beat him and it doesn’t get any stupider than that.
Ezekiel came out and they had a confrontation. Priest & Balor came out. Priest
guaranteed Dominik Mysterio would join Judgment Day by the end of the night. He
told Dominik that his father was holding him back and stifling him. Priest
pinned Rey in 5:06 with the Razor’s Edge. The crowd was dead for the match, as
they were for just about every match the rest of the night. Priest & Balor beat
down Rey after and set him up for the conchairto. They told Dominik to join or
they would take his head off. Dominik agreed to join. Blair then hit Dominik
with two chair shots and that allowed Rey to escape. It feels like Rey & Edge
are about to become a tag team against Judgment Day. Rollins pinned Ezekiel in
11:54. Good match. Rollins gave Ezekiel a lot of near falls before beating him
with a forearm to the back of the head and the curb stomp. The Usos talked about
how Omos was going to destroy Dawkins tonight. They questioned whether after the
match if Dawkins could make it to SummerSlam. And they said even if he does make
it, he’ll be so beaten down that they’ll win the match easily. Balor & Priest
explained not accepting Dominik into Judgment Day. Balor said that Dominik
failed the test. They wanted him to attack his father and they saw right through
his joining only to save his father. They said Dominik should have hit Rey with
a chair. Balor & Priest said that they would finish what they started next week
in Madison Square Garden. Dawkins beat Omos via DQ in 1:20. This was so bad. But
it had a story. Ford tripped Omos early but the ref missed it. MVP tripped
Dawkins but the ref saw that and called for the DQ. MVP was screaming that Ford
did it first. So the story once again is that WWE refs are incompetent, which
puts heat on what heels? Pearce came out and ordered a tag match with Street
Profits vs. Omos & MVP. MVP was wearing a three-piece suit. So he ended up
wrestling his suit jacket off but wearing his dress clothes and shoes. Street
Profits beat Omos & MVP via DQ in 4:45. Yes, another DQ. MVP was showboating
early and did the balling elbow. Ford got caught in the ropes trying a
springboard. Dawkins threw MVP into the Usos who were at ringside. The Street
Profits gave Omos a double superkick and Ford came off the top rope with his
splash, but Omos kicked out at one. Omos has been here for a year plus. If his
size was going to be a difference maker he’d be selling merch and his video
views would be really high. That simply isn’t the case. They protect him like
he’s Andre but he’s really Silo Sam booked by people who think they can create
another Andre. Ford went to the top again and Jey Uso shoved him off the top for
the DQ. Omos then choke slammed both Street Profits at the same time. Veer came
out and didn’t say a thing but “boo.” Miz came out and said he’d likes to think
Logan Paul will withdraw his challenge and that the two of them can become tag
team champions. He said if Paul won’t team with him, he will be his enemy.
Theory did a promo and got the “What” chants. He told the crowd to shut up and
got a lot of heat and “you suck” chants. He said that Lesnar doesn’t like him,
Moss doesn’t like him, you idiots don’t’ like me, and Ziggler doesn’t like him.
He didn’t mention Lashley who is his PPV opponent. Omos said they are all
jealous of him. This segment was going way too long and was dragging. Styles
came out and instead of a match, we had more talking. Styles said that if Theory
wins the U.S. title or the Undisputed title at SummerSlam that there will be a
long list of people who can take the title from him and he will be one of them.
Styles got the people to chant his name. Theory then made fun of how long it
took Styles to get to WWE. He said when Styles was his age he was working barns
in Georgia. Styles said he was proud of where he’s from and he’s the man he is
today because of that. Theory called Styles an old jealous grizzled veteran. So
I guess he thinks he should be with Joe Gacy. Styles decked him. Styles beat
Theory via count out in 11:26. After all the heat the two had in the promo
battle, the match got basically no reaction. Ziggler was at ringside. Theory
shoved down Ziggler. Styles did the calf killer but Theory made the ropes.
Theory threw Styles over the announcers table. Ziggler superkicked Theory behind
the refs back and Theory was counted out. This wasn’t the usual bad WWE count
out finish, because it wasn’t a way to get out of a finish but had a purpose
(heating up Theory vs. Ziggler). But after two straight bad DQ’s, the count out
felt like more of the same. Styles laid out Theory with a Styles Clash after the
match. Asuka & Brooke & Bliss beat Nikki ASH & Doudrop & Tamina in 2:35. Brooke
did a plancha onto Doudrop and Nikki. With Brooke outside the ring, Reggie came
out and seemed to want too challenge for the 24/7 title. Tozawa then came out
and schoolboyed Brooke from behind to win the title. Nikki gave Tozawa a
neckbreaker and pinned him to win the title. Bliss hit a DDT on Nikki and pinned
her to win the title. Doudrop did a running crossbody on Bliss and pinned her to
win the title. Tamina superkicked Doudrop to win the title. Brooke rolled-up
Tamina to win the title and then she ran away with Tamina following her. The
match was still going on with Asuka & Bliss vs. Nikki & Doudrop. Asuka
immediately hit a high kick on Nikki and used a flying armbar for the
submission. The Mysterios did a promo. Dominik said that he would never join
Judgment Day. He said that he may have failed their test but he lived up to the
Mysterio name. The final segment was Miz and Paul. Paul came out and was booed
more than cheered, but it was not a big reaction and a lot of fans left the
arena before he came out. Miz first put him over for his social media following
and going the distance with Mayweather. But Miz said this is his world and at
WrestleMania, it was a tag match and he protected Paul. He said that Paul was a
rookie and would have to earn the right to face him. Miz said that his challenge
was denied. Paul said that he was in his prime and Miz is an old man. Paul doing
the face promo was getting the “what” treatment and wasn’t being cheered. They
piped in some fake cheers that came and went here. Paul said that next week he
would do a talk show at MSG called Impulsive TV. He then asked the crowd to
chant “tiny balls” with him and they showed the wide shot. Most didn’t but
that’s the case with most chants. Enough did that it came of well. Miz said he
had big balls but agreed to the mach. Paul asked if they wanted Miz vs. Paul and
they piped in fake cheers. Paul double legged Miz and started throwing very bad
looking punches to no reaction, but he wasn’t being booed at this point. Ciampa
attacked Paul and they double-teamed Paul until Paul made a brief comeback and
rolled out of the way. After the TV show ended, Riddle pinned Rollins in a basic
8:00 main event with an RKO finish

Notes from the 7/19 NXT tapings in Orlando. They opened taping three matches for
LVL Up with Thea Hail over Brooklyn Barlow, Bryson Montana over Ru Feng and Duke
Hudson over Hank Walker. The show opened with JD McDonagh over Cameron Grimes in
13:24 of a ***½ match. This was easily the best wrestling on the show. Joe Gacy
was scouting. They played up heavily that Grimes has been on a losing streak.
McDonagh wrapped Grimes’ knee around the post and gave him a great running chop
block. McDonagh won with a back suplex. There were interviews throughout the
show with women saying they were going to win the Battle Royal including Nikkita
Lyons and Tiffany Stratton here. Cora Jade did her first heel promo. She claimed
to have been the face of the division and after so many failed attempts to win a
title, she won the tag title with her best friend (Roxanne Perez), and not 30
minutes later, Perez decided she wanted to become women’s champion. She said
Perez showed no respect for the tag titles and claimed Perez used her to get
into NXT and called her a selfish bitch. She said nobody is standing in her way
of winning the Battle Royal. She said the tag title represents a lie and threw
the belt in a garbage can as a takeoff of Madusa throwing the WWF belt in the
garbage can which WWF has played up as this major moment in history. So she got
booed a lot for that. Xyon Quinn did an interview saying next week he’s facing
Apollo Crews. He said Crews couldn’t cut it in the big leagues because not
everyone has the X factor like I do. Indi Hartwell vowed to win the Battle
Royal. Roderick Strong pinned Damon Kemp in 5:55. During the match on the
screens they showed Tony D’Angelo’s crew beating up the Creeds backstage. Kemp
and Strong were both distracted by this but the Strong hit Kemp with a jumping
knee when he wasn’t paying attention and pinned him. Pretty Deadly, who are a
fun act, did an interview wearing cowboy hats and pretending to be cowboys.
Backstage, Strong yelled at the Creeds about being beaten up and how you should
have fought them off. The Creeds noted it was four-on-two and Strong said there
should be no excuses. Kemp then showed up and Strong asked what took him so
long. The idea is he was knocked silly by Strong’s sucker knee. Strong told all
of them that Diamond Mine was forever and they may have started it but we’re
going to end it. Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen beat Pretty Deadly to keep the UK
tag titles in 11:34. The match wasn’t smooth as Jensen needs a lot more ring
time. Briggs looked good in his brief hot comeback. At one point Elton Prince
knocked over Fallon Henley at ringside and injured her shoulder prior her being
in the Battle Royal. At another point Prince threw a belt in the ring. Kit
Wilson was going to use it but Henley stopped him. There was a tug-of-war over
the belt and that allowed Briggs & Jensen to do the high-low on Wilson and
Briggs pinned him. Joe Gacy unmasked The Dyad as Jagger Reid (formerly James
Drake) and Rip Fowler (formerly Zack Gibson). Reid looks the same as Drake.
Gibson shaved his beard and looks like a completely different person to the
point you could see him and have no idea who he was. They never acknowledged who
they used to be but did say the guys had new names so they didn’t pretend we
didn’t know them either. Bron Breakker showed up looking for McDonagh. He should
have arrived sooner. Wes Lee did a promo. He wanted Grayson Waller next week and
then wanted Trick Williams after that. Breakker came out in the ring and wanted
McDonagh. McDonagh was on the screen with this mannequin. He had a bunch of
writing on the shoulder and basically said he knows how to tear tendons away
from the bone in the shoulder and he was going to disable Breakker. Breakker was
laughing him off. McDonagh said that Breakker’s entire future is going to
change. They showed a clip from outside the Amway Arena where Smackdown was held
on Friday. Solo Sikoa was there. They teased the idea it was to see his brothers
(Usos) without actually saying it. Von Wagner showed up and attacked him and
beat him down and Wagner said he just beat up the street champion in the
streets. Diamond Mine talked about taking out D’Angelo’s crew. Axiom, the former
A-Kid, debuted under a mask and pinned Dante Chen in 3:00 after a crossbody off
the top and flying thrust kick. There was nothing wrong with the match but
nothing special either. It’s early but in week one he felt like more of a star
without the mask. This basic Axiom character with the math and comic book idea
was apparently an idea Deonna Purrazzo suggested for herself in 2018. Purrazzo
brought that up after seeing Axiom and Chelsea Green backed her up. I do know
folks in WWE were not happy about them bringing that up. Lash Legend did a
promo. A woman all dressed up wanted a photo with Giovanni Vinci. He used her
camera and took a photo of himself. She said she wanted a photo with him and he
blew her off. At that time a bus came into the parking lot and parked in front
of Vinci’s car and he couldn’t get out. It was the Chase University people. Thea
Hail was all excited seeing Vinci’s car and Vinci told her not to touch it as he
didn’t want her fingerprints on it. So apparently there will be something with
Vinci feuding with Chase U. Everyone got out of the bus but the bus didn’t move
so Vinci couldn’t leave. Carmelo Hayes & Williams did a taped vignette putting
over the women they were with last week. They brought up that Sikoa wanted Hayes
but he’s busy with Wagner and that Lee wants Williams. Williams said the two
women he was with were named Lexus and Mercedes, and Lexus drives a Mercedes and
Mercedes drives a Lexus. They did their “That’s all it is” “And that’s all it’s
gonna be” catch phrase. As far as characters and talking, they come off as stars
and Hayes can do it in the ring as well. Toxic Attraction did a promo. Ivy Nile
came up and said she was going to win the Battle Royal. Kiana James came out and
said brains beats muscle and she is going to win. Alba Fyre said she was going
to win. Grimes was all depressed about losing again and didn’t want anyone
talking to him. Gacy came out to recruit him saying he could change his life.
Grimes said he didn’t want to hear that now and left, but the tease was
definitely there for Grimes to wind up with Gacy. Zoey Stark returned from knee
surgery as a surprise to win a 21 woman Battle Royal in 16:12. It was basically
all the women they used in the Breakout tournament along with everyone else that
wasn’t Roxanne Perez or Toxic Attraction. Jade ran away just as the match

started to do the deal where she’s gone and you forget about her and then she
returns at the end. As far as key storyline stuff, Fyre and Legend went out
together and continued to fight after. They did a spot where Wendy Choo was
knocked off the apron but fell on her pillows so wasn’t eliminated. Stratton
later hit Choo with a cup to eliminate her. This went long and dragged until
they were down to the final few. It’s hard with so many people to stand out and
nobody really did until the end. When it got down to serious business, Katana
Chase & & Kayden Carter threw out Nile. Nile pulled Chase out and Lyons knocked
Carter out. Tatum Paxley did a plancha on Carter & Chase to eliminate herself
Mil Mascaras style. Paxley & Nile brawled with Carter & Chase after so that’s
going to be a program. Stratton threw out Hartwell. Lyons threw out Kiana James.
Stratton threw out Lyons. Stratton did a terrible looking dropkick, followed by
some cool gymnastics stuff. Stark threw out Stratton and seemingly won. Jade
then returned and everyone figured she was sneaking up and dumping Stark to win,
but Stark ducked and backdropped her over the top, so Mandy Rose vs. Stark is
the next women’s title program. This could have gone shorter ad would have been
better with less women, but the layout and finish as far as idea wise went was
good

They did split crew shows running in Florida this weekend. The Raw crew drew
3,551 in Tallahassee and 2,472 in Daytona Beach. The Smackdown crew drew 3,918
in Fort Myers (a good crowd when you consider AEW didn’t do well in the same
building for TV) and 3,498 in Fort Lauderdale

Tallahassee opened with Ezekiel & Street Profits over Gable & Otis & Theory when
Ford pinned Gable after a splash off the top. Brooke kept the 24/7 title in a
three-way over Tamina and Nikki ASH when she pinned Nikki after a neckbreaker.
There was a backstage video of Ciampa attacking Styles that they shot for the
weekend. Mahaan pinned Alexander after a clothesline. This was a squash. Styles
pinned Ciampa after a Styles clash in a very good match. Belair, who was over
big, pinned Carmella to keep the women’s title. Omos pinned R-Truth in a squash
match. There was comedy early with R-Truth trying to talk his way out of the
match and MVP attacking Lil Jimmy. Bliss pinned Doudrop with a DDT. Mysterios
beat Balor & Priest via DQ. The finish was Dominik doing the Eddy Guerrero spot
where the refs back was turned and he took a bump from a chair shot that never
happened. That spot because of Guerrero, always gets a good pop, plus they don’t
want to beat Balor & Priest cleanly this early. Riddle pinned Rollins after a
power bomb through a table and an RKO in the street fight main event. Those
advertised who weren’t there were Owens (injured), Lynch, Ripley (injured) and
Asuka. Missy Hyatt was sitting ringside at the show and we were told she was
very nice to everyone

Daytona Beach was the same show but the matches were in a different order. That
seems to be the pattern these days that you often so the exact same matches the
second night but they change the order. Bliss got a good reaction but no
reaction for Doudrop. They showed the same taped Ciampa-Styles angle and teased
that Styles wouldn’t be wrestling tonight. Veer vs. Alexander had no heat.
Styles vs. Ciampa said to be the best match. Great crowd heat. Ciampa tried to
distract the crowd to miss him blowing a kiss to his daughter who was at the
show. Crowd liked Belair vs. Carmella. After the match, the Street Profits came
out and Belair and Ford were kissing. Street Profits & Ezekiel over Gable & Otis
& Theory was a long good match, laid out well. Theory had good heat. Brooke vs.
ASH vs. Tamina said to be bad. Balor & Priest did a promo saying Dominik should
join them. Lots of Eddy chants which worked perfectly with the finish they were
using. Riddle over Rollins aid to be very good

Fort Myers opened with a surprise as Gulak pinned Corbin after a sunset flip
coming out of the corner. So that would be going for the surprise pop to open he
show. Moss pined Humberto after the punch line neckbreaker. Max Dupri did a
promo about fashion and scouting new talent. Morgan & Gonzalez & Aliyah beat
Natalya & Evans & Baszler when Morgan pinned Natalya after a cradle after
Natalya threw Aliyah out of the ring. Morgan cut a promo after the match pushing
her match with Rousey and also said that she will beat Rousey and then wants to
defend against both Rodriguez and Aliyah. McIntyre pinned Holland in a street
fight with the Claymore kick. Sheamus was there and interfered and was booted
out. Butch interfered but McIntyre power bombed him through a table. Shanky
pinned Mahal with a roll-up which is notable since they haven’t done a breakup
on TV, only teased it. Shanky danced after the match. Gunther pinned Ricochet to
keep the IC title with a power bomb. Main event saw Usos over Kingston & Woods
in a tag title match when they pinned Kingston after the 1-D

Fort Lauderdale was the same show but a different match order, with the McIntyre
win over Holland in a street fight in the main event position and the Usos win
over New Day going on fifth out of seven matches.