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RADIO ARCHIVE NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE THE BOARD NEWS

NOVEMBER 23, 2015 OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: HOLM DEFEATS ROUSEY, PASSES AWAY, MORE BY OBSERVER STAFF | [email protected] | @WONF4W TWITTER FACEBOOK GOOGLE+

Wrestling Observer Newsletter PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN10839593 November 23, 2015

UFC 193 PPV POLL RESULTS

Thumbs up 149 (78.0%)

Thumbs down 7 (03.7%)

In the middle 35 (18.3%)

BEST MATCH POLL

Holly Holm vs. 131

Robert Whittaker vs. Urijah Hall 26

Jake Matthews vs. Akbarh Arreola 11

WORST MATCH POLL

Jared Rosholt vs. Stefan Struve 137

Based on phone calls and e-mail to the Observer as of Tuesday, 11/17.

The myth of the unbeatable fighter is just that, a myth.

In what will go down as the single most memorable UFC fight in history, Ronda Rousey was not only defeated, but systematically destroyed by a fighter and a coaching staff that had spent years preparing for that night.

On 2/28, and Ronda Rousey were the two co-headliners on a show at the Staples Center in . The idea was that Holm, a former world champion, would impressively knock out , a .500 level fighter who was known for exchanging blows and not taking her down. Rousey was there to face Cat Zingano, a fight that was supposed to be the hardest one of her career.

Holm looked unimpressive, barely squeaking by in a split decision. Rousey beat Zingano with an armbar in 14 seconds. Nobody came out of that night clamoring to see Rousey vs. Holm.

Holm looked better in winning a decision over , in another standup fight. Rousey destroyed Bethe Correia. So the plan was for to be groomed for Rousey, except she got beat by . UFC announced Tate as the challenger, and then changed their mind, figuring Rousey vs. Tate happened twice with Rousey winning via armbar both times, and with Holm, they could at least promote it as Rousey facing a multi-time world boxing champion.

Holm started fighting in MMA in 2011, while still active in boxing. By 2013, her handlers, seeing how popular rousey had become, started training her specifically for Rousey. She'd already done , so she wasn't a pure boxer. So the key was using her footwork to keep away and throw jabs and avoid the clinch, and if in the clinch, avoiding the throw. And if getting thrown, drilling endlessly on pulling out of the armbar.

The key is that nobody that had fought Rousey up to that point wanted to run away from her, or more aptly, use footwork to make Rousey have to chase and wear herself out before getting a clinch. There are an endless number of reasons for what happened on 11/15 in , , and picking any single one as the key would be making things simpler than they were.

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« Rousey has been training to fight a certain way, because it worked. Holm had the two of the best MMA coaches in the world, Mike Winklejon and Greg Jackson, the latter the guru of game plans, who broke down Rousey's style.

Holm showed up in the best shape of her life. Rousey was very clearly not in her best shape, and there were personal distractions everywhere that weren't conducive to having a clear focused head into a fight.

Rousey's mother, AnnMaria DeMars, wasn't in Australia, the first time she wasn't at one of her fights. Her mother had publicly called her trainer, Edmond Tarverdyan, a fraud. Tarverdyan was facing problems with the IRS, claiming that he had earned no money in the last year, despite working as the trainer of a fighter who would probably be taking in $10 million this year. She was dating a married man who was accused by his wife of beating her, right after she had made fun of Floyd Mayweather Jr. for beating up women. While not a secret, she had always kept her relationships private, until he made it public. After it came out and it was brought up on a media call, instead of being ready with just a remark of how she doesn't want to discuss her personal life, instead, she hung up the phone.

She was a few weeks from starting production in the movie "Road House," where she was not just in a fight scene, or in a small role, but the centerpiece and main star of the movie, in almost every scene and having to carry the movie with dialogue.

There will be all sorts of comparisons made, whether to leading into the Buster Douglas fight, or Rocky, leading into the first fight with Clubber Lang, or Lennox Lewis and Hasim Rahman. In some cases they fit and in some ways they didn't, although the end result of both the real boxing title fights and the scripted one, and her fight, were identical. The overconfident champion with too many distractions and not in her best shape loses.

The difference is that Tyson really was a superior fighter to Douglas, but upsets happen and for various reasons, people have bad days. Lewis was a different level of boxer as Rahman, but underestimated his opponent and wasn't in shape and lost. Rousey clearly wasn't in her best shape, but the difference is, given the styles, even if she was, the Holm who showed up on that night, as opposed to the Holm who fought Pennington, was going to be difficult for her to beat.

Rousey was not herself all week in Australia. She was fine in front of the public, but those close to the situation said she was very different behind the scenes. She freaked out at the weigh-ins and lost her composure while trying to, and building, last second hype for a fight that had no outside heat, and a show whose only draw was that it was a Saturday night with a Rousey fight, the 1993 notion of boxer vs. fighter and a totally awesome and oft-played video package of two little girls learning to fight and boxing from childhood, who years later are meeting on this day. Fortunately, the part about it being a Saturday night and a Rousey fight, by itself, was going to be enough to guarantee huge business even without the last minute SportsCenter moment and the 5 million Friday Google searches that put the event over the top.

Once the fight started, it was the matador and the bull. Rousey charged after Holm, who continually danced away. Holm peppered her with shots and Rousey was bleeding. Rousey got tired quickly, and seemed to panic. She had trouble getting the clinch, and when she did, Holm escaped from it. When she couldn't Holm used her years of wrestling training that was part of the beat Rousey game plan to avoid being thrown. When she was thrown, she used her years of drilling armbar escapes to avoid what had been inevitable in all of Rousey's previous fights. Soon, Rousey was tired and couldn't throw her any longer, and in a straight kickboxing match, she was facing someone with 18 years of training and 50 professional fights fought standing, as opposed to someone who had spent maybe a few minutes of her entire career standing in a fight.

Things were going badly in the first round. When it was over, Tarverdyan told her she was doing great.

What?

After being outcoached and with Rousey doing nothing that was working against someone programmed specifically for everything she was doing, he had no advice, nor ideas on changing the game plan. By then, it was probably too late anyway.

Rousey was tired and lunging for a wild and desperation knockout. She threw a punch so hard and that missed so badly that she lost her balance and fell down. For all the talk in hindsight that she was a fraud, a Royce Gracie facing non-athletes (despite two recent foes being world class wrestlers, one a silver medalist in the Olympics, another a world champion in grappling and a couple of black belts who couldn't stop her armbar), the real comparison was Mark Coleman in overtime against Maurice Smith in 1997.

When she got up, Holm landed a Peter Aerts style high kick to the neck and jaw, and Rousey collapsed.

She left the ring before doing an interview. She was in the fetal position, crying hysterically, in the dressing room. Finally, they got her to go to the hospital, since she was needing plastic surgery for her lip that was split in two. When she flew home and landed in Los Angeles, she was hiding her face and wouldn't say a word.

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« Aside from an instagram message, where she said she was fine and vowed to return, she's been quiet publicly. Many fighters, such as Kenny Florian and Daniel Cormier, have suggested that she needs to take a long time off and not back for a rematch. The fact is, she's got a couple of movies between now and July, so there's little time to improve her skill set with full days of learning new tactics. She is younger and could come into the second fight in better shape, with a different game plan. She could sharpen her judo back up. Her mother's complaint about Tarverdyan is that he was coaching her to be a boxer, when her best skill was judo. We've seen over-and-over in MMA that world class judokas and wrestlers who get enamored with being strikers and think they've already got their wrestling and judo, can end up being humbled at their former specialty when they let the training in that specialty slide.

To her credit, Holm became the first athlete to score a rare double of being a world champion in both boxing and UFC. Smith was a world champion in kickboxing who years later, in 1997, became UFC heavyweight champion.

Rousey, who had an aura of invincibility, will have to refocus and reinvent herself if she's going to even have a chance to win a rematch, which UFC wants for 7/9, at UFC 200. It will be the biggest fight in UFC history. It will also be, from a financial standpoint, by leaps and bounds, the most future revenue ever on the line based on the result of a fight. A Rousey win will only make the loss humanizing to her. At worst, she'll remain the same level star, and more likely she'll become an even bigger star. But a second loss, and her drawing power will drop greatly. And at that point, there's a very good chance she'll be done fighting given her outside opportunities.

Women's MMA will continue to exist, and Holm is already now one of the company's most famous fighters, and already has media opportunities that few on the UFC roster could get. Locally, in Albuquerque, she was the conquering hero, with top of page one coverage in the local newspaper, and the city declaring not just a Holly Holm Day, but that November is Holly Holm Month. Holm is scheduled all over the Los Angeles and national media for appearances the rest of this week, and will be all over the ESPN talk shows on 11/24.

Whether that translates into even average male champion business is uncertain. But Rousey was a perfect storm of things that came together that were impossible to predict a few years ago (although the potential that some of it could happen was clearly there). Duplicating it will probably not happen any time soon.

Whether this will make Rousey a better fighter, or lead to her as a fighter with her aura gone, is the next question. But it's clear that juggling so many things at once against someone who was herself a top tier athlete focusing on only one thing, won't work. Without her own coaching staff that can come up with a strategy specifically designed to beat Holm, she will have a very difficult time overcoming the superior coaching of her opponent. The reality is the only way Rousey can beat Holm in the standup is for Holm, who is six years older, to just get old, and even that's not a certainty. The skill discrepancy is enormous and she can't catch up in a short period of time, and very well may never catch up in that regard.

Holm's win was the biggest title match upset, based on the odds, in UFC history. A few days before the fight, the odds topped 22-to-1, although dropped down to 14-to-1 the day of the fight and as low as 7-to-1 in some places come fight time. The previous highest odds upset in title match history were Matt Serra over Georges St-Pierre in 2007 at 8-to-1 and T.J. Dillashaw over Renan Barao in 2014 at 8-to-1.

The sports books took a bath. Even though previous Rousey fights had done big PPV numbers, her fights never had a lot of betting. The odds weren't long enough and not enough people had confidence in her opponents, but you won so little betting on her it wasn't worth the risk. For this fight, with the odds being ridiculously long, the fight got a ton of betting on it, but almost all on Holm, who 95 plus percent of the bets were with. The odds shrunk greatly in the last 24 hours because of the one-sided nature of the betting, but it wasn't enough to save the sports books.

It ended up, by far, being the most bet on MMA fight of all-time. And it was the biggest loss, by far, for , on any fight in history. One sports book noted that the biggest losing fight in history was when Manny Pacquiao, as an underdog, beat Oscar De La Hoya, but because Pacquiao's fan base was so fervent, they overwhelmed the casinos with bets on their side. But that book said the Rousey-Holm losses were triple that.

But they can't cry too much, given the next day, the NFL games saw most win back all losses and then some.

For reasons I can't explain, given how the first fight went, Rousey opened at -240 for the rematch, and this time, after a few days with tons of betting already, mostly on Holm, it has gone down, but Rousey is still the -175 favorite.

The fight itself led to, by a significant margin, the most talk after an event of any UFC fight in history. Coverage of Rousey losing was the lead sports story on ESPN on a night of college football action and a morning leading to NFL games. With the exception of the terrorist attacks, nothing even came close to activity when it came to Google searches, with 15 million over the weekend for Rousey, two million for Holm, when the Democratic debates had one million and the next leading sports event, a Seahawks game, had 500,000.

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« Early PPV numbers were tremendous, with the confrontation at the weigh-ins leading to a late explosion of interest. It's way too early to have a definitive number, but the early signs are that this will be the biggest number of the year, and among the biggest in the history of the company. A few added keys are that's just North American numbers. The show was expected to break all PPV records in Australia, due to the hype. The replay buys are expected to be record setting. There are no actual figures that back that up, other than intuition, but it would be hard to believe that's not the case. And it's a lock the rematch will do significantly bigger.

While Cris Cyborg, the long-talked about dream opponent of Rousey was celebrating her defeat, it's almost amazing her lack of understanding the big picture. The Holm win makes Cyborg irrelevant for the time being. She's no longer the dream match, and if Holm beats Rousey a second time, her stalling and not cutting weight will have cost her because there will be no dream match. Sure, Holm vs. Cyborg, if Holm takes the rematch, could headline, but Holm is not going to pull anywhere near the same level of numbers.

The numbers that are out are impressive enough. The show at Melbourne's Etihad Stadium drew 56,214 fans paying $9,530,000 Australian ($6.76 million U.S., so it would be the fourth biggest gate in history in U.S. dollars). The attendance broke the UFC's all-time record of 55,724 (but not the gate record of $12,075,000) set at UFC 129 on April 30, 2011, at Rogers Centre in Toronto for the Georges St-Pierre vs. Jake Shields welterweight title match.

The number was almost identical to the 56,032 that WWE drew in 2002 in the same Stadium, although the gate for that show was less than one-third that of the UFC show. UFC also broke the venue merchandise record.

It should be noted that the Toronto attendance was far more impressive. For one, Toronto was a complete paid crowd, sold out, and Rogers Centre officials told us that based on the volume of the ticket demand the first weekend, that they could have sold 105,000 tickets to the show. For this event, to break the record, there was enough papering that it was a story about free tickets being out. The paid had hit 46,000 a couple of weeks ago, and given the gate, there is no way the live attendance can be viewed as anything but a big success, but it was not the most successful show in history.

It was also not sold out, as there were a significant amount of upper deck seats empty. WWE sold out the building with a similar number, but they had a big stage blocking a lot of seats, and the UFC show had far more chairs on the stadium floor than the WWE show did.

Under any circumstances, the very suggestion that it would be possible for a show headlined by two women fights to draw more than 50,000 fans live and 1 million buys on PPV would be laughed at two years ago.

Television numbers all weekend were strong. The weigh-ins on 11/13 did 161,000 viewers, up 44 percent from usual. The prefight show did 576,000 viewers, the second biggest number in the history of a PPV prefight show on FS 1, and the biggest in the 18-49 demo.

The prelims drew 1,394,000 viewers on FS 1, and another 300,000 on Fox Sports Deportes. It was the third most-watched PPV prelims in FS 1 history. While we don't have an exact breakdown, the show did far more women viewers, by percentage, than a usual UFC event. The only PPV prelim show that beat it overall this year was the 1/31 show that did 1,546,000 viewers, but that show had Miesha Tate fighting in the prelims, as opposed to being headlined by Jake Matthews vs. Akbarh Arreola. The Matthews vs. Arreola match peaked viewership with 1,776,000 viewers in English and well over 300,000 more in Spanish.

The 8/1 prelims, on the night of Rousey vs. Bethe Correia, did 1,322,000 viewers, but that was also against far easier competition, as the prelims were going head-to-head with the Democratic party debate and major college football games on two networks as well as ESPN and ESPN 2.

The post fight show, which didn't air until nearly 2 a.m., still did 490,000 viewers, the largest for a post fight show after a PPV in history. It also drew another 157,000 viewers for a 3:30 a.m. replay, 66,000 at 6 a.m. and 147,000 at 8 a.m.

The Fox Sports web site had its most number of unique visitors, visits and page views the next day of any day all year, even after the Super Bowl, Final Four of Mayweather vs. Pacquiao. Of the ten most viewed videos on the site that day, seven were of the fight or the participants in the fight.

The other goal of the show was to have a huge audience that is open to women fighters as stars, and put strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk on with the idea of making her a star for when Rousey leaves, since Rousey has hinted at retirement more than once. The idea was sound, but Jedrzejczyk did a workmanlike performance, nothing spectacular, but was just quicker and busier than opponent Valerie Letourneau. Jedrzejczyk retained her title in a five round decision and landed 258 strikes in the fight. Jedrzejczyk suffered a broken hand in the fight, and that will likely delay the proposed title defense next against Claudia Gadelha.

The $50,000 bonuses went to Rousey vs. Holm as the best fight, and bonuses for Holm and Kyle Noke for finishes.

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« 1. Ben Nguyen (15-5) beat (8-4) in 2:35 in a fight. Nguyen hurt him with a left and right and took him down. Nguyen was working for a choke, and opened Benoit up by punching him from back position, flattened him up and got the choke.

2. James Moontasri (9-3) beat Anton Zafir (7-2) in 4:36 of a welterweight fight. Moontasri landed a spinning back kick to the ribs, followed by a spinning backfist, and he finished Zafir with punches on the ground. Zafir thought his ribs were broken.

3. Richard Walsh (9-4) beat Steven Kennedy (22-8) on scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 in a welterweight fight. The first round was close as Walsh scored with low kicks and punches. Kennedy's left leg was all bruised up, but then Kennedy got a takedown, got Walsh's back and worked for a choke and a Kimura. The second round saw Walsh doing better on the stand-up, then blocked a takedown and landed on top and threw punches from the top. Kennedy got a takedown late. Walsh dominated the third round.

4. Daniel Kelly (10-1) beat Steve Montgomery (8-4) on straight 29-28 scores in a middleweight fight. Kelly did well in the first round, landing punches from close range, scoring a judo takedown and landing elbows and punches. He got a second judo takedown and elbows on the ground, followed by another takedown. But in the second round, Kelly got tired and Montgomery did better on the standup. Kelly landed another judo throw and worked for a guillotine and a D'arce choke but couldn't finish. Montgomery dominated the rest of the round after getting up, with punches and knees, so it was even going into the third. Montgomery was blocking takedowns and landing more, and seemed on the verge of winning the fight. Kelly then threw him down, got his back and worked for a choke. Kelly got full mount, and landed punches from the top and worked for a head-and-arm choke. He didn't finish Montgomery but did enough to win the third round late.

5. Danny Martinez (18-7) beat Richie Vaculik (10-5) on straight 30-27 scores in a flyweight fight. Vaculik fought at 155 on and is now fighting at 125. Both had first round takedowns but Martinez landed more. In the second round, Martinez got a takedown and a knockdown. Vaculik then got his back, but Martinez reversed to the top, and scored another takedown. In the third round, each man got an early takedown. Martinez scored two more takedowns and landed punches on the ground to win.

6. Gian Villante (14-6) beat Anthony Perosh (15-10) in 2:56. Villante is a lot more patient after losing the fight. He was landing more and knocked Perosh out with a right to the jaw. Perosh, who is 43, has been knocked out three times now in his last five fights, which may be a sign it's time to get out.

7. Kyle Noke (22-7-1) beat Peter Sobotta (15-5-1) in 2:01 of a welterweight fight. Noke is a popular Australian since he's been around a long time. Noke landed a front kick to the ribs and Sobotta collapsed on the ground, looking like the textbook paralyzing liver kick. Noke landed a few punches and it was stopped.

8. Jake Matthews (10-1) beat Akbarh Arreola (23-10-1) via doctor stoppage after the second round in a fight. Matthews, at 21, is Australia's big MMA hope. He was looking great as a powerful wrestler at his weight, until James Vick stopped his takedowns in his last fight. He had trouble here in the first round, as Arreola dropped him with a head kick and worked for a choke. Matthews escaped, got on top and was pounding the hell out of Arreola at the end of the round. The round ending probably saved Arreola. In the second round, Matthews took Arreola down and landed hard elbows that cut him up badly. He dominated round two and it should have been a 10-8 round. When the round was over, the doctor examined Arreola, who had a nasty cut and hematoma over his right eye, and it was stopped. Exciting fight.

9. Jared Rosholt (14-2) beat Stefan Struve (30-8) on straight 29-28 scores in a heavyweight fight. A boring fight that the crowd booed, and one that in reality, both the winner and loser really lost. It started slow standing and fans booed. Rosholt got a takedown and stayed on top, often in side control, for most of the rest of the round. Lots more booing. Rosholt got two takedowns in the second round and stayed on top most of the way. Struve did land some elbows from his back. Struve clearly needed a finish in the third round. Struve did well landing a lot of punches, low kicks and a high kick, and blocked Rosholt's takedowns. Rosholt did get a takedown into side control, but Struve got up. Rosholt was so tired that Struve took him down late and was landing elbows, but couldn't finish him and lost the decision. Because of his size, Struve, who is a legit 6-foot-11 ½ and 280 pounds, was thought to be a future star but he's never been able to use his reach the way he should standing, and isn't good enough at stopping takedowns and getting to his feet to beat the top fighters, even though he did once beat Stipe Miocic.

10. Robert Whittaker (16-4) beat Uriah Hall (13-6) on scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 in a middleweight fight. This was the same story as so many of Hall's fights, in the sense you watch the fight and it's clear Hall is the better fighter, but he still clearly loses. It was a big win for Whittaker as another Australian star, but it wasn't the type of win that made you think he could hang with the top level middleweights. Hall at one point went for a style double spin kick, but Whittaker took him down and landed from the top and got the mount and landed punches. Hall reversed at the end of the round, but it was clearly Whittaker's round. Whittaker hurt Hall with a right. Whittaker then landed a punch to the eye and Hall was having trouble seeing. The ref called it an eye poke and stopped the fight to allow Hall to recover. The ref blew the call as you can't stop the fight for a time out when the injury is caused by a legal blow. Whittaker clearly won the round so Hall needed a finish. Hall came out aggressively, but Whittaker hurt him with punches. Hall then started landing, with a head kick, flying knee and another

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« head kick. Whittaker was just trying to tie him up and stall out the round. Hall with a great front kick. Whittaker scored with a nice right, and then Whittaker took him down late to end the threat. Very good fight.

11. Mark Hunt (11-10-1) beat Antonio Silva (19-8, 1 no contest) in 3:41 of a heavyweight fight. Silva is just done without TRT being legal. It's not healthy for him without it due to his acromegaly and the surgery to remove the tumor. Hunt landed some low kicks and a hard body shot, and dropped Silva with a right to the side of the head and another punch on the ground and it was over. Since the TRT ban, Silva, 36, is 1-3, with all three losses being via first round knockout. Those aren't good stats as far as going forward.

12. Joanna Jedrzejczyk (11-0) beat Valerie Letourneau (8-4) via decision on scores of 49-46, 49-46 and 50- 45 to retain the strawweight title. I thought Letourneau won the first round, was competitive in the second, and was outworked in the last three rounds. Letourneau was a lot bigger, so had to cut a lot more weight (she used to fight at 135, now she's fighting at 115, a big difference for women) which worked against her as the fight went on. In addition, Jedrzejczyk was a lot faster. Letourneau got her down in the first round and was punching on the ground. Jedrzejczyk landed a great kick to the face which spun Letourneau around later in the round. In the second round they were exchanging shots. Letourneau landed the best shot but Jedrzejczyk was busier. Jedrzejczyk took over in the third, landing a lot as Letourneau tired, and bruised up her face. It got more one-sided in the fourth round. By the fifth round, Letourneau's left leg was all red and she had major swelling over both eyes. Both women by the end looked like they'd been in a war but there was no question who won the war.

13. Holly Holm (10-0) beat Ronda Rousey (12-1) at :59 of the second round to win the title. Rousey got the superstar reaction coming out, but started going heel to the crowd when she refused to touch gloves. Holm started landing the left jab early and a side kick. She also targeted Rousey's bad knee with kicks ala . Rousey landed a right and got the clinch, but Holm got away. Holm started landing rights until Rousey got another clinch, and this time got her down, but Holm escaped from a bad position armbar attempt. Holm went back to kicking at the knee and dancing away. Holm continued to land lefts and Rousey looked panicked and exhausted. Holm even took her down at the end of the round. Rousey was clearly in rough shape at the start of the second round, her nose may have been broken and she was getting hit with lefts and a side kick. She threw a lunging punch that came nowhere near Holm, with such force that she fell down. When she got up, she was nailed with a punch, and Holm followed up with a the left high kick that knocked Rousey out. It was stopped after punches on the ground.

***************************************************************** There were few men in modern pro wrestling who had the amount of respect among their peers as Nick Bockwinkel, who passed away on 11/14 at the age of 80.

Perhaps the best example was seven months ago, in what was his last public appearance, on 4/14. Bockwinkel was at the 's Baloney Blowout . In a cruel twist of fate, Bockwinkel, the man noted for his great mind and verbal ability, fell victim to issues far too familiar to older wrestlers and contract sports athletes, with their memories and what made them tick taken away from them.

It had been kept quiet that Bockwinkel was having issues, until mentioned it. His friends had talked about it for years, and were heartbroken about it. I can sympathize, because my last conversation with Bockwinkel, a few years ago, was almost identical to my last conversation with , who faced similar issues the last several years of his life. Without going into detail, he would tell me a story, and then, less than five minutes later, tell me the same story. When someone you learned so much from is like that, it was really heartbreaking, and even more so when it was someone who throughout his life was known for his intelligence and his ability to teach.

At the Cauliflower Alley banquet, I was told that Bockwinkel didn't even recognize a lot of his friends, although one person noted he was asking about his friend Patrick Patterson the first day. On the second day, at the Baloney Blowout, Brian Blair, who had replaced Bockwinkel as the figurehead President of the Club, announced that forever more, the Tuesday night event will be called the Nick Bockwinkel Baloney Blowout. As Bockwinkel was leaving, Blair asked everyone in the room, filled with his contemporaries, many of the most ardent fans, and many younger wrestlers, to give him "one last standing ovation." The description to me is that seeing everyone look at him, stand up and give him a big reaction was something he could no longer understand completely. He bowed his head and tears rolled down his face. He and wife Darlene left the room. Most in the room realized it was the last time they would ever see him as he wasn't going to be attending the banquet the next night, and the word was out this was going to be his last public appearance.

His friends said he was suffering from Alzheimer's, something his family denied and was furious had gotten out. Bockwinkel was a proud man with a great reputation and his family, and those at the Cauliflower Alley Club, were unhappy at Ric Flair, who had great reverence for Bockwinkel and who noted how much he helped him when he was a rookie, and later myself, for mentioning his issues.

Mick Karch, who in the 70s was the President of the "Worldwide Bockwinkel Brigade," considered the top fan club for any pro wrestler of that era, was there.

Karch had slowly over the years won Bockwinkel's trust, after agreeing to allow him to run his fan club, and then telling him that he'd give him if any time or cooperation with it. He ended up giving him more KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« time and cooperation than almost any wrestler of the era did to their fan club. Then, some 15 years later, after seeing tapes of Karch announcing for Tony Condello in Winnipeg, suggested to to hire Karch, who then became an AWA announcer and interviewer.

He also recognized this was probably the last time he'd ever see Bockwinkel.

"It was so surreal to me," wrote Karch in an article for Slam!

Wrestling. "So much history between us, my mentor, my friend, was riding off into the sunset.

Bockwinkel was sitting down with his wife, Darlene, and Karch came up to him and said, "I love ya, Bockwinkel. You know that, don't you?" Bockwinkel said, "You do, huh?"

"I felt a lump in my throat and said, `Damn right.' With that, Nick started to cry, which promoted me to do the same. I looked at him and said, `Nick, I wouldn't be here, I wouldn't have any of this, if it wasn't for you.' We shook hands and I went on my way, leaving him to bask in the glow of the adoration he was receiving from everyone."

Most will remember Bockwinkel with the huge gaudy belt, the "giant license plate," as he would sometimes jokingly refer to it, in his words, "emblematic of being the best wrestler in the world." He was a four-time AWA champion, the dominant champion from 1975 through 1987, and the most widely traveled champion in the history of what was considered during that period as one of the big three titles in .

But he had a sense of humor about it. In the business, through at least the end of 1983, most considered the NWA championship as the leading belt in the industry. was the biggest drawing in wrestling during his heyday and the WWWF title he and dominated covered the Northeast, including the most populous cities and , the NWA belt was recognized in far more places. Bockwinkel's AWA title belt was the king in the Midwest, where he, like Verne Gagne, , and others, were symbols of a golden era, household cultural names, for people who grew up in cities from to , Winnipeg to Omaha, and most points in between.

Bockwinkel, as champion, wrestled at times in a number of NWA and unaffiliated territories as champion, including strong wrestling markets like Houston, , and in Alberta, where his title supplanted the formerly recognized NWA belt as the key title the local stars would chase. Many would consider the Bockwinkel & duo as champion and manager to be the best all- around package of its type in at the time, and arguably ever, as far as a top star/manager combination. The closest modern comparison would be the heel C.M. Punk's long title reign with as manager. Punk, like Bockwinkel, was a great talker on his own, and one could argue didn't need a manager. But the manager made the championship act that much more effective. The Punk/Heyman act was together only a short time, while Bockwinkel and Heenan were together, on-and-off, for a decade.

During that era, in , Ribera steakhouse, a small hole-in-the-wall place in was a hangout of wrestlers, made famous by the Ribera jackets that the biggest stars would wear in public. The place featured autographed photos of the biggest stars as they ate there. , Bockwinkel's contemporary as NWA champion, signed his photo, "Harley Race, six-time REAL world champion," with the idea that the NWA always pushed that there were other champions, but the NWA belt was the real one, claiming its history dated back to the Gotch-Hackenschmidt days.

The National Wrestling Alliance was actually the name of a regional world title in the 40s, which became the major worldwide alliance of promoters from a meeting in 1948, the top organization as it grew in popularity by 1949, and created the closest thing to a worldwide recognized world champion within a few years due to the booking and political savvy of President and the respect of perennial champion . Muchnick had commissioned a history, not completely accurate, but not far from accurate, tracing an NWA world title lineage to those famous matches.

Bockwinkel, in autographing a photo and seeing what Race wrote, signed his, "Nick Bockwinkel, three- time semi-real world heavyweight champion."

"He was one of the brightest guys, in or out of the business, that I ever met," said Vice President of Operations Gary Juster, who grew up in the Twin Cities as a fan watching Bockwinkel. It was Bockwinkel who was responsible for getting him into what was a very closed business in that era. "He was incredibly classy, up on world events, super quick witted. He mentored me and introduced me to Verne Gagne, and really is responsible for me getting my start in the business."

Nicholas Warren Francis Bockwinkel was born December 6, 1934, the son of Warren Bockwinkel, a St. Louis native from the days of the Businessman's Gym. The gym was more akin to a modern MMA gym than a pro wrestling training school of today, in the sense that everyone trained actual wrestling under former Olympian George Tragos. Once they were deemed good enough at actual wrestling to turn pro, then they started being taught working.

Warren Bockwinkel was five years older than the gym's star wrestler, Lou Thesz. Warren Bockwinkel broke in just before Thesz. His father's flirtation with wrestling started when he lost a fight to a wrestler

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« from that gym, and wanted to learn the techniques used again him.

Thesz loved to tell the story about how he, early on, was holding a baby Nick Bockwinkel, who peed all over him, particularly later when Bockwinkel was a recognized world champion, and later, when Thesz was President of the Cauliflower Alley Club and Bockwinkel was Vice President.

Being the son of a pro wrestler meant traveling all over the country. Bockwinkel went to high school in , where he was a star football player and a good wrestler. He went to high school with the daughters of the Sharpe Brothers, the dominant of the era, and was a contemporary football rival of John Madden.

One day, when he was brought to San Francisco in 1997 when a Japanese television station was producing a television special on Stevens that we both were part of, we went around to his different hangouts, as he talked about growing up and watching The Sharpe Brothers, and .

His father had trained him in wrestling from the age of six.

But because his father traveled, he actually attended six different high schools around the country. He got a football scholarship to the University of Oklahoma, and was going to wrestle there as well. But he blew out his knee in his freshman year, came back, and the knee went out again.

"At a college like that, No. 1 in the nation (this was during the Bud Wilkinson era where Oklahoma won what is still the all-time collegiate record of 47 straight games), they don't keep you if you're a freshman and have had two knee operations."

He came to Southern , and attended UCLA while also wrestling, getting a push as a new young 19-year-old star as something of a 50s teenage heartthrob type babyface. The idea was to wrestle to pay for college. He got a degree from UCLA in marketing, but ended up never using it.

He sometimes headlined in a tag team with his father, who was finishing up his career. While Bockwinkel is generally thought of as one of the great arrogant wrestling heels of all-time, he was mostly a babyface from his debut in 1954, until 1970.

He was trained for pro wrestling by his father, Thesz and . He'd only been wrestling a few months when he won the International Beat the Champ TV title on two occasions. A few years later, using the name Dick Warren, while also doing military duty, he and Ramon Torres, of the famous Torres brothers, held the West Coast version of the world tag team title twice.

He was a star everywhere he worked for virtually the entirety of his full-time career, which ended with his 1987 retirement, at the age of 52. He could see the AWA was on its last legs, and he got an offer to come to WWF. They wanted him as a road agent and not a wrestler, even though he was still better than the vast majority of the wrestlers on the WWF roster at the time. For a promotion building around youth and steroid bodies, Bockwinkel would have been a fish out of water, and wasn't going to get a push even if they did want him to wrestle.

But times had changed. In the pre-1984 era, Bockwinkel, the veteran great worker and one of the three major champions of the business, was as highly respected as anyone. His goal was to always have a good match. He had a high opinion of his talents, deservedly so, even though he would always talk of his long-time partner, , with reverence. He often would say that if Stevens was hung over from an all-night binge, and he was at his best, on those days, he was close to as good as Stevens.

His talent was creating dramatic matches with character babyfaces, most notably Crusher, or older wrestlers in the 80s like Mad Dog Vachon, Baron Von Raschke, and even , as well as being the favorite opponent of Verne Gagne, the territory's owner.

When Crusher passed away, he noted, with no attempt at false modesty, that when people would talk with him about the great sellout matches at the Amphitheater in Chicago with he and Stevens against Bruiser & Crusher, he said, "I'll take all the credit for those matches with Ray Stevens, because we deserved it."

He worked 17 straight years as a main event heel in the same territory, and was effective in that role until the promotion fell apart, never getting stale. , who worked with all the great champions of the era, had his best title matches with Bockwinkel and always called him the best world champion he ever faced. Unlike most top performers, there was no Nick Bockwinkel style match or patterned sequences of moves. He used a piledriver as a finish early, but in his world title run, he often used the figure four.

Philosophically, he was similar to , in the sense he was about making a match exciting, heavily relying on psychology and storytelling, while not wanting to get hurt in doing so. But he was far less patterned. That philosophy led to his longevity at the top, as he avoided the crippling injuries and was still working at the top level into his 50s. In particular, he wasn't fond of working with Wahoo McDaniel, one of the top stars of the era, because he didn't enjoy taking the hard chops. The idea was to make everything believable, lay stuff in, but without risking unnecessary injury to himself or his opponent.

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« "I knew how to wrestle a little bit, but I was not a in any capacity," he said in the book "The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Heels," that named him one of the greatest heels of all-time. "I worked hard. I worked enthusiastically. I didn't want anyone to see any holes in my work. By that, I meant the guy at ringside, the 10th row of ringside, the 15th row of ringside. So I laid them in. Now, I didn't lay them in with the knuckles as much as the whole forearm. If you can't take the pounding, then God almighty, it's not a sewing circle."

But he was the conductor, and felt strongly about what that role meant. As the world champion heel, he controlled the workings of his matches, and he grew frustrated with guys who wouldn't listen to his veteran advice, or guys who worked a dominating style and didn't show respect for his standing and didn't give him offense befitting his standing, pointing out names like , and .

When the younger bodybuilders took over from the old school wrestlers in the mid-80s, in his interviews, he would note how he and Stevens never wore scary costumes nor painted their faces, but had been main eventers for 30 years, "So think how good we must be." He would joke, "What do you call a bodybuilder with mirrors on four sides?" The answer, was, "A prisoner."

There are things he wouldn't have liked about today's wrestling, whether it be the brutal stiff matches in Japan, or performing before an audience that wanted to be in charge of the action.

I can recall being at a show at the Cow Palace in San Francisco in the mid-80s San Francisco, where Bockwinkel was the challenger in an AWA title match against . They were going about 35 minutes so started slow. Bockwinkel held Martel in a long headlock and fans were chanting "Boring." Most wrestlers would have taken that as a cue to get up and do a high spot. Bockwinkel took the opposite approach. He told me that the conductor at the symphony isn't told by the audience what to do. He held Martel in a headlock even longer, and yelled at those who were chanting, saying, "Rick, you're boring your fans."

I can also recall 16 years later, sitting with Bockwinkel at the original King of Indies. Unlike most wrestlers of his era who weren't as open-minded to changing styles, Bockwinkel enjoyed the tournament that included some of the best young wrestlers of the time, such as Bryan Danielson, Joe, A.J. Styles, , , and . As Danielson was wrestling Kendrick, he was beaming, talking about how when he was champion, he would loved to have shared the ring with someone so talented. He said guys of his era didn't like giving the modern wrestlers credit, but that Danielson was as talented as anyone from his era, which is notable because in his era, a guy the size of Danielson would have never gotten a push when you had to be heavyweight size (or, like , the son of a promoter) to headline in a major money territory.

When the match was over, he, Red Bastien and much of the audience stood up and gave both men a standing ovation. And then he left. He came back several minutes later and I asked where he went, and he said he went to find Danielson to tell him that in his heyday, he'd have been proud to work on the same card as him.

The plan for the King of Indies, promoted by Roland Alexander in 2001, was for , Alexander's head trainer, to beat Danielson in the semifinals and Low Ki in the finals. It made the most business sense, putting your own guy over.

The Danielson vs. Kendrick match took place on the first night. After the show, Bockwinkel went to Alexander, and said, "If you don't put that guy over, you're crazy," pointing to Danielson. Alexander had so much respect for Bockwinkel's opinion, that he not only changed the finish, but in order to make it make sense for his business, also offered Danielson the head coaching position at his school.

Bockwinkel's first match with Gagne's AWA may have been in 1962 (he had matches in 's AWA, the American Wrestling Alliance as opposed to Gagne's American Wrestling Association years earlier), coming in as the tag team partner of local star Tiny Mills in a tournament for the vacant AWA tag titles (Otto Von Krupp, who was later better known as Professor Boris Malenko, who held the titles with partner , was injured). As the outsider, his team lost in the first round.

He was a star in a number of territories as the dark haired crewcut babyface, looking somewhat like football star Johnny Unitas. It wasn't until late in his career when he grew his hair out and colored it frosty blond as a heel.

In 1964, while working in Oregon, he and Nick Kozak formed a tag team, feuding with The Destroyer () & Art Michalik, who were part of a three-man unit of ex-football stars with Don Manoukian. Michalik was best known as the man responsible for the invention of the face mask in the NFL. While playing with the San Francisco 49ers, he smashed his elbow into the face of football legend Otto Graham of the Cleveland Browns causing a concussion and splitting his lip and cheek open. Paul Brown, the coach of the Browns, then sent Graham back into play with a face bar added to his helmet.

But the most famous part of Bockwinkel's career started in late 1970, when he returned to the AWA, and got over so strong as a heel, that it remained his home base until the end of his career.

His first heel run started shortly before his AWA debut. He was wrestling in as a babyface,

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« holding the Georgia heavyweight title. When world champion Jr., would come to town, Bockwinkel got regular shots at him, always coming up short. The frustration at being unable to beat Funk Jr. led to a slow heel turn.

Bockwinkel traced the turn to one interview.

"I said, `Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, page 1,348, the far right column, the 36th word down is `Funk.' F-U-N-K. Definition–to retreat in terror, to be afraid, to be not confident.' I slammed the other half of the book closed. I said, 'Thank you,' and I walked off. The TV station said they got more response, the office got more response, just out of that little tidbit."

Funk Jr., who was NWA champion from 1969 to 1973, said that he rated Bockwinkel at the top of the list of his challengers, right along with , Harley Race, and McDaniel.

When he arrived in the AWA, he had somewhat long, thick, blond hair. Bockwinkel had a natural arrogance and billed himself as being a rich sports star who lived in Beverly Hills, CA, with the idea he ran in the same social circles as the A-listers of the era. He would refer to the wrestling fans as "cretinous humanoids," (Bobby Heenan calling fans humanoids came from copying Bockwinkel) and "8 to 5 lifers."

He had done some acting, usually working as a bad guy heavy when they wanted a big guy with a good physique and that was also good looking. He had a small role in an episode of "The Monkees" TV show, and, while living in , was on the original "Hawaii Five-O," television show a few times. He wasn't a workout fanatic or a steroid guy, but was blessed with good genetics and structure, able to carry about 240 pounds on a 6-foot-1 frame and have a very fit athletic looking body. Between maintaining a tan and his genetics, the body allowed him to look years younger than he was, particularly in a period when steroid use wasn't so prevalent so people's views of an athletic physique hadn't been as warped.

His few acting credits in wrestling in those days was parlayed into the idea he was a Hollywood TV star, which played well to fans in the Midwest where those type of people were outsiders in their more rugged cultural of living in a far more brutal climate. During his entire AWA run, they would pretend he lived in Beverly Hills, not Minneapolis, and commuted to the area, while bragging about how much better things were, from the weather to the women, where he lived.

"The Lean Mean Machine, Tricky Nicky Bockwinkel," quickly became the leading singles rival of Verne Gagne, the sports hero and Midwest wrestling legendary world champion. The contrast also worked with the California pretty boy going against the street fighting legend, the cigar chomping and beer-drinking Crusher from Milwaukee.

When Gagne brought in Ray Stevens several months later, billed from San Francisco, where Stevens was the wrestling legend, he paired the two of them up. They quickly defeated Bastien & Crusher for the AWA world tag team championship on January 20, 1972, in Denver. With a few brief interruptions, they held those titles until August 16, 1975, losing to Crusher & , in Chicago.

Because Gagne only wrestled sparingly, maybe 15 to 20 title defenses a year, the business was largely built around the tag team championship. The two were considered the premier tag team in the business during that era, and also worked outside the AWA in places like and . The Bockwinkel & Stevens era as champions, working against various combinations of babyfaces like Crusher, Bastien, Billy Robinson, , McDaniel, Dr. X (Dick Beyer), Gagne, Bruiser and , was the AWA's best drawing era until the era in the early 80s. At first the team went solo, but later added Heenan to the package as manager.

Teaming with Stevens was one of Bockwinkel's career highlights. He noted that he worked in San Francisco in the early 60s when Stevens set the area on fire and was regarded as the Ric Flair or of his era. He would talk about how he and Wilbur Snyder were the world tag team champions working underneath the Stevens vs. U.S. title feud, the biggest in the history of the area. Stevens to him was the gold standard. Whenever he would praise someone in the ring as being one of the best, the term was, "He was almost as talented as Ray Stevens." Gomez was another personal favorite. He noted to me when Gomez passed away that, "I named my dog `Pepper,' and that is the highest honor in my household."

The two were among the greatest and most successful tag teams of all-time. Both specialized in making their opponents look good, but had the ability to always stay over. It helped that they usually cheated to win, with the favorite finish being Stevens doing the Bombs Away, a kneedrop off the top rope, a move illegal in the AWA, behind the referee's back.

The two were a contrast with the erudite' Bockwinkel, who exuded class, dressed well and used big words in his promos like a college professor, and Stevens, gruff, who was like the kid in high school who was constantly in detention for looking up girls skirts.

Some of their best work came on promos when they would do shots in Honolulu, where Bockwinkel, who had previously been a top babyface when he was a regular on the islands, would speak eloquently, and then Stevens would look at Lord James Blears, a British transplant who booked the promotion and hosted the television show, and close the interview saying,"There's only two good things that ever came

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« out of , and Elizabeth Taylor's got both of them."

Bockwinkel's interviews came because he had a little notebook, and whenever he'd read a multi- syllable word he didn't know, he would go to the dictionary, and put the meaning in his notebook, and figure a way to work it into his promos.

"I used the four, five or six syllable words as best I could," said Bockwinkel.

He'd study 70 or 80 words in his notebook and when he would do his interviews, which were usually off the top of his head, the words would come naturally to him.

Flair was breaking into wrestling in late 1972, and while he palled around with , and was enamored with Stevens and , he had great respect for Bockwinkel.

"Nick was one of the greatest guys I ever met in my life," said Flair. "He wasn't Ray Stevens or Dusty Rhodes, but he was a great promo. He was the modern day , dressed like a star, great technician,, really nice guy. I wasn't mesmerized by him like I was with Ray and Dusty, but every day he would call me aside to give me advice. He meant a lot to me. He became a great friend. He was a great wrestler, a great champion and a great representative of our business. 8-to-5 humanoid lifers, what a great promo back then."

Even though Flair started his career in the AWA, he was a prelim wrestler and Bockwinkel was a headliner. The two may have only wrestled once in singles, on January 16, 1986, in Winnipeg, going to a long double count out in a very good, but not a blow away match. It's funny because people who grew up in the city, and even those in the match like Flair, often recalled it as a title vs. title match. But the match was held when Bockwinkel wasn't AWA champion and only Flair's title was at stake, which was highly unusual since the NWA title was never defended in Winnipeg otherwise. Many in the city also remembered it as a 60 minute draw, which it also wasn't. Because of who was involved, many also remember it as the best match of the era at the Winnipeg Arena, whether it was or wasn't.

Chris Jericho grew up in Winnipeg during that period, when a huge percentage of people in the city would watch the AWA television show and then Hockey Night in Canada. While the story goes around that Jericho was in the front row of the Flair vs. Bockwinkel match, he said that wasn't the case. The well dressed and well-spoken heel that reinvented himself as in 2007 for his first comeback after a multi-year sabbatical, and led to the best run of his career, was from a combination of characters, but much of it, particularly the way he dressed, the hair and the promo style, was taken from the heel champion character that Bockwinkel played.

"So when I had the idea to turn heel in 2007, because I felt I was very stagnant as a babyface, I based it around two things," said Jericho. "One was a character in the movie, `No Country for Old Men,' a straight forward no-nonsense serial killer who talked very slowly and very deliberately, and the other was Nick Bockwinkel.

"The WWE had just put out the AWA DVD and I watched it and remembered how great Nick Bockwinkel was. I started wearing the suits that nobody was wearing at the time, and also took his delivery on promos, not yelling, not screaming, very matter-of-fact, very intelligent, using those big words, talking over people's heads. I remember watching as a kid, I didn't like him, because he was a heel, but one of the reasons was he talked over everyone's head and he was holier than thou. When I talked to him in Las Vegas, he said, `Big words equals heat. Use big words that people don't understand and it will piss people off because they'll know you're smarter than them and nobody wants to be reminded people are smarter than them. Nobody likes to feel stupid.' So that's where I got the basis of the character. A lot of it was Bockwinkel for his use of those big, big words."

The title loss was to move the focus of the promotion from the tag team title to the AWA title, with Bockwinkel as champion. He defeated Verne Gagne on November 8, 1975, in St. Paul. The win, to those in the Midwest, was a total shock, as Gagne had held the title since beating Mad Dog Vachon on February 26, 1967. There was a two week title reign in 1968 by Dr. X, Dick Beyer, in the Twin Cities, but the rest of the territory never knew about it, so to most fans, Gagne had been champion for eight years and eight months straight, and had beaten Bockwinkel numerous times in every city over the previous five years.

That was part of the psychology, because Bockwinkel was the perfect opponent for Gagne to chase, and the promotion was always about placating Gagne's ego. Since Gagne didn't work full-time, the storyline was that Bockwinkel was refusing to give him title matches. The fans all knew that when Gagne was champion, he beat Bockwinkel numerous times, and that Bockwinkel knew it as well. So when Gagne would get a rare title shot, people thought he'd get it back since they were so used to Gagne always being the world champion. But Bockwinkel, for years, would always escape with some sort of technicality. And he was able to make the aging Gagne look like he was the same Gagne that everyone remembered even though by this time Gagne and Crusher were both in their 50s. In addition, he had the ability to make Greg Gagne, Verne's son, look like a potential world champion when they worked together.

During this period, Bockwinkel once even retained his title doing what may have been 's only 60 minute draw, which he admitted was not one of his better matches, but he didn't think

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« anyone else ever did that with Andre.

As far as the portrayal of a world champion, Bockwinkel, was one of the classic champions of modern times. While champion, he was approached by Jack Adkisson () and asked if he was interested in becoming the NWA champion.

The NWA title in that era made you viewed by many as the biggest star in pro wrestling, and with the exception of Andre the Giant and Bruno Sammartino, would have made him the highest paid wrestler in North America. Virtually everyone in the business wanted the title. It have you a worldwide legacy, and even after losing, just having held it once in your career made you a star in most parts of North America as well as Japan .

Bockwinkel told me he considered it, but then thought that he was making about $150,000 a year, which was very good money in the 70s, and working about 180 dates, while based in one territory. He also had a relaxed summer schedule since the AWA cut down on dates during the warm weather with the idea those in the Midwest would take vacations, plus Crusher would routinely invent a problem with Gagne just before the summer would start, have a fight, and quit, taking the entire season off, before calling to make up when the weather would start to get cold. Bockwinkel said he didn't know, but he figured that Race, the NWA champion, was making about $350,000 a year working more than 300 dates (and his estimate of Race's pay may have been high), and felt it just wasn't worth it.

Bockwinkel was very strong in thinking business. He was part of the AWA's booking meetings from the mid-70s until leaving the organization. In the early 80s, figuring his active career was coming to a close, he bought a percentage of the Houston office from . Boesch had become disenchanted with the NWA after Race had no-showed two dates for him. To illustrate just how much Boesch hated no- shows, the two matches Race missed as champion were four years apart, one in 1977 and the other in 1981. The second one caused Boesch to recognize Bockwinkel as his world champion. Bockwinkel faced a steady stream of the top babyfaces of the era that Boesch would bring into town, different foes than he'd meet in the AWA, like Bruiser Brody, Dusty Rhodes, , , , Mil Mascaras, Chavo Guerrero and others.

As a part-owner, Bockwinkel made sure to appear regularly in Houston. Boesch was one of the best paying promoters, and as part owner, if he could help draw a big house, it meant a double payoff. His idea was that when his career was over, he'd move to Houston and eventually, when Boesch retired, take over the promotion.

But wrestling changed and the regional office concept was gone by the time Bockwinkel retired. Instead, after his time as a road agent in WWF was over, he instead became an insurance salesman and financial planner. He eventually moved from Minnesota to Las Vegas in 1999, where he spent a lot of time on the golf course. He also had a short run as the figurehead commissioner of WCW in 1994. The idea sounded good on paper, as Bockwinkel had the credibility of being a legendary performer, and talking was his strong point, but it wasn't a good mix, and didn't last very long. He also helped promote some WCW shows when they came to the Twin Cities.

But as much as he did think business, he also thought lifestyle. He had told me that his favorite period of his career was not when he was one of the biggest names in the business in the 70s and 80s, but when he was a major star in Hawaii during the 60s.

He noted that people all over the world would work hard all year and save up money so they could take their families to Hawaii for a week or two. He, on the other hand, had an apartment across the street from Waikiki Beach, was working three shows a week, which meant he could go to the gym every morning, hang out at the beach every day while his kids were in school, and be home with his family several nights. And when he did work, they were either short drives, or short flights to the other islands. The money wasn't big, but it was enough to live on. He noted that his kids (two girls, Johnna, born 1958, and Nikki, born 1961) got to live and spend months at a time, year-after-year, on separate occasions living in Hawaii when they were young, and they had great childhood memories of the period. He called the period one of the highlights of his life, saying it was like a long vacation, and when it was over, it cost him no money.

Hawaii was almost his regular territory for most of the 60s, living there from April through August of 1962, from April through September of 1963, from September 1964 through May 1965, from January through October in 1966, from March through December of 1967, from October 1968 to May 1969 and for the month of November of 1970, before his start in the AWA.

Bockwinkel's first title reign ended on July 18, 1980, when he lost to a 54-year-old Gagne. It was a pure vanity move. Gagne was the perennial top contender during Bockwinkel's title run. In a territory built around the very limited Crusher as its top draw, having a top heel with the ability to make limited performers look good was a must, and that was the key to Bockwinkel's long run on top.

Gagne planned on retiring with a the next year, and wanted one last title run. Gagne's original retirement match was May 9, 1981, before 15,780 fans at the St. Paul Civic Center, where he pinned Bockwinkel. But then in a shock, on television, AWA figurehead president Stanley Blackburn announced that with Gagne vacating the title by retiring, that it would take months to do a tournament involving the top contenders around the world, so he was instead awarding the title to the No. 1 contender,

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« Bockwinkel. It made no sense of course. The irony is that the decision was made by Gagne, the promoter. But Gagne, the television performer, who would try and keep sports credibility in his crazy world, was furious. He noted that the Olympics involves wrestlers from all over the world and they can get a tournament done in a few days, and, leaving the door open for a comeback, strongly hinted that if he knew the title would be given to Bockwinkel, he may not have retired.

Ironically, it was this next run that was the most financially successful. Largely due to the emergence of Hogan as pro wrestling's biggest drawing card, the AWA caught fire. While Hogan was the big draw, the main events usually featured Bockwinkel, with Heenan by his side, defending the title, often against older babyfaces and making them look young again.

In a move that came out of left field, even though business was on fire, Gagne basically sold the AWA title for a short run to Otto Wanz, the top star in and Australia. Wanz, who was an unknown in the U.S., came in with a push and shocked everyone pinning Bockwinkel on August 29, 1982, at the St. Paul Civic Center.

Few know the story, but this match started a chasm between Bockwinkel and Heenan behind-the- scenes. Bockwinkel clued nobody, not even Heenan, in that he was dropping the title. Heenan felt, and deservedly so, after such a long affiliation with Bockwinkel and Gagne, that, being at ringside, he deserved to have been clued in on that finish. While not enemies, for years Heenan would bring that up when the subject of Bockwinkel came up. For his part, Bockwinkel would never say a bad word about Heenan. He always praised him, calling him "Sir Robert," in reverence because he was so good at what he did he should be knighted. He also praised Heenan as an underrated wrestler, noting that if for some reason he or Stevens had to miss a show when they were carrying the territory as a tag team, that they could put Heenan in as a replacement and not miss a beat.

Bockwinkel regained the title on October 9, 1982, in Chicago. Wanz was then able to return home, and claim he went to the U.S. and won one of their major world titles, to give him credibility back home as not just a local star, but a worldwide star.

With Hogan as the top draw, there was the argument that he should have gotten the title. The reality is business was great the way it was. Bockwinkel would wrestle Hogan on occasion, always ending in a DQ finish because Hogan wasn't going to do a 60 minute match, nor did Gagne ever suggest Hogan lose. It was difficult because some kind of a match with a finality stipulation, like a no DQ match, Texas death match or cage match, with Hogan, would have drawn the biggest gates possible, but they were impossible to book.

It turned out to be for the best it didn't happen, although historically, things would have long-term ended up no differently. Had Hogan won the title and beaten Bockwinkel, he would have left a few months later for the WWF without doing a job and as the real world champion to every fan in the Midwest. Bockwinkel, even at 49, was the best person Gagne would have had as champion and he at least could claim that Hogan had many shots at him and never won. While going back to him as a default champion when Gagne retired worked out fine, that was because Gagne wasn't the top star working for the opposition.

Still, Gagne didn't know what was coming at the time. Gagne had reservations about giving the title to Hogan, in the sense he didn't need it. Hogan was booked similarly to Crusher, and Gagne hadn't put the title on Crusher since 1965, and never long-term. The difference is, Gagne booked Crusher to lose very rarely, usually to build up a big gate for a return. He never booked Hogan to lose because with Hogan, no revenge for a loss had been needed before he left. Plus, Hogan's main money was not in the AWA, but in Japan, and New Japan would have not wanted Hogan to lose to anyone if he wasn't going to lose to again (Inoki beat Hogan early on, but once Hogan became a big star in the AWA, Inoki never pinned him or beat him via submission).

There was also a political issue. Gagne had a deal with to where the AWA champion would work for All Japan Pro Wrestling. Hogan had a deal with rival New Japan, starting when Vince McMahon Sr. booked him when Hogan was still working for WWF during his first run with the company as a heel managed by Fred Blassie. Gagne tried to get Hogan to switch sides and give him the title, but New Japan was Hogan's big money at the time, as he was a far bigger star in Japan than in the U.S. Plus, if the belt was on Hogan, he'd be gone for long periods of time in Japan. With Bockwinkel, they could have title matches on every show, although the AWA flourished in the 70s with rare singles world title matches.

The biggest show ever in the Twin Cities, at least until WrestleMania goes there, "Super Sunday," took place on April 24, 1983, with a double main event of Bockwinkel vs. Hogan for the title, and a grudge match with Verne Gagne coming out of retirement to team with Mad Dog Vachon against Sheik Ayatollah & Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie. They sold out the 18,000-seat Civic Center well in advance, and opened up the St. Paul Auditorium for closed circuit, drawing another 5,200. They did the Dusty finish, years before it got that nickname. There was a referee bump and while the ref was down, Hogan flipped Bockwinkel over the top rope. Hogan then pinned Bockwinkel with a legdrop after the ref recovered, and Hogan was awarded the title. However, Blackburn reversed the decision, noting that at the point Hogan threw Bockwinkel over the top, it should have been a disqualification.

Hogan had so much momentum that fans were furious. But if anything, making Hogan the uncrowned champion made him stronger. At some point, a decision would have had to have been made, and the

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« Japan issue made it touchy. But Hogan left well before that point.

Gagne sold another short-term title change, this time to All Japan. Baba had bought a few one-week title runs from the NWA for himself. Knowing his days as the top star in the promotion were over, Baba purchased a run for , his heir apparent as the top star. Tsuruta beat Bockwinkel on February 22, 1984, in Tokyo, in a match at Budokan Hall in Tokyo, with as referee, in a match where Tsuruta also put up his International title.

Tsuruta, unlike Baba and Antonio Inoki, when they won the U.S. world titles, actually toured the U.S. as champion, with the idea it gave his standing as a world champion more credibility in Japan. He worked all the major AWA cities, before losing to Rick Martel on April 13, 1984. It was sad later in life when honoring Martel, a frequent opponent, at Cauliflower Alley and in other places when the subject of Martel would come up, Bockwinkel would talk of how proud he was to drop the title to Martel.

Martel and Bockwinkel headlined in numerous title matches during this period. Once, in Memphis, they actually had Bockwinkel come in as AWA champion, even though Martel was the champion, to defend against Jerry Lawler, since a few years earlier the Lawler vs. Bockwinkel program was so strong, and they left Martel wouldn't be as effective as Bockwinkel as an opponent for Lawler.

In fact, Lawler sort of won the title himself. On December 27, 1982, Lawler beat Bockwinkel, but Bockwinkel got his foot on the ropes and the referee counted to three. Lawler was announced as the new champion, and they had the celebration. This was only acknowledged in Memphis and the territory, and I believe they later ruled that the title was held up pending the rematch two weeks later.

During the interim week, on January 3, Lawler destroyed so badly in a match that Hart was said to be injured so badly, he was going to be hospitalized all week. In a booking masterpiece, Hart still vowed to be in Bockwinkel's corner the next Monday for revenge to make sure Lawler didn't get the title.

On that night, Hart appeared to be in Bockwinkel's corner (even though this was before Bobby Heenan left for the WWF, Jerry Jarrett wasn't bringing Heenan in with Bockwinkel) wrapped up with bandages from head-to-toe. Just as Lawler appeared to be on the verge of winning, the real Jimmy Hart ran to the ring and distracted him. Lawler and the crowd were stunned, Bockwinkel snuck up and got the , and the man wrapped up in the bandages revealed himself to be Andy Kaufman.

Bockwinkel finally turned babyface in the AWA, and on June 29, 1986, was scheduled to win the title in Denver from Stan Hansen. Hansen, a regular with All Japan, was caught in a political problem. He had a title defense scheduled for Japan against Tsuruta several weeks later. Baba once again played a part in getting Hansen, his top foreign star, the AWA belt. Tensions between Gagne and Hansen were high, and there was fear that Hansen, who almost never did jobs in those days, wouldn't lose the title. He wasn't told ahead of time about dropping it in Denver, but did have a sense something was going to happen. He showed up, found out he was supposed to lose that night, and walked out, taking the belt with him.

This was the end of the oversized license plate belt that Gagne and Bockwinkel had made famous, as Hansen ran over it with his truck before mailing it back in tatters, after he'd gone to Japan and defended it against Tsuruta.

So once again, Bockwinkel was champion without having beaten the champion. He tried his best, claiming that Hansen knew he was cornered and turned tail and ran out of the building in Denver. Since Bockwinkel was a babyface, fans were happy he was champion, but by this time the AWA was struggling badly. It was during this reign that Bockwinkel had his 60 minute draw on ESPN against Hennig, which was taped in Las Vegas in November, but aired on New Year's Eve.

His final title run ended unexpectedly. At the Cow Palace in San Francisco, at Superclash, pinned Bockwinkel on May 2, 1987, due to outside interference from , who handed Hennig Brass Knux and he knocked out Bockwinkel for the pin. It was a changing of the guard in many ways. Stevens was in Bockwinkel's corner, and told the referee what happened. Even though Stevens was the all-time legend of Cow Palace wrestling and Bockwinkel was the babyface, the fans had completely changed by this point. They wanted to see a title change and booed Stevens for telling the ref about the interference and foreign object. The idea was to return the title to Bockwinkel. However, Hennig got an offer from WWF and was ready to go. When he told Gagne, Gagne wanted him to stay so badly he offered him the title, and Hennig accepted, which delayed his going to WWF. So the man who had been handed the belt over-and-over, lost it for the final time in a situation he never knew about and wasn't even planned when it happened to be a switch. But it was all for the better.

The AWA was dying and Bockwinkel got his WWF offer three months later. While Gagne got a huge retirement in 1981, and the big comebacks, Bockwinkel's career as a full-timer ended quietly. As best we can tell, the last match of the Bockwinkel & Stevens team came on June 9, 1987, in Green Bay, beating Zbyszko & Brian Knobs in a co-main event before 175 fans. Bockwinkel's farewell was on August 2, 1987, in Oshkosh, WI, putting over Hennig in an AWA title match, making him a headliner and championship match participant to the very end.

There was some humor in his WWF run, since the road agents were the guys who broke up pull-aparts and beatdowns. Heenan was an announcer by that point, and one of the rules of thumb is you couldn't

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« mention the name of the former wrestlers breaking up the skirmishes, and there was even once an incident where Heenan had to pretend not to know who Bockwinkel was while broadcasting.

Bockwinkel ended up having a brief tryout as an announcer, and did four more matches after that point, a legends Battle Royal in 1987 (the only WWF match of his entire career, although he did wrestle Bob Backlund in a title vs. title match on March 25, 1979, in Toronto that went to a double count out in 39:10), a legends show in New Japan in 1990 where he put over Masa Saito (on the same night as Thesz's final match), a 1992 legends match at the Yokohama Arena against Robinson, with Thesz as referee, which was Robinson's final match, and his final match, on May 23, 1993, at the Omni in , a legends match on the WCW Slamboree PPV show, where he went to a 15:00 draw with Dory Funk Jr.

*****************************************************************

NICK BOCKWINKEL CAREER TITLE HISTORY AMERICAN WRESTLING ASSOCIATION WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Verne Gagne November 8, 1975 St. Paul; lost to Verne Gagne July 18,1980 Chicago; Awarded title May 1981 when Gagne retired; lost to Otto Wanz August 29, 1982 St. Paul; def. Otto Wanz October 9, 1982 Chicago; title held up after December 27, 1982 match with Jerry Lawler in Memphis (recognized only in Tennessee); def. Jerry Lawler January 10, 1982 Memphis; lost to Jumbo Tsuruta February 22, 1984 Tokyo; Awarded title June 29, 1986 when he was to face champion Stan Hansen in Denver and Hansen walked out of the building rather than dropping the title; lost to Curt Hennig May 2, 1987 San Francisco (originally not scheduled as a title change and the decision was to be reversed, but Gagne gave the title to Hennig stemming from that match to keep him from jumping to WWF)

AMERICAN WRESTLING ASSOCIATION WORLD TAG TEAM: w/Ray Stevens def. Red Bastien & The Crusher January 20, 1972 Denver; lost to Billy Robinson & Ed Francis November 15, 1972 Honolulu (title change only recognized in Hawaii, in Hawaii they later announced Robinson & Francis were stripped of the titles and they were given back to Stevens & Bockwinkel for failure to defend the titles due attributed to both men's conflicting schedules); lost to Verne Gagne & Billy Robinson December 30, 1972 Minneapolis (title change only recognized in the Twin Cities); w/Ray Stevens def. Verne Gagne & Billy Robinson January 6, 1973 St. Paul; lost to The Crusher & Billy Robinson July 21, 1974 Green Bay; w/Ray Stevens def. The Crusher & Billy Robinson October 24, 1974 Winnipeg; lost to Dick the Bruiser & The Crusher August 16, 1975 Chicago

AMERICAN WRESTLING ALLIANCE WORLD TAG TEAM: w/Wilbur Snyder def. Kinji Shibuya & November 10, 1962 San Francisco; lost to Art & Stan Neilson March 16, 1963 San Francisco

NWA WORLD TAG TEAM: as Dick Warren w/Ramon Torres def. Hans Hermann & Art Neilson April 28, 1958 Sacramento (may have been repeated May 2, 1958 in Oakland); lost to Hombre Montana & Tiny Mills June 27, 1958 San Jose; w/Ramon Torres def. Hombre Montana & Tiny Mills July 14, 1958 Sacramento; lost to Gene Dubuque & Mike Valentino (Baron Mikel Scicluna) August 23, 1958 Fresno

NWA INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION TAG TEAM: w/Lord James Blears def. Stan Holek (Stan Neilson) & The Preacher December 23, 1960 Long Beach, CA; lost to Stan Holek & The Preacher December 31, 1960; w/Lord James Blears def. Stan Holek & The Preacher January 4, 1961 Los Angeles; lost to Mike Sharpe Sr. & The Zebra Kid (George Bollas) May 12, 1961 Long Beach

NWA BEAT THE CHAMP INTERNATIONAL TV TITLE: def. Wilbur Snyder January 1955; lost to Sandor Szabo February 1955; def. Cowboy Rocky Valentine (Johnny Valentine) December 1955; lost to Wilbur Snyder January 7, 1956

AWA SOUTHERN HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Jerry Lawler October 11, 1982 Memphis; lost to Jerry Lawler November 8, 1982 Memphis

NWA FLORIDA TAG TEAM: w/Ray Stevens def. & Tim Woods July 18, 1972 Tampa; lost to Hiro Matsuda & Sr. August 15, 1972 Tampa

NWA GEORGIA HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Assassin #1 (Tom Renesto) April 17, 1970 Atlanta; lost to Paul DeMarco July 17, 1970 Atlanta; def. Paul DeMarco July 24, 1970 Atlanta; lost to Buddy Colt September 5, 1970 Atlanta

NWA GEORGIA TELEVISION: def. Joe Scarpa () January 3, 1970 Atlanta; lost to March 7, 1970 Atlanta; def. El Mongol March 20, 1970 Atlanta; lost to Assassin #2 (Jody Hamilton) April 11, 1970 Atlanta; def. Joe Scarpa June 5, 1970 Atlanta; lost to August 15, 1970 Atlanta

NWA WORLD TAG TEAM (Amarillo territory): w/ def. Kurt & Karl Von Brauner April 3, 1968 Lubbock; lost to Kurt & Karl Vo Brauner May 23, 1968 Amarillo

NWA HEAVYWEIGHT: won title 1962; lost to Curtis Iaukea June 6, 1962 Honolulu; def. Curtis Iaukea 1963; lost to Don the Bruiser (Don Manoukian) September 4, 1963 Honolulu

NWA HAWAIIAN HEAVYWEIGHT AND RING MAGAZINE GOLD BELT: def. November 25, 1964 Honolulu; lost to Curtis Iaukea December 18, 1964 Honolulu; Awarded title December 25, 1968 when Johnny Barend missed title defense in Honolulu; lost to Curtis Iaukea December 29, 1968 Honolulu KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« NWA HAWAIIAN TAG TEAM: w/Bobby Shane def. Ripper Collins & March 12, 1969 Honolulu; lost to Ripper Collins & April 16, 1969 Honolulu

NWA PACIFIC NORTHWEST HEAVYWEIGHT: def. Tony Borne October 30, 1963 Salem, OR; lost to Mad Dog Vachon November 21, 1963 Portland; def. The Destroyer (Dick Beyer) May 22, 1964 Portland; lost to Pampero Firpo June 23, 1964

NWA PACIFIC NORTHWEST TAG TEAM: w/Nick Kozak def. The Destroyer & Art Michalik March 18, 1964 Salem; lost to The Destroyer & Art Michalik April 3, 1964 Salem; w/Nick Kozak def. The Destroyer & Don Manoukian (subbing for Art Michalik) April 22, 1964 Salem; Kozak injured and replaced as Bockwinkel's partner by Buddy Moreno (Omar Atlas) 1964; lost to & Tony Borne June 17, 1964 Salem

WRESTLING OBSERVER HALL OF FAME - 1996

PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING HALL OF FAME 2003

WWE HALL OF FAME - 2007

*************************************************************** WWE's championship tournament came down to the expected final four going into on 11/22 in Atlanta, but there was far more talk, and more bad than good, regarding an angle in the final segment of the go-home Raw on 11/16 in Greenville, SC.

In an attempt to put more focus on the women's division, given the timing of the UFC event and record setting crowd, the WWE scripted a pull-apart brawl with Charlotte and to set up their Divas title match.

That was all well and good, but to set it up, they exploited the death of Reid Fliehr, the younger brother of Charlotte (Ashley Fliehr), who passed away at the age of 25, on March 29, 2013, of an overdose of heroin and prescription drugs on a morning he and his father were set to leave for some weekend events.

The segment was awkward even beforehand, because Charlotte, who obviously knew the direction this was going, seemed way off and on the brink of crying early in the segment, and even more when talking about how she is living her little brother's dream. Reid had always wanted to be a pro wrestler while Ashley had never shown any inclination in that direction, but due to her athletic ability, gave it a try and the company was impressed enough to offer her a deal. Ashley was signed by WWE before Reid's death, but she very much had talked about her success once she started appearing on NXT television and having good matches, was living her brother's dream.

The segment continued with Charlotte talking about how Paige was there for her as a friend when Reid passed away, climaxing with Paige insulting Reid for being weak, and the insinuation is that led to his death, which caused the brawl to start. The incident didn't get heat, and it was uncomfortable to watch, and anything but entertaining. It was actually revolting.

Worse was the back story, which is touchy because of the politics involved. Ric Flair spoke about it some on his podcast, but was very careful. It was clear he didn't like it, and spoke volumes by not saying anything, saying he would not give his opinion because he doesn't want to do anything that could hurt his daughter's career. But he did say that he didn't know about it in advance, that it was a sensitive issue to him, that he cried when he watched the segment, and also mentioned that both beforehand, and the next day, that nobody from the company had called him.

He basically said that even though his daughter is Divas champion, she's only been there a few months and can't say no when something is given to her.

From those close to the situation, we were told the script was given to her the night of the show, she did it, she was obviously uncomfortable doing it, and also that there were some scripted lines that weren't recited exactly as they were written, but that didn't affect the attempt.

Her mother, Elizabeth Fliehr, went on Twitter and complained about it. She knew nothing of it ahead of time and sent to Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon and Paul Levesque a message asking if the writers are really that lazy. Ric mentioned that Ashley's mother was furious.

What's so bad is that to make the air, this had to go through several channels, as a writer had to come up with it, the head writer had to submit it and write it, and Paul Levesque and Vince McMahon had to see it, and in the end the blame lies with Vince as he has the final say-so. It's not anything new for the company, because they did this and worse in 2006 after the death of Eddy Guerrero, and in 2013 after the death of Bill Moody ().

For as sensitive as they are to any controversy, it was a real tone deaf decision because the heat wasn't on Paige, but on the company. The company also played a tape of the incident during the Smackdown tapings the next night in Knoxville, so you can't even use the excuse of them making a spur of the moment decision without reflection, because even after the controversy hit, they replayed it. If the

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« decision was later changed, it would be edited off this week's Smackdown show, but I suspect that won't be the case.

The exploiting the death of Guerrero was a lot worse because it wasn't one segment, but over and over, for months. A lot of talent was privately furious, particularly Guerrero's closest friends in the company. , in particular, told friends he had a hard time dealing with it and the idea he was working for a company that would do that. Yet at the same time, publicly, when asked, would defend the company and say he didn't see what a big deal it was. But right or wrong, the company could use the justification that Eddy's widow, Vickie, was okay with it, and some of his brothers, including Chavo and Mando, were nonchalant about it, saying that's just how the business is. Hector privately had different views at the time, but publicly didn't say anything. In the exploitation of Moody, one of his sons at first publicly complained about it, but then, after talking with WWE, stopped being critical.

But in this case, it's very clear nobody in the family felt it's just business and was fine. Ric Flair noted it was less than three years ago and in the family it's a very sensitive issue. Co-host Conrad Thompson seemed shocked Ric would go as far as he did, clearly very sad about the situation, but Flair tried to stay political and repeatedly saying how HHH, Stephanie McMahon and have his daughter's back. He mentioned that he just got back from a European tour with the promotion and how so much of the talent is walking on eggshells, and privately noted that the lifestyle and world is completely different from the one he was part of during his career. When Thompson asked if he could take himself personally out of it, and if something like this happened and it wasn't his family, did he think it was okay, and Flair said he didn't.

Worse, Charlotte was the guest on the 11/17 ESPN segment. The ESPN segment is a business deal, which is sad because it's during SportsCenter which is supposed to be a news show. The segment makes the news department of ESPN look like a joke, because it's presented within the body of SportsCenter, and even though it's a business deal between the two parties, in presentation, it is not labeled as a time buy or a commercial.

There is nothing wrong with them covering WWE, or doing puff pieces or light interviews. But once you deem WWE worthy of coverage, even if it's commercial in content, you then can't ignore real pro wrestling and WWE related news, such as the indictment and criminal proceedings, the firing over steroids, the death of Nick Bockwinkel, or the controversy here. Yet ESPN is doing exactly that.

Some of this was timing, in the sense the interview was actually taped before the angle was shot. But the fact they would have an ESPN news personality interview Charlotte, and it would air after that segment (and the segment was taped after Bockwinkel passed away), and after it came out they did the angle without even asking the family (nor did ESPN ask the family given what had come out before the segment aired), and then aired the interview seemingly ignoring all that was a complete embarrassment.

Worse, from a WWE standpoint, is they just released a DVD on , a personality at the level that in 2015, they never would have released a DVD of had he not died in a tragic way. The problem is, he passed away due to negligence on their watch, and they have not stated that all the revenue will be going to charity, so the DVD is an attempt at a profit making product for the company. And Owen's wife is very clearly against it, to the point she's filed suit against the company for releasing of products that included Owen Hart, but this was stronger, because it wasn't a Hart Family compilation that included Owen, but a DVD on Owen himself.

Now, WWE has the complete legal right to do so, they own the footage. And if they made an agreement with Martha Hart that they would release the tape for the fans and that all profits would go to a charity of her choosing, or their combined choosing, I'd have no issue with it. But making a profit off the death of someone under their watch when the person's wife is against it is tacky.

While Martha Hart would probably not be aware of this angle, and probably has far bigger worries in her life than a pro wrestling angle, this angle would also show to her, and anyone if she did make a fuss about it, that the company at its core hasn't changed, and all the public changes are more whitewashing a scummy interior.

A company with the slightest bit of class would have never even considered this idea for a second, let alone have it go through one channel after another, and be approved by the top guy, an air in the main event segment of the show, and not even alerted members of the family involved ahead of time, let alone it was the son of someone everyone in the company knew well enough to know what a sensitive issue this is to the family.

Anyone can have accidental bad judgment and make a wrong call under pressure. When everyone has it, it's not accidental, and when it continues after the fact, as of this writing there has been no apology for it, it's no less low-rent tackiness when Joe Dusek killed his promotion in Omaha in 1972 by having Ramon Torres come to town for revenge on The Claw for killing his brother (who collapsed and died while in the ring with The Claw, who actually had nothing to do with his death), or when Atsushi Onita had Jose Gonzalez "stab him" in the chest to set up an angle for Japan after Gonzalez had murdered Japanese favorite Bruiser Brody a few years earlier. In fact, it's identical to the 1985 angle where Michael Hayes teased Mike Graham about his father being weak just a few months after his father had

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« committed . While nobody will say where the idea came from, and it really doesn't matter because good or bad, Vince McMahon is the one with the responsibility for what airs, one of the key guys in creative did an identical angle 30 years ago. And Hayes was the one who argued with in 2007 when Foley thought the Vince McMahon fake death angle on Raw was inappropriate because the industry had so many real deaths, not to mention had just passed away at the time. Fate destroyed that angle as Chris Benoit killed his wife, son and himself just as the McMahon angle was getting going, and the company realized immediately they could not even consider continuing it.

The segment featured presiding over a contract signing, saying how the two used to be best of friends. Paige said there are no friendships, and a true champion has no room for emotion or friendships. Charlotte said that when she started, she wanted to be like Paige, that she was a naive Carolina girl (getting the easy home town pop in Greenville, a city her father appeared in regularly during the period he made his name in the industry) while Paige was the British badass. Charlotte noted that both of them didn't grow up like most little girls, because their parents were on television sacrificing their bodies and how they cared about the WWE almost as much as they cared about us. It was at this point that she started losing composure and crying.

That was when the script called for her to bring up her brother, saying that when her brother passed way, Paige was there for her and she said how the only reason she's here now is because of him, to fulfill his dreams.

Paige said how this isn't a sorority house, and how she's been using Charlotte since day one. Charlotte said you must suck at using people because I'm the champion and you're not. She said this isn't about the title but about who has your back at the end of the day. Charlotte said that she knows she won't be champion forever,"but I damn sure wont' lose to someone like you." After Paige first insulted Ric Flair, making fun of him elbow dropping his jacket and calling him an old fart, she exploited Reid's death and they got into a brawl with Charlotte spearing her into the barricade.

Survivor Series is built around a final four in the title tournament of vs. , and Dean Ambrose vs. . The expectation is that Reigns will face Ambrose in the finals. The original plan was Reigns winning, but nothing is definite until it happens, and it seems like one of the two should go heel because there is nobody to fill the top heel spot right now. There is no obvious direction for Reigns if he wins the title and Ambrose doesn't turn. Del Rio isn't getting over and Owens isn't being portrayed right now at lead heel level.

Besides the semifinals and finals of the tournament, Undertaker & against two members of that won't be announced until match time, and Charlotte vs. Paige, no other matches have been announced. There will also be a traditional Survivor Series match, a five-on-five elimination match with participants that have not been named at press time. The only other match being programmed right now is vs. , but they could also be participants in the elimination match, which would also figure to have The New Day, and as participants. At one point Natalya vs. was scheduled as the pre-show match, but neither appeared on Raw or Smackdown, so that would seem to indicate the idea was dropped. But WWE has also not announced a preshow match, and with the exception of something involving Neville and partners against Stardust & The Ascension, there is no program that has gotten any television time for that slot.

An interesting note about the tournament is that WWE did a web site poll prior to Raw on who fans wanted to see win, and it was , by a sizeable margin, who won the poll. Reigns was slightly ahead of Ambrose for second place. Owens was the only other one to have significant support, in fourth. Ziggler, Neville and had a very small amount of support, while Del Rio's support was non- existent.

**************************************************************** Jane Latman, the new General Manager of Destination America, has officially given the thumbs down on pro wrestling.

Latman had replaced Marc Etkind as General Manager and ROH sources were told that she was reviewing all programming, but it was coming down to the wire with the ROH contract set to expire with the 12/2 episode.

ROH on 11/16 then issued a release stating that the show would begin airing on COMET, a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcasting, starting on 12/2, and that the finale episode of the show on Destination America would be on 11/25.

While Etkind, who was involved in the decision making to not renew TNA, had not officially made a call on ROH, things didn't look good when it was pulled from prime time and left with only an 11 p.m. showing several months back. There had been a slight rise in ratings, although they had always been up and down.

COMET is Science Fiction oriented network as a part of a deal between Sinclair and MGM, which debuted on 10/31. ROH will air at midnight on Wednesday nights nationally (on the Eastern and Pacific time zones, 11 p.m. Central) in many of the markets already in, but in some cases adding a new market station. They will also be adding new stations in a number of larger markets, including reaching into KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston and Honolulu, where they previously didn't have local television.

The new non-Sinclair stations added are KDOC-32 in Los Angeles, KCNS-39 in San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, WZME-42 in Bridgeport, CT (which broadcasts into New York), WCCT-20 in Hartford, KIKU-19 in Honolulu, WOCH-49 in Chicago, WTTV-48 in Bloomington (which reaches Indianapolis), WTTK-29 In Kokomo (which also reaches Indianapolis), WMFP-18 in Lawrence, MA (which reaches Boston, a market the company was already on due to a deal with NESN), WTVE-25 in Reading, PA (which reaches ), WPRU-20 in Aguadilla, and KUBE-41 in Houston.

Many of these are not the actual channel, but will be digital channels that are secondary to the actual channel. There will also be significant additions to this list of channels the first of the year as COMET will be picking up a number of new affiliates. Most of the channels will be on local cable, but given the channels in most cases just started, they likely have very little audience.

The chances for renewals were weak. Destination America had buyers remorse on TNA very quickly after the start of the deal in January. Originally they were airing a plethora of TNA related programming, with special shows on the talent, multiple airings of Impact and a Mike Tenay hosted Impact featuring first-run lengthy talent background interviews and wrestling trivia. All the shoulder programming started falling and quickly it became just Impact on Friday nights and the Impact replay. Then the show moved to Wednesday, which in theory should have been a better night. But what we've seen, both with Smackdown and with TNA on multiple occasions, that every time the show is moved, even when on paper it would be a better time slot, it loses audience. TNA's lone exception was on Spike with the Monday night attempt in 2011, which was a disaster, but they kept a Thursday night replay, which still maintained surprisingly good numbers, and numbers picked up when they moved back to Thursday with first-run programming.

TNA never expressed much change of hope when the General Manager change took place. It appears they had worked out a deal and even though ROH was told that Latman was now reviewing all programming, while ROH seemed to see that as a possibility for a renewal, but not a strong possibility. Joe Koff noted that he wasn't expecting a renewal but said he wasn't worried about it because he knew they could get on the COMET Network.

Unlike TNA, ROH was brought in on what was believed to be a deal where Destination America was getting the show at no cost. Destination America continued to promote TNA, including during ROH broadcasts, but never promoted ROH. When both shows were in prime time, TNA was beating ROH handily in ratings, but it was also noted that ROH's shows aired in much of the country the prior Saturday so this was not first-run programming on Destination America, and that the station was still promoting TNA, although less and less as time went on. ROH's only promotion was its own. But due to cost, TNA was the one in trouble and TNA needed the television far more, because they relied on it for revenue, with an inability to make money on house shows or PPV, and they also had no syndication platform.

TNA's entire business is based on revenue from television, mostly in the U.S., the U.K. and India. It's very clear, based on the departures, that whatever this revenue amount was, it's not enough to keep its top talent as one major star after another has departed, many without obvious options elsewhere.

TNA is currently in talks with a few stations, including WGN America and Pop TV, regarding getting a new home. As a positive, both have more national clearance than Destination America. WGN America is in 72.7 million home while Pop TV is in 72.5 million homes as compared to Destination America in 57.2 million homes.

TNA's audience should be significantly larger if they can ink a WGN America deal and get prime time placement. In television there is a big difference between talks and a deal, and in today's landscape it's very difficult to get the kind of paying deal for wrestling that TNA had with Destination America and Spike. TNA had negotiated with WGN America after losing Spike last year. WGN America has been open to wrestling, but also has been quick to pull the plug on it, as the station aired WWE Superstars starting in April 2009 in a Thursday night prime time slot, but canceled it in April 2011 when the two year deal expired, after the audience had fallen from doing 900,000 in its early months when WWE prioritized it to about 500,000 at the end when WWE was no longer focusing on the show since they knew the deal was ending.

For TNA, the key isn't just getting TV, but getting a TV deal that pays enough to cover the fact most of the revenue supporting the product this past year was the U.S. television deal. But they've also cut way back on costs. Pop TV airs Paragon Pro Wrestling now, but it's paid programming on that channel.

For ROH, it was about exposure. They had a syndication base with mostly Sinclair stations, but in many of the biggest markets, like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, they had no television syndication until the new deal.

The new deal gets them into about 60 percent of the country. The previous Sinclair deal reached 40 percent of the country, while Destination America reached about 49 percent of the country, but many of the homes overlapped. Essentially, they will have theoretically more penetration in bigger markets being on local channels (although he jury is out to what once considers true penetration because these

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« days, even if you can get a station with an antenna where you live, if it's not on the local cable package, very few are going to be aware of it or watch it). Many of the new digital stations may also reach the small existing hardcore fan base that want to find them will, but making new fans on stations that have low viewership is pretty difficult.

The promotion had an upswing in attendance this year before going on Destination America, going from mostly doing shows that drew around 500 fans to consistently selling out 800 to 1,000 seat buildings. The recent signing of was considered by some to show Sinclair will allocate more resources going forward. ROH still seems in the situation where they are going to stay at the level they are, and ultimately their future is tied up to Sinclair Broadcasting decision makers and the value they believe running a low production wrestling television show delivers for their syndicated stations. If and when Sinclair would be more bullish on the product would be apparent immediately because you'd see better production of the shows, which is the company's biggest obstacle in garnering interest past the hardcore fan who watches specifically for the consistently good wrestling action. Ratings, which of late have been around 170,000 viewers per week, at 11 p.m., for a non-cost program were evidently not enough.

The odds for either being renewed was considered low since August. In August, an advertiser we are aware of that was launching a wrestling product early next year had contacted Destination America about advertising on their wrestling shows in early 2016. They were told that there would be no wrestling on the station by that time. However, the change in General Managers at least seemed to leave ROH with a temporary ray of hope.

**************************************************************** A 104-year-old attendance record may have been broken over the weekend.

The largest crowd ever for a legitimate wrestling match, with legitimate being the most questionable word, is believed to be the September 4, 1911, match for the somewhat undisputed world heavyweight championship between and , which drew 28,757 fans and $87,953 to Comiskey Park in Chicago.

Of course being very much a pro wrestling match, what was and wasn't real is subject to intense debate. When it comes to Gotch, the first mainstream pro wrestling star in the U.S., the debates become even more fierce. Despite what some historians would have you believe, most pro wrestling was not legitimate in 1911. Articles from that era indicate that about five percent of matches were legitimate, shooting matches, while most of the sport was working matches, sometimes called Hippodrome matches. There are references well before the turn of the century to Hippodrome matches and legitimate matches when it comes to all the top stars of the 1890s.

There were also, very clearly, key shooting matches, at least as late as the 1954 women's title match with Mildred Burke and in Atlanta, although they were virtually non-existent after the early 1920s. There were rare double-cross matches, in the sense where somebody grabbed a submission hold on an opponent who thought he was working a match, that resulted in a few world title changes, with the Stanislaus Zbyszko win over Wayne Munn in 1925 and Dick Shikat win over Danno O'Mahoney in 1936 being the most famous examples, the latter ending up in a much publicized court case that did great damage to the industry. Burke vs. Byers, a legitimate match which took place as a settlement between warring factions trying to control women's wrestling and the title, was very much a shooting match, and the last of its kind within pro wrestling.

What Gotch vs. Hackenschmidt II was is more subject to debate. Gotch beat Hackenschnmidt on April 3, 1908, at the Dexter Park Pavilion, to win the undisputed world title. Most accounts have that match as a shoot. Those who are in the Gotch camp claim he was the superior all-around wrestler, which he may have been. Others always claimed Gotch as a dirty fighter, and that he thumbed the eyes of Hackenschmidt and head-butted him, noting marks around Hackenschmidt's eyes, before Gotch won the first fall in just over two hours. In those days, the wrestlers would go to the back for a lengthy rest period between falls, but Hackenschmidt sent word that due to his condition, he could not come out for the second fall.

The rematch was, easily, not just the biggest wrestling match ever in the U.S. up to that point in time, but one of the biggest sporting events of its time. Given the population and the nature of travel not being the easiest thing, with the exception of horse races, a few college football games, and maybe one or two others, the second Gotch vs. Hackenschmidt crowd was among the largest sports crowds ever in the country.

The fans believed they were going to see a real contest. Given that there hasn't been anyone alive who truly knows what they saw for decades, it's best to have your suspicious hat on.

Hackenschmidt suffered a knee injury in training. Hackenschmidt claimed it was from training with Dr. Ben Roller, one of the top wrestlers of the era, and it was accidental. Most accounts list it as Roller. Lou Thesz always claimed, and said he would go to his grave with full knowledge of it, that it was Ad Santel who did it, and it was deliberate, a payoff from the Gotch camp. Santel was Thesz's first major trainer in legitimate submissions, while working in California, after Thesz had gotten his basic wrestling knowledge in St. Louis. Santel was one of the great submission men of his time, and while there is no record of him in Hackenschmidt's camp, he was around the scene in Chicago at the time KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« Hackenschmidt was training for the rematch. There were always rumors before that story came out that Roller had deliberately injured Gotch. Most accounts of Gotch were that he was a spectacular wrestler, but a bully who would do anything to win, including illegal moves. Of course, with Gotch being a legendary sports hero in Iowa, and who died young, in many places that observations of those from his era are long forgotten.

Either way, Gotch defeated Hackenschmidt in two straight falls. Some will argue that Hackenschmidt's injury wasn't serious, and that why would Gotch resort to such underhanded means to beat someone he'd already broken mentally the first time. Hackenschmidt was stronger, in fact he was one of the strongest men in the world at the time, but Gotch was a far superior wrestler. The argument among those in the Gotch camp is that since Gotch died young, and Hackenschmidt lived until 1968, passing away at the age of 90, his talking about the two fights created the idea that Gotch was a dirty fighter. But even in the U.S. among the wrestlers passing down the stories in their world, and granted, Gotch had the reputation of being the best wrestler of his time, but someone who would take advantage of any situation. Hackenschnmidt always spoke about the two fights, claiming until his death that he was fouled constantly in the first one and went into the second one with a bad knee injury. While not proof, that could be arguments the matches were legitimate.

There was a lot of controversy leading into the second fight. Wrestling matches in those days led to major gambling activity. The early days of wrestling were often more about swindling people out of money in gambling than actual sports competition. While real wrestling is not as much of a spectator sport as boxing, or entertainment wrestling, many believe matches were worked originally more to swindle bettors than for later reasons, making them more entertaining and with the ability to do matches nightly and create more revenue through selling tickets. Gambling was shut down prior to the second fight. Was it because people found out a fix was in, or because they found out Hackenschmidt was hurt and had no chance to win?

Another theory that made the rounds within wrestling, and was accepted as the real story for decades, was that the second match was not legitimate. The story is that it was supposed to be legitimate, but when Hackenschmidt was injured, he was going to pull out. Because the match was so big, the promoters worked out a deal where the match would happen, they would work the match, where Gotch would carry him. The deal was that Gotch would let him save face by winning the second fall, and then go over to retain. The conclusion of that story is that Gotch won the first fall, and then shot in the second fall, double-crossing Hackenschmidt. This would explain Hackenschmidt's bitterness for the rest of his life.

**************************************************************** Whatever the real story was for Gotch vs. Hackenschmidt II, if that was the largest crowd ever for a real wrestling match, it was broken after more than a century on 11/14 in Iowa City when a dual meet where the No. 4 ranked University of Iowa beat No. 1 (or No. 2 depending on the poll) ranked Oklahoma State drew 42,287 fans to Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City for a show called "Grapple on the Gridiron."

None of the stories about the meet and the record talked about Gotch vs. Hackenschmidt, as pro wrestling, even on the rare occasions it was a legitimate sport. But with pins and submissions and matches that could go more than an hour, it was entirely different from modern amateur wrestling. But there are major connections.

It was the popularity of Gotch as the world champion, coming from Iowa, that led to wrestling becoming a major sport in the state, done in all the schools, earlier than it was done in the rest of the country. This led to an Iowa wrestling tradition, which continues to this day.

The huge crowd, nearly double expectations when Tom Brands came up with the idea of doing an outdoor show, was done to break a record, although not the pro wrestling one.

Iowa had set the all-time dual meet attendance record of 15,955 fans for a meet with Iowa State on December 6, 2008 at the Carver-Hawkeye arena. But with turning Penn State into a national powerhouse, they broke the record with 15,996 fans on December 8, 2013, at the . Brands had noted that there was no way to put more people, even 42 more, into their arena due to fire laws, but felt they had the following to break the record.

So he made arrangements to do an event at the stadium, with original predictions that they'd be able to do about 23,000 fans. But the momentum kept growing . The event was held at 11 a.m. on a Saturday morning because there was a football game scheduled for 5 p.m. The belief is that greatly helped the walk up, as even days before the event the prediction was 37,000 to 38,000. Iowa, ranked No. 5 in football and coming into the game with Minnesota with a 9-0 record, sold out the stadium with 70,000 fans for the game a few hours later. Many football fans came into town, and hearing the buzz about the wrestling event at the stadium that morning, bought tickets the day of the show.

There were 34,000 tickets sold as of three days in advance, more than doubling the dual meet record. Even if Gotch vs. Hackenschmidt isn't figured in, and they are clearly not the same thing even if that was the biggest crowd for a real wrestling match in U.S. history, the previous collegiate attendance record was set on 3/21 for the finals of this year's NCAA tournament at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis with 19,715, so they more than doubled that as well.

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« It was a big day for Iowa, as they also top the No. 1 or No. 2 ranked team, winning 18-16, and also remained unbeaten in football.

Iowa was down 13-10 when Sammy Brooks of (who has biceps that would make WWE officials drool) at 184 pounds scored a tech fall on Jordan Rogers to give the Hawkeyes a 15-13 lead, which they increased to 18-13 when Nathan Burak defeated Nolan Boys 5-3 at 197 pounds. It was up to heavyweight Sam Stoll of Iowa to avoid being pinned or tech fall'd by Austin Marsden of Oklahoma State, the No. 5 ranked heavyweight in the country. Marsden won 6-1, a margin that didn't pick up bonus points, giving Iowa the win.

****************************************************************** Kip Sopp (Billy Gunn), was fired on 11/13, due to the company becoming aware that he had tested positive for steroids while competing as a powerlifter in a meet over the summer.

Sopp, 52, was suspended for four years from competition powerlifting and his marks were stripped after competing in the Central Florida Powerlifting championships on 7/25. Sopp tested positive for a T:E ratio coming in at 37-1, nearly ten times over the 4-1 allowable limit.

In the meet, Sopp, who was 51 at the time, was competing in the over-50 age group. Weighing 260.0 pounds and competing in the 264 pound weight class, he set what I was told were age group state records with a 401 pound bench press (which is a very impressive lift when you consider his age and the length of his arms, plus in bench press competition, you have to pause the weight on your chest before lifting it) and a 550 pound dead lift. He didn't compete in the squat. The irony was that had he not won his division and set records, he never would have been tested.

We're not aware of what the company's actual policy is regarding trainers and steroids, although they were not regularly tested, if at all. It's not like the people running the system aren't sophisticated enough in their knowledge of PEDs to not have a pretty good idea what is going on, so it appears it's more don't get caught as opposed to we don't allow it. Quite frankly, in most sports you could say the same thing. There are stories of guys showing up for tryouts being jacked up like crazy, then get a contract, and then losing their size or their bodies changing for the worst in developmental, and others who can afford or can get access to GH, which WWE doesn't for, getting far more muscular in front of people's eyes, and it is to the benefit as far as how they are viewed and their push, so long as there isn't a positive test. There was also a story about a trainer, who wasn't Billy Gunn, but was clearly jacked up telling a much younger developmental talent who was very big but lacking in the physique about how "You can't afford the stuff I'm on."

WWE has in the case of talent and front office employees, when names have come out, even without a positive test from the company, suspended active performers and fired those who are not active performers. WWE also at times fires people, like with Fit Finlay and Alberto Del Rio, expressly letting them know that once it blows over that if they keep quiet, they'll be brought back. Many feel that will be the case here, given that Gunn was almost universally liked by the developmental talent and management. But with the ESPN affiliation, the company pretty much has a zero tolerance policy for anything that could give the company bad publicity, and a trainer who was suspended for four years from a sport fits into that category.

The written policy allows for those type of suspensions. A prime example was the 2007 Signature Pharmacy listing of talent that had passed all tests, but were found to have been receiving drugs like steroids and Growth Hormone through records released in a government investigation. The talent was suspended for 30 days, and some, like , due to it being a second violation, for 60 days (Booker T quit the company over it and spent several years in TNA, before returning). , who was working in an office job at the time, and was on the list, was fired.

WWE had not been aware that Sopp had competed in the meet and tested positive until just recently. Sopp was working as a trainer at the Performance Center, and was one of the main trainers on the recent season of Tough Enough and also featured on Breaking Ground.

It's a weird deal because Vince McMahon is clearly well-versed in his knowledge of PEDs. It feels like it's more a "Don't get caught" policy than anything else, but it also sent a message that coaches and office people are going to be dealt with more severely than performers, who in the same situation would get a 30 day suspension on a first offense.

Sopp was a rodeo cowboy in college and competed professionally as a bull rider, until 1989, when he started as a pro wrestler, as Kip Winchester, doing a cowboy gimmick.

He became Billy Gunn, as part of a tag team with Mike Polchlopek, who was known as Bart Gunn, as The Smoking Gunns, two tall cowboys. They were three-time WWF tag team champions in 1995 and 1996 as a babyface team before they broke up, with Billy going heel.

During his career, because he was tall, and had a good look, and later a physique and was also a good athlete, the company kept trying to push him as a top star. A stint as Rockabilly, the protégé of Honky Tonk Man, was a failure. But he was then paired with Brian James aka . The two blended well because James had a lot of charisma, but wasn't the type of wrestler the company would push as a singles star. Gunn was the type they would want to push, but he was missing something. As part of DX, KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« the New Age Outlaws became the company's signature tag team, holding the titles four times between 1998 and 2000, which coincided with the company's peak of popularity. They also came back for a nostalgia run at the end of 2012, where they had a short tag team title run in 2014.

Attempts to push him as a singles star, with names like Billy G, The One and Mr. Ass never caught on, and he won the IC title and tournament. He was switched back-and-forth, and even put in a forgettable tag team called The Show Gunns with Big Show.

His next major role was doing the gay tag team of Billy & Chuck, with Chuck Palumbo. They won the tag team titles and were managed by Rico Costantino, doing an effeminate role. They held the tag team titles twice, but were best known for a heavily promoted wedding episode of Smackdown on September 12, 2002. The idea of pro wrestlers doing a gay wedding in storyline got national attention, including from GLAAD, which helped promote it and talked of it as breakthrough, even though in that time, the character was still very much making fun of gays, with them being mocked heels for their run. In the end, the belief was that them being gay would kill them as characters, so at the wedding, they revealed it was all Rico's plan and a publicity stunt and they were straight heterosexual males. But the angle did prove to be a ratings boost for the show. Once they turned straight, they were portrayed as faces, but when Sopp suffered a shoulder injury that put him out of action, the team was dropped.

He ended up briefly managed by , once again with the idea of portraying him as this muscular stud, but as a single, continued to be missing something and was fired in November, 2004.

Two months later, he went to TNA using the name The New Age Outlaw, and then, due to threats from WWE legal, just The Outlaw. Eventually The New Age Outlaws were reformed, with Road Dogg as B.G. James (his real name is Brian Girard James), and he was given the name Kip James (in a trivia note, and virtually nobody knows this at all, I was the one who came up with that name), as the almost adopted son of Bob Armstrong, who was with the company. They became the James Gang, and then the Voodoo Kin Mafia (the name made no sense but at the time they were looking at using the initials VKM, for Vincent Kennedy McMahon, and that was the best they could come up with).

They were used by writer Vince Russo to do badly-done worked shoots, threatening to quit TNA, claiming to have creative control in their contracts, and issuing challenges to Paul Levesque, Shawn Hickenbottom and Vince McMahon. It was an attempt to redo the famous DX taking on WCW angle from 1998, where they would challenge Paul & Shawn to street fights . That angle ended up embarrassing on many levels and was dropped. In 2008, the team broke up when Kip James went heel. Later he became Cute Kip, the image consultant for The Beautiful People. He was retired as a character in 2009 and became a road agent, but then came back to lose a stretcher match to Awesome Kong, and then turned face doing a gimmick where he was a handyman for Mick Foley, until being let go at the end of the year.

He worked indies as Billy Gunn and Kip Gunn, before returning to WWE in the summer of 2012. The revamped New Age Outlaws beat & Goldust to win the WWE tag team titles on January 26, 2014, at the , before losing the titles on Raw on March 3, 2014, in Chicago. After teaming with Kane to lose a quick match to The Shield at last year's WrestleMania in , both men were largely retired with James working as a producer and Sopp as a trainer in Orlando. They reunited at the Royal Rumble 2015 in Philadelphia on 1/23, losing to The Ascension. Gunn did occasional cameos at the end of NXT house shows this year, and did one NXT match, on 5/1 in Tampa, teaming with Finn Balor to beat Tyler Breeze & Kevin Owens.

***************************************************************** AAA announced that unlike TNA and WWE, which are doing tournaments for their vacated titles, that its AAA Mega heavyweight title will be decided in a singles match with Jr. vs. Johnny Mundo.

The title match will headline the company's final major show of the year, , which was moved up one day, to 12/4, at Feria de Tampico in Tampico. In a weird deal, the local promoter of the show talked about how it's possible that Alberto Del Rio, Dr. Wagner Jr. and yes, would be there. Wagner Jr. is also on the poster for the show, but not advertised for any matches.

The rest of the card is listed as The Circus vs. Jr. & El Hijo del Fantasma and a mystery partner; Jr. & & vs. the heel group back to being called , with & El Hijo de & Steve Pain, plus Aerostar & & Fenix vs. & Mesias & Taurus, & Angelico defending the AAA tag titles in a three-way against Joe Lider & Pentagon Jr. and & , and the man, woman and mini tag team opener with & Dinastia & Fabi Apache vs. & Mini & .

*************************************************************** After two weeks of record lows, Raw rebounded somewhat on 11/16 with the quarterfinals of the WWE title tournament doing a 2.27 rating and 3,281,000 viewers (1.51 viewers per home), beating the 3.16 million and 3.24 million viewer numbers of the prior two weeks.

The number was up even though the NFL game where the Houston Texans knocked the Bengals from the ranks of the unbeaten did 12,185,000 viewers, up from last week but slightly below two weeks ago.

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« The three hours saw the 8 p.m. hour do 3.54 million viewers, the 9 p.m. hour did 3.29 million viewers and the 10 p.m. hour did 3.05 million viewers. Among adults, the hour one to three drop off was 19 percent from hour one to three among women, but only two percent among men, so a show built around women in the final segment lost the women viewers but not the men, which isn't that different from the normal pattern.

The title tournament also helped Smackdown, which did a 1.62 rating and 2.29 million viewers (1.51 viewers per home), the best audience number in more than three months (since 8/6). Part of the reason was the New York Jets vs. Buffalo Bills game was only on the NFL Network, not CBS, and did 7.57 million viewers, by far the lowest of the season for a Thursday game. The other competition was College Football on ESPN doing 1.53 million viewers and the NBA on TBS doing 1.45 million viewers.

Impact on 11/11 drew 277,000 viewers at 9 p.m. and 97,000 at midnight. The first show was the best number since 10/7 and the combined audience of 374,000 was also the best since 10/7.

ROH on 11/11 drew 172,000 viewers, which was above the recent average.

Ultimate Fighter on 11/11 was way up from the prior week, to 539,000 viewers. It was the third highest rated sports show in prime time, behind an NBA game at 1.73 million and a college football game with Western Michigan vs. Bowling Green at 665,000 viewers.

UFC Tonight on 11/11 did 116,000 viewers.

The SportsCenter with the WWE interview on 11/10 on ESPN News did 144,000 viewers.

The most watched MMA show of the weekend of 11/6-8 was the 11/7 UFC Embedded special on Ronda Rousey that aired on FOX at 2 p.m. Eastern and 11 a.m. Pacific time, which drew 933,000 viewers, beating out both the Bellator and UFC shows, even though it wasn't in prime time. That's the advantage of being on FOX.

****************************************************************** This is the second issue of the current set. If you've got a (1) on your address label, with this being a double issue, it means your subscription expires with next week's issue.

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Fax messages can be sent to the Observer 24 hours a day at (408) 244-3402. Phone messages can be left 24 hours a day at (408) 244-2455. E-mails can be sent to [email protected]

*****************************************************************

RESULTS 10/19 Puebla (CMLL): Asturiano & Centella Roja & Paris b & Fuerza Chicana & Malayo, & Lestat & Star Jr. b Espanto Jr. & & Molotov, Angel de & & b Kamaitachi & & Okumura, & & Ultimo Guerrero b Dragon Rojo Jr. & & Bobby Z- DQ, & & b La Sombra & La Mascara & Marco Corleone

10/20 Arena Mexico (CMLL): Pequeno Olimpico & Pequeno b & Angelito, Arkangel de la Muerte & & El Hijo del Signo b Metatron & Oro Jr. & Soberano, & Tiger & b Esfinge & & , Mexican national women's champion: Zeuxis b Princesa Sugei, Ephesto & Luciferno & b Angel de Oro & Okumura & Stuka Jr., & Titan & Volador Jr. b Euforia & Gran Guerrero & Ultimo Guerrero

10/21 Kofu (All Japan - 225): Shigehiro Irie b Yuma Aoyagi, Kenso b , & Isami Kodoka b & , Akebono & Yutaka Yoshie b Suwama & , Ultimo Dragon & Yoshinobu Kanemaru b Takeshi Minamino & ManjiMaru, & Takao Omori & b Kento Miyahara & & Yohei Nakajima

10/27 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL): & b & Cholo, & & Shockercito b Demus 3:16 & Nitrito & Pequeno Olimpico, & Fuego & b Okumura & & Virus-DQ, Rey Cometa b Puma King, Angel de Oro & & Stuka Jr. b Ephesto & Luciferno & Mephisto, & Mistico & Titan b Barbaro Cavernario & Kamaitachi & Mr. Niebla

10/28 Akita (New Japan - 1,155): Yohei Komatsu & Tanaka b & , & Kyle O'Reilly b Tiger Mask & , & & Captain New Japan b Ricochet & & , & & & Mascara Dorada b Tama & & Young Bucks, Toru Yano & & Trent Baretta b & & , & Doc Gallows b & , & Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma b & & Yoshi-Hashi

10/28 Wakayama ( - 350): Jimmy Kanda b Lindaman, Jimmy Susumu & Jimmy K-Ness & b & & Eita, Genki Horiguchi b Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa, & Flamita b Don Fujii & Draztick Boy, Masaaki Mochizuki & Dragon Kid b Shingo Takagi & Naoki Tanizaki, Masato Yoshino & & T-Hawk b & Naruki Doi & Kotoka

10/28 Grimsby, (Global Force Wrestling - 575): Noam Dar b Chris Ridgeway, Falls count anywhere: Bram b Damo O'Connor, b Nikki Storm, Robbie X b Jason Price, b Nathan Cruz, Doug Williams & Nick Aldis b & Rampage Brown

10/28 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Alexander Otsuka's 20th anniversary show - 888): Great Kabuki won Royal Rumble, Tsubakichi Sanshu & Arisa Nakajima b Otokozakari & Tsukasa Fujimoto, Mitsuya Nagai & Takeshi Minamino & ManjiMaru b Ikuto Hidaka & Manabu Hara & Kotaro Nasu, Dump Matsumoto b Tsubo Genjin, b Katsumi Usuda, Kazunari Murakami & Zeus NC Daisuke Sekimoto & Super Tiger, Masakatsu Funaki & b Alexander Otsuka & Mohammed Yone

10/29 Citrus Springs, FL (WWE NXT -175): b Tino Sabbatelli, b , Riddick Moss b Levis Valenzuela Jr., Tye Dillinger b Hugo Knox, Tag titles: Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder b & , b , & Adrienne Reese & Gionna Daddio b & & Emma, NXT title: Finn Balor b

10/29 Tokyo Shinjuku Face (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 373 sellout): Maybach Taniguchi & Kenou & Hajime Ohara b Akitoshi Saito & Genba Hirayanagi & Captain NOAH, & Atsushi Kotoge & Daisuke Harada b Yoshinari Ogawa & & Hitoshi Kumano, Mohammed Yone & Katsuhiko Nakajima & Taiji Ishimori & Zack Sabre Jr. b & & & Taka Michinoku, b Mitsuhiro Kitamiya, Takashi Sugiura b Quiet Storm, b Davey Boy Smith Jr., b , b Naomichi Marufuji

10/30 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL - 9,000): Acero & Ultimo Dragoncito b & Universito 2000, Esfinge & Oro Jr & The Panther b Escandalo & & Super Comando-DQ, Amapola & Dallys & Zeuxis b & Princesa Sugei & Vaquerita, Dragon Rojo Jr. & Thunder & Bobby Z b Euforia & Gran Guerrero & Mr. Niebla, Marco Corleone & La Mascara & Rush b Super Parka & Maximo & , NWA Historic welterweight title: Volador Jr. b La Sombra

10/30 Fujisawa (New Japan - 1,800): Ryusuke Taguchi & Jay White b Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka, Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly b Mascara Dorada & David Finlay, Ricochet & Matt Sydal & Juice Robinson b KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask & Captain New Japan, Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata & Kushida & Alex Shelley b Doc Gallows & Cody Hall & Kenny Omega & Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale & Young Bucks b Toru Yano & Rocky Romero & Baretta, Shinsuke Nakamura & Yoshi-Hashi b Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma b Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii & Gedo

10/30 Gainesville, FL (WWE NXT - 400 sellout): Lego Man (Bayley) won Rumble, Angelo Dawkins b Steve Cutler, Gionna Daddio b Peyton Royce, Solomon Crowe & Sawyer Fulton & b & Bull Dempsey & Tucker Knight, Baron Corbin b Levis Valenzuela Jr., b Billie Kay, Tye Dillinger b Tino Sabbatelli, Finn Balor & b Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder-DQ

10/31 Billings, MT (WWE - 5,000): R-Truth b Bo , & Damien Sandow & b & The Ascension, b Jack Swagger, Tag titles: New Day b Titus O'Neil & Darren Young, Charlotte & b Sasha Banks & Tamina, Dolph Ziggler b Tyler Breeze, Street fight: Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose b &

10/31 Shizuoka (New Japan - 1,320): Ryusuke Taguchi & Mascara Dorada & Juice Robinson b Captain New Japan & Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka, Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly b Tiger Mask & Jay White, Young Bucks & Kenny Omega & Chase Owens b Jushin Liger & Ricochet & Matt Sydal & David Finlay, Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata b Doc Gallows & Tama Tonga, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma b Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi, Shinsuke Nakamura & Toru Yano & Gedo b Karl Anderson & Bad Luck Fale & Cody Hall, Kazuchika Okada & Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta b Hiroshi Tanahashi & Alex Shelley & Kushida

11/1 Casper, WY (WWE - 2,000): R-Truth b , Jack Swagger b Bo Dallas, Damien Sandow & Curtis Axel & Zack Ryder b The Ascension & , Sheamus b Fandango, Tag titles: New Day b Titus O'Neil & Darren Young, Charlotte & Becky Lynch b Tamina & Sasha Banks, Dolph Ziggler b Tyler Breeze, Street fight: Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose b Bray Wyatt & Braun Strowman

11/1 Aomori (All Japan - 2,252 sellout): Yohei Nakajima b Keiichi Sato, Naoya Nomura b Yuma Aoyagi, Masa Fuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru b Sushi & Sushi Kozou, Zeus & Yutaka Yoshie & b Takao Omori & Kento Miyahara & Jake Lee, World jr. title: Kotaro Suzuki b Atsushi Aoki, Masakatsu Funaki & Kendo Ka Shin b Suwama & , Triple Crown: Jun Akiyama b Akebono

11/1 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL - 5,000): Nitrito & Pequeno Violencia b Aereo & Angelito, Hombre Bala Jr. & Star Jr. & Super Halcon Jr. b Canelo Casas & Espanto Jr. & Nitro, Ephesto & & Luciferno b Guerrero Maya Jr. & Rey Cometa & Stuka Jr., & Brazo de Plata & Valiente b Felino & Mephisto & Vangellys, Marco Corleone b Kraneo, Atlantis & Volador Jr. & Mistico b & Shocker & Gran Guerrero

11/1 Guadalajara ( Elite - 3,000): Omar Brunetti & Vaquero Jr. b Exterminador & Malefico, Cuatrero & & Sanson b Furia Roja & Mr. Trueno & Rey Trueno, & Vaquerita b Chik Tormenta & -DQ, Mr. Aguila & X-Fly & Zumbi b Esfinge & & Rayman-DQ, & El Satanico b Barbaro Cavernario & , Caristico & Maximo b La Sombra & Rush

11/2 Denver (WWE Raw/Superstars TV tapings - 8,400): Neville b Heath Slater, Bo Dallas b Zack Ryder, Non-title: Kevin Owens b Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro b , & Kalisto b King Barrett & Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio b R-Truth, Paige won four-way over Becky Lynch, and Sasha Banks, Elimination match: Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose & Usos & Ryback b & Kevin Owens & & & Woods

11/2 Nuevo Laredo (AAA TV tapings): Hombre Sin Miedo & Mocho Cota Jr. & Taya Valkyrie b Mr. 450 Hammet & & Fabi Apache, Aerostar & Australian Suicide & Laredo Kid b Daga & El Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Steve Pain, El Hijo del Fantasma & Joe Lider & Pentagon Jr. b Angelico & Garza Jr. & Jack Evans, Taurus & El Texano Jr. & Zorro b Electroshock & Fenix & , Drago & La Parka & Speedball b Cibernetico & Chessman & Averno, Brian Cage & El Hijo del Fantasma b Rey Mysterio Jr. & Dr. Wagner Jr.

11/2 Puebla (CMLL - 4,500): Fuerza Chicana & Inquisidor & Malayo b Bengala & Millennium & Rey Samuray, Commandante & Seductora & Zeuxis b Estrellita & & Vaquerita, Angel de Oro & Rey Cometa & Stuka Jr. b Ephesto & Luciferno & Rey Hechicero, Thunder b Euforia, Negro Casas & Mr. Niebla & Barbaro Cavernario b Valiente & Volador Jr. & Mistico

11/3 Springs, CO (WWE Smackdown/Main Event TV tapings): b Fandango, Zack Ryder b Heath Slater, Jack Swagger b Stardust, Non-title: Alberto Del Rio b Neville, Usos b The Ascension, Elimination match: Bray Wyatt & & Luke Harper & Braun Strowman b Sin Cara & Kalisto & Titus O'Neil & Darren Young, Ryback b King Barrett, Natalya b Tamina, Kevin Owens b Dean Ambrose-DQ

11/3 Gifu (New Japan - 1,800 sellout): Tiger Mask & David Finlay b Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka, Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly b Jushin Liger & Jay White, Matt Sydal & Ricochet & Juice Robinson b Ryusuke Taguchi & Mascara Dorada & Captain New Japan, Togi Makabe & Katsuyori Shibata & Kushida & Alex Shelley b Doc Gallows & Cody Hall & Kenny Omega & Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga b Toru Yano & Gedo, Shinsuke Nakamura & Rocky Romero & Trent Barreta b Karl Anderson &

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« Young Bucks, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto & Tomoaki Honma b Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi-Hashi

11/3 (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 640): Atsushi Kotoge & Daisuke Harada & Yoshinari Ogawa & Super Crazy & Hitoshi Kumano b Kenou & Hajime Ohara & Genba Hirayanagi & Captain NOAH & Shiro Tomoyose, Maybach Taniguchi & Akitoshi Saito b Mohammed Yone & Quiet Storm, Chris Hero & Taiji Ishimori & Zack Sabre Jr. b Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Taichi & Taka Michinoku, Mitsuhiro Kitamiya b Takashi Iizuka-DQ, Colt Cabana b Katsuhiko Nakajima, Lance Archer b Takashi Sugiura, Minoru Suzuki d Shelton Benjamin 30:00, Satoshi Kojima b Naomichi Marufuji

11/3 Toyama (Dragon Gate - 650): Kaito Ishida d U-T, Cima & Eita b Dragon Kid & Kzy, Kotoka b Takehiro Yamamura, Masaaki Mochizuki & Don Fujii b Ryo Saito & Jimmy Kanda, Yamato & Naruki Doi b Jimmy Susumu & Genki Horiguchi, Masato Yoshino & Akita Tozawa & T-Hawk b Shingo Takagi & Naoki Tanizaki & Cyber Kong

11/3 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL - 2,500): Robin & b Cholo & Rebelde, Arkangel de la Muerte & Nitro & Okumura b & Oro Jr. & Starman, Jr. & Pierroth & Sagrado b The Panther & Pegasso & Triton, Blue Panther b Vangellys, Ephesto & Luciferno & Mephisto b Angel de Oro & Dragon Lee & Stuka Jr., Marco Corleone & Rush & Valiente b El Terrible & Kraneo & Hechicero

11/4 Dublin, Ireland (WWE - 8,500): Cesaro b The Miz, Handicap match: big Show b The Miz & Curtis Axel, R-Truth b Bo Dallas, Tag titles: Big E & Kofi Kingston b Dudleys, Dolph Ziggler b Tyler Breeze, Paige ref: Becky Lynch & Charlotte b Brie Bella & , Non-title: Finn Balor b Sheamus, WWE title no DQ: Seth Rollins b Kane

11/4 Fukui (New Japan - 850): Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly b Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka, Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask & Captain New Japan b Mascara Dorada & Juice Robinson & David Finlay, Kenny Omega & Chase Owens b Young Bucks b Alex Shelley & Kushida & Ryusuke Taguchi & Jay White, Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata b Doc Gallows & Cody Hall, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma b Tomohiro Ishii & Yoshi- Hashi, Shinsuke Nakamura & Toru Yano & Gedo b Karl Anderson & Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga, Kazuchika Okada & Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta b Hiroshi Tanahashi & Ricochet & Matt Sydal

11/4 (Dragon Gate - 800 sellout): Cyber Kong d Kzy, Masato Yoshino & Akira Tozawa b Genki Horiguchi & Jimmy Kanda, T-Hawk b Naoki Tanizaki, Yamato & Mondai Ryu b Don Fujii & U-T, Jimmy Susumu & Ryo Saito b Masaaki Mochizuki & Dragon Kid, Shingo Takagi & Naruki Doi & Kotoka b Cima & Gamma & Eita

11/5 Cardiff, Wales (WWE - 4,500 sellout): Non-title handicap tables match: Dudleys b Kofi Kingston & Big E & , Cesaro b The Miz, R-Truth b The Miz, Becky Lynch b Brie Bella, Curtis Axel b Bo Dallas, Dolph Ziggler b Tyler Breeze, Divas title: Charlotte b Paige, Non-title: Finn Balor b Sheamus, Street fight: Kane b Big Show

11/5 Glasgow, Scotland (WWE - 10,500): Neville b Stardust, Damien Sandow b Heath Slater, Jack Swagger b King Barrett, Braun Strowman & Luke Harper & Erick Rowan b Dean Ambrose & Usos, IC title: Ryback b Kevin Owens-DQ, Natalya & Bayley b Sasha Banks & Tamina, U.S. title: Alberto Del Rio b Fandango, Sin Cara & Kalisto won three-way over Los Matadores and The Ascension, No DQ: Roman Reigns b Bray Wyatt

11/5 Dallas (WWE WrestleMania party - 7,137/free show): b , Zack Ryder & Mojo Rawley b Blake & Murphy, Asuka b Peyton Royce, Apollo Crews b Tye Dillinger, Samoa Joe b Baron Corbin

11/5 Kyoto (New Japan - 651): Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly b Sho Tanaka & Jay White, Ricochet & Matt Sydal b Yohei Komatsu & David Finlay, Kenny Omega & Chase Owens & Cody Hall & Young Bucks b Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi & Mascara Dorada & Juice Robinson, Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata b Togi Makabe & Captain New Japan, Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga b Toru Yano & Gedo, Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows b Shinsuke Nakamura & Yoshi-Hashi, Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii & Rocky Romero & Trent Barreta b Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomoaki Honma & Kushida & Alex Shelley

11/5 Lakeland, FL (WWE NXT - 275): Enzo Amore b Angelo Dawkins, Billie Kay b Gionna Daddio, Riddick Moss b Josh Woods, Solomon Crowe b Tino Sabbatelli, Jason Jordan & Chad Gable b Marcus Louis & Sawyer Fulton, Bul Dempsey b Alexander Wolfe, Nia Jax b Aliyah, Tag titles: & b Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder-DQ

11/5 Nagano (Dragon Gate - 700 sellout): Genki Horiguchi d Kaito Ishida, Masaaki Mochizuki & Dragon Kid b Akira Tozawa & Yosuke Santa Maria, Shachihoko Machine b Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa, Masato Yoshino & T-Hawk b Shingo Takagi & Kotoka, Yamato & Naruki Doi b Don Fujii & Kzy, Jimmy Susumu & Ryo Saito & Jimmy Kanda b Cima & Gamma & Eita

11/6 London O2 Arena (WWE - 8,400): Handicap non-title tables match: Dudleys b Kofi Kingston & Big E & Xavier Woods, Cesaro b The Miz, Becky Lynch b Brie Bella, Curtis Axel b Bo Dallas, R-Truth b Bo Dallas, Street fight: Kane b Big Show, Divas title: Charlotte b Paige, Non-title: Finn Balor b Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler b Tyler Breeze, IC title: Dean Ambrose b Kevin Owens-DQ KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« 11/6 Barcelona, (WWE - 12,300 sellout): Neville b Stardust, Damien Sandow b Heath Slater, Braun Strowman & Erick Rowan & Luke Harper b Usos & Ryback, Fandango b King Barrett, Sin Cara & Kalisto won three-way over The Ascension and Los Matadores, Bayley & Natalya b Sasha Banks & , U.S. title: Alberto Del Rio b Jack Swagger, Street fight: Roman Reigns b Bray Wyatt

11/6 Jacksonville, FL (WWE NXT - 250): Hugo Knox b Angelo Dawkins, Gianna Daddio & Adrien Reese b Emma & Aliyah, Sampson b Levis Valenzuela, Solomon Crowe b Joshua Woods, Aiden English & Simon Gotch b Tino Sabbatelli & Steve Cutler, Enzo Amore b Tucker Knight, Billie Kay b Nia Jax, Tag titles: Jason Jordan & Chad Gable b Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder-DQ

11/6 Niigata (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 946 sellout): Atsushi Kotoge & Daisuke Harada & Yoshinari Ogawa & Super Crazy & Hitoshi Kumano b Akitoshi Saito & Kenou & Hajime Ohara & Genba Hirayanagi & Shiro Tomoyose, Taiji Ishimori won three-way over Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr., Mohammed Yone b Mitsuhiro Kitamiya, Colt Cabana b Maybach Taniguchi, Shelton Benjamin b Katsuhiko Nakajima, Minoru Suzuki DCOR Takashi Iizuka, Satoshi Kojima b Quiet Storm, Lance Archer b Masato Tanaka, Davey Boy Smith Jr. b Takashi Sugiura, Naomichi Marufuji b Chris Hero

11/6 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL TV tapings): Astral & Electrico b Demus 3:16 & Mercurio, Esfinge & Fuego & The Panther b Puma King & Super Comando & Tiger-DQ, Marcela & & b Dallys & & Zeuxis, Euforia & Gran Guerrero & Ultimo Guerrero b Dragon Rojo Jr. & Thunder & Bobby Z, Azul & La Mascara & Super Parka b Negro Casas & Felino & Mr. Niebla, Rush & Mistico b Volador Jr. & La Sombra-DQ

11/6 Xalapa (AAA TV tapings): Mini & Mini Psycho Clown b Dinastia & Octagoncito, Fabi Apache & Goya Kong & Pimpinela Escarlata b Hiedra & Lady Shani & Black Mamba, & Australian Suicide & Fireball b Daga & El Hijo del Pirata Morgan & Steve Pain, Mr. 450 Hammet & El Texano Jr. & b Garza Jr. & Jack Evans & Angelico, El Hijo del Fantasma & Mesias & Taurus b Drago & & Speedball Mike Bailey, Low Ki & Johnny Mundo & Pentagon Jr. b Fenix & Psycho Clown & Rey Mysterio Jr.

11/6 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Dragon Gate - 1,850 sellout): Dragon Kid & Kzy b Yosuke Santa Maria & U-T, Akira Tozawa b Kaito Ishida, Masaaki Mochizuki & Big R Shimizu b Gamma & Takehiro Yamamura, Cima & Eita & Lindaman b Masato Yoshino & T-Hawk & Shachihoko Boy, Sumo Hagetora b Mondai Ryu, Yamato & Kotoka b Sumo Susumu & Sumo K-Ness, Genki Horiguchi & Sumo Kanda & Sumo Saito & Sumo Fujii b Naruki Doi & Shingo Takagi & Naoki Tanizaki & Cyber Kong

11/7 Madrid, Spain (WWE - 15,000 sellout): Neville b Stardust, Damien Sandow b Heath Slater, Braun Strowman & Erick Rowan & Luke Harper b Ryback & Usos, Fandango b King Barrett, Sin Cara & Kalisto won three-way over Los Matadores and The Ascension, Natalya & Bayley b Sasha Banks & Naomi, U.S. title: Alberto Del Rio b Jack Swagger, Street fight: Roman Reigns b Bray Wyatt

11/7 Leeds, England (WWE - 8,000): 2 on 3 tables match: Dudleys b Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston & Big E, Cesaro b The Miz, Non-title: Finn Balor b Sheamus, Curtis Axel b Bo Dallas, R-Truth b Bo Dallas, No DQ: Kane b Big Show, Dolph Ziggler b Tyler Breeze, Paige ref: Charlotte & Becky Lynch b Brie Bella & Alicia Fox, IC title: Dean Ambrose b Kevin Owens-DQ

11/7 Veracruz (ZZ Inc.): & Mini Abismo Negro & Black Mamba b Goya Kong & & Pimpinela Escarlata, Australian Suicide & Fireball b Speedball Mike Bailey & Willie Mack, Fenix & Rey Horus b Drago & Seiya , Chessman & Mesias & Pentagon Jr. b Garza Jr. & El Hijo de & , Blue Demon Jr. & Dr. Wagner Jr. & Rey Mysterio Jr. b Low Ki & Johnny Mundo &

11/7 Hamamatsu (Dragon Gate - 450): Lindaman d Shachihoko Boy, Yamato & Kotoka b Gamma & Takehiro Yamamura, T-Hawk b Kaito Ishida, Cima & Punch Tominaga b Jimmy Susumu & Jimmy Kanda, Masato Yoshino & Akira Tozawa b Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito, Dragon Kid & Kzy & Big R Shimizu b Naruki Doi & Shingo Takagi & Mondai Ryu

11/8 Birmingham, England (WWE - 10,500): 2 on 3 tables match: Dudleys b Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston & Big E, Cesaro b The Miz, Non-title: Finn Balor b Sheamus, Curtis Axel b Bo Dallas, R-Truth b Bo Dallas, Street fight: Kane b Big Show, Paige ref: Charlotte & Becky Lynch b Brie Bella & Alicia Fox, Dolph Ziggler b Tyler Breeze, IC title: Dean Ambrose b Kevin Owens-DQ

11/8 , England (WWE - 8,000): Neville b Stardust, Damien Sandow b Heat Slater, Braun Strowman & Erick Rowan & Luke Harper b Ryback & Usos, King Barrett b Fandango, Sin Cara & Kalisto won three-way over The Ascension and Los Matadores, Natalya & Bayley b Sasha Banks & Naomi, U.S. title: Alberto Del Rio b Jack Swagger, Street fight: Roman Reigns b Bray Wyatt

11/8 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 1,565): Kenou & Hajime Ohara & Mitsuhiro Kitamiya & Genba Hirayanagi b Yoshinari Ogawa & Super Crazy & Hitoshi Kumano & Shiro Tomoyose, Maybach Taniguchi & Mohammed Yone & Katsuhiko Nakajima b Satoshi Kojima & Akitoshi Saito & Quiet Storm, Taka Michinoku & Taichi b Daisuke Harada & Atsushi Kotoge, Taiji Ishimori b Zack Sabre Jr., Colt Cabana b Davey Boy Smith Jr.-DQ, Non-title: Chris Hero & Colt Cabana b Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer, Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka b Masato Tanaka & Takashi Sugiura, Global League finals: KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« Naomichi Marufuji b Shelton Benjamin

11/8 Mexico City Arena Mexico (Lucha Libre Elite): Dinamic Black & Metatron b & Raziel, Amapola & Dallys & Zeuxis b Estrellita & Silueta & Syuri, Angel de Oro & b Gran Guerrero & Kamaitachi, Blue Panther & Blue Panther Jr. & The Panther b & I & II, Damian 666 & Halloween & Bestia 666 b Maximo Sexy & Valiente & Volador Jr.-DQ, La Sombra & Ultimo Guerrero b Atlantis & Caristico

11/8 Kyoto (Dragon Gate - 850): Mondai Ryu b U-T, Dragon Kid & Big R Shimizu b Eita & Kaito Ishida, T-Hawk b Takehiro Yamamura, Jimmy K-Ness b Kzy, Masato Yoshino & Akira Tozawa b Jimmy Susumu & Jimmy Kanda, Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito b Yamato & Naoki Tanizaki, Cima & Gamma & Punch Tominaga b Naruki Doi & Shingo Takagi & Kotoka

11/9 , UK (WWE Raw/Superstars TV tapings - 11,500 sellout): Fandango b Bo Dallas, Dudleys & Ryback b The Ascension & Stardust, Roman Reign b Big Show, Non-title: Kevin Owens b Titus O'Neil, Becky Lynch b Paige, Dolph Ziggler b The Miz, Natalya b Naomi, Cesaro b Sheamus, Dean Ambrose b Tyler Breeze, Big E & Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods b Neville & Usos

11/10 Manchester, UK (WWE Smackdown/Main Event TV tapings - 6,000): Finn Balor b , Jack Swagger b Adam Rose, Damien Sandow b Heath Slater, Sasha Banks b Becky Lynch, Braun Strowman b Fandango, Neville b King Barrett, Kalisto b Ryback, Alberto Del Rio b Stardust, Usos b Luke Harper & Erick Rowan-DQ, Roman Reigns b Bray Wyatt

11/10 Belfast, Northern Ireland (WWE - 6,500): Three-way for tag titles: Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods won over Dudleys and Titus O'Neil & Darren Young, Zack Ryder b The Miz, Sheamus b Cesaro, Three-way for Divas title: Charlotte won over Alicia Fox and Paige, No DQ: Kane b Big Show, Curtis Axel b Bo Dallas, R-Truth b Bo Dallas, Dolph Ziggler b Tyler Breeze, IC title: Dean Ambrose b Kevin Owens- DQ

11/10 Fukui (Dragon Gate - 800 sellout): Masato Yoshino & Shachihoko Boy b Eita & Takehiro Yamamura, Jimmy Susumu b Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa, Shingo Takagi & Kotoka b Gamma & Kaito Ishida, Akira Tozawa & T-Hawk b Cyber Kong & Mondai Ryu, Don Fujii & Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito b Yamato & Naruki Doi & Naoki Tanizaki

11/10 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL): Bengala & Leono b Apocalipsis & Camorra, Flyer & Magnus & Sensei b Canelo Casas & Espanto Jr. & Inquisidor, Skandalo b Star Jr., Cancerbero & Raziel & Virus b Hombre Bala Jr. & Starman & Super Halcon Jr., Blue Panther & Rey Cometa & The Panther b Misterioso Jr. & Pierroth & Sagrado, Marco Corleone & Stuka Jr. & Brazo de Plata b Ephesto & Mephisto & Shocker- DQ

11/11 Rome (WWE): Three-way for tag titles: New Day won over Titus O'Neil & Darren Young and Dudleys, Zack Ryder b The Miz, Cesaro b Sheamus, Three-way for Divas title: Charlotte won over Alicia Fox and Paige, Street fight: Kane b Big Show, Curtis Axel b Bo Dallas, R-Truth b Bo Dallas, Dolph Ziggler b Tyler Breeze, IC title: Dean Ambrose b Kevin Owens-DQ

11/11 Brighton, UK (WWE - 4,000 sellout): Neville b Stardust, Damien Sandow & Fandango b Heath Slater & Adam Rose, Three-way for U.S. title: Alberto Del Rio won over Jack Swagger and King Barrett, Braun Strowman & Erick Rowan & Luke Harper b Usos & Ryback, Becky Lynch & Bayley b Sasha Banks & Naomi, Elimination match: Sin Cara & Kalisto won over Los Matadores and The Ascension, Street fight: Roman Reigns b Bray Wyatt

11/12 Newcastle, UK (WWE - 8,400 sellout): Neville b Stardust, Damien Sandow & Fandango b Adam Rose & Heath Slater, Three-way for U.S. title: Alberto Del Rio won over Jack Swagger and King Barrett, Luke Harper & Rick Rowan & Braun Strowman b Ryback & Usos, Becky Lynch & Bayley b Sasha Banks & Naomi, Sin Cara & Kalisto won three-way over Los Matadores and The Ascension, Street fight: Roman Reigns b Bray Wyatt

11/12 Winter Haven, FL (WWE NXT): Enzo Amore b Tucker Knight, Asuka & Gionna Daddio b & Emma, Solomon Crowe b Josh Woods, Apollo Crews b Elias Sampson, Jason Jordan & Chad Gable & Adrienne Reese b Blake & Murphy & Alexa Bliss, Samoa Joe b Angelo Dawkins, Tye Dillinger b Tino Sabbatelli, b Aliyah, Tag titles: Aiden English & Simon Gotch b Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder-DQ

11/13 Nottingham, UK (WWE - 8,200 sellout): Neville b Stardust, Fandango & Damien Sandow b Adam Rose & Heath Slater, Three-way for U.S. title: Alberto Del Rio won over Jack Swagger and King Barrett, Luke Harper & Erick Rowan & Braun Strowman b Usos & Ryback, Becky Lynch & Bayley b Sasha Banks & Naomi, Sin Cara & Kalisto won three-way over Los Matadores and The Ascension, No holds barred: Roman Reigns b Bray Wyatt

11/13 Leipzig, Germany (WWE - 8,000 sellout): Non-title tables match: Dudleys b New Day, Zack Ryder b Darren Young, Cesaro b The Miz, three-way for Divas title: Charlotte won over Paige and Alicia Fox, Street fight: Kane b Big Show, Curtis Axel b Bo Dallas, R-Truth b Bo Dallas, Dolph Ziggler b Tyler Breeze, IC title: Dean Ambrose b Kevin Owens-DQ KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« 11/13 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL): Okumura & Puma & Tiger b Esfinge & Pegasso & Triton, Amapola & Seductora & Zeuxis b Estrellita & Princesa Sugei & Syuri, Dragon Lee & Brazo de Plata & Titan b Kamaitachi & Polvora & Vangellys-DQ, & Super Parka & Valiente b Ephesto & Luciferno & Mephisto, Euforia & Gran Guerrero & Ultimo Guerrero b Rey Bucanero & Thunder & Terrible, Rush b La Sombra

11/13 Milwaukee (ROH - 900 sellout): Christopher Daniels won four-way over , Hanson and , Roderick Strong b , won three-way over and , Tag titles: Michael Bennett & Matt Taven b Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly, won four-way over Frankie Kazarian, Raymond Rowe and Rhett Titus, won three-way over and , ACH b Matt Sydal, A.J. Styles & Young Bucks b & Joey Daddiego & Donovan Dijak

11/13 Orlando (WWE NXT - 400 sellout): Mojo Rawley b Angelo Dawkins, Eva Marie & Nia Jax b Gionna Daddio & Aliyah, Elias Sampson b Riddick Moss, Hugo Knox & Tucker Knight b Sawyer Fulton & Marcus Louis, Enzo Amore b Tye Dillinger, Bull Dempsey b Oscar, Cameron b Adrienne Reese, Elimination match: Apollo Crews & Jason Jordan & Chad Gable & Aiden English & Simon Gotch b Baron Corbin & Blake & Murphy & Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder

11/13 Waterbury, CT ( - 2,300 sellout): TK O'Ryan b Vinnie Marseglia, Randy Ashawn won Battle Royal, & Mandy Leon b Jessicka Havok & Deanna Purrazzo, ref: Ron Zombie b Brian Anthony, Bull Dredd & Jason Blade & Matias b Battles Brothers & Dan DeMan, Rey Mysterio Jr. b

11/13 Philadelphia (House of Hardcore - 900): Yusuke Kodama b Ben Ortiz, Chris Hero b Lance Hoyt, won three-way over Alex Reynolds and JT Dunn, Colt Cabana & Dan Barry & Bill Carr & Tony Mamaluke & Guido Maritato b Vik Dalishus & Manu & Lloyd Anoa'i & Lance Anoa'i & Jade, Eddie Kingston b , Rhino b , b , & Yoshihiro Tajiri b & Ethan Carter III

11/14 Minehead, England (WWE): Neville b Stardust, Damien Sandow & Fandango b Adam Rose & Heath Slater, Three-way for U.S. title: Alberto Del Rio won over Jack Swagger and King Barrett, Braun Strowman & Erick Rowan & Luke Harper b Usos & Ryback, Bayley & Becky Lynch b Naomi & Sasha Banks, Sin Cara & Kalisto won three-way over Los Matadores and The Ascension, Street fight: Roman Reigns b Bray Wyatt

11/14 Stuttgart, Germany (WWE - 5,000 sellout): Non-title 2 on 3 tables match: Dudleys b Kofi Kingston & Big E & Xavier Woods, Zack Ryder b Darren Young, Cesaro b The Miz, Three-way for Divas title: Charlotte won over Alicia Fox and Paige, Street fight: Kane b Big Show, Curtis Axel b Bo Dallas, R- Truth b Bo Dallas, Dolph Ziggler b Tyler Breeze, IC title: Dean Ambrose b Kevin Owens-DQ

11/14 Hopkins, MN (ROH - 850): Shaheem Ali b Kevin Lee Davidson, Cedric Alexander b Will Ferrara, Dalton Castle b Adam Page, Mark Briscoe b Frankie Kazarian, Adam Cole & Michael Bennett & Matt Taven b Moose & Raymond Rowe & Hanson, Joey Daddiego b Cheeseburger, Young Bucks b Kenny King & Rhett Titus, A.J. Styles b Matt Sydal, Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly b Jay Lethal & Donovan Dijak, Michael Elgin won Survival of the Fittest over Jay Briscoe, ACH, Silas Young and Christopher Daniels

11/14 Boyle Heights, CA ( TV tapings - 300 sellout/all free): Drago & Bengala & Famous B b Cage & Cortez Castro & Mr. Cisco, Gift of the Gods title: King Cuerno b Fenix to win title, Ivelisse won three-way over Angelico and Son of Havok, Lucha Underground title: Mil Muertes b Ivelisse, Johnny Mundo b Killshot, The Mack (Willie Mack) b P.J. Black, 2 on 3: Prince Puma & Pentagon Jr. b The Disciples of Death

11/14 Yakuhashi (Dragon Gate - 450): Kaito Ishida d Takehiro Yamamura, Masato Yoshino & T-Hawk b Jimmy Susumu & Jimmy Kanda, Akira Tozawa b Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa, Akira Tozawa b Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa, Yamato & Shingo Takagi b Dragon Kid & Big R Shimizu, Masaaki Mochizuki & Don Fujii b Naruki Doi & Kotoka, Cima & Gamma & Eita b Jimmy K-Ness & Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi

11/15 Ciudad Juarez (AAA TV tapings - 8,000 sellout): Centella & Mr. Alfa & Pagan b Aereo & Dragon & Latino, AAA minis title: Dinastia b Mini Abismo Negro, Australian Suicide & Speedball Mike Bailey b Daga & Steve Pain, Garza Jr. & Monsther Clown & Murder Clown b Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria & Zorro, El Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Parka Negra & Taurus b Blue Demon Jr. & Electroshock & La Parka Averno & Chessman & Psicosis b Rey Mysterio Jr. & Psycho Clown &

11/15 Glasgow, Scotland (Insane Championship Wrestling - 4,000 sellout): Davey Boy b Stevie Boy, & Noam Dar & Kenny Williams b Liam Thomson & Lionheart & Doug Williams, Viper won three-way over Nikki Storm and Kay Lee Ray, b Rhino, Tag titles: Jackie Polo & b Kid Fite & Sha Samuels, Cage match: Chris Renfrew & & BT Gunn b Tommy End & Dante & Mikey Whiplash, Big Damo b , ICW title: b Drew Galloway to win title

11/15 Mexico City Arena Mexico (Lucha Libre Elite): Nitrito & Pequeno Olimpico b & Stukita, Cancerbero & Heddi Karaoui & Raziel b Emperador Azteca & Magnus & Metalcon, Reina tag titles: Silueta & Syuri b Dallys & Zeuxis, Pegasso & Rey Cometa & Titan b Angel de Oro & Argos & Golden KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« Magic, Damian 666 & Halloween b Maximo Sexy & Volador Jr., Caristico & Negro Casas & Valiente b & Mephisto & Ephesto

11/15 Nobeoka (Dragon Gate - 1,450): Jimmy Susumu & Jimmy Kanda b Kaito Ishida & Takehiro Yamamura, Ryo Saito b Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa, Gamma & Lindaman b Shingo Takagi & Kotoka, Dragon Kid & Big R Shimizu b Jimmy K-ness & Genki Horiguchi, Masato Yoshino & Akira Tozawa & T- Hawk b Cima & Eita & Punch Tominaga, Open the Twin Gate title: Yamato & Naruki Doi b Masaaki Mochizuki & Don Fujii

11/15 Hachioje (All Japan - 1,255 sellout): Suwama b Naoya Nomura, Atsushi Aoki & Shigehiro Irie b Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Keniichi Sato, Masa Fuchi & Jake Lee b Sushi & Sushi Kozou, Kento Miyahara b Yuma Aoyagi, Yuko Miyamoto & Isami Kodaka b Kotaro Suzuki & Yohei Nakajima, Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori & & Kenso b Zeus & Akebono & Yutaka Yoshie & The Bodyguard

11/16 Greenville, SC (WWE Raw/Superstars TV tapings - 7,600): Brie Bella b Naomi, Titus O'Neil b Bo Dallas, Kevin Owens b Neville, Tyler Breeze b R-Truth, Dean Ambrose b Dolph Ziggler, Big E & Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods b Usos & Ryback-DQ, Roman Reigns b Cesaro, Dudleys b The Ascension, Alberto Del Rio b Kalisto, Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose & Cesaro & Dolph Ziggler b Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper & Braun Strowman & Erick Rowan

11/16 Shimonoseki (Dragon Gate - 400): Jimmy Kanda d Eita, Masato Yoshino & T-Hawk b Cima & Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa, Masato Yoshino & T-Hawk b Cima & Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa, Akira Tozawa b Takehiro Yamamura, Yamato & Kotoka b Gamma & Kaito Ishida, Naruki Doi & Shingo Takagi b Don Fujii & Ryo Saito, Jimmy K-Ness & Jimmy Susumu & Genki Horiguchi b Masaaki Mochizuki & Dragon Kid & Big R Shimizu

11/17 Knoxville (WWE Smackdown/Main Event TV tapings): Usos b Adam Rose & Brad Maddox, Naomi b Alicia Fox, Titus O'Neil b Heath Slater, Cesaro b The Miz, Dudleys & Neville b The Ascension & Stardust, Tyler Breeze b Zack Ryder, Non-title: Charlotte b Brie Bella, Big E b Kalisto, Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose b Kevin Owens & Alberto Del Rio-DQ

CMLL La Sombra losing his mask now may make sense if he's WWE bound. One person close to CMLL said it was confirmed on 11/18 the story that has been going around the past two weeks. Sombra had an open invitation from WWE that he would have a developmental contract if he wants it. The other confirmation, not direct, was on 11/16 when he wasn't announced for the Fantastica Mania tour in January that he has been the big star of the past few years. When WWE was scouting Mexican wrestlers, he was the one they liked the most and he was the only one offered a deal. There were rumors all over Mexico regarding Sombra, and he did the usual joking without saying anything past that he hasn't signed a WWE contract (with the exception of Tough Enough guys, almost nobody does until months of background checking after the offer is agreed to), but his losing clean to Rush on the 11/13 show in a clearly rushed feud (you can take that term both ways) would add fuel to the fire. In Mexico, where things are usually a slow build, they did the argument, a tag match against Rush, a singles match with Rush, and then the curtain call style make-up in three weeks. If he has signed, he won't say it publicly because WWE makes it clear to everyone they sign that they can't tell anyone, and this isn't just limited to in-ring performers these days. Sombra was on TV Azteca on 11/12, and denied having signed a contract but did say his ultimate dream is to be there. People figured that one of the top guys in CMLL would never say that publicly, for fear the office would be furious, although Sombra is one of very few guys who could get away with saying that. The strongest indication he's headed to WWE is that he's not on the January Fantastica Mania tour with New Japan, and he has been one of the stars, if not the star, of the tour, the past few years. The past few weeks when the rumors got started, the belief in the industry is that we'd know one way or another about Sombra when the Fantastica Mania tour lineup was announced in mid-November. Rush vs. Sombra was pretty great in some ways, combining their best stuff with a lot of stuff taken from watching tapes of guys like Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata from New Japan, with Rush winning the third fall clean with the Rush driver. Then the two did the old Kliq curtain call putting each other over after they'd had this killer match. As good as the match was, the crowd wasn't that into it that much, because it was two heels and neither emerged as the face. After their match, they made up and put each other over. Rush, in an interview after the match, played up on the rumors, saying they were both going to Raw on Monday to take out John Cena. Sombra also has no bookings listed on CMLL shows going forward and to further tease things, in social media, showed his passport and said he was going on vacation to the U.S. The semi saw Euforia & Ultimo Guerrero & Gran Guerrero beat Rey Bucanero & El Terrible & Thunder when Ultimo pinned Thunder after a clothesline in the third fall.

The 11/20 top matches are La Mascara & Marco Corleone & Rush vs. Bucanero & Shocker & Terrible and Atlantis & Dragon Lee & Volador Jr. vs. Kamaitachi & Mr. Niebla & Negro Casas.

The LLE show on 11/8 in Guadalajara saw Dandy and El Satanico revive their feud from 25 years ago in the main event as Dandy & Negro Casas beat Satanico & Mr. Niebla via DQ when Satanico used a low blow on Dandy. The 11/15 LLE show, where a lot of people were expecting Cibernetico to be the mystery heel in the main event, saw it instead be the return of Black Warrior. Caristico & Negro Casas & Valiente beat Black Warrior & Ephesto & Mephisto when Caristico used La Mistica on Warrior for the submission. Cibernetico did show up, doing a post-match run-in where he attacked Caristico, gave him

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« a choke slam, and challenged him, Rush, Ultimo Guerrero and La Sombra. Cibernetico's first match ever at Arena Mexico is set for 11/22, with Caristico & Casas & Atlantis vs. Cibernetico & Dark Cuervo (a longtime AAA wrestler who it remains to be seen is coming since he was still working AAA and just did an angle at the tapings) & Mephisto. Cibernetico then said that he owns the rights to his name, not AAA, and said that more of his friends are coming to take over Arena Mexico, so they're doing an NWO angle with the AAA talent they're raiding.

The annual Arena Mexico bodybuilding contest for the wrestlers will be on 11/25.

AAA Cibernetico didn't appear at the 11/12 show in Guadalajara and sold out shows on 11/13 in Ciudad Madero and the TV taping on 11/15 in Ciudad Juarez. In Guadalajara, he was replaced by Averno, so for now we have to figure Averno & Chessman (who also worked the show) are staying while Cibernetico is gone. At TV, he was replaced by Psicosis, who is back as a headliner and working against Rey Mysterio Jr., who he started his career as the rival of. In Ciudad Juarez, Mysterio Jr. and Psicosis were on opposite sides of a trios match for the first time in AAA since 1996.

Cibernetico gave an interview when he was at Arena Mexico saying Chessman wasn't coming with him. Cibernetico claimed on Twitter that AAA canceled his 11/13 booking and he was in town, but that was after he no-showed the night before. He said he was going to the 11/15 LLE show at Arena Mexico. Rush also confirmed it by mentioning in his promo that he was going to destroy Cibernetico.

Konnan, on his podcast said that Lucha Libre Elite has been throwing a lot of money offers to their wrestlers to jump and promising them that they are getting TV with TV Azteca. That'll be interesting because Azteca America in the U.S. takes a lot of TV Azteca programming. Even though Dorian Roldan had said that Alberto Del Rio wasn't coming back and WWE all but said the same thing, said he was cautiously optimistic that he would and acted like WWE misled Alberto on what he was going to be able to do when he signed. As noted before, Alberto told AAA he'd be back for his scheduled dates, while WWE claimed that Alberto's lawyers told them he had no more commitments anywhere. WWE said that they weren't aware of any commitments he had anywhere even though his commitments elsewhere was probably the biggest news story after he signed. Konnan also said that Alberto did tell them he was willing to lose the title, but he hadn't signed, and they were under the impression if he signed anywhere it would be TNA. If that was the case, there was no concern he wouldn't be back. He said they could have had him lose at Heroes Inmortales to Johnny Mundo, but they didn't want to beat him before a sellout of 10,000 in his hometown of San Luis Potosi. He also indicated the plan at some point was for Alberto to lose the title to Mundo, although the Guerra de Titanes planned main event was to be Alberto vs. Jeff Jarrett in a hair vs. hair match.

Court Bauer, who has been working with AAA, tweeted about he and Dorian Roldan having meetings this week in Madison Square Garden. I can't see AAA running MSG itself due to cost, but they could run at the adjacent Theater in Madison Square Garden. AAA ran there once in the 90s.

They taped TV on 11/15 in Ciudad Juarez before a sellout of 8,000 fans. Averno & Chessman & Psicosis beat Rey Mysterio Jr. & Psycho Clown & mystery partner Chris Masters in the main event. Masters was the replacement for Alberto Del Rio. The crowd was really into the old Mysterio-Psicosis rivalry. The finish saw Mysterio pin Psicosis with a 619 and frog splash in 15:00. After the main event, Konnan and Mysterio talked about Eddy Guerrero, who started his career in Ciudad Juarez and he and Konnan did a program early in both men's careers that drew big for weeks. Konnan also talked about other greats in the city, like , Cobarde, Cinta de Oro, Rocky Star and Ari Romero. After Garza Jr. & Monsther Clown & Murder Clown beat Dark Cuervo & Dark Scoria & Zorro, Zorro asked Cuervo & Scoria to join a permanent unit with them. That's notable because Dark Cuervo was announced for the 11/22 LLE show at Arena Mexico. On the undercard Dinastia retained the Minis title beating Mini Abismo Negro.

Mesias, Sexy Star and MVP were all pulled from the ZZ Inc. shows this coming weekend, but with Mesias and Sexy Star, that could be due to Lucha Underground needing them, and MVP is still booked the following week.

After agreeing to stay after Myzteziz left, Argos has quit the promotion because they haven't been giving him any dates and debuted on 11/15 with Lucha Libre Elite at Arena Mexico. Really, the only reason he was there in the first place was because he was Myzteziz's brother. Argenis, who holds the trios titles in Lucha Underground (although it's as a Disciples of Death member so he could easily be replaced), was the brother they were more interested in keeping.

There are three ZZ Inc. shows this weekend. On 11/20 in Merida , it's Mr. 450 Hammet & Rey Horus vs. Speedball Mike Bailey & Bestia 666, Mickie James & Dinastia & Pimpinela Escarlata vs. Taya Valkyrie & Mini Charly Manson & Black Mamba, Jack Evans & Angelico & Super Nova vs. Seiya Sanada & & Willie Mack, Fenix & Garza Jr. & El Hijo del Dos Caras vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. & Psicosis & Magnus (Nick Aldis) and Rey Mysterio Jr. & Dr. Wagner Jr. & Blue Demon Jr. vs. Drew Galloway & Johnny Mundo & Brodus Clay. The next night in Queretaro at the bullring has 450 & Horus & Venum vs. Bailey & Bestia 666 & Steve Pain, Mickie James & Dinastia & Escarlata vs. Hiedra & Mini Charly Manson & Mamba, Aero Star & Australian Suicide & Garza Jr. vs. Dutt & Mack & Sanada, El Hijo del Dos Caras & Murder Clown & Psycho Clown vs. Magnus & Moose & Psicosis and & Wagner Jr. & Mysterio Jr. vs. Clay & Galloway & Chris Masters. The third show on 1/22 in Aguascalientes is 450 & Horus & Venum vs. Bailey & Bestia 666 & Pain, Mickie James & Dinastia & Escarlata vs. Lady Shani & Manson & Mamba, KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« Garza Jr. & Caras & Psycho vs. Magnus & Moose & Psicosis, Aero Star & Australian Suicide & Super Nova vs. Dutt & Mack & Sanada and Mysterio Jr. & Wagner Jr. & Carlito vs. Clay & Galloway & Masters.

The 11/27 show in Merida and 11/28 show in Cancun are identical, with Mysterio Jr. & Demon Jr. & Wagner Jr. vs. Clay & Johnny Mundo & Low Ki, Evans & Angelico & Prince Puma (Ricochet) vs. Cage & Chavo Jr. & MVP and Drago & Caras & Bailey vs. Magnus & Psicosis & Mack as the top matches.

DRAGON GATE Yamato & Naruki Doi retained the Open the Twin Gate titles over Masaaki Mochizuki & Don Fujii in the main event of the big show of the week on 11/15 in Nobeoka, which drew 1,450 fans.

ALL JAPAN As noted last week, the company is in a major financial crisis, having lost Go Shiozaki and now Kotaro Suzuki whose contract expires at the end of this month. Suzuki said he doesn't know where he's going next. He may stay through 12/6. Akebono, who is also no longer under contract, still worked for the group on a house show on 11/15 in Hachioji.

PRO WRESTLING NOAH Go Shiozaki will be returning at the 11/20 show at Korakuen Hall, so that answers the question on where he's winding up with rumors about New Japan and Rizin after he left All Japan. He's not booked to wrestle on the show or on any dates on the next tour. In a sense, this is a disappointment because it's a lateral move for him, because he could be a fresh face in the top mix in higher profile New Japan, but New Japan probably sees him being more beneficial here because of the attempts to rebuild a struggling promotion here.

You can see they are cutting back on expenses with the next tour, as it goes from 11/20 to 12/23, but aside from Quiet Storm, who is living in Japan, the only foreigners even booked, Chris Hero, Colt Cabana, Lance Archer, Davey Boy Smith Jr., and Shelton Benjamin, are only booked from 12/19 to 12/23, largely for the final major show of the year at the Ota Ward Gym in Tokyo.

A newcomer named Kaito Kiyomiya, 19, is debuting this month. What is known is he's about 185 pounds, was a soccer player growing up, and that his hero growing up was .

NEW JAPAN With them between tours, CEO Naoki Sugabayashi and Tiger Hattori, the international liaison, were in Mexico this week putting together plans for Fantastica Mania in January. The tour runs from 1/17 to 1/24, with several of the events on New Japan World. The lineup has Mistico (the second one), Atlantis (as Mexican national light heavyweight champion), Volador Jr. (as NWA historic welterweight champion), Guerrero Maya Jr., Dragon Lee (as CMLL super lightweight champion), Stuka Jr., Fuego, Mascara Dorada (CMLL welterweight champion), Titan, The Panther, Mephisto, Ultimo Guerrero (NWA historic middleweight champion), Hechicero, Bobby Z, Virus, Barbaro Cavernario (Mexican national welterweight champion) and Okumura. The most notable thing is no La Sombra and no Rush.

A correction from last week regarding A.J. Styles. Styles has no contract with New Japan or ROH, so would be free to take any offers from WWE now. The way I look at the Styles situation is the ball would be in WWE's court. He's got a great gig as the top foreigner here working with the top guys. However, at 38, and with kids, he's going to go where he can make the most money, and WWE has the ability to offer more money than he can make on the outside. But him coming in on a "hope" and for less than he's making, which a lot of guys do, like big name indies guys, based on wanting to be there, the idea it's the place to be, he is probably not going to be as apt as many to do that.

OTHER JAPAN NOTES Due to space limitations and the death of Nick Bockwinkel, we'll have coverage of the retirement show on 11/15 at Sumo Hall next week. Kazuchika Okada pinned 65-year-old Tenryu in 17:27 with the rainmaker in his final career match. Terry Funk, Stan Hansen and Tenryu were together at the end as Tenryu closed the show giving his farewell speech.

HERE AND THERE The CBS show "48 Hours" had planned a one hour investigative piece on the Jimmy Snuka case, but the gag in place on everyone involved in the case, including Nancy Argentino's sisters (who were going to be the key people interviewed for the story) led to the show being put on an indefinite hold. It appears the gag order is both because of the public reason of not wanting the case tried in the national media, but also the questions about why it took 32 years to prosecute the case, which is an embarrassment to the local authorities.

PWG officially announced shows on 12/11, 12/12 and Jan. 2 in Reseda, CA, all of which are UFC nights. The big news is that PWG looks to be the only place where TNA, ROH, Lucha Underground and Evolve talent can wrestle each other, similar to years ago when PWG would be the place where the Dragon Gate USA and ROH talent could work against each other. While not official yet, ROH is now allowing its contracted talent to work there, with Michael Elgin returning on 12/11. Granted, Elgin is not under an ROH contract, but his going is related to the new deal which we had talked about as something PWG was working for

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« as part of the Bucks negotiations. The Bucks and Roderick Strong were already allowed because it was part of their contract negotiations, with Strong as PWG champion and the Bucks as tag team champions. The 12/11 show has Strong vs. Matt Sydal (who has always been able to go because he's a free agent) for the PWG title, Young Bucks vs. & Tommaso Ciampa for the PWG tag titles, & vs. Elgin & Brian Cage, vs. , Ricochet vs. Marty Scurll, vs. Trevor Lee and Kenny Omega vs. Speedball Mike Bailey. The 12/12 show has (Evolve champion) vs. Scurll, Ricochet (LU) vs. Andrews (TNA), Taylor vs. Kikutaro, Sydal vs. Trevor Lee, Gargano & Ciampa vs. Elgin & Cage and a main event of Chris Hero & Bailey & & Candice LaRae vs. Bucks & Strong & in a Guerrilla Warfare match. Nothing was announced for Jan. 2, past that Drew Galloway, Akira Tozawa and Zack Sabre Jr., will be there.

The Insane Championship Wrestling show on 11/15 at the SECC in Glasgow, Scotland, drew a sellout of 4,000 fans, which as noted, was the biggest crowd for a U.K. based promotion since 1982. ICW has been packing 1,500 seat buildings regularly, particularly after a BBC piece made a cult hero out of Grado. This show sold out a month in advance, and owner Mark Dallas announced a show for November 20, 2016, at the Hydro, which is the arena that WWE and UFC use. The crowd went crazy for Grado, and the whole night built toward him beating Drew Galloway to win their heavyweight title. Galloway knocked out the ref. Heel Red Lightning went to help Galloway, but Mick Foley ran in and stopped Lightning. Jack Jester ran in and pulled Mr. Socko off Foley, but while this was going on, Grado pinned Galloway with promoter Dallas counting the fall. The place went crazy when he won. His act and ring entrance are super over at the shows, but it's a cult thing that obviously hasn't translated to TNA. The only other outside talent on the show was Rhino. Another big reaction on the show was when the stars of a police TV sitcom, "Scot Squad," showed up unannounced and arrested Lionheart. They have their own streaming service at $5.99 per month which includes all of their live events, plus documentaries and comedy shows. A name on the show I was told to look out for is Joe Hendry, who worked a six-man tag. He's said to be super talented, with a great look and charisma, and is training to represent Scotland in the 2016 Commonwealth Games in wrestling, and also is a high level judoka. He worked Raw as a Russian translator in 2014 for a /Rusev segment. While not confirmed, there is talk of Kay Lee Ray heading to NXT in January. Iron Man Joe Coffey, who beat Rhino, is muscular, but on the small side, and has had tryouts with WWE and was put over on Twitter by WWE coach Robbie Brookside.

The British indie scene is strong, both with talent and interest. Progress Wrestling has been running a 700-seat building in London and selling out every show, with half the building season ticket holders and the other tickets sold out in 21 minutes for the most recent show. They are expanding, going into Manchester on 12/6 in a 1,500 seat building which sold out before any matches were announced. Sabre Jr. and Marty Scurll, who also work PWG in the U.S., are regulars and Sabre faces Tommaso Ciampa on that show. The belief is that it's not a coincidence the steep decline in TNA's TV ratings with the rise in popularity of these groups, as well as (which works for ROH), Pro (which works with New Japan and IPW UK, that the hardcore fans looking for a WWE alternative have found better local alternatives to TNA.

TSN's "Off the Record," a show that was in some ways put on the map by Bret Hart and Vince McMahon and the 1997 Survivor Series screw job, was canceled on 11/17, after 18 years due to cost cutting at Bell Media. Michael Landsberg, the host, will remain with TSN producing shorter segments during SportsCentre and online.

Mike O'Brien's Northeast Wrestling ran its 20th anniversary show on 11/13 in Waterbury, CT, drawing a sellout of 2,300 fans for a show headlined by Rey Mysterio Jr. pinning Matt Hardy. It was also the 10th anniversary of the death of Eddy Guerrero, and Mysterio and Hardy did an in-ring tribute to him. Others who were on the show and at the meet and greet included Jeff Hardy (who worked as a referee), Velvet Sky, Mandy Leon, Jessicka Havoc and Deanna Purazzo, plus Bret Hart, Brooke Tessmacher and Boogeyman. While never announced to the public, or at the show, both and Dusty Rhodes were booked for this show when it was first arranged. Mysterio Jr. also beat Low Ki in their first-ever singles match the next night on the Jersey All Pro Wrestling 19th anniversary show in Rahway.

Donald Haviland, 41, who wrestled as Hack Myers, the Shah of ECW, from 1993 to 1998, was scheduled for brain surgery this week at the Johns Hopkins University medical center in .

Chael Sonnen will receive the George Tragos award at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame's Dan Gable Museum during the Tragos/Thesz Hall of Fame induction ceremony on 7/14 to 7/16 in Waterloo, IA. The Tragos award goes to someone who has used his wrestling skill to become an MMA star.

Tampa police announced on 11/17 that Matt Loyd, known as Spiceboy on the Bubba the Lovesponge shows in the past, was the person who stole several sex tape DVDs from Bubba's office and then sold them to TMZ to build interest. They also said Loyd contacted tape broker Keith Davidson from California to extort money from Hulk Hogan, but hid his tracks by hiring a middleman, his wife's best friend from high school, Lori Burbridge, who was paid $10,000 for her role. Loyd had first claimed while extorting Hogan that he got the tapes from Bubba in a garage sale. So Hogan was aware of everything long before they went public. Surprisingly, no charges have been filed against Loyd. Mark Cox of the State Attorney's Office said, "We reviewed the case in great detail, the Tampa Police Department report is only part of the overall investigation. We came to the conclusion that we had no reasonable expectation of success in prosecution." For his part, Bubba is claiming that his rights were violated and was mad that the guy who stole the tapes from him wasn't getting prosecuted.

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« Tommy Dreamer's House of Hardcore did an iPPV on 11/13 in Philadelphia. They drew 900 fans, or just under a sellout at the . Yusuke Kodama from Wrestle-1, brought in as a protégé of Tajiri, looked great and got over with the crowd in a win over Ben Ortiz. Chris Hero pinned Lance Hoyt (Archer) in a battle of NOAH regulars. They did a match with Colt Cabana teaming with Team Tremendous (Bill Carr & Dan Barry) and The FBI from ECW (Tony Mamaluke & Guido Maritato) beating Vik Dalishus and the Anoa'i family (Manu, Lance & Lloyd, who have all worked Puerto Rico a lot) with Jade from TNA as the fifth person, ending when Carr, who is a huge guy, reminiscent of Big Bossman, used a Canadian Destroyer on Dalishus. Eddie Kingston pinned Tommaso Ciampa. Rhino pinned Abyss with a gore through a table after Abyss kicked out of the first gore. They next did the Hall of Fame induction. Heard the p.a. kind of ruined it because people couldn't hear it well. He put over Philadelphia, saying it was the first place he wrestled in the U.S. that mattered, which probably was the case in a lot of ways (he & Joe, who were already stars in Japan, were in the NWA world tag team title tournament in WCW, but they lost in the first round). This led to a discussion of Eddy Guerrero on the 10th anniversary of Guerrero's death, since it was the Guerrero vs. Malenko feud in ECW that really put Malenko on the map as a significant wrestler in the U.S. He said Guerrero was his all-time greatest opponent and best friend, and put over the 2/3 fall match they had in the arena as his best match in the building. Malenko then announced that Guerrero was also being inducted into the Hardcore Hall of Fame and they had a banner secretly made. Crowd went nuts for this. He talked about how much he wanted to honor Guerrero. Austin Aries pinned Bobby Roode holding the tights. Aries brought Thea Trinidad with him as his manager. She managed him on his last matches in TNA. Main event was Tommy Dreamer & Tajiri over Eric Young & Ethan Carter III. This was old school ECW with the cheese graters and weapons and they did a bunch of surprise interference. Chris Masters ran in, but Sandman made the save hitting Masters with cane shots. Sandman looked really old. Young & EC 3 and Masters ended up beating down Sandman until Pepper Parks and Cherry Bomb ran in. and Melissa Coates (as Sabu's genie) then ran in and put Parks through a table (which is why Parks was there, as nobody could figure it out). Tajiri blew mist in Young's face and pinned him after a buzzsaw kick. Then all the faces celebrated.

Hero vs. Pentagon Jr. is scheduled for an 11/28 show in Berwyn, IL or AAW.

In the Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous department, former pro wrestling personality Stacy Keibler, 36, and husband Jared Pobre, a digital advertising entrepreneur, purchased a Beverly Hills mansion for $20.5 million, a nearly 14,000 square foot home with eight bedrooms and 12 bathrooms. Pobre had sold one of his homes in Santa Barbara last year for $8.75 million, and still owns another home in Beverly Hills, where the couple had been living, which was purchased in 2012 for $11.1 million.

There was a Fishman tribute show on 11/15 in , Mexico with many of the wrestlers from Fishman's era, including & Dos Caras & Rayo de Jr. beating the original Los Hermanos Dinamita via DQ when Scorpio Jr. interfered. All six men in the match are over 50, and three of them, Dos Caras, Canek and , are over 60. The show drew 3,500 fans, and also included La Sombra & Marco Corleone & Rush beating Los Traumas I & II & Herodes Jr. Other names from the past included , Dandy, , the original Mascara Sagrada, Pirata Morgan, Solar, El Satanico and Super Astro.

Tanner Saraceno from the past season of Tough Enough won the USFFC amateur middleweight championship on 11/14 via first round knockout.

LUCHA UNDERGROUND An interesting note at the tapings this weekend is that they only had & doing the announcing and no Spanish announcing team. They could do Spanish announcing in studio later, but if they lose Unimas, that's the show that does 250,000 viewers per week while the El Rey English version usually does less than 100,000. Real interesting no Konnan or Rey Mysterio Jr. at the first tapings, although Rey was booked on Jersey All Pro and AAA and never scheduled and probably is to be introduced later. Konnan was in Mexico for the AAA tapings on 11/15.

The plan is to do about 24 episodes, taping now through 1/31, with the shows starting to air in January. Talent was told at the tapings that a season three would start filming in March or April.

Luis Fernandez-Gil, in his role as Dario Cueto, will be hosting the movie marathon on El Rey over Thanksgiving weekend .

They taped the first two weeks of shows for the new season, that starts in January, on 11/14. There was no Dario Cueto, Black Lotus or Matanza, since they were running from police for Black Lotus murdering Dragon Azteca in the final episode. So Katrina was in charge. On the stage where the guest band used to play, they had a throne with champion Mil Muertes sitting watching. The first show opened with Drago & Bengala & Famous B beating Cage & Cortez Castro & Mr. Cisco. Cage turned face after breaking up with his partners. King Cuerno pinned Fenix to win the Gift of the Gods title using a package piledriver in a good match. Next saw Ivelisse win a three-way over partners Son of Havok and Angelico, to earn a title shot at Muertes' belt. So we're doing the woman challenging the 260 pound guy for the title. Ivelisse pinned Angelico to win. Muertes then defended against Ivelisse. There was a brawl outside the ring with The Disciples of Death taking about Angelico and Havoc. Muertes then destroyed Ivelisse and pinned her. Katrina came out to lick Ivelisse, but instead of doing it, she tells Muertes to finish her for good. But Prince Puma ran in and he and Muertes were arguing, so I guess that means Puma finally

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« talked. While this was going on, Pentagon Jr. came out and gave Muertes a backstabber, so Pentagon went face and then Pentagon "broke" Muertes' arm. The crowd went nuts for the Pentagon turn. The second week of the season opened with Johnny Mundo pinning Killshot (Shane Strickland) with a low blow during a ref bump to set up his end of the world finisher. Mundo then took credit for running Alberto El Patron out of the promotion, saying that he gave Alberto such a beating that he ran away. He challenged Muertes for the title saying he had the best match at Ultima Lucha. The crowd was chanting "Johnny Puto" at him. Puto is a Spanish word for pussy. P.J. Black debuted against The Mack, with the Mack winning with an RKO. The main event was a 2-on-3 match with Prince Puma & Pentagon Jr. against the Disciples of Death, ending when Puma hit the 450 and Pentagon pinned the Purple masked Disciple. The story of the match is that Puma and Pentagon weren't getting along, and they teased Pentagon turning on him after, but he didn't do so.

ROH on 12/18 at the 2300 Arena is about 100 tickets from sold out, so it should be shortly. The PPV main event is Jay Lethal vs. A.J. Styles for the ROH title. Right now the rest of the show has Roderick Strong vs. Bobby Fish for the TV title, Michael Bennett & Matt Taven vs. War Machine for the tag titles, Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly, Michael Elgin vs. Moose, Dalton Castle vs. Silas Young plus matches to be announced for The All Night Express, The Young Bucks, The Briscoes, Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian, ACH and Matt Sydal. There will be two matches involving those wrestlers and will be announced this coming weekend, and there is scheduled to be a surprise wrestler added to the mix.

The first PPV of 2016, already announced for 2/26 in Las Vegas, will be part of a double-shot weekend. The company announced a 14th anniversary weekend with shows at Sam's Town Hotel & Gambling Hall, with the Friday night PPV and the next night, on 2/27 a television taping.

This was the Survival of the Fittest weekend, for the tournament won by Elgin on the 11/14 show in Hopkins, MN. Elgin won over Jay Briscoe, Young, ACH and Daniels in 45:46. ACH first eliminated Young with a German . Daniels pinned ACH with a low blow and standing moonsault. Jay Briscoe pinned Daniels with the Jay driller. This left Elgin vs. Jay, with Elgin winning with a burning hammer (reverse Attitude Adjustment). Elgin gets a shot at the ROH title for winning. He announced he wanted to get his title shot in Japan. The planned Jay Lethal vs. Elgin match is scheduled for 1/4 at the Tokyo Dome and if Lethal retains against Styles, it would be the first time the ROH title will be defended at the Tokyo Dome.

Strong was scheduled for the Survival of the Fittest match, from a win over Cedric Alexander, but Alexander kicked him in the head and he suffered a concussion. The thought is that it wasn't a bad concussion, but concussions are nothing to mess with and he didn't wrestle the next night.

At the weekend shows, , who lost his job as announcer for losing his cool at B.J. Whitmer, was back announcing under a mask as Mr. Wrestling III. Corino has used this name on indies for years, ever since meeting with Johnny Walker in Hawaii and getting his blessing around nine years ago. Corino had neck fusion surgery done on 11/16.

On 11/13 in Milwaukee before a sellout of 900 fans and the biggest gate they've ever done in the market, Daniels was the first guy to move on taking a four-way over Kenny King, Hanson and Mark Briscoe when Daniels pinned Briscoe. The next person to move on was Strong, who pinned Alexander. Young moved on, taking a three-way over Castle and Adam Page when he pinned Castle. Young and the Beer City Bruiser then beat down Castle after the match. Jay Briscoe qualified in a four-way over Kazarian, Raymond Rowe and Rhett Titus when he pinned Titus. Elgin was the next to qualify, winning a three- way over Cole and Moose. O'Reilly distracted Cole, when he was on the top rope and Elgin pinned him. Cole superkicked the ref after the match. ACH qualified by pinning Sydal, which was also the final match in their best-of-five series. The other top matches, which were not tournament bouts, saw Taven & Bennett beat Fish & O'Reilly when Cole interfered to keep the tag titles. They did a spot where Fish & O'Reilly had it won, but pulled ref Todd Sinclair out of the ring. This match took place before the Elgin vs. Cole vs. Moose match, so O'Reilly's interference was the retribution interference. They're building Cole vs. O'Reilly for Final Battle. The main event in Milwaukee saw Styles & Young Bucks beat The House of Truth, being Lethal & Donovan Dijak & Joey Daddiego (formerly J Diesel) when Styles scored his pin over Lethal. This was the finish that was originally planned in the Champions vs. All-Stars match two weeks ago but Styles' back was injured at the time. Styles grabbed the belt, posed with it, and dropped in on Lethal.

11/14 in Hopkins, MN, drew 850 fans. It was announced that Strong had won the night before but wouldn't be wrestling due to a concussion. Strong came out and said he was willing to wrestle injured, but for safety's sake, on a concussion, he needed to be cleared first. Castle pinned Page. B.J. Whitmer tried to distract Castle but it didn't work. Mark Briscoe pinned Kazarian with the elbow off the top rope. Cole & Bennett & Taven beat Hanson & Rowe & Moose in18:03 when Rowe was pinned by Cole after a stuff piledriver. Young Bucks beat King & Titus in 11:13 using the Meltzer driver as the finisher. Styles pinned Sydal in 12:10 with the Styles clash in what was said to be a great match. Fish & O'Reilly beat Lethal & Dijak in 16:23 when O'Reilly pinned Dijak and Survival of the Fittest headlined.

They run 11/20 in Nashville with a ten men surprise main event. Lethal will captain one team and Strong (if he's cleared) will captain the other team. This show will be taped for Christmas weekend airing so it'll have a theme to the match. Each captain will pick four wrestlers. It will be a random draw where each captain picks names out of a bowl or something to make their team so they may have enemies on their

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« teams. Also, Briscoes vs. Young Bucks, Sydal & ACH vs. Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta, Young & Bruiser vs. Fish & O'Reilly, plus ODB vs. Taeler Hendrix and Veda Scott vs. Heidi Lovelace.

TNA Even though enough matches were taped to finish the TNA title tournament, with as the original winner, apparently the last three matches are going to be redone, as announced that the semifinals will be taking place in Mumbai, India. That would seem to mean that the finals would take place in the U.K., unless they do a taping in between the tours.

Kurt Angle did a U.K. interview saying he was going to take 2016 off from wrestling. "I'm at a crossroads in my life. I have a lot of options for what I can do and I want to think about that. Wrestling has been very good to me. It's made me a lot of money. I'm blessed with the career I've had." Angle is headed to the U.K. this coming weekend for a talk show tour on 11/21 in Leicester City.

Bill Goldberg told Channel Guide magazine that he was approached by TNA recently, saying they wanted to help promote the movie "Checkpoint" that he stars in since Thomas Latimer (Bram) plays a heel adversary of Goldberg in the movie. "I'm greatly appreciative they want to help the movie out. Now at the end of the day, promoting the movie is one thing, but getting a guy like Goldberg in your wrestling organization is a completely different story. We'll see." Goldberg said that as long as he has a son who wants to see his father wrestle once, he's open to doing a match, and said WWE hasn't shown any interest. He also said he's not going to let ego supercede business. "I surely am not going to miss a bit of sleep if I don't get a phone call from them."

Brooke (Brooke Adams, 30), appears to be the latest departure although she'll remain on TV until the round-robin tournament plays out. She wrote on Twitter how she's going to miss the girls, showing a photo of her with , Velvet Sky, , and Christy Hemme.

UFC As it turned out, the day after announced his retirement, USADA pegged him as the first test failure. It would appear that Cro Cop got the word, and since it's a two-year suspension, at his age that means he's going to have a difficult time coming back, so figured he was done, although USADA suspensions wouldn't be recognized in Japan. The exact test failure wasn't announced, as it appeared they were in the process of confirming the results, although Cro Cop hinted that he had taken a small amount of HGH. Cro Cop wrote that he may be the first person suspended after retirement. He blamed it on his bad shoulder, saying that massage and icing the shoulder didn't help. So he used a combination of blood plasma straight to the shoudler and Growth Hormone to speed the healing. He said he knew GH was illegal but "a desperate man will try anything." He said he'd been using GH for six days when USADA tested him. He said he gave both a blood and urine sample. He said he then called UFC, saying he had been tested and he had been using GH and blood plasma for his shoulder since no other treatment had worked. He said he felt if he couldn't fight on 11/21, that it would be it for him at his age. He said that he hasn't heard the test results yet and didn't know if they would catch him for GH because he only used it for a few days. He said his treatment wasn't going to help his fight performance like testosterone (the PED of choice for fighters, although that's total B.S.) or other steroids would. He said he had gotten his MRI results back on 11/9 and found he had a ruptured muscle in his shoulder, damaged tendons and fluid buildup. He said at that point he made his decision to retire.

UFC is looking at doing an Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort rematch, which really makes sense as a marquee match, likely for the 3/5 show in .

UFC and EA Sports officially announced the new EA Sports UFC 2 video game, using Ronda Rousey on the game cover.

Nielsen did research on Ronda Rousey and found that 44 percent of Americans knew who she was (that sounds low but really isn't, as during his peak, Oscar De La Hoya was only known by 36 percent of Americans and you'd be surprised how big stars are known by less than 50 percent). Of those who knew who she was, 70 percent described her as likeable. However, she ranked behind Serena Williams (80 percent) and Danica Patrick (61 percent) among the top U.S. women athletes. Of the people who do know who she was, that group is 30 percent more likely to have an online music subscription, 31 percent more likely to have purchased athletic sportswear, 40 percent more likely to have an interest in extreme sports, 32 percent more likely than average to be a boxing fan, 29 percent more likely to be a UFC fan, 32 percent more likely to be a WWE fan, 36 percent more likely to be a fantasy sports fan, 36 percent more likely to spend more than $75 or more on tickets to a college sports event, more than 30 percent more likely to spend $75 or more on tickets to a major league baseball game, are 44 percent more likely to spend $75 or more to buy tickets to an NBA game, and are 33 percent more likely to have a mobile phone plan. Of the three biggest female sports stars in their survey (her, Williams and Patrick) she was considered more likeable than both, more influential than Patrick but less than Williams, more of a role model than Patrick but less than Williams, more successful than Patrick but less than Williams, equal a trendsetter as Williams but more than Patrick and her N score for endorsement viability was behind Williams, equal to Patrick, and also equal to LeBron James.

A lot of people thought that the idea of putting Rousey vs. Holm and Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor on the same show, at AT &T Stadium was just a bluff to get a better deal from the MGM Grand with the idea they'd be losing the two big fights. But the heavily acclaimed Rousey vs. Holm commercial with the

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Dana White said the next weight class they would add is women's 125. There has been at least prelim talk about that. Scott Coker wants to add women's 125 and that may have spurred on the decision. With so many shows, there is an argument for that, and in almost all sports, there are far more than two weight classes for women. From a sports standpoint, the more weight classes, the more fair things are because there are women who would be better off at 125 that are either going to be undersized at 135 or have work too hard to make 115. From an entertainment standpoint, for every title you add, it waters down the value of the titles and men's flyweight has already proven difficult to market and without Rousey in the mix, there is a real question whether the existing women's titles can be anything more than headlining television fights or being No. 2 on PPV shows.

White talked about how when Miesha Tate talks retirement that maybe she should because once fighters talk about it, they're thinking it. His timing of saying that was interesting since Rousey has been constantly talking about retiring of late.

White announced a 3/20 (3/19 U.S. time) return to Australia in Brisbane, which will likely be an FS 1 show.

He also said they are very close to finalizing a show in Honolulu.

The 11/7 show in Sao Paulo, headlined by Vitor Belfort vs. Dan Henderson, while it didn't do well in the ratings in the U.S., it did big numbers in Canada and killed in Brazil. It aired on Globo in Brazil from 3:30 to 4:30 a.m., and did an 11 rating and 40 share (meaning 40 percent of the television sets on were watching the show).

Jared Rosholt's nickname The Big Show comes from his love of pro wrestling, growing up a fan of late 90s WCW, Hulk Hogan and being his favorites. Before he went into UFC, after graduating college, he was recruited by Gerald Brisco for WWE and went to an FCW tryout camp which only had a few guys. He said he decided not to pursue it because he was told about the travel schedule, and having a kid, he didn't want to be on the road and living the pro wrestling life. He said he was also recruited by Team Takedown, which sponsored his older brother getting into MMA (Jake Rosholt, who had a run in UFC), and said UFC felt like a better fit for someone with a family. I'm not sure with Rosholt's look that UFC isn't the better bet, even though he's unlikely to be a champion or make huge money, but guys who don't have great bodies or aren't great looking are better off in a profession where you can make your own break based on determining your own wins and losses.

Benson Henderson is going to let his contract expire and test free agency. I believe his 11/28 fight in Seoul, South Korea, will be the last or is nearing the end of his contract. Thiago Alves pulled out of that main event with a broken rib and Henderson will now be facing Jorge Masvidal to headline. Because Henderson is partially Korean (his mother is Korean), he was the key to the main event.

Bellator would obviously be interested in adding Henderson to their lightweight division.

Regarding Georges St-Pierre, if he does return, and nobody has any hints if he will or won't, the plan would be for him to fight in the latter part of 2016, so probably not UFC 200. claimed he didn't even know GSP was doing a test training camp and thinking about fighting until the story broke last week.

This week's show is 11/21, the company's debut at Arena Monterrey in Mexico. It's interesting that they are going with a two hour main card and four hours total on FS 1 instead of the usual three hour main card and five hours total. The show starts at 6:45 p.m. on Fight Pass with the two finals of TUF Latin America, plus Valmir Lazaro vs. Michel Prazeras. The FS 1 show starts at 8 p.m. with Gabriel Benitez vs. Andre Fili, vs. Alejandro Perez, Hector Urbina vs. Bartosz Fabiniski, Taylor Lapilus vs. Perez (which shows how far his star has fallen that he's not on the main card for a show in Mexico), Henry Cejudo vs. (which is really the most important fight on the show since Cejudo will likely get a title shot at Demetrious Johnson with a win), vs. Leandro Silva, Ricardo Lamas vs. Diego Sanchez (Sanchez will become one of the rare fighters, and the only other one I can think of is Kenny Florian, to have competed in four different weight classes in UFC, starting at 185, then 170, then 155 and now 145) and the main event is Kelvin Gastelum vs. Neil Magny.

In notes from UFC Tonight, Khabib Nurmagomedov is targeting February for a return after his recent rib injury.

Al Iaquinta will be having reconstructive surgery done on his right knee, so he'll be out of action for about nine months.

Ariel Helwani also reported that John Dodson's team has asked for Thomas Almeida as he moves up to bantamweight, which would be a great fight.

Cain Velasquez, who has been managed by Zinkin Entertainment since the start of his career, has changed and joined the Creative Arts Agency, with the idea of hoping to start an acting career.

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« Usually, referees do not criticize the performance of other refs, so I was surprised to read Herb Dean being critical of the stoppage in the Vitor Belfort vs. Dan Henderson fight, saying, "I think if Mario (Yamasaki) was one step back, which he could have been, or a step in a different direction, he could have gotten that second to realize Dan was there and was still in the game. I can't say it would have been different or that it wouldn't have been different. I think on a different day, Mario might have made a different decision. I think Mario, I think he was making a different decision as he was touching him. He realized Dan was kicking him off. He did see (him) go, he saw his head go limp. He saw another punch coming. That's the big thing. You see something that they need to protect themselves from. That punch missed and gave Dan a second more to get back into the game. I think that was what was crucial."

Ramsey Nijem claimed that he wasn't cut because he lost his last fight, but because of issues in negotiations. He said that he couldn't make money, with the loss of sponsors and training fees, with what he earns on his current deal. He said when they made a new offer for a contract, he said he's losing money now that he can't get sponsors. He claimed in an interview that he was told that UFC would make things harder for him if he didn't sign a new deal. He also refused to sign onto the new drug testing program, saying he asked for more money, was told no, then was told he'd get bad matchups (he lost to Andrew Holbrook in his last fight via split decision in what I wouldn't call a bad matchup for him given his standing), and then said, "I just don't' think I get paid enough to tell someone where I'm at every single day." He also said that without IV's, he'd have to move up a weight class. He claims if he was getting cut because he lost to Holbrook he'd have gotten cut after he lost (that's absolutely not necessarily the case, the company made about 40 cuts in one week and he was one of the 40), but claimed it was because he refused to sign onto WADA (which would get him cut) and he didn't want to keep losing money by fighting.

Alex Caceres vs. Masio Fullen has been added to the 1/30 show in Newark, NJ.

Rob Font vs. Patrick Williams has been added to the 1/17 show in Boston.

BELLATOR The company announced three overseas events for 2016, although not the date. The plan is for a show at the O2 Arena in London, which I'm guessing will feature Josh Koscheck vs. Paul Daley plus Liam McGeary defending the light heavyweight title, which would air live on Ch. 5, the station that had carried UFC in the past. They also will run in Tel Aviv, Israel, airing live in that market on Ego Total, as well as a show in Italy.

Those at Spike have noted that the reason they are doing the Japan show at 10 a.m. instead of in prime time, is that the BCS playoffs are scheduled for New Year's Eve and last year's semis did 25 million viewers. Plus, there is the thought that if Notre Dame is in the mix that weekend, that it would be even tougher.

Bellator announced a 1/29 show in Fresno which will feature Josh Koscheck vs. Matt Secor and Phil Daley vs. Andy Uhrich, to build the probable U.K. match.

Patricio Pitbull Freire rebounding from his title loss last week, faces Derek Anderson on the 12/4 show in San Jose.

They have an 11/20 show from Thackerville, OK, with Houston Alexander vs. Guilherme Viana, Derek Campos vs. Brandon Girtz, Chidi Njokuani vs. Ricky Rainey, Bubba Jenkins vs. Jordan Parsons and Hisako Kato vs. Melvin Manhoef. This show will partially go head-to-head with the World Series of Fighting show on NBC Sports. Bellator starts at 9 p.m. while WSOF starts at 11 p.m.

Champion Vitaly Minakov, currently in a financial dispute with the promotion and having not defended his title since April 2014, will headline a show that will air on–UFC Fight Pass a second time. Minakov (16- 0) will headline a show from Moscow on 12/11 that airs live on Fight Pass, facing Josh Copeland, a former UFC heavyweight.

OTHER MMA The 11/21 PPV show headlined by Canelo Alvarez vs. Miguel Cotto is a major sign of the future of boxing. If the show does as well as promoters are predicting, or even close, than any panic that boxing is dead in the U.S. after Mayweather/Pacquiao is over. But if the biggest matchup not involving the two biggest names doesn't do at least relatively strong numbers, and doesn't attract significant general public interest, boxing going forward is going to sputter. Boxing hasn't had a big PPV since the record-setting Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight. Mayweather vs. Andre Berto did a shockingly low number, said to be well under 550,000 buys. The last major PPV, with Gennady Golovkin's debut on PPV against David Lemieux on 10/12, did 150,000 buys. With the Mexico vs. Puerto Rico backdrop, promoters are predicting 1.5 million to 2 million buys. If it even comes close, and Alvarez wins (the key because Cotto is on his way out and Alvarez is expected to be the new big PPV star with his strong appeal to the Mexican-American fan base), they'll have a new superstar with the needed big money drawing power.

Regarding the New Year's Eve Kyokugen show on Japan's TBS with Kid Yamamoto vs. Masato, it's going to be more a New Year's Eve variety show than a fight card. TBS will be running a five hour special that night with a bunch of fights, a celebrity soccer game, a tug-of-war with 100 people, a boxing championship match and Kid Yamamoto vs. Masato in a kickboxing exhibition match. It will be

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« broadcast live from ten to 15 locations around the country. The match won't be at an arena nor will they be selling tickets to it, nor will it be a fight card.

Although it is not advertised as such in Japan, at least one of the participants in the Shinya Aoki vs. Montanha Silva match on the New Year's Eve IGF show in Tokyo has said it will be a pro wrestling match and not a fight. Logically, given he's fighting two days earlier, it being a fight made no sense, but the guys on the Rizin show who advance in the light heavyweight tournament on 12/29 are expected to come back two days later.

One of the weirdest stories of late involves Ben Askren and Luis Santos. On 4/24 in Manila, Askren was defending his One welterweight title against Santos. Most figured Askren would run through him. Santos showed up with a jacked up physique, and was throwing Askren around. Keep in mind Askren with very little training could walk in and make the U.S. Olympic team in wrestling (he's beaten NCAA champions while giving up 20 pounds to them after he went into MMA in attempts to do pro real wrestling shows). At 2:19, Askren went for another takedown, evidently poked Santos in the eye, and got him down and it was stopped and Santos couldn't continue. The promotion was trying to rematch them since June, but Santos kept saying he couldn't due to his eye injury. Askren claims that the funny part of that is he has a screen shot from someone that shows Santos was looking for a fight with Titan FC, saying that his contract with One is only for , so it looked like he was parlaying his good showing with Askren into a U.S. deal. The rematch was set for 11/13 in Kallang, Singapore, home of the famous secret Flair-Race title change. Santos, looking even bigger, could only cut to 172 pounds after first weighing in at 174.5 pounds, so missed weight by two pounds. Askren said he'd fight him anyway, but only if he weighed in again the next morning (in other words, hours before the fight) under 185. Santos refused and Askren then said he'd do the fight as long as Santos weighed in the next morning under 190. Santos agreed. According to witnesses, before the weigh-in, not only was Santos eating, but he ate a gigantic breakfast that morning according to Askren who said one of his friends was texting him and couldn't believe it. Askren said he figured the guy was way under 190 if he was eating like that so there would be no issue. Askren said 45 minutes later, he went down for breakfast, and Santos was still there and said he watched him eat and drink lots of juice for another 45 minutes. Santos then weighed in at 193.5 pounds, so had he not stuffed himself, he'd have probably made it. Askren gave him time to make 190, but he refused to cut weight again. Victor Cui, the CEO of the company then said, "I'm disgusted. Sapo (Santos' nickname) fails to make weight, then despite Askren offering a fight at 190, Sapo still refuses. Completely unprofessional." Cui then asked if he was just afraid to take the fight. Santos then called Askren a pussy for refusing to fight him when he failed to make 190 the next morning. Sometimes it's better to keep quiet. "Askren is an idiot." "If the fight is not for the belt, why does it (his weight) matter? At this point he's just scared. I'm ready to fight him, but it looks like he's not. If he was the one 900g over, I'd fight him anyway."

World Series of Fighting is doing an eight-man lightweight tournament for a title shot on its 11/20 show in Phoenix. The first round of the tournament will only be streaming on their web site, with Benny Madrid vs. Ramil Mustapyev and LaRue Burley vs. Joe Condon as reserve matches (in case fighters get hurt), with the first round of Islam Mamedov vs. Jorge Patino (a 42 year old fighter who has been doing this for 21 years and was a 90s star in Brazil), Mike Ricci (former UFC fighter) vs. Brian Cobb, Brian Foster (former UFC fighter) vs. Joao Zeferino and Luis Palomino (who had two great fights this year with champ Justin Gaethje) vs. Richard Patishnock. The semifinals and finals air on NBC Sports.

The Jake Shields vs. Jon Fitch fight for the vacant WSOF title that was taken from Rousimar Palhares will take place on 4/1, the Friday before WrestleMania. WrestleMania weekend traditionally in MMA means matches of the year (this year there were two), although this is not likely to be one of them. David Branch vs. Clifford Starkes for the middleweight title is also on the show.

WWE The Bellas and TNA's Jeremy Borash were both in Paris at the time of the terrorist attacks, and actually within miles of the attacks, but were fine. Borash was eating at a restaurant not far from where the attacks took place. He was at first unaware of anything until starting to get texts from friends who knew he was there, and moments later, everyone was cleared out and everyone was told to get to his hotel and stay indoors until further notice.

Regarding and WrestleMania this year, from those close to him, right now it's doubtful, but that's not 100 percent. There are many factors involved, some of which we noted last week. He is actually right now unlikely to even be able to take part in the show as he's got a movie shooting that takes place during that time, but the word used was it would be challenging to do it, and it was made clear that could change.

Regarding Cena, the story of his sabbatical being related to hosting a reality show on FOX was confirmed this week. FOX announced a ten-episode series, "American Grit," where 16 men and women will be split into four teams of four and do military-themed and survival-themed challenges. Each team will represent a branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. Each team will have a coach, who would be a military hero. Cena will host the show, which is currently being filmed and will air on the network in 2016.

The 12/16 NXT Takeover special was announced as airing live from the SSE Arena in Wembley in London, which means 3 p.m. Eastern and Noon Pacific on a Wednesday afternoon. The show will have Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe for the NXT title, Baron Corbin vs. Apollo Crews, Asuka vs. Emma and probably

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« two more matches that will be made clear at the TV tapings on 11/19.

In conjunction with Royal Rumble, WWE announced an NXT show on 1/22, which is the Friday before the Rumble, in Orlando (where the Rumble takes place). Due to feeling the demand for tickets will be huge and the building they run only holds 400, they are moving this one taping to the University of Central Florida's CFE Arena, which would hold about 7,000. Evolve is going to have a show in Orlando on 1/23.

The WWE has been more aggressive of late when it comes to contacting contracted talent in both ROH and Lucha Underground. All the names you'd expect they'd want that are great workers are being contacted, without the previously held "looks" and "size" limitations because the plan is to load up on NXT and they're looking to add lots of new top workers in early 2016 for more extensive touring with what would basically be a WWE branded and WWE production type of show but with ROH level main event matches. A key, as was explained to me, is that Vince McMahon didn't want ROH and TNA talent on the main roster if they were exposed on national cable first, and if they could be merchandised. The issue with ROH talent and is changing was ROH getting on Destination America, which blind sided WWE. But that is not an issue when it comes to that talent working in NXT, where there is more of an emphasis on it being a workrate promotion and the big issue of the ability of the wrestler to pass the background check.

The WWE Network launch in Germany is slated for 1/6. Germany was the country that had the most number of subscribers listed as being from other countries due to a number of reasons, including more of an adaptation culturally to overseas streaming services and the renewed popularity of the brand due to a new television deal.

Regarding the video game, which came out two plus weeks ago, everyone is pretty optimistic on it. The real key is not the early numbers, which look good so far, but how it sells during the holiday season. For October, it was listed as the fifth best selling game, behind Halo 5 Guardians, NBA 2K 16, Assassin's Creed: Syndicate and Madden NFL 16. That was the month it came out, so it should have been high, but it was also only out the last week of October. The expanded roster seems to have been viewed well and there have been some strong reviews, so that also helps, as well as other improvements. The two things cited in reviews and feedback are the more prominent role of Steve Austin in this year's game, and the performance of as an announcer.

Orton, 35, married girlfriend Kimberly Marie Kessler on 11/14 in a ceremony in Las Vegas. According to those close to the situation, Orton's shoulder injury was described as really serious.

Don't think this is a coincidence, but WWE sent out a questionnaire to Australian fans two days after the UFC show in Melbourne asking if they would attend a major event in Melbourne and talking about doing a Fan Axxess, so it sounds like they are interested in a major PPV from there. If they did a Monday at Noon show, it would be in the normal Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern PPV time. But with the network, it's not as important to start the PPVs at the usual time. They also could be looking at booking the stadium for a network special which could air on a Saturday night and use the Fan Axxess to make the event bigger, particularly if they are looking at filling a 56,000-seat stadium. It was noted that this came right after UFC very slightly topped WWE's attendance mark in Etihad Stadium, and that in the questions, they asked about talent people would be interested in, and Bryan's name was not there, but many NXT performers not on the main roster were.

A correction from last week. Wayne Rooney is the captain of both Manchester United and England's World Cup team. I wrote the U.K. World Cup team, but the U.K. doesn't field a team as England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all field different teams.

Undertaker and Brad Maddox appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on 11/10. It was a comedy sketch where Undertaker was going to give a tombstone piledriver to a turkey. He came out in his gimmick, with his entrance music, and laid out Maddox in the suit. They gave WWE a plug for Survivor Series.

There is more heat on Lana right now. She wrote something on Twitter about Paige saying, "I actually wanted to write a longer paragraph about you. We both know you bullied me in NXT." Paige wrote back, "Don't talk crap and then delete it." Paige responded that she was only in NXT for two months and how if it was true you wouldn't have deleted it, and then wrote "Stop trying to get a storyline." One WWE source said they weren't happy with Lana, which they haven't been since she went public with her engagement, screwing up their storyline with Rusev and Summer Rae. The web site was told to turn the story into an angle feeling that was the way to cover it up and just make people think it's storyline.

Drew Gulak, when asked if he was headed to WWE on the Two Man Power Trip radio show, said, "I am not allowed to speak on that issue. If I was allowed to, it would be in great detail. But I can't really elaborate on my business with WWE, or if there has been any business with WWE." WWE wants everyone to keep quiet about talking with them, because they want to be the ones who announce signings first.

The stock closed at press time at $16.70 per share, giving the company a market value of $1.27 billion.

Austin's beer launch party (for his new Austin branded beer by El Segundo Breweries) was on 11/13. The

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« celebrities in attendance were and .

Notes on the 11/16 Raw tapings in Greenville, SC. From an in-ring wrestling standpoint, with the WWE tournament quarterfinals, it was the best wrestling episode of Raw in a long time. And the final segment was one of the worst segments on Raw in a long time, with the bad attempt to exploit the death of Reid Fliehr to build a Charlotte vs. Paige program. The show drew 7,600 fans.

For Superstars, Brie Bella pinned Naomi with the X-factor and O'Neil pinned Dallas with the Clash of the Titus.

The show opened with Undertaker & Kane out. Undertaker did all the talking, and he said they were the Army of Darkness as well as the Brothers of Destruction, and said that awaits the Wyatt Family. I thought that already happened last week. Undertaker said that Bray's is no match for their evil, and their evil has been time tested over and over again. He told Bray to choose whatever two members of your family you wish to and how they have already decided their destiny. Even though I knew there was no chance, with Undertaker on the stick, knowing it made no sense for him to talk, I thought maybe no 15 minute opening promo segment. But Wyatt came out. Wyatt said that 25 years was long enough, and it's time for a new army of darkness to emerge. Then he made the signal and all the druids who came out with Undertaker & Kane hit the ring to attack them. The idea is that Wyatt now has the power to control even Undertaker's allies. Undertaker & Kane cleaned house on all of them, including each one nailing a druid with a choke slam. The Wyatts looked like they were going to hit the ring, but Bray told them to stop and that their date with destiny is on Sunday.

Owens went to the final four, pinning Neville in 10:44 in a ***½ match. Neville did a moonsault off the top rope to the floor. Neville used a fast German suplex and a red arrow off the middle rope. He went to the top several times but Owens was able to block him. Neville did a reverse huracanrana, and went to the top again. Neville went for a shooting star press. Owens moved, but Neville landed on his feet. However, Owens then hit Neville with the pop up power bomb for the pin.

HHH was backstage with Owens. The way it was shot, Owens looked really short next to HHH, which makes no sense given that Owens needs to be positioned as a strong heel headliner now.

Breeze pinned R-Truth in 4:01. A new gimmick is Summer Rae putting lip balm on Breeze in the middle of the match. JBL noted that chapped lips hurt. Breeze won after the beauty shot.

Ambrose pinned Ziggler in 16:45 to advance in another ***½ match. They worked a technical match early. At one point, both were sitting on the middle rope and punching each other. Both knocked the other off the top rope at the same time and they both took bumps to the floor. Ambrose used a tope. They did near falls, including a superkick by Ziggler, before Ambrose won clean with the Dirty Deeds. Ambrose did a promo and said if he wins the tournament, he's turning the place upside down. He said if he becomes champion, there will be no more suits and ties, more action, less talking, more pyro, breakfast for dinner, Michael Cole will announce from a fish tank and he wants all the rules thrown out the window and to make the entire WWE the "Ambrose asylum."

The New Day was out next. They made fun of 25 years of Undertaker, saying this was something more important, the one year anniversary of The New Day. The first vignette was 54 weeks ago so it's close enough. Then they made fun of the Usos. "When we say Us, you say Ow, Us Ow," while Big E grabbed his shoulder. That was hilarious. They beat the Usos & Ryback via DQ in 5:48. Big E also made fun of Ryback's staph infection limping on a knee. Jey nearly killed himself on a dive as he smashed into the barricades. Ryback hot tagged in, and shoved the ref for the DQ. Hopefully it was done to build a return because otherwise, that finish was weak. The Usos knocked Big E & Kingston over the top rope. They double superkicked Woods into a press-slam by Ryback and he threw Woods over the top rope onto E and Kingston. Then the Usos & Ryback celebrated as their music played. Not sure about babyfaces celebrating after losing a match. It kind of tells everyone that they don't care about losing, and if the participants don't care that they lost, why should the fans care who wins and loses?

HHH was backstage with Cesaro. They were sitting in chairs. He should have sat in a chair with Owens so as to not make Owens look so short. He's with a tall guy, and then they sit in chairs. HHH was putting over Cesaro big-time, saying that very few guys can do what he can do in the ring. He said Cesaro just needs that something extra, implying the backing of himself. He said he thinks this is Cesaro's time to prove to the world he's the man and to grab the brass ring. That was an inside rib of Vince McMahon saying he was missing something and about how the newer wrestlers aren't like the older wrestlers because they won't grab the brass ring. HHH said he's coming to watch the match and sit in his personal Cesaro section.

Reigns came out for a promo. He got more cheers than boos during his promo, but not top babyface in the promotion level cheers. He basically ran down the last few weeks, and said that last week he thought about joining The Authority long and hard, but he had a problem with it, because he doesn't sell out. He said he's going to have to go through everyone, including his boy Dean Ambrose, and that ride ends with him as WWE champion.

Reigns pinned Cesaro in 20:21 in an awesome ****1/4 match. Cesaro looked like one of the elite workers in the business when given time and enough underdog offense. The crowd got behind him big, booing Reigns. The thing is, the way the match was put together, that was the natural reaction. Cesaro was on

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« the top rope, did a cartwheel on the top rope into a rolling reverse cradle, and then used a sunset flip. He did a float over into a gut wrench, a springboard uppercut. He did a four rep giant swing and used the sharpshooter, and then turned that into a crossface. Reigns powered out with a Saman drop. Reigns backdropped Cesaro over the top, and Cesaro landed with his elbow on the apron, and started selling the elbow. It looked so good the way he did it. Reigns used the drive by and a jumping clothesline. Reigns also used a one arm power bomb. He went for the Superman punch, but got nailed with an uppercut. Fans were chanting "This is awesome," and it pretty much was at this point. Cesaro did the Okada dropkick of Reigns sitting on the top rope and knocking him to the floor spot. Cesaro went for his power superplex, but Reigns blocked and hit a Superman punch. He went for a spear, but Cesaro nailed him with an uppercut. Cesaro went for the Neutralizer, but Reigns backdropped out of it. They went through a few more near falls until Reigns hit the Superman punch, and the spear, and got the pin. The two shook hands and embraced after it was over. Cesaro didn't have to lose, but they have built the show around Reigns so in their minds, he had to lose. And him losing a match like this isn't bad if it's followed up on. If the past history of Cesaro having great matches is any indication, it won't be.

The announcers talked Nick Bockwinkel briefly and told fans to go to the web site to see a video of him. They really couldn't put the video on the air? JBL said that Bockwinkel was known as the greatest technical wrestler of all-time. That's the first I've ever heard of him described that way.

The Dudleys beat The Ascension with the 3-D on Viktor in 3:10. It really hit me seeing the Dudleys not already given up on at the end of their nostalgia run, just how much they are missing the boat. They are so weak on heels, and in that tag team is Bully Ray, one of the best heels in the game and because the gimmick started somewhere else, they still have him in this meaningless tag team role in some 90s outfit in 2015. If they were filled with great heels it would be one thing, but they are desperate for a strong heel, they've got one who can talk the talk, and is smart enough on how to make it work, and they just waste him.

And instead of Bully, we get Alberto Del Rio's new physique with Colter in a pairing that absolutely nobody thinks makes any sense. Colter said that in Mexamerica, there is no crime, and people pay no taxes, so whatever you make you keep. HHH came out to recruit Del Rio, saying if he plays it right he could go from a man of the people, to "the man."

Del Rio beat Kalisto in 10:05 with the double foot stomp. This was the weakest of the four tournament bouts. There was some hilarity, most notably when Del Rio went after Kalisto's mask, and accidentally pulled it off when he wasn't supposed to and had to help put it back on. The finisher didn't look pretty.

The final segment was the Charlotte/Paige contract signing.

After the show ended, since that main event segment wasn't the way to end a show, they did an eight- man tag with Reigns & Ambrose & Ziggler & Cesaro beating Wyatt & Harper & Rowan & Strowman. After the match, Reigns and Ambrose did mic work together, where they promised to go to the finals, face each other, the better man would win, and they would remain brothers no matter what. That interview clearly should have been on television as part of the storyline for the show.

Notes on the 11/17 Smackdown tapings in Knoxville. Very small crowd for the go-home show for Survivor Series. We didn't get an actual number but there was almost nobody even at ringside in half the building. They had everyone in the lower bowl on the side of the ring they were shooting into.

For Main Event, the Usos beat Rose & Maddox when Jimmy pinned Rose after a splash off the top rope. Naomi beat Fox via submission. O'Neil pinned Slater with Clash of the Titus.

Smackdown opened with Miz TV, with all four members of the final four, Ambrose, Reigns, Del Rio and Owens. The argued. In the middle of all this, R-Truth came out doing his stupid act where he vowed to win the tournament until being told that he wasn't even in the tournament. He apologized and then left. A brawl ensued and Reigns & Ambrose cleaned house on Del Rio & Owens, which led to announcing a tag team match as the TV main event.

Miz was out there complaining, which led to Cesaro coming out. Cesaro beat Miz with the sharpshooter.

Dudleys & Neville beat The Ascension & Stardust when the Dudleys used the 3-D on Viktor.

Breeze pinned Ryder. After the match, Ziggler laid out Breeze with a superkick.

The Wyatts and Druids came out for an interview. During the interview, 's music played. He wasn't in the building but did a taped promo with Kane, where he burned a sheep mask.

Charlotte beat Brie Bella in a non-title match with the figure eight.

Paige was interviewed about her match with Charlotte.

Big E pinned Kalisto with a splash. After the match, the New Day beat down Kalisto & Sin Cara until Ryback made the save. Ryback laid out E with a splash.

There was a backstage interview with Reigns & Ambrose. The main event saw Reigns & Ambrose beat

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« Del Rio & Owens via DQ when Del Rio threw Reigns into the ring steps. There was a post-match brawl with Reigns & Ambrose cleaning house.

Notes on the 11/11 NXT TV show. Another generally good show. Tye Dillinger, the Crash Davis of NXT, who gets no push, came out to a great reaction. Baron Corbin was to be his opponent, but no match ended up taking place because Apollo Crews attacked Corbin for screwing him in his title match. Crews posted him, and speared him and Corbin ran off. They made a big deal about how Corbin has never before run from a fight.

Bayley & Mojo Rawley & Zack Ryder beat Alexa Bliss & Blake & Murphy in 9:10. The crowd was doing all kinds of chants for Bayley during the match. The guys did most of the work since the women were actually the focal point and the biggest stars here. Bliss made a save when Rawley had Murphy pinned. Bayley went after Bliss. Bliss grabbed the women's title belt and ran off. Bayley wanted to go after her but Murphy blocked the way. Bayley gave Murphy a Bayley-to-belly (it used to be belly-to-Bayley), and she ran to the back. What was weird is they figured out the spot to get past Murphy, but there was poor Blake having to just stand there like an idiot and watch Bayley run by because he was right there and I guess they hadn't come up with a spot to take him out. In the ring, Rawley & Ryder did a double-team Rough Ryder, called the Hype Ryder on Murphy for the pin. Awkward poor time. Dasha Fuentes, the ring announcer, had to announce the winners as "It's Bayley & The Hype Bros." Like her first name is "It's."

The Ascension did a promo for their match with Jason Jordan & Chad Gable. I used to think The Ascension were third-rate Road Warriors. But in this promo, they were at best fifth-rate. Ugh.

Eva Marie was backstage talking to Nia Jax. Well, at least Nia Jax will be a heel bodyguard.

They showed Asuka on the cover of Weekly Pro Wrestling. It is rare, but not unheard of, for a woman to make the cover, but a woman in NXT, yeah, that's pretty amazing.

Crews did a promo vowing to take care of Corbin.

Jax pinned Deonna in 1:47 with a Samoan drop and legdrop. This was a total squash so you really couldn't tell much from it. They announced Carmella faces Jax next, which pegs her as a heel.

It's Bayley was running around looking for Bliss. She found her doing a photo shoot. Bliss dropped the b-word and ran away. It's Bayley picked up the b-word, turned around, and had a face-off with Jax. This allowed Bliss to hit It's Bayley from behind. Jax grabbed It's' belt. Bliss saw this woman three times her size holding the b-word and she backed off. Jax then dropped the b-word on top of It's Bayley. Thankfully, the announcers didn't have to voice this over because it would have been a disaster to see them have to call a battle regarding possession of a word they can't use.

The main event saw Dash & Dawson, as they're now known, beat to win the tag team titles in 9:04. Most of the match was working over English's leg. They threw Gotch into the steps. Dash came off the middle ropes onto the knee of English and Dawson used a reverse figure four for the submission. Solid basic match. It was anything but a heel win. People mostly cheered because they got to see a title change.

Even though Dash & Dawson are heels, they did a complete face promo, talking about after being in the business for 12 years, they didn't have to change anything to be successful.

They announced Jordan & Gable vs. The Ascension and It's Bayley vs. Bliss for the title next week.

The show ended with Samoa Joe out for an interview. They encouraged fans to chant, "Why Joe Why?" Joe explained that he carried Balor through the Dusty Rhodes tag team tournament and all he asked in return was for a title shot. He said that Balor in fact gave him a title shot, but when Regal came out and said he wouldn't get a shot and that he'd have to win a Battle Royal, Balor just stood there and didn't stand up for his word. I like it when the heel has a warped logic in justifying his motives. He said he had to go into a Battle Royal to get a shot that Balor had already agreed to give him. Joe said that Regal putting him in a Battle Royal was insulting, because the minute he showed up in NXT, he was entitled to a title match. Balor came out and wanted to go at it but a ton of refs were in the ring. Joe shoved some of the refs away and choked Balor all the way out to end the show.

Notes from the 11/12 NXT show in Winter Haven, FL. Enzo Amore pinned Tucker Knight with a DDT off the middle rope. They are still working the injury from television. Asuka & Gionna Daddio beat Cameron & Emma when Asuka beat Cameron with the Asuka lock. Mostly beating down Daddio and the heels running from Asuka. Josh Woods, who has completely dropped the Preston Cunningham III role, and is now using his own name and doing an MMA fighter gimmick (he placed at small college nationals at University of Central Florida and has done a few MMA fights, and has trained with Tom Lawlor, who won a national small college champion at the same school), did a babyface interview. He talked about all the stars in NXT. Solomon Crowe came out, mad he didn't mention his name. Crowe slapped Woods in the face, and Woods took him down and applied an ankle lock but Crowe got out. This led to a match, with Crowe winning. Woods looked good given his level of experience. Apollo Crews pinning Elias Sampson with the standing moonsault. Angelo Dawkins came out and challenged anyone from the back. This brought out Samoa Joe, who pinned him after a muscle buster. Tye Dillinger pinned

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« Tino Sabbatelli. Eva Marie pinned Aliyah. They put Eva in the semi-main since she's considered the biggest star on the show, but this match was bad. The crowd didn't hate Eva like the TV crowd, but lost interest in the match because it looked really bad compared to everything else on the show. Main event saw Wilder & Dawson retain the tag titles in losing via DQ to The Vaudevillains. The usual finish they've been doing where Dawson was pinned but Wilder pulled the ref out of the ring for the DQ finish. Wilder & Dawson beat down The Vaudevillains after until Amore made the save and then The Vaudevillains came back to using the whirling dervish on Dawson.

11/13 in Orlando drew a full house of 400. Among the key matches is Jax & Eva Marie formed a heel tag team beating Gionna Daddio & Aliyah. Levis Valenzuela cut a promo saying he's going to be bringing the fiesta and Dominican flavor to NXT. This brought out Emma who told him that he should give it up because she's proof dancing doesn't get you anywhere. Then she said nobody credits her for starting the Divas Revolution. Valenzuela didn't listen to veteran advice and kept dancing. She went to slap him but he grabbed her arm and spun her around. Hugo Knox & Tucker Knight tried out a tag team gimmick of these two guys who dance and party. Oscar (who was in TNA), fought Dempsey in a comedy match, losing quickly. Cameron pinned Reese in a singles match. Main event saw billed as a Survivor Series match with Team Crews of Crews & Jordan & Gable & Vaudevillains beat Team Corbin of Corbin & Blake & Murphy & Dawson & Wilder. It came down to Crews against Dawson, Blake and Corbin, and he beat all of them to win.

A correction from the Birmingham house show last week. Owens didn't pin Ambrose with a chair shot, it was the same DQ finish they've been doing everywhere.

The rest of the European tour saw the Reigns tour on 11/11 in Brighton, England, draw a sellout of 4,000 fans. 11/12 in Newcastle, England drew a sellout of 8,400 fans. 11/13 in Nottingham drew a sellout of 8,200. We didn't get a crowd for the final night of that tour on 11/14 in Minehead, England.

The Rollins tour on 11/13 in Leipzig, Germany drew a sellout of 8,000 fans. 11/14 in Stuttgart, Germany drew a sellout 5,000.

In Brighton, Neville pinned Stardust in the opener with the red arrow. Sandow & Fandango beat Rose & Slater. This was mostly played for comedy. Fandango came out and introduced his new dance partner, and Sandow came out to a big pop. Rose then came out and introduced his partner as the guy who has lost more matches than any superstar in WWE history, and Slater came out. Sandow clotheslined Slater and Fandango pinned him. Del Rio won a three-way to keep the U.S. title over Swagger and Barrett. The finish saw Barrett use the bull hammer on Swagger, and then Del Rio rolled-up Barrett holding the tights. Harper & Rowan & Strowman beat Usos & Ryback in the same match they've had all tour, with Strowman using the head-and-arm choke on Jey. Bayley & Lynch beat Banks & Naomi. Tamina went to superkick Bayley, who moved, and Bayley used the belly-to-Bayley on Naomi for the pin. The Lucha Dragons won an elimination match over Los Matadores and The Ascension. Kalisto pinned Fernando with the Salida del Sol in the first fall and Sin Cara pinned Viktor in the second fall with a swanton off the top rope. Reigns pinned Wyatt with a spear in a no holds barred main event. Really good.

Newcastle was the exact same show. Neville was really over in Newcastle, since it's his home town. Fans chanted "Wayne Rooney" at Barrett during his match. Crowd was flat during the women's tag. Crowd was real hot for Reigns as the babyface main eventer.

Nottingham was the same show as the night before. Lots of "Wayne Rooney" chants again during Barrett's match. Swagger and Del Rio got mixed responses. The crowd seemed to want to cheer Barrett but he was playing heel. Crowd wasn't into the women's tag match. Since it was the 10th anniversary of the death of Eddy Guerrero, one of the Matadores did the three Amigos and shimmy shake, but the crowd didn't really understand what he was doing. Sin Cara scored the pin using a frog splash as a tribute to Guerrero instead of his usual swanton. Same Reigns vs. Wyatt main event, a good match with Reigns getting the best response of the night.

The final show of the tour on 11/14 in Minehead, England was also the same show.

The other tour on 11/11 in Rome was the same thing it had been last week. They opened with the New Day retaining the tag titles in a three-way over The Dudleys and Prime Time Players when Kingston pinned Devon using the ropes. The Dudleys put Woods through a table with the 3-D after the match. Ryder pinned Miz with a Rough Ryder after kicking out of the Skull crushing finale. Cesaro pinned Sheamus with the Neutralizer as the finish. Cesaro can speak Italian and put over how great the fans in Italy are after the match. Charlotte won the three-way over Paige and Fox to keep the Dias title. Paige was cheered the most of the three. Charlotte pinned Fox after a spear. Kane pinned Show with a choke slam through a table and then Show sold like he was injured. They did the same spot as last week where Show didn't get up, and the refs couldn't move him. One of the refs then covered him and told the other to count the pin, and Show kicked out, got up and went crazy. He got some cheers after. Axel pinned Dallas quickly with a roll-up. Dallas wouldn't leave and challenged anyone to a match. R-Truth came out. Dallas said he didn't mean a match, he meant a dance contest. Dallas attacked him during the dance contest, but R-Truth hit the lie detector and got the pin. Ziggler pined Breeze in the best match of the show with a Zig Zag. Ambrose beat Owens in the IC title match main event, hit Ambrose with a chair after Ambrose kicked out of the power bomb. Owens was beating on Ambrose, until Ziggler came out. Sheamus followed, followed by Cesaro, New Day and the Dudleys. All the heels were chased off except Owens, and everyone hit their finisher on him to end the show.

KWWSPHPEHUVIZRQOLQHFRPZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUQRYHPEHUZUHVWOLQJREVHUYHUQHZVOHWWHUKROPGHIHDWVURXVH\   1RYHPEHU:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU1HZVOHWWHU+ROPGHIHDWV5RXVH\1LFN%RFNZLQNHOSDVVHVDZD\PRUH_:UHVWOLQJ2EVHUYHU)LJXUH)RXU2« Leipzig, Germany was mostly the same show. Sheamus didn't work the show as he had an appearance booked in the U.S. in conjunction with Notre Dame's football game on 11/14. O'Neil also didn't wrestle on the show. So Cesaro worked with Miz in a singles match and won. Darren Young was put in a singles match with Ryder, which Ryder won. The Dudleys won a non-title tables match over the New Day. The rest of the show was the same, but with a modified Ambrose vs. Owens post-match. After Owens was DQ'd, he went for more of a beating but Ambrose got the chair away from him. This led to Breeze doing the first run-in, then Ziggler, New Day, Dudleys, Miz and finally Cesaro and then Owens was the last guy left in the ring with all the faces and took everyone's finisher.

Stuttgart on the last day of the tour waHs OthMeE sa|mAeU sDhIOo wAR. CHIVE|NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE |SUBSCRIBE |THE BOARD Need technical or billing help?: [email protected]

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