The UK part of the WWE European tour in November was announced with 8 live events over 7 days. This UK stop will be part of a larger tour with more European cities yet to be announced.
The first stop will be London at the SSE Arena in Wembley on Friday, November 4, followed by a Manchester event at the Manchester Arena on November 5. On November 6 it’s Newcastle’s turn at the Metro Radio Arena and Leeds the same day at the First Direct Arena.
As announced yesterday Glasgow, Scotland will get its first television tapings with Raw on November 7 and Smackdown on November 8 both at The SSE Hydro. The tour continues on November 9 with a show in Birmingham at the Genting Arena and Cardiff on November 10 at the Motorpoint Arena.
Tickets for the Glasgow television tapings go on sale on April 23 while tickets for the rest of the tour go on sale on May 6.
Wrestling’s brotherhood, fraternal organization Cauliflower Alley Club was founded 51 years ago as a non-profit by name wrestler and film/TV actor Mike Mazurki and his boxing publicist friend Art Abrams as an informal, several times per year downtown Los Angeles meet and greet, break-bread group. Awards weren’t even given out until some time later and they were divided into thirds for his pro wrestling friends, boxing and boxers and his movie/TV/stuntman friends. Amongst those many genres have seen names from Sly Stallone to Oscar De La Hoya, Elliott Gould, Terry Moore, Buddy Rogers, Baba and Inoki attend.
Our top Iron Mike award (named for Mazurki) has always honored someone from athletics who also did a lot of charity and community good work plus also had a presence in film and/or TV like past honorees Gene Lebell, Sgt Slaughter and this year’s very first CAC female in Trish Stratus, who was given the award by her longtime friend and trainer, Ron Hutchison.
I was hired by Trish to be her CAC event photographer, as I was by my longtime All Japan Women boss in the 80’s/90’s in Rossy Ogawa who now runs the Stardom women’s wrestling group there for the three female wrestling stars he brought to Vegas for their first time. Rossy put on a Los Angeles show last year and hopes to bring more to the U.S. this year.
Other plaque recipient honorees over two nights of awards included the AWA high-flyers of Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell (who has a great new book out), deserving Arn Anderson, and Ken Patera. Our new Charlie Smith (famous southern ref) Referee’s award went to SWS/WAR-Japan referee James (Mr NWA) Beard. James got a great speech from his presenter in JBL who said James took care of him when he was first starting out in the last vestiges of Dallas wrestling and helped get JBL booked in Japan even before the WWF contract.
Our new Announcers award went to Memphis legend, Lance Russell and was presented by the friend he’s known since he was just 14 in Jerry Lawler. Paul Orndorff’s award was presented by his comedian son and the moment of the night came when Paul walked to the podium from the back, saw Bobby Heenan in his wheelchair and came from behind a planted a kiss on the top of his former WWF manager’s head which had many in tears.
The Red Bastien friendship award went to two people for the first time in longtime fans and convention aides Emily Miller and Patsy Hughes who many of the boys like JJ Dillon regard as family. The latter has been battling aggressive cancer and this was one of many emotional moments like Arn and Orndorff breaking down before their speeches. Paul said there were more of his friends and peers here than when he was put into WWE’s HOF in Los Angeles in 2005. JJ Dillon presented Arn with a great speech and both in fact were crying on-stage before Arn could compose himself to get up to the mike to speak.
Another moment of the night came on night one of our awards (night two being our dress-up awards banquet) which new President B Brian Blair renamed from the Baloney Blowout to the Bockwinkel Blowout last year when Nick attended his very last CAC and got an emotional and lengthy standing ovation.
I was 2 feet from Nick and he was crying, not sure why everyone was standing, looking at him. He was in the latter stages most of us believe of Alzheimer’s and a bit frightened, not understanding unfortunately what was going on. So many we lost recently like Lord James Blears (a CAC regular in the 60’s and 70’s), Count Billy Varga and others suffered from Alzheimers which is devastating as well to family and friends. So many in the biz have suffered from that and/or Dementia, one would wonder if chair shots, etc might be a precipitating factor.
CAC lead founder Iron Mike Mazurki passed just before our 1991 reunion at the old Sportsman’s Lodge in Los Angeles. His CAC co-founding partner in Art Abrams passed in 1999. What had become just a one event, Saturday night Awards Banquet became a 3 day full-on convention when Karl Lauer took over the club in 1999, and we moved our function to Las Vegas where it’s been every since. We had secondary, ancillary CAC’s in 1993 in Springfield, MA; 1995 in Tampa; and three in the NY/NJ area where at the last one in 1998, Vince and his entire family attended as we gave an award to his mom Juanita McMahon. That year was special because first timers Jimmy Cornette and Abdullah the Butcher attended making it really a great sendoff for our last time outside of our main reunion.
Since our move to Vegas in 2000, each of the three days has a large meeting and convention, vendor booth room where most everyone sign during the daytime. Wrestler and promoter Billy Blade (Central California, Santa Barbara area) took over our Monday night wrestling show which he’s now expanded to include a Sunday night show as well, technically meaning that the CAC is now nearly a 4 day blowout.
The highlight of this year’s show was Rossy Ogawa’s Stardom group. Rossy brought three of his Japanese women wrestlers who along with Stardom Gaijin (means foreigner) regular Melissa Anderson (already super busy with Shimmer, Lucha Underground and her continued wrestling globally) had an incredible tag match. The other top match was captained by Santana Garrett who besides her wrestling around the world and for many groups like the renewed NWA, is also a touring regular for Rossy’s Stardom.
A more recent occurrence the past decade has also been daytime seminars and forums, mostly for the new, young workers out there. This year Bill Apter did his one-man show, George Schire had an excellent AWA panel forum he moderated with AWA legends Larry “The Ax” Hennig and Gagne/Brunzell.
A highlight was WWE’s Curt Axel continually disrupting Larry on Larry’s loud cell where the panel came to a screeching halt each time, but in a funny way where the highflyers began teasing Larry. They talked about life on the AWA road, ribs, the infamous Mad Dog Vachon d-induced plane flight that nearly got everyone killed or arrested once the pilot was able to land and much more.
My PWI boss Dan Murphy gave a talk with longtime classic women’s star Malia Hosaka and more current top wrestlers Melissa and Santana. Malia is not a fan of workers male or female “getting all their shit in,” or matches that are highspot or superkick fests.
I’ve been CAC’s photographer since apprenticing CAC co-founder Art Abrams beginning in 1986. When he passed in 1999, CAC Prez Lou Thesz and Red Bastien appointed me as CAC lead photographer which I’ve done since without ever missing a CAC since 1984.
I was asked by some of our CAC board just days before I flew to Vegas to “can you put on a seminar, right before our lead awards banquet Wednesday? Make it spectacular Mike.”
Besides being the Stardom Japanese Women’s group hired photographer for Vegas, I was the only Gaijin to date who worked for BOTH weekly Japanese newsstand magazines at the same time in Weekly Gong and Weekly/Shukan Pro/Baseball. Gong went bankrupt sadly about 12 years ago due to a reported Yakuza scandal but I still contribute to the other magazine plus to both Japanese daily newspapers that still cover the biz besides buying my boxing and MMA/UFC shots and some of the top Japanese web sites.
Trish and her manager also hired me to be her event photographer. She’s super busy with her famous yoga studio, Canadian magazine articles and columns and a ton of charity work. She quietly put on a free, last-minute Twitter online contest that day with primarily some disabled fans right before finally going into our banquet room Wednesday with me photographing her every move. That gets tough when I’m also trying to get Terry Funk and Jerry Lawler to pose with Lance Russell for example, or Jim and Jan Ross with the entire WWE staff table.
I called my seminar The Mt Rushmore Monument Tribute to Greatest Voices (play by play, color, locker room interviewing, ring announcing), although we had way more than just 4 people honored. I’d printed up days before on those My Name Is stick-on badges used for parties; but instead of the audience members names, on each fan we stuck on was the name of a classic announcer we were honoring like Gordon Solie, Howard Finkel, Jimmy Lennon Sr, Lance Russell, Dick Lane, Lord Layton, Roger Kent, Marty O’Neil, Joe McQue, etc.
On my panel from all those wrestling voice genres I had Pat Patterson (early 80’s color on WWWF/WWF), Gene Okerlund, Pepper Martin (who did ring announcing and color in both L.A., SF), Lance Russell (my all-time fave next to Solie), Jim Ross and Lawler!
In the audience were Brody’s widow Barbara Goodish, Diana Hart Smith, Akio Sato (Baba’s #2 besides his territory and later WWF work for Vince), JJ Dillon, Destroyer Dick Beyer, Ata Maivia, my WCW magazine editor boss Dennis Brent and his wife Lynn who worked in both WCW and WWF, Jerry Brisco, Gagne and Brunzell, etc. I also booked Terry Funk to disrupt the panel coming out of the audience when I began interviewing Lance and Lawler regarding the classic empty arena angle but Terry tried to take a one hour nap in his room and overslept.
It set the biggest CAC seminar attendance record to date and we were lucky to have packed the room with SRO overflow out in the hallway where even our CAC Prez Brian Blair and Dennis and Lynn Brent were stuck standing.
Had Dallas veteran Johnny Mantell talk about the Pro W Hall of Fame which moved from Upstate New York to down in Dallas where Johnny and his group now run it. He’ll be honoring all aspects of the wrestling industry down there each year, including our greatest wrestling voices and announcers just as upstate always did. And they run at a different time of year than Iowa’s Lou Thesz/George Tragos great Wrestling Museum. Both should be must-visits on your list as is a mere $25/year to join CAC and be part of wrestling’s oldest brotherhood fraternity.
WWE bought a record number of award banquet tables this year including CAC first-timer Howard Finkel who was yet another incredible ring announcer we tried to honor at my seminar. Howard got a standing O as did the returning Bobby and Cindi Heenan.
And another very emotional portion of the evening was one of Vince McMahon’s longest-tenured WWE employees (next to The Fink) in Sue Aitchison. Over thirty years ago, she moved WWF’s Community Relations Department into an entity partnering with wish-granting outfits like Make-A-Wish and she’s overseen record-setting visits from Dwayne Johnson, Triple H and the overall record-holder in John Cena.
There were the usual rumors that Dwayne Johnson might attend since he allegedly was in Vegas filming one of the segments for his new Baywatch reboot movie which has had primary filming near his home in Miami along with parts of Atlanta. He was also supposed to be at a Hollywood industry convention making an appearance the day after CAC was over which pushed the rumors further but Rock didn’t show. Nor did the other rumors that Cena and Nikki might attend. But we were packed with workers, legends and fans from all over the world.
It was not only our best attended with a record number of attendees all 3+ days, but also for benevolent, non-profit CAC, one of our best reunions. I know some get upset that there’s so much attention paid to WWE, but with Japan’s Stardom, various women wrestlers recognized for their Lucha Underground work, many indies and long-time TNA recognition; it’s hard to please everyone.
Next year’s CAC 52 is reportedly in May 2017 so go to caulifloweralleyclub.org for all things CAC. Only $25/year gets you into CAC and our annual dues hasn’t changed in all those years.
One of UFC’s biggest box office fighters, Conor McGregor, announced his retirement in a simple tweet less than 140 characters. “I have decided to retire young. Thanks for the cheese. Catch ya’s later,” McGregor wrote.
The big wrestling fan is now following Triple H, Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, and fellow Irish Becky Lynch on Twitter, fueling speculations that he might be choosing to move to professional wrestling.
The current UFC Featherweight champion was removed from UFC 200 after UFC President Dana White admitted that McGregor refused to attend press conferences, face the media, and participate in a commercial to promote UFC 200, UFC’s biggest pay-per-view.
This could obviously be just a ploy from McGregor to get more money from the UFC or just a way to hype up his eventual return to the Octagon down the line, resulting in a bigger payout.
Former WWE champion CM Punk who is now with the UFC decided to have some fun with the situation. “Well f*ck it, I have decided to retire old. Thanks for the shoes @Reebok,” he wrote.
WWE Superstar John Cena was honored yesterday at the USO-Metro Annual Awards Dinner and received the 2016 Legacy Of Achievement Award. This year happened to be the 75th anniversary of the USO as well.
The black tie affair was attended by senior government and military leaders, members of Congress, as well as business and community leaders. From the WWE side, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon and Nikki Bella accompanied Cena while Linda McMahon was also present. Members from his FOX reality show American Grit were also present.
In December of last year, Stephanie McMahon accepted the first-ever USO Metro Golden Boot Award on behalf of the WWE.
The taped Raw from London, England, drew a total of 3,335,000 viewers, the lowest since the February 15 edition and nearly 200,000 viewers less from last week’s show.
Hour one started with 3,486,000 viewers which then increased to 3,541,000 but went down to 2,980,000 for the third and final hour. A total of 561,000 viewers tuned out of the show between the second and third hour, a huge drop. The third hour number is the lowest in around two decades. (Ratings credit: Showbuzzdaily.com)
The city of Glasgow in Scotland will be getting their first taste of live WWE television tapings as Monday Night Raw and Smackdown will be coming to Scotland for the first time ever in November.
As part of the second European tour of the year, WWE is bringing both television tapings to The SSE Hydro on November 7 and November 8. Typically, Manchester hosts the November tapings but this time WWE is switching things up and awarding the loyal Scottish fans with an “upgrade” to the usual non-televised shows.
Tickets for these shows go on sale soon and we will publish details as soon as they are available.
For two straight nights, a Russian streaming website tapped into the WWE satellite feed that was broadcasting the Raw tapings yesterday and the Smackdown tapings today from London and streamed them live as they happened.
The feed – streamed in HD – also included the Superstars and Main Event tapings as well as the videos that fans in the arena saw on the TitanTron in between segments. Cameras stayed on as crew changed ring aprons and the broadcast team did their tests with the production truck and camera men adjusted their angles.
The link for the live broadcasts was advertised on the popular Russian social media website VK.COM under the account “wrestlingonline” – no relation to us – to their over 200,000 followers.
Tonight marks the season 5 finale of Total Divas with an episode titled C’est La Diva Part 2.
The synopsis for the show reads, “In the season finale, the Divas’ Paris getaway continues, as the divide between the Divas deepens. Upon their return from Paris, Rosa finally meets her little bundle of joy and Nikki learns the fate of her career with WWE.”
Part 1 of the season finale last week did just 632,000 viewers.
Total Divas season 6 returns in the Fall on E! with Lana, Maryse, and Renee Young joining the cast.
Several matches have been announced for the upcoming Payback pay-per-view which takes place on May 1 from the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois.
Two title matches – in addition to the WWE World Heavyweight title match between Reigns and Styles – were added. The Intercontinental title will be on the line with The Miz defending against Cesaro. The WWE Women’s title will also be defended with Charlotte vs Natalya. New number one contenders for the WWE Tag Team titles will be decided as well as Enzo Amore and Big Cass take on The Vaudevillains in the tournament final. Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose vs Chris Jericho were also announced for Payback during Raw.
WWE Hall of Famer Bret “Hit Man” Hart will be appearing at the Payback pay-per-view on May 1 and will be in the corner of Natalya as she wrestles Charlotte for the WWE Women’s title.
This scenario was already played out at the first ever NXT Takeover event in May 2014 where the two battled for the vacant NXT Women’s title after Paige moved to the main roster. Ric was in his daughter’s corner and Bret was in Natalya’s corner and the two fought a 17 minute classic which was praised by everyone.
Bret has not appeared on WWE television for a while and he recently underwent surgery to remove his prostate cancer.
Monday Night Raw TV Report for April 18th, 2016 – “Overseas, Overwhelmed”
Introduction Segment: Welcoming and Arena Promo
The regular Raw video plays, and the pyro goes off in the 02 Arena. We are greeted from London, England, then Dean Ambrose’s music plays. It is time for the second edition of “The Ambrose Asylum.”
Dean ponders what is newsworthy, and pokes fun at Braun Strowman. He gives credit to talk show hosts Jimmy Fallon (The Tonight Show, U.S.), and James Corden (The Late Late Show with James Corden, U.S.), and points out James’ parents in the front row.
Ambrose then brings out his guest, the man in charge of Raw again, Shane McMahon! The fans chant “you still got it,” and Dean airs the dive Shane performed from the top of the cell at WrestleMania. Ambrose inquires McMahon what is on his agenda, and Shane gives props to the crowd; he says it is because of the fans that A.J. Styles, Sasha Banks, Sami Zayn, and are getting chances now.
Kevin Owens interrupts and questions Shane on why he got kicked out of Raw last week. Shane says it was so Owens didn’t interfere in Sami Zayn’s match for a World Heavyweight Championship opportunity. Kevin says that Zayn has followed him all his career, but Sami now joins and tells Kevin that he joined WWE first, and Owens is really the one who follow pursed him.
Chris Jericho also interjects and babbles on about being “The Best In The World,” and that Shane is against him. McMahon books Jericho VS. Ambrose, and Owens VS. Zayn at Payback on May 1, then leaves.
The four men left go at it, with Dean and Sami dumping Jericho and Owens to the outside.
Commercials.
Match #1: Single – Sami Zayn VS. Chris Jericho
Both miss each other, and then Sami armdrags Jericho a couple times, and locks in an armbar. Chris chops out of it then slaps Sami on the head; Zayn springboards back and kicks Jericho for a one-count. “Y2J” misses a corner-springboard dropkick, and Sami follows with a springboard-moonsault to the outside (just tagging him and no more).
In the ring, Jericho dives off the top turnbuckle, but Zayn punches him in the gut. He goes for a walk-up-the-turnbuckle, but Chris cuts him off, crotching Sami on the top rope, and taking control. He reverses an Irish Whip and dropkicks Sami, forcing Zayn to roll to the floor.
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Jericho is still dominant, snap-suplexing Sami in the ring for two. He wears Zayn down with a grounding rear chinlock, but Sami battles back with a three clotheslines! He elbows Jericho out of the corner then rockets from the turnbuckle with a crossbody for a near-fall! A bit later, he props his knees up to block a Lionsault attempt, then just about takes this after the Blue Thunder Bomb!
Zayn climbs the turnbuckle, but is met with a dropkick midair. Jericho turns Sami over into the Walls of Jericho; Zayn struggles but manages to clasp the bottom rope! He follows by tossing Jericho to the floor, then gearing up for a dive. Jericho walks away, but Sami soars through the corner onto Chris with a Tornado-DDT!
Sami measures Jericho in the ring for the Helluva Kick, but Jericho cowers and then pokes Zayn in the eye; he runs at Sami and drives him down with a Codebreaker, then covers for the victory!
Winner via Pinfall: Chris Jericho
Later tonight, Kevin Owens will wrestle Dean Ambrose; up next Enzo and Cass face The Dudleyz in the Tag-Team Championship #1 Contender’s Tournament!
Commercials.
Segment #2: Backstage Promo
Smackdown! announcer Mauro Ranallo is with A.J. Styles, who will wrestle WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns at Payback for the championship. Before A.J. can start, his friends from New Japan, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, greet him. Mauro leaves, giving the trio a chance to reminisce and walk away together.
Match #2: Tag-Team (Tag-Team Championship #1 Contender’s Tournament, Semi-Final) – Enzo and Big Cass VS. The Dudley Boyz (Bubba-Ray and D-Von)
Enzo and D-Von begin with a lockup. D-Von pummels Enzo in the corner, but Amore quickly punches back. D-Von tags in Bubba, who axe-handles Enzo and takes over.
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Amore tries to antagonize Bubba, but he just gets turned around with a shoulder-block. The Dudleyz continue to govern. Bubba goes for a senton-splash, but Enzo moves and makes the hot-tag to Cass. The 7-Footer clears house of The Dudleyz, then switches with Enzo, and they finish “the brothers” with their Rocket Launcher double-team move!
Winners and Advancing To Finals via Pinfall: Enzo and Big Cass
Up next, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns will be out!
Commercials.
Segment #3: Arena Promo
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns poses on the stage with the title, unfortunately to many boos. He puts over A.J. Styles for being a “great technical wrestler,” but vows to bring “the big fight” to A.J. and anyone else. “This is the era of the ‘Roman Empire,’ and we’re here to stay.”
His challenger, Styles, joins him in the ring. “The Phenomenal One” tells the WWE World Heavyweight Champion that he will have “the match of his life,” because he has been doing that all his career, and their match at Payback will be another one, that will “make me the champion.” Reigns replies that he “feel everything you just said,” and agrees; Roman himself likes A.J., but declares that the people will finally respect him after he defeats Styles, and all he wants is respect by being the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. A.J. retorts that he’d rather be both liked and respected as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
Styles leaves, but Roman stays in the ring, where he is suddenly attacked by Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows! They plant Reigns with a double-team move of a big-boot into a fireman’s-carry-flapjack!
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Segment #4: Backstage Promo
Roman is slowly walking through the halls when announcer Rich Brennan approaches, asking Reigns about the blind-sided attack. A.J. walks up and denies he knew nothing about Anderson and Gallows’ beating; Roman does not believe him and the two split.
Match #3: Single – Fandango VS. Baron Corbin
(Note: Dolph Ziggler is on commentary.) Corbin rapidly demolishes Fandango with his End of Days!
Winner via Pinfall: Baron Corbin
Post-match, Ziggler tries to brawl with Baron, but is quickly planted on the floor!
Segment #5: Backstage Promo
Intercontinental Champion The Miz and his wife, Maryse, are walking through the halls. Maryse sees a spilled drink, so she orders an assistant to put his jacket over the mess; Maryse and Miz walk over the coat.
Commercials.
Segment #6: Arena Promo
The Miz and Maryse are in the ring, where Maryse introduces her husband in a glitzy manner. They talk about the Royal Family, but say their “baby,” the Intercontinental Championship, is better and all theirs. Cesaro, who meets The Miz for the I.C. Title at Payback, interrupts.
Cesaro calls Miz a “royal pain-in-the-ass.” Miz mocks lines from the movie “Taken,” but Cesaro fires back with the late-great “Rowdy” Roddy Piper’s famous movie line, from “They Live,” saying “I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass. (Spits out the bubble gum). I’m all out of bubble gum.”
They egg each other on, but Miz says that Cesaro already has a match with Rusev, who makes his entrance, along with Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio. Cesaro reveals that he has spoken with Shane, who has changed it to an Eight-Man Tag-Team – The Miz and The League taking on Cesaro and ….
Tag-Team Champions The New Day! The trio enter to a huge ovation, and all will go at it next!
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Match #4: Eight-Man Tag-Team – Intercontinental Champion The Miz and The League of Nations (Rusev, Sheamus, and Alberto Del Rio) (with Maryse) VS. Tag-Team Champions The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E., and Xavier Woods) and Cesaro
Miz and Woods are wrestling, with Miz giving Xavier a shoulder-block. Woods comes back with a hip-toss and headlock, but is kneed multiple times in the corner. Xavier ducks a couple clotheslines and slides through Miz’s legs, then hits a dropkick. He tags in Big E., who gives Miz a big splash for two! Kofi is now in, but taken down quickly, and Miz switches with Alberto.
New Day and Cesaro stomp on Del Rio numerous times in the corner, then Kofi runs at Alberto with a front-dropkick. Woods is tagged again, but is driven down by a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker from Alberto; The League and Miz control.
Commercials.
Woods is trying to fight back, propping Alberto on the top turnbuckle; Del Rio counters into a hanging-cross arm/leg scissors, and The Miz is in again to work over Xavier. Sheamus and Cesaro are tagged in, with Cesaro having the momentum by continuously uppercutting Miz and Sheamus in opposite corners, as well as Alberto and Rusev on the outside barricade!
Cesaro follows with a crossbody from the top turnbuckle for two onto Sheamus, but cannot swing Sheamus around, as Miz kicks Cesaro. Sheamus takes advantage with a big sit-down powerbomb, but Kofi breaks up the pin. This breaks down with finishers galore, and Cesaro being the one to get the 1 – 2 – 3 after a Neutralizer on Sheamus!
Winners via Pinfall: Cesaro and Tag-Team Champions The New Day
Post-match, Cesaro and New Day celebrate with the fans.
Segment #7: Backstage Promo
Mauro Ranallo is with Women’s Champion Charlotte and her father, Ric Flair. He replays the conclusion of the Women’s Championship match from last week’s Raw, where Ric used nefarious means to help Charlotte retain against Natalya.
Charlotte insists that Natalya had to defeat her, and that she is a “failure, just like every other woman in this division.” Natalya gets in their face and informs of a rematch at Payback; and this time, she says she will have someone to help – her Uncle, Hall-of-Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart!
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Match #5: Eight-Woman Tag-Team – Natalya, Becky Lynch, Paige, and Sasha Banks VS. Tamina, Naomi, Summer Rae, and Women’s Champion Charlotte (with Ric Flair)
Natalya and Charlotte begin, but Charlotte backs out and tags in Summer. They lock up, and Natalya takes down Rae with a side headlock. Summer scissors out of it, and yanks down Sasha who was tagged. Naomi is in, as is Paige, who knocks Naomi around for a bit, then somersaults onto Tamina from the apron! Charlotte berates her teammates, but Becky leaps off with a forearm!
Commercials.
Tamina is soon in and takes over Lynch, and then tags in Rae. She chokes Becky in the corner with her boot, and switches with Naomi, who mudhole stomps Lynch in the corner. She runs at Becky, but Lynch tosses her aside and crawls for the tag. Naomi manages to hold on, but is shoved away and Becky tags in Nattie, who controls Summer.
Charlotte is tagged after Rae spin-kicks Natalya, but she is quickly countered from the Figure-8 into a Sharpshooter. Charlotte quickly taps!
Winners via Pinfall: Natalya, Becky Lynch, Paige, and Sasha Banks
After replays of A.J. Styles’ and Roman Reigns’ war of words earlier, and Roman’s altercation with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, Styles, Gallows, and Anderson are shown conversing, as are The Usos and Shane McMahon.
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Match #6: Tag-Team (Tag-Team Championship #1 Contender’s Tournament, Semi-Final) – The Vaudevillians (Simon Gotch and Aiden English) VS. The Usos (Jimmy and Jey)
Jimmy starts out with Gotch, and The Vaudevillians rule the bout early. Jimmy makes the hot-tag to Jey, who is all over both Vaudevillians. Jey gears up Aiden for the rump-splash in the corner, then clotheslines Simon over the top. Jimmy tries a baseball slide on Simon, but Gotch moves and throws Jimmy into the barrier. Jey dives through onto Simon, but English runs Jey into the ring post shoulder-first. The Vaudevillians capitalize with The Whirling Dervish to complete this!
Winners and Advancing To Finals: The Vaudevillians
It will now be The Vaudevillians VS. Big Cass and Enzo Amore at Payback to determine the Number One Contenders!
Segment #8: Video Promo
Clips of Apollo Crews’ abilities airs.
Commercials.
Match #7: Single – Social Outcast member Heath Slater (with Social Outcast partners Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel) VS. Apollo Crews
Apollo wins this after his spin-out powerbomb!
Winner via Pinfall: Apollo Crews
Post-match, Kevin Owens enters and he will e going against Dean Ambrose, next!
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It is announced that A.J. Styles will be on MizTV this week on Smackdown!, while Owens and Sami Zayn will wrestle at Payback, as will Dean Ambrose and Chris Jericho!
Match #8: Single – Kevin Owens VS. Dean Ambrose
Both slug it out right away, with Ambrose getting the better. He rams Owens’ head into the top turnbuckle, then kicks him in the corner. Dean rakes Kevin’s head against the top rope, and elbows him in the corner. Dean kicks Kevin off the ropes, but is put to the canvas with a hard shoulder-block. Owens leads for a while until Dean counters. He follows with a dive-through-the-ropes, but is chucked over the commentators’ table! Ambrose does the same to Owens for a break.
Commercials.
Kevin is back in control after cannon-ball-splashing Dean in the corner, then working him over with a grounding headlock. Ambrose battles back with fury punches until he is hurled to the floor! Owens frogsplashes onto Dean from the apron to the floor! Ambrose slides back in the ring just before the count gets to ten, but is immediately kicked hard in the chin!
Dean reverses another headlock into a backdrop, then gives Owens double-boots in the corner. He ascends the turnbuckle, but is met by Kevin, who attempts a suplex. Ambrose punches out and pushes Owens to the mat, but Kevin rolls to the outside. Dean changes and elbow-drops to there instead!
They punch back-and-forth in the ring, then Dean gives Kevin a big clothesline! He suplexes Owens from the top turnbuckle, and almost gets this! He goes for his Dirty Deeds DDT, but is stopped; however he reverses a Pop-Up Powerbomb into a hurricanrana, but eats a superkick for two!
Kevin goes to the top, but is stopped. Ambrose is on the top with Kevin, and elbows his way. He sets up for a superplex, but Owens reverses into a Cradle-Suplex! 1 – 2 – Ambrose kicks out! Kevin hops up to the top and frogsplashes, but Dean blocks with his knees! He moves from another Cannonball Splash, and drives Owens down with the Dirty Deeds DDT to take the victory!
Winner via Pinfall: Dean Ambrose
Post-match, Jericho runs in and gives Dean a Codebreaker! He stands over a prone Ambrose and raises his hand to close the show.
In addition to Wrestling Observer’s report earlier today regarding the sale of TNA, PWInsider.com added more details to the story, a story which might spell the end of Dixie Carter’s reign in TNA.
The agreement between TNA and the Tennessee-based company Aroluxe started in January of this year with Aroluxe pumping in the money for TNA tapings and TNA then paying back those costs plus their service fee. Aroluxe has been in charge of doing a lot of production for TNA and according to PWInsider.com, based on TNA’s contract with Aroluxe, if TNA doesn’t pay on time these fees Aeroluxe would then be legally able to take over the company. A payment from TNA is due this week and judging by history, TNA isn’t always on time when it comes to payments.
The company has been in dire need of money for a couple of years now and came close to going bankrupt multiple times, only for new TV deals and International distribution to kick in and save them.
“So, where things stand based on what we have heard appear to be going in one of two directions – TNA reimburses Aroluxe and things remain at their status quo or Aroluxe takes over the reigns of the company,” Mike Johnson wrote.
Total Divas will return to E! for its sixth season with three new cast members joining the crew. The news was made official today by E! in a press release.
To debut this Fall, the new Total Divas will follow the Bella Twins, Eva Marie, Naomi, Natalya, Paige and newcomers Lana, Renee Young, and Maryse, who recently returned to the company full time.
The season 5 finale will air tomorrow at 9PM ET with Nikki Bella learning the fate of her career in WWE and Rosa Mendes giving birth.
The Bella Twins are getting their own spinoff show on E! titled Total Bellas, with six, one-hour episodes giving viewers exclusive look at the lives of the Bella Twins and their family including John Cena, Daniel Bryan, their mom and husband John Laurinaitis and their brother and his wife.
“We are excited to build on one of our most successful franchises with this new series that goes exclusively inside the world of WWE fan favorites The Bella Twins,” said Jeff Olde, EVP, Programming and Development, E! “Nikki and Brie Bella have an undeniable charm and wit that matches their irrefutable beauty, and we are thrilled to get an intimate look into what it’s like to be in a relationship with some of the hottest sports entertainers in the world.”
The series will kick off with Nikki’s neck surgery with her family moving in the house she shares with John Cena in order to care for her and keep her company.
The show will start this Fall. Both Bellas will remain part of the Total Divas cast. You can see a preview of Total Bellas at http://www.eonline.com/videos/embed/248019.
The rumors floating around are that TNA Wrestling is just about to sell a stake to Aroluxe, a web development, advertising agency, and marketing consultants company based out of Brentwood, Tennessee. Two of the executives of Aroluxe are Ron and Don Harris, the former WWE, WCW, and TNA tag team.
The unclear question is if this sale will be a minority one or a majority stake and there could be some big changes if the sale is a majority one.
The news about the company behind the potential sale was broken by WrestlingObserver.com with Dave Meltzer reporting that Aroluxe paid for the last set of tapings as TNA’s financial situation is pretty bad. Meltzer adds that Dixie Carter, the current TNA President, still wants a controlling stake in the company which would mean she remains the ultimate decision maker.
Dixie Carter’s family purchased a 71% controlling interest in TNA Wrestling through their Panda Energy International company back in 2002. In 2015, Jeff Jarrett sold his remaining stake in TNA to Panda Energy.
The WWE Tag Team tournament to crown the new number one contenders will continue on Monday Night Raw tonight in London.
The two semi final matches will take place during the broadcast featuring The Usos vs The Vaudevillains, and Enzo Amore and Big Cass vs The Dudley Boyz. The winners will then face off at a later date, most likely on the next Raw, to become the number one contenders for the WWE Tag Team titles.
The winning team will then face The New Day at Payback for the titles.
Yesterday, the current NXT champion Finn Balor became the longest reigning NXT champ in history, surpassing Neville’s record of 287 days.
There have been seven NXT champions so far – Seth Rollins, Big E, Bo Dallas, Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, and Balor – and Balor won the title on July 4, 2015 during a WWE Network event from Tokyo, Japan, defeating Kevin Owens for the title.
Following Balor and Neville, Bo Dallas has the third longest reign with 280 days, then Big E with 168 days, Kevin Owens with 143 days, Seth Rollins with 133 days, and Sami Zayn with just 62 days.
Finn Balor is heavily rumored to be debuting on the main roster on tonight’s Raw from London.
While WWE is in London, Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston and Big E went to visit the headquarters of the British newspaper called the New Day.
The trio were photographed sitting down and reading the newspaper bearing their name and will also be “guest editing” tomorrow’s edition. The New Day newspaper was launched on February 29 of this year by Trinity Mirror, the publishers of Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, and Sunday People tabloid newspapers.
Photos of the WWE Tag Team champions having fun at The New Day headquarters are on the newspaper’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/thenewdayuk.
Monday Night Raw will not be live tonight however it will be on a few hours tape delay as WWE is on the other side of the pond for their usual post-WrestleMania Revenge Tour.
Raw will take place from London’s O2 Arena in England in front of a usual rabid crowd which knows how to have fun. The Brits are normally the ones who start all chaos at post-Mania Raws with their soccer-based chants. Typically, taped Raws do not fare well in the ratings as spoilers get out immediately, giving fans one less reason to tune in.
Smackdown is also taped from the O2 Arena tomorrow with an appearance from Shane McMahon.
During the WWE tour in Dubai a few days ago, Ryback was interviewed by 104.4 Virgin Radio Dubai host and long-time wrestling fan Myles, an interview which might raise some eyebrows back at home.
Asked if he was happy with his spot at WrestleMania 32, Ryback didn’t beat around the bush much and said no and not just this WrestleMania, but the previous two as well. He said that the United States title should have been defended on the pay-per-view and both he and Kalisto belonged on the show.
“Hopefully next year, if there is a next year, that it will be a better experience,” Ryback said. He said that hard work doesn’t always pay off in this business and he might start looking at something else where hard work does pay off.
Myles hosted several interviews with WWE Superstars during the company’s short stay in Dubai including with Kalisto, Damien Sandow, Kevin Owens, Big Show, The Miz, Roman Reigns, and others. You can see them at https://www.youtube.com/onairmyles.
