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NXT, 4/15

CJ Parker opens NXT in what is his probably his final NXT appearance. (I was wrong – he’s on again next week) He takes on Solomon Crowe in what I think is Crowe’s second televised match.

Parker rushes Crowe early and backs him into the corner but Crowe turns the tables and rakes Parker’s face with his boot. Parker escapes the ring but Crowe levels him on the apron with a springboard clothesline followed by a low tope (a low-pe if you will).

Parker keeping Crowe on the mat with a reverse chinlock but Crowe fights back to his feet. Crowe tries to get momentum going but Parker levels with a big windmill kick.

Crowe staggers Parker with a huge forearm and then splashes Parker’s leg from the top and makes Parker tap with a stretch muffler.

After the win, Crowe gets on the mic and say stay tuned because the real show is just beginning.

Baron Corbin out next (who we haven’t seen in a while). Looks like he’s back to squashing jobbers since he takes on Steve Cutler. Crowd is doing a half-hearted count and I couldn’t hear what they got up to but Corbin makes short work of Cutler, winning with the End of Days.

Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady out next (and Carmella is there too). They do their usual smack talking coming down to the ring but keep talking in the ring too, saying Blake and Murphy have something they want and they’re gonna take it.

Enzo and Cass take on the team of Angelo Dawkins and Sawyer Fulton (aka Shoot Nation, even though they aren’t announced as such. I heard about that alleged team a long time ago and it’s a cool gimmick – just guys who are pure athletes and no nonsense. I don’t know why WWE won’t let them run with it though)

Enzo starts hotdogging to start the match which Fulton and Dawkins use to take advantage quickly, throwing him around with fireman’s carries. Enzo flips out of it and tags in Cass. Fulton and Dawkins working well together, using lots of double team maneuvers.

It isn’t long before Blake and The Murph make their way to the ring. They make their way straight to Carmella and both give her flowers they were holding behind their backs.

Enzo getting thrown around and stretched by Fulton but eventually makes the tag to Cass, who hits a sidewalk slam then throws Enzo into a splash for the win. I really like how Enzo and Cass’ double team moves mainly consist of Cass throwing Enzo at their opponents in some way.

Afterward, both Enzo and Cass seem annoyed that Carmella accepted the flowers from Blake and Murphy.

Alex Riley in the locker room. “Did you think that was gonna be it? Did you think I was just gonna go away?” Yeah, I kinda did. Riley says by Kevin Owens messing with him, he has a bullseye on his back for the rest of his career. Riley says he’s gonna tell him in the ring next week and Owens better be there (tell him what, I have no idea).

Blue Pants out next! It’s crazy how much she is over. She’ll no doubt be jobbing to Dana Brooke, however.

Dana Brooke comes out doing flips and flexing. Already she screams “All flash, no substance.” I hope I’m wrong but it kinda really feels like they’re shoving out in front of the crowd because of her look.

Blue Pants comes right at her and hits a few forearms. She runs in again but gets dropped on the top turnbuckle. Brooke starts throwing her around and shoves her to the mat. She catapults Blue Pants into the bottom rope and then mounts her and throws some really awkward punches followed by a two count. And already, Brooke is getting “You can’t wrestle” chants.

Brooke chokes Blue Pants on the ropes and in the corner but Bluey gets some offense in, throwing a few high kicks which knock down Brooke. But Brooke shakes off the shots and wins with a Samoan Driver, aka King Cuerno’s “Thrill of the Hunt.”

Brooke wasn’t all that bad. Nothing really stood out about her performance but she wasn’t terrible. She could be a good addition to the NXT Women’s roster if she works on developing her personality a little bit more and tightening up her in-ring stuff.

Next week – Charlotte vs Bayley vs Becky Lynch for the Women’s Championship #1 contender and also, Alex Riley vs Kevin Owens.

Next up, it’s main event time – Rhyno vs Sami Zayn.

Zayn tries to out quick Rhyno and lock in side headlocks but Rhyno is too strong and overpowers Zayn. Zayn tries to work back into it with forearms but they just seem to annoy Rhyno. Zayn takes him off his feet with a drop kick but Rhyno levels him with a clothesline.

Rhyno all over Zayn in this match. Rhyno drives the shoulder into his midsection numerous times in the corner and gets a “Better than Roman” chant. Zayn trying to fight back, unleashes a flurry of punches on Rhyno, ducks a back elbow and hits a Blue Thunder Bomb and gets a 2 count.

Sami goes up top and dives into a cross body but Rhyno catches him, transitions him to his shoulders and drops him with a TKO! That took crazy strength, it was Brock Lesnar-like. But Zayn kicks out at 2.

Rhyno sets up on the second rope but Zayn hits a forearm which sends Rhyno to the outside where Zayn lands a tope con hilo. Back in the ring, Rhyno pummels him in the corner, tosses him with a belly to belly suplex and sets up for a Gore but Zayn dodges it. As Rhyno pulls himself to his feet, Zayn hits the Helluva Kick for the win.

NXT tour dates

(Unsurprising they are starting in Philly since we are the best wrestling town in the world)

May 14 – Tower Theater, Upper Darby PA

May 16 – Washington Avenue Armory in Albany, NY

June 11 – Stage AE, Pittsburgh, PA

June 12 – Agora Theater, Cleveland OH

June 13 – LC Pavilion, Columbus OH

Tickets can be purchased here:

http://www.wwe.com/events/all/wwenxt/all/all/all/3000/mi

Lucha Underground, 4/15

Dario Cueto meets Aerostar on the roof of the Temple. Aero is looking at the stars and Cueto asks if that’s where he gets his inspiration. But Drago, he gets his inspiration from down below. He tells him if he sees a shooting star to make a wish but be careful, everything in the Temple has a price.

The first match is the final match in the Trios tournament. King Cuerno, Texano and Cage take on Prince Puma, Johnny Mundo and Hernandez.

Hernandez and Cuero start the match. Hernandez easily overpowering Cuerno but getting overconfident and Cuerno using his speed to land big blows. Hernandez gorilla press slam and Cuerno tags in Texano.

During the match, they point out a dude in the crowd who looks vaguely Middle Eastern but has huge sunglasses on so it’s hard to tell. Striker doesn’t so who it is so I’m not sure, but he kinda looks like Daviari.

Cuerno, Texano and Cage isolate Puma in their corner and Texano and Cuerno start to double team him. But not for long as Puma uses impressive kicks to separate himself and tag in Mundo. Hernandez squashes Texano and Cuerno in the corner and pops up Mundo over him to land a big dropkick. The champ’s team working well together.

Some order restored and Texano starts working Mundo’s injured left knee with a single leg crab (the same leg Cuerno had been working on for weeks).

Mundo, Hernandez and Puma hit Cage with several moves, topped by a 450 from Puma but Cage still kicks out.

Cuerno goes for the Thrill of the Hunt but Puma reverses into a small package. Texano tries to break it up but gets pulled out by Mundo. Cuerno kicks out and Texano levels Mundo with the bull rope wrapped around his fist. Puma looks outside to see what happened and Texano hammers him with the bull rope fist too, leading Cuerno to hit the Thrill of the Hunt on Puma for the win. Cuerno, Texano and Cage move onto the Trios Championship match against Big Ryck, The Mack and Killshot and Son of Havoc, Ivelisse and Angelico.

After the match, Cueto comes out. He says he’s very excited to crown the first Trios Champions and can’t wait for the match next week and wants a preview tonight. A member from each qualifying team will be in a triple threat match and tells Cage, Cuerno and Texano to decide who will be in it because that match is next!

Cage representing his team. The Mack is out next. The final participant is Son of Havoc. This match should be amazing.

Despite having already wrestled, Cage is in control for most of the early going. Havoc hitting big moves but Mack showing off his impressive athleticism for a guy his size.  Havoc holding his own, using quick moves (high flying and submissions) to try and end the match.

Mack goes up to block Havoc on the top rope but Havoc knocks him to the mat. Havoc goes for the SSP but Mack roles out of the way and out of the ring. Cage throws him into the railing and gets in the ring, hits Weapon X on Havoc for the win. (So I’d be really surprised to see them win next week since they won twice tonight)

Cueto talks to Drago after the commercial break. Cueto tells him he remembers the first time he talked to Drago, in this very bathroom, and that Drago impressed him his first time out. Will he impress Cueto again or will Aerostar slay the dragon?

Pentagon Jr in the ring, telling Melissa Santos something, even though Striker says he’s not scheduled for a match. She says that Pentagon would to dedicate his next sacrifice to his master and as she goes to leave the ring, Pentagon attacks her! Melissa tries to break free and escape the ring but Pentagon is on her and drags her back in. Vampiro gets up and throws his headset off, saying there’s no way he’s gonna take this and as Pentagon sets up to break Melissa’s arm, Sexy Star shows up and drop kicks Pentagon in the back, and Vampiro just stands there. Star gets Melissa out of the ring and Star yells at Pentagon that he’s really crossed the line this time and enough is enough and that she isn’t afraid of him.

Cueto is doing the honors of announcing the main event since Melissa is shaken up. The winner gets a “unique opportunity”. Aerostar comes to the ring first in a pure white outfit that we haven’t seen before.

Very even at first, back and forth. Drago gets the first near fall with a sit out Dominator in the center of the ring. They hit each other with dual clotheslines and both are down.

Aero hits a few big splashes but can’t keep Drago down. Drago starts taking over and looks upset he can’t put  Aero away, hammering punches in the center of the ring and body slams him outside.

Drago then goes under the ring as Aero is down, and pull out a table. Drago lays Aero on the table and about to springboard on him but Aero stops him and pulls him down, punches him and lays Drago on the table. Aero back in the ring and springboard splash onto Drago from inside the ring! Daviari seems pretty happy about it.

Aero rolls him back in the ring and lands a springboard senton but Drago still kicks out!

They exchange strikes and near fall attempts. Drago hits the ropes and lands a crazy rolling DDT or a standing blockbuster or something crazy. He locks Aerostar into the Dragon’s Lair pin combo for the win! After the match, Drago helps Aero back to his feet and Aero raises the hand of Drago.

Cueto tells Drago he’s gonna give Drago the biggest prize he can offer - a shot at Prince Puma the Lucha Underground Championship! But if he loses, Drago is banned from the Temple forever!

Ring of Honor

Card announced for War of the Worlds Night One (5/12)

Jay Lethal vs Watanabe

Roderick Strong vs KUSHIDA

Delirious vs Gedo

The Addiction vs The Young Bucks vs The Kingdom

Michael Elgin vs Tetsuya Naito

reDRagon vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Jushin “Thunder” Liger

AJ Styles vs a mystery opponent (speculation is that it could be Samoa Joe or a returning Adam Cole)

The Briscoe Brothers vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and Kazuchika Okada

War of the Worlds Night Two (5/13)

Adam Page vs Watanabe

Michael Elgin vs KUSHIDA

Kyle O’Reilly vs. Tetsuya Naito

Roderick Strong vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

The Addiction vs Kazuchika Okada and Gedo

Four corner survival (Not sure if that means elimination or not. Probably not)

Jay Lethal vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Mark Briscoe vs. Jushin “Thunder” Liger

ROH World title

Jay Briscoe vs Bobby Fish

The Kingdom (Matt Taven, Michael Bennett and Adam Cole) vs Bullet Club (AJ Styles and the Young Bucks)

Global Wars, Night One (5/15), being broadcast live on iPPV

ACH vs Shinsuke Nakamura

Moose and Gedo vs Silas Young and Watanabe

Chris Sabin vs KUSHIDA

The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Michael Bennett) vs Jushin “Thunder” Liger and Matt Sydal

4 Corner Survival

RPG Vice (Trent? and Rocky Romero) vs The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) vs The Decade (BJ Whitmer and Adam Page) vs reDRagon (Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish)

Cedric Alexander vs Kazuchika Okada

Michael Elgin vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

Jay Lethal vs Tetsuya Naito

Team ROH vs Bullet Club (Briscoes, War Machine and Roderick Strong vs AJ Styles, Young Bucks, Karl “Machine Gun” Anderson and Doc Gallows)

Global Wars, Night Two (5/16)

KUSHIDA vs Will Ferrara

Michael Elgin vs Gedo

Jushin “Thunder” Liger vs. Dalton Castle

The Kingdom (Taven and Bennett) vs Bullet Club (Gallows and Machine Gun)

Tetsuya Naito and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs ACH and Matt Sydal

Shinsuke Nakamura vs Roderick Strong

AJ Styles and Young Bucks vs Kazuchika Okada and RPG Vice

These ROH/NJPW shows are absolutely jacked. I’ve got tickets to the 5/13 show and am really excited. I was thinking about getting tickets to the Tuesday show (there’s still standing room only tickets left) but with the announcement of NXT on Thursday at The Tower, I decided against going to three wrestling shows, three days in a rwo.

Of the matches on 5/13, the four way with Lethal, Nakamura, Liger and Briscoe is the one I want to see most, mainly because I really want to see Nakamura live. But Strong/Tanahashi and O’Reilly/Naito will be awesome as well.

But the first night of Global Wars in Toronto, which is also an iPPV, looks like the most stacked card of the joint shows. The four corner tag match, ACH/Nakamura, the 10 man tag, practically everything on that card looks awesome.

I’ll definitely be looking to purchase each of these shows once they become available.

House of Hardcore gets international TV deal with Fight Network

Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore recently announced an 8-episode deal with Canadian TV channel The Fight Network. The series will begin on Tuesday, May 12 at 9 p.m. and highlight matches from all HOH events so far leading up to HOH 9 on July 18 in Toronto.

http://fightnetwork.com/news/55362:tommy-dreamers-house-of-hardcore-coming-to-fight-network/

Evolve

Evolve 42 results, April 18, Orlando FL

Shine Championship

Santana Garrett (c) defeated Andrea w/So Cal Val and Su Yung

Ethan Page defeated Martin Stone

Rey Horus defeated Andrew Everett

Timothy Thatcher defeated TJ Perkins

Biff Busick defeated Roderick Strong

Davey Richards defeated Trevor Lee

Open The United Gate Titles, Street Fight

Johnny Gargano and Rich Swann defeated The Premier Athlete Brand (Caleb Konley and Anthony Nese) (c) w/So Cal Val and Andrea to win the titles

Evolve 43 will be May 30 in Queens, NY

Beyond Wrestling

Beyond Wrestling is hosting two shows on Sunday, April 26 at Fete Music in Providence, RI.

“Scorned”
2 p.m., Sunday, April 26th, 2015

*Hardcore Icons Collide*
Steve Corino vs. Matt Tremont

*Flips vs. Kicks*
AR Fox vs. “Speedball” Mike Bailey

*Hell Hath No Fury*
Kimber Lee vs. Pinkie Sanchez

*The Juicy Product Implodes*
JT Dunn vs. David Starr

*First Time Ever*
The Colony (Silver Ant & Fire Ant) vs. Da Hoodz (Kris Pyro & Davey Cash)

*Out For Revenge*
Ryan “Rush” Galeone with Jimmy Preston vs. Alex Reynolds with John Silver

*Inter Species Wrestling Four-Way Title Match*
Izzie Deadyet (c) vs. Fluffy vs. Dave Cole vs. Buxx Belmar

*WWA4 Showcase*
Moose & Black Baron vs. Worst Case Scenario (Ethan Case & Eli Evans)

Plus Donovan Dijak!

“When Satan Rules His World”
6 p.m., Sunday, April 26th, 2015
*Match Of The Year*
Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs. Ninjas With Altitude (Shynron & Kitsune)

*Anything Goes*
Nick Gage vs. Chris Dickinson

*The Fucking Tag Team Match*
War Machine (Hanson & Raymond Rowe) vs. Team Tremendous (Dan Barry & Bill Carr)

*Six Man Mayhem*
Nation Of Intoxication (Danny Havoc, Devon Moore, Lucky 13) vs. Team Pazuzu (Jaka, Mike Draztik, Angel Ortiz)

*Old School Showdown*
Eddie Kingston vs. Stockade

*Hoss Fight*
Hooligans (Devin Cutter & Mason Cutter) vs. Tabarnak De Team (Mathieu St-Jacques & Thomas Dubois)

*This One Is Personal*
Crusade For Change (Darius Carter & TJ Marconi) vs. Garden State Gods (Eric Corvis & Myke Quest)

*Grudge Match*
M1nute Men (Tommy Trainwreck & Devin Blaze) vs. Rickey Shane Page & Davey Vega

*Intergender Action*
Heidi Lovelace vs. Brian Fury

Plus "Hot Sauce" Tracy Williams!