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NXT, 4/29
After a recap of the main event last week, Kevin Owens opens NXT
TV coming down the aisle.
He takes the mic and wants to start talking but the crowd
interrupts him with loud boos and Ole chants. He tells the crowd they’re cute.
Last week he was about to get rid of Alex Riley for good until little Sami Zayn
had to play hero. He calls out Zayn, says he’s ready for a fight – but William
Regal comes out instead.
Regal tells him he will not use NXT to further his own agenda and
that he can’t go making demands whenever he sees fit. Owens says, with all due
respect, he doesn’t remember calling Regal out here so he really doesn’t care
what he has to say. (Just because you say “with all due respect” doesn’t mean
you get to say whatever you want – With all due respect, yes it does!)
Zayn’s music hits and he hits the stage and makes his way to the
ring but Regal holds him off and says this will not turn into a circus like
last week. Regal says since they want to fight each other, on May 20, live on
the WWE Network, Zayn will face Owens for the NXT Championship.
Owens says he’ll fight Zayn – but he never said anything about
putting the title on the line and what has Zayn done to deserve a title shot?
After Owens beat Zayn for the belt, Zayn went home for a month. “Was it the
cowardly sneak attack from last week, is that how you earn title shots around
here, Regal?”
Zayn says Owens needs this match not because of what happened last
week, but what has happened the past 12 years. Anything that Owens has done in
his career, has had Zayn’s name next to it. But even now that he’s here and
it’s the Kevin Owens show, they’re not just talking about him, they’re talking
about what Kevin Owens did to Sami Zayn. Anything he’s ever done and anything
he ever is going to do will have an asterisk with Zayn’s name and it pisses
Owens off. And I guess you could say Owens has been living in Zayn’s shadow.
Zayn says he’ll give him the chance to get out of his shadow but
he fights for a prize and Owens is not that prize – the NXT Title is. Owens
agrees but says it’s the biggest mistake Zayn has ever made because he has no
idea what’s coming.
That Greg guy starts talking about the upcoming NXT live shows but
soon Enzo, Cass and Carmella walk into the room arguing loudly and eventually
he just gives up and leaves. Carmella tells them she doesn’t need them looking
out for her and they take off. She sits on a couch and Blake and Murphy
conveniently walk in and sit down next to her, but they start insulting Enzo
and Cass and she tells them no one can make fun of her boys but her so they
walk off, but are still in the background, getting coffee.
Alexa Bliss walks up to Carmella and says “For a so called
princess, don’t you think you should be carrying yourself with a bit more, you
know, class?” And Carmella, proving her point, mushes her and says mind your
business. Blake and Murphy see the whole thing and walk over to Alexa and ask
her if she’s alright. Do I smell an intergender trios match on the horizon?
Sami Zayn is signing a contract for the title match as Alex Riley
barges in and demands another match against Owens from Regal. Zayn tells him
that he knows how crazy Owens can make you and to hang in there. And Riley gets
super defensive (“I’m sorry, was I talking to you? What does hang in there
mean? You don’t think I can beat Kevin Owens?”) and says he just wants one more
opportunity – but Regal says he’s out of opportunities for Riley.
Zayn says if you want a match, I need a warm up anyway. Riley
agrees but says if Zayn doesn’t make it to Takeover, I get Owens.
Enzo and Cass come out to the ring with Carmella and we might
actually see a wrestling match only 20 minutes into the episode (that’s worse
than your average Raw). Surprisingly, people sound like they are coming around
to Carmella, since she wasn’t instantly booed when Enzo announced her in their
entrance.
They’re taking on Blake and Murphy? I guess it’s a nontitle match.
There’s no other heel tag teams besides the champs for Enzo and Cass to fight?
Where’s the Vaudevillains? Where’s The Mechanics?
Blake and Murphy start off double teaming Enzo, stomping him in
their corner. Enzo eventually tags in Cass who takes it to both the tag team
champs. Gets a nearfall after a big splash in the corner but Blake breaks it
up.
After Murphy blows Carmella a kiss, Cass hits him with a big boot.
He tags in Enzo and launches him off the top rope into a splash on Murphy and
they get the win. That doesn’t bode well for their title match, which I assume
will be May 20.
Becky Lynch talks about how she didn’t start training at 15 and
work all around the world to be second best in NXT.
Devin talks to Bayley about her match later with Dana Brooke and
Bayley tells her she can’t talk, she can’t find her t-shirt and headbands and
she needs to go get ready for her match. But then Emma walks in in a Bayley
shirt with a bunch of headbands and sarcastically asks “Doesn’t she need these?
I’ll go give them to her.”
A short Baron Corbin video package where he talks about how he
likes to take away the hopes and dreams of NXT Superstars and that there’s two
kinds of people in the world, people like me and people like you.
Bayley out now to take on Dana Brooke. I really don’t want Bayley
jobbing out to Dana Brooke but it’s gonna happen – I’d be really surprised if
it doesn’t.
Brooke actually looking pretty good in this match, showing a real
aggression that a lot of females in WWE don’t have. They start off trading
holds and Brooke takes the upper hand but it isn’t long before Bayley turns the
tables, hits a few back elbows and a t-bone suplex. She goes up to the second
rope but her theme music plays and Emma comes down the ramp, wearing Bayley’s
shirt and headband (and the wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube men come
out too).
Emma seems to be cheering Bayley on to win but Bayley is really
distracted. Bayley hits a back elbow from the turnbuckle and Emma comes to the
ring, offering Bayley a headband. Bayley reaches for it and Brooke knees Bayley
in the face and hits a Thrill of the Hunt (or a Samoan Driver as some might
call it) to win. As Brooke exits up the ramp, she high fives Emma.
Regal announces that at NXT Takeover there will be a triple threat
match for the NXT Title #1 contendership between Tyler Breeze, Hideo Itami and
Finn Balor.
Now, Hideo Itami out to face Adam Rose.
Hideo gets offense in early but Rose spends a surprising amount of
time in control after tripping Itami after running to the outside. But Itami
hits a few clotheslines followed by a back trip, a combo of strikes and a
corner dropkick. He sends Rose off the ropes and wins with a single leg running
drop kick.
Backstage, Bayley is looking for Emma, but she can’t find her.
Becky Lynch out now. She faces Sarah Dobson (otherwise known as
Crazy Mary Dobson, either the wife of Mad Man Pondo). She also regularly
competes in deathmatches.
Dobson gets a few covers on Lynch but Lynch controlling most of
the match. Becky taps her out after transitioning a fujiwara armbar into a Yuji
Nagata seated arm breaker.
Rhyno in the back calls out Baron Corbin. He says he’s not just
the past – I’m the present and I’m the future.
Main event now – Alex “Rage” Riley takes on Sami Zayn. And Kevin
Owens is on commentary.
Owens making fun of Alex Riley on commentary as they trade arm
wringers in the ring. Owens can’t understand why everyone else on commentary
wants to talk about Riley and Zayn when Owens is with them on commentary.
Good back and forth match until Zayn hits a tope con hilo onto
Riley on the ramp and Owens attacks him from behind. Owens throws Zayn back
first onto the ramp and stands over him and starts to walk away…but comes back
and powerbombs Alex Riley onto the ring apron!
(Just funny to me that the apron bomb is a career ender in NXT
when in PWG, I saw Steen do the same thing to Drake Younger multiple times in
one match. You know, Drake, the ref of that match.)
NXT releases 4/24
From PWInsider
There were six WWE NXT releases recently. On top of the
aforementioned C. Denzel Freeman and Tony Briggs, also released from their WWE
deals today were:
*Courtney Freeman - Former amateur wrestler from The
University of the Cumberlands. He had signed with WWE out of college and had
been training at the Performance Center about a year, to the best of my
research.
*Dustin Mueller - A Chicago native with a bodybuilding
background, Mueller was signed in late 2014 to train at the Performance Center.
*Leyvonna Zakari - A California actress and model, Zakari
signed in April 2014 to train at the Performance Center.
*Laszlo Vandracsek - Originally born in Hungary but living
in Phoenix, Vandracsek was a former Olympic Bobsledder. He was recruited and
signed to WWE in late 2014, to the best of my knowledge.
None of the four had competed in the ring at NXT events.
Lucha Underground
Recap of Trios Championship finals from last week and the 5th
match in the best of five between Drago and Aerostar.
Dario Cueto talks to the Crew inside the Temple. He tells them
last week he gave them a layup – an easy win, a gimme if you will – but they
couldn’t even beat two losers and a girl with on leg. He takes them inside to
where he keeps the monster locked up and Cueto reveals that it is his brother!
Cueto tells The Crew if they disappoint him again they can apologize in there
(the cage) to him.
The first match tonight, Fenix is already in the ring. Catrina
isn’t there so I wonder if that whole thing has been dropped. Seemed like
Catrina would be representing Fenix after he defeated Mil Muertes in the Grave
Consequences match but she hasn’t been around for a while. He takes on
Killshot. (Kinda sounds like Melissa Santos is sick)
Fenix extends his hand to shake but Killshot is reluctant. Seems
to show that while Killshot (and his associates Big Ryck and The Mack) aren’t
full on heels, they aren’t the friendliest guys at the temple.
Start trading arm wringers but Fenix hits the first big move,
using the ropes to slingshot himself through and deliver a rana to Killshot.
Killshot getting the upperhand in a lot of exchanges but can’t
keep Fenix down. Fenix begins gaining momentum after a big corner dropkick.
Fenix catches Killshot on the top rope and brings him down with a Fire Driver
(over the shoulder sit out reverse piledriver) for the win.
Cueto approaches Drago in the bowels of the temple. Cueto says
that Drago never said thank you for giving him an opportunity at the LU title
and from what he knows about dragons, there’s no greater prize than gold for
them. Cueto says he isn’t worried about Drago, he’s survived a millennia as the
rest of his kind has died out. He might not have said thank you but after
tonight, he will.
Cueto approaches Prince Puma in the locker room. He says he knows
what Puma is thinking, that he doesn’t want to end a man’s career. But sending
Drago away is a small price to pay to keep the title. Weak men worry about the
feelings of their foes but warriors think about nothing but victory. And only a
warrior deserves to be Cueto’s champion.
As Cueto walks away, Hernandez walks up to him and asks if they
have a problem. Cueto says he was just talking to Puma but Hernandez says he
doesn’t care about Puma (which Puma hears, since they’re literally one row of
lockers away) and wants to know why Cueto put him in a three way against Cage
and King Cuerno. Cueto says they all have a legitimate gripe with Hernandez but
he’ll give them each a reason to fight, that their match will be to determine
the #1 contender.
The next match is a four way match. Famous B vs Ricky Mandel vs
Vinnie Massaro vs Argenis. Weren’t these all the guys who Pentagon Jr broke the
arms of?
But soon after they all lock up, Texano rushes the ring and starts
attacking them all. He throws Massaro and Mandel out then throws Argenis onto
Massaro. Then he throws out referee Justin Borden and powerbombs Famous B and
throws him out of the ring.
He gets on the mic and says he doesn’t know who that guy was last
week who dared put his hands on Texano but invites him to come to the temple so
he can give him the beating of his life.
Outside the temple, some random guy (who doesn’t seem familiar to
me at all but looks pretty jacked and is also wearing a yellow t-shirt that
says Aztec Pride in plain black letters) comes up to Cueto and says he’s been
waiting to talk to him. Cueto tells him he doesn’t have time for autographs and
if he wants tickets he can get them online but the dude says he doesn’t want
tickets, he wants to be part of the show. He says his name is Marty “The Moth”
Martinez and he has Aztec blood running through his veins and that the temple
is his destiny. Cueto tells him he can’t just let anyone compete in the temple
and he’s afraid if he does, he’ll get squashed, well, like a moth. Cueto locks
him out of the temple and says he needs to call security about a crazy fan.
The triple threat match is up now and Cage and King Cuerno work
together to take out Hernandez first. They double suplex Hernandez, Cage standing
moonsault and Cuerno frog splash but when Cuerno pins him, Cage rolls in to
cradle Cuerno and they start fighting.
Hernandez gets back in the ring and Cage and Cuerno go back to
work on him. Again, Cage attacks Cuerno first. Hernandez goes to work on Cuerno
but spends too long showing off to the crowd and Cage gets involved again.
Cage and Hernandez stare down but out of nowhere, Marty “The Moth”
runs in and yells “Marty The Moth is here!” but gets promptly dropkicked into
the corner but Cuerno. Hernandez slaps him and then Cage tosses him out of the
ring and he backs out of ringside area.
Cage yells as Marty as he leaves and Hernandez drop kicks him out
of the ring. Cuerno rushes in but gets caught with a boot to the stomach and
Hernandez pins him with a sit out inverted powerslam.
Next, Vampiro interviews Son of Havoc, Ivelisse and Angelico about
their Trios Championship win.
Vampiro asks them how it feels and Ivelisse says it feels great to
be Trios champions. No one thought they could do it but once she stepped up as
team captain and told them (Havoc and Angelico) what to do, they finally got on
the same page. Havoc says if anyone is the captain, it’s him because he
single-handedly advanced them in the tournament. And South African Dean Ambrose
says the only reason they have those titles is because of his death-defying
leap from Cueto’s office to the ring. Ivelisse says it was only a cross body,
the most basic move in wrestling, but Havoc says he thought it was pretty cool.
Angelico says it was a career highlight. Vampiro asks them if
Ivelisse can even go because of her ankle now that they beat the Crew, Cueto’s
hand-picked winners, who will be out for revenge. Havoc says the three of them
might not like each other, they will fight and fight together (Ivelisse
interrupts that she was just gonna say that).
The title match is up now – Drago vs Prince Puma for the LU
Championship and if Drago doesn’t win he has to leave the temple forever.
Puma show of respect and shakes Drago’s hand to start the match
and getting advantage of the early exchanges, using lots of quick strikes and
ranas and head scissors.
Drago sends Puma outside and lands a corkscrew dive over the top
to the floor and rolls Puma back in. Drago starts chopping him down and kicking
him in the legs to try and take away Puma’s speed and high flying.
Puma is in control but gets caught with a kick to the chin as he
rushes into the corner. Rushes in again and Drago catches him with a
springboard corkscrew. He hits a few strikes and locks in an inventive
submission and Puma has trouble dragging himself to the ropes since both his
arms are tied up.
They exchange kicks and Drago hits a backfist. Goes for another
and Puma gets a 2 count off a Blue Thunder Bomb. They trade punches as they get
back to their feet and Puma ducks one and hits a big enzuigiri. Puma picks up
Drago for the Benadryller but accidentally hits the ref in the face with
Drago’s feet. Drago wiggles out of it and hits a Canadian Destroyer on Puma and
goes for the pin but there’s no ref and Puma wasn’t kicking out.
Hernandez comes to the ring and rushes toward both Puma and Drago
but Puma gets out of the way and Drago gets jacked up in the corner. Puma seems
upset that Hernandez is involving himself again while Konnan keeps the refs
attention. Konnan yells at Puma to “finish him – no mercy.” Puma seems
conflicted as he drops Drago with that spinning sit out buster of some kind.
Konnan comes in to congratulate Puma but Puma is upset about Drago
and picks him up and hugs him. The crowd chants for Drago and Puma raises the
hand of Drago. Crowd chants Thank You Drago as he walks to the back.
Drago encounters Cueto as he’s walking out of the temple and says
“we will meet again” before leaving in a huge ball of fire.
Lucha Libre World Cup
Last week, word began going around the internet that AAA is
hosting a huge tournament of trios teams from all over the world.
AAA's "Dream Team" of Albert
El Patron, Rey Mysterio, and Myzteziz was just announced as the latest team to
join the world cup.
Also, TNA confirmed that Matt Hardy will
be the first member of Team TNA to join the cup.
Dream Team: Alberto el Patron, Rey
Misterio Jr., Myzteziz
Team Mexico 1 (AAA): Winner of El Hijo
del Fantasma, El Texano Jr., Psycho Clown
Team Mexico 2 (“Outsiders”): Blue Demon
Jr., Dr. Wagner Jr., TBA
Team ROH: TBA
Team TNA: Matt Hardy, Drew Galloway, Mr.
Anderson
Team Pro Wrestling NOAH: Taiji Ishimori,
Yoshihiro Takayama, Atsushi Kotoge
Team All Japan Pro Wrestling: Kenzo
Suzuki, Tiger Mask III, Masamune
Rest of the World: TBA
(I saw that Dixie Carter announced the
TNA team as what’s listed above but I just checked the Wikipedia page and that
lists different teams. TNA and Lucha Underground are combined and that team is
Matt Hardy, Mr. Anderson and Johnny Mundo and the Rest of the World team is
listed as Drew Galloway and TBA)
New Japan Pro Wrestling
New Japan World, New Japan Pro Wrestling’s streaming content website,
now offers a sign up page in English as well as having a Google translate
button at the bottom of every page. Now it’s easier than ever for non-Japanese
(well, English speaking) fans to sign up and enjoy the service.
Wrestling Dontaku results
NJPW Wrestling Dontaku results
Jushin Thunder Liger, Máscara
Dorada, Tiger Mask, Yuji Nagata def. Captain New Japan, Kushida, Manabu
Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi (Nagata pinned CNJ)
Kota Ibushi & Yohei Komatsu
def. Sho Tanaka & Tetsuya Naito
(Komatsu tapped Tanaka with a
single leg crab)
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima,
Tomoaki Honma def. Bad Luck Fale, Cody Hall, Tama Tonga
(Kojima lariat and Honma Kokeshi
led to the win)
Young Bucks def. RPG Vice and
reDRagon to win the IWGP Jr tag titles
(Bucks used More Bang to pin
Trent. Writer made an interesting observation in that reDRagon hasn’t taken a
pin in NJPW yet. They’re 19-2 and both losses came in three ways where they
weren’t involved in the pin)
Kenny Omega def. Alex Shelley to
retain IWGP Jr title
(Lots of Biz Cliz interference.
Omega announced he’s skipping Best of Super Juniors since he’s worked so hard
on this tour and can’t challenge himself)
Maria Kanellis, Matt Taven,
Michael Bennett def. Amber Gallows, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson
(Maria pinned Amber after a
nothing match. Anderson and Gallows double teamed Maria [phrasing] with the
Magic Killer afterwards but got laughs from the crowd. Not the intended effect,
I’m sure)
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori
Shibata, Togi Makabe def. Kazushi Sakuraba, Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano
(Tana pinned Yano with an inside
cradle, getting a manner of revenge for the numerous that Yano has scored on
him lately)
A.J. Styles & Yujiro
Takahashi def. Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI
(Styles pinned YOSHI after a
Styles Clash. Okada held up the IWGP belt afterwards)
Hirooki Goto def. Shinsuke
Nakamura to become the new IWGP IC champ
Global Force Wrestling
I’ve been compiling lots of GFW news over the past weeks but so
many things seem to overlap and it’s hard to tell exactly what is important and
what is just hype. The most important news just happened on May 6 during a
press conference where they revealed several stars which will be regular parts
of the GFW roster. The biggest name is perhaps former UFC figher Chael Sonnen
who will be part of the organization as an announcer and analyst. The rest of
the roster reveal were:
Members of the Bullet Club Karl “Machine
Gun” Anderson and Doc Gallows
Members of Suzuigun, David Hart Smith
and Lance Hoyt “The Killer Elite Squad”
Sanada, former TNA X Division champ and
current Wrestle-1 talent
Chris “The Adonis” Mordetsky (formerly
known as Chris Masters in WWE)
PJ Black (formerly known as Justin
Gabriel in WWE)
Moose (former NFL offensive lineman
Quinn Ojinnaka and current ROH star)
Lei’D Tapa (former TNA Knockout)
Thea Trinidad (formerly Rosita in TNA)
But GFW also has working relationships
with 13 promotions across five continents including New Japan Pro Wrestling and
AAA as well as promotions in Europe, Australia and Africa.
Eric Bischoff joining GFW
Jeff Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling
announced that they will be touring minor league baseball stadiums in
Tennessee, Virginia, Iowa, Florida and California on the Grand Slam Tour,
leading up to its first live broadcast on July 24 from the Orleans Hotel and
Casino, which can seat around 9,500 fans. No word on the specifics of the TV
deal or distribution though.
#Rawlternative: Part Deux
The second edition of the independent wrestling event hosted by
Beyond Wrestling, #Rawlternative #2, will be held on May 18 streaming live on
YouTube. The promotions involved were announced on Twitter during Raw on May 4
and can be found below. Also make sure to sign up for the event on the Facebook
page (which you can find at this link)
to keep up with all the latest info.
Promotions featured on #Rawlternative #2 on 5/18:
AAW Pro
Absolute Intense Wrestling
Alpha 1 Wrestling (or Alphaone Rasslin as their Facebook page is
titled)
Beyond Wrestling
Chikara Pro
C*4
DREAMWAVE Wrestling
Freelance Wrestling
Inspire Pro
Inter Species Wrestling
IWA Mid-South Wrestling
Jersey Championship Wrestling
Shimmer Women Athletes
Smash Wrestling
The first match announced for #Rawlternative 2 is Brent Banks vs
Scotty O’Shea in an Ambulance Match courtesy of Smash Wrestling.
Absolute Intense Wrestling
AIW posted the brackets for their annual JT Lightning Invitational
on Twitter recently and the tournament looks absolutely stacked, featuring 24
wrestlers taking place on Friday May 22 and Saturday May 23 in Cleveland, Ohio.
In the tournament are Little Guido, Nick Gage, Athena, Eric Ryan,
Raymond Rowe, Dick Justice, Louis Lyndon, Tyson Dux, Josh Prohibition, Heidi
Lovelace, Cedric Alexander, Cheech, Colin Delaney, BJ Whitmer, Alessandro Del
Bruno, Jennifer Blake, Flip Kendrick, Tracy Williams, Doug Gilbert, Tyler
Thomas, DJ Z (Zema Ion), Davey Vega, Alex Daniels and 2 Cold Scorpio.
Also, I just realized that AIW also is now offering a monthly
streaming subscription service for just $7.99 a month. Check out https://www.aiwarchives.com/ for more
info on the titles available to streaming and to sign up.
CZW
On 5/9, there is going to be
a DVD documentary about CZW star Matt Tremont released. Called “Bleeding Black
and Yellow - An Ultraviolent Dream” or something like that, it follows him for
24 and gives a look at his life and career. There was a trailer on PWInsider so
you could find it on YouTube and his Twitter I’m sure.
Smash Wrestling
On Smash Wrestling’s June 6 show, Smash Kicks ALS, they are
advertising Chris Hero vs Samoa Joe which should be an insanely hard-hitting
match. Also seems like maybe the rumors that Joe joining NXT by June may not
have been entirely accurate.
Upcoming shows
2CW (www.2cwwrestling.com)
Liberation, May 15
AAW (www.aawrestling.com)
You Only Live Once, May 16
AIW (www.aiwrestling.com)
The JT Lightning Invitational, May 22-23
Girls Night Out 15, May 23
Beyond Wrestling (lookmanofans.com)
The Real Thing, May 31
C*4 (www.c4wrestling.com)
Season 8, May 23
Season 8, June 19
Chikara (www.chikarapro.com)
Back to Skull, May 23
Aniversario: A New Attitude, May 24
CZW (www.czwrestling.com)
Dojo Wars, May 6
CZW/WSU Doubleheader, May 9
Tournament of Death 14, June 13
CZW/WSU Doubleheader, July 11
Evolve (www.dgusa.tv)
Evolve 43, May 30
Evolve 44, May 31
House of Glory (houseofgloryonline.com)
High Intensity 4, May 29
House of Hardcore (www.houseofhardcore.net)
HOH 9, July 18
PWG (www.prowrestlingguerrilla.com)
DDT4, May 22
Rock and Shock the Nation, June 26
Threemendous IV, July 24
Battle of Los Angeles, Aug. 28-30
PWS (www.bedofnailz.com/pwshome.html)
Double Trouble Rumble, May 23
Smash Wrestling (smash-wrestling.com)
The Rural Rumble Tour, May 14-16
Gold, May 17
#GiveDivasAChance, June 6
Smash Kicks ALS, June 6
Wildkat Sports (wildkatsports.com)
Heatin’ Up, May 16
Labels: #Rawlternative, CZW, Global Force Wrestling roster, JT Lightning, Lucha Libre World Cup, Lucha Underground, New Japan Pro Wrestling, NXT, NXT releases, Smash Wrestling, Wrestling Dontaku
posted by Joe Arcidiacono at
12:14 PM
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