NXT, Lucha Underground and Indy Wrestling Minute - Your Weekly Source for Independent Wrestling News

NXT, 5/13

  Starts with a recap of Sami Zayn in the Cena US Title Open Challenge. And make sure to hit all the important parts like Zayn’s shoulder hurt, the ref throwing up the X, Sami’s big spots and kicking out of the AA. This was all before the show opening theme too.

  Solomon Crowe opens NXT. He takes on Baron Corbin.

  Crowe goes right after Corbin, taking the fight to him in the corner but Corbin catches him with a huge lariat that sends him end over end. And from there, Corbin just manhandles Crowe, standing on his head and posing for the crowd. Crowe leaps in from the apron for something but Corbin catches him in the End of Days for the win.

  After the match, Rhyno comes to the ring. He says “So you’re the other unstoppable force everyone is talking about? Are we gonna do this or what?” Corbin says yeah and they start throwing fists and the locker room empties to separate them. They drag Corbin up the ramp and Rhyno gores two before the others leave him alone in the ring and C and R stare each other down.

  Finn Balor interviewed about who he’d rather face, Zayn or Owens, if he wins the triple threat at Takeover. He says he knows Breeze is a tough competitor and isn’t fooled by him and everyone knows he and Itami are longtime friends but that will be put aside. He says it doesn’t matter who is champ all they need to know is that the demon of Finn Balor won’t be far behind.

  Tyler Breeze says he isn’t worried about Hideo Itami or “Flavor of the month” Finn Balor, he’s going to be #1 contender again. And it doesn’t matter who’s champ because he’s going to bring the title back to Cuteville where it belongs.

  Sasha Banks out now. She takes on newcomer to NXT, Cassie McIntosh (one of the newest signees to the Performance Center, from Australia), I think. Sasha sasy just because Becky got the best of her last week doesn’t mean she’s better. And at Takeover, she’s going to show everyoene why she is the Boss of NXT.

  Cassie gets a few pin fall attempts in early and a cross body for 2 but Sasha regains control easily. She mocks Becky Lynch and then defeats McIntosh with the Banks Statement.

Devin talks to Charlotte and Bayley. They challenge Emma and Dana Brooke to a match at Takeover.

  Another hype video for Uhaa Nation. Basically the same as before, about wanting to be a champion and now that he’s here he’s one step closer and he’s studied the history of past greats and now it’s time to create his own history.

  In the back, Uhaa greets Solomon Crowe and they talk for a bit. But still, no name given for Uhaa.

Carmella vs Alexa Bliss. Weird dynamic because Carmella is technically the face but people hate her and gets like no reaction on her entrance. And Bliss was acting like a heel in their confrontation last week but she’s more well-liked and been a babyface.

  They go back and forth for a bit and then Blake and Murphy come down the ramp. Carmella kicks out of a Glitz Flip (hand spring into double knees) and reverses a whip, drop toe hold and goes for her submission but Blake and Murphy get on the apron to distract her. Bliss takes advantage of the distraction and hits the Sparkle Splash for the win. Bliss leaves the ring and walks between Blake and the Murph and blows them a kiss.

  Blake and Murphy get into the ring with Carmella and the crowd starts chanting “No means no.” Blake says they’ve been trying to tell her when she hangs out with two pieces of trash like Enzo and Cass, you’re gonna smell like garbage. And she says mark my words, Enzo and Cass will be at Takeover and will walk out NXT Tag Team Champs. And after they take their titles there’s only gonna be one word to describe them and she spells it out for them...S-A-W-F-T SAWFT!

  Saxton talks to Hideo Itami. He says after he beats Finn and Breeze, he wants Kevin Owens, because he is a bad person. He doesn’t have respect for anybody. He doesn’t have respect for the NXT title and Itami doesn’t respect him.

  Devin with Brooke and Emma about Bayley and Charlotte challenge. Emma says if Bayley wants more sense slapped into her, she’ll give her what she wants. And Brooke says she isn’t jealous of Charlotte, she’s doing her a favor by letting her know she’s going to be passed by.

  Up now, Adam Rose and Tyler Breeze vs Finn Balor and Hideo Itami. No Rosebuds for some reason. Adam Rose gets into Breeze’s selfie shot and Breeze gives him a sideways look.

Itami and Rose start off with Itami getting the better of him and tagging in Finn but they both look hesitant.

  Breeze and Rose tag in and out quickly to keep Balor in their corner. Adam Rose using all of the five count when Balor reaches the ropes in a Boston Crab after Rose slammed him with a spine buster.

  Balor finally tags Itami who goes nuts on both Rose and Breeze. Takes out Rose with a flying clothesline and hits a combo on Breeze followed by a stalling corner dropkick but Balor tags himself in. Itami looks pretty annoyed but Balor ignores it and hits a Slingblade on Rose. He hits a shotgun dropkick into the corner on Breeze and sets up for Coup de Grace but Itami tags himself in. Itami goes to pick up Breeze but gets rolled up for the 3 before Balor can get in.

  After the match, Itami and Balor get in each other’s face and Breeze pushes Itami into Balor then Supermodel Kick to Itami and Beauty Shot to Balor. Rose celebrates with Breeze and raises his hand and Breeze Supermodel Kick to him too before getting a selfie of his work.

  Another video recapping Zayn being injured on Raw against Cena. They are really running with the injury angle, real or not.

  After the match, Zayn says backstage at Raw he might’ve tweaked something in his shoulder during his entrance and after a back suplex his shoulder might’ve popped out, but he doesn’t know because it’s never happened before.

  But more important than the physical aspect of the injury is the mental, to know that he can still go out there and beat Kevin Owens and not worry about his shoulder.

  Owens and Zayn face to face now. Zayn out first and has a mic and as he’s about to speak, Owens music interrupts him and the champ comes to the ring.

  He says “We’re not here to fight and yes I hurt my shoulder against Cena but this match is happening” but we don’t actually see him say that that stuff so it makes me think it could’ve been added in after Raw, since these are taped way ahead of time, to address it on the show and confirm their title match is still happening.

  Zayns wants to know, to his face, in front of everybody - why? Cause everything he says about his family, Zayn knows there’s an element of truth, but he’s not buying it.

  Is it just jealousy, because Zayn got there first? Is it more personal than that? But Owens stays silent.

  Zayn says, is this about your son? And Owens kinda narrows his eyes at Zayn. And Sami says he always thought it was cute but not a big deal that he’d rather wear a Sami Zayn shirt than a KO shirt and runs around the house with a Sami Zayn wrist band (wish he could’ve said El Generico mask because that’s probably true). Owens is about to start talking, but he leaves the ring.

  Owens starts to walk up the ramp and Zayn yells at him, even after all this time you have nothing to say to me?? Owens speaks up and says everything he just said is completely irrelevant. Because he knows the truth. After he took the NXT Title from him, Zayn went home and told everyone it was because he needed to clear his head but he knows it’s because Zayn was hurt. And he knows he’s still hurt. He knows he’s the one who hurt him and he knows exactly what the injury is. He knows how he hurt him and at Takeover, he’s going to do it again. But this time...this time you’re not coming back. And Owens walks off.

NXT Takeover: Unstoppable, Wednesday May 20

Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn for the NXT Title

Sasha Banks vs Becky Lynch for the NXT Women’s Title

Blake and Murphy vs Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady for the NXT Tag Team Titles

Finn Balor vs Hideo Itami vs Tyler Breeze for #1 Contender (still listed even though I’m positive I heard Itami is out for a long time)

Baron Corbin vs Rhyno 
Bayley and Charlotte vs Emma and Dana Brooke

Lucha Underground, 5/13

Dario Cueto in his dungeon room, talking to his brother. He says it cost him half a (of Dad’s?) fortune but he finally found them – the seven medallions of each of the ancient Aztec tribes. Once united, they will make one warrior as powerful as the gods themselves, perhaps even more powerful than you, he says to his brother. Papa would be proud, he says. He’s going to make history by recreating the battles fought for the medallions starting tonight.

Robert Trujillo in the house tonight.

In the first match, Aerostar takes on…holy shit, Jack Evans!! Evans was a tag champion with Angelico in AAA which is why he has the same color scheme as Angelico.

Jack starts trash talking the crowd, telling them they’re lucky he’s here and immediately get huge heel heat. Yelling “I am lucha libre!”

Aero getting the better of Jack to start both inside and out of the ring. But Jack eventually takes control with some hard strikes and a standing corkscrew moonsault.

Aero starts making a comeback and tossing Evans into the rail around the ring. Evans reverses him and hits a 619 on the apron and then hits a 450 from the top of the railing to the floor! Back in the ring he goes for a Phoenix Splash from the top but misses.

Aero climbs to the top but slowly and Evans hits him with a kick. He follows him up but Aerostar blocks whatever Evans was gonna do and Aerostar hits him with a Destroyer from the top rope for the win! What a great match…and that was just an opener!

In the locker room, Mack catches Ryck counting a lot of money and asks him where he got it and Ryck just tells him “my business is my business.” Mack says don’t be like that, we’re family. But Ryck says family didn’t help them win the Trios titles. He knows Mack got into wrestling to show off his moves and make fans but it’s about one thing – making money while you can. And for the right amount of money, he’d whip someone in his own family’s ass.

In the ring already are several luchadores – Killshot, King Cuerno, Cage, Pentagon Jr, and Fenix as Sexy Star makes her way to the ring, played down by the house band. She stares down Pentagon as The Mack heads to the ring.

Dario Cueto comes out of his office. Says they are competing for one of the seven medallions. Why should they want it? Earning a medallion gives them a chance at immortality but doesn’t say much more.

All going in the ring at once so it’s gonna be hard to keep track of the action. Pentagon and Fenix square off first after the others get knocked out of the ring. Killshot and Cuerno in the ring next as Cage works over people outside the ring. But soon Sexy Star hits the ring and goes after Cuerno, but escapes the ring as Cuerno turns his attention on her and Cage comes in to help Cuerno with Killshot.

Cage and Cuerno go for the first covers but are broken up by Sexy Star and Fenix. Star starts laying in kicks and forearms into Cage who looks mildly annoyed. He levels her with a lariat after she rana Cuerno.

Pentagon and Sexy Star clashing a lot in this match, makes me think their feud is far from over. Cage and Cuerno working together a lot against Mack and Killshot and Mack working against Cage a lot, one of the only people to manhandle Cage so far. Fenix and Pentagon working against each other too, which is unique since they are real life brothers.

Holy hell, Pentagon hits a package piledriver and a Gory special at the same time on Fenix and Star. He sets up to break Fenix’s arm but Star breaks it up. Pentagon presses her over his head and drops her down in a gutbuster on his knees and Fenix pins Pentagon and earns first medallion after a reverse rana and a standing moonsault as Cage/Cuerno still fights with Killshot/Mack on the outside.

Cueto in his office with Son of Havoc, Angelico and Ivelisse. He says he never thought they’d win the Trios titles but the fact is, Cortez and Cisco beat them last week. He says he’s given The Crew another title shot. Havoc says Ivelisse’s leg is still broken and she says she only needs her hands to beat their punk asses. Cueto says yes but she’s going to need her legs too because next week they face The Crew…in a ladder match! Or he could just strip them of the belts now to save them from more injuries. They all agree no – we fight.

Fenix in the locker room. The lights flicker and Catrina is there. She says Fenix fell right into her trap. She says he made a mistake when he buried Mil. He needed his power of 1,000 lives to be reborn and now that he is, he’s coming for Fenix stronger than he was before. She says he’s just a pawn for death. He grabs her and she disappears, but these three creepy skull masked luchadores appear in front of him on the lockers and jump down on him as the scene ends. 

ACTUAL SPOOKY SKELETONS

Main event time – Hernandez vs Alberto El Patron for the #1 contendership. Melissa Santos says the only way to win is by pinfall or submission. So basically no DQ even though they didn’t say no DQ.

Hernandez taking control early, using his size to overpower Alberto, throwing him into the ring post shoulder first, then ramming him into the apron outside numerous times. Hernandez throws him into the corner but Alberto evades the clothesline and takes control.

Hernandez hits a few big moves but Alberto staying in control for the most part, working the arm and hits that big super kick but only gets a 2.

Alberto calling for the arm bar but Johnny Mundo runs in and pulls Alberto out of the ring and DDT him on the floor and the crowd is booing him like crazy. Mundo throws Alberto into the window of Cueto’s office! Cueto is in there and looks pleased with the violence. Alberto looks out and the ref finally pulls him out of there. Mundo rolls Alberto back in, who’s bleeding and Hernandez pins him. They call the paramedics in for Alberto as Mundo walks off and Hernandez trash talks the crowd. The crowd really getting on Mundo who says that this is his world.

Lucha Libre World Cup

iPPV information for the Lucha Libre World Cup available here - http://internetvluchalibreworldcup.com/index.php?route=luchalibreworldcup/landing

Matt Striker and Vampiro are set to do the English announcing for the iPPV since it is being broadcast from Mexico City and hosted by AAA, and available on PPV in Mexico.

Final teams are…

Dream Team

Alberto El Patron (Captain)

Myzteziz (Original Sin Cara)

Rey Mysterio Jr.

Team Mexico 1

El Hijo Del Fantasma (King Cuerno)

El Texano Jr. (Texano)

Psycho Clown

Team  MexLeyendas

Blue Demon Jr.

Dr. Wagner Jr.

El Solar

Team “Rest of the World”

Drew Galloway

Angelico

El Mesias (Mil Muertes)

Team TNA/Lucha Underground

Matt Hardy (Captain)

Mr. Anderson

Johnny Mundo

Team ROH/Lucha Underground

Moose

ACH

Brian Cage

Team Pro Wrestling NOAH

Taiji Ishimori (Captain)

Yoshihiro Takayama

Atsushi Kotoge

Team AJPW

Kenzo Suzuki (Captain)

Tiger Mask III

Masamune

Ring of Honor/New Japan Pro Wrestling

War of the Worlds, Night 1

-Gedo def. Delirious.

-Roderick Strong def. Kushida.

-ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal (w/Truth Martini) def. Takaaki Watanabe in a non-title match.

-The Young Bucks def. The Kingdom and The Addiction in a non-title match.

-Tetsuya Naito def. Michael Elgin.

-Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly def. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Jushin "Thunder" Liger.

-AJ Styles def. Adam Cole in a non-title match.

-Chaos (Shinsuke Nakamura and Kazuchika Okada) def. The Briscoes.

War of the Worlds notes from Night 2

(My notes from this show - you can check out my post here with pics from the show)

Dark match
Jay Diesel def Romantic Touch
Match was OK but no one was into it, being very eager to see the NJPW guys. As Touch left the ringside area, he was kissing everyone he saw, because he’s romantic or something.

The Decade’s Adam Page def. Takaaki Watanabe
Solid match and Watanabe was hugely over. Page is still pretty young but he could be a top heel before long. He spit on his hand when Watanabe went for a handshake and The Decade got involved a lot, namely Colby Corino tripping up Watanabe and paying for it by getting powerbombed on the outside.

Michael Elgin def. Kushida
Pretty good match but they didn’t really match up too well. Elgin seems to work a little bit slower of a style which really negated some of the more impressive stuff that Kushida can do, though that might be because Elgin has been working heel lately and he’s doing a pretty good job in that role. Elgin wins with a spinning Liger Bomb after a hard spinning backfist.

Tetsuya Naito def. Kyle O’Reilly
This match was really fun and we got a lot of comedy spots, which I wasn’t expecting. Lots of eye pokes playing off the Naito pose and O’Reilly being “Sleazy Kyle.” But before too long it turned into a really great back-and-forth wrestling match with Naito picking up the win with a Phoenix Splash.

Shinsuke Nakamura def. Jay Lethal, Mark Briscoe and Jushin “Thunder” Liger
Briscoe and Lethal get good reactions and Liger gets an even bigger one. Then Nakamura comes out and redefines what it means to be over. The crowd exploded when The King of Strong Style made his way to the ring. Really good match but a little shorter than I thought it would be. Nakamura pinned Liger after two Boma Ye’s.

Intermission next. Went to get a beer and saw AR Fox at the concession stand. Asked him if he was gonna be in ROH soon and he said he hopes so. Fox would fit in really well in ROH, since there’s really only ACH who can do the same kind of death-defying high-flying that Fox can

As intermission ends, Cheeseburger comes to the ring with some free stuff to throw to the crowd. He pulls out a t-shirt to throw but Brutal Bob Evans hits the ring, attacks Cheeseburger and takes the shirt, saying it’s his now. Cheeseburger attacks him but it’s not very effective and Bob puts an arm bar on Cheeseburger and staff comes out to break it up. Looks like Brutal Burgers is no more.

Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Roderick Strong
Amazing, amazing match. Probably the best of the night, overall. Roddy gets busted open hard way from a Tana forearm (I think) and has color the rest of the match. I really thought Roddy had it won after a superplex followed by a Sick Kick. The entire crowd seemed to think that could be it. Tanahashi gets the win with a Slingblade followed by a High Fly Flow.

Definitely make sure you see this one somehow. Roddy has been one of the best guys in ROH and the indies for a long time now and this match he put on with arguably the best in NJPW proves just how talented he is.

Red Shoes and Tiger Hattori get really big pops throughout the night too (and Todd Sinclair gets huge boos). Red Shoes even caught a red streamer and tried to put it in his pocket.

The Addiction def. Kazuchika Okada and Gedo
Awesome match. Addiction demanding to be called the “World Tag Team Champions of the World.” Okada easily got the second biggest pop of the night behind Nakamura.

Gedo doesn’t let Okada shake hands with the Addiction. A “F*ck TNA” chant breaks out, which is even more apt because Okada was in TNA early in his career and they did nothing with him but now look at him. Afterward, Okada takes out Kaz and Daniels with a dropkick, tombstone and Rainmaker clothesline.

Jay Briscoe def. Bobby Fish to retain the ROH World Title
Despite Briscoe being the current World champ, a dominant world champ and being unpinned for the last two years, people in Philly did not care for him at all. Fish got a huge reaction, including “next World Champ” chants. Fish kicks out of a Jay Driller but Briscoe then DVD him on the apron and hits another Jay Driller for the win.

Really good match overall but because of the odd hate for Briscoe, it felt a little flat. After the match Moose comes out and confronts Briscoe but leaves. He comes back and surprises Briscoe, leveling him with a spear and raising the World title belt. Before Briscoe leaves, he gets on the mic and addresses the crowd saying you can like or hate who you want but doesn’t change that he hasn’t been pinned in two year.

Moose is way over and it’s pretty cool he’s getting into the World title scene. Definitely like that this means Veda Scott will be around more often too.

The Kingdom def. Bullet Club in six-man tag
Adam Cole returns and gets a big pop but nothing like the Young Bucks or AJ Styles gets. Lots of great action in this one, I’ll definitely need to rewatch this (and all these matches) at some point to take them all in.

Several times, Cole tries to get the Bucks to 2 Sweet him. Once, Styles stops them and 2 Sweets the Bucks and another time Cole tries it then pokes them in the eye with the 2 Sweet. Lots of PWG chants and Mount Rushmore chants when the Bucks and Cole go face to face. (Not familiar with Mount Rushmore? Read all about them in an article I did here!)

Kingdom gets the win after Bennett hits a Jackson with a title belt. Looked like Bullet Club was going to win and go for a double Meltzer Driver but Maria tripped them up and got triple super kicked for it. Incredible stuff from everyone in the match, especially Cole’s heel work being on point.

Global Wars, Night 1

-Gedo and Moose def. Silas Young and Watanabe

-KUSHIDA def. Chris Sabin and Kyle O’Reilly

-The Kingdom (Mike Bennett and Matt Taven) def. Matt Sydal and Jushin “Thunder” Liger

-Kazuchika Okada def. Cedric Alexander

-RPG Vice def. The Decade and The Addiction

-Shinsuke Nakamura def. ACH

-Jay Lethal retains the ROH TV title against Tetsuya Naito

-Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Michael Elgin

-ROH All Stars (Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe, Hanson, Raymond Rowe and Roderick Strong) def. The Bullet Club (AJ Styles, Karl “Machine Gun” Anderson, Doc Gallows and The Young Bucks)

Global Wars, Night 2 

(TV taping so there was a ridiculous 14 matches)

-KUSHIDA defeated Will Ferrara

-Silas Young defeated Takaaki Watanabe

-Moose defeated Colby Corino (w/ Decade)

-The Briscoes defeated The House Of Truth (Donovan Dijak & J. Diesel w/ Truth Martini)

-Kyle O'Reilly defeated ROH World Tag Team Champions Addiction via DQ in a Tag Title 2-on-1 Handicap Match. Bobby Fish missed the show due to travel issues.

-Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Dalton Castle (w/ His boys)

-Cheeseburger and Brutal Bob Evans went to a no contest

-Bullet Club (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) vs. Kingdom (w/ Maria) went to a Double DQ

-War Machine defeated Decade (Adam Page & Colby Corino w/ BJ Whitmer)

-Cedric Alexander defeated Moose (w/ Stokely Hathaway & Veda Scott)

-Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tetsuya Naito defeated ACH & Matt Sydal

-Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Roderick Strong

-Michael Elgin defeated Gedo

-Bullet Club (AJ Styles & Young Bucks) defeated CHAOS (Okada, Baretta & Rocky Romero)

The Kingdom and CHAOS are allegedly joining forces against Bullet Club

NJPW on AXS returns this Friday with Kushida vs Ricochet in BOSJ finals

 

ROH Best in the World 

June 19 at Terminal 5 in NYC

Two big matches announced

Jay Briscoe vs Jay Lethal – Title for Title

Moose vs Michael Elgin vs Roderick Strong - #1 Contender match

I’ve also seen reports on the internet that ROH is coming back to the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia for Final Battle on December 11 and 12 but it’s not set in stone. I’d guess the Friday show is a TV taping and Saturday would be a PPV or iPPV.

Smash Wrestling

http://smash-wrestling.com/als/

On June 7, Chris Hero and Smash Wrestling are putting on the “Iron Man Gauntlet Challenge” to raise money for ALS Canada where the length of time Hero will wrestle, even if pinned or submitted, is determined by fan donations. The match will start at 20 minutes and once $500 is reached, it increases to 30 minutes. ($1,000 for an hour, $1,500 for 90 minutes and so on)

All who donate $10 or more are invited to the Cross Body Academy in Waterloo for an exclusive meet and greet with Hero and attend the match. All donors will receive a digital download of the match before it is shared for free with the world.

Figures Toy Company to make a line of indy/free agent wrestler toys as well as Ring of Honor toys 

Global Force Wrestling

GFW first show line up

Tate Twins (Brent and Brandon) v Best Friends (Chuck Taylor/Trent Baretta)

Lei’D Tapa v Thea Trinidad

Sonjay Dutt v Jamin Olivencia

George T. Murdoch (Tyrus) v Moose

Chris Masters v Dustin Star

Bullet Club v New Heavenly Bodies

Special Guest: Jim Cornette

Source- http://www.globalforcewrestling.com/jackson-tn/