Wednesday Wrestling Minutes - Your Weekly Source for NXT, Lucha Underground, Ring of Honor and Independent Wrestling News

NXT, 6/3

Opens with a recap of Owens vs Cena at Elimination Chamber.

Tyler Breeze out to the ring first. He’s taking on Adam Rose who is without Rosebuds and seems completely indifferent to being there.

A “We want Kruger” chant before the bell, followed by a smaller “No we don’t” chant.

Slow paced match with Rose almost taking on the role of the heel, being more aggressive and keeping Breeze in a headlock on the mat. But Breeze works his way back up and sends Rose to the apron then crashing to the ramp with a dropkick. And a commercial break for Total Divas 10 minutes into the show in the middle of the opening match to begin the most boring episode of NXT ever.

Rose in control for a surprising amount of this match. Hits a spine buster and locks in a Boston crab in the middle of the ring. Breeze gets the ropes and Rose holds on til 4 then drops a leg on the back on Breeze’s head on the apron and drops an elbow off the apron. But literally 5 seconds later, Breeze wins with a Beauty Shot out of nowhere.

I get that they want to make Breeze look like a title contender but Rose is a good worker who could be used a lot better and looked pretty bad after getting in most of the offense in the match but losing after one move.

Solomon Crowe talks to Devin backstage. Crowe says he’s feeling pretty beaten but it’s nothing he hasn’t felt before. He says he had to get in the face of Kevin Owens last week and applauds Samoa Joe for doing the same thing. Then goes on to say that when he gets back he’ll be better than ever and he will go toe-to-toe with the champion. Is he injured? Not going to be on TV for a while? Wasn’t really clear.

Video package about Dana Brooke competing in the Arnold Classic in Brazil. Says she was invited to participate in the next Arnold Classic in September in Spain.

Greg Hamilton talks to Eva Marie on the stage who gets a lukewarm reaction at best. Lots of booing from people despite her trying to get cheap pops. The more she tries to talk and talk up the crowd, the more she gets booed and “You can’t wrestle” chants despite not even wrestling. Talks about the NXT women stole the show at Takeover and that is why she is in NXT and hopes she can get an opportunity to compete with the best in NXT.

I get why the smarks don’t like her but the outright hatred the NXT crowd seems to have for her is a little unfair and bordering on mean and unnecessary. Yeah, we all know she was hired for her looks and we all know she isn’t that great in the ring. But these same smarks should also know that she’s been trying to improve her in-ring ability (if her Instagram videos are to be believed) so maybe give her a chance before booing her out of the building? Especially when she’s just trying to put over the NXT Women’s division (and, I’d assume, foreshadow that she’s going to be wrestling in NXT soon).

William Regal announces WWE event on July 4 in Tokyo, Japan. Also announces that Kevin Owens will face Finn Balor for the NXT Championship and it will be live on the WWE Network. (Check out the full card at the end of the NXT section)

Next up, Carmella with Enzo and Cass out to take on Alexa Bliss, with Blake and Murphy. Carmella on Alexa at the bell with a Thesz press, hammering on Alexa and doing this several times. But Alexa turning it around and keeping Carmella on the mat with a cravat. She goes for the Glitz Flip but Carmella moves out of the way.

Carmella seems to be mounting a comeback when Alexa rolls her up and holds onto the ropes for extra leverage and the win.

Hopefully they do a trios match sometime since this feud is tailor-made for one. As much as I like Alexa as a face, she fits in well with Blake and Murphy and gives them a little something extra that they’ve been missing.

Devin talks to Rhyno. Says he enjoyed going to war with Baron Corbin but says it’s time to get back to what he came to NXT for – to be the champion. That he has to take out Finn Balor to make his next step to the title.

I hope that Corbin has been benefitting from working with Rhyno, even though it doesn’t really seem like it. He still lacks charisma and is pretty dull in the ring. Even this abstract “presence” that commentary tries to put him over for doesn’t really seem to exist.

Sami Zayn video package about getting surgery on his shoulder and how he hurt himself recklessly throwing his arms around. The doctor says the injury was actually worse than they anticipated, that more of the labrum was detached than they thought and he had a tear in his rotator cuff but that the surgery went well. No word on how long he’ll be out, though.

The Vaudevillains are back. They take on the odd pairing of Jason Jordan and Marcus Louis. Kinda sucks for Louis he didn’t get a program with Tyler Breeze, LeFort or Enzo and Cass after losing his hair. Just was made to look like an idiot then disappeared for months. Also looks like he’s wearing Corporate Kane attire.

Simon Gotch starts off against Louis, who is making the craziest face possible. And throughout the match, Louis is making crazy noises and yells. Not a whole lot going on in this match – just seemed like a reintroduction for the Vaudevillains and the beginning of Jordan looking for a competent tag team partner and, if I had to guess, will end up being Chad Gable.

Jordan gets knocked off the apron and the Vaudevillains get the win with a Whirling Dervish. Jordan looks pretty annoyed that his team lost.

Sasha Banks video package. About how she’s always known she’s the best and being the NXT Women’s Champ just proves it.

Finn Balor talks about how he forged his career in Japan and won 11 championships there and it would be an understatement to say he is excited to return to face Kevin Owens for the NXT Championship.

But he isn’t overlooking Owens, he saw what he did to Zayn at Takeover and what he did to Cena at Elimination Chamber. Says Owens is the real deal but Owens will meet the demon. Owens may walk into Tokyo with the championship, but Balor is walking out with it.

Main event – Balor vs Rhyno. Balor having trouble dealing with Rhyno’s power early on. But Balor using his speed to get ahead of Rhyno, taking him out with a big dive over the ropes to the floor.

Rhyno hammering on Balor and keeping him on the mat with holds. Balor fights his way out but Rhyno takes him back down with a back elbow. Rhyno spends time mocking Balor’s entrance and theatrics, allowing Balor an opportunity to try and fight back. But when he hits the ropes, Rhyno lifts him with a press slam and gets a 2.

Balor hits a shotgun dropkick and goes for the Coup de Grace but Rhyno rolls out of the way. Balor into the opposite corner and Rhyno sets up for the Gore but Balor evades and rolls up Rhyno for the 3.

After Balor celebrates and heads up the ramp, Rhyno blindsides him with a Gore which takes him half way across the stage and almost into one of the LED boards and leaves him lying as the episode ends.

During this episode of NXT, a WWE Network live special was announced which will be held in Tokyo on July 4^th from Sumo Hall. I think I saw that it will air live and since it’s from half-way around the world, the live airing will be at 6:30 a.m., which means basically everyone will be watching it after its aired.

The card is:

NXT Title Match

Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens

WWE Divas Title Match

Paige vs. Naomi vs. Nikki Bella

WWE Tag Team Title Match

Cesaro and Tyson Kidd vs. The New Day

Brock Lesnar vs. Kofi Kingston

Chris Jericho vs. Neville

John Cena and Dolph Ziggler vs. Kane and King Barrett

The Lucha Dragons vs. Los Matadores

On Jericho’s podcast, he mentioned he was going to be wrestling Finn Balor but it seems that plans have changed. If I had to guess, Balor will win the NXT Title since it’s in Japan and he’s presumably going to be the demon, but also because Owens is on the main roster now and doesn’t need to be holding the NXT Title anymore.

Also, due to Tyson Kidd’s reported injury against Samoa Joe recently, one would assume that the tag team title match will be changed, though there’s been no official word yet.

The bWo recently inducted Blue Pants into their group (from Blue Meanie’s Twitter)

Also, there were rumors that several independent stars participated in a WWE Performance Center tryout last week including Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Drew Gulak, Biff Busick, Chuck Taylor Athena, Taeler Hendrix and Jessicka Havok. Also, Pro Wrestling NOAH/Australian wrestlers The Mighty Don’t Kneel (TDMK), Shane Haste and Mikey Nichols. This is all allegedly but I’ve seen lots of reports saying the same thing. Then again, restating false info a bunch of times doesn’t necessarily make it true.

And if you’ve been keeping up with internet news, you might’ve heard that while these tryouts were going on, several old tweets from Jessicka Havok were made public which most likely sunk any chance she had of being offered a contract. I’m not going to be posting any screens of the tweets here (since they’ve been deleted) but suffice to say there were several racist and homophobic comments made on her Twitter, which she has both allegedly apologized for as well as made excuses for, such as “my boyfriend/friends were playing on my phone.” Word was that these tweets came to light during the tryouts themselves which prompted officials leading the tryouts to give a speech about being careful what you put on social media in a public business like pro wrestling, though not specifically singling her out.

And finally, if you ever wanted to know how Chuck Taylor got to be in way better shape than Tyler Black, watch this Sexy Chuckie T Training Montage. (And if you didn’t get the reference in the first sentence, click here)

Lucha Underground, 6/3

Show opens with Chavo in Dario Cueto’s office. Cueto says he’s confused, he thought Chavo quit. He says he did and Cueto wants to know why he’s here. He tells Cueto that Black Lotus is back in the Temple to kill his brother and been trained by “you know who” and Cueto seemed stunned when he realizes he means El Dragon Azteca.

Cueto says it was Chavo’s job to take care of her but he says Dragon got to her first. Cueto says that’s impossible, that Dragon wouldn’t dare step foot inside the Temple and Chavo surmises that he must have someone on the inside. Chavo tells Cueto about Dragon’s promise to erase his debt to Mexico if he promised to protect her. He tells Cueto that he agreed but that a Guerrero is only truly loyal to the highest bidder. Cueto smiles and says he wants Lotus on a silver platter and grabs stacks of cash and asks “What does that cost me?” But Chavo says how about round the clock protection from Mexico? With that out of the way, Cueto asks what he really wants but Chavo just smiles and laughs as the scene ends.

First match features Jack Evans. He snubs a fan for a high-five on his walk out and says he’s the best ever and he invented modern lucha libre. His opponent is Argenis.

Cueto shows up and talks to Argenis. Says he comes from a great family of luchadores but no one really cares about him. And says that even though Jack Evans is talented, he lost his first match so who cares about this match. So to make it interesting, he’s putting up an Aztec medallion on the line, which will bring great fortune to the one who wins it.

Striker says Myzteziz, Argos and Mini Murder Clown (are these real names) are Argenis’ brothers. Evans cheap shots Argenis to start the match and trash talks “Who’s better?!”, like he’s Kanyon.

Argenis staying in it but Evans in control for the most part. He hit a crazy standing corkscrew moonsault and a flying arm bar but couldn’t make Argenis tap.

Argenis was mounting a comeback but Evans gets the win with a backslide and a bridge to win the medallion.

Daivari meets Ryck in the locker room. He says Cueto is giving them a Trios title match tonight but they need a third partner. Ryck suggests The Mack who says “Sure, why not.” But Cage walks in and says “I’ll tell you why not – why choose you when they can have me.”

Daivari asks Cage what makes him the best man for the job and he replies by attacking Mack and throwing him into the lockers until one row falls over then he slams the Mack on them. Daivari says welcome to the team and they walk out as Ryck looks down at Mack but Daivari yells to leave him and Ryck follows.

Chavo tells Black Lotus he talked to Cueto and that her first match is tonight. But then he tries to attack her! She beats the crap out of him and he calls for help and (what’s left of) The Crew rush in with weapons but she takes them out too. But then Chavo hits her from behind with a pipe and pulls out handcuffs as the scene ends.

Trios title match. Delavar Daivari, Big Ryck and Cage out first. The champs follow them shortly after. I don’t know why they make Ivelisse comes down the steps every time even though she has a broken foot.

Angelico starts first with Cage. He easily outquicks Cage but Cage uses his power to start wearing down Angelico. Angelico and Son of Havoc start arguing after a tag and Cage clotheslines them both and Daivari starts working against Havoc. Ivelisse yelling for a tag but Havoc seems to have no intention of tagging her.

Angelico blind tags himself in again and gets overzealous attacking Cage in his own corner and gets overwhelmed. Ryck tags in and drops elbows on him as Ivelisse takes a seat in the crowd since her team won’t tag her in.

The challengers keep Angelico in their corner and overwhelm him, knocking Havoc off the apron. Daivari demands a tag from Ryck and gets it. Ivelisse back on the apron as Daivari and Ryck double team Angelico, setting up for a big lariat. But Ivelisse distracts Daivari who grabs her by the hair and throws her off the apron. But as that happens, Texano shows up and takes out Ryck with the bull rope fist. Angelico hits a running knee on Daivari then takes out Cage with a tope as Havoc hits a shooting star on Daivari for the win.

In Cueto’s office, Chavo has the Crew bring Black Lotus in, all tied up and gagged. He says he has something special for her, a spot right across from his brother, so he never gets lonely again.

Main event submission match. First out, Pentagon Jr. followed by Sexy Star. Pentagon wearing a Perros Del Mal t-shirt, in honor of the recently passed Perro Aguayo Jr.

Pentagon on the mic before the match starts. He promises Sexy Star that tonight, he is going to break her. It’s a sacrifice he’s making to his master because he is zero fear but before he can finish, Star attacks him.

Lots of good chain wrestling to start, neither really gets an advantage. Star hits a dive through the ropes on Pentagon and starts hammering him with kicks and throwing him into the posts. She hasn’t really been working a body part for submission, though.

Duelling “Cero miedo/Sexy Star” chants. They both lock in a few submissions but neither taps. Sexy hits a cross body off the guard rail outside.

Sexy Star locks in a deep single leg Boston Crab in the middle of the ring and it doesn’t seem like Pentagon is going anywhere. Out of nowhere, Super Fly hits the ring and Star seems happy to see him – but he cracks her in the face! Star drops and lets go of Pentagon and Super Fly hits a sit out bomb and gives her back to Pentagon who hits a Package Piledriver. Pentagon locks in a surfboard, modifies it by cranking back on the neck even more and Sexy taps.

Afterward, Pentagon shoves the ref down and sets up to break Sexy’s arm but Vampiro throws off his headset, runs in the ring and shoves him off her. Pentagon winds up to hit Vampiro, but then stops. Vampiro looks conflicted and wants to hit Pentagon but stops himself and walks away.

As the episode ends, Vampiro is in the locker room by himself, thinking back on his past and things he’s done (referenced by himself on commentary). He bashes the mirror in front of him with his head a bunch of times and stares at himself in the broken glass.

Ring of Honor

Best in the World (June 19, Terminal 5 in NYC on PPV and iPPV) updated card:

Champion vs Champion

ROH Champion Jay Briscoe vs ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal

ROH Tag Team Title match

The Addiction (c ) vs. reDRagon - No DQ match

ROH World Title #1 Contender

Roderick Strong vs. Moose vs. Michael Elgin

The Kingdom's Adam Cole and Michael Bennett and Matt Taven w/ Maria Kanellis vs. The Bullet Club's AJ Styles and Young Bucks.

Donovan Dijak with Truth Martini vs. Mark Briscoe

New Japan Pro Wrestling

Best of Super Juniors finals

-Jushin Thunder Liger and Sho Tanaka def. Yohei Komatsu and Ryusuke Taguchi

-Tiger Mask IV def. Chase Owens

-Mascara Dorada def. Barabaro Carvenario

-Bobby Fish def. Baretta

-Rocky Romero def. Nick Jackson

-Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Tomoaki Honma and Satoshi Kojima def. Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi and David Finlay

-Okada and Gedo defeated Bullet Club (Cody Hall & Yujiro Takahashi)

-Shinsuke Nakamura, Toru Yano, Kazushi Sakuraba, Tomohiro Ishii, and YOSHI-HASHI def. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, Togi Makabe, Captain New Japan & Shibata

-KUSHIDA def. Kyle O'Reilly to win BOSJ. He will now face Kenny Omega at Dominion on 7/5

G1 Climax 25 Competitors announced

Dates:

7/20 - Sapporo

7/23 - Shizouka

7/24 - Kyoto

7/25 Takamatsu

7/26 Hiroshima

7/28 Beppu

7/29 Fukouka

8/1 Osaka

8/2 Nagoya

8/4 Sendai

8/5 Morioka

8/7 Hamamatsu

8/8 Yokohama

8/9, 11, 12 Tokyo Korakuen

8/14, 15, 16 Tokyo Ryogoku

Entrants:

Kazuchika Okada - 2-time winner (2012, 2014) (4th year, consecutive)

AJ Styles - IWGP Heavyweight Champion (2nd year, consecutive)

Hirooki Goto - IWGP Intercontinental Champion, Winner in 2008 (8th year, consecutive)

Togi Makabe - NEVER Openweight Champion, Winner in 2009 (12th year, consecutive)

Hiroyoshi Tenzan - NWA Heavyweight Champion, 3-time winner (2003, 2004, 2006) (20th year, 5 consecutive)

Hiroshi Tanahashi - Winner in 2007 (14th year, consecutive)

Yuji Nagata - Winner in 2001 (17th year, consecutive)

Satoshi Kojima - Winner in 2010 (14th year, 6 consecutive)

Tetsuya Naito - Winner in 2013 (6th year, consecutive)

Katsuyori Shibata - (5th year, 3 consecutive)

Shinsuke Nakamura - Winner in 2011 (12th year, 9 consecutive)

Toru Yano - (10th year, 9 consecutive)

Tomohiro Ishii - (3rd year, consecutive)

Yurjio Takahashi - (6th year, consecutive)

Karl Anderson - (6th year, consecutive)

Doc Gallows - (2nd year, consecutive)

Bad Luck Fale - (2nd year, consecutive)

Michael Elgin - G1 debut

Kota Ibushi - 2nd year (Missed 2014 due to injury)

Notable talent not included:

Suzukigun - Still running things in Pro Wrestling NOAH so unfortunately Minoru Suzuki (the GHC Heavyweight Champ), Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr. won’t be involved.

CMLL - NJPW has a working relationship with the lucha libre company and it’s surprising that no one from CMLL is in G1 this year.

The Kingdom - The IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Michael Bennett and Matt Taven as well as the newly returned Adam Cole seemed like they could be possibilities for G1 but unfortunately won’t be participating.

Stacked tournament this year with many champions and former winners involved. It’s interesting that Elgin got a spot in the tournament. They must’ve really liked his work on the recent WOTW/GW tour. I hope he’s in a bracket with Ishii and Makabe because those matches would be all out wars.

The fact that no one from Suzukigun, CMLL and The Kingdom were included is a little surprising but with the tournament slimming down from 22 entrants to 20, it’s not too surprising. Hell, the only non-full time NJPW guy in this year is Elgin. But when you go back and look at previous G1 tournaments, it’s usually only comprised of full-time NJPW guys so Elgin getting a spot is actually pretty impressive. Hopefully they don’t give him a Honma-like run from last year and lose every single match.

It’s hard to say who might win this year since there doesn’t seem to be an obvious winner. They could go with Shinsuke if they want to move him back into Heavyweight title contention or they could go with Tanahashi since he’s only won it once. That way, they could have Okada get the belt back before WK10 and then do a rematch of last year, except with the belt on the other guy and have Okada get a Tokyo Dome win.

Or they could get real crazy and have Ibushi win it since they are pushing him to the moon right now. He’s only been in it twice but he’s been putting on spectacular matches since being (basically) full time in NJPW.

There were also rumors that Alberto El Patron would be in the G1 this year, but rumors is all they were. With Alberto being the AAA Champion and with NJPW having a relationship with CMLL, there’s no way they’d bring him in unfortunately. (CMLL and AAA do not like each other and do not get along)

Absolute Intense Wrestling

AIW is holding its annual “Battle of the Sexes” on August 14, part of the annual “Wrestling Geek Fest”. From the image AIW posted on Facebook, looks like Cheech, Colin Delaney, Ethan Page, Josh Alexander, Johnny Gargano, Eddie Kingston and Mad Man Pondo vs. Mary Elizabeth Monroe, Candice LeRae, Annie Social, Heidi Lovelace, Mia Yim, Allysin Kay and Crazy Mary Dobson. 

Smash Wrestling

Chris Hero vs Samoa Joe from Saturday’s show is already available via Smash OnDemand. And the following day, Hero took part in the “Infinity Gauntlet” challenge, a special event held by Smash to raise money for ALS Canada.

For every $500, 30 minutes would be added to the challenge. According to the website (http://smash-wrestling.com/als/) they raised $3,440 meaning Hero would have to wrestle for over 3 hours, regardless of whether he gets pinned or submitted.

The Infinity Gauntlet also included a Lion’s Den match in an MMA cage.

1. Chris Hero def. Rip Impact

2. Rich Swann def. Chris Hero

3. Jason Kincaid def. Chris Hero

4. Chris Hero def. Tarik

5. Chris Hero def. Tyler Thomas

6. Chris Hero def. Brent Banks

7. Facade def. Chris Hero

8. Sebastian Suave def. Chris Hero

9. Chris Hero def. Tarik

10. Chris Hero def. Ben Ortmanns

11. Chris Hero def. Rip Impact

12. Jason Kincaid def. Chris Hero

13. Chris Hero def. Tyler Thomas

14. Chris Hero def. Brent Banks

15. Chris Hero def. Tarik

16. Chris Hero def. Facade

17. Chris Hero and Rich Swann go to a draw as time expires

After time expired, Tarik, who was previously eliminated three times by Hero, donated another $180 for 10 more minutes. Tarik hammered Hero with the Smash Wrestling Championship multiple times, leading to DQ wins for Hero but then an unconscious Hero was pinned several times by Tarik who left the Infinity Gauntlet laughing.

Global Force Wrestling

GFW announced last week the replacements for Tyrus (George T. Murdoch) after he was pulled by TNA at the upcoming shows in Jackson and Knoxville. On Friday in Jackson, Kevin Mathews will face Moose and on Saturday in Knoxville, Moose will face IWA-MS Champion Kongo Kong.

Chikara King of Trios teams

-Bullet Club (AJ Styles, Young Bucks

-Team Lucha Underground (Fenix, Aerostar and Drago)

-Team Fight Club PRO (MK McKinnon and Moustache Mountain [Trent Seven and Tyler Bate])

AAW Pro

AAW Pro bringing in Fenix and Pentagon Jr. for their annual big show of the year, The Windy City Classic XI on November 28 at The Olympic Theater in Cicero, IL.