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

NXT, 8/26

Recap of NXT Takeover Brooklyn, since this episode was taped before Takeover. Including the part where Stephanie continues to act like what she’s done is in any way responsible for what the wrestlers in NXT have done.

JEZUS - this episode is an hour and a half long

Enzo Amore and Big Cass without Carmella out first to a massive ovation. Cameras catch a “Full Sail University is SAWFT” sign. Cut a promo in the ring before the match and Enzo’s voice cracks at the most inopportune moment. Crowd absolutely loves Enzo and Cass. Not so much the Hype Bros who are out next. Not even Ryder can get a reaction from the crowd.

They take on Dash and Dawson who are still wearing their Varsity Club jackets. They team with Chad Gable and Jason Jordan who have some decent matching gear.

Hype Bros start despite a big “How you doin” chant. Rawley tags into Ryder and they practically boo. The heels isolate Ryder as the crowd chants “We want Enzo.” Enzo gets in and the crowd goes nuts.

All 8 men get in the ring and everything breaks down. The faces control the ring, sending the heels outside. Cass picks up Enzo and tosses him over the top rope onto Gable, Jordan and Dawson.

During this match they also announce several new programs coming to WWE Network soon including a WWE 24 on NXT (like the one they did for Reigns before WM31) as well as a Madison Square Garden show live only on WWE Network featuring Brock Lesnar.

Coming back from break, everything is different - Enzo is beaten down in the corner and Jordan is getting ready to charge. Jordan tags in Gable and he actually gets cheers coming in, which is surprising. The heels are working well together, keeping Enzo away from his corner. But Enzo starts to fight back and create space between him and Gable.

Enzo finally makes it to Big Cass who cleans house and knocks everyone out of the ring except Gable who he drops an Empire Elbow on but Jordan breaks up the pin. Ryder and Rawley take people out of the ring leaving Cass to put down Gable with a huge swinging side slam and tags in Enzo and rocket launch him onto Gable for the win.

William Regal reminds everyone about the beginning of the Dusty Rhodes tag team classic next week and Neville interrupts and says he wants a spot in the Dusty Classic. Regal says he can make it happen - but who will he tag with? He’s a former 2-time NXT Tag Team Champion (with Oliver Grey and Corey Graves) so he knows what it takes to win tag team matches in NXT.

They catch up with Finn Balor after defeating Kevin Owens in an NXT Title ladder match. He says he proved Tokyo wasn’t a fluke by beating Kevin Owens again and that he is the rightful champion. Balor says Brooklyn saw the new side of Finn Balor and of NXT and that this is only the beginning for NXT.

Next is a video package for Emma, detailing her start as goofy dancing “Emmalution” Emma and transitioning to Evil Emma after her main roster run went...poorly is a nice way to put it.

I guess this means she’s winning the fatal fourway and they’re building her up to be the first challenger for Bayley, since she and Bayley have had issues in the past.

Next, Devin talks to Charlotte and Becky Lynch. Charlotte talks about how Dana Brooke has always wanted her out of NXT and thinks she herself is the dominant female in NXT and says that Emma is her lapdog. I always thought of it as the other way around. Then Becky makes a bad dog pun and I kinda wish that would stay on Twitter. Then they do the pinky swear thing and say let the best member of PCB win.

Now a short video package about Becky Lynch. Geez, overdoing it a little bit with these video packages? Well I guess they have time to fill. She talks about how she’s a submission specialist and how she came to NXT to be the best. She says she’s gunning for the WWE Divas Championship. Also that aligned herself with Paige because she’s known Paige since Paige was 13 and that she wants that Divas gold and will do what she has to do to get it. Sorta teasing a future heel turn on the main roster?

Eva Marie out next to a chorus of boos. She has like a Nature Boy robe on and seems to be handling the boos well. When Carmella’s music hits there’s a slight bit of cheering but not much. She talks as she walks to the ring, her usual princess of Staten Island stuff.

The crowd isn’t into much going on in this match. Lots of booing right away. And “You can’t wrestle” chants. Pretty basic match but nothing terrible really. Eva mocking Carmella and Enzo’s chants while she has an abdominal stretch locked in and it’s not bad.

Carmella hits a rana from the top and the crowd starts to get into it. It seems like Carmella is building up steam with a few big Thesz presses but then Eva turns it around and wins with an OK, half speed Sliced Bread or a Sliced Red or whatever she calls it and the crowd is thankful it’s over.

Recap of the Liger/Breeze match. Breeze had to say afterward that he might’ve won at Takeover but is he really the winner? Because Breeze gets to look like he does. Also mentions that he isn’t done with Liger, which is interesting since I figured it’d be a one-time thing and that he has even bigger idea to bring to Regal which will really put him on the map.

Emma and Dana Brooke (who is wearing a ridiculous amount of makeup) talk to Devin in the locker room. They trash talk Charlotte and Becky and Emma says Becky is about to become the biggest joke in WWE.

After a bunch of commercials and recaps of Takeover, there’s a Dana Brooke video package. But it’s the same one we’ve seen a bunch of times before.

Then a recap of Bayley winning the Women’s title at Takeover and celebrating with the Four Horsewomen. They talk to Bayley after the match and she says her dreams can’t compare to the moment in the ring having won the match and celebrating with the Four Horsewomen. To show everyone what they’re fighting for in NXT and on the main roster. Bayley’s mom is there and talks about the amazing job Bayley does each and every time she’s in the ring and her whole family shows up.

Devin talks to Regal who has news about the opening match of the tournament of the Dusty Classic. But before he can say anything, Baron Corbin interrupts and says he wants in the tournament. Regal says he knows Corbin doesn’t play well with others so he’ll pair him with an old friend - Rhyno. And their opponents will be The Ascension. Corbin says “That’s cool with me” and leaves.

NXT UK tour in December.

Dec 10 - Newcastle

Dec 11 - Glasgow

Dec 12 - Sheffield

Dec 13 - Blackpool

Dec 14 - Nottingham

Dec 15 - Cardiff

Dec 16 - London

(I also saw that the show on Triple H’s Twitter that the 16th will be live on WWE Network)

Some poor, misguided cameraman talks to Kevin Owens after he lost the ladder match to Finn Balor and asks him his feelings. Owens says “tomorrow at Summerslam, I’m going to break Cesaro - I’m gonna break him.” and he tries to walk away (well limp away) and the dude asks him ANOTHER question. It’s like, you got lucky that he didn’t kill you the first time. You really want to press your luck?

He asks Owens about his future with NXT. Owens looks at him but walks away through a door and leaves.

Elias Sampson debuting a new gimmick “The Drifter”. Even though his scarf, his cool guy bandana gauntlet and his necklaces make him look more like a male model. He’s got a guitar like he’s Jeff Jarrett or something. Shouldn’t he have a bindle with some beans in it since he’s a drifter? That bandana needs to be carrying his meager few valuables and not wrapped around his forearm. You know, because he’s a drifter.

Bull Dempsey comes out next with a Dr. Death robe on and looks EXACTLY the same as he always has.

I can’t tell if the crowd if chanting “Bull Fit” or “Bullshit” at the start of this match. Bull and Sampson trade holds to start the match. Apparently Bull is from Brooklyn but this crowd doesn’t seem to care. Maybe it’s the only thing keeping them from booing Bull and this match like crazy.

Seems like this whole Bull Fit thing is just to make fat jokes or more accurately, sarcastic jokes aimed at fat people for being fat even if they are trying to work out (talking about Dempsey’s ab and how all these fit people are doing Bull Fit)

Sampson has Bull on the mat for a while but Bull fights out and does a Hulking up spot and does a combo of strikes and knocks down Sampson. Bull heads to the top rope and jumps off onto Sampson’s chester with his ass and pins him for the win.

Talking to Samoa Joe after his win over Baron Corbin. He talks about how the crowd is crazy because they built NXT and they got Joe through the toughest test of his life. And it sends a message that Joe is here in NXT and means absolute business. He came to make a statement but not with his mouth, but with his fists. Tonight he beat one of the biggest and baddest and he’ll continue to do that until he gets the NXT Championship.

Nia Jax vignette. Lady Rock Johnson. Related to The Rock so you know she’s gonna be pushed to the moon.

Catching up with Apollo Crews after his debut win at Takeover. Talks about how incredible it was to win in front of the Brooklyn crowd and to do it on his 28th birthday (I thought he said 20th at first and I was like “No waaaay”)

Talks about how he fed off the crowd’s energy and he doesn’t know what to say. He already dropped Apollo Nation but didn’t explain it or put it in context at all so it was kinda weird. Obviously it’s just a WWE Universe type thing but still - he said it, this new phrase, and didn’t explain it or frame it in any way.

Recap of Vaudevillains beating Blake and Murphy for the tag titles. And how Blue Pants for their backup plan for dealing with Alexa Bliss.

Devin talks to the former champs after the loss. They’re understandably upset and say they were robbed at Takeover. Alexa quiets them down and talks to Devin, asking what business does Blue Pants have costing her boys the belts? And is she even on the roster? Next week, Alexa says she is going to show Blue Pants she isn’t welcome in NXT.

Charlotte video package. I guess that makes one for each of the four ladies in the fatal four way main event.

Emma out first for the main event. She’s followed by Dana Brooke who gets lots of boos (I also somehow missed before that she’s from the “Mistake by the Lake” Cleveland, Ohio). Next Becky Lynch followed finally by Charlotte.

Lynch and Charlotte take out Emma and Brooke then square off for a friendly match but make sure to keep Emma and Brooke at bay. Duelling “Lets go Becky/Lets go Charlotte” and Becky is definitely louder. Becky and Charlotte trade holds for a while as Emma and Brooke regroup on the floor. Soon they are back in, working together to take out Charlotte and Becky. Emma and Dana team up to smash Charlotte on the barricade and she looks dazed.

There’s a break and they announce NXT coming to Texas for the first time in September.

Dana and Emma are working over Becky in the ring with Charlotte still on the floor. Every time Charlotte tries to get back in it, they kick her back to the floor. Emma eventually tells Dana to get out there and finish her off, leaving her in the ring with Becky.

Emma lands a double underhook suplex on Becky and goes for the cover but Dana breaks it up. Emma and Dana are kinda upset with each other and start pushing and shoving. They try to make up but Brooke enzi to Emma and knocks her down then starts posing for the crowd. She doesn’t notice Charlotte get back in the ring and Charlotte starts to go to work on Dana.

Becky on the top rope sizing up the other 3 for a dropkick but Emma and Dana push Charlotte into it. Becky takes Emma and Dana to suplex city and pins Dana but Emma breaks it up. Emma hits two Emma-mite Sandwiches on Charlotte and Becky then pins Becky and gets the 3!

The crowd is kinda shocked and didn’t expect this four way to end there. Does this make her #1 contender? It’s gotta put her up there in contention.

Afterward, Charlotte spears Emma and then hits Natural Selection on her and pins Emma as the crowd counts three, but then Charlotte is attacked by Brooke, who is tossed via tbone suplex by Lynch. Charlotte Figure 8 to Brooke and Lynch with a Disarmer to Brooke and Charlotte drops a knee on Brooke’s face on the way out for good measure. That was a pretty heel thing for the faces to do to the heels.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting that Rich Swann and Biff Busick have been signed to WWE, pending physicals. Other rumors that Johnny Gargano, Tommaso Ciampa, Drew Gulak and…CHUCK TAYLOR have been signed by WWE.

However, Chuck Taylor took to Twitter later on with this to say:

ROH DA 8 /26

Bloodbound Warriors out first, Grey Wolf and Red Scorpion. Basically LOD but with a barbarian vibe. I remember the names but I don't remember these dudes. Like, I remember much smaller dudes with those names and being total jobbers. These dudes look like they could cause some damage.

They take on the Briscoes who get a big ovation from the crowd in Baltimore.
Actually not a squash. Wolf and Scorpion holding their own and cutting off Mark from Jay. But after Jay gets the hot tag, they take control and Jay pins Scorpion after a big lariat.
After the win, Adam Page and the Decade show up. Page says he called out Jay 2 weeks ago but he was nowhere to be found. He goes on to insult him but Jay responds by saying he doesn't even know who Page is. But if he's looking for a fight he found one. Then Whitmer steps in and tells Jay to pump the brakes and says not here, not now. But next week, Jay has the chance to man up in a match with Adam Page and Jay says Page is gonna get his ass whooped.

Next, Roderick Strong vs Donovan Dijack. Dijack in control for much of the match, thanks to the constant distractions of Truth and Diesel.

In 2 weeks, showing Lethal/Strong World title rematch and Bucks/Addiction tag team title match from Philly.

Dijack using his height to his advantage too, keeping Roddy on the mat and blocking any attempt to turn the tide by Roddy. But Roddy gets back in it with his high impact strikes, leading to Roddy hitting a superplex from the very top for a 2 count.

Match is becoming really good for a shortish TV match. Dijack looking really solid against a vet like Strong. He hits a discus big boot for 2, which surprised the hell out of me cause I've never seen anyone but Chris Hero do something like that. Dijack is definitely going to be targeted by WWE in the coming years. He's got height and potential - two things attributes WWE loves.

Roddy avoids Feast Your Eyes and hits a thousand moves in a row (reminds me of that Chuck Taylor reference from PWG commentary) and pins Dijack with a Sick Kick. After the win, Lethal attacks and the House of Truth gangs up on Roddy. Strong gets free for a second but the numbers game is not in his favor. However, War Machine shows up to run off House of Truth, since Hanson has a TV title shot next week.

(This channel is garbage. Every show I see sounds just the worst. You know the show that's on at 8 instead of ROH? Killing Big Foot! What!? Why would you want to kill him??? Find him, sure but jumping straight to murder? Not even "Catching Bigfoot"? Is he a menace? Is Bigfoot on a some sort of rampage only rednecks know about? This is goddamn insane.)

In the main event, Future Shock comes out to their old music to face The Addiction for the tag titles. And Chris Sabin is with Kaz and Daniels of course. Sabin is on commentary for this one. Kelly asks about his in ring status and Sabin says he will be back. Yes he has a little problem with his neck and yes doctors say he shouldn't wrestle but what do they know? Only Sabin knows his body. So that doesn't sound promising.

Future Shock working over Daniels early on and working well together, like they never broke up at all. And O'Reilly beating down Kaz after they come back from commercials.  But it isn't long before the champs take over, using some dirty tactics to keep Cole isolated and away from Cole - and O'Reilly away from Cole as well.

Despite Addiction double teaming, Future Shock doing very well. That momentum is thwarted by Kaz when he low blows Cole after the ref gets shoved. O'Reilly continues to work on Kaz and puts in an arm bar but The Kingdom shows up and distracts the ref as Kaz taps. Maria and Bennett distract Sinclair while Taven tries to get involved and O'Reilly gets an O'Connor roll on Kaz for a 5 or 6 count. Taven super kick O'Reilly but he kicks out of a Kaz roll up. Maria grabs Kyle's leg and Cole sees and is pissed and goes after her (cause he was down holding his dick after the low blow that whole time and didn't see The Kingdom interfere).

O'Reilly tries to fight both the Addiction but gets put down with Celebrity Rehab since Cole never came back. Sabin, Kaz and Daniels stomp O'Reilly until Bobby Fish runs out followed by the Young Bucks. Then the Kingdom comes back and it's an all out brawl.

ROH for this week (September 2)

-Adam Page vs Jay Briscoe

-Cedric Alexander vs Caprice Coleman

-Bob Evans vs Cheeseburger

-Jay Lethal defends TV title against Hanson

Other ROH news:

-Returning to Japan in February, first time ROH has been to Japan since 2007.

-ROH 14th anniversary in Las Vegas will feature NJPW guys.

-Annual Global Wars/War of the Worlds tour will be expanded to multiple cities and feature NJPW guys who haven't been brought over before

-Final Battle this year will be December 18 at 8:30 on PPV from 2300 Arena. Tickets on sale now. Also TV tapings Dec 19

-War Machine will get a GHC Heavyweight Tag Title shot against KES stemming from War Machine's Field of Honor nontitle win over KES. No specifics announced.

-ROH had a show in Atlanta and Cliff Compton was supposed to make his return and wrestle Mark Briscoe but had to be rushed to the hospital. PWInsider reported that he suffered a seizure shortly after arriving and was taken to the emergency room.

-ROH TV episodes on their website are temporarily offline as they upgrade their site. They're increasing the Ringside discount on merch to 25% to make it up to fans.

All Star Extravaganza 7, Sept 18 live on PPV from San Antonio

Card so far:

ROH World title

Jay Lethal vs Kyle O'Reilly

ROH TV Title

Jay Lethal vs Bobby Fish

ROH Tag Team Titles

The Addiction vs The Kingdom

Best of 5 #3

Matt Sydal vs ACH

(1st on Sept 11, 2nd Sept 12. On the site, says ACH feels like he can do more and wants to shake up his career. Kinda sounds like maybe he'll lose and turn heel, kinda like Cedric)

The Briscoes issue an open challenge

No DQ match

Cedric Alexander vs Moose

Silas Young vs Dalton Castle

(If Young wins, he gets the Boys. If Castle wins, Silas becomes a Boy)

Also to appear:

AJ Styles

Roderick Strong

The Young Bucks

 Adam Cole

Michael Elgin

Takaaki Watanabe

New Japan Pro Wrestling

Destruction Tour beginning

-Road to Destruction tour beginning Sept. 4

-Matt Sydal and Juice Robinson making NJPW debuts on this tour

September 4th:

-David Finlay vs. Jay White

-Yuji Nagata & Sho Tanaka vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Yohei Komatsu

-Tomoaki Honma, Jushin Thunder Liger & Captain New Japan vs. Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Gedo

-Togi Makabe, Katsuyori Shibata & Tiger Mask IV vs. Kota Ibushi, Tetsuya Naito & Juice Robinson

-Kazuchika Okada, Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Tama Tonga & Cody Hall

-Hirooki Goto, Ryusuke Taguchi & Mascara Dorada vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Rocky Romero & Beretta

-Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & KUSHIDA vs. Bad Luck Fale, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows & Kenny Omega

September 11th:

-Yohei Komatsu vs. David Finlay

-Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV vs. Jay White & Sho Tanaka

-Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi, Mascara Dorada & Juice Robinson vs. Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI, Gedo, Rocky Romero & Beretta

-Kazuchika Okada & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall

-Bad Luck Fale, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Kenny Omega & Tama Tonga vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, KUSHIDA & Captain New Japan

-Tetsuya Naito & Kota Ibushi vs. Katsuyori Shibata & Togi Makabe

-Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hirooki Goto & Tomoaki Honma

Destruction in Okayama live on NJPW World September 23:

-Katsuyori Shibata, Yuji Nagata, Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu vs. Tetsuya Naito, Manabu Nakanishi, David Finlay & Jay White

-Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Mascara Dorada

-NWA Jr Heavyweight Championship: Steve Anthony (c) vs. Tiger Mask IV

-Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima vs. Karl Anderon & Doc Gallows

-Hiroshi Tanahashi, Matt Sydal & Juice Robinson vs. Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga & Cody Hall

-Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, Rocky Romero & Beretta vs. Hirooki Goto, Tomoaki Honma, Captain New Japan, Ryusuke Taguchi & Alex Shelley

-Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano vs. AJ Styles & Yujiro Takahashi

-IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship: Champion KUSHIDA vs. Kenny Omega

-NEVER Openweight Championship: Champion Togi Makabe vs. Kota Ibushi

Destruction in Kobe live on NJPW World September 27:

-Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka vs. Jay White & David Finlay

-Yuji Nagata, Tiger Mask IV & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Manabu Nakanishi, Captain New Japan & Juice Robinson

-Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma, Ryusuke Taguchi & Mascara Dorada vs. Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, Rocky Romero & Beretta

-Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tetsuya Naito

-Kazuchika Okada, Kazushi Sakuraba & Toru Yano vs. AJ Styles, Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi

-IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Champions Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish vs. Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA

-Tokyo Dome Heavyweight Title Shot: G1 Winner Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale

-IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Hiroyoshi Tenzan lost the NWA World Heavyweight Championship to Jax Dane. Think Dane wrestles for NWA Smoky Mountain usually (Kingsport, Tennessee is where most those shows take place, according to the internet).

Did a little more digging – the NWA title change happened in NWA Branded Outlaw Wrestling on Aug 29 in San Antonio, TX. It was Tenzan's last stop on a tour of NWA promotions defending the title. Maybe this means the NWA title will stay in America for a while now. Looks like it will probably stay in or around Texas, since that’s where many NWA promotions seem to be. Granted the NWA is a shell of its former self and the World title doesn’t have the prestige it once did, it has a long, storied history and a return to glory is always possible.

Other defenses were:

Tim Storm, NWA Texoma, Aug 21

Nathan Briggs, NWA Top of Texas, Aug 22

Danny Ramons, NWA Wrestling Revolution, Aug 27

Independent Wrestling

PWG Battle Of Los Angeles 2015

-Been trying very hard to avoid spoilers.  Hasn't been easy.

-After Fenix/Aerostar vs Drago/Pentagon, the crowd threw money in the ring, per a Lucha libre tradition of the crowd throwing money after a particularly good match

-Max Landis, the guy who created Wrestling Isn't Wrestling and written a few Hollywood movies (Chronicle, American Ultra), ordered 25 pizzas for everyone at BOLA for intermission of Night 3.

-Other than that I don’t have much to report on the show. It’s up for preorder on their website now but until I get it (which could be at least a month), I won’t have anything on BOLA until then

-OH, actually one other thing – I’m reading reports that Super Dragon tore something in his knee on Night 3. People are saying it’s his MCL. I’m not doctor but people are saying an MCL injury isn’t as bad as an ACL injury and it should be healed in a few months.

With the Mount Rushmore vs PWG angle kicking into high gear, this couldn’t have come at a worse time. Although, PWG doesn’t run shows on a regular schedule (and takes time off around Christmas/New Years) so by the time he’s ready to go again (people are guessing December or January), he will only have been off 3-4 shows.

Chikara

King of Trios first round announced

-Tournament is Sept. 4-6

-bWo vs Devastation Corporation

-United Nations vs Team ATTACK!

-The Arcane Horde vs Crown and Court

-Team Fight Club: PRO vs BDK

-Dasher’s Dugout vs Battleborn

-Bullet Club vs Battle Hive

-Snake Pit vs The Nightmare Warriors

-The Gentleman’s Club vs Team AAA

Beyond Wrestling "Battle of New England Returns (BONER)" this past weekend

Beyond Wrestling Battle of New England Returns
Aug 30, 2015
Providence, RI

Matt Tremont was announced as being off the card due to an injury from his On Point wrestling show

-Donovan Dijak def. CJ Parker

-Jonathan Gresham def. AR Fox via submission

-Kimber Lee & JT Dunn def. EYFBO when Kimber pins Ortiz with a bomb off the top into a small package

-Nick Gage def. Sugar Dunkerton with the piledriver/backbreaker combo

Six way scramble for the CLL title

-Shynron wins with a second-rope 630 on Johnny Cockstrong

(Other participants were David Starr, “Hot Sauce” Tracy Williams, Rex Lawless, & Eric Corvis)

-Crusade For Change (Darius Carter, Devin Blaze, Tommy Trainwreck) def. Da Hit Squad (Dan “Mafia” Maff & Steve “Monsta” Mack)

(Bill Carr came in for the post match save. He was wearing a Marine 2 shirt)

-The Kingdom (Mike Bennett, Matt Taven & Maria) def. The Beaver Boys (Alex Reynolds and John Silver) when Bennett rolls up Silver

-Karlee Perez def. Joey Ryan via submission

(Apparently the match had lots of baby oil and blow pops)

-Team Pazuzu Doom Patrol (Chris Dickinson & Jaka) & Pinkie Sanchez def. Da Hoodz (Davey Cash & Kris Pyro) & Anthony Stone after a combo finisher on Stone

Ricochet versus Shynron was announced for Somerville on 9/27

Smash Wrestling

Smash is hosting the annual CANUSA Classic on September 13 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This is an all female show, similar to AIW’s Girls Night Out, but with the twist of it being Canada vs America. The card for the 2015 CANUSA Classic is:

(CAN)Canadian Ninjas vs (USA) Kimber Bombs

(Canadian Ninjas are Nicole Matthews and Portia Perez. Kimber Bombs are Cherry Bomb and Kimber Lee)

(CAN) Courtney Rush vs (USA) Jessicka Havok

(CAN) Vanessa Kraven vs (USA) Heidi Lovelace

(CAN) KC Spinelli vs (USA) Veda Scott

(CAN) Jennifer Blake vs (USA) Candice LeRae

(CAN) Jewels Malone vs (USA) Sassy Steph

(CAN) Xandra Bale vs (USA) Allisyn Kay

Nick Gage Invitational (NGI) deathmatch tournament

Sept 5, 8-11 pm, Warren American Legion in Warren NJ, 12 Community Place, Warren, NJ

-8 man bracket, hosted by Game Changer Wrestling

Masada vs Corporal Robinson

Nick Gage vs Nate Hatred

Danny Havoc vs Matt Tremont

Jeff Cannonball vs Kyle the Beast (with Lowlife Louie Ramos as special guest ref)

-Non tournament - Joey Janella vs Archadia vs Joe Gacy vs A mystery opponent

-No stips announced yet but Gage said on Twitter he wants people to make crazy stuff for FBTW but you knew that would be a match

Low Ki vs Rey Mysterio Jr first time ever this November 14 as part of the Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW) 19th anniversary event in Rahway, NJ.

Also appearing, Matt and Jeff Hardy, LAX reunion featuring Hernandez, Homicide and Konnan, also Jack Evans, MVP, Joey Ryan, Candice LeRae and Nick Gage.

Speaking of that Low Ki/Mysterio match, the day before it is House of Hardcore’s return to Philadelphia at the 2300 Arena on November 13.

Last time HOH was in Philadelphia was for HOH 7, a show which featured The Hardys vs The Young Bucks in the main event as well as The Dudley Boys and a surprise appearance from Alberto El Patron – his first on a wrestling show in the United States after leaving WWE. I was front row at that show and it was awesome so I’m looking for big things from this event.

No card has been announced yet but with all those big names at JAPW the next day, I gotta imagine Tommy Dreamer will be able to convince a few to show up at HOH (I’m hoping for Mysterio, Evans and World’s Cutest Tag Team).

Matt Hardy tweeted about a show in Oklahoma, Imperial Wrestling Revolution, which had Hardy vs El Patron, MVP, Jake the Snake and the Dudleys. Maybe their last Indy date before full time in WWE?

So Sports Illustrated ranked 10 indie wrestlers they want to see in WWE and the list is…interesting. I don’t know where they got the info to make this list but the order is weird to me as are some of the picks.

You can check out the full article here http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2015/09/01/wwe-aj-styles-jay-lethal-indie-wrestlers with their list below:

10. ACH

9. Veda Scott

8 Young Bucks

7. Kimber Lee

6. Jay Lethal

5. Adam Cole

4. Chris Hero

3. Ricochet

2. AJ Styles

1. Shinsuke Nakamura

So to the guy who wrote this, anything not WWE is indie, considering the top two on his list are signed to New Japan and not leaving any time soon.

Other issues I have are:

-The Bucks are never going to WWE. Just stop it already. They won’t get paid what they’re worth (aka what they already get paid) and they won’t get to make their own schedule – opposed to now where they work when and where they want and name their price. And if they went to WWE, they would eventually be broken up as singles wrestlers, and niehter Nick or Matt want that. They work so well as a team but WWE doesn’t care about tag teams so they’d be underutilized from the get-go.

-Jay Lethal is only 30 but he’s already had a very long, storied career. I feel like if WWE wanted him, they would’ve picked him up after he left TNA. Granted, he’s gotten a thousand times better since then, I still don’t know if WWE would be interested. They don’t have the best track record of developing quality black talent and it would be a shame for Lethal to go to a company that won’t utilize him as a top-tier talent, like ROH does now.

-Chris Hero? They had Chris Hero and didn’t want him. I know wrestlers always want to keep that option open but I doubt WWE will ever seriously consider bringing Hero back in. He isn’t getting any younger (he’s already 35) and if they passed on him in his early 30s, I can’t see them giving him another look in his late 30s.

-I think WWE already passed on Ricochet once. Granted, since that time, Ricochet has won several tournaments and raised his stock ten-fold. That doesn’t change the fact that rumor was when they passed on Ricochet it was because “they already had too many flippy guys.”

However, I think ACH, Veda Scott, Kimber Lee and Adam Cole would make excellent additions to WWE (or NXT, more likely). I don’t want to do a whole, fleshed out list like that but I do want to point out guys he overlooked, such as:

Zack Sabre Jr

Kyle O’Reilly

Dalton Castle

Athena

Team Tremendous

Tommy End

Will Ospreay

Timothy Thatcher

War Machine

Cherry Bomb

There are plenty of talented wrestlers on the indies that I’m not including, but I’m trying to think about guys who would do well in the WWE style and not just pick guys because of a high profile name.