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

NXT

NXT TV 11/11

Recap of the title match last week between Crews and Balor and all the shenanigans that happened during the match with Baron Corbin and Samoa Joe.

Tye Dillinger heads to the ring first where he takes on Baron Corbin. But before the match can start, Apollo Crews attacks Corbin! He beats him up in the ring and outside. Corbin tries to fight back but Crews is relentless and Corbin runs. This was a great moment for Crews.

He showed fire and intensity for the first time since coming to NXT and that he isn't always just going to be the smiling, happy dude we see on Breaking Ground or we've seen so far in NXT. He can be aggressive and intense and this segment showed that. But commentary is like "Hey, do you think this is all because of Crews eliminating Corbin in the battle royal?" Yeah, no shit.

Later in the episode, Crews cuts a good, intense backstage promo on Baron Corbin, once again showing a side we haven’t seen yet in NXT.

Six man action in the next match, Bayley and the Hype Bros take on Alexa Bliss, Blake and Murphy. Murph and Ryder in first but Alexa tags herself in and wants Bayley. Kinda weird the big singles match in this 6 man is in first instead of teasing it but whatevs. I'll never complain about Alexa Bliss being on my TV.

Bayley takes control and goes for a Belly to Bayley but Alexa gets away and tags Blake. Back from commercial, Rawley is staying hype but when Ryder tags in, Blake and Murphy take over. But once Mojo gets back in he takes it to Blake and Murphy and covers Murph but Alexa breaks it up. Bayley runs to scoop Alexa and rain punches and sends her to the outside.

On the outside, Alexa steals the Womens title and walks out with it. Blake and Murphy try to cheat to pin Mojo but Bayley stops them and Belly to Bayley Murph and runs off to find Alexa. Ryder knocks Blake off the apron and Hyde Ryder to Murph and the faces win.

The Ascension cut a promo about how they are the best tag team in NXT history and that they accept the challenge from Jordan and Gable.

Nia Jax has a match next but before that, Eva Marie stops her backstage and the two start talking. They go through a door away from the camera and talk more so whatever it is, it's important.

Then a short segment about Asuka being on the cover of Japan's biggest pro wrestling magazine, followed by Apollo Crews saying Corbin must be mad he got thrown out in the battle royal by Crews. But now he has Crews attention and more and Crews will break him.

Next, Deonna (Purrazzo) makes her way to the ring, an indy girl from NJ. And the announcers literally don't have one thing to say about her. She's there to get squashed by Nia Jax and her awful theme music. Nia is twice the size of Deonna and just throwing her around with ease. The crowd is basically silent for the whole match, just low murmuring like everyone is talking instead of watching. And commentary puts it over like everyone is in hushed awe at Nia which is just lol. Nia wins with a slam and a leg drop and whatever.

Bayley is backstage, searching for Alexa Bliss and her title. Alexa is taking pictures with it, drops the belt and runs. Bayley picks it up and walks into Nia Jax (how could you miss her, amirite?) but then Alexa blindsides her. Alexa goes to pick up the belt but Nia grabs it first and Alexa backs down. Nia looks at it then tosses back onto Bayley who is still on the ground.

Next, the Vaudevillains defend the NXT tag titles against Dash and Dawson. English and Gotch do work early against D and D but it isn't long before Dash and Dawson take over. They work the knee of English relentlessly, tagging in and out and twisting it in several submissions. Dash tries to slam English's knee on the post but Aiden pulls him into it and finally makes the tag to Gotch. He takes over for a moment but tags in English for the Whirling Dervish, but Gotch is distracted by Dash and Dawson takes out the leg of English, the legal man. Gotch goes after them outside but the numbers game is too much and is thrown into the steps. Dawson holds English's leg and Dash stomps his knee then Dawson applies a submission and makes English tap and Dash and Dawson are the new NXT tag team champs!

Jordan and Gable vs The Ascension next week

Samoa Joe makes his way to the ring to a very mixed reaction. He says people have been asking why he attacked Finn Balor last week. He says people are defined by the choices they make and the actions they put behind them. After Balor came to him to be in the Dusty Classic, Joe carried him through the tournament and then asked for one thing - a title shot. Balor made a choice to say yes but put no action behind it. When Regal announced the battle royal, Balor let him give away the shot he already gave Joe. And he says having to be in a battle royal is insulting - he is Samoa Joe! Since he set foot in NXT he's been entitled to a title shot!

But then Balor's music hits and he storms to the ring. Refs come out of nowhere to hold them back and Balor is pissed. He yells and Joe and tells him he has his championship match. Joe makes like he's going to leave and says "Good choices, good choices," then throws a ref at Balor (Drakes head at his balls pretty much) and chokes him out with the kokina clutch. The refs have to revive Balor as the episode ends.

I really liked that segment. Joe's promo was really, really good. He shined on the mic and talked down to Balor while talking himself up then backed it up by choking out the champ.

Ring of Honor

ROH TV 11/11

Cedric Alexander with Veda Scott, followed by ACH. ACH wants a hand shake but Cedric kicks his hand away. Cedric in and out of the ring, avoiding ACH and Veda is being very vocal about ACH wrestling a clean match.

Veda makes her presence known, stepping in front of an apron PK by ACH, allowing Cedric to hit an apron STO. Cedric staying in control since the Veda distraction and hits a series of suplexes and teases more but stops to annoy the crowd. ACH starts to get back into it though then Cedric gets a surprise 2 with a Michinoku Driver. Cedric sets up ACH for a high risk move, high gives Veda Scott first, then slips when he leaps to the top rope and ACH wins with a 450.

Then Veda yells at Nigel McGuinness about the lawsuit she is filing against ROH over unsafe working conditions and that Nigel hasn't done his due diligence and isnt taking this seriously. She screams and yells but we'll have to see what actually comes of her lawsuit.

Next up, Will Ferrara takes on Caprice Coleman. Caprice puts over Ferrara as a great up-and-coming talent out of the ROH Dojo and his recent matches with Kushida and others. And though Caprice mentored Ferrara, he hasn't shown him everything and he's still got some moves left. Seemed like that promo was toeing the line between face and heel a little bit. I wonder if an attitude change is coming for Caprice along his with association with Prince Nana.

Caprice is much more aggressive and violent in the ring than I've seen him. He's methodical but being very vicious with his strikes. Lots of knees and then an STO into the 2nd and bottom buckle followed by a face wash dropkick. Ferrera keeps trying to fight back into it though, quickening the pace and hitting a tornado DDT.

Prince Nana shows up at ringside, taking notes on the match, most likely on Coleman's performance. Ferrara goes for a corner shoulder but misses and hits the post. Caprice acts like he is going to give Ferrara a break but then throws him into the post again. Coleman wrenches that shoulder back in a camel clutch variation he calls Judgment's Seat and Ferrara taps. Coleman shakes his hand afterward and tells him good match but it seems very disingenuous.

As Ferrara walks out, Nana gives him an envelope too, similar to the one he gave to Coleman several weeks ago. Kevin Kelly asks Nana about the envelope. Nana won't tell him straight but says they are on the edge of the enlightenment. He says what was in the envelope were the steps to life, the keys to making it. And he says he is far from done.

You might laugh this off this angle/segment if you’re completely new to ROH TV or just don’t pay attention. Prince Nana is a very successful manager in ROH. His last client in - before Moose that is - was a guy named Tommaso Ciampa. He was the center of The Embassy and from there went on to wrestle in Chikara, TNA, PWG, and now NXT. He’s been able to make wrestling a career because of what he did with Nana in ROH. And that's what ROH is really about - not megastars taking TV time for granted, but regular people working hard, trying to make it big. And that’s what Ferrara is trying to do and you’d realize that if you actually paid attention instead of just criticizing.

In the main event, Briscoes vs ANX. Before that, they show highlights of ANX beating The Briscoes at All Star Extravaganza.

ANX out first followed by the Briscoes. Mark and Kenny start first and start chain wrestling. Kelly talks about the feud between these teams a few years ago, which culminated in a Ladder War. Once Jay tags in ANX stays in control, but it isn't long before the Briscoes turn it around and work over Rhett Titus in their corner.

But once King finally gets back in he starts to turn the tide for his team. King beats down Mark for a while but Jay keeps trying to get involved but ANX works together to keep him out and get a few 2 counts on Mark. Once Jay gets back in they almost his a Doomsday Device but it's blocked.

ANX almost his a One Night Stand but it's blocked and everyone is outside and Jay dives on Titus. Mark Blockbuster King from the apron, Jay Driller to Titus in the ring and a Froggy Bow from Mark for the win.

Was great to see the Briscoes and the All Night Express renewing the feud but I think this is the last of it between them for now and going forward, we’ll see both teams entering the already crowded ROH tag team title picture. The Kingdom are current champs but hot on their heels are the Young Bucks and reDRagon, as well as the former champions The Addiction, the power houses in War Machine and then you throw in a returning All Night Express and a Briscoe Brother team with a renewed focus on the tag titles? That’s one stacked tag team division.

This week on ROH TV

-Silas Young and Beer City Bruiser vs War Machine

-Nigel McGuiness addresses Steve Corino’s status in ROH

-Michael Elgin is in action

-And The Kingdom defend the ROH tag team titles against The Addiction

Speaking of ROH TV, it’s leaving Destination America

-The final episode on DA will air on Nov. 25

-ROH has found a new home on the national digital cable channel, Comet, beginning on Dec. 2

-Check out www.comettv.com to see if the channel is available in your area. Comet apparently runs mainly old sci-fi movies and TV show and it seems like ROH will be the first original programming on the network.

-For what it’s worth, Comet doesn’t seem to be available in the Philadelphia area. But apparently an independent channel in New Jersey, WCMN, recently began airing ROH TV on Saturday at 11:30 p.m., so if you’re in the same area as me, you’ll still be able to get ROH on your TV even after the deal with Destination America ends.

http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/ring-honor-air-nationally-comet-starting-december-2nd

In other ROH news:

Survival of the Fittest Night 1 results

-Chris Daniels def. Kenny King, Hanson and Mark Briscoe (Hanson had King beat and Daniels stole it)

-Roderick Strong def. Cedric Alexander

-Silas Young def. Dalton Castle and Adam Page (Whitmer kept trying to interfere and Castle stopped but Silas took advantage to pin Castle)

-The Kingdom retained the tag titles against reDRagon thanks to lots of Maria and Adam Cole interference

-Jay Briscoe def. Rhett Titus, Frankie Kazarian, and Ray Rowe

-Michael Elgin def. Moose and Adam Cole (O’Reilly distracted Cole leading to an Elgin Bomb)

-ACH def. Matt Sydal to win the best of 5 series (Shake hands and hug after, Sydal raises ACH’s hand)

-AJ Styles and the Young Bucks def. The House of Truth (Lots of shenanigans from Truth and Bullet Club. Styles pinned Lethal and after the Styles Clash. Lethal cut a promo saying it took three people to beat him and that won’t happen at Final Battle (which me I will be at with Donny from Ring Rust)

Survival of the Fittest Night 2 results

-Cedric Alexander def. Will Ferrara

-Dalton Castle def. Adam Page

-Mark Briscoe def. Frankie Kazarian

-The Kingdom (Adam Cole, Michael Bennett and Matt Taven) def. Moose and War Machine

-The Young Bucks def. All Night Express

-AJ Styles def. Matt Sydal

-reDRagon def. Jay Lethal and Donovan Dijack

-Michel Elgin wins Survival of the Fittest, defeating Jay Briscoe Christopher Daniels, Silas Young, and ACH (Roderick Strong suffered a concussion during Night 1 and wasn’t able to compete)

ROH Title match at WK10?

With Elgin winning the Survival of the Fittest, he’s earned an ROH Title shot and he reportedly said he wants it to be in Japan. With the popularity Elgin gained in Japan during the G1 Climax, it would not surprise me at all if Elgin’s title match comes at WK10, or at a big show around that time (so like, World Tag League or whatever is after it)

New Japan/Japan

World Tag League Day One

Korakuen Hall

-BUSHI (returning from injury) and Mascara Dorada vs Yohei Komatsu and Sho Tanaka

-Tiger Mask IV and Juice Robinson vs The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian)

-KUSHIDA, Ryusuke Taguchi and Captain New Japan vs Matt Taven, Michael Bennett and Gedo

(Oh yeah, aren’t The Kingdom sorta affiliated with Chaos?)

-Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi and Jay White vs AJ Styles, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi, Tama Tonga and Cody Hall

Block A

-Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma vs Toru Yano and Kazushi Sakuraba

-Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin vs Kazuchika Okada and YOSHI-HASHI

Block B

-Tetsuya Naito and EVIL vs Bullet Club (Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows)

-Meiyu Tag (Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata) vs Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii

English commentary for WK10

(Not on 11/17 RRR)

-Kevin Kelly and Matt Striker will be handling commentary, like they did for King of Pro Wrestling

https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/3t6qba/english_commentary_at_wrestle_kingdom_10/

Pro Wrestling NOAH

Destiny 2015, 12/23

-Matches on Enuhito twitter

GHC Heavyweight title

Minoru Suzuki (c) vs Naomichi Marufuji

GHC Tag titles

KES (c) vs Big in USA

GHC Jr title

Taichi (c) vs Ishimori

GHC Jr tag

TAKA and Desperado (c) vs Harada and Kotoge

Indy

Evolve

-The first ever Evolve Tag Team Champions will be crowned during a three day tournament in January 2016

-The shows will be

Evolve 53 (Jan. 22, Ybor City, FL)

Evolve 54 (Jan. 23, Orlando, FL)

Evolve 55 (Jan. 24, Orlando, FL)

-This is the same weekend as the WWE Royal Rumble, which will also take place in Orlando

-Three teams already confirmed:

Johnny Gargano and Drew Galloway

RPG Vice

The Premier Athlete Brand (Tony Nese and Caleb Konley)

AAW Windy City Classic

-Sat. Nov. 28

-For some reason the matches aren’t listed on their website

-Matches so far:

-Ethan Page (c) vs Eddie Kingston vs Trevor Lee

-Chris Hero vs Pentagon Jr

-The Hooligans vs OI4K

-ACH vs Davey Vega

-Shane Hollister and Markus Crane vs Matt Cage and Tyson Dux

-Gregory Iron vs Christian Faith (aka Ricky Shane Page – I’m not killing kayfabe since he still uses his RSP Twitter account to promote Christian Faith matches)

Also appearing:

Fenix

Alex Shelley

Tommaso Ciampa

House of Hardcore 10

Philadelphia, PA

-Justin Roberts was the ring announcer for the evening

Tajiri and Tommy Dreamer def EC3 and Eric Young

(Great brawl, Tajiri looks as good as he ever did, lots of run ins from Chris Masters, Pepper Parks, The Sandman and Sabu. Young and EC3 played great heels)

Rhyno def Abyss

(Pretty good no dq match. Coulda done with some more weapons used since they didn’t do much with what they had but they built to their few big spots well)

Austin Aries def. Bobby Roode

(Awesome match and not what I expected. Both guys were trying to out-do each other in terms of heel wrestling, since they were the Dirty Heels tag team. I heard people around me complaining it wasn’t as fast-paced as they were expecting but what we got was great storytelling using their history and lots of unique moments)

Chris Hero def Lance Hoyt

(Excellent big man match. Really hard hitting stuff from both guys. Chris Hero is insanely agile for a guy his size. I saw him handspring from over the ropes, land on the apron with his hands then flip down to the floor landing on his feet, not touching the ropes at all, like it’s no thing at all for a 6’4 dude to move like that. Continued the KES/Big in USA feud from NOAH)

Eddie Kingston def Tommaso Ciampa

(Really solid, hard hitting match. Not much crowd heat for this one but it was the best performance I’ve seen from either guy at a HOH show so far)

Tony Nese vs Alex Reynolds vs JT Dunn

(Elimination match - pretty sure it was Reynolds who went out first then Nese won. Incredibly athletic match from all three guys who were working really hard. I’m more familiar with these guys as tag team wrestlers (even though Nese and Dunn have been doing a lot more singles work lately) but they still put on a great showing)

Colt Cabana, Team Tremendous and the FBI (Guido Maritano and Tony Mamaluke) vs Vik Dalishus (dressed like Jesus), three Samoan guys and Mia Yim

Dean Malenko was inducted into the Hardcore Hall of Fame and tried to give a speech (as best he could over drunk yelling idiots) and also it was revealed that Eddie Guerrero would also be inducted since it was the 10 year anniversary of his passing and he had a huge influence on the growth of ECW)

Andrew Everett injury not that bad

-There was concern that Everett had suffered another serious knee injury but it seems it wasn’t as bad as he had feared

-It seems he only has a torn meniscus and will be back in action after a small surgery

ICW

https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/3sxkel/icw_fear_and_lothing_ix_2016_to_be_in_the_glasgow/

-Next ICW Fear and Loathing IX show (Nov. 26, 2016) is being booked in the Glasgow Hydro, which is a 12,000 seat arena

-I don’t follow ICW so it’s hard for me to really discern the importance of most of the results of Fear and Loathing VIII, but I did see that Grado defeated Drew Galloway to become the new ICW World Heavyweight Champion

Exclusive interview with former WCW and WWE Superstar Buff Bagwell

The hosts of Ring Rust Radio – Donald Wood, Mike Chiari and Brandon Galvin – recently had the chance to speak with former WCW and WWE Superstar, Buff Bagwell. Over his long career, Bagwell played many parts and goes in depth in this interview on his time in and exit from WWE, the Monday Night Wars, his dream retirement match and more. 

This interview with Buff Bagwell can be heard on the YouTube video below or continue past the link to read the entire interview here.

Ring Rust Radio: There’s always been a lot of speculation and rumors out there regarding your brief stint with WWE, and you said recently on “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s podcast that you believe Jim Ross was responsible for your release from the company. He responded and said he didn't make the decision. What do you make of his response, and what do you think JR or WWE’s motivation was to get rid of you so quickly?

Buff Bagwell: First of all, I actually did read his response. The way Jim responded, which I can respect, I think he didn’t want to watch what I had to say. Therefore he was responding to something that he really didn’t know what he was responding to. I wasn’t saying that Jim’s job didn’t require him to let people go. What I’m saying is I think he is strictly looking at it from WWE terms. Everyone knows that many years ago on the round table special, and I thought Jim and I were always great, but go back and watch that round table special which I encourage everyone to do. Everyone was talking about heat seekers in the business. During that time, Jim kept trying to get his story out. Someone else would always cut him off, though. It wasn’t to protect me, but they felt like they had something to get out. So at the very end of it, Jim sits down and proceeds to bury me and tells a story about how my mother called in and cancelled me on some house shows. I think first of all I was put out there because I had some heat from coming into the business from WCW. Zero heat with WWE, but the perception was I could be a pain in the ass. Remember, they are the one company now. So I’m shaking hands and kissing babies and walking on egg shells. Even though I knew I had a job, there were some things that happened with me and Shane Helms when I first got there, and I felt that I really had to watch my P’s and Q’s. I felt that me and Booker were kind of set up with Booker and the whole invasion angle and us main eventing with a kind of horrible match. I look back and realize it was not as bad as it felt that day. It just felt like there was going to be a setup and a fall guy. I never claimed that I was a big main event star, but Sting and I are the only two guys that did the entire run in WCW. Evidentially, I was worth using and added some value to the product, but came into WWE feeling like I had to re-earn my spot. In fact, I came in and gave Vince back money to show him I was a team player. Fast forward to Jim Ross, I’m gone and still trying to make a living on the scene. Let’s be honest here, if someone tells that your mama called you off of work, what’s that say about a man? That’s just burying somebody. Truth is it never happened. That’s not my opinion or Jim Ross’ opinion. Between Jim, myself and God, all know that didn’t happen. I even had my manager come to me and say what if she called and you didn’t know about it, what if that was the case? My mother was involved with WCW television, but she never made a dime from it. Everything you saw her do that everyone gives her crap about, she did it for free and to help the product. She did enjoy her time there and she was just having a good time.  Just like if your mother was asked to do the same thing, I’d imagine she would more than likely. My mama was out there taking Diamond Cutters at 50 something years old and not making a dime for it. Even if she had done something like that, she would have called me and said that she spoke to Jim and they didn’t need me for those house shows. She would have been working both ends of the spectrum if she did something like that. She was up in the stands the night they did fire me and she had no clue. I don’t know where Jim gets off saying my mother called me in, but those were prime shows for Buff Bagwell. I think they were Columbus, Georgia and Birmingham. Those were both prime shots for me, and I think we had Philips Arena coming up for Monday Night Raw at the time which was right in Ted Turner’s backyard. Booker and I felt we could have gone into there and blow it up. I think they wanted the reaction from the fans to be negative because they were still in that Monday Night War mentality. WCW was the bad guys, but here we are forced to play in their backyard. So you go to Philips Arena and that’s the home of WCW, I don’t care if it’s a Monday Night Raw crowd or not, those were WCW people. Booker and I would have gotten a pop, but it never got a chance to happen. Even the Tacoma show, I was walking out from the back with my music playing, and Shane McMahon comes up and tells me not to look at the cameras. You guys know, that’s 80 percent of my job! I go out there, look at the cameras, pose, boom boom boom, flex; that was my gimmick. When someone tells you don’t look at the camera, that’s like telling Austin not to kick, punch, or shoot birds. That’s why Booker and I felt like there was something strange about that Tacoma show. I still feel like Jim was trying to bury me while I was trying to make a living. Of course my story had never been told, so I never got a chance to answer that. So at the end of the show when Jim said my mama called me off, and that Missy Hyatt brought me into the business. They said, “Oh well that explains it all.” Well what does that explain? Missy helped out a lot of guys in the business and she was at a time the first lady of wrestling.

Ring Rust Radio: You have worked for WCW, WWE and even TNA, so you know the value in competition within the wrestling industry. Do you feel the business will ever reach the level it did during the Monday Night War?

Buff Bagwell: To be honest with you, I think that everyone can have their opinion, but if WWE would have kept that tight lipped and made it look like Shane was running it and kept it as two separate entities, I think wrestling would have stayed hot for a lot longer. Maybe Shane should have actually bought it. There is more wrestling and talent out there than there ever has been right now, but there are limited places to work. I think that it can be again and everything does have its peaks and valleys. Will it ever be that hot again? I really don’t know. It would have to be put at a real competitive level for that to happen. Competition creates business. In the back of Vince’s mind, he is so far ahead of TNA right now they aren’t even a thought to him. If the right people and minds get in there and get the right programming, we could see a lot of things change. With TV open to more of a free market and including the internet, people are going to have more selections and choices. That may saturate the business, but it could captivate the business at a cheaper rate. If you weren’t on a major station on a prime time night, you were kind of screwed. I do think the business itself can go back there again, but I don’t know if the right people are in place to make that happen right now.

Ring Rust Radio: I really enjoyed your run as a single competitor, but you were also part of several entertaining tag teams. Was there one partner you enjoyed tagging with the most and any story that comes to mind from your run with him?

Buff Bagwell: I really enjoyed with Two Cold when I broke in. It was fresh and new; we did a lot of cool things, WCW tag team of the year, and led to my first belt. Everyone I ever worked with added something to my career which helped me develop my character over time. Scott Norton, Vicious and Delicious, that was a lot of fun. That might be on the backburner in a lot of people’s minds, but I had a really good time working with Scott. Even working along with Dale Wilkes, the Patriot and all these guys I worked with I had a blast with. There were a lot of stories of Scott and I working over in Japan for example. I can tell you one time, I had a few beers in me, and Scott Norton was a pretty tough dude. We had our wives with us on a trip one night and Scott’s wife at the time, though I love her to death, there was an annoyance going on. For some reason, I was going to threaten to slap Scott’s wife. This was after drinking and having a good time, but at that moment I thought I was going to die. He made the hot tag with me and came in as my partner and defused the situation. I really did have a good time with everybody. Something that blew my mind, before we did the interview section for the “Good, the Bad, and the Buff,” my manager had found some footage of shoot interview with Too Cold Scorpio. Mind you, I just saw him a few weeks before this and we had tagged together as an anniversary, reemergence, reunion type thing together. I hugged him and everything was good, I even gave him a couple DVDs of our best matches together. After watching his shoot interview, I will say it blew my mind. He called me a cock sucker, every name in the book, and that he poked my wife in the face on an airplane over a seat I told him to get out of. Brother, one thing about me is I always try to treat people with respect. I never was a guy to push his chest around. He said we were all traveling together on some flight overseas, I told him to get out of the seat, and he told me who was I, poked my wife in the nose and told her if she wanted to fuck a real man he would show her why they called him Too Cold. I don’t give a shit if you are the biggest pussy in the world, but if a man is poking your wife in the face with a plane full of wrestlers on an international flight and some guy is standing up telling some guy’s wife he can fuck her better than you can? Don’t you think you would have heard about that story? We would have made a world press release because he and I would have gone out the fucking exit door on that plane. So when I heard this, I thought what the fuck is he talking about or what is he on? They literally show this to me live during filming, and then go right back live with my response. I never saw it before and I did know it was out there, but they waited to show me live to get my rebuttal. You want to see some real deal situations? It’s on the film. I promise you, you have never seen anything more real than this in your life.

Ring Rust Radio: If you could pick anyone to wrestle against for a retirement match, who would it be and why?

Buff Bagwell: So many people to pick from. Steve Austin. He would be the majority of the draw, but that’s not the reason why I would work with him. Steve and I had a lot of tag matches together with Brian Pillman and Too Cold Scorpio, and we worked a lot of matches with those guys. We were always friends and respected each other so of course it would be a good match and a good draw. Before the film, I never saw Vince in there with the thumb up, thumb down deal. I had never seen that because I was in Panama City Beach, Florida, when that happened. When he goes through that whole list of guys, Buff Bagwell got a pretty good pop. When he asked the crowd there about Bagwell, I was really proud of that. It meant that I meant something to those people and that pop made me feel really good. We’re all human and love to get over with the crowd.

Ring Rust Radio: A lot of fans look back and wonder how you would’ve fit in WWE and how they would’ve used you had your stay not been short. Were you ever given any indication of what storylines or feuds you might have been involved with, or is there anything you would’ve liked to have done in that respect?

Buff Bagwell: Well of course everybody wants to see how Buff Bagwell could have evolved in WWE. It was more of at the time, “Hey you guys are the invasion, play off the enemy thing, put you and Booker out there, and just roll with it.” As time changed, they were very good at connecting to an audience and be able to change. I think I was pretty good at it. If you look at Marcus Alexander Bagwell who broke into the business, to Mark Bagwell the tag team guy, to the evolution of Buff, I think I could have very well fit in there to make those changes as generations of fans change. I think I would have been perfect for that. I was always open-minded, not afraid to make an ass out of myself, wasn’t scared to be a jester and I didn’t need to be the man, I just wanted to be part of the team. It would be very hard today to go out and wrestle wearing a top hat to the ring. I got a top hat over brother. You know how many people would book me and then ask, “Do you have the top hat with you?” It’s got its own case and flies with me on Delta.

Ring Rust Radio: I enjoyed your run with Lex Luger as Totally Buffed. It made perfect sense given your physiques and you two were part of the reason I started to go to work out when I was a teenager. Is there one moment or match that stands out to you the most from you career?

Buff Bagwell: I was still working singles matches, and something that really gave me an opportunity for a major push was working a lot of singles matches with Chris Benoit. All of a sudden when I was working with Chris, who was a very technical wrestler, they got to see Mark Bagwell do the up-and-overs, fish out of water, the reversals, the pin and the boom boom boom. I go to the back and they never knew I could do any of that. Chris Benoit gave me the opportunity when I worked with him to show that I could go with someone like him. Vader was in the back and came up with the idea of putting me with Scorpio thinking it was a good idea. So a match that I did with Chris to show I could do the aerial moves, led to me and Scorpio doing tag team moves that people like the Hardy’s ended up doing after us. That gave me my break into my tag team run. Before then I was getting beat up by the Dangerous Alliance and then getting saved by Sting. The match that sticks out the most in my career would be the tag match when I broke my neck with Scott Steiner. It brought a lot of attention on me, but I felt WCW really dropped the ball with it. They really could have took it and made it a reality driven type of wrestling angle. I was telling them to follow me to surgery and film these things. It wasn’t about getting myself over, but WCW taking advantage of me breaking my neck on live TV. Take advantage of doing that even they want me to flip on the people afterwards, but put some investment into it. To break my neck on live TV then make a comeback and they really didn’t even focus on that as well as they could have. I would of said the same thing had it been anybody that broke their neck on TV, it just happened to be me that it happened to.

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

NXT

NXT TV, Nov 4

Apollo Crews vs Finn Balor NXT title match tonight. 

Asuka makes her way to the ring first. Man her music is great. Reminds me of The Sword. She takes on...Cameron??? Wow. Don't know what to say. Haven't seen her in a while. But we probably won't see her again for a while after Asuka kills her.

Asuka is so damn quick. Cameron threw a slap and Asuka snatched it and took her over into an arm bar with ease.  But after that Cameron spends a minute or two in control. But then Asuka turns it on and really takes it to Cameron, mocking her and making her look completely amateur. Asuka just shows off, hitting all sorts of crazy moves and making Cameron tap to the Asuka Lock.

Next, Carmella gives Tom Phillips an update about Big Cass and he has a sprained MCL. Then Dash and Dawson show up and act like dicks. Carmella says they'll be sorry when Enzo and Cass come back, but Dawson says the only thing they're sorry about is they didn't do this sooner. And next week, they have a NXT Tag Title shot. And they leave a wheelchair for the Vaudevillains. 

(Looking back this segment was almost prophetic – it was just a day later that WWE announced WWE Champion Seth Rollins will miss 6-9 months with a severe knee injury, tearing his ACL, MCL and medial meniscus. In response there will be a tournament held at Survivor Series to crown a new champion)

Jordan and Gable promo, Jordan talks about how they earned everyone's respect at Respect, but still aren't where they need to be - the champs. But Gable says chill, they are still on the rise. Jordan wants to challenge the greatest NXT tag team, The Ascension, and Gable agrees.

Next, Bull Dempsey comes out to new music but still looks the same and wearing the Dr Death robe. Commentary says he is on a carb only diet, so yeah, his gimmick is just that he's a fat dude. He takes on Angelo Dawkins. Sawyer Fulton is with him. I don't get these guys.

Dawkins is actually beating up Bull early on as Fulton yells at him. But then Bull starts his comeback. Bull uses his gut for a lot of attacks and to block Dawkins, so, yeah, fat guy gimmick. Bull hits the ass drop from the top rope for the win. Then Fulton walks off and leaves Dawkins in the ring. Angle I guess? Anyone care? This is like when Jordan and Dillinger broke up except I don't really see potential for either. 

Next, Tom Phillips talks to the Vaudevillains about the wheelchair. Talk about how Dash and Dawson are not gentlemen and are their toughest challenge. But they will retain their tag team titles - indubitably. 

25 years of Undertaker at SS? Hmm...farewell tour beginning? 

Tom talks to Bayley. She says it wasn't hard to find partners to meet Alexa's 6 man challenge. Her partners are - The Hype Bros! They run down BAMF and Bayley seems to like staying hype.

Yes! Eva Marie is back! I can't wait until Asuka kicks her head off her shoulders. She takes on some blonde gorgeous blue eyed angel. Gionna Daddio? Dunno. She gets a jobber entrance.

Eva Marie does one arm drag adequately then taunts and flips her hair in Gionna face. Gionna does one or two things then Eva takes over. To this point, they still haven't said blonde girls name. Blondie starts to come back, hits a few drop kicks but Eva cuts her off. Looked it up and yup, I was right. Gionna Daddio as Marley. What an awful name. You're either a stoner or a dog who dies in a movie.

Then Eva wins after a horrible looking big boot and an even worse flatliner she hit while Marley was on her knees and Eva kinda slid in there. It was bad. Lots of boos. The big boot got a “What Was That” chant. And she blows a kiss to the crowd.

Takeaway? Less Eva Marie, more Marley.

Emma and Dana Brooke call Asuka childish and Brooke wants to get back in the ring with her. Emma says she's going to give Asuka a welcoming to NXT. Sure you will.

Oh shit, Ace of Spades is the official song for NXT Takeover London. 

Main event time now. Looks like it will get a decent amount of time. Crews out first then Finn in his badass leather jacket.

Very evenly matched at first. Crews surprising Balor, but Balor staying right in it. I think it's interesting to note that Balor is taking on the heel role of applying rest holds and submissions to slow things down and Crews is the one popping the crowd and hitting high impact moves. But then Finn hits a huge tope after sending Crews to the outside then...a commercial for “The Condemned 2” starring Randy Orton.

This has just been a really hard hitting, really intense match where neither guy can maintain an advantage. Then somehow, Crews hits the Gorilla Press but Balor gets the knees up on the moonsault. Balor hits a Bloody Sunday implant DDT but Crews kicks out at 2. Crazy back and forth and both dudes are down - then Baron Corbin runs in and attacks them both! But mainly, he's focused on Crews.

Corbin throws Crews into the steps and Balor attacks Corbin to try and distract him but Corbin has none of it. He hammers Balor with punches until Samoa Joe runs off Corbin. They stare each other down until Corbin leaves the stage - then Joe turns and attacks Balor! He puts Balor on the corner, says "I did this to you!" then plants him with a Muscle Buster. Joe grabs the NXT Title and stands over Balor with it. Joe drapes the belt over Finn and leaves.

Ring of Honor

ROH TV 11/4

O'Reilly says he respects and admires Styles but he will do whatever he has to do to get his hands on his former friend, Adam Cole.

Nigel and Mark Briscoe on commentary.

First out, Silas Young and Beer City Bruiser with the Boys, who are sporting new clothes –

jeans, wife beater, slicked back hair and sun glasses. Next out are the Young Bucks. The Bucks are set to take on Young and the Bruiser. The Boys are still trying to fan people, but they're fanning the Bucks which makes Silas even madder. The Bucks take control easily and it isn't long before Silas forces the Boys to take their spot in the match, saying they were supposed to be in the match anyway and he and Bruiser warmed up the Bucks for them. 

The Boys actually able to start getting some offense in, but the Bucks cut them off with superkicks, dive on Silas and Bruiser then a DOUBLE More Bang For Your Buck (Matt double rolling thing, Nick 450 on both for win). Silas is furious the Boys lost. He and Bruiser get in their face but the Bucks sneak back in, superkick Bruiser and set up to superkick Silas but he runs off before he can get his.

After a commercial, BJ Whitmer is at commentary, yelling at Nigel to fire Steve Corino. Mark yells that he's on commentary and for Whitmer to get out and then they kinda stare each other down. Moving Whitmer from the Corino feud to a feud with Mark? I’m not mad about it but, this feud is even more adjace than Whitmer/Corino.

Replay of Corino punching Whitmer. Also, Veda Scott has apparently served Nigel with papers, a lawsuit about an unsafe work environment.

Roderick Strong vs Will Ferrara next. Ferrara looks to start quickly but Strong has much more experience and is able to impose his offense easily. Roddy just going to town, throwing Ferrara around with suplexes, stretching him with a camel clutch and crazy chin bar and an abdominal stretch. He gets a few 2 counts but Ferrara fights back and hits a tornado DDT for 2. But Roddy, out of nowhere, hits a double knee gut buster, jumping knee and locks in Strong Hold for the win. They shake hands after the match surprisingly and Ferrara leaves.

Main event - Jay Lethal replaces Mark Briscoe on commentary for Adam Cole vs Kyle O'Reilly vs AJ Styles. Kingdom with Cole and Fish and Elgin with O'Reilly. I'd imagine the Bucks will be with Styles (yup). And man, his music is awful. Is this the kinda stuff Rocky makes? Geez. Not great.

Before the match starts, Nigel orders everyone not in the match to the back so we have a clean match. At the bell, Cole runs away but O'Reilly tricks him into getting in the ring with Styles. Gonna be tough to take many notes since this is so fast and things happening very quickly. After a lot of insanity, Styles gets wiped out on a dive and Cole goes to work on O'Reilly's leg in the ring. On commentary, Lethal talks about how he isn't afraid to face Roddy again, he's just worried what Roddy might do when he loses to Lethal a 3rd time. 

But once Styles gets back in, it's back to high octane three way dance action. O'Reilly gets a close 2 on Cole after a flurry of strikes and a brain buster. Then O'Reilly triangle on Styles, Styles setting up for Styles Clash until Cole superkick him in the back of the head and he sorts hits a Styles Clash on O'Reilly. Cole throws Styles out and a neckbreaker on his knee to O'Reilly for the win! Didn't expect that to finish it.

Then the Kingdom runs out and attacks O'Reilly but then Fish, Elgin and the Bucks run in and it's mayhem. Everyone gets taken to the outside and the Bucks hit a big tope to take everyone out. Styles and Matt hold Taven and Bennett for a double Indytaker. But then Lethal gets in the ring and gets in the face of Styles.

Survival of the Fittest 2015

Night 1 Nov. 13 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Night 2 Nov. 14 in Hopkins, Minnesota

Night 1 (No mention of PPV or iPPV)

ROH World Tag Team Titles

The Kingdom (c) vs reDRagon

Six-man tag

Bullet Club (AJ Styes and the Young Bucks) vs House of Truth

Best of 5 series finale and SOTF qualifier

ACH vs Matt Sydal

4 Corner Survival

Mark Briscoe vs Christopher Daniels vs Hanson vs Kenny King

4 Corner Survival

Jay Briscoe vs Frankie Kazarian vs Ray Rowe vs Rhett Titus

Triple Threat

Michael Elgin vs Adam Cole vs Moose

Triple Threat

Dalton Castle vs Silas Young vs Adam Page

Roderick Strong vs Cedric Alexander

Night 2 (TV Taping?)

6-way Survival of the Fittest finals

ROH Supershow of Honor with Preston City Wrestling

Nov 27

3 days, 4 shows

http://www.rohwrestling.com/news/roh-stars-return-england

Michael Elgin status

Several dirtsheets have been reporting conflicting news about the former ROH World Champion. Some sites have stated that Elgin has re-signed an exclusive contract with the company, while others say he hasn’t signed anything yet.

I don’t know for sure one way or the other, but the fact that PWG announced for their upcoming Dec. shows “All Star Weekend 11” seems pretty good indication that Elgin is no longer exclusive with ROH.

He’s still with the company and will be working with New Japan in the near future – something which was always a goal for Elgin and ROH helped accomplish. His time as exclusive in ROH helped him round out his character a little more and maybe now he can earn even more acclaim now that he is seemingly a “free agent” again.

New Japan Pro Wrestling

Power Struggle results, Nov. 7

IWGP Intercontinental Championship

Shinsuke Nakamura (c) def. Karl “Machine Gun” Anderson

(Just an awesome match, rivaled only by Ishii/Honma. Afterward, Styles took the belt and handed it to Nakamura, saying he will be the one to take it from him. Nakamura and Styles have never wrestled before and we could be in for a classic at WK10)

Katsuyori Shibata and Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Kazushi Sakuraba and Kazuchika Okada

(The bad blood between Tanahashi and Okada really heated up here as they head into the home stretch before WK 10)

NEVER Openweight Championship

Tomohiro Ishii (c) def. Tomoaki Honma

(Honma came close but couldn’t win the big one and since he’s being portrayed as a perennial underdog, so I doubt he’ll ever win a title)

Bad Luck Fale and AJ Styles def. Yoshi-Hashi and Toru Yano

Super Jr tag finals

Matt Sydal and Ricochet def. RPG Vice

(Afterward, The Bucks and Timesplitters hit the ring and all made claims to being the #1 contender for the Junior tag titles. Ricochet and Sydal won this tournament, RPG Vice holds a win over reDRagon and the Bucks are former champs so they each have a claim)

reDRagon and The Timesplitters def. The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega and Chase Owens

Hirooki Goto def. “King of Darkness” EVIL (via DQ)

Cody Hall, Tama Tonga and Doc Gallows def.Juice Robinson, Captain New Japan and Togi Makabe

Mascara Dorada, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask and Jushin “Thunder” Liger def. Jay White, David Finlay, Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu

(Afterward, Liger confronted Tiger Mask and wants an NWA Junior Heavyweight Title shot at WK10)

World Tag League Block/Team announcement

-Begins Nov. 21 and runs through Dec. 9

Block A

Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin

Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma

Hiroshi Nagata and Nakanishi

Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi

Toru Yano and Kazushi Sakuraba

Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga

The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian)

Block B

Meiyu Tag (Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata)

TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima)

Tetsuya Naito and EVIL

Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii

AJ Styles and Yujiro Takahashi

Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows

The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Michael Bennett with Maria Kanellis)

Wrestle Kingdom 10 (so far)

IWGP Heavyweight Championship

Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

IWGP Intercontinental Championship

Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs AJ Styles

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship

Kenny Omega (c) vs Kushida

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship

reDRagon (c) vs Matt Sydal and Ricochet vs RPG Vice vs The Young Bucks

Jim Ross says WK10 commentary from him is “unlikely”

https://twitter.com/JRsBBQ/status/663764192214675457

Pro Wrestling NOAH

Global League Tournament, 2015

-Naomichi Marufuji defeated Shelton X Benjamin to win the Global League Tournament

-Marufuji will now go on to face GHC Champion Minoru Suzuki on Dec 23

-Also on Dec. 23, Big in USA (Chris Hero and Colt Cabana) challenge Killer Elite Squad for the GHC Tag Titles.

-If Taichi puts the GHC Junior belt on the line, Suzukigun could possibly lose at the GHC titles in one night

Indy

PWG

-Matches announced for All Star Weekend 11, as well as the first show of 2016, which will be on Jan. 2.

-ASW 11 tix go on sale Thurs. Nov. 19 at 8 pm PDT

ASW 11, Night 1

Mark Andrews vs Chuck Taylor

Ricochet vs Marty Scurll

The Unbreakable F’n Machines return! And they face The Wolves!

Kenny Omega vs Mike Bailey

PWG Tag Team Titles

The Young Bucks (c) vs Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa

PWG World Title

Roderick Strong (c) vs Matt Sydal

ASW 11, Night 2

Kikutaro returns! He faces Chuck Taylor!

Mark Andrews vs Ricochet

Marty Scurll vs Timothy Thatcher

Unbreakable F’n Machines vs Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa

Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay

Matt Sydal vs Trevor Lee

Guerrilla Warfare

Chris Hero, Mike Bailey and the World’s Cutest Tag Team vs Mount Rushmore 2.0

Jan. 2

Drew Galloway returns

Akira Tozawa returns

Zack Sabre Jr. returns

House of Hardcore 10

Philadelphia, PA

Tajiri and Tommy Dreamer vs EC3 and Eric Young

Rhino vs Abyss

Bobby Roode vs Austin Aries

Chris Hero vs Lance Hoyt

Eddie Kingston vs Tommaso Ciampa

Tony Nese vs Alex Reynolds vs JT Dunn

Also appearing:

Colt Cabana, Guido Maritano, Tony Mamaluke, Thea Trinidad, Mia Yim, Justin Roberts and more

Also, Dean Malenko is being inducted into the ECW Arena Hardcore Hall of Fame at HOH 10

HOH 11

Corona, NY

NY Street Fight

Tommy Dreamer vs EC3

The Wolves vs Bobby Roode and Austin Aries

Monsters Ball Match

Sabu vs Abyss

Tajiri vs Chris Hero

Jade vs Thea Trinidad

Also appearing:

Colt Cabana, Eric Young, Lance Hoyt, Eddie Kingston, Tommaso Ciampa, Brian Myers, Justin Roberts and more

Jersey All Pro Wrestling 19^th Anniversary

Nov. 14, Rahway, NJ

First Time Ever

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Low Ki

JAPW Light Heavyweight Championship

BLK Jeez (c) vs Joey Janela

Shane Strickland vs 2Hot Steve Scott vs “The Product” David Starr vs Lio Rush vs Lance Anoa’I vs Azrieal

World’s Cutest Tag Team vs Chris Dicksinson and Heidi Lovelace

MVP vs Monsta Mack

Kimer Lee vs Shelly Martinez

Also appearing

The Hardy Boyz

LAX reunites (Homicide, Hernandez and Shelly Martinez)