Konnan, who was relieved from his booking duties with AAA Lucha Libre a little over a year ago, was asked on Twitter if he had any problems with Impact Wrestling working together with AAA despite the bad blood between he and the promotion. His answer seems to indicate he is not thrilled with the deal.
no but i have nothing to do with their business and i will not work for or with AAA
Konnan has had an on-again off-again relationship with AAA Lucha Libre ever since the beginning of his career. He became a huge star with the company in the 90s and help facilitate many luchadors from AAA going to ECW and WCW. Konnan had been the booker for the company up until early 2016, when he was relieved of such duties. Konnan has since had nothing but bad things to say about the company, especially as it concerns non-payment to some of their talent.
Konnan has been involved with the Crash promotion in Mexico this year, which also has a talent sharing relationship with Impact Wrestling. He has debuted an updated version of the LAX stable on last week’s episode of Impact Wrestling.
RAW tag team champions Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson will be the featured superstars for an episode of Ride Along scheduled to air tonight on the WWE Network right after RAW.
Anderson and Gallows are no strangers to recording shows while on tour, as they have done so regularly with their “Talkin Shop” podcast.
It will be interesting to see the response that some the Southpaw Regional Wrestling stars get on Raw tonight, as reviews online have been overwhelmingly positive.
Anderson and Gallows are scheduled to defend their Raw tag team championships at WrestleMania against Sheamus & Cesaro and Enzo and Cass.
— Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (@luchalibreaaa) March 20, 2017
Rey de Reyes 2017
Johnny Mundo faced Texano Jr and El Hijo Del Fantasma in a 3-way match with every title on the line at Rey De Reyes 2017 on March 19th 2017 in Monterey Mexico. Going into the match Mundo was the Latin American champion, Fantasma was the Cruiserweight champion and Texano Jr. was the AAA Mega Champion. The win for Mundo earned him all three titles at once.
AAA Lucha Libre recently entered into a talent sharing agreement with Impact Wrestling, but has struggled with losing top stars to upstart promotions in recent years. The promotion features several stars who appear regularly for Lucha Underground.
Luke Harper wrestled at Sunday night’s SmackDown live event from Albany, New York and looks to be in great physical shape. Harper has lost weight, had a new entrance video and was sporting new ring gear. Harper was defeated by WWE Champion Bray Wyatt in what was said to be a very good match.
New gear, new entrance video, and a split from the Wyatt Family have it looking good that Luke Harper may be in line for a push up the Smackdown rankings.
Now 37 years old, Harper was already in his 30s by the time he landed in WWE in 2012. He had previously wrestled with Chikara, Dragon Gate, Evolve and numerous other independent promotions. Harper received a brief push in 2014 when Bray Wyatt let him and the other family members “go free”. Harper briefly won the Intercontinental championship during this period, his reign lasting just under 4 weeks.
Video of Harper’s entrance, which includes his entrance video, can be seen below.
The New Japan Cup changed format this years. Instead of getting the semi-finals and finals on the same night, the semi-finals were last night. The show last night did not have english commentary but for the finals both Kevin Kelly and Don “Cyrus” Callis were back.
New Japan Cup Final 2017
March 20th 2017
Niigata, Japan
1. Tomoyuki Oka vs. Hirai Kawato
This match went to a time limit draw. After the match frustrations boiled over and the two NJPW dojo trainees kept fighting until they were separated. Winner: Draw (time-limit)
2. Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask, David Finlay vs. Takashi Iizuka, Taka Michinoku, El Desperado (Suzuki-Gun)
Finish of the match came when Iizuka hit David Finlay with a chair to the back. This allowed Taka to go on offence but Finlay overcame and pinned Taka with a stunner anyway. The story of this match seemed to centre around Finlay, so perhaps we will see him start to win more matches in the future.
After the match Iizuka went crazy throughout the crowd. Winners: Liger, Tiger Mask and David Finlay
3. Yuji Nagata and Katsuya Kitamura vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima (Non-Title)
Kitamura certainly looks impressive, but i believe this was literally something like his seventh pro match. He’s 31 so they might speed his process up faster than the other young lions.
Finish of the match was Kojima catching Kitamura with a lariat and getting the pin. Winners: Tenzan and Kojima (Kojima pinned Kitamaru)
4. Minoru Suzuki, Kanemaru, Taichi (Suzuki-Gun) vs. Hirooki Goto, Jado and Gedo (CHAOS)
Desperado distracted the ref which allowed Taichi to use the mic stand against CHAOS. With the ref down Gedo used the mic stand on Taichi however, and Jado ended up making him tap to a crossface.
Suzuki slapped a young lion on his way out for some reason. Gedo and Jado held up the jr heavyweight tag team titles before giving them back to Suzuki Gun, playing up a probable future title match between the two teams. Winners: CHAOS (Taichi submitted to Jado)
5. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, Juice Robinson, Kushida and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Tetsuya Naito, Evi, Bushi, Sanada, Hiromu Takahashi (Los Ingobernables)
Juice Robinson and Tetusya Naito have been teasing a potential rivalry in recent shows, and the trend continued here. The finish of the match came when Robinson hooked Naito for the “Pulp Friction” but Naito countered it with a low blow and into Destino for the pin.
After the match Kushida and Takahashi brawled to the back (as Kushida will be Takahashi’s next challenger for the junior heavyweight title), and the rest of Ingobernables beat down Juice Robinson some more. Winners: Los Ingobernables (Naito pinned Juice Robinson)
Finish of this match came when Okada gave Tanga Roa the rainmaker clothesline for the pin. Okada and Omega jawed back and forth a little after the match. Omega threw the turnbuckle padding at CHAOS afterwards as well. Okada will most likely have to face the winner of the New Japan Cup (unless the winner chooses to go after another belt) before another match against Omega however. Winners: CHAOS (Okada pinned Tango Roa)
7. New Japan Cup 2017 Final
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Bad Luck Fale (Bullet Club)
Neither of these two had ever won a New Japan Cup before. Last year’s winner Naito, went on to win the IWGP heavyweight championship with the title shot he earned.
Finish of this match came when Shibata kicked out of Bad Luck Fale’s “Grenade” (similar to Umaga’s death spike) and Shibata countered his Bad Luck Fall into a rear-naked choke, which led into the PK for the pin.
After the match Shibata announced that he will challenge Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP heavyweight championship on April 9th in Sumo Hall. Winner: Katsuyori Shibata (2017 New Japan Cup Winner)
New Japan Cup 2017 Quarter-Final Tomohiro Ishii (CHAOS) defeated Sanada (Los Ingobernables)
There was scheduled to be a CHAOS vs. Bullet Club main event, however NJPW hasn’t released any details regarding this match, and the event was not broadcast on New Japan World…
The Semi-Finals for this year’s tournament will air on New Japan World on March 19th. The finals will air on March 20th and will include english commentary.
Evil vs. Bad Luck Fale Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Bruce Pritchard and Dutch Mantell convince El Patron to vacate the Impact Wrestling world championship he won last week due to all the chicanery involved in his match with Bobby Lashley. They also inform him he can’t have a title rematch unless Lashley agrees to it.
El Patron Calls Out Lashley, Gets EC3
El Patron calls out Bobby Lashley for a title match, but EC3 comes out to challenge him instead. El Patron refers to EC3 as “the b**ch*. It is later announced that EC3 and El Patron will wrestle tonight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbU8s5kPyxk
After viewing a highlight package of Decay stealing the tag titles from the Hardys via teleporting through time and deleting them, we go back to the Impact Wrestling boardroom where management discusses the need to make some decisions over who the tag belts belong to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c4TiXfX21A
Eli Drake and Tyrus vs. Laredo Kid and Garza Jr.
Before the match we are shown a video package detailing Drake and Tyrus’ history together. Laredo Kid and Garza Jr. are both from the Crash promotion, and had recently defected there from AAA. Garza Jr. rolled up Eli Drake for the pin.
Winners: Laredo Kid and Garza Jr.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAQqIR3huRg
Video highlights of Moose, Eddie Edwards and James Storm in Japan wrestling with NOAH.
Kacey Quinn vs. Brandi Rhodes
Just before the match starts Cody comes to the ring with his Global Force Wrestling title belt. Cody says the match isn’t going to happen, and then offers Quinn $45 to leave the ring. He runs down Moose a bunch, and then says he wants to take on Moose for the Impact Grand Championship.
Then everyone left the ring and there was no match for some reason. Winner: No Contest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lddCWETNeFg
We come back from commercial and Rosemary is beating up Kacey Quinn. She gives her “Red Wedding”, her music played and the segment ended.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDztYZw_e8k
3. Alberto El Patron vs. EC3
For the second week in a row El Patron faces a top talent on Impact. After a back and forth match with Patron concentrating on EC3’s arm, it looked as though EC3 was going to use a chair and get himself DQ’ed. He had second thoughts however, and his hesitation was just the opening Patron needed to hit a kick to the face and lock him in the arm bar. EC3 tapped and commentary played up that he has never done that before.
After the match El Patron clapped for Ec3 and the fans chanted for him. El Patron says that EC3 gave him one of the best matches of his career. Winner: El Patron via submission
Backstage: Reno Scum cut a promo backstage, say they are in Impact to win the tag team championships. They then said “Oi!” into the camera several times.
EC3 is upset backstage after his loss, Bruce Pritchard attempts to calm him down but we don’t get any audio.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIRJ9CYACZs
4. X-Division Championship Match
4-Way
Suicide vs. Andrew Everett vs. Braxton Sutter vs. Trevor Lee (c) w/ Shane Helms
Several back and forth X-division spots were followed by Laurel Van Ness coming to ringside, still in her wedding dress. She waved and blew kisses at Allie until Sienna came to the ring. Sienna told the Allie and Braxton Sutter they would meet their “tragic demise”.
Tag Team Division Turmoil
Bruce Pritchard came out to address the tag team title situation, which brought out several teams from the division. Pritchard announced that in 2 weeks there would be 4 teams competing for the championships. Reno Scum, Laredo Kid & Garza Jr, and Decay were already out there so there was only one spot left.
The returning LAX crashed the party and took out everyone in the ring. This new version of LAX includes old members Konnan and Homicide along with new members Mike Draztik, Angel Ortiz and Angel Rose.
Mauro Ranallo missed this week’s Smackdown Live, allegedly due to a snowstorm affecting his travel plans. On a recent episode of Wrestling Observer radio however, Dave Meltzer said there’s more to Mauro’s absence than inclement weather, but wouldn’t provide additional details.
Adding to the speculation is that Ranallo, an active social media user, has gone radio silent across his networks for three days. The last tweet he sent out suggested he may miss Smackdown this week.
Mauro missing SmackDown due to ‘weather conditions’ caught the attention of two former SmackDown announcers, Taz and Josh Mathews. Both of them expressed disbelief with Mauro’s absence, since they did whatever was necessary to make all shows.
With @OfficialTAZ in the car, I once drove us 2 days to Indianapolis to make a TAPED Smackdown show from NYC. #JustSayin'
Taz: “You can not miss a show. You can’t. You can’t miss a show. When you miss a show – in no order of preference – you get heat with the locker room, you get heat with your boss, you get heat with your broadcast colleagues. It’s just not a regular job. You are there once a week, and you are making a lot of money with a massive, massive platform. You’ve got to be there. You’ve got to make the shot. No matter what happens. Mauro is from Canada, okay, so he’s well-versed when it comes to weather and snow. People knew the storm was coming for days. You have to prepare yourself to get to that town early.”
JBL responded to Taz’s rant, “Great video” and told Mauro, “I made the show, everyone made the show, everyone. Maybe he shouldn’t have bashed me if he wasn’t going to show up.” That message was later deleted.
JBL also referenced Mauro Ranallo on this week’s Bring It To The Table show, getting ‘hot’ over the fact that Mauro was named Announcer of the Year by the Wrestling Observer.
The 47-year old Ranallo has a long history of commentating for combat sports. He has called MMA bouts for Pride FC, Strikeforce and EliteXC. Ranallo has called many great boxing matches for Showtime boxing, as well as kickboxing events for Glory. Some believe he is on Dana White’s radar as a potential addition to the UFC commentary team to replace Mike Goldberg.
Mauro Ranallo is one of the best announcers in WWE, so hopefully this blows over and he’s back calling the action from ringside next week.
Rob Van Dam seems to be hinting he could be returning to the WWE this summer, possibly in order to join the company in time for a tour of Australia.
A fan from Australia asked Rob if he would be touring the country with Tommy Dreamer’s House of Hardcore promotion in June, but RVD’s response left more questions than answers. RVD stated he would be in Australia in August, which happens to be when WWE will be touring the country.
The 46-year old Rob Van Dam has had a rocky on-again off-again relationship with WWE over the years. He wrestled with the company from 2001 to 2007, where he became one of the most popular stars on the roster. Shortly after the failed ECW relaunch, his suspension for marijuana possession, and general downturn in the company, RVD left in 2007.
He wrestled for a few years in TNA before briefly returning to WWE in 2013-14.
RVD has always had a cult like following and strong merchandise sales, making him an appealing talent for WWE.
Don’t expect to see WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania. The 12-time world champion will be in Orlando during Mania weekend, but confirmed on Thursday night that he has no plans to attend WWE’s biggest show of the year.
Maniacs I have no plans to be at WM33,I will be at Hogans Beach Shop Orlando on International Dr,March 29/April 3D-? See u at HBS! BrotherHH
Hulk Hogan and the WWE cut ties when recordings of Hogan using racially charged language were made public last year. The recordings led to Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker Media which ended up bankrupting the company. Throughout the trial, Hogan had to demonstrate how badly his leaked sex tape (featuring the racist comments) hurt his ability to earn revenue. WWE severing ties with him was a clearcut way to show that the recordings harmed him financially. Whether WWE cut ties with him because they didn’t want to be associated with him because of the recordings, or to help Hogan show damages in his lawsuit is something probably only Vince McMahon knows.
With the lawsuit over, it’s been widely speculated that an Hogan will wind up back in WWE sooner than later. Apparently WWE didn’t think the time was right for the Hulkster to walk that aisle one more time just yet.
The Hardy brothers and Young Bucks will continue their epic rivalry on April 1st in Lakeland FL at Supercard of Honor XI. The show is ROH’s annual event during WrestleMania weekend. The Bucks have confirmed the news Jeff Hardy first told us during our exclusive interview earlier this week: the ROH tag titles will be on the line in a Ladder Match.
The Hardys defeated the Young Bucks at Manhattan Mayhem earlier this month, not long after announcing they were leaving Impact and joining Ring of Honor. At the company’s 15th anniversary show on Friday, the Hardys retained the titles in a triple threat street fight against both the Bucks and Roppongi Vice.
After the match on Friday night, Matt and Jeff stole the Young Bucks’ “Superkick Party” title belts as well. ROH still has two weeks of television to air until the show however, so more changes could still be to come.
Following his unsuccessful NXT championship match against Bobby Roode this week, Kassius Ohno was confronted by Elias “the Drifter” Samson backstage. This led to a Ohno challenging Samson to a “Loser Leaves NXT” match for next week.
On the surface a loser leaves NXT match could lead to a main roster debut for either superstar. It seems unlikely the 37-year old Ohno would debt on the main roster anytime soon, having just debuted on NXT television. Stranger things have happened however.
As for Samson, two possibilities exist. If he loses to Ohno next week he could find himself on the main roster, where it is doubtful he would be placed in a high profile role. Samson could undergo a gimmick change and stay in NXT as well however. After WrestleMania is a common time for new wrestlers to debut on the main roster, so it is more likely than not the loser of this match next week ends up on Raw or Smackdown after WrestleMania.
ROH TV
air date: March 15th 2017 (on Comet and the Fite App)
Pittsburgh, PA
Ian Riccaboni & Alex Shelley on commentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDCOwoZ-OQo
1. the Young Bucks vs. Coast to Coast (non-title match)
The young Coast to Coast team of Shaheem Ali and Leon St. Giovanni got in their offence but ultimately lost to the Young Bucks, who were tag team champions at the time of this match. Their tag title loss to the Hardyz took place after this match. The Bucks taunted Jeff and Matt Hardy during the match, even delivering a twist of fate followed by a Senton to their opponents. They also led the crowd in chants of “Delete! Suck it!”. Commentary hyped the Supercard of Honor match between the Hardyz and Young Bucks in Lakeland, FL over WrestleMania weekend. Bucks win after Nick Jackson hit a 450 splash and pinned Ali. Winners: the Young Bucks
Ian Riccaboni conducted an interview with Lio Rush regarding his relationship with the Rebellion. This brings out Kenny King who said Rush was a great aerial wrestler, but King “Gets live at 225lbs”. So something is building there between Rush and Kenny King, but nothing got physical during the interview.
2. 2017 Top Prospect Tournament
Preston Quinn vs. Curt Stallion
Preston Quinn is 40 years old and has been wrestling since 1996, proving the top prospects tournament is not just for young guys. He came out with a colourful manager, Andy Vineburg, who is living in the 1980s. Quinn wrestles on the indy scene mainly in Virginia and North Carolina. He looked good here too, with a lot of old school style offence. He missed an elbow however, and that was all the opening Stallion needed to hit a diving headbutt and get the pin. Winner: Curt Stallion
Cody Rhodes cut a promo on Jay Lethal. He brought out Hangman Page to join him in the ring, and challenged Lethal to a Texas Bullrope match.
3. Dalton Castle vs. Jonathan Gresham
Commentary played up how Dalton Castle will receive an ROH world championship opportunity at Supercard of Honor. At the moment that match would be against Christopher Daniels, but a lot could change in a few weeks, especially considering ROH just taped 4 weeks of television this weekend in Las Vegas.
Castle picked up the clean win here after countering a diving attack into the Bangarang. Winner: Dalton Castle
4. No DQ Match
BJ Whitmer and Punishment Martinez vs. War Machine
The sadistic team of Whitmer and Martinez, who we assume are mentored off camera by Kevin Sullivan, received a big opportunity here by taking on one of the promotion’s top tag teams. Martinez really stood out in this match and got the win by choke-slamming Hanson through a table. After the match he turned on his partner BJ Whitmer as well, choke-slamming him for good measure. Punishment Martinez is looking like he’s ready to make a move up the ROH rankings soon. Winners: Whitmer and Punishment Martinez
The New Japan Cup 2017 continued Wednesday in Japan. Unlike previous years the company is placing each quarter-final match on separate shows during the tour. With Evil and Bad Luck Fale already moving to the semi-finals, the 3rd quarter-final match took place on this show. The final quarter-final match, between Sanada and Tomohiro Ishii, will take place Friday.
Taka Michinoku and El Desperado (Suzuki-Gun) defeated Hirai Kawato and Tiger Mask
Non-Title Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Tomoyuki Oka and Jushin Liger
Tanga Roa and Tama Tonga (Bullet Club) defeated Yuji Nagata and Katsuya Kitamura
Jado, Gedo, Toru Yano and Hirooki Goto (CHAOS) defeated Taichi, Kanemaru, Iizuka, and Minoru Suzuki (Suzuki-Gun)
Hiromu Takahashi, Bushi, Evil, Sanada, and Tetsuya Naito (Los Ingobernables) defeated David Finlay, Taguchi, Kushida, Michael Elgin and Hiroshi Tanahashi
New Japan Cup 2017 Quarter-Final Katsuyori Shibata defeated Juice Robinson
Yoshi-Hashi, Tomohiro Ishii, and Kazuchika Okada (CHAOS) defeated Yujiro Takahashi, Bad Luck Fale, and Kenny Omega (Bullet-Club)
This means Shibata will face the winner of Sanada and Ishii. The other semi-final, Evil vs. Bad Luck Fale, is already set. While Juice Robinson was eliminated here, making it to the second round in his first New Japan Cup is a pretty big accomplishment for the 27-year old.
March 15th 2017
Winter Park, Florida
Full Sail University
1. the Ealy Brothers vs. the Authors of Pain (non-title)
the Authors of Pain attacked the Ealy brothers from behind not long ago on NXT television, so the young tag team challenged Paul Ellering’s duo here. The AOP didn’t take long to take care of the Ealy brothers however, in what was basically a squash match. After the match Ellering cut a promo which brought out both Team DIY and the Revival. Then Regal came out and made it official that the tag team championship match at Takeover: Orlando would be a triple threat between the AOP, Revival and Team DIY.
Winners: the Authors of Pain
2. Macey Estrella vs. Nikki Cross (Sanity)
Estrella might not look like it, but she is a former US Marine and member of the Marine Corps Swat Team. The 26-year old was just fodder for Cross here however, as the Scottish brawler looks as though she will be starting a run in NXT’s women’s division. 27-year old Nikki Cross began her career as a teenager 9 years ago. She had a WWE tryout in 2015 and has been going through developmental ever since.
Even though Cross had Estrella beat, she continued to use a swinging fisherman’s neck breaker over and over again, approximately six times in total, before finally pinning Estrella.
After the match No Way Jose and Tye Dillinger hit the ring to payback Sanity for their attack on Roderick Strong last week. The numbers game was too much for Dillinger and Jose however, as Sanity left them laying. Later in the night, William Regal would confirm that next week 3 members of Sanity will take on Dillinger, No Way Jose, and a returning Roderick Strong.
Winner: Nikki Cross
An ominous vignette aired for a superstar who has yet to debut.
3.NXT Championship Match
Bobby Roode (c)(0 title defences) vs. Kassius Ohno
Kassius Ohno, better known to indy fans as Chris Hero, returns to NXT and got a championship match right out of the gun. Ohno is 6feet 4inches and 270lbs. He wrestled in NXT from 2012-13, and now at 37 years old he’s back for another run. Ohno got in his offence but ultimately wasn’t able to take the title away from Roode. The finish of the match came when Ohno had Roode trapped in a submission but Roode scrambled into the ropes, Ohno hit the top rope awkwardly which allowed Roode to hit the “Glorious DDT” for the pin.
Shinsuke Nakamura was shown in the back watching the monitor. It was announced last week that he would face the winner at NXT Takeover: Orlando
Winner: Bobby Roode (1 title defence)
* title defence statistics do not include house shows
WrestleMania 33 is less than three weeks away and the card is close to finalized. As of this writing, 10 matches have been confirmed for WWE’s biggest show of the year. With April 2nd fast approaching, there have been no indications that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will be attending. Earlier this week, 2017 WWE Hall of Fame Warrior Award recipient Eric LeGrand tweeted The Rock and said he hopes to see him in Orlando.
Going to be awesome. Hope to see you in Orlando in a few weeks
We know The Rock has one of the busiest schedules in Hollywood and the fact that he does not have set plans to attend is not a great sign for fans hoping for a Rock cameo. That said, The Rock’s last three WrestleMania moments have all been unadvertised. He defeated Eric Rowan in an unadvertised match last year, participated in an angle with Ronda Rousey two years ago, and took part in a legends in-ring segment with Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin 3 years ago.
From WrestleMania 27-29, he played a key role, hosting WM27 and then main event’ing the show with John Cena at 28 and 29.
WWE has released video highlights of Brock Lesnar’s recent match with Kevin Owens from Madison Square Garden.
WWE regularly puts on stacked house show cards at Madison Square Garden, though these events hardly ever see the light of day, even on the WWE Network. Such was the case on Sunday when WWE brought their road to WrestleMania to Madison Square Garden.
Here are quick results from the show. Above, you can see Brock Lesnar making short work of former Universal Champion Kevin Owens.
March 12th WWE MSG Results:
Randy Orton defeated AJ Styles
Rhyno, Heath Slater and Kalisto defeated Curt Hawkins and Breezeango
Dolph Ziggler defeated Apollo Crews
Dean Ambrose defeated the Miz, Baron Corbin and Luke Harper in a 4-way for the IC title
Brock Lesnar defeated Kevin Owens
Nikki Bella, Tamina, Becky Lynch and Asuka defeated Natalya, Mickie James, Carmella and Alexa Bliss
American Alpha defeated the Usos (retained Smackdown Tag Team Championships)
Bray Wyatt defeated John Cena to retain the WWE Championship
WWE returns to Madison Square Garden on Friday night, July 9th as part of the SummerSlam Heatwave tour.
It’s a big night on NXT tonight. In addition to the scheduled Kassius Ohno vs. Bobby Roode NXT Championship match there are several other big time matches on the show.
Current cruiserweight champion Neville cut a promo about breaking his ankle 3 weeks out of WrestleMania last year in the same building they are in tonight. He said it was irrelevant who wins the 5-way elimination match to face him at WrestleMania, as he will make them regret it.
1. Mustapha Ali vs. Drew Gulak
Ali picked up the win with a 450 splash. After the match Gulak cut a promo about how he’s great and doesn’t need to change, it is 205 Live the needs to change. Winner: Mustapha Ali
2. Rich Swann & Jack Gallagher vs. Noam Dar & Ariya Daivari
Noam Dar picks up the pin for his team, hitting a front kick on Swann and covering him for 3. That’s a big win for Dar. After the match Dar let Alicia Fox know that the victory was a gift for her. Then someone delivered a teddy bear for her and Dar claimed responsibility for that gift as well. He then said Alicia’s last name in a real funny manner. Winners: Dar and Daivari
3. 5-Way Elimination Match for Cruiserweight Title Shot at WrestleMania
Austin Aries vs. Tozawa vs. TJ Perkins vs. the Brian Kendrick vs. Tony Nese
This is the second time now that the #1 contender for the cruiserweight title has been determined via a multi-person elimination match. Last time Jack Gallagher won the match.
Order of eliminations: Tony Nese- eliminated by TJ Perkins Tozawa – eliminated by Brian Kendrick TJ Perkins- eliminated by Brian Kendrick Brian Kendrick – eliminated by Austin Aries
Not surprisingly it will be Austin Aries who goes on to WrestleMania to take on Neville for the cruiserweight championship. It will be Neville’s 3rd televised title defence. Winner: Austin Aries
AJ Styles appears to be on a WrestleMania collision course with SmackDown commissioner Shane McMahon, but one person who is not a fan of this matchup is Corey Graves. During Monday night’s Bring it to the Table episode, no topic was off limits – including WWE booking.
In particular, Graves said, “The prospect of AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon does absolutely nothing for me.”
The comments by Graves echo the sentiment from many WWE fans who worry that a match with Shane McMahon will not provide the excitement that an AJ Styles WM match with another opponent would. Graves continued that what fans remember about Shane McMahon matches are one big spot, such as diving off the Hell in a Cell, whereas AJ Styles is more about complete match.
“AJ Styles is an artist, he can give you a full bell-to-bell experience,” Graves added.
Graves’ comments continue a noticeable trend of superstars coming out of character and making honest comments about the company on shows like Talking Smack and Bring it to the Table.
Daniel Bryan hinted on a recent episode of Talking Smack that when his contract is up in 18 months he may be leaving the company in order to go somewhere which will allow him to wrestle. Whether such comments are being encouraged or if Daniel Bryan and/or Corey Graves are taking a risk by pushing the envelope on their own is currently not known.
Last night on the debut edition of “New Day Talks” it was announced that Big Show is officially entered into the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania. On commentary they played up how Big Show will have the opportunity to become the first man to win the match twice.
The inclusion of Big Show into the Andre the Giant Battle Royal should fully confirm that his match with Shaq at WrestleMania has been called off.
The seed of a potential Shaq vs. Big Show match was planted at last year’s WrestleMania when Shaq was a surprise entrant in the Andre the Giant Battle Royal. This last month Big Show has been posting several videos and photos of himself getting into tremendous physical shape and taunting Shaq about a potential match.
Earlier this month ominous statements from both Shaq and Big Show seemed to indicate the match was not going to take place however, and neither side appeared too happy about it. Big Show has commented that Shaq is out of shape, which may indicate WWE doctors would not clear him to take part in the match, though that is just speculation.
The New Japan Cup continues this week with four shows. Each show will have one tournament match leading into the semi-finals and finals on the 19th and 20th.
Cody Hall, son of WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall, has signed with Japan’s Pro Wrestling NOAH promotion. The company recently inked a partnership agreement with Impact Wrestling.
Hall received a scary injury at NJPWs Invasion Attack 2016 and has been sidelined ever since. He was part of a group of wrestlers who caught Nick Jackson diving off a barrier and injured his neck in the process.
It is believed that negotiations between he and Pro Wrestling NOAH began while he was in recovery. The promotion is said to see potential in the 25-year old.
Since making his NJPW debut in 2015, Hall had been portraying the role as the Bullet Club’s young lion, aka their wrestler in training. It will be interesting to see how NOAH books him moving forward however, if he will be portrayed as a wrestler in training, mid-carder or more.
His first match with NOAH is scheduled for Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall on April 14th against Go Shiozaki.
On Friday night 45-year old Christopher Daniels won the ROH world championship for the first time. It is the first world championship of a major promotion he has won.
Seth Rollins offered his congrats to Daniels:
Major congrats to @facdaniels on winning the @ringofhonor title. One of the best dudes I've had the pleasure of knowing. Long overdue!
Seth Rollins and Christopher Daniels ROH Experience
Rollins and Daniels were both in ROH together in 2010, when Rollins was the ROH world champion. He defeated Austin Aries for the title in February of 2010, and would drop it that September to Roderick Strong.
At the time Daniels was returning from TNA Wrestling, where he had been since 2002.
This Friday night at ROH’s 15th Anniversary show, Daniels defeated Adam Cole in the main event for the ROH world championship. Daniels’ longtime tag team partner Kazarian, had joined Cole’s Bullet Club earlier in the month on ROH television, but at the PPV showed it was all a double-cross. Kazarian turned on Adam Cole and helped Daniels gain the advantage and win the championship.
Earlier in the night Jay Lethal defeated Bobby Fish in a match that commentary indicated would have world title implications. Most likely Daniels’ first title defence, if not a rematch with Cole, will be against Jay Lethal.
Saraya Knight, mother of Paige, is looking to organize an all women’s tournament. Knight, whose life story is being turned into a movie (which is being produced by the Rock), put out an open invitation to promotions to send her their female champion:
Notice to all Companies in the world. I need your female champion, I will help you organise the show but I want… https://t.co/XVnNOJQxhf
The 45-year old Saraya is looking to organize a champion of champions tournament featuring the female champion of different companies from around the world. The finals of the tournament will take place under the banner of Knight’s Bellatrix Female Fighters promotion.
Speculation is that the WWE is contacting female talents as well, for an all-woman tournament to be featured on the WWE Network in May. The tournament would be the 3rd for WWE, who found success with the Cruiserweight Classic and the UK Championship tournaments last year.
