September 5 Wrestling Observer Newsletter

UFC 134 RIO PPV POLL RESULTS Thumbs up 89 (84.0%) Thumbs down 12 (11.3%) In the middle 5 (04.7%)

BEST MATCH POLL Rousimar Palhares vs. Dan Miller 55 Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami 20 Edson Barboza vs. Ross Pearson 17 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Brendan Schaub 10 WORST MATCH POLL Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami 11 Mauricio Shogun Rua vs. Forrest Griffin 10 Paulo Thiago vs. David Mitchell 9

Based on e-mails, phone calls and fax messages to the Observer as of Tuesday, 8/30. World Wrestling Entertainment made a major formatting change on 8/29 with the announcement by figurehead authority figure HHH that Raw would every week become a joint branded show. The decision came after the Raw rating the week before falling beneath the 3.0 threshold, and with the start of regular season Monday Night Football two weeks away, which historically takes 10% off the Raw rating for nearly four months. Another aspect is that in recent weeks, the Raw segments featuring the big names, John Cena, C.M. Punk, HHH and Kevin Nash, have done solid quarter hours, but the show falters with secondary names out there. The idea is that adding Smackdown headliners Randy Orton, Christian, Sheamus and Mark Henry in theory would be stronger when it comes to maintaining the Raw audience than secondary level Raw stars. Another aspect is that at the weekend house shows, generally, the Smackdown house shows have not been doing well. Since Smackdown only draws about 55% the viewership of Raw, a large percentage of WWE fans arent seeing the Smackdown stars. Moving them to Raw will mean more people will see them, and hopefully that results in strengthening the Smackdown house show business, as well as build up more interest in the Smackdown wrestlers when it comes to PPV matches.

The decision comes with its negatives. The people on top in both brands will be getting the large bulk of the air time on Raw, leaving little time for the midcarders. The mid-carders have already fallen by the wayside because fans largely dont emotionally invest in them because theyve had the rug pulled out too many times. Now, its going to be even more difficult. However, Vince McMahon is said to be strong about pushing young guys so it wont be as bad as it seems. It also removes the specialness about PPV shows and joint-branded shows if you get them every Monday. And it also creates a situation where, every Monday, you have two world champions, plus an IC champion and a U.S. champion on the same show. Its hard enough to get anyone to care about championships, but two world champions on the same show every week becomes silly, and then having an IC and U.S. champion also on the show only devalues the latter two even more, although in reality they havent mattered in recent memory. WWE did have this situation in 2001, when they brought in the WCW titles, but after a few months, merged the two versions of the world title before splitting up back up into a Raw brand champion and a Smackdown brand champion. For the Smackdown crew, it does make sense. The company rarely runs Monday night Smackdown house shows because they are tough to sell tickets to. So the crew goes on the road for Saturday and Sunday, and most weeks, they are on the road on Monday staying at a hotel, and then work Tuesday night. A couple of former creative people also noted to me an issue below the surface is that when Smackdown talent appears on Raw, they expect them to come across as secondary to Raw talent, with Orton being the exception. So while a lot of the talent will be seen by more people, they wont be protected as much like a star in the long-run on Raw. The change has no effect on the house shows as the Smackdown talent will not be working Raw house shows, and the brand extension is not ending, just the idea that every Raw will now be a weekly super show. The reason the brands were split in the first place was so more wrestlers would get TV time without being like TNA and cramming so much in that nothing gets over. There will be no changes on Smackdown because the plans are not for Raw talent to be on that show except on special occasions. This makes Smackdown the far superior brand to be on unless you are already an established top star because for a guy like a John Morrison, Cody Rhodes or Ted DiBiase type of talent, you get on TV every week on Smackdown, and will struggle to get time on Raw. **************************************************************** * The 8/29 Raw from Tulsa was one of the strangest shows, as they announced C.M. Punk vs. Kevin Nash for Night of Champions (9/18 in Buffalo), had a confrontation between the two, and then did an angle later in the show where Nash laid out Punk with a jackknife power bomb. Then, late in the show, HHH confronted Punk backstage and said the Board of Directors has changed the match from Punk vs. Nash to Punk vs. himself. The story behind the change after spending a few weeks building up the match is that, according to those in WWE, there was a medical ailment discovered when Nash was getting his physical in Pittsburgh. The ailment was not released, but it was said to be something that in any other era in wrestling, the match

would have taken place. The company made the decision to err on the side of caution, since it is expected Nash will be cleared in the fall and he will wrestle either in a singles match with Punk, or in a three-way involving HHH. A medical issue forcing a change is understandable. But what made no sense was, since the match had not been announced publicly before the company got word, why announce it in the first place? But even thats not a big deal as much as if Nash wasnt wrestling Punk, why did they shoot the angle with Nash laying Punk out. And if HHH, who hasnt wrestled since Mania, was coming back and maybe this isnt how it was first envisioned, and done now based on necessity, why didnt they have a major heated argument to where HHH would blow his stack and look for clearance from the board? Why did they put the heat on the canceled match and coldly announce the new match? The original plan was for HHH vs. Punk to be saved for the Survivor Series. **************************************************************** The experimental 8/30 live Smackdown from Wichita was really a basic Smackdown show, just featuring a contract signing with HHH and C.M. Punk segment plus John Cena. The show is an attempt to test the waters, and hopefully draw a big enough rating that Syfy will move the show from Friday, where its difficult to draw an audience, to Tuesday, where it can air live. This show featured a multitude of changes. On TV when building the show, they announced Randy Orton vs. Christian in a cage match for the title and Alberto Del Rio vs. Sin Cara. But Del Rio was still in Mexico, leaving last week because he needed his visa updated and the paperwork wasnt completed in time for him to get back to the U.S. This resulted in having to change stuff on both Raw and Smackdown he was scheduled for. WWE sent to the TV listings the show would have John Cena vs. C.M. Punk and Orton vs. Christian. Then, on Raw, they had ads for Orton vs. Christian, Sin Cara vs. Del Rio, Punk vs. Great Khali and Cena vs. Wade Barrett. Del Rio wasnt there so that match was out, and they had Sheamus against Khali, since they pulled Punk from the match when they did the contract signing angle. The show opened with Michael Cole saying how the Randy Orton vs. Christian rivalry has been one of the most even rivalries in the history of wrestling. Id hate to see a one-sided rivalry. Cena opened with a promo filled with silly comedy. Booker T said that Cena has been a big success even though he has limited skill. He talked about how every star from Raw, Smackdown, NXT, Heat, Velocity, Shotgun Saturday night, Nitro and Smoky Mountain Wrestling were all there. He even said how the superstars of the XFL were there, and then paused and said that there werent any superstars in the XFL. He called out Alberto Del Rio. Del Rios music played, but he didnt come out. Ricardo Rodriguez came out and spoke in both English and Spanish, but hes far more dynamic as a Spanish ring announcer. He started screaming Alberto Del Rio over and over until Cena stopped him and made some joke about cats going into heat. Cena decked Rodriguez, leading to Wade Barrett coming out.

Barrett said that Cena beating up a fat ring announcer doesnt impress him. Cena said if he wanted to beat up a fat ring announcer, hed be after Tony Chimmel. Barrett said that he demanded this match because Smackdown is not Cenas playground and its his territory. Barrett said he used to own Cena. I dont know about reminding people of that angle. 1. Cena beat Barrett in 3:14. Booker declared Barrett the greatest superstar ever to come out of Manchester. When Barrett delivered a side slam, Booker called it the Wasteland. This was a nothing match, with Cena putting Barrett on his shoulders, smiling and giving him the Attitude Adjustment. Barrett came across as a job guy who wasnt even competitive with the top guys here. Mark Henry was interviewed, noting he meets the Orton vs. Christian winner at Night of Champions. He said the winner will be the next candidate for the Hall of Pain. 2. Sin Cara pinned Daniel Bryan in 4:58. Jorge Arias again played the role. He used his finishing sequence of a senton from the apron inside the ring followed by a quebrada (lionsault). Good match. Cole said Bryan only knows two moves, a guillotine and a hammerlock. You know, after hes won 50 times on shows Cole has called with a LeBell lock. Bryan did a tope and Cara a springboard twisting crossbody to the floor. Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston did the smiling babyface tag team interview right out of the pages of the 80s. The new team name is Air Boom and the idea is for both to do the Kingstons hand gesture and get people to chant Boom, boom at it. 3. With Aksana as ring announcer, Beth Phoenix & Natalya beat Alicia Fox & Kelly Kelly in 2:02 with Phoenix pinning Fox with a Glam slam. Booker talked about how Aksana is smoking hot. His wife just gave birth and he said that. Lets hope for his sake she stopped watching wrestling. Next came the HHH/Punk contract signing. A very good segment. HHH said he called the board and they allowed him for one night to take off the suit. Punk asked why they have a contract signing since hes the COO and he already made the match last night. They argued and talked over each other. This at least gave it a real feel and the rehearsed stuff. But still, the crowd was not reacting at all to what Punk was saying. HHH said he hopes Punk makes up in intelligence what he lacks in hygiene. HHH said that even though Punk disrespected him, his family, his wife, and held the company hostage, he bent over backwards to work with him. HHH said that he played Living Color so you could have Cult of Personality as your music and merchandised Punks T-shirt. Punk said he didnt want to fight COO HHH because the new you sucks, and wanted to face the old HHH, the cerebral assassin. Punk gave a speech about how he loved the WWE, but wants it to be better and that people are dying for a change. The crowd was not reacting when Punk started on how WWE needs to be changed. HHH said hes sick to death of this, how hes talking for the fans. He said maybe half agree and the other half dont give a damn. He said some people like the WWE, watch it every week, love what they see, and come to have a good time and like it how it is. Can it be better? Sure, and he said thats his job. But he said Punk will only accept change if hes the man. He said they are both alike because they both would do anything to be the top man, but he told everyone he would do anything to be it while Punk backdoored himself into the top playing martyr. Punk then said hes not a martyr, he just wants wrestling to be fun again

because hes a fan and wants to make it fun for fans. Again, fans were not reacting to this. HHH said the difference is he respects Vince McMahon for building the industry and how nobody would be standing here if it wasnt for Vince McMahon. Punk said he weeps for the future because Vince lost touch a long time ago and HHH is out of touch, still pointing to his crotch and saying Suck it. Nash then came out and they both knocked down Punk, and Nash shoved down HHH. 4. Sheamus beat Great Khali via DQ in 2:50. Pretty bad since Khali had to sell. After a shoulderblock off the top by Sheamus, Jinder Mahal interfered for the DQ. They continued a two-on-one beating of Sheamus until Khali chopped the ringpost when Sheamus moved. Mahal attacked Sheamus, but he made a comeback and did the Celtic cross (Razors Edge) on Mahal. They asked fans who they thought would win and 85% said they thought Orton would win. Thats because its been one of the most equal rivalries in company history. 5. Orton beat Christian in the cage match to keep the World title in 18:34. Good match with the typical cage match spots with the climbing and last second saves. At one point with both fighting near the cage, Orton did a top rope superplex. Christian used a frog splash for a near fall. At another point, Christian went for the spear, Orton leap frogged him but then Christian did hit the spear for a near fall. Christian tried the Orton punt, but Orton moved. They also did the spot where both punched each other while both were sitting on the top of the cage. Finish saw Orton used an RKO off the top rope onto a chair for the pin. *************************************************************** Some 79 years after what can be traced as the first modern mixed martial arts show was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, UFC debuted in what can be called the birthplace of the sport. UFC 134, held on 8/27 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was what Dana White called a major miscalculation. Its not every day when you sell 14,000 tickets the first day they are put on sale for a gate in excess of $4 million, almost certainly the biggest event of its kind from a money standpoint in the history of the country of Brazil, that its viewed as a mistake. But before the first show had even taken place, Lorenzo Fertitta talked about running the second Brazil show at the Convention Center of Manaus, which holds 100,000 people. And unlike in Toronto, where they expected 30,000 to 40,000 going in, and Rogers Centre officials estimated based on demand they could have sold close to 100,000 tickets if the place was big enough, Fertitta going in said they expect to sell the second show out and break the all-time attendance record. The show had a Brazil vs. the World theme, and according to many there, drew the hottest crowd in the history of the sport. White said it was the hottest in company history. Marc Ratner, who has been to most of the biggest UFC events and most of the biggest boxing events of this generation, said it was the hottest partisan crowd he had ever seen at any event. Mauro Ranallo, who was at every event that would be talked about in MMA history in that realm of the hottest crowd reactions for fights, Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni, Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le, Randy Couture vs. Tim Sylvia and the second Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra fight, said this was the hottest MMA crowd he had seen.

Still, if there was a negative, its that the television and PPV did not do this crowd justice. Sure, you could tell it was a hot crowd. You could see the people almost dancing in the streets for the biggest reaction of the night, when aging legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, expected by most to be knocked out by Brendan Schaub, instead was the one scoring the knockout. Nogueira was easily the most popular fighter on the show, living three miles from the building, but in his lengthy career, he had never fought once in Brazil. He had in the past year had surgeries on both hips and a knee, and ended up on crutches for five months, developing callouses on his hands from the crutches. He was only got off crutches three months ago but insisted on being on this show. Dana White admitted that he thought this would be Nogueiras last fight with the company, thinking hed get knocked out. The other two stars, middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Mauricio Shogun Rua, who also won, hadnt fought in Brazil since the early days of their careers, long before they became stars. When watching the prelims on facebook, it came across as perhaps the hottest crowd ever for the prelims. But on Spike and PPV, you didnt get the same feel. It was an interesting crowd, because while White was talking about it being the greatest crowd theyve ever had, and Im sure it was in some ways, it was a very impatient crowd. They were quicker to boo and louder to boo lack of action, just as they were louder to cheer any action. They booed the ground game, wanting stand-ups immediately. One would think with the sport coming from the Helio Gracie BJJ era, slow defensive ground fights waiting to capitalize on a mistake, that it would be a patient crowd. Plus, it came off like the crowd affected the officials, which in many cases seemed quick on the draw when it came to stand-ups, particularly when the guy on top was keeping busy. UFC really took off in the last year in Brazil, based on a television deal, and the interest in the February Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort match for the middleweight title that was pushed as The Match of the Century in local media. While Nogueiras upset win was the emotional high, it was Silva who put the exclamation point on the show. Silva, who retained his middleweight title via second round knockout of Yushin Okami, came in generally considered the best fighter in the sport today. And with his record break streaks alive, he may have established himself as the best ever, at least in the modern era when we have real records to compare. Of the big three, Fedor Emelianenko is 31-4 with 1 no contest, but if you take away guys who were not good fighters from his record, you get a 10-3 mark, with five finishes. Granted, he was often smaller than his opponents, but he also fought in a heavyweight division that didnt have a lot of depth. Georges St. Pierre, 22-2, is only 30 and while he is an all-time great, it is too early and may have years of big fights left. Hes in a tougher weight class, and against top level guys of his size, hes 14-2, and has rarely lost even a round, but only has six finishes. Of his two losses, one was to Matt Hughes, who he beat twice in rematches. The other was to Matt Serra, who he handily beat in a rematch. Silva, now 36, is 31-4 for his career, but against top level fights, hes 10-1, with the only loss being a disqualification against Okami. For purpose of this, I didnt consider Thales Leitis a top fighter, but you could argue that. In his last 18 fights, hes had one DQ loss and of his 17 wins, only two have gone the distance. Hes finished hard-to-finish fighters like Chris Leben, Rich Franklin

(twice, both quick and one-sided), Nate Marquardt, Dan Henderson, Okami and Belfort. While the first round with Okami was pretty close until Silva landed a head kick late, in the second, he took charge and made Okami look like a rank amateur next to him as he put his hands by his side and dared Okami to punch, and when Okami did, the counter knocked him down. He did the same thing a second time, and this time the counter not only knocked Okami down, but led to the finish. The notable thing about Silva, is that unlike Emelianenko and St. Pierre, who all lost to top guys, Silvas three real losses, throwing out the DQ, were to two mid-level fighters and Akihiro Gono (a decent fighter but one who didnt survive in UFC when Pride went down), all early in his career. Whats notable is hes a speed and reflex fighter who is seems much better at 36 than at 28, and thats a rarity. Okami may have been psyched out from the start. His face told a different story going into the fight from usual. Going into the fight, it was well established he, and perhaps nobody in the division, can beat Silva standing. Perhaps Belfort could on a good night if he got the right blow in, but when he had his chance, he showed no indication of it. The only fighter who has had any success with Silva in UFC is Chael Sonnen, who used a wrestling and ground and pound game to handily win four straight rounds. He was on the verge of winning the title when he was caught in a triangle with two minutes left. The idea is Okami may not have been as good a wrestler as Sonnen, but he was training with Sonnen and if he could implement the same type of game plan, perhaps he could win a decision. Unlike Sonnen, who has shown a history of problems against good submission fighters, Okami has never been submitted in his career, and thats facing some top-notch BJJ grapplers. Instead, the fight was similar to the 2009 Silva vs. Forrest Griffin fight. In that one, Griffin had no chance standing, yet never tried a takedown and fought a style that played to every edge Silva had. Here, Okami did tie Silva up against the cage in the first round and they were even in short blows in the clinch. But it was Okami, not Silva, who broke the clinch, giving separation. Okami never once committed fully to a takedown. His odds of winning were never good, as hed have to control Silva on the ground for five rounds. His chances of a ground and pound stoppage or a submission on Silva werent good. It wasnt as if he tried takedowns and got stuffed, because an Anderson Silva with good enough takedown defense to stop good takedown guys is almost the scariest fighter possible. But he never tried them, and in doing so, made Silva seem like the scariest human possible. This fight also led to more questions about the Sonnen fight last year. Was Sonnens success because Silva really had a rib injury as he claimed he suffered more than a week before the fight? Was it because Sonnen had an advantage from using testosterone? Or does Sonnen have the perfect style to beat Silva if he can avoid his Achilles heel, his weakness against submissions. Sonnen did not come to Brazil. The story was that Okami had a sponsor who requested he not come and there were likely security concerns because of all the trash talk hes said about Brazilians in general. Perhaps, if there was no concern about security, Silva vs. Sonnen could be that fight they take to the stadium next year. Sonnen still has to get by Brian Stann on 10/8 in Houston to earn the title shot. Stylistically, Stann would appear to have very little chance against Silva. But at 36, Silva will get old some day. You never know with a guy who relies so heavily

on speed, movement and uncanny reflexes. Those guys arent supposed to still make fools out of top contenders at 36. Silva extended his three key all-time UFC records, with 14 wins in a row (GSP is in second place with 9), nine consecutive successful title defenses (GSP is second with six), and longest championship reign (On 10/14, he will hit the five year mark, GSP and Tito Ortiz are at three years five months with GSP going into second place next month). PPV numbers are sketchy due to Hurricane Irene, which with power out in so many East Coast homes, had to hurt overall numbers. Because of that issue, we couldnt get anything past preliminary trending numbers which indicated numbers in Canada being very slightly up from UFC 133, while being 15% down in the U.S. If that holds up, that would have to be a huge disappointment, particularly for those who thought Silva had become the No. 3 draw in the company behind Brock Lesnar and Georges St. Pierre. Non-North American fights usually dont do numbers anywhere near North American levels, but this was not on a tape delay, and one would think the first show in Brazil may be a hook. Without question, Okami was going to be a detriment in the main event. Few gave him much of a chance. He has not had a lot of exciting fights and he doesnt have any charisma. It would also indicate how far Forrest Griffin, at one point the companys second or third most popular fighter, has fallen. The hurricane is a legitimate excuse for the East Coast, but not most of the U.S. or in Canada. Still, the combination of Silva and Brazil one would have thought should have done better. And UFC 133 that were comparing with was an estimated 310,000 buy show headlined by Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans. But even with the hurricane hurting numbers in the Northeast due to people not having power, the California trending numbers were down and thats not affected by the hurricane. Best markets per cap appear to have been Edmonton, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Honolulu, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Seattle, Montreal, Dallas, Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Antonio and Denver. Well have a lot more solid estimates in two weeks. The prelims on Spike did an 0.9 rating and 1.3 million viewers, which is lower than average for Spike, but there have been several 0.9s in the past. The show did a 1.23 in Males 18-34 and 0.81 in Males 35-49, the latter being lower than usual for such a show. It was still the highest rated show on cable in Males 1849 for the day. White talked about the show, which aired live in Brazil on regular television, doing a 20 share and 30 million viewers. We havent seen any independent verification of Brazilian ratings and this was said right after the show so would have at best had to have been a projection he was told as opposed to a rating. The bonuses, which were $100,000, went to Ross Pearson vs. Edson Barboza for fight of the night. It was a good technical standing fight, but as noted by our poll, it was heavily for Rousimar Palhares vs. Dan Miller. Nogueira got the knockout of the night bonus. There were no submissions on the card, ironic given it was a show in Brazil, filled with Brazilian fighters. Pearson and Barboza was the only fight where there was question to the outcome. I had Barboza 29-28, taking rounds two and three. Rounds one and three were close, with Barboza winning round two. Statistically, Pearson had a 21-17 and 20-16 edge in significant punches in rounds one and three while Barbozas second round edge was 22-19. Pearson also landed more to the head

in all three rounds. The fight was all standing. The scores were 29-28, 28-29 and 29-28, all fair. Our Observer poll had 50% for Barboza, 34% for Pearson and 16% as a draw. 1. Yves Jabouin (16-7) beat Ian Loveland (14-9) on a split decision with scores of 27-30, 29-28 and 29-28. The first score made no sense. The crowd exploded with every offensive move. After Loveland took Jabouin down, the crowd started booing in 15 seconds. Loveland did some punches and was working for an entangled armlock, but with the crowd booing, it was stood up way too early. Jabouin hurt Loveland with a right and went for a flying knee, but it didnt land solid. Lovelands corner told him to turn it into a wrestling match. He came right out with a takedown, but Jabouin got up and took Loveland down. Loveland reversed, and after 20 slow seconds, the booing started. After Jabouin got up, he took control with a great spin kick to the body and another spin kick, and a spinning backfist. Jabouin dominated the stand-up and got a takedown with 12 seconds left with the strategy of ending the round on top. Jabouin took over with low kicks. Both tired and the crowd was booing. Jabouin won the round by blocking takedowns and landing some kicks. Fans were booing in this round as well. 2. Yuri Alcantara (25-3) beat Felipe Arantes (13-4, 2 no contests) on scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28. Crowd hot for both since theyre Brazilians. Alcantara took him down off a kick and landing a lot of lefts to the side of the head. He busted Arantes eye and moved to side control. Arantes regained guard and it was stood up, again way too early. Arantes landed a flying knee and hard right, as well as a great spinning head kick. The late flurry made the round close, but Arantes got the flurry due to a gifted stand-up. Second round saw Alcantara get another takedown and moved to side control. Crowd quickly booed. Really cool move as Alcantara faked going for an armbar and instead moved to mount. Ref ordered another stand-up when the action flowed after Arantes got back guard. Arantes landed a knee but Alcantara took him back down at the end of the round. In the third round, Alcantara got another takedown and took Arantes back. Arantes reversed and landed some rights from the top. After both were up, Arantes tried a flying knee but Alcantara took him down from it. He stayed on top and was running out the clock, and the fans booed. The ref ordered a standup but Alcantara took him down again. I thought Arantes won the third so had it 29-28 for Alcantara. 3. Erick Silva (13-1, 1 no contest) beat Louis Ramos (19-7) in :40. These guys were welterweight champions of rival promotions, Silva with Jungle Fight and Ramos with Shooto Brazil. Ramos was a last week sub when Mike Swick pulled out. Silva knocked Ramos down with a right and finished him with six punches on the ground, and then did a backflip for good measure. It was Silvas debut in UFC and he couldnt have looked better and showed some charisma. 4. Raphael Assuncao (16-4) beat Johnny Eduardo (25-9) on straight 30-27 scores. Assuncao has dropped from featherweight to bantamweight. Eduardo was a big favorite from Rio de Janeiro and a great rep for Muay Thai. More booing because they started slow. These fans would love Antonio McKee. Assuncao got a takedown and landed elbows, but the booing crowd led to a fast stand-up. Crowd was quiet in the first round with the ring girls being more over than the fighters. Eduardo got the clinch and a takedown to start the second round but Assuncao reversed and got his back. Eduardo landed some low kicks and blocked Assuncaos takedowns. Eduardo landed a spin kick to the body. But

Assuncao pulled out the round with a takedown and got Assuncaos back. Third round saw Eduardo move forward, but Assuncao got him down. At one point he actually had him in a half crab. He punched from the top while standing and Eduardo being on the ground. He continued to land punches and they ordered a stand-up. This was ridiculous. Eduardo landed a right and Assuncao slipped and went down, but he got right back up. Assuncao may have suffered a broken nose. After this fight, this was the first where a Brazilian fighter would do his interview in English, given he was being asked questions by Kenny Florian in English, and the crowd booed him until he spoke Portuguese. 5. Paulo Thiago (14-3) beat David Mitchell (11-2) by straight 30-27 scores. Thiago got a super reaction, as he was a member of the Rio de Janeiro police special forces, and they hated Mitchell. They didnt like foreigners, but hated Americans. Crowd was just going nuts for this fight. Thiago dominated the stand-up and got a takedown. Crowd was super loud and singing they were so happy. Thiago landed a spin kick, got Mitchells back and took him down. He let Mitchell up with ten seconds left in the first. Second saw Thiago miss a spin kick and slip and go down, but Mitchell couldnt take advantage of it. Thiago got three more takedowns in the round, and landed enough to where Mitchell was bleeding. Third round saw Thiago land standing and another takedown. He let Mitchell up and landed a high kick. Mitchell was bleeding from the right eye. Thiago got his back and was trying to finish with a choke but time ran out, with Thiago clearly winning all three rounds. 6. Rousimar Palhares (22-3) beat Dan Miller (13-6, 1 no contest) on scores of 29-27, 30-27 and 30-25. I had 30-26 but the third round was close. Palhares just looks freaky physically, kind of like the jacked up version of David Otunga. Loud chants for Palhares. He landed a front kick to the jaw and followed with a big slam. Miller got right back up and took Palhares down. Miller then backed off and let Palhares up, I guess not wanting to test Palhares strong ground game. But Palhares was winning the stand-up from here. Miller went for a takedown but Palhares landed a knee. Then in a crazy moment, Palhares knocked Miller down with a head kick and was pounding on him with punches on the ground. Palhares then got up and started celebrating like he won. Miller was confused, thinking Herb Dean stopped it, and he easily could have, except he didnt. Palhares climbed up to the top of the cage and Dean told him to come back and fight. After the show he said he heard Miller saying stop, but those at ringside said it was a fan who yelled stop and not Miller. Both guys were bleeding from the left eye at this point. Then they traded punches and Miller knocked Palhares down with a right with seconds left. But Palhares then got up and scored with a huge takedown and started throwing punches, including one blatant late punch after the round ended. Super exciting round, especially the last minute. In the second round, Miller acted like he was poked in the eye but Herb Dean didnt call a poke. Palhares was landing knees while Miller couldnt see. Miller tried a guillotine but Palhares landed a high slam. Miller got a triangle but Palhares power bombed out of it. Palhares was pounding him. Miller went for a takedown and Palhares stayed upright by grabbing the fence on four different occasions. Herb Dean yelled at him but by the fourth time, he should have called a penalty point. Plus, because he held the fence, he ended up on top and was punching. Palhares got another slam and landed big shots from the top. Miller was bleeding badly and Palhares continued to land hard punches from the top, and Miller was in trouble. He continued to pound on him and Dean told Miller he was about to stop it. Palhares continued to punch hard with Miller bleeding badly from the left

eye. I saw this as a 10-8 round. Palhares was tired starting the third round and Miller started punching. But Miller could only land one at a time and he was tired as well so they werent with much power. Both were exhausted with 2:00 left. Both landed punches and it was pretty even in the third. Both hugged when it was over. 7. Thiago Tavares (20-4-1) beat Spencer Fisher (25-8) at 2:51 of the second round. Tavares got two takedowns as well as got Fishers back late in the first round. Tavares was bleeding from under the right eye in the first round. Crowd was real hot for the Brazil vs. USA match-up. In the second round, Tavares corner told him to stop kicking. So he came out and threw two high kicks. Tavares powered Fisher to the ground and was landing a lot of punches. After about 25 unanswered punches, it was stopped. 8. Stanislav Nedkov (12-0) beat Luiz Cane (12-4, 1 no contest) in 4:13. Nedkov is only the second Bulgarian ever to compete in UFC, and a two-time national freestyle champion. The crowd again started singing in unison here. Nedkov, who was a lot smaller, couldnt get the takedown. Cane, the Brazilian, was landing punches while Nedkov couldnt get him down. He appeared to have busted Nedkovs nose, but suddenly Nedkov landed a left hook to the jaw and Cane was hurt. He tried to dance away, but Nedkov just overwhelmed him with punches, put him down and landed 18 straight hard lefts to the head and ref Mario Yamasaki stopped it. The crowd went quiet at that point. 9. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (33-6-1, 1 no contest) knocked out Brendan Schaub (9-1) in 3:09. Schaub was booed like crazy and Nogueira was, by far, the most popular fighter on the card. Still, Schaub loved Brazil and had both an American and Brazilian flag on his gi when it came out. Crowd was just going crazy here. They were in a clinch and traded short punches to the jaw. Schaub landed a hard right and kicked Nogueira in the knee. Schaub started landing punches but then Nogueira came back with a hard left and right, followed by a left that landed perfectly, which put Schaub down and out. This was apparently the biggest reaction to a finish in UFC history. Even not well micd, you could see the drinks flying everywhere in celebration and the crowd literally dancing and jumping up and down. Just a crazy scene. 10. Edson Barboza (9-0) beat Ross Pearson (14-5) on a split decision on scores of 29-28, 28-29 and 29-28. Very close fight. Pearson was moving forward early and putting Barboza on his heels, which he wasnt used to. Both landed both punches and kicks in the first round, with no takedowns and Pearson did land more. In the second, Barboza scored the only knockdown with an overhand right. Pearson tried a takedown but couldnt get it. Pearson started coming back. Each landed, with Barboza with body kicks and a spin kick. Pearson again couldnt get a takedown. Barboza took the round with a knockdown so I had it even going into the third. Pearson with a left to the jaw and Barboza back with a spin kick. Barboza with a body kick and a left by Pearson. Pearson with a knee. Pearson had a nasty hematoma on the left side of the head, and again tried and couldnt get takedowns. Spin kick by Barboza but Pearson moved enough to avoid most of it. Pearson with several punches, but Barboza right back with a punch that busted Pearsons hematoma open. Pearson landed more punches late in the round and hit a knee. It was probably the swelling and busting open the hematoma that won Barboza the fight. From a pure technical fighting standard it was the best thing on the show.

11. Mauricio Shogun Rua (20-5) beat Forrest Griffin (18-7) in 1:53. This was a rematch of a 2007 fight that Griffin won, that turned Griffins career around. Griffin mentally wasnt here for the fight. His wife was nine days from giving birth and while he was in Brazil, seemed to figure out it was a mistake to be there. They traded, but Ruas punches were a lot harder. Griffin just didnt move like himself. Rua landed a hard right and Griffin took a delayed fall. Shogun landed four punches on the ground and seven really hard hammer firsts and Griffin was out by the fourth or fifth one. As soon as the fight was over, Griffins wife texted him saying that it was about time, so he rushed home as she apparently went into labor. But he wasnt aware of it until maybe 20 or 30 minutes after the fight was over. Rua looked sharp, but its going to be hard for him to get a title shot if Jon Jones remains champion because he didnt even look competitive against Jones in the title loss. 12. Anderson Silva (31-4) beat Yushin Okami (27-6) at 2:04 of the second round to retain the middleweight title. Neither would touch gloves. Okami came into the cage with this face like he wasnt confident. Silva looked much bigger which is funny since Okami is pushed like hes this super strong powerhouse. Okami came out and missed punches. He got a clinch and threw punches. Silva landed a jab and was dancing but Okami got another clinch. Okami landed a lot of punches from the clinch, and then they tried knees. Okami tried a takedown and didnt get it, Silva threw a knee while they were in the clinch which made Okami back off. Silva landed a right and followed with a high kick that hurt Okami. But the second round, Silva came out fast, putting on a show with his speed and movement. He then put his hands down and dared Okami to punch. Okami threw the punch and Silva came right back and knocked him down with a right jab. Silva backed off, letting Okami up. He kept his hands low again. Okami paused, not wanting to throw, but when he saw an opening, fired a left, and Silva put him down with another right to the jaw and finished him with punches on the ground. **************************************************************** * Wrestling in Japan may be at near its lowest level of popularity to the mainstream in its history, but 8/28 showed that with the right promotion and attraction, there are still a lot of people who will attend shows even without major television promotion, as what was reported as more than 28,000 fans came out to see two head-to-head shows in Tokyo. A joint show, with All Japan, New Japan and Pro Wrestling NOAH all working together for a show to raise money for victims of the earthquake and tsunami sold out Budokan Hall to the tune of 17,000 fans, selling out well in advance. The crowd was hot and into everything, in a show that didnt feature one singles match. The biggest thing on the show was Kenta Kobashi & Keiji Muto as a tag team, , ending with double moonsaults as Kobashi pinned Takashi Iizuka while Muto did the same thing to Toru Yano. It was a nostalgia crowd, because there were huge reactions to wrestlers from another era, the biggest surprises being Super Strong Machine and Masa Fuchi. Fuchi in particular had his name chanted when he came out for the Battle Royal. The show was considered a major success. It was even covered on the NTV nightly newscast, with a few minutes covering all three major companies

working together although one of the reasons it got the coverage was because of it being an earthquake victims benefit show. Before the main event started, all the wrestlers from the three promotions came to the ring and Tanahashi was given the role of being the big modern star, and he said the three groups would be doing a second earthquake benefit show on 2/19 in Sendai, which was the major city that got hit the worst from the earthquakes. Not far away, at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Antonio Inokis IGF show did a sellout announced at 11,600 fans. Live reports from both shows noted the sellouts were legit. This show also had a hot crowd, and a very different audience feel. Inokis gimmick of using the kind of guys that would be stars in the 70s (including some that actually were stars in the 70s like Abdullah the Butcher, Mil Mascaras and Tiger Jeet SinghButcher and Singh appeared but didnt wrestle ), freak show guys and real fighters who arent necessary smooth workers, usually isnt a big deal. This show did not draw your usual wrestling crowd, but non fans and a casual audience that came to see names from the past in Japan like Jerome LeBanner, Mascaras and Peter Aerts. The quality of matches was said to be what youd expect given the lineup, but the live crowd was entertained seeing Mascaras vs. Tatsumi Fujinami, the return to pro wrestling of Naoya Ogawa as well as the K-1 legends back in Japan. Inoki had promoted the show heavily in Fukushima, which is about 180 miles from Tokyo, and they had 1,000 people come from that city which was one of the places hit by the earthquake. While looking at these numbers would give an impression that things are starting to turn around in Japan, those who are there says you do get the impression when attending these big shows because the fans who came are really into it that things are the case, but the Japanese economy for pro wrestling right now is really bad and there is no sign of a turnaround. Because of the weakness in the Japanese economy, the sponsor money (which has always been a big part of their business long before it was in the U.S.) isnt there, there isnt the Yakuza finance money of spot shows as in the past and pro wrestling used to have mainstream appeal, with the two stars well known celebrities, which is not the case today. Both All Japan and Pro Wrestling NOAH are in very bad shape financially right now, although New Japan is on solid footing. At Budokan Hall, the show opened with the three champions, Tanahashi, Suwama and Shiozaki, as well as NOAH Vice President Naomichi Marufuji (out with an injury) coming out and thanking the fans for coming. 1. The opener had the theme of some of the best high flyers, as Kota Ibushi (DDT) & Bushi (All Japan) & Hiroshi Yamato (All Japan) & Taiji Ishimori (NOAH) beat Tiger Mask (New Japan) & Kaz Hayashi (All Japan) & Shuji Kondo (All Japan) & Ricky Marvin (NOAH) in 10:05 when Ishimori pinned Marvin after a 450 splash. Fast paced well worked match. 2. The second match theme was the rising stars, as Tetsuya Naito (New Japan) & Seiya Sanada (All Japan) & Shuhei Taniguchi (NOAH) beat Yujiro Takahashi (New Japan) & Manabu Soya (All Japan) & Mohammed Yone (NOAH) in 11:10 when Sanada pinned Takahashi after a moonsault. This had Naito vs. Takahashi, which is a New Japan feud, with Sanada & Soya, a regular All Japan tag team combination, were on opposite sides.

3. Togi Makabe (New Japan) & Akitoshi Saito (NOAH) beat Hirooki Goto (New Japan) & Taiyo Kea (All Japan) in 9:54 when Makabe pinned Kea after the King Kong kneedrop. 4. In another junior heavyweight match, Prince Devitt (New Japan) & Ryusuke Taguchi (New Japan) & Kotaro Suzuki (NOAH) & Katsuhiko Nakajima (NOAH through the Kensuke Office) & Kai (All Japan) beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru (NOAH) & KENTA (NOAH) & Genba Hirayanagi (NOAH) & Koji Kanemoto (New Japan) & Minoru (All Japan) in 15:07 when Kai pinned Hirayanagi after a splash. The winning team consisted of Devitt & Taguchi, the current IWGP jr. tag champs, Suzuki, the GHC jr. champ, and Kai, the All Japan jr. champion. They went against KENTA & Kanemaru, the GHC jr. tag champs, with Hiryanagai, the third guy on their regular team, and Kanemoto & Minoru, who were the best tag team in the world many years back, and teamed up for the first time in years. Also a very good match, with interesting sequences with Devitt & Taguchi vs. KENTA & Kanemaru as well as Nakajima vs. Kanemoto. 5. In a reunion match of sorts, Jushin Liger (New Japan) & Masakatsu Funaki (All Japan) & Takuma Sano (NOAH) beat Minoru Suzuki (free agent) & Taichi (New Japan) & Atsushi Aoki (NOAH) in 12:47 when Funaki beat Aoki with a chicken wing facelock submission. Liger, Funaki & Sano all started together in the New Japan dojo. 6. Kentaro Shiga won a 23 man Battle Royal for The Destroyer Cup. The Destroyer (Dick Beyer, now 81) came to the ring with son Kurt Beyer (who wrestled for All Japan in the 90s). He was not moving very well, but that shouldnt be a surprise given his long career in wrestling and working a physical style. He needed the guard rails and ropes for support. They opened up the ropes so he could get into the ring and there was a sad moment because he tried to get in and couldnt bend over enough. Then they spread open the middle and top rope and he was able to get in. He did a promo before the match started and he can still deliver, in Japanese to boot, and the crowd gave him a big reaction. Shiga won in 11:54, pinning Gedo (New Japan) in a symbolic gesture. Shiga is a free agent, who worked for years with NOAH, and is from Sendai. Others in the match were Hideo Saito (New Japan), Tomohiro Ishii (New Japan), Takaaki Watanabe (New Japan), Super Strong Machine (New Japan), Jun Nishikawa (Kensuke Office), Satoshi Kajiwara (Kensuke Office), Kento Miyahara (Kensuke Office), Lee Che Gyong (All Japan), Sho Soya (All Japan), Soshun (All Japan), Yasufumi Nakanoe (All Japan), Mazada (All Japan), Masa Fuchi (All Japan), Rene Dupree (All Japan), Joe Doering (All Japan), Zack Sabre Jr. (NOAH), Masao Inoue (NOAH), Yoshinari Ogawa (NOAH) and Akira Taue (NOAH). 7. The fat team against the early 90s New Japan class match saw Akebono (All Japan) & Ryota Hama (All Japan) & Takeshi Morishima (NOAH) & Yutaka Yoshie (free agent) over Hiroyoshi Tenzan (New Japan) & Yuji Nagata (New Japan) & Osamu Nishimura (All Japan) & Wataru Inoue (New Japan). The ending came at 11:20 when Morishima pinned Nishimura after a back suplex. Morishima carried the bout. 8. Jun Akiyama (NOAH) & Kensuke Sasaki (Kensuke Office) beat the return of Team No Fear of Yoshihiro Takayama (NOAH) & Takao Omori (All Japan) in 15:44 when Sasaki pinned Omori after the Hokuto bomb.

9. In the match that got the most reaction, Kenta Kobashi (NOAH) & Keiji Muto (All Japan), two of the greatest wrestlers in Japanese history and for an historical standpoint, clearly the two biggest stars on this show, beat Takashi Iizuka & Toru Yano (New Japan heels) in 14:58. Kobashi & Muto came out first, which was weird, but that was because the heels went to attack them from behind during their ring entrance. Iizuka tried to cut Kobashis hair. Muto did a moonsault on Iizuka and then he told Kobashi to do the same. Kobashi slowly climbed the ropes and did a moonsault on Iizuka for the pin. 10. Hiroshi Tanahashi (New Japans IWGP heavyweight champion) & Suwama (All Japan Triple Crown champion) & Go Shiozaki (NOAHs GHC heavyweight champion) beat Takashi Sugiura (NOAH) & Kenso (All Japan) & Shinsuke Nakamura (New Japan). Finish came in 22:50 when Tanahashi pinned Kenso with the high fly flow. This was said to be the best match on the show. Tanahashi & Kenso started their careers together in New Japan. Because Kenso, who went by his real name of Kenzo Suzuki, was a member of the national team in rugby and the bigger guy, he got more of a push starting out, but Tanahashi was the better wrestler and showed more charisma, so he was the one who ended up as arguably the biggest new generation superstar. From the start, Sugiura and Nakamura had problems with Kenso. Kenso was about to get pinned, but Nakamura made the save. Then Kenso attacked Nakamura, and then hit Sugiura. Everyone turned on Kenso. Nakamura gave Kenso the bom a ye and then Sugiura gave him the Olympic slam. Suwama then gave him a German suplex, followed by Shiozaki giving him a lariat. Suwama then gave Kenso a last ride power bomb before Tanahashi came off the top with his frog splash for the pin. The show ended with a rock band and dancers came out while the wrestlers were in the ring and the crowd was chanting Pro Wrestling is awesome. From the Inoki show: 1. Daijiro Matsui (a former Pride fighter who was also a pro wrestler) went to a 10:00 draw with Akira Jo. 2. In a kickboxing match, Hidekazu Kimura beat Masashi via unanimous decision. 3. Taka Kunou beat Baru Harnin 2:51 via armbar. 4. Kendo Ka Shin (Tokimitsu Ishizawa, a former national champion wrestler who was given a submission specialist gimmick in pro wrestling, and then moved on to Pride where he couldnt submit anyone) beat Black Tiger (Tatsuhito Takaiwa, a former New Japan star) in 6:50 with a flying armbar. 5. Bobby Lashley went to a double count out with Eric Hammer in 5:45. They went back and forth working a realistic style before brawling outside the ring. 6. Mil Mascaras drew Tatsumi Fujinami as 1979 wanted its legendary match back. This was the second 10:00 draw these two have done. The match was slow, but they each got their trademark spots in and thats what the people wanted to see. 7. Masahiro Chono beat Yuichiro Nagashima in 12:58. Nagashima was a K-1 Max star as the cross-dressing kickboxer who knocked out Shinya Aoki in a New Years Eve match. Nagashima used the same flying knee he knocked out Aoki with. Well, not the same, but the working version. Nagashima even used the

Octopus submission. Chono piledrove him on the floor. He also got a two count on Chono with a moonsault. Chono used a piledriver, some kekka kicks (the former Yakuza kick) and finished by submission to the STF. 8. Naoya Ogawa beat Atsushi Sawada in 12:45 with an arm triangle or side choke. Ogawa retired a few years back. This was pushed as teacher vs. student and there had been a number of angles where Sawada was demanding this match. Ogawa really destroyed him at the end with an STO and the side choke. 9. Ray Sefo beat Montanha Silva via DQ in 3:40. Silva is probably about 6-10 or so and depending on how his frequently changing physique looks, can range from about 295 to 330. Silva, who was a pro wrestler in Brazil that they taught to be a kickboxer, landed a dropkick. Sefo was another popular K-1 fighter known for his ability to take a shot and his knockout power, and last we heard was completely broke in Las Vegas because K-1 owed him $700,000 for matches hes already done. Silva even suplexed Sefo. They had a pull-apart that ended when Silva hit the referee for the DQ. Seemed built up for a rematch. 10. Hideki Suzuki, a newcomer they are looking at pushing, pinned Harry Smith in 4:47 after a double arm suplex. Suzuki is a student of Billy Robinson from the old UWF Snake Pit gym in Tokyo that Robinson worked at before moving to Little Rock a few years ago. So the idea here was that this was a battle of two students of Robinson. He was described as a tall, good looking guy who, along with Akira Joe and current Pancrase star Manabu Inoue, were Robinsons best students in Japan. It should be noted that Yuko Miyato, who put together the gym and hired Robinson as the trainer, is now one of the office people in Inokis promotion. 11. Peter Aerts beat Shinichi Suzukawa via TKO in 11:01. Aerts was one of the K-1 legends and is well known culturally for nearly two decades of being on highly rated nationally televised fights. Suzukawa was a star in sumo and turned to pro wrestling after the sumo association fired him for smoking marijuana. Suzukawa would keep taking Aerts down, but between takedowns, Aerts would be killing him standing. Aerts got a knockdown with a kick to the body. Aerts knocked him down again with a kick until Suzukawa went down from a low kick and the ref stopped. 12. Jerome LeBanner retained the IGF world heavyweight title beating Kazuyuki Fujita in 4:57. This was supposed to be the finals of the tournament to crown their first world champion. LeBanner was to face Josh Barnett, but Barnett pulled out of the match because it was two weeks before his Strikeforce fight and breaking camp for several days in Japan probably wouldnt be the smartest idea. Fujita was a national champion wrestler who New Japan signed, and he was still at the prelim stage when, because of his credentials, Inoki tried to use as his protege in Pride. He had some success, beating Mark Kerr and Ken Shamrock when that still meant a lot, but his wrestling wasnt really top caliber and his only other attribute as a fighter was his ability to take punishment, and thats only going to last you so long before it catches up with you. But he was pushed as a wrestler with New Japan when he came back. LeBanner was another of the big stars of the K-1 era, a 6-4, 265 pound knockout artist. Fujita used some spears to take LeBanner down. LeBanner threw him out of the ring and beat him up outside. The match ended when they were back in the ring. Fujita went for another spear, but LeBanner nailed him with a knee and got the pin.

They then announced a return date on 9/3 in Nagoya, with LeBanner vs. Montanha Silva in a non-title match, Nagashima vs. Munenori Sawa, Fujinami vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara, plus Harry Smith, Peter Aerts, Shinichi Suzukawa, Bobby Lashley and Eric Hammer, and the debut of former WWE wrestler Vladimir Kozlov, who will use the name Alexander Koslov. **************************************************************** * The plight of Ric Flair was the subject of an extensive story this past week by Shane Ryan of Bill Simmons grantland.com web site. The story was a laundry list of Flair issues that have become public record in Mecklenberg County, in North Carolina, where Flair has lived since 1974. The issues include loans he didnt pay back that ended up resulting in lawsuits, IRS troubles, being bilked by friends for money, problems in his marriages and living beyond his means, which resulted in making a comparison to Flair and the Randy the Ram character in the movie The Wrestler. Of course thats a ridiculous comparison, given Flair isnt living in poverty or working behind the counter at a deli hoping people dont recognize him. Flair has largely lived the life he has wanted, as the guy who once delivered newspapers to Mad Dog Vachon, idolized Ray Stevens and would drive Superstar Billy Grahams car and pick him up from the airport in Grahams AWA heyday ended up being one of the legends in wrestling. But like the vast majority of wrestling legends, from Lou Thesz to Buddy Rogers to Argentina Rocca from the 50s, and his idols like Stevens, Graham and Wahoo McDaniel in the 70s and even Hulk Hogan (who lost everything he earned between a nasty divorce and a lawsuit settlement after his son drove a car and got into an accident that nearly killed his sons best friend) and the guy who taught him wrestling, Verne Gagne (who is in his 80s, his memory gone, and with nothing to show for all the years of being a local wrestling icon and successful promoter). Flair lived big and ended up with little financially to show for it, trusting the wrong people with his money, and living the gimmick. The records also show a list of creditors amassed over the last 15 years that ended up going to court against him. It showed the dichotomy of a guy who for decades spent money on friends and women like it was going out of style, and to an extent, still does, as the situation with TNA on the European tour, or at nearly every Orlando taping when he goes out for drinks and is always buying, shows. But on the flip side, hes deeply in debt, with huge alimony payments, tax debts and loans to repay. But he still lives like hes Ric Flair. To friends, he seems to indicate he doesnt have a care in the world. Those who have talked with him since the story came out noted it didnt seem to effect him. Part of it is that Flair lived, did and does everything that a sports or entertainment legend from the 70s would do. Its no longer 1979 and hes not the main meal ticket for a thriving Jim Crockett Promotions. Hes hardly going to care about an Internet story because he doesnt even turn on a computer. If it was in the local newspaper, maybe. On the local TV news or on the sports talk shows, where all the hosts know him on a first name basis and have him on all the time as a guest talking about modern major sports, which he is a huge fan of, and the old days of wrestling. In Charlotte, when it comes to adults, at least those who listen to local sports talk radio, pro wrestling ended for some in 1988, and for others, maybe in 2001 when the boom period ended and

WCW died. But its seemingly not relevant today. At least not when Flair is on the air, the phone lines are lit up, and people cant wait to ask questions about Blackjack Mulligan, Ricky Steamboat, Dusty Rhodes and Magnum T.A., and terms like Evolution, WrestleMania and Shawn Michaels never come up, at least from the callers. Flair used to tell me that it amazed him when hed do the shows or see people, how they had such vivid memories of another era, and nobody would ask much about anything after the era of Charlotte being a local wrestling hotbed with regular live events ended. And even then, when it comes to bad publicity, in his world, nobody ever brings it up. They just want autographs and photos taken with him, and to hear him personally go Whooo! When much of the detail in this story as it related to the breakup of his second marriage was in his hometown paper, which shocked him that the paper in the town where he was according to many, still its leading celebrity at the time, would publish, yeah, he was mad. But even then he got over it pretty quickly. Although enough has come out that he realized that the political career that state republicans had talked with him about, potentially running for Governor, was not going to happen. He was warned by Jesse Ventura, who had far less lifetime baggage, that it was a nasty world and too much could come out. When last year, his current wife, Jacqueline Beams, was arrested for punching him several times in the face while her alarmed daughter called police on her own mother, he lost an endorsement deal with one major sports franchise that used a video of him screaming Whooo when they scored. Constantly working on endorsements, and in that world, always one step away from that big deal that will leave him financially set for life (the elusive deal that all kinds of celebrities are close to and few actually get), he was told most of the people he did business with, NASCAR, Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart, for public speaking or personal appearances, were sticking by him. But he was warned to stay out of trouble because major companies dont really like people endorsing their product to have a lot of negative baggage. At the same time, with wrestlers, celebrities in general, whatever they do, whether its owing money, telling their jailed son that the guy who nearly died in an accident with his son driving had bad karma from being a bad person, beating multiple girlfriends, constant drug arrests, rape convictions and everything short of murder are often forgiven by an adoring fan base. Flair wouldnt talk publicly about the story. Melinda Morris Zanoni, his agent, released a strange statement: While the information gleaned from courthouse records may be credible, Mr. Fliehr is currently evaluating his legal options with respect to falsehoods in the story, specifically the untrue statement that he suffers from alcoholic cardiomyopathy. Our client understands that these allegations are part of the territory when you are not only famous, but a living legend. Ric Flair is a sports entertainer, which has been a lifelong passion that he still enjoys delivering to his fans today, along with his work outside of the ring with various charitable causes. We will be sure to advise Mr. Fliehr against running for County Treasurer and instead to continue entertaining his millions of fans all over the world as he has been doing for the past 35 years. Flair also has a lottery deal in place in North Carolina, and several other states hes had talks with based on the success of the commercials.

The story of alcoholic cardiomyopathy comes from Flairs own autobiography and was talked about here when the book came out. Flair was diagnosed with heart issues in late 2002 and was out of action for about five months, returning in March, 2003. In Flairs autobiography, written in 2004, he said that he feared it was from steroid use, but his doctor told him it was alcohol related. In a conversation we had in 2002 when the diagnosis came out, he described it to me as his doctor saying it was both steroid related and alcohol related, but he dismissed the steroid aspect because while he had done steroids during his career, he was never as heavy a user as a lot of the guys, but he was a heavy partier and had drank more than most. After taking medication, he was cleared to wrestle in 2003 and as far as I know, there have been no heart issues since, at least of a significant enough level that have ever caused him to miss work. Clearly, he still drinks. But in a description of him, it talks about his working for Total Nonstop Action, a second-tier outfit where hes still compelled to perform despite suffering from alcohol cardiomyopathy, and where almost everything he earns goes toward old debts; lawyers, ex-wives, the IRS, former business partners and anyone else who made the mistake of lending him money. As far as in a court of law, theres no way a suit is going anywhere. He mentions the alcoholic cardiomyopathy in his own autobiography. But the article made it sound like hes suffering from it, has a bad heart, and is risking his health wrestling. Whether, at 62, he should be wrestling in the ring, is certainly an issue worthy of discussion. As best I can tell, there was more concern regarding his not having surgery for a torn rotator cuff than any heart issues, with Flair scheduled for surgery, then backing out because he didnt want to be out of action for six or more months. But he was cleared to perform by his doctors 8 years ago and was subject to regular heart monitoring in WWE from that period on, and more extensively as the years went on. But he wrestles rarely these days, but does have a match with Sting scheduled in a few weeks. The story notes how there are thousands of pages on Richard Fliehr in the Mecklenberg County courthouse, citing stories like him passing out after attacking son Reid after Reid broke his drunken mothers arm by pushing her out an elevator. A lot of the information was reported on when the incidents happen. A lot, regarding the number of loans taken out to people with no involvement in wrestling had never been reported. And when put all together it makes a sadder story that the various stories reported at the time they happened. Flair grew up with adopted parents who were products of the depression. Even though his father was a well known and respected OB/gyn, Doc Fliehr, his parents were always uptight about money. While he loved his parents, who have both passed way, he never wanted to live like them, and there was no happy medium. He would joke about going to St. Louis for the weekend, making $5,000 for a main event, and spending $10,000 before he got home. The story went back-and-forth between his owing money creditors, and both he and his second wife, Beth, being bilked by close friends. Taken individually, a lot can be explained, but of them, and the idea that these only represented people who his family to court, tells a much deeper story. to a number of in business deals the sheer volume had taken him or

In a few cases, the story was weak, such as in failure to provide a true context of some incidents, but there was enough there that picking it apart based on not knowing the story behind the 1991 NWA title belt story and some of his issues

within wrestling or not giving the time line over the heart issue. And it is germane that someone with a previous heart condition was left without life insurance after two marriages after being bilked in a series of policies, and now, still performing at 62, has to find a policy while still in a dangerous world where dying young is so frequent. In the 1991 lawsuit over the physical NWA world heavyweight title belt, the story brought up that WCW sued Flair over leaving with the belt. Flair had possession of the belt after paying a $25,000 deposit to become champion. When Jim Herd, who ran WCW, fired him in 1991, he failed to pay him back his deposit. They just made a new championship belt and moved on. But Flair sent the belt to Vince McMahon, who had Bobby Heenan hold it up on television to build to Flairs arrival, and Flair wore it on WWF television when he showed up later that year. WCW sued WWF, and while Flair was listed as a plaintiff, the suit was between promotions. Flair was named in the suit but he really wasnt involved in it. WCW won the suit and it was ruled Flair could not wear the belt on WWF television, but even then, WCW never paid him back for it, and he used the belt as collateral for loans years later. McMahon then decided to have a replica belt made for Flair to wear on his television, but that led to a second case where WCW prevailed again, so Flair began wearing one of McMahons tag team title belts which would be digitized out on television, making you think he was still wearing the belt even though the court ruled he couldnt, which was pretty clever. The explanation on TV was that Jack Tunney ruled since it was not a belt recognized by WWF, it could not air on television, but Flair was still wearing it. The digitization of the belt allowed them to continue to portray him as the real world champion until he won the WWF title in early 1992 at the Royal Rumble, while allowing them to skirt the ruling in the court case. The story noted in 1990 he owed the IRS $62,000 in back taxes from the 80s, which he paid. In that era, it was not unusual for wrestlers to not file taxes, and then end up owing tons of money and interest. Even today, with some of the biggest name boxers and actors and other entertainers who made far more money than any wrestles have ever made, tax trouble is not unusual, which is why so many fighters who had made huge money continued when they no longer should have. Its almost like the cycle of life, with each generation there is more money, yet the same end result for so many. They listed a speeding ticket for going 95 MPH, but in those days in the territory there was an unwritten rule that wrestlers would speed, get pulled over, sign some autographs, maybe give some free tickets. It didnt work with every officer as there were wrestlers in the territory who had to face charges, but it had been a somewhat accepted practice dating back to long before Flair moved to Charlotte. They talked about a court case involving a stalker, DeeAnn Siden, who would follow him from 1990-98, claimed an affair, claimed she had a daughter from Flair. It was never established in the story if the claim was legitimate. This was years ago and one would think it has been settled if he was, or even if not, it should have been said, particularly since the woman in question making the claim was an established nut case. Siden was also arrested years later for stalking Kurt Angle all over the country and threatening to kill Karen Angle.

His first lawsuit involving unpaid bills appeared to be 1996, when his Golds Gym in Hickory, NC, started having financial problems, and a company that sold equipment to his gym sued for $66,000 in unpaid bills. Flair owned a series of Golds Gyms, including one that was destroyed in a flood in the Cayman Islands. The gyms in the long run did not do well and some were closed and some were sold. A Charlotte painter got a $1,500 judgment against him when his wife wouldnt pay them for painting the house. It brought up Flairs being sued, and his countersuit, against WCW after he and Eric Bischoff had issues when Flair had entered his son Reid in a national wrestling tournament, said he would have to miss a TV shoot over it and it turned into a pissing contest when Bischoff insisted he come and he didnt. That ended up being settled months later. By 2000, his money owed grew deeper, both in not paying bills, and his wife being tricked in the financial matters he left her in charge of, leaving them deeper in debt. The plane flight from hell in 2002, when, with alcohol being served on a charter flight, was discussed. One of the allegations in a 2004 lawsuit talked about Flair coming out, wearing one of his wrestling robes and exposing himself, which the two flight attendants claimed he grabbed each of their hands and placed it on his penis and one claimed a sexual assault. The entire flight was a mess, and included JBL knocking out Michael Hayes, Sean Waltman cutting off Hayes pony tail, wrestlers telling the stewardesses to dispense with syringes they had brought and didnt want to go through customs with, Curt Hennig and Brock Lesnar fighting after Hennig continually taunted him, Dustin Runnels singing to ex-wife Terri, seats being destroyed with tobacco spit on it, Scott Hall allegedly telling one flight attendant he wanted to lick her pussy and the other to suck his dick. WWE settled the case with the women out of court, and alcohol was banned on WWE charter flights. Flair eventually owned $874,000 in back taxes. There were more incidents of people taking him to court regarding loans not being paid, although Flair did settle with all of them during this period, but as time went on, after two more divorces and having to pay significant alimony payments, he would borrow from people to both pay his bills, while continuing to live something at least close to the Ric Flair lifestyle. Flair and second wife Beth had a nasty divorce that went public in the local newspaper, although the two ended up back on good terms years later, after he broke up with third wife Tiffany. The case involved name calling on both sides, allegations of physical abuse and everything you get in a nasty divorce case. It came out they spent huge amounts on clothes and restaurants, as well as gifts for friends, more than $750,000 in jewelry, were bilked out of seven figures by supposed friends, and owed $1.15 million in taxes. Reid had issues with drugs, which included at one point Flair paying nearly $100,000 to a rehab center after a number of scary incidents, including an arrest for tar heroin. He borrowed significant money from Vince McMahon during his WWE run due to IRS debts. Combraco Industries, which helped him with money to open his gyms, filed suit and Flair put everything he had of value as collateral, but even though there was a court case involving them, they remained very good friends. Numerous pro athletes within years of their careers ending wind up declaring bankruptcy to get out of debt they cant repay. But hes likely to be waiting for that big deal hes constantly told is on the verge of happening, and

his troubles will be over, biding time. But those deals come to him all the time, but you know the saying, when something sounds too good to be true, usually its because its not true. That was just the beginning of loans being taken out in recent years. On the flip side, a family friend who kept switching life insurance jobs, with each switch, would sell them a new policy. Theyd dump the old policy, and he ended up spending $270,000 on premiums and in the end, had no life insurance in 2005. The friend also convinced his wife to buy annuities for $1.24 million during the course of their marriage, but his annuities ended up going to the IRS for back taxes. He also spent $460,000 in commercial real estate projects that ended up losing him more money. Flair sued both, settled out of court, but the settlement money went to the money he owed Beth and to his lawyers. He lost money in his short-lived Ric Flair Finance company that the state of North Carolina shut down claiming the business model wasnt legal. By the time he was divorced from third wife Tiffany, he was $1.7 million in debt. He still spent $14,000 on Christmas gifts for friends and bought his wife $200,000 in jewelry that year as well as a Porsche. He currently earns a $5,000 per week base salary from TNA, and gets paid more based on appearances. But because of his high cost per event, they have used him less and less in recent months. Hes had his troubles with the company, an incident in England where they wouldnt give him an advance (and as it turned out, his claim that they owed him money was correct since they were almost six months behind in royalty payments to him at the time of the incident). The most recent incident was when he refused to go in front of the crowd at a show in Brooklyn that had been advertised around him and was one of the companys biggest events of the year. He stated he didnt know he was going to and thought he was there for autograph signings, which he gladly did, and then got into an argument with agent D-Lo Brown, who was running the show. Last year between the state of North Carolina and the government, he owed $673,000 in back taxes, but in the same year, purchased a new Corvette and a new Camaro. ROH won a judgment against him for $40,000 when he left the company and didnt appear on dates previously contracted and that he had been paid in advance for. Highspots and Flair reached a settlement agreement on a $66,000 loan that hadnt been repaid, and then when Flair didnt pay per terms of the settlement, a contempt citation came out which threatened him with jail time if he didnt live up to the agreement. In the end Flair paid $35,000 and agreed to sign a number of autographs, clearing the debt. Flair was convinced to appear regularly on ROH television to be the face of its company, against the wishes of WWE (he was not under contract to them at the time but they still expressed their unhappiness he was doing so), apparently believing Mark Cuban was going to do big things with the company and it would be a place where his son Reid could start out and be pushed as a star. Reid had a heroin arrest during this period and ROH didnt want to use him. Cuban did not buy ROH. Still, one would think it would have been simpler to just fulfill the dates agreed to and call it a day. Others companies negotiated with him about starting up, built around him, offering him big money to be the face of their company, one in the U.S. and another overseas, but nothing ever materialized, and he ended up with Hogan and Bischoff on an Australia tour which was to be the start of a major international promotion, but ended up as a financial flop and never went

anywhere from there. He followed them into TNA. There were serious talks about a movie on his life, but he pulled out of talks over not coming to a financial agreement. There are always promises. Vince McMahon told him when he retired that when he brought him back, based on the retirement (and McMahon was clear he didnt want him wrestling again), he would be a bigger star than ever before. But no great ideas materialized past him coming back and selling for heels they were trying to push, and do a fight here and there in the ring that couldnt lead to a match because this was the one retirement stipulation McMahon didnt want to violate. Ever since leaving WWE to book himself independently in 2008, there have been people making big money offers to him for a variety of prospective projects, but in most cases, like with a lot of projects of these types, people talk like a deal is all but done and the money is there, but in the end, there is no such deal. **************************************************************** * Joe Son, an early UFC fighter who later became a cult pro wrestler in Japan, was convicted on 8/25 of one count of torture in a Southern California trial and faces 15 years in prison based on DNA evidence that was unearthed two years ago in a 1990 gang rape case. Joe Hyungim Son, in national media reports was noted for playing Random Task, a henchman of Dr. Evil in the 1997 movie, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, without any mention of his link to the early days of UFC or to pro wrestling, where he never worked for a major U.S. company. Son, 40, had three years ago been in jail on probation violation, after pleading guilty to a felony vandalism charge. The guilty plea required him to submit a DNA sample based on California state Proposition 69, a law that had been recently enacted requiring all convicted and suspected felons to provide DNA samples. Investigators on October 7, 2008, found his DNA matches DNA that was found on the scenes of a 1990 gang rape case in Orange County. According to police reports, on December 24, 1990, a 19-year-old woman who walking her dog after going to see a Christmas lights show was approached by a man asking for directions, saying he was lost. The police believe at that point that two men, both 23 at the time, one of which is believed to have been Son, dragged the woman into their car. They put her in the back seat and drove off. As they threw her in the car, she dropped her purse, which was never recovered. Her dog that was with her was left behind and never found. According to police reports the woman was pistol whipped and the men threatened to kill her. Son is being accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting the woman in the back seat of the car. A second suspect, Santiago Gallen, was arrested in 2009, pleased guilty to multiple sex crimes this past January, and was sentenced to 17 years and four months in prison. After the repeated sexual assaults, police reports said they pushed her out of the car in the streets, naked, with her pants tied around her eyes, and told her that being released was their Christmas present to her. DNA samples were taken but it took 18 years for the police to solve the case. Son was charged with five felony counts of rape, two felony counts of forcible sodomy, two felony counts of sodomy in concert by force, seven felony counts of forcible oral copulation, one felony count of sexual penetration with a foreign

object by force, kidnapping to commit a sexual assault, personal use of a firearm, use of a firearm during a sexual offense and great bodily injury to a sexual assault victim. However, by the time the case came to trial this month, most of the charges were dropped due to the statute of limitations and in the trial. In the trial, he was convicted of torture, but not convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. Son was the pro wrestling style manager of Kimo for his September 9, 1994 UFC III fight with Royce Gracie, in Charlotte, which is one of the most famous fights in the history of the company. After that appearance, Son himself was used as a fighter on the December 16, 1994, show in Tulsa where he lost in 2:44 to Keith Hackney. That fight was also memorable in the early days because as Son had Hackney in a guillotine, Hackney threw punch after punch to Sons groin, which at the time was legal. Son was wearing a cup, was not injured from the blows. However, the visual looked so bad that it caused UFC to ban all strikes to the groin. The low blows were played over-and-over again for a few years in television news stories to portray the brutality of UFC. The fame of being Kimos manager and the low blows let him to fight one kickboxing match in K-1 in Japan in 1995, where he was knocked out in the first round. He also fought twice in Pride in 2002, losing in 33 and 54 seconds and finished his career with an 0-4 MMA record. However, in the Pride matches, he came out and fought wearing a thong, which in Japan, garnered a lot of attention and made him a cult celebrity. He then moved on to pro wrestling, with his gimmick being the guy who wrestled wearing a red thong. His highest profile pro wrestling match was on January 19, 2003, working third from the top on a Tokyo Dome show promoted by the short-lived World-1 promotion, where he lost to a Japanese pro wrestling legend, Shinya Hashimoto, on a show that drew strong television ratings, and also featured Bob Sapp vs. Ernesto Hoost, a K-1 kickboxing feud brought to pro wrestling; Keiji Muto & Bill Goldberg vs. Brian Adams & Bryan Clark and also featured Terry Funk & Heath Herring as an Amarillo-based tag team. **************************************************************** The official WWE first announced report on Money in the Bank, the 7/17 show in Chicago that was one of the best shows in company history, were slightly down from indications a few weeks ago. The WWE has listed the show at doing 185,000 worldwide buys and 132,000 domestic buys. Those numbers are a strong increase in North America, but not overall from last years show, which did 164,000 worldwide and 98,000 domestic. But the July show of two years ago did 267,000 worldwide buys and 166,000 domestic. Part of the difference in the weakness abroad would be said to have been it not airing as a PPV in the U.K., which is the companys No. 2 market. But the show last year didnt as well, and WWE has continued to increase international clearances over the past year. The show was actually up 13% worldwide from last year. Vince McMahon had said they expected and projected a 20% increase. Domestically, they were up 35%, which is substantial, but you are still comparing it to a number for 2010 that was considered disastrous at the time, as it was at the time the fourth lowest in domestic number in the modern history of the company.

It did the second best B show numbers of the year domestically. Extreme Rules beat it worldwide but the difference was Extreme Rules was PPV in the U.K. while Money in the Bank was a Sky Sports special) behind only the Elimination Chamber. The key is what the angle with Punk meant, and far more importantly, the value of a big angle and shooting it for a secondary show. The angle meant something at the time and did move numbers some. It was weird, because there was so much talk, even in some circles mainstream, and huge with at least one aspect of the audience. But the movement of numbers wasnt there. It was not even one of the top 30 domestic numbers (and even worse worldwide) for B shows in the last six years, and really aside from shows with huge angles or unique B shows like the first two One Night Stand shows, this should have been at least on par with any of them. The angle meant less for business, and remember, that whatever one wants to say about the follow-through, the issues with the follow through started on 7/25, so that would not have hurt this show. If the followthrough weakened the angle, or if it even matters, will be shown when the SummerSlam numbers come in. So we are left with a few conclusions, none of which are good. Even an angle that gets people talking a lot cant move B show business even past what would have been a normal level two years ago. So either PPV is a declining business, or at least it is with WWE, and you just have to accept it, or you have to accept the B numbers for what they are and try and peak your big angles for the big three or four shows. In hindsight, doing this angle a few weeks later for SummerSlam would have given it a lot more opportunity to help business to a more significant level. In fact, Id go so far as to say anything resembling an angle you think has real money potential, or a big return, should be saved for the bigger shows that swing people are more apt to consider buying. This was unique because of the venue being Chicago, and for Punk, he had a night that few get and things lined up perfectly and it would be almost impossible to duplicate. So in this sense, I can see why the decision was made. But for business, even though it wouldnt have had quite the heat, doing the same thing in Los Angeles and with higher stakes because people remember SummerSlam and more people buy it, Los Angeles was the answer. By the time they got to Los Angeles, I really wonder how the legs of the angle were doing. Years back, when Steve Austin was brought back on one of the Cyber Sunday or Taboo Tuesday shows and it still bombed, that was when you really got an answer about bringing someone back on the wrong show. Ironically, the return to the ring of HHH is being done at Night of Champions, although not last year, but historically, NOC has been one of the best drawing of the B shows. Its an interesting lesson that the Money in the Bank concept itself doesnt work any better as the focal point of a PPV. Its as close to guaranteed as anything in wrestling of being a great match, because its multiple people, lots of weapons, and they load the matches up with good workers. The matches at Mania have almost always been great. The 2010 show was excellent and the 2011 show was even better, among the best PPVs the company has ever produced. But there appeared to be an incredible buzz about the John Cena vs. C.M. Punk title match, and whatever increase there was over last years number was far less than most would have expected. But even past the good match, Money in the Bank should work better than usual since virtually everyone who wins the match is guaranteed a world title run

within a year, and often it is the forerunner of someone not thought of as a championship contender, like C.M. Punk the first year he won, and even Edge when he first won (Edge was not at that time a guy people were talking about when it came to being a world champion), let alone Daniel Bryan or Jack Swagger, to be all but crowned as champion. The only exception historically was Mr. Kennedy, and that was because he was injured, as he was scheduled to win the title based on winning Money in the Bank as well. This years show should have beaten last years based on lineup, as last year was built completely around Money in the Bank. The hottest program was Nexus, and they were not even wrestling on the show. The title matches were a Cena vs. Sheamus cage match, which was a blow-off, but not promoted as the main focus of television which was all about getting over Nexus for SummerSlam. The other, Swagger vs. Rey Mysterio wasnt going to mean a thing since Swagger as champion from day one had been booked to fail. The Raw Money in the Bank lineup was Miz (who won), Randy Orton, Edge, John Morrison, Mark Henry, Chris Jericho, Evan Bourne and Ted DiBiase. The Smackdown lineup was Kane (who won and cashed in on Mysterio on the show), Cody Rhodes, Christian, Matt Hardy, Kofi Kingston, Big Show, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre. This years show had Cena vs. Punk and Orton vs. Christian, plus two Money in the Bank matches. The Smackdown match had Daniel Bryan, Sin Cara, Rhodes, Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Kane and Sheamus. The Raw match had Alberto Del Rio, Mysterio, Kingston, Alex Riley, Bourne, Miz, Swagger and RTruth. **************************************************************** Raw on 8/29 did a 3.10 rating and 4.64 million viewers. While some may blame power outages and such for the rating, it was up from last week and the number of homes watching TV was 73.02 million as compared to 73.13 million last week, so the difference is negligible. The increase looks to be more about the NFL preseason game being on the NFL Network instead of ESPN, which is in far fewer homes and many USA Network homes didnt even have the option. The 67-33 male skew was also closer to normal then the fewer male viewers changing the skew like last week with ESPN football. It was the third most watched show on cable. In the segment-by-segment, Randy Orton vs. Dolph Ziggler lost 276,000 viewers. That continues the steak of people tuning out after the first segment, and missing a great match, but it did much better than last weeks John Morrison vs. Alberto Del Rio match in the same slot. The angle to set up the John Cena & Sheamus vs. Mark Henry & Christian match gained 204,000 viewers. C.M. Punk vs Miz lost 200,000 viewers in the 10 p.m. slot. Now thats a disaster for that time slot since normal pattern is to gain 500,000 viewers. Sin Cara vs. Jack Swagger lost 423,000 viewers, which is normal for that slot, but thats usually because the prior slot has a big gain. Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne vs. Michael McGillicutty & David Otunga and Kelly Kelly vs. Brie Bella gained 244,000 viewers. The Inside Out trailer and Alex Riley video and HHH announcing the new main event change lost 262,000 viewers, but that is to be expected. The Cena & Sheamus vs. Henry & Christian gained 498,000 viewers, which would be below expected for an 11 minute overrun and finished at a 3.21 quarter.

Smackdown on 8/16 did a 1.78 rating and 2.67 million viewers. It was the sixth highest rated show on cable for the night. MMA Live on 8/16 did a 0.12 metered market rating. Impact on 8/15 did a 1.22 rating and 1.62 million viewers. It was No. 14 on cable for the night, with Jersey Shore at 8.47 million viewers being the highest rated show. The show did 0.51 in Males 18-34 and a 1.29 in Males 35-49. So the reason the rating was up was the huge increase in the latter demo. Keep in mind that last weeks show, nobody (at least from a statistical standpoint) would have known Ric Flair was back, while this week they would. Given where the increase came from, that is an audience more likely to care about Hogan, Sting and Flair than Males 18-34, which did not do well. In the segment-by-segment, Jackie & ODB & Velvet Sky vs. Angelina Love & Rosita & Sarita gained 13,000 viewers. Kid Kash vs. Jesse Sorenson and RVD vs. Pope lost 106,000 viewers. Robbie E recruiting Rob Terry and a backstage angle where Rosita & Sarita jumped Love lost 53,000 viewers. To further illustrate why the rating was up, the Hogan, Sting and Flair in-ring segment gained 385,000 viewers, which is one of the biggest gains of the year for TNA, and did a 1.44 quarter. And to illustrate it even more, they lost the same 385,000 viewers for A.J. Styles & Beer Money vs. Scott Steiner & Gunner & Bully Ray. The Eric Young/Scott Baio golf course angle ended up even, no gain or loss. And Kurt Angle vs. Crimson also ended up even, ending with a 1.15 quarter. The 8/13 WrestleMania special on NBC did a 1.28 rating and 2.06 million viewers, which is an absolutely horrible prime time network rating, but neither WWE nor NBC promoted it all that much. There were places that had reported a significantly higher number based on the overnights, but those were flawed because the overnights just rank the network, and the NBC network did 3.4 million viewers in that hour, but more than half of those viewers were watching NFL preseason games carried on local NBC stations. The 2.06 million is the number of viewers for the show, both the Friday night airing, and whatever replays there were in the markets that aired football. Thats not even close to even the disastrous Strikeforce numbers (1.76) for the Dan Henderson vs. Jake Shields show last year. *************************************************************** This is the first issue of the current four-issue set so if youve got a (1) on your address label, your subscription expires in three more issues. Renewal rates for the printed Observer in the United States are $11 for four issues (which includes $4 for postage and handling), $20 for eight, $28 for 12, $36 for 16, $54 for 24, $72 for 32, $90 for 40, $117 for 52 up through $144 for 64 issues. For Canada and Mexico, the rates are $12.50 for four issues (which includes $6 for postage and handling), $22 for eight, $32 for 12, $40 for 16, $60 or 24, $80 for 32, $100 for 40 issues, $130 for 52 and $160 for 64. For Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and best rates by sending to Moonsault, P.O. Box 3075, Barnet, Herts EN4 9YR, England, or by sending e-mail orders to moonsault@mediaplusint.com . Rates are 9 per set of four issues. U.K. readers ordering at least six sets can get them for 8.50 per set.

For the rest of the world, the rates are $14.50 for four issues (which includes $9 for postage and handling), $28 for eight, $40 for 12, $50 for 16, $63 for 20, $76 for 24, $87.50 for 28, $125 for 40 issues and $162 for 52 issues. You can also get the Observer on the web at www.wrestlingobserver.com for $10.99 per month for a premium membership that includes daily audio updates, Figure Four Weekly, special articles and a message board. If you are a premium member and still want hard copies of the Observer, you can get them for $7 per set in the U.S., $8 per set in Canada and $10.50 per set for the rest of the world. All subscription renewals should be sent to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228. You can also renew via Visa or MasterCard by sending your name, address, phone number, Visa or MasterCard number (and include the three or four digit security code on the card) and expiration date to Dave@wrestlingobserver.com or by fax to (408)244-3402. You can also renew at www.paypal.com using Dave@wrestlingobserver.com as the pay to address. For all credit card or paypal orders, please add a $1 processing fee. All letters to the editor, reports from live shows and any other correspondence pertaining to this publication should also be sent to the above address. We also have copies of our latest book, "Tributes II," a 293-page hardcover full color book which features biographies right out of the pages of the Observer. Those featured are Wahoo McDaniel, Lou Thesz, Miss Elizabeth, Freddie Blassie, Road Warrior Hawk, Andre the Giant, Curt Hennig, Johnny Valentine, Davey Boy Smith, Terry Gordy, Owen Hart, Stu Hart, Gorilla Monsoon, The Sheik and Tim Woods. The book is available for $12.95 plus $3.50 for postage and handling in the U.S., $10 for postage and handling in Canada and $12 for postage and handling for the rest of the world. This publication is copyright material and no portion of the Observer may be reprinted without the expressed consent of publisher/writer Dave Meltzer or deputy managing editor Scott Williams. The Observer is also produced by John F. Raad. Fax messages can be sent to the Observer 24 hours a day at (408) 244-3402. Phone messages can be left 24 hours a day at (408) 244-2455. E-mails can be sent to Dave@wrestlingobserver.com **************************************************************** ** RESULTS 8/23 Asahikawa (All Japan - 1,100 sellout): Rene Dupree b Soshun, Minoru & Sho Soya b Kenso & Mazada, Joe Doering b Yasufumi Nakanoe, Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo & Black Bushi b Kai & Hiroshi Yamato & Bushi, Akebono & Ryota Hama b Lee Che Gyong & Takao Omori, Seiya Sanada & Manabu Soya & Taiyo Kea b Suwama & Masakatsu Funaki & Masa Fuchi 8/23 Shimonoseki (Dragon Gate - 500): Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito b Susumu Yokosuka & Gamma, Naruki Doi b Rich Swann, Dragon Kid b Kzy, Masaaki Mochizuki & Masato Yoshino b Yasushi Kanda & Akira Tozawa, Cima & BxB Hulk & Cyber Kong b Shingo Takagi & Yamato & Kagetora

8/23 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL TV tapings): Nitrito & Mercurio b Aereo & Pequeno Halcon, Dalis la Caribena & Estrellita & Marcela b Amapola & Princesa Blanca & Princesa Sugei, Dragon Lee & Magnus b Puma King & Tiger, Diamante & Metal Blanco & Palacio Negro b Cancerbero & Raziel & Nobuo Yoshihashi, Angel de Oro & Brazo de Plata & Maximo b Polvora & Averno & Mephisto-DQ, CMLL light heavyweight title: Rush b Mr. Aguila 8/24 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 1,000): Ricky Marvin b Satoshi Kajiwara, Taiji Ishimori b Zack Sabre Jr., Akitoshi Saito b Takuma Sano, Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama & Kentaro Shiga b Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa & Masao Inoue, Jun Akiyama & Mohammed Yone & Takeshi Morishima b Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kento Miyahara, Go Shiozaki & Shuhei Taniguchi b Yoshihiro Takayama & Genba Hirayanagi, GHC jr. tag titles: KENTA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru b Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Aoki 8/24 Kitami (All Japan - 1,150): Ryota Hama b Soshun, Kaz Hayashi & Black Bushi b Masa Fuchi & Bushi, Kenso b Sho Soya, Taiyo Kea & Takao Omori b Manabu Soya & Yasufumi Nakanoe, Akebono & Masakatsu Funaki b Lee Che Gyong b Joe Doering & Rene Dupree & Mazada, Suwama & Shuji Kondo & Minoru b Seiya Sanada & Kai & Hiroshi Yamato 8/24 Shizuoka (Dragon Gate - 450): Yamato & Gamma b Ryo Saito & Naoki Tanisaki, Susumu Yokosuka b Tomahawk T.T., Genki Horiguchi b Dragon Kid, Cima & Naruki Doi b Masaaki Mochizuki & Rich Swann, BxB Hulk & Cyber Kong & Akira Tozawa b Masato Yoshino & Shingo Takagi & Kagetora, 8/25 Huntsville (TNA Impact TV tapings - 3,300/papered): Gunner b Rob Van Dam, Brian Kendrick & Jesse Sorenson b Austin Aries & Kid Kash, Knockouts title: Mickie James b Winter to win title, Christopher Daniels b A.J. Styles, TNA title: Kurt Angle b Sting, Pope DAngelo Dinero & Devon b Douglas Williams & Magnus, TV title: Eric Young b Robbie E, Angelina Love & Winter b Mickie James & Velvet Sky, Gunner won four-way over Bobby Roode, James Storm and Bully Ray, TNA title: Mr. Anderson b Kurt Angle-DQ 8/25 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Dragon Gate - 1,200): Super Shenlong b Yusuke Watanabe, Dragon Kid & Super Shisa b Tomahawk T.T. & Kzy, Don Fujii b Kotoka, Cima & Yasushi Kanda b Masaaki Mochizuki & Rich Swann, Naoki Tanisaki b Gamma, Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi won three-way over Taku Iwasa & Kennichiro Arai and Susumu Yokosuka & K-Ness, Elimination match: Naruki Doi & BxB Hulk & Cyber Kong & Akira Tozawa b Masato Yoshino & Shingo Takagi & Yamato & Kagetora 8/26 Jackson, MS (WWE Raw - 9,200 sellout): Tag titles: Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne b Michael McGillicutty & David Otunga, Mason Ryan b Zack Ryder, Kelly Kelly & Eve Torres b Bella Twins, Santino Marella b Jack Swagger, C.M. Punk b R-Truth, U.S. title: Dolph Ziggler won three-way over Drew McIntyre and Alex Riley, John Morrison b Ted DiBiase, John Cena b The Miz 8/26 Mexico City Arena Mexico (CMLL TV tapings - 6,700): Camaleon & El Hijo de Enrique Vera b Apocalipsis & Bronco, Arkangel de la Muerte & Escandalo & Nitro b Angel Azteca Jr. & Angel de Plata & Hombre Bala Jr., Dragon Lee & Sangre Azteca & Stuka Jr. b Nosferatu & Okumura & Virus, El Hijo del Fantasma b Misterioso Jr., Atlantis & Delta & Guerrero Maya Jr. b Dragon Rojo Jr. & Rey Escorpion & Ultimo Guerrero, Hector Garza & Shocker & La Sombra b El Terrible & Rey Bucanero & El Texano Jr.-DQ

8/27 Memphis (WWE Raw - 7,500): Tag titles: Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne b David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty, Kelly Kelly & Eve Torres b Bella Twins, Jerry Lawler b Jack Swagger, Mason Ryan b Santino Marella, U.S. title: Dolph Ziggler b Alex Riley, John Morrison b Drew McIntyre, C.M. Punk b R-Truth, John Cena b The Miz 8/27 Cape Girardeau, MO (WWE Smackdown - 2,300): Daniel Bryan b Wade Barrett, Brodus Clay b Johnny Curtis, Ezekiel Jackson b Heath Slater, Sin Cara b Ted DiBiase, A.J. b Tamina, Sheamus b Mark Henry-DQ, World title: Randy Orton b Cody Rhodes 8/27 Honolulu (Pro Elite): Joey Palemia, b Chad Thomas, Brent Schermerhorn b Jesse Lundgren, Dustin Barca b Reno Remkigio, Kaleo Gambill b Eldon Sproat, Drew McFedries b Garrett Olson, Sara McMann b Raquel Paaluhi Mark Ellis b Jake Heun, Regan Penn b Paul Gardner, Andrei Arlovski b Ray Lopez, Kendall Grove b Joe Riggs 8/27 Mie (Dragon Gate): Cima & Naruki Doi b Gamma & Rich Swann, Masato Yoshino b Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa, Masaaki Mochizuki b Kzy, BxB Hulk & Genki Horiguchi b Don Fujii & Kagetora, Shingo Takagi & Yamato & Dragon Kid b Akira Tozawa & Ryo Saito & Cyber Kong 8/28 North Little Rock (WWE Raw - 5,400): Tag titles: Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne b David Otunga & Michael McGillicutty, Mason Ryan b Zack Ryder, Eve Torres & Kelly Kelly b Bella Twins, Santino Marella b Jack Swagger, C.M. Punk b R-Truth, U.S. title: Dolph Ziggler b Alex Riley, John Morrison b Drew McIntyre, John Cena b The Miz 8/28 Springfield, MO (WWE Smackdown - 2,500): Sin Cara b Tyson Kidd, Johnny Curtis b Brodus Clay, A.J. & Kaitlyn b Natalya & Tamina, Ezekiel Jackson b Heath Slater, Daniel Bryan b Wade Barrett, Sheamus b Mark Henry-DQ, IC title: Cody Rhodes b Ted DiBiase, Street fight for world title: Randy Orton b Christian 8/28 Yokkaichi (All Japan - 450): Shuji Kondo & Soshun b Sho Soya & Yasufumi Nakanoe, Manabu Soya & Kai b Masa Fuchi & Takao Omori, Akebono b Lee Che Gyong, Kaz Hayashi & Minoru b Kenso & Mazada, Taiyo Kea & Seiya Sanada b Masakatsu Funaki & Hiroshi Yamato, Suwama & Ryota Hama & Bushi b Joe Doering & Rene Dupree & Black Bushi 8/28 Mexico City Arena Coliseo (CMLL TV tapings): Horuz & Trueno b Psycho & Artillero, Pequeno Black Warrior & Astral & Pequeno Violencia b Mascarita Dorada & Demus 3:16 & Electrico-DQ, Sagrado & Fuego & Rey Cometa b El Hijo del Signo & Hooligan & Loco Max, Brazo de Plata & Black Warrior & Valiente b Vangelis & Euforia & Nobuo Yoshihashi-DQ, Averno & Mephisto & Ephesto b La Mascara & Blue Panther & Toscano 8/28 Tottori (Dragon Gate): Naruki Doi & Naoki Tanisaki b Gamma & Super Shenlong, Shingo Takagi b Kzy, Akira Tozawa b Rich Swann, Masato Yoshino & Dragon Kid b Cima & Genki Horiguchi, Masaaki Mochizuki & Yamato & Kagetora b BxB Hulk & Cyber Kong & Yasushi Kanda 8/29 Tulsa (WWE Raw/Superstars TV tapings): Alex Riley b Drew McIntyre, R-Truth b John Morrison, Non-title: Randy Orton b Dolph Ziggler, C.M. Punk b The Miz-DQ, Sin Cara b Jack Swagger, Tag titles: Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne b Michael McGillicutty & David Otunga, Non-title: Brie Bella b Kelly Kelly, John Cena & Sheamus b Mark Henry & Christian

8/30 Wichita (WWE Smackdown/Superstars TV tapings): John Cena b Wade Barrett, Sin Cara b Daniel Bryan, Beth Phoenix & Natalya b Kelly Kelly & Alicia Fox, Sheamus b Great Khali-DQ, Cage match for World title: Randy Orton b Christian CMLL Hector Garza, Ultimo Guerrero and Volador Jr. have been issuing media challenges for a three-way where Garza would put up his hair and Guerrero and Volador would put up their masks. Guerrero said he also wants Atlantis in to make it a four-way. The 8/26 show at Arena Mexico drew 6,700. Garza & Shocker & La Sombra beat El Terrible & El Texano Jr. & Rey Bucanero via DQ when Terrible and Texano Jr. both gave Shocker low blows in front of ref Tirantes. Even he decided he couldnt overlook it. Garza and Shocker then both challenged any member of Team TRT to a hair match. The semi saw Los Campeones Justicieros of Atlantis & Delta & Guerrero Maya Jr. beat Ultimo Guerrero & Dragon Rojo Jr. & Rey Escorpion in two straight falls. The 9/2 show has Ultimo Guerrero & Dragon Rojo Jr. defending the CMLL tag titles against Atlantis & Guerrero Maya Jr. They are also starting a three-week long Champion of Champions tournament. Week one looks to have La Sombra, Garza, Diamante, Angel de Oro, Mephisto, Polvora, Rey Bucanero and Ephesto. Week two would look something like Jushin Liger, La Mascara, Rush, Mascara Dorada, Virus, Averno, and the winners of the tag title match on 9/2. Finals will be 9/16. That 19th anniversary in the Minis tournament on the 8/21 show was the company rewriting history, because it involved Antonio Pena. CMLL introduced minis in 1989, or 22 years ago, when Pena was the booker and came up with the concept of instead of the traditional midget wrestlers, of using guys as carbon copies of established stars. It was easy in Mexico because of the masks and costuming, but the idea actually dates back a long time. I can remember the Little Bruiser in the 70s being a copy of Dick the Bruiser, for example. Since it was Pena, CMLL instead dates the minis to 1992, when Pena quit the promotion, took the original minis with him, and started using a whole new crop of minis. Three of the originals from 1992 were in the tournament, Ultimo Dragoncito, Pierrothito and Pequeno Olimpico, who in 1992 was Cicloncito Ramirez. AAA Damian 666 (Leonardo Carrera, 50) announced he would be retiring soon. According to friends of his, he is serious as hes physically all beat up from 27 years in wrestling. He may do a show here and there type of retirement like a lot of the older wrestlers in Mexico. Its expected hell handle the office work for the Perros Del Mal promotion. One of the two big names who has never appeared for AAA from TNA that they were trying to get is Sting, who Dorian Roldan wrote on twitter that they were attempting to get for the Heroes en Inmortales show on 10/9 in Monterrey. While not confirmed, the other big name is believed to be Jeff Hardy. TNA sources had noted AAA has been asking for Hardy for months but TNA wouldnt send him due to his suspension. That would probably still be up pending the results of Hardys legal situation as his next hearing is a month before the show.

The TV tapings on 8/19 in Queretaro drew 7,000 fans, which was okay. Perro Aguayo Jr. returned and he was the healthiest and worked the best since he came back to the promotion. Apparently both Halloween and Aguayo Jr. have been told to take better care of themselves and it appeared both are listening. If Aguayo Jr. is in shape to go, hell be featured strongly here. Aguayo Jr. pushed the idea of a company vs. company match where he would face an AAA representative and the winner would own both companies. 9/1 tapings in Toluca has Wagner Jr. vs. Aguayo Jr., plus Jack Evans & Extreme Tiger defending the tag titles against Billy el Malo & Dark Escoria, plus Joe Lider & The Psycho Circus vs. Damian 666 & Halloween & Nicho & X-Fly. There is a 50th anniversary show for pro wrestling at Arena Azteca Budokan on 9/4. DRAGON GATE The next iPPV will be 9/10 from Chicagos Congress Theater. Lineup will be Yamato vs. Cima for the Open the Freedom Gate title, Pac vs. Ricochet, Masato Yoshino vs. Naruki Doi vs. Sami Callihan vs. Chuck Taylor, Sabu & A.R. Fox vs. Arik Cannon & Pinkie Sanchez in a no DQ match, Johnny Gargano vs. Akira Tozawa and Rich Swann vs. Jon Davis. ALL JAPAN The jr. heavyweight tournament starts in two weeks with Jimmy Yang, Kenny Omega and AAAs Dark Cuervo and Dark Ozz as the foreigners, plus Koji Kanemoto from New Japan. PRO WRESTLING NOAH KENTA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru retained the GHC jr. tag titles on 8/24 at Korakuen Hall beating Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Aoki in 31:29 when KENTA pinned Aoki after two GTSs. The show drew about 1,000 fans, a little over half full, even with Kenta Kobashi working the undercard, so Kobashi isnt likely to mean anything for attendance going forward. The title match was a rematch from 7/30 at Korakuen Hall where Suzuki & Aoki beat KENTA & Kanemaru to win the jr. tag team tournament. NEW JAPAN Yuji Nagata promoted a show on 8/30 at Korakuen Hall, drawing about 1,300 fans, featuring Jun Akiyama from NOAH teaming with Nagata to beat Shinsuke Nakamura & Toru Yano in the main event when Nagata pinned Yano. They were pushing the idea after of an Akiyama vs. Nakamura singles match. Update on the 9/19 show in Kobe has Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP heavyweight title, Kota Ibushi vs. Kushida for the IWGP jr. title, Togi Makabe vs. Lance Archer, Minoru Suzuki vs. Wataru Inoue, Yujiro Takahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito and Yuji Nagata vs. Hideo Saito. OTHER JAPAN NOTES Genichiro Tenryu is trying to put together a 35th anniversary show for November. HERE AND THERE Matt Hardy continued to spiral downward. On 8/30, he put up on youtube what looked like a worked suicide note, saying Goodbye world...My time here is

almost complete. I only have a few hours and minutes. . .I loved you all... Regardless of how you felt about me...Ill miss you all. September 23, 1974 August 31, 2011. Local police received 25 to 30 911 calls about it and they went to Matts house as well as Jeffs house about an hour after he posted it for a suicide call. Jeffs wife then wrote, Ugh. So sick of bullshit. Dont believe everything you read, no matter who writes it or posts it. When the cops show up to our house at 11 p.m. for a suicide call, the fucking joke is over. Stop trying to work the Internet. I guess you got what you wanted. Everyone is talking about you again. But its not in a good way. I believe he had been in the hospital until a day or so before and had told some friends about his idea to work the Internet with the idea of saying he was reinventing himself as a person and the old drug abusing Matt Hardy was dead and this is a new Matt. Also, on 8/23, he did a video with his house trashed and acted like some strange entity did it. Then, he legitimately fell down the stairs and was rushed to the hospital. His girlfriend, Reby Sky, then wrote when asked what was going on, said, Hurt, exasperated, exhausted, furious, tired of being lied to, tired of enablers, Just tired. Mary Donna Alfonsi, who was one of the top women wrestlers of the 70s and early 80s using the names Donna Christianello, Donna Christian, Donna Christanello and Donna Christantello, passed away on around 8/23 at the age of 69. Her death was believed to have been from a heart attack. She had not answered her phone in a few days and finally someone broke into her place to check on her and found her dead. Alfonsi was one of the top stars of Fabulous Moolahs stable from when she started in 1963, until the territorial system died in the mid-80s, Moolah going with WWF and her booking wrestlers to different territories. Her heyday would have been the early 70s, when the tag team of Toni Rose & Donna Christanello were the womens world tag team champions, defending them all over the world as Moolah would book them as her two top women besides herself on tours in many territories as well as internationally. They lost the titles to Vickie Williams & Joyce Grable on October 15, 1973, at Madison Square Garden in a two out of three fall match. They were billed as champions again by late 1975, holding them until Rose retired in 1979. The two remained good friends and kept in touch regularly. Christantello, or Christanello, she used both names interchangeably in the 70s and 80s, but used Christantello more later in her career, wrestled regularly until probably 1984, when WWE stopped using her, opting for only keeping a few women on their roster and wanting younger women. She did have a final major appearance when they did a womens match and she worked on the heel team at the first Survivor Series in 1987 and wrestled through 1991. Alfonsi grew up in Pittsburgh and was working as a waitress and she and her best friends were big wrestling fans, going to the live shows in Pittsburgh all the time, as fans of Bruno Sammartino and Buddy Rogers. Once, when she saw two women wrestling on television, her and her friend both decided they wanted to be wrestlers. The two trained together. Her friend did one match and then never wrestled again. Waldo Von Erich and Klondike Bill, who saw one of her early matches liked her drive and said that to make it in womens wrestling as a profession, you had to work through Lillian Ellison (Fabulous Moolah), who booked the women wrestlers in most of the territories. She moved to Columbia, SC, in 1963, training at Moolahs gym, and then went on the road. She also helped train wrestlers (the most notable being Sherri Russell/Sherri Martel) as she lived at Moolahs home from her start in the business until long after she had retired. She moved back to Pittsburgh in 1999,

and lived with her brother. She always considered Moolah as her older sister. I remember seeing her wrestle often in the 70s. I always thought the best worker of Moolahs stable was Toni Rose, but Christanello was a pro in the ring, a solid worker and was probably Moolahs second best worker. She had of late worked in the accounting department at a Wal-Mart in Pittsburgh. Her niece wrestled briefly as Angie Minelli. Mando Lopez, a 70s regular in the LeBell Southern California promotion recently passed away. We dont have a lot of details, but he was said to be in his early 60s. He mainly worked underneath for most of the 70s, in and out. He did some television for Roy Shire but I dont know that he ever won a match. In Los Angeles, he usually was a prelim guy but did get some pushes here and there. Once he and John Tolos had a main event feud over the tag team titles against Black Gordman & Great Goliath. He also worked independent Lucha Libre shows under a mask as Super Star, and trained Luchadores at the famed Gils Gym in East Los Angeles. He was almost always a small, underdog babyface, but he was a good worker. He was a stickler for teaching responding to the crowd and apparently was often frustrated with students who were all into high spots but were clueless how to connect with the audience. His favorite wrestling story was going to Texas in the mid-70s, where he did a television shoot against Terry Funk, who was at the time the world champion. The booker, who had no idea who he was or if he could work, told him that since he was working with the world champion, that he was to do nothing on offense and just get squashed. When Funk arrived at the building, he went to Lopez and asked if he had any ideas for the match or any moves he wanted to do. Lopez said, No, Im just laying down for you, whatever you like. Funk shot back, Whats with your attitude, are you lazy or did somebody tell you that you werent getting paid tonight? Lopez said, No, the promoter told me I wasnt to lay a hand on you. Funk, who knew him from Los Angeles and knew he could go, said, Youre a wrestler, you wrestle me, you understand? Early in the match, Funk told him to shoot a single leg. Lopez took him down and Funk screamed like Lopez had taken out his leg with the takedown. After the match, the booker started swearing up and down at Lopez for not following orders, and threw in some ethnic slurs as well. Funk then walked up and said, He did those moves because I told him to do those moves. Dont ever tell anybody how to work a match with me! Lopez was even more amazed that later in the night, Funk handed him some cash, saying, Thats my payoff, its yours, sorry for the hassle. The only major title Lopez ever won in Southern California was a one-week run as Americas tag team champion, where he teamed with Irish Mickey Doyle to win the titles from Gordman & Goliath on December 9, 1975, and lost them a week later to Tolos & Rock Riddle. Shane Helms did an interview regarding his recovery from his motorcycle accident. He just got the okay to start putting weight on his bad foot. Because he was confined to his home since the accident, he wasnt booked until 8/24 from the accident that took place on 5/5, which tells you just how serious his injuries were. Hes facing charges of driving a motor vehicle leading to serious injury (the injuries to his girlfriend, who nearly died in the wreck) and a DWI and has a 9/22 court appearance. Former pro wrestler Ian Croitoru (Johnny K-9/Bruiser Bedlam) is back in the news regarding the gangland death of Jonathan Bacon, the leader of a British Columbia gang. Bacon was killed on 4/14 in Kelowna in a gangland shooting

spree which saw four people with him also wounded, one, a woman, who ended up paralyzed. There have been no charges filed in the death. It wasnt Croitoru who was involved with the shooting since he is currently in custody for plotting to kill Bacon in 2008. Hes also awaiting trial on first degree murder charges in the shooting death of Jonathan Barber, 24, and attempted murder of Barbers 17-year-old girlfriend Vicky King. Barber was driving a car believed to be owned by a gang leader when he was killed in Burnaby, BC, while King was driving in a car behind him and was also shot. Drew Hankinson (Luke Gallows), Sean Morley (Val Venis) and Cliff Compton (Domino) were on a tour of Nigeria this past week during the bombing of a United Nations building in Abuja that left several people dead. And then, the promoters of the tour disappeared leaving them at their hotel but eventually the shows they were scheduled on took place. Contracts have been sent out to the wrestlers for the prospective Rumble in the Jungle 2, scheduled for Kinshasa, Congo on 10/12 at the 120,000 seat Martys Stadium Thats the show that Bill Goldberg is scheduled to return on. A tour from 10/2 to 10/12 has been arranged for five live shows, three at stadiums, culminating with the big show, and two VIP shows for dignitaries. The country itself is financing the shows as part of a political deal for current Congo President Joseph Kabila, who is behind the show, hoping to use it to help him in his November re-election campaign. Former UPW promoter Rick Bassman is behind the shows although they are trying to keep quiet on them as he told us right now there is nothing yet to announce. Jeff Katz announced five wrestlers so far for his 13-week season Internet wrestling project, Wrestling Revolution, Tyson Smith (better known as Kenny Omega), Scott Colton (Colt Cabana), Len Olson (a 90s star in Japan as Dr. Luther as well as Lenny St. Clair), Alex Zikos (Alex Reynolds of Mikey Whipwrecks New York Wrestling Connection indie), Ken Doane (Kenny Dykstra, formerly of the Spirit Squad in WWE) and Hassan Assad (MVP, current Intercontinental champion with New Japan Pro Wrestling). They will tape a complete season over a few days in Hollywood in October. More notes on the death of Brian Skullkrusher Strickland on an 8/20 show in Cape Coral, FL. Strickland, who was in his early 40s and as noted last week, had in the interim had two heart attacks and open heart surgery, was wrestling his first match in several years. The belief is the heart attack, about a minute into the match, was caused by a blood clot in his leg that dislodged. The match was immediately stopped. A firefighter who was there as a fan at the show at The O Bar, jumped into the ring to perform CPR before an ambulance arrived. Strickland went into the ring wearing a shirt, to cover his chest scar from his surgery, but told nobody, and those in the promotion were surprised he didnt take his shirt off since he never had wrestled with a shirt in the past. New Era Wrestling is a two-year-old local promotion that runs bar shows where there is no admission and the wrestlers dont get paid, using local wrestlers. With no commission in Florida, nobody is examined and there are no rules regarding having medical personnel at shows. Strickland, who lived in Fort Myers, worked as a truck driver. Lucha Libre USA, which has continued to tape television, has teased to its talent that there will be the announcement of a new TV deal soon.

Lance Storm noted that hes had some health issues dating back a few months. He said in early May he started suffering headaches and dizziness after doing some somersaults in wrestling training. He said he would get them in the past fairly often for a moment, sometimes a few minutes, but this lasted several weeks. He said he was suffering symptoms similar to post-concussion syndrome but he hadnt taken a bump to the head. He said it was bad enough that for the first time in years he stopped going to the gym, for four months, the longest hed been away from training in 29 years. He has an MRI which diagnosed his problem as a narrowing of the nerve between his C-3 and C-4 vertebrae, but it is not anywhere near something bad enough that he needs surgery. Hes been doing psysiotherapy and has improved greatly, is back in the gym (and even did a short impromptu match with Tommy Dreamer on an indie show on 8/27 in Calgary). He has added some stretches and some new exercises and had to give up swimming. His neurologist gave the same diagnosis. Not a shock or surprise, but still never welcome news. On 8/20, Scott Hall was supposed to do an indie show in Orlando. His son Cody, who is something like 6foot-8, and is learning pro wrestling, called up the promotion and said his father was in no condition to appear. Shannon Spruill (Daffney) was arrested last month and charged with both a DUI and property damage in a case in Hillsborough County (Tampa) in Florida. Former TNA and ROH wrestler Jimmy Rave (James Guffey) is now the director of the Bartow County (Georgia) Peer Support, Wellness and Respite Center in Cartersville, GA. Its a mental health/drug addiction treatment facility. Rave is a self-admitted drug addict, saying that by 2009, I was a complete drug addict to be honest, he said in the Road to Mania Blog. I didnt give a damn about wrestling because I just cared about scoring more pills and numbing myself. Which people probably could notice about what kind of shape I was in and how I looked and even my wrestling. ROH officials saw that and rightfully said hit the road. In turn, I went to rehab, got a job as a director of a Wellness Center, and I now help people realize they throw everything away that they love when they start abusing drugs. Emilie Ketcher, the five-year-old daughter of former WWF wrestler and longtime indie wrestler and promoter Steve Gatorwolf (Steve Ketcher) passed away two weeks ago after a massive stroke. She had her first stroke when she was two years old and nearly passed way at that time. What a horrible story. Torrie Wilson, 36, just shot a photo spread for Oxygen magazine, a womens fitness mag. ROH Added to the 9/17 iPPV show is Shelton Benjamin vs. Mike Bennett, Charlie Haas vs. Michael Elgin, Matt & Nick Jackson (formerly Generation Me) vs. The Bravado Brothers vs. Adam Cole & Kyle OReilly in a three-way elimination match. The Briscoes vs. All Night Express is likely to be a ladder match. In the statement of the month that gets you fired from TNA or WWE, Jay Briscoe on twitter wrote, To all da hoes, sluts, skanks, he-shes, she-hes and homos that be whorin it up on da east coast, this hurricanes for you. God dont fuck around. A few days later, he came back with, I apologize to everyone for my insensitive comments from June and this past weekend. It will not happen again.

TNA Ric Flair was not at the 8/25 tapings in Huntsville even though Flair vs. Sting is coming up. This didnt have to do with the Grantland.com article as that came out the day of the tapings and he was never booked on the shows to begin with. As far as why he wouldnt be on shows designed to build to his match, well, this is TNA. The Huntsville tapings drew 3,300 fans. It was some paid, some papered and some discounted heavily. The crowd was up for both shows and the reactions were good, but not at the level of the Fayetteville tapings earlier in the year. Jeff Hardy showed up in good shape and did as good a job as can be expected for Jeff Hardy on his interview, where he came out and apologized for not showing up in condition at the Victory Road match, talking about low points, and asking people to give him one more chance. I think they wanted him to tear up when he talked about screwing up but he couldnt quite bring it. The big thing was he went out there and asked for the company and the fans to give him one more chance, returning as a face (which at least makes sense since hes far more valuable in that role). The fans chanted , One more chance. The reaction was good enough that it will work on television but not off the charts, and not what some expected. The 9/11 PPV is still sketchy. The Bound for Glory series will have Bully Ray vs. James Storm and Bobby Roode vs. Gunner, although that could change with Storm having a partial shoulder separation and he should take four to six weeks off, but he may continue working and just take it easy. Even though Crimson is undefeated, he wont be in the final four as they are selling that Samoa Joe took him out with an injury, which would logically lead to Joe vs. Crimson in October at Bound for Glory. Key word being logical. To me, this tournament completely fell apart early when people saw it was bogus in the sense the matches made no sense, different people had different numbers of matches, some wrestled each other a bunch of times, others never wrestled each other. And then the guy who doesnt lose once doesnt make the final four due to an injury angle. I liked the potential of the idea, the fact it could make house show matches significant and make winning and losing mean something, but to do that you have to pay attention to detail and this just isnt happening. Within a few weeks, nobody cared anyway. Its not a tournament, so itll be a points deal and whoever ends up out of the four with the most points wins. Since Kurt Angle is scheduled to still be world champion, that would leave Roode and Storm as his most likely foes. Of the two, while a lot of people think Storm has more potential because hes got more charisma and is a better promo and has the chance to hit a demo pretty well, Roode is the better worker and hes the one the company since the start of the year has wanted to develop as a main eventer. Other matches confirmed are Brian Kendrick vs. Austin Aries for the X title and Mexican America vs. Devon & Pope for the tag titles. This isnt definite, but since Mickie James beat Winter for the Knockouts title in the first hour in Huntsville, and then Winter pinned her in a tag in the second hour, it would also logically make sense to do James vs. Winter in a title rematch. Hogan did an appearance billed as his talk show for fans but it ended up being a pitch to get in on a multi-level marketing business on 8/26 in Greensboro. The event drew about 300 people at $10 a head (there were some who paid $100 for VIP treatment) with Hogan & Bischoff pitching Body By Vi, a company that does protein powder and doing a contest to get in shape to get in on the ground floor as salespeople. Most of the people there were the older Hogan fans, wearing

Hogan T-shirts, and even though it was advertised in some places as to what it would be, a lot didnt know and groaned about it once they saw what it was. Even with the small crowd, they did the entire two and half hour presentation, complete with two screens and airing a Hogan vs. Curt Hennig match from the XWF library which is one of the few things Hogan has rights to use. Hogan had people with him pitching how the product has changed their lives, including two of his nieces and his nephew Mike (former wrestler Horace Hogan), who all work for the company, so either by joining in he got them jobs although it was portrayed that they worked there and he loved the product so much that he came on board. Ed Leslie was also there, although no Jimmy Hart. Bischoff was said to have done a great job as the M.C. Bischoff talked about the days of regional television and said it was that way until Vince McMahon put wrestling on cable, which anyone who followed wrestling would know the first true national show was Georgia Championship Wrestling, which was doing big national numbers years before WWF got on USA. Very few people signed up to market the product. In building up his appearance in an interview with the local Greensboro News & Record, he said that TNA was an alternative to WWE because they focus on wrestling. Weve got a lot of young guys who are pushing hard. And were trying to make our own course of destiny and make wrestling matter again. Were not really focused on skits and entertainment and backstage antics. Were more focused on keeping the action as much as we can in the ring. In hindsight, why they did the Wrestling Matters slogan when they continue to produce a product where it doesnt is beyond me. Its like the slogan was going to mean something, then you have to make the changes. And if you dont make the changes, why waste your energy marketing something that it takes one TV show to see isnt the case? Aleta Ennis, who worked in publicity and marketing out of Orlando, was the latest person let go from the front office, making four people let go in the last two weeks. They are supposed to be hiring a new P.R. person shortly. Also let go was Rebecca Treston (Cookie). They had apparently split up Robbie E and Cookie on 8/11. But then, on the 8/18 TV show, they were back together although not getting along and she cost him his match. They didnt do a breakup angle, but on the 8/25 show, he was there, she wasnt, she wasnt mentioned, and he was trying to put together a unit with Rob Terry, whose return to the British Invasion lasted the length of one television clip. Her contract expired and they decided to keep him and not her. Eric Bischoff is in a court fight over the rights to the name Buffalo Bill Cody Beer. The other person claiming rights to the name is Mike Darby, owner of Buffalo Bills Imma Hotel that was built by the real Buffalo Bill Cody in 1902. The bar at the hotel has been selling Buffalo Bill drinks for years, and of late, started selling Buffalo Bills Beer. The story in the Wall Street Journal said the judge was supposed to rule a few weeks ago. Darby got his beer to the marketplace first, by two days. However, he didnt get federal approval of the name. Bischoff got the label approved and applied for a trademark. Instead, the judge ruled there would be a trial to determine who had the rights. There is also a Buffalo Bills Brewery in Hayward, CA, which is not named after Buffalo Bill Cody. For what its worth, Angle right now is claiming he will compete in amateur wrestling on 4/21 and 4/22 at the U.S. Olympic team trials in Iowa City and not

until then. That sounds ridiculous to just go to the trials without even competing in 16 years. Angle claimed that he has a unique style and doesnt want anyone to see it before the tournament. He can get into the tournament as a past world champion without having to qualify. Right now hes 215 pounds, which is very small for the 211 pound weight class that he would be competing in. He said hes going to double his caloric intake to try and gain weight over the next few months. Jake Varner is the top dog in that weight class in the U.S. right now. I should also note that I regularly read the major amateur wrestling publications and none of the ones Ive seen have devoted even one word to the idea of Angle returning for the Olympics. Fan interaction tickets for the next U.K. tour in January have already sold out. Matt Morgan will be medically cleared to wrestle in two weeks. They did angles with him where Samoa Joe injured him, but thats all storyline and not because hes not ready to return. Hes expected to wrestle Joe at the next PPV which should lead to Joe vs. Crimson at Bound for Glory. Thea Trinidad (Rosita) will be on an NBC network documentary called Children of 9/11" that airs on 9/5. Her father was killed in the 9/11 attack. Winter, under her real name, Katarina Waters, is doing an Elvira gimmick hosting horror DVDs. Shell play an Elvira role where she introduces the movie and adds commentary and will be called Katarinas Nightmare Theater. 8/25 Impact notes. Angle came out and talked about what happened with Crimson. He said he would end Crimsons career. Crimson said by the end of the night he would earn Angles respect. Immortal then came out, including Gunner, who last week on TV in the skit where Sting beat him up, Ric Flair fired him. I suppose they could have done a retake or edited it out, but since it doesnt matter to them, it shouldnt matter to us either. Which is kind of the problem in the big picture. Ray started talking to Crimson and they acted like they were going to take Crimson out. Angle stopped him and told all of Immortal to stay out of this and if any of them, particularly Jeff Jarrett, did anything to Crimson they would have to answer to him. I did like that after all that went down between Angle and Jarrett, then even with Angle turning, that they didnt just forget it as often happens in these situations. Angle told Crimson he was going to make him famous. Backstage, Jackie and ODB were with Velvet Sky since they were teaming together. The angle is that Jackie and ODB are trying to get a job so they are on their best behavior. You can tell that they didnt want to be nice to her and were holding in attacking her. She didnt trust them but they said there were two of them and they could attack her and they werent and they all vowed to have each others backs. Throughout the show, they kept showing feet walking. It ended up being revealed it was the return of Mr. Anderson, who was said last week to have had two busted eardrums, and would be out for a while (the same weekend he worked all the house shows). And yes, when he came back, he didnt even have tape around his ears, nor did they mention the injury, nor did he when attacking everyone sell any injury. Hogan, Bischoff and Flair were backstage. Hogan and Bischoff were mad at Flair for what he did. Hogan said that Sting is superhuman and that he doesnt feel any pain and that he doesnt want to wrestle him. He said he was going to settle

things with Sting and that Flair had to come out with him. He told Flair not to say a word. Flair promised he wouldnt, which of course meant hed be quiet early, lose his cool, start talking and blow the situation. ODB & Jackie & Sky beat Angelina Love & Rosita & Sarita in 4:11. The story here is the Sky team worked fine together, but Rosita & Sarita didnt want to tag Love in. Love used her reverse back stabber like finisher on Sky and had her beat, but with the ref distracted, ODB and Jackie gave Love a double team suplex and put Sky on top for the pin. Rosita and Sarita were then mad at Love for losing and walked out on her. Kid Kash pinned Jesse Sorenson in 3:02 by using the trunks. The only thing we know about Sorenson is that he played quarterback in high school football. This is not enough character development, even though Kash is really good in his role. After winning, Kash did a promo acting like he wiped the mat with Sorenson and slapped him around like he would discipline his kids. Sorenson wanted to get at him but security held him back. This is the same security that cant even stop a womens fight. In the bound for Glory series, RVD pinned Pope in 4:57 using the upside down surfboard (La Tapatia) for the submission. People have seen that move for years and nobody has ever submitted. Plus, youve got your own shoulders on the mat doing it. So nobody saw this as the finish. But its not like RVD has a submission over and the tournament badly needed some submissions given the premium points for them. After the match, Joe ran in and attacked Pope and put him in the heel hook. Once again, Devons sons looked concerned and looked to the back. Devon, who was injured and put out of the tournament last week (even though hes back on TV in two weeks), limped down, but stopped. His kids told him to save Pope so he yelled at them to give him a chair and he then limped to the ring with it and Joe left the ring. Robbie E did a promo asking Rob Terry to join up with him as his personal bouncer. You know, they can go to the gym together as well. Terry just gave him a mean face but in the end said he would consider it. Backstage, Love was talking on her cell phone on the couch when Rosita and Sarita showed up and attacked her. Winter made the save, including pulling the blinds off the wall and choking Rosita with them. Finally Hernandez and Anarquia broke it up. Brooks, in the super could have her job Bischoffs brain with announcement next three cocktails. skimpy top, bent over in front of Bischoff and asked if she back as Knockout Law. All of the blood rushed out of her implants right in his face. Bischoff said hed make an week but invited her out for cocktails. She said why not

Hogan and Flair came out and Hogan called out Sting. Hogan was supposed to be making up with Sting but gave this interview talking about Sting losing his mind and such, so if he was trying to buy Stings favor, it made no sense what he was doing. Sting then did a goofy promo saying he would bury the hatchet with Hogan if Hogan got everyone in the crowd milk & cookies, rainbows, unicorns, and gave everyone a puppy. Then Sting started doing his Jim Barnett speak and said he should get everyone flowers, then hugged Hogan and kissed him. At that point, Flair lost his cool and started cutting a promo. Hogan got mad since Flair wasnt supposed to say a word. Flair said that Sting could act crazy, but hes just as crazy as Sting and has been crazier longer. He said hes been

crazy since Sting was sucking on his mothers tit. They did bleep that out. Then Flair started saying how the reason he would beat Sting is because at the end of the day, Sting liked him too much to ever hurt him, and when it came time to go for the kill, Sting would back off and then hed take advantage of it. You know, if that was your game plan for the match, it probably would have been wise to not give it away. At the end Sting said he was facing Hogan at Bound for Glory. A.J. Styles came out for an interview. He called out Christopher Daniels. Styles asked why Daniels went on TV last week and said that he wanted to have a rematch with him. He said they were friends so why didnt he just wait for him to make a decision. Daniels then gave this story about how when he lost to Styles at Destination X, he wondered if he still had what it took to compete at the top level. He was in tears, talking about it was the only thing he was good at and the only job he loved. But he said if he couldnt compete at the top level, he would retire. Youd think Styles could have just told him what level of a worker he was and hed accept it. So Styles accepted the match and Daniels was happy, wanting it at No Surrender. Styles said that No Surrender was the final four for the Bound for Glory series, and he was planning on being in the final four, so said to instead have it next week. Scott Steiner & Ray & Gunner beat Styles & Beer Money in 6:04 in a falls count anywhere match. A lot of brawling. Abyss was standing on the ramp watching, with the tease that hes going face. Good match. Storm and Gunner ended up backstage and Gunner dropped a locker on him. Roode and Steiner also disappeared, leaving Styles with Ray. Ray pinned Styles with the Bubba Bomb. Post-match saw Steiner pull out a table and was about to put Styles through it when Anderson showed up in a humvee and then hit the ring. Anderson threw Steiner through the table. He then grabbed Rays chain and pounded on Gunner with it until Gunner was all bloody. Anderson then went after Ray but Ray bailed out. James talked about her title match with Winter next week and that she was getting back the title. The Eric Young/Scott Baio segment was next. For all the build, this was nothing. Baio was golfing. Young had to hop the fence. Young approached him and wanted a match and Baio held up his golf club like it was a weapon. Young then took off his shirt and Baio insulted him. For some reason, Baio was running and Young was running. The next thing you know, Young was in a tree jumping off for a crossbody on Baio and Young counted the three for the pin. Then Young ran out celebrating in his underwear. Crimson beat Angle via DQ in 10:18. Angle made Crimson look okay here. The last two weeks, Crimson has come across like a star. Crimson got a near fall with a spear. Angle came back with the heel hook but Crimson used his free leg to kick Angle and break it up. Crimson used the sky high power bomb, which they call the Red Sky power bomb when Joe ran in. Joe got in Angles face after laying out Crimson. Angle smiled and walked off basically telling Joe to do what he wanted. Joe went for a muscle buster but Crimson escaped and started fighting back and Joe bailed, so they look to be going back to Crimson vs. Joe. Joe then attacked him again and threw Crimson into a wall and put his knee on a staircase. Notes from the 8/25 tapings in Huntsville. The first show, airing on 9/1, had Hogan do an interview and talked about the Flair stipulations for the match with

Sting. Angle came out and told Hogan that he would not just take out newcomers, but also take out veterans, and he would start with Sting. This set up an Angle vs. Sting title match as the TV main event when Sting accepted the match. Gunner pinned RVD in the Bound for Glory series when Jerry Lynn interfered and cost RVD more points. Bischoff came out with Brooks to address all the knockouts. He said he was putting someone in charge of all the women, teasing it would be Brooks, but instead swerved and announced it would be Karen Jarrett. Jarrett then announced the first thing she had done was signed ODB and Jackie as talent, and she said that Brooks could also get a job as her assistant. Kendrick & Sorenson beat Aries & Kash when Sorenson pinned Kash after a rollup. James pinned Winter after a kick to the head to regain the knockouts title. Morgan got in the ring and told Joe to come out. Morgan chastised Joe and Joe ended up attacking him. Joe put Morgans arm against the post and nailed it with a chair, so when Morgan comes back, it looks like theyll have a program. Daniels pinned Styles. The only details we have is that Styles slipped off the ropes and Daniels pinned him. So they may be doing something where it looks like a fluke and Daniels plays it up for more than its worth. Angle beat Sting with Hogan as referee. Angle won due to interference from Immortal and pinning Sting after an Olympic slam on a chair. After the match, Immortal was beating down Sting until Anderson made the save. The second show for 9/8, the Bound for Glory go-home show, opened with Pope & Devon beating Douglas Williams & Magnus. This set up Pope & Devon for a tag title match against Mexican America for the PPV. They announced that the final four in the Bound for Glory series ended up being Gunner, Bully Ray, Roode and Storm. They would do a four-corners match on TV, and then do two singles matches on the PPV. How is Crimson, who never lost a match, not in the final four? Young pinned Robbie E to keep the TV title. Winter & Love beat James & Sky when Winter blew the mist into James face and pinned her. Aries came out for a promo. Kendrick came out, wearing a suit, talking about their title match. They argued back-and-forth. Gunner won a four-way over Ray, Storm and Roode when Gunner pinned Ray. Anderson beat Angle via DQ in a title match when Immortal interfered. They were beating down Anderson until Sting made the save. The show ended with something they built up over two weeks. The story is that the network gave Jeff Hardy time and he could come out for an interview. Hardy came out as a babyface, apologized for screwing up the Victory Road main event in March. He apologized to the fans, and the wrestlers. He said that he wasnt asking for forgiveness but said that he wanted one more chance. They go off the air with the fans reaction to Hardy. UFC/STRIKEFORCE

Some more notes on the UFC/FOX deal. For 11/12, the plan is for a one-hour pre-game show from 8-9 p.m. on Fuel TV, followed by the one hour on FOX and then a 30 minute post-game show on Fuel. So the pre-and-post-game shows look to be on Fuel and not on FOX which is a huge difference. UFC has control of the production for the one hour, while FOX controls the pre-and-post. The idea, because they dont want the show to go long, is two three-round fights and if they end quick, rolling another fight in from the prelim card like they do on the Spike one hour pre-PPV specials. FX will have control of the production for the Ultimate Fighter, but UFC will have control for the FOX fight nights. On 8/23, the FOX network sent out an email to its General Managers, General Sales Managers, Program Directors, Promotion Managers, Traffic Managers as well as to Neilsen listing fall schedule specials for Sundays during the NFL season. For 10/30, there is a listing for a show called UFC Prime Time that would air immediately after the NFL Sunday post-game show. There is no description of what the show is. The show UFC Prime Time on Spike used to be a three-week Countdown show building up a big fight. Dana White then texted us after this went out that this wasnt true. So either there was a special planned and plans changed (although at least some people who got the original memo havent been alerted of a change in plans) or they want it kept quiet until they make the announcement. The email also listed dates for tape-delayed British Premiere League soccer games airing several weeks after the NFL game. Doing a Countdown show immediately after NFL broadcasts would be the best possible time slot on the best possible network to engage the type of viewer who would be most apt to be a UFC fan. Eric Shanks was talking about doing a talk show with fighters, reporters and even fans for Fuel. Shanks also said that agent Ari Emanuel was the guy who pushed them hard saying how UFC was a brand they should get involved with. Regarding White saying that FOX was the No. 1 network in the ratings in our lead story last week, technically for the 2010-2011 season, CBS was the highest rated network with a 6.3 prime time average (September to late August, which includes the rerun season) and FOX was second at 4.9. However, in the 18-49 demo, which is where the bulk of the UFC audience is, FOX averaged a 3.1 to a 2.5 for second place CBS, so if UFC was to get a network deal, FOX would be the best place to be. Theyve slightly lowered ticket prices for some of the live shows and the result has been, at least ticket sales wise, good advances for upcoming shows. Both 9/24 in Denver and 10/8 in Houston have sold 12,000 tickets for $1.9 million. So both arenas will be packed on the night of the show. I dont have anything for 9/17 in New Orleans. 10/1 in Washington, DC, has sold 6,000 tickets for $500,000 for a Fight Night headlined by Dominick Cruz vs. Demetrious Johnson, so given the main event, I consider that a good number. Tickets go on sale 9/7 (Fight Club) for the 10/29 show in Las Vegas with GSP vs. Nick Diaz and a loaded undercard. The impression I have is the local casinos are considering this one a hot ticket so there were be large blocks purchased right away. The undercard includes Carlos Condit vs. B.J. Penn (if Condit wins, hell likely get the next welterweight title shot, if Penn wins, he may or may not), Mirko Cro Cop vs. Roy Nelson, Donald Cerrone vs. Dennis Siver, Cheick Kongo vs. Matt Mitrione, Hatsu Hioki (UFC debut) vs. George Roop, Eliot Marshall vs. Brandon Vera (must win for Vera), Jeff Curran vs. Scott Jorgensen and Tyson Griffin vs. Bart Palaszewski as the major fights.

Really sorry to hear about the death of Jack Shields, the father of Jake Shields, who passed away on 8/22 at the age of 67. Jack was Jakes manager and adviser and was working on sponsorship business when he got tired and fell asleep, and passed away in his sleep. In the history of MMA piece last week, we have a few notes. In the Helio Gracie vs. Kato second fight, Gracie won with a gi choke from the bottom, not a guillotine choke. In the second Rickson Gracie vs. Nobuhiko Takada match, Takada did tap. The referee was instructed to stop it immediately when Takada was in trouble so he wouldnt have to tap (to save his pro wrestling marketability as New Japan wanted to do business with him for Dome shows) but he actually did tap. Regarding Kimo after UFC III, at one point Kimo was scheduled for UFC IV to be in the tournament, in the spot Joe Son ended up taking. I was told later by Campbell McLaren, who ran UFC for a number of years, that Rorion Gracie did not want Kimo back. They may have pressured to get him back, and then he pulled out anyway, but after UFC IV, he was never brought back until Rorion Gracie was out of the picture. Cris Cyborg, who currently holds the Strikeforce womens featherweight champion, finally signed a new deal after a long negotiation period. Nothing has been announced as far as a next match, but Amanda Nunes would be the logical next title challenger. Scott Coker said they are looking at her fighting by the end of the year. Regarding the UFC/ESPN relationship, there has been talk internally regarding the future of the MMA Live show. There were people who wanted it moved to the Internet from ESPN 2, but its ratings, while they look low, are considered good for ESPN 2 in the time slot it airs. Those at ESPN said the issue with Dana White has already been resolved and as far as Sports Center goes, to expect to see the same level of coverage as they love showing the spectacular knockouts and if there is a big fight, Sports Center will cover it. Shane Carwin, who did a personal appearance with Alistair Overeem over the weekend, wrote that Overeem told him he thought he was close to singing with UFC. The sides talked as soon as Golden Glory realized there was no other viable option for Overeem to make nearly as much money, so they had to agree to UFCs terms. For the 8/12 Strikeforce Challengers show in Las Vegas, it drew 1,882 at the Pearl which was set up for 1,948, but only 549 was paid with a gate of $53,670. All the empty seats visible on camera in the lower level during the main event (Jorge Gurgel vs. Joe Duarte) would indicate that a lot of people who got free tickets didnt come. Scott Coker on a conference call on 8/30 said that there has been no decision made regarding the heavyweight title that was vacated when Alistair Overeem was fired (Overeem is in talks with Zuffa about returning, so what I could see them doing is bringing Overeem back to UFC as the Strikeforce champion and doing a champion vs. champion match). It would be logical to have the winner of the Grand Prix tournament as the new heavyweight champion, but Coker said that as of right now, the position of the company is the winner of the tournament will not become the new champion. Marloes Coenen, who just recently lost her Strikeforce bantamweight title to Miesha Tate on 7/30 in Chicago, and was then cut in the Golden Glory purge, will not be back any time soon. She signed a multi-fight deal with Black Eye

Promotions in North Carolina and expects to start there in February. At 30, which is the tail end of the marketability and ability phase of a womans fighters career (women athletes unless enhanced with PEDs have a tendency to peak earlier and wash out earlier, at least as far as real wrestling, the closest sport to this has shown), this is a business gamble. Nobody knows the future of women in Zuffa or of Strikeforce, so this was going to be a tough call. While she did sign a non-exclusive deal with the new promotion that hasnt run a show (always a gamble to get on board with something like that considering a huge percentage fail quickly), Zuffa is not going to use anyone that isnt exclusive to them. Josh Barnett passed his steroid test and has been licensed for the 9/10 show in Cincinnati to face Sergei Kharitonov, so that hurdle is passed. They wouldnt have booked the show in Ohio if they didnt know the commission was willing to license him, but they still required him to at least pass a steroid test. With Josh Thomson injured, Pat Healy was called as the replacement and faces Maximo Blanco on that show. Diego Sanchez claimed that after his loss to B.J. Penn at the end of 2009, he went on a binge, partying, smoking dope and trusted his money to a friend who then embezzled $170,000 from him. Kevin Iole at Yahoo! Sports reported that Quinton Jackson believes he has a spy in his camp. He believed it was the case because last year, when he fought Rashad Evans, he had suffered a knee injury before the fight, kept it completely quiet, and Evans from the first shot started punching his bad knee, saying nobody had ever punched his knee before, hed never see anyone use that attack and Evans never punched knees before. Later he said a fan on twitter told him that Jon Jones had a spy in his camp. So he made up a story that he hurt his hand, told his camp, and four hours later Joe Silva called Jacksons manager, Anthony McGann, and asked about his hand. When McGann asked Silva where he heard the news, Silva said he heard it from Malki Kawa, who is Jones manager. Jackson told Iole, One of my friends was talking to Jon Jones manager recently and Jon Jones manager was saying that he knows everything that is going on in our camp. He said he had spies in our camp and he knew everything that was going on. Jackson said the phone call from Silva told him two things, They have spies in my camp, one, and two, theyre dumb as hell because they didnt now how to use the information correctly and to wait. Kawa said he didnt have a spy in his camp, but he saw a report on twitter that Jackson was hurt and he only called Silva to ask if he was. Evans said he had never heard anything about Jackson having a bad knee. He said he punched him in the knee and saw how he reacted so he targeted it. Sam Stout pulled out of UFC 137 according to MMAjunkie.com. He was scheduled to face Dennis Siver on 10/29 in Las Vegas. While this was not said, Stout, who was the brother-in-law and one of the best friends of Shawn Tompkins, was really broken up by his death so he may feel its early to go back into the cage. Donald Cerrone will replace him, which makes this a key lightweight bout. Diego Nunes pulled out of the 9/24 show in Denver where he was to face Manny Gamburyan. Gamburyan had already pulled out and they were trying to get him an opponent. He said he had tendinitis in his left arm that was painful, plus some people tried to murder his father so he wanted to take time off from training and see his family.

Randy Harris, who was covering the events, wrote on facebook that he, one of the judges and one of the doctors (Daniel Vieira Silva) were robbed by the police while in Brazil. Later he deleted the descriptions of who he was with. Justin Edwards vs Jorge Lopez has been added as a prelim fight on the 9/17 show in New Orleans. Edwards was on the last season of Ultimate Fighter. To the surprise of nobody, Jason Reinhardt, who at 41 was the oldest fighter on the UFC roster since the retirement of Randy Couture, was cut after his loss on the 8/14 show in Milwaukee to Edwin Figueroa. Reinhardt has a 20-3 overall record, but his UFC record is 0-3. Coming off his win over Amir Sadollah on the 8/14 show, Duane Ludwig is now out due to neck surgery. Added to the 10/1 show in Washington, DC, is a match with debuting bantamweights Joseph Sandoval vs. Walel Watson. Both will be making their UFC debuts. Sandoval is 6-0 but is new to the sport. Cyrille Diabate vs. Anthony Perosh has been added to the 11/5 show in Birmingham, England, which is the next to the last Spike show. The Spike prelims for the 10/8 show in Houston are now official, with Jeremy Stephens vs. Anthony Pettis and Demian Maia vs. Jorge Santiago. Pascal Krauss of Germany is off the 11/5 show in Birmingham, England, where he was to face Englands John Hathaway. Ive been asked this question about a dozen times regarding whether TUF fights when they go live will be considered as fights on fighters records. Generally, the semifinals and finals of TUF end up listed on fighter records but up to that point they arent listed. When asking Keith Kizer, Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, he said it would be up to UFC. If the fights are billed as exhibitions, they will not count. If they are billed as fights, then they will count. 19-year-old Mohamded Ali of Hollis, NY, was arrested on 8/23 and charged with criminal infringement of a copyright for streaming UFC, WWE and boxing PPVs on the Internet for one year. What got him in trouble is not just that he streamed copyrighted stuff, but that he charged money for people to pay for it and made $6,000 in subscription fees. BELLATOR The new season starting on 9/10 will be simulcast on both MTV 2 and EPIX, airing on the latter station because it broadcasts in HD. EPIX is carried in about 30% of the cable/satellite homes, and is not carried by either DirecTV or Comcast. They are in negotiations to try and bring in Shinya Aoki for Eddie Alvarez, their lightweight champion, so Alvarez can try and get his win back. The 9/24 show, which starts the bantamweight tournament, which on paper looks to be the best tournament in the history of the company, will be from Canton, OH. The four first round matches have Alexis Vila (9-0, a 1996 Olympic bronze medalist in wrestling) vs. Joe Warren (current Bellator featherweight champion, 7-1, the 2006 world champion in wrestling), Eduardo Danes (10-2) vs. Wilson Reis (former Elite XC featherweight champion, dropping down a weight class, 12-3) Luis Nogueira (11-1) vs Ed West (16-5) and Chase Beebe

(former WEC bantamweight champion, 18-7) vs. Marcos Galvao (9-4-1, who most feel beat Warren in a recent fight. Keith Jardine on twitter wrote that hed been contacted to fight on the 12/17 Strikeforce show, and was dropping to middleweight. Hes got an awfully big frame to be a middleweight, as he wasnt even an undersized heavyweight early in his career. K-1/DREAM Kazushi Sakuraba, 42, has been added to the 9/24 show at the Saitama Super Arena, facing Yan Cabral (9-0). This would be Sakurabas first fight since New Years Eve when part of his ear was torn off his head in a match with Marius Zaromskis. They were able to reattach the ear with surgery. Cabral is a Jiu Jitsu expert from Brazil who trains with the likes of Marlon Sandro, Jose Aldo Jr. and Diego Nunes. Former Pride favorite and UFC fighter Kazuhiro Nakamura will face former UFC fighter Gerald Harris on the 9/24 Dream show at the Saitama Super Arena. K-1 Max is running a show on 9/25 in Osaka with Yuichiro Nagashima, who has been doing a lot of pro wrestling of late. OTHER MMA The return of the Pro Elite promotion, headed by T. Jay Thompson (one of the first successful MMA promoters in the 90s with his SuperBrawl promotion in Honolulu) ran at the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, with Hawaiis Kendall Grove beating Joe Riggs with a guillotine in :59. Andrei Arlovski ended his four-fight losing streak, but did not look good at all against unknown Ray Lopez. Lopez was actually working for a choke at the end of the first round. In the second round, the crowd wasnt happy due to the lack of action. Arlovski finished him at 2:43 of the third round from punches from the mount. Reagan Penn, the younger brother of B.J., made his pro debut, beating Paul Gardiner in 1:10 with a choke. Mark Ellis, who won the 2009 NCAA heavyweight championship, and has been training in San Jose, made his debut beating former college football player Jake Heun in a back-and-forth match ending at 2:29 of the second round. 2004 Olympic silver medal winning wrestler Sara McMann also had a tough fight with Raquel Paaluhi with a keylock at 2:53 of the third. McMann dominated the first two rounds but couldnt put her away. Paaluhi got the better of the standup in the third, but McMann was able to take her down and finish her. Amanda Lucas, daughter of George Lucas, beat Hikaru Shinohara (the daughter of the gangster who killed Rikidozan by stabbing him in 1963) on the 8/27 show at Korakuen Hall, winning with an armbar in 4:37. Shinohara is 6-8 and Lucas is 2-1. Shinohara hasnt fought in three years, and fought at 108 at the time while this fight was at 155. Jon War Machine Koppenhaver, coming off a one year prison term for felonious assault, returns for a show on 10/15 in Villa Park, IL against Gideon Ray. Andrew Long, 22, who wrestled at Penn State last year, placing third in the nation at 133 pounds, was arrested on sexual assault charges. Long is being charged with allegedly attempting to rape an unconscious woman. He was arrested on 8/12 in a sexual assault that police believe happened that morning. WWE

The situation with Sin Cara continues to change. The original Sin Cara, Luis Ignacio Urive Alvride (Mistico), returned on 8/20 at the house shows, after serving his 30 day suspension. During the interim, Jorge Arias (Hunico) had been in the role. However, on 8/23, both Mistico and Hunico were brought to Calgary for the Smackdown tapings. Mistico was sent home and Hunico was put in the role. Hunico then worked with Slater, and Vince McMahon blew his stack. The first match contained several botched spots, so McMahon made them go back out and redo the botched spots. Then, later in the show, he sent the two out there for a third time, this time to do a less than 2:00 match doing most of the same spots they did once or twice before. It was this match and not anything from the first two that aired on Smackdown. Mistico has not been fired, although he is and has been on thin ice since July. McMahon wanted Hunico to project more energy and connect more with the crowd. Those in the company note that Hunico simply doesnt have the speed and fluidity of Mistico and cant pull off the same high spots to make people think its the same guy. However, at the arenas when Hunico has been in the role, the crowd reacts thus far to him like hes a superstar and it doesnt appear most fans know the difference, even though it seems pretty obvious. They have told Hunico to drop weight because they went him lithe and muscular like Mistico because they want people to think its the same guy. On Raw, when pushing Sin Cara, they called him a second generation wrestler (Mistico is, I dont think Hunico is), that he has his own comic book, was the biggest box office draw in Mexico. For good measure when making things up, claimed he was also the biggest box office draw in Japan and China. Mistico was popular in Japan but far form the biggest box office draw. He never wrestled in China, although in 2008, he did go to Beijing as a reporter, with his mask (which tells you how big he was) covering the Olympics for Televisa. But there is an internal feeling, at least among some, that Hunico doesnt have the charisma to stay over. However, they were hoping the Mistico that returned would be a new Mistico when it comes to attitude. Instead, the word around the company was that he showed no remorse, still walked around like he was a star, and has rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Another person close to the situation noted that Mistico has a double whammy. Not only was he a star elsewhere, which works against you, but he was a HHH project, and while nobody will ever say so publicly, many in the locker room are very happy to see HHHs big moves not work out, feeling for years hes buried people in meetings, including his friends, and is responsible for the depleted main event scene by bad mouthing everyone but a few guys that came up and had his stamp of approval as his own projects (Batista and Orton were his projects while Cena was Stephanies, even though it was really Paul Heyman who gave him his first break, but under Heyman he was dying and on the verge of being cut and when Stephanie heard him freestyle, she made him her project). At this point, they are going forward with Hunico. The feeling Vince hasnt and maybe wont get rid of Mistico is that deep down, many believe hes the only guy who can pull it off long-term and since that decision was made, at least one point it was being thought out again. Although another person said this was not that big of a deal internally and not something many are talking about. Another noted that to bring Mistico back, Vince has to look the other way on things that only top guys get passes on. I dont know all the details because aside from the drug test failure, nothing but this being aloof or high maintenance or feeling of entitlement with no specifics has come out other than they were not happy he went to the Mexican media after his suspension and played the I dont know whats going on card when he did know and had known for some time. That and he still

hadnt learned English so they had to have referee Rod Zapata do all of his matches because hes the only referee who was bilingual, plus that didnt allow him to do interviews in English. Then again, Hunico knows English and its not like hes doing any interviews. Theres another very interesting issue. His merchandise selling so well was said to be the only thing that saved him from already being fired, and led to the decision to put Hunico in the spot. So who gets the merchandise royalties? Right now the decision has come down to this: Embracing a guy who has been a major merchandise seller and possibly can be a major star, especially going forward and with a hole in the roster given Mysterios age and injuries; or rolling the dice that the WWE machine can get the gimmick over without Mistico, at evidence of the house shows is that so far nobody knows the difference. There is also a lot of talk and concern about what happens in October when they go to Mexico if there is or isnt a negative reaction. As for Mistico, if WWE doesnt bring him back, AAA would definitely use him and push him hard. As for CMLL, they were not happy about the way he left. Generally, Paco Alonso has been very hard-headed when it comes to using people he believes have wronged him, probably more than any major promoter. But with business not doing well, its not completely cut-and-dried. Mysterio had his reconstructive surgery on his left knee on 8/26 in San Diego. He had to get his PCL and ACL completely redone and bone spurs removed. He cant do anything for three months. Apparently hes looking at this in the most productively positive manner, happy that hes going to be home for several months straight, even if this isnt the way youd want it to happen, particularly at his age and with his wear and tear. His return looks to be somewhere in the March to May time frame. Dwayne Johnson on twitter as to why he came back to WWE: A few years ago, when Cena inexplicably started talking trash publicly, I knew then I could turn this into a massive main event, one that could elevate WWE to unprecedented heights. The timing had to be right though. WrestleMania 27 for me and the fans, the time was right. Regarding wrestling at the next Mania: The match itself will be historic. I didnt come back to WWE to become champion again. I came back for these reasons, entertain the fans like no one else can, elevate the WWE to new heights never before seen, challenge and mentor some of the younger talent, give the millions what they want which is to kick John Cenas fn ass. For what its worth, the first time he told me he was coming back was 2009 and it was always about fitting it into the schedule and having the right idea, because he didnt want to come back and it not be impactful, although at least at the time he said he wasnt going to do another match. Some statistics that really shocked me, since the Punk stuff appeared to be so huge on the Internet. As it turns out, for an Internet site like the Observer site, Punk hit a chord but for WWE, that wasnt the case at all, which basically says the Punk appeal to the Internet audience is a complete misnomer. He had an appeal to an audience, but calling it the Internet audience is to misread the Internet audience. I think he appealed an audience that follows the product very closely, which fits into the Males 18-40 group, and probably to a degree to lapsed fans (I heard a lot of talk from people who were fans for life but in recent years have moved on, often to UFC, and they talked a lot about him), but not enough to make a statistical difference whatsoever in ratings or attendance. That audience is probably your prime PPV audience and he clearly made a significant difference at Money in the Bank in the U.S., but preliminary indicators

were not good for SummerSlam so the reaction that he hurt himself with the one audience he appealed strongly to by coming back early may have been the case. Based on talk Ive heard, and statistics from our own web site, that was definitely the case with the audience he most appealed to. During July, the WWE site had 12 million visitors, the second lowest number for any month of the last 12, although it was up from June. The decline is not a negative as its largely seasonal patterns as July from last year did 11.5 million (that was during the Nexus angle although June was the peak of interest in that), the worst month of that year, but July 2009 did 13.6 million. But page views were down 22% from the same period last year. In addition, web merchandise also had one of its worst months in several years, with 452 orders per day, actually down 7% from last year and 22% from two years ago. So even if the Punk or Sin Cara merchandise is doing well, the company is still down from usual July numbers of the previous two years. The company shipped 263,000 DVD units, and of late, theyve been selling about 59% of those shipped. The company is no longer listing the best selling DVDs every month. However, good news is that in refiguring the WrestleMania numbers after more returns are in, they are now up to 1,120,000 buys and 663,000 domestic, beating the worldwide total for the 2005 Batista vs. HHH match of 1,090,000 buys (not the domestic number for that show, which was 720,000). So it is now No. 2 of all-time worldwide behind the 2007 Donald Trump show, which at 1,250,000, it will not catch. For those concerned, Undertaker is growing his hair back. Hes probably still months away from having enough hair to return. While Lisa Wright of the Council for Unity sent an apology letter to WWE and the Be a Star Alliance regarding her original complaints regarding the treatment of Vickie Guerrero, the letter seemed to serve its purpose. Since getting the letter, Lawler was told to lay off Guerrero and none of the announcers or any of the babyfaces have been allowed to make any jokes about her looks or weight. WWE also has done no bullying of Jim Ross, which was a weekly thing, since the letter came in. I dont know if thats related or not, but the fact they laid off Ross in Tulsa does seem to show a different attitude. The company is very sensitive regarding the idea that what they do in their programming comes across as bullying aside from what be considered normal heat getting stuff expected out of wrestling. Chavo Guerrero Sr. (Chavo Classic) in Spanish on twitter wrote: Whoever hired Sin Cara does not know the Hispanic market. Matt Polinsky, 27, better known as Pennsylvania independent wrestler Sterling James Keenan, has signed a developmental contract. Hes now using the name Corey Graves. Hes been wrestling for 11 years, mostly in the Pittsburgh area, but has wrestled a lot in the U.K. with the 1PW promotion and has done some work with ROH. Paul Levesques official real world title is Executive Vice President, Talent. He was just awarded 52,339 shares of company stock worth $474,000 as of the weekend. His next movie, Inside Out, gets the limited release on 9/9 (in only nine theaters nationwide) before being released to video a few weeks later. This is the one where hes released from prison, and instead of meeting up with his daughter and beating up bad guys, now he has to protect his best friend from

the bad guys. What is notable is this is the first WWE movie that didnt have a lot of promotion on television. They started on the 9/29 Raw, just 11 days before the open, while in the past they spent months pushing their moves. Notes from Raw on 8/29 in Tulsa. Dark match had Riley pinning McIntyre, followed by R-Truth pinning Morrison with a downward spiral in a good long Superstars match. Raw opened with HHH making the announcement that every Monday night from this point forward will be a Raw & Smackdown super show. The crowd didnt react nearly as big as youd think. HHH said that Nash has been lying and he wanted to find out why his best friend was lying to him. Punk instead came out and said HHH and Nash were swerving everyone because they are in on this together. Nash came out to the old NWO theme music, I guess to make sure he felt even more dated. Nash said that he had his driver call up John Laurinaitis and lie about being in a car accident knowing HHH would leave the building to check on him. He said he played the friendship card so hed have a free path to get at Punk. Nash said he doesnt understand why HHH doesnt let him take out Punk because Punk has been insulting not only him but his wife as well. Nash asked HHH, What kind of a man are you? HHH said hes a man who doesnt expect to be lied to by his best friend. He told Nash he couldnt trust him. He told Nash to leave and not return. Nash said he lied about the accident but he didnt lie about the text, saying it came from HHHs number. And he said he wasnt leaving because while HHH was gone, Laurinaitis had signed him to a big money contract. He said HHH could fire him, but the money was guaranteed and hed be happy to sit at home and collect it. HHH told Nash he wasnt going to fire him but to stop lying. Punk then fell on the ground and acted like he was puking. He said nobody is buying this act. He said the kliq is back, and click is the sound of all the remote controls changing channels when Nash is on TV. There was great irony in that given all the people who tuned out when Punk wrestled Miz 45 minutes later. He also said click is what it sounds like in Nashs knees every time he tries to walk. HHH made Punk vs. Nash, and Punk said doesnt he have to check with Stephanie first, saying that HHH wears the panties in the family. Nash and Punk were about to go at it when Ortons music played and he came to the ring. Nash and Punk just disappeared. Orton pinned Ziggler in 12:26 of an awesome match. Ziggler used the Zig Zag on the floor. They showed Swagger watching backstage on the monitor. Ziggler used a famouser while Orton used a top rope superplex. Orton used a Bruno Sammartino style backbreaker into a slam. Finish saw Ziggler go for the sleeper but Orton escaped and used an RKO. Swagger was backstage smiling when Ziggler lost. Vickie Guerrero was appalled that he lost. Cena did an interview on Del Rio. Henry came out and said he was going to win the title at Night of Champions and threatened Cena to join his Hall of Pain. Christian came out and said Cena makes him sick because hes whining and complaining. They threatened Cena but Sheamus made the save. Sheamus is now called The Great White. Not sure if hes a shark or hes Gerry Cooney. When Christian saw Sheamus he left the ring. When Henry saw Christian was gone, he left the ring as well. Laurinaitis backstage made Henry & Christian vs. Cena & Sheamus for tonight. HHH came in, mad at Laurinaitis for going behind his back, and told Laurinaitis that he had already made the match.

Punk beat Miz via DQ in 13:53. Punk was back doing the Wanderlei Silva wrist roll that Vince didnt want him doing years ago. He was also doing more copying Japanese spots. He did the Savage elbow and R-Truth interfered for the DQ. RTruth and Miz beat down Punk. Punk made a comeback and gave R-Truth the GTS. Nash then came down. Punk and Nash squared off but Miz jumped Punk and Nash gave Punk a power bomb. Sin Cara pinned Swagger in 2:54. Last week Vickie was in Swaggers corner as his new manager. This week they said how Swagger wants Vickie to manage him. During the match, Vickie came out to scout him. This is as bad as when TNA books backwards. Ziggler started yelling at Vickie for being out there. This distracted Swagger, and Cara used a tornado DDT, a springboard senton from the apron into the ring, followed by the quebrada for the pin. Cara was super over here, more than anyone but Cena. Kingston & Bourne retained the tag titles beating Otunga & McGillicutty in 2:28 when Kingston pinned McGillicutty with Trouble in Paradise. Lawler spent the match talking about how Otunga & McGillicutty were boring. Cole kept taking about Jennifer Hudson, and they havent brought her name up with him in a long time. Otunga then confronted Lawler and knocked off his headset. Theyre apparently doing something with Lawler against Otunga in some form. Brie Bella pinned Kelly in a non-title match in 2:08. Actually, it was Nikki who pinned Kelly after a switch. They showed Phoenix & Natalya, all dressed up, which made little sense given their whole angle is they hate Barbie doll women who get over because of their looks. HHH then announced Punk would be facing him, and not Nash. Talk about a show that made no sense. Main event saw Cena & Sheamus beat Christian & Henry in 6:40. The show had been running long so this and other matches had the rushed feel to them. Finish saw Sheamus use the Brogue kick on Christian, knocking him into Cena, who used the Attitude Adjustment on him for the pin. This also made no sense with Christian losing the day before hes getting a world title shot. Notes from the 8/26 Smackdown show. Not really much of a show. Bret Hart came out and the crowd went crazy. Cole used the were in Bizzaroland phrase while the crowd was cheering for Hart, who was the babyface. He said Long wasnt there and HHH appointed him General Manager for the day. Contrary to the report we got, he did not take credit for the live show the next week, only made mention that there would be one. He announced Orton defending against Henry, who won the Battle Royal last week, for the TV next week. Christian came out right away. He blamed Edge for his loss at SummerSlam, saying he couldnt concentrate after Edge turned on him. Crowd really didnt react to that at all. He said hes entitled to a rematch. Hart said that Christian was becoming an embarrassment, to his friends, to his family, to the WWE Universe and to Canada. The crowd popped at the mention of Canada, but no reaction to WWE Universe. Hart told him to be a man and work his way up from the bottom. Christian said the embarrassment are guys like Bret and Edge, who cant cope with their careers being over. He mocked Hart for still wearing a leather jacket and having greasy stringy hair like he was in his 20s and told him to let it go. He said in WWE, he was the only Canadian left who was relevant. Then he showed a piece of paper that he claimed was a court order saying that since hes the former champion, hes entitled to the first rematch. Hart said that hes got his match, but hes making it a cage match. Crowd reacted good to that. Henry

came out and he was mad, saying he had been with the company for 15 years and has had to deal with blatant disrespect. He said he earned his title shot winning the Battle Royal and if he doesnt get it, somebodys getting hurt. He asked Hart to get the winner of the Orton vs. Christian cage match. He said he respected Hart but couldnt be held responsible for what he might do. That makes no sense on a number of levels. Sheamus then came out and told his story. It was about his uncle who castrated a big, mean black bull and then told Henry, Dont make me do the same to you. Sheamus and Henry went at it and it wasnt pretty, with Sheamus eventually knocking him out of the ring. Christian pinned Bryan after a killswitch. Good match. It was funny that Cole made a speech when Booker was talking about how Christian was manipulating the system in going to court to get a title rematch, when Cole noted that every champion always gets a title rematch. It sounded so dumb when the face announcers argument makes no sense and the heel announcer makes sense. Barrett did an interview saying how hes led attacks on champions and even the chairman himself (another storyline that went nowhere). There was a guy all dressed up in the corner who was never mentioned for Barrett to wrestle. He was never announced. Barrett walked off, refusing to wrestle him. Cole then explained that he should have walked out. Then Booker agreed. I would think when it was scripted, the idea was to get heat (that was an old Ernie Ladd idea that he did in a number of territories, although his version went farther, because wins and losses mattered, and hed forfeit the match, offer congratulations to the guy for beating him, and then beat the hell out of the guy after his hand was raised). When the face announcer doesnt sell it to the audience, outrage is not about to happen. Cara pinned Slater in the third match taped in 1:41 with the quebrada. There was nothing at all wrong with this, although after watching Kelly vs. Tamina and Jackson vs. Khali, both of which went in one take, I can only imagine how bad their first and second match must have been. I mean, no way it was worse that Jackson vs. Khali. Orton pinned DiBiase in a very good match. Rhodes came out with DiBiase and did an interview saying he performs miracles, saying hes resurrecting the status of the IC title. Well, that sounded good last week but now theres no way. He also said hes resurrecting the career of DiBiase. That may be easier. Orton went to RKO Rhodes but DiBiase saved with a sliding kick. Orton was bleeding from the forehead. Finish saw DiBiase escape the RKO, Orton escape Dream street, Orton duck a DiBiase clothesline and hit the RKO. After the match, Rhodes laid out DiBiase with crossroads and put the bag on his head, so that was the DiBiase turn. Kelly pinned Tamina with the famouser. This had some out there announcing. First it was said that Tamina played college basketball and once had 69 rebounds in a single game. Do you know how totally ridiculous that was? Then Booker mentioned she must be like Wilt Chamberlain. Then Cole went off, saying this wasnt 69 points, it was 69 rebounds like Wilt was a scoring champion but wasnt a rebounder. Booker seemed to back down and mention Rodman instead. Not that this matters, but the person with the most rebounds in the history of the NBA is Wilt Chamberlain (23,924) and Rodman right now ranks in 22nd place. Mahal did an interview with Khali saying he and Khali didnt win the Battle Royal because the servant disobeyed the masters orders. He made it clear Khalis role

is to serve him or else hell divorce Khalis sister and leave the family in poverty. They really think through the storylines because that would seem to say Khali makes no money at all going around the world as a WWE superstar if hes scared the family will be in poverty unless the Mahal family takes care of him. The least they could do is explain it like with Michaels like he made some bad investments, or maybe spent all his money chasing women or having to pay for hospital visits for his sick brother Dave. Jackson beat Khali when Khali went for a chop, Jackson moved and Khali hit Mahal. That may cause a divorce. Jackson then put Khali up in the rack and Khali tapped. It wasnt really a torture rack, more like a firemans carry position, but with those long legs, just balancing a guy that tall and big is impressive enough. They actually gave them 3:00. Crowd was chanting Oilers suck. The match could have been worse. Main was Sheamus beating Henry via count out in 7:32. Not much to the match. It wasnt good but the finish sequence went well. Both were outside the ring. Henry undid all the monitors from the table and was going to hit the worlds strongest slam. But Sheamus got out and used a Brogue kick on Henry, knocking him over the table which tipped over. Sheamus threw a chair on him and then jumped in the ring to beat the count. Why Sheamus beats Henry during the period you are building Henry for a title match with Orton makes no sense. They continued to brawl after the match. Sheamus shoved Henry into the post. Sheamus picked up the steps and threw them at Henry, but missed. If you cant hit a target the size of Henry with giant steps, well dont let Sheamus ever play darts or any of those throw a pitch carnival games. Henry clotheslined him and gave him the worlds strongest slam on the ring steps as the show ended. Mason Ryan returned this past week after a hamstring injury that took him out just as they had started doing something with him. WWE talent has been told not to have any twitter contact with Matt Hardy. They dont want to have any involvement in any embarrassing Matt Hardy story going forward. Andy Leavine is apparently serving a 30-day Wellness suspension. The story was going around among the wrestlers two weeks ago but WWE, which has a policy about announcing all drug test suspensions, and never announced it. WWE has not confirmed the suspension. It could be an instance where hes considered a developmental wrestler and not a main roster wrestler. There actually has been talk of turning either Kelly or Torres, but theyre not sure which one, other than they would feud. The timing doesnt make sense since theyre pushing Phoenix & Natalya against Kelly, as well as the Bella Twins against Kelly, so Kelly needs a partner. Torres turning on her would make sense when the Phoenix & Natalya stuff runs its course, but not right now. Del Rio missed the weekend house shows as well as Raw as he had to return to Mexico to get his visa renewed. Seth Rollins got some heat for overreacting to a fan on twitter who said he should cut his hair and his beard so he didnt look so much like Morrison. He responded, Hey, stupid question answer, no, I had long hair first. I had a beard first. And I can outwork him any day of the week. Hed have gotten away with those first three sentences. Later he wrote, To clarify, John Morrison is an

awesome dude and is great at what he does. Im just very confident in myself and my abilities. Melina is asking for $3,000 per appearance now that shes a free agent. Not sure how much business shes going to get at that price, but when Tiffany was released and was asking $2,500 per appearance, I dont think she was ever heard from again. For the Raw house shows this coming weekend, they are advertising first time ever with two title matches on the same show, with Del Rio defending first against Punk and later in the main event the winner (Del Rio) faces Cena. They did those at the house shows a couple of weeks ago. Smackdown crew this week runs 9/1 to 9/4 with shows in Nimes, France, Geneva, Switzerland and two shows in Paris, before returning for TV. The top guys will have straight travel from Paris to Columbus, OH for the 9/5 Raw. The Raw crew runs 9/2 in San Juan, but the rest of the weekend will be in the Northeast. Maryse had her surgery for an abdominal hernia on 8/24 and should be back in the next week or so. Kaitlyn made a twitter mistake, sending a message to a friend complaining about her ring music, but it went public. But she did quickly delete it. Make of this what you will from Melina on twitter: Has anyone ever had a person in your life that you loved so dearly but they didnt love you back? Isnt it the worst. I always wished time could speed up so I could get over the heartache. How did you get thru? . Lance Storm had four of his students get tryouts backstage at the tapings last week in Edmonton and/or Calgary. Chavo Guerrero Jr. on Monday Night Mayhem said he had been thinking of quitting for the last two years. The 8/8 Raw did 363,000 time delayed homes watching or 10.5% of the total viewers didnt watch live. Dick Ebersol is back with NBC Sports as a Senior Adviser. Ebersol and Vince McMahon have been on good terms dating back to them being co-producers of Saturday Nights Main Event from 1985-90, and they worked together bringing WWE back to NBC in recent years (which didnt do nearly as well), along with the XFL. Ebersol, left NBC Sports in May. He was negative about UFC, but with UFC not going to NBC and being locked up for seven years, thats now a moot point. Owen Hart and Andre the Giant will not be used as playable characters in the new WWF 12 video game due to legal issues between WWE and the estates of the two wrestlers. Alex Rileys father, Kevin Kiley Sr., has been hired as the morning talk show host for WKRK FM in Cleveland, the CBS affiliate which is switching from a music to an all-sports format. Raw opened on 8/26 in Jackson, MS, drawing a rare house show sellout of 9,200 fans paying $300,000. They also did well on 8/27 in Memphis with 7,500 paying $210,000. 8/28 in North Little Rock drew 5,400 and $163,000.

Smackdown shows were not as healthy. 8/27 in Cape Girardeau, MO did 2,300 paying $65,000 and 8/28 in Springfield, MO, a traditionally good market for wrestling, did 2,500 and $64,000. Raw in Jackson opened with Kingston & Bourne over McGillicutty & Otunga in a tag title match. Mason Ryan returned and pinned Ryder quickly. Ryan let his hair grow long while he was down so he doesnt look as much like Batista. Kelly & Torres beat the Bella Twins. Marella pinned Swagger. Punk pinned Truth. Ziggler won a three-way over McIntyre and Riley by pinning McIntyre. Morrison pinned DiBiase. DiBiase was the babyface since he grew up in Jackson. Why he didnt go over since its only a house show and he did so much of the local pub is beyond me. Cena pinned Miz in the main event. Memphis had some changes. Ryan pinned Marella. Swagger was scheduled to wrestle Ryder. Ryder came out first and was acting like a face and Swagger jumped him and left him laying. Swagger started running down how Memphis has no real men and nobody from Memphis would be man enough to face him. This was the cue for Lawler, who was advertised as being on the show. Lawler got a good reaction, but not overwhelming. Lawler got the pin after a fist drop. Punk pinned Truth. Truth got a lot of heat playing heel to set up Punk. Punk got a good reaction, but not a great reaction. Punk won with the GTS. Ziggler pinned Riley in a singles to keep the U.S. title. Ziggler won clean with the Zig Zag and did the Follow that speech. Morrison pinned McIntyre after Starship pain. Cena again pinned Miz on top with the Attitude Adjustment. North Little Rock was the same show as Jackson with the exception that Ziggler beat Riley and with no DiBiase on the show, Morrison pinned McIntyre. Ziggler came out dressed as Shawn Michaels and cut a promo on how Michaels was a quitter and such and how he was the new show stopper. It didnt really get over. The Smackdown show in Cape Girardeau had an issue with Christian, Kidd and Natalya all having travel problems so they had to change up the show. Bryan beat Barrett in a long opener with the LeBell lock. Clay pinned Curtis with a crossbody off the top. Jackson beat Slater with the torture rack. Harley Race came out as the special guest. He gave a babyface speech about being happy to see all the fans, and brought out DiBiase, as a face, and talked about how DiBiase trained at his school. DiBiase said that he was living the dream thanks to Race. Theres an obvious joke in there. Because of Kidd missing the show and Rhodes being moved to the main event, DiBiase had to work with Sin Cara, who beat him with the moonsault. A.J. pinned Tamina. Most likely they were going to do a tag match with Natalya and Kaitlyn (who was also there but not used) involved. Sheamus beat Henry via DQ for a chair shot. Main event was advertised as Orton vs. Christian in a street fight. Instead, Orton beat Rhodes with an RKO in a regular match. Christian arrived to the building and then attacked Orton. Instead of Orton giving everyone the RKO, they brought out DiBiase to make the save for Orton. Springfield had the originally planned show. Cara pinned Kidd. Curtis pinned Clay, so they just alternated wins here. A.J. & Kaitlyn beat Natalya & Tamina. Post-show saw Natalya and Tamina split up and have a pull-apart. Race and Long came out together. Springfield was part of the old Kansas City circuit that Race worked forever and owned, so hed be the local wrestling legend. Aksana (who also did a skit the first night) and Slater came out. Slater threatened Race until Jackson ran in. Race then set up Jackson vs. Slater, which Jackson won

with the torture rack. Bryan beat Barrett with the LeBell lock again. Sheamus beat Henry via DQ in the same match. Rhodes pinned DiBiase in the IC title match. Orton beat Christian in a fans pick the stip title match. Fans picked a street fight. Only weapon was a street fight. Rhodes ran in to help Christian, leading to DiBiase making the save. Orton won with the RKO.