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March 14th
On this day in history in ....
1887 - Evan "Strangler" Lewis defeats Joe Acton in Chicago, Illinois to win the World Catch-as-Catch-Can Heavyweight Title.
1918 - Young Hackenschmidt (Neil Olsen) defeats Louis Nelson for the World Welterweight Title in New York City, New York.
1944 - Babe Sharkey defeats Ed "Strangler" Lewis to win the Maryland World Heavyweight Title in Baltimore, Maryland.
1947 - Vic Christy defeats Orville Brown to win the Midwest Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title in St. Joseph, Missouri.
1950 - Miguel Guzmán and Rito Romero defeat Al Lovelock and Danny McShain to win the NWA Texas Tag Team Title in Dallas, Texas.
1952 - Hombre Montana and Leo Nomellini defeat Ben and Mike Sharpe for the San Francisco NWA World Tag Team Title in Oakland, California, ending the Sharpes' fifth reign.
1960 - Ivan and Karol Kalmikoff defeat Ilio DaPaolo and Whipper Billy Watson to win the NWA Canadian Open Tag Team Title in Toronto, Ontario, ending DaPaolo and Watson's second reign.
1964 - Bryan Clark, known by his given name as well as Adam Bomb and Wrath, is born in Tallahassee, Florida.
1968 - The Mighty Yankees (Frank Morrell and Eddie Sullivan) defeat Len Rossi and Tamaya Soto to win the Mid-America NWA World Tag Team Title in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
1968 - Larry Hennig defeats Kurt Von Brauner for the Amarillo NWA Brass Knuckles Title in Amarillo, Texas.
1969 - Beulah McGuillicuty was born.
1970 - Dale Lewis and The Missouri Mauler defeat Bronko Lubich and Chris Markoff for the NWA Florida Tag Team Title in Tampa, Florida.
1973 - Tommy Gilbert and Eddie Marlin defeat Bobby Hart and Lorenzo Parente to win the NWA Mid-America Tag Team Title in Nashville, Tennessee, ending Hart and Parente's third reign and began Gilbert and Marlin's second.
1977 - Guy Mitchell wins his third Vancouver NWA Pacific Coast Heavyweight Title in Vancouver, British Columbia, ending Gene Kiniski's sixth reign.
1977 - Nick Gulas' promotion in Memphis, Tennessee held a tournament for the Mid-America NWA Southern Tag Team Title at the Mid-South Coliseum. The title was vacated in February after Porkchop Cash and Gorgeous George, Jr. split up. Dennis Condrey and Phil Hickerson defeated Ricky and Robert Gibson in the finals to win the vacant title, beginning their third reign.
1978 - Dino Bravo and Dominic DeNucci defeat Mr. Fuji an Prof. Tanaka in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the WWWF World Tag Team Title, ending Fuji and Tanaka's third reign.
1979 - Santino Marella was born.
1980 - Tiger Conway, Jr. and Jose Lothario defeat Mr. Hito and Mr. Sakurada for the World Class American Tag Team Title in Houston, Texas.
1980 - The Junkyard Dog defeats Ernie Ladd to win the Mid-South Louisiana Heavyweight Title in Shreveport, Louisiana.
1980 - Chavo Guerrero defeats The Hood (Johnny Mantell) for the NWA Americas Heavyweight Title in Los Angeles, California, to begin his 16th and final reign.
1980 - Bruiser Brody defeats Mark Lewin to win the NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Title in Houston, Texas. This began and ended each man's fifth reign.
1981 - The WWF held an event at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The results:
- Pete Doherty defeated Fred Marzino.
- Johnny Rodz defeated Joe Crugnale.
- Bruno Sammartino defeated Stan Hansen in a steel cage match.
- The Moondogs (Rex and Spot) defeated Pedro Morales and Dominic DeNucci.
- The Hangman defeated Steve King.
- Hulk Hogan defeated John Callahan.
- Special Delivery Jones defeated Baron Mikel Scicluna.
1981 - Killer Karl Krupp defeats Pierre Martel for the WWC North American Heavyweight Title in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, ending Martel's second reign.
1982 - The WWF held an event at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. The results were:
- Tony Garea and Rick Martel defeated The Executioner (Baron Mikel Scicluna) and Charlie Fulton.
- Pat Patterson defeated Lou Albano by countout.
- The Fabulous Moolah and Wendi Richter defeated Velvet McIntyre and Princess Victoria.
- Steve Travis defeated José Estrada.
- Greg Valentine defeated Special Delivery Jones.
- André the Giant and Rick McGraw defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Mr. Fuji and Mr. Saito in a two-out-of-three falls match.
- WWF Intercontinental Champion Pedro Morales pinned Adrian Adonis to retain the title, after he lifted one of his shoulders after a suplex where both men's shoulders were down.
- WWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund pinned Jesse Ventura with a bridging roll-up, and a fast count by guest referee Ivan Putski.
1982 - Bobby Eaton and Sweet Brown Sugar defeat Ricky and Robert Gibson in a tournament final in Louisville, Kentucky to win the AWA Southern Tag Team Title.
1984 - Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham defeat Black Bart and Ron Bass for the Florida NWA United States Tag Team Title in Miami, Florida.
1986 - Brad Armstrong defeats Robert Fuller to win the NWA Southeast Continental Heavyweight Title in Mobile, Alabama.
1987 - The WWF aired the 10th edition of Saturday Night's Main Event on NBC, which got an 11.6 rating. The show was taped on February 21 in Detroit, Michigan at Joe Louis Arena. The results were:
- WWF Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth) defeated George Steele by countout after Savage hit Steele with a chair on the floor. Savage retained the title and Miss Elizabeth, as both were on the line.
- Hercules won a 20-man battle royal, last eliminating Billy Jack Haynes. Also in the match were: André the Giant, Ron Bass, Brian Blair, Jim Brunzell, Demolition Ax, Demoliton Smash, Haku, Hillbilly Jim, The Honky Tonk Man, WWF Champion Hulk Hogan, Blackjack Mulligan, Paul Orndorff, Lanny Poffo, Butch Reed, Sika, Tama, Nikolai Volkoff, and Koko B. Ware.
- King Kong Bundy (with Bobby Heenan) defeats Jake Roberts by disqualification, after Roberts attacked the referee after he tried to prevent Roberts from grabbing his snake bag.
- WWF Tag Team Champions The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart (with Danny Davis and Jimmy Hart)) defeated Tito Santana and Dan Spivey, when Hart pinned Santana after Davis hit Santana with Jimmy Hart's megaphone while Santana had Bret in the Figure Four leglock.
- Ricky Steamboat pinned The Iron Sheik (with Slick) after a chop off the top rope.
1987 - Ivan Koloff and Dick Murdoch defeat Ron Garvin and Barry Windham for the NWA United States Tag Team Title in Atlanta, Georgia.
1987 - Frankie Lancaster ends Invader III's sixth WWC World Junior Heavyweight Title in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.
1989 - William Cobb, better known as Happy Humphrey, dies of a heart attack at age 62. He was one of the heaviest professional wrestlers of all time, averaging 750 pounds throughout his career during the 1950s and 60s.
1993 - Saigoncito Dragon defeats Orito for the CMLL World Mini-Estrella Title in Mexico City, Mexico.
1994 - Eddie Gilbert defeats Brian Christopher to win the USWA Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee. This began Gilbert's second reign and ended Christopher's 10th.
1994 - Yamato defeats Canek for the UWA World Heavyweight Title in Puebla, Mexico, ending Canek's 12th reign.
1997 - Stix 'n' Stones (Bone Crusher and Quinn Magnum) defeats J.B. Destiny and Dennis Gregory to win the Pro Wrestling eXpress Tag Team Title in North Versalles, Pennsylvania.
1999 - WCW held the fifth-annual "Uncensored" pay-per-view at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky, before 15,930 fans. The results were:
- WCW Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman pinned Mikey Whipwreck after a shooting star press to retain the title.
- Stevie Ray pinned Vincent in a Harlem Street Fight, after hitting him with a slapjack, to gain control of nWo black and white.
- Kevin Nash (with Miss Elizabeth and Lex Luger) pinned Rey Misterio, Jr. after a Jackknife powerbomb.
- Jerry Flynn defeated Ernest Miller and Sonny Onoo in a handicap match by pinning Onoo.
- Hak (The Sandman) defeated Bam Bam Bigelow and Raven (with Chastity) in a Falls Count Anywhere Triple Threat match, by pinning Raven after Chastity hit a low-blow headbutt on Raven.
- Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko defeated WCW World Tag Team Champions The West Texas Rednecks (Curt Hennig and Barry Windham) in a Lumberjack match, when Benoit pinned Hennig after a diving headbutt, to win the title. The lumberjacks for the match were Arn Anderson, Bobby Duncum, Jr., Kenny Kaos, Meng, Hugh Morrus, Prince Iaukea, Norman Smiley and Kendall Windham.
- Saturn pinned Chris Jericho (with Ralphus) in a Dog Collar match, after a Death Valley Driver.
- Booker T pinned WCW World Television Champion Scott Steiner to win the title, after Buff Bagwell hit Steiner with a chair intended for Booker. This began Booker's sixth reign as TV champ, and ended Steiner's second.
- Ric Flair defeated WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan in a First Blood Steel Cage match to win the title. Flair pinned Hogan with Hogan in the Figure-Four leglock. Flair bled first, but referee Charles Robinson never stopped the match. This began Flair's sixth reign and ended Hogan's fifth. This also was Flair's overall 16th official World title win.
1999 - Naoya Ogawa ends Dan Severn's four-plus-year reign as NWA World Heavyweight Champion in Yokohama, Japan. Severn had held the title since February 24, 1995, when he won the title from Chris Candido at a SMW event in Erlanger, Kentucky.
1999 - Moody's Mob (The New Dr. X and Bull Schmitt) defeat The Blackbird Posse (Larry Green and Chris Young) for the NWA Texas Tag Team Title in North Richland Hills, Texas.
2001 - The infamous Bob Costas interview of Vince McMahon airs on HBO's "On the Record with Bob Costas". McMahon looked very intense and visably upset when Costas asked him questions about the fledgling XFL and the sex and violence in the WWF.
2001 - Ultimate Pro Wrestling held "When Worlds Collide" at the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana, California. The show featured wrestlers from ECW and All Pro Wrestling, along with the usual UPW crew. The results:
- The Definition of Pain (Alkatrazz and Bad Boy Basil (with Rio Storm)) defeated Hell's Bells (Mike Bell and Smelly).
- The Blue Meanie (with Diane and Elaine Power (the Klimaszewski twins)) defeated UPW Internet Champion Navajo Warrior (with The Big Schwag) to win the title.
- Evolution (Frankie Kazarian and Nova) (with Looney Lane) defeated Hardkore, Inc. (Hardkore Kidd and Adam Pearce) in a UPW Tag Team Title Tournament semifinal match.
- UPW Southern California Champion Tony Jones defeated King Faviano.
- Hi Impact (Andy Van Dam and UPW Lightweight Champion The Prodigy) defeated Da Playas (B-Boy and Funky Billy Kim).
- Bison, Horshu and Luminous defeated Andy Judge and The Cash Money Brothas (John Black and Under Pressure).
- Roadkill defeated Keiji Sakoda (with The Big Schwag).
- Michael Modest and Donovan Morgan (with Roland Alexander, All Pro Wrestling promoter) defeated The Urban Outlaws (Marshall and Mike Knox (with Savvy)).
- The Prototype (John Cena) defeated C.W. Anderson.
- The Ballard Brothers (Shane and Shannon) defeated The Ultimate Army (Jon Heidenreich and Nathan Jones) in a UPW Tag Team Title Tournament semifinal match.
- Samoa Joe defeated UPW Heavyweight Champion Christopher Daniels in a Loser Leaves UPW match to win the title.
- Rob Van Dam defeated Mikey Henderson (Suicide Kid).
2003 - A.J. Styles defeated Super Hentai for the International Wrestling Cartel Super Indy Title in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania.
2004 - WWE sets a record for the highest grossing wrestling event ever held in Madison Square Garden in New York City, pulling in over $2.4 million in ticket sales for WrestleMania XX, which was headlined by Chris Benoit defeating Triple H and Shawn Michaels in a three way match for the World Heavyweight Title. The event also sees the final WWE appearances (to date) for Brock Lesnar and Bill Goldberg.
Here is Tim Whitehead's original report on the show:
The twentieth annual WrestleMania (3/14 from a sold-out Madison Square Garden) was one of the best hyped shows in WWE history, and fortunately it turned out to be a strong show. Lasting over four-and-a-half hours, it had its share of "filler" matches, but with four bouts in the very good to excellent range it was a clear thumbs' up show. Chris Jericho vs. Christian, the handicap tag match, and the two world singles title matches all delivered. Perhaps the most anticipated match, Brock Lesnar vs. Bill Goldberg with Steve Austin as referee, was a basically good match given their styles, though the crowd turned on both the wrestlers and the match. Other bouts were about what one would expect to see on RAW or Smackdown, namely regular action. The evening gown match was bad, but it was very short and delivered on its promise to show some scantily clad babes. Commentary from both teams was solid, except for Jerry Lawler's usual drooling during the women's bout. Crowd heat varied, as one would expect on such a long show. The top matches were heated but things got pretty cold during some of the lower tier bouts. The show opened with the Harlem Boys Choir singing "America the Beautiful". This was followed by a very emotional video putting WrestleMania over as a truly major event and pushing the theme that WM XX is where it will all begin again. Some would say the sight of Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero standing as the two reigning world champs at the end of the show is itself a turning point many of us never dreamed we'd see.
JOHN CENA defeated BIG SHOW to capture the U.S. Title in 9:13. Cena did his pre-match rap. Show overpowered Cena, including hurling him over the top rope for a bump. Cena came off the top but Show caught him and slammed him for a two count. Show did the methodical big man offense, clubbing Cena with blows and tossing him all over the ring. Cena took a big boot to the face. Show hit a legdrop and hooked the cobra clutch. Cena managed to escape. Show missed a charge into the corner when Cena moved. Cena hit the FU out of nowhere, but Show kicked out at two to a good pop (even though fans were behind Cena they liked the kick-out). Cena grabbed his chain and threatened to use it. The ref took it from him. As the ref was disposing of the chain, Cena pulled out brass knux, walloped Show, and pinned him after a second FU. The crowd popped big for the title change. Kind of slow paced since Show was on offense most of the match, but the good crowd heat made it okay.
Jonathan Coachman was walking around backstage, greeting guys like Tom Prichard and Theodore Long, as if he was the company owner or something. He visited Eric Bischoff, who was talking with apprentice Johnny Spade. Bischoff ordered Coach to get an interview with Undertaker. Coach seemed afraid, and tried to get out of it by noting that UT is a Smackdown wrestler. But Bischoff wanted to get the scoop over Smackdown by being the first to put UT on live TV since his return from the "dead". So Coach headed off in search of UT.
Randy Orton did a long promo recapping his feud with Mick Foley. He noted that their first encounter was last year when he threw Foley down a flight of stairs right there in the Garden.
ROB VAN DAM & BOOKER T won a four-way match over THE DUDLEYS, LA RESISTANCE, and MARK JINDRAK & GARRISON CADE in 7:51 to retain the RAW World Tag Titles. RVD hit some kicks on Rene Dupree, bumping him from the ring. Bubba Ray pounded Booker and gave him a neckbreaker. Booker stopped Bubba's Dusty routine by kicking him. Cade laid Booker out but somehow Rob Conway ended up tagging in. He worked Booker over. RVD hot tagged and began throwing his kicks all over. He went to the top, but D-Von shoved him off and he took a bump. Everyone began brawling. Cade stopped the Dudleys from 3D'ing Booker. Most of the guys brawled out to the floor. In the ring, Booker hit the scissor kick on Conway and RVD, who had recovered, frog splashed him for the pin. Standard action. The crowd, anticipating bigger matches to come, stayed cool except for a pop at the finish.
Coach failed to find UT, but he did hear some noises coming from a room. It sounded like people were having sex inside. Gene Okerlund emerged, with his hair and clothes all messed up. Well, the clothes were, anyway, as he has no hair. Bobby Heenan then came out with his hair and clothes looking the same way. When they saw Coach they began making various excuses for what was going on in that room, denying there was anything sordid going on. But then Fabulous Moolah & Mae Young came out of the room and began kissing on Okerlund & Heenan. I guess Vince McMahon just had to put this on the show.
CHRISTIAN defeated CHRIS JERICHO in 14:52. Jericho went after Christian with fists, an elbow, and a suplex. He backdropped Christian out to the floor and then dived out onto him. Jericho threw Christian back in and hooked the walls hold. Christian escaped to the ropes. Christian sent Jericho out for a major bump. He scored several twos on Jericho after a knee lift and some other basic moves. Jericho tried for the walls again, with Christian raking the eyes to escape. Both went down after a collision. Jericho revived first and called Christian a "creepy little bastard". Jericho hit an enzuigiri. They traded twos with a series of roll-ups. Jericho scored with a Northern Lights suplex. Jericho hit the bulldog but Christian got his knees up when Jericho went for the lionsault. Christian hit a swinging neckbreaker. Jericho rolled through when Christian did a bodypress off the top for a near pin. Christian hooked the Texas cloverleaf. In a great move, Jericho reversed it into the walls. Christian made the ropes. Jericho hooked the walls on the floor but had to break it fast to avoid a DQ. Both went to the top, and after nearly falling off, Jericho hit a superplex. Trish Stratus came out and began cheering for Jericho. Christian hit one of those scary straight down on the head DDT's on Jericho and then dragged Trish into the ring. He threw Trish down. Jericho went to her, wanting to get her out of the ring so she wouldn't get hurt, but she elbowed him in the face. Jericho staggered back and was rolled up and pinned by Christian. It was made to look like she elbowed Jericho because she thought he was Christian. She apologized to Jericho for causing him to lose, and though disappointed, he accepted it. Christian began taunting Jericho from the apron. Jericho started after him, but suddenly Trish lit into Jericho like a wildcat, slapping his face over and over. Christian then laid Jericho out with the unprettier and left arm in arm with Trish. They kissed passionately at the ramp top, with Trish coming off as a real vixen for betraying Jericho. The match was very good with solid heat, and the angle with Trish came off great because no one saw it coming and the crowd reacted huge to it.
Lilian Garcia interviewed Foley, who was about to have his first official match in four years (not counting the non-sanctioned one on RAW a few weeks ago). Foley said he hoped the hate and emotions he has toward Evolution wouldn't get the better of him. Rock arrived and told Foley to use his emotions to his advantage. Rock did a hot promo, saying everyone knows it's the Rock & Sock Connection's night. He pointed to Hurricane & Rosey, Jimmy Snuka & Don Muraco, and the live crowd as examples of people who know. He got in most of his catch phrases, and also told Lilian to stop staring at him since the buffet is closed. Rock ended by telling Foley to slap the lips off Evolution and then kick their asses.
RIC FLAIR & RANDY ORTON & BATISTA defeated ROCK & MICK FOLEY in a handicap match in 16:59. They all brawled at the bell, with all three Evolution guys bailing out. Order was restored and Flair started off against Rock. Rock did the Flair strut. Flair chopped Rock. Rock backdropped Flair in the ring and then backdropped him on the floor. Foley walloped Flair and did the bang-bang. Foley punched out Orton and hung him upside down, where he took blows from both Foley and Rock. Rock lariated Orton. Batista pulled down the ropes, causing Rock to bump out. Batista and Flair worked Rock over. Flair did his strut. Flair went to the top, but got tossed off as always. Rock tagged Foley in, who punched out all three foes. Batista lariated Foley, who bumped out. Orton rammed Foley into the stairs. Foley fought back and put the mandible claw on Batista. Orton broke it up. Rock hot tagged and destroyed everyone until Batista flattened him with a spinebuster. Flair wanted to do the people's elbow on the downed Rock, but he spent too much time strutting during the rebounds off the ropes. Rock revived and gave Flair a spinebuster. He then gave Flair the people's elbow. Rock gave Orton a Rock Bottom. Flair grabbed a chair and ran around threatening to use it. This was done to distract the ref so Orton and Batista could double on Rock. Batista gave Rock a sit-down powerbomb, but Rock kicked out at two. Foley tagged in and DDT'd Orton. He pulled out Mr. Socko, but as he went to apply it, Orton revived and, out of nowhere, hit the RKO on Foley to score the surprise clean pin. Great match with strong heat. Foley once again put a guy over in the best tradition of building toward the future. Afterward, Foley was despondent over being pinned but Rock hugged him and the crowd chanted "Foley" to revive his spirits.
Footage aired of the previous night's Hall of Fame ceremony. This year's inductees were then announced. They were Bobby Heenan, Tito Santana, the late John Studd, Harley Race, Pete Rose, Don Muraco, Greg Valentine, the late Junkyard Dog, Superstar Graham, Sgt. Slaughter, and Jesse Ventura. Studd was represented by his son John Minton, Jr. and JYD by his daughter Latoya Ritter. Everyone got a nice pop except Rose, who was booed, though I guess that fit his character. Heenan bit back tears, as he has been fighting throat cancer and was clearly moved by the crowd response to him. Ventura now looks like a Yukon lumberjack. This was a very nice ceremony, hosted by Gene Okerlund.
TORRIE WILSON & SABLE beat STACY KEIBLER & MISS JACKIE in a Playboy evening gown match in 2:33. Unlike normal evening gown matches, the goal wasn't to strip one's opponent of her gown. Instead, it was a regular match. Sable, Torrie, and Stacy stripped down to bra & panties before the bell. For unknown reasons, Jackie refused, so Sable & Torrie stripped her. So I guess it really wasn't an evening gown match. The match was pretty bad as far as wrestling goes, though Torrie did do a bodypress off the top onto Jackie. Mostly they rolled around and teased showing more skin. After a bunch of roll-ups and reversals, Torrie pinned Jackie. Jackie acted mad and stormed off. Stacy seemed mad at Jackie, too.
Eddie Guerrero visited Chris Benoit, who was pacing back and forth in his locker room, on pins and needles over his big upcoming match. Eddie said that win or lose, he'll be proud of Benoit for his effort. Benoit took that as less than a full vote of confidence and seemed upset. Eddie then said that no one really thinks Benoit can win the big one. Benoit exploded and was furious with Eddie, but Eddie then laughed and said he was just trying to get Benoit angry to psych him up. He hoped the anger would bring out the Benoit who fought all those legendary matches in Japan and who has the heart of a champion inside him. Eddie predicted both of them would leave 'Mania with a world title.
CHAVO GUERRERO JR. won a nine man gauntlet match to retain the Cruiserweight Title at 10:29. The rules were that each man entered via a number chosen in a random drawing, except for Chavo who was awarded the last entry position for being the reigning champ. The first two in were ULTIMO DRAGON and SHANNON MOORE. Lots of fast paced spots. Moore missed a corkscrew moonsault when Dragon rolled clear. Dragon won at 1:18 with his unique DDT maneuver. JAMIE NOBLE went in. Dragon hit some kicks and a neckbreaker but Noble forced him to tap at 2:16 to a legscissors submission. FUNAKI was in next. He immediately went for a bodypress off the top, but Noble rolled through on it and pinned him at 2:24. NUNZIO went in. He traded spots with Noble until taking a bump out. Noble then somersault splashed him on the floor. Nunzio ended up counted out at 4:17. Though eliminated, Nunzio dragged Noble out and fought with him on the floor. The next entrant, BILLY KIDMAN, nailed both with a shooting star press which saw Kidman almost land on his head. Back in the ring, Kidman hit an enzuigiri on Noble. He then pinned Noble at 6:08 with a powerbomb off the top. REY MYSTERIO JR. was next. Kidman hit him with a killer dropkick. Akio, who was at ringside, tripped Mysterio. But Mysterio came back and pinned Kidman at 7:28 with a sunset flip off the top. TAJIRI came in. He hooked the tarantula. Mysterio hit the 619 but Tajiri evaded the West Coast Pop. Akio tried to interfere but it backfired. Tajiri ended up misting Akio. Mysterio cradled Tajiri for the pin at 8:36. Chavo came in as the final entrant. Tajiri had sucker punched Mysterio on the way out, so Chavo lit into him. Mysterio rebounded with a springboard huracanrana. He kicked Chavo Guerrero Sr., who was threatening to interfere. Mysterio vaulted over the ref's back onto Sr. on the floor. Mysterio went for a sunset flip back into the ring, but Chavo dropped on him and, with some illegal leverage from Sr., pinned Mysterio at 10:29. The match was all good action, but the pinfalls came ridiculously fast. Seven guys got pinned or submitted, plus one counted out, in amazingly short order. They'd have been better off with one regular Cruiserweight match, but since this was 'Mania they wanted more guys to get show time so they went with this format.
BILL GOLDBERG beat BROCK LESNAR in 13:42. Steve Austin was the special ref. He called it right down the middle. The crowd tore into Lesnar as soon as he hit the ring with "you sold out" and "Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye" chants. JR mentioned the "rumor" that Lesnar is leaving WWE for the NFL. Both wrestlers stalled forever, which was done for psychology but the crowd, already predisposed to be pissed at Lesnar, and also not sure of Goldberg's WWE future, turned against both guys and the match. They finally tied up at 2:45 but neither could overpower the other. They traded shoulderblocks. The crowd started a "boring" chant. Goldberg press slammed Lesnar, but Lesnar sidestepped when Goldberg went for the spear. Goldberg hit the post. I'm not sure of the practicality of a finisher that backfires as often as Goldberg's spear. Lesnar put the boots to Goldberg and suplexed him. There was a "Goldberg sucks" chant, but anti-Lesnar heat soon drowned it out. Lesnar hooked a chinlock, a rest hold which drew more negative heat. Lesnar threw some shoulderblocks. Goldberg came back with a lariat, a neckbreaker, and the spear. Lesnar kicked out at two, to Goldberg's dismay. Lesnar then hit the F5, with Goldberg kicking out at two, so each got to survive the other's finisher once. Lesnar thought he got a three count, but as he argued with Austin he got hit with another Goldberg spear, this time followed by a jackhammer for the three count. The crowd sang "Na Na Hey Hey" yet again to Lesnar, who flipped the crowd off. He looked legit a little pissed over the crowd reactions. Austin got a huge pop for giving Lesnar a stunner. Goldberg celebrated his win by drinking beer with Austin, but Austin gave him a stunner, too. The match is kind of hard to rate. It was okay for a bout with two musclemen with conflicting styles. There was a lot of heat, but much of it was crowd anger rather than positive heat. The one thing clear was that the guy most expected to really get put over was Austin, and he was.
Vince McMahon thanked the fans for supporting twenty years of WrestleManias. Los Angeles was announced as the site for WM XXI.
RIKISHI & SCOTTY 2 HOTTY won a four-way match over THE A.P.A., THE BASHAMS, and CHARLIE HAAS & SHELTON BENJAMIN to retain the Smackdown World Tag Titles in 6:00. Bradshaw started off by pounding Benjamin. Haas gave Danny Basham a backbreaker. Scotty suplexed Haas and did a moonwalk. Haas & Benjamin doubled on Scotty. The Bashams then worked Scotty over. Rikishi came in and flattened everybody. Rikishi sent Benjamin flying with an ass bump, which was pretty funny. Rikishi also backed his ass up on Haas. Haas & Benjamin both ended up on the floor. Bradshaw tossed Doug Basham out onto them. He then gave Danny the lariat from hell. Rikishi Samoan dropped Bradshaw and gave Danny the Banzai ass drop for the pin. No heat all atl. Haas & Benjamin deserve better matches.
Ventura came out and interviewed Donald Trump, who was on the front row. Trump promised to finance a future Ventura presidential candidacy, with Jesse hinting at a 2008 run.
VICTORIA defeated MOLLY HOLLY to retain the women's title in 4:52. Molly bailed out quickly, so Victoria lariated her on the floor. Molly hit a suplex and some kicks when the action returned to the ring. She scored some twos, but again there was no heat. Lawler dwelled on panties. Victoria hit a powerslam. Molly did a sunset flip off the top and almost lost it. Victoria then scored a quick pin with a backslide. A typical women's match like we might see weekly on RAW, though the main focus here was the hair stipulation. Molly had signed to be shaved bald if she lost, so after the match she fled. Victoria chased her. Molly ambushed her backstage and dragged her to the barber chair. Molly was about to start cutting Victoria's hair, but Victoria recovered, laid Molly out, and strapped her into the barber chair. Victoria shaved Molly bald, and I mean totally bald, as Molly threw a tantrum. I'm glad they followed through on the stip. After this, any guy who loses a hair match and fails to get shaved bald will really look like a wimp.
EDDIE GUERRERO defeated KURT ANGLE to retain the WWE World Title in 21:32. They traded mat spots, as most fans chanted for Eddie, though a decent sized minority were for Angle. They each did shoulderblocks, with Eddie getting the best of the deal as Angle bailed. Back to the ring, they did some great mat stuff. The crowd was a little slow to get into it, but they eventually did. Eddie blocked a suplex and hit some arm drags. They traded suplexes. Angle tried to suplex Eddie off the apron but Eddie blocked it and Angle bumped to the floor. Eddie came off the top. Angle moved and Eddie crashed onto the ring barrier. Eddie sold a rib injury from this. Angle went to work on the rib area, hitting a bunch of suplexes as well. Both went to the top. Angle took a bump off to the mat. Eddie went for the frog splash, with Angle rolling clear and Eddie crashing hard to the canvas. Angle pounded Eddie with fists. Eddie hit lariats and a suplex. Angle did a German suplex. Eddie countered an Angle slam attempt into an arm drag. Eddie hit a spinning headscissors and several suplexes. Angle hooked the ankle lock, with Eddie managing to escape. Angle hit a superplex and another German suplex. Eddie hit an excellent DDT and nailed the frog splash, but Angle kicked out at two to a huge pop. Eddie coutered anoher ankle lock attempt. Angle bumped out. Eddie loosened his bootlaces, acting as if he was sore from the earlier ankle lock. Angle came back in and hooked the ankle lock yet again, but the loosened boot came off, causing Angle to lose the hold. Eddie then rolled the surprised Angle up for the pin. Excellent match with a huge pop for the finish.
UNDERTAKER beat KANE in 7:46. Paul Bearer led Undertaker out, past an army of Druids with torches. Kane freaked out at the sight of UT. UT attacked Kane at the bell. They brawled out to the floor. UT legdropped Kane on the apron. Kane tried to hotshot UT on the ropes but he was too far away and it looked pretty bad. Kane fought back with his slow offense. UT hit a boot to the face. Each tried to chokeslam the other, with Kane scoring. But UT sat back up. UT then won with a chokeslam and a tombstone piledriver. It wasn't a good match, but the crowd was into seeing UT back with his dead man character so they popped for it.
CHRIS BENOIT beat TRIPLE H and SHAWN MICHAELS in a three-way match to capture the RAW World Title in 24:46. Benoit and the Heartbreak Kid chopped each other as HHH watched. HBK threw HHH out, and he stayed out there a while just to watch Benoit and HBK beat on each other. HBK twice blocked Benoit from hooking the crossface. The crowd was totally behind Benoit here, to the point that many of them booed HBK. HHH blindsided HBK and threw him over the top. HBK skinned the cat and dumped Benoit out to the floor. HBK backdropped HHH. HHH hit a high knee on HBK. HHH went out after Benoit on the floor, with HBK moonsaulting on them from the top. Back in the ring, HHH set HBK up for a pedigree but Benoit stopped it by lariating HHH. Benoit sent HBK crashing shoulder-first into the post. Benoit suplexed HHH. Throughout all this, there were occasional pin attempts, all ending with only a two count. HBK hit a flying forearm on HHH. HBK kipped up afterward and was immediately lariated by Benoit. Benoit did the multiple German suplexes on HHH. HHH superplexed Benoit. Benoit put the crossface on HHH. HBK broke it up. Benoit gave HBK the multiple Germans and a diving headbutt for a near fall. An HBK flying forearm sent Benoit crashing to the floor. HBK lariated and slammed HHH. He hit the sweet chin music on HHH, but Benoit broke the pin up. Benoit sent HBK into the post and he juiced a major gusher. Benoit hooked the crossface on HBK. In a neat spot, HBK lifted his arm to tap out, but HHH stopped the arm from hitting the mat and then broke up the crossface. HHH and Benoit fought out to the floor, where HHH sent Benoit into the stairs. All three ended up fighting on the Spanish broadcast desk. HHH & HBK joined forces to double suplex Benoit from the Spanish table through the French table. HHH and HBK ended up fighting back to the ring. HHH took a bump back out and landed on a cameraman. HBK posted HHH and he juiced big. HHH fought back and pedigreed HBK. HHH almost scored the pin, with Benoit barely reviving in time to make the save. Benoit put the sharpshooter on HHH to great heat. HBK nailed Benoit with the chin music, saving HHH. HBK went for the pin on Benoit, who kicked out at two to a huge pop. Benoit ducked a second chin music attempt and dumped HBK out to the floor. Benoit blocked a pedigree from the revived HHH, and hooked the crossface. With HBK still out on the floor, HHH, after a struggle, tapped out to the crossface for the title change. There was a massive pop, as this was a great match and this was the perfect ending the fans wanted to see. Benoit nearly had tears in his eyes as he was presented with the belt. Eddie Guerrero came in and they hugged, with Eddie literally crying. What a great ending! There was once a time when two wrestlers like Benoit and Guerrero, no matter how great, could never dream of holding a WWE World Title because of their size. To see them both leave 'Mania as world champs is literally amazing. Where it all begins again, indeed!
2004 - Momoe Nakanishi defeats Yoshiko Tamura to win the NWA Pacific Women's Title in Kawasaki, Japan, ending Tamura's fourth reign.
2005 - WWE held the 616th episode of RAW live and taped the 341st Sunday Night Heat at The Arena at Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia, suburban Atlanta. The results were:
Heat:
- Viscera pinned Simon Dean with a splash.
- Chris Masters defeated Jimmy Rave by submission with the Masterlock.
- Maven and Molly Holly defeated Val Venis and Victoria, when Maven pinned Venis with a roll-up following a low blow.
RAW:
- Kane defeated Christian and Tyson Tomko in a handicap match, by pinning Tomko after a chokeslam.
- WWE Intercontinental Champion Shelton Benjamin pinned Edge after the T-bone suplex.
- The Rockers (Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels) defeated La Résistance (Rob Conway and Sylvain Grenier), when Jannetty pinned Grenier after the Rocker Dropper as Michaels hit the Sweet Chin Music on Conway. This was The Rockers' first match together as a team since December 30, 1991.
- Batista defeated Gene Snitsky by disqualification when Ric Flair interfered and clipped Batista's knee while he had Snitsky up for the Batista Bomb.
- In a dark match after the show, Batista and Shawn Michaels defeated Edge and World Heavyweight Champion Triple H (with Ric Flair), when Batista pinned Triple H after Jake Roberts came out, scared Flair away, and distracted Triple H. After the match, Triple H was DDT'd by Roberts and Roberts put his snake on him.
2006 - WWE taped the 190th Velocity and 344th Friday Night SmackDown! at the CenturyTelCenter in Bossier City, Louisiana. The results:
- In a dark match, Test defeated Sylvan.
Velocity:
- Tatanka defeated Vito (with Nunzio).
- The Gymini (Jake and Jesse (with Simon Dean)) defeated The Mexicools (Psicosis and Super Crazy).
- Paul London defeated Brian Kendrick, Kid Kash and Jamie Noble in a four-way match to become #1 contender for the Gregory Helms' WWE Cruiserweight Title.
SmackDown!:
- Finlay defeated Bobby Lashley in a Lumberjack Money in the Bank qualifying match.
- Paul Birchill and Kristal defeated William Regal and Jillian Hall.
- Booker T defeated Jeremy Young.
- Matt Hardy defeated The Road Warrior by disqualification in a Money in the Bank qualifying match. This was the debut of the Road Warrior character for the former Road Warrior Animal.
- WWE United States Champion Chris Benoit defeated Orlando Jordan.
- World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio, Jr. and Randy Orton defeated Mark Henry and WWE Tag Team Champions MNM (Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro).
- In dark match after the show, World Heavyweight Champion Kurt Angle defeated Mark Henry, Randy Orton and The Undertaker to retain the title.
2007 - Ohio Valley Wrestling held it weekly television taping at Davis Arena in Louisville, Kentucky. The results were:
Dark matches:
- T.J. Dalton and Jamin Olivencia defeated The Frat Pack (Mikey and Nicky).
- Tomasso defeated Vic D. Vine.
- Kassidy James defeated ???.
- Tony Braddock defeated Ranger Milton.
- OVW Women's Champion Katie Lea defeated Serena.
- K.C. James defeated Mike Tolar.
- Sylvan defeated Jake Hager.
- Johnny Jeter and The Miz defeated Deuce and Domino.
Televised matches:
- The Belgium Brawler and Nick Sinn defeated Terminal Velocity (Chet the Jett and Steve Lewington).
- Boris Alexiev defeated OVW Television Champion Mike Kruel, beginning his second reign.
- Cody Runnels and Shawn Spears defeated OVW Southern Tag Team Champions Charles Evans and Justin LaRouche to win the title.
- Idol Stevens defeated OVW Heavyweight Champion Paul Birchill to win the title, ending Burchill's second reign.
2008 - Vince McMahon receives a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. At the ceremony, Vince jokes about how happy he is to be situated next to Kermit the Frog's star. Shaun Gaurino filed the following report:
The walk of fame ceremony was well attended here in Los Angeles. At least 300+ were here to celebrate Vince McMahon on his special day (and it was made "Vince McMahon day" by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in honor of his star today).
The crowd was VERY vocal with WHAT chants being tossed at the host of the ceremonies, who was trying to introduce Vince (and to note, this guy had hardly any idea who Vince was. He read his bio, badly, off a script).
Shane McMahon spoke first with a very emotional speech about what his father meant to wrestling and his family. He was followed by the favored son, HHH, doing a half work, half shoot speech thanking Vince for everything, including his daughter.
Then Vinny Mac himself spoke. After a hearty chant of "speech" from the crowd, Vince starts his speech with "SHUT UP, you'll get your speech...", then continued with a heartfelt thank you, followed by a worked "I have no one to thank but myself" Mr. McMahon diatribe.
It was a fun half hour with a hot crowd and a grateful, entertaining Mr. McMahon and crew. The best part of the day is when HHH got done with the emotional "thank you" part of his speech, my friend yelled PEDIGREE from the crowd which cracked everyone up.
2008 - Dr. Gary Brandwein, a Florida doctor who wrote prescriptions for steroids and human growth hormone to celebrities and professional wrestlers plead guilty in an Albany, New York Court to criminal sale of a controlled substance.
Brandwein made the guilty plea as part of a plea bargain agreement with prosecutors and will serve a year in jail followed by another year on probation. In return, Brandwein agreed to assist prosecutors in their investigation against the Signature online Pharmacy that serviced a number of WWE wrestlers.
Ten WWE performers, including Edge, Chavo Guerrero and Ken Kennedy, among others were suspended in August 2008 after prosecutors brought their Signature connections to the attention of World Wrestling Entertainment management, while Mike Bucci, who was running the WWE developmental program at the time, was let go when his name came up in conjunction with Signature as a customer.
Bucci stated to several at the time that he was undergoing legitimately prescribed hormone replacement therapy, never had any direct link to Signature, but that his physician had taken care of his prescription fulfillment. Booker T, who was with World Wrestling Entertainment at the time and was also suspended, cited similar concerns, and claimed he had never ordered anything from Signature, later quitting WWE over his suspension. He would not return to the company for several years.
2008 - Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler" filmed the climactic moments of the film, featuring Randy the Ram vs. The Sheik in Dover, NJ as part of a Ring of Honor event. Adam Abdallah filed the following live report from the event:
Ring of Honor debuted last night in Dover, NJ at the Baker Theatre. The show was a backdrop for filming of "The Wrestler" and there was more of a mom and pop atmosphere with a lot of families as opposed to the sausage factory feel of most ROH shows. I liked it way better this way, because I didn't feel surrounded by the usual litany of sc**bags.
Quick results:
*Roderick Strong defeated Pelle Primeau with the Gorilla Lock.
*Claudio Castagnoli pinned Nigel McGuinness with the Pyramid Bomb in a four way with BJ Whitmer and Erik Stevens.
*Delirious defeated Necro Butcher with a roll-up after Daizee Haze and Lacey
*Bryan Danielson and Austin Aries defeated The Vulture Squad (the newly unmasked Jigsaw and Ruckus) after Eddie Kingston appeared in the crowd and began chastising the Vulture Squad, yelling and questioning Ruckus's allegiances. This distracted Jigsaw and Julius Smokes enough than Dragon and Aries pummeled Ruckus with the Horns of Aries/MMA Elbow combination for the tap out.
*Go Shiozaki defeated Brent Albright with the moonsault.
*Following Albright-Shiozaki, Larry Sweeney came out in an awesome white suit with Bobby Dempsey. He offered Albright his services. Albright ripped up his card and said "I don't associate with scumbags." Sara Del Rey then came out and quit Sweet N Sour Inc. as well.
*Kevin Steen defeated Davey Richards with the Package Piledriver. Richards kicked the hand of a rambunctious little kid. It ruled.
*The Age Of The Fall (Joey Matthews & Tyler Black) defeated the Briscoes after Joey hit a double underhook DDT onto a chair on Jay Briscoe. This was a southern style tag match, as Joey Matthews hand demanded prior to the match. Necro, Matthews, and Black beat down the Briscoes until Daizee Haze and Delirious made the save.
As I noted above, they were filming for the Wrestler. Mickey Rourke's stunt double was Kid USA from the New York indy scene and he did a run-through of a match with Ernest Miller of WCW fame, who plays Rourke's nemesis in the film. The match was awesome, not from a technical standpoint, but from the old school way that it was laid out. There was some grumbling among ROH fans about it holding up the show since they filmed between the ROH bouts. The reality was the show was a film shoot first and a ROH house show second and anyone who didn't get that after two seconds was being bitter they weren't getting a Manhattan Center blowaway show.
Rourke came out later doing a ring entrance to the sweet tunes of Guns N' Roses "Sweet Child O' Mine" and even HIT A PLANCHA.
The film crew controlled the production of the show and had posters and T-shirts for Rourke's character, Randy the Ram.
Marissa Tomei was backstage filming scenes but did not appear before the crowd.
One of the producers of the film tried to fire up the crowd by saying they had filmed at CZW and JAPW, taking shots at their crowds to try and rile up the ROH crowds. That was sort of silly.
The production crew had extras in the building for crowd shots as well and filmed reaction shots during the afternoon before the show. A lot of the ROH performers and staff were included in the backstage shots to help give it an authentic feel. Some of the wrestlers had been in town for several days.
2009 - John Cena made an unadvertised appearance during the opening sketch of Saturday Night Live, playing a security guard who was punched out by Tracy Morgan.
2010 - Adam Pearce regained the NWA championship, defeating Blue Demon Jr. and Phill Shatter in a three-way bout at the NWA New Beginnings event in Charlotte, NC./p>
2010 - Former TNA star Andy Douglas retired in the ring at the Nashville Fairgrounds Sports Arena. Douglas' surprise announcement came after losing a steel cage match for the SAW International Title to Chase Stevens, who he partnered with for seven years and became two-time NWA World Tag Team Champions with as The Naturals.
2010 - Bill Behrens, on behalf of the National Wrestling Alliance, issued the following:
The NWA mourns the passing of NWA Hall Of Fame wrestler, Francois Miquet also know as Corsica Joe who died in Nashville, TN on 3-14-10 at the age of 90.
Joe and his tag team partner Corsica Jean were inducted into the NWA Hall of Fame in 2008 at Phillips Arena in Atlanta, GA. The team held the NWA World Tag Team Titles (Mid-America Version) 5 different times from 1957-1959. The team was also 2 time NWA Southern Tag Team Champions (Georgia version) in 1965.
Joe was married for 43 years to professional wrestler Sara Lee who died Apil 5, 2008.
Both Joe & Sara appeared for NWA TNA on the early weekly PPVs.
2011 - WWE broadcasts Raw featuring Snooki of the Jersey Shore as the guest star. Richard Trionfo filed the following TV report:
We are live from St. Louis, Missouri and your announcers are Michael ‘I’m going to call out Albert Pujols tonight’ Cole, Josh ‘What will happen to Evan Bourne in his home town tonight’ Mathews, and Jerry ‘Twenty Days until Cole Slaw’ Lawler.We begin with a photo of the Rock and he is ‘on the phone with the President’ and he is talking about John Cena’s promo from last week. Rock says that nobody laughed at that segment because it stunk. The thing that bothers him the most is that he tries to talk to him like a man, but he reacts like a child.
John Cena’s music plays and Rock has to hang up.
Rock says that Cena has a lot of nerve coming to his house to talk to him face to face. He tells Cena that he has his final chance to talk like a man.
In walks a child dressed like John Cena and he tells Rock that he can’t see him.
Rock walks up to the child and he tells John to not even think about it. He tells him not to rap because he isn’t gangsta and he isn’t from the hood. He wants him to talk like an adult.
The child says that his name is John Cena . . . he’s puttin’ on the hurt. I’m a big tough guy with the bright purple shirt.
He tells Rock if he wants some to come get some.
Rock sits down and he tells ‘John’ that they should have had this talk long ago. It is time to have a talk with the People’s Champion. When he left seven years ago, John ran with the ball. He didn’t run that far. He eventually became the man in the WWE. He says that John tried and he succeeded. He asks John to think about the cultural influence he has made. There was Kermit The Frog, then Barney, and now him. He owns the two to five year olds.
He asks ‘John’ if he knows why he won’t be as good as the Rock.
‘John’ says that it is because he isn’t talented.
Rock says bye-bye to the giant elephant in the room. He asks ‘John’ how he feels. Before ‘John’ can answer, he tells him IT DOESN’T MATTER how he feels.
‘John’ starts to cry. Rock says that ‘John’ shouldn’t cry but the people who watch his movies should cry. He gives ‘John’ a Cena shirt to blow his nose since he doesn’t have Kleenex.
Rock tells ‘John’ to turn that frown upside down. He has a gift for ‘John’. Rock gives him a box of Fruity Pebbles.
‘John’ says that he is happy because he has hustle, loyalty, respect, and Fruity Pebbles.
Rock says that maybe ‘John’ can have muscles like him. He tells ‘John’ to take his cereal and enjoy it. He tells the untalented ‘Fruit Loop’ to leave.
Rock tries to remember where he was and he has something to say to Miz. He says that he is right that they have not been properly introduced. Rock says that he is the most electrifying man in all of entertainment. He is the People’s Champion.
Last Monday night, Miz made some statements. First, he knocked out John Cena. Then he used the People’s Elbow and talked trash about his family. Miz made another statement. That statement was that he clearly wants the Rock to lay down the single biggest ass whooping of a lifetime. He says that we can all agree that the time for talk is over. It is time for Wrestlemania. As he promised and gave his word, he will bring it live on Monday Night Raw.
It doesn’t matter when because the only thing that Cena and Miz should be concerned with is how badly he layeth the Smacketh down on their candy asses.
If you Smelllllllllllllllllllllllalalalalalalalala what the Rock is cooking.
Snooki is in the back with Trish Stratus.
Michael Cole is in his isolation chamber to make sure that Jerry Lawler doesn’t beat him up.
Miz comes out and Cole marks out as only Cole can do.
We see highlights of what happened between Miz and John Cena over the last few weeks.
Miz starts off with a really for the St. Louis crowd and then he gives us another. He says that the Rock’s t-shirt says ‘I Bring It’. He agrees that Rock brings it. He brings out of date catchphrases, bad tattoos, awful movies, and pointless twenty minute diatribes that only a has been can bring.
Rock has issues with him insulting his family. Miz says that Rock’s father and grandfather were good. Miz says that they were never WWE Champion. That means that he is better than the both of them and he can say whatever he wants.
Miz says that Rock likes to make six year olds cry. He tells Rock to come into the ring and he will make him cry and scream like a little girl. Unlike Rock, instead of talking about beating up John Cena, he has done it. He has done it three weeks ago. Miz tells Rock that he doesn’t own John Cena, he does.
Miz says that doesn’t faze him and nothing that the people says fazes him. He tells Rock that week after week, Rock says that he is going to bring it. Miz prays that Rock will bring it. Maybe Rock will bring it to St. Louis.
The crowd goes wild.
Miz says that whenever the Rock brings it, he will be overshadowed by the most Must See WWE Champion in history. Miz tells us who he is and that he is AWESOME.
We kill all momentum from those promos and Michael Cole gets to read from the dingy dingy Raw General Manager. Cole leaves his cone of insipidness to go to the computer but Jerry gets in the way. Cole yells at Jerry for taking his job.
Jerry tells Cole to go back into his cage.
The General Manager has announced two first time ever matches for John Cena and him. John Cena will face Alberto Del Rio.
Miz asks about himself since he has beaten everyone. Lawler tells Miz that he will be facing The Great Khali.
We go to commercial.
Match Number One: Miz versus Great Khali with Runjin Singh
Miz with a kick to the knee and punches to Khali. Khali pushes Miz down and he punches him in the head. Khali with a chop to Miz’s chest and he goes down. Khali with the Khali Krush but Miz tries to get to the ropes. Miz finally gets to the ropes.
From out of nowhere, Alex Riley attacks Miz and the referee calls for the bell.
Winner: Great Khali
Khali chops Riley and then he hits the vertical choke slam.
Miz hits Khali in the legs and back with a steel chair. Miz with more chair shots to the back. Miz hits Khali in the back so many times that the chair breaks in a moment reminiscent of Rock hitting Mick Foley with numerous chair shots to the head.
Miz with a DDT onto the chair.
While the official checks on Khali we see the damage that has been done to his back.
Michael Cole says that he is going to expose Jerry Lawler to the world. Cole says that he has a special guest who will tell the world who Jerry Lawler really is.
We go to commercial.
We are back and John Cena has five million fans on Facebook.
Josh talks about the match between Undertaker and Triple H and their No Holds Barred Match.
We go to footage from last week’s Smackdown when Triple H returned fire on the Undertaker with footage of his own.
John Morrison is in the back and he is talking to Snooki. He says that she probably takes a punch better than half the guys. Snooki says
Vickie says that it is Miss Gym Tan Laundry hitting on a loser superstar. Vickie says that Snooki is to stay away from Dolph. She says that Snooki isn’t that great because she is on the cover of Rolling Stone. She says that she was offered the cover of Playboy.
Snooki says that it must have been a centerfold because they can’t fit Vickie on one page.
Vickie tries to slap Snooki but Snooki blocks it and slaps Vickie in the face.
Vickie screams and we go to commercial.
We are back and Did You Know that a lot of autographs will be signed at WWE Axxess.
Match Number Two: Sheamus versus Daniel Bryan with Gail Kim for the United States Title [and Sheamus’ career]
They lock up and Sheamus with a head lock take down. Sheamus follows that with a shoulder tackle and he gets a near fall. Sheamus with kicks to Bryan and then he connects with forearms. Bryan flips over Sheamus and then hits a drop toe hold and he tries for the LeBell Lock but Sheamus gets to the ropes. Bryan kicks Sheamus to the floor and then he hits a suicide dive.
Bryan rolls Sheamus back in and then he goes up top and hits a missile drop kick and gets a near fall.
We go to commercial.
We are back and Sheamus with a rear chin lock on Bryan and he has his knee in Bryan’s back. We see footage from the commercial break when Sheamus hit a back breaker and clothesline.
Bryan with elbows but Sheamus with a back elbow. Sheamus puts Bryan in the ropes and he connects with a forearm across the chest. He adds more forearms and then he adds more for good luck. Sheamus with a running knee lift while Bryan was hanging in the ropes and he gets a near fall.
Bryan with a kick to Sheamus and then Bryan avoids a back breaker with an inside cradle. Bryan back body drops Sheamus over the top rope and Sheamus appears to have reinjured his ankle.
Sheamus returns to the ring and the referee keeps Bryan away but it was a trap. Sheamus misses the pump kick and Bryan locks in the LeBell Lock. Sheamus gets to the rope right before he was going to tap. Sheamus punches Bryan in the midsection and then he Irish whips Bryan and then he goes for a power bomb but Bryan counters with a sunset flip for a near fall.
Sheamus and Bryan exchange forearms until Bryan gains control. Bryan with kicks to Sheamus and then he unloads with a series of kicks to the chest and then one to the head but Sheamus is able to kick out.
Bryan goes up top but Sheamus connects with the pump kick and he gets the three count.
Winner: Sheamus
After the match, Sheamus goes to the announce table to celebrate his victory.
Michael Cole climbs on his chair to kill the celebration.
Cole says that he is going to commit the verbal equivalent of regicide. He tells us that is killing a king. He says that he is going to bring out a man from Lawler’s past to talk about who Jerry Lawler really is.
We go to commercial.
We are back with the Slam of the Week: Michael Cole having Steve Austin becoming the guest referee at Wrestlemania.
Michael Cole is in the ring and the crowd is showing their love. Cole wants to know if the people enjoy that Steve Austin can come out and inject himself into Cole’s ‘main event’ at Wrestlemania. Cole guarantees that Austin will have a minimal effect at Wrestlemania when he beats Jerry Lawler. Cole says that he knows how defensive Lawler gets when they talk about his family, whether living or dead. Cole isn’t going to talk about his family tonight. His family is going to talk about him.
Michael Cole brings out Brian Christopher. Brian and Cole dance in the ring while Brian’s music plays.
Michael gives Brian a mic and he welcomes him back to WWE. Cole brings up Brian’s character names and he points out that he never used Brian Lawler.
Brian says that is because all of his life, growing up, he never felt like he had a father. He tells Michael that while Jerry Lawler was off traveling the world being ‘The King’, he neglected one thing . . . him. Jerry Lawler never really wanted a child. Jerry never wanted anybody or anything to get in his spotlight.
That is why when he made it on his own to the WWE, Jerry wouldn’t acknowledge that he was his son.
Jerry gets a mic and he tells Brian that he doesn’t really know what to say. He is not the only one who is glad that Brian didn’t use the Lawler name. He says that Brian is a bigger screw up than Charlie Sheen. Just the fact that he would associate himself with a jackass like Michael Cole tells everyone what kind of a person he is.
Brian asks Jerry how it makes him feel to know that he competed at Wrestlemania before Jerry did. Brian reminds everyone that as part of Too Cool, he was one of the biggest superstars in WWE at one time. Brian asks Jerry one more time how it made him feel. Brian calls him ‘daddy’ and then he pushes Jerry. He wants to know if Jerry is going to answer him and then he slaps Jerry in the head.
Brian bumps into Jerry and then he slaps him in the head again. Brian tells Jerry that the reason he never used the Lawler name is because he is ashamed of him.
We see Cole laughing in the ring as Brian walks away from his dad. Cole says that he thought that Jerry didn’t care about his family and then he calls him a coward, pathetic, and a loser.
The Oklahoma fight song plays and Jim Ross comes out to the ring. Cole says that he was wondering when this moment would come and he would do his best John Wayne impersonation riding into the spotlight on his white horse.
Jim asks Cole if this is going far enough. He talks about Jerry’s family, he brings out Jerry’s father to humiliate and embarrass Jerry Lawler. He tells Cole that this has gone far enough.
Cole tells Ross to go away. He tells Jim that it is his show now and he is the voice of the WWE. Cole gets in Jim’s face.
Ross says that he has been meaning to talk to Cole about being the voice of the WWE. Jim says that he had the honor of sitting at ringside with Jerry Lawler. He was able to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame thanks to Raw. Jim Ross says that no one will be the ‘voice of WWE’. It is the people in the crowd and the people watching at home.
Jim says that Cole has been carried by Lawler. He has been like a mother kangaroo carrying Cole around in his pouch. He says that Cole isn’t a lovable animal. He calls Cole a varmint and a rat bastard.
Cole asks if that is how it is going to be. Michael Cole in his ring being the bigger man standing up for himself while JR walked out of the ring into the sunset with his tail tucked between his legs.
Jim was about to leave the ring, but he makes his way back into the ring. Ross takes off his jacket and Cole does the same. Cole remembers to take off his tie.
Jack Swagger comes through the crowd and he attacks Jerry Lawler.
Swagger comes into the ring and Ross wants Swagger to stop. Cole tells Swagger to teach Ross a lesson.
Swagger kicks Ross and then he puts Ross in the ankle lock. Cole gets in Ross’ face and asks him how it feels.
Lawler pulls Swagger off Ross and then Cole jumps on Lawler’s back. Swagger attacks Lawler and puts him in the ankle lock.
Cole puts Ross in the ankle lock and then he tells Ross that this is what happens when you disrespect him.
We go to commercial.
We are back with the WWE Rewind: Randy Orton doing his best to limit the membership in Nexus.
Before our next match, we see that Randy’s wife and daughter are in the crowd.
Match Number Three: Randy Orton versus Mason Ryan with CM Punk in a If Mason wins, he can be at ringside for Punk’s match at Wrestlemania but if he loses, he will probably get kicked in the head Match
They lock up and Ryan backs Orton into the corner and then he tries to punch Orton in the corner on the break but Orton moves. Orton with punches and European uppercuts. Ryan with a kick and punches to Orton. Orton with punches of his own. Ryan with an Irish whip but Orton with a clothesline out of the corner. Ryan with a boot to Orton and Randy goes down.
Ryan with a back breaker to Orton and he gets a near fall. Ryan with another back breaker and then he picks Orton back up for a third one and he gets a near fall. Ryan with a bear hug on Orton. Orton punches and head butts Ryan while we see from Punk’s vantage point. Orton with a clothesline but Ryan with a Side Effect for a near fall. Ryan looks at the Wrestlemania sign and then he picks up Orton but he takes too long and Orton with an RKO for the three count.
Winner: Randy Orton
After the match, Orton poses on the turnbuckles and then he looks at Punk. Orton hesitates before leaving the ring and then he starts to make his way towards CM Punk. Orton thinks about it and he looks at Ryan getting up in the ring. Orton remembers that he had something to do on his ‘to do’ list. Orton runs into the ring and he kicks Ryan in the head. Punk gets into the ring and Orton does push ups in front of Punk as they stare down.
Punk leaves the ring and watches the medical staff bringing out a stretcher for Mason.
We have an Earlier Tonight Moment of the confrontation between Snooki and Vickie Guerrero.
We go to commercial.
We are back and it is time for the newest addition to the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame and it is former Royal Rumble participant Drew Carey.
Michael Cole interrupts Josh Mathews and he wants to remind everyone what happened earlier tonight. It was the premiere of the Michael Cole ankle lock on Raw. Cole says that he has mastered the ankle lock and he will use it to beat Jerry Lawler and humiliate him at Wrestlemania. Cole tells Jim Ross that ankle lock was a slobberknocker and he stomped a mudhole into him.
Trish Stratus is walking in the back with Snooki and Zack Ryder stops her and he asks her about his ‘situation’. Snooki likes it and then she walks with Trish as we go to commercial.
We are back and it is time for the Guest Host to come to the ring and it is Snooki. She makes her way to the ring. She says that she has been waiting for this moment all week long. She says that she is really looking forward to seeing Trish Stratus shut up Vickie Guerrero’s big mouth.
Vickie says that not only will she defeat the legend Trish Stratus, she will be rehired for Raw. Vickie says that she has some words for Snooki. She tells Snooki not to lay her hands on her again. Vickie yells at Snooki for stealing her spotlight. Vickie says that Snooki stole something very important from her. We see the cover of Rolling Stone. Vickie says that was her cover shoot. Vickie shows us the original cover. Vickie says that by the end of the night she will be the true Miss Media Darling. Vickie says that she will win tonight. Deep down inside, she is a good person.
Match Number Five: Vickie Guerrero versus Trish Stratus in a Career on the Line Part Two Match
Vickie tells Trish to wait a second so she can do some jumping jacks and other training. Trish with a rollup for a near fall while Vickie was not looking. Vickie tries for a kick but Trish blocks it and she sends Vickie to the mat. Vickie loses a shoe and Trish chases after her. Vickie gets her shoe back and she laughs maniacally. Vickie throws her shoe and she misses. Vickie gets her other shoe but Trish with a kick to Vickie and then Trish takes the shoe and she spanks Vickie with it.
Dolph Ziggler comes into the ring and she begs Trish to stop. John Morrison goes after Dolph and sends him to the floor. Morrison with a corkscrew plancha onto Dolph.
LayCool come to the ring and Michelle and Layla attack Trish and Michelle with a kick to the head for the three count.
Winner: Vickie Guerrero
After the match, Layla and Vickie take a photo with the defeated Trish. LayCool and Vickie celebrate in the ring as the reunion is complete.
Layla and Michelle make fun of Snooki after they realize that she is at ringside.
Michelle has something to say and Snooki gets in her face. Michelle pushes Snooki but Snooki pulls Michelle off the apron. Snooki with a Thesz Press to Layla and then Trish with a Thesz Press to Michelle. Trish punches Michelle while Layla tries to get away from Snooki.
LayCool and Vickie are able to get out of the ring.
Snooki, Trish, and Morrison celebrate in the ring and Dolph tells Morrison isn’t a girl.
Vickie tells Snooki that she is in over her head. Vickie says that this is her show now. Vickie says that she cannot wait to show them what they deserve on the biggest stage of them all.
She makes a challenge for Morrison, Trish, and Snooki to face Dolph Ziggler and LayCool at Wrestlemania.
Snooki accepts the challenge.
We go to commercial.
We are back and Sin Cara is in a ring surrounded by fired as he shows off what he can do in the ring.
It is time to talk about the Undertaker/Triple H match and it is time for part three of the Shawn Michaels scouting report. Shawn says that to say that the Undertaker is not intimidating, it is not true. There is a mystique, a mystery, a darkness. He is six foot ten inches tall and weighs nearly three hundred pounds. The biggest factor about Undertaker is the streak and it plays to his advantage. There is a lot of smoke and mirrors and distractions with the Undertaker if you let it get to you. You need to stay with the task at hand and it is difficult when it comes to the Undertaker.
The dynamic of the Undertaker at Wrestlemania takes a life of its own. You have him standing in front of you and that is enough, but then you add the streak and it can be too much to handle. He has never been beaten at the biggest show of them all. Shawn says that he does not know if it will be broken. He says that beating the Undertaker at Wrestlemania is the toughest thing to do.
Match Number Five: Alberto Del Rio with Brodus Clay versus John Cena
They lock up and Del Rio with a knee to Cena. They lock up again and Del Rio with a side head lock and take down. Del Rio with a shoulder tackle but Cena with a hip toss and a drop kick. Del Rio goes to the floor and we go to commercial.
We are back and Del Rio with a drop kick to Cena and he gets a near fall. Del Rio with a side head lock but Cena with a belly-to-back suplex. Cena and Del Rio both go for clotheslines and both men are down. Cena and Del Rio exchange punches as the crowd is conflicted over who to cheer and who to boo. Cena with two flying shoulder tackles followed by the Blue Thunder Bomb. Cena sets for the Five Knuckle Shuffle and he hits it to finish the Legendary Sequence. Cena gets Del Rio up for the Attitude Adjustment but Clay punches Cena and the referee calls for the bell.
Winner: John Cena by disqualification
After the match, Clay and Del Rio attack Cena.
The Rock’s music plays and It is Miz with a bald cap and a Rock t-shirt.
Cena punches Clay and then he kicks Del Rio. Miz gets taken down by Cena but Clay takes care of Cena.
Miz with a Rock Bottom on Cena. Del Rio hits the running enzuigiri in the corner. Clay hits a Fallaway Slam and Cena goes to the floor.
Miz gets on the turnbuckles and poses like the Rock. Miz pulls off the bald cap and he stands over John Cena and he picks him up and runs Cena’s back into the ring post.
Miz gets on the mic and he asks Cena how his road to Wrestlemania is and then he hits Cena in the head with the mic. Miz tells Cena that he has owned him the last three weeks and he will own him for the next three, all the way to Wrestlemania. Cena gets up and Miz hits him again with the mic. Cena starts to crawl up the ramp and Miz picks up Cena and suplexes him on the ramp.
Cena punches Miz and gets him up for the Attitude Adjustment but Miz gets away and he hits a DDT on the stage. Miz picks up Cena and he throws Cena into the spinning WWE logo on the stage. Cena tries to get back to his feet and Miz waits to hit the Skull Crushing Finale and he hits it on the base of the Spinning WWE Logo.
We go to credits.
2012 - WWE broadcast NXT. Richard Trionfo filed the following TV report:
We are wild, young, and online from Columbus, Ohio and your announcers are Josh ‘Anyone got tickets for the Arnold Invitational’ Mathews and William ‘Why the divvy is it THE Ohio State University’ Regal. Your host is Matt ‘I want a Blue Jacket’ Striker.
Matt Striker is in the ring with William Regal. Matt asks William about tonight’s theme and William says that every match will be a tag team match. He says that when and how to use your partner correctly takes a lifetime for some to achieve.
William introduces the most dynamic tag team that he has seen in years and he brings out the Usos.
Their opponents, Darren Young and Titus O’Neil mock the Uso’s entrance.
Match Number One: The Usos versus Titus O’Neil and Darren Young
Jimmy and Titus start things off and Jimmy with forearms. Jey tags in and they double team Titus. Jimmy tags back in and the kicks and punches continue. Jimmy with a snap mare and a near fall. Titus with a knee followed by a forearm to the back and a head butt, but Titus is the one who feels it more than Jimmy. Jimmy dances and then he head butts Titus.
Jey tags back in and he hits a splash into the corner and Jimmy with a clothesline as Jey gets a near fall. Titus sends Jey into the ropes and Darren is tagged in. Jey with a spinning forearm followed by a head butt. Jey sends Darren into the turnbuckles followed by an Irish whip that sends Young over the top rope to the floor. Jey takes care of Titus who tries to interfere. Jimmy with a cross body to Darren and Jey with a plancha onto Titus.
We go to commercial.
We are back and Jimmy and Darren exchange forearms but Darren with a kick and he sends Jimmy into Titus’ boot. Titus tags in and they send Jimmy into the turnbuckles to work on the back. Jimmy with a kick to Titus and he tags in Jey. Jey with a forearm but Titus runs Jey into the corner and Darren punches Jey and he sends Jey into the turnbuckles. Jey goes to the apron on an Irish whip and he punches Young. Titus distracts Jey and Darren takes Jey down.
Titus with a kick when Darren distracts the referee. Darren sends Jey back into the ring and Titus tags in. Titus with a leg drop to Jey followed by an elbow drop for a near fall. Titus punches Jey and he mocks the Uso chant. Young tags back in and he kicks Jey followed by a hot shot for a near fall.
Young works on the neck and he applies a reverse chin lock. Jey gets to his feet but Darren pulls him back to the mat. Young sends Jey into the turnbuckles and Titus tags in and connects with an elbow. Young tags back in and he sends him into the turnbuckles. Jey punches Young from the turnbuckles and then he connects with a kick to the jaw.
Titus and Jimmy tagt in and Jimmy with a cross body off the turnbuckles. Jimmy with the running butt splash into the corner but he can only get a near fall. Jey avoids the fireman’s carry gutbuster. Jey sends Darren to the floor. Jimmy avoids Clash of the Titus and Jimmy with a Samoan drop. Jey with a superfly splash for the three count.
Winners: The Usos
Josh asks William about what we are going to see on the rest of the show.
We see Alex Riley and Percy Watson playing basketball in the back earlier tonight. They talk some trash and Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks interrupt the banter.
William Regal walks by and he says that he thought Curt and Tyler would be on their best behavior after last week. William suggests that they have a tag match tonight. He tells Tyler and Curt if they lose tonight, they will be cleaning his laundry.
We go to commercial.
Match Number Two: Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks versus Percy Watson and Alex Riley
Percy and Hawkins start things off and Percy backs Hawkins into the corner and he gives a clean break. Hawkins retreats to his corner and he tags in Reks. Percy with a kick and forearms followed by punches and kicks. Percy sends Tyler into the turnbuckles followed by a drop kick and Percy gets a near fall.
Watson with a kick and forearm but Reks runs Percy into the corner. Watson tries to fight out of the corner but Reks stops him. Reks with a boot to Watson when the referee deals with Riley and Hawkins grabs Percy’s foot. Hawkins tags back in and he kicks Watson and hits a suplex and gets a near fall. Hawkins trips Watson and then Reks with a kick to the midsection and he gets a near fall.
Reks workso n the back with forearms and knees. Reks knocks Riley off the apron and Riley forces the referee to lose focus on the double teaming from Reks and Hawkins. Hawkins tags back in and he applies a reverse chin lock. Watson gets back to his feet but Hawkins stops him and sends Percy into the turnbuckles. Reks tags in and he connects with a short arm clothesline.
Reks with a kick but Watson with a hip toss and both men are down. Riley and Hawkins tag in and Riley with clotheslines followed by a spinebuster. Riley with a splash into the corner and then he goes to the apron and up top. Reks stops Riley but Watson takes care of Reks. Hawkins press slams Riley off the turnbuckles and then Hawkins goes up top and hits the elbow drop for the three count.
Winners: Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks
after the match, Curt tells Regal that he will have to find someone else to do his laundry. Tyler tells Regal that they are just getting started.
We go to commercial.
Maxine is in Striker’s old office and he replaces the photo of Ronald Reagan with one of Queen Elizabeth. Kaitlyn comes running into the office and she bumps into Maxine. Kaitlyn says that she is playing tag with Derrick and they are having fun.
Kaitlyn mentions that someone cancelled her reservation and she wants to know who did it.
Derrick breaks up the tussle and he tells her to save it for the match. Johnny suggests that they start things right now. Maxine says that she is ready to go and then Maxine pulls Johnny into the hall by the ear.
Derrick tells Kaitlyn not to worry about Maxine because she is from Michigan.
We go to commercial.
We are back and Michael McGillicutty makes his way to the ring. We see footage from Michael’s recent matches against Tyson Kidd and last week’s promo between the two men.
Michael says over the last two weeks has had a fly buzzing around his head demanding a rematch. Michael calls Tyson Kidd pathetic. He calls him an average everyday loser like everyone in the building. Michael says that Tyson talks about how hangs out with Bret Hart because that doesn’t mean anything to him because he grew up hanging out with wrestlers. They were his uncles.
Michael tells Tyson that he is not going to get a rematch.
Tyson Kidd’s music plays and he comes out. Kidd tells Mikey that while the crowd doesn’t have a microphone, he does. Tyson tells Michael that he respects him because they both have the passion for this business.
Tyson points out that he has been wrestling in a WWE ring since he was 16 years old. He says that he has the heart to do this.
Michael says that Tyson was never a Hart and it does not matter how long he is in the business because he will never be a Hart.
Tyson hits Michael with the mic and they exchange punches and they fight to the floor. Michael tries to send Tyson into the ring post but Tyson is the one who sends him into the post. Tyson sends Michael head first into the announce table and then Tyson tries for the Sharpshooter but Michael escapes.
Tyson demands his rematch and Michael agrees to it.
We go to commercial.
We are back with the Raw Rebound.
Match Number Three: Maxine and Johnny Curtis versus Kaitlyn and Derrick Bateman
The ladies start things off and Kaitlyn with a few drop toe holds. Maxine slaps Derrick on the apron and then Derrick and Johnny hold Maxine and Kaitlyn apart. We go to commercial.
We are back and the men are in the match and Derrick with punches followed by an Irish whip but he misses the running drop kick into the corner. Curtis works on the knee and then he stands on the leg while looking at Kaitlyn. Curtis with a slam and he stares at Kaitlyn.
Derrick with a rollup for a near fall but Curtis with a clothesline for a near fall. Curtis with a step over toe hold. Bateman with kicks to get out of the hold followed by an enzuigiri. Derrick with a snap mare driver for the three count.
Winners: Derrick Bateman and Kaitlyn
After the match, Derrick and Kaitlyn celebrate with Derrick’s mother at ringside.
Derrick gets on the mic and he tells Maxine that it is no secret that they are officially over. He tells Maxine that she can go with Johnny Curtis or William Regal. Derrick says that he is tired of playing games with Maxine and he tells Kaitlyn, tag she is it. Kaitlyn and Derrick kiss a2013 - The Rock began pushing to be cast in the new Star Wars trilogy.
2013 - TNA broadcast Impact Wrestling. Stu Carapola filed the following TV report:
Welcome to PWInsider.com's live coverage of Impact Wrestling!
Impact Wrestling starts their first night on the road, live from the Sears Center in Chicago. They've got a pretty impressive-sized crowd who looks really happy to be there.
Tonight: Bully Ray's first appearance as the TNA World Champion, Brooke Hogan's reaction following Lockdown, and AJ Styles returns to Impact for the first time in months!
Chavo Guerrero, Jr & Hernandez come out to the ring to open the show with a shot at the World Tag Team Title, but Aces & Eights run in during their entrance and beat them both down. Aces & Eights easily flattens Chavo and Hernandez and toss them out of the ring, then Devon gets a microphone and says that this is the group he said would dominate TNA, and that's what they're going to do from now on. Devon then introduces our new TNA World Champion, his brother, Bully Ray! Bubba comes out and looks damn good with that belt over his shoulder, then high fives his brother as he enters the ring. The crowd chants for Jeff Hardy as Bubba asks the crowd if they know who he is, then introduces himself as Bully Ray, the President of Aces & Eights and the TNA World Champion. He's the guy who used Sting, who screwed Brooke, and made a fool out of Hulk Hogan and every one of us. For nine months, they pulled the wool over everyone's eyes while they bought it, and he can't tell Devon how proud he is of him and the brothers as they came into the ring, and when he took that hammer and drilled Jeff Hardy in the back of the head, he felt even more proud. That wasn't supposed to be the plan, he was supposed to leave the cage when Wes and Garett came into the ring, but that didn't happen because Hulk sat him down before the match and gave him advice from Andre the Giant to do something memorable. He couldn't give a damn about Hulk's advice, but he did something in one night that the NWO couldn't accomplish ever, and he knows Hulk is here somewhere, so if he has the balls, he wants Hulk to come out and fire them. Bubba says he knows it won't happen, because they're Aces & Eights, and when you ride with Aces & Eights, you'll never walk alone.
Sting is backstage saying that Bubba screwed TNA and is in the fast lane, and it's pissing him off. He needs to do something, and he's going to start by talking to Hulk. An extremely angry Sting storms off, but the Knockouts are in tag action when we come back from commercial!
We look back at this past Sunday when Taryn Terrell "accidentally" cost Gail Kim the Knockouts Title match by attacking her, then we get comments from Gail Kim from earlier tonight. Her heart goes out to Brooke Hogan, but she made the right decision by putting Taryn Terrell on probation and tells Terrell she better not ever put her hands on her again.
Knockouts Champion Velvet Sky & Mickie James vs Tara & Gail Kim
Gail and Velvet start us off and trade takedowns, Velvet snaps Gail to the mat by the hair and nearly drags her over to Tara by accident before realizing her error and dragging her completely back across the ring to Mickie. Micie comes in and goes to town on Gail with punches and kicks, hits an enzigiuri, and covers for 2 as we go to commercial.
We're back as a very patriotically-attired Tara is working Mickie over and tying her up in the ropes with a tarantula. Tara stops to argue with Taryn Terrell while Gail dishes out punishment on the DL, then Tara covers for 2. Gail and Tara hit a double slingshot suplex on Mickie and Gail covers for 2. Gail gets in Terrell's face again, but wastes too much time on that side work and takes a flying headscissors from Mickie. Gail and Mickie wipe each other out with a double clothesline and make simultaneous tags, then Velvet starts running Tara over with clotheslines before jabbing a boot at Gail on the floor. Gail breaks a cover at 2, then goes back to arguing with Terrell and dares Terrell to hit her. Terrell doesn't, so Gail piefaces her and shoves her down to the mat. Terrell really should disqualify her for that, but instead she opts to slap her, stunning her long enough for Mickie to hit a flying crotch off the top rope. Tara swoops in and hits Mickie with the Widow's Peak, but Velvet comes in and hits In Your Face for the win.
Winners: Velvet Sky & Mickie James
OOOOOOOOOH, Taryn's going to get in trouble for that one!
We go back to the Aces & Eights Satellite Clubhouse where Bubba tells everyone that Hulk doesn't have the balls to do anything to them, but he wants to propose a toast to everyone who has stuck by him the last nine months, and they share a beer while Bubba says he hasn't heard from his wife in a while. He tries calling her, but she sends him right to voicemail, so he asks why she's not returning his calls. He says the boys want to say hi to her, so he holds the phone out and they all go "HI BROOKE!" and then he tells her to call him back and tell Dad he says hi.
The annoying cameraman catches up to Hulk Hogan backstage and asks about his daughter and whether he's going to fire Aces & Eights tonight, and Hulk just says "not now" and slams the office door shut behind him.
Robbie E vs Rob Terry
Robbie E gets a microphone before the match and says Lockdown was a fluke, and he won't get so lucky tonight, BRO. E sneaks in and suckerpunches T, but T no sells him, clotheslines his head off, hiptosses him clear across the ring, press slams him to the mat, then drills him with a charging clothesline in the corner. Robbie T picks E up in a suplex and converts it into a powerslam. T gets fired up, drags E to his feet, drills him with a spinebuster, and makes a very...um, dirty looking cover for 3.
Winner: Rob Terry
Rob's dancing music hits, he dances and does one-handed pushups.
Sting is backstage and walks into Hulk Hogan's office, which has an Impact Wrestling logo on the wall for some reason even though they're only there for the night. Hulk looks at Sting unhappily as we go to commercial. I bet Hulk's going to blame Sting for vouching for Bubba and ask him where he's at, DUDE.
We go back to the Aces & Eights Satellite Clubhouse where Bubba is shocked that there's no Aces & Eights merch in the TNA catalog. He says to open the catalog to a random page and whoever they find there will have to pay. They seem amused by who they land on, Bubba says it'll be tough but they'll take whoever it is out tonight.
We go to Hulk's office where Sting says they need to Hulk, and Hogan asks if he's there to get the last breath from him. He asks if Sting knows what he's done by vouching for Bubba and swearing he's a nice guy, and now Aces & Eights holds the company hostage and Bubba has the title. It may not mean anything to Sting, but Bubba's married to his daughter. Sting says it does matter and not to fire Aces & Eights, because they need to set this right. Hulk says he knows how this movie ends, they have the title, his daughter's in a marriage she doesn't want to be in, and they've ruined the company. Hulk's in a place he doesn't want to be in, then kicks Sting out of the office and says he makes him sick. Wow, that's a bit harsh, now isn't it?
We look back at the recent history of AJ Styles, and we'll see his return to TNA next!
Bobby Roode and Austin Aries find Sting backstage and say it must be a tough night since he ruined everything. All the boys in the locker room are talking about how he screwed the company and blame him for letting Bubba get the TNA World Title. Now Aries and Roode have nobody to wrestle tonight, even though they were going to give Hogan and Sting a title shot after that. Sting says he's had enough, and he wants to fight tonight. Aries gets in Sting's face and asks if he wants to fight them, Sting says yeah, and Aries says Roode is happy to fight him any day of the week. Aries doesn't realize that Roode snuck away, so Sting says he's going to fight Aries tonight instead.
AJ Styles comes out to the ring for the first time in months, but his music stops and Bad Influence's music hits instead. Kazarian and Daniels come out dressed and face painted like the Road Warriors, Kazarian says that tonight isn't just the first live Impact on the road, and it's definitely not hte first time AJ Styles has disappointed his fans since he's gotten quite good at that, but Bad Influence is bringing back Throwback Thursday! Since they're in the Second City, they're paying homage to the second best tag team in wrestling history. Kazarian says TELL 'EM, CHRIS, and Daniels goes WELLLLLLL, those legends of the past were fake tough guys, just like AJ Styles and every one of the fans. They're real tough guys, real ring warriors, and they're the Legion of BOOM! Daniels goes OHHHHHHHHHH WHAT A TUSH while pointing at his ass, then tells the fans they have permission to worship them now. James Storm comes out to the ring and says he was backstage listening to themn run their mouth about AJ Styles and one of the greatest tag teams in history while claiming to be tough guys. Storm's sure that AJ will come out and say what he thinks of them, but that greatest tag team is a little bit taller and a little more over than they'll ever be, and they're actually from Chicago (they're actually not). Storm says he'll let them decide which one of them gets the crap kicked out of them right now, and since a referee is already in the ring, Storm grabs Daniels and we're off with an impromptu match!
James Storm vs Christopher Daniels
Storm just destroys Daniels, rams him into Kazarian on the apron, and rolls him up for 2. Kazarian grabs Storm's ankle and trips him from the outside, allowing Daniels to sneak in and nail Storm and put the boots to him. Daniels gets some kneestrikes to the chest and gets a rear bearhug, but Storm comes back with a series of clotheslines and a bulldog. Daniels escapes the Eye of the Storm and hits a uranage, but Storm dodges the BME and hits Closing Time. Storm gets distracted by Kazarian and Daniels tries a rollup, but Storm hits something I didn't catch and cradles Daniels for the win.
Winner: James Storm
Daniels and Kazarian jump Storm after the match and put the boots to him, but AJ Styles finally comes out in his "sleeping on a park bench" outfit and punches Kazarian in the face before going after Daniels, who rolls out of the ring to avoid another beating. Storm gets to his feet to stand with his buddy AJ, who turns around and clotheslines his head off. AJ pulls his hood back up, then pulls it back off, then leaves.
We look back at Sunday when Wes Brisco beat Kurt Angle, then we go backstage where Brisco is conveniently goading Angle into a fight so Aces & Eights can beat him down. Angle's left in a heap as Aces & Eights strolls off laughing.
Joseph Park comes out to the ring and says it's been a big year for him: he got his first big win on Impact over in the UK and he even won again last weekend at Lockdown. All this success made him take a step back and reflect on his life and accomplishments, like graduating first in his class at law school, and making partner at Park, Park & Park (by the way, he apologizes to his colleagues in the crowd, who got crappy seats because he doesn't have much clout around here). But he's most happy about being here in Chicago because he's a Cubs fan (the crowd boos), and sitting behind the goal at all the Blackhawks games, but nothing has been as exciting as being at Impact Wrestling and he can't wait for what's next. He finds out what's next when Matt Morgan's music hits, and the big man comes out to go face to face with our severely educated friend. Morgan comes out to cut a promo on Hulk Hogan, asking if the Bubba thing turned out like he hoped, and says that Hulk never made a bigger mistake than the joke standing in front of him right now. Park looks indignant as Morgan says the fact that Hogan signed this clown to a wrestling contract is an abortion to the sport of wrestling. He calls Park a fat oaf, then tells Hogan that he'll start eliminating his mistakes one by one, starting...with Park. Morgan says that unless Park wants him to knock every one of his teeth down his throat, Park better get out of HIS ring right now. Park looks unsure, but Morgan tells him to leave and never come back. That does it for Park, who angrily steps back into the ring and tells Morgan that people from Chicago never back down from a fight, so if he wants to fight, let's do it right now. Morgan looks surprised, then smiles at Park as he takes his jacket off. Morgan asks if he's serious and says that he's got to be kidding, because we don't do things how Park wants, they do them on Morgan's time. Morgan turns to leave, but Park makes the amateur mistake of turning his back and catches a Carbon Footprint in the grill. Morgan picks the microphone back up, crouches over Park, and says that his time is next week.
Back to the Aces & Eights Satellite Clubhouse, where Bubba gloats about taking out Chavo, Hernandez, and Angle, then dares Hogan again to fire them, and says that if he won't come to them, they might just come to him. He already destroyed his family, now they're going to destroy the show, and the entire group gets up to head out to cause a little damage.
We see a video package looking back at this past weekend when Bubba betrayed the Hogan's, and we see Brooke, one of the only three people in the world who didn't see this coming a mile away, freaking out over being used by Bubba.
It's main event time!
Sting vs Austin Aries
Feeling out process to start, crowd is way behind Aries as he chain wrestles around Sting and brushes his hands off in the corner. Sting picks Aries up out of a headlock and places him on the top rope where he starts unloading with punches and kicks. Aries dodges a Stinger Splash and rolls out to the floor as Bobby Roode comes out to ringside to "support" his partner. He gives Aries a pep talk and sends him back inside, Sting winds up on the floor beating Roode up and gives him a Stinger Splash against the rail, and sees Aries coming off the top rope with a double axhandle. Aries nails his own partner, Sting rams Aries into the barricage, and the main event continues after this commercial break.
We're back and Sting is still beating Aries up. Aries nails Sting from behind when Roode creates a distraction, but that doesn't last long as Sting clotheslines Aries to the floor and goes back to yelling at Roode. The referee finally ejects Roode, but Roode keeps arguing long enough to give Aries the opportunity to slip in and clips Sting's knee from behind, then take him out with a dive when he rolls out to the floor. Aries makes a cover for 2, then chokes Sting with his boot. Aries snapmares Sting and dropkicks him in the back of the head, but only gets a 2 count as a result. Sting tries to fight back until Aries dropkicks his knees out from under him and rams his knee into the mat. Aries holds the ropes to dodge a dropkick and goes for the Scorpion Deathlock, but can't quite seem to figure the move out and gets kicked off. Sting starts comeback #36 and takes Aries out with a clothesline, but Aries squirms out to the apron when Sting goes for the Scorpion Deathlock. Aries nails Sting with a missile dropkick and mocks his howling, but Sting pops right back up and waits for Aries to turn around so he can press slam him, Aries dodges a Stinger Splash and connects with the IED and a Stinger Splash, but Sting slips out of a brainbuster attempt and hits the Scorpion Deathdrop. Aries becomes the first person to kick out of that in like a decade, but Sting hits the Stinger Splash and gets the Deathlock right in the middle of the ring. Aries nearly taps, but Aces & Eights runs in and beat Sting down 547-on-1.
Winner: Sting by DQ
Bubba has a microphone and tells Aces & Eights to hold him up, then says he used Sting and asks if Hogan is gonna remember Aces & Eights now. Bubba asks where "dad" is, and we'll see what happens after this commercial break!
We're back and Bubba is still calling Hogan out, and Hulk finally gets the cue that they're back from commercial and comes out to the top of the ramp on his crutches. Wow, he looks PISSED. Hogan says that firing Bubba would be the easy way out after everything he did to him, his family, and the company, and he's going to get his. He's giving everyone in TNA clearance to go after Aces & Eights, and suddenly the locker room empties as just about everybody runs in to attack them. It doesn't go well for TNA, as Aces & Eights proceeds to kick the entire roster's asses. The beatdown goes for several minutes, and the TNA guys keep trying to fight back, but Aces & Eights ends up winning the fight, and as Bubba stands over the fallen TNA wrestlers and whips them with his chain, he asks Hogan if this is what he meant by doing something memorable. Bubba tells Hogan that that was his cavalry, and his cavalry just got taken out by Aces & Eights, then asks Hogan what he's going to do...DAD? Bubba and Aces & Eights stares Hogan down as we call it a night.
Thanks for reading the Impact Wrestling Report here on PWInsider.com, I'll be back tomorrow to discuss Impact and more with Dave Scherer on the Stu & Pid Show!If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
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