Bryan Alvarez:
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Dave Meltzer:
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The next two weekends are crazy to say the least. Actually this weekend may be crazier than next.
We're looking for reports on last night's TNA house show in Hattiesburg, MS, as well as Raw tonight in El Paso, TNA tonight in Pensacola and ROH tonight in Dearborn MI (Tyler Black & Briscoes vs. American Wolves & Chris Hero; Kenny Omega vs. Roderick Strong, Austin Aries vs. Petey Williams). Among other events tonight include the semifinals of the NCAA wrestling tournament on ESPN U at 7 p.m. Eastern time (Ch. 614 on DirecTV, Ch. 141 on Dish) as well as the Xtreme Fighting Championship X live from Tampa at 9 p.m. on HDNet (main event is John Mahlow vs. former UFC fighter Junior Assuncao for the XFC lightweight title. Inside MMA moves up one hour at 8 p.m. because of the live show. CMLL has its first major event of the year at Arena Mexico with Mistico & Felino vs. Volador Jr. & La Sombra with the losing team then having a singles match where the loser has to unmask. A sellout crowd of 18,000 is expected for the show. AAA is countering with a show at Juan de la Barrera Gym. You can send reports on these events to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Tomorrow's schedule includes a Raw house show in Tucson and an ROH house show in Mississauaga (Tyler Black & Roderick Strong vs. Austin Aries & Kenny King 2/3 falls, Kenny Omega vs. Davey Richards, Chris Hero vs. El Generico, Colt Cabana vs. Steve Corino). The NCAA tournament continues with the third place matches at 11 a.m. Eastern on ESPN U and the championship matches starting at 7:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN.
Sunday features a live UFC from Broomfield, Colo. on Versus, with Brandon Vera vs. Jon Jones, Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Junior Dos Santos and Paul Buentello vs. Cheick Kongo. That goes head-to-head on television with TNA's Destination X PPV, headlined by A.J. Styles vs. Abyss for the TNA title, Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson, Matt Morgan & Hernandez vs. Beer Money for the tag team titles, Doug Williams vs. Shannon Moore for the X title, Kevin Nash & Eric Young vs. Scott Hall & Sean Waltman and several others. In addition, there is a Raw house show in Reno and a Smackdown brand house show in Sacramento. All Japan has its first major show of the year at Sumo Hall in Tokyo headlined by Satoshi Kojima vs. Ryota Hama in one of the stranger Triple Crown title matches in history, plus the first cage match in the history of All Japan, as former Pancrase champion Masakatsu Funaki faces another former champion in Minoru Suzuki. In addition, Dream will air live at 3 a.m. late Sunday/early Monday Eastern time from the Yokohama Arena with Josh Barnett vs. Mighty Mo, Bibiano Fernandes vs. Joachim Hansen for the featherweight title, Yoshiro Maeda vs. Cole Escovedo, K.J. Noons vs. Andre Dida and Minowa-man vs Jimmy Ambriz.
We will have live coverage on the site of both the UFC & TNA shows.
It doesn't slow down on Monday, as Raw, Smackdown, Superstars & NXT will all be taped in San Jose. Among the matches announced are a 4 on 5 match with all the participants in Money in the Bank and HHH & Randy Orton vs. Sheamus & Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase. All the final WrestleMania angles will be shot. Bret Hart is scheduled to appear on the show and the Raw guest host will be Pete Rose. TNA will air Impact live from Orlando head-to-head with Raw. In addition, Dragon Gate has its biggest show of the year at Sumo Hall in Tokyo including Dragon Kid & Juventud Guerrera vs. Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk, Naruki Doi vs. Yamato for the Open the Dream Gate title and Akebono & Don Fujii & Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Abdullah the Butcher & Mazada & Nosawa for the Open the Triangle Gate title. The annual New Japan Cup tournament semifinals and finals will take place in Amagasaki, Japan, with the winner being the No. 1 contender for Shinsuke Nakamura's IWGP heavyweight title.
Tuesday will be a TNA taping in Orlando for the April 5th TV show that goes head-to-head with the NCAA basketball finals.
We're looking for reports on all of these events to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Smackdown tonight has
* Taker vs. Drew McIntyre
* Luke Gallows vs. Rey Mysterio
* Morrison & Truth vs. Hart Dynasty
* Hardy & MVP vs. Dolph & Swagger
* Beth & Tiffany (yes!) vs. Michelle & Layla
* Another Cutting Edge with Jericho as guest. Hot Tub Time Machine guys should have set up this segment
We have the most complete Monday rundown, including how every segment on both shows gained the lost viewers, and many questions asked as TNA's gets beaten by almost three full ratings points the second week one. We look at live vs. tape, as well as the future of this battle.
The issue is available on the web site today. For those wanting the print edition, there are details here on how to get it delivered to your door each week.
We also have a profile on Gorgeous George and his role in wrestling and life. We look at why he's being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, including a change in philosophy of WWE films, the famous movie that was supposed to be done on his life in the past and what happened, as well as a second movie that at one time was going to be done and fell through. We look at George's heyday and how big wrestling was on television, George's only appearance in Madison Square Garden and how it hardly went as expected, where George stood as far as the most known and highest paid athletes, his role, as well as some of his most famous angles. We also look at the story that George inspired the interviews of Muhammad Ali.
We also have an update on Jim Ross and WWE as well as an interview where he talked about wanting to broadcast MMA as well as his thoughts on mistakes in MMA television broadcasts.
We also look at several Bret Hart interviews from Canada this past week, talking bout why he returned, how wrestling has changed, his relationship with Shawn Michaels and more.
We also look at a WWE Hall of Fame snafu, an update on Dwayne Johnson and Raw, Vince McMahon causes Linda McMahon's campaign some embarrassment, filings that show what the McMahons are worth, as well as WWE responds to media criticism from the McMahon campaign.
We also look at changes made in WWE rules for talent, as well as lots of items regarding WrestleMania plans. We also have an updated look at how many people watch Raw live vs. on tape, a lot of notes on WWE developmental including newcomers, a new stable, lots of second generation wrestlers and a former college football player and a former Gladiator both starting out, as well as a main eventer in a territorial system and first cousin of two current WWE wrestlers who was just signed.
We also look at Tommy Dreamer talking about why he left WWE, as well as WWE signing Gladiator and notes from all the weekend WWE house shows.
We also have a ton of history this week, including a trip back to the 1940s looking at Henry Wittenberg, who passed away this past week, the man George Hackenschmidt called the greatest wrestler who ever lived. We look at someone who was America's best wrestler of the era, and one of the greatest ever, and why he was the most unlikely wrestling legend this country ever produced given his background. We look at his gold medal win, his pro offers, and why promoters thought he could have been one of the biggest stars ever.
We also look at the life and wrestling career of Sandy Scott, including a look at the Flying Scott Brothers and their headline feuds in the 50s and 60s all over the world, but in particular being the top babyface attractions in Western Canada and the Carolinas. We follow their career path, including their breakup in real life, Sandy Scott's role in the heyday of Jim Crockett Promotions, the different tag teams they faced all over the world, the glory era of Stampede Wrestling and more.
We also look at the man of a million names, John Hill, including the many territories he was top heel, his two world title reigns in the biggest promotion in the world at the time and his feud with Bruno Sammartino, how he got his different names including The Destroyer, Guy Mitchell and Jerry Valiant. It's a look back at several territories including the glory days of Australian wrestling, British Columbia, Detroit, Toronto and Indianapolis with the stars and programs such as the heyday of The Sheik, The Bruiser, the beginning of the career of Bobby Heenan and more.
We've also got coverage of AAA's first major show of the year, the Rey de Reyes show, which featured the beginning of the L.A. Park vs. La Parka feud, as well as Mr. Anderson and Hernandez from TNA appearing.
We also have our usual weekly features such as the results of the biggest matches of the week and rundown of the major television shows.
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-- As noted on the front page, Bayerische Landesanstalt für Medien, the German agency tasked with protecting youth from dangerous images in the media, has ruled that DSF an no longer broadcast Ultimate Fighter, UFC Unleashed or UFC Fight Night. It's too violent, they say, and corrupts the youth by glorifying violence. No idea how it will shake out but UFC is going to fight it.
-- Irv Muchnick has Umaga's autopsy report here. He was 406 pounds when he passed away and suffered from an enlarged heart.
-- Strikeforce officially announced Alistair Overeem vs. Brett Rogers and Andrei Arlovski vs. Bigfoot Silva for the May 15th show at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.
-- Dorian Roldan of AAA flat-out said that Felino was losing his mask at the end of the main event tonight at CMLL's Dos Leyendas show. Felino was scheduled to lose the mask so now the big question will be if CMLL responds to this by changing the finish. The main event is Mistico and Felino vs. Volador, Jr. and La Sombra where the first two guys eliminated have to square off in a mask vs. mask match afterwards. We'll have results on the front page later on tonight. AAA also buried Mistico personally as opposed to professionally, which was interesting.
-- The Fedor vs. Yoshida story appears to be something just made up by Japan (they do this all the time) that has taken on a life of its own on U.S. web sites.
-- Piper leading parade of familiar wrestling faces
-- College News Interviews: WWE Superstar Evan Bourne
-- The Daily Star looks at Anderson Silva here.
-- Alex Marvez looks at the Monday Night Wars here
-- Dave has a look at Junior Dos Santos vs. Gabriel Gonzaga, which is the main event of Sunday's UFC on Versus 1 head-to-head with TNA, here.
-- Brian writes: WLW radio in Cincinnati's Scott Sloan is running a "March Mad Men" tournament. Chris Jericho was the #10 seed in one regiional for the Shell station debacle in Erlanger Ky, but he was eliminated by viewers' votes in the first round.
-- The cast of Hot Tub Time Machine disappeared from WWE's upcoming guest hosts list in LA, but at the movie premiere earlier this week they said they were going to do it, so I guess it's on.
-- Dragon Gate USA announced Shingo, Masato Yoshino and Jimmy Jacobs today for May 7th & 8th in Windsor and Toronto.
-- As noted Tuesday, we're very happy to announce that Tough Talk with Mike Sawyer and Oliver Copp has returned to the website. There is a brand new show up today featuring an interview with Kim Couture, and it's FREE, so please check it out. If you love what you hear, you know the drill -- sign up~!
-- The Simmons for Senate people sent out a mailer today reminding people that Vince and Linda do, in fact, own a yacht named THE SEXY BITCH.
-- HDNet will be airing Xtreme Fighting Champinoship X -- Night of Champions from Tampa tonight at 9 Eastern.
-- Dan Henderson is on Inside MMA tonight talking his upcoming fight with Jake Shields, which he calls "a challenge". Hopefully the rest of the interview is more exciting.
-- The Women's World Independent MMA Rankings are now available here.
-- Poll on episode 2 of St. Pierre vs. Hardy
Excellent 36.6%
Good 35.2%
Average 15.5%
Fair 4.2%
Poor 8.5%
43.7% of those responding didn't see the show
Poll on Countdown to Mir vs. Carwin
Excellent 26.0%
Good 42.0%
Average 24.0%
Fair 0.0%
Poor 8.0%
55.0% of those responding didn't see the show
What do you consider the main event for the TNA PPV?
Styles vs. Abyss 53.2%
Machine Guns vs. Generation Me 22.8%
Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson 15.7%
Hall & Waltman vs. Nash & Young 5.6%
Beer Money vs. Morgan & Hernandez 2.6%
-- Collector's Realm presents an autograph signing with wrestling superstars Jerry "The King" Lawler and Tommy Dreamer. This Saturday, March 20th from 3-5 pm. Lawler and Dreamer will be signing autographs exclusively at Collector's Realm prior to appearing at Northeast Wrestling's WrestleFest XVI at the Mid Hudson Civic Center that evening at 7:30pm. Tickets for WrestleFest XVI are available at Collector's Realm. For more information call 845-473-TOYS (8697)
-- SoCal Pro Wrestling, March 20th 2010, Oceanside Boys & Girls Club, 401 Country Club Ln, Oceanside, CA. Bob Saget will be there. No, seriously.
-- The new Las Vegas Fight Shop has a grand opening on April 1st at 3200 S Las Vegas BLVD Suite 1215.
-- Ed, Cutrer and BFCraig talk with Claudio Castagnoli on the Drunkcast tonight here.
-- Starting time for EWF card tonight in San Bernardion, at ASU gym should be 8:pm.
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