Observer stuff;
AAA
"Konnan again reiterated this week that he will be doing a comeback next year. He had his first match in a couple of years on 9/15 in Watsonville, CA, on a show with Pro Wrestling Revolution. The idea is to do a farewell tour next year. Hes had a ton of health problems over the years, far more serious than most realize between his kidney transplant when his body rejected the kidney that was very serious, not to mention his hip problems that resulted in a hip replacement."
AJPW
"In an experiment with attendance lagging, they have announced the 9/27 show at Differ Ariake will be free. He (AJPW owner Nobuo Shiraishi) also said the company would return to Budokan Hall in 2014, which is insane."
CMLL
"On Friday afternoon, it appeared CMLL was on fire as the hottest promotion in the world.
CMLL, born EMLL, became the first promotion in wrestling history ever to become an Octogenarian on 9/13. In celebrating that milestone, the company sold out Arena Mexico in advance with more than 17,000 fans paying approximately $900,000.
This broke the companys all-time gate record of $700,000 set on September 28, 2007, for a cage of death match loaded with big names."
"What they got was a mostly good show, ending with two outstanding matches. In the main event, La Sombra beat Volador Jr. in a mask vs. mask match that was an incredible display of state-of-the-art high spots. Some saw it as the best match in Mexico this year.
But to the audience, it largely didnt matter. As the 80th anniversary show, the older fan base that sold the arena out for the first time in three years, were expecting the biggest match at the building since the Atlantis vs. Villano III mask vs. mask match in 2000.
They didnt care about the best match. All year, the promotions main events have been built around Atlantis, who had headlined more anniversary shows than anyone not named El Santo, and former tag team partner turned top opponent, Ultimo Guerrero. The seeds had been planted for the mask match for months, challenges issued and accepted. But instead, it turned into a situation where it was going to be a tag match with Atlantis & Guerrero vs. Sombra & Volador Jr., with the winning team getting the main event mask vs. mask spot.
The fans decided to convince themselves on the 80th anniversary show, because of the longevity of the two men under the mask, and because they were paying the highest ticket prices in company history, that the bigger match would take place."
"Not only was the main event that the people paid for not happening, but the two main eventers they expected only worked a short match. Fans were furious.
Immediately, the promotion sent out dancing girls to stop the fraud chants. It technically wasnt a fraud, but the whole year was built for one match, and on the biggest show with the highest ticket prices, when it should have happened, it didnt. The chants continued on-and-off for the next hour, until the show ended. There is talk that they are still going to do Atlantis vs. Guerrero later this year, with a hint it may be in a month, on 10/18, to counter WWE running at the more modern Arena Ciudad in Mexico City, and with AAA running one of its biggest shows of the year in Puebla."
Ratings
1. Ishii, Okumura & Namajague vs Fuego, Stuka Jr & Cometa - ***
2. Niebla Roja, Mephisto & Euforia vs Porky, Maximo & Titan - ** 3/4
3. Rush, Corleone & Vangelis vs Shocker, Negros Casas & Terrible - ** 1/4
4. Averno vs Blue Panther - *** 1/4
5. Sombra & Volador Jr vs Atlantis & Ultimo Guerrero - **
6. Mistico, Mascara Dorada & Valiente (c) vs Polvoro, Dragon Rojo Jr & Escorpion - ****
7. Sombra vs Volador Jr - **** 1/2
"Simon Tapia, the mini wrestler known as Mini L.A. Park, passed away on 9/16, reportedly from a heart attack. He was 25. Tapia, under that gimmick, had appeared on U.S. TV as one of the regulars on the Lucha Libre Masked Warriors TV show, as Mini La Parka. He was the nephew of L.A. Park, who was the original La Parka from the 90s who was a star in the early days of AAA and a cult favorite in WCW."
Misc.
"The trial of former AWA star Eugene Buck Rock & Roll Zumhofe, 62, that was scheduled to start on 9/23, was moved to 12/6, in Kandiyoshi County District Court in Minnesota. Zumhofe is accused of having sexual contact with his daughter on a regular basis from the age of 15 until the age of 27. After breaking away from her father, she reported it to authorities in April. She said that she hadnt in the past because her father had threatened to kill himself if she did so."
"Another former wrestler, Michael Droese, 42, was arrested on 9/13 and charged with selling morphine to undercover officers in Tennessee. The arrest was part of an investigation by both the McMinnville, TN police and the Warren County Sheriffs Department. Droese, who wrestled throughout the 90s, was best known from his 1994 to 1996 run in WWF as Duke The Dumpster Droese, where he played a garbage man turned brawling pro wrestler."
"Riddick Bowe, 46, the former world heavyweight boxing champion who a few weeks back said he was looking to get into pro wrestling, will make his debut on a 3/1 show in Preston, UK for Preston City Wrestling. Bowe had held minor versions of the title, but beat Evander Holyfield on November 13, 1992, in Las Vegas, via unanimous decision to win the lineal title and champion recognition from the WBA, WBC and IBF. He lost it back to Holyfield on November 6, 1993. It was his only pro loss, finishing at 43-1 with 1 no contest. His career as a boxer pretty well ended in 1996 after a pair of fights with Andrew Golata, both of which he won via DQ due to Golata continually giving him low blows."
"Charlie Haas, who announced he was retiring from wrestling several months back, has been working indies in Texas, where he lives."
"Jacques Rougeau Jr., 53, is coming out of retirement to wrestle with his sons and students on some upcoming shows in Quebec. Hes also using former hockey enforcer George Laraque as his ring announcer. Rougeau said that he retired two years ago because of tearing three ligaments in his shoulder, but said hes lost 50 pounds and his shoulder now feels fine. It should be noted that when he did announce his latest retirement in 2011 (his first retirement was in 1994), he never mentioned he was hurt."
"Tommy Dreamers next House of Hardcore show on 11/9 in Poughkeepsie has announced himself & Terry Funk vs. Lance Storm & Sean Waltman as the main event. Funk said that hes not looking at wrestling anymore, and hes going to be cutting back on traveling and appearances again. But he said he would probably always help if Dreamer called, plus he put over that he was working with good people."
"Ted DiBiase Jr. is doing his first post-WWE appearance on 10/12 for a match with Colt Cabana for the Family Wrestling Entertainment in Brooklyn."
"Former wrestler Billy Two Rivers, 78, was hospitalized from mid-June until a few weeks ago after neck surgery, sciatic nerve problems, back problems, low blood pressure and anemia."
"Harry Duvall, a muscular 60s and 70s wrestler in the U.K., passed away last week. In his obituary in the Lancashire Evening Post he was written up as being a famous taxi driver in Preston, England and thought to be in his 70s. As a taxi driver, he would wear a chauffeurs outfit with a cap and always dressed immaculately, so he was well known around town. Duval wrestled as both Harry Duval and Paul Duval, and he did a strongman gimmick. Often, as a feat of strength, he would blow up a hot water bottle until it exploded before his matches. During the 60s, the Caribbean born Duval, who moved to the U.K. as a child, was considered a major contender to Billy Robinsons British heavyweight title and held wins over such stars as Curtis Iaukea, Albert Wall, Pat Roach and Gwyn Davies, who were the top heavyweights in England at the time."
NJPW
"The biggest show of the year in Japan, Wrestle Kingdom 8 on Jan. 4 at the Tokyo dome, was already announced as an iPPV that will start at 4 a.m. Eastern and 1 a.m. Pacific time. Tickets go on sale to the public on 10/13. Its looking like Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP title as the main event right now. Theyll have a great match, and the company is the hottest it has been in years, but that doesnt feel like a Tokyo Dome main event."
"On the 9/29 Destruction PPV from Kobe, the Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Prince Devitt match was made a lumberjack match. Its very rare when New Japan books a gimmick match. Also added is an eight-man tag with Mascara Dorada coming in from CMLL to team with Captain New Japan & Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Karl Anderson & Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga & Rey Bucanero."
"The 'Road to Destruction' iPPV was the second straight show that got almost no response to us (as in five responses overall and were usually a good percentage, sometimes more than 10%, of the overall buys outside of Japan). This shows that the idea of doing multiple shows but with a low price tag (this was $15, last weeks was $10) doesnt work."
"The show, on 9/14 from Korakuen Hall with a legitimate sellout of 2,015 fans, was said to be good. The idea was to use this show to set up the matches for the big show, but it didnt quite work as a lot of the matches were only average and didnt built up any anticipation for the PPV."
"Katsuyori Shibata said he would like to rematch Tomohiro Ishii, mentioning the 10/14 PPV from Sumo Hall. Shibata vs. Ishii from 8/4 in Osaka was perhaps the best match of this year, and certainly in the running. With Ishii in CMLL for a few more weeks, the Sumo Hall show would be the first chance."
TNA
"The biggest story involves the future of taping on the road, as well as the future of a number of wrestlers whose contracts are coming due, including the companys two highest paid and best known stars, Hulk Hogan and Sting."
"Hogan isnt the only contract due, with Mickie James and Ken Anderson having been written out at the last TV, even though the door is still open for both to return if a deal is worked out."
"A few months back, people in WWE were talking about having a legitimate shot at getting Sting for a WrestleMania appearance, something which hasnt been seriously talked about in years."
"In a very interesting political move, Jeff Jarrett, who had only been at television once in recent memory, was at television the past week. Jarrett was working behind the scenes as a road agent, including being the agent for all three of the Bound for Glory series matches that aired on the 9/12 TV show. Given the quality of those matches, his work would have to be viewed as a positive."
"The latest cost cutbacks are strong talks of going back to a singular location for tapings early next year. They are committed to being on the road and have venues booked through the end of December, including at least three tapings in December, so they are going to be getting ahead on the schedule by a couple of weeks. They will probably tape all TV through the end of February when they go on the U.K. tour. So if a change is going to be made, late February or early March would make sense as the target date."
"There is a feeling with the cost cutting and restructuring that is going on, TNA can be a viable business as far as not bleeding money. There were periods pre-Hogan that the company was breaking even on its own, or even making a profit. But at this point the reality has set in that its probably never going to get any bigger or more popular."
"Impact on 9/12 did a 1.09 rating and 1.39 million viewers. An interesting note about the value of the station you are on, the Cops lead-in on Spike did 1,384,000 viewers and Impact followed with 1,389,000 viewers. Football on the NFL Network did 8.79 million viewers."
"At this point no word on when Angle returns to television, but Id think fairly soon. Then again, I couldnt even imagine what his body feels like if hes completely off pain meds, or even cut way back on them, given what hes put himself through. Since hes on the Bound for Glory show at least for the Hall of Fame, and possibly to wrestle, that would mean hed be back on TV soon."
"From TV, it appears the BFG main event on 10/20 in San Diego will be Bully Ray defending against A.J. Styles. So, for almost the entire year they built a wedding, a turn, and this great angle that everything was built around, and in the end, they cant even do the match. I dont know that Brooke turning on her Dad was in the cards, although from the day she was brought in, that was my impression of what was going to be the long-term direction. Her making her engagement public killed the angle. But still, the main angle all year has been Hogan vs. Bully."
WRESTLE-1
"Zero-Ones Kohei Sato suffered a detached retina in his 9/8 match at the Tokyo Dome City Hall on the Wrestle-1 debut show and went in for surgery on 9/12. He was at the Zero-One show on 9/16 at Korakuen Hall and said the surgery was a success and he hoped to be back soon.
Sato will be missing upcoming Zero-One and Wrestle-1 dates for the next several weeks. On that Wrestle-1 show, the Shuji Kondo & Kaz Hayashi vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi match was the best match I saw last week from any promotion. Sekimoto & Okabayashi are like a better working version of the Road Warriors, just without anywhere close to the push and cred."
"Katsuyori Shibata & Kazushi Sakuraba coming out got a real big reaction since Masakatsu Funaki was on the other side. Funaki teamed with Masayuki Kono, so all four of the wrestlers had the MMA background, with Sakuraba and Funaki being legends from the heyday, Shibata doing a lot of high-profile fights (usually losing quickly) while Kono did a number of matches for Pancrase but was never a star there. There was a big pop for Bob Sapps music, like really big. But Im not sure its because the fans thought it was Sapp or Ric Flair."
"The groups second show took place on 9/15 in Nagoya before a sellout crowd of 1,650 fans. The main event saw Seiya Sanada pin Kai with a moonsault in the battle of the two guys Muto is grooming to be the singles top guys, with Sanada as the heel. Great Muta and mystery partner Tajiri beat Rene Dupree & Zodiac in the semi, and in a battle of the groups two best tag teams, Hayashi & Kondo beat Minoru Tanaka & Koji Kanemoto. They also did a grudge match with Kono pinning teacher Masakatsu Funaki after a running knee. After the match, Kono was joined by Sai and Kazma (Sakamoto from WWE) in beating down Funaki. Yasufumi Nakanoueno made the save for Funaki. Kazma has replaced the injured Sato in the angle as Sais partner."
WWE
Meltzer writes a goddamn short novel on Jim Ross' firing, but it's nothing you haven't read before.
"After a string of great PPV shows, WWE fell far short of the normal standard with a lackluster Night of Champions show on 9/15 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
The show was really a two-match card, with Daniel Bryan seemingly winning the WWE title from Randy Orton as the main event. A very good, but not great main event saw Bryan win with the Busaiku knee with help from a super fast count by referee Scott Armstrong. This is likely going to wind up with a long-term storyline where somebody, perhaps Vince McMahon, HHH or Orton, most likely the former, ordered Armstrong to do a fast count if it appeared Bryan was going to win and thus having a reason to overturn the decision. McMahon makes the most sense since he was advertised for the Toronto show and started being downplayed and disappearing from TV. He wasnt on TV during the PPV or Raw the next day. It would be a swerve since at this point everyone thinks it was HHH who ordered Armstrong to make the fast count, and then publicly fired him."
"The next two PPV shows will have three week builds, with Battleground on 10/6, followed by Hell in a Cell on 10/27 in Miami. Interestingly, on Raw, not one match was announced, meaning they have only two weeks of Raw promotion for the key matches, although by Smackdown, both main events will have been announced."
"The main event of Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton for the held up WWE title was announced during the Main Event show. Alberto Del Rio having a world title rematch with Rob Van Dam was announced at the Smackdown tapings. It didnt appear any other matches were announced at this weeks television."
"Based on Raw, it would appear there would be a Punk vs. Ryback match, with some form of involvement of Paul Heyman. There are TV teases of a Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler rematch for the U.S. title and Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns defending the tag titles against The Usos, along with A.J. Lee against either Natalya or Brie Bella, or a three-way.
However, weve been told the bigger direction was to put Dusty & Goldust & Cody Rhodes against The Shield, probably with jobs at stake for Goldust & Cody, which would eliminate the U.S. and WWE tag titles."
"The show drew 10,500 fans to the Joe Louis Arena, which surprised me because I figured a PPV in Detroit would sell out. Those there were hot early, but the so-so show led to a lot of matches not having much reaction. Nothing was bad, but when it was over, it really didnt feel like a $55 value."
PPV ratings;
0. Tag Team Turmoil Gauntlet - **
1. Axel vs Kingston - ** 1/2
2. AJ vs Brie vs Natalya vs Naomi - * 1/4
3. RVD vs ADR - ** 1/4
4. Miz vs Fandango - * 1/2
5. Axel & Heyman vs Punk - ** 1/2 for the first half, rising to *** for the second
6. Ambrose vs Ziggler - ** 3/4
7. Shield vs PTP - ** 1/2
8. D-Bry vs Orton - *** 3/4
"They are spending far more at the developmental level than ever before. Vince McMahon never earmarked much money in that direction. Since HHH took over and was given full control, its become his baby and he thinks its the key to the future of the company. All the spending is such that they hope it will pay off with greater profits down the line. For that reason, I dont see any of this news as bad news or a negative because this is a long-term business."
"Raw on 9/16 did a 2.96 rating and 4.01 million viewers coming off Night of Champions. I have to consider the numbers strong given its football season and they were against a strong Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Cincinnati Bengals game that did 14.33 million viewers. The number is slightly up from last week. We should have more details on the quarters next week.
Total Divas on 9/15, the episode the entire season had been built up for, based around the wedding of Nattie Neidhart and T.J. Wilson, did 1.04 million viewers, the lowest number of the season."
"Smackdown on 9/13, the final TV show before Night of Champions, did a 1.96 rating and 2.83 million viewers. It was the most viewers for Smackdown since WrestleMania season. It was the highest rating the show has done in the past six weeks."
"Jacques Rougeau Jr. said he thought it would be hell on Darren Young if WWE was like it was when he was there. Hes going to be laughed at and bullied. Guys on roids, you know, they have no mercy. If its the same than when I was there, its going to be hell for him. Luckily for Young, there are no Curt Hennigs and Dynamite Kids who made life hell for a lot of the wrestlers."
"Dwayne Johnson confirmed on Twitter that hes signing on to play the lead in Fall Guy, a movie adaptation of the 80s TV show that Lee Majors starred in. It would be the first WWE produced movie that Johnson has done."
"RVDs short-term contract expires in a few more weeks, shortly after the next PPV. WWE has already offered him a new deal. He hasnt accepted it at this point but the betting line is he will."
"Bret Hart, Foley, Jericho, Kevin Nash and Maryse all attended a comic con over the weekend in Montreal. Jericho and Foley were both doing their separate gigs with Jericho having a Fozzy concert in the city and Foley doing his spoken word show. The Foley show was only scheduled for 45 minutes but went double that because Hart was there watching, and he invited him to come on stage and it became a Q&A with Hart. Hart said that with the benefit of hindsight, if you look at things from Vince McMahons perspective, you can see his position on the 1997 screwjob, which is the first time Ive heard of him saying that. When asked about his favorite matches as a fan, he brought up the first Undertaker vs. Michaels match at Mania, Angle vs. Lesnar, the Martel vs. Michaels match at Wembley Stadium just because he thought it was so funny (it was with Sherri Martel at stake) and said hed put a lot of the recent Punk matches in that category. He said he thinks Punk has set the bar for the new generation of wrestlers. Foley said that he was actually fired by TNA when he posted on Twitter a comparison of a TNA house show to his empty arena match with The Rock. Yeah, hes admitted since that time that it probably wasnt the smartest thing hes done."
"In the story a couple of weeks back regarding WWE attempting to buy AAA, the time frame of that looked to be around 2007 or 2008."
"Kingston and Cesaro tore it up on Main Event from the 9/10 Ottawa tapings in a ***3/4 match. These two have great chemistry together between coming up with new counters and just the whole flying vs. unique power dynamic. You watch matches like that and Cesaro seems the most underutilized wrestler on the roster. Its not so much the wrestling skill but the crowd reaction to that skill. A good worker who doesnt connect with the crowd being kept out of the top mix isnt underutilized. But someone with no push getting crowds going to that degree based purely on his in-ring is."
"Undertaker and wife Michelle McCool were in Orlando at the training facility this past week. The reports we got was Mrs. Undertaker looked amazing and there was at least thoughts she was looking to come back, at least when he comes back. There was talk at one point of her coming back in 2012, but nothing materialized."
"Shaul Guerrero, who as noted last week, was in Orlando and looking to return to WWE developmental, noted on Twitter that she had been attending Eating Disorder Anonymous meetings in Houston."
"Swagger wasnt on any of last weeks television shows because they were in Canada and he had the recent marijuana conviction. They covered it on television saying that Swagger as a real American refused to come to Canada."
"There is advertising in the Boston market for Survivor Series on 11/24 show at the TD Garden which lists the main event as Bryan vs. Orton. If thats the plan, and obviously it would have been a couple of weeks back when the commercial was cut, it could make four PPVs in a row with that main event. That sounds like overkill. They could break it up with a Bryan vs. HHH and Orton vs. Show match for Hell in a Cell, but Bryan vs. Orton is natural for Hell in a Cell the way the program is going. Punk vs. Heyman in some form was also being advertised. Heyman may have to take the beating there."
"Cena will not be returning to television any time soon. Last week we mentioned talk that he may be brought back since October in Breast Cancer Awareness month. He then said that he wasnt coming back to television until hes ready to wrestle."
