TNA Xplosion 8/31/11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGl4Z1_SSNk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdKcJaxVZHs
Abyss vs. Kazarian
Spin Cycle segment with Robert Roode, So Cal Val, Rosita, and Matt Morgan
WrassleGAF September Edition: Look At The Adjective; "Wrassle"
- Thread starter Mr. Sam
- Start date
- Status
TNA Xplosion 8/31/11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGl4Z1_SSNk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdKcJaxVZHs
Abyss vs. Kazarian
Spin Cycle segment with Robert Roode, So Cal Val, Rosita, and Matt Morgan
Arrowgigantic
Member
LOLRBH said:
Dork Knight
Member
Sucks Ziggles may be injured (again!). Dude is really awesome. He's the best son Mr. Perfect never had.
Liquidsnake
Banned
The only problem I have with the Punk HHH angle is that HHH is now doing what the board relieved McMahon of doing. That doesn't make sense.
MetalFearSolid
Banned
Dork Knight said:
lol..I agree step up Joe
Dork Knight
Member
NoRéN said:
Ziggles rarely has a bad match. Unless he's wrestling Alex Riley. That guy makes Sin Cara look like a well-oiled machine.
MetalFearSolid
Banned
Dork Knight said:
Why is WWE pushing A-RY in our faces..he is garbage..
NihonTiger90
Member
Dork Knight said:
SHHHHHHH you'll give them ideas.
Dork Knight
Member
NihonTiger90 said:
What ideas? Making a Sin Cara monster truck and having a match involving it like that match between Hogan and Giant? If so, YOU BETTER BELIEVE I HOPE THEY'RE LISTENING!
bean breath
Member
Matthew Gallant said:
RBH said:
Looks like we have a little feud building here, bros. Finally, some excitement.
NihonTiger90
Member
Dork Knight said:
Will Khali be playing the part of Giant?
Dork Knight
Member
NihonTiger90 said:
Only if he dressed up like this:
funkystudent
Member
because he kind of sort of looks a bit like vince.MetalFearSolid said:
same reasion they push Cole so damn hard
Dork Knight
Member
RBH said:
For sure. Ziggles should be in a main feud on any brand. He's got the heat magnet (Vickie), he's a decent talker, and he's golden in the ring. Only thing he's lacking is abnormally large/creepy anime eyes.
bean breath
Member
Huh? I thought it was once per person, per page (100 ppp). If it was the way you're saying, Plywood would have only been allowed two gifs for that whole thread, and he had the most posts.RBH said:
Edit: Wait, I think you're saying the same thing I am? Fuck, Bishop is as confusing as Punk's latest promo.
Gifs are a good thing. That should be our mantra.
MetalFearSolid
Banned
bean breath said:
Damn the people that didn't know how to use
BoboBrazil
Member
SyFy must be happy. They released a press release about Smackdown's rating.
Dork Knight
Member
NoRéN said:
Bryan Alvarez has really grown on me -- the guy is so fucking funny. The podcasts are always worth listening to just for him alone.
I used to be annoyed by Metlzer's ramblings, but I find him kinda endearing now. You can tell the guy just doesn't realize how annoying he is and Alvarez just doesn't have the heart to call him out for it.
Dork Knight said:Bryan Alvarez has really grown on me -- the guy is so fucking funny. The podcasts are always worth listening to just for him alone.
I used to be annoyed by Metlzer's ramblings, but I find him kinda endearing now. You can tell the guy just doesn't realize how annoying he is and Alvarez just doesn't have the heart to call him out for it.
The day that he does though will be like when Lawler finally had enough of Cole.
The Frankman
Banned
Matthew Gallant said:
RBH said:
Which one is which? There's one that talks more. He's mostly ranting and sounds like he's short and fat. Reminds me of that comedian, something Patton, did the voice for Ratatouille?Dork Knight said:Bryan Alvarez has really grown on me -- the guy is so fucking funny. The podcasts are always worth listening to just for him alone.
I used to be annoyed by Metlzer's ramblings, but I find him kinda endearing now. You can tell the guy just doesn't realize how annoying he is and Alvarez just doesn't have the heart to call him out for it.
The other guy is calmer, deeper voice, stated why he would do if he had one night alone with Kelly Kelly.
Dork Knight
Member
NoRéN said:
Alvarez is the hilarious guys that rants about everything. He's actually a real-life wrestler and is in great shape!
Arrowgigantic
Member
My thread, which I remind you I didn't want to make but was forced to make, was successful. We now have a solid rule which Frankman can justifiably snitch with should it be broken. I attribute that to my groundbreaking efforts in the creation of the Stand Up For
Net_Wrecker
Member
That gif and that response lol
The Frankman
Banned
Just back away slowly and don't make sudden moves. He might go Matt Hardy and threaten to kill himself.djsandman said:
Arrowgigantic
Member
May I have your attention please, Frankman has just received a nasty PM from the anonymous WrassleGAF bad guy.The Frankman said:
And I quote:
"Huh? I'm imaginary, how can I say anything?"
MetalFearSolid
Banned
Plywood said:
Got it Boss..
bean breath
Member
Here's the Punk-Helmsley Promo in case anyone wants to challenge themselves with a brain teaser. I'll warn you though, it's difficult to watch.
-Man, those yokels in the back squirming around when they see themselves on TV, lol.
-Man, those yokels in the back squirming around when they see themselves on TV, lol.
bean breath
Member
dream said:
You littered it with Booker T jokes, didn't you?
Sept 5 2011 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Nash/HHH/Punk story, brand unextension, UFC Rio, big week in Japan, more on Flair story, tons more
World Wrestling Entertainment made a major formatting change on 8/29 with the announcement by figurehead authority figure HHH that Raw would every week become a joint branded show.
The decision came after the Raw rating the week before falling beneath the 3.0 threshold, and with the start of regular season Monday Night Football two weeks away, which historically takes 10% off the Raw rating for nearly four months. Another aspect is that in recent weeks, the Raw segments featuring the big names, John Cena, C.M. Punk, HHH and Kevin Nash, have done solid quarter hours, but the show falters with secondary names out there. The idea is that adding Smackdown headliners Randy Orton, Christian, Sheamus and Mark Henry in theory would be stronger when it comes to maintaining the Raw audience than secondary level Raw stars. Another aspect is that at the weekend house shows, generally, the Smackdown house shows have not been doing well. Since Smackdown only draws about 55% the viewership of Raw, a large percentage of WWE fans arent seeing the Smackdown stars. Moving them to Raw will mean more people will see them, and hopefully that results in strengthening the Smackdown house show business, as well as build up more interest in the Smackdown wrestlers when it comes to PPV matches.
The decision comes with its negatives. The people on top in both brands will be getting the large bulk of the air time on Raw, leaving little time for the mid-carders. The mid-carders have already fallen by the wayside because fans largely dont emotionally invest in them because theyve had the rug pulled out too many times. Now, its going to be even more difficult. However, Vince McMahon is said to be strong about pushing young guys so it wont be as bad as it seems. It also removes the specialness about PPV shows and joint-branded shows if you get them every Monday. And it also creates a situation where, every Monday, you have two world champions, plus an IC champion and a U.S. champion on the same show. Its hard enough to get anyone to care about championships, but two world champions on the same show every week becomes silly, and then having an IC and U.S. champion also on the show only devalues the latter two even more, although in reality they havent mattered in recent memory. WWE did have this situation in 2001, when they brought in the WCW titles, but after a few months, merged the two versions of the world title before splitting up back up into a Raw brand champion and a Smackdown brand champion.
For the Smackdown crew, it does make sense. The company rarely runs Monday night Smackdown house shows because they are tough to sell tickets to. So the crew goes on the road for Saturday and Sunday, and most weeks, they are on the road on Monday staying at a hotel, and then work Tuesday night. A couple of former creative people also noted to me an issue below the surface is that when Smackdown talent appears on Raw, they expect them to come across as secondary to Raw talent, with Orton being the exception. So while a lot of the talent will be seen by more people, they wont be protected as much like a star in the long-run on Raw. The change has no effect on the house shows as the Smackdown talent will not be working Raw house shows, and the brand extension is not ending, just the idea that every Raw will now be a weekly super show.
The reason the brands were split in the first place was so more wrestlers would get TV time without being like TNA and cramming so much in that nothing gets over. There will be no changes on Smackdown because the plans are not for Raw talent to be on that show except on special occasions. This makes Smackdown the far superior brand to be on unless you are already an established top star because for a guy like a John Morrison, Cody Rhodes or Ted DiBiase type of talent, you get on TV every week on Smackdown, and will struggle to get time on Raw.
*****************************************************************
The 8/29 Raw from Tulsa was one of the strangest shows, as they announced C.M. Punk vs. Kevin Nash for Night of Champions (9/18 in Buffalo), had a confrontation between the two, and then did an angle later in the show where Nash laid out Punk with a jackknife power bomb.
Then, late in the show, HHH confronted Punk backstage and said the Board of Directors has changed the match from Punk vs. Nash to Punk vs. himself.
The story behind the change after spending a few weeks building up the match is that, according to those in WWE, there was a medical ailment discovered when Nash was getting his physical in Pittsburgh. The ailment was not released, but it was said to be something that in any other era in wrestling, the match would have taken place. The company made the decision to err on the side of caution, since it is expected Nash will be cleared in the fall and he will wrestle either in a singles match with Punk, or in a three-way involving HHH.
A medical issue forcing a change is understandable. But what made no sense was, since the match had not been announced publicly before the company got word, why announce it in the first place? But even thats not a big deal as much as if Nash wasnt wrestling Punk, why did they shoot the angle with Nash laying Punk out.
And if HHH, who hasnt wrestled since Mania, was coming back and maybe this isnt how it was first envisioned, and done now based on necessity, why didnt they have a major heated argument to where HHH would blow his stack and look for clearance from the board? Why did they put the heat on the canceled match and coldly announce the new match?
The original plan was for HHH vs. Punk to be saved for the Survivor Series.
****************************************************************
The experimental 8/30 live Smackdown from Wichita was really a basic Smackdown show, just featuring a contract signing with HHH and C.M. Punk segment plus John Cena.
The show is an attempt to test the waters, and hopefully draw a big enough rating that Syfy will move the show from Friday, where its difficult to draw an audience, to Tuesday, where it can air live.
This show featured a multitude of changes. On TV when building the show, they announced Randy Orton vs. Christian in a cage match for the title and Alberto Del Rio vs. Sin Cara. But Del Rio was still in Mexico, leaving last week because he needed his visa updated and the paperwork wasnt completed in time for him to get back to the U.S. This resulted in having to change stuff on both Raw and Smackdown he was scheduled for. WWE sent to the TV listings the show would have John Cena vs. C.M. Punk and Orton vs. Christian. Then, on Raw, they had ads for Orton vs. Christian, Sin Cara vs. Del Rio, Punk vs. Great Khali and Cena vs. Wade Barrett. Del Rio wasnt there so that match was out, and they had Sheamus against Khali, since they pulled Punk from the match when they did the contract signing angle.
The show opened with Michael Cole saying how the Randy Orton vs. Christian rivalry has been one of the most even rivalries in the history of wrestling. Id hate to see a one-sided rivalry.
Cena opened with a promo filled with silly comedy. Booker T said that Cena has been a big success even though he has limited skill. He talked about how every star from Raw, Smackdown, NXT, Heat, Velocity, Shotgun Saturday night, Nitro and Smoky Mountain Wrestling were all there. He even said how the superstars of the XFL were there, and then paused and said that there werent any superstars in the XFL. He called out Alberto Del Rio. Del Rios music played, but he didnt come out. Ricardo Rodriguez came out and spoke in both English and Spanish, but hes far more dynamic as a Spanish ring announcer. He started screaming Alberto Del Rio over and over until Cena stopped him and made some joke about cats going into heat. Cena decked Rodriguez, leading to Wade Barrett coming out.
Barrett said that Cena beating up a fat ring announcer doesnt impress him. Cena said if he wanted to beat up a fat ring announcer, hed be after Tony Chimmel. Barrett said that he demanded this match because Smackdown is not Cenas playground and its his territory. Barrett said he used to own Cena. I dont know about reminding people of that angle.
1. Cena beat Barrett in 3:14. Booker declared Barrett the greatest superstar ever to come out of Manchester. When Barrett delivered a side slam, Booker called it the Wasteland. This was a nothing match, with Cena putting Barrett on his shoulders, smiling and giving him the Attitude Adjustment. Barrett came across as a job guy who wasnt even competitive with the top guys here.
Mark Henry was interviewed, noting he meets the Orton vs. Christian winner at Night of Champions. He said the winner will be the next candidate for the Hall of Pain.
2. Sin Cara pinned Daniel Bryan in 4:58. Jorge Arias again played the role. He used his finishing sequence of a senton from the apron inside the ring followed by a quebrada (lionsault). Good match. Cole said Bryan only knows two moves, a guillotine and a hammerlock. You know, after hes won 50 times on shows Cole has called with a LeBell lock. Bryan did a tope and Cara a springboard twisting crossbody to the floor.
Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston did the smiling babyface tag team interview right out of the pages of the 80s. The new team name is Air Boom and the idea is for both to do the Kingstons hand gesture and get people to chant Boom, boom at it.
3. With Aksana as ring announcer, Beth Phoenix & Natalya beat Alicia Fox & Kelly Kelly in 2:02 with Phoenix pinning Fox with a Glam slam. Booker talked about how Aksana is smoking hot. His wife just gave birth and he said that. Lets hope for his sake she stopped watching wrestling.
Next came the HHH/Punk contract signing. A very good segment. HHH said he called the board and they allowed him for one night to take off the suit. Punk asked why they have a contract signing since hes the COO and he already made the match last night. They argued and talked over each other. This at least gave it a real feel and the rehearsed stuff. But still, the crowd was not reacting at all to what Punk was saying. HHH said he hopes Punk makes up in intelligence what he lacks in hygiene. HHH said that even though Punk disrespected him, his family, his wife, and held the company hostage, he bent over backwards to work with him. HHH said that he played Living Color so you could have Cult of Personality as your music and merchandised Punks T-shirt.
Punk said he didnt want to fight COO HHH because the new you sucks, and wanted to face the old HHH, the cerebral assassin. Punk gave a speech about how he loved the WWE, but wants it to be better and that people are dying for a change. The crowd was not reacting when Punk started on how WWE needs to be changed. HHH said hes sick to death of this, how hes talking for the fans.
He said maybe half agree and the other half dont give a damn. He said some people like the WWE, watch it every week, love what they see, and come to have a good time and like it how it is. Can it be better? Sure, and he said thats his job. But he said Punk will only accept change if hes the man. He said they are both alike because they both would do anything to be the top man, but he told everyone he would do anything to be it while Punk backdoored himself into the top playing martyr.
Punk then said hes not a martyr, he just wants wrestling to be fun again because hes a fan and wants to make it fun for fans. Again, fans were not reacting to this. HHH said the difference is he respects Vince McMahon for building the industry and how nobody would be standing here if it wasnt for Vince McMahon. Punk said he weeps for the future because Vince lost touch a long time ago and HHH is out of touch, still pointing to his crotch and saying Suck it. Nash then came out and they both knocked down Punk, and Nash shoved down HHH.
4. Sheamus beat Great Khali via DQ in 2:50. Pretty bad since Khali had to sell. After a shoulderblock off the top by Sheamus, Jinder Mahal interfered for the DQ. They continued a two-on-one beating of Sheamus until Khali chopped the ringpost when Sheamus moved. Mahal attacked Sheamus, but he made a comeback and did the Celtic cross (Razors Edge) on Mahal.
They asked fans who they thought would win and 85% said they thought Orton would win. Thats because its been one of the most equal rivalries in company history.
5. Orton beat Christian in the cage match to keep the World title in 18:34. Good match with the typical cage match spots with the climbing and last second saves. At one point with both fighting near the cage, Orton did a top rope superplex. Christian used a frog splash for a near fall. At another point, Christian went for the spear, Orton leap frogged him but then Christian did hit the spear for a near fall. Christian tried the Orton punt, but Orton moved. They also did the spot where both punched each other while both were sitting on the top of the cage. Finish saw Orton used an RKO off the top rope onto a chair for the pin.
Don't tell me what my friend RVD made comment few week back...now I no why, i say a small tag team called the YB's did hay shake my handno! Yes I said SMALL!
World Wrestling Entertainment made a major formatting change on 8/29 with the announcement by figurehead authority figure HHH that Raw would every week become a joint branded show.
The decision came after the Raw rating the week before falling beneath the 3.0 threshold, and with the start of regular season Monday Night Football two weeks away, which historically takes 10% off the Raw rating for nearly four months. Another aspect is that in recent weeks, the Raw segments featuring the big names, John Cena, C.M. Punk, HHH and Kevin Nash, have done solid quarter hours, but the show falters with secondary names out there. The idea is that adding Smackdown headliners Randy Orton, Christian, Sheamus and Mark Henry in theory would be stronger when it comes to maintaining the Raw audience than secondary level Raw stars. Another aspect is that at the weekend house shows, generally, the Smackdown house shows have not been doing well. Since Smackdown only draws about 55% the viewership of Raw, a large percentage of WWE fans arent seeing the Smackdown stars. Moving them to Raw will mean more people will see them, and hopefully that results in strengthening the Smackdown house show business, as well as build up more interest in the Smackdown wrestlers when it comes to PPV matches.
The decision comes with its negatives. The people on top in both brands will be getting the large bulk of the air time on Raw, leaving little time for the mid-carders. The mid-carders have already fallen by the wayside because fans largely dont emotionally invest in them because theyve had the rug pulled out too many times. Now, its going to be even more difficult. However, Vince McMahon is said to be strong about pushing young guys so it wont be as bad as it seems. It also removes the specialness about PPV shows and joint-branded shows if you get them every Monday. And it also creates a situation where, every Monday, you have two world champions, plus an IC champion and a U.S. champion on the same show. Its hard enough to get anyone to care about championships, but two world champions on the same show every week becomes silly, and then having an IC and U.S. champion also on the show only devalues the latter two even more, although in reality they havent mattered in recent memory. WWE did have this situation in 2001, when they brought in the WCW titles, but after a few months, merged the two versions of the world title before splitting up back up into a Raw brand champion and a Smackdown brand champion.
For the Smackdown crew, it does make sense. The company rarely runs Monday night Smackdown house shows because they are tough to sell tickets to. So the crew goes on the road for Saturday and Sunday, and most weeks, they are on the road on Monday staying at a hotel, and then work Tuesday night. A couple of former creative people also noted to me an issue below the surface is that when Smackdown talent appears on Raw, they expect them to come across as secondary to Raw talent, with Orton being the exception. So while a lot of the talent will be seen by more people, they wont be protected as much like a star in the long-run on Raw. The change has no effect on the house shows as the Smackdown talent will not be working Raw house shows, and the brand extension is not ending, just the idea that every Raw will now be a weekly super show.
The reason the brands were split in the first place was so more wrestlers would get TV time without being like TNA and cramming so much in that nothing gets over. There will be no changes on Smackdown because the plans are not for Raw talent to be on that show except on special occasions. This makes Smackdown the far superior brand to be on unless you are already an established top star because for a guy like a John Morrison, Cody Rhodes or Ted DiBiase type of talent, you get on TV every week on Smackdown, and will struggle to get time on Raw.
*****************************************************************
The 8/29 Raw from Tulsa was one of the strangest shows, as they announced C.M. Punk vs. Kevin Nash for Night of Champions (9/18 in Buffalo), had a confrontation between the two, and then did an angle later in the show where Nash laid out Punk with a jackknife power bomb.
Then, late in the show, HHH confronted Punk backstage and said the Board of Directors has changed the match from Punk vs. Nash to Punk vs. himself.
The story behind the change after spending a few weeks building up the match is that, according to those in WWE, there was a medical ailment discovered when Nash was getting his physical in Pittsburgh. The ailment was not released, but it was said to be something that in any other era in wrestling, the match would have taken place. The company made the decision to err on the side of caution, since it is expected Nash will be cleared in the fall and he will wrestle either in a singles match with Punk, or in a three-way involving HHH.
A medical issue forcing a change is understandable. But what made no sense was, since the match had not been announced publicly before the company got word, why announce it in the first place? But even thats not a big deal as much as if Nash wasnt wrestling Punk, why did they shoot the angle with Nash laying Punk out.
And if HHH, who hasnt wrestled since Mania, was coming back and maybe this isnt how it was first envisioned, and done now based on necessity, why didnt they have a major heated argument to where HHH would blow his stack and look for clearance from the board? Why did they put the heat on the canceled match and coldly announce the new match?
The original plan was for HHH vs. Punk to be saved for the Survivor Series.
****************************************************************
The experimental 8/30 live Smackdown from Wichita was really a basic Smackdown show, just featuring a contract signing with HHH and C.M. Punk segment plus John Cena.
The show is an attempt to test the waters, and hopefully draw a big enough rating that Syfy will move the show from Friday, where its difficult to draw an audience, to Tuesday, where it can air live.
This show featured a multitude of changes. On TV when building the show, they announced Randy Orton vs. Christian in a cage match for the title and Alberto Del Rio vs. Sin Cara. But Del Rio was still in Mexico, leaving last week because he needed his visa updated and the paperwork wasnt completed in time for him to get back to the U.S. This resulted in having to change stuff on both Raw and Smackdown he was scheduled for. WWE sent to the TV listings the show would have John Cena vs. C.M. Punk and Orton vs. Christian. Then, on Raw, they had ads for Orton vs. Christian, Sin Cara vs. Del Rio, Punk vs. Great Khali and Cena vs. Wade Barrett. Del Rio wasnt there so that match was out, and they had Sheamus against Khali, since they pulled Punk from the match when they did the contract signing angle.
The show opened with Michael Cole saying how the Randy Orton vs. Christian rivalry has been one of the most even rivalries in the history of wrestling. Id hate to see a one-sided rivalry.
Cena opened with a promo filled with silly comedy. Booker T said that Cena has been a big success even though he has limited skill. He talked about how every star from Raw, Smackdown, NXT, Heat, Velocity, Shotgun Saturday night, Nitro and Smoky Mountain Wrestling were all there. He even said how the superstars of the XFL were there, and then paused and said that there werent any superstars in the XFL. He called out Alberto Del Rio. Del Rios music played, but he didnt come out. Ricardo Rodriguez came out and spoke in both English and Spanish, but hes far more dynamic as a Spanish ring announcer. He started screaming Alberto Del Rio over and over until Cena stopped him and made some joke about cats going into heat. Cena decked Rodriguez, leading to Wade Barrett coming out.
Barrett said that Cena beating up a fat ring announcer doesnt impress him. Cena said if he wanted to beat up a fat ring announcer, hed be after Tony Chimmel. Barrett said that he demanded this match because Smackdown is not Cenas playground and its his territory. Barrett said he used to own Cena. I dont know about reminding people of that angle.
1. Cena beat Barrett in 3:14. Booker declared Barrett the greatest superstar ever to come out of Manchester. When Barrett delivered a side slam, Booker called it the Wasteland. This was a nothing match, with Cena putting Barrett on his shoulders, smiling and giving him the Attitude Adjustment. Barrett came across as a job guy who wasnt even competitive with the top guys here.
Mark Henry was interviewed, noting he meets the Orton vs. Christian winner at Night of Champions. He said the winner will be the next candidate for the Hall of Pain.
2. Sin Cara pinned Daniel Bryan in 4:58. Jorge Arias again played the role. He used his finishing sequence of a senton from the apron inside the ring followed by a quebrada (lionsault). Good match. Cole said Bryan only knows two moves, a guillotine and a hammerlock. You know, after hes won 50 times on shows Cole has called with a LeBell lock. Bryan did a tope and Cara a springboard twisting crossbody to the floor.
Evan Bourne & Kofi Kingston did the smiling babyface tag team interview right out of the pages of the 80s. The new team name is Air Boom and the idea is for both to do the Kingstons hand gesture and get people to chant Boom, boom at it.
3. With Aksana as ring announcer, Beth Phoenix & Natalya beat Alicia Fox & Kelly Kelly in 2:02 with Phoenix pinning Fox with a Glam slam. Booker talked about how Aksana is smoking hot. His wife just gave birth and he said that. Lets hope for his sake she stopped watching wrestling.
Next came the HHH/Punk contract signing. A very good segment. HHH said he called the board and they allowed him for one night to take off the suit. Punk asked why they have a contract signing since hes the COO and he already made the match last night. They argued and talked over each other. This at least gave it a real feel and the rehearsed stuff. But still, the crowd was not reacting at all to what Punk was saying. HHH said he hopes Punk makes up in intelligence what he lacks in hygiene. HHH said that even though Punk disrespected him, his family, his wife, and held the company hostage, he bent over backwards to work with him. HHH said that he played Living Color so you could have Cult of Personality as your music and merchandised Punks T-shirt.
Punk said he didnt want to fight COO HHH because the new you sucks, and wanted to face the old HHH, the cerebral assassin. Punk gave a speech about how he loved the WWE, but wants it to be better and that people are dying for a change. The crowd was not reacting when Punk started on how WWE needs to be changed. HHH said hes sick to death of this, how hes talking for the fans.
He said maybe half agree and the other half dont give a damn. He said some people like the WWE, watch it every week, love what they see, and come to have a good time and like it how it is. Can it be better? Sure, and he said thats his job. But he said Punk will only accept change if hes the man. He said they are both alike because they both would do anything to be the top man, but he told everyone he would do anything to be it while Punk backdoored himself into the top playing martyr.
Punk then said hes not a martyr, he just wants wrestling to be fun again because hes a fan and wants to make it fun for fans. Again, fans were not reacting to this. HHH said the difference is he respects Vince McMahon for building the industry and how nobody would be standing here if it wasnt for Vince McMahon. Punk said he weeps for the future because Vince lost touch a long time ago and HHH is out of touch, still pointing to his crotch and saying Suck it. Nash then came out and they both knocked down Punk, and Nash shoved down HHH.
4. Sheamus beat Great Khali via DQ in 2:50. Pretty bad since Khali had to sell. After a shoulderblock off the top by Sheamus, Jinder Mahal interfered for the DQ. They continued a two-on-one beating of Sheamus until Khali chopped the ringpost when Sheamus moved. Mahal attacked Sheamus, but he made a comeback and did the Celtic cross (Razors Edge) on Mahal.
They asked fans who they thought would win and 85% said they thought Orton would win. Thats because its been one of the most equal rivalries in company history.
5. Orton beat Christian in the cage match to keep the World title in 18:34. Good match with the typical cage match spots with the climbing and last second saves. At one point with both fighting near the cage, Orton did a top rope superplex. Christian used a frog splash for a near fall. At another point, Christian went for the spear, Orton leap frogged him but then Christian did hit the spear for a near fall. Christian tried the Orton punt, but Orton moved. They also did the spot where both punched each other while both were sitting on the top of the cage. Finish saw Orton used an RKO off the top rope onto a chair for the pin.
dream said:
Don't tell me what my friend RVD made comment few week back...now I no why, i say a small tag team called the YB's did hay shake my handno! Yes I said SMALL!
Some 79 years after what can be traced as the first modern mixed martial arts show was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, UFC debuted in what can be called the birthplace of the sport.
UFC 134, held on 8/27 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was what Dana White called a major miscalculation. Its not every day when you sell 14,000 tickets the first day they are put on sale for a gate in excess of $4 million, almost certainly the biggest event of its kind from a money standpoint in the history of the country of Brazil, that its viewed as a mistake. But before the first show had even taken place, Lorenzo Fertitta talked about running the second Brazil show at the Convention Center of Manaus, which holds 100,000 people. And unlike in Toronto, where they expected 30,000 to 40,000 going in, and Rogers Centre officials estimated based on demand they could have sold close to 100,000 tickets if the place was big enough, Fertitta going in said they expect to sell the second show out and break the all-time attendance record.
The show had a Brazil vs. the World theme, and according to many there, drew the hottest crowd in the history of the sport. White said it was the hottest in company history. Marc Ratner, who has been to most of the biggest UFC events and most of the biggest boxing events of this generation, said it was the hottest partisan crowd he had ever seen at any event. Mauro Ranallo, who was at every event that would be talked about in MMA history in that realm of the hottest crowd reactions for fights, Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni, Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le, Randy Couture vs. Tim Sylvia and the second Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra fight, said this was the hottest MMA crowd he had seen.
Still, if there was a negative, its that the television and PPV did not do this crowd justice. Sure, you could tell it was a hot crowd. You could see the people almost dancing in the streets for the biggest reaction of the night, when aging legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, expected by most to be knocked out by Brendan Schaub, instead was the one scoring the knockout. Nogueira was easily the most popular fighter on the show, living three miles from the building, but in his lengthy career, he had never fought once in Brazil. He had in the past year had surgeries on both hips and a knee, and ended up on crutches for five months, developing callouses on his hands from the crutches. He was only got off crutches three months ago but insisted on being on this show. Dana White admitted that he thought this would be Nogueiras last fight with the company, thinking hed get knocked out. The other two stars, middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Mauricio Shogun Rua, who also won, hadnt fought in Brazil since the early days of their careers, long before they became stars.
When watching the prelims on facebook, it came across as perhaps the hottest crowd ever for the prelims. But on Spike and PPV, you didnt get the same feel. It was an interesting crowd, because while White was talking about it being the greatest crowd theyve ever had, and Im sure it was in some ways, it was a very impatient crowd. They were quicker to boo and louder to boo lack of action, just as they were louder to cheer any action. They booed the ground game, wanting stand-ups immediately. One would think with the sport coming from the Helio Gracie BJJ era, slow defensive ground fights waiting to capitalize on a mistake, that it would be a patient crowd. Plus, it came off like the crowd affected the officials, which in many cases seemed quick on the draw when it came to stand-ups, particularly when the guy on top was keeping busy.
UFC really took off in the last year in Brazil, based on a television deal, and the interest in the February Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort match for the middleweight title that was pushed as The Match of the Century in local media.
While Nogueiras upset win was the emotional high, it was Silva who put the exclamation point on the show. Silva, who retained his middleweight title via second round knockout of Yushin Okami, came in generally considered the best fighter in the sport today. And with his record break streaks alive, he may have established himself as the best ever, at least in the modern era when we have real records to compare.
Of the big three, Fedor Emelianenko is 31-4 with 1 no contest, but if you take away guys who were not good fighters from his record, you get a 10-3 mark, with five finishes. Granted, he was often smaller than his opponents, but he also fought in a heavyweight division that didnt have a lot of depth.
Georges St. Pierre, 22-2, is only 30 and while he is an all-time great, it is too early and may have years of big fights left. Hes in a tougher weight class, and against top level guys of his size, hes 14-2, and has rarely lost even a round, but only has six finishes. Of his two losses, one was to Matt Hughes, who he beat twice in rematches. The other was to Matt Serra, who he handily beat in a rematch.
Silva, now 36, is 31-4 for his career, but against top level fights, hes 10-1, with the only loss being a disqualification against Okami. For purpose of this, I didnt consider Thales Leitis a top fighter, but you could argue that. In his last 18 fights, hes had one DQ loss and of his 17 wins, only two have gone the distance. Hes finished hard-to-finish fighters like Chris Leben, Rich Franklin (twice, both quick and one-sided), Nate Marquardt, Dan Henderson, Okami and Belfort. While the first round with Okami was pretty close until Silva landed a head kick late, in the second, he took charge and made Okami look like a rank amateur next to him as he put his hands by his side and dared Okami to punch, and when Okami did, the counter knocked him down. He did the same thing a second time, and this time the counter not only knocked Okami down, but led to the finish. The notable thing about Silva, is that unlike Emelianenko and St. Pierre, who all lost to top guys, Silvas three real losses, throwing out the DQ, were to two mid-level fighters and Akihiro Gono (a decent fighter but one who didnt survive in UFC when Pride went down), all early in his career. Whats notable is hes a speed and reflex fighter who is seems much better at 36 than at 28, and thats a rarity.
Okami may have been psyched out from the start. His face told a different story going into the fight from usual. Going into the fight, it was well established he, and perhaps nobody in the division, can beat Silva standing. Perhaps Belfort could on a good night if he got the right blow in, but when he had his chance, he showed no indication of it. The only fighter who has had any success with Silva in UFC is Chael Sonnen, who used a wrestling and ground and pound game to handily win four straight rounds. He was on the verge of winning the title when he was caught in a triangle with two minutes left. The idea is Okami may not have been as good a wrestler as Sonnen, but he was training with Sonnen and if he could implement the same type of game plan, perhaps he could win a decision. Unlike Sonnen, who has shown a history of problems against good submission fighters, Okami has never been submitted in his career, and thats facing some top-notch BJJ grapplers.
Instead, the fight was similar to the 2009 Silva vs. Forrest Griffin fight. In that one, Griffin had no chance standing, yet never tried a takedown and fought a style that played to every edge Silva had. Here, Okami did tie Silva up against the cage in the first round and they were even in short blows in the clinch. But it was Okami, not Silva, who broke the clinch, giving separation. Okami never once committed fully to a takedown. His odds of winning were never good, as hed have to control Silva on the ground for five rounds. His chances of a ground and pound stoppage or a submission on Silva werent good. It wasnt as if he tried takedowns and got stuffed, because an Anderson Silva with good enough takedown defense to stop good takedown guys is almost the scariest fighter possible. But he never tried them, and in doing so, made Silva seem like the scariest human possible.
This fight also led to more questions about the Sonnen fight last year. Was Sonnens success because Silva really had a rib injury as he claimed he suffered more than a week before the fight? Was it because Sonnen had an advantage from using testosterone? Or does Sonnen have the perfect style to beat Silva if he can avoid his Achilles heel, his weakness against submissions. Sonnen did not come to Brazil. The story was that Okami had a sponsor who requested he not come and there were likely security concerns because of all the trash talk hes said about Brazilians in general. Perhaps, if there was no concern about security, Silva vs. Sonnen could be that fight they take to the stadium next year. Sonnen still has to get by Brian Stann on 10/8 in Houston to earn the title shot. Stylistically, Stann would appear to have very little chance against Silva. But at 36, Silva will get old some day. You never know with a guy who relies so heavily on speed, movement and uncanny reflexes. Those guys arent supposed to still make fools out of top contenders at 36.
Silva extended his three key all-time UFC records, with 14 wins in a row (GSP is in second place with 9), nine consecutive successful title defenses (GSP is second with six), and longest championship reign (On 10/14, he will hit the five year mark, GSP and Tito Ortiz are at three years five months with GSP going into second place next month).
PPV numbers are sketchy due to Hurricane Irene, which with power out in so many East Coast homes, had to hurt overall numbers. Because of that issue, we couldnt get anything past preliminary trending numbers which indicated numbers in Canada being very slightly up from UFC 133, while being 15% down in the U.S. If that holds up, that would have to be a huge disappointment, particularly for those who thought Silva had become the No. 3 draw in the company behind Brock Lesnar and Georges St. Pierre. Non-North American fights usually dont do numbers anywhere near North American levels, but this was not on a tape delay, and one would think the first show in Brazil may be a hook. Without question, Okami was going to be a detriment in the main event. Few gave him much of a chance. He has not had a lot of exciting fights and he doesnt have any charisma. It would also indicate how far Forrest Griffin, at one point the companys second or third most popular fighter, has fallen. The hurricane is a legitimate excuse for the East Coast, but not most of the U.S. or in Canada. Still, the combination of Silva and Brazil one would have thought should have done better. And UFC 133 that were comparing with was an estimated 310,000 buy show headlined by Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans. But even with the hurricane hurting numbers in the Northeast due to people not having power, the California trending numbers were down and thats not affected by the hurricane. Best markets per cap appear to have been Edmonton, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Honolulu, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Seattle, Montreal, Dallas, Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Antonio and Denver. Well have a lot more solid estimates in two weeks.
The prelims on Spike did an 0.9 rating and 1.3 million viewers, which is lower than average for Spike, but there have been several 0.9s in the past. The show did a 1.23 in Males 18-34 and 0.81 in Males 35-49, the latter being lower than usual for such a show. It was still the highest rated show on cable in Males 18-49 for the day.
White talked about the show, which aired live in Brazil on regular television, doing a 20 share and 30 million viewers. We havent seen any independent verification of Brazilian ratings and this was said right after the show so would have at best had to have been a projection he was told as opposed to a rating.
The bonuses, which were $100,000, went to Ross Pearson vs. Edson Barboza for fight of the night. It was a good technical standing fight, but as noted by our poll, it was heavily for Rousimar Palhares vs. Dan Miller. Nogueira got the knockout of the night bonus. There were no submissions on the card, ironic given it was a show in Brazil, filled with Brazilian fighters.
Pearson and Barboza was the only fight where there was question to the outcome. I had Barboza 29-28, taking rounds two and three. Rounds one and three were close, with Barboza winning round two. Statistically, Pearson had a 21-17 and 20-16 edge in significant punches in rounds one and three while Barbozas second round edge was 22-19. Pearson also landed more to the head in all three rounds. The fight was all standing. The scores were 29-28, 28-29 and 29-28, all fair. Our Observer poll had 50% for Barboza, 34% for Pearson and 16% as a draw.
1. Yves Jabouin (16-7) beat Ian Loveland (14-9) on a split decision with scores of 27-30, 29-28 and 29-28. The first score made no sense. The crowd exploded with every offensive move. After Loveland took Jabouin down, the crowd started booing in 15 seconds. Loveland did some punches and was working for an entangled armlock, but with the crowd booing, it was stood up way too early. Jabouin hurt Loveland with a right and went for a flying knee, but it didnt land solid. Lovelands corner told him to turn it into a wrestling match. He came right out with a takedown, but Jabouin got up and took Loveland down. Loveland reversed, and after 20 slow seconds, the booing started. After Jabouin got up, he took control with a great spin kick to the body and another spin kick, and a spinning backfist. Jabouin dominated the stand-up and got a takedown with 12 seconds left with the strategy of ending the round on top. Jabouin took over with low kicks. Both tired and the crowd was booing. Jabouin won the round by blocking takedowns and landing some kicks. Fans were booing in this round as well.
2. Yuri Alcantara (25-3) beat Felipe Arantes (13-4, 2 no contests) on scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28. Crowd hot for both since theyre Brazilians. Alcantara took him down off a kick and landing a lot of lefts to the side of the head. He busted Arantes eye and moved to side control. Arantes regained guard and it was stood up, again way too early. Arantes landed a flying knee and hard right, as well as a great spinning head kick. The late flurry made the round close, but Arantes got the flurry due to a gifted stand-up. Second round saw Alcantara get another takedown and moved to side control. Crowd quickly booed. Really cool move as Alcantara faked going for an armbar and instead moved to mount. Ref ordered another stand-up when the action flowed after Arantes got back guard. Arantes landed a knee but Alcantara took him back down at the end of the round. In the third round, Alcantara got another takedown and took Arantes back. Arantes reversed and landed some rights from the top. After both were up, Arantes tried a flying knee but Alcantara took him down from it. He stayed on top and was running out the clock, and the fans booed. The ref ordered a stand-up but Alcantara took him down again. I thought Arantes won the third so had it 29-28 for Alcantara.
3. Erick Silva (13-1, 1 no contest) beat Louis Ramos (19-7) in :40. These guys were welterweight champions of rival promotions, Silva with Jungle Fight and Ramos with Shooto Brazil. Ramos was a last week sub when Mike Swick pulled out. Silva knocked Ramos down with a right and finished him with six punches on the ground, and then did a backflip for good measure. It was Silvas debut in UFC and he couldnt have looked better and showed some charisma.
4. Raphael Assuncao (16-4) beat Johnny Eduardo (25-9) on straight 30-27 scores. Assuncao has dropped from featherweight to bantamweight. Eduardo was a big favorite from Rio de Janeiro and a great rep for Muay Thai. More booing because they started slow. These fans would love Antonio McKee. Assuncao got a takedown and landed elbows, but the booing crowd led to a fast stand-up. Crowd was quiet in the first round with the ring girls being more over than the fighters. Eduardo got the clinch and a takedown to start the second round but Assuncao reversed and got his back. Eduardo landed some low kicks and blocked Assuncaos takedowns. Eduardo landed a spin kick to the body. But Assuncao pulled out the round with a takedown and got Assuncaos back. Third round saw Eduardo move forward, but Assuncao got him down. At one point he actually had him in a half crab. He punched from the top while standing and Eduardo being on the ground. He continued to land punches and they ordered a stand-up. This was ridiculous. Eduardo landed a right and Assuncao slipped and went down, but he got right back up. Assuncao may have suffered a broken nose. After this fight, this was the first where a Brazilian fighter would do his interview in English, given he was being asked questions by Kenny Florian in English, and the crowd booed him until he spoke Portuguese.
5. Paulo Thiago (14-3) beat David Mitchell (11-2) by straight 30-27 scores. Thiago got a super reaction, as he was a member of the Rio de Janeiro police special forces, and they hated Mitchell. They didnt like foreigners, but hated Americans. Crowd was just going nuts for this fight. Thiago dominated the stand-up and got a takedown. Crowd was super loud and singing they were so happy. Thiago landed a spin kick, got Mitchells back and took him down. He let Mitchell up with ten seconds left in the first. Second saw Thiago miss a spin kick and slip and go down, but Mitchell couldnt take advantage of it. Thiago got three more takedowns in the round, and landed enough to where Mitchell was bleeding. Third round saw Thiago land standing and another takedown. He let Mitchell up and landed a high kick. Mitchell was bleeding from the right eye. Thiago got his back and was trying to finish with a choke but time ran out, with Thiago clearly winning all three rounds.
6. Rousimar Palhares (22-3) beat Dan Miller (13-6, 1 no contest) on scores of 29-27, 30-27 and 30-25. I had 30-26 but the third round was close. Palhares just looks freaky physically, kind of like the jacked up version of David Otunga. Loud chants for Palhares. He landed a front kick to the jaw and followed with a big slam. Miller got right back up and took Palhares down. Miller then backed off and let Palhares up, I guess not wanting to test Palhares strong ground game. But Palhares was winning the stand-up from here. Miller went for a takedown but Palhares landed a knee. Then in a crazy moment, Palhares knocked Miller down with a head kick and was pounding on him with punches on the ground. Palhares then got up and started celebrating like he won. Miller was confused, thinking Herb Dean stopped it, and he easily could have, except he didnt. Palhares climbed up to the top of the cage and Dean told him to come back and fight. After the show he said he heard Miller saying stop, but those at ringside said it was a fan who yelled stop and not Miller. Both guys were bleeding from the left eye at this point. Then they traded punches and Miller knocked Palhares down with a right with seconds left. But Palhares then got up and scored with a huge takedown and started throwing punches, including one blatant late punch after the round ended. Super exciting round, especially the last minute. In the second round, Miller acted like he was poked in the eye but Herb Dean didnt call a poke. Palhares was landing knees while Miller couldnt see. Miller tried a guillotine but Palhares landed a high slam. Miller got a triangle but Palhares power bombed out of it. Palhares was pounding him. Miller went for a takedown and Palhares stayed upright by grabbing the fence on four different occasions. Herb Dean yelled at him but by the fourth time, he should have called a penalty point. Plus, because he held the fence, he ended up on top and was punching. Palhares got another slam and landed big shots from the top. Miller was bleeding badly and Palhares continued to land hard punches from the top, and Miller was in trouble. He continued to pound on him and Dean told Miller he was about to stop it. Palhares continued to punch hard with Miller bleeding badly from the left eye. I saw this as a 10-8 round. Palhares was tired starting the third round and Miller started punching. But Miller could only land one at a time and he was tired as well so they werent with much power. Both were exhausted with 2:00 left. Both landed punches and it was pretty even in the third. Both hugged when it was over.
UFC 134, held on 8/27 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was what Dana White called a major miscalculation. Its not every day when you sell 14,000 tickets the first day they are put on sale for a gate in excess of $4 million, almost certainly the biggest event of its kind from a money standpoint in the history of the country of Brazil, that its viewed as a mistake. But before the first show had even taken place, Lorenzo Fertitta talked about running the second Brazil show at the Convention Center of Manaus, which holds 100,000 people. And unlike in Toronto, where they expected 30,000 to 40,000 going in, and Rogers Centre officials estimated based on demand they could have sold close to 100,000 tickets if the place was big enough, Fertitta going in said they expect to sell the second show out and break the all-time attendance record.
The show had a Brazil vs. the World theme, and according to many there, drew the hottest crowd in the history of the sport. White said it was the hottest in company history. Marc Ratner, who has been to most of the biggest UFC events and most of the biggest boxing events of this generation, said it was the hottest partisan crowd he had ever seen at any event. Mauro Ranallo, who was at every event that would be talked about in MMA history in that realm of the hottest crowd reactions for fights, Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni, Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le, Randy Couture vs. Tim Sylvia and the second Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Serra fight, said this was the hottest MMA crowd he had seen.
Still, if there was a negative, its that the television and PPV did not do this crowd justice. Sure, you could tell it was a hot crowd. You could see the people almost dancing in the streets for the biggest reaction of the night, when aging legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, expected by most to be knocked out by Brendan Schaub, instead was the one scoring the knockout. Nogueira was easily the most popular fighter on the show, living three miles from the building, but in his lengthy career, he had never fought once in Brazil. He had in the past year had surgeries on both hips and a knee, and ended up on crutches for five months, developing callouses on his hands from the crutches. He was only got off crutches three months ago but insisted on being on this show. Dana White admitted that he thought this would be Nogueiras last fight with the company, thinking hed get knocked out. The other two stars, middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Mauricio Shogun Rua, who also won, hadnt fought in Brazil since the early days of their careers, long before they became stars.
When watching the prelims on facebook, it came across as perhaps the hottest crowd ever for the prelims. But on Spike and PPV, you didnt get the same feel. It was an interesting crowd, because while White was talking about it being the greatest crowd theyve ever had, and Im sure it was in some ways, it was a very impatient crowd. They were quicker to boo and louder to boo lack of action, just as they were louder to cheer any action. They booed the ground game, wanting stand-ups immediately. One would think with the sport coming from the Helio Gracie BJJ era, slow defensive ground fights waiting to capitalize on a mistake, that it would be a patient crowd. Plus, it came off like the crowd affected the officials, which in many cases seemed quick on the draw when it came to stand-ups, particularly when the guy on top was keeping busy.
UFC really took off in the last year in Brazil, based on a television deal, and the interest in the February Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort match for the middleweight title that was pushed as The Match of the Century in local media.
While Nogueiras upset win was the emotional high, it was Silva who put the exclamation point on the show. Silva, who retained his middleweight title via second round knockout of Yushin Okami, came in generally considered the best fighter in the sport today. And with his record break streaks alive, he may have established himself as the best ever, at least in the modern era when we have real records to compare.
Of the big three, Fedor Emelianenko is 31-4 with 1 no contest, but if you take away guys who were not good fighters from his record, you get a 10-3 mark, with five finishes. Granted, he was often smaller than his opponents, but he also fought in a heavyweight division that didnt have a lot of depth.
Georges St. Pierre, 22-2, is only 30 and while he is an all-time great, it is too early and may have years of big fights left. Hes in a tougher weight class, and against top level guys of his size, hes 14-2, and has rarely lost even a round, but only has six finishes. Of his two losses, one was to Matt Hughes, who he beat twice in rematches. The other was to Matt Serra, who he handily beat in a rematch.
Silva, now 36, is 31-4 for his career, but against top level fights, hes 10-1, with the only loss being a disqualification against Okami. For purpose of this, I didnt consider Thales Leitis a top fighter, but you could argue that. In his last 18 fights, hes had one DQ loss and of his 17 wins, only two have gone the distance. Hes finished hard-to-finish fighters like Chris Leben, Rich Franklin (twice, both quick and one-sided), Nate Marquardt, Dan Henderson, Okami and Belfort. While the first round with Okami was pretty close until Silva landed a head kick late, in the second, he took charge and made Okami look like a rank amateur next to him as he put his hands by his side and dared Okami to punch, and when Okami did, the counter knocked him down. He did the same thing a second time, and this time the counter not only knocked Okami down, but led to the finish. The notable thing about Silva, is that unlike Emelianenko and St. Pierre, who all lost to top guys, Silvas three real losses, throwing out the DQ, were to two mid-level fighters and Akihiro Gono (a decent fighter but one who didnt survive in UFC when Pride went down), all early in his career. Whats notable is hes a speed and reflex fighter who is seems much better at 36 than at 28, and thats a rarity.
Okami may have been psyched out from the start. His face told a different story going into the fight from usual. Going into the fight, it was well established he, and perhaps nobody in the division, can beat Silva standing. Perhaps Belfort could on a good night if he got the right blow in, but when he had his chance, he showed no indication of it. The only fighter who has had any success with Silva in UFC is Chael Sonnen, who used a wrestling and ground and pound game to handily win four straight rounds. He was on the verge of winning the title when he was caught in a triangle with two minutes left. The idea is Okami may not have been as good a wrestler as Sonnen, but he was training with Sonnen and if he could implement the same type of game plan, perhaps he could win a decision. Unlike Sonnen, who has shown a history of problems against good submission fighters, Okami has never been submitted in his career, and thats facing some top-notch BJJ grapplers.
Instead, the fight was similar to the 2009 Silva vs. Forrest Griffin fight. In that one, Griffin had no chance standing, yet never tried a takedown and fought a style that played to every edge Silva had. Here, Okami did tie Silva up against the cage in the first round and they were even in short blows in the clinch. But it was Okami, not Silva, who broke the clinch, giving separation. Okami never once committed fully to a takedown. His odds of winning were never good, as hed have to control Silva on the ground for five rounds. His chances of a ground and pound stoppage or a submission on Silva werent good. It wasnt as if he tried takedowns and got stuffed, because an Anderson Silva with good enough takedown defense to stop good takedown guys is almost the scariest fighter possible. But he never tried them, and in doing so, made Silva seem like the scariest human possible.
This fight also led to more questions about the Sonnen fight last year. Was Sonnens success because Silva really had a rib injury as he claimed he suffered more than a week before the fight? Was it because Sonnen had an advantage from using testosterone? Or does Sonnen have the perfect style to beat Silva if he can avoid his Achilles heel, his weakness against submissions. Sonnen did not come to Brazil. The story was that Okami had a sponsor who requested he not come and there were likely security concerns because of all the trash talk hes said about Brazilians in general. Perhaps, if there was no concern about security, Silva vs. Sonnen could be that fight they take to the stadium next year. Sonnen still has to get by Brian Stann on 10/8 in Houston to earn the title shot. Stylistically, Stann would appear to have very little chance against Silva. But at 36, Silva will get old some day. You never know with a guy who relies so heavily on speed, movement and uncanny reflexes. Those guys arent supposed to still make fools out of top contenders at 36.
Silva extended his three key all-time UFC records, with 14 wins in a row (GSP is in second place with 9), nine consecutive successful title defenses (GSP is second with six), and longest championship reign (On 10/14, he will hit the five year mark, GSP and Tito Ortiz are at three years five months with GSP going into second place next month).
PPV numbers are sketchy due to Hurricane Irene, which with power out in so many East Coast homes, had to hurt overall numbers. Because of that issue, we couldnt get anything past preliminary trending numbers which indicated numbers in Canada being very slightly up from UFC 133, while being 15% down in the U.S. If that holds up, that would have to be a huge disappointment, particularly for those who thought Silva had become the No. 3 draw in the company behind Brock Lesnar and Georges St. Pierre. Non-North American fights usually dont do numbers anywhere near North American levels, but this was not on a tape delay, and one would think the first show in Brazil may be a hook. Without question, Okami was going to be a detriment in the main event. Few gave him much of a chance. He has not had a lot of exciting fights and he doesnt have any charisma. It would also indicate how far Forrest Griffin, at one point the companys second or third most popular fighter, has fallen. The hurricane is a legitimate excuse for the East Coast, but not most of the U.S. or in Canada. Still, the combination of Silva and Brazil one would have thought should have done better. And UFC 133 that were comparing with was an estimated 310,000 buy show headlined by Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans. But even with the hurricane hurting numbers in the Northeast due to people not having power, the California trending numbers were down and thats not affected by the hurricane. Best markets per cap appear to have been Edmonton, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Honolulu, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Seattle, Montreal, Dallas, Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Antonio and Denver. Well have a lot more solid estimates in two weeks.
The prelims on Spike did an 0.9 rating and 1.3 million viewers, which is lower than average for Spike, but there have been several 0.9s in the past. The show did a 1.23 in Males 18-34 and 0.81 in Males 35-49, the latter being lower than usual for such a show. It was still the highest rated show on cable in Males 18-49 for the day.
White talked about the show, which aired live in Brazil on regular television, doing a 20 share and 30 million viewers. We havent seen any independent verification of Brazilian ratings and this was said right after the show so would have at best had to have been a projection he was told as opposed to a rating.
The bonuses, which were $100,000, went to Ross Pearson vs. Edson Barboza for fight of the night. It was a good technical standing fight, but as noted by our poll, it was heavily for Rousimar Palhares vs. Dan Miller. Nogueira got the knockout of the night bonus. There were no submissions on the card, ironic given it was a show in Brazil, filled with Brazilian fighters.
Pearson and Barboza was the only fight where there was question to the outcome. I had Barboza 29-28, taking rounds two and three. Rounds one and three were close, with Barboza winning round two. Statistically, Pearson had a 21-17 and 20-16 edge in significant punches in rounds one and three while Barbozas second round edge was 22-19. Pearson also landed more to the head in all three rounds. The fight was all standing. The scores were 29-28, 28-29 and 29-28, all fair. Our Observer poll had 50% for Barboza, 34% for Pearson and 16% as a draw.
1. Yves Jabouin (16-7) beat Ian Loveland (14-9) on a split decision with scores of 27-30, 29-28 and 29-28. The first score made no sense. The crowd exploded with every offensive move. After Loveland took Jabouin down, the crowd started booing in 15 seconds. Loveland did some punches and was working for an entangled armlock, but with the crowd booing, it was stood up way too early. Jabouin hurt Loveland with a right and went for a flying knee, but it didnt land solid. Lovelands corner told him to turn it into a wrestling match. He came right out with a takedown, but Jabouin got up and took Loveland down. Loveland reversed, and after 20 slow seconds, the booing started. After Jabouin got up, he took control with a great spin kick to the body and another spin kick, and a spinning backfist. Jabouin dominated the stand-up and got a takedown with 12 seconds left with the strategy of ending the round on top. Jabouin took over with low kicks. Both tired and the crowd was booing. Jabouin won the round by blocking takedowns and landing some kicks. Fans were booing in this round as well.
2. Yuri Alcantara (25-3) beat Felipe Arantes (13-4, 2 no contests) on scores of 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28. Crowd hot for both since theyre Brazilians. Alcantara took him down off a kick and landing a lot of lefts to the side of the head. He busted Arantes eye and moved to side control. Arantes regained guard and it was stood up, again way too early. Arantes landed a flying knee and hard right, as well as a great spinning head kick. The late flurry made the round close, but Arantes got the flurry due to a gifted stand-up. Second round saw Alcantara get another takedown and moved to side control. Crowd quickly booed. Really cool move as Alcantara faked going for an armbar and instead moved to mount. Ref ordered another stand-up when the action flowed after Arantes got back guard. Arantes landed a knee but Alcantara took him back down at the end of the round. In the third round, Alcantara got another takedown and took Arantes back. Arantes reversed and landed some rights from the top. After both were up, Arantes tried a flying knee but Alcantara took him down from it. He stayed on top and was running out the clock, and the fans booed. The ref ordered a stand-up but Alcantara took him down again. I thought Arantes won the third so had it 29-28 for Alcantara.
3. Erick Silva (13-1, 1 no contest) beat Louis Ramos (19-7) in :40. These guys were welterweight champions of rival promotions, Silva with Jungle Fight and Ramos with Shooto Brazil. Ramos was a last week sub when Mike Swick pulled out. Silva knocked Ramos down with a right and finished him with six punches on the ground, and then did a backflip for good measure. It was Silvas debut in UFC and he couldnt have looked better and showed some charisma.
4. Raphael Assuncao (16-4) beat Johnny Eduardo (25-9) on straight 30-27 scores. Assuncao has dropped from featherweight to bantamweight. Eduardo was a big favorite from Rio de Janeiro and a great rep for Muay Thai. More booing because they started slow. These fans would love Antonio McKee. Assuncao got a takedown and landed elbows, but the booing crowd led to a fast stand-up. Crowd was quiet in the first round with the ring girls being more over than the fighters. Eduardo got the clinch and a takedown to start the second round but Assuncao reversed and got his back. Eduardo landed some low kicks and blocked Assuncaos takedowns. Eduardo landed a spin kick to the body. But Assuncao pulled out the round with a takedown and got Assuncaos back. Third round saw Eduardo move forward, but Assuncao got him down. At one point he actually had him in a half crab. He punched from the top while standing and Eduardo being on the ground. He continued to land punches and they ordered a stand-up. This was ridiculous. Eduardo landed a right and Assuncao slipped and went down, but he got right back up. Assuncao may have suffered a broken nose. After this fight, this was the first where a Brazilian fighter would do his interview in English, given he was being asked questions by Kenny Florian in English, and the crowd booed him until he spoke Portuguese.
5. Paulo Thiago (14-3) beat David Mitchell (11-2) by straight 30-27 scores. Thiago got a super reaction, as he was a member of the Rio de Janeiro police special forces, and they hated Mitchell. They didnt like foreigners, but hated Americans. Crowd was just going nuts for this fight. Thiago dominated the stand-up and got a takedown. Crowd was super loud and singing they were so happy. Thiago landed a spin kick, got Mitchells back and took him down. He let Mitchell up with ten seconds left in the first. Second saw Thiago miss a spin kick and slip and go down, but Mitchell couldnt take advantage of it. Thiago got three more takedowns in the round, and landed enough to where Mitchell was bleeding. Third round saw Thiago land standing and another takedown. He let Mitchell up and landed a high kick. Mitchell was bleeding from the right eye. Thiago got his back and was trying to finish with a choke but time ran out, with Thiago clearly winning all three rounds.
6. Rousimar Palhares (22-3) beat Dan Miller (13-6, 1 no contest) on scores of 29-27, 30-27 and 30-25. I had 30-26 but the third round was close. Palhares just looks freaky physically, kind of like the jacked up version of David Otunga. Loud chants for Palhares. He landed a front kick to the jaw and followed with a big slam. Miller got right back up and took Palhares down. Miller then backed off and let Palhares up, I guess not wanting to test Palhares strong ground game. But Palhares was winning the stand-up from here. Miller went for a takedown but Palhares landed a knee. Then in a crazy moment, Palhares knocked Miller down with a head kick and was pounding on him with punches on the ground. Palhares then got up and started celebrating like he won. Miller was confused, thinking Herb Dean stopped it, and he easily could have, except he didnt. Palhares climbed up to the top of the cage and Dean told him to come back and fight. After the show he said he heard Miller saying stop, but those at ringside said it was a fan who yelled stop and not Miller. Both guys were bleeding from the left eye at this point. Then they traded punches and Miller knocked Palhares down with a right with seconds left. But Palhares then got up and scored with a huge takedown and started throwing punches, including one blatant late punch after the round ended. Super exciting round, especially the last minute. In the second round, Miller acted like he was poked in the eye but Herb Dean didnt call a poke. Palhares was landing knees while Miller couldnt see. Miller tried a guillotine but Palhares landed a high slam. Miller got a triangle but Palhares power bombed out of it. Palhares was pounding him. Miller went for a takedown and Palhares stayed upright by grabbing the fence on four different occasions. Herb Dean yelled at him but by the fourth time, he should have called a penalty point. Plus, because he held the fence, he ended up on top and was punching. Palhares got another slam and landed big shots from the top. Miller was bleeding badly and Palhares continued to land hard punches from the top, and Miller was in trouble. He continued to pound on him and Dean told Miller he was about to stop it. Palhares continued to punch hard with Miller bleeding badly from the left eye. I saw this as a 10-8 round. Palhares was tired starting the third round and Miller started punching. But Miller could only land one at a time and he was tired as well so they werent with much power. Both were exhausted with 2:00 left. Both landed punches and it was pretty even in the third. Both hugged when it was over.
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