Often times, I find myself being let down when I expect a wrestling match to be great. Then, I’m reminded that the big events of New Japan Pro Wrestling delivers the goods on a consistent basis. That tradition continued on Sunday as Hiroshi Tanahashi squared off against Shinsuke Nakamura in the finals of the G1 Climax tournament. Continue reading “G1 Climax 2015 Winner Crowned, New #1 Contender for IWGP Heavyweight Title”
The 2015 G-1 Climax tournament is winding down as Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan will host the remaining shows. Earlier today, Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated AJ Styles in a thrilling match to win the A Block championship. Tanahashi’s run in his block ended with him earning a total of 14 points.
B Block championship will be determined tomorrow evening as IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada is currently in the lead with 14 points.
Shinsuke Nakamura, Karl Anderson, and IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hirooki Goto are all tied for second place with 12 points each. The winner will face Tanahashi in the tournament finals, which will be held on Sunday, August 16.
Sunday’s finale will also see two title matches. 2015 BOSJ winner KUSHIDA defends the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title against last year’s BOSJ winner Ricochet. The Young Bucks defend the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight titles against reDRagon.
G-1 Climax Finale will air live on New Japan World at 2:00 am Eastern and 11:00 pm Pacific. If you’re looking to sign up the their streaming service, click here for an English language version of their sign up page.
The Lucha Libre style of professional wrestling has really never been my cup of tea. However, with more and more international wrestling promotions trying to enter the American market, I decided to be supportive by ordering TripleMania 23, an event held by AAA (Asistencia Asesoría y Administración). To say I made a big mistake in ordering this show would be an understatement.
This is AAA’s biggest event of the year and there was a cool video package that was produced with a Mission Impossible theme since the franchise’s newest film installment, Rogue Nation sponsored the event. The thing is, I couldn’t enjoy it because the show was plagued with production problems from the very beginning. Continue reading “AAA: TripleMania Flops on the U.S. Stage”
The world of professional wrestling received sad news this past Friday as Rowdy Roddy Piper passed away in his home at age 61. I didn’t get into wrestling until 1988, during Piper’s hiatus from the WWF and after his big feuds with Hulk Hogan, Mr. T, and Adrian Adonis. However, my friends always talked about Piper and would fill me in on all of his past shenanigans.
Piper returned to the WWF at WrestleMania 5 in a special edition of Piper’s Pit. His guests were Brother Love and controversial talk show host Morton Downey Jr.
It was my first time seeing this wrestler that had been built up by my friends to legendary proportions. Continue reading “RIP Rowdy Roddy Piper 1954 – 2015”
On April 1, 1990, I cried profusely as my hero, Hulk Hogan, lost the WWF title to the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania 6. Now that the cold hard sting of reality has reared its ugly head again, I realize that I was the victim of a 25 year April fool’s joke.
I would give anything to hop into Doc Brown’s DeLorean and travel back in time to that now tainted evening.
I’d sit next to my eight-year-old self on the couch, look him right in his watery eyes and give him a big hug while trying to convince him that the red and yellow man on the TV screen isn’t worth our tears.
Late last week, Hulk Hogan was fired from WWE after The National Enquirer, and Radar Online released a transcript of Hogan’s racist comments on the sex tape he is currently suing Gawker Media over. Hogan repeatedly used the N-Word, called to racial stereotypes as fact, and admitted that he is a racist. Continue reading “My Thoughts on Hulk Hogan’s Racist Comments”
Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger captured my imagination from the moment he emerged from the curtain at WCW Superbrawl II. Liger lost the Light Heavyweight championship to Brian Pillman on that February evening in 1992, but it didn’t matter. The mixture of revolutionary high-flying moves and technical wrestling coupled with his anime inspired ring gear had me at hello.
Liger has wrestled all over the world. You name the promotion, and he has been there. That is, except for WWE. That will finally end as it was announced that Liger will appear at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn on 8/22/15. The event will air live on the WWE Network and spoiler alert, he will square off against Tyler Breeze. Continue reading “Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger will appear at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn”
I had the pleasure of providing play-by-play commentary, this past Friday, for Northeast Championship Wrestling’s ‘Red, White, & Bruised’ event in Norwood, Massachusetts. I’ve done commentary before in post-production for a few different promotions. This was the first time I would do it live as the show was happening. I was nervous and excited for the opportunity. Continue reading “Channeling My Inner Jim Ross”
I’m back after taking a long and overdue vacation where my wife and I put our phones on airplane mode and were unplugged from the real world. Now that I’ve caught up on all of the wrestling news, it seems that Cesaro is getting a lot of praise for his stellar matches with John Cena on Monday Night Raw.
Cesaro is truly one of the most talented wrestlers on the planet today.
He can have a good match with anyone and often has a great match with most. Due to Cesaro’s performance over the last three weeks, die-hard fans are waiting with bated breath and both fingers crossed, hoping this will be the time that WWE finally pushes the ‘Swiss Superman’ as the main event player he deserves to be.
Unfortunately, this shall not come to pass.
Continue reading “Cesaro is Mid-Card 4-Life”
Hell froze over last Wednesday when Jeff Jarrett entered the ring on Impact Wrestling while wearing a t-shirt of his own start-up promotion, Global Force Wrestling. The TNA founder announced his participation in the King of the Mountain match to be held at the Slammiversary, which he ended up winning.
This is all very intriguing considering Jeff Jarrett left the company on poor terms.
Continue reading “The Impact of Global Force Wrestling”
I recently interviewed Brutal Bob Evans at What Culture.com where he shares his thoughts on topics such as Destination America, the success of Micheal Bennett, putting Cheeseburger through a table, and his initial criticism of the company. Here some highlights:
On Being an ROH Critic: The line I use is that I used to hate this company, now it’s the only place I want to be. I think it was the change in philosophy on both our parts. In other words, I think we needed to be a little more open-minded, and I wasn’t open-minded.
Will Briscoe vs. Lethal Deliver: I’ve actually pulled both guys aside and told them there are people who don’t think you’re going to have the match that Ring Of Honor is promising. I think both guys are looking at it as a challenge to really step up their game and compete at that kind of level where they’re going to have that type of match.
I personally want to thank Bob for taking the time to talk to me. You can check out the entire interview here at What Culture.com
RingsideLogic.com 