Autistic Dragon

Onita and Aoyagi had an absolute war and it looks like this was just round 1. Speaking of rounds, Gordeau looked very impressive but got dragged a little too far out of his element. Smiley made that toe hold look like torture.

Nikita isn't worried about who wins the battle royal next week and honestly? If I were him I wouldn't either. The Bruisers are looking strong ahead of a #1 contenders match. Larry Z is such a prick. I almost want to see him win next week so Nikita can take his head off. Canek fends off another bounty hunter. I don't blame Parson for rolling his eyes but at least Gerry is trying to be fair(ish) about things. Mr Wonderful has to be a favorite for next week. Badd Company has a firm grip on the National Tag titles. Blackwell vs Kokina sounds like a Kaiju movie waiting to happen. Adidas sure is being liberal with his gift-giving. Though I can admit Bart is a pretty good friend to have. The Fortune One evens the score with Mr Olympia with a little help from Dream Machine babay. Kerry looks to multitask next week and I'm not sure he can pull it off.

Muraco with a solid debut that actually has Piper singing his praises. There's a bunch of fired up Texans in WCW right now and Piper might want to watch what he says. Another cracking exchange between Mando and the Hot Rod. Lord Humongous with another dominant performance. Hart is building a truly terrifying army. Valiant lays another on Terry who didn't seem to enjoy it anymore the second time. This feud with Gilbert is driving a wedge between Reed and the Nation. Sting and Luger are hot on the Horsemen's trail just as Spivey looks to have landed himself in the doghouse.

Here are the quarterfinal matches for the New Japan Cup. I can't find the specific venues planned so I've just listened the cities. 3.16 Toyama Bad Luck Fale vs Toru Yano 3.17 Saitama Jey White vs Juice Robinson 3.18 Shizuoka Evil vs Kenta Kota Ibushi vs Sanada

March 10, 2020 ZIP Arena Okayama "Rouge General" Bad Luck Fale w/"Master Heater" Jado defeats "Sublime Master Thief" Toru Yano after Jado hits Yano with his Singapore cane allowing Fale to hit the "Grenade". "Stone Pitbull" Tomohiro Ishii defeats "Hawaiian Juggernaut" Jeff Cobb with the Brainbuster. March 12, 2020 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo "The Flamboyant" Juice Robinson defeats Tanga Loa w/"Master Heater" Jado after escaping "Apeshit" and hitting "Pulp Fiction". "Switchblade" Jay White w/Gedo defeats Minoru Suzuki after Gedo slipped White the brass knuckles. March 13, 2020 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo "Cold Skull" Sanada defeats "Aerial Assassin" Will Osprey after choking him out with "Skull End" followed by a Moonsault. "Gold Star" Kota Ibushi defeats "Black Emperor" Taichi w/Miho Abe "Kamigoya" March 14, 2020 Makuhari Meese, Chiba Kenta defeats "Head Hunter" Yoshi-Hashi with "Game Over". "King of Darkness" Evil defeats "Fierce Warrior of Chaos" Hirooki Goto with "Everything is Evil".

If nothing else, Bully Ray is still one of the best at getting legitimate heel heat in modern wrestling. This man can make crowds straight up hate him when he needs to and that's becoming a rare talent.

Hey everyone. Wanted to ask how y'all liked the tweaked format I used here. Are you ok with me skipping the undercard tag matches? In the meantime, here's the bracket for Round 2. 3.10 ZIP Arena, Okayama Jeff Cobb vs Tomohiro Ishii Bad Luck Fale vs Toru Yano 3.12 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo Jay White vs Minoru Suzuki Juice Robinson vs Tanga Loa 3. 13 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo Kota Ibushi vs Taichi Will Osprey vs Sanada 3.14 Makuhari Meese, Chiba Evil vs Hirooki Goto Kenta vs Yoshi-Hashi

March 8 2020 Baycom Gymnasium, Hyogo. New Japan Cup Round 1 matches "Cold Skull" Sanada defeats Mikey Nicholas with "Skull End". "Aerial Assassin" Will Osprey defeats "The Dragon" Shingo Takagi with "Hidden Blade". "Black Emperor" Taichi w/Miho Abe defeats "The Ace of the Universe" Hiroshi Tanhashi with "Black Mephisto". Main Event "Gold Star" Kota Ibushi defeats Zach Saber Jr w/Taka Michinoku with "Kamigoya". March 9 2020 Kochi Perfectural Gymnasium, Kochi Kenta defeats Karl Fredericks "Go to sleep". "Head Hunter" Yoshi-Hashi defeats Hiroyoshi Tenzan with "Karma". "King of Darkness" Evil defeats Satoshi Kojima with "Everything is Evil". "Fierce Warrior of Chaos" Hirooki Goto defeats "Tokyo Pimp" Yujiro Takahashi with "GTR".

An action packed first round to the Mega Battle Tournament. I was particularly gripped by Kohsaka's come from behind win. Honestly surprised to see Maeda go so early.

Demolition and Fuji are seriously spitting fire at each other. I had a lot of fun writing Savage's promos and I get the feeling you are too. I loved the scene where even Heenan was confused as to who is or isn't in the family . Curious to see what happens between Hogan and Roberts as they both continue to chase the Macho Man.

The Mega Battle Tournament looks poised to have a strong start.

This might seem like a stupid question but are their promos on the TV edition. I watch on YouTube and it's just matches.

Many of us paying attention to Impact Wrestling may have still thought of them as TNA but the majority of wrestling fans weren't paying attention. Bringing back old name may bring back people who remember the good times. And it already seems to be having a effect. TNA was trending on Twitter earlier today and WhatCulture had 4 articles about them after ignoring them for months at least.

From the Robins Center in Richmond VA. Previously recorded & airing on 10/21/88 on the USA Network. On Commentary: Gordon Solie Ring announcer/interviews: Sean Moony "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin w/Precious vs "The Gatekeeper" Jimmy Golden w/"The Mastermind" Ron Fuller The two men at the bottom of the block start us off tonight and you can tell both men feel they have something to prove. At one point Fuller gets into a shouting match with Precious and even starts advancing towards her but Jimmy takes him out with a sliding dropkick. Golden tries to take advantage by rolling Garvin into an inside cradle but Garvin shifts his weight so he ends up on top and this gets him the three. "The Doctor of Desire" Tom Prichard vs The Super Destroyer w/"Number One" Paul Jones The crowd was fully behind Prichard as he looked to give The Freebirds a perfect end to Block B. It was not to be however as a loaded headbutt gave the victory to Jones' masked enforcer. "Raging Bull" Manny Fernandez vs "The Ace" Bob Orton w/JJ Dillon This match decides the block with the winner advancing to Fright Night. We see a pretty engaging contrast of styles with Orton trying to steer the match into a more technical direction and Fernandez opting to just try to beat the Horseman senseless. He seems to be doing just that when JJ gets up on the apron allowing Brad Anderson to run in from the crowd and into the ring. Fernandez intercepts him with a "Flying Burrito" that knocks him out of the ring but that leaves him open for a lariat from Orton. The Ace isn't taking any chances and manages to get the big man on the ropes for a Super-plex punching his ticket to the finals. Bob Caudle runs down the final card for Fright Night. Richmond Coliseum in Richmond VA. Main Event. Starrcade Series finals. "Rugged" Ron Garvin vs "The Ace" Bob Orton w/JJ Dillon NWA United States Title. If Debeers gets counted out or disqualified he loses the title. Col Debeers(c) vs Junkyard Dog 3 on 2 Chicago Street Fight. The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal) vs The Beasts of Burden (Rip Morgan & Nord the Barbarian) & "The Notorious" Ox Baker NWA Heritage Title. "Pitbull Kerry Brown (c) vs "Black Bullet" Shaska Whatley w/"Number One" Paul Jones Special Challenge match. Brett "Hack" Sawyer vs "The Latin Heartthrob" Al Perez Four corners elimination match. Winners challenge for the NWA United States Tag Team Titles at Starrcade. The Renegade Warriors (Chris & Mark Youngblood) vs The Sheepherders (Butch Miller & Luke Williams) w/"Number One" Paul Jones vs The Zero Fighters (Keiichi Yamada Hiroshi Hase) vs The Samoan Island Tribe (Fatu & Alofa)

Battle of the Belts is loaded. I'd certainly be buying a ticket to the Expo Hall if I lived nearby.

Victoria. Spicoli may not be racking up wins but he at least seems to be gaining respect. Taker makes an example of St Clair. Can he do the same to Hall? Eddie is at his wits end with Barr. Rose reasserts himself as the unquestioned leader of the Playboy Club. The Harts are regrouped and taking the fight to the Diamond Exchange. Vancouver. Regal reminds everyone he doesn't need to cheat to win. Brian proves he's the superior Lee. Candido wins the battle of the Bomb Squad. The Dragon roasts the Vampire. The Can-Am Express take the Southern Boys to the limit. Windham fends off a determined Owen. Kelowna. Azul continues to shine. The Patriot ain't afraid of no ghost! Tenryu puts a dent in the Anvil. Hall with a major win. The Midnights & Pillman close the night with a pair of successful title defenses.

March 7, 2020 Dolphins Arena, Nagoya. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Sanada & Bushi) defeat New Japan Young Lions (Mikey Nicholas & Yuya Umera) when Bushi pinned Umera with the "MX". Taguchi Japan (Hiroshi Tanhashi & Ryusuke Taguchi) defeat Suzuki-Gun (Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) when Tanahashi pinned Kanemaru with the "High Fly Flow". Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi) defeat Chaos (Will Osprey & Yoh) when Takagi pinned Yoh with the "Pumping Bomber". Suzuki-Gun (Zach Saber Jr & Taka Michinoku) defeat "Gold Star" Kota Ibushi & Tiger Mask IV when Tiger submitted to "Hurrah, Another year! Surely this one will be better than the last. The inexorable march of progress will lead us all to happiness". 2020 New Japan Cup Round 1 matches. "The Flamboyant" Juice Robinson defeats Alex Coughlin with "Pulp Fiction". "The Silverback" Tanga Los w/"Master Heater" Jado with "Apeshit". Minoru Suzuki defeats "Blue Justice" Yuji Nigata with the Gotch-style Piledriver. "Switchblade" Jay White w/Gedo defeats "The Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada after a distraction by Gedo -which saw the obnoxious second eat a "Rainmaker" lariat- led to White hitting the "Blade Runner". White takes the mic and tells the crowd -those who aren't already leaving in protest- that after a brief hiccup, the "Switchblade" era is set to resume and his winning this tournament is just step 1 to reclaiming his rightful place.

The card at the Spooktacular is already looking good. JT Southern seems like the kinda guy Prentice would like. Thanks to some questionable counting, Miss Kentucky's boys win the right to a tag title shot.

Being able to sellout a show without either Maeda or Takada speaks to the level of interest the UWF has created. Aoyagi vs Onita is on! Nice to get some insight into how the other major players in Japanese wrestling are reacting to the new kid on the block.

Smoky Mountain Wrestling TV. From the Cawood High School Gym in Harlan KY. Taped 10/14/96 before originally airing on 10/20/96. On Commentary: Bob Caudle Dutch Mantell. Ring announcer: Kevin Noe Backstage interviews: Michael St John Caudle & Mantell welcome the audience to the show. They hype up the approaching Halloween Scream as well as today's card which will see Flash Flannigan take on a member of PG-13, the Rock n Roll Express respond to the challenge laid down by James Mitchell and in the main event, Dick Slater takes on The Punisher! Match #1 Tarek the Great defeats Nick Dinsmore with the "Dragon Bomb". Jim Cornette leads The Heavenly Bodies out to deafening boos. He says the idea that Smoky Mountain Wrestling would return and the first call Bert Prentice made wasn't to him is "so ridiculous it outta be criminal. Though I suppose he was too busy calling Papa John's for the 6th time." Blames the "obviously crosseyed referee" for the fact that the Thug's were able to escape with the titles and that everyday those two hold the gold, the value of those titles decreases more and more. Luckily for SMW, he has the best attorney's money can buy and thanks to them, the Bodies will step in to "rescue" the belts are Halloween Scream. Match #2 The Rock n Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson) defeat "Tough" Tony Falk and Reggie B Fine with a double dropkick on the Falk The Express join St John and in a fiery promo, accept the challenge to a double dog collar match at Halloween Scream. They say The Moondogs have been terrorizing the sport for nearly two decades but in Jackson TN, they intend to put the Moondogs down for good. Match #3 Flash Flannigan defeats JC Ice by DQ when Wolfie D and Cash Flo storm the ring and attack Flanagan. A 3-1 beat down follows until Bill Dundee runs down with a chair to run the disrespectful trio off. He helps Flannigan up and they exchange insults with PG-13. Curiously there seemed to be a particularly heated exchange between Dundee and JC Ice. Before the main event, Caudle announced that next week he'd give the rundown of the full card for Halloween Scream. Main Event. "The Unpredictable" Dick Slater defeats The Punisher when he countered a Powerbomb set-up into a inside cradle. Interestingly, Jake Roberts was seen observing the match from the entrance.

Gordy has two things on his mind. Beating up a Von Erich and winning the world title. The Fantastics are fired up and ready to take it to the Glamor Boys. The San Juan Saints make a great first impression. Adidas offers a generous bri...I mean makes a convincing argument . Now we've got the TV title held up and Parsons could see his win erased from the record books. Coast 2 Coast send a warm shout-out to the Vin Man. Gagne raises the bounty and Diamond Tim Flowers is ready to claim it. The Rich's and the Rose's don't wait for the bell allowing Sarge to give the sendoff.

SNME is here! I dig the promo train to open the show. Between ambushing Brutus and cheating Ware, the heat has really been turn up on Taylor. A classic Warrior promo leads to a major win over the former WWWF champion. The Hulkster takes the time to pound on the Weasel allowing the Macho Man to sneak past to get the title. Muta has the eyes of the entire WWF on him. Interesting finish to the IC title match. You can make the argument that the Foundation didn't do anything wrong and that Martel took the easy way out. Roberts crashes the Brother Love show to send a message to the new champ. After seeing their hero go down earlier, The Rockers send the fans home happy.

For all Arn has been making a show of wanting a match with Flair, he certainly was passionate when talking about how Windham betrayed the Nature Boy. The Bobby's are really coming together as a team. Little Guido brings the title home to The Family. Pillman will have justice...no matter what it takes. Taz vs Gordy for the FTW title. Bring it on. Flair, Arn, Benoit and Mongo. That could be a (mostly) great lineup. Except half those men aren't on board.

New Japan initially planned to hold it's annual New Japan Cup from March 4th to the 21st. Alas the pandemic struck and New Japan temporarily closed it's doors. After reopening, it held the tournament with an altered bracket as some talent couldn't return to Japan. As the name suggests, for this project I'll be using the original bracket planned for March 2020. With the out of the way, Let's get to it! March 4, 2020 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo. The Guerillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) w/"Master Heater" Jado defeat Taguchi Japan (David Finlay & Ryusuke Taguchi) with the "Superbomb" on Taguchi. "The Flamboyant" Juice Robinson & Tomoaki Honma defeat New Japan Young Lions (Alex Coughlin & Clark Conners) when Robinson KO'd Connors with the "Left Hand of God". Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki and El Desperado) defeat "Blue Justice" Yuji Nagata and Tiger Mask IV when Despy pinned Tiger with "Guitarra de la Muerte". Chaos (Kazuchika Okada & Rocky Romero) defeat Bullet Club International Mastermind (Jay White & Gedo) when Okada pinned Gedo with the "Rainmaker". New Japan Cup round 1 matches. "Rogue General" Bad Luck Fake defeats Colt "Boom Boom" Cabana with the "Bad Luck Fall". "Sublime Master Thief" Toru Yano defeats "Crown Jewel" Chase Owens after Owens ran into turnbuckles that Yano exposed allowing Yano to roll him up. "Hawaiian Juggernaut" Jeff Cobb defeats "Unchained Gorilla" Togi Makabe with the "Tour of the Islands" in a absolute hoss fight. "Stone Pitbull" Tomohiro Ishii defeats "Maori Fighter" Toa Henare with the Avalanche style Brainbuster. Henare gave a highly impressive performance and even seemed that he might pull of the upset on a number of occasions. Ishii seemed impressed and helped Henare up after the match. The Stone Pitbull keeps his end-of-show promo characteristically short, saying that 2020 will be the year he finally breaks through to the top of New Japan.

In the midst of absolute craziness, The Latin Connection score what can be considered a huge upset to become US tag champs. Gilbert is finally the undisputed TV champ but how long can he hold it with Reed on the hunt. Terry Funk is in the WCW and Rhodes may rue the day he ever ran his mouth. I feel like we should have known Hart was smart enough to have a backup plan. Speaking of plans, the Horsemen's clearly backfired and now Sting has a pretty strong claim to a title shot. Perhaps at Seasons Beatings?