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Bloodsport Bushido card: Jon Moxley vs Josh Barnett will be the main event as well Overall, it's a decent card for this type of show but I'm not sure if Sumo Hall was the best venue choice for this. Tickets were not selling very well the last time I checked.

NWA sends Luke Williams and Butch Miller to the WWF in exchange for Kevin Von Erich, Kevin Sullivan and Lanny Poffo.

Debeers pulls some clever legal maneuvering but Jarrett bites back by ensuring he finally faces Atlas. Dibiase trying to drive a wedge between the Horsemen before he and Williams go for the tag titles. Like the idea of Luger and Gilbert defending the titles in their first tournament matches. Terri wastes no time completing her face turn by backing up Medusa. Piper brings in a new partner for a loser leaves street fight. Hope he picked wisely. Loved Lawler no-selling Flair's poking at his restaurant job.

NWA Live at the Huntington Civic Center in Huntington WV on 4/17/89 "Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff defeats Firebreaker Chip with his feet on the ropes. Jamie Dundee defeats Perry Saturn with a second rope fist drop as Adrian Street and Ms Linda looked on. Big John Studd w/"The Perfect 10" Baby Doll defeats Ranger Ross with a Bearhug. "Exotic Adrian Street w/Ms Linda & Jamie Dundee vs Super Strong Machine ended in a no contest when ABDULLAH THE BUTCHER stormed the ring and attacked both men with a fork. Young Jamie tried to intervene but got cut up for his trouble. NWA Heritage Title. The Super Destroyer w/"Number One Paul Jones defeats"Boogie Woogie Man" Jimmy Valiant after Jones slid SD the title and he whacked Valiant with it. NWA United States Tag Team Titles. The Nightmares (Danny Davis & Ken Wayne) defeat The Sheepherders (Butch Miller Luke Williams)(c) w/"Number One" Paul Jones after hitting the "Waking Nightmare" on Miller. Jones was down from a accidental clothesline from Williams earlier in the match and by the time he got up, the match was over. Once he realized what happened, he shook his head and walked off alone. NWA United States Title. Junkyard Dog defeats "Tennessee Stud Robert Fuller(c) w/"The Mastermind" Ron Fuller by C.O when Robert was knocked to the outside by a JYD tackle. He looked to reenter the ring when Ron whispered something in his ear before handing him the title and the two walked away. When the result was announced JYD got pissed and ran after the brothers. While Robert saw him coming and booked it, the Dog got his hands on Ron and forced him back into the ring before planting him with the "Thump" to send the crowd home happy.

This has been happening on the regular happening since the mid-90's, since GAEA and Jd' started up. Look at how many companies sprung up when both AJW and GAEA shut down. I just roll my eyes when I see other people proclaiming something like "This is a new era in joshi wrestling!" Karen Peterson of Post Wrestling did a good job explaining the mentality behind this on the Pollock & Thurston podcast. She also did a thread on her twitter feed linking the articles she used as reference material. I would also highly recommend watching the documentary "Tokyo Idols" if you have trouble wrapping your head around how in Japan it's accepted to market young women, even in their early teens, to middle-aged men or older.

Found this pretty disappointing mainly due to Liger. Fuchi looked motivated with his prick character work and moving between a nice variety of stretches, but Liger's selling more or less consisted of him laying in the holds and groaning. His counterwrestling was also almost non-existent. A pretty telling sequence came when Fuchi rolled out of one of his holds and basically gave Liger a toe hold opportunity on a silver platter. Liger's response is to get off the mat, throw a few slaps, run the ropes, and then put on his own leg lock while Fuchi has to just passively watch like an idiot. Match picks up slightly before the 10 minute call with a flash Liger armbar. He follows that up with some decent bombs, highlighted by a plancha to the outside. I also liked how Fuchi sold the brainbuster on the outside by laying there and blinking his eyes, like I've seen Misawa and Akiyama do after eating head drops on the outside. Wasn't a fan of Liger kicking out of 3 consecutive backdrops or the flash La Magistral finish right after that.

Minutes from the Oklahoma State Athletic ommission meeting, Jan 3, 2024, regarding Nyla Rose.

APRIL 12, 1989 EPISODE #32 WrestleWar Preview Show The War Between WCW and Colonel Debeers! The show opened with a very angry Jerry Jarrett who called out Colonel Debeers. When Debeers finally arrived, Jarrett started by saying that he was sick and tired of Debeers refusing to fight matches that Jarrett has already signed him to be in and that he has done this for the last time. Next, Jarrett simply fires Colonel Debeers for breach of contract. Col. Debeers: Whoa, Whoa… What are you talking about Jarrett? Jerry Jarrett: I told you last time after the nonsense you pulled at Clash of Champions: where you refused to wrestle somebody because you didn’t like the look of your opponent or the look of the referee that if you did it again, you would be fired… and it happened again at the Ragin Cajun event this past week in the Superdome! You are fired! The crowd goes wild Col. Debeers: I think you better rethink your plan there Mr. Jarrett… that is unless you want me to own WCW after I sue the pants off you. Jerry Jarrett: Go ahead… you have no grounds to stand on. You signed the contract to wrestle Hacksaw Butch Reed, Ron Simmons, and Tony Atlas in the Superdome and you, all on your own, decided to substitute Mr. Saito, a wrestler not even in the WCW to wrestle in your place. You are done here! Col. Debeers: (taking out two pieces of paper) Be careful Jarrett… Be very careful. First, I have the original contract for the match in the Superdome. It says, the members of the Anti-American Coalition will wrestle Reed, Simmons and Atlas. Jerry Jarrett: Exactly. Colonel Debeers: Read this! (Debeers hands the other paper to Jarrett) Jarrett reads the paper in silence and you can just see the smoke coming from his ears. Col. Debeers: Ahhh… I see that you have lost your voice Mr. Jarrett. I will just let everyone know that the paper you are holding is a legal contract that Mr. Saito has signed to become a member of the Anti-American Coalition and it is dated April 1, 1989… one day prior to Clash of Champions in the Superdome. So… you see, I did follow the original contract as it was the Anti-American Coalition fighting against your “wrestlers.” Jarrett is so angry he simple walks off while Debeers just laughs as he seems to still be employed here at WCW. After a commercial break, Jarrett comes back and while he is frustrated that Debeers has won this round, he does have a solution… At WrestleWar, as part of “The Crowning,” it will be Colonel Debeers vs “Mr. USA” Tony Atlas. Jarrett makes sure that he shows both Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone that the contract clearly states Col. Debeers and not a random member of the Anti-American Coalition. Debeers comes rushing out and is fuming… screaming about how he is being treated unfairly and that Jarrett has no right putting him the ring against someone of the likes of Atlas! Jarrett is smiling from ear to ear as he simply walks off while Debeers continues to scream and shout. Jim Ross tells Tony Schiavone that it might just be Jerry Jarrett who got the last laugh. Update on the Crowning The Crowning is the 8-Man Single Elimination Tournament to be held as part of WrestleWar next week at the Mid-South Coliseum where the winner gets a future WCW World Title Match at the event of their choosing. We already know that Jarrett has just added Col. Debeers and Tony Atlas to the event and after Clash of Champions, we know that two more of the entrants will be Sting and Terry Funk. Jerry Jarrett also informed us that the tournament will also include the other two WCW singles title holders, the United States Champion Lex Luger and the WCW World Television Champion “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert. Jarrett explained that both the United States Title and the Television Title will be on the line in only the first match that involved Luger or Gilbert. The last two entrants were determined by two big matches on TV this week: Hacksaw Butch Reed defeated “The Hustler” Rip Rogers with a top rope shoulder block. Interesting thing here was the Rogers was all by himself as it appears Terri Powers has had enough of his nonsense and left him. Physco Sid with Sir Oliver Humperdink beat Brad Armstrong with a powerbomb. Sid was even more viscous and uncontrollable then when he was Lord Humongous. Humperdink explained that the reason Sid wore the hockey mask was to calm him down and protect the other wrestlers in WCW from being broken in half. He reminds everyone to blame Lex Luger when Sid starts ending careers. Update on the Women’s Division We saw Wendy Richter completely turn heel at Clash of Champions as she tripped Madusa Miceli to help Magnificent Mimi get the win. The two were out at the podium gloating about how great it was to see Madusa’s face when the embraced after the match and how stupid Madusa was to think that Wendy would ever be on her side. This brought out Madusa who admitted that she was pretty dumb to ever think that Wendy Richter had an ounce of class in her. Richter and Mimi start to close in on her… they start to shove her… Madusa warns them not to do that. Richter asks, “What are you going to do about it,” and smacks her across the face. Mimi laughs but only for a second! From out of nowhere, Terri Powers comes in like a whirlwind. He power is on full display. If Mimi ever thought she was strong, she better think twice about it. After Madusa and Terri leave the two laying on the ground, Madusa goes to the mic and says, “this is only the beginning as Jerry Jarrett has added me and Terri against you two over-rated wrestlers at WrestleWar! Interviews with Ted Dibiase and The Horsemen Dibiase, who lost his WCW World Title match against Ric Flair last week at Clash of Champions due to interference by Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson said that he has lost all respect for Ric Flair who is just a paper champion as he can never do anything on his own. Later in the show, Flair, Anderson, and Blanchard came to the podium after Arn and Tully had a match against two jobbers who they clinically took apart. Flair went off on Dibiase talking about how the cream always rises to the top and that he told everyone that he would still be the champion after the Clash of Champions. Arn and Tully both let everyone know that there has never been another group in wrestling as the Horseman as that hold both the WCW World singles title and the WCW World Tag Team titles. Dibiase comes back to the podium but this time, he brings his old tag team partner, Dr. Death Steve Williams. Ross and Schiavone ask for peace but Dibiase can’t guarantee it as Flair always seems ready to fight when he has a numbers advantage while he runs like a yellow-bellied coward when he doesn’t. Flair says Dibiase is just a sore loser and if he isn’t careful, he will get another beating just like the other night. Dibiase explains that he should have known that Tully and Arn would come to Flair’s rescue but then he asks them if Flair as ever come to their rescue? Tully and Arn have a quizzical look before telling Dibase to stop playing his stupid mind games. Dibiase goes on to say that while it is obvious they have not wised-up but he has, so at WrestleWar, he and Dr. Death will challenge for the WCW World Tag Team Titles because they know it will be a fair fight as Flair won’t come to help them! Both Arn and Tully wonder what Dibiase is talking about as they don’t have a match scheduled against Dibiase and Williams. Dr. Death steps in to remind them that they have never had their rematch from when they were champions and they are cashing in now. Arn and Tully complain but Jerry Jarrett comes out and tells the Horsemen, that by WCW rule, former champions are allowed a rematch and WrestleWar seems like the perfect place to have it! The Horsemen complain but to no avail. Dibiase walks off reminding Tully and Arn exactly what he said before. “I guarantee you two that Ric Flair will not be by yourside when we are beating you all over the ring! Think about it. You two are being used!” Tony Schiavone and Jim Ross wonder if Dibiase has a point! WCW WORLD TITLE MATCH UPDATE: We all know that Ric Flair will have his toughest test yet as he tries to defend his title against Jerry “The King” Lawler in the Mid-South Coliseum. Now we don’t get anything physical between these two this week but we get a great segment with Flair back out at the podium. He seems to have moved on from Dibiase and now has his sights set on “Mr. Memphis.” Flair let everyone know that even Jerry Lawler knows this is the end of his career as he is not even close to “The Nature Boy’s” level. When Jim Ross tells him he thinks that Lawler knows nothing of the kind, Flair explains that Lawler has already moved on to his future job. Tony Schiavone: Come on Ric… you know that’s not true. Ric Flair: Well take a look at this… (Flair asks everyone to look at the video tape he found of Jerry Lawler becoming a fast food cook. Flair, laughing, says it already looks like Fat Jerry Lawler has been eating all the profits. Later in the show, Lawler comes out and is actually laughing at how stupid Ric Flair is but he promises a big barbeque down at Corky’s on Biele Street after he takes the title from the “big mouth” Ric Flair. Lawler also goes on to say that he has already invited Woman, Flair’s manager, as he knows she wants to be with a real winner. Jake “The Snake”, Magnificent Muraco/ Roddy Piper situation Snake and Muraco both had easy wins on TV this week and after Muraco beat Allen Tabbs, he and Snake went to the podium for an interview. They both complained about all the dirty tactics used by Jerry Lawler and Roddy Piper in their steel cage match at the Clash of Champions! Roddy Piper, comes out gloating in his arrogant way which the fans have grown to love. Jake Roberts claimed it was a fluke and challenges Piper to another match at WrestleWar! Piper laughs at Snake and reminds him that his partner, Jerry Lawler is already in a match that night but he will wrestle both he and Muraco in another match but he is getting tired of wasting his time so they need to make it worth his while. Muraco jumps in with a big grin on his face. Don Muraco: So you want to make it worth your while? I know Snake and I can beat you and anyone partner you can find. So why don’t we play for something serious! Why don’t we all put our contracts on the line. Loser-Leave Town Match. You pick the type of match you want! Roddy Piper: Now I like the sounds of that! I get to pick anyone I want and when I win, you two will leave WCW. Now, I’ve already beaten you in a steel cage match so that would be too easy. I’ve beaten you in a regular match… again too easy. Ahhh… Okay… Not that you two will have any chance in any match, so I might as well enjoy myself. NO HOLDS BARRED, STREET FIGHT! Losers Leave WCW! APRIL 17, 1989 MID-SOUTH COLISEUM (I KNOW I AM A LITTLE BEHIND) WOMEN’S TAG TEAM MATCH Magnificent Mimi & Wendy Richter vs Madusa Micelli & Terri Powers LOSER LEAVE TOWN STREET FIGHT MATCH Jake “The Snake” Roberts & Magnificent Muraco vs Roddy Piper & Mystery Partner THE CROWNING 8-MAN SINGLE ELIMINATION TOURNAMENT WINNER GETS A WCW WORLD TITLE SHOT WHENEVER THEY WANT FIRST ROUND MATCHES TO BE CHOSEN THAT NIGHT THE WRESTLERS ARE: United States Champion” “The Total Package” Lex Luger WCW World Television Champion: “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert Hacksaw Butch Reed Terry Funk Sting Colonel Debeers “Mr. USA” Tony Atlas Physco Sid WCW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard © vs Ted Dibiase & “Dr. Death” Steve Williams WCW WORLD TITLE MATCH “Nature Boy” Ric Flair © vs Jerry “The King” Lawler

These last few weeks are getting rough. TV matches generally (fortunately not always) seem shorter, workers like the Bucks are now cutting promos on the mic *during* their match and things like the 6 man titles / White/Gunn feud are getting multiple segments per show. What the hell is going on? The women have been an absolute mess. Toni Storm went from being one of the most charismatic and dynamic young women around to a channel changing/fast forward material "character" suffocating an entire division. Purrazzo came in and looked clunky from the jump rather. Couple that with being originally miscast as a babyface and now slow rolling towards a heel without any compelling motivation and you've got someone who's initial shine is quickly wearing off. Meanwhie Mone comes in and her runaway strength -- work -- is being leveraged by having her cut robotic promos while her first match is essentially 2 months after her debut? Some really puzzling decisions and priorities. I've got no doubt Dynasty will deliver in the ring because the PPVs always do. But outside of Joe's promos and a literal dream match in Ospreay/Danielson (which outside of the first, silent face to face they've done little to establish just what a bonkers match this is) they haven't given people much to sink their teeth into.

Well, that all seemed to be to minimize Julia's involvement. I feel like she was always losing on Sunday, but it will be interesting to see how that match plays out.

That damn TK not in control of the backstage area. Be someone's tag partner at your own risk.

Chris Hamrick was active by this period.

I watched the doc about him back when it came out and yeah he was a terrible guy. Looking forward to watching this episode.

I am pretty sure Inoki won the match by countout after a top rope flying knee to the floor. Antonio Inoki vs Seiji Sakaguchi - NJPW 4/21/78 MSG Series The opening match in the MSG Series, successor to the World League and precursor to the IWGP & G1 Leagues. Don’t be fooled by New Japan World this is not the Final, the final pits Inoki vs Andre on 5/30. I have not seen too much of Sakaguchi. It is his size that leaps off the page but not much else. Perhaps as I watch more of him, I will grow to appreciate him more but he seems like a solid hand. The match started as a pretty good Ace vs Second Banana technical contest with tempers flaring but they progressively lost steam down the stretch so this settled into the good, not great territory. The opening 30 minutes was surprisingly very Sakaguchi heavy on offense. Inoki really could not get much started. Besides an open salvo Saito Suplex that caused Sakaguchi to powder and some leg work, Sakaguchi stymied Inoki at every turn using his size, technique and most importantly his willingness to bend the rules and roughhouse to his advantage. The holds and amateur style takedowns and defense are a wrestling Purist dream. There is a great back heel trip by Sakaguchi on a rope break. That’s what I mean by blending the purity of amateur style with the storytelling of the professional style showing gamesmanship. There’s early warning signs. Each man chokes the other a little bit ;) but the ref is on it. Sakaguchi romps and stomps. Inoki wants to pull Sakaguchi out to the floor but can’t pull the trigger. It is Sakaguchi who finally lets it rips with strikes and wiping Inoki out with two wedgie style piledrivers. The ref doesn’t not count the pin because used the tights illegally to execute the move. God bless 1978 Japan! Sakaguchi hits an Atomic Stomp and even grabs the Octopus Stretch as time expires at the 30 minute mark. I thought this was great. I do have some issues with Inoki’s selling. He was doing a lot of not selling which is different than no selling. He was NOT registering the pain of the previous move or hold. He was just living onto the next one. On the flip side, Sakaguchi registered the pain of the Saito Suplex powdered acknowledged Inoki almost got him, realized it was kill or be killed and came back stronger. That’s a proper register. Inoki was being dominated but he was not very compelling underneath. They restart the match and this 10 minute stretch is not very good. They lose all the steam and storyline thread of the previous 30 minutes. Predictably it is Inoki’s turn to get on top. He dominates with holds and a Bombs Away Knee. It feels really heatless. He does clock Sakaguchi with a sick mule kick. This ten minute overtime ends with an Inoki figure-4 as time limit expires. I am assuming since they finished with Sakaguchi applying Inoki’s hold in the first period that the figure-4 is Sakaguchi’s hold? Am I right? Third reset not surprisingly this is quick. Inoki does his famous sliding kicks to the big man as they go out the ring. Inoki shoved him into the post and hits a BOMBS AWAY KNEE DROP FROM THE TOP ROPE TO THE FLOOR! Sick finish. Normalize countout finishes again in pro wrestling. There is some good stuff no doubt but it is hard to call this more than good. The heat just isn’t there and there is a lack of progression. The Bombs Away Kneedrop At the end is sick but feels tacked on. They had not worked the match to a fever pitch yet. ***1/4

I guess if there was any redeeming part of the Chris Adams episode it was that no matter how bad he got, he apparently never showed that side of himself to his children. They both seemed to know about it for sure, but it didn't seem like he abused them.

In the course of checking out other people’s matches, Tarzan Goto has cropped up a fair bit. In the process he’s gone from a guy I considered a Japanese Balls Mahoney (not a good thing) to someone whose matches I actively seek out. I could honestly see him landing higher than Onita depending on what indy gems are out there. Many thanks to Jetlag for their list of recs. I’d add: w. Mr Gannosuke vs Gedo & Jado 7/7/95 Vs Matsunaga 12/4/89

IIRC Dory Jr did actually roll his truck but the extent of his injuries were the controversial point.

I just completed a Mid-South/UWF project and knowing how the Chris Adams story ends makes it even more jarring that UWF's handling of the Chris Adams airplane arrest was to present him as a returning hero upon release referencing that he had gone to jail and done his time without specifically mentioning the incident, and having him give very surface-level generic speeches about how "alcohol is a drug too" that were on the same level as basic high school lectures about drinking and driving, and then having Iceman turn on him using "Jail Bird" as a heel taunt.

Kudos for going through all of these matches especially the ones that even looked bad on paper. I've watched the high end stuff (if you can call it that) for post split 2000 AJPW. The tag team landscape is great... perhaps unspectacular compared with the NOAH guys were doing but the match-ups in AJ are fresh... nothing feels set in stone, no outcome seems predictable. It's definitely a company in flux. The tag scene (sans Steele & Barton who I weren't interested in watching) is really where AJPW is thriving post split. I would say the only singles match worth watching is that Kawada vs Tenryu classic from October. But there's plenty of tag stuff that has not gotten the love it deserves especially if you're into late 80's AJPW/SWS/WAR like I am. My favorites were: Satoshi Kojima & Tatsutoshi Goto vs. Steve Williams & Nobutaka Araya (10/21) Masa Chono, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito vs. Toshiaki Kawada, Shiro Koshinaka & Masa Fuchi (10/21) Toshiaki Kawada & Masanobu Fuchi vs Taiyo Kea & Johnny Smith (11/18) Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya (12/06) Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi vs. Steve Williams & Mike Rotunda (12/09) I'm hoping to get a blog post together with reviews shortly. For curious folks, it is definitely worth checking out the top shelf stuff. The under card definitely seems skippable- thank you again for doing the dirty work!

She's 100% an awful person, but both things can be true at the same time that she is a trash pile and got harassed at work. Apparently there was truth to her claims since WWE investigated and then the Family put a hit on him.

Gotta fund that divorce, man.

I actually had some sympathy for Rousey at first, but the last couple of interviews I have seen/read with her have been getting perilously close to tinfoil hat territory. She seems borderline obsessed with talking about Bruce Prichard for some reason. She also keeps conflating her unhappiness with the sexist culture in WWE with unhappiness about the way she was booked. Maybe I am just predisposed to not liking her because she is a terrible human being who is an Alex Jones, Sandy Hook denying type. I couldn’t stand her long before she even got to WWE. I don’t think she helps Vince’s actual victims much, to be honest.

Matt Hardy showing back up in WWE, after spending the past couple of years verbally fellating the Young Bucks every chance he got, would be hysterical. It’s pretty obvious that Tony Khan sees little to no value in him, so they lowballed him on his contract offer. So now he has to go groveling back to WWE trying to get a job. Sad.

When you’ve had the title for over a year it’s tough to just go into no-match mode.

Shota's actually facing Moxley for the title at Resurgence (technically he's facing the winner of Moxley/Narita at Dontaku, but come on). I'd be shocked if they pulled the trigger on a title change, but I'd also be pretty impressed. Either way, they need to shit or get off the pot with the Musketeers. Having them continually face top guys and come up short every time is only going to make fans give up on them.