Royal Rumble 2011

Here are the stories coming out of the 2011 Royal Rumble
(courtesy of Wrestling Online Newswire)

ALBERTO DEL RIO WINS THE ROYAL RUMBLE
- Alberto Del Rio has got himself an express ticket to the main event of
WrestleMania after he yesterday successfully out-lasted 39 other WWE
Superstars to win the Royal Rumble. The final four were John Cena, Alberto
Del Rio, Randy Orton and Wade Barrett. The Miz ran in and eliminated Cena
while Del Rio eliminated Barrett and Orton quickly afterward. However the
match was not over as Santino Marella was hiding under the ring, never
eliminated. Just when Del Rio thought he won, Marella came out and appeared
to throw Del Rio out, only to be reversed and the Cobra man ended up
over-the-top himself, giving Del Rio the win. Former WCW champions Kevin
Nash and Booker T made their WWE return yesterday as well and participated
in the Rumble match, although they didn't last too long. They certainly got
the biggest pop of the night and the largest round of boos when eliminated.
Their participation was supposed to remain as a surprise but word quickly
spread online on Saturday and someone even shot a video of Kevin Nash
arriving at the airport in Boston. Nash worked as Diesel. Dolph Ziggler and
Randy Orton were also in the match despite their losing efforts earlier in
the show in their respective title matches.

> EDGE, THE MIZ RETAIN TITLES AT THE RUMBLE
- Here are the results from yesterday's Royal Rumble pay-per-view which took
place from the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts: Edge defeated Dolph
Ziggler in the opening match to retain the World Heavyweight title in a
match where the spear was banned; The Miz defeated Randy Orton to retain the
WWE title following interference by Nexus after CM Punk hit Orton with the
G2S; The 2-on-1 handicap match for the Divas title was turned into a
four-way match when Eve joined Natalya, Michelle McCool and Layla. Eve ended
up winning the Divas title after pinning Layla; and Alberto Del Rio won the
40-man over-the-top rope Royal Rumble.

> NASH BACK IN AS DIESEL
- Big Sexy Kevin Nash made his first WWE television appearance since 2003
where he last wrestled for the company at that year's SummerSlam in an
Elimination Chamber match. The former WWE and WCW champion left to undergo
neck surgery and when his WWE contract came up it wasn't renewed, leaving
the door open to go to TNA. Nash was negotiating a deal to return to TNA
after he again left in October of last year and during the last week
negotiations between the two parties stopped and TNA removed him from the
roster page during the weekend despite he was gone for three months.
"Absolutely the best night of my wrestling career," wrote Nash on Twitter
who used the Diesel gimmick again at yesterday's Rumble. "It's so nice to be
back in WWE family. Thanks Boston for making me feel so special," he added.
The Corre's Wade Barrett eventually eliminated Nash from the Rumble but Big
Sexy had a sort of a staredown with his former nWo team mate Big Show on the
way back to the locker room.


> BOOKER T RETURNS AT THE RUMBLE
- Can you dig it, suckaaaaaaaa? Former WCW Heavyweight champion Booker T
received an enormous pop when he walked out for the Royal Rumble with both
commentators Michael Cole and Matt Striker standing up once the music hit
the speakers. "This is a mark out moment," exclaimed Striker as fans around
the TD Garden went bananas. Booker's time was cut short however as the Nexus
members quickly got rid of him but not before Booker hit his trademark moves
and yes, even a spinaroonie in the middle of the ring. Booker had entry
number twenty one and was thrown over the top by Mason Ryan. This was Booker
T's first WWE appearance since 2007. It is believed that Booker will have
mostly other duties this time around mainly announcing.

SuperBrawl VI

Our match of the Day today is from Feb 11th 1996 and SuperBrawl 6 held in St Petersburg Florida.

The main event was a cage match between Hulk Hogan and the Giant.

Saturday Night's Main Event #25

1990 - The WWF's 25th edition of Saturday Night's Main Event airs on NBC, earning an 11.1 rating. The show was taped January 3 in Chattanooga, Tennessee at the UTC Arena. The results:

- Randy Savage (with Sensational Sherri) pinned Jim Duggan, after Sensational Sherri grabbed Duggan's leg during a suplex into the ring.
- WWF Champion Hulk Hogan and WWF Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior defeated The Genius and Mr. Perfect, when Hogan pinned Genius after the Legdrop, following Warrior's press slam. After the match, the Warrior accidentally clotheslined Hogan after Hogan grabbed him from behind as Warrior was fighting off Perfect and The Genius, with them having a shoving match as a result.

- Jake Roberts defeated Greg Valentine by disqualification after Ted DiBiase interfered.
- Dusty Rhodes (with Sapphire) and Rick Rude (Bobby Heenan) fought to a double-countout. Both managers had been ejected from ringside during the match, with Sapphire returning to a ringside seat after buying a ticket.
- Dino Bravo (with Earthquake) pinned Ronnie Garvin, when Bravo reversed a top-rope crossbody into a pin. Earthquake attacked Garvin after the match, with Garvin being taken from the ring on a stretcher.

Today in Wrestling History Jan 27th

1904 - Frank Gotch defeats Tom Jenkins in Bellingham, Washington to win the American Heavyweight Title, ending Jenkins' second reign.

1973 - The Sheik defeats Bobo Brazil for the Detroit NWA United States Heavyweight Title in Detroit, Michigan, to begin his fourth reign and end Brazil's sixth.

1987 - The Midnight Rockers (Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels) defeat Buddy Rose and Doug Somers in St. Paul, Minnesota to win the AWA World Tag Team Title.

1993 - The legendary Ande the Giant passes away from congestive heart failure, due to a tumor on his pituitary gland causing it to produce excess growth hormone, a condition known as acromegaly. Andre died in his sleep in a Paris, France hotel room, where he was in town for his father's funeral. He was born Andre Roussimoff in Coulmmiers, France on May 19, 1946, and was trained by former World Heavyweight Champion Eduoard Carpentier in the late 1960s.
Andre made his WWWF debut on October 24, 1972 in White Plains, New York, teaming with WWWF World Champion Pedro Morales against WWWF Tag Team Champions Prof. Tanaka and Mr. Fuji. He also won the WWF World Title in 1988 in a controversial match which ended with Andre giving the title to Ted DiBiase, which was later disallowed. Andre's last match in the WWF came on April 13, 1990 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, before 53,742 fans. The event was called the Wrestling Summit, and featured wrestlers from the WWF as well as All Japan and New Japan Pro Wrestling. Andre teamed with Giant Baba to defeat WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition (Ax and Smash) in a non-title match, when Andre pinned Smash with an elbowdrop. Posthumously, Andre the Giant was the first wrestler inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame in 1993.

1994 - WCW holds Clash of the Champions XXVI at the Centroplex in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The live show got a 3.5 rating on TBS. The results:
- Marcus Bagwell and 2 Cold Scorpio defeated Pretty Wonderful (Paul Orndorff and Paul Roma), when Bagwell pinned Roma.
- Ron Simmons pinned Ice Train.
- Brian Pillman pinned Robert Parker in a "loser wears a chicken suit" match.
- Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne defeated WCW World Tag Team Champions The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) in a non-title match, when Cactus pinned Knobbs.
- WCW World Television Champion Lord Steven Regal fought Dustin Rhodes to a 15-minute time-limit draw to retain the title.
- Sting and WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair defeated Rick Rude and Vader in an elimination match. Flair and Vader were both counted out, and Sting pinned Rude to win.

Royal Rumble 2004

January 25th 2004 was the date for the 17th annual WWF Royal Rumble PPV.

Held at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia PA

Here is the Royal Rumble Match

Royal Rumble 2000

The Royal Rumble 2000 was good but the RR match was a let dow but the highlight of the show was the Tables, Ladders and Chairs match between the Hardy Boys and the Dudleys.

From Madison Square Garden today in 2000 its a classic TLC match.

Royal Rumble 1991

Today in 1991 the WWF held its 4th annual Royal Rumble PPV, this year in Miami Florida.

The Ultimate Warrior would put up his WWF Title against Sgt. Slaughter.

Match of the Day

From Beach Blast 1992 held in Mobile Alabama

The main event, for the WCW World Tag Team Titles

Champions - The Steiner Brothers vs "Dr. Death" Steve Williams/Terry "BamBam" Gordy

2 of the greatest tag team in history face off for the first time

Wrestle Kingdom V

Here is the video from New Japan Pro Wrestling's New Years event Wrestle Kingdom 5
Held January 4th 2011 at the Tokyo Dome.

0-1. World Wrestling Interpromotional Match: Wataru Inoue, Tiger Mask, Tomoaki Honma & Tama Tonga vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Tomohiro Ishii, Jado & Gedo
0-2. World Wrestling Invitation Match: Koji Kanemoto & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kenny Omega & Taichi
1. IWGP Tag Team Title – 3WAY Match: Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson © vs. James Storm & Robert Roode vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Strong Man
2. ROAD TO FANTASIC MANIA: Jushin Thunder Liger & Hector Garza vs. La Sombra & Mascara Dorada
3. DEEP SLEEP TO LOSE: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Takashi Iizuka
4. NJPW-TNA Greatest Showcase: Toru Yano vs. Rob Van Dam



5. NO JUSTICE, NO LIFE: Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki
6. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt © vs. Kota Ibushi
7. NJPW vs. NOAH Battle Combustion I – Kazuchika Okada Return Match: Hirooki Goto & Kazuchika Okada vs. Takashi Sugiura & Yoshihiro Takayama
8. TNA World Heavyweight Title: Jeff Hardy © vs. Tetsuya Naito

WCW Souled Out 2000

Today in 2000, WCW held its fourth and final edition of Souled Out from Cincinnati Ohio.

Bret Hart had vacated the WCW World Heavyweight Title a few days before this event due to a severe concussion received at Starrcade and this left WCW to move Chris Benoit into main event against #1 contender Sid Vicious for the WCW World Title.
Arn Anderson was the "Special Guest Referee". WCW would strip Beniot of the belt the next night on Monday Nitro when he submitted to the crippler crossface. In reality Beniot had quit WCW out of frustration with Bischoff and others "in charge" and would debut in the WWF within the next few weeks.

Match of the Day

Today's match is from the WCW PPV Event in May 1992 , Wrestle War 92.

This is was a match for the WCW World Tag Team Titles

The Champions - The Steiner Brothers vs Tatsumi Fujinami/Takayuki Iizuka

The Royal Rumble 1989

Today in 1989 the WWF held its second Royal Rumble and the first to be a PPV event.
The first Royal Rumble aired on the USA Network in 1988. From the Summit Arena in Houston Texas here is the Royal Rumble match.

APTER INTERVIEWS MR. WRESTLING II -- UNMASKED -- AUGUST 2010

The legendary Mr. Wrestling II on tv without his mask for the first time ever! August 2010

Match of the Day

Today's match is a true classic. Its a match with the Living Legend Bruno Sammartino against Larry Zbysko.
This was a CLASSIC fued that was built up over a year and lasted for years after the big blow out match at old Shea Stadium where Bruno beat his "former protege" in a cage match. Zbysko is probably one of the all time great heels and he could really work a crowd into a frenzy of hatred for him. Most times in the old days he would need an escort to leave the building after the show, people wanted to kill him.
The amazing thing about this time, you could have a crowd really excited and wanting you to break the mans arm with a arm lock, this wasnt a fight like you see now this was a "wrestling" match and people were just crazy for it.

This match is from about 1980-81 and from the Spectrum in Philadelphia.

Match of the Day

Todays Match goes back to SuperBrawl 2, Feb 29th 1992.

US Heavyweight Title

Rick Rude (Champion) vs Ricky Steamboat

SuperBrawl 3

SuperBrawl 3 Feb 23 1993

For the NWA World Heavyweight Title

World Champion - The Great Muta vs Barry Windham

SuperBrawl 2

Today we look at one of the best matches from 1992.
From WCW SuperBrawl 2 the late Brian Pillman taking on Jushin "Thunder" Liger.

Match of the Day

Today's match is from January 10th 1999 and ECW's first annual Guilty as Charged PPV.

This is the co-main event, Justin Credible vs Tommy Dreamer in a "Stairway to Hell" ladder match.

Royal Rumble 1997

From the Alamo Dome in San Antonio, Texas

The 1997 Royal Rumble match.

Match of the Day

Today lets go back to January 22nd 1994 and the Royal Rumble match.

News

"MR. WONDERFUL" PAUL ORNDORFF REVEALS HE HAS CANCER
- WWE Hall of Famer Paul Orndorff revealed that he has cancer during his
appearance on the talk show Busted Open on SIRIUS just moments ago. "Prayers
for Paul Orndorff who announced on our show that he has cancer. He is truly
Mr. Wonderful," read a post on the show's official Twitter feed. The 61 year
old former WCW television and tag team title holder was inducted into the
WWE Hall of Fame in 2005. Orndorff wrestled for both WWE and WCW between
1983 and 1995 and a string of injuries forced him to retire.

Today in Wrestling History

1929 - Gus Sonnenberg defeats Ed "Strangler" Lewis to win the World Heavyweight Title in Boston, Massachusetts, ending Lewis' fifth reign. The National Wrestling Association would later withdraw its recognition of Sonnenberg in favor of Dick Shikat, based on Sonnenberg not facing "real contenders".

1986 - Arn Anderson defeats Wahoo McDaniel in a tournament final to win the vacant NWA World Television Title in Greensboro, North Carolina. The title was stripped from Dusty Rhodes on October 19 due to Rhodes having his leg broken by Ric Flair and Ole and Arn Anderson on September 29.

1988 - In Dallas, Texas, The Freebirds (Terry Gordy, King Parsons and Buddy Roberts) defeat Chris Adams, Matt Borne (subbing for Kevin Von Erich) and Steve Simpson to win the World Class Six-Man Tag Team Title.

1992 - At New Japan Pro Wrestling's annual Tokyo Dome show, "Starrcade 1992 in Tokyo Dome", Riki Chōshū defeats Tatsumi Fujinami to retain his Greatest 18 Title and win the IWGP World Heavyweight Title. This ended Fujinami's fourth reign and began Chōshū's third.

1993 - At New Japan's annual Tokyo Dome show, "Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome", IWGP World Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta defeats Masahiro Chono to win Chono's NWA World Title. Also, Jushin Liger defeats Ultimo Dragon for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title, beginning Liger's sixth reign.

1994 - At New Japan's annual Tokyo Dome show, "Battlefield", The Hell Raisers (Hawk Warrior (Road Warrior Hawk) and Power Warrior (Kensuke Sasaki)) defeat The Jurassic Powers (Hercules Hernandez and Scott Norton) to win the IWGP World Tag Team Title, beginning their second reign.

1995 - At New Japan's annual Tokyo Dome show, "Battle 7", Antonio Inoki defeats Sting in the finals of the Final Countdown BVD Tournament.



1996 - At New Japan's annual Tokyo Dome show, "Wrestling World 1996", Nobuhiko Takada defeats Keiji Muto to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Title, ending Muto's second reign. Also, Jushin Liger defeats Koji Kanemoto for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title. This began Liger's seventh reign and ended Kanemoto's second.

1997 - At New Japan's annual Tokyo Dome show, "Wrestling World 1997", Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura defeat Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan to win the IWGP World Tag Team Title. This began Fujinami and Kimura's fourth reign and ended Chono and Tenzan's second. Also, Jushin Liger defeats Ultimo Dragon for the eight J-Crown titles.

1998 - Riki Chōshū wrestled what was then to be his final five career matches, consecutively, at New Japan's annual Tokyo Dome show, "Final Power Hall in Tokyo Dome". The series of matches was called the "Riki Road Final Message 5". Chōshū pinned Kazuyuki Fujita and Yutaka Yoshie after lariats, made Tatsuhito Takaiwa submit to the Sasori-Gatame (Chōshū's own finishing move), and was defeated by Takashi Iizuka by submission with an ankle lock. In his final match, Chōshū pinned Jushin Liger after a lariat.

1999 - The Monday Night War continued, and featured two very infamous moments, both occurring on WCW Monday Nitro. WWF RAW is WAR's show, taped December 28 in Worcester, Massachusetts at the Centrum, won the night with a 5.7 rating. That rating was contributed to by Tony Schiavone's comment that Mankind would win the WWF World Title on RAW and "put a lot of butts in the seats", during Nitro.
Nitro was live from WCW's homebase, Atlanta, Georgia at the Georgia Dome, and featured "The Fingerpoke of Doom", when Hollywood Hulk Hogan simply poked WCW World Champion Kevin Nash in the chest as the two faced off, causing him to fall to the mat. Hogan pinned Nash, won his fifth WCW World Title, and the nWo was reformed. The crowd at the Georgia Dome was stunned at the "main event" as it had been set up as Hogan and Nash having a grudge match. Nitro came in second with a 5.0 rating.

1999 - At New Japan's annual Tokyo Dome show, "Wrestling World 1999", Keiji Muto defeats Scott Norton to win his third IWGP World Heavyweight Title. Also, Kendo Kashin and Dr. Wagner, Jr. defeat Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title.

2000 - At New Japan's annual Tokyo Dome show, "Wrestling World 2000", Kensuke Sasaki pinned Genichiro Tenryu for his second IWGP World Heavyweight Title.

2001 - New Japan's annual Tokyo Dome show, "Wrestling World 2001", featured a six-man tournament for the vacant IWGP World Heavyweight Title, which was vacated on October 9 when then-champion Kensuke Sasaki lost a non-title match to Toshiaki Kawada. Kawada and Masahiro Chono received first-round byes in the tournament. 62,001 fans attended the event. The results:
- In a tournament quarterfinal match, Kensuke Sasaki defeated Satoshi Kojima by submission with a Boston crab.
- In a tournament quarterfinal match, IWGP World Tag Team Champion Hiroyoshi Tenzan pinned Yuji Nagata after a moonsault.
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Koji Kanemoto and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Minoru Tanaka defeated Shinya Makabe and Tatsuhito Takaiwa, when Kanemoto made Makabe submit with an ankle lock.
- Takashi Iizuka defeated Kendo Kashin with a sleeper hold.
- In a tournament semifinal match, Kensuke Sasaki defeated Masahiro Chono by submission with the Strangle Hold γ.
- In a tournament semifinal match, Toshiaki Kawada pinned IWGP World Tag Team Champion Hiroyoshi Tenzan after a powerbomb.
- Keiji Muto and Shinjiro Otani defeated Jushin Liger and Manabu Nakanishi, when Otani made Liger submit with a cobra twist.
- Riki Chōshū and Shinya Hashimoto fought to a no contest.
- Kensuke Sasaki pinned Toshiaki Kawada after a Northern Lights bomb to win the tournament and the vacant IWGP World Heavyweight Title, beginning his third reign.

2003 - At New Japan's annual Tokyo Dome show, "Wrestling World 2003", Yoshihiro Takayama defeats Tsuyoshi Kosaka to win the NWF Heavyweight Title, revived after 22 years of inactivity. Also, the Young Generation Cup four-man tournament took place, with Ryushi Yanagisawa defeating Yutaka Yoshie in the finals.

2004 - At New Japan's annual Tokyo Dome show, "Wrestling World 2004", IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shinsuke Nakamura defeats NWF Heavyweight Champion Yoshihiro Takayama in Tokyo, Japan to unify the titles. The NWF title dates back to 1970 and Pedro Martinez's National Wrestling Federation, which was initially an NWA office, and was mainly defended in the Buffalo, New York, Cleveland, Ohio and Toronto, Ontario areas, until then-champion Johnny Powers took it with him on a tour of Japan. Powers lost the NWF title to Antonio Inoki in 1973, and the title remained a New Japan-promoted title until it was retired in 1981. In 2003, the title was revived by NJPW, but was again retired when Nakamura defeated Takayama. Also at the show, Jushin Liger defeats Takashi Sugiura for the Pro Wrestling NOAH GHC Junior Heavyweight Title.

2005 - At New Japan's annual Tokyo Dome show, "Toukon Festival: Wrestling World 2005", Tiger Mask defeated HEAT (Minoru Tanaka) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title, beginning Tiger Mask's second reign and ending Tanaka's third. Also, Shinsuke Nakamura defeats Hiroshi Tanahashi to win the IWGP U-30 Title, and Ron Waterman won an eight-man MMA-style (worked) tournament, defeating Yuji Nagata in the final match.

2010 - Bret Hart returned to WWE, more than a decade after the infamous 1997 Montreal Screwjob, during an edition of Raw in Ohio. Hart appeared on Raw and buried the hatchet with Shawn Michaels. This was followed by an angle with Vince McMahon where McMahon kicked Hart in the groin, starting the build towards their Wrestlemania 26 match, which Hart would win.

Match of the Day

Today's Match is from 1989 and was for the IWGP Heavyweight Title.

The champion Tatsumi Fujinami defended against Vicious Warrior (Sid Vicious/Sycho Syd/Sid Justice)

Match of the Day

Today's match is from the Royal Rumble of 2003 and the match between The Big Show and Brock Lesnar.

Wrestle Kingdom V

TNA SUPERSTARS IN TOKYO FOR WRESTLEKINGDOM EVENT
- Four TNA Superstars are in Tokyo, Japan as tomorrow they will be
participating in the annual WrestleKingdom event at the Tokyo Dome which
will feature three interpromotional matches between TNA Wrestling and New
Japan Pro Wrestling among its eleven matches card. For the first time ever
the TNA World title will be defended as Jeff Hardy goes against Tetsuya
Naito, Rob Van Dam battles Toru Yano and Beer Money will try to get the IWGP
World Tag Team titles in a match against the team of Giant Bernard and Karl
Anderson and Manabu Nakanishi and Strong Man in a three way match.

Saturday Night's Main Event #14

Airing on this day in 1988 was the 14th edition of the WWF's "Saturday Night's Main Event.
Taped on December 7 in Landover, Maryland at Capital Centre aired on NBC.


The results:
- WWF Tag Team Champions Strike Force (Rick Martel and Tito Santana) defeats The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov) in a Two out of Three Falls match in two straight falls to retain the titles. Martel made Zhukov submit with the Boston Crab to win the first fall, and Santana pinned Zhukov to win the second.


- Jake Roberts pinned Sika with a roll-up.
- WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned King Kong Bundy with the legdrop.
- Greg Valentine defeated Koko B. Ware by submission with the figure-four leglock.

Slam! Wrestling's top stories of 2010

CANOE -- SLAM! Sports - Wrestling - SLAM! Wrestling's top stories of 2010

Match of the Day

Off to Japan for our New Years Day Match.

from 1982 its Dynamite Kid vs Tiger Mask.

2 legends live up to the billing.