There were two big events Saturday night. But only one gets the top spot on this week’s top five.
Before we get going here, I feel good (as of the time of writing), but clearly not as good as Ric Flair feels here.
Chris Harrington (aka @mookieghana) posted a bunch of classic wrestling photos like this one of Flair on Twitter this morning. Check out his Twitter feed for more.
One piece of house cleaning – Premier president and friend of FGB John LaRocca and I did a podcast going over all the events for WrestleMania weekend. There are so many shows and thanks to LaRocca’s knowledge of not only the indy scene, but the Bay Area indy scene, we have previews of all the shows. Listen to our guide to WrestleMania weekend on FGB Radio.
Let’s get to the stories that just missed the top five this week.
– Gennady Golovkin’s next fight is scheduled.
– The Rock is scheduled to host Saturday Night Live the night before WrestleMania 31. I guess it’s not likely that he’s there at the show on Sunday to support his use.
Can't wait..RT: @nbcsnl: Very excited to announce Dwayne Johnson to host #SNL March 28 w/ musical guest @george_ezra! pic.twitter.com/2e6LXH42Xn
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) March 15, 2015
– Our buddy, Jason Hagholm did a fun interview with Sean Wheelock, which we wrote about earlier this week. Wheelock talks about the end of Bjorn Rebney’s reign and why he likes Scott Coker.
– Wes Sims set up a Go Fund Me page for Mark Coleman who is having financial trouble. You can donate by going to the Save The Hammer page.
– Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao held a press conference during the week that was light on information, but at least everyone was nice to each other.
– SummerSlam sold out immediately.
– Conor The Crusher will be the first recipient of the Ultimate Warrior Award.
– The UFC has announced a press conference tour for McGregor vs Aldo.
– Just before I published this, it was announced that AAA’s Rey de Reyes was postponed until tomorrow because of bad weather.
And now, onto the top five.
5. NXT runs WrestleMania weekend.
Of course, it had to happen right after LaRocca and I recorded our podcast, but NXT is running Friday night at the San Jose State Events Center.
In case you’re keeping track, Evolve, ROH, King Of Indies, and now NXT are running shows that night. For those going to ROH, you’re going to miss probably half of the NXT show if you have tickets to both. But hell, I’m making a run for both.
4. Premier Boxing Champions holds their first Spike TV show.
The show itself was entertaining and featured good fights. The crowd was hot all night and helped make the show. Andre Berto, Cris Arreola, and Shawn Porter all won their fights like expected. Berto and Porter specifically looked good. And it’s hard to dislike Arreola.
The announcing was solid and Dana Jacobson as the host was a great addition, similar to how Michelle Beadle works well on Jim Lampley’s “The Fight Game” show. She’s knowledgeable, has an easy delivery and asked solid questions. You don’t often see women commentators in boxing, so it’s a nice progression.
On the negative side, her co-host Tommy Hearns was hard to watch and even harder to understand.
3. Kota Ibushi wins the New Japan Cup.
Ibushi beat Tetsuya Naito and then Hirooki Goto to win the New Japan Cup.
2015 New Japan Cup Winner, Kota Ibushi #NJPW #NJCup #DDTPro pic.twitter.com/VrpJK2A4pi
— LARIATOOOOO!!! (@SenorLARIATO) March 15, 2015
This sets up an IWGP title match against AJ Styles on 4/5/15.
2. Sergey Kovalev knocks out Jean Pascal.
It wasn’t easy as Pascal was game, coming back from being knocked down, and really, knocked around for most of the fight. But he started to get his footing later in the fight until the 8th when Kovalev knocked him silly.
Pascal’s trunks read “Blackboa” as in, he needed to be the Black Rocky Balboa to win the fight over the favored Kovalev.
But Kovalev’s pressure and power was too much. He may very well be the second best fighter pound for pound in the game today.
1. There’s two new UFC champions.
Unfortunately, I had to miss UFC 185 and didn’t see what was a historic night when it comes to championships. In the semi-main event, Joanna Jędrzejczyk took Carla Esparza apart, winning the strawweight championship in Esparza’s first defense.
And in the main event, Rafeal Dos Anjos ran over Anthony Pettis for five straight rounds to win the lightweight championship.
The last time two championships traded hands was all the way back in 2008 when Forrest Griffin knocked out Rashad Evans and Frank Mir beat Big Nog (which was for the interim title).
See you next week.