Top Five – Trish Stratus Is The First Female Recipient Of The Iron Mike Mazurki Award
What were the top stories last week?
I first want to apologize for the lack of content this week. I was in Las Vegas attending the Cauliflower Alley Club festivities. I’ll have a lot about the event below.
We’ll be back in full this week.
We also want to pay our respects to the family of Balls Mahoney. Dave Meltzer has a bio up in the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer.
Let’s get to the stories that didn’t quite make the top five.
Pro Wrestling
– Aroluxe Marketing is negotiating to buy TNA.
– Two Global Cruiserweight qualifying matches will take place on Evolve’s May 7th card.
– I really loved how Gallows and Anderson debuted together on Raw.
– WWE signed a bunch of prospects including Nikki Storm.
– After several changes in the schedule, the Undertaker is now off the European tour. Shane McMahon and Triple H will join the tour.
– Konnor and Adam Rose fail their second wellness tests.
– Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura had a match over the weekend. I would pay good coin to see them wrestle.
MMA
– UFC 200 is shaping up to be a huge weekend.
Here we go! Everything you need to know about #UFC200 & @ufcfightweek tix!Register now at https://t.co/z8F8cMMrpE! pic.twitter.com/4kyl17EHIi
— UFC (@ufc) April 15, 2016
– Might Ronda Rousey fight at the UFC’s inaugural Madison Square Garden on November 12?
– Glover Teixeira made easy work of Rashad Evans on UFC on Fox.
Boxing
– Triple G signs with Jordan Brand.
– It’s not surprising that Pacquiao Vs Bradley 3 didn’t do well on PPV.
– Errol Spence Jr. was impressive in making quick and easy work of Chris Algieri.
– It’s the week of drug test failures as Felix Sturm fails his.
– Thurman/Porter is set for June 25th at Barclays.
And now, the top five…
5. Bray Wyatt was injured in Milan.
There’s never a good time to be hurt, but this version of Bray Wyatt’s character seems to have steam. Personally, I haven’t been a fan of his character, but as a babyface, I absolutely loved him.
He was hurt in Milan on WWE’s overseas tour. Oddly, there hasn’t been a ton of information about the injury. Let’s hope for the best.
4. Kimbo Slice headlines Bellator 158 in London.
Bellator is going to use Kimbo Slice for all he’s worth, which is smart as long as he draws TV viewers for Spike TV. The negative is that with Slice, comes a ton of negativity. Kevin Iole has already written an article on Slice main eventing after failing his drug test.
He’s facing James Thompson. Josh Koscheck will face Paul Daley.
Here’s what Bellator’s press release says about the show:
It was the most-watched fight in the history of mixed martial arts with 7.28 million viewers, and on Sunday night Bellator MMA President Scott Coker joined ESPN’s SportsCenter to officially announce that Kimbo Slice (6-2) and James Thompson (20-16) are going to run it back inside the world famous O2 Arena in London on July 16 during the main event of “Bellator 158: London.” The tentpole event also features another highly anticipated rematch in the co-main event — when a grudge match nearly six years in the making boils over as Josh Koscheck (17-10) takes on Paul “Semtex” Daley (38-13-2).
In the United Kingdom, the event will be broadcast free on SPIKE UK and Channel 5, while in America, the card will air free on SPIKE. Exact broadcast details for “Bellator 158: London” will be revealed in the near future.
3. Rafael Dos Anjos defends his lightweight title against Eddie Alvarez on Fight Pass.
BREAKING: UFC 155lbs title is on the line ONLY on #UFCFIGHTPASS, Thursday, July 7 @RdosAnjosMMA vs @Ealvarezfight! pic.twitter.com/BwxI5T2vat
— UFC Fight Pass (@UFCFightPass) April 15, 2016
That’s a helluva Fight Pass main event.
2. Lyoto Machida fails his USADA test and fight with Dan Henderson falls though.
This is a weird one. A few days before his fight with Dan Henderson, Machida was pulled because of what he declared he was taking.
Here’s what the UFC released:
The UFC organization was made aware today by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), the independent administrator of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, that Lyoto Machida declared the usage of a banned substance during an out-of-competition sample collection last week. Machida stated that he was unaware that the substance was prohibited both in and out of competition and, in accordance with the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, his disclosure of usage will be taken into consideration by USADA during any potential results management and adjudication process.
Henderson has a new fight on UFC 199 against Hector Lombard.
P.O.S. -No respect https://t.co/03O5oM7sM9
— Dan Henderson (@danhendo) April 13, 2016
1. Trish Stratus is the first female recipient of the Iron Mike Mazurki Award at the Cauliflower Alley Club.
Trish Stratus was the main event of the Cauliflower Alley Club banquet, receiving the biggest award of the night. Her speech was great, as covered by Greg Oliver.
But allow me to fanboy for a bit. I was enamored with Trish Stratus on day one. I think most male Attitude Era fans were the second she walked out on stage with Test and Albert. However, she transformed a character that was there for the T&A factor, into the most memorable WWE female wrestler since Vince McMahon took over WWE from his father. Maybe the Fabulous Moolah is more famous simply because of how the history has been written. But I don’t think it’s all that arguable that Trish Stratus has been the most successful WWE female wrestler of all-time.
Lance Russell was the draw for my friend John LaRocca. Arn Anderson was the draw for Double D Dave Dutra. But Trish was the draw for me. She also used my photo for her Instagram, which delighted me.
Compare with this photo.
Another one of @trishstratuscom who gave an excellent speech. #CAC51 pic.twitter.com/sSzM8QZ2ra
— fightgamemedia (@fightgamemedia) April 14, 2016
All in all, I enjoyed my quick trip out to Las Vegas. The banquet was excellent with heartfelt speeches by honorees Paul Orndorff, Arn Anderson, Ken Patera, Lance Russell, Sue Aitchison and James Beard. Patera was a little over-the-top, talking about peeing in a place that is not the restroom. There were some other nice speeches on Tuesday night at the Bockwinkel Blowout by Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell and Pepper Martin.
I didn’t get to see all the panels, but did see the one on Minnesota wrestling with Gagne, Brunzell, and Larry “The Axe” Hennig. They told some great stories and Hennig was hilarious. He couldn’t hear all the questions, but improvised on some, cracking up the entire room in the process.
The panel that should’ve been one of the single greatest panels of all-time was the broadcasting panel. Dr. Mike Lano was given a few days to put something together and he had Jim Ross, Lance Russell, Jerry Lawler, Pepper Martin, and Gene Okerlund in the room to talk about the industry. When you are talking to guys whose main job it is to talk, it’s probably best to just let them talk. But Lano tried to moderate the discussion far too much and it hurt the discussion a bit. It was a good discussion, but should’ve been great.
Legends. @JRsBBQ @JerryLawler #LanceRussell #CAC51 pic.twitter.com/yXog0JThtA
— fightgamemedia (@fightgamemedia) April 13, 2016
The “coolest” moment was at the banquet. LaRocca, Dutra, myself, longtime wrestling fan Derek Hough, Dave Meltzer, and UFC fighter Filthy Tom Lawlor were all sitting together. Jim Ross came over to talk to Meltzer, but he just hung out with us for 15 minutes and chopped it up about anything and everything. We talked about wrestling, the WWE Network (and putting up the Mid South shows in order), and his strategy with the boxing broadcast he was doing on the weekend. It was a very memorable moment.
#CAC51 crew pic.twitter.com/EXAGokOEUd
— GG (@roheblius) April 14, 2016
John, Dave, and myself may find some time to record a podcast about the weekend in the near future.
See you next week.
