Wrestling Lockup with Brandon, brought to you by Triple Threat CLE brings you the Weekend 3 Count. W3C brings you wrestling news, rumors and recaps from around the wrestling world. You'll find news and recaps involving WWE, NXT, TNA, ROH, Lucha Underground, GFW, NJPW, House of Hardcore and any Indy promotion that I find an interesting story or a cool discovery in. Be sure to check out the W3C every Sunday at @TripleThreatCLE.
*** WWE ***
- Injuries At WWE TLC: After WWE TLC went off the air, fans in attendance stated that both AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose may have suffered injuries during their Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match. Styles was being checked on by trainers with a possible foot injury. Styles was seen trying to move his foot around and limped to the backstage area. Dean Ambrose meanwhile had to be helped to the backstage area by trainers.
- The Freebird Rule: WWE announced after WWE TLC that The Wyatt Family will be using the Freebird Rule during their tag team title run. Meaning Luke Harper will be allowed to also defend the WWE Smackdown Live World Tag Team Championship with either Bray Wyatt or Randy Orton.
- Brock Lesnar Returns: Brock Lesnar made his return to the ring last week for the first time since getting squashed by Goldberg at WWE Survivor Series. Lesnar returned to the ring at Saturday's WWE live event in Mexico City and defeated Rusev in under 5 minutes.
- Goldberg On RAW: The Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida has announced Bill Goldberg for the January 2nd RAW. Goldberg will begin his Royal Rumble storyline after announcing he would be in the 30 man Royal Rumble a few weeks back.
- Sami Zayn Push?: Rumors have recently begun about a possible future huge Sami Zayn push. Right now rumors are saying that at Wrestlemania 33 there is a possibility of the RAW main event becoming a triple threat match between Zayn, Kevin Owens and a returning Finn Balor for the WWE Universal Championship.
- Jey Uso and Naomi Injuries: The Usos and Naomi have been off WWE TV for the past few weeks because both Jey Uso and Naomi are suffering from ankle injuries, according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Naomi is expected back in action this week.
- Tamina Snuka Return: It was announced last week that Tamina Snuka has been cleared by her doctors to finally return to in ring action. Tamina has been on the DL after having knee surgery back in May. Tamina is expected to join RAW upon her return to action.
- Paige Update: Former NXT Women's and WWE Divas Champion Paige is set to have her recent 60 day suspension for her second violation of the Wellness Policy come to an end on December 9th. Paige, however, is also suffering from a back injury which she has stated that the prescribed drugs that she's been using for her injury is what caused her to fail her drug tests. WWE have no plans at this time to use her at all when she's 100% in 2017.
- Jerry Lawler and Lita Dropped From Pre-Shows: WWE announced this week that they have dropped Jerry Lawler and Lita from all Pre-Shows and have left them on the company payroll under WWE Legends contracts. Lita recently tweeted out on Twitter that she was finished with the WWE permanently.
** 205 Live Recap **
This week's main event saw newly crowned WWE Cruiserweight Champion Rich Swann defend the title in a rematch against Brian Kendrick in a one on one match.
-- Noam Dar vs. Cedric Alexander: The match closes out with Alexander landing a boot to the face of Dar. Alexander goes for a split legged moonsault, but Dar dodges it. Dar tosses Alexander into the ring post, hits the Shining Wizard and scores the pinfall. After the match, Dar mocks Alexander and says he's dedicating this win to Alexander's girlfriend Alicia Fox.
-- Mustafa Ali Promo: Ali says that the WWE Universe are making assumptions about him, he's going to change that, he is trained in just about every wrestling style and will out perform everyone in the Cruiserweight Division.
-- Ariya Daivari vs. Jack Gallagher: The match closes out with Daivari going after Gallagher’s injured knee. Gallagher lands a head scissors and gets a near fall crucifix rollup. Daivari connects with a stomp on Gallagher’s injured knee and then hits a frog splash on Gallagher to score the pinfall.
*** NXT ***
- Big Damo Joining SAnitY: This past week on NXT, Eric Young appeared to have kicked Sawyer Fulton out of the group. Sources have said that Fulton is suffering from a biceps injury and will be out of action for quite awhile. Due to the injury, this has led to Young kicking Fulton out and it appears that Big Damo will join SAnitY after taking Fulton’s jacket.
- NXT Going Live: There have been rumors of WWE possibly turning NXT into a live one hour show in 2017. There are major logistical issues that would come with going live and the costs would be significantly higher than the current tapings model. WWE would also have to bring in talents each week for a one hour live show.
- Lana Wrestling: This past week, Lana announced on Twitter that she will be wrestling at NXT's up coming NXT Live events in St. Petersburg, FL and Winter Haven, FL.
- New Signees: WWE recently signed three top independent wrestling female talents to buff up their NXT Women's Division. WWE signed Kimber Lee, Evie and Heidi Lovelace to contracts. All three will report to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando on January 3.
*** TNA Impact Wrestling ***
** TNA Impact Recap **
This week's main event saw Eddie Edwards defend the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Ethan Carter.
-- "TNA Grand Championship Match": Aron Rex wins Round 1 and 2 with a 38-27 score. The match closes out in Round 3 with Rex landing a back elbow on Moose and then goes to the top rope. Moose hits a standing drop kick on Rex and then the Game Changer, scoring the pinfall and retaining the title.
-- Backstage, TNA World Heavyweight Champion Eddie Edwards says fate is on his side and he will beat Ethan Carter tonight.
-- Mandrews vs. Aiden O'Shea: The match closes out with Mandrews sending O'Shea outside and hitting a Somersault Plancha. Mandrews delivers a seated senton on O’Shea, then the Shooting Star Press to score the pinfall.
-- Backstage, Drew Galloway says he's still the captain of TNA, he knows what's best for TNA and he will again have gold soon.
-- Backstage, Ethan Carter says he doesn't believe in luck, he believes in fate and his fate is winning the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Eli Drake interrupts and hand gestures that EC3 will choke. EC3 says he's not choking, he's winning the title tonight.
-- The Hardy Boys Promo: Broken Matt Hardy announces that he will present the most extraordinary wrestling event in history next week. An event that both Dixie Carter and "MeekMahon" would never be able to promote. Only the broken brilliance of Matt Hardy can present this. Every match will be at The Hardy Estate next week for Total Nonstop Deletion. The Hardy's will defend their TNA World Tag Team Championship against any team that dares to show up. Shane Helms interrupts and promises that The Helms Dynasty will be there to accept the challenge. The Decay interrupt next and ask if what they did at The Great War was forgotten. Rosemary recently made Gail Kim retire, Abyss says they are the death dealers and Crazzy Steve reminds Matt about the time they took King Maxel and now plan to take everything from The Hardy's. Matt invites everyone to Total Nonstop Deletion and promises that everyone will be deleted. Matt hits a Twist of Fate on Helms to end the promo.
- Billy Corgan Speaks: In an interview with Mike Johnson of PWinsider, Corgan spoke about where he saw himself after TNA’s Slammiversary when he loaned the company six figures to put on the show and pay talent. Corgan believed that he was in the driver’s seat for the company, but he was lied to consistently about when he stood in the company after his third cash infusion into the company. Corgan stated the following in the interview:
“My presidency was being treated by Dixie Carter and the people that you would count as her surrogates as not real. My sense was that she let everyone know, that had counted on her through the years, that she wasn’t going anywhere and to treat my presidency as nothing but a paper title thing. So when I actually tried to push buttons in the company, people didn’t respond. She survived Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Vince Russo, Dutch Mantel, Bruce Prichard, and Jeff Jarrett, and now, by extension, Billy Corgan. Okay, so if add up those list of people that she, quote-unquote survived, then you say, ‘What makes a person want to do that?’ And I think the simplest answer is the truest answer, you have somebody so desperate to be in that spot that they will literally do anything, say anything, be anything and rub anybody out of the way, to maintain that spot. In the deal I made to resolve the legal issues right now, I did not release all claims involved in this matter. I specifically put in the paperwork that there were certain people that I was in business with in the company that I still have the ability to go after directly.”
- Abyss Interview: On a recent episode of the Pancakes and Powerslams Show, Abyss confirmed that at one time back in 2006, he was offered a WWE contract, but turned it down and resigned with TNA Wrestling. Abyss stated the following when asked about the rumor:
“There was interest from WWE. I was at a time in my career where my contract was coming up. But I decided to stay with TNA. It was definitely an offer there in 2006 to work with Undertaker, but again, I was such a big part of the beginning of TNA, I was such a home grown talent, a base talent who they were building around, I decided to stay. I have no regrets, to be honest with you. Like I said, TNA has been my home and treated me so good, so in the end it was a pretty easy decision for me to make, and I’ve never looked back."
*** Ring of Honor ***
** ROH TV Recap **
This week's main event was a huge eight man tag team match with The Briscoe Brothers, Jay Lethal and Silas Young battling The Motor City Machine Guns, Jay White and Lio Rush.
-- The Tempura Boyz (Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu) vs. Cheeseburger and Will Ferrara: Joey Daddiego was on commentary for this match. The match closes out with Tanaka and Komatsu hitting Cheeseburger with a package piledriver superkick combo to score the pinfall. After the match, Donovan Dijak and Prince Nana arrive. Nana tells Dijak to attack everyone. Dijak puts down Ferrera with two choke slam back breaker combos. Joey Daddiego hits the ring for the save and challenges Dijak to an impromptu match.
-- Donovan Dijak vs. Joey Daddiego: The match closes out with Dijak getting more orders barked at him by Prince Nana. Dijak looks hesitant for a moment about the way Nana is talking to him, but scores the pinfall on Daddiego after hitting Feast Your Eyes. After the match, Prince Nana walks out on Dijak claiming Dijak has no killer instinct.
-- Highlights of how The Cabinet have changed their faction name to The Rebellion is shown.
-- Highlights of the current Kevin Sullivan vs. Steve Corino feud is shown.
-- War Machine (Hanson and Rowe) vs. "Punishment" Damian Martinez and BJ Whitmer: The match closes out with Whitmer getting his team DQ'ed on purpose by knocking down the referee. After the match, Martinez choke slams Rowe through a table. Martinez and Whitmer then double team and beat down Hanson as Kevin Sullivan calls out Steve Corino. Corino arrives and stares down Sullivan. Sullivan orders Martinez and Whitmer to leave the ring, then orders Corino to attack Hanson. Corino refuses and just stares at Hanson.
-- "Eight Man Tag Team Match": Jay Lethal, The Briscoe Brothers and "The Last Real Man" Silas Young vs. The Motor City Machine Guns, Jay White and Lio Rush: The match closes out with White tagging in and he attacks Lethal. All eight men hit the ring and a brawl breaks out. Shelley and Sabin unload on Mark Briscoe, which sets up White, who hits the Kiwi Crusher on Mark to score the pinfall and close out this weeks show.
- Silas Young Resigns: ROH announced this week that Silas Young has signed a new one year contract with ROH. Young will also be allowed to accept independent wrestling shows outside of the U.S. as long as it doesn't interfere with ROH commitments.
*** Lucha Underground ***
** Lucha Underground TV Recap **
This week a Battle of the Bulls tournament took place with the winner being guaranteed a future Lucha Underground Championship Match against Johnny Mundo.
-- In Dario Cueto's office, Angelico wants Johnny Mundo. Cueto says no because Mundo's lawyer has protected him. Angelico threatens to get a lawyer and sue Cueto because he was on Underground property when he was jumped and Cueto did nothing about it. Cueto allows Angelico to compete in the Battle of the Bulls tournament with the winner getting a Lucha Underground Championship match against Johnny Mundo.
-- "Battle of the Bulls, Fatal Four Way Match": Cage vs. Texano vs. Joey Ryan vs. Dr. Wagner Jr.: The match closes out with Texano hitting a power bomb on Ryan. Cage breaks things up and sends Texano face first into the ropes and scores the pinfall.
-- In Dario Cueto's office, Cueto offers a match to Sexy Star against PJ Black. If Sexy wins, she'll get a Lucha Underground Championship Match against Johnny Mundo inside a steel cage. But....if Sexy loses, she'll never be allowed to receive a Lucha Underground Championship Match ever again.
-- In Captain Vasquez’s office, Officer Reyes says Dario Cueto knows about him. Vasquez says she no longer trusts Joey Ryan, but needs to be inside The Temple. Vasquez decides to return as a masked man.
-- Somewhere in an unknown location, Kobra Moon is sitting on a snake throne in front of two men in snake masks, believed to be generals. Kobra orders them to find the third general missing so he can kneel before her.
-- At Matanza's Cell, Dario Cueto asks his brother if he wants to be in the Battle of the Bulls tournament. Matanza says no he wants Rey Mysterio. Dario reminds his brother about how El Dragon Azteca was blinded by rage and he almost lost his life. Matanza grabs Dario and slams his head into the cage door, knocking him out. Matanza grabs the keys to his cell and escapes.
*** New Japan Pro Wrestling ***
- The Young Bucks Contract: As I stated above, The Young Bucks signed a new two year deal with Ring of Honor. That deal also includes two years worth of appearances in New Japan Pro Wrestling as well.
- Colby Corino Arrested: According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, NJPW star Colby Corino was arrested this past Saturday night after being found unconscious with multiple types of drugs in his home. According to the report, cops got a call in regards to an unresponsive person and arrived at the residence to find Corino unresponsive on the floor. The person he was with said they took opiates. When Colby finally woke up, he admitted the same and was transported to a local hospital. Cops searched his residence and found a grinder, a bag of marijuana, hypodermic needles, baggies, suspected mushrooms, multiple purple pill capsules of an unknown substance, a rock like substance suspected of heroin, multiple glass vials of an unknown substance suspected to be steroids and white residue with a cut drinking straw alongside Colby’s driver’s license. Colby was also caught flicking a bag out of his shoe in jail that’s believed to be methamphetamine. As of this writing, Corino remains behind bars on a $40k bond and set to appear in court this time.
*** House Of Hardcore ***
House of Hardcore 21: Blizzard Brawl, took place live in Waukesha, Wisconsin, last Saturday night.
-- Bull James vs. Kevin Thorn: Former NXT superstar Bull James got a huge pop from the Wisconsin fans as he wore a Green Bay Packers cheese head to the ring. Thorn who was best known from his early WWE days as Mordecai and his WWE ECW days with his Vampire Kevin Thorn gimmick, dressed similar to his Vampire gimmick character. The match closes out with James delivering a Pedigree on Thorn right on top of the cheese head to score the pinfall.
-- Matt Striker vs. Conor Braxton: Current Lucha Underground announcer and former WWE superstar Matt Striker appeared and did his old WWE Teacher gimmick on Braxton. The match closes out with Braxton’s manager Katie Forbes distracting Striker. Striker tries to dance sexy for Forbes, who responds by dancing better and sexier than Striker. Striker's girls that came to the ring with him also begin to dance and we seriously have a sexy dance dance off. Braxton starts dancing with one of Striker's girls while on a hoverboard. Striker rolls up Braxton during the sexy dance off and steals the surprise pinfall.
-- Mr. Anderson vs. The Sadist: Former TNA World Heavyweight Champion Mr. Anderson made an appearance at the event. The match closes out with Anderson hitting the Mic Check on The Sadist and scores the pinfall.
-- Colt Cabana vs. Danny Duggan: Cabana who currently wrestles in ROH, scored the rollup pinfall on Duggan to close out the match.
-- Matt Cross vs. Tony Nese: Matt Cross who currently is the masked Son of Havoc in Lucha Underground battled WWE cruiserweight Tony Nese. The match closes out with Cross hitting a Shooting Star Press on Nese and scores the pinfall.
-- Sami Callihan vs. Bob "Hardcore" Holly": Callihan currently plays Jeremiah in Lucha Underground and is a former NXT superstar. Holly made his name in WWE as Hardcore Holly. The match closes out with Callihan making Holly tap out. After the match, Holly offers a hand shake, but Callihan snubs Holly. Holly attacks Callihan and lays him out with the Alabama Slam.
-- "Unsanctioned Steel Cage Match": Al Snow and Dave Herro vs. Abyss and Damien Nelson: The match closes out with two guys hitting the ring and helping Abyss and Nelson attack Snow and Herro.
*** Other ***
- Top 10 Wrestling Gimmicks Stolen From Hollywood: Skimming through the Internet this week, I came across the top 10 wrestling gimmicks that wrestling borrowed or stole from Hollywood over the years. Here is that top 10 that was listed and where the idea came from:
#10: Razor Ramon/Tony Montana: Many believe the Razor Ramon gimmick was created as a tribute to Al Pacino's iconic portrayal of Tony Montana in Scarface. Ramon had the Cuban accent, sucked on toothpicks and even had his own catch phrase "Say hello to the bad guy" similar to Tony Montana's "Say hello to my Lil friend".
#9: Glacier/Sub-Zero: Many video game buffs have seen similar traits between Glacier and the Mortal Kombat character Sub-Zero. Glacier dressed all in blue, wore a mask and had the martial arts skills. Glacier, however, was not able to fire balls of ice at his opponents.
#8: Paul Burchill/Jack Sparrow: Shortly after Pirates of the Caribbean came out, Paul Burchill the pirate was born in the WWE. Burchill had the resemblance of Johnny Depp down on the pirate gimmick. The gimmick only lasted a few months though.
#7: The Dudley Family/The Hanson Brothers: The story goes that Raven and Dean Malenko were watching the classic Paul Newman hockey movie called Slap Shot one night and discovered the three Hanson Brothers in the film. All three brothers looked alike, wore thick black glasses and acted stupidly throughout the film. The idea was passed on to ECW owner Paul Heyman and The Dudley Family was born.
#6: Arachnaman/Spider-Man: Early 90's WCW saw a new gimmick that looked similar to Spider-Man with Arachnaman. Arachnaman wore a similar purple and yellow Spider-Man suit and used high risk moves as his major offense. WCW had to shut down the gimmick due to Marvel Comics threatening to sue WCW.
#5: Tyler Breeze/Derek Zoolander: In Zoolander, Ben Stiller plays an arrogant runway model that is obsessed with his good looks, how he dresses and getting the perfect glamor shot for the cameras. This fits Tyler Breeze's gimmick to the tee as he is obsessed with all of the above stated as well. Breeze even carries his own selfie stick so he can always get his perfect glamor shot while walking to the ring.
#4: The Road Warriors/Mad Max 2: Probably one of the greatest tag teams in wrestling history, The Road Warriors came to the ring weekly in face paint and spiked football shoulder pads. This gimmick resembled the henchmen that Mel Gibson fought on the back roads of Australia in Mad Max 2 aka The Road Warrior.
#3: Mankind/Hannibal Lecter: In the mid 90's Mick Foley arrived in WWE as Mankind. Mankind was a masked, mentally ill wrestler that suffered from violent outbursts. Many considered this gimmick close to Anthony Hopkins' portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs film series. Lecter was mentally ill with violent outbursts so bad that he would eat his victims. Thankfully the only things Foley has eaten with the Mankind character has been those 10+ chair shots to the head by The Rock at the Royal Rumble and his own tooth after being dropped through the Hell In A Cell cage by Undertaker.
#2: Sting/The Joker: During his last run in TNA in 2011, Sting invented The Joker gimmick similar to Heath Ledger's Dark Knight Joker. Sting smeared his make up all over his face, acted insane and even had his own wild cackle of a laugh similar to The Joker.
#1: Sting/The Crow: The Crow is one of my all time favorite movies of my generation. People say Deadpool was the first R Rated comic book movie, but apparently they never saw or forgot about The Crow. The Crow is a story about Eric Draven, who along with his fiance was brutally murdered by a gang during Halloween. One year later, The Crow brings Eric back from the grave, as a bulletproof unstoppable force so he can take out the gang that murdered them and make all things right. WCW ran a similar gimmick with Sting in his war with the nWo in the late 90's. Sting was believed to have joined the nWo, but was set up by an imposter Sting. WCW turned their back on Sting and Sting then turned his back on WCW after proving he was innocent the whole time. Sting began dressing like The Crow, wearing black and white face paint, dressed all in black from head to toe and sported a black trench coat and black baseball bat. Sting began to hunt the nWo one by one much like Eric Draven hunted the gang one by one in The Crow, making all things right again in WCW.
And that's this week's W3C! Join me every Sunday afternoon as I bring you news, recaps and rumors all around the wrestling world!
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