John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio - United States Championship Match: Raw, December 28, 2015
**If you missed The LAW, the show is up on the site with Jason Agnew & Dan Lovranski having a big discussion on the return of the WWE brand split and all the issues it brings up to change Smackdown and make the brand split viable this time around. On the show, Dave Meltzer stops by to discuss the brand split and the news from the past week and his thoughts on Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet, plus a review of the UFC Fight Night card, your phone calls and more. The show is up at http://fightnetwork.com/news/6559154:may-29-edition-of-the-law-wwe-brand-split-returns/ and also on iTunes and the free Stitcher app.
**Tonight the Raw tapings are in Green Bay, Wisconsin with the return of John Cena for the first time since WrestleMania. Its almost a certainty they will shoot an angle for Cena tonight and line up his program for Money in the Bank. Tonights show will be going up against Game 7 of the Golden State Warriors vs. Oklahoma City Thunder game, which starts at 9pm Eastern as well as Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals and therefore heavy competition for Raw tonight, along with it being a holiday Monday in the U.S.
**They are also doing a tease with a series of Twitter posts promoting a Hatching that will take place tonight.
**We will be back tonight with a new edition of Review-A-Raw as Wai Ting and I review Raw from Green Bay. We will also be giving out a pair of VIP passes to the Niagara Falls Comic Con for this weekend with a number of wrestling personalities appearing over the weekend. The show will be posted tonight on the site and airs Tuesday at 11am and 7pm Eastern on Fight Network.
**The Best of the Super Juniors tournament continues on Tuesday morning with a card from Hiroshima and the tournament matches being posted to New Japan World later in the day. Below are the tournament matches in the A Block that are scheduled for Tuesday with the point totals in brackets:*Bushi (2) vs. David Finlay (2)*Matt Sydal (6) vs. Rocky Romero (4)*Kushida (4) vs. Gedo (2)*Kyle OReilly (6) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi (6)
**William Regal weighed in on the recent Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet match with the following:
I watched the match and was shocked. You need to start doing real stuff like people from my era like kip ups,flying head scissors,cart wheels and criss crosses. Get a grip! When I started the job in 83 a lot of the older fellas used to say that Marc Rocco and Marty Jones (who were the real pioneers of the CW style) had killed the business because they did to much. Although they may not admit it anymore, most of the heavyweights in Europe thought the brilliant lightweight and middleweight wrestlers were bad for the job because their style was not believable enough.. Every country I worked in before I came to the US had different styles and ways of doing things.As long as theres effort then its right.If the people paying you are happy and you get reactions then make your stuff as good as it can be with what skills you have.May not be for everyone but thats ok.In the match I saw two fellas who looked like fighters having an excellent,hard competed match in a different style.Win win!
**Matt Hardy posted a video message discussing his new Broken Matt Hardy character and both the praise and negativity the character has received on Impact. Hardy stated that its an attempt to gain more casual viewers, which he notes is something that TNA has lost since they were on Spike TV and that its an audience TNA needs to be going after. He also praised the writing team for the quality of the show since moving to POP. He also stated that TNA was not going anywhere and Smackdown moving to Tuesday nights would not kill TNA.
**Enzo Amore and Sasha Banks were both back working in the ring this past weekend and therefore been cleared. Lana also worked this past weekend teaming with Dana Brooke.
**Smash Wrestling announced at their show on Sunday in Toronto that they will be doing two events with Progress Wrestling on September 17th and 18th at the Franklin Horner Community Centre. Tickets went on sale Monday morning for the two shows.
**Fight Network has announced a deal to carry a show called British Wrestling Weekly featuring matches from the New Generation Wrestling promotion and will have a slot late Thursday nights at 2am Eastern following Insane Championship Wrestling at 1am and both shows premiere this week.
**Jake Roberts turns 61 years old today.
**The WWE stock closed at $17.51 on Monday.
LAW MMA UPDATE
**The UFC Fight Night card from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas on Sunday night drew an announced crowd of 5,193 and a gate of $359,000, which is indicative of the market and while a good action card, this didnt have the star power. Below are the results from the show:*Adam Milstead def. Chris De La Rocha by TKO at 4:01 of Round 2 Milstead was punishing him with shot-after-shot and the referee finally stepped in and stopped in with De La Rocha on his feet and it was the right call.*Bryan Caraway def. Aljamain Sterling by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) This was a notable upset as most saw Sterling as being a big contender with a win here. Sterling dominated the first round after taking Caraways back but Caraway responded with a good second round and then out grappled Sterling in the third.*Erik Koch def. Shane Campbell by rear-n***d choke at 3:02 of Round 2 Koch hasnt fought since May 2014 and looked great in this fight both with his striking and later taking Campbell down and getting his back and submitting him. Koch was once scheduled to fight Jose Aldo for the featherweight title but injuries and losses have curbed his momentum.*Jake Collier def. Alberto Uda by TKO at 1:06 of Round 2 Uda won the first round and may have broken Colliers nose with a knee. Collier responded in the second with a pair of spinning back kicks to the body, the second one stopped Uda.*Abel Trujillo def. Jordan Rinaldi by unanimous decision (29-28 all) Trujillo won the first and third rounds, Rinaldi was tough throughout the fight but Trujillo fought a smart fight and was the difference.*Sara McMann def. Jessica Eye by unanimous decision (30-27 all) Both were coming off a pair of losses and Eye just didnt show anything in this fight. The crowd was booing after the first round where both were inactive and then McMann got more aggressive by throwing strikes and getting takedowns as Eye just survived for the rest of the fight. McMann said she wanted to fight for the title again but after losing 3 of her last 4 before the Eye win and having losses to Miesha Tate, Amanda Nunes and Ronda Rousey, its going to be a bit of a path to get back to fighting for the title.*Paul Felder def. Josh Burkman by unanimous decision (29-28 all) This was an entertaining fight and when Felder let his hands go, the momentum shifted along with Burkman not being able to maintain his pace set in the first round. Burkman won the first and Felder the last two rounds.*Lorenz Larkin def. Jorge Masvidal by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) I felt Larkin won the first two rounds and the third was a very close round and gave the slight edge to Masvidal.*Chris Camozzi def. Vitor Miranda by unanimous decision (30-27 all) Not a very exciting fight as Miranda couldnt deal with the strikes from Camozzi, who was just a better fighter on this night and no round was in doubt for Camozzi.*Rick Story def. Tarec Saffiedine by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) Story hadnt fought since October 2014 and returned to form. Story can take a lot of shots, he has very good wrestling and his striking is relentless. The second round was the closest of the three but it was a volume game from Story, who put Saffiedine against the cage and was busy with his hands to the head and body. I scored all three rounds for Story.*Jeremy Stephens def. Renan Barao by unanimous decision (29-28 all) This was a great fight and easily the best of the night and a huge win for Stephens. Barao won the first as he was much quicker and was landing consistently. The tide changed in the second as Barao was much more tired and ate so many big shots in the second. The third was the closest round as both landed but Stephens had a strong finish to the fight and I had it 29-28 for Stephens. Barao will probably stick around at featherweight but hes not the same fighter that dominated the bantamweight division for all those years.*Cody Garbrandt def. Thomas Almeida by KO at 2:53 of Round 1 Garbrandt was composed on his feet and started landing and it was two big rights that connected and the second sent Almeida down and he was done. Garbrandt improves to 9-0 and is now in the contender mix at bantamweight, which will no doubt be a big topic this week as his teammate Urijah Faber challenges for the title.
**The Fight of the Night bonus went to Jeremy Stephens and Renan Barao and the Performance bonuses went to Cody Garbrandt and Jake Collier for $50,000 each.
**It was announced on the UFC broadcast on Sunday night that former heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum will return on September 10th at UFC 203 and fight Ben Rothwell in the co-feature of UFC 203. That same card is headlined by Stipe Miocic and Alistair Overeem for the heavyweight title and gives a backup in case either of the main eventers are injured before the event. Werdum will look to rebound after dropping the title to Miocic earlier this month in Curitiba and Rothwell is coming off a loss to Junior dos Santos in April.
**The Sun in the U.K. was the first to report that the main event of the UFC Fight Night event on September 3rd in Hamburg, Germany will be between former champions Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett. These two almost surely would have fought over a decade ago as Barnett was the UFC heavyweight champion in 2002 but was stripped of the title after failing a drug test following his win over Randy Couture in March of that year (in fact, Arlovski fought on that same card, losing to Pedro Rizzo that night). Arlovski would become interim heavyweight champion after Frank Mirs motorcycle accident and later the official champion and held it until 2006. Barnett returned to the UFC in 2013 and Arlovski returned in 2014 with Barnett last fighting Ben Rothwell and being submitted this past January and Arlovski is coming off a pair of TKO losses to Stipe Miocic and Alistair Overeem this year.
*****THE LAW: LIVE AUDIO WRESTLING May 30th(Jason Agnew & Dan Lovranski discuss all the issues regarding the return of the WWE brand split and Smackdown going live, they welcome Dave Meltzer to chat the weeks news, John Pollock reviews the UFC card and your calls)http://cdn.fightnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/LAW-MAY-29-2016.mp3*****JAPANESE AUDIO WRESTLING May 27th(Chris Charlton & WH Park discuss the mid-way point of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, Tanahashis injuries, Super J Cup this summer, Jushin Liger doc, your feedback and questions)http://cdn.fightnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/LAW-Japanese-Audio-Wrestling-May-27-2016.mp3*****THE MMA REPORT May 27th(John Pollock discusses all the key news from the past week, bantamweight Cody Garbrandt chats main event with Thomas Almeida and UFC featherweight Jeremy Stephens discusses fight with Renan Barao on Sunday)http://cdn.fightnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/THE-MMA-REPORT-MAY-27-2016.mp3*****whtsNXT May 26th(Jason Agnew & Braden Herrington review this weeks show, discuss the brand split, Takeover The End, take your feedback and more)http://cdn.fightnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/138-whtsNXT-2016-05-26.mp3*****BAUER & POLLOCK May 25th(The show drops early with John Pollock & Court Bauer discussing Smackdowns move to Tuesday, the draft returning and all the issues coming out of this story, plus all the other news from the past week)http://cdn.fightnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/LAW-BAUER-POLLOCK-MAY-25-2016.mp3******REVIEW-A-WAI WCW Monday Nitro (Hall & Nash debut)(John Pollock & Wai Ting review the May 27th and June 10th, 1996 episodes of Nitro with Hall and Nash appearing, plus Paul Heymans comments from a 2006 LAW interview on their use in WCW)http://cdn.fightnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/REVIEW-A-WAI-WCW-Nitro-May-27-June-10-1996.mp3*****
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