DGUSA vs ROH: When Gargano pinned Steen
TORONTO -- When the indy dream match of the Dragon Gate USA champion, Johnny Gargano, against the Ring of Honor champ, Kevin Steen, was changed at the last minute to a tag team bout on Sunday afternoon, expectations were that two of the newcomers, Tyson Dux (with...
Steen and Elgin top best ROH show of the year
Ring of Honor produced Saturday night in Mississauga what many consider the best show since Sinclair Broadcasting Group took over more than a year ago. The main event was a throwback to the old ROH style with a 30-minute hard hitting contest for the ROH World...
Piper front and centre at TOW Stardom
MONTREAL -- Friday night at the Pierre Charbonneau Center, Rowdy Roddy Piper made Montreal his playground for a night. Along with Abdullah the Butcher, who was present to receive a plaque commemorating his wrestling career, Piper was in every corner of the T.O.W....
Del Rio-Sheamus end Ottawa Smackdown taping
OTTAWA -- A crowd of about 7,000 was in attendance at the Scotiabank Place in Ottawa for the tapings of Smackdown! Tuesday night. Less than 24 hours after Jerry "The King" Lawler suffered from a heart attack live during Monday Night Raw in Montreal, the aftershocks of...
Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler suffers heart attack during WWE Monday Night Raw in Montreal, hospitalized
During this week's WWE Monday Night Raw in Montreal, announcer Jerry "The King" Lawler suffered a heart attack at ringside, was stretchered to the backstage area, received CPR and was taken to a Montreal hospital. Lawler had surgery to repair a blockage in his heart,...
Expect tears at tonight’s Montreal ceremony, warns Pat Patterson
Pat Patterson is known as one the best workers of his time and one of the greatest wrestling minds the business has ever seen. Not bad for someone who left his native-Montreal at a young age in 1960 to pursue a pro wrestling career. So it only makes sense that...
Bizarroland cheering of heels continues at WWE Hamilton show
HAMILTON, ON -- World Wrestling Entertainment ventured north to Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, on Saturday night, and the crowd was quite into the bad guys, perpetuating Canada's reputation as "Bizarroland." Here's the run-down of the matches: 1) Triple Threat...
Ottawa cancer fundraiser a great success
OTTAWA - Cancer is a disease that affects everyone. Whether it is high profile people like Lance Armstrong or your immediate family, cancer has disrupted everyone's life at some point. For myself, it was losing a grandmother at the age of six. Perhaps that is why more...
SHIMMER tag belts switch hands in Montreal
MONTREAL – For the first time in its history, a SHIMMER title switched hands outside of the company's Berwyn, Illinois headquarters, with tag titles returning to previous champions Saturday night at Montreal's NCW Centre, during the ninth edition of Femmes Fatales....
Charity name of the game at TigerFest
BRAMPTON, Ont. -- Though July 1 is Canada Day, the celebrations in Brampton Ontario also included elements of India, Japan, New Zealand, and even the streets of Harlem, New York. Such is the concept of TigerFest 2012, the fundraiser put on by legendary wrestler Tiger...
Steen gets dream match with Storm in Quebec City
Last Saturday, nothing was going to make Kevin Steen miss his chance to wrestle one of his idols, Lance Storm. "I had a concussion last week so I wasn't in tip top shape," revealed Steen after the match. But even that wasn't enough. Steen, the new Ring of Honor...
Mat Matters: The SHIMMER live experience is unique
Gender is the obvious difference between a men's wrestling promotion and a female one. However, it's worth pointing out the difference in the fans as well. If you have a chance to go to one of SHIMMER Women Athletes DVD tapings, you will not only see some of the best...
Big reaction from live fans proves Laurinaitis character is working
HERSHEY, Pa. – Any WWE fan over the age of about 15 probably looks back on the Stone Cold Steve Austin-Vince McMahon feud fondly. It was easy for people everywhere to relate to the "evil boss" revenge fantasy, and the result was arguably the signature storyline of the...
Steen, WGTT capture titles at ROH’s Border Wars
TORONTO -- Ring of Honor's Border Wars iPPV may have had its issues with the streaming from the website, but live, it was quite the spectacle, seeing the ROH World title and the tag belts switch hands during a hot, hot card. The show Saturday at the Ted Reeve Arena in...
Missed flight leads to new ToW main event
MONTREAL -- A ToW show is always full of surprises, good or bad. Sometimes, it's an awesome performance, some other times, it's someone missing his flight. But every time, a ToW show is a very fun and entertaining evening, and ToW 9 was not an exception to that rule....
Smackdown thrills crowd in return to Toledo
TOLEDO, Ohio — The last time WWE came to Huntington Center, for a Smackdown taping in Sept. 2011, the attendance was all-time bad, as less than 3,000 people attended the taping. Tuesday was a different story, as fans filled much of the building and were loud and...
Extreme Reunion wasn’t all bad
PHILADELPHIA - By now, anyone who has wanted to find out the results of this past weekend’s Extreme Reunion show has probably done so. There are a few reports out there online on other wrestling news sites, and fan feedback is well-documented on the company’s own...
McMahon, Triple H join roster in wishing Cena a happy birthday after Raw
DETROIT -- Every so often, you hear about something really fun happening following a taping of WWE Monday Night Raw. Monday was one of those nights in front of a sold out crowd at Joe Louis Arena. After the live show went off the air and the dark match was complete, a...
Live Raw hits all the right notes for Mania
ATLANTA -- In the sports world, when athletes refer to big games as having a "playoff atmosphere" it's about as cliché as possible. However, calling tonight's Raw Supershow anything less than a "PPV atmosphere" would be a disservice to the great show put on by the...
Montreal crowd loud and passionate for WWE
MONTREAL -- WWE champion CM Punk rightfully praised a hot crowd on Friday night: "With Wrestlemania on its way, with so many shows, packing, unpacking, doing laundry on the road, not being home, to hear the crowd react so much for every single match tonight makes it...
Ah, the joys of a 14-year-old boy at his first WWE show
TORONTO - It's 7:15 p.m., Friday night. The weather has turned on a razor's edge, it’s getting dark and the wind whips us around as we push into the crowds and the anticipation builds. My son Liam and I are standing in the parking lot of Toronto's Ricoh Coliseum. Liam...
WWE leaves Buffalo on a high note
BUFFALO, NY -- House shows like Sunday afternoon's Raw roster edition in Buffalo are geared specifically to treat the fans, and are a little bit like the old MTV Unplugged concerts: relaxed, informal, and usually a bit more fun -- for both the fans and the wrestlers....
Locals shine among international talent at NCW Femmes Fatales
MONTREAL -- On Saturday night, NCW Femmes Fatales presented its most important show to date, do or die for the local talent, competing against women from around the globe. The winners were not just the wrestlers, but the 200 or so fans in attendance. Word of the...
House show upgrade helps WWE show in East Lansing
EAST LANSING, Mich. — For years, WWE house shows were completely bare bones. It was a ring and some lights. Nothing more, nothing less. To get the complete production, you had to go to the big city and see a taping of Raw or Smackdown. Now things have changed. Last...
Punk, Jericho get big pops in the ‘Peg
With the Winnipeg Jets having a well-deserved night off between games at the MTS Centre, WWE swept into town for their lone appearance in the River City for 2012. Billed as a "Supershow", the card featured the best of both Raw and Smackdown over eight matches. The...
Rhodes makes WWE Vancouver show memorable
VANCOUVER -- On Saturday night, Vancouver was treated to its yearly WWE visit (yearly thanks to a cancelled show in the summer) and while the card lacked a number of stars due to various injuries, the action that was provided had most fans walking away happy. The...
Punk, Ryder capture hearts in Hershey
HERSHEY, Pa.–Once upon a time, one of the most common criticisms of the WWE was that the promotion wasn’t succeeding at developing the next generation of wrestling stars. With “Attitude Era” headliners like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, The Undertaker and Triple...
Hardy goes over on TNA show in Windsor
WINDSOR -- TNA Wrestling brought its IMPACT Wrestling world tour to Windsor's WFCU Centre on Sunday afternoon, and while half of the main event may have been a surprise, he sure knew how to draw heat from the crowd. Before the show, Don West was at his best...
Live in Atlanta, Raw was full of treats
ATLANTA - For the first time since WrestleMania XXVII weekend, the WWE returned to Atlanta, Georgia, for Monday Night Raw. But this is no ordinary Raw. Not only is it Halloween, but Raw has a group of special hosts: The Muppets. While five years ago this pairing may...
Already stacked Montreal CRW show gets a Million Dollar bonus
MONTREAL - It's not every day you can see a show with a Hall of Famer, a former WWE tag champion, the ROH World champion, one of the best female wrestler in the country and one of the best talent developed in your province in the past years. Montreal's CRW could claim...
TNA makes an Impact with Montreal house show
MONTREAL - The Claude-Robillard Center, where TNA Impact Wrestling held its show Friday night in Montreal, hasn't had any wrestling since Edouard Carpentier held wrestling classes in the mid-1990s. But 750 fans turned out for an enjoyable show. The announcers were...
Cleveland loves Cena, Ryder at Raw
CLEVELAND -- One day following WWE's successful Night of Champions pay-per-view, the company packed up shop and headed to Quicken Loans Arena for a rocking edition of Monday Night Raw. Unlike the Sept. 6 Smackdown taping 90 minutes down the road in Toledo which was...
Buffalo fans left satisfied, wanting more
A golden rule of entertainment is to always leave ‘em wanting more. If that’s what the WWE was shooting for, then they delivered in Buffalo for Night of Champions. It was a night that gave the fans less than the majority seemed to hope for in terms of who won and who...
A double Edge-d appreciation night in Toronto
TORONTO, ON - With Edge in his home digs for what he calls his "real" retirement, there are well-wishers, handshakes, autograph requests, and people that are thrilled to see the man in person. That's not all about the nearly 15-year veteran Edge, though, as a...
Small crowd sees Smackdown in Toledo
TOLEDO, Ohio — Tuesday's tapings of WWE Smackdown, Superstars and NXT wasn't notable because of what happened in the ring, but rather because of what was happening outside the ringside area. Or more appropriately, what wasn't happening. Toledo's second WWE show of...
Hart return & Kidd homecoming highlight Calgary Smackdown
When WWE makes its annual visit to Alberta, for the last several years Calgary has been the home to the live RAW show while Edmonton hosted Smackdown. On Tuesday night the Smackdown brand returned to Calgary for the first time since a 2004 house show, and taped TV for...
The sweet irony of a charity deathmatch
Barbed wire ensnares and tears through exposed flesh. Rivulets of blood stream from a laceration sliced open by shards of broken glass. A wooden table splinters into toothpicks as a human being is hurled through it. Generous people donate to a deserving charity. That...
CHIKARA shines again in Michigan
TAYLOR, Mich. — CHIKARA made its debut in the Detroit market a year ago with Bryan Danielson on the card fresh off being fired by WWE. From an interest standpoint, that was going to be tough to top. However, when it came to in-ring action, CHIKARA delivered yet again...
Hulkamania runs wild on youngster at TNA in Buffalo
BUFFALO - In my duties as a SLAM! Wrestling writer, I've seen hundreds of wrestling shows in the past couple of years. Going to so many, it can be hard sometimes to remember how fun they can be attending as a fan rather than as a critic. This past weekend, I got to...
Tiger Fest prevails over Mother Nature
MILTON, ON -- Throughout his legendary career, Tiger Jeet Singh faced off against a number of hard opponents. On Saturday, he faced one of his toughest yet in the form of Mother Nature. With help from a number of tag team partners, he was able to come up with another...
Hulkamania runs wild in Brantford: The Results
BRANTFORD -- It was a night that wrestling fans will remember as the day Hulkamania returned to Brantford. Professional wrestling returned to the Brantford Civic Centre for the first time since 1995 in the form of Championship Wrestling International (CWI) president...
Indy World champ crowned at inaugural Germanfest tournament
"Cowboy" Johnny Mantell's inaugural Germanfest Wringenmiesterschaft Tournament, held April 29-May 1, 2011, in Muenster, Texas, was easily the most ambitious indy show produced over the last few years, and included the crowning of a Indy World Champion in Tim Storm. No...
Variety of intense action delivered at ROH in Toronto
Hundreds of screaming Toronto wrestling fans will always make sure to let everyone know when Ring of Honor is in town. These fans love their wrestling, and would not settle for anything less. "The crowd in the Ted Reeve Arena is just insane," said hometown boy Michael...
Austin Aries pulls a swerve at Dragon Gate USA’s Open the Ultimate Gate 2011
ATLANTA – Austin Aries said all the right things for several minutes on Sunday at Dragon Gate USA's Open the Ultimate Gate 2011. The next few minutes after that were the ones that came as a surprise. Aries had just lost what was billed as his farewell match to Jimmy...
Tag team wrestling on display on second day of ROH’s Honor Takes Center Stage
ATLANTA – This just in: Tag team wrestling is not dead. It may be nearly extinct except for angle-driven matches at the two largest wrestling promotions, but it's alive and well in Ring of Honor. That much was abundantly clear during the second day of “Honor Takes...
‘Raw’ live in Buffalo: Blue-collar appreciation
BUFFALO, NY - A sports-talk radio personality recently pegged sports fans in Buffalo as just a little more down-to-earth than those in other major markets. Buffalo’s economy is understood to be stuck in a dismal state, so when fans fork over their money for the Bills,...
Edge ruffles Ziggler’s feathers in Toronto
World heavyweight champion Edge retained his belt Saturday with a victory over challenger Dolph Ziggler in a Toronto street-fight main event of the WWE's Road to Wrestlemania Smackdown house show at Toronto's Ricoh Coliseum. In front of a packed home crowd, The...
WrestleReunion 5 off to a smooth start
LOS ANGELES - A normal hotel Thursday morning, the atmosphere began to change at the LAX Hilton by Thursday night as fans and wrestlers started to check in for WrestleReunion 5. Despite winter storms in the Northeast, talents made it to the hotel with few problems....
Live report from Raw in Detroit
DETROIT - After a disappointing showing from the crowd when WWE last made its way to Detroit in September, fans in "The Motor City" came out en masse on a cold winter night as WWE's flagship show, "Monday Night Raw" made its return to the city for the first time since...
Emotional Firestorm Memorial show capped by belt presentation
VANCOUVER - There are moments that transcend the politics, ego and character of wrestling, or, put another way, moments that matter. The Adam Firestorm Memorial Show held Friday in North Vancouver was a collection of such moments, a night comprised both of heartache...
