LAW Aug 28 Update - Angle Endorses Linda McMahon
**Tune in Sunday night to The LAW to catch a special edition of the show as we welcome former WWE performers Trish Stratus and Amy ‘Lita' Dumas live in studio to take your phone calls at 1-888-942-7326 and e-mails at law@liveaudiowrestling.com. We will also be joined by Dave Meltzer of the ‘Wrestling Observer Newsletter' and be giving away two more special box seats to the WWE ‘Raw' house show in Hamilton, Ontario on September 11th. Tune into The LAW Sunday night at 11pm EST on Sirius 98 Hardcore Sports Radio and online here on the site.
**The WWE has three separate house shows tonight with the ‘Raw' crew in Wildwood, New Jersey, the ‘Smackdown' crew is in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and they have a small tent show in Cohasset, Massachusetts.
**Ring of Honor is in Charlotte, North Carolina tonight for a show with the following card announced thus far:
*Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli Vs The Briscoe Brothers Vs The Dark City Fight Club Vs The All Night Express for the ROH Tag Titles in an ‘Ultimate Endurance Match'
*Tyler Black Vs Davey Richards in a non title match (these two had a ‘Match of the Year' candidate in June at the Toronto ‘Death Before Dishonor VIII' event)
*Kevin Steen Vs Roderick Strong
**TNA ‘Impact' did a 1.1 rating on Thursday night, ‘Reaction' did a 0.7 immediately following the show on Spike.
**Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins shot a big angle in Mexico City Friday night during the Pumpkins concert where AAA talent Hernandez, Decnis and Alex Kozlov attacked Corgan on stage, who was saved by babyfaces Extreme Tiger, La Park Jr. and El Mesias.
**Following ‘Smackdown' airing on Friday night the WWE officially announced the release of Serena (Serena Deeb).
**Anton Geesink, a legendary name in the world of judo and later worked for All Japan Pro Wrestling in the early 70's with Giant Baba passed away on Friday at the age of 76. Geesink was a major name to come over from the legitimate sports world to do professional wrestling in Japan and add credibility to All Japan. Geesink was booked very strong by the promotion but never adapted well to the worked form of professional wrestling and was not re-signed once his contract came due.
**WWE ‘Superstars' did a 0.59 rating on Thursday night on WGN America.
**Here is a link to a really nice piece written by Howard Brody remembering the late Luna Vachon, who passed away on Friday at the age of 48.
**The WWE made the following announcement regarding the passing of Vachon on their website:
World Wrestling Entertainment has been made aware of the passing of Gertrude (Luna) Vachon. WWE extends its deepest condolences to the Vachon family.
Ms. Vachon was under contract with WWE at various times from 1993 through 2000, and performed under the name 'Luna' Vachon. She last performed for WWE in early 2000.
**Kevin Sullivan made the following statement regarding the passing of Vachon, the two worked together in Florida Championship Wrestling in the mid 80's as well as WCW in 1996-97:
I am saddened to hear of the passing of Luna Vachon. Not only was she a fantastic performer, but I was lucky enough to consider her a dear friend and I will miss her greatly. Luna was an integral part of my career and I would not have succeeded without her. We have lost a great performer and an even greater person. My condolences go out to her family and to her friends
**Kurt Angle states he would vote for Linda McMahon if he lived in Connecticut this fall:
To all connecticut residents, as u know linda mcmahon is running for office. I worked with linda on many projects in wwe. Linda was a professional that got things done. I worked with her on "smackdown ur vote" among many other projects. She is smart, bright and a true leader. I am now in tna and it doesn't benefit me to talk about linda or what a great woman she is. I saw with my own eyes. She's honest, sincere and always looked out for what was best to her employees. Linda was the positiveness in wwe. She has the qualities that I would want in a politician. She listens to you, and always does the right thing. If I were living in connecticut, I would vote for her with pride and an eagerness to get the economy, real estate and health reform back on track. Remember, I'm in tna and I don't plan on leaving but I want what is best for this country, and linda mcmahon has that "IT" factor you rarely see in today's leaders. Good luck linda. GOD bless, kurt angle 1996 olympic gold medalist and proud AMERICAN
**Here are the results from the Ring of Honor show Friday night in Richmond, Virginia:
*Kenny King & Rhett Titus over El Generico & Colt Cabana in Block A of the Tag Wars tournament
*The Dark City Fight Club over The Bravado Brothers in Block C of the Tag Wars tournament
*The Briscoe Brothers over Necro Butcher & Prince Nana in Block B of the Tag Wars tournament (Nana was substituting for Erick Stevens, who missed the show due to travel issues)
*Davey Richards over Kevin Steen
*Bobby Dempsey & Cedric Alexander over Caleb Konley & Jake Manning
*Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli Vs J-Sinn & Lance Lude went to a no contest
*Steve Corino over Jeff Eastley
*Roderick Strong over Steve Corino
*Tyler Black over Eddie Edwards in a non title match (Black played heel the entire match and turned down making it a non title match after Jim Cornette asked to change it at the start of the match)
LAW MMA UPDATE
**Tonight is the UFC 118 card from the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts (the first UFC show in the history of the state, which was a market Dana White has pursued aggressively because of it being his hometown). The card is headlined by a rematch for the UFC Lightweight Title but the curiosity of the Randy Couture Vs James Toney is a larger draw for most people ordering or watching the show tonight because of the freak show appeal of Toney and the nonsense he has been talking to the press since the fight was announced. Here is a breakdown of the main card for the show tonight:
Frank Edgar Vs B.J Penn for the UFC Lightweight Title
I expect a vastly different B.J Penn to show up in this fight tonight as opposed to Penn at UFC 112 who chose to stand for five rounds with Edgar and was narrowly defeated by decision. I never heard of any knee injury or ailment Penn was suffering from in that first fight but his decision to not shoot for a takedown was very suspect considering that Penn's jiu jitsu would have been a difference maker in the fight despite Edgar's wrestling ability. This fight could easily go another five rounds but I feel Penn will change up his game plan if he's losing the stand up battle and expect Penn to regain the title tonight.
Randy Couture Vs James Toney
This is a very basic fight on paper where everyone expects Couture to secure the takedown and make Toney a fish out of water on his back and be privy to Couture's ground and pound for an early stoppage in the first round. The hook to this fight is the minute chance that Toney is able to catch Couture when he shoots in or initiates his clinch or even goes so far as to try and trade with Toney to make a point. Couture is only going to lose this fight if Toney times his shot perfectly and the four ounce gloves will likely spell the end for Couture. I don't see it happening and expect what the majority are saying with a first round stoppage victory by Couture.
Kenny Florian Vs Gray Maynard
Maynard's bread and butter is his wrestling but he's got that stubborn Jorge Gurgel trait where he wants to stand to have a more exciting fight rather than use his wrestling for the best possible outcome. In Maynard's defense he has been accused of having uninspiring wins ala Jon Fitch but the guy has never lost a MMA bout and regardless of how, would have to give him a title shot with a win over Florian. For Florian since losing to then champion B.J Penn at UFC 101 last August he has stopped both Clay Guida and Takanori Gomi leading into this elimination bout and feel he deserves another shot with a win especially if Edgar gets the nod tonight. Florian has worked extensively on his wrestling with Zahabi MMA with Georges St-Pierre, who may have the best wrestling designed for MMA in the game and there is a big difference. I'm picking Florian in this fight.
Marcus Davis Vs Nate Diaz
This is going to be an entertaining fight and I've reserving this for ‘fight of the night'. I was negative on the idea of Diaz moving up to 170 pounds but he looked great against Rory Markham at UFC 111 this past March (and that was against a heavier Markham, who came in way over weight for the fight). Davis is a technical striker and goes out for crowd pleasing bouts and Diaz will not hesitate to stand and trade with Davis but his ground game will surely dictate the finish and leans me to choose Diaz in this fight.
Demian Maia Vs Mario Miranda
You never want to accuse the UFC of booking a rehab fight but that's what this really is for Maia, who is coming off that spectacle with Anderson Silva at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi. A lot of people have thrown Maia down among the top 185 pound fighters in the world but let's not forget that this guy owns a victory over Chael Sonnen and has one of the slickest submission games in the division. I expect a solid victory from Maia and getting his name back amongst the top players at 185.
**Here are the preliminary bouts on the card tonight:
*Joe Lauzon Vs Gabe Ruediger
*Nik Lentz Vs Andre Winner
*John Salter Vs Dan Miller
*Nick Osiczak Vs Greg Soto
*Amilcar Alves Vs Mike Pierce
**Here is a link to The Fight Network's full preview of UFC 118 hosted by Robin Black and myself.
**UFC 122 on November 13th from Oberhausen, Germany will be headlined by a middleweight bout between Vitor Belfort and Yushin Okami. Belfort was in the mix to receive the next Middleweight Title shot against Anderson Silva but due to the nature of the Silva Vs Chael Sonnen fight and the decision to go with the immediate rematch it leaves Belfort having to take this fight. Belfort was originally promised the next title shot but if you want to be fair and book this as a sport than really Belfort has not earned one win at 185 in the UFC with his last fight defeating Rich Franklin in September 2009 at a catch weight of 195 pounds.
**DREAM has announced the following fights for DREAM 16 to be held on September 25th in Nagoya, Japan:
*Jason ‘Mayhem' Miller Vs Kazushi Sakuraba (a criminal fight for Sakuraba to be put into at this stage of his career)
*Gegard Mousasi Vs Tatsuya Mizuno to determine the inaugural DREAM Light Heavyweight Champion
*Joe Warren Vs Michihiro Omigawa
**
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You can contact John Pollock at john@thefightnetwork.com
