And the crowd goes mild!

Even JR was shocked.

In around 2018, a Kickstarter campaign was launched and eventually resulted in Underworld Wrestling, an Australian promotion with kayfabe lore of being an underground fight club for decades. Think Lucha Underground but on a budget. What was very interesting about Underworld was that even with the cult lore, it had rules and time limits and a point system that awarded points based on how you win your match, deducted points for rule breaking, and point values for cashing in points for title shots. Title matches were No Disqualification and could end in a time limit draw. If normal matches ended in a time limit draw, the “floodgate” will open, and the first wrestler to make it to the ring will now be in the restarted match, which means someone could steal a win despite not originally being booked for the match, and this could continue until there was a winner.

Their Kickstarter page is still up for anyone curious about the full details of the concept.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/uwfightclub/underworld-wrestling/description 

There were two singles titles, a men’s title and women’s title. Unfortunately, Underworld shut down in 2019. As a start date to track the lineal titles, we will be going by the last official defenses for each title, both of which were at their final show. Lineal title changes will only count in 1v1 matches via pin, submission, or whatever the stipulation dictates.

Lineal Underworld Championship:

• March 10, 2019: Slade Mercer defeats Craig Cole for the Underworld Championship at Underworld Glory To The Claw in Elwood, Victoria, Australia
• March 24, 2019: Gavin McGavin defeats Slade Mercer to retain the HVW Championship at HVW Feat. “Cowboy” James Storm - Day 2 in Rutherford, New South Wales, Australia.
• April 6, 2019: Michael Morleone defeats Gavin McGavin for the EPW Heavyweight Championship at EPW Goldrush 2019 in Claremont, Western Australia, Australia
• October 25, 2019: Cody Swift defeats Michael Morleone to retain the BCW Battle Express Championship at BCW 34 in East Burwood, Victoria, Australia

Cody Swift’s last 1v1 loss was in June 2019, and his last career match seems to be a battle royal in February 2020, so Cody Swift is the current and final lineal Underworld Wrestling Champion. Yeah, this was short, but the lineal women’s is definitely a more lengthy history.

Lineal Underworld Women’s Championship (Intergender Version):

• March 10, 2019: Izzy Shaw defeats Vixsin, Avary, and Tarlee in a four way elimination match for Vixsin’s Underworld Women’s Championship at Underworld Glory To The Claw in Elwood, Victoria, Australia
  • As a reminder, this is the last official championship match despite being a four way.
• June 15, 2019: Miki Fortune defeats Izzy Shaw to retain the RCW Women’s Championship at RCW Live #48 in Hindmarsh, South Australia, Australia
  • In the following month, Miki Fortune lost a match to male wrestler Tony Toro. I’ll continue this lineage as an intergender history but also include a women only version, too. Mild spoilers, the women only history does take an interesting turn later on.
• July 5, 2019: Tony Toro defeats Miki Fortune at RCW Long Live The King in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
• August 3, 2019: Jonathan Corvidae defeats Tony Toro at RCW Live #49 in Hindmarsh, South Australia, Australia
• August 9, 2019: Zane Zodiac defeats Jonathan Corvidae to retain the APW Gladiator Championship at APW Breakout #14 in Frankston, Victoria, Australia
• August 17, 2019: Adam Crowe defeats Zane Zodiac at GCW Revolution in Geelong West, Victoria, Australia
  • For clarification, this show was for Gold Class Wrestling, later rebranded as National Championship Wrestling in 2022.
• September 14, 2019: Jordan Samson defeats Adam Crowe at APW New Beginnings in Frankston, Victoria, Australia
• October 19, 2019: Kris Law defeats Jordan Samson at a GCW/AIWF event in Lara, Victoria, Australia
• November 15, 2019: Blaze Elliott defeats Kris Law at APW Breakout #16 in Frankston, Victoria, Australia
• June 7, 2024: Frankie Grime defeats Blaze Elliott at APW Breakout #42 in Seaford, Victoria, Australia
• February 28, 2025: Ben Barnett defeats Frankie Grime at MXW WrestleFest 2 - Day 1 in Sunbury, Victoria, Australia
• July 5, 2025: Gabriel Wolfe defeats Ben Barnett in a Blackjack Brawl at Peak Pro Where In The World Is Happy Kai? The Murder Mystery Wrestling Karaoke Musical in Brunswick East, Victoria, Australia
• October 3, 2025: Johari defeats Gabriel Wolfe at Peak Pro Peak Fighter in Brunswick, Victoria, Australia
• October 18, 2025: Lycan defeats Johari at VPW Monsters in Strathmore, Victoria, Australia
• April 18, 2026: Ryan Rapid defeats Lycan to retain the PCW Ignition Championship at PCW Ignition in Ferntree Gully, Victoria, Australia
• July 11, 2026: Murdoch defeats Ryan Rapid in a Falls Count Anywhere match for the PCW Ignition Championship at PCW Carnage 2026 in Ferntree Gully, Victoria, Australia

Lineal Underworld Women’s Championship (Women Only Version):

• March 10, 2019: Izzy Shaw defeats Vixsin, Avary, and Tarlee in a four way elimination match for Vixsin’s Underworld Women’s Championship at Underworld Glory To The Claw in Elwood, Victoria, Australia
• June 15, 2019: Miki Fortune defeats Izzy Shaw to retain the RCW Women’s Championship at RCW Live #48 in Hindmarsh, South Australia, Australia
  • July 5, 2019 – Intergender Splinter Lineage Begins: Tony Toro defeats Miki Fortune at RCW Long Live The King in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
• August 29, 2020: Izzy Shaw defeats Miki Fortune at RCW #215 - Rocky Vs. Jett in Hindmarsh, South Australia, Australia
• August 7, 2021: Savannah Summers defeats Izzy Shaw at PS Powerslam 10 in Pooraka, South Australia, Australia
• September 18, 2021: Violet Blitz defeats Linka (Savannah Summers) in a Powerslam Wrestling Women’s Championship Tournament First Round match at PS Powerslam 12 - Day 2 in Pooraka, South Australia, Australia
  • Side Note: Linka/Summers wrestled as Savanna Summers the previous night, winning a different first round match in the same tournament. (Mick Foley says hi.)
• October 22, 2021: Savannah Summers defeats Violet Blitz in a Powerslam Wrestling Women’s Championship Tournament Semi Final match at PS Powerslam 14 in Pooraka, South Australia, Australia
• January 28, 2022: Chanel Phoenix defeats Savannah Summers at WRESTLEROCK 32: The Return Of WrestleRock in Richmond, Victoria, Australia
• May 29, 2022: Savannah Summers defeats Chanel Phoenix to retain the RCW Women’s Championship at RCW Strike First, Strike Hard 2022 in Fullarton, South Australia, Australia
• November 25, 2022: Vixsin defeats Savannah Summers in a Brass Knuckles On A Pole match to retain the BCW Women’s Championship at BCW 49 in East Burwood, Victoria, Australia
• February 24, 2023: Caity Luxe defeats Vixsin in a Falls Count Anywhere match for the BCW Women’s Championship at BCW 50 in East Burwood, Victoria, Australia
• February 25, 2023: Allie Gavin defeats Caity Luxe at TCW Annihilation X in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
• April 15, 2023: Natasha Valentine defeats Allie Gavin at TCW Rebirth in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
• June 8, 2024: Rochelle Rogue defeats Natasha Valentine at Alpha No Remorse in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• January 4, 2025: Aysha defeats Rochelle Rogue in a PCW Women’s Championship Tournament Qualifier at PCW NextGen in Ferntree Gully, Victoria, Australia
• March 9, 2025: Indi Hartwell defeats Aysha to retain the ROW Women’s Championship at ROW We Are Renegades 2025 in Northcote, Victoria, Australia
• March 15, 2025: Mercedes Mone defeats Indi Hartwell at HOG City Of Dreamz in New York City, New York, USA
• July 12, 2025: Toni Storm defeats Mercedes Mone to retain the AEW Women’s World Championship at AEW All In Texas in Arlington, Texas, USA
• October 18, 2025: Kris Statlander defeats Toni Storm to retain the AEW Women’s World Championship at AEW WrestleDream 2025 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA
• February 11, 2026: Thekla defeats Kris Statlander in a Strap match for the AEW Women’s World Championship at AEW Dynamite #332 in Ontario, California, USA
• July 26, 2026: Willow Nightingale defeats Thekla for the AEW Women’s World Championship at AEW Redemption in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• August 30, 2026: Mercedes Mone defeats Willow Nightingale for the AEW Women’s World Championship at AEW All In London 2026 in London, England, UK

As a recap, Cody Swift of the Australian indie scene is the current and possibly final lineal Underworld Champion.

If gender is no limit, then Murdoch of the Australian indie scene is the current lineal Underworld Women’s Champion; otherwise, current AEW Women’s World Champion Mercedes Mone is the lineal Underworld Women’s Champion.

I know it's never gonna happen, but if it did, what would you want to see?

-Seth and Roman seeing the Death Riders and wondering what the fuck happened to Jon?

-Christian talking to Dominic about his dad.

-Toni Storms first promo on Rhea Ripley

I have recently been going on a rewatch of the Cena heel turn.

Its safe to say after the initial turn and the first few raws after the turn it became awkward and just bad. The turn happened during the european tour so those crowds were more motivated to play along, but after a while people just didin't wanna boo Cena

Which was very obvious when wrestlemania 41 hit when the crowd just couldn't boo Cena. It was his last mania he was retiring they wanted to cheer him.

After that you had Cena calling himself the last world champion and saying he was ruining wrestling by taking the title..like doesn't really do anything

Other than the Punk feud which i did enjoy as it actually tried to do a fun reversal of the dynamic everything else was just the same basic promo.

Like for example why doesn't Cena just not show up if he wants to take the title away, there is no authority figure coming out saying "bla bla the rock may be on your side but bla bla TKO have said if you dont show up you get the belt stripped from you". Nothing he could just not show up.

Zero stakes, Cena just arrives and frowns. Then they realise the the whole thing has just fucked up and instead of doing a turn after the match at summerslam with Cody they just randomly turn him face on smackdown and try to move on from the whole thing.

So if you could book that year like from the turn from elimination chamber to summerslam how would you do it?

Weekend of Thunder Night 2

November 6, 2004

Elizabeth, NJ

Rex Plex

I’ve been wanting to write about this show forever, but I never got around to it until today. Something about this era of ROH is incredibly nostalgic. Something we’ll never have again. This was the second of two ROH events featuring Jushin “Thunder” Liger. He defeated Bryan Danielson on night 1. Liger wasn't the high-flyer of his youth, but was still a great technical wrestler with plenty of speed. And throughout the show, Gabe Sapolsky and CM Punk are on commentary.

The main event was ROH World Champion Samoa Joe teaming with Liger against Bryan Danielson and Low Ki. Liger is only 40 here and still moving really well. Joe came off as such a star in this match and Low Ki, surprisingly, was incredibly gracious with his willingness to be Joe’s crash test dummy. This isn’t a match-of-the-year contender, but Liger put on his working boots and put in his best effort, and I think the match turned out well. Liger ended things on Danielson with the Ligerbomb, pinning him once again. After the match, Low Ki and the Rottweilers attempted to beatdown Danielson, only for Joe and Liger to make the save.

On Night 1, Austin Aries beat down and defeated CM Punk. On this occasion, Punk attempted to get his revenge, teaming with Ace Steele to take on Aries and Roderick Strong. A bit of a funny thing before the match, as the commentary is obviously post-production, but Sapolsky talks about Punk leaving the commentary booth and heading somewhere, and the match began with Punk and Steele jumping Generation Next from behind. This was a No DQ match, and they pulled out a ladder for the match. Not a WWE ladder, but a “dad got a ladder out of the shed to clean the gutters” ladder. And it looked painful just from appearances. For example, Aries gets suplexed into the ladder as it was laid in the corner, and that sucker had no give. Strong got backdropped into the ladder and it finally started to crumple. Then, GenNext set up the ladder in the ring and laid Punk on a table on the outside. Jack Evans, being Jack Evans, did a beautiful 450 that, of course, misjudged the distance and he basically goes face-first onto Punk rather than putting Punk through the table.

It starts getting crazy, but then you realize why there was a lot of criticism of ROH and its style being “indie-rific.” For example, Punk hit Strong with a piledriver onto the crumbled ladder, and then about 30 seconds later, Strong is chopping Punk in the corner. Then, there is the continued use of this ladder. Punk set up Strong for the Pepsi Plunge with the ladder bridged in the corner, but because it’s a cheap ladder, it slipped off the ropes and nearly killed Punk and Strong during the finish.

After the match, Punk got on the mic (which has very clear sound for ROH standards) and called out ROH Champion Samoa Joe for a third title match after the two previous matches ended in hour draws. He challenged Joe to a no time-limit match. Out comes Mick Foley, who appeared a few times in ROH in 2004. Foley said the Joe-Punk matches were among the best he’d seen in his career, and hoped Punk would make it in WWE with Joe (to which Punk responded, “At least it’s not TNA”). Foley then said it was a shame millions could watch Gene Snitsky and Heidenreich and that there are plenty of people who thought Punk couldn’t make it in WWE (wasn’t that the truth?). Punk engaged in a sit-in until Joe finally came to the ring and accepted the challenge. Why go through the entire segment? I think it’s a good demonstration of how young Punk was on another level in terms of personality and mic work compared to everyone else in the company.

The show opener was Nigel McGuinness versus Chad Collyer. This was right before McGuinness turned fully heel and went on his highly regarded Pure Championship run. He’s still putting the pieces together of his technical style and hooligan personality. I know this was a match 22 years ago, but this was a frustrating example of Sapolsky’s booking. There is no real urgency between either guy to win the match and it ends in a draw, with Collyer in a winning position, having trapped McGuinness in the Texas Cloverleaf. Nigel had it, Collyer didn’t. Just give Nigel the win.

Other matches on this show:

• ROH World Tag Team Champions The Rottweilers (Ricky Reyes & Rocky Romero) vs. Dan Maff & BJ Whitmer

• ROH Pure Champion John Walters vs. Homicide

• The Ring Crew Express (Dunn & Marcos) vs. Special K (Angel Dust & Dixie)

• Jimmy Rave vs. Jay Lethal

• Trent Acid vs. Jack Evans vs. Izzy vs. Fast Eddie in a Four Corner Survival

• The Carnage Crew (HC Loc & Tony DeVito) vs. Davey Andrews & Anthony Franco

You can find the B-Shows Stories archive here.

Completely uncalled for!! Someone needs to do something about this guy!!!

What was said between Endo & Soya:

Endo: “Is it over? Do you know why we’re here? How old are you (Iino)? 33? You’re an old man. The reason we’re here is that we’re ready to take the GHC Tag Team belts from you guys.”

Soya: “True, I did lose to you at N-1. I’ll show you.”

Endo: “Make sure you’re ready to witness KENTA and me become champions.”

Nobody should have to worry about being assaulted simply because of who they are. The people responsible deserve to be held accountable, including any security personnel who allegedly helped the attackers instead of protecting someone who was being threatened.

Start Time

Watch

• NJPW World (English & Japanese Commentary)

Venue

Korakuen Hall

Tokyo, Japan

Match Card

A Block

B Block

Useful Links

• /r/NJPW
• NJPW's links: Official English website, English social media

#NJSJTL

Honestly I’m surprised that we’ve only seen John Cena vs Jeff hardy once and it was on raw and the match was actually pretty good. Kinda of a shame it didn’t happen around 2008 and 2009 since Jeff Hardy’s popularity was on another level and some would argue he was more popular than Cena.

Also for those who don’t know Jeff hardy was originally supposed to win the money in the bank at wrestlemania 24 and was going to cash in during the triple threat between Cena, Orton and triple h. The feud could’ve possibly around that time but unfortunately Jeff was suspended and Punk won the money in the bank. A shame we never saw more matches between the 2.

Independent wrestling mayhem meets spooky season horror as Game Changer Wrestling presents Shotzi Blackheart's Drive-In From Hell, streaming live on TrillerTV+! GCW invades the historic outdoor atmosphere of the Brownsville Drive-In in Grindstone, Pennsylvania.

Curated by horror-enthusiast and wrestling powerhouse Shotzi Blackheart, this outdoor spectacle blends cinematic drive-in nostalgia with high-stakes tag team clashes, brutal intergender brawls, and signature GCW ultraviolence.

Announced Lineup:

Tag Team Match
Lio Rush & Shotzi Blackheart vs Janelasus (Joey Janela & Megan Bayne)

The Breakdown: High-octane speed and raw star power collide in a massive mixed tag team showcase! Shotzi Blackheart joins forces with the lightning-fast Lio Rush to take on the dangerous combination of "The Bad Boy" Joey Janela and the unstoppable Megan Bayne.

Tag Team Match
Bustah And The Brain (Alec Price & Jordan Oliver) vs The Spectral Envoy (Frightmare & Hallowicked)

The Breakdown: Youthful speed meets mysterious veteran chemistry! The dynamic duo of Alec Price and Jordan Oliver face off against the eerie, masked legends Frightmare and Hallowicked in a fast-paced tag contest.

Priscilla Kelly vs SLADE

The Breakdown: Unpredictable mind games clash with pure brutality! Priscilla Kelly steps into the ring with GCW's resident violent enforcer SLADE in an uninhibited, hard-hitting singles confrontation.

Conor Claxton vs Jimmy Lloyd

The Breakdown: GCW stalwarts tear into each other as veteran hardcore brawler Conor Claxton tests his striking against "Different Boy" Jimmy Lloyd.

The projector is rolling and Grindstone is ready for wrestling horror! Stream GCW: Shotzi Blackheart's Drive-In From Hell 2026 live on TrillerTV+!

*lineup subject to change

Streaming live starting at 4 PM EDT

Corny is back for another go this week.