Table of contents for February 2017 in Pro Wrestling Illustrated

NO MATTER how the TNA legal wrangling plays out, it doesn’t appear things are going to end well for Dixie Carter. But if now is the time to pile on, my 204 pounds will not be on the heap. I feel sorry for Dixie. TNA was her baby. While she did not give birth to the company, she did adopt it in its infancy and, with a lot of financial assistance from her folks in Dallas, she kept the company fed for 14 years. After a bumpy start to life, the baby looked as if it were maturing into a happy, healthy young adult. At its peak, Impact Wrestling was viewed by more than two million people on a weekly basis. Its talent roster included a collection of names that,…

SURE, WRESTLING IS loaded with some bizarre sayings (“jerking the curtain,” the “high rent district”) but they’re no stranger than hundreds of English idioms that you hear every day. Even though they do sometimes hit the nail on the head, personally, I wouldn’t be caught dead using idioms, other than, perhaps, once in a blue moon. But¸ to each, his own. To enjoy this idiom-themed edition of “Quick Count”, just sit down, relax, and Bob’s your uncle. THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS It took nearly four decades, but in 2015, Pro Wrestling Illustrated finally whittled down all the world titles it has recognized in the past to just one: the WWE World Heavyweight championship. It was good while it lasted. With the return of two distinct WWE major brands comes…

INTERVIEWING A NEW JAPAN Wrestling star at a time that is convenient for them likely means doing so at a time that is highly inconvenient for you. Darn that 13-hour time difference. But conducting a phone interview at 4:30 a.m. is a small sacrifice when compared to those Kenny Omega has made since choosing eight years ago to uproot his life and move from Canada to the other side of the Earth to pursue wrestling stardom in the Land of the Rising Sun. Thankfully, those sacrifices have paid off in spades over the past year—a 12-month span that saw him wear both NJPW’s coveted junior heavyweight and Intercontinental championships, replace AJ Styles as the leader of the internationally dominant Bullet Club stable, and, in August, become the first non-Japanese competitor…

Corgan takes control …“I have no investors. This is completely my pile. I am committed.” That’s what new TNA President Billy Corgan told Busted Open radio, clarifying his leadership role in the company, his vision for the future, and confirming that he had to pump his own money into TNA for the previous three rounds of Impact Wrestling tapings. Dixie Carter turned over TNA’s day-to-day operations to Corgan back in August, referring to the Smashing Pumpkins frontman as a “savvy businessman with an incredibly gifted creative mind” in a press release. A deal to make Corgan's majority owner appears imminent, placing TNA under the aegis of his new parent company, Impact Ventures. Carter’s new po sition is chairman and chief strategy officer, serving as a consultant and focusing on long-term…

ALBERTO DEL RIO returned to action just days after he claims he was stabbed following an automobile accident in San Antonio, Texas. According to reports, Del Rio was headed to the airport on his way to Mexico City for AAA’s “Heroes Inmortales X” event, where he was scheduled to team with Psycho Clown in a match against Dr. Wagner Jr. and Pagano on October 2. Del Rio was involved in a collision and he and the other driver exchanged words. According to Del Rio, the man attacked him with a knife as Del Rio was walking back to his car. Del Rio suffered lacerations to his arms and the side of his face before wrestling the knife out of his attacker’s hand. Del Rio was treated in an area hospital…

SEND LETTERS TO: BETWEEN FALLS BOX 96 Ft.Washington, PA 19034 or you can e-mail your comments to prowrestlingillustrated@yahoo.com PRO WRESTLING ILLUSTRATED welcomes readers' comments on any of our stories or coloumns. PWI 500 If only “Half Of You Will Hate This,” as the cover of the “PWI500” (December 2016) stated, why is it that we got more than twice as many letters and e-mails trashing our selection of Roman Reigns as number one as we did from those approving our choice? “Seriously, Roman Reigns?” questioned reader Larry Groves. “It’s bad enough WWE tries to shove him down our throats, but PWIas well? Take your 2-9; any one of them would have been a more suitable choice.”  “Loved the cover illustration, hated the cover subject,” e-mailed Marc Ballentine. “If you guys…

THROUGH THE SHATTERED GLASS With so many competing narratives and agendas in the world of wrestling, it’s understandable that those on the inside of such a complex and multifaceted microcosm feel an obligation to present their stories on their own terms. That is perhaps the very sort of motivation that prompts so many stars of yesteryear to address fans without the filters provided by corporate publishers and mass-market endeavors. Such is the case with Jeanie Clarke’s new autobiography, Through The Shattered Glass. Working alongside her love interest “Gentleman” Chris Adams in their mutual homeland of Great Britain and later in the heyday of the Von Erichs’ WCCW, Clarke first became acquainted with pro wrestling as a raucous, regional spectacle. Eventually, she made the transition to WCW, and fans far and…

WOMEN’S WRESTLING HAS seen a remarkable rise in popularity and prominence in recent years. Well before the so-called “Divas Revolution,” Awesome Kong and Gail Kim were making history in the TNA Knockouts division and promotions like SHIMMER, SHINE, and Women Superstars Uncensored were proving that fans would support promotions that feature female athletes in a starring role. Before that and before Trish Stratus and Lita, there were women like Sensational Sherri Martel, Luna Vachon, and Malia Hosaka, who carried on the legacy of pioneers like Mildred Burke and The Fabulous Moolah. Women’s wrestling had ups and downs in terms of mainstream acceptance in the U.S., but there have always been talented and passionate ladies who were dedicated to breaking new ground in the ring and giving the fans their money’s…

RAW [USA] VIEWERS IN MILLIONS August 8: 2.91 August 15: 2.92 August 22: 3.32 August 29: 3.41 September 5: 3.07 September 12: 2.69 September 19: 2.68 September 26: 2.48 October 3: 2.80 Analysis: The crowning of a new WWE Universal champion was enough to attract an average of 3.41 million viewers for the August 29 edition of Raw, with Kevin Owens capturing the title in a four-way match also involving Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, and Big Cass. Raw dropped to a very low Nielsen rating of 1.75 on September 26, against the debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. That was the all-time lowest rating for a non-holiday week, falling below the previous low of 1.8 in 1996. Sasha Banks regained the Raw Women’s title from Charlotte on the October…

SPOTLIGHT CARD OF THE MONTH We encourage promoters and readers to e-mail results to: PWIResults@yahoo.com Please try to utilize the exact format you see in the “Arena Reports.” Also, please distinguish between handicap matches and three- or fourway matches. And, when reporting the result of a handicap match, indicate the number of competitors and who was the last man eliminated. Finally, please note pinfall finishes. Following these guidelines will help us greatly and make it more likely that your report will be used. CALIFORNIA SACRAMENTO—WWE No Mercy at the Golden 1 Center: Chad Gable, Jason Jordan, Mojo Rawley, & Zack Ryder beat Aiden English, Simon Gotch, Konnor, & Viktor … World champion AJ Styles beat John Cena and Dean Ambrose in a triple-threat … Nikki Bella pinned Carmella … Smackdown…

Top 10 and Tag Team ratings are based on won-lost records for the past month, quality of opposition, and inherent skill of each wrestler or tag team. These ratings are compiled by a committee consisting of Stu Saks, Dan Murphy, Kris Zellner, Harry Burkett, Louie Dee, and STRIGGA (cagematch.net, purolove.com). The numbers in parentheses indicate a wrestler’s position in that category last issue. Agate-sized ratings are supplied to PWI by promoters and can be e-mailed to us at pwiresults@yahoo.com (please put the word “ratings” in the subject line). TOP 10 1 AJ STYLES 218, Gainesville, GA (8) WWE World champion 2 KEVIN OWENS 266, Marieville, QC (–) WWE Universal champion 3 KAZUCHIKA OKADA 240, Tokyo, Japan (7) IWGP heavyweight champion 4 JOHN CENA 251, Newbury, MA (5) No. 1 contender WWE World title…

The recent shakeup in what it takes to become a WWE Superstar has extended into the company’s women’s division, where ladies of all different shapes, appearances, and backgrounds have helped make the “Divas” era a distant memory. Although the so-called “Divas Revolution” was spawned from a social media campaign beginning in early-2015, it took more than a year for a full-scale overhaul to take effect. WrestleMania 32 marked a major turning point in that revolution, as WWE put to bed, once and for all, the demeaning “Divas” term, replacing it with the WWE women’s division and women’s championship. Appropriately, the three women who embodied the new era of women’s wrestling in WWE, Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch, competed for the title on the big show, and had what many…

AT 41 YEARS old, ringside photographer Johnny Gee is an atypical newcomer to smashmouth competition inside the squared circle. But after an uncanny series of events, Gee found himself between the ropes at The Sanctuary in Hazelton, Pennsylvania, in late-September. T h e ve te ra n p h o to g h a d a formidable beef with Devil’s Rejects honcho Jason King, who had attacked Johnny several weeks prior. Agitated that Gee had taken a few too many photos of Rejects femme Bre Lane, King unloaded on Gee, breaking his camera and then setting to work on Johnny’s picture-taking hand with a pair of pliers. Johnny was left beaten and bruised, with a bloodied and broken index finger, to boot. But it was Gee who had the last…