The US wrestling world, amazingly including WWE, descends on Nashville, TN this weekend for likely the biggest non-WrestleMania weekend of the year. While WWE runs their major SummerSlam event tonight, the focus otherwise is on “Starrcast V”, an entire weekend of independent events, special fan gatherings, podcast tapings and more all centered around the final match in the career of the one & only Ric Flair tomorrow night. New Japan is part of Starrcast with their latest US event today, Music City Mayhem. On paper it seems like a “B show” because all the top talent is in Japan for the ongoing G1 CLIMAX tournament so the show will mainly feature the US-based talent and some of the top Jr. Heavyweights from NJPW and some top All Elite Wrestling names including FTR. 2 title matches are on tap too-Davey Richards will defend the MLW National Championship against Rocky Romero, stepping in because original challenger Clark Connors is out due to injury. Then STRONG Openweight Champion Fred Rosser makes his first defense against Big Damo. The main event is AEW Interim World Champion Jon Moxley vs. El Desperado in a NON-TITLE match, and to make it more fair for the smaller Desperado it’s No DQ.
Today’s event will be held at the Nashville Fairgrounds in Nashville, TN and can be watched LIVE and on demand ONLY ON FITE in English. IT IS NOT AVAILABLE ON NEW JAPAN WORLD. The event is available as a standalone PPV for $14.99 and includes the live broadcast and unlimited on demand replays (you also get unlimited replays if you buy it on demand after the event), or as part of one of the special Starrcast V inclusive bundles that include Ric Flair’s last match tomorrow-these start at $99.99.
If you plan to watch SummerSlam later or any other Starrcast events there should be no conflicts here as I expect this to be a short event, only running about 2 hours. (Post-show note: It went about 2 hours, 40 minutes)
Today’s lineup:
Red Yehi, Yuya Uemura & Shota Umino vs. The DKC, Kevin Knight & Ren Narita
MLW National Champion Davey Richards vs. Rocky Romero for the title
STRONG Openweight Champion Fred Rosser vs. Big Damo for the title
Hiromu Takahashi vs. Blake Christian
FTR & Alex Zayne vs. Aussie Open & TJP
KUSHIDA vs. Alex Shelley
Jon Moxley vs. El Desperado in a No DQ match
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 3 PM ET/Noon PT.
3 PM ET UPDATE: Waiting for live stream to begin. No signal from venue. Not good.
3:03 PM ET UPDATE: Stream has begun. Just missed most of the opening promo video. Anyway…
We are LIVE from the Nashville Fairgrounds in Nashville, TN. Your hosts are Ian Riccaboni & Matt Rehwoldt.
Match 1: The DKC, Kevin Knight & Ren Narita vs. Fred Yehi, Yuya Uemura & Shota Umino. 20 minute time limit
Result: Fred Yehi, Yuya Uemura & Shota Umino beat The DKC, Kevin Knight & Ren Narita. Umino pinned DKC after a double-arm underhook DDT.
Match 2: MLW National Champion Davey Richards vs. Rocky Romero for the title. 20 minute time limit
Result: MLW National Champion Davey Richards beat Rocky Romero to retain the title.
Legendary NJPW referee Tiger Hattori joins commentary for the next match.
Match 3: STRONG Openweight Champion Fred Rosser vs. Big Damo for the title. 30 minute time limit
Result: STRONG Openweight Champion Fred Rosser beat Big Damo to retain the title. V1 for Rosser.
Match 4: Hiromu Takahashi vs. Blake Christian. 20 minute time limit
Result: Hiromu Takahashi beat Blake Christian
Tanga Loa joins commentary.
Match 5: Aussie Open & TJP vs. FTR & Alex Zayne. 20 minute time limit
Result: Aussie Open & TJP beat FTR & Alex Zayne. Mark Davis pinned Zayne. Afterwards, Aussie Open challenged FTR for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. (Some technical difficulties with stream caused me to miss just under a minute of this about 2/3 of the way through)
Match 6: KUSHIDA vs. Alex Shelley. 20 minute time limit
Result: Time Limit Draw
Main Event: Jon Moxley vs. El Desperado in a No DQ match. No time limit
Result: Jon Moxley beat El Desperado by ref stoppage (technical submission). Afterwards, Moxley with microphone for a promo to send the crowd home happier.
Despite some brief technical issues this was an event that, based on its lineup on paper, really overachieved and was great from start to finish. Every match is worth watching but KUSHIDA-Shelley alone is worth the $15.
End Show.
