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Guerrillas Of Destiny Defeat Young Bucks, Win IWGP Heavyweight Tag Titles

Chris Stephens
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Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa defeated the Young Bucks tonight at Fighting Spirit Unleashed. The win earns the Guerillas of Destiny the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships. They are now 4x holders of the titles.

Matt Jackson’s back seized up early, which would be a factor throughout the match. He was eventually pinned by Tama Tonga after a Stun Gun.

Guerillas of Destiny – IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions

The Guerillas of Destiny have successfully defended the titles twice and held them a combined 176 days throughout their 4 reigns.

Young Bucks Title Reign

The Young Bucks reign ends at just 112 days and 1 title defense. They won the titles from Evil and Bushi at Dominion in Osaka and defended them against the same team at the G1 Special in San Fransico.

Bullet Club Elite vs Bullet Firing Squad

The Firing Squad’s initial attack against the rest of Bullet Club took place at the G1 Special In San Francisco this summer. Tama Tonga and Bad Luck Fale then spent the entire G1 tournament breaking the rules and getting disqualified. On the final night of the tournament, however, the Guerillas of Destiny and Taiji Ishimori won the 6-Man tag titles. They are now able to add the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships to their list of held belts.

Lita Makes Unadvertised Appearance At Indy Show As Referee (Video)

Chris Stephens
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Amy “Lita” Dumas made an unexpected appearance at a Maryland Championship Wrestling event last night. Lita wrestled a match for the promotion in 2017 as well. She then competed in the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble match earlier this year.

You can watch video of Lita’s appearance in the Tweet below:

https://twitter.com/JeffreyBJones/status/1046273663438397440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1046273663438397440&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wrestlinginc.com%2Fnews%2F2018%2F09%2Flita-makes-unadvertised-appearance-at-indie-show-video-646305%2F

Is Lita Going To Wrestle Past Evolution?

Lita recently spoke on the prospect of wrestling more matches beyond WWE’s all-female  October pay-per-view.

“You go in with it being the idea of a one-time thing, but it’s very, very likely and potentially – the excitement of it or the crowd’s response of it could turn it into something more than a one-off. Like my life in general, I just take it all as it comes. So, we’ll see.”

“You never know who’s gonna show up at an Show
Welcome Home, Lita”

Lita is a former 4x WWE Women’s Champion and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014. WWE Evolution

WWE’s first ever all-female pay-per-view takes place October 28th, 2018. The event will be held in the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.

  • Lita vs Mickie James
  • Alexa Bliss vs Trish Stratus
  • 2018 Mae Young Classic Final
  • NXT UK Women’s Championship Match
    TBA vs TBA
  • NXT Women’s Championship
    Kairi Sane (c) vs Shayna Baszler
  • WWE Raw Women’s Championship Match
  • WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship Match

Tenille Dashwood To Undergo Shoulder Surgery

Chris Stephens
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Ring of Honor’s Tenille Dashwood announced today she’s been wrestling with a bad shoulder and now needs surgery. She broke the news at the ROH tapings today. There is no timetable for her return at this point.

The legitimate injury was made part of her match with Sumie Sakai on Friday night at Death Before Dishonor. Sakai retained the WOH World Championship when Dashwood passed out while in her armbar. Dashwood came into the match with a heavily taped up shoulder which she favored for most of the bout.

Tenille Dashwood Offer Contract

It is also being reported that ROH officials have offered Dashwood a contract. Her injury is not expected to affect the status of the offer either. It is also being said Dashwood is expected to sign.

Women Of Honor Roster

With Dashwood out it opens up a spot at the top of the Women of Honor division. Champion, Sumie Sakai, won the inaugural title earlier this year.  Sakai defeated Dashwood in the semi-finals of a tournament to declare the first champion before defeating Kelly Klein in the finals.

She has now defended her title 6x. Sakai’s defeated Stella Grey, Jenny Rose, Chardonnay, Hazuki, Madison Rayne, and now Tenille Dashwood.

Ring of Honor has been beefing up their division as of late. The company recently signed Madison Rayne to a one-year contract. Brandi Rhodes, Kelly Klein, Karen Q, and Mandy Leon are all regularly featured as well.

Photos: Mia Yim Debuts At NXT Live Event

Staff
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Mia Yim made her NXT live event this weekend. As advertised, the Mae Young Classic competitor wrestled at Saturday’s NXT live event from Fort Pierce, Florida. In her first match for NXT, Mia Yim defeated Aliyah in singles action.

Mia Yim has wrestled on and off for Impact Wrestling between 2013-2017. She was expected to sign with WWE after last year’s Mae Young Classic tournament, but was sidelined with a leg injury. During a recent interview with TVInsider, Mia revealed the hardest part of her recovery was the mental aspect.

“The hardest part of the recovery was the mental,” Yim said. “Going to physical therapy, learning how to walk again and run again, rolling around in the ring — it was all easy compared to the mental part.”

She recently signed a developmental deal with WWE and has been training at the Performance Center. Here are some photos from her NXT debut from this weekend:

https://twitter.com/DemetriThomasX/status/1046220686614810626

Watch: Mia Yim talks about her dream to wrestle for WWE

Rob Conway Talks Randy Orton Getting Him A Guest Coaching Spot At WWE PC

Chris Stephens
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Former NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Rob Conway, recently visited the WWE Performance Center and served as a guest coach. WWE correspondents caught up with Conway, who credited Randy Orton for the opportunity.

“Well, it started talking a lot to Randy Orton,” Conway said. “He’s somebody that I helped when he first started and he had asked me what involvement I would want to stay in wrestling because my in-ring career is coming to a close and I told him that I really enjoy helping people and training people. I’ve done it in the past so he let the office in WWE know that it was something I was interested in and we kind of went from there. Its worked out great.”

Rob Conway WWE Career

Conway was a former 3x WWE Tag Team Champion. Along with Sylvan Grenier, he helped form La Resistance after Renee Dupree left the team. He also held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from 2013 to 2015.

He held the Ohio Valley Wrestling heavyweight title 5 times. Conway would also give his opinions on the Performance Center:

“I mean it’s so much different. It’s still guys and girls working really hard. Everybody having a dream and wanting it to become a reality but the new P.C. is so much more advanced as far as how many rings.”

Daniel Bryan Talks 2019 Royal Rumble At Chase Field

Chris Stephens
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Many are predicting Daniel Bryan could win the 2019 Royal Rumble. Fans expecting and then not getting Daniel Bryan as the winner of this particular match has been something of a contentious issue in the past.

Bryan was in Arizona recently where the 2019 Royal Rumble is scheduled to take place at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He spoke with the local ABC affiliate in the region about next year’s event.

“It’s an incredible stadium. We were actually just talking about what the metamorphosis would look like,” Bryan said.

According to Bryan, the wrestlers will make their entrances from the player dugouts.

“Right now, the thought is that we’d come out of the dugout. We’ve never had a Royal Rumble in a baseball stadium before. I’m super-psyched. I’ve never come out of a dugout to go into a wrestling show before.”

Daniel Bryan on 2019 Royal Rumble

Bryan would continue to say he sees wrestling differently than many do.

“For me, it’s always about improving and evolving my own art form, and a lot of times that involves me doing other martial arts like jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, that sort of thing, and incorporating that stuff into what I do,” he continued.

Bryan’s not taking anything for granted now that he’s been able to resume his career. He still looks to improve his skills whenever he can.

“The way I view pro wrestling is different from the way a lot of people view it as. I view it from the spectrum of martial arts. I look at it as my own martial art,” he said. “For me, it’s a real art form that I like to work on constantly.”

The full interview can be read here.

Doug Williams Announces Retirement After 25-Year Career

Chris Stephens
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Legendary British wrestler, Doug Williams, has announced his retirement from professional wrestling. The 46-year-old’s career came to an end earlier today at Progress’ Hello Wembley show. Williams put his career on the line in a match against Trent Seven for the Atlas Championship and lost.

Williams spoke with the SportBible earlier this week about the upcoming retirement match.

“It was more their decision than mine,” Williams said. “They approached me with doing a different kind of storyline, which was a disgruntled veteran that was bitter about the new guys taking over. But I switched it on them and said I’m thinking about retiring next year anyway, why don’t we do a storyline that could culminate in that possibly happening?”

Doug Williams’ 25-Year Career

Williams started working as a teenager in the 90s with NWA UK Hammerlock. He was then a member of the Ring of Honor roster started their first year in 2002. He would remain with the promotion until 2007.

By 2009, he had already appeared with Impact Wrestling a few times. The promotion would then make the UK a bigger priority and Williams was cast in the British Invasion faction.

Earlier this month, Williams had a chance to earn an NWA World Heavyweight Championship match against Cody but lost to Nick Aldis.

Final Lineup For NJPW Fighting Spirit Unleashed

Chris Stephens
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New Japan Pro Wrestling presents a show from the Walter Pyramid tonight in Long Beach, California.

Two championship matches will take place on the show. Juice Robinson will defend the IWGP United States Championship against Cody and the Young Bucks will defend the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships against Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa.

Fighting Spirit Unleashed
September 30th, 2018
Long Beach Walter Pyramid
Long Beach, CA

  • The Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi) (Bullet Club Elite) vs Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii (CHAOS)
  • IWGP United States Championship
    Juice Robinson (c) vs Cody (Bullet Club Elite)
  • IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships
    The Young Bucks (Bullet Club Elite) (c) vs the Guerillas of Destiny (Bullet Club Firing Squad)
  • IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Tournament
    Semi-Final
    Will Ospreay (CHAOS) vs Marty Scurll (Bullet Club Elite)
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi & KUSHIDA vs “Switchblade” Jay White & Gedo
  • Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, Bushi, and EVIL (Los Ingobernables de Japon) vs Zack Sabre Jr., Lance Archer, and Davey Boy Smith Jr. (Suzuki-Gun)
  • Jeff Cobb, Chris Sabin, and Flip Gordon vs Hirooki Goto, Beretta, and Chuckie T (CHAOS)
  • Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian (The Addiction/SCU) vs Hangman Page and Chase Owens
  • Jushin Liger, Ryusuke Taguchi, & ACH (Taguchi Japan) vs Roppongi 3K (Sho, Yoh, and Rocky Romero)

ROH Star Departs Company, Headed To WWE

Chris Stephens
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Ring of Honor held a set of television tapings yesterday in Las Vegas. The company also held their Death Before Dishonor Friday night in the same venue. According to a report from PW Insider, Punishment Martinez was saying his goodbyes at the show and is believed to be headed to WWE shortly.

Martinez lost the ROH TV title to Jeff Cobb at the event as well. Cobb challenged him for a match on Friday night at Death Before Dishonor after Martinez had defeated Chris Sabin.

Punishment Martinez WWE

36-year-old Luis Martinez is a former martial arts champion in Puerto Rico who got the itch to try wrestling after seeing Carlos Colon’s World Wrestling Council. He began his training at the Monster Factory in 2014 and debuted with Ring of Honor the following year.

He competed in the 2015 Top Prospect tournament but was eliminated in the semi-finals by Lio Rush. ROH signed him anyway, however, and he would also compete in New Japan Pro Wrestling at Honor Rising 2017.

Martinez won his first and only title in Ring of Honor earlier this year. He defeated Silas Young at State of the Art in Dallas on June 16th, 2018. Martinez defended the title 4x total during his reign. He defeated Hangman page, Scorpio Sky, Aaron Solow (hasn’t aired yet), and Chris Sabin at Death Before Dishonor.

Spoilers: ROH TV Tapings In Las Vegas (9/29/18), New Champion Crowned

Andrew Ravens
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ROH held TV tapings on Saturday night (September 29th) in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Orleans Arena. This was an important taping as it’s the first since their Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view event that took place on Friday night at the same venue.

Punishment Martinez finished up with Ring of Honor at tapings as PWinsider.com reports that he saying his goodbyes to the locker room as this was his final scheduled date for the company. It was noted that he opted not to sign a new deal with the promotion as he wanted to be free going forward.

ROH TV Tapings Spoilers

Here are the spoilers from the tapings, courtesy of @MrJacobCohen:

– Luchasaurus defeated Hyperstreak

– The Kingdom walk out to the ring to force ring announcer Bobby Cruise to list off Matt Taven’s achievements.

– Kenny King defeated Chase Owens

– Shane Taylor vs. Flip Gordon doesn’t happen after Bully Ray, Silas Young, and Taylor all beat up on Gordon. After the beatdown, they challenge wrestlers to come out from the back and help Gordon. However, nobody comes out.

– Nick Aldis defeated Christopher Daniels (HonorClub Exclusive Match)

– The Briscoes defeated Coast 2 Coast to retain the ROH World Tag Team Championship

– Jeff Cobb defeated Punishment Martinez to become the new ROH World TV Champion

– Tenille Dashwood walked out to the ring to cut a promo about how she’s not doing well physically as she has an autoimmune disease, skin condition, and needs surgery to repair a shoulder injury.

– Marty Scurll defeated Chris Sabin

– Brandi Rhodes defeated Heather Monroe

– Hangman Page defeated Scorpio Sky

– Shane Taylor defeated Eli Isom. After the match, Cheeseburger and Flip Gordon ran down to the ring to make the save as Gordon beats up Taylor with a chair then says he’ll get extreme with Bully Ray any match. It was revealed that next week in Philadelphia there will be a match sees Bully and Gordon bring a wrestler. The stipulation was that if Bully’s guy wins (Silas Young), Bully gets to do whatever to Gordon and vice versa.

– Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham defeated Jushin “Thunder” Liger and KUSHIDA

– Cody defeated Willie Mack to retain NWA World Heavyweight Championship

– Young Bucks defeated The Addiction, Best Friends, and SANADA & EVIL

– The closing segment saw Young Bucks, Cody, Adam Page in the ring to thank the fans. They noted that this was the first time they’ve been together since All In. Cody then teased All In 2 with a hand signal. They added that if ROH returns to Vegas then they don’t want to see any empty seats, it better be sold out.

Maria Kanellis Cleared To Return To The Ring

Daniel Pena
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Maria Kanellis has been cleared to return to the ring.

After suffering a broken wrist last month while training for a return to the ring, Maria revealed on her podcast (Mike and Maria in Wonderland, which she co-hosts with her husband, Mike Kanellis), that her doctor cleared her on Wednesday to “come back to the WWE.”

Maria then shows off her healed wrist and says, “I will be back.”

Mike adds, “Who knows when.”

Maria revealed the news at around the 48-minute mark of her podcast, which you can also find on iTunes.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALgD3aVGMDw?start=2870&w=560&h=315]

After parting ways with WWE in February 2010, Maria embarked on a search for “the perfect partner,” only to find one in her husband, Mike. Maria returned to WWE in June 2017 alongside Mike as part of SmackDown LIVE, where they vowed to educate everyone on the power of love. Maria, however, went on a leave of absence from WWE after announcing a year ago this week that she’s pregnant.

The couple welcomed their first daughter, Fredrica Moon, back in April. The very same month, Mike joined Raw through the Superstar Shake-up. Although Mike still has yet to wrestle on Monday Night Raw, he’s had a number of matches on WWE Main Event.

It’s unclear whether Maria will join Mike on Raw since WWE.com still has her listed as a member of SmackDown LIVE. When Maria revealed that she had suffered a broken wrist, her goal was to recover in time to wrestle at WWE’s first all-women’s pay-per-view event, WWE Evolution, on October 28.

XFL Commissioner On Players Standing For The National Anthem

Jon Fuentes
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Vince McMahon picked the perfect time for the relaunch of the XFL. There’s currently a ton of controversy within the NFL over the National Anthem. Several years ago, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began to kneel during the playing of the National Anthem.

Kaepernick began the silent protest to shed light on what he believes to be an epidemic of injustice against people of color at the hands of police within the United States. The topic has attracted mainstream attention and has divided the United States even further. While some sympathize with the protest, others believe the playing of the Anthem is nor the place or time.

Vince McMahon is part of the latter. During the announcement of the XFL’s relaunch, McMahon called the playing of the anthem before sporting events, “a time-honored tradition.” He made it very clear that players in the XFL would be required to stand during the anthem being played.

XFL And The Anthem

XFL CEO and commissioner Oliver Luck dove further into the topic. He appeared on former Green Bay Packers linebacker AJ Hawk’s podcast, The HawkCast. Here’s what he had to say on the matter:

“Vince feels strongly about that, so that will be one of those things that will differentiate us from the NFL. Remember, unlike the NFL we will not have a union when we start. There won’t be collective bargaining….we could say to a player, ‘Hey there is a clause in the contract that says I hereby agree to stand for the National Anthem.’

“Period. End of story. That won’t have to be collectively bargained. My position would be as long as a player knows beforehand that that’s part of the contract then that’s a workplace rule and we can enforce that workplace rule.

“If you go into a contractual situation, knowing what the workplace rules are, you’re obligated to follow those rules, otherwise there will be consequences.”

H/T WrestleZone for the transcriptions

Sting Reveals Vince McMahon’s Reaction To Him Signing With TNA

Jon Fuentes
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There’s no doubt Sting is one of the greatest professional wrestlers to ever step in between the ropes. The WWE Hall Of Famer began his WCW tenure back in 1987 with Jim Crockett Promotions. He was a staple in the company’s history, winning several World Titles under their banner.

Sting is a former NWA World Champion, a six-time WCW World Champion, and a two-time WCW United States Champion – to name only a few. Of course, WWE eventually bought out WCW and signed a few of their stars in the process. Sting, however, was not one of those stars.

He’d instead briefly work with World Wrestling All-Stars before signing with Jeff Jarrett’s new promotion, TNA in 2003. Speaking on the Apter Chat podcast recently, Sting revealed Vince McMahon’s reaction to him deciding to sign with TNA:

“I’ll never forget that conversation I had with Vince. He’s on the phone with me and he says: ‘You know Sting, I find this hard to believe. The legacy that you leave behind and the thought of you going to TNA… it just bleh!”

“So you fast forward to you know coming back to do WrestleMania I had set out a text to Vince and Triple H that just said, ‘have you guys turned the page on Sting yet?’ And I honestly did know? Did they turn the page? Are they done? Or would they consider a run up there?”

Sting would leave TNA in 2014 after over a decade with the company. That same year he’d make his WWE TV debut and begin the build to his WrestleMania match with Triple H. He was inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame in 2016.

Do you think Sting should’ve gone straight to WWE?

H/T Wrestling News Source for the transcriptions

Kofi Kingston Explains What He Learned From CM Punk

Jon Fuentes
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Kofi Kingston has etched himself into the WWE record books. The New Day member broke WWE’s record for most days as a Tag Team Champion in history recently. He passed up Billy Gunn after racking up over 954 days reigning as a Tag Team Champion.

This is including all of Kingston’s combined days as ever holding Tag Team Titles. Over the years, Kingston has had partners such as The New Day, R-Truth, Evan Bourne, and CM Punk. Kingston spoke to ESPN recently to get his reaction to his record-breaking accomplishment.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I set the goal to be the longest-reigning tag-team champion,” Kingston said. “I’m lucky and blessed to have so many tag-team championships.”

More specifically, Kingston was asked about his days teaming with CM Punk. Punk is on the outs with WWE since walking out on the company back in 2014. He has since embarked on several new career paths, such as mixed martial arts (MMA), acting, and comic book writing.

In regards to what he was able to learn from Punk, Kingston said the former WWE Champion was a good example of how to be a star:

“I learned so much from him,” Kingston said. “Learned so much about what it takes to be a star.”

Madison Rayne Almost Retired From Professional Wrestling

Jon Fuentes
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Its been a very successful year for Madison Rayne. Rayne was a participant in the 2018 WWE Mae Young Classic tournament. Rayne, going under the name Ashley Rayne, was eliminated in the first round of the tournament by Mercedes Martinez. Despite the first round exit, the opportunity to appear on WWE TV doesn’t come around every day.

Rayne was also a part of history earlier this month. She was one of four women to compete at All In on September 1st. Rayne was part of a Fatal Four-Way match, the only women’s match on the card. And finally, to top it all off, Rayne signed a one-year contract with Ring Of Honor (ROH). She made the announcement earlier this month during an appearance on The Taz Show.

Having been wrestling since 2005, Rayne, 32, has had quite a career. She has worked for promotions such as Ohio Championship Wrestling (OCW), SHIMMER, and TNA. Her tenure with TNA was very decorated. Rayne is a five-time TNA Knockouts Champion and a two-time Knockouts Tag Team Champion.

Madison Rayne Almost Retired

With all the success she has had in 2018, it’s hard to think Rayne ever considered retiring. But that’s exactly what she was doing not too long ago. She described the rough period of her career during a recent media call (via The Mirror UK):

“It was roughly a year ago that I sat down on my couch in my living room with my husband and had a really tough conversation, where we tried to discuss if maybe my career was coming to a close and what that was going to look like, or if I was going to take any frustrations I had and any bit of second-guessing myself that I was doing and I was going to flip that on its head, make it a positive, totally change who I was and make a drastic turn in my career path.

“I think in moments like that, where you’re questioning what’s next, is where you really dig deep to find yourself and figure out what you want and what you’re still able to provide to the business. I am so glad that I was able to do that, that I got to that point mentally where I thought for a second that maybe I was to look towards retirement, because I very quickly realized that I wanted to do the complete opposite.

“And I think that’s been probably the most contributing factor in my insanely successful 2018, because then I made that decision to change myself and elevate my game, that’s when opportunities started coming left and right.

“I’m not just saying this because of the position that I’m in now, but I knew early on when I was being given all of these opportunities, I was going to take them all and be grateful for all of them and do everything I could with them… but for the better part of a year in my heart, I kinda knew where I was going to end up was in Ring of Honor.”

What do you make of Rayne nearly retiring?

Hulk Hogan Remembers Hercules Hernandez, Superstar Picks Returning To WWE Network

Daniel Pena
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– Since being reinstated into the WWE Hall of Fame in July, Hulk Hogan has been reminiscing a lot about his glory days in the World Wrestling Federation through social media. On Friday, he posted a message remembering the late Hercules Hernandez.

On November 29, 1986, “The Hulkster” successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Hernandez on Saturday Night’s Main Event. Hogan posted a clip of his pre-match promo and wrote, “I wish Hercules was still with us. He was tough as nails. I witnessed Hiro Matsuda torture him daily, brother.”

Hernandez — real name Raymond Fernandez — died in his sleep on March 6, 2004. His cause of death was attributed to heart disease.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyAMnzMt0To&w=560&h=315]

– Superstar Picks is returning to the WWE Network.

According to WWENetworkNews.com, Superstar Picks returns on Monday with Kevin Owens presenting his all-time favorite matches.

Braun Strowman In Trailer For “Holmes & Watson” Movie (Video)

Chris Stephens
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Braun Strowman appears in the recently released trailer of the upcoming movie “Holmes & Watson.” Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly star in the comedy due to be released December 21st, 2018.

His clip is approximately 1 minute and 30 seconds into the trailer. Strowman plays a bare-knuckle boxer in the film and hits Reilly’s character with a chair at one point.

Braun Strowman, Holmes & Watson

“A humorous take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic mysteries featuring Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson,” reads the films IMDB synopsis. Ferrell and Reilly starred together in Talladega Nights and Step Brothers.

Braun Strowman at Crown Jewel

Braun Strowman has an upcoming chance to win the WWE Universal Championship. He’ll take on Brock Lesnar and current champion, Roman Reigns, in a triple threat match scheduled for Crown Jewel on November 2nd, 2018.

The event will emanate from King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. So far, the triple threat match for the Universal Championship is the only confirmed match for the event. The match was made the night after Hell in a Cell.

Strowman cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase at Hell in a Cell this year.  His match with Roman Reigns was thrown out, however, due to interference from Brock Lesnar.

Hiromu Takahashi Updates Fans On Darryl Takahashi’s Love Life

Chris Stephens
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Hiromu Takahashi was forced to vacate his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship recently. Takahashi has been on the shelf since a botched suplex spot at the G1 Special in San Fransico. During his match with Dragon Lee, Takahashi was dropped on his head and suffered neck damage.

An update from NJPW1972.com would eventually state Takahashi will likely be out of action until May-August 2019.

Today, Takahashi sent out an update of sorts to fans. In the video, Takahashi seems to be communicating that his pet toy cat, Darryl Takahashi, has found a love interest named Carol.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BoTgmyqBzuL/

Darryl Takahashi and Hiromu Takahashi

Darryl Takahashi is no stranger to injuries either. He was torn to shreds by Bad Luck Fale on an NJPW tour earlier this year.

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship

Due to Takahashi’s injury, he was forced to vacate the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. A 4-man tournament featuring the last 4 champions (minus Takahashi) was announced. Kushida defeated Bushi in the first semi-final match. The second semi-final match takes place Sunday when Will Ospreay and Marty Scurll clash in Long Beach.

Takahashi’s Los InGobernables de Japon faction is currently feuding with Suzuki-Gun. The two factions will clash in tag-team action at Fighting Spirit Unleashed.

3MB To Reunite On “Table For 3” Episode

Chris Stephens
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Jinder Mahal, Drew McIntyre, and Heath Slater once formed the trio, 3MB. The faction existed in the WWE Universe from 2012-2014.

The WWE Network has just announced the trio will reunite, this time in a “Table For 3” episode set to air on the WWE Network. The episode will air Monday night at the conclusion of Raw.

A synopsis for the show reads: “It’s a Table for 3MB as Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre, and Jinder Mahal get the 3-Man Band back together for the greatest reunion of all time!”

Return Of 3MB

The reunion of the faction is made all the sweeter by the fact 2 of the 3 band members were released from WWE. Both Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre were released by WWE on June 12th, 2014.

Following the release of his other band members, Heath Slater moved into a tag-team with Titus O’Neil called “Slater Gator.” From there he’d move into his next low-card stable, the Social Outcasts.

Jinder Mahal spent two years on the independent circuit before returning on August 1st, 2016. Mahal would defeat Heath Slater in his first match back with the company.

Drew McIntyre increased his stock outside of WWE by competing for ICW in Scotland, EVOLVE, and other top-tier independents. He also wrestled for Impact Wrestling. When he returned, however, he was sent to NXT. McIntyre returned to NXT on April 1st, 2017. He would then go on to win the NXT Championship before being called up to the main roster earlier this year.

Shelton Benjamin Calls Out Paige, Wants More Matches On Smackdown

Chris Stephens
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Shelton Benjamin is not happy with his current position on Smackdown. Benjamin had been paired with Chad Gable earlier this year on the brand but that changed when Gable was moved to Raw.

The former member of Suzuki-Gun sent out the following message on Twitter directed at Smackdown General Manager, Paige.

“I Am a warrior I am a competitor & I am DAMN GOOD! Yet I have not had a match on #SmackDownLIVE in months. I’m here to compete I thrive on competition @RealPaigeWWE Its time you Got me off the bench & LET ME FIGHT!”

Shelton Benjamin On Smackdown

The 43-year-old Benjamin returned to WWE in August of 2017. Aside from teaming with Gable, he hasn’t really done much. He did appear on the Mae Young Classic recently as a supporter for Mia Yim.

He spoke to ESPN earlier this year and talked about how when he and Charlie Haas were first beginning in WWE, they learned a lot from the Guerreros.

“For the first eight months, we were working with Eddie and Chavo Guerrero, and they would hide from us during the live events,” Benjamin said to ESPN. “They didn’t want to call matches because that was old school, and that was how they came up.”

Cesaro And Kassius Ohno Reunite At NXT House Show (Video)

Chris Stephens
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Cesaro and Chris Hero used to collectively be known as “the Kings of Wrestling.” Last night, Cesaro showed up at an NXT house show and the team reunited if only for a moment.

Kassius Ohno was wrestling Adam Cole when the Undisputed Era ran in. Cesaro showed up to help his old tag-team partner against the faction.

A fan posted footage of the run-in to Twitter.

https://twitter.com/FLWrestlingFan/status/1045850155495362561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1045850155495362561&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ewrestlingnews.com%2Fnews%2Fwatch-cesaro-kassius-ohno-reunite-at-wwe-nxt-live-event

NXT’s house show last night was in Casselberry, Florida

Cesaro & Kassius Ohno – The Kings of Wrestling

Kassius Ohno and Cesaro were a tag-team from 2005-2011. They are 2x former Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions, former CZW tag champs, Chikara tag champs, and JCW tag-team champs. Additionally, Cesaro won the PWG Championship while a member of the team.

The team briefly reunited when they were both in NXT together in 2012.

NXT House Show
September 28th, 2018
Engelwood Neighborhood Center

  1. Jessie Elaban won an NXT UK Women’s #1 Contender Battle Royal
  2. Tony Nese defeated Stacey Ervin Jr.
  3. Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan defeated Rinku Singh and Saurav Gurjar
  4. Cezar Bononi defeated Boa
  5. Lars Sullivan defeated Keith Lee
  6. The Street Profits defeated The Forgotten Sons
  7. NXT UK Women’s Championship
    Rhea Ripley (c) defeated Jessie Elaban
  8. Kassius Ohno defeated Adam Cole via DQ

ROH Death Before Dishonor Results 9/28

Chris Stephens
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Death Before Dishonor
September 28th
Orleans Arena
Las Vegas, Nevada

1. Kenny King defeated Jushin Liger

Liger appeared to suffer a back injury and it looked as though he wouldn’t be able to continue. As the ref was checking on Liger, King started to lead the crowd in chants for Liger. He then reached out to shake Liger’s hand but then gave him a spinebuster instead. King then covered him and got the pin.

As King was leaving he thanked Austin Aries and said he now “gets it.” Basically, he learned he should cheat from his rivalry with Austin Aries.

2. ROH World Tag Team Championships
The Briscoes (c) defeated SCU (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) w/Scorpio Sky

The Briscoes improved to 4-0 against Daniels and Kazarian when Jay pinned Daniels after multiple Jay Drillers.

The commentary team talked about how with the Addiction’s expiring contracts, they’ll need to win titles or Joe Koff won’t re-sign them.

3. WOH Championship
Sumie Sakai (c) defeated Tenille Dashwood

Dashwood came into the match with her shoulder heavily bandaged. She started favoring it after hitting Sakai with a punch midway through the match. Dashwood kicked out of Smash Mouth but ultimately tapped to an armbar from the champion.

Later in the show, Dashwood was shown beat up in the back and favoring her arm even further.

4. ROH TV Title
Punishment Martinez (c) defeated Chris Sabin

Sabin got a few near falls but ultimately Martinez retained the title with a South of Heaven Choke-Slam.

After the match, Martinez kept up the attack on Sabin. This led to Jeff Cobb making the save. Martinez looked like he was going to leave without incident but then attacked Cobb with a chair. Cobb then gave him a suplex and stood tall in the ring to end the segment.

https://twitter.com/totaldivaseps/status/1045861598705963008

5. Tables Match (Elimination Rules)
Bully Ray and Silas Young defeated Flip Gordon and Colt Cabana

Cabana was eliminated via powerbomb through the announce table for the first elimination.  Bully then eliminated himself when he missed an attack on Flip Gordon. There was a ref bump and then Flip came off the top rope and put Silas through a table. Since the ref didn’t see it though, Bully made it look like it was Flip who went through the table and the ref called for the bell when he came to. Bully then continued to whip Flip with a chain after the match was over.

6. Cody, Marty Scurll, Adam Page, and the Young Bucks (Bullet Club) defeated Kazuchika Okada, Chuck T, Beretta, Rocky Romero, and Tomohiro Ishii (CHAOS)

Nick Aldis provided guest commentary for the match. While doing so he announced that his NWA title rematch with Cody will be contested under best 2 out of 3 rules.

This was a crazy 10-man but eventually, Marty Scurll was able to make Rocky Romero tap to the Chickenwing for the victory.

After the match, Cody joined the commentary team and said he accepts the best 2 out of 3 falls stipulation.

7. ROH World Championship
Jay Lethal (c) defeated Will Ospreay

Ospreay came into this match after gaining 20lbs. Riccaboni said Ospreay said the weight gain has made him a better wrestler. The commentary team mentioned how serious he looked in comparison to his usual fun-loving demeanor.

Lethal kicked out of the Oscutter and got the victory with Lethal Injection. The victory is Lethal’s 4th successful title defense since winning the title 91 days ago. It’s his second reign as champion. Lethal is now just over 4 months away from passing Samoa Joe has having spent more combined days as ROH Champion than anyone. He’s at 517 days between his two reigns and is behind Samoa Joe’s 645 days. Joe only held the ROH World Championship once.

Following the victory, the Kingdom’s Red Balloons floated to the roof and they attacked Lethal. Jonathan Gresham attempted to make the save but he too was taken out.

A new freshly mohawked Matt Taven then hit Lethal with a purple-strapped ROH World Title replica belt. The show closed with Taven claiming he was the real ROH World Champion.

Match Stipulation For Cody Vs Nick Aldis NWA Title Rematch Announced

Chris Stephens
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Former NWA Champion, Nick Aldis, provided guest commentary for the 10-Man tag-team match between Bullet Club and CHAOS tonight. While doing so he announced the match stipulation for his rematch with Cody. The match will be contested under a best 2 out of 3 falls stipulation.

Cody vs Aldis II – NWA World Heavyweight Championship
NWA 70th Anniversary
October 21st, 2018
Nashville Fairgrounds

As of yet, no other matches have been announced for the show. Tim Storm, Jocephus, and a few other Championship Wrestling From Hollywood names will likely appear on the show, however.

“It’s such an honor to be leading this historic brand into its next chapter,” Billy Corgan said. “The enduring legacy of the National Wrestling Alliance — the men who forged it and the champions who defended it — illuminate our path in 2018. This event celebrates our first full year shepherding this brand while honoring the everlasting milestones, legends and champions of the NWA.”

“This will be an event no fan will want to miss, and I’m honored to work with Billy on a show of this magnitude,” Jeff Jarrett said regarding the event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6sjDX2j2aU

Batista Returning At SmackDown 1,000 For Evolution Reunion

Chris Stephens
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WWE has confirmed that Batista is returning at the upcoming SmackDown 1,000 special. The Animal will be back for a reunion of Evolution, the popular early 2000’s stable that also included Ric flair, Triple H and Randy Orton.

Evolution Faction in WWE

Evolution’s main run in WWE was from 2003 to 2005. This was during the original brand split era. Throughout their run, the faction won the World Heavyweight Championship a total of 5x. The world title of the Raw brand was won 4x by Triple H and once by Randy Orton.

Batista and Ric Flair also held the WWE tag-team Championships twice while members of Evolution. Randy Orton and Ric Flair each won the Intercontinental Championship while part of the faction as well.

The stable reunited briefly in 2014 as well minus Ric Flair. This was spurred on by Daniel Bryan defeating all 3 of them at WrestleMania 30. Following WrestleMania 30, Evolution entered into a feud with the Shield.

Batista’s inclusion in the Smackdown 1000th episode will be good news to him. He has been vocal as of late that he’s wanted to make a WWE return but the company hadn’t seem interested.

He Tweeted out the following regarding the upcoming Smackdown episode recently: “Surprise surprise!! I wasn’t invited! And it’s in my hometown.! .. guess by now I shouldn’t be shocked anymore.”

Brian Pillman Jr. Talks Being A Real Person Before Getting Into Wrestling

Chris Stephens
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Brian Pillman Jr. recently took part in the new Hart Foundation’s attack on Kevin Sullivan. Pillman signed a multi-year deal with the promotion earlier this year. He has since aligned with Teddy Hart and Davey Boy Smith Jr.

Pillman was Chris Jericho’s guest on Talk is Jericho this week and spoke about being a “real person” before getting into the wrestling business. He said his famlly warned him about getting into wrestling and so he opted to get a more traditional job first.

Brian Pillman In The Real World

“I was more or less led to believe by my Mother and family that (wrestling) was bad for me and it was going to do all this harm to me, and it killed my father and all that,” Pillman said. “Then you meet guys like Lance (Storm) and guys like you (Jericho) that it didn’t kill you, you’re still making a good living.”

Pillman then mentioned he felt he succeeded at being a normal person. He went to college and got a real job. It was only after his co-workers began getting annoyed at him for dropping double ax-handles while at work that he decided to change course.

“I was working on databases for car dealerships all around the Western Hemisphere,” Pillman described his real-world job.

“I kept going to the top of the cubicles and coming down on people with double ax-handles. They were like ‘look, you got to get out of here’,” he continued.

You can check out Pillman and the new Hart Foundation Friday nights on MLW Fusion. The show airs on BeIN Sports Friday nights and is posted to YouTube Saturdays at 6 PM.

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