WWE will be appearing at San Diego Comic-Con at the Mattel panel.
The following superstars will be appearing at the panel, Matt Hardy, Zack Ryder, Curt Hawkins and Cathy Kelly. Other superstars are supposed to appeal but have not been made public yet.
In the special, Rousey will set out to test her courage and prove that the mentality that made her an Olympic medalist, UFC Hall of Famer and WWE Superstar will allow her to stare down any opponent, whether on land or at sea.
She’ll dive into the ocean, guided by former Navy diver and shark attack survivor Paul de Gelder, who will coach her through three rounds of survival training against the heavyweights of the sea, including the fearsome bull shark. That builds up to a historic main event, where Rousey will attempt to step outside the cage to face one of the sea’s ultimate predators – the mako shark.
Rousey will be taking on the sharks on the Discovery Channel on July 22.
With Enzo telling his side of the story on Steve Austin’s podcast, it seems fit for the Phoenix Police to release the report of the Rape Allegation case.
Police Report Details
Pro Wrestling Sheets has released the police report on Enzo Amore and here are the details:
According to the report, the Police investigation began on October 23, 2017, and was not made known to Amore at all. The report goes as follows:
Amore went on the record to state that he found out about the investigation as the world did and was first suspended than followed with a release from the WWE.
With the case behind Amore, the Certified G began seeking out other careers opportunities and has announced to be producing music and writing scripts for Hollywood.
It’s looking more likely that WWE fans see The Undertaker at SummerSlam later this year than John Cena.
According to a report from Cageside Seats, it’s being considered that “The Deadman” is more likely to compete in Brooklyn than “The Leader Of The Cenation.” Both Cena and Taker’s last appearances in WWE came at the Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia this past April.
Undertaker defeated Rusev (who had some assistance from Aiden English) in a Casket match, while Cena defeated Triple H in singles action. Undertaker is currently on the books for a match with Triple H at the WWE Super Show-Down event in Australia on Saturday, October 6, 2018 from the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
SummerSlam will go down live on pay-per-view (PPV) from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on August 19, 2018.
Discussion: Do you think either Undertaker or John Cena will be present at SummerSlam this year?
Will Ospreay’s new promotion Frontline Wrestling has released their debut show ‘Build Me An Empire’ on demand via Vimeo. The show featured some of the finest performers on the UK scene as well as two of Dragon Gate’s most iconic stars.
The main event featured an outrageous bout between Chris Ridgeway and Japan’s KENOH. Ridgeway is an accomplished ‘strong style’ combatant in his own right but this match at the top of the card will be the bout that catapults him into the upper echelons of both the UK scene and, hopefully, Japan (much like how Ospreay’s bout against Okada for Rev Pro got him on a plane going East). We spoke to Ospreay earlier this year and he discussed his want to bring ‘puroresu‘ to the United Kingdom, this big time main event and the reaction from the crowd in attendance seems to solidify that strong style/puroresu has truly arrived in Britain.
The rest of the stellar card stacked up as follows:
Stixx Vs Rob Lynch
Mark Haskins Vs Naoki Tanizaki
M&M (Connor Mills & Maverick Mayhew) Vs The 198 (“Flash” Morgan Webster & Wild Boar)
Toni Storm Vs Bea Priestley
Kip Sabian & Chief Deputy Dunne Vs Kely Sixx & El Phantasmo
Six Man Tag Team match – #CCK (Chris Brookes, Travis Banks & Kid Lykos) Vs Adam Brooks & Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher)
You can rent or purchase the full card via the tweet below. If you see the show let Will know your thoughts on Twitter @WillOspreay.
Relive Frontline Wrestling’s first show, “Build Me An Empire”
WWE Hall Of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart was recently a guest on the In This Corner podcast to talk about several professional wrestling topics. During his appearance the subject of CM Punk’s recent legal issues with WWE Doctor Chris Amann came up.
Amann sued Punk and Colt Cabana for their comments about him on their podcast together shortly after Punk’s departure from WWE. Hart said he sees a lot of himself in Punk, citing his issues with WWE shortly after the Montreal Screwjob where shortly thereafter he punched Vince McMahon backstage.
“The Hitman” feels that by Punk walking out on WWE the way he did in 2014, he stood up for not only himself but the entire WWE locker room:
“I think the same could have been said about CM Punk as an example. You know his standing up and saying, ‘hey I’m doing all the work around here, you’re gonna give Batista and Brock Lesnar and Triple H all these guys who are part-timers who are home every day, they’re getting all the main event matches at WrestleMania and I’m the one pulling the wagon around here and I wanna be in the main event.’ They tried to smooth it over and sugarcoat it and offer him everything but a main event spot so he quit like he held them up on that.
“I heard some guys talking bad about CM Punk in the car about he wasn’t one of the boys or something like that. I’m thinking, ‘he gave up so much to prove a point for the wrestlers.’ You know that the wrestlers are doing the work, put the wrestlers in the main event spot. He stood on those principals and he lost his job, gave up a lot to make that point but he was right and he took a bullet for the industry. I’m glad he won that case a few weeks ago because I’m sure that there was a lot of pressure on him to wear him down and break him in that case.”
You can listen to Hart’s interview on the In This Corner podcast by clicking this link here.
WWE Hall Of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin was recently a guest on former WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia’s podcast, Chasing Glory, to talk about his professional wrestling career. Austin first discussed not wanting to have the ECW World Title immediately thrusted on him upon his run with the promotion back in 1995:
“I was a very good mechanic in the ring, but I wasn’t a superstar yet, although we would call myself ‘Superstar’ Steve Austin there in ECW. I said, ‘Man everyone is going to be expecting me to take the title. Let me chase it, let me earn it.’ I wanted to get over to that ECW crowd or where ever it is from a television standpoint.
“Those people in that sh**hole arena, that ECW arena, it was a dump. When I say that, I mean that as a compliment. It was just this raw crazy atmosphere with a lot of guys working their asses off to build that place up and doing a hell of a job and all those great promos. So I just didn’t want to waltz in there and get handed a belt. I wanted to earn it through the boys in the company and earn the fans respect.”
“The Texas Rattlesnake” then talked about working with Vince McMahon and “The Chairman Of The Board’s” stance on creative:
“At a very early stage I wasn’t afraid to ask. Don’t get me wrong, me and Vince got to be very very good friends, but as you know, talking to Vince or developing a relationship with Vince is a very intimidating thing when you first walk in there. I knew after seven and a half years that I needed to take care of my ass so I had the wherewithal to talk with Vince McMahon and establish a relationship with him and offer my thoughts and ask questions to the man himself.
“Like I told him, my response to him was, ‘Vince, you got guys here 6’10, 7 feet tall, 300 to 330 pounds,’ I said, ‘I’m 6’2, 250, black trunks, black boots. If you take my personality, from me, I can’t compete. If you give me my personality, I can compete with anyone you got.’ And he says, ‘Okay Steve.’ And then he stopped editing me and that’s when we starting flying. You got to control your destiny. You can’t just hang it up and say, ‘Hey, creative ain’t got nothing for me.'”
Finally, Austin told the story of coming up with the “3:16” gimmick and his “that’s the bottom line” catchphrase:
“I wrestled Marc Mero, it was one of the first matches of the pay-per-view and I know I was going to work twice. I was going to work with Marc Mero and I was going to beat him and in the process he did this little whirligig behind
me where he’s basically going to hook his feet underneath my arms and do a rollup, but his toe caught me right in the mouth and busted the hell out of my lip. So I finished the match, but I needed to go to the hospital to get some stitches. We went to the hospital, they stitched me up in record time.
“They bring me back to the pay-per-view, I got all these stitches in my top lip. Vader really pummeled Jake and softened him up for me and worked his ribs and so they didn’t want me to bust all my stitches up, so it was going to be kind of a short match and then I was going to cut the promo. I show up backstage in an ambulance, I get out and there’s Dok Hendrix and Michael Hayes and he goes, ‘Steve, I just want to let you know, while you were gone, Jake cut a religious-based promo on you.’
“Back in the old days, when people were kicking a field goal for an extra point, they’d always hold up the John 3:16 signs in the endzone. Austin 3:16 popped in my head and I said, ‘Holy cow, I think I got one here.’ And that’s all I had was Austin 3:16 says, ‘I just whopped your ass.’ I’ll never forget, I got through with Jake, I beat him and there was PSAs waiting for me and I dropped that promo.
“I was a heel at the time, so if you go back and watch it, it didn’t elicit a huge reaction, although it did elicit a reaction. While I was still up there doing the promo with him, Vince was trying to wrap up the promo, he was on RF mic doing commentary feeding television and the house. I said, ‘I need a button on this promo.’ So that’s when I crapped out, ‘And that’s the bottom line cause Stone Cold said so.'”
You can listen to Austin on Chasing Glory by clicking this link here.
Add WWE star Tyler Breeze to the list of professional wrestlers getting in on the video game streaming community. The Breezango member has officially launched his very own Twitch channel, Breezeman88, Where he will play games and chat with fans.
Breeze has been prominently featured on Xavier Woods’ gaming channel, UpUpDownDown, several times in the past few years:
Well guys. New development! You can now subscribe! @Twitch Breezeman88 Check it out!
WWE Champion AJ Styles and SmackDown Live Women’s Champion Carmella recently paid a visit to Melbourne, Australia for a promotional tour. You can check out “The Phenomenal One” and Carmella’s highlights from their trip in the video below:
WWE Hall of Famer and former World Heavyweight Champion Edge will be heading to the UK and Ireland in late September/early October on a special Speaking Tour for Inside The Ropes. The Rated R Superstar will be heading to the following venues for the ‘Living on The Edge’ tour:
September 29th – The Grand, London
October 6th – The Limelight, Belfast
October 7th – The Tivoli, Dublin
October 21st – The Comedy Store, Manchester
October 28th – The Garage, Glasgow
Edge’s accolades in his historic WWE career include winning the King of The Ring, the Royal Rumble, becoming an 11 time World Champion and headlining WrestleMania alongside the Undertaker at WrestleMania 24. Inside The Ropes have promised a special Meet & Greet for the events as well as a spoken word show hosted by Kenny McIntosh.
Edge sent out the following message confirming the upcoming engagements: “England, Scotland & Ireland I’m coming! Thanks to the fine folks @Inside_TheRopes I’ll be over to share stories, answer questions, have high tea with some killer raspberry scones and other offbeat shenanigans (sorry @LanceStorm).”
England, Scotland & Ireland I’m coming! Thanks to the fine folks @Inside_TheRopes I’ll be over to share stories, answer questions, have high tea with some killer raspberry scones and other offbeat shenanigans (sorry @LanceStorm ) Tix gon sale….Friday!(not today)
Get ready UK and Ireland. For the benefit of those with Flash photography……we're doing a tour with none other than The Rated R Superstar….@EdgeRatedR We CANNOT WAIT! pic.twitter.com/L6Oa4TbGHb
Some details have emerged regarding the deals that are currently in place for WWE’s NXT UK Superstars.
According to a report from Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the talents signed to the WWE NXT UK brand are on one-year deals with the majority of those being worth around 24,000 pounds ($31,600 USD). This is a nice raise from the $20,000 deals UK talents received when they initially signed for their first year.
As far as the pay raise, WWE may have done this because they wanted to get wrestlers that were with ITV for their World of Sport revival; such as Zack Gibson, El Ligero, Dave Mastiff, Kenny Williams, Ashton Smith and Joe Coffey. Some of the Superstars, including female competitors, were granted extended tryouts that will keep them from going to ITV. They will also be used for the Mae Young Classic.
It should be noted WWE has the option to cancel these deals at the four month and eight month marks. The deals also ban the talents from working with other promotions that have TV deals or strong online followings such as Revolution Pro, Defiant, Impact, Ring of Honor (ROH) or New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW).
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi recently spoke to New Japan Pro Wrestling’s NewWorld magazine on a variety of topics, including his excursion to Mexico’s CMLL promotion, the moves that has ‘in his head’ that haven’t yet been performed in a ring and more.
When discussing his time in Mexico the ‘TIME BOMB’ stated that “It wasn’t Mexico that made the Hiromu Takahashi of today, so much has changed him back. The guy you see now is really me as a child. When I joined New Japan I felt a strong pressure to fit in. I felt like the need to behave like a Young Lion, like one of the group, even up to behaving like someone in their third year in the business. But going to Mexico reset that. It wasn’t about ‘fitting in’ but starting from zero. Not wrestling like a Young Lion buy going back to mentally mentally to wanting to become a wrestler in seventh grade and basing everything off that. Mexico was a chance to retake my childhood.”
When asked about his moveset in the Juniors the IWGP Champion confirmed that “he hasn’t used about 60%” of the moves he has in his head, “from finishers to moves he can hit on heavyweights.”
*Credit to Chris Charlton for the translation.
Hiromu says he hasn’t used about 60% of the moves he has in his head, from finishers to moves he can hit on heavyweights. #newworld
WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan was recently a guest on the Gorilla Position podcast to talk about several professional wrestling topics. The former WWE World Champion talked about missing his daughter while being on the road, not being there for her first birthday, and having yet to hear her say “dada” in person yet:
“I miss my baby so much.” Bryan said “Yeah, she’s a year old. I missed her first birthday. She said, ‘dada’ for the first time, which I saw on FaceTime, but I still have not seen, like, in person yet.
“And so, now, when I FaceTime her and Brie, she’s like, ‘dada, dada’ and it’s so stinking cute. But I haven’t seen it in person! I just see, like, a screen!”
Bryan really doesn’t want to be on the road as much anymore, as missing out on so much with his young daughter has really been a huge stress on him lately:
“Actually, the biggest thing is that I don’t want to be on the road as much. Like, that’s one of the big things.” Bryan said. “You don’t realize how long you’re away until you’re away because we never had to think about it before.
“Like, when I was gone before or when Brie was gone before, I’d miss her, but we can FaceTime and we can talk, so it’s nice. But when you’re away from your baby, it’s a completely different thing and it hurts your heart. And she… so I will be home for a span of three days out of a month because it was like 10 days for the Saudi trip, 18 days here [on Europe], and only home three days, so that’s 31 days and I’m home for three-and-a-half days.
“A baby grows a lot in a month. Like, she’ll do things when I get back that she wasn’t doing when I left. And some things that she was doing, she’ll no longer be doing. And that kind of stuff makes me sad.”
He then admits that he has discussed working a lighter schedule with WWE. Initially when he was medically cleared he proposed WWE’s medical staff to clear him for a “limited schedule.” After getting cleared, however, Bryan has been on pretty much everything:
“I’ve been talking to WWE about maybe doing a lighter schedule because when we first starting talking about this, when I sent that, when Vince [McMahon] told me to send the letter to Dr. Maroon, he said for me to say, ‘for a limited schedule’, like ‘revised concussion protocol for a limited schedule’, so then, they clear me and I’m just on everything! I was just like, ‘I wasn’t expecting this!'” Bryan laughed.
“Anywhere between 50 and 100 matches a year, to me, [is ideal] because one of the doctors that cleared me at Barrow Neurological [Institute], Dr. Javier Cárdenas talked to me. He said, I think when he cleared me before in 2015, he said, ‘with all the stuff that [Bryan] had done on top of that, like, before I thought we dotted our Is and crossed our Ts, but the stuff you’ve done on your own, you’ve really scratched a big hole over the I and ripped, marked, through the T.’
“And so, he said, ‘just so you know going forward, the less exposure you have, and this is for anybody whether you have a history of it or not, the healthier you’re going to be. So I was thinking, ‘oh, I’ll do 75 to 100 matches a year or whatever it is.’ And now it looks to be way more than that, so if I were to change something, it’d be like I’d kind of like to do less, be away from home [less]. Like, for me, it’s not about wrestling less. It’s like I don’t want to be away from home this much.”
You can listen to Bryan’s interview on the Gorilla Position podcast by clicking this link here.
Tetsuya Naito recently spoke to Tokyo Sports on the upcoming G1 Climax Tournament. Naito is one of the stars who will be taking part in the annual spectacular to determine a number 1 contender to Kenny Omega’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship at the Tokyo Dome on January 4th.
Naito usually has some rather interesting points when talking to the Tokyo Sports publication in Japan and he appears to have outdone himself once again…he stated that “there’s a whole bunch of guys absolutely nobody would give a chance of winning to. Can you really call this “grade one?” If it was horse racing’s G-1, you’d have prelims to get in. Right now, you have Taichi bitching about YOSHI-HASHI getting in, because he’s out. Well, fine, let’s have that mean something. Put those two in a qualifying match. And at any rate, having 20 some entrants is too many.”
Do you agree with the leader of Los Ingobernables? Are you looking forward to the G1 tournament? Let us know in the comments.
*Credit to Chris Charlton @reasonjp for the translations
Naito on #g128 ‘there’s a whole bunch of guys absolutely nobody would give a chance of winning to. Can you really call this “grade one?” If it was horse racing’s G-1, you’d have prelims to get in.’ https://t.co/ffaplKir1J
Ring Of Honor (ROH) has issued out an official statement, initially sent to PWTorch, in regards to the allegations towards ROH World Champion Jay Lethal from former promotion star Taeler Hendrix.
Hendrix alleged on Twitter that her push was “sabotaged” because she refused to sleep with Lethal. It all began when Hendrix started Tweeting negative comments about Lethal before a fan begun to defend him.
She responded by saying “the dude your standing up for is the same dude that told me because I didn’t sleep with him they sabotaged me and took me off TV. that being the all mighty Jay.”
She then revealed in a Tweet that her attorneys are in the midst of an ongoing investigation into the matter:
I know this is going to be on wrestling sites. My name is Taeler & this is my statement: attorneys on my behalf have an ongoing investigation. I know I'm not the only one & ppl that have known of this investigation have been supportive. I'll continue to fight for what's right.?
Let the hate roll in. Doesn't change what happened. I came forward privately long ago & now it's public. If I stay silent I'll be part of the problem. I can't live w/ that. I'll fight for what's right. Threatening me/supposed burned bridges changes nothing. Let the hate roll in.
“I know this is going to be on wrestling sites. My name is Taeler & this is my statement: attorneys on my behalf have an ongoing investigation. I know I’m not the only one & ppl that have known of this investigation have been supportive. I’ll continue to fight for what’s right.Let the hate roll in. Doesn’t change what happened. I came forward privately long ago & now it’s public. If I stay silent I’ll be part of the problem. I can’t live w/ that. I’ll fight for what’s right. Threatening me/supposed burned bridges changes nothing. Let the hate roll in.”
ROH responded with the following:
”We were troubled to hear the allegations that surfaced last night on Twitter. We take these matters very seriously and will be investigating this situation thoroughly, reviewing all evidence related to the matter.
“Ring of Honor strives to provide an environment and workplace where male and female wrestlers are free from any misconduct or abuse. We will take appropriate action upon the conclusion of our findings.”
We’ll keep you updated as more information becomes available…
Kenny Omega has his eyes on a pair of top WWE talents should he execute a potential move to the professional wrestling juggernaut.
“The Cleaner” recently joined WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross’ podcast, The Ross Report, and was asked about the possibility of signing with WWE. He also touched on potential matches that await him in the promotion. Omega named two potential opponents specifically that fans would love to see him share the ring with – Seth Rollins and AJ Styles:
“When I think about the possibilities and stuff like that it does get me excited,” Omega said. “Every promotion has so many good guys – there’s no way that I would have a bad time going almost anywhere because the depths to the talent is so deep. WWE right now has a very great collection of talent.
“I would feel like it was a missed opportunity if I couldn’t work with them at some point. If I could work with Seth Rollins at some point in time that would be a lot of fun. And of course, the huge name amongst all that, is AJ (Styles). I would love to work with AJ at some point. And I would like to be able to do it while I can still move, you know what I mean?”
Not everyone is excited to see Kane back on WWE television.
Kane made his return on last week’s episode of SmackDown Live in Ontario, CA at the Citizens Business Bank Arena after Daniel Bryan faced off with Luke Harper in the main event. Once Erick Rowan attacked Bryan to cause the DQ, Kane walked down to the ring to make the save.
This led to it being announced that Bryan and Kane will challenge Harper and Rowan for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles at Extreme Rules.
It’s believed that Kane will be on WWE television at the least through Extreme Rules. Glenn Jacobs (better known as Kane) has been declared the winner of the Knox County primary for mayor by a narrow margin. Later this year, citizens of the country will decide by voting who they want to win the mayoral race.
Democratic candidate Linda Haney has criticized Kane for returning to wrestling because she felt that it was not a good strategy in hopes to become Mayor. “I was really stunned to find out he was still pursuing it,” Haney stated, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. “I thought it was in the past. I thought in this crucial time he’d want to be here and be with the people. Being an entertainer doesn’t make you a political figure. It may get you some votes, but I believe people want someone with common sense and who is [ready to lead].”
This has led to Kane firing back with his own statement that was sent to Newsweek as he has defended his decision to resume his career with the sports entertainment company. “After I am elected Mayor, I’ll be Mayor,” said Jacobs. “I’m sure some people will say that (I’m not focused) and some others will say that’s the coolest thing ever. Again, you can’t make everyone happy. You just do what you can and that’s it… you’re always going to catch criticism no matter what you do.”
Kane added that he may still do a few special things as he has done it or 23 years now and have quite a history. He noted that it will always be part of his life and that he is taking a run at being mayor seriously. What are your thoughts on Kane being back on WWE TV? Sound off in the comment section.
The Miz will in fact not be wrestling at the upcoming Extreme Rules pay-per-view event.
The former WWE Champion is slated to miss the next PPV event for the sports entertainment company later this month due to him participating in the MLB All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball game that day at Nationals Park in Washington, DC.
The following day, which is a Monday, the MLB will present their Home Run Derby that will air on ESPN. He sent out the following tweet to hype his appearance.
The Extreme Rules pay-per-view event takes place on Sunday, July 15, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the PPG Paints Arena and will air on the WWE Network. The SmackDown Live star sent out the following on Twitter about missing this event.
WWE is scheduled to hold a live event at Madison Square Garden in New York City this Saturday night (July 7th, 2018). Elias spoke with The New York Post to promote the WWE live event and to talk about various topics.
At this event, The Undertaker will return to in-ring action when he teams up with Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman to take on Elias, Baron Corbin, and Kevin Owens in a six-man tag team match. In this interview, Elias spoke about the match. “I said, “That is the perfect matchup.” I would have preferred if it was one-on-one, but that would probably happen somewhere down the line. This will be the first-ever meeting of The Deadman and The Living Truth.”
Elias also spoke about the level that Seth Rollins is working at right now as the two stars wrestled for the Intercontinental Title last month at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view event.
Elias stated that Rollins has had a very successful career so far, but he’s probably at his best right now. “The crowd is taking to him in a way almost unlike they have his entire career, which is still crazy because they have loved him for such a long time.”
What are your thoughts on Elias’ comments? Sound off in the comment section.
Some more insight into Something Else to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard covering CM Punk on the WWE Network has surfaced.
We noted earlier on the site that the podcast would feature Bruce Prichard and Conrad Thompson discussing the early WWE career of CM Punk from the period of 2006 through to 2008. This will be the season finale of the show.
During a recent interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Thompson confirmed that the episode will talk about the recent lawsuit that was brought forward against CM Punk and Colt Cabana from WWE’s Dr. Chris Amann, which saw the former WWE stars win.
“It’s either the end of season one or the grand finale, I guess we’ll see, but we’re going out with a bang,” said co-host Conrad Thompson. “We’re going to do something that a lot of people are not expecting us to do, and that is talk about CM Punk.”
Thompson mentioned that although Prichard wasn’t in the company during the lawsuit and didn’t have any insight into about it, he understands how the WWE handles these situations and how WWE Chairman Vince McMahon approaches these things.
He did say that they want to examine a lot of the rumor and innuendo surrounding Punk’s release and give an inside look into the mind of McMahon.
“We’ll also talk about Bruce’s real-life experiences with CM Punk, and cover all of Punk’s run while Bruce was there. We’ll also cover those who were against Punk in the back, as it has been pretty evident that some people were big advocates and others who weren’t.”
What are your thoughts on Thompson’s comments? Sound off in the comment section.
WWE Champion AJ Styles is slated to make his next title defense against Rusev at the upcoming Extreme Rules pay-per-view event on Sunday, July 15, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the PPG Paints Arena that will air on the WWE Network.
Styles went out the following warning to Rusev ahead of their match at this event by writing this:
If you recall, Rusev earned this title shot after beating Big E, Daniel Bryan, The Miz, and Samoa Joe in a Gauntlet Match to become the #1 contender on a recent episode of SmackDown Live.
WWE Postpones Event
The sports entertainment company was scheduled to hold a RAW live event on Friday, November 2nd in Brussels, Belgium. However, WWE recently announced that they have decided to postpone it and hold the event on May 9, 2019.
What are your thoughts on Styles vs. Rusev? Sound off in the comment section.
WWE has already announced that Aleister Black will defend the NXT Title against Tommaso Ciampa in three weeks on an episode of NXT on the WWE Network. This match will be taped on July 18, 2018 from Winter Park, FL at Full Sail University.
Ciampa recently took to his official Twitter account to hype the upcoming match as well as take some shots at Black by writing, “I’m annoyed that NXT is represented by an out of shape boy with zero personality who is covered in ink that screams, “I’m desperately overcompensating for my lack of confidence Being the main event is no longer enough. I’m going to expose at WWEAleister and take what I’ve earned.”
WWE has officially revealed that Jeff Hardy will defend the United States Title against Shinsuke Nakamura at the upcoming Extreme Rules pay-per-view event on Sunday, July 15, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the PPG Paints Arena that will air on the WWE Network.
Nakamura took to Twitter and wrote the following on the match:
Mark Cuban is known to speak his mind and did just that when talking about New Japan Pro Wrestling.
The AXS TV CEO recently spoke withSports Illustrated’s Extra Mustard to talk about various topics. In this interview, Cuban stated that he believes NJPW is the best promotion in the world right now.
Cub brought up how they are looking for great content to use on the network and that NJPW is the best pro wrestling in the world. He bragged about how the network has a great track record of acquiring top international content in sports and entertainment and adapting it for the U.S. market.
The reason he believes NJPW is the best promotion is due to their long-term storytelling that has a payoff.
“The tension between Kenny Omega and Cody has been building on AXS TV since June of 2017 when Cody tried to ‘throw in the towel’ during Kenny’s title shot with Okada. Add in the iconic voice and storytelling of wrestling Hall of Famer Jim Ross and MMA champ Josh Barnett for July 7, and you have must-see TV.”
Back in May, it was officially announced that New Japan Pro Wrestling had hired a new President, Harold Meij. He will be the first NJPW President who is not Japanese.
Bushiroad President (parent owner of NJPW) Takaaki Kidani made the decision to bring him into the promotion and replace Katsuhiko Harada.
Cuban spoke about this hiring and made it clear that the network is excited by the hire because Meij has told them that this goal is to increase the amount of English content and increasing the international fanbase offers many opportunities for them to work together.
“We look forward to hearing his long-term strategy and having AXS TV play a major role in New Japan’s U.S. expansion efforts.”
What are your thoughts on Cuban’s comments? Sound off in the comment section.
Impact Wrestling last night was a taped show from Windsor, ON, Canada. This was the second show to air from the tapings held there last month.
After tonight’s episode, there will just be two more weeks until Slammiversary and the final card for the event is becoming solidified.
Impact Wrestling July 5th, 2018 St. Clair College Windsor, ON, Canada
Here are the top 7 takeaways from Impact Wrestling this week:
LAX Civil War!
Bullet Club isn’t the only faction imploding this summer. A leadership issue has also torn apart Konnan, King, and LAX.
Previously, Konnan returned to the group and told Ortiz and Santana he has proof that it was King who put the hit out on him all along. Konnan’s proof was only to dispute a series of phone calls from when he was in the hospital but King confessed all the same.
Santana and Ortiz were given the chance to go with either King or Konnan and they chose Konnan. This brought out Homicide and Hernandez who took out Konnan, Santana, and Ortiz. King’s LAX then stood tall to end the show.
It’s possible we get Konnan’s LAX (Santana and Ortiz) defending the Impact tag-team championships against King’s LAX (Hernandez and Homicide) at Slammiversary.
On a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer mentioned that fans have been writing in to tell him about how good this match was live. Impact mentioned this on Twitter recently in an effort to promote the show.
This match received the treble of approving chants from the live crowd: “This is Awesome!” “Both these guys!” and “Fight Forever!”. Some streamers were even thrown.
After the match, oVe came out to attack Fenix. It looked as though Pentagon had made the save but then he kicked Fenix in the groin and revealed it was just Sami Callihan in a mask.
The real Pentagon came out to make the save (as did Swann) setting up our main event for next week: Sami Callihan & oVe vs. Fenix, Pentagon, and Rich Swann.
Don Callis Signs Killer Kross
One of the best parts about having Don Callis on commentary is he can give explanations as to why Impact management would do something. Such was the case this week when Callis explained why Impact signed Killer Kross after he spent several weeks assaulting people in the back (while seemingly pretending to be a security guard).
Callis explained that when they discovered Kross was the person who had been attacking people, he looked him up. Turns out Kross has a background in bare-knuckled boxing and had pro-wrestling training. Callis continued to explain that the nature of the wrestling business allows for him to sign Kross to a contract in response to his unprovoked assaults rather than say pressing criminal charges.
Kross defeated Fallah Bah in easy fashion this week. He choked out Bah and then did the same to KM after the match.
The Undead Brides Can Wrestle
We saw one of Su Yung’s undead brides wrestle this week, confirming they are able to do so. Undead Bride #1 teamed with Su Yung to take on the team of Allie and Madison Rayne.
In an interview earlier in the evening, Rayne said she was looking to Allie for guidance for when she takes on Su Yung at Slammiversary. Allie has been down some dark paths with her feuds with Rosemary (plus she was locked in a coffin a few weeks ago by Yung) and so has advice she can pass down to Rayne.
Madison Rayne picked up the win for her team in this match with the “Cross Rayne” on the undead bride.
During the match, Tessa Blanchard hit the ring looking to get revenge on Rayne. Blanchard has dropped two straight matches to Rayne via pinning combination. Allie took out Blanchard, however, possibly setting up an angle between the two of them. It’s possible we get Allie vs Blanchard at Slammiversary.
Is Brian Cage The Future of the X-Division?
The X-Division isn’t about weight limits, it’s about no limits. This vague yet somehow also descriptive explanation for the X-Division has been given since its inception. In a sense, it is meant to say the action in the X-Division is innovative, athletic, and boundary-pushing. Nobody epitomizes that more than Brian Cage.
Cage defeated Kongo Kong last night, moving a step forward to receiving another shot at Matt Sydal and the X-Division championship. On a previous episode, Sydal defeated Cage via count-out after Kongo interfered.
Sydal appeared to strike some deal with Jimmy Jacobs to have Kongo take out Cage but the plan doesn’t appear to have worked.
Shortly after the conclusion of last night’s episode, it was revealed that Cage will receive another shot at the X-Division title at Slammiversary. Will the Machine take the title from Sydal? If so, just how dominant can Cage be in this division?
Eddie Edwards’ feud with Sami Callihan caused him to spiral to a dark place. Tommy Dreamer, who saw his own career impacted by a similar obsession with Raven, tried to help Edwards. In response, however, Edwards’ delusions convinced him that Dreamer was involved with his wife.
Last week on Impact, Edwards traveled to Philadelphia and confronted Dreamer at a House of Hardcore show. He caned Dreamer in the head and busted him open. This week, Dreamer cut a fiery promo on how Edwards is obsessed with Sami Callihan but now Dreamer is obsessed with Edwards.
It was also revealed that Tommy Dreamer and Eddie Edwards will face each other in a House of Hardcore match at Slammiversary.
The build-up to Moose vs Austin Aries at Slammiversary has been done through sit-down interviews. Aries claims that Moose is a failed football player trying out a new career whereas Aries is a wrestler and has always been a wrestler.
Moose, however, says he left football for wrestling. Not only that, he says he left a lot of money on the table in the NFL and even took a shot at his ex-wife for not supporting him when he decided to leave football for wrestling. Moose did mention, however, that unlike his ex-wife, his mother was supportive of his decision to chase his wrestling dream.
Aries got in the line of the night this week when he told Moose after he beats him at Slammiversary, he’d better hope the XFL is hiring.
A couple of other notes from Impact Wrestling:
The Great Gama Singh is running the Desi Hit Squad through several old-school drills.
Joe Hendry arrived in a backstage segment with Grado.
Konnan was able to lead the crowd in a “Gloryhole” chant during his segment with King and LAX
Katarina defeated Rebel
A new Knockout will debut shortly
Quick Results:
Fenix defeated Rich Swann
Killer Kross defeated Fallah Bah
Madison Rayne & Allie defeated Su Yung & an Undead Bride
Katarina defeated Rebel
Brian Cage defeated Kongo Kong
Updated Slammiversary Card
Mask vs Hair
Pentagon Jr vs Sami Callihan
Impact World Championship
Austin Aries (c) vs Moose
X-Division Championship
Matt Sydal (c) vs Brian Cage
Knockouts Championship
Su Yung (c) vs Madison Rayne
House of Hardcore Match
Tommy Dreamer vs Eddie Edwards
Taiji Ishimori vs Johnny Impact vs Rich Swann vs Fenix
Two new matches have been revealed for the upcoming Slammiversary PPV event.
As seen on this week’s episode of Impact Wrestling on Pop TV, the promotion officially announced that Impact X Division Champion Matt Sydal will defend his title against Brian Cage and Tommy Dreamer and Eddie Edwards will meet in a House of Hardcore match at this event.
BREAKING: It is official. @THETOMMYDREAMER will face @TheEddieEdwards in a House of Hardcore match at Slammiversary on July 22nd in Toronto. This will be deeply personal.
Impact will present Slammiversary live on pay-per-view on Sunday, July 22nd from the Rebel Entertainment Complex in Toronto, Canada. Here is the updated card for the show:
After the reports of Brock Lesnar possibly not working the SummerSlam PPV came out, more and more people have started showing their frustration with the Beast’s current title reign online.
During a recent episode of Lock Up podcast, former WCW President Eric Bischoff talked about his Championship reign and said that it doesn’t mean anything to him as a fan.
Bischoff first discussed how he likes Brock Lesnar and thinks that the current Universal Champion is an amazing performer and there is no one near his stratosphere.
Though continuing on the topic, the former Raw General Manager said that while he will hate to say it’s irrelevant, the title reign of the former UFC star doesn’t really mean much:
“There’s a lot of things I like about Brock Lesnar, but his presence in WWE to me is almost a non-issue. I hate to say irrelevant, but the title doesn’t really mean all that much. Brock’s character, the way it is being positioned, doesn’t really mean anything to me as a fan or a viewer.”
Continuing on the topic, Eric Bischoff discussed how Lesnar’s position seems to be a convenient afterthought to him and recalled how Hulk Hogan’s deal with WCW was similar to Brock’s current contract.
In the second episode of their ALL US Series, Cody Rhodes and Young Bucks had revealed that they will be rolling out matches for their ALL In event on weekly basis.
The first installment of it came earlier today when a tweet from ALL In’s Twitter revealed Kazuchika Okada’s match for the show, announcing that the Rainmaker will be going against ‘The Villain’ Marty Scurll:
This is the second bout that has been announced for the show after the confirmation that Nick Aldis would be defending his NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Cody at the upcoming event.
Star Removed From Title Match At MSG Live Event?
It appears that WWE may have pulled a former Champion from an upcoming title match for Saturday’s Madison Square Garden Live Event which he was originally scheduled to be a part of.
Former Universal Champion Finn Balor was originally listed as a participant for the Triple Threat Intercontinental Championship match at the show, with the other two participants being the Champion Dolph Ziggler and Seth Rollins.
However a new email blast send out by the company does not include him in the match card, likely indicating that he has been removed from the bout. No word yet on the reason behind this change but we’ll keep you posted.
