It’s been well documented that Randy Orton underwent minor knee surgery last month. Orton was last seen on WWE programming at the Backlash pay-per-view event when he was defeated by Jeff Hardy in a United States Title match that aired on the WWE Network.
In regards to when he could return to in-ring action, the timeline is three months and that he would be back inside of the squared circle under the WWE banner before SummerSlam.
Orton is currently recovering from knee surgery and has been seen in Birmingham, Alabama where he’s likely doing rehab.
William Regal Absent
The expectation was that WWE NXT General Manager William Regal was set to work Thursday’s NXT TV tapings in Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University. However, he did not appear.
According to a report by PWinsider, the decision was made on Wednesday not to bring him in. It’s been noted that the reason he has not been used on TV since April is due to a personal situation.
WWE Champion AJ Styles, who is slated to make his next title defense against Rusev at the upcoming Extreme Rules pay-per-view event next month, will be missing in action this weekend for SmackDown Live events.
The sports entertainment company is slated to hold blue branded events on Saturday in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Sunday in Fresno, CA at the Save Mart Center, and Monday in Bakersfield, CA at the Rabobank Arena.
However, Styles will not be wrestling at those shows due to him heading to Australia for promotion work for the October Super Show-Don stadium show’s ticket on sale. It should be noted that Styles will be working Tuesday’s SmackDown Live TV event.
WWE United States Champion Jeff Hardy vs. Samoa Joe vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. The Miz and WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champions The Bludgeon Brothers vs. The Bar vs. The New Day vs. Rusev & Aiden English are the top matches being advertised.
Kane Unmasked
Although Kane might not be a regular character on WWE television these days, it didn’t stop WWE’s YouTube channel from releasing this video looking at the six times that Kane has been unmasked. Check it out here:
What are your thoughts on Styles missing events this weekend?
NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis has quite the match coming up.
He and Cody Rhodes’ bout for the title is the only one scheduled for September 1st’s All In event in Chicago. The man formerly known as Magnus in TNA, where he was also a World Heavyweight Champion, never seemed to make things work in regards to working for WWE.
Most might imagine Aldis could have quite an easy road to WWE if he wanted to, seeing as he’s married to current WWE Superstar Mickie James. In a recent interview with Digital Spy, Aldis revealed that the lack of communication on WWE’s part led him to the current position he’s in – NWA World Heavyweight Champion:
“I basically said that I hadn’t gotten anywhere with WWE, and, you know, there’s a myriad of reasons why that could potentially be the case, no-one really gives you a straight answer there anyway,” Aldis said.
“I’ve heard a few different versions of it, but I wedged to see if it was something that I wanted to see where it could have went.”
You can read Aldis’ full interview with Digital Spy by clicking this link here.
It looks like Ronda Rousey’s WWE suspension won’t prevent her from appearing on Monday Night RAW next week in San Diego after all. The 30-day suspension was issued out to The Rowdy One for attacking both RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss and RAW General Manager Kurt Angle earlier this week.
A report from The Wrestling Observer suggests that Rousey is still scheduled to appear at Monday’s RAW. That could simply mean, however, that she’s scheduled for a dark segment that won’t make it to TV. Perhaps WWE could even eliminate Rousey’s suspension altogether.
Regardless, W.O.N reports that the former UFC women’s bantamweight champ will be in San Diego on Monday. Here is her confirmed WWE schedule below:
6/24 – RAW live event in Anaheim, CA
7/6 – RAW live event in Philadelphia, PA
7/7 – RAW live event at MSG
7/8 – RAW live event in Bridgeport, CT
7/9 – Monday Night RAW in Boston, MA
7/16 – Monday Night RAW in Buffalo, NY
Discussion: Do you think that Rousey will be at Monday’s RAW in San Diego?
Cody has launched his own YouTube channel. The self-proclaimed leader of Bullet Club released his first video yesterday. The video features Cody and the Bucks talking about the process of organizing All-In.
“On May 13th, 2018, ALL IN sold out in 29 minutes. The ALL IN event was created by Cody Rhodes, Nick Jackson and Matt Jackson to prove a point. This series, ALL US, was created to document their process as they produce this landmark event on September 1st.
Is the success of ALL IN a blessing or a curse? Who called the three after the sell-out? What is their biggest fear the night before the event? And what makes ALL IN work?”
What Went Into Organizing All-In?
The Jacksons and Cody discussed how fans’ perception is All-In will be a money-making project. The three were quick to point out that even with 10,000 seats being sold, they will be lucky to break even.
“Some people think we’re getting rich, that’s completely the opposite,” Nick Jackson said. “We’re probably going to break-even at the end of the day because we don’t realize how much goes into an actual show. Every day it’s like ‘oh, we have to pay for this guy’s flight, I forgot'”
The trio also mentioned that Hulk Hogan had expressed interest in participating but his asking price is too high for them.
Potential Matches for All-In
The only match officially announced for the show thus far is Cody challenging for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Current NWA Champion, Nick Aldis, will have to remain champion through the summer but if he does, he will face Cody in the main event.
Other possible matches for the show include Joey Ryan taking on Hangman Page. The two wrestlers have been building a rather bizarre angle which has played out on Being the Elite.
Another possible angle which could lead to something at All-In involves Jay Lethal. Recently on Being the Elite, Lethal has been slipping in and out of his old Black Machismo character. This started when Lanny Poffo gave Lethal a pair of Randy Savage’s old sunglasses at an ROH show earlier this year.
Flip Gordon still has not been booked.
All-In takes place September 1st, 2018 from the Sears Centre in Chicago.
Austin Aries’ opponent for ROH’s upcoming Best in the World PPV has been revealed. The promotion has announced that Aries will take on Kenny King in singles competition. This event takes place on Friday, June 29, 2018 from Baltimore, Maryland at the UMBC Event Center.
Aries is the reining Impact Wrestling World Champion and will defend against Moose in the main event of next month’s Slammiversary pay-per-view.
Konnan is coming out of retirement to wrestle in a match under the MLW banner.
The promotion officially announced during a recent episode of their MLW Radio podcast that former WCW United States Champion will be coming out of retirement to compete in a match at the Battle Riot/Fusion TV taping that goes down in New York City on July 19th.
The Battle Riot match is a mash-up of a battle royal, royal rumble and anything goes street fight that will feature 40 wrestlers with new participants entering the ring every 60 seconds.
The way that this match will work is when an elimination can come by pinfall, submission or by throwing an individual over the top rope. The winner of this match is slated to get a World Heavyweight Title Shot in the future.
Several wrestlers have already been announced for the match including John Morrison, Kevin Sullivan, ACH, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Teddy Hart, Rich Swann, Pentagon Jr., Jimmy Yuta, Jake Hager, Swoggle, Lance Anoa’i, and “PCO” Pierre Carl Ouellet.
Konnan appeared to work his final match back in 2013 when he took part in a six-man tag match that saw him team up with El Mariachi and Kafu to beat Derek Sanders, Oliver John and Vaquero Fantasma.
The promotion will be announcing more participants for the match in coming weeks. Tickets for this event start at just $20 and you can buy them at this link.
On Thursday night, NXT returned to Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. The following are results from the tapings, which will air over the next several weeks and take us through mid-July.
– Fabian Aichner def. Raul Mendoza in a dark match.
Week 1 (Airing June 27th):
– NXT Champion Aleister Black came out for a promo. He spoke about battling Lars Sullivan at Takeover, but was interrupted by Tomasso Ciampa, who referred to himself as the devil. Now that Johnny Gargano is out of the picture, he’s focused on the title and will make Black’s reign fade to Black.
– Kona Reeves def. Max Humberto.
– Candice LeRae def. Lacey Evans.
– Moustache Mountain vs. Dave Dixon and Carl Axelrod never began, as the Undisputed Era came out and attacked Dixon and Axelrod before the match. They called Moustache Mountain’s title win in the UK a fluke. Undisputed Era surrounded the ring, but Ricochet ran out to even the odds, setting up a 6-man tag match.
– Undisputed Era def. Ricochet and Moustache Mountain
Week 2 (Airing July 4th):
– Dakota Kai def. Santana Garret
– NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler kicks off the show, saying she proved herself at Takeover and is the most dominant champion in NXT.
– The Mighty def. Otis Dozovic of Heavy Machinery in a handicap match. It was explained that Tucker Knight was out due to an “accident” which was actually the birth of his daughter.
– Kairi Sane def. Vanessa Borne. After the match, Kairi says she beat Shayna Baszler before and will do it again to become the next NXT Women’s Championship.
– Velveteen Dream def. Chris Dijak. EC3 came out for his entrance while Dream was still in the ring after his match.
– Johnny Gargano def. EC3 in what was described as one of the best matches of the night.
Week 3 (Airing July 11th)
– NXT North American Champion Adam Cole def. Danny Burch
– Lacey Evans def. Dakota Kai
– Kassius Ohno squashed an enhancement talent.
– Kairi Sane def. Candice LeRae and Nikki Cross in a triple threat match to become the #1 contender to NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler.
– Undisputed Era def. Moustache Mountain to win back the NXT Tag Team Championships. The finish came when Bate threw in the towel when Seven wouldn’t tap to O’Reilly.
NXT Takeover: Brooklyn
Based on the matches that will air on NXT television through mid-July, the following appear to be the top two matches for NXT Takeover: Brooklyn during SummerSlam weekend:
NXT Champion Aleister Black vs. Tomasso Ciampa
NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Bazsler vs. Kairi Sane
Yesterday, Kenny Omega took part in an AXS TV media conference call to promote the G1 Special in San Francisco. During the press conference, Omega mentioned Matt Riddle as someone who he feels should do well in NJPW.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how Jeff Cobb and Matt Riddle do in Japan,” Omega said. “Matt Riddle should have a very successful career in Japan. It’d be cool if he became the foreign Shibata.”
Word reached Riddle about comments made by Omega and he responded in a way consistent with his moniker as “the King of Bros”.
The former UFC fighter is no stranger to receiving praise. After winning “Rookie of the Year” and “Most Improved” in the 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards, Riddle turned in a solid 2017 which saw him ranked at 116th in the PWI 500.
Riddle is the current Evolve champion, former WWN Live champion, and also held the PWG tag titles along with Jeff Cobb. In May, Riddle made it down to the final 2 competitors in Smash Wrestling’s Northern Tournament. The Northern runs a similar format to BOLA and was eventually won by Tyson Dux. Other competitors in the tournament included Joey Janela, Joey Mercury, Mia Yim, Kimber Lee, and Andrew Everett.
Kenny Omega Interview Notes
During the press conference, Omega also noted that he is proud of the Golden Lovers storyline.
“I’m proud of it. I’m not going to lie, that story was created for us,” Omega said. For myself and Ibushi…we built to it for years and years and years. For it to finally culminate and to hear the positive feedback, it was overwhelming.”
Omega also took some shots at Los InGobernables and most notably, their leader Tetsuya Naito.
“Naito is a pseudo-Steve Austin. I really don’t appreciate his message,” Omega said. “It only works in Japan. They live rough lives, it’s easier to fit in than rock the boat. Naito’s message is to calm down and not care. I think that message only has life in Japan.”
Charlotte Flair has just undergone surgery to fix a ruptured implant. She is expected to be out until SummerSlam.
Working Injured Since Mania
Flair has been working with the ruptured implant for months and kept putting off surgery as she didn’t want to miss WrestleMania 34. The surgery was delayed again due to Money In the Bank PPV and Flair competed in the Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match which was won by Alexa Bliss.
As of now, it is unknown what WWE has plans for Flair and the Smackdown Women’s Title at SummerSlam, but as we noted on Thursday, the Raw side of the women’s division is rumored to be featuring Ronda Rousey challenging Alexa Bliss for the Title at the August PPV.
Charlotte has recently finished a photo shoot for ESPN before going under the knife. More on that here.
Alex McCarthy of Give Me Sport caught up with Triple H and Shawn Michaels ahead of the WWE UK Tournament. They discussed the possibility of John Cena competing in NXT. Triple H joked that he wouldn’t be able to afford Cena’s pay on his NXT budget but if Cena came to him and said he wanted to do something at a TakeOver, he would be open to it.
Cena has been opened in working a match with Velveteen Dream in the past, we could very well see them wrestle in the nearby future. More on that story here.
John Cena’s Part-Time Status
Cena has been part-time with WWE, his last appearance was at the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia. His next appearance is until October at the big Australia tour. Cena has been busy with Hollywood making appearances for many of his films and starring in upcoming roles as well. More on that here.
Time will tell on what’s next for the Leader of the Cenation and SEScoops will be here to report the news.
NXT star Tucker Knight of the Heavy Machinery tag team missed Thursday’s TV tapings from Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL – but he had a good reason.
Knight (real name Levi Cooper) posted a photo on Twitter of his newborn baby girl, Kenzi Lovie Cooper.
Congratulations to the Cooper family and their newest addition.
Word started making rounds a couple of days ago that Sami Zayn was hurt and his injury was the reason why he was booked to lose to Bobby Lashley without putting much effort during his match at the recent Money In The Bank PPV.
However, now it has been revealed that the Raw Star’s injury is more serious than anybody may have thought and he is expected to be out of action for the remainder of 2018.
In an interview with WWE.com Zayn revealed that he had been working with a hurt shoulder for a while but he didn’t realize the seriousness of the injury immediately and waited for the things to get better.
Though when it didn’t heal up as Sami was expecting, he underwent some tests. The medical examination not only revealed a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder but his left, surgically repaired shoulder turned out to be even worse.
According to the former NXT Champion, the evaluation showed that he had torn the rotator cuff in his left shoulder as well and his right shoulder, in comparison, was the ‘good shoulder’.
Later in the interview, Sami Zayn also revealed that he underwent a surgery recently for his right shoulder and he is scheduled to go under the knife again to repair the damage in his left shoulder in 6 to 8 weeks.
While no time frame has been given for his comeback, in the beast case, Sami will be eying a return in time for WrestleMania 35 from New Jersey next year.
WWE is set to hold a major pay-per-view (PPV) event in Australia later this year. It’s being called the WWE Super Show-Down and all goes down from the Melbourne Cricket Grounds.
WWE Hall Of Famer Shawn Michaels is being advertised for the event, leading many fans to speculate that the former WWE Champion could be making his in-ring return at the show.
The latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter has some new details on what Shawn Michaels’ role could be at the big event. According to the Observer, there have been preliminary discussions about Michaels working as a Special Guest Referee for one of the matches on the card.
HBK: Veteran Special Guest Referee
Shawn Michaels is no stranger the black and white striped referee’s shirt. Longtime fans might remember his role as gust referee in the main event of SummerSlam 1997. Just months before the Montreal Screwjob, Michaels attempted to hit Bret Hart with a chair and wound up leveling The Undertaker, paving the way for Bret’s final WWF Championship reign.
As of this writing, the only match advertised for Super Show-Down is the final battle between WWE legends Triple H and The Undertaker. Michaels refereed this exact match back at WrestleMania 28, so we could see history repeat itself in Australia.
Most recently, Michaels served as the guest referee for Drew McIntyre vs. Adam Cole at an NXT live event last year. The Heartbreak Kid got physical at the show as well, hitting Kyle O’Reilly with Sweet Chin Music.
Discussion: What do you think will be Michaels’ involvement at WWE Super Show-Down?
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega was Sean Waltman’s guest this week on the X-Pac 1-2-360 podcast. Omega spoke about a wide variety of topics, including:
His “7-Star” match with Kazuchika Okada at NJPW Dominion
If he feels pressure to fill Okada’s Shoes
His reaction to WWE promoting The Elite’s video game battle against New Day
His upcoming match against Kota Ibushi at NJPW G1 Climax
Wanting to defend the IWGP title against Tetsuya Naito and Hiroshi Tanahashi
Here are some highlights of what Kenny Omega said about:
WWE Supporting The E3 Gaming Battle Between New Day & The Elite
“The amount of support I had from their side [WWE] was certainly surprising. And I’m thankful for it, we really went out and tried to do something new…I really think that we need to get out and explore other options as to how to make wrestling fun and cool again. How to kinda introduce what we do to a brand new audience and gaming was a way to do that. And The New Day… well especially Austin Creed/Xavier Woods himself, he has that really popular Youtube gaming channel and he’s always involved in anything gaming and we sort of have the video gaming rivalry because we can’t have an in-ring rivalry being part of two different companies.
To have the blessing of both companies, and the overwhelming support by WWE was really cool. It’s a possible big game changer, we broke a lot of records with just that event alone and I think it goes to show that all the companies and these wrestlers, we can play nice with each other and it is entertaining and that’s the type of involvement as champion that I want to have.”
His “7-Star” Match with Kazuchika Okada at NJPW Dominion
“A lot of thought and care went into all of that stuff [match layout].What moves are we gonna do? What are the finishes going to be? Of course that’s all part of it. It’s what story do we tell that compliments the other three matches that we’ve done? What story do we tell that leaves something open for a possible fifth match because even though we were never told there was gonna be a fifth match. I have a feeling there’s gonna be a fifth match. So I didn’t want to blow everything in that match.
I wanted to leave it so that there is gonna be another one. And I also still wanted to make it sort of based in reality where this is sort of the be-all-end-all and the match decides which one of us is superior for at least this point in time but I didn’t feel like we had to overkill anything. And there’s so many factors that go into it and I really tried to carefully consider them all. The story surrounding the match, the story within the match, the story that happens before, the story that happens after…
There’s so much to go over and I wanted each fall to look different enough from one another so that it did really look like three different matches. And I wanted all the matches to make both of us look good, I wanted them to highlight our strengths as performers.”
If He Feels Pressure To Fill Okada’s Shoes and His Goals As IWGP Champion
“No, I would feel pressure if there was the pressure to be a textbook wrestler, to be a textbook wrestler and have a textbook wrestler-ish run. Okada had that covered completely and he had done things that no one else could really ever do, he was one of the greatest title runs of all time.
Luckily, I’m kind of not the conventional wrestler and a lot of my matches visually appear similar to one another so my hope is to kind of have a very original looking run, where I am digging deeper into everyone’s character and kind of adding layers to the people I work with, so that way all of the defenses look different from one another. The matches themselves may even be different or original or whatever, so I don’t feel like I have to fill Okada’s shoes… Even though people may not prefer my run over Okada’s, I want them to kind of recognize it as something original and unique and hopefully enjoyable.”
His Upcoming Match With Golden Lovers Partner Kota Ibushi at NJPW G1 Climax
“I mean both of us think it’s too soon, both of us really had it in our minds that we don’t want to re-visit it unless it’s the Tokyo Dome because we get sort of too crazy with one another. And we push each others limits too far and it’s scary, especially Ibushi and I always feel like I can’t be in this guy’s shadow so I have to meet his craziness and that just creates an endless circle of one-upmanship.”
Wanting To Defend The IWGP Title Against Tetsuya Naito and Hiroshi Tanahashi
“I would love to wrestle Naito in an actual championship capacity rather than just the G1. I’d love to wrestle Tanahashi because I feel that he was always the protected ace of the company and now he’s getting run down and beaten down and he knows that he’s sort of on his way out of being a top four guy. And I really want to have sort of a special moment with him if it’s possible. And I know he kinda hates me in real life… it’s like a professional jealousy thing that’s all it is {laughs}. Not actually hates me hates me, you know I love him but we love to hate each other because we have very different views on wrestling.”
Remembering Vader and How He Helped Kenny Legally Wrestle In Japan
“Terrible news. I was absolutely shocked when it happened. Especially since he just had just gone through that crazy surgery where it was just miraculous that he got through it all. You can never be prepared for news like that and luckily all the memories I have of Vader when I’ve met him in person were really really pleasant. He was always a very pleasant individual.
He was actually the reason I was able to get my first work visa in Japan. Because he had a promotion in Japan for a moment in time where he was running shows every three or four months. And if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have been able to legally work in Japan until actually signing with New Japan. Mostly because of Vader I was able to legally wrestle and make money in Japan.”
Celebrating His IWGP Title Win With The Young Bucks
“It’s funny we’d created this storyline where we would all kind of go splitsville. And we really pushed it to the extreme where we wouldn’t be seen in public we’d only talk to each other in private. In the Being The Elite storyline, we weren’t in any scenes together and the only actual physical altercation we ended up having was the match in Long Beach. So we sort of worked ourselves into a shoot brother. Where we were sort of actually forced to live out this lie where we were at odds with each other. So for us to finally kinda come together and in Japan too.
Another thing to mention is, it’s really Kayfabed out there. You can’t just go out to a restaurant after a show cause ‘hey it’s not the show anymore’. You have to continue, you have to keep faith and stay true to the angles. So we couldn’t hang out before shows, after shows, nothing like that unless it was in private. And usually, I’m always tied up with whatever after the shows… We never saw each other so for us to finally come together and have that as our first moment. Where it’s like ‘yes it’s okay to be friends again’ it was really emotional.”
Visit AfterbuzzTV for more information on Sean Waltman’s show.
Ronda Rousey was scheduled for seven dates during her 30-day WWE suspension after attacking Kurt Angle this past Monday.
The Rowdy One remains scheduled for Sunday’s live event in Anaheim, California, but has been removed from Monday’s RAW in San Diego. Her updated schedule can be found below:
6/24 – RAW live event in Anaheim, CA
7/6 – RAW live event in Philadelphia, PA
7/7 – RAW live event at MSG
7/8 – RAW live event in Bridgeport, CT
7/9 – Monday Night RAW in Boston, MA
7/16 – Monday Night RAW in Buffalo, NY
NXT Opens With Tribute To Vader
This week’s episode of NXT opened up with a tribute to Vader. Before the show began a graphic appeared in memory of the recently deceased 63-year-old former WCW World Champion, who passed away after complications with pneumonia.
A screen grab of the graphic can be found here below:
WWE’s Money In The Bank (MITB) pay-per-view (PPV) this past Sunday featured three women’s matches.
First, Alexa Bliss won the Women’s MITB Ladder match. SmackDown Live Women’s Champion Carmella defended her title against Asuka. Finally, Ronda Rousey attempted to capture the RAW Women’s Title from Nia Jax but Bliss would cash in and leave Chicago with the title instead.
Thanks to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter, we now have some more information on those matches. Tyson Kidd and Fit Finlay put together the Women’s MITB Ladder match, but Meltzer notes it was mostly Kidd.
WWE also took all of the participants off of the road this past weekend to rehearse the match. This is why there were no Women’s matches at live events beforehand, which upset some fans.
Fit Finlay put together Jax vs. Rousey, which had also been practiced over the weekend. It was noted that there wasn’t a rehearsal for Carmella vs. Asuka as opposed to their other two matches together.
Enzo Amore and Big Cass’ time with WWE have come to an end – for now.
Amore was released from WWE this past January after some sexual assault allegations against him came to light. Cass was released earlier this week after WWE officials seemed to have grown tired of his antics and issues.
Cass and Amore are former NXT and RAW Tag Team division competitors, and at one point were very over as fan favorites. Now that they’re no longer under the thumb of WWE it looks like some indy promoters could try and get their hands on the duo.
Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline reports that a lot of indy promoters have already tried to book Cass and Amore together as a tag team. The only issue is that Amore and Cass had a real-life falling out, however, it’s believed that they could set that aside and work together for the right amount of money.
The New Day have been dominating the tag team divisions of WWE for several years now, and it looks like WWE has decided to change things up a bit. Cageside Seats reports that The New Day is set to move out of the tag team division for a while to work as a stable of singles competitors.
Big E is expected to get the biggest push of the three.
Hulk Hogan Wants To Manage Velveteen Dream
Velveteen Dream had a lot of people talking on social media when everyone saw his NXT TakeOver: Chicago in-ring attire. It seemed to be a mixture of Hulk Hogan and Prince Puma of Lucha Underground.
Hogan took to Twitter himself and noted that he’d like to manage Dream, and pitched an “all the gold,HollyWood style” idea as well. Here’s what the WWE Hall Of Famer had to say:
Yo when VelveteenMania hires me as his manager,then we will have “all the gold,HollyWood style”. Brother. HollyWoodHHoganLife
Former WWE Superstar Sean “X Pac” Waltman recently appeared on The Tomorrow Show with Keven Undergaro and spoke about the recent passing of former WCW World Heavyweight Champion Vader. Waltman first expressed his displeasure with Vader being forced to cut a promo that basically humiliated himself:
“They had him [Vader] go out there and like kind of humiliate himself… ya know, call him self a big–a fat piece of s–t and things like that. I just hated it… It’s one thing having somebody else call you that but going out there and having you call yourself that, what the f–k?”
For his size, Waltman considers Vader to be the greatest of all time:
“For his size, for that category of wrestler, [Vader’s] the best of all time.”
Waltman then discussed how bad Vader wanted to be in the WWE Hall Of Fame and how much it meant to him:
“It was really important to him to be put in the Hall of Fame, and it really sucks. He deserved it too. Sometimes when you push too hard and you’re out there and you’re begging for it too much, it works against you. And that sucks in that case.”
You can listen to Waltman on The Tomorrow Show with Keven Undergaro by clicking this link here.
WWE has announced that the 2018 Mae Young Classic will kick off on Wednesday, August 8, 2018 from Full Sail University. The Mae Young Classic tournament will air on the WWE Network some time this summer, although no premiere date has been announced at this time.
WWE confirmed the Mae Young Classic will once again be a 32-woman single-elimination tournament. This year’s field of competitors will feature talent from 12 countries.
“We are thrilled to once again present the Mae Young Classic and provide a global showcase for 32 of the top female talent from around the world,” said Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events & Creative. “Last year’s event was a significant milestone in WWE’s Women’s Evolution, and I am confident this year’s event will break even more barriers.”
Last year’s inaugural Mae Young Classic saw Kairi Sane defeat reigning NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler in the finals. Many of the participants in the first Mae Young Classic are now under contract to WWE. In addition to Sane and Baszler, Candice LaRae, Deonna Purrazzo, Bianca Belair and Lacey Evans are among the other signees.
Discussion: What female wrestlers from the independent scene would you want to see in this year’s Mae Young Classic?
Kevin Owens is no stranger to what makes a good wresting promo. As one of the best talkers in the business, his endorsement of a former NXT rival as the “best promo in wrestling” carries a lot of weight.
New Japan Pro Wrestling star Juice Robinson (known as CJ Parker during his time in NXT) was Owen’s opponent in his debut WWE match at NXT R-Evolution.
The match was notable because it left Owens with a broken nose and was his only WWE match as a babyface. He turned heel approximately 90 minutes after the match by turning on Sami Zayn at the end of that show.
Juice Robinson Credits Dusty Rhodes
Since leaving NXT, Robinson has found a home in New Japan. He is scheduled to face Jay White for the IWGP United States Championship on July 7th at the G1 Special in San Francisco.
During a conference call with the wrestling media this week to promote the G1 event, Robinson attributed his promo skills to his time in NXT, specifically working under Dusty Rhodes and Rhodes’ Wednesday Morning Promo Class.
“Dusty would always just preach being real. For me he would always tell me to be myself and not to worry don’t think about lines or this or that just know the direction and how you feel it’s more about why you feel that way. He would always say it’s the why not the how.
Why do I feel this way? Why am I mad at Jay [White]? My hand’s broken, why? Not how am I going to show everybody how I feel but it’s why do I feel this way. If you think about why you do it then you’re gonna be… it doesn’t matter what you say because you’re saying the right thing. You don’t have to think about your words, it’s gonna come out right.”
The Brood was a 3-man stable in WWE (WWF at the time) with a vampire theme that saw success at the height of the Attitude Era. The Brood is generally remembered for two things; Bloodbaths in which they would douse an opponent in “blood” and being the jumping-off point for the careers of WWE Legends Edge and Christian. The duo made up The Brood with leader Gangrel.
On the latest episode of their E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness podcast, Edge and Christian re-united with their Broodmate. The discussion touched on a number of topics, but one of the most intersting was Gangrel’s revealing that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon does not like vampires.
Gangrel On Vince McMahon’s Stance On Vampires
“Vince McMahon told me himself I’ll never use the vampire character, like, ‘get rid of the fangs’ because I was an idiot… ‘so make sure you trim down, grow the hair out, and we’ll definitely give you a job, but just not a vampire.’ And they did.
I was sitting home [for] a week, sitting home. Vince Russo called up. I don’t know if it was when he got that creative control thing, that brief 30 days or whatever it was. I’m real fuzzy on that kind of stuff. And he said, ‘hey, are you still doing that vampire thing?’ I said, ‘are you kidding me?’ So on a Friday night, I got everything ready for that Sunday to debut against of all people, mi amigo, Scotty 2 Hotty.”
Gangrel, who has surgically implanted vampire fangs, also revealed that the concept for The Brood was meant to emulate the vampire movie The Lost Boys.
“I was really big on The Brood because of The Lost Boys.” Gangrel recalled, “I came up with it through The Lost Boys. And I said, ‘man, they don’t even [have] to win! It’s going to be cool. When they get their asses kicked, I’m telling you people will like them.’ And they were like, ‘no.’ I said, ‘old man, I’m telling you nobody hates a vampire.’ And I heard everybody say they hate vampires.”
Since leaving WWE in 2001, Gangrel has appeared all over the globe for various independent promotions, as well as made occasional one-off appearances in WWE.
Former RAW, Smackdown and NXT Tag Team Champion Jason Jordan’s return to WWE TV has been tentatively scheduled for July, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Jordan has been off television since suffering a neck injury earlier this year.
At the time of his injury, Jordan was working a program in which he was revealed to be RAW General Manager Kurt Angle’s long-lost son. According to The Observer, this thread will be picked up upon Jordan’s return to TV.
The timing for Jordan’s planned return works out well, because it gives WWE a chance to re-establish him during the build towards Summerslam.
With Chad Gable now on RAW, there’s also a clear path for an American Alpha reunion. Each man has had moderate success on the main roster since their split.
Back in February 2018, Jordan’s wife posted on Instagram regarding his injury:
“I will address this once… Yes, ‘Jason Jordan’ is injured. I assure you everything you have seen online is ‘FAKE NEWS!’ He has a minor neck injury and will be back in no time! Although, I am very excited to have him home for a bit, I promise, I will help guide him to a speedy recovery! Thank you to everyone who reached out to check on him! He is very positive and already planning his comeback! In the meantime, just please keep sending Nathan and I good vibes!!”
In addition to being one-half of American Alpha, the only team in WWE to have held the RAW, Smackdown and NXT Tag Team Championships, Jordan also held the FCW Tag Team Titles with CJ Parker (aka Juice Robinson) prior to FCW becoming NXT.
The captain of Team Kick has been on something of a losing skid as of late. She’s dropped her last two matches in NXT.
Kai was defeated by Shayna Baszler on the May 9th episode of NXT. She had been portrayed as having been scared of the NXT Women’s Champion but finally did overcome her character arc and learned she can compete with the best the brand has to offer.
This week on NXT, Kai lost to Bianca Belair in a match taped from Chicago’s All-State Arena before Takeover: Chicago II. The 30-year-old from New Zealand recently commented on her loss.
Bianca Belair and Lacey Evans Comment on Dakota Kai
Kai’s loss to Bianca Belair on NXT this week will likely move Belair closer to a title shot. The former track and field star has been moving up the rankings steadily the last few months. Since WrestleMania, Belair has defeated Candice LeRae, Aliyah, and now Dakota Kai.
Belair took to Twitter to claim that after defeating Kai, she is the new captain of Team Kick.
Evans might be on quite a winning streak but she has lost to Dakota Kai in the past. Kai defeated her earlier this year on the February 8th, 2018 edition of NXT. Evans also lost to Belair on a show which aired last August. The First Lady of NXT recently defeated Kairi Sane, however, seemingly indicating she is in line for a push.
Toni Storm will be the next in line to challenge for Shayna Baszler’s championship. The two will meet next week on the WWE UK Tournament shows. Depending on what happens between Baszler and Storm, Belair or Evans could be the next in line for a title shot.
