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Report: SmackDown FOX Deal Worth $1 Billion Over 5 Years

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FOX is ready to get into business with WWE and they are definitely paying for it.

On Monday reports surfaced that FOX had agreed to a multi-year deal to bring WWE ‘Smackdown Live’ to their network starting in October 2019. The deal would reportedly put ‘Smackdown Live’ on Friday nights as part of FOX’s revamped broadcasting lineup after the company sold the majority of their assets to Disney.

Now details of that deal are beginning to emerge as the Hollywood Reporter has now added that FOX is paying WWE $1 billion over five years for the rights to ‘Smackdown Live’.

The deal averages out to around $205 million annually for the broadcast rights. NBCUniversal had reportedly paid around $30 million annually for ‘Smackdown’ rights back in 2010.

Additionally, WWE reportedly received an even higher offer from another suitor but the company ultimately settled on FOX with the network committed to promoting the ‘Smackdown Live’ brand with broadcast rights deals already in place with commodities such as the NFL and Major League Baseball.

Of course there’s been a lot of speculation about ‘Smackdown’ returning to a taped format on Friday night but that seems highly unlikely based on a number of factors.

First off, FOX paying more than $200 million per year wouldn’t make any sense for a taped broadcast. Second, FOX executives have stated that following the sale to Disney, the wanted the ‘New FOX’ to focus on about 80-percent live programming for the network.

That commitment was confirmed when FOX inked a massive five year deal to land the rights to NFL Thursday Night Football in a deal reportedly worth $3 billion.

Considering how much FOX would be paying to land ‘Smackdown’, there’s almost no chance they would allow that to return to a taped format.

FOX is also reportedly attempting to keep UFC programming on their network as well with the network willing to pay around $175 million annual to keep the mixed martial arts promotion. The UFC recently inked a deal for $150 million per year for 15 events to air on ESPN+ with the remainder of their broadcast deal still up for grabs.

The move will also be a game changer for WWE with ‘Smackdown’ expected to air on FOX rather than their offshoot sports network FS1. This will be the first time WWE will land on one of the four major broadcast networks with a weekly offering.

‘Smackdown Live’ is currently averaging 2.59 million viewers per week versus ‘RAW’, which averages around 3 million viewers. ‘Smackdown’ will now have the benefit of airing on network television versus cable where ‘RAW’ currently airs on USA Network.

‘RAW’ is expected to stay on USA Network as part of a new multi-year deal with NBCUniversal, with the Comcast owned company reportedly paying three times the current rights feel to keep WWE programming on their network.

What do you think about Smackdown moving to FOX on Friday nights? Sound off in the comments and let us know!

WWE Makes Big Change To Top Match On This Week’s SmackDown Live

Andrew Ravens
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5

WWE has announced one big change to a top match that will take place on this week’s SmackDown Live.

It was originally announced that Samoa Joe would battle Big Cass in a Money in the Bank qualifying match on this show, which takes place in Worcester, MA at the DCU Center.

However, as a result of the ongoing storyline injury angle with Cass, WWE SmackDown Live General Manager Paige has revealed that Cass will not wrestle Joe on this show.

Instead, Daniel Bryan will take on Jeff Hardy with the winner facing Joe next week on SmackDown Live in a Money in the Bank qualifying match. Paige tweeted out the following:

“Due to @BigCassWWE injury, @WWEDanielBryan will face @JEFFHARDYBRAND tomorrow night on #SDLive in a second chance match… The winner will face @SamoaJoe NEXT WEEK for an opportunity to qualify and enter the Men’s #MITB Ladder Match.”

https://twitter.com/RealPaigeWWE/status/998612645476528129

Naomi vs. Sonya Deville and Lana vs. Billie Kay in MITB qualifying matches will also take place on the show.

What are your thoughts on this change? Sound off in the comment section below. 

Becky Lynch Discusses Feeling Secure With Her WWE Position, Run In NXT

Andrew Ravens
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Former WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch has had a successful career with the sports entertainment company.

During a recent appearance on Lilian Garcia’s Chasing Glory podcast, she reflected on where her career all started with the WWE, which was NXT. Lynch signed with the WWE in 2013.

“That was the thing. When I got to NXT it was like there wasn’t a single moment that I took for granted or a single moment – I think this is the biggest thing throughout my entire career because I think Lord knows I shouldn’t be where I am, but at no stage did I go, ‘Oh, they should be doing this for me.’ I would ask myself what I could do to make this good. I would take any opportunity – heck, I had to beg to be a Rosebud for crying out loud. Basically, the entire time I was so grateful to be there because I had known what it was like to be without it and then to be able to go train, and when the hours were long, it was more of a mental than physical struggle, but I was just happy to be there everyday and to learn how to say a promo from Dusty Rhodes.”

Following her arrival on the main roster in July 2015, she became the inaugural SmackDown Women’s Champion at Backlash in September 2016. Also, in this interview, she talked about feeling secure of her WWE position.

“I’m pretty confident in my ability to connect with the audience. We just have this bond, at least I feel we do. In a way of looking at it, you can only do that for so long as far as the Four Horsewomen. Eventually, you are going to need more competition, and more evolution. There needs to be growth and I think that the more people there are the better.”

Lynch continued by stating, I feel like, and I hope I do this well, that I feel like I can elevate somebody in the ring and with a storyline and make somebody care about that character. The way I look at it; the more that I can help somebody else get over and grow then the better is, not just for me, but for everybody in the business. Maybe I do that too much to a fault, but I just want everyone to get better so that people care about our storylines and they care about either kicking somebody else’s ass or somebody kicking my ass. Whatever gets people more invested is what we really need and for the Women’s Revolution to be cared about and for the storylines to grow in general.”

H/T to Rajah.com for the transcriptions.

What are your thoughts on Lynch’s comments? Sound off in the comment section below.

Young Bucks Say The Hardy Boyz Were Originally Supposed To Be Part Of RAW Invasion

Andrew Ravens
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1

The Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson) have given some insight into the original plans for their WWE RAW invasion angle.

They recently appeared on Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast to talk about various topics. During that interview, Nick brought up the fact that The Hardy Boyz (Jeff and Matt Hardy) were originally planned to be part of this angle.

The Hardy’s run came to an end with TNA after having some contract disputes. The Hardy Boyz would leave the promotion and work indie shows as well have a brief run in Ring of Honor.

There was much debate about whether The Hardys would return to WWE, which that brought them to superstardom as their original gimmick or the new Broken universe. When they returned at WrestleMania 33 in April in Orlando, Florida, they were not broken but rather had their old gimmicks.

“We had that planned, man, for a long time. Maybe even longer [than six months]. Actually, we were originally going to do it with The Hardy Boyz. We were going to be outside of WrestleMania and we were going to do something with The Hardys. They were going to transport to WrestleMania and we were going to be there and have a little altercation. That’s right, we were going to take their titles. They were the TNA [tag] champs at the time.”

What are your thoughts on these original plans? Sound off in the comment section below.

Report: SmackDown Moving To FOX On Friday Nights

Andrew Ravens
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The new television home for WWE SmackDown Live has reportedly been revealed.

Darren Rovell of ESPN is reporting that the sports entertainment company has agreed to make Fox the new home of the blue brand next year. It was noted in this article that the TV network came to the WWE with what was described as a “massive” offer.

As of this writing, there are not a ton of facts other than the deal will kick in October 2019. The Wrap is reporting that SmackDown Live will air on Friday nights on Fox. 

WWE stock is through the roof on this news of SmackDown moving to the Fox broadcast network. As of this writing, WWE stock is up nearly 11% for the day. At an all-time-high of $57 per share, WWE now has a market cap of $4.4 billion.

It was reported by the Hollywood Reporter last Thursday that NBC Universal declined to agree to the deal that WWE proposed to keep SmackDown Live on the USA Network. However, it’s been reported that the TV network wants to keep WWE’s flagship show, Monday Night RAW, and are willing to pay them big money in order for that to happen.

WWE has talked with the USA Network, Fox, Disney, CBS, Amazon, and YouTube. It has been rumored for months that WWE could end up signing with Fox with the expectation that If WWE signed with Fox, then Monday Night RAW would go to Fox while SmackDown Live would go to Fox Sports 1. 

What are your thoughts on Fox acquiring the rights to air SmackDown Live? Sound off in the comment section below.

Samoa Joe v Big Cass To Be a Short Match? Update on Shane McMahon’s Return

Rayan Sayyed
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– As for Shane McMahon’s WWE return, it was noted that after a successful hernia surgery Shane McMahon will be back in shape to wrestle around WWE Summerslam.

– The match between Samoa Joe and Big Cass this week on SmackDown Live is speculated to be a short one to sell Cass’ work leg injury.

On the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer reported that Joe will emerge the winner with the match being very short in length. The reason given was that Cass has been selling his injury given by Daniel Bryan even in house shows this week, meaning that it is very likely that he would continue to appear limping on SmackDown.

The Rock On Which Era Of Wrestling Is His Favorite, Mickey James’ Theme Song

Rayan Sayyed
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The Rock On Which Era Of Wrestling Is His Favorite

The Rock revealed which era of wrestling he likes the most while responding to a video on Twitter of The Iron Sheik throwing a fireball at the referee in a match against Jackie Fargo from the ’70s. The Rock said that the tension and energy was different across the country during that time when the fans believed pro-wrestling was real.

https://twitter.com/HistoryofWrest/status/998018418942103553

Mickey James’ Theme Song

WWE Music has released the entrance theme song of Mickie James titled Obsession. It should be noted that this song is composed by Jim Johnston and is more than ten years old.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BIRJ_y0w2k

 

Eric Bischoff Reveals Names Who Got Paid More than Kevin Nash and Scott Hall in WCW

Rayan Sayyed
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3

Former WCW President Eric Bischoff on the first episode of his new podcast 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff, discussed a number of topics from his time in the WCW. During the podcast, Bischoff revealed which stars got paid more than WCW’s top stars Scott Hall and Kevin Nash.

“It was never a thing with me. We had a budget in place that had been approved the year before by Turner Broadcasting Finance Committee, so I knew the parameters that I had to work with. I knew that politically, from a locker room prospective, I knew that there was no way that I can bring these new guys in and make more money than Ric Flair,” Bischoff said. “Nor did I wanted to put them at the level, even if Ric Flair hadn’t been there, I didn’t want to pay them at Sting’s rate. Sting was the highest paid guy. We were all comfortable with that, the rest of the talent was comfortable with that, but I never used it as a barometer publicly. I knew that within my budget, and Sting being the highest paid guy, along with Ric Flair and a few below him, again, the questions that I did have with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, especially with Kevin because I talked with him more based on our previous relationship with him.”

Even though Nash and Hall were not the highest paid guys in the company, it worked for them because they didn’t have to work as much as they did in WWE. They had fewer dates and an easier schedule.

“Kevin made it clear to me, we put a maximum of 180 dates, WWE was at 250, we may be splitting hairs to a degree, but it wasn’t half the dates. It may have felt that way to Scott and Kevin, but we had a maximum of 180 dates, we never hit the maximum dates, it was around 125-130 dates a year, so it was definitely a lot less of a load than what they were used to,” Bischoff said. “Kevin was expecting his very first child at that time, and in WWE he would have been on the road, add the travel that they worked along with the front and back end of traveling back home and leaving again they were probably gone 300 days a year, so it was a much lighter load. Add the income from pay-per-views, house shows, and all the profit shares, they were probably making $500,000 or more, but they had to work hard to get it, but they both expressed to me, especially with Kevin, it was much of a lifestyle consideration as it was a financial one.”

You can check out the podcast here. Quotes by WrestlingInc.

RAW Preview For Tonight, New Table For 3 After RAW

Rayan Sayyed
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10

Tonight’s edition of WWE Monday Night Raw takes place from Albany, NY at the Times Union Center. We are less than four weeks out from Money in the Bank.

Raw show will feature yet another Open Challenge from the WWE Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins for his title, as well as segments featuring Sami Zayn who will take the help of Bobby Lashley’s sisters to “expose” him and a confrontation between WWE RAW Women’s Champion Nia Jax and Ronda Rousey.

WWE.com is advertising the following items for the show:

  • How will Sami Zayn “expose” Bobby Lashley?
  • Will The Big Dog’s rampage continue?
  • Which Raw Superstars will join the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match?
  • How will Raw’s male Superstars gain “Money” momentum?
  • Who will be next to challenge Seth Rollins?
  • Nia Jax prepares to face The Baddest Woman on the Planet

Immediately after RAW goes off the air, a new episode of Table For 3 will premiere on the WWE Network featuring Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Edge and Christian.

As always, join us here later tonight for our RAW Coverage.

Randy Orton Comments On Recent Knee Surgery

Staff
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As noted last week, WWE veteran Randy Orton recently underwent surgery to repair a medial meniscus tear in his left knee.

The Viper gave a brief statement to WWE.com about the procedure and revealed he’s needed surgery for many months.

“I’ve known I needed the surgery since late last year, but I’ve been waiting for the right time to get my knee cleaned out,” Orton told WWE.com. “Right now was the right time.”

The Viper recently competed at Backlash, losing clean to United States Champion Jeff Hardy. WWE did not give a timeframe for his return, but F4WOnline.com notes that he could be back in time for SummerSlam in August if his recovery goes well.

Randy Orton did not travel to Europe for WWE’s latest live events tour, which has now concluded. While he has more schedule flexibility than most WWE Superstars and is not required to work every tour, his knee surgery is the reason he did not travel overseas this time.

Booker T & Bruce Pritchard Appear At NXT Houston (Video)

Chris Stephens
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0

Booker T and Bruce Prichard showed up at a recent NXT house show in Houston.

Booker lives in the city and Prichard is from the nearby town of Friendswood, Texas. To start the show, Booker would even perform his first Spinaroonie in 2 years.

NXT House Shows

NXT split into two different touring groups this weekend. Shows featuring Lio Rush and Buddy Murphy toured throughout the Florida area. Other big names listed on those shows included Bianca Belair, Heavy Machinery, and TM-61.

NXT also presented house shows across Texas this weekend. These shows featured more stars featured on NXT programming each week.

NXT Live
Houston, Texas
Revention Music Center
May 20th, 2018

  1. Kassius Ohno & The Revival (Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson) defeated Chad Lail, Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake)
  2. EC3 defeated Fabian Aichner
  3. Kairi Sane & Nikki Cross defeated Reina Gonzalez & Taynara Conti
  4. WWE NXT Tag Team Title Match
    The Undisputed ERA (Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong) (c) defeated Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford)
  5. Oney Lorcan defeated Kona Reeves
  6. WWE NXT Women’s Title Match
    Shayna Baszler (c) defeats Dakota Kai
  7. Ricochet defeated The Velveteen Dream

Shinsuke Nakamura Posts Cryptic Tweet, Unseen Angles Of Owens Vs Rollins

Anutosh Bajpai
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Shinsuke Nakamura Posts Cryptic Tweet

Shinsuke Nakamura won a match against AJ Styles on SmackDown Live this week. After this, he has earned the right to choose the stipulation for their upcoming match at Money In The Bank.

While so far, it’s not known when the Japanese Star will reveal the stipulation for the Championship match, he posted the following cryptic tweet with the hashtag – Stipulation:

As we noted before, reports suggested that the Officials are considering doing a Last Man Standing match between the SmackDown Stars a few weeks ago but whether or not the company has made a definite decision is not known yet.

Unseen Angle Of Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens

Seth Rollins continued his Intercontinental Championship open challenge on last week’s episode of Monday Night Raw and defeated Kevin Owens in a one on one match.

After the show, WWE posted the following video, showing the alternate angle of their championship bout from the Red Branded Show:

It’s worth mentioning here that after facing Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens went on to replace Jinder Mahal in the announced triple threat main event of the show and earned a spot for himself in the Money In The Bank match.

Not only that, but he wrestled a third match on the same night while teaming up with Sami Zayn and Elias to face the trio of Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Bobby Lashley after the show went off air

Big Cass Selling Injury At Live Events

Chris Stephens
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2

Big Cass has been seen limping and needing help to the back at several house shows recently. His selling of a leg injury was reported this weekend. At first, it was felt his injury was legit.

As Cass continued to show up to events on WWE’s recent European tour, however, it became clear his injury was all part of his angle with Daniel Bryan. The injury angle played out similarly at several shows.

“It seems as though Big Cass may still be in rough shape following the beating he suffered at the hands of Daniel Bryan this past Tuesday night on SmackDown LIVE. ” – WWE.com

Big Cass vs Daniel Bryan

The injury angle may come into play on Tuesday night when Big Cass is scheduled to face Samoa Joe in a Money In The Bank qualifying match.

It was a busy last week and a half of touring for WWE. In total, Cass has wrestled eight matches since May 10. In 6 of those 8 matches, he teamed up with the Miz.and lost to the team of Daniel Bryan and Tye Dillinger. Cass also defeated Dillinger in single’s action two different times on this European tour.

On the tour, Cass has wrestled three times in Germany, once in the Czech Republic, once in Budapest, 2 more matches in England and then finally the last show on Saturday night in Amsterdam, Holland.

Matt Cappotelli Discontinuing Cancer Treatments

Chris Stephens
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Former Tough Enough winner, Matt Cappotelli, has discontinued further cancer treatments. This according to his wife, Lindsay.

Cappotelli was first diagnosed with brain cancer in 2006. He had surgery which reportedly removed most of the tumor. Last July, however, he was diagnosed with a grade IV GlioBlastoma Multiforme tumor, the most aggressive type of brain cancer there is.

earlier this month, Lindsay updated her blog and stated doctors have now recommended discontinuing treatment.

“We went in last Tuesday for his infusion and talked with his neuro-oncologist about everything that we’ve been seeing with Matt, and he decided that we’re at the point now where we should discontinue treatments…I feel like it’s the right decision, even though it breaks my heart knowing that there is nothing else we can do. But I feel like we’ve done everything. All the supplements, the diet, the chemo, the radiation…”

She would continue to say that Matt is unable to speak in full sentences or communicate much.

“It’s hard to know how he feels about discontinuing treatment because he can’t communicate in full sentences most of the time.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bi47pZphBUW/?hl=en&taken-by=lindsaycappotelli

Matt Cappotelli

“Matt has fought hard. He never gave up hope. He kept the faith. He never complained through any of this. Not once did I hear him say, “Why me?” He still always thought of other people above himself, and anyone who knows him will tell you that. He is a true warrior.”

The 38-year-old began his wrestling career in 2003, winning season III of Tough Enough along with John Hennigan. After a short spell on the main roster, he was sent for additional training in Ohio Valley Wrestling.

In 2005, Cappotelli won the OVW Heavyweight Championship. He would later be forced to vacate the title, however, after being diagnosed with a brain tumor in early 2006. He had been working as a trainer in OVW as of 2013.

Roman Reigns On Possibly Joining The Usos To Form A ‘Samoan Shield’

Anutosh Bajpai
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45

While Roman Reigns has teamed up with the Usos in the past, the three have never formed a long-term alliance like the Shield and many believe that it’s an interesting possibility.

During the ongoing WWE tour of UK, Roman has talked about the future plans for the Shield on multiple occasions, if the trio ever reunites again.

However, during a recent interview with GiveMeSport, Reigns talked about The Usos’ recent heel turn saying that the former Tag Champions were tired of being underappreciated.

Continuing on the topic, he said that the story is there and claimed that it would be really cool if he ever teamed up with his real-life cousins to form a ‘Samoan Shield’

“You never know, the story is there, it’s easy. We all represent the same bloodline, we all represent the same family, so it would be pretty cool maybe one day if…if there was a Samoan Shield.”

The Shield reunion took place last year in October after several months of teasing by the company. Though it didn’t last for long and the storyline was nixed in December after Dean Ambrose suffered a triceps injury.

Discussion: would you be interested in seeing an alliance of Roman Reigns and the Usos on the WWE Television? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.

Backstage News On How Much Money WWE Received For Mixed Match Challenge

Anutosh Bajpai
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8

While the viewership of WWE Mixed Match Challenge was not as strong as the Officials may have expected, it appears that the company still made decent money from its broadcasting.

During the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer talked about the Facebook Watch show and revealed how much the social media company paid for it.

According to him, WWE was paid an average $100,000 per episode which would mean that the company made over a million dollars for the 12 episodes series.

Mixed match challenge was a web series exclusively made for Facebook Watch. The show aired on the platform from January 16th to April 3rd earlier this year and it featured 12 tag teams.

The teams for the show consisted one male and one female star from either SmackDown or Raw roster and the challenge was won by the team of Asuka and the Miz.

However, while the show’s debut was good, the viewership numbers dropped as weeks passed by and only after a few weeks of its premiere, it was reported that the Officials have soured on the series.

According to reports, the officials were unhappy with the massive drop in the Live viewership numbers and despite the money they made, it doesn’t appear that WWE will produce another similar series anytime soon.

The Rock Recalls WrestleMania 29 Injury

Anutosh Bajpai
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4

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson hasn’t wrestled a full-length match since his bout with John Cena at WrestleMania 29 and the injury he suffered during the fight is believed to be the reason behind it.

During a recent interview with Los Angeles Lakers, The Great One talked about many things including his matches with Stone Cold Steve Austin and more.

While talking about WrestleMania 29, the former World Champion recalled the moment in which he got injured, saying that he felt a pop:

“At the 15-minute mark, ‘bang!’ I feel something pop and I’m like ‘What the f—?’ I’m laying there and both of us are out, I said ‘Oh f—, something is going on.’ 85,000 people and I sort of roll over and stick my hand down in my trunks because I wanted to make sure no bone was sticking out.”

Later in the interview, the former Champion also explained why he continued the match despite the injury saying that the people backstage at the show were relying on a good main event.

For those who don’t know, the Rock defended the WWE Championship against John Cena at WrestleMania 29. During the bout, he suffered an injury which caused a number of his movie projects to be delayed.

Normally the insurance for any movie costs around $350,000 but it can increase up to a million if any of the actors involved are considered to be a problematic actor.

So given the incident mentioned above, the insurance costs for his movies can go up if Johnson decides to wrestle again, and this is believed to be the reason why he has mostly stayed away from the ring ever since.

You can check out his full interview in the video below:

Quotes via WrestlingInc

Bret Hart UK Speaking Tour Starting June 5th, Tickets Now Available

Jake Skudder
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3

British based company Kayfabe Events has announced that former WWE Champion and Canadian wrestling icon Bret Hart will heading to the United Kingdom for a speaking tour June 5th-8th at the following cities:

  • June 5th – Brighton
  • June 6th – Cardiff
  • June 7th – Manchester
  • June 8th – London

Bret is known for being extremely honest when it comes to these types of events so it is absolute must see for any British wrestling fan. This is an extremely rare opportunity to see one of the greatest performers and minds in professional wrestling history give his take on events throughout his career, which spanned working for his father in Canada through to WWE and WCW.

Here are the packages available for the shows:

PREMIUM VIP – £150

Premium VIP Meet and Greet starts at 6:15pm – Entry from 6pm. Early entry to get first choice of seats, a digital photo of you and the man himself, a limited edition t-shirt, the iconic wrap around glases, and 2 items signed.

REGULAR VIP – £75

Entry from 6:45pm – Meet and Greet AFTER the end of the Q&A! Second tier entry to choose your seat, a digital photo of you and the man himself and one signed item.

GENERAL ADMISSION – £35

Entry from 7:15pm. Entry for the Talk and Q&A.

Kayfabe Events will also be hosting events throughout the year with the likes of Jimmy Havoc, Su Yung and Abyss. More information can be found on Twitter @KayfabeEvents or via their official website.

https://twitter.com/KayfabeEvents/status/997901903861297152

Former PROGRESS World Champion Announced for Ring of Honor

Jake Skudder
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0

Ring of Honor have announced that former PROGRESS Wrestling World Champion Mark Haskins will be teaming with the NWA World Champion Nick Aldis to take on The Young Bucks as part of the upcoming Honor United show in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The following are the dates and locations for ROH’s upcoming Honor United tour:

  • May 24, 2018 — Edinburgh Corn Exchange, Edinburgh, Scotland, 7:30 p.m. local time
  • May 26, 2018 — Crystal Palace Sports Centre, London, England, 6 p.m. local time
  • May 27, 2018 — The Doncaster Dome, Doncaster, England, 6 p.m. local time

Haskins is one of the most well respected pros on the UK scene, he has been performing at the highest level for the past decade plus for the likes of Rev Pro, IPW:UK, OTT and the now defunct 5 Star Wrestling. His inclusion on a show of this magnitude and his rumored links to the WWE United Kingdom are a testament to his abilities.

No further information on Haskins’ involvement with ROH going forward has been announced however a stint alongside the likes of ‘The Villain’ Marty Scurll and Will Ospreay would certainly not be amiss for one of the UK’s finest technical masters.

Goldust Comments On Ten-Year Anniversary Of The Day He Got Sober

Matt Boone
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9

This weekend marked an important date for a veteran WWE Superstar.

Dustin “Goldust” Runnels took to social media on Saturday to comment on the ten-year anniversary of the day he finally got sober.

“Today is an important day for me,” wrote Goldust via his official Twitter page. “X yrs ago I was on deaths door while drugs and alcohol consumed my everything.”

The Golden One continued, “But, by the grace of God, I survived. Sobriety is the most important thing in my life, and I am proud of me. #CleanIsCool #KeepSteppin #10Years #GodSobrietyFamily.”

Check out Goldust’s post, which includes him showing off his ten-year sober chip, below.

https://twitter.com/Goldust/status/997727490293592064

Goldust Celebrates A Decade Of Sobriety

Kudos goes out to Goldust, who has long been one of the fan-favorites in WWE. His career began with the company with a brief run alongside his legendary father, the late WWE Hall Of Famer “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes in 1990 and 1991.

After a stint in WCW, Runnels came back in WWE to debut his controversial “Goldust” character in 1995. 23 years later, “The Bizarre One” is still part of the WWE roster, and as he noted above, has been clean for ten of those years.

What are your thoughts on Goldust celebrating ten years of sobriety? Leave your comments below.

Photo: Mustafa Ali Receives Staples To Close Wound After WWE Paris Event

Matt Boone
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6

Mustafa Ali left Paris this weekend with a souvenir.

Ali needed multiple staples in his head to close a wound that he suffered during his match against WWE Cruiserweight Champion Cedric Alexander at the WWE live event at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris, France.

The Ali-Alexander match was described as “the best match on the show,” and one that took a while to get the crowd in Paris going, but once they did, there were “This Is Awesome” chants and other big pops throughout the closing moments.

Also of note, the fans chanted “We Want Petiot” during the match in reference to a French participant in the WWE Cruiserweight Classic Tournament, Clement Petiot. Both Ali and Alexander acknowledged the chants at one point and after the match, Alexander even took a fans Petiot sign and pointed / posed with it on the entrance stage.

After the match, Ali took to social media to post a photo of the staples he received. Check out that photo below.

What are your thoughts on the gnarly photo of Mustafa Ali’s staples? Let us know by sounding off in the Comments section below.

Former WWE Writer Shares Hilarious Goldust Story

Chris Stephens
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9

Goldust might not be the easiest person to go to the movies with. Former WWE writer, Jensen Karp, recently took to Twitter to detail his experience with Goldust in such a scenario. Both attended the 2006 premiere of WWE Studios’ “See No Evil” starring Kane.

https://twitter.com/JensenClan88/status/997832225717567489?s=19

Goldust at the See No Evil Premiere

“I was a writer at WWE in ‘06 & went to this premiere. Goldust came in full makeup & sat behind me, screaming at all the scary scenes and yelling “DON’T GO IN THERE” to characters for a straight hour and a half. When it ended he whispered in my ear, “Things will never be the same”

It should be noted that Goldust recently celebrated his 10th year of sobriety.

https://twitter.com/Goldust/status/997727490293592064

Unfortunately for everyone in the theater that day, Goldust was still 2 years away from getting sober.

See No Evil

WWE Studios’ “See No Evil” was released in theaters 12 years ago. It was universally panned by critics and holds an abysmal 8% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite this, the film is one of WWE Studios’ rare financial successes. The film cost $8 million to make and grossed over $18.6 million at the box office.

A sequel to the film was released straight to DVD in 2014.

“Macho Man” Randy Savage Died 7 Years Ago Today

Chris Stephens
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7 years ago today, we lost one of the most influential performers in the history of wrestling.  Randall Mario Poffo, better known to wrestling fans as “Macho Man” Randy Savage, died 7 years ago today.

Savage died of a heart attack while driving with his wife in Seminole, Florida. He lost control of his Jeep Wrangler and they crashed into a tree. Early reports indicated Savage had been killed in the collision but it was later concluded he died from atherosclerotic heart disease. Doctors found his heart was enlarged and the arteries surrounding it had been narrowed by more than 90%. It is believed he never knew about his heart condition.

Savage was cremated and his remains placed under a tree on his home in Largo, Florida.

The Career of “Macho Man” Randy Savage

There are few accolades for professional wrestlers that Savage did not earn during his long career.

In wrestling storyline, Savage was a 2x WWF Champion, a 4x WCW Champion, and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2015. He was even more celebrated as a performer, however.

Savage was inducted into the inaugural class of the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame in 1996. His match with Ricky Steamboat from WrestleMania III also won Wrestling Observer Match of the Year in 1987.

Pro Wrestling Illustrated has also honored Savage frequently throughout the years. He was honored as Wrestler of the Year, and Most Popular Wrestler of the Year in 1988. The following year he would be voted Most Hated Wrestler of the Year by the same magazine.

A recent Ring of Honor show featured Savage’s brother, Lanny Poffo, interacting with Jay Lethal. The former Black Machismo brought Lanny Poffo out to deliver the same address he had given during the Macho King’s inauguration many years ago. Poffo then gave Lethal a pair of the Macho Man’s famous sunglasses.

Randall Mario Poffo was 58 years old.

Pete Dunne Celebrates 1 Year As United Kingdom Champion

Chris Stephens
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WWE United Kingdom Champion, Pete Dunne, has now successfully held the title for 1 year. The 24-year-old first won the title from Tyler Bate at Takeover: Chicago on May 20th, 2017. He’s just the second person to wear the title since its inception in early 2017.

Tyler Bate last just over 5 months with the belt. He defended it a total of 5 times. He defeated Trent Seven, Mark Andrews 2x, Jack Gallagher, and Joseph Connors. Bate had defeated Dunne in the finals of the tournament to declare an inaugural champion as well.

Pete Dunne’s United Kingdom Championship Reign

Since winning the title, Dunne has defended it 10 times. Most of his title defenses have taken place on NXT programming but he has also wrestled a couple of matches for Progress as well as for some other European promotions.

Dunne has defended the title against, BT Gunn (ICW), Wolfgang, Johnny Gargano, Tyler Bate, Jack Gallagher (Progress), Joseph Conners (Progress), Roderick Strong, Adam Cole, Zack Gibson (FutureShock UnderGround) and Markus Burke (UCW – Canada)

The Upcoming United Kingdom Tournament

“There will be no dreams being made this year” – Pete Dunne

Dunne may have to defend the title on NXT in the coming weeks but after that, his next title challenger will be on June 19th in London, England. He will face the winner of the upcoming United Kingdom division 16-man single-elimination tournament. The tournament will begin June 8th and continue until the finals at Royal Albert Hall on June 18th.

Who do you think will eventually defeat Dunne for the United Kingdom Championship? Tell us in the comments section below.

Big Show Discusses Why He Hasn’t Returned To In-Ring Action Yet

Andrew Ravens
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The Big Show has truly been a staple of the sports entertainment company since he decided to join them in 1999 after getting his big break while under the WCW (World Championship Wrestling) banner.

After being with the company for nearly 20-years, the veteran has racked up some major accomplishments during his career which will no doubt earn him a spot in the sports entertainment company’s Hall of Fame.

Back in September during an episode of Monday Night RAW in Omaha, NE at the CenturyLink Center, Braun Strowman defeated The Big Show in a Steel Cage match in the main event.

After the match, Strowman power slammed Show through the cage, which part of it broke to close the show. The reason for this spot was to write Show off of television due to him undergoing hip surgery, which was successfully done on September 29th.

The Big Show recently did an interview on Steve Austin’s podcast. During this appearance, he explained why he hasn’t returned to action yet. Here is what he had to say:

“I didn’t have my hip replaced. I had a surgery done called resurfacing which I kept 98% of my bone. If I showed you the pictures of what my femur bone looked like – what the ball socket looked like – man, it had holes in it. It looked like a bowling ball. I showed it to Undertaker and he said it looked like a jack o’ lantern. There were just holes from where I had worn the bone down so bad. It hurt for 3.5 years and then I started losing range of motion. I noticed for me in the ring – you know when a guy is working and his strides are long? You know when he is hitting the ropes or he’s shooting somebody in the corner; but, I noticed for me that my steps were just really short because I couldn’t open my stride up anymore because the pelvis had grown over the bone. There was no range of motion and the joint was chewed up. There wasn’t any cartilage left. I was in constant agony; but, you know how we are: stuff that could put a guy in the hospital, you and I have a cup of coffee and a couple aspiring and we go to work. When people look at it and say, ‘How could you even walk like that?’ I had to go to work. I don’t know. It’s just mind over matter, I guess.”

WWE reportedly wanted to have The Big Show in the fifty-man Royal Rumble match at the Greatest Royal Rumble event. That didn’t happen as Show suffered a new injury around three weeks ago while training to return from his hip surgery.

Show continued, “I had a little complication after surgery, which happens sometimes when you put metal in the body. That was a real tough kind of time. It added 5 months longer to my return. I got a surgical infection from it. I learned more about infections than I ever wanted to know….sometimes you have major surgeries like that and there’s a lot of things that can act up…so I had to go in and be opened up again. They did a real good job of cleaning the joint the best they can…I was on an IV drip all through Christmas for several weeks…an IV line that went from my arm and into my heart because the medicine was so strong it’d burn your veins out. I didn’t want to ask him what it did to my heart if it burned my veins out. I went through that for several weeks which was a real pain in the ass because you can’t work out. I got this tube hanging out of my arm that I had to hook up to each day. I had to do a bag every 8 hours and it took about 2 hrs 45 minutes to drain the bag. I would get yard time in the afternoon. I had about 4 hours to go to the store, get out of the house or go to the gym.”

“They told me not to workout. You know how importance my fitness was and I made so many changes. I was like, ‘They don’t know,’ so I went to work out. I can do right handed dumbbell curls, something. So, like a dummy I’m in there a couple days after getting this pick line put in and I’ve got a 20 lb dumbbell in my right hand and thinking, ‘I’ll just do a couple dumbbell reps.’ I’d gotten an Apple Watch for Christmas that does your heart rate, probably a damn good thing I had it. I’m sitting there doing these one armed dumbbell curls and all of a sudden my heart rate is really kicking. I look down, my Apple Watch is hopping up and down on my wrist because my heart rate is up to 200 bpm. Apparently when you increase your blood pressure and you have a line in the vein, that vein can elevate your heart rate because you have an obstruction in your vein. When they say don’t work out, they mean it. After scaring the ever loving crap out of myself, I chilled out.”

H/T to Michael McClead of WrestleZone.com for the quotes

What are your thoughts on Big Show’s comments? Sound off in the comment section below.

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