As noted earlier, WWE will be introducing a new NXT North American Championship belt at NXT Takeover: New Orleans during WrestleMania weekend. Its now looking like 205 Live will also be getting new gold in the near future.
Last week we reported that WWE was planning to create Cruiserweight tag team titles. Self-proclaimed “Human Belt Encyclopedia” @BeltFanDan has confirmed that Cruiserweight tag titles are indeed on the way – and his sources have confirmed the accuracy of this rending that’s been circulating on social media:
A few legit sources are confirming the image that has been floating around Facebook. pic.twitter.com/uCtWkJ3Lay
A tournament is currently underway to crown a new Cruiserweight champion, with the finals scheduled to take place at WrestleMania 34. It will be interesting to see if another tournament is held to crown the first ever WWE Cruiserweight tag team champions.
Either way, expect to see more tag team matches on 205 Live in the coming weeks.
Same source claims the belt to be 3 layers. The cross patterns in layer 2 will be cut out so you can see globe underneath. Original picture included sizes of plates. I edited that to make things slightly harder for the Pakistani bootleggers who will have these on ebay tomorrow pic.twitter.com/3X0FFHelrY
Two popular NXT stars may be going to 205 Live once their NXT runs are over.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter claims that WWE officials are looking to prep Ricochet and Lio Rush for 205 Live. Ricochet recently signed with WWE and is set for a major match at Takeover: New Orleans (more on that here). Rush hasn’t been booked to be a world beater, but the report says that higher ups are still high on the former indie standout.
205 Live has undergone a bit of a resurgence since reports surfaced claiming that Triple H has taken over the direction of the show. For months, 205 Live was seen as a lite version of Raw and SmackDown Live. The cruiserweights were involved in storylines that fans weren’t invested in. An example of this is Noam Darr’s relationship with Alicia Fox.
In recent episodes, the focus of the show has been catered more towards wrestling. WWE signed Rockstar Spud and repackaged him as Drake Maverick. He is portrayed as the 205 Live general manager. Maverick has been involved in segments where he tells the talent to get serious. Currently, the brand is in the midst of a tournament to determine a new cruiserweight champion.
Night one of NJPW’s New Japan Cup tournament has its final card set.
In the main event, Tomohiro Ishii will take on Michael Elgin in what is sure to be a barn burner. The winner of that match will advance to the next round of the tournament. In another tournament bout, Juice Robinson will go one-on-one with Yujiro Takahashi.
Notable names such as Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito, Kota Ibushi, and many more will be competing on the card as well. Night one begins tomorrow (March 9) at 4:30 a.m. ET. SEScoops.com will be providing coverage of the event.
New Japan Cup Night One Card
Six-Man Tag Team Match: Shota Umino, Tomoyuki Oka, David Finlay vs. Chuckie T, Toru Yano, Hiroki Goto
Tag Team Match: Tanga Loa & Bad Luck Fale vs. Killer Elite Squad
Six-Man Tag Team Match: Bushi, Sanada, Tetsuya Naito vs. El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Zack Sabre Jr.
Six-Man Tag Team Match: Toa Henare, Togi Makbe, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Taichi, Takashi Iizuka, Minoru Suzuki
Tag Team Match: Yosh-Hashi & Kazuchika Okada vs. Chase Owens & Kota Ibushi
New Japan Cup Match: Juice Robinson vs. Yujiro Takahashi
New Japan Cup Match: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Michael Elgin
Ring of Honor has announced that Brandi Rhodes will be facing former WWE Superstar Tenille Dashwood/Emma as part of the Women of Honor Championship Tournament. The bout will be a quarter final match airing on the Facebook Live Pre-Show for the 16th Anniversary PPV event.
Brandi defeated Karen Q and Tenille eliminated Stacey Shadows to advance to this quarter final bout, other competitors still in for a shot at beginning the inaugural Women of Honor Champion include Mandy Leon, Kelly Klein, Mayu Iwatani, Deonna Purrazzo and Kagetsu.
DEFIANT Wrestling has announced a huge Tag Team Title match for their upcoming episode of Loaded this Friday. Champions Jimmy Havoc and Primate will be defending against arguably the best emerging team on the UK scene: Aussie Open.
This Friday marks the last Loaded show before DEFIANT’s ‘Lights Out’ pay per view on March 19th, which will be available to view via DEFIANT’s On Demand service. Some of the names already announced for ‘Lights Out’ are Christopher Daniels, Rampage, Jimmy Havoc, Martin Kirby, Joe Hendry, Primate, Mark Haskins, Aussie Open, Kay Lee Ray and Millie Mckenzie.
You can check out DEFIANT’s weekly Loaded show through their dedicated YouTube channel.
UK promotion Fight Club: Pro has announced an absolutely huge match for Night 1 of their upcoming Dream Tag Team Invitational starting Friday March 20th.
WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne will be flanked by his British Strong Style compatriots Tyler Bate and Trent Seven to take on the team of Matt Riddle, Lucha Underground’s Angelico and NJPW’s Jeff Cobb.
Last year’s iteration of the DTTI saw British Strong Style take on The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega (then known as The Elite) and Fight Club will be hoping that this bout matches up to the precedent set on that night.
Tickets for the event are available to purchase via the official Fight Club: Pro site.
?DTTI 2018 – WOLVES?
Last year British Strong Style featured in one of the most talked about matches in Wrestling as they took on The Elite.
This year they return on Night One to take on possibly the most talented trio in the world. #SPLX
This past Tuesday saw New Japan present their 46th annual Anniversary show which was headlined by a huge match pitting the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay against his CHAOS stablemate IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada in the main event.
The match received critical acclaim and New Japan’s long reigning Heavyweight champion Okada was quick to praise his opponent and face of NJPW’s new crop of Junior talents. He stated after the match “Everything will be fine as long as Ospreay is around, but Ospreay and Okada, we’ll make it rain in New Japan. Yes, we are money and New Japan’s got the two of us.”
This was the second time that the two have faced in singles action, the first coming at Rev Pro’s Global Wars event wherein Ospreay impressed Okada so much that he insisted on bringing him over to Japan.
You can catch the full event and this bout over on NJPWWorld.com right now.
Details have emerged for New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Strong Style Evolved pre-show event. Strong Style Evolved takes place from the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, California on March 25. A day before the big show, an official pre-show event will be held inside the NJPW Dojo. Tickets will go on sale tomorrow (March 9) at 1 p.m. ET. Admission is $30.
The pre-show festivities will include autograph sessions with Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata, Juice Robinson, Jyushin Thunder Liger, Ryusuke Taguchi and KUSHIDA. Fans will also get to see the contract signing for the IWGP United States Heavyweight title match. Three matches will also take place and they will be announced soon.
Fighting Game Tournament Partners With NJPW
The fighting game community has always shown love for pro wrestling. Many die hard members of the FGC are big fans of NJPW. It certainly shows with this latest bit of news. Alex Jebailey, the head honcho of CEO, revealed that NJPW will be invading the tournament on June 29.
This isn’t the first time NJPW has made its presence felt in the fighting game scene. Tekken is an official sponsor of NJPW. Kazuchika Okada and Tanahashi’s ring gear can be used in Tekken 7. Okada’s Rain Maker finisher is even in the game.
WWE 205 Live star Drew Gulak recently appeared on former Cruiserweight Champion Sean “X-Pac” Waltman’s podcast, X-Pac 12360, to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Gulak started off by saying that his character in WWE is all his creation and how much he turns it up on TV:
“It’s all me. I mean, I definitely turn it up for the show and stuff like that but it’s been cool being in WWE. It’s a collaborative process here. Because there are so many different people you know in creative positions, but they’ve been really receptive to working with our ideas and getting the most out of that.”
Gulak also divulged that, for the most part, his promos are written for him; however, he has the ability to manipulate them and make them sound more real:
“They are mostly written for me, but we are given freedom to manipulate them or make it sound more natural. A lot of guys will come in here and they’ll just see what’s written on the paper and go, ‘Ah, I can’t do this.’ And they’ll go out there and do their own thing or they’ll have it rewritten for them. I try to do my best with what I’m handed… If something doesn’t connect I’ll speak up or if something doesn’t’ look right I have no problem mentioning it.”
With Triple H now taking over 205 Live, Gulak also sounded off on the new decision to have “The Game” call the shots:
“I think originally it was his [Triple H] concept coming out of the Cruiserweight Classic. It was very much Triple H’s idea to bring in a Cruiserweight division and build this brand up. And as soon as we came over, Vince was like ‘hey this is great, let’s run with it,’ and he kinda took the ball and ran with it. Up until the last couple weeks, they basically went to the idea of basically having a tournament again to rechristen the new Cruiserweight Champion. That’s pretty much been under the guide of Triple H.”
Gulak also explained why he wants to see Joey Janela come to WWE in the near future:
“Well we were talking about Joey Janela, he’s someone that has come through the CZW school and worked hard later on in his career and lately he has just been doing a great job. He’s proven to me, that if he has a goal or is set on something he can go out and achieve it. So, really it just comes down to if you really want it , if you’re willing to do the things to kinda adjust and get here, I think it is within reach for some people.”
You can listen to Gulak’s interview on X-Pac 12360 by clicking this link here.
Ring Of Honor’s (ROH) Christopher Daniels recently did an interview with WrestleZone to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Daniels first discussed getting a role as a stunt performer in Netflix’s series “Love”:
“Chavo Guerrero is a stunt coordinator, he was the stunt coordinator for GLOW, and when Love needed a wrestling scene they knew that he was someone that has worked with wrestlers and stunt people at the same time. Chavo put myself, Tyrus, Lil’ Cholo from Lucha Underground is in it, and Lisa Marie Varon is in it, but that’s how it all got set up. Chavo knows that there’s a lot of us out here in [Los Angeles], and whenever there’s a wrestling scene he kind of just throws his friends together and gets us in there.”
The former ROH World Champion was then asked if he takes roles based on appeal to his fanbase, or if he is simply trying to build up his resume as a stunt performer:
“For me, someone that is entertaining the idea of branching out into stunt work in the future, it’s just an opportunity to sort of hone my skills and get to know more stunt coordinators and stunt performers in the Hollywood scene. I understand, and I hope wrestling fans understand that these shows may not be on the toplists of fans that watch me in Ring Of Honor, but they understand the difference between Christopher Daniels of Ring Of Honor and Christopher Daniels as a stunt man.
“We’re playing different roles and I’m serving a different show and a different storyteller. It doesn’t bother me to go into stunt work, and if [ROH fans] are watching Love because I’m on it, hopefully they enjoy the show, and it might get them into watching the entire series if they like the episode that we’re on.”
Daniels then discussed facing The Hung Bucks (The Young Bucks and Adam Page) at ROH’s 16th Anniversary show this weekend:
“The feud between myself and Frankie [Kazarian] and the Young Bucks has been going on for a couple of years now. As far as our toughest opponents, I have to throw the Young Bucks up at the top of the list. So, now with them as the Six-Man Tag Team Champions with Adam Page, we recently recruited Scorpio Sky as a fellow So-Cal professional wrestler to be on our side, so over the course of the past few months we’ve had so many interactions with them were Friday is going to be a Vegas Street Fight.
“Basically there’s no rules, and anything goes. The tensions between us and them have escalated to the point where there’s going to be weapons, there’s probably going to be blood, but I feel confident in myself, Frankie and Scorpio where we’re going to come out as the new Six-Man Tag Team Champions.”
When asked about his Mount Rushmore of ROH wrestlers, Daniels offered up names such as Samoa Joe, Jay Lethal, and Bryan Danielson:
“I feel like probably the top four guys for me are, and I’m not going to name myself, that’d be wildly arrogant. I’d have to put Bryan Danielson, Samoa Joe, Jay Briscoe and Jay Lethal. It’s tough to narrow it down to four, because you leave out guys like Nigel McGuinness, who deserves to be in that conversation. You leave out Low Ki, Austin Aries as the first two-time champion, or Adam Cole as the first three-time champion.
“All of those guys deserve to be in that conversation, but certainly looking back at the history of Ring Of Honor, the first two guys, Samoa Joe and Bryan Danielson are locks. And what Jay Briscoe and Jay Lethal have meant to Ring Of Honor, especially over the past decade, it certainly says a lot about their hard work and their effort and what they brought to this company as a whole.”
You can read Daniels’ full interview with WrestleZone by clicking this link here.
John Cena spoke with Sports Illustrated this week about the possibility of becoming a 17-time world champion this Sunday at Fastlane, his relationship with Nickelodeon, potential opponents for WrestleMania 34 and the possibility of NFL star Rob Gronkowski becoming a WWE Superstar when his football career is over.
Cena On Possibly Missing WrestleMania 34
John Cena is without an opponent for WrestleMania. As he continues his quest to be part of the WrestleMania card, he considers the possibility that he might not be part of this year’s event.
“What a great story it would be for me to miss and have to buy a ticket,” Cena posed. “The year doesn’t stop at WrestleMania, we do Raw the next night. Now imagine if this stalwart, this statue of the WWE now has to look inside himself and ask, ‘Do I still have it?’ after being left out of the biggest show of the year.”
It seems unlikely that WWE would leave John Cena off the biggest show of the year, but Cena’s not convinced he’ll be participating on April 8th.
“Don’t put this past Vince,” Cena said cautiously. “Vince is extremely smart, and the reason he is so successful is his ability to see beyond what is immediately in front of him. A two-year or a three-year play would be smart … All things considered, with everything coming out, I wouldn’t mind my contribution to WrestleMania this year being an absence. If that’s my role in the story, I’ll play it.”
Rob Gronkowski Being a “Perfect Fit” For WWE
There’s been a lot of speculation that NFL star Rob Gronkowski could be WWE bound after his days in the NFL come to a close. Cena’s on board with the idea – but hopes Gronk has a few more years left on the New England Patriots.
“If Gronkowski wants to come on board, I think he’d be a perfect fit,” said Cena. “He does not lack in the energy department, so I think he’d be just fine.”
“I’m a fan of the Patriots, so I hope he keeps catching footballs” he added. “He’s really good at that. Hopefully Gronkowski can have a career as long as Tom Brady.”
Visit SI.com to read the full interview with John Cena.
– For the past several months Matt Hardy has been utilizing a modified version of his “Broken” persona on WWE TV, calling himself “Woken.” He is currently embroiled in a feud with Bray Wyatt and will likely have a match with him at the Hardy Family Compound. Hardy recently took to Twitter and noted that “W” is going to start sounding like “BR”:
– Deadline is reporting that WWE Hall Of Famer Hulk Hogan’s legal battle with Gawker over his leaked sex tape could possibly be turned into a feature film or TV series. David A. Neuman’s Blackrock Production company has acquired the rights to turn Ryan Holiday’s “Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker and the Anatomy of Intrigue” book into a production. The book was released last Tuesday and was written with cooperation from Hogan. Hogan wound up winning $140 million in the lawsuit.
This past November at NXT TakeOver: WarGames former NXT Champion Drew McIntyre suffered a torn bicep injury during his title loss to Andrade Almas. The former Intercontinental Champion needed surgery to repair the injury. PWInsider‘s Mike Johnson reports that McIntyre has been spotted working out at the WWE Performance Center for the past few days, meaning he is close to making his in-ring return.
Johnson also noted that he was previously told that the timeframe for McIntyre’s return from injury ended sometime in April. WWE’s goal was to have him return for WrestleMania weekend and they’re right on track to make that happen. There is currently no news on what WWE has planned for McIntyre once he returns to NXT, but we’ll keep you updated as we learn more.
Ahead of tonight’s MLW: Spring Break live event from Orlando, FL at Gilt Nightclub, Sports Illustrated dropped a bombshell: Bruce Prichard has joined Major League Wrestling.
Prichard, perhaps best known to most fans as Brother Love, joins MLW as a Senior Producer. He joins a very talented crew that includes former WWE creative executive Court Bauer, former head of WWE television operations Nelson Sweglar, former head WWE writer Alex Greenfield, former WWE writer Robert Karpeles and Mister Saint Laurent (“MSL”).
“As we rev up the MLW production machine, we continue to seek out the best to elevate the product,” said MLW CEO Court Bauer. “Bruce brings unparalleled experience as a producer and wrestling mind. We are truly building a dream team both backstage and in the ring.”
Bruce Prichard was a longtime member of Vince McMahon’s inner circle and worked behind the scenes at the highest levels for two decades. He currently hosts the wildly popular Something To Wrestle podcast along with Conrad Thompson on the MLW Radio Network.
WWE Superstar Dolph Ziggler recently appeared on Isacc Wenzel’s “All Things Wrestling Radio” show to talk about several professional wrestling topics. The former World Heavyweight Champion revealed that he actually campaigned to WWE brass to remove him from television, citing that someone who loses as much as he does doesn’t deserve to be on the show. Here’s what he had to say:
“I will say that I really begged and pleaded for a couple of months off the television show,” Ziggler said. “Because no matter how good I am or what I’m up to it seems that 99 times out of 100 I would lose. I didn’t think that I deserved to be on the TV show if I was someone that was losing every night, so I asked to be taken off. I was hoping for maybe six months or a year and it ended up being four weeks.”
The four weeks Ziggler is referring to is when he vacated the United States Championship after winning the strap at WWE’s Clash Of Champions pay-per-view (PPV) this past December. He won a Triple Threat match against then-champion Baron Corbin and Bobby Roode. The following Tuesday on SmackDown Live Ziggler vacated the title after walking out on WWE. He left the championship in the center of the ring and walked away.
He was off WWE TV for several weeks before returning in the number 30 spot in the Men’s Royal Rumble in January. Ziggler is now one of six men involved in the Six Pack Challenge this weekend for the WWE Title at Fastlane. Ziggler will compete against champion AJ Styles, John Cena, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Baron Corbin.
Former TNA World Heavyweight champion Eddie Edwards has re-signed with Impact Wrestling, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports. Under the Impact Wrestling banner, Edwards was allowed to compete for Pro Wrestling Noah where he became the GHC Heavyweight champion. Edwards has been getting a lot of buzz lately due to the incident where he was accidentally struck in the head with a baseball bat during an angle with Sami Callihan.
New Tag Team Debuts
This past weekend, a new tag team debuted for Impact Wrestling. They are the Desi Hit Squad, which is the team of Gursinder Singh and Rohit Raju. Lately, WWE and Impact have been making strong plays for the Indian market.
AAA Vice President Wants To Buy Impact Wrestling?
Meltzer also noted that AAA vice president Dorian Roldan has told people that he’s looking to buy Impact Wrestling. Whether Roldan is just blowing smoke or is looking to make a serious push remains to be seen.
Sienna’s Status
Former Knockouts champion Sienna has been out of action for a while. Meltzer says this is due to blood clots in Sienna’s lungs. There is no word on when she’ll be able to compete again.
WWE Superstar John Cena returned to The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday night for a comedy sketch, “Ew!”
Channeling his inner teenage girl, Cena (playing ‘Addison’) and his BFF Sara practice for dance team auditions and critique Hollywood actors.
Sara (Jimmy Fallon) notices that Addison looks “really different.”
“I had a little bit of a growth spurt,” Addison says, adding in a deeper voice, “My mom says I’m going through some changes.”
Cena is no stranger to comedy acting. In addition to Southpaw Regional Wrestling and various movie roles, he also got rave reviews for his job hosting Saturday Night Live back in December 2016.
Jimmy shows a clip from “Ew!” in which Sara and her friend Addison (John Cena) practice for dance team auditions to Bruno Mars’ “Finesse.”
It’s official: NXT will be introducing a new championship title at the upcoming Takeover: New Orleans show during WrestleMania weekend.
At Wednesday night’s NXT TV tapings, NXT General Manager William Regal announced the creation of the NXT North American Championship.
The inaugural champion will be decided at Takeover: New Orleans in Six-Man Ladder Match. The participants for that ladder match include Adam Cole, Velveteen Dream, Killian Dain, Lars Sullivan and NXT newcomers Ricochet and EC3.
The North American title will be the NXT brand’s 4th championship. Current titles include the NXT Championship, the NXT Women’s Championship and the NXT Tag Team Championships. In recent years, NXT has evolved from simply a developmental feeder system into a full-fledged touring promotion. The brand features some of the top talent in the world, but there’s only so many performers who can be featured in the NXT Championship hunt. This new ‘secondary’ title gives the rest of NXT’s large roster something else to fight for as they climb the ranks to the main events
NXT TakeOver: New Orleans takes place Saturday night, April 7th and streams live on the WWE Network.
There’s a chance that Braun Strowman will not be wrestling on the “Grandest Stage of Them All.”
It had previously been reported that Strowman was penciled in for an Intercontinental title match against The Miz at WrestleMania 34. WWE decided to go with a triple threat match between Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, and The Miz for the gold instead. It has been said that the WWE is waiting for the fallout with Roman Reigns’ alleged contact with a jailed drug dealer before booking Strowman on the show.
“The Monster Among Men” has been on fire under the WWE banner. He eliminated everyone at the Elimination Chamer except for Reigns. Even after being the final man elimination, Strowman demolished Reigns after the match and sent him crashing into a pod.
While Strowman has been booked to look strong, it may not even lead to a WrestleMania 34 match. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports a backup plan for Strowman is to involve him in a non-wrestling segment. There’s still a chance that Strowman could be added to the Intercontinental title match, making it a fatal four way. Currently, Strowman has been involved in a one-sided feud with Elias. Earlier this week, he sent a piano crashing on his “rival.”
Last week, a report from the Melbourne Herald Sun indicated WWE had booked the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Australia for a massive event in October. It is believed the MCG could fit 100,000 fans for such an event.
The deal is said to have been finalized awhile ago but WWE wants to hold off on publisizing it too much. The company is expected to ramp up promotion for the event following WrestleMania.
A recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter revealed some new details about the planned show.
Ronda Rousey Returns to Australia
When publicity for the event begins to ramp up, it is believed Ronda Rousey will play a central role in it. Rousey famously lost the UFC women’s bantamweight championship to Holly Holm at the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne. Attendance for that event was listed at 56, 214.
According to the Observer, the current idea is for this to be a PPV event which will air on the Network. This has not been confirmed, however.
WWE is planning the largest ever Royal Rumble match to take place in Saudia Arabia. The event will take place from the King Abdullah Sports City on April 27th, 2018.
The 50-Man Royal Rumble was mentioned on Smackdown and Raw this week but there has been no confirmation that this will be a WWE Network special. It appears this event is part of WWE’s plan to increase their exposure in the middle east.
Increased WWE Exposure in the Middle East
WWE is making a strong push into the Middle East and is attacking this initiative on several fronts. In addition to WWE running live events in Abu Dhabi, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that WWE is considering opening a second Performance Center there. This facility would be used to cultivate talent from both the Middle East as well as India.
WWE isn’t the only promotion looking at running developmental programs internationally. NJPW is running a week of camps in Los Angeles later this month with Katsuyori Shibata serving as the head instructor.
Originally, WWE wanted to run just one live event in Abu Dhabi last year but strong ticket sales led them to run another night from the same venue.
WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair is set to make his big screen acting debut in a new feature film about pro wrestling.
Flair spoke with The Wrap earlier this week about his role in “Uncle Steamroller and Champion Rabbit,” a movie about an Iraq war veteran trying to get back into the wrestling business while being managed by a motivational speaker. The “Nature Boy” is set to play the president of the World Wrestling Union, a Las Vegas-based promotion that lead character will be wrestling for.
Flair told The Wrap, “I really like this wonderfully written script and find it to be very entertaining. The edgy sense of humor is great, but the story also has a good heart. I’m expecting the inspirational story line will appeal to fans that extend beyond my loyal core wrestling base, and I am seriously looking forward to getting this film in front of worldwide audiences. Wooooooooooooooooo!”
Flair and his fianceeWendy Barlow will also serve as executive producers for the project.
Major League Wrestling returns tonight with MLW: Spring Break live from Orlando, FL at Gilt Nightclub. A limited number of tickets are still available at MLWTickets.com.
The Road to the World Championship tournament continues tonight featuring two semi-final matches. We’ll also see a Fans Bring the Weapons match, an unsanctioned fight between two of MLW’s toughest competitors, lucha libre action and much more.
Here’s the final card for MLW: Spring Break:
World Heavyweight Championship Semi-Finals:
Matt Riddle vs. ACH
Jimmy Havoc vs. Shane “Swerve” Strickland
Fans Bring The Weapons Match:
“Bad Boy” Joey Janela vs. Darby Allin
Unsanctioned Match:
MVP vs. Low Ki
Also in action:
Sami Callihan vs. Brody King
Garza Jr. vs. Último Ninja
Jason Cade & Jimmy Yuta vs. Dirty Blondes (managed by Colonel Robert Parker)
It’s not clear which promotion Swann is referring to. Gage wrestles for several independent promotions.
This led Gage to respond:
if you got something to say just say it bud you aint gonna hurt my feelings cuz i dont have any but if you got a problem we can definetly solve it real quick let me know @GottaGetSwann MDK https://t.co/vJpODjFlxJ
After all the bookings ive taken im so scared to step in the ring but i cant wait lol. But after there done i will be retiring. Thank you for taking the chance on my name
Rich Swann Arrest, Dropped Charges, Departure from WWE
At the time of his departure from WWE, Swann had been under suspension since December 10th, 2017 as a result of charges filed against him for battery, kidnapping and false imprisonment. Witnesses allege to have seen Swann put his wife, wrestler Su Yung, in a headlock after she fled a vehicle which she had been traveling in with Swann.
WWE announced shortly after his arrest that if he was found guilty he would be released immediately. All charges were eventually dropped against Swann but his WWE career ended all the same. News of his WWE departure came on February 15th, 2018, Swann’s 27th birthday.
On Wednesday (March 7, 2018), an article was published by MMA Fighting that featured an interview with former UFC Heavyweight Champion Fabricio Werdum.
During the interview, Werdum stated that he is looking to participate in both pro wrestling and MMA.
Werdum originally mentioned that he was having a meeting with WWE. However, he later mistakenly cited WWE instead of a Mexican “lucha libre” company.
Werdum cleared up the situation by writing the following on Twitter:
“Hey guys to make it clear I spoke about maybe doing Lucha libre in México. Not WWE. I meant wwe style(pro wrestling) but I am a @ufc fighter and my focus 100% is fighting in the ufc and whatever decision I make after my fighting career @danawhite @Mickmaynard2 will be involved..”
Hey guys to make it clear I spoke about maybe doing Lucha libre in México. Not WWE. I meant wwe style(pro wrestling) but I am a @ufc fighter and my focus 100% is fighting in the ufc and whatever decision I make after my fighting career @danawhite@Mickmaynard2 will be involved.
