Joey Ryan recently spoke with Sports Illustrated to talk about various topics. Here are some of the highlights: If his character would work in WWE: “If Vince is still taking headbutts, then he could definitely take this, too. But in the PG-era of WWE, I don’t think the Joey Ryan character would be doing anything with the p—s in WWE. The super, powerful p—s would not be part of his repertoire in WWE. I don’t think that’s the place for it.”
His status with Lucha Underground: “I wouldn’t mind starting my own 21-0 WrestleMania streak. But fingers crossed, I’d love to see Lucha Underground have a season four. Lucha Underground has the right to pick up my contract, and I would love to be a part of it. Opportunities come my way, and I try to make the best of them.” You can read the entire interview here.
Former WWE Superstar Ryback recently had an interview with The Domenick Nati Show where he talked about several WWE related topics and more. Below are some of the highlights from his interview:
If John Cena should retire from pro wrestling and focus on his acting career:
“John obviously knows what he’s doing; he’s a big boy, He’s been fortunate to have a lot of opportunities outside of wrestling where he can not take on that full schedule. He did it for a long, long time, so I think it’s great he’s doing other things outside of wrestling. I think as everyone can see, when you allow other talents the opportunity to succeed, they will always step up time and time again.”
Possibly pursuing a career in the acting field:
“I have no ambition or drive for any of that kind of stuff… Not to say that I wouldn’t do it, because I have a guy that is out looking (for acting opportunities), but it’s just not on the top of my agenda right now. Growing my Feed Me More nutrition is my number-one goal, and getting healthy”
His Feed Me More nutrition line:
“My main focus has been on my Feed Me More nutrition line, with it being on Amazon has been huge for me and I’m getting ready to launch over in the U.K. in the upcoming weeks,” he said. “It’s an every day job, but I love being home and being active on it. And letting my body heal up and rest from the years of abuse, I had some stem cell surgery. There’s a lot going on, but I’m mainly business-oriented right now.”
WCPW/Defiant Wrestling General Manager Stu Bennett (formerly Wade Barrett) was recently interviewed for the What Culture YouTube channel. He talks at length about WCPW’s rebrand to Defiant Wrestling and how he felt when he was announced as the GM for the new venture.
If you hadn’t yet heard of WCPW’s rebrand they released the following statement detailing the change to Defiant:
On Monday, December 4, What Culture Pro Wrestling (WCPW) is to be relaunched as Defiant Wrestling.
WeAreDefiant will be broadcast live on PPV on December 4 via a brand-new on-demand service, Access Defiant, as well as the FITE app. The show will be held in the O2 Academy Newcastle. Tickets will be on sale to O2 priority customers from Wednesday, October 4, and general sale from Friday, October 7.
A new dedicated subscription service for Defiant Wrestling will be launching as Access Defiant ahead of the WeAreDefiant PPV event on December 4. Historical WCPW broadcasts will all be available via the new service, as well as many new features, including: behind the scenes documentaries, ticket/merchandise discounts and community forum.
WhatCulture Extra will be incorporating brand-new content from across the WhatCulture spectrum, while continuing to house exclusive wrestling lists and documentaries. Exclusive written content will also be featured, while ad-free browsing will continue to benefit subscribers. The price point for WhatCulture Extra will be reduced to $4.99 starting November 1, with all WCPW content moving to Access Defiant on December 1.
IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada will be appearing for Australia’s Melbourne City Wrestling on November 11th.
New Japan star Will Ospreay recently stated that he plans to put Australian wrestling “on the map” and that he may be bringing some friends with him…well it looks like MCW fans have got their wish with Ospreay’s CHAOS stablemate heading to the promotion.
Are you an MCW regular? Will you be heading to #MCWRain on November 11th? Let us know in the comments.
Former TNA Knockout Madison Rayne has been training at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, FL this week. WWE has reportedly been interested in her since mid-July after she showed up to a WWE taping in Nashville, Tennessee.
Rayne is a 5-time Knockouts Champion and was with Impact Wrestling for nearly a decade. After a lengthy in-ring career, she joined the creative team to work on the Knockouts division. She’s also married to Impact announcer Josh Mathews.
As previously reported, other names recently spotted at the Performance Center include Serena Deeb and Austin Aries.
The UK wrestling scene has been booming for the past 3/4 years with companies such as PROGRESS, Rev Pro, ICW and OTT leading the charge. Some of the biggest stars to come out of these promotions have gone on to join New Japan (Will Ospreay, Zack Sabre Jr, Marty Scurll), Impact Wrestling (Grado) and even WWE (Trent Seven, Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne).
But who will be the next batch of stars emerging from the British Isles? Well, here are 3 up and coming performers that you should know about:
The ‘Anarchist’ James Castle has been slowly honing his craft over the past few years, his current accolades include Rev Pro and IPW:UK Tag Team Champion and he holds the Heavyweight Title for smaller East Anglia promotion Wrestling League. Castle has a ton of potential, he has the ability to work as either a Heel or Face (Villain or BlueEye for all you BritWres fans out there!) and can seemingly drag the heat out of even the most apathetic of crowds. Castle is certainly one of those performers whose character is driven by their true to life personality, his love for Hardcore Punk, particularly that of the 80’s CBGB equation, drives his anarchistic persona and will certainly see him connect with audiences on the bigger UK independents, especially PROGRESS.
Check out this free match against Matt Riddle:
Chris Brookes
Photo Credit: Turning Face
Those of you who currently follow UK wrestling will certainly know Chris Brookes. One third of team #CCK, Brookes recently broke into the upper echelons of the UK scene (alongside tag partner Kid Lykos) when he captured the PROGRESS Tag Team Championship.
Brookes also appeared for Ring of Honor during their UK tour earlier this year and his 2018 looks to be even more prosperous. #CCK are such a unique act, their branding and merchandise is top notch and they present themselves in a way unlike anyone on the scene right now.
Session Moth is a breed unto herself. Character driven with a unique comedic flair but most importantly a technical ability in the ring that sets her apart from other performers on the independent scene. Moth has had a truly breakout year in 2017, she has graced the stages of OTT, PROGRESS, ICW and Pro Wrestling EVE as well as a plethora of smaller independents while building her profile. Expect 2018 to be an even bigger year for ‘Da Moth from Da Flats’ and possibly a move to even greater heights….New Japan maybe?
Check out this free match below from GWF in Germany:
ICW star Kenny Williams is set to have arguably the biggest match of his career when he challenges WWE legend Rey Mysterio at Fear & Loathing X on Sunday November 19th from the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.
Williams recently spoke to Scotland’s Sunday Post about the match and how he idolised the Luchador superstar growing up:
“It’s hard to put into words.” My mum found out about the match and she doesn’t normally know any of the people I’m wrestling. She said: ‘I can’t believe you’re wrestling one of your toys!’ If you would’ve told me when I was 12 years old that I’d be standing in The Garage challenging Rey Mysterio I’d have called you an idiot!”
Regarding his time in ICW, he stated: “I started off as a stand-in replacement for someone who pulled out last minute. The crowd took to me, and the fact they’ve continued to support me, you can’t repay that.Getting to open the show at the Barrowlands in the first wrestling event there for thirty odd years was a great moment too,”
“I’ve been up and down the country on tours, tour buses… We’re like the best rock and roll school that money can buy!”
Revolution Pro Wrestling has just announced two huge matches for their upcoming Global Wars shows on November 9th and 10th.
The two matches announced for Night 2 are Minoru Suzuki vs Matt Riddle and Will Ospreay vs Zack Sabre Jr.
Suzuki vs Riddle is an absolute dream match for fans of the NEVER/Strong Style of pro wrestling. Riddle is scheduled to take part in the World Tag League tournament for NJPW later this year and could this match be the precursor for a NEVER Openweight title match down the line?
Ospreay vs Sabre Jr is also a match to definitely not sleep on. Both men have fully established themselves as mainstays in New Japan and now these two icons of British wrestling collide once again in their homeland.
UK based All-Women’s promotion Pro Wrestling EVE has announced the blocks for their upcoming ‘SHE-1’ tournament.
A causal pun on New Japan’s G1 tournament yes, but this tournament promises to live up to those lofty standards and EVE has promised something unprecedented not just in Women’s professional wrestling but on a global scale. The shows take place November 11th and 12th at the Resistance Gallery in London and tickets are available to purchase on evewrestling.com.
WWE Superstar Sin Cara recently did an interview with Hidden Remote to talk about a variety of professional wrestling topics. Cara was asked if he believes there’s any Latino stars who can fill Eddie Guerrero’s shoes, WWE expanding their partnerships with sneaker companies, and his brief work in the Cruiserweight division. You can check out the highlights here below:
If any Latino stars can fill Eddie Guerrero’s shoes:
“I don’t think, to be honest, that’s a question anyone can really answer. I can’t compare myself to Eddie or that I’m going to fill anyone’s shoes. I’m Sin Cara, I’m unique, I’m different from everybody else. Kalisto’s different. I think we’re just trying to make our own history here in the company, and for me, the most important thing is keeping myself healthy and keeping my legacy going and hopefully one day when my career’s over, I can say I also had a great career, but nobody can replace Eddie.”
WWE expanding their partnerships with sneaker companies such as Foot Locker:
“I think there’s a lot of sneaker lovers and some people that don’t know about wrestling that are going to end up knowing who Sin Cara is or who Ric Flair is or who other Superstars are because it won’t be the typical going to WWEShop.com or going to a wrestling show to buy a wrestling shirt. You’re going to see it at a Foot Locker and maybe the fan that’s not the normal fan for us is going to have the opportunity to buy a t-shirt even if they don’t know about wrestling but if he likes it, he’s going to buy it and wear it. That’s the great opportunity here to get to a different type of market.”
His brief work in the Cruiserweight division:
“To be honest, I was trying to make the most of my opportunity, but in my case, I was only there for a couple of weeks. I wasn’t really there for long. I think the Cruiserweights are great athletes and talented wrestlers, but in my case, I think I’m too big for the division. Not weight-wise because I weigh like 198, but height-wise I’m a lot bigger. I’m about 5 ’10” and I put on the boots and I’m 6?. But it’s one of those things where they want a certain type of wrestler in the division and that’s fine. I didn’t think it was a bad decision by the company not using me there but now there’s a lot of opportunities for the all the kids that are doing that. Kalisto just transitioned into 205 [Live] and I wish him the best and hopefully that division can flourish now.”
You can read Cara’s full interview with Hidden Remote by visiting this link here.
– Sami Zayn took to Instagram to post the following picture of he and Kevin Owens embracing on SmackDown Live earlier this week. Zayn stated that it was ‘a cold day in hell’:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BaIK-H6Fwya/
– Former SmackDown Live Women’s Champion Becky Lynch was featured on the latest installment of WWE’s “My First Job.” Lynch discussed her various jobs before getting into pro wrestling such as a pizza chef and a flight attendant:
For the past several months James Ellsworth has been paired up with “Mrs. Money In The Bank” Carmella on SmackDown Live. Ellsworth played a big role in helping Carmella win the MITB briefcase. He was recently a guest on WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler’s podcast, Dinner With The King, to discuss his alliance with Carmella and how it came about. You can check out the highlights here below:
Who’s idea it was to pair him with Carmella:
“I think it was last year at the European tour in November, she came to me and said, ‘Hey, I have this idea about putting you with me whenever you’re done with the Dean Ambrose and AJ stuff comes to an end, I have this idea to pitch to them. They put you with me, you fall in love with me, and I use that to my advantage to win matches and get me to the women’s title. I said yeah, that would be a great idea. I didn’t know her much back then. She went to Vince, and she pitched right to Vince, and Vince loved it. It’s ten, going on eleven months that we’ve been on TV together”
Their relationship behind the scenes:
“We are good friends. We text all the time. She’s a very, very smart girl, and she’s easy to talk to. We get along great.”
You can listen to Ellsworth’s interview on Dinner With The King at this link here.
– The main event of the upcoming WrestleCade Supershow has been announced. Former WWE Superstar Ryback will square off against former TNA World Champion Jeff Jarrett.
WrestleCade Supershow takes place on Saturday night, November 25th from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This is the card going head-to-head with WWE Starrcade, being held locally from Greensboro.
– Per a report from PWInsider, ex-TNA Knockout Madison Rayne has been at the WWE Performance Center this week. WWE has been showing interest in inking her to a contract for the past several months.
Earlier this week, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose put their differences aside and reformed the most dominant WWE faction of the past decade, The Shield. They’ll do battle with Braun Strowman, The Miz, Cesaro and Sheamus next weekend at TLC in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match in what’s sure to be a violent affair that solidifies the fact that they’re back in a big way.
Sure, the Shield reunion is in part a vehicle to finally get fans behind Reigns and their alliance might not last forever. And WWE does not currently have many unified trios on the roster besides The New Day and The Miz, Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel. But while we’ve got them, we’ve come up with three feuds we want to see for The Shield.
The Club: Styles, Anderson & Gallows
AJ Styles is on SmackDown, while The Club is on RAW with The Shield. This predicament would typically prohibit such a pairing, but we’re right around the corner from WWE’s next inter-brand pay-per-view offering, Survivor Series on November 19th.
The odds are stacked against The Shield at TLC, when the Hounds of Justice square face four of RAW’s top talents. Even with the 1-man disadvantage, it’s virtually a foregone conclusion that The Shield won’t be losing their first big match back together. They’ll get a feel-good win at TLC and will be looking for their next challengers. Enter The Club.
Earlier this week, AJ Styles did an interview with Planeta Wrestling and was asked about this exact scenario. When asked if he thought The Club could hang with The Shield, a confident Styles had no doubts whether or not the ‘Good Brothers’ could emerge victorious from a clash with Reigns, Rollins and Ambrose.
“I think that if Gallows and Anderson and I got together, we would dominate just like we’ve done before,” said Styles. “There’s no doubt about it.”
They raised hell in New Japan Pro Wrestling several years back as part of the Bullet Club and they’ve paired together in WWE.
Looking back at some of WWE’s recent pay-per-view booking (Lesnar vs. Joe, Lesnar vs. Strowman, Cena vs. Reigns, even Cena vs. Joe at live events), the company has not been shy about pulling the trigger on big money WrestleMania-caliber matches.
The Club is our top “dream match” for The Shield and Survivor Series is the time and place to make it happen.
Samoa Joe & The Authors of Pain
Talk about three guys you wouldn’t want to have beef with. Samoa Joe is currently out of action since suffering a knee injury back in August. During an interview with Sky Sports the following month, Joe said his recovery is going really well and said his knee had only been at around 80% capacity since joining WWE.
Joe also revealed that his breathing ability was only around 60% as a result of breaking his nose eight times throughout his career. During his time away, he had nasal surgery and said, “You have no idea how invigorating it is” after undergoing the procedure. “Now it’s the best I’ve ever felt, it really is.”
After dropping the NXT Tag Team Championships to Sanity at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn during SummerSlam weekend, the Authors of Pain have been rumored to be joining the main roster imminently.
A refreshed Samoa Joe will spell trouble for the entire RAW roster when he returns. Pair him with Akam, Rezar and Paul Ellering and you’ve got a virtually unstoppable force to challenge The Shield.
Kevin Owens, Sami Zayna and … Neville
This final trio might be an unlikely hypothetical due to Neville’s current standing with the company and the fact that Owens and Zayn are on SmackDown, but hear us out. Neville has reportedly been frustrated with his role on RAW and 205 Live and may have outgrown his role as the ‘King of the Cruiserweights.’
Despite his questionable booking in recent months, Neville is one of the top performers in WWE and remains under contract. Since he’s done it all in the Cruiserweight division, WWE should move him to SmackDown and align him with Zayn and Owens.
On SmackDown, Neville would have a fresh crop of opponents to work and he, Zayn, Owens could work against pairings like The New Day, Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable, The Fashion Police and variations of Orton, Styles, Nakamura and others.
This is the least likely group that could work with The Shield, but there’s no question these 6 men would have great matches together.
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Discussion: What 3-man pairing would you want to see challenge The Shield?
The WWE injury bug appears to have struck again. Samoa Joe, Jeff Hardy and Big Cass are amongst the top WWE Superstars currently sidelined with various ailments. While he hasn’t missed any scheduled appearances, WWE Champion Jinder Mahal is reportedly dealing with a shoulder injury.
Mahal has been seen at recent WWE live events wearing Kinesio Tape, which the company describes as “rehabilitative taping technique that is designed to facilitate the body’s natural healing process.” It’s worth noting that Mahal has not been wearing the medical tape on television, an indication WWE is trying to downplay the injury.
As noted earlier this month, Jinder Mahal will be joining the RAW brand’s upcoming tour of India, scheduled for December 8th and 9th from New Dehli at the IGI Stadium.
Mahal won’t be the only SmackDown Live star traveling to India with the RAW crew. He announced on WWE’s Facebook page that he’ll be defending the WWE Championship on the tour against Kevin Owens.
Tickets for WWE’s December live event from New Dehli, India are now on sale.
This week, WWE producer Jimmy Jacobs (Chris Scoville) was released from WWE and after taking a photo with the Bullet Club during their recent ‘invasion’ of Monday Night RAW.
Despite WWE management’s strong objection to what turned out to be a costly mistake, we’ve heard from multiple sources that Jacobs was very well liked backstage. Former WWE head writer Tom Casiello released a statement on Twitter about his experience recruiting Jacobs and gave a glowing endorsement of his former co-worker.
Casiello writes that he was honored to work with Jimmy Jacobs and he’s never seen a WWE producer and prove himself to be so invaluable so quickly. He describes Jacobs as a ‘unicorn’ – “Well-respected, awesome ideas, makes work fun” – which really emphasizes just how upset the company was about the Bullet Club he posted.
“My cohorts don’t know I’m doing this, they’ll probably roll their eyes. Whatever. I’ll still take a bullet for any of them. While I’ve spoken to Chris he doesn’t know I’m tweeting this. I have no interest in campaigns, in gossip, in speculation. Not my thing. Right, so my first encounter with “Scottville” was a call. A mutual friend worked at the studio [when] he was interviewing and she recommended he talk to me. Knew he was an indie but that’s it.
We get on the phone and he is FASCINATING. Loves the business, the product. Wanted to learn but knew he couldn’t change the world (a good thing; anyone who walks into that job thinking they’ll tell Vince what to do is insane and never lasts). So I gave recommendation to hire him. Honestly, one of the best conversations with a new hire I ever had there.
I was involved in hiring process, and believe me it is a TOUGH process. So Scoville gets the gig (awesome!) and quickly proves himself to be invaluable which NEVER HAPPENS. It takes months to win over talent, prove you know what you’re doing – you’re tested, you get thrown different assignments DAILY.
But this guy could do it all. Book shows. Write a hell of a segment. Direct backstages. Produce in-ring promos. No learning curve. He NAILS it. Clicks with talent almost immediately. Can work with ANYBODY on the roster. Well-respected, awesome ideas, makes work fun. A RARE accomplishment in new hires. To put it simply: this incredibly talented man is A UNICORN.
I wasn’t there. I won’t comment on any of that because it’s not my place but as his former supervisor, I want to publicly thank Jimmy Jacobs for all he contributed to the WWE Universe: you put the “it” in idiot and the festival in friendship. You shared more of that brilliant mind with the WWE Universe than they’ll ever know.
Honored to work with you, brother. Wherever you go, I know you’ll shine. Oh, and welcome to The List. You’re in good company.”
The first ever WWE Universal Champion Finn Balor recently talked to the In This Corner Podcast and discussed his current feud with Bray Wyatt and more. Below are some of the highlights from his interview:
On ‘Balor Club’ vs. ‘Demon King’ and his WWE 2K18 ratings:
“I’m not sure which one the fans prefer, I’m not sure which one I prefer, but what I do know is in [WWE] 2K18, Finn (Leather Jacket version) is not as strong as Demon King Finn Balor. And I’m a little bit curious about that because clearly Finn Balor created the Demon King. So, I don’t know if it’s a compliment to the Demon King, if it’s an insult to Finn Balor, but I’m still trying to work out the kinks with 2K18. We might have a big problem then next year because they’ve been asking me to be the cover to 2K19 next year, but I might have to decline them because of this issue.”
On his feud with Bray Wyatt taking a more supernatural turn:
“I’m loving it. I’m seeing it as a challenge; it’s something new, it’s something fresh. I’ve been wrestling for almost 18 years now. I’ve done grappler versus striker, striker versus wrestler, high flyer versus mat technician, I’ve done every style of match that you could possibly think of. And to be put in this situation, with probably one of the most interesting characters of our time, and being given to work with this opportunity in this program and adapt to the situation and learn his character and figure out how he works… it’s been a challenge for me. You can only get better by challenging yourself. I don’t know how fans are reacting to it, I don’t know how critics are reacting to it, but for me, I’m welcoming the challenge and I’m enjoying it.”
The biggest challenge he has faced in his feud with Wyatt so far:
“I think the biggest challenge is getting the opportunity to talk more than I had previously been given the opportunity to do. I’ll be honest, I’m not someone who likes to go out there and talk, I like to have fun, but I kind of have to adapt to this storyline. There’s a lot more talking involved and it’s something I know that as a performer I have to improve on my talking skills… It’s a new challenge. It’s something that keeps me pushing myself and I feel like I’m growing and developing another skill set”
Ric Flair spoke with NBC Sports Radio to promote his and Charlotte’s new book, Second Nature: The Legacy of Ric Flair and the Rise of Charlotte, now available from Amazon.com
During the discussion, Flair gave an update on his health, his sacrifices he had to make to be the best wrestler in the world, his upcoming ESPN 30 For 30 documentary and his recent claim that around 10,000 women have taken a ride on Space Mountain.
Here are the highlights of what the Nature Boy said about:
His Health: “Believe it or not, I feel great right now. This health issue, self-inflicted, I mean, I had two rotator cuff surgeries, but they are both… I [am] pain-free. I don’t have any hip injuries. All my guys, literally, all my guys from my generation that are still alive got hip, shoulder, ankle, elbow replacements. I’m really good in that respect. I have a beautiful, new fiancé that I’ve been with for five years, and I can tell you honestly I haven’t naitched in five years, so you can put that down in the headlines. ‘Naitch’ no more, but I feel great. I guess the plane crash was the worst thing that happened to me. I don’t remember that, but I remember [medical personnel] saying, ‘I think we’re goingto lose this one’ and I think they were talking about me.”
His ESPN 30 For 30 Documentary: “I guess I like the fact that I’m about as open and honest with things that involved my children, my son that passed away, and I hope that the people understand that didn’t understand the work. In 20 years, I never had a day off. Twice on Saturday and twice on Sunday and that’s not an exaggeration. And most of the time, I’d wrestle an hour every night or two hours on the same day. And that’s a lot of traveling, a lot of wrestling. Tokyo [Japan] one night, back to St. Louis [Missouri], Sydney, Australia the next night, Auckland, New Zealand, over to Japan, back home for a week, and then back in Japan.”
The Sacrifice He Made To Be The Best: “That’s the life I lived, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. I would trade it for the time now when I look back. I know my son is still very upset and angry and that’s something I have to live with, but he’ll never get over the fact that I wasn’t around enough.” Flair added, “I’ll take the blame for it. I was very selfish. I wanted to be the best and I competed against myself because I knew I was that much better than everybody else.”
Claims That He’s Slept With 10,000 Women: “Well, if you do the math, I started when I was in seventh grade!” Flair laughed, “let me say that hypothetically, I slept with five people. You’d go to your friend next door and go, ‘bulls–t!’ If I had said, ‘250,’ you’d go, ‘bulls–t.’ If I said, ‘5,000,’ you’d say, ‘oh, maybe.’ I’m not far off on that number. It doesn’t mean that everybody was Marilyn Monroe by any means, but I’m not far off. I wrestled. I was really good at three things: I wrestled, drinking, and talking, saying ‘goodnight.’”
– While Shane McMahon is particularly liked by many of his fans for his risk-taking abilities and all the crazy spots he pulls off in his matches, it appears not everybody is pleased with this.
WWE Hall Of Famer “Superstar” Billy Graham recently made a post from his Facebook acount about McMahon. In the post as seen below, he ripped off Shane for jumping from the cell during his match against Kevin Owens for a ‘cheap pop’:
Shane “Idiot” McMahon
“As always, the WWE will first lie to us, then when they get caught they tell the fans the truth. I consider Shane McMahon to be nothing more than a rich man’s foolish son. In a deliberate attempt to deceive us, the WWE released a statement that daddy’s little son was just fine after this leap below and now they have told us that he really is hurt. Disgusting and I have no sympathy for this spoiled brat and maybe he wont try to defy gravity ever again for a worthless, meaningless, and dumb as Hell cheap pop.”
– The upcoming comedy movie starring WWE Star John Cena which was previously titled The Pact has now been renamed to Blockers. You can check out the latest red band trailer of the movie below which is about three parents who are trying to stop their daughters from losing their virginity on prom night:
– We noted before how Alberto El Patron was expected to return to GFW TV during the Bound For Glory PPV on November 5th and now the company has confirmed these reports. They announced his return for the upcoming PPV during the latest episode of Impact Wrestling via the following promo:
Alberto Del Rio was suspended by GFW back in July this year after the infamous airport incident involving his girlfriend Paige. He was the GFW World Champion at the time of his suspension though the company later stripped him of the title.
-Below is an interesting video of the upcoming WWE 2K18 game posted by Xavier Woods’ Youtube channel UpUpDownDown in which, Braun Strowman is seen doing the entrance of The New Cruiserweight Champion Kalisto:
The Kevin Owens- Vince McMahon segment from the September 12th episode of SmackDown Live is one of the most talked WWE segment of recent times, especially due to its brutality and the show of color.
During a recent interview CBS’ In This Corner podcast, Owens talked openly about this segment and much more. Below are some of the highlights from his interview:
On the rarity of blood on WWE Programming:
“Blood is a rarity now; it’s something that will happen whether we like it or not sometimes, What we do is very physical and there is just no way around it. Whether it is blood showing up like for example, when I got bloodied up against CJ Parker. CJ Parker was not intending to break my nose, but it made for a special visual and a special moment. Sometimes blood does add to the drama. You can call it a lucky coincidence, although I am not sure if coincidence is the word I am looking for. When it does appear, you mine as well use it for your advantage.”
If he was nervous before his segment with Mr McMahon:
“I was not nervous, I generally don’t get nervous anymore to be completely honest. I feel confident in my abilities; felt confident for many years so I don’t feel nervous. I am trying to think back on the last time I felt nervous; not to say that I am never excited, I am always excited. I always look forward to be going out there. I do get the butterflies, especially in a moment when you’re dealing with Vince McMahon, but that is not necessarily being nervous. I feel that I have great confidence in my abilities, and being in the ring with Vince McMahon was no different.”
On his main roster debut:
“When I showed up on Monday Night Raw and confronted John Cena that first night, to me, I felt like I was exactly where I belonged; this is where I belong. Obviously, two-and-a-half years later I have had a lot more experience in front of the cameras, and in front of the larger audiences, but it goes back to how I had been doing this for 15 years prior to coming to WWE, and I had never compromised who I was. I always had confidence in myself, and I still do. I didn’t feel nervous at all, I felt right at home.”
On how the moment with Vince was special to him:
“I’ve said this before, to my relatives and friends, but there are moments in my WWE career: winning the Universal title, my debut in NXT, my debut on Raw. Winning the Intercontinental title was a huge deal for me, but being in the ring with Vince McMahon and giving him the worst beating he has probably ever taken outside of a wrestling match, but besides receiving the type of reaction when he went bell to bell with somebody, I don’t think I’ve seen anybody beat Vince McMahon to a pulp like how I beat him, but it was special. It was something that will stay with me for a very long time. When I look back on my accolades and the things I had accomplished, when it is all set and done it’ll be on the top of the list for sure.”
New Japan Pro Wrestling are now building up to their biggest show, January’s Wrestle Kingdom from the Tokyo Dome.
One of the stops on the way to Wrestle Kingdom is Power Struggle, and this year’s iteration already has some intriguing titles matches set up:
IWGP Intercontinental Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs Kota Ibushi – Kota Ibushi spent a good amount of time away from the company, performing on the UK independent scene as well as the WWE Cruiserweight Classic. Tanahashi has been a fine Intercontinental Champion, however he has not elevated the belt in the same way that former champion Shinsuke Nakamura managed and there’s a good chance that Kota wins here to setup a match against Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Will Ospreay (c) vs Marty Scurll – Ospreay became the first ever British born IWGP Junior champion when he defeated KUSHIDA at King of Pro Wrestling, Marty Scurll has the opportunity here to become the second ever. This is a rivalry that has transcended companies and the New Japan faithful are in for a real treat.
NEVER Openweight Championship: Minoru Suzuki (c) vs Toru Yano – The most lopsided match on the card? You’d think so but Yano has this uncanny ability to beat Minoru Suzuki at will. Low blows and roll ups seem to be the order of the day when it comes to this match-up however I expect Suzuki to finally overcome Yano and show his dominance heading into the Tokyo Dome on January 4th.
In case you weren’t aware…UK promotion WCPW will be changing their name and relaunching as Defiant Wrestling on December 4th.
As part of the rebrand the WCPW Loaded series will also be coming to an end, the penultimate episode will be airing tonight on Twitch and available to view tomorrow on YouTube via the official What Culture account.
Here are the current planned matches for the episode:
WCPW Tag Team Title Match: War Machine (c) vs Jimmy Havoc & Primate
Bad Bones vs Gabriel Kidd
Mike Bailey & Veda Scott vs David Starr & Kay Lee Ray
– Ryan Dilbert of Bleacher Report published an interesting article about Mojo Rawley’s time in the NFL prior to becoming a WWE Superstar. The feature includes quotes from several of Mojo’s former teammates. Check it out here.
– Former WWE ring announcer Justin Roberts is giving fans a chance to download an electronic copy of his best-selling book for less than a dollar, but the promotion is only running tomorrow (Friday). If you haven’t read the book yet, head over to Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com to download Best Seat in the House: Your Backstage Pass through My WWE Journey for only $0.99.
Wade Barrett belongs to the long list of stars who at one point appeared to have a promising career in WWE but then lost their momentum due to wrong creative decisions and then never recovered from it.
During his recent interview with SPORTbible Barrett openly talked about his time in the company and revealed how he was unhappy with the creative direction of his character. Below are some of the highlights from his interview:
If he wants to get back in the ring:
“I have my good days and bad days. There’s days where I think I don’t miss it all and then there’s days like yesterday [at Refuse to Lose on October 2] where you see the kind of reactions the guys were getting and get that desire to get back in the ring. I’m 99 percent certain I will wrestle again at some point, I just couldn’t tell you when. I have those days where I’m like ‘No, everything hurts, I don’t ever wanna get back in a wrestling ring again’ – but I have days where I feel great and can’t wait to get back in. I know at some point I’ll be wanting to get back in, so if the right opportunity comes along we’ll get it done.”
On leaving WWE:
“I didn’t really ask to be released. My contract was coming to an end, I’d been there just over nine years at that point – I was not happy with the way my creative had gone and not happy with some stuff behind the scenes, and the way I’d been treated by certain people there, so in my opinion it was time to move on and do something else, at least for a while. I’d been offered a new contract by them, I didn’t want to sign; I told them, I was upfront with them. I don’t think they were thrilled about it but there’s not a lot you can do – I felt that I was wasting my time there.
On not being happy in the company:
“There’s a lot of guys who are not happy with their lot there, I wasn’t happy with my lot there for several years but always believed I was capable of getting to the next level through my work or through my performances, and my ability to get over. It got to the point where I didn’t believe I was getting the opportunities to get to the level that I wanted to and I think once I’d seen the writing on the wall from that perspective, it was a very easy decision for me to leave and I’m guessing it was the same for guys like Ryback, guys like Del Rio, guys like Cody, who perhaps, like me, decided it was best to move on too.”
The downfall of ‘Bad News’ Barrett:
“The problem with Bad News was that I was getting a babyface reaction. It was one of those things where it was supposed to be a heel thing but I think people were so entertained by it that they started cheering it and look forward to it, even though I am insulting them. Vince never wanted me was a babyface, he thought I wrestled like a heel and I was English. He didn’t want me to be a babyface at all, which was fine and I was happy being a heel. But I think sometimes the crowd dictates things and even though Vince wants me as a heel, you can’t put me as a heel and the only way we could really turn me back into a heel, and stop them cheering for me, was to take away ‘Bad News’. At that point, I was just a guy who had nothing, so I was coming out, I wasn’t allowed to do the catchphrase or anything like that. I was just a very bland guy. So they gave me King of the Ring as something to do, I suppose, but doing a King of the Ring in this day and age just doesn’t work. It might have worked in the 80’s but I think wearing a crown and scepter in this day, to me, it doesn’t work.”
