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GFW To Announce Bound For Glory Host City On Monday

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Global Force released a teaser video on Friday regarding the company’s upcoming Bound For Glory pay-per-view, which is scheduled for Sunday, November 5th.

The teaser indicates that Bound For Glory may be held in the UK, but we’re told this is not what’s planned for the show. GFW officials decided over the last week that Bound For Glory will be held somewhere outside Orlando and the host city will be announced this coming Monday.

It’s also worth noting that the Bound For Glory logo featured in the video displays the “IMPACT!” logo, while a logo for the event released last week had the letters “GFW” in that space.

https://youtu.be/z1MT8GZ01rc

Update: GFW has released similar “Where will Bound For Glory land?” videos featuring footage from various other cities, including New York, Las Vegas and Mumbai:

https://youtu.be/8o-PUmeXkUA

John Cena Compares Reigns Feud To Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James

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John Cena appeared on ESPN’s Michael Kay Show this week, which you can subscribe to on iTunes. The show is co-hosted by Peter Rosenberg of ESPN, Hot 97 and WWE fame.

Cena spoke about a number of topics, including the projects he’s currently working on outside of WWE, being an inspiration to fans around the world, working with Roman Reigns and which hypothetical sports rivalry he thinks best compares to his feud with Reigns.

Cena said he’s currently finishing voiceover work for the animated film Ferdinand, which hits theaters on December 15th. Cena portrays a “giant but gentle bull” who must find a way to break free from his captors and return home to his family. He’s currently out on the west coast starting to film Bumble Bee, the upcoming Transformer movie spinoff. Next, he’s headed to China with WWE.

When asked if it’s difficult to be an inspiration to so many young fans, Cena said he has great perspective of what he does. Every day, he realizes it’s a gift to be in his position and being a WWE Superstar is an amazing opportunity to reach people.

Regarding his feud with Roman Reigns, Rosenberg said he feels Cena vs. Reigns is like a modern day Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior. It’s the company’s two top babyfaces colliding and fans are split on who they’re supporting. Cena said he prefers to equate the Reigns feud to famous sports rivalries like New York vs. Boston. He thinks the most accurate comparison is Michael Jordan vs. LeBron games in a game of one-on-one. Like Michael Jordan, he considers himself very competitive and wants to make sure WWE’s future is in good hands with Reigns positioned as the top babyface for this next era.

Rosenberg asked Cena if it was weird getting cheered lately after a certain segment of the audience has been so outspoken against him for years. Cena said it’s weird, but the WWE audience and WWE live events are always unpredictable. Every week is exciting.

They got into some talk about sports, with Cena saying he’s a huge fan of college football. The college football fans are passionate like wrestling fans and he loves ‘reading’ the crowd. They discussed the Boston Red Socks’ recent scandal and using Apple watches to cheat against the New York Yankees. Cena said baseball has to evolve and has always been slow to adopt modern technology, since the game is so rooted in tradition. Cena said a downside of this conservative approach is that human error is part of the game and doesn’t understand why MLB has umpires monitoring the strike zone for pitchers instead of using laser technology .

When asked which sports figure he was most impressed by, Cena named 2-time Super Bowl winner Peyton Manning.

You can listen to the full interview at ESPN.com.

NXT Star Loses Home In Hurricane Irma

Jon Fuentes
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NXT star Lacey Evans took to Instagram to announce that she lost her home, appliances, clothes, and personal possessions to Hurricane Irma in Florida. While Evans isn’t worried as much about her home or clothes, things that can be replaced, she was very much hurt by losing some photos of her late father that she can be seen attempting to recover in the photo below:

“I can replace appliances….clothes…hell, my entire home. But this will never be replaced. Never. I could give two shits about what I’ve lost. But damn this is the worse? part. All I have left of my father are these? saving what i can. #HurricaneIrma can kiss my ass.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZCVcc0HXIi/

Early Details On Paige’s Family Biopic ‘Fighting With My Family’

Jon Fuentes
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As we’ve previously reported, former WWE Champion The Rock is producing a movie based around ex-WWE Divas Champ Paige and her wrestling family entitled, ‘Fighting With My Family.’

The film is set to release in 2018 and has some big-name actors staring in it. Paige’s mother will be played by Lena Headey (Cersei on Game of Thrones), Florence Pugh will be portraying Paige, and Vince Vaughn also has a role in the film that is unknown.

A recent report from Pro Wrestling Sheet shed some more light on the film. The report suggests that the movie actually “wasn’t bad” based on the reception from early screenings. The film captures Paige’s journey from the indie scene in England to her arrival in NXT. Her WWE Divas Title win over AJ Lee is also a part of the film, and was taped after an episode of Monday Night RAW a few months back.

The acting in the film is also said to be strong and features an emotional ending to the movie. Despite this, it is still being described as  “paint-by-numbers and could’ve been pieced together from press releases and IMDB”

The Rock will also be making a few appearances in the film in the form of backstage interactions with Paige at WWE events, and also reportedly has some good one-liners.

Other WWE Superstars are expected to make appearances in the film, but the IMDB page for the movie only has Sheamus and the Big Show as the only other WWE Superstars in the movie thus far.

Shayna Baszler Backstage At WWE NXT, (Video) Sasha Banks Chooses Between The Rock And Stone Cold Steve Austin

Jon Fuentes
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– Mae Young Classic finalist Shayna Baszler was backstage during last night’s (Thurs. September 14, 2017) NXT TV tapings at Full Sail University. She was not working the tapings and there is no confirmation on whether or not she has signed with the company. There has been a ton of speculation on her status with the WWE since Triple H took to Twitter to welcome her and tournament winner Kairi Sane to the WWE prior to the finals.

– WWE Superstar Sasha Banks was featured on the latest episode of Champs Sports’ “Her Take,” in an interview filmed at the WWE Performance Center In Florida. During the interview Banks did a segment in which she has to choose between two things. “The Legit Boss” picked WWE NXT over RAW, Chyna over Sable, and Stone Cold Steve Austin over The Rock. Banks explained her pick of Austin over Rock, saying that “The Texas Rattlesnake” once DM’d her on Twitter to congratulate her on one of her matches. Check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0rKR9klFKs&feature=youtu.be

(Video) Ronda Rousey And Young Fan Team Up On WWE Security Guard, Matt Hardy Thanks The WWE Universe

Jon Fuentes
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– TMZ Sports posted the following video of ex-UFC champ Ronda Rousey and a young fan adorably teaming up on a WWE security guard during The Mae Young Classic in Las Vegas Tuesday night. Check it out here:

– While on tour with RAW through Australia this past week, Matt and Jeff Hardy picked up a few good wins over former RAW Tag Team Champs Sheamus and Cesaro. Matt took to Twitter to thank the WWE Universe for helping he and Jeff return to WWE earlier this year:

Bobby Roode On Which Main Roster Star He Would Like To Face

Anutosh Bajpai
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It has only been a few weeks since Bobby Roode made his main roster debut and naturally, there are a lot of wrestlers on both of WWE’s top Brands whom people want him to face.

During his recent appearance on The Baby Huey and Bimbo Jimbo show, the former NXT Champion was asked who is the wrestler he would like to face in the main roster.

Replying to the question Roode took the name of his fellow TNA Alumni AJ Styles saying that it would be very special for him to face the current US Champion on a WWE Stage:

“The first guy that kind of comes to mind here on the Smackdown roster would be A.J. (Styles). A.J. is one of those guys that I had the pleasure of coming up together in the business with. He’s been in the business as long as I have, and we’ve traveled many roads together, and been in the ring a lot, but never on a WWE stage, so that would be very special for me”

Continuing on the topic, he also talked about potential opponents from the Raw roster and took the names of John Cena and Braun Strowman:

“Anybody on Raw? I mean again there are so many guys over there. John Cena would be awesome. Braun Strowman…I mean the names go on and on and on guys that I haven’t been in the ring with.”

Apart from this, Bobby Roode also talked about being excited while joining NXT and repeated his comments about how it brought back his passion for wrestling.

Quotes via EWrestlingNews.

Spoilers: NXT Tapings Results Through 10/18

Staff
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On Thursday night, WWE taped the next 4 weeks of NXT television from Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL. These shows run through October 18th. Thanks to Will Henderson (@willh94) for texting us the following spoilers:

* Triple H comes out to give a pep talk about the rough week it has been in Florida. Nice sentiment from Hunter

September 27th Episode:

* NXT General Manager William Regal announces a Fatal 4 Way at Takeover: Houston for the vacant Women’s Title with Kairi Sane as the first confirmed competitor. There will be matches to decide the 3 other competitors tonight

* SAnitY hits the ring from various points in the crowd. NXT Tag Team Champion Eric Young says the only thing that matters is the chaos, and tonight, Adam Cole, he is going to take him to the edge of sanity

* Lars Sullivan defeated Oney Lorcan. Oney tries to mount offense, but Lars catches him in the air off a tope to the outside and slams him into the apron. Oney goes stiff and starts landing uppercuts and slaps, but Lars turns him inside out with a brutal clothesline and hits his side Uranage for the win. After the match, Lars goes to attack Oney, but Danny Burch runs down and distracts him, allowing Oney to escape

* Tucker Knight and Otis Dozovic defeated Demitrius Bronson and an unknown wrestler (had Scott on his trunks). Typical Heavy Machinery match. Small hope spots for the jobbers, but in the end, Heavy Machinery hit the Compactor on Scott with Bronson on the mat under him to pick up the win

* Liv Morgan defeated Vanessa Borne. Lots of pin attempts early. Liv does a matrix dodge of a clothesline, then a leg drop over Borne’s back for a 1 count. Liv picks up the win with a running codebreaker

* Kassius Ohno defeated Fabian Aichner. Ohno hits a boot to knock Aichner outside, then does his fake out flip on the ropes. Aichner hits an impressive tilt-o-whirl backbreaker on Ohno to send him outside. Aichner then brutally botches a springboard crossbody to the outside. Ohno rolls him back in and they brawl until Ohno is sent back outside and Aichner hits the springboard crossbody this time. Back and forth in the ring, until Aichner gets Ohno up for a powerbomb, but Kassius gets out of it. Aichner hits a powerslam for two. Aichner misses his springboard moonsault, and after a little back and forth, Ohno hits the rolling boot for the win

* The Undisputed Era is out – Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish. Cole does the “BAYBAY!” taunt on the ramp and has BayBay on his trunks. Cole asks how this place survived without them and says we can feel change in the air, and they are untouchable, undisputed, and this is their era

* Adam Cole (w/Undisputed Era) defeated Eric Young (w/SAnitY). Ringside distractions early leading to Cole getting the upperhand and getting a headlock latched in. Young turns the tide and battles back. EY throws Cole off the top rope, but O’Reilly and Fish get on the apron. Dain & Wolfe pull them off and battle on the floor, when EY comes off the top with a cross body to wipe everyone out. As Young gets back in the ring, Cole nails his flying shining wizard for the pin and escapes before SAnitY can attack

October 4th Episode:

* They are wrapping the middle rope in pink, so it’s October now and we’re on to Breast Cancer Awareness month

* Ruby Riot & Nikki Cross defeated Billie Kay & Peyton Royce. This was announced as a tag match, but once again, Ruby did not have a partner when the bell rang. Ruby dominates the early part of the match, isolating the numbers game. It finally catches up to her, though, as the Iconic duo takes control. Mid-match, Nikki across again comes to ringside and looks on as Peyton has Ruby in a headlock. Nikki slowly climbs on to the apron as Ruby fights out of the headlock. Ruby crawls to her corner and Nikki extends her hand for the tag. Nikki goes wild and cleans house. Nikki hits an inverted DDT but Peyton breaks it up. Billie and Peyton hit their tag finisher, but Nikki kicks out at 2. Nikki gets the tag to Ruby, who dives off the top rope to take out the Iconic ones, and hits the Riot Kick for the win

* Lio Rush vs. Aleister Black doesn’t begin, as The Velveteen Dream jumps Lio during Aleister’s entrance and invites Black into the ring. Dream bails when Aleister enters though, and smacks the mat and tells Aleister to say his name as he exits up the ramp

* Kairi Sane defeated Aliyah. Sane is incredibly over, as expected. Short match, Aliyah got some offense in, but Kairi hits a spear, her baseball slide forearm, and the elbow for the win

* Drew McIntyre defeated Roderick Strong to retain the NXT Title. Awesome match. Lockup to start. Drew throws Roddy into the corner and challenges him to come at him. David vs Goliath idea happening here, as Roddy has a significant height disadvantage. Roddy goes to flip up in the corner, but Drew kicks him in the gut. Drew throws Roddy literally across the ring with an overhead suplex. Drew drops Strong on the guardrail. Strong with a flying knee off the apron as the continue to brawl ringside. Roddy hits a backbreaker on the steel steps. Strong rolls him back in the ring and starts targeting Drew’s spine. McIntyre reverses an Irish whip and tosses Strong into the turnbuckles. Strong is dominating with stiff kicks and elbows. Drew hits a suplex and tries to regain control. They trade strikes. Drew hits his inverted Alabama Slam for a nearfall. Drew sits Strong on the top rope and goes for a slam, but Strong flips out and hits an enziguri. Strong with a superplex for a nearfall. They trade punches and Roddy hits a powerbomb for 2. Drew hits a middle rope Celtic Cross for a near fall. After a great exchange at the end, Drew powerbomb a Roddy into the ringpost outside and hits the Claymore kick for the win. Roddy and Drew shake hands post-match as Nigel McGuinness gives the a standing ovation. Roderick is on the stage when The Undisputed Era walk out and pat him on the back. Cole talks to Strong before leaving. Drew looks perplexed and so does Strong

October 11th Episode:

* NXT Women’s Title Qualifier: Peyton Royce (w/Billie Kay) defeated Nikki Cross and Liv Morgan to advance to “Takeover: Houston” in the Fatal 4 Way with Kairi Sane. Liv and Nikki take turns arguing with Peyton until they accidentally lock arms and decide to clothesline her out of the ring. Peyton comes back in and the other two duck her spin kick, then Nikki uses Liv as a weapon to hit Peyton. Peyton and Liv go at each other, and Peyton locks a submission hold in on the ropes. Nikki grabs Peyton by the hair and pulls her off Liv, with a nasty head-first fall to the floor. Nikki goes for her too rope dropkick, but Peyton pulls Liv in the way. Nikki runs wild on both girls. Tower of Doom spot where Nikki powerbombs Peyton who suplexes Liv. The Undisputed Era come out with Taynara Conti and Cole sends her to the ring. Nikki has Liv pinned, when Conti pulls her from the ring. Nikki chases her around the ring, but when Nikki gets back in, Peyton hits her spin kick for the win

* The Velveteen Dream defeated Lio Rush. Dream talks trash but Rush slaps him and unleashes a flurry of quick moves that brings Full Sail to its feet chanting “Lio.” Dream cuts him off, but Lio keeps fighting back. Dream lays Rush out and hits his elbow drop. This time jumping from the middle to top rope to deliver it. Dream assumes Aleister’s post-match seated pose to boos and taunts the camera. Lip gets a big pop from the crowd off camera leaving the ring

* Lars Sullivan defeated Danny Burch. Danny slaps Lars to start, and Lars unloads. Lars dominates. Danny squirms out of a powerslam and nails some shots, but Lars levels him and hits his finisher for the win

* The Street Profits defeated 2 enhancement talents. Quick squash. The Profits hit all their signature moves and Montez Ford acted like a crazy man in the match. Profits win with the powerbomb/frog splash combo

* Andrade “Cien” Almas (w/Zelina Vega) defeated Johnny Gargano. Another great match. Good back and forth to start. Andrade does the tranquilo pose in the ropes, Gargano fakes him out with a kick to get him out of the ropes, and goes for a submission, but Andrade gets the ropes. They battle on the apron on Almas drops Johnny spine first on the apron. Nice exchange of reversals leading to Andrade locking on an armbar in the ropes. Gargano hits a suicide dive to the outside. More reversal exchanges. Andrade with a roll up and handful of tights, but Gargano kicks out. Gargano backs Andrade in the corner after an El Idolo attempt. Gargano nails a kick off the apron to Andrade. They trade blows and Gargano hits a superkick for 2. Johnny up top, but Andrade pushes the ref into the ropes. Andrade goes for El Idolo off the top rope, but Gargano blocks it. Gargano flips off the ropes and hits a clothesline and the lawn dart, and locks in the GargaNo Escape. Vega takes off her jacket to reveal a DIY shirt. Andrade gets to the ropes and Gargano trades words with Vega. A series of roll-ups by both guys. Johnny goes for a tilt-o-whirl into the GargaNoEscape, but Andrade tosses him into the bottom turnbuckle. Andrade nails the running knees to the back of Gargano’s head twice, then hits El Idolo for the win

October 18th Episode:

* NXT Women’s Title Qualifier: Ember Moon defeated Ruby Riot & Sonya Deville to advance to “Takeover: Houston” in the Fatal 4 Way with Kairi Sane and Peyton Royce. Pretty uneventful to start. Ember goes for a springboard but gets speared out of the air by Sonya. Ruby and Sonya go at it. Ruby goes for a suicide dive, but Sonya cuts her off with a forearm. Sonya and Ember brawl on the floor, and Ruby hits a cross body off the top onto both of them. Ruby is selling a bad ankle (not selling, actually injured). Sonya locks in an ankle lock. Ruby gets to the ropes but Sonya doesn’t break, drags her back to the center and locks it in again. Ember hits the eclipse on Sonya while she has the ankle lock on and picks up the win

* Aleister Black defeated Raul Mendoza. As the match starts, Velveteen Dream appears at ringside and puts Aleister’s vest on. Mendoza gets a nice flurry of offense in including a corkscrew suicide dive. Aleister snaps and unloads on Mendoza and hits Black Mass for the win. Velveteen starts to leave with the vest then drops it and leaves, all while Aleister remains unfazed in his seated position in the ring

* Kassius Ohno defeated Cezar Bononi. Bononi actually got a decent amount of offense in on this one. Kassius hits a through the middle rope dropkick and lands on his feet. Quick match, Ohno picks up the win

* SAnitY defeated The Undisputed Era via disqualification in six-man action. SAnitY dominates the early going, working over both Fish and O’Reilly. Cole drops off the apron each time someone comes over for a tag. Young grabs Cole but Fish kicks him and knocks him out of the ring. O’Reilly lays in kicks and rags in Cole, who stomps on EY then tags out to Fish. Cole back in and goes to work on EY. Cole locks in a headlock. The Undisputed Era isolate Young and keep tagging in and out. Kyle goes for a corner splash, but Young moves. Kyle tags in Fish who stops Young from making the tag. Young gets the hot tag to Killian Dain. Dain hits a senton to Fish while dropkicking Kyle. Dain manhandles reDRagon as Cole looks on. Cole superkicks Dain to break up a pin. SAnitY takes out reDRagon and sets their sights on Cole. Cole gets cornered and Dain drags him into the ring. They set Cole up for a triple team when The Authors of Pain’s music hits. AoP attack for the DQ. Young goes for a suicide dive and splats the ramp. AoP take out Dain, then hit the Super Collider on Young & Wolfe. Undisputed Era look on from the ramp as AoP pose with the belts to end the show

Update On The Future Of Several Mae Young Classic Competitors

Anutosh Bajpai
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There have been lots of speculations regarding the Mae Young Classic competitors since the culmination of the tournament. Here are the latest updates from F4WOnline.com regarding the status of some of the participants:

– Vanessa Borne, Zeda, Sarah Logan, Xia Li, Rhea Ripley, Abby Laith, Kavita Devi, Dakota Kai, Bianca Belair, Sage Beckett, Lacey Evans, Taynara Conti, Reina Gonzalez and winner of the tournament Kairi Sane have all been signed by the company.

– The runner up Shayna Baszler is not being advertised for any upcoming indie shows, though her signing is yet to be confirmed.

–  Candice LeRae, Piper Niven and Mercedes Martinez have not signed yet, but they were brought in for the Finals of the tournament this past Tuesday night and the belief is that Officials are interested in them.

– Toni Storm also remains a free agent as of this writing, but it’s speculated that she’ll get an offer, especially because of her young age. It’s interesting to note here that she was reportedly penciled to be in the finals of the tournament but those plans were nixed due to the Horsewomen angle.

– Tessa Blanchard is the only mentionable name who wasn’t present at the finals of the tournament and she hasn’t been signed despite her name on the independent circuit.

It’s worth mentioning here that while other participants could still be signed in the near future, they have lesser chance of being offered a contract than the names mentioned above.

(Spoiler) Kairi Sane’s Opponents For NXT Women’s Title Match Revealed

Anutosh Bajpai
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As we reported previously, the Game Triple H revealed after the finals of Mae Young Classic that Kairi Sane will be competing for the vacant NXT Women’s Championship at Takeover: Houston.

However, the Former World Champion hadn’t revealed who will face Kairi which left people speculating about the possible opponent for the Japanese star.

During the latest NXT Tapings, General Manager William Regal confirmed the rumors that the match at Takeover: Houston will be a fatal four way instead of a one on one bout and revealed that they will hold qualifying matches to determine the other participants.

The first qualifying match which was taped later in the night saw Peyton Royce (w/Billie Kay) defeat Nikki Cross and Liv Morgan to advance to the next Takeover Event:

https://twitter.com/JJWilliamsWON/status/908490834743562240

https://twitter.com/JJWilliamsWON/status/908492927097344004

The second similar bout saw Ember Moon defeat Ruby Riot and Sonya Deville to earn a spot at the upcoming Championship match at NXT Takeover: Houston:

https://twitter.com/JJWilliamsWON/status/908505673931124736

https://twitter.com/JJWilliamsWON/status/908507821809061888

Though the tapings ended with the episode featuring the second qualifying match so the fourth spot at the Fatal Four Way is still open and it’d be interesting to see who fills it up.

For those who don’t know, Asuka relinquished the NXT Women’s Championship after breaking her right collarbone during NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III in her match against Ember Moon. She is now headed to the main roster and will join Raw.

Report via WrestlingInc

Authors Of Pain Rumored For Main Roster Call Up

Anutosh Bajpai
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Ever since The Authors Of Pain lost the NXT Tag Team Championship, people have been speculating about their future and it appears that they might be debuting on the Main Roster soon.

During the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer revealed that there have been talks of bringing the former Champions to the main roster and they can join the SmackDown Live Brand.

Authors of Pain first appeared on WWE Programming during the NXT Takeover: The End back in June 2016 where they attacked American Alpha after their match.

The duo has an impressive record in the development territory. They have won the 2016 edition of Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament and the NXT Tag Team Championships once as well.

The team of Akam and Rezar recently lost the NXT Tag titles to Sanity during NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III which originally started the speculations that they may get called up.

The fact that the duo hasn’t appeared on NXT since losing the tag titles only strengthened these rumors and after Meltzer’s comments, it appears that we may see them debuting on the Main Roster soon.

Though the exact plans for their debut are not known, so it’s hard to say when or where the former Champions will make their first main roster appearance.

The Miz Surpasses Honky Tonk Man, Chris Jericho’s Failed Catchphrases (Video)

Robert Lentini
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The Miz becomes 3rd longest reigning Intercontinental Champion

The Miz took to Twitter today to announce that he has now surpassed the Honky Tonk Man as the third longest reigning Intercontinental Champion. The Miz has held the title for 455 days now. It took The Miz 7 title runs to reach that number, while the Honky Tonk Man hit 454 days with only one run with the IC Championship.

https://twitter.com/mikethemiz/status/908469536705384448

Chris Jericho jam session

Chris Jericho joined The Kicker for an episode of “Jam Sesh” to promote his new book No Is A Four Letter Word. During the interview, Jericho stated that people cannot request to be placed on the list. Jericho performed a song about how it is not wise to ask to have your name added to the list.

Jericho noted that he never knew what catchphrase was going to connect with the crowd. He thought the phrase “razzle-dazzle” was going to be a hit, but it failed miserably the couple of times he tried using it. Jericho also said that he thought “get it? got it? good!” would catch on with the crowd but that didn’t work either.

Tyrese Calls Out The Rock Over ‘Fast And Furious’ Spinoff Movie

Robert Lentini
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Last year, The Rock and Vin Diesel didn’t get along too well while filming The Fate of the Furious. This led to The Rock posting on Instagram and referring to his male co-stars as “candy asses”.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BI25NjMDPWv/

Now, The Rock seems to not be getting along with another co-star. This time it is Tyrese Gibson who has an issue with The Rock. Tyrese took to Instagram begging for The Rock to text him back. Tyrese got pissed off about the following Instagram post by The Rock four days ago:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BY12mfHFOP1/

Tyrese got upset because he wants The Rock to wait until Fast 9 wraps up filming before he starts production on a spinoff film featuring his character Hobbs from the franchise. Tyrese went on a rant and has since deleted a couple of the posts.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BY2YMLelIva/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BY8PGf9FF5k/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BY4mkECndQP/

Backstage News On Plans For Rusev, John Cena Not Scheduled For RAW

Robert Lentini
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Cena not scheduled to appear on RAW

For the past three weeks on RAW, John Cena and Roman Reigns have had a confrontation in the ring. That most likely will not be happening on Monday’s go-home episode of RAW before WWE No Mercy on September 24th.

Cena will be heading to China this weekend for Sunday’s SmackDown Live Event in Shenzhen. Monday’s episode of RAW is in San Jose, California. A flight from Shenzhen to San Jose would take roughly 17 hours.

Cena was beatdown by Braun Strowman on this past Monday’s episode of RAW and WWE could use that to explain Cena’s absence.

Rusev to continue feud with Randy Orton

Rusev has lost two PPV matches in a row since returning from injury. He lost to John Cena in a Flag match at WWE Battleground. Rusev then lost Randy Orton at SummerSlam in a match that lasted 10 seconds.

According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Rusev is expected to continue his feud with Randy Orton heading into WWE Hell in a Cell next month.

On Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown, Rusev was interviewed backstage. During the interview, Rusev discussed his loss to Randy Orton at SummerSlam and stated that it was the biggest loss of his career. Rusev said that he has lost his killer instinct, but he knows what he has to do to get it back. Rusev claimed that he was going to “break a legend” and walked away.

Taya Valkyrie Talks GFW Debut, Mae Young Classic, Lucha Underground Season 4

Staff
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Global Force Wrestling and Lucha Underground star Taya Valkyrie was the latest guest on Ring Rust Radio.

Topics discussed include her recent Impact Wrestling debut, the possibility of working with Johnny Impact in GFW, her elaborate ring entrance, GFW’s Women’s division, attending the finals of the Mae Young Classic tournament, the Sexy Star / Rosemary incident from AAA TripleMania XXV and the future of Lucha Underground.

Here are the highlights from the interview sent in by Donald Wood:

Ring Rust Radio: On the September 7th episode of Impact Wrestling, you made your GFW debut with a grand entrance and an attack on Rosemary. What ultimately went into your decision to sign with GFW and what was the signing process like?

Taya Valkyrie: I’m constantly trying to expand where I am wrestling and who I am wrestling and looking for the best female wrestlers everywhere, you know what I mean? Karen and Jeff had known me for about five years and they would come down to Mexico and work with AAA all the time. Karen and I would laugh about me coming to work with her and do her projects with her and stuff, but I just couldn’t. It was really an exciting thing to be asked to be a part of it. I am really happy and excited to see what happens. It’s a different opportunity, it’s a different demographic than the lucha libre crowd and I get to wrestle some girls that I’ve never worked with before. It’s a new challenge for me so I’m very excited.

Ring Rust Radio: You and Johnny have worked great together in Lucha Underground as part of Worldwide Underground, and now that you’re both in GFW there’s inevitably going to be questions about whether you’ll team up there as well. What’s your personal preference between either keeping that alliance alive in GFW or both of you just doing your own thing?

Taya Valkyrie: Throughout my entire career, I’ve always been part of factions. In Lucha Underground, I’m part of the Worldwide Underground. With this opportunity at GFW, I get to stand on my own. It’s exciting and it’s something I haven’t done before. You never know what the future will hold, and I’m so happy the way Johnny Impact is doing what he’s doing on his end in GFW. I’m excited to see and show that I can be on my own and hold my own by myself. So, it’s different and challenging. You never know what the future will hold as far as John and I working together or in a group, but for now I’m really excited for Taya Valkyrie and proving that I can do it about myself.

Ring Rust Radio: Your GFW debut featured an incredible entrance. What went into setting that up and what type of creative input or freedom do you currently have or think you’ll have moving forward at GFW?

Taya Valkyrie: Taya as a character I just find her to be another side of myself and it’s really cool to now have Taya Valkyrie in GFW be so different than Taya in Lucha Underground every week. I was the longest reigning Reina de Reinas champion and that’s where the Queen stuff comes from because Reina de Reinas means Queen of Queens. I’m of Norwegian background and the Taya Valkyrie you are seeing now is this dominant force, goddess, queen, bitch if you want put it any other words. This Taya is coming to dominate. Creatively, I always come with my own ideas and everyone is super open to my ideas and everything I have come up with so far so hopefully it keeps going that way.

Ring Rust Radio: You enter a GFW women’s division stacked with stars like Gail Kim, Rosemary, Sienna, Allie and more. Who are you most looking forward to squaring off against and what are your ultimate goals in GFW?

Taya Valkyrie: Obviously, my ultimate goal is to be the Knockouts champion, who doesn’t want that, you know what I mean? Right now, I’m just going to pick them off one by one and prove why I am there. I am going to prove my worth, demonstrate and show to everybody in the American public and the world stage which is the stage of GFW Impact, that I deserve to be there and why I am the longest reigning Queen of Queens champion. I am going to show them why I was given all these opportunities and show the knowledge that I’ve gained through the wrestling career that I’ve had.

Ring Rust Radio: There’s been so much buzz surrounding women’s wrestling in recent years, and one thing that really seems to be taking the wrestling world by storm currently is the Mae Young Classic. What are your impressions of the tournament if you’ve been following, and what kind of impact do you think it can have on women’s wrestling globally?

Taya Valkyrie: I was actually at the final last night here in Las Vegas. Anything that promotes women’s wrestling to me is a positive thing and I know so many girls and women that were in the tournament who are friends of mine. I follow their careers and for me I’m just so proud of being part of a movement that’s happening right now. I’m coming from a different side of it with the lucha libre world and stuff, but I’m just really excited to see what happens. Women, we main event now, we are not the arm candy. We are the ones breaking down barriers, breaking the rules, and I think the Mae Young Classic is just another part of that. I’m just happy that more eyeballs and people are seeing what women’s wrestling is and taking it seriously and not viewing it as a joke.

Ring Rust Radio: GFW, WWE and Lucha Underground are really leading the charge for women’s wrestling in the mainstream. What do you make of the way these companies promote their women wrestlers and what do you think yourself and the other women need to do to receive more main-event opportunities? 

Taya Valkyrie: I just think we need to just keep doing what we’re doing and chipping away at it. I think we’re doing the right thing right now and we are proving it in the ring every single time. You’re seeing it at different indie shows and Lucha Underground and Impact and WWE. Given the opportunities that women have on these different rosters, we take it and we go with it. I just think we need to keep doing what we’re doing: working, training hard and making people that aren’t believers into believers. Slowly but surely we are proving it and that’s the most important thing to me.

Ring Rust Radio: One major topic of conversation in recent weeks has been the incident between Sexy Star and Rosemary. As a AAA veteran and someone who worked with both Sexy Star and Rosemary, what are your thoughts on the situation and how it was handled?

Taya Valkyrie: I don’t want to go too much into it because honestly, I don’t want to give more attention to something or someone that doesn’t need it. Rosemary is the nicest, most professional woman, and a fellow Canadian. Obviously, I had the privilege and continued privilege to work with her. I was so embarrassed and disappointed watching that match on a whole, not just the finish but the whole thing. I consider myself as an international woman and a face of what women’s wrestling is in AAA, and I just feel so embarrassed and I think basically that’s all I can say about it. It was so ridiculous to me, uncalled for and unprofessional. I was so disappointed and I continue to be disappointed by it. I just feel like it happened but it’ll never happen again. I hope to God it never happens again. I experienced similar situations in my five years being in AAA with different female wrestlers there in the Indies throughout Mexico because I am Canadian, I look different, it’s crazy to me, but it still exists. There are still people that are just out for themselves. It is what it is, but I’m so happy that Rosemary is doing better because I can’t wait to kick her ass.

Ring Rust Radio: There continues to be a lot of interest and support for Lucha Underground, especially with Ultima Lucha coming up soon, but I think there’s some concern from fans about whether a fourth season is going to happen. What would you like to see happen with Lucha Underground moving forward, and what’s your expectation with regard to whether there will be a fourth season?

Taya Valkyrie: Lucha Underground changed my life. As I mentioned in Jericho’s podcast, that is where I finally branched out to wrestling in the states, I met my fiancé there and it really changed my life. So, for me obviously I want to see a Season 4. We have so much fun when we are filming and the creative team, the entire roster we just create magic during those tapings. I just want to do it again, who doesn’t? So hopefully the fans keep watching it and supporting it and let’s hope to the Lucha Gods we get to do a Season 4. So far, we don’t really know what’s going on exactly but I’m really, really positive that with something as special as Lucha Underground we will be able to do it again. I am very confident, but I honestly don’t know. I still don’t know, but I just have faith. I always try to look at the shiny side of the whole situation and find something good in it. Yeah, we haven’t filmed in like 15 months or something, but I love creating that product. It’s so different from GFW and WWE. It something new and exciting and I get to be two characters. I am still under the name Taya obviously, but I truly believe that Lucha Underground and GFW are so different and I get to be a part of both. So, we will see what happens moving forward and hopefully Season 4 happens sooner rather than later.

Pete Dunne Returning to ICW on October 1st

Jake Skudder
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WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne will be heading back to ICW on October 1st at the Garage in Glasgow.

Dunne make his debut for the company earlier this year and he also defended his WWE title at ICW’s ‘Shugs Hoose Party 4’ PPV against Wolfgang, Trent Seven and BT Gunn, this was the first time that an active WWE Title had been defended outside of the company in the United Kingdom.

You can watch that bout for free in it’s entirety below:

https://twitter.com/InsaneChampWres/status/908408964198666240

AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin Confirmed For Next Week’s SmackDown

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After strong viewership for this week’s “Sin City” edition of SmackDown Live, WWE is looking to keep the momentum going with a big title match just announced for next week.

United States Champion AJ Styles will defend the gold against Baron Corbin next Tuesday night. The announcement was made Thursday afternoon in a video hosted by Cathy Kelley.

Styles and Corbin have been at odds for weeks. On this week’s show, Corbin got involved in Styles’ title defense against Tye Dillinger. The interference was blocked, but after the match, Corbin laid Styles out with End of Days and told the Phenomenal One he’ll be answering the US ‘Open Challenge’ next week. Now, it’s official.

2K Senior Producer Talks About The “Gargantuan Task” Of Developing For Nintendo Switch

Staff
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WWE 2K18 hits stores on October 17th for Playstation 4 and Xbox One. You can get the game on 10/12 if you order the ‘Deluxe’ version. We know WWE 2K18 is also in development for Nintendo Switch, but the release date has yet to be announced. Amazon.com lists the release date as 12/31/17 (a placeholder) and 2K.com simply says, “Fall 2017.”

[vc_btn title=”Pre-Order WWE 2K18 now from Amazon.com” style=”gradient-custom” gradient_custom_color_2=”#960404″ align=”center” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Famzn.to%2F2f3C2po|||”]

During an interview with Gamereactor, 2K18 Senior Producer Rob Jones talking about the challenges working on the Switch version of that game. He was speaking about NBA 2K18, but the process of developing for Switch vs. PS4/XB1 is the same. Jones revealed that 2K needed a dedicated team just for “the gargantuan task” of bringing all the game’s features to the Switch version.

“Well the main thing that our president said from day one is that the Switch had to be the same exact game that was on PS4 and Xbox One, so by starting there, you know, the bar was already set extremely high, because we were already working really, really hard just to get it on platforms we already knew, and then suddenly to take that and miniaturise it for the portable, you know, the portable Switch (obviously it also plays when it’s docked), but to get all those features working on there was kind of a gargantuan task.

We actually had a second team just dedicated only to doing the Switch version just because it would have been impossible within the confines of VC […] So obviously we delivered a good experience. It’s not the same exact graphics because the Switch can’t push them, you know, but the experience itself – you’re not missing out on anything from the Switch version [compared] to the main consoles version.”

It’s worth noting that fans looking to play WWE 2K18 on Nintendo Switch actually will be missing out on at least one feature – the ability to have more than 6 characters on screen at once. [NintendoEverything]

OTT Third Anniversary Show Announced feat Matt Riddle, Colt Cabana, Rene Dupree and more

Jake Skudder
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Over The Top (OTT) Wrestling has announced a show on October 7th to celebrate their 3rd Anniversary. The aptly named ‘Third Year Anniversary’ takes place at the Tivoli Theatre in Dublin, Ireland and will feature the following matches:

  • Mark Haskins vs ACH
  • Matt Riddle vs ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey
  • Session Moth Martina vs Veda Scott
  • Zack Gibson vs Colt Cabana
  • Jordan Devlin vs El Ligero vs Bubblegum
  • Bobby George Jr vs Rene Dupree

OTT has an on demand service available for only $8 per month and you can check out a free match from their recent WrestlePops show here.

Taz Vents About NXT’s Poor Use Of Drew McIntyre

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On Thursday’s episode of The Taz Show, former ECW Champion Taz expressed his frustration with NXT’s booking and more specifically, the booking of NXT Champion Drew McIntyre.

Taz said he enjoyed the lengthy video package on Asuka that opened the show, but felt that it ate up a lot of time on the one-hour show and more focus should be put on Drew McIntyre. He thinks they’ve dropped the ball in building the new NXT Champion, despite being a fan of McIntyre’s in-ring work.

Taz pointed out how Wolfgang mentioned that he was trained by McIntyre, which would have been the perfect opportunity to have McIntyre do guest commentary for the UK Championship match. Wolfgang was viciously attacked by the Undisputed Era in the closing segment of the show, but McIntyre was nowhere to be found.

Had McIntyre been on commentary for the match, he could have gotten television time, helped put over Pete Dunne and had a confrontation with Adam Cole to close the show.

It’s a pretty good point that would have reinforced McIntyre’s mentorship of Wolfgang and advanced his feud with Adam Cole.

You can listen to Taz’s thoughts on Drew McIntyre and NXT over at Play.it.

Keith Lee Announced for ICW in November

Jake Skudder
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International star Keith Lee has been announced for Insane Championship Wrestling’s upcoming event in Liverpool, England on November 4th.

Lee has been making sporadic appearances across the UK for the past 6 months, including stints for XWA, PROGRESS and Revolution Pro. The EVOLVE/PWG star is highly praised by many in the independent wrestling scene and he has been touted for success in WWE by Mick Foley.

Tickets for the event are available to purchase through Ticketmaster.

https://twitter.com/InsaneChampWres/status/908374816402657280

Shelton Benjamin Discusses His WWE Return, Teaming With Chad Gable, More

Andrew Ravens
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Shelton Benjamin recently spoke with the WWE’s official website about his return to the sports entertainment company. Here are the highlights:

Returning to the company:

“It’s all kind of surreal, and I don’t feel like it’s hit me yet. Since I left the WWE, I moved to improve myself as a performer and come back. I really didn’t expect it to take seven years. So, it’s been a long road and I’m still trying to get used to it. It’s all very surreal. Being back with WWE is an emotional high and a professional high. So far, so good.”

His new tag team partner Chad Gable:

“Without a doubt. Chad is a great athlete, just like Charlie. Before I even get into that, though, Charlie Haas is, to this day, still my best friend. He’s my brother. We talk all the time. WWE created family when they put us together. We worked hard together and he helped push me. When you insert Chad Gable, obviously, there is going to be the comparisons to Charlie. I don’t like to make that comparison because they’re two different people. This isn’t The World’s Greatest Tag Team, this isn’t American Alpha — we are something completely different. But, obviously, there are similarities. They’re both tremendous athletes. They both have great drive, and even in the past couple of weeks I’ve seen Gable show signs of the intensity that Charlie had.”

You can read the entire interview here.

WWE SmackDown Viewership Up With Vince McMahon’s Return

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Tuesday’s “Sin City” edition of SmackDown Live from Las Vegas averaged 2,754,000 viewers, a healthy increase from 2,582,000 the previous week. This was the most-watched episode of SmackDown since the post-WrestleMania Superstar Shake-Up, which drew over 3.1 million viewers.

By comparison, this week’s RAW did 2,903,000 viewers, so this was one of the narrower gaps we’ve seen between the show in quite some time.

SmackDown saw the WWE television return of Vince McMahon, who took part in a show-closing angle involving Kevin Owens. The New Day also captured the SmackDown tag titles from The Usos in a street fight and Natalya retaining the SmackDown women’s title against Naomni.

Catch up on the Top 10 Moments from this week’s SmackDown Live:

WWE RAW Viewership Down Against Monday Night Football

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Monday’s WWE RAW from Anaheim California averaged 2,903,000 viewers, down from the previous week’s Labor Day edition (2,932,000).

RAW featured stiff competition from Week 1 of Monday Night Football on ESPN. The two NFL games did 11.4 million and 9.9 million viewers, respectively.

RAW featured John Cena vs. Braun Strowman in the main event, their first singles match together, Cena’s latest verbal altercation with Roman Reigns plus appearances from Universal Champion Brock Lesnar and his advocate, Paul Heyman.

Here’s the hourly viewership breakdown, courtesy of ShowbuzzDaily:

  • Hour 1: 3,022,000 viewers
  • Hour 2: 2,987,000 viewers
  • Hour 3: 2,699,000 viewers

Catch up on the Top 10 Moments from Monday’s WWE RAW:

Ex-WWE Title Holder Defends Dolph Ziggler’s Controversial Ultimate Warrior Spoof

Jon Fuentes
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On this past Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live, WWE Superstar Dolph Ziggler spoofed late WWE Hall Of Famer The Ultimate Warrior’s entrance.

Ziggler has been mocking entrances of both current and former WWE Superstars for the past two weeks, but after he took aim at Warrior’s, who passed away back in April of 2014, some fans took to social media to label Ziggler’s actions as disrespectful.

Former WWE Intercontinental Champion Lance Storm is not one of those fans, who defended Ziggler on Twitter and explained why his actions are actually a compliment, as they mean he is jealous of Warrior’s success:

https://twitter.com/LanceStorm/status/908186795799543808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwnerd.com%2Fdolph-ziggler-mocking-ultimate-warrior%2F

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